Hi Folks
For some time now I have wanted to run a Pulp Campaign and over the weekend I put my thinking cap on and started doing some investigative work on the internet.
The following background, like all good stories has some grains of truth scattered in. The names of the Egyptologists and their histories are all real (according to Wikipedia) and the dates as best I can tell are correct...
Assuming it all works we are due to start next week - stay tuned
Back in 1923 the leading American
Egyptologist James Henry Breasted aided Howard Carter to decipher the seals
found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. It was during this investigation that he
first found reference to the Scales of Anubis.
Anubis was the
jackal headed god of Egyptian Mythology. He was the guardian of the entrance to
the afterworld.
One of the chief
roles of Anubis was the "Guardian of the Scales".
In the Book of the
Dead, Anubis is shown performing a measurement that determined
whether the person was worthy of entering the realm of the dead. By weighing
the heart of a deceased person against Ma'at
(or "truth"), who was often represented as an ostrich feather, Anubis
dictated the fate of souls. Souls heavier than a feather would be devoured by Ammit and disappear into
oblivion, and souls lighter than a feather would ascend to a heavenly existence.
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| The Scales of Anubis |
The idea that these ‘scales’ could
truly exist confounded Breasted but as he continued his work for the Oriental
institute at the University of Chicago he unearthed more stories surrounding
their actual existence and subsequent disappearance from history.
Those glyphs and texts he could
interpret talked of an insane Pharaoh who was so mad he destroyed the scales
thereby ensuring he could never be judged.
However Breasted struggled with many
of these translations so in early 1933 he shared his findings with two trusted
friends.
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| James Henry Breasted |
Firstly he contacted Battiscombe
Gunn of Oxford University and then secondly Adolf Erman at the
University of Berlin. Both were eminent Egyptologists and experts in their
fields.
Over the next few months the men
shared their interpretations and views and between the three of them a picture
began to emerge. One that could rewrite known history.
One particular text referred to Anubis
as a traveller, and several epithets attached to his name in Egyptian texts and inscriptions referred
to that role. This literally read Anubis was Khenty-imentiu, which means
"foremost of the westerners".
These texts go onto say that the
scales were broken down into several parts and scattered across the world. One
location being the home of Anubis across the western sea.
The final piece of the jigsaw fell
into place when an old tomb in the city of Tanis was uncovered. Although
recently ransacked by robbers, the hieroglyphs confirmed the scattering of the
Scales but it also talked of one piece being held by a Pharaoh known as
Thutmunka . This piece was known as the ‘balance’ and one can only assume that
this was the fulcrum of the scales.
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| Tanis Ruins |
Breasted returned to Egypt in early
1935 to seek out Thutmunka’s tomb. He returned to the states later in the year
apparently none the wiser. However in his last messages to Gunn and Erman he
wrote that was convinced of the scales authenticity.
Could the Scales of Anubis be found
and brought back together ? Were there sufficient clues to make this this
journey possible?
Before Breasted could act further he died on 2nd
December 1935 in New York City, supposedly from a Streptococcus infection after
returning from his last expedition.
He bequeathed copies of his journals, testaments and
notes to Gunn, Erman and the Chicago Institute of Antiquity.
The Chicago Institute of Antiquity (CIA) was the leading
research institute in the States for items of historical significance.
Breasted’s notes soon reached the higher echelons of power in Congress and as
such the US Government began to supply the CIA with sufficient funds and
resources to ensure that ‘interesting’ historic items would not fall into the
wrong hands.
 |
| Adolf Erman |
In Nazi Germany Adolf Erman’s career as the leading
Egyptologist for the Berlin university came to a sudden end as a result of his
Jewish ancestry. With his notes, texts and ideas seized by the newly formed
Ahnenerbe he found himself alone in a dangerous world.
These notes and documents have now found their way into
Ahnerberbe’s secretive paranormal arm known as the “Order
of the Black Sun” lead by the mysterious Count Vrill, a Prussian
Aristocrat hell bent on delivering the Nazi ideology across the world
 |
| Symbol of the Order of the Black Sun |
For Battiscombe Gunn his fascination with the occult in
the early part of the century had turned - he saw the danger that the
occult posed when combined with the rhetoric of the Nazi faith. In his leading
role as Professor for Egyptology at Oxford University opened doors to many
senior politicians, in early 1936 he approached His Majesties Government and
suggested that it would be in the interests of the Empire to ensure that the
treasures of the past must not fall into Nazi hands!
By March 1936 Gunn had founded P.I.T.H. - Paranormal Incidents that could Threaten
Humanity.
It is 1936 and the world is marching
towards war. Could such an object as the Scales of Anubis change the course of
history….
**Stop Press**
16th April 1936
Cairo* Earlier today excavators in the
Tomb of Kings discover a new burial chamber..believed to be that of the Pharaoh
Thutmunka. Egyptian authorities are not prepared to disclose exact location
until proper procedures can be put in place.
** end message
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| The lost tomb |
The race is on….
The
Campaigns narrative is simple - the players will be striving to collect
the five pieces that constitute the scales of Anubis. Each game will be part of
this journey. Adventures will be spread across the globe, in different
environments.
Some
games may feature all three major protagonists disclosed in the notes
above…please note there are other interested parties that will feature. Each
game will be principally aimed at the collection of one piece from its current
resting place however as the game develops the players may end up losing pieces
due to the back story that will evolve.
For
example P.I.T.H. may secure one item and place this in the secure vaults of the
British museum. The following week this might be robbed and the item
mysteriously ends up in the hands of the Chicago Institute of Antiquities. I
have a view of where this campaign will go culminating in a grand finale later
in the year.
During
the course of these games the players leagues will develop, gain experience,
equipment and new recruits.
The
Scales have been broken into five parts:
The
Fulcrum
The
Stand
The
Bar
The
Dish of the Heart
The
Dish of the Feather
It
is not known at present what will happen should they then be combined...yet!
The
resting place of each of these is hidden at the beginning of the campaign. Each
item has been scattered across the globe and indeed some may have already be
found and although their purpose is unknown they will be seen as treasures of
antiquity.
At
the beginning of the campaign the players will be converging on the Valley of
the Kings in Egypt, a recent tomb has been discovered that has revealed a
secret chamber beyond that of an already ransacked tomb. Local archaeologists
have announced their find but have refused to identify the whereabouts of the
tomb in question.
