Conceptualizing the 'Gods & Monsters' Sandbox, Part 5

"In the fork where two rivers join to make a third, there sits the grandest achievement of human civilization: the first city, where for the first time a select class of people can rise above the everyday struggle to survive and style themselves as rulers. Wealth flows here, driven by trade, and pools in the hands of those who seize it. Following the wealth come the bright-eyed seekers from the outlying villages, swelling the city’s population and squabbling over what resources they can claim. The first city could become the template for a great civilization or a disastrous footnote in history—you’ll find out which in the tales you tell."

-Gods & Monsters

Sunset on Babylon

To me there is only a single source of inspiration on what 'The First City' would be like and that inspiration is drawn entirely from the Mesopotamian. Cities such as Ur, Uruk and Babylon and, of course, the one and the only and one of my favorite mythological tale: the Epic of Gilgamesh. Thus, under this singular vision and inspiration, the First City is ruled by a God-King who represent all the key elements of a founding of civilization. He's Gilgamesh mixed with reconstructed Sky-Gods and Hammurabi.

Annamuk, the City-Father

Fall of Gilgamesh

This is what Annamuk is: He's old, powerful and wise (maybe?) but he's had a wild streak and rowdy youth. His journey is more or less complete. Gods don't age, but this is a God worshiped as a part-human hero, which has made him more mortal. He has gone from being a powerful but uncontrollable young man to a learned sovereign and in his old age he's wise, if a bit lazy and distant: a side-effect of the complacency of civilization and old age.

Should a player wish to be the god of the First City, then Annamuk dies when the game begin, passing to the underworld. He doesn't really die, but his mantle of mortality make him journey to the underworld as his nature changes. This is similar to the way Osiris become the god of the dead.

Rumors about Annamuk:

• Having become a god of civilization, he's now weakened when outside the First City and weapons made from wood from the deepest, wildest groves can kill him.
• Annamuk is lonely in his old age, his companions of old long-gone. He has sworn off a wife and believe himself to be too old but should he be given a divine child to raise as his son, it may not only bring back joy to his old heart but lead him to pass on to the afterlife (as previously noted).
• Annamuk is not the only God to be tied to the First City. He wasn't even the first. There were (and are) older spirits which existed in the tribal land and villages before it became the First City. Changed by mortal belief and direct action, as humans changed nature around them. Some say the oldest spirits resent and fear him.