D&D 5E Post Apocalyptic Aegyptus?

How would you do a grim and dark Fallout 4 inspired Not Egypt game?

Basic idea desecration wars, Dragonlords on Void Dragons trashed the world bronze age collapse as inspiration.

Not Egypt however survived in some form.

The tombs etc might be remnants of the Dragonlords rule. Not sure if the Nile is poisoned or requires water purification for the remnants of Aegyptus.

Ideas?

Dragonlords might be High elves with Ur Priests, the Friwveoyld be hiding underground and the wood elves would be far away to the South.

To make the, somewhat obligatory, smart ass reply:
What about Dark Sun?

Yora said:

To make the, somewhat obligatory, smart ass reply:
What about Dark Sun?

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Yeah, while Dark Sun is more Mesopotamian-inspired, it’s clearly the closest setting concept to this.

Reflavour as needed using Plane Shift: Amonkhet and you’re good to go.

You might even want to reach into Mythic Odysseys of Theros for inspiration as in real life, it’s likely some of the Sea Peoples were the Greeks - see the link between Achaeans (Homer), Ahhiyawa (Hittite), and Ekwesh (Egyptian).

The Late Bronze Age Collapse was not just in Egypt; it was a collapse of several major empires along the Mediterranean and within the Middle-East, so if you’re drawing on that for an after the end set in Egypt, you could consider Iron Age Greece for inspiration of a neighbouring kingdom.

So, was sort of working on something for this: Mythios. An apocalyptic war, and the kingdoms are now dragging themselves up from the devastation.

Marandahir said:

The Late Bronze Age Collapse was not just in Egypt;

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Actually, didn't Egypt escape the Late Bronze Age Collapse? The pharaoh of the time scored a big victory against the invading Sea Peoples and drove them off.

Quartz said:

Actually, didn't Egypt escape the Late Bronze Age Collapse? The pharaoh of the time scored a big victory against the invading Sea Peoples and drove them off.

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The New Kingdom survived but receded considerably in territory and economic strength. By "defeating the Sea Peoples," Ramses III (2nd Pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty) claimed his kingdom was safe from the collapse of the world. But his military campaigns in Asia actually greatly depleted his country's coffers.

Furthermore, while this was 200 years before the Third Intermediate Period (following the end of the 20th Dynasty), that period also coincided with the latter portion of the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Greek Dark Ages, and formed the 400 year gap between the New Kingdom and the Late Period.

By the end of the Late Bronze Age Collapse, Egypt would never again regain its power on the world stage that it once had.

That's what I'm thinking about. A weak remnant Egypt or a Pharoah ruling a Fallout 4 Diamond City (baseful stadium after nuclear war).

So functioning country (hanging in their just)or Pharoah rules an old temple complex with a functioning water purifier.

Quartz said:

Actually, didn't Egypt escape the Late Bronze Age Collapse? The pharaoh of the time scored a big victory against the invading Sea Peoples and drove them off.

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As one historian once put it "The Assyrians stuck around for another 200 years before they were gone as well. Egypt survived, but it never really recovered it's old power."

Yora said:

As one historian once put it "The Assyrians stuck around for another 200 years before they were gone as well. Egypt survived, but it never really recovered it's old power."

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There's a story of Xenophon camping nearby. 200 years after they were destroyed the locals didn't remember the names of the ruins.

Yora said:

As one historian once put it "The Assyrians stuck around for another 200 years before they were gone as well. Egypt survived, but it never really recovered it's old power."

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I mean, the Assyrians stuck around even longer: while they never regained their independence under the Persians, the city of Assur recovered significantly under the Parthian Empire, until the 214 sack by the Sasanids.

And beyond that, while emerging from the Assyrian-subjugated Aramaeans (see: Yeshua of Nazareth), and undergoing Aramaization of their language as it replaced Akkadian, Christian Syraics lived on as a buffer state polity that occassionally was part of the Sasanid or the Roman Empires to the east and west respectively. The Oriental Church has its founding in the Assyrians.

They don't have a state (they begged the League of Nations for one way back when… you know what happened there…), but they still seek one. And they're caught in between the wars and nations of Syria and Iraq in a complicated and violent mess of a situation, much as the Kurds and Yazidis are.