7. THE LOWER SEA (17)
While the player-characters were busy in Babylon, something else was going on a few hundred double-miles to the south – a great ripple in the Lower Sea. Silanum's answer to the cries of the people was amplified by Ea and reached even to the Kulullu and Kuliltu people (18) who live beneath the waves of the Lower Sea.
Lyrics
I saw the souls
I saw the martyrs
I heard them crying
I heard them shouting
They were dressed in white
they've been told to wait
The sun was black
the moon was red
the stars were falling
the earth has trembling
And then a crowd impossible to number
Dressed in white
carrying palms
shouted amid
the hotless sun
the lightless moon
the windless earth
the colourless sky ...
They'll no more suffer from hunger
they'll no more suffer from thirst
They'll no more suffer from hunger
they'll no more suffer from thirst
They'll no more suffer from hunger
they'll no more suffer from thirst
They heard and heeded the call, but were greatly disturbed by a disturbance from the depths. Something very old was approaching from the open ocean.
They cried out it's name in warning to the people of Babylon: “An-Dammu! An-Dammu!” (19) The ecstatic prophets of Babylon heard the name and took up the cry in the streets of the city, but few could heed or understand them. After crying their warning, the Mer-people fled into the the shelter of the Abzu (20) where Ea offered them protection.
NOTES
17. In the opera, the band called this track Aegian Sea in order to make the work more accessible to their audience.
18. Kulullu and Kuliltu are the Akkadian names for Mer-men and Mer-women.
19. The name An-Dammu means 'Spouse of Heaven' and can be arrived at by rolling the numbers 6-1-6 on the Babylonian name generator, or by rolling 6-6-6 if one accepts that An-Dammu's city of origin is heaven itself. John of Patmos invented her for the campaign, and saw her as a beast birthed by Temtu (the Sumerian primordial sea, later called Tiamat), who birthed many monsters, demons, and hybrids. An-Dammu is betrothed to Anu, the god of Heaven. In the Middle Babylonian Creation Myth, Marduk would defeat Tiamat to become king of the gods. But in this campaign its her offspring that's defeated.
20. The Abzu is the subterranean water, the domain of Ea.
8. SEVEN BOWLS
We return again to the action in Babylon. After the half-hour of silence that followed the opening of the seventh seal (see Part 1), the statues of the seven great gods animated. They walked from their inner sanctuaries to the gates of their temples, seeming to grow in size as they did so. Each carried a bowl in their left hand and a trumpet in their right. They then raised their trumpets to their mouths and, as the trumpets rang out across the land, overturned their bowls - and the punishment of the gods was poured out.
The god Adad overturned the first bowl, and a mixture of hail, fire, and blood fell to the earth, killing a third of all trees and grasses.
The god An overturned the second bowl and a mountain fell from the sky into the ocean, killing a third of all marine life.
The goddess Ištar overturned the third bowl, and a star fell from heaven and poisoned a third of all rivers and springs.
The god Šamaš overturned the fourth bowl, and a third of the sun, moon, and stars disappeared, creating total darkness for a third of the day and the night.
The god Sin overturned the fifth bowl, and another star fell from the sky and created a great rift in the ground, open to the underworld. Out of this poured a cloud of smoke, and from the smoke came locusts who were "given power like that of scorpions of the earth", and who were commanded not to harm anyone given the "seal of God" on their foreheads. These "locusts" had a human appearance (faces and hair) but with lion's teeth, and wearing breastplates of meteoric iron (21). The sound of their wings resembled "the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle." They flocked to the shore of the Lower Sea, there to await An-Dammu, who was soon to emerge from the sea.
The god Ea overturned the sixth bowl, and the four winds blew the remaining stars out of the sky. When they fall to earth, they were seen to be two hundred million charioteers with flaming wheels and smoke pouring out behind them.
The god Enlil overturned the seventh bowl, and a vision of the Tablet of Destinies was revealed to all – Enlil was shocked to see that the tablet was inside the temple of Marduk, rather than inside his own temple, and that the priestess Silanum was writing furiously within. He unleashed thunder, lighting, and hail to the earth, in order to sweep aside all those remaining in the city, including Silanum – but those marked with the triangle on their foreheads were protected by Ea. So Enlil called forth the beast!
Lyrics:The first bowl on the earththe second bowl on the seathe third bowl on the riversthe fourth bowl on the sunthe fifth bowl on the Beastthe sixth bowl on the starsthe seventh bowl on the airAnd the earth turned greythe sea turned blackthe rivers turned redthe sun turned coldthe Beast turned palethe stars turned fastthe air turned to poison
NOTES:
21. These locust men were invented by John for the campaign – they aren't mentioned in Babylonian myth, though they definitely fit the idiom For stats, he used modified Pazuzu (a demon) from the book.
9. THE WAKENING OF THE BEAST
This instrumental track in the album turns our attention back to the Lower Sea for a moment, where at last the beast, An-Dammu, is emerging – a monstrous seven headed serpent with poisonous blood!
10. LAMENT
Back on the ziggurat of Marduk, the nameless Gala Priestess character sang out a lamentation for those who were lost, by which to give hope to those who remained.
LyricsAlas alasfor the human racealasfor the kings,the kings of separation
11. THE MARCHING BEAST
Enlil had seemingly been foiled, because not everyone was dead! He had once again been tricked by Ea and now saw the writing on the Tablet of Destinies. He instructed his step mother, An-Dammu, to march northward at the head of her locust army to put an end to people forever.
But though things looked grim for the followers of Marduk, all was not lost. The stars that had descended to earth as flaming chariots when Ea overturned the fifth bowl were now revealed to be pulled by Apsasus and Aladlammus (22), They are driven by Lahmu (23) and their regiments commanded by the Apkallu (24). Marduk then stepped from his temple and called upon his followers to jump on chariots and join the fight! And so the PCs did!
NOTES
22. Apsasu and Aladlammu are the Old Babylonian period names for the iconic winged, human-headed bulls that guard the homes of the gods. They are female and male respectively – it's not known if there was more than one of each, but in Mythic Babylon we generally assume so.
23. Lahmu are 'hairy-hero-men' hybrids, created by and servants to Ea.
24. The Apkallu are the Seven Sages, originally sent to earth to instruct humans in the arts of the ME (the trappings of civilization.) By the time of Mythic Babylon, they no longer seem to walk the earth, but it is assumed they will return at times of need.
 |
| Source: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |
12. THE BATTLE OF THE LOCUSTS
13. DO IT
14. TRIBULATION
These three instrumental tracks describe how the army of Marduk and the army of An-Dammu met for a climactic battle on the fields outside Enlil's home city of Nibbur. The player characters, drawn by Ea's fantastical chariots, helped fight the onslaught of locust men.
15. THE BEAST
Fighting the locusts seemed futile, and the player-characters soon realized that the path to victory lay in helping Marduk kill An-Dammu, so they directed their chariots to help find the beast.
Lyrics:Who can find the Beast?She's big,she's bad,she's wicked,she's sadWho can fight the Beast?She come's,she goes,who ever knows ...Who can fight the Beast?She's big,she's bad,she's wicked,she's sadWho can find the Beast?She come's,she goes,who ever knows ...Who can find the Beast?
16. OFIS
At last, the shape of the giant seven-headed serpent was spotted through the smoke, and Marduk called out a challenge:
LyricsCome out, cursed serpent,because if you don't out yourself,I will out you! (25)
The two gods squared off, and Marduk drove An-Dammu into the marshes while the players fought off her Umu (26) demon lieutenants. Driven back, An-Dammu disappeared into the bog. The locust army was now defeated, but there is also much injury on the side of humanity, so a temporary withdrawal was called.
NOTES
25. Apparently these words were later placed into the mouth of Alexander the Great in another campaign run by one of the players from this one called Alexander the Great and the Cursed Serpent.
26. Umu demons are 'Roaring Weather Beasts,' creatures of Mythic Babylon that resemble Runequest's whirlvishes.
17. SEVEN TRUMPETS
The great gods rang out seven trumpets again, this time to mark the victory of Marduk and hail him as the new king. Enlil accepted his defeat and agreed to step down as king of the gods, though he would keep his sky domain. The army of Marduk re-grouped at the foot of the Duranki (Navel of Heaven and Earth), the great ziggurat of Enlil in Nibbur.
LyricsLadies and gentlemenSeven trumpetsthe sound of thunder!Seven trumpetsthe threatening anger!Seven trumpetsthe trembling voice!Seven trumpetsYou got no choice!Seven trumpetsthe seven angels!the seven trumpetsthe music changes!
18. ALTAMONT
Marduk now sat on the throne of Enlil in Nibbur and his high priestess, Silanum appeared once gain to recite an exaltation to the assembled followers of Marduk:
Lyrics:This is the sight we had one dayon the High MountainWe saw a lamb with seven eyesWe saw a beast with seven hornsand a book with seven sealsSeven angels with seven trumpetsand seven bowls filed with angerThose are the picturesof what wasof what isof what has to comeWe are the peoplethe rolling peoplethe why peoplethe waiting peoplethe wanting peoplethe tambourine peoplethe alternative peoplethe angel people
19. THE WEDDING OF THE LAMB
Following her song, Silanum (“The Lamb”) was symbolically married to Marduk (The Shepherd), and the god and his people were formally united.
20. THE CAPTURE OF THE BEAST
One final task was given to the players – to enter the swamp and capture the beast, and bring her back to Nibbur to face the punishment of the gods. They headed to the marsh at the head of a posse of Ea's inhuman servants and followed her to her lair. She was much diminished by this time, but still dangerous (27). Because of her Melammu (28), the players needed to make willpower tests just to approach her.
NOTES
27. For this encounter, John used the statistics for Mušmahhu, the great seven-headed serpent.
28. Melammu ('Frightening Splendour') is the aura that surrounds gods and certain other beings.
21. INFINITY
After fighting for a time, with both sides suffering significant injuries, The Beast opened a dialogue with the player-characters, attempting to get them to her side. They allowed her to speak while they also caught their breath. She explained that she could not be killed; that she was primordial. She existed before the gods, and would come again after them. Her role on the planet was to herald change and create new orders, not to be enslaved.
After fighting for a time, with both sides suffering significant injuries, The Beast opened a dialogue with the player-characters, attempting to get them to her side. They allowed her to speak while they also caught their breath. She explained that she could not be killed; that she was primordial. She existed before the gods, and would come again after them. Her role on the planet was to herald change and create new orders, not to be enslaved.
Lyrics:I wasI amI am to come
The players tested their purity to decide how to react to the beast, and decided to let her go. It was the Gods and Samsu-Ditana who brought all this about, afterall. The beast needed to exist in order to redress the imbalance. So they let her go, and returned to Nibbur to meet their own punishment for defying the gods.
22. HIC AND NUNC
The characters returned to Nibbur to be tried by the gods, and the stated their case before the great council of Marduk. Afterward, Silanum came to their cell to tell them they had been pardoned. She made a final speech, and sang a song of praise to the characters who helped save the world and usher in the new order.
With this, the campaign came to a close. In his de-briefing afterwards, John of Patmos revealed that the Kassite character's offspring with Silanum would form the next ruling human dynasty of Babylon.
Lyrics:Here and now!Here and now!Fixing the ceilingI got a feeling- sing it again!Here and now!Here and now!Show me the season,give me the reasonsing it again!Here and now!Here and now!Whisper a meaningnobody's leadingsing it again!sing it again!Here and now!Here and now!I got a feelingsomebody's missingsing it again!sing it again!Here and now!Here and now!
23. ALL THE SEATS WERE OCCUPIED
The campaign ended, but the rock opera concludes with two remaining tracks. This one summarizes the campaign, hitting the highlights and commending the GM on not killing a single player-character.
24. BREAK
And finally, a goodbye from the group as they planned to split up for the summer at the end of term. In fact, they were never able to get everyone together for a game again. Some have argued that every campaign can only exist once, and the Apocalypse of John of Patmos can never be re-created. Can't it? Do it!
Lyrics:Bye bye, my friend, goodbyeWith a lieyou forget and break itYou make itYou make itYou make itYou make itCry in my empty roomand we tryto forget and break itFlyhighand thenyou make it[interlude]Bye bye, my friend, goodbyeWith a lieyou forget and break itYou make itYou make itYou make itOh you make itOh, ah. ah.Do it!
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