/tg/, you know a lot about a lot of things. I'm in dire need for arabian/middle-eastern themed magical items and mythological beasts.
Give me suggestions and discuss other elements you could use to game in a setting of burning sand and 1000+1 nights.
Anyone ever played in a arabian setting? How did it go?
I think Gilgamesh has interesting stuff. Magic Carpet and Geneies are what I immediately think of
https://rpggeek.com/rpgissuearticle/53151/arabian-wonders-magical-items-al-qadim-setting
>>48109766
I might be retard right now, but how can I view the article?
"Zulfiqar was a large scimitar with a two-pronged v-shaped point, and was described as being the Muslim Excalibur. Considering how badass Excalibur was, you can only imagine how much more awesome it would have been if it was a bitchin'-ass scimitar instead of a boring European longsword. It's also fucking radical because Zulfiqar translates to either "the two-pronged one" or "the cleaver of the spine". That's pretty awesome. According to Shi'a myth, Ali once used Zulfiqar to cleave both a horse and it's rider in half with one swing, and it would have actually cut a gaping hole in the Earth if the Archangel Jibreel hadn't stayed Ali's hand."
>>48109055
This is not politically correct subject to discuss. You don't want to be labeled the IS sympathizing GM, do you?
>inb4 I mean 1000 years back
The average person does not care. They hear Arab, they think terrorist (murika) or migrant rapist (yuro)
>>48111582
>>48109055
1001 Nights is a pretty good place to start.
In terms of mythological creatures, Ogres and Roks are pretty standard fare
>>48112473
Like, the standard fantasy ogres? I always kinda thought of them as some random western shit. Like, trolls or someshit like that.
>>48112515
Yeah, they feature pretty heavily in Arab folklore
>>48109650
I used to run Al-Qadim 2e, which shoots for a fairly conventional 1001 Nights setting. It was great fun, particularly the flavourful additions like Station/Law/Haggling/Sha'ir. The setting was a city the middle of nowhere, against an evil Vizier with connections in the desert to the north. It was a blast.
Ultimately interest died out because I wasn't on the same page as the players. I wasn't very good at running the "Arabian Adventures" element, and stuck with urban intrigue and conspiracies for too long. If I return to it in 5e, it'll be more classically "adventure".
>>48112955
Ghouls too.
>>48112955
cool, gotta check that out
>>48111249
>instead of a boring european longsword
You watch your mouth
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/18350298/
This old thread on suptg has a bunch of info on traditional Arabian mythical creatures, magic, and other fantasy concepts. I link it because It's simpler than writing out all this info again, but I'm the OP of that thread. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I've learned more about Arabian folklore in the years since, especially about Jinnistan and the Mountains of Qaf.
>>48112473
>>48112515
>>48112955
>>48113016
>>48113040
Okay, here's the thing: in Arabian folklore, ghouls = ogres. When you read an English translation of the Arabian nights, they often translate "ghul" as "ogre" or "demon." Ghouls are originally an Arabic mythical creature, a lesser type of djinn. The descriptions of them are similar to other Middle Eastern and Asian demon ogres like Divs, Shedim, and Rakshasas: they're shapeshifting hairy monsters that live in the wilderness and devour human flesh. They bear very little resemblance to the modern D&D concept of a ghoul.
>>48111249
>>48113267
Pic related. These are actually Persian divs, but this is closer to how the traditional Arabic ghoul would have been visualized. That said, there was a lot of local variation. Djinn/ghouls are the Middle Eastern equivalent of fairies, and when you consider all the shapes and sizes fairies can take in European folklore, you'll get some idea of how divers djinn and their ilk could be in Arabic/Middle Eastern folklore.
>>48111249
Zulfiqar was most likely a straight sword tho, Arabs didn't have curved swords back then
bump
![Sands_of_time_cover[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/HUsS5fq.jpg "Sands_of_time_cover[1].jpg")
Still the best Arabian fantasy product to come out in the last 15 years,
Bump
Begin posting pictures and art from arabian fantasy
>>48116875
Good shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZQpkkyRYUQ
>>48111582
>The average person
You do know you're on /tg/ right?
>>48109055
pre-Islamic arabian mythology is an area less explored when it comes to fantasy. There is an interesting thing about Bahamut in there I found, which is originally a gigantic fish whose size is so immense, people would fall unconscious upon witnessing it; rather than a dragon. you know arabs those days and the sea were very much connected as they are with deserts.
>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahamut
>One account describes Bahamut as a fish floating in water, supported by darkness. On the fish is a bull called Kujata, on the bull, a ruby mountain; on the mountain, an angel; the angel holds and supports the seven earths.
>>48113156
Hey, if you are still lurking around here, are there any noteworthy artifacts or items that usually have some sort of magical properties in arabian folklore?
>>48109055
Now on regular basis I diss D&D on every single fucking ocassion I have, but just grab OLD materials for their Al-Qadim and you should be golden when it comes to magic stuff and beasts.
And remember that stuff like ogres, ghouls, rocs and all forms of genies and similar spirits are originally of Arab origin, but then the same D&D twisted them every single possible way.
Since I doubt you have time to read entire 1001 Nights (it's pretty long), just focus on the Sindbad part of it, which itself is shitload of material that can inspire entire settings out of it.
Ive always wanted to run a game in Katapesh. It seems like an awesomely well made region with plenty of diverse activities for players built in.
>>48122957
What and where is katapesh?
>>48122381
Well, let's see. A lot of stuff from Abrahamic mythology carries into Islamic mythology, so you've got plenty of references to things like Solomon's Seal/Ring, and the thousands of jars stamped with that seal in which he imprisoned evil jinn; which is largely were the concept of the genie in a magic lamp comes from. In the 1001 nights you see a number of references to magical statues/machines. The medieval Arabs were fairly scientifically advanced for their time, with well developed alchemic and astrological traditions, and they were also fascinated by clockwork and early automatons. So you get stuff like the moving statues in the City of Brass, or the artificial apple in the story of Prince Ahmed, among others. Persian myth also has a more developed tradition of heroic legends, and there you've got mythical items like the bull-headed mace of Fereydun or the feathers of the Simurgh who occasionally helped heroes. Oh, and there are the Tears of the Karkadann, which aren't particularly magical, but are very rare and magical in origin.
>>48124054
Could you tell more about Solomon's jinn jars, or link a good source where one could get a good general grasp on the story behind them?
>>48111249
>>48113884
Yeah, I remember that Muhammad movie actually shows Zulfiqar as a straight sword shaped like snake tongue.
>>48124207
Easiest thing to do would be to reach the story of the Fisherman and the Jinn from the 1001 Nights:
>http://www.bartleby.com/16/201.html
And then maybe read these wiki articles for context:
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_in_Islam
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Solomon
There's no one simple source I know of to link that would explain Solomon's Ring, the traditional Solomon narrative, and then the specific Islamic Solomon narrative all together.
Oh, for other magical items/artifacts: The Water of Life and Death. Like I said before, alchemy was a big thing in medieval Arabian culture ("alchemy" is itself an Arabic word) and there's a few legends mentioning the Water of Life, a liquid similar to the alchemic Elixir of Life and also to the Fountain of Youth. It's a mysterious source of water, found in an unknown corner of the world, which restores life or grants immortality. In folktales heroes have to go and find it to cure an ailing king or loved one. There are also a few passing references to the Water of Death, which has the opposite affect, and which some unfortunate heroes grab instead in their haste to bring back a cure.
>>48124599
Oh, and in at least one translation of a 1001 Nights story, there's a reference to a dagger that has been "tempered in the waters of death."
>>48124207
there's a thing about imprisoning Djinns in bottles that Solomon warned about. Never throw them out to sea and instead bury them deep so people won't find them in the off chance they stumble upon them.
Also, read up everything about Solomon from all sources. It's basically a time where the world was a fantasy realm with the Djinns and animals were under his command. Even the Old Testament accounts of Solomon include mechanized brass animals building the interior of his palace to impress the Queen of Sheba iirc
>>48123417
Pathfinder. One of the countries in Golarion.
Check the Inner Sea World Guide for more information.
>>48124758
Although it's interesting, because while the Judeo-Christian versions of the Solomon legend describe him as a flawed hero who was eventually brought down by his own hubris and overthrown by a demon, the Islamic version is heroic through-and-through, and never falls.
>>48124812
All prophets in Islam are like that. Something to do with being an exemplar meant for others to emulate or something. You can't be that if you're flawed. First link from a random search:
http://www.questionsonislam.com/article/what-are-common-characteristics-prophets
This might be of interest:
Images from an illustrated version of a 13th-century Arabic treatise
http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/marvels-of-things-created-and-miraculous-aspects-of-things-existing/
>>48111249
>Sword so strong it comes with an archangel that makes sure you don't overswing and cut the world in two
Neato.
>>48122245
I believe the reason it is less explored because Arab really got on the map post-islam with the caliphates and exotic architecture.
bump
Is there something smaller than a djinn?
Let's say a Djinn/Genie would be the equivalent to a demon in western mythology, what would be the equivalent to an Imp or some such in Arabian folklore?
Smaller spirits or creatures in general. Might just be me and my ignorance, but there don't really seem to be many of them around.
>>48109055
Don't forget some spinks.
>>48134730
Not all djinn were considered equal. Extremely powerful djinn were called marids, and evil djinn were called shaitan or afrit, but generic djinn were thought to run the gamut. Some were weak and could be bullied or bossed around by greater djinn. Ghouls were generally considered to be on the lower echelon of djinn, more of monster that might threaten you in the wastes, less a being so powerful he might call up his buddies to disassemble your castle in the night, only to wake and wonder where the walls and ceiling went.
But you could also, for example, have a lesser djinni who can't shapeshift into that many forms, can only grow or shrink five inches in each directions, has trouble maintaining his invisibility, and tends to get lost trying to navigate from the Mountains of Qaf to the world of man. This djinni would, by most accounts, be pretty inept, though probably still considered superior to a ghoul
Djinn also have a lot of local variation. In Iraq, for example, you have the s'iluwa, the deyu, the dami, the se'ir, plus the more mysterious beings believed in by the Marsh Arabs. I could describe each of these creatures, and you'd see similar patterns to other types of djinn and ghouls, but they each have their unique local features. And the Marsh Arab stuff is just... weird. I wish there was more written about them.
>>48135268
I long to know more about the marsh Arab folklore. Swamps are already a spooky luminal place. I gotta know, anon!
>>48109055
>/tg/, you know a lot about a lot of things
No, a lot of people here are just perpetually bored out of their skulls and willing to google things for you. You lazy bastard.
bump for marsh arabs
>>48125219
It's not about the sword, really - Ali is just the ultimate warrior in Islamic views, no warrior, no matter how brave and capable, can get up to his level of competence. He is rumored to have rippe out a gate of a castle in a siege, then used it as a shield against arrows, then as a bridge to get over a moat.
Often on Islamic swords there's the inscription that says 'No Warrior like Ali, No Sword like Zulfiqar' - some sort of self-humbling decoration. No matter how good the smith's blade is, and no matter how strong the warrior is, they'll never reach that level of competence. Like how today's Muslim fighters shout Allahu Akbar whenever they do anything.
>>48124259
It's likely that's what it actually was like. The Zulfiqar was originally a sword of the Jews or idol worshippers - it was gifted to Ali by Muhammad.
![ff8a74dc-345f-4587-80d1-d59d4f5759a5[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/jGCkPYj.jpg "ff8a74dc-345f-4587-80d1-d59d4f5759a5[1].jpg")
>>48139083
>>48140004
Okay, I'll tell you what I know. It's tantalizingly little, though.
So, the marshes of southern Iraq used to cover some 6,000 square miles around the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. For a long time these marshes were hope to the Ma'Dan, or "Marsh Arabs", who lived on isolated islands within the marshes and sustained themselves largely by fishing and raising water buffalo. In the early 1990s Saddam Hussein had most of the marshes drained to combat a Shi'ite rebellion in the south. Many of the Ma'dan fled to the cities, but the post Saddam government has pledged to restore the marshes and some of the Ma'Dan are slowly returning.
Most of our info about their folklore comes from the British explorer Wilfred Theisger, who lived amongst them for seven years in the late 1940s to early 50s, paddling his canoe through the narrow canals that curved in eerie silence among towering reeds, hunting the wild and fearsome boar that lurked in those reeds by the thousands.
The Ma'Dan believed in djinn in general and in their ability to take the forms of humans and animals. But they also spoke of strange swamp-adapted djinn, such as the anfish (wooly one? the etymology is unclear) which appeared as a gigantic serpent that was covered in hair or the afa (ruin?) another gigantic serpent with numerous legs. Both were thought to dwell deep in the marshes and were deadly to men.
They also spoke of a mysterious island called Hufaidh, a paradise whose exact location in the marshes was unknown, though it was believed to be in the southwest. Hufaidh was supposed to be covered in palm trees, gardens, pomegranates, and massive, towering palaces rising up out of the marshes. Enormous water buffalo lived there, much bigger than any raised by the Ma'Dan. Anyone who saw Hufaidh was bewitched, and after returning other humans could no longer understand their speech. The island was a dwelling place of the djinn, and they could conceal or reveal it at will.
![1438694925384[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/LJS7oUL.jpg "1438694925384[1].jpg")
>>48109055
There is some sick ninja related equipment in the Middle East. Even the women get in on it
>>48147062
But seriously, there are legends of pale "wild men" coming from the North back in ancient times. They came using straight swords and spoke a very guttural speech akin to demons.
The Tuareg, Bedouins, and other Berber peoples all spoke of them well into the 20th century. Many historians believe these wild-men are none other than the Vandals showing up for a century and settling there after the sack of Rome.
>>48147088
Checked,
and the desert folks in North Africa all held the camel in high regard. They would eat them, however, if important guests came. Even if it meant eating the last camel, they were honor bound to slaughter it and serve the choicest cuts to the guest.
They cared for their camels like the Turks, Mongols, Huns, and other steppe people cared for their horses. In an Arabic/Desert setting, camel care should be a big part of the party. If not by the players, the npc(s) tagging along definitely should.
![1272807214849[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/xm4aggL.jpg "1272807214849[1].jpg")
>>48147117
>In an Arabic/Desert setting, camel care should be a big part of the party. If not by the players, the npc(s) tagging along definitely should.
>>48147117
Islam took well with the desert nomads of Arabia and North Africa: either they were star worshiping pagans or were some kind of Jew or Christian.
Islam's affinity with stars, the lore of an all-powerful God, and its message of strong family values - with a patriarch at the helm - fit right into the desert nomad's culture. Despite what most people say, not EVERY nomadic group was egalitarian: looking at you Jared Diamond.
The stars should be filled with mystic stories. Perhaps a character could speak on the Greek zodiac - or whatever you make up - to entertain npcs. Maybe impress your team with some star knowledge. It'd fit the setting
>>48147152
top kek, and not every desert is stark beige either. Sometimes the sands can have very interesting colors. I know that some pueblo tribes would mix colored sands with animal fat to make a camouflage that would also act as a sunblock. The Spaniards saw them as true "red men"
>>48147189
Much like the pagans of old, people invoked God's favor by covering their armor in holy symbols, prayers, names, and so on.
Despite Islam strictly forbidding the use of faces for fear of being too vain, it did allow for the very mystical use of sigils and symbols. Arabic and Persian armors show this.
Maybe have an armorer with great skill have "magical" armor. Either it truly is blessed by the gods thanks to prayer, or its actual quality is masked by a mystical veil of symbols and prayers
>>48147163
>Islam took well with the desert nomads of Arabia
After the Ridda Wars, maybe. They weren't too hot on it early on.
>>48147221
>Off-ByOne Kenobi
>>48147239
Nobody was to the major religions of today. They all took time to catch on. Christianity through its constant message of love to the poor, Islam's imposing of a religious tax unless you earnestly converted - and genuine continuing of Greek scholarship post-Rome, and Judaism's tight knit familial system. Judaism also provided some kings the ability to sit inbetween the major religious powers of the day. See the Khazars... too bad that isolation also meant no allies
>>48147243
>>48147277
Checked,
>>48147300
Again, the gods have blessed me
>>48147277
Still, the Ridda Wars are a very interesting insight to how the early nomads and Bedouin saw Islam. Initially they sided with Mohammed and converted, but they saw that as a personal deal made with Mohammad, and saw converting as just a thing they had to go along with for the deal. As soon as Mohammad died they went back to their own ways, because as far as they were concerned the deal died with him. Hence the Wars of Apostasy, AKA the Ridda Wars.
>>48147315
Tribal systems of family, government, and even "race" are still strong in the Middle East today. It really hurts the modern idea of a nation state: see Iraq and Syria for two strong examples.
If you have a setting based in Arab lore, this needs to be very apparent. Even inside of a single city, as much as thirty tribes could exist. Of course, they never forget a debt, a murder, or a theft... so the tension could be high between some.
>>48147350
Well, to be fair, the Arabs didn't form these nation states. The borders were all drawn up by the French and British in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Had it been up to the Arabs, they probably would have drawn borders along tribal lines.
>>48113012
I envy you,anon. I've always wanted to DM an Arabian Nights style D&D campaign (3.5, but using Al Qadim as source material), but no fucking body in my vicinity will have any of it, they prefer to run on their generic, pre-generated fantasy settings rather than trying something new.
>>48147466
Yes, you are 100% right on the lack of Arab voices in the formation of the states. But I can't believe that the Sauds would not just take big claims and instead allow the tribes to hold land.
It would not be as bad today, but I also feel the Arab leaders might had taken a lot of land for themselves too. And I can't blame them... screw those savage neighbors lol
>>48147221
One important thing is also the big deal of numbers and letters in Arabic culture. Numerology was a big deal, so was their version of Kabbalah (I got an arabian magic book and it's got more astronomy and numbers in it than fucking Newton' brain), and that added with the ban on lifelike drawings made intricate magical writings pretty much the go-to for decoration. Looks cool *and* keeps you away from the evil eye and black plague.
>>48147898
Yeah, alchemy and astrology were the only "acceptable" forms of magic in medieval Islamic society. More traditional magic, seen as the work of djinn, was still suppressed and frowned upon. Though there were splits even there, as tradition had it that a particularly holy man (like King Solomon) could command and control the djinn through his holiness.
>>48148007
Yeah, I think magic got softbanned through the earth with Muhammad's birth in Islamic worldview. Tradition has it that magic doesn't work the way it used to work, and that the veil between worlds has become stronger - magic from before his birth still stands as it was, however, hence why treasures are hard to get to. Working with djinn was also acceptable so long as you kept to a certain conduct - while the 'elite science' wasn't exactly the brightest area of magic, you could just say you communed with the djinn for the betterment of Islam. Technically, it's not a sin to do magic with djinn so long as you do it in good faith and for the better of others.
>>48147898
>(I got an arabian magic book and it's got more astronomy and numbers in it than fucking Newton' brain)
That sounds right up my street, care to give the title?
The Arabian influence on European astrology and alchemic magic traditions was huge. Both from the works of Arabian scholars themselves and preserving (with commentaries) the work of Greek philosophers on the matter.
It might be one of the biggest results from the 12thC renaissance. Proper astrology was out of favour with the Church and sorely lacking in available texts until suddenly a massive influx of Arabian scholarship hits Europe in the 12thC when it becomes all the fashion.
>>48148391
I think it's called the Shams al-Maarif (Sun of the Scholars), it's mostly using djinn to do your bidding - when the sun and moon are right and you write the letters necessary and plant it in a good spot, you can get someone to fall in love with you, etc. There's also some stuff about making djinn servants, but it's surefire way to hell-tier, and I, being a believer, didn't want to dabble too much into the book.
>>48135268
>shaitan
That's strange since "Szatan" is a quite common name for a devil in slavic countires.
It sounds almost exactly the same
>>48148819
Or you know just Satan in the Bible and stuff
>>48148546
I thought you meant a modern book explaining the stuff, but that is a heavyweight actual medieval grimoire.
I both impressed and gutted that there is apparently no proper English translation. I'd love to be able to compare it to the European stuff of the same period.
I have a latin copy of Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (Picatrix), but sadly my old school latin is nowhere near up to digesting something of that nature.
>>48148819
>>48148853
They all stem from old Hebrew Shaitan, which means "the adversary" although in the original sense it didn't mean Satan (IE a fallen angel) but an angel specifically tasked by God to oppress mankind in order to test that their faith was true.
>>48148920
Hell, Jesus called one of the apostles "Satan" for being an obstinate ass.
This would be as good a time as any to point out that Islam doesn't have "demons" in the Christian sense. In Islam, God made humans, angels and djinn as the three sentient races. Angels have no free will and only serve god, while men and djinn have free will and can do whatever. Men were made from mud or a blood clot while djinn were made from smokless fire, and as a result of their fiery source djinn are more passionate, mercurial, and fickle than humans. When God made man he ordered all angels and djinn to defer to man as the favored children of god, but some of the djinn refused. Their chief was Iblis.
Iblis is the Satan figure of Islam, and djinn who follow him are evil and are called afrits or shaitans. But other djinn are Muslims and obey God's rules (though with some difficulty; they're still djinn after all) and even more djinn remain unaffiliated.
There's no demons, just djinn, who are much more complex a people.
Regarding the earlier discussion of magical items and artifacts in Arabia, there's actually a 1001 Nights story all about finding magical items. It's this one, the story of the Three Princes:
>http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/Dixon/dixon01_03.htm
Three princes all want to marry the same princess, and the Sultan tasks them with each finding a wondrous item. Whoever finds the most wondrous one will marry the princess. One prince goes to Samarkand, another to Vijayanagara, and the third to Shiraz. Each finds a magical item, including a telescope that will show whatever the user wishes no matter the distance, an artificial apple whose odor cures all diseases, and a flying carpet. The story also at one point mentions a magic tent which can expand to shelter an entire army and then neatly fold up and fit in one's pocket.
There are two things of note about this story. One is the variety of locations. The princes travel to India, Persia, and Sogdiana in pursuit of wonders. One has to keep in mind that many or the Islamic empires based out of Arabia could be huge, extending well into Central Asia, and to them the magical places were the lands beyond their borders like India or China. As such you could easily take inspiration for magical items not just from Arabian traditions but from those of their neighbors. A Daoist immortality pill, a bow with an unbreakable string made by Brahma, or even a magic sword forged by dwarves from the far north, all would be acceptable magical items to appear in a 1001 Nights setting. The weirder and more exotic the better.
The other thing to note is the nature of them items. Partly they're just classic fairytale stuff, in the same vein as Seven League Boots and magic tables that produce their own food, simple stuff. But the artificial apple's creation is described in alchemic terms and its life-saving aroma suggests the miasma theory of disease. It and the magic telescope suggest the Arabic fascination with technology and science.
>>48147062
Look at those Lebanese sluts.
Anons, do you have any book recommendations covering the stuff in this thread? I'm looking for real life history books as well as anything dealing with the myths, magic, science, technology, medicine, beliefs, culture, etc. from the early periods. Not really interested in anything modern, looking more for the ancient and historical periods.
>>48156274
Well, the actual 1001 nights might be a good place to start.
>>48156274
The Mystical Dimensions of Islam by Annemarie Schimmel can help you set up metaphysics or cultural heterodoxy in your setting. Also just a very good read in general.
>>48156274
Legends of the Fire Spirits by Robert Lebling is an excellent resource for jinn lore.
>>48124207
Read the 1001 Nights story City of Brass. The characters come across an african village that traps loads of old jars in the river and constantly lets the captured djinn loose from them.
Then they come across some Ifrit hero of a foreign army that was in the form of a large multi armed black lion thing and was bound to a pillar out in the middle of the desert for all eternity by Soloman. Soloman also had the king of the djinn in his army during that battle. He was described as some 8 foot tall blue guy with a blue/white beard.
>>48159998
Fucking love City of Brass. Easily one of the top five 1001 Nights tales.
>>48159998
That afrit would be Dahish, AKA this guy: >>48115270
>>48147496
The book includes options for 'Outlanders' in the kits. It would certainly be possible for players to be 'generic' characters while shifting the setting to Zakhara. Part of the fun can come from the culture clash.
>>48159623
I also highly recommend this book. Only book on Arabian folklore I've read, but it's an easier read them 1001 nights (at least the translation I have), and just in general a really good book. I'd recommend it to anyone.
On that note, what is the best translation of 1001 nights? I need one that is an easier read than a literal translation from 1885?
>>48120643
That game had the most amazing soundtrack.
>>48111249
>longsword
Excalibur was actually a short sword
>>48165636
Why does that make it so much cooler?
Which Excalibur would this be?
Considering that King Arthur might be the figure with the most diverse set of interpetations across about 1500 years of history in pretty much every media and genre you could care to name, you are going to have a be a bit more specific with those bald assertions as to Excalibur's nature.
On topic, there is a GURPS 3e Arabian Nights book that gives a decent overview of both the stories and the historical medieval Arab world. It's a handy reference book even with other systems and can be found in the GURPS library over at their general.
/hwg/ also has a number of Opsrey's covering various Muslim armies across a wide-span of history to flesh out combat and the flavour of the setting.
As a middle easterner myself, I'd contribute some to the discussion. The story of creation has mankind made from the various clays of the earth, angels made from "nour" which is holy light, and the djinn, which were made from fire without smoke. The angels are agents programmed to do the task they are assigned by the will of god. The different positions of Islamic prayer is meant to be what the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) observed the positions of angels as he was brought through the heavens, and having prayer go through all the positions humans were capable of instead of choosing just one.
Humans that die do not become angels, yet they can earn wings in heaven. I do not strictly remember the story, but in battle a man was the carrier of the banner for the muslim army in a battle. When the arm that was holding the banner was cut off and he picked the banner back up and advanced with one arm, it was said he earned one wing, and when he lost his other arm and was slain, he earned his second?
The djinn were intelligent, and the being known as the devil was one of them, or their first like adam, or their strongest. He was the most loyal to Allah of all his bretheren, so much so that he stood at the side of God when his kind sought to rebel against God and assisted in ousting them from heaven. However, at the creation of Adam, all of God's servants were told to bow before his greatest creation of man. He fell from the good graces of God, but was allowed to ask of one thing from Allah. Instead of asking for forgiveness, he asked to live until the day of Judgement, so that he may prove that he may lead man astray, to prove that he is superior to man. That Djinn's name? Shaitan. Whether or not he was called that before or after, like the lucifer stuff in christianity, I don't know.
The arabic for heaven should be pronounced Jin-net, and the word for hell should be Gee-hen-num. The N sounds in arabic have a quirk where would pronounce it with the ending of hen, then say num.
>>48166539
Indeed, the Middle East had diverse soldier sets through the years. The earliest soldiers we have from the middle east are obviously Sumeria's. They liked to use spear phalanxes because it gave them an extreme advantage against their neighbors. The bulk of untrained men acted as a pin cushion that the enemy could not penetrate with their own infantry. The men in front used large wicker shields while the men in the core used spears. Copper was the first material aside from stone, but bronze really changed the game up because it could penetrate most fur and leather armor.
This all changed when some of the Sumerian neighbors figured out that horses were okay to ride. That changed the game quite a bit.
>>48167374
Since the horses people first started riding were not much bigger than a deer, they could be riden for long periods of time or distance. That being said, it did give the rider some extra speed for about an hour.
Since the horses were not large yet, they were not suited to be large, armored war horses... even if the tribes using them could afford the time or materials to do so.
This gave rise to a tactic of riding around the Sumerian phalanxes in circles. They would fire arrows into the formation to encourage it to be nice and tight.
Once sufficiently tight, the riders would toss lassos into the block. It would catch a man's neck, arm, or sometimes even the torso. This would immediately be drawn tight. If the whiplash did not snap the man's neck, it would pull him from the formation. Once out, screaming his lungs out mind you, they would either drag him until he fell apart or would dispatch him with a long weapon.
After this happened a few times, the phalanx would fall apart as panic caused the faint hearted of the group to try and flee. Once sufficiently pushed into a retreat, the horse tribesmen could loot the dead and any nearby settlements. Kind of crazy actually.
As horses grew bigger and more common, we start to see civilizations wielding small cavalry corps. alongside a new weapon: the chariot.
>>48167300
The creatures called devils are the djinn, and as made from smokeless fire they are invisible to the human eye usually, although they can reveal themselves. The symbolism of finding a Genie in a Lamp makes more sense when you realize they mean the light giving lamp. It's basically binding a lightning elemental so you can metagame inventing modern day shit in your old timey fantasy games because you want to make cyber technology for some reason. The power of a Genie to grant wishes could come from various origins. A djinn could be asking to be freed, offering a false reward it has no power or no desire to deliver on. I've mostly encountered that it was not an expectation of a djinn to grant wishes, but the desire of the djinn to repay the kindness of being freed, or having fell in love and wished to do the bidding of its savior. I remember a small discussion about homosexuality arising due to the assumption that both were male last I discussed this with others. Whether or not the djinn have gender or magic powers is arguable depending on who's telling the story, but Islamic angels I'm pretty certain didn't have any gender.
To get ideas about monsters, look up what their origins are then read the actual myths about them.
>>48167455
Checked,
A shock weapon through and through, the chariot gave large empires the means to both impress the enemy with their mighty use of man, vehicle, and beast while also being able to intimidate their infantry.
Chariots were not always meant to survive the battle... sometimes they were used to punch gaping holes in the enemy formation: which often times could not get out of the way if more than a few chariots were sent their way.
Chariots grew in size and complexity from a single driver just pushing into the enemy, to a complex system of driver, archer(s), and guard. They even figured out that putting blades onto the outer axel allowed chariots to clip men who just narrowly dodged the man body of the vehicle. Very gruesome.
The Middle East pressed on though. Camels came into the picture, and this allowed deeper travel and life in the deserts. Cultures formed in these newly conquered lands. They also changed as cultures previously separated by desert heat could finally interact.
An empire would rise from all these advancements.
>>48167481
The Jinn do have genders, male and female, despite the fact that they change shape and are mostly invisible and intangible. They get married, have sex, and have kids just like humans. The lines between the genders are very blurred however, since they can change form, and it's hard to tell the difference in shape changing invisible elementals.
I am not an expert, and have only read a couple of books on the subject, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
An interesting story would be that of the succession of the leader of the Islamic empire founded by the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). He chose who would be the next leader after his passing, and that leader chose who would be after him. Eventually there were arguments that the guy picked 4th(?) was not a valid choice to lead, and a bunch of dudes took pages of the Quran and pinned them to their armor. The leader could not bring himself to spill blood on the pages of the holy book and surrendered peacefully. Interesting story that some of you might like.
Some of this stuff might be interesting to do use. Anything else I could tell would be learning how little Muslim kids are taught religious history, and while some of these stories are interesting to me I don't think I'll post them myself.
Oh, I've been spelling it as djinn because I've got Golden Sun on the brain, but it's pronouned Gin like the alcohol.
>>48167587
The Persians came to rise in power after the many ancient peoples like the Babylonians and Egyptians fell from it. Their gracious allowance of the locals to continue their way of life in exchange for manpower and a little money meant their empire swelled to the likes of which never seen.
They pulled from the nations who fell into their fold either by force or by surrender. The diversity meant that a specialized force of local men had a hard time finding a weakspot against the growing Persian empire.
The famous massed infantry of the Persians seen in films like "300" - great movie... but that's all it is: a fictional epic movie - are no lie. Their armies of fifty thousand were the largest ever assembled to that date. If they were more, and I am willing to debate that number, they must have seen uncountable to smaller nations and city-states.
Funny enough, these advancements also brought great weight on the empire. It bred emperors who would have rather screwed their harem women rather than defend their territories... or take new ones for that matter.
Another empire would rise to the West that would forever leave its mark on the Middle East.
>>48167638
We all know him. Alexander the Great. Although his father also mounted great odds by defeating the Greeks - something the Persians tried several times before having mild success - Alexander would take this conglomerate of Hellenic peoples and their neighbors against the world.
The Persians still held much of the Middle East and Persia proper under their thumbs. When the Makedonians and their many allies met the Persians, they used a very specialized style of phalanx. The pikes, called sarissa, were incredibly long: 13 - 20ft. sometimes.
The massed Persian infantry charges were effective because of sheer numbers pushing through. The pikes inhibited this, giving the Persians a distinct disadvantage.
Their cavalry could not defeat the Makedonian cavalry either, thanks to light infantry actually SPRINTING with the horsemen mid-gallop. After a couple decisive victories, Alexander held the Persian empire in his clutches.
Alexander quickly came and went though. He established several Alexandrias, including the one still in Egypt today, while also destroying several other cities with fire and bloodshed.
He did take the ideal of tolerance used by the Persians to a new level: mixing the best elements of each culture into a new one. The military ideals of Alexander continued after his death. His generals fought each other for Alexander's throne... too bad it blinded them to rising powers that would spell the doom for Hellenic superiority forever.
>>48167747
Remember those chariots people used as shock weapons? The Makedonians even had the men drill to repel chariots using something we call "the mousetrap" today. It worked really well.
Alexander's military style stuck in the Middle East for some time. Cities as far as India tried their best to imitate the Makedonian military. Ever hear of the kukri knife? The Indians and Nepalese got the idea from Makedonian curved swords called "falcata"
>>48165636
Oh, humbug. It would have been something akin to a late Roman spatha. Certainly longer than the Legion's gladius.
>>48111249
>Mfw now realize Soul Calibur's design in SC2 has legendary precedent.
>>48167773
Moving on from the Hellenic dominance of the Middle East, once again the natives of the region would take control. Persia would gain its independence once more from a small rebellion grown too powerful. They are called the "Arsacid Empire" today. Parthian is more fun name to me though. They were a strong bunch that enjoyed using light horse archers and light cavalry to subdue their enemies. This included using cataphract cavalry and camelry. The heavy armor would make a tank-like unison of man and beast.
They fell apart though as internal struggles soon killed all the royal family. What we know as Turkey and Syria today fell into the hands of more foreign invaders: Rome. Rome was the biggest Hellenicboo (a weeaboo in the form of a greek loving Latin) Empire to ever exist.
They spread into Egypt and Africa. They spread plenty of great ideas like "might makes right" and later on, Christianity.
This all started to fall apart though as invasions from steppe confederations like the Black Huns in Europe and the White Huns in Persia and India. Empires fell apart as pressure from invaders and climate change - must have been all the CO2 they put out from their trucks and factories - grew too much of a burden.
The Middle East sees itself in fractured city-states, tribes, and villages. In this very tight-knit environment, religions diversify with all the cultures there. As Christianity and Judaism continued to change and evolve with the people, a man would rise to fame and power. He would change the world as much as the prophets before him.
>>48165288
It's a tricky book to read at the best of times, due to the numerous stories-within-stories and the rather breathless tone of the narrator in most versions, but my preferred translation is the two-volume one by Husain Haddawy.
>>48167300
What the hell does the phrase "fire without smoke" mean anyway? I've always wondered,
>>48167620
They are said to live just like humans in the mountains of Caf outside the circles of the world, or in their own world as it is sometimes described. But they are said to live and age normally, marry and have children and even have their own animals with the same properties as themselves.
The nly one that lived unusually longer was the one from the Fisherman and the Djinn where it was in the form of smoke trapped inside a bottle for centuries. Apparently if they are not in the normal shape they can persist for a lot longer but it is still incredibly miserable for them.
>>48168046
Basically they are energy beings. It's a way to say they are made of a bright formless non-physical plasma but it isn't quite fire because fire produces smoke.
>>48168046
To me, it would indicate the supernatural. Natural, normal fire would have smoke and consume things. Fire without smoke might not consume anything at all. Living fire, you see? A la the Burning Bush.
>>48167936
Muhammad, Mohamet, Mehmet, or however the locals spelled it rose to power after having visions. You can look up the stories in the Quran, so I won't go into them... and the fact that it is not my specialty in history.
His time as a prophet turned warlord meant a massive expansion of his empire. Imagine if Jesus had led an army of men instead of sacrificing himself for the souls of mankind. The Middle East saw a true native of their lands rise to power for the first time in centuries.
The idea of "Arab" spread amongst the peoples living there. Although diverse cultures still existed under Muhammad and his descendant's empire, their language formed into a single linear form of speech. Of course accents existed thanks to the pre-existing local languages and any influences from the neighbors.
The form of soldier they used was a cavalry that was both fast and deadly. They used the speed and maneuverability of the massed cavalry to decimate the nations around them: who still favored infantry massed together to defeat their foes.
The cities grew under the growing empire ruled by the Prophet. Islam helped to give cities a very uniform flow to them: prayer when you wake up, prayer once the sun is at its highest, prayer at dinnertime, prayer once the sun goes down, and prayer before bedtime. Some even prayed before the sun came up and only the bugs were out and about.
Cities in this time would be very different to their neighbors: who either prayed on Sundays as Christians or worshiped generally all the time with certain holy festivals and times like Hindus and Buddhists.
Foreigners would stick out like sore thumbs there. Cavalry as a super weapon spread around the world. However, horse archers would come to dominate the world as more and more steppe confederations rose up against the burgeoning empires of the world.
Western powers in Turkey would be ousted by none other than the Turks themselves.
>>48168127
As more and more Turks advanced into the Middle East and their new home in what is now Turkey, the Europeans also grew rowdy.
They came over in massive waves in religious wars that would destroy many Middle Eastern cities and power centers. Large battles against them were successful, but it drained both the manpower and legitimacy of the Arabic kingdoms and empires of the day.
Horse archer cavalry continued to push people into larger and larger cities. Small hamlets and low defenseable towns became obsolete as large hordes from the steppes would just sweep down during winter and take everything from money and objects, to people and animals.
The Middle East turned into a network of super cities that could defend themselves against a horde long enough to negotiate terms of survival... or until the horde lost interest and left.
Baghdad for examples grew to hold over a million people during this time. London, for example, held around 60,000 in its walls during this time (I know there were tens of thousands more in the surrounding hamlets and villages, but the city was tiny compared to Baghdad).
Foreigners remarked all the time on the cities like Alexandria, Baghdad, and the new mega-city on the block: Cairo.
Armies of this time needed to be cavalry to counter the horse archer hordes, or be armies of horse archers themselves. The ability of horse archers of the day were incredible: one Seljuk apparently shot his arrow up under the chin of an oncoming crusader AFTER he lanced the Seljuks horse and the Turkman was FALLING.
>>48168303
The horse archers themselves could loose their arrows from the saddle without halting or dismounting, and even shoot backwards while in retreat. The composite bow was a light weapon which often did not penetrate the armour far enough to cause injury to the wearer. Due to thick pads of felt and the mail worn by knights, the arrows were often seen sticking out of warriors who just continued on their way. The many flights of arrows were used mainly to destroy any cohesion that the Europeans would have, and cause them to lose horses as well. This loss of horses was a major blow to the main weapon of the Crusaders; namely the heavy cavalry charge with lances in rest. The horse archers would begin the fight at bowshot range patiently waiting for the most opportune time to attack at close quarters and finish the enemy. Only when a favorable opportunity arrived, or when they were forced into confrontation would the lightly armoured Turks attempt combat at close quarters. - http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/topics/war/islamic_warfare.html
This meant that city-states could form within larger empires. Although the Emperor or king could hold several cities, they each carried significant power with them.
Armies from the cities could stand their own against armies of previous empires from just a century or two before the rise of horse archers as the day's super weapon.
Islam took well to the incoming steppe hordes however. This helped them craft large empires like the Ottoman Turks and the Seljuk tribes still inside Persia.
They stood as the powers of the day against the still standing Arabic Empire under the Ayyubids. Even then, it held little influence as the Turks advanced as far as Egypt.
The Turks were mild compared to what followed though. Another horse archer confederation that managed to conquer the greatest civilization in the East: China.
They are called "Mongols".
>>48168416
Mongols came into the picture like a storm. They slammed both Persia and the Middle East in general within just a few years.
Pagans of the Far East, the Mongols came with great fervor against the Islamicized Turks, Persians, and Arabs. Remember Baghdad? That super city with almost two million people by the start of the 13th century?
They burned it. I mean, they BURNED IT. A thousand years worth of books were lost, over a million lives were extinguished in a week, the irrigation system built there over centuries was ripped out for scrap metal, and all the dams were let loose.
The Middle East was burnt to a crisp in many places by these invaders. Europe was too. This was the apocalypse to many. Want to build a cool fantasy setting based around Arabic folklore?
Have a djinn army modeled around the Mongols. That'd scare any party.
>>48168562
As the Mongols turned to Islam, just like the previous Turks did, they built Empires in Persia and elsewhere. The next few centuries saw the rebuilding of many cities, irrigation systems, canals, trade networks, and so on.
Despite the black plague rampaging through the world, literally killing half to two-thirds of some cities, the Middle East's strong heritage of isolated cities and medicinal knowledge helped it pull through.
Turks under the descendants of the mighty Uthman - where "Ottoman" came from - still pressed into the Middle East and Europe. They brought with them a new style of warfare: born soldiers.
The Spartans had the idea down-pat, but lost it after years of struggling against their neighbors. The Ottomans had the same idea though: take young boys either as infants or toddlers and raise them to be a soldier to the very core.
They are called Janissaries, or "Yenicheri" in Turk tongue. Ottoman cities would have small garrisons - or large ones depending on the importance to the Turkish Caliph - of these Janissaries. Devoted to their Caliph as much as they were to God, they dominated the battlefield. Used on horseback or foot, they would do great damage to the enemy.
They marched proudly, stayed in their own camps, had unique songs, were raised by Muslim eunuchs... and were always pulled from Christian subject families.
Yep. They were kidnapped. They spoke Turkish, acted Turkish, prayed in Arabic, to an Islamic God... but were not actually any of those. That'd mean you could see a blonde hair, blue eyed Janissary fighting alongside a swarthy, almost black eyed Jannisary.
They were known throughout the Ottoman Empire, and any settings based around these cities NEED them for that feel.
Oddly - and funny - enough, it would be another group of slave soldiers that would break the chains of non-Arabs ruling in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.
>>48168768
Yes, slaves rose up against the Turks in what we called Egypt today. "Mamluks" they are called, it means property in English.
They rose up in defense of their native land, "Masr" - Egypt. They used cavalry as their main weapon, just like empires in the Middle East had been doing for centuries.
Mamluks, being slaves, were not always Arab. They were heavily influenced by their masters however. Islam was at the center of the newly founded slave caliphate. The cities freed by the Mamluks would be heavily garrisoned thanks to having dangerous neighbors like the Ottomans and Ilkhanate - literally Islamacized and Persianized Mongols.
Life under the Mamluk caliphate was great: if you were a Muslim. People living then probably felt better than they had in centuries. Advancements in both Europe and China made their way towards one another. What was inbetween these two great schools? The Middle East.
As Arabs continued to trade with their neighbors, they brought the ideas of many empires and cultures with them. They impressed many, and thousands converted to Islam during these great trade voyages.
The Middle East started to look more and more cosmopolitan as Persians, Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Janissaries (mostly European), sub-saharan Africans, and Berber tribesmen all flowed through the region as followers of Islam.
Cities of the Middle East became almost 100% Islamic at this point. Christian, Pagan, and Jewish religious institutions fell over time as religious taxes, called "Jizya", made it economically impossible to worship anyone but Allah and His prophet, Muhammed.
Gunpowder began to appear within armies as more than just massive cannons meant to bombard cities. Entire infantry units could be seen wielding gunpowder.
Cities began to have less and less walls thanks to this. Small defensive positions were made, but walls just held the cities back from growth. And grow they did. Populations exploded during this time.
>>48168940
As Europe continued to rise in power, it overshadowed the Middle East. The Arabs, Persians, and Turks managed to etch out states for themselves once more.
They pulled heavily from their neighbors and occupiers for a while, but eventually xenophobia began to sweep over the Middle East. Only the Ottomans were willing to stick with the West as Europe grew more and more.
At this point, history starts to enter what you could consider a modern appearance: large cities without walls, roads everywhere, nations with large bureaucracies, the rise of education thanks to more and more universities, and so on.
I know this is supposed to be a fantasy thread, but if you want to build a fantasy that FEELS real enough to the players or characters in the setting... use history.
It gives great ideas for campaigns, settings, battles, character art, party classes, religions, and so on. I hope the historic rant did not derail the thread. /his/fag out
>>48168127
>His time as a prophet turned warlord meant a massive expansion of his empire... The cities grew under the growing empire ruled by the Prophet
Let me step in since this period onward is my specialty. Muhammad didn't rule an empire. Whatever sort of government if any he did rule was limited to the Hedjaz region and Yemen, and instead it's after his death that the early Arab confederation, later the Caliphate, appears in the historical record. There's not a lot we can say about Muhammad himself without questioning if the tales are accurate, half-truths, or apocryphal.
The average soldier of the early Arab conquest actually fought as infantry, and it was usually their allies or later the Hedjazi elite enriched by the spoils of war who were mainly cavalrymen.
Regular prayers were a thing before Islam, including for Christians who attended mass on Saturday or Sunday and did not limit themselves to only praying then, not unlike the role of the Friday prayer in Islam.
>>48168416
>Arabic Empire under the Ayyubids
The Ayyubids weren't an Arabic Empire any more than the Seljuks themselves, from whom the Ayyubids splintered off from and consolidated after their collapse in Syria.
>>48169437
Thanks anon, interesting that it took more time for their cavalry to come along.
>>48169508
I mean, they were Kurds founded by the anti-Crusader Saladin himself. The man spoke both Kurdish and Arabic, but his brother spoke only Arabic and it was his sons who ruled the dynasty. I would say there were more Arab than anything.
An offshoot of the Seljuks I agree with you yes, but I would argue for their Arab-ness... if there is such a word
>>48170401
I hate it when people use the phrase "Arabic Alphabet", the Arabic writing system is an Abjad, it's even worse when people try to equate a glyph for each Latin Letter as if it is just a really weird form cursive.
[/autism]
>>48167300
>I do not strictly remember the story, but in battle a man was the carrier of the banner for the muslim army in a battle. When the arm that was holding the banner was cut off and he picked the banner back up and advanced with one arm, it was said he earned one wing, and when he lost his other arm and was slain, he earned his second?
That was Mus‘ab ibn Umair: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%E2%80%98ab_ibn_%27Umair
Wikipedia doesn't go into details so I did some searching. He had his second hand chopped off as well, but then held up the banner with the remainder of his arms to his chest and that's how he died.
>>48170512
Because the letters are equatable. Yes the glyphs can be called letters because they are part of an alphabet - an ordered system of a language's phonograms.
Just as the Latin letters equate to sounds, so too do the Arabic letters.
The sounds [b] [a] [r] put together make bar in English. If I wanted an Arab or someone who reads Arabic to sound it out too, I could put "beh", "alif" and "ra" together as: بار
Just like b, a and r come together as bar. Don't get upset over the semantics, the system works.
The system of Arabic writing was not even invented by the Arabs themselves. They called upon the Greek scholars to create one for them. The word alphabet comes from the Greeks themselves... what would they call the system that they created for the Arabs to use?
>>48172983
How do you type Arabic on a computer?
Man, this thread is just the stuff that makes /tg/ such a great place.
Nice and insightful thread, OP
>>48172983
t.Arabgal
![BST_BMAGG_K509[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/IUtYL5B.jpg "BST_BMAGG_K509[1].jpg")
What do you buy at the Bazaar of Wonders, /tg/?
>>48177404
Shoes, my current ones are kinda shitty.
Man what a great thread. I usually go to /his/ to try and get some good history lessons but it's been right under my nose this whole time. Thank you history anons. I'm currently trying to convert some Al-Qadim to 5e
>>48113156
What's the best resource to read up on jinnistan and qaf
go in a quest to get secret and ancient power from the ghouls in the forgotten necropolis to dethrone the corrupted caliph, his mind twisted by the teachings of a playfully cruel genie.
>>48109055
1001 Nights has a bunch of hilarious stories. Like the one about Eugenetics and bakery.
>once upon a time, there was a totes QT prince
>even the Djinn agreed, which is why one of them abducted him while he was asleep.
>while the Djinn was heading wherever, it met another Djinn and they got in a bit of a quarrel, because that other Djinn was of the opinion that some princess was a QT of a higher level than the prince.
>being the cray-cray autists they are, they dropped prince and princess next to each other and finally agreed that hey, both of them are QTs, so let's see if we can get them to breed because their kids are going to be
>CUTE
>U
>T
>E
>they lucked out, because the prince and the princess actually did the deed when they woke up and beheld each other.
>the prince had the worst luck though, because the Djinn dropped him over some city on the way back from wherever he had picked him up
>not wanting to be a pauper, the prince instead resolved himself to becoming a baker and made a living on serving people with the sweets his grandma taught to him
>luckily for him, his grandma eventually happned to travel through the city and recognized her bakery, which is how he was eventually re-united with his family.
No idea what they did about the princess' situation, but they eventually got married for real. But the long and the short of it is that non-combat skills are going to save your from a life of abject poverty in 1001 Nights-style stories.
>>48167773
>Ever hear of the kukri knife? The Indians and Nepalese got the idea from Makedonian curved swords called "falcata"
That kind of doesn't line up with the fact that the Nepalese only got them when they got a kingdom during the 18th-19th century and one of their kings comissioned and handed them out en mass as a side-arm for his modernized, gun-wielding troops as part of his attempt at nation-building.
>>48178542
In English? See: >>48159623
Also worth reading some actual Arabian folktales/1001 Nights stuff to get a sense for the sort of fantastical places they go to, many of which are generally assumed to be in some part of Jinnistan.
>>48179114
>But the long and the short of it is that non-combat skills are going to save your from a life of abject poverty in 1001 Nights-style stories.
Well that's just good advice no matter the setting.
>>48180007
It is, but people easily forget it often.
>>48173907
Very carefully
But seriously, I get the words before hand then use google translate's keyboard because I can then paste it as plain text anywhere. There are better ways I am sure, but I rarely use Arabic script.
>>48174566
Checked, and thank you
>>48176177
Checked, and كيف حالك, حبيبتي؟
>>48178342
Thank you, hope your setting gives the players a really deep connection.
>>48179189
Just because the king mass produced them as side arm for his soldiers does not mean that the Indus valley civilizations did not use the falcata - and later the kukri. Just a bad ass symbol of them that sticks to this day
>>48177404
Frankincense or myrrh... always wondered what it smelled like
>inb4 buy it you poorfag
>>48181695
>Just because the king mass produced them as side arm for his soldiers does not mean that the Indus valley civilizations did not use the falcata - and later the kukri.
They're kinda rare outside of the 18th/19th century in art as well, I think. So we really got no reason to believe that anyone in the region who wasn't a hellenistic state did.
>>48181769
I'll give you the art one. Finding large troves of evidence is hard... you can thank the Turks, Mughals, and British for that one.
That being said, the sword carried a certain status with it. Plus they are great against shields so the effectiveness was also a draw. One can find the forward curve more commonly in 5th century art after almost all the tribes of the subcontinent adopted it.
Another cool thing was the shape of falcatas that we have found. Some were plain wedges, others had thick blades with thin tangs, and so on. Here are a few examples we have today
I played an exiled Vizier in a middle east centered 5e campaign. Human sorcerer and astronomer with an affinity for elemental magic constantly researching airships and fueling his desire to visit space by any means necessary magic or otherwise.
![madan-are-the-inhabitants-of-the-marshes-of-the-delta-of-the-tigris-euphrates-river-system-in-southeastern-iraq-and-on-the-border-with-iran[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/K1KKVzp.jpg "madan-are-the-inhabitants-of-the-marshes-of-the-delta-of-the-tigris-euphrates-river-system-in-southeastern-iraq-and-on-the-border-with-iran[1].jpg")