>>3717085

But the scar was irregular. Unexpected. Should not exist. Spring - that meant festivities, drinks, women. And for the Girl, beatings. Her uncle was a perfectly well-functioning member of the ancient Mesopotamian proto-society that sprung up like mushrooms (not that she knew what mushrooms were) around this time of the Histories. He worked, he sent a portion of the fruits of his work to the Lugal who lived far, far away in a walled City - the first of cities - and paid the local prostitute once a week to make away with his pent up relief, because he was not a paedophile. His preference was more the mundane sort of domestic violence when it came to the Girl.

But the wound? He'd made sure not to harm her anywhere visible. The villagers knew, of course. Tight knit communities like this, neighbours knew neighbours. But as long as pretense could be kept up—

Her mind went back to the scar from which the drying blood crusted on her torso. There had been a crude wound, she remembered now, just above the navel which marked the point of separation between the mother and child. She turned her eyes to the ground. A sharp thing, a wicked-looking blade, lay a foot away. There, too, the blood. Browning and crumbling, a plastered sheen of filth.

Anger management was not a topic oft discussed in these ancient times, when men were men, women were women, and a lot of them died before, during, or after childbirth.

"Mother," she rasped, with the instinct of a child seeking comfort in confusing (and thus, terrifying) situations. Her tongue felt the grains of earth that had somehow made their way into her mouth. The dark sun beat at her eyes. She moved her arm, felt it respond. Her toes also obeyed her commands - after a steady minute.

I should be dead. the girl marveled with the apathy of a greybeard. The last thing she remembered was violence. An argument. Bitter recriminations. Uncle against niece. A blow to the head.

The surprise stone dagger, spilling that which should remain inside.

"Mother," she said with yearning this time. What was the worth of a life? Hers was less than that of a missing goat. Such is the life price of an orphan. She did not mind, truly. An early greed-death claimed those prematurely cut off from their lifegivers. Hers was the too-soon suppression of the id, and all that. But that did not mean that she held no regrets.

"Mother!"

Across the lone and level sands, interspersed rarely by vegetation of the brown, spiny kind that did no one good except the goats, the girl was alone with but the grey sky and the dark sun to keep her company. She had been left to die where the villagers rarely trod, for here, there was nothing. But she hadn't died. Only a pale dash-mark showed where the stone dagger made its entry before she blacked out.

She rose to her feet. And she gained a Goal.

>>3717091

>A vision of slaughter entered her mind. Destroy the villagers, who ignored her pain. Emasculate the miller's boy, who had tried to take her first together with his brother, in one moonlit night behind the shed. Torture her uncle for the years of abuse. End his life. An eye for an eye - a ruined life, for a life ruined. The weapon that had conspired with its owner to destroy her was there, taunting in its stillness. The girl took it for his own. And hers was the tool of Murder.

>Plans upon plans swirled into her mind with the fertile imagination of a child. She imagined herself becoming great. A concubine to the Lugal, perhaps, that none may touch her as they had done, not even her uncle. And she schemed of things that she would have others do upon those who had transgressed against her. Where there is will, there is a way, or so they say. Ambition gripped her heart.

>She was remarkably free of resentment. Unnaturally so. She decided she would wander away from the village and see what the world had set for her. A small corruption set in her, and the corruption's name was Contentment, which is the dessicated remains of happiness. She began walking, best foot forward.

>A joy sprang in her heart of hearts. She was free. Free! Free from bondage-servitude to her uncle, who had taken her in reluctantly when his sister died (for these were ancient times, when men were men, women were women—). Now she could do as she wished. Now she might live as she wished. Thus did Pride enter her soul for the first time in her life, the kind that drives all who believe they are the captains of their own destinies. And there is power in belief.

>And she chose for herself a new name, whereas before she had none save Girl. Names are the demarcations of the Self, and in doing so, she became wholly hers. And she was known as Toleth to her self. She returned to the village to continue her bondage-servitude to her uncle, now weighted with more debt with the loss of the goat. This did not give her flashy powers. It was, in fact, rather mundane. Or was it?

>>3717101
>And she chose for herself a new name, whereas before she had none save Girl. Names are the demarcations of the Self, and in doing so, she became wholly hers. And she was known as Toleth to her self. She returned to the village to continue her bondage-servitude to her uncle, now weighted with more debt with the loss of the goat. This did not give her flashy powers. It was, in fact, rather mundane. Or was it?

>>3717101
>A joy sprang in her heart of hearts. She was free. Free! Free from bondage-servitude to her uncle, who had taken her in reluctantly when his sister died (for these were ancient times, when men were men, women were women—). Now she could do as she wished. Now she might live as she wished. Thus did Pride enter her soul for the first time in her life, the kind that drives all who believe they are the captains of their own destinies. And there is power in belief.
The freedom of death, eh?

>>3717114
I wouldn't do that if I was you.

>>3717101
>Plans upon plans swirled into her mind with the fertile imagination of a child. She imagined herself becoming great. A concubine to the Lugal, perhaps, that none may touch her as they had done, not even her uncle. And she schemed of things that she would have others do upon those who had transgressed against her. Where there is will, there is a way, or so they say. Ambition gripped her heart.

>>3717101
>>A joy sprang in her heart of hearts. She was free. Free! Free from bondage-servitude to her uncle, who had taken her in reluctantly when his sister died (for these were ancient times, when men were men, women were women—). Now she could do as she wished. Now she might live as she wished. Thus did Pride enter her soul for the first time in her life, the kind that drives all who believe they are the captains of their own destinies. And there is power in belief.

>>3717101
>>Plans upon plans swirled into her mind with the fertile imagination of a child. She imagined herself becoming great. A concubine to the Lugal, perhaps, that none may touch her as they had done, not even her uncle. And she schemed of things that she would have others do upon those who had transgressed against her. Where there is will, there is a way, or so they say. Ambition gripped her heart.

>>3717101
>A vision of slaughter entered her mind. Destroy the villagers, who ignored her pain. Emasculate the miller's boy, who had tried to take her first together with his brother, in one moonlit night behind the shed. Torture her uncle for the years of abuse. End his life. An eye for an eye - a ruined life, for a life ruined. The weapon that had conspired with its owner to destroy her was there, taunting in its stillness. The girl took it for his own. And hers was the tool of Murder.

>>3717101
>And she chose for herself a new name, whereas before she had none save Girl. Names are the demarcations of the Self, and in doing so, she became wholly hers. And she was known as Toleth to her self. She returned to the village to continue her bondage-servitude to her uncle, now weighted with more debt with the loss of the goat. This did not give her flashy powers. It was, in fact, rather mundane. Or was it?

>>3717101
>Plans upon plans swirled into her mind with the fertile imagination of a child. She imagined herself becoming great. A concubine to the Lugal, perhaps, that none may touch her as they had done, not even her uncle. And she schemed of things that she would have others do upon those who had transgressed against her. Where there is will, there is a way, or so they say. Ambition gripped her heart.

>>3717101
>She was remarkably free of resentment. Unnaturally so. She decided she would wander away from the village and see what the world had set for her. A small corruption set in her, and the corruption's name was Contentment, which is the dessicated remains of happiness. She began walking, best foot forward.

>>3718179
>>3717265
>>3717238
>Plans upon plans swirled into her mind with the fertile imagination of a child. She imagined herself becoming great. A concubine to the Lugal, perhaps, that none may touch her as they had done, not even her uncle. And she schemed of things that she would have others do upon those who had transgressed against her. Where there is will, there is a way, or so they say. Ambition gripped her heart.

Once upon a time
there was no snake, there was no scorpion,
There was no hyena, there was no lion,
There was no wild dog, no wolf,
There was no fear, no terror,
MAN had no rival.

In those days, the lands of Subur and Hamazi,
Harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship,
Akkad, the land having all that is appropriate,
The land Martu, resting in security,
The whole universe, the people in unison
To Enlil in one tongue Spoke.

Then Enki, the lord of waters (His commands are untrustworthy!),
The lord of wisdom, who masks the understsanding of the land,
The vizier of the gods,
Endowed with wisdom, this lord of Eridu
Changed the speech in their mouths, brought contention into it,
Into the speech of MAN that until then had been one.

—Tablet III of Enmerkar the Enlightened // all physical copies believed destroyed after Inquisitorial decree by Council of Irm // FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSE ONLY


And she saw from the dunes that crested the distance (like waves of that distant land with many waters, though she was incapable of imagining such wealth) a family of desert-warblers, little things that know better than to move in the light of day when the heat is at its fiercest and the Sun flings His javelins that kill to all in His wrothful sight. The Girl saw the birds, and saw that it was unnatural.

>>3720279

Foremost of the warblers and patriarch of the little family flew at her feet, unafraid of neither man nor beast, for this was indeed no bird, but a god in the form of bird — for in these days, gods walked the land — and it stared with intelligence at the girl. It stared with curiosity at the girl. It stared with a cunning in its beady eyes that announced, louder than any words: "I am the Changer of Ways, the Reader of Fate."

And the Girl knew that she was at the presence of a god.

And from its beaks came not the speech of the birds, but the tongue of men. Fire and thunder licked like serpentine tongues from its obsidian-black beak. The warbler spoke:

"Why do you stagger in this waste land, girl of the sands? Why do you look with such wild abandon in your eyes? It is not right that children should wander so. Call upon your father! Cry your problems away!"

The Girl replied: "I have no father."

"A fell thing, a doomed thing, to live in this world without a guardian," it said. "But surely you have a mother. Creatures of nurture and bodily comfort — this I know. For there was one such personage among our kind. But now she lies dead. hanging from the meat-hooks of her older sister. Fly!" it shrieked suddenly, made angry that its thoughts had been wrenched from its beaks, for it was a secretive god. But its anger was to itself, for it could not see the future of the Girl. "Fly back! Run to your villages, abandon your wild wanderings! The desert is no place for any child."

The Girl replied: "I have no mother."

Then the LORD of waters understood, and in understanding, was satisfied. There is nothing more vexing than a lack of understanding to a being such as it. "You are an orphan," it said, "and thus you have been cut off from the way of things. Blessed is the orphaned, for their inheritance is the awareness of Self," it added sardonically.

"If you are here to tease me, then go away," the Girl replied.

"I am here to watch you," it said, pleased at the audacity of the Girl. "I am here to witness." For as everyone knows, there are no Histories without Witnesses. "Tell me, little girl — what is it that you plan?"

The Girl answered:

>"I plan for vengeance long delayed for harms against myself." Revenge lay thick in her mind like the drying mud-bricks of Miller Ekkur's house.

>"I plan to climb to the heights of the world, for in those rarefied heights could I escape the hands of men and women who seek to harm me." She wished not to harm, but to be unharmed.

>"I seek wisdom, so that I may change the path that seems laid out before me." For hers was a hubris that sought to change destinies. To take the future into her own hands!

>>3720273
You just can't quit writing new ideas eh

>>3720280
>>"I plan for vengeance long delayed for harms against myself." Revenge lay thick in her mind like the drying mud-bricks of Miller Ekkur's house.

>>3720294
Variety, the fruit of Life

>>3720280
>>"I plan for vengeance long delayed for harms against myself." Revenge lay thick in her mind like the drying mud-bricks of Miller Ekkur's house.

>>3720280
>"I seek wisdom, so that I may change the path that seems laid out before me." For hers was a hubris that sought to change destinies. To take the future into her own hands!
I wonder how many people get it by now.

>>3720280
>"I seek wisdom, so that I may change the path that seems laid out before me." For hers was a hubris that sought to change destinies. To take the future into her own hands!

File: Spoiler Image (466 KB, 1280x905)

466 KB JPG

>>3720280
>"I seek wisdom, so that I may change the path that seems laid out before me." For hers was a hubris that sought to change destinies. To take the future into her own hands!
>>3720466
the ways of the changer is before us how foolish it is to seek violence without plans or schemers.
vengeance is nothing without a plan or plan surviving after it and acting like b E aS tS for ripping, tearing cutting flesh drinking blood and collections of skulls.
for with wisdom one can change there life no mater there station in the world.
but i like "I plan to climb to the heights of the world, for in those rarefied heights could I escape the hands of men and women who seek to harm me." but not he last part

File: Ama-gi.png (46 KB, 1600x407)

46 KB PNG

>"I seek wisdom, so that I may change the path that seems laid out before me." For hers was a hubris that sought to change destinies. To take the future into her own hands!

And this pleased the clever god most of all, it who delighted in watching the arrogance of mortals and the subsequent fall. It expected interesting, if not great, future out of the Girl. Expected, because even with the Tablet of Destinies, it could not decipher the future, only the past.

"What is your name, child?" it asked.

"I have no name," said the Girl, and the lord of waters saw that she spoke true.

"You shall have a name," it spoke, and the dark sun blinked in surprise. "It will be a name befitting your ambition, a name from which enslavers and uncles who bondage their orphaned nieces will tremble at the sound. You shall be known as AMA-GI, or Returns-To-Mother. Yours will be the name of freedom."

The Girl saw that the name was good.
The Girl tasted the name, and felt that it was good.
The Girl smelled the name, and found its aroma pleasing to her senses.
The Girl uttered the name, and found it harmonious to her ears.

Thus, she became Ama-gi, the child who yearns to return to innocence. To return to the Source from whence all souls come is the species-ambition of Man.

It spoke still: "And because I have gifted you the Gift of Names, because you have been made Being, not from your own volition, nor from the whispers of the other Three, but myself and I, I will reward you with great power, that which will allow you the chance of achieving your Goal." And it gave her Sorcery.

How crafty it is! How truthful, yet a liar still with its half-truths! Inscrutable, the way of the Changer. Did not the scribe-poet Ra-a-tun sing:

Fear its coming, children of the sands.
Do not open your tents to it,
even if it would invoke the guest right,
even if it should change its voice to that of your father,
your mother, or your uncle and aunt.
Its words are poison, its ways only treachery.
I know this;
For I have become lost in its Ways.

No good comes of consorting with the powers, be they daemons or gods. Often, there is no distinction. That night, the Girl who was no longer Girl but Ama-gi, which in a different way could be interpreted as Freedom, accepted the patriarch of birds and lord of waters into herself. The night sky watched as she was made its. The midnight stars stared as Ama-gi, which means Freedom, was turned into its Being.

And that was the First Irony.

+++++

>>3720904

Ama-gi walked upon the sands, and the dunes wept. Ama-gi trod upon the sands, and the trouts-of-the-desert watched her bare feet that did not burn. Ama-gi walked upon the sands, the honest, brutal sands of the honest, brutal desert, and it squeezed tears from its dry bosom, forming oases and drywells; for even death would have been better than to accept it within herself.

Ama-gi walked upon the sands, and came to the village.

Now it happened that the uncle had claimed her to be lost among the sands. The villagers were gathered. They were listening to the uncle. Boys were sent to fetch drinks of barley wine, old wine — made in preparation for Akitum, which was not yet. And they listened, the men moistening their mouths with old wine made for Akitum. The uncle spoke:

"I have lost my niece! I have lost my goat! Who can make amends for my losses? Who shall repay my goat? Who will prepare my food, clean my house while I am gone?"

The menfolk tutted their tongues with unfelt sympathies. The womenfolk wept, for they were women, and understood little the higher cognitive dimensions. They wept, because they were emotional beings. They wept, because, in their heart of hearts, they had felt sorry for the Girl, whom they did not know was Ama-gi.

"La! La! La!" they cried. And the menfolk tutted in annoyance, for the girl had been in truth mere slave-thing, whereas the goat was wealth.

So went on the uncle, who eulogised his slave-niece, but more his goat, even though he had twenty others in his herd. "Who shall repay my losses?" he wailed. "Who will see fit to dispense judgement in this world of Tiamat?" And Tiamat meant Chaos, the coiled dragon that slept underneath.

Into the village square, where the uncle was gesticulating and mourning, and the villagers watching, strode in Ama-gi. And the villagers were afraid, for they saw that she had changed.

>And she made use of her newfound Sorcery to subjugate them under her Will. Shackled of mind and will, the villagers were reduced from Beings to Things. Terrible they were to witness, but even more terrible to look into their eyes, for they maintained their consciousness.

>And she found that their presence displeased her. Lightning came forth from her fingertips. Thunder eagerly sprang out from her tongue. They found death, unburied and uncared-for. Their souls wandered the Kur, forever tasting dust and ash without anyone to bury them, anyone to pour barley-wine over their tombstones.

>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.

>And she said, "I am Ama-gi, and that means Freedom. I will earn the manumission of my debts. I will repay for the lost goat a hundred-fold. I will do what I must, as my master commands, until the day I am become free." For she was a conscientious child, who knew of the Laws.

>>3720911
>And she found that their presence displeased her. Lightning came forth from her fingertips. Thunder eagerly sprang out from her tongue. They found death, unburied and uncared-for. Their souls wandered the Kur, forever tasting dust and ash without anyone to bury them, anyone to pour barley-wine over their tombstones

>>3720911
>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.

>>3720911
>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.
Fuck the goat-lease

>>3720911
>And she found that their presence displeased her. Lightning came forth from her fingertips. Thunder eagerly sprang out from her tongue. They found death, unburied and uncared-for. Their souls wandered the Kur, forever tasting dust and ash without anyone to bury them, anyone to pour barley-wine over their tombstones.

While we wait for the tiebreaker vote, may I ask what the readers think of this... thing? It's a pretty bizarre thing I am writing, and maybe overly ambitious and quite beyond my place. But I've always enjoyed mythologies and the bronze age stuff. If this quest (which is looking like it'll only go for a very short while) rouses the interest of others in reading such ancient tales of the land between the waters, I will have achieved that which I did not even have hopes for.

Also a bit of practice on writing oddly. Religious writings have always struck a certain something in my heart.

>>3720911
>And she found that their presence displeased her. Lightning came forth from her fingertips. Thunder eagerly sprang out from her tongue. They found death, unburied and uncared-for. Their souls wandered the Kur, forever tasting dust and ash without anyone to bury them, anyone to pour barley-wine over their tombstones.
>>3721355
Well it's unique. I don't know what you're going for though, some kind of gospel of ascension?

>>3720911
>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.
This honestly seems more appropriate. Ash doesn't further anyone's plans, merely vengeance for the sake of vengeance. The Changer of Ways will claim it was just as planned regardless, but changing minds still seems like it would please him more than destroying a village.

>>3721355
An initial turn off, scepticism at first made me think this was just yet another qm who couldn't hold his own purple prose, but after a while i actually started to appreciate the format.

>>3720911
>>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.

>>3720911
>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.
>>3721355
I'm extremely sad she's gone down this path, instead of going her own way. Nothing good will come of cavorting with the Changer of Ways.
>>3721661
I want to spoil this so badly.

>>3721000
>>3721038
>>3722999
>>3723014
>>3723247
>And she declared in front of the tribunal of the masses the sins of her uncle against her Self. Her words were honey, her words were milk. And they flowed from our mouths to bind her uncle and all who had raised their hands against her.

Just as the little trouts of the sand who know to cavort away from caravans that line the desert, the villagers sensed that she was beyond the reach of their stones and fists, not because she spoke the truth, but because she had the force and power to enforce her truth. And the truth bound them with the ropes and whips of guilt.

"Spare us!" said the men. They made sacrifices of human flesh in the form of those judged to be guilty. The man who was Girl's uncle screamed as his neighbours turned against him, dressing his flesh with hands expertly trained with the dressing of goats and sheep. The boys who had tried to take the Girl's first were emasculated and put, too, upon the pyre. Their father himself offered the first prayer of fear.

All these things they did out of fear. There was no love for the truth in their hearts. And the lord of waters opened her Sight that she could see their cowering hearts.

The Girl did not watch the proceedings. In her place was Ama-gi.

Ama-gi saw that the sight of the burnt offering was good.
Ama-gi tasted the charred remains of a sinner, and delighted in its crumble between teeth.
Ama-gi smelled the burn offering, and was charged with power.
Ama-gi was pleased in the burnt offering. And her name means freedom.

+++++

The land of Dilmun is a pure place, the land of Dilmun is a clean place,
The land of Dilmun is a clean place, the land of Dilmun is a bright place;
She who is alone laid herself down in Dilmun,
The place, after Enki is clean, that place is bright.

— Dataslate titled Praise to the City of Dilmun, found in the personal belongings of the Arch-Heretek Paulos of the Archaeonauts, crucified in M38.671

>>3723570

Now it came to pass that the Lugal of the lands of Aratta, whose name was En-suhgir-ana, came to visit the village of Dilmun, where Ama-gi resided.

His priests had told him: "Go! There is a precious thing of lapis lazuli and porphyry. It will bring glory to the lands of Aratta. It will bring prosperity to the lands of Aratta. There will be glory and prosperity in the lands of Aratta. And you, O King, who rules the lands, will be raised high."

So the Lugal walked with his bodyguards of fifty soldiers, who were men of the sword and spear and shields and did not touch the hoe and spade. They were men hardened in the desert. Each were heroes who had killed ten men apiece in single combat. There were no men like these men, in all of Aratta, for this was an age of battles, not wars.

When he came upon the village, the Lugal noted with satisfaction how snugly it was situated. Close to this place, he knew (for he was a man of maps and letters) was the sea and underground springs. This would make a good stopping-place to the lands beyond the Indus, where industrious men in darker skin than theirs made good metal. And the Lugal resolved to make this a city. All this was before he had met Ama-gi.

Ama-gi saw the coming of the Lugal and his fifty soldiers long before he and his men crept up the horizon. Spirits of the wind, servants of the smoking desert, whispered in her ears. When the Lugal who was named En-suhgir-ana came, Ama-gi was prepared.

>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.
She placed the shugurra, the crown of the desert steppes, on her head.
She arranged the raven locks of her hair across her forehead.
She tied the beads of lapis lazuli around her neck,
let the double strand of beads fall to her breast,
and wrapped the pala dress, the garment of ladyship.

>She called to the winds and the fires and the smokes that dance on the desert. Ama-gi said:
"Let him be disrupted, let the sceptre of lordship fall from his fingers.
Let the lands of Aratta become leaderless, like sheep without its shepherd!
Let the House of Dust accept a new slave, servant.
The Lugal of Aratta has come to see Dilmun,
but all he will see is Kur and her endless sands."

>>3723573
>She called to the winds and the fires and the smokes that dance on the desert. Ama-gi said:
>"Let him be disrupted, let the sceptre of lordship fall from his fingers.
>Let the lands of Aratta become leaderless, like sheep without its shepherd!
>Let the House of Dust accept a new slave, servant.
>The Lugal of Aratta has come to see Dilmun,
>but all he will see is Kur and her endless sands."
I really hope this is a choice because I'll look stupid if it's not.

>>3723575
Yes it's a choice, one of the two

>>3723573
>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.
This was part of our Ambition, was it not?

>>3723582
A means to an end, not necessarily the goal itself. That was just an example of ambition. And anons chose:

>"I seek wisdom, so that I may change the path that seems laid out before me." For hers was a hubris that sought to change destinies. To take the future into her own hands!

>>3723573
>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.
Tools are to be used, not burnt.

... Besides, when you do get to the burning part you can do a lot more of it with a relatively intact power structure in your hands.

>>3723596
And also, when the MC is a malnourished waif, how can you possibly resist this option?

>>3723573
>>She called to the winds and the fires and the smokes that dance on the desert. Ama-gi said:

>>3723573
>>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.

>>3723573
>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.

>>3723573
>>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.

At first I see a wall of text and I am unenthused, and then I see Aratta, Lugal and othersuch sumerological guffery, and you have my interest.

>>3723582
>>3723596
>>3723868
>>3723935
>>3724142
>>She readied herself as a bride does waiting for the groom.

She placed the shugurra, the crown of the desert steppes, on her head.
She arranged the raven locks of her hair across her forehead.
She tied the beads of lapis lazuli around her neck,
let the double strand of beads fall to her breast,
and wrapped the pala dress, the garment of ladyship.

And the lord of waters wove a glamour that masked her frail form. It gave her breasts like the hills of the valleys. It coloured her face in full, like polished porphyry of the highest quality. Her skin gleamed with the porcelain light of ivory from far-east Meluhha. Her eyes were made like shining discs of beaten gold, the finest of which is found in the hills of Magan. And the villagers saw that she was beautiful.

When the Lugal arrived with his train of fifty warrior escorts, he saw a small village of little consequence. He turned to his herald and said,
"Say to the men of the village: The priests of the temple of Inanna has spoken - "There is a precious thing of lapis lazuli and porphyry. It will bring glory to the lands of Aratta. It will bring prosperity to the lands of Aratta. It will bring glory and prosperity in the lands of Aratta, and the Lugal who rules the lands will be raised high." Where now is this precious thing? Where is this thing of lapis lazuli and porphyry that is of such great value that it will raise our majesty?" And the herald delivered his word as instructed, for no lowly men of the fields would have the privilege of hearing the Lugal's naked words.

The villagers gathered, and thought, and spoke among themselves. They conversed at length the riddle that was given by the man who led men with daggers and spears and bows and shields. "What can this treasure be?" they asked themselves, wondering. "Why didn't we see it? How did we miss it?" And they spoke at length to one another. In a short time, they began to think of Ama-gi. Yes, there was something that was of some value here. She was a precious thing, looking like a statue of lapis lazuli and porphyry in her robes of ladyship.

But they were loath to let her go, for though they feared her, they lusted after her also, and would rather have her take as husband one among their number, instead of an unknown lord.

Ignorant of the pathetic schemes of his subjects, the Lugal was consumed with wrath. He was not a man given to much waiting, The villagers were not forthcoming about the precious thing, dithering with their whisperings. He turned to his herald and said,
"Say to the men of the village: we have waited with patience. Now we shall wait with violence. Bring me the precious thing of the village of Dilmun, or we shall make it so that there is no longer a village to speak of!"

>>3724218

Persuaded by fear once more, the eldest villager came forward. "There is a girl-child who was killed by her uncle, but was raised back to life and returned with great splendour. The gods love her dearly, and we have become her servants. This may be what my lord speaks of." He knew the girl had been killed, because he was the eldest of the village, with whom the uncle had confided in. But he did not know how the girl came back to life, for all that go to the silent place of Kur never return.

"This is impossible," the Lugal said. "None can return from the ancient place, after they have become stooped and grown old." But he was also of a fanciful mind, and had long thought on the matter of immortality, and coming back from death. "Bring her to me, and I will determine the truth of it."

Ama-gi, having heard the commotion, came out to look at its source. And the Lugal was struck with her sorcerous beauty. One look, and he knew this was the precious thing he was supposed to find. He spoke now freely and openly without the use of his herald, inflamed as he was for mortal passions. He became heedless of mortality, a subject that had until just now been in the forefront of his mind. Instead, his thoughts wandered to a more youthful subject. Creation, not Cessation, crowded his mind.

"Come with us," he said, and the villagers were struck dumb by the majesty of his naked words, for the Lugal was no common man but a sorcerer himself, and much beloved by Inanna. "Everything your heart desires, we can provide. Everything your eyes see will belong to you. The ladies of the court will touch the ground with their brows in your passing, and you will be dressed in such things - sacred textile from holy Eridu and jewelleries of gold from the clever craftsmen of Ur. You will have a seat by my right side, and the pleasures of the world will be yours forever." Power lay thick in his words, this sorcerer of Inanna. The village women listened, and their knees weakened. The men looked in distaste at this rival, but did nothing, on account of the fifty men with spears and shields.

The girl was unaffected by his words, laden with warping things of the Source, from whence all sorcery comes. She knew then that the Lugal was himself a sorcerer, though with a different patron. Inanna, war-goddess. Inanna, star of morning and evening. Inanna, the irrepresible goddess from whose loins springs the creative powers that begets the world.

"I am not a common waif to be wooed with tricks," she said, surprising and enticing the Lugal with her unexpected aloofness. "But I will go with you, under certain conditions. You will not take me as another consort, but queen. And we will not share in the lovemaking of marriage. I am beholden to another."

File: art-art-барышня-красивые-(...).jpg (607 KB, 1294x2000)

607 KB JPG

>>3724233

This angered the Lugal, but just as quick his emotions were fettered. He would work his sorcery on this thing, slowly but surely. Has he not seduced and made his a thousand and one hundred consorts? Was his masculine prowess not the talk of the cities of the world? She was to him merely another collectible. As for queen, that position which was long reserved for the chief patron of the Lugal, Inanna herself—

"You shall have it," he replied, so blinded was he by his fiery passion. Then he ordered the slaughter of the villagers, for they had heard his naked voice.

From her heavenly sedan, Inanna was roused with flames of jealousy.

+++++

The messenger from Uruk, who was the mouthpiece of Enmerkar said to the lord of Aratta: "The great queen of heaven, who rides upon the awesome me, dwelling on the peaks of the bright mountains, adorning the dais of the bright mountains — my lord and master, who is her servant, has had them install her as the divine queen of E-anna. Aratta shall bow, O lord, in absolute submission! She has spoken to him thus, in brick-built Kulaba."

Thereupon, the lord of Aratta became depressed and deeply troubled.

— The First Declaration of War, original clay tablet stored in the Hall of Victories until M30.122, current whereabouts unknown

Ama-gi reclined in her bed, watching the cat play with her necklace. The evening sun reflected prettily upon the distant sea that was visible by virtue of the palatial height her room was located in. What a pretty thing, she thought. Whether she meant the cat of the setting sun was not clear even to herself.

She was still a girl, but more a woman. Rich food and a life of continued exercise filled her former gauntness to pleasing hardness. She did not require sorcery to make herself look fulfilling anymore. But she still avoided the bed of the lugal.

"What a terrible womaniser," she said out loud, knowing that there would be servants who eavesdropped and relayed everything she said back to the king. She began playing with the cat's nose. The cat said, "meow."

Then it said, "Are you now satisfied with life?" A mischievous twinkle shone in its not-quite feline eyes.

>"Proper meals and a life of luxury. What more could I ask for?" she replied indolently. A life fit for a queen, for queen she was. What, indeed, could she ask for? She perked up from the bed. "Would you give it to me if I asked?"

>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.

>>3724200
Expect infrequent updates and every one of them being walloftexts. I'm trying out a... thing.

>>3724247
Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well

>>3724240
>>>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.

>>3724260
All I care about is that we're fucking dead.

>>3724240
>>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.


omg this has all been an intro

>>3724240
>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.

Both options seem exceedingly perilous, but I suppose that is just the way of things. I'm content to simply see where this road leads now. Perhaps the wrath of Inanna can be directed, rather than stilled?

>>3724240
>>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.
Nothing is free

>>3724240
>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.

>>3724271
>>3724315
>>3724428
>>3724429
>>3724870
>"There's always something else," she replied, flicking the not-cat's ear. "You have been good to me so far. But everything that is sacred takes with one hand, and gives with the other." She had been watching the dancer monks earlier that day. One hand lifted up to receive the bounties of the gods, and another hand to just as quickly throw them away, lest they burn their hands in heavenly gifts.

"I haven't asked anything of you," it purred. "A single night in exchange for the power to bend reality is hardly a fair bargain."

"Lecherous thing," she scolded, throwing a pillow that it dodged. It lifted its head up haughtily in a perfect imitation of a cat. For a cat it was, at least in this moment. The gods are like humans in their natural aspects. And sometimes, humans wish to be something other than human. The difference between those mortal and divine is that the latter are able to make their wishes come true.

And now it lept up the sill, graceful as you please. "A war is coming, Girl." It was the only thing that called her Girl still.

"Ama-gi." She preferred her name.

"Return to Sender," it said cryptically, and chortled at its own anachronistic joke. "Oh, you flesh things. Always so obsessed with becoming nothing. Why be anything in the first place? No, do not answer. I know. Memories."

"You planned for this confrontation between the two countries, didn't you?" she asked. She knew the answer, of course. Or at least, thought she did. A year in the court of En-suhgir-ana had given her as much cynicism as that night, when her Sight was awakened under the instruction of her patron.

But it was just as possible that it had done no such thing. The cat smiled cryptically, startling her. Normal cats do not have the facial muscles to pull it off. Then it hopped down the windowsill, down where there was no landing, down, down, down...

The Queen who was Ama-gi watched from her bed as a swallow swooped up from below and fly off, until it became nothing more than a dot in the sky.

>>3725589
+++++

From the great heaven She set her mind on the lands below.
From the great heaven the Goddess set her mind on the lands below.
From the great heaven Inanna set her mind on the lands below.
My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned the joys of heaven, and descended to the world.
Inanna abandoned heaven, abandoned pleasure, and descended to the world.
She abandoned the office of en, abandoned the office of lagar, and descended to the world.
She abandoned the E-muc-kalama in Bad-tibira, and descended to the world.
She abandoned the Giguna in Zabalam, and descended to the world.
She came into the E-anna in Uruk, and began secret communion with enlightened Enmerkar.

And Holy Inanna instructed to Enmerkar:

"Come, our faithful minister of E-anna, our minister who speaks fair words, our escort who speaks trustworthy words. We shall give you instructions: our instructions must be followed; We are going to say something to you: it must be observed.

"On this day you will begin the preparations of a war for our sake. On this day, when the Akitum festival is at its zenith, you will turn lathes to spears, scythes to daggers. And the brawny-armed farmers under your command will be turned into Soldiers.

(And she gave to Utu, her divine brother, the me of the Soldier. She opened her side and wrenched her ribs inscribed with the [b[me of the Soldier. For the queen of heaven was a holder of many mes.)

"Heed the instructions of our brother! He is a valiant warrior. Listen to the words of Utu, he whose solar gaze shines all things in the world. Your men will be like bulls in the field, like lions who chase the gazelles of the mountains...

And Holy Inanna fed the blood of her wound to Enmerkar, who grew strong and horned like the bulls of the field. His roar became like the lion that chases the gazelles into the mountains.

[...]

"...For he has sinned against us, abandoned our temples, and poured libations on foreign vessels to the play-thing of Enki, my father. He has displaced the queen of heaven with the whore of Dilmun."

And the queen of heaven withdrew her favour from the lands of Aratta.

—Excerpts from Birth of the Murderer-God, apocryphal texts from the reliquaries of the Church of the Empress and Her Eight-Pointed Star, last purged in Eidon Secundus by Inquisitor Wensciezlas, M40.197

>>3725590

Utu, the valiant warrior, taught the men of Enmerkar to march. He imparted upon them the knowledge of weapons and the seven ways of the spear. Shields were strengthened with sturdier wicker bindings. Burnished bronze helms were fastened upon their brows. He and his new men ranged far and wide and captured shepherds to test the strength of their swords. He forged them brass chariots, the likes of which had never been seen before.

And the men of Uruk were fearful, for this was until now an age of battles, not wars.

The lord of waters whose name is Intelligence whispered these things into its favoured. Enki spoke through the reed-walls to Ama-gi, Queen of the land of Aratta, whom it favoured.

Ama-gi stood upon the clay terrace and looked to the horizon. Ama-gi freed her mind's Sight from the wheels that chained Time, and saw beyond mortal ken to witness the trampling of hooves and marching of men in young Uruk.

She saw her royal husband with his own men and bronze chariots meeting the foreign army. He had fifty men, exemplary in the art of battle. But the Lugal was no longer lugal; he held no greatness in him. Utu had two thousand men, exemplary in the art of war.

Inanna had withdrawn her favour.

The temple singer Ishur-anum sang of death in this way:
His once impressive voice is rendered silent.
His magnificent physique becomes that of an old man.
His strong legs, like pillars, they once stood,
crumbles from the onslaught of gallal-demons.
What, for the ravages of time?
How, against a foe that never sleeps?
Only When is the question that is certain.
Hold your loved ones tight,
lay with them with much vigour in your youth.

The queen was keenly reminded of the dirge as she foresaw her royal husband, struck down by a javelin, thrown from war-chariots. And she knew that what she saw would come to pass if she did not make Changes in the Way.

>She said to herself: "I shall surrender the lands of Aratta to Utu, valiant warrior. I shall charm him with sweet words of strife and tear him from the bosom of Inanna!"
The queen whose name meant freedom intended to meddle with the affair of the gods themselves.

>She announced to the unsuspecting attendants: "Bring to me the healthy men of the fields. Bring to me, those remarked upon to have sound minds and sound limbs. I shall make a new kind of warrior, a race of indefatigable men that will be resolute even against the bronze spears of Uruk."
The queen whose name signified the Return to that which is Mother began preparing her scalpels and ungents and terrible tinctures that held a terrible purpose.

>>3725592
>>She said to herself: "I shall surrender the lands of Aratta to Utu, valiant warrior. I shall charm him with sweet words of strife and tear him from the bosom of Inanna!"


not gonna lie most of this is flying over my head, but I like it all the same

>>3725592
>She said to herself: "I shall surrender the lands of Aratta to Utu, valiant warrior. I shall charm him with sweet words of strife and tear him from the bosom of Inanna!"

>>3725592
>>She announced to the unsuspecting attendants: "Bring to me the healthy men of the fields. Bring to me, those remarked upon to have sound minds and sound limbs. I shall make a new kind of warrior, a race of indefatigable men that will be resolute even against the bronze spears of Uruk."

>>3725592
>She announced to the unsuspecting attendants: "Bring to me the healthy men of the fields. Bring to me, those remarked upon to have sound minds and sound limbs. I shall make a new kind of warrior, a race of indefatigable men that will be resolute even against the bronze spears of Uruk."
>The queen whose name signified the Return to that which is Mother began preparing her scalpels and ungents and terrible tinctures that held a terrible purpose.

Oh god yes, this is going to get horrible and I WANT it. It's time for things to get real. Chaos and death!

>>3725592
>She announced to the unsuspecting attendants: "Bring to me the healthy men of the fields. Bring to me, those remarked upon to have sound minds and sound limbs. I shall make a new kind of warrior, a race of indefatigable men that will be resolute even against the bronze spears of Uruk."
>The queen whose name signified the Return to that which is Mother began preparing her scalpels and ungents and terrible tinctures that held a terrible purpose.

>>3725592
>She said to herself: "I shall surrender the lands of Aratta to Utu, valiant warrior. I shall charm him with sweet words of strife and tear him from the bosom of Inanna!"

>>3725596
t. unsuspecting attendants

>>3725596
>>3725663
You could hit up some websites about Sumerian myths real quick and try to keep up with OPs wild ride, but I'm not sure exactly how much good it would do you. I consider myself hopelessly uneducated on the subject, but I do have enough of an idea that I really want to see where OP is going with this little "spin" of his.

>>3725592
>>She announced to the unsuspecting attendants: "Bring to me the healthy men of the fields. Bring to me, those remarked upon to have sound minds and sound limbs. I shall make a new kind of warrior, a race of indefatigable men that will be resolute even against the bronze spears of Uruk."
>>The queen whose name signified the Return to that which is Mother began preparing her scalpels and ungents and terrible tinctures that held a terrible purpose.

>>3725592
>She said to herself: "I shall surrender the lands of Aratta to Utu, valiant warrior. I shall charm him with sweet words of strife and tear him from the bosom of Inanna!"
I don't want to go full evil just yet

>>3727301
Evil-apples and evil-oranges

>>3727301
>I don't want to go full evil just yet
What, you don't want to birth the children of Innanna?

>>3727809
They shall be my finest warriors... yet even they cannot overcome the ravages of Tie.

>>3728130
I could samefag for you, but I'd say just flip a coin if a vote refuses to resolve.

>>3728138
I love Democracy. I love the Republic.

I don't understand why one would want to try to out-War the War goddess...

>>3728147
Chaos AND death, that's why!

She announced to the unsuspecting attendants: "Bring to me the healthy men of the fields. Bring to me, those remarked upon to have sound minds and sound limbs. I shall make a new kind of warrior, a race of indefatigable men that will be resolute even against the bronze spears of Uruk."

>>3725592
>She said to herself: "I shall surrender the lands of Aratta to Utu, valiant warrior. I shall charm him with sweet words of strife and tear him from the bosom of Inanna!"
MANEATER OWOWOWOWO

Oh gods, tied just as I was about to close the vote.

I haven't abandoned this quest. I've merely been very ill (and is in the process of going through said illness). It is difficult to write like this at the best of times. In my feverish state, I don't think I can manage it at all.

Thank you for those who took an interest. I will update in this thread once I get better.

>>3732788
Good to hear from you QM heads up tho if you don't post in 72 hours the thread will delete itself.

>>3732801
I had no idea, I should probably save up what I wrote on a doc somewhere. Thanks!

>>3732807
Not a problem man If you want you can archive this thread and pick it up when you are feeling better.

link to archive tool
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/requestqstinterface.html

>>3732801
>if you don't post in 72 hours the thread will delete itself.
Excuse me? What? When did that become a thing? Or are you confused about what the 72hr-permasage means?

>>3734907
Turns out you are right I was mistaken my bad.