Geography & Climate: Babylonia presides upon a flat, alluvial plain defined largely by two great rivers, Euphrates and Tigris. To the north and east the Zagros Mountains form a formidable border; as does the desert known as The Indominatable Waste to the west and south. The climate is hot and semi-arid, with cooler, slightly wetter winters of sporadic rainfall. The region directly about the rivers is humid and fertile, providing amply for agriculture and settlement. Annual floods, though destructive, rejuvenate the soil with nutrients and allow for multiple, prolonged growing seasons throughout the year. Cities flourish here, chief amongst them the great city of Babylon itself. Beyond the fertile river lands, the country becomes dry, particularly in the south and west where the great deserts have buried the antediluvian lands of Zahar.
Culture: At this time Babylonia is approximately 1,000 years old, predated in the region by ancient Sumer and Akkad. It’s culture is a rich and ancient one. All the worthy arts, sciences, trades and philosophies are practiced or originated here. The written word is cherished, as are the people who can wield it. Warrior-kings forge dynasties through conquest and intrigue while rich priests exercise both temporal and spiritual power. Astrologists carefully observe and confer with the stars and advise the elite on their machinations. Opulent houses of pleasure cater to the whims of the indolent and libertine. Mercantile trade is brisk and abundant, radiating out from and into the many riverine cities of Babylonia to neighboring Assyria, Elam and as far afield as Kush, Egypt, Meluhha and Khitai. Babylon is arguably the world’s greatest city, boasting several hundred thousand residents and countless temples, parks, beer houses and palaces all within its massive brick walls.
The story of Babylon is both the story of the Sumerian forebears who settled in millennia past and the successive waves of foreign conquerors who ultimately adopted and adapted to its ways. Akkadians, Guti, Amorites, Kassites, Arameans, Suteans, Chaldeans and more have arrived and prevailed only to see their children become Babylonians in the end.
The primary language of Babylon, Akkadian, is the lingua franca of Mesopotamia. Its widespread use facilitates the flow of goods and ideas across the region. Aramaic is slowly supplanting Akkadian in certain western quarters of Assyria and its client states; but the languages are related and most still speak the common Akkadian to some degree of proficiency. Scholars must learn to read and write Sumerian, and priests will speak it aloud for ceremonial purposes. Besides these, one can hear Elamite, Chaldean, the dialects of far off Persia, Media, Phoenicia and Meluhha as well as the rough tongues of Scythia and Cimmeria spoken within the marketplaces and ports of the region. In dark, secret places the forbidden tongue of Zahar is intoned by sorcerers and cult leaders.
Politics: Assyria has been the dominant political power in the region for centuries; Babylon has until very recently been its vassal state. Civil war amongst the ruling Assyrian families and incursions from Egypt to the west and barbarian tribes to the north and east have weakened the hold King Sargon has on the region. This past year the Chaldean malka (chieftain) Marduk-Baladan successfully led a coalition against Assyrian rule, throwing off the yoke of vassalage, and now presides as King of Babylonia. Babylon has known countless kings from many tribes over the many centuries of its existence. One does not conquer Babylon so much as inhabit it, and those who come to rule the city most often discover that it was they who were either destroyed or changed in end.
Neighbors: Babylon’s immediate neighbors and oft-time rivals are Elam and Assyria. Elam presides east of Babylonia, up against and including the southwest highlands of the Zagros Mountains. Its people speak their own language and have a culture unique from their Semitic neighbors and the Aryan tribes to the east and north. The capital of Susa was founded thousands of years ago at the watershed of the Karun river. The Elamite people were contemporaries of the ancient Sumerians, their respective civilizations having risen almost side-by-side. Over the millennia since, Elam has conquered and/ or been conquered by Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria. Recently, King Kumbanigash joined with the Babylonian King Marduk-Baladan against Assyria. The two allied nations now enjoy warm relations.
Assyria is an Akkadian-speaking state which grew out from its ancient capital of Ashur, founded nearly 2,000 years ago. Assyria was an early rival to and vassal state of Babylon that rose to prominence over eight centuries ago when Babylonia was crushed and its capital sacked by the Hittites. The current Assyrian Empire loosely controls a large swath of land from Anatolia in the west to the Indus Valley in the east. It has enjoyed several centuries of sustained growth and preeminence following the collapse of Egyptian, Hittite and Babylonian power in the region. Recent rebellions within the ruling family and invasions from Egypt and Aryan barbarians, however, created the opportunity for Babylon and a coalition of smaller allied states to secede. King Sargon II is currently afield, fighting the allied Cimmerians and Scythians, but should he prove victorious a confrontation with the Babylonian Coalition seems inevitable.
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