Babylon 3000 BC - LORE

Babylon was the capital of the biggest, richest empire in all of Mobius, thousands of years ago. The city was widely known for its riches, its architecture, its advanced technology. Naturally many people wanted a part of that life. So they began flocking towards the ever growing city.

As it goes when many people come to the same city with high hopes and dreams, some ended up being disappointed. Some arrived too late. Some ended up on the streets. The City of Babylon was split into districts of different political importance and standing.

Imagine you’re an immigrant. You enter the city over a bridge towards a blue gate, bigger and more pompous than anything you’ve ever seen. But behind the gate you don’t find a comfy home and a pile of golden coins. You find a road with many doors that are locked to you. The first gate is the only one you may pass. It leads to the commoners district. A place where people work hard for their daily bread, but most are happy nontheless. Houses are so close to each other that some alleyways are hardly even wide enough to accommodate more than one person walking through them. All you see are windows, hardly ever doors. The entrances of the buildings face away from the busy street to give the residents privacy. Houses have small courtyards that connect 2 - 4 houses with each other. Neighbours cook and chat together in the courtyard. They play board games. Children play. And when night falls everyone returns into their bedrooms.  Some have even taken to living on their roofs in summer.

It’s a simple life but not a bad one.

Hidden in the shadows of the crowded commoners district however are the slums. I don’t need to explain to you what the slums are. The poor. The sick. Thieves. Murderers. The abandoned. A place almost devoid of hope.

The only thing people from these two districts have in common is their hope to one day cross the river that splits the great city in two halves.

Because on the other side lies their promised land.

The University district. - Reserved for those who have the funds and status to study languages, architecture or the arts.

The Royal district. - Reserved for the Royal Family and their staff.

The Temple district. - Reserved for the priestesses and their staff. Lead by the most beloved mortal figure in all of Babylon. The high Priestess Anatu. Which brings me to point two of this lore post:

Now it was no mistake of mine, or an attempt for a cool segway into the religion topic that I placed “Royal district” beneath “Temple district”. In fact these were sorted by their political importance.

That’s right. Babylon my be ruled by a King and his Queen. But even the King is bound to listen to the words of the High Priestess as she is the voice of the gods and thus the most powerful mortal woman in the Empire of Babylon:

Meet the high priestess Anatu:

Above her are only the Anunnaki themselves. The Gods that travelled from the stars and founded the city of Babylon.

As the high priestess she first and foremostly serves the highest of their gods who embodies the sun. You will see the flower-like symbol on her palms and her brooch. That is the god’s symbol. It represents the sun. It’s one of the symbols you will encounter quite frequently in the city. But he is not the only god.

There are three others.
Ellil who is the counsellor of the sun.
Ninurta who is the sun’s chamberlain.
and Ennugi who controls the canal.

The Sun god and his chamberlain reside in the palace on the hanging gardens, the floating island that powers the city.