#gilgeam

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Old Empires: The Conquest of Unther

Beginning on 17th Tarsakh 1371 DR the Empire of Mulhorand invades the crumbling remains of the Empire of Unther.

Such an event deserves enough detail to allow GM's and players to take part in the conquest or even just wander the Old Empires with the invasion in the backdrop.

This article is a campaign arc which hopefully provides enough detail to allow people to play through the conquest as a campaign event. It draws upon the lore and detail expanding upon in previous articles about the Old Empires and provides other plot hooks and adventure ideas to take part in around these events.

In total there are 8 major battles culminating in the siege of Messemprar that ultimately results in the return of Enlil and a restoration of Unther and the ancient alliance between the two empires.

Along the way players can take part in the battle of the Greenfields, the siege of Unthalass, and the return of Gilgeam.

Despite the huge military advantage not everything goes Mulhorand's way as it appears that everyone wants a piece of the remains of Unther. The Church of Tiamat wants what they feel is rightfully theirs, pirates and monsters want to take whatever they can get, the Banites and Thayans want to make sure Mulhorand doesn't get anything, and the people of Unther just want somewhere to live in peace.

The Old Empires is undergoing a major upheaval and the players get to be right in the middle of it.

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Deities With a Difference - Gilgeam

Gilgeam was the defining deity and indeed the defining characteristic of Unther. When someone thinks of Unther, their next thought is invariably Gilgeam.

He ruled Unther for thousands of years with a tyrannical fist, imposing his cruel whims on the poor populace.

Every aspect of Unther has been shaped by Gilgeam in some way, either by his life or by his death. Even the death-throes of Unther, which start with the invasion by Mulhorand are sparked by Gilgeam's destruction.

I felt that someone so iconic for a region should be given a chance at survival in one form or another.

My idea for Gilgeam's survival first came from a discussion about avatars and what happened to them when a god died. For any of you that have played the Baldur's Gate computer games, the encounter with Kozah suggests that some can survive.

Gilgeam was a mad, paranoid, control freak. He thought he and Unther would be eternal, but it would be foolish for a being of near unlimited power not to prepare for the event of his demise. So I came up with the idea of the Aspects of Gilgeam, weakened versions of avatars that survived his destruction and were locked away from the world in secret prisons.

All I needed then was a means of escape and thanks to a novel (The Alabaster Staff) that had Gilgeam resurrected with an artefact, I decided to use Gilgeam himself as the mechanism of escape. His undead avatar stalking the lands formerly owned by Unther and killing off his own aspects to return him to divinity, a bit like Highlander but with godhood. 

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Deities With a Difference: Gilgeam

Article 6 of Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue IV is an alternate take on the God-King of Unther; Gilgeam.

Official sources portray Gilgeam as a mad, tyrannical despot that persecutes the people of Unther whenever the mood takes him.

This alternate take on Gilgeam delves into his past and what made him the monster he was before his death in 1358 DR.

The Orcgate wars is the major event in Gilgeam's descent, his battles with members of the orc pantheon poisoned his heart and led to his poisoned personality.

Next he began plotting and murdering his way to the top of the Akanic pantheon before using the Imaskari Planar Barrier to trap Enlil in an extra dimensional prison forever and usurp the rule of the Untheric pantheon. Then he began centuries of misrule and tyranny and systematically eliminated all rivals to his rule.

Unther was finally freed when his ancient nemesis, Tiamat the Dark Lady, returned to finish the job she began many years before in the Orcgate Wars.

This alternate version draws heavily on the alternate history of Akanu as well as the alternate histories of Tiamat and Bahamut.

However as with many gods Gilgeam's death does not have to be final. Following the alternate history of the Old Empires is an alternate future, when Mulhorand invades Unther this begins a chain reaction of events that results in the restoration of Unther's gods and then a merger between the Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons. One of these events is the return of Gilgeam as an insane, undead tyrant.

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Old Empires: History of Akanu

Article 5 of Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue IV gives an alternate take upon the history of Unther.

For this article I created the entire history of an ancient empire that existed in the lands that Chessenta now occupies. The name for this empire came from the mountain range and lake in Chessenta; Akanu, as well as the head of the Babylonian pantheon; Anu.

When the Mulan gods came to Toril there were originally three pantheons comprising the Egyptian, Sumerian, and Babylonian gods and the peoples they rescued from the Imaskari.

These three peoples were led by their gods to the lands that would become Mulhorand, Unther, and Akanu where each pantheon established their own empires.

Akanu was ruled by Anu and the pantheon of god kings that lived their included among their number a god named Gilgeam.

The Orcgate Wars shattered the Akanic and Untheric pantheons, and Gilgeam finished off a few more of the Akanic gods, including the greater god Anu using Entropy.

Gilgeam then assumed the head of the Akanic pantheon and approached Enlil of the nearby Untheric pantheon to propose an alliance. On that fateful day, Gilgeam eliminated Enlil and walked into Unthalass declaring himself Enlil's named heir and now head of Akanu and Unther.

After that history continues as normal and any differences between official realms history and this alternate version are down to Gilgeam rewriting the history books.