Worldbuilding

Overview

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The New Kingdom is a science fiction/fantasy world set against the backdrop of the Ancient Egyptian Empire.

 

In this universe, humans from the future have travelled back in time and merged their powerful technology with the Ancient World to create a melding of cyberpunk aesthetics and historical fiction (think: Blade Runner meets 300).

 

Conflict in this universe centers around  clashes between the corrupt ruling class of the New Kingdom, the Ozymandian Sovereign, and bands of rebels from the edges of society. Players enter this world as mysterious figures known as Metonyms, time travelers of unknown origin who are destined to decide the fate of yesteryear.

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I. Origins

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2500 AD.

 

End times.

 

While humankind has gone on to harness the power of the sun via a colossal Dyson Sphere that now orbits Earth, years of climate disaster and worldwide catastrophe provoked by nuclear conflict have placed civilization on the edge of destruction. 

 

This is the breaking point.

 

Until… hope.

 

As the doomsday clock edges closer towards midnight, a federation of leading scientists have managed to construct a time machine capable of reaching far into the past. With the fate of the human race hanging in the balance, they have sent a sort of generation ship—a temporal ark filled with over 200 people—back in time to build a safer world. These pilgrims crossed through the slipstream and emerged in Egypt, circa 2532 BC. Land of pharaohs. Land of prosperity. Land of gods, kings, and legendary warriors.

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Though humanity has spared itself, the lessons of the future were quickly forgotten. The time travelers quickly use their advanced technology and weapons to seize control and build a Pilgrim Empire along the Nile—a strange mirror image of the dystopian society from which they fled. In the century that followed, this dynasty flourished into a world-conquering kingdom that melds cyberpunk innovation with ancient aesthetics. Here, hologram tigers dart through VR arcades. Here, plasma guns are traded alongside electrically charged spears and homing arrows. Here, chariots roam in the shadow of flying cars. The Great Sphinx of Giza now presides over a neon-soaked slum that expands as far as the eye can see, a mercantile complex where androids and humans live under the piercing gaze of their neoteric overlords.

This is The New Kingdom.

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II. Regions of the Story World

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While the Pilgrim Empire now reaches across the entire world, our story is primarily centered around its locus of power: the heart of Ancient Egypt. Below is a general overview of the most important locations within its capital city.

 

New Memphis

 

New Memphis is the power center of the Empire, home of the aristocratic class. A massive wall has been built around the city to keep out the underlings. New Memphis itself is covered in concrete, steel, and brightly colored holographic foliage—a futuristic imagining of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Citizens here reside in imposing high rises, which are perpetually lit by the spotlights of buzzing security drones. On the streets below, the locals can be found betting on droid fights at the Coliseum Isis or navigating the regional politics in the city’s notorious red light district. Only the most powerful members of the Pilgrim Empire, the Ozymandian Sovereign, are allowed entrance to the palace at the city center, where the Great Pharaoh and his disciples plot in complete secrecy.

 

The Valley of the Pyramids

 

Once you exit the Gates of Memphis, you are greeted by an expansive district of slums. Thousands of shacks and dingy buildings pile together in the streets between the pyramids—a baffling maze further bisected by a lattice of elevated walkways and underground honeycomb of sewage canals. Everyone is lost here. Locals are a mix of disempowered descendants from the original Pilgrims—not to mention a steady stream of wanderers and vagabonds from neighboring regions. In the daytime, the market squares overflow with grifters selling all manners of mismatched contraptions. At nightfall, the arcades and opium dens fill with miserable outcasts in desperate need of escape. Pollution from New Memphis is expelled over The Valley Complex, cloaking the skies in perpetual acid rain and forcing the locals to wear protective gear when outside.

 

The Wastes

 

As The Valley Complex dissolves on the fringes of the Western Desert, society collapses into a realm of thieves and pirates. They patrol the vast landscape on powerful airship caravans, clashing with one another and looting the occasional passerby. The outlands are a perfect incubator for outlaws and rebel organizations looking to turn the world on its head and refashion society in their own image. Wary of this, the Pilgrim Empire sends armored units out into no man’s land to prevent these groups from growing too powerful. Alas, these units are often just as corrupt and ill-intentioned as the outlaws they claim to fight. Be careful, traveler, for those who answer the call of the desert seldom return…

 

The River Mysteries

 

Small villages string along the Nile, where outcasts have merged Egyptian mythology with Pilgrim technology to create a bizarre form of ritual magic. The ways of these malnourished River Mysteries are unknown to most residents of the empire. Forgoing the trappings of modernity, the residents here live in proud solitude: Strangers are unwelcome in these parts. As such, the dilapidated villages have basked in secrecy for ages, with their wooden shacks and windmills hidden beneath reams of heavy fog. This is an unknown place. But rumors persist nonetheless—whispers of resurrected mummies, summoned demons, and blood sacrifice.

 

Delta City

 

An artificial island has been constructed in the heart of the Nile Delta. Its gates are protected by a gigantic mecha—Nile Sorceress 1086—which can be piloted remotely by the warlords in New Memphis. Delta City is an industrial town noted for its smoldering energy core, sourced from a man-made wormhole in the heart of the ocean. This core is responsible for powering the electrical grid for the entire empire, and its powerful fission cells cloak the streets in heavy plumes of radioactive ash. Residents of Delta City spend their lives toiling in the power plant, which often leaves them deformed and charred beyond recognition. But many city goers, regardless, dream of moving to the Delta, with the hope of an honest wage casting its allure—like brume—all throughout the kingdom.

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Field of Reeds

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Prior to venturing back in time, civilization had progressed to the point of building a sophisticated virtual reality network—CenturyGrid—which could be accessed via VR helmets. CenturyGrid wound up being a major source of global instability; as such, this technology has been banned by the Ozymandian Sovereign in the New Kingdom. But that didn't stop a group of secretive inventors and engineers from building a new CenturyGrid in the past, calling it Field of Reeds. This is a highly digitized virtual plane—feels like slipping between the glitchy pixels in a 1980s arcade cabinet. While many have heard of the VR expanse, it is only discussed in shadowy backrooms, only accessed through black market VR dens. Regardless, it is populated by all varieties of social strata, from criminal lowlifes to high-ranking aristocrats. For everyone is equal in the Field of Reeds.

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III. Factions of The New Kingdom

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The Ozymandian Sovereign

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The Pilgrim Kingdom is governed by a totalitarian royal court, The Ozymandian Sovereign. The government resides solely behind the walls of New Memphis, but their presence is felt globally through a highly oppressive security state and police force spanning the ancient world. While their current ruler—Ogheart Ramesses—is known all throughout the region, his court conducts much of the empire’s business. In other words, despite all outward appearances, this is far from a unified ruling class; the Ozymandian Sovereign subsists on an endless game of political chess played between Ramesses’ advisors and generals. But at the end of the day, they all share the same goal: sole dominion over the Nile.

 

River Witches

 

A cult of necromancers living on the Nile, the River Witches are more than content to stay out of worldly affairs. They care not about the pitiful toiling of emperors and kings. Rather, their interest lies with unraveling the secrets of The Book of the Dead. The Ozymandian Sovereign has no need for these chaotic witches, choosing to leave them to their own devices so long as they don’t interfere with imperial affairs. And the River Witches are more than satisfied with such an unsteady peace. Their sole allegiance is to each other—not the empire, not humanity, not the greater good. But should the Ozymandian Sovereign overreach into their riverfront refuge, the River Witches are more than prepared to defend their homestead…

 

FreeRoamers

 

Located in the Wastes outside of the Valley Complex, the FreeRoamers are a motley band of misfit pirates united by a loosely defined government. Though the FreeRoamers exist in conflict with one another, they will always come together to resist the overreach of the Ozymandian Sovereign. These gadfly rebels utilize far less advanced—and far less trackable—technology to resist the kingdom’s influence, but they are fierce warriors regardless, possessing an acute knowledge of the desert topography. They live in perpetual war against the Pilgrim Empire, with goals of one day overthrowing the crown and setting their world free. 

 

The Scarab Brotherhood

 

Found in the catacombs and sewage canals beneath the Valley Complex, the Scarab Brotherhood are a band of thieves, assassins, and crooks pledged to the subterranean opium trade. There are few groups more secretive and elusive than the Scarabs… but once you earn their trust, you’ve got it for life. The Scarabs play all sides of the aisle. One day they might be executing a contract killing in a New Memphis lounge; the next, they might be delivering a shipment of banned substances to an underground den in Delta City. Theirs is a simple code: A Scarab gleams above glitter and gold.

 

Obscurants

 

Though VR technology is banned within the kingdom, a shared virtual plane does exist—Field of Reeds. You can find it in the basements of arcades around the Valley Complex. This VR grid is populated by a hidden collective known only as the Obscurants. Their power reaches far and wide—all the way to the upper chambers of the Ozymandian Sovereign. However, their interest lies not with wielding their tremendous (albeit invisible) political clout, but rather with protecting their virtual kingdom from outside intruders. While this is a completely decentralized group, strength among the Obscurants congeals around a laconic figure known only as ShadowLark, though his identity in the waking world remains a mystery…

 

IV. Player Character: The Metonym

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The Metonym is a mysterious time traveler who comes from a different era than the other Pilgrims. In their journey back in time, The Metonym lost much of their memory—their past is now a blurry picture. Little is known about their point of origin or the era they call home.

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The Metonym is the player's avatar in the world of The New Kingdom. As such, their appearance, origin story, and true intentions are left up to player choice. Are they a malevolent wizard who has descended on the past to wreak havoc and plunge this world into ruin? Or are they a heroic vigilante driven to overthrow the Ozymandian Sovereign and liberate the kingdom? Will they side with the FreeRoamers and rebel against the crown? Or will they join the Scarab Brotherhood—or even the Obscurants—in a blind pursuit of power and profane knowledge? These choices are the player's, and the player's alone.

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But one thing is clear:

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The fate of this world rests in their hands.

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V. World Logic

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The following are a series of general rules to guide storytelling within The New Kingdom universe. Think of these like the speed limits of our world—the boundaries in which to play.

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Soft Science Fiction

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The New Kingdom is not hard sci-fi. Ideas do not need serious scientific grounding to work, and tone matters more than viability (within reason, of course). This is a dystopian sci-fi world—one evoking the neon clad cityscapes of Blade Runner or Neuromancer.

 

Some basics: Hologram and virtual reality tech has grown remarkably sophisticated. An endlessly renewable (but environmentally hazordous) energy source exists in the wormhole at Delta City, making possible the invention of things like flying cars and giant mecha. Weapons and tools integrating plasma technology are common, though limited to those in power. Androids and cybernetic enhancements are also abundant.

 

But tech in this world has remained physical, analogue, and tactile—like a future from a 1980s Chris Claremont comic. Outside of the VR realm traversed by Obscurants, the internet is largely absent. No social media. No streaming. Payphones still exist. People still read books, rent movies, and play video games at arcades.

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Space travel has not yet occurred in this world, as the Pilgrims have only been in control for about 100 years. While the empire will eventually begin its journey into the stars, it has not yet looked to the heavens. And the humanity of 2,500 AD has not yet made significant advancements in interstellar travel, etc.

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On Time Travel

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If not fully considered, time travel can lead to a litany of headaches and paradoxes as a story expands. To head these problems off at the pass, we must establish clear rules:

 

1. Time travel is multiversal. When the Pilgrims passed through a portal into the past, they went into an alternate universe version of Ancient Egypt, not the one from our current reality. Each time someone time travels, they open up a new universe rather than moving back and forth within their own.

 

2. There are no paradoxes. Because Pilgrims branch into alternate universes each time they travel back in time, they do not alter the timeline from which they departed. So if a player goes back in time and blows up the Sphinx, that doesn’t delete the Sphinx from our shared history. Rather, the Sphinx ceases to exist in the current, branching universe that the player created by passing through the portal.

 

3. You cannot “undo” or “revise” your own past. In this world, if someone goes back in time and kills their younger self, their older self continues to exist. All that has happened is that the younger self has ceased to exist in this branching timeline. The butterfly effect will commence from here. But—and this is important—the older self is in no way “entwined” with their younger self. So we can’t have things like people vanishing from photographs in Back to the Future or causality being inverted in Looper. Again, there are no paradoxes.

 

For a quick comparison, consider the split timelines of The Legend of Zelda universe. When Link teleported to the future in Ocarina of Time, he created two worlds with wholly different outcomes. No communication exists between these worlds; they are separate causal branches bent around his crossing through the Temple of Time.

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Major Themes

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The story of The New Kingdom is centered around the core observation that human nature—for better and worse—is intractable. Just as the societies of the future have fallen victim to all the vices that erode our collective potential, the societies of the past contain all the virtues that make us, us. In this world, the powers that drive war, destruction, and violence are advanced beyond our wildest dreams, and those pushing against them are mere footnotes at the bottom of a history textbook.

 

In other words, while this world has been marred by greed, violence, and war, it may also be redeemed by hope and justice. We are handing our players a dystopian kingdom so that they may triumph over the forces of evil and deliver peace, once and for all.

 

Such is the restorative power of heroes—and the human spirit.