Jump 107: Bronze Age Collapse

Jump 107: Bronze Age Collapse

Location: Uruk, Babylonia, 1,600 B.C.E.
Identity: King
Culture: Mycenean
Drawbacks: [+300] In The Beginning Unto The End, A Dark And Superstitious Time

[Free]      Jumper, The Lawgiver
[100/1300]  A Gift For A Gift
[250/1300]  The God Jumper, Perfect In Transformations
[450/1300]  Jumper The Great!
[750/1300]  What Collapse?
[Free]      A Pillar Of Stability
[850/1300]  Legacy of Hammurabi
[1000/1300] Safe Among Giants
[Free]      The Epic Of Jumper
[Free]      "My Name Is Jumper, King Of Kings..."
[1300/1300] An Empire Eternal

The once and future king, in this world, is not limited merely to the Arturian mythos, but indeed records can be found of it in the records of ancient Babylonia. The Epic of Gilgamesh is fragmented of course, as all historians know, but according to the texts he returned circa 1,600 B.C. when the cities of Babylonia, including his native Uruk, were under attack by the Kassite people. Detailed accounts of who they were is something lost to time, as little is left of that era, but they were thought to have originated from the city-state of Mari. It is documented that they attempted large-scale sacking of the cities of Babylonia around 1595-1590 B.C., but surviving fragments describe battles led by a warrior who named himself to be the Gilgamesh of legend.

After the last king of the Amorite dynasty, Samsu-Ditana, died without any heirs, Gilgamesh took the throne; Arthurian legend can no longer take credit for being the once-and-future king any longer, even if this might have been lost until more recent years. Archaeological fragments proceed to declare that he reigned directly for nearly six hundred years, right into the era of the late bronze age collapse, and the subsequent fragmentation of Babylon and the reaving of the Arameans. It is of course far more likely that a series of kings were simply not named or more likely were lost to time, and thus history designates this as the Gilgamesh dynasty. It is of course obvious that Gilgamesh of Uruk isn't the man who took control of the country, but the effects of this dynasty were felt far and wide.

In those six hundred years, Babylon experienced a great deal of prosperity. Not quite a golden age, but tongue-in-cheek historians call this its 'silver age'. Farming techniques led to prosperity; forging techniques led to some of the most advanced weapons of the bronze age, including some esoteric weapons that seemed to be ceremonial, but are remarkably similar to later techniques found in far eastern swordmaking; roads were built that rival later Roman make. While it wasn't quite a trading hub in and of itself, it had connections to the silk road and was quite prosperous as a result.

Quite curiously, much of the population of Babylon seemed to abruptly disappear between 1,100 and 1,000 B.C. for reasons unknown. Theories abound that perhaps there was a plague, but accounts dating back to the earliest days of neighboring Chaldea describe Babylonian cities as being empty of all things; fields laying fallow, homes empty with all their contents abandoned. Fragmentary accounts describe a handful of emigrants from Babylonia that speak of a mass migration to a location which is unclear, but surely such a thing would have been noted by neighboring countries, none of which speak of it at all.

And a word translated as 'out world' certainly does not correlate to any known country that has existed on Earth.