#clay tablet map

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Babylonian Map of the World (6th century BC), also known as Imago Mundi, is oldest clay tablet map written in Akkadian.

The tablet describes the oldest known depiction of the known world.

It was discovered at Sippar, southern Iraq, 60 miles north of Babylon on east bank of Euphrates River.

This map not only serves as a historical record of the region's geography but also includes mythological elements, providing a comprehensive view of the ancient Babylonian worldview.

Today, the Babylonian Map of the World is housed in the British Museum, where it continues to be a valuable artifact for understanding the ancient past.

Details of the map:

1. “Mountain” (Akkadian:šá-du-ú)

2. “City” (Akkadian: uru)

3. Urartu (Armenia) (Akkadian: ú-ra-áš-tu)

4. Assyria (Akkadian: kuraš+šurki)

5. Der (Akkadian: dēr)

6. Swamp (Akkadian: ap–pa–ru)

7. Elam (Akkadian: šuša)

8. Canal (Akkadian: bit-qu)

9. Bit Yakin (Akkadian:bῑt-ia-᾿-ki-nu)

10. “City” (Akkadian: uru)

11. Habban (Akkadian: ha-ab-ban)

12. Babylon (Akkadian: tin.tirki), divided by Euphrates

13. Ocean (salt water, Akkadian:idmar-ra-tum)

[sakuraswordly]

[littletism]

🎒✏️🍎 weekend activity for littles! turn your house into a school! 🍎✏️🎒

prepare your schedule the night before! what classes will you do at what time? what order will you do them in? write it down! set alarms on your phone for when each class will be, so you know when to switch!

don’t forget to prepare worksheets, activities, and make sure you know what rooms you’re using! if you have a cg, this job is best suited for them!

class ideas: math, spelling, writing, social studies/history, science, art, music, etc!

“downtime” class ideas: naptime, free time, movie time, free draw, computer lab, play time

wake up bright and early! get dressed, brush your teeth, brush your hair, and get your school supplies! go into the room that you’ve designated as your classroom!

if you have a cg, have them be your teacher for the day! if you don’t have one, that’s okay! you can do all of this by yourself pretty easily.

if the room has a closet, use that as your cubby! hang up your bag and any other belongings in it!

get ready for your school day! sit down on the floor like you would in a preschool or kindergarten classroom, and get ready to learn!

ideas on what to do for each class under the cut (to avoid this post being way too long!)

math

print out some math worksheets (or download and do them digitally, bonus points if it’s on a tablet with a stylus for extra realism!) and work on them! do whatever level of math is most accessible to you!

count stuff! count your toys, blocks, stuffies, anything! make problems and equations by taking away items, adding items, dividing items, etc and solve them!

play math games! multiplication .com has a lot of accessible math games, or you can use the flashpoint program to play math games from your favorite tv shows!

ELA

print/download handwriting practice sheets and practice writing your letters!

if you have a cg with you, have them read a book out loud to you! make sure to pay attention, and be prepared to write about what was just read to you!

read your favorite book, and create a book report based on it with pictures and decorations!

do spelling worksheets and exercises!

social studies

practice geography by identifying states or countries on an unlabeled map! start with your own country, then move on to other countries to make it more challenging!

learn about history by watching educational history cartoons!

do a cultural interview! find someone in your life whether it be a friend, a partner, or a family member and interview them about their heritage and culture! if you can’t find someone, write about your own culture!

science

use a store bought science kit and play around with it! write down everything you’ve learned.

make slime or oobleck! there’s countless recipes online that teach you how to make them! they’re both super easy to make.

draw a diagram of our solar system! label the planets properly and write one fact about each one!

art

draw your family! could be your biological or found family!

finger paint!

watercolor paint!

make pottery out of clay or play doh!

make a collage of your favorite things! print out pictures of stuff you like and glue it to a piece of paper!

music

sing along to your favorite songs! pull up sing-along versions of songs from disney movies or karaoke versions of your favorite songs!

if you have any kind of instrument, play it! try to play simple songs on it like mary had a little lamb or hot cross buns!

if you’re regressed a bit older, study sheet music! teach yourself what all the symbols mean!

nap time

take a 30 minute break to nap, or just lay down and rest! put on a soft lullaby or a quiet song you really like.

to make it more “school-like”, nap on the floor! preferably on a fluffy rug or mat, so it isn’t uncomfortable or bad for your back! lay out your favorite blanket, pillow, stuffie, and hit the hay!

play time / free time

just play!!! have fun and play with your toys, your stuffies, play dress up, etc!

if it’s nice outside, go play outside!

draw a picture!

read your favorite book!

if you’re an over-achiever, do some more worksheets!

computer lab

go on your computer or laptop if you have one, and play some educational games, watch educational videos, etc!

when you’ve done an adequate amount of learning, you earn free time! use this to play any fun game you want! (minecraft, roblox, animal jam, fun flash games, etc!)

field trips

(may require a cg if you can’t take yourself places when small!)

take a trip to a museum!

go to the library! find a cool book you find interesting and read it!

take a walk around town! write down all the interesting things you find in nature like animals, bugs, plants, etc!

end of the day

when your “school day” ends, have your cg grade how you did! if you don’t have a cg, grade yourself! but be honest, of course. if you get a good grade, you’ll get a reward!

i know this is elaborate and may seem silly, but i’ve heard a lot of littles say an elementary school environment would be really beneficial to them! i hope this helps some of you who are yearning for that!

[barbariankingdom]

5,500 Year Old Sumerian Star Map. This cuneiform clay tablet that indicates the Köfel’s impact event was observed in ancient times. The circular stone-cast tablet was recovered from the 650 BC underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, Iraq in the late 19th century.

[thatshowthingstarted]

 Babylonian Map of the World, 8th or 7th Century B.C.

The Babylonian Map of the World (also Imago Mundi or Mappa mundi) is a Babylonian clay tablet with a schematic world map and two inscriptions written in the Akkadian language. It includes a brief and partially lost textual description.

The tablet describes the oldest known depiction of the known world. Ever since its discovery there has been controversy on its general interpretation and specific features. Another pictorial fragment, VAT 12772, presents a similar topography from roughly two millennia earlier.

The map is centered on the Euphrates, flowing from the north (top) to the south (bottom), with its mouth labelled "swamp" and "outflow". The city of Babylon is shown on the Euphrates, in the northern half of the map. Susa, the capital of Elam, is shown to the south, Urartu to the northeast, and Habban, the capital of the Kassites, is shown (incorrectly) to the northwest. Mesopotamia is surrounded by a circular "bitter river" or Ocean, and seven or eight foreign regions are depicted as triangular sections beyond the Ocean, perhaps imagined as mountains.

The tablet was excavated by Hormuzd Rassam at Sippar, Baghdad vilayet, some 60 km north of Babylon on the east bank of the Euphrates River. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1882 (BM 92687); the text was first translated in 1889. The tablet is usually thought to have originated in Borsippa. In 1995, a new section of the tablet was discovered, at the point of the upper-most triangle.

Clay, Height: 12.2 cm (4.8 in), Width: 8.2 cm (3.2 in)

Courtesy: British Museum

[northwindow]

reading on reading

a literary syllabus [x]

how to read now by elaine castillo

a collection of essays by novelist and essayist elaine castillo about the politics and ethics of reading. castillo exposes the inherently colonial premises behind not only the works of many individual writers; but the way reading cultures analyze and canonize works, the tokenizing nature of the publishing industry that fails writers and readers of color, and the unfulfilled promises by bibliophiles and literary institutions to "build empathy" through reading diverse books.

"time in the codex" and "lastingness" by lisa robertson

two essays by poet lisa robertson from her prose collection nilling, both meditations on reading. “time in the codex” is an ode to the sensory and cognitive processes that reading evokes. “lastingness” explores the relationship between passivity and will when it comes to receiving the stories and ideas we read, using the work of hannah arendt to analyze texts by lucretius and pauline réage. 

a history of reading by alberto manguel

alberto manguel (former director of argentina's national library) compiles a history of reading that encompasses the prehistory of books in ancient mesopotamia, the story of the library of alexandria and its influence in libraries that followed, literary societies such as the heian court, book thieves throughout time, book banning in multiple cultures, and the progression of text formats around the world from clay tablets to modern bookbinding.

selections from not to read by alejandro zambra (trans. megan mcdowell)

essays taken from the collection not to read by chilean writer alejandro zambra about the practice of reading, his own evolving reading life, and writing books; mixed with a variety of literary criticism. selections include "in praise of the photocopy," "against poets," "obligatory readings," "traveling with books," and "novels-- forget it."

"how do we read?", "the reading ape", and "inventing reading" by stanislas dahaene

three chapters from cognitive neuroscientist stainslas dahaene's book reading in the brain. "how do we read?" functionally breaks down how our brain understands written words. "the reading ape" imagines how our ability to read evolved by recycling preexisting neural circuits. "inventing reading" explores how languages themselves have formed over time to serve the way we think.

"when robots read books" by inderjeet mani

essay by computational linguist inderjeet mani on ways that artificial intelligence could enhance literary criticism by analyzing classic texts, particularly cumulative corpuses of works. examples of literary AI usage include finding similar character traits, archetypes, and tropes between different books and authors; quantitatively tracking literary trends; and generating timelines and maps of information pulled from narratives. 

"uncritical reading" by michael warner

essay by english professor michael warner which attempts to define what "critical reading" actually is, the beginnings of a history of that practice, its alignment with agency and morality in academic culture, and what the qualities of "uncritical reading" (such as “identification, self-forgetfulness, reverie, sentimentality, enthusiasm, literalism, aversion, distraction") might offer us.

"someone reading a book is a sign of order in the world" by mary ruefle

essay adapted from a lecture in poet mary ruefle’s madness, rack, and honey that traces a reader's development through personal experiences in her own reading life. topics include rereading, what it means to read “the right book at the right time”, and the pleasure of finding imaginative connections between books. 

[travelingthief]

Clio Offerings and Devotional Acts

Offerings

History books

Journals (personal or of others)

Scrolls

Depictions of your favorite historical period (art, clothes, poems, etc.)

Family heirlooms

Vintage clothing

Vintage/antique toys

Antique items

Fossils

Bone/skull depictions

Lyres

Trumpets

Hyacinths

Hourglasses

Clocks/Watches

Historic poems

Academic awards

Historical family records (birth records, death records, immigration records, etc.)

Writing utensils

Quills

Ink

Clay tablets

Newspapers/articles

Political memorabilia 

Library cards

School IDs

Artifacts from your culture

Laurels

Globes

Maps

Life mementos

Old coins/bills

Old stamps

Devotional Acts

Visit/volunteer at a historical society

Go to the library

Learn local history

Learn world history

Teach history

Keep a  personal journal

Keep a journal of current events and your reflections on them

Write poetry about history or current events

Write your life story

Take a history class

Read

Write

Write the story of your family

Learn about different creation myths

Learn how myths developed in history

Study archeology

Study anthropology

Keep up with current events

Study politics

Preserve items that could be historical

Cook popular meals from history

Go to a museum

Go to historical reenactments

Make clay tablets

Learn about historical technology

Learn about historical medicine

Study geography and how territories have changed over time

[gingermintpepper]

Fate-Master I

I did say I would post more wips of my Zeus and Apollo writing so here's a bit from a series I've been writing concerning a young Apollo grappling with being the up and coming Moiragetes - Master of the Fates.

Do let me know if there's any interest for this sort of thing; I didn't originally intend to post this stuff anywhere, but I've just been so frustrated that I feel like it's necessary now 😂

Apollo marks time by etching notches into a clay tablet. He watches from the edge of the mountain’s summit, six of his crows perched three-by-three atop his shoulders and the seventh casting her gaze down onto the maidens all gathered to pick their flowers. He watches them laugh and joke and throw their petals all about, free and fragrant with an easy camaraderie spread thick between them all. He carves his first notch when Persephone lays eyes on the innocent narcissus; in his visions he could never make sense of time’s passing - he did not know how long she would remain swallowed, merely that it would be long enough for her to be missed, searched for, grieved and avenged.

 It will be worth it all in the end.  

Soon, all the world will delight in the birth of new Seasons, a new system of time to mark the stabilisation of this new era.  

He averts his eyes when the earth crumbles beneath Persephone’s feet. There is no way for him to deny it if he truly does bear witness to the act. Apollo cannot see the pitch-black rider on his earth-dark horses as he grabs the maiden. He cannot see those immortal steeds galloping down, down, infinitely down beneath the earth so their rider may delight in his prize. He does not know the sound of her screams as the ground eats her alive. Only the narcissus remains when he once more casts his gaze down, white and untouched. Innocent. Like Apollo. Neither of them have seen a single thing. 

(But oh, her screams are loud in his ear. Big, reedy yells, wet with phlegm. A fawn crying for her mother, the tittering of a sparrowling swallowed foot-first by the viper. They never seemed this loud in his dreams, like footnotes easily overlooked at the very bottom of the page. Apollo does not see her go, but he hears her. He hopes he is the only one who hears.) 

He calls for his darling crow to return to him, stepping light into the halls of Olympus. His day will continue on as normal but to visit his mother so he can request a particularly thick himation for the coming days. Lemnos clicks next to his ear and Apollo huffs, dismissing his crows in a scatter of bright white feathers and glittering metal. They will watch what he cannot. They will make sure the maiden remains buried deep beneath the earth. 

The subtle cold emanating from his father’s quarters curls about his calves - he did not realise he had already travelled the length of the halls. He does not knock before he enters; the women are all busy this time of day and shrewd Athena is still out dancing with his sister, it will just be Father in his room, bent over his table or pouring over one of his maps. 

“It is done.” 

And Father looks up from his writing, a knowing glint shining in wine-dark eyes. His face remains frightfully still, marble stiff and focused on Apollo with the full weight of his eagle sharp intent. “You did not see it?” 

Her scream is the same as the highest note on the aeolian scale. A wonderfully piercing ‘A’. It is similar to the sound that resonates in the sky’s centre, Apollo cannot stop hearing it in his ear. “I did not.” 

Father smiles then, like sunlight peeking through the rough edges of the storm, “Good. That’s good.” He puts his hand to his face, scratches his chin as he hums contemplative. “How much time do we have before… well, before.” 

Demeter’s wailing will be a much darker sound, phrygian and guttural, discordant. Apollo’s had the score written for months now. He thinks he will hang Persephone’s cry next to it. Maybe he will incorporate their melodies into the song he will play at her return. Maybe it is cruel of him to already be thinking such things. “I know not. Time has never been the clearest to me, even in my most vivid of visions.” 

“It is no matter,” Father leans forward, digs a bolt of bright red fabric out of his drawer. “Here,” When he catches it, Apollo feels a denseness in the fibres he has never known. They’re slick yet springy, far coarser than sheep’s wool but unlike any goatskin or leather he has ever handled. “For the cloak you will ask of your mother.”   

He is slowly becoming accustomed to his thoughts not being his own, to his father living so closely in his head. The woven string connecting them still bleeds dye if either of them pull too hard on the connection, but in these quiet moments, it is a comfort. A lifeline. 

“Chimera skin, so it will not burn when you wear it for your work.” Would Father be this calm if it was Artemis swallowed by the earth? Would Apollo? That watery scream is a persistent ringing, she is still screaming far beneath where none but the rider can hear her. (Apollo hears her. Even now, he can hear the heavy breath of the dark stallions, the ripping winds that sting at her ears. Persephone is a friend, can he really leave her to this fate -?) “Phoebus.” 

Father’s broad palm is warm on his shoulder. It pulls him gently from his spiralling thoughts. The heat is unexpected; even now, Apollo can feel his toes going stiff from the room’s chill. 

“I am well,” he hears himself say, distant like the clanging stallion hooves which carry the rider’s prize deeper beneath the earth. Father does not let him go when he tries to escape. He does not tighten his hold either. His hand merely remains on Apollo’s slim shoulder, a point to anchor him here and not there. Apollo focuses on the faint hum of his father’s power, the gentle whistle of his cloud-hairs as they flow about his head, the muffled shuffling of his crows’ feathers as they settle in the gables to await his return. He no longer hears her. Not her, not the dread chariot. He cannot hear a single thing. “I am well.” 

[khaire-traveler]

Offering Ideas for the Muses

~ Since I don't see many posts on this topic, I've also included common "general" traditional offerings to the Greek pantheon. I did my best to come up with unique but simple ideas; I wanted to include things that most people could likely offer or do. I hope this list is helpful to someone. ~

Kalliope - Your favorite poetry, poetry books, poetry you wrote, musical instruments, writings you're proud of, devotional writing to her, a handmade scroll with your writing, your favorite pen/pencil, a quill, clay objects (especially tablets), gifts from your siblings (if applicable), imagery of Orpheus, lyre imagery, golden crown imagery. General: Imagery of here, incense (frankincense, patchouli, citrus, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, baked goods, wine, rosemary, Orphic Hymn 0 or 75 (can be given to any Muse, but I'll only list it here since Kalliope is thought to be the mother of Orpheus).

Kleio - Any historical or historical fiction books you enjoy, your favorite books (any genre), school notes about history (if applicable), a list of lessons you've learned from the past, a letter of how the past has helped you grow, setting time aside to learn history (anything that interests you), learning about ancient Greece, your favorite bookmark (especially one you frequently use), your favorite quotes. General: Imagery of her, incense (frankincense, patchouli, lavender, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Ourania - Star maps, globes, maps of Earth, compasses, dream journals, telescopes, glow-in-the-dark stars, your favorite books about the universe, sci-fi books/shows, seeking knowledge about the unknown, your own art of the stars or space, your own sci-fi writings, solar system imagery, space/star imagery, imagery of your favorite constellation, General: Imagery of her, incense (patchouli, lavender, rosemary, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Thaleia - A list of your favorite jokes, a joke book, ivy leaves, an ivy wreath, funny stories/memories from your life, jokes you've written, your favorite comical musical/play/movie/etc., confetti, streamers, a shepherd's (or wooden) staff, comical masks, smiley faces, blooming flowers, sheep imagery, comedy mask imagery. General: Imagery of her, incense (patchouli, rosemary, strawberry, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Melpomene - Ivy leaves, an ivy wreath, serious/somber poetry, "vent" art, your favorite tragic musicals/plays/movies/etc., tragic stories you've written, symbols of inner strength/perseverance (whatever that looks like to you), stories about overcoming/growth, therapeutic journaling (I recommend doing this with professional assistance), tragic/sad masks, siren imagery, sword imagery, boot imagery, tragedy mask imagery. General: Imagery of her, incense (frankincense, lavender, cedar, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Polymnia - Meditation (if applicable), devotional writings you've written, your favorite hymns/devotional poems, laurel leaves, lustral water, self-made hymns, devotional writings about her, burning non-toxic offerings, fire, prayer journal, imagery of Mount Olympus, imagery of animals you associate with "divine connection" (maybe doves, stags, owls, etc.), imagery of anything you associate with "divine connection" (hands in a praying position, the stars or sky, nature, etc.). General: Imagery of her, incense (rosemary, myrrh, patchouli, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Erato - Smut fanfic (that's right, I'll say it), written erotica, your own erotic writing, love letters you've written or received, erotic poetry, setting aside time to explore your, er, "interests", red or pink flowers, jewelry/perfume that makes you feel attractive, sex-positive journaling, basil, myrtle, lyre imagery, sexual imagery, anything you associate with passion/erotica. General: Imagery of her, incense (rosemary, rose, amber, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Euterpe - Your favorite poetry, your own poetry, poetry books, sharing your poetry with others, relaxing/calming tea, media that brings you comfort (watching a movie with her, giving her a DVD of your comfort movie, your favorite book, etc.), the lyrics to your favorite songs, imagery of animals/objects that have symbolic meaning to you, imagery of double flutes. General: Imagery of her, incense (patchouli, lavender, myrrh, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

Terpsikhore - Musical instruments, dancing in honor of her, songs you've written, a devotional playlist, your favorite song lyrics, setting aside time to simply listen to music, your favorite musicals, expressing yourself through song/dance, picks for instruments (guitar picks, lyre plectrums, etc.), sheet music, supporting local/small musicians, learning to play an instrument, lyre imagery, songbird imagery (or any animal you associate with music). General: Imagery of her, incense (patchouli, citrus, strawberry, etc.), olive oil, olive branch, honey, water, wine, baked goods, rosemary.

[mikeepoo]

5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map“For over 150 years scientists have tried to solve the mystery of a controversial cuneiform clay tablet that indicates the so-called Köfel’s impact event was observed in ancient times. The circular stone-cast tablet was recovered from the 650 BC underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, Iraq in the late 19th century. Long thought to be an Assyrian tablet, computer analysis has matched it with the sky above Mesopotamia in 3300 BC and proves it to be of much more ancient Sumerian origin. The tablet is an “Astrolabe,” the earliest known astronomical instrument. It consists of a segmented, disk-shaped star chart with marked units of angle measure inscribed upon the rim. 

[ancientstuff]

Well, I mean the title for this article is hugely misleading, but the article itself is really interesting.

[strictlyfavorites]

5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map“For over 150 years scientists have tried to solve the mystery of a controversial cuneiform clay tablet that indicates the so-called Köfel’s impact event was observed in ancient times. The circular stone-cast tablet was recovered from the 650 BC underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, Iraq in the late 19th century. Long thought to be an Assyrian tablet, computer analysis has matched it with the sky above Mesopotamia in 3300 BC and proves it to be of much more ancient Sumerian origin. The tablet is an “Astrolabe,” the earliest known astronomical instrument. It consists of a segmented, disk-shaped star chart with marked units of angle measure inscribed upon the rim.

[samueldays]

Wolf and Stone - a scenario outline for Princess:the Hopeful

This scenario is doubly unfinished, partly because PtH scenarios need more tailoring to a specific group, and partly because I have never played the game. This is sort of an exercise in learning PtH, and possibly an opportunity for @brazenautomaton that some of the corrections/advice given to me in response might also be useful hints to add in the Storytelling chapter.

The basic scenario is that there's a plot device at the local museum, there's a werewolf pack that wants to get it, there's a director who is militarizing the museum, there's museum guides who are caught in the middle, and there's the Darkness making everything worse with fear so the involved parties won't communicate until the Magical Girls do some befriending.

-Context-

In whatever city the PCs live, the Modisett Ancient History Museum is a small, second-rate museum founded in 1924 by John Modisett, a veteran of the First World War. Its focus is on the Fertile Crescent region and the early cities of the Bronze Age around 2-3 millennia before Christ. The M.A.H.M. is primarily financed by the Modisett Estate Trust (which Modisett left his fortune to) and subsidised by the city's culture ministry.

Change details as necessary for your chronicle, naturally.

While the M.A.H.M. doesn't have particularly glamorous exhibits, it also doesn't have any nearby competitors for its niche. Regional schools send students touring it on a regular basis, seeing some ancient pottery, masonry, clay tablets, replicas of weapons that have been repatriated to an Iraqi museum, diagrams of ancient cities, political maps of Ancient Egypt, Akkad, Sumer, and Elam, and almost every year there's a teenage boy who thinks the most interesting thing is learning the word "phallus" from the statuette display.

-Trigger-

The M.A.H.M. recently acquired a new exhibit, presenting as a nested pair of ancient stone chests with false bottoms covered in cryptic markings. The informational plaque on the display says they were "likely used for ritual purposes". This is how archaeologists say "I don't know". These were in fact made to contain and bury some cursed mcguffin that the occultists of the time couldn't get rid of, and by opening the chests for display, the museum has once again allowed the curse to influence the world.

A nearby pack of werewolves were the first to notice. Their first attempt at dealing with it was straightforward: Visit the museum, as humans, and discreetly close the chests again. The museum guides propped the chests open in response. Now the pair of cursed chests are once again releasing (summoning? creating?) dark spirits and baleful influences on the world, and the werewolves are considering how to escalate. They fear discovery and retaliation and persecution if they breach the masquerade and explain the real facts of the matter, so they are trying to sabotage the museum, having a half-assed plan of stealing the chests while the M.A.H.M. is closed for repairs or while the exhibit is being transported to another museum.

(They are physically strong enough to carry it, but it would be extremely blatant having to smash the case and carry out a pair of large heavy stone chests.)

Matthew Brown, the director, is having none of it. He fears sabotage and loss of prestige and position, and enjoys the petty factoid that the M.A.H.M. did not shut down for the Second World War, it is certainly not shutting down for anything less. He has responded by militarizing the museum with police patrols, reducing opening hours, and worsening the experience for visitors in the name of security. This may be considered a minor case of the Darkness Ultimatum.

Abigail and Henry, the experienced museum guides, are caught in the middle. They fear losing their jobs if the museum shuts down, they also fear loss of visitor interest if the police keep harassing visitors, they're in denial about the supernatural, trying to pretend everything is normal or will go back to normal soon, and they fear that they're getting old and seeing things when they notice manifestations of the cursed chests. Abigail is an amateur historian herself, a voracious reader, and really likes her job and talking to visitors. Henry is more of a handyman and is the one tapped for repairs when someone has cut a power cord again.

-Hook-

If some or all of the Princesses are still in school, the easy way to get them involved is for their class to go on a field trip to the M.A.H.M. (Adult Princesses can buy tickets and come along with their friends.)

Here, a museumgoer might be attacked by a Ravenous Darkspawn (Princess chapter 5) taking the form of a toothed book. It's not going to kill anyone on the first strike, the victim can run away and there will be police nearby to shoot the beast eventually, but the Princesses may want to handle it first in a way that doesn't involve the police and lets them influence the reporting.

Otherwise, the nakama might hear about it because one of them, or one of their parents, is a friend of Abigail or Henry who are discreetly lamenting their situation and their paranoia and their worry that they're seeing things, and did you hear that one of the guests thought she was attacked by a book!?

-Monster of the Week-

Depending on how the nakama learns about and approaches the situation, it is likely to run into one of either the werewolves or an Insidious Darkspawn first.

The werewolves are likely to be found if the nakama traces the source of the mysterious sabotage incidents at the M.A.H.M. Shapeshifting and Gifts and Spirit proxies are good for evading the notice of mortal police, less so a fellow supernatural splat. There might be a fight as a result of the nakama finding saboteurs who refuse to be dissuaded by a polite request, and mutual boneheaded escalation, but it shouldn't be to the death. The werewolves aren't genuine antagonists, they're more like a party of PCs who have spent quite a bit of brainpower on "How do we best use our superpowers to sabotage the museum without getting caught?" with less attention paid to whether sabotage was actually a good idea in the first place. They can be talked down, more easily so if the Princesses have a good idea for what to do about the cursed chests and its dark spirits instead.

(I have not statted them in any detail because I really have not kept up with that particular splat in a while, and I have the impression they are one of the most varies-by-GM splats.)

The Insidious is likely to be found if the nakama gets nosy at the museum itself. It pretends to be a CIA agent (see below), flashing an important-looking badge, telling museumgoers they saw nothing, telling the police to suppress the ludicrous rumor about a biting book, ordering the Princesses to go home or it'll call their parents.

America Note: The FBI handles domestic matters, the CIA foreign matters.

If playing in America, anyone going "don't you mean FBI?" counts against the creature's Bane and exposes its fraud. Substitute other wrong agency as desired, possibly wrong jurisdiction, wrong country, or perhaps it's waving the ID of a thaumaturgical organization while telling people there's no such thing as magic. The critter didn't put thought into its disguise, it's formed from abstract fears manifested by the Darkness. Thus it might take on the appearance of a more famous organization, even if that's not the correct one for the situation. Still, a badge from a famous organization is effective on bystanders looking to avoid trouble.

-The Chests-

The dark curse spirit thingy is able to affect the world and reach out of the nested chests while they're open, but it's still too stuck there to leave. If you could close the chests and keep them closed, one inside the other, that would solve the problem. At least until someone opened them again. Some other ways Princesses could resolve the situation include:

Magic Ward Charm. The Darkness here is weak, threatening mostly because it can build up (or bleed through) to spawn monsters over time. The penalty from a Magic Ward is enough to suppress it, as long as the Ward remains undisturbed. Everyday Ward helps with this, or perhaps explaining the situation to the museum.

Blow up the chests, setting the dark curse spirit loose, then blow up that too. The ancient occultists sealed it away because they couldn't blow it up hard enough, but they didn't know how to weaponize the Inner Light as GIGADRIVE EXCEED BUSTER! The director will have questions about why Magical Girls are blowing up his museum piece.

Decipher the markings on the false bottoms with an appropriately difficult Academics roll, describing the gribbly in detail. Report it to your Queen, and she'll tell you how to exorcise that specific flavor of gribbly and seal the chests for good. Alternatively, the markings make explicit the fact that GIGADRIVE EXCEED BUSTER! is sufficient as above.

Get the chests out of the museum yourself, somehow, and hand them over to the werewolves to perform Captain Planeteer Exorcism. You'll get the chests back in a few days.

And with that, you can be done, if all you want is a monster of the week and a threat to the Modisett Ancient History Museum.

-Escalation Options-

An Insidious or Traitorous Darkspawn is whispering in the ear of Director Brown, who keeps escalating security while the werewolves are escalating their supernatural sabotage.

Director Brown becomes a Defiler himself, with relevant Dread Powers to compel unreasonable amounts of funding and mandatory attendance and city advertisements for the museum and his own self-aggrandizement.

The M.A.H.M. shuts down, and Abigail or Henry suffer a Breaking Point and become the Prisoner of a Nightscape revolving around the psychodrama of "If I had done better, I would still have my old job" and scenes of patching up sabotage, covering up rumors, playing nice with guests, denying that anything is wrong, while increasing amounts of museum destruction and darkspawn attacks happen in the background.

[irreplaceable-spark]

The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel | Curator’s Corner S9 Ep5

The Babylonian map of the world is the oldest map of the world, in the world. Written and inscribed on clay in Mesopotamia around 2,900-years-ago, it is, like so many cuneiform tablets, incomplete. However, Irving Finkel and a particularly gifted student of his - Edith Horsley - managed to locate a missing piece of the map, slot it back into the cuneiform tablet, and from there set us all on journey through the somewhat mythical landscape of Mesopotamia to find the final resting place of the ark. And yes we mean that ark, as in Noah's ark. Although in the earlier Mesopotamian version of the flood story, the ark is built by Ziusudra.

[megalithicmarvels]

Ancient Sumerian Star Map Reveals Cataclysmic Asteroid Impact

MORE INFO / REGISTER By Derek Olson Over 150 years ago, this ancient Sumerian star map was found by Henry Layard in a subterranean library in Nineveh. Ever since its discovery, scholars had been puzzled to learn its meaning, until computer software in 2008 finally allowed for the Cuneiform clay tablet to be translated, which revealed the oldest documented observation of an asteroid impact to…