Question about Siptah`s mythology

Hello friends.

The question may seem a little strange to you, but the legendary part of the game also matters.

There is some inconsistency.

Records of the Vaults of the Elders say that they eventually made a duplicate of the Tower artifact and restarted it, but began to suffer from the Maelstorm and its creatures, and took refuge in their Vaults.
And Siptah’s diary tells us that at the time of the landing of the Stygians, the Tower was no longer working. The last records of the diary says that he prepared everything, made a copy of the artifact and enters the Tower to start its work.

It is unclear why the Tower did not work before the arrival of the Stygians. What am I missing? I would be grateful for your answers.

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I think it ran out of juice.
From what I have been able to gather, the (I would say spoilers, but the whole thread is one so…) Imperfect trapezohedron the elder races sans Serpentmen had developed was flawed in how regularly it operated as well as what it conjured. Even the original requires routine sacrifice and ritual to use the conjuration properties of the tower, just like we now gather the ??? to power leyshrines for surges. After the snakes fled, humans (Argossean by the looks) arrived, and in a panic the elders created and activated their flawed replacement. It caused a catastrophe. Which wiped the human invaders but also drove the elders into the vaults until it burned out, who knows how long that took. Also, the geography around the Tower looks less like the defile of a region of frequent tornados/hurricanes and more like ground zero for some much more sudden calamity. Either way, it was some time (we know not how long) after which, Acheron colonized.

My question is what happened to the first human fleet and how long it was before the Acheronian settlement. Records indicate that X’chotl was build after the Elder retreat, and Xanarus’ reign was 3k odd years ago. Also, Amon-Tet’s doomed expedition (the one Siptah arrived with) was definitely before the current batch of Kraxus’ Stygians, but by how long? New Luxur is crumbled ruins barely better off than X’chotl.

Siptah himself re-ignited the maelstrom.

Furthermore, how do the Grey Ones play in and are the “First Men” descended from the initial human invasion or the later Acheronian civilization? Unless the text/memories in the Elder Vaults is flawed and they didn’t drive off the initial batch of non-summoned humans.

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It ran out of term, you mean?

TLDR;
There have been two batches of Stygians. Siptah’s (actually Amon-Tet’s) and the current invaders led by Kraxus.
The Maelstrom has been active as long as Kraxus’ crew have been here, he mentions it in his letters taunting the Black Corsairs. “Localized weather anomaly”.

Siptah got the tower working (in it’s flawed state) again after at least 3 millennia of dormancy.

I really do wonder how long has passed between Amon-Tet’s mission and Kraxus’. That I haven’t found yet (if it is in game at present).

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Juice as a parlance synonym for fuel.

From my best research, in it’s previous form as a super surge, it was once tied to the leyshrines. The elders would perform rituals and make sacrifices and suddenly it would be raining men (the images in the vault flashbacks clearly show humans when they describe “succor” provided). When they panicked and activated the flawed trapehedron it caused what we recognize as the Maelstrom, but just like the surges, it isn’t constant.

Part of this makes me think Siptah is still somewhere in the tower putzing around with it. I do hope they add an endgame type dungeon in the upper reaches of the tower at some point.

One point regarding the apparent discontinuity about Stygians… Given that the Stygian Invaders as the developed faction they are now were not an original part of the concept for the isle (early builds of Siptah were noticably lacking in non player character humanoids), there may have been some times which makes it seem like Siptah came with Kraxus and crew. Originally there was only one batch of Stygians led by a prince. The one thing I can use to keep things apart is that Prince Amon-tet was likely either illiterate or not one to record his own words. Siptah complains in at least two entries of having to write letters home for Amon-tet… which is mildly amusing. Kraxus at least signs his declarations and missives. Still, there are quite a few notes to be found where I still am uncertain which batch of Stygians they came with.

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Apologies if that turned into a dense text wall.
I personally enjoy the lore immensely and have had fun trying to figure out what the cluck happened. However, as with history in the waking world, sometimes it’s complicated to sort out and not all authors are reliable.

If anyone has any corrections or additional info, I would also be very interested.

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I understood that Siptah came before Kraxus.
By the way, at first I was also sure that the Tower artifact is the Trapezohedron from the EL. But then I read about it in igropedia and decided that it did not fit the description. Although both could have a common origin (Yuggoth). It is not for nothing that in the drawings it does not look like the image of the Trapezohedron known to us.

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On the other hand, the lore from the Serpentmen vault memories imply that it is the same as the one in the Exiled Lands. Including traveling to a Volcano in the lands of the Giant Kings. Now, whether their own memories are accurate or were deliberately left as frauds to mislead any of the others who might pursue…

A common Yuggoth source is also a gem.

Side note, the 3k year mark I am using regarding Acheron is not in game to my knowledge. It assumes basic adherence to Howard’s timeline where the era Conan and Valeria lived in was three millennia post Acheron.

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@LostBrythunian , I have no idea, all I wanted is to thank you for taking the time to write down these things so i can learn something too. So thank you m8, keep it going please, I really enjoy these posts :+1:t6:.

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Only thing I can think of to add is that, in the short story that features the Isle of Siptah, Siptah himself was quite long dead when Conan found him. The implication I got from it was that it was more likely to have been years or decades rather than centuries since his death, because his reputation was still known in the wider world and it was reasonably considered that he was still alive.

(The story wasn’t written by Howard, but has been considered a part of the wider cannon since probably the '60s - and is presumably what Funcom based their starting point on (there’s even a batlike survivor of an elder race) - so I’d guess it could still have relevance to the timeline they’ve generated.)

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Glad that I could facilitate amusement.

Honestly, I wish I had more to share.
There is a goldmine that could be present on the Isle. It is teased in many locations. Not all of them obvious or easy to get to. I think I needed climbing gloves to get to one of Siptah’s journals.

Most of what I’ve put together is from Acheronian tablets, Siptah’s Journal, and Vault flashbacks. None of which are actually reliable authors, but they become reliable in once we understand the nature of the writer. There’s a letter in X’chotl where someone insults Xanarus and notes how much they hate their job, which is presumably writing epithets for him.

The letters from Kraxus to N’Kosi the Ashen are usually worth a laugh. He calls him something like ~fruit that fell too far from the tree of humanity and began to rot where it dropped~. Meanwhile, his own orders to his men try to downplay that the Black Corsairs are cannibals.

When I finish my explorations, I’ll probably hit the wiki and see if it’s got any leads I missed.

That’s another resource. I think the wiki has been updated with Siptah lore.

I very much hope there is more development for the Isle of Siptah. Especially in the tower, but extra Archipelagos or sunken ruins are also an option. Adding to areas already in play is always risky of those areas are not build forbidden for obvious reasons.

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The Gem in the Tower is definitely an inspiration I can feel here. Especially with the premise that there is a sorcerer on an island wrecking ships with a storm. That’s basically the intro to the game. I’m just not certain how much of it is being directly brought in. Besides, a dedicated Siptah Mummy at the top would be fun. As there was no mention of the tribute usually delivered, I must imagine it predates or replaces the events therein.

But if it is only decades, I wonder if Kraxus is somehow related to the late Amon-tet?
My knowledge of Stygian royal prestation and lineages is, admittedly, spotty at best.

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You are the gold mine here. Allow me a silly question, who is Siptah? Why Conan wanted to find him?

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Beyond the lore that Funcom have added (scribe to Prince Amon-Tet, wife Thera ran off with his friend Bahk Hotep etc), I’m not sure there’s a lot of detail about his origins, just that he’s a powerful wizard who demands tribute from the merchants of the coastal cities of Stygia and Shem (and probably Argos). Conan is there in the story as second mate to a Zingaran pirate captain (Gonzaga) out of the Barachan Islands and they go to Siptah’s Island seeking treasure (but not just the general riches that are rumoured to be there, they are looking specifically for a big magical gem that supposedly allows Siptah to control the spirits of Air, Earth, Fire and Water as well as demons - sounds like maybe the replacement Trapezohedron to me).

Direct quote that hints towards the timeline:

“Now there were those who whispered that Siptah of Stygia was dead; for many months had passed since the merchants of the seacoast cities had received demands for tribute, and even longer since the sorcerer had replied to their petitions. Indeed, if he were living, Siptah the Stygian would be of enormous age but wizards can transcend the mortality of common men, warding off senility and death with their uncanny powers.”

My one problem with this is that New Luxor is overgrown ruins - but if Siptah was relatively young when he came with Amon-Tet’s expedition, and lived to ‘enormous age’ maybe that could be long enough for the colony to have fallen into ruins - especially with the added forces of the maelstrom eating away at it.

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Thank you guys, :love_you_gesture:.

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The only thing I founded about Siptah it’s that he is an actual historic person, he was pharaoh :rofl::rofl::rofl: in ancient Egypt. Maybe the writers used his name I guess, since back then there was not a Wikipedia so people can find out where this name came from.

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Howard’s world is our world, but supposedly in a very distant past. “Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of Aryas”, if you don’t mind me quoting the movie :wink:

That’s why Howard’s races and nations are based on what was known – and often on what was widely believed – about the real world races and nations.

Stygia, for example, is basically Egypt. That’s why Howard used the name Siptah. It wasn’t a coincidence :slight_smile:

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@CodeMage , Wouldn’t be nice however for the game to have a dungeon of Siptahs toomb that would be actually a pyramid with a maze inside? Since he was a pharaoh his toomb would be definitely a pyramid :man_shrugging:.

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Here you can make the completion of the game, which is lacking in the island of Siptah.
A final quest is needed, for which the player would receive the Key to the upper room of the Tower, where he could pick up the artifact.
The maelstorms ends, monsters and skeletons crumble. The bracelet is destroyed. The animation of sailing off the island on a Stygian ship ends with the appropriate music))

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One way to look upon the Hyborian Age is as Mytho-History.

A fusion of what is known (or speculated, keep in mind Howard wrote with the understanding of an enthusiast during the 1920s, the study of history and archaeology has advanced by leaps and bounds since then) and what is folk lore or mythology. This allows one to use places and people with familiar names while invoking fantastical elements. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is another example of Mytho-History, if you wish to look internationally.

In the Hyborian Age, there is no Mediterranean Sea. Instead, the river Styx (read:Nile) winds all the way to the Ocean. There is quite a bit of geological evidence for a time when the Mediterranean basin was not filled. However, it is not generally dated as a time when humans did much of anything. See: Zanclean Flood if you are curious.

Howard himself places the Hyborian Age between the Sinking of Atlantis and the beginning of recorded ancient history. This is awkward as Atlantis was explicitly made up as a fantasy land for Plato to describe crappy governance (see: Timaeus and Critias) and recording of history started at different times in different places.

However! He actually hits a large number of Eastern Mediterranean/Fertile Crescent points head on. Our knowledge of life before the Bronze Age Collapse is limited. However, the rare use of Iron is noteworthy. Iron is much harder to work than the myriad Bronze Alloys, and not (in it’s early stages) universally superior to work hardened bronze. Both Iron and Copper are not terribly useful in unalloyed forms (for the needs of the 5 millennia ago). The formulas for mixing Copper and Arsenic, Tin, and Nickel were quite well documented. However, the method for making steel (much less getting a furnace hot enough to smelt iron in the first place) were not. Typically, Iron saw use amongst isolated Mountain persons who were not associated to the Imperial City-States of the time. Except when the City-States wanted prisoners with jobs. But that standard of the “Barbarians” being the ones with the “Riddle of Steel” actually holds more historical weight than one would imagine.

Also, it is important to note that we have solid evidence that Norse people were trading with (what is now) Egypt before the Bronze Age Collapse. (To say nothing of the trade empire in what is now North Western India, which went dark all of the sudden and may have triggered the collapse in the first place, with the Sea People rolling in to nail the coffin lid down) So the world was reasonably interconnected. Pirates were a major factor, one of the two distinct and solid causes of the collapse were a Pirate Armada savaging the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ok, Imma gonna stop there before I revisit the most recent lecture I gave in it’s entirety.

TLDR; Mytho-History is what we get if we assume all the superstitions and fables were true at least on some level, and reinterpret history based on those specific events and standards. It’s ubiquitous and an excellent way of creating something both recognizable but also filled with wonder.

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