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Greetings, this is part four on my series on a prospective Age of Mythology 2 and its potential civilizations, the previous posts are a basic outline for the sequel, an in-depth look at the Aztecs, and a similar post about the Celts. Today I will flesh out my ideas for a Mesopotamian civ, and give some background on the mythology and real world history that informs my ideas.
Before continuing some crucial context is needed to set the stage.
Mesopotamia is currently considered the cradle for human civilization, the first place in the world where advanced states emerged with characteristics such as the mass agriculture, centralization of authority over a large area and large amount of people, urbanization, and technological innovation including the invention of writing. Starting with the Earliest Sumerians in Southern Iraq, through to people like the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and others the region has an exceptionally ancient history and impressive cultural continuity. This particularly extended to religion, ancient Mesopotamian religion is one of the oldest recorded religious traditions in the world, with earliest indications going as far back as 5000 years ago and only really dying off with rise of Christianity thousands of years later. Through all of this there was vast amount of variation as particular gods were elevated and introduced or denigrated and forgotten based on the fortunes of various peoples, cities and states that identified with them, but many gods like Enki, Inanna and Anu remained constants throughout this long period, and we have much detail on their mythology and worship. A significant amount of literature has managed to survive surprisingly intact over the millennia, especially from the great library of Ashurbanipal, a king the Assyrian Empire. Tablets of cuneiform record stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh, or Ninurta's heroic deeds. This has been very useful to draw upon to help flesh out this civ's identity.
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Visually this civ would take on some of the most iconic elements of ancient Mesopotamia such as the vast Ziggurats and the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, they have excellent fortifications on the whole. Human units would be based on things like the famous Persian Immortals or the formidable Assyrian army with their early siege engines, they are the most siege capable civ of all, in part because of their favor mechanic, and uniquely can train siege units in the Classical age. Also curly beards, ya gotta have curly beards.
Mesopotamians use foot soldiers to construct military buildings and defensive structures like walls and towers, which allows them to create forward bases to assault the enemy. Their villagers only construct civilian buildings like houses and markets, and overall are weaker than other civilizations, with 33% less health, but have an advantage in having an Ox-cart system for drop offs, like the Norse, which grants some flexibility. Generally the Mesopotamians are trying to balance being highly aggressive early on with their need to keep their squishy villagers safe. To that end they can station some soldiers in their base to keep an eye of things and construct fortifications, or send soldiers forward to build bases close to the enemy and keep the fight close to them.
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Favor mechanic: Conquest, civilizations like the Assyrians and Akkadians were famous for being some of the first city conquerors in history, in a region where controlling a city could have major religious importance. To that end the Mesopotamians get a trickle of favor for controlling town centers (like the Atlanteans, but overall less), but get a much larger amount of favor for damaging and destroying major enemy buildings, especially military production buildings, fortresses and town centers. This is meant to nudge the player towards an aggressive siege approach when playing Mesopotamians, and do something slightly similar to the Norse in the first game where they would farm favor off of combat.
Hero mechanic: Mesopotamian units that kill other units in battle have a chance to randomly become an Immortal, elite variants on the type of unit they are (infantry, cavalry or archer). This substantially increases their stats and turns them into a hero unit with the associated perks. A unit's chance to transform is effected by multiple factors, including the amount of units they have killed (increasing with every one), the quality of units they kill (better against more expensive units) and the amount of immortals that are already present (the likelihood of a transformation occurring drops off sharply as more are present, usually capping things off at around 10). Killing hostile wildlife will also count towards creating an Immortal, this can be useful for getting an early game hero, but only really works for making one hero before it becomes extremely inefficient.
Scout mechanic: Similar to the Atlanteans you start the game with three 'Astronomers' and have the option to build more. They have the same mechanic as the Atlantean Oracle, but have the additional ability, when their LOS is at maximum, to build a 'star sentry' tower on the location they are standing. This is a building like the Egyptian Obelisk that will maintain that line of sight until destroyed, it has very little health, and for the Mesopotamians costs a bit more than the Egyptian Obelisk, at 30 wood. The Mesopotamians can also create spearmen from their Town Center from the Archaic age.
Assyrian Siege ram and Archers
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Human units:
Mesopotamians have some good archers and elite cavalry, but fall down on infantry options where they go for numbers over quality. They tend to be weighted towards late game power, for example they can only start to train cavalry in the Heroic age. They do gain early access to siege though. A potential downside is that their buildings are very split up, so there's lots to build, they have 4 different structures for Archers, Cavalry, Infantry and Siege respectively, with the royal stable, for cavalry, acting as the main fortress type building for the Mesopotamians, having a lot of health and firing arrows.
Barracks units:
-Spearman: Expendable infantry, only good against cavalry. Cheap and easy to mass, despite being quite a bit weaker compared to other infantry. Available from Classical age.
-Maceman: Expendable infantry, only good against other infantry, like the Egyptian Axeman. You'd probably want to go for the Composite Bowman in most cases but the Maceman has an upside in being extremely cheap, acting as a trash unit when gold is gone. Available from Classical age.
Archery Range units:
-Composite Bowman: An excellent archer unit, compared to other foot archers it has better range and fire rate, which makes it especially effective in the Classical age. This is offset by being a lot more expensive compared to similar archers. Decimates infantry. Available from Classical age.
-Skirmisher: Counter archer javelin thrower like the Peltast. Best option the Mesopotamians have to deal with archers early on, but really have no other purpose beyond this and quickly outclassed by their cavalry options. Available in the Classical age.
Royal Stable units:
-Chariot archer: They have the same name as the Egyptian unit and are similar in appearance and expense, but overall a bit different. Where the Egyptian Chariots were the backbone of their army Mesopotamian chariots are a more supportive unit, they have less range and better operate in a hit and run role like the Cavalry archers of other AOE games rather than as frontline troops. Available from the Heroic age.
-Median Horseman: Light horsemen, they have excellent speed and great attack but can't stand up to resistance for long due to weak armor and health. Best used to chase down small groups or archers, killing siege and for raiding the enemy economy. Available from Heroic age.
-Cataphract: Probably the heaviest cavalry unit in the game that's not an elephant, Cataphracts are encased in armor so have excellent resistance to melee attack, to go along with their attack and speed (though they are slower than most cavalry). They are particularly effective against infantry, unlike most cavalry units, so probably need to be focused down with archers or other tough cavalry units. Very expensive too. Available from the Mythic age.
Siege Works units:
-Siege engine: A battering ram covered in animal hide, with a raised section in front. Fires arrows at enemy units and uses the ram to tear down walls. Good against buildings, and some soldiers can even get inside. Available from classical age.
-Catapult: A long range Catapult, the longest range siege weapon in the game and excellent at tearing down buildings from afar. It has little health and armor though and any unit, including even archers, that get close will likely kill it quickly. Available from Mythic age.
The Mesopotamian dock trains the Phoenician Galley (arrow ship) Siege Galley (siege ship) and Ramming Galley (melee ship).
Major Gods
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Anu
Acting as an ancestral god and representation of the sky, Anu is typically the most important of the Mesopotamian pantheon. Ultimately all authority, human and divine, filters down from him. Despite this however, unlike similar deities like Zeus Anu takes a relative back seat in the Mesopotamian pantheon, he was considered important but wasn't as strongly worshiped as others like Ishtar and Enlil, even the myths reflect this with Anu essentially getting kicked around by Ishtar who blows up mountains against his will, strong-arms him out of a heavenly bull and even forces him to give her his temple in Uruk.
-Human Units are twice as likely to become an immortal after killing an enemy.
-Number cap for Immortals is doubled to 20.
-Immortals gain 20% more attack power and health compared to those of other major gods.
-Gold cost for units and technologies reduced by 10%.
God Power: Enrichment. Double's gold gather rate from all sources, similar to Isis's power.
Technology: Celestial Father. Astronomers line of sight grows 40% faster and has a 30% higher maximum LOS.
Anu's wonder is the Anu Ziggurat from Uruk, one of the most ancient monuments on earth, first begun 6000 years ago! It looks a bit like the more famous Great Ziggurat of Ur.
Sargon of Akkad (no, not that Sargon...) is Anu's AI personality, a historical figure and king of Akkad credited with creating the first real empire more than 4000 years ago, Sargon conquered a realm from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. His life was later mythologized in the thousands of years after his death, with legends of his life suspiciously similar to that of Moses in the bible. In game he makes maximum use of the Mesopotamian defense to build up his economy behind walls, when he has access to as many military units as possible he then springs out quickly.
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Ishtar
Ishtar, or Inanna as she was first known to the Sumerians, is a hugely important goddess who frequently appears in a huge amount of Mesopotamian myths, typically doing something rash, impulsive and dangerous. She was associated with things like warfare, sex (though not so much fertility oddly), love, justice, political power and Venus, she also has the title of Queen of Heaven. She notably appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh where she sends a giant bull of heaven to kill Gilgamesh after he refuses to sleep with her, she also has an important myth where she attempts to conquer the underworld from her sister Ereshkigal, but fails and learns some humility. It seems as though the famous Greek goddess Aphrodite was an interpretation of Ishtar through a rather complex process of cultural exchange.
As a side note, this isn't really related to the game but it amazes me that Ishtar isn't a more popular and notorious goddess today, when I read about her myths and such she comes across as one of the most interesting and entertaining mythological figures I can think of in any mythology, essentially all of her stories involve her doing whatever the hell she wants to hell or high water and regardless of the (typically predictable) consequences, she has a recognizably human temperament that seems to be the result of her being essentially a spoiled, independent minded princess with access to literal godlike powers, and she has curious connections to recognizably modern concerns about gender and sex. She's one of the most powerful female figures in mythology and pursues her own whims and goals for herself, even if it just means sleeping with a hot guy, her worship was particularly popular with LGBT people and prostitutes, for example her Gala priests would probably be considered transgender today, and one her main attendants is a being called Asu-shu-namir who seems to be what might be called Gender non-binary today, with Ishtar being a patron to people who were considered outcasts from society for not neatly fitting into gender roles. Despite all this she doesn't have much pop culture representation beyond lending her name to an awful Warren Beatty comedy and appearing as an anime girl in the Fate/Grand Order series. I can't even find good artwork of her that's not that damn anime!
-Destroying enemy buildings will provide you with extra resources, to the value of 20% of the building in question, randomized between Gold, Wood and Food.
-Destroying enemy temples will give you twice as much favor and spawn a random myth unit. Celtic Nemetons provide 2 random myth units.
-Destroying enemy military production buildings will spawn 2-3 random soldiers that roughly match the building type destroyed (ie, destroy a Greek barracks and you will get some spearmen).
-Siege weapons move 15% faster.
-Villagers are created 25% faster.
God Power: Cedar Forest. Creates a patch of rich forest, similar to Gaia's power. Can block off areas.
Technology: Sukkal Ninshubur. When enemy villagers are killed the resources they are carrying will be given to you, likewise if your own villagers are killed without dropping off what they are carrying you will receive it regardless.
Ishtar's wonder is the Ishtar gate, previously located in Babylon.
Semiramis acts as the AI personality for Ishtar, a legendary Assyrian queen seemingly based off a real historical figure called Shammuramat, she was said to have conquered huge areas for the Assyrian empire. In game she tries to build a well balanced army and launch major attacks every time she ages up before falling into a more defensive stance.
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Enlil
A popular god throughout the Mesopotamian world but particularly associated with the city of Nippur, Enlil was identified with wind and air, and as a result storms and hurricanes, in addition to ruling the land. He was also a creator god, playing a crucial role in the Sumerian world creation myth, separating his parents, the Sky (Anu) and Land (Ki) and taking control of the land after killing the monstrous Tiamat, where he looked after humanity. Despite protecting humanity, Enlil is sometimes credited in later myths with causing a great flood to wipe out a huge amount of humans because they are too numerous and interrupt his sleep (really). He had many children who were also gods with his consort Ninlil.
-Foot soldiers gain the ability to build any kind of building, except for Wonders but including Town Centers, allowing them to do all building if the player wants to avoid villager downtime.
-Villagers can construct military buildings.
-Building construction time overall reduced by 25%.
-All military buildings fire arrows.
-Fishing ships move 30% faster.
God Power: Whirlwind. Enlil's wind scatters up to 5 enemy military units or 3 villagers to random locations on the map, can be good for blunting attacks or messing up with villager locations.
Technology: Enlil's Mattock. Halves farm and animal pen construction time and cost.
Enlil's wonder are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, who's existence is still a matter of debate.
Gilgamesh acts as the AI personality for Enlil, an iconic figure recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh as a king of Uruk who goes on wild adventures where, among other things, he befriends Enkidu, the wild man, learns not to be a despotic jerk to his people, kills various monsters, cries over Enkidu's tragic death, angers Ishtar and learns that immortality is unobtainable. This is the first great work of literature, though it seems there was a historical figure of Gilgamesh this was inspired by. In game Gilgamesh builds big bases as close to the enemy as possible and tries to fight their army head on, even if its not a good idea.
Minor Gods
(Availability key: I=Ishtar, E=Enlil, A=Anu)
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Sin
You have advanced to the Classical age through the Wisdom of Sin!
A very ancient god associated with wisdom and the moon, also known as Nanna from earlier times. He was a son of Enlil and also said to be the father of Ishtar (note her old name Inanna), Utu and Ereshkigal in some myths, with his wife Ningal. His seat of worship was in the city of Ur. (I, E)
Myth Unit: Alû. Creatures with no mouth or ears that the Akkadians and Sumerians were quite terrified of, these were said to have put people to sleep in order to drain them of their energy. In game, Alû are pretty feeble in most combat stats, especially health and damage, but have the useful ability to stun multiple units for a time, opening them up for attack.
God Power: Inspiration. While active all technologies (except age advancements) research 95% faster, almost instantly, and cost 30% less. It only lasts 10 seconds however, so you'll need to be darting around your base and making sure that buildings aren't held up making units to get the most out of it.
Technologies:
Eye of Ningal: Siege weapons move twice as fast and attack 20% faster.
Ship to Nippur: Transport ships can ferry twice as many units.
Foresight of the Moon: Astronomer's Star Sentry are built 30% faster and gain the ability to attack, essentially making them very weak tower substitutes.
Lamashtu's Wrath: Alû gain 15% more health and Melee armor, and they can stun more units (up to four).
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Nergal
You have advanced to the Classical age through the Fury of Nergal!
Nergal is an underworld deity for the Mesopotamians, a sinister figure who is connected to such pleasant things as plague, death and war. He is sometimes married to Ereshkigal, though the legend behind this implies this is less than consensual, with him successfully invading the underworld (unlike Ishtar) and Ereshkigal marrying him out of fear for her life. He returns to Earth from the underworld for half a year, during the prime campaigning season. (I, A)
Myth Unit: Scorpion Man. Funnily enough, although Scorpion men were already used for the Egyptians in the first AOM, its actually more accurate to use them for the Mesopotamians, since they appear much more frequently in Akkadian stories and symbolism, often as guardians to the entrance of the underworld. Visually modified to fit into the Akkadian style (they tended to put wings on everything, and, as mentioned, curly beards), these Scorpion men have similar attributes to the Egyptian ones, powerful close range fighters with a poison sting attack, though their relative power level is more fitting for Classical age.
God Power: Grasp of the underworld. When used on a certain location said area will be infested with Gallu, demons who drag victims down to the underworld. This acts as an instant kill on the unfortunate unit dragged down, a bit like Leto's Spider's lair except that Gallu are permanent fixtures that renew their attack periodically after a cooldown.
Conqueror of Kur: Favor gained from building destruction raised by 20%.
Campaigning Season: Infantry units move 25% faster.
Meslamtaea: Woodcutters cut trees in a single swing and gather from them 15% faster.
Bull Rage: Spearmen gain 20% extra attack and an additional 40% bonus against cavalry.
This is apparently actually a picture of Ki, the primordial Earth goddess, but many traditions treat her and Ninhursag as the same, and Ninhursag's iconography is used here.
The Lamassu
Ninhursag
You have advanced to the Classical age through the Nourishment of Ninhursag!
A mother and fertility goddess that was specifically identified with mountains, Ninhursag was a protector of the Sumerian royalty, as well as mother to many other gods, including Ninurta and Nanshe. Enki had a relationship with her, as well as with their daughters and granddaughters, she orchestrated an incident where he accidentally impregnated himself and then saved his life by taking in that which afflicted him into her own body and giving birth to 8 children as a result. (E, A)
Myth Unit: Lamassu. Occupying a role similar to the Sphinx for the Egyptians, the Lamassu are protective creatures composed of a man's head, bird's wings, and a lion or bull's body. They are powerful units, especially for the Classical age, and their presence can temporarily buff surrounding friendly unit's armour.
God Power: Mountain Chain. Instantly erects a mountain chain between two points, this acts as an impenetrable barrier that the enemy must find a way around, but since it creates a permanent feature on the map the maximum length of the chain is relatively short, and it can only be created in straight line, preventing the player from completely insulating themselves from all attack.
Lady of the Mountain: Archers gain additional extra attack power when fighting on a higher elevation.
Duranki: Improves building resistance to siege weapons (but not regular units).
Royal Defender: Lamassu's buff to friendly unit's armour is improved, and they are 25% cheaper to create and do 30% more damage to buildings.
Sadly there are essentially no good artistic representations of Nanshe I can find on the web so this little terracotta relief of the goddess from 4000 years ago will have to do
Nanshe
You have advanced to the Heroic age in the Arms of Nanshe!
Nanshe is a goddess associated with social justice, a figure who protects the weak and vulnerable, such as orphans or war refugees. She is one of Ninhursag and Enki's children and one of the more beloved among the Mesopotamian pantheon because of her protection towards the downtrodden. She also was associated with Merchants, overseeing storerooms and ensuring weights and measures were fair, as well as fishing and the Persian gulf. (E, A)
Myth Units: Kulullû: Heroic age Myth unit. A merperson, male or female, front half of a human, bottom half of a fish. Kululla have the ability to heal damaged units, especially ships, and can attack naval units with their lance, though they aren't too powerful in combat, similar to the servant. Kulullu's presence will also cause your fishing ships to work faster.
Manticore. Wow, another mythological creature from AOM1 where it would work better as a Mesopotamian creature! The Manticore is actually Persian in origin, though most of the surviving records are from Greeks. Generally they back up the description of it being a lion like creature with the face of a man, a voice like a trumpet and a scorpion like tail that can shoot spikes. I would probably have it mostly the same as in AOM1 because of this.
God Power: Defender of the Innocent. Non-combat units including all villagers, transport and fishing ship, astronomers, ox carts and trade units become invulnerable to damage for 30 seconds. This can be invaluable to saving your economy if you are caught badly out of position and lets you easily defend vulnerable units, you can also try to use it offensively to quickly erect military buildings and defenses as a Ninlil player, or even finish Wonders.
Technologies:
Guarantor of Boundaries: Nanshe's standardization of weights ensures better prices for buying and selling resources at the market.
Pelican Spirit: Villagers and Ox Carts regenerate lost health.
Scorpion's Sting: Manticores shoot more projectiles with each shot and they now apply a short poison effect (though not as powerful as that of the Scorpion man).
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Mušḫuššu
Marduk
You have advanced to the Heroic age through the Authority of Marduk!
Marduk is the patron god of Babylon and as that city rose in prominence so did he. By the time of the Neo-Babylonian empire he unseated Enlil as the king of the gods, taking on many of his functions. In legends modified for Babylon he defeats Tiamat and her minions, notably Kingu, and seizes the Tablet of Destinies to indicate his authority. (I, A)
Myth Unit: Mušḫuššu. A dragon like creature that was one of offspring of Tiamat, Mušḫuššu are a complex amalgamation of features from different animals including a snake like neck and tongue, horns, eagle talons, lion limbs and scaly skin. Became a servant and symbol of Marduk after he defeated it. Tough combatants, every time these beasts kill an enemy they generate a sum of 20 gold.
God Power: Tower of Babel: Erects a massive defensive structure, a bit like the Citadel in the first game but can be placed anywhere. This tower notably also has a stupendous line of sight.
Technologies:
Tablet of Destinies: Human units have a higher likelihood to transform into Immortals.
Lord's Statue: The player's temples heal units, they also boost the attack of your units nearby for a short time if they are destroyed (this includes if you just delete the temple!).
Glory of Babylon: Median Horseman gain 10% additional health and 20% extra attack.
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Ninurta
You have advanced to the Heroic age through the Glorious Deeds of Ninurta!
One of the most popular gods in the Mesopotamian tradition, Ninurta is a great patron for agriculture and warfare (the less negative aspects of it). He was particularly popular with the Assyrians and was often presented as a great hunter. A son of Enlil and Ninhursag, he possesses a sentient mace, with which he used to defeat the dangerous demon Asag and the flying beast Anzû, returning the Tablet of Destinies and cementing him as a great hero. (I, E)
Myth Unit: Asag. A humanoid creature with three arms and three legs, no neck and eyes throughout its body, said to be so hideous its appearance boiled fish alive in rivers. Also said to have tough, rock like skin and is assisted in battle by its similar offspring. As such, its got good defensive stats, especially armor, but pretty basic attack. It has the ability to summon weaker offspring to assist in the battle, they have a lot of melee armor but very low attack, 3 can exist at a time.
God Power: Locust Swarm. Calls forth a devastating locust swarm that destroys farms and damages and kills villagers and livestock, identical to Hathor's ability.
Technologies:
Sharur: The talking mace of Ninurta grants Macemen 30% higher attack and 100% bonus damage against buildings.
Almanac of Plenty: Farmers carry 5 more food and move 15% faster while on a farm.
Ninurta's Great Bow: Composite bowmen and Skirmishers fire 25% faster.
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Ereshkigal
You have advanced to the Mythic age in Submission before Ereshkigal!
The Queen of the Underworld for the Mesopotamians, Ereshkigal is also a sister of Ishtar and plays a key role in the myth of Ishtar's journey to the underworld. Her authority in the underworld is absolute and as Queen of the Underworld she a mirror to Ishtar, Queen of the Heavens, which even allows her to defeat and kill her sister (Ishtar gets better and escapes the underworld though!). She is overpowered by Nergal as mentioned, who she has to take as a spouse. (I, E)
Myth Unit: Anzu. A flipped Hieracosphinx, with the head of a lion and the body of a giant eagle. A powerful flying unit, the Anzu flies over the battlefield and attacks similar to a phoenix with an odd combination of fire and water blasting from its mouth. Anzu has a special ability where he can significantly buff the speed of friendly units beneath him.
God Power: Demonic Rift. Similar to Hecate's power, creates a rift to the underworld that will destroy structures and blurt out powerful demons where it is placed, until the enemy destroys it.
Technologies:
Annunaki: Myth Units take up 1 less population space and train 30% faster.
Seven Gates: Titan gates are uncovered 50% faster and Titan age research is 30% faster.
Stormbringer: Anzu move 30% faster and their speed buff to friendlies lasts twice as long.
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Utu
You have advanced to the Mythic age through the Radiance of Utu!
AKA, Shamash. He is the Sun God and usually seen as a twin brother of Ishtar with whom he shares a close relationship with. He's one of the earliest sun gods and has odd similarities with more famous ones like the Greek Helios, most notably the fact that he travels across the sky in a Sun Chariot and can see everything. He often stops to help those in distress, including Gilgamesh, and helped enforce divine justice. He was a son of Nanna, the moon god, and married to Sherida, who was associated with sex and the dawn. (I, A)
Myth Unit: Humbaba: A terrifying guardian of the Cedar forest, the home of the gods, this creature is said to have had the paws of a lion, the feet of a hawk, a body covered in thorns, human entrails for a face(!), large horns and a snake for both the tail and penis (the last part will probably not be featured on the in-game model!). One of the most powerful myth units in the game, and suitably expensive, Humbaba possess a special ability called 'terrorize', when active this causes up to 5 enemy human units to lose morale and break, shown by very briefly falling out of the control of their owner and trying to run in a direction away from the Humbaba, unable to attack while terrorized. The effect of this power is very short, but it can be really useful to turn a fight in your favor if timed right.
God Power: Abundance. When cast the resources within its area of effect will instantly be harvested with no need for villagers and added to the player's stockpile, gold mines, forests and all food sources will vanish and the resources therein will become the players. Very useful for quickly infusing the player's economy, it also has an offensive function since it can deprive the enemy of some the resources they are making use of and instead give them to you, or even quickly open up forests they may have been using for defense.
Technologies:
Sun Chariot: Utu's chariot increases the speed and hitpoints of chariot archers by 30%.
Saw of justice: Human units (including heroes) do 25% more damage to myth units.
All-seeing Sun: Human units gain 40% extra line of sight.
Eastern Assault: Cataphracts gain additional melee armor and 15% more attack.
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Enki
You have advanced to the Mythic age through the Ingenuity of Enki!
A kindhearted god of creation, intelligence, water, magic, mischief and, er, semen. Enki is crucial in the creation of humanity and goes to lengths to protect them, notably he also plays a key role in one of the first of many suspiciously similar flood myths in Middle Eastern mythology (there's even an ark for the few surviving humans), pleading with Enlil not to annihilate humanity and saving the last man against Enlil's wishes. He also has other adventures involving getting conned by Ishtar and having an awful lot of incestuous sex that ends in his face getting pregnant. (A, E)
Myth Units: Apkallu. Mythic age myth unit. Mysterious sages with bird's heads, non-functional wings and the scales of a fish, they frequently appear in Akkadian and Assyrian art and literature. They have a modest ranged attack where they burn enemies with a heavenly ray of light but some powerful abilities, notably they are capable of healing friendly units and have a 'silence' special ability. This prevents other hostile myth and hero units from using their special abilities, and even briefly blocks god powers from being cast. Finally they can teleport to anywhere on the map you have line of sight on.
Lotan: Lotan is a Canaanite creature, but Canaanite mythology has close connections to Mesopotamian traditions. Notably Lotan is a precursor to the Leviathan found in the bible, and was defeated by Hadad, a god in both Mesopotamian and Canaanite tradition, this seems to be very close to a myth of Ninurta killing a 7 headed serpent. Lotan is a powerful water unit that resembles a sea serpent and can attack multiple enemy units simultaneously with its 7 heads.
God Power: Divine Immortality. When cast a small group of units (up to eight) can be chosen to become truly immortal. In this case they will not die no matter what, instead they will get knocked unconsciousness like campaign heroes when at zero health and revived if the area is occupied by allies. They revive with around 20% health and rapidly regen when not in combat. Can only be applied to human units and automatically turns them into Immortals, regardless of how many already exist.
Technologies:
Preserver of Life: Warships gain 20% more health, transport and fishing ships gain 50% more health.
Clay and Blood: All human units created 50% faster, including villagers.
Mes: Military buildings are 20% cheaper.
Gift of Adapa: Apkallu gain 40% higher attack and heal twice as fast.
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The Titan for the Mesopotamians is the primordial goddess of the salty sea Tiamat, a sea dragon kind of being that was married to Abzu (the primordial representation of fresh water), birthed a variety of Mesopotamian monsters (including Mušḫuššu) and fought along with her children against the younger gods until she was slain by either Anu, Enlil or Marduk (depending on how late the myth was recorded) and the earth and heavens constructed from her body (sound familiar?).
Once again I hope this was an enjoyable read, there is a surprising amount of information available on Mesopotamian mythology, and reading up on this was extremely fascinating. There is little interest in Mesopotamian myth today compared to other traditions like Greece and Egypt which I think is a real shame considering how much content there is and how many interesting figures like Ishtar, Ninurta or Gilgamesh are present. Its doubly interesting because of its age and influence, it may well be the oldest mythological tradition we still have and its very clear that it had massive impact on the religions of the world to this day, there are clear parallels with stories from the bible like the Flood myth which may have its genesis in Sumerian myths and gods like Ishtar spread far outside from their original home, giving rise to famous deities in other cultures like Aphrodite. I hope that the future sees a greater interest in and appreciation of Mesopotamian mythology for its own sake.
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