Armageddon = Scourge?, May be offensive or blasphemous Options

[stevebugge]

Ok just to get it out of the way, the disclaimer on the title is to warn you that the idea presented may be too religious for some and others may find the juxtaposition of Shadowrun / Earthdawn fiction with Scripture blasphemous. However if you don't fall in to one of those categories then you may find this interesting. This week (at least in Seattle) the History Channel has been running Armageddon week trying to find historical tie ins to scripture. While doing some research on the ancient world for the Immortal Elf thread:

January 1 4713BC is the Julian day of Creation. The Mayan Long Count begins on August 11-13 of 3114BC. However the city of Jericho in the West Bank is about 11000 years old which means it would actually date back to the Third Age under Ehran's Time Line, Ur, Uruk, Ban Po (China), Sumer, and Memphis (Egypt) are all thriving, or even in decline by this period. Civilization has a recorded history that overlaps the 4th World significantly, and some (by Ehran's Time line) stretches back to the Third Age. Put in this context some ancient cities may have the Secrets of Creating Kaers hidden in them some where, Any settlement in existence prior to say 6000BCE. There may be some actual magic artifacts from ancient civilizations lurking around too, and possibly copies of the Books of Harrow waiting to be found and translated (or does the Atlantean foundation already have them).

Well I put the two together and came up with some ideas. First off what if the Book of Revelation predicted the next Scourge? Clearly the End of the world could refer to the Scourge, could the Rapture be an event that believers will use to escape the horrors? Then there is the issue of an Antichrist, is it Darke, or someone or something else? Could the various depictions of The Beast be major Horrors? Keep in mind that Jerusalem is old enough to have existed during the 3rd. 4th, 5th, and 6th worlds. Would the Arc of the Covenant still be out there to find and what powers would it have? Of course to incorporate this in to a game you would then have to decide how much of the Bible is History and how much is Prophecy, and how much has been lost in translation. Does the Vatican have ancient copies of the original texts, have they edited the Bible? (see where this could get dicey for some people to run) The state of Israel could be sitting on some very important Archaeological sites and Artifacts. Ultimately the question of just what are God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will have to be dealt with, do he/they actually exist, and if so just what are he/they, Free Spirits of immense power? Mentor Spirits? A type of Totem?

The run possibilities come from a lot of angles. apocalyptic Cults, the Vatican, the Viglia Evangelica, any other Christian Church organization, the Mossad, the Atlantean Foundation, Dragons, Immortal Elves, Corps just looking for powerful artifacts, and Goverments all come to mind fairly quickly.

Hope this helps get the creative juices percolating out there, share your thoughts.