Entry #344717, added on 05-02-05 @ 9:37 am EDT
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| Timeline Of Ameni Chronicles Events | Entry #344717 |
In this essay I intend to clarify how exactly the Apsiu were formed, and how they fit into my Kemet timeline. (I. e., the timeline/storyline containing my novels Osiris, Horus, Kingdom Of The Hawk, The Rebel Prince, City Of The Sun, and the short Kemet stories in my "Book Of The Gods" folder.)
In my timeline of events, Osiris was the first "official" king of Kemet; you of course know how the basic story goes. In my own twist on events, Set enlisted the aid of a race he himself had ordered created--the Apsiu--to help kill his brother. In fact I think this is pretty much where I left off in my rough draft of Osiris, which I think is posted in my port. Set has just shown up with the Apsiu and caused a stir. Unfortunately my interest in writing the story petered out and I've lost the outline...will have to find that someday. :/ In any case, following Osiris's reign was the reign of Set, considered somewhat of a "dark age" for Kemet (literally and figuratively). During this time Isis, impregnated by Osiris when he was temporarily brought back to life, fled to the Delta, gave birth to Horus, and left him in the care of Buto (Wadjet). She returned to the Upper Kingdom (it was all one kingdom then, but...blah blah blah...I guess the Lower Kingdom was the sticks or something), to keep watch over things so Set wouldn't ruin them TOO badly, and that was where she stayed until the story Horus took place.
THAT story is completed, and in my port, so you know how that goes if you've read it. :P Long story short, Horus grew up and returned, defeated Set and his Apsiu, and ascended to the throne. But I just realized I have to back up a bit here.
OKAY. The Apsiu...apparently, during Set's reign, their numbers had increased dramatically and further generations were born from the original ones. They started splitting off into tribes, which moved all throughout the Two Kingdoms and functioned autonomously from Set's rule. Set still had his own vanguard of Apsiu who served him in the city, and many of those in the tribes remained loyal to him, but he no longer controlled ALL of them. In fact he pretty much just let them wander off and do whatever they wanted. Now, remember that as long as the gods ruled in Kemet, time was very wonky and fluid and not linear. This is why so many of the things in the timeline seem impossible--for example, generations sprouting up in a very short period of time, and other examples I'm too tired to think of right now. You'll get the idea as I go along. Think of it as Manitou Island time only less confusing. I think. Anyway, by the time they split off into tribes the Apsiu had already formed the caste system which you can see in a somewhat rudimentary form in Horus--that was not intentional, BTW, but was a result of my ignorance about my own creation back then. (That story will need a rewrite someday. >_< ) This system intensified as they split up into tribes and they took to raiding each other and the Kemeti. Those tribes who drifted further away from the Upper Kingdom thought less about their actual creator.
Sometime along in here, the Moru Antakh was born (he should get his own miniseries someday, should I work up the initiative...I already wrote the scene of...his birth o_o ); his tribe was massacred by humans in retaliation for raids, and he grew up raised by a human. At the SAME TIME, Set's army was in full power, and as the idea is solidifying, another Apsiu I've briefly written about, Djeretu, was training in this army. (Yep! Going to try to work him into the story. If I ever write it. Blah.) When Antakh came of age he either A. heard of the plight of the Moru--the slave class--and went out with the intention of freeing them, or B. feeling alienated, went to join the Apsiu, discovered the plight of the Moru there, and THEN became intent on freeing them--was once the former, but will probably be the latter now. He masqueraded as a Kana until he was found out--but he had already been inciting the Moru to revolt, and they did, breaking away from the tribe and fleeing to the western desert. Antakh became their leader. This was all during the reign of Set, remember. Djeretu and his Kana, serving Set, fought the newly formed Free Apsiu every step of the way, yet were always repelled as the Free Apsiu's numbers grew. Plus they didn't have the full support of their king, as he was no longer quite so interested in his creation's welfare; Set just didn't really care WHAT the Apsiu did, so long as it didn't conflict with his reign. Cue frustration for Djeretu, I assume, but good news for Antakh.
By the time Horus takes place, Antakh's Free Apsiu are already well established, and they join forces with Horus's army to defeat Set. Set and his Apsiu, including Djeretu, are vanquished; all but those who choose to defect are banished to the desert. Djeretu is one of the few who decide to join Horus's new army, as outlined in the short story "Surrender." (That story, as it was written so long ago, may be kind of plotholey now itself.) The Apsiu tribes further disperse, aside from those remaining in the city and those who went to join Set; as most of them are no longer in contact with their creator, they begin to grow even less aware of him, and eventually no longer much consider him so important to their society.
Cue the unwritten Kingdom Of The Hawk, when Horus visits Set and his Apsiu to request a temporary alliance to defeat the sea god Yamm; Set and his Apsiu gain their freedom from banishment in return, though they are still no longer welcome within the city. Set comes through for Horus, fighting off Yamm, and retreats then to Celestial Kemet, which is pretty much Kemet in the realm of the gods. (Almost a mirror of the real thing--see "Apophis's Day On Earth" for a VERY convoluted time I had with this place. >_< ) Since his Apsiu are mortal, they cannot join him there, and thus they are left behind in Kemet...in effect, Set abandons them. (I know, he's not looking too good in this entry...sorry. ^_^; ) Horus's reign continues for an indeterminate amount of time (remember, no linear time yet). Eventually, mankind's respect toward the gods wanes, and Ra orders a sort of "exodus" of the neteru from the kingdom; Horus's reign ends, and the gods all retreat now to Celestial Kemet, leaving Kemet to the humans and Apsiu. The humans take over the royal city while the remaining Apsiu are either flushed out or have already left long ago; in any case, there is no longer any cooperation among the two races (there had been minimal cooperation among them, in Horus's city at least), and they completely split from each other. The humans enter a dark age where they forget about the gods' power, and the Apsiu likewise begin to doubt the existence of Set. This is about when the unwritten City Of The Sun takes place, including my own version of the story of the name of Ra and the destruction of mankind. (I. e., Wherein Hathor Opens Up A Big Can Of Whup-Ass & Then Gets Stinking Drunk.) This seems to be my last story of any large-scale involvement of the neteru in humankind's affairs (Rebel Prince, an out-of-continuity story, does not qualify), after which they pretty much retreat for good (they still make small individual appearances, but nothing quite so massive anymore). After maybe several hundred years or so of anarchy, the first pharaohs emerge, and then actual history begins, but that's something I'd rather not write. Blah.
After the gods' retreat time becomes more linear, and things start to make more sense. Antakh and Djeretu, who had assisted Horus in his rebellion and in his city, live out their natural lives and die; the Kemeti and the Apsiu flourish during this period of anarchy when there is either no king or a series of minor kinglets in various parts of the country. Notice that in the Ameni Chronicles there is never any mention of a king. That's because that series takes place in this interstitial, predynastic period. (Wow! I got to use the word "interstitial"! Sorry... x_x ) I did this because 1. I suck with history, 2. it fits in with the chaotic, random nature of the various tribes and settlements scattered all over and owing allegiance to no one person, and 3. hm...I'm so tired I forgot three. o_o Oh well. You get the picture. Oh yeah. Predynastic Kemet is not a fully formed Kemet, so I can treat it basically like I treat my Manitou Island, as a make-believe, yet entirely plausible (well, but for the fantasy), location where things that are Kemetic yet not 100% accurate can occur. Holy cripes, my brain is falling asleep. Anyway.
Mention is made in TAC of how Antakh has already become a legend among the tribal Apsiu; the Free Apsiu are still their own force to be reckoned with, and Antakh is considered a hero among them, and a traitor among the tribal Apsiu. (Djeretu is not nearly as remembered, though I would assume the tribal Apsiu would spit on his name as well--these Kana NEVER served Set, remember, but it's a cultural memory.) Many Apsiu doubt Antakh even existed, and even more doubt the reality of Set, especially since he never shows his face in their affairs. (There IS a sort of mystic religious order dedicated to him still surviving at the time of TAC, and a member of it makes his appearance in much later chapters; basically they are mainly solitary priests who observe rites dedicated to Set, and they are considered highly superstitious by the other Kana who are not nearly so religious nor ritually inclined.) Lord Djetef, Lieutenant Resikh's father, at one point mentions how his family line goes back "fully two hundred years and more," highly indicating that TAC takes place AT LEAST two hundred years after the end of the reign of Horus. Though it's also possible that it was shorter than that, and Djetef's ancestors served Set himself, but judging by how largely neglected Set is as their creator, and other factors, I would in fact place TAC at least 200 years later than Horus's reign, maybe even later than that. So now you see why Set is so largely forgotten, and why the gods themselves are questioned as actually existing. (Even Ameni, a Kemeti, doubts that the gods actually exist.) Most of the Apsiu in TAC are rather agnostic, and don't really believe either way. One good example you can see in the story is all the reference to Maat, yet no one really seems to think of Maat as an actual BEING. She is just a vague concept of truth and law by the time TAC takes place.
Despite my difficulty keeping track of time in my series (*ugh*), the events as played out in TAC, therefore, take place in linear time, since the gods have long left Kemet and only mortals remain. Hence the wonky time paradoxes in Osiris and Horus, yet the more realistic time in TAC.
I hope you've enjoyed this first blithery essay, now I have to go to the bathroom. :)
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