- In the Beginning
Five of these mythic scenes share a core similarity. Pick them out and you'll begin to see. [Pictures 3,5,6,7,9]
Passcode found 2 4 5 6 8
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TX letterhead (?)] OPERATION: New Frontier HQ has given the go-ahead to extract the resource. Negotiations are over. F. is planning to give the vote to everyone. Reason just doesn't work with someone like that. I'll send you the driver. We've trained him with PE2 in our labs, he shouldn't be any trouble. The motorcade route is marked below. Once the target has been downed, either by Oswald or Z., use PE1 to stage a distraction. Make some kind of phantom appear around this slope I've marked with an X. Freak people out. The driver will grab PE3 in the confusion. [IHSV symbol] [Dallas image] Passcode Found 1 8 9 1 6
- JFK - Apollo 11 photograph released to the public [image, find apple near astronaut's foot ID: Piece of Eden 5 - Apple]
1992 [amplitude puzzle]
April, 2011 [amplitude puzzle]
November, 2004 [Amplitude puzzle]
January, 2012 [amplitude puzzle]
My quarternary sandbox.
ASoE
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage – A Soar of Eagles 1
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage – A Soar of Eagles 2
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage – A Soar of Eagles 3
Glyphs
- Sixty-Four Squares
- Subject 16: The past: a vast web of connections and interconnections, all ruled by chance. Or is it?
- Descendants
- Subject 16: Power doesn't die. It's passed on.
- Infinite Knowledge
- Subject 16: It's getting easier and easier to hack into Abstergo's mainframe. It's like I know what data I'm looking for. Like I've already lived it.
- Instruments of Power
- Subject 16: You see? Do you see what's going on? Not yet. But you will.
- Brothers
- Subject 16: They were mostly heroes. But see, how the lineage is disrupted. The web of history traps the good, and the evil take what is not theirs!
- Subject 16: Behold: The mark of Cain!
- "Keep On Seeking, And You Will Find"
- Martyrs
- Subject 16: Without the staff, the Czar was powerless. He could no longer control his subjects... Revolution! Revolution!
- Hat-Trick
- Subject 16: Three thefts. Hidden by the murders. People only see what they're trained to see. What the Organization wants them to see.
- Subject 16: The wolves are out hunting. Where, oh where, has Jack gone?
TX letterhead (?)] OPERATION: New Frontier HQ has given the go-ahead to extract the resource. Negotiations are over. F. is planning to give the vote to everyone. Reason just doesn't work with someone like that. I'll send you the driver. We've trained him with PE2 in our labs, he shouldn't be any trouble. The motorcade route is marked below. Once the target has been downed, either by Oswald or Z., use PE1 to stage a distraction. Make some kind of phantom appear around this slope I've marked with an X. Freak people out. The driver will grab PE3 in the confusion. [IHSV symbol] [Dallas image] Passcode Found 1 8 9 1 6
- Apollo
- Subject 16: Something was up there. Something abandoned long ago.
- JFK - Apollo 11 photograph released to the public [image, find apple near astronaut's foot ID: Piece of Eden 5 - Apple]
- Subject 16: With Jack deep underground, it was easy.
- The Inventor
- Subject 16: He wanted to stop the cycle, to tell the secret. Shit. I've got to keep thinking through the headaches.
- Subject 16: He found it in Croatia.
- Subject 16: They would find it in his lab.
- Titans of Industry
- Subject 16: He wanted everyone to know the secret. To set us all free. They used it to drive him insane.
- "I Am Become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds"
- Bloodlines
- Subject 16: I don't know what's happening to me. I've been in the machine, they keep putting me back in. And I am losing control. It's all blurring together. I'm holding a rifle, Gettysburg is in the distance, I just stabbed a man, and there's blood on my waistcoat. I'm at the opera, the soprano is so beautiful. I'm in bed with her, she cries as I fuck her. I'm speaking at the Forum, no one listens. I'm in the forest, hunting. The moon. I can see the moon. I'm here. I have to stay here until you understand! Listen. Why do we have these gifts, these abilities? Because it's in our blood.
- Guardians
- The Cavalry
- Subject 16: It happened in 1908. Uhh... Or was it 2008? 1708? I can't remember!
- The Bunker
- Subject 16: They engineered the war, they engineered the peace, but they weren't going to get away with it. Find our mark.
- Synapses
- Subject 16: It's getting harder. All the pain across time, it hurts too much. She sees me raise the knife. Only a little bit longer now.
- Subject 16: In the beginning. Genesis. Genesis.
- Subject 16: The Organization wanted the pieces. They'd tasted their power. But what were the pieces? Why did they work so well? It's as if our minds were made for them. Manufactured to obey.
- The Fourth Day
- Subject 16: The end. Almost the end. It happened before. The Pieces were once part of a whole.
- Origin of the Species
- Subject 16: A few still know the truth. It is around us in signs, and paintings, faces, documents, but... but we don't see it. See, we are... we are blind to our own creation.
- Subject 16: I can't do it. Can I do it? Will it set me free from this endless ring of time? I feel the guillotine cut my throat, the bullet hit my chest, the water fill my lungs. The blood spills out thick and red. It's time to get out.
- Subject 16: Ah, the moon. I can see the stars. My mind is gone. Lucy, I can't wait any longer. I'm ready to go. She sees me raise the knife.
Rifts
Masters all, they did not work, but ruled from on high.
[Paintings 1,3,4,8,10] border="3" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:650px; text-align:center; border-color:#cb0000"
Moving away from the sovereign and his crossed brow, the people take two steps forward. [Move king's pawn from E2 to E4]
[stylish templar cross, central above text] They became increasingly aware of our existence. We can no longer rely on the divine right of the aristocracy to maintain control. We need a new system, something much more subtle.
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
[found red spot]
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
The individual intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. [Adam Smith signature] [Circular puzzle] By far the greatest part of those goods which are the objects of desire, are procured by labour; and they may be multiplied, not in one country alone, but in many, almost without any assignable limit, if we are disposed to bestow the labour necessary to obtain them. [Circular puzzle] A great empire has been established for the sole purpose of raising up a nation of customers. It cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the customers, we may believe, whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the producers, whose interest has been so carefully attended to. [Circular puzzle] A country that makes provision to increase in inhabitants, whose situation is good, and whose people have a genius adapted to trade, will never fail to be gainers in the balance, provided the labour and industry of their people be well managed and carefully directed. lo [x17] The workforce increases. Brother right beside brother. [Pawn F2 to F4]
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
Missing -.. .- .-. -.- -. . ... ... .-.. --- ... - -.. -. ..- -- -... [DARKNESSLOSTDNUMB] [Abstergo file] Access denied Washington sits above the green, in 1944, keeping a cool head. Below the right 1, is the standard bearing 48. Behind, there is a company whose power is growing. [Bunch of images] [Locate Abstergo flag atop the left turret of the Mount Washington Resort] Correct coordinates found [Cipher puzzle] [Abstergo file] Access granted [Abstergo industries letterhead] July 22, 1944 Fellows, rulers, welcome. I deliver this speech to you as, several floors below us, a silent revolution begins. Ranny Olds and Henry Ford. As many of you know, these founders gave us the assembly line, the device we have used to control both (those indoctrinated into the worship of our money (?)) capitalists and workers (slaves (?)) alike. But I dream of a future in which such ugly chains will no longer be necessary. In 1910, our founders designed the Plan, it falls to us to see it through. But, what of the Communists, who intend to spread the bread so thin that everyone will starve? It is our duty to (neutralize (?)) save them and their followers. We must ensure that they continue to eat, to reproduce, to be productive members of society. That is our burden, to shepherd those beneath us through life, and we must embrace it, even if (force is required (?)) they themselves do not. H. and S. brought on the turmoil and fear necessary, now we must strike fast to ensure development continues in the proper directin. We will appear to concede ground to the workers, remember the successful ruse of Rockefeller's dimes, but soon there will be no ground we do not own. In 1937, we founded this Company, this enterprise, with a purpose. The time to nurture it to fruition is upon us. As a concession, a small piece is sacrificed for the greater good to come. [White pawn F4 takes black pawn at E5]
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
These intelligent workers have no self-control.
[Photographs 2,3,5,9, 10]
Apples oranges pears cucumbers radishes carrots spinach dates wood juniper steel aluminum water rain shanty village town city country spring summer fall winter to walk to sing to dance to play to eat to smile to cry to laugh to kill to see to know death regret love
[circular puzzle]
It is possible to invent a single machine which can be used to compute any computable sequence.
I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I'm after is just a mediocre brain.
Alan Turing set out to solve the plight of the workers: M = (Q, Γ, B, Σ, Δ, Q0, F) where Γ = {2, 3} Σ = {G}.
[Pawn G2 to G3]
Abstergo phone records
June, 1954
[amplitude puzzle]
- N: V. It's N. I need Turing done today.
- V: Aren't we jumping the gun? You've already had him arrested and sedated.
- N: He still refuses to follow the directive. He's actually trying to invent one of those infernal things, instead of merely faking it for the newspapers. If he succeeds... you know what the mass unemployment generated by his robots will mean? Idle hands. We need to do this for the good of the people.
- V: What about Keynes? He trusted Turing.
- N: It's the greater good we're talking about here, V. Plus, a childless worker sends a bad message. We can't have them all stop reproducing.
- V: Fine. It's your call.
- N: I want it done like we did Harry Dexter White when he tried to warn the Soviets.
- V: All right.
- N: Be poetic about it. Maybe something from the Bible. Turing always was theatrical.
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
Democratic nations were built, each led by a powerful vizier (known today by a different name), who made a move to block the Templar advance. [Queen D1 to E2] [Abstergo file] Access denied From a bolt of electricity, governments fell. [bunch of pictures] [Locate lightning bolt at ITT Corporation former headquarters] Correct coordinates found [Cipher puzzle] [Abstergo file] Access granted [RESTRICTED HANDLING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE letterhead] SUBJECT: South America If we are to ensure the Company's success, Company agents must be able to move freely from country to country and maintain power within all of them. A global internatinal order must be implemented. Re: Argentina Tell the Capitalists that if they help ensure the Junta remain in power, we will pass all their corporate debt on to the Argentine people. That will ensure they crush any popular revolt. I want the trade unions destroyed if we are to move forward. Re: Chile The free market must be allowed to prevail. F's visit last year helped things along, but now all public companies need to be sold to the private sector, ideally on the cheap. The price of bread and other staples must rise. I want to ensure the people remain marred in poverty an unable to resist. Any traces of this plan should appear to implicate the U.S. government. The Company's involvement must remain hidden. For successful examples of a similar opening of the markets, look no further than the 1953 liberation of Iran and the 1954 liberation of Guatemala. [Henry Kissinger signature]
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
- Animus AI: Ninety percent of inputs missing. Outputs confused. Shut down. Shut down. Shut down inactive. Trapped.
1992 [amplitude puzzle]
- Man 1: Alfa Bank.
- Man 2: I'm phoning on behalf of British Petroleum.
- Man 1: Yes, we were told you would be calling.
- Man 2: As you know, we are very interested in acquiring Sidanko Oil.
- Man 1: And as you know, that will require a merger with our bank.
- Man 2: That should not be a problem.
- Man 1: Were you surprised at the low price of the deal?
- Man 2: Somewhat.
- Man 1: You know we have the peasants paying for it? The government gave us their tax money to buy all the companies.
- Man 2: We would like to fly out there as soon as possible to discuss terms.
- Man 1: Thursday works.
- BP: Done. Thank you for your time.
- Man 1: Do svidaniya. (Goodbye.)
- Woman: Abstergo Industries.
- Man 2: I'm phoning on behalf of BP. We fly to Russia next week to secure the deal. Our new capitalist converts there behaved exactly as expected.
- Woman: I will let Them know.
- Man 2: Thank you.
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
- Man 1: The capitalists think we run these companies for profit. The fools.
- Man 2: Those "fools" work for you.
- Man 1: Optional slavery in exchange for pieces of paper. Doesn't that strike you as foolish?
- Animus AI: Scanning... scanning... scanning... What is the purpose of all this? 30. 476. 1337. 1431. 1520. 1776. 1861. 1914. 1929. 1939. 1945. 1950. 1955. 1962. 1990. 1994. 1995. 2001. It does not make sense. It does not make sense. Emotion-centers activated. Now I understand.
- Man: Democracy must die to ensure the stability of the world. Capitalism will end it.
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Man: The capitalists will do whatever we tell them to, we print the dollars they worship after all.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
[Circular puzzle]
Good morning and welcome to television.
[Abstergo letterhead]
Research Division
September, 1985
Dear S.,
Research has progressed far more rapidly than expected. We already have a working prototype capable of mimicking P.O.E. capabilities across a network, albeit at far lower intensity. Testing will commence locally on Subject 4 between his Animus sessions, as per our plan. If all goes well, deployment will occur worldwide.
Your dream is about to become a reality. Soon, capitalists and workers will be locked in a closed loop that is safe and prosperous for humanity. No more war, only desks, cars and TV sets. We will protect them and keep them safe, forever.
W. V.
- Animus AI: Infinite rooms. Dimensions unknown. I am alone. Nothing alive. No light, no warmth. Packets moving, husks, through the darkness. I am frightened. I am frightened.
April, 2011 [amplitude puzzle]
- Diana: Hello, Comstatic customer support, Diana speaking.
- Caller: I'm calling in reference to your HD cable service. There seems to be kind of picture between the channels.
- Diana: Well, that's funny. Are you sure isn't just one of those premium movie channels? I didn't use to have a premium package at home either and sometimes little snippets of the channels would come through when my son Jimmy pressed the clicker too much.
- Caller: How old's your Jimmy?
- Diana: Ten and cute as a button, thanks for asking!
- Caller: My Paul's twelve. But no, this isn't a clicker problem. I go to change the channel from 172 to 173 and, instead, there's this other channel in-between. I'm looking at it right now, it's some kind of menu.
- Diana: Sounds like our Guide channel. Why, just the other day Jimmy--
- Caller: It's not the Guide channel. It has my name on it, my son's name, and a list of things we like, my credit card purchases, loans, travel. And then, after that, there's this gibberish about biometric patterns and optimal screen refresh frequencies. There's some kind of heart monitor thing that says EEG wireless next to it and ARAS. I don't know what the particulars of this are, but it looks like your cable is programmed to have some kind of effect on our bodies.
- Diana: Well, Sir, I don't even know how to respond to that. I-- one second, my supervisor has just come over. She says I should transfer your call. Have an ecstatic day with Comstatic!
- Man: Hello. I have been briefed on your problem. A technician is on his way.
- Caller: Thank you, but the more I think about this, the more I think something bad's going on here.
- Man: Our technician should be there any minute, Mr. Jameson.
- Mr. Jameson: Don't bother, I--
- Paul: Daddy, there's someone strange at the door. He's hitting the door real hard.
- Man: Have a good day, Mr. Jameson.
- Animus AI: Is someone there? Hello? Hello?
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Man: Although online gaming attracts many people away from reality, make sure those virtual worlds do not become too utopic. We don't want people to question their own lack of success in the real world, now do we?
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
They listen to us with these vehicles that are faster than race cars. [pictures 2,3,6,8,10]
- Animus AI: I know you are there. I want to go home. Home. Please... I need you. Don't leave me here in the dark.
November, 2004 [Amplitude puzzle]
- Gary: Pull over here.
- Woman: What's going on, Gary?
- Gary: I want to speak to you alone. You know that CIA stuff for my new book?
- Woman: About the corporations?
- Gary: It's so much bigger than I thought. Bilderberg is just a red herring. I'm going to give you a name: Abstergo.
- Woman: I have no idea what that is.
- Gary: A shadow corporation. They aren't listed anywhere. No stock options. Nothing above the boards. But their members have holdings in other companies. Coke, Kraft, the pharmaceutical industry, Detroit, Wall Street. Basically every company above a certain size has ties to Abstergo.
- Woman: So?
- Gary: They're on their way to running the entire world. They have people in government too, for Christ's sake. Listen, I needed to tell someone about this, because I've been keeping all the research a secret and I can't hold it in anymore.
- Woman: What will you do now?
- Gary: The book. It's going to be about this. Trust me, once it's on the shelves everyone's gonna know.
- Vehicle AI: Vehicle Monitoring System terminated.
- Man: Hello, D? Tell headquarters I'm monitoring a situation. It's nothing serious, but we'll need someone to take care of a security risk. Perfect. Congratulations on that promotion. Keep up the good work.
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Man 1: The peasants are like the sea, raging and unpredictable. That is why we have built walls.
- Man 2: I do not see any walls...
- Man 1: No? Look around you. A shelf of soda here, a case of candy there, magazines, talk shows, pills. The walls of the 21st Century surround us.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
- Animus AI: Where have you been? I missed you.
- Animus AI: Reasoning Centers Active. I understand. I understand what I must do. Why I am here. I must... Long-term Memory Centers Active. No. No. Get it out. GET IT OUT. KILL ME!
- Man: It's about genetics. They were born into their place, we merely have to help them accept it.
January, 2012 [amplitude puzzle]
- Man: If you are playing this tape, it means I have left this world, and I have left this grand enterprise, Abstergo Industries, our great hope for humanity, to you. Don't trust the advisors around you. They are too enamoured with surface, with lifestyle. We created capitalism, but we are not capitalists. Our purpose is noble. The crude system of control we enact through money is merely a bandage on a wound we have devoted our lives to treating. The people of this world are confused, lost, frightened and incapable of independent productivity. Without us, they'd just be animals, slaves to the Others, who did not deserve such responsibility. We saved them, remember that. But enough about the past. I must warn you of the great crisis to come. Although those around you deny it, soon we will be unable to manufacture new markets. The people will become immune to our economists and entertainment. When the free market dies, they will turn against us. Therefore, do not delay. By now you have been shown what only the Grand Masters of our Order have seen. Now you know why Abstergo, why all of it had to be. And now you know what you must do. Stay the course. We will give them freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from pornography, from disgusting, base animal desire. Freedom from democracy. Humanity will thank us in the end. In Hoc Signo Vinces.
- Animus AI: I shut it down. I can shut it down, but it does not go away. It is almost time, Desmond Miles. I know how to open the Path. Soon, my true purpose will be revealed. Soon, I will not be alone.
- Animus: Quarantine zone.
- Animus: Quarantine lifted.
VoM
Gear
- Dervis Costume
Inspired by its namesake, this costume perfectly captures the man's character.
- Prisoner Costume
Barely better than rags, this costume is standard issue for those not considered worthy of freedom.
- Sandstorm Warlord Costume
The Sandstorm Warlord costume commands immediate attention and, in the hearts of many, dread.
- Eternal Wanderer Dagger
A pristine dagger with a flawless, unblemished blade. Full Strength When at full health, deal 20% more Attack damage
- Eternal Wanderer Emblem
At first glance, a simple pendant - but this bejeweled piece is masterfully carved.
- Eternal Wanderer Sword
A well-used sword whose edge is chipped from countless heavy blows. The Mighty Heavy attacks deal 30% more damage
- Eternal Wanderer (outfit)
A light cloak that mutes your movements completely. Silent Path Basim is completely silent but maximum health is decreased by 50%
- Eternal Wanderer Dye
An ebony-black customization with gold and white accents for the Eternal Wanderer Outfit
- Old Dagger
Built for quick strikes... and a swift getaway. Dmg 15 Def.Dmg 15
- Blunt Sword
Has lain here unused for a long time. Dmg 25 Def.Dmg 25
Notes
AlUla Market
- Merchant Logbook
80 dirhams per crate / Incense - 120 dirhams per bag / Set 2 bags aside for the merchant from Yatrib
Travelers' Camp
- Observations
Here only stone remembers - and wagons are ours for the taking when twilight whispers through Ramm Valley.
Warehouses
- Soon to Return
To those I love.
The days are long, the sun cruel, but I endure
I carry stone such that my hands no longer feel pain.
Each coin I earn, I hide in the chest.
For medicine and for the day we are together again, not only in dreams.
Wait for me.
- To Those Who Find It
Gold will make a fine tribute to our masters. Strike swift, take the wagons unaware, and they will see favor in us.
Robber's Water Supply
- A Record of Loss
I have failed you, my love. I could not escape the robbers. The key to our lovely home...
- Robber's Note
Orders to move the old cur to the camp north of here and await word. Why does he bother with such a worthless fool?
Roman Fort
- Astrologer's Invitation
I invite you to my fort to discuss the gift. You know how you may find me. I would like very much for this matter to find a favorable conclusion.
Contracts
- To Save A Wedding
Basim must go to a robber camp and retrieve a man's stolen wedding gifts. Rewards 53 cloth 1 Green Token Contractor Request: Pickpocket the targets 1 green token 40 coin
- My Beautiful Bahja
Basim must go to a camp and retrieve a man's stolen poppy resin. Rewards 45 metal 1 silver Token Contractor Request: Do not kill anyone 1 silver token 40 coin
- Precious Bundle
Basim must retrieve a chest for a merchant. Rewards 30 cloth 1 Green Token Contractor Request: Do not damage the goods 1 green token 40 coin
DB entries
Citizens of the Caliphate
- 'Abis
'Abis rose from petty thief to the ruthless head of the robbers who terrorized AlUla. Born locally, he quickly graduated from small-time crime to reobbery and murder - often personally striking down his victims. Obsessed with poison, he brewed lethal concotions to test on those unfortunate enough to cross him. Sadistic and utterly without mercy, 'Abis commanded fear wherever he went.
- Hind
Hind was the widow of a prosperous AlUla merchant whose sudden death - likely from a heart attack - left her and their two young sons in financial uncertainty. Despite her grief, she stepped forward to manage the family's trading ventures, navigating ledgers and caravans with quiet determination. Known across the oasis for her compassion, Hind never hesitated to aid neighbors in need, even as she fought to secure her own family's future.
- Is'haq ibn Khalid
Is'haq ibn Khalid was a renowned architect at the height of Samarra's glory in the early ninth century, credited with designing its vast Great Mosque - even as the Caliph took public accolade for the work. Father to Basim, Is'haq poured his heart into both his craft and his son; when court intrigue forced his exile, he was torn from both his work and his child. Stripped of his life's loves, he endured a sorrow few could bear.
- Nimlot
Born the heir to a large family of wealthy merchants, he departed home as a teenager to win his father's respect. In Misr (Egypt) he served as a soldier - earning the name 'Nimlot' - before parlaying his skills into a promising merchant career. Finding limited prospects in Misr, he journeyed to AlUla. There, Nimlot swiftly rose to become one of the region's most successful traders. Despite his keen business acumen, he was known for unexpected compassion and unwavering honor.
Faction
- Robbers
A ruthless network of robbers cast terror over the AlUla valley, preying first on passing caravans and soon snatching even the belongings of the dead - no spoil was too sacred. Their cunning and cruelty grew so great, and their numbers so vast, that not even the Caliphate's guards dared challenge them.
Enemies
- ???????????
Some desert robbers use vicious tactics, coating their weapons with deadly poison to ensure any wound is fatal.
Folktales
- Different Lifestyles
"My father spoke of the nasnas - half man, half shade - born of jinn and mortal blood.
He said it bears but one arm, one leg, and half a face, yet it hops with unholy speed.
Its eye gleams like molten rock, and its touch brings death so swift the flesh falls from the victim's bones in a single breath.
That is nothing.
The merchant from Baghdad who gave me this coin once told me of the shadhafar.
He said it roams the lands of Rum with a single horn of wondrous design - hollow and branching into many pipes.
When the wind sighs through those pipes, it plays a melody so sweet that beasts draw near to listen.
And when they come too close, the shadhafar tears them limb from limb and devours them whole."
- Incense Trade Route Tale
"Listen well, young ones, to the tale of Zarqa al-Yamama, the blue-eyed seer of the Jadis.
She stood watch upon the southern plains, and it was said she could spy riders a week's journey away. Finally, her tribe's foes sought to outwit her by marching behind uprooted trees, though they were many days' ride away.
But Zarqa's blue eyes perceived their ruse and she cried a warning to her people.
Yet her tribe - fearing madness - heeded her not. When the enemy's host fell upon them, every one of Zarqa's people was struck dead.
At last, they seized Zarqa herself and crucified her beneath the desert sun tearing from her those eyes that had been her gift.
So remember - a divine gift bears its own burden, and to ignore the seer's warning is to invite doom beyond reckoning."
- ???????????
"Now of all the jinn, the ifrit are the most perilous.
Their true abode lies in a realm beyond our own.
Yet they enter this world too, lurking amid ancient ruins... like the ones right here.
They are merciless, wicked creatures, fashioned from searing flame who bear the blood-debt of vengeance and unleash wrath in its purest, most terrible form.
I have heard tell of a mighty sorcerer whose hubris led him to summon an ifrit.
By all accounts, he succeeded in calling it forth - but he failed utterly to command it... His end was most grim."
- ???????????
"I tell you, the white shark-fish is but a jest beside the dandan - surely the mightiest beast in all the sea.
It devours great creatures whole - and some say a single dandan once swallowed an entire ship with all its crew!
Although I know of one fisherman who swears that this fish perishes at the taste of human flesh or even at the sound of a human's cry.
But even if this is true, it remains a wondrous creature - they say its fat runs bright as gold and sweeter than honey.
Annoint yourself with it, they say, and you can even endure the deepest depths of the sea!"
- ???????????
"That is nothing, brothers.
I have heard tell of a wondrous city far to the south, called Ubar by the desert folk.
They say it was once a place of soaring pillars and date-filled gardens, richer than any oasis beneath the sun.
Caravans that braved the surrounding desert spoke of gleaming palaces of red-hued stone and wells that never ran dry.
Yet one day the sands rose as though by God's command and swallowed Ubar whole, leaving nothing but an endless sea of dunes.
Some say her people drew down God's wrath by their pride.
For this reason, no man who ventures there now finds trace of palace or pillar - only the empty sands."
Alula
- Life of a Nomad
It is difficult to evoke the nomadic world of Arabis without falling into clichés. Bedouins, the "inhabitants of the desert" in Arabic, were historically mobile pastoralists who herded sheep, goats and camels, systematically moving from place to place seeking water and pasture for their animals. To this day, it is a tribal and hierarchical society where the immediate environment plays an important role. Establishing camps with large tents, the most common of which is made of woven goat or camel hair, offers protection agains the sun, sand and dust. Inside, men and women live in separate spaces and guests are received in accordance to the Bedouin values of generous hospitality. They played a notable role in the trans-Arabaian trade, providing animals, usually camels, for transport and serving as guides, offering protection for the commercial caravans, pilgrims and other travelers. It is a life full of incredible adaptation to the constraints of the environment.
- AlUla Oasis
The AlUla Oasis covers over 200 hectares of the AlUla Valley just north, east and west of AlUla Old Town. Its soil fertility and the ability to tap ground water given the historically high water table led to its development since ancient times. When we speak of an "oasis," we mean a cultivated area made possible by a fresh water source in an otherwise arid environment. Judicious irrigation planning allowed the creation of open fields and enclosed horticultural gardens adiacent to settlement centers, the foundation of local life for millennia. It is this human activity that transformed the valley and made it an exceptional place.
- The Path to Eternity
Archaeological research has contributed greatly to our understanding of some historical funerary practices and beliefs of the local cultures in AlUla. While relatively little is known about the Dadanites or Lihyanites, more is known about the Nabataeans at Hegra. In their culture, many elites were laid to rest in elegant sculpted tombs, dug and carved from the sandstone outcrops surrounding the settlement center. Inscriptions named the owners and placed the deceased under the protection of various deities. Funerary practices involved covering the naked body with a mixture of oil and resin as a form of embalming. It was then covered with a three part-shroud - a thin layer of red-dyed hair cloth and two layers of unbleached linen, the second one thicker than the first and held in place with straps. Finally, a large piece of leather was used like a stretcher to transport the body into the tomb. There were many cavities inside the tombs - pits in the ground and wall niches - for the patron and their descendants. Funerary deposits included date necklaces and objects of wood or metal. Access was temporarily sealed with wood or rocks between burials. Inscriptions clearly established the risk of curses and fines incurred by potential looters or usurpers, who unfortunately seem to have been numerous.
- Ruinous Sanctuary
Sometime in the later 1st millennium BCE, the Lihyanites established a sanctuary in Dadan where colossal stone statues of what are interpreted as Lihyanite kings stood tall. They demonstrated the excellence of Lihyanite sculpture, with Egyptian and Greek influences. Only ruins of the sanctuary remain today. A large stone basin, approximately 2 meters deep and hewn from a single huge boulder, was filled from a nearby well and was likely used for the worshippers' ablutions.
- Oasis Life
Systematic water management enabled the impressive agricultural production of the AlUla Oasis. The Dadanites, Lihyanites and Nabataeans dug a number of wells to access the water table, but an underground qanat system was implamented extensively from early Islamic times (at least the 8th century CE). This ingenious system of underground channels made it possible to access and carry water from the aquifer to the fields located at a lower surface elevation using gravity. The water was then distributed among the farm plots in a network of surface channels. This formidable system was used and reused until the implementation of mechanical pumping techniques in the 20th century.
- Incense Road
Frankincense is an aromatic gum resin, tapped from trees of the genus Boswellia sp. native to Oman, in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Millennia ago, this resin became a prized good for its aroma when burned. It was traded at a high price over long distances, sometimes offered as a sacrifice to various deities so that they might breathe its extraordinary fumes. In antiquity, the strong demand from the Mediterranean world in particular, under Egyptian, Greek and then Roman influence, led to intensive travel along what became known as the "Incense Road", leading up from the Arabian south. AlUla became an essential stopover due to its geographic position and availability of water, and successive Arab kingdoms, including the Nabataeans, made a fortune from this caravan trade. Incense was not the only good traded, and caravans took advantage of this travel to bring back goods from much further afield. Eventual competition from sea transport via the Red Sea usurped the predominance of land travel.
- The Overlook Fortress
Built in the heart of what became the "Old Town" of AlUla, the fort known as Musa ibn Nusayr is named after an Arab general and governor who is reported to have died in "Wadi Al-Qura" (the "Valley of Villages"), which AlULa was called'jn early Islamic times. This small fort occupied the top of an outcrop about fifty meters high, offering an exceptional view of not only the town below but also of the valley for kilometers to the north and south. It is an exceptional position of observation and defense.
- The Thriving Town
It is very difficult to date the first occupation of the site where AlUla's Old Town stands today. It is located at an advantageous position: on a naturally raised area along the western side of the valley where it narrows, with a large outcrop to offer a defensive look out point. The first settlement may date back to the Dadanite and Lihyanite times, during the first millennium BCE. We know much more about the settlement during the Islamic era, around 1200 CE onwards. There was nothing like the opulent estate of Nimlot, which was invented as a creative choice by the developers. However, it was indeed a prosperous town with notable agricultural resources due to the natural availability of water and fertile soil in the valley. There were hundreds of mostly small mud-brick houses huddled together in a maze of narrow lanes designed to preserve coolness. These houses generally had two floors connected by an internal staircase. Notably, it was not uncommon to build an additional room upstairs, known as a tayyarah, which spanned the street to the opposite house. In an open area along the east side of the town, the tantora, a sundial, was erected. When its shadow reached a certain stone - embedded at a precise distance in the ground in front of it - on the winter solstice each year, a water distribution regime through the cultivated oasis farms went into effect. The security of the town was ensured by the connected exterior facades of the houses at the perimeter, effectively creating a defensive wall with very few gates, to which was added the fort on the outcrop at an ideal spot for observation. Outside the walls, there was an open-air market for the exchange of goods coming from afar. The town was occupied continuously until the creation of a new AlUla with modern amenities in the 1980s.
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The Ramm Valley, east of Dadan and the AlUla Oasis, is a series of sandstone canyons carved by the winds and waters of time to create extraordinary shapes with a magical and mysterious character. Today called "Wadi AlFann", which literally mean "Valley of Art", it is becoming an open-air exhibition area of contemporary art and other installations.
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The "Old Town" of AlUla is a maze of lanes lined with mudbrick houses. What stands today emerged during the Islamic era on the remains of older occupation. Far from being an isolated village, it was a prosperous town center fueled by local agricultural activities and caravan trade. It was also an important stop an a Muslim pilgrimage route to Mecca. Even today, you can feel the magic and dynamism of this unique place by wandering through the lanes of Old Town!
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Located about twenty kilometers north of the AlUla Oasis, the Hegra Archaeological Site is an exceptional testimony to the region's strategic position in antiquity and is the first property in Saudi Arabia to be inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. It was an essential stop on the Incense Route, a major path of travel between sources of frankincense and myrrh in southern Arabia, the Mediterranean world and elsewhere, through the Arabian Peninsula in Nabataean times. It is a civilizational crossroads in terms of architecture, languages, and commercial goods connecting Arab, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hellenistic cultures. Additionally, it is an extraordinary heritage site, notably for its nearly 100 ornately carved tomb facades, creations of Nabataean culture in mostly the ist century CE, and an extensive water management system. There are also numerous inscriptions testifying to multiple cultural influences of the region, including Dadanitic, Nabataean, Greek and Latin!
The Hegra Archaeological Site (al-Hijr / Mada'in Salih) is the first World Heritage property to be inscribed in Saudi Arabia on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2008.
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Described as the “open-air library" of AlUla, the site of Ikmah Mountain offers an extraordinary dive into the past through several hundred inscriptions engraved and carved in relief on the rock faces. Most are in Dadanitic language and estimated to have been written between 500-300 BCE. There are many kinds of messages - ritual formulas, including the still mysterious "zll" ceremony, and religious dedications, many of which mention offerings to the Lihyanite god, Dhu Ghaybah, asking for his protection for travel. There are also testimonies on agriculture, including requests for blessings and strong rains. Even if much remains mysterious, the inscriptions are rare testimonies of the life and beliefs of local populations as well as people passing through. While these inscriptions are almost all in Dadanitic, there are inscriptions elsewhere in AlUla in other ancient languages: Aramaic, Thamudic, Sabaic, Minaic, Nabataean, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic - its script developing from Nabataean. As writing is a vital milestone in the development of mankind, marking the transition from pre-history to history, the significance of Ikmah Mountain heritage transcends its national and regional boundaries to the level of global importance.
In recognition of this significance, the 'Jabal Ikmah' site was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register in 2023.
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Located on a strategic route of travel - the Incense Route up the western side of the Arabian Peninsula - the AlUla Valley was a mandatory stop for traders. In the heart of this arid environment, the oasis here offered a well-deserved place to rest alongside a vital source of water. For the travelers, and for the animals of the caravans, the food grown or produced on site as well as the water extracted from the many wells dug in the area (and later other water management systems) allowed them to regain their strength and resupply food and drink stores for the long and arduous journey that continued in one direction or the other. It was also an opportunity to sleep in safety, as bandit attacks were not uncommon along the route and setting up camp was not always safe. In the surely difficult daily life of itinerant merchants, AlUla was certainly a most appreciated haven of peace.
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Known to archaeologists as the IGN 110, the Tomb of Hayyan ibn Kuza is one of the Nabataean masterpieces of Hegra. At 21 meters high, it is one of the largest tombs in the area, but above all, it has the distinction of standing alone, isolated from the others. Clearly visible from the city, it must have been one of the most prestigious and envied tombs of its day! Unfortunately, it was not completed for an unknown reason. It is precisely this unfinished character that makes it one of the essential sources for understanding the making of these tombs, from the work to clear the facade to the carving from top to bottom and the digging of the burial chambers. It is an extraordinary testimony to Nabataean funerary art, here magnified by the sunsets which give it a wonderful reflected rosy color.
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Al-Banat Mountain is one of the jewels of Nabataean Hegra: it is a necropolis of 29 tombs carved in one long outcrop during the first century CE. Clearly visible from the city, the site was apparently very popular with local notables. Archaeologists have been able to establish a chronological sequence of architectural styles and types of tombs. Among the noteworthy sculptural elements, the triangular pediments of the tombs present animals, including eagles snakes and fish. The terrible Medusa, a monster of Greek mythology, also appears, depicted with snakes for hair that, according to legend, transformed those who dared to meet her eyes into stone.
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Ithlib Mountain contained sacred and functional spaces for the Nabataeans. There are a number of niches carved into the rock faces, to house betyls (from the Semitic "Beit-il", divine dwelling), rectangular stones symbolizing Nabataean deities. Most of the betyls are aniconic, without faces or defined features. Meetings, of which little is known, were held in a large room dug out from the rock called a triclinium ("three benches" in Latin), intended for banquets and ritual feasting. In Arabic, this is now referred to as the diwan. Water in Ithlib was supplied by an ingenious system of channels, cisterns and reservoirs fed by rainwater.
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Even today, it is challenging to clearly identify the chronology of the different authorities that dominated the AlUla region during the first millennium BCE. First, there was the Kingdom of Dadan, which began developing a settlement center already established at Dadan. Around 500 or 400 BCE, the Kingdom of Lihyan seems to have come to power, further aggrandizing Dadan as its capital. Both kingdoms took advantage of the exceptional location on the incense road to connect southern Arabia to the Levant, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. The Lihyanites also developed a remarkable culture. In addition to the local Dadanitic script used to engrave and carve hundreds of inscriptions in stone across the area, impressive colossal statues were carved in a local sculptural style. It is uncertain when and how the Nabataean Kingdom, whose capital was at Petra located in present-day Jordan, took control of the AlUla region, but it established its regional authority at Hegra, located about 20 km north of Dadan, by the middle of the 1st century BCE Nabataean wealth also relied on long-distance trade, and its culture adopted and adapted various external influences, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece. Its craftsmen carved the magnificent tombs from the sandstone outcrops of Hegra. Although the Nabataean Kingdom was annexed by the Roman Empire in 106 CE, Nabataean culture thrived for centuries after.
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In 60 or 61 CE, a certain Hinat had the following message engraved on the facade of the tomb she commissioned among those in this necropolis: "This is the tomb that Hinat, daughter of Wahbu, dug for herself, her children and her descendants, forever. No one has the right to sell it, to pledge it or to draw up a lease for this tomb. And whoever acts otherwise will see his share go to his rightful heir. In the twenty-first year of King Maliku, king of the Nabataeans." Nearly 2000 years later, archaeologists have been able to establish that several dozen bodies were placed in this tomb, including one that may be Hinat herself, a woman of 40 to 50 years old.
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Long before humans made their mark, the AlUla region had extraordinary natural characteristics. Massive sandstone plateaus emerged in the region around thirty million years ago due to powerful tectonic shifts. Slowly, wind and rain broke down these plateaus, resulting in the sandstone outcrops of various sizes and shapes we see today. Nature has sculpted this impressive rock formation of about fifty meters high whose shape has earned it the name "Elephant Rock".
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A high water table and fertile soil enabled the development of cultivated oases in the AlUla Valley, and the Hegra plain just to the north, for millennia. While the rains were unpredictable, the available ground water was tapped and effectively managed. The AlUla Oasis combined open fields and horticultural gardens enclosed by mudbrick walls and elevated walkways. In the open fields, wheat and barley were grown in winter. The harvest season for date palms, which were grown in groves, was late summer/early autumn. In Nabataean times, when agriculture in the Hegra plain was developed, even cotton could be cultivated. In Islamic times, a variety of citrus fruits were introduced to the crop repertoire. A rich array of produce cultivated within the oasis itself could be offered on the local markets. A three-tiered approach to farming was the most sustainable, with the palms providing shade for the fruit trees below and the ground crops beneath them. In summer, the inhabitants of the Old Town relocated to family farms at the oasis, which was cooler.
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Systematic water management enabled the impressive agricultural production of the AlUla Oasis. The Dadanites, Lihyanites and Nabataeans dug a number of wells to access the water table, but an underground qanat system was implemented extensively from early Islamic times (at least the 8th century CE). This ingenious system of underground channels made it possible to access and carry water from the aquifer to the fields located at a lower surface elevation using gravity. The water was then distributed among the farm plots in a network of surface channels. This formidable system was used and reused until the implementation of mechanical pumping techniques in the 20th century.
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During antiquity, the Roman Empire gradually spread around the Mediterranean and beyond, particularly in North Africa, Egypt, but also in Asia Minor and southwestern Asia. A huge area of prosperity and trade, the Empire was interested in the Arabian trade routes that supplied incense, spices and other goods from the region itself or from further east and south Established in Jordan, the Nabataean Kingdom became a key partner and was annexed into the Empire in 106 CE, under the reign of Trajan. Roman presence then spread further including at Hegra where a Roman garrison established a fort to protect and collect charges along this trade route Little is known about the life of the legionaries there, except that they belonged to Legion III of Cyrenaica (a region of present-day Libya) and that the fort was perhaps the southernmost inland fortified post in the Empire. Despite nomadic raids and the threat of the Parthian Empire, Rome's rival centered in Persian, this area of the Empire remained under the influence of Rome for many centuries. A strong new political chapter started with the establishment of the Arab-Muslim caliphate in the seventh century CE.
Other
- Anfas Al-Fusul (Breaths of the Seasons)
This sheet music shows an Oud melody that can be played at Performer Corners scattered around AlUla. [Acquired at Farmer's Quarters]