When then hill tribes came down conquering the city states of the coastal plain, nothing could stop them. In desperation, the King of Kings, Ur-melem-nungal, had the heads of the great priests that died in those battles, saved. His alchemists placed them in lead boxes mounted on poles. And the boxes had a hinged front with a thin brass chain attached. And they were carried in front of the army like standards. And when the enemy was met they pulled the chains and opened the boxes. And the hollow mouths of the heads continued their last prayers. But they came out as a high keening and would stop for nothing. It is said, a whole army dropped its weapons and fell asleep at the dark prayer of one, that another caused a wind of fire, and a third had to be buried for it wouldn't stop raining for as long as it screamed.
Really cool idea for artefacts. Would you have them be "used up" when the prayer is finished, or do the heads just keep repeating the prayers?
ReplyDeleteThanks. I had the idea that because they were interrupted by death, they were like a skipping record, never-ending prayers. And that you would seek one out to put an enemy army to sleep but the problem would become it would be putting the whole countryside to sleep, whole villages, and that the quest would then be, "how do we get rid of this thing?." I guess that's kind of the vibe that I got from 1e artifacts, they were things you thought you wanted until you had them.
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