Mesopotamian Pantheon Ideas

Age of Mythology: Retold Discussion
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Mesopotamian Pantheon Ideas

My main inspiration for the concept is the first Age of Empires game that had all 3, the Babylonians, Assyrians and Sumerians as playable civilisations.

Major Gods

Marduk

Chief deity of the Babylonians.

Bonuses:

  • Asipu have increased range
  • Chariots have increased pierce armour
  • Wall upgrades can be researched in any Age and an additional wall upgrade is available
  • Granary upgrades cost -50% Gold (including Wall and Tower upgrades)

Ashur

Chief deity of the Assyrians

Bonuses:

  • Archers and Buildings attack faster
  • Villagers move faster
  • Champion build limit increased

Enlil

Ancient chief deity of the Mesopotamien civilisations, worshipped by the Sumerians, Akkadians and other later civilisations.

Bonuses:

  • Villagers have increased HP
  • Siege Units fire faster
  • Farms cost less Wood
  • Camel Riders have increased pierce armour

Buildings and Units

Barracks

  • II Swordsman (All round Infantry with decent pierce armour)
  • III Shield Bearer (Heavy Infantry with a small bonus vs. Cavalry)

Archery Range

  • II Bowman (Cheap Archer that costs 1 population)
  • II Heavy Slinger (Durable Anti Archer Archer)

Stable

  • II Camel Rider (Cavalry that can switch between melee and ranged, good vs. other Cavalry)
  • III Chariot (Cavalry that can switch between melee and ranged, good vs. Infantry and Archers)

Siege Warship

  • III Heavy Siege Tower (Durable but slow Siege unit)
  • IV Stone Thrower (Long range anti building)

Temple

  • I Asipu (Priest that can heal and convert enemy human units and can also collect relics)

Ziggurat

Functions as the Fortress of the Mesopotamians.

  • Champion Swordsman (Hero)
  • Champion Archer (Hero)
  • Champion Rider (Hero)

Civilian buildings

  • Farm, Dock, Market, Town Centre, Sentry Tower and Wall are normal
  • Small House (only provides 5 population)
  • Storage Pit (Drop off for Hunt, Wood and Gold. Researches Armour upgrades)
  • Granary (Drop off for all Food. Researchers Tower and Wall upgrades (in addition to Towers and Walls themselves))

Heroes

King

Mesopotamians start the game with a King. The King can’t die but instead collapses and can be rescued like a campaign Hero or a AoE3 Explorer.
The King can manually be revived at every TC for a cost.

The Hero can level up by collecting Experience, similar to Jeanne d’Arc in AoE4.

Level 1

  • Can not collect Relics
  • Can construct buildings

Level 2

  • Can collect Relics
  • Can choose between Spear, Sword or Bow as a weapon (only 2 choices depending on Major God)

Level 3

  • Uses a Chariot now
  • Can choose between 3 different auras (2 for each Major God)
    • Movement speed
    • Hitpoints
    • Attack bonus vs. Myth units

Level 4

  • Can choose between 3 different Champions (2 for each Major God)
    • Champion Swordsman (Hero)
    • Champion Archer (Hero)
    • Champion Rider (Hero)
  • Gains a unique aura that boosts the chosen Champions a lot
  • Can train the chosen Champions himself
  • The other Champions are still trainable at the Ziggurat
  • Champions share a common build limit

Level 5

  • Can choose between 3 different ultimative abilities (2 for each Major God)
    • Heroic Rage (Temporarily gains fast health regeneration, high armour and strong attack)
    • Summon Champions (Summons a number of Champions)
    • Divine recovery (Heals himself and nearby units, especially Champions)

Favour

Favour is generated by Villagers dropping of Food at Temples.
Food being dropped of at Temples is stored there until Asipu convert it into Favour.
Villagers can pick up Food from the Temple and transport it to a Town Centre of Granary in an emergency.

Minor Gods and Myth units

I will look into that later.
I don’t know too much about how important certain gods were for the people in Mesopotamia.

Thoughts

Those are just some ideas. If you have ideas for improvement you can mention them.
Are those good choices for Major Gods?
Is the way of generating Favour interesting enough?

7 Likes
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Is this a thread where we add our suggestions to your already established template or can we like “hard modify” things around like swapping gods and goddesses out and what not?

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You can suggest whatever you want, even if it is different to my suggestions in every way.

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Here is my take on the Mesopotamian Pantheon ideas.

Major Gods:

Marduk - God of Agriculture, Justice, and Medicine

Ishtar - Goddess of Love and Politics

Nergal - God of War, Disease, and Death

Minor Gods:

Sin - God of the Moon

Ea - God of Wisdom and Magic

Shamosh - God of the Sun and Justice

Elil - God of Air and Earth

Ereshkigal - Goddess of the Underworld

Belet-lli - Goddess of Fertility and Mountains

Hanpu - God of Evil Forces

Adad - God of Weather and Storms

Nabu - God of Literacy, Rational Arts, and Scribes.

Wonders:

Marduk’s Wonder: Hanging Gardens of Babylon or Etemenanki, a ziggurat similar to the Tower of Babel.

Ishtar’s Wonder: Ishtar’s Gate

Nergal’s Wonder: E-Meslam Temple

Babylonian Bestiary:

  1. Alu - A vengeful hellish demon with no mouth and ears. It stalks and terrifies people at night. They can cause coma and death.
  2. Basmu - “The Venomous Snake”. They are venomous horned snakes with two forelegs and wings. It is a companion to Musmahhu and Usumgallu.
  3. Gugalanna - Ishtar’s personal gigantic and mythical “I want you killed” beast. Also known as “The Bull of Heaven”. Maybe it should be a mythical age god power. Would be cool to see Gugalanna vs. Nidhogg fight (Godzilla style) lol
  4. Girtablilu - Horrifying scorpion men who specialize in guarding and defending. They are already in-game but they should be Mesopotamian and not Egyptian creatures due to its origin.
  5. Humbaba - A monstrous giant of immemorial age. Its face is scribed in a single coiling line like that of the coiled entrails of men and beasts. Its breath is that of death and breath is of fire. Its roar is like an unstoppable flood. It has the paws of a lion, a body covered in thorny scales, the feet and claws of a vulture, and the horns of a wild bull. Its tail and lower “region” each ended in a snake’s head.
  6. Kulullu - A destructive monster with a body of a human (upper) and a fish (lower).
  7. Mukil res lemutti - Ancient Mesopotamian winged lion-like demon, a harbinger of misfortune associated with benign headaches and wild swings in mood, where the afflicted "continually behaves like an animal caught in a trap.
  8. Mushussu - Marduk’s sacred animals. It is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, a horned head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest
  9. Musmahhu - “The Exalted Serpent”. They are hybrids of serpent, lion, and bird. It is a companion to Basmu and Usumgallu.
  10. Rabisu - These are vampiric demons with no particular moral implications. Rather, the Rabisu were spirits sent out to correct the transgressions committed by humans. When one refers to the spirit of the Rabisu as an evil entity it may be better interpreted as refence to malicious action performed by the Rabisu in response to the wayward actions of an afflicted human. That is, the malicious event does not reflect the Rabisu spirit as a whole.
  11. Seg-Sag-As - A monstrous six-headed wild ram.
  12. Ugallu - A horrifying lion-headed storm demon turned good.
  13. Urmahlullu - Think centaurs but with a body of a lion.
  14. Usumgallu - “The Great Dragon”. They are terrifying lion-dragon demons with four legs and wings. It is a companion to Basmu and Musmahhu.
  15. Utukku - Ambiguous class of demons.

Titan:

Asakku - Is a grotesque demon of unparalleled horror. With a terrifying form, Asakku is a massive, round entity with three powerful legs and three muscular arms, his body an impenetrable fortress of dark, rock-like skin. His visage, devoid of a neck and covered in an array of unblinking eyes, is a sight of pure dread, his mere presence so horrifying that he can cause fish to boil alive in the rivers. He is accompanied into battle by a horde of rock demon offspring—spawned from the union with the very mountains. Asakku embodies a nearly indestructible force of nature and is a living embodiment of seismic wrath and relentless destruction.

or

Pazuzu - Is a formidable demon of untold chaos and embodies the terrifying duality of destruction and protection. As a fearsome and destructive force, he wields the raw chaotic power of wind to ravage and obliterate his opponents to oblivion. He strikes fear into the hearts of all who encounter him. Yet, paradoxically, Pazuzu also serves as a formidable guardian. He wards off other malevolent spirits and fiercely protects the vulnerable. He is revered as a divine protector of pregnant women and mothers and he stands as a bulwark against the sinister machinations of his rival, the demoness Lamastu. He is often invoked in ancient rituals and depicted in powerful charms. Pazuzu’s presence is both a harbinger of doom and a beacon of fierce and protective strength.

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I like your ideas. I do really hope they get around to adding Mesopotamians or a regional equivalent faction as they do fit so well. The epic of Gilgamesh is possibly the first recorded mythological story so I’d love for it to get some representation.

As for Myth units the lamassu winged bull would be obvious though would be a bit similar to the sphinx. Maybe a goliath unit similar to the giants.

My one concern is that they would be very similar to the Egyptians in a lot of aspects and so the developers might avoid them for that reason, but I hope not

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I though about making Ishtar a major goddess too.
She was also the one who make Sargon of Akkad into a king according to myth.

But I wanted to have each Major god be able to represent a different culture group in the area.
Ishtar could be used for the Assyrians though.

You are going for the classical:
1 good god
1 neutral god
1 evil god

Like they did for the current 4 pantheons (not the Chinese but they are getting a rework)

I really hope to see him as a main character in a campaign in the future.

They show up as second in most popularity polls so I’m pretty optimistic.

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Very good ideas. The Mesopotamians are one of the most likely pantheons to be added after the Chinese. However, I would change a few things to your concept:

  1. I would add the maceman to the barrack (counter-infantry)

  2. I’d rename the bowman to composite bowman and give him better range over other archers. (2 pop unit)

  3. I wouldn’t make the ziggurat the mesopotamian fortress, because it was a religious building. It could be either a unique temple or serve as a wonder.

  4. I’m not sure for the champion heroes. It seems a bit too generic imo.

  5. I don’t get what you’re trying to do with the storage pit and the granary. Why would the Mesopotamians need two drop sites for food and why give these two buildings techs completely unrelated?

  6. I’ve loved the idea of a “customizable” hero in aom for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure the king should level up with xp though, as the devs would need to give an xp value to every unit in the game, like in aoe3. I think it would be better to count kills instead. Human units could count as 1 kill, myth units for 2. Also, I wouldn’t exclusively separate the king upgrades in different categories. I think all minor gods could give one additional upgrade for the king too. Your example of the chariot should be an option or an upgrade imo, not related to his level.

  7. As for the favor generation, I’d prefer either livestock sacrifice or offerings (aoe3 lombard).

Very good list, however I’d add the lamassu. As for the titan, I would prefer Humbaba.

Also, when it comes to lamassu, I’ve always thought it would be cool to have lamassus guarding your temples. They were essentially protectors and guarded the entrances to palaces and temples. In the game, this could be depicted as two lamassu statues that would come to life and attack when enemies get closer. Upon death, they would simply collapse and rebuild after a cooldown. this could be either a culture bonus, a major god bonus or an upgrade. What do you think?

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There is already 3 units that counter Infantry, not sure if a 4th one is needed.
Or do you mean as a replacement for the Swordsman?

The Assyrians were known for fielding armies that were largely made up of archers with only a small number of Infantry in front of them.
The Persians did the same though.

Ziggurats were sometimes fortified.
But I agree that they are mostly religious but I wanted to use them and also had no good idea for a fortress type building.

The idea would be that their defences are mostly made of Towers and they have the worst Fortress in terms of defence.

I didn’t find a better name but maybe they could be associated with a god.

Champion of god would probably sound cooler.

AoE4 simply bases the XP on the unit cost. But it could also be per kill.
AoE3 practically does the same but the XP values are manually set.

That would be pretty cool too.
Then the Champion unit could be tied to that Minor god.

I purposely did not use those 2 despite liking those concepts.
There are many civilisations where animal sacrifice was a way more important part of their religion.
Also offerings work better for other civilisations too.

I wanted to have something that is based around agriculture in some way. This way you place some farms around a temple to make your villagers drop off the food there, but it doesn’t automatically turn into Favour.
This way it’s more interesting then a passive trickle.

Maybe this could be a god power.
Or a technology that gives every Palace a pair of them that automatically respawns.

Just unfortunately the Atlanteans already “stole” the Palace building.

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Yes, that’s what I meant, sorry. I just feel like it would make the unit more visually distinct.

I don’t know their exact army composition, but I know for a fact that the composite bow gave them a big range advantage over their enemies. The composite bowman could be a weak archer, but it should have very good range.

Yes, maybe they could use the same code which converts resource costs to influence for African civs in aoe3.

Now this is interesting. However, I don’t think I’d make the temple a food drop site. Maybe it could be that the more farms around your temple, the more favor it generates?

Yes, but I would restrict this to the temple only. Also, I’ve thought of making it a god power, but I think it would be frustrating to have your temples repeatedly deconstructed by a Kronos player. XD

Additionnal ideas:

  1. Mesopotamians could be mostly wood independant, because of the geography of their territory.

  2. The mesopotamian caravan could be the kunga caravan. The kunga was a hybrid created from a donkey and an onager. It was a very valuable animal and served as a draft animal as well as for warfare, before the introduction of the domestic horse.

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Yup, it’s one of the reasons.

I went with the Akkadian form instead of the Sumerian language when I was typing out the names of the deities. And that is because Babylonia was the last and strongest Mesopotamian empire. I figured they can have first “dibs” when it comes to naming their gods/goddesses first.

Ishtar is quite popular throughout the Mesopotamian empires from the Sumerians all the way to the Babylonians. It works out since the Assyrians spoke Akkadian. The Akkadian form of Inanna is Ishtar.

Nergal is a bit of a tricky one. The name “Nergal” is quite popular among Warhammer 40K enthusiasts and has strong name recognition. I chose him because Nergal was one of the more prominent and important gods during Babylonian times. He does carry that “evil and bad” vibe as well. It’s worth mentioning that his Sumerian name was different, although his origins can be traced back to Sumerian lore.

Good suggestion. So, they are somewhat like the Sentinels but not exactly. Would they be trainable through the temples or invoked by god powers?

-EDIT-

Just saw that you answered this question whether they should be trainable or invoked.

Anyway,

I’m thinking that if they are trainable, they can be tethered to certain buildings once spawned and would have a limited radius within which they can roam, unlike the Sentinels who are grounded and stationary.

If they haven’t been tethered then they cannot attack.

-EDIT-

I’m thinking being tethered might be too restrictive. What if the lamassus become stronger with buffs once they are tethered to a building? They can still free roam and attack but won’t be as strong.

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Actually, the way I’ve envisionned it, there would be two distinct lamassus. The trainable myth unit and the statue version. The statue version would be, as mentionned previously, either a culture bonus, major god bonus or tech. Also, it would act like a sentinel but would be able to move in a certain radius around the temple it defends. It would collapse on death and reconstruct after a cooldown.

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The lamassus could work like the Maltese units from AoE3DE.
They get buffs when they are close to allied buildings.
Those buffs could be a lot stronger then the Maltese ones making them a lot better at defending then attacking.

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Of course, they could get a buff when near allied buildings, but still I would keep both the trainable myth unit and the statue separate units.

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Maybe there could be a nice way of combining both aspects.
What if the Myth unit has the ability to become a statue.
In statue form you lose direct control over them. They just automatically attack nearby units. But they gain faster HP regeneration, their population cost is reduced by 1 and they respawn within 30 seconds after death until the building is destroyed. The statue sockets can be attacked to reset the respawn cooldown.

They turn into a statue by targeting any building you want to.
If the building is destroyed they return to their normal from if they are alive.

Getting them in and out of their statue form costs a little favour.

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Yes, maybe combining the two could be possible. But if it was the case, I think that the lamassu should still have different stats depending on its form. For the myth unit form, it should have greater attack and HP. As for the statue form, it should get similar resistance to that of the sentinel (high pierce armor but low crush armor) and not be considered a myth unit. This would allow it to resist heroes while in statue form. Also, the statue form could get some kind of damage deflection ability for nearby building or only for the temple it is attached too. And yes, the statue sockets, even though they would be constructed with the temple, would be a separate entity. This means that destroying the sockets wouldn’t destroy the temple, but destroying the temple would also destroy the sockets.

I truly think this idea is the perfect opportunity to introduce something a little bit different to the game. I’d like to know what others think about it.

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Very cool interesting mechanic. I’d not have the statue form reduce their pop though as that could be abused. Turning them all to statues so you can build more units over your pop cap then unstatuing them. Health regen is cool, maybe their LOS massively increases too, big armour increase (after all, they are stone), perhaps instead of respawn they can be rebuilt by villagers similar to the automaton?

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As I’ve mentioned, they should get higher pierce armor and lower crush armor while in statue form. Also, since they’d be considered kind of like sentinels, they wouldn’t be able to be repaired by villagers. They could regenerate hp though.

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Thought about some things again.

I think the “Champions” are a bad idea as some other already pointed out.

What if the Asipu were more useful against Myth units.

Asipu

  • They can convert human units
  • Conversion speed depends on human unit population and number of Asipu
  • They can slow down and weaken Myth units
  • Weakened Myth units take more damage from human units
  • The amount of this effect depends on myth units population and number of Asipu
  • Flying Myth units are grounded and can be attacked by melee units

This way they can help fighting myth units when the one main hero is not around.

Ziggurats

Mesopotamians Age Up by building Ziggurats for each of the minor gods.
Each of them has a unique bonus and also has the ability to research all of that minor gods unique technologies.
No other buildings required for Age Up.
The construction of a Ziggurat can only by started by the King but normal villagers can continue and assist the construction.

The conversion into and out of statue form costs favour.
You can only transform them back if you have enough population.

Also it’s a relatively expensive myth unit that costs more then 1 population anyway. So you can maybe free up 10 population or so if you are lucky.
But you lock up the remaining population of the unit in a place where it can’t be used to attack.

Wild idea but what if they are build by villagers instead of being trained in the Temple.
What if they always start as a statue and then can turn into a moving myth unit but can’t turn back into a statue.

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really cool and dedicated ideas. would LOVE to see mesopotamian cutlure in aomretold! after mayan/aztec those are my second most wanted civ personally.

looking forward to part 2 with regarding myth units :slight_smile:

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I just think this feels too similar to Egypt thematically, and although Mesopotamia does have an interesting history and ancient religion, I don’t think it’s as obvious or potentially fun a choice as Celtic mythology.