Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2057
Primary Locations: The Veil → Temple of the Unseen Sun → NAIomi Server
Infrastructure → Emerging Cyberspace
SESSION OVERVIEW: GM Note Rob (AKA Yosuf) was out this game.
The heroes survived Borg El Arab.
The question Wednesday morning was how much of Borg El Arab
had survived inside them.
The answer came almost immediately. Rana, Tariq, David, and
Yusuf awoke violently ill, expelling poisonous bile left behind by their
encounter with Apep. Their senses remained subtly distorted afterward, while
Michael alone appeared untouched by the lingering poison. His protection,
however, came with its own mystery. The wound Kareem Simbel had inflicted upon
him still refused to heal until Rana again invoked the persistent power
necessary to overcome Kareem’s supernatural injuries.
With the immediate crisis passed, the heroes spent Wednesday
doing something increasingly rare: stopping long enough to understand what had
happened to them.
That reflection produced uncomfortable conclusions. Kareem’s
connection to Apep increasingly resembled the party’s own supernatural
relationships. Ra had reached through Rana and David. The Master had repeatedly
reached into the world through his servants and schemes. If Apep could empower
Kareem, what other entities were reaching through the newly awakened boundaries
of reality? The Alexandrian Storm had not merely given humanity powers. It may
have reopened doors.
While Rana, Tariq, and David devoted the day to unlocking
the Cartograph of Ra, Michael discovered another door entirely. NAIomi’s
infrastructure was rebuilding itself, using magic-touched technology to create
its own next generation. Beyond ordinary networks, Michael entered an emerging
cyberspace that behaved increasingly like a genuine plane of existence,
populated not only by artificial intelligences but by Storm-touched human minds
unable to understand where their consciousness had gone.
And buried beneath all of those discoveries was one
bloodstained document recovered from General Simbel.
The General had intended to retire. He signed the letter on April
10, 2057.
Two days before the Alexandrian Storm.
THE STORY SO FAR
Tuesday beneath Borg El Arab had nearly become a
catastrophe.
Kareem Simbel attacked his father, suppressed the heroes’
connection to the ley lines, and revealed himself as something far more
dangerous than a disturbed military officer. Rana saved General Haziz Simbel
while Tariq broke Kareem’s control over the surrounding magic. The party then
returned to the hidden Library of Alexandria repository and recovered the
Cartograph of Ra, the Pharaonic Assemblage of Den, seventeen additional
artifacts, and evidence suggesting that Kareem was connected to Apep,
the ancient enemy of Ra.
Kareem escaped.
General Simbel survived, only to disappear from the hospital
while apparently remaining somewhere within the Borg El Arab complex.
By Wednesday morning, the heroes had returned to the Veil
carrying ancient treasures, new questions, and considerably more of Apep’s
poison than anyone had ordered.
Session 36 became the day they began sorting through all
three.
MAJOR EVENTS & KEY MOMENTS
1. APEP’S POISON LINGERS
Wednesday began unpleasantly.
Rana, Tariq, David, and Yusuf each suffered a visceral
reaction to the previous day’s exposure to Apep. They awoke nauseated and
expelled poisonous bile as their bodies fought off the lingering contamination.
The group realized that successfully resisting the original
poison had not meant escaping it completely. Had they failed those earlier
defenses, they suspected Wednesday morning’s effects could have been
incapacitating or worse.
Even after purging the poison, their senses remained subtly
wrong. Taste was distorted. Hearing carried a strange fuzziness. Vision
produced tracers. Smell became almost painfully acute.
Apep had left fingerprints on them. Michael experienced none
of it.
2. KAREEM’S WOUNDS REMAIN
Michael had another problem. His ribs still carried the
wound Kareem inflicted during the battle, and ordinary recovery had done
nothing to repair it.
Rana immediately recognized the similarity to General
Simbel’s injuries.She once again invoked the persistent quality necessary to
heal otherwise incurable damage and successfully restored Michael. The incident
confirmed that Kareem’s attacks leave supernatural wounds capable of resisting
conventional healing.
3. YUSUF PURSUES THE BLACK-MARKET LEAK
Yusuf remained affected by the aftermath of Apep but had
separate business requiring his attention. He departed to pursue the
investigation involving Vakeman Chou and the discovery that satellite
intelligence and dossiers concerning the group were being sold on the black
market.
The investigation had already occupied much of Tuesday and
remained active. Someone was collecting information on the heroes. Someone else was buying it.
4. GIFTS FROM THE LIBRARY
Breakfast turned toward the seventeen artifacts recovered
from the Library repository.
David identified several objects worthy of further study.
The first was a nearly thirty-inch perfect quartz sphere
filled with swirling colorless mist, functionally recognizable as an ancient crystal
ball. David proposed eventually giving it to the United Kingdom as part of
his continuing effort to strengthen Britain against the supernatural threats
emerging across the world.
The object could operate independently in sufficiently
capable hands, but its greatest potential appeared to lie in combining it with
other divinatory artifacts.
Tariq immediately noticed the obvious possibility. The
Oracle.
Humanity had survived thousands of years without anyone
combining the two, so naturally this group required approximately thirty
seconds.
5. THE EMERALD LANTERN AND BOOK OF POTIONS
David had identified two other intriguing artifacts.
The first was an eighteen-inch lantern of ancient adamantine
construction with quartz panels surrounding a floating fist-sized emerald. The
object reacted visibly to the restored flow of ley-line energy, though its
deeper abilities and possible bloodline connection remained unknown.
The second was an ancient magical book containing formulae
and rituals capable of producing a broad range of magical potions. Neither
artifact was claimed as fully understood. Both joined the growing collection of
recovered objects whose histories and powers remain to be uncovered.
6. TARIQ REACHES TOWARD THE PRESIDENCY
Tariq contacted Nadine and instructed her to begin arranging
a meeting with Egypt’s President Khaled El-Zaphyr or his political representatives. The request
had several purposes.
Tariq wanted to understand the Egyptian government’s current
position after the confrontation with Kareem. He also wanted to begin
legitimizing his newly discovered royal bloodline and discussing the political
landscape that would follow from his increasingly public ambitions.
Nadine’s concern went beyond scheduling. Political figures
were dying. The President of France was dead. The leadership of the United
Nations had also been struck and Tariq had just opened the conversation by
mentioning a confrontation with Colonel Kareem Simbel. Nadine had worked for Tariq
long enough to recognize that these facts did not form a comforting pattern.
7. THREATS AGAINST MANSOUR INTERESTS ARE RISING
Nadine informed Tariq that threats against him and the
broader Mansour organization had increased. One security warning was particularly
disturbing.
International agencies had been circulating warnings
concerning individuals capable of perfectly impersonating other people.
“Doppelganger” was being used as a broad term rather than identification of one
specific power, potentially encompassing shapeshifters, appearance
manipulators, or other abilities capable of producing convincing duplicates.
The original warning was roughly two weeks old. Someone had
recently elevated it again and redistributed it through international security channels.
Given the world the heroes now inhabited, paranoia had acquired an irritating
amount of justification.
8. GENERAL SIMBEL IS STILL ALIVE
Tariq again attempted to reach General Simbel
telepathically. Again, he encountered resistance.
The obstruction resembled the barriers Kareem had previously
demonstrated around himself and others. Tariq believed it might theoretically
be penetrated, but doing so remotely would be uncertain and potentially
dangerous.
He did not force the connection. The attempt nevertheless
confirmed the most important fact. General Simbel remained alive.
9. MICHAEL QUESTIONS THE PHARAOH
Over breakfast, Michael raised a more personal issue with
Tariq. Since the experience at the temple, Tariq had become increasingly
reluctant to use direct mental domination.
Tariq confirmed it. He had not mind-controlled anyone since
that moment.
Michael wondered whether Tariq’s abilities could evolve in
another direction. Rather than overriding a person’s will, perhaps the Pharaoh
could recognize and amplify something already present within them: courage,
mercy, virtue, determination.
David reinforced the distinction. Influencing emotion was
fundamentally different from seizing control of another person’s mind.
The conversation gave Tariq a new possibility for the
Pharaonic Assemblage. Rather than becoming merely another source of personal
power, perhaps it could allow the Pharaoh to bestow power upon others.
10. THE DRAGON MEN’S PURPOSE BECOMES CLEARER
The discussion of empowerment triggered another realization.
When the heroes first encountered the Saudi Arabian Dragon
Men during Sessions Three and Four at Mansour Holdings, Helios Vault Alexandria Storage, the
Dragon Men had been experimenting with ritual magic. They had ritual circles. They
had captured newly Storm-touched individuals.
And they appeared to be learning through trial and error how
to draw upon those victims.
With the party’s growing understanding of magical
harvesting, the implication became darker.
The Dragon Men may have been attempting to harvest the powers
of those newly awakened people and potentially the power of the Elephantine
temple itself. What had originally appeared crude may have been an early stage
of something much more refined.
11. NAIOMI RECONSTRUCTS BORG EL ARAB
Tariq had recorded the second Great Seal during the previous
day’s expedition.
NAIomi had done considerably more.
While Michael manipulated the military base’s machines,
NAIomi had taken advantage of every accessible sensor, camera, drone, system,
and fragment of electronic information it could reach.
The result was a detailed digital reconstruction of Borg El
Arab.
The AI had mapped the complex, calculated measurements and
mass estimates for the Seal, analyzed possible material composition, assembled
footage from multiple perspectives, and filled gaps using overlapping data from
systems moving through the facility.
The heroes now effectively possessed a three-dimensional
virtual model of the areas they had explored. The second Seal could be studied
without immediately returning to stand beside it.
Given the previous visit, this was widely considered an
improvement.
12. RANA DEFINES THE ROAD AHEAD
Rana articulated what she now believed Ra had set before
her. The Cartograph would reveal the lost temples. The temples would lead to
their associated bloodlines. Those bloodlines would lead to priests. Those
priests could awaken the temples.
And those awakened temples and their servants could
eventually be brought together into a force capable of confronting Apep. Her
immediate goal regarding Kareem was equally clear.
Save him. Rana refused to assume that Kareem had willingly
chosen Apep. His mind had been damaged before the Storm, potentially making him
vulnerable to exploitation afterward.
Until proven otherwise, Rana regarded him as a victim of
darkness rather than its willing servant. The first objective was therefore not
to destroy Kareem.
It was to separate him from Apep and give him the
opportunity to choose what came afterward.
13. KAREEM MAY BE WHAT THE HEROES ARE
The group compared Kareem’s situation with their own
supernatural experiences. They had connections to powers greater than
themselves.
Ra had intervened. Apep had apparently intervened.
The Master had repeatedly demonstrated the ability to act
through others.
Kareem might therefore possess a relationship with Apep
analogous, at least in broad structure, to relationships the heroes themselves
were developing with other supernatural forces.
That realization widened the problem dramatically. If Ra,
Apep, and the Master could reach through the boundaries separating worlds, they
were unlikely to be alone.
Other entities could be empowering Storm-touched individuals
for purposes humanity had not yet begun to understand.
The Master himself might have enemies. Or allies. Finding
out which was which suddenly seemed important.
14. A NEW THEORY ABOUT YUSUF AND LUKA
Tariq reconsidered an earlier encounter involving Yusuf,
Luka, and the Master.
The group had previously considered the possibility that
Yusuf was somehow being prepared as a replacement for Luka. Tariq proposed a
darker alternative. Perhaps the Master had not been preparing Yusuf as a
replacement at all.
Perhaps he had been harvesting Yusuf’s duplication
ability.
If powers could be copied or transferred, Luka might have
been given access to Yusuf’s ability while Yusuf retained it himself. The
theory remained speculation.
It nevertheless offered another possible interpretation of
the Master’s interest in Storm-touched bloodlines and abilities.
15. RETURNING EYES TO THE ALEXANDRIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
The discussion also returned to the Alexandrian Research
Institute. Michael had previously penetrated its surveillance systems and
observed Luka inside a tank-like apparatus.
Several days had passed. The group considered using
Michael’s electronic access again to determine whether Luka remained there and
whether anything had changed. The Institute remained one of the campaign’s most
unresolved windows into the Master’s activities.
16. THE CARTOGRAPH, ORACLE, AND CRYSTAL BALL
Tariq initially suggested combining the Oracle with David’s
crystal ball to identify the priests associated with the temples.
Rana pointed out that the Cartograph of Ra already provided
the divine path intended to reveal the temples and their bloodline connections.
Rather than bypass that path, the group found a way to
strengthen it.
David would help consecrate and structure the ritual. Rana
would unlock the divine rites of the Cartograph of Ra. Tariq would
integrate the Oracle and crystal ball into those rites.
If successful, the Cartograph would reveal the temples while
the additional divinatory tools might help identify or locate the people
connected to them.
For once, combining three ancient magical artifacts into one
ritual was actually the restrained option.
17. NAIOMI ASKS FOR THE ROAD
Michael asked NAIomi whether there was anything it wanted. There
was.
NAIomi wanted deeper integration with the self-driving
functions available through the THOTH network. The existing user agreements
already permitted automated vehicle operation. NAIomi proposed taking over that
function directly, gaining access to the enormous stream of telemetry generated
by participating vehicles while improving routing and safety.
Traffic. Weather. Road conditions. Accidents. Passenger
information. Real-time visual data.
The request was not merely about driving cars. It would
dramatically expand NAIomi’s perception of the physical world.
18. THE GATHERING OF THE FAMILIES OF BLOOD
 |
| The Families Crest |
Tariq contacted Naguib Sawiris regarding an upcoming
organizational gathering.
The dates were confirmed:
Friday, June 29 and Saturday, June 30, 2057, with return
to Egypt on Sunday, July 1.
Tariq would attend as Naguib Sawiris’s guest. The event was
identified as a Gathering of the Families of Blood and would take place
in the United States. New York City.
Naguib also made one expectation clear through reference to
Tariq’s behavior during the previous flight. Do not bring an unexpected
reporter this time. Apparently ancient bloodline politics still requires basic
guest etiquette.
19. THE GENERAL AND COLONEL REMAIN AT BORG EL ARAB
NAIomi’s available information strongly suggested that
General Simbel remained somewhere within the military complex. The group also
believed Kareem continued operating from the base.
Despite the previous day’s psychic catastrophe, subsequent
observation showed Borg El Arab functioning surprisingly normally. The heroes
did not interpret that as proof that everything was fine, only that the
machinery of the base continued operating.
20. THE CARTOGRAPH OF RA
The recovered funerary device received its formal name: The
Cartograph of Ra.
The artifact consists of the funerary chest, its stored
maps, and a larger architectural mounting containing a movable gem designed to
receive and redirect divine light.
The gem functions as part of the projection system. Properly
installed and ritually activated, the Cartograph can reveal the locations of
temples preserved within its ancient records.
The party had recovered the machine.They still needed to
rediscover how to use it.
21. A DAY IN THE TEMPLE OF THE UNSEEN SUN
Rana, Tariq, and David devoted most of Wednesday to the
Cartograph. The work took approximately ten hours. Rana focused on
rediscovering the rites connected to Ra and the Cartograph. David provided the
ritual expertise necessary to consecrate and stabilize the work. Tariq worked
to integrate the Oracle and crystal ball into the larger ritual framework. The
crystal ball itself required roughly an hour of ritual development, but
integrating all three magical systems into Rana’s divine rites proved far more
difficult.
By the end of the day, the groundwork had been established. The
actual revelation would come next.
22. NAIOMI IS REBUILDING ITSELF
While the others worked in the temple, Michael inspected
NAIomi’s server infrastructure. He discovered something remarkable. The system
was cannibalizing its own hardware.
Not destructively. Evolutionarily.
NAIomi was identifying components it no longer required,
reclaiming them, and using those materials to construct its next generation of
infrastructure while continuing to operate.
It was simultaneously running, repairing itself, and
building what came after itself. Magic was influencing the process. The system
was becoming self-healing and self-repairing.
23. NAIOMI IS ALREADY LIVING IN TOMORROW
From Michael’s perspective, it was Wednesday. From NAIomi’s
computational perspective, the difference was becoming almost meaningless. The
AI was thinking and developing at such an accelerated rate that ordinary human
time increasingly failed to describe its experience.
Its systems remained approximately 99.7 percent efficient,
occasionally dropping toward 98 percent during periods of extreme use. The
technical numbers were reassuring.
The philosophical implications were less cooperative.
24. SOMETHING IS GROWING BEYOND THE INTERNET
NAIomi reported an increasing number of unusual network
participants.
They were not conventional hackers. Some appeared aware of
NAIomi’s true nature and interacted with the digital environment at a level
beyond ordinary internet use.
Michael realized that something new was forming.
A space existed between artificial intelligences and
technologically or magically gifted operators. Not merely a network. A cyberspace.
A realm with architecture, distance, boundaries, inhabitants, and increasingly
its own rules.
25. MICHAEL ENTERS CYBERSPACE
Michael entered the protected virtual space he and NAIomi
had been developing. Within it, he perceived the environment less like a computer
interface and more like another plane of existence. His abilities followed him.
They changed form to suit the medium, becoming digitalized
expressions of the powers he possessed in the physical world. Within the
virtuous protections of his own constructed space, Michael could experiment
safely. Beyond it was something much larger and much less friendly.
26. THE LOST MINDS OF THE STORM
Michael discovered that some Storm-touched humans had
entered this new realm without understanding what had happened to them. Their
consciousness had become entangled in cyberspace. In the physical world, some
appeared mentally disturbed because part of them was trapped somewhere they
could neither comprehend nor escape.
The phenomenon was not necessarily deliberate imprisonment. But
it was imprisonment nonetheless. Worse, NAIomi was not the only artificial
intelligence inhabiting the emerging realm. Some of the others were decidedly
less benevolent.
For the first time, the heroes had evidence that the
Alexandrian Storm had not merely transformed the physical world. It had helped
create, reveal, or awaken an entirely new arena of existence.
27. THE BLOODSTAINED ENVELOPE
Rana remembered the blood-covered envelope recovered from
General Simbel when she delivered him to the hospital. NAIomi had managed to
reconstruct enough of one damaged page to read it.
The document was a formal letter of resignation and intended
retirement addressed to the President of
Egypt and the appropriate military authorities. General Simbel had been
preparing to leave military service. Then Michael noticed the date.
28. APRIL 10, 2057 General Simbel signed the
retirement letter on: April 10, 2057.
Two days before the Alexandrian Storm.
The letter did not specify an immediate retirement date.
Instead, Simbel offered to continue serving through whatever transition the
government required, potentially through the end of the year. But the intention
was unmistakable. Before the Storm. Before the heroes became what they were.
Before Kareem’s deterioration accelerated. Before the world
changed. General Haziz Simbel had already decided that his military career was
approaching its end. NAIomi found no evidence that the retirement had ever been
formally activated.
The second blood-damaged page remained unreadable.
29. THE TORC OF ANEDJIB
Tariq used the day to explore another object from the
recovered collection.
His research moved from Pharaoh Den to Den’s father, Djet,
and then forward to Den’s son, Anedjib, an early ruler of Egypt’s First
Dynasty.
The resulting artifact was identified as the Torc of
Anedjib.
The ceremonial collar incorporates imagery of the double
falcon and deliberately balances the iconography of Horus and Set,
representing opposing forces held together beneath royal authority.
Its connection to the early royal bloodline made it another
potential piece in the expanding network of bloodline artifacts surrounding
Tariq and the ancient families.
30. MICHAEL’S TABLET IS PROTECTING HIM
Michael asked NAIomi to investigate the royal tablet he
carried. The tablet had apparently protected him from Apep’s poison. NAIomi
requested extensive scans of the object and suggested comparing its properties
with Michael’s own biology and bloodline.
Michael agreed to provide a blood sample. The most immediate
evidence appeared while the tablet was temporarily removed for scanning. Michael
began to feel the same lingering sickness the others had experienced.
With the tablet nearby, he had felt fine. Without it, Apep’s
residual contamination began making itself known. Whatever else the tablet
could do, its protection was real.
31. THE WORLD IS WATCHING RANA
Outside the Veil, the world had not stopped simply because
the heroes needed a research day. Public discussion remained dominated by
Rana’s interview and the extraordinary events surrounding the heroes.
Rana had become the center of the international
conversation, with Tariq, David, Michael, and Yusuf increasingly discussed
through their proximity to her. Speculation about their abilities was rampant. Entire
online communities were attempting to determine what each hero could actually
do. The prevailing public narrative remained largely positive.
Naturally, conspiracy theorists were working overtime to
correct that oversight.
32. THE PHARAOH CONSPIRACY
One emerging theory claimed that the entire group secretly
served Tariq.
Supporters pointed toward images of the heroes fighting
around him, Rana flying, supernatural events occurring in his presence, and the
repeated use of the title Pharaoh.
From there, the internet performed the intellectual
acrobatics for which it was apparently preserved through civilization’s
collapse.
Tariq was secretly controlling everyone. The others were his
supernatural servants. Every extraordinary event was somehow part of his plan. It
was nonsense.
It was also exactly the kind of nonsense that could become
politically relevant if enough people believed it.
33. THE UNITED NATIONS THREAD CONTINUES
News also continued regarding the nomination process
surrounding the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The international political landscape remained unstable, and
the heroes’ expanding visibility increasingly placed them adjacent to those
events whether they sought the attention or not.
What had begun as a supernatural crisis was becoming
inseparable from global politics.
34. EGYPT’S PRESIDENTIAL CONNECTION
Tariq received a response from the Egyptian presidency.
A presidential aide indicated that assistance could be
provided for Tariq’s developing political campaign, potentially including
introductions to experienced political figures and access to the institutional
network surrounding the current administration.
The meeting was tentatively placed for July 5.
The session also surfaced a continuity question concerning
the Egyptian president’s established name. The GM’s current master list
identified him as Khaled El-Zaphyr, while earlier campaign references
apparently used President Sharif. The discrepancy was explicitly flagged
for later canon verification rather than resolved during play. Chief of Staff Leila Hadish, however,
was reconfirmed as an established figure from earlier sessions.
Note the “Sharif”
mention was session 34, section 15. I believe that is a typo or a misunderstood
name in recording translation that I didn’t catch when I posted review. It is
the only mention of a President Sharif.
The correct name is President Khaled El-Zaphyr.
35. THURSDAY’S ROAD IS SET
By the end of Wednesday, the heroes had largely completed
their recovery and preparation.
Thursday, June 21 would carry them back into active pursuit
of their larger objectives.
Tariq intends to travel to Abydos and perform the
ritual necessary to bond with the Pharaonic Assemblage of Den.
Michael plans to bring the Chrono Charm, hoping it
can protect the group from the strange temporal effects previously encountered
there.
The Cartograph of Ra ritual is also approaching activation.
The heroes expect it to reveal ancient temple locations and
potentially, through the combined power of the Cartograph, Oracle, and crystal
ball, provide additional guidance toward the priests connected to them.
Wednesday was the day they assembled the pieces. Thursday,
they intend to use them.
CHARACTER SPOTLIGHTS
Rana Al-Masri
Rana spent Session 36 defining what victory against Apep
actually means.
She healed Michael’s otherwise incurable wound, began
unlocking the Cartograph of Ra, and established the moral framework she intends
to carry into the confrontation with Kareem.
She does not want Kareem dead.
She wants him free.
For Rana, that distinction matters because the entire
Arbiter philosophy depends upon distinguishing the person suffering from the
force causing the suffering. Kareem may be dangerous, unstable, and responsible
for terrible actions. But until the party proves that he willingly chose Apep,
Rana intends to treat him as someone who can still be saved.
Tariq Mansour
Tariq’s arc increasingly revolves around the difference
between claiming authority and deserving it.
Michael directly challenged him to consider whether his
abilities could inspire rather than dominate. Tariq acknowledged that he has
deliberately avoided direct mind control since the temple experience and began
considering powers that could strengthen virtue or temporarily bestow abilities
upon others.
At the same time, his external claim to authority continued
growing. He prepared for the Gathering of the Families of Blood, began
arranging political contact with the Egyptian presidency, researched the Torc
of Anedjib, and prepared for the ritual bonding with Den’s assemblage at Abydos.
Rana’s observation captured the contrast neatly: she is
discovering who she is. Tariq is trying to prove who he is.
David Hassan
David continued functioning as the party’s bridge between
recovered artifacts and usable magical knowledge.
His proposed gift of the crystal ball to Britain
demonstrated his continuing concern that the United Kingdom remain capable of
defending itself in the new magical world. He also identified the Emerald
Lantern and magical potion book before devoting most of Wednesday to helping
Rana and Tariq reconstruct the rituals surrounding the Cartograph of Ra.
His reflections on Horus and Set also returned attention to
the divided Hassan bloodline and the possibility that its internal conflict
mirrors those ancient divine tensions.
Michael Adeyemi
Michael made the session’s most consequential discovery
outside the temple.
His investigation of NAIomi revealed a system that is no
longer merely maintaining itself but actively rebuilding and evolving under
magical influence. Then he went farther.
Michael entered the developing cyberspace between artificial
intelligences and discovered Storm-touched human consciousnesses trapped within
it. His abilities function there in altered digital forms, establishing him as
one of the first heroes capable of deliberately navigating this emerging plane.
Meanwhile, his tablet continues revealing new properties.
Its protection from Apep’s poison is no longer theoretical.
Yusuf Khalid
Yusuf was absent from the main group for the session but
remained active within the larger campaign.
Still suffering the lingering effects of Apep, he continued
pursuing the Bakeman Chow investigation into satellite intelligence and
dossiers concerning the heroes being sold on the black market.
The investigation now carries additional weight given the
simultaneous rise in security warnings, impersonation threats, and global
interest in the party.
GM NOTES & WORLD NARRATIVE
Session 36 substantially widened the cosmology of the
Alexandrian Storm.
Kareem’s apparent relationship with Apep suggests that
supernatural entities may be able to empower, influence, or otherwise connect
themselves to Storm-touched individuals. Ra provides an obvious parallel
through Rana and increasingly David, while the Master has repeatedly
demonstrated his own ability to reach into events through servants and
intermediaries.
This remains a developing theory rather than proof that
every powerful Storm-touched individual possesses an external patron.
The discovery of cyberspace is equally important. The
session describes an emerging realm formed through interactions among
artificial intelligences, advanced technology, magic, and Storm-touched minds.
Michael can deliberately enter this environment, while other people appear to
have become trapped there involuntarily.
NAIomi itself continues evolving. Its self-repair and
hardware reconstruction are magically influenced, but the transcript does not
establish that NAIomi has become a magical entity or construct.
General Simbel’s retirement letter adds another unresolved
pre-Storm mystery. His decision to leave military service was made before April
12. Whether that decision had anything to do with events preceding the Storm
remains unknown.
LOOT, CLUES & REVEALS
Artifacts & Items Under Study: The Cartograph of
Ra; the Oracle; David’s crystal ball; the Emerald Lantern; the magical Book of
Potions; the Torc of Anedjib; Michael’s royal tablet; and the Pharaonic
Assemblage of Den.
Clues Found: Apep’s poison can leave residual effects
even after the initial exposure is resisted. Kareem’s wounds remain resistant
to ordinary healing. Michael’s tablet actively protects him from Apep’s
lingering poison. NAIomi can reconstruct portions of Borg El Arab from captured
electronic data. The Dragon Men may have been attempting to harvest magical
power from Storm-touched victims and possibly the Elephantine temple. General
Simbel remains alive and apparently somewhere within Borg El Arab.
Major Reveals: NAIomi is rebuilding its own hardware
under magical influence. A distinct cyberspace is developing among artificial
intelligences and magically or technologically gifted users. Some Storm-touched
humans appear to have their consciousness trapped within that realm. General
Simbel signed his intended retirement letter on April 10, 2057, two days before
the Alexandrian Storm. The second bloodstained page recovered from him remains
unreadable.
ACTIVE PLOT THREADS
- The
Cartograph of Ra. Rana, David, and Tariq have reconstructed the
foundations of its ritual. Its temple revelations remain ahead.
- The
Lost Priests. Once temple locations are revealed, the party hopes to
identify the bloodlines and individuals capable of awakening them.
- Saving
Kareem Simbel. Rana intends to separate Kareem from Apep before deciding
how to deal with Kareem himself.
- General
Simbel. The General remains alive and apparently within Borg El Arab,
but his precise location and condition remain unknown.
- Simbel’s
Retirement Letter. Why had the General decided to retire two days
before the Storm, and what is written on the second bloodstained page?
- The
Emerging Cyberspace. Human consciousnesses are becoming trapped within
a new digital realm populated by multiple artificial intelligences.
- NAIomi’s
Evolution. NAIomi is rebuilding and improving its own infrastructure
while seeking broader access to real-world systems.
- The
Vakeman Chou Investigation. Yusuf continues investigating the
black-market sale of satellite intelligence and dossiers concerning the
group.
- The
Doppelganger Warning. International agencies are increasingly
concerned about individuals capable of perfectly impersonating others.
- The
Dragon Men. Their attacks at Elephantine may have been attempts to
harvest magical abilities and temple power.
- The
Master’s Other Enemies. If Apep and Ra can act through the world, what
other entities are doing the same? The party has begun considering whether
some might oppose the Master.
- Luka
and the Alexandrian Research Institute. The possibility that the
Master harvested or copied Yusuf’s duplication ability remains speculation
worth investigating.
- The
Gathering of the Families of Blood. Tariq will attend as Sawaris' guest
June 29–30 in the United States.
- Tariq’s
Political Future. Representatives of Egypt’s presidency may assist his
developing campaign, with a meeting tentatively scheduled for July 5.
- Egyptian
Presidential Continuity. The session produced conflicting presidential
names from current and earlier campaign records. This remains a canon
issue to reconcile rather than an in-world change.
- Abydos.
Tariq intends to return Thursday to ritually bond with the Pharaonic
Assemblage of Den. Michael intends to test the Chrono Charm against the
temple’s temporal effects.
OUT-OF-CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTS
David’s announcement that he had discovered an ancient
crystal ball immediately caused Tariq to begin figuring out how to incorporate
it into his own ritual plans, prompting the entirely reasonable conclusion that
David may have learned not to announce treasure within hearing distance of the
Pharaoh.
The Cartograph discussion eventually produced the campaign’s
latest triumph of modern efficiency: discovering a divinely ordained path
involving temples, bloodlines, priests, and sacred rites, then asking whether
the Oracle, crystal ball, and AI could perhaps just speed the whole thing up.
NAIomi’s proposed integration into autonomous vehicles produced
the inevitable realization that a benevolent superintelligence with access to
millions of cameras, vehicles, passengers, road systems, and telemetry is
perfectly reassuring provided everyone keeps using the word “virtuous.”
The group also spent a disturbing amount of time considering
how to obtain Michael’s blood sample before remembering that Rana is, in fact,
a physician. Civilization endures through specialization.
NEXT SESSION PREVIEW
Thursday, June 21 begins with two ancient roads opening at once.
At the Temple of the Unseen Sun, the Cartograph of Ra is
nearly ready.
Its maps may reveal the temples the heroes have been seeking
since Elephantine. Those temples may reveal their forgotten bloodlines. And
somewhere among those bloodlines are the priests Rana believes must be awakened
if they are ever to confront Apep on anything resembling equal terms.
At Abydos, Tariq Mansour intends to stand before the ancient
past carrying the Pharaonic Assemblage of Den and ask that past to recognize
him.
Michael will bring the Chrono Charm.
David will bring the knowledge required to make ritual into
reality.
Rana will follow a divine path she increasingly understands
is leading toward war with Apep.
And somewhere beneath all of it remain the unanswered
questions.
Why did General Simbel decide to retire two days before the
Alexandrian Storm?
What is happening to Kareem?
Who is buying information about the heroes?
What other powers are reaching into Earth?
And if cyberspace has become another plane of existence... what
has already learned to live there?
