When's the projected release date anyway?
The bibliography had me feeling the exact same way. That one reference too has critical peer reviews indicating that Muslims did not have any really deep knowledge of ancient Egyptians - so I was frowning a bit there. In general, I feel like there were many sources that could have been used to detail the culture, and certain iconic individuals living there at that time.
Solid 8/10 though - although I hoped there were some funky, cool, powerful Egyptian virtues that affected hermetic magic. 
I'm currently reading and enjoying my copy at the moment. Unfortunately it has some historical errors in (that I pointed out during playtesting, but I guess the corrections never got made). However, this doesn't really detract from it being a fabulous book that should spawn many excellent stories and sagas. 
grin If we had to exclude all history books that were inaccurate, misleading, apologetic and propaganda, we wouldn't have anything left.
It's alright for the game to diverge from history to benefit the storytelling but I always liked the way past AM5 products told us about this in sidebars.
I'd be interested in hearing what Niall Christie found objectionable. I'm rather skeptical that Herodotus was taken as seriously as the book implies.
Hi,
AM5 almost never tells us about this in sidebars, except to the extent that a disclaimer at the beginning of a book counts.
That said, I'd be interested too.
Anyway,
Ken
I'm also interested in finding out that kind of stuff.
Mind you, I'd accept a blog post on the subject...not sure if that runs into legal issues though.
"Objectionable" is a strong word, and not the one I used.
I'm not going to say any more about the playtest (NDA and all that), but here are a few errata to the published book by a picky historian.
p. 12 It was the Byzantines, not the Romans, who conceded Egypt to the Muslims. Some historians do call them Eastern Romans, and the Byzantines called themselves Rhomaioi (Romans, in Greek), which also confuses things a bit!
p. 58 The old city of Fustat was the capital of the Muslim province of Misr from the time of the Muslim invasions. Cairo was purpose-built as a new capital in the 10th century by the Fatimids, and was the capital of the province thereafter.
p. 59 Mamluks are neither Egyptian nor Coptic. Enslaving Peoples of the Book is forbidden in Islam (with the exception of prisoners of war, such as defeated crusaders). Mamluks are former slaves bought while young on the fringes of the Muslim world, brought into it and raised to be both Muslims and soldiers. In this period the majority of mamluks are Turks from Central Asia.
p. 61 The traveller who commented on famines in Egypt was a Spanish Muslim called Muhammad ibn Jubayr. His travelogue is available in English translation and well worth reading.
p. 62 The Arabic for the sphinx is Abu'l-Hul, which indeed means "father of dread."
pp. 104-6 The Muslims did not conquer Egypt until 639-42. Thus one cannot ascribe the Axumite loss of influence in southern Arabia to the Muslim conquest of Egypt, since the events in question pre-date Islam.
pp. 111-13 The Muslims who fled to Ethiopia were not fleeing from a Christian king. They were fleeing persecution by the pagan tribe of Quraysh, who ruled Mecca and were trying to stamp out the nascent Muslim movement.
And a story seedā¦
In 1219, St Francis of Assisi visited the sultan al-Kamil. He preached to the sultan, attempting to covert him to Christianity, and even walked through flames unharmed to demonstrate the power of God. However, the sultan, though moved, did not convert. Yet a dancing girl at court, who at the sultan's orders had tried, unsuccessfully, to seduce the saint, did convert.
The characters' covenant is joined by a dancing girl who entertains the covenfolk with her skills. However, as time goes on it becomes apparent that the Magic aura of the covenant is waning, becoming replaced by a Divine aura that is at its strongest in the wake of one of the girl's performances. How can the magi stop the effects of the girl's holy dancing without alienating her many friends among the inhabitants of the covenant?
For a summary of the sources for the encounter between St Francis and al-Kamil, see for example this article.
Thanks! Sorry if I misunderstood your earlier posting. I see from the details that the issues are much smaller than I imagined when I read the initial message.
Those are straight-up my fault. I'm not sure how I confused the Quraysh, and I'd have to look at my Axum notes for the first one...basically, the Axum (Or Aksum) empire started to lose provinces due to rebellion, like those in Southern Arabia, then it was cut off from the Mediterranean by the Umayyads, then Gudit crushed the fading regime, and it entered a difficult period that ended about a generation or two prior to 1220.
-Ben.
The term "Byzantine" post-dates 1220 by centuries, and so I prefer not to use it for Ars Magica. They call themselves Romans: it seems odd to load them down with later British ideas of how they don't lead into the narrative of the British Empire and thus are not really Roman.
Hrrrm...probably my fault. I think I may not have distinguished New Cairo and Old Cairo
Could I just say how much I am enjoying Lands of the Nile, even though I will probably never use it. So many good ideas. Thanks all
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O.K., here are some words about "Lands of the Nile":
I like this sourcebook, first of all the part about egypt. I got the book one week before I started the "City of brass" from "Tales of Power", so I read it fast and it proofed worthwhile. We had fun in Damietta, Cairo and Gizeh and the travel into the desert became more elaborated.
After reading an Ars Magica Regional Book I often want to start a new saga there, and here it was the same, but - alas! - I already have a saga in the Provence and another at the Rhine. So, our characters will not be in the Lands of the Nile very often.
When it comes to the content:
I was surprised of the dungeoncrawling parts of grave robbery. But... why not? There isnĀ“t anything like that in another sourcebook.
I liked this sorcerer sect of that god of death in nubia.
I liked your picking up this arc of the covenant thing... and to be honest: I think it will not be a theme in one of my Ars Magica Sagas, but IĀ“d like to play a campaign about it in another roleplaying game.
The regional descriptions are good as usual.
So, all in all: good to have that book!