The Micronation of Akua Ni'ihau Pharaocracy: Living in Ancient Egypt...(Novel).

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Living in Ancient Egypt...(Novel).

Living in Kemtawy (Ancient Egypt) is of the style of the older "Choose your own Adventure" books that were popular in the 1980s. This was before computer games with Quests in them. Now I have read this style of writing, and I also created computer game Modifications (or Mods) prior to attempting my own version of this book style. The original name of this book was "Living in Ancient Egypt" but I changed it to Kemtawy for a more distinct or ancient name of Egypt (to separate it from Egyptology books). I have a bookshelf with CYOA books in it as reference. The chapters are thread together from a selection at the bottom of each page for each choice of action. Do not read the book like a normal book from cover to cover. The following is an excerpt:

Chapter 2: Scribe

You work tirelessly in the Scriptorium, filling out Tax Audits for the Bureaucracy. The work is necessary, but boring. Accountants, Generals, and Priests work in the Scriptorium. Some Scribes invent games in their words, using word puns to describe their Overseers, similar to Political Cartoons.

Breakfast meals are conducted outside in the Temple Courtyards. Open kitchens produce wheat porridge, fresh breads, grapes, dates, pomegranates, and watermelons. Dinner meals have freshly caught fish or Ostrich meat leftover from the Pharaoh’s hunting expeditions. Beer is strained with a reed straw to separate the mash from the liquid. But there’s nothing like a good clean bucketful of water on a hot Spring day.

Your reward for being a Scribe is a residence in the Upper Class network of apartments near Hatshepsut’s Valley Temple, complete with pillared courtyard, Lotus pool, Gardens, and bedroom suites.

Trade with locals, Go to page: # 35

Get Drunk in a local Pub, Go to page: # 36

Hire a Chariot, Go to Page: # 37

You decide to Trade with the local Merchants. The market is a good place for finding rare stones, collecting herbs, acquiring tools or clothing, or hearing gossip about the Harem. What do you wish to do?

Find rare Lapis Lazuli for making Amulets, go to page: # 38

Collect Cumin Herbs for Dinner, go to page: # 39

Acquire ink Pots for Work, go to page: # 40

Listen to Gossip about the Royal Harem, go to page: # 41

You decide to get wasted drinking beer and ale by the local Pub. The most effective entertainment in the land was being intoxicated. Of course the Sages all disagreed by its effects.

You drink a mug of Beer, followed by a round of Nubian Ale, and a shot of Vintage Wine. A woman pours out a cup of Lotus Wine, characterized by the drug effect of the Lotus flower sitting on its top. Soon enough the walls appear to smile at you, the ceiling reminds you of a nightly voyage to Pet, and the floor seems oddly comfortable once you are thrown out of the Pub.

You awaken in the middle of the night inside a horse stables. A local villager named Kafef helped you from being arrested by City guards for Disorderly Conduct. A hay bale was your only bedding.

Follow the way home, Go to Page: # 42

Wait here until Morning, Go to Page: # 43

You hire a Chariot ride to Upper Kemtawy. The countryside is a wondrous place to visit riding in a two-person Chariot. Although it does surpass using a litter, the Chariot is driven by horses.

The ride to Abtu (Abydos) took a few hours by Chariot. We rode on wet sand, avoiding any rocks as best we could. Our driver, Hotepkaef, is a part-time Priest of a Temple of Set, the god of chaos and war. Hotepkaef has red hair, so maybe that is why.

The ride ended at the entrance to a hostel owned by a Nobleman. The hostel had a kitchen, pub, Bath, and private Courtyard with garden. Foreigners frequently visited it, paying in Silver. The Bath was supplied by an underground canal leading from the Temple of Osiris built by King Sety the First.

Pay for a room at the Hostel, go to page: # 44

Leave for home, go to Page: # 45

You trade a written collection of poetry for 10 Deben’s worth of rare Lapis Lazuli, mined in the Northern Regions (Afghanistan). This would make a fine inlay for a Pharaoh’s burial mask, you think.

As you exit the Markets, a thug wearing this linen, hooded-mask darts out of the thoroughfare and snatches your linen sack of the precious stones. You shout at him, and decide to pursue him into the long alley of the Noble District. You catch up with the thug at the entrance to the Western Docks, where he boards a papyrus skiff. Do you want to chase after him and regain the stolen merchandise, or remain at the Docks after alerting the Guards?

Follow the Thief, go to page: # 46

Remain at the Docks while waiting for the Guards, go to page: # 47