The Mythic Timeline of Africa: Histories of the Dark Pharaohs and Lost Empires

• 3,350 – 3,100 BCE – An age of shadow and chaos grips the land as fell entities stir beneath the sands. An unnamed power guides the consolidation of Egypt under the First Pharaoh in the city of Men-nefer (Memphis). The unification of Egypt marks the emergence of the Second Region, where civilization blooms amidst the whispers of eldritch gods and ancient rites.
• 2,690 BCE – King Khufu, known as Cheops, begins construction of the Great Pyramid, a titanic monument that stands as both tomb and ward, its shape designed to align with the stars and seal a terrible entity beneath the sands.
• 2,613 BCE – A new darkness arises with the coronation of the unspeakable Nephren-Ka, a sorcerer-king of the Third Dynasty. Known as the Black Pharaoh, he resurrects the forbidden worship of the dark gods, foremost among them the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep, whom he renames Nyarlat. Nephren-Ka uncovers the Shining Trapezohedron, a crystal of unspeakable power that allows communion with distant stars. He builds a dread temple around it, causing madness and decay to seep into Egypt. Overthrown by Pharaoh Snefru, Nephren-Ka’s name is stricken from history, but the cults he awakened would endure in the hidden corners of the world.
• 2,600 BCE – The followers of Nephren-Ka flee to the underground catacombs of Kish, where the exiled Black Pharaoh sacrifices a hundred captives to Nyarlathotep. For his devotion, he is granted the cursed gift of prophecy. Within his shadowed crypt, Nephren-Ka scrawls the entire future of the Earth in blood and fire, his visions too terrible for mortal eyes. His prophecies would later become known as the Chronicles of the Black Pharaoh, consulted by sorcerers and madmen in times of despair.
• 2,600 BCE – In the same era, the Bactrian Camel and Dromedary are tamed, forever changing trade across the Great Desert, a web that would be traversed by both merchants and dark priests.
• 2,600 BCE – The Great Pyramid of Giza is completed, a cosmic beacon sealing the underworld gateways and safeguarding the mortal realm from ancient horrors.
• 2,291 BCE – The dread warlord Naram-Sin, Emperor of Akkad, ascends to his throne. Guided by the war goddess Inanna, a manifestation of primal chaos, he carves a path of blood across the Sinai and into Egypt. There, he raises an obsidian ziggurat to himself, defying the gods of the land and proclaiming himself “King of the Four Quarters of the World”. His empire is marked by devastation, plagues, and whispers of beings that should not exist.
• 2,200 BCE – The Ghoul-Queen Nitocris rises to power in the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. She resurrects the cult of Nyarlathotep and locates the lost Shining Trapezohedron within the catacombs of Men-nefer. Her reign is a nightmare of bloodshed, sacrifice, and cannibalistic feasts, during which the boundaries between the living and the dead blur. Before her fall, she bequeaths a cursed artifact, the Mirror of Nitocris, a device said to show one’s true nature—and drive all who gaze into it mad.
• 2,180 BCE – The gods of light and shadow contend for Egypt’s soul. The priests of Ra, now mingling with the forces of the Sumerian Marduk, hold the South, while dark pharaohs and their followers vie for control of Lower Egypt.
• 2,150 BCE – Khotep, the Black Pharaoh, a descendent of Nephren-Ka, rises briefly to power. Said to be part man, part shadow, he enforces a reign of terror that chills the blood of all who speak his name.
• 2,134 – 2134 BCE – The Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt begins with the rule of Mentuhotep I, who unites the shattered lands, though the shadows of the past linger in secret cults and forgotten tombs.
• 1,645 BCE – In the time of turmoil, the legendary Epaphus, son of Io and consort of the ancient deity Hathor, rules Egypt. His reign is marked by strange celestial phenomena and appearances of figures thought to be avatars of the elder gods.
• 1,628 BCE – Apis, a sacred bull with the soul of a god, rules the Peloponnese and Egypt. His reign intertwines myth and reality, blurring the lines between deity and ruler.
• 1,400 BCE – Thebes, capital of Egypt, becomes the world’s largest city, eclipsing Memphis. It is a city of towering obelisks, labyrinthine libraries, and deep catacombs where the whispers of long-dead priests are sometimes heard.
• 1,386 BCE – The god-king Dionysus, known as Tauro Kranos, restores Ammon as king of Egypt, then extends his empire to the east, capturing Damascus and laying claim to the heart of India. His reign is a bacchanalia of revelry and conquest, leaving a trail of madness and bloodshed.
• 1,323 BCE – The young Pharaoh Tutankhamun dies, his death wrapped in mystery. The hidden vaults of his tomb contain both riches and symbols of dread power, hinting at bargains struck with forces that lurk beyond the stars.
• 1,175 BCE – The mighty Ramses III expels the Sea-Peoples—terrible marauders said to worship the Deep Ones, aquatic horrors that haunt the coastlines of the known world. Among them are the Peleset, Tjeker, and Denyen, forebears of the Pelasgians, Teukrians, and Danaans.
• 814 – 760 BCE – The legendary Queen Dido founds Carthage, a city whose walls are built from the bones of the fallen, and whose priests worship strange gods in rites that shroud the land in perpetual twilight.
• 550 BCE – The Carthaginian Empire reaches its zenith, subjugating Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Beneath their temples, dark priests whisper invocations to Moloch and other fell deities.
• 486 BCE – Egypt, under the lash of the Persian yoke, rebels. Secret societies dedicated to the old gods stir, and statues long thought dead are said to bleed and weep under the moonlight.
• 332 BCE – The conqueror Alexander the Great takes Egypt, declaring himself Son of Ammon. His arrival awakens long-dormant forces, and the sands of Egypt seem to shift and writhe beneath his feet.
• 264 – 146 BCE – The Punic Wars: Hannibal Barca, invoking the spirits of his ancestors and eldritch forces known only to the dark priests of Carthage, wages war upon Rome. His infamous crossing of the Alps is aided, it is said, by beings that dwell in the ice and darkness. After his defeat, Carthage falls, and Rome salts the earth. The old gods and their worshipers are purged, yet some rites survive, buried beneath the ashes.
• 31 BCE – The Battle of Actium. Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra, whose sorcery and knowledge of Egypt’s darkest secrets could not save her. With her death, the last living link to the ancient powers of Egypt is severed, and the world enters a new era.