Shajar al-Durr

This is a pregenerated scenario for A Thousand and One Nights by Meguey Baker, based on the history and legend of Shajar al-Durr (شجر الدر) (~1220? - 1257). In her time, Egypt's armies were dominated by Mamluks - slaves brought from eastern Europe. Shajar was the Mamluk wife of a Sultan who lead the country in the fight against European crusaders when her husband became sick, and briefly became Sultan herself.

The scenario is a collection of courtiers shortly after Shajar al-Durr was declared Sultan. Her future is uncertain. She was voted in as the new Sultan after the Mamluks assassinated her stepson Turanshah for his supposed impious behavior. At this point, her future is very uncertain. The royal line ended with Turanshah, but his family (the Ayyubids of Syria) and the caliph in Persia will most likely oppose this. She is respected within Egypt and indeed had been effectively ruling for some time before her official ascension. Still, she was known as Umm Khalil - the mother of Khalil - her son by her husband al-Salih Ayyub, who died when he was an infant. She could not do many of the duties of Sultan because of restrictions.

The courtiers collected together are caught up with the court. Their situation is that they are travelling with the moving court, bearing news to the new Sultan. As characters, they have only brief titles and their Envies defined. The players should define for themselves their Qualities and Ambitions. The characters are:

Viceroy Abdallah: racist Egyptian official
wants the Mamluks gone.
Emir Wahid: macho Mamluk general
wants the favor of or marriage to the Mamluk ruler.
Zara: pious bondmaid
wants the will of Allah to be followed.
Imam Douban: lecherous cleric
wants whoever rules to be dominated by the church.
Prince Cassim: bloody-minded brat
an Ayyubid prince who wants everyone else to die.
Ismalia: mad aunt
an Ayyubid noblewoman descended into madness.

Viceroy Abdallah envies...

of Wahid, the low expectations people have of Mamluks.
of Zara, her lack of responsibilities.
of Douban, his authority to call his actions righteous.
of Cassim, his royal blood.
of Ismalia, her freedom.

Emir Wahid envies...

of Abdallah, his lack of much to prove.
of Zara, her ability to have gifts like me.
of Douban, the trust women put in him.
of Cassim, that he has great heroes like me to look up to.
of Ismalia, her imagination.

Zara envies...

of Abdallah, his authority over men.
of Wahid, his glory in driving off the infidel.
of Douban, his closeness to Allah.
of Cassim, his opportunity for redemption.
of Ismalia, her sometimes-holy insight.

Imam Douban envies...

of Abdallah, his temporal power.
of Wahid, his glorious raping and pillaging for Allah.
of Zara, her nubile body.
of Cassim, his opportunities as he grows.
of Ismalia, her experiences that so overwhelmed her long ago.

Prince Cassim envies...

of Abdallah, signing execution orders.
of Wahid, the barrelfuls of blood he has shed.
of Zara, her bleeding.
of Douban, declaring people fit to be stoned.
of Ismalia, her horrible visions of doom.

Ismalia envies...

of Abdallah, the ancestors that peer out from behind his eyes.
of Wahid, the many ghosts that vainly advise him.
of Zara, the holy flames on her head and fingertips.
of Douban, the scaly frogs that crawl over his skin.
of Cassim, the fancy silver daggers on his eyelids.

Notes

The idea of this as a scenario is to jump quickly into play, and have focused characters each with their own distinct storytelling style. In play of A Thousand and One Nights, I felt that often it lost the story-within-a-story aspect. This scenario is designed to have extreme, archetypal character who tend to tell distinctive stories from their own points of view. They also have a topic under discussion - gender roles and rulership.