Basic Information
Pyramids are large stone structures. Egyptian Pyramids were created as tombs for the Pharaohs1, Central American Pyramids were created to act as temples. They're some of the most spectacular surviving structures from those civilizations, due to the stability of a pyramidal form.
Being huge, ancient structures pyramids tend to attact awe and speculation in farily equal measure - the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still intact and attracts tourists from all over the planet. It also attracts nutters of various kinds who are prone to give it a central role in their conspiracy theories … usually involving aliens.
On the subject of speculation, as far as anyone can tell the coincidence of cultures on opposite sides of the Atlantic who were2 not in contact with one another both developing the monumental pyramid is exactly that … a coincidence … probably related to the aforementioned stability and relative ease of engineering a massive structure in this shape.
In the 1970s, part of the ongoing occult fad was a belief in "Pyramid Power", the idea that sitting inside a pyramidal structure could affect a person or object in ways that sitting in a cube wouldn't. Other ideas have involved pyramids being able to preserve things and sharpen razor blades left under them.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Pakalert Press (This site is an endless trove of nuttery): Report: Area 51 Builds Massive Alien Pyramid: Just what is Majestic 12 up to now?
- World’s Pyramids Beaming Energy To Mysterious Space Cloud: Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Is this a last-ditch security system left behind by the now-vanished Ancient Astronauts, or a cosmic "Good Eats Here!" sign left behind by the Old Ones?
- Pyramid Power, if it is true in your setting, might give your Egyptian/Olmec/etc cultures surprising twists. If your group is bored with regular mummies, how about a mummy with powers based on orgone energy wielding a monomolecular blade and with still-fresh samples of otherwise extinct crops?