the long awaited update!
“The Parni rode to battle like demons, dust flying behind their hooves, arrows flying through the air. They decimated the Macedonians and pushed back. And lo, the mighty empire of Alexandros Megas was crumbling.”
-A Poem written by an unknown Greek in Antioch
182 BC: The Halls of Alexandria rang out in joy; lutes and drums filled the city. Ptolemy IV celebrated the birth of his second son, Isidore I. Historians note this as the first time in the Ptolemaic line that a royal male was not named Ptolemy. The reason for this break in tradition as of yet is unknown, but it is speculated to be due to Ptolemy IV’s hatred for his mother, and could have lead to his deviation from tradition.
The Dacians under Rubobostes began to consolidate in the Carpathian Basin and threw out the Celtic kings, establishing a native Dacian dynasty amongst the Daci and Getae. They began to retake the lands and davas (cities) of Dacia from the Celts who had invaded almost a century before. Many Celtic tribes fled to Pannonia in fear of the vicious Dacian Dragon banner, howling like a demon as the Dacian cavalry thundered over the battlefield. The indigenous war machine proved more deadly than their already fierce occupiers.
The Dacians were tribal, with almost all political entities based around distant family relations, usually centered around a fortified dava. Their standard, the Dacian Dragon, a serpent with the head of a snarling wolf, was raised on a pole as they rode, the head made from either iron or bronze, and the body a long tube of multicolored cloth that would look to be living when the wind passed through it. Their armies primarily consisted of cavalry and horse archers, much like the Sarmatians to the North. The nobility usually wore Phrygian helmets and scale armor. The weapon of choice for the Dacians was the Falx, a sickle-sword used to pull down shields, pierce helmets, and break through the phalanx. Masters of the ambush, they would draw an enemy army into their trap, and charge when the moment was right.
Using his vast wealth, Edam Binne hired Osismii and some Curiosolite Gallic sailors to sail alongside his Carthaginian ships as guards against Veneti pirates. This helps out initially, but piracy continued along the coasts of Gaul regardless.
But Edam Binne’s new and brilliant ideas about Makar Maqam inspired some of his rivals to do similarly. Two of Edam Binne’s biggest rivals in Carthaginian trade, Maharbaal Heric and Danel Damm founded Makar Maqam’s in Britain and Western Africa respectively. Maharbaal founded the small town of Ba’alkapr (Baal’s village) on the far western coast of Dumnonia (Cornwall and Devon), making a special agreement with the Dumnonii that they would trade exclusively with Maharbaal Heric and those who worked for him, and in return they would receive more Punic goods, which they could in turn trade to the other tribes in the area for a greater price. Danel Damm, on the other hand, sailed down the coast of Africa, passed Mauretania (Morocco), and passed the Sahara and made his Makar Maqam, called La’miim (Literally, No Water). The area he settled in was scarcely populated, but this proved to his advantage. Further inland, people with skin darker than the Numidians lived, willing to trade ivory and gold. This space allowed Danel Damm’s new settlement to grow without much hindrance from native tribes.
The Vaktrianians and Seleucids worked tirelessly to secure the Indus river from the Sunga. However, further West, King Phraates I of Parthia could not help but notice his border with the Seleucids was left relatively unprotected. Rallying his Parni elite, Phraates I launched an invasion into Seleucid held Persia. Seleucus IV was forced to withdraw from his campaign in India, leaving all of the land he seized to the Vaktrianians to defend his Empire. Demetrius II of Vaktranistan (as it began to be called by the common man) hardly objected, and continued his war for the Buddha. By the end of the year, he had secured all of the Indus valley.
Seleucus IV met the Parthians in Carmania. In the open field, Seleucus IV’s massive army of veterans was obliterated by the Parthian horse-archers. Seleucus IV retreated to Susa, where he was able to regroup and reinforce his army, but the damage was done. The Parthians had taken almost half of his empire within months, and his over-extended, exhausted, and beaten army was powerless to stop them.
After months of holding out, Binmalik Akbar Barca was waiting for a miracle. The unstoppable Greek army laid siege to Metapontum, where the Carthaginians had been holed up for four months waiting for reinforcements from the Malik. It certainly should not have taken so long, the grand city of Carthage was only a few weeks away by sea even in the worst of conditions.
Little did Akbar know that his plead for help never made it to Carthage. Belgian pirates, making their rounds picking off whatever weak ships they could in the Western Mediterranean (especially Punic ships) had intercepted the ship carrying Akbar’s messenger, killed all who would not immediately surrender, took any valuables, sold the survivors to slavery, and stole the ship.
Malik Mago V knew nothing of his son’s dire situation in Metapontum.
Akbar Barca, knowing full well the pile of shit he was in mad a bid for escape. He left in the night with his officers and the Sacred Band to Carthage where they could hopefully recruit a new army, and save at least some Punic influence on the peninsula.
Metapontum fell within a week of Akbar’s flight. Hegemon Leonidas III stormed the city.
But this was only the first hammer strike of the mighty Greek army. Leonidas III made plans for another army, headed by Philip of Corinth, to sail from Hellas to Syracuse, and retake the island for the Greeks.
However, the invasion backfired. So it seemed, the Greeks living in Carthage held Sicily were quite content under Punic rule, and actually resisted their fellow Greek kin. This, combined with Philip of Corinth’s poor leadership, led to a full retreat within a month of invading Sicily.
181 BC: Ptolemy V died from poison. His eldest son Ptolemy VI succeeded him as an infant, but the child died from disease. Isidore I, the younger brother, succeeded him, but while still an infant as well, his mother Cleopatra of Syria acted as regent.
Demetrius II of Vaktranistan, after successfully seizing the Indus River Valley, relocated the capital of his kingdom from Bactra to Alexandria on the Indus. His kingdom now spanned from the mountains of Bactria to the rich banks of the Indus.
Seleucus IV was forced to retreat into Mesopotamia. There, he reinforced his army and managed to hold off the Parthians. Though he saved the Empire for now, within two years, he managed to reduce it to a third of its former size and glory. All of Persia was now controlled by Phraates I of Parthia.
Leonidas III pushed his army through Magna Graecia. Many of the Greek cities welcomed him with open arms, believing he would end the chaos that had plagued their peninsula for the past twenty years. The city of Cumae gave 10,000 volunteers to swell the Greek army. While many of these hoplites were poorly supplied and hardly trained, they were still useful, and bolstered the mighty Greek army from the 40,000 veterans left to 50,000.
Only at the city of Scylletium were the Greeks stopped. The Carthaginians had returned.
Earlier that year, when Binmalik Akbar arrived in Carthage to inform his father of the disaster that occurred in Italia, Mago V cried in outrage. He gathered an army, and much to Akbar’s shame, Mago V personally led the army across the sea, where they landed at Regium. Upon hearing the incredible success of Leonidas III, the Carthaginians marched as fast as they could to Scylletium, where Punic scouts informed the Greeks were headed.
The two armies were about equal in size, though worlds apart in the manner they were organized. Leonidas had already proved his superiority on the field, but the Malik was a brilliant tactician; word of his victories in battle over the years were well known even in Hellas. So, the two kings met, and began to negotiate a peace.
Peace was made, Leonidas III would keep all that he had conquered, but without tribute or compensation from Carthage. The peace was uneasy. But peace was made.
This gave the Carthaginians opportunity to focus on their protectorate of Etruria. The Etruscans and their adversary, the Umbrians had been locked in stalemate, and only upon the arrival of the Carthaginian army were the Etruscans able to overrun the enemy. But, much to the Etruscans chagrin, Mago V, after taking Perusia, had the retaken territory made into another protectorate instead of becoming a part of Etruria as it once was. The Protectorate of Umbria was founded.
“The Parni rode to battle like demons, dust flying behind their hooves, arrows flying through the air. They decimated the Macedonians and pushed back. And lo, the mighty empire of Alexandros Megas was crumbling.”
-A Poem written by an unknown Greek in Antioch
182 BC: The Halls of Alexandria rang out in joy; lutes and drums filled the city. Ptolemy IV celebrated the birth of his second son, Isidore I. Historians note this as the first time in the Ptolemaic line that a royal male was not named Ptolemy. The reason for this break in tradition as of yet is unknown, but it is speculated to be due to Ptolemy IV’s hatred for his mother, and could have lead to his deviation from tradition.
The Dacians under Rubobostes began to consolidate in the Carpathian Basin and threw out the Celtic kings, establishing a native Dacian dynasty amongst the Daci and Getae. They began to retake the lands and davas (cities) of Dacia from the Celts who had invaded almost a century before. Many Celtic tribes fled to Pannonia in fear of the vicious Dacian Dragon banner, howling like a demon as the Dacian cavalry thundered over the battlefield. The indigenous war machine proved more deadly than their already fierce occupiers.
The Dacians were tribal, with almost all political entities based around distant family relations, usually centered around a fortified dava. Their standard, the Dacian Dragon, a serpent with the head of a snarling wolf, was raised on a pole as they rode, the head made from either iron or bronze, and the body a long tube of multicolored cloth that would look to be living when the wind passed through it. Their armies primarily consisted of cavalry and horse archers, much like the Sarmatians to the North. The nobility usually wore Phrygian helmets and scale armor. The weapon of choice for the Dacians was the Falx, a sickle-sword used to pull down shields, pierce helmets, and break through the phalanx. Masters of the ambush, they would draw an enemy army into their trap, and charge when the moment was right.
Using his vast wealth, Edam Binne hired Osismii and some Curiosolite Gallic sailors to sail alongside his Carthaginian ships as guards against Veneti pirates. This helps out initially, but piracy continued along the coasts of Gaul regardless.
But Edam Binne’s new and brilliant ideas about Makar Maqam inspired some of his rivals to do similarly. Two of Edam Binne’s biggest rivals in Carthaginian trade, Maharbaal Heric and Danel Damm founded Makar Maqam’s in Britain and Western Africa respectively. Maharbaal founded the small town of Ba’alkapr (Baal’s village) on the far western coast of Dumnonia (Cornwall and Devon), making a special agreement with the Dumnonii that they would trade exclusively with Maharbaal Heric and those who worked for him, and in return they would receive more Punic goods, which they could in turn trade to the other tribes in the area for a greater price. Danel Damm, on the other hand, sailed down the coast of Africa, passed Mauretania (Morocco), and passed the Sahara and made his Makar Maqam, called La’miim (Literally, No Water). The area he settled in was scarcely populated, but this proved to his advantage. Further inland, people with skin darker than the Numidians lived, willing to trade ivory and gold. This space allowed Danel Damm’s new settlement to grow without much hindrance from native tribes.
The Vaktrianians and Seleucids worked tirelessly to secure the Indus river from the Sunga. However, further West, King Phraates I of Parthia could not help but notice his border with the Seleucids was left relatively unprotected. Rallying his Parni elite, Phraates I launched an invasion into Seleucid held Persia. Seleucus IV was forced to withdraw from his campaign in India, leaving all of the land he seized to the Vaktrianians to defend his Empire. Demetrius II of Vaktranistan (as it began to be called by the common man) hardly objected, and continued his war for the Buddha. By the end of the year, he had secured all of the Indus valley.
Seleucus IV met the Parthians in Carmania. In the open field, Seleucus IV’s massive army of veterans was obliterated by the Parthian horse-archers. Seleucus IV retreated to Susa, where he was able to regroup and reinforce his army, but the damage was done. The Parthians had taken almost half of his empire within months, and his over-extended, exhausted, and beaten army was powerless to stop them.
After months of holding out, Binmalik Akbar Barca was waiting for a miracle. The unstoppable Greek army laid siege to Metapontum, where the Carthaginians had been holed up for four months waiting for reinforcements from the Malik. It certainly should not have taken so long, the grand city of Carthage was only a few weeks away by sea even in the worst of conditions.
Little did Akbar know that his plead for help never made it to Carthage. Belgian pirates, making their rounds picking off whatever weak ships they could in the Western Mediterranean (especially Punic ships) had intercepted the ship carrying Akbar’s messenger, killed all who would not immediately surrender, took any valuables, sold the survivors to slavery, and stole the ship.
Malik Mago V knew nothing of his son’s dire situation in Metapontum.
Akbar Barca, knowing full well the pile of shit he was in mad a bid for escape. He left in the night with his officers and the Sacred Band to Carthage where they could hopefully recruit a new army, and save at least some Punic influence on the peninsula.
Metapontum fell within a week of Akbar’s flight. Hegemon Leonidas III stormed the city.
But this was only the first hammer strike of the mighty Greek army. Leonidas III made plans for another army, headed by Philip of Corinth, to sail from Hellas to Syracuse, and retake the island for the Greeks.
However, the invasion backfired. So it seemed, the Greeks living in Carthage held Sicily were quite content under Punic rule, and actually resisted their fellow Greek kin. This, combined with Philip of Corinth’s poor leadership, led to a full retreat within a month of invading Sicily.
181 BC: Ptolemy V died from poison. His eldest son Ptolemy VI succeeded him as an infant, but the child died from disease. Isidore I, the younger brother, succeeded him, but while still an infant as well, his mother Cleopatra of Syria acted as regent.
Demetrius II of Vaktranistan, after successfully seizing the Indus River Valley, relocated the capital of his kingdom from Bactra to Alexandria on the Indus. His kingdom now spanned from the mountains of Bactria to the rich banks of the Indus.
Seleucus IV was forced to retreat into Mesopotamia. There, he reinforced his army and managed to hold off the Parthians. Though he saved the Empire for now, within two years, he managed to reduce it to a third of its former size and glory. All of Persia was now controlled by Phraates I of Parthia.
Leonidas III pushed his army through Magna Graecia. Many of the Greek cities welcomed him with open arms, believing he would end the chaos that had plagued their peninsula for the past twenty years. The city of Cumae gave 10,000 volunteers to swell the Greek army. While many of these hoplites were poorly supplied and hardly trained, they were still useful, and bolstered the mighty Greek army from the 40,000 veterans left to 50,000.
Only at the city of Scylletium were the Greeks stopped. The Carthaginians had returned.
Earlier that year, when Binmalik Akbar arrived in Carthage to inform his father of the disaster that occurred in Italia, Mago V cried in outrage. He gathered an army, and much to Akbar’s shame, Mago V personally led the army across the sea, where they landed at Regium. Upon hearing the incredible success of Leonidas III, the Carthaginians marched as fast as they could to Scylletium, where Punic scouts informed the Greeks were headed.
The two armies were about equal in size, though worlds apart in the manner they were organized. Leonidas had already proved his superiority on the field, but the Malik was a brilliant tactician; word of his victories in battle over the years were well known even in Hellas. So, the two kings met, and began to negotiate a peace.
Peace was made, Leonidas III would keep all that he had conquered, but without tribute or compensation from Carthage. The peace was uneasy. But peace was made.
This gave the Carthaginians opportunity to focus on their protectorate of Etruria. The Etruscans and their adversary, the Umbrians had been locked in stalemate, and only upon the arrival of the Carthaginian army were the Etruscans able to overrun the enemy. But, much to the Etruscans chagrin, Mago V, after taking Perusia, had the retaken territory made into another protectorate instead of becoming a part of Etruria as it once was. The Protectorate of Umbria was founded.