Deleted member 5909
[FONT="]Basileus Theos
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[/FONT]323 B.C.
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The following TL is my first in quite some time. My goal is to write a successful Alexander TL, that remains realistic, and does not present any long term Macedonian wank, while at the same time, there remaining a powerful, realistically sized Hellenistic empire for at least the next few centuries. I can only hope that my goal is reached.
Note: I have used unanglicized, original Greek (and in some cases Persian) names (albeit in Latin alphabet) wherever and whenever possible. I feel it is the most appropriate thing to do, to maintain realism and accuracy--after all, the Great King of Asia was never "Alexander" to his contemporaries, always "Alexandros".[FONT="]
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[FONT="]Note: I have used unanglicized, original Greek (and in some cases Persian) names (albeit in Latin alphabet) wherever and whenever possible. I feel it is the most appropriate thing to do, to maintain realism and accuracy--after all, the Great King of Asia was never "Alexander" to his contemporaries, always "Alexandros".[FONT="]
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[/FONT]323 B.C.
Prologue, enter the players
The mighty warlord Alexandros III Megas, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Great King of Asia, King of Macedon, Pharaoh of Egypt, Hegemon of the League of Corinth, has ordered that his court remain at Babylon, in deep mourning for the death of his beloved Hēphaistiōn, who has recently succumbed to fever the previous autumn. King Alexandros himself is in a state of near frantic grief since the death of his companion, and has spent lavishly on a splendid funeral and magnificent funerary games to honor his fallen comrade. Further, the Great King of Asia has petitioned the oracle at Siwah for the official recognition and honors of a divine hero to be conferred upon Hēphaistiōn, a request which has been duly proclaimed and granted, initiating the famed cult of the hero Hēphaistiōn, which will soon spread throughout the empire, urged onward by royal support. Alexandros himself orders a great temple erected in Babylon to house the hero’s ashes and cult.
In Pella, King Alexandros’ mother, Polyxenē Olympias, takes advantage of her son’s recent dark mood to rid herself of her rival for influence in Macedon, Alexandros’ strategos and satrap, Antipatros. Despite their previous rumored sexual involvement with each other, by now, the former political partnership between Antipatros and Olympias has turned into a full scale power struggle, one which the queen mother now finds she is losing. Writing to her son in Babylon, she accuses the aging Antipatros of inciting disloyalty and rebellion in Macedon, and urges him to dismiss Antipatros from his command.
Alexandros, now increasingly suspicious of those around him due to rumors attributing Hēphaistiōn’s death to poisoning, summons his former friend to Babylon to answer for the charges brought against him, relieving him of his command in Pella. In his place, the Great King sends the general Krateros as his new satrap in Macedon, along with over 11,000 of his long serving Macedonian veterans, now finally discharged and allowed to return home. Further, he orders Antipatros to levy new troops in Thrace, Macedon and Greece, and to lead them into Anatolia to reinforce his position there.
In early June, King Alexandros falls ill with fever. For days he lies close to death, and many of his generals and courtiers begin preparing for the worst. Finally however, on the third night of his illness, the Great King’s fever breaks and his health begins to improve. Alexandros’ recovery is seen as miraculous by his contemporaries, and a sure omen of his divinity. A series of public games are held in Babylon to celebrate, and after six months, public mourning for Hēphaistiōn is finally declared to be at an end.
The recovered Alexandros III is a new and far more invigorated king, having seen his brush with death as further proof the epic destiny in store for him. He immediately begins preparations for his long awaited Arabian campaign, having received reports of the great amount of wealth in copper and aromatic resins in the far off lands of Yemen. He begins amassing an army on the Euphrates, levying troops from throughout his vast empire.
The year finally draws to a close with a far more fortuitous omen then it had originally begun with: in August King Alexandros’ Bactrian wife, Roshanak (called ‘Roxanē’ by the Greeks), gives birth to a healthy son in Babylon—her first child having died at birth during the Indian campaign—who is named ‘Alexandros’ in honor of his father.
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