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A question that's been on my mind recently. What if, when Alexander dies in Babylon in 323 BCE, he has no family heirs? Let's assume neither Roxane nor Statiera become pregnant, and that shortly before his return to Babylon, Arrhidaeus also somehow dies on the way back to Babylon of illness.

Now the interesting thing that arises here is the only technically living male family member of Alexander's is Heracles, the reputedly illegitimate child of Alexander's from Barsine, daughter of the Satrap Artabazus of Phyrgia. Now OTL, the only person to voice their support of Heracles to be Alexander's successor was Nearchus. I'm interested in what the implications of all this would be-how would Alexander's generals handle this. Despite the controversy surrounding Heracles' parentage, would he be held up as the heir to Alexander and a regent(s) placed over him? I could see this being ripe for many of them later using the questions over his parentage to their own gain, so they might support it just judging by his weak and tenuous claim that can be exploited later.

Alternatively, could Perdiccas make a bid for the purple himself? He does have Alexander's signet ring, although I think he recognized he likely did not have the support to actually pull that off, and I somehow doubt the other generals would have let him become king without opposition.

So how exactly does the Babylon conference play out?
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