I have added the Parthians above, but now the message is too long and I'll have to continue here. First up, Pontos:
8. KINGDOM OF PONTOS
''The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.'' Epicurus
We are the Kingdom of Pontos. We have come from the shadows, from the chaos, from the remnants of the empires of the Achaemenids and of the demigod Alexander. We are the Mithridatic dynasty, blessed by the gods on Olympos, who bestowed the lands on both sides of the Pontic Alps to us. The first Mithridates was given rule over the Greek city Kios by the Great King, the King of Kings Ŗtachschaçā II., who was known as Artaxerxes II. in the West. His son Ariobarzenes reached the rank of a royal satrap of the grand area that is known as Phrygia. But he was struck by Hybris and rebelled against the heavenly king, allying himself with the sly Athenians. For this he was righteously killed by his son Mithridates II of Kios.
This second Mithridates was a brilliant exponent of our dynasty. When Alexander the Great came to the East, guided by Zeus himself, to destroy the Achaemenid Empire to punish the Persians for their neglect of Ahura Mazda in recent years, Mithridates' rule survived. This clever man realized that he had to align himself with the mighty Antigonos Monophtalmos once the time had come. But even honest men can fall prey to destiny, and that is was happened to him as well. Cassander, the treacherous enemy of Antigonos, created the impression that Mithridates wanted to join his side and betray Antigonos. Despite Mithridates' desperate pleas, Antigonos decided to kill him and also set after his son, who was also called Mithridates. The dynasty was in danger of being wiped out, but Demetrios Poliorketes, the son of Antigonos, warned the younger Mithridates in time to flee eastwards. Together with six loyal retainers, Mithridates rode through the mountains to the hill fortress of Kimiata. It was there where the history of the Dominion of Pontos started, and Mithridates became Mithridates I Ktistes of Pontos.
Starting from Paphlagonian Kimiata, Mithridates reached Amaseia in Cappadocia. The gods of the West and the East had equipped him with multiple impressive talents and skills, and the Founder quickly gathered local troops and magistrates around himself. He gradually built up a rule over the Pontic Alps region, gloriously defeated the general Diodorus just before the Battle of Kouroupedion and crowned himself king to establish the Kingdom of Pontos. In the following year his son, prince Ariobarzanes, captured the city of Amastris on our western border, an important port on the Friendly Sea. Our Kingdom had now secured a stable revenue, thanks to the ingenuity of our praised dynasty. However, after the battle of Kouroupedion, the new king of the Asian empire, Antiochos, had sent Aphrodisias to become satrap of Phrygia. This Aphrodisias threatened the Greek city Herakleia Pontika, which was already in a war with the Bithynians. The Herakliots thus came to our wise king to seek for help and had to allow us to keep Amastris when Mithridates answered their call in the times of need. This is how the Northern League was formed, and soon Nikomedes I. became new king of Bithynia and joined our alliance together with Byzantium.
It was at this time that the Galatians were on their way to Asia and laid siege to Byzantium. The Herakliteans and Bithynians sent help, but the mighty Nikomedes thought it wise to hire the Galatians for his purposes and the trouser wearing Barbarians became allies of our league. They soon proved their worth, when the grand king Ptolemaios II. sent his forces to Phrygia and made war on our kingdom. He had been a benefactor of the league before, but soon betrayed us and started a great war against Antiochos in Syria. Our men fought valiantly and with the help of the Celts, the enemies were driven into the sea! The Galatians, however, are unreliable allies as well and nothing can stop them to plunder and pillage the land. Ptolemaios has now concluded his war against Antiochos, but we must decide where our future will lie. Can we maneuvre between these empires, shall we remain in the Northern League with Bityhnia, Chalcedon, Herakleia and Byzantium? A war might come, and the heir apparent Ariobarzanes is eager to prove his worth- now that his father has become old. We can rely on the Citizen Hoplites recruited from the Greek cities under our sway and the troops based on the old Persian army to defend our borders. But we should be open to anything the future might hold, open for new alliances and new possibilities...
9. SAKA - The description is already in game and I don't have the text in hand. But I don't think there is a quote in front of it and I suggest to add the following one:
,,Everything flows, nothing stands still.'' Herakleitos of Ephesos
(Since they are nomads and roam around the world)
10. NUMIDIANS
Magnentius will write a description for them- thanks!
And here it is:
''But if the Numidians came nearer, they then showed their real quality, charging them with the greatest fury, routing and scattering them.'' Sallustus
The desert devours all life; we, too, devour life. The lives of those who are inattentive, who dare to enter our countries, wander without permission and do wrong to our brothers and sisters - we leave them disappearing on the endless plains of our sandy home.
The desert also creates life. We are alive and we will still be alive if there is destruction and doom elsewhere. Our civilization is more powerful than many people might think, for when we get together, ride our horses and ride against the enemy, we are irresistible.
In our towns of bright clay and burnt red bricks, rare oases, scattered throughout the vastness of the desert, colorful bustle prevails in the bazaars and markets. There we offer the splendid products of our seemingly so poor home, and even if they might not match the goods of the peoples on the coast, they are the most precious gifts of our gods, which they give us in their grace and wisdom.
Long ago, the coast was part of our home. Our fathers and their fathers caught fish there, dried and salted it, and sold it to their brothers and sisters in the hinterland.
It was a simple and hard, but also a good life ... until the Phoenicians came.
They forced our ancestors into the interior, and built great cities which quickly absorbed the fertile meadows. They bound the land through endless paths of hard stone, which hurt the hoofs of our horses and tamed the stormy sea on the coast through winding harbor docks.
The Carthaginians are the most hated of all the Phoenicians. Their fabulous Queen Elissa fled from her brother Pygmalion from Tyros and landed on our coast. The stories of their insidious conspiracy are still told at every camp fire across Africa today:
A Numidian chieftain promised her as much land as she could mark with a piece of cow skin, and he was rubbing his hands already, hoping to be able to lead her into his tent as his prisoner.
But the Phoenicians are sly people, who travel far on their ships and see a lot of the world. Elissa cut the cow skin into thin stripes, spanning an area that was big enough for her people. Within a short time this "New Town", Qart-Hadašt, rose to dominion of the Phoenician cities in Africa.
Against their walls, against their innumerable ships, and against their wily leaders in the Carthaginian Senate, our ancestors could not prevail.
The Carthaginians remained near the water, but their disastrous influence pushed the hinterland to the edge of the great desert. Their sweet promises deceived many a chief, and brought him under their rule. Our brothers and sisters suffered greatly from the greedy Carthaginians.
But now we are finally united under a king and can throw the enemy back into the sea.
With our fast horses, we will crush their rigid armies of steel. Like a hammer, we will blow them up, let countless spears rain and before their slow hoplites can react, we will already be gone again – back amongst the sands.
We are not afraid of their mighty elephants, they are animals from our homeland and we know their weak spots.
Because our best weapon, the warrior on horseback, combines speed and deadly precision. From little on we learn the warcraft and the way of the javelin, and no people of the world is like us.
The Carthaginians will pay for the injustice of the past and we will return to our country.
The desert devours all lives, and we Numidians are the true sons of the desert!
11. GERMANIC TRIBES
''All of them have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.'' Tacitus
We are the Germani. We live in the North, from Scandza to the river Rhenus, in the lands given to us by Tuisco, the earth-born. Through the Hercynian forest we roam, over the Scandian Sea we have sailed. We are few, but the tribes are many. Life happens because Tuisco wanted it so, and we live for the tribe. The blood of Mannus units us, but strife and hatred divide us. Be loyal to the tribe, and loyal to the gods!
In the North, the Gotoni withstand they colds of Scandza. They are as strong as bears and fear not even the winter, as their lands are often covered in Snow and the weakling will soon become a prey of the weather or the wild beasts who dwell in these lands. On the Cimbrian peninsula, the Cimbrians and the Teutones enjoy a rainer climate, though the land is barren and opportunities are few and far between. However, they are as brave as wolfs and will go to any length required to find the rare riches Germania can offer.
Among the trees of the Hercynian forest, the Chauci, Cherusci and Bructeri are at large, living in scattered villages or leading a nomad life. They are as sly as foxes and will always find a way to survive. These men fear neither the brutal animals of the forest nor their Celtic neighbours, who are weak and love the luxuries. There are more tribes in the East whose names are unknown even to most of their neighbours, but they must be strong and bold since beyond them one will find the man eating Sarmatians and the one- eyed creatures.
In the South, more Celts live in the countries adjacent to Germania, dwelling from the plains of the river Moenus to the snow covered mountains and beyond. The have many tribes, well fed nobles and fertile women. If we want to survive the harsh climates of our home, we will need to go there and pillage their homes, taking the riches with us back to our homes so our families can survive. The tribe will thanks us, long live the tribe! The time of war has come once again and with spirits on our side, nothing can stop us! Always be wary of the enemy, strike them when they expect you the least and take home everything you can find. We are the Germani, men of the forest, and we will surive. Winter is coming...
12. GETAI (written by Magnentius)
''War is the father of all.'' Heraclitus
Dense forests, impassable mountains and a harsh climate have always protected these countries, which we call our own.
In the last centuries we saw many intruders coming and going ... yet only we remained, the tough people of the Getai.
Once the Persians came here, powerful people led by their great king Darius. We lured them into the steppe and there they almost all died from thirst. They had to retreat and never again would we see those warriors in their colorful pants.
Then came the Greeks with thousands of settlers on their powerful ships and settled down on the coast. Their intrusion into the interior of the country was successfully repelled by our ancestors, and they entered into commercial relations with the inhabitants of the new cities on the coast.
Occasionally we invade their cities, together with our allies, the Scythians, from the vast steppes beyond the great rivers. However, peace usually prevails between us and the Greeks.
This does not apply to the lords of the southern countries, the Macedonians. Under their great King Alexander they successfully invaded our homeland. He destroyed the army of our ancestors near the great river Danube through his superior skills as a general, and so they were compelled to make peace.
Ten years later, however, we were able to avenge ourselves, and killed his governor Zopyrion.
And the greatest victory we won against one of Alexander's companions, the new king of Thrace, Lysimachus. We captured him and his son when they tried to prevent our attacks on their territory. Our noble King Dromichaites, however, honourably released the defeated king- wanting to prevent more powerful men than Lysimachos to return.
The greatest danger to the people of our time came not from the south or east, but from the north-west. Celtic tribes had united and devastated the homeland of our neighbors in search of loot and land to settle. They moved to the south, pillaged the Greek lands and even crossed the sea with the help of the Bithynian king to get to Asia Minor. There and in nearby Thrace, they still spread fear and terror.
But now the Getai also rise again. We assemble, united under a strong king and will rob and plunder the rich cities and temples of the Greeks. For they lie scattered on the coast, and are weak and disunited. We will take sword and shield, march southwards against their walls of stone, tear them down and rob their treasures.
And then we will once again come back to our wild home, which has seen many peoples come and go. But only the Getai will stay here forever...
13. ILLYRIANS (written by Magnentius)
''The Illyrian people fought boldly both on land and on sea, and they were confident in their terrain as well as their fortifications.'' Livy
We Illyrians encompass a multitude of free tribes, who dwell from the mild coastal plain on the Adria to the rugged mountains. This country is more suitable for livestock than agriculture and so our large herds are grazing all year round on the green meadows of Illyria.
But we live not only from livestock, but also from the riches of the sea, as our land stretches along the Adria for many a distance. The tribes on the coast are capable sailors, and catch large quantities of fish, which they trade for other goods. We live a hard and simple life, but are we are free and strong.
The Greeks on the coast in their cities with walls of stone and temples of marble are soft people. They care about undisturbed trade and are eagerly looking for the treasures of our mountains. There are abundant deposits of silver and gold, and the wood of the mountains is also of interest for their enormous construction projects around the Mediterranean.
But they fear us and contemptously call us Barbarians. They fear our fast and agile ships, so masterfully championed by the Liburnian tribe that no Greek merchant ship can escape them. We Illyrians are the real pirates of the Mediterranean and have already travelled to many foreign shores, plundering the towns, robbing their women and selling their men on the slave markets in the East.
The Greeks are mighty masters in their own countries, but in ours, they are inferior to us. They fight in densely packed formations, which is detrimental to them in the mountainous landscape of Illyria. We know our country, every path, every forest and every mountain. Many a Greek army has invaded Illyria and has never been seen again.
Only the Macedonians have inflicted much suffering on our people in the recent past. We used to invade their land now and then and often made rich booty, when the Argeads were still weak. Under our king Bardylis we took their wealthy lands and even killed one of their kings in a great battle against thousands of Macedonians.
Then came Philip... and he conquered us by cunning and sword. Bardylis had to submit to him and we had to give up our newly claimed borders. Not only that, but Philip even annexed our Southern tribes and ruled over them with an iron fist.
Philip's son, the great Alexander, crushed the resistance of our new king Kleitos, son of Bardylis, in a brilliantly led campaign, and subsequently went on to become ruler of the world. Kleitos fled to Glaukias in that part of Illyria, that still remained free. There he waited for the death of Alexander, and at the time when Cassanders was king of Macedon, Kleitos reclaimed his kingdom. A great victory against the Macedonians reestablished our powerful position of old- the age of Macedonian rule in Illyria was over.
The hilly land to our immediate South is home to the Epirotes, a people which is both Illyrian and Greek. We have often had friendly relations with them, and intervened in their affairs when we deemed it necessary. Very recently, we aided King Pyrrhos against the thief Cassander, who had usurped his kingdom.
To the North, the ferocious Celtic tribes have troubled us in the decades gone by, but they have now largely wandered further to the East and rumour has it that some of them have even made it to Asia. Thus they pose no danger to our mighty people anymore.
Our king Monunios, from the tribe of the Taulantians, has now been the lord of Illyria for ten years, and he has finally united the tribes into a powerful new kingdom on the shores of the Adriatic. The crafts and the commerce a flourishing and to a "Golden Age" for our people has begun.
As the road to Greece is now open again, we will plunder their cities of marble, send their inhabitants into slavery and return - ladden with immeasurable booty.
We Illyrians will teach the peoples of the South to fear us, just like our ancestors did centuries ago.
14. SARMATIANS (written by Magnentius)
"When the prince of Scythia treated the Sarmatian queen Amage with contempt, she marched against him with a hundred and twenty men of tried courage and extraordinary strength, each of them provided with three horses. In one night and day she covered a distance of twelve hundred stades, and arriving unexpectedly at the palace, she slew all the guards, rushed into the building, and slew the Scythian, along with his friends and relations. " Polyainos
We are the Sarmatian people, who inhabit the wide grasslands in the north-east of the Oikumene. Far away from busy trade routes and blooming cities, we live a simple and hard life in the steppe. Having divided ourselves into different tribes, our people have nevertheless developed a rich common culture.
The sharp lance, the heavy iron chain shirt and the tough horses of the plains are our weapons against the sedentary peoples on the borders of our tribal regions.
For generations, we have been plundering their cities and selling their inhabitants into slavery. The rich Greek cities on the shores of the Black Sea fear us as do the kings of the great and powerful empires in the south and east.
Not a long time ago we heard of an invincible Greek king, who annihilated an army of our worthy ancestors in the East, who had been lured by the promises of an Eastern usurper before they were defeated together. This new King Alexander, however, died soon after this triumph, leaving several smaller empires, who were constantly fighting each other.
They weakened each other and neglected their borders in the north. Our friends, the Getai, used this to their advantage to raid those regions. At this time they won a great victory over one of these successor kings.
The Getai were followed by the savage Celts, who produced only chaos and destruction on the Balkans, apart from the small and unstable Kingdom of Tylis. Since then the countries on the far side of the great river Danube have been a rather messy affair.
They are powerless against our armies of armoured horsemen, who command the lance so skillfully and powerfully that none of the Southern warriors can match their thrust. Our horses are protected by impenetrable sheds of leather and metal. They are thundering unstoppably, and they break effortlessly through every wall of men and shields.
But we also know how to destroy our enemies from afar. The art of archery is taught to every Sarmation warrior to absolute perfection from the youngest age on. At first for hunting in the steppe, and later also for the war against our enemies.
The merciless steppe shapes our people. They are as tough as the steppe grass and as rough as the cold winds from the east.
We are the Sarmatians, a people of many skilled horsemen on hardy horses. Our brave warriors control the lance so deadly and the bow so accurately that no other people can stop us on our raids. We will teach them again to fear our name, just as our ancestors from the endless steppe have done before.
15. THE HELLENIC KINGDOMS (Shouldn't it be Hellenistic?
)
''One more such victory and we are undone.'' Pyrrhos of Epeiros
In the first year of the 156th Olympiad, when Elpines became archon of Athens and Iphikrates, Timotheus and Menestheus were chosen as strategoi, during the second consulate of Marcus Fabius Ambustus and Marcus Popilius Laenas, at the time of the rising of the Pleiades, Olympias, Queen of Macedon, gave birth to a son, her first born: Alexandros. He was born as the son of Philippos, the King of Macedon for twenty three years, but also as the son of the thundering Zeus Olympios. The Gods had destined the boy for greatness, and his story is well known to all mortals! From the taming of the wild Bukephalos to the conquest of Asia and the battle on the Indus- he alone of all humans crossed the Oikumene, crushed the Barbarians and became king of all!
From the point of history, fifty three years have passed since the death of the divine Alexander. After his conspicous death at young age in Babylon, his empire was split between his generals. The Gods had taken Alexander to Olympos, and the mortals were left among themselves to fight for his heritage. A huge war broke out between West and East, between the Greeks and the Macedonians, between those who favoured Perdikkas and those who favoured the blood line of Alexander, which lacked a suitable heir. However, this was only the first clash of the wars of the Diadochoi: Hundreds and thousands of bronze clad Hoplites and Pikemen, myriads of Barbarian warriors and hundreds of squadrons of the noblest horsemen fought and slew each other valiantly to fulfill the wills of their mighty commanders.
The old and experienced Antigonos Monophtalmos soon emerged as one of the finest successors of Alexandros ho Megas: His foes to the West and the East crumbled and fell one by one, and those who resisted were attacked by his vengeful son Demetrios, who stormed every city that dared to oppose the rule of his father- upon which he became known as ho Poliorketes- the Besieger. And it was at this time that Antigonos adopted the royal diadem and became basileus- a true and noble King. But even these two commanders depended on the good will of the Gods on Olympos. And when Demetrios became too haughty for a man, the Rhodians punished him. Unable to take their island, the Antigonids suffered a backlash and were eventually forced to face all their enemies at the Battle of Ipsos in the 55th year after the birth of the divine Alexander. There, on the dry plains of Phrygia, Antigonos' dreams of an empire as grand as Alexander's came to a premature end as his army was crushed and scattered among all of Asia and the Aegean. Demetrios survived, but he would spend most of his remaining days as a rogue commander, running from his own shadow to suffer for his own Hybris he had shown.
However, among the victors at Ipsos was Seleukos, who had secured control of Babylon and its vertile valley. In no time, he controlled Mesopotamia and Persia, and his empire grew until it reached the borders of fertile India, where King Seleukos concluded a worthy truce with the quaint Barbarians. Seleukos became one of the most famous king, and he ruled over Asia while his old friend Ptolemaios made himself Pharao of Egypt. Together, they were worthy successors of Alexander the Great both in battle and in politics, but also in their love and support of Hellenic culture. In Macedon, on the other hand, the perfidious coward Lysimachos had murdered the Argeads and plunged the kingdom into chaos. And all the world learned of his recreancy when the Getai, a poor Barbarian tribe who dwell in Northern uplands of the Balkans, abducted Lysimachos the unworthy king.
Seleukos took it upon him to punish the cruel traitor, but when he finally met him in battle at Kouroupedion and won a famous victory, another traitor, the dastard Ptolemaios, who is known as Keraunos, the Thunderbolt, murdered the faithful king. Soon, he was slain himself by the brute Celts, who overran Greece and could only be stopped by the bold Aitolians. The monarchy had failed, and it was up to Demetrios' son Antigonos Gonatas to take the reigns of Macedon in his hands. One of the rivals to the throne had been Pyrrhos, the brave ruler of the Molossoi. Much has been said and written about his great campaign in Italy, his spectacular victory over the iron clad Barbarians who call themselves Rhomaioi, the Romans, and his successes in Sicily. Ultimately, however, the Erinnyes lost faith in Pyrrhos, who had fought for the crown of Macedon for most of his life, and he died in a fight on the streets of Lakedaimon- the death of common thief.
And now we must rest and lay our gaze on the present world. In the East, Seleukos' son Antiochos is vying for the supremacy of Syria with Ptolemaios II., son of the great Pharao. This gave his brother Magas the chance to seize the throne of Kyrene, and rule independently of the king of Egypt. Will Magas be able to prevail, or will the Gods decide to grant Ptolemaios II. his revenge? Meanwhile, among the varios satrapies of the Empire of Seleukos, turmoil is rising again. From the far away country of Bactria to the people of Greater Armenia to Philetairos, the treasurer in Pergamon, many potential enemies and usurpers surround the Seleucid king.
In Greece, Antigonos Gonatas has strengthened his rule over the poleis, the city states of the South and the Aegean, while in Epeiros, the descendants of Pyrrhos may be weakened, but are far from defeated and still remember the wounds and the pain infliced on them by the Antigonids in the past. On the fringes of the Mediterranean, in Syracuse, Massalia and among the cities of the Kimmerian Bosphoros, the last of the free Greeks are still at large as well and ready to face the new challenges of our time. Only the Gods and the Oracle know the future, but the Greeks must beware of the warlike Romans, who defeated the noble Pyrrhos and beware of the savage Celts, who even dwell in the center of Asia now. Now is the time for a new general to rise, to take the throne of Alexander and make Zeus Olympios proud...