Have we found a solution on Macedon yet? It will be hard to write an introduction if I don't know if the player holds Pella at the start or not
''Fortune favours the bold''
Roughly two decades before the battle of Chaironeia, a noblewoman called Laodike gave birth to her son in the small town Oropos in Macedonia. These days, one can hear the stories that Apollo himself, the god of music and god of the sun, was the true father of this child. But officially it was the son of Antiochos, a man of the army who hailed from the mountain area of Orestis. That boy was named Seleukos, and with his parents holding close relations to the royal court, he enjoyed a formidable education. Once Seleukos became a teenager, he served as a squire to king Philip II, and upon becoming a man, joined the new royal battle guard, the Hypaspists.
After the battle of Chaironeia and the murder of Philip, the Hypaspists accompanied the demigod Alexander on his brave and magnificent adventures in the East. The red-haired hero brought down the empire of Persia, and the Hypaspists followed him through the endless deserts into India. Seleukos emerged not only as an impressive soldiers, but also proved his abilities to command and organise. Thus it was no surprise when the godly Alexander elected him for his Elite companions, the Hetairoi. At the battle on the river called Hydaspes in the mythical land of India, Seleukos commanded part of the right wing of the army and defeated the enemy's monstrous elephants.
Upon their return to Susa, Seleukos married Apame, a woman whose beauty grandly excelled that of her native Sogdia, a rocky badland in the wild North East. Apame gave birth to Antiochos, the first and most beloved son of Seleukos. But at the same time, the gods on Olympus felt that Alexander had done enough in the world of the mortals and he died in the palace of Babylon. A most ambitious and very Greek competition between his generals emerged, and Seleukos took part in the early Diadoch wars on the side of the royal regent Perdikkas, but later found an esteemed friend in Ptolemaios, who had become the pharaoh of Egypt. Together they put up a fierce resistance against the mighty Antigonos Monophtalmos, who only had one eye, but the ambition to rule the whole world. They defeated his young son Demetrios at Gaza in 312 BC and Ptolemaios sent his friend eastwards, to reclaim his rule over Babylon. Accompanied by only a small contingent of elite soldiers, Seleukos was joyfully welcomed in that ancient city, and it was then whe he laid the foundation for his own empire.
When Antigonos heard of these events, he was furious and started a war against Babylon the following year. But the courageous Seleukos refused to give in and repelled the attacks of the One-Eyed time and again. After his victory, Seleukos advanced eastwards and was acclaimed as the new ruler of these Eastern people, also signing a worthy treaty with Sandrokottos (whom his own people call Chandragupta), the lord of the Indians. The brilliant Seleukos gave him deserts in return for 500 terrible war elephants. With those, he strengthened his army and then returned to the West, where he joined Ptolemaios and Lysimachos at the battle of Ipsos in 302 BC. In this heroic engagement, his elephants held off Demetrios Poliorketes' famed cavalry and Antigonos was finally killed. While Demetrios became a refugee and Seleukos was able to annex wide parts of Asia Minor and northern Phoenicia into his dominion, sadly a quarrel emerged between him and his friend, the Pharao. Both men, with only the best intentions, laid claim on the strategically important land of Koile Syria. For now, they settled their conflict peacefully, but that did not solve the problem in the long term.
In 286 BC he captured Demetrios and turned on Lysimachos, his last remaining foe, who ruled over his own little empire in Thrace. While Seleukos assembled his troops, rather cheerless news arrived from Alexandria, where the great Ptolemaois had died. His son Ptolemaios II. succeeded him as Pharao, but his elder son Ptolemaios Keraunos was expelled. Upon arriving in Asia Minor, Seleukos decided to take Keraunos with him, thereby establishing a rather disturbed relationship with Ptolemaios II. The Seleucid Army met Lysimachos in battle at Kurupedion in 281 BC, and both kings, who had made the campaigns from Macedon to India and back, and then fought endless further wars over the decades, rode into battle as old men. Seleukos won a decisive victory and Lysimachos paid with his life, which ended after 80 exhausting years. Seleukos now only possessed a single dream: To return to his native Macedon and hopefully unite it with his empire in the East. But when Keraunos realized what the price was, he betrayed him. The murder of Seleukos, who died, 77 years of age, after having done and achieved more in his life than most men could ever dream of, sent shockwaves through the Hellenistic world.
Now his son Antiochos has been crowned king, and he faces a great challenge to keep the empire together and to proof himself as a worthy son. In Macedon, Keraunos has seized the throne, but Antiochos is a cautious man and considers to make peace with him. However, merchants from the West report, that Antigonos Gonatas, the son of the restless Demetrios, still aims to replicate his father, and rumours are spreading about a horde of blonde, terrifiying Celtic warriors, who are streaming into Northern Greece. In the South, Ptolemaios II. is a doubtful neighbour and the conflict over Koile Syria is still very much alive. But Antiochos possesses the greatest kingdom in the known world, and an army made up of the finest Macedonian and Greek soldiers, including the Hetairoi and Hypaspists, but also a vast reserve of native warriors and- of course!- the big flock of elephants inherited by his famous father. Antiochos has been presented the corps of his father by the satrap Philetairos of Pergamon and entombed him at a magnificent Mausoleion at Seleukeia Pieria. So, will he prove his worth? The future of the Seleucid Empire lies in Antiochos' hands...
I used Greek spelling, you can correct that if you want.