AAR - Bactria (Imperator)

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Bactria, Queen Beroaia continued

--I've been posting regular updates with screenshots on the discord and am switching here for the sake of not spamming chat endlessly.
--Imgur is goofy, you may get better resolution in the album: https://imgur.com/a/sNCclZd

With the end of the sixty three year long Assyrian civil war Beroaia knew she'd have to face her old adversaries soon, though hopefully not yet. With a half dozen minor powers rising in the vacuum of that late war, Beroaia sought further inroads to the south and west through territories who hadn't aligned with Assyria. Believing her best chance lay with neutral Carmania she began to deploy her armies on the long marches to stage for the invasion of her and her allies.

In the whirlwind that was the end of the war, the powers in the region shifted constantly and before Beroaia had even finished justifying her war against Carmania the Assyrians had vassalized them. This led the Queen to review her options when Atropatene collapsed in civil war and gave her an opening, as they were still allied to Adiabene.


As the Queen was preoccupied with her war, sending her armies against the ancient Persians and their allies her husband, now in a position of governance and kept far from any field armies, couldn't help himself and continuously used his position to funnel wealth into his own coffers, despite being one of the wealthiest men alive and with no need for more money it seems he just can't help himself.


Leukon surely thought he had the queen caught in the middle by the fact that the royal family lacked enough suitable men to hold their appropriate stations and thus would be ushered into another position of power. Beroaia, however, was not having it and had given some thought to expanding the family by adopting a worthy candidate.


Beroaia, despite being in the very midst of an invasion and surrounded by disloyal men, felt she could no longer tolerate Leukon's endless agitation and treachery. She risked rupturing the whole nation as she once more brought him to trial. The tone of the court had changed much, these twenty something years later, as the the examiner inquires what charges are being formalized against Leukon the Basilissa flies into tyrannical rage and orders his trail pushed forward.


In an unexpected turn, Demokrates, the head of the Philetid family arrives in court and shows his support for Leukon. The Queen is not going to let this petty political maneuver abscond her trial. A fortune will smooth this out and allow things to proceed.


With things starting to look grim for Leukon, he manages to pull off a captivating narration to the crowd and court before turning and accusing a young rising star in the government of being behind everything, tying their fates to each other in the expectation the queen wouldn't destroy an innocent man. Beroaia was not going to let Leukon's misdirection take hold, she was willing to sacrifice this poor bystander to insure Leukon didn't escape justice twice.


The court assembled to hear the verdict, Leukon and Beroaia both looking very tired and old as they stood silently waiting the pronouncement. When the GUILTY was announced the Queen made no expression, she was too controlled to show it and who knows what went through her mind then as her husband, endlessly staring at her as he was dragged away without ever receiving her gaze in return.
In Leukon's youth he was the better man than his brother the king, someone who should have held the throne. He would then go on to marry his niece and try to betray her, not once but at almost every opportunity and lead a renegade army in the far reaches of her empire for more than a decade, constantly trying to support civil war. Throughout this time they still carried on some form of relationship, having three daughters and a son together. She tried twice to kill him and had dragged him into court until she'd finally imprisoned him. Despite Leukon being an Olympian, a war hero and a respected strategic author he spent most of his life being a resentful loser, hiding with an army in the outskirts of empire far more years than he served loyally.


So there are a lot of fun options for the imprisoned and I had hoped to have Leukon, now 74 and with cancer, fight in the arena with that slim chance he could live, for a bit of a romantic tinge from the Queen, however I wasn't able to do that so she ordered his public execution, it gives you a popularity boost and after all the negatives from the trial it's very needed. Rest in Hades, Leukon, you fucker.



Finally single the Queen decides to marry an incredibly powerful 77 year old head of a noble family. He agrees for a massive sum of money which sends us into debt and I'm not joking here, dies days into the marriage.


Deciding that after a lifetime of misery with powerful and older men, she deserves a little fun and happiness she marries a young man from one of the noble families, once again with a huge dowry. All of this occurring while her armies fight and win her war a thousand miles away.



(In case you're wondering who the general with a shaved head and bronze chestplate is, he's a Yuezhi genius(Uxuk something?) who rose through the ranks and was adopted by another noble family. He's 11 military but has had a lot of loyalty issues so unfortunately he's fallen out of command favor after this war.)
Despite Beroaia's constant distractions, her generals were able to defeat the enemy soundly, leaving her to vacillate over her peace options. It was during her personal tour of the occupied lands that she realized how incredibly wealthy the territories of the Assyrians were. Once more peace for her was but a stepping stone in her future ambitions. The lands of Babylon and Media were wealthy beyond measure, and full of fellow Macedonians. With her peace she insured she cut off the northmost Assyrians from the rest of their empire and by doing so took the ancient metropolis of Ashur and land on the west bank of the Tigris. Her empire now stretched from the Tigris to the Himalayas. Not bad for a woman with 2 military.


A quick look west, the Antigonids have fallen once more into civil war, their fifth I believe. Carthage has conquered so much it is the only Great Power on earth right now. Rome is starting to pick up some steam finally and Macedon got ripped in two. Libernia has really held together and grown big, they fought Rome and I believe took back some land on the east shore of the Adriatic.


The Antigonid Civil War ends with the Antigonids retaining power, five for five, they just won't quit!


Queen Beroaia is exhausted, she is in her golden years and has spent a lifetime walking the tightrope of conquest and appeasement. Her son is now a man and at the age of 16 was put in charge of the Bactrian Royal Army, which still bears the banners and regalia of Diodotus, more than a hundred years later. Her son is anxious to prove himself in glorious battle but his shrewd Queen mother has never thrown herself into anything blindly. Sending forth the tendrils of government she procured legitimate claims in key provinces of Assyria and when the fateful moment came, the armies of Bactria burst forth into Assyria. With such a vast frontage, the appearance of the Assyrian army at Ashur caused initial surprise but eighteen year old Pythodelos swung his army around and fought them in the fields outside Ashur, claiming a glorious victory.


After such a victory, the young heir's skill in war is clearly shown, our soon to be king is a tactical genius!


Our young conqueror knows the routed Assyrians will regroup at Babylon and doggedly pursues them along the Tigris until he meets their ragged and demoralized army, slaughtering them to a man. Pythodelos then goes on to pillage Babylon and every city in the region as the other armies of Bactria move deeper into Assyria.


The Assyrians managed to corner and defeat a smaller army of Bactria in Media but a reinforcing army arrived days later and repaid the debt. From their it was simply a matter of defining the new borders in the peace deal. Beroaia's reign has seen Bactria grow more than any other ruler before her, it might be the last conquest in her lifetime, but she is without a doubt the greatest ruler Bactria's ever seen.

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Bactria, Queen Beroaia, the end of an era.

On the Queen's seventieth birthday the entire kingdom celebrates. Her rein has brought unsurpassed glory and prosperity to Bactria. Even still she eyes to the west and the growing Assyrian empire. They had recovered from their lifelong civil war and were growing more powerful, with her son leading the royal army she prepared for one last war in her lifetime when the god of fortune struck, the Assyrians once more collapsed into civil war.


Leaping into action the Bactrian forces once more invaded Assyrian Persia, Media and Babylon. It was a race against the Assyrian's fighting their own revolt and we grabbed so much land so quickly the civil war ended while we were still fighting, automatically giving us the occupied territories, including our first exclave, Persepolis. If she was younger, or if her son had been the one to take it, perhaps she'd have salted the earth or carted off their wealth, but Beroaia wanted her kingdom stable and peaceful.



With the most recent and lightning fast Assyrian civil war over, the remaining realm now existed in ten, yes ten, separate enclaves. Feeling secure that the Assyrians could be left for her son to finish conquering and seek his own glory, Beroaia instead spends her energy securing oaths of loyalty to her son and heir.


Now 72 and dying of cancer, Beroaia hears news that breaks her. Pythodelos has been murdered. Our heir, our only son murdered in the prime of life. The only evidence of his murderer the wicked pike which he so cruelly sunk into all of our hearts.


Unable to console herself, Beroaia has Lysippos dragged into court where a farce of a trail ensues and at one point Lysippos tries running for the door, slamming into the elderly Beroaia, who apparently stabs him as they tumble to the ground and the trial continues. From there his guilt was predetermined and the rest of the trial became formality. Rotting in his prison cell the queen had planned to have his skin flayed from his body and then sold into common slavery but her closest advisors begged her not to, as this would certainly cause his powerful family to despise our royal house. Though the event gives no description, I believe we can all assume Lysippos execution was neither quick nor painless. Still this does little to assuage the overwhelming grief of the Queen.


The last six years of Beroaia's reign are spent in quiet contemplation, she finishes the colonization of the borderlands, and maintains the kingdom as she had her entire life. She realizes her royal bloodline will likely end in bloodshed as her eldest daughter and tentative heir is childless in her fifties, she even contemplated murdering her eldest daughter to put her second daughter in line for the throne, but she was dying and had neither the energy, time or will to do such a thing.

Though a woman in a man's world, one with only an amatuer understanding of military and warfare(2) she took Bactria to true power, ruling from the age of 11 until 78, she would be the longest reigning ruler Bactria would ever know, most of her citizens living their entire lives with only her as their Basilissa. From the first day of her reign until the last she walked the fine line of placating the disloyal interests in her court deftly. She experienced four revolts and quelled them all in their inception. Her own husband led a renegade army opposing her rule and she overcame that as well. Nothing ever held Beroaia back from anything, she was a conqueror and one of the greatest rulers the world has ever seen. Making Bactria the third strongest country in the world. Though some would decry her as a tyrant, or corrupt, everything she did was for Bactria.
Rest in Peace Queen Beroaia (Reigned 590 - 657)

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Bactria, the reign of Queen Nikostrate (657-676)

Nikostrate was raised until the age of seventeen as the presumptive heir. Her mother, the incredible Queen Beroaia, was despised by Nikostrate as neglectful and had little to do with her childhood. In her twenties an arranged marriage was called off, due to the demand for an exorbitant fortune by the boy's family, no other marriages were ever attempted either through neglect or intention and Nikostrate spent her life single, her sisters married off and having children and her younger brother being swept up by the state as a male heir and given every nicety Nikostrate was suddenly deprived of.

Nikostrate spent most of her life the ignored daughter of a great ruler, passed over for heir by the birth of her brother. With the death of her brother there was no joy in her sudden resurgence. While the entire capital was in dark mourning at the murder of Pythodelos, Nikostrate quietly partied in a country villa. Nikostrate was fiftyone when she became heir again, her mother in her mid seventies and dying of cancer, so disliked her she had consider murdering Nikostrate to avoid the end of the bloodline with her, something Nikostrate must have been at least somewhat cognizant of. However her mother, already the executor of her traitorous husband, and broken by the death of her son could stomach no more fratricide.

And so it was that Beroaia died in debaucherous grandeur, and a nation in mourning crowned their new queen in trepidation. Nikostrate felt one thing strongly, she must prove her mother wrong. In her first weeks of rule Nikostrate busied herself; placating rebellious forces, stabilizing the country and befriending men in her family who laid claim to her throne. Her maelstrom of politiquing was cut short when thirty days into her rule the ever restless Yuezhi tribals broke into open rebellion in the himalayas.

Nikostrate's middle sister Sima(the one who I wanted to be heir) raised a renegade army in protest of Nikostrate and marched her way to the himalaya's to gain glory and shame her ruling sister. Yuezhi had joined in with the rebellion and Sima fought their army in the skies.


From there the western Yuezhi and rebels were subjugated, their leaders put to the sword to the roar of the crowds. Nikostrate seemed incredibly adept at gaining popularity. It seemed the god's would bless her reign after all, the rock of ages appearing in our lands, sanctifying our greatness.


The gods show further favor as Nikostrate commits herself to the cult of fortune.


Nikostrate turned on the Parnians, determined to take their land "unto the ends of the earth" these horse peoples fought with bravery on our side a hundred years ago but in the modern age their ancient nomadic ways were antiquated. A brave young member of the royal family shamed these once proud peoples, crushing a larger army of theres with only eight thousand light cavalry.


Word reaches us of the end of yet another Antigonid civil war. Their sixth. Miraculously the loyalists have maintained control every time.


With the western Yuezhi and Parnia conquered, Nikostrate felt more secure in her throne with successful conquests and fresh waves of slaves satiating the ravenous desires of the people and those in power. She turned her eyes towards Bactria's ancient enemies, the Assyrians.

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Always trying to outdo her mother, Nikostrate raised a massive new host. Eighty thousand strong it formed at Baktra in glorious pomp they marched seemingly endlessly through the streets.


Just as the armies of Bactria begin invading Assyria, the unthinkable happens.


To make things even worse days later our brother in law is defeated in battle against the Assyrians, despite heavily outnumbering them. Have the gods abandoned us?


We have yet to see any of the Magadhan armies, the recently raised host being the only army in over a thousand miles to stop whatever comes. Not an enviable position for the queen.


Still, the skill of Bactrian arms means that her armies are able to quickly crush the Assyrians and end that war, grabbing some territory from them. As they begin to make their long way east, Sagartia rises in revolt. Will this ever end? Where are the Magadhan hordes?


That question would be answered shortly as two Magadhan armies crossed into the Bactrian himalayan borderlands. What followed would be some of the tensest gameplay I've had, as two Bactrian and two Magadhan armies maneuvered through the mountains, desperately trying to get the upper hand. After over a month of misdirections, turns, wheels and double marches our young relative Timoleon had cornered them before the gates of Alexandria Kaukaso, a hundred thousand strong army of Bactria would crash down upon them with such force it was said the clamor echoed down the mountains to the palace of Baktra where queen Nikostrate anxiously awaited word from the front.



The Magadhan forces were thrown back but more, ever more, kept coming. The enemy sought to claim western Yuezhi in this war, sending forty thousand men into that territory, desperate to secure their goal and justify their greed for Bactrian territory. young Timoleon swung his victorious force north, marching for a month through endless mountain passes, seemingly ever higher, finally meeting his foe at Yamchun and decimating their hopes of holding their falsely claimed lands.



Still, this enemy was like nothing Bactria had ever faced before. Utterly indifferent to loses the lands of the Indus seemed to be nothing but ready armies. Our uncle led Diodotus ancient army into battle. Winning glorious consecutive victories at Naubilis and Alkon he is recognized as a great conqueror.




Our disloyal relative, seeking glory and fame in battle, gets himself utter defeated by a hundred thousand strong army.


What followed next is likely the largest battle in history as over a hundred and seventy thousand Bactrians fought over a hundred and forty thousand Magadhans, Bactria being forced to retreat as the Magadhans had a superior general, had gained the mountain heights and Bactria was forced to cross a mountain river. Our pride was sullied, but it was a vital lesson for a nation accustomed to fighting weak and fractured enemies.



Despite the shame of our last defeat, it did not change the fact Bactria herself was untouched. The Magadhan's had failed to take territory when we were distracted with war half a continent away. Now they had to fight armies their equal, often fighting up a mountain to do so. They had to take fortress built over decades. Bactria had won, it might have even pressed this fact but the Magadhans were by no means defeated. Scouts reported the appearance of three more Magadhan armies. To try to conquer would require defeating hundreds of thousands of men first. Peace was declared, with Bactria securing three territories in a border valley. The most blood spilt for the least land in her proud history, but it wasn't the land that was important. Nikostrate had faced the greatest nation on earth, and won. Even her mother hadn't done that.


However, it seems the gods would not let Nikostrate achieve a long and prosperous reign. She was dying, a frail woman most of her life she contracted gout and had only about four years to live.


She would spend the remainder of her reign orchestrating her succession with her brother-in-law Xanthippos who was married to her youngest sister. Xanthippos was also dying of cancer, but his son was in the direct royal bloodline tracing to Diodotus, if he were to take the throne it would be a sort of regency as he hands over power to his son and heir. Due to Xanthippos cancer, Timoleon(who somehow had 8/2 friends) was gathering enough support to force a claim on the throne, Timoleon was Aynian, but not of the royal family and far more critically had no children, Nikostrate began planning his assassination, with only a few years left to live, in the end she was able to secure the loyalty of the country for Xanthippos through oaths to support her chosen heir, calling off her plot before Timoleon's murder. It seems Bactria was in for a rocky decade, but had a young and competent future heir in Demetrios.


Nikostrate was frail, corrupt, submissive, uncaring, arbitrary and gout ridden. Still she defeated the largest nation on earth and expanded her empire despite constant setback. It might seem life was unfair to Nikostrate, if she'd been married in her youth there would be a suitable heir and no succession crisis, if she was not beset by rebellion and fractious renegades she may have accomplished far more. Nikostrate strived to prove her mother wrong and in the end she did, she capably managed the throne through some of its greatest trials and expanded the nation just like any other ruler. Rest in peace Queen Nikostrate.

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Bactria, the reign of King Xanthippos (676-680)

Xanthippos was a minor Bactrian noble who worked his way up to power, leading an army at one point and serving capably as a governor, he married the youngest daughter of Queen Beroaia, later being officially adopted into the Aynian family. None could have foreseen his rise to the throne, and had it not been for the machinations of Queen Nikostrate it would never have been. Even at his coronation his cancer was already common knowledge, he had four years to live. They would prove to be some of the darkest and most tyrannical years Bactria would ever see.


It seems the Magadhans fractured after their defeat by the late queen. A welcome reprieve that ended quickly.


King Xanthippos son Demetrios came of age, and in hopes he would become a capable general had him go adventuring as a mercenary. This removes him from succession! Xanthippos--me--went into a rage, he had exactly forty eight months to live and his son and heir and just galavantited off with an army of mercenaries.


What follows is some pure tyranny. The Aynian family now had no functional heir and every man with power sought to fill the role. Xanthippos proceeded to imprison and execute all of the older men in his family, bankrupting the country, strong arming the people for an emergency tax and enraging his nobility until his nephew was made the primary heir, the son of Sima, grandson of Beroaia. He would spend the last days of his tyrannical reign in syphilitic madness, watching from the highest towers for the return of his son. Bactria did not expand or fight a single war in his reign. Rest in hades King Xanthippos the Tyrant.

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Bactria, the reign of Emperor Leukon (680-732) Part 1

Leukon was in some ways the logical heir, reached in the most illogical and insane way. In the early months of the reign of Xanthippos he sent his son and heir off adventuring. Realizing months later he would very likely die before his son's return, Xanthippos looked around the royal family and saw everywhere those who would seek to usurp his and his son's throne. Men who had no Diodotus-Beroaia blood in them, men without children to carry the dynasty. These sycophants and overblown governors would be the downfall of Bactria. Xanthippos would drag his own relatives into mock trials before executing them. He killed two elder and respected Aynian men, both stood the best chance of claiming the throne after his death, but in his madness, some say in his loyalty to a death cult oath he swore to Nikostrate to keep the bloodline, he killed them leaving a young and unknown grandson of Beroaia as his presumed heir. With the approach of death Xanthippos forced oaths of allegiance for Leukon --or his son, should he return. Knowing he would brutally punish any dissent; the entire kingdom swore oaths of fealty to "King Leukon".

That it would come to be that Leukon should take the throne after his uncle's madness surprised many, enraged some and quaked the ancient kingdom. Renegade armies, and border territory rebellions would be the theme of his early years. Word reached him of the end of yet another Antigonid civil war, their seventh. The Antigonids were the last of the successors and still they held on.


Not even a year into his reign, desperate to avoid civil and surrounded on all sides by those who reject his rule, the heir of Xanthippos returns from his adventuring. Demetrios' return destabilizes Bactria completely. No one knows what will happen or who will be king by next winter solstice.


Though still viewed as a tyrant, or the chosen pawn of one. Leukon manages his massive kingdom well and sets about Deifying his grandmother Beroaia--turns out you need some stupid DLC to do that, but I met all the reqs so I'm roleplaying I did that--and dedicated two metropolii to her cult; Alexandria Bactriana and Alexandria Eschate. It was in this gentle breath of sanity that Bactria was finally recognized for what it was, a great power. Leukon would coronate himself emperor with tremendous grandeur before year's end.


Despite the easing of tyranny, the sound governance and ability Leukon showed, there were many in his court who felt he was nothing more than a grievous mistake. Aristomachos, someone once groomed by Nikostrate as a potential heir, approached Leukon. In a long discussion he explained how he could step away from the burdens of rule and let a capable man assume the reins of the nation. Leukon was devastated, and imprisoned his relative for this unfortunate soft coup.


Less than a year later, Aristomachos makes a daring escape, aided by forces loyal to him in the government he exiles himself to the far corner of the world. Will he ever be heard from again?


For the first time in years, Leukon expands Bactria once more, pushing into Assyrian lands. There were no battles of note in this war, which was a pity for Leukon, as he spent its entirety seeking an army to fight. Still he would be the first ruler of Bactria to step foot in the ocean.


Despite setbacks and a carousel of pretenders and rebellious types Emperor Leukon manages to stabilize the realm and bring it to new levels of prosperity. It seems even the gods bless Leukon's reign.


A son is born, Emperor Leukon's succession is secured. Proteas will be raised to be the second emperor of Bactria.


Emperor Leukon, in battle with our ancient enemies the Assyrians.



Emperor Leukon expands into Assyrian lands. Capturing the former capital of our ancient overlords. Now these hellenes beg for a saviour and find one in Bactria. Emperor Leukon returns to Baktra in triumph.




Leukon then turns his attentions on Adiabene and Atropene, striking them after the Antigonids had shattered them. The sole battle occuring when their Germanic tribal allies launched twenty three thousand light infantry against a Yuezhi general's vastly superior army.

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Bactria, the reign of Emperor Leukon (680-732) Part II

With his recent conquests secured and his position on the throne being recognized more and more throughout the kingdom, Leukon began preparations for war against the Assyrian remnants one last time. As his armies marshal word reaches him of the fragility of the Magadhan throne, a welcome reprieve and he continues sending ambassadors to charm their court.


Even in the last decade of the game, barbarians still show up every couple hundred years from the Scythian lands. They are dealt with by a lightning army of horse before we invade Assyria's ally, drawing them into another war of conquest.


As the massive armies of Bactria plunged into Mesopotamia and Persia the Antigonids boldly laid claim to Media on our new shared border. With our armies occupied they declare a war that would come to be the largest of antiquity.


One of our armies is ideally positioned and maneuvers to the Median-Armenian border claiming an early victory against the Antigonid invaders. The general a talented Yuezhi minority who rose through the ranks and was adopted by a noble family.


Oh Shno! Our Yuezhi man is defeated by the Antigonid ruler himself.


The Antigonid king is ruthless as he slams again into the hapless and demoralized army facing him, with war on two fronts these men are the only ones present to hold back the tide, still they withdraw to the interior to regroup.


This screenshot has a lot of legacy to it, Diodotus Stratos is the army name given to our original Aynian King's army hundreds of years ago. It is lead by a direct descendant of his who is fighting a descendant of Antigonid. The two longest running major bloodlines facing each other on the field of battle with their 5 military each, lol.


Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and my overwhelming desire to see the rival kings fight meant his reinforcing general, who actually could fight, would give their army a massive boost and combined with the endless stream of new armies joining the battle, we were defeated. But god, that austerity was worth it. Still, the battle of Dashband had to be one of if not the bloodiest battles of the game, 117,000 casualties.




Still fighting on two fronts, the Bactrian armies in the south crush the remnant Assyrian forces and capture the ancient city of Babylon, our goal reached but still in an apocalyptic war, Leukon orders wealth carted off from the city to finance his defense.



Beginning to recognize the bloody total war with which the Antigonids fought, King Leukon began to see weaknesses in their style of warfare. Pushing forward a block of pikes flanked by more agile and modern Thorakitai it was nearly impossible to hold the field against them. The Pezhetairoi of Bactria being a much smaller and less disciplined branch of the Bactrian armies Leukon realized he could give them the field for the cost of their blood. Harassing, feinting and deception a reader from our world might imagine the battles against Parthia by Rome in around the same era. We would leave the men of Antigonid splayed on the fields of battle. It would be a war of attrition. Four defeats, four battles where they lost far more than we did. The manpower of Antigonid would be empty before year's end.





Not all battles were defeats however. The reality is the Antigonids are running out of men. Both sides mobilizing a third of a million soldiers, the ancient world simply lacks the population and infrastructure to continue. Leukon, realizing he has defeated the greatest power on earth, considers humiliating them by forcing the release of an ancient small kingdom called Byzantion, but he too is running out of men and the Antigonids are still fearsome. Showing the wisdom and benevolence which would come to mark his rule, a white peace is declared between the two greatest hellenic powers.


With peace achieved Leukon sets his sites internally, maintaining his kingdom and keeping it stable and prosperous for his son. Proteas approaches his father shortly after the war, asking for more responsibilities. He proves himself a capable leader and Leukon feels a peace that was rare for Bactrian rulers, the comfort of assured succession.


In the last years of the game, Leukon seeks no more wars, he could have made one last land grab from some weak neighbor but that didn't feel right. He was the first Emperor of Bactria and he had fought and defeated the Antigonids, watching hundreds of thousands of his nation's young men die. What amazes me is that all of the rebellious people within his kingdom came around, including the original heir Demetrios, he became loyal and served in our name. Demetrios had 0 warfare and I like to think he saw the Antigonid war, and Leukon fighting it, and realized he had no stomach for rule. For the first time in almost two hundred years there weren't even disloyal characters. No tyranny, no war exhaustion, no aggressive expansion and with enough gold and political power to do whatever you could possibly want next. Leukon would contract cancer, but live to game's end, his death coming four years later. Hail Glorious Bactria!

[Gaius Quinctilius Varus]

Empire of Bactria, Epilogue

First Emperor Leukon would finish his rule in peace and prosperity, founding two more metropolii(bringing the Bactrian total to 9, far more than any other nation), he would insure a peaceful transition, calling his great empire together to recognize his son and heir before his death. Emperor Proteas would rule in the same theme as his ancestors, as a conqueror and builder.
During Emperor Proteas second war against the remaining Assyrian states the Antigonids would once more declare war, once more an apocalyptic clash would occur over months and years that resulted in nothing but endless corpses and shattered fortresses. Despite all of this the period of time from the end of the 1st Bactro-Antigonid war until the start of the 3rd would be considered The Pax Bactriana, a period of almost eighty years of only small border wars--besides the inconclusive 2nd Bactro-Antigonid war--this period of unfettered prosperity would end in the late 1st century CE when neighboring Arachosia, a hellenic state under Magadhan vassalage cried out to Bactria for salvation.In a move debated by historians ever since, the Bactrian Empire declared war on the Magadhan Empire.
That same year King Herod the IV of Judea declared a war of independence from the Antigonids, with a fortune saved over hundreds of years--compounding interest, invest in IRAs while you're young kids--they were able to hire an army of armies of mercenaries and shattered the Antigonids in a shock upset at the battle of Megiddo that convinced the Egyptian king, a great descendant of "The Wolf" to join in support.
Convinced his west was secured, Emperor Pythodelos II "The Unready" moved against the Magadhan's seeking to secure the Bactrian himalayas so long held by them and to liberate the Hellenic Arachosia. What followed would be a seven year long war with the pitiful result that Arachosia would now be a Bactrian subject and Bactria would gain a single border fort in the mountains.
This would prove to be the high water mark for the kingdom, as the Antigonids had recovered rapidly, a trait learned in their endless existence of civil warfare no doubt, they would declare war once more seeking the rich border region of Media. Exposed to the western warfare knowledge of the great Carthaginians, who had bested Rome once more in the 4th Punic War and occupied Magna Graecia and vassalized the still existing Etrurians, who now ruled Corsica in gilded palaces, the Antigonids had by this point adopted some of the modularity of the famed Hasdrubalian Reforms of Carthage when they ran low on men in the 3rd Punic War.
Still fighting in a style nearly identical to Alexander's army after Babylon the armies of Imperial Bactria rained arrows on the Antigonid Legions, their war elephants broke men and horse, Bactrian camels terrified the Antigonid animals but in the end the heavily armored Antigonid infantry and cavalry broke the Bactrian forces. Down but not out the Bactrians endlessly harassed and fought smaller battles, minimizing their territorial losses but the war was over. For the first time in Bactria's four hundred year history they had lost a war and lost territory.
With the defeat of the 3rd Antigonid war Bactria insulated itself. The "fringes of the earth" as Beroaia put it would in time become independent vassal states as Bactria looked ever inward, building cities, roads, forts and gilded palaces across their lush heartland.

By the 4th Century AD, with the death of the last Aynian Emperor Markos Aurelios Bactria had split into two parts, Western Bactria--later the Zenonid Empire, a powerful family in Bactria for hundreds of years-- based around Mesopotamia and Persia, a heavy mixture of Antigonid and Bactrian culture its existence cut Eastern Bactria--Megali Bactria-- off in central asia, where it began. From the 4th to the 11th century Megali Bactria existed in isolated decadence, developing a unique and vibrant culture which survived off the endless profits of trade. In its last two hundred years the empire declined as the spread of Islam clashed violently with the Helleno-Buddhist-King worshippers of Bactria. Pushed entirely back into Sogdiana, Bactria and parts of Ariana the ancient kingdom lived on as this smaller state as the Crusades raged in the west for decades, the Carthaginian Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem once sending an emissary to the courts of Bactria, in part to see if their existence was truth or myth. Bringing with them a large christian mission and hugely misunderstanding the pantheistic openness of the state, they were reported back in Christendom as a lost great christian empire, fighting the heathen on their own for a thousand years. None of this was true but this misunderstanding and the lack of any regular contact led to Bactria being depicted on many maps of the earth from this era, shown as the very edge of the world with large cathedrals and western christian knights defending western european castles against Saracen hordes.

With the rise of the great Genghis Khan the Bactrian kingdom would welcome him openly, giving him an unfathomable fortune of gold and including him in the Bactrian pantheon at the city of Alexandria Eschate. The Bactrians would continue to exist as an almost entirely unmolested tributary of the Khans for hundreds of years, it was during this period that the Hellenic explorer Marko Poloi "discovered" the kingdom, at this point consumed in decadence and gluttony--imagine a 14th century christian discovering a civilization with cultists of Dionysus still, who diefied a Queen well known to have died in the midst of an orgy--Marko's descriptions of "Baktriea" include witnessing a group mid "sin" on the back of an elephant, inside a palace while people feasted and fucked around it. Marko's other vivid descriptions include unbelievable and boundless wealth, greco-bactrian grand temples gilded entirely in gold, homes with gold seemingly everywhere, silver used in lieu of iron and tin. How true or false Marko's exciting descriptions were, Bactria became once more known in the christian west, this time as a byword for debauchery or pure greed. If someone was known to be sexually liberated they were said to "be Bactrian".

By the 16th century the Islamic Greco-Turkic Antoman Empire was at the gates of Bactria, now a trade nation in decline as the atlantic trade circumvented them the Bactrians would submit to Antoman overlordship continuing until 1732 when they regained independence. The Bactrians would see a small resurgence in the power vacuum left by the Antomans. Their independence would last until 1878 when the expanding Russian Empire would finally conquer them.

Bactria was a hell of a good time to play, I had a blast writing. I never expected this much excitement from a round I expected to just try learning from and "growing tall". If I understood some mechanics better I'm sure I could have achieved more, if I had set out with the goal of map painting earlier I could have probably covered more. I enjoyed the hell out of the roleplay of the family and I'm glad Paradox made a game where "Growing tall" has some depth in vanilla game. The three things I'm proudest of are never losing a war, never having a civil war and keeping the Diodotus bloodline the entire time. I can't believe I even finished but thanks for reading and following along below are the final stats and the royal history in game.

[melbetbetmelll]

Nice Job. You definitely drank your Ovaltine.