MoF 19: IN ABSENTIA

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King Attalus I's victory against the Galatians was the beggining of the Pergamian empire. A very decisive victory, that brught him much respect and power throughout Asia Minor, Galatia was now part of the Attalid domains. Nicomedia and Byzantion were later conquered as well, only adding more power to the rising star of Asia Minor. One of their ally was Rome, which was very slow in expansion after their victory against Carthage, who were still dissentfull over their defeat but could not do a thing against it, yet*. Also an ally of the Ptolemaics against the Seleucids, they took part in the Syrian wars, and helped bring down Seleucids by taking over Seleucid Asia Minor. Following succesfull wars against the Pontians, as the now un-challenged masters of Asia minor turned their faces to Greece. Macedonia was growingly Expansionist, and Threatened Rome, a Pergamian ally. Together, Pergamon and Rome managed to push Macedonia, with Rome recieving Illyria as a prize, and Macedonia, now completely anhilated as a state, falling to Attalid rule, the other Greek statelets are, at this point, Attalid puppets. the Cimmerian Bosporus, also fell to Pergamon shortly after. All of that was during the reign of Attalus I, one of the greatest military minds to date. His successor, Eumenes II, reformed the army. Using Roman military technology and doctrines, as well as some doctrines of his own, the new army was proffessional, well-organised and powerful. Conquests of Armenia, and Thrace followed, made Pergamon the Queen of cities. After the alliance between the Ptolemaics and the Attalids was broken, Syria, Cyprus, Phoenicia and Judea fell to Attalid domain, making Pergamon the new undisputed master of the Eastern Mediterranean. It became the master of this entire sea after their victories in the campaign against Carthage.
300 years later, the Empire of Pergamon is at its height.


*ITTL, after their demise in the First Punic war, Carthage remained a considerable power but still a weakened one, and did not expand into Iberia thus sparking tension between the now overconfident(and less expansionist) Rome and themselves.

Rome to Carthage Analouge

Following the victory of Hannibal the great with the defection of many members of the Latin League and the decisive victories at the River Trebia, Lake Trasamine, Cannae, and Metaurus* Carthage sought harsh terms with Rome. The Latin League was reduced to a mechanism of Carthaginian control in Italy and Carthage empowered the Tarantine Greeks, the Samnites,, what little remained of the Etruscans, and the Gallic tribes in Trans-Alpine Gaul.

With this massive victory despite the failures of the Carthaginian Senate, Hannibal was able to turn the entirety of Iberia and Italy into "Royal Phonecian Lands", lands directly under his control, a hereditary monarchy not subservient to the Carthaginian senate but still very much aligned with it.

All of that changed however when Hannibal's great grandson Hannibal the II, his namesake and nearly equal, used the significant power gained from pacifying Italy by force and conquering the Celtiberians to overthrow the Carthaginian Senate in a bloody civil war. Following Carthage's absolute domination in the Western Mediteranian, developments elsewhere were occurring that would continue to change history.

Macedon had emerged victorious once more, and the Macedonians dropped all illusions of regaining Alexander's Empire, content to rule Greece from the safety of Pella, however constant wars with Thrace continued to consume Macedon's energy, meaning that it would not be able to seriously contest Carthage's expansion in the south.

Carthage began to look east. Significant Seleucid victories against Parthia near Herat and Tithiun had kept them out of Persia, and the lack of interest in Pontus, and having their hands full with the Parthians meant they could not deal with Egypt, who was occupied with Carthage. Carthage saw the strategic advantage and struck.

Hastintuad the II allied with the Selecuids and Pontus, and Egypt had maintained their tradition alliance with Pergamnom due to tradition wants of Hallicarnassus and Sardis. With Parthia embroiled in internal disputes, The Pontics attacked through Seleucid territory at Hallicarnasus and Pergamnom, while the Seleucids attacked Phonecia, and Carthage sailed along the coast and using naval superiority to seize the Egyptian held Aegean Islands, Crete, Cyprus, Cyrenica, then eventualy the entirety of Egypt itself, including already conquered Nubia.

Following this conquest, and the subsequent conquests of the Hejaz, Northern Axum, and the opening of trade to India via the Red Sea gained from Seleucid Knowledge of the Guptas, Carthage flourished. It halted its Expansion at the Pyrenees and at the foot of Trans-Alpine Gaul and enjoyed a period of prosperity and complete dominance, extracting tributes from pretty much everyone in the known world.

However as all empires do, Carthage began to rot and decay, as officials and institutions became more corrupt. With the opening of trade to India and the decline of production of Silver in Iberia and Africa, trade began to shift east, and with it the wealth.

During this time, things were changing up north as well. Carthaginian influence and contentment for trade rubbed off on all in the north. the Gauls were soon responsible for feeding much of the Mediterranean with their bountiful surplus of Grain and exported many other goods. The Cimmerian Bosporans had essentialy set up a united Sarmatian-Alan kingdom of a nice subservient trading partner.

The already weakening Carthaginian Empire then began to enter a rapid decline. Vertigon the Great** of the Arvenri managed to bring the Helvetti under him through a wide range of dynastic politics, and then in a stroke of considerable luck with immense skill conquered the Punic-Greek trading settlement at Massilia. With this he rode the wave of anti-Carthaginian sentiment and stormed through Iberia, gaining numerous Carthaginian defections including most notably the Admiral Masinissa***, removing a huge chunk of Carthage's fleet and placing it in the hands of the "Barbarians". Vertigon brought the Numidians to bear on along with numerous defections, their own navy, and his own considerably well trained army and sacked most of North Africa and the Carthaginian political base.

Italy was left to numerous Carthaginian generals and defectors who styled themselves as the "New Rome", even though they were culturally Punic. Vertigon, with Carthaginian infrastructure in Iberia turned North, and in what seemed like a simple matter of walking, conquered huge tracts of European land in Germania, Illyria, and Noricum, all of which were significantly less developed then Gaul was.

In China the nomadic Xiongnu overthrew the Han Dynasty****, driving the nomadic Goache west, into this already chaotic environment ripe for plunder. This map shows the situation 1 day before the death of Vortegon the Great at the age of 82, with his vast Empire ready to fragment and the Goache ready to storm across Europe and change the whole order of things......

The Map

Photobucket was being mean to my picture, if you want to appreciate its true beauty at a proper scale feel free to zoom in and such here.

http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm139/twcAxeman/?action=view&current=NovaCarthago.png

* This is the first and main POD.
** 1st Easter Egg, any guesses?
*** 2nd Easter Egg, any guesses?
**** The idea here is that the theory that the Xiongnu were the Huns, who later repulsed the Goache after taking over China, thus butterflying away the Huns until this point.

Any questions or Comments?

EDIT : Fixed the map size!

In this TL the city of Veji rose to be a three continent spanning Empire instead of Rome. This map shows the Vejian conquest of Italy and the general date of conquest in an area. This includes peacefull annexions of allies and such.

The Vejian Empire was more succesfull in the east an managed to hold onto Mesopotamia but without Julius Ceaser a conquest into Gaul was never that succesfull and the Vejians only managed to kill a signifcant amount of them and making protectorates of in Gaul. Though they did occupied the Rhone Valley.

Carthage survived in Spain here but only after losing their lands in OTL Tunesia. They are now a Kingdom ruled by the Barcas Dynasty which are the descendants of Hannibal Barcas the man who relocated to Iberia.

The Parthians still took over most of the Seleucid Empire but lost Mesopotamia to the Romans later on. Their Empire is more extensive towards the east as well though not shown on the map. Mostly due to continued pressure from the Vejians expansion westward remained neigh to impossible for Parthia.

Veji started out the same was the as the Roman Republic. Since it also started out as a city it remained a somewhat democratic system with heavy Greek and Etruscan influences. The Vejians however never claimed to be a Republic and the word is generally unkown to the Vejians. Their city and later their Empire is being ruled by a Senate-like governmental body but was overthrown by a powerfull General after the conquest of Anatolia/Pontus by the latter General.

The Vejian Empire shown on the smaller map is the Vejian Empire on its height at around 180-230 AD.

The POD is the Peleponnesian Wars, where Athens is victorious over Sparta and Thebes, the victory secured by the granting of citizenship to
all citizens of the League of Delmos on equal footing as those of Athens.

Athens would grow to subsume Magna Graecia and Macedon, and in doing so created what is probably the most curious forms of government in history.
This was the idea of the elected Tyrant. One man elected on a 5 yearly basis to have absolute control over the nation.
To the West, Carthage would continue to flourish, though the Sicilian War with Athens would lead to it being confined to a corner of the Mediterranean.

However, the Tyrant lacked two powers. He could only declare war after a public vote, and he had no control of the yearly ostracism.
In this, the people of Athens voted to exile 1 person for a period of 10 years from the Captial. This became the most extrordanarily refined check to the
Tyrants power for no one, no matter how popular or politically and militarily powerful, was exempt. Indeed 34 Tyrants would be ostracised themselves,
most notably Xanos of Thebes who attempted to gain control of the process of Ostracism and thus was ostracised himslef for attempting to remove the
liberty of the people. Often, the process of Ostracism was a way to prevent families or people gaining too much power by exiling them from the capital
(and later, when the idea had spread, from Provincial Capitals). It was still possible to serve in the military when ostracised, and an ostracised person
could be recalled to the captial in times of need. Often, the enforced decade away from Politics would lead to the person moving to rebellious areas or
to the borders in order to quell revolts or expand the empire, an initally unintended side effect of people attempting to win favour for their return that
was swiftly utilised by the people of Athens. In this way it was that Demithos of Euobea was in place to lead the conquest of Persia and of Egypt.
Of course, at times it would lead to the politically ambitious declaring independence in a province. Generally, as the ostracised retained their property and wealth, this didn't happen.

By the 250th Olympiad, the Athenian Empire had grown large, stretching from Sicily to Bactria, Egypt to Taurica and having vassalised the Neo-Etrusans,
the Latin Kingdom of Rome, Axum and the Indus. Hellenic influences spread through Gaul and Gothica, eventually prompting a small population increase in Scandinavia.
However, Athens was also cumbersome. Though by now local ostracism had largely replaced national ostracism (though each province would still send a representative
to the election of the Tyrant in Athens) the business of governing the Empire was still over cumbersome. Thus Almos of Athens declared the division of the Empire into three parts,
united as one by customs, law, tyrant and culture. Thus did the Empire begin to wane.

Over the next 200 years, the three empires gradually drifted apart. By the 319th Olympiad, with the Hellenised Angles and Saxons settling in Britain and the aging
Empire of Carthage showing signs of fracture, the three empires had become what was known as the Athenian Triarchy, with Three Tyrants ruling the Empire,
but consulting and acting as a cohesive block in foreign policy. Even so, several fragments of the old empire had broken off and declared themselves independent,
though the core regions of Greece, Persia and Egypt were secure.

With the expansion of the Macedonian Empire into the west and the unification of the Hellenic colonies there, Massalia rose as the greatest city west of Magna Graecia and north of Libya, and, with the fall of the overextended behemoth several centuries later, established itself as the primary power in the region.

During the Sklábēnoi migrations, many Gallic and Germanic peoples fled to the west, settling along the coasts of Gaul, in Iberia, and in Pretanniki, forming the nations which now ally themselves to Massalia against the Persian Achaemenids in Greece, Sklábēnoi in the north and east, and Khēmíans in eastern Libya, as well as the inhabitants of Khalean in northern Pretanniki.

Now, in the modern age, Massalia and its allies are the only true Hellenic states surviving, as the original Hellenic civilisation was absorbed and its culture destroyed by the Zoroastrian Persians after the Fall.

A major power in the world, they were the first to discover Nékósm, and at their height, had colonised or otherwise controlled more than one sixth of the world's land surface.

An Epirate map of the Mediterranean showing the Empire of Ilion (aka Troy) in the third year of the 187th Olympiad or 1 AD IOTL (note that the Olympic calendar is about 7 1/2 Olympiads or 30 years behind OTL's). The Trojan War (which we will assume happened in some form, although Homer MAY have exaggerated some of the less plausible parts ) is won by Ilion when a plague nearly wipes out the Greek armies. The Ilians go on to conquer the entire eastern Mediterranean, but the western portion remains a lawless backwater of barbarians, pirates, and exile kingdoms, namely Epirus and Carthage (populated by exiles of Greece and Tyre respectively) which are medium powers who are more valuable as trade partners than as unruly and distant provinces.

Ilion survives until later than even the Byzantine empire of OTL in some form, for several reasons. Firstly it's better shielded by geography from the barbarian migration waves of Eurasia, which tend to follow the North German Plain into Western Europe and then pour south to make trouble for Epirus in Italy and Carthage in Spain. Secondly, the religious climate isn't as tumultuous. Christianity never develops, and Ilion tends to simply absorb pantheons into a big, tolerant, syncretic melting pot, in which nobody cares if you worship Astarte because she's more or less the same as Aphrodite.

Philosophy starts more arguments than religion, and is a vibrant and hotly debated aspect of Ilian culture. The ruling classes and much of the populace of Ilion eventually falls under the influence of a philosophy called Fatalism, which holds that the world, the lives of people, and even the gods are ruled by Fate, and it is best to face your fate and accept it calmly (making it similar to the Stoicism of OTL). Fatalism actually slows down the advance of science and technology compared to OTL, since problems are often not seen as things to be overcome with new inventions but "the Burdens of Fate" to be borne without complaining. Fatalism does receive some competition from a Neoplatonism-like system called Idealism and a rather Epicurean ideology called Physicalism, however.

This is the height of the Ilian empire in terms of its glory and is considered the Golden Age in the tradition of cyclical Greek history popular among Ilians. However, in later years Ilion would cover more territory in Sarmatia (Ukraine) and Mesopotamia.

Map to follow...

And the map...

IMPERIAL TRANSREALM REPORT #1

Transrealm Inspector Agent Konrad's Report of Transrealm #348 "Ptolemy"

It is with great pleasure that I present the Transrealm Academy this report, the first of it's kind since the Imperial Senate's "Transrealm Inspection Law of 2157" went into effect. I hope that the report, shortened here for simple presentation, is up to standards.

After Alexander the Great's untimely death, his empire dissolved in vicious civil war and division. Ptolemy, ruling from Egypt, was able to maneuver and pit the new Seleucid and Antigonos kingdoms against each other, freeing him up to sweep back into his homeland and claim much of Greece, Macedonia and the Hellespont for himself before his former comrades could act.

By 100 BCE (that is, what we would consider 100 BCE. The people of this world use no less that 15 different calenders depending on where you are, rather than the standardized Common Era Calender we use), Rome was on the rise, having united most of Italy, and was beginning to be a thorn in both the Macedon-Egyptian and Carthaginian side. To Romes West, Masallia was also beginning to come into it's own, but all of the major states had to continue to contend with massive raids from abroad.

The situation changed drastically with Rome and Carthage going to war over Sicily in 300. After 20 years of war, Rome ousted the Carthaginians with assistance from Macedon-Egypt, but Carthage had also begun large scale colonization of Iberia, and also founded colonies to Rome's North-west, very near the border of Masallia. We also see around this time the foundation of the First Illyrian Kingdom and the Helvetii coming under the king Orgetoorni. In the East, the Antigonid Empire is divided by the Seleucids and sees large border changes with neighbors Macedon-Egypt and Israel. Rome, however, was too ambitious and would lead itself into numerous mini-wars with Carthage, the Helvetii, and Macedon-Egypt, seeing it's territory slowly nibbled away in the south, while it forces itself north to conquer the small Carthaginian colony near OTL's Genoa. Massalia also get's caught up with an alliance with Rome for two of the wars, losing it's small holding in Iberia, but rapidly expands to the Atlantic.

By the year 1 CE, Rome is still technically the main power in Italy, but is bounded by the ever growing Helvetii, Carthaginian, Illyrian, and Macedon-Egyptian empires. Macedon-Egypt, under King-Pharaoh Ptolemy IX Alexander, the empire saw the conquest of the Atigonid empire and Judah, and crushed the revolts in Iconia and Sparta. However, rather than rule from Alexandria, he moved the capital to Pella in Macedonia. The Seleucids, meanwhile, were busy trying to halt invaders from the Asian Steppes and India.

In 50 CE, Rome was quickly shrinking and losing even it's own status as powerhouse of Italy to nearby Ostia. A coup amongst the elite saw the end of the Senate, and many Senators, fearing death, fled to nearby Helvetii and Masallia. Carthage lost Corsica in a quick war with Masallia, but had finally reclaimed land from Macedon-Egypt and Sicily, as well as getting a strong foothold on mainland Italy. The war with Carthage drained the coffers of Macedon-Egypt, and tensions between the two disparate parts of the empire soon led to open rebellion in Egypt. The timing was perfect for the rise of the Kingdom of Latak, ruled by former nomads from the steppes. It also prompted the reformation of Israel, which would last only about a century until conquered by Latak. Macedon, meanwhile, was able to hold only the coast of Egypt, having to continually contend with Carthaginian mercenaries. It was, however, able to conquer the Illyrians and make inroads into northern Italy, while going on to conquer much of Magna Graecia in the South. The Illyrians, however, proved resilient, and moved all the way west to Normandy, founding the Second Illyrian Kingdom, and even conquered a portion of South-Eastern Britain.

By 400 CE, Macedon has long since given up on Egypt, focusing more on holding onto it's territories from (now Zoroastrian) Latak, which has conquered the former Seleucid empire and Israel, and from the Helvetii, who in 250 CE, conquered Rome and allied with Carthage to boot out Macedon from Italy. The Helvetii-Carthaginian relations, however, soured after Carthage reclaimed Corsica, only to encounter a large Helvetii army landing in the north. Carthage, however, is now the major power in the Mediterranean's South and West, even after several losses against Masallia in Iberia. They have conquered Egypt, and are getting ready to strike back against the Masallians. 2nd Illyria, meanwhile has expanded it's hold in Britain, and it's strong trade with the Celts and Germans to the North and East have started to show in the formation of statelets.

Macedon, however, would see a revival and expansion that would mark it as the premier empire of Europe for years to come, and many nations still attempt to emulate it. Under Ptolemy XXI Alexander, the empire underwent radical expansion, as well as political and social reform. Treaties with Carthage after the last Carthage-Macedon War saw to a rapid decline in pirate activity in the Mediterranean, but these successes would be the last major point in the empire's long and epic history, finally being brought down in just a mere 250 years by civil wars and being conquered on and off again for an additional 800 years. The "Restored Macedonian Empire," founded in 1820, built upon the Macedonian Autonomous Revact within the Lihun Empire, would be no larger than Macedon under Phillip II, and would be ravaged by numerous wars and internal problems up through the present day.

100 BCE


270 BCE


1 CE


100 CE


400 CE


700CE

This is an old map of mine, meant as a historic background for the steampunk-lovecraftian story I'm working on.
In this TL, one of the greatest Cthulhu cultists of all time, Julius Caesar, was never born because there has never been a Rome for him to be born into (Rome was burnt to the ground by a follower of Nodens named Brennus).
A Gaelic empire eventually developed between 300 and 100 BCE OTL, while earlier migration of Germanic peoples, expecially Goths, Marcomannian and Langbards, unhindered by the roman legions, swarmed over the much weakened hellenistic kingdoms, forcing greeks to migrate south and east and creating graeco-arab kingdoms in the process, and a sort of southern ecumenic empire in OTL Axum, based on "the Book" (Necronomicon).
The Geat Peoples in the north and east, and the Gael Peoples in the west, worried by those "horrifying invaders" from beyond the desert, began banding together for mutual protection.
A profecy would tell of the coming of a "Great Dragon King in Yellow" who would unite all the peoples of Oròpa (TTL Europe) and push the dark worshippers out.
From the marriage of the Black Queen of the West with the Crimson Lord of the East, such king finally came.
Here is the great Faith (pact, as in "Federation") of all the Peoples, ruled by the Yellow Pendragon:

The history of the Hebraic Empire is an obscure history, and sifting between history, legend, and myth is difficult at best. What is known is that in the 30th Year of the Temple of Solomon, the new king Rehoboam son of Solomon reconciled with Jeroboam, averting a potential crisis that could have torn the kingdom in twain. United, the Hebrew Kingdom repulsed an Egyptian invasion in the 35th Year, then retaliated and sacked Avaris and Pi-Ramses. By the time of Rehoboam's grandson Asa, the Hebrew Kingdom entered a golden age. After several decades, Jehoshaphat, under the advice of his spiritual advisor Elishah, brought the Arameans under his rule. In the 134th Year, Amaziah became king after his father Joash was murdered, and marched into Mizraim, land of the Egyptians. The entirety of Lower Egypt was conquered and renamed Greater Goshen, while the south fell under the rule of the Cushites. Amaziah is noteworthy for being the first foreign ruler of Mizraim not to take the tiltle of Pharaoh.

Amaziah was succeded by Uzziah, in whose regin Isaiah and Hosea began to prophesy, declaring that God would send the whole world into the House of David's hands. Uzziah enjoyed this, and launched an assualt on the growing threat of Assyria that brought that kingdom down. He then turned south into Babel. His grandson, Ahaz, drove the Cushites out of Upper Egypt, but was otherwise a corrupt and detestable man. His succesor Hezekiah, on the other hand, broought greatness to the Hebrews, conquering the Hittites, the Elamites, and even the distant Hellenes. Many worshipers of Baal fled Israel, traveling to New Phoenicia in the distant west. Most powerful of Hezekiah's opponents was Gyges of the Lydians, a cruel man who had killed his predecessor to marry the queen, but even he fell before Hezekiah's armies.

Hezekiah's son, Manesseh, was a tyrant, and his son Amon was even worse, losing Elam to the Madai, the Medians, and Hellas to Argaeus of Macedon. Thankfully, King Josiah proved to be better than his predecessors, retaking Hellas, and conquering Macedon, renaming them Elishah and Tiras after the great-grandsons of Noah the Hebrews believed they descended from. The Medians, meanwhile, where stopped by an alliance with a primitive people calling themselves the Persis. Josiah even moved into the peninsula called Far Yawan, defeating numrous kings there, including one Tarquinus Priscus, though the struggle cost him his life. His succesors, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, dealt with a Chaldean invasion of Babel, ending the threat.

Nevertheless, Josiah's death marked the slow, long end of the Hebrew Empire. The Medians fell to the Persis, only for the Persis themselves to fall to the Meshech, who continued on to conquer the distant lands of Indou. The Magogites, fierce nomads from beyond the end of the world, grew fiercer and bolder. Far Yawan was lost to Israel and fell to New Phoenicia. New heresies spread, derailing the corruption of the House of David and the Levite priests. Even the Royal House itself fell to heresy - a particularly destitute branch of the family claimed that the son of the wife of that branch's head was actually YHWH in human form, come to cleanse the sin of Adam and Eve from the human race. Though the so-called Mashiah was stoned as according to Leviticus, his followers spread to Elishah and the Gallican lands. By the 1024th Year, and combined force of Magogites and Ishmaelites invaded the Hebrew Empire, bringing it crumbling down. By the 1126th Year [202 AD], the dust had settled, and new kingdoms now spread out over the land:

Jeru'shalym, also called Israel - the last true Hebrew kingdom, a theocracy ruled by the Levites after the House of David was overthrown

Greater Goshen - An Ishmaelite kingdom in Egypt, rwhere the Heliopolitan faith has returned in force

Nimrod - A powerful Ishmaelite empire in Shinar/Mesopotamia

Meshechite Empire - An empire stretching from the Zagros Mountains to the Ganges River

Midian, Joktan, Sheba - Not truly Ishmaelite, but Ishmaelite kings rule them

Aram - A Magogite Kingdom in Syria, the most powerful of them

Tiras - A Magogite kingdom, once known as Macedon

Ascenasos/Ashkenaz - A Magogite kingdom in Northern Anatolia

Tarsos/Tarshish - A Magogite kingdom centered around the city of the same name

Tubal - A Magogite kingdom ruling over the people known as the Kurds

Ellisos/Elishah - Land of the Hellenes

New Phoenicia - Currently on the rise after taking Far Yawan

Cush - a mysterious land which once ruled Upper Egypt

Gotaland and Marcomannia - Germanic kingdoms which rule over the fringes of the former Hebrew Empire

Daughters of Eve - A Mashianic splinter group formed on the Rhonos River

Gallican Empire - A druidic Empire based in Western Europe. Ispanya is a vassal of this empire.

The British Isles - kingdoms which are influenced by the Gallicans

In spite of their fall, Hebrew culture dominates the Mediterranean and Middle East. Hebrew script is used in most kingdoms, and Aramean surpases even Hellenic as the lingua franca. Literacy spread quickly in the Hebrew Empire, and most people can read and write.

Obviously, no Babylonian Captivity and destrcution of the first temple means no Purim, and no Macedon means no Hanukkah. These are only a few of the differences between TTL's Levitism and OTL's Judaism.

From a TL where Sextus Tarquinius never rapes Lucretia, which leads to the survival of the Roman Kingdom. They never really expand outside of Latium, and instead the Oscan-speaking Samnites become the dominant power in Italy. Their skilled and manueverable cavalry and versatile manipular system allowed them to conquer all of Italy by 250 BC, ruling from their capital of Bovaiamom. The Samnites then began sending settlers throughout the western Mediterranean, which brought them into conflict with the Punics. After several wars, the Samnites took the Punic colonies in Spain and Sicily. They expanded along southern Gaul, defeating the Arverni with the help of other Gallic allies. This led to a significant amount of trade between the Gauls and Samnites, with wine, pottery and other manufactured products traded to the Gauls for slaves, metals and timber. Soon, the Samnites began establishing trading posts on major trade routes and rivers in Gaul. Because of it's similarity to the Celtic languages, Oscan became a valuable lingua franca for the area. Eventually, most noble Gauls were expected to be bilingual in Gaulish and Oscan.

Can't really say much about this one. I didn't give a TL much thought...

When the resurgent Assyrian Empire conquered the Mitanni capital of Washukanni, its growing power worried the warring empires of the Hittites and Egyptians, leading to the Treaty of Kadesh. The political ties that went into cementing this non-aggression pact between the two empires were so extensive, that the two empires might have well have been a single entity. Eventually, because of a royal marriage of Ramses II and Maat-Hor-Neferu-Re, that’s exactly what the two became. The Egyptian-Hittite Empire, with the Nile providing all the grain any empire of the time needed, and the riches the Hittites large trade network provided, became a superpower unlike any the world had seen before.

When the 12th century BCE came around, and The Sea Peoples with it, the capabilities of the Egyptian-Hittite Empire gave it the edge necessary to resist the invasion of these migrates. The power of this combined nation was so great, in fact, that they were able to conquer the remainder of Asia Minor in the warring between its previous occupants, and the invading peoples. With the closing off of the peninsula to later migratory invaders, the Mycenaean Civilization suffered worse from the greater amount of invaders than in our timeline; the area that is now Greece was essentially culturally segregated between various cultures, but did retain a good amount of what in our reality is known as Greek culture. Within 200 years, the area of Greece was conquered, and Hittito-Egyptian culture had begun overtaking the already existing ones in the area.

Over the next 300 years, despite the waning of the Egyptian-Hittite Empire’s presence as an undefeatable superpower with the advance of technology spreading out within the civilized world, their power was still quite considerable, and they even possessed the ability to conquer the entirety of the Fertile Crescent. With the Babylonian Empire becoming old, decrepit, and easy prey for any power trying to make its way in the world, Assyria eventually went after what they considered no longer fit to rule the lower reaches of the Crescent. With the southern Tigris and Euphrates having been brought within their power, and not much worth conquering in the East in their eyes, the Assyrians became greedy and set their sites on lands that had for centuries been those of the Egyptian-Hittites. While the invaders did indeed make significant gains against the unsuspecting enemy in the beginning of their war for dominance in the area, the Egyptian-Hittite Empire was able to exercise it’s vast resources over time, and the two rivers eventually became fully theirs.

The brief resurgence of the Ancient power was only to last about a century. Eventually a power rose in the east, the Persian Empire. With the new and alien power knocking on its doors, the empire ravaged by time was facing its greatest challenge yet. By 540 BCE the empire was bleeding. The Greek lands were lost to rebellious cities looking for their independence from an Empire they no longer deemed effective as rules, despite their culture being very heavily influenced by their previous rulers; the outlaying nation of Macedon seized the opportunity to take lands they coveted from the Egyptian-Hittite Empire, and sealing their future importance in world history. The control over the Egyptian homeland was confined to only those lands with close proximity to the mother Nile. And the Fertile Crescent, despite having been effectively indoctrinated culturally to Hittito-Egyptian culture, was lost to the invading Persians. Despite the losses in the beginning of Persian invasion, and time weighing down on the Egyptian-Hittite empire, the empire was not yet finished playing it’s part in world affairs, even regaining token lands lost in the previous century over time.

The real rising power became a nation who admired the Hittito-Egyptian-Greek blend of the peoples in Greece so much, that while never having been apart of their empire adopted the culture almost fully. With the rotting of the Empire that gave credence to their culture, the Macedonians saw it necessary to seize lands once under their control. While having adopted the Hittito-Egyptian-Greek blended culture, there was much more of an admiration of the Greek influence on the region. When the Egyptian-Hittite Empire attempted a reinvasion of Greece, the Macedonians felt that the meddling of the dying empire needed to be protected against, and by 425 BCE the entirety of Greece was either conquered or absorbed into the Macedonian Empire.

As the Persian and Egyptian-Hittite Empire’s squabbled over the following century, the Macedonian Empire became unified, its culture flourished, and it’s borders expanded. Eventually the Macedonians ruling family gave birth to a son who would forge the roots of European culture; Xandar the Great. In only 10 years, Xandar came forth from his homeland of Macedonia, and went on to conquer the entirety of the now exhausted Egyptian-Hittite Empire, and roughly half of the Persian Empire before it completely collapsed, and his strategic powers were better used elsewhere. Going on to take control of the Southern Caucus, extending the European homeland to the Lower Danube River, expanding the control over the Egyptian motherland further south and over Cyrenaica, and encompassing the Persian Gulf down to the Strait of Hormuz, Xandar’s Empire became the largest in history up until that point. The empire, now something new, but still owing its existence to an old power in lands it now controlled, became known as the Helakimt Empire; a word in the Greek Hittito-Egyptian dialect from phrases meaning “Greek reborn Egypt.” Xandar died before making the reaches with his empire that he wanted, but his son who would succeed him would continue to expand an Empire diffusing it’s already similar people, and extending it’s culture throughout all lands it went on to control.

From the Helakimt Empires capital at Pella, the Empire expanded greatly, even controlling southern portions of the Italian Peninsula. To the West of the core of the empire, and north of it’s Italian holdings, the city-state of Rome had been expanding over the centuries, and now wanted to unify a peninsula they considered theirs by seizing the Helakimt lands in the south. In 252 BCE, the power hungry Latin people of the north launched an invasion. The Romans, however, had underestimated the Helakimt people, who in the past 80 years had had an explosion of technological advancements. Roads extended throughout the Empire, creating a powerful infrastructure for the entire state, trade flowing in and out of both the Persian Gulf from India and the Black Sea via The Silk road from China filled the Imperial Coffers with riches enough to fund any sized army necessary, and irrigation systems that led to an explosion of population, providing a manpower capable of keeping the empire functioning in any time trying time. While the Romans had a formidable military, it was no match for the behemoth of a super power that was the Helakimt Empire; the Italian Peninsula was subjugated and controlled within 5 years, with the culture slowly being replaced soon after.

By the year 126 BCE, the Helakimt Empire had reached its greatest territorial size, and had begun its real Hotpx Helakim (Helakimt Peace). With the infrastructure generated by the expansion of the roads and creation of canals throughout the empire’s many river systems, the Helakimt culture spread and absorbed those people it presided over. Technology advances at a steady and efficient pace, making the empire one of the most advanced in the world. Trade is continuous, with goods flowing from the Western Mediterranean and interior of Europe with goods from India and China, creating the richest nation on Earth. Irrigation allows for the production of grain to support the empires ever growing population. The Helakimt Empire is the most powerful to have existed on Earth yet.

Mediterranean culture is the by-product of Egyptian from 1300 BCE. With the unification of the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, the Egyptian culture, while it did blend with Hittite, was the stronger of the two, and dominated the resulting culture. Because of the strong empires location, the Phoenician people had their culture heavily influenced by the resulting Hittito-Egyptian culture; though it did retain a semblance of uniqueness, at least for a little while. With the Egyptian-Hittite Empire’s dominance in the region, the Egypto-Phoenicians sought life elsewhere, and colonized the far reaches of the Mediterranean; Carthage included. The Carthaginian Empire, while having warred with the Helakimt Empire before, continues to exist as a major power in the far West; Helakimt Emperors consider the Carthaginians too powerful and too far away to either be wise or necessary to conquer. With the Carthaginians being the product of a blend of Phoenician and Hittito-Egyptian, and the Helakimt being a product of a very Greek-like culture and Hittito-Egyptian, the Mediterranean is surrounded by cultures with heavy influences from Ancient Egyptian. Whereas Latin peoples who drew from Greek in Our Time Line influenced Europe, Europe will grow to be influenced from the Helakimt and Carthaginian peoples who drew from Egypt in This Time Line.

Following the death of the pharaoh Tutankhamon, the queen of Egypt wrote to Great King Suppiluliuma of Hatti, asking that he send one of his sons to become king in Egypt. Initially, he was skeptical, fearing some trap--and in our world, he was quite justified, for Prince Zannanza never arrived, and the 13th century BCE was a time of increasing tensions between the two great powers.

Here, however, the Prince arrived safely, and Lower Egypt was brought under a Hittite dynasty, which maintained close ties with its Anatolian homeland. Further south in Thebes, where memories of resistance against the Hyksos remained stronger, a native dynasty held out for a couple of generations before its final collapse. With both Hatti and Egypt under their sway, the Great Kings of Hatti had no difficulty defending Syria and the Levant from the Assyrians--Ashur itself was burnt, although scions of the Assyrian royal house controlled a number of city-states along the Upper Euphrates before the coming of the Madai.

The end of the 12th century saw the Tumult, a convergence of wars, migrations, and famines that truly forged the Empire into a single entity--without arms and food from the Egyptian breadbasket, even the heartland itself might have fallen before barbarian invaders from the west. As it was, the Achaean civilization of Greece was devastated, and many Achaeans fled to new settlements in Sicily and southern Italy. The first of these were led by a chieftain who lends his name to the empire his descendants built. (According to the epics, he was raiding along the Anatolian coast when he fell out with his king over a woman; in a fit of pique, he took his followers and sailed west-over-seas to somewhere beyond the king’s reach.)

It was also during the Tumult that a number of Semitic tribes left their long-time home in Egypt, heading east and south to join their distant brethren in the Hejaz. The so-called ‘Hapiru’ remain there to this day, their kingdom centered on the holy city of Bakkah. When the Empire is strong, the Hapiru send tribute north to Hattusas; when the Empire is weak, raiders venture into Canaan and the Levant.

Following the Tumult, an important reform took place, ensuring stability and a clear succession--the Hittite Old Kingdom had possessed a distinct tendency for civil war, but Suppiluliuma II established a regency council-cum-Senate known as the Pankus, which brought together representatives from different regions of the Empire and made them responsible for a smooth transfer of power. In time, the Pankus acquired other powers as well.

Once this was done, the Empire began slowly expanding west, swallowing up the surviving Acheaen states as well as the Dorians and Phyrigians who settled to the north of them. Expansion in the east was hindered by fierce resistance from first the Assyrian states and then the Madai, who swept in from the plains of Iran and built their own empire on lower Euphrates.

The Empire spread a number of technological developments, most notably an alphabetic writing system developed in the coastal cities of the Levant, which displaced cuneiform and hieroglyphics for all but a few ceremonial purposes. The Empire never quite developed a common language, although a creole of Hittite, Canaanite, Egyptian, and later, Greek was widespread, particularly among merchants and scribes.

This map shows the Empire at its height, in roughly the 3rd century BCE. At this point, the Empire has stood for nearly a thousand years; it will last another three hundred, before another wave of barbarian invasions--this time from both the northwest and the southeast--finally topples it, and even then a few successor states in the Anatolian heartland will cling to their shreds of legitimacy for a few centuries more.

Currently, the other major powers are the Akhillean Empire, based out of Sicily, a native kingdom in Southern Spain, a growing confederation of Celtic tribes in northwestern France, and the Madai Empire to the east, which has swallowed up Kassite Babylon and the Assyrian states and has been skirmishing with the Hittite Empire for several hundred years with no lasting result. In the west, northern Spain and southern France are a mess of mostly Celtic states, some of which have been playing the Tharteshans and the Akhilleans off against each other. Germany and eastward are mainly disorganized, although Himmbriyans have been pushing south recently, and the garrison commanders along the Danube are increasingly worried by the tribes beyond the river...

NOTE: This is based on the second and/or fourth options presented as acceptable challenges.

The Samnites, Latins and Etruscans destroyed the upstart Romans, and led to generations of senseless warfare in central Italy. Eventually, Magna Graecia made a big for dominance with the help of Macedonian allies, and the Etruscans appealed to the men of Qart Hadash (Carthage), for assistance. The wars that raged afterwards went out of control, and led to extended campaigns in Spain, Sicily and Italy itself, and the empowerment of powerful generals over the Senate. Each victory brought further problems and danger, and Qart Hadash pushed ever outwards. Macedon, the Ptolemies and Pontus were each brought to heel one by one. Soon, the Mediterranean was part of the Adiir Canem, or Great Peace.

Persian invasions of Judaea and Arabia disrupted the flow of trade to the East, and there were calls to recreate the famous Phoenician circumnavigations of Africa. These explorations yielded an unexpected success, with the discovery of a new continent to the west. The town of Zarex was founded there, which was for centuries to be a sleepy and isolated trading town engaged in small amounts of trade in exotic goods. The Persians were pushed out of Judaea and Arabia and the traditional Red Sea trade continued.

The Adiir Canem eventually came to an end, with the rise of two great threats. The first, barbarians who continued to arrive in Europe. Long kept at bay by the allied kingdoms of Etruria and Gaul, the latest movements proved too much for those states and they began to collapse, while Germanic pirates and invaders destroyed Puno-British towns along the coast of Britain. Meanwhile, the sudden eruption of a new and violent messianic cult in Judaea caught the Empire off guard. The new faith, which opposed commerce, spread to Egypt where it led to a popular insurrection against Qart Hadash. Bored and underpaid mercenaries of Italian or Numidian background simply fled and left their merchant masters at the mercy of the mobs of howling fanatics.

With barbarians pouring into Iberia, and fanatics making their bloody war across Libya, the wealthy and powerful of Qart Hadash saw the writing on the wall. While some stayed to fight, many of the population decided to flee in large numbers. The merchant fleet of Qart Hadash was hastily turned into a refugee fleet, and the harbors of Africa were burned as they left. As the vast majority of shipwrights and navigators fled at this point or were killed, naval technology of the old world would soon enter a great decline. A great Dark Age descended over Europe and Africa, and the fanatics would begin the slow and bloody task of converting the barbarian rulers and their wailing civilized pagan subjects to their faith.

In the New World, however, the old empire has re-emerged. The city of Qart Maqam (the New World) has arisen to dominate the other Carthaginian colonies and begin to reform an empire. They have subjugated many of the natives of this new world and found many valuable new goods and trade items. Trade is now engaged with the native city-dwellers of the far west and north, and contact has even been made with strange voyagers from across the Other Ocean. The people of Qart Maqam are not alone as Old Worlders in the New, however. Etruscans raise cattle and sheep in the far south; while the descendants of the Numidian traitors rule in the islands. Word of Gaulish settlements along the coast of a northern continent is rumored, but as yet unconfirmed...

KAPTARA

POD – No Thera eruption 1593 BCE, Kaptaran civilisation arises on Crete

The legacy of the Kaptaran civilisation and empire is all around us today.

Although a society had been flourishing on the island for over a thousand year, the addition of the refugee Trojans added a drive towards the application of science which was originally seen as a method of improving weaponry and hopefully preventing any repetition of the destruction of Troy.

The legend of Icarus in Greece was a moral tale of human failure – attempting to flee Crete with wings of feathers and wax, Icarus flew too near the sun which melted the wax sending the would-be aviator to his death. In Kaptara, the story did not end there. The father of Icarus, Daedalus, who had fashioned the feather/wax wings continued his efforts. Eventually he constructed wings of metal with which he flew from Crete to Sicily.

The new ethos attracted many mathematicians and philosophers from Greece, Egypt and the Levantine. When the Kaptarans began their territorial expansion their ships, chariots and weaponry were far superior to any other nation or city. But so was their organisation, both military and civil.

When the Kaptaran Empire was founded, with Remos I its Emperor, it already controlled much of the Mediterranean coastline. It is from this foundation that the calendar we use today dates; before it is known as PA (Before Empire), after it is known as EA (Year of Empire). The Kaptarans also created the 13 month calendar that we use today.

Expansion of the Empire ceased around 650 EA. The administration of such a large area was complex and difficult for one person (the Emperor) to control , particularly as the increasing influence of democratic ideas had been growing for a number of centuries. In 880 EA, the last Emperor (Duris XIV) gave the Imperial Consent to the division of the Empire into 3 self-governing sectors, each headed by a Proedrarch elected by an Assembly consisting of noblemen and the representatives of major cities. Theoretically, the Empire remained – the 3 Proedrarchs meeting for 2 weeks every summer to ensure a degree of uniformity.

But the new system failed to save the Empire. Internal aspirations and external invasions led to its fall – the South sector cease to exist by 1158 EA, the East by 1208 EA and the West by 1308 EA. The western world had entered a period known as the Escotadios (ca. 1200-1600 EA), a violent and stagnant age. Only in the island of Asprokhora did significant remnants of Kaptaran culture continue and it was from their that most historians chart the period known as the Rebirth.

From 1600 to 1850 EA was a period of rediscovery of science and the arts and also a period of great exploration of the world. But most significantly, the Kaptaran ideas of democracy flourished. Naturally, some of the nation states that clung to monarchism resisted democratisation, which has been said by many to have been the root cause of the Great War (2178-2183 EA).

The Kaptaran influence is seen on the eastern coast of the continent of North Atlantis, where the 13 former colonies of Asprokhora chose independence in 2000 EA – not only democratic and cultural influence but also in the choice of the Labrys, ancient symbol of authority in Kaptara, as part of their flag.

In 2250 EA the Europlus Union was created by 10 nations and the preamble to the founding treaty pays tribute to the influence of Kaptaran values and thoughts. Today the EU has 23 member states and covers much of the territory of the Kaptaran Empire at its zenith.

Significant events in TTL -

Troy destruction 426 PA
Aeneas & Trojans arrive in Kaptara 422 PA
Greeks sack and destroy the Kaptaran capital of Knossos 416 PA
Kaptarans & Trojans defeat and expel Greeks 415 PA
Earthquakes in Macedonia and Thrace seriously affect Greek cities 379 PA
Knossos rebuilt under direction of Anchises, grandson of Aeneas, 364-354 PA
Anchises becomes King of Kaptara 349 PA
Expansion of Kaptaran colonisation:
First period – circa 300-150 PA
Second period – circa 90 PA- 110 EA
[Kaptaran Empire declared 0 EA]
Third period – circa 200-350 EA
Final period – circa 480-650 EA
Division of Empire into 3 sectors (*West, East & South) each with its own Proedrarch and Assembly (the 3 Proedrarch ‘jointly ruling’ the whole Empire) – 880 EA
Fall of South Sector – ca.1048-1158 EA
Fall of East Sector – ca. 1068-1208 EA
Fall of West Sector – ca. 1068-1308 EA
The Escotadios – period following the fall (ca. 1200-1600 EA)
Rebirth and Exploration – ca 1600-1850 EA
Great War – 2178-2183 EA
Creation of Europlus Union (EU) – 2250 EA
First Moon Landing (EU spacecraft ‘Anchises’) – 2264 EA

Well, look here:

http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Roma_Delenda_Est

It isn't supposed to be very realistic or something, but well...

nlspeed said:

Well, look here:

http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Roma_Delenda_Est

It isn't supposed to be very realistic or something, but well...

Click to expand...

This thread is for the posting of competition entries only, and nothing else.