The Slave King - An Illyrian AAR

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter One: The Power of Unity

Narrator: Doros Aithaidos Attikos

The City States of old were weak in their divisions. They fought amongst each other like starving dogs over bits of land while our enemies crushed us beneath their heel as a stepping zone to global conquest. The wealth of Rhodes, the culture of Athens, and the warriors of Sparta have come together at last, not just for the sake of survival as we did in the face of the Persians so many years ago, but to take the lands of our enemies and make them our own.

Kydonia and the islanders of Krete were the first to be freed of from the cruel yoke of their tyrant.

The tyrant, a bandit named Ainesidemos, sallied forth from the city in an attempt to flee for his life as the inhabitants turned against him, but instead ran straight into the Spartan spearheads.

The warriors of Krete, seeing our arrival and the strength of our cause, turned their arrows against the tyrant and joined us in liberating their homeland. No force could have faced our combined strength. The city was ours and the festivities could be heard across the whole island.

The great city of Korinthos was controlled by a Macedonian dictator named Alexandros Argeades. He was next in line for the gallows.

Our veteran warriors, fresh off the galleys from Krete, scaled the walls and smashed the levies that stood against us. The defenders fled to the city center to make a final stand, but their attention was so captured by the Spartans that advanced to their front made them vulnerable to javelins from the back.

In the end, another cruel dictator was slain at the hands of an Athenian peasant and the home of the Olympiad was returned to their rightful Greek rulers. Athletes from around the world came that year and we provided the greatest of hospitality. Even the hated Macedonians were allowed to compete under the banner of the Games, but in the final round, our own Akrotatos Agiados of Sparta won the contest of wrestling against a Macedonian twice his size.

The Macedonians reeled in shock after Korinthos and was finally baited into action after Chalkis was captured by our allied forces. A large Macedonian army laid siege to Athenai just after I arrived from Sparta after completing my training. Confident in their numbers, they sent their siege machines against us.

Men scaled the walls on ladders and poured out of towers as they swarmed the city like ants on meat, but our soldiers stood without fear. The enemy attacked us for want of glory and riches. We fought for our freedom. No more would we bow our heads to a foreigner. We were free men.

I stood with my father, guarding the gates in case the enemy broke through, but they never did. Our soldiers slaughtered the enemy on the walls, our spears piercing our enemy’s armor as if they wore nothing at all.

The corpses were piled so high that they overflowed onto the grounds below. In the end, the entire Macedonian army was slaughtered. Not a single man remained. It took a week to bury all the corpses.

With the bulk of Macedonia’s forces trampled underfoot, our armies were freed from their garrisons. Soon, I will command legions of righteous Greeks and advance the glory of the empire with my own sword arm. I am Doros Aithaidos Attikos, son of Athens, and a general of United Greece.