Western Anatolia · 334 BCE
OIKOUMENÉ
In the Shadow of the Empire
Begin at the crossroads
Explore the region, its people and its roads.
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Western Anatolia · 334 BCE
Spring, 334 BCE. Alexander is in Asia.
The Macedonian army has crossed the Hellespont and beaten the Persian satraps at the Granicus. Now the question is who holds the garrisons, who collects the tribute and who controls the roads.
The people who live here were not waiting for him. Lydian farmers, Greek merchants in the coastal cities, Persian officials and landholders have shared this land for two hundred years, and now Macedonian, Greek and Thracian troops are marching through it.
Some will resist, some will make a deal, a few will get rich, and most will try to keep their families fed. Alexander’s campaign follows the historical record. What happens to one village, one market or one stretch of road is up to you.
Settlements & quests
Every settlementhas its owntroubles.
Houses, fields, workshops and shrines are rebuilt from what archaeology tells us about the region. Where the evidence runs out, we fill the gaps with plausible fiction and keep it separate from documented history.
- Villages and their people
- Talk to farmers, elders, traders, craftspeople and travellers. Help one village and it may feed you or tell you what it knows; help another and it may train you, mend your gear, give you shelter or show you a way through the hills. People remember who helped them, and that shapes the choices you get later.
- Quarries, farms and workshops
- Wages go unpaid, tools break, animals are stolen and the army comes to requisition what it needs. Rewards come from the work itself: stone, timber, silver, a better tool, or a favour from someone who knows the area.
- The abandoned garrison
- Former soldiers have taken over an old garrison post and are seizing supplies from the road. Drive them out and the nearby villages can move their goods again. Whatever you recover is what they were actually carrying.
- Woodland and high ground
- Follow animal tracks, take a guide up to an isolated sanctuary, gather materials or find a path around the guarded roads. The ground, what you can see from it and how well you have prepared decide which fights you can take on.
Wildlife encounters
Read the land before you draw a weapon.
A hunt starts long before the fight: prints in the mud, a call at dusk, turned earth by a stream. Work out what is nearby, then decide whether to stalk it, avoid it or drive it off.
A cornered boar behaves differently from one in the open, and wolves defending their ground will not back off easily. Hunting and protecting herds earns experience; meat, hide, bone and tusk go into quests, trade and crafting. Animals don’t drop coins or weapons.
Every species, how it behaves and what it yields are checked against the opening region before it goes into the game.
Body, training & background
Choose a build, then train however you like.
Start with a versatile, heavy or agile build. It sets your starting attributes and nothing else: any woman or man can learn any weapon and any skill.
Faces, clothing and languages come from the peoples who lived in and travelled through western Anatolia. Your background decides how you dress, which language you speak and who already knows you.
Explore character creation ↗
The campaign
The story starts days after the Granicus.
Your caravan reaches a Lydian village a few days after Alexander’s victory. The granary is empty and some of the villagers are missing.
Looking for them leads you to soldiers requisitioning grain, families in debt, a black market and armed men living off the road. The carts you escort and the roads you clear decide who in the region eats and who can travel.
Alexander’s army moves on east. The campaign stays with the people it left behind.
Read about quests & combat ↗
Equipment & gear
Blades, spears and bows.
Short swords and daggers for close work, spears for reach, bows for distance. Add a shield, a helmet and what you need on the road, and pick what suits the way you fight and travel.
Explore the equipment ↗Transport & travel
On horseback, by cart or by sea.
Ride horses, donkeys and Bactrian camels. Load a cart with grain and amphorae, or take a ship from the coastal ports.
Explore transport & travel ↗
In development
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Design notes, concept art, and news about the wishlist and crowdfunding campaign.