History of the world (Roma Delenda Est)

Roma Eterna?

After Hannibal Barca (also known as Hannibal the Lion, Hannibal the Great, Hannibal the Conqueror, and Hannibal of Roma (but some consider that a derogatory term) conquered Roma in 210 BC, the second Phoenician War was over. Carthago had won, and the Imperium Romanum was no imperium any more, for its Caesar and parts of its Senate had been killed.

Indeed, Romanum crumbled and fragmented into competing city states, and Hannibal urged the Barca family to send more troops to Romanum. While the council and the suffets were against it, they were a minor power, for the Barca family ruled Carthago, and Hannibal finally got reinforcements.

Eventually, the Peninsula Roma (also known as the Peninsula Romanum, the Romanum Peninsula, or the Roma Peninsula) was occupied by Hannibal and his troops, and others, and slowly the core of the imperium became part of Carthago. The allies of Carthago were rewarded, and those who had joined or helped the imperium were hunted and destroyed. But while the core of the imperium had fallen, various cities had formed alliances and pacts with each other, and the possessions in Hispania were threatened by this. In the Peninsula Roma, there were many troops to keep the peace and thus no one dared to move against Carthago there, indeed, Carthago took over the whole Peninsula Roma with little to no resistance, but in Hispania, only a small amount of troops were located.

That is why Hannibal and his new army was sent to Hispania, to conquer the resisting city states. The city states, which had no legion and only a few professional soldiers, were no match for Hannibal and by 209 BC, Carthago was a giant super power. The tribes in Europa did not invade Carthago's possessions in Hispania or the Peninsula Roma because they were friendly toward Carthago, and some even allied with them and helped them to defeat the imperium.

While Greece eyed all this with a wary eye, there seemed to be no army coming toward them, despite Philippos V's urgings and besides the Carthago-Makedonia treaty. Carthago merely resumed trading and doing like it had done before the imperium declared war, but now from the position of an actively expanding super power, and with the help of barbarians should the need arise. And it claimed the rebels weren't yet fully rooted out.

The Carthago-Makedonia Treaty

However, in 208 BC, Carthago gave in and Hannibal and his army were sent to Greece, after king Philippos V yet again urged Carthago to send help. Hannibal, who still was in Iberia (also known as the Peninsula Iberia or the Iberia Peninsula), took a galley and arrived somewhere in Greece, no records can be found (or, I don't know much about Greece around this period and can't find much too), but we do know that in 206 BC, the Aechean League, the Hellenistic League, Epirus, Bithynia, Pergamon, Galatia, and some more all were annexed (some peacefully, some not) by Makedonia with the help of Carthago. Peace had then returned, and Hannibal was sent home, but Makedonia now had to deal with various resistance movements and enemies still lurking through the now gigantic Makedonian Empire (or, Greece). Eventually, Greece became somewhat stable, but at the turn of the century, (mostly (nationalistic, perhaps) civilian) rebellions flared up again and Bithynia and Galatia became independent (although still friendly with Greece). The Ptolemaic Empire eyed this a bit warily, as it had a few oversea possessions, and the Seleucid Empire wasn't happy with the new, large, and united Greece on its borders. And it had reasons to not be happy, because two years later, in 204 BC, Greece's armies marched again, to conquer the western tip of the Seleucid Empire. But the Seleucid Empire had a large army on its borders and had seen this coming, they were prepared, and were much larger. But Greece's armies were better, and they conquered the western tip of the Seleucid Empire, yet with heavy casualties, and Greece sued for peace. The Seleucid Empire should really have continued warring, because Greece was exhausted with such rapid expansions and the Seleucid Empire could perhaps have taken the whole of Greece, but they agreed to a peace treaty instead.

The world around 200 BC

Note that every single map gives different borders and such, so I by no way claim that this map resembles the ancient world. In fact, I think the Seleucid Empire, and the Ptolemaic Empire don't have their correct borders, and I know that Parthia, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and the Mauryan Empire don't have their correct borders, but let's just say that's because a different point of divergence.

Senatus Populusque Carthagus

Not everything stayed the same however, Carthago adopted a more Roman government (and no, it wasn't called the SPQC, the Senatus Populusque Carthagus, that's just a fancy title). The wary and fearful politicians making up the council and the suffets had very nearly ruined Hannibal's chance at taking Roma. They had done it so many times before, recall a general, deny him supplies, all in order to keep them from growing too powerful. But now, with the Barca family controlling Carthago, the Barca family demanded that the government was reformed, in a more Roman way. After many days of discussion, it was decided. The Barca family would control the military, planning campaigns and such. As long as a general did his work, and did it well, he wouldn't be recalled and he would be given supplies should he ask for them. But before executing campaigns, the Barca family would ask the council and the suffets if they agreed. If more then 50% agreed, the Barca family could proceed. Important decisions could be voted on by the mere citizen, each city had a single vote, and it had two weeks to declare its vote. Each citizen of a city would be able to vote, and depending on what the majority of the citizens voted, the city would cast its vote. Cities (and thus citizens) were only able to vote whether they agreed or disagreed with a proposal of the council and the suffets.

After this drastic reformation, in 206 BC another reformation took place. Now, the suffets were the only beings capable of putting forth proposals, on which the council could vote. The votes of the councils were added to the votes of the cities, and that way it was decided whether Carthago agreed or disagreed with the proposal.

In 204 BC, yet another reformation took place, the council was now able to also put forth proposals, and the suffets were now able to veto any proposal as long as they both agreed with the veto. The Barca family still controlled the whole military, and they could still propose campaigns and things having to do with the military, and their proposals couldn't be vetoed. But the Barca family also couldn't vote on proposals.

The Great Seleucid-Ptolemaic War

In our timeline, the Fifth Syrian War began in 204 BC, with the death of Ptolemy IV of the Ptolemaic Empire. His heir was the child Ptolemy V, and conflict broke out over who would be the heir. Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire decided to take advantage of this and invaded Coele-Syria once again, and negotiates an alliance with Philippos V. Antiochus III would take Sidon before being stopped by Roman emissaries demanding that he (and Philippos V) would not invade Aigyptos (Egypt).
In this timeline, there are no Romans, and Antiochus III obviously wasn't interested in an alliance with Philippos V. He still invades Coele-Syria in 204 BC, and continues to conquer. He faces minor defeats, but major victories, and eventually, in 198 BC, the Ptolemaic Empire has lost all its territories outside of Afrika and negotiates a harsh peace, leaving the Ptolemaic Empire crippled.

Cyprus and the small Ptolemaic possessions in Greece were conquered by the opportunistic Philippos V. Greece only has a relatively small army left and is over expanded, but somehow Philippos V manages to hold control over Greece. At the turn of the century, rebellions had broken out in former Pergamon, Bithynia, and Galatia, with varing degrees of success. Pergamon stayed part of Greece, but Bithynia and Galatia got their territories back (note that, seeing as all maps are after these rebellions, it appears that Greece never controlled Galatia or Bithynia, but they did). With the taking of Cyprus, Greece showed that it could still successfully conquer lands. The taking of Cyprus however did increase tensions between Greece and the Seleucid Empire.

In 197 BC, Antiochus III once again invades the Ptolemaic Empire, and after a long war with many losses on both sides, the Ptolemaic Empire is conquered by Antiochus III in 182 BC. Thus, the Fifth Syrian War, also known as the Great Seleucid-Ptolemaic War, ends. Nearly immediately, rebels take over and it splits in many small tribes. Inspired by this, various rebellions erupt in the whole Seleucid Empire. It has grown too large, is very corrupt, has only a very small army left, and had minor unquelled rebellions for too long. Greece and Parthia have built up their armies and are ready to take over parts of the Seleucid Empire, but Greece faces a few minor rebellions too and Parthia waits to see how the situation unfolds, so no invasions takes place.

In Europa, barbarian tribes begin to fuse with Carthago, or vice versa, which results in the first civilized barbarians, and sets the stage for independence of northern (anything in Europa) Carthago.

The world around 181 BC

The legend of the world map above

Ruins of the Ptolemaic Empire

One has to understand that all these various nations aren't nations in the modern sense, but tribes warring with each other. Quickly, they would be absorbed into larger empires. When the Seleucid armies had conquered the western part of the Ptolemaic Empire and were fighting in the southern parts of it, what is here displayed as Kartagh already claimed it wanted to be part of Carthago. It had only spouted minor rebellions when the Ptolemaic Empire ruled over them, but now they had their chance. They were the first nation to rebel, and shortly after their self declared independence, a small part of Kartagh declared independence from both Kartagh and the Seleucid Empire, for they didn't want to belong to Carthago or the Seleucid Empire, and because they had no army to protect themselves, they turned toward Greece and called themselves Makedos in honor of Makedonia. Kartagh didn't refuse, and so the first two independent nations were established.
But they were quickly followed by the Chra Ptolemey, claiming that they would form the new Ptolemaic Empire, a tolerant, free, rich, and benevolent empire. They had a large army to back this up, and within a few months, they were the only ones of the rebel states to border the Seleucid Empire. Many wanted the Seleucid Empire destroyed, for life in the Seleucid Empire was far worse than life in the Ptolemaic Empire. It thus was logical that the rebel nations emerging around Chra Ptolemey eventually merged with Chra Ptolemey. The Tjoser-Chisi Union, an union between two major rebel leaders resulting in a single nation, decided to join the Chra Ptolemey only a few weeks after it (the Tjoser-Chisi Union) was formed, and the isolationistic, despotic Hedji was also persuaded to join the Chra Ptolemey, and although reluctantly, it did join. Horchoi, ruled by the family Horchoi, was, like many other nations, simply a nation created because the people didn't want to be part of the Seleucid Empire and voted for highly valued members of their area to rule them. The people of Horchai wanted to be part of something with potential, so they joined the Chra Ptolemey after a few other nations had joined it, recognizing their opportunity. Upper Blemmyes, although a bit backward and highly despotic, had resisted the Seleucid invaders at every possible moment, and gladly joined the Chra Potelemy, although the other nations of the Chra Ptolemey didn't really like Upper Blemmyes.
Elsewhere, to the west, Carthago agreed to annex Kartagh, while Greece agreed to annex Makedos. Kartagh, which had a larger army than the other rebel nations and the support of Carthago, had previously agreed to protect the Kingdom of Bruis (which also had an army, but a smaller one), Marmarica, Cyrenaica, Tyrravias, and Uthocar. However, while Kartagh wanted to be part of Carthago, the rest did not, and thus Carthago and Kartagh (but mainly Carthago) gave a small part of their army to the Kingdom of Bruis, which had agreed to continue protecting the three smaller, unprotected rebel nations. In practice, the Kingdom of Bruis ruled over the other three rebel nations, but only a few weeks later were the three rebel nations peacefully annexed by the Kingdom of Bruis. Then, the Kingdom of Bruis negotiated peace, and a slightly different border with the Char Ptolemy.
The Despotism of Chipco was a threat to the others, it was aggressive, warlike, had a (relatively) large army (of mercenaries and barbarians), and seemed to have spies and assassins wherever they wanted. Due to the barbaric rule and the many battles their people endured (all internal, like power struggles), only the barbarians and mercenaries stayed, while the normal civilians fled to Issui or Icktus. Thus Chipco declared that Issui and Icktus had stolen their people, and that they should pay dearly for that. Uthocar, and the Kingdom of Bruis, welcomed this news with open arms, for the many troops on their borders moved away, Uthocar was spared. However, the Kingdom of Raisch, small, but with a relatively large army, had decided that in these times, rebel nations should band together and had sent troops to Icktus. If the Chipco invaded Icktus, then the Kingdom of Raisch would invade Chipco. Thus, Chipco invaded Issui, prompting the Kingdom of Raisch to invade Chipco and liberate Issui. The unorganized and wild mercenaries and barbarians couldn't hold a candle to the army of Raisch, and most fled away. And so, the Kingdom of Raisch had annexed 3 nations. Diplomatic channels were set up, borders were slightly redrawn, and peace was made.
The Zabnatru were an isolationist nation, wary of outsiders, and perhaps a bit barbaric and primitive. The very peaceful Sokr Meroe (ruled by Sokr Meroe) had no army and only civilians with home-made weapons, thus they relied on the protection of the Monarchy of Gryz and the Kingdom of Raisch. While most forces were sent in the position of the Zabnatru, the only possible threat, or so the Monarchy of Gryz thought, the quiet and peaceful Depizlo Gaganth suddenly sent its forces out to burn, pillage, and do all kinds of other nasty things to Sokr Meroe. Many of these were hired barbarians, and the invasion quickly got out of hand. The Kingdom of Raisch fortified its border, and killed a few wild barbarians too. After the Monarchy of Gryz had defeated the small barbaric army, they moved on toward Depizlo Gaganth demanding an explanation for this invasion. The leader of the Depizlo Gaganth said that he was forced to do so by the barbaric hordes on their western borders, if they weren't recruited, paid, and sent out to attack something, they would destroy Depizlo Gaganth. Obviously, the leader of Depizlo Gaganth declined, and thus was killed by a few barbarians, who then lead Depizlo Gaganth into war. However, the son of the original leader of Depizlo Gaganth was in hiding, and was (and became) the rightful leader of Depizlo Gaganth. After a few days, everything was settled, and the Depizlo Gaganth would be protected by the Monarchy of Gryz. The Zabnatru slowly grew out of their isolationistic behavior, but wished to remain independent. It built up a small army of its own, and with the Chra Ptolemey, the Kingdom of Raisch, the Monarchy of Gryz, and the Empire of Aksyzrha (which also preferred to stay independent, and had already set up trade with the Arabian tribes, and had a small army consisting of volunteers from these tribes and its own citizens) surrounding it, they had nothing to fear.
It is believed that Fierqus, Vischi, and Fendorg were all lead by friends, and that they didn't do much things before talking about it with the other two nations, they even had a shared army. But with the power hungry Despotism of Krahnz, who believed that they were the new Ptolemaic Empire and that all the others should submit to them, on the borders of Vischi, Vischi relied much more on the Union of Cleoptais to protect itself. What was apparent for weeks was set in motion when the despot of Krahnz was killed and replaced by another one, who then commanded his forces to invade Vischi. Luckily, the shared army of the three bought enough time to allow the Union of Cleoptais to invade Krahnz, kill the despot, and install another leader. A few days later, the army of the former Despotism of Krahnz fled, in fear of the Union of Cleoptais. After a long talk with the other two nations, the Vischi asked the Union of Cleoptais if they couldn't join them. A few days later, so did the other 2 nations.
Peace had returned, and the nations all had an army to defend themselves (but if Carthago or perhaps Greece wanted, they could have conquered the whole area). Borders were redrawn, embassies were established, and trade was done. The only threat were the barbarians and the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid Empire however, declared that it wasn't going to invade any of the Ptolemaic nations any time soon. Many could see that the Seleucid Empire wouldn't even exist any time soon, and the successful rebellion only helped in the downfall of the Seleucid Empire. But in the northern parts of Carthago, in Europa, the exact opposite was happening. Barbarians became civilized.

The Iberian Union first appeared, the Iberian barbarians who had been living near Carthago there saw the greatness of its cities and the great life its people had, and decided to copy Carthago. And copy Carthago it did. The Carthaginian people were at first a bit wary, but later, they were happily trading with each other, and the Iberians regarded Carthago as their big brother, while Carthago regarded the Iberians as their backward friends. In Gallia, the same thing happened. But the civilized Gallic people were the laughingstock of the barbarians, and as such, they jokingly called themselves the Gallios Barbaros. Carthago protected them however, and the barbarians moved away, perhaps disgusted by the Gallios Barbaros. This caused the beginning of civilized Europa. Near the Peninsula Roma, Romans who had fled to various barbarians had settled a small area next to Carthago. Relations were very tense, and Carthago moved some of its soldiers toward Roma Nova, but allowed the Romans to live in peace as long as they did not do anything Carthago didn't like. After the Iberian Union arose, the Hispanion Union arose too, a bit to the north, and it had the occasional war with the Iberian Union and vice versa, and some time after that, the mountain dwellers lead by their king Jayo (they changed the name of their tribe depending on who was their king) settled down nea

The world around 180 BC

r Carthago, too.

And as a side note, due to the many rebellions in the Ptolemaic Empire and in the Seleucid Empire, and a few in Carthago (mostly in Romanum and Iberia (Spain as you probably guessed, when I refer to Iberia, I mean Spain, and not the Kingdom of Iberia)) and Greece too, Brihadrata wasn't assassinated in 185 BC, probably because the would be assassin was afraid that his nation would collapse too. Thus, the Mauryan Empire continued to exist. And so, in 180 BC, the world (or at least Africa) looked completely different.

The First Seleucid War

Civil wars were a daily occurrence in the Seleucid Empire. There was no government, no law, no army (the (very) small army guarding the Seleucid Empire while the large army was out conquering the Ptolemaic Empire had already been destroyed by the many rebels and criminals), one could only wait before its enemies destroyed the once great empire. Even Parthia, its vassal, had declared its independence (Parthia was a vassal of the Seleucid Empire). These enemies could come from Greece, Chra Ptolemey, or even Parthia, the Mauryan Empire, or the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, but also from within the Seleucid Empire. It eventually was the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom that started the First Seleucid War, that started the invasion of the Seleucid Empire, quickly followed by Parthia. Seeing as the Mauryan Empire still existed, there was no good pretext to conquer it. The Seleucid Empire however, was a lawless place full of crime and death, and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Parthia sought to end this and bring peace. With no army, and only local civilians (quite few, for many were criminals that didn't care what happened to the Seleucid Empire, or civilians that wanted peace and believed the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or Parthia would bring this) to defend the Seleucid Empire, it was helpless. After the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Parthia rolled over the Seleucid Empire and conquered more than half of it in a few months, Greece too invaded the Seleucid Empire. Less than a hundred soldiers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom died in this giant conquest, because most of the times they were welcomed with open arms. The same holds true for Parthia. Greece had around the same amount of deaths, mostly because the people on the border between Greece and the Seleucid Empire were very violent and anti-Greece. But most of them realized after a few days, that life in Greece was way better than life in the Seleucid Empire. Except for those living on the eastern part of the Mare Internum (the Mediterranean Sea), who joined Chra Ptolemy.
The world now looked very strange, seeing as the last remnants of the Seleucid Empire, boxed in between Greece, Greco-Bactria, and Chra Ptolemy, didn't really want to be conquered by Greece, so they opted to voluntary join Chra Ptolemey. Greece and Greco-Bactria (although Greco-Bactria wasn't really planning on conquering those last parts of the Seleucid Empire, and instead, was focusing on holding what they had conquered with their armies of which they had not only four times more than they had when they began the war, but their armies were also 4 times as large as they had been) were of course angry about this move, and tensions raised, especially because of the strange borders forming. While the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom had first focused on conquering the parts south of their homeland, once Parthia joined, they tried to box in Parthia, and later tried to beeline to Greece in order to prevent the other nations of acquiring too much land (although they didn't really care about Greece, their true ally and friend). Afterward, they focused on the southern parts of the Seleucid Empire, allowing Greece to conquer parts of the Seleucid Empire near Chra Ptolemy via naval invasions.
In contrast with the very low rate of casualties during the war, many died after the war. This is because Greece (who had it much easier, for they had conquered only a small portion of the Seleucid Empire), the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Parthia wanted to deal with the criminals raging around the former Seleucid Empire. Many rumoured that the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Parthia would be destroyed by their over expansion, but that was not to be. The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom's armies had nearly no casualties, just like Parthia's armies, while the Seleucid Empire's army was nearly destroyed before the Ptolemaic rebels established independent nations and finished it off. And, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Parthia tried to quell a good amount of rebels (of which there weren't that much, mostly only criminals) before moving on to conquer another part of the Seleucid Empire. However, there were still casualties. Luckily for the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the rebels weren't organized and operated on a very small scale, and after a month or so, both the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Parthia were full of peace and happiness.

The world around 178 BC

As can be seen, more and more barbarians are becoming civilized, although less so in Gaul.

Roma Nova is expanding and at the same time shrinking, it has a very small army of a few Carthaginians and former Romans and has taken over small pieces of land (with no violence or battles or anything) and their very small army has protected them from the smaller tribes in the area, while the bigger tribes aren't interested in conquering Roma Nova. Most of the smaller tribes are becoming assimilated into Gallios Barbaros, and so some of them have banded together to defend their territory. Some (although very few) of the bigger tribes have banded together too, and some even have offered to protect the smaller tribes in exchange for things, making them sort of vassals. Due to the increasing number of civilized barbarians, some in barbarian nations like Gallios Barbaros, but also some who have decided to live in Carthago (the nation, not the city), combined with some of the Romans living in Carthago (again, the nation) near the borders of Roma Nova, crime is increasing extraordinary fast, and there are even some rebellions for an independent Roma again. Some of the Romans living deeper in Carthago are demonstrating, but most (including Carthago) think this will pass over.
The Jayo are claiming that the Pyrenees (I couldn't find a Latin name, so I'll just use the English one) are their rightful territory, and they have raided, plundered and sacked a few Carthaginian cities there. Carthago has sent out its troops, but the barbarians (everywhere) have thus far won most battles due to the use of superior tactics and strategy, and speed.
There are a few minor border wars between the Iberian Union and the Hispanion Union, but nothing serious.
Speaking about border wars, near the end of the (war with the) Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom sparked a few border incidents, indicated with numbers. The first and second incidents happened only a few days (half a week or something) after each other and are, or so people believe, just accidents that have no relation. Of course, Greco-Bactria claims that the Mauryan Empire attacked them (accidentally), while the Mauryan Empire claims the opposite. It is believed that the first incident was initiated by the Mauryan Empire, and the second one by Greco-Bactria. However, this caused Greco-Bactria to guard their borders better, leading to the third incident (believed to be caused by the Mauryan Empire) a week or so after the second one, and a fourth incident (or better, massacre) another week later. Most people agree that the fourth incident was created by Greco-Bactria in order to gain a little more land and create better defendable borders. Around 200 Mauryan people died in the 'incident', but no war was declared. Perhaps the Mauryan Empire was a bit frightened by the large and powerful Greco-Bactrian Empire. It certainly raised tensions though.
Parthia, angry about being denied much land by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (and sparking a number of border incidents in response which nearly all lead to the deaths of Parthian people), took over pieces of land with a way too large army (they had nothing else to do), resulting in stunning victories, almost no loses (only 2 people, and that was because of friendly fire, if the records are right) and a boost in morale that did more good for Greco-Bactria than Parthia when the Second Seleucid War broke out.
Chra Ptolemey, now obviously the most powerful nation of the former Ptolemaic Empire, but it was so even before the annexation of a part of the Seleucid Empire, slowly expanded across the sea. It is unknown how this happened, for the nation of Nabataca inhabited that area, and there are no records of war or something. And, over time, Chra Ptolemey acquired even more land. Perhaps they bought it, perhaps the people there simply wished to join the Chra Ptolemey, perhaps Chra Ptolemaic people began inhabiting that area until a large majority of the population consisted of Chra Ptolemaic people and was then considered Chra Ptolemaic land. All these theories sound strange, but it has happened. Chra Ptolemey had no trouble with Greece or Greco-Bactria, and tried to remain friendly in order to avoid war, which worked. The Kingdom of Bruis wasn't happy with this development though, saying that they fought the hardest against the Seleucid Armies and killed the most Seleucid soldiers and that they thus deserved a part of the Seleucid Empire. They also had the largest army of any former Ptolemaic nation, so they could deal better with any Seleucid rebels than Chra Ptolemey could. But seeing as they didn't border the Seleucid Empire, they were mostly ignored.

The Second Seleucid War

The world around 176 BC

But peace wasn't to last, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom suddenly found itself to be one of the mightiest nations of the world. It looked around and saw that Parthia also had acquired new land and thus more power, and it felt threatened. What once had been a naive neighbour now was a competing nation. Parthia had been a vassal of the Seleucid Empire after all, and it was a coward to declare independence instead of supporting their masters in war. Perhaps Parthia had hostile intentions, but decided that the time wasn't yet right? It had also violently conquered territories not belonging to the Seleucid Empire, and was raising more and larger armies, and seeing as it never had standing armies before (which is true, they only had local garrisons in forts and such, but no standing army), so... Of course, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was more powerful and had no need to feel threatened at all because Parthia had no hostile intentions and was recruiting troops to guard their newly acquired land (just like the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was doing, but on a much smaller scale), but it was a good casus belli. And so, at the end of the year 178 BC, just after the First Seleucid War, yet another war was waged, the Second Seleucid War. In 176 BC, it ended, with the conquering of nearly the whole of Parthia after a daring but successful assault on their capital and core cities, and a long, tiring, and bloody conflict after that. What remained was bound to be little more than a slave nation (in fact, the only reason why this shattered 'nation' remained, was because of the heavy resistance that kept rising up again, and Greco-Bactria decided that by fortifying the borders around the remains of Parthia, it would collapse soon enough (after all, it was a broken nation, now also cut off from the rest of the world, and as such, it was bound to destroy itself)). The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom laughed, and began looking at new targets.

The Age of War

Some say that the Age of War began when Roma was destroyed, others say it began when the Ptolemaic Empire was destroyed, others say that it began with the First Seleucid War, others say that it began with the Second Seleucid War, other people say that it began with the creation of the Nova Imperium Romanum (the New Roman Empire), other people say...Yeah, there is no confirmed date of the beginning of the Age of War. What is known, is that the Age of War had constant war, stagnation of technology (and even destruction of knowledge, like libraries, et cetera) and provided birth to many nations. In this time, most wise men were sure that no large nation could be maintained, look at Greco-Bactria, and before them, Seleucia, which lay in ruins, and Chartago, which was only a third of its former size and power. Some said that power corrupted, but Carthago hadn't initiated any wars after finishing a war started by Romanum, so why was it reduced to a third of its former size? Well, because they needed a larger army (which was also true for the Seleucid Empire and Greco-Bactria), and thus most nations began neglecting anything besides their military.

The Third Seleucid War / The Greco-Maurya War / The Greco-Bactria-Maurya War

While the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was searching a new enemy, it found the Mauryan Empire. Luckily (for the Mauryan Empire), it had fortified its borders and prepared numerous armies, in fact, it had the largest military it would ever have. While the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was stronger, it was also much larger, and due to the constant warring, infrastructure worsened, and rebellions appeared. And it also had to guard its borders. Thus, when in 173 BC war was declared (by the overconfident Greco-Bactrian Kingdom of course), besides some initial gains, the war stagnated and became an endless bloody war. It was, in fact, compared to 'throwing people in an endless pit'. The Mauryan Empire took their territory back, took small parts of Greco-Bactria, and stagnated. Greco-Bactria took back its territory, and a bit of the Mauryan Empire, and was pushed back. This situation didn't change until 168 BC. Over the years, rebellion had grown worse, and Greco-Bactria had nearly no army left (a token guard on its borders and a small army on the Mauryan border), but the same was true for the Mauryan Empire, and because the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was larger and thus could refill their armies quicker than the Mauryan Empire, they would eventually win. But that didn't happen, for in 168 BC, Greco-Bactria needed far more soldiers. Its lands were raided, its cities plundered, and all by rebels originating from inside Greco-Bactria. A simple peace treaty was signed with no conditions besides an end of the war because the Mauryan Empire was also tired of the war, the borders weren't redrawn, and thus the borders between the two nations were a bit (very slightly) different. It was too late though, the soldiers hurried away from the front and managed to hold portions of Greco-Bactria together, but the western parts were lost to countless rebels (but not to existing nations like Greece). Parthia broke free from Greco-Bactria, and acquired some of its old territory back due to its loyal citizens and general rebellion.
After a week of rebellion, more and more rebels, or actually simple citizens (not really that many, but enough that it was obvious that they were former citizens of Greco-Bactria (and thus Seleucia)), began spreading into Greece. They simply wanted to live a normal life without fear, et cetera but Greece, which thought that its own citizens were superior to others (nothing extreme, they just thought that, and why not, they were the most 'learned' nation), didn't want all these new citizens. Thus, Philippos V (yes, he still lives in this timeline, mainly because I want him to) decided to end the rebellions. Perhaps to secretly annex some land too, because once Greece was united, he wanted to conquer Alexander the Great's empire back (he already invaded Seleucia and Cyprus, and unlike the Greco-Bactrians who also wanted that but were overconfident as could be seen, Philippos V bided his time). So, Philippos V sent couriers to what remained of the Greco-Bactrian government, the Mauryan government, the Parthian government, and the Chra Ptolemaic government. He also made it known that he would held a meeting between those in a month, at the island of Cyprus, and that he invited any rebel faction to send emissaries. A month later, a lot of people were on Cyprus, heavily discussing and threatening anyone who didn't exactly want what they wanted. It was brutal, tiring, terrifying, and almost barbaric, but in the end, all nations sort of agreed (actually, most completely didn't agree, but had no choice), and borders were redrawn. In order to prevent yet another war in Seleucia, many new nations became little more than autonomous provinces of another nation, with a government made up of people chosen by the other nation, and those new nations weren't allowed to have an army or any military at all, instead, their 'master nation' should provide an army for them. However, there were some nations that remained independent, which were allowed to raise an army and have their own government. These armies would be strictly inspected every year (but in reality just when nations deemed the time right for an inspection, which in the beginning was every month, and later never) by Greece and any other relevant nation that wanted to do so (so not the Iberian Union or such). These armies would also be so small, that the nations were probably better of without an army, but of course the citizens had to feel safe, et cetera. The situation in Seleucia was tense, but no further war would be waged there for some time.
Greco-Bactria didn't exist any more, mostly because rebels had seized the capital, Bactria. Instead, Greco-Bactria became Apollodotia, referring to the current king, Apollodotus I. It was now smaller than it was before it invaded the Seleucid Empire and Parthia. A good sized area around Bactria was taken over by the rebels that had seized the capital, and was now known simply as Bactria, and while it was a different nation, it was nothing more than an autonomous province of Apollodotia. The land directly to the south of Bactria and Apollodotia was named South Bactriapollo, while the land directly to the west was named West Bactriapollo, and both were like Bactria, they were different nations, but in reality merely autonomous provinces of Apollodotia. The land directly west of the Mauryan Empire was controlled by former Greco-Bactrian soldiers, and while extremely harsh to any rebels appearing in their territory, they remained (relatively) loyal to Apollodotia. That large stroke of land was aptly named by the soldiers there, Etnoos Polemou, Nation of War (or War's Nation, but it should be 'etnoos tou polemou', however, Etnoos Polemou sounded better). It, of course, had the largest army of any of these new nations, and had a much larger army than was acceptable. So, every single soldier was sent to where he lived before the Third Seleucid War began, and could join the army of the corresponding nation.
In the south, the area bordering 'draya tya haca Parsa aitiy' (the sea which goes from Persia), better known as Persikonkaitas (which, translated, means Persian Gulf), next to the Mauryan Empire, became an autonomous province of the Mauryan Empire, Gedrosia (and this name is not fictious).
West of West Bactriapollo, bordering the Hycranian Sea, better known as the Parthian Sea (which is the Caspian Sea), was East Parthia, an autonomous province of Parthia. However, in between East Parthia and West Bactriapollo, was Nisou. Nisa was (and is) a city, and one of the worst rebellions happened there. The rebels didn't just rebel, they killed anyone who dared to speak out against them, joined forces with other rebels, and so acquired a substantional piece of land. They refused to give this land up, so a new nation was formed, centered around the city of Nisa, called Nisou (originally, I wanted to call it Nisae, then I remembered that that could mean 'of Nisa' in Latin, and so chaned it into Nisou (which is 'of Nisa' in Greek, I think), which sounds worse, but oh well). Parthia is now a nation directly beneath the Parthian Sea (hence its name). To its south was South Parthia, and to its west, but also to its south was West Parthia.
The lands between East Parthia and Gedrosia, were, except for the small nations of Pasargadisa and Persepolia, controlled by the Seleucid Federation. The Seleucid Federation was the only nation of the newly formed nations that was allowed to have an actual army without restrictions, it was a nation like any other normal nation, like Greece or Carthago for example. This is because the former government (including the former king of the Seleucid Empire, Seleucus IV Philopator, who apparantly had secretly lived on in hiding) also came to Cyprus, although in secret. The Seleucid Federation wasn't an empire though, it was a union of cities and provinces, and while Seleucus IV was the official king, he wasn't much more than a ceremonial figurehead. Instead of a king, important men ruled over the provinces and cities. All cooperated with each other, although it took some time for true cooperation to exist, and in the beginning many were corrupt. Most rebels, seeing as they would also be represented by those important men (their leader, if they were organized rebels and had one, would become such an important man), generally agreed with the strange proposition, but the cities of Pasargadae and Persepolis didn't. It isn't really known why, perhpas because of (perhaps secret) rebel influence, perhaps because they didn't like this strange proposition. It is noteworthy, however, that these two cities were so close together (well, they weren't half a country apart). And thus, nearly completely surrounded by the Seleucid Federation, two other nations appeared, Pasargadisa and Persepolia. It must be said, that the Seleucid Federation was very hostile toward Apollodotia and its client states, but there was no war. Possibly only because of bad cooperation and corruption between the so called important men.
South of South Parthia and West Parthia, was a nation which called itself Sumeria. South of that nation was a nation which called itself Babylonia (at the place where once Babylonia was), so perhaps because of a strange sense of humour, the nation of Sumeria was named Sumeria. Very little is known about the origins of these two nations though, except for the fact that the rebellions in both nations (but especially in what would be Babylonia) were much lighter than in the rest of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Apparantly, the 'rebels' in Babylonia promised to rebuild the nation of Babylonia, a superpower, one that had successfully defied the gods, and one that, with all its glorious and magnificent structures, was and would soon be the best nation of the whole world. It was very closely watched by Greece and other nations, after all, this nation was far too liberal and it even renounced the gods. But it proved to be a great place, any religion was accepted, and anyone could say or do what he or she wanted, except for murdering or robbing people or doing other things that harmed other people (swearing and such was allowed though, you know what I mean). It was a strange nation, it was a democratic nation and had queens and kings (they were only a ceremonic figurehead though) for example. Nearly everything was allowed (later on, drugs and prostitution were legal, and it had no official religion). It was a haven of freedom where anyone was accepted, although it was slightly strange too (for example, the first king renamed himself Hammurabi, and he named his son Nebuchadnezzar, in honor of the 2 Babylonian kings). Sumeria was a bit less liberal though, but only slightly so. Instead of a true democracy, the king decided on what matters his people could vote for example. The 2 nations quickly became allies though, and it was more or less assured that one would protect the other when attacked.
Philippos V had fulfilled his goal though, the lands east of Greece became Greco-Seleucia, and became an autonomous province of Greece. Chra Ptolemey got no new lands though (which was logical, and which Chra Ptolemey probably didn't want too), even though Greco-Seleucia bordered it.
The last new nation was basically a copy of the Seleucid Federation, although with a much longer name, the United City States of New Seleucia (better known as the United City States, the United States, or New Seleucia). This nation is shrouded in mystery, some believe it was a democracy, while others believe it was exactly the same as the Seleucid Federation. It is also unknown who its rulers were, and its even suggested that Seleucus IV (secretly perhaps) ruled it. That is probably not true though. While at first, there was some sort of concurrency between New Seleucia and the Seleucid Federation, that quickly disappeared and the 2 nations even joined much, much later.

The Nova Imperium Romanum

In 169 BC, the rebellions in Carthago (well, the area above the Mare Internum) were so bad, that the few Carthaginian armies were recalled (who didn't manage to defeat much rebels though, and only suffered casualties due to the radically different thinking barbarians from the north who moved into Carthago and joined the rebellion), and that negotiations with the rebels were opened. Roma Nova demanded the former territory of Romanum back and a bit more. But the glory of what once was Romanum was now lost, more than circa 20% of its population was made up of barbarians from the north, while only circa 5% or 10% were Romans (most had been killed by Carthago during the Second Phoenician War, by Greece after Philippos V united it, or by rebels and barbarians), another circa 5% or 10% were Greeks, and the other circa 60% (probably more)Carthaginian. What few people of other nationalities were in Romanum weren't even 1% combined, or so we think. In hindsight, it is very strange that a super power like Carthago lost circa two thirds of its territory (Iberia was also lost, more on that later), and there are probably reasons for this, but as far as we know, Carthago dominated the markets and the seas, and its homeland (in Northern Afrika) was well guarded and flourished unlike any other nation. Maybe the territories above the Mare Internum were nothing more than a pest to Carthago, with its many rebellions forcing it to send armies to quell those). Maybe Hannibal died in one such rebellions, for no records have been written about him after the razing of Roma (and we know that he arrived in Greece to help Philippos V), but it is a likely possibility. However, the Nova Imperium Romanum was born. Barbarians flooded it, and with no army (well, if you count the very small force of the former Roma Nova, they have an army), it was plundered, sacked, razed, burned ... And the same was true for its inhabitants. But somehow, it survived, probably because of mercenaries, massive drafting (which led to massive hunger in return, which led to massive deaths), and the fact that there were far less barbarians in the immediate surrounding of the Nova Imperium Romanum than in our timeline (many barbarians had moved further north, disgusted at the so called 'civilized barbarians'). The Nova Imperium Romanum was more like a collection of extremely small areas, ruled by a local despot, but somehow, it stayed united. Because of the massive hunger due to the massive drafts, the despots invited people to work on their farms. They would be well fed, and protected by the despot. However, if there was a threat, some had to stop farming and help defend the fortress. This became a massive trend in the Nova Imperium Romanum and in Iberia, and a few years or so later, also in the collapsed Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. And to a lesser extent in some Ptolemaic rebel nations and the Mauryan Empire. Carthago and Greece had no need for this system, for they were the superpowers now, and the only centers of knowledge and wisdom, and they became to be seen as beacons of light, as eternal paradises.

The Iberian Peninsula War

However, the Carthaginian lands in Iberia rebel slightly more than half a year later (still in 169 BC), also due to barbarian influence (and remember, the Iberian Union and the Hispanion Union are simply unified settled barbarian tribes), and the lands (except for very small parts, like where Carthago Nova is) are claimed by both the Iberian Union and the Hispanion Union. After a few weeks, a new war begins because of this. Carthago sneakily conquers small parts of Iberia, and eventually, the war becomes a three-way war. Most of the barbarians on Iberia either ally theirselves with the Iberian Union or the Hispanion Union, and after a year or so, the Iberian Union is largely victorious, mostly because they had more land and thus more troops, and because the Hispanion Union sent some troops to its northern borders with the Jayo and to counter the Carthaginian invaders. The Iberian Union only focused on defeating the Hispanion Union, which allowed Carthago to take back some of its lands (also of the Hispanion Union though, who sent a few troops, but nothing serious), but the war is over (although border guards are ever ready and tensions are still high). Both the Iberian Union and the Hispanion Union have successfully conquered small parts of each other, but like the Third Seleucid War, nothing much changes. Only the northern parts of Iberia aren't yet controlled by 'civilized' beings, and both the Iberian Union and the Hispanion Union immediately resume expanding northward. Carthago begins realizing they are not the superpower they once were any more, they still dominate the Mare Internum with their navy, but their military is small and weak. They begin expanding southward to acquire some lands.

The Jayo Phony War

A few months after the rebellion of Carthaginian lands in Iberia, the Jayo claims the whole Pyrenees and the lands around it. There are nearly no people living in the Pyrenees besides the Jayo, but the lands around have been claimed by the Nova Imperium Romanum and the Hispanion Union. The Nova Imperium Romanum, the Hispanion Union, and even Carthago, all react, although Carthago only sends a single army. The Imperium Romanum sends a few barbaric hordes that only caused chaos anyway, and claims with them some Carthaginian land that the Jayo originally claimed. The Hispanion Union also does only slightly more than nothing, it fortifies its borders, which probably lead to their defeat by the Iberian Union. The Jayo win (facing next to no resistance), and the Jayo rename theirselves into Yohui for their leader died. Perhaps in the 'war', perhaps not. The situation in Iberia is much better than in the Nova Imperium Romanum. The southern parts of civilized Iberia are rich and civilized, but the northern parts have nearly no farms, no cities, only wandering (and settled) tribes of barbarians. In the next few years, the whole of Iberia will be civilized. The Yohui live in small villages all around the (southern parts of the) Pyrenees, and have just enough food to feed their people, but with their new lands (which aren't much though), they may develop more and more. The few people and tribes (very, very few) they find in the other parts of the Pyrenees join the Yohui and start spreading too under the guidance of the Yohui. The Yohui greatly increases in size in the following years.

The world around 168 BC

I've decided to put a map here (a .JPG instead of .PNG, I don't know if it matters much, but I couldn't upload a .PNG, and by the way, to be able to actually read the legend, open the image by pressing your right mouse button and then click on 'open', then, simply click on the image, and you'll be able to zoom in, alternatively, you can use that icon just beneath the image, then click on the image and then zoom in), an actual world map (which I had to redraw 3 times (the whole map except for the Americas which contain two whole nations so that does make quite a difference ...) because Jasc Paint Shop Pro kept crashing). Do note that, obviously, since I handdrew it, borders aren't entirely correct. Especially from Bithynia to Atropatene, they should be somewhat to the left (thus, Bithynia gets smaller, Pontus and Galatia move to the left, Cappadocia and Trapezia move to the left, et cetera). There is the fictional nation of Qatauk (in the Peninsula Arabia), because I hadn't given the Seleucid Empire enough land there, and thus there was a nationless gap between the (former) Seleucid Empire and Gerrha. In Asia, I tried (actually, will try, read on) to remove those very small nations, mostly because I know very little of Asia. And my sources conflicted with each other. In fact, I won't draw Asia at all until it becomes important because every single source (which are more then 10) says something else. But, if someone could perhaps draw it (including minor nations), that would be great. Otherwise, I'll just wait until it becomes important and by then, history has changed so much that it doesn't matter if some things aren't right. Anyway, Cholas rules over the southern parts of the Mauryan Empire, Kalinga and Danywhadi (I can't find anything about them on WIkipedia, which is strange, but well) should be absorbed by, respectively, the Mauryan Empire and the Mon (Mon-Khmer). The Mon doesn't have any borders on the Wikipedia map I'm using (meaning that they weren't a civilization at that time), but that is also true for Dacia, which I still added anyway (partly because I wanted to, partly because of conflicting sources once again), thus somehow, a Mon nation has come into existence (I'm not sure if they did or didn't exist, again, conflicting sources). Greece was supposed to have some colonies around the Black Sea, but I didn't know that and thus hadn't drawn them on previous maps. Of course, I also hadn't drawn Bithynia for example, but that's a different nation and not part of a nation which I had (partly apparently) drawn. Thus I made these colonies part of a Scythian civilization. Another source says that Scythia already had a civilization there, but seeing as everything says something else, let's say that Scythians are still barbarians dwelling in the northern parts of Asia (in Russia and south of it (more in the southwest) actually), and that a few Scythians took over the colonies and somehow became a real civilizations. Reading Wikipedia, that does seem possible. The Three Kingdoms of Scythia, as I've called it, are generally allies of the Scythian barbarians, but they tend to like and respect each other (the civilization and the tribes) less and less. The other civilizations are indifferent. All these changes are perhaps explainable by another point of difference, unknown to me, or by butterflies of course. Afrika (that is, the southern portion of it) will develop pretty much the same at the moment, Asia will have some changes (mostly because I don't know much about it, and because I want them to discover (and report it back) the new world very, very early), and Europe will be radically different (either barbarians are moving out of it (leading to semi civilized barbarian nations in the north or east) or they are absorbed by Gallios Barbaros or the Nova Imperium Romanum (which basically is a barbarian nation) and they become, over time, civilized beings. Anyway, this world map is from 168 BC.

The Decivilizing

Many (European) barbarians travelled northward, they didn't want to be absorbed by the Gallios Barbaros, which they considered a weak, soft state of civilized beings with law and order. Indeed, a mystic from a tribe in Germania wrote in his records (translated of course):

I had to urge my tribe to flee northward once again, they don't seem to recognize the danger of this ever growing plague. The madness from the south has reached our homelands, the fiercest warriors are slain by this disease, they lose their souls and spirit and become mere slaves. My contacts say that this plague has infected Iberia, and the once proud tribes in the Peninsula Roma are now loyal subjects of a great, infected tribe from over the Mare Internum. If my predictions are true, the whole world will succumb and fall before this plague, and our souls and wills will be removed. We will be nothing more than mindless subjects of this virus, forever bound in chains and slaves of others. I cannot let this happen, we will have to move, and keep moving.

But many other barbarians, living closer to Gallios Barbaros, Iberia, and the Peninsula Roma, and being able to see through their prejudices, noticed that these new nations were in fact a playground for them, there was no law and order, and the citizens either lived in fear, fled, or became a 'barbarian'. In a few years, the nations of Europa were gigantic barbarian tribes with constant warring and fighting, and the barbarians were spreading across the Mare Internum toward Afrika and Mesopotamia. Rebellions had erupted, and what once were semi-civilized lands on their way to become fully civilized lands (Iberia, the Peninsula Roma), were now completely barbaric again. The barbarians spread into Carthaginian lands, causing trouble and rebellion. While once, the barbarians (mostly those oppressed by Roma, but Carthago didn't try (much) to oppress or conquer barbarians so in the time of Roma most barbarians had been friendly to Carthago) had been friends and allies of Carthago, that seemed to be ancient history. Carthago sent its armies and soldiers to deal with the barbarians, with moderate success, and it closed its borders to most foreigners, which kept many barbarians out but caused a minor financial crisis and, most historians agree, that this is what mainly caused the rebellions in Numidia, Mauretania, and Berberia (which was part of Mauretania until the Berber tribes revolted). Of course the common citizen suported Carthago and was against the barbarians, but there always were power hungry people who took advantage of the situation, supported by some barbarians, who fought with other barbarians, who killed other people and destroyed cities ... In 163 BC, Carthago was in a (minor) financial crisis and lost a large part of its homeland due to this (and because of barbarians of course). The most important loss was Numidia, from where a good deal of Carthago's army came from. Thus, Carthago immediately sent out most of its armies, and occupied the lands. The common citizens were happy with this, but most had already fled away, and others had been killed by the barbarians. While the barbarians had no chance, now that Carthago actually fought, on its own homeland no less, and most Numidians (and generally, most citizens) joined Carthago's armies to fight the barbarians, it was much weakened by this. As has been said, it was in a financial crisis (but luckily, Carthago now didn't rely on mercenary armies but actually had a few (relatively small, but not really small) standing armies), and faced much rebellion and corruption (mostly in the areas swarmed by barbarians). Numidia, Mauretania and Berberia would become semi-autonomous (and later fully autonomous) provinces of Carthago, but besides that, the balance of power in the world had now tipped in favor of Greece. The Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Empire had fallen, and small, weak, young nations had taken their place, but Greece had only expanded its influence, greatly. And now, Carthago was weakened as well. And Philippos V had always been an opportunist ...

Forging Pacts

Meanwhile however, pacts were signed between the smaller, weaker and more vulnerable nations, because they decided that, with barbarians swarming into Carthago, and probably soon in Greece too, and with Greece probably using this chaos to claim a bit more for itself, the fragile peace had to be maintained (and above all, their independence had to be maintained). In 166 BC, Chra Ptolemey and the Kingdom of Raisch started the Ptolemaic Union. Members of this union would never declare war upon other members, and all would defend a member if war was declared upon it. Shortly after the creation of this union, the Union of Cleoptais asked whether it could join, too. It could. The United States of New Seleucia, which asked whether they could join, too, almost immediately after the Union of Cleoptais had joined, wasn't allowed to join. The Kingdom of Raisch said that a Ptolemaic Union should only contain Ptolemaic nations, and Chra Ptolemey eventually agreed with this, so it was decided that the United States of New Seleucia couldn't join. in 164 BC, this rule was changed because Nabataea wanted to join too, and while it didn't lay in former Ptolemaic lands, the Kingdom of Raisch eventually decided that every nation bordering a member nation was allowed to join. The Union of Cleoptais agreed with this, and Chra Ptolemey did so too, it was more or less neutral anyway. The United States of New Seleucia still weren't applicable to join, but they didn't want to do so any more, anyway. Half a year later, the rule was officially scrapped, but some nations still disagreed with certain nations joining because they were too far away. When the Monarchy of Gryz, the Empire of Aksyzrha, and the Kingdom of Bruis were asked to join (Zabnatru had, when the union was created, stated that it didn't want to join and that was to be expected), they all declined.
The United States of New Seleucia had always (which wasn't very long) competed with the Seleucid Federation, sometimes semi-friendly, sometimes outright hostile. Perhaps this love-hate relationship was what caused the United States of New Seleucia to create such an union with the Seleucid Federation. But besides merely protecting each other, in order to remove most concurrency between the 2 nations (they were after all by far the most powerfull Seleucid rebel nations if one overlooks the fact that many had allies theirselves with a powerfull nation (Greece and Maurya, and while Maurya wasn't that powerful any more, it was still much more powerfull than Apollodotia or Parthia)), it was decided that they would help each other in almost every aspect. After all, both nations simply were unions of many cities. Pasargadae and Persepolis were asked to join, and while they at first declined, in 165 BC they eventually joined what was known as Seleucia too. Babylonia and Sumeria, while already protecting and helping each other, decided together to join Seleucia too half a year after Pasargadae and Persepolis had done so.
Apollodotia saw these pacts, especially Seleucia, as an attempt to show off and such. Tensions were very high, but Apollodotia luckily didn't do anything stupid, besides cancelling any and all trade with Seleucia. And it laughed at a failed attempt to form a similar pact between the Arabian nations, although this was more of an economic pact than a defensive one and mainly orchestrated by the Empire of Aksyzrha to further its trade with the Arabian nations (mostly, if not only, with Nabataea and Ma'In). However, Apollodotia spent much time trying to create strong friendships with and between Greece, Bactria, South Bactriapollo, West Bactriapollo, and Etnoos Polemou. Eventually, the friendship among these six nations was very strong (although none really was sure about Greece), and something like a (very) cold war was waged between Apollodotia (and its friends, but Apollodotia was the unofficial leader of this unofficial, if it even existed, alliance (but mainly because Greece didn't really want to)) and Seleucia (the alliance), and to a (slightly) lesser extent, Maurya.

Basileos Perseos

Philippos V had long since thought of the idea of invading Carthago, the only superpower besides Greece. Recently, Carthago had become weaker and weaker, losing its territories north of the Mare Internum, and even losing the eastern half of its homeland to barbarians. Indeed, while the areas we know know as Numidia, Mauretania, and Berberia were occupied (and still controlled by) Carthago, it was a strain on Carthago's finances, and coupled with a minor civil war and the seeminly unstoppable barbarian invasions (well, easily stoppable, but more always rose to take the place of their fallen comrades), Carthago decided to grant these 'new nations' semi-independence. That is, Carthago still was their leader, their boss, but they could govern themselves to some extent. Carthago likely planned on taking these areas back sometime in the near future, but this wasn't the right time. Carthago could very well have splintered in city states or something like that. And besides that, Carthago probably knew of Philippos V's ambitions. But Philippos V had only just made the decision of invading Carthago, instead of Bithynia and Galatia (and most likely Pontus and Cappadocia too (basically, unifying Anatolia)), when he died in 166 BC. His son, Perseus, the new king (and do note that, in Greece, a son of the former king wouldn't necessarily be the new king), was liked by Carthago because of his anti-Roma stance (and he also was against the Nova Imperium Romanum, which Carthago liked too). That, and the fact that Perseus liked Carthago too because they destroyed Roma, spared Carthago from a war which would probably be fatal to them. Instead, Perseus (who was only a bit less ambitius than his father, in fact, he had caused the death of his brother, supposedly because of his pro-Roma attitude, which most likely is just an excuse to (inderectly) murder his older brother so that he (Perseus) would become the new king), became the new king. And Perseus decided to take over Bithynia, Galatia, Pontus, and Cappadocia.
In 65 BC, not even a year after Perseus became the king of Greece, the invasion commenced. Greece was a very stable nation, combining the qualities of its subjects both domestically and militarily, and as such, its armies (of which it had the most of the world (known by Greece, for we can't be sure if they had more armies than, for example, what we know as China)) were superior to anyone else's. This allowed for an easy conquest of Bithynia and Galatia, under the guise that they had once been part of Greece, and should be so again. A few days after the quick and easy conquest was over (still in the same year), Greece invaded Pontus and Cappadocia. They said that Pontus and Cappadocia were helping rebels in Bithynia and Galatia, and while that could be true, most knew it simply was an excuse to conquer Pontus and Cappadocia. And conquer they did.
Most likely, Perseus wanted to continue advancing eastward, but by that time (165 BC), the Ptolemaic Union (including the Union of Cleoptais), the Seleucid Federation, the United States of New Seleucia, Babylonia, and Sumeria decided to all declare war on Greece if they continued conquering these nations. The Ptolemaic Union was created to maintain peace (although (perhaps only) in the former Ptolemaic lands), and while the Kingdom of Raisch didn't care whether Greece invaded others or not, Chra Ptolemey, and more so, the Union of Cleoptais, did. The Seleucid Federation, influenced by Babylonia, and to a lesser extent, Sumeria (who both wanted a peaceful world without war or oppression, and were (very highly) strangely modern in their ideologies), also decided that they should stop Greece, but only because it already was the biggest and best superpower, and they didn't want it to become even bigger and even better. When the United States of New Seleucia heard of this, they, instead of backing Greece (after all, the Seleucid Federation and the United States of New Seleucia had a love-hate relation), decided to join the Seleucid Federation in stopping Greece. It is perhaps this that prompted the creation of Seleucia (the union, not the city which of course had already existed for some time). The Ptolemaic Union heard of this, and together, these seven nations sent an emissary (one for each nation) to Greece, who grudgingly declared it would stop conquering eastward. But they could still conquer Carthago. Greece started influencing Apollodotia, Bactria, Bactriapollo, South Bactriapollo, and West Bactriapollo more and more, but they refused to declare war on the Seleucid Federation or the United States of New Seleucia. Greece even supported some rebels and such in the borderlands between the six nations mentioned above and the other two nations mentioned above, but to no avail. In the few years of the existence of Babylonia and Sumeria, its influence was felt and (a tiny part of) the world was becoming slightly more 'modern' (meaning, war is bad, peace is good). But that didn't stop Perseus from waging the war his father wanted to wage, only now, Carthago was in a better position to prevail.

The Carthago-Makedonia War

A Carthaginian coined the term based on the Carthago-Makedonia treaty, and it stuck, but the name of the war isn't correct (Makedonia had long since united Greece, and more, and as such, Makedonia didn't exist as a nation any more (although some (very few) referred to Greece as Makedonia)). Anyway, only in 161 BC did Perseus declare war. It is said that he didn't really want to declare war against 'his friends' (Carthago), but with Carthago out of the way, Greece would dominate the world as it had done centuries before under Aleksandros Magnos (Alexander the Great), and that he (Perseus) should think first of what would benefit Greece and of what would benefit himself secondly. With Greece, Greco-Seleucia also declared war on Carthago.
He immediately took over much of the coastal regions of Carthago (the fleet (of Greece) had already (nearly) reached the coast of Carthago before war was declared, and as such, Carthago's own fleet was either trapped (and destroyed) in the docks, or too far away to react), and fortified his positions there, awaiting the inevitable counterattack. It may be a bit strange that Carthago actually let the armies of Greece build such fortifications, but on the other hand, there were so many of them, and the armies of Carthago were busy elsewhere. Before actually declaring war, Perseus had started supporting the barbarians in Numidia, Mauretania and Berberia to rise up against the occupying armies. Note that Carthago didn't really occupy the area any more, but instead, kept a closer watch on it than on other parts of its lands. The barbarians were more of a nuisance than a threat, now that Carthago had been forced to become increasingly more militarized, but they were a nuisance none the less. Perseus also contacted the Iberian Union and the Hispanion Union, and while they both didn't really care for the few Carthaginian areas on Iberia any more before Perseus contacted them, they now quickly decided that they still cared very much, and attacked immediately. With much success, for they managed to drive Carthago out of Iberia (but we have to remember that Carthago only had a token force in its Iberian lands). Finally, Perseus contacted (parts of) the Nova Imperium Romanum (which was a hard task, for it lacked a true government, and instead, consisted of large city states with fortresses and armies ruling over the lands around them, occasionally waging war against their neighbourhoods, and as such, was only officially united in the Nova Imperium Romanum), and most (but not all) of those parts of the Nova Imperium Romanum decided to see if they could help Greece a bit. The only problem was that most had no ships (or only one or two). Perseus found it to be too much of a hassle (it was very doubtful (in fact, very unlikely) whether the warring city states of the Nova Imperium Romanum would actually cooperate and launch an invasion anyway) and as such, the Nova Imperium Romanum never participated in the war and continued waging war with theirselves.
Carthago was cut off from the coast, and large quantities of soldiers of Greece were heavily fortified on its borders. Further, the territories in Iberia were essentially lost, the few soldiers there were quite capable of handling random enemies, but not a concentrated attack of both Iberian (referring to the nation (in Iberia) and not the continent) and Hispanion people. The few islands Carthago controlled were also quickly taken over by Greece. The Ptolemaic Union or Seleucia didn't try to stop Greece, although both Babylonia and Sumeria tried multiple times to convince both the Ptolemaic Union and Seleucia that they should (try to) stop the war. Luckily, Carthago had done (well, it was more or less forced to do) more and more to increase its military and the effectiveness of it over the years. As such, Carthago had, compared to the size of the nation, a very large and capable army. It didn't attack the huge amount of heavily fortified soldiers on its coasts however, it first marched toward Numidia, Berberia and Mauretania with most of its armies. It was a giant massacre, cities were burned, and anyone who even looked wrong was killed. But the result was, that most barbarians (along with most of the civilians still living there) were dead. It would take many years to rebuild the whole area, and Carthago would grant these areas full independence after the war (but only officially, because Carthago demanded that Numidia, Berberia, and Mauretania would forever stay loyal to Carthago and always favor Carthago over others, to which the three nations didn't object (much)). While there was much resent to Carthago, for completely exterminating large swathes of land, eventually, most were overall happy that Carthago had stopped the seemingly invincible swarm of migrating barbarians, causing death and destruction in their way (although recently, some speculate that the whole 'invincible barbarian horde' is a bit exaggerated, others oppose this and say it isn't exaggerated in the slightest). Carthago positioned a few well trained armies to stop barbarian migration into its (Carthago's) homeland, and the rest marched backward. The soldiers of Greece, realizing that most of Carthago's armies were gone for the time being, decided to advance farther inward (of course, some stayed behind to guard the fortifications), and most of the time managed to overpower the Carthaginian armies due to sheer numbers. But Greece wasn't a nation to advance aimlessy, and the soldiers built forts and such wherever they went, and of course left a garrisoning force behind.
Meanwhile, somehow, the Carthaginian warships on open water linked up and managed to intercept a few ships (of Greece) loaded with supplies for the soldiers (and perhaps additional soldiers). In response, Perseus sent forth a large part of his fleet to deal with the few remaining Carthaginian ships. But the few ships of Carthago were more agile than the large fleet of Greece, and managed to evade it and meanwhile even intercept some more ships. Realizing this, Perseus decided to block off as much of the (western) coast of Carthago as possible. But the few ships of Carthago had their own problems, they were danegrously low on food and such, and while they had secretly raided a few coastal settlements already, that only was a short term solution. As such, the few ships were forced to dock somewhere to get supplies, and that somewhere was the Kingdom of Bruis. They continued to evade the ships of Greece patrolling the seas, and contacted a ship of the Kingdom of Bruis. They explained their situation, and begged for help. Their luck continued on, as they were escorted to the coast. The Kingdom of Bruis however, didn't want to help the Carthaginian ships for nothing. They wanted a part of the spoils of war, in other words, conquered territories, valuable things, and all that. Even if Carthago lost the war, the Kingdom of Bruis wanted something. The few ships of course had no authority and couldn't decide on such matters, but they agreed anyway, and they went away to (try to) intercept more ships of Greece, a hard task, but so far, their luck had held out.
Greece had now more or less control over the (extreme) eastern parts of Carthago, and it controlled most of the coast too, as well as some areas farther inward. While they had invaded pretty much all of Carthago (although mostly the eastern parts), because Carthago now controlled the extreme western parts of its empire again, including the coasts, and of course the southern parts of its empire, and because somehow, the small Carthaginian fleet managed to continuously intercept a few supply ships of Greece, Greece now sent most of its supply ships toward the province of Makedos, mostly following the coastline, and as such, the war was now mostly the western parts of Carthago versus the eastern parts of Carthago. The blockade of the coasts of Carthago was now a lackluster performace, and more and more ships sailed more and more eastward (or northward to Greece). The Carthaginian fleet noticed this, and as such sailed northward and then westward in an attempt to avoid the ships of Greece and reach a Carthaginian harbor, in which it succeeded.
In the east, tensions were raising. Apollodotia, the other nations affiliated with it (Bactria, Etnoos Polemou, South Bactriapollo, and West Bactriapollo), and Greco-Seleucia began upgrading their armies, making them larger and better, possibly with some help of Greece. In response, Parthia and its affiliated nations did the same, and as such, Seleucia (the pact) demanded that they stopped and both nations (the Seleucid Federation and the United States of New Seleucia) began upgrading their armies too, and they even created a combined army. Babylonia and Sumeria asked for protection, mainly by asking whether they could join Seleucia, which they did. The Mauryan Empire demanded that they all stopped this or face war, fortified its borders, and sent large amounts of soldiers to Gedrosia (along with weaponry and all that for Gedrosia). The situation was quickly spiralling out of control, with Greece now openly supporting Apollodotia, its affiliated nations, and Greco-Seleucia. And most nations now had a larger army than allowed (although everyone (with the possible exception of Sumeria and Babylonia) had ignored the stupid restriction). Southward, the Kingdom of Bruis was improving its armies too, as were the Empire of Aksyzrha and Zabnatru (the Monarchy of Gryz was confident in its superior armies, and the members of the Ptolemaic Union counted on each other to help them). There was a small conflict concering the Nile (the Kingdom of Raisch decided that it needed more water) which was solved without bloodshed, and besides that, the situation was quite peaceful in former Ptolemaic Afrika. The Monarchy of Gryz even opted to join the Ptolemaic Union (which it did). Some say there are two 'factions' in the Ptolemaic Union, the Kingdom of Raisch with the Monarchy of Gryz, and Chra Ptolemey with the Union of Cleoptais.

Governments

Carthago has become more and more militarized, and isn't the trade empire it has once been any more. The council and the suffets control the nation (with the consent of the people), while the Barca family deals with the military aspects. However, with the increasing need of a good military, only those (including those not related to the Barca family) that have proven theirselves to be capable generals and the likes are allowed to do so.
Greece is a mix of all kinds of things, and is slowly becoming a more modern democracy. In various areas are various forms of governments, in fact, many forms of governments originate from Greece. Yet democracies of this time are different from democracies of our time, for instance, we consider things like freedom, equality, independence, and 'power to the people' (people vote and all that, the word democracy comes from 'demos' which means people and 'kratos' which means power) to all be interlinked, yet in this time (even in 'our world'), these concepts weren't interlinked and while people of some areas perhaps were equal, they perhaps had no independence. Greece has a king, and the rest varies per area.
In the Union of Cleoptais, people vote, are free, and are becoming more equal (there isn't yet universal suffrage or things like that though). Chra Ptolemey is pretty much the same, although the king isn't much more than a ceremonial figurehead, but badmouthing the king is an offense. The Kingdom of Raisch is an actual monarchy, although its people vote, the king has the final say (in theory, in practice, the people have the power (most of the time)). The Monarchy of Gryz is much like the Kingdom of Raisch, as is the Kingdom of Bruis. The Empire of Aksyzrha is a constitutional monarchy, there is less equality, and the more wealth one has, the more powerful he is. As such, traders and such are highly respected (and wealthy) people, and have much power (de facto). Zabnatru is a monarchy where the king rules all in theory, because the whole government (which is very extensive) has the most power and there is (nearly always) an internal struggle for more power. It is very isolationistic, none can enter or leave without the governments consent, and nothing happens without the government knowing it. It also has a state religion, Zhaitong, but citizens are allowed to practice other religions (for a price).

This, along with the previous section, will of course, be continued.

Verba volant, scripta manent

Today, Latin is still used by some, as is Phoenician. The reason for the survival of Latin is that Carthago kept Romanum as it was, besides razing Roma and killing any rebels (and failing hard at that). Slowly, Latin became mixed with Phoenician and barbaric languages, and became what is now known as Lacian, but true Latin spread to Greece or even various barbarians. Indeed, many Romans fled out of fear after Hannibal had razed Roma. They fled to Greece, and some few to barbaric tribes, claiming that the Carthaginians were even more barbaric for they had razed Roma. Greece was at that time still divided, and besides Makedonia and anyone in its influence sphere, no one rejected the Romans. A few years later, when Greece was united, much larger, and ruled by Philippos V of Makedonia, Roman citizens were only slightly more than slaves, and those who could flee did so, mainly to the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Empire. Philippos V did this mainly to improve relations with Carthago (although they were already friendly toward each other), but Carthago didn't really like the prosecution of all Romans. Latin, however, was preserved, and even studied and spoken by the upper class of the people. And the Gauls and other barbaric tribes had similar grammar which helped, too. A different version of Phoenician is still spoken, mainly in Carthago, and became, like Latin, some sort of romanticized language which was studied and would be spoken by the upper class of various nations. Today, however, true Latin isn't an official language of any country, but Phoenician is (of Carthago, but it has changed over the years). Europa speaks a combination of Latin, Phoenician, Norse, and barbaric dialects. Every nation has a different language.