Alternative History
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King Grios, born Grios Manius (137 BCE - 95 BCE), was most notably the second King of the Kingdom of Cycae, and led to the downfall of his country. He was also a casarche and a general of the Green tribe.


Early Life[]

Grios Manius was born in 137 BCE somewhere in the Green tribal lands. He was raised by a family of merchants. At the age of 13, he joined the military, quickly earning prestige in local wars. In 118 BCE (at age 19) Grios was awarded a small fief in northeastern Sicily. Eventually this became a casare, making Grios a casarche.


Military Career[]

In 112 BCE, Grios resigned from casarche and joined the military again. At that point in time, the army was undergoing a modernization process. Grios believed that King Palermos was preparing for war, and he wanted to be part of the action. He was quickly promoted to general, controlling one-fifth of the army at peak.


Grios as King[]

In 111 BCE, King Palermos died of a stroke. Grios believed that it was his turn to be king, and to continue the buildup to war that Palermos wanted, despite the fact that Palermos was not planning on any war.


Grios ran a quick campaign that proved effective. Grios received 31% of the votes, and since there were 8 candidates, he won the election and was sworn onto the throne. He picked up where King Palermos left off-building the army. As time went on, more and more government money was put into military spending.


Grios was also a supporter of spreading Sican influence. In 103 BCE, he sponsored colonization of Malta and Libya. This enraged the Romans, and this is exactly what Grios wanted.


The War and his Death[]

The colonization under King Grios sparked the King Grios War. In 98 BCE, war between Rome and Cycae had begun. King Grios immediately assumed command of the military and led an attack on Neapolis. He also defended his territory in Africa from Roman invasion.


But the Romans were better equipped, and in 95 BCE, Syracuse fell to the Romans and was burned. King Grios died in the burning. King Grios fell along with the Kingdom of Cycae. Two years later, the Sican Diaspora officially marked the war's end.


Even though King Grios is responsible for the fall of the country, he is strangely seen as a hero by the Sicans.

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