Rise and glory of ancient empires - Factions

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Civilizations
All the factions in the game, including the barbarians, are included in an ethnic group called Civilization. Each Civilization has its own building design, its 3 unique units and its 2 special bonusess. There are 10 Civilizations in the game:

Factions
There are 1 Imperial and 4 Great Campaigns. Playable factions are written in bold, and are playable both in Campaign and Custom Battle modes. Non-bold factions are unplayable.

Great Campaign: The Great Pharaoh

 * Lower Egypt
 * Upper Egypt
 * Lower Nubia
 * Kush
 * Northern Meshwesh
 * Southern Meshwesh
 * Itthiophagi
 * Lybia
 * Nasamona
 * Troglodytae
 * Minaea
 * Gebelians
 * Judaea
 * Gaza
 * Qedari
 * Temanites
 * Midianites

Great Campaign: The Anatolian Throne

 * Hittites
 * Lukka
 * Arzawa
 * Milawanda
 * Ishuwa
 * Pala
 * Mitanni
 * Kilistepe
 * Karkemish
 * Kaska
 * Kizzuwatna
 * Konya
 * Thrace
 * Zagora
 * Sardes
 * Sarhoyuk
 * Arinna
 * Yalburt
 * Ugarit
 * Melid

Great Campaign: The Land of the Two Rivers

 * Ur
 * Lagash
 * Babylon
 * Akkad
 * Elam
 * Guti
 * Assyria
 * Kassites
 * Medes
 * Eastern Cimmerians
 * Urartu
 * Ishuwa
 * Yahmadi
 * Kizzuwatna
 * Temanites
 * Chaldeans
 * Amorrites
 * Mari
 * Lullubi

Great Campaign: The Levantine War

 * Lower Egypt
 * Hittites
 * Lukka
 * Mitanni
 * Kizzutawna
 * Yamhadi
 * Tyre
 * Byblos
 * Gaza
 * Judaea
 * Jebelians
 * Edom
 * Hamath
 * Israel
 * Ugarit
 * Amorrites
 * Ammon
 * Temanites

Playable Factions
The Playable Factions in game are seen in bold inside the tabel of the Great Campaign Faction List, while cursive are DLC factions (or rather FreeLC). Each of them not only belongs to a specific Civilization / Ethnic Group, but also has a special power and 2 more unique units, plus a specific victory condition (player can always change a victory condition before starting a new game).

Arzawa


Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Hittites / Hatti


Biography:

Special Victory Condition: Conquer all the cities situated in Levant. Destroy the following factions: Ugarit, Mitanni, Lower Egypt.

Minoa / Crete (DLC)


Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Lower Egypt
''It is said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, so the life of a civilization begins with a tribe. ''

Biography: ''Egypt is one of the world's oldest civilizations. The Early Dynastic èeropd dates from 3100 BCE circa. Originally divided into Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, they were eventually united under Menes of Upper Egypt.''

Some of Lower Egypt major cities were Alexandria (home of the famous Library and Lighthouse, great Wonders of the world), Rosetta (where Napoleon, emperor of France, after conquering Egypt in 1798, found the famous Stele), Cairo (modern capital of the Egyptian Republic), Memphis (founded by Menes), Giza (where the famous Pyramids and Sphinx were built in 2500 BC circa), Bubastis (patron city of the cat Goddess Bastet), Heliopolis (patron city of the sun falcon God Ra) and Herakleopolis (capital of Lower Egypt in the First Intermediate Period).

During the Second Intermediate Period, 

Special Victory Condition: Destroy the following factions: Upper Egypt, Lower Nubia. Build the following Wonders: Great Pyramid and Sphinx.

Upper Egypt


Biography: ''Egypt is one of the world's oldest civilizations. The Early Dynastic èeropd dates from 3100 BCE circa. Originally divided into Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, they were eventually united under Menes of Upper Egypt.''

Special Victory Condition: Destroy the following factions: Lower Egypt, Lower Nubia. Build the following Wonders: Great Pyramid and Sphinx.

Lower Nubia
Biography:

Special Victory Condition: Destroy the following factions: Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, Kush. Build the following Wonder: Abu Simbel.

Kush
Biography:

Special Victory Condition: Destroy the following factions: Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, Lower Nubia. Build the following Wonder: Abu Simbel.

Lybia (DLC)
Biography: ''Lybia takes its name from the Libu tribe. It's unclear for certain where they originated, though it may have been in the western region of Lybia. The Libu are characterized by fair skin, red hair and blue eyes.''

Special Victory Condition: Destroy the

Israel
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Mitanni


Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Ugarit
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Ur
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Lagash
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Assyria


Biography: ''Lord Byron began his poem The Destruction of Sennacherib with The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold. At the height of their power, the Assyrians were very much like a wolf among sheep, although their reputation is enhanced by several references to them in the Old Testament and by the extensive battle scenes that were found on their ruins. For a period they rose to the challenge of being surrounded by enemies and became the most powerful military force in the known world. Their legendary barbarity and fierceness was a deliberate policy intended to foster the submission of enemies and minimize the threat of revolt by vassals.''

''Assyria was located in northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) along the Tigris River. It was settled after Sumer to the south but was dominated by the Sumerians both culturally and politically during its early history.''

''The capital of Assyria was Ashur for most of its existence, but moved to other sites when kings built new palaces. Other important cities and capitals in the Assyrian homeland were Nineveh, Arbela, Khorsabad, and Nimrud.''

''Around 2000 BC Assyria was invaded by Semitic barbarians called the Amorites. By 1800 BC an Amorite king of theA ssyrians had established control over most of northern Mesopotamia. Their power was short-lived in this period, however, due first to the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi and then the rise of the Mitanni in modern Syria. The period 1363 to 1000 BC was the Middle Assyrian Empire. Several strong kings first reasserted Assyrian independence and then began encroaching on neighboring empires. The Assyrians avoided destruction during the catastrophe of 1200 BC, perhaps because they were already embracing the new military tactics and weapons that the older kingdoms were not. In the political vacuum of the ancient dark age, the Assyrians prospered. By 1076 BC Tiglathpileser I had reached the Mediterranean to the west. The New Assyrian Empire, 1000 to 600 BC, was the peak of their conquests. Their empire stretched from the head of the Persian Gulf, around the Fertile Crescent through Damascus, Phoenicia, Palestine, and into Egypt as far south as Thebes. Their northwestern border was the Taurus Mountains of modern Turkey. Other than the vestiges of what had once been the Minoan (Crete), Mycenean (Greece), and Hittite (Turkey) cultures, all areas of pre-catastrophe civilization in the West were ruled by Assyria.''

''The brutal policies of subjugation and exorbitant demands for tribute and taxes made the Assyrians unpopular masters. Despite the ferocity of their reprisals, vassal states continually revolted given an opportunity. Weaker kings were unable to hold the empire together in the face of internal and external pressure. In 612 BC the capital at Nineveh fell to a coalition of Babylonians and Medes. The Babylonians were in revolt (Babylon had been sacked in 648 BC) and the Medes (from modern western Iran) were seeking retribution for past Assyrian invasions of their lands. The last Assyrian army was defeated soon thereafter by the same coalition, when allied with the Egyptians, in 605 BC at Carchemish, and the Assyrians as a separate culture disappeared from the world’s stage.''

Intro:

As a member of the Assyrian ethnic group, the Assyrians can recruit the Sha Qurbute Spearmen,. Howerer, they can also recruit Ashur Milizians and Niniveh Champions.

Special Victory Condition:

Babylon


Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Akkad
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Chaldeans (DLC)
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Guti (DLC)
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Temanites (DLC)
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Urartu
Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Skythia (DLC)
Biography: ''Early Skythians were descendants of the Srubnaya. Between the 2nd millennium BCE and the 7th century BCE, the Skythians advanced in waves from the steppes and into the northern area of the Black Sea, assimilating the local Cimmerians.''

''This led to a prosperity from the 6th to the 3rd century BCE. During this "Golden Age" of theirs, they were attacked by Darius I of Persia, through not very successfully, in 520 BCE.''

After absorbing much of the Greek culture towards 350 BCE, the Skythians were conquered by the Sarmatians in 300 BC. As a consequence, some Scythians tribes migrated to Bactria, Sogdiana and Arachosia between 200 BCE and 100 BCE.

Special Victory Condition:

Persia
Biography: ''Until the 6th century BCE, the Persians were a people shroud in mistery. Living around the area east to the Mesopotamian region, they were a disparate group of Indo-European tribes, developing their own culture and religion - the Zoroastrism.''

''Under the rule of Cyrus II, the Persians founded their empire by conquering Babylon. The empire then stretched to the whole Levant, Egypt and Anatolia and then to the borders of modern India.''

''Howerer, after losing two wars against the Greek city states, the Persians were finally conquered by the Macedonian empire around 332 BCE, under Alexander the Great. Persian legacy continued Persian culture, such as Seleucids, Parthians and Sasanids.''

Elam


Biography:

Special Victory Condition:

Barbarians
Of course, along with those factions, there are also barbarian hordes, belonging to civilizations as well. There are various types of barbarians, ranging from "friendly", which will integrate as citizens (and even as mercenary troops), to the famigerate "Sea Peoples", divided in various hordes as the real story concerns.


 * "Friendly" barbarians:
 * Hyksos: from Caananite regions, in modern Phoenicia/Lebanon, and thus belonging to the Syrian civilization/ethnic group. They appear around the turns set in 1800 BC. Their integration enhances all of your heavy cavalry and chariots troops. They'll most likely travel through Lebanon and Sinai, and then the Delta of the Nile. Unless the player's military is very organized, both in attacking and defences, it is best NOT attack these people, since is attacked, they will try and attack the cities with the lowest defensive power.
 * Punt: from Ethiopia and Somalia, thus belonging to the Nubian ethnic group. They appear around 2500 BC. They're the only barbarians that instead of attacking they'll just try to trade with you, sometimes presenting the finest offers in game, for example generals. Integrating them will grant a very slow but costant economic growth. Playing a game as a faction situated in Egypt (Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Lower Nubia and Kush) will have Punt advantages guaranteed at the best.
 * Standard barbarians:
 * Philisteans: from modern Israel, they appear in 1800 BC. Factions as Israel and Judaea will easily enter in conflict with them. They belong to the Tribal ethnic group.
 * Aruba: from Sinai peninsula, appear at the beginning of the game. May enter in conflict with the Jebelians but rarely win against them, as they send small hordes against them. They belong to the Nubian etnhnic group.
 * Sea Peoples:
 * Denyen: the Danaoi, belonging from Greece, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Ekhwesh: the Achaeans, belonging from Greece, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Lukka: the Lycian, belonging from southern Anatolia, Hittie ethnic group.
 * Peleset: the Philistines, from Crete, appearing in Palestine and Israel, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Shekelesh: the Siculi, from Sicilia, Italy, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Shardana: the Sardis, from Sardinia, Italy, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Teresh: the Tyrrenians, ancestors of the Etruscans, Italy, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Tjeker: the Sikil, the Greek Teucrians, Tribal ethnic group.
 * Weshesh: probably Wilusa, maybe Troy, Hittite ethnic group.\