The Autokpatopia: A Greek Epic

Sing to me, muse, of a journey— a journey through time— that
journey of the Greeks, led by the clever king, Pericles.
Sing to me of the empire they built with
the favor of the gods, one meant to last the test of time.
Sing, goddess, sing of the perils and the wrath
of the gods they endured, but how they will inevitably succeed.

But now, far from success stand the Greeks, their armies at the edge
of dismal failure. Despite the mechanical gifts of Hephaestus
combined with the rage of Ares in the form of a great
machine of power, the armies of Achaea and their colonies, once
pounding through the lands of the Soviet Bear, faced the
displeasure of the gods; inspired counterattacks, combined with
the harsh, freezing winter, took their toll on the first massive army sent
to attack; worst of all, right outside of the one capture
needed to truly end the war—that of Moscow, the capital.
While reinforcements were on the way, they were not to be here
until Apollo’s chariot chased through the winter into the spring.

Indeed—Achaea’s most powerful division, Pericles’ vanguard,
stood on the brink of defeat, surrounded by Russian infantry
spurred on by Ares’ maddened desire for battle.
While clever Pericles still possessed a few tanks,
the number of them dwindled quickly,
especially with the aim of the Soviet infantry that
Apollo had gifted them. Lighting boomed in the distance as Zeus showed
his favor towards the Achaeans, but even he was unable to interfere,
not when Poseidon fought him up in the heavens.
Artillery shells roared in the distance as war continued.

Another tank sputtered and died as a rifle shot—
spurred on by Apollo’s grace, punched through the
hard exoskeleton and destroyed the internal systems. That made
the number of tanks decrease to a mere 4; not enough
for survival in combat, much less victory.
The remaining vanguards formed a circle
around the last few tanks as the enemy soldiers moved in.

This was not the first time that the clever king had dealt with near-defeat--
he had beaten the Persians, beaten the Romans while on
the brink of the loss of his entire army, he had beaten the barbarian hordes,
he had beaten the Turks, he had beaten the Egyptians, he had destroyed
the civilizations of the New World, and he had beaten the new Persian government,
now to lose to the Soviets. He would need to think
of some winning stratagem to get out of this situation,
one as clever or more clever than the one he had annihilated the Romans with.
If Athena was on their side, they might just survive.

An explosion of shrapnel shook the very ground as
another tank was blown up by a perfectly placed shot-- Apollo’s
destructive whim. “Three left,” great Pericles said with worry,
“what is left to be done?” A massive bolt of lightning struck
just a few feet away from the back of the Soviet line, blinding
all and Pericles with a flash of inspiration. Another bolt of lightning and
an artificial flash-- one of Hephaestus’ toys, but one of Pericles’ tools
whitened out the scene for a good several minutes, as Pericles spoke the
Aztec commands for “follow me!” and “secret hiding place!”. Greek was
not the code language; too many knew that language for the commands to
be secret.

Several minutes later, the remainder of what was Pericles’ vanguard lay
in a Soviet sewer underneath Moscow. How the gods let him survive, Pericles
did not know, but they were safe for the time being. After the clever king set
clear-sighted Lannithes on sentry duty, he lit a fire with another one of Hephaestus’
tools, a lighter that caused a firepit to appear wherever it was lit
for a larger fire. Seeing the boredom, one of Pericles’ soldiers, creative Philimedes,
said “we have a great abundance of time. With the passing of the new moon,
there is no great event, and thus there is boredom; as is the same with
time. To pass the time, something very long yet interesting must be told. Perhaps
our history, from the very beginning, told by somebody there from
the beginning, would be best at telling it?”

“The pleasure would be mine,” answered the clever king Pericles,
“but the entire history will be as a lion is; the time will pass like the beast suns
itself, yet when it is in action, it is exciting and dangerous. Come and listen…”​

Book 1, Part 2: Beginnings
The farthest back my immortal memory serves me is
when we stood by the olive tree. Athena had shown it to us as
a sign to build a great city there. However, Poseidon, not to be defeated
by his nemesis, gave us the even greater gift of showing a better spot.
Thus Korinthos was founded, and like a firstborn son, it was
the oldest, the strongest, full of power and the center of
its younger siblings' respect. Yet it also had the weaknesses of such,
it was scorned upon by the gods, always expected to be the strongest, never
given extra attention. Yet Korinthos thrived on this, and would become
among the greatest cities.



Korinthos' younger brother was that of Ilion, the second city founded. It was
truly the younger brother, as it was growing and full of potential, as it was blessed
by Demeter's abundant amount of food, and the angry Athena saw its future potential,
yet at that moment, it was weak, unable to produce much, but still, it received more
attention and favor from the gods. These foundings were the actions of men,
but their success was due to the gods.



Greece was not alone in the young and growing world, as
Egypt and Babylonia, older actors on the world stage, quickly came
into contact with Greece. However, Greece was welcomed with favor by
both.



Meanwhile, I sent a party of warriors with Hermes' favor to
explore the surrounding land, see its potential. Primitive villages welcomed
them with gold and other favors as the warriors continued to explore.





As the warriors explored, fishing became a priority for both cities, as
expeditions were sent out, and Poseidon's blessings showed them
the best spots, where the most food was brought back to the cities.



Another new civilization coalesced on the coast of Phoenicia; however,
like Greece, they looked forward, not back, and would settle farther west
in the Mediterranean, surely, they had Poseidon's greatest favor. The
gods also taught us the essential knowledge of Masonry, which
was given back to the gods in the form of the erection of great monuments
in their honor.




Hephaestus gave an instrumental blessing to the explorers, as one
village blessed by him taught the rare and tricky secrets of Iron Working to
them. This let us jump ahead of all others in the Mediterranean, and paved
our path to dominance.


This goody hut event was absurd. It literally sped up my old Greece strategy by 20 turns and was instrumental to my success in this game. I'm not saying that this strategy is impossible without the goody hut, it's just that the hut sped it up and made it much easier.