ARENA Cynane
Introduction
A fearless warrior princess and Alexander the Great's half-sister, Cynane is a force to be reckoned with. In ARENA, she moves with considerable speeds, attacking quickly and relentlessly.
History
Cynane (c. 357- 323 BCE) was an Illyrian/Macedonian warrior princess famous for her skill in battle and refusal to be daunted by the will of men. She was the daughter of the Illyrian Princess Audata and King Philip II of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father) making her Alexander's half-sister. Audata, one of Philip's seven wives, was not interested in raising a daughter who would meekly submit to the whims of men and so trained Cynane in the Illyrian tradition, teaching her martial arts and to ride, hunt, track, and fight as well as any man and better than most.
Still, when Cynane came of age she was married to her cousin Amyntas in a politically arranged marriage and bore him a daughter, Adea. After Philip II was assassinated in 336 BCE she encouraged Amyntas to seize the throne but he spurned the advice of his wife and took no action. When Alexander the Great took the throne of his father he had Amyntas killed, recognizing that his half-sister might try for a power play.
Alexander tried to further neutralize his half-sister's threat by marrying her off to Langarus, King of the Agrianians, but the groom mysteriously fell ill and died before the wedding could be arranged. However she was able to manipulate the situation, Cynane fended off any other offers of marriage and would remain single for the rest of her life.
When Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE Cynane saw an opportunity to finally seize power. Although she was only in her early thirties at the time and could have offered herself as a bride to Alexander's successor, she chose to raise her daughter up instead when Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus succeeded him. Taking the name Philip III, Arrhidaeus was only a pawn in the hands of the regent Perdiccas, Alexander's right-hand man in the cavalry, and four other generals of Alexander's (known as the Diadochi, `the successors') who now assumed control of the army.
Arrhideaeus was with Alexander in Babylon when the latter died and Cynane, hearing this, gathered Adea and an armed entourage and set out to find the new king and force him to marry her daughter. If successful, Cynane would be able to seize absolute power through her daughter and, as a daughter of Philip II and Alexander's half-sister, command the loyalty of Alexander's great army.
One of Alexander's generals, Antipater, led his army against Cynane in Strymon where she defeated him through superior tactics and continued on her way toward Babylon. Perdiccas, now certain of Cynane's success should she reach Arrhidaeus, sent another force to stop her. This army of Macedonians was led by Perdiccas' brother Alcetas, a man of Cynane's own age, who had been a companion of hers at court when they were young. Perdiccas was sure that, faced with the advance of a large army led by her old friend, Cynane would falter and make some mistake which would lead to victory for Alcetus.
When the two armies met, however, Cynane boldly confronted Alcetus and "delivered a stinging reproach of his ingratitude and disloyalty" before going on to lecture his generals and the army en masse from the back of her horse. Confident in her ability to persuade and turn Alcetus and his men, Cynane underestimated how far he was willing to go to keep Perdiccas and the others in power; before she could complete her speech Alcetus killed her.
Clearly, Alcetus thought, Cynane's death would end any questions about succession and his brother and the other generals could rest easy - but he could not have been more wrong. When the Macedonian army witnessed Cynane's death at the hands of their general they revolted and demanded that Philip II's granddaughter, Adea, be married to Arrhidaeus in accordance with Cynane's wishes; and so she won after all, even in death.
Abilities
BARRAGE: Lightning fast reloads for archer infantry and cavalry.
SLAUGHTER: Damage downed enemies.
SHOCK: An intensity driven melee and missile cavalry charge.
HUNT: Allows missle infantry and cavalry units to mark and track an enemy unit.