Knossos

The campaign brief

What do people think of when they hear the word Crete? If they do not think of our famous and skilled Cretan archers, it must be Minos. Our legendary king once ruled all of Crete and the tales of the legendary Minotaur himself are known to almost every man. Minos had a fleet so vast that it dominated the Aegean islands and made Athens pay tribute to him. Glorious days for our Crete! We are blessed to have the ruins of the massive palace of Knossos in our city – a palace so vast and complex that it brings admiration to all of us. Some even say that Daidalos built the labyrinth underneath this place. We don't want to rebuild this palace, not because it requires large funds, labour, or even knowledge from the gods that is lost to us, but mostly because we do not want to anger the gods or any ancestor spirits that might lie there… Therefore, we want to preserve this holy place to remind us of our days of glory and our history. Since we respect the gods and our heritage, people keep coming to our island.

We used to fight each other for control of Crete and remained neutral in massive wars like the legendary one between Sparta and Athens. But, at the same time, some Cretans invited foreign powers onto our soil in order to try and dominate their neighbours. Our fleets, as swift and fast as they are, are just a fragment of what they once used to be. The island has been ravaged by conflict. Lyttos and Gortyn keep appealing to Sparta for help, and Kydonia cannot be trusted. The Macedonians are a threat to everyone, and the troops of king Ptolemy are invading our country from the east…

But maybe we can find our own friends in Greece! The Aitolians seem like an upstart power that would be ready to fight anyone, and they promise much. That we need to fight is clear. Crete should be united under the rule of one king. A Cretan king, a new Minos, should arise, who will build a fleet so massive that it will encircle Crete with wooden walls of proud, Cretan ships! As our philosopher Epimenedes said:

"Give Cretans a bow and they will conquer the world."

I intend to unify all Cretans and provide them with bows, so that they may rain a hail of well-aimed arrows on the skulls of our enemies!