Part 55: Conqueror of the Moon - Iskandar - Part 1

Conqueror of the Moon - Iskandar





So, we finally ride alongside Alexander the Great. As we've been made very much aware, Iskandar is the legendary conqueror who rode out from Macedonia, conquered the entire Persian Empire after inflicting one massive defeat after another on its emperor, and invaded northern India. As the heir of Macedon's Philip II, he succeeded to the throne at the age of 20 and quickly embarked upon unifying all of what we now know as Greece, a task easily achieved after his only potential rival, the League of Corinth, was subdued. Before launching his Asian world tour, he also broke the power of Thrace, on Macedon's northern border. Soon after, in 334 BC, he began his invasion of the Persian Empire at Granicus, in Persian-occupied Asia Minor.

While somewhat smaller of a battle than he would later experience in Gaugamela, Alexander nonetheless chased the Persian army from the field and gradually conquered the rest of Asia Minor in their absence. It's from this time where the famous incident of the Gordian Knot supposedly took place. As the story goes, the person could untie the knot would eventually conquer all of Asia (it's worth noting that the "Asia" of antiquity and the "Asia" of today are much different places. In that, the ancient Greeks did not have much conception at all of anything involving Asia east of what we would now call Iran). Alexander responded by withdrawing his sword, and hacking the knot apart. A cheat, perhaps, but he took it as a good omen.

Following Asia Minor, he proceeded down the coast of the Levant. He met Darius III, the Persian emperor, at Issus. This was his first encounter with the emperor, and Darius' attempt to cut off the Macedonian supply lines ended in disaster, with the emperor forced to flee the field (which is the first time the Persian Empire faced defeat with its emperor in the field). In addition to defeating Darius' army, after the battle, Alexander also captured Darius' wife, their two daughters (one of whom Alexander would later marry), and even Darius' mom. The battle was such a disaster that Darius offered to cede what lands Alexander had already taken, but Alexander, feeling no small amount of pride, declined, saying the decisions about how to divide up Asia were his alone to make, as the already-King of Asia.

Securing Asia Minor and Syria, he then subdued the coastal city of Tyre, whose fall so scared its neighbors that mot Levantine cities surrendered (Gaza being a notable exception. Alexander suffered a pretty bad injury to his shoulder while attacking that fortress). Egypt, however, quickly surrended to Alexander rather than fight. He was promptly declared the new pharaoh of Egypt, a title that had been in absentia during the Persian occupation. Following Egypt, Macedon's army then met the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela in what's now northern Iraq. The Persian army, under the leadership of its emperor Darius III, met Alexander's army. Darius had hoped to use this chance to finally defeat Alexander, but as it went, Alexander was completely victorious. The Persian army was completely broken, ceded all of Mesopotamia, and left the door to Persia wide open. After Gaugamela, Darius had no army left to fight, and abandoned his homeland and capital to try and raise yet another army with his relations in central Asia. However, the hapless emperor was betrayed and murdered by his kin, an indignity Alexander would not forget when he caught up with the man who killed Darius.

For most folk, bringing a centuries-old empire to its end would be quite enough, but for Alexander, it was just the start. Around this time, Alexander started to go particularly native, taking a few Persian women as wives and generally adopting the customs of the area (which is where the name Iskandar comes from). His occupation of the ancient capital of Persepolis ended in the city's destruction, an outcome Alexander may or may not have regretted.

Shortly after conquering Persia, Alexander then turned his attention to central Asia, where Bessus, the killer of Darius, made his home. His central Asian campaign was mostly centered around Afghanistan, where founded a number of cities in his name (including what's now Kandahar), taking him as far afield as Tajikistan. His final campaign of conquest took him to India, where after gaining some local allies, Alexander won the Battle of Hydaspes in eastern Pakistan / northwestern India, but Alexander took another severe injury during the fight, and his troops refused to go any further. While he couldn't know it, his war of conquest, his journey to the world ocean Okeanos, was over. His army staggered back to Persia / Mesopotamia, where Alexander himself perished from disease in his newly-declared capital of Babylon.

There's a lot more to his story, of course, including occasional assassination attempts, but I think that's enough. Point is, Alexander is one of very few special people in history: an undefeated commander and a man who seemed larger than life, even during his life. He didn't build the largest empire within a single lifetime (Genghis Khan would have that honor), but in all of ancient history, he had no peer as a leader of men.


Iskandar stage 1

You want to be the vanguard of the Forces of Destruction? What makes you say that, King of Conquerors?

Ah, well, I mean... How to say this...? I might as well come out with it. You understand, I'm unfamiliar with the battlegrounds here on the Moon. SE.RA.PH, is it? All this ephemeral spiriting business is out of step with my nature. To cut to the chase, I'm in bad shape. I get that SE.RA.PH is just another version of our world, but that just doesn't sit well with me. So what I need to do is get out there and explore with my own two feet. I need to show myself that this world is worthy of being conquered. So, what do you say? I won't even ask for a reward, I'll even lead the troops for free. You could even use me as a scout.

I understand... I see. You were not at your best. ...All right. I want to see you at your full power. King of Conquerors, Iskandar. I'll allow you to be at the vanguard. I won't be able to lend you the Forces of Destruction, but I doubt you'll mind that.

Hm? You're a lot more generous than you look, you know. Ha ha ha, I don't mind at all. In fact, I SHOULD be going out there alone. It wouldn't be a personal journey if I brought an army with me! I wouldn't have time to get to know this place if I were busy giving orders. Ah, one more thing. Could you let your second in command know about this for me? He makes a great brother in arms, and a drinking buddy, but if I showed him my soft side, he'd never let me hear the end of it.

Understood. I'll let the King of Heroes know. ...Now, go on. And destroy everything that is in your path.

Oh, I'll go on the war path, but I can't promise I'll destroy everything! I'm off to conquer these territories! So look forward to my comeback! With every victory, I'll regain my former glory!



So the template for this stage is the Dawn Arc's version of Fuyuki. So, you'll have Gilgamesh barking at you, telling you to go after Li Shuwen. But first, let's meet our new protagonist.



Iskandar's an interesting fellow. He is *really* slow, to the point where you'll really want to equip Reduced Earth (movement speed up), just to make any kind of decent time. He's not a character like Nero or Nameless, someone who uses speed and fast movements to overwhelm the enemy. Instead, he's more like a guy who takes control of a field from one spot and makes the enemy come to them. It can be a little frustrating getting used to him from faster characters, but he has his own bag of tricks.



His S T attack is pretty great. After the T, Iskandar will mount his trusted horse Buscephalus (where he gets his Rider designation from, alongside the chariot he likes riding in), and dash around the field, swinging his sword around. While he's mounted, keep pressing T to keep the attack going but it'll end by itself after 5 seconds or so. While, as you might expect, none of the individual attacks are very powerful, it does provide him with a lot of mobility and the ability to scatter a mob in a few swings. You can also use it to launch an enemy Servant away and follow up a bit, though keep in mind Iskandar can be knocked off his horse.



His S S T attack is more reliable. He'll summon two waves of ghostly Macedonian infantry to charge forward, doing damage. It's a pretty good way to push away attacks and do (relatively) fast damage.



And finally, his S S S T is just him using his massive voice to do damage. It...gets a bit more impressive when he's leveled up a bit.



Iskandar's lightning motif comes from the historical Alexander's claim he was a son of Zeus (apparently his mother Olympias began this theory. Alexander took it as a personal calling to live up to his supposed parentage, and his mother's influence played a large part in that goal). After he conquered Egypt, he was proclaimed the son of Amun (as well as pharaoh), and he began telling folks he was the son of Zeus-Ammon.

Back to the game, this is his only triangle-based attack, just a single fast swing of his sword that admittedly does nice knockback damage, but it's slow to come out, so don't rely on it too much. It's really just meant to push people away when you don't have time or room to scatter with special attacks.



When he's at level 18, S S S T T becomes a massive chariot charge attack. Pretty good damage, range, and I believe it's not possible for enemy attacks to knock you out of it. It'll just charge in a straight line, but it's a good follow-up and the invincibility frames are always nice.

Also, the chariot can go through walls, so keep that in mind.



Phew, all done with that... But aren't we forgetting something, moving on to the next Sector? Ah well, can't be that important, then.



And his S S S S T attack only deploys his massive chariot, so we'll just have to wait on the upgrade to that.



I've been wrong before, though... Sorry 'bout that. As an aside, Iskandar is a very boisterous dude and he hams it up spectacularly for his special attacks. It's hard to believe this dude is the same dude who voices Solid Snake in Japanese MGS.



Your expertise with those spears is extraordinary! But don't think they'll cut me down so easily!

Unfortunately, yes, Cu Chulainn will be our enemy. This is a pretty poor matchup for Iskandar, since Cu has both speed and range over him, meaning you'll have to fight him pretty aggressively and not give him a lot of room to harass you. But we do have another thing the Son of Light doesn't have in his arsenal...





What would Iskandar be without the army that sought to conquer Asia? Death is no obstacle to service, after all. Ionioi Hetairoi, the army of the king.









Once you're done showing off, I should note that S T is a pretty good way to harass an enemy that's in Moon Crux mode, but it is kinda dangerous. Use it if you're confident in your ability to strafe the enemy.



Well, it's not Asia Minor, or Persia, but we've gotta start somewhere.



Ha, you of all people saying something like that. You were testing your Cyber Frame while fighting with me, weren't you? I see you're still a Top Servant, even if you're not used to SE.RA.PH. I should praise your spearmanship.

Can't argue with that. The Holy Grail of the Moon, or whatever, definitely put a lot of faith in me when it called me "high-ranking". But I'm still off balance. I feel like a chariot with big, giant horses and flimsy little reins. Hm. Or maybe just really stiff reins. I guess you probably can't really relate.

Well... I mean, it's not like I don't understand being summoned in a form you're not entirely comfortable with. And look at the state of your horses. Your chariot doesn't have a decent brake on it at all. You can see that it's riding you.

Ah, so you saw through me! Cu Chulainn is famous for riding his ferocious war horses of Liath Macha and Dub Sainglend, after all! Ah, if you were a Rider, we could go out racing through the wilderness, clashing our swords, but...well, that's life for you. Guess I can't complain too much, being back from the dead and all.

You're absolutely right. ...Ah, you just completely took the fight out of me. Things are gonna be different next time. The next guy won't go easy on you. He's more used to fighting on the Moon than I am. He can probably bend his Cyber Frame to his every whim. Look forward to that fight, King of Conquerors.

Ah, yes, I'm looking forward to that already. Goodbye, Son of the Light!







Well you might say that, but men like him are hard to come by even among my own troops. I could beat him again, but taking his head would be something else entirely. He'd probably take me with him, and I wouldn't care for that. How about if we poach him instead? He'd be better than a hundred warriors. The man just embodies what it means to be a Heroic Spirit.

I don't need any more underlings. ...But go ahead and do as you like.

Of course! I live to fight wherever I please! *laugh* Now, where's the next battlefield?

Where, indeed.