HOME | DD

Description
Hydarnes the Elder was a shrewd Iranian commander and politician who helped Darius the Great overthrow the imposter King Bardiya in 522 BCE. Hydarnes was personally invited by Darius's aid, Aspathines, so the two evidently had prior connections. Not much is really known about Hydarnes's personal life, as all records focus purely on his administrative and military service to the Achaemenid Empire. In 521 BCE, he put down a rebellion against Darius in Media, and by some accounts was made governor of the province for his efforts. He also assumed the title of satrap of Armenia, a fresh and fiercely independent province of the Achaemenid Empire. Indeed, the later kings of the Orontid Dynasty traced their lineage back to Hydarnes. Hydarnes seems to drop out of the historical record after this, but his son, Hydarnes the Younger, would go on to become the commander of King Xerxes's famous squadron of ten thousand Immortals during the Greco-Persian Wars. Not an altogether terrible way to leave the historical record. Certainly a better out than Intaphrenes.

Design notes, I couldn't seem to find any depictions of Hydarnes the Elder, contemporary or modern. So this design is fresh off my own hand. His hat was inspired by an Achaemenid relief depicting an Armenian man, though. In my D&D game, I made him a very stern political agent who wouldn't hesitate to slice a few throats and grease a few palms if it meant stabilizing the region he oversaw. He had been imprisoned alongside the legitimate king of Armenia, Tigranes, by the god-king Vahagn. Vahagn feared the increasing monotheistic tendencies of the Achaemenid Empire's spreading Zoroastrianism, as it would mean that he and other gods related to the old pantheon could be wiped out as their believers stopped addressing them. The party had to jump through so many hoops in order to realize that they were being sent on a wild goose chase, and that Vahagn was not in fact the true king appointed by Cambyses. I designed the whole region around the scant information we have on Roman Mithraic rituals, but that's a whole different can of worms to delve into.

Description
Hydarnes the Elder was a shrewd Iranian commander and politician who helped Darius the Great overthrow the imposter King Bardiya in 522 BCE. Hydarnes was personally invited by Darius's aid, Aspathines, so the two evidently had prior connections. Not much is really known about Hydarnes's personal life, as all records focus purely on his administrative and military service to the Achaemenid Empire. In 521 BCE, he put down a rebellion against Darius in Media, and by some accounts was made governor of the province for his efforts. He also assumed the title of satrap of Armenia, a fresh and fiercely independent province of the Achaemenid Empire. Indeed, the later kings of the Orontid Dynasty traced their lineage back to Hydarnes. Hydarnes seems to drop out of the historical record after this, but his son, Hydarnes the Younger, would go on to become the commander of King Xerxes's famous squadron of ten thousand Immortals during the Greco-Persian Wars. Not an altogether terrible way to leave the historical record. Certainly a better out than Intaphrenes.

Design notes, I couldn't seem to find any depictions of Hydarnes the Elder, contemporary or modern. So this design is fresh off my own hand. His hat was inspired by an Achaemenid relief depicting an Armenian man, though. In my D&D game, I made him a very stern political agent who wouldn't hesitate to slice a few throats and grease a few palms if it meant stabilizing the region he oversaw. He had been imprisoned alongside the legitimate king of Armenia, Tigranes, by the god-king Vahagn. Vahagn feared the increasing monotheistic tendencies of the Achaemenid Empire's spreading Zoroastrianism, as it would mean that he and other gods related to the old pantheon could be wiped out as their believers stopped addressing them. The party had to jump through so many hoops in order to realize that they were being sent on a wild goose chase, and that Vahagn was not in fact the true king appointed by Cambyses. I designed the whole region around the scant information we have on Roman Mithraic rituals, but that's a whole different can of worms to delve into.