Roxana of Sogdiana (Guardians)

Roxana was a Sogdianan noblewoman most known for being the primary wife of Alexander the Great and the only one to bear him any children. Hailing from the regions of Sogdiana and Bactria, she was born into a line of nobility that governed the area on behalf of the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia. During Alexander's campaigns in the far east of the Persian Empire he encountered Roxana's family herself, reportably immediatly falling in love with her at first sight. Her family, hoping to gain favor with the new king, immediately approved of the marriage. While Alexander left her family to continue governing the far eastern provinces of his empire, the new couple returned west to the center of Alexander's growing empire, as Alexander desired to further expand his domain.

While Alexander campaigned in Egypt, Libya, and Nabataea, Roxana went with him, supporting him off the battlefields. During this time she became pregnant with their first child, a baby girl, who was born in 324 B.C. Alexander deemed her to be "the most beautiful child of all the world" and named her Helena, after the famed Helen of Troy. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, who was named Alexander, after his father. Returning home to the growing city of Bucephala, the couple intended to celebrate their victories and children. However, Alexander died in 322 B.C., ending any chance of celebration and casting his empire and her life into doubt. Her son Alexander IV was to take the throne but was only one year old, requiring a regency. Upon conferring with Alexander's generals Perdiccas, commander of the Companion Cavalry, would head the regency. During this time Roxana had her loyal bodyguards kill Alexander's other wives, who were Persian noblewomen who might have pressed claims of their own.

Despite the regency, the empire's future was once again cast into doubt when Perdiccas was assassinated in 320 B.C. and all of Alexander's remaining generals divided the empire amongst themselves. When Ptolemy and his men gained control of Bucephala he wanted to use Roxana and her children as political leverage to bolster his claim as the general most fit to lead the entire empire. Understanding now the danger that the political climate now posed, Roxana and her children fled Bucephala to Epirus, where Alexander's cousin Aeacides still ruled. There they found safety and agreed to support Aeacides' claim to be the most suitable regent for Roxana's son. With that agenda in mind, Roxana acquiesced  to the marriage between Helena and Aeacides' son Pyrrhus. After Aeacides' death, Pyrrhus took the throne and Roxana increasingly pressed him to restore the empire to her son, whom she tried to isolate from politics.

Eventually, the political threat by Roxana and Alexander IV was too great for Pyrrhus to ignore, who decided to invade Egypt and install Alexander IV as a puppet. The campaign was a success and Roxana moved to Alexandria alongside her son. She continued to advise him for the rest of her life, eventually dying in 276 B.C., six years before she would see Pyrrhus die and Alexander IV assert his own independence.