‘Forge of Empires’ 5 Most Interesting People From History

Becky Fraynt
Games
Games

Forge of Empires (FoE) is a casual, online strategy game where players build cities that develop through multiple historical ages. Players can form guilds, build increasingly complex buildings, and conquer other provinces.

In addition to regular gameplay, Innogames, the creator of FoE, periodically launches historical questlines. These special events last about a week and allow players to complete quests for prizes. Each historical questline features a real historical figure. As players complete the quests, they learn about the featured character. Not only are these questlines fun, but they also shine a spotlight on fascinating historical figures. Below are five historical figures featured in FoE historical questlines.

Elisabeth of Austria

Photograph of Elisabeth as Queen of Hungary.

The Quest: The Elisabeth of Austria questline ran from 9/5/2016 to 9/12/2016. Players who successfully completed all the quests received a special building called The Aviary. The Aviary produces coins, supplies, and rewards medals. In FoE, coins and supplies are used to build buildings, as well as to research technologies. Medals can be traded for extra building space, as well as to get extra attempts during Guild Expeditions.

Interesting Facts:

  • Elisabeth of Austria was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Her husband was originally engaged to her older sister but fell in love with Elisabeth instead.
  • Elisabeth was famous for her beauty, particularly her slender figure and hair. Unfortunately, she likely maintained her weight through disordered eating.
  • Styling Elisabeth’s hair was so time-consuming that she taught herself multiple languages while sitting still for this daily ritual.
  • She was not allowed to raise three of her four children, which likely contributed to her poor mental health.
  • Luigi Lucheni assassinated her in 1898.

Learn More: To learn more about Elisabeth of Austria, check out The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria by Brigitte Hamann.

Isadora Duncan

Photograph of Angela Isadora Duncan.

The Quest: The Isadora Duncan questline ran from 5/19/2016 to 5/26/2016. Players who successfully completed all the quests received a Wishing Well. Wishing Wells are buildings that generate random prizes every 24 hours. The prizes improve as a player progresses through the game.

Interesting Facts:

  • Isadora Duncan was one of the first modern dancers. Classical Greek art influenced both her costumes and choreography.
  • Duncan adopted six of her students, who continued to teach her style of dance after her death. Duncan also had three biological children, two of whom died in a tragic accident. Her third child died in infancy.
  • Duncan was bisexual and had romantic relationships with many celebrities.
  • She was a Communist and started a dance school in Moscow shortly after the Russian Revolution.
  • She died in a horrific accident in which her scarf got entangled in the wheels of a car.

Learn More: Duncan wrote her own autobiography, entitled My Life. There are many other biographies of Duncan, including Isadora: A Sensational Life and Done Into Dance: Isadora Duncan in America. There is even a graphic version of her life story entitled, Isadora Duncan: A Graphic Biography.

Rosa Parks 

Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the background.

The Quest: The Rosa Parks questline ran from 11/13/2017 to 11/20/2017. Players who completed all the quests received a Royal Cascade. This building provides population, coins, and happiness. If another player visits your city and motivates the Royal Cascade, it will also produce trade goods. Goods can be used for trading with other players, to unlock new technologies, or to barter for provinces.

Interesting Facts:

  • Rosa Parks held leadership positions within the NAACP for years before famously refusing to give up her bus seat.
  • She investigated the rape of Recy Taylor, whose story regained national attention after Oprah Winfrey’s 2018 Golden Globes speech.
  • Parks also was not the first person in Montgomery to protest discrimination on the bus. The Montgomery police arrested Claudette Colvin for the same act of defiance nine months before Parks’s historic act.
  • Parks and her family received daily threats during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and suffered severe economic repercussions.
  • They eventually moved to Detroit, where Parks became a secretary in Representative John Conyers’s office.

Learn More: Parks co-wrote two autobiographic works, Rosa Parks: My Story and Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation. Jeanne Theoharis wrote an award-winning biography of Rosa Parks entitled, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.

Sacajawea

The Sacajawea Monument in Salmon, Idaho.

The Quest: The Sacajawea questline ran from 5/24/2018 to 5/29/2018. Players who successfully completed all the quests received a Menagerie. This building provides population, coins and trade goods.

Interesting Facts:

  •  Sacajawea was a member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe.
  • A group of Hidatsa tribe members kidnapped Sacajawea when she was only 12 years old.
  • Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian trapper and explorer, bought Sacajawea as a slave when she was 13 years old. Although historians sometimes refer to Charbonneau as Sacajawea’s “husband”, their relationship was not consensual.
  • Sacajawea is most famous for her work as an interpreter on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Not only was she just 16 or 17 years old when she joined the expedition, but she was also pregnant.
  • Sacajawea gave birth to her son, Jean Baptiste, during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. William Clark eventually adopted him.

Learn More:  Anna Lee Waldo wrote a well-researched novelized version of Sacajawea’s life entitled, Sacajawea.

Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan on Horseback by Payag

The Quest: The Shah Jahan questline ran from 6/12/17 to 6/19/17. Players who completed all the quests received a Hedge Maze. The Hedge Maze randomly generates prizes every 12 hours. The prizes improve as a player progresses through the game.

Interesting Facts:

  • Shah Jahan was the ruler of the Mughal empire from 1628 to 1658.
  • He is most famous for building the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
  • Mumtaz Mahal was Shah Jahan’s favorite wife and had significant political influence. However, he also had five other wives.
  • In order to maintain his political power, Shah Jahan executed his own brother and multiple nephews.
  • Shah Jahan’s son, Aurangzeb, put Shah Jahan under house arrest at the end of his life.

Learn More: If you’re interested in learning more, check out Shah Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Emperor by Fergus Nicoll.

Becky Fraynt