Advertisement
by The Soviet Union of Mother Russia » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:13 am
by New Granadeseret » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:19 am
The Soviet Union of Mother Russia wrote:Is this map updated ? Just wondering as I would like to create/apply for a nation, though without conflicting with already etablished borders.
by The Soviet Union of Mother Russia » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:24 am
New Granadeseret wrote:The Soviet Union of Mother Russia wrote:Is this map updated ? Just wondering as I would like to create/apply for a nation, though without conflicting with already etablished borders.
The map has all standing reservations as of last night. In the meantime, the Poland confusion has been solved (IE Poland and western Russia are reserved), and the Muhgals have taken up the rest of India, based on additions to the OP list. Italy is... in the air.
by Western Pacific Territories » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:27 am
The Soviet Union of Mother Russia wrote:New Granadeseret wrote:
The map has all standing reservations as of last night. In the meantime, the Poland confusion has been solved (IE Poland and western Russia are reserved), and the Muhgals have taken up the rest of India, based on additions to the OP list. Italy is... in the air.
Alright, well if it is possible I would like to reserve whatever remains of the North America as a colony state, likely vassal to either Mexico/British Empire/Spain until a potential independence.
by The Soviet Union of Mother Russia » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:30 am
WESTERN PACIFIC TERRITORIES wrote:The Soviet Union of Mother Russia wrote:
Alright, well if it is possible I would like to reserve whatever remains of the North America as a colony state, likely vassal to either Mexico/British Empire/Spain until a potential independence.
Mexico is taken by err... the Ottomans.
by New Granadeseret » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:32 am
The Soviet Union of Mother Russia wrote:New Granadeseret wrote:
The map has all standing reservations as of last night. In the meantime, the Poland confusion has been solved (IE Poland and western Russia are reserved), and the Muhgals have taken up the rest of India, based on additions to the OP list. Italy is... in the air.
Alright, well if it is possible I would like to reserve whatever remains of the North America as a colony state, likely vassal to either Mexico/British Empire/Spain until a potential independence.
by G-Tech Corporation » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:34 am
by The Soviet Union of Mother Russia » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:38 am
New Granadeseret wrote:The Soviet Union of Mother Russia wrote:
Alright, well if it is possible I would like to reserve whatever remains of the North America as a colony state, likely vassal to either Mexico/British Empire/Spain until a potential independence.
I can't say anything on the West; I'm just the mapmaker, but it was mentioned by the OP earlier that England has first dibs 13 colonies (Provided they get an app up before their reservation expires)
by New Granadeseret » Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:43 am
by Kisinger » Sun Dec 18, 2016 12:10 pm
by The Soviet Union of Mother Russia » Sun Dec 18, 2016 12:34 pm
by Elderowa » Sun Dec 18, 2016 12:40 pm
by PLESSUR » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:06 pm
Elderowa wrote:Alright, after thinking about it, I do think I will do a Siberian Khanate (Technically, more of a Chagatai Khanate thing). So, reserve me all of Central and Eastern Russia, Alaska and parts of Yukon and British Columbia.
by The Soviet Union of Mother Russia » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:10 pm
by Greater Liverpool » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:17 pm
by PLESSUR » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:25 pm
by The Ik Ka Ek Akai » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:28 pm
by The Ik Ka Ek Akai » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:31 pm
by New Granadeseret » Sun Dec 18, 2016 1:44 pm
Pimps Inc wrote:So the Aztecs are Muslim now?
by G-Tech Corporation » Sun Dec 18, 2016 2:16 pm
Full name of State: Gurkani / The Mughal Empire
Type of Government: Absolute Monarchy
Capital: Shahjahanabad, Delhi
Head of State: Khan-Emperor Zahar ibn-Baburha
Head of Government: ^
General Government Description:
Territory: Afghanistan, Pakistan, the rest of India, Indonesia, Malaysia
Colonies: Burma, Thailand
Population: 189,570,000 citizens | approx. 21,000,000 residents
Economic Description: Gurkani is still a highly rural society, with agriculture both accounting for the majority of the income of the Empire and employing most of the populace. Advanced agricultural techniques like terrace farming and high intensity crop rotation agriculture are in widespread use across the lands of the Empire, with New World crops introduced by the Portugeuse like the potato and tobacco being farmed alongside millets, oilseeds, cereals, hemp, chili, sugarcane, cotton, indigo, betel, and other traditional goods. Indigo cultivation is particularly popular in Agra and Gujarat, with Mughal indigo exports being lucrative indeed. Cash crops like silk and cotton feed an immense textile industry based in mill towns that is exported worldwide, mainly to Western markets but also to some of the developing colonies. The spices of the Indian Islands, nutmeg, cloves, and pepper complement the spice trade in saffron and other exotic goods to Europe and beyond. Rice crops, opium, and tea also are major parts of the Mughal economy, with the appetite for tea being fed locally and rice being a staple of the periphery areas of the Empire and the Isles, while opium is carefully regulated for medicinal uses and export to China. On the industrial front the Mughal Empire as one of the gunpowder empires manufactures its own weapons which are generally considered on-par with those of the European powers; bronze cannonade, flintlock weapons, and rocketry are comparably advanced, and domestic production of both iron and manufactured goods has been increased dramatically in the wake of European conquests of the Princely States of the east Indian coast and the breakaway of the treasonous Gajapatis.
Religious Description: The ruling classes of the Empire generally subscribe to the philosophy of Din-i Ilahi which was begun by the Khan-Emperor, Akbar the Great. Within that categorization Islam remains the most common religious class, with Sufis and Sunnis making up a predominance of the wealthy families and great houses though Hindus, Jains, and Nestorian Christians are also represented alongside Buddhist rulers in the periphery.
In the ranks of the merchants and military, Din-i Ilahi sees less credence, being viewed as a method of thought of the upper classes, but still somewhat popular especially amongst those seeking political advancement. Sufi beliefs are particularly popular amonsgt the merchantile quarters, while Sunni and Hindu religious persuasions are more common in the armed forces. The Isles and those hailing from it are almost exclusively Sunni, though Din-i Ilahi has seen a particularly large hold on the more relaxed Islamic beliefs of the sundered islands and their population.
The peasantry is a mixed bag of many beliefs, with northern India, the Afghan and Pashtun regions of Gurkani being nearly uniformly Sunni Muslim, while the southern reaches of the Empire are of a mixed Hindu-Buddhist tradition which often incorporates tribal animism. Even in these regions though Islam has made inroads, with Sufi beliefs being widely held in even the tiniest of urban settlements and coastal villages.
Ideologies and Politics by Class: The upper classes of the Empire, either due to political or economic connections, tend to favor an aggressive expansion of Mughal lands contingent with what is believed to be the Empire's strength compared to her traditional foes, the Gajapatis and the Princely States. More caution is applied to war in military circles given the European support for the few Princely States not absorbed by the Empire already, but jingoism is on the rise even in the lower classes. As a rule of thumb Mughal society is liberal and forward-looking, an echo of the generations of intellectuals pushed east by the wars in the traditional homelands of Islam, with social mobility treated as sacrosanct along with the freedom to practice one's own beliefs enshrine for two centuries under the spirit of Akbar. Politically there is little appetite for governmental change, with the memories of tribalism and weak Princely States fresh in the collective psyche as a ward against republican sentiments and the good record of the Khan-Emperors as a counter to any agitation. That said, separatism does occasionally flourish in the less integrated areas of the Empire; ruling such a vast and diverse Empire puts a strain on any social fabric save the strongest, and the natural variance of local interest versus national focus has led to many rebellions and uprisings over the years seeking either independent states or concessions from the central government.
Military Description: The fundamental unit of the Mughal Army was the mansab, the levy, a reform of the mansabari system put in place by Akbar the Great. Raised from each tract of land of five thousand citizens, as determined by census once every decade, the mansabar was a commander of a hundred soldiers raised from the kaladrin (veterans) and career military families given acreages to live on in each tract. Mansabars receive funds directly for the maintenance of their warriors from the crown, the jirgah distributed by each governor of the provinces. Mansabars were expected to be capable of defending their own lands if attacked for a week and a day against any conceivable force, to allow other forces to be rallied. The Roh was the larger part of the Mughal Army, effectively equivalent to and based off of the European regiment, composing the mansabs of twenty tracts, two thousand men under arms in total. Certain tracts provide cavalrymen and others provide infantry, after their ability and the wealth of their kaladrin to provide steeds and the necessary weapons of a Mughal cavalryman. Cannonade, mortars, rockets and the like were stored at the Roh level of organization in district forts located at either strategic locations or major cities, thick modern star-fortresses designed to withstand revolt indefinitely or siege for months if needed. Armies were composed of Rohs brought together for campaign by the Khan-Emperor or his generals, and generally place a focus on dragoons and cavalry firepower as compared to the European infantry army, a necessary concession to the rough terrain of much of the Mughal Empire. Light cannonade used for formation disruption are often horse-drawn or mounted on trained armored elephants for fire support of cavalry formations, while heavy cannonade and siege-breaker guns are rarely utilized in the modern day though such pieces are accorded respect for their past glories with many being named for their deeds. On the sea the Mughal Fleet reflects a different design philosophy than most European vessels; though large and well-armed, most seagoing craft are less capable of extended operations than European counterparts, relying on frequent resupply and lacking comparable seaworthiness. They do, however, tend to out-gun rivals and possess a speed that European captains find alarming, for most Mughal frigates built after the European style and even traditional war-dhows carry far less supplies than analogous vessels. The Mughal Navy concentrates on the defense of the Isles, controlling the Straits of the South China Sea, and defending the coast of India against both pirates and privateers to keep the trade routes open.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the military:
+Numerous; perhaps the second largest military on the planet, the Khan-Emperor's armed forces have no lack of bodies to smother fires with, though Mughal doctrine does not generally exploit this fact. On the sea the Mughal Fleet is respectable in terms of raw numbers, but manages to hold its own mainly through concentration rather than strict superiority.
+Organized; marshaled along traditional lines established for centuries, the Mughal soldier knows who he serves and how he fights at any time far better than most non-professional armies of peasant rabble.
+Modern; the gunpowder and weapons of the Mughal Army are up to date and effective, their flintlocks generally regarded as on par with European weaponry. The weight of fire of Mughal artillery corps and Mughal naval complements is greater than that of European analogs due to design and deployment philosophical differences.
-Ponderous; since the Mughal Army is organized on a local level, raising armies is a process than can take months even with forewarning, and though much of the Empire is tolerably defended, little of it is heavily defended.
-Force Projection; the Mughal Army is designed primarily as a defensive apparatus, and any aggressive campaigns will likely be telegraphed some time in advance due to the need to gather soldiers from the Rohs. Mughal naval vessels are generally not designed to range across the open ocean, nor operate across the world like those of other nations, primarily being designed to fight in coastal waters or on seas close to resupply.
-Professionalism; the sons of kaladrin, though raised in a military tradition by their veteran fathers, as a rule of thumb also hold other professions. Only the attendants of the Khan-Emperor and his governors, the Heartguard, and the Outlookers are recruited for tours of permanent service and professionalism. As such, though the Mughal Army is not conscripted, it is not truly a professional force either.
-Diversity; the many nations that make up the Empire are sometimes difficult to coordinate especially at a strategic level. Cultural, linguistic, and customary differences must be overcome when forming larger forces for campaign, though Persian does act as a lingua franca alongside Urdu in most integrated regions of the Empire.
General Aims: Ensure integrity of Mughal state, return Princely States to Mughal rule, build good relations with European powers, bring Gajapatis back in to the fold, contain the Yuan and reclaim the crown of Genghis, ensure stability in South and South-East Asia
Foreign Policy:
Allies: None formally.
Friends: On good terms with the Turcomen state, though occasional border tensions do occur. Enjoy good trading relationships with many European powers.
Neutral: The Portugeuse are viewed with equinamity- though they hold lands that the Khan-Emperor calls his own, their commercial relationship has ameliorated Mughal suspicions somewhat. The Ottomans, in equal measure, are seen as too far away to care about much. Joeseon is far away, but the Mughals are on reasonably decent terms due to the peninsula's dislike of the Yuan; trade with Joseon for silver in exchange for opium and other luxury goods is profitable.
Wary: The French and Swedish holdings in India are treated with suspicion by the general populace of the Mughal Empire, due to the naked ambition to possess parts of the lands that the Khan-Emperor holds and their possible ties to the Gajapati state.
Enemies: Gurkani is openly disdainful of the religious fanatics of Gajapati and views their lands as rightfully Mughal. Additionally, the Yuan Emperor is viewed as a usurper of the title the Mughal Emperor rightfully wears, and her competing interests in Central and South-East Asia have led to significant tensions.
History:
The history of the Mughal Empire can be generally divided in to three distinct ages until the present; the Age of Conquest (1504-1629), the Time of Law (1635-1707), and the Age of Fire (1704-Present).
The Age of Conquest
The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur, a Central Asian Khan descended from the lines of both Timur and Genghis. Migrating out of his traditional holdings in the steppes due to widespread nomadic infighting there, he captured Kabul in 1514 and from there gradually conquered his way south and east in to northern Indian over the next century. Introducing gunpowder to the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal fighting forces defeated far larger Indian armies through maneuver and the use of heavy cannons to bring low fortresses previously thought impossible to take. Assisted by ambitious Muslim nobles from the nearby Turcomen regions that had recovered from Mongol conquest, Babur conquered from the Indus to the Ganges in the space of a decade, controlling the majority of the subcontinent by the time of the last Raj's death at the Battle of Panipat in 1526. Following his own demise in 1530 large scale revolts occurred in the largely Hindu east, but were put down rather viciously by the consolidated forces of his adopted son, Makarvas of Antioch. This succession paved the way for the adoption of a uniquely Mughal line of succession, wherein worthy military officers or governors were often chose to succeed the Khan-Emperor instead of his biological sons, if those sons proved inept in the ways of governance. Succession from father to son was not unknown, but far from the axiomatic standard of most monarchies; the death of Artivas Khar in 1549 is a symptom of this pattern of succession, where the princes of the court often led military campaigns and vied to prove themselves as worthy of rulership, a practice which led the Mughal Empire to expand inexorably in the following years.
Following the death of Makarvas' son in battle, the Khan-Emperor adopted a man of Babur's lineage, Akbar, as his successor. Akbar's reign, from 1556 until 1629, concludes what most scholars see as the Mughal Age of Conquest. Akbar the Great laid the foundations for the modern Mughal state, championing a syncretic Indo-Persian culture and nearly tripling the size of the Empire until it included all of the Indian subcontinent save the Princely States of Surat and Puri. His White Lighthouse off the southern tip of India is accounted one of the marvels of the modern world, and though the great emperor thought to conquer Ceylon, ultimately he was dissuaded by emissaries of the priest-king there. Akbar is also revered as the founder of Din-i-Ilahi, the foremost philosophy and religious persuasion of the Empire, though in his day relations with the Turcomens and Ottomans were worsened by his rejection of Islamic Orthodoxy. His incorporation of the Sultanate of Mataram and Surabaya in to the Mughal Empire was regarded as a departure from the normal Islamic vassalage, but his desire for unity was borne out as wise in the following century as the tendrils of European influences began to gather in South-East Asia. His death in 1629 was marked by great mourning across the Empire, and revolts by Hindu radicals in the Ganges Delta which had to be suppressed harshly. One of the legacies of his rule most noted was the abolition of the sectarian tax on non-Muslims in Mughal territories and his elevation of non-Muslim intellectuals to government positions, an act which won the ruling dynasty a large measure of support from outside their usual military and religious base.
The Time of Law
Historians debate the precise end of the Age of Conquest, some ascribing the date to Akbar's death in 1629, some pointing to the end of his son Jahangir's campaigns in southeast Asia as the final date of Mughal conquest being concluded. At any rate, the ascent of Jahangir to the Ivory Throne did not bring peace to the Mughal world, at least not immediately. A ruler noted for his draconian military discipline during his father's campaigns in the Indian Isles, he built on his father's earlier successes in Burma, campaigning aggressively from 1630 to 1632 down the Irrawady River Valley and dispersing the remnants of the Taungoo state there by the winter of 1632. These campaigns marked the beginning of Mughal might on the sea, with large war-dhows assembled in the port of Bombay proving key to the capture of the city of Yangon and the Andaman Islands with their cannonade being heavier than that which could be easily moved through the jungles on land. A successive series of campaigns took the Mughal standard as far as the borders of Cambodia, spelling the end for the Ayutthaya Kingdom and its ambitions and uniting Mughal control over the Malay Peninsula and spice routes.
Regardless, by 1635 Gurkani existed much as it has done for a century and over, spanning from Kabul to the wash of the Mekong River in the east and as far south as the Indian Isles. Declaring himself satiated with his place in history, Khan-Emperor Jahangir returned to his capital at Shahjahanabad, and set about consolidating the gains of his military and his father's before him. Following a series of rebellions in 1640 in the outlying eastern Isles, Jahangir went on campaign once more. Following the destruction of several villages via shore bombardment, the chroniclers record that Jahangir had a religious epiphany from some unknown source; his return to Indian is marked by an interest in his father's teachings about Din-i-Ilahi, which the young Emperor adopted wholeheartedly. The philosophy soon became fashionable to adhere to at court, and spread from the governors and officials there to the military classes and merchants. During his son Jahan's reign the Mughal courts at Shahjahanabad, Agra, and Decca came to be great centers of learning and science, with Mughal natural philosophers pioneering the then-unknown art of crop breeding for famine resistance and against certain plagues. Thought the maintenance of the Court began to grow large during the 1650s, this era is commonly acknowledged as the Golden Age of Mughal architecture, with the Taj Mahal and other such wonders being created in this period. Frequent rebellions by Hindu radicals in the east and the occasional Sikh uprising kept the military on alert, but no large scale war visited the Mughal heartland during Jahan's reign, with fighting being largely confined to the central Asian frontiers with Yuan expeditionary forces and the occasional central Asian nomad warlord. The integration of the Princely State of Surat in to Portuguese hands occurred during this time, a development which confounded a building military campaign by the Khan-Emperor's son Ammareb and nearly led to war with the European power before the Khan-Emperor was assured trade terms with the annexed state would proceed as usual. This intrusion by the Europeans fomented a large scale fort building program by Jahan, who erected such notable bastions as the Red Fort, the Lahore Fort, and the Seat of Stars in Bombay.
Upon Jahan's death of illness in 1689, his adopted son Baburha ibn-Udin took the throne, as had been ordained for two decades at that point. A revolt by his natural son Aurangzeb rallied near Ayutthayan territory drew little support before being crushed by Baburha's general Salimesh at the Battle of Phitsan. Skirmishes with Dutch privateers off of Java and Borneo began in 1695, a side effect of the ongoing First Anglo-Dutch War as Dutch sailors attempted to intercept opium shipments bound for Joseon to fund their ongoing struggle against the larger British fleet. Baburha's reign was marked by the considerable expansion of the Mughal Fleet and the importation of European industrialists to set up textile mills in coastal regions of the Empire, as well as the French annexation of the Princely State of Puri. This move by a European power to establish a foothold on the Indian continent was met with suspicion by the Khan-Emperor and his military advisers, well aware of the course of events that succeeded in many regions around the world as European traders were followed by European soldiers. Building on his father's military construction program, Baburha erected nearly a dozen modern star forts along the border with what had been Puri, and the Mughal state began trading more earnestly with other European powers from the Indian Isles in order to ensure its status as a neutral party in the European power struggles would be respected.
The Age of Fire
Historians agree that the Time of Law ended with the Gajapati Rebellion of 1704, and have tentatively titled the current era the Age of Fire. With Baburha's death in 1704 in a hunting accident, Rajaput radicals and Hindu zealots took the opportunity to rise up against the rule of law of the Empire once more, successfully expelling both the Khan's mansabars and most religious and ethnic minorities from their lands in a great purge. The chaos of the region opened it up to Yuan invasion in 1707 even as Tamur the Young struggled to contain the Gajapati fanatics beyond the Ganges, and Yuan forces seized much of what had been the Taungoo Kingdom before Jahangir's conquests, only being stopped by internal discord allowing the frontier to stabilize on the Andaman coast. These twin losses of territories are known as the Disasters in the Mughal Empire, and the many deaths of the Gajapati Rebellion of Nestorians, Muslims, and Jains for theoretically supporting the Empire are much resented in the eastern Indian tracts and provinces. Despite Baburha's repeated campaigns in 1710, 1716, and his son's campaign in 1741, most of the lands the Gajapati seized during their Rebellion remain lost to the Khan-Emperors, as the Hindu radicals seem willing to spend lives in a way Mughal conscience cannot accept. The reconquest of these lost provinces and revenge for the indignity inflicted on Gurkani by the Yuan at the same time form much of the concerns of the current Khan-Emperor, Zahar ibn-Baburha, who came to the throne in 1752 after Ismail's death in battle with Gajapati raiders.
Return to Portal to the Multiverse
Users browsing this forum: Britanania, Sarolandia, Zenik
