A Flash of Light: 1760 [AH, OOC]

[The Holy Dominion of Inesea]

Full name of state: Second Lakanate of Tondo
Type of government (absolutist monarchy, republic): Lakanate
Capital: Tondo, modern day Manila
Head of state:
Head of government:
General government description:
Territory (map if needed):Philippines
Colonies:
Population (metropolitan and colonial separate if required):

Economic description:
Religious description (by class):
Popular ideologies and political beliefs (by class):

Military description:
Strengths and weaknesses of the military:

General aims (territorial, etc):
Foreign Policy:

History:

[Pimps Inc]

Most of those were criminals, conquered people, or volunteers.
Sorry, I know I said I would leave but I actually might try to be the Inca.

Nobody's claiming the Aztecs just sacrificed people willy nilly, but its the conquered peoples/ sacrifices from tributary cities part that is the most problematic. When you consider that from the perspective of Europeans coming in and that of said conquered people (Particularly since Garland Wars were often done specifically for the sake of getting sacrifices, as opposed to anything under their control), you can imagine why the Europeans thought the practice barbaric and had many people eager to support them as a method of getting out from under Aztec control. Blood sacrifice in European folklore/theology was rather closely related to things like witchcraft and Satanism, after all.

However, if you'd like, I'm willing to discuss some changes on matters of Ottoman colonial history. If the Inca would have willingly converted and been/maintained friendly relations, we'd have been more then happy to share our variolation techniques to partially mitigate the impact of the Smallpox and the legion of other European pandemics that wrecked the native population.

All I'm saying is Spanish Inquisition and the "forced conversion" was probably worse and cost just as many lives as Aztec sacrifices. Maybe more.

As for the second part, we can discuss in the morning.

[Jaslandia]

My first IC post is up. Letters to the Netherlands, France, Spain, Scotland, and the Mughal Empire are included. France might also want to take note of the second part of my IC post.

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

Most of those were criminals, conquered people, or volunteers.
Sorry, I know I said I would leave but I actually might try to be the Inca.

Nobody's claiming the Aztecs just sacrificed people willy nilly, but its the conquered peoples/ sacrifices from tributary cities part that is the most problematic. When you consider that from the perspective of Europeans coming in and that of said conquered people (Particularly since Garland Wars were often done specifically for the sake of getting sacrifices, as opposed to anything under their control), you can imagine why the Europeans thought the practice barbaric and had many people eager to support them as a method of getting out from under Aztec control. Blood sacrifice in European folklore/theology was rather closely related to things like witchcraft and Satanism, after all.

There's a few common misconceptions here.

1) Flower Wars (or Garland Wars) were actually intended as a way for tributary states to settle disputes without involving other states. If, say, one city claims that a certain farm is theirs, the city being offended will join in a Flower War. The two would agree upon a fixed number of soldiers for both chieftains to bring, and would meet on a flat field to battle in even combat, neither holding an advantage at the start of the battle. Whilst these wars were beneficial to the empire as a whole as a means of acquiring sacrifice, their primary purpose was to settle disputes and claims without essentially dragging the rest of the empire into war with them. The Flower Wars were also scaled down from real wars, hoping to minimize casualties. If you have to settle a dispute in a society of warlords, having a small, controlled, quarantined conflict is one of the best outcomes you can have.

2) The Europeans had almost no actual support. They had two native allies, only one of which ever held vassalage to the Aztecs. The main ally of the Spaniards was the Republic of Tlaxcala, a traditional rival to the Aztecs since the inception of the empire. Tlaxcala provided 200k-300k soldiers, comprising roughly 98% of all soldiers that fought against the Aztecs. Tlaxcala did not find the Aztecs repulsive for what they did, or their governance, for they were an independent state. Instead, it was simply a rivalry, in the same manner that France would detest England but hardly find them to be barbarians. The only ally Spain had amongst Aztec vassals was Cempoala, at the time run by a notably greedy and untrustworthy king. Cempoala donated a total of 400 soldiers, give or take, which is less than the most conservative possible estimates for the force that the Spanish brought with them.

3) The Aztecs mostly collapsed because of disease. Although obsidian weaponry was not the most effective, countless Spanish accounts of the time reveal with no hesitation that the Aztec armies were fierce and could very well get either through or around the armor that the Spaniards wore. Now, the Aztecs went into battle with some 300,000 soldiers, representing for the most part the Nahua nobility of Tenochtitlan and various soldiers from the two other Nahua subject cities of the empire (Outside of the 3 first cities, all others were more tributary than actually part of the empire). They even, most of the time, let the rulers they had defeated retain power in their homelands. There were extremely few turncoats involved, and that was because the Aztecs were, more or less, a benevolent influence on the area. As bloody and fearsome as they were, they were also engineers, architects, poets. They built up infrastructure massively, allowed people to continue culture, language, and religion in almost absolute peace and with great autonomy, the Aztecs practically ushered in a golden age of culture and engineering that all of their tributaries and vassals were able to participate in. Their own governance, infrastructure, and sanitation was not too dissimilar to our own, with:
-Mandatory education
-Public access to water
-Citizens bathing twice a day
-Trans-national highways
-A tiered court system, with local, appeal, and supreme courts
-A distinct court for military purposes that did not affect rulings in occupied territories
-A code of law explaining the rights and protections of citizens


The Aztecs were quite ahead of their time (that being the Neolithic), but they may well not have been built to last.

[Kisinger]

Full name of state: Kingdom of Great Britain
Type of government (absolutist monarchy, republic): Unitary Parliamentary Monarchy
Capital: London
Head of state: King Frederick I
Head of government: The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Bute, KT
General government description: Basically Parliament(which is bicameral) develops the policy for the nation and the Monarch can decide whether or not to assent to it though they almost always do.
Territory (map if needed): England Scotland and Ireland
Colonies: The Thirteen Colonies, Florida, Whatever is left west of the Appalachian Mountains, The remainder of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, (West Indie Islands that I'll find rf), The Maldives, and Various Trading Posts along the coast of India and Africa
Population (metropolitan and colonial separate if required): Metropolitan: 10.2 Million
Colonial: 1.5 Million
Total: 12.7 Million


Economic description: The economy of the United Kingdom is flourishing. Trade from across the empire continues to come in filling the treasury with gold from tariffs on luxury items, such as spices, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and sugar. Recently, a new tax has been put in place on the Thirteen colonies regarding sugar imports though it hasn’t been enforced
Religious/Political description (by class):
Royalty: Anglican/Lutheran Classism, Enlightenment, conservatism
Nobility/Upper Class: Anglican, Whiggism, Conservatism, Colonisation, Imperialism
Clergy: Anglican, Conservatism, Maintaining the Church of England
Bourgeoisie: Anglican/Catholic, Whiggism, Industrialization
Peasantry/Lower Class: Anglican/Catholic/Lutheran, wide range of beliefs that change with the eeb and flow of whoever they care to listen to

Military description: The military of the United Kingdom is one of the best equipped, led and trained army, and navy. It currently maintains the world's largest Navy ,however it is spread out to various different stations across the world.
Strengths and weaknesses of the military:
+ 120,000 of the King’s Men ready to die for King and Country
+ Largest Navy in the World
+ One of the best Admiralties in the world
- Stretched thin across their colonies
- Lack of manpower
- Lack of native allies across the world has caused dependence on British regulars

General aims (territorial, etc): Acquire French Louisiana, Contain the French and Ottomans, Find a Continental Ally, Establish relations with natives, establish a Mediterranean Base
Foreign Policy:
Allies: N/A
Friends: (Hopefully) Brandenburg, Netherlands
Neutral: All other nations
Tense: Spain/Austria, Cherokee
Enemies: Ottomans and the French

History: WIP But basically, Hannover isn’t inherited instead a cadet branch of the House of Hannover forms and inherits the Throne of Great Britain. Frederick doesn’t die and instead inherits the throne upon the death of George II in 1759. Charles Stuart dies in battle during the Jacobite Rising of 1745




Note: Glytter has dropped Scotland(He informed us in a discord chat)

[Liecthenbourg]

I'll have a post up later today, I hope.

[Greater Liverpool]

I have reserved the Thirteen colonies

[G-Tech Corporation]

Reservation Map 2.0

Similar rules apply: Top reservations/Accepted apps are considered first for colonization purposes, Only reservations officially recognized by the OP on main list are taken into account (Besides the Poland reservation since much has caused so much trouble I can only assume it still stands). Dutch reservation seems to be gone. Punjab's entire reservation is overturned by Muhgals.

I got an error redirect

Ayup, same. 404 redirect.

[New Granadeseret]

Nobody's claiming the Aztecs just sacrificed people willy nilly, but its the conquered peoples/ sacrifices from tributary cities part that is the most problematic. When you consider that from the perspective of Europeans coming in and that of said conquered people (Particularly since Garland Wars were often done specifically for the sake of getting sacrifices, as opposed to anything under their control), you can imagine why the Europeans thought the practice barbaric and had many people eager to support them as a method of getting out from under Aztec control. Blood sacrifice in European folklore/theology was rather closely related to things like witchcraft and Satanism, after all.

However, if you'd like, I'm willing to discuss some changes on matters of Ottoman colonial history. If the Inca would have willingly converted and been/maintained friendly relations, we'd have been more then happy to share our variolation techniques to partially mitigate the impact of the Smallpox and the legion of other European pandemics that wrecked the native population.

All I'm saying is Spanish Inquisition and the "forced conversion" was probably worse and cost just as many lives as Aztec sacrifices. Maybe more.

As for the second part, we can discuss in the morning.

I would never contest that. The Spanish Inquisition were quite a brutal and particularly zealous (Though, they do make for a smashing film), especially since we have hindsight. I will also readily concede Cortez was a particularly large dick. However, I was just pointing out how from the perspective of early 16th century Europeans the whole process would look alot worse then beating/stretching/branding/cutting/ect. the fear of God into people.

Nobody's claiming the Aztecs just sacrificed people willy nilly, but its the conquered peoples/ sacrifices from tributary cities part that is the most problematic. When you consider that from the perspective of Europeans coming in and that of said conquered people (Particularly since Garland Wars were often done specifically for the sake of getting sacrifices, as opposed to anything under their control), you can imagine why the Europeans thought the practice barbaric and had many people eager to support them as a method of getting out from under Aztec control. Blood sacrifice in European folklore/theology was rather closely related to things like witchcraft and Satanism, after all.

There's a few common misconceptions here.

1) Flower Wars (or Garland Wars) were actually intended as a way for tributary states to settle disputes without involving other states. If, say, one city claims that a certain farm is theirs, the city being offended will join in a Flower War. The two would agree upon a fixed number of soldiers for both chieftains to bring, and would meet on a flat field to battle in even combat, neither holding an advantage at the start of the battle. Whilst these wars were beneficial to the empire as a whole as a means of acquiring sacrifice, their primary purpose was to settle disputes and claims without essentially dragging the rest of the empire into war with them. The Flower Wars were also scaled down from real wars, hoping to minimize casualties. If you have to settle a dispute in a society of warlords, having a small, controlled, quarantined conflict is one of the best outcomes you can have.

2) The Europeans had almost no actual support. They had two native allies, only one of which ever held vassalage to the Aztecs. The main ally of the Spaniards was the Republic of Tlaxcala, a traditional rival to the Aztecs since the inception of the empire. Tlaxcala provided 200k-300k soldiers, comprising roughly 98% of all soldiers that fought against the Aztecs. Tlaxcala did not find the Aztecs repulsive for what they did, or their governance, for they were an independent state. Instead, it was simply a rivalry, in the same manner that France would detest England but hardly find them to be barbarians. The only ally Spain had amongst Aztec vassals was Cempoala, at the time run by a notably greedy and untrustworthy king. Cempoala donated a total of 400 soldiers, give or take, which is less than the most conservative possible estimates for the force that the Spanish brought with them.

3) The Aztecs mostly collapsed because of disease. Although obsidian weaponry was not the most effective, countless Spanish accounts of the time reveal with no hesitation that the Aztec armies were fierce and could very well get either through or around the armor that the Spaniards wore. Now, the Aztecs went into battle with some 300,000 soldiers, representing for the most part the Nahua nobility of Tenochtitlan and various soldiers from the two other Nahua subject cities of the empire (Outside of the 3 first cities, all others were more tributary than actually part of the empire). They even, most of the time, let the rulers they had defeated retain power in their homelands. There were extremely few turncoats involved, and that was because the Aztecs were, more or less, a benevolent influence on the area. As bloody and fearsome as they were, they were also engineers, architects, poets. They built up infrastructure massively, allowed people to continue culture, language, and religion in almost absolute peace and with great autonomy, the Aztecs practically ushered in a golden age of culture and engineering that all of their tributaries and vassals were able to participate in. Their own governance, infrastructure, and sanitation was not too dissimilar to our own, with:
-Mandatory education
-Public access to water
-Citizens bathing twice a day
-Trans-national highways
-A tiered court system, with local, appeal, and supreme courts
-A distinct court for military purposes that did not affect rulings in occupied territories
-A code of law explaining the rights and protections of citizens


The Aztecs were quite ahead of their time (that being the Neolithic), but they may well not have been built to last.

*Preface* I'm not particularly well-read in Mesoamerican history as you seem to be. However, I would like to add a few things

1. From what I can quickly gather on the subject, the purpose and structure of flower wars were varied: particularly when we're talking about the Totonac, who would find the Aztecs inditing their trade routes and besieging their cities if they didn't "volunteer" to take part in the wars, as well as some Aztec tributaries, particularly on the edges of the Empire, who didn't have a choice but to agree rather then disobey the Aztecs and face an actual war of conquest. That's hardly a mere rivalry: Tlaxcala at the time seems to have more resembled a whipping boy the Aztecs kept alive for their own benefit and amusement.

2. ... and Tepeyac, Yauhtepec, Huejotzingo,half of Texcoco (and later all of it when Ixtlilxochitl was placed in the capital: remember, he had enough supporters the state that his civil war had actually ended in a compromise), and other more minor factions. Most of whom joined after the disaster of The Night of Sorrows and the Spaniards basically limping away in shame. I think you're over-playing the level of unity among the tributaries to the Empire: sure, as long as the Aztec were strong enough to threaten them they were loyal, but the moment the Spaniards could demonstrate a viable alternative (Though, again, they didn't follow through), the shakey foundations of the Empire's tribute-based structure were revealed.

3. No contesting that: the Smallpox epidemic did a real number on them (40-50% of the region's population bit the dust on pandemics... which alongside the massive instability such a die-of creates makes we question if the Empire would have survived regardless of Spanish action. Especially since their religion's general reaction to natural disaster is "more sacrifice". I'd also never contest that Tenochtitlan was a wonderful city and that the Aztec Empire (at least the core of it) was pretty much the most advanced civilization in the Americas at the time. But as far as I understand it steel swords and armor (while extremely helpful: the blunt force of a Macuahuitl would do far more damage then the cutting potential of relatively fragile obsidian, and steel swords could be used to stab rather then just slash which gives more flexibility in combat) were not the key to the success of Spainish soldiers, but horses, crossbows, and guns which allowed the Spaniards to act as "Shock troops" to disrupt Mesoamerican lines/formations in a way that the Aztecs simply lacked the technology and experience to counter or replicate. While clearly the Spainards would not have been able to succeed in a direct military conquest on their own, you must admit they acted as major force multipliers to their native allies/lackies/opportunistic acquaintances.

[New Granadeseret]

I got an error redirect

Ayup, same. 404 redirect.

Go to the repaired link in my actual post. I can't fix it within another person's quote.

I have reserved the Thirteen colonies

England's reservation was long before yours.

[Jaslandia]

Note: Glytter has dropped Scotland(He informed us in a discord chat)

In that case, I'll edit my recent IC post so the letter is addressed to Britain, instead of Scotland.

[PLESSUR]

Full name of state: The United Cherokee League
Type of government (absolutist monarchy, republic): Tribal Confederacy
Capital: Kennesaw
Head of state: High Chief Inola A Ni Wo Di
Head of government: High Chief Inola A Ni Wo Di
General government description: Tribal Confederacy where chiefs from each of the seven clans cast votes on who the next High Chief will be.
Territory (map if needed): http://i.imgur.com/qs5GGK8.png
Colonies: None
Population (metropolitan and colonial separate if required): 450,000

Economic description: Tribal; Barter System, Shared Property, etc
Religious description (by class):
-The Old Faith, or the Traditional Way makes up about 80% of the Cherokee population, though many aren't highly religious.
-Protestantism, imported by the English, makes up about 12% of the Cherokee population
-Catholicism, imported by French traders, makes up about 8% of the Cherokee population
Popular ideologies and political beliefs (by class):

There are two major political ideologies in the Cherokee League, the Traditionalists support the tribal system and want to keep out foreign influence, currently supported by about 45% of the Cherokee. Reformists support a Republican System of government with a National Parliament and a Chief Executive. They are supported by about 35% of the population. Another 20% are merely pro-trade, and therefore tend to side with the Reformists over the Traditionalists, however, the Chiefs of Four of the Seven Clans are Traditionalists, and as the political establishment in the Cherokee League, their ideology holds the most actual power.

Military description: 17,000 soldiers
Strengths and weaknesses of the military:

++Adept in Rough, Wet, and Forested Terrain
++Well Coordinated
++Specialists at Ambushes
+Specialists at Stealthy withdraws and reconnaissance

----- Extremely Outdated Weaponry
-- Outdated Logistics System

General aims (territorial, etc): To retain their independence and promote their influence in the New World, and perhaps, to expand into Mississippi to be able to participate in the trade along the river.
Foreign Policy: Friendly towards the French and English, but relatively isolationist in all spheres other than trade.

History:

Until the 1500s little had changed in Cherokee territory, and the Cherokee people, who had lived in those lands since the 1100s, continued to grow in number, with several notable booms in population growth in the 1500s growing the population to 70,000, and in the 1600s, as the Dutch and French settled in New England and Canada, several small influxes of Iroquois tribes began migrating south to join their Cherokee brethren. The Cherokee reacted passively to the colonists along the East Coast at first, but as several tribes began retreating from the coast into their lands, they saw a need for unity to strengthen their peoples for war against the colonists if need be. They created a Tribal Confederacy with a Chief from each Clan voting on he High Chief, who would make most decisions for the Cherokee except in certain cases, such as war, where the entire Tribal council would be called to decide on what actions were to be taken.

In the 1670s, the Cherokee declared war on the Choctaw in the interests of expanding, an ideology they had adopted from the Europeans, and they successfully did so, moving south towards the Carribean Sea. They also fought in a war against the Creek in which they eventually integrated their tribes into the Cherokee Confederacy. With another population boom from trading with the English and French, they soared in population to 450,000 people, including those they conquered by the year 1760. Additionally a political divide emerged as more and more Cherokee natives began seeing a need to further unify their confederacy and to adopt a European system of government based off of the English Parliament. This idea has been highly contested, and finds far more support among Christians in the Cherokee League than Traditionalists, however, this has begun to change as colonial cities have emerged and colonists have expanded closer and closer to their territory. With Cotton, Indigo, and Tobacco crops growing in popularity among Cherokee farmers, small villages, more in resemblance of Europeans than their old tribal homes have begun to spring up. However, High Chief Inola has pledged to support the old way, but he himself is an aging Chief at the age of 71, and the next chief from his tribe, Rayetayah, is friendlier towards traders and Europeans than Inola.

Accepted. Too many savages in the RP *shrugs*

And she's ready.

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
Periphery (No Formal Colonies): Burma, Thailand
Population: 187,570,000 citizens | approx. 8,000,000 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 religious 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 and Mughal nationalism 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.

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 formidable in terms of raw numbers.
+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.
+Modern; the gunpowder and weapons of the Mughal Army are up to date and effective, in some ways better made than European firearms. 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.

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.

Um... while I admire the length of your app, I hate to say but your state is too advanced beyond realism and beyond what's best for this RP. To have a centralised, industrialised, westernised Mughal Empire with European military standards and an integrated economy with all the trade is pushing reality by quite a wide margin. If you don't mind I would prefer if you revised many parts of your app to make the Mighals more realistic to how they would be in the 1760's. You can refer to our Cancer Specialist Mishmahig, who knows a lot about the Mughals.

Full name of state: The Portuguese Empire
Type of government (absolutist monarchy, republic): Absolute monarchy
Capital: Lisbon
Head of state: King Hidalgo Ferrari
Head of government: King Hidalgo Ferrari
General government description: An absolute monarchy with viceroyalties governing colonial territories.
Territory (map if needed): Portugal
Colonies: Brazilian exterior, Sindh, cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, and two port towns on the south western coast of Papua New Guinea
Population (metropolitan and colonial separate if required): Homeland: 1.6 million
Colonial: 65 million

Economic description: Mercantile
Religious description (by class): The majority of the empire is catholic, and this doctrine is enforced as the state religion - Protestantism is still suppressed heavily. Shamanism is prevalent and somewhat tolerated in the colonies by native populations
Popular ideologies and political beliefs (by class): A rising tide of liberalism can be found in the middle class of colonial areas - absolutism still remains supreme in the middle class of the homeland though. Abolition is a rising cause in parts of the homeland though, but lacks in support from the colonials.

Military description: The Portuguese Empire posses a massive and global military, with the very core and foundation of the military being the navy. The majority of ground forces are colonial troops coming from Brazil and such - while most of the navy ( ships and sailors ) originate from the homeland. For every sailor, there are around 3 soldiers. The total number of ships in the armed wing of the Portuguese navy is 1000 - with 100,000 seamen in it's employment. There are a total of 300,000 soldiers. It should be noted thought that the majority of such ground troops are garrisoned and local security forces.
Strengths and weaknesses of the military: Portugal is easily one of the largest and technologically advanced naval powers in the world. The army is very large, however it is extremely unexperienced, with only a slim number of personel ever having actually partaken in combat against another modernized force. Most combat experience within the army derives from conflicts with primitive tribal groups.

General aims (territorial, etc): Secure a the largest colonial empire in the world, as well as hegemony over Europe.
Foreign Policy: Expansionist, Imperial

History: The exact same as up until this point, except with larger military growth for the Guinea-Bissau colony to have done better.

Your territorial claim in the Sindh clashes with the Mughal claim, so that will have to change. Your military and population figures are too large, so you'll need to edit them.

My first IC post is up. Letters to the Netherlands, France, Spain, Scotland, and the Mughal Empire are included. France might also want to take note of the second part of my IC post.

Do I see a Swabian there? Do my eyes deceive me?

[PLESSUR]

Full name of state: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Type of government (absolutist monarchy, republic): Unitary Parliamentary Monarchy
Capital: London
Head of state: King Frederick I
Head of government: The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Bute, KT
General government description: Basically Parliament(which is bicameral) develops the policy for the nation and the Monarch can decide whether or not to assent to it though they almost always do.
Territory (map if needed): England Scotland and Ireland
Colonies: The Thirteen Colonies, Florida, Whatever is left west of the Appalachian Mountains, The remainder of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, (West Indie Islands that I'll find rf), The Maldives, and Various Trading Posts along the coast of India and Africa
Population (metropolitan and colonial separate if required): Metropolitan: 10.2 Million
Colonial: 1.5 Million
Total: 12.7 Million


Economic description: The economy of the United Kingdom is flourishing. Trade from across the empire continues to come in filling the treasury with gold from tariffs on luxury items, such as spices, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and sugar. Recently, a new tax has been put in place on the Thirteen colonies regarding sugar imports though it hasn’t been enforced
Religious/Political description (by class):
Royalty: Anglican/Lutheran Classism, Enlightenment, conservatism
Nobility/Upper Class: Anglican, Whiggism, Conservatism, Colonisation, Imperialism
Clergy: Anglican, Conservatism, Maintaining the Church of England
Bourgeoisie: Anglican/Catholic, Whiggism, Industrialization
Peasantry/Lower Class: Anglican/Catholic/Lutheran, wide range of beliefs that change with the eeb and flow of whoever they care to listen to

Military description: The military of the United Kingdom is one of the best equipped, led and trained army, and navy. It currently maintains the world's largest Navy ,however it is spread out to various different stations across the world.
Strengths and weaknesses of the military:
+ 120,000 of the King’s Men ready to die for King and Country
+ Largest Navy in the World
+ One of the best Admiralties in the world
- Stretched thin across their colonies
- Lack of manpower
- Lack of native allies across the world has caused dependence on British regulars

General aims (territorial, etc): Acquire French Louisiana, Contain the French and Ottomans, Find a Continental Ally, Establish relations with natives, establish a Mediterranean Base
Foreign Policy:
Allies: N/A
Friends: (Hopefully) Brandenburg, Netherlands
Neutral: All other nations
Tense: Spain/Austria, Cherokee
Enemies: Ottomans and the French

History: WIP But basically, Hannover isn’t inherited instead a cadet branch of the House of Hannover forms and inherits the Throne of Great Britain. Frederick doesn’t die and instead inherits the throne upon the death of George II in 1759. Charles Stuart dies in battle during the Jacobite Rising of 1745




Note: Glytter has dropped Scotland(He informed us in a discord chat)

Accepted. Welcome aboard until France partitions you

[G-Tech Corporation]

Um, Plessur, I've done the Mughals many times. That military is equivalent to what the Mughals could marshal OTL, with the only minor differences being in textiles and the navy. It's 1760- everyone is still walking around with flintlocks, which the Mughals did well. The Mughal Empire OTL had the largest GDP in the world in 1630, which I've toned back a bit due to the loss of prime lands to the Gajapatis.

98% of my application is copied directly from historical documents as regards the trade, economy, etc. I had to embellish a bit past 1650 because that's where the empire went tits up, but the rest of it is accurate. It's hardly Westernized, but it is important to remember that this isn't the industrial revolution; not being Westernized isn't the be all and end all of a state in the 1700s.

[Caltarania]

Um, Plessur, I've done the Mughals many times.

you've done them like fifty times

maybe it's time for you to try something different? you know, use that creativity you're meant to have

[G-Tech Corporation]

Um, Plessur, I've done the Mughals many times.

you've done them like fifty times

maybe it's time for you to try something different? you know, use that creativity you're meant to have

Yeah, I tried to go in for North America first, but got my entire idea shot to pieces by Discord reservations. After that there was really only India left for nations, and only parts of it at that. I had to do some serious history writing to make the Mughals more than a rump state.

I mean, if you've got other ideas for a place to put a nation I'm all ears.

[Greater Slavic Union]

reserve Poland-Lithuania, Slovakia, and Muscovy. I need to think of a good PoD...

[PLESSUR]

Reservation Map 2.0 (Link fixed)

Similar rules apply: Top reservations/Accepted apps are considered first for colonization purposes, Only reservations officially recognized by the OP on main list are taken into account (Besides the Poland reservation since much has caused so much trouble I can only assume it still stands). Dutch reservation seems to be gone. Punjab's entire reservation is overturned by Muhgals.

Looks very good, I'll attach it to the OP. For my nation tho, I don't have Vorarlberg. No need to update it yet, I think we're gonna be getting some new German states soon, being discussed on Discord.

[PLESSUR]

reserve Poland-Lithuania, Slovakia, and Muscovy. I need to think of a good PoD...

All gone mate. Please check the reservations list before

[The Holy Dominion of Inesea]

you've done them like fifty times

maybe it's time for you to try something different? you know, use that creativity you're meant to have

Yeah, I tried to go in for North America first, but got my entire idea shot to pieces by Discord reservations. After that there was really only India left for nations, and only parts of it at that. I had to do some serious history writing to make the Mughals more than a rump state.

I mean, if you've got other ideas for a place to put a nation I'm all ears.

Dai Teikoku Afrika

Japanese and Mughal sailors get blow really of course, land in Africa, conquer and pillage that shit and form a S. African or Madagascaran Empire

[G-Tech Corporation]

Yeah, I tried to go in for North America first, but got my entire idea shot to pieces by Discord reservations. After that there was really only India left for nations, and only parts of it at that. I had to do some serious history writing to make the Mughals more than a rump state.

I mean, if you've got other ideas for a place to put a nation I'm all ears.

Dai Teikoku Afrika

Japanese and Mughal sailors get blow really of course, land in Africa, conquer and pillage that shit and form a S. African or Madagascaran Empire

That would be funny, but hard to justify as being anything other than completely irrelevant.

[Greater Slavic Union]

ACCEPTED:

Cape Colony - Western Pacific Territories
Turcoman Empire - Krugmar
Kingdom of Kongo - Jaslandia
Gajapati Kingdom - Trotza
Ara Kalinago Wurari - The Ik Ka Ek Akai
France - Liecthenbourg
Swabian League - Plessur
Cherokee League - Alouite
Great Britain - Kisinger

RESERVED:

'Western' Ottoman Empire - New Granadeseret
Bohemia - Great Confederacy Of Commonwealth States
China - Valentir
England and Ireland - Kisinger
Dutch Gold Coast - The Danish Confederacy
Portugal - Republic of the Cristo
Japan - Zostra
Scandinavian mess - Conchabira
Brandenburg of sorts - Alleniana
Mughal Empire - G-Tech Corporation
Punjab (? TBC) - Caltarania
Siberian Khanate - Elderowa

None of them is gone, neither according to the map, nor to the list...

[The Holy Dominion of Inesea]

Dai Teikoku Afrika

Japanese and Mughal sailors get blow really of course, land in Africa, conquer and pillage that shit and form a S. African or Madagascaran Empire

That would be funny, but hard to justify as being anything other than completely irrelevant.

Mughal, Chinese, and Japanese sailors over the course of centuries get lost and wind up on Madagascar, slowly building up the state. Then Portuguese or some other European family comes and conquers or marries into the royalty the place, installing themselves as the new lords, the White Rajahs. They begin to modernize their kingdom and turn it into a fortress.

[PLESSUR]

ACCEPTED:

Cape Colony - Western Pacific Territories
Turcoman Empire - Krugmar
Kingdom of Kongo - Jaslandia
Gajapati Kingdom - Trotza
Ara Kalinago Wurari - The Ik Ka Ek Akai
France - Liecthenbourg
Swabian League - Plessur
Cherokee League - Alouite
Great Britain - Kisinger

RESERVED:

'Western' Ottoman Empire - New Granadeseret
Bohemia - Great Confederacy Of Commonwealth States
China - Valentir
England and Ireland - Kisinger
Dutch Gold Coast - The Danish Confederacy
Portugal - Republic of the Cristo
Japan - Zostra
Scandinavian mess - Conchabira
Brandenburg of sorts - Alleniana
Mughal Empire - G-Tech Corporation
Punjab (? TBC) - Caltarania
Siberian Khanate - Elderowa

None of them is gone, neither according to the map, nor to the list...

Good point. I apologise for that. We decided on Discord and I mentioned it on the group before. There's already a Poland-Muscovy and a Habsburg empire reserved. The map shows Poland I think.

[Greater Slavic Union]

None of them is gone, neither according to the map, nor to the list...

Good point. I apologise for that. We decided on Discord and I mentioned it on the group before. There's already a Poland-Muscovy and a Habsburg empire reserved. The map shows Poland I think.

The Map only shows a part of poland occupied by Germany.

Besides that, how many slavic countries are there available? And... is it possible to RP as a nobleman, instead of a king?