In the beginning, there was only Khoda - a being so powerful and immense that no one could even grasp him. Yet Khoda was alone, thus he set off to create a host of lesser divine beings - the Devas. He created them out of nothing and enjoyed the worship given to him by them. Yet, not all devas were content. One of them fell into pride, and became the Irbis - Prince of Darkness. He successfully convinced one third of all Devas to rebel, but could not defeat the might of Khoda. As a result, he was cast down from heaven, his followers cursed forever.
Then Khoda went to create the first human, and gave him dominion of whole Earth. But Irbis convinced the first human to rebel, which forced Kohda to cast him out. For a long period of time, humans lived on Earth; until they finally attempted one, final rebellion, building themselves a massive temple that was to be the seat of a new pantheon made of Devas.
Khoda had enough. Since humanity did not want him as their god, Khoda chose to make a deal with the fallen Devas. The earth was split; 70 fallen devas would receive one nation of men each, becoming gods of those nations and having a total absolute power over them as long as humanity would agree to it. Meanwhile Khoda chose one nation for himself - a confederation of twelve nomadic tribes. He led them out of oppression by a large neighbouring empire, to conquer vast lands. He also gave them their laws - worship of any the Devas was to be punished by death, as was an entire set of other crimes.
The tribes then invaded the lands he ordered them to conquer. After a certain period of time, the tribes proclaimed Khusrau their first king; but he became corrupt and lost Khoda's favour. Khoda then chose Farrukhsiyar, who became Emperor and during his entire reign, stayed true to Khoda's teachings. As a reward, Khoda announced that his descendants will forever be Emperors, sitting on the Peacock Throne until he finally incarnates as Emperor of Farrukhsiyar dynasty, conquers the world and deposes the daevas. . Farrukhsiyar also conquered vast lands inhabited by various pagan rajas, and subjugated them.
Descendants of Farrukhsiyar, however, were not as pious as him. As a punishment Khoda split his kingdom, and house of Farrukhsiyar remained ruling over two of twelve tribes - the Karlani and Barechi- among a sea of pagans, dominance over which was only maintained by force. Due to increased amount of disobedience, Khoda withdrew his blessings. Battles became harder, enemies - more numerous.
Due to Farrukhsiyar being of Karlani tribe, his nation became known as the Karlani Empire.
Those days were long ago. Now, a young Emperor, Alamgir, has ascended to the throne, and his troubles have only just begun.
His father had a harem so immense that even his officials are not exactly sure how many women are in it. The result was a horde of princes, who are very eager to sit on the Peacock Throne as Padishah Emperors themselves. At least four are conspiring from the shadows, waiting for an opportunity. Everything is observed by watchful eyes of Nizam of Shamshabad - an old, experienced politician with dreams to play kingmaker and one of biggest fiefs in the Empire.
To the North, the pagans are stirring again. A peaceful sect called "Chelas" (followers) was suppressed by Alamgir's father. Now, they return as a warlike cult, their bearded warriors wielding chakrams against their foes. Their only problem is their lack of unity - but perhaps among one the the misils in the khalsa there is someone who would be able to unite them?
The North is not the only place where the Pagans are rebelling. Brahmaji Rao - a friend of Alamagir from his childhood days, now a powerful Raja, has launched a revolt in the South-East. From his mighty fortresses, his mounted bands launch devastating raids upon the Karlani domains. However, for all his genius, Brahamaji lacks men to expand his campaign.
The East is not calm too. Sher Shah Bari managed to install himself as Shah of the remaining 10 tribes, and seeks to conquer the remaining two. Despite publicly posing as a perfect worshipper of Khoda, Sher Shah is a decadent hypocrite who sees the name of Khoda only as a way to manipulate his followers.
Meanwhile, young priest of Khoda has received a vision from Khoda himself, stating that due to wickedness of past emperors, Khoda decided to allow the enemies of Karlani Empire to invade and even triumph over them, hoping that through experience of suffering the tribes would turn to him. Should they do it - Alamgir will become their saviour and one of most powerful Emperors to ever sit on the Peacock Throne. Should he fail and succumb to his inner darkness - his Empire shall fall with him.
The young Emperor has to confront all this. Will you side with him? Or Perhaps his enemies and watch the Karlani Empire burn? The choice is yours!
CONCEPT:
Alamgir Chronicles is a spiritual successor to Intrigue in the Court series of RPs by Zelphos. The character - based RP is centred around court of Emperor Alamgir Shah Karlani of the Karlani Empire. You can RP any sort of court official - a mighty general, one of slave-soldiers guarding Alamgir, a prince, Nizam, priest or allied pagan Raja. You will quickly find that the court is a den of monsters. In cases where plot moves outside of the capital, I will let others RP the important lore characters like Sher Shah Bari or Brahmaji.
The world is a low Fantasy RP similar to the Game of Thrones. Non-human races almost don't exist (except for monsters created by fallen devas, but those are rare). Gods, do, however exist - but they move mostly indirectly. Magic, while present, is mostly indirect as well (see religion is magic trope), will bring you into grasp of fallen devas and characters loyal to Khoda are forbidden from using it.
The setting is loosely inspired by that of Mughal Empire, with "persianised, monotheistic" elite ruling over vast "hindu, polytheist" masses. Technology resembles that of mid-XVI century, with gunpowder weapons common, but lacking edges over bows and arrows.
I am not filling the worlbuilding thread as yet, as I want to do joint worldbuilding before we move foward.
RULES:
1) I am the OP. My word is law here.
2) Keep NS rules. This is dark fantasy, but limit everything to PG-13.
3) Please make sure to adjust yourself to the climate. Your characters are shaped by a certain society.
4) The posts are to be written with quality. One liners are forbidden.
5) No metagaming or godmodding.
6) At least one post a week is required.
