SouthernKing
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Gandhara
Capital: Peshawar
Government: Absolute Monarchy (Ghurid dynasty)
Religion: Buddhism, with a majority of Zoroastrianism, and minorities of Hinduism and other Central and South Asian religions
History: The province of Ghor, located in the mountainous region sandiwched between Bactria and Kabul, was incredibly remote. So remote, in fact, that it kept its native paganism for centuries after Zoroastrianism and Buddhism came to prevalence in the neighboring regions, until the end of the thirteenth century, when Buddhism finally caught on amongst one chieftain there, who set himself up as Ghor's ruler. However, the dynasty he founded would remain local, trapped between powers, for another century and a half.
In 1457, this all changed. Using a combination of Persian fire magic and the healing and rituals of the Hindu Atharvaveda, one ruler of the Ghurid line, by the name of Gautama Suri, amassed one of the greatest armies Afghanistan had ever seen. In 1459, Kabul fell with a single stroke, and from there the Ghurid empire expanded, conquering all of the region south of Bactria by 1466. The rest of Gautama Suri's reign was largely peaceful, until his death in 1485 and his succession by his son, Gautama Dariush. In 1489, he conquered Peshawar and the Hindu Kush in preparation for his masterstroke: after 1492 the Ghurids crossed into and expanded into India, reaching as far as Indraprastha/Lal Kot/Dilli/whatever it's called here, by 1495. Gautama Dariush was no less able of a ruler, and in 1496 moved his capital to Peshawar, to be able to administer both the Afghan and Indian halves of his realm fairly and equally.
