I can't find the website I based the Karabalasagun as Gokturk capital on. it wasn't wiki but a site about the Gokturks. I was actually thinking of spawning them in more than one location since it takes about 14 turns for a settler to walk from Karabalasagun to Balasagun, the furthest west of their natural starting cites. of course they could also flip the cities, but if they got settlers instead then the player could chose his capital by settling that city first.
sprt, we all know that as a mod creator you have the final power to take sides in any historical discrepancies. I found at least 3 different capitals for Gokturks while researching. Our heads will go crazy if every one would come with his book, so it's better to have some standardized approach: Wikipedia. I know it is not perfect and sometimes wrong, but most of our Pedia and most laymen people relay on Wikipedia heavily. Sticking to Wikipedia will at least provide some level of consistency, because at the end of the day historians themselves cannot be sure about many things.
Ordu Baliq (in Mongolia) is listed as a capital (
capital #1) of the First Empire.
The First Türk Empire collapsed in 581, and fifty years later Kutlugh (d. 692) established the Second Turkish or Türk empire (683-734), which controlled much of the eastern portion of the former First Türk Empire and produced the Orkhon inscriptions that have survived to the present.
The power of the Second (Eastern) Khaganate was centered on Ötüken (the upper reaches of the Orkhon River) (
capital #2). In 681 they revolted against the Tang Dynasty Chinese domination and, over the following decades, steadily gained control of the steppes beyond the Great Wall of China. By 705, they had expanded as far south as Samarkand and threatened the Arab control of Transoxiana. The Göktürks clashed with the Umayyad Califate in a series of battles (712–713) but the Arabs emerged as victors.
Western Empire's capital was Suyab (
capital #3) in the Chui River valley, about 6 km south east of modern Tokmok. Navekat was summer capital (Summer Palace!). The Western Turks were also known as the Onogurs or Onoghurs, from the proto-Turkic Onoq ("ten arrows"). An "arrow" was a name for one division of the Turkic tribes. The division now known as the Utigurs or Bulgars eventually migrated southwest and formed the First Bulgarian Empire in Moesia.
I think it does make sense for Gokturks to start with 2 centers (East and West). After the map will be finalized we can positively identify areas for Ordu Baliq, Suyab and Ötüken.
