[RFC RAND] The peoples of the Persian plain

[Danger Bird]

This is my first story, on Rhye's and Fall of Civilisation (RFC) RAND, version 1.26, Huge, High Earth-likeness、Monarch difficulty.

I am role-playing somewhat. I did not have specific goals as I set out, but circumstances and opportunities (e.g. founding a religion) may lead me to fervently pursue the goals that are naturally suggested, even if that is not the path that will gain me the highest score.

The history of the Persian people - I - The rise of the Persian empire, the adoption of Christianity, the liberation of India

I. Beginnings
II. Contact and expansion
III. The underground faith
IV. The Arab conquests
V. The missionary empire
VI. Conflict with Arabia and the Khwarezmid Dynasty
VII. Expansion of the known world and the campaign against Arabia
VIII. The Greater Kartid Persian Empire​

The history of the Persian people - II - The era of the Encircling War, the fall of China and the ascendence of Persia to world's dominant power

IX. The Timurids and the Eastern War
X. The end of the Timurid Dynasty
XI. The Twelvers and the Qizilbash
XII. The Encircling War, Part I - The Second China Campaign
XIII. The Encircling War, Part II - A World in Turmoil
XIV. The Encircling War, Part III - The Empire Endures
XV. The Encircling War, Part IV - The Establishment of the Pax Parsa​

The history of the Persian people - III - The First World War, the Catastrophe, the Tudeh Revolution and reconquest

XVI. The Parsa Olympiad
XVII. The World Again Aflame
XVIII. The First World War - Part I (1870-1896)
XIX. The First World War - Part II "Futility" (1896-1918)
XX. The First World War - Part III "Victory attended by Catastrophe" (1918-1936)
XXI. Reconquest and Revolution (1936-38)
XXII. 'International Friendship' and Domestic Strife: Post-Revolutionary Persia(1938-1945)​

The history of the Persian people - IV - The Modern Era

XXIII. The World in 1955
XXIV. Persia reaches southwards
XXV. Steps towards domination - modernisation and the African expansion
XXVI. A change of course - Persia looks to the stars​

I. Beginnings

The nomadic people of the Persian plain began settling around two distinct centres in the 9th centurty BCE.

Parsa was the largest and dominant city, founded c. 835 BC in the hills to the northwest.

Armuza became the main urban centre (c. 805 BC) for the tribes that had migrated closer to the sea.

The first ruler of the unified empire, Akyresh, had 4 priorities:

1. Fully exploit the natural bounty of the land
2. Join the cities of the empire, for efficient defense.
3. Establish a 3rd city on the southern bank of the Amu Dar'ya River
4. Explore the surrounding area, learning as much as possible about the rivals to the south and east.​

 

[Danger Bird]

II. Contact and Expansion


By around the 6th century BCE, a great road had been completed between Parsa and Armuza, and a crude anchorage had been fashioned at the latter. Thus, an opportunity for trade arose: wheat from the Parsi plain was sent to India in exchange for imports of dried fish.

In the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, the empire expanded significantly with the founding of Pathragada on the Amu Dar'ya to the north, and Ectabana to the southwest near recently discovered ore deposits. Also in the 3rd c. BCE, Buddhism was adopted as the imperial religion.

However, in Armuza, pagan beliefs were still prominent for centuries among the merchants, who completed a grand temple to Artemis in 145, their matron goddess. These merchants, ever adventurous, also started a trade (in 130) with the far east, selling pork to Japan in exchange for venison. Although this resulted in a shortage of pork, the emperor garnted permits for this trade as a gainfully employed merchant sector would be advantageous for the stability of the Persian empire.

Increased commercial and diplomatic contact (c. 100 BCE) brought alphabet from Rome, metal casting from India.

The Dai Miao was built in Hangzhou (c. 25 BCE), and shortly afterwards the teachings and precepts of Daoism and Confucianism were carried to other realms, starting in the Persian city of Pathragada. Thus, the calendar used for reckonings of dates in the eastern lands (China to Babylon) started from the first year of the promulgation of the Peace of Dai (An Dai), or 1 AD.

Merchants in Armuza began a trade with China: rice for silver - around 50 AD.

In 110 AD, Samarkand, an independent kingdom to the north, fell to barbarians and entered several decades of chaos. The Persian army took this opportunity and, at the point of the horseman's arrow, brought Samarkand into the empire in 125 AD, after a quick campaign.

 

[Pacifist46]

Very nice start!

 

[micbic]

Seems good one, keep it up!

 

[Koning]

Love to see an update of this one!

 

[Danger Bird]

Thank you, Pacifist46, micbic, and Koning for the encouragement. I have been busy for the last month, but more updates are coming up.

 

[Danger Bird]

III. The underground faith

By the 2nd century, Persia had grown from a nomadic plains people to a respected and powerful civilisation. In 170 AD, the historian Tacitus, writing in the far western empire of Rome, acknowledged the ascendancy of the vast eastern empires, first the 'Middle' Kingdom of China and second the Persian Empire. Yet while Persia might have been superior to India in the eyes of foreigners, in fact the ruling Arsacids were beholden to India to the south, the source of their religion and many of their cultural traditions.

The bustling port of Armuza, however, was naturally a cradle of original thinking, and in 170 AD the great prophet Atisha began teaching there, of a coming Annointed One from the One God. Publicly, no one was willing to risk the wrath of the ruling Buddhist clergy, who held sway in the court of the Emperor. But throughout the empire, serious thought was given to his views by artisans and merchants, and some renegade thinkers made great advances in theology. Even in the army, which was on constant guard against incursions from barbarians, many were sympathetic to the idea that a new homegrown faith, rather than an imported religion from India, would raise the spirits of the warriors.

Under the Buddhist monks and Arsacids, however, it was still too dangerous to teach openly in the major cities of the empire, so Atisha was forced to flee to the new Persian outpost of Samarkand, where, over 3 decades, his followers congregated. In 210, the year of Atisha's death, a teacher named Jesatso began speaking of himself as the One Way to the One God. He was executed in 215 by the Persian authorities, but his followers, convinced that he was the Annointed One foretold by Atisha, went underground. Later generations marked Jesatso’s execution as the defining event in the founding of Christianity. The religious calendar (based on the year of Jesatso's birth, 186 AD) recorded it as Christian year 30.

Christianity had spread to Parsa by 245 AD (Christian year 60), to Armuza by 440AD (CY 255) and throughout the empire by the 6th century, but did not received official status until much later.

In the early 4th century, reports came to Parsa that the Babylonian civilisation had collapsed. Instability in the west continued through that century and led, in 380, to Egypt seeking to become vassal of the Persian Empire, and being accepted.

The 5th century was a period of great achievement, with the Mausoleum of Maussollos completed in Parsa, along with an Academy, and a Great Lighthouse in Armuza signaling its rise to become one of the greatest ports in the known world.

Towards the end of the 6th century, with ever-increasing cultural and commercial dominance, Persia began to exert control, from Ectabana, over the prized Baluchi iron mines.

Yet, to the east, an even greater power was continuing its rise. In 600 AD, China completed construction of a Great Wall spanning the nation’s northern and western frontiers. While China continued to send missionaries to the west, militarily they were inward-thinking and secured from the rest of the world. This turn of events caused the Persian military leaders to feel much more vulnerable to barbarian incursions, which were in fact a growing concern.

 

[Danger Bird]

IV. The Arab conquests

Persian military commanders had been for some time scouting the lands to the southwest and often advocating wars against the barbarian states that had replaced the Babylonians. The rulers in Parsa had always been cautious, however, even though the public seemed to be restless for conquest. The events of the 7th century seemed to justify that caution.

In 620, India conquered barbarian city-state of Uruk, but just as an Arabian caliphate was forming to the south. Ten years later, Arabia began a holy war against India, taking Uruk and surrounding lands, and sending waves of camel archers northeast.

India desperately sent emissaries to Parsa, pleading to be accepted as vassals. The Persian rulers had just received an Arabian delegation, and while the mood of the meeting had been tense, the two nations had agreed to maintain peaceful relations.

So, the Indians’ offer was politely declined. There was only an agreement to increase trade with the Indians – exporting horses in exchange for gold bars and coin (2gpt).

Meanwhile, news came in 640 that China had completed an Apostolic Palace, uniting followers of the Taoist faith.

Persia was beset with problems enough in the coming decades. To the west, an exploring party was wiped out by barbarians. And in 670, plague struck Parsa, spreading to the rest of the empire by 700. Thanks to the foresight of the rulers, aqueducts provided clean water in most cities, and the plague was fully eradicated by 730, much earlier than in many neighbouring regions. India, in particular, suffered badly from the plague and its cities fell to the advancing, though also plague-stricken, Arabian armies.

By the 8th century, rebuilding was well under way and ideas and commerce began to flow in from the world: technological progress (construction and machinery) due to contacts with a people called Vikings to the far north, and a remarkable trader named Pytheas setting up a prosperous merchant enterprise in Armuza.

India continued its collapse. In 720, the Arab Caliphate captured Dilli, then in 730, Lahore. Persia benefitted from India’s misfortune, in the subsequent decades exerting control over the lawless former-Indian regions north of the Indus.

In 740, a small navy (a fleet of triremes) began patrolling south from Armuza. The increased contact by the coast with the vanishing Indian Empire, and Persian diplomats incessant entreaties for greater cultural exchange, results in an inflow of military innovations, in particular, a skilled Indian bowman becoming Tirbodh of a division of Persian archers, and introducing the longbow, in exchange for a fiefdom in the lands that had recently come under Persian control. At the same time, with increased contact along the seacoast, Persian currency became accepted in Chittagong, and some advanced theological ideas also made inroads there.

In the late 8th century, barbarians were increasingly threatening the northwestern and northern frontiers. There were also reports that a major city in Japan, Edo, had been sacked, and the import of deer from Japan ceased. Finally, in 780, there were reports from the south that the Indian Empire was no more.

By the early 9th century, the barbarians in the northwest had been mostly quelled, and trade began through Arabian waters with the distant vassal – horses that had been sent to India were now sold to Egypt in exchange for an exotic fruit called the banana.

In 840, the city of Lahore revolted against their Arab masters and pleaded to be accepted as a satrapy of the Persian Empire. They were quickly fully integrated as a new city of the empire.

Against this good news, there were also evil omens. In 850, a fire in Parsa destroyed the ironworking district. And in the same year, rumours circulated that that the great far-western Roman Empire had fallen, and that new aggressive nations were already forming in its place.

 

[eduhum]

Another update!
This game is becoming more and more difficult

 

[micbic]

Keep it, seems to go well.
On commentary, I would be more doubtful if I were to accept the Egyptians as vassals. Build up your military, since both you and Egypt are vulnerable targets for the Arabs (and Egypt vassalisation adds to this danger)

 

[Danger Bird]

Eduhum, thanks for watching. Yes, I find that RFC is almost always difficult. As you'll see in the next update, I think I've got to go against China next.

micbic, I am not sure why I took Egypt as a vassal. I was probably just flattered, and seeing that they weren't in a war, I took them. I've got some good trade deals out of them, if nothing else.

 

[Danger Bird]

V. The missionary empire

Since the founding of Christianity, and despite its rise in popularity among peasants, craftsmen, and the military, for over 8 centuries the Persian nobility had remained stubbornly Buddhist. But whereas Buddhism was an inward-looking religion of the privileged, Christianity had become fervently active in its missionary activity. After the faith had been spread throughout the empire, Christian missionaries began boldly exploring the vast lands to the northwest, often with sympathetic military escorts.

In 880, missionaries and military scouts reported on a new empire rising in the northwest. These people had been called Germans by the Mediterranean peoples. A delegation was invited to Parsa, and treated to a demonstration of sailing on a lake near the capital, but they resisted these friendly gestures and would not open their borders.

The fringes of the German nation

In 900, contact was also made with a people further to the north, called the Russians. Unlike the Germans, these people were very accommodating and agreed to grant our regiments free passage. By 920, Persian missionaries had planted their faith in the new friendly nation, which immediately converted to Christianity. Further, in 930 Russia agreed to become an autonomous satrapy of Persia. Although Persia was still officially Buddhist, the Russians had mainly had contact with Christian military generals. They recognised that Persia was the cradle of their new faith, and that it was in reality far more Christian than the nobility wished to admit.

The Russian nation

In 970 AD (Christian Year 785), the Christian faction in the bureaucracy finally accumulated enough influence to convince the new leader, Saman Khuda, to convert to Christianity and to have the faith of Atisha and Jesatso, long recognised national prophets, declared the state religion.

Conversion to Christianity

The Buddhist temples still retained influence in the nobility, but the armed forces and the Samanid bureaucracy were now thoroughly Christian in outlook. Missionary work was also emphasised and was proceeding well in Russia.

The less-than-impressive Russian satrap

In 1060, contact with Greece was re-established. They were astonishingly backward. Persia generously sent religious teachers, but the Greek people, steeped in their tribal ways and worship of their war-god Jehevahe, only barely comprehended the ideas of one universal god and the priesthood of Jesatso and the apostles. However, at least the seeds were planted for possible future missionary activity.

The backward Greeks

International relations were delicate. Although Persia had two seemingly-loyal allies in Egypt and Russia, furious relations persisted between Persia and her two largest neighbours, China and Arabia. Meanwhile, the Germans were resisting her diplomatic offensive, and the far-off Japanese were not happy either.

Diplomatic relations in 1030

In 1080, as a result of an agreement to allow freer travel, advanced philosophical ideas spread from China, and the trade and warrior guilds recently prevalent in Persia were emulated in China.
Shortly afterward, contact with a far-western nation, France, led to them accepting the Christian calendar (1090 - CY 905). Though they remained heathen for the time, they were pleasantly disposed to the Persian empire.

At around this time, traders were demanding more favourable terms with vassal Egypt: gold and bananas were demanded in exchange for cotton.

Distances were considerable between cities in the empire, and for some time military leaders had been concerned about the viability of its defense, should the Arabian caliphate to the south suddenly become aggressive. Thus, there was much excitement when major advances were made in engineering in the early 12th century. Not only could better roads be constructed, enabling troops to move more quickly, and better fortifications built at cities, but a new military weapon led to the formation of pikeman units, who it was hoped would keep the Arabian cavalry at bay.

However, the growing cultural influence of the Chinese empire to the east was causing great unease. Already some farmlands to the east on Pathragada were now under Chinese control. Worse, Chinese Taoist missionaries had also been active, and in 1130 Russia betrayed its liege and converted to Taoism.

Chinese influence

Taoist Russia

Ismail Samani Tajik, Amir of Parsa, Khorasan, Baluchistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

In 1130, the new ruler, Ismail Samani, great-great-great-great grandson of Saman Khuda, burdened with the responsibility to continue the great Samanid dynasty and glorious Persian Empire, and ruling over a restless people that seemed to think Persia had for too long been passive, had a great deal to consider:

1. The Chinese: continue to compete with them, or attempt a military campaign agaist them

2. The Arabs: wait for their inevitable attack with pikemen and castles, or strike at an opportune moment

3. Technological development: Persia was significantly behind the other powers of the Eastern world; what could be done?

Spoiler :

4. Missionary activity: would it be possible to convert the new western nations and rally them to Persia's side, or was it better to spend resources elsewhere?

Ismail Samani decided to seek counsel and invited the wise, from far and wide, to his court in Parsa.

 

[micbic]

Do you watch tile stability? It could lead to some good decisions of the style to-DOW-or-not-to-DOW.

 

[Danger Bird]

VI. Conflict with Arabia and the Khwarezmid Dynasty

Throughout the year of 1130, Ismail Samani Tajik took counsel with the wisest citizens of the empire and also with pre-eminent scholars and statesmen who stopped at his court on their journeys between China and the western lands. After then resuming his position as the head of the government, he issued several directives of modest importance - cancelling a long useless silver for rice trade with China, putting a regiment of longbowmen for hire to foreign governments, and redeploying the northwestern border guards (as the formerly hostile tribes to the northwest had been replaced by somewhat civilised Russians and Germans).

Border guards return for redeployment

Yet it was not clear that any compelling grand strategy had emerged from his year-long deliberations. There was a growing sense that China would have to be confronted militarily, but the preparations for such an undertaking would certainly extend beyond his lifetime. Meanwhile, China continued to establish itself as the world's pre-eminent nation, its fame (or infamy) extending as far as the western reaches of Eurasia, where Khwarezmian horsemen had reported discovering a city conqured by Chinese adventurers, its missionaries having succeeded in converting fully one quarter of the world population to Taoism. Ten years later it was heard that Chinese thinkers had developed an advanced socio-economic philosophy they called Liberalism.

China's western outpost of Daqin

China, the world's unquestioned superpower

Persia was enjoying much more modest achievements - a Christian community was established in the Russian city of Sankt Peterburg (and there were hopes of soon convincing the Russians to return to the true faith), new artistic ideas (aesthetics) from Russia were being adopted, while the Russians and Germans began using the Christian calendar, and the small Persian fleet was exploring new lands across the sea to the southeast.

The brief explorations of the Persian fleet

Within the empire, cities were being fortified with walls and castles, and regiments of pikemen and armoured horsemen (or 'knights' as the Germans called them) were being trained. The land of the empire was also being transformed, with windmills rising and more land being settled and farmed. The extent to which Persia had left its nomadic roots was clearly demonstrated by the natural growth of forest over the neglected Parsi Plain, where the ancients had herded their sheep.

Forest regrowth on the Parsi Plain

In 1150, however, the rulers of the Samanid dynasty were rudely woken by a declaration of war from Arabia, carried to the palace in Parsa by a Khawezmian scout (as the Arabs were sure their messager would be executed). The Khwarezmians were a disgruntled tribe on the northern fringes of the empire, well represented in the military, and their loyalty to Persia had been long questioned. With the Arab war, they now saw their chance to agitate for greater influence for the military. As the Arab armies approached, and the Baluchi iron mines and some settlements were destroyed by stealth Arab incursions, and general panic spread, the Khwarezmids took control of the government, deposing the Samanids in 1180 and replacing it with a network of local vassals loyal to the new Khwarazm Shah, named Takash.

The mausoleum of Il-Arslan, patriach of the Khwarezmid dynasty and father of the Great Defender of the Persian peoples, Takash.

The new rulers started a trade with Japan, exporting wheat for dried fish, and resumed the imports of fruits and gold from Egypt (which had been disrupted in the arly years of the war).

On the eve of the 13th century, after decades of small skirmishes, a large Arabian army of macemen (strengthened by a regiment of war elephants) approached Lahore. Although the the empire still lacked iron, the few regiments of horsemen and pikemen in rusty armour would have to up to the task.

The approaching Arabian army

In 1200, the Persian army boldly went on the offensive while the Arabians were still preparing their siege. A volley from the city's defending catapults caused disarray in Arabian ranks, and charges of horsemen severely weaked the Arabian war elephants and began decimating the macemen. The Khuzestan Horsemen were lost, but the regiments from Zagros and particulary the Lorestan Horsemen were strengthened by their victories.

The Battle of Lahore (1200)

The Battle of Lahore, while not decisive, caused the Arab army to give up their siege and move across the Indus into the neighbouring territory, apparently intent on pillage, but in the aftermath of the battle, the now-legendary Lorestan Horsemen dispersed the roaming elephants and scattering macemen, eventually chasing the surviving Arab army out of Persian territory.

Chasing out the Arabian army

In 1210, as a sign that the morale of the caliphate was shaken, an Arabian scientist, Alhazen, defected to the court in Parsa, where over the next few years he refined a technique for making paper. There were great hopes that this would lead to further learning and advances in mapmaking.

 

[Danger Bird]

VII. Expansion of the known world and the campaign against Arabia

Throughout the 13th century, Persia expanded her influence with her vassals. Persian diplomats encouraged the artistic pursuits in vassal Russia, and benefitted from the diffusion of literature and drama into her borders, and the Russians' crude maps of lands to the west. In exchange, Russia's civil service was developed on Persian models, and Russia once again embraced Christianity as a state religion.

Extensive cultural interchange with the Russians (who reconvert to Christianity)

Egypt also converted to the true faith, and subsequently shared its maps of the regions to the southwest, known as Africa.

Conversion of the Egyptians

In the mid 13th century, Persian cartographers had mapped the world from its east to its west. Persia was among, and centrally located within, the undisputed major powers of the world - China, Persia, and Arabia. To the northeast was the still-largely-unknown trading partner, Japan. To the west lay many new nations that had risen from the ruins of a civilisation that was only rumoured in legend, with the Arabians had known as Rum and the Chinese, who had captured its former capital, had named Daqin. There were reports that Christianity had spread within these far nations, including the capital of France.

The world in 1250

For the first time, Persians became more active in obtaining information in foreign lands, with the establishment of a spy ring in Armuza. Presently, an agent had passed undetected into Arabia, and had reported a region of iron mines, which would be the first target for sabotage.

Persian spy in Arabian lands

Contacts followed with Mali in the west and the Mongols (of unknown location). There had been some speculation that the Mongols originated from the lands north of China, but a scout sent to explore this area was met only by a band of Arabian camel archers, from which encounter only one lone man survived to tell the tale.

Contacts with Mali and the illiterate Mongols (late 13th c.)

Meanwhile, Chinese cultural influence was still increasing in the Oxiana region outside Pathragada, despite the focussed development in that city of arts (Persia's first theatre) and religious learning (monasteries of multiple religions).

Cultural influence in Oxiana (1290)

By the end of the 13th century, several decades of small skirmishes after the battle of Lahore, the Persian military was ready to embark on a campaign against the Arabs, and a large army of horsemen, macemen, pikes, and trebuchets, advanced towards the former Indian capital, Dilli. The march was slow and treacherous, due to lack of roads and exposure to Arab longbowmen in watchtowers and natural fortifications.

The Persian army advances towards Dilli

In Parsa, there was promising news from diplomats returning from the western lands. The old empire of Rum (which had been held by the Chinese for centuries), had been conquered by the Turks who had previously roamed in the lands between Persia and the west. This new Turkish empire appeared strong, and, most helpfully, was at war with China, who hoped to regain the land they called Daqin. Soon the Taoist priests in Beijing engineered a vote at the Apostolic Palace. As Persia wished the war to continue, but did not risk the suspicion of the Chinese, the Persian delegate abstained. The Chinese wanted peace, however, and their votes held sway.

The newly-risen Turkish empire replaces Rum/Daqin

The vote at the Apostolic Palace

In 1305 the last ruler of the Khwarezmid dynasty, Takash II, died after a reign of six decades, and without an heir. As the empire was at war with Arabia, the major noble families, who might have otherwise struggled for power, all agreed that the greatest military general of the time, and a well-educated man as well, Fakhru of the Kartid clan, should become the ruler. He took the name Fakhru Mirza.

Besides the ongoing war in the south, Fakhru Mirza also intensified efforts to learn more of the Mongols, who it was hoped could be turned against China. From the appearance of Mongolian riders to the northeast, it was once again surmised that their lands lay to the north of China, but further north than had been previously imagined. Unfortunately, the first diplomatic meeting of the Mongols with the Kartid Dynasty was not amicable. With the army mainly in Arabian lands, and with both the Chinese and Mongols on the eastern flank, neither now tied down with war, Persia's leaders were nervous.

A crude map of the Mongolian lands

Mongolia's threatening attitude

Although Dilli had appeared lightly defended when spies last passed through its walls, by the time the Persian army had set up its siege and is trebuchets had weakened its defenses, Arabian reinforcements had poured in from the south. Worryingly, there were also reports that the Arabian civilisation was on the cusp of a Golden Age of development.

The siege of Dilli

The Battle of Dilli was fought by a disciplined army under the direct command of Fakhru Mirza, and as a result there were few casualties beyond destroyed siege appartatus. After the bombardment, the Lorestan Horsemen made the first charge, followed by the regiments from Zagros, Shiraz, and the 2nd Khwarezmians. All were victorious, and the 3rd Infantry moved into the city easily.

The Battle of Dilli (1320)

The city of Dilli was a great prize for the empire. The holy shrines of the Mahabodhi (Persia's ancient destination of pilgrimage in the Buddhist era) and the Kashi Vishwanath provided income to pay for the rebuilding of the city. The new governors were hopeful that the plentiful fishing areas could be exploited and than, in time, Dilli could become a trading port to rival, or even surpass, Armuza.

The holy city of Dilli

After the conquest of Dilli, however, came reports that the Egyptian Ninth Satrapy had descended into chaos, and was no longer in communication with the Empire. There was little that could be done immediately, however, as the still-strong Arabian heartland lay between.

Also, at this time, an offer of open borders from Japan was readily accepted. Access would be of great importance if hostilities broke out with Mongolia.

Egypt collapses

The senior generals argued to continue the campaign southwards, and convinced Fakhru Mirza to take the army to destroy the city of Al-Basrah. To assist in this, the Armuza spy ring was tasked with sabotaging the iron mines nearby, a job they performed perfectly and without leaving a hint of a trail.

Spy sabotages Arabian mines

 

[micbic]

Save game anywhere?
Anyway, good job on capturing Dilli. Be careful w the Turks tho, they might be some of a danger.

 

[Danger Bird]

Sure, here is a save game. Feel free to see what you can do with it, but don't let me know anything I shouldn't know (i.e. from WB or the future).

 

[Danger Bird]

VIII. The Greater Kartid Persian Empire

The Kartid Dynasty
Fakru Mirza 1305-1331
Mu'izzu Mirza 1331-1371
Ghiyas Mirza 1371-1396

While the campaigns against the Arabs roared on in the south, in the peaceful north, Samarkand was developing into a cultural and religious centre, a crossroads of the continent, where missionaries trained for their ministries in the west and traders, scholars, military trainees and diplomats from Russia brought their artistic influences, including their highly developed music.

Artistic influences from the Satrapy of Russia

Fakhru Mirza did not live to take the war further south into Arab lands, and was instead dealing with persistent incursions of Arabian camel archers into the Indus valley. Quarrelling between his brothers broke out on his death, and in suspicious circumstances each was found dead within the year. As a result, Fakhru's popular nephew Mu'izzu was unchallenged for the throne.

Immediately, Mu'izzu Mirza commissioned the building, with the prophet Isaac Cyrus, of a grand church on the site of the birth of Jesatso. The shrines to the ancient and obsolete religions of Buddhism and Hinduism were fine for the revenues that pilgrims brought to Dilli, but Mu'izzu felt the lack of a major Christian shrine and place of pilgrimage. Finally, in 1340 a shrine to the true faith was completed.

The Church of the Nativity in Samarkand

The Battle of Al-Basrah (1390), though long delayed, was a foregone conclusion as the well-trained horsemen regiments of Persia easily defeated the newly recruited Arabian longbows.
Then, in that year and immediately following the battle, the new ruler Ghiyas Mirza forced an embarrasing peace on the Arabians, demanding all of their treasury plus additional reparation payments for the next 60 years.

Treaty with the Arabian Caliphate

As the Persian armies began their long journeys home from the south, however, they found that the cities were full of fear and distrust. Plague had struck Ectabana, tens of thousands had died, and in the other cities and towns, citizens were hostile to any arrivals from the outside. In the panic, a new clan, the Timurids from Oxiana, was contesting the right of the Kartids to rule.

Plague in Ectabana

In 1390, the last Kartid ruler, Ghiyas Mirza, died without an heir. The empire was larger and more powerful than it had even been, but its future was uncertain.

The Greater Persian Empire at the end of the Kartid Dynasty (1390)

 

[TaelZenith]

Very cool thread!
Always wanted to get around to writing a history of one of my games; but thats not the point!
I actually had to make this account now to say; that map at the bottom is friggin' epic and to ask, how'd you do it?

Keep em coming! This is one of a few gems of Empires' History!

-Tael

 

[Danger Bird]

Thanks, Tael. Hopefully I can indeed keep them coming. I am at 1500 and the situation is still challenging to say the least - rivals teching quickly, not enough time (or units) to run a campaign the way I should, etc. Typical RFC game for me. Update coming up.

I made the map by using flying camera to get the right view, turning off all labels with ctrl-B, and then Paint.NET (the ink sketch effect).