[SoI] The Great Seljuk Empire

[trexeric]

Aww... someone should have posted since I posted last since now I look like a dirty double poster!

Chapter 12: The Battle of Samarra

In the years following the capture of Al-Kufah, Sultan Alp Arslan issued a formal declaration of war to the city state of Samarra, which was led by a wealthy council of Abbasids. The council consisted of five men, who were (in order from oldest to youngest*): Hannad the Wise, Jubair the Faithful, Zaki the Handsome, Iyad the Fat (known to some as Iyad the Giant Green Octopus Doll), and Duqaq the Heir, grandson of Harun al-Rashid. Hannad, who was the oldest, was called to Alp Arslan's court in Baghdad (as that was where he was staying - Rayy was maintained under the control of Alp's third cousin, once removed Gawth). Hannad was offered infinite wisdom in the House of Wisdom and the Royal Library of Rayy until the day of his demise in return for unending services toward the sultan, but the councilman resisted the temptation and returned to Samarra. Next, Alp Arslan called Jubair, and offered him the position of High Priest, in return for unending services toward the sultan. Jubair declined, and returned to Samarra. Zaki was called to Baghdad and was offered the hand of his own daughter, Eldem. Zaki, not wishing to decline such an offer, killed himself. Iyad was called to Baghdad and was offered as much food as his heart desired, but the fat man declined and returned to Samarra. Lastly, Alp Arslan called Duqaq, grandson of Harun al-Rashid, to Baghdad. Duqaq was merely seventeen at the time. Duqaq was offered to become the heir of Alp Arslan in return for unending services for the sultan. Duqaq agreed, and a great feast was held in his honor. The next morning, five years after the fall of Al-Kufah, Alp Arslan, Duqaq, and Muhammad Khorasani mobilized against Samarra. In fall they reached the city walls, almost two weeks since they set out in late summer. Duqaq was ordered to attack head-on, so as to create a diversion for Muhammad to sneak in the northern entrance. Duqaq was killed by an arrow to the head after only about a minute of fighting. However, Muhammad's attack was successful, and the city was captured. Hannad was exiled to the desert, and his books were burned. Jubair was exiled to a Christian community in Byzantium, where he was converted. Iyad was starved in the dungeon at Rayy. Samarra, which was the last of the Abbasid states, was now under Seljuk control.

*No one really knows their ages.

 

[constantinople]

Double poster?
I do that all the time. Although you still have a lot of time, I recommend building spearmen in preparation for the Mongol Invasions. I barely survived as the Abbasids and you control their land AND Seljuk land.

 

[trexeric]

Spearmen? Ha! That won't help against Mongols!

 

[constantinople]

I mean any unit that uses spears or pikes or whatever. I think I used heavy spearmen.

 

[trexeric]

Mongols wouldn't care about pointy sticks. They're Mongols.

 

[constantinople]

Believe me, it works. If you have a stack of guys with pointy sticks, you're city is safe. How else are you going to handle the Mongol horde?

 

[trexeric]

How can pointy sticks work when the Mongols are just shooting at them? In SoI, the Mongols are missile cavalry, which pointy sticks don't receive a bonus against. I prefer to defend with marksmen.

 

[constantinople]

Really? It seems like when I was playing it was easier to kill Mongols with heavy spearmen than anything else.

 

[trexeric]

Last time I checked, yeah. At least it was so in v.9... I doubt they would change it in v1.0

 

[Gruekiller]

Yikes, good thing I read that here first. I've been using pikes against the steppe hordes in Byzzie games so much that a foray into SOI would've killed me...

 

[trexeric]

Just took a look into SoI and yeah, it's confirmed. The pointy stick guys receive bonuses against mounted units... while Mongols are missile cavalry.

 

[A.Caesar]

Mamluks have the answer for that, the UP promo gives +25(?) vs barbs.

But your not playing them

 

[trexeric]

Chapter 13: The Death of Alp Arslan and the Succession Crisis of 1082

In winter, 1082 Alp Arslan fell ill*. In the spring, the Seljuks' beloved sultan died, and he was placed in a wooden coffin filled with peacock feathers, palm leaves, and flowers, and he was sent down the Tigris River, as he always preferred the Tigris over the Euphrates. Alp Arslan died at the age of 61. At the death of Alp Arslan, the late sultan's son Malik Shah seized power at the age of 22. The High General Muhammad Khorasani, who was wed to Alp Arslan's daughter Eldem and was the age of 33, claimed the throne was his. Malik Shah, who had previously governed Rayy and a multitude of other cities in the central area of the Great Seljuk Empire, denied this claim. Malik banished Muhammad to Khwarezm in summer, 1082. This was the same time in which Eldem bore Muhammad's child, young Nur ad-Din, to be known in the future as Nur ad-Din Zengi. Muhammad was called back to Rayy but was not reappointed the position of High General. That title went to Nur ad-Din, a month old infant. Completely insulted, Muhammad Khorasani fled to Damascus, killed the Syrian Emir, and established the Khorasani Dynasty of the Emirate of Damascus. His oldest son, the twelve year old Abu Khorasani, half brother of Nur ad-Din, took control of Muhammad's old forces in Mesopotamia. The armies of the empire were now headed by children, and the empire itself was headed by Malik Shah, whom the general public saw as a madman.

*No one knows what illness, nor do historians have any clue.

 

[Gruekiller]

Like a modern-day Alexander, he died of a sickness, in Babylon... The lion of the Turks will be remembered.

 

[constantinople]

Oi, looks like Malik has a big mess to clean up. (Notice the debt, gold, and religions)

 

[trexeric]

Oi, looks like Malik has a big mess to clean up. (Notice the debt, gold, and religions)

Yeah, I fear the coming years are going to be somewhat less exciting.

 

[trexeric]

Chapter 14: The Early Reforms of Malik Shah

However much the Seljuks at the time despised Malik Shah, he is now described as one of the greatest Seljuk sultans, next to Alp Arslan and Tughril. His earliest reforms, though they were once considered insane and unorthodox, turned the Great Seljuk Empire from a collection of tribes into an empire The different Turkish cultures in Greater Iran, though all in some way unique, all stood under the flag of the Seljuks. However, a united empire did not mean that there was a single religion. Shia Islam was still that predominant religion in former Buyid lands, and Zoroastrianism lingered from the Sassanid Empire in the days before Islam. Some few Turkish tribes even converted to Christianity long ago, and were allies of the Seljuk's greatest enemy, the Byzantine Empire. Malik Shah did not want to persecute these foreign religions, but he did not want to keep them, either. So Malik instituted Sunni Islam as the official state religion of the Great Seljuk Empire. All future missionaries to heathen lands would be funded for by the state, and cities with Sunnis living in it would also be given money by the state to provide better buildings. Cities without Sunni Islam now wanted Sunni Islam, and accepted in the state-funded missionaries, converting the people to Sunni Islam and thus strengthening the state. Malik also allowed the buying and selling of slaves, which was one his his darker reforms. It is said Malik himself owned no slaves, but was told to institute that reform in a dream.

Malik's reforms sparked the Second Seljuk Revolt, known as the People's Revolt Against Insanity. As the revolt went on, Baghdad's revolutionary leader, who was known as the last descendant of Harun al-Rashid, died of a heart attack. The revolt stopped in Baghdad, and Malik was told to choose a governor there. Malik bought a pig, named him Pigasus, and appointed him as the first Seljuk governor of Baghdad. This lengthened the empire-wide revolt by about another year. However, when the revolt ended, after an unsuccessful attempt to burn the city of Al-Kufah, the people suddenly didn't mind Malik's reforms. Malik Shah, though people still believe he had some type of mental illness, was now accepted by the people of the Great Seljuk Empire.

 

[A.Caesar]

So he's nuts?

(someone post a pic of a can of nuts)

 

[Dumanios]

So he's nuts?

(someone post a pic of a can of nuts)

Nuttier than a jar of Nutella.

 

[A.Caesar]

thank you

Looks like Caligula in that he tried to make a pig governor