the Tale of the Turkmen
In the valleys and plains North of Persia there were a people who thrived independent from the rest of the world for years. Skilled with the bow and born on horses, they rode far and wide each day with their families and companions, pledging allegiance to no one but the Shah, and god. They used to obey nobody, it wasn't so long ago. They were nomads, moving from place to place with their herds, ransacking what they could, and living their lives this way for centuries. Over the years they found themselves going to the West, and it wasn't long before they met Arabic traders. These men were rich, and well learned in things the Turkmen could only begin to understand. They taught them many things, such as mathametics, reading, and writing. But most important of all, they told them of god.
There was no god but god, and his prophet was Mohammed. The leader of the richest clan among the Turkmen was taught to read and write the language of the prophet and given the holy book. His name was Irmud, and he was overwhelmed by the powerful messages inside this work the merchants called the Qu'ran. He immediatly ordered that his family convert, and soon all the families in his clan followed. With his clan, came the other clans, until all the Turkmen from the plains in the North, to the desert in the South.believed in god and his prophet. They united around Irmud, and his home village became the small city of Khiva, around which he established a tiny little state.
Several generations later, Shah Tekish came to the throne of the Turkmen in the fortress at Khiva. Before the death of his father, Irmud's grandson, Tekish had been sent to learn in Baghdad and Damascus. There he learned of medicine, astromony, strategy, physics, theology, and the tongues of the Persians, Arabs, Romans, and Greeks. A well taught man, Tekish returned to his kingdom in around 1200 a.d.
Knowing the splendors of the Abbasid caliphate, Tekish realized that Khiva and the petty lands around the puny capital would never do for the Muslim empire Tekish wanted to establish. So he ordered his people to move. Khiva would still be the seat of his empire, but his generals were to move his lands elsewhere. The clans were to take their animals and the clan leaders their men, and move to the Northwest towards the Caspian sea. This great sea, was where Tekish would establish his empire.
Tekish knew his people and large army could do it, but he did not want his economy to suffer while he expanded. In fact, he wanted it to improve. So he gathered his viziers and scribes, and ordered them to ride out on horseback before the great movement. Their mission was to find out the number of families and clans under Tekish's control, and as much about them as they could. What languages they spoke, how many animals they had and of which type, how many men of fighting age lived with them, and then to add all this together to figure out the status of the Turkmen kingdom. It would be called the census, something Tekish learned from his study of history, and it would be the first of it's kind in his part of the world.
Template
Turkmen
Shah Tekish / AAminion00
Capital: Khiva
Goverment: Absolute Monarchy
Religion: Sunni Islam
Income: 3
Treasury: 3
Army: 8000 Swordsmen, 4000 Horse Archers
Navy: none
Education: Mediocore
Wonders: none
Orders
- Purchase 500 Horse Archers (3 credits)
- Improve economy by taking a count of the Shah's posessions
- Expand Northwest with bulk of army. Majority of people are to move to these lands as well, as long as they're fertile. Khiva and the surrounding territories will not be abandonned... yet... but the focus of the kingdom will certainly switch towards the Caspian sea.
You had expressed interest in playing an Italian state. Still interested?
