The Democratic Caliphate.

[Sanguivorant]

The Muslim Council has made its decision.

Abd al-Rahman Wosret received no bay'a.


Abd al-Nur Sufyan received six bay'at.


Abd al-Hadi Haroun received three bay'at.

Alhamdu lillah (All praise is due to God), the Shura (representatives) have decided to elect Sufyan as the new leader of the Mu'mineen (Believers).

Sufyan's slogan is "Expansion, development, Allahu Akbar."


Biography:

Sufyan comes from a rather poor family that fished for their own subsistence, and sold any excess fish for profit. In the naval battle off the coast of Sana'a, he responded to the call of Jihad and left along with many others to defend the Muslim community.

He fought hard and would often throw himself onto the enemies, caring little for his life for the sake of Islam. That was how he lost an eye in one fight he had at the open seas. With the captain of the fleet dead during the fighting, Sufyan's knowledge of the coastal area allowed the fleet to safely maneuver back to Sana'a after the fighting was done, and he was quickly recognized around the Ummah for his excellent contribution.

Now he has taken position, and acknowledges that the seas will never be safe as long as the Taoists to the south remain autonomous. "The greatest enemies can become the best of friends one day", he proclaimed. He believed that if the Ethiopians were forced to surrender, the Muslims could have the opportunity of expressing their justice.

The remainder of the story coming soon.

 

[Sanguivorant]

A mess of problems were ready to attack Sufyan as soon as he became the Khalipha.

First of all, the Ethiopian war has escalated with Ethiopians hiring Bantu mercenaries. The Horde was ready to commence its assault:

Nomadic tribes coming from the Caucasus threaten the city of Ninawa. They would try to lay siege on the city and fail miserably, however:

A large Tamil vessel has been spotted in the Mediterranean. Since there are no canals connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, the Tamils can be credit the first peoples to sail around Africa. Sufyan invited the sailors to Iskandariya, and they shared many stories:

Labourers in Babil were tasked to head to Sana'a immediately and wait for the arrival of a galley that will take them to Zanzibar:

Pirates!
A large experienced group of Somalian pirates, believed to have a major base on Socotra, invaded the Sana'a's waters and immolated the only warships the Ummah has in the Red Sea:

Reinforcements were sent to Sana'a from Makkah, but the pirates were all too experienced at naval combat and sunk all of the warships that were sent to them. The Ummah paused their hearts and hoped that the pirates do not raid the holy city. If they did, the Day of Judgement would soon be upon us:

Fortunately, the pirates were running out of resources, and found it necessary to make camp south of the mountain of Tell-Hisn. A massive naval fleet was composited in Makkah, and the camp was bombarded with catapult fire. Soldiers who landed on the camps were strictly told to capture the pirates and kill none. They would be beheaded in public squares all across the Ummah for the threat they cast upon the Muslimeen:

Siege of Aksum:

Abd al-Rashid Muhammad has marched his troops upon Ethiopian soil. Just south of their position lies Lake Tana, and the city of Aksum:

Sheer strength was the plan for the siege. The Horde would sweep across the countryside, destroying any outposts along the way. Most outposts and garrisons were eliminated, though the Aksumites did intercept one of our armies with their horse archers. In the end, Muhammad ordered a final strike onto the city, and the city was taken by ease.

King Yacob, who was too cowardly to confront the Muslims outright, fled the city, along with all the Taoist clergy. Yacob asked for a surrender, and the Muslims agreed to a ceasefire.

Aksum would be ruled by the Muslims for a short amount of time. Previously, the Ethiopian king made propaganda against the Muslims, and claimed that they are bloodthirsty killers. The Aksumites saw a different face. Once the city was captured, the Muslims stopped fighting. They took no slaves from the civilians and treated everybody with dignity and respect.

This small reign in Aksum would make the Aksumites very fond of Islam, to the point that many began to abandon Taosim:

In celebration of the takeover of the Ethiopian capital, Sufyan scheduled a new project in al-Quds for another grand mosque:

Native Resistance:
While many of the Zanj were fine cooperating with the Muslims, there were some extremist groups that claimed that the Muslims are destroying their culture. Those groups quickly formed a rebel force and tried to besiege the city of Zanzibar. However, they underestimated the strength of the Muslimeen.

They would later set up their camps in a jungle at the opposite side of the lake, where the colonists could not reach them:

 

[Sanguivorant]

Breaking the Ceasefire:
The King Yacob, infuriated with the Muslim occupation of his palace, broke the peace treaty and declared war with a huge force of elephants, horse archers, axes and siege equipment. The Muslims realized that if they were to resist this invasion, the Ethiopians would destroy the city and make life miserable for its citizens. So Muhammad ordered his Horde to retreat the city. Muhammad himself would go and confront the King, but he was jailed. No one knows what happened to Abd al-Rashid Muhammad after that:

As a result, King Yacob recaptured his city, but its citizens would not return to Taoism after his arrival.

Sufyan ordered the galleys stationed in Zanzibar to move quickly to Sana'a, to transport labour and weapons to the colony. Once the workers arrived, they started constructing houses for the new colonists to live in:

The Ethiopians tried to intercept the galley off the Horn of Africa, but were quickly overwhelmed by a fleet experienced with combat from the recent pirate attacks:

Decreasing Trade between China:
The Chinese have recently grown to resent the Muslims, and cancelled a trade agreement set up a few decades ago. Muslim no longer eat bananas:

Persian Ruins of Knowledge:

A caravan made a stop at the Persian ruins east of the city of Babil. Some of the travellers explored the ruins and found scrolls filled with knowledge on engineering.

Seeing this as a grand opportunity, Sufyan spend 3/4 of the Muslim treasury hiring Persian speakers and historians to interpret these scrolls and find out the ancient knowledge of this Persian civilization. By the end of the investigations, many new engineering prototypes were discovered:

During his lifetime, Sufyan sought to hire vocalists to develop standard notes for the recitation of the Qur'an. He believes that this would help connect Zanzibar culturally to the rest of the Ummah in the future:

Massacre of Kobbe:
King Yacob ordered his cavalry to go and sack the city of Kobbe, a largely Muslim population. Those who fled the city described the brutality:
"They were devils on horseback! They took our property, our lives and dishonoured our women!"

Upon hearing this, the Muslim armies became infuriated and assaulted the horse archers until they were all captured and killed:

A Farewell to the Hindus:

What was once a strong political entity quickly collapsed into several city states. Such a shame, since India was a major trading partner for the Muslims, and these city states do not want to get involved in trade. Farewell India, for you will be missed.

Ethiopian Defeat:
King Yacob was slowly becoming unpopular in Ethiopia. Many of the Aksumites rebelled against his rule, ordering him to stop the war with the Muslims. Fearing loss of power, Yacob accepted their demands. Before a peace treaty was concluded, the Muslims stripped the King of all his wealth, claiming that he deserves none of it. This wealth would belong to the poor, the needy and the orphans of the Ummah:

And that is the story. Sufyan managed to transport supplies to Zanzibar, but he did not manage to capitulate the Ethiopians. However, he feels that their end is drawing close.

Sufyan went missing while trying to travel to Zanzibar. A few pirates captured the ship he was sailing in and enslaved everyone on the ship. No one knows of Sufyan's location, or of those who were captured.

The Muslim Council will be called in again soon.

 

[ales_]

Two pictures were the same.

 

[Sanguivorant]

After the Hajj, the shura sat down with each other again to discuss the state of the country and to elect a new leader. Three candidates stood out among the rest:

Abd al-Khafid Hammurab
During his lifetime, Hammurab quickly saw a change in power and a bit of corruption in Babil. Persianized Turks currently have a strong influence in Babil, and Hammurab believes it is only a matter of time before they start to claim parts of the Ummah as their own.

He believes that this was only allowed to happen because the Mesopotamian region is relatively unguarded.

Policies:
-Move all non-garrison troops to Mesopotamia.
-Train at least five pikemen.

Abd al-Halim Senhareeb
A very, very rich Syrian Muslim. A good amount of the Ummah's military funding comes from him. Although he is pious and cares more for the afterlife and the current life, he claims that not all humans are like that, and many require an incentive to do good in the world.

He believes that the military is paid a poor man's salary, and that soldiers should be better compensated for their work. He also believes that higher salaries would encourage more people to participate in Jihad.

Policies:
-Make military service more profitable for soldiers (Adopt Mercenaries)
-Drop all funding to 40%.
-Train or pay for at least ten armies.


Mystery man
If you elect this person, there will be a second round of voting.

Those who vote for the Mystery Man could optionally state what their policies are, and if the Mystery Man wins the votes, people will vote for what they think is the best player-generated policy.

Al-random al-Balayizi (mrrandomplayer):
-Research rate at 90%
-Emphasize commerce tiles
-Build economic buildings if deficit higher than 5GPT
-If deficit is not high, build military units to garrison the border cities.


Here is some information about the current state of the Ummah:

Spoiler :

 

[baseballpie]

Abd al-Khafid Hammurab

 

[mrrandomplayer]

Mystery Man

Emphasize Science (and by that, commerce) by raising the research rate to 90% and building economic buildings to make up the deficit (if it's more than 5 GPT). After that, focus on defending the currently existing frontiers, because they are already overextended as is.

 

[cudfather]

Hammurab

 

[Sanguivorant]

Could someone explain to me how the Mercenaries civic works? I personally never used it before.

 

[Dumanios]

Al-random al-Balayizi (Mystery man)

 

[pole475]

Mystery Man, I really do like the name

 

[Sanguivorant]

Just so voters are not confused, you are not voting for mrrandomplayer when you vote for mystery man. If another person makes a policy, it will be an election between that person and mrrandomplayer.

If no one else makes a policy, then mrrandomplayer's policies will be declared winner if Mystery Man wins.

 

[Manuss]

Al-random al-Balayizi (Mystery man)

 

[Spirictum]

Gogogo Mystery Man

Nice way of making the game more interactive, thank you Sanguivorant!

 

[Sanguivorant]

I might actually make just two politicians up, and the third option will just be player generated ideas. I am kind of inspired by the realpolitik stories, so expect something similar to that soon.

 

[Alexius08]

Could someone explain to me how the Mercenaries civic works? I personally never used it before.

IIRC, you can use gold to instantly-finish the construction of military units.

 

[Sanguivorant]

Voting is closed.


Abd al-Khafid Hammurab received two bay'at.



Abd al-Halim Senhareeb received no bay'ah.



Al-random al-Balayizi received five bay'at.

And as such, the Muslim who comes from far away lands has assumed leadership of the Ummah, because many of the Council were amazed at his policies.

Al-Balayizi's reign will be covered soon.

 

[mrrandomplayer]

.....

 

[constantinople]

 

[Sanguivorant]

So sorry guys. I became so busy the past couple of weeks with a whole bunch of projects, exams and whatnot. I was only able to make minor posts every once in a while.

The story is not finished I will assure that. Expect the story to continue either today or tomorrow. Again sorry for the delay.

I'm actually thinking of restructuring our democratic system entirely. When I release the new chapter, we could decide on that.