Something Keepers might be interested in

Where students and faculty can talk about whatever they like.
Graham
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:212
Joined:Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:01 pm
Re: Something Keepers might be interested in

Post by Graham » Fri Jul 21, 2017 4:36 pm

I will be adding a further pair of countries to this thread sometime in the near future. However I do need to let readers know that the thumbnail links from photobucket no longer work due to their updated hosting policy. Any future maps/demographic information will be links to drop box.
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:212
Joined:Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:01 pm
Re: Something Keepers might be interested in

Post by Graham » Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:25 pm

There are continued delays with sorting out the history of the countries I have been working on, so here is a short vignette from one 'universe'....

Marseilles, 25th January, 1777

Dear Charles,

I write this sure in the knowledge that it will reach you on the next mail packet to England, or so the Consul has assured me. The work of a Royal Messenger is never easy and bouncing around in a stage coach on these wretched French roads after delivering my dispatches to Paris has quite worn me out, if only Louis XVII would stop warring with his neighbors and spend some money on his own country the world would be much better off.

I think you would find much of interest in this town, while not such a great trading center as London, or the great souqs in Malaga (*) Genoa (*), Venice (*), Naples (*) or Alexandria, you can still find ships from half the world drawn up at these docks, but you'd never believe what I've seen, great three-deckers bearing the Portuguese flag! It's been centuries since warships bearing that flag have been seen in European waters, let alone in the Mediterranean, the whole harbor is abuzz with rumor, including claims that the Caliph Al'Andalus himself, had been overthrown by the men from across the sea.

But the Consul himself gave me the true, if somewhat grubbier tale. It seems that the Caliph's cousin, the Sultan of Algiers, warred with the Ottomans over Tripoli and lost his eastern territories. With the Caliphs armies embroiled (So, it is said.) in subjugating half of India no immediate response was possible, but when a fleet of Portuguese warships and transports, accompanied by a plenipotentiary ambassador arrived off Jebal al-Tair (#), asking permission to enter the Mediterranean to punish the Ottomans for bankrolling corsairs on the sea route to India the Andalusians were more than willing to put aside enmities that date back to the Crusades to let them through. The Consul had this from both the Portuguese Admiral and the Commodore of the frigates the Andalusians sent along to watch them, but before he could continue the tale, a Celyonese ship captain came in demanding that he do something about the French harbor charges and he had to deal with that.

Personally I think he should have told that captain to go elsewhere, why we have not resubjugated that island after they rebelled during the last war with the French I do not know, it's not simply that they've taken over the trade handled by the East India Company, it's that there's something dashed odd about their faith (%).

But enough of this, I'll be leaving tomorrow on the mail packet for Siena, I'll write you again when I get there.

Yours,

Richard

Notes

*. These ports are all controlled by the Andalusian Caliphate, the names the writer uses are those commonly used by Europeans of the time, the Arabic names for these ports I have not yet worked out.
#. Gibraltar
%. Ceylon was conquered by the British and converted to Roman Catholicism, as practiced on the island the Roman Church contains a large admixture of Buddhism.
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:212
Joined:Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:01 pm
Re: Something Keepers might be interested in

Post by Graham » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:48 pm

It's been a while since I posted one of these alternate history nation writeups, since the last one Photobucket has effectively discontinued their free image hosting service, so I am only linking a map with this description. The link will be above the map key.

Sultanate of Khorasan

The Sultanate of Khorasan is located roughly where Afghanistan and parts of Iran/Pakistan/India are in the real world. (See the linked map.) It is bordered to the north and east by the Khanate of the Golden Horde and to the west by the Ottoman Empire and what is left of Persia.

History.

The Sultante was founded in 1402 after a series of massive uprisings bought down the Timurid Empire, unlike the Khanate of Kiva to the north, or the rump Timurid state, Khorasan chose not to fight the expanding power of the Golden Horde state, but instead pursued a series of marriage alliances with other regional powers and the Golden Horde to maintain it's independence. The Sultanate expanded and contracted depending upon the fortunes of war and twice during the first dynasty became embroiled in other states succession crises. In 1685, the Sultan Badi al-Zaman the fifth of that name died leaving no male heirs.

The hastily appointed regency council quickly determined that the closest male heir to Badi al-Zamin was the Khagan Temur of the Golden Horde. This decision provoked both Persia, the Punjab and several other minor powers to invade Khorasan to forstall Temur taking the throne. The six month Khorani Succession war ended with a crushing defeat of the anti-Temur coalition and when he added the title 'Sultan of Khorasan' to his name in January of 1686 large areas of Persia and entire Punjabi state were added to Khorasan, when he did so he swore a binding oath that he and his successors would keep the two states separate.

The remainder of Temur's reign and that of his successors Jalal al-Din and Ulug Muhammad was spent in consolidating the expanded state. And from the Reign of Jalal al-Din the Khan's heir was sent when they came of age to rule the Sultanate in the name of the Khagan until they became the Khagan themselves. The Khagan Mahmud II (Who ruled the Sultanate as Mahmud V) was focused to the west and warred against the German states when they foolishly tried to stir up revolts amongst the Khaganates western provinces. His heir, Devlat Berdi, however had heard the cries of the remaining Muslims in India suffering under the rule of the King of Bihar. Under Devlat Berdi, the Sultanate joined the Golden Horde in fighting Bihar and a succession of minor states in a series of wars that spanned over the entire 29 years of his reign.

Under the Sultan Karim Berdi, much needed internal reforms took place, but by the year 1821, his energies have been focused on the consolidation of his fathers gains and the spreading of Islam back into India.

The capital is Kabul. The Sultanate has weathered the storms of history and at this point, joined with it's powerful northern neighbor, looks to play an important part in the Islamic world, however with Europe beginning to recover from decades of internal strife and starting to look eastward, that future is far from certain.

Sultans of Khorasan

First Dynasty (1402 - 1685)

Mahmud 1402-1434
Abu Sa'id 1434 - 1458
Regency 1458 - 1461
Abu al-Quasim 1461 - 1482
Babur 1482 - 1488
Badi al-Zaman 1488 - 1495
Babur II 1495 - 1513
Husayn Bayqara 1513 - 1528
Mahmud II 1528 - 1531
Abu Sa'id II 1531 - 1553
Abu al-Quasim II 1553 - 1559
Mahmud III 1559 - 1570
Shah Rukh 1570 - 1573
Mahmud IV 1573 - 1585
Babur III 1585 - 1599
Regency 1599 - 1604
Badi al-Zaman II 1604 - 1619
Abu Sa'id III 1619 - 1633
Badi al-Zaman III 1633 - 1641
Abu Sa'id IV 1641 - 1651
Abu Sa'id V 1651 - 1679
Badi al-Zaman IV 1679 - 1683
Badi al-Zaman V 1683 - 1685

Regency Council 1685 - 1686

Second Dynasty (Khagans of the Golden Horde, 1686 - )

Temur 1686 - 1689 (Khagan from 1667.)
Jalal Al-Din II/I 1689 - 1720
Ulug Muhammad II/I 1720 - 1744
Mahmud II/V 1744 - 1776
Devlat Berdi 1776 - 1815
Karim Berdi 1815 -

Map

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6rk3ml2o2q25c ... p.jpg?dl=0

Map Key.

1. Sultanate of Khorasan
2. Khaganate of the Golden Horde (Known in Europe as the Tatar Empire...)
3. Kingdom of Bihar
4. Kingdom of Gujarat
5. Ottoman Empire
6. Sultanate of Sharjah
7. Persian Emprie (More is off map.)
8. Azerbijani Sultanate
9. Mongol Khanate
10. Empire of China (Later Xia Dynasty)
11. Tibet
12. Iraq

Note to Keepers, games of Europa Universalis III always end on the 1st of January 1821, what happens to the country after that point is in the hands of the Keeper.
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Graham
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:212
Joined:Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:01 pm
Re: Something Keepers might be interested in

Post by Graham » Wed Aug 21, 2019 5:10 am

I am planning to relaunch this thread at some point, I just have to decide which 'alternate nation' I will be posting about.
"If you do good, you'll live forever, if you do bad, you'll die hearing a single note for I am the one true sound...", Fragment found in a cult hideout.

Post Reply