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Tinto Flavour #12 - 4th of April 2025 - Ilkhanate & Persia & Chagatai & Rise of Timur

Hello, and welcome one more week to Tinto Flavour, the happy Fridays in which we take a look at the flavour content of the super secret Project Caesar!

Today will be an interesting day since we will be taking a look at the content we have for the Persian/Iranian region, including the Ilkhanate IO, and also at the content related to the Rise of Timur situation, which includes the flavour for the Chagatai Khanate.

Let’s start a bit differently today by first looking at the Īlkhānān, the in-game flavour name of the most commonly used Ilkhanate IO:

As usual, take all UI, 2D and 3D Art as WIP.

Ilkhanate Tooltip.png
All IOs have a quick-access button, a feature we call control groups, with their own icon (which, in the case of unique IOs, is unique, as you may see). This is the overview tooltip of the Ilkhanate.

Ilkhanate Panel.png

This is the Ilkhanate IO panel, where you can see its status, members, and possible actions.

Ilkhanate Map.png

And this is the starting situation of the Ilkhanate, with the three main contenders (Jalayirids, Hüleguids, and Gurgan) in blue, and all its members in green color.

The reign and death of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, last Ilkhan of the Borjigin dynasty, led to a power vacuum in the Ilkhanate, with several contenders trying to claim the title of Ilkhan for themselves while also trying to restore the old order over the lands ruled by the Ilkhans.

We’re portraying this convoluted political situation through different mechanics.

In order to be able to restore the Ilkhanate in its full glory, you need to be one of the Claimants to the Īlkhānān, a ‘Special Status’ (a feature available for all IOs; more about this next week, in the HRE TT):
Ilkhanate Claimants1.png

Ilkhanate Claimants2.png

Ilkhanate Special Status.png

This is a good example of our lovely nested tooltips. The yellow texts are hoverable features, while the blue texts are game concepts. I took the screenshots in the same sequence, but you could go even deeper, and hover over the International Organization game concept, for a further explanation.

There is a way to become a Claimant to the Īlkhānān, through IO action Claim the Īlkhānān:
Ilkhanate Claim the Ilkhanan.png

By being Claimant to the Īlkhānān, you will get access to this special CB, which can be used against other members of the Ilkhanate, making it easier and more straight-forward to conquer them:
Ilkhanate CB Unify Ilkhanate.png

All members of the Ilkhanate also have access to this other CB, that in case of victory, allows to remove the Claimant to the Īlkhānān to the status from the objective country:
Ilkhanate CB Refuse False Claimant.png

If you end up being the only Claimant to the Īlkhānān, you will automatically become its leader (this is something that we want to change, so it becomes an action in the Main Actions panel, to make it more clear for the player). By becoming Leader of the Īlkhānān, you may be able to unify the IO into a proper country once again:
Ilkhanan Form Ilkhanan1.png

Ilkhanate Oldschool.png

There’s a broken tooltip there, which has already been reported as a bug; the second condition is that there aren’t any countries with the status Claimant to the Īlkhānān. You also need to control 75% of the locations owned by all the members of Ilkhanate IO in order to form the country; the IO will disappear the moment you form it, too.

On a different track, ff you are a Persian member of the Ilkhanate, you also have the opportunity to fight your way towards unifying the region in a completely different way, with this CB:
Ilkhanate CB Shed the Shackles.png

The Ilkhanate may cease to exist if:
  1. All its members are conquered by a country not a member of the IO.
  2. There aren’t a Leader or Claimants of the Ilkhanate.

These are the main contenders for the Ilkhanate at the start of the game:
Country Selection Jalayirids.png

Country Selection Huleguids.png

Country Selection Gurgan.png

The Persian/Iranian countries that are part of the Ilkhanate have their own flavour content available:

The lands of Persia have always been situated in a privileged position, serving as a point of contact between the West and the East and on the path of many trade routes. These lands have thus also served as a hub for exchange of ideas, cultures, and faiths, with Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity, and even Buddhism permeating among its population.

The Iranian peoples are thus world people, and Persia has also been the birthplace of many great empires in the past, from the Achaemenids to the Sasanians. The recent Mongolian invasion and the establishment of the Īlkhānān have imposed on them foreign rule, but the Iranian peoples are ready to rise once again.

For instance, you have advances like these:
Advance Sasanian Heritage.png

Advance Silk Road.png

There are in total 21 different advances for the Persian countries.

There are also special buildings like the Ṣafawiyya Order Hall and the Ḡilmān Barracks, and special units like the Kızılbaş Skirmisher and the Ḡilmān.

This is the formable for Persia, and how it would look like:
Persia.png

Persia2.png

Let’s now take a look at one of the main contenders in Central Asia, the Chagatai Horde:

The great Činggis Khān managed to forge a great empire for all Mongolian peoples, bringing into his fold great swathes of land from Europe to China. All people learned to fear the sound of the Mongolian armies galloping and the might and power of the Great Khān.

As heirs of his legacy, the dream of bringing back the glory of the greatest Mongolian Horde is still alive.

Country Selection Chagatai.png

Mongolian countries (which also include countries involved in the Ilkhanate IO, such as the Jalayirids or the Hüleguids) have a ton of content available, both for being Steppe Hordes, and also specific Mongolian content. We aren’t going to reveal today most of it, since this is already a meaty Tinto Flavour, and we still have to take a look in the future to the Golden Horde, which also has unique content; but this is an overview of it:
Government Type Content.png

These are some of the most relevant features for the early game:
Advance Steppe Slave Raiding.png

Reform Legacy of Cinggis Khan.png

Advance Horse Lords.png

Unit Horse Archers.png

Unit A Urughs.png

Let’s now take a look at the content for the Situation The Rise of Timur. It can happen to you if you start the game with Chagatai or any of its subjects. But if you start the game with Barlas, one of these subjects, you will find this lovely baby in your court:
Bay Timur1.png

Baby Timur2.png

Trait Prodigy.png

Apparently this baby might be a Prodigy!

There are some events about the childhood and adolescence of Temür, and if he gets to the adult age, this event will trigger:
Rise of Temur.png

This event can fire initially not only for Barlas, but for Chagatai or any of its subjects, firing then a follow-up information event for all the rest, in which the player will get the chance to choose to change into the Timurids country if there were not initially playing the chosen country and the Timurids is AI. This gives a bit of variation on the starting situation of Timur while also ensuring that the player can always follow the Timurid path if they are playing in the area.

Temür has several traits, but this is the most important:
The Scourge from Central Asia.png

The chosen country will change, becoming the Timurid Horde:
Timurid Horde.png

And the Situation itself will appear:
Rise of Temur Panel.png

The counters for enemies kills and cities razed are there just for flavour, they don’t have any mechanical purpose.

The End Requirements make the situation likely to last for the entire life of Temür:
Rise of Temur End Requirements.png


These are the requirements to form Mongolia, BTW:
Form Mongolia.png

The first of the actions, Plan Invasion, has this effect:
Plan Invasion.png

Plan Invasion2.png

Rise of Temur CB.png

If you are able to unify a region, the second action, ‘Select Core Region’, will appear:
Rise of Timur Select Core Region.png

Rise of Temur Select Core Region2.png

Rise of Temur Select Core Region3.png

After having selected a Core Region, a third action will unlock:
Rise of Temur Reform into Monarchy.png

Which, in case of being selected, will make you a Settled Country, with the Monarchy Government type, and the Rank of Empire. This might potentially be the result:
Timurid Empire.png

A successful Timurid Empire, across Central Asia and Persia!

There is more content and events triggering during the situation, but these are its core features. From here, there’s also more flavour content for the Timurids, related to the historical events and situation that happened to the Empire. This is probably the most important event for them:
Event Integration Iranians.png

Event Integration Iranians2.png

Which unlocks this Major Reform:
Timurid Diwan.png

The Governorship is a unique mechanic of the Timurids, that allows them to have a unique type of subject, for members of the ruling dynasty. This may have its cons, as there might several claimants to the Timurid throne…

…And much more, but that’s all for today! We hope you enjoyed it! Next week will be intense, since on Monday we will have the Tinto Maps Feedback for the Horn of Africa, on Wednesday we will have the Tinto Talks for the Holy Roman Empire, and on Friday we will have the Tinto Flavour for Saxony! Cheers!
 
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Isn't the requirement for forming Mongolia—that one must own cities in southern China—overly stringent? After all, even Genghis Khan himself only held Beijing (and I sincerely hope that the name Beijing will be reconsidered).
 
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Give us the game already t_t

Edit: Does this mean that a former Empire would transform into an IO after the disaster occurs?
No, some countries may secede from it, and other nasty effects may happen, but it won't become an IO.
 
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The Governorship is a unique mechanic of the Timurids,
Awesome dev diary!

I’d like to suggest adding a vizier mechanic. During Timur’s reign, he was the real power as Amir, while a puppet Chagatai Khan held the title for legitimacy. (He held the title of 'Amir' and was the de facto ruler of his empire. To legitimize his authority, Timur installed a puppet Chagatai Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal, de jure leader.)

In the Ilkhanate, viziers—drawn from Persian bureaucracy—were crucial. They bridged the gap between the Mongol military and settled administration, sometimes even overshadowing the ruler. I remember from high school how some viziers could even dethrone leaders in certain cases. Here are some historical examples, and I hope we see these figures as events or a mechanic in the game.
  • Mu'in al-Din Parwana – De facto ruler of the Anatolian Seljuk state, orchestrated the assassination of Sultan Kilij Arslan IV in 1265, and installed his son as a puppet while he held real power.
  • Nizam al-Mulk – While not directly dethroning a ruler, he consolidated power during Sultan Malik Shah I’s reign and shaped Seljuk governance with his reforms.
  • Ikhtiyar al-Din Hasan ibn Ghafras – A powerful Seljuk vizier. His political maneuvering and the circumstances around Sultan Kilij Arslan II’s death suggest a complex power dynamic.
  • Sokollu Mehmed Pasha – Grand vizier under three Ottoman sultans (Suleiman, Selim II, Murad III). His influence extended to reforms and patronage, often overshadowing the sultans.(yes, the Ottomans had elements of Persian bureaucracy too!)
  • And from the Era of Köprülü, we have Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, Köprülü Mehmed II, and Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, who played a major role in Ottoman state affairs.
We also have figures like:
  • Qizil Arslan,
  • Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk,
  • Hajji Ebrahim Shirazi,
  • Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh,
  • Evaz Beg,
  • Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha, and
  • Khoja Ali Shah.
Some didn’t directly dethrone rulers, but they shaped governance and sometimes held more power than the sultans themselves.

I really think viziers should be a unique mechanic for the Ilkhanate and other Persian culture groups.
 
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There was a suggestion to make raids into ABC‘s like Conquistadors. Has this suggestion been considered?

I think it is much easier to start an autonomous raid rather than a full war, micromanaging your armies.

I think for at least Raids it must be used for ease and to not be constantly at peace (because every war is raid)

Raids were a yearly occasion, often even more. Can the war system handle truces with less than 1 year peace time?

I think autonomous ABC‘s can handle this situation better to not become a hindrance for players.


The general proposal to create a Militarized expedition was described here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/raiding-modeled-after-conquistadors.1730801/

Also, a short summary by me here
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...f-february-2025.1729243/page-16#post-30241102
 
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But if I never elevate to Empire, this never happens?

I'm hating country ranks more and more.
There are other mechanics that may impact you if growing your country, while staying in another country's rank; that disaster is specifically tackling Empires.

There are bonuses that you might miss from not upgrading to Empire to avoid a possible future disaster, though. That's a player's choice, in any case.
 
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The Mongol Empire is a formable country, it's been a long time since the last Great Khan held authority over the different Khanates.
Maybe a bit early to ask, but with the Mongolia tag representing the Mongol empire, what will happen to the Mongol remnants when Yuan collapses? Will they just be the Northern Yuan?
 
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According to his claims, he was descendent of a common ancestor of the Borgijin dynasty. But we could create an event so when Temür becomes a ruler, the Gurkahni dynasty could be created from him.
Timur’s direct claim was flimsy at best, he derived legitimacy from his Borgijin wife and his Borgijin puppets.

The reason he never claimed the title of Khan and remained an Emir was because he knew it would lead to large scale rebellion from the mongols.
 
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There should probably be some modifiers that make it so that Timur is "immortal" before he starts his conquest otherwise it's going to be akward to see him die to a seasonal flu...
We discussed this, TBH. We ended up against making an inmortal Timur because even if it's a very important situation for the game, we also don't want to railroad it 100% of the games. So, it's very likely to happen, but not 100% guaranteed.
 
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Does the Ilkhanate have some sort of internal laws, disasters or any mechanic similar to personal unions or the HRE?
No, it's a much simpler IO. One could even argue that it's already a disaster itself. :D
 
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The name is not final since we have to review the formables (we have a long list of action points from the Tinto Talks to tackle).
I think an Iran/Persia switch would be valid as a game rule, if the Byzaboos can get their little switch, the Persiaboos might as well do too
 
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Hell yeah!
But please make nicknames english only beside special religious ones maybe
Nicknames are usually in English, but this one needed to be Lang, for immersion reasons.
 
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The Mongol Empire is a formable country, it's been a long time since the last Great Khan held authority over the different Khanates.
But the Mongol Empire was officially still a thing in 1337, the Golden Horde, Chagatai amd the Ilkhanate may have been de facto indipendent but they were still vassals of Yuan
 
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What other characters start off with the prodigy trait?
There are 3 other characters that start with it; one is an important character narratively-wise, another is the heir of an important country in Caesar, and the other is a random French countess.
 
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But the Mongol Empire was officially still a thing in 1337, the Golden Horde, Chagatai amd the Ilkhanate may have been de facto indipendent but they were still vassals of Yuan

They also had a deep material interest in keeping eachothers alive. The Jochids of the Golden Horde owned vast amounts of land in China, which they received revenues from all the way to the fall of Yuan. And when I say vast, I mean millions of taxable Chinese peasants.
 
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