A Kingdom In the Clouds: A Ü-Tsang AAR

[Bullfilter]

On Selbar II (part 1):

Most famously late in his reign the Tsenpo would order the construction of an immense statue dedicated to his own horse.

That is a nice little touch, whether it stemmed from an in-game event or the authAAR’s fertile imagination.

Surprisingly the longest surviving work definitively attributed to Tsenpo Selbar II is The Purgyal Cookbook a characteristically idiosyncratic but fascinating collection of delicacies and dishes eaten by the Imperial Family.

Very nice too.

I don't normally do this but Selbar picked up a pretty fascinating collection of traits by the time of his death

Well worth the read - must have been a fascinating character to play for all that time - with an end befitting an extraordinary life and reign.

 

[Bullfilter]

And on Part 2:

they had restored the Western borders of Old Tibet and held a much more defensible frontier should the Abbasids think to look East again. The Tsenpo had emerged from the wars with his reputation greatly enhanced, several rather dashing scars and a cadre of loyal officers hardened in battle against the strongest power in the world.

A good achievement - with dashing scars thrown in? A bargain!

even more important for the realm was Selbar's reorgnaisation of the Tibetan Empire from a collection of feudal titles into a bureaucratic unified state.

The old legal status of Ü-Tsang, Guge and Kamarupa as independent kingdoms unified under one one crown would be dissolved in favour of a single remaining crown - that of Tibet.

A great change to the laws of the Empire. He truly has changed it - far neater.

He (perhaps jokingly) suggested that the turnip become the universal currency of the Tibetan Empire

Baldric would have been in full support! But it looks like Treasurer Blackadder over-ruled him.

 

[Bored Student1414]

China is mighty here and you were lucky to only receive a slap. Invading China and overthrowing the dynasty still a pipe dream I guess.

 

[Tyler96]

Having 150k Chinese troops dropped on my doorstep would probably give me a heart attack.

Selbar handled things adroitly.

 

[Riotkiller]

I've just caught back up (over the past few days) after a few months away, and as ever I have greatly enjoyed your work! The transition from Bon to Nestorianism was a very interesting turn (and the surprising strength of Tengriism even more so!), but you told them very well, and seamlessly integrated them in here. And as ever, it's been a great opportunity to learn more about Tibetan culture


And also learn that if I do ever play CK2 in that region; never EVER piss the Chinese off.

 

[RossN]

Kunzang 'the Wise', Selbar's Court Physician & Sorceress, 1395 AD.​

Part Thirty Four: Tsenpo Purgyal Selbar VII 'the Lionheart' (1374 to 1396 AD) (cont.)

Long before he came to the throne the future Selbar VII had grown used to the gossip around his ailment. In a country obsessed with magic and with the workings of malign and eerie influence it was doubly unfortunate to be a hunchback. Many where convinced this was divine punishment for the apostasy of Tsenpo Zhonnu. The young monarch was neither so thin skinned or so superstitious that he believed himself cursed from before his own birth. Still it did force him to use his wits and a certain flair for high drama to survive. If he could not play the golden warrior king he would still be a master of his empire.

To his enemies Selbar VII was nicknamed ‘the Liar’. ‘Falsehoods fall from his lips, as petals from dying rose,’ as one courtier sniffed. It was certainly true that the Tsenpo did not consider himself a prisoner of honesty. During his negotiations with the Chinese after the failed war he successfully portrayed himself as the lone true friend of the Middle Kingdom in the West, standing against a tide of rapacious Tibetans. In Lhasa he sold the same peace treaty as a victory for the wily Snow Lion over the strong but weak minded Dragon.

Perhaps not coincidentally Selbar’s favoured animal was the cat and from 1383 onwards he was rarely seen without his beloved ‘Pelmo’, a small black and white feline of enigmatic origin. Rumours, perhaps spread by Selbar himself out of sheer mischief, attribute divine or demonic abilities to this creature that was said to steal the souls of the monarchs enemies. Or that she was a beautiful Persian princess trapped in this form by a vile sorcerer. Or that she was not an animal, cursed human or spirit at all but a wonderful mechanism created by Chinese alchemists and coated in the fur of a real cat. These were simply the least colourful such tales.

Had he lived in another age and at another rank Selbar would have made an excellent mountebank for there was an innate love of spectacle to him. His whole life was a love affair conducted with his people and they, or most of them, would find themselves well wooed. In this he was surprisingly successful for the Tsenpo had a genuine affection for his subjects. His rulings were considered just by most, he had an earned reputation for personal kindness. When late in Selbar's reign the Tsenpo abruptly divorced and banished his first wife for what was widely and accurately supposed to be infidelity on her part, popular sympathy was overwhelmingly with the monarch. Many marveled that the former Tsenmo kept her life and freedom at all, as many in Selbar's place would have been less forgiving.

Selbar's love of cats was proverbial.
​

The complex rhythm of Selbar's character came best into focus in the events that led to civil war in Tibet in 1383. The 'Kingdom of Kham' was a vast, sprawling collection of landholdings and vassals covering almost a quarter of the Tibetan Empire. This realm within a realm was the personal fiefdom of the Bari family, an ancient clan of Tibetan grandees who through inheritance, petty wars and frankly sheer good luck had become the greatest barons in the Empire. Perhaps the best known son of this household had been Bari Tsendro, the great friend of the melancholy Tsenmo Orgyen, who typified the rather rustic affability of the Baries being more interested in banquets than the high politics of the Imperial Council [1].

The accumulation of Bari wealth and land over the years had not passed unnoticed in Taktsé but their indifference to actually wielding that power in Tibet had reassured the emperors. If anything Kham was a great and useful source of warriors to fight the barbarian nomads who swept into the Tibetan Plateau and much of the gradual expansion of the empire into the wild and savage plains to the North followed on from this push back. Matters began to change in the early Fourteenth Century. Three potent female rulers in a row - it was half joked that the royal line had been cursed by a female mountain demon to never have male firstborn - turned Kham into a more significant force inside Tibet. Gyelmo Bari Suvrata 'the Unfaithful', who took the throne of Kham in the days of Tsenpo Zhonnu was a vigorous, strong minded, aggressive woman of considerable charm and ability and she might have vied with Prince Zhonnu and High Chieftess Nyitri during the regency. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for young Selbar, Suvrata was her own worst enemy - unstable, cruel and poor with money.

Gyelmo Bari Suvrata 'the Unfaithful' of Kham, 1383 AD.
​

By 1380 her fortunes had improved. Kham was a rich enough prize that money flowed her way come what may and she had the wit to worked savvy advisors. Suvrata had both the opportunity and the resources to finally wield her weight on the Imperial Council in Lhasa, of which she was a member without holding a specific ministry. Suvrata's method of extending control was simple; she privately aided members of the Council and then dangled the resulting favour they owed her. In this way she eventually gained influence with most of the Council. Some of the more fevered writers and dramatists since have suggested the Gyelmo of Kham was a Central Asiasn Messalina, plying her sensual wiles to seduce the other grandees. While acknowledging that Suvrata was not known for her chastity, it was far more likely that she simply bought the allegiance of others in Lhasa with money.

There was nothing inevitable about the clash between Selbar and Suvrata. Age and religion divided them and there was a vivid difference in their personalities but the monarch was able to tolerate this particular grandee for most of a decade. The break came over policy not personality. In 1381 the Imperial Council voted against Selbar's plan to introduce viceroyalties. Nominally the Imperial Council had the authority to vote against any of the monarch's policies but in practice it was almost unheard of for a Tsenpo to be defeated in a vote. The humiliation was only made bearable by the fact none of the Council were keen to boast about the affair. It quickly became apparent that the Gyelmo of Kham had called in her favours to make sure the vote went against Selbar.

The idea of viceroyalties to cope with the expanding Tibetan Empire was not new but Selbar VII was the first to actually try and conjure them up, drawing on the Chinese example of the zongdu ['General Supervisor']. The Tibetan Empire was a feudal one and suffered from near permanent feuds between the great barons. By creating a powerful but temporary office that could be bestowed by the Tsenpo Selbar hoped to increase the control of Lhasa over the far flung regions. The office was at once carrot and stick - a tool of control and a tantalising prize for an ambitious grandee. For obvious reasons Suvrata, by far the most powerful grandee and a self styled 'Gyelmo' in her own right opposed this.

For Selbar it was clear that the Gyelmo of Kham would have to be removed. Some of his predecessors would have simply opted for assassination, but as the orphaned son of two assassination victims the Tsenpo cast aside such a plan at once. Instead he waited until mid 1383 when Suvrata's entanglement in a minor plot allowed Selbar to order her arrest. Suvrata refused to surrender herself to the Tsenpo's justice and in October 1383 raised the standard of rebellion.

It has proven impossible for later historians to separate the fact and fiction from this war as Selbar, never restrained when it came to rumor, was ready and eager to manure Survrata's name now that she was an outright enemy. It is now considered unlikely that Survrata slew a different lover every night and dined on their cooked flesh in the morning. Nor is it thought probable that she used human sacrifice to bind mountain demons to her cause and unleash avalanches on her enemies. The fact remains that Survrata had a universal reputation for cruelty well before she locked horns with Selbar and popular opinion in Tibet was overwhelmingly for him and against her. Even the impoverished grandees she had bought did not flock to her banner.

The Revolt of Kham, 1383 AD.
​

The war dragged on for almost two years, as even unaided the 'Kingdom of Kham' provided many resources. Selbar's reliance on Chinese mercenaries proved decisive in the end and at the Battle of Japyesvara in May 1385 the Han sellsword Captain Xiaojie of the Phoenix Company captured Survrata herself, as the rebel leader attempted to flee the field. Ever sentimental Selbar did not have her executed but he did strip her of her most powerful titles including Kham. The Bari dynasty would continue but their days of power were over.

With Survrata lingering in glistening captivity in Lhasa the Tsenpo was finally free to introduce his policy of viceroyalties. Historic titles once more reappeared, summoned like ghosts into the living world - Ü-Tsang, Guge, Nepal, Kashmir, Kamarupa... With great ceremony each title was handed over to the protection of favoured grandees. This was Selbar in his element as supreme monarch on Earth under God and undoubtedly he relished every moment.

By the early 1390s with the reformation of Tibet's internal politics and the painful (if enlightening) lesson about angering the Dragon behind him, Selbar was free to consider the future. His eldest son Crown Prince Selbar had, alas, inherited the Tsenpo's crooked back but perversely this very misfortune proved a stroke of luck in later years. When the Tsenpo had divorced his first wife - the Crown Prince's mother - not even the most cynical observer could question the Crown Prince's paternity. Father and son were remarkably close and in 1394 when the Crown Prince was seventeen Selbar had granted him the Imperial castle of Zhegu and the position of 'Master of the Horse'. Selbar, recalling his long boyhood under the Regency, hoped to give his son at least some education as a leader of men before he assumed office. At the time Selbar himself was only in his middle thirties and in good health and had little reason to suspect he'd be not see forty.

In 1395 dysentery broke out along the Tea Horse Road that ran through Lhasa. Selbar, for all his love of blaming demons and witches had little knowledge of medicine and relied heavily on the advice of his chief physician, a woman of obscure origin known as Kunzang 'the Wise'. Kunzang was a mysterious figure then and now - none of her writings have survived - but by common account she was unusually beautiful, with fine boned features and dark enthralling eyes. Unusually for a court sorcerer she was a practicing Nestorian, though the second hand stories of her spells and elixirs suggest she was not an orthodox Christian. At some point she seems to have developed a theory that that the pestilence striking Tibet was caused by vile demons and that only the most drastic of measures could thwart them.

In July 1385 Selbar himself fell ill. Though the Tsenpo at first insisted that his pallor and discomfort were the legacy of excessive celebration it soon became clear he was suffering from dysentery. A suggestion that he depart Lhasa from the clean desert air of Khotan was refused by servants afraid he'd never survive the journey. Instead he was confined to his chambers as Kunzang 'the Wise' fought to save his life. The sorceress, whose loyalty to her monarch was absolute proved that determination one morning in September 1385.

"For you, master..."

​

Before her suicide Kunzang had ceremonially burned her books of hidden knowledge and though she was known for drawing strange and unknown symbols in rare sands she had scattered on her floor no decipherable pattern could be found in the grains. The best that can be determined is that Kunzang had sought to magically bind the spirits of disease within her own mortal body, and having done so destroy that body casting the demons into oblivion.

Selbar wept uncontrollably and when he had recovered enough ordered that Kunzang be given a Christian burial and not listed as a suicide. Instead, the official story ran, in a valiant effort to safe others the Court Physician had fallen ill herself. All his life Selbar had never felt the truth should stand in the path of a good story. For once a plain story would better cloak a mystifying truth. It was only through the chance discovery decades later of a surviving letter between courtiers that we know what really happened.

Tragically Kunzang's noble sacrifice did not buy her Tsenpo long. Though he recovered a little in the days after his health declined again in the final days of the year and he died in his bed on 3 December 1386 at the age of thirty seven.



Footnotes:

[1] See 'Part Twenty Eight'.

 

[RossN]

War with China surely is not to be adviced.

Yes, clearly!

Continued Tibetan prominence probably does depend on not picking fights with China.

I think that is good advice!

Selbar was fortunate to get Tibet out of that debacle with little more than a bloody nose, so to speak.

And the "Outlaws of the Marsh," eh? I wonder if anyone might end up writing an undoubtedly colorful account of their exploits in the Empire?

Heh. One hopes!

I'm kind of sorry I didn't write more about mercenaries, they seem a very colourful bunch. I suppose up until recently I didn't use them that much.

That was a mighty host indeed. You were fortunate not to be overrun by her.

I know!

Having 150k Chinese troops dropped on my doorstep would probably give me a heart attack.

Selbar handled things adroitly.

Thank you. I expected and planned to fight maybe 80-90,000. I guess I hadn't figured on the 'Golden age' modifier adjusting the numbers so much!

On Selbar II (part 1):
That is a nice little touch, whether it stemmed from an in-game event or the authAAR’s fertile imagination.

Very nice too.

Well worth the read - must have been a fascinating character to play for all that time - with an end befitting an extraordinary life and reign.

And on Part 2:
A good achievement - with dashing scars thrown in? A bargain!

A great change to the laws of the Empire. He truly has changed it - far neater.
Baldric would have been in full support! But it looks like Treasurer Blackadder over-ruled him.

Thank you very much! I have to say Selbar II was definitely my favourite character to play and write about.

The giant horse was an in-game event I couldn't finish without the Lunatic trait and likewise the turnip act (Baldrick's Act!) came from Selbar being what my Sith Inquisitor in SWTOR would call "differently sane".

China is mighty here and you were lucky to only receive a slap. Invading China and overthrowing the dynasty still a pipe dream I guess.

Unfortunately yes, unless they suffer a massive internal disaster in the next few decades in-universe.

I've just caught back up (over the past few days) after a few months away, and as ever I have greatly enjoyed your work! The transition from Bon to Nestorianism was a very interesting turn (and the surprising strength of Tengriism even more so!), but you told them very well, and seamlessly integrated them in here. And as ever, it's been a great opportunity to learn more about Tibetan culture


And also learn that if I do ever play CK2 in that region; never EVER piss the Chinese off.

Welcome back! Thank you very much, and yes the religious turmoil has certainly kept things interesting!

China is not invincible (Or so I've read), I just picked exactly the wrong time to attack!

 

[stnylan]

I rather like this Selbar! A very relatable (if cheeky) chap.

That method of medicine is a new one to me I must admit.

 

[diskoerekto]

He was a good one, I genuinely became sad. RIP.

 

[Lord Decobius]

Funnily enough, I just had a mystic do this for me not so long ago (in-game, thankfully). It's a shocking event! And a real shame, depending on how good a physician they were. Extra pity that it meant Selbar VII couldn't be saved. Dysentery... what a shitty way to go.

Instituting Viceroyalties is no small contribution to the empire however, so kudos to the Lionheart for his hard-fought reform! And long live his heir!

 

[Riotkiller]

Why can't we get that kind of dedication on the NHS

 

[RossN]

The known world in 1396 AD.​

Appendix: The World in 1396 AD

The last years of the Fourteenth Century saw the consolidation of powerful empires in both the furthest West and the furthest East. Between these great imperial states the world was in flux and violence and chaos but also opportunity for plunder and glory abounded.

Under the Jin Dynasty the Chinese had staged a remarkable recovery, and once more the armies of the Middle Kingdom were a familiar sight in Central Asia, exacting tribute and enforcing existing treaties. Though there were many Han aristocrats who bemoaned their rude Jurchen overlords it was impossible to deny China was flourishing, and the Emperor Mutalu Jinzhong was by any measure the most powerful man in the world.

Immediately to the Jin Empire's West lay the Tibetan Empire which is detailed elsewhere, and the sprawling subcontinent of India, whose proud Buddhist kingdoms were entirely dominated by the Seuna Yadava Empire (or the Deccan Empire as some historians call it). This vast Hindu state was the descendant of the Ratta Empire of old under a new ruling house and the nineteen year old Samrat (or 'Emperor') Mushkara regularly entertained envoys from the courts of Nanjing and Lhasa. To many foreigners it was easier to simply speak of the 'Emperor of India'. However, the great wealth and power of the Seuna Yadava had limits. The Himalayas and the Tibetans formed a natural border to Indian influence and the Samrat's strong but guarded authority in the Northern Indian princedoms did not allow expansion into Persia. Magnificent as she was India was a world unto herself.

A century after the invincible Abbasid Caliphate had vanished, the victim of civil war and disaster and the Muslim powers of Asia remained disunited. There remained a Caliph of sorts, the near powerless Mahadi III who dwelt in Damascus, but the Muslim empire of old was gone. If one family had truly profited from the fall of the Abbasids it was the Dulafid clan. This powerful Bedouin family controlled Persia, much of the Arabian peninsula and parts of the North African coast. By considerable effort they had won authority over Mecca herself, which was now the stately capital of the sixteen year old Sultan Aram. A distant cousin, the nineteen year old Sultan Yahya ruled the independent kingdom of Khorasan from the old Silk Road city of Nishapur. Fortunately, for all who feared a revival of an Arab-Iranian superpower the different branches of the Dulafids were not inclined to work together.

The great rivals of the Dulafids in the Muslim world were the Kârawân dynasty prominent in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia under the strong if aging Sultan Burrhanadin 'Ironside', a ruler known for his tolerance of Christians and Jews which had aided in his realm becoming a meeting place Western and Eastern thought and traditions.

West of the Dulafid dominated Libyan coast the great Mansurid Empire straddled Africa and Europe. Badshah Faruk 'the Great' made his capital in Urgell and the Mansurids were descendants of Iberian Moorish royalty but the strength of the empire drew from their control of the Magreb. The great fleets of galleys that had enabled Faruk and his predecessors to dominated the Mediterranean and rule Corsica, Sicily and Sardinia were crewed by sailors and marines from the coastal cities of North Africa. The Mansurids had also successfully driven their influence across the empty wastes of the Sahara and into the almost unknown lands of Africa beyond the desert. Even if some of these lands were held lightly and much of the vast realm on the map contained empty country it still showed the triumph of Allah over the once powerful pagans.

The Badshah's power did not go completely unchallenged. Across Iberia the Muslims bordered the Frankish Empire or Francia. The Catholic Franks had reconquered considerable land from the Muslims over the previous two centuries and half of Italy owed allegiance to the Emperor in Paris. The Frankish sway even extended over the water to Ireland where either directly or through a vassal kingdom they reigned supreme. The master of this state, perhaps the strongest between the Atlantic and the Great Wall of China was a seven year German speaking boy - Kaiser Ekkehard ap Munsö. The little emperor's mother the late Empress Catherine 'the Confessor' had been the last in a direct line stretching back to Charlemagne and the Frankish Empire of the late Fourteenth Century, though far more populous, more urban, more literate and obsessed with chivalry and romance still bore the imprint of the great monarch.

Across the Rhine lay another realm that could trace her origins back to Charles the Great. The German Empire, called by some the Holy Roman Empire for her links to the Papacy was still ruled by a Karling. The sixty seven year old Kaiser Kariijotas 'the Hammer' had been a famed and feared crusader in his youth, losing a hand in his wars with the Arabs. In his dotage he had fallen to drunkenness and stress and it was commonly assumed that the true work of ruling was done by others. The presence of the Mansurids had helped keep the Franks and Germans from each others throats but it was not clear such restraint would last.

A constellation of minor nations completed the mosaic of Roman Catholic Europe - the kingdoms of England, Denmark, Finland and Chernigov along with the monastic holy knights of the Teutonic Order, guarding Europe from the nomads.

There was one other great Christian state in Europe and it was at once the oldest and most strange. The Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire had lost control of her heartland in Asia Minor in the early Twelfth Century and with the sack of Constantinople by the Abbasids in 1108 many had assumed the empire of Constantine, Justinian and Heraclius was finished. Remarkably the Romans had hung onto their territories in Greece and Southern Italy, the ancient cities providing a fragile but persistent urban culture and economy. Throughout the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries they had conquered a new empire in the pagan lands of the Danubian Basin, pushing further and further North. By the middle of the Fourteenth Century the Romans held provinces beyond the Carpathian Mountains and with their new strength they could once again look East. In 1390 the Emperor Gennadios 'the Tenacious' of the Makedon dynasty had recaptured Constantinople from the post-Abbasid Muslim princlings and made it his capital.

The Roman Empire had clearly gained in stature and strength, but beneath the pomp there were serious tensions. Before the latest surge of Roman power the Emperor had been forced to pay tribute to the Frankish monarch, a humiliation that prevented an easy acceptance of Roman authority in the East. The possibility of two or perhaps even three Christian empires warring against each other remained a possibility.

Beyond Christian Europe the steppes were home to a diverse collection of nomadic nations. Though Islam had advanced steadily and paganism clung on in certain quarters the great Khazar Khaganate or Khazaria remained a centre of Jewish culture. Khagan Kamaj III 'the Eastern Wind' was a formidable warrior king, who courted envoys from Constantinople, Lhasa and Mecca among others and whose realm remained the 'first among equals of the nomads'.

A religious map of the known world, 1396 AD.
​

In religious terms the Christian community remained split between three great branches, with several smaller sects dotted across the globe. The Roman Catholic Church dominated Europe and was led by the Pope in Rome. The Orthodox Catholic Church which preferred to use the Greek rite rather than the Latin and which had been diverging further from the Western church for centuries, drew her authority from the Supreme Patriarch in Constantinople and was functionally identical with the power and influence of the Roman Empire.

The third major branch of Christianity, officially called the Church of the East but best known as the Nestorian Church was smaller in terms of raw numbers than the other two great branches, but grander in territory covered from Syria to China. Only in the Tibetan Empire, where between a quarter and a third of the people professed the faith was the Nestorian Church a true religion of the common people. The Patriarch of the East resided in Damascus, but though revered his actual power was limited - the far flung Nestorian communities were simply too distant to administer and in Tibet the Church had the additional headache of local clergy who had picked up many strange native beliefs.

The overwhelmingly majority of Muslims were Sunni though pockets of Shia faithful existed. The collapse of the Caliphate as anything other than a spiritual power had had surprisingly little impact on the spread of Islam among the barbarian nomads in the East and deep into Africa in the Southwest.

Polytheistic 'paganism' of any form was clearly on the decline by the end of the Fourteenth Century, with the Tibetan Empire being one of the few holdouts for the likes of Bön and Tengrism. The Indian faiths of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism remained the preserve of the Subcontinent which as mentioned earlier was almost a world unto itself.

Taoism had enjoyed a modest resurgence brought about by Chinese merchants - and Chinese armies.

Trade routes, 1396 AD.

​

The great trade routes of the world brought unheard of luxuries between East and West and many 'common' families became rich during this period thanks to their canny merchant ties. From China the trade flowed along the Northern and Southern branches of the Silk Road, bypassing the deserts of the Tarim basin and passing through oasis cities like Khotan on the long land road West towards the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Another route, known as the Tea Horse Road for its most significant goods of Chinese tea and Tibetan horses ran through the heart of the Tibetan Empire and Lhasa and on into India and the great seaports of the Subcontinent.

The Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea were a grand thoroughfare for ships of dozens of flags and nations plying their trade. Ocean going vessels could carry far greater cargo than even the richest of caravans along the land routes but they came with their own dangers from storms to pirates to port taxes.

In the Mediterranean two great merchant republics had carved up the sea between them, daring to contest control of the brine even with the Moorish fleet of the Mansurids The city of Ragusa had enjoyed centuries of pre-eminence but in recent decades she had found a formidable rival in the Liburnian Republic. 'Liburnia' unlike Ragusa was not a single ambitious city state but a collection of Italian and Croatian seaports that had banded together into a league. Venice, centuries past her prime was a member of this fraternity and the Liburnian galleys had even succeeded in driving Ragusa out her own local waters in the Adriatic

The last of the great trade routes were the long and lonely treks across the burning sand sea of the Sahara. Ivory, gold and other rarities were carried through great hardship and risk from out of the heart of Africa.

 

[RossN]

I rather like this Selbar! A very relatable (if cheeky) chap.

That method of medicine is a new one to me I must admit.

I fully agree about the medicine!

Selbar was an interesting character to write in that his first character personality trait was 'Deceitful' but his subsequent traits were pleasant - 'Kind' and 'Just'. So I decided to run with the idea of him as a largely well-intentioned fibber.

He was a good one, I genuinely became sad. RIP.

Yeah. Too young.

Funnily enough, I just had a mystic do this for me not so long ago (in-game, thankfully). It's a shocking event! And a real shame, depending on how good a physician they were. Extra pity that it meant Selbar VII couldn't be saved. Dysentery... what a shitty way to go.

Instituting Viceroyalties is no small contribution to the empire however, so kudos to the Lionheart for his hard-fought reform! And long live his heir!

It definitely shocked me and unfortunately it didn't help Selbar much. Still, at least it was memorable...

And yes good to have Viceroyalties! I remember them well from my Roman Empire AAR.

Why can't we get that kind of dedication on the NHS

Eep!

Well... um, maybe the next British government could encourage such dedication?

 

[stnylan]

The Byzantine Empire is proving to be exceedingly hard to put down.

 

[Andrzej I]

A wonderful update on the status of the world! I wonder, intending on converting to EU4? And if so, I'm curious how you might intend on drawing Tibet's eastern border. The fact that the Jin are in the ascendant makes it a bit complicated, but I could see Tibet holding part of what is typically thought of as China even so. The fact that there's the ambition to reach and exceed the Tibetan empire of old makes the Sichuan basin a tempting target, I'm sure.

The master of this state, perhaps the strongest between the Atlantic and the Great Wall of China was a seven year German speaking boy - Kaiser Ekkehard ap Munsö. The little emperor's mother the late Empress Catherine 'the Confessor' had been the last in a direct line stretching back to Charlemagne and the Frankish Empire of the late Fourteenth Century, though far more populous, more urban, more literate and obsessed with chivalry and romance still bore the imprint of the great monarch.

Well, Francia certainly wasn't expected! I'd love to see a bit about Catherine the Confessor, as she sounds like she could have been quite the remarkable figure! And how curious, also, to have a German speaking branch of the ap Munso dynasty, too!

The sixty seven year old Kaiser Kariijotas 'the Hammer' had been a famed and feared crusader in his youth, losing a hand in his wars with the Arabs. In his dotage he had fallen to drunkenness and stress and it was commonly assumed that the true work of ruling was done by others.

What a name! I wonder if that is actually part of the German namelist or if he inherited it from elsewhere. It sounds distinctly Baltic to me, were I to guess. I wonder, also, did the Karlings ever lose control over the Holy Roman Empire? Or has it been a string of princes from the line of Charlemagne?

In 1390 the Emperor Gennadios 'the Tenacious' of the Makedon dynasty had recaptured Constantinople from the post-Abbasid Muslim princlings and made it his capital.

This also surprises me! Did the Makedon dynasty not lose the throne? Regardless, glad to see Constantinople back under its rightful rulers, the Eastern Romans! A bit of a shame, though, that they decided to expand into Carpathia rather than retaking Anatolia. I guess they figured one mountainous plain was as good as another?

 

[Riotkiller]

Interesting to see the Byzantine fightback: I guess the Bosphorus frontier has replaced the Danube Frontier as the defensive strongline of the Romans. German-speaking Welsh dynasties are always fun; though the almost total disappearance of everyone else in Europe except the three blobs is a little sad.

Remarkable how much Catholicism has recovered from its earlier heretical disasters, too. And that the Shia haven't really taken advantage of the fall of the Caliphate earlier.

 

[Specialist290]

As ever, pleased to see that Khazaria continues to endure Also surprised to see Eastern Rome has not only endured but reinvented itself somewhat, though I suppose they have a tradition of doing that periodically.

I have to admit to being curious about a couple outliers: The Orthodox pockets in the Russian far north, and the independent Bon enclaves on the steppes to the north of Tibet. What's the story behind those?

Meanwhile, the Khorasan / Karawan / Dulafid furball presents yet another good argument in favor of the Exclave Independence game rule, at least in my opinion.

 

[Tyler96]

Is that a vestigial Aquitaine in Ireland and Wales?

I also wonder how many men froze to death so that the Holy Roman Empire could tributarise that far north, Perm-adjacent, kingdom.

Also love that bit of the north-central steppe where it seems every county has a different ruler.

 

[diskoerekto]

Taoist Yabghu???

 

[ShadorEM]

I'm curious about the cultural makeup of this timeline.