A Kingdom In the Clouds: A Ü-Tsang AAR

[RossN]

Andrzej I: Thanks and yes it is a fascinating story. The legend is even more remarkable - I left out how he disguised his horse!

iAmTeeWoo: Thank you and yes it is good to be back even if I'm sorry about losing the other games.

Nikolai: Hopefully!

Specialist290: Well... no pressure then. I'll try and be as accurate as possible but as I said this is an area I'm not familiar with so I suppose we are all learning.

Idhrendur: Thanks you, that is very nice of you to say!

Alex Borhild: Thanks!

Ol' Johnny: Thank you!

Tyler96: It is isn't it? I'd been considering an Asian Victoria AAR but the roleplaying aspect of CKII won me over and I wanted to try a Jade Dragon story.

PEnglish82: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this one!

stnylan: Thanks and I hope it lives up to such praise!

 

[Ol' Johnny]

A short, uneventful reign, but one that has left the kingdom in good shape. Let us hope his heir does as well, if not better.

 

[Idhrendur]

Leaving an improved kingdom behind is not a bad thing.

 

[stnylan]

Ahh good to see you work your AAR magic once again, and your sorcerous words must be powerful indeed to cause an appearance of @Veldmaarschalk

 

[iAmTeeWoo]

What does the future hold for the Purgyal Dynasty? Will the dynasty be reunited under one leader or remain separate?

 

[Specialist290]

I feel the pain with the treacherous blacksmith. I've been bilked a fair few times myself; the anger (and subsequent plotting of the fraud's demise) are all completely understandable.

That aside, there are certainly worse ways to waste a treasury and a kingdom's wealth. For all his faults, it seems that Yumtän was neither a tyrant nor a dilettante, and even if he hasn't restored the old empire single-handedly he has left his kingdom overall in a much better position than before.

 

[darkhaze9]

Love the start so far, and eager to be onboard for a new RossN adventure. Subbed!

 

[GangsterSynod]

This is looking great so far. I'll be watching eagerly!

 

[RossN]

Gyalpo Purgyal Palkhorre in 877 AD.​

Part Two: Gyalpo Purgyal Palkhorre (877 to 920 AD)

Crown Prince Palkhorre, now Gyalpo Palkhorre, had the personal fortune and political misfortune to have two younger half brothers. Though there was no question of anyone else taking the throne of Ü-Tsang the personal holdings of Gyalpo Yumtän were split between all his heirs with significant parcels of land including Lhasa herself falling to the two sons of Yasaman Kasyar. it was not an inauspicious start to Palkhorre's long reign but the new Gyalpo wasted scant time brooding over his loss or even feuding with his brothers. Palkorre had loftier ambitions.

The new monarch was twenty one and other than height had little resemblance to his father. Palkhorre had the Purgyal stature but his ran further to the brawniness of a born soldier. Upon first meeting the Gyalpo many made the mistake of taking him for a simple brute. Nothing could be further from the truth; Palkhorre was a very shrewd man and if he was occasionally tactless in his blunt honesty it was a rare conversation indeed that was not dominated by him.

Palkhorre's first step in taking the throne was to find a wife. Teçush Ilterish kyzy was the daughter of Khan Ilterish of Aylik, a clan chieftain of the mighty Kirghiz Khaganate of the far north. A horse riding Tengri worshipping barbarian was an unconventional bride for a Tibetan monarch but there was method to Palkhorre's madness. Barbarian or no Teçush was a princess of sorts and that prestige added lustre to Palkhorre's crown. Perhaps more importantly she had no relationship with any of the nobles of Ü-Tsang, allowing the Gyalpo to avoid favouring any one local family. With his rule still a shade insecure it made sense to be cautious.

If the marriage was an calculated move Palkhorre next revealed he had some of father's boldness. On 19 December 877 the new Gyalpo declared war on Sakya. Ruled by the Buddhist warlord Khon Sherab Yontan, Sakya was a former part of the old Tibetan Empire. The number of troops the enemy could raise was not impressive but the difficult terrain and a counter-invasion by the Buddhists of Lhoyu to the east of Tibet delayed the enemy surrender until November 878. The Gyalpo annexed Sakya proper leaving Khon Sherab Yontan with the old western half of his tiny empire.

The annexation of Sakya was the first of a series of campaigns Palkhorre would wage throughout his long reign. Most however would see the Gyalpo of Ü-Tsang as defender rather than aggressor.

Ü-Tsang's growing wealth attracted more than just traders and pilgrims. In the Winter of 880/881 a Jurchen soldier by the name of Gulan crossed into Tibet at the head of a host mercenaries, cutthroats and scoundrels. many of these human vermin had raided Tang China and now sought to wet their blades in different climes. The lure of Tibetan markets and monasteries filled with gold and silver was a strong one and in the thirty one year old Gulan they had not just a formidable commander but an ambitious one.

Initially Gulan's Host targeted Lhasa. Though no longer the capital even of Ü-Tsang let alone a great empire the famed city was still the richest prize in Tibet, the stronghold of Palkhorre infant half-brother Prince Donyö (or rather his mother Yasaman who ruled in his name.) Gulan sacked the city and its hinterland and though the boy prince and the dowager queen escaped thanks to a band of loyal servants and the gentle cloak of a moonless night, they left behind much treasure to the invader. This might have sated another warlord but Gulan was not done. In May 882 the barbarian bandit dictated a letter to an unfortunate Tibetan scribe who in turn carried it to Taktsé.

The infamous 'Gulan Letter' of May 882 AD.
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The Gyalpo's response was to raise his army and bring battle to the marauder. The decisive clash came close to Taktsé at Chonggyé in June 882, a plateau town near the valley were the Emperor Songtsen Gampo and many of heirs lay buried beneath beneath man made hills. The Gyalpo, a great and terrifying figure in his lamellar armour personally cut a path through the enemy to take the fight directly to the barbarian leader.

Gulan was a shorter, slighter man than his foe but the barbarian was still a capable fighter and for a moment it seemed like the gods might have been with him. At an illfated instant the Tibetan king's longsword was knocked from its wielder's grasp as it struck the brim of the Jurchen's helm. In a fury Palkhorre drew a turquoise handled dagger and with sheer strength pushed the barbarian's longer blade aside...

Death of a warlord.
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The death of Gulan and the rout of his host would be far from the last time that Palkhorre led his men in battle but it would be the most famous victory of his reign. When it came to his later years when the older Gyalpo committed his thoughts of war and strategy to paper it would be this battle that guided his brush. The Book of Shadows, completed in March 889 AD was a subtle and complex account of combat with the short blade. Indeed a few later (excitable) historians would allege it almost seemed more the work of an assassin than a warrior king [1].

If Palkhorre's personal triumph in battle brought him prestige it did make him forget he was a monarch first and a swordsman second. Many of his greatest feats in establishing his rule and expanding his kingdom came without having to draw a blade at all, at least directly.

The last quarter of the Ninth Century saw the shattered Tibetan states consolidate into fewer but larger kingdoms. Palkhorre's uncle Ösrung was an expansionist ruler who unified most of Western Tibet under his sword before dying of old wounds in 888 an leaving the powerful Kingdom of Guge to his five year old grandson, a second Ösrung. In the east the states of Kham, Dêgê and Nagoromo jealously eyed each other and nervously looked further East to the sound of marching soldiers en-route from China. It was Central Tibet however that saw the greatest churn. Other than Ü-Tsang this vast region was also home to petty kingdoms like Sumparu, Tsakha and Nagchu. Of these the last was perhaps the richest and most strategically important.

At this point the ruler of Nagchu [2] was an aristocrat named Miwoche Rabten. Rabten was in his forties, too young to personally recall the days of the Tibetan Empire but old enough to have grown up in an atmosphere perfumed with nostalgia for that era. By education Rabten might have made a fair priest but though his mastery of theology was impressive his open cynicism forbade any thought of such a path. Instead he was content to reign as a petty king in his own right, counting his silver and indulging in a passion for chess [3]. The self appointed 'Gyalpo of Nagchu' had been shaken by the Jurchen invasion and impressed by the ease with which Palkhorre had stopped it. Rabten may have been content in his current borders but he was far from a fool. He was well aware that sooner or later one of the other more powerful Tibetan states would cross those borders with an army. Or perhaps it would not be a Tibetan army at all but another barbarian host or even the silk banners of the Chinese imperial soldiers. Independence was delightful but was it sustainable?

Palkhorre was ten years Rabten's junior but he had struck up a correspondence with the man and had been gratified to receive the congratulations of the monarch of Nagchu after the Battle of Taktsé. Beginning in early Summer 886 the Gyalpo of Ü-Tsang sought to woo Rabten.

The government of Ü-Tsang, like the Tibetan Empire of old, was made up of a series of high ministers who advised the monarch [4]. Highest ranked of them all was the office of the gung lön chen po or lön chen for short. Lönchen can be translated as 'Prime Minister' or 'Chancellor' and the post brought a rarefied level of prestige, and perhaps more enticing to the greedy Rabten, a royal stipend. Palkhorre dangled this prize in front of Rabten and in June 886 his diplomatic offensive succeeded.

Miwoche Rabten's swears fealty to Gyalpo Palkhorre, 21 June 886 AD.

The bloodless annexation of Nagchu (outlined in yellow.)
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As much as Rabten's decision was motivated by strategic self interest it worked well for both parties. Palkhorre and Rabten would become fast friends and the Gyalpo would become a frequent guest of honour at his Lönchen's banquets and a friendly rival across the chess board until Rabten's passing in 892. This friendship was in itself an unusual occurrence; though Palkhorre lacked the strain of cruelty and the volcanic temper that had so marred his father he was not a man who found it easy to truly trust others. In Rabten he found an exception and a happier time in his eventful life.

For the other petty rulers of Tibet the example of Rabten and Nagchu provided food for thought. The unsettled situation that saw the Jurchen invasion would see the irregular but frightening arrival of other barbarian raiders during the years. In 893 it was the turn of Varshab 'the Wise', a remarkably learned Sogdian who menaced the frontiers of Ü-Tsang before his death and defeat at the hands of Palkhorre. Dêgê, the easternmost of the Tibetan statelets was not so fortunate a power as Ü-Tsang, ravaged both by a barbarian army and forced to pay tribute by the Ne of Nagormo.

In October 897 Palkhorre invaded Dêgê. The Gyalpo of Ü-Tsang could not afford so mighty a Nagormo and the prosperity of the kingdom depended on control of the roads east. At the great battle of Markam in April 898 the forces of Ü-Tsang numbered over six thousand and defeated a Dêgê army over four thousand, among them many barbarian horse archers. A year later at Nagchu the forces of Ü-Tsang crushed those of Nagormo. The Ne, Jiqian II fled the field to hide from Palkhorre's longsword only to meet his death at the hands of a Ü-Tsang warrior named Selbar, who had no wish for so great a king as Palkhorre to stain his blade with the blood of a coward.

It would take another two years of fighting before the Nagormons surrendered their hold on Dêgê. After this exhausting struggle there was a strong shift even in the warlike court of Palkhorre for a period of rest. The war would prove almost the last of Palkhorre's foreign campaigns. For the next decade the only expansion of Ü-Tsang would be peaceful as Palkhorre's diplomacy took advantage of the disintegration of Tsakha to assume control of minor states on his western borders. When the exception came it was again thanks to a barbarian adventurer.

Chief Külbilgä was a former mercenary of Karluk heritage who overthrew the shrunken remnants of the Kingdom of Kham in 911. A follower of the Tengri faith he was an uncouth lout and a legendary liar who had reached his position via the fine old path of treachery but he was a skilled warrior. However remote the chances of the barbarian building an empire of his own Palkhorre could not risk it and in December 912 he declared war.

The campaign itself was a brisk affair and Külbilgä soon defeated but the strain of the war and campaigning at such an advanced age left more scars than first visible. After decades on the throne as both warrior-king and statesman Palkhorre's mind was beginning to fray. The Gyalpo would in the midst of court turn and address ministers long dead, asking the shade of Rabten for advice on state policy. The knowledge of family and friends slipped from his mind and within three years of his conquest of Külbilgä Palkhorre had lost the power of comprehensible speech.

This sad period that lasted until Palkhorre's death in early 920 saw Ü-Tsang under the regency of Crown Prince Yumtän. Inevitably the decline of the Gyalpo cast a shadow over the end of his long reign, but this twilight should not take away from his lasting achievements. Palkhorre had tripled the kingdom in size and maintained the independence of Ü-Tsang both against waves of barbarians and the ambitions of China. He would be remembered as a great warrior king.

It is a generous view but a fair one. Still, it is not the full story. Having observed Palkhorre as general and diplomat we will now turn to his domestic and spiritual rule in a rapidly shifting Tibet...

Tibet in 920 AD.​

Footnotes:

[1] Confusingly while Palkhorre did carry a bejeweled dagger on his person - an exquisite thing of silver, sapphires and amethysts - it was strictly ornamental, a companion to a radiant ruby necklace. Together these formed the Crown Jewels of Ü-Tsang, also commissioned in 889. Rather his weapon of choice was a superb and beautiful but eminently deadly longsword.

[2] Rabten's rank is generally translated Thupo ('duke'), though he rather grandly claimed the title of Gyalpo.

[3] Or so it is usually translated, though a minority of scholars propose alternate, more obscure boardgames.

[4] The position of 'Supervisor of Attendants, mentioned earlier, was also one of these ministries.

 

[RossN]

Since Palkhorre's reign was so long (877 to 920) I've broken it in two. The above chapter dealt with foreign policy and the next chapter will deal with domestic and religious affairs.

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Veldmaarschalk: It was certainly a shock. Unfortunately I wasn't able to build the plot power to assassinate the armoursmith so he got away with it too.

Ol' Johnny: Well he did do better and happily lasted for far longer.

Idhrendur: Very true, and advice many real monarchs should probably have taken!

stnylan: Heh. Thanks, I think.

iAmTeeWoo: at the moment it is still separate but the future is in flux.

Specialist290: True. I think restoring the empire would have been very difficult for any single ruler and as you say he was far from a failure.

darkhaze9: Welcome and thank you!

GangsterSynod: Thanks, hope you enjoy it!

 

[darkhaze9]

Wonderful post, your writing is incredible as always. This really makes me want to try out a game in Tibet!

 

[Specialist290]

It looks like Ü-Tsang isn't the only power on the rise on the Tibetan Plateau. Palkhorre's successors may have quite the fight on their hands if they want to pursue their aspirations of rebuilding the old empire.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Been a long time since I've been on anything approaching the ground floor of a RossN AAR! Glad to have hopped on board so early on.

An engaging first couple of chapters. Needless to say I am a total ingénu as far as Tibet is concerned, but your writing makes everything incredibly easy and enjoyable to keep up with. Best of luck going forward!

 

[stnylan]

Well he certainly made his mark on the world. One can easily imagine some stunning feature films or TV series about his time in the distant future.

 

[loup99]

Subscribed, I never got the time to catch up with your two previous AARs before they ended, so now is the occasion to join at an early time and follow along.

 

[Nikolai]

Both victory in war as well as diplomacy. Nice!

 

[RossN]

Tingngezin, Chief Diviner of Ü-Tsang in 879 AD.

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Part Three: Gyalpo Purgyal Palkhorre (877 to 920 AD) (cont.)


The collapse of the Tibetan Empire in the Ninth Century may have saved the Bön religion.

Buddhism had enjoyed imperial patronage from the start but though the philosophy from India influenced all levels of Tibetan society a majority of people, certainly of peasants, craftsmen and traders had kept close to their old faith. The shaman and the magician, the universe full of spirits and spells marked the country at the roof of the world. Bön with its ancient roots possessed no agreed written canon, relying instead on oral tradition, spells and timeless ways. The fall of the pro-Buddhist emperors encouraged the Tibetan aristocrats and kings to return to the path but during all this time Bön had remained for most a folk practice rather than a set text.

The consolidation wars of the late Ninth Century challenged this mosaic of animistic ways and petty godlings, often unknown in the next valley. The same forces that encouraged the principalities and baronies to politically unite under the banner of Guge or Ü-Tsang saw the sages, shamans and sorcerers begin to draw together. Oddly this was less a direct threat from foreign religions than a potential threat. Buddhist and Hindu missionaries were a constant nuisance in the Tibetan courts. Few if any left a mark other than a sojourn in the dungeon but that did not mean they would never find success.

For most of Palkhorre's reign religious affairs in Ü-Tsang were overseen by the Gyalpo's Chief Diviner Tingngezin [1]. Tingngezin first arrived in Taktsé in September 879. Quick minded, silver tongued, patient and learned he was then already fifty, his dark hair and beard turning slowly to colour of ash the guru had made an immediate impression. Though certainly Tibetan his actual birthplace was obscure, the son of peasants from one of the thousands of tiny villages that lay in mist hidden valleys throughout the mountains. Tingngezin had traveled much in his youth and it was his personal experience and knowledge of China and India that made him the most respected adviser in Palkhorre's court and not just in matters concerning the Four Transcendent Lords or other keystones of the Bön faith. For decades Tingngezin, though never Lönchen essentially was Palkhorre's domestic minister.

Tingngezin was personally conservative but religiously tolerant, advising his monarch to accept the services of the renowned Daoist scholar and magician Qin Fangquing as court physician. It was on the Chief Diviner's advice that the Gyalpo remarried after the death of his first wife, choosing a distant cousin in Guge, Thumo Purgyal Torma. Torma, a famed beauty far younger than Palkhorre was the sister of Ösrung II and the far sighted Tingngezin saw the opportunity to tie the two great Tibetan kingdoms closer together without provoking a war.

After a generation of faithful service the great sage died of old age in 908, honoured and mourned by all. His last public act had been to advise the Gyalpo on the layout of the magnificent Royal Gardens of Taktsé, then in the early planning stages. In his memory a small shrine would be erected, surrounded by pools of clear and cold water in a grove fresh with the scent of mountain wildflowers and pine trees. By ill fortune Tingngezin passed away just before the great Bön reformation and ever since historians have wondered how this masterful thinker and politician would have handled such reforms, though more cynical scholars have wondered whether any king would have been entirely happy to have so formidable a sage writing the rules of faith.

The so-called 'Bön reformation' of December 911 AD.
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It was in Guge that matters came to a head. Gyalpo Ösrung II - Palkhorre's cousin - ruled a powerful kingdom, but one beset by internal instability and external pressure that would in time force Ösrung to accept a tributary role to the Chinese rather than provoke the Son of Heaven into sending his armies west. It was this humiliation, and it was hard to call it much else regardless of the pragmatic sense that an accommodation with the Middle Kingdom, that spurred Ösrung to promote a Bön reformation. By literally making his cultural pretensions holy writ the Gyalpo of Guge (or the 'Western Protectorate') sought to overshadow the memory of his choosing to kowtow to the Emperor. Ösrung's court had no theologian of the caliber of Tingngezin, but if anything this worked to his advantage. Ösrung II was a believer but it should always be kept in mind how political his motives were.

Throughout 911 Ösrung had gathered together various priests and priestesses at his capital of Tsaparang in the south-west of the Tibetan plateau. The ruler of Guge had one great advantage over his rival turned brother-in-law: most of the traditional holy sites of the Bön faith lay in western Tibet. This gave Ösrung, or at least his tame priests a grave advantage in setting forth a spiritual conclave.

The exact spiritual nature of the conclave of Tsaparang lies beyond the scope of this history. Suffice to say, under the watchful eyes of the Gyalpo of Guge, the assembled holy men and women ironed out a set doctrine on the nature of the universe and the gods. Much was simply the codification of age old wisdom. The gods remained as they were, including the reverence towards the Four Transcendent Lords. In most areas the priests had followed the path of least resistance in accepting the already existing beliefs of the majority. A few petty godlings and demons were consigned to the darkness but the mood of the reformers had been conservative save in two areas.

The more controversial reform, at least outside the rarefied realm of high politics was the official adoption of many elements of Buddhism in notions of enlightenment, reincarnation and the nature of the soul. In the past two and a half centuries certain Buddhist roots had grown deep in Tibet even if the official faith had not. It would have taken a daring and determined band of reformers to unpick every strand that had woven its way deep into the folk beliefs of Tibet and the conclave of Tsaparang was neither daring nor determined, especially with an anxious king overseeing all. It would be too strong to say 'reformed Bön' was a form of Buddhism but it was not the purely Tibetan affair of centuries before.

'New' or 'Reformed' Bön vs. 'Old' Bön.
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The other aspect, and the one that caused more tremors among the elite than the peasantry was the organisation of the faith. In principle the conclave had reached a generous compromise where the senior priest or priestess of any kingdom was regarded as head of the faith in that kingdom. However the nominal head of the entire religion - the 'Archpriestess' (or 'Dalai Lama' if male) - would be a resident of Guge. That first head of the Bön faith was a fifty six year old woman by the name of Jomo.

To give the Archpriestess her due she was of excellent personal character. She was kind, charitable and brave - many were the awed peasant stories of her banishing evil spirits or beating back wild beasts with a simple staff (some of the stories also mentioned her undeniable temper.) Nor did her gender argue against her. Women had long played a pivotal role in Tibetan religion in everything from shamans and witches to Buddhist nuns in the days of the emperors.

Unfortunately there were many issues to Jomo that might have given theologians pause. Like many humble village priest and priestesses the Archpriestess was scarcely literate, and there are sound reasons for assuming she never read the texts composed her name. Like Tingngezin her birth was humble but unlike the great sage she had little knowledge of the world beyond the next valley. To Joma the Kingdom of Ü-Tsang was unimaginably foreign. China and points west might as well have been in the celestial homes of the gods as far as she was concerned. Even her actual knowledge of theology was debatable; though certainly a believer she had only a hazy idea of the precepts of faith that sages like Tingngezin had agonised over.

At the time of the conclave the Chief Diviner of Ü-Tsang was the thirty seven year old Tsangma, the Lama of Qoi. Lama Tsangma was a pale shadow of his illustrious predecessor but he was a canny minister and having attended the conclave in Tsaparang he was blunt in his assessment of the Archpriestess: Ösrung had supported the choice of a religious leader who was too virtuous to be accused of personal corruption but who was otherwise unlikely to cause trouble [2].

Nevertheless when he returned to Taktsé Lama Tsangma advised his Gyalpo to adopt the reforms that the conclave had agreed. Even with the unsatisfactory nature of Joma and the irritating prestige afforded to Ösrung, and the irritation felt by many religious conservatives over the Buddhist patina to the conclaves agreed texts the reformation had given the Bön faith a new vigour and organisation. No more would the missionaries from the south be an ever present annoyance as the local priests would know how to handle them. Besides an organised church meant that the monarch could endow grand monasteries, much as the emperors of old had done for the Buddhists.

Palkhorre allowed himself to be persuaded by his Chief Diviner [3]. Perhaps the argument of rich monasteries proved decisive, but the Gyalpo of Ü-Tsang was nothing if not shrewd. It may not have been how Palkhorre would have wished the reformation of Bön to happen but regrets did not negate pragmatism and there was no sense in picking a fight with Ösrung.

Archpriestess Jomo in 911 AD

Lama Tsangma in 911 AD.
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As noted before the final years of Palkhorre would be sad ones, wracked by an ever declining mental state. Still his rank allowed for a level of comfort. As Palkhorre's mind failed and moments of lucidity grew further apart the Gyalpo spent much of his time walking around the grounds of the Royal Gardens. This great enclosed park, a creation of cunningly shaped natural rock and carefully selected trees and flowers provided a place of solace and beauty that might have impressed a Chinese or Persian prince should any such grandee visit Taktsé. From time to time the Gyalpo would be visited by his many younger children, and once in a blue moon his eldest son on state business.

Crown Prince Yumtän encouraged his father's 'spiritual contemplation' in his garden. The ambitious young prince was not much given to sentiment but the splendour of the gardens did provide a dignified way of hiding the fading Palkhorre from the world and the world from Palkhorre. As Regent of Ü-Tsang the Crown Prince Yumtän preferred to rule from the fortress of Gyangzê to the west of Taktsé [4]. It was a decision characteristic of Yumtän, deftly moving the real centre of power away from the Gyalpo while maintaining the illusion of a king as strong in mind and body as he ever was.

It is difficult to overstate the impact Palkhorre's reputation had on foreign courts. A great warrior both in person and as a general his stature was such that many believed it alone had prevented the Chinese emperor from pawing at Ü-Tsang, and Ösrung from turning east (though the ever growing internal problems of Guge suggested this fear was overstated.) As a deterrent the aura of 'Palkhorre the Brute' was worth any number of mountain warriors.

The other side of that coin was that the mere illusion of power tended to leak away and what remained was less a living legend and more an invalid. By 920 many distant observers could at least make a shrewd guess about the lonely figure in Taktsé. Spiritual contemplation had limits and inevitably there was palace gossip. At a certain point in early 920 the Crown Prince decided that, regrettably, his father would have to take the next step in his spiritual contemplation...

Gyalpo Palkhorre dies, 20 January 920 AD.

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Footnotes:

[1] The 'Chief Diviner' was essentially both court chaplain and Minister of Religious Affairs.

[2] This grim view of Jomo's appointment would be confirmed upon her death in 918. Jomo's successor was a male priest by the name of Tsenye well known for his cynicism, greed and gluttony (though not without a certain level of justice.) Though better educated than his predecessor Tsenye possessed scant moral authority, hobbling his leadership from the start.

[3] Tsangma and his successors would from this point on also be known by the title of 'patriarch', signalling their official leadership of the faith in Ü-Tsang.

[4] One of Yumtän's first actions as Regent had been to take over several counties for his direct use of which Gyangzê was the most significant. His younger siblings objected to this obvious attempt to circumnavigate the inheritance issue that would divide up Palkhorre's holdings equally but Yumtän justified it as a necessary measure to keep the Regent in appropriate dignity.

 

[RossN]

This was a difficult chapter to write since I know so little about the real life Bön faith but I also felt the reformation was an important enough event to be worth a chapter focus. This website has been of some help (especially the page about the gods.) I picture this version of Bön as being slightly less Buddhhist influenced than the current, real life faith but still recognisably the same religion.

At any rate I was a little disappointed that the reformation happened without my influence, but still it is an interesting dynamic having the cultural/spiritual high ground seized by my rival!

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darkhaze9: Thank you! Yes it is is an intriguing and surprisingly large region to play in, both different from Europe in many ways and yet mechanically quite familiar.

Specialist290: That is very true and something I'll go into soon. In particular the very aggressive nature of China at this point is making things 'interesting'.

DensleyBlair: Thank you and I am delighted you are enjoying this. As I've said I am very much an amateur when it comes to Tibet so this an education as I go along!

stnylan: Oh yes, that is a very cool thought!

loup99: Welcome! Delighted to have you along!

Nikolai: It was. First time I've been that successful with both carrot and stick actually!

 

[DensleyBlair]

Fascinating look at the reformation of the faith, and as you mention a tricky obstacle having to deal with being suddenly sidelined in the scrap for religious supremacy in Tibet. Yumtan's rule has been set up nicely – he's obviously quite the political player. Looking forward to reading about his reign!

 

[darkhaze9]

Very well written in my opinion, and a good view of the challenges surrounding the Bön faith.

A sad end to a noble king at the end there, but I suppose the Crown Prince could only be so patient...