The Revived Kingdom of Judah - A Duchy of Khazars AAR

[Rollofthedice]

Welp, here goes: My first time writing an AAR. I had previously wanted to write about the Principality of Cherson, but that fell through the water after rereading Sylon's excellent, but sadly on hiatus, AAR of the Duchy of Khazars. Just to get this out of the way, THIS WILL NOT BE A HUMOROUS AAR. In fact, this will be presented in a factual and faux-historical account of the rise of the Duchy of Khazars into my own creation, the New Kingdom of Judah.

The first few updates will be a bit scant on pictures, as I decided to write this AAR after I'd played for about an hour or so. Afterwards, I might either increase the picture count or be lazy and just use them sparingly. I'm not too sure on the details, yet. Also, this first chapter (or summary, if you will) primarily uses Wikipedia for it's facts, up until the last paragraph or so - So don't be surprised if anything sounds familiar.

Constructive criticism is very much appreciated, whether it's to reduce the image size, to fix typos, or to suggest improvements to my writing in general.

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Prologue - Judah's Predecessors

For most of history, worshippers of Judaism have suffered widespread prosecution - from Roman revolts to the Holocaust. Yet, in the almost chronological center of the oppression stood one of the most successful religious kingdoms in Eastern Europe - and the only Judahn kingdom to survive in both the Middle Ages and the modern times afterward.

Most great stories begin with humble origins, however, and this was no exception. The predecessors to the Judean kingdom were the Khazars, a group of semi-nomadic Turks who managed to control a large area consisting of modern-day southwestern Russia, Georgia, and various other nearby lands, and lasted from the 6th to 11th century.

At first, they practiced various pagan beliefs (Mainly Tengriism [a mix of pagan faiths] and more generally, Shamanism), but sometime during the middle to late 9th century AD, they converted to Judaism. Historians are generally confused over the extent of the conversion - a tenth century Persian historian (Ibn al-Faqih, to be specific) reported that "All the Khazars are Jews." Despite this, some historians maintain that only the upper classes of the Khazar empire converted to Judaism, as this has been attested to in some Muslim texts from the time period.

Some researchers studying the time period maintain that the conversion may have been partly due to political reasons; the Khazars were hemmed in between Christians and Muslims, and despite the historical anti-semitism from many Christian and Islamic countries, the religions themselves gave respect to the Jews as the forebearers of their faith. Thusly, the change of beliefs by the Khazars may have been to cool relations among other leaders wary of pagan influence. Despite this, a bevy of other faiths were still widely practiced in the realm, from Greek Orthodoxy to Muslims to Zoroastrians.

Later in the Khazar Empire's time span, however, interference from the Kievan Rus eventually broke the empire, along with the Cumans (The western tribes of the Kipchaks) In fact, the Rus, in their wars with Khazaria, decimated the capital city of Atil (or Itil, depending on the form used) several times. The last recorded instance of the sacking of the city was in the middle eleventh century, which is where the true history of the New Kingdom of Judah begins. With the dissolution of the Khazar Empire, and the arrival of pagan tribes that took over a large amount of Russia, the Kieven Rus did not have the reach to take Atil itself.

Siezing the opportunity, the Jewish population declared independence and declared a man called Isaac the duke of the city and it's immediate area. Little is known of Isaac's life before this moment, as later contemporary chroniclers only describe his rule - with the exception of a few unremarkable Jew historians, who seem to have blown his early life out of reality and into mythic proportions. The only facts accepted by most accounts is that he was born in 1039 and had a successful ecclesiastical education; no reliable evidence is given about his parents or bloodline. Thus, most modern historians refer to him as 'Isaac of Atil,' or less commonly, 'Isaac I.'

(Note: Is the image resolution alright? I'm a bit of a pedant, so anyone tell me if it's too large or small. The next update has larger images, so tell me which format is best.)

 

[Rollofthedice]

Chapter Two - The Early Beginnings

The beginning of Isaac's rule - in fact, all of his rule - was tenuous, to say the least.

Sandwiched between the powerful Cuman Kipchaks to the north and northwest, the Caspian Sea and Muslim lands to the east and southeast, and Christian Orthodox kingdoms and pricipalities to the south and southwest, the independent Duchy of Khazars had no reliable friends to call upon. They forged a tentative alliance with the pagan Tribe of Kasogs and Muslim Emirate of Volga Bulgaria, but those fell apart quickly enough.

Luckily, however, Isaac was a resourceful and cunning man. The Duchy of Alania (which were mainly pagan territories, but ruled by Orthodox rulers) had recently declared war on the Emirate of Azerbaijan, a landlocked Muslim country north of the Seljuks and south of Suenik. While the Alanian forces were attempting (and later succeeded) to take both of the emirate's provinces, Isaac declared war on the Duchy of Alania. He managed to both take the county of Kuma under his control and arrange a monetary payment to be sent to him in exchange for peace.

However, Alania's new lands in Azerbaijan substantially increased his military power, and further conflict with them would be risky. After a few months, Isaac instead resolved to take the lands of the eastern Emirate of Turkmens (seen in brown). After a very expensive military campaign that put the duchy in debt for about a year afterwards, he managed to enlarge his duchy by taking the county of Usturt, the Emirate's previous capital.


Before this factual essay expounds upon Isaac's later years reigning, I feel the need to address the common conception that Isaac's grabs were motivated by pure agression. While this may have possibly been the case, understand that the Duchy of Atil was in an incredibly precarious position. To possibly stand a chance between any of the nearby powers, the duchy needed both men to combat aggressors and money to bribe off powers larger than itself (the Cuman Kipchaks especially).

In fact, by all accounts, Isaac was generally a generous, merciful and pious man. To punctuate this, during the conquest of Usturt, he even announced celibacy! This pious move had a degree of risk in terms of who would succeed the duchy after his death. However, he had already sired a son, Dogukan, (and two daughters, one of which died of sickness at a young age)and so as long as his heir survived, his bloodline would be safe. This move, coupled with his giving of alms in times of need, cemented his status as a pious and prestigious ruler.

Close to a year after the conquest of Usturt (and, conveniently, just a bit after the Duchy's debts had cleared), the Duchy of Alania was attacked by the Emirate of Derbent. Siezing another opportunity, Isaac declared war on the Counties of Manych and Yegorlyk, vassals of Alania. Thusly, Alania was forced to intervene when their lands were once again in Muslim territory, and Isaac managed to vassalize the rest of the Duchy's liegemen's lands, and take the capital city of Alania itself. With the Cumans joining the fray on Atil's side, and the Duchy's possessions in Azerbaijan quickly being besieged, Isaac managed to gain Alania before the entire country was dissolved by the Muslim Turks. Due to his rapidly expanding personal demesne, Issac gave the county of Usturt to a Castilian and Jewish noble, known as Sheshet Beneviste, who had recently immigrated to Atil. This is of direct historical importance, for this man wrote many of contemporary historical accounts of Isaac, and most modern-day historians find his information to be plausible and accurate. Unfortunately, he died of old age only a few months after being granted his county, and a relative of his both took up leadership of the area and continued his stepbrother's work.