The Sultan of all Sand Castles - History of Khorasan

In 1536 a young but very talented young officer named Fahd Karawi was brought to my office. He had some great ideas how to improve our armies and I appointed him as the military advisor of Great Khorasan Empire. He soon introduced gunpowder using cannons for our army.




Our cartographers once again found some deficits from our maps and told me that it might be possible for us to claim some land from the Mamluks. I declined... what would I do with more sand?

In 1538 the leadership was once again passed forward. This time to Abû Sa'îd IV, who would later become a national hero of the Islamic Federation.



The first years of Abû Sa'îd IV were wasted in chasing revolutionaries around Persia, Georgia, Eastern Anatolia and Arabia. In 1541 the area of Al Hasa saw their opportunity to ask for greater autonomy. We had no chance but to accept.




We might be able to demand for their annexation later on if required. There's only tons of sand anyways.

Same year we attacked the kingdom of Rajputana, who used to be the most influental power in northwestern India, demanding their annexation. The weak were starting to disappear from world map.

Next year huge war broke out in Europe. It started of Austria attacking the still independent Hungary. Venice, Papal States and a small theocracy of Utrecht joined the war on Hungary's side. The war lasted for couple of years until Venice had to give up and cede Friuli, Istria and half of Switzerland. Hungary was vassalised by the Habsburgs.
We don't see this as a good thing. Venice had provided us great help in the wars against the Russian Alliance, we can only hope they didn't get weakened too much.



In 1542 Fahid fully reformed our armies, introducing infantry equipped with the well developed Shamshir swords. He also developed our Cavalry using the Sphai cabalry of Ottoman Empire as example. Our cannons were now being produced after European patterns.

Swahili did declared war on Ethiopia and did an amazing job, reducing Ethiopia into a mere shadow of what they used to be. They also entered to Arabia and soon allied with us. We had long history of Royal Marriages before.



Ming, Manchu and Japan together with Korea have been and are probably still in a long war with the Indian nations. The only thing I need now is a superior Ming bordering me in the East...

I managed to convert Khurasan, Astrakhan and Georgia to Shia and I plan to keep on doing so until all of GKE is fully converted.


Then the most important thing: I laid claim on Thrace with Fabricate claims and declared war to the Ottoman Empire, which couldn't do much thanks to Austria. I also bettered my relations with Austria and managed to give them military access. I hope this will keep them off my lands as long as necessary.

We conquered most of Anatolia and demanded Bulgaria's independence. We except to get them annexed before our core expires after 50 years.

As you can see we have hired some more talented men to our court. Another army man named Zaid Quli to help Karawi in reforming our armies and a quality diplomat called Badî al-Zamân Bali, to whose hands we trust our relations to foreign nations and how they see us in their eyes.​

We started building workshops in those few provinces of ours which were fully considered as part of our state but which didn't have one yet. We also fortified Khurasan, our capital, and our Crimean holdings.
Couple of more provinces were successfully converted, the Greek Orthodox of Trebizon included. The Shia domination of the Earth has started.

We found out that Ethiopians had tried to murder one of my assistants. This was a great chance to help our new Swahili friends to fully take over East Africa. We declare a war.



We haven't even reached Arabia with our men when Swahili already peaces out with the Ethiopians.



Such a bad peace, they could have had it all. Fine, we won't give them any more free wars. Instead we'll help the Ethiopians. We hand over the Yemeni lands they have conquered in a peace. Surprisingly they decline the first offer, but smart as they are at least they accept the second time we offer it with exactly same terms!



Just days after that we received a message from the far island kingdom of Brunei that they would gladly form an alliance with us. Of course they would, we're the most powerful thing they know west of China. We accept it as relatively powerful ally in the east could provide useful. We're sure this'll be a fruitful friendship!



Yeah that started nicely...
In fact, we cannot even see their main island so let's just forget them for now.

The long long war in the east is over. The Ming alliance made a white peace with Vijayanagar and Orissa, but stubborn Bihar kept fighting to the last man. In the end, they had give up half of Tibet. Ming is getting closer to India.

Moment before the peace, the last Muslim states in India, Sind and Gujarat, attacked Bihar. Abandoned by their allies and having all their armies in the east, the Muslims quickly took over most of Bihar. This must've been one of the reasons why Bihar decided it's better to give up Tibet.



But Ming's luck and expansion won't end there. They inherit Japan and the east gets even more unified. This could lead into a big and bad troubles for us once they realise our existance.