State of the World 997:
The Purgyal male line in Tibet died out in 954 and the throne passed to the last ruler’s brother-in-law, the Duke of Purang. Who in turn left the toddler Pungse as heir. Lunatic Thothori ‘the Cruel’ seized the throne in 985. On his father’s side he was the mere great-grandson of a duke. On his mother’s side he was grandson of Dringma ‘the Tenacious’ herself. He can raise 4k and is facing two revolts 3X that size each, a tyranny one and to reinstate the now-adult Pungse. Tibet has stopped growing, rather incessant revolts in recent decades. Saminids are well past peak. Slowly eaten by the Caliphate. Khorasan branch fell apart under Azarmidokht’s son by 935. Aram can raise 5k men exclusive of mercenaries. Seljuk has 12k levies plus 30k event troops. He hasn’t done that much over the past 22 years, but there is a very ticking time bomb feeling to being a neighbor. Also, yep, Seljuk has decided to go into seclusion and has the trait celibate so heirs are unlikely. But a vassal will inherit.
The Tegin have largely reunified the Kirghiz lands, but are a shell, being able to raise just 4k men. Cumania has grown under the Polovtsy dynasty who have ruled since 957. But Tolun ‘the Scourge of Ukko’ decided to convert to Manicheanism and now his Tengri vassals want independence. He and they both can raise 4k men. Tyrach ‘the Evil’ has expanded his territory (one of many successors to the great Pecheneg buffer state) into Cuman lands and can raise 2.5k men. He picked up Islam in the Caliphate’s guard.
Krishna Rashtrakuta founded the Deccan Empire in 918 before dying childless 8 years later. It passed to the Talakad Ganga, a very old southern dynasty. They secured the southern tip of India and for a time had the Pratihara and Orissans as tributaries. It then passed to the Nolamba who already strongly dominated the realm. Before Krishna they were just southern Dukes. But Praudharaya ‘the Shadow’, a third son, was very close to Krishna and was given vast lands on the Deccan Plateau which he further expanded, becoming a 6-fold Duke. His sons inherited the Kingdoms of Maharastra and Telingana when Krishna died. His nephew, a northern count, inherited Malwa and from his line springs the current emperor.
The Bhaumakara of Orissa unified the other Orissan realms and conquered Pala Bengal in 978. The current ruler is an idiot lunatic, not that that seems to have been a problem yet. The Pratihara lands were united under the current ruler’s father who crowned himself emperor in 970. They haven’t really expanded since conquering Bihar from the Pala in 939. Vijayasakti is facing a gavelkind revolt. Nepal liberated itself from Tibet in 958 and then had three rulers without heirs.
In 918, the Abbasid Caliph was forced to step down in favor of his 9-year-old son Sami ‘the Frog’. Who was then overthrown and replaced with a Hashimid in 920. Sami would die in a dungeon 42 years later. Arabia was lost in 923 to a Shia pretender revolt. However, he had no heirs, so the Shia Caliphate passed to Abdul ‘the Sword of the Greatest’ who launched a successful Jihad for Anatolia. However, that was the Shia peak. Arabia was gradually reclaimed by the Sunnis and Anatolia by the Byzantines. Shia moral authority is 29 despite controlling Mecca and Medina. Sunni moral authority is 100. There are also a sad lack of Muslim heresies, so Sunnis look on track to be not so much the main as the only sect of Islam.
Hashimids only lasted until 932 when Mansur ‘the Sword of the Greatest’, a bastard son of a Sunni Fatimid, seized power. His grandson Husam has ruled for over 30 years, launching a successful Jihad against the Byzantines in 978 for Anatolia and 993 for Trebizond. Slow expansion in Greater Iran continued. There are 3 vassal kingdoms. The Hamdanids in Al Jazira, the Dulafids in Persia. Then the al-Sharabi of Daylam. They have been the most powerful vassal for a hundred years straight, now controlling southern Anatolia, the Caucuses, and vast lands south and east of the Caspian.
The Tulunids have consolidated their grip on Nubia and Ethiopia and otherwise not done too much. However, the seeming stability doesn’t mean it is fun to be a Tulunid. Of the last 10 rulers, 5 have died violent deaths and 1 was forced to abdicate.
The Mezwarids gradually occupied much of southern Italy thanks to Byzantine weakness. But their last ruler was murdered in 994 and the kingdoms went their own way. The Antalasids, Dukes of Jerid, gained Africa and can raise 14k men. In Sicily the Abakadids rule and can raise perhaps 7k men. Abakad was a court physician of unknown parentage made good, made ruler of Capua and married to a Tulunid princess.
Least, but most interesting, is the di Logudoro of Sardinia. If that doesn’t sound very Arabic, you are right. The original di Logudoro became Count of Torres in 855. His son Gregoriu ‘the Tenachious’ inherited the Duchy of Sardinia in 904. Despite his nickname he was conquered by the Mezwarids. His son Andria ‘the Cruel’ was stripped of all his lands except Cagliari in 916. He converted to Islam and was granted them all back in 940. His son Iginu took it one step further, becoming culturally Berber. His grandson Akaday ‘the Just’ inherited the Kingdom of Sardinia and also became the first one without the trait ‘Sympathy for Christian Religions’. He fought the Antalasids, lost, died in their dungeon. His 2-year-old son reigns and can raise 5k men.
The Umayyads apparently took my mention of their slow growth last update as a taunt. The conquest of Asturias took from 925-944. The conquest of Aquitaine started with Gascogne in 901 and ended with Bourbon in 979. They have been ruled by Abdul-Qadir ‘the Lionheart’ since 957. Morrocco, by contrast came in one go in 959, reducing the Ukhaidhirids to mere vassal Dukes of Gascogne again. Abdul-Qadir celebrated eliminating Aquitaine by invading and conquering France the next year. He celebrated *that* by settling Tours with Bedouins (only Bedouin county in Umayyad Europe!). I’m sure Charles Martel is rolling in his grave.
The Byzantines might be doing unusually bad, but internal politics haven’t been unusually unstable. Phokas ‘the Frog’ ruled for 40 years. Then the Kentrokoukouros of Abydos inherited in 944. Adrianos ‘the Great’ ruled from 960-83 but was misnamed. Sure he was smart. Sure he reconquered parts of Anatolia from the Shia. But then he lost all that to Husam ‘the Sword of Allah’ in 979 and 3/4 sons died in Husam’s dungeon. Then he got overthrown by his younger sister. The Despot of Trebizond inherited after she died. But he lost his power base to Husam in 993. He was doomed then, but it is interesting *who* exploited that. The Serbian Dukes of Epirus conquered Crete (874), Jerusalem (943), and Cyprus (984). Ratomir ‘the Lion’ was the first to be culturally Greek thanks to his mother, Phokas ‘the Frog’s daughter. None of Phokas’s sons left heirs, so Ratomir inherited vast Byzantine lands in 950 at the age of 13. He inherited his father’s lands in 960. In 984 he became King of Greece. In 996 he seized the Empire.
Bulgaria has just chilled out. Iskra ‘the Blessed’ was the last Balgarsko ruler. She ruled for 39 years before her son Athel inherited. He however is an Adoptionist heretic.
In Mali, the Gurma still rule. They have though conquered the Kel Wei and Hausaland. Similarly in Ghana the Niakhate still rule and have slightly expanded. Bornu has also expanded. Hume Buluid inherited Bornu in 943 after his wife murdered the last ruler of the Sao dynesty. Wadai was conquered by a pagan from Nubia, before a peasant revolt overthrew them establishing the Kobbai.
The Holy Roman Empire has changed dynesties every ruler. Except for 912 and 964 they have been peaceful transfers. Gotthard is from a junior branch of the von Holstein dynesty of Franconia. The senior branch ruled the HRE from 943-9. The Kings of Romagna conquered Paris and Picardy, but otherwise no expansion. Bavaria has slightly expanded. The last Karling queen died in 958 and the throne passed to her son with a Norse descendent through an illegitimate line from the Ynglings.
Hungary was inherited by Bulgaria in 924 (for some reason CKII’s way of handling lack of heirs *loves* unifying Hungary & Bulgaria in the earlier start dates), before going its separate way in 955 when the Bulgarsko died out. They are ruled by a descendent of the Counts of Bac and the Tsar of Ryn is trying to subjegate them. Galich, Masovia, Red Ruthenia, and Prussia used to be part of the unified kingdom, but are now independent Bulgarian Orthodox realms. Croatia was inherited by Bosnia in 944. That is about it for Christian realms, the rest are tiny and mostly heretic.
The Jarls of York became Kings of England in 945 and Emperors of Brittania in 969. In recent decades they conquered Brittany. The Hvitserk still rule. In Scandinaia, Jarl Bagsecg ‘the Priest-Hater’ of Jylland converted to Islam. He died without heirs so it passed to his Bedouin court physician Akin. The Yngling dynasty is flourishing, they rule Viken, Oppland, and since 958 and most important, Westrogothia, which can raise 12k men.
Lapland was formed by a Sami in 975, then subjugated by Courland who had been expanding into Scandinavia since 954. The last of the von Rohrbach was murdered in 987 at the age of 8 and the crown passed to a Lithuanian courtier.
Slavdom is still overwhelmingly pagan. Meissen has been ruled by the same dynasty since 894. Most of the Western Slavs realms though are now Christian-ruled, but the peasants are still pagan. Pskov formed when the Count of Izbork married the Duchess of Yatvingia. His son, Svetovar II, then expanded the unified realm, became Duke of Latgale in 968, of Lithuania in 973, and Pskov in 985. His cousin now rules. Novgorod was conquered from the Rurikids in 973 and is now trying to subjugate Veps. There are myrid small Russian Slavic realms. Tsar Gleb ‘the Young’ was from the rulers of Moldavia since 840, but had a Khazar mother. He pressed his claim on a Khazar breakaway state, becoming an emperor. He is a Khazar vassel and is trying to subjugate Hungary.
In 937, Samatu of Kargopol subjugated Mari. His son become King of Nenetsia and his son, imaginatively named Samatu, rules today. Komi was united in 972. Perm has largely been hanging out with peaceful transfers of power.
The Khazars had rulers die without heirs in 947 and 950, which resulted in them falling apart. However, then they rebounded. The Khazar Khaganate can raise 12k men including tributaries. Their largest breakaway, the Baghid, can now raise 7k, all nomads.
