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After one short-lived and abandoned AAR as the Palaiologos, I am still new to this, and advice and recommendations are welcome. I started as a custom dynasty in place of the Qocharids in the Oghuz beylerbeylik in the 1066 December start. I like to leave destiny open-ended, but the goals are to form and expand a great empire for the Sons of Bahadir, hopefully eventually in Persia but perhaps in the steppes. I will try to make each ruler different in character, to prevent repetition. My house rules are primarily: No cheats, no save-scumming and to play every character as that character, not as a player (mild roleplaying).
Beylerbey Bahadir (1066-1100)
His Greatness Beylerbey Bahadir of Turkestan Lord of Lords, Ruler of Turkestan and of Syr Darya, Lord of the Two Seas, Unifier of the Tribes, Sovereign of Oghuz.
Bahadir, founding father of the House of Bahadir, was both brilliant and terrible. An accomplished warrior, statesman and administrator he succeeded in expanding the Beylik of his own tribe of Oghuz Turks to be larger than those of the Lord of Lords of Turkestan and then used this power against his nominal lord to such effect that the names and blood of his dynasty have now been erased from history. The new Beylik of Turkestan seems not to have been concerned with his slaughter of men and children of royal blood, saying:
"Their veins did not flow with royal blood, but mere fodder; the blood of Oghuz now feeds the grass which feeds my cattle."
Despite his lofty ambitions and great vision of himself, Bahadir new of the great Cuman lords to the north and the mighty Seljuks to the South, and sometime after united the tribes of the Oghuz he accepted the sovereignty of the Sultans of Khiva. Serving as Grand Vizier, Bahadir expanded his lands greatly and fought with great skill against rebels and Cumans alike. Bahadir had become the foremost Lord in Khiva and had become confident enough to take land from Khivan princelings of the royal dynasty. The Sultan was either powerless to act, or refused to do so out of fear of losing his principle weapon of war, the Lord Bahadir.
Under the new balance of power, the Kings of Khiva began to style themselves as Sultans of Turkestan and invaded Cumania in order to try and win glory and lands for the throne, which could offset the growing menace of Bahadir.
The lands of Bahadir at the end of his reign, shown next to the other subjects of the Turkestani Sultan: Oshrusana, Khiva, Chach, Aqtobe and Yaik.
Bahadir began claiming that an angel, bearing a message from the Prophet Mohammad, had come to him in a dream and told him that Bahadir, beloved of Allah, shall inherit all the lands of the earth. As the new Abraham, chosen for the righteousness of his faith, Bahadir began to pursue the blood of the Qarakhanids just as vigorously as he had the blood of Oghuz.
During the Month of Blood, Bahadir is known to be directly behind at least three murders, and a dozen convenient accidental deaths are often attributed to him. As the blood of the Qarakhanids was being thinned, Bahadir readied himself to take the throne and become Sultan but, disgusted by his murder of a three year old infant prince of Khiva, his confederates failed to support his coup. Storming the palace with little more than his personal retainers, Bahadir was captured and imprisoned.
Rotting in the dungeons of the Qarakhanid's new infant Sultan (Bahadir had murdered his father and attempted to kill the son too), Bahadir lived out his final months as a pitiful sights: a megalomaniac, claiming to be 'beloved of God' and the true Sultan, sitting in the dark and the damp and raving like a common madman, plagued by illness and the pox. Bahadir was soon quietly put to death.
The infant Sultan.
The nature of Bahadir's illness is contested by historians, but is widely believed to be some sort of venereal disease, and may have contributed to the visions and madness of his later life. Bahadir was infamous for his love of women, having four wives and four lovers. His second son Aydin also shared this love, and according to many sources from the time, even shared one of the women. Bahadir's imported Greek wife, Anna, was a lover of Aydin and is believed to have borne him two children. The two children were officially treated as children of Anna and her husband, Bahadir, to avoid dishonour. For this reason, Aydin was not allowed in Bahadir's court for many years before his death.
Aydin, who made his father a cuckold.
Bahadir's lands passed to his first son, Baybars. Baybars, acknowledging the greatness of his still-popular father, promised to be a 'servant of the light' and not a 'master of shadows' as his father had become. Baybars claimed that his father was eventually devoured by the darkness he thought he had mastered, and that in order to be a leader of the faithful warriors in his service, and to claim his rightful throne, he must act in accordance with Futuwwa (spiritual chivalry: literally 'young manliness') and with the righteousness for which he had been rewarded in his youth. The young Islamic knight, Baybars, finally able to pursue his own ambitions, had not abandoned his father's goals, but had distanced himself from his means.
His Greatness Beylerbey Baybars of Turkestan Lord of Lords, Ruler of Turkestan, Zhetysu and of Syr Darya, Lord of the Two Seas, Sovereign of the House of Bahadir, Loyal Steward of Sultan Alkan.
The rule of Baybars was marked by almost incessant conflict against pagans to the north and east, or expanding Bahadirid influence in the Sultanate of Turkestan. His unceasing bravery and apparent devotion to Jihad against the Tengriists made him much loved among his followers, but the mostly pagan vassals of his rich realm are known to have rebelled en masse on three separate occasions.
Baybars began his rule by travelling to Mecca on Hajj, suffering a wound battling bandits en route (this would become something of a family tradition).
Upon his return, he battled the Karlaks in the east in a Holy War which expanded his realm into Karluk and Chuy.
Baybars had many more problems handling his expanding family than did his father. Both his wife-stealing brother Aydin and his young brother Bayezid would become decadent and bring dishonour on the House of Bahadir through their gluttony, idleness and whoring. While most would be lucky enough to acquiesce to living more holy lives under the control of Baybars, the unfortunate Bayezid refused to accept the surrender of his independence and life of haram, and met with an unfortunate accident. At the time, and to this day, it is widely accepted that Baybars was the instigator of this accident.
In early 1107, a great Cuman invasion force was launched by the Khan of Cumania against the Turkestani Sultan Alkan. Their goal was no less than the complete conquest of Turkestan. There was much desolation and many Bahadirid holdings were captured.
Baybars gathered all the men from his unoccupied holding and rallying them with promises of glory and conquest, he launched his counter-attack and marched to relieve the defenders of Syr Darya. The battle that ensued would see 3,000 dead on the side of the Bahadirids, but a slaughter of twice as many on the side of Cumans.
The Battle of Syganak was decisive and turned the tide against the Cumans. The Son of Bahadir, Baybars, had become the saviour of Turkestan in an instant. The very next day he had begun plans for his grand campaign into Cumania, determined to put an end to the constant Cuman incursions, once and for all. Invoking Jihad, he assembled a mighty army and headed north. Thousands died in the ranks of the outmatched Cuman armies sent to stop him, and much land was captured. Baybars gained a reputation for fierce bravery and was much respected by his fellow Muslims for his piety and devotion to God.
The lands captured by Baybars in his Great Northern War would not be maintained. All were abandoned when the pious Baybars accepted the submission to God by Khan Tolun of Cumania. Tolun met with Baybars, accompanied by his council and household, and, dressed in pure white, recited Shahada before the court of Baybars and many witnesses. Having converted to Sunni Islam, Tolun had convinced Baybars both that he had served God well in his war, bringing his word to the dark pagan land of Cumania, and that he had put an end to the incessant pagan raids and invasions that had come from the north.
Having brought the one true faith to the vast pagan lands of Cumania, and having vastly expanded the power of the Bahadirids, Baybars can be considered to have surpassed the glory of his father, despite ruling for less than two decades. Even the greatest of Bahadir's supporters have to admit that Baybars peaceful natural death was certainly better than Bahadir's ignominious death in a cage.
Baybars was succeeded by his eldest son, Bahadir, who would become Bahadir II of the House of Bahadir. He was a decent leader and statesman, and knew much of strategy, but was known for shying away from direct conflict. Often accused of personal cowardice, Bahadir II was certainly a break from the previous two proud warlords and proficient warriors. A leader, but not a fighter, Bahadir was nevertheless a capable and promising Beylerbey.
The French Inheritance Through a strange twist of fortune, the lands of Novgorod were inherited by the King of France.
The Reconquista The Kingdom of Castile has united most of Christian Iberia, and pushed the Muslims south.
The First Crusade During the reign of Bahadir, a Christian Crusade successfully captured Jerusalem. After one failed Jihad, the Shia Fatimids succeed in recapturing the Holy Land in the name of Allah. The Christians were expelled from the Levant during the reign of Baybars.
Beylerbey Bahadir II of Turkestan (1119-1138) [Part I of II]
His Greatness Bahadir II of the House of Bahadir Lord of Lords, Ruler of Turkestan, Zhetysu, Yaik and of Syr Darya, Lord of the Two Seas, Sovereign of the House of Bahadir.
Beylerbey Bahadir II was slow to take up arms, instead reflecting and writing poetry and beautifying the Bahadirid Court along Persian lines, adopting an official Court Poet and Architect and commissioning the construction of two grand mosques within his lands. Bahadir II would spend his first years prolifically penning poems on subjects as varied as love, war, God and horses; he became quite a poet.
But the life civil, and some say feminised, court life of Bahadir the second would be broken by two events. Firstly, by a time of simplicity and quiet accompanying his Hajj to Mecca (en route to which he was wounded by bandits, as had his father) and then by the abrupt intrusion of faction and conspiracy. A jealous Bey in Samarkand had secured wide support for a bid to break apart the lands of the Bahadirids, whom he believed had become too powerful. Backed even by the Sultan, Bey Karqobad of Samarkand demanded that Bahadir II surrender the Beylerbeylik of Zhetysu and, when Bahadir II refused, gathered an army to take it by force.
The jealous Bey of Samarkand.
The war was short and decisive, with the impatient warriors of Bahadir II eager to spill the first blood of his reign, and a battle was won at Suyab. Karqobad was imprisoned by Bahadir II and sat in his dungeons until Ramadan, when he was released as an act of mercy.
Such mercy was not shown, however, to Bey Timurtas of Chach, the bastard half-brother of Bahadir II. Timurtas had joined the conspiracy against his half-brother and had been imprisoned for this dishonor. Timurtas did not have the strength or the stomach to survive in the darkest cells of Bahadir II's dungeons, alone and forgotten, and died within a month.
The ill-fated ill-born brother.
Family troubles abounded during this phase of the reign of Bahadir II, and his own second-born son, Bahadir Bahadiroglu, laid claim to his throne and began plotting to kill his father. Bahadir Bahadiroglu was seized in the night by the personal cavalry retinue of the Beylerbey and was left in prison to rot. He would never be released.
Bahadir Bahadiroglu, the boy who sought to be Beylerbey.
The principal accomplishment of Bahadir II was not his poetry, or his ruthless dealings with his kin, but for the mark he left on the political standing of the Bahadirids. Although he himself would never take the title, it was through his actions that his own son could be crowned as Sultan within weeks of his accession to the lands of his inheritance. In February 1132, Bahadir II let it be known that he no longer bent his knee to Sultan Alkan of Khiva, and would rule the lands of Turkestan in his own name. Alkan refused to let this slight go unchallenged, and a full scale war of the steppes ensued.
To anyone following this: Is the gameplay-led narrative approach working for you or would you be interested in me 'spicing it up' by changing the style.
I was thinking of experimenting with writing the AAR as a series of grand proclamations by the reigning Sultan. This would obviously be highly propagandizing but the truth will be hinted at by including game screenshots of seditious letters. In the event of a civil war (which I hope will happen sooner or later) the proclamations of the new king may try to discredit the old.
Regardless, part II of Bahadir II's reign will be coming out mid-week.
I was thinking of experimenting with writing the AAR as a series of grand proclamations by the reigning Sultan. This would obviously be highly propagandizing but the truth will be hinted at by including game screenshots of seditious letters. In the event of a civil war (which I hope will happen sooner or later) the proclamations of the new king may try to discredit the old.
Beylerbey Bahadir II of Turkestan (1119-1138) [Part II of II]
His Greatness Bahadir II of the House of Bahadir Lord of Lords, Rightful Ruler of Turkestan, Lord of Zhetysu, Yaik and of Syr Darya, Lord of the Two Seas, Sovereign of the House of Bahadir.
Bahadir II, Lord of Lords, was ready for the war; Sultan Alkan was not. The war was swift and deadly.
The independent Bahadirid Beylerbeylik was now mightier than the realm of its former Khivan masters. Bahadir II became hailed as the Great from this time onwards, but would not in his lifetime find the time to be crowned Sultan, as would be the ambition for the rest of his life.
The Beylerbeylik of the Bahadirids, at its inception.
The new Beylerbeylik was beset by intrigue and assaults by claimants to the newly aggrandised throne. A man named Tajaddin assembled a mighty host and won several victories against the Bahadirid warbands.
Bahadir II was mad with fury that anyone could contest his rightful god-granted claim to the lands he controlled, and even more furious that the upstart could gather so many young men into his pack of vultures. Fortunately, the swift war with Sultan Alkan of Khiva had left the warchest prepared for the occasion almost unscathed. The money not needed for Alkan's defeat was spent on augmenting the Bahadirid loyalists with bands of travelling mercenary warriors. Dividing Tajaddin's host and crushing each segment in turn allowed Bahadir II to win two decisive victories at Aqtaw and Akkube, followed by the mopping up of surviving troops and the capture of Tajaddin. Tajaddin was executed for his crimes.
Now that the realm was finally stabilised, Bahadir II began preparations for his elevation to Sultan, which he hoped to accompany with a tournament of Furussiya to test the courage and piety of his finest lords. This dream would remain a dream, however, and never breech its way into the world of reality: Caught dreaming by highwaymen, accompanied only by a small and unreliable guard, Bahadir II was ambushed and slaughtered. Although such a great act of dishonour warranted bloody revenge, the truth was never revealed and Bahadir is said to haunt the steppes near Mangyshlak, seeking his killers and groaning to be avenged, unable to ascend to heaven until the blood debt has been repaid. Of course, it is widely mused that such ridiculous ghost stories would not have existed if Bahadir II had spent more time with real warriors and lest time (and money) on poets and bards.
The Polish Inheritance Through the good fortune of Venus, Poland have inherited rich tracts of land in north and central Italy. Lombardy has also gained independence from Imperial control, and Pisa have a considerable foothold in Naples.
The East The Fatimids have established control over much of east Africa, and the Zirids are doing well in North Africa and Sicily. The Seljuk Sultanate was overthrown by the Izajid in a decadence revolt.
The West Castile stays strong Rus and Ruthenia continue to merge and split every generation, France and Aquitaine seem to have permanently split, Croatia has expanded considerably across the Danube and now seems to consist of a powerful Byzantine buffer state. England lost most of the Holy Land, but a King of Jerusalem still rules Cornwall and Wessex, paying no homage to the Kings of England.
