I missed the first couple days of this, but I'm glad to be reading now!
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Horsemen of the Light (CKII+ Uyghur AAR)
- Thread starter RedTemplar
- Start date
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How did I not catch this sooner? I didn't expect you to get so far in a couple of days but you seem to be off to a solid start. Good luck on conquering the steppes! Can you convert to Zun or at least prevent it from dying out just for fun?
I had a very uneventful weekend
Ad for conversions... I'm going to try to just play that realistically as the world pans out!
Well, I'm glad I didn't decide to play as the Magyar guy... Or else the AAR would be over already
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Yeah, I've noticed in the 769 games I play they usually get destroyed rather quickly. They have event troops in TOG start so it is a rarer occurrence there.
Also, this made me get CK2+. I like a lot of the features. You could have played as a Celtic Pagan Count on the Faroe Islands. I'll have to get HIP and compare the two mods.
Let me know what you think of HIP! I see some things to like -- mostly that there are apparently a LOT more provinces on the map, which means more to conquer, and harder to blob.. But it also seems like it cuts off a portion of the eastern map, which I'm not sure about. My Uyghurs might not even exist in HIP! Though if they cut off India, I wouldn't hate that...
I'd be very interested to see how CK2+ compares to HIP, and I'll probably install it at some point to mess around a little. I can say, though, that I really enjoy the things that CKII+ has added to the game. Like right now, all of Christianity is a single "Chalcedonian" faith -- the Great Schism happens dynamically, instead of the very ahistorical Catholic v. Orthodox split that shouldn't happen in the first two bookmarks. Plus, the added flavor for so many religions that are otherwise featureless (like my Manichee guys here) is a welcome change. I haven't hit the point yet, but apparently CKII+ also added some extra teeth to rebellions... But I really want rebels to be stronger and large realms to be less stable anywho.
I was playing CK2+ a little as a vassal of Charlemagne and was able to grab enough to form the Titular Kingdom of Franconia. (There is a Titular Kingdom for most states. Ones I looked for in the title locator were Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kingdom of Austria, and kingdom of Morocco.) Somehow Jerusalem ended up forming and being Levantine Chalcedon and with having enough Patriarchs Charles used his authority to make the Pope the Patriarch Supreme and stopped the schism before it started. The faction mechanics are also rather interesting.
Plus, CK2+ has more bookmarks available including one in Dec of the year 1000.
Blood on the Steppes
781 - 795 AD
Assessing the Clan's Strength
As a new decade began, Kutan and his Reyhangul clan were in a position of strength within the Uyghur Khaganate. He had successfully taken Beshbalik from his hated rival, Kozel of the Akhun Clan, and made a substantial demonstration of his strength in doing so. The tribal lands of Aj Bogd were successfully converted to Manichaeism and absorbed into the clan in 780, and the rise of the Borcid Clan meant that there were now four clans, rather than three, vying for power in the Khaganate. Kutan was married with three concubines, one of which -- the blinded Umay -- was Kozel's concubine until she was abducted during a raid and taken by Kutan.
The only thing Kutan was lacking was an abundance of sons. His first child was born a male, named Buqa, but even with a wife and three concubines, Kutan had not produced another son since. His eldest two daughters died of sickness at the ages of 3 and 6 years, and three young ones yet survived. Buqa showed promise as an heir, but if anything were to happen to him, the succession of the clan would be in danger. As such, Kutan guarded Buqa jealously, ensuring that he stayed with a bodyguard at all times in the capital at Balikun.
The Kirghiz Invasion of Tobol and the Akhun Feud
The Kirghiz were tributaries of the Uyghur, but they were expanding rapidly thanks to the aggressive invasions of Khagan Seitek the Holy, a devout Manichee and leader of the Tiele Clan. In an effort to continue the expansion of his territory, Seitek declared an invasion of the neighboring Tobol Khaganate, and called on Tengri Bogu for his aid. Ready to assist his Khagan and their allies, Kutan committed his horsemen to the attack, quickly riding into Kirghiz territory and breaking a siege of Tobol warriors. He and Tengri Bogu began to assault and occupy the local tribal villages, while Kirghiz forces under Seitek's leadership engaged the remaining Tobol armies to their north. As was common for many nomadic conflicts in the early Medieval period, the hostilities ended rather quickly after a series of small but decisive field battles, and the Kirghiz claimed victory with the aid of their suzerain.
But while the Reyhangul and Yaghlakar were out facing the Tobol Khaganate aboard, Khan Kozel's Akhun Clan turned its raiders against Tsagaannuur once again, razing several reas of the settlement and pillaging from Kutan's treasury. With the main force of Reyhangul warriors far to the west at the conclusion of the war, Kozel's men were able to raid unhindered for several months. Only after a long and rushed journey did Kutan and Ozmish arrive back home to face the Akhun in battle, killing their 750-man raiding party down to the last. This offense renewed the heated rivalry between the two clans, and Kutan resolved to strike an even more decisive blow against the Akhun.
Breaking his army up into two smaller forces, Kutan sent his men to raid every last territory under Akhun dominion. A larger force of 500 riders would overtake the defenses of the Akhun settlements, and then move on to the next fortification while a smaller group of 250 mounted fighters collected the remaining plunder. Kozel's army was depleted and unable to respond, and over a two-year period the Reyhangul looted nearly 100 gold coins worth of resources. Midway through the raid, however, something far more valuable was lost.
When Ozmish of Naiman led the main battle force to attack Urzhar in 785, Kozel's family was caught in the middle of the raid. In a single day, on September 13, six of Kozel's seven children and his only brother were slain by Ozmish's men. Only one daughter managed to escape with her life and go into hiding. Kozel's eldest son had died from illness at the age of 11, and the slaughter at Urzhar meant that he no longer had any males left to inherit his clan. Were he to die, his family lands would be returned to the Khagan and the Akhun would cease to exist. Kutan attempted to accelerate this process, sending several of his men to orchestrate an abduction of the Khan so that he could be executed and his clan annihilated. In May of 786, only a few months after the massacre of his family, Kozel was ambushed by mercenary raiders. However, the Khan and his bodyguard were able to overcome them and, after learning that they had been hired by Kutan, slew them on the battlefield. There was no returning to peace for the Akhun and Reyhangul -- too many lives had been lost to the feud, and each was bent on the other's destruction. A few years later, Kutan declared war on Kozel to settle their rivalry once and for all, with the Khan's life on the line. The war never came to fruition, however.
Just two weeks after he declared war, Kutan succumbed to his age and died, leaving the clan in the hands of his eldest son, Buqa.
Buqa's Bloodthirst
Buqa was a capable warrior like his father, and had been married for strategic advantage. His wife was Cilen, the eldest daughter of Khagan Tengri Bogu. While neither admitted their affections openly, both Buqa and Cilen were known homosexuals, who by chance happened to be married by their parents. They performed their marital duties together in the interest of producing heirs for the clan, but they spent large stretches of their time apart pursuing their individual lover -- Buqa with several of his officers in the field, Cilen with some of her chosen attendants at home in Balikun.
Much of Buqa's early reign was spent on the battlefield, as he picked up the mantle of war where his father had left off. Buqa invaded the Akhun to take control of Urzhar, where his army defeated 500 Akhun defenders on the way to the conquest of the province. The Akhun enlisted the support of the young Borcid Clan, who began a series of raids on Reyhangul territory while the army was away fighting the Akhun. Although it took some time, Buqa did eventually capture Urzhar and ride back to defeat the raiders of the Borcid, whose land he raided in retaliation.
During the campaign, Buqa showed that he shared his father's penchant for subterfuge, and attempted his own move on Khan Kozel's life. Just as his father before him, however, Buqa was unable to finish the job -- a barrage of arrows intended to kill the Khan failed to do so. While the assassins never divulged their employer, it was clear that this was another attempt by the Reyhangul to eliminate their allies.
Not long after this fighting was resolved, the Khaganate turned its attention outward again. A civil war broke out in the lands of the Kirghiz, as a rival of Seitek's from another friendly clan attempted to install himself as Khagan in his place. Both the Akhun and Reyhangul used this as an opportunity to strike out for gain. The Akhun advanced on Ket, in the north, while the Reyhangul moved to capture Balkhash, in the south.
At the same time, Tengri Bogu, whose clan was beginning to stretch the population limits of its land, declared an all-out invasion of the Karlukids, who neighbored them to the southwest. Simultaneously, the Uyghur staged three separate invasions of foreign land. The Akhun, still reeling from the damage done by Buqa's conquest, were defeated when forces under the Kirghiz rebel faction routed his army after he initially managed to occupy Ket. The Reyhangul were more successful, beating back the rebel troops and successfully laying claim to Balkhash, carving it out of the Kirghiz Khaganate while Seitek was mired in civil war -- a controversial gesture, given that they were, in theory, allies.
It is around this time that Buqa contracted Syphilis from his relations with one of his officers, an illness he did his best to keep secret. However, by 795, the infection had reached his brain and begun manifesting itself in visible insanity. Buqa's moods were known to change on a whim, he hadstrange visions, and he often experienced sudden terrors that caused him to scream and cower until he wet himself. As he became increasingly irrational, his grip on reality continued to slip.
In spite of these challenges, the Uyghur found substantial success into the final years of the 8th century, and after the capture of Balkhash and the annihilation of the Karlukids, the Uyghur Khaganate swelled to over twice the size it had been just two decades earlier. The Manichean horse lords were in a position of great dominance -- however, with Tengri Bogu aging into his 50's and with Khan Buqa in the grips of neurosyphilitic insanity, that dominance sat perched on a dangerous ledge.
781 - 795 AD
Assessing the Clan's Strength
As a new decade began, Kutan and his Reyhangul clan were in a position of strength within the Uyghur Khaganate. He had successfully taken Beshbalik from his hated rival, Kozel of the Akhun Clan, and made a substantial demonstration of his strength in doing so. The tribal lands of Aj Bogd were successfully converted to Manichaeism and absorbed into the clan in 780, and the rise of the Borcid Clan meant that there were now four clans, rather than three, vying for power in the Khaganate. Kutan was married with three concubines, one of which -- the blinded Umay -- was Kozel's concubine until she was abducted during a raid and taken by Kutan.
The only thing Kutan was lacking was an abundance of sons. His first child was born a male, named Buqa, but even with a wife and three concubines, Kutan had not produced another son since. His eldest two daughters died of sickness at the ages of 3 and 6 years, and three young ones yet survived. Buqa showed promise as an heir, but if anything were to happen to him, the succession of the clan would be in danger. As such, Kutan guarded Buqa jealously, ensuring that he stayed with a bodyguard at all times in the capital at Balikun.
The Kirghiz Invasion of Tobol and the Akhun Feud
The Kirghiz were tributaries of the Uyghur, but they were expanding rapidly thanks to the aggressive invasions of Khagan Seitek the Holy, a devout Manichee and leader of the Tiele Clan. In an effort to continue the expansion of his territory, Seitek declared an invasion of the neighboring Tobol Khaganate, and called on Tengri Bogu for his aid. Ready to assist his Khagan and their allies, Kutan committed his horsemen to the attack, quickly riding into Kirghiz territory and breaking a siege of Tobol warriors. He and Tengri Bogu began to assault and occupy the local tribal villages, while Kirghiz forces under Seitek's leadership engaged the remaining Tobol armies to their north. As was common for many nomadic conflicts in the early Medieval period, the hostilities ended rather quickly after a series of small but decisive field battles, and the Kirghiz claimed victory with the aid of their suzerain.
But while the Reyhangul and Yaghlakar were out facing the Tobol Khaganate aboard, Khan Kozel's Akhun Clan turned its raiders against Tsagaannuur once again, razing several reas of the settlement and pillaging from Kutan's treasury. With the main force of Reyhangul warriors far to the west at the conclusion of the war, Kozel's men were able to raid unhindered for several months. Only after a long and rushed journey did Kutan and Ozmish arrive back home to face the Akhun in battle, killing their 750-man raiding party down to the last. This offense renewed the heated rivalry between the two clans, and Kutan resolved to strike an even more decisive blow against the Akhun.
Breaking his army up into two smaller forces, Kutan sent his men to raid every last territory under Akhun dominion. A larger force of 500 riders would overtake the defenses of the Akhun settlements, and then move on to the next fortification while a smaller group of 250 mounted fighters collected the remaining plunder. Kozel's army was depleted and unable to respond, and over a two-year period the Reyhangul looted nearly 100 gold coins worth of resources. Midway through the raid, however, something far more valuable was lost.
When Ozmish of Naiman led the main battle force to attack Urzhar in 785, Kozel's family was caught in the middle of the raid. In a single day, on September 13, six of Kozel's seven children and his only brother were slain by Ozmish's men. Only one daughter managed to escape with her life and go into hiding. Kozel's eldest son had died from illness at the age of 11, and the slaughter at Urzhar meant that he no longer had any males left to inherit his clan. Were he to die, his family lands would be returned to the Khagan and the Akhun would cease to exist. Kutan attempted to accelerate this process, sending several of his men to orchestrate an abduction of the Khan so that he could be executed and his clan annihilated. In May of 786, only a few months after the massacre of his family, Kozel was ambushed by mercenary raiders. However, the Khan and his bodyguard were able to overcome them and, after learning that they had been hired by Kutan, slew them on the battlefield. There was no returning to peace for the Akhun and Reyhangul -- too many lives had been lost to the feud, and each was bent on the other's destruction. A few years later, Kutan declared war on Kozel to settle their rivalry once and for all, with the Khan's life on the line. The war never came to fruition, however.
Just two weeks after he declared war, Kutan succumbed to his age and died, leaving the clan in the hands of his eldest son, Buqa.
Buqa's Bloodthirst
Buqa was a capable warrior like his father, and had been married for strategic advantage. His wife was Cilen, the eldest daughter of Khagan Tengri Bogu. While neither admitted their affections openly, both Buqa and Cilen were known homosexuals, who by chance happened to be married by their parents. They performed their marital duties together in the interest of producing heirs for the clan, but they spent large stretches of their time apart pursuing their individual lover -- Buqa with several of his officers in the field, Cilen with some of her chosen attendants at home in Balikun.
Much of Buqa's early reign was spent on the battlefield, as he picked up the mantle of war where his father had left off. Buqa invaded the Akhun to take control of Urzhar, where his army defeated 500 Akhun defenders on the way to the conquest of the province. The Akhun enlisted the support of the young Borcid Clan, who began a series of raids on Reyhangul territory while the army was away fighting the Akhun. Although it took some time, Buqa did eventually capture Urzhar and ride back to defeat the raiders of the Borcid, whose land he raided in retaliation.
During the campaign, Buqa showed that he shared his father's penchant for subterfuge, and attempted his own move on Khan Kozel's life. Just as his father before him, however, Buqa was unable to finish the job -- a barrage of arrows intended to kill the Khan failed to do so. While the assassins never divulged their employer, it was clear that this was another attempt by the Reyhangul to eliminate their allies.
Not long after this fighting was resolved, the Khaganate turned its attention outward again. A civil war broke out in the lands of the Kirghiz, as a rival of Seitek's from another friendly clan attempted to install himself as Khagan in his place. Both the Akhun and Reyhangul used this as an opportunity to strike out for gain. The Akhun advanced on Ket, in the north, while the Reyhangul moved to capture Balkhash, in the south.
At the same time, Tengri Bogu, whose clan was beginning to stretch the population limits of its land, declared an all-out invasion of the Karlukids, who neighbored them to the southwest. Simultaneously, the Uyghur staged three separate invasions of foreign land. The Akhun, still reeling from the damage done by Buqa's conquest, were defeated when forces under the Kirghiz rebel faction routed his army after he initially managed to occupy Ket. The Reyhangul were more successful, beating back the rebel troops and successfully laying claim to Balkhash, carving it out of the Kirghiz Khaganate while Seitek was mired in civil war -- a controversial gesture, given that they were, in theory, allies.
It is around this time that Buqa contracted Syphilis from his relations with one of his officers, an illness he did his best to keep secret. However, by 795, the infection had reached his brain and begun manifesting itself in visible insanity. Buqa's moods were known to change on a whim, he hadstrange visions, and he often experienced sudden terrors that caused him to scream and cower until he wet himself. As he became increasingly irrational, his grip on reality continued to slip.
In spite of these challenges, the Uyghur found substantial success into the final years of the 8th century, and after the capture of Balkhash and the annihilation of the Karlukids, the Uyghur Khaganate swelled to over twice the size it had been just two decades earlier. The Manichean horse lords were in a position of great dominance -- however, with Tengri Bogu aging into his 50's and with Khan Buqa in the grips of neurosyphilitic insanity, that dominance sat perched on a dangerous ledge.
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Well, that was an ungodly bloody siege... I'm guessing that's a CKII+ thing, because I don't EVER remember seeing 7-10 people die in a single siege victory... Hot crap! And the odds that both Buqa and his wife were homosexual -- I chuckled a little when I noticed that.
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Looks like your dynasty is in jeopardy with having to rely on your homosexual character and his equally homosexual wife for heirs.
Quite the bloody feud you have going on. Assassins, subterfuge, and more.
Quite the bloody feud you have going on. Assassins, subterfuge, and more.
Well, Buqa looks set to be remembered as a controversial ruler. Insane, bloodthirsty, and gay. It looks like he succeeded in siring an heir though. Hopefully Buqa can live long enough to avoid regency for his son.
Glad to see new work from you, RedTemplar. I'll be following with interest
If you ever want to do a more in-depth look at the Central Asian steppes, I highly recommend the English translation of Rene Grousset's The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. The research is probably fairly dated at this point, but I'd say it's still a quite enlightening read about the area, and particularly about the full extent of the impact that the steppe peoples had on their sedentary neighbors.
If you ever want to do a more in-depth look at the Central Asian steppes, I highly recommend the English translation of Rene Grousset's The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. The research is probably fairly dated at this point, but I'd say it's still a quite enlightening read about the area, and particularly about the full extent of the impact that the steppe peoples had on their sedentary neighbors.
Just caught up! The Horde gameplay is quiet different, and perhaps more challenging, but so far things are looking good for the Uyghurs as well as you clan. The Akhun seem to be good survivors though, resting against all your attempts at plotting.
Well, he just got mauled by a bear in a recent event and is now wounded, so....
And Specialist290: thanks for the recommendation! I might just pick that book up, since I'd love to learn more.
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That blood feud is viscous. As it should be, I suppose. But it's kind of one-sided.
It definitely is... I'm a little surprised at how easy it's been to slap down the Akhun. Granted I have a Marshal in the 20 range for his skill, but still. Maybe I should have set it to hard to give my armies a little disadvantage.
I conccur that Grousset books while a bit dated now are worth reading, be it for Crusades or the Steppes. And it's very well written (he did enter the French Academy in the 30's I think)
Otherwise the gay couple is quite funny
Otherwise the gay couple is quite funny
I'm a little disappointed that I haven't seen some of the crazy "Insanity" events... :\