While the SWMH team has been working on pre-1066 start dates in the past 2 years (next installment will be 993), the team has also been updating things here and there after 1066 as well. Most of these changes are left undocumented, but here’s one area that saw a major overhaul, partly due to Jade Dragon: the Mongols.
(Note that all changes mentioned in this post are already available in the current version of SWMH!)
The Mongol realm in 1241, with the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate as imperial tributaries
First off, the Mongols in Persia before the Ilkhanate. With JD, the Yuan empire became an actual (albeit offmap) entity, so I could no longer place Ogodei and his successors in China as placeholder liege of Persia. So I turned the historical commanders of the Mongol expeditionary army into the holders of the Western Protectorate:
Chormaqan shortly before his death, gravely wounded
Under the Protectorate are foreign “recruits” who wielded great influence in their place of appointment: Korguz, a Uyghur civilian governor who remained a major political figure in Khorasan until he was executed by the Chagatai family; Masud-Beg Yalavach, civilian governor of Transoxiana like his father Mahmud who is said to have hailed from Khwarazm.
Hulegu initially appears as the holder of the Western Protectorate, then he becomes playable as the holder of the Ilkhanate.
Persia in 1337
Another setup I revised is the Ilkhanate in 1335 and onward, which remained unified in vanilla setup. The khanate was undergoing succession crises since the death of the Ilkhan Abu Sai’d in 1335, and it seemed to me like a bit of a stretch to keep the realm intact.
Instead, I made the khanate fragmented after the death of Abu Sa’id, so that supporters of the newly crowned khan remained vassals. In 1337, Muhammad Khan is the Ilkhan, having ascended to the throne by the hands of the Oirat Hajji Taghai (governor of Diyar Bakr) and the Jalayirid Hasan (called Hasan-i Buzurg, or “Hasan the Great,” in historiography):
Hasan-i Buzurg has a favorable power base and stats to be a major player in the region
Togha Temur, a descendant of Genghis Khan’s brother Hasar
Pretenders to the throne are many, however. One notable pretender in 1337 is Togha Temur, a Genghisid who was proclaimed khan among the notables of Khorasan. He has yet to undertake a major campaign against Muhammad Khan, which historically ended in Togha Temur’s defeat.
With most of its senior figures dead, these are dark times for the Chupanid family
Where are the Chupanids, you ask? Their family fortunes had been less than ideal since the family was purged by the Ilkhan a decade ago. Chupan and many of his sons were executed by the Ilkhan Abu Sa’id in 1327, and one of the sons who survived, Temurtash, found refuge in Egypt but was soon executed by the Mamluk sultan.
Finally, one of Chupan’s younger sons Surgan sided with the right side (that is, the supporters of Muhammad Khan) and was given a fief in northern Azerbaijan (you can see his fief in the previous screenshot, to the west of Togha Temur’s realm).
In addition, Chupan’s grandson Pir Hosayn may have been the governor of Tabriz in 1337. He is recorded as the governor of the city around 1340, but it's not clear when he became the governor. For the sake of populating the map, though, the team decided to make him landed in 1337.
(Note that all changes mentioned in this post are already available in the current version of SWMH!)
The Mongol realm in 1241, with the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate as imperial tributaries
First off, the Mongols in Persia before the Ilkhanate. With JD, the Yuan empire became an actual (albeit offmap) entity, so I could no longer place Ogodei and his successors in China as placeholder liege of Persia. So I turned the historical commanders of the Mongol expeditionary army into the holders of the Western Protectorate:
Chormaqan shortly before his death, gravely wounded
Under the Protectorate are foreign “recruits” who wielded great influence in their place of appointment: Korguz, a Uyghur civilian governor who remained a major political figure in Khorasan until he was executed by the Chagatai family; Masud-Beg Yalavach, civilian governor of Transoxiana like his father Mahmud who is said to have hailed from Khwarazm.
Hulegu initially appears as the holder of the Western Protectorate, then he becomes playable as the holder of the Ilkhanate.
Persia in 1337
Another setup I revised is the Ilkhanate in 1335 and onward, which remained unified in vanilla setup. The khanate was undergoing succession crises since the death of the Ilkhan Abu Sai’d in 1335, and it seemed to me like a bit of a stretch to keep the realm intact.
Instead, I made the khanate fragmented after the death of Abu Sa’id, so that supporters of the newly crowned khan remained vassals. In 1337, Muhammad Khan is the Ilkhan, having ascended to the throne by the hands of the Oirat Hajji Taghai (governor of Diyar Bakr) and the Jalayirid Hasan (called Hasan-i Buzurg, or “Hasan the Great,” in historiography):
Hasan-i Buzurg has a favorable power base and stats to be a major player in the region
Togha Temur, a descendant of Genghis Khan’s brother Hasar
Pretenders to the throne are many, however. One notable pretender in 1337 is Togha Temur, a Genghisid who was proclaimed khan among the notables of Khorasan. He has yet to undertake a major campaign against Muhammad Khan, which historically ended in Togha Temur’s defeat.
With most of its senior figures dead, these are dark times for the Chupanid family
Where are the Chupanids, you ask? Their family fortunes had been less than ideal since the family was purged by the Ilkhan a decade ago. Chupan and many of his sons were executed by the Ilkhan Abu Sa’id in 1327, and one of the sons who survived, Temurtash, found refuge in Egypt but was soon executed by the Mamluk sultan.
Finally, one of Chupan’s younger sons Surgan sided with the right side (that is, the supporters of Muhammad Khan) and was given a fief in northern Azerbaijan (you can see his fief in the previous screenshot, to the west of Togha Temur’s realm).
In addition, Chupan’s grandson Pir Hosayn may have been the governor of Tabriz in 1337. He is recorded as the governor of the city around 1340, but it's not clear when he became the governor. For the sake of populating the map, though, the team decided to make him landed in 1337.