No thoughts?
Something similar got discussed earlier on the board, with someone bringing up the concept of the Mongols expanding elite status based on a concept of "Mongol citizenship."
I don't remember when it was, but I'm pretty sure it was on the New Board.
Also, the fact the Mongols didn't have a lot of culture of their own is going to lead to a lot of assimilation, which could lead to the breakup of the Mongol empire--you'd have an Islamizing Persian khanate, a Sinifying Chinese khanate, and if you expand it further, a Byzantine khanate whose khan eventually starts calling himself Byzantine Emperor, etc.
The Mongols' tolerance for all who would obey is what made their empire, when it existed, as successful and cosmopolitan, but if the Mongols had more of their own identity, it wouldn't be as successful.
Kind of a catch-22.
Hmm, so I have a few ideas, but I'm only using Wikipedia, so if my source turns out to be wildly incorrect, then I'm sure many other people are being deceived too.
First, let's say Genghis Khan was born in 1155, as one source says. Then, that leaves time for the Jurchen Jin to win decisive battles against the Song at Caishi and Tangdao in 1161. Temujin might have been born 1162, sorry. This then results in a Jin-Song War that is absolutely devastating to both sides, with the Jin sacking Hangzhou, the Song counter-attacking and sacking Kaifeng, etc. Then the Xi Xia jump in and attack both sides taking advantage of the weakness of both sides. In this weakness, Temujin, who somehow goes through an upbringing that lets him be remarkably similar to his real-life personality, manages to gather up the Mongols and conquer all three sides (Xi Xia, Jin, and Song) in a remarkably quick time-span.
We are discussing a Mongol world-state here, so forgive the copious amounts of handwavium.
So, the Mongols in the meantime are also conquering the rest of their real-world conquests. The rest of the Middle East sees a variety of fractious wars that also coincidentally weaken the countries there. E.g. Khwarezmid Empire vs. Kara Khitai and the Sultanate of Delhi, or something like that. And same with Europe and the rest of Asia. Mongols then basically conquer everybody. Blah blah blah, a massive Mongol empire stretching from Japan to India to Scandinavia to France, due solely to divine providence, by about 1250.
Also, luckily, Temujin and his descendants are both brutal enough to lord it over the Mongol Empire as Khagans, yet tolerant enough that people are willing to live under Mongol rule. Eventually, though all of Eurasia is either conquered by the Mongols or living as vassals of the local Mongol khan. Mongols also conquer Egypt and Indonesia.
Eventually the Mongol Empire starts to federate, but their rule over local peoples is very efficient. Also, the resulting trade and contacts between all parts of the Mongol Empire result in a free-flowing distribution of wealth, commerce, and technology. The latter results in continued Mongol dominance as they smash revolts and conquer what is still left, as they continue to move into North Africa and the remnants of Europe or India.
Wait a few centuries. Somehow the Mongols don't collapse even though they plausibly should. Because of a desire to seek more wealth, and because they are stymied in Africa (I would imagine that the Sahara and the Sahel would slow the Mongols down, the same way it did for other North African conquerors) and because there aren't that many more places to conquer, a trading expedition gets sent from either China or Mongol-ruled Europe that reaches the New World and sets up trading posts that don't do much initially. This also results in the transmission of Old World diseases to the New World. The Mongols temporarily hold off on conquering the Americas, probably due to the massive amounts of insurgencies they have to deal with, but start conquering the Americas in the 1450s in a way similar to the Spanish, only with diseases having had more time to wipe out the indigenous peoples. By the start of the 1500s, the Mongols have also moved into West and East Africa as well as most of the Americas. The Mongol khanates and their vassals are the only organized states in the entire world by this point.
Mongol rule continues somehow. They also try to assimilate local cultures into the Mongol world-culture. Like, I'm guessing they might import large numbers of Chinese to rule the Italian states, while also employing many Marco Polo-types to rule China. Also, having been in power in some areas for three centuries (such as China and Persia) they do succeed in assimilating to the culture, but also remaining in control. In some places they aren't that lucky, and are overthrown, but the revolts are suppressed by a multi-Khanate force that leads to much more future cooperation.
As technology continues to advanced (how? I don't know), the Mongols and vassals move into the areas that they still haven't conquered (like what? Where? When? Who knows?). By 1700 or so, the Mongols thus control basically the entire world, though many parts of the world are only under theoretical control. Like, they are aware of the North Pole and South Pole and have visited Antarctica but nobody claims those parts. Likewise, the interior of Australia and Africa are explored, and are claimed by one of the Khanates, but are not really controlled. For the sake of discussion pretend that those uncontacted peoples don't count, otherwise we'll never get the Mongols to rule over the whole world if we still haven't reached members of the human race in this day and age.
Time passes, and by 1800, the Mongol world federation, still loosely united by a nominal Khagan in the Mongolian steppe, rules the world. This Khagan proposes a year zero to make the world more harmonious and unified.
Welcome to Year 600 of the Mongol era (or so), year 1806 of the Christian Era (or so).
Good enough? No, I'm not saying it's likely or enjoyable, but it's a fun exercise in thought.
