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So I've picked up an interest recently in the North Caucasus.

OTL, the Circassian/Adyghe people - up there in the northwest Caucasus - always seemed to have the bad luck of living next to some manner of big, surly, aggressive power, before ultimately being steamrolled by the Bear and scattered to the four winds. What would it take for Circassia to stand on its own as at least a regional power?

Can the Circassians become the primary culture in the North Caucasus (or even the Caucasus more broadly) any time after, say, 900 AD or so, just to pick a random date? What would have to change for a Circassian kingdom to stretch between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and stick around in a long-term way?

Is a Circassian wank humanly possible?
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