Map Thread XIX
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Dorozhand
Banned
Added to this thing I posted a while ago.
This one has another DBWI that goes with it:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ul-red-turban-rebellion.466829/#post-18852492
Year 1408 AD
Here's the premise, from the associated DBWI:
The mid-14th century saw a major challenge to Mongol rule over China. Droughts, floods, and famine resulted in widespread dissatisfaction with the distant, ambivalent rule of the Yuan court. Factionalism between ministers and power struggles between the princes of the Yuan Dynasty caused neglect of these issues which cast into further doubt the efficacy of the Yuan rule, compounding the existing xenophobia.
After the prestige boost gained by Emperor Renzong when they further solidified the adoption of Confucianism in Yuan government, trouble began to start with the Coup d'état at Nanpo when the faction of the dead Grand Councillor Temuder and the Grand Empress Dowager Targi seized power with the help of the Alan Guard. This led to series of short-lived emperors and bloody coups that resulted in little attention being paid to good governance and repeated reversals of policy including the occasional abolition of the civil service examinations.
This culture of factionalism would eventually result in any official who displayed merit being murdered for the offense. However, the outstanding governance of Grand Councillor Toqto'a greatly improved conditions during the early reign of Emperor Huizong. His first administration resulted in flood management works and refurbishment of canals and irrigation systems, along with a crackdown on the black market and banditry. His second resulted in the army rapidly securing the central plains as the rebellion (which began as a salt traders' revolt) spread, forcing the early Red Turban warlords to the periphery through decisive action.
The rebellions were eventually put down largely through the highly effective military leadership of Wang Baobao, who after securing Gansu from a rival Mongol warlord and obliterating the Sichuan-based Xia state of Ming Yuzhen, defeated warlord Xu Da's Great Wei state at the battles of Anqing and Poyang Lake in a brilliant campaign along the Chang Jiang which brought most of the rebellion to an end. The triumph of Emperor Huizong's forces brought a second wind to the dynasty and the dynamism displayed by the new leadership was a reason that the Yuan lasted until 1539 rather than falling into chaos not a century after it was founded.
The Great Xia was probably the most promising state. Ming Yuzhen had successfully secured Yunnan and Shaanxi from a base of power in Sichuan, and had set up a capital in Xi'an. But Wang Baobao's campaign through Gansu encircled the Xia from the west and he brought the hammer down at the Battle of Jianmen Pass, resulting in the death of Ming and splitting the Xia in two. Even though the Great Wei ruled much of the south for a short time, their rule depended on Xu Da and the coalition crumbled after his death (Xu Da himself usurped power after the death of an earlier rebel leader named Zhu Yuanzhang). The Great Xia, meanwhile, actually survived the death of its first emperor and continued to resist for some time in western Sichuan under the rule of his heir. This seems like a much more promising and solidified administration. I imagine if the result of Jianmenguan had been otherwise, the Xia had a chance of bringing all the rebels under their banner and driving the Yuan out.
Another potential PoD, however, is the removal of Toqto'a by Emperor Huizong, who nearly dismissed him from his post out of fear that he would use the army to overthrow him. His decision to trust his minister may have saved the empire.
----------------------------------
The point of divergence is that Emperor Huizong of Yuan decides to trust Grand Councillor Toqto'a with the army, allowing the Yuan to secure the Yellow River plain quickly, driving the Red Turban rebels to the periphery.
The Red Turbans being the rebels that in our timeline would eventually found the Ming empire after driving the Yuan into the steppe and vying among each other for a little while at the same time. In our timeline, Emperor Huizong sacked Toqto'a in fear of a coup and allowed much of the Central China Plain to fall into rebel hands.
In our timeline, a vagrant-turned-warlord named Zhu Yuanzhang founded a powerful rebel state alongside his trusted generals including the famed Xu Da, and united a coalition of rebels to drive out the Yuan. This coalition also fought a massive series of battles with the rival Han and Xia states, including the Battle of Poyang Lake, arguably the largest naval battle in history, while Zhu named his state Ming after his title Prince of Ming which he received from a Manichean rebel (the Red Turbans began as a Buddhist-Zoroastrian-Manichean millenarian sect and managed to touch off a salt trader's revolt to begin the revolution).
In this timeline, however, Zhu Yuanzhang dies in battle and Xu Da usurps power from his young son, declaring his own Great Wei state. Under Toqto'a, the Yuan armies are able to secure the central plain and hold the lines in the south. Wang Baobao (Köke Temür), meanwhile, launches a campaign of his own in the west which secures Gansu from the Prince of Yu, a rival Mongol warlord, and encircles Ming Yuzhen's Great Xia state from the west before destroying its army at the Battle of Jianmen Pass. Xu Da is unable to hold onto Zhu Yuanzhang's confederacy and the Wei state is destroyed while fighting a civil war of its own.
With this sequence, the Yuan defeats the largest rebellion China will be capable of for generations securing both the Yuan's rule for another 150 years and the position of Grand Councillor Toqto'a, who is able to reform the bureaucracy and civil service, institute a new Confucian law code, rebuild walls and guard forts, establish tribute relations (eventually resulting in exploration of the Indian Ocean and contact with Mesoamerica), and give the Yuan dynasty a new period of dominance and stability, continuing under Huizong's heir the Longjin Emperor (or Emperor Gaozong of Yuan).
--------------------------------------
On the map orientation:
I meant it to seem as though it originated from the modern day of the timeline itself: The English language is still around and developed similarly but not identically; the AH and AM dating systems are almost universal; Vajrayana Buddhism is the most widespread religion in the world followed by Islam, then Orthodox Christianity, then Theravada Buddhism; the most powerful regions in the world are OTL Indonesia (Java-Sumatra-Borneo), Southeast Asia (mainly Malay, Kampuchea, Dai Viet, and South China) South India, Ethiopia, OTL Nigeria and OTL Brazil. It's a world that primarily uses south-up orientation because I imagined many of the population and power centers of the world being located in or near the southern hemisphere in this timeline.
This one has another DBWI that goes with it:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ul-red-turban-rebellion.466829/#post-18852492
Year 1408 AD
Here's the premise, from the associated DBWI:
The mid-14th century saw a major challenge to Mongol rule over China. Droughts, floods, and famine resulted in widespread dissatisfaction with the distant, ambivalent rule of the Yuan court. Factionalism between ministers and power struggles between the princes of the Yuan Dynasty caused neglect of these issues which cast into further doubt the efficacy of the Yuan rule, compounding the existing xenophobia.
After the prestige boost gained by Emperor Renzong when they further solidified the adoption of Confucianism in Yuan government, trouble began to start with the Coup d'état at Nanpo when the faction of the dead Grand Councillor Temuder and the Grand Empress Dowager Targi seized power with the help of the Alan Guard. This led to series of short-lived emperors and bloody coups that resulted in little attention being paid to good governance and repeated reversals of policy including the occasional abolition of the civil service examinations.
This culture of factionalism would eventually result in any official who displayed merit being murdered for the offense. However, the outstanding governance of Grand Councillor Toqto'a greatly improved conditions during the early reign of Emperor Huizong. His first administration resulted in flood management works and refurbishment of canals and irrigation systems, along with a crackdown on the black market and banditry. His second resulted in the army rapidly securing the central plains as the rebellion (which began as a salt traders' revolt) spread, forcing the early Red Turban warlords to the periphery through decisive action.
The rebellions were eventually put down largely through the highly effective military leadership of Wang Baobao, who after securing Gansu from a rival Mongol warlord and obliterating the Sichuan-based Xia state of Ming Yuzhen, defeated warlord Xu Da's Great Wei state at the battles of Anqing and Poyang Lake in a brilliant campaign along the Chang Jiang which brought most of the rebellion to an end. The triumph of Emperor Huizong's forces brought a second wind to the dynasty and the dynamism displayed by the new leadership was a reason that the Yuan lasted until 1539 rather than falling into chaos not a century after it was founded.
The Great Xia was probably the most promising state. Ming Yuzhen had successfully secured Yunnan and Shaanxi from a base of power in Sichuan, and had set up a capital in Xi'an. But Wang Baobao's campaign through Gansu encircled the Xia from the west and he brought the hammer down at the Battle of Jianmen Pass, resulting in the death of Ming and splitting the Xia in two. Even though the Great Wei ruled much of the south for a short time, their rule depended on Xu Da and the coalition crumbled after his death (Xu Da himself usurped power after the death of an earlier rebel leader named Zhu Yuanzhang). The Great Xia, meanwhile, actually survived the death of its first emperor and continued to resist for some time in western Sichuan under the rule of his heir. This seems like a much more promising and solidified administration. I imagine if the result of Jianmenguan had been otherwise, the Xia had a chance of bringing all the rebels under their banner and driving the Yuan out.
Another potential PoD, however, is the removal of Toqto'a by Emperor Huizong, who nearly dismissed him from his post out of fear that he would use the army to overthrow him. His decision to trust his minister may have saved the empire.
----------------------------------
The point of divergence is that Emperor Huizong of Yuan decides to trust Grand Councillor Toqto'a with the army, allowing the Yuan to secure the Yellow River plain quickly, driving the Red Turban rebels to the periphery.
The Red Turbans being the rebels that in our timeline would eventually found the Ming empire after driving the Yuan into the steppe and vying among each other for a little while at the same time. In our timeline, Emperor Huizong sacked Toqto'a in fear of a coup and allowed much of the Central China Plain to fall into rebel hands.
In our timeline, a vagrant-turned-warlord named Zhu Yuanzhang founded a powerful rebel state alongside his trusted generals including the famed Xu Da, and united a coalition of rebels to drive out the Yuan. This coalition also fought a massive series of battles with the rival Han and Xia states, including the Battle of Poyang Lake, arguably the largest naval battle in history, while Zhu named his state Ming after his title Prince of Ming which he received from a Manichean rebel (the Red Turbans began as a Buddhist-Zoroastrian-Manichean millenarian sect and managed to touch off a salt trader's revolt to begin the revolution).
In this timeline, however, Zhu Yuanzhang dies in battle and Xu Da usurps power from his young son, declaring his own Great Wei state. Under Toqto'a, the Yuan armies are able to secure the central plain and hold the lines in the south. Wang Baobao (Köke Temür), meanwhile, launches a campaign of his own in the west which secures Gansu from the Prince of Yu, a rival Mongol warlord, and encircles Ming Yuzhen's Great Xia state from the west before destroying its army at the Battle of Jianmen Pass. Xu Da is unable to hold onto Zhu Yuanzhang's confederacy and the Wei state is destroyed while fighting a civil war of its own.
With this sequence, the Yuan defeats the largest rebellion China will be capable of for generations securing both the Yuan's rule for another 150 years and the position of Grand Councillor Toqto'a, who is able to reform the bureaucracy and civil service, institute a new Confucian law code, rebuild walls and guard forts, establish tribute relations (eventually resulting in exploration of the Indian Ocean and contact with Mesoamerica), and give the Yuan dynasty a new period of dominance and stability, continuing under Huizong's heir the Longjin Emperor (or Emperor Gaozong of Yuan).
--------------------------------------
On the map orientation:
I meant it to seem as though it originated from the modern day of the timeline itself: The English language is still around and developed similarly but not identically; the AH and AM dating systems are almost universal; Vajrayana Buddhism is the most widespread religion in the world followed by Islam, then Orthodox Christianity, then Theravada Buddhism; the most powerful regions in the world are OTL Indonesia (Java-Sumatra-Borneo), Southeast Asia (mainly Malay, Kampuchea, Dai Viet, and South China) South India, Ethiopia, OTL Nigeria and OTL Brazil. It's a world that primarily uses south-up orientation because I imagined many of the population and power centers of the world being located in or near the southern hemisphere in this timeline.
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Dorozhand
Banned
The Kingdom of the Reindeer?
The Evenki people domesticated the reindeer and keep herds of tens of thousands. The Buryat (farthest northern Mongols from the Baikal region, on the boundary between steppe and taiga) had close trading and political relations with the Evenki and the people used their herds as a lucrative economic resource. ITTL, the Evenki tribes are united as a single state by a nomadized tungusic warlord and subsequently ruled by a class of Evenki-Buryat mixed nobility taxing the reindeer pastoralists' herds in exchange for protection from Daguur slave raids and regulation of the commerce between Taiga and Steppe. The Khanate established close relations with the Yuan and the state is widely known as the Reindeer Kingdom (驯鹿國) for this reason.
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I mean, if HOI4 has the “Emu Empire”...The Kingdom of the Reindeer?
A quick and dirty map I've been adding to every now and then in my lunchbreaks, based in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and essentially mapping out my home-brewed sub-sector and the worlds therein. The key, which is not my own but which I got off reddit, can be found here.
Hardly a work of too much quality, but I've been having fun with it.
Hardly a work of too much quality, but I've been having fun with it.
The Malkhar Sector - Located in the Ultima Segmentum, the Malkhari Sector was initially settled by mankind during the Dark Age of Technology. The details thereof are unclear, though several of the local Knight Worlds trace their heritage back to these initial settlers. Historical records show that it was reclaimed during the latter stages of the Great Crusade, but control was subsequently lost during the Horus Heresy. and most of the Sector was overrun by opportunistic greenskins. Mankind endured in the sector in isolated pockets, or among Orkish slave populations, for several millennia.
The sector was not reclaimed until the early days of M37 by a Crusade Fleet consisting of elements of Battlefleets Bakka, Charadon and Gothic, some two and a half million soldiers of the Astra Militarum, the Legios Tempestus and Incendium and Astartes of the Fianna, Invaders, Praetors of Orpheus and Benedictors Chapters. After a decades long campaign victory was declared with the conquest of the Mourne system in 133.M37.
As a whole the Sector possessed (as of 999.M41) one hundred and three worlds of tithe-grade Decuma Prime or higher and several hundred more minor inhabited worlds across dozens of systems. Administratum estimates put the pre-rift population at over one trillion Imperial subjects. Disruptive influences were minimal and a large number of productive worlds ensured substantial tithe output, primarily in the form of manufactured goods, agricultural products and raw materials. Malkhari Regiments served in multiple major campaigns including the Tyrian War, actions against Hive Fleets Behemoth, Kraken and Fafnir and domestic actions against Ork and Drukhari threats - by most assessments unexceptional but competent units.
Historical records show no major periods of disruption in the Sector between the defeat of Waagh Gorbek in 927.M39 and the Fall of Cadia. As such it is speculated that many Sector-level authorities were unprepared for the emergence of a major threat. Fortunately these figures managed to avoid the inevitable summary execution such failure would have earned. Unfortunately for them the opening of the Great Rift cut the Malkhari Worlds off from the rest of the Imperium entirely, and the consequent warp storms consumed the Sector capital Hydrata entirely, forcing them to endure far, far worse fates than simple death.
In the decades since the Cicatrix Maledictum appeared the Imperium's control was shredded, facing the forces of the Archenemy on one flank and a newly emboldened greenskin menace on the other, with frequent drukhari raids, squabbling amidst a decapitated command structure and numerous breakaway systems only adding to the chaos. At its worst point loyal forces and a great many refugees were forced back to a single loyal system - Mourne, home of the Fianna chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.
Now, after several decades of preparations, reorganisation and consolidation (and several false starts) the Second Malkhari Crusade is well underway, with the Fianna and their allies carving out a secure territory at the centre of the Malkhari sector.
The Malkhari Sector was prior to the Great Rift divided into some nine sub-sectors:
Clomor sub-sector - one of the best developed regions of the Malkhari Sector, best known as host of the centre of the faith in the region.
(1) Terranus - Capital of the Clomor sub-sector. Current status unknown, last contact 9.877.005.M42.
(2) Brigaid - Birthplace of Saint Derrian, patron saint of the Malkhari Stars and holiest site in the sector. Lost to the Archenemy, 9.103.006.M42.
(3) Benandon - One of a number of systems consumed by the warp storms that cut the sector off after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum. No known survivors, though scrying of the Fianna's sidhe indicate the system is well and truly in the grip of the Neverborn
(4) Ebon Talon - The Ebon Talon warband was first encountered during the liberation of Diarus (73.M42). Their warfleet has been engaged on various occasions throughout the Hydrata, Clomor and Sanlys sub-sectors. Origins are unknown but equipment and configuration of their vessels would appear to indicate that they are a recent renegade formation rather than an offshoot of the traitor legions.
Hydrata sub-sector - once centre of the Imperial hierarchy in the sector the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum and the cascade of warp storms across the region took a particularly grim toll on this area. Many worlds were destroyed outright or consumed by the immaterium, and many more found themselves either seized by the Archenemy, or walked willingly into their clutches.
(5) Hydrata - Former sector capital. Completely enveloped by warp storms in 1.M42. Sector administration annihilated, as were local contingents of the Militarum Tempestus and the Order of the Penitent Daughter. Current primary objective of the Fianna's Second Malkhari Crusade, readings of the Emperor's Tarot and visions from several of the sidhe indicate it must be destroyed as an absolute priority
(6) Olara - Knight World. Fell in 3.M42 after Houses Ilorette and Valadar turned on the Imperium as a while, slaughtering the loyal Houses Archamus, Merillon and Delain. Major target for the Oathsworn, particularly the survivors of the latter three houses.
(7) Ibrone - Home to the largest civilian shipyards outside of Saia. Intelligence indicates that since its fall to the Archenemy these have been turned to military purposes.
Saia sub-sector - Home to the Malkhari branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus and its sole forge world, Saia. Most worlds of this sub-sector are bound to Saia by oaths of fealty or lines of trade, supplying the ever hungry forges with raw materials, component parts, foodstuffs and warm bodies.
(8) Saia - Industrial heart of the Malkhari Sector. Lost in 13.M42 following the awakening of a Necron Tomb located directly beneath the Forge World's Hive Principal. Local Mechanicus leadership wiped out, Legio Incendium fell to the last engine covering evacuation efforts. Retaken in 74.M42 by the Malkhari Crusade with the aid of the aeldari of Craftworld Dal-Riada. Tomb complex destroyed by the escaped C'Tan shard entity identified as Malazek, its subsequent status is unknown.
Mourne sub-sector - Smallest and least developed of the Malkhari Sector's regions, Mourne is a place of dead planets, wandering raiders and feral worlds, their populaces descended mostly from the freed slaves of the great Orkish Empire that once made this place their home. Mourne itself is the only system here of note to the rest of the Imperium, being home to the chapter of the Adeptus Astartes known as the Fianna. In more recent years it proved the last holdout of Imperial authority in the Sector, and later the launchpad for the ongoing Malkhari Crusade.
(9) Nugelata - A weak sun wreathed in interstellar gases and debris with no true worlds orbiting it. Site of a years long pacification campaign against a number of traitor pirate bands, Orkish Freebootaz and Drukhari raiders that was deemed a success in 69.M42
(10) Morgase - Logistical hub of the Malkhari Crusade. Primary marshalling ground of the Malkhari Legions.
(11) Mourne - Home system of the Fianna. Currently centre of Imperial power in Malkhar. Third world of Resolution remains chapter world of the Fianna, the second and fourth (Alriad and Mourne Prime) have been heavily settled by refugees over the last century.
(12) Arkensworld - "The Crucible". Site of the first attempted counter-attack by the Fianna and their allies in 29.M42. Division between the various Imperial Guard formations and lack of a clear chain of command resulted in several hundred thousand casualties before the invasion was repelled by greenskin defenders. As a result Chapter Master Andun Caislean abolished the remnants of the Astra Militarum in Mourne and consolidated them into the newly founded Malkhari Legions.
Sanlys - Noted for an uncommonly high number of safely inhabitable planets, Sanlys is a place of quiet, productive worlds and verdant paradises that once attracted visitors from across the Sector and farther afield.
(13) Marchese. Site of a violent civil war between the inhabitants of the Paradise World's tropical islands, backed by the PDF, and the populace of the main continents (consisting primarily of indentured laborers). Stalemate endured for some years until it was decisively resolved by the intervention of the Malkhari Crusade.
(14) Aylam - Presence of Traitor Legion Astartes in Malkhar confirmed. Malkhari 42nd completely annihilated by company-sized formation, tentatively identified as belonging to the Night Lords.
(15) Calbeck - Capital of the Sanlys sub-sector. Planetary governor declared primacy over rest of sector following the fall of Hydrata. System subsequently declared independence in 9.M42. No contact since 11.M42.
Lupus - Home to several famed Knight Worlds that endured through the depredations of the Old Night, and then through millennia of further isolation after the fall of the Sector in the aftermath of the Great Heresy. After the greenskins overran much of the region it was the Knights of Lupus who would form the core of the exile brotherhood known as the Oathsworn.
(16) Ephiri - Quarantined by order of Ordo Xenos, 972.M40, following infestation of xenotype Troglydium hrudii.
(17) Remat - Capital of the Lupus sub-sector. Most populous world in the Malkhari Sector pre-M42. Fell to Waagh Kargrak 13.M42.
(18) Agenco - One of the Sector's pre-eminent Knight Worlds. Homeworld of the grandmaster of the Oathsworn, Archduchess Isobel du Chayne. Fell to Waagh Kargrak 14.M42. Retaken 73.M42 following a grueling campaign that cost several hundreds of thousands of lives, including nearly half of the Fianna 8th Company. Warboss Kargrak Gutcleava confirmed to have been present, but withdrew prior to the world's reconquest.
Morat - Once the sector's frontier Morat and its sisterworlds were the heart of Malkhar's military might, contributing the best mortal soldiers and the finest voidfarers the sector had to offer.
(19) Dal-Riada - Aeldari Craftworld, known to frequent this area of space for several millennia. Has been known to cooperate on occasion with local Imperial forces, predominately in recent years against the awakening Necrons of the Firbok dynasty.
(20) Morat - Capital of Morat sub-sector. Former home port of Battlefleet Malkhar, recruiting world for the finest Malkhari regiments of the Imperial Guard. Overrun by Waagh Kargrak 15.M42, with the loss of the majority of Battlefleet Malkhar's surviving vessels.
Orbesh - Malkhar's breadbasket and stockpile - raw materials, foodstuffs and manufactured goods from these worlds once flowed across the sector.
(21) Gamalon - The last Imperial world to fall outside of the Mourne sub-sector and the first to be retaken by the Malkhari Crusade. Major source of recruits for the Malkhari Legions thanks to its substantial former slave populace
(22) Lurdia - Major agri-world. Abandoned by Imperial forces following the fall of Saia. Retaken in 66.M42. Scout teams found not a soul alive on the planet but no signs of most of the populace. Local military commanders and civic leaders were found dead in the profaned Cathedral of His Divine Mercy in the capital Trebalis, with the manner of their torture and execution leading to suspected Night Lords involvement. No sign of the broader populace was discovered, but Trebalis was expunged from orbit before resettlement commenced.
(23) Vylaid - Major source of raw materials to the forges of Saia. Retaken from the greenskins 79.M42. Currently under attack by Orkish counter offensive, Malkhari 17th and 33rd besieged.
(24) Nuraq - Capital of the Orbesh sub-sector. One of the three most productive industrial worlds outside of Saia (alongside Ibrone and Markam). Fell to Waagh Kargrak in 9.M42. Currently under the control of Mekkaboss Orbaz Ironbasha.
The Vantene Reaches - Not a true sub-sector, the Reaches was the sector's new frontier, in theory a place of opportunity and potential. In reality The Vantene Reaches were filled with fleaspeck outposts and uncivilised holdouts, liberally mixed with greenskins raiders and a scattering of minor breeds of xenos. The rise of Waagh Kargrak and the awakening near a century later of the core worlds of the Firbok dynasty have done little to improve it.
(25) Katrach - Home to xenos race of the same name. Believed to have been completely exterminated on no fewer than three separate occasions, but have on each occasion reemerged and slaughtered human colonists and garrison forces. Following the third occasion the system was quarantined and declared Perdita.
(26) Velor - Former centre of the Velorian Overkingdom, the preeminent non-Orkish polity in what is now the Malkhari Sector between M.35 and M.37. Subjected to Exterminatus by elements of Battlefleet Charadon in 090.M37. Velorian vessels persist now only as nomadic bands aboard the remnants of their once great fleet.
(27) Domain of the Orreti - Official designation Dacian 208. Home system of the Orreti xenos race. Discovered mid-M39, the species is was granted an Edict of Toleration by Inquistor Malika Suth of the Ordo Xenos. Deemed predominately harmless the species was confined to the system, with commerce permitted with a handful of chosen trading dynasties. No contact has been made with the Orreti since the end of M41 and their current status is unknown.
(28) Cinntra - Origin point of Waagh Kargrak, lost to the Imperium M.42.
(29) Angathir - Crown World of the Firbok dynasty. Awakened c.75.M42, which is believed to be closely linked to the recapture of Saia and the release of the Thunderer.
(30) Gathalos - Frontline of the war between the awakening forces of the Firbok dynasty and the entrenched armies of the Waagh Kargrok
(31) Uivis - Recently taken from the greenskins by Necron legions, which resulted in the enslaved human populace viewing the xenos as something akin to liberators. Currently aligned with the Firbok dynasty. Imperial authorities torn between eventual reeducation and integration and simple exterminatus once the Crusade reaches Uivis.
(32) Vinloss - Homeworld of the Vinlossi xenos race. Frequent raiders and scavengers throughout the Vantene Reaches, they are believed to have made common cause with the Firbok dynasty, in no small part due to their mutual antipathy for both the greenskins and mankind.
The sector was not reclaimed until the early days of M37 by a Crusade Fleet consisting of elements of Battlefleets Bakka, Charadon and Gothic, some two and a half million soldiers of the Astra Militarum, the Legios Tempestus and Incendium and Astartes of the Fianna, Invaders, Praetors of Orpheus and Benedictors Chapters. After a decades long campaign victory was declared with the conquest of the Mourne system in 133.M37.
As a whole the Sector possessed (as of 999.M41) one hundred and three worlds of tithe-grade Decuma Prime or higher and several hundred more minor inhabited worlds across dozens of systems. Administratum estimates put the pre-rift population at over one trillion Imperial subjects. Disruptive influences were minimal and a large number of productive worlds ensured substantial tithe output, primarily in the form of manufactured goods, agricultural products and raw materials. Malkhari Regiments served in multiple major campaigns including the Tyrian War, actions against Hive Fleets Behemoth, Kraken and Fafnir and domestic actions against Ork and Drukhari threats - by most assessments unexceptional but competent units.
Historical records show no major periods of disruption in the Sector between the defeat of Waagh Gorbek in 927.M39 and the Fall of Cadia. As such it is speculated that many Sector-level authorities were unprepared for the emergence of a major threat. Fortunately these figures managed to avoid the inevitable summary execution such failure would have earned. Unfortunately for them the opening of the Great Rift cut the Malkhari Worlds off from the rest of the Imperium entirely, and the consequent warp storms consumed the Sector capital Hydrata entirely, forcing them to endure far, far worse fates than simple death.
In the decades since the Cicatrix Maledictum appeared the Imperium's control was shredded, facing the forces of the Archenemy on one flank and a newly emboldened greenskin menace on the other, with frequent drukhari raids, squabbling amidst a decapitated command structure and numerous breakaway systems only adding to the chaos. At its worst point loyal forces and a great many refugees were forced back to a single loyal system - Mourne, home of the Fianna chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.
Now, after several decades of preparations, reorganisation and consolidation (and several false starts) the Second Malkhari Crusade is well underway, with the Fianna and their allies carving out a secure territory at the centre of the Malkhari sector.
The Malkhari Sector was prior to the Great Rift divided into some nine sub-sectors:
Clomor sub-sector - one of the best developed regions of the Malkhari Sector, best known as host of the centre of the faith in the region.
(1) Terranus - Capital of the Clomor sub-sector. Current status unknown, last contact 9.877.005.M42.
(2) Brigaid - Birthplace of Saint Derrian, patron saint of the Malkhari Stars and holiest site in the sector. Lost to the Archenemy, 9.103.006.M42.
(3) Benandon - One of a number of systems consumed by the warp storms that cut the sector off after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum. No known survivors, though scrying of the Fianna's sidhe indicate the system is well and truly in the grip of the Neverborn
(4) Ebon Talon - The Ebon Talon warband was first encountered during the liberation of Diarus (73.M42). Their warfleet has been engaged on various occasions throughout the Hydrata, Clomor and Sanlys sub-sectors. Origins are unknown but equipment and configuration of their vessels would appear to indicate that they are a recent renegade formation rather than an offshoot of the traitor legions.
Hydrata sub-sector - once centre of the Imperial hierarchy in the sector the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum and the cascade of warp storms across the region took a particularly grim toll on this area. Many worlds were destroyed outright or consumed by the immaterium, and many more found themselves either seized by the Archenemy, or walked willingly into their clutches.
(5) Hydrata - Former sector capital. Completely enveloped by warp storms in 1.M42. Sector administration annihilated, as were local contingents of the Militarum Tempestus and the Order of the Penitent Daughter. Current primary objective of the Fianna's Second Malkhari Crusade, readings of the Emperor's Tarot and visions from several of the sidhe indicate it must be destroyed as an absolute priority
(6) Olara - Knight World. Fell in 3.M42 after Houses Ilorette and Valadar turned on the Imperium as a while, slaughtering the loyal Houses Archamus, Merillon and Delain. Major target for the Oathsworn, particularly the survivors of the latter three houses.
(7) Ibrone - Home to the largest civilian shipyards outside of Saia. Intelligence indicates that since its fall to the Archenemy these have been turned to military purposes.
Saia sub-sector - Home to the Malkhari branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus and its sole forge world, Saia. Most worlds of this sub-sector are bound to Saia by oaths of fealty or lines of trade, supplying the ever hungry forges with raw materials, component parts, foodstuffs and warm bodies.
(8) Saia - Industrial heart of the Malkhari Sector. Lost in 13.M42 following the awakening of a Necron Tomb located directly beneath the Forge World's Hive Principal. Local Mechanicus leadership wiped out, Legio Incendium fell to the last engine covering evacuation efforts. Retaken in 74.M42 by the Malkhari Crusade with the aid of the aeldari of Craftworld Dal-Riada. Tomb complex destroyed by the escaped C'Tan shard entity identified as Malazek, its subsequent status is unknown.
Mourne sub-sector - Smallest and least developed of the Malkhari Sector's regions, Mourne is a place of dead planets, wandering raiders and feral worlds, their populaces descended mostly from the freed slaves of the great Orkish Empire that once made this place their home. Mourne itself is the only system here of note to the rest of the Imperium, being home to the chapter of the Adeptus Astartes known as the Fianna. In more recent years it proved the last holdout of Imperial authority in the Sector, and later the launchpad for the ongoing Malkhari Crusade.
(9) Nugelata - A weak sun wreathed in interstellar gases and debris with no true worlds orbiting it. Site of a years long pacification campaign against a number of traitor pirate bands, Orkish Freebootaz and Drukhari raiders that was deemed a success in 69.M42
(10) Morgase - Logistical hub of the Malkhari Crusade. Primary marshalling ground of the Malkhari Legions.
(11) Mourne - Home system of the Fianna. Currently centre of Imperial power in Malkhar. Third world of Resolution remains chapter world of the Fianna, the second and fourth (Alriad and Mourne Prime) have been heavily settled by refugees over the last century.
(12) Arkensworld - "The Crucible". Site of the first attempted counter-attack by the Fianna and their allies in 29.M42. Division between the various Imperial Guard formations and lack of a clear chain of command resulted in several hundred thousand casualties before the invasion was repelled by greenskin defenders. As a result Chapter Master Andun Caislean abolished the remnants of the Astra Militarum in Mourne and consolidated them into the newly founded Malkhari Legions.
Sanlys - Noted for an uncommonly high number of safely inhabitable planets, Sanlys is a place of quiet, productive worlds and verdant paradises that once attracted visitors from across the Sector and farther afield.
(13) Marchese. Site of a violent civil war between the inhabitants of the Paradise World's tropical islands, backed by the PDF, and the populace of the main continents (consisting primarily of indentured laborers). Stalemate endured for some years until it was decisively resolved by the intervention of the Malkhari Crusade.
(14) Aylam - Presence of Traitor Legion Astartes in Malkhar confirmed. Malkhari 42nd completely annihilated by company-sized formation, tentatively identified as belonging to the Night Lords.
(15) Calbeck - Capital of the Sanlys sub-sector. Planetary governor declared primacy over rest of sector following the fall of Hydrata. System subsequently declared independence in 9.M42. No contact since 11.M42.
Lupus - Home to several famed Knight Worlds that endured through the depredations of the Old Night, and then through millennia of further isolation after the fall of the Sector in the aftermath of the Great Heresy. After the greenskins overran much of the region it was the Knights of Lupus who would form the core of the exile brotherhood known as the Oathsworn.
(16) Ephiri - Quarantined by order of Ordo Xenos, 972.M40, following infestation of xenotype Troglydium hrudii.
(17) Remat - Capital of the Lupus sub-sector. Most populous world in the Malkhari Sector pre-M42. Fell to Waagh Kargrak 13.M42.
(18) Agenco - One of the Sector's pre-eminent Knight Worlds. Homeworld of the grandmaster of the Oathsworn, Archduchess Isobel du Chayne. Fell to Waagh Kargrak 14.M42. Retaken 73.M42 following a grueling campaign that cost several hundreds of thousands of lives, including nearly half of the Fianna 8th Company. Warboss Kargrak Gutcleava confirmed to have been present, but withdrew prior to the world's reconquest.
Morat - Once the sector's frontier Morat and its sisterworlds were the heart of Malkhar's military might, contributing the best mortal soldiers and the finest voidfarers the sector had to offer.
(19) Dal-Riada - Aeldari Craftworld, known to frequent this area of space for several millennia. Has been known to cooperate on occasion with local Imperial forces, predominately in recent years against the awakening Necrons of the Firbok dynasty.
(20) Morat - Capital of Morat sub-sector. Former home port of Battlefleet Malkhar, recruiting world for the finest Malkhari regiments of the Imperial Guard. Overrun by Waagh Kargrak 15.M42, with the loss of the majority of Battlefleet Malkhar's surviving vessels.
Orbesh - Malkhar's breadbasket and stockpile - raw materials, foodstuffs and manufactured goods from these worlds once flowed across the sector.
(21) Gamalon - The last Imperial world to fall outside of the Mourne sub-sector and the first to be retaken by the Malkhari Crusade. Major source of recruits for the Malkhari Legions thanks to its substantial former slave populace
(22) Lurdia - Major agri-world. Abandoned by Imperial forces following the fall of Saia. Retaken in 66.M42. Scout teams found not a soul alive on the planet but no signs of most of the populace. Local military commanders and civic leaders were found dead in the profaned Cathedral of His Divine Mercy in the capital Trebalis, with the manner of their torture and execution leading to suspected Night Lords involvement. No sign of the broader populace was discovered, but Trebalis was expunged from orbit before resettlement commenced.
(23) Vylaid - Major source of raw materials to the forges of Saia. Retaken from the greenskins 79.M42. Currently under attack by Orkish counter offensive, Malkhari 17th and 33rd besieged.
(24) Nuraq - Capital of the Orbesh sub-sector. One of the three most productive industrial worlds outside of Saia (alongside Ibrone and Markam). Fell to Waagh Kargrak in 9.M42. Currently under the control of Mekkaboss Orbaz Ironbasha.
The Vantene Reaches - Not a true sub-sector, the Reaches was the sector's new frontier, in theory a place of opportunity and potential. In reality The Vantene Reaches were filled with fleaspeck outposts and uncivilised holdouts, liberally mixed with greenskins raiders and a scattering of minor breeds of xenos. The rise of Waagh Kargrak and the awakening near a century later of the core worlds of the Firbok dynasty have done little to improve it.
(25) Katrach - Home to xenos race of the same name. Believed to have been completely exterminated on no fewer than three separate occasions, but have on each occasion reemerged and slaughtered human colonists and garrison forces. Following the third occasion the system was quarantined and declared Perdita.
(26) Velor - Former centre of the Velorian Overkingdom, the preeminent non-Orkish polity in what is now the Malkhari Sector between M.35 and M.37. Subjected to Exterminatus by elements of Battlefleet Charadon in 090.M37. Velorian vessels persist now only as nomadic bands aboard the remnants of their once great fleet.
(27) Domain of the Orreti - Official designation Dacian 208. Home system of the Orreti xenos race. Discovered mid-M39, the species is was granted an Edict of Toleration by Inquistor Malika Suth of the Ordo Xenos. Deemed predominately harmless the species was confined to the system, with commerce permitted with a handful of chosen trading dynasties. No contact has been made with the Orreti since the end of M41 and their current status is unknown.
(28) Cinntra - Origin point of Waagh Kargrak, lost to the Imperium M.42.
(29) Angathir - Crown World of the Firbok dynasty. Awakened c.75.M42, which is believed to be closely linked to the recapture of Saia and the release of the Thunderer.
(30) Gathalos - Frontline of the war between the awakening forces of the Firbok dynasty and the entrenched armies of the Waagh Kargrok
(31) Uivis - Recently taken from the greenskins by Necron legions, which resulted in the enslaved human populace viewing the xenos as something akin to liberators. Currently aligned with the Firbok dynasty. Imperial authorities torn between eventual reeducation and integration and simple exterminatus once the Crusade reaches Uivis.
(32) Vinloss - Homeworld of the Vinlossi xenos race. Frequent raiders and scavengers throughout the Vantene Reaches, they are believed to have made common cause with the Firbok dynasty, in no small part due to their mutual antipathy for both the greenskins and mankind.
Was planning on doing a Turkey ISOT since August but stalled on that and while I could try doing a simpler version of what I wanted I don't think I could do it for today.
But I just had an idea so there we go, in the honor of the Republic Day of Turkey have a Turkey that after abolishing the Ottoman Sultanate did not abolish the Caliphate:
OTL Turkey abolished the Caliphate 18 months after abolishing the Sultanate but this Turkey did not (which might not be the sole POD, I plan some things with Japan with an older POD that did not have much influence outside of East Asia). Therefore Turkey had a ceremonial monarch while remaining a republic (the Caliph being in a similar position to the OTL Emperor of Japan). The Caliphate on a whole had a moderating influence on both Turkish politics and the wider Islamic World. Turkey in general is a more democratic and liberal. The Lira has a higher value as well. There has been an amount of suppression of religious right-wing populist parties with CHP leading a mostly dominant party political system as a center-left party (currently leaning social-democratic), with MHP acting as a secular nationalist right-wing party (leading to modern Turkey consisting of two major parties and several smaller ones, with some of them in the parliament). Turkey operates under a constitution similar to the OTL 1961 Constitution. The Diarchy bit is because of the existence of the Caliph as a pseudo constitutional monarch and of the President as the actual head of state.
But I just had an idea so there we go, in the honor of the Republic Day of Turkey have a Turkey that after abolishing the Ottoman Sultanate did not abolish the Caliphate:
OTL Turkey abolished the Caliphate 18 months after abolishing the Sultanate but this Turkey did not (which might not be the sole POD, I plan some things with Japan with an older POD that did not have much influence outside of East Asia). Therefore Turkey had a ceremonial monarch while remaining a republic (the Caliph being in a similar position to the OTL Emperor of Japan). The Caliphate on a whole had a moderating influence on both Turkish politics and the wider Islamic World. Turkey in general is a more democratic and liberal. The Lira has a higher value as well. There has been an amount of suppression of religious right-wing populist parties with CHP leading a mostly dominant party political system as a center-left party (currently leaning social-democratic), with MHP acting as a secular nationalist right-wing party (leading to modern Turkey consisting of two major parties and several smaller ones, with some of them in the parliament). Turkey operates under a constitution similar to the OTL 1961 Constitution. The Diarchy bit is because of the existence of the Caliph as a pseudo constitutional monarch and of the President as the actual head of state.
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This is interesting. Most countries with some kind of constitutional monarchs tend to be parliamentary rather than presidential in nature, though that's mostly a consequence of how they came to be.
It is not a complete presidential system. The system outside of the Caliph works as a unitary semi-presidential republic.
Dorozhand
Banned
That map is incredibly cool.
I'm working on a map and a wikibox at the moment concerning an Abbasid Caliphate surviving as an Iraqi state, and the possibilities seem pretty widespread for what could come of it.
Awesome story and awesome map! And while I enjoy maps with other orientations, I'm pretty sure that Chinese maps at this time did normally have north as "up".
Who was he? As far as I know, the Emperor Wu for the Manchus was Nurhaci, who founded Later Jin and had been honoured by later emperors of Qing as Emperor Wu. So who was the other Emperor Wu then?
Yeah well, it's almost a convention for every Chinese dynasty to honour their first few emperors of this title. Martial prowess, war capability, warrior nation --- everything a necessary quality any big empire have concluded into one script.
Does the different colors mean that German communism is distinct from Stalinism?
The Cretaceous Period (145 to 66 million years ago) seashore in Alabama vs how Alabama voted in the 2016 election.
"It means that in the Cretaceous period plankton lived along the shoreline and, when they died, they created large deposits of chalk on the seabed. When the seas receded they drained through the chalk and created soil which, millennia later, turned out to be great for growing cotton. So the ancient Cretaceous shoreline became land where lots of slaves lived. Now those areas have large African American populations, who tend to vote Democrat."
Whats up with the partial occupation of Ethiopia by the Italians? Also, how is the country still maintains its grip on Libya when the Metropole has fallen? Is it propped up by the Allies?
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