Surviving Indus Civilisation

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Hmm...I'm debating about which way to take this. I have a few options- having this situation (weak Emperor, strong Oligarchs) continue, having them return to the old strong Emperor situation, or having the Cherayal come in and actually seize the throne :D

Cherayal take over from weak Emperor strong oligarchs, impose strong imperial control, several emperors later, the emperor is weak and the Cherayal are overthrown. This will result in continuing animosity between Meluha and the Cherayal.
 
Having the Cheryal take over would seem to me like the most interesting situation to happen, have them rule for about a century or so and have them dethroned by a charismatic Meluhan;)
 
How about a two way invasion? Turkish people sweep into a collapsing 6th Dynasty , around 100 AD or so , while the Cheryalyan Dynasty faces incredible revolts from the Meluhans and invasions from which ever dynasty succeeds the Zhou ( Maybe a Chang Dynasty? ) in Burma and the Agripalaego. The result : After a century , a skilled Turcic King Unifies northen India , and is Meluhanized , before his heirs turning on the Cheryalyan states to the South . By 200 AD , the 7th Dynasty , a dynasty of Turkik Origins takes power in India.

In the mean time, Turks and Sarmatians ( or OTL proto Slavs) descent on Hellenized Europe and Mesopotamia and North Africa. They are eventually Hellenized too , but not before putting a Proto Slavic dynasty on The throne of the Western Empire.

The Chinese , meanwhile , also suffers massive pressure on the frontier , but holds. Between the Three Empires lie many small states formed in the Chaos . And then , the Arab Eruption begins. Within a century , Arabs boot the Sarmatian Emperors out of the West and siezes the Empire entirely ( save for Northern European Holdouts) , while also conquering vast parts of Persia and breaking into the collapsing 7th Dynasty, forming the 8th Dynasty. By 600 AD, another Chinese Dynasty falls apart. However, by 800 AD, a kind of equilibrium is re established. Four Empires reign in the world- the Chinese , an Indonesian Empire , an Indian Empire about the size of the Achaemenids , and a Western Empire of Arabic - Norman - Heleno - Roman influence.

By 900 AD, on the peripheries of these empires are several significantly large Kingdoms in Indonesia and on the Volga and Northern Europe + a Japanese Empire.
 
Though the new balance of power was shaky at first, it proved the salvation of the Empire. The Four Great Houses, working cooperatively were able to use their forces to turn back the Cherayal advance. A peace treaty was soon brokered between the Empire of Meluha and the Cherayal League.

The new Emperor, known to history as the Feathered Staff Emperor was a relative nonentity who had worked in a ceremonial position within the Imperial bureaucracy. As such, without a military power base, he was quick to accept that the position of Emperor should be purely ceremonial and symbolic. The actual governance of the Empire was passed on to a Council made up of representatives from the Four Great Houses and numerous lesser houses of the Empire.

590-490BC

Though the Four Great Houses attempted to maintain their grip on power in the Empire, it became clear that inevitably, control was sliding back to the centre. Though the Feathered Staff Emperor was a nonentity, it became clear that the Imperial Civil Service were just as eager to use him for their own ends as the Oligarchs were. It was in this century that the Imperial Exams were begun, selecting the best and brightest from all over the Empire for positions within the Civil Service. While the Great Houses looked inward at their assigned quarters of the Empire, the Civil Service thrived with the cross pollination of ideas brought by the movement of officials from all over Meluha to the capital. Slowly, the Civil Service itself emerged as the power broker in the Empire- though any of the Great Houses commanded military power far beyond that of the Service, all found that the bureaucrats had bound them against each other in complex ties of obligation.

In 502BC the Empire flared once more into Civil War, instigated by Civil Service intrigues. For twenty years various factions struggled against each other until finally a new Emperor was proclaimed in Ashura, the Elephant Tusk Emperor, a mercenary leader, born a peasant who had fought his way to command of the most powerful army in the subcontinent. This second round of Civil War had crushed the power of the houses and the Emperor was able to recentralise military and political power firmly in the hands of the Imperial government. Eager for plunder to supplement the Imperial fisc, he turned his attention tot the Cherayal league.
 
Wow, I forgot that this even existed. Very excited to see it back! Please keep it up if your not too busy Flocc
 
The Elephant Tusk Emperor's decision to invade the League was met with mixed emotions. On the one hand, the civil war had drained the finances of the Empire and seizing the rich Cherayal cities would restore the Empire to financial stability but on the other hand, it was an invasion of the League that had started the century of civil war and instability in the first place.

This time, however, the invasion was being commanded not by a soft Emperor, born to the throne, but by the hard bitten Elephant Tusk, a man of few graces but a natural general. His armies poured over the border, forcing the passes through the Western Ghats and descended upon the cities of the League like a storm. In a series of stunning engagements, Imperial troops smashed the Cherayal. It was only after a defeat at the Battle of Ernakalum where the Imperial fleet was crushed by the allied navies of the Cherayal that the invasion was halted. Even so, the Empire clearly had emerged with the upper hand. The mainland Cherayal states were forced to give trade concessions to the Empire and to provide them with annual tribute- this would be the first step towards the assimilation of the mainland Cherayal within theEmpire itself.
 
Very good, Flocc! I read the entire TL over the past few days, and I like it. One of my many side projects (read: distractions) was brainstorming on how to form a homogeneous India with an imperial system. Sort of the anti-cliche of AH.com: plausible united India. However, I see that you have started a TL on it, done much more thoroughly than anything I could hope to create.

Keep it up, this TL is all kinds of awesome.
 
Any luck yet?:)

I know, I know I should write more for this but what with work and the recent delivery of my Babylon 5 box set I've just been too occupied :eek:

School break is on next week and I don't have much besides a few consultations I have to run so I'll see if I can do something more.
 
Sorry Flocc for the necro thread, but what would happen to the Aryans' language in this scenario?

CalBear will lock this thread in 3... 2.... 1...
 
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