Eventually my goal is to make the NPCs capable of interaction.

I am now a couple months behind on this.

I had 3 primary stages I wanted to cover.

The goal is so that these secondary powers are somewhat developed and involved in the game...but with a minimal ongoing effort.

I will say now, that this may far exceed what I am actually able to do.

1. Establish "who" these states are - what is their history, their strategic concerns, etc. This will give a basis to evaluate if a player action/proposal is view positively or negatively.

Part of that is determining who their traditional friends and foes are.  That is certainly 'worth talking about'.


2. Devise some sort of tracking sheet for the moderators to record the change in attitudes over time.  Also start recording how big a bonus/penalty was assigned for what action.
For example:
China has a very long term trading arrangement with Laksmanavati, Japan would have a fairly minor one, oft routed through China. This would be a higher baseline for China than Japan.
China declaring a blockade of Japan would have no effect on the Maya, but would have a minor one on Laksmanavati, but how that blockade got enforced would matter far more.
Mining the Malacca strait, or indiscriminate sinking of Laksmanavati merchant vessels by either side would be a large negative. Those would be marked versus the score for those nations-

2b - Interactions with NPCs will have to be fairly cut and dried, I simply do not have time to role-play them that much. I may turn to players or teams of players to decide for distant NPCs.
Really unsure at this time.

3. Establish a RFP cycle, where the NPCs purchase class designs and pay for the class lead to be built in their yards under foreign supervision.
A) The actual numbers of vessels they choose to build will remain hidden, but at least the classes will be premade.
B) The RFP would be open to player or guests, with a $ bonus if a player "wins"
C) I will likely handwave technology for the NPCs and rule they can follow blueprints to make copies, but not make new designs, of techs they don't have.
D) The NPCs do not have domestic oil in large amounts, but that would be granted if they become PCs.

So here I will post the NPCs I have written histories for.

Folks are welcome to suggest changes to pretty much anything,
but I am trying to keep the framework close to historical while
matching the history to the Name Snip gave them :)

Not Listed :
Golden Horde : Not started.

The United Berber : In Progress

Thailand : Not started.

Confederation of 5 nations was something TacCovert was working on.

The Mayan... I believe Foxy had a decent write up for, at least as a foundation.

So this is the first of the NPCs,
The setup should be the same for each.

Who rules & by what form.
The areas it covers,
what nations it's got traditional ties with, or fights with.

A current outlook, a military (usually land) and naval outlook.

A history of how it came to be.

A summary of which peoples live there, and what religions they follow.


Laksmanavati
Current Ruler :   Ramchandra Singa Dev (b1884)
Government :  1850s United Kingdom.
Government Model : Constitutional Monarchy.
Historical Departure Point(s) : 1554, 1700, 1751
Historical Countries : India, Bangladesh, Burma
Friendly Power(s) : Parthia, Byzantine, China, Thailand, Ethiopia, Rome
Hostile Powers(s) : Rajasthan, Deccan Sultanates

Current outlook : The old desires to keep the Deccans from unifying, and stoking passions in Rajasthan to lead to war Decca remain. The sudden expansion of many powers to occupy the minor states from the Swahili coast to the Phillipines in the North and Sunda islands in the South have considerably upset the Kaksmanavati state.

Military outlook : Primarily focused on it's land borders, where Rajasthan and the Deccan Sultanates concern them. The Eastern border with the Empire of Thailand is of less concern due to it's ruggedness and the Thai inability to fight a major war without being vulnerable to Chinese expansion.

Naval outlook: For five hundred years, traders from Laskmanavati have roamed as far as the Swahili coast, China, the Philippines, the Spice islands, the Sunda islands, and western Australia. The Deccan navy is their true adversary, and they maintain a cruiser force capable of countering it.

Laksmanavati is named for an idea, founded on a myth of a city since destroyed.  A National hero, Vijaya Sena, the second of the Sena Dynasty, formed the empire and in 1054 founded a capital city, Laksamavati. Vijaya's reign of 60 years ushered in a golden period for Laksamavati. A hub of trade, the stability brought by his army and fleet allowed the Empire to prosper. Art and literature blossomed, and it became far and wide, the name of the city becoming that of the land. The Empire flourished for 300 years, until in 1327 the last great invasion of the Chagatai Mongols swept as far as the Laksamavati Empire, drawn by the wealth. The Laksmanavati army was destroyed and the city sacked and burned.  When the Chagatai withdrew, the Delhi Sultanate invaded and created a puppet state, the Bengali Sultanate, and founded a new capital at Gaur.

This domination by Delhi continued until the Delhi Sultanate was defeated by the Mughal Empire in 1526. The Bengali Sultanate fell in 1529 after the battle of Gahgara. Sher Shah Suri captured the Mughal throne in 1538, and in 7 short years revitalized the Empire.  Among his achievements was restoring the grand trunk road from the Eastern boundary of Bengal to Kabul. After his death, a period of 10 years of struggle resulted in the restoration of the Mughal emperor.  In this period of unrest, Bengal rose in revolt, behind the banners of a minor noble family known as Deva.  The rebels seized Guar and proclaimed it their capital of the new Laksmanavati Kingdom.  In 1554, they formed a treaty with the Mughal Emperor Humayan, sending troops and tributes to help him to the throne, in return for a promise of independence.

Since 1555, the Deva Dynasty has led the Laksmanvati state in a period of prosperity.  When the Maratha Empire shattered the Mughals at the 1700 Battle of Satara, they tore Laksmanavati free. Reclaiming it's role as a rich state, central to the trade routes, it has prospered as a trading hub. At one time it's capital of Guar was the 5th largest city in the world and maintained contacts from the Swahili Coast to China and the state was called the 'Paradise of Nations' for it's vibrant trade and wealth.

The period of 1741-1751 saw six invasions by the Maratha empire which devastated Laksmanavati, killed nearly a half million, looted the nation and has left a scar on the national psyche. The Maratha defeat by Rajasthan in 1761 was met with celebration. The Kingdom has been recovering since then, aided by it's natural location. 

The fertile lands of Northern India and east to Burma have long led it to battles with it's neighboring states. To the East there were three wars in 1824-1826, 1852-1853 and the final victory over the Konbaung dynasty in 1885 saw the complete conquest of Burma, and reaching the borders of the Siamese Empire.  To the west, the border with Rajasthan is reset with every minor war. The Sultanates find some cause of war every generation,

Laksmanavati has a large immigrant population both from trade partners and from the interior. The base population is a mixture of different peoples. The native Bengali tongue has many dialects, and the Empire has expanded to include other areas, adopting Parthian as the administrative and commercial language (oddly that part was historical), chosen so as not to favor one local language over the others.  The religions practiced are also a mix of all those found in India and Southeast Asia, with Hindi, Muslim, Buddhist being prominent, Zorastorian and Jainism are also common.

Rajasthan
Current Ruler  : Maharana Fateh Singh Sisodia
Government : Imperial with strong traditional Kingdoms, Founded 1761
Government Model : 1867+ Austrian-Hungarian
Historical Departure Point(s) : 1700, 1761.
Traditional Historical Countries : India, Pakistan
Traditional Friendly Power(s) : Byzantium, Thailand, China.
Traditional Competting Powers(s) : Parthia, Deccan, Laksmanavati


Current Outlook: The world wide expansion of various states matters little to Rajasthan, who's focus is land based. They view Parthia as turning it's attention elsewhere as a positive.

Military Viewpoint : The primary foe is the centralized state of Laksmanavati, over the fertile territory to the east. The Deccan Sultanates have numbers, but wars tend to be grand border skirmishes. The Parthians are strong enough to pose a great threat, but are limited by the passes and the strong threats of Byzantium and the Horde. The 1896 war taught any battles between the two would be brutally costly.

Naval viewpoint : The navy is for coastal defense and to interfere with the trade of any warring neighbor. They have chosen strategic footholds at the edges of the Indian Ocean, so that they may protect their trade, or harass those of other nations.

Rajasthan is a large area of rich soils and deep history. The riches of Rajasthan have long made it worth conquerors pushing past barriersIn the north, the foothills are rich in timber, and the mountains in ores. West of the Indus, the Hindu Kush is only broken by a few passes, but has been the source of several large invasions.  The Thar desert secures the Southeasstern border. The Eastern border is the least secure, extending in a fertile plain. This is the site of repeated battles and border changes with Laksmanavati and the Deccan Sultanates for centuries.

Rajasthan is an Empire founded by the Kings of Mewar in southern Rajasthan, ruled by the feudal nobility of the Rajput Caste.  Rajasthan includes the Thar desert, but also the fertile lands of the Punjab region, the five rivers making for an extremely productive farmlands. The end of the Silk road through eastern Parthia to western China is here, and long brought both prosperity and invaders. Parthia holds the silk road passes and the western side of the Indus valley, long a source of intermittent conflict. 

The history includes the Indian, Persian, Indian, Macedonia, Indian, Greco-Bactrian, Scythian, Sassanid , Parthian, then Indian rulers of the area putting their stamp on the region. The Muslim faith was introduced with the invaders of the Muslim conquest. It was refreshed in the expansion of Tamerlane and again a century later under the Mughals.  A Chieftan in the Transoxus,  Babur pushed south along the silk road, through a Parthia still recovering from the devastation of Tamerlane and into what would one day be Rajasthan. In India Babur founded the Mughal empire and expanded, even as Parthia reclaimed it's Afghan territories.  This Mughal Empire with a Muslim ruling class would be a major power in Northern India. 

The professional military castes were known as Rajput. Like the Persian Satraps, military leaders were appointed to lead the various small Kingdoms which made up the Empire. When the Maratha Empire
shattered the Mughals at the 1700 Battle of Satara, civil war ensured, as the Kingdoms revolted, tearing the Mughals apart.

The brief peace afterwards was shattered by a Parthian invasion leading to the sack of Delhi in 1739. A Parthian prince Ma'nu Arascid was placed on the throne of a newly formed Kingdom of Rajasthan. When bubonic plague eliminated five Parthian Monarchs in two years, devastating the line of Succession, the King of Rajasthan Ma'nu Arascid, proclaimed himself the Parthian emperor, gained the backing of House Suren (and control of the passes) and invaded. This led to 9 years of war before his death in battle against the Parthian Queen Rhodogune.

The Kingdom of Rajasthan splintered, as the small kingdoms proclaimed freedom. The Marathas of the Deccans, and the Laksmanavatis proceeded to start advancing their boundaries. The small Rajput states found themselves divided and unable to resist.  The Kingdom of Mewar formed alliances with the other minor Rajput Kingdoms of the area, to reform the Kingdom of Rajasthan. This was later expanded via an alliance with the Jats of the Sikh Empire. This combination was cemented in the victory over the Deccan Marathas at the 3rd Battle of Panipat in 1761.  Subsequent to the battle, a meeting of states was held and an Imperial Constitution agreed to. The Rana of Mewar, Hamar Singh II of the Sisodia clan became the Maharana of Rajasthan presiding over a dual Rajput / Sikh Empire.

A warrior people, Rajasthan has repeatedly fought it's neighbors both for expansion and to defend the agrarian heartlands.  While wars with both the Deccans and Laksmanavati have repeatedly occurred, they last fought the Parthians and were victorious in 1896-97, In that war, a mineral survey led to a dispute over the boundary and a failed Parthian attempt to seize the important seaport of Karachi.

Ethnicity and religion : The peoples are Indo-Aryan, the Religions are primarily Sikh and Hindu, with Zorastorism, Muslim and Buddhism as large minorities.

Deccan Sultanates
Current Ruler :  Chhatrapati Shahu I of House Kolhapur
Government : Feudal Confederation with Elective Monarch
Government Model : Holy Roman Empire
Historical Departure Point(s) : 1700, 1761
Historical Countries : India
Friendly Power(s) : Parthia, Byzantine, Rome, China
Hostile Powers(s) : Rajasthan, Laksmanavati, Aceh, Thailand.

Current Outlook : For thousands of years, traders from the Swahili coast, the Red Sea, the Parthian Gulf, the Children of the Dragon, the Rising Sun, the Spice islands, all their ships have skipped down the Deccan coastlines spreading wealth. Suddenly, many of those locations have been occupied, the old trade routes disrupted. This great uncertainty promises to disrupt the Deccan economy.

The Byzantines and Parthians are at least long term trade partners they know they can deal with, but the Iberians and others claiming spice islands is for the Deccans unfortunate. The Deccans have recently secured a base for their navy and merchants in the Spice Islands.

Military Outlook :
The Confederation is best at defending itself against a common foe, and the border is heavily fortified. But every decade or two some event leads to an offensive or defensive fight and the Confederation rumbles off to war with Rajasthan or Laksmanavati. Each state maintains a considerable force, and the Confederation has jointly invested in Engineering and Artillery resources, so the combination is redoubtable.

Naval Outlook : The Deccan Sultanates maintains a joint naval force, primarily manned by the states with coastlines. Competitive bidding between states ensures a steady stream of vessels, with a large number of cruiser hulls. The presence of large foreign navies is a concern.

Deccan Confederation is a descendant of the Maratha Empire. Expanding after the victory at the Battle of Satara, the Empire became unwieldy, and so an administrative measure, the Empire was arranged as a confederacy of large semi-autonomous noble holdings. With the death in battle of the Chhatrapati (Emperor) in 1761, the empire slowly fell apart, lasting until 1771. The child Chhatrapati was forced to grant a Constitution, establishing the state as a formal confederation with limited central power.

The Deccan Confederation, or Deccan Sultanates, now has a technocratic bureaucracy to run federal functions, and the Sultans send delegates to a Confederation Council. An elective Chhatrapati serves as a central figurehead, sequestered in a palace and afforded a lavish lifestyle while things are done in his name.  The Sultanates are relatively rich and well populated, and have extensive trade connections on both sides of the Indian Ocean, as well as being host to Mediterranean-China transshipment ports. The Deccan Sultanates devote much of their wealth to maintaining their Palaces and temples, and fielding strong armies and lavish fortifications.

Ethnicity and religion : The peoples are Dravidian, with Hinduism as the primary religion, followed by  Buddhism, Muslims, and others. The caste system is strong and active

Ethiopian Empire
Current Ruler  : King Melinick II of the Solomonic Dynasty.
Government : Imperial with strong traditional Kingdoms, Founded 1274
Government Model : 1866+ Prussia
Historical Departure Point(s) : 1330, 1365, 1543.
Historical Countries : Ethiopia, Sudan, Southern Egypt, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti.
Friendly Power(s) : Rome, Iberia, Parthia
Hostile Powers(s) : Byzantium, United Berber States.

Current Outlook : The sudden seizing of much of the African coastline is disturbing, though the Byzantine conquest of Mogadishu has undermined the kingdoms south of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is wary, and has chosen to expand to Pemba, but finds the mangrove swamps unappealing. The Highlands of the Interior beckon.

Military Outlook : For a small power, they have a powerful army. They aim to keep it that way.

Naval Outlook : The Red Sea is their trading link, but is dominated by Byzantium. Ethiopia merely seeks to protect it's own coastline and has some cruisers to show the flag. 


The Ancient Kingdom of Aksum was an early convert to Christianity, which along with Judaism still runs strong today. The Kingdom fell in 960AD to Queen Yodit of al-Habasha, a southern Kingdom which prevailed in battle. She had a long reign, but afterwards the country splintered. Arab traders from Byzantium Arabia took advantage and crossed the Red Sea to seize parts of the kingdom for themselves, introducing the Muslim religion and forming the Zagwe dynasty.  In 1270, this was overthrown, and the Arabs reduced to a coastal strip called the Ifat (later Adai) Sultanate, while a new Ethiopian Empire was proclaimed. The new empire was lead by the Solomonic dynasty was proclaimed as the King proclaimed himself a descendant of the Aksumites, tracing his lineage all the way back to the Queen of Sheba.

The Empire of Ethiopia has slowly expanded over the years. First to the North, absorbing the Sudanese Christian nation of Alodia about 1330, and then when the Sudanese Christian Kingdom of Makuria fell into Civil War in 1365, that too.  They conquered the Byzantine puppet of the Adai Sultanate on the coast in 1543. The Somali Arjuran Empire, and later Geledi Sultanates to the south long blocked much expansion that direction, but Ethiopia did slowly extend it's reach to the Horn of Africa.  The Highlands to the west have eluded them (historically added in the 1880s), but the King believes it is now time to wrest them from the decaying kingdoms there.

Ethiopia has long had border clashes with it's neighbors, from vanished Sultanates and Kingdoms in the south, to Berber raids, or serious clashes over Egypt and the Red Sea with Byzantine. The Kingdom has long been powerful enough to make conquering it a major expedition, a fact the Iberians and Parthians have long known and sought to keep that way. 

Primarily interested in it's land frontiers further into Africa, the Empire of Ethiopia is proudly independent and wishes to be counted among the powers.

The Golden Horde 
Current Ruler  : Noonien Khan
Government :  Feudal Monarchy
Government Model :  1843 Tokugawa Shogunate (with Emperor as Shogun)
Historical Departure Point(s) :  1395
Traditional Historical Countries :  Imperial Russia.
Traditional Friendly Power(s) :  None.
Traditional Competing Powers(s) : All bordering nations. 

Current Outlook : The Golden Horde has emerged from it's shell, but is not interested in events far beyond it's borders. Rather it looks to bolster it's internal strength, and knows it will eventually have another glorious war.

Military Outlook : The Golden Horde has millions of people, vast resources, huge expanses of fertile land to support the largest army on the planet. It is the aim of the Khan to keep it that way. Reforged since the snowy defeat in 1905-06, the Horde is fierce and well armed.

Naval Outlook : The nature of ships, requiring large crews working in unison, does not fit the warrior view. Small, dashing ships bristling with arms, those have at least some glory to them, and form the limited forces for the flanks of the Horde.

A division of the Mongol Empire, given to Grandson of Ghengis Khan in 1227. Under Batu Khan, the Golden Horde proceeded to conquer the Rus and surrounding territories as a Principality. In 1240, the invasion of Poland and Hungary occurred. The planned 1241 assault on the Eastern Franks, the Romans, and Byzantines was canceled when the Emperor died and the Princes had to return for the coronation. The   until the Mongol Emperor died in battle in 1259, leaving no clear heir. The Toluid Civil War was the result, tearing the Empire asunder. In the West, the Khanate of the Golden Horde was born.

The end of Batu Khan's lineage in 1340 led to decades of  instability in the Golden Horde, which split into the White and Blue Hordes. The populace was also weakened by the outbreak of the Black Death. Tohktamysh Khan failed a coup in 1376, and fled to the Timurid Empire. The White and Blue hordes which led to their defeated in detail by Timur in 1395. Timur, considering himself a spiritual descendant of Genghis Khan, reunified the Golden Horde and placed Tohktamysh Khan (a descendant of Genghis) at the head. Islam was also made the State religion at that time. Despite Parthian counter attacks 1393-1400,  By 1401, Timurid Empire included the lands of the Chagatai Khan, Golden Horde, still most of Parthia, part of Rajasthan and most of Byzantine Anatolia; the peak of power was reached, with the decisive defeat of the Byzantines at the 1402 Battle of Ankara.

1402 also marked the beginning of the downfall, for as the combined Timurid force lost a third of it's army while destroying the Byzantines. The Parthians and Chinese, a dynastic treaty sealed by marriage, launched coordinated attacks, battling towards Samarkand. The Chinese attack was first, and the Timurid army had to retreat in haste, riding hard to the East, only to learn the Parthians had launched an offensive towards their capital. The exhausted Timurid forces lacked the strength to decisively defeat either. The war would continue from 1402-1405. These Battles with the Parthian-Chinese coalition had seen those Empires reclaim their lost lands at the edges of the Khanate, and saw Timur grievously wounded in battle, to die some weeks later from infection.

Timur had two designated successors predecease him, and on his deathbed appointed the strongest Prince, Tohktamysh the descendant of Genghis, as his successor. A civil war followed, and the title fell to Jalan ibn Tohktamysh, but in it's aftermath from the Golden Horde absorbed the Timurid Empire and the old lands of the Chagatai Khanate.  The Golden Horde now stretched from the Germanic peoples in the West to the Han Chinese in the East, ruled once again by a descendant of Genghis Khan, Jalan ibn Tohktamysh The silk road had been lost to the Parthian-Chinese attacks, and the Golden Horde bent it's attention to that task, recapturing much of it in 1411. At that time, all sides agreed to an exhausted peace.

The Golden Horde is a feudal state, with the Mongol Warriors as the Warlords dominating.  Military prowess is glamorized, and warfare is considered a noble calling. Wargames of various types are a common past time, and innovation and trickery are prized. Mass levies raise the common cannon fodder they field to supplement their professional forces.  The view is that the role of non-Mongols in general, exist to be exploited by their betters. A strict class society is in effect, with the serfs at the bottom, and the merchants then skilled craftsmen and then artists all supporting the indulgences of the Warrior class.

The Golden Horde has continued to view conquest and tribute as their right. Sprawling over thousands of kilometers of fertile steppe, they have large numbers of people to devote to war. They have waged war commonly on their neighbors over the centuries, typically launching overwhelming raids and briefly conquering areas to extract tribute.  Their loose domination has generally been thrown off decades later by a new war. The Horde's neighbors have learned that when it is attacking another is a good time to fight, though the Horde has been the subject of repeated coalition wars.

The last Great War in 1872 saw defeat by first the Norse-Parthian Alliance, and then to Wilno and Byzantium in the West, while the Chinese won a victory in the Manchurian Winter in 1905-6. These two embarrassments have convinced the Horde they have fallen behind militarily and since then they have opened more to outsiders, ensuring technological parity by fair or foul means.

While their limited navy is mostly fast light craft, their army has been busy reforging itself to be the undisputed land champion.

The Golden Horde has an upper class descended from the original Mongol riders. A class descended from the conquered peoples warriors, as well as ennobled great artists, engineers and scientists, form the upper crust. A middle class of merchants, artisans and craftsmen populate the towns and villages, while the vast plains are home to Russ, Slav, Turkic, Chinese, and Tungusics, serfs and peasants which support the rest. Serf and slave labor drives mines and industry on a vast scale. The Mongol language serves to unify all, and the Islamic religion dominates, with other "people of the book" (Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians) having to pay an extra tax, while others are banned.

Khan, seated on a throne of rich Corinthian leather.

Maya : This one is open for a little bit more discussion.
I had kinda considered making the Aztec the evil empire as folks need a nice villain out there.
But that's a PC now.

So, The Mayan People's Republic seems a good candidate.
It's low down on the list to hand to a player. 
They can easily have a closed society, but could be blamed for various things.
Basically an NPC story foil.

Anyhow, chunks of this started as Foxy's work, which I embellished.

Peoples Republic of Maya

Current Ruler  : Balam-Qitzé, Speaker of the Central Committee. 
Government : Communist Republic. , Founded 1799
Government Model : Jacobian France under the National Convention 1795 (after reign of terror, before Napolean)
Historical Departure Point(s): ~400BCE, 200AD, 1200AD, 1511AD, 1789.
Historical Countries: Southern Mexico, Central America
Friendly Power(s): Roman Empire, Iberia
Hostile Powers(s): Aztec, Wilno.

Overall viewpoint : Alarm. The Aztec are traditional foes, who have only minor superiority. The Appearance of Rome and Wilno in force has alarmed them. They know not quite what to make of these new foes, but their conquests indicate they are Imperialists more like the Aztec, than like minded egalitarians.

Military Goals : They maintain a large mass army, making defense of the homeland against the Aztec a priority. They had been advancing borders slowly south, but Wilno forces have suddenly occupied that area. Rumor is the Wilno engineers are building a canal to compete with the Mayan Overland route, threatening the revenue.

Naval Goals : Swarms of light attack craft to offer defense against the Aztec (Jeune Ecole), some few fast raiders and cruisers for trade protection/attack on the commerce lines linking the Aztec elsewhere.


Settlements in Central America started at least 2,600 BCE, but much of that is lost to time. About 750BCE, cities began to take form, as kinglets rose to power. In the Yucatan, the City of El Mirador started conquering her neighbors around 400 BCE. This gave rise to the First Mayan Empire, a lowland Empire of city states, a powerful priesthood and god-kings.  The lowlands have poor soils, and the watertable is deep down. Intensive irrigation, hording soil, and clearing of land for firewood and charcoal amendments allowed large populations which made heavy demands on the deep water. A long drought in 150AD brought famine and then civil war to the land, and the Empire collapsed. The Mayan ways continued in the independent highland city states which still had water.

The City-state of Kaminaljuyu became the center of the 2nd Mayan Empire, asserting loose dominion over the other highland city states and spreading the Empire south. This was the Mayan Classical period, where arts and science flourished. By 900, they had even recolonized the lowlands. This was brought to an end by revolts in the far flung city states, and by 1200 the Empire had fallen, fractured into scattered kingdoms, beginning the Warring States period. 

To the North, the founding of the Aztec Empire and it's subsequent growth and links to the African Mali Empire happened against the backdrop of these warring City states.

In 1511, a treasure ship returning to Mali wrecks on the Mayan coast, and it's crew is captured and largely sacrificed by the God-king of a Mayan City. The Aztec and Mali effort to reclaim the lost wealth leads to a series of raids. The Aztec find the Mayans ill equipped and disorganized, easy to play off each other, and the raids turn to invasion. By 1527 the Mayan cities had fallen.

The Maya were reorganized into a puppet kingdom, Mali Islam imposed and in 1542, An Aztec capital for the area founded, Merida.  A jewish colony, as neutral traders, is established as middlemen. The 1600's and 1700's see increased trade with the African Muslim states and sugar plantations spring up in the Caribbean fueled by a slave trade, and the Mayan prosper along with the Aztec. A glorious period of trade and learning lifts the upper classes further. The common mayan finds himself unable to compete with the cheap slave labor, leading to a large number of desperately poor.

In the mid 1700s, sugar production in Indian Laksmanivati becomes more organized, starts using 'modern' agricultural approaches and early mechanization, output starts dramatically increasing. Prices fall, and the distant Mali Empire, already with internal problems, finally collapses. The Aztec economy suffers disruption and internal unrest. With their plantations unprofitable, and trouble at home, the various nobles and their companies withdraw from the Carribean. The Mali puppet kingdom suffers similarly, reacting by taxing the peoples wealth to support the lifestyles of the nobles. A philosopher gains fame with a new set of philosophies about historical materialism, and inevitable class conflict destroying the current system and replacing it with a new classless one. Executed for heresy, his ideas live on. 


In 1789 revolution hits the former Mayan Empire, fed up with the excesses of the Aztec Emperor, the Immans, and their own 'nobles' the lower classes revolt. The Aztecs are consumed with their own domestic problems and are merely wary bystanders. Their puppet kings prove unable to stop the unrest, which continues to buid. In 1799 the new Mayan People's Republic is declared under a charismatic general and begins a series of short wars of Independence against the Aztec Empire to liberate the Mayan lands. The Aztec factions rally to fight this common foe and the war of Independence sees periodic campaigns by both sides as the Mayan rebels "liberate" land. 

When not at war with the Aztec, the General then leads his troops against other neighboring states, conquering to the South.  Relying on masses of highly motivated troops, the Mayan forces prove capable of destroying the small professional armies led by a warrior elite the Aztec send. The wars lasts for 16 years. Finally at the Battle of Puebla in 1815 the Aztec are decisively defeated, their Emperor captured and slain. The Aztec splinter in civil war, while the exhausted Mayan find their southern provinces in revolt and their economy in ruins. Within a couple years they retreat to their current borders.

The Maya have continued to further the revolution, eschewing Kings, Queens and religion for the Will of the People, as expressed through the Speaker and the Central Committee. The satellite committees and state intelligence agency supposedly supply this information, and then execute the Central Committee's intepretation of the People's Will...taking their best interests to heart. A bureaucratic elite have formed, garnering extra benefits in thanks of their difficult work. The Maya are partially industrialized, and are struggling to transition their economy to a more complex one requiring "managers".   Prominent and accomplished people are given social honors and held up as 'Common Heroes', also earning benefits..and if conformist...may be placed on committees. The state relying on centralized education, and tailoring their historical narrative to suit. Rigorous testing of the young tries to identify both the clever, and the unruly. One is rewarded, the others encouraged to fail. This allows a form of social mobility which the masses view as aspirational.

The Mayans consider it desirable to export their ideology, to share with the oppressed peoples who have not thrown off their shackles and deposed their false leaders. They will provide refuge for those that flee oppression, and may be more active in destabilizing distasteful regimes. Despite their prospering greatly from taxes on commerce on the easy overland route from the Pacific to Atlantic, they view capitalism and mercantilism poorly. To this end, they are rumored to have long covertly given refuge to "Egalitarians" (pirates) who need to sell cargo, and there have been rumors their cruisers occasionally liberate a freighter crew from the tyranny of it's captain and owner. 

The peoples are Native American, the religions are primarily Mesoamerican with a significant Agnostic/Atheistic minority, and a small subsets of Judaism and Islam as the other major constituents.

I'm going to leave the Mayan as last up for a bit.

The entire pirate backing, communist exporting, more active protagonist role is meant as storyline fodder-
but may very well be unwelcome to Maya's neighbors...(hmm that does include most of us)

It is however easy to remove.

I do love me some chaos... even already got some ideas already to help the Mayans export some of that chaos abroad... I might be the wrong person to ask, I am all for it.

Quote from: Desertfox on July 07, 2020, 10:55:56 PM
I do love me some chaos... even already got some ideas already to help the Mayans export some of that chaos abroad... I might be the wrong person to ask, I am all for it.

Hmm, so says somebody without a colony near the Mayans...
As you can tell I used the majority of your write up, and as an acknowledgement for the background work, I left in Merida and the colony.

Political forces can be directed, and there are favorable directions that can be utilized.