Bayarid Empire

Great State of the Bayarids Ikh Bayar Uls
856–1147
Capital	Tara
Religion	Sünsnüüd
Great Khan
• 853 - 855	Tukal
• 856 - 863	Khaduur
•	...
• 1135 - 1147	Mung
Favored of the Khevtuul
• 853 - 861	Tukal
Matron of the Quivers
Legislature	Order of the Lances
• Military Assembly	Assembled Lances of the Khan
• Religious Assembly	Assembled Temple of the Law
History
• Tribal Confederation	853
• Election of the Great Khan Khaduur	856
• Disestablished	1147
Currency	Khayagdal
Preceded by Succeeded by Buminid Khanate Asuke Dynasty Shamanate of Kath Shaddadid Dynasty Golden Horde Oshkanate White Horde Great Khan's Court-in-Taizhou

The Bayarid Empire, also called the Great Bayar State and the Celestial Dominion of the Great Khans, was a land empire mostly in Ochran formed during the mid-ninth century under the leadership of Khaduur Khan and his father Tukal. The Bayarid forces were led by a series of visionary generals and bolstered by control of east-west trade, both of which contributed to the empire's status as the largest in history. The Bayarids entered their golden age swiftly, but their militant society and combative politics eventually led to their decline as the empire was broken into a large number of successor states. Still, the political unification of Ochran under the Bayarids continues to have lasting political consequences into the present, especially in Central and Eastern Ochran.

History

Unification of the Tribes & Election of Khaduur

The so-called Bayars were a relatively small Chorigtol-speaking population in the southwest of modern Chagadalai. The various tribes that would later be known as Bayars were joined by a mythic heritage to the legendary hero, Bakhark of the Wind. The Bakharkic families, under the direction of the Arha (the priestly class of families), began to consolidate power in the region by supervising livestock trades with their neighbors. They earned a great deal of prestige from this position and fiercely attacked "black markets" which formed to avoid their stringent rules. The Arha Laws would form the basis of the new empire.

In the early 9th century, during the simultaneous chaos of the post-Guatama period and the decline of the Buminids in Central Ochran, the Bakharkic families began to lead large, expeditionary raids with adventurers from all across what would later become known as Greater Chuya. The Bakharks became immensely wealthy from leading these expeditions as well as skilled, mounted tacticians. While they became the preeminent military commanders of the Bayarids, they were not universally accepted as leaders and would have to fight or negotiate for the control of their fellow Bayarids. It was only in the early 15th century that Tukal, nephew to the leading patriarch of the Bakharkic Arha, routed a force of the Mags and permanently tipped the scales in favor of the Bakharks.

Having secured, at least for a time, the support of the Bayars, Tukal was entrusted with greater duties, including a campaign to the west. Several successive campaigns into the west made Tukal a power in his own right and, when he returned home, he conspired to have the patriarch replaced with his own son, Khaduur to lead the Bayarids. Under Tukal's careful control, Khaduur formalized the Arha Laws under the aegis of a council of tribal elders while Tukal undertook a massive restructuring the military and cleansed the upper ranks of his opponents. Once Tukal had completed his purge, his name vanishes from history, though it popularly thought that he continued to control the military on behalf of Khaduur.

Early Conquests

Some of the first military ventures outside of traditional Bayarid lands were into the ranges of neighboring nomadic peoples. Due to a lack of written records left by many of these transhumance-practicing peoples, many of their names are lost to history, as they were either often faced with a choice of incorporation into the Bayarid banners (and, consequently, an ensuing cultural assimilation over the following centuries) or resistance and likely extermination. Within a decade of Khaadur's election, the nomads of Northeastern Ochran had accepted Bayarid suzerainty and attention quickly shifted south, towards the wealthy agricultural and trading realms of the Eastern and Southern Coasts.

[Insert Conquests of Ochranic nations here; feel free to include a timeframe that makes sense for you]

[Insert West Ochranic conquests here.]

The Last Alliance of the Chuyans and Ayars failed to oppose Khan Tukal' western expeditions. The entirety of modern day Shirazam fell under Bayarid control. The urban agglomerations that had survived the war were integrated into his empire decimal system: nomadic, rural, and urban populations alike were grouped into Arbat (sg. Arban), a unit of households that could maintain 10 knights, 10 soldiers, and 10 substitutes. 10 Arbat made a Jaghun, 10 Jaghut a Mingghan, 10 Minghat a Tumen. The wiped out Chuyan peoples were regrouped into two Tümen: the Karakarulok, north of the two great rivers, and the Kizilkarulok to the south of it. The nomadic Ayar people were regrouped in their own Tümen by the Bayarids, uniting them in a common Erron identity. The Sakdians, Ayar caravaneers and oasis-dwellers of the Steppes, were also regrouped in their own Tumen. Meanwhile, the Ayar people of the cities (Ovarashmians) that had survived the invasion were grouped into three Tümen and finally, another Tümen of Bayarid people, the Manghuds were settled to secure the southern border of the province. This would put the total population of Bayarid Shirazam at around 950,000 inhabitants, half of which were sedentary farmers, mainly concentrated in the Green Delta. Beside military services, the population under the Bayarids also owed corve work which was mainly used for the maintenance of roads, relay stations, and Caravanserai, keeping the empire administration functional. Cereals, cotton, and other goods were also collected as taxes to replenish the Warehouses then used by travellers and military alike.

Together, these eight Myriads represented a military force of 80,000 to 180,000 soldiers (depending on the level of conscription) directly under Khan Tukal' control. This military strength proved vital for the khan' project of formalizing his family rule over the Bakhark people. Units of Čakar, or Shakar, personal soldier-retainer of the Ayar nobility, are documented as having taken part in the purges of all Bakhark leaders opposed to Tukal' rule.

[Insert Belisarian/Scipian conquests here]

Successor States

Due to its enormous size, the end of the Bayarid Empire saw its replacement by a huge number of successor polities. Along the Ozerosi and Kayatman coasts, this largely manifested in the gradual, increased independence of the city states and realms that had been subordinated to Bayarid authority, with the power vacuum often filled by renewed Tahamajan interest in the area. Bt in much of Ochran this took the form of devolution and de facto independence of local warlords, either members of Bayarid lineages themselves or else realms carved out by chieftains of subject peoples that had been impressed into the larger tribal federation. In Central and, to a lesser extent, Western Ochran, this saw a great proliferation of the Chuyan peoples alongside local reassertions of Azagartian rule. A dizzying array of successor 'hordes' (originally simply administrative divisions) and khanates initially filled the vacuum in Central Ochran, although political reunification would ensue over the next two centuries as the Jade Road Khaganate coalesced into a dominant inland position.

In North Ochran, as political centralization crumbled, many of the nomads of the steppe and taiga resumed (if they had ever really stopped) their herding and transhumance lifestyles, largely based around horses, cattle, and reindeer, increasingly deferring to local and band-level political organization. In practice, this often meant little change aside from the end of levies of young persons to the Bayarids' armies and courts, as aside from these tributaries the Bayarid writ had often been light in these places.

In East Ochran, which had been more urbanized even prior to the Bayarid conquest, something of a mix of occurances took place. Although there were variations, in general political organization largely resumed their pre-Bayarid patterns, but often now with ethnically-Bayarid or mixed ruling classes, with a mixing of cultures particularly evident in the first centuries of the post-Bayarid era.

Geography

At its height, the Bayarid Empire controlled the vast majority of the lands of Ochran, at least in theory. In practice, Bayarid control of many more remote areas was, by necessity, fairly light and unobtrusive, due to the lack of attention and resources those peripheral areas called for. In function, the Bayarids claimed in the 10th and early 11th centuries to rule a domain that included the whole of Ochran's inhabited lands, as well as a substantial portion of Eastern Belisaria (east of Lake Kupalnitsa) and some peripheral areas of Scipia.

Politics and Government

The Bayarids followed a simple elective monarchy in which the descendants and relations of the former Khan would be eligible for appointment to the supreme office. While it was an absolute monarchy, there were many institutions that were outside of the direct control of the Khan which helped to sustain the empire after its expansive period. The most important body was the Assembled Lances, which was first composed of all military age, free men capable of bearing a lance and was responsible for the election of the Khan. Later, the Assembled Lances were only composed of a select few generals, nobles, and priests who lived in the capital as the military of the empire ballooned and included subject peoples.

The Great Khan's chief administrators were his wives and his female relatives. Since they were ineligible for many military honors and could not own a lance--an important political object for the Bayarids--women were considered essentially incorruptible. The Matron of the Quivers was typically the oldest or at least a senior member of the Khan's household and was responsible for the defense of the harem in times of war, especially maintains the supply of arrows and bows, which women were allowed to wield. The overall body of public administrators was first unnamed, since all of their work was done in the name of the Khan, but eventually had to be expanded along with the empire. The colloquial name "Office of Arrows" was popular, but the Khan always referred to his deputies as the Favored Concubinage.

There was officially no need for legislation or laws since the state was the embodiment of heaven and the laws of heaven, as passed through the generations orally by the priesthood, were eternal and unchanging. The high priests of the forty-five supreme spirits formed the Assembled Temple of the Law, which ensured that all decisions were in keeping with the natural law of the spirits. The Temple of the Law, sometimes called the House of Arha, acted as a constitutional oversight of the Khan's Office of Arrows and also was responsible for keeping the record of the lineage of heaven, which determined eligibility for election to the highest office.

During the later periods of the empire, tensions increased between the Temple of the Law and the Tukalid dynasty, as the conservative priesthood jealously guarded the laws and resisted attempts at changes to those laws, even as the needs of a huge and increasingly-cosmopolitan empire exerted pressure to change practices. Consequently, attempts at reform by the Khagan Arghun II in 1042 stalled after his death under suspicious circumstances. When his son, Yesu, followed him in 1049 with a death of similarly-unnatural causes, fingers were pointed at the Arhan priesthood, resulting in a bloody purge of the priesthood by Khagan Sadak in the same year and the Office of Arrows taking over the tracking of the lineage of heavan.

Economy

Transport

The flow of goods across Ochran became the paramount interest of the Great Khans before their conquests were even close to completion. Once the empire reached the Sea of Karda, the most important interest in the flow of goods was the Chu River. With tributaries in Xi and ending in the Sea of Karda, the Chu River was a road unto itself as well as playing host to many roads along its banks. The Great Khan developed these roads, both for military and mercantile usage, and helped to develop river traffic as well. All boarding houses, inns, and hostels within site of the Chu River were tax-free to encourage traders to move their goods through the heart of the empire.

Dredging the river, paving sections of the roadway were considered important enough projects that local governors could reliably expect their tax burden to be partially or wholly forgiven if they appropriately maintains their pieces of the great network of the Jade Road.

Warehousing

Because of the enormous spread of the empire, the collection of taxes was an enormously costly endeavor which often ended in failure and while the Bayarids had their own approach to this problem, the imperial purse ultimately required some supplementation.

Shortly after reaching city of Sirik, the Great Khans arrested several prominent merchants and appropriated their wealth for use in the next campaign against the Shaddadids. This left the Great Khan in possession of seven large warehouses, which he expeditiously left under the command of one of his wives. While the Great Khan moved on to new conquests, his wife Altantsetseg reopened the warehouses to receive goods. When the Great Khan returned to Sirik, before he launched his next campaign against the Siverian Banate, he was surprised to find that Altantsetseg had accrued a substantial amount of gold and silk, primarily by burning down all the remaining warehouses of the city. Thus was born the Great Khan's monopoly on the operation of warehouses in seventeen key cities, most notably Sirik, Tara, and Maesan.

Warehousing became a de facto tax on trade along the Jade Road. Since most trade was only of intermediate distance between a few key redistribution sites, the control of warehouses in just a few cities allowed the Office of Arrows to effectively collect a premium on any bulk movement of goods across the empire. The most lucrative trade, of course, were shipments destined for distant Belisaria, which could be taxed several times along the route. Along with periodic oversight of goods being moved across the empire came the first inklings of economic theory in the empire.

Warehouse receipts developed into a currency of their own and were frequently exchanged for coin or goods in kind. Instead of sending currency from one end of the empire to other it was possible to use warehouse receipts in many transactions. The use of paper money was never universal--it was only available to the urban merchant and upper classes--and in-kind taxes remained dominant in the nomadic and rural agrarian communities that made up the bulk of the empire.