Uluujol
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Land of the Great Road Uluujoldunjeri | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1432–1739 | |||||||||
| Capital | Ozhe | ||||||||
| Common languages | Ozhi | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute Elective Monarchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Marriage of Niri of Ozhe & Shui of Lo | 1395 | ||||||||
• Coronation of Ozkan I | 1432 | ||||||||
• Fall of Ozhe | 1739 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Uluujoldunjeri (from Ozhchuyan, literally "Land of the Great Road"), commonly referred to as simply Uluujol (uː-luː-ʒɒl), sometimes rendered as Yuzol was a land empire located in central Ochran. Situated along major east-west overland trade routes between Belisaria & the Periclean Basin and Eastern Ochran, the realm was a primary political hegemon in Central Ochran, and a successor realm of the Bayarid Empire. In the present, the lands occupied by the Khaganate include the nations of Untsangasar, Shimlar-Pashmir, and [other nations].
Unlike its Bayarid predecessor, Uluujol was created through a mix of conquest and dynastic unifications, with the final and most major one being the marital union of the Chuyan Khanate in the west and the state of Lo in the east, in which the two eventual heirs of the Khanates, Niri of Ozhe and Shui of Lo wedded. The couple ruled the combined realm together, and when they passed on both thrones were united in the person of their son, Ozkan.
History
Founding
Following the collapse of the Bayarid Empire in 1147 CE, the area of what is now Uluujol fragmented into numerous competing states. In the west, the Shahdom of Karda and Buminid Khanate fought for control of the area between the Chuyan Sea and the Periclean Sea, while weathering depredations of the Osorid Khanate to the north. To the south and east of the Chuyan Sea, the Shahdom of Xhorasem and the Altunid Khanate (sometimes referred to as the Ozhekhanate]] battled for supremacy, as well as facing invaders from the south and east. To the east, the headwaters of the Great Chu River saw conflict and conquest between the southeastern Kingdom of Tali, the Lo State, and, in the northeast, the Bayarid rump state of Ikdemid Khanate. Smaller petty states also appeared in the wake of the Bayarid collapse, although these had mostly been conquered or reduced to protectorate status by the dawn of the 13th century.
The first major consolidation occurred in 1227 when a Lo army successfully captured the city of Tali, and then, a year and a half later in 1229, Viangsavan fell. In 1235, the de-facto city state of Lavangnoa fell to the Lo invaders, who would rule Tali & Lo as one realm for the next fifty years. Meanwhile, to the west, the Buminids swept west to the Periclean, conquering the whole of Karda by 1263, only to lose several of their eastern provinces, including the capital of Samakent to Altunid forces.
In 1289, the old Lo capital of Lojing fell to Ikdemid invaders, who rolled south through the mountains and into Tali and the Eastern Chu Basin. By 1295 Lo-ruled Tali had fallen, and Lavangnoa had surrendered to Ikdemid forces. Cuyen II of the Ikdemids proclaimed himself "Emperor of Tali, Lo, and Aspanaken".
In 1311, a the long war between the Buminids and Altunids ended with the fall of Firuzabad, with the Altunids dispatching the remainder of the Buminid leadership and subsuming their clan. A year later, Timur II Khan would be killed in battle against a Xhorasemian invasion of the Altunid Khanate. After an unfavorable peace had been concluded, Timur's son, Arslan Khan, would mend the Khanate's armies before invading Xhorasem in retaliation in 1317. The Xhorasemian armies fell quickly, and the capital of the same name was captured the following year. However, it would be another decade before Arslan's forces were able to sufficiently pacify Pathestan or Irmestan to consider the conquest of Xhorasem complete.
With most of what is now Uluujol squarely in the hands of the Altunids and Ikdemids by 1330 CE, the two states quickly found reasons to feud over the divided Chu River Valley. A series of three wars (1338 - 1341, 1346 - 1348, and 1350 - 1354) saw minor territorial changes, but neither side able to gain the upper hand.
The two states would be forced into cooperation when the Osorid Khanate, long focused elsewhere, erupted into the Chu Valley, invading both states as they fought in 1354. A peace was hastily concluded between the Altunids and Ikdemids, who turned their attention to repelling the fierce invaders. Although they were successful in repelling the First Osorid Invasion (1354 - 1356), others would follow in 1360, 1367, 1372, and 1380. Counter-invasions helped slow the invasions, but a violent equilibrium had set in by the 1390's, with the Osorids intermittently raiding either the Altunids or Ikdemids, who themselves alternated cooperation and conflict.
In 1395, a meeting between the Altunid Ozgur II Khan and the Ikdemid Mutengge IV Khan in the city of Dashken bore fruit; a treaty of eternal friendship and alliance was signed, sealed by the marriage of Ozgur's son, Niri, to Mutengge's daughter Shui. As Shui was Mutengge's only surviving issue (his two sons, Fiyanggu and Cuyen had both perished fighting the Osorids), when the Chanyu died in 1416, Shui succeeded him. Also part of this alliance was a resolution to finally dispose of the Osorids; in 1397, a joint Altunid-Ikdemid army rode north, and over a series of 3 years, annihilated the Osorid Khanate, incorporating it into the new joint realm that Niri and Shui ruled jointly beginning in 1404. When they died (Niri in 1428, Shui in 1432), their eldest son, Ozkan was crowned Khan of Khans of what had become as the Jade Road Khanate.
Geography
Politics
Uluujol is a unitary absolute monarchy. The government is led by the Khagan.
Within the system, aside from a few rules which govern how the Khagan is selected and a handful of precedents that are only violated at their own peril, the Khagan's will reigns supreme. However, in light of the size and diversity of the realm, in practice much of the day-to-day administration is carried out by authorities appointed by the Khagan.
The Khaganate is divided into 33 provinces, each officially ruled by a khan or shah and functionally administered by a governor, who heads up a governing board. The governors are appointed directly by the Khagan, who in turn appoint their respective governing boards, although it is customary for governors to follow (or at least account for) the recommendations of local representatives in the selection of their immediate subordinates.
Although theoretically a governor can be appointed from any other post or position, the majority of governors are appointed either from the Shuukh (often a member of the dynasty or an Ekinji Bala), or are promoted from a governing board in their respective province at the recommendation of their predecessor.
The Imperial Shuukh (or Court) consists of the Khagan, all living members of the Imperial clan, any living Ekinji Bala, former governors, and any of the 33 provincial Shahs or Kahns and their clans.
Selection of the Khagan
At the death or abdication of a Khagan, a new Khagan must be chosen. The Khagan is elected by the Imperial Clan from among the previous Khagan's descendants: to be eligible, a person must be either child of the Khagan (and, if an Ekinji Bala, adopted into the dynasty formally) or an immediate blood relative (generally a sibling or the legitimate child thereof).
The new Khagan is voted on by all members of the dynasty with three degrees of separation or less with the most-recent Khagan: this means, functionally, the Khagan's spouse (if they are alive), their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents (if they are alive), their great-aunts and great-uncles, their aunts and uncles, first-cousins (aunt's and uncles' children), their siblings, their nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and the Khagan's own children, grandchildren and, potentially, great-grandchildren. It should be noted that this number does include members of the Ekinji Bala.
In most cases, the previous Khagan designates their desired successor. If a Khagan does so, that designated successor will mount the throne unless three-quarters of the Imperial Clan's members vote to block them from the throne.
Should the designated successor be blocked (or if one is not named), the next-eldest son (or, if no sons survive, eldest daughter) of the previous Khagan is considered heir-apparent, and will mount the throne unless two-thirds of the dynasty vote to block them from the throne.
Should neither the designated successor nor the eldest heir (or next-eldest, if the designee was the eldest child) be permitted to the throne, each of the Khagan's descendents will be voted on in succession order: their spousal children in order of birth for males, then in order of birth for females. Should none of them receive a simple majority of votes to ascend the throne, the designee will be voted on again, this time requiring only a simple majority of votes to ascend the throne. If there is no designee, or they fail again, the eldest (or next-eldest)(preferably-male) heir is voted on with the same criteria.
Should the designee and the Khagan's children all fail to garner enough votes, the Khagan's siblings, nephews, and nieces follow. The eldest brother will be voted on first, then their sons, then daughters, and then the next eldest brother (or, if there isn't one, the eldest sister), and then their children in the same process. In the event that none of the previous Khagan's siblings, nephews, or nieces is able to mount the throne, then either the designee (if there is one), or eldest surviving spousal offspring will mount the throne anyway.
In practice, the throne rarely passes to anyone other than the previous Khagan's children, and it is very unlikely for anyone but a designee or eldest legitimate heir to take the throne, due to the initial votes requiring high thresholds to prevent, rather than confirm, their ascent.
Ekinji Bala
The Ekinji Bala are children of the Khagan born to anyone other than their spouse. In almost all cases, members of the Ekinji Bala (literally "secondary children") are born to one of the Khagan's concubines. They exist in a legal gray area: they are not full members of the Imperial dynasty, despite bearing the Khagan's clan name. As such, they cannot inherit the throne under normal circumstances.
Ekinji Bala are generally well-educated and raised as part of the Imperial clan, groomed either to be married off to pursue dynastic alliances, or for placement as high-ranking officials. In the event of either a failure to produce a legitimate heir who survives to adulthood, or in the event of an Ekinji Bala distinguishing themselves to a significant extent, a Khagan can elevate them into the Imperial Clan. When this occurs, they are considered on equal footing to a child produced by the Khagan with their spouse, although for line of succession purposes they are considered to be younger than any of the children fathered by the Khagan with their actual spouse.
The status of Ekinji Bala is hereditary within one generation: the children of a child of the Khagan are also considered to be Ekinji Bala. However, if they are not elevated into the Imperial Dynasty proper, or fail to marry back into it, their children will simply belong to the second-generation spouse's clan.
In dynastic politics, Ekinji Bala are considered important to the election of a new Khagan (at the death or abdication of the previous one): although non-elevated Ekinji Bala cannot take the throne themselves, they do vote on the ascent of the next Khagan, meaning that placating or alienating them can make ascension easier or more difficult for a would-be heir apparent.
Because Ekinji Bala are often fast-tracked to high-ranking positions in government and civil service, there have been several noteworthy members of the class in the Khaganate's history. Noteworthy current members include Governor Baraz Yu of Osh Province, Governor Darya Fahadi of Samarqand Province, Minister of Health Azar Yu, actress Lan Yu, and Xi'an Mayor Aysen Yu.
Military
Foreign Relations
Economy
Demographics
Uluujol contains numerous ethnic groups, generally categorized by their ethnolinguistic ties.