Moghul National Realm

Moghul National Realm

Conventional short name:
Local:	?
English:	Moghul National Realm
Languages:
Official:	Moghul (Arabian is used for diplomacy and trade)
Others:	Dari, Urdu, Zoroastrian Farsi, Hazaragi, Üzbek
Cities:
Capital:	Herat
Largest:	?
Other:	Kabul, Ghazni, Shahr-i-Gholghola (historic site)
Queen:	Gohar IV
Population:	17.9 million (estimated), not counting nomads who frequently cross the borders
State Religions:	Alevi Shia Islam
Others:	Mainstream Shia Islam, Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism, (-) Buddhism
Organizations:	Silk Road League

Moghul National Realm is a monarchy in Central Asia.

Administration

Government

The country is a non-democratic, constitutional monarchy. The government under the Crown is representative, as it takes spokesmen from the different tribal regions of the nation, and allows them to speak within earshot of the Crown. Naturally, the Crown can veto and ignore any lawmaking or policy suggestions that either Council brings up.

The Inner Council for a long time was comprised of only tribal representatives from predominantly Alevi regions; in 1913 other Muslims were admitted to the Inner Council.

The Outer Council is comprised of the Inner Council members, as well as representatives of other provinces and territories held by the Crown; with the 1934 Decision, the Outer Council was almost dissolved, as it was considered unneccessary - but was kept on, just in case new territories came the Crown's way.

History

The founder of what we know as Moghul National Realm was Mohammed Zahir-un-din, also known as Babur. In the timeline of IB, he led his early 16th Century [A.D.] armies to greater victories against the Narsids than he had done with the Safavids in OTL, extending his kingdom all the way to the Persian Gulf. While not eliminating the nation of Persia from the ranks of extant nations, this weakened the Narsids, opening a fifty-year window which the Ottomans would be sure to take advantage of, before the emergence of a Persian Shah who was able to hold back the Ottoman tide.

Babur's successor, as he was preparing to hand over power to his own successor late in life, established trade and diplomatic ties with China, which is why there is a form of yuan used as currency in Moghul National Realm.

In the mid-17th Century [A.D.], several duchy-sized provinces in what is OTL-India broke free of the Baburid Dynasty's holdings, declaring their independence from the central dynasty. While two of them were briefly re-captured (1697-1719 A.D.) by Queen Gohar II [ruled 1691-1711], they were lost once more during the reign of Babur II [ruled 1715-1729]. This is part of the reason why relations between the modern Moghul National Realm and the Indian nations are so often tense. This only accelerated the loss of ties with China, a process which was completed by the increasingly insular Second Baburid Dynasty after the National Civil War. At the same time, an Afshar Turk named Nadir Shah ousted the Moghul National Realm and their Afghan allies from Persia, thus beginning the end of the Moghul Realm's status as an empire.

In the mid-18th Century [A.D.], the National Civil War took place, with several competing rivals for the Throne fighting it out with entire armies [war 1745-1767], and various tribes from outside the borders hoping for a chance at some of the spoils/rewards. For over a century following the N.C.W., the game of cirit was heavily suppressed, as it was feared to be a way for potential rivals to train their troops. After the war, the Second Baburid Dynasty began.

It was during the Second Baburid Dynasty that the language was reformed.

In the late 18th Century [A.D.], a flowering of Turkish art and philosophy took place following the ascension to the Baburid throne of the self-professed Turkophile Babur IV [ruled 1789-1821]. The reigning religion at this time changed to Alevi Islam. The ancient sigil of a coiled/curled dragon was placed onto the national flag at this time.

There is a story told among the inhabitants of the region around Shahr-i-Gholghola, that in 1825, Timur II, the successor to Babur IV, visited the "City of Sighs" and prayed there for three weeks, praying for the souls of those who died there. While there is no written documentation certifying that this visitation actually took place, there is also none to say that the visitation is a falsehood.

Timur II's own successor, Dost the First [ruled 1837-1847] promoted settlers to move into the area next to Shahr-i-Gholghola, to form both a New and an Old City side by side. Dost also sent emmissaries to the Ottoman Empire, with the proposal of a Holy War against the Safavid Persians; no reply was sent to Dost, as the Ottomans were too busy at home to wage war, so Dost shelved that idea.

In the wake of the 1922-'33 civil unrest in the Zoroastrian provinces, King Dost III made concessions to the tribal leaders of those provinces -- allowing their representatives a seat on the Inner Council, which had previously been restricted to only Muslims; needless to say, this was not a very popular decision with everyone else, but it restored a degree of stability to the land, and kept the nation strong enough to discourage foreign adventuring in the Moghul National Realm.

In 1980, the Russian Empire invaded the Moghul National Realm. This was the initiative of SNOR leader Bogolyubov himself. He suffered from religious delusions and had made it his personal mission to put an end to all whom he considered heathens. The war would last four years; and although huge parts of the country were under effective Russian control, the Russians could never obtain full control, and several armies of partisans were constantly able to bring heavy losses upon them. A ceasefire could only be concluded in 1984, shortly after Bogolyubov had put aside in a coup. In 1985, Russia would leave the Moghul National Realm as one of the first acts of the new Russian leader Gorbachenko.

In mid-1991, the Crown put forth a proclamation, informing one and all that the religious agitator Osama BinLadin, if he ever entered the nation, was to be arrested immediately and executed without trial - for his C.A.R. (crimes against religion, which includes misrepresentation, mistranslation of holy books, etc.).

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Crown has begun taking notice of increasing unrest in the Moghul National Realm's eastern province, particularly of the increasingly vocal demands of the local Buddhists who want a seat on the Council. Few Council members openly support this action, as the demanders are either immigrants from the Indian states, or are the children of immigrants from the Indian states.

The Moghul National Realm has also begun to emerge from its long insularity, and it has already begun to make diplomatic proposals to other Turkic states ,(Uyguristan, Turkestan) for alliance, if not confederation/federation together.

Geography

Borders

North: Turkestan.
West: Persia.
South: Arabian Sea.
East: Sinð, Disputed Area (both Queen Gohar IV and her predecessor have offered to mediate in the dispute), Sikh Rázj Sam̃ðh, Kashmir.
Northeast: Tibet.

Factbook

• Official Name: Moghul National Realm (formerly: Afghanopakistan; alternative proposals were: Afghanistan, Mughal Kingdom, Azeridaraya, Afghanistan-o-Hind, Bactria, Pakistan, Azadistan, Pushtunistan/Pakhtunistan)
• Airship/train stations: Kabul
• Official coinage: Bir-sahm ("one arrow" in a Turkic-Arabic muddle)
• Other coinages: Yuan (commonly called the "steppe yuan" or "hill yuan" to distinguish it from the Chinese yuan; China does not consider this to be a true yuan)
• State sport: Archery
• Other sports: Oil wrestling, polo (?), buzkashi, cirit ("jereet") (cirit is a Turkish horseriding wargame which dates at least back to when the Seljuks entered Anatolia, if not earlier still; I'll try to find a website about it for you).
• Republic established: 1875, under the weak King Dost II, who was quick to grab on to this idea to quell the tide of dissent against his father's absolutist regime.