ReignWulin:Mongolia

Company Stats

• Might: 6
  • Keen: +2d to all Might rolls against companies of lower Might.
• Treasure: 4
  • Rules of Plunder: On the first Might+Treasure roll to attack in a given month, change one die to an ED.
• Influence: 4
• Territory: 5
• Sovereignty: 4

History

• 1206: By this year, Temüjin from the Orkhon Valley dominated Mongolia and received the title Genghis Khan, thought to mean Oceanic Ruler or Firm, Resolute Ruler
• 1207: The Mongols began operations against the Western Xia, which comprised much of northwestern China and parts of Tibet. This campaign lasted until 1210 with the Western Xia ruler submitting to Genghis Khan. During this period, the Uyghur Turks also submitted peacefully to the Mongols and became valued administrators throughout the empire.
• 1211: Genghis Khan led his armies across the Gobi desert against the Jin Dynasty of northern China.
• 1212: Subutai takes the city of Huan by storm and rises to the position of Genghis Khan's chief general.
• 1219–1221: While the campaign in northern China was still in progress, the Mongols waged a war in central Asia and destroyed the Khwarezmid Empire. One notable feature was that the campaign was launched from several directions at once. In addition, it was notable for special units assigned by Genghis Khan personally to find and kill Ala al-Din Muhammad II, the Khwarazmshah who fled from them, and ultimately ended up hiding on an island in the Caspian Sea.
• 1223: The Mongols gained a decisive victory at the Battle of the Kalka River, the first engagement between the Mongols and the East Slavic warriors.
• 1227: Genghis Khan's death; Mongol leaders returned to Mongolia for kuriltai. The empire at this point covered nearly 26 million km², about four times the size of the Roman or Macedonian Empires.
• 1229: Ogedei elected to position of Supreme Khan at the kuriltai following Genghis Khan's death - according to his deceased father's wish.

Culture

The Mongol Empire is governed by a code of law devised by Genghis Khan, called Yassa, meaning "order" or "decree". A particular canon of this code was that the nobility shares much of the same hardship as the common man. Under Yassa, chiefs and generals are selected based on merit, religious tolerance is guaranteed, and thievery and vandalizing of civilian property is strictly forbidden. Yassa also imposes severe penalties – e.g., the death penalty was decreed if the mounted soldier following another did not pick up something dropped from the mount in front. On the whole, the tight discipline makes the Mongol Empire extremely safe and well-run in comparison to many surrounding kingdoms. The Mongols commonly boast that a woman carrying a sack of gold could travel safely from one end of the Mongol territories to the other.

The Mongols are governed by a non-democratic parliamentary-style central assembly, called Kurultai, in which the Mongol chiefs meet with the Supreme Khan to discuss domestic and foreign policies. Kurultai is a general term for tribal assemblies convened to determine, strategize and analyze military campaigns and assign individuals to leadership positions and titles - most of the major military campaigns are first planned out at assemblies such as this and there are minor and less significant Kurultais under subordinate leaders and generals.

Trade routes and an extensive postal system (yam) cross the breadth of the Mongol nation. Many merchants, messengers and travelers from Song, Jin, Dali, and lands of the West use this postal system to communicate with distant lands and all merchants and ambassadors, having proper documentation and authorization, traveling through Mongol territories are protected by Yassa. However, any resistance to Mongol rule is met with massive collective punishment. Cities have been destroyed and their inhabitants all slaughtered if they defied Mongol orders.

• Mongolians have always lived in tents; though they’ve entered a city, they weren’t used to living in palaces.
• Mongolians have always lived in the wild and made the world their home. Eating and drinking outside was no different than eating in a hall to them. One of the guards brought some wine and food to them and laid a rug on the ground.
• Mongolians weren’t as strict as the Han when it came to adhering to custom and tradition.
• Mongolia was bitterly cold. For most of the year, the Gannan River was covered in snow and ice. Among the Mongolian warriors, those extraordinarily strong would practice ice bottom diving by setting up a rule that the last one who got out on the ice surface would be the winner.
• Traditionally, as soon as the scorching summer has passed, Mongolians would immediately cut down all the available tall grass and pile it up. During the harsh winters, Mongolians relied on these grass piles for feed for the animals as well as fire for warmth. Often these grass piles would be bigger than their gers.
• Mongolians love to hunt and all of the aristocrats or people of wealth own hunting dogs and falcons.
• Even though the Mongolians had no written language at the time and little culture, they placed a great deal of importance on politeness and respect, especially regarding guests. Mongolians, traditionally, never curse, even when facing a lifelong nemesis or just joking around. When someone enters their gers, no matter if the person was a friend or not, that person would be treated with great respect and honor. By the same token, the guest must absolutely not disrespect his hosts either, for it was considered the greatest of insults.
• [Note: Koumiss is a very strong Mongolian alcoholic drink made from horse milk.]
• When Mongolians become sworn brothers, they call it swearing “anda”, which was Mongolian for sworn brother. Mongolian tradition dictates that when swearing anda, the sides must exchange gifts.
• In Mongolian culture, stopping someone from drinking is an enormous insult.

Mongolians love raising leopards for hunting purposes. Not only do leopards run faster than hunting dogs, they are especially feisty; being caught by the leopard means instant death for whatever they are set upon. The only draw back was that the leopards consumed a great deal of food; so only royalty or top officials could afford to keep leopards.

Military

Genghis Khan organized the Mongol soldiers into groups based on the decimal system. Units are recursively built from groups of 10 (Arban), 100 (Yaghun), 1,000 (Minghan), and 10,000 (Tumen), each with a leader reporting to the next higher level. Tumens, and sometimes Minghans, are commanded by a Noyan, who was often given the task to administrate specific conquered territories. From two to five Tumens would then form a hordu meaning army corps or field army, from which the word "Horde" is derived, under the command of the Khans or their generals (boyan). The leaders on each level have significant license to execute their orders in the way they consider best. This command structure is highly flexible and allows the Mongol army to attack en masse, divide into somewhat smaller groups to encircle and lead enemies into an ambush, or divide into small groups of 10 to mop up a fleeing and broken army.

Six of every ten Mongol troopers are light horse archers, the remaining four are more heavily armored and armed lancers. All soldiers usually carry scimitars or axes as well. The Mongolian horses are relatively small, so they lose short distance races under equal conditions. But since most other armies carry much heavier armor, Mongols can still outrun most enemy horsemen in battle. In addition, the Mongolian horses are extremely endurable and sturdy, which allows the Mongols to move over large distances quickly, often surprising enemies that had expected them to arrive days, if not weeks, later.

Mongols are experts in laying sieges, often diverting rivers and food from cities. They also send off refugees to other unconquered cities, in order to strain enemy resources. Siege machines are an important part of Subutai's warfare, especially in attacking fortified cities. The siege engines are disassembled and carried on horses to be rebuilt at the site of the battle. The engineers building the machines are recruited among captives, mostly from China and Persia. When they slaughter whole populations, they almost always spare the engineers and technicians, swiftly assimilating them into the Mongol armies.

• Ever since the times of Ji Si Khan, whenever the Mongolian army attacked a city, they would first send the citizens of the surrounding country towards the city they were attacking. If the soldiers who were guarding the city weakened their resolve at this sight, the Mongols would immediately come forward and attack. By using this method, the Mongolian army was able to slaughter the citizens of the nation they were attacking and defeat their opposition in the city, killing two birds with one stone. It was extremely brutal and cruel but effective.

Disciplines

The great "three manly skills" of the Mongolian people are archery, horsemanship and wrestling. These skills are valued and practiced for their application to warfare, but are also competed with in the festival known as the Naadam.

Mongolian Archery

The Mongols, if right-handed, keep their bow in the left hand, pushing it forward as the right arm pulled the string all the way back to behind the ear. With the left arm fully extended, they prepare to release. However, because of the power and draw force required of the bow, a special technique to hold the string is used. During the drawing of the bow and before the arrow is released the string is held by the thumb, since this is the strongest finger and the thumb is supported by the index finger curling around atop the outermost joint, at the base of the nail. The other fingers are also curled, forming a fist. The thumb is usually protected by a thumb ring of leather, agate, jade, metal, bone, or other material.

Mongolian soldiers are trained to shoot while riding on horseback, and with deadly accuracy. This is done by skilfully timing the shots to the moment when the hooves of the horse were in mid-air, so as to avoid disturbing the aim when they hit the ground.

• 1 point: You do not take a multiple action penalty for combining Coordination + Riding with Coordination + Bow.
• 2 points: As the 1st level technique, and in addition any unworthy opponent you attack with your bow is treated as Threat 1.
• 3 points: You may attack individual targets at extreme Long range (ranges where normally you would only be able to volley into formations). Such attacks suffer a -1d penalty, however.
• 4 points: You may attack two targets with a single shot. Roll your attack as normal and apply the success (if any) to both targets. If either target Parries, their Gobble Dice apply to the attack for both of them, but if they Dodge their Gobble Dice only apply separately. This shot must be your only attack in the round but it may be combined with non-attack actions.

• He saw Fawang had fired another arrow. As soon as his left foot touched the top of the city wall he immediately grabbed a bow from one of the guards and fired an arrow of his own towards Fawang’s arrow. The arrows collided in midair and Fawang’s arrow was split into two. Fawang was stunned. Suddenly, a fierce gust arrived; a ‘zheng’ sound was heard as the metal bow in his hands snapped in two.
• “You boast about your skills with the bow and arrow, and others even call you Jebe. Why don’t you and this friend of mine have a little shooting contest?” Temujin declared. In Mongolian, “Jebe” means both “arrow” and “divine archer.” Jebe had another name, but because of his incredible skill with the bow and arrow, everyone called him Jebe and his real name had long been forgotten. [Note: According to Mongol records, when he first entered Temujin’s tribe, Jebe gave his name as Jirgadei.]
• But what he didn’t know was that Bogurchi was a master at shooting arrows one after another and two more arrows bore down on him.
• Jebe, speeding his horse up, suddenly slipped off the saddle, reached down, picked up three arrows off the ground, sat back up, and shot one of them all in one motion.
• Just as it looked as if Guo Jing was about die from the spear, an arrow suddenly shot out of the Mongolian army to the left. Like a meteor shooting around the moon, the arrow hit the spear dead on the head with a loud “bang!” Packed with incredible strength, the arrow was able to deflect the spear away despite being many times lighter.

Mongolian Horsemanship

Mongolian horse racing as featured in Naadam is a cross-country event, with races 9 to 18 miles long. The horses are organized into six different classes by age, with the youngest being two years old. After the races, the top five horses in each class earn the title of airgiyn tav and the top three are given gold, silver, and bronze medals. In addition, the horse that finishes last in the two-year-old class (the daaga class) is given a top-five award, in the belief that that horse will do better in the next race.

• 1 point: If you are within ten feet of a horse, you can mount it without a roll and without suffering a multiple action penalty on other actions you take in that round. In addition, any Endurance roll made to travel long distances on horseback receives a +1d bonus.
• 2 points: Any attempt to unhorse you is at Difficulty 5. You do not take a multiple action penalty for combining Coordination + Riding with Coordination + Lance.
• 3 points: As the 2nd level technique, and in addition your horse may attack without penalty while you are riding it, and your attacks from horseback gain a +1d bonus.
• 4 points: Any Coordination + Riding roll to spur your mount to speed has its Width automatically increased by 1. This explicitly applies to the Charge maneuver.

• The arrows were coming so fast that they seemed almost connected, creating a chain of arrows in the air. Seeing the situation, Jebe, holding himself up by hooking his foot through the stirrup, flipped himself beneath his horse’s belly.

Mongolian Wrestling

Genghis Khan considered wrestling to be an important way to keep his army in good physical and combat shape. Wrestling was also used occasionally as a way of eliminating political rivals. There are known incidents of the Khan arranging to have political enemies killed via a wrestling match. Wrestling matches are held in the open on a grassy field, or bare dirt ground not too hard or littered with gravel. There are no weight classes. A small wrestler can end up wrestling someone twice his size.

Traditionally, match-ups are not based on an equal chance. The host of a naadam has the privilege to arrange matches- often, in ways that lend their favorites the upper hand. Sometimes such arrangement results in serious disputes between hosts and visiting wrestlers.

• 1 point: You do not have the usual Difficulty 3 when making a Slam attack. Opponents do not receive the usual +1d bonus on Trip or Slam attacks against you when you attempt a Shove.
• 2 points: Any attempt to Down you faces a Difficulty equal to your Body stat. This technique cannot be combined with movement, including Dodge.
• 3 points: You may combine a Slam or Trip attempt with an unarmed Parry without suffering a multiple action penalty. Parrying an armed attack suffers the standard penalties, however. If your Parry and your Slam or Trip are both successful, the success Width is automatically increased by 1.
• 4 points: Any Slam attempt you make is timed as if its Width was 4.

• Mongolians are unmatched in wrestling and these eight men were first-rate fighters in the Mongolian army.
• He slammed down forcefully on Ouyang Feng's back, causing Ouyang Feng to suffer intense pain even with his good martial arts. This technique was called the [Camel's Pull], and it was so effective that only a wrestling expert could deal with it.
• Guo Jing was happy and his right hand released its grip and slipped upwards behind Ouyang Feng's back. With a loud yell he pressed both palms down. In wrestling this move was called the [Mountain Breaking Move] and was used when the opponent had fallen, so that no matter how strong his shoulders were or how good his wrestling techniques were, there would be nothing much he could do as his shoulder would break if he tried to move.

People

Ogedei Khan

The Supreme Khan of the Mongolian Empire and third son of Genghis Khan, Ogedei Khan is now in his middle age (about 45 years in age). He was considered to be his father's favorite son, ever since his childhood. Ogedei is known for his ability to sway doubters in any debate he is involved, simply by the force of his personality. He is a large, jovial and very charismatic man, mostly interested in enjoying the priveleges of his rule. However, he is also intelligent and steady in character.

Known to be a humble man, who knows his human limitations, he does not believe himself a genius like his father was, and he's willing to listen and use the great generals that his father left him, as well as those capable people who present themselves to him now. Like all Mongols, he was raised and educated as a warrior from childhood, and as the son of Genghis Khan he was a part of his father's plan to establish a world empire. His military experience was notable for his willingness to listen to his generals, and adapt to the circumstances. His steadiness of character and dependability were the traits that his father most valued, and that gained him the role of successor to his father, despite his two older brothers.

Prince Hou Du

• Only twenty years old at this time.
• Disciple of Jinlun Fawang.
• Luckily, Huo Dou has studied under a Han scholar when he was young, he had read books and recited poems.
• Ferocious Wind, Rapid Thunder: Huo Dou started to whistle, the fan on the right and his sleeve on the left created a strong gust of wind, rushing forwards to Zhu Ziliu. The force of the wind was very strong, the crowd who were watching couldn’t help but move backwards slowly, they heard him making thunderbolt like noises with his mouth, they all thought that apart from using weapons, fists and kicks, this “Ferocious Wind Rapid Thunder Skill” also uses the surprising calls of thunder to subdue and control the opponent; it is a very powerful technique.
• The poison on the nails was produced from the snowy mountains of Western Tibet and is very lethal. As soon as Zhu Ziliu was struck with the nails, his body broke out in unbearable pain; it was difficult for him to stand up properly.
• Huo Duo had grown up in Mongolia and Tibet and had always been surrounded by honest people, how would he understand the craftiness of Jiang Nan kids.
• Huo Dou’s metal fan suddenly came out and then ‘da da’; he had sealed the pressure point on their legs.
• * The two of them were speaking in Tibetan, which Yang Guo could not understand.

Subutai

Born just west of the upper Onon River, he belonged to the Uriankhai tribe, a name Mongols gave to a number of tribes of forest people. Subutai's family had been associated with the family of Genghis Khan for many generations. His brother Jelme also served as a general in the Mongol army. Subutai joined Genghis Khan (or Temujin) while still a teenager. Within a decade he rose to become one of the senior officers, commanding one of roving detachments operating ahead of the main forces.

Subutai is now the chief strategist and general of Ogedei Khan and quite possibly the greatest strategist and general the world has ever seen. He gains victory by means of imaginative and sophisticated strategies, usually maneuvering the enemy into a losing position before even joining battle. At the age of 64 he is no longer in the fighting trim of a career soldier but he still has the vigor needed to travel and direct a battle from the rear lines (as the Mongol way is to keep the leaders far from the thick of fighting).

Touli Khan

Tolui Khan, at age 40, is the youngest son of Genghis Khan. His ulus, or territorial inheritance, at his father's death in 1227 was the homelands in Mongolia, and it was he who served as civil administrator in the time it took to confirm Ogedei as the second Supreme Khan. Before that, he had served with distinction in the campaigns against the Jin Dynasty and the Khwarezmid Empire, where he was instrumental in the capture and massacre at Merv.

When Genghis Khan was deciding who should succeed him he had trouble choosing between Tolui and Ogodei. Tolui had amazing military skills and was very successful as a general, but Genghis Khan chose Ogodei because Ogodei was more capable politically. Genghis Khan felt that Tolui would be too cautious to be an effective leader.

After Genghis Khan's death, Mongol nobles gathered together and elected Tolui as the new Khan, but Tolui rejected their decision and gave the Khanate to his brother, Ogodei, fulfilling his father's wishes. The Mongol nobles' moves were partly influenced by the tradition that the youngest son inherits his father's properties and partly because Tolui had the largest and most powerful army at the time.

Yelu Chucai

Yelü Chucai is a Mandarin statesman of Khitan ethnicity with royal family lineage to the Liao Dynasty. Well versed in Buddhist scriptures and a practitioner in Daoism, Yelü Chucai is best known for his service as the chief adviser to Genghis Khan. Yelü Chucai's father Yelu Lu, served with the Jin Empire, which defeated the Liao Dynasty in 1125, and it was the unified Mongolian army under Genghis Khan that began a war of conquest against the Jin Dynasty in 1211. Both Jurchen and Khitan rebels joined the Mongols in the fight against the Jin Dynasty, and Yelü Chucai joined Chingis Khan's administration in the year 1218 at the age of 28. At the age of 40 he is now one of Ogedai Khan's chief advisors.

The Khitans and Mongols were united by their common enemy of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty. This is shown in the well-known words pronounced by Genghis Khan, at the end of July, when he met Yelü Chucai for the first time at his ordos in the Sāri Steppe (west of the great bend of the Kerulen River): "Liao and Jin have been enemies for generations; I have taken revenge for you." To which Yelü Chucai replied, "My father and grandfather have both served the Jin respectfully. How can I, as a subject and a son, be so insincere at heart as to consider my sovereign and my father as enemies?" The Mongol is said to have been impressed by this frank reply, as well as by Yelü Chucai’s looks (he is a very tall man with a magnificent beard reaching to his waist) and sonorous voice. He gave him the nickname "Urtu Saqal" (Long Beard) and placed him in his retinue as an adviser.

He does his best to convince the Mongols to tax rather than slaughter conquered peoples. This wise chancellor's words temper the barbaric leanings of Mongol methodology, stating to Ogedai Khan's he has said; that empires may be conquered on horseback, but could not be ruled on horseback. While the Jin territories are capitulating under the Mongol onslaught, Yelü Chucai is instituting several administrative reforms, like separating civil and military powers and introducing numerous taxes and levies. In response to the tough resistance the Mongol army faced while trying to conquer the Jurchen Jin's southern capital of Kaifeng, some Mongol officers in high command recommended the complete razing of Kaifeng and the deaths of all it's occupants. But Yelü Chucai convinced Chingis Khan to rule and tax the people, and make use of their extraordinary talents instead of killing all of them in order to further their own riches.