Kuru

Spoiler warning: this page contains heavy spoilers for the short story compilation The Khonsu War.
The Kingdom of Kuru is the largest and most powerful country in India. Founded in 37 BEE, it expanded quickly and soon became one of the most prominent states in northern India, though for a decade, between 72 AEE and 83 AEE, it had a threatening rival to its east - the Kingdom of Pancala.
In 79 AEE, Kuru was invaded by Pancala and lost some territory in the east, at some points even coming close to complete destruction. However, with the intervention of the Eastern Coalition, which agreed to help Kuru in order to gain a strong ally in the Indian subcontinent and so assure dominance there before the OFK could do that. The EC sent the Eastern Coalition Secret Service to discreetly help Kuru and hinder Pancala, which it did, hiring the Resheph's Blades mercenary company and setting up traps for Pancala's officials and supply convoys. In late 83 AEE, after the death of four out of five of Pancala's kings, Pancala surrendered and all its territory was taken over by Kuru. The most crucial missions had been done by the ECSS and Resheph's Blades, without whom the war could not have been won, and for this Kuru agreed to begin talks of joining the EC. 
During the war the king of Kuru Pratipa was kidnapped by the Kemet Intelligence Agency, which imprisoned him for months, convinced him that it was the work of the EC, and then staged a rescue in order to make him aligned with the OFK rather than EC. Yet this ploy did not work fully as intended, as the KIA ship, transporting Pratipa back to Kuru, was intercepted by the ECSS, who killed everyone on the ship, including Pratipa, as he could not be convinced to switch back to the side of the Eastern Coalition. This was covered up and most of the world, with the exception of the head of the ECSS, the Elamite empress Lim-Kiririsha, and the five agents who participated in the execution, was convinced that it was the KIA who killed Pratipa. Kuru's succession crisis was soon resolved, with the king's young son Shantanu becoming the new official king, though due to him being too young, his mother Sunanda and the purohita (high priest) Chandragama were assigned as regents for a few years. 
The Kingdom of Kuru has quite a low literacy rate of 8.9% and a similarly low urbanization rate of 10.2%. The country has a conscript army, which, in times of war, could be raised and include as many as 80 000 soldiers, including chariot and elephant units. Kuru has the small kingdoms of Matsya and Kunti as its puppet states, as they swore allegiance to it after the end of the war in 83 AEE, while the remaining surrounding kingdoms are also in Kuru's sphere, with varying degrees of influence. Kuru's main trading partners are Elam, Magan, and Dilmun, through which Indian goods reach the rest of the Eastern Coalition, with some even going to the OFK countries. Kuru's main exports, some locally sourced and others resold from Southeast Asia and the mountainous regions to the west, include spices, gemstones, cotton, and silk.
Category:Countries
Category:Eastern Coalition
Category:The Khonsu War