Persia

Persia is a formable nation for countries that are apart of the Iranian Culture Group it does not exist at the beginning of the game, instead being represented by various fractured states.

It is the only country in the world where Zoroastrianism is still the official religion.

### **Lore**

Sassanian rule in Persia has endured for a thousand years, outlasting the many dynasties which have risen and fallen in rapid succession elsewhere. As one of the few surviving remnants of the Old World - the Classical Era of legends and sprawling, marble and gold empires - there have been many envious rivals to make attempts at prying Persian glory from Sassan’s lineage. Though a meager few have come close to destroying Persia, the Sassanian's almost met their match when they bore the brunt of rapid Islamic invasions out of Arabia in the 7th Century - a series of conflicts immediately following an already crippling war with the Byzantines.

 Yazdegerd III, King of Kings, proved ineffective in his rule as the Persian Empire built by the great Sasan crumbled. No greater echoing of this spiral into oblivion could be seen but for the capital Ctesiphon’s swift capture and sacking at the hands of the Islamic forces in 637 AD. With barely even a hastily-drafted levy as the remainder of the Persian army, Yazdegerd’s sole saving grace was his foresight in evacuating most of the treasury from the capital as his court abandoned the west. The additional funding it provided allowed for bolstered ranks and better equipment when the Persian forces decisively routed the Caliphate at the Battle of Navahand. The Sassanian victory against the Caliphate allowed their thinned garrisons to maintain the central territories behind the Zagros, albeit at the cost of the treacherous Caspian satraps seceding upon realizing their liege was incapable of retaliation. Though central Persia was consolidated, the Shahanshah’s satraps proved ineffective at preserving southern Persia - particularly the birthplace of the Achaemenid dynasty in Fars - which fell with minimal organised resistance.

 As the centuries passed, the Sacred Fires in the north were the only ones to remain alight; Islam had entrenched itself in much of Western and Central Asia. The westward invasions of the bloodthirsty Mongols and the Turkic Seljuk's and Timurid's over the years would have little effect on the isolationist Persians in the north, as the mountainous natural borders would prove to be their best defense, complementing the hit-and-run tactics of the new Sassanian army. Recently Timurid influence has begun to wane as their state enters its death throes, whilst the Nizzarids peer towards the imminent power vacuum with great interest. As the Persians rally for one last struggle, a single question remains: can the Shahanshah - the King of Kings - re-establish the Sassanian dynasty as the hegemons of Western Asia, or will the last Sacred Fires of Zarathustra be extinguished in the impending chaos? Armed with the people’s faith in Ahura Mazda, the world may yet again come under Persia’s rule...

### **Strategy**

Build your army up to force limit. You can either start attacking Fars. Mazandaran. or Shirvan. capture some key provinces like trade gold and so.

### **Missions**

Persian missions revolve around the Zoroastrian resurgence and the reconquest of the lands that once belonged to both Sassanian and Achaemenid Empires. Their mission tree consists of 28 missions.

### **National Ideas**

* **Traditions:**
	+ +2% missionary strength
	+ +10% morale of armies
* **Ambition:**
	+ -10% aggressive expansion impact
* **Ideas:**
	+ **Pagan:**
		- +10% infantry combat ability
	+ **Encourage Persian Rug Production:**
		- +10% goods produced modifier
	+ **The Immortals:**
		- +5% discipline
	+ **Improve the Silk Road**
		- +10% province trade power modifier
	+ **Atar, the Holy Fire**
		- -1 national unrest
		- +1 tolerance of the true faith
	+ **Sassanian Court**
		- -15% advisor cost
	+ **University of Gondishapur**
		- -5% technology cost