Zangids

The Zangids are a Turkish Beylik formed at the collapse of the great Seljuk Empire. The Zangids are a Republic dominated by a singular family. The Zangids seek to expand and unite the Beyliks to reform the great Sultanate of Rum.

## Zangid Ideas

### Traditions

Trade Efficiency: +10.0%Mercenary Cost: -20.0%

### Law of Konstantin

Tolerance of Heathens: +1.00Max Promoted Cultures: +1

### Ambition

Domestic Trade Power: +15.0%

At the height of the Seljuk Empire, hundreds of Turkic tribes flocked from the steppes through Persia and the Caucuses into Anatolia and beyond at the behest of the Seljuk emperor. They were both conquerors and settlers, taking land from the Byzantines and establishing themselves as the new owners of that land. These Beyliks, as they were known to be called, became dominant in expanding the frontiers of the empire and establishing Turkish communities. However, as the Empire grew larger, soon the Beyliks were faced with a difficult proposition. The Seljuks were doomed to collapse, as their state had grown weak and their army was fracturing. As such, when the state came under attack by the Mongols, many lords chose instead to submit to the invaders or break away and form their own states.

The breakup of the Seljuk empire began in the late 13th Century, and over this time, several major Beyliks began to organize themselves; the Anushtenigids, the Artuqids, the Chepnids, the Zangid State, and the Isfendiyarids. These states were found in the west of Anatolia, as there they faced limited threat from the Ilkhanate. The Anushtenigids and Artuqids were among the first to convert to Christianity, claiming both sincere conversion and a political desire to create closer ties with the Byzantines. The Zangids were a republic controlled by a single family, and their conversion to Orthodoxy followed shortly after. The Chepnids,

however, much like the remnant Seljuk state, converted to Sunni Islam, believing that appeasing the Seljuks and the Ayyubids would prevent their destruction. The Beyliks underneath the Ilkhanate faced challenges to survive in that tumultuous state, with some finding power and others being wiped off the face of the map.

One such group, the Sarukhanids, decided to play to the remaining Persian nobility, and took up the practices of Zoroastrianism. By the late 14th Century, the Ilkhanate had collapsed and the Seljuks were on the rise yet again. Their conversion to Islam and the rapid conquest of central Anatolia presented a threat to the Beyliks. During this period, they sent out a Ghazi band to conquer the west in the name of their Sultan, led by a man named Akgun. He conquered the Isfendiyarids, establishing the Akgunid realm and refusing to bow to the weak Sultan in Erzurum. The timing was perfect, as the Sarukhanids, who had consolidated much of the Armenian territory left behind by the Ilkhanate, had just defeated the Seljuks in a grueling siege, forcing them to sign a humiliating treaty.

The Year is 1444, and the Beyliks prepare for war. Whether it be the Christian Beys of the Anushtenigids or Artuqids, the pious Sunni Chepnids, the Ghazis of the Akgunids, the merchants of the Zangids, or the poet-sacrificers of the Sarukhanids, all are preparing for war. The battle for the destiny of the Turkish people rests in their hands...