Arslanid Sultanate

The Arslanid Sultanate was born of a rebellion by the son of Arslan in 1495. Designated as heir by his father before Arslan's passing, the state was instead taken over by one of Arslan's slave-soldier generals. This was of course met with anger by Arslan's family and those expelled from power by the new rulers, and was also challenged by other slave-soldiers.

Beginning in 1495, the Arslanid rebellion quickly fizzled out and was pushed into northern Khŭlmozhi. From 1495 to 1498, the Arslanids fought a pointless war against the Taltas Sultanate, attempting to retake the south, which was nearly impossible due to their lack of control over the passes and valleys connecting the north and south. Having been stalemated for 3 years, the war eventually came to and end and saw the two sides enter an uneasy peace. However, from the start the Arslanid state was in poor shape. The north had always been harder to govern, and was also less well defended against assaults by the giants of Khŭlmozhi, and therefore suffered attacks from there. It also had issues defending the eastern flank from raids by orcs and to a lesser extend centaurs.

Nonetheless, the Sultanate would make some smaller expansions, and despite failing finish off the few remaining Baxstir states in the region, the Arslanids came to control the majority of the remaining parts of northern Khŭlmozhi that had not been conquered already. Eventually, these states would be taken over by Telrai migrating into the region by naval routes, and their presence brought commercial success for a short time. This century of prosperity was not to last, however, as the rise of the Tögsgölgüi Ord immediately put the Sultanate on the defensive. Raids on its territory by migrating Taltas fleeting the Ord after its leader began conquering them in the 1630s strained the defensive budget, and the Sultans struggled to integrate them into society- these new migrants would take control of the eastern lands past the river [tbd].

The loss of the east fatally weakened the Sultanate, and with the hilly borderlands of Khŭlmozhi now under enemy control, should an invasion come from the steppe it would even more difficult to stop. In the 1680s this concern would become real. Mönke Ordolon, unlike his father Chlazar, set his goal as conquering the coastal Telrai and integrating them into his Empire, and his armies ranged across the northern coasts searching for Telrai to abduct as well as looting human settlements. This drove the migratory tribes to challenge the Arslanid borders in ever greater frequency, and though the sultanate would emerge victorious these shortsighted clashes would fatally weaken the state.

In 1696, an army of Centaurs ravaged the northeastern lands of Khŭlmozhi once more, and pushed forwards, crossing the river [tbd] and sacking the Arslanid capital, as well as their Telrai allies' cities. Even still, the Arslanids might have managed to survive, but the destruction of their Telrai creditors meant an inability to pay the army, and a dissolution of the state into new local factions. Although the Telrai eventually returned, it was too late for the Arslanids, and their former lands have yet to be reunified by any nation.