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Welcome to (AM5) The Tauric Peninsula

20:17, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

(AM5) The Tauric Peninsula

(Most) magi like their comforts. Silk from China, cotton from India, Persian rugs, exotic spices and dyes from all over the Far East...
Magi also need exotic reagents and the best materials possible for their enchantments. Many of these also come from the Far East.

Or came, anyway, over the Silk Road, and flowed through Constantinople on their way to Europe. With the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the whole region devolved into a mess of warring successor states, both Greeks and Latins (and let's not forget the Seljuk Turk Sultanate of Rum), and alternate routes had to be found by the merchants, toward the Black Sea and the Empire of Trebizond, the Kingdom of Georgia, or even the steppes held by the Cumans. Both Venetian and Genoese traders scrambled to create new trading posts and trade routes to connect those routes to Europe, but even those are now sputtering out. Something has happened. Something big: the Silk Road has withstood invasions and wars before with barely a hiccup.

What happened, and no one in Europe has even a clue about it, was a very pissed off Genghis Khan. Now, Genghis Khan and the Mongols in general did not earn a reputation as gentle conquerors even at the best of times (although they were actually quite decent overlords once the initial conquest was accomplished), but this was far worse: Genghis Khan had sent a delegation to the Khwarezmid Empire, which ruled Central Asia and Northern Iran, saying "We now have the obligations of neighbors. Human wisdom requires that both sides walk the path of concord and observe the duties of friendship.", and the Empire replied by slaughtering the entire delegation, about 450 people, thus not only mortally insulting Genghis Khan and all the Mongols, but committing blasphemy on top of it (the Mongol religion protected ambassadors).

Genghis Khan, who was busy conquering China, gathered his hordes, rode West, and conquered the Khwarezmid Empire, then proceeded to systematically slaughter all its population. The Silk Road, actually a network of parallel roads that could easily survive the destruction of one city, was shut down because there were simply no cities left to go through.

And some magi are not happy about it. Of course, they are forbidden to interfere in mundane matters, but there are loopholes. Self-defense, and defense of their property, to start with. If a covenant were founded, as far East as feasible, and they sent out their own caravans, they would be perfectly within their rights to defend them. Wouldn't they ? But founded where ? Egypt ? The Levant ? Trebizond ?

What about the Taurus peninsula ? Historically it controlled trade to both the North, all the way to the Baltic, and the East, as the northernmost terminal of the Silk Road. It has ties to the Byzantine Empire, indeed is still part of the Empire of Trebizond, so it is civilized. And it would unite most of the militant hermetic factions, for various reasons, and be out of sight of most of the others. And so it was decided, volunteers would be called, resources allocated, and a covenant founded on the Taurus peninsula, with the goal of investigating the closing of the Silk Road and if possible reopening it, at least for the Order.

Of course, the Mongols are just getting started. But no one in the Order knows it... yet.




This game will take place in the Tauric Peninsula (called the Crimean Peninsula today, but that name did not appear until the 17th century).

The game will start in 1225. The characters will be older magi (50 to 100 years post Gauntlet) sent to... well, do any or all of about two dozens different things depending on who you ask.

The Mongols are coming !