Conquista mongola, 1206

Este tablero de 584 celdas abarca desde la estepa del Mar Negro hasta Corea, y desde el Golfo Pérsico y Delhi hasta la taiga siberiana. Es una instantánea de la primavera de 1206, no el mundo mongol familiar de 1219 o 1227: los Kara-Kitai todavía dominan las redes tributarias de Asia Interior; Corasmia aún no está en guerra con los mongoles; Samarcanda y Bujará son qarajánidas; Zhongdu no ha sido asediado; Karakorum aún no existe. El tablero hace visible la geografía estratégica: los pastos y el desierto gobiernan la movilidad, la frontera Jin y las murallas de las ciudades imponen límites reales, y los corredores de caravanas unen las cortes de China, Asia Central, Irán y la estepa. La lealtad registra el control político, la sumisión registra la respuesta a los términos mongoles y el terreno registra las limitaciones materiales detrás de las campañas. Las notas detalladas de las fuentes y las advertencias sobre las fechas se conservan en research/.

Primavera de 1206. En el quriltai del Onon, Temujín es aclamado Chinggis Qa'an. Los kereit y los tártaros han sido derrotados y su gente dispersada entre nuevos mandos decimales, pero los fugitivos naimanes y merkits todavía cabalgan hacia el oeste y los oirates, los kirguises del Yeniséi y otros pueblos forestales permanecen independientes. La nueva entidad política mongola tiene un ejército formidable pero ninguna capital fija ni una administración imperial establecida: su unidad depende de los juramentos, la redistribución y la autoridad del kan. Más allá de la estepa, los Jin todavía mantienen Zhongdu, los Song están iniciando la guerra de Kaixi, Xia Occidental está convulsionado por un golpe de palacio y los Kara-Kitai siguen siendo los soberanos de Zhetysu, Corasmia y las ciudades qarajánidas. Puedes encarnar a un príncipe, khatun, comandante, gobernante, erudito o enviado en el momento en que estos mundos políticos separados se vuelven vulnerables entre sí por primera vez.

Every turn uses the exact human-readable values from this schema. Spring 1206 begins immediately after Temüjin's quriltai: the Mongol Empire is real, but its conquest machine is not yet complete. Use the historical opening, not the familiar 1219 map: Qara Khitai is still the Inner Asian overlord; Khwarazm is its tributary; Samarkand and Bukhara are Kara-Khanid; Zhongdu is intact. MOVEMENT & CONDITION. terrain is the operational law. Steppe lets a Mongol or Kipchak army move and recover condition normally. Desert costs one condition band unless it ends at an Oasis or a friendly City; Mountain, Forest and Paddy halve cavalry effectiveness and make ambush or delay credible. Sown land sustains a city and its tax base but not a giant horse herd indefinitely. Do not create a separate horse or food scalar: an army's ability to remain is condition interacting with terrain. Split columns can each recover on separate Steppe cells and converge for battle; stacking them on one poor cell should make them Worn or Spent. BATTLE & ABSORPTION. Compare warriors, then condition (Mustered 1.15, Ready 1.0, Worn 0.8, Spent 0.6, Shattered 0.35), terrain, and relevant prestige. At 1.5× effective strength, the stronger side normally wins; the loser loses 25–45% warriors and one condition band. At 0.8×–1.25×, both lose 10–20%, neither cell changes allegiance. When the defeated force is a steppe people and its leader is captured, killed or accepts terms, 35–60% of survivors may transfer to the winner's warriors — but only after being redistributed across existing mixed commands. Leaving an absorbed origin intact raises its leader's loyalty risk; a useful former enemy may be recruited instead of killed. TERMS, DREAD & SUBMISSION. Before investing a city, the Mongol side offers terms. A Defiant city resists; Threatened may accept tribute if dread is high or relief is absent; Tributary pays and retains its people; Subject changes allegiance and contributes routes, tax and specialists. Devastated is reached only by a deliberate sack or punitive destruction, never by ordinary combat, and never leaves that state. Each devastation raises world dread by 8–15 (larger after a famous city); adjacent Defiant or Threatened places become easier to cow. Dread decays 3–5 in quiet years and is not a free win: devastation removes the tax base, specialists and future submission value. WALLS & SIEGECRAFT. siegecraft belongs to the entity leading the operation, not to an abstract empire: one player may command Chinese engineers while a distant prince still has None. At None, a walled City or Fortress cannot be stormed reliably; blockade, terms, betrayal, or rams and ladders are the available paths. Preserving captured engineers, scribes and artisans after a Subject or sacked city advances that leader's siegecraft one band when the capture genuinely supplies the expertise; the leader may then teach or assign those specialists to another entity. Killing or dispersing them does not. Chinese engineers are the historical threshold at which major northern walls become practicable; Counterweight trebuchets are a late-game capability, not a 1206 starting item. OATHS & SUCCESSION. loyalty changes one band at a time. Generosity, shared campaigning, hostages in the keshig, marriage, and public justice can raise it; humiliation, a broken promise, or concentrating old tribal comrades lowers it. khanate_unity rises after successful redistribution, settlement and public consensus; it falls when a prince is bypassed, a tribal bloc is left whole, or a Great Khan dies. At Fraying, distant Mongol armies may refuse orders and return; conquest pauses until a quriltai or a credible settlement restores unity. Prestige never jumps from a rumour: it rises one band through a witnessed victory, justice, generosity, or an important voluntary submission. HEALTH & TIME. health gates direct action. Dead removes a non-player character; name an heir or successor rather than erasing political consequences. Shaman, Khatun, Judge and Envoy actions may move loyalty, prestige or submission without warriors. Characters travel only through existing cells. Story time zone: Asia/Ulaanbaatar. The story starts in spring 1206.