Khaganate of Rus

[TLS]

Каганат Руси
Khaganat Rus’
Khaganate of Rus



National Statistics as of 1725
Population: 21 million
Languages: Russian, Slavonic, Tatar
Prestige: D
Credit: F
Tech Level: 2.5

Political Organization
Official Title: Khaganate of Rus
Conventional: Russia
Political System: Despotic Autocracy
Capital: Kazan
Sovereign: Khagan Avvakum Chaadaev

Economy:
Taxation: 5.25 points
Resources: 4 (Moscow, Kharkov, Tver, Kazan)
Ports: 1 (Arkhangelsk)
Craft Center: 1 (Kazan)
Colonial Settlements: 2 points (4 Cities: Omsk, Morozova (RL Yekaterinaburg), Tomsk, Tyumen)
Total Income: 13.25

Military:

Manpower Restrictions:
Regular: 80,000 (out of 630,000 limit)
Reserves: 31,000 (out of 1,470,000 limit)

Fixed Installations [31,000 reserves, 4 points]
-6 Fortresses (Moscow, Kharkov, Tver, Kazan, Pskov, Novgorod) [6,000 reserves, 3 points]
-10 Garrisons (Moscow, Kharkov, Tver, Kazan, Pskov, Novgorod, Omsk, Morozova, Tomsk, Tyumen) [25,000 reserves, 1 point]

Khagan’s Army (Kazan) [27,500 regulars, 3.25 points]
-3 Infantry Brigades [7,500 regulars, .75 points]
-5 Light Infantry Brigades [12,500 regulars, 1 point]
-3 Cavalry Brigades [7,500 regulars, 1.5 points]

Muscovy Army (Moscow) [17,500 regulars, 2 points]
-5 Light Infantry Brigades [12,500 regulars, 1 point]
-2 Cavalry Brigades [5,000 regulars, 1 point]

Novgorod Army (Novgorod) [17,500 regulars, 2 points]
-5 Light Infantry Brigades [12,500 regulars, 1 point]
-2 Cavalry Brigades [5,000 regulars, 1 point]

Ukraine Army (Kharkov) [17,500 regulars, 2 points]
-5 Light Infantry Brigades [12,500 regulars, 1 point]
-2 Cavalry Brigades [5,000 regulars, 1 point]

Total: 13.25 points [80,000 regulars, 31,000 reserves]

[TLS]

The New Yoke

1709-1714

Peter’s defeat in the war against the Poles and Ottomans fundamentally and irrevocably breaks his hold on power. His decades of attempting to suborn the nobility and bend Russia to his whim have culminated in a devastating defeat, the loss of ancient Kiev, the destruction of Moscow, and all the while he continues with his vanity project of building a new port, oriented to the decadent West. His disdain for his people knows no bounds, it seems.

By 1710 the country has truly descended into a second Time of Troubles. The Boyars rise in open revolt across the country, and Peter’s attempts to subjugate the Clergy to his rule have backfired tremendously—by undermining the pro-government central clergy he has opened the door to the rise of the Old Believers. The Boyars, motivated by reactionary tendencies to begin with, are fertile ground for various Old Believer heresies to be whispered in their ears. The Tsardom itself is evidence of Peter’s depravity, they argue; the weak and pro-Western tendencies of the last Byzantine Emperors were what cause their demise to the Turk, and Peter (along with all the other Romanovs) have simply repeated their mistakes.

At a Zemsky sobor in the city of Yaroslavl, a young nobleman—egged on by an Old Believer priest—declares that he will overthrow the Romanovs and restore Rus to greatness. The decadence of Rome, Byzantium, and Moscow shall be thrown off, and power restored to the True Faith. Throwing aside his born name, he adopts a regnal name for his aspirant dynasty: Avvakum, taking the name of the Old Believer martyr who was burned at the stake by the Romanovs. Symbolically, he comes from an ancient Tatar boyar clan as well, the Chaadaevs—making him a direct descendant of Chagatai Khan.

His army in shambles and mutinous, Peter is unable to effectively combat the insurgent dynasty. After already losing his most loyal and competent general, Menshikov, in the Turkish war, his cause is further weakened by the death of his last competent general, Apraksin, in battle outside of Tver. Peter attempts to flee to the coast, to his under construction new capital, but his retinue is overtaken by a band of rebellious Boyars. He is dragged before his enemy in chains and, after receiving advice from his confessor in his ear, the claimant passes judgment on the Tsar: like Avvakum himself, Peter will be burned at the stake for heresy.

The fall of the Romanovs is thus swift and merciless. After Peter’s death, his project at St. Petersburg is not only left half-finished, it is burned to the ground. No openings to the West shall be forthcoming from Rus. The state is refashioned in an eclectic mix of both pre-Romanov, old Byzantine, and, most radically, Tatar traditions. Rather than adopt the title Tsar, the new monarch takes for himself the title Khagan—with the Western (Romanov) and Byzantine (Rurikid) legacies having failed Rus, the new ruler seeks to draw inspiration from the mightiest Empire that ever lived: that of the Tatars.

In spite of the grandiose new title, however, the Boyars also demand a seat at the table, and the Zemskiy Sobor (or noble assemble) is institutionalized. The main struggle in the new state is the decision over the future of the Church; conflicts between Popovsty and Bezpopovsty (with priests and without priests, respectively) over whether the church (and its priests and sacraments) could be saved wrack the new country. The new Khagan does not establish a new Patriarch as of yet, and the Church continues to splinter and bicker between the various claimant hierarchies. As these theological debates rage on, however, the Russian state (having even foregone that name, Russia, for being too Hellenized—Rus is preferred) takes to the practice of establishing a new regime. Beards, of course, return in full, but so do the most brutal forms of ancient Slavic government, mixed with the bloody nature of the Tatar inheritance and the steely imperiousness of the Byzantine legacy.

The treaty with the Ottomans is repudiated and a new fortress built in the city of Kharkov, while the efforts previously focused Westward are instead turned Eastward. Settlers are sent deeper and deeper into Siberia, where ascetics go forth to ponder the theological struggles in the deep, dark, central Asian wilderness—some emerging with equally dark, some would say twisted, amalgamations of steppe Buddhism, shamanism, heretical anti-clericalism, and other such frontier mutations of accepted theology. The Russian state is not far removed from these developments—rather, the new Khagan has decreed that Kazan shall be the capital of the great Khaganate, as it is far removed from the threat of Polish or Turkish invasion, and closer to the purified lands of his ancestors.

[Lefty]

In 1714, the Commonwealth sends emissaries to Kazan to meet with the Khagan. Their mission is one of peace and ensuring that the peace established in 1709 will stand.

Other Polish agents are sent more discreetly to the cities to gather information on the new political situation.

[TLS]

Darkness on the Steppe: Russia through 1725

The Khagan’s reign in Kazan continues to bring Russia further and further away from Europe in the decade following his ascension. The boyars, initially supportive of the overthrow of the absolutist Peter with his westernizing notions and bureaucratic organizations, have grown horrified as the Khagan has introduced Tatar despotism back into the body politic. The use of violence at all levels of Russian society—to break the serf to the boyar and the boyar to the Khagan alike—has spiraled upwards, with public decapitations becoming the norm.

All the while the spread of heterodox ideas, within the supposedly Orthodox society, has continued unabated. The wandering mystics and Old Believers who have come in from the cold bring increasingly distorted social norms and theologies. The concepts of Blood Atonement, that some sins need be cleansed only through death, rather than Christ’s universal forgiveness, and Christhood, that through purification humans can attain Christ-like states (much like, dissenting voices say, the concept of Buddhahood in Vajrayana Buddhism), are endorsed by the Khagan’s court. The Black Christ, Chernykhristos, becomes increasingly common as an Icon and figure for veneration. All the while, the Nikonian church is persecuted and hunted down, with burning at the pyre a common fate for priests who are proven to have been in contact with Constantinople.

While the boyars have become increasingly restless the Khagan has extended his strength and power. Russia’s disengagement from the European economy has resulted in little economic growth, but without the distractions of the old regime (like the building of St. Petersburg, or westernization, or having the pretense of a navy) the state has expanded to create a massive army of retribution and dominance. The Khagan’s lieutenants are increasingly drawn from the Turkic warlords of his court and Boyar converts to his cause, but the further west from the Khagan’s court the army and populace seem more restive. Rumors of Romanov pretenders arising in foreign courts raises both fears and hopes that, perhaps, Russia’s descent could be avoided.

[TLS]

Rus 1726 Wartime Build

Income
Taxation: 10.5 points
Resources: 4 (Moscow, Kharkov, Tver, Kazan)
Ports: 1 (Arkhangelsk)
Craft Center: 1 (Kazan)
Colonial Settlements: 2 points (4 Cities: Omsk, Morozova (RL Yekaterinaburg), Tomsk, Tyumen)
Total Income: 18.5

Maintenance:
-6 Fortresses (3)
-10 Garrisons (1)
-3 Infantry Brigades (.75)
-20 Light Infantry Brigades (4)
-9 Cavalry Brigades (4.5)
Total: 13.25

Expenditures:
-Upgrade 5 Light Infantry Brigades (Moscow) to Infantry (5 points)
Total: 5

Total Spent: 18.25

[TLS]

Rus 1727 Wartime Build

Income
Taxation: 6 points (12 million un-occupied)
Resources: 2 (Kharkov, Kazan)
Ports: 1 (Arkhangelsk)
Craft Center: 1 (Kazan)
Colonial Settlements: 2 points (4 Cities: Omsk, Morozova (RL Yekaterinaburg), Tomsk, Tyumen)
Total Income: 12 points

Maintenance:
-2 Fortresses (1)
-6 Garrisons (.6)
-1 Infantry Brigades (.25)
-8 Light Infantry Brigades (1.6)
-2 Cavalry Brigades (1)
Total: 4.45

Expenditures:
-Upgrade 6 Light Infantry Brigades to Infantry (6 points)
-Upgrade 1 Infantry Brigade to Cavalry (1 points)
-Incentives to Tribal Allies (.55)
Total: 7.55

Total Spent: 12

[TLS]

Rus 1728 Wartime Build

Income
Taxation: 3 points (6 million un-occupied)
Resources: 1 (Kazan)
Craft Center: 1 (Kazan)
Colonial Settlements: 2 points (4 Cities: Omsk, Morozova (RL Yekaterinaburg), Tomsk, Tyumen)
Total Income: 7 points

Maintenance:
-1 Fortresses (.5)
-5 Garrisons (.1)
-3 Infantry Brigades (.75)
-1 Light Infantry Brigades (.2)
-1 Cavalry Brigades (.5)
-1 Light Infantry Regiment (.1)
-1 Cavalry Regiment (.25)
Total: 2.4

Expenditures:
-Upgrade 4 Garrisons to Light Infantry Brigades (4 points)
-Incentives to Tribal Allies (.6 points)
Total: 4.6

Total Spent: 7

[TLS]

Rus 1729 Wartime Build

Income
Taxation: 1 points (2 million un-occupied)
Resources: 1 (Kazan)
Craft Center: 1 (Kazan)
Colonial Settlements: 2 points (4 Cities: Omsk, Morozova (RL Yekaterinaburg), Tomsk, Tyumen)
Total Income: 5 points

Maintenance:
-1 Fortresses (.5)
-1 Infantry Brigades (.25)
-2 Light Infantry Brigades (.4)
-1 Cavalry Brigades (.5)
-2 Light Infantry Regiments (.2)
-1 Garrison (.1)
Total: 1.95

Expenditures:
-Combine and Upgrade 2 Light Infantry Regiments to 1 Light Infantry Brigade (1 point)
-1 Garrison Brigade (2 points)
-Incentives to Tribal Allies (.05 points)
Total: 3.05

Total Spent: 5

[Sponsored content]