Of Caliphs and Kings: TURN ONE

[DKrol]

TURN ONE: EARLY 776


Colour Key:
Red: al-Andalus
Pink: Asturias
Green: Zaragoza
Orange: The Franks
Blue: The Abbasid Caliphate

The State of the Various Armies

Remember that these are not professionally trained soldiers at this point in time, they’re largely peasants and the sons of landed gentry commanded by nobility. Total troop numbers will rise and fall as military successes or failures come; victories will lead to rises in recruitment, failures will lead to desertions. Please feel free to divide and arrange your forces as you see fit.

al-Andalus
Army of Abd al-Rahman I: 30,000 Total Men, Currently near Cordoba

The Abbasid Caliphate
Army of the Caliph: 4,000 Total Men, Currently near Baghdad
Army of the Near East: 20,000 Total Men, Currently near Cairo
Army of North Africa: 10,000 Total Men, Currently near Algiers

The Kingdom of the Franks
Royal Army: 5,000 Total Men, Currently near Lyon
Army of Charlemagne: 10,000 Total Men, Currently near Toulouse
Army of Europe: 10,000 Total Men, Currently near Strasburg

The Emirate of Zaragoza
Army of the Governor: 6,000 Total Men, Currently near Zaragoza
Garrison of Barcelona: 3,000 Total Men, Currently near Barcelona

Asturias
Royal Army: 25,000 Total Men, Currently near Pravia

The Berbers
Army of the Duero: 2,000 Total Men, Currently near Zamora
Army of Gibraltar: 2,000 Total Men, Currently near Gibraltar
Army of Morocco: 10,000 Total Men, Currently near Tangier

The Papal States
Papal Army: 5,000 Total Men, Currently near Rome

[DKrol]

Personal Player Crises

Emir Abd al-Rahman
-Popularity: Mild
-Economy: Mild
-Legitimacy: Good

-- You have secured your rule over much of al-Andalus, albeit with two notable holdouts: The Christian Kingdoms of the North and the Muslim Governor of Zaragoza. How will you respond to these two challenges to your rule? Some say you should challenge Zaragoza immediately and leave the Christians to live on their own, while others say that any threat to your authority will bring down your rule. What will you do?
-- As an Umayyad, your family have ruled as Caliph of the Muslim world for hundreds of years. Now you rule as an Emir in al-Andalus, on the surface loyal to the Caliph in Baghdad. How will this relationship play out? Will you play the loyal subject or will you assume your Umayyad rights as Caliph?


Caliph al-Mandhi 
-Popularity: Mild
-Economy: Good
-Legitimacy: Mild

-- Some question your right to rule over the Caliphate, as one of the first Abbasids to sit on the throne in Baghdad. With the rise of the last Umayyad Prince in al-Andalus, even more have questioned the right of the Abbasids to rule. How will you address these critics?

-- How will you respond to the Umayyad Prince in al-Andalus? Will you force him to submit to you and your power? Or will you give him a longer leash and accept a pledge of nominal loyalty but practical independence?

King Charlemagne
-Popularity: Excellent
-Economy: Good
-Legitimacy: Excellent

-- You enjoy massive wealth and great prestige across Europe. You stand as the great guardian of Christendom across Europe. What will you do with this role? Will you send your armies to the East and expanded the Frankish Kingdom towards Asia? Will you focus on the more local threat: the rising tide of Islam in Iberia and the Italian peninsula?
-- Some from the Christian Northern Kingdoms of Iberia have reached out to you, calling for aid to secure their independence from the Muslim Emir of Cordoba. Will you heed their call in the name of Christian brotherhood? Some around you have called for you to send your armies to absorb their kingdom into your realm itself. What will you do?

Pope Leo III
-Popularity: Good
-Economy: Good
-Legitimacy: Excellent

-- Your temporal realm, at this time, is just the Duchy of Rome. While your influence spreads across all of Christendom, some are calling for you to expand your physical territory to much of the Italian Peninsula. Will you follow this call? If so, how will you do so – using your army to conquer or your words to acquire them?
-- A great threat to Christendom has raised its head in Europe. A Muslim has conquered most of Iberia and forced the Christian Visigothic Kings to flee to the far mountainous regions of the North. The Muslim is barking at the door to Europe, with his armies standing ready to make a march across Europe. There have also been words of a possible Muslim rising in the South of the Italian Peninsula, possibly putting your own rule in question. How will you respond?

King Silo
-Popularity: Good
-Economy: Mild
-Legitimacy: Mild

-- Your realm has been forced to shelter in the Mountainous Northern regions of Iberia, a region your people once ruled over all of. How will you respond to the rising of the quasi-independent Muslim kingdom to your South? Will you seek coexistence? Will you raise your armies and head South to meet the challenge? A great Christian King, Charlemagne, stands to your North with a large, Christian army. Will you reach out to him for aid?

Governor Sulayman ibn Yokdan al-Arabi al-Kelbi
-Popularity: Poor
-Economy: Mild
-Legitimacy: Mild

-- Zaragoza remains the last Muslim hold out to the Umayyad Abd al-Rahman, but his armies outnumber yours and could be making moves against your realm. Will you continue to hold out against him or will you finally submit Zaragoza to Umayyad rule?
-- Some have called for you to turn to the Christian King Charlemagne in your campaign to oppose the Umayyad Prince. They argue that you should make a deal with Charlemagne to aid him in defeating Abd al-Rahman in exchange for ruling Iberia as a quasi-independent lord.

 
King Salih ibn Tarif
-Popularity: Good
-Economy: Mild
-Legitimacy: Good

-- The Berbers are largely divided into two separate realms, the Berbers of al-Andalus and the Berbers of Morocco. Both are largely autonomous, but the Berbers of al-Andalus have face repercussions from their Muslim rulers for the last several years. Some argue that it is the Berbers who should be ruling al-Andalus and not the Umayyad since the Berbers made up the largest portion of the troops that conquered the peninsula in 711. Will you act on these calls?
-- How will your relationship between the Abbasid Caliph develop? Some have called for you to declare your independence from him and rule Morocco on your own, while others say you should declare yourself Caliph and attempt to spread your reign across all of Africa. What will your path be?