Dev Diary #4
New Situation: The Mamluk Institution
, first posted on r/EU5
A new situation for the Mamluk Sultanate, built to capture the historical authenticity of Egypt’s ruling class and its downfall. The army depends on a steady supply of slaves from the Black Sea markets. The Royal Mamluks are loyal to the sultan who bought them, not to the throne. A new Mamluk estate represents the emirs and their households. Under a new succession law, the emirs compete for the throne, each backed by his own mamluk regiments, which come with him to the throne if he wins. Every succession is a potential crisis as the new sultan must decide the fate of his predecessor’s guard: absorb the loyal into his own corps, eliminate its leaders, or buy it off with iqta, land whose taxes go to the mamluks instead of the treasury. Each grant is a cost the state carries for years, adding fiscal pressure over time and potentially precipitating the fall of the Sultanate…
A new succession mechanic forces the player to choose between Mamluk candidates with real political power and backing.
Each Great Emir has his own household of mamluks. Naming him heir or arresting him has a price, and his men come with him to the throne.
A new sultan must decide the fate of the late sultan’s mamluks. Granting them land creates iqta, whose revenue goes to the old guard, not the treasury.
Or take some of them into his service: his abilities decide how many of the old regiments return. The rest are dismissed.
Or break their leaders: the late sultan’s emirs are arrested and their wealth confiscated, at a cost in political influence and the estate’s satisfaction.
The Mamluk Iqta: a village’s revenue granted for service. The crown’s control and taxes there fall, and the mamluks’ power rises.
Why the Mamluks
Supply: slaves in the stockpile of Al-Iskandariyya against its capacity. The barracks and the households buy from it every month.
Royal Mamluks: the Sultan’s own regiments against a corps of 10,000. His legitimacy rests on it.
The Sultan’s buyers work the markets of Caffa, Constantinople and Dongola. Each shipment lands as people at Al-Iskandariyya, and the market’s owner takes a fee.
The three bars: Supply, Royal Mamluks and Khushdashiyya. Khushdashiyya, the bond between the households, is the mamluk estate’s satisfaction.
Part of the mod Gravitas Historica. Currently under development.