23rd October
Rajputana has gone to war with Gujurat! I must pray that this results in status quo. If Rajputana wins, I will have a sizeable Hindu nation with a very good reason to come looking for me, and a religious justification to do so. If Gujurat somehow wins, I will have no claim on the region at all, and any hope of a swift unification of India is small. My hope was to reduce Vijayanagar in power before extending my claims by proxy to western India.
(Geographical note: Due to my technological incompetence images aren't forthcoming, but I can at least describe the ground. Delhi essentially extends from the border with what is now Pakistan to about half way through the Indian subcontinent, and comprises mostly mountains. To its south are the Sultanates of Sind and Gujurat, and the despotism of Rajputana. Rajputana and Gujurat are west of where the subcontinent begins to stretch south out of Asia (the tail of India, if you will) but are not as far west as Sind, which straddles the borders of both and is sandwiched in a thin line between them and what is now Pakistan (and what is the Timurid frontier in-game.) Gujurat is smaller but has access to the sea. Rajputana is landlocked. Vijayanagar is far south, with it and its vassals making up the southern half of Indias tail. Deccan and Orissa take up the northern half, Deccan the west, Orissa the east.)
Kashmir falls into civil war as particularist rebels rise up in Jammu. Both factions are evenly matched with 1000 soldiers to call on.
(I've actually forgotten what a particularist revolt entails. I think its religious, but I can't be sure.)
27th October.
Bihar has entered the war on our side. They share no border with Orissa or Deccan, so I may have to allow them military access into our lands, something I am reluctant to do, but if it denies Harihara territory then I'm happy to oblige them. I'll rue the lost diplomat more than anything else.
(Bihar is, as mentioned before, on Delhis eastern border, extending a bit further east. It is parallel with Nepal, and is where the ground starts to rise up into the himalayan mountain ranges.)
31st October.
I have been offered, and have accepted, an alliance offer from a small khaganate far to the north-west, calling themselves the Nogai. I was skeptical of this at first, as it could bring the Timurids down upon our heads. However, on reflection, the Nogai could serve as a vital distraction in any such conflict, and if the worst does happen, I want to be as far west as possible before Timor can react. I'm taking a risk, but if the worst happens, I can always dishonour my alliance. Good faith is one thing, throwing away the lives of my people to aid some meaningless steppe people far outside of India, quite another.
3rd November
I have declined an offer of marriage from Kashmir. My goal is to conquer the north, not establish marital relations with them! On the plus side, I appear to have gained a shield in the north in the form of the Chagatai, a previously unknown people apparently sitting right outside our door, on the other side of the Himalayan mountains. While war outside of India does not interest me, I would rather be on good terms with my nearest neighbour than at war with them.
9th November
Gujurat appears to be gaining the upper hand, or at least the initiative. They are besieging Udaipur with 2000 men, though no battles have broken out thus far.
Another marriage declined to the concern of my court, this one with Bengal. You don't marry your enemies, even if those enemies don't know their status as such yet.
(Bengal, for those who aren't familiar with India and its neighbours, straddles the border between India and south-east Asia. Its half in India, half out... though it really depends on where you draw the border on the subcontinent. Nusrat, for his part, most definitely considers it part of India.)
10th November
A unit of Rajputani cavalry have assailed the 2000 men from Gujurat! I don't have much hope for these 1000 horse archers but they can at least hurt the Gujurat force.
I can hardly believe the latest news from the south. Bahmanid has attacked Harihara on his own lands in Vijayanagar! He has stupidly thrown his outnumbered host into an offensive battle across the river that separates his capital in Golconda with the province of Kondavidu in Vijayanagar. Harihara is no fool, his actions so far clearly demonstrate his wisdom when it comes to strategy, and Taj is surely going to get himself slaughtered assaulting a superior force positioned on good ground!
November 18th.
Grim news. Gujurat now has 3000 men under banner as their Sultan, Nuzaffarid, manages to raise companies of mercenaries, an option the king of Rajputana will not or cannot avail himself of. To make matters worse the 1000 horse archers, who I believe must have been new recruits from the province, were annihilated. Nuzaffarid now has an upper hand I believe may be decisive, though things are not over yet. Strangely, he withdraws to his own lands to link up with his new mercenaries rather than bringing them to reinforce his shield. The Rajputani must be advancing south. They are now outnumbered, but perhaps the fact that they have the initiative, and will be defending Gujurati territory against the supposed owners, will aid them?
November 23rd.
Sind has taken the initiative, and I hear word from messengers that Samma has mobilised 1000 warriors from the Sindi province of Bakkar into my frontier of Multan. Allah curse him and preserve the 1000 new recruits I expect to emerge from the mountains there some time in January! The mountainous terrain of my western lands means that crossing from the lowland provinces in the east into the mountains of the west is slow going and dangerous for large armies (a fact I wish I had made better use of in the wars against Timor.) I must now meet my armies in Sutlej, and meet Sammas outnumbered warriors in person before he can annihilate a sizeable contingent of my new army!
The despot of Bihar, Mubarak Shah Sharai (clearly a convert from the Islamic faith, a double insult) has decided not to wait for my permission, and crosses from Allahabad into Mandla regardless! I will permit this as it works to my advantage, but he had better not harm a hair on my subjects heads as he crosses, or I will cut everything short to repel this as an invasion.
December 1st.
I have finally managed to get a diplomat off with a guarantee of Gondwanas independence. Besides from myself of course.
December 2nd.
Harihara has defeated Bahmarid at Kondavidu! The Deccanese fell back after inflicting surprisingly heavy casualties on the kings forces. Taj is trying to retreat to regroup at Raichur Doab, but Harihara has informed me that he has already overtaken the Sultans forces and is daring them to attack him first as he stalks their progress into the coastal provinces of Deccan. Narasimhadeva has, apparently, already cut off the retreat to Gonconda. Deccan is practically out of the war already, leaving me with dealing with Sind.
Imagine it! The alliance leader of one of the greatest alliances ever brought to bear in India, and one of the first involving Sunni and Hindu leaders working in alliance, and here I am stuck dealing with some irrelevant Sultanate to the west that cannot even influence events in the south. At this rate the war will conclude without me!
December 5th.
Sharai has arrived in Mandla, and I must credit him with his good conduct so far. With any luck, he will grab Deccans north only to trap himself in his new lands, leaving me to win an easy reconquest of his lands in Orissa proper. The more the Hindu despotisms divide up Deccan between them the easier they will be to confront and defeat in detail. Even if they were to unite, the chances of them being able to fight as one on the field against my army, which I am confident can deal with any single opponent, are very slim.
December 12th.
Black news as Multan is under siege, and the lands around burnt by Sindi infantry. Only 1000 have arrived, and I do not fear for the city, but I do fear for my new warriors, and for the welfare of the people in the province. I must hurry...
(Thats it for now. I would've written more, but I managed to wipe out my writing progress by accidentally clicking to another page.) :(
