History Fanfic / LandOfTheAryans

It is the turn of the 18th century. Once one of the largest empires in history, [[VestigialEmpire Persia is in acute decline]]. Her armies are weak and outmoded, her leaders incompetent, and she is constantly losing ground to the neighbouring Ottoman Turks. To make matters worse, the Afghan tribes are on the brink of revolt, and Esfahan is too crippled by [[DeadlyDecadentCourt corruption and political intrigue]] to do anything. It seems Persia is stuck on the path to redundancy - a forgotten empire of ages past. Or so it seems.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The Battle of Constantinople, where the Persians - outclassed and outgunned by the Europeans - not only prevail over Poland-Lithuania, but ''massacre'' their armies until only a dozen or so men are left.

* MagnificentBastard: Mustapha Setarezhad, who leads Persia from ruin to redemption, all over the course of three decades. His lucks runs out, however, and he spends the last years of his life in self-imposed exile in Russia.

* UnfortunateImplications: The title, due to [[NaziGermany a certain country]]. ''Land of the Aryans'' is the literal translation of ''Eran'' (Iran), and is in fact the origins of the word, which was adopted by the Nazis.

* AlasPoorVillain: The fate of General Wlodzimierz Banaszak, after fleeing from the Battle of Constantinople, is [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique certainly]] [[GroinAttack not]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel nice]].

'''This work provides examples of:'''

* AlasPoorVillain: The fate of General Wlodzimierz Banaszak, after fleeing from the Battle of Constantinople, [[UnderStatement is]] [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique certainly]] [[GroinAttack not]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel nice]].

* HitAndRunTactics: The cause of Persia's military weakness in the latter stages of the game. Her camel-mounted units are more suited for flanking the enemy or launching quick attacks against them, but were being employed with the same tactics used for normal line infantry. [[UnderStatement It didn't go well.]]

A lot, apparently. The new empire finds itself beset on all sides: by the Poles in the west, Russia in the north and the Indians in the east. The fall of Afghanistan to the Maratha Empire prompts Mustafa's resignation, while the Persian Generals struggle to crush the last pockets of Ottoman resistance in the Balkans while fending off periodic Polish-Lithuanian invasions. Far from entering a new period of global demoninance, Persia now struggles to survive.

It is the turn of the 18th century. Once one of the largest empires in history, [[VestigialEmpire Persia is in acute decline]]. Her armies are weak and outmoded, her leaders incompetent, and she is constantly losing ground to the neighbouring Ottoman Turks. To make matters worse, the Afghan tribes are on the brink of revolt, and Esfahan is too crippled by [[DeadlyDecadentCourt corruption and political intrigue]] to do anything about. It seems Persia is stuck on the path to redundancy - a forgotten empire of ages past. Or so it seems.

* HitAndRunTactics: The cause of Persia's military weakness in the latter stages of the game. Her camel-mounted units are more suited for flanking the enemy and filling their backs filled with arrows, but were being employed with the same tactics used for normal line infantry. [[UnderStatement It didn't go well.]]
* TheHorde: Persia, since most of her armies are composed of cheap Bedouin mercenaries.
* LastStand: The Battle of Esfahan. Something of an [[CurbStompBattle anticlimax]], since the Persian army consisted of peasant militias while the Maratha army consisted of elite Indian units.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Skantarios

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Skantarios: