Delhi

Primary culture

Hindavi (Hindustani)

Capital province

Delhi (522)

Government

Indian Sultanate

State religion

Sunni

Technology group

Indian

Delhian ideas

Traditions:

+15% Cavalry combat ability

+1 Diplomatic reputation

Afghan Nobility

+0.5 Yearly army tradition

Suppress Rebellion

−1 National unrest

Restore the Delhi Empire

−10% Core-creation cost

Promote Innovation in Textile Production

+10% Production efficiency

Re-integrate Former Provinces

+10% Governing capacity modifier

Protect the Grand Trunk Road

+10% Domestic trade power

The Throne of India

+1 Yearly legitimacy

Ambition:

+1 Max promoted culture

Founded by the Turkic Mamluk dynasty in 1206, the Delhi Sultanate began as a regional power in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Under the Tughlaq dynasty it grew into the largest Indian empire the world had seen since the Guptas. The empire spanned from Sindh to Bengal, from Kashmir to the Coromandel Coast.

The Tughlaq empire collapsed as quickly as it rose to power. Though it is a Muslim state ruling over many millions of Hindus, its downfall was orchestrated by ambitious Muslim generals rather than popular Hindu resistance. In 1347 the entirety of southern India was lost in the revolt of general Ala-ud-Din Hasan Bahman Shah, who declared himself ruler of the new Sultanate of Bahmanis.

More recently, the Sultanate suffered a catastrophic blow when the Sharqi governors of Jaunpur broke away in 1394, taking with them a vast stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain and reducing the Sultanate's influence to an area barely beyond the city walls. Mahmud Shah, Sultan of Jaunpur, eyes his neighbors hungrily; he has designs not only on the throne of Delhi, but also on the nearby Bengal Sultanate and the Gajapati Kingdom of Orissa. The Sultan's ambitions threaten to engulf all of northern India.

The final nail in the Tughlaq's coffin came with the brutal Timurid invasion in 1398. The fearsome warlord had no intention of beginning a conquest of India, instead setting his armies to loot and burn and massacre all that they laid eyes upon. In the midst of the chaos, the Tughlaq dynasty was finally overthrown by the Sayyid governors of Delhi. The upstart Sayyids have thus far entirely failed to put an end to the catastrophe facing the Sultanate. Only the Rajputs of Jangladesh remain truly loyal to the Sultan in this period of ruin.

Just as the Sayyids rose from governors to Sultans, another powerful governor has risen in Sirhind. Bahlul Lodi, an Afghan noble, is an extremely adept governor and military leader. His control of the Punjab gives him a dangerous degree of power, which he is likely to leverage in a bid to seize control of Delhi itself. The Sayyid Sultan hides in his palace as Lodi gathers his strength in preparation for a rebellion. The Delhi Sultanate is in the midst of collapse. Many covet the throne, but will a new conqueror rise to restore the Sultanate, or shall it be consigned to history as a symbol of doomed ambition?

Delhi is a country in India. It starts with both Jangladesh and Sirhind as vassals. Delhi has cores on all provinces owned by its vassal Sirhind (making it free to integrate them), and neighboring Jaunpur, Kalpi, Multan, and Kashmir.

Missions

Main article: Delhian missions

Delhi's missions are focused around reclaiming the sultanate's historical territory under the Tughlaqs.

Events

Main article: Delhian events

Delhi's events generally pertain to interactions with the Lodi dynasty.

Formation

If Delhi have ceased to exist, then it can be formed by any Muslim monarchy pertaining to Hindustani, Western or Eastern Aryan culture group that owns Delhi (522).

id

Sultan of Delhi

Delhi was once the capital of the entire Indian subcontinent and our own state is in many ways a continuation of their traditions.
Let us reclaim the heritage of the sultans of Delhi, and rule the subcontinent from their ancient capital in the Doab.

Potential requirements

The country:

is not Delhi.
was never an end-game tag.
has a culture of the Hindustani, Eastern Aryan, or Western Aryan culture group.
is Muslim.
is a monarchy.
has not yet enacted this decision.

Allow

Delhi does not exist.
The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not a nomad nation.
is not at war.
does not have a tribal government.
owns its core provinces Delhi (522).
owns and cores either Sirhind (510) or Central Doab (524).
owns and cores either Lahore (507) or Jaunpur (555).

Effects

If Delhi (522) is part of the HRE, but its owner is not a member then:

the province is removed from the HRE.
the Holy Roman Emperor:
- gets the opinion modifier “Removed provinces from the Empire” towards the owner, worth −50 opinion with a yearly decay of 1.
- loses 1 imperial authority.

Delhi (522):

becomes the new capital of the owner country.

The country:

changes to Delhi.
gains permanent claims on all provinces of the areas Upper Doab, Lower Doab, Oudh, Katehar, Sirhind, Lahore and Sind Sagar that it does not own.
receives new missions.
changes primary culture to Hindavi.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years with the following effects:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

If Delhi:

is a member of the Holy Roman Empire but not the emperor or an elector
- then all its provinces are removed from the HRE.
is a duchy
- then it becomes a kingdom.
does not have custom ideas
- then it gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

Provinces in orange must be owned and cored to form Delhi. One red province and one green province must be owned and cored. Shaded provinces are permanently claimed after formation.

Strategy

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Delhi. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Sayyid delhi

If you start as Sayyid Delhi, you will be attacked by Sirhind per event. Because it is a defensive war your allies will join. Because Sirhind will get some troops and an excellent general, you will need as many allies as possible to outnumber Sirhind and counter their general (usually you will get four minor states as allies). When you have defeated Sirhind, you can annex them almost completely (you have cores on them), however they are too big for a one-war annexation.

Another option is to avoid this event chain completely, by enforcing your dynasty of Sirhind on the first day of the game through subject interactions. This will replace their ruler and prevent them from declaring war immediately.

Then your major task will be to defeat Jaunpur. Try to ally their rivals, especially Bengal (however, sometimes Bengal will be beaten by Orissa, that makes it much harder). To beat Jaunpur and take back all your cores, you will probably need several wars.

After you're done with Jaunpur, you are in a comfortable situation to annex some minor Indian nations. Later on, you will probably fight Bahmanis and Vijayanagar. Once you have united the Indian subcontinent, you can form Hindustan and get the achievement "Emperor of Hindustan".

Continuation of Sirhind Reformation

You have just formed Delhi as Sirhind, as per this wiki's Sirhind guide. After formation, you should have a sizable treasury from the war, and have minimal AE. From here, I would recommend declaring on Jaunpur for Reconquest, calling in your allies. In this war, usually Jaunpur will ally Multan and/or Gujarat. Against Gujarat, what I would do is just take their cash, you don't need anything from them, don't bother taking anything. However against Multan, I would take the city of Multan, as it is your core, and a center of trade in Lahore, and depending of whether they have attacked Kashmir the other core you have on them. From Jaunpur themselves, you can retake all of your cores if you used the Reconquest Casus Belli, without a coalition coming very close to forming. Outside of that, you can take either one of your claims, or more cash depending on what you need. But wait, you still have one (or maybe two) more cores! Now, if Multan doesn't attack Kashmir in the very beginning of the game, your next war should be immediately after , and just full annex them, and retake your core. Pretty straight forward. From here on out, I would set my eyes on the city of Kalpi, your last remaining core. Break your alliance with Malwa, and try allying one of their rivals instead, most likely Gujarat, or Bahmanis, or maybe Mewar. While waiting for your truces to expire, now is the perfect time to set your eyes on the OPM's right above you. What I would do is militarily vassilize either Kangra, or another one of those nations, get the Strong Duchies privilege for the Nobility for the extra +2. Now, while waiting on truces, just feed them the OPM's in the mountains so you don't have to spend your own admin on coring it. Once your truce with Malwa is up, prepare a quick war for Kalpi. You should actually attack the nation of Kalpi, if Malwa hasn't annexed them yet so you get the reconquest CB. Don't wait if your allies are close to joining because once you declare the war they will get a +30 reasons to join after you enter a war against their rivals. It might also be nice to rival Malwa before this war for the Power Projection. From this war, just take Kalpi, cash, and maybe a humiliate depending on how fast you crush them. You still want to be ready for when your truce with Multan runs out, and be in good shape in terms of money and manpower.

Following wars: Quickly after the war with Malwa, you have the opportunity to attack Multan, and take your claims from them. After this war, you should have your AE concentrated with a specific group of Indian nations in which you have truces with. From here on out, just conquer down your mission tree, make sure you have truces with the nations getting AE from your conquest, and essentially truce chain your way to conquering India, and after that the world is your oyster. Make sure to manage truces, don't be afraid to break alliances, and be opportunistic with conquest outside of India too, especially towards the Timurids, Ming, and the SEA nations.