Mamluks

Primary culture

Egyptian (Levantine)

Capital province

Cairo (361)

Government

Mamluk Government

State religion

Sunni

Technology group

Muslim

Mamluk ideas

Traditions:

+10% Cavalry combat ability

+25% Trade steering

Red Sea Trade

+5% Global trade power

+10% Trade range

Monuments to our Greatness

+1 Yearly prestige

Purchase New Mamluks

+15% Manpower recovery speed

Reform of the Army

+5% Discipline

Reform the Fellah System

+10% Production efficiency

Reform of the Succession

−15% Stability cost modifier

Monopoly Ports

+10% Trade efficiency

Ambition:

+25% Provincial trade power modifier

Once the elite of the Ayyubid armies, in 1250 the Mamluks went from slave servants to the masters of a realm at the very heart of the Islamic World. From their capital in Cairo the Mamluk households control Egypt and Syria as well as the Abbasid Caliph himself. In the north Mamluk influence is felt from the beyliks of Anatolia to the shores of Lake Van. In the south they serve as protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina in the

Hejaz as well as influencing the politics of

Yemen. Even the Christian empire of

Ethiopia must be attentive to the word of the Mamluk Sultan, as the Coptic pope, the ordainer of all Ethiopian bishops, is under Mamluk care.

The Mamluk amirs reproduce their ranks by purchasing new mamluks, foreign slaves mostly of Circassian origin. These slaves are then trained as soldiers or stewards, who all swear allegiance to their buyer, or 'foster-father'. The amirs in turn put their household to use in the service of the sultans. When the time for succession comes it is in practice the will of these powerful men that determines which amir will become the next sultan. This system ensures that the sultanate is never short of elite warriors, so long as the route to import more slaves from the Black Sea lies open. However, as a governing system it has more than once lead to damaging conflicts and paralyzing factionalism.

The future looks bright for the Mamluk Sultanate however, as the death of Timur has removed the greatest threat in the region, with the once expansive Timurid Empire now reduced to a few bickering successor states in Persia and Transoxiana. The vacuum left by this empire in Anatolia, the Caucasus and Iraq has been filled by the Qara Qoyunlu Federation in the east, and the resurgent Ottoman Empire in the west. Both seem destined to come into conflict with the Mamluks in the near future.

The wealth of the sultanate is fed by the trade that flows through its Egyptian lands, bridging the distance between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. This places great demands on the Mamluk fleets to battle Christian pirates in the north as well as to protect the huge vulnerable vessels that follow the Hejaz coastline with coffee, cloth and spices through the Red Sea.

As 1444 draws to an end the Mamluk Sultanate is still the largest, richest and strongest state in the Middle East, it has many enemies but fears few of them.

The Mamluks control Egypt and Syria at the start of the game, but were historically conquered by the Ottomans in the 16th century. They guarantee the independence of Medina and Cyprus while Hejaz and Fadl are their vassals. They are Sunni with the Shafi'i school and have the unique Mamluk government. The Mamluks sit on the main trade nodes directing trade from India and China to Europe. They are the only nation that can form Egypt without culture shifting.

Mamluk government

The Mamluk government is a unique type of government for the Mamluks with great emphasis on culture, especially ruler culture. It gives the following benefits:

+3 Max promoted cultures
−0.025 Monthly autonomy change
+2 Monarch administrative skill (for future monarchs)
−25% Cost of advisors with ruler's culture
−50% Promote culture cost
+50 Governing capacity
+10% Nobility influence

Forming the Mamluks or playing as the Mamluks is the only way to acquire this government type. This reform can be kept as long as the country is a monarchy and follows a religion in the muslim group. If the first government reform is changed (e.g. by forming Egypt or Persia), it is possible to switch back to this reform as long as the country is a muslim monarchy.

Note: The Mamluk government doesn't set a minimum of 2 for rulers, but directly increases their administrative stat by 2. Due to the way ruler stats are calculated, it gives a 6/16 or 37.5% chance of getting a 6 ruler.

Normal	Chance	Mamluk	Chance
0	1/16	N/A	0
1	2/16	N/A	0
2	3/16	2 (0 + 2)	1/16
3	4/16	3 (1 + 2)	2/16
4	3/16	4 (2 + 2)	3/16
5	2/16	5 (3 + 2)	4/16
6	1/16	6 (4 + 2)	3/16
N/A	0	6 (5 + 2)↓	2/16
N/A	0	6 (6 + 2)↓	1/16

↓ indicates rounding down

Mamluk succession

A Mamluk government does not produce heirs. Instead, the ruler of the sultanate is chosen by event when the preceding ruler dies. There is one candidate for each culture accepted in the country, plus a Circassian candidate, but their stats cannot be seen prior to choosing, only their ages, cultures and claim strengths. The claim of each candidate is equal to 100 minus the percentage of their culture in the total cored state development of the country. For example, if the Egyptian culture makes up 75% of the nation's state cored development, an Egyptian ruler will start its reign with 25 legitimacy. If chosen, the Circassian ruler will start with 100 legitimacy, and will also provide 15 army tradition. An important advantage of this system is that the is no stability loss when a Monarch die, so it's far easier for Mamluks to have 3 stability and make monarchs generals have no real downside, and in fact can have an upside to military.

Cultural interactions

Each year, this government gathers 3 + ruler skill power in each monarch power categories (//). Once 100 power in a category is reached, the related cultural interaction can be activated:

Icon	Ability	Type	Effects
	Promote ruler culture in Government		−5% All power costs for 1 year.
	Sell off ruler culture Slaves		Gain two times current age times development of ruler culture ducats
	Recruit from ruler culture Lands		Gain 50 times current age times development of ruler culture manpower

The current age multiplier is 1 for the 'Age of Discovery', 2 for the 'Age of Reformation', 3 for the 'Age of Absolutism' and 4 for the 'Age of Revolutions'.

Two out of three of these interactions are more powerful if the ruler culture is dominant in the country. However, rulers from a dominant culture start their reign with reduced legitimacy, as explained above.

If not activated the points continue to gather until 150 is reached and any more is lost. The points will also reset if the current ruler dies.

Missions

Main article: Mamluk missions

Events

Main article: Mamluk events

Mamluk's events mostly focus on their relationship with Cyprus, the Ottomans, and Ethiopia, but that mainly deals with the Coptic Patriarch in Cairo.

Reformation

The Mamluks can be reformed by Muslim nations if they cease to exist. The formation does not have any culture requirement.

id

Adopt Mamluk Government

The Mamluks are still a strong factor in this region. We could gain their support by inviting these seasoned soldier slaves to participate in our government.

Potential requirements

The country:

has enacted the ‘Iqta’ government reform.
was never an end-game tag.
is not Mamluks.
owns a province in Egypt, Arabia, Mashriq, Maghreb or Horn of Africa.
has not yet enacted this decision.

Allow

Mamluks do not exist.

The country:

owns its core province Cairo (361).

Effects

If Cairo (361) 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.

Cairo (361):

becomes the new capital of the owner country.

The current ruler and heir of the country die. If the country is not a monarchy then

if the country is a republic:
- then it becomes a monarchy and loses 400 government reform progress,
- else it becomes a monarchy and loses 200 government reform progress.

The country:

changes to Mamluks.
obtains new Mamluk missions.
becomes a kingdom.
enacts ‘Mamluk Government’ government reform.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years with the following effects:
- +1 national unrest.
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
gains permanent claims on all provinces of Egypt (region).

If Mamluks:

do not have custom ideas
- then they get the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

Decisions

id

Form Arabian Nation

For hundreds of years the Arabs have been divided, but we remember when the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, organized all of us into one ummah, a community of the faithful that transcended tribal affiliation. Today we have overcome disunity and regained the oneness that triumphed in the day of the Prophet and united Arabia

Potential requirements

Arabia does not exist.

The country:

was never an end-game tag.
has a culture of the Levantine culture group, but not Turkish.
is not a colonial nation.
is not the Papal State or the Holy Roman Empire.
has not enacted this decision before.

If the country is AI-controlled, it can not be a custom nation or a former colonial nation.

Allow

The country:

has an administrative technology of at least level 10.
is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
owns its core provinces:
- Alexandria (358), Cairo (361), Aleppo (377), Jerusalem (379), Damascus (382), Medina (384), Mecca (385), Aden (388), Sana'a (390), Al-Arid (392), Al-Qatif (394), Muscat (400), Nizwa (403) and Baghdad (410).

Effects

This country:

changes to Arabia.
gets empire government rank.
gains permanent claims on all provinces of the regions: Mashriq, Arabia, and Egypt except Lower Nubia that it does not own.
gains 25 prestige.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years with the following effects:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change
- +1 national unrest

If the country:

is a member of the Holy Roman Empire but not an elector or the emperor
- then all its provinces are removed from the HRE.

Strategy

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

The Mamluks have a strategic position between Africa, Asia and Europe, so the aggressive expansion can and should be distributed across the three continents to allow more expansion. The Mamluks can also vassalize many of its small neighbours in Arabia, Maghreb or Anatolia, but they must be ready to protect them against the Ottomans' threat.

Neighbours

The Mamlukean neighbors are Fezzan at the west, Makuria, Medri Bahri and Beja in the south, Medina at the south-east and Aq Qoyunlu, Qara Qoyunlu, Ramazan and Dulkadir in the north and north-east. In the east, Mamluks borders Fadl and Anizah.

Expansion into the West

In the west, the Mamluks' border is composed of Fezzan. Fezzan can be and should be easily vassalized (due to coring costs making it expensive to core), and Fezzan also opens the door toward Djerid, Touggourt and Mzab (if Tunis didn't annex them earlier). Control of Maghreb is easy, except Tunis, who can sometimes ally with Ottomans. One strategy is become a great power and force Tunis to break their alliance with Ottomans. Another strategy is to use "threaten war", in order to take the Tunisian provinces one by one. A third strategy is to quickly focus on Tunis before they get powerful allies.

Expansion into the South

In the south, Mamluks borders 3 small countries : Makuria, Beja and Medri Bahri. The player can easily conquer them, but the real threat from the south is Ethiopia. Ethiopia typically annexes these neighbours quickly near the beginning of the game, and wishes to conquer the Coptic shrines in the Mamlukean territory. However they can be defeated alone or for new players, it is recommended to get alliance with Adal to open a second front onto the Ethiopians and conquer their provinces or halt their growth at least.

Expansion into the South-East

If the player wants to expand their empire into the south-east, they should diplo-vassalize Medina, which blocks them from having a land border with their subject Hejaz, doing this you are given an event that lets Hejaz inherit Medina . Medina also controls the one holy city not owned by Mamluks or a subject, Medina, and typically has few powerful allies. Annexing/Vassalizing the coast of the Arabian peninsula also allows blocking the Ethiopian's advance into Arabia quickly.

Expansion into the North and North-East

In the north, there is one OPM, Ramazan and one minor country, Dulkadir. If the player wants to annex them, they should invade them soon as the Ottomans will want those provinces in order to limit Mamlukean expansion. On the north-east border, there are two hordes, Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu. Aq Qoyunlu isn't very powerful and is in the same situation as Dulkadir and Ramazan: Ottomans will want their provinces eventually, but one has time. Qara Qoyunlu is stronger and can be a threat if not controlled.

Expansion into the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean's isles are almost all controlled by Venice, which is very likely a Mamlukean rival. The biggest challenge when facing Venice is, of course, its fleet, the great 'Arsenal of Venice', which outnumbers the Mamlukean fleet. The player is recommended to build a lot of galleys if they want to destroy the Venetian fleet and so be able to transport troops into Venice's heart lands. The player can also annex Cyprus, but for that they need to revoke their guarantee of Cyprus (which can then be annexed by Ottomans or Venice before the truce expires and so is risky). An alternative way to annex Cyprus is to vassalize them first, but will take longer. After annexing Cyprus, the player can fabricate a claim on The Knights, and, after invading the Knights, they can claim Negroponte and Naxos.

Countering the Ottomans

The Ottomans have a powerful army, and are the biggest threat the player faces in the beginning (historically being responsible for the Mamlukean decline). The Ottomans are sometimes allied with Tunis, but Tunis is nowhere near as powerful, and with a strong ally, Mamluks can beat Tunis and Ottomans easily. One of the best strategies to counter the Ottomans is to ally with some strong local powers like Austria, Muscovy, Hungary, or Qara Qoyunlu if not rivaled. Allying with one of these powers will allow an attack against the Ottomans from two fronts, making it easier to beat them. An alliance with Castile/ Spain is another possibility in order to destroy the Ottomans' fleet, since without destroying the Ottomans' fleet, it will be harder for troops to cross the Marmara Sea and capture the Ottomans' capital, Edirne, or Constantinople if Byzantium is already annexed. An early no-CB war on Byzantium in order to annex Constantinople and prevent Ottoman expansion should be considered. Fabricating claim on Teke and declaring war on Ottomans when they are at war with Byzantium is a good strategy. Naval supremacy can be achieved by going over force limit with galleys, using the free oarsmen navy doctrine and hiring a naval reform advisor. Player should prioritise taking Biga to prevent Ottomans from crossing . After winning the war player should take the entire Anatolian coastline in the peace deal. Vassalizing Dulkadir and Ramazan should be easy at this point.