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Post by Sublime Porte on Feb 19, 2015 15:49:52 GMT
His Sacred and Imperial Majesty, the fourth Sultan Mehmed Khan, sends Abaza Siyavuş Pasha, his loyal servant, on a colonial expedition into southern Sudan, where an African Sunni people known as the Funj rule what is called the Blue Sultanate of Sennar. Abaza is granted 10,000 Ducats for expenses and 'gifts' and is to begin the process of colonising Funj for the Ottomans. The native Sultans will be granted gifts, protection and their dependents shall be educated in Istanbul by the Palace School at Galata. It is planned to establish an Ottoman eyalet and governor, while maintaining the Blue Sultan in an increasingly comfortable ceremonial role. Abaza is to be accompanied by Sunni clerics to pander to the moral arguments of becoming subjects of the Caliph of Islam.
If the Sultan is uncooperative, Abaza is to officially back, on behalf of the Caliph, a rival claimant that offers to be more pliant. If this proves impossible with the funds available, the mission will be aborted and whatever can be salvaged shall be salvaged.
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Post by The Viceroy (AdminM) on Feb 19, 2015 19:21:57 GMT
Abaza head south with the initial 10,000. It is likely the Mehmed will have to be prepared to make more funds available if the benefits of Ottoman rule are to be properly conveyed to the Sudanese Sultans.
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Post by Sublime Porte on Feb 19, 2015 19:24:55 GMT
The Sultan gets his metaphorical wallet ready when he hears this warning, and anxiously awaits the first reports from Funj. You can't put a price on the spread of Ottoman righteous rule. Well, you can, but it's happily more than 10,000 ducats.
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Post by The Viceroy (AdminM) on Feb 22, 2015 20:15:26 GMT
The Sudanese Sultans accept the 10,000 ducats happily. Dafur Wadai and Bornu agree to vassalise peacefully. It seems the Sultanate of Sammar is threatening their neighbours and they ask that an Ottoman army be kept in the region. Though the Mek of Funj feels Ottoman rule is beneath his standing, though accepts his share of the treasure offered. There may be another way. The Mek of Funj is in a difficult situation domestically, his power is starting to decline and the ruling classes are fragmenting. By backing an alternative faction, Mehmed might well be able to usurp rule and create an Ottoman eyalet by uniting the four Sultanates.
The Ottoman empire gains:
Darfur - 3 (on the condition that an army is kept in Sudan)
Wadai - 2 (on the condition that an army is kept in Sudan)
Bornu - 2 (on the condition that an army is kept in Sudan)
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Post by Sublime Porte on Feb 24, 2015 10:27:07 GMT
The Misir Ordusu, smallest of the Ottoman Armies, is to be transferred to a new station in the Sudan. It is to aggressively defend the interests of Darfur, Wadai and Bornu, not fearing to provoke Funj. Ottoman Sultanates are to accept any political refugees from Funj in a public manner, encouraging rival factions to act or to ally the Ottomans.
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Post by The Viceroy (AdminM) on Mar 1, 2015 19:48:29 GMT
Although the Funj Royalty in the Sennar Sultanate have converted to Islam, many of the day-to-day religious practices are still heavily influenced by Christianity and traditional African religions. The Ulema, financed primarily by Muslim merchants, consider it their duty to fight against these outdated practices and instigate a shift to a more enlightened civilisation. With this aim in mind, they believe they have a right to enact justice against non-believers and heretical actors.
The methodology of the Ulema has driven a wedge between them and the monarchy, and they have recently decided to reach out to some new friends. With the Ottoman Empire securing their borders along Funj, and bringing an army into the fray, the Ulema consider it is now their time to act. They suggest that they will start to undermine support for the Monarchy, creating a religious rising. To do this they need additional finance. The Ulema ask for 20,000 ducats to create a small rebel army in the West which will secure the border crossings and invite the Ottoman army into Sennar, forcing vassalisation. However, they warn that the Sultan's army is strong and well organised, if not large in number.
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Post by Sublime Porte on Mar 4, 2015 17:58:12 GMT
A messenger is sent to the Sennar Sultanate with orders to transmit a message orally to the Sultan, trusting no other and delivering it only to the year of the King himself. The message is to point out that the Caliph has heard complaints of the practice of witchcraft in the Sennar Sultanate and that he intends on ruling on the matter. The Sultan of Sennar is advised to bend the knee to the Sultan and become a vassal Emir, retaining full internal authority over his lands but subject to the suzerainty of the Sultan in Constantinople. If the Sultan of Sennar refuses to cooperate then the Caliph will have to look unfavourably on his case, as refusing to cooperate with the deputy of God is a good indicator of evil practice.
The representatives of the Ulama are meanwhile told that the Caliph is warm to their suggestion, but that they need not risk their lives stirring a revolt. The Sultan only requires that they publicly declare the Sultan of Sennar to be a Takfir, and the Ottoman armies shall come and seize him, execute him and enforce proper religion in the region.
The Sultan of Sennar's choice is simple: He can accept vassalage and the heterodox practices of his people will be declared as a legitimate spiritual form of Islam, bringing practitioners closer to Allah.
Or, he can refuse vassalage and be declared a Takfir by the Sultan and (hopefully) his own ulama, with the heterodox practices of his people being outlawed as sacrilegious innovation (Bid'ah) or even witchcraft.
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Post by The Viceroy (AdminM) on Mar 10, 2015 14:07:15 GMT
The Sultan of Sennar sends the messenger back to the Ottomans with a guarantee of safe passage. However, the Sultan recognises that this complaint must have only come from the Ulema. The Sultan of Sennar confiscates the possessions of merchants suspected of having ties to the Ulema, and arrests their senior figures.
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