PRO DEO ET REGE: THE GREAT SELJUQ EMPIRE

[Socal_infidel]

MEDIEVAL II TOTAL WAR:

GREAT SELJUQ EMPIRE

OVERVIEW:
With Alp Arslan's assasination in 1072, Malikshāh has become the new Seljuk sultan. Because of his youth the new sultan has had to rely heavily on his father's trusted chief minister, Nizam ul-Mulk. He will surely need it.

Having recently moved his capital from Rayy to Isfahan, Malikshāh is intent on ushering in a Golden Age of the Great Seljuq. Under Nizam ul-Mulk's guidance, the Seljuqs have reformed and reorganised the Iqta military system. They have also established the Nizamiyah Madrasah (Muslim University) in Baghdad. Perhaps one day, Malikshāh's dream of becoming the "The Sultan of the East and West" will come true.

However, the Seljuq Empire faces numerous threats. The establishment of the Sultanate of Rum poses perhaps the greatest threat. In 1075, Süleyman I bin Kutalmish, a distant cousin of Malikshāh and initially a Great Seljuq commander who had contended for the Great Seljuk throne, captured the Byzantine cities of Nikaea and Nikomedia. In defiance of Malikshāh, he declared himself sultan in 1077 and established the capital at Nikaea.

The Kingdom of Georgia also poses another threat to Seljuq expansion. Though small, these hardy people will not easily submit to Seljuq rule. Any campaign against them will surely prove a difficult one.

NOTE:
Currently, the vanilla Turkish faction in PRO DEO ET REGE is meant to represent the Great Seljuqs. However, the plan for the next release is to use the vanilla Turkish faction to represent the Sultanate of Rum, with their base in Anatolia.

A new faction, which I have begun to develop, will then be used to represent the Great Seljuq Empire, with their capital at Isfahan. In the coming days, I will be featuring their units. Thus far, I have reskinned some of the basic core units. In the future I will develop all-new units.

IMAGES:

TURKISH HORSE ARCHERS

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DISMOUNTED ARAB CAVALRY:

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ME SPEAR MILITIA:

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ME LIGHT ARCHERS:

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MORE COMING SOON!

[carricanta]

Fantastic! ... but in you is something usual

Thanks for your effort

Cheers!

[VanguardXIII]

excellent.

[danova]

good work! ... again

[Icefrisco]

Very good! The Great Seljuks are very unique! I cant wait to play with them!

Socal, I was wondering if the Great Seljuks used Arab soldiers or you are just adding them in even if they didnt?

[Socal_infidel]

Very good! The Great Seljuks are very unique! I cant wait to play with them!

Socal, I was wondering if the Great Seljuks used Arab soldiers or you are just adding them in even if they didnt?

I haven't had the time to work on their unit roster this weekend - mapping is time-consuming and tedioius (place port, crash, replace port, works, repeat...), but I'm thinking that they will have some access to Middle Eastern units in certain regions. The Abbasid Caliphate was a protectorate of the Seljuqs, so in Baghdad at least, they will have access to units apart from their usual Horse Archer units...

They won't have access to Janissaries and Ottoman troops, however. The vanilla Turkish faction that will represent the Sultanate of Rum will exclusivley have access to those troops...

Cheers! Congrats to you and Dmitri et al on the forum by the way!

[Socal_infidel]

This weekend I found a little time to start working on a new unit for the Seljuks. But first, a little by way of background. I wasn't sure on how to represent the Seljuk army composition, as they were primarily a Turkish people who fought as mounted archers. But they were also the protectors of the Abbasid Caliphate, so it would seem they would have some Arabic elements to their army, too. Or at least access to them.

Also, Malik Shah married one of his daughters to the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Muqtadi and dreamt of combining the Caliph and Sultan on one throne. So it doesn't seem too far-fetched for Selkuk armies to have some Arabic/Middle-Eastern feel to it. So with that said, this is what I spend last night working on after I got sick of placing ports...

Khalif's Guard:this unit will only be recruitable in a new AOR region comprised of Baghdad, Rayy, Isfahan and Basra. Right now, I'm debating whether to give all Islamic factions access to it if they capture Baghdad (and with it, the Caliphate).

Khalif's Guard (non-upgraded):

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Dismounted Khalif's Guard (non-upgraded):

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Note - Ignore the oversaturated turbans for now and note that I'll add another variety of helmet for this unit. It took me hours to get the helmet seen here the way I wanted it.

But I'm a big-believer in posting pics of my progress! Hopefully tonight, I'll get around to working on the upgraded version of this unit!


Cheers!

[Tadzreuli]

awesome work, men + rep !!!

[Davidus Pertinax]

awesome, like always social

[Socal_infidel]

awesome, like always social

Thanks, I plan on getting back to them once I finish Georgia! Cheers!

[Pope_Fred_I]

Those horse archers are stylish...just wish they didnt take some much pleasure in shooting down all of my Varangians all the time...

[Socal_infidel]

Not sure if these are going to be the final version (in fact, I'd say probably not, 'cause I like to constantly fiddle), but like I said I wanted to redo the Turkish Horse Archers and Turkomans to look more Turkic.

So, pics...oh, and don't mind the scimitar, it's hard to pose archers in milkshape...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[danova]

Oh! This SELJUQ faction symbol is very ugly! I could design it for you, if you need it.

[Socal_infidel]

Oh! This SELJUQ faction symbol is very ugly! I could design it for you, if you need it.

That would be fantastic! Thanks, mate!

[Omar Nelson B.]

Wow I dont know what to say...............yum!................. One question though, are the K guard going to keep those straight swords? I would think that they would sport a scimitar instead but im not a historian haha. Amazing work!

cheers

[Osskssa]

tbh the Scimitar wasnt really used by arabs/turks till the 14th/15th century,so prob just ourside the timeframe of the mod.They used straight swords mainly.

[Omar Nelson B.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scimitar

Has some good info on this certin sword which dates back to before this game begins. The origin of the word scimitar is kind of cool also.

Just Fyi

cheers

[Osskssa]

Ah but no doubt you want the curved blade sicimitar which is seen in many films/TV,which is actually a Shamshir,scimitar is really just a broad name for curvy type blades.The Kopesh was the 'scimitar' used by Egyptians from around 1600bc and is nothing like the design to the right of that article which many believe a scimitar to look like.

Just FYI

[Omar Nelson B.]

Well then, I think that a "curvy" blade of any type would be ok because thats what a scimitar in general terms is. Either way it really does not matter to me. I'll enjoy the mod any way it comes.

Cheers

[Socal_infidel]

TURKISH HEAVY HORSE ARCHERS:

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TURKISH HEAVY HORSE ARCHERS (ARMOUR UPGRADE):

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And also, the Great Seljuk Faction Icon courtesy of the amazingly talented Danova of the ORNAMENTUM MOD! If you haven't checked out their work yet, what're you waiting for?!?!?! Get going, it's beautiful!

GREAT SELJUK FACTION ICON: