Pukhgundi

Classical Antiquity
The Pukhtunkhwan Empire of western Alshar spanned a vast area from the late Iron Age until the Muslim conquest in the 800s. Spanning from the Pukhtun Sea to Dwemer Bay, the civilization turned empire was one of the most powerful in Classical Punth. The empire was built around the harnessing of agricultural techniques, the mass domestication of livestock, and Zoroastrianism. Able to produce cities, the Pukhtunkhwans had a distinct advantage over the roving bands of nomads that they subjugated. Establishing a complex system of runners that maintained communications in the vast and rapidly expanding empire. The broad application of farming and herding turned the open plains of northwestern Alshar into a patchwork of city states all paying tribute to the armies and courts of the emperor. The loose confederation fractured under pressure from the incoming Oduniyyad Muslims between the 810s, the core southern part of the empire finally falling in the 840s. The remaining cities became independent city states beyond the reach of the Muslim expansion, maintaining their script, religion, and cultural practices.

Umardi Migration
Feeling that their culture was being marginalized in the last century BC the Umardi peoples of the Umi coastal province of the Pukhtunkhwan Empire migrated to the eastern shore of Audonia. They established a cultural stronghold in the north eastern corner of modern Umardwal. They outnumbered the Arabi in the area by the 2nd century and had fully established themselves as an Audonian culture by the 6th century. The area they inhabited was loosely called Umalia by the neighboring civilizations in Audonia. Umalia and the Pukhtunkhwan Empire remained close until the Muslim conquest/conversion of the Umardis was viewed as cultural treason and ties were severed.

Medieval Period
Main article: Oduniyyad Caliphate

The Golden Age of Islam in Alshar from DATE 800s? until 1031 was not a Golden Age for the Pukhtunkhwans. The Umardis were used to great effect to dominate their homeland and the lands of the Pukhtunkhwans. Constantly under threat, the culture of the once great empire was suppressed and the practice of Zoroastrianism was banned and forced underground. The period that the Umardis ruled over the lands of Pukhtunkhwa were dark and desperate times. It was under these conditions that the ideals of Shia Islam became prevalent. The Pukhtunkhwans and Umardisboth adopted the school and it became a contentious issue leading to a schism that saw the collapse of the Oduniyyad Caliphate in Alshar, in 1031.

Late Medieval Period
The Pukhtunkhwans remained free for only a short time before they were forced to become tributary states of the expansionist Khandharan Empire in 1158, a Shia kingdom that was attempting to hold all of the Muslim areas of Alshar. At its greatest extent it covered a landmass from modern day Puhkgundi, through Khatosthan, along the nations of the Gulf of Kandara through Tapakdore. Within the Khandharan Empire the administrative divisions were broken out into emirates. The Emirate of Khandharan Pukhtunkhwa was given to the Bohra, an imported Khandharan noble family who led the country until it was colonized by the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company in 1635. The Bohra Emirate focused on its production of fine teas and tisanes. Importing varietals from across the empire and from the far eastern Ai dynasty. It became wealthy in the tea trade as well as olives, olive oil, and wheat. Often in the top 5 richest province of the Khandharan Empire, it developed itself as a center of Shia thought establishing the Great Madrasa of Khorrasan. Its tea rooms became centers of discourse evolving into an open educated society among the merchant class. The farmers and herders of the Bohra Emirate enjoyed a relaxed enforcement of the state religion and Zoroastrianism was common.

Bohra maintained its role as a bread winner for the empire and as a cultural center for Shia Islam. Upon the arrival of NATION traders and settlers, the emirate was the wealthiest in the empire and had expanded its claims to encompass three other provinces.

Mazdastan
In 1485, Zoroastrian sheiks took up arms to establish their own emirate with their religion as the sole faith of the state. The Zoroaster Rebellion lasted from 1485 until 1524 and eventually saw the creation of a Zoroastrian emirate, called Mazdastan. Mazdastan and Bohra coexisted but where the sites of periodic and violence sectarian violence. This created an elite class of warriors, called the Mazadani Spahi.

Mazdastan was ruled by a theocratic oligarchy of 7 high priests. They arbitrated cases and selected policy. They formed a series of forced crusades in the borderlands with Bohra in 1543, 1585, and 1606. These missions saw the wholesale slaughter of Shia villages. The reprisals were brutal. The Mazdastani capital of Qaimbat was razed twice and the population put to the sword. It was during these wars that gunpowder weapons became common features of the Mazadani Spahi, from which the Bandoqchi Mazadani evolved as a separate arquebuser unit. During the 1606 raid into Bohra territory the smaller Mazdastani army decimated a Bohran army, four times its size. This and the arrival of the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company was the start of an empire-wide military reform that saw the standardization of military units, and the adoption of firearms. These reforms were never realized as the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company’s war hardened veterans ripped into the continent.

Early modern era
With the arrival of the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company on imperial soil in 1598 and their subsequent establishment of a colony in 1605 the subjects of the empire, including Bohra and Mazdastan, went on the defensive.

Colonization
The Burgundian West Punth Trading Company first arrived in the area of Bohra and Mazdastan in 1607 and established a factory along what would become the Verdant Coast. This factory was primarily for the purchase and export of tea and tisanes but also engaged in slavery, primarily from those of Mongolic ethnic origin from the Khanates. In 1611, Mazdastan became a protectorate as the protestants sympathized with the suppressed minority. Following the Khandharan Succession War from 1614-1619, the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company took direct control of much of the central and northern parts of the empire, including Bohra. Mazdastan remained an semi-autonomous protectorate until the Presidency Act of 1771 at which point it was assumed into the Pukhtunkhwan Burgundie.

Company rule
Main article: Burgundian West Punth Trading Company

From its conquest in 1616 until the Presidency Act of 1771, Bohra was part of the Occidental Punth Colony with lands from modern day Kagazi and Khatosthan. Due in large part to its open intellectual society this area was treated as an extension of the Isle of Burgundie and strong bonds were formed between the Bergendii and the Khandharan and Pukhtunkhwan people. The area tea industry boomed as organized and early industrial methods were married with traditional methods and techniques. The colonial capital of Omsalgi was, in the 17th century the largest and most densely populated metropolis in Alshar. The industrious nature of the extant merchant class meant that company rule was particularly hands off. With the exception of the introduction and investment in early industrialized methods of cultivation and manufacture, the Levantines, Khandharans and Pukhtunkhwans remained uninvolved in each other’s business affairs. The native populations cultivated and the company handled the export of goods and slaves.

In the protectorate of Mazdastan the company remained uninvolved except to collect tribute and enforce the sovereignty of the state. This meant that aside from company soldiers, no Levantines spent considerable amounts of time in the protectorate. This led to a sense of independence in Mazdastan that would later come to blows the post-independence period. Mazdastan focused its efforts on manufacturing with a planned economy guided by its governing council. They became particularly adept in the firearms manufacturing industry. Due to the concern over unrest and rebellion, the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company imposed a monopoly on the sale of Mazdastani firearms. The company started their monopoly with an order for 600 Jezzails, Mazdastani muskets, in 1703, with a list of specifics. This is considered the first time in Burgundian history that fire arms were standardized for military issue. Upon receipt of the muskets in 1705, another order was placed for 1500 more. This relationship expanded until 1795. It is assumed that by 1749 4 in 7 company musketeers were using Jezzails. As a result the Mazdastani ruling class were hardly surprised that the Presidency Act of 1771 assumed them into the Pukhtunkhwan Burgundie Presidency as they had become so vital. Resistance to the move was primarily expressed through strikes and work slowdowns, however in 1773 the whole of the presidency was forced to recognize Zoroastrianism as their second official religion and religious persecution was outlawed. This angered many Shia leaders as they saw it as a way to embolden the peasant farmers to keep the middle class occupied as the Bergendii tightened their control of the region.

Great Rebellion of Slavery Bay
Joining the Great Rebellion of Slavery Bay in 1798, the Pukhtunkhwan Burgundie Presidency Muslims sought to both push the company out of Alshar and also to reinstate Shia as the sole religion of the region. The Mazdastanis remained loyal to the company but were overwhelmed by the sheer number of Shia troops. They were formed into the Puhkgoignesc Gorkha Rifles in 1805 and became a unit of the Burgundian Foreign Legion in 1811 after the fall of the Pukhtunkhwan Burgundie Presidency.

Emirati War
Main article: Emirati War

Between Burgundie, the United Pukhgundian Emirates, the Trucial States, and the Emirate of Kagazi. 1865-1871.

Operation Kipling
Main article: Operation Kipling