The Dragon and the Bear Chapter Six: Mythic Mongols
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Mythic Mongols
Three thousand miles to the east of Russia a new power was taking shape in the closing years of the 12th century. These were the Mongols. They were one tribe among many. Some others, such as the Naimans, Merkits, Uighurs, Taijiats, and Tatars, shared the steppe with them. Others, such as the Saxins, Kanglis, and Kipchaks (of which the Cumans were one branch) had already trekked west.
Occasionally the Mongols would rise to a brief superiority, united by some charismatic leader who led daring raids against their enemies: the other nomads and China. Inevitably, with the death of their leader, the tribe would break apart again into small, bickering clans.
The Mongols were typical nomads. They roved in moderately predictable patterns over the steppe, living by herding and hunting. They were dependent on the horse for mobility and their steeds were enormously hardy and nasty tempered, possessing the ability to survive on very meager fodder. The men were much like their beasts: hard as the steppes were hard, inured to pain and cold, and used to great exertions. In times of need they would open veins on their mounts and drink the blood for sustenance. They were fierce and highly skilled warriors with lance, bow, and sword, but they lacked discipline and they lacked unity and so they stayed a small people.
Around the end of the 12th century, all of this changed. The Mongols were united as never before by the actions, charisma, and brilliant dynamism of one man, a chieftain of the royal clan named Temujin. From 1185 he was busy, unifying by conquest and alliance the scattered Mongol clans. In time he turned upon his nomad neighbors, subduing the Merkits, the Uighurs, and the Naiman. He forced discipline and law upon his men. In battle he formed them into solid units based upon the decimal system: squads of ten (Arban), companies of a hundred (Jagun), battalions of a thousand (Minghan), and legions of ten thousand (Toumen). He forbade them to make slaves of each other, organized regulations for trade, and created a marvelous system of messengers (the arrow messengers, or “Yam”) who traveled from horsepost to horse-post, covering two hundred miles in a day.
In 1206, Temujin subdued the last of the Merkits. His great general Subatei led the pursuit, catching them far to the north near the ice-locked river Chui. Supreme on the steppes, Temujin convened a great council, a Kuriltai, where the many chiefs came to offer oaths of fealty. Enthroned amidst his vassals, beneath his banner of the nine white yak tails, he took the title Genghis Khan, Lord of the Earth. It was a title he took literally, a claim he meant to enforce.
China was first to feel his new ambitions. The small border realm of Hsi-Hsia was ravaged and forced to pay a humiliating tribute, then the northern kingdom of the Kin was invaded in the beginning of a campaign that would last for sixty years. In 1220 the Mongols took their first step west, warring against the Khwarismian Empire. By the end of the first year, the capital, Samarkand, was in ruins, and the Shah was fleeing through a crumbling realm with the Mongols hot on his heels. (The Mongols always pursued and killed sovereigns and nobles, destroying anyone to whom their victims might rally.) 1221 saw Persia invaded. While Genghis hunted down the former Shah’s son, Jelal ud-Din, Subatei broke away from the main action. With twenty thousand men and the junior general Jebei, he thrust into the Caucasus, battled his way past the small kingdom of Georgia, won over the difficult Caucasian mountains, and reached the Russian steppe early in 1223.
This was the Mongols’ reconnaissance of Europe. Their aims were simple: to gauge the military strength of their future enemies, to establish spies and methods of communication, and to enforce the submission of any nomad groups they might encounter.
The Mongol Military
What was the basis of the Mongols’ military superiority? How could they routinely win victories over forces two or three or even four times their size? Genghis Khan was born among a people who were naturally fine warriors. They were enormously hardy, highly mobile, exceptionally skilled in the use of the bow, and well used to the sword and lance. They were, however, poor soldiers. They had no discipline, no chain of command, no military structure, and no systematic training in fighting as units. Genghis Khan changed all this, and added the vital ingredient of intelligent leadership. Even before he had invaded China, he had given his people a solid understanding of the key principles of successful military action.
Unity Of Command: A strong army has one designated leader whose commands are followed without hesitation.
Chain Of Command: A strong army has a designated order of command. If any given officer falls, his replacement is ready to take over.
Ability To Command: A strong army has officers and generals promoted due to their ability to lead and to think creatively.
Discipline: Soldiers follow orders, they do not act precipitately, nor do they lag behind.
Organization And Cohesion: A strong army is organized into coherent units whose members are familiar with each other.
Communication: The different units of an army must always be tightly coordinated. The Mongols developed a semaphore signaling system to relay both information and instructions across a battlefield. At night this flag and staff system was replaced with burning torches. As they advanced into new territory they would establish the Yam system of horse posts, so that armies advancing on a broad front could stay in contact and under the control of a single general.
Mobility: The more mobile army always has the initiative. The Mongol army was pure cavalry, with a minimum of three remounts per man. It routinely covered distances of up to 60 or 70 miles in a day.
Firepower: The army with the longest reach on the battlefield strikes first; the Mongols were exceptional mounted archers.
Misdirection: An enemy who doesn’t know where you are is impotent. The Mongols could lay a smokescreen across a battlefield with fire arrows or utilize terrain to enable fast flanking motions. Decoy forces were frequently used since the number of spare horses in a Mongol army allowed a small group of men to mimic a large cavalry force. Often the Mongols would simply retreat, drawing the enemy out in a long, futile pursuit until they were exhausted. Then the Mongols would turn and devastate their disorganized foes.
Information: Wars are won by leaders who understand the capacities, abilities, characters, and likely actions of their opponents. Genghis Khan never went to war without first spying out the land, learning what alliances his enemies had to call upon, finding out what their resources were, and knowing how he might cut them off from the first and scatter the second.
Siegecraft: By the time Genghis Khan’s armies moved west they had the experience of war in China. The Mongols suffered badly in their first encounters with entrenched positions and castles. But Genghis Khan was an innovator, so he studied siege technique. When he took a city he would draft all the artisans — blacksmiths, engineers, masons, miners — thousands at a time. Chinese siege artisans accompanied his armies into Persia, providing catapults and battering rams. In Persia these techniques were refined and improved.
Magical Resources: Being a nomadic people the Mongols were led in their worship by tribal Shamans who used the full force of their magical might on the military’s behalf. For more information on these Shamans (including rules for playing them in your saga), refer to Appendix I.
Typical Mongol Trooper
Characteristics: Int –1, Per +1, Pre –1, Com –2, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik +2
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Size: 0
Personality Traits: Brave +3, Ruthless +3, Loyal +3
Reputations: Murderous +4, Everywhere
Weapon/Attack: Dagger Init +6, Atk +4, Dfn +6, Dam +4, Fat +4
Composite Bow Init +6, Atk +7, Dfn —, Dam +9, Fat +7
Lance Init +9, Atk +9, Dfn +5, Dam +7, Fat +4
Longsword/Roundshield Init +5, Atk +4, Dfn +11, Dam +5, Fat +3
Soak: +7
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Body levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Incapacitated
Virtues: Knack (Riding) +1, Knack (Bows) +2
Flaws: Disfigured (Scars) –1, Infamous –2
Abilities: Animal Handling (Horses) 3, Area Lore: Mongolia (Geography) 3, Awareness (Alertness) 2, Bargain (Livestock) 2, Bowmaking 3, Bows (Composite) 4, Brawling (Dagger) 2, Hunt (Tracking) 3, Longshaft Weapon (Lance) 3, Shield and Weapon (Longsword and Roundshield) 3, Ride (In Battle) 3, Speak Mongolian 4, Survival (Steppe) 3
Equipment: Composite bow, metal reinforced leather half-armor, longsword, round shield, daggers, lance
Load: 4.0 with sword and shield, 3.5 with lance or bow, 2.5 with dagger.
Encumbrance: 3 with sword and shield, 2 with lance or bow, 1 with dagger, 0 regardless of equipment when mounted
European Inferiority
By comparison, militarily and magically, the European forces were far inferior. Their unity of command was compromised by dispute and rivalry, their chain of command by arguments over rank. Commanders were appointed by right of birth, not ability. Discipline suffered from the quarrels of the leaders and the lack of systematic training for troops. Mercenaries did somewhat better on this score than most feudal levies, but if mercenaries aren’t paid promptly they usually desert. Organization was damaged by the ad hoc nature of these armies, and communications went no further than horn-call and courier. Mobility was compromised by mixed armies of horse and foot and the presence of large, highly-bred horses that needed rich fodder. The numbers of remounts were low, and heavy armor slowed the cavalry. Firepower was available, but poorly used because of the noble knights’ insistence on taking the frontal position. Misdirection was sneered at as unmanly; the knights liked to charge directly towards their foes. Information about local enemies was good, but information about the Mongols was nonexistent and arrogantly unsought. The Europeans had fairly good knowledge of fortification and siegecraft, but nothing that exceeded Chinese and Persian abilities, which the Mongols had already overcome.
As for magical resources, this was the greatest weakness in the European armory. The foremost European organization of wizards, the Order of Hermes, was a covert group, at odds with the nobility and clergy. Additionally, the Order was composed of a dozen different traditions who disagreed about priorities. Only one house, Tremere, had an efficient organization, and only one other, Flambeau, made a point of training its members in cooperative aggressive magic. In battle, if the European chivalry felt the need of supernatural assistance, they turned to the Church. To protect its warriors against malign sorceries required the Church to declare a crusade. When the Mongols invaded in 1237-41, Pope Gregory IX was at open war with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II. Rather than allying, each denounced the other as an uncompromising scoundrel. The Pope cried out for a crusade while the Emperor was advancing through Italy. The Church had abilities, but they were squandered.
The Mongol Reconnaissance
This was the relative balance of power when Subatei and Jebei approached the south Russian steppe. Before they could probe the Russian principalities, they first had to trick their way past an alliance of Cumans, Alans, Bulgars, and Khazars. The Mongol campaigns in Persia had not gone unnoticed; many of the best troops of the Khwarismian Shah had been kin to the Cumans. The Cuman Khan, Kotian, stirred by the desire for revenge, had assembled an alliance.
Coming down from the Caucasian mountains, the Mongols were confronted by this army and chose not to give battle. They retreated into the pass, but their position was not good; the battles in Georgia had been hard, and the mountains cruel. To hide in the hills would mean starvation. Subatei chose trickery as his weapon. He sent messengers to the Cumans. Were they not all nomads, of Turkish descent? Were they not kin from afar? Subatei claimed he had no quarrel with the Cumans, and sent them wagonloads of Georgian treasure. The Cumans succumbed to this bribery and abandoned their allies, drifting back out onto the steppes.
Swiftly the Mongols descended from the mountains and set out in pursuit. One by one the tribes were destroyed. Last were the Cumans, attacked in small groups, their camps stormed, the treasures they had accepted from the Mongols retaken. Subatei had accomplished one third of his goal, dispersing the nomadic groups west and north of the Caspian Sea. Now, on the north coast of the Black Sea, he found an opportunity to fulfill his second goal.
On the Black Sea a bitter merchant war was being fought between the Genoese and the Venetians. Here were two European groups at each others throats. Both had wide links throughout the continent and good sources of information. Could one of them be drawn into Mongol service? The Venetians had very few scruples, and no appreciation of what they were dealing with.
A deal was struck. The Mongols descended into the Crimea and destroyed several Genoese trading posts. The Venetians agreed to send information east. Couriers were recruited from the local tribes who were willing to obey this new power and who would form the basis of a Mongol spy ring which would operate on the borders of Russia for over fifteen years. Well satisfied, Subatei led his force back to the steppe. In his absence matters had changed. The Cumans had fled into Russia, seeking refuge and assistance from the princes. Khan Kotian was father-in-law to Mstislav of Galicia, to whom he appealed; these savage invaders had destroyed the lands of the Cumans. Tomorrow they would do the same to Russia — better to fight them now!
As has been mentioned, Mstislav formed a coalition which advanced to the shores of the Dnieper. Here the Russian princes and the vengeful Cumans formed up, eighty thousand strong. Subatei sent them emissaries. He had no argument with the princes, only with the Cumans who were rebellious subjects of Genghis Khan; he sent gifts, protesting his friendship. The Russians rejected these overtures, killing the envoys. By murdering the ambassadors, whose safety was sacrosanct under Mongol law, the ignorant Russians had unknowingly declared war.
The march to Kalka has already been described (see page 30) from the Russian point of view. For the Mongols it was a different experience. They were making a disciplined retreat, which lasted for nine days. The Russian pursuit displayed all the key errors of European military action. When the Mongols turned and attacked, their enemies collapsed. The pursuit back to the Dnieper was a slaughter. The last stand of the Prince of Kiev was doomed. The Mongol siege ended with false offers of a truce followed by his execution in retribution for their murdered ambassadors. As was proper with royalty, they forbore to draw his blood, but instead smothered him to death in a massive carpet. Then they stormed the camp.
The defeat was a severe one. Of the sixty thousand Russian soldiers, not eight thousand saw their homes again. Nine princes died, including the Prince of Kiev and two of the Olgavichi clan. For the Cumans this blow was the last. They were a diminished, broken people, no longer capable of more than minor raids.
Subatei’s work was done. He turned back to the east, passing close by the Kingdom of the Volga Bulgars. Here one of his columns was struck by a Bulgar ambush. He would have halted to punish this audacity, but impatient messages were coming from the great Khan. Subatei hurried on, but he did not forget.
Soon the Russians forgot the Mongols. They had come, rampaged, fought, and then departed. Who they were and where they were from — these things did not concern the Russians. Surely they would not return.
In fact, the Mongols never wholly diverted their attention from the west. Genghis Khan had already promised the western lands to his son, Jochi. Although Jochi died in 1226, his claim was inherited by his eldest son, Batu. So, while Genghis Khan pursued his last campaign, in China, three toumens secured the north-western border. Under the command of one of Batu’s brother, Suntai, they operated north of the Caspian, subduing the remnants of the Saxins, Kanglis, and Kipchak Turks. This was the focal point from which Mongol spies operated.
The Return of the Mongols
Genghis Khan had died (1227). The north Chinese realm of the Kin had fallen, and his grandsons were busy in the south, wearing down the traditional Chinese Emperors of the Sung dynasty.
The new Khan of Khans was Ogedei. At his disposal was the magnificent military machine Genghis Khan had created and the services of the incomparable Subatei, as eager as ever to carry out his plans for the conquest of the Western lands.
The western advance began in 1236. Batu was the formal leader, but the inspiring genius was Subatei, now acting the part of Batu’s chief of staff. As the core of their army Ogedei had given them a force of five Mongol Toumens, fifty thousand crack warriors; plus two Toumens of nomad conscripts; several corps of Persian and Chinese engineers, artillerists, physicians, and administrators; and a Shaman corps.
The first stage in the invasion was the final subjugation of the nomad tribes north of the Caucasus and west of the Urals. With Mongol officers and a season’s training, they would make soldiers nearly the equal of their masters. Throughout 1236 and 1237 the Mongols were busy raiding, battling, and training. Over sixty thousand new warriors were added to their ranks, and by the end of 1237, Subatei had repaid the affront offered to him fourteen years before; the Volga Bulgars were destroyed. Their capital was razed, their towns burned, and their fields stripped. The young and fit were enslaved and the rest were killed.
The Russians paid no notice. In 1235 the struggle for Kiev had begun and was going full blast. Daniil of Galicia was gradually gaining the upper hand over Yaroslav of Novgorod, the Olgavichi, and Rostislavichi. The war was fruitless and ruinous, and served no real purpose, for while each of the princes in turn proved strong enough to take Kiev, none of them could successfully invade and conquer each others’ home territories. This struggle could not have come at a worse time, for it distracted the Russians from the terrible peril growing in the east.
Was it pure chance that a major war should break out among the Russian princes on the eve of the Mongol invasion? The Russians certainly thought so, but the Mongol spies and Shamans might have told a different story. Their agents and supernatural allies had been busy in Russia for a dozen years.
One man understood the situation: Khan Kotian. He gathered as many of his people as he could, mustering almost forty thousand warriors and their families, and crossed the Carpathians to seek refuge in Hungary with king Bela IV. It was safety with a price. The Cumans had to convert to Christianity, but they weren’t reluctant. No price was too high to escape the fall of the axe.
Subatei’s first attack in Russia focused on Suzdalia, making the Grand Prince the primary target. Success would effectively divide Novgorod from the southern principalities of Smolensk, Chernigov, and Kiev. He struck in the depths of winter when rivers were frozen, ground hard, and mobility good. In December 1237 the Mongols entered Russia. The Mongols struck first in Ryazan. The wooden towns and castles revealed their vulnerability as they collapsed in infernos of flame. Resistance on the battlefield was late and ineffective. Grand Prince Yuri could not credit what was happening and sent little aid to the beleaguered district. When he did realize that this invasion was in earnest he sent a summons to his brothers and set out with his main army. At first the Mongols simply ignored him. They slipped around the advancing Russian army, encircled Vladimirin-Suzdalia, and burned it to the ground Turning back too late, Yuri was caught on open ground and defeated, dying in the battle which was fought well before his brothers had a chance to come to his assistance.
The invasion of northern Russia became general. Novgorod was threatened and its outlying towns burned. Now, however, the weather turned against the Mongols. The spring thaw was early and the ground became a mire. Withdrawing from Novgorod, the Mongols assaulted northern Chernigov. One town, Kozel’sk, held out valiantly for nearly seven weeks before falling. In a period of four months, northern Russia had succumbed. Its princes were either dead or surrendered. If surrendered, they found themselves ruling in Batu’s name and supplying his armies with craftsmen, horses, and provisions of all kinds. Novgorod was spared, but it had other problems. The Swedes had advanced across the Neva river, only to meet defeat at the hands of Prince Yaroslav’s son, Aleksandr. The crusade of the Teutonics followed, and though the Novgorodians were victorious, they could spare no aid.
None of this could stop the southern Russian war. Gradually, Daniil of Volinia gained the upper hand. It took him until early 1240 to take control of Kiev, by which time his enemies in Chernigov and Smolensk were exhausted. Doubtless this was a relief, since his own forces were terribly reduced.
During this period, the Mongols paused. For nearly two years the Mongols were busy planning the next stage of their campaign, subduing scattered groups of nomads in the north and far south, and extorting every bit of assistance they could from their new subjects. Livestock, fodder, hides, metals, slaves, gold, and silver. What they wanted they took, and where they found resistance they smashed it.
At the same time the Mongols experienced a hint of the dynastic squabbles that would one day bring them down. Though the leader of the invasion was Batu, among his generals were Kuyuk, son of Ogedei Khan, and Buri, a cousin. Dissension sprang up over a petty slight at a victory feast. The two junior princes stormed off in a temper, ultimately traveling all the way back to Karakorum to complain to Ogedei. Their complaints were not well received. Ogedei was Genghis Khan’s son. Junior commanders, even of his own flesh, did not presume to criticize their general during a campaign. Discipline, first and foremost! These complications delayed matters, as did the formidable tasks of organizing vast numbers of captives and training up new corps of auxiliary artisans and Toumens.
The advance resumed in the summer of 1240, even as Daniil seated himself triumphantly in Kiev. Chernigov was re-entered and crushed, the capital falling in October. Smolensk was attacked, and then Pereyaslavl. In Chernigov and Pereyaslavl so violent was the assault that they effectively ceased to exist.
Now, Daniil abandoned Kiev and returned to Volinia, leaving his general Dmitr to hold the city. Kiev, which had suffered so much since its days of greatness, was first bombarded by artillery, and then, on December 6, stormed. No mercy was shown. Even the churches were deliberately destroyed, helpless throngs of refugees burned or crushed within. By the day’s end the city had been reduced to an ash-streaked wasteland, a cemetery wreathed in smoke amidst a field of unhallowed bones.
While the princes squabbled, Russia had fallen. All that was left was to bow down before the invaders. Early in 1241 Daniil did just that. When the Mongol armies arrived in Volinia and Galicia the prince was waiting, not to give battle, but to surrender. By the end of 1240 Volinia and Galicia had submitted. Their rulers became vassals of the Mongols. Russia had fallen. By exploiting natural divisions in Russia’s leadership; by using their tremendous mobility; and by employing the weapons of fear, lightning assault, siege, fire, and deceit the Mongols had shattered and subdued a dozen principalities. Only Novgorod had not actually been invaded. For now it remained free, but isolated and paralyzed by fear.
Now the invasion of eastern Europe began. Subatei knew everything about the web of marriages and alliances in the region. His main opponent was Bela IV of Hungary who could field a hundred thousand men. This in itself did not frighten Subatei. However, to the north of Hungary were Bohemia and Poland, as well as the Teutonic Knights and the East German Margraves. A coalition must be prevented. King Wenceslas of Bohemia, who could muster fifty thousand warriors, must especially be kept away from the main combat until Bela was destroyed.
Accordingly, while he and Batu swept into Hungary, Subatei sent generals Kaidu and Baidar into Poland with two toumens. Their orders were to create as much confusion and disruption as possible. By speed of movement and the use of dummies and decoys, they would seem to have three times as many men. In a grand feint, they would distract the northern realms.
Kaidu and Baidar crossed the Vistula in February 1241, sacked Sandomierz, and then divided to begin raiding. Kaidu skirted Mazovia before smashing through the counties of Leczyca and Sieradz, while Baidar plunged directly toward Krakow. Approaching the city cautiously, he then withdrew in seeming panic. Confident that the nomads were fleeing, Vladimir, Palatine count of Sandomir and Krakow, Prince Henry the Pious’ deputy, set out in pursuit. On March 18 the Poles were ambushed and annihilated. By the end of March, Krakow was in flames along with the other rich towns on the Vistula.
Now Silesia was invaded and Wroclaw attacked. Briefly, it seemed that the Mongols might be turned back, because at Wroclaw there was a miracle. The prior of the Dominican church, St. Adalbert’s, mounted the walls and bent his head in prayer. There was a light in the sky and a sound of singing. Baidar withdrew from Wroclaw, but miracle or no he was not about to abandon the war. The Polish army under Henry of Silesia was in the field, and Wenceslas of Bohemia was closing in. Now it was vital that Baidar rejoin Kaidu. The Mongol forces had steadily maintained contact, and reunited near Legnica at the beginning of April.
On April 8th the Polish armies and their allies came out of Legnica to fight. Henry had called up his knights and the militias from the nearby towns and mines and linked up with the Teutonic Knights, Hospitallers, and even some Templar forces. Unfortunately, Wenceslas of Bohemia had not arrived. Somehow, unaccountably, he had been led astray. Nonetheless, Henry had the numerical advantage by at least ten thousand men.
The Mongols employed a smokescreen as the Christian army advanced. The heavily armored knights thundered forward only to lose themselves in the haze of smoke which cut them off from the ill-armed militias. They stumbled to a confused halt. Abruptly, out of the smoke on one flank, came a buzzing swarm of arrows. Horses screamed and men fell on every side, trying to turn and face this threat. It was the predictable response, and as the army slowly wheeled about it was taken in the rear by the Mongol lancers. Henry the Pious and the cream of northeastern European chivalry died on the field of Legnica. As a token of his victory, Kaidu had the ears of the dead warriors cut off and sent to Batu; they filled nine sacks.
In the meantime, Subatei and Batu had invaded Hungary, crushing the border forts in the Carpathian mountains while supporting columns slipped into the country from the north and south.
The Hungarian king, Bela, had great difficulty bringing his barons out to fight the Mongols. They resented his rule and his previous wise decision to accommodate the Cuman refugees. His barons loathed the Cumans and made their presence an excuse to defy their king. Bela was determined to retain the Cuman forces, who were numerous, hardy, and loyal. He did, however, agree to hold the Cuman leaders, including Kotian, hostage. When Bela finally managed to persuade his barons to advance against the Mongols, some of them slipped back and slew the unarmed Cuman lords. The Cumans rioted at news of this betrayal, attacking first some of Bela’s vassals and then the Austrians before turning south and fleeing into Bulgaria.
Exactly one day after the battle of Legnica, Bela and his army encountered the Mongols, who numbered perhaps seventy thousand. Against them Bela had almost a hundred thousand men, who were well armed but ruinously disunited. The Mongols retreated across the river Sajo, which was crossable by a strong stone bridge. The next morning, as Bela approached, half the horde, under Batu, stayed to contest the bridge, while the other half, under Subatei, circled to the north and forced a crossing of the river beyond the Hungarian lines. Batu pushed the Hungarians back from the bridge with combined artillery and archery fire and then crossed over. The battle was hard fought until Subatei appeared from the hills at the Hungarian rear. Surrounded, the Hungarians fell back on their camp. The Mongols deliberately allowed a gap to open in their lines. Despite Bela’s firm commands, some of his barons took the lure and galloped from the camp, apparently breaking free to flee back to the capital. Suddenly flight became general, and masses of men broke away, casting aside weapons and armor to make better speed. The Mongol pursuit was devastating. The light cavalry effortlessly outpaced the European knights and cut them to ribbons. In a matter of hours Bela’s army was annihilated.
Bela did not die, but was pursued all the way to the Adriatic, where he took to the sea. Throughout the autumn and winter of 1241 the Mongols tormented Hungary. Their advance scouts probed the borders of Austria and roamed through Croatia, hunting for Bela.
Europe shook. The final payment for the sins of humanity had come. The hordes of Gog and Magog were advancing to destroy Church, Faith, and Christendom. Russia was conquered, and Hungary had fallen. Poland was in turmoil as Kaidu dashed about, toying with Wenceslas. The Mongols were poised for a general advance into Austria and Saxony. Their next logical objective was the Holy Roman Empire, and in Venice certain men were cursing their greed and stupidity; they had sold a civilization for fool’s gold.
But the next advance never came. Three thousand miles to the East, sodden with drink and overindulgence, Ogedei had died. The messengers brought word in February 1242. Subatei departed immediately, to vote at the Kuriltai for the new Khan. With him went the bulk of the original Mongol troops allocated to Batu. They were imperial legions and obliged to attend the new Khan’s orders.
Batu had to halt his advance. He withdrew from Hungary and ordered Kaidu out of Poland. This withdrawal was even more destructive than the advance had been. To some degree the Mongols had begun to make permanent settlements in Hungary. Its wide central plains were the best position for the center of their new realm. Peasants had been encouraged to come out of the forests and hills and minor nobles to swear allegiance. Now, the coldblooded policy of the Mongol commander demanded that nothing be left to provide resources for an enemy’s recovery. The helpless peasants were slaughtered and every field, castle, and village within reach was razed. Batu followed the line of the Danube back to the Black Sea, terrorizing the Bulgarians into submission, and settled in the southern Russian steppe. In time he would build a city, Sarai, on the Volga, a few hundred miles from the Caspian sea. For now he contented himself with enforcing the submission of his Russian vassals. At Batu’s command were nearly sixty thousand fine warriors, commanded by Mongol officers who had stayed loyal to him. Half a dozen princes and fifty cities owed him allegiance and battle service. In the years to come, Batu and his descendants would develop a system of exacting taxes from their unwilling subjects, would punish rebellion and use Russian leaders as pawns in their quarrels with other members of Genghis Khan’s far flung family. For two centuries Russia would lie supine beneath the Mongol yoke. The years of freedom were over. The long night had begun.
The Middle and Late 13th Century
Poland
The Mongols entered Poland only to divert attention from the southern arm of their invasion. The destruction of several key Polish cities, the ruin of much rich farmland, and the defeat of Henry the Pious were the only significant events; unlike Russia, Poland suffered no centuries of slavery under Mongol rule.
When the Mongols withdrew, Poland went back to minding its own problems, which soon took a turn for the worse. Without Henry the Pious, Krakow became a bone of contention between Conrad of Mazovia and Boleslaw the Chaste of Sandomierz.
From 1243 (when Conrad of Mazovia died) disintegration became general. New fractures opened up in the Polish state, with Silesia (the most extreme example) split into four provinces: Upper Silesia, Legnica, Wroclaw, and Glogow. True, some of Poland’s oldest rivals had been eliminated. Volinian and Galician princes were no longer a concern, and the Prussians too were no longer a threat. However, these two enemies had now been replaced by new forces. The Mongols soon began forcing their Russian vassals to raid their neighbors. In 1259 they came back in person. This was a plundering raid, far more destructive than the feint of 1241. Sandomir and Lublin fell. Krakow burned again, though the citadel survived, and northern Poland suffered appalling devastation.
The last Mongol invasion came in 1286. By this time the Mongols had lost something of their fine discipline and strategic thinking, and the Poles had learned enough to hang on in fortified positions and not be lured into rash attacks. Though the countryside was ruined again, the cities survived this assault.
Meanwhile, the Teutonic Knights were developing rapidly during the latter part of the century and had no love for the Poles. In addition, a totally new power had arisen. The Lithuanians had achieved unity, bolstered by large numbers of Jadzwing refugees fleeing from Teutonic advances. In 1261 they defeated the Teutonic Order decisively at Durben and established a new nation that took to raiding north-eastern Poland.
Worst of all, in the south-west, the Czechs were systematically advancing. Wenceslas II of Bohemia had married Elzbieta, daughter of Przemysl II, “King” of Poland (1290-1296). When Przemysl died Wenceslas drove for the throne.
The Poles could not resist this sort of pressure. By 1300 Wenceslas was sitting on the throne in Krakow and all of southern Poland his. When Wladislaw the Short, last independent prince of the house of Piast, went into exile, southern and western Poland became part of the Czech dynasties’ possessions. At the same time the Lithuanians, who had already begun absorbing Polotsk, moved into Mazovia, and step by step took over the Duchy.
Though Mazovia was to be lost forever, Poland was not doomed to eternal foreign rule. Wladislaw the Short used his exile fruitfully to cement alliances in Hungary and with Pope Boniface VIII, and returned in 1306 to gather in the tattered remnants of his nation. But as the century closed the Poles were a subject people.
Russia and the Mongols
In Russia, new masters reined, but for years the Mongols of what was now the Khanate of the Golden Horde were preoccupied with the affairs of the Mongol Empire. When Ogedei died, intrigue robbed Batu of his chance to sit upon his grandfather’s throne. Instead his rival Kuyuk was elected. Kuyuk, who ruled from 1246-1248, did little to actively keep the Mongol conquests rolling forward. When he died, Mangku was elected Khan of Khans and began to expand the borders, but Europe was spared. Mangku ordered campaigns in Persia and China. In the neareast the Mongols came within a whisper of seizing Palestine and invading Egypt. Their advance appeared unstoppable throughout the 1250s. Under Mangku’s brother, Hulegu, they smashed the nations of the Muslims, sacked Damascus and Baghdad, broke through into Asia Minor, and prepared, in a final move, to destroy the Mamluk sultans who ruled in Egypt and Palestine.
They were halted, once again, by the death of a Khan. In 1260, while coordinating a grand sweep against China, Mangku fell ill and died. Immediately, a civil war began between his brothers Kublai and Arik-Boke. Hulegu’s troops were now needed in the east, and he was not friendly with the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Batu’s brother Berke (1257-66). He left a small holding force in Syria and returned to Persia. A few months later, the Mamluks, warrior-rulers of Egypt, overwhelmed this force at Ain Jalut (Goliath’s Spring) in Palestine, ending the Mongol advance.
Mongol Rule
From 1238-1252, though the Mongols controlled Russia, they made no effort to actively govern. The Russian princes either died or swore fealty. The Mongols accepted this fealty and went back to their traditional way of life in the steppe, though Batu did build his new capital, Sarai, on the Volga.
Southern Russia, of course, had been ruined. Kiev, Pereyaslavl, and Chernigov no longer existed as states. But in the north, government continued more or less as normal. With Grand Prince Yuri dead, his brother Yaroslav was Grand Prince. He ruled effectively, reining in his brothers and assigning lands in north-western Suzdalia to his various nephews. In 1246, however, he felt the whip of Mongol authority. Batu had no intention of attending the Grand Kuriltai himself, but had to send a representative or risk arousing the wrath of the Khan of Khans. Who better than the foremost of his vassals? He sent Yaroslav three thousand miles to Karakorum, where the prince was poisoned.
The Khans of the Golden Horde now devised one simple method of control. No man could hold authority without the approval of the Khan. To gain that approval he must present himself in person at Sarai and be awarded a patent. What this did was give the Russian princes a new source of power to manipulate and call upon in their numerous feuds. With Yaroslav dead his two sons took authority in the north. Andrei ruled in Suzdalia, Aleksandr in Novgorod. Aleksandr, of course, had been Yaroslav’s deputy in Novgorod since 1238. Arguing furiously, the two brothers appealed to Sarai for a ruling on the limits of their authorities. Batu sent them to Karakorum, where the partition of their lands was finalized. This did not satisfy Aleksandr and by intrigue he managed to stir the Mongols of Sarai to march against Andrei, in 1252. Suzdalia was again a battleground. Helpless before the Mongols’ wrath, Andrei fled and Aleksandr became Grand Prince.
This became the pattern of affairs for the next few decades. The Mongols could be easily roused against any. Unfortunately, they swiftly seized on such events as excuses for wholesale plunder and slaughter. Aleksandr played a key part. He appeased the Mongols and called on their support against his various opponents. He found that within their overlordship he could rule quite handily. He could campaign against foreign enemies and rule despotically with his new and dangerous masters at his beck and call, just so long as he could bear to pay the price in the sufferings of the common folk.
Taxation and Rebellion
In 1257 the Mongols ordered a census, taxation and conscription on their minds. Hulegu’s campaign in the near-east was building to a climax, manpower was needed, and Mangku ordered the Golden Horde to support Hulegu. The tax was deeply resented. Novgorodians especially hated the idea of a tax and the presence in their city of haughty Mongol tax collectors. In 1261 angry mutters began to sweep the streets and in 1262 it finally broke into open revolt. Rostov, Vladimir, Suzdal, and Yaroslavl also rose against the tax men and drove them out. This was the Great Uprising, and for a brief moment it seemed that Russia might be freed. Suppression, however, was immediate and brutal, and the Mongols were aided in it to some degree by the Russian princes.
In 1263 Aleksandr Nevsky died. Suzdalia waited anxiously while his sons, brothers, uncles, cousins, and nephews bickered over the spoils. An appeal was made to Sarai and Khan Berke made his decision. Berke cannily appointed the ineffectual Yaroslav (1264-1271) as Grand Prince. Yaroslav could not rally his family in any sense and Suzdalia was effectively partitioned into a dozen tiny counties. Yaroslav’s successor, Vasily (1272-77) had the same problem and bitter internal conflicts.
By this time the Mongols had begun to actually govern their subjects with a network of civil and military officials (called baskak) stationed throughout Russia. The court at Sarai was developing all the signs of a despot’s den, with intrigue rife. The Mongols ruled by the principals of patronage, military suppression, and assassination. Weak princes were indulged, rebels killed, and strong princes were ordered to Sarai, feted lavishly, and then tended to fall sick and die of mysterious stomach ailments.
In Novgorod trouble was brewing between the city and the princes who were called to rule it. The Mongols had never actually sacked the city and the Novgorodians were traditionally a rowdy and independent lot. Novgorod in this period effectively defied its ruling princes and managed to enforce a written contract between prince and city that severely limited the prince’s powers (1267, reaffirmed in 1269). This was the sort of internal squabbling the Mongols willingly overlooked.
The Russian princes fell into patterns of appeasement and intrigue. Either weak princes called upon Mongol aid to oust stronger enemies or Mongol candidates for rule of the Golden Horde demanded allegiance from Russian princes.
When Berke died in 1266, rule of the Golden Horde passed to the capable ManguTemur. After his death, however, two candidates emerged. Mangu-Temur’s brother TodeMangu was his designated heir, but a cousin, Nogai, rose up against him. Nogai proved formidable. Neither Tode-Mangu nor his two successors managed to defeat him. It wasn’t until his death in 1299 that the Golden Horde was united again (by Toktu).
Naturally, the Russian princes fell prey to the various factions and disputes of the warring Mongol chieftains.
This, then, was the “Mongol Yoke:” two hundred years of enslavement, intrigue, and wanton violence. Not until the beginning of the 15th century would the Muscovites throw off the waning Mongol power. There would, it’s true, be development of a sort in Russia before then. Novgorod would cement its republican status. As its council of boyars (the Sovet Gospod) learned to cooperate with each other and cherish the city’s interests, they helped the citizens enforce more and more restrictions on the men who ruled them, emerging at last as a city-state as strong and proud as Venice. For most of Russia, however, the period was one of stagnation. In terms the ancient Slavs would have understood, the Darkness had come upon the Earth, and of the Sun’s Rebirth there was no sign.
Variations
What has been presented here is a picture of the Mongol invasions close to the historical reality, but you are under no obligation to play out the invasions in this fashion. You may make the Mongols more or less formidable as you please, and alter their direction of approach or timetable to suit your saga.
If you are responsible for handling the Mongols in your saga (either as lone storyguide or as part of a team of storyguides), consider straying from the historical reality, at least enough to surprise your players. The following sections describe a number of options to consider.
Extended Campaign
As presented, the Mongols affect only the Novgorod and Transylvanian tribunals (in Europe, anyway). This need not be the case. If you’re looking for something really cataclysmic to enliven your saga, the Mongols make a great disaster. Historically, the Mongol invasions in Europe and the Near East stopped because two men died prematurely: in 1241, Khan Ogedei, and, in 1260, Khan Mangku. If Ogedei had lived just one more year, Batu would probably have settled the center of his Khanate in Hungary. Given that year he would certainly have invaded Bohemia to destroy King Wenceslas, and probably reentered Poland and Prussia. Given two more years he would probably have been attacking the Holy Roman Empire. Subatei, Batu’s chief of staff, did not plan the invasion on the basis of limited goals; he had an overall plan for the conquest of the entire continent. He believed that it would take eighteen years, given the necessity of garrisoning rear areas while maintaining an adequate field force.
Remember, the Mongols did completely conquer China, which was larger in area than Europe, more densely populated, and more unified. It took the Mongols just six years to destroy Great Bulgar, conquer Russia and Hungary, and ravage Poland. Given another twelve years, it is reasonable to imagine them subduing Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Balkans.
Then again, if you are playing a saga in Palestine, Turkey, or North Africa, consider that Hulegu’s advance in 1260 had already broken the power of Baghdad and Damascus. The Mamluk victory at Ain Jalut was won over less than 10,000 Mongol troopers. Hulegu’s full army was almost 200,000 strong. Had he advanced into Palestine, he would almost certainly have conquered the region, continued into Egypt, and then across the whole North African coast. After all, this particular conquest route had already been exploited once before. The Arabs did exactly the same thing six centuries earlier when they exploded out of Arabia, swept through North Africa, and eventually invaded Spain and France.
If, however, you are not inclined to see your neighborhood swept away by a ravaging Mongol horde, consider the screams for help that are going to come from the east. All the old political certainties and alliances are going to be tested. Whether they act in pure self-defense or throw in with the Russian and Polish princes, the Novgorodian magi wil want help. Here is an opportunity for the Rhine covenants to strike some hard bargains. Or perhaps the Transylvanian magi might cross the Carpathian mountains and help their fellow magi before the Mongol steamroller turns in their direction.
The aftermath of the Mongol invasions will introduce a new political element into Europe, as Popes and Emperors scurry to send emissaries to Sarai and Karakorum. In Palestine the crusader states will have to make a choice between siding with the new Mamluk rulers or inviting the Mongols in. In our history they chose to help the Mamluks with supplies and guides as they marched to Ain Jalut. The Mamluks won and eventually turned on the crusaders and wiped them out. But the Mongols remained a factor in all the power struggles of the 13th century, whether in Russia or the Near East.
Remember, finally, that you have complete discretion in handling the Mongols. You can treat them as simple steppe nomads or as the hordes of Hell complete with demonic monsters, giants, and werewolves, or any point in between.
Diabolical Inspiration
The Mongol invasions, both as they actually happened or in the scenarios outlined above, seriously threaten all that the Christian Church (both East and West) claims as its own. If you’re looking for a massive Infernal force against which your righteous covenant can fight in an epic battle that will resound across Mythic Europe, the Mongols certainly provide that opportunity.
You can stage this in a number of ways. Infernal powers might lurk behind the scenes, subtly planting unholy ideas and motivations in key ears throughout the Golden Horde. For example, you might decide that Temujin’s remarkable abilities made him the perfect tool. By himself he might only have united the Mongols, for he believed his people must be as one to be free and strong. Peraps he would have united the steppe nomads as a whole too, and raided the neighboring nations. But the ambition to rule the world? That could easily be Infernal in origin. A little vanity, a little greed, an overwhelming pride: Temujin’s weaknesses were obvious and by the most subtle of stoking he could be drawn from being simply a great nomad leader to being the unifier of a world empire built on blood, fire, and unhallowed dead slaughtered in tens and hundreds of thousands.
On the other hand, a more fantastic approach might suit your saga. The hordes, in addition to being composed of Mongols and conquered conscripts, might actually contain creatures and beings aligned with the Infernal realm. Two-headed monsters, giants, ogres, evil spirits — in short, the Cavalry of Satan running rampant through Christianity.
Divine Inspiration
There is yet another option (which, surprisingly, actually circulated in historical Europe): that the Mongol Hordes were actually the legions of the legendary Prester John, sent by God to return the Holy Land to Christendom. This option would require a bit of work on the part of the storyguide, as the magics of the Mongolian Shamans are presented as firmly set within the magical realm.
Nevertheless, a saga that chose this option would allow for a wide range of exciting and wildly mythic conflicts and possibilities. Storyguides interested in exploring this possibility may wish to locate a copy of a very old Atlas Games supplement for Ars Magica, South of the Sun. Although now out of print and unavailable through retail channels, resourceful players might locate it through game and book stores that sell used books, or from other collectors at conventions or on the Internet.
MALINCKA’S JOURNEY, PART 7
Standing at the top of the Earth Crown on a clear autumn day, Malincka could look down on the canyon and the surrounding hills. It was something she had taken to doing more and more often as she grew older.
Today was good. The sky was bright, with high distant clouds. Below her the white houses in the canyon were gleaming in the late afternoon sun. The gilded domes above the temple of Hermes were shining, and the people were moving up from the town and down from the caverns for evensong.
It really was the valley of a Thousand Caves now. The truth had taken a long time to bring to life. Those first few decades hardly seemed real anymore. What had they been? A few hundred people, living on hope. Now there was a temple, and a priesthood, villages to the north and south, and the Bjornaer camps spreading vigorously eastwards. And, in the last ten years, the real work had begun in Great Bulgar, which had been so hostile before the Mongol attacks.
Malincka gave a dry chuckle. How surprised the Mongol Shamans had been, to find her and her sodalis on the walls at Great Bulgar, and then again when they faced the Leczyca legion and King Henry of Poland outside the walls of Vladimir . . . that had been a day worth living! And now the Volkhvy had been given let to preach in Great Bulgar, and the Mullahs agreed that the first true prophet since Mohammed had been born in their time.
She took a deep breath. She savored the wind now, the final release from the laboratory. The middle of her life had been spent locked in small rooms, sweating with abstractions. It was better that the end should be spent like this, while her apprentices and the envoys from the Order continued her work.
Malincka Capcek looked out into the west, and the sunset of her life, and was content. Standing at the top of the Earth Crown on a gray autumn day, Malincka looked down onto the canyon and the dark hills and sighed wearily. Her back ached and her legs were very stiff. Still, it was worth climbing up this far just to get away from the wrangling of her apprentices and the whining of the tribal elders.
If she squinted she could see people working in the gardens clustered around the stream bed far below. Were there fewer than last year? She thought perhaps there were. Several families had moved away. Disclosing their work to the Order in 1214 had been such a mistake. Everything had somehow been tainted, fumbled, from that time onward, and when she recalled the fiasco of the 1221 tribunal . . . dear Lord!
Well, at least the Mongols had saved them from the worst of it. Without the invasions the Suzdalian princes would have been building summer lodges in the Ural foothills by now and taxing them all into the grave. She gave a grunt of satisfaction. They had learnt the errors of their ways, but so perhaps had she.
Had she really been that arrogant? To imagine she could twist the world into answering her desires? Humans weren’t made like that, and the magic had remained always one meager step short of successful resolution. As for the Volkhvy, well, they had tried, and Stennya had seemed promising. If only she had remained in the canyon, developed her powers fully before traveling to Great Bulgar. But there was still work to be done. She could still resolve some of those final problems. It only wanted a little more time, surely . . . .
She sighed. She wouldn’t indulge herself by lying. The world had turned to a different path. Better to face it squarely.
Malincka Capcek looked out into the west, and the end of her life, and allowed herself the dignity of honesty Standing at the top of the Earth Crown on a black autumn day was a small figure. A beaten wreck who could scarcely have survived the demanding climb to the peak. Rags were bound around hands and feet, tattered robes swirled around rickety, scarred limbs. Beneath a filthy hood a gaunt face boasting only a single eye looked out on a cold world. It had taken Malincka a long time to return to the canyon. From her refuge in the north she had come, struggling against encroaching death, wanting to stand in this place just one more time. The canyon far below was an empty slot. There was no one stirring there now. From the height she could see no sign they ever had. The outlines of the gardens had been obliterated by floods and wild growth.
The gate of the Great Cavern . . . that had come crashing down during the last assault, when Aleksandr of Novgorod had joined the Mongol Shamans in their campaign to exterminate the Order. Wearily she allowed her eye to close. She could remember the screams of the dying, the roaring of the flames, the way the cliffs had crumbled around them, and Nastassia’s valiant, foolish death.
Slowly she let herself sink down to the ground. A mirthless smile cracked her ruined face. Aleksandr had learnt his lesson, in the end, when the Mongols needed him no longer. Idly she wandered whether the Ur-Khan of the West still ruled from Rome, or whether the Mongol civil war had completely destroyed the city.
Hadn’t the Khan of Germania won, and established a new capital at Aachen?
She wasn’t sure. Too much time, too many rumors, and only the patient, Finnish wind mages working their magic to keep the north free. They had tried to persuade her not to leave their camps, but in the end she had to come back. Here where her life had seemed to blossom in hope. Here where it had crashed into ruin. Here where it would finally end.
Malincka Capcek laid her head down on the stone. She could not bear to look out into the west, no one dwelt there now but her enemies and their slaves. The end had come; finally it was time to sleep.
She woke with a start, her heart racing. With shaking hands she conjured light, setting the little alcove abuzz with warmth and illumination. At the foot of her bed, Nina, her new apprentice, stirred in her cot and murmured sleepily, “Morning, mistress?”
“No. No dear. Not morning, go to sleep.” She let the lights die down a little. Morning. Yes. Soon it would be morning. She must get back to work at once. The new spell of perception was going to be crucial. She’d been neglecting it to play politics with the tribal elders, the young priestess, the whole covenant community. The coming tribunal would be vital, absolutely vital.
Lord, but she was stretched too far, in too many directions, with too much to do. No wonder she dreamed such strange and terrible dreams. Eventually, Malincka Capcek let the lights die and the darkness return, and closed her eyes. But for all her will and weariness, she had no more sleep that night.
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