![]() Great Horde is a Horde located in Eastern Europe, and the last remnants of the once powerful Golden Horde, successor State to the Mongol Empire. A worthy Khan might take the chance to seize the cities of Samarkand or Bukhara while the Timurids are distracted. Opportunism must be their guiding philosophy if they wish to claim any part of Genghis Khan’s legacy, and by great fortune it seems that their Timurid neighbors are close to collapse and civil war. The Nogai and Uzbek Khanates, while successful in their bid for independence and controlling vast stretches of the steppe, lack the wealth or strategic importance of the other successor states. ![]() They have also attracted the interests of the Ottoman Sultan, who keeps a watchful eye over the Khanate’s affairs. The Crimeans are avid slavers, and must contend with the Genoese colonies for control of local trade. Giray led the Crimean Tatars in a bloody struggle for independence, eventually emerging victorious and as Khan of a new horde. The Crimean Khanate broke from the Great Horde in 1441 after the Crimean clans invited Haci Giray, a descendent of Ghenghis Khan, to rule them. As the wealthiest of the Tatar realms, Kazan is both a promising state and a target for greedy invaders. Kazan is an important trade hub, and the new Khanate can easily access nearby veins of metals both precious and utilitarian. With the support of local Bolghar nobles he seized the city of Kazan and established a new Khanate in the northern steppe. Muhammad of Kazan has twice proclaimed himself Khan of the Golden Horde, but his reigns were short-lived. ![]() They have already stolen Ruthenia away from Tatar control and will likely continue to pose a threat to the nomads. Likewise, Lithuania has benefitted from the collapse of the Golden Horde. If they are left to grow they will surely seek to throw off the Tatar yoke entirely and conquer the steppes for themselves. A Khan who is not feared even by his neighbors is barely a Khan at all once mere tax-collectors, the Grand Principality of Muscovy has expanded greatly without a strong Khan to keep them in check. The constituent tribes continue to break away from his rule and the Khan has thus far been unable to stop them. Controlling the cities of Sarai and Astrakhan, Khan Küchük Muhammad pronounces his hegemony over the steppe to deaf ears. The most direct successor to the Golden Horde is the Great Horde§. The once great empire of Jochi, son of Genghis Khan, has been divided into several Khanates each seeking dominance over the steppe. The Golden Horde is dead its Tatar successors fight over its corpse even as their enemies grow strong around them.
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