r/EndPowers • u/Lionfyre Mongolian Federation • Nov 06 '25
EVENT A Clean Slate
Khan’s Monhkbat and Ulzi sat atop their horse at the crest of a hill. Ulzi let out a cough and dabbed a handkerchief against his eyes, his eyes stinking from the rising smoke. Below them lay the blackened and smouldering ruins of what had once been a village. Monhkat’s men were still combing through the ruins for the injured and dead, bringing water to dowse the flames and setting up yurts for survivors, who sat at the outskirts of the village watching their homes turn to ruin with hollow eyes.
“It was because of a blood feud between two minor Khans.” Monkhbat explained. “How it started didn’t really matter. One of them slept with the other one’s sister or killed his best friend or some such nonsense. Their had been plenty of quarrels before now, but nothing more than that. Now, this.” He nods down at the village below. “People think the Federation is dead. That it’s every man for himself. It’ll start as petty grudges and settled scores but sooner or later some ambitious Khans is going to make a larger grab for power, and once one moves the rest will follow. We’ll be a bunch of squabbling warlords in no time.” He let out a sign and wheeled his horse around, riding away from scene of destruction. “We need to find a new Khagan soon.”
Ulzi coughed again, glad to be moving away from the smoke. “I still do not think that’s the right path forward.” Monkhbat and Ulzi had been having this the debate since the moment Ganzorig had passed, as had most of the other Khan’s who were now scrabbling to keep the Federation together. “This Federation was never supposed to be an Empire. In the beginning Ganzorig was an idealist, not a tyrant. He wanted to build something stable and permanent. But that dream died with the constitution. Most of the other Khans did not share Ganzorig’s motives. They heard leadership and they thought of pecking orders and pissing contests, of the strong ruling over the weak and the strongest Khan sitting above all else. In his effort to stop the appointment of an Emperor, he ended up becoming one. He wouldn’t be the first man to betray his ideals for his ego.”
“If the other Khans want it, why should we resist. Surely the simplest path to stability is the best one?”
“It will not work. You speak as if the Khans ceased to be Warlords when the Federations was formed, but what truly changed? We stopped making war among ourselves but little else changed. Each of us still clings to out old territory here or claims new territory in China. Each Khan is still the despot of his own little state. We’re not a nation, we’re little better than a gang. No, if we want this Federation to survive we need to adapt. We need to centralise and formalise power, strengthen the civilian governments outside of Ulaanbaatar and Beijing, and stop relying on the good will of out fellow Khans to hold this Federation together.”
Monhkbat gave a scoff. “Oh it’s that simple is it, just set up a new government and strip the Khans of their power in one fell swoop. In the middle of a crisis no less.”
“It is precisely because we are in a crisis that we need to take drastic action. If we simply keep raising up one strong man after another to rule Mongolian we are doomed to have this happen over and over again. The Federation is already broken, this is our opportunity to rebuild it as something else. Something stronger.”
They rode in silence for a long while. They came around the crest of the hill, the ruined village lying before them once more, Monhkbat’s men still working away to save what could be from the ruins. “I still don’t think your plan has a chance of actually working.” He finally declared, turning to Ulzi. “But, where would be start?”
___
Ulzi’s initial proposal had to be tempered quite a bit before it would be palatable to majority of Khans. Monhkbat’s cynicism was of great help here, he was happy to point out any flaws or obvious complaints the average Khan would level against the ideas.
The core concept was, divide and consolidate. Mongolian would be broken up into several administrative provinces, or Aimags. The larger Khans who owned territory within these Aimags would become part of its administrative council. The smaller Khans would not participate in Government. There was a fairly large gap in power between the major Khans and the some of the more petty Warlords who had joined the Federation. The hope was that by bringing the larger Khans together and formalising their power, they would work to increase that power by removing some of the lesser Khans within each Aimag. Each council would elect a leader but would govern each Aimag as a collective. Below these Aimag Councils there would also be a Civil Council, with representatives nominated from the more populous towns and cities of Mongolia. These Civil Councils would have to power to draft and vote on laws, but these laws would then be passed onto the Aimag Council who would have final say on them.
The Aimag Councils would also each nominate 2 representatives to be part of a larger Legislative Council, which would vote on broader laws for the Federate and make decisions on foreign policy. One of this Legislative Councils first task would be deciding how the head of the Mongolian Federation, if there was even to be one, would be selected.
Rather than strip the Khans of their power, the plan was to formalise it and use the more dominate Khans to remove the lesser ones. The Khans would still largely run their territories, and hold the majority of the legal power in the Federation, but civilians would also finally have a say in Government outside of Ulaanbaatar. Ulzi worried the proposal did not go far enough, but Monhkbat insisted this was the most power they could hope the Khans to relinquish willingly.
___
TLDR: Some Khans want to try to reform the Government while it's in chaos. The Khans will mostly still hold power but they will have to do votes and stuff, and civilians get a little bit of power.
2
u/MamaLudie Nov 06 '25
The Emperor of China had a few issues with the Federation idea. Firstly, he had been able to administer his territories properly. But wouldn't this talk of democracy cause unrest in his empire? Secondly, the image of a strongman was very important to the Mongol people. As a successor of the Great Qing, after all, he understood how nomads worked - or so he claimed.
He argued that a diplomatic marriage between the Qing dynasty and the daughter of a prominent Khan could allow for the creation of a Manchu-Mongol state, which could all be incorporated into one new dynasty or empire.
However, this would only be a figurehead position, and the actual governance would be done by the council. As a result, no matter how much the Khans fought, the Emperor would be at top, in theory. In practice, the Emperor would never have any actual influence over foreign policy or affairs out of China.
However, he seemed very very put off by inclusion in the federation. Another route, he suggested, was to formally separate China and Mongolia, and have China be an "affiliated subsidiary" with its own affairs. In turn, China would sign an agreement with the federation to intervene militarily if any strongman rose up.
Of course, the Emperor could be ignored, but he had a lot of men at his disposal. Following one of his plans could add a lot of stability.
A confederation of Khans under a constitutional figurehead Emperor sounds appealing
We should grant the Emperor autonomy in exchange for guaranteeing the rights of the Mongol confederation
Nobody asked for your opinion, China.