Overview

The Ottomans arose from the obscure reaches of Anatolia in the west of Turkey; these Western Turks were called the Oghuz. They had come primarily as settlers during the reign of the Seljuks in Turkey (1098-1308). The Ottomans ruled in western Anatolia by 1300, about the time the Seljuk state was crumbling apart. By 1400, however, the Ottomans had managed to extend their influence over much of Anatolia and even into Byzantine territory in eastern Europe: Macedonia and Bulgaria. In 1402, the Ottomans moved their capital to Edirne in Europe where they threatened the last great bastion of the Byzantine Empire - Constantinople, the capitol. No matter how much territory fell to the Muslims, Constantinople resisted every siege and every invasion. The Ottomans, however, wanted to break this cycle. Not only would the seizure of Constantinople represent a powerful symbol of Ottoman power, but it would make the Ottomans master of east-west trade.

In 1453, Sultan Mehmed (1451-1481), who was called "The Conqueror," finally took this one last remnant of Byzantium and renamed it, Istanbul. From that point onwards, the capital of the Ottoman Europe would remain fixed in Istanbul and, under the patronage of the Ottoman sultans, become one of the wealthiest and most cultured cities of the early modern world. This, however was not the peak of the Ottoman Empire´s power and influence; the peak of the Empire did not occur until the sixteenth century. It had expanded greatly under Sultan Selim I (1512-1520), but it was under his son, Sultan Suleyman (1520-1566), that the empire would reach its greatest expansion.

Today, the Ottoman Empire is reduced from these heights, but still remains the primary power of Islam, and the greatest true challenge to Europe’s power. Turkey and most of the Middle East are under its control, as was Egypt until recently. Parts of the Balkans, the Greek peninsula, and the Crimea are also Ottoman lands, but the perception is often that the hand of the Sultan reaches as far as Muslims travel. This is not so very far removed from the truth.

Ruler

The current Sultan, Abdul-Mejid I, succeeded to the throne in the time-honoured fashion of Ottoman Sultans, who until recently were legally allowed to kill their brothers to cut down on regicide and other coups. Unsurprisingly, he is a paranoid and suspicious old man, fearful of his ambitious son Abdul Aziz, and heavily involved in alcohol and substance abuse. Much of the running of the country is done by the Grand Vizier, an official who is elected and generally serves a yearly term. The current Vizier is Mutercim Mehmed Rustu Pasha, a wise and cautious man.

The central function of the ruler or Sultan in Ottoman political theory was to guarantee justice (`adala´ in Arabic) in the land. All authority hinges on the ruler’s personal commitment to justice. This idea has both Turco-Persian and Islamic aspects. In Islamic political theory, the model of the just ruler was Solomon in the Hebrew histories. The justice represented by the Solomonic ruler is a distributive justice; this is a justice of fairness and equity that comes closer to the Western notion of justice. In addition, however, `adale has Turco-Persian coordinates; in this tradition, `adale, or justice, is the protection of the helpless from the rapacity of corrupt and predatory government. In this sense, justice involves protecting the lowest members of society, the peasantry, from unfair taxation, corrupt magistracy, and inequitable courts. This, in Ottoman political theory, was the primary task of the Sultan. He personally protected his people from the excesses of government, such as predatory taxation and the corruption of local officials. For the Ottomans, the ruler could only guarantee this justice if he had absolute power. For if he was not an absolute ruler, that meant that he would be dependent on others and so subject to corruption. Absolute authority, then, was at the service of building a just government and laws rather than elevating the ruler above the law as Europeans have interpreted the Sultanate. This was, of course, the theory.

Incidentally, the full official title of the Ottoman Sultan is Sultan Hân Abdul Mejid I, Padishah, Hünkar, Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn. Sovereign of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe; Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem; Emperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, of Kairuan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Ajim, of Basra, of El Hasa, of Dilen, of Raka, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakir, of Cicilia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of the Morea, of the Marmara Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Babylon, Kurdistan, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the plain of Kypshak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefa and of all the neighbouring countries, of Bosnia and its dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet of Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of all Iflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many others countries and cities. Not surprisingly, an attitude of overweening pride and arrogance often runs rife in Ottoman rulers. top

The Structure of Government

Officially, the Sultan is the government. He enjoys absolute power and, in theory at least, is personally involved in every governmental decision. In the Ottoman experience of government, everything representing the state government issues from the hands of the Sultan himself.

The Sultan also assumes the title of Caliph, or supreme temporal leader, of Islam. The Ottomans claim this title for several reasons: the two major holy sites, Mecca and Medina, are part of the Empire, and the primary goal of the government is the security of Muslims around the world, particularly the security of the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. As Caliph, the Sultan is responsible for Islamic orthodoxy. Almost all of the military conquests and annexations of other countries are done for one of two reasons: to guarantee the safe passage of Muslims to Mecca (the justification for invading non-Muslim territories) and the rooting out of heterodox or heretical Islamic practices and beliefs (the justification for invading or annexing Muslim territories).

Although the Sultan is regarded as personally responsible for every government decision, in reality the government is run by a large bureaucracy. This bureaucracy is controlled by a rigid and complex set of rules, and the Sultan himself is constrained by these rules. At the top of the bureaucracy is the Diwan ("couch"), which serves as a cabinet to the Sultan for making decisions. The most powerful member of the Sultan´s government is the Grand Vizier who largely oversees all the executive functions of the government. Appointments to these positions are not arbitrary but follow strict rules.   top

Law

Siyasa : Public agents and officials that abuse their power and the peasantry are subjected to a special jurisdiction called the siyasa. The siyasa are a set of severe punishments imposed by the Sultan on corrupt officials; there is no way out, no cash compensation can take the place of the corporeal or, more often, capital punishments swiftly and severely meted out to corrupt officials. In the siyasa system, the most severe crimes involve illegal taxation or forced labor of the peasantry, staying in their homes without permission or billetting troops without permission, and requiring peasants against their will to provide food for them or for soldiers. Such crimes almost certainly mean the death penalty.

Accessibility : Perhaps the most important aspect of Ottoman centralized government is universal access to centralized authority. The highest reaches of power - with the exception of the person of the Sultan - is available to each and every citizen of the Empire. Every single member of Ottoman society can approach the Imperial Council with grievances against government officials; these official petitions are called ard-i mahdar and are always treated with the utmost seriousness. If the Imperial Council rules against the officials, they will often be subjected to the siyasa.

Public opinion : The most common misconception about Islamic rulers in general and Ottoman rulers in particular was that they are removed, aloof, and uninterested in their people. While this may be physically true, it is not ideologically true. In fact, in the Ottoman state, public opinion is regarded as the only true foundation on which state authority rested. If the people cease to support their rulers, it is argued, then the rulers will soon fall from power. The Sultanic government, then, assiduously cultivates public opinion, for it is recognized that the enemies of the Sultan are also cultivating adverse public opinion. The government does this not only through propaganda, but through policy as well. In addition to prosecuting corrupt government officials and publicly declaring taxes and laws, the Ottoman government also cultivates public opinion in its wars of conquests. Soldiers are not allowed to mistreat peasants nor take anything from them without their permission or reimbursement. All the Ottoman wars of the conquest in the sixteenth century were assiduously planned years in advance. The government would lay up stores of supplies all along the campaign route so that the armies could feed themselves without taking anything from the general population. The Ottoman conquerors believed that no conquest could stand without the goodwill of the general population of the conquered, so military campaigns were remarkably fair and easy on the average person.

The Ottomans also paid attention to an early form of public opinion polling and were probably the first government to actively monitor public opinion through quantifiable means. The "opinion poll" that they used was the Friday prayers. In most Islamic states, one of the aspects of Friday prayer is to pray for the welfare and life of the ruler. This is an optional part of the Friday prayer, so its inclusion generally means that the members of the mosque think well of the ruler. Its omission frequently means the opposite. The Ottomans paid very strict attention to Friday prayers throughout the Empire in order to precisely gauge public sentiments.  top

Society

Ottoman society is governed primarily by the religion of Islam; Islamic Shari’ah laws predominate, and the mosque and daily prayer rituals of Islam are prevalent in all walks of life. Arabic life revolves around the family unit and the concepts of religion and business; making money, while being devout, are core principles of the Ottomans. Hawkers, vendors and merchants of all types conduct trade from sunup to sundown in virtually every street of an Ottoman city, with the only interruptions being the multiple prayer breaks each day.

The status of women in this society is simultaneously better and worse than in European Christian nations. Women are allowed much freer access to education by comparison, and are generally considered as equals in business and politics. However, laws regarding women’s conduct are very strict, and penalties can be severe, depending on how fundamentalist the region is. Ottoman women, as a whole, wear the veils and burqas common to the Arabic regions, and foreign women who do not wear such are viewed as curiosities at best and with contempt at worst. Babylon, notably, being a cosmopolitan crossroads of the world, tends to be very loose with regards to such laws. A man is allowed four wives by law; however, all must be treated equally, and the costs of supporting such make it prohibitive for all but the wealthiest of men. top

Religion

The Ottoman Empire sees itself as the guardian of Islam throughout the world, and this statement has some truth. The Sultan also takes the title of Caliph, the spiritual heir to Mohammed, though there is a considerable movement among Muslim clerics to appoint a new Caliph, separate from the secular title of Sultan. The majority of Muslims in the Empire are mainstream Sunnis, though Shi’ites are no longer persecuted, and have enjoyed something of a revival throughout much of the Empire.

It cannot be stressed enough how central Islam is to daily life in the Empire. Even the very words said in prayer are paid careful attention to by the powers that be. The Quran, unlike the Bible, has not been changed or revised since it was first written, and Muslims believe wholeheartedly that every word in it is the word of Allah. Each and every man and woman (except those incapacitated by menstruation and childbirth) is required to pray five times a day, facing the direction of Mecca, and this custom is rigidly observed. Fasting during the month of Ramadan is also mandatory, and particularly devout Muslims fast every Monday and Thursday; fasting means abstaining from smoking, food, drink and sexual contact from sunup to sundown. Every Muslim is also required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, and these pilgrimages constitute the largest annual religious conventions on Earth. top

Magic

Sihr Halal, or ‘lawful magic’, stems from the wonders of the Arabian Nights and sundry other legends. When the Arabic world became Islamic, the teachings of magic were examined carefully. Some practices, such as thaumaturgy, alchemy (indeed, the very word comes from al-khmia, an Arabic word), and other branches of Arabic magic, were allowed under Islamic law, and the others became forbidden, daimonic magic. Practitioners of such forbidden arts are ruthlessly persecuted and put to death when they are discovered. An Islamic Sahir (magician) retains much of the skills that are immortalised in legend, such as the wondrous weavings of Scheherazade and similar figures. Most of these effects retain a poetic or quasi-literary basis, and magicians are generally also skilled storytellers – all effects greater than a Trivial level require some sort of spoken phrase or invocation, generally a poem or chant. Most also require careful astrological and alchemical study.

Examples of Sihr Halal effects include:

Trivial: Create minor illusions (puffs of smoke, etc.), memorise a large tale or text word for word, speak to spirits and djinn, etc.

Minor: Create minor magical objects (charms, tokens, etc.), summon minor animal spirits, etc.

Moderate: Summon minor spirits (imps, ghosts, etc.), create illusions, etc.

Superior: Create powerful magical objects (flying carpets, etc.), summon djinn and efreet, transform objects and people, etc.

Legendary: Create illusions to take in entire cities, bring illusionary creations to life, summon the most powerful spirits, etc. top Back to Magical Arts List

Armed Forces

The Ottoman military was once the most feared in the world, and in many respects still is, though it is no longer the scourge it once was. For sheer numbers, force of arms, and morale, there is no better. The Ottoman Janissaries combine numbers with the most modern of equipment, and while their training, for the most part, is not quite the equivalent of an elite Avalonian or French special forces soldier, on average, man for man, there is no comparable army anywhere. Janissary units are some of the best supplied forces anywhere, both on the campaign trail and at home; their equipment is always in top-notch condition, and they are well fed and paid, contributing to their unequalled morale. Carapace armour is not popular in the Empire, due to the higher temperatures and increased cost, but the savings in cost simply go towards training more well-armed troops. The average Janissary is far superior to the average French or Avalonian soldier, and is nearly the equivalent of a Roman legionary, though they often outnumber the latter considerably.

Whole families have long Janissary traditions; often, whole units will come from one or two vast extended families with proud lineages that they can trace back to the founding of the Empire. The Janissary families wield considerable political power in the Empire, and their patriarchs are often considered the equivalent of generals or Pashas. This has led to conflict with the Sultanate on many occasions. It is rumoured that, in order to keep up with the increasing pace of modern warfare, some Janissary families have secretly undergone cybernetic modification of their best soldiers, incorporating discreet augmentation to increase their capabilities to superhuman levels. If this is true, it is no doubt highly secret; such augmentation is contrary to the teachings of Islam, and the repercussions could be severe if discovered.

The Ottomans do not have a long knightly tradition; the battlearmoured knight on his destrier is not one of the cornerstones of their army, though the few Saracen farisi that do not fight for the Mamelukes are part of their Empire. In the last century or so, the Sultans have formed a new fighting arm of the military, the Ottoman Sipahis. Sipahis are powerful, highly mobile troops, trained to fight from horseback and in mechanised, fast-response formations, including with APC/helicopter transport and even as paratroops. Most importantly, from the Sultanate’s view, the Sipahis are not drawn from the Janissary families, and instead form an elite cadre of men loyal to the Sultan.

The Ottoman air force is only fair, and its Navy is also weak by comparison to the great world naval powers. The Ottoman Navy is limited to a few destroyers and cruisers operating in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The ports in the Crimea are crucial to their fleet operations, and the recent instability in the region has not helped matters.   top

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