#ghilman

Two stucco figures from a medieval Persian palace (11th-12th centuries).

No, these are not ladies. They’re just fabulous, gay and badass. These guys were the ghilman (singular: ghulam, later also known as mamelukes), the class of pages and elite bodyguards of the rulers. They were originally Turkic slaves, highly trained in archery and horseback riding in particular, and formed the most skilled special forces in medieval Persian armies. The ghilman occupied high positions in medieval Persian society, similar to the Praetorian Guard in Ancient Rome. The most skilled of them were given governorships or even emirates upon manumission–sometimes, as in the case of the Mameluke dynasty of Egypt, they even seized the throne and became rulers themselves.

Note that the smooth faces may suggest these fellows were eunuchs, as that was not at all uncommon among the ghilman–in any case, they were not allowed to marry until retirement, thus developing a highly homoromantic subculture among themselves. They were famous for their beauty, bravery and strength, and in medieval Persian poetry, the ghulam lover came to symbolise the height of human beauty, often woven into imagery that allowed the lover to contemplate the beauty of God himself through his beloved page or warrior youth. In fact, a typical medieval Persian love poem would have been addressed to one of these guys instead of a lady (or, to protect the lady’s honour, she was described as a youth instead). In the famous case of Caliph al-Amin, he was so besotted with his ghilman that the queen mother started to dress pretty slave girls as pageboys to trick him into producing an heir with at least one of them–this led to a pageboy fashion at court (ghulamiyya, or page-girls), women going around in drag dressed as these guys because they were so admired women didn’t have a chance.

And they could kick arse as well–there were no warriors more feared than the ghilman, what with the accuracy of their archer skills, their advanced weaponry (it was through ghilman troops that curved swords were brought into the Islamic world from Turkic and Indian lands) and, oh… that thing where they’d wear padded armour and set themselves on fire as they rode into battle.

Just. You know. Casually. Setting themselves on fire and returning home for some snuggles with their homeboys.

Read the whole article and the extensive footnotes on the Met’s page for the first guy–it’s really fascinating stuff (they just left out the gay bits, as does the Wikipedia article). But, JSYK, there was a class of guys who were basically gay ninjas in medieval Persia.

Here’s an email I wrote to a friend a couple of days ago, about why I’m stuck with Roses 23:

So my brain is now numb from research into Central Asian history between 750-850 and I am dying. So many nations and tribes and religions and massacres and rebellions and conflicts and people changing sides faster than they change their underpants D:

…buut remember those elite caliphal guards we talked about a great deal (in Ghazal)? And Farid? Turns out there was a regiment of these guys from a province just east of Samarkand:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushrusaniyya

…and look through whom they (nominally) swore submission to the Caliph.

FADL KNEW THESE DUDES PERSONALLY, OMG. This is *literally* a bunch of Sogdian elite soldiers recently converted to Islam, next door to China (also ex-allies of the Chinese against Muslim conquests!) and they. Have. Fucking. Met. Fadl.

…yeah. I think I might drag a few of these guys out of Samarra so that they never went there or only stayed there briefly, and then came back to Sogdia. So these would be the older generals–more relaxed and genuinely into this promise of a calm, more contemplative life–who are now WTFing at the younger fanatical dudes who are going to take over (and some of these older dudes might also feel a twinge of “national” sentiment and want to kick the Arabs/Persian Muslims out, as the Barmakids are working for The Man).

So, basically, it’s looking more and more likely that the rebellion might not even be Islamic, and that confounds the matter even further D: The discontents would all be super new Muslims and perhaps not even good ones. So do I make them non-Muslims who all bond over hating the Caliphate (because it’d be the best way to unite them) or do I stick with the idea of making them new, fanatical, extremely conservative Muslims who want to purify the faith (what with so many crappy Muslims around)?

See, it’s so bloody complex it’s doing my head in. Take just a quick glance at this to see why my head is spinning (ETA: even trying to take in the whole article at once, before you even explore the cross-linked articles in a million tabs is a heroic effort):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sogdia

I just had to pick a chaotic period as well, and not a peaceful time!

But yeah. *lamenting camel noises* NYAAARRRGGG

***

End of email. So, yeah. You know why this is ridiculous? It’s ridiculous because of how little plot there is in the stories anyway, in proportion to the bonking. This is going to take up just a few pages here and there. But to even allow for the characters to figure out what the fuck’s going on, I am going to have to do huge info-dumps and people *will* have to tell, not show, us a lot.

For example, Lina has to report to Zainab what she’s overheard the Chinese guys plotting at the paper mill–she was wearing a burqa while buying some paper there, so the guys didn’t realise she was Chinese and could understand the loud argument going on in the back room. To put it short, there’s trouble ‘t mill and they want to depose Mohammad (Jaffar and Fadl’s little brother, who’s the governor of Samarkand).

And then, since the thing seems to somehow involve this proto-Sufi brotherhood of old generals and fanatical, dumb young non-Arab dudes who want to turn it into a revolutionary assassin (hashishim)-like group… Fadl has to come in and tell the women all he knows about these guys, since he’s been hanging out there. And now they need Jaffar’s magic halps to spy on the would-be assassins, and need to warn Mohammad!

So it’s extremely difficult to write about all this stuff–especially since it’s the kind of period/place/culture most readers wouldn’t know shit about (but of course, I don’t want to talk down to the readers either). Giving enough information so that people will know what the fuck, AND to do it in a way that sounds natural–the way people normally speak, not in this shitty Chinballs style where everyone is like “hi, I am so and so and this is what I do and these are my views and this is what I represent. *Acts out MORAL MESSAGE while other characters watch as it sinks in!*” That kind of painfully unnatural bollocks. AND I also need to do it in a concise and brief enough manner so as not to frustrate the reader who’s there for the romance/bonking.

Which means that there’s probs an emotional sex scene needed right this very moment because they’re all shitting themselves and clinging to one another. (And Fadl is too macho to admit he’s shitting himself, so it’s he I should feature, to get the most out of the plot’s situation).