#merkit

⚠️ Formally introducing 2 new characters to our side AU ⚠️

🔥 Dzhambul and his son Timur, of the Merkit Oboq 🔥

In the Steppes, the Merkit people have a troubled alliance with the unification of one giant Horde under the Tengri, with history of siding with the Jin (who have been in conflict with the mongols for generations)

They have a history of both siding with and turning against the mongols depending on what is most favorable.

Dzhambul is both an ally and antagonist to the Horde. A prominent figure head from the Merkit Oboq, who regards the twins as rivals in khalkha Bökh

THE CAPTURE OF BORTE

One of the most famous tales from Temujin's (the future Chinggis Khan) youth was that of the capture of his wife, Borte, by the Merkit tribe around 1180. The Merkit had suddenly attacked Temujin's camp, forcing him to flee while his new wife was taken hostage.

Temujin went to his father's blood brother, Toghrul of the Kereit (better known as the Ong Khan) for assistance, where he reunited with his own anda, Jamuhka. Together, they overran the Merkit the following, rescuing Borte. However, she was by then pregnant, or had already given birth, to a boy who was named Jochi, meaning 'guest.' A haze of uncertainty would always hover over that boy, leading to cracks in the Mongol Empire which would never be healed. More immediately, this brief period of reunion with Jamuhka would soon spiral into rivalry and then a twenty year long war for control of Mongolia, culminating in Temujin' ascension as Chinggis Khan in 1206. Thus, I believe Borte's capture to be one of the most important events of the 12th century.

THE RESCUE OF BORTE

One of the most traumatic and famous episodes from the younger years of Temujin, later known as Chinggis Khan, was the capture of his wife Borte by the Merkit tribe. The Merkit-Mongol enmity was a longstanding one: Temujin's father Yesugei had stolen Temujin's mother, Hoelun, from the Merkit, and they had harboured their grudge for almost twenty years. When they learned of the young Temujin's survival after the death of Yesugei, and marriage to Lady Borte, they saw their chance to strike. The raid took Temujin unprepared, and he was forced to flee, leaving Borte to be captured by the Merkit.

Temujin fled to mount Burkhan Khaldun to seek insight, then turned to his father's anda and his own overlord, Toghrul of the Kereyit, for justice. Toghrul agreed to attack (likely swayed by promises of loot from the Merkit), and at this point reintroduced Temujin to a friend he had not seen in some years: Jamukha, now a warchief under Toghrul. Together, they set out a few months after the initial raid, and attacked the Merkit. It was not so much a battle as it was a rout: the Merkit fled, and Borte was nearly taken off again until found by Temujin, embracing in a dramatic encounter straight from the cinema:

"As the pillaging and plundering went on, Temujin moved among the people that were hurriedly escaping, calling, 'Borte, Borte!" And so he came upon her, for Lady Borte was among those fleeing people. She heard the voice of Temujin and, recognizing it, she got off the cart and came running towards him. Although it was still night, Lady Borte and Qo'aqcin both recognized Temujin's reins and tether and grabbed them. It was moonlight: he looked at them, recognized Lady Borte, and they fell into each other's arms. After this, that very night Temujin sent a message to Toghrul Khan and to sworn friend Jamukha saying, 'I have found what I was looking for. Let us not travel all night; let us camp here!' He had this message delivered to them. As for the Merkit people who had been fleeing in disarray at night, while still scattering and on the run, they too stopped and spent the night right there.

This is how Lady Borte was rescued from the Merkit tribe, and how she was reunited with Temujin."

-adapted from The Secret history of the Mongols, de Rachewiltz translation, section 110, page 38.

Genghis Khan - Khan of All Mongols - Extra History - #4

some details left out in the telling: 

 Temujin and Ong Khan had actually campaigned against the Naiman around 1199: the Naiman Khan had died and split his realm between his two sons, Tayang and Buiruk who began scheming against each other. Temujin and Ong Khan attacked Tayang, but an army from Buiruk then approached them. According to the Secret History of the Mongols, Jamuhka was present alongside Temujin and Ong Khan (the Secret History of the Mongols sometimes does whatever it wants with the chronology, so we don't know if Jamuhka was actually there or not) and convinced Ong Khan to abandon Temujin in the night. The Naiman army then followed Ong Khan, defeated him and began raiding Kereit territory, and it was up to Temujin to defeat the Naiams and reinstate Ong Khan's control over his own territory.

 After Ong Khan had betrayed Temujin, he allied with Jamuhka and they attacked Temujin. At the battle known as Qalqaljit Sands Temujin was defeated and someways, his followers dispersing and with a small band arrived at a Lake Baljuna. Here he made a vow with his followers to lead them to eventual victory, and they all drank from the waters of Baljuna. This became known as the Baljuna Covenant, which was quite famous to the Mongols but interestingly does not appear in the Secret History of the Mongols.

 It appears than Temujin's brother Khasar had betrayed him to join Ong Khan and Jamuhka (he wasn't so keen on the upending of steppe traditions possibly), but had had doubts about it and returned to Temujjin, leaving his family behind. To ensure his brother's loyalty, he forced Khasar to kill an envoy of Ong Khan, preventing him from rejoining the Kereit Khan. 

 It should be noted that there were many other figures involved in the anti-Temujin coalition alongside Jamuhka and Ong Khan, which became problematic as they had different goals in mind, and lacked unity. Temujin used this to his advantage, as he knew this new alliance could not last long. He sent messages to a number of the leaders, reminding some like Ong Khan of past loyalties and issuing threats to others. This helped to disrupt an already shaky coalition, and by the end of the summer there were assassination attempts and betrayals, others deciding that they wanted to take the Kereit throne from the aging Ong Khan for themselves. Thus, by the time Temujin had regained his strength and forces and was ready to counterattack, Ong Khan had been isolated and was vulnerable. 

 After Ong Khan's defeat the conspirators coalesced around Tayang Khan of the Naiman as noted in the video. However they suffered from disunity. Tayang Khan wanted to draw the Mongol further into Naiman territory in a sort of extended feigned retreat. He was unable to get his brother Buiruk to supply forces for this defence though, and his own wife/step-mother Gurbesu, his son Kuchlug and his leading generals all accused him of cowardice and wanted to attack Temujin head on, which Tayang agreed to reluctantly. According to the Secret History of the Mongols, Jamuhka then spends the early part of the battle frightening Tayang Khan with stories of the invincibility of Temujin's forces (I think he describes Khasar as being able to eat a man whole at one point) and then retreats with his men and leaves Tayang to die. Temujin of course wins and the remaining steppe resistance is slowly destroyed over the following years. 

A tiny frog sorcerer

Today was a long driving day in the bus; 12 hours, a few at stops but most of the day on the road. Our goal was the "small" town of Makit. That's small in Chinese terms, about 400,000 people.

Most of the drive was along the Taklamakan Desert. Flat, grey/tan soil with mountains on the north and south horizons.

We stopped at the Kezi'er Buddhist caves, located in a river valley, so there was some greenery around. These are the least known of the Buddhist Cave sites we visited.

The caves are pretty small. and no photos allowed inside. Here are a few reproductions of the murals from the small museum on site.

These are very early Buddhist Caves along the Silk Road, and the images have more of an Indian style.

In Makit, we visited the local museum, not very interesting, and a local museum of painting by the local farming community. Not bad for naive art, but not really noteworthy.

Locals performed some local music and dancing.

We ended the day visiting a tourist operation on the edge of the sand desert. We had our choice of riding camels, riding in a dune buggy, or walking through the dunes.

#TheManhattanToyCompany #TheManhattanToyCompanyMorphies #Furttleaf #Merkit #Snappafire #PokemonLikePlushiesThatFooledMe #Plushies#PlushPals

This is a Manhattan Toy Company Furttleaf Pokémon like plush.

I remember seeing this plush with the other Pokémon plushies and thinking it was a new starter or something that pokemon quickly made up in a time crunch but surprised me thar this was made by the Manhattan Toy Company.

Like a fusion of a random first area water type frog Pokémon with turtwig's body.

It's like the Manhattan Toy Company looked at Pokémon and was like hey we can do that but make it a rare one off plush line with only three plushies in it.

This plush is pretty soft but has wear and scratches on the eyes when I first got it while also was kind of dirty but I got it on sale.

I did clean it up the best I could.

This plush has it's hang and tush tag.

My Manhattan Toy Company Morphies Furttleaf is 7 inches from the leaf tail to the face while 6 inches from head to the back legs.

The Manhattan Toy Company Morphies other plushies are Merkit and Snappafire.

Merkit is a water type looking plush that is a mermaid cat and Snappafire is a fire type looking plush that is a fire apple snail.

I would have made Snappafire a pepper snail instead of a apple plush.

But both peppers and apples are fruits.

I'm going to try to find the other two plushies later.

I'm keeping this plush.

Bottom images not mine but link is there.