jan 1, 1370 - Timur

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Seeing himself as the heir to Genghis Khan, Timur began a rapid rise to powr from inauspicious circumstances. As a young man he was shot with arrows, causing him to lose two fingers and the full use of his right leg. For this he was known as "Timur the Lame" or "Temur-Lang" which as it reached western ears became "Tamerlane".

As a living embodiment of the fusion of Turkic and Mongolic cultures that occurred as a consequence of Mongol expansion, Timur became famous and successful as a leader of predominantly Turkic tribesmen. Timur changed sides frequently at this time, and each time end up in a stronger position for it.

As Timur was not a descendant of Genghis Khan (Though they were related) he could not legitimately rule over the Mongol Empire, and so he installed a puppet to be khan. Similarly he could not lay claim to the title of Caliph as he was not from the tribe of Mohammed.

Expanding from his central Asian territories, he took control of Persia and Delhi. In this he was especially brutal, being responsible for the deaths and executions of hundreds of thousands and destroying many cultural and spiritual capitals. The Eastern Church of Christianity was decimated during his reign with many thousands being killed and churches reduced. Many more were enslaved by his armies and the great city of Delhi was sacked thoroughly with thousands of rotting corpses piling up from retaliatory massacres against uprisings.

He would eventually die in 1405, having been responsible for hundreds of thousands of murders and enslavement. His reputation was so dire that even the Italian cities of Genoa and Venice aided their mortal adversaries, the Ottomans in their wars against Timur.

His Empire would outlast him, though was often overrun with internal squabbling. The last fragment of it would survive in the Mughal Empire of Northern India which would only formally be ended in 1857.

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