Khoqand (The Kalmar Union)

The Khanate of Khoqand, Khoqand, Kokand, is a large authoritarian monachy nestled in the Fergana Valley in Central Asia. It is bordered by Vladimir, China, Afghanistan and Bukhara. The population is around 4 million and the capital is Tashkent.

The head of state is Shah Khudayar Khan.

The official language is Persian however various other languages such as Uzbek and Kyrgyz are spoken too.

The currency is the Khoqand Pūl (KKP)

History
Declaring independence from Bukhara in 1704 the Khans paid tribute to Qing China and as Bukhara faltered in the later 1700s under attacks from the Caliphate Khoqand expanded at its neighbour's expense including seizing the wealthy city of Tashkent in 1784.

When China fell into civil war (War of the Three Brothers) in the 1870s Bukhara would invade, attempting to reconquer it, however the invasion failed. Khoqand would briefly hold the Tarim Basin, nominally a Chinese subject before China reaccquired it, peacefully, in 1900. Vladimir and China, eager to pacify Central Asia so they could both concentrate elsewhere, would insist on Khoqand's neutrality and this was enshrined in a formal treaty in 1953.

Khoqand is isolated economically but agriculturally and mineral rich. Cotton, silk and mineral ores, especially gold, tend to go north to Vladimir and Vladimirian assistance is slowly spreading a railway network through the country in often difficult terrain. Corruption was once rife but Muhammad Sayyid Khan and his son Shah Khudayar Khan have ruthlessly stamped down on it whilst trying to forge a single polity out of the ethnically and linguistically diverse country.

Government
Khoqand is governed by a small Royal Council amde up of the Khan and trusted advisors. However in attempts to bind the country together a democratic experiment is under way. Elections to a 'Majlisi' were held in 2017. Votes were limited to a narrow franchise of (male) landowners with earnings over a certain threshhold. This chamber is strictly limited to debate; it cannot issue laws but has championed some of the more neglected areas of Khoqand society, such as education and modern transport links which the Royal Council has pledged to address in due course.