600-699 (Abrittus)

Rough sketch - additions and comments welcome!

TO BE EDITED: Saba expands into Arabia`s desert
At the beginning of the 7th century, Saba is a consolidated kingdom. Himjarite and Hadamautian nobility have long since become loyal to the crown. Christianity is the common bond uniting Southern Arabia.

Saba has also become a major trading nation. Its colonies on Africa`s East coast provide ivory, but more importantly coffee, for which there is enormous demand from the Celtic West to the Indian East, and which allows Saba to import glassware, new medicine, oil and alcohol from the Mediterranean and spices from India. Saba`s new wealth is reflected in its capital city, Ma´rib, whose tall churches and palaces and lush gardens and parks do not fail to impress their fellow Arabs.

The 610s mark the beginning of a crisis in Saba, though. In its neighboring empire, Aksum, conflicts between dynastic families break out over royal succession. Saba barges in, supporting the Solomonic dynasty, which is of Southern Arabian descent and distantly related to Saba`s royal family. When the Aksumite war of succession finally ends with the victory of a Nobatian dynasty from Aksum`s new Kushite provinces in 619, the new emperor Tokiltoeton bans all Sabans from his kingdom and blocks the Red Sea for Saban ships.

The diversion of Saban-European trade from the (easy and cheap) Red Sea and Bubastis canal route to the longer Persian Gulf and Mesopotamian route brings a first economic crisis to Saba.

Then, a troublemaker named Muhammad Ibn abd`Allah and his followers undermine the safety of inner-Arabian trade undertaken by his fellow Quraish, and the Sassanid empire descends into Civil War.

Both trade through the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia (where conflicting Persian factions as well as a Roman build-up present dangers) and across the deserts of the Arabian peninsula (where Muhammad`s followers rob caravans) have become too dangerous. Saba is cut off from trade with Europe.

But Saba will emerge triumphant from this crisis - and the main factor behind this is the emigration of highly educated Persian dissidents from the Sassanid empire, who bring knowledge e.g. about the use of windpower as well the military innovation of petroleum-based flamethrowers to Saba.

Saba takes the first step on its march to prominence on the invitation of the Quraish. Muhammad ibn abd`Allah and his followers had fled from the Quraish capital, Mecca, to an oasis called Yathrib, which they had been able to take over since the town had been worn out by decades of warfare between different Jewish, Christian and pagan Arabian tribes. From there, the "Muslims", as they call themselves, attacked Quraish trade caravans. The Meccan Quraish retaliated in 625, but Muslim attacks did not disappear. Therefore, the Quraish leaders of Mecca turn to the king of Saba for assistance in exterminating the nuisance once and for all.

King Karib quickly agrees: the disruption of Arabian trade has already bothered him considerably anyway.

In 627, a huge army of Quraish and Sabans marches on Yathrib. Yathrib`s Muslim defenders have dug a trench around the less fortified parts of the oasis. The Quraish divisions reach Yathrib first and stop, at a loss as to what to do now. But then, Saba`s army arrives, and one of general Wahib`s lieutenants, the Persian emigrant Navid, proposes the use of incendiary bombs, like the ones the Sassanids had employed against the Romans some decades ago. General Wahib and his Quraish counterpart Hasan agree. They lay siege on Yathrib until such weapons are brought in sufficient quantities.

Under Saba`s incendiary bombs, Yathrib burns to the ground and everyone inside it burns, too. Some men and women try to escape the inextinguishable flames and are caught in the trench they had dug earlier, where they are slain by Wahib`s and Hasan`s soldiers.

The fire of Yathrib does not only extinguish Islam on the Arabian peninsula and restores the safety of Quraish trade across the desert. It also becomes a symbol of the might of Saba.

The alliance between Saba and the Quraish lasts. After aristocratic inter-marriage, the Quraish officially become a part of the Kingdom of Saba, which now controls large parts of the Arabian desert.

After trade routes are open again, Saba`s wealth grows even faster than before. Exiled Persian professionals teach Saba`s merchant fleet how to caulk their ships to transport liquids, how to grow and produce ailments themselves instead of importing them etc. The first Arabian university is founded in Ma´rib in 661.

In dealing with its new Central Arabian countrymen and their Northern Arabian neighbours, Saba succeeds with very cautious and balanced policies. It only deploys its military, which has developed small and more directed flamethrowers apt for equestrian use and generally enlarged its cavalry, to secure its trade routes. The Christianisation of the Quraish is undertaken slowly and cautiously, and shows considerable success towards the end of the century, when Quraish leaders in Mecca re-interpret their city`s central sanctuary, the Ka´ba, in Christian terms as the altar of Ibrahim / Abraham and build a basilica around it.

Towards the end of the century, Saba directly or indirectly controls almost the entire peninusla. Its wealth, international relations and scholarly advances have become a symbol of Arabian pride. Saba is an important trading partner of the Roman Empire. Its conflicts and rivalries with Aksum continue throughout the century, though.

To secure its control over the Strait of Hormuz, Saba occupies Persian ports during the Second Sassanid Civil War. After several battles first with local, then with republican forces, Saba withdraws from Persian port towns in an attempt to establish improved relations with the republic.

Centennial developments and trends
As China consolidates itself and reforms under the Tang dynasty and the most advanced countries manage to contain the plague, interaction between the great powers intensifies, not only economically and culturally, but also in the form of "international" cooperation, e.g. in trying to keep trade routes in Central Asia open and safe.

Economy & Technology:
Across Europe, North-Eastern Africa and Persia, separate professions of distillers, pharmacists, chemists, gaffers, medics, opticians, millers etc. have formed. Where there are universities and academies, they are more advanced and more innovative, while in the Germanic, Slavic, Central, East and South-East Asian as well as Northern African countries neighbouring the empires, the professions have organised into guilds where knowledge is kept under restriction and handed down by practitioners to apprentices only. Several drastic measures are taken to combat the bubonic plague, first in the Roman and Persian Republics, then in China, Saba, Kushana, Chastana and Harsha India, Gandhara and the Celtic Empire, too, and towards the end of the century also in Aksum, Pala India, Funan and Silla and  the cities of Dvaravati and the Pyu  and some Franconian towns:
 * In China, new furnaces produce excellent steel. The products reach Europe in the last third of the century.
 * Also in China, letterpress printing and newspapers are invented. Both innovations travel fast; they are used in the ideological battles of Mazdakists and conservatives, Hinduists and Buddhists, their competing schools,different Christian churches, Optimates and Populares in the Roman democracy etc.
 * Under the Tang dynasty, the equal field system is enforced across the empire. Training and exams of the bureaucracy are improved. Both ideas are discussed in Persia, India, South-East and East Asia as well as Africa and Europe later, but only consistently adopted in Balhae and Silla in later centuries.  China´s population grows and enjoys enormous increases in living standards in the meantime, also caused by canal construction and easier sea trade.
 * In the Roman Empire, optical lenses are improved to a great extent. Eyeglasses are invented and improved thoughout the century. First primitive microscopes and telescopes are built, the latter facilitating sea navigation considerably and being used by Ostrogoths first.
 * Also in the Roman Empire, derivates of sulphuric acid are discovered to be of use as fertilisers. They improve agricultural productivity significantly, providing the growing population of the empire with sufficient produce.
 * Rome`s world-leading industries (textile and other) are owned by several dozen dynasties. Most of these tycoons had been landowners under the Principate; only a handful are "new wealth". These industrial tycoons are richer than even the wealthiest patricians before the abolition of slavery; they have come to be called "fortunati". Through major donations, they dominate both political parties and most electoral campaigns. They use their influence to tweak competition in their favour and direct infrastructural investment money in ways which suit them best. Together with public institutions, they operate as international lenders, financing major investments like dams in countries with less accumulated capital like Lasikia, Iberia, Armenia, Saba, and Aksum, against a share of the profits. The power of these oligarchs is debated very critically within the Roman Empire - it is one of the driving forces behind the Tax Reform of 683 - and it also creates negative sentiments vis-a-vis the Romans in other countries, from where they still reap their profits decades and even centuries after the initial investment.
 * In the Roman Province of Achaia, diethyl ether is produced from sulphuric acid and alcohol for the first time. Its anaesthetic qualities, first experienced by the chemists who discovered it, are soon used in dental medicine, later also for other medical operations like amputations.
 * In Persia, batteries are developed and used for stimulating the muscles of veteran soldiers and other long-term hospital inmates. The idea is copied in Saba, Kushana, and the Roman Empire.
 * In the Roman Empire, weighing scales are greatly improved. The invention spreads to the other empires soon.
 * In Aksum, leadlights are invented and soon copied in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Saba.
 * In a town in the Roman province of Dacia Superior, wire drawing is invented. Thin gold wires and thicker copper wires are used for a very limited range of purposes at first.
 * In the Celtic Empire, syringes are invented.
 * In towns and cities, all garbage must be placed in large containers, which are collected and burned by public workers.
 * The streets of towns and cities are no longer only swept, but also endowed with water cleaning connected on the source side to the aquaeduct system and on the target side to new and improved canalisation systems leading to the urban cloacs. In smaller towns and those with less water supply, citizens are obligated to clean the streets in front of their houses themselves.
 * Urban citizens who illegally deposit garbage or do not protect their edible stock or do not clean their street are fined severely and often imprisoned.

Military:

 * In Tang China, gunpowder is invented, but not widely used for military purposes.
 * Saba builds up and modernises its armed forces. With the help of Persian immigrants, it builds its own "Greek fire" devces, both hand-held and ship-based.

Philosophy / science:

 * Methodical medical observation carried out in the context of East Roman hospitals leads to the identification of rats as the most likely source / carrier of the bubonic plague. Drastic measures of public hygiene are imposed in the Empires and adopted later elsewhere, reducing infection rates by 90 % over two decades.
 * In the natural sciences, several conflicting theories are developed concerning the movements of the stars, the role of organs and bodily fluids, the underlying principle behind plant and animal life, the fixed or changeable properties of substances and their internal structure, as well as concerning mass and weight. The Armenian scholar Anani of Shirak discerns planets and moons and formulates a model of the solar System.
 * An apothecary in a Celtic monastery in Gaul, which has a huge garden with all sorts of (supposedly) medicinal plants at its disposal, creates the first botanical nomenclature system.
 * In attempts to tackle anarchism, which has gathered new followers beyond staunch Simonists, sophisticated theories of democracy are elaborated at Roman universities.
 * Greek medical researchers identify the bubonic plague germ and rat fleas as their major hosts. While no cure has yet been found, drastic hygienic measures are undertaken in Europe and Asia to prevent further outbreaks. By the end of the century, infections are reduced by 95 %

Religion:

 * Catholic and other brands of Christianity show differentiating trends across the social strata. Among the educated, ever-more sophisticated theological theories and complex abstract moral philosophies circulate and regain followers as the Roman cult starts to fade away. Among the working classes, a canon of ethical principles derived from all kinds of Christian confessions starts to consolidate and shape everyday life, while in spiritual life and personal belief, countless variations of ecclesiastic pantheons and mixtures with mystic practices from all around the world are practiced. Across all strata, Christianity gains new followers through its systems of mutual credit, which are exclusively available to trustworthy members and present a very attractive alternative to high-interest loans from diverse public institutions.
 * A new and more missionary school of thought develops within the Celtic Church. Monasteries outside the Celtic Empire are founded, especially in Narbonnensis and Mauritania, but later in the century also in Norway.
 * Paulicianism finds supporters in Saba, Aksum and the Roman Empire, too. In Saba, it is outlawed.
 * Several different schools of Mazdakism develop in Persia, India, China and Europe.
 * Manichaeism loses ground to Mazdakism and new Christian and Buddhist sects.
 * New Buddhist schools develop in Gandhara, some regions of India and China due to the intense contact with Mazdakism, European philosophy and the monotheistic religions of Christianity and Judaism.
 * The Bhakti movement, in contrast to OTL originating in Kushana, where the marginalisation of Brahmins and official Zoroastrianism have relegated Hindu beliefs into the realm of the personal, now spreads across Northern and Southern India and reforms Hinduism earlier than in OTL and, thanks to more egalitarian and critical and less autocratic influences from the West in comparison to OTL, develops a much stronger anti-caste and anti-Brahmin privileges dimension in the Tamil and Aryan societies. In contrast to Mazdakism though, Bhakti in 7th century Pallava India does not question individual wealth and property, instead it focuses on eliminating any social construct that is perceived as standing between the simple believer, regardless of who he is, and the deity.
 * After most of its followers are killed in Arabia, a new Arabian revelatory religion called "Islam" only has a handful of followers left, who have emigrated to Aksum. In liberal and laid-back Aksum, their radical theses are tolerated, but also widely ignored.

Nations of Europe:

 * Roman Empire: Infrastructural projects and the increasing number of public hospitals in cities put a strain on public budgets, whereas the fortunati display their wealth in drastic ways. With land becoming a less important economic factor as more and more capital is accumulated, a tax reform pushed forward by the Populares, where "communalisti", a group with socio-economic positions derived to a great extent from Mazdakism, have temporarily gained the upper hand over the party`s fortunati-backed elite, passes the Senate in 683 after decades of heated debate and fierce resistance from the fortunati. Imperial taxation is now extended onto all kinds of property, based on census information. The reform contributes to a fiscally evasive behaviour among the wealthy, who begin to hide some of their possessions in strongboxes and vaults.
 * Invoking the "exceptio Visigothorum", more than twenty smaller and larger Danubian city states, now culturally effectively Visigoth-ised, join the Roman Empire`s Dacian province. In 663, a new province "Transdanubia" is established.
 * Celtic research expeditions, using the new type of boats invented in built in Scandinavia, map Glaciana and discover Insulae Petrae (Faroe) and Polaris (Greenland), where they do not encounter any indigenous population yet.
 * The thriving new port towns all along the Baltic Sea are often attacked by pirates and raiders. They are increasingly fortified against this threat.
 * Saxony / Denmark: In 669, a small Danish fleet under King Hygelac defeats the Saxon navy, which pursued putative pirates and had tried to collect tributes for the Saxon king, too. Hygelac builds a large hall in Gudme in celebration of this victory and resides there as a king whose domininion, for the first time in Danish history, encompasses several larger islands in the West of the archipelago.
 * Scandinavia (Norway): Through marriages, charisma, good relations with the Celts and a couple of violent acts, petty king Augvald of Karmøy gains control over all of Sogn, Rogaland and Hordaland in the West of Norway in the 620s; the capital of his kingdom is named Avaldsnes after him. Further to the North, Trøndelag emerges as a polity; its security is guaranteed by the yarls of Lade. In the East, the petty kings of Borre have consolidated their control over Viken and extended it across the entire Vestfold and much of Østfold; they can guarantee Celtic, Frisian and other traders safety from piracy in the Oslofjord; the town of Oslo grows considerably.
 * Scandinavia (Sørstad Alliance / Norway / Frisia): In 620, Harald, the petty king of Agder, curbs the practical independence of the powerful and wealthy city of Sørstad, which has become the centre of a large alliance of city state along the Baltic Sea coasts. With a considerable army behind him and Sørstad being weakened by decades with recurring bubonic plague epidemics, Harald manages to impose taxes and tariffs on the city and limit the city`s police forces to dealing with matters only within the city`s walls as well as to coerce the city to provide soldiers. (Sørstad continued to have its own mercenary military force, too, which was mostly focused on naval security.) In the first years of Agder control over Sørstad, Harald manages to modernise his kingdom, building dams with watermill-powered manufactures as well as windmills. After a while, Sørstad`s trade volume and tax revenues declined as the city`s merchants were strangled by taxation. The 630s and 640s thus mark the rise of the Frisian Hanse, which had also developed a new, shallow water-suited trading vessel (cog), to the position of Baltic Trading Alliance No. 1 and the emancipation of Vineta from direct Sørstad control and monopoly. The city of Sørstad regained fiscal independence after violent confrontations in 669 and managed to stabilise its position as centre of the second most important Baltic trading network. It still has to provide soldiers for the King of Agder. To stabilise and enhance its fragile autonomy, the Sørstaders invite Celtic monks to build a monastery, knowing full well that the Celtic Empire would protect its citizens.
 * Venedia / Saxony: Within the fortifications of the castle of the Obodritic king Visan, the Baltic port town of Liubice (OTL Lübeck) develops. Its initial Wagrian inhabitants quickly mix with arriving Frisians and Scandinavians. His son, Drasco, marries a Polabian princess in 640, thus uniting the kingdoms of Liubice and Sverin (OTL Schwerin). In 662, the Saxon king Heinar violates the treaties and marches on Liubice and Sverin, forcing Drasco`s son, who is also named Drasco, to pay tribute and become a vassal of the Saxon king.
 * Further to the East, Vineta`s mostly Pomoranian, Ranian and Lutician inhabitants manage to emancipate themselves from the rule of Sørstad`s secret societies. The new Vinetan leadership establishes contacts with the Frisian Hanse, but also maintains those with Sørstad`s sister towns. Vineta becomes the largest port town on the Southern Baltic shore and the largest exporter of cereals in the Baltic region. The strong influence of the Lutician Slavic priests of Rethra on the city council of Vineta in the last third of the 7th century leads to limitations on alcohol abuse. Vineta becomes the port town which exchanges its goods not so much for brandy, but for the newly invented fertilisers and tools for its craftsmen.
 * Czechs and Moravians, the only Slavic tribes who live South of the mountain ridge, have come to live in permanent conflict with each other. While Moravian traders want to sell wood to the Romans, who pay handsomely, the Czech oppose deforestation on religious grounds. Religion escalates the conflict anyway since Moravians have converted to Catholicism and the Czech cling to traditional Slavic cults.
 * In 627, the Basilaas (a new Komi word for "king" coined after the Greek "basileos") of Perm converts to Judaism. The new faith never catches on with the population in the widespread "empire". In 682, the Judaist Komi rulers of Perm are overthrown by Magyars, who are allied with Chanti and Mansi and replace the old dynasty with a new Magyar dynasty of Perm. They restore traditional Shamanism as the city`s / "state"`s cult.
 * At the beginning of the 7th century, Bogatygavan has developed into a large and powerful city, with a vast network of daughter cities along the rivers flowing into the Black Sea. Learning from the Ostrogoths, the Bogatygavan Slavs use the Greek alphabet, codify their laws and organise their city and its outer contacts through a city council and magistrates. Many of them have converted to Judaism. Bogatygavan effectively controls the pontic steppe and gradually extends its sphere of influence over more and more Slavic tribes in the north-west. (A competitor has also arisen: the town of Peresechen on the Hierasus, which focuses on trade with Roman Dacia, has also started to expand a trade network, which for geographical reasons is less centralised than Bogatygavan`s and also smaller and less powerful.) They have introduced the three-field crop rotation in the more fertile lands to the West, and hold large amounts of cattle in the steppe. They export huge quantities of grain and cattle to Tauris in exchange for glass, luxury goods technological innovations. Toward the end of the century, both unorganised Slavic tribes in the eastern pontic steppe and Bogatygavan daughter cities along the Don are attacked, plundered and burned down by the Chasars.

Nations of Africa:

 * A half-private, half-public Roman investment trust had built the first dam on the Black Nile in Aksum and several manufactures using its waterpower, in the 630s. The Emperor of Aksum had signed a contract leaving a quarter of the manufactures` profits to this Roman trust. Throughout the 670s and 680s, alleged fraud in calculating the profits of these manufactures leads to tensions between Rome and Aksum. After an offensive "inspection" in 690, Aksum ceases to deliver the payments altogether, which causes the Roman-Aksumite War. After Roman victory, the Senate installs a new, more Rome-friendly dynasty in Aksum.
 * Simonism, and with it a revolution, reaches the Wagadu via the Garamants and overthrows their divine kingdom, too. Socio-economic and/or religious dissenters among the Mandé (the population of Wagadu) emigrate and found the city of Sere Kunda at the mouth of the river Gambia, where they establish trade relations with Ostrogothic sea merchants.
 * Further to the East, Simonists emerge triumphant from civil war in the Sao cities, too. The great Simonist arc now stretches from Wagadu in the West over the Hausa, Banza and Sao to the Tubu in the East and the Garamants in the North as well as anarchic communities within the South-Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Except for the Roman Simonists, all other Simonists are learning to read their Bible in the old Libyan alphabet of the Garamants. From a Palestinian sect, Simonism has become one of the three largest Christian confessions whose core area has moved significantly South into Africa - a fact symbolised by the increased importance of Mune as a second important Christian sanctuary and religious centre after Jerusalem.
 * Ostrogothic ships sail around Africa`s Western coast and along its Eastern coast almost to the Cape of Good Hope, initiating trade relations with dozens of peoples, thus sowing the seeds from which future kingdoms and empires would grow.
 * Saba's and Aksum's cities on the East Coast increasingly influence their hinterland, with which they trade growing amounts of coffee, tropical wood and ivory for alcohol, glass and weaponry. With some "help" from the coastal cities, several ways of increasing agricultural production per square unit are found. Persian, Kushan, Chastana and Southern Indian and Anuradhapuran sea merchants appear in greater numbers.

Nations of Asia:
Salvador79 (talk) 15:16, March 9, 2014 (UTC)
 * Arabia: Saba emerges from the peninsular conflicts as the undisputed power no. 1.
 * Shaka India has come to be known as Chastana India, after its formerly Sassanid elites have culturally merged with local elites. It is the first Indian empire to bring the bubonic plague under control, copying Persian (=Roman) measures.
 * Kushana, where much of the conservative Persian nobility and clergy have fled to after the Mazdakist victory and the fall of the Sassanids, becomes an aggressive and reactionary force. It engages Gandhara and Mazdakite Persia in frequent wars, which the latter two only survive because of their mutual assistance and alliance. A Kushana attack on Chastana India ends in a major defeat.
 * Disrupted by the bubonic plague and a debt crisis, the Gupta Empire breaks apart:
 * The urban population of Nalanda elects their own leader, the Buddhist Gopala, in 636. Gopala and the later Palas, too, strengthen economic and scientific developments and follow a concerted foreign economic policy, which bears some resemblance with OTL mercantilism, protecting domestic craftsmen and workers while providing the population with unfettered imports in those segments where no local crafts have developed yet. Because the Pala commercial fleet needs a stopover for the vessels who sail to Africa, Arabia and Europe, they knit an alliance with Anuradhapura. In Nalanda, a new and more popularised variety of Buddhism, which incorporates elements of Mazdakism, is formulated, which also finds some followers among the Northern Pyu.
 * Gupta´s Southern vassals break free. The Pallava dynasty declares itself champion of the new Bhakti movement: Backed by both popular support, its strategic position in international sea trade, a skilled army and an alliance with the Vardhanas in the North, the Pallava Empire overthrows the Kalabhra rule, beats the established Tamil dynasties of the Chola and Pandya, and expands across all of Southern India. Wherever it expands, a new efficient administration and a political system is installed. The new Pallava systems combines communal and local semi-democracy (mahattara ans guild councils after the Northern model) with relatively independent regions, where governments headed by Pallava nobles are responsible for running a functioning administration and professional jurisdiction of serious offenses is done by scholarly judges, and with an absolute rule of the Emperor at the top level, who is both supreme judge, leader in war and revered almost like a deity.
 * In the Gupta`s Northern Central Indian heartland, Harsha unites the remnants, even including former mere Gupta vassals like Kamarupa. He implements Western-style efforts against the plague and succeeds. Kannauj becomes the magnificent capital of his large Vardhana empire, with new temples for various Hindu gods, and Buddhist schools. After Vakataka attacks, it is conquered by Harsha. Although a brahmin himself, Harsha breaks the power of the Brahmin elite by granting rural communities legal autonomy under their self-government in mahattara councils and entrusting them with regulating ownership (one may call this an Indian adaptation of Shapur II's reforms...). He uncovers two conspiracies against him and executes the conspirators. After the second failure, many dissatisfied Brahmins emigrate to South-East India, very often to Funan and Java. Harsha`s reforms are continued under his sons, who continue the Vardhana dynasty, who lean on the Bhakti movement for support. Vardhana India maintains good relations with Tang China and the rising Pallava Empire in the South.
 * Towards the end of the century, India´s society and economy in the North and South have recovered. Gopala`s, Harsha`s and the Bhakti movement`s reforms have modernised and to some extent democratised India, although they all have different backgrounds and roots. The stabilisied new regimes imply themselves more actively in international matters beyond India proper, primarily to keep trade routes through Central Asia and the South-East Asian archipelagoes safe and open.
 * European telescopes find their way into India and help both astronomy and sea voyaging.
 * Imported fertilisers are used  to increase agricultural output in the artificially irrigated, arid lands of central and Southern India.
 * South-East Asia: Sri Vijaya and Funan contend for power and the control over the Indian-Chinese sea trade.
 * Allied with Tang China, Silla defeats and annexes his Southern neighbour Baekje, defeats the Yamato armies and conquers Mimana, then defeats Goguryeo and annexes it, too, uniting the entire Korean peninsula. In a Tang-inspired reform, a modern executive branch / administration is created for the enlarged empire, but the concentration of land ownership in the hands of the nobility remains untouched.
 * China: Following a heavy debt crisis, the Tang dynasty introduces a land reform, reforms its civil service and tax system and builds a new canal, laying the foundation for the longest period of economic well-being in Chinese history.
 * To the West, China conquers the oasis states at the Northern rim of the Tarim Basin, then defeats the Göktürk and reduces them to vassals. After the final Götkürk defeat in 659, many Turks flee to the West, where they form a new federation called "the Chasars".
 * China / Sogdian Federation: Renewed Göktürk independence struggle under Kutluğ, a former Chinese mercenary, leads to a rebellion, which Tang China crushes in 681, and inner-Turkish wars (683-687, as in OTL) as well as attacks on Sogdian cities, disrupting Euro-Chinese and Indo-Chinese trade on the Silk Route. The Sogdians hire Tuwinians and Eastern tribes of the Chasars as mercenaries, who barely manage to keep Kutluğ`s armies off.
 * Nihon: The Taika reforms centralise, modernise and stabilise the Yamato kingdom in spite of its military defeat in the Korean peninsula.
 * Tibet: The first half of the century marks the ascent of the Tibetan kingdom, as in OTL. But while in OTL, general Xue Rengui was abandoned by his insubordinate assistant Guo Daifeng and Tang China`s army lost against the Tibetans, who took over the land of the Tuyue, in this timeline Guo Daifeng has become a military attaché in Tang China´s embassy to Rome. Xue Rengui defeats the allied Tibetans and Tuyue Mongols and maintains Chinese control over the Tuyue and Gansu provinces. Tibet never becomes an empire which expands much beyond the Tibetan plateau. Marriages with Chinese princesses and three decades of Tibetan control over the Silk Route Kingdom of Khotan mark the beginning of Buddhist influence in Tibet, though.
 * Chasars attack several kingdoms of the Caucasus and extort tribute. Because this endangers Roman profits from infrastructure investments in these countries, Rome suggests a common effort of the Roman Empire, the Mazdakite State and various small Caucasian tribes and kingdoms to build a wall and castles along the Northern Caucasus to keep Chasars and other nomadic invaders out.

Abrittus