A Twilight of Empires

Steppe Hordes

Basically, most of this is out. Sub-sections 9.10.1 and 9.10.2 are not going to be used in this campaign. Instead of treating the nomadic societies of Eurasia as a force of nature, other mechanisms will be employed to allow the growth of Steppe empires. These will be treated as regular player positions, publicly visible and not particularly unusual.

For example, the starting position of the Juan-Juan is a good example of a nomadic federation. Powerful, yet politically unstable, it may grow into a globe-spanning realm, or dissolve under internal pressure, only to be replaced with a successor of slightly different nature - or at least ruling clan.

When conditions are right, new polities may condense from the Steppe population. This will occur at the judgement of the GM based on a number of nebulous campaign factors, e.g. trade networks, harvests, etc. Until then it is best to keep a watchful eye on the newsfax ...