South Asia

At a Glance

• Campaign year: 1454
• Major powers: Delhi Sultanate under Bahlul Lodi, Bahmani Sultanate, Vijayanagara Empire, Gajapati Empire, Gujarat Sultanate, Malwa Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Jaunpur Sultanate, Mewar and numerous regional kingdoms and city-states
• Major fault lines: Deccan rivalry, frontier forts, horse supply, coastal customs, succession disputes and contested sacred centres
• Trade: Horses, textiles, spices, gems, metals, timber, rice, sugar, dyes, ivory, aromatics and luxury goods
• Adventure terrain: Fortified cities, monsoon coasts, temple complexes, dry Deccan uplands, river deltas, forests, mountain passes and caravan roads

What Is Happening Right Now?

North India is being reorganised around the new Lodi dynasty. Bahlul Lodi has ruled Delhi since 1451, but Delhi is only one centre of power among many. Jaunpur remains independent to the east, Malwa and Gujarat pursue their own rivalries to the west, and Rajput rulers hold strong territories between and around the sultanates.

In the Deccan, the Bahmani Sultanate rules from Bidar under Ala-ud-Din Ahmad II. Its court draws Persianate learning, military talent and merchants while also depending on powerful Deccani elites. Internal rivalry between established Deccani interests and newer arrivals already creates factional tension inside the state.

South of the Bahmani frontier, Vijayanagara remains a great imperial power under Mallikarjuna Raya. Its authority stretches across much of southern India, but the empire faces pressure from both the Bahmani Sultanate and the expanding Gajapati power on the eastern side of the peninsula.

From Odisha, Kapilendra Deva’s Gajapati Empire is expanding rapidly. Its armies and governors press southward along the eastern coast, bringing it into direct competition with Vijayanagara over Andhra territories and major fortresses.

The Great Powers

Delhi Sultanate

Bahlul Lodi’s Delhi is an Afghan-led sultanate rebuilding its authority after the decline of the Sayyids. The court depends on negotiation with nobles, military retainers and provincial power-brokers as much as on royal decree. Delhi remains prestigious, but its reach is not absolute.

Bahmani Sultanate

The Bahmani state controls a broad swathe of the Deccan from its capital at Bidar. It is rich, militarised and culturally sophisticated. Forts, mounted armies, Persianate court culture, Sufi networks and regional languages all shape its identity. Competition with Vijayanagara over frontier zones and strategic river valleys is a constant source of war.

Vijayanagara Empire

Vijayanagara is one of the largest and wealthiest states in the south. The capital on the Tungabhadra is both a royal centre and a sacred landscape of temples, markets, fortified enclosures and irrigated agriculture. Merchants, soldiers, diplomats and religious communities from many backgrounds move through its cities and ports.

Gajapati Empire

Kapilendra Deva rules from Odisha and is building an aggressive eastern empire. The Gajapati state is closely associated with Jagannath worship and the great sacred centre at Puri, while its armies push into Andhra country and threaten territories claimed by Vijayanagara.

Gujarat, Malwa and the Western Routes

Gujarat’s wealth comes from productive cities and access to the Arabian Sea. Its merchants connect inland production to Indian Ocean shipping. Malwa controls important central routes and competes with neighbouring powers over forts, tribute and influence.

Bengal and the Eastern Delta

Bengal is one of the richest agrarian and commercial regions of the subcontinent. River transport, textile production and maritime links make its cities and ports important far beyond the delta.

Trade, Roads and the Indian Ocean

South Asia is tied into a maritime world that is already centuries old. Ships move between the west coast, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and East Africa, while eastern ports connect Bengal and the Coromandel coast with Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Foreign merchants enter established commercial systems run by Indian, Arab, Persian and other merchant communities.

Horse imports are strategically important because high-quality cavalry animals are often brought by sea. Cotton cloth, spices, gemstones, aromatic woods, dyes and foodstuffs move in the opposite direction. Great ports are places of warehouses, brokers, money-changers, customs officials, interpreters, mercenary recruiters and spies.

Overland travel is slower and more dangerous. Monsoon weather can turn roads into mud, rivers into barriers and coastal voyages into calculated risks. Caravans hire guards, guides and translators, and rulers tax movement through gates, ferries and market towns.

Religion, Learning and Sacred Geography

Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Islamic and local sacred traditions overlap across the region. Temples, mosques, monasteries, Sufi shrines, pilgrimage roads, sacred rivers and mountain sanctuaries are living institutions rather than isolated monuments.

Royal patronage matters, but religious life is not simply dictated from courts. Merchant guilds, village communities, temple estates, Sufi lineages, Brahmin networks, ascetic orders and local cults all hold property, influence and memory.

Magic follows the same landscape. Ancient ritual sites are most powerful where pilgrimage, memory and repeated use have accumulated over centuries. Court astrologers, temple ritualists, wandering ascetics, healers, spirit-workers and scholarly magicians may disagree violently about doctrine while recognising many of the same dangerous places.

Travel and Law

• Carry letters: Merchants, envoys and pilgrims travel more safely with seals or letters from recognised patrons.
• Expect tolls: Bridges, ferries, city gates, caravan routes and ports may all impose duties.
• Respect sacred space: Weapons, footwear, animals, caste rules, ritual purity and access restrictions vary sharply between sites.
• Watch the season: Monsoon winds determine sailing schedules and reshape overland movement.
• Do not assume one language: Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic coexist with numerous regional languages used in administration, religion, trade and daily life.

Dangers and Adventure Pressure

• A frontier fort changes allegiance and traps a caravan between two armies.
• A shipment of imported warhorses disappears before reaching a royal buyer.
• A temple treasury contains an object claimed by two rival dynasties and a much older cult.
• Monsoon flooding exposes ruins beneath a riverbank just as soldiers arrive to secure the site.
• A court astrologer predicts a disaster that several factions would benefit from causing deliberately.
• A merchant fleet reaches port with no crew alive and every cargo seal still intact.
• A pilgrimage road is being abandoned because travellers vanish near a shrine that predates the current faith using it.
• A powerful noble recruits foreign adventurers because local retainers cannot be trusted in a succession dispute.

Using South Asia in Play

The strongest campaigns here treat the region as a connected political and commercial world rather than a single culture. A party can begin in Delhi, cross Rajput country, pass through Malwa, reach the Deccan courts and finish at an Indian Ocean port without leaving the sphere of major state power, pilgrimage and long-distance trade.

Characters should regularly face competing obligations rather than simple borders: a ruler’s safe-conduct may be honoured by one governor and ignored by another; a merchant house may have more practical influence than a distant court; a holy person may cross frontiers that soldiers cannot; and an enemy in one city may be a necessary ally in the next.