Government reforms

The Persianate reform tree spans Ages 1–3 of the post-Ilkhanid arc:

• Age 1 — what replaces the khan (the legitimacy crisis).
• Age 2 — the trifurcation: Tīmūrid synthesis vs Türkmen confederation vs Iranian kingship, with the messianic axis and the ṣāḥib-qirān overlay sitting on top.
• Age 3 — the Safavid fusion and its disciplining: the qizilbāsh / ghulām / tofangchi military dilemma, the Twelver vs Sunni religious settlement, and the soyurghāl vs khāṣṣa land-political pair.

This page walks the tree. Conventions:

• All reforms are top-gated by government = persianate_sultanate.
• Mutual exclusivity is via potential = { NOT = { has_reform = X } }.
• Some reforms (notably chinggisid_regency) are declared locked = always = yes and are picked by event, not from the menu.
• Magnitudes use the ez_* script value family in 00_eranzamin_flavor_values.txt.

The exact modifier values are authoritative in the file (in_game/common/government_reforms/01_persian_reforms.txt) and in the in-game tooltips.

Age 1 — the baseline reform

persianate_bureaucracy_reform is auto-granted and not pickable. It is the constitution of the Persianate Sultanate, and the mechanics most other reforms read or modify start here. The effects:

• country_cabinet_efficiency = +0.1, global_diwan_estate_power = +0.25, Dīwān satisfaction +0.05, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.1 — the chancery is the default winner.
• diwan_estate_allowed_in_cabinet = yes, amirs_estate_allowed_in_cabinet = no — the cabinet is the Dīwān's. Crossing this requires the Umarāʾ at the Dīwān privilege.
• amirs_estate_allowed_leading_military = yes, diwan_estate_allowed_leading_military = no, burghers_estate_allowed_leading_military = no — the military is the Amirs'. Crossing this requires the Tāzīk Command of Arms privilege.
• Demilitarized sedentary population: peasants_estate_levy_size = −0.85, diwan_estate_levy_size = −1. The peasants are not your army. The scribes are certainly not. tribes_estate_levy_size = +0.15 — your levy comes from tribes (see the military system).
• Urban vs rural control: global_max_urban_control = +0.15, global_max_rural_control = +0.05. Persianate states default to legible cities and opaque countryside.
• global_estate_max_tax = +0.1 — assessment ceilings are legitimately higher than Europe's.
• tax_income_efficiency = +0.1, cultures_capacity = +1.

Everything downstream — reforms, privileges, decrees — sits on this baseline.

Age 1 — the legitimacy triad

In whose name is the khuṭba read and the sikka struck? Pick one. Mutually exclusive. The choice is presented by the ilkhanate_flavor.1 event at game start (see the Erānzamīn situation for the event mechanics in detail).

chinggisid_regency — rule as regent for a Borjigin puppet

locked = always = yes. You cannot pick this from the reform menu. The reform is granted by ilkhanate_flavor.1 option A (or the tag-specific D/E options for Chobanids and Jalayirids), which also spawns the puppet character and binds it to your country.

Effects:

• monthly_legitimacy = +0.5 — the cheapest, fattest legitimacy stream in the Age 1 tree.
• tribes_estate_levy_size = +0.35, global_tribesmen_pop_growth = +0.2 — tribes rally to the steppe-coded throne.
• global_estate_target_satisfaction = +0.075 — broad happiness; "doesn't rock the boat. for now."
• monthly_prestige = −0.2 — but the renown accrues to the puppet, not to you.
• global_max_control = −0.03 — the khan is the legal ruler; you are a regent.
• country_cabinet_efficiency = ez_reform_cabinet_malus — cancels the baseline's centralizing pull.
• monthly_towards_decentralization = ez_reform_decentralization_push, monthly_towards_turk = +0.1.

This is the trap with the best terms. The recurring crisis comes from ilkhanate_flavor.2 (each puppet's death) — see the Erānzamīn page.

farr_i_izadi — declare Iranian kingship

The mirror-for-princes path: Niẓām al-Mulk's Siyāsatnāma, Ṭūsī's Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī, Ghazālī's Naṣīḥat al-Mulūk, later Davānī. Injuid–Muẓaffarid–Kart practice. Picked via ilkhanate_flavor.1 option C.

Effects:

• monthly_legitimacy = −0.25 — you must pay legitimacy upkeep continuously to hold this claim. The hard path.
• stability_decay = +0.05 — the realm bleeds while the kingship doctrine is being established.
• monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05, monthly_towards_tazik = +0.05.
• Dīwān +0.075 (or ez_priv_sat_large), Burghers strongly favored; Amirs −0.15, Tribes −0.10, Clergy −0.05.
• monthly_amirs_estate_rebel_growth = +0.005, monthly_tribes_estate_rebel_growth = +0.005.
• antagonism_received_modifier = +0.15 — every regency state in the Erānzamīn IO gets a casus belli on you (from the event, not the reform).

A note on rationale: the friction is not theological. By 1337, farr, ẓill Allāh, and Anūshīrvān-as-just-king are standard Islamic kingship doctrine — praised in the very mirrors the clergy teach. The friction is institutional (by what right do you crown yourself when you have bypassed the ʿAbbāsid?) and political (a settled Persian shāh has no place for the steppe aristocracy that fights his wars).

Adopting this reform fires the Farr Proof of Fortune disaster — the world's audit of the boast. Continuous conquest and apparatus claims at 50 / 65 / 80 / 90 legitimacy lead to Vindicated; a stalemated peace at low legitimacy leads to Broken-lapse or Türk amīr usurpation. The disaster is the central content of the farr path.

ghazi_sultanate — sovereignty under the caliphal shadow

The Islamic exit. Legitimacy through ghazā. Muslim-religion-group only. Frontier-marcher, mobile, not chancery-coded. Picked via ilkhanate_flavor.1 option B.

Effects:

• monthly_legitimacy = +0.1 — quiet, steady stream. Earned through ghazā rather than borrowed.
• antagonism_received_modifier = −0.10, global_manpower_modifier = +0.10, land_morale = +0.05, tolerance_own = +1.
• Clergy satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_large, global_clergy_estate_power = +0.50 — the ʿulamāʾ's preferred patron.
• monthly_prestige = +0.05, army_tradition_from_battle = +0.15.
• monthly_towards_turk = +0.05, monthly_towards_decentralization = +0.05, monthly_towards_spiritualist = +0.10, monthly_towards_jurisprudence = +0.10.

years = 1 — there is a one-year delay on the reform's adoption (correspondence with the Cairo Caliph takes time).

Adopting this reform fires the Ghāzī Burden of the Sword disaster — the umma's audit of the ghāzī claim. Continuous war against tier-3 dār al-ḥarb targets (offset by the ghazi_lord_at_war auto-modifier at +0.75 leg/mo) and apparatus claims at 50 / 60 / 60 / 75 legitimacy lead to Sword of Islam; a stalemated peace or a yāsā-holding court leads to Doctrine Lapses or Dervish Rising. The disaster is the central content of the ghāzī path.

Age 1 — the circle of equity (companion)

circle_of_equity_reform is the settled state's own theory of itself — the dāʾira-yi ʿadālat of Ṭūsī and Davānī. Not exclusive with the farr/ghazā options (it reads as the Tāzīk companion to farr_i_izadi); explicitly excluded under chinggisid_regency (the borrowed Chinggisid mandate cannot articulate this doctrine).

Effects: tax_income_efficiency = +0.15, global_manpower_modifier = +0.10, court_spending_cost_modifier = +0.10, Peasants satisfaction +0.05, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05.

years = 10 — a long adoption window.

Age 2 — the trifurcation

Post-Ilkhanid Iran splits along the dyad. Three primary state-forms; mutually exclusive.

timurid_synthesis — the Shāhrukh / Herāt model

Drops the puppet khan, subordinates yāsā to sharīʿa, Islamicizes and Persianizes the Tīmūrid state. The dyad-friction reducer: pushes both poles equally, so the net drift cancels.

Effects: Amirs/Dīwān satisfaction both +ez_priv_sat_major, global_amirs_estate_power = +0.10, global_diwan_estate_power = +0.10, country_cabinet_efficiency = +0.05, cultural_tradition_modifier = +0.05, urban-control bonus, monthly_towards_turk = +0.025 and monthly_towards_tazik = +0.025 (matched small pulls), monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05.

turkmen_confederation — the Aq/Qara Qoyunlu ulūs

Rule as a tribal federation. Uzun Ḥasan is the model. Tribes stay tribesmen.

Effects: army_heavy_cavalry_power = +0.15, army_light_cavalry_power = +0.15, land_morale = +0.05, global_amirs_estate_power = +0.20, Amirs satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, amirs_estate_levy_size = +0.20, tribes_estate_levy_size = +0.20, block_tribal_promotion = yes, global_tribesmen_assimilation_blocked = yes — the tribes are not converted into a settled population. monthly_towards_turk = +0.10, monthly_towards_decentralization = +0.10, global_max_rural_control = −ez_amir_rural_malus.

iranian_kingship — a settled Persian dynasty on a compact realm

Kart, Muẓaffarid, Injuid. Requires has_reform = government_reform:farr_i_izadi — you must have already declared the farr in Age 1. No Turco-Mongol military aristocracy on top.

Effects: tax_income_efficiency = +0.10, country_cabinet_efficiency = +0.10, monthly_legitimacy = +ez_reform_legitimacy_minor, global_diwan_estate_power = +0.15, Dīwān satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.10, monthly_towards_tazik = +0.10, urban-control bonus. The compact-realm limitation: global_max_rural_control = −ez_amir_rural_malus_small, global_manpower_modifier = −0.10, army_heavy_cavalry_power = −0.10.

Age 2 — the heterodox axis (overlay)

mushasha_messianism — the Mushaʿshaʿ–Ḥurūfī–Sarbadār apocalyptic alternative. Muslim-only. Not strictly exclusive with the trifurcation; it overlays whichever primary state-form you chose, and is the thematic bridge to murshid_i_kamil in Age 3.

Effects: land_morale = +ez_reform_morale_big, global_manpower_modifier = +0.10, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05 (charismatic concentration), tolerance_own = −1, global_clergy_estate_power = −0.15, Clergy satisfaction −0.10 (the formal ʿulamāʾ are sidelined), tolerance_heretic = +2, stability_cost = +0.10.

Age 2 — the universalist overlay

sahib_qiran — Tīmūr's astrological-conqueror claim, the Lord of the Conjunction. Sits on top of whichever primary state-form you chose; not exclusive with anything.

Effects: land_morale = +0.05, army_tradition_from_battles = +0.25, monthly_legitimacy = +ez_reform_legitimacy_minor, antagonism_received_modifier = −0.05, monthly_war_exhaustion = −0.02, stability_cost = −0.05.

Age 3 — the military dilemma

Otlukbeli (1473) and Chāldirān (1514) make the cavalry/gunpowder dilemma bleed. The qizilbāsh / ghulām pair is the central rivalry; the tofangchi-topchi gunpowder corps coexists with either.

qizilbash_aristocracy_reform

The Türk cavalry aristocracy — heart of early Safavid power and the qizilbāsh khāns of Anatolia and Azerbaijan. Shīʿa-only. Mutually exclusive with ghulam_system_reform.

Effects: army_heavy_cavalry_power = +0.20, army_light_cavalry_power = +0.20, land_morale = +0.10, global_amirs_estate_power = +0.20, Amirs satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, tolerance_own = −1, global_max_rural_control = −ez_amir_rural_malus, monthly_towards_turk = +0.10, monthly_towards_decentralization = +0.10.

tofangchi_topchi_corps

The gunpowder answer — muskets and field artillery. Coexists with either qizilbāsh or ghulām. Centralizing, urban-coded, expensive, and resented by the cavalry estates.

Effects: army_infantry_power = +0.15, army_artillery_power = +0.15, discipline = +0.05, army_maintenance_efficiency = −0.10, global_amirs_estate_power = −0.10, Amirs satisfaction −0.05, urban-control bonus, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05, monthly_towards_tazik = +0.05.

ghulam_system_reform

ʿAbbās I's Caucasian slave-corps, built specifically to break qizilbāsh power. Salaried, loyal to the shāh alone, staffed by Georgian/Circassian/Armenian converts. Muslim-only, mutually exclusive with qizilbash_aristocracy_reform.

Effects: discipline = +0.05, global_manpower_modifier = +0.15, army_maintenance_efficiency = −0.15, global_amirs_estate_power = −0.25 and a further −0.15 (cumulative malus), Amirs satisfaction −0.10, global_diwan_estate_power = +0.20, Dīwān satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, monthly_towards_quality = +0.10, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.10, monthly_towards_tazik = +0.10.

Age 3 — the religious settlement

imami_tashayyu — the Safavid imposition of 1501

Long-term unity gain at the cost of an immediate stability hit. Muslim-only, not Sunni-orthodoxy, not from chinggisid_regency (the Safavids exited the regency fiction explicitly).

on_activate: add_stability = −1. Country modifier: tolerance_own = +3, tolerance_heretic = −1, monthly_legitimacy = +ez_reform_legitimacy_minor, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05, global_clergy_estate_power = +0.10, Clergy satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major.

sunni_orthodoxy — the Tīmūrid / Shaybānid road

Institutionalized Ḥanafī orthodoxy. Muslim, non-Shīʿa, not imami_tashayyu.

Effects: tolerance_own = +2, tolerance_heretic = −1, global_clergy_estate_power = +0.15, Clergy satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, stability_cost = −0.05, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05.

sadr_judiciary_reform

The ṣadr office — state-church bureaucratized. Salaried qāḍīs, state-supervised waqf. The clergy paid by the throne is happy but tamed.

Effects: tolerance_own = +1, global_diwan_estate_power = +0.20, global_clergy_estate_power = −0.15 (paid clergy is contained clergy), Clergy satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.05, monthly_towards_tazik = +0.05.

Age 3 — the messianic fusion

murshid_i_kamil — Ismāʿīl I as the perfect spiritual guide, commanding qizilbāsh murīds. Pairs with the Age 2 mushasha_messianism; thematically what ghulam_system_reform + sadr_judiciary_reform later supersede when they discipline the fusion.

Shīʿa-only, not from chinggisid_regency.

on_activate: add_stability = −1. Country modifier: land_morale = +ez_reform_morale_big, monthly_legitimacy = +ez_reform_legitimacy_major, Amirs satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_huge, global_amirs_estate_power = +0.15, global_clergy_estate_power = −0.15, Clergy satisfaction −0.10 (the formal ʿulamāʾ are eclipsed by the charismatic master), tolerance_own = −1, stability_cost = +0.10, cultural_influence_modifier = +0.05, monthly_towards_turk = +0.05.

Age 3 — the land-political pair

soyurghal_grants_reform — the drift toward fragmentation

Hereditary, tax-immune, administratively-immune grants to nobles and clergy.

Effects: Amirs satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, global_amirs_estate_power = +0.10, Clergy satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, global_clergy_estate_power = +0.10, tax_income_efficiency = −0.10, global_max_rural_control = −ez_amir_rural_malus, province_integration_speed = −0.10, monthly_towards_decentralization = +0.10, monthly_towards_turk = +0.05.

khassa_crown_demesne — ʿAbbās I's conversion of mamālik into khāṣṣa

The rare reform that raises rural control — the crown directly runs the country it has just seized. Mutually exclusive with soyurghal_grants_reform; not from chinggisid_regency.

Effects: tax_income_efficiency = +0.15, global_diwan_estate_power = +0.15, Dīwān satisfaction +ez_priv_sat_major, global_amirs_estate_power = −0.20 and a further −0.10, Amirs satisfaction −0.10, global_max_rural_control = +ez_khassa_rural_bonus, monthly_towards_centralization = +0.10, monthly_towards_tazik = +0.10.

A reading map

• The Tīmūrid road: Age 1 chinggisid_regency → Age 2 timurid_synthesis (+ optional sahib_qiran overlay) → Age 3 sunni_orthodoxy + sadr_judiciary_reform + ghulam_system_reform.
• The Safavid road: Age 1 chinggisid_regency or ghazi_sultanate (and exit the regency at the puppet's death) → Age 2 mushasha_messianism → Age 3 murshid_i_kamil + qizilbash_aristocracy_reform + imami_tashayyu, later disciplined by ghulam_system_reform + sadr_judiciary_reform + khassa_crown_demesne.
• The Persian-kingship road: Age 1 farr_i_izadi + circle_of_equity_reform → Age 2 iranian_kingship → Age 3 khassa_crown_demesne + sadr_judiciary_reform.
• The Türkmen road: Age 1 chinggisid_regency → Age 2 turkmen_confederation → Age 3 qizilbash_aristocracy_reform + soyurghal_grants_reform + murshid_i_kamil.

These are sketch paths, not rails. The reform tree's branching points are real and most of them are one-way.

See also: Erānzamīn situation, Türk vs Tāzīk, Estate privileges, Persianate Sultanate, Farr Proof of Fortune, Ghāzī Burden of the Sword.