Aï-yaruq (as Aigiaruc) is the name in Turkish that Marco Polo gives to Qutulun – here, I appropriated it for her horse. Minus the part where her horse is
literally a bird-crossbreed, the feat of swooping down on enemy commanders and just dragging them off into the middle of her own army is also directly from (a manuscript variant of) Polo.
Zodog Chagan is Chagan for the idea of it being 'original' and, of course, for Qutulun's second name. I recognise now that I've made something supposedly original which Gilgamesh would
hate for thieving from proper owners. Excellent.
Biljiur Soqosun is more of an invention, to round out the third of the Eriin Gurvan Naadam and fit her a bit more closely into the NP-heavy Rider class. But the way Genghis started out, killing Beqtur, seemed to go very well with the familial strife of the Mongol empire in Qutulun's time, so I ran with it.
I've stuck with Genghis over Chingiz/Chinggis/whatever, for sheer recognisability's sake, though that would have been more consistent with my other romanisations. (Likewise, Khan over Qan, though that would make the link to Qa'an more obvious).
Qaidu may well have not wanted to become Qa'an, instead seeking only to restore an Ögeteid Khanate, but it's more fun to give Qutulun ambitions of ruling the
entire Mongol Empire. Likewise, modern scholars are more sceptical than they used to be about his supposed insistence on traditional Mongol life, but it's an interesting story element.
Asfor my fiddling with the actual history of Qutulun:
- The idea to imitate Genghis at Qara-Qorum is attributed just to Qaidu.
- Most of the primary sources say she supported Orus as Khan on the condition that she could get to command the army and to rule through him, rather than him using his sway with the army to support her claim.
- The part about being nominated herself as Khan by Qaidu is from a secondary book I didn't have a lot of respect for, despite getting itself professionally published, so I doubt its authenticity.
- Most sources do have Qutulun eventually marrying – not from a loss in her challenge to suitors, but because of political pressure and because of unsavoury rumours about incest with her father. The husband's a bit of a non-entity and adds a sour note to the whole thing about her victories and her independence, so I wrote him out.
- The manner of her death is incredibly inconsistent between sources, so I picked one (dying defending her father's tomb) and jazzed it up with a victory-in-death avalanche.
What the hell kind of journal has the first article in the first issue be “Fish in the Secret History of the Mongols”? And, so help me, I actually needed to read it.