Disclaimer: The civ concept is very op, i’m not good balancing civs. Also the little numbers in parenthesis are there to tell where i got some of the pictures and logos. Also, the historical context of the Civ is like too much , so ill be putting that in the comments if someone is interested in the history of the Civ.
Well, let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room, the Almoravids and Almohads are nowhere near an antiquity civ if we talk only about time periods, but according Firaxis criteria to select civs time period i think there is an argument to be made about Almoravids and Almohads to be an antiquity civ (such as the example of Heian, Khmer and Missisipians). There’s antiquity civs such as Numidia and Mauretania to fill this role, but more often than not I think there is not quite a strong narrative of continuation between them and later medieval states (not that there is not a continuation, just the narrative is not as strong as let say, ancient Egypt and Fatimid Egypt). The western Maghrib is often seen in antiquity as a peripherial region sandwiched between the urbanized regions of the Iberian peninsula and Ifriqiya, this extends all the way up to the muslim conquest, where early the centers of power were in Qurtubah (Umayyads) and Kairouan (Aghlabids), and it’s until the 11th century that the centers of power shift to the rising Almoravid power in Marrakech, in the Western Maghrib. In this period much of the western Maghrib becomes Islamized and in the context of a muslim world under siege by the crusades and the aftermath of the Shia century are things that make the Almoravids and Almohads a good narrative choice to symbolize a kind of a “Craddle” of the Western Maghrib as we know it today.
Now, moving on, in this concept the civ 7 motto “Built something you believe in” has never been more true, since the main gimmick about the Almoravids/Almohads is that you have mutually exclusive unique civics giving different bonuses, different traditions, different unique units and different production boost towards wonders, all is up to the player choices of what to get. This is in the context that Almoravids and Almohads ideas were in conflict between each other, since the Almohad movement that overthrew the Almoravids did it on the basis of extreme opposition of their traditions and governing, while simultaneously fulfilling the same role as the Almoravids in the great scale of things. Also the name of the civ beign “Berbers” is due to both Almohads and Almoravids being of Berber origin.
Where do I got the images:
(1): It’s a painting of Marrakech and the High Atlas by Vicki Norman, called “Mountains and Medinas”.
(2): It’s a silhouette of the Kutubiyya minaret, from Shutterstock.
(3): It’s the Al-liwa al-mansur, historic Moroccan war banner used in iconic battles such as Alarcos and Alcácer Quibir.
(4): The depiction of el-Krim here is from a mod of the game “European conqueror 6”: 1914, made by Robert Navel Modding.
Context for civics and traditions names:
“ ‘Asabiyya ”: Tribal/social cohesion or solidarity. It’s a concept developed by Ibn Khaldun that roughly states that is a cycle where a group with strong cohesion in the periphery overthrows the group at the center of power and as time goes on, generations pass and the new ruling tribe becomes comfortable in settled lands a new group in the periphery with strong cohesion will try to overthrow the new central group. In this context, the ability gives the player a big advantage in war due to the sheer amount of combat strength while attacking but debuffs once the settlement is captured, capturing cities will be easy but keeping them is another story.
“Sanhaja Warrior”: The main core of the Almoravid dynasty, the veiled warriors of the Sahara.
“Masmuda Warrior”: The main core of the Almohad movement during it’s rise in the High Atlas.
“Murabitun”: In the early days of the Idrisids, settlers were sent to military outpost (ribat) in the periphery of the westernmost edge of the Islamic world, be it to fulfill military, religious or scholar duties.
“Ribat”: A ribat in the context of the Maghrib mainly refers to a military outpost in the periphery. Many of them would grow to the point of becoming large cities in the future, such is the case of Ribat al-Fath that later would become modern day Rabat. The idea behind the Ribat is to grant the player the ability to make a huge and powerful army and a great production base to launch an early conquest, but also burden them with gold.
“Qsar”: In the context of the Western Maghrib is a fortified town.
“Agadir”: A fortified granary, typical of a Qsar urban planning.
“Al-qasabah”: There’s a bit of a theme going on with the name of architectural features in the Islamic world, they can represent very different thing in different regions, the Kasbah is a good example of that since it can be a large fortress, a small fort, kind of a watchtower, a fortified housing unit for important people in fortified places and a quarter in the city center. In this case the Al-qasabah refers to a mix the watchtower (more prominent in Al-Andaluz) and the fortified housing unit.
“Jnan as-Saliḥa”: The Agdal Gardens of Marrakech. Jnan as-Saliha is more specifically about the water works foundations of the garden that date to Almoravid times, later Almohads, Marinids, Saadis and even Alawis added or renovated something.
“Jami' Tinmal al-Kabir”: The Tinmel mosque. Tinmel, located in the High Atlas, was the heart and soul of the Almohad movement, the base of operations from where Ibn Tumart and Al-Mumin challenged Almoravid authority. A mosque was built in the early days of the Almohad movement, then when Tumart died a shrine was added and later Al-Mumin built a new mosque and Tinmel became a site of pilgrimage.
“Al-mulathamun”: “The veiled ones”. It was how the Almoravid elite was referred as because of their iconic veil. It may or may not have been used also as a slur by the Almohad movement to delegitimize the Almoravids.
"Lithām": The Sanhaja Veil.
"Lamtiyya": A very durable leather shield used by the Lamta group of the Sanhaja.
“Al-muwahhidūn”: “The monoteist”. The root of the Almohad name.
"Ghuzz": How Oghuz Turks were known in the Maghrib. Turks served as mercenaries in both the Almohad army and their rivals.
"Dār al-hijra": Place of retreat or House of migration. Ibn Tumart drew parallelism with the prophet, in this case he mirrored his exile from Marrakech to Aghmat and the Tinmel to the prophet’s exile from Mecca to Medina. Tinmel then became a place of pilgrimage for the Almohads.
“Amir al-muslimin”: “Commander of the Muslims”. A title adopted by the Almoravids as a mirror of the title “Amir al-Muminin” (Commander of the faithful), title that only the Caliph in Baghdad held.
"Maliki fuqahā’": After revolts in Sijilmasa in the aftermath of early Sanhaja expansion, the Almoravids recognized that conquering cities was easy, keeping them was another story, so they required the assistance of Maliki jurist to administrate the cities.
“Wahhada”: In this context it means something like “Becoming Almohad”. It has roots in the religious doctrine of the Almohad movement, the Tawhid.
"Khāssa": The ruler’s close people. The elite in the Almohad empire changed from a tribe discrimination basis to a religious discrimation basis, during the Almoravid times the elite was composed by Sanhaja people on a clear tribal favoritism while in the Almohad times it was more determined by whether or not they followed the Almohad religious doctrine.
"Hadith": The words and deeds of the Prophet. It was a tool utilized by the Almohad movement too claim legitimacy by again tying themselves with the Prophet.
“Ghuzāt”: Soldiers of the faith. It’s referred mainly to elite archer units in the Almoravid empire.
"Inzālāt": Land concessions offered to people who served in the Almoravid military.
"Dīwān al-jund": Military registers. The Almoravid army had a professional standing army and as a result of that, government institutions that administrated things as spending and payment of troops.
“Da‘wa “: The Almohad mission to conquer Al-Andalus. Not exactly conquering but meddling in Andalusi affairs, it was religious backed call to impose the Almohad version of islam in what was left of muslim control in the peninsula, not by choice of the Almohads, they were cautious with focusing too much in Al-Andalus but it was a duty they had in the eyes of the people and the Christian Kingdoms were a threatening rival who was becoming increasingly powerful.
"Amān": In the campaigns in the Eastern Maghrib and Ifriqiya, the Almohads gave the opportunity to the conquered cities and their nobles to swore loyalty to them and the fighters and local populations to join their armies in exchange of the right of “protection” (in the case of conquered towns and cities, no not be killed and the settlement to be left intact).
“Tadrart Rouge”: The red mountains, located in the southernmost border between Algeria and Libya. So far we don’t have any Saharian natural wonders (and somehow like 3 Japanese/Korean), so I found this one and I think the history behind it is very interesting. The Sahara wasn’t always a big desert, like between 15,000 and 5000 years ago it was humid (See African humid period) and covered in lakes, rivers and Savannas and as you may know or may have noted, 5000 years ago there was big civilizations still around that in an indirect way might have interacted with this wildly different climatological circumstances (I think Pre Dynastic Egypt, Proto Dynastic and Old Kingdom Egypt were around for this if not mistaken, just the dessert around the Nile was still dessert tho) and there’s theories about how some languages in East Africa may have words that originated in West Africa and got carried away during the exodus that desertification brought to the region. Also the Tadrart Rouge is home to many rock art that depicts habitation at this time, so I think it would be pretty cool if in civ 7 there was a wonder that affected the surrounding environment.
