Notes

This story is, of course, about the entire life of the Ottoman Empire. This obviously doesn’t fit in one short story, so it’s an inaccurate and global summary of the timeline. We only see some of the biggest moments, which still happen quite rapidly after one another.

Hopefully, though, the general idea is clear.

This empire existed for a long time and was at its height one of the largest empires ever. It is even fairly recent: it only fell apart at the end of World War 1, when their empire was suddenly cut into pieces and shared among the victors. This is one of the reasons why since then, for a hundred years now, wars terrorize the middle east. It’s also the moment Türkiye came into existence. (Which used to be called Turkey in English until recently too.)

It always surprises me how few people know this. They often assume that Turkiye has been a country for thousands of years. They wrongly assume the world has always been the way it is now, and that large empires conquering others left and right are a thing of the distant past.

This story also reveals some reasons for their success. They ruled the seas! They held all the profitable trade lines between major empires in their iron grip, which yielded massive amounts of wealth and power. Their ideas such as Devsirme (Devirma in the story) were, practically speaking, also quite effective. Their army consisted of boys who had no other ties to anyone else, and could not bear children, but were rewarded for their loyalty to the Ottoman Empire.

Except, of course, that this system was horrible for the boys who were stolen from their families and brainwashed. Additionally, it actually made their biggest fear come true: the Devsirme army had taken over power several times because, well, they had all the weapons and soldiers.

But the empire was not merely defined by their hunger to conquer and grow. They were also well known for their attention to arts and architecture. Because they were wealthy and safe, they had the time and money to do this. Especially during the late Middle Ages, few other empires could match how free, beautiful and progressive the Ottoman Empire was.

(As the story states, a “Renaissance”—or rebirth—was necessary in Europe to actually make people realize that life did not have to be endlessly dark, unhealthy and oppressive.)

Every empire, however, no matter how large and successful, will fall at some point. You become so large that you’re attacked on all sides. It’s always easier to be the “underdog”: small, flexible, nobody notices you, you’re free to try any strategy you want. As soon as you’ve won, and have become the biggest empire, you can only lose thanks to thousands of potential holes in your defenses.

And so, as we neared the end of the 18th and 19th century, all those investments in art and culture vanished. All remaining wealth was redirected into the army, because they realized their weapons and military prowess had fallen far behind the European countries. But they were too late. When WW1 arrived, they allied with their neighbors in Italy, hoping their sheer number of soldiers and landmass would help them.

It was the wrong choice and they were hopelessly defeated.

Most of all, though, I wanted to write this story because the empire existed for so long and has had such a tremendous influence on history.

The city of Istanbul was called Constantinopel first and belonged to the Byzantian Empire—until the Ottomans conquered it, of course. Columbus probably would not have sought a different route overseas if the Ottoman Empire hadn’t been squeezing their trade. The Renaissance probably would not have happened if Venice (and other Mediterranean states) hadn’t become filthy rich thanks to their trade with the sultans.

All those conflicts that still linger in the middle east are a direct consequence of this empire and how it fell apart.

The Empire is so old, in fact, that we’ve forgotten what the first sultan was called. The name Ottoman Empire is just a guess, a corrupted version of what one sultan might have been called.

But whenever I told people I was writing a story about the Ottoman Empire, they merely replied: “the what now?”

Characters

• Otto: this is an Ottoman viper, an actual species. Huge, terrifying, leads them from start to finish and is the powerful force behind all of Ottojon.
  • His sons (Aratto, Bitto, Crotto) are snakes too, but far less powerful or imposing. They all prey on their father’s quick death, hoping to inherit the empire for themselves.
• Chonib: a brown bear, female. Demigod of the Moon. Very good at Moonreading and uses that to get an influential position within the empire, so she can find the Demigod of the Sun. Which she feels is her purpose.
• Enra: a brown bear, son of Himnib and Solong. Is abducted, then sterilized and brainwashed into forming a part of Otto’s army. His desire to get home, and the will to take revenge for what was done to him, make him act against Otto several times. In the end, though, the empire has been his home for far longer now, and sheer luck makes him save the empire and rise in the ranks.