Raiding mechanic: can raid ANY neighbor (Jianzhou, Song, Great Khanate)
- Each target has different risk/reward profile
- Calibration: raid enough to supplement economy, not enough to provoke invasion

Two Grand Claims (can coexist if balanced):
1. Great Khanate title: if Great Khanate disintegrates → claim pan-Mongol leadership
2. Mandate of Heaven: if Song republic/emperor abolished → claim Chinese throne
   - REQUIRES: maintain monarchy + choose sinicization path
   - Conflicts with Mongol traditional identity

Core mechanic: Tradition ←→ Sinicization slider
- Left: steppe culture, raiding, Great Khan claim, herders happy
- Right: industrialization, Confucian governance, Mandate claim, miners happy
- Center: both claims partially available, nobody fully happy, most stable
- The defining gameplay tension of Mongolia

Siberian colonization: prospect → discover → railway → mine → profit
Three-way society: herders (60-70%), miners (20-30%), frontier (5-10%)
Resource curse dilemma: export raw, process domestic, or sell concessions

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Japan: Pacific industrial power (Tier 1.5), Jianzhou rivalry, Alaska/Kamchatka empire
- Core: catch up to Tier 1, Sakhalin dispute, Pacific expansion vs consolidation
- 150yr modernization legacy, fur empire declining, naval dominance

Korea: "Belgium of NE Asia", small industrial mining state
- Nationalized mining, squeezed between 3 powers, survival through balance
- Identity question: Korean vs Chinese-influenced vs independent nationalism

Jianzhou Republic: industrial city-state, oligarchic republic
- World's oldest industrial zone (400yr), porcupine deterrence strategy
- Arms dealer to everyone, Song reconquest threat, Sakhalin dispute with Japan

Mongol Khanate: vast, sparse, mineral-rich
- Resource curse vs resource blessing dilemma
- Multi-vector diplomacy between great powers
- Genghis Khan legitimacy, nomad vs miner cultural split

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>