Add 1725 checkpoint: India scramble, Japan Pacific empire, Egypt stabilized

Song recovers Malacca, maritime dominance restored
India scramble: Ilkhanate (puppet states, W. India), Song (E. Bengal), Portugal (ports/Sri Lanka/Maldives), England (E. coast), others trading posts
Japan: industrial power, North Pacific empire (Kamchatka continuous, Alaska, Pacific NW outposts)
Jianzhou: Sakhalin complete, Kamchatka posts, Bering exploration

North America: English New England (coast→Great Lakes), French (vast sparse claims), constant friction
Egypt: stabilized under sultan + Al-Azhar + parliament. Lost Sudan to Ilkhanate.
Ilkhanate: lost Malacca/Egypt, gained Indian puppets + East African provinces (reaching South Africa → Portuguese friction)
France: absolutist reform, Burgundy as designated enemy
Great Khanate vs Mongol Khanate: Siberian frontier conflict

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

1 files changed, 139 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/WORLDBUILDING.md b/WORLDBUILDING.md
index 027ad1b..0acadda 100644
--- a/WORLDBUILDING.md
+++ b/WORLDBUILDING.md
@@ -2144,12 +2144,142 @@ Ilkhanate subsidized bread (flatbread/aish) for decades
 
 ---
 
-## Open Questions (Post-1700)
-
-1. **Scramble for India**: How does it play out? Who gets what?
-2. **England vs France**: North American colonial war inevitable?
-3. **Egypt**: Stabilizes or remains chaotic into V3 era?
-4. **Japan**: How fast does it industrialize? Pacific power by 1836?
-5. **Great Khanate**: When does serfdom finally break? Revolution or reform?
-6. **Australia**: Song vs Kalmar vs England — partition?
-7. **Remaining to 1836**: 136 years, ~5 checkpoints
+---
+
+## 1725 Checkpoint
+
+### Malacca War Concluded: Song Wins
+- New Song recovers Malacca from Aceh/Ilkhanate → restores control of the strait
+- Ilkhanate's Southeast Asian outposts isolated or expelled
+- Song maritime dominance in South China Sea / Malacca Strait re-established
+- Aceh Sultanate: defeated, reduced to vassal or absorbed by Song
+
+### Northeast Asia: Active Conflicts
+**Great Khanate vs Mongol Khanate**: Competing for Siberia and Far Eastern territories
+- Great Khanate pushing east from Kazakhstan/Western Siberia
+- Mongol Khanate defending its sparse but mineral-rich territories
+- Low-intensity frontier conflict across vast empty spaces
+
+**Jianzhou Republic**: Completes colonization of Sakhalin. Establishes trading posts on Kamchatka. Bering Strait area under Jianzhou influence.
+
+**Japan: North Pacific Industrial Power**
+- Meiji-equivalent modernization ~50 years in → industrialization progressing excellently
+- **Kamchatka**: Coastal colonies now continuous (connected chain of settlements)
+- **Alaska**: Significant presence — fur trading posts, some permanent settlements
+- **Pacific Northwest (Columbia region)**: Outposts established — Japan reaches the American mainland
+- **Industrial capacity**: Weapons, ships, textiles — Japan is becoming a genuine industrial state
+- North Pacific becomes a **Japanese lake** from Hokkaido to Alaska
+
+### Scramble for India: Taking Shape (~1725)
+
+| Power | Territory/Sphere | Method |
+|---|---|---|
+| **Ilkhanate** | Western India (Gujarat → inland). **Puppet regime(s)** in former Timurid heartland (Delhi area?) | Land invasion from Afghanistan + existing coastal posts → full puppet states |
+| **New Song** | **Eastern Bengal** (宣慰司 established). Burma Road connection. | Overland from Burma, direct annexation |
+| **Portugal** | **Most major ports** + **Maldives** + **Sri Lanka** | Naval superiority in Indian Ocean, coastal seizure |
+| **England** | **Eastern coast** (Coromandel? Madras equivalent?) — continuous coastal colonies forming | Atlantic → Indian Ocean, aggressive settlement |
+| **France** | Trading posts, minor coastal claims | Later entrant, less aggressive |
+| **Aragon** | Trading posts only | Mediterranean focus limits Indian involvement |
+| **Germany** | Commercial penetration (trade, no territory) | Indirect economic influence |
+
+- India's interior: fragmented successor states playing colonial powers against each other
+- Maratha-equivalent: strongest indigenous resistance, controls parts of central/western India not yet under foreign influence
+- Indian population is massive → full territorial conquest difficult for any single power
+- Pattern: coastal colonization + puppet interior states + economic penetration
+
+### North America (~1725)
+
+```
+  Kalmar Vinland (Newfoundland → Nova Scotia, 325 years old)
+       │
+  New England (English)
+  ├ Coastal belt from Massachusetts → Connecticut equivalent
+  ├ Expanding to Great Lakes → along south shore of Great Lakes
+  ├ Pushing north toward Vinland border
+  └ Pushing southwest into interior
+       │
+  New France (vast but sparse)
+  ├ New Orleans → Mississippi → scattered claims
+  ├ Virginia → Carolinas (loose French settlement)
+  ├ Enormous claimed territory but thin actual population
+  └ French settlers + fur trade + Native alliances
+       │
+  (Interior: Native peoples still dominant)
+       │
+  Pacific Northwest: Japanese outposts (Columbia region)
+  Alaska: Japanese fur trading settlements
+  Kamchatka → Aleutians: Japanese chain
+  
+  English-French friction constant:
+    England wants to expand south/west from New England
+    France claims everything from Virginia to Louisiana
+    Border skirmishes, proxy wars through Native allies
+```
+
+### Egypt: Stabilized Under Clerical-Military Regime
+- Revolution chaos resolves into: **Sultan** (from old Mongol-blooded governor lineage) + **Al-Azhar clerical council** + **parliament (limited)**
+- Absolute monarchy with Islamic constitutional elements (clerics legitimize, parliament advises but doesn't rule)
+- **Lost Sudan** to Ilkhanate's East African colonial system
+- East African colonies from the autonomous era: status unclear (did Egypt keep them? Or Ilkhanate seized them during the revolution chaos?)
+- Internal: stabilizing but still dealing with population pressure from the bread subsidy era
+- Foreign policy: cautious independence, balancing between Ilkhanate (former master), European powers, and Sunni North African allies
+
+### Ilkhanate: Post-Golden Age Adjustment
+- **Lost**: Malacca (to Song), Egypt proper (independent), golden age unchallenged dominance
+- **Gained**: Indian puppet states (western India, Delhi region), Sudan/East Africa as formal colonies
+- **Holds**: Persia (core), Iraq, Anatolia, Sinai/Palestine, Central Asian vassals, East African coast (Swahili → now extending to South Africa)
+- **Strategic shift**: From maritime-dominant to **land empire with colonial extensions**
+- **East Africa colonized as homeland territory** (not just trading posts — permanent settlement, infrastructure, treating colonies as provinces)
+- **South Africa**: Ilkhanate settlers reaching southern Africa → friction with Portuguese Cape Colony
+- **Industrial capacity**: Still Tier 1 but no longer unchallenged. Germany and England closing the gap.
+- **Constitutional system**: Merchant parliament still functions but strained by military demands (Indian campaigns, East African colonization, Malacca War costs)
+
+### France: Absolutist Industrialization
+- Post-England-loss centralization continuing
+- **Burgundy as designated rival**: Military buildup on eastern border. French intelligence/diplomacy aimed at isolating Burgundy.
+- Developing French domestic industry (without English coal/iron → relying on Lorraine/Ruhr-adjacent deposits? Or importing?)
+- North American colonies (New France): vast territory, growing population, but thinner settlement than English colonies
+- Highland Scotland: maintained as garrison (useful naval/strategic foothold on British Isles)
+
+### Great Khanate: Siberian Competition
+- Eastern expansion into Siberia (competing with Mongol Khanate)
+- But core problems unchanged: serfdom, ethnic fractures, industrial backwardness
+- Direct-ruled Poland: ongoing suppression of Polish resistance (underground Catholic Church, secret szlachta networks)
+- Population growing (potatoes) but living standards flat
+- Grand Duchy of Poland (German puppet) on western border remains irritant
+
+### Jianzhou Republic
+- Sakhalin colonization complete
+- Kamchatka trading posts established
+- Active trade with Japan (despite historical rivalry — both need each other's markets)
+- Bering Strait → possible early exploration of American west coast from the continental side
+- Heavy industry still the core economy but market access improved through Pacific expansion
+
+### Australia (~1725)
+- **Northern/Eastern coast**: Song Chinese settlers (largest presence, most established)
+- **Western coast**: Kalmar Union and English expeditions establishing footholds
+- Song's monopoly eroding but Song settlers still dominant by numbers
+- Mineral exploration expanding inland
+- Aboriginal peoples increasingly affected by coastal settlement
+
+### Global Power Rankings (~1725)
+| Tier | Powers |
+|---|---|
+| Tier 1 | New Song (recovered), Greater Germany, Ilkhanate (diminished but still top), England (rising fast) |
+| Tier 1.5 | Kalmar Union, Bohemia, Japan (industrializing rapidly) |
+| Tier 2 | France (reforming), Aragon, Jianzhou Republic, Portugal (Dutch Disease advancing) |
+| Tier 2.5 | Burgundy, Italian states, Korea, Tunisia/Morocco, Egypt (stabilizing) |
+| Tier 3 | Mongol Khanate, Castile, Great Khanate |
+| Fragmented | India (scramble ongoing) |
+
+---
+
+## Open Questions (Post-1725)
+
+1. **India**: How does the scramble resolve by V3? Spheres of influence? Full colonization?
+2. **English-French North American war**: When does it escalate from friction to full war?
+3. **Great Khanate serfdom**: Abolished by revolution or reform before V3?
+4. **Japan**: Does it become Tier 1 by V3?
+5. **Australia partition**: Song vs Kalmar vs England
+6. **South Africa**: Ilkhanate vs Portugal → conflict?
+7. **Remaining to 1836**: 111 years, ~4 checkpoints