Cumans

"The vast Eurasian plains were home to nomadic tribes whose steppe husbandry and fearsome exploits still live on in the records of their terrified neighbors. Lead the Cuman-Kipchak hordes to war and pillage to your heart’s content, or offer your riders as coveted mercenaries in the service of foreign kings. When an even greater threat looms to the east, will you migrate west and adopt the lifestyle and warcraft of your sedentary neighbors, or vanish before an unstoppable wave of Mongol conquerors?"

- Description

The Cumans are a Central Asian civilization introduced in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. They focus on cavalry.

Historically, the Cumans (also known as the Polovtsians) were a nomadic Turkic people who, at their height, inhabits the areas between the Black Sea and the Volga River, and influencing the politics of their neigbors such as the Kievan Rus', the Golden Horde, and the Byzantine Empire among others, before forming a confederation with the Kipchaks. This would last until the mid-13th century, as they became scattered with many settled in Hungary and Bulgaria.

Campaign appearances
The Cumans have a campaign devoted to their civilization: Kotyan Khan.

Unique units

 * Kipchak: Multi-shot cavalry archer.

Unique technologies

 * Steppe Husbandry: Scout Cavalry line and Cavalry Archers are trained 80% faster.
 * Cuman Mercenaries: Team members can create 10 free Elite Kipchaks in the Castle.

Civilization bonuses

 * Can build an additional Town Center in the Feudal Age.
 * Siege Workshop and Battering Ram available in the Feudal Age.
 * Cavalry moves 10% faster starting in the Feudal Age.

Team bonus

 * Palisade Walls have +50% hit points.

AI player names
When playing a random map game against the computer, the player may encounter any of the following Cuman AI characters:
 * Aepa: A Cuman khan; died around 1120.
 * Alp Tarkhan: A Khazar general who was active in the early 8th century on the war against the Arabs.
 * Altunopa: One of the many clans who made up the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Their name means "Gold Clan".
 * Boniak the Mangy: One of the most prominent Cuman chieftains
 * Bulan Khagan: A Khazar king who led the Khazars to convert into Judaism sometime between the 8th and 9th century.
 * Danylo Kobiakovych: A Cuman khan in the 1220s.
 * Ildeya Khan:​​​​​​ A Pecheneg prince; lived around 975.
 * Konchak Otrakovich: A Cuman khan, who was involved in wars and raids with the Russians and united the western and eastern Cuman-Kipchak tribes.
 * Kotyan Khan: The main character of the Cumans' campain and Cuman-Kypchak khan.
 * Kurya Khan: A Pecheneg khan; ruled to 988.
 * Otrok Khan: A Cuman-Kipchak khan; died 1125.
 * Sokal: A Cuman chieftain who won a major victory against the Kievan Rus' in 1061.
 * Sutoi: Father of Kotyan.
 * Yurii Konchakovych: A Cuman khan in the 1220s.

History
The Cumans are Turkic nomads whose origins can be traced to the east of the Yellow River. After being pushed out of their homeland by the warring Khitan tribes, they migrated westwards during the tenth century. The Cumans eventually reached the Kazakh steppes, where they allied themselves with another Turkic tribe, the Kipchaks. The two groups quickly merged into one and together they came to dominate the vast territory between present-day Bulgaria and Kazakhstan in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Rather than an empire with a strong central government, the Cuman-Kipchak confederacy was a loose union of independent tribes that exerted power based on kinship and military strength. The latter mainly consisted of light cavalry archers and heavily armored lancers, but mangonels and ballistas were also regularly employed. The Cumans launched several campaigns into Kievan Russia, the Balkans, and the Khwarazmian Empire. Most famously, chieftain Boniak (r. c. 1091-1107) aided the Byzantine emperor in repelling a Pecheneg invasion at Levounion, raided several monasteries near Kiev, and defeated the Hungarian king Coloman, all within a few years. However, the Cumans also used more diplomatic tactics, such as marriage and military service, to expand their influence in the surrounding states. Chieftain Seyhan, for example, married his daughter Elizabeth to king Stephen V of Hungary. In Bulgaria, the assistance of Cuman cavalry was essential to the success of the revolt against the Byzantines in 1185. Consequently, some Cuman leaders were ennobled when the Second Bulgarian Empire (1186-1396) was established.

Although the Cumans assimilated elements from the many civilizations that they encountered, the Cuman-Kipchak culture remained true to its nomadic lifestyle for a long time. Their economy was based on animal husbandry and trade. Only a minority engaged in semi-sedentary activities such as blacksmithing or leatherworking. Society was structured around the family. Together with related families, they lived and moved as a clan. The Cumans worshipped their ancestral spirits through stone or wooden anthropomorphic statues, called Balbals. As practitioners of shamanism, they also believed in animal spirits. The dog and wolf in particular were seen as sacred. Chieftain Boniak, for instance, determined that the conditions were favorable to fight the Hungarian king by howling with the wolves the night before the battle.

In the early thirteenth century, Mongolian and Tatar armies conquered the Cuman-Kipchak confederacy. Khan Kotyan tried to muster resistance by allying with the Rus’, but suffered a major defeat at the Kalka River in 1223. Many Cumans subsequently fled to the neighbouring states, where they gradually assimilated into the local populations. Others were, however, captured and sold as slaves. The Sultan of Egypt, al-Sahil Ayyubi (r. 1240-1249), bought many Cuman-Kipchaks and enrolled them as Mamluks, highly trained slave warriors. By 1250, the Mamluks had used their military strength to seize power in Egypt, thus establishing the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517). For over a century, the sultan of this powerful empire would be of Cuman-Kipchak origins.