Baghdad

Owner	Government of Iraq	Established	762 AD
Purpose	Capitol City
Status	City
Affiliation	Mazdak

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and one of the largest cities in the Arab world, and compared to its large population it has a small area at just 673 square kilometers (260 sq mi). Located along the Tigris, near the ruins of the Akkadian city of Babylon and the ancient Iranian capital of Ctesiphon, Baghdad was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as hosting a multiethnic and multireligious environment, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Centre of Learning".

Baghdad was the largest city in the world for much of the Abbasid era during the Islamic Golden Age, peaking at a population of more than a million. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1932, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture, with a population variously estimated at 6 or over 7 million.

Since the 2013 reclamation by Mazdak, Iraq—and by proxy, Baghdad—has rapidly regained its footing on an international stage. Foreign governments have reluctantly begun to recognize the new Iraqi government and can no longer ignore the power that Mazdak represents behind the scenes, however sanctions against Iraq have significantly hampered Iraq's ability to interact with the outside world. In spite of this, leveraging not only its significant oil reserves, but also the ability for an Evolved workforce to accomplish industrial tasks at a faster rate, and large biotechnology developments made via captured Pinehearst research assets, Baghdad has re-emerged on the global scene as a rapidly growing economic force. Today the city boasts a population of over 10 million people.

Additional Info

Baghdad at a Glance

The City of Baghdad has dramatically changed since the end of the US occupation in 2013. Thanks to Iraq's lack of a registry Baghdad boasts a vast number of Dumuuda (Sumerian; lit. "Children of the Sun"; the common parlance for Expressives in Iraq) who have bolstered the nation's workforce. Baghdad's skyline is notably changed with the inclusion of numerous highrise businesses, museums, and schools. The city has regained its lush, green, and vivacious presence not seen since the 1960s.

The outside world's perception of Baghdad—and Iraq in general—is colored by media and foreign news, specifically that from the era of the US occupation and the subsequent years of turmoil that followed. Depictions of Iraq as a brown, lifeless, bombed-out city are untruths born of international propaganda against the single-most powerful Expressive-friendly nation in the world. The Baghdad of the modern-world is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious metropolis on par with some of the greatest cities in the world. Baghdad boasts some of the most advanced hospitals in the Middle East and is welcoming of visitors from any nation, regardless of genetic status. Though visitors from both America and the UK often find their receptions less than warm in some regions of the city due to hostilities remaining from the occupation.

The Politics of Baghdad

Baghdad is ostensibly governed by a Mayor-council, though the mayor of Baghdad has remained a figure with close political ties to Mazdak since the organization helped reform the nation in the mid 2010's. Currently, ‪Kassim Abdulla Al-Morshidy presides as mayor of Baghdad. Beyond the surface-level politics, Mazdak is the power behind the throne. While this powerful pro-Expressive organization's leadership has helped turn Baghdad into a potential international super-power, its extremist views and propagation of a war with Turkey and terrorist attacks against the UK have led to debilitating sanctions that have hamstrung any attempt for Iraq to interact with the broader international community. This friction has begun to drive a wedge between factions both within Mazdak and in non-aligned political circles.