Letter to Genghis Khan, 1940s
Subject: Re: Re-conquest plans — quick thoughts
Genghis,
Thank you for reaching out. I have read all four pages of your message and I want to respond carefully.
To take your points in order.
On Khwarezm. I should let you know that "Khwarezm" no longer exists. The territory is currently divided between Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. The Shah you wish to send a finger to is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the original Shah, and is presently a child being homeschooled in Croydon. Sending him a finger would generate poor press. I would advise against it.
On the horses. I understand the supply has been disappointing. Mongolian ponies are still bred — there is a healthy population of around three million — but most are kept by herders for racing, milk, and tourism. Acquiring two hundred thousand of them for a campaign of conquest would, regrettably, attract attention. The herders would notice. The herders are extremely online now. Word would travel.
On the matter of your "strongly-worded message" to Caliph al-Musta'sim. Genghis. The Caliph died in 1258. By a method that you, sir, are credited with personally engineering. The message you would now send is to be delivered to a tomb. It will not be opened. It will not be received. Often the silence we receive is just the silence of tombs.
On rebranding. Yes. I read your draft. "Tem" is a strong choice — short, modern, gestures at Temujin without committing — but it has unfortunately been claimed by an organic-mattress company in Vermont. Genghis is in fact still available as a name. People will assume you are a martial-arts instructor or a cat. Both are dignified options.
On the "small experimental kingdom in Wyoming." Genghis. The American government has policies about this. They are not flexible. The IRS in particular will write back. They write back to everyone. This is not a barrier you have encountered before. The IRS is, in 1940s terminology, the true successor to your empire. They know more about more people than you ever did. I encourage you to read up.
On the descendant matter. You are correct that your Y-chromosomal lineage is now present in approximately 0.5% of the global male population. That is sixteen million men. They mostly do not know. I would not write to them. Most of them are trying to pay rent and would be unable to receive the gravity of the news at this time.
One last thing. The world you are looking at from 1940s vantage is not the world you remember. The empires are different. The horses are different. The maps are extremely different. Conquest, as you understood it, has been rebranded into quarterly returns. The methods are softer; the casualties are different but real. You did not invent the impulse. You merely scaled it. The men in suits now have the impulse without the imagination. You at least had the imagination.
If you would like to channel the imagination toward something else — a memoir, perhaps, or a consultancy practice — I am at your disposal. The world has changed. You, I suspect, have not. That is the resource you bring. Use it on something that does not require a finger.
Warmly,
— Linn
P.S. I would not send the falcon. It is in the building's lobby. Reception has called twice.