The Mongoliad is a collaborative work of transmedia historical adventure fiction by a group known as the Subutai Corporation which was founded by Neal Stephenson and others.
The serialized edition was intended to be distributed primarily as a series of applications ("apps") for smartphones, which the Subutai Corporation viewed as a new model for publishing storytelling.
[2] At the project's core is a narrative of adventure fiction following the exploits of a small group of fighters and mystics in medieval Europe around the time of the Mongol conquests.
Once the project developed momentum, the Subutai Corporation envisioned fans of the work contributing, expanding and enriching the narrative, and the fictional universe in which it takes place.
[2] According to Jeremy Bornstein, president of the Subutai Corporation, the genesis of the project was in Stephenson's dissatisfaction with the authenticity of the early modern swordfighting scenes he had written into his series The Baroque Cycle.
[5][6] The collaborators decided that the project need not limit itself to the traditional novel form and began developing ideas on how to produce it in different media while retaining the caliber that would be expected of a new work by authors such as Stephenson or Bear.
The story includes descriptions of Ögedei Khan's court (notably, his rolling "ordo" tent); the geography, flora and fauna of the great Eurasian Steppe; and especially medieval European and Asian martial arts.
The Siege of Kiev (1240) and other events in the Mongol invasion of Rus and Europe are described in 1241 by a survivor, as a group of the novel's fictional characters pass through the ruined city.