1906: Alternative Divergence [AH][OOC-CLOSED]

by **The Felan Federation** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:42 am

Tracian Empire wrote:
The Felan Federation wrote:
Reservation

Nation Name: Duchy of Ansburg

Territory: Central America

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Territorial wise it's alright, but is this supposed to be a German colony in the Americas, or?

Hmm. Depends. Would that be a possibility? Or did Spain take this region?

by **Tracian Empire** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:59 am

The Felan Federation wrote:
Tracian Empire wrote:Territorial wise it's alright, but is this supposed to be a German colony in the Americas, or?

Hmm. Depends. Would that be a possibility? Or did Spain take this region?

Well, you called it the Duchy of Ansburg, which is a German name, so I naturally assumed that you were going for a German colony.

Naturally yes, Spain should have taken the region, but you could talk with the German and Spanish players to see if a German colony there could be possible.

by **Tracian Empire** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 11:01 am

Kargintina the Third wrote:
Tracian Empire wrote:Most likely yes. They're a pretty big historical event to leave out, but we can be a bit flexible in terms of individual contexts, depending on the situation and what is needed.

I’ll probably pick up from the fall of the Ilkhanate and go from there then

Well, I'm sorry if my earlier posts made you change your idea - it would still be possible for the Sassanids to have survived the Muslim conquests, you could find a reason for that to happen.

Regardless, if you do want to continue from the fall of the Ilkhanate, that is a perfectly valid divergence too

by **Kazarogkai** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 12:53 pm

I'll get in a reply when I can at work at the moment.

by **Remnants of Exilvania** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:11 pm

by **Reverend Norv** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:36 pm

As I've discussed with Exil, this all tracks great with my history for France.

by **Tracian Empire** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:44 pm

Remnants of Exilvania wrote:
(Image)

Full Nation Name : Kaiserreich Zentraleuropa/Císařství střední Evropa/Central European Empire
Respectable Short Names: Zentraleuropa/Central Europe, the Empire/das Reich, Deutschland/Germany
Disrespectable Short Name: Scherbenreich/Empire of Shards
Majority/Official Culture : German. Only recognised minority/state majority population being Czechs.
Territorial Core : Germany without Schleswig, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Bohemia, Silesia, East of Oder Pommerania and Brandenburg
Territorial Claim :
Likely: The Benelux, Alsace-Lorraine, Schleswig, South Tyrol.
Unlikely: West Prussia, East Prussia, Old Livonia
Capital City : Frankfurt am Main
Population : 73.487.423

Government Type : Loose Confederation of Monarchies.
Government Ideology/Policies: Usually marked by their autocratic or authoritarian nature. Sometimes also literal welfare. Just trying to walk the difficult path between powerful separatists trying to get one over the other without getting whacked by a coalition of their peers, between the masses making their forays into the corrupt and dirty world of politics and aristocrats pissed off by their loss of privileges.
Government Focus : Furthering the power of the current regent within the Empire and filling their coffers.
Head of State : Kaiser des Kaiserreiches Zentraleuropa (vacant)
Head of Government : Technically the Emperor as well. Factually though...Reichsverweser und König Ottokar III von Böhmen of House Kolowrat
Government Description : Alright then, let's see what I can scrounge up. Let's start from the bottom and go to the top.

The filthy Peasantry: This comprises practically everyone not of noble blood. Yes, workers, farmers and low to mid end bourgeousie all thrown into the same basket. Anyway, as someone from this lower class your opportunities to influence the politics of the Empire are...well...limited but better now than they were ever before. Following the bloody riots of 1877, the Reichsverweser has reformed the political system of the Empire to allow for greater participation of the lower class. The Reichstag, formerly the body through which the nobility ruled, was now a body made up of representatives of the people. In generally free and secret votes every citizen is allowed to vote in the elections for the Reichstag, giving off one vote for one representative of their choice. Citizens of the Empire may also sign up to be representatives, however, they'll have to finance their advertisement campaign themselves.

The glamorous Nobility: Nobles. Plain and simple. So long as you can prove that you're a noble you're well off. Only nobles are allowed to become Ministers in the Imperial or State Governments. Don't worry, for a small fee of only 500.000 Gulden you too can become a noble.

The Länder: There are exactly 14 states in the Empire. Those are the Duchy of Swabia, the Archduchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Archdiocese of Trier, the Archdiocese of Münster, the Duchy of Hesse, the Duchy of Pommerania, the Duchy of Brandenburg, the Duchy of Saxony, the Duchy of Hannover, the Duchy of Thuringia, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Holstein and the Duchy of Luxembourg. Each of these states possesses an own government capable of legislative initiative, control over its own territory, control over its own police, control over its own military, control over its own economy and control over how its government is constituted and not officially but factually also control over its own foreign policy. Generally the states are led by their respective leaders (Chosen by Rome or any Counterpope the Empire currently adheres to and confirmed by the Emperor/Reichsverweser for the Archdioceses, first son/daughter or chosen child for the monarchies. No set rules.) which hold direct control over their military and appoint their ministers as they please.

The Reichstag: The Reichstag should be the primary legislative body in the Empire. It currently consists of roughly 736 members exclusively from the Peasantry, so for each 100.000 citizens of the Empire there is one representative. The elections for this governmental body are held every 8 years. We are currently 2 years into the 5th legislative period. Before every election a population census has to be taken so the constituencies can be adjusted. Anyway, the Reichstag should be the primary legislative body as I said. They convene, debate and decide over laws brought in by the Imperial Government and also have legislative initiative aka representatives are able to bring forward. Laws passed by the Reichstag and also getting past the Reichskammergericht, the Reichshofrat and the Kaiser must be implemented in all lands of the Empire upon publication by the Reichstag's very own newspaper. Of course the Reichstag is not completely unlimited in what it can do. The constitution does contain regulations concerning which fields should concern the Reichsrat and which fall purely under the authority of the local state governments. Also, being an elected representative of the Reichstag is a completely "voluntary" work and thus unsalaried. Yes lobbyism is extremely rampant and successfull.

The Reichskanzlei: The Reichskanzlei consists out of Imperial Government employees and is headed by the Reichskanzler. Their primary concern is to supervise the Reichstag, to ensure that order is kept, to document the proceedings and decisions of the Reichstag and to publicizise them by the Reichstag's newspaper run by the Reichskanzlei called "Reichsverordnungsblatt". The Reichskanzler is a (hopefully) neutral member of the Reichstag elected by said Reichstag to act as chancellor.

The Reichskammergericht: The Reichskamergericht is theoretically concerned with keeping all parts of the government in line with the constitution of 1877. It consists of 14 judges, one from each state of the Empire. They are suggested by the respective state leaders to the Emperor who then chooses and appoints the judges. The Emperor may relieve judges from their position any time he sees fit but unless that happens judges are in it for life or untill they're deemed unfit to continue serving the state in their position by medical and psychological experts in the employ of the Empire. The Reichsverweser does not hold the authority of the Emperor in this and is forced to accept the judges brought forward by the states The Reichskammergericht has far reaching authority concerning investigations. No lock shall remain closed, no document hidden if the Reichskammergericht demands to see it. Should the Reichskammergericht come to the conclusion that it will need to act, then it is equipped with authority to conscript the press for its purposes.

The Reichshofrat: The Reichshofrat consists of the 13 state leaders that do not hold the title of Emperor or Reichsverweser. These used to constitue the Reichstag before the reforms of 1877 but officially lost a lot of their power following the reforms of 1877. The members of the Reichshofrat do no longer possess legislative initiative on imperial scale but all laws passed by the Reichstag have to go past the Reichshofrat which may decide to send these to the Reichskammergericht to check wether the creation of such laws would fall under state jurisdiction or under imperial jurisdiction. With the Reichskammergericht staffed by the Dukes', Kings' and Archbishops' most trusted juristic lackeys, the decision tends to go in their favour, completely blocking the imperial legislative apparatus. The Reichshofrat also elects a new Imperial Dynasty when there is none (famously having failed to do so for nearly 7 centuries), confirms Imperial heirs and elects a Reichsverweser from their ranks should the seat of Emperor be left vacant, mentally deficient or female.

The Reichshofkanzlei: The Reichsofkanzlei consists out of Imperial Government employees and is headed by the Erzkanzler, traditionally the Bishop of Mainz. Their primary concern is to supervise the Reichshofrat, to ensure that order is kept, to document the proceedings and decisions of the Reichshofrat and to publicizise them too in the Reichstag's newspaper run by the Reichskanzlei, not the Reichshofkanzlei, called "Reichsverordnungsblatt".

The Reichsverweser: The Reichsverweser is a distinguished member of the high nobility elected by the members of the Reichshofrat to assist the Emperor in running the Empire. The Reichsverweser's authority has greatly diminished since the 30 Years War, being now limited only to representing the Empire and its interests abroad, commanding and paying the Imperial Army as well as maintaining the few Imperial holdings that haven't been cannibalized by the Dukes and Archbishops yet. In a perfect Empire, the Reichsverweser's position would usually be vacant and only be filled when the Emperor would be underage, female or incapable of leading the Empire due to severe mental or physical deficiencies. Once the Emperor would reach adulthood, die, abdicate, be replaced, the Reichsverweser would have to relinquish his post once again. In practice there has been no Emperor on the throne since Friedrich II was dethroned and the Empire has been "ruled" by a long line of Reichsverweser.

The Kaiser: The Emperor's position is hereditary and only the first-born male may assume the position. Should there be a lack of males, a Reichsverweser is elected to oversee and practically deal with the Empire's businesses in stead of an Empress. According to the constitution of 1877, the Emperor has the right to appoint and fire the judges of the Reichskammergericht, he has legislative initiative, aka he may bring a law before the Reichstag, he has absolute veto powers for any proposed law that made it through Reichstag, Reichskammergericht and Reichshofrat, he may dissolve the Reichstag and call for new elections, he appoints the Erzkanzler of the Reichshofkanzlei, he controls the ruling dynasties of the states, he can bring the Reichsbann upon any person or entity he desires, he chooses and appoints the Imperial Ministers, he has direct control of the Imperial Army, he may grant noble titles, he may confiscate any property he wishes, he may overrule any court in the Empire, he gives out the directives for the Imperial Government and its work. The Emperor rules untill he dies, abdicates or is replaced. Of course all these powers are moot since the position of Emperor has been vacant for years.

Majority/State Religion : Toss-up between Catholicism and Lutheranism
Religious Description : It should be noted that while Roman Catholicism is widely practiced, Rome does not hold quite the sway over the Germans as it did in real life. Beginning with Friedrich I of Hohenstaufen, the animosity between the Western Roman Empire and the Central European Empire reached its climax and the appointment of a local Counterpope to adhere to became a common practice north of the Alps. Now, while there were times without a Counterpope, especcially more recently as the practice was deemed rather silly and the state leaders could no longer agree on who to name Pope, the prestige and influence of Rome north of the Alps has been greatly diminished.

Economic Ideologies : Insecure Capitalism
Major Production : If there's one thing that's produced en masse in Germany then it is coal. And where the coal comes from, the heavy industry isn't far. Germany is a fairly big producer of steel and heavy machinery in certain regions. Apart from that there's a very widespread production and demand for agricultural products, both of the animalistic and vegetational kind. Some of the largest chemical concerns are growing in Bavaria in Swabia. Textiles are also not an uncommon product from Germany. And the arms, oh yes, the Germans have a multitude of large arms corporations, needed to satisfy the needs of a dozen states' armies.
Economic Description : A key problem with the German Economy is insecurity. Insecurity leads to low investments. Which on the other hand leads to a stagnating economy. Well, how can one not be insecure with corrupt officials and a state that's willing and able to confiscate your entire property on a whim? It really doesn't help and the men whose corporations have risen out of this stagnating swamp are absolutely hardcore industrialists and negotiators. The other problem are the inter-german tariffs and lack of collaboration between german states. Few railway lines cross state borders and the tariffs make the exchange of goods between states few and sparse. Often enough the tariffs are weaponized by economically stronger states against economically weaker states as political leverage for support.

Development: Semi-modern.
Development Description : While states such as Münster, Trier, Hannover and Bohemia are fairly well developed due to great deposits of useful natural ressources , leading to growing heavy industry and wealth as well as an ever increasing railway network, other states such as Brandenburg, Pommerania, Mecklenburg-Holstein, Hesse, Saxony, Thuringia, Austria, Swabia and Bavaria are still largely agrarian in their nature and lack a good and well built out infrastructure or industry for that matter.

Army Description : The First thing needed to know is that the Empire doesn't really have a unified military anymore. A far reaching concession of the 1848 reforms to the States. The Imperial Army or Reichsarmee still exists but it barely fills 5 Divisions. In the Empire one needs to distinguish between the Imperial Army and the State Armies. The Imperial Army used to be the cream of the crop of the German armies but following endless cannibalizing of the Imperial Budget by the States and Hereditary Membership within it, the army has become a disorganised and poorly trained and equipped mess. Members of the Imperial Army used to, at the time of the last reform, have a privileged standing as a sort of first class peasant with customs and tax benefits but only few have truly made use of these, often living in poverty now as they are barely being paid for their service and try to eke out a living as artisans. Hence why they very lend their might to whatever cause promises them financial gain and a better life situation, taking on an almost Praetorian role in Imperial politics.

And then there are the State Armies. Each state keeps an own Army and in the case of the Northern States also an own Navy. However, few states are really overly capable of affording a good one. It is also necessary to note that the individual training, army organisation, ranking system and armaments tend to completely differ from state army to state army. However, one can atleast group them all into general strength categories.
Among the fairly strong state armies that are atleast fairly well equipped are those of the fairly well developed states so Trier, Münster, Hannover and Bohemia.
Among the mediocre state armies are Bavaria, Austria, Swabia and Hesse who are atleast semi-developed due to their size and the presence of neighbouring, more developed states.
Among the absolutely awfully equipped armies are Thuringia, Saxony, Brandenburg, Pommerania and Mecklenburg-Holstein

Now to the individual State Army sizes an the size of the Imperial Army. Every state is compelled to have 1% of its people under arms at all times as a standing military force. So States can't really cut costs and create more elite armies while sacrificing some numbers and are instead forced to cut corners with the equipment, support networks or wages. Of these armies 10%, or 0,1% of the population, must then be ceeded to the standing Imperial Army. But let's begin with the specific sizes:

For those who don't want to suffer through this, 35 Divisions and 9 Regiments with 658.097 soldiers are forming the active, standing ground militaries of the Empire.

The Imperial Army sits at a strength of 73.639 men organised in 5 Divisions.
The Ducal Swabian Army sits at a strength of 72.085 men organised in 4 Divisions.
The Royal Bohemian Army sits at a strength of 132.794 men organised in 8 Divisions.
The Episcopal Army of Trier sits at a strength of 66.150 men organised in 4 Divisions.
The Episcopal Army of Münster sits at a strength of 23.183 men organised in 1 Division.
The Ducal Army of Hannover sits at a strength of 19.237 men organised in 1 Division.
The Archducal Austrian Army sits at a strength of 57.515 men organised in 3 Divisions and 2 Regiments.
The Royal Bavarian Army sits at a strength of 59.423 men organised in 3 Divisions.
The Ducal Hessian Army sits at a stregnth of 42.581 men organised in 2 Divisions and 2 Regiments.
The Ducal Thuringian Army sits at a strength of 20.260 men organised in 1 Division.
The Ducal Saxon Army sits at a strength of 47.669 men organised in 2 Divisions and 3 Regiments.
The Ducal Brandenburgian Army sits at a strength of 33.333 men organised in 2 Divisions.
The Ducal Pommeranian Army sits at a strength of 4.960 men organised in 1 Regiment.
The Ducal Mecklenburg-Holsteinian Army sits at a strength of 5.268 men oganised in 1 Regiment.

Army Weakness: Honestly, I think I described the weaknesses up above. But let's repeat again. Incompetent high command, completely disunified military, not even using the same ammo types, poor states forced to cut corners on the military where they can etc.
Naval Description : Once again the Navy is completely fragmented. However, atleast this time they all aren't even more fragmented to prop up some Imperial Navy. Why? Because an Imperial Navy doesn't exist, so simple. Naval Affairs have never been too much of a bother for the Emperor. The Victual Brothers raiding in the Baltic? Let the locals deal with it! No need to alert the Emperor. Denmark blocking the strait? March the Army up on their border! No need for a unified Navy. Alas, so it came that the Empire now possesses 4 navies of very small size due to budget issues of the states running them. And so we have the Episcopal Navy of Münster as well as the Ducal Navies of Hannover, Mecklenburg-Holstein and Pommerania. They are, due to their small size and budget limitations not fit for anything other coastal protection of the Imperial Coast.

Following the Navies of the States as well as the supplementing number of naval personnel:

Summary first. Overall 3 Coastal Defense Ships, 6 Light Cruisers and 44 Torpedo Boats as well as 67.000 men worth of naval personnel.
2 Coastal Defense Ships, 4 Light Cruisers and 28 Torpedo Boats in the North Sea.
1 Coastal Defense Ship, 2 Light Cruisers and 16 Torpedo Boats in the Baltic Sea.

-Episcopal Navy of Münster
Wallenstein Class Light Cruiser "Gottes Stolz"
10x S90 Class Torpedo Boats
10.000 Naval Personnel

-Ducal Navy of Hannover
Luther Class Coastal Defense Ship "Cuxhaven"
Luther Class Coastal Defense Ship "Nordenham"
Wallenstein Class Light Cruiser "Stade"
[Wallenstein Class Light Cruiser "Varel"
[Wallenstein Class Light Cruiser "Oldenburg"
18x S90 Class Torpedo Boats
32.000 Naval Personnel

-Ducal Navy of Mecklenburg-Holstein
Luther Class Coastal Defense Ship "Flensburg"
Störtebecker Class Light Cruiser "Rostock"
8x S90 Class Torpedo Boats
15.000 Naval Personnel

-Ducal Navy of Pommerania
Störtebecker Class Light Cruiser "Kolberg"
8x S90 Class Torpedo Boats
10.000 Naval Personnel

Naval Weakness: As visible, the navy is small, has a fairly low reach, the ships aren't quite up to modern standards. There's also the problem that the Navies of Mecklenburg-Holstein and Pommerania can't rush to the aid of their western brethren nor does it work the other way around if Denmark were to decide to close the straits.
Further Military Description : [[OPTIONAL]]

National Goals : Breaking the Union of the Two Romes, Liberating the Papacy, Surviving the French Onslaught, Regaining the lost Lowlands.
National Issues : Separatism and and political intrigue
National Figures of Interest : Friedrich I "Barbaburrus" von Hohenstaufen
National Ambition/Aspirations : Survival as the strongest rather than death as the weakest.

History :
800 AD: Coronation of Karl the Great as Emperor of the Frankish Empire and equal of the Roman Emperors of Rome and Constantinople
811 AD: Following the end of the war with the Saxons and their territorial integration into the Empire, the threatened Danes sought to parlay with the Franks to secure their southern border. In the Treaty of Heiligen, the river Eider was named and accepted by both parties as the border.
841 AD: Lothar I was slain at the Battle of Fontenoy, leaving only two contenders, Karl the Bald and and Ludwig the German, for the Imperial throne.
843 AD: In the Treaty of Verdun Karl and Ludwig partition the Frankish Empire between them into an Eastern and a Western part, entirely disconnected from each other. Karl the Bald would continue to fashion himself as Emperor of the Frankish Empire.
880 AD: Following the disastrous Battle of Andernach, the Treaty of Ribbemont handed the western half of Lotharingien, the intended territory of Lothar I, to Ludwig III of Germany. It spelled the end of the attempts of Karl the Bald to expand his influence eastwards and revise the Treaty of Verdun.
895 AD: The Duchy of Bohemia sweore fealty to Arnulf of Carinthia, King of the Frankish Realm.
911 AD: Death of Ludwig the Child, end of the Karolingian line in the east.
956 AD: Coronation of Otto I as Emperor of the Central European Empire by his peers in the realm, impressed by his great victory at the Lechfeld.
961 AD: With his position stable for the moment and his eyes set upon the shining example of Rome to the south and its beneficial influence in the West, Otto I sought the recognition of Rome as an Emperor, an equal. Alas, it was not to be and Otto I's avances were later ridiculed among the lords of his realm.
977 AD: Otto II makes Karl the lord of Lower Lotharingia, infuriating the Westen Frankish Rule and cementing the break between the eastern and western Empire for sure.
1014 AD: Coronation of Heinrich II as Emperor. Increased use of catholic bishops and priests as worldly rulers of relative loyalty to the pious Heinrich II, also known as the Monk-King. Declaration of the Holy Central European Empire under his reign. Strong binding to the roman Papacy.
1025 AD: After multiple aggressions against and by the Danes, the Treaty of Heiligen and the Eider border is reaffirmed.
1027 AD: Coronation of Konrad II as Emperor. Continuation of pro-roman policies of his predecessor. Slightly cutting the privileges of the church by trying to install roman law instead of religious law.
1084 AD: Coronation of Heinrich IV as Emperor. A generally weak rule that sees the rapid decline of imperial authority in the Empire and beyond.
1095 AD: The call for the first crusade is answered in Germany and many knights and nobles travel to the south to aid the Byzantine Empire.
1108 AD: Beginning of strong, forced colonisation and integration of the wild lands to the Empire's east.
1111 AD: Heinrich V takes the throne by political force, deposing his father and ruling in a close alliance with the priesthood. However, the alliance rapidly disintegrates as he attempts to secure his rights on who to name Bishops and to take the worldy territories away from the dioceses. In the end the nobles of the realm rule in favour of the Papacy and force Heinrich V to back down, also ensuring that they are now the primary deciding force in who becomes the Emperor.
1155 AD: Coronation of Friedrich I as Emperor of the Holy Central European Empire. The term holy was relinquished by him and an inner-catholic schism created as he, through trickery, bribery, deceit and force swayed the majority of the german catholic bishops to elect and support a new Pope provided by him, supposed to act as a counter to the corrupt and controlled Pope in Rome. Boycott of all Crusades aimed at benefitting either Rome.
1158 AD: Following fallout from the schism he created as well as eyeing the riches of the northern roman cities, Friedrich I leads a host towards Italy and lays siege to the Verian Wall for 3 long years before breaching it and sacking the city of Milan and retreating again beyond the Wall and north of the Alps. It would be his first Roman Expedition and it would net him the nickname Barbaburrus among the romans due to his fiery red beard.
1163 AD: Having resupplied and restocked, the Imperial Forces seek to enter into Italy again, penetrating the Verian Wall where it was penetrated before but being defeated on the field beyond the Alps by a prepared Roman foe. Barbaburrus and his troops are forced to return north. Thus ended the second Roman Expedition.
1166 AD: Having forsaken the goal of treasure and instead burning with an almost fanatical zeal to crush the Roman Empire, Barbaburrus leads his third Roman Expedition eastwards, circumventing the Alps and instead invading the Romans' Illyrian holdings, crushing opposing forces there and looting and pillaging the countryside before being met and checked by a Byzantine Force. Brewing difficulties in the Empire, force the Emperor to abandon his personal crusade and the german host retreats before the Byzantine forces before the battle can be joined.
1174 AD: Following unrest in the Empire, Barbaburrus begins his fourth Roman Expedition, once again invading Illyria but turning the army northward again and seeking to penetrate the Verian Wall at Triest, a siege he would have almost succeeded in had not a Byzantine Force managed to march up on him from behind and catch the Imperial host in the back, leading to the disastrous battle of Triest in 1176, where the Imperial troops were butchered nearly to the last man and the Emperor himself went missing. Alas, under strange circumstances he managed to make his way back north, being found not too long after in Carinthia and assuming control over his Empire yet again.
1184 AD: The final Roman Expedition. The goal this time was to strike at the Byzantine Empire itself to repay them for the great defeat they had wrought upon the Germans a mere 8 years ago. Barbaburrus led a mighty host, the likes of which had not been seen north of the Alps since the waning of the Roman Empire, south into Illyria and from there steadily marched further south, defeating multiple Roman forces on the way. The march of the Imperial troops seemed unstoppable and Constantinople within the grasp of their dirty barbaric hands
1190 AD: Emperor Barbaburrus dies in the swollen streams of the river Nestos in Greece. Following his sudden death and the lack of his charisma, the Imperial Army folds in on itself and retreats or pillages its way deeper into roman holdings where those who remained were eventually picked off by Byzantine forces.
1196 AD: The end of the all attempts at making the position of Emperor hereditary again.
1220 AD: Following a turbulent time during which sometimes even more than one Emperor was elected, Friedrich II is made Emperor. He attempts to mend the relations with Constantinople and Rome, travelling and visiting both Empires very often, learning a great deal and enough to be considered a well articulated, learned and intelligent man there. He even ends the practice of installing one Counterpope after the other in Aachen, the crowning location of the Emperors. Alas, his lack of presense in his Empire as well as his romaniphilic tendencies, especcially with many lords still on the side of the very charismatic and highly anti-roman Barbaburrus, didn't net him many friends in his Empire and so he gradually lost influence and power there.
1225 AD: The Eastcolonisation reaches new heights as German Crusaders with the blessing of the absent Emperor Friedrich II begin the conquest of the lands around the Baltic Sea.
1237 AD: The Livonian Brothers of the Sword unite with the Teutonic Order and re-emerge as the Livonian Order but still remain a semi-separate entity from the Teutonic Order.
1250 AD: Beginning of the early Interregnum, a turbulent time with the title of Emperor changing hands quickly or even being divided between multiple lords.
1273 AD: End of the early Interregnum and beginning of the rule of the Reichsverweser. Rudolf of Habsburg being the first.
1410 AD: Terrible defeat of the Teutonic Order, reintegration of the New March into Brandenburg. Decline of the Order states in the East. Frequent Wars between the Orders and their German allies and Poland-Lithuania in the east, making the decline slower and much more costly to the rising power to the east.
1517 AD: Martin Luther kickstarts the reformation. Especcially in northern Germany many of the Lords use this to their advantage, stripping the catholic church of its property and increasing their own wealth and territory in return. Continued Anti-Roman sentiment fuels this. To counteract such, the current Reichsverweser, Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, attempted to counteract atleast that by installing Counterpopes yet again to try and avoid looking as though the catholics were dependent on Rome. Still, it barely slowed the spread of the Lutherans.
1524 AD: The Peasant War starts. Due to the religious and societal upheaval, peasants take to arms and attempt to oppose the catholic feudal lords which had untill then been preparing to lead military expeditions into the north to crush the Reformation before it could take root. Now the Catholics were forced to fight for their mere survival in the south, a feat they managed to pull off but left them too weakened to attempt an invasion of the northern Empire.
1618 AD: Reichsverweser Wenzeslaus IV of Bohemia, a staunch catholic in a country filled with protestants, is thrown out of a window in Prague. Protestant forces under the pretender Bohuslav Jiří of House Kolowrat took up arms in his favour while Wenzeslaus IV marshalled the Imperial troops to reclaim his throne for him. Protestant forces from Brandenburg and Saxony quickly joined the war on the Bohemian pretenders side, hoping to establish Bohemia as a protestant buffer kingdom between them and the catholic south as well as hopefully acquire parts of Bohemian Lusatia in return. The entry of these two states on the other hand prompted Austria and Bavaria to join the war on the side of Wenceslaus the IV. Gradually the conflict expanded untill the entire Empire was in flames, fighting a war of faith and power.
1648 AD: Treaty of Westphalia. The House Luxembourg relinquishes its hold on the Lowlands and grants their independence, letting them leave the Empire. Vilém Albrecht of House Kolowrat becomes Vilém I of Bohemia. Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia is executed and the Premyslid dynasty ends. The greatly diminished Imperial Army is limited to recruiting only from direct descendants of its troops at the time of the treaty signing. The Swiss Cantons becoming an independent member of the Empire.
1740 AD: The Duke of Brandenburg, Friedrich II, invades Saxony in order to unite Saxon Lusatia with Brandenburgian Lusatia. Being a battlefield genius and able to count on a well trained and modern army as well as a tiny enemy force, he quickly occupies all of Saxony and formally integrates Lusatia fully into Brandenburg.
1742 AD: With the blessing of the current Reichsverweser and most of the Reichshofrat safe for Brandenburg, Adalbert III of Luxembourg, Bohemia invades Brandenburg and conquers Lusatia, returning it to its Kingdom after having lost them in 1625 as payment to the Brandenburgians and Saxons. Friedrich the II, who had styled himself as Friedrich the Great after having crushed Saxony, now became ridiculed as Friedrich the Lesser for his reign had ravaged Brandenburg and left the fields unattended, only widows being there to try and bring in the harvest. Following a famine, Friedrich II was deposed. The very August Wilhelm of Brandenburg took the throne in his stead.
1760 AD: Following French provocation and undermining efforts in the Rhineland, a coalition of the majority of the catholic states as well as the Imperial Army invaded France. However, poor leadership and equipment doomed the entire campaign to fail. Despite that, the German troops proved to be a great danger to France as due to their splintered nature, they could not be challenged and defeated in one go and much rather had to be sought out one after another, leaving the others free to loot and pillage their way through eastern France.
1798 AD: Being opportunistic as they are and trying to get their revenge for the humiliating defets in the 1760s, the Germans launch a large scale offensive westwards, hoping to exploit the political chaos in France to their advantage and eliminate the revolutionary cancer in their side as well as bring the Lowlands back under their thumb in their entirety by eliminating a rival and possible protector of them. Alas, instead of making up for their previous humiliating defeats, the German Forces only added to them.
1801 AD: Following the demoralizing defeats at the start of the war, the German Lords had preciously little to use against Henri Guerin as he unleashed his army upon them, falling like wheat before a scythe and allowing Guerin to reorder their territories, a little, eliminating the catholic church's influence, deposing local Lords and empowering the protestants, especcially those of Switzerland.
1805 AD: Following Guerin's death and the retreat of the French, the German Lords came back to their formerly occupied territories with vengeance. Bloody retribution was had on the streets as secret police and military forces butchered anyone accused of having collaborated with the French. Switzerland was divided between the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Grand Duchy of Baden. But the territory the bishops of the catholic church had lost was not returned. For that the Lords were too greedy.
1876 AD: Still reeling from the war with Guerinist France, Zentraleuropa was shocked that the French would start an offensive war again so soon. What was worse, the German forces quickly found themselves forced into the defensive, much quicker than they had imagined. The war was lost within a month. But the Empire clung on for another 17 month, both out of pride and due to a completely uncaring attitude to the men who died en masse in the fields, untill it finally sued for peace which it gained in return for Alsace-Lorraine and their agreement to France taking Wallonia.
1877 AD: Bloody riots erupt during the war, due to outdated societal limitations, due to the inhumane politics of the Lords, due to the immense casualties of the war, due to poverty and starvation. The riots shake the Empire to the core, especcially when large amounts of the state armies as well as the entire Imperial Army revolt as well. The Lords of the states, fearing for their positions and the ascendance of any new Frances in their midst, combine their efforts to narrowly beat the uprising and cut yet another bloody swath through the country.
1882 AD: Baden, a revolutionary hotbed with its army in tatters and occupied by the Imperial Army, now back on the side of the Lords, is suddenly and unceremonously annexed by the Kingdom of Württemberg which paid off the Imperial Army to do its bidding and with its superior army steamrolled what little resistance there was to this move.
1906 AD: An uneasy peace rests over Zentraleuropa. Both at the bottom, where the oppressed masses complain and plot, and at the top where the nobles scheme and conspire against each other. Both within the Empire and outside of it.
RP Sample: [[Either a link to a past post, or an example written right here.]]

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

I don't see any big issues. Details of the WRE-German history will be ironed out later through discussions, but the app is accepted!

by **Tracian Empire** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:57 pm

Intermountain States wrote:Full Nation Name :Grand Republic of Busang (Busang Daegonghwaguk; 부상 대공화국; 扶桑大共和國)
Majority/Official Culture : Korean
Territorial Core : Administrative Divisions of the Grand Republic
Territorial Claim : None so far
Capital City : Sinhan (Boise)
Population : 61 Million

Government Type : Federal Parliamentary Neoconfucian Constitutional Republic
Government Ideology/Policies : Market liberalism, Social conservatism, Liberal Neo Confucianism
Government Focus : Economic and territorial growth, improvement of relations among neighboring tribe and nations for expansion or for trade, promoting patriotism and market liberalism.
Head of State : Chancellor Han Yul
Head of Government : Vice-Chancellor Wang Jun-min
Government Description : The government of the Grand Republic functions as a federal parliamentary republic. The bicameral General Assembly is led by the Chancellor who is voted in by the lower house Chamber of Delegates. Delegates are directly elected by the public based on the districts. The National Court is the upper house consisting of representatives appointed by their provinces. The Chancellor’s Cabinet appointed by the Chancellor and confirmed by the National Court.

Majority/State Religion : No official religion
Religious Description : The people of the Grand Republic practices a mixture of religions with the national government abstaining from having any state religion, although it has sponsored Neoconfucian doctrines as its major ideology. The major religious organizations are Buddhism, Cheondoism, Christianity, and Taoism.

Economic Ideologies : Capitalism
Major Production : The vast lands of Busang is known for its agriculture, coal, gold, silver, lumber, and petroleum.
Economic Description : Busang is very resource rich with gold found in Mansan, Gobuk, and Daegok, coal in West Deolseong, and oil, silver, and fertile soil found in abundance all over the country. The General Assembly has taken a largely laissez faire approach to much of the economy, standing abide to the wu wei ideals for the sake of innovation and competition. That is not to say that the government has no involvement in the economy; federal regulations are put in place in addition to existing provincial regulations to ensure fair business practices and healthy competition in the private sector. The government also plays a role in the economy through tariffs on foreign goods in order to protect domestic industry from foreign competition in Asia and the Americas.
Development: Modern
Development Description : The Grand Republic is blessed with the same technological base enjoyed by other Oriental empires along with an abundance of natural resources providing wealth to the nation.

Army Description : The Grand Republic Army is a standing army consisting of volunteers. Thanks to industrialization, Busang mass produces equipment for their military and the expansion of railroads allows them to transport troops quickly through the use of trains. The Grand Republic Army is famous for its rifles, artillery, and machine guns. The creation of automatic weapons and mass production of weapons and ammunition created an army on demand. It has an active duty count of 400,000 men.
Army Weakness : The reserved Provincial Force, despite numbering in almost a million, is not as disciplined compared to the active force and with only putting down Native times American uprisings, have little experience in combat and may even rout. Reserve officers are not much better, most being graduates with family connections to the Grand Assembly or in state and local governments who use the easy opportunity of being an officer to climb social ladders, their ability to lead is doubted by many. In addition, many of the Provincial Guards have little access to the most recent of military equipment such as machine guns and bolt action rifles, still relying on repeating rifles and multi barreled guns of the 60s-70s.
Naval Description : While the Grand Republic Navy is by no means the greatest, the importance of the Navy is realized to Busang, who relies on the Grand Republic Navy to safeguard trade in the Pacific and in the Geong (Mississippi) River.
Naval Weakness : The Grand Republic Navy is considered to be just adequate and ordinary compared to the navies of their neighboring states; there is really nothing to write home about for the Federal Navy. Although officers in the Navy are selected by a competitive military examination and in theory, captains and admirals would advance through merit and capabilities, most of those currently in the Navy have only seen combat experience against unruly bands of pirates rather than organized war fleets from other empires. In addition, it is not unheard of for some to receive an officer position based on connection.
Further Military Description : While not part of any official military force, be it in the Army of the Grand Republic or the reserve Provincial Force, there is a tradition among the civilian populace which lies on the mass ownership of firearms, a tradition established by ambitious settlers to defend against the natives or to hunt animals and a tradition that won Busang’s independence from the Chuk-Jae-Do. While the military is well funded, there are plenty of everyday civilians willing to pick up their firearms to protect Busang from invasions, much like the Righteous Army formed by their cousins across the Pacific.

National Goals : Consolidate the recently acquired Geunggang Provinces, strengthen trade access to Africa and Europe, and spread Korean cultural institutions throughout the New World, all under the values of the Cheonha Decree.
National Issues : The eastern provinces are still filled with conflicts between the Busangese settlers and independent minded native tribals.
National Figures of Interest : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Are there any Mother Teresas or Moses that we need to know about?]]
National Ambition/Aspirations : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Not really a set objective, but rather the big picture that your nation is drawing towards]]

History :

The 17th century was the time of colonization and it was never more true for Korea. Although the Koreans have already developed prosperous colonies in southeast Asia under the Chuk-Jae-Do system, interests were made eastward with the discovery of the Dongmi (North American) coast by celebrated admiral Yi Sun-sin in 1610. Due to the Chuk-Jae-do being focused in Southeast Asia, a sub branch of the Chuk-Jae-Do called the Sae-Dael-Yuk was formed for establishing outposts and colonization of the new world, called Busang (after the mythological land of Fusang in Chinese legends). In 1631, the first Korean settlement in the New World was established at Gobuk, Cheonhae, and Punggaang. Daegok and Mansan were formed later in the early 1700s after violent conflicts with native tribes ended with Korean victory.

The plentiful resources of the new continent were valuable to the Korean government and efforts were made to develop the colonies with people from Joseon moving to the Commanderies of Busang for a chance of living a new life (or to pay off their debts). However, the Joseon court has taken a “hands off” approach to governing the colonies and much of the colonies acted with near independence to the Joseon court and the Chuk-Jae-Do, regularly selecting their own officials from the populace to manage government functions for the colonies. The colonies that were given more liberty became more independent over time with a small but growing number of colonists seeing themselves identifying more with their colonies than with Joseon or the Chuk-Jae-Do as a whole. However, this was a minority view as much of the colonists still see themselves as dutiful subjects of Joseon.

In the early 19th century, the Chuk-Jae-Do was looking to expand its dominion over the colonies and set up new taxation systems and regulations. Most of the taxations were opposed by the colonists, who felt that the taxes they're burdened with only benefits the colonial authorities instead towards their colonial governments. During this period, the ideals of independence became widespread among a growing number of intellectuals, merchants, and officers living in the American colonies, forming an organization called the Independence Association that had members in the Five Commanderies of Dong-mi.

Later tensions between the Chuk-Jae-Do authority and the colonial governments had grown to which the commanderies sent delegates in Sinhan and formed the Provisional Assembly of the Five Commanderies to act as the greater representatives of the colonies. After months of debate and back-and-forth between the Provisional Assembly and the Chuk-Jae-Do, the Provisional Assembly officially declared the commanderies’ independence from the Chuk-Jae-Do under the formation of the Grand Republic of Busang in 1832. The Provisional Assembly prepared for war, assigning Cheonhae delegate and experienced military officer Dae Song-su as the Supreme Commander of the Provisional Army.

War between the Chuk-Jae-Do and the Grand Republic lasted for five years, with much of the fighting taking place in the more populated areas of Cheonhae, North Mansan and South Mansan, and Punggaang. Thanks to the political mastermind of Provisional Foreign Secretary Yang Hyun-jun (and the desire of the Korean Imperial Throne to curb Chuk-Jae-Do’s authority), Busang received backing from the Imperial Crown and eventually won its independence in 1839. The Provisional Assembly soon established political reforms, establishing a bicameral system of the reorganized General Assembly, institutionalizing the office of the Chancellor as an elected executive position, and with the support of the more influential liberals, a set of rights guaranteed to all men, including universal male suffrage. The General Assembly later appointed General Dae Song-su as the first Chancellor of the Grand Republic.

The Chancellorship of Dae Song-su from 1839 to 1854 were focused on territorial growth and major population increase. The Dae Song-su government promoted immigration, advertising its vast lands across Busang as ways for folks to come and settle eastward. Although this had brought large numbers of immigrants from East Asia, a major increase in migration occurred during the North Mansan Gold Rush from 1848 to 1855 where hundreds and thousands of people scrambled to the trade focused North Mansan in hopes to gain wealth from the valuable mineral. This had quickly made North Mansan, already moderately populated, the largest province in Busang. New developments in Daegok brought forth a silver rush in the province, bringing more attention to the landlocked province, even while the North Mansan Gold Rush was still in full effect. Dae Song-su, after leading the country for 15 years, stepped down from his position, believing that he had accomplished his goal as Busang's caretaker. He was succeeded by Vice-Chancellor Choe Kwang-jo, setting an unofficial guideline for future Chancellors in the country.

Choe Kwang-jo's chancellorship was from 1854 to 1866. Choe Kwang-jo's administration continued the policies of then-Chancellor Dae Song-su by using its wealth of resources and vast lands to encourage immigration. His administration, however, was known for his expansionist policies, diverting troop resources eastward to gain access to the Mississippi River. Coupled with the mobility of the Grand Army along with the implementation of newer weapons such as the gatling guns and the repeating rifle, the Republic was able to consolidate lands right near the Mississippi. However sporadic fighting was still common and it took years for the strip to die down. The lands near the Mississippi River ended up forming the provinces of North Geunggaang and South Geunggaang. Choe Kwang-jo's chancellorship ended in 1866 after the ruling Federalist Party lost to the opposition People's Party lead by In Seong-hyun, ending the 27 year domination of the Federalist Party and the rise of the People's Party as one of the major party besides the Federalists. In Seong-hyun's chancellorship lasted for nine years from 1866 to 1875. His administration was seen as being unnoteworthy, despite some legislative achievements such as implementation of civil rights for Native Americans and high tariffs. This has been the defining factor for successive Chancellors as many did not have such impact compared to the first two Chancellors.

As Busang enters the new century, a sense of optimism rises among the general populace. There were plenty of good reasons for the optimism: the Hongjeon province (Texas/Tejas) experienced a massive oil boom and trade running smoothly in the Pacific Ocean and along the Mississippi and the Gulf Coast. Through its strong economy and previous military success, Busang has affirmed itself as one of the major powers in North America. With the election of Federalist leader Wang Jun-min as Chancellor in 1906, only the future could tell for this world whether or not the Grand Republic's fortune would continue.

RP Sample:
- It's like Alternate Divergence but made by the Cobalt Network and has set nations (Tales of Two Horizons II)
- War, what is it good for? (Back to 1935)
- Rednecks and post-apocalyptic America (Fallout: Damn Dirty South)
- Red Dawn but Asian (Crane Ascendent)
- Generic late 19th century Alt-history RP (Voice of a New Age)
- War, war never changes (Fallout: Republic of Dusts)
- Alternate history taken all the way (1900: Alternate Divergence)
- Anime Vietnam Flashbacks (Operation Gatelord)
- When the Spanish Flu wiped off 50% of the world population

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

I see no major issues with the app, and considering that this concept was already approved once in the previous iteration and that Oscal has vouched for your history, accepted, of course xD

by **Krugmar** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:07 pm

WIP

The Dragon Standard

Full Nation Name : India | Empire of India | Chogyal Dynasty | རྒྱ་གར Rgyagar | भारत Bhārat

Majority/Official Culture : [[What your people identify themselves with… French, Chinese, Iroquois, Touareg, etc.]]
Territorial Core : India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Most of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka
Territorial Claim : Tibet, Burma, South-East Asia
Capital City : Patna
Population : 322,606,000 (sourced from British Raj, with a bit added on for lack of de-urbanisation/industrialisation)

Government Type : Theocratic Autocracy
Government Ideology/Policies : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Militant, Imperialist, Expansionist, etc.]]
Government Focus : [[Tell me a little bit about what is your government’s focus… be it military, economy, culture, legitimacy, etc.]]
Head of State : Chogyal: Jigme Dorji
Je Khenpo: Rigzin Nyingpo
Druk Desi: Kalsang Drupa
Government Description : The Chogyal (Religious King), also known as the Zhabdrung ("before the feet of"), is the Head of State of India. He is the reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal and is considered the highest spiritual and temporal authority. The first Chogyal, Ngawang Namgyal, established a dual system of government under the Great Tsa Yig legal code. Most political power was vested in an administrative leader, the Druk Desi, assisted by a collection of local governors or ministers called penlops and dzongpen. A religious leader, the Je Khenpo, held power over monastic affairs. Later incarnations of the Zhabdrung were to have ultimate authority over both spheres, though in practice the Druk Desi, along with the local governors, have monopolised political control.

Majority/State Religion : The state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism
Religious Description : India is the birthplace of three religions, and contains adherents to most major religions. Hinduism is the religion of the majority, though it is more often viewed as a family of interlinked religions and philosophies. Buddhism is the second largest religion, finding adherents primarily across the Gangetic plain and Sri Lanka. Sikhism is prevalent largely in the Punjab region, with adherents largely in Northern India. Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions are found as small minorities in certain areas, such as the Malabar Coast for the former two, and the north-east and interior regions for the latter.

Economic Ideologies : [[Capitalism, Mercantilism, Socialism, Communism, etc.]]
Major Production :
Economic Description :

Development: [Modern, Semi-Industrialized, or Primitive]
Development Description : [Explain further why your nation is in one of the above categories]

Army Description : [[Describe your nation's army in as much detail as you can]]
Army Weakness :
Naval Description : [[Describe your nation's navy in as much detail as you can]]
Naval Weakness :
Further Military Description : [[OPTIONAL]]

National Goals :
National Issues : [[what needs to be fixed in order for your nation to achieve its true potential]]
National Figures of Interest : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Are there any Mother Teresas or Moses that we need to know about?]]
National Ambition/Aspirations : [[OPTIONAL]] [[Not really a set objective, but rather the big picture that your nation is drawing towards]]

History : [[Can be in paragraph or bulletpoint timeline.]]
RP Sample: [[Either a link to a past post, or an example written right here.]]

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

by **Elerian** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:38 pm

I'll have my app for Russia done soonish.

by **Reverend Norv** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 5:21 pm

Very excited to see Krugmar's app start to come together. Also, I think there may be an issue with the link to my app in the OP. Just thought I'd mention it.

by **Oscalantine** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:27 pm

Full Nation Name : Most Serene Imperial States of Korea (대한제국)
Majority/Official Culture : Korean, but due to ideology of ethic supremacy, Koreans segregate many classes of citizens based on their ethnic background, allowing cultures in Indochina and Malay Archipelago to uniquely develop without being assimilated into Korean ways.
Territorial Core : Korean Peninsula, parts of Manchuria, Jeju Island, Philippines, majority of Indochina, Brunei, and few islands surrounding Sumatra.
Territorial Claim : Indochina and Malay Archipelago, with vested interest in the Indian Ocean in order to facilitate trade unhinged.
Capital City : Hanyang (Seoul, Korea)
Population : Roughly 60 million total, with 20 million in the mainland and 40 million in the colonies

Government Type : Absolute Monarchy
Government Ideology/Policies : Economic, political, and cultural imperialist.
Government Focus : The government’s focus is always to assure supremacy in the region, with their desire always been that of legitimacy. This desire came from historical oppression by the dominating Chinese and Mongol Empires, but even with the fragmenting continental power leaving Korea and Japan as dominating force in the region, Korea never stopped their desire for authority in the region. In current political climate, Korean policy has thus been to ensure that "Asians rule Asia," with vested interest to make certain that European imperial ambitions in Asia are kept at a balance. This has left Korea in a rather peculiar situation of needing to fight on two fronts: political chaos in the mainland as well as European Imperial expansion. Perhaps as a direct reason for this, Korea is necessarily an economic expansionist rather than mercantilist, preferring to not make more enemies through tough economic tariffs than what is already there, and trying to ease tension between itself and its neighbors through lenient tariff policies. Contrary to their peaceful diplomatic focus, however, the Imperial Throne of Korea often times quick to act in order to ensure status quo of its supremacy. Korean military has been known to lash out at anyone who desires to disturb Korea’s prosperity and fortune. This has led to heavy militarization of the nation, and has left Korea rather militant and trigger-twitch fame when it comes to anyone who encroaches too close to its domain.
Head of State : Emperor Lee Yue (이유황제)
Head of Government : The Emperor shares his power with the Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do (축제도 총독), former in the mainland while latter in the colonies.
Government Description : From its rather humble start as vassal of Mongol Empire, the Most Serene Imperial States of Korea, or simply Korea, now is a major player in the Orient among its equals in the Far East. It is an empire that focuses on legitimacy, and as a result will go to war against those who would defame the nation, but not necessarily for expansion. It is important to note this fact that Korea's interest in colonial race, while extremely territory-hungry in the past, has somewhat dwindled in favor of ensuring what wealth it has is not wasted. This has led to solidification projects both by the Imperial Throne as well as Viceroyalty, who seeks to make best use of their already vast wealth into industrial efforts to not only to increase the wealth that Korea is sitting on, but also to protect its hoard against palpable threats all around Korea and its colonies. Furthering this effort to keep their prosperity running is consistent economic and political pacts with its oriental neighbors, not only to ensure that Korea’s legitimacy as a major power in the region is secured, but to ensure that a web of dependent allies would cause possible invasion to come only from so much fronts.

It is important to distinguish between the Viceroyalty and the Imperial Throne when discussing Korea: the Viceroyalty of Chuk-Jae-Do is focal point of “colonial” foreign relations and official colonization efforts while the Imperial Throne of Korea deals with its immediate oriental neighbors and issues with its vassals. While there is indeed a significant distinction, the Imperial Throne views Viceroyalty actually as a very large, very independent vassal of Korea, who deals with all the colonial expansion under the order of the Emperor. While de-facto power of the Viceroy comes very close to the Emperor himself, it is important to understand that the Viceroyalty pays not in taxes, but in tributes much like other vassals of Korea. As a result, it allows colonies under the authority of the Viceroy a significant room for independence, freely engaging in foreign relations and even colonial efforts that the Imperial Throne might not agree with. Furthermore the massive sum of gold necessary for yearly tribute always forces the Viceroyalty to be very diligent in generating capital, but also desire long-term relationships that will continuously pay dividends. For this, it is not unheard of for the Viceroy to engage in questionable dealings with foreign powers to ensure that money always flows through Chuk-Jae-Do even at the cost of their discovery angering the Imperial Throne.

Further complicating the matters of state is the Imperial Throne's views towards its liberated colonies in North America. Although revolutionary war was fought and lost, the Imperial Throne maintains its stance that it was never a "revolution" but rather a "skirmish" between two of its larger vassals. And although Busang does not pay regular tributes, the Imperial Throne still considers Busang and its territories as Korea's sovereign interest, and views Busang as one of its vassal states. This has a larger implications to the governance of Korea: despite being considered "colonial region" and thus beneath the interest of the Imperial Throne, Busang has a unique political tie to directly petition the Imperial Throne and the Emperor himself as a rightful vassal of the Imperial States. Furthermore, Busang does not need to create a trade relations with the Viceroyalty, but rather can directly access the wealth of the mainland Korea and completely bypass any capitalist mark-ups. Such a peculiar economic and political ties, while one-sided, has been keeping a very tenuous peace between the once-overlord and her ex-American colony.

Imperial Throne has relatively stayed the same from Joseon Period, with the following departments designated for different roles in the government, with the Emperor of the Most Serene Imperial States as an absolute authority and final decision maker of all departments.

State Council (의정부) is the highest political department of Korea who deals with key issues of state and advises the Emperor on these said issues. It is comprised of 12 officials with Chief State Councilor (영의정) being the head of the Council. It is important to understand that the State Council is not the Emperor’s cabinet, but rather has evolved from Joseon era to act a sort of “think tank” to key issues that the Empire has. While the Council has some authority over the Ministries, the ultimate power still lies with the Emperor, and the State Council only one of many instruments of the Emperor to enforce his will on the Ministries.
Ministry of Rites (예조) is probably the Ministry that has evolved the most from Joseon Dynasty, with its focus primarily on foreign relations rather than on rituals and culture, which role has actually became the responsibilities of the Empress of Korea, who oversees all rituals as well as cultural customs that the Empire needs to follow. Due to increasingly complicated needs of diplomacy, Ministry of Rites have grown in authority as Korea grew in political power, resulting in the Ministry of Rites being relatively free of authorities of the State Council, and instead directly answering to the Emperor.
Ministry of Works (공조) is a Ministry that only exists to relay information to centers of engineering that exists in Chuk-Jae-Do. Due to influence of Second Guild War changing the political landscape of mainland, most of engineers and technicians have moved alongside merchants to Chuk-Jae-Do some centuries ago. As a direct result, vast majority of technological innovations is focused in the colonies, resulting in the Ministry of Works to only serve as a governing body to these independent Engineer-Scholars in Chuk-Jae-Do and to commission Imperial Project towards them whenever necessary.
Ministry of Justice (형조) hasn’t changed much from Joseon period and acts exactly the same: to be the administrator of law, order, and slavery in the mainland. While the Ministry of Justice advises on what is the norm in the Most Serene Imperial States, it actually does not enforce any laws in the colonies and vassals. However, it is important to note that all servitudes within Korea must have the Ministry of Justice’s approval. As slavery is still a legal and lucrative trade in the region, the Ministry of Justice’s indirect influence is still very significant, and its “encouragements” are usually enforced in order to ensure that all slaves are authorized on demand.
Ministry of Taxation (호조) still maintains its census and taxation authority, but its concerns with the finance and land policies has actually been taken to under the direct control of the Imperial Throne. In its place, the Ministry of Taxation had additional responsibility to communicate with vassals and Viceroyalty to relay the amount of tributes desired by the Imperial Throne at end of every fall harvest. In order to ensure that the right amount of tributes are levied to all vassals and especially to Chuk-Jae-Do, the Ministry tirelessly sends officials to these regions to oversee the economic prosperity of the region and to make sure that no corruption or underhand dealings siphon valuable imperial wealth.
Ministry of Defense (병조) is relatively the same as in Joseon Dynasty. What has changed, however, is the sheer size of persons manning the military operations of Korea. As each vassals and especially Chuk-Jae-Do is allowed its own military, the Ministry of Defense spends part of its funds to ensure that soldiers in these regions are properly fed and trained. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense also sends out officials to root out any rebellious or treasonous elements from these independent regions to make sure that Korea’s vassals remain firmly within the Emperor’s grasp. The Ministry of Defense is also the sole authority within Korea to operate a navy, ensuring that no vassals would, even if rebelled, escalate the situation beyond their own borders. The vast armada of Korea is thus controlled almost exclusively by the Imperial Throne, further creating a situation where rebellion is very difficult within Korea.
Ministry of Personnel (이조) hasn’t changed at all in the scope of its authority. It ensures that the right offices are given to the right people. However, its authority is only within the mainland, with independent vassals only needing to inform the Ministry of Personnel changes to any of its offices after the new officials are selected for the job.
Imperial Throne (황제부) is a special office that is not affiliated with any Ministries or State Council. It answer directly to the Emperor and acts as a voice of the Emperor and a representative of Imperial Will upon all Ministries. Its responsibilities include finance as well as land policies, and advises Empress’s role in the head of rituals and culture. Furthermore, the Imperial Throne acts as a check to State Council, and ensures that bureaucracy of Korea answers to the Emperor and to no one else.

It should be noted that Korea doesn’t have laissez faire economy like most countries at the time, but very command economy. However, this isn’t the case in Chuk-Jae-Do, the nation’s colonial authority. Colonies of Korea, therefore, is not in the state of laissez faire, but in the state of perpetual economy anarchy. Controlling this anarchy is the colonial governance of Chuk-Jae-Do, whose Chaebol groups form a secret council around the Viceroy and act as his advisor.

The Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do (축제도 총독) is the only official recognized by the Imperial Throne. The office of Viceroy holds complete authority over all the colonies of Korea and has liberty to create whichever means necessary to properly rule over these lands under the Emperor’s name.
Kim’s Chusu Enterprise (김대가[金大家] 추수사업), or more simply Chusu Enterprise, is one of the major Chaebol Groups in Chuk-Jae-Do with near monopoly in all agricultural products in Korea. While there are other families especially in the mainland who produces agricultural products, the sheer quantity of foodstuff produced by Chusu Enterprise’s plantations takes care of over 70% of all the nation’s food needs. Due to their influence in Chuk-Jae-Do, Chusu Enterprise effectively serves as a governing body within Siam Agri-District (샴 농업지구) located in Thailand and Tondo Agri-District (톤도 농업지구) situated in Philippines. Chusu Enterprise not only produces crops, but also processes them, forming a cartel of all things related to food. Although mostly enforced by the Ministry of Taxation to ensure quality control, Chusu Enterprise prides itself of high-quality food production eaten even by the Most Serene Imperial Majesty as well as the Grand Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do.
Jagyeong Sangdan (자경[蔗境] 상단) is, just like every Chaebol Groups in Chuk-Jae-Do, is run by one of the prestigious merchant households of Korea. Created by Koh Family, the JS Group, as it is primarily known, primarily concerns itself with the production and packaging of luxury goods that are coming to and from Korea. This line of work overlaps with other Chaebol Groups’ major sales. One such primary example is cash crops, which can be, depending on how it is processed, considered as both items for consumption and thus under jurisdiction of Chusu Enterprise or as a luxury item to be part of JS Group’s balance sheet. Perhaps because of this precarious position, JS Group is only situated in the Chuk-Jae Island proper, and do not have governing positions in any of the colonies. This is seen as a politically self-humbling measure by JS Group to ensure that they seek not to dominate over other Chaebols' businesses, but to work alongside them to increase their profits. However, JS Group is perhaps the most connected of all major Chaebol families, with having deep reach within the Ministry of Rites, Taxation, and Justice. It is well known and to distaste of many nobles in mainland that Left State Councilor (좌의정) of the State Council is a member of Koh Family, and has been responsible for staggering growth in influence of JS Group within the mainland of Korea in the recent years.
Unity Merchant Marines (결합상선) is probably the most influential Chaebol Group in Korea, run by Kwon Family who has secured Viceroy position in Chuk-Jae-Do for five generations. As the term “Merchant Marines” suggest, the UMM holds all maritime trades under its grasp, working closely with JS Group to ensure that all trade inside and outside Korea is done under Kwon Family’s ships. The UMM has several branch companies including Unity Maritime Industries (결합조선산업) responsible for much of the commercial shipwright in the colonies and Unity Heavy Industries (결합중공업) whose processed materials fuel Korea’s industrial efforts. It isn’t too surprising thus that UMM holds exclusive governance of both Dia Viet Industrial District (대월 상업지구) and Brunei Independent District (브루나이 독립지구). UMM also holds significant influence in Balhae Kingdom, a Manchurian vassal state of Korea, and holds exclusive rights to all minerals in the nation. UMM holds significant influence in the Empire as it almost exclusively relies on UMM for raw materials production necessary to run most factories.
Unity Financial Concerns (결합금융사업) is a sister company to UMM that provides most of the financial needs of the colonies. UFC gains this ability as holding monopoly on all gold and mint production in Korea, a feat that is only possible due to Kwon Family’s continued line of Viceroys. UFC is responsible for circulation of golds in the Korean market, and strictly imposes quality and quantity check in the nation. As this is the case, UFC has far reach even to the black markets in Korea, often times officially hiring organized criminal organizations to actively enforce their rule of commerce in the colonies. UFC also is the largest bank in Korea, acting as a central bank for the nation. UFC’s IOUs thus has become a primary form of currency since the late 1800s from its quasi-credit stature within Korea's sphere of influence, allowing Unity Credits (결합신용증) to function as a gold-backed notes within Korea. UFC has other divisions that deal with financials, such as insurance companies covering the needs of UMM and other Chaebol Groups as well as being the commercial and corporate bank for large transactions in Korea. It isn’t surprising, thus, that almost 90% of all lands in Chuk-Jae Peninsula (Malay Peninsula) including Chuk-Jae Island is owned by UFC, with most Chaebol Groups renting the land for a period of time rather than owning any lands in the region.
Gwang Jeon Electronics (광전전자) is a fledging Chaebol Group run by Park Family. GJ Electronics has a history of financial difficulties in the past, with its parent company of Gwangwu Financials (광우금융) being left behind by UMM’s sister company, UFC. While the primary culprit of Gwangwu’s fall was heavy investment into electricity, which was unproven technology during the 1880’s, the Park Family’s Gaju (head of large merchant families) never let go of his dream of electric future. Although he died before the first generators in Chuk-Jae-Do started to churn out energy, his dream of electricity was later realized by Park Family who salvaged what they could to make a new company of Gwang Jeon Electronics. Alongside providing energy and maintenance for factory alternators and household electronics use, GJ Electronics also has inherited large investment into telecommunications. GJ Electronics’ telegraphs and telegraph printers are a common use within Korea with Park Code being used throughout the orient as Korean’s go-to code for transmitting information from far-flung locations.
Imperial Logistics (제국통운) is a transport company run by the Chae Family as part of larger Chae's Imperial Dominion Group, or CIM Group. While strictly under CIM Group and thus abiding by the Group's decisions, it is well known within the Chuk-Jae-Do that Chae Family's other businesses are mostly consisting of small retail businesses that rely heavily on Imperial Logistics's lines of transport and thus not very important point of discussion. The Imperial Logistics is responsible for maintaining all land-transports as well as civilian transports within Korea, and has recently been heavily invested in flight technologies. One of the significant turnarounds of Imperial Logistics's success lies with Chae Family's historical friendship with Kwon Family, who own UMM. As UMM has monopoly on all heavy materials used for railways as well as being the leading shipwright manufacturer, Imperial Logistics has been able to provide the cheapest prices of all transport companies. This has been the demise of all other transport companies and has resulted in Imperial Logistics achieving monopoly of all transit-related businesses in Korea.

Majority/State Religion : Donghak (동학), Cheondoism (천도교)
Religious Description :

Meaning “Religion of the Heavenly Way,” Cheondoism and its predecessor Donghak started in IRL several decades after the 1850 period. In this timeline, however, the religious tone of the movement started much earlier, as Korea met with the Europeans earlier.

The main cause of the movement is relatively the same: pressured by the “Western learning” (called 서학 in Korean), the Koreans felt pressured to keep what was uniquely eastern… or simply be more Korean. Without neo-Confucian culture influencing Korea in this timeline, the radical ideology to preserve Confucianism sprang from the mainland Korea, calling itself Donghak (동학), which literally means “Eastern Learning.” Founded in the 1790’s, this radical teaching saw revival of the Confucian ideology and anti-Christian theology.

While Donghak movement gained steam, there was a new heretical religion that was gaining steam in the colonies from the early 1820’s. While in IRL Cheondoism was revival of destroyed Donghak movement, in this timeline Cheondoism is created not based on Korea Shamanism, but rather from mixing the Donghak Confucian ideology with Catholic religious ideologies which the colonists were affected by. With the Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do officially approving the ideology into colony's official religious option alongside Donghak, the mainland Korea has since been warming up to the idea. Cheondoism in this timeline mixes the monotheist idea of the Western region while maintaining concepts of Eastern virtues.

As Korea started to interact more and more with Western culture around 1850's, however, Cheondoism has started to focus more on being recognized as a sect of Christianity, especially that of Orthodox Christianity. Once seen as a political move to appease the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, majority of the priesthood now adheres to the rituals of Orthodoxy, as Korean interactions with Roman Empire has opened opportunities for religious scholars to directly study faith in Constantinople. Thus, Cheondosim has started to be recognized as an Eastern heresy of Orthodoxy rather than Catholic one, which is contrary to its conception. While the dogma of Cheondosim is far from pure Christianity and focuses on open dialogue and debates of faith, it cannot be argued that the religious leaders of Cheondoism considers it almost a requirement to study under either Orthodox virtues before being introduced into the priesthood.

Economic Ideologies : Capitalism mixed with Corporatocracy
Major Production : Since the initial stages of industrialization, Korea’s focal point of production was in silk and porcelain, the two most lucrative sources of capital for Far East nations. Since then, they have mastered these two products in the mainland to a fine point. The silk production is thus very much similar to that of textile manufactory in IRL Britain, where factories are set up across the urban landscapes to produce the finest silk products for export to Europe. The southern parts of Korea with their fine clay and even finer craftsmen have since perfected the trade of porcelain, creating masterpieces which can rival the beauty of gems. As Korea was able to better repel Japanese invasion during the Imjin War in the past, the Korean craftsmen were never kidnapped to Japanese Empire, and great many decided to stay in their ancestral lands during and after Second Guild Wars. As a result, the southernmost regions of Korea are not only known for its bountiful rice production, but also its porcelain craftsmanship, shipping the goods across to ever-hungry European market.

It is well-known that two abovementioned goods are sanctioned to strictly be produced in mainland, forcing the colonies to produce other materials to survive. Thankfully, the bountiful resources in Chuk-Jae-Do allow not only to gather raw materials, but also to directly create infrastructures and factories directly on the Chuk-Jae-Do proper to facilitate a massive juggernaut of Korean economy. In terms of cash-crops, Korean Indochina is a massive producer of tea and pepper, with farms stretched far across these lands to produce these crops for export not only to Europe, but also to hungry customers in the mainland. Majority of rice production also occurs in this region, allowing Koreans to cheaply acquire their main source of food. This has allowed Korean mainland to stray away from agriculture-based economy to more industrial one, and thus Siam Agri-district is always strictly controlled to produce enough rice to sustain half of the country’s rice demands. One of the biggest breakthrough of Korean scholars and merchants in the Chuk-Jae-Do was cultivation of Nutmeg, which came as a response of European colonization of the so-called "Spice Islands" towards the mid 1800s. Although the cultivation was plagued with failure in the initial stages of adaptation, over thirty-years of continued cultivation process has recently started to bear fruit in the most literal sense, as Korea has became one of the leading producer and exporter of Europe's most demanding spice.

Due to unique locations of its territories, Korean industry has very little need for relying on external source for raw resources. Coal supply was already found on Northern Korea in the earlier stages of industrialization, and since then, coals found in Indochina has been contributing to urbanization of Chuk-Jae-Do proper. Manchuria region of Balhae Kingdom has been the primary contributor of copper, iron, and other minerals for the Most Serene Imperial States’ needs. Iron in particular has been the major producer of Balhae Kingdom, with Korean iron mills in Northern Korea contributing to a major chunk of Asia’s total iron supply. Due to transit issues, however, copper supply needed in the colonies are usually met from the mining operations in the Tondo Agri-Distirct. Rubber trees have been cultivated all across Siam Agri-district and Dia Viet Industrial District since the early stages of industrialization, complete alongside timber which has equally been produced in the same region.
Economic Description :

Korean corporations developed very different from their Western counterparts in that Korean firms are family businesses. Of course, the scale of this “family business” is beyond even that of western corporations. Called Chaebol, these corporations are headed by each Merchant Families who founded the Chuk-Jae-Do. The evolution of Chaebol, however, was from Merchant Guild who were isolated from any government control, creating a unique politico-business entity that came to function almost like a line of nobles in mainland. Most Chaebols have series of businesses that help synergize with each other in mostly a vertical integration, although conglomerate-like branches are also common depending the characteristic of each merchant families. While many have trade and commerce in mind, Chaebols are heavily integrated part of Korean economy, and it can be almost accurately criticized that they are the said economy of Korea.

The greatest difference between Korean Chaebol and European Corporations would be the amount of direct political power that Chaebols have. Chaebols collectively operate with impunity within the colonies of Korea, and elect the Viceroy who will represent them in the Imperial politics. The Viceroy, in turn, provides general regulations for Chaebols to follow, which is observed strictly. Furthermore, the Viceroy grants large swaths of lands to the governance of these Chaebol Groups which in turn use the lands for their benefit as well as to improve the economy of Korea. While it was very common that each merchant families basically exploited their political advantages, the Recession of Arrogance during the 1870s leaving the country in panic have changed the opinion of Korean Chaebols: they now see that they are responsible for the economy of Korea and thus willing to collectively agree on goodwill policies that support the wellbeing of all Korean economy.

This new “merchant’s responsibility” is the key tenant of “Chaebolism,” which forces social responsibilities to firms and bring a refreshing viewpoint of coporatocracy where the corporations take responsibility for the economy of a nation by becoming the "economic hand" of that nation. This is completely different from the laissez faire tenants of free-capitalism of this timeline and Kensyian policies that will come about during the mid 1900's in that corporations themselves actively become the "invisible hand" to control the economy to their socially-responsible vision. The interesting tenant of Chaebolism, however, is that the ideology believes that nation’s nobles are a plague upon the mankind. Core belief of Chaebolism states that without a proper group responsibility that can only be brought by the corporations, the independent capital holders such as nobles can become too corrupt and thus their capital becoming a potential liability that can cause recessions and depressions. This reflects not only historical grudge of Korean merchant class against the nobility, but also the historical dissonance that Korean nobles had during the recession, seeking only to hoard their wealth unlike the merchant families who invested so heavily into recovering the destroyed economy of Korea.

Development: Modern
Development Description :The Joseon Dynasty from which the Most Serene Imperial States hails from had its roots deeply engraved in improving defense against the ever-looming invasion from the North. And as Munjong’s reign solidified the Lee Dynasty’s rule into a stable hereditary kingship, the influx of technology that hailed from the Song Dynasty carved a technological lineage of Korea that did not wane through stagnation. For unlike in perhaps the another timeline where Joseon befriended the Mongols and stagnate over the eons under the comfortable rule of its tributary overlord, the Koreans remained always at an arm’s length against its possible overlord. And although Munjong did not initiate it, the years of stability and military legacy that he conducted provided the literal firepower necessary to allow the Koreans ways to go against the Chinese stagnation when it was allowed. For it was this defiance and this outward direction that drove Korean technological innovation. At first, the defensive strongholds of Korea augmented by the ever-new weapons innovations that allowed Korea to exist as something more than a fringe tributary. And as Korean merchants moved beyond Ming to trade and prosper, as the Chinese Treasury Fleet stopped, the Korean merchant fleets roamed the seas for trade with distant kingdoms of Southeast.

And this innovation fueled by defense and commerce that still exists as groundworks for a solid foundation of blood and gold. Korean technological innovation is necessarily focused on developing new and innovative weapons to ensure as much fear as one can against the enemy, while its ship and ideas of commerce developed into its own maturity unique compared to the Western capitalism. However, these innovation has left its mark. For majority of the most urban cities of Korea are focused around the ports such as Busan and Chuk-Jae-Do (IRL Singapore), whereas inland population density is rather sparse save for large-scale plantations in the colonies and imperial lands of the mainland. For it was more natural for Koreans who traded abroad using fleets of merchants to gather greatest of their wealth centered around ports, and people naturally flocked to these population centers in search of wealth. And in the initial stages of colonization, it was only natural for small, densely packed ports to be more easily defended compared to wide spread of people, and merchants initially flowed through these pockets of safety. And, of course, in time, people naturally flocked to where the merchants and their coins were.

And as these port-side centers grew, so did the merchant culture which ruled these lands. For while the nobles stayed at their villages reading and debating, the merchants flowed into these urban spaces and started to cultivate a society unique from Western capitalism. This culture, which eventually came to be known as Chaebolism, came about as merchants slowly learned the responsibility of “the have’s” and the irresponsibility of the nobles who lacked such “noblesse obliges.” The merchant’s culture that became Korea’s identity came in waves. The first was during the First and Second Guild Wars, where merchant guilds were formed and treaties were agreed upon to ensure safe business environment where competition would not destroy each other’s property. And as the Second Guild Wars started and ended, the merchants learned to rely upon one another at the times of troubles and to create an unified ground against the nobles and, in time, all adversaries. It was during and after the Imjin Wars when the merchants found suffrage and started to influence the governance of the Joseon Dynasty. And through its continued interaction, eventually contributed to the founding ideas of the Imperial States: to rule gently but negotiate strictly.

And as the 1800s waxed and waned, the Koreans were among the first within the capitalist countries of the world that suffered from a country-wide depression. This has largely served to ultimately modernize the Koreans to who they are today: a final evolution towards responsible, self-governing, society-creating merchants of Chuk-Jae-Do. As history has written, the change came at a gunpoint as the Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do, fearing complete destruction of Korean economy, forced the colonies into a temporary command economy where every spending was dictated. However, as the merchants realized the value of flow of money, the merchants came to enjoy how the flow created even greater wealth and recognition which were never possible before. For although they were less rich, what they obtained in return were far more satisfying: a sense of accomplishment as becoming the great economy of the Imperial States. This power, once obtained, was and still is too addictive to wean. And as the Korean merchants are known to be generous overseers, they are still an overseer of a populous which only works as they dictate. For while the economy of Korea is still capitalistic to be certain, only the most talented can pierce the heavens and join as among the very few, very elite independent businesses of Korea free from the existing Chaebols. And among them, even less can stay as one of the merchant kings who rule over the economies of this great nation whose rules beyond the mainland is that of anarchy gently leashed by the Oriental capitalism that are the Chaebols.

Army Description : Korean army focuses heavily on indirect fire, consisting superior artilleries and rocketry which can decimate enemy lines. Chuk-Jae-Do hosts not a military academy, but military engineering academy known as Hwayak-Saguanhakkyo (화약사관학교), or simply the Military Academy of Gunpowder, where Engineer-Scholars are raised from honorary families to discuss the latest innovations of gunpowder technologies. As Chuk-Jae-Do is freed from nobility class belittling engineers, scholars, and merchants, these Engineer-Scholars are respected and highly regarded, and in return they preserve, maintain, and innovate Korea's already potent gunpowder tradition to its utmost heights.

Such a legacy of rocketry and artillery makes Korea a unique military power in terms of being among the very, very few nations to utilize rocketry so early into the history. Weapons systems such as Hwacha, Shingijeon, and Chongtonggi are all weapons systems which was developed in the Joseon Dynasty and have since been perfected. (This assumption of such weapons being perfected lies in critical flaw of each weapon, which was that it was too cost-intensive gunpowder-wise for Koreans to develop further. As in this AH scenario Korea is a colonial power with plenty of access to raw materials, the research would have continued in course making rocketry primary weapons of choice for Koreans.) Rocketry thus are far more accurate and granting far greater range. While not as long as its artillery cousins, rocket systems in Korea reached a range of roughly that of 7500 to 8000 meters, with accuracy roughly that of standard artilleries of this time. With the explosive firepower that rockets usually are accompanied with as well as ability for Korean rocketries’ mechanics being able to ripple-fire into enemy lines, the absolute barrage of rockets flying into the air will lit any opposition on complete fire before the Korean military comes into blows with infantry combat. This initial “alpha strike” grants Koreans a massive advantage in a conventional warfare, allowing Koreans to shred enemies before enemies ever get the chance to mount a serious retaliation.

Army Weakness : Due to many reasons in weapons development, Korean small arms are never up to the pace of most modern guns in other developed worlds. As Korean military mostly worked on damp jungles with little rooms to maneuver around, Koreans found themselves relying much more on bows and arrows, which could easily pack as much punch as guns with Korean innovations in such areas as Aegisal. However, even Korean innovations cannot keep archery afloat, and towards the 1880s, Koreans have slowly started to integrate guns into the service. While Koreans do have key technologies in the areas of magazines, rifling, and cartridges, Korean innovation in small arms are very lacking, resulting in guns that are unreliable at long ranges compared to European and even Japanese counterparts.

Furthermore, Korean infantry isn’t exactly the most trained aspect of military. Due to its focus on technology, Korean military is, while not completely bumbling fools of previous era, still not as highly disciplined. This allows exploitable hole in Korean military, creating an interesting case where Korean infantry might break ranks during sustained assault while engineering crews will be disciplined enough to hold their ground despite their escort infantry fleeing the battlefield. This discord has forced military commanders of Korea to position Korean heavy weapons not behind, but often times in front of the infantry line, creating a situation where heavy weapons could become targets to enemy fire so long as they are willing to risk their heavy cannons to position.

Naval Description : Korea was the first nation in the world to boast ironclad, an overtechnology that granted superiority in the seas. Korean engineer-scholars have not slacked since then, creating the first “predreadnaughts” in the seas for multiple purposes. Korean navy equally utilizes the advantage that army artillery and rockets have, in that it is more accurate and has longer effective range than most ships in the world. Most guns in the navy reach effective range of 17,000 meters and maximum range of 22,000 meters, with rockets reaching effective range of 15,000 meters. This provides significant range advantage for Korean ships, which can shower enemies with cannon fire well before enemy ships can retaliate and puncture enemies with anti-ship rockets once the opposing navy gets close to range. Korea was among the first nations to have a dedicated anti-ship weapons system that did not focus on reducing the crew on deck, but on destroying the actual hulls of warships. This doctrine has been further enhanced with the onset of steel plating becoming common use, creating weapons systems with a dedicated capability to destroy other ships from far enough range.

Beyond the simple use of technology, Korean admiralty is something to be marveled at. Korean admirals were once only comprised of nobles in the mainland military academies. However, ever since the Viceroy Dong-Nyuc's precedence of hiring capable pirates and privateers into naval officers, the window of opportunity for Korean admirals have been widened to cover men and women from all walks of life. As admiralty is among the very, very few professions where prestige can be won regardless of one's past or class in Korea, many brilliant minds tirelessly strive to take admission exams to become an admiral, resulting in the brightest military minds within the Empire to flock to being an admiral.

Naval Weakness : Due to conflicts of interest between nobles of mainland and merchants of Chuk-Jae-Do, for the most part naval hierarchy is focused predominantly in the mainland. Considering that most of naval actions for Korean campaigns are staged in the South and Southeast Asia, this creates a logistical nightmare for Korean admirals, which need to wait on days before mobilizing. Although innovations in telecommunication is slowly closing this gap, the fact that mainland is the only place that can mobilize the fleet creates a lag between distress being called by the colonies and mainland responding to the threat. Usually this spells out few days to even weeks depending on bureaucratic process, making Korean colonies vulnerable in the onset of invasion.

Further Military Description :

The military doctrine of Korea is that of firepower. Known for its use of gunpowder since the early 15th century, the Korean military has always made up for its lack of manpower and disciplined troops by decimating its foes before enemies had any chance to get close. This has led to not only superior defensive architecture in the case where armies are lost and need to fall back, but also to better artillery and weapons platforms designed specifically to strike the enemies down from range. Owing this this strategy, the Koreans boast some of the best large guns in service, as its howitzers out-range much of the European guns by a clear margin. Furthermore the Koreans are possibly the only nation in the world to properly integrate rocketry so early in the history, owning several practical applications of rocket types that can decimate enemies in the barrage of firepower.

It should be noted that military division of the mainland and colonies differ, while navy is under the control of the mainland due to the agreement settled after the Imjin War. Colonial armies bolster their number with less disciplined mercenaries who fights for coins. These have been often times more than enough to stop the natives from uprising, and it has created several mercenary guilds directly in Chuk-Jae-Do proper which oversees the training and merchandising of guns for hire. Meanwhile, mainland still utilizes traditional army, which is maintained in actuality as a disciplinary force for internal conflict than actual war.

While soldiers may be less funded, the engineering core of Korea in both mainland and colonies are lavishly funded and manned with many gifted individuals. Engineering core often times have discipline and training necessary to hold arms and fire even as explosives are going off at all sides, and they are trained to stand their ground. As engineering core also mans many ship-based batteries, naval morale and discipline is maintained even as ground forces are something of a running joke to Korea's neighbors. In the colonies, few merchant families have created an institute in which military engineering is studied in a professional level, and it is considered as honorary feat to hold the title of "engineer" in the colonies. These Engineer-Scholars in turn serve both mainland and colonies to educate common soldiers in the art of arming and maintaining the gunpowder weapons platforms which form the backbone of Korean military.

[Further military documentations has been moved here]

by **Oscalantine** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:27 pm

National Goals : To protect its trade interest and increase the wealth and legitimacy of Korea.
National Issues : Even when Korea has become a recognizable great power in the world, its struggle and division between the nobles of mainland and merchants of Chuk-Jae-Do has only deepened. This has been further divided after the 1870 recession, where Korean merchants blame nobles for not assisting in the reconstruction of the nation. The resulting divide between classes has transformed Korea into a nation with an internal cold war between two dominant classes. While the peace is maintained by relationship between the Most Serene Imperial Majesty and the Grand Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do, should the leaders of each side break ways Korea may see a scale of internal unrest unseen in any nations of the world.
National Figures of Interest :

축제도 총독 권나제 (Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do Kwon Na-Jae) : The Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do is the son of previous Viceroy Kwon Dong-Nyuc and Pirate Queen Laura Angenent. Born on 1857 in the City of World’s Desires (Constantinople), the Viceroy has more than fitted into his father’s shoes after taking the office in 1881 after his father resigned from office to take responsibility for Korea’s recession. Since then, the Viceroy has overseen an era of rapid technological advances and evolution of Merchant Guilds into true Chaebol Groups.

National Ambition/Aspirations : To successfully claim recognition from the global community as the superpower in the region.

History :

The history of the Most Serene Imperial States of Korea must first be explained with its pre-predecessor, the Kingdom of Goryeo. The history of Goryeo follows that of IRL, where Mongol Empire managed to wear down the small kingdom into submission and forced it to be a vassal under the overlordship of the now-known Golden Khanate. However, unlike the Goryeo today, the kingdom was unable to muster more resilience, and the kingdom falls during the 1238, where they fulfill the agreement of vassalage and send the royal hostages to the Mongol Empire instead of violating the agreement like in our timeline. During the fifty-two years that Korea was under Golden Khanate’s vassalage, many innovations that was once blocked by the Song Dynasty pours into Korea. As Korea was more ideal staging post to produce weapons for Siberian front, technicians arrive to establish a proper front against both the Japanese invasion as well as Siberia. This further infuses superior Song Dynasty technology improved by the Mongol’s global idea bank with Korean knowledge, creating a scientific revolution in the Peninsula. During this time of progress, Goryeo managed to even out technological improvement alongside the Mongols. However, much of this advancement was not implemented in the civilian sector, but in the military development and buildup, as both the Goryeo government and its overlord wished to improve military capability in the region.

The time to strike back came during the 1290’s, when the empire was suffering from massive civil war after the several prior failures of Mongol invasion to Roman Empire, Japan, and other parts of the world. Without having the ability to maintain troops through spoils of war, the Khanate broke down in series of infighting. While the attention is divided elsewhere, Koreans declare independence from Khanate, separating from the Mongols altogether. Whether it is due to internal conflict or losing ambition to continue eastward expansion, the Mongols did not return since Goryeo’s independence.

Korean Peninsula was able to continue its due course in history towards the end of the Goryeo period to the early Joseon period. During this time, Korea was in its own rapid industrial revolution. The major driving force was, of course, the fear of Mongolian retaliation, which never came as Yuan Dynasty passed onto Han Ming Dynasty. As the Mongols cleared the rebellion and civil war and continued to consolidate its power, the Goryeo never stopped industrializing and modernizing its military, however, always fearing and readying themselves to fight off the heinous Mongols Invader and distrustful Chinese once-allies. The atrocities of Mongolian raids never left the Korean populous, and against the greatest foe the political realm was able to unite in a common stand. This, however, had an issue of uneven industrialization, which created skewed progress where technology only applied to military improvement rather than being used to raise the standard of living.

In this hardened military conscientious and rising demand for more resources to fuel their industrial engine, it was inevitable that Goryeo needed to expand its troops. The most readily-available target seemed to be Manchurian region, which managed to escape the Mongol vassalage like Goryeo. Goryeo was ready to take the land theirs, with the best general that the Goreyo Dynasty has ever seen and soldiers ready and modernized to take on the primitives. This time, however, the fear of newly created Ming Dynasty divided opinions from within the Court. Many in the court saw the invasion as a waste of resources which could be instead invested to furthering economic buildup and better defense against the attrition that they have suffered decades past. Others believe that expansion was the only answer to rising demand for resources. Decades of peace was fracturing the small kingdom once so resolved to defend their people.

The last king of Goryeo, despite the wishes of many, including the general leading the assault, decided to proceed with the invasion regardless. However, as if destiny was against Goryeo, the general receives news that Japanese raiders were attacking Korea when the kingdom is at the brink of war. In an effort to save the people, the general turns around, only to receive report that the news were only rumors, and that the general is declared a traitor for disobeying the king’s direct orders. In an attempt to save his family and friends, the general decides to march to the capital with his armies, seize the kingdom and starting his own dynasty. The Joseon Dynasty has begun.

Joseon Dynasty, after initial years of instability and issues with heirs, finally settled down when Sejong the Great was seated on the throne. Under his guidance, the Joseon period achieves the second wave of industrial and scientific revolution, where progress in the civilian sector was taken as a priority. The subsequent agriculture revolution also raised the standard of living for Koreans everywhere, creating a ripe situation for Korea to consider expansion once more. Hangul Alphabet is also invented at this time, spreading fast through the industrializing Koreans as a new, easy way to read and write. The literacy level in the kingdom explodes, and the populous becomes much more conscious about their standard of living.

The legacy is continued with Munjong, whose innovations in military are to be noted even in our timeline. While Munjong did not reign more than two years IRL, modernized medicine keeps the sickly king living, and this contributes to solidifying the royal legitimacy as well as progress that was made during the Sejong era. Crucial innovations are made in military and ship designing, and Munjong era saw first attempts at Korean ambition for expansion. The prime driver for this was the cutoff from Ming Dynasty, whose frequent intrusion to northern provinces of Korea compromised the Korean involvement in the Silk Roads. Comparatively, the Treasury Fleet bound for Southeast were far easier to spot and avoid, leading to Koreans to expand their influence outwards to the seas. While no colonies are set, the exploratory ships were send to map the coastlines in order to gather potential areas where Han influence did not lie. And unlike Ming, the pragmatic and far more desperate Korean merchants were easier target of trade by the crumbling kingdom of Majapahit. While lagging behind Ming, Korea manages to discover the Spice Islands by the death of Munjong at 1472.

During Danjong’s era, the first official attempts at exploring the Philippines begin. The main driver for this came as a desperation from the fall of Majapahit by the external powers, as Koreans were once again left without a mean to gather resources. Despite the enthusiasm, the colonists sent were never able to establish foothold in the area due to native aggression and tropical climate. Learning from their failures, the merchants instead established a more friendly relationships with the native kingdom of Tondo, leading to creation of sanctioned Korean trade ports which the Korean trade ships could port luxuries back to the mainland. And as luck would have it, the slow but assured abandoning of Treasure Fleet of Ming Dynasty from 1470s and onward led to importance of Korean merchants who allowed spices from the Southeast to flow to Ming and through the Silk Road. This made Korean merchants among the wealthiest and the more influential merchants in the region, allowing merchant class to amass wealth that surpasses even the nobles who owned plantations and factories.

By the early 1500’s, the colonization attempts are abandoned in favor of establishment of trade ports as a more successful way of creating influence in the region. This, however, had the unfortunate side effect of decentralized trade companies led by private wealthy Merchant Families vying for control against one another as well as few Europeans ships in the area. This era is known as “Guild Wars” or 조합전쟁 in Korean. The era is marked with disturbing amount of naval conflict among Koreans in the route between the mainland Peninsula and the Spice Islands. Korean Pirates run rampant in the seas, creating needless violence that hurts both the Korean economy and military potential. This had a rather fortunate side effect of making the seas hostile for European explorers, which were often times destroyed just as with any other merchant ships of Korea. With the initial exploration leading to fruitless and hostile seas, the colonization of Southeast Asia by the Europeans, especially the Dutch, was delayed and completely extinguished before it could bear fruit.

While the Joseon Crown never actively prohibited Guild influence during the beginning of 1500’s in fear of the Chinese offensive, as the Ming increasingly looked inwards and stopped concerning themselves with the affairs of Koreans the nobles grew ever more jealous of the merchant’s amassing of wealth. At this time caste system of sort existed in Korea, where merchants were separate class beneath the nobles alongside other “commoners” like farmers and craftsmen. Soon, the government started to crack down on the merchant guilds under the guise of “aiding the enemy through internal conflicts.” This brought Guild Wars into abrupt halt during the 1530’s.

As the Guild War came to a grinding halt, the Korean Merchants found a need to once again establish a land-based foothold in order to further extract wealth for themselves. The drive to this was similar to mercantilism in the West, were Merchant Families sought to aggressively expand through their private soldiers into native population to ensure that they alone could gather wealth form that region. First victim of this was the Kingdom of Malacca, which was dependent on Korea for protection against the Portuguese. Two things led to this protection. For one, the Portuguese came later to the Southeast in earnest for trade, as the chaos created by the Merchant Families during the Guild Wars created the hostile situation for the explorers. However, once they did during the 1520s, the Portuguese sought to out-do Korean merchants. This eventually led to a unified from by the Merchant Families to fight off invasions from the increasingly hostile Portuguese. This further gave credence that the crackdown of the Guild Wars was a front by the notabilities, as the Korean merchants lacked the means to fight among themselves. At first, the Kingdom of Malacca welcomed the Koreans and supported their cause in creation of a unified front against the alien invaders, as they came seeking wealth at a fraction of what they could earn. This led to series of conflicts where eventually the Koreans won against Portuguese Invasion from Goa. Leading loss severely disrupted power structure of the Portuguese which led to complete retreat of the Portuguese from the region.

As the victory was sounded, the Merchant Families started to worry about their survival. If these white-colored Europeans desired these areas, the merchants may not be so lucky next time. They needed active army and ports that could defend their trade interest, which could not be provided by the backward Malacca. This led to Korean merchants banding together to take over the kingdom, arrived unannounced to Malacca and put the capital to a siege. Though the kingdom valiantly fought, the superior technologies of the Koreans won out in the end, and the Kingdom ceased to exist by the 1532. Although the full subjugation came years after, the Koreans colonized the Malay Peninsula for their needs, situating themselves in the ruins of the Lion City which would serve as a center of their powerbase, eventually creating the Great City of Chuk-Jae (IRL Singapore; 축제 indicating "Festival").

Although never mentioned, the hate between merchants and the nobles were reciprocal: merchants often times lamented about their social standings at equal with the poorer farmers and desired nobility status. Scientists and Philosophers, who were also considered of lower class due to their distinction as “craftsmen,” were also in the similar grounds, often times having their work stolen by the nobles who desires fame and fortune of the innovations. This led to exodus of these two classes to the Chuk-Jae. As the Chuk-Jae's population and technological innovation increased, it served as a central point of colonization attempt by the merchant class, which quickly sought to stabilize the once-kingdom of Malacca and resumed production of wealth in the region. It was at this time that the invasion of kingdoms of Borneo and Java occurred, and full colonization attempts of the archipelago begin in earnest. The main part of success against the natives was Korean Reflex bows, which worked extremely well in jungle climate as a long-range weapon that surpassed the native gruella tactics with surprise attacks of their own. This paved a crucial role in dominating the native population and creation of permanent settlements in the area.

As the merchant families became more and more entrenched, the families started to coordinate more closely together to invade the lesser kingdoms to dominate trade in the region. By the 1550s, the Islands of Java and Borneo was controlled by the Koreans with the invasion of the kingdom of Tondo and subjugation of the Siam begin. As the colonies grew larger, the unofficial governing body formed, headed by the prominent merchant families that sent delegations to the Island of Chuk-Jae to settle disputes and coordinate resources for further expansion. This "island" thus became a symbol of the merchant families' authority, becoming the governing body known still as "Chuk-Jae-Do," or "the Island of Chuk-Jae"

As the Korean colonies grew without proper permission by the government, the Crown naturally attempted to control these faraway claims, which led to Battle of South China Sea, where colonial privateers decimates unsuspecting royal transports in extremely one-sided surprise offensive. This caused the Second Guild Wars to erupt, where the merchant guilds actively declared allegiance to Chuk-Jae-Do and moved their assets from the Korean mainland. This significantly weakened Joseon both militarily and economically, as the battle was mostly waged in the ports in mainland, where merchants were seizing control of the ports to ship their goods back to the colonies while the loyalists were preventing their escape. By 1580’s, Joseon was devastated of both manpower and trade, and were forced to acknowledge the independence of Chuk-Jae-Do in 1585.

The weakened Korea was a tasty target for the Japanese invasion in the 1592. The initial start to the invasion was Korea’s refusal to acknowledge Japanese advancement through Korean territory to China, which Korea considered was a “brother country” at the time after renewed trade between Ming and Korea. Called the Imjin Wars by the Koreans, the war was one-sided, as Japanese soldiers were highly trained and disciplined by the inter-Daimyo wars prior to their recent unification by a single Shogun. As Joseon was devastated of both men and economy, if was forced to give ground and continue to move its capital north. Meanwhile, Chuk-Jae was at its heyday, being able to trade directly with Ming and India, the trade revenue nearly tripled, which allowed funding of technological advancement to continue their advantage in the region, including famous Turtle Ships which were to be used to prove supremacy against Europeans seeking wealth in the region.

Despite honoring the Chinese as big-brother state, Koreans received no help from the Chinese. This was in part similar to Korean history in IRL, where Chinese Emperors felt distant about the conflicts in Korean Peninsula and came to intervene with only the most humble call by the Koreans. Seeing Korea as a possible threat to China in this timeline, however, the Chinese Emperor refused the plea, dooming Korea into Japanese subjugation. However, in 1595, a massive fleet headed by several Turtle Ships were sighted in the Japanese-controlled port in the coast of Yeosu. The merchant guilds of Chuk-Jae-Do, now a unified republic government, successfully gathered support to aid their once-home through a counter invasion from the southern Korean coasts. Japanese navy was completely caught unaware by the massive firepower of the Turtle Ships and battle-hardened privateer fleet of the Chuk-Jae-Do, and were forced to retreat without gathering their ground forces in the Korean Peninsula. Trapped and cut from supplies, the combined Korean forces vanquished the Japanese invaders in a massive pincer move to the capital. The Battle of Hansung in 1596 signaled the end of the Imjin War, where the two nations signed peace treaty and exchanged prisoners. Although the war was in Joseon’s favor, the negotiations were done in relatively equal grounds as Joseon did not know whether the aid from Chuk-Jae-Do was here for their own conquest.

In a surprising turn of events, however, the leader of the Chuk-Jae-Do came to the mainland following the peace negotiations in peace. In the following meetings that followed, a settlement was met in 1599 just before the turn of the century. According to the agreement, the merchants of Chuk-Jae-Do headed by this "viceroy" will be hailed as equals by the Joseon government, where only the reigning monarch will be held at a higher regard. Furthermore, independence of the colonies will be guaranteed as long as the merchants pledged their allegiance to the king. The Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do will oversee the governance of the colonies, while a collective navy will ensure that disagreements must be settled through talks and without armed conflicts. After the settlement, a full peace was called by the Japanese Empire in favor of trade and friendly relations. It was the Viceroy who advised the Emperor at 1600 to accept the terms of peace and trade, paving the road to Viceroy’s influence and power within Korean politics.

As the century turned, Joseon worked towards further colonization and aggressive expansion. The colonial effort was fully supported by the Joseon government at this point, where the government openly sponsored further campaigns into Indochina and Islands of Philippines. Due to abundance of resources from these colonial victories creating prosperous mainland, whose population were often encouraged to take land and status for themselves in the colonies instead of overcrowding the nation’s few precious lands, the population exploded in the 1600’s which coincides with the colonial zeal, as Korea continued to aggressively conquer territories for their expansion ambitions.

During this time, the Europeans once again returned to the Southeast Asia, having better logistics and with far greater men. Few conflicts arose as colonial ambitions collided, but obvious advantage in the Joseon’s proximity to mainland made the Europeans acknowledge much of Joseon’s claims in the region. As the time progressed, European pirates began to appear alongside Korean ones. Whether this was intentional by the European powers in an attempt to enlist the help of privateers to curve Korean dominance in the region is unknown. However, due to sheer development of ports by the time of arrival of Europeans made developed colonial cities owned by Koreans much more appealing to pirates, who often sided with the Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do more often than any other sides. Korean merchants were more than willing to share the fortune with the pirates, as the added fees were not their concern when shipping them back to Europe.

It was around this time that ex-admiral officer of the Chuk-Jae-Do, Yi Sun-sin, founded and settled the frigid Dong-mi and the discovery of the Mi-continent (미대륙, translating as "beautiful continent") in the early points of 1600s. The development was originally overseen by the merchant families of Chuk-Jae, although seeing nothing but wasteland discouraged merchant involvement in the area, leading to more or less independent development of the colonies in North America.

Regardless of dominance in the Southeast Asia, the return of the Europeans was of concern for Joseon. What was even more concerning, however, was breakdown and volatility of Chinese states to Korea’s immediate neighbor. Seeing the need for Joseon to put up a larger claim than the current status, the Joseon monarchy declared itself an empire, creating the Most Serene Imperial States of Korea in 1760 CE. The “states” part was largely due to two governing jurisdiction: mainland which was directly controlled by the emperor and the colonies which were under the jurisdiction of the Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do. As the new century came, the newly christened nation began to create nationalist movements and progressively modernized and improved their military powers to compete with increasingly threatening world.

Despite the rapid social reformation, the Korean states were stable due to prosperity in the colonies, which saw complete monopoly in the maritime commerce of the region. The control of European spice trade made trade wealth circulate in the colonies’ Merchant Guilds, which transformed the merchant society further and further into status of colonial nobility. These Merchant Guilds actively hired mercenaries and pirates in the region in order to keep each other in constant check and to threaten European trades who didn’t pay premium to Korean rule. This unfortunately had negative side effect of Pirate Revolt in the Chuk-Jae-Do in future events. However, it was clear at the time that the wealth of Korea came from its colonies, which made Korean authorities uneasy that Merchant Guilds would once again declare independence from mainland and create its own, merchant nation.

Among the passing footnotes of history, however, exists Chuk-Jae's greatest failure: the rebellion of Mi-continent and independence of Busang. Chuk-Jae-Do, seeing naught but barren wasteland of the Mi-continent, sought to tax the colonies to its East rather than to incorporate it to its increasing trade lines. This eventually grew into resentment that saw a full-scale independence movement by 1832. The five-years that followed were marred by revolutionary war in which the mercenaries of Chuk-Jae-Do were sent to quell the rebellion. The war was at first seen as already won, as the newly-christened Busang lacked every material needed to sustain the conflict. However, in a masterful display of diplomacy, the Provisional Foreign Secretary Yang Hyun-jun of Busang petitioned the Emperor Lee Euul himself in the Imperial Throne, beseeching the Most Serene Imperial States to aid the most loyal servant of the Imperial States. The Imperial Throne, seeing this as an opportunity to carve the power of the colonies, accepted, removing the Imperial Navy from the conflict. This led to a decisive victory off the coast of Cheonhae, where a merchant fleet, paralyzed by a sudden change of command, were sunk and forced the mercenaries into a massive rout. Seeing that there was no feasible way to send another invasion fleet, the Viceroyalty conceded the Grand Republic's independence.

Feeling mighty and confident, the first steps of the Imperial States was to test its mighty strength against its neighbors. The justification was always ready: the past historically Korean lands of Manchuria. Ever since the ancient times, the humiliation of the Balhae people living under the yoke of the Chinese put a sour taste bewteen the Han Chinese and the Koreans. Furthermore, as the Qing Dynasty rose from the Manchus to seize all China, Koreans saw Qing as a barbaric state unfit to rule over the Chinese proper. Finally, the Koreans declared its intention for reconquest, sending ultimatum in the 1849 followed by a full-scale invasion of the Manchuria in 1850.

The war was at times decisively one-sided, as Qing soldiers were unprepared for the overwhelming firepower of Korean artillery and rocketry. And as mighty bulwark of Korean navy blockaded major ports starving the Chinese people, the victory was all but certain. However, the intervention of the Western powers, long seeking for an opportunity to dismantle Korean monopoly of the Southeast, intervened on the side of Qing. Beset from both sides, the Korean navy was stretched thin, leading to many Turtle Ships being lost to protect the Southeast. Not known to the Koreans, however, the Taiping Rebellion was taking shape in the same year, and the Qing forces were also being pulled at its very seams. This fortunate series of events allowed quick peace between the two nations, as Qing was desperate enough to prevent this new Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from taking Tianjing to accept territorial losses. Koreans were all too willing to accept, as there was no reason to give Western powers any quarter. The creation of Second Kingdom of Balhae, a Korean vassal state, marked the end of brutal two-years of conflict between Koreans and Qing. Qing, its army devastated and shellshocked by the Koreans, never stood a chance against the Heavenly Kingdom. Korea managed to fully repel the Western invasion by the 1854.

The power vacuum left by the lack of Korean navy created further issues in the colonies, as pirates of Malay Peninsula openly revolting against Korean Merchant Guilds. This is called the Third Guild War (제3조합전쟁) and it was predominantly a war between pirates around Korea’s trade routes and Korean trade guilds. The new Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do Kwon Dong-Nyuc oversaw this conflict as first major issue in office, where he cleverly allied with the so-called “Queen of the Spice Islands” to conquer all opposing pirates back to the Viceroyalty’s sides. This paved a way for private navy of the colonies which were not before seen in Korean history, and was seen as open objection to the Korean nobles.

At this time, pirates in the Southeast Asia fled all the way to Red Sea, where the Viceroy’s fleet finally disposed of them in the Battle of Red Sea. The war was successful in part due to Roman support, who always saw pirates in the region as a threat to Roman interest in the region and thus sent a detachment to aid Viceroy’s efforts. The resulting peace negotiations thus included Roman Empire, where the Viceroy himself was present in the Treaty of Alexándreias which historians actually see as the beginning of alliance between Roman Empire and Imperial States of Korea.

Coming out of the years of conflict allowed Koreans to realize one thing: no war in two fronts. Thus the years between 1856 to 1862 oversees the diplomatic efforts of Koreans. First and the most prominent of which is the Treaty of Treaty of Constantinople (콘스탄티노플 조약). This treaty, seen as a way to solidify trade relations and satisfy military alliance in one fell-swoop, was overseen by the Viceroy Dong-nyuc to create a lasting peace and friendship between the two empires. The mutual friendship oversaw many changes in both states. For one, Cheondoism, long-seen as a distant Catholic heresy, was fully recognized as an Eastern heresy of the Orthodox faith with the baptism of the Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do and the marriage of he and the Laura Visser (previously the Queen of the Spice Islands) in the Queen of Cities. Another development was the development of Suez Canal. Although built by Roman sweat and blood, Korean merchants largely sponsored and bankrolled the project, expecting great wealth to come from the resulting success. Indeed, the opening of Suez Canal in 1859 ushered in the height of Korean commerce, with Koreans finally granted entrance to the vast markets of Europe.

Following the peace talks and victories over several European powers over the conflicts, Korea was recognized as regional power with legitimacy that was firmly established in the region. The prosperity that followed saw Korean merchants’ and nobles’ greed grow, as they continued to exploit lands and people to grow in wealth. First business collective and corporations were formed by Merchant Guilds were recognized by the Viceroy and divide between rich and poor widened in drastic levels. Labors were forced to work 15 hour shifts and given next to nothing in return, and slavery and debauchery was rampant in the areas, where kidnapping children to bolster factory manpower was a frequent sighting as debtors seizing girls from families to put them through brutal prostitution.

Eventually, the lower class completely collapsed, unable to bear the weight of upper classes’ greed. This was something that came completely unexpected by Korean bureaucracy, as Koreans never knew this kind of collapse before. Laborers simply ran out of their spending power, struggling to buy pouches of rice to feed their family to spend on other goods. The resulting domino effect made factories shut down as demand for all but the most crucial of necessities became nonexistent. This brought Korea economy into 10 year recession known today as Recession of Arrogance (오만의불황). Many Merchant Families fell from their wealth and support for the Viceroy plummeted.

Most historians widely consider the beginning of Recession of Arrogance to take place in 1868, with the unexpected implosion of Baek Family, who was widely known industry lead among the Merchant Guilds responsible for production of furniture that even went as far as tribute to the Emperor himself. As the Baek Family’s corporate empire fell, Park family soon followed due to Park Family’s financial investments being closely related to Baek’s ventures. With Park Family’s banks calling on all loans, several smaller merchant families started to file bankruptcy one by one until by 1870 nearly half of the Merchant Guilds were threatened with financial crisis.

Fortunately, this recession wasn’t without solution. Emperor immediately called for all Merchant Guilds, leaders of new social movement of labor unions, and nobles of mainland to forge a solution. The gold was still present in very few elites in Korea, and trade revenue and its respective industries were still making profits. The economy was not completely lost to Koreans. However, the nobles and merchants present in the meetings were ill considerate of the situation at hand: they were still wealthy and were not affected by the recession. The negotiations drone on for several years with no one wishing to lose any profit.

Finally in 1874, Viceroy of Chuk-Jae-Do acted. Mobilizing Viceroy’s own military, he led a bloodbath through Chuk-Jae-Do slaughtering private guards of Merchant Guilds’ most influential leaders and dragging them into the Viceroy’s manor. The Merchant Guilds were forced at a gunpoint to formulate a self-humbling resolution of responsibility, which were to be binding agreement punishable by death. The Viceroy took this document along with leaders of Merchant Guilds to prostrate before the Emperor to beg for forgiveness. This event, now known as Enlightenment of Capital (자본의계몽), served to chastise the merchants into negotiation with the working class to find a socially responsible way to gather wealth.

While the merchants were initially forced into this act, the merchant classes soon began to realize that the flow of capital was vital for continued wealth of a nation. This was in part assisted by various theories of capitalism which was circulating in the Chuk-Jae-Do, which was sponsored and punished by the Viceroy. Following 7 years saw dictatorship of Viceroy in the colonies, which forced Korean merchants into a period of “experiments” to see if these theories of corporate social responsibility would indeed lead to economic recovery. This is later recognized by scholars as the onset of Chaebolism, an exclusive Korean virtue of hereditary capitalism that imposes social responsibility and noblesse oblige to the merchants and wealthy.

It is important to understand that nobles did not take part in this new reform, which, despite the Empeor’s pleas, fell on deaf ears. However, the recovery of colony’s economy eventually trickled down to Korea mainland, which have slowly adapted into changes in social patterns such as human and worker rights.

The scholars widely regard the end of Recession of Arrogance as the same year that the Viceroy declared its end, which was in 1881. Following this announcement, the Viceroy gave up his “emergency” power, and was prompted tried and fired from his office due to abusing his powers. However, it was clear that the Viceroy’s efforts have led Korea out of its greatest economic recession and possible destruction, which was highly praised in the subsequent trials on the fate of ex-Viceroy. Ex-Viceroy Dong-Nyuc was lauded as hero of the merchants and were given retirement celebration to live out rest of his life peacefully in the Jeju Island, and his son was unanimously selected as next Viceroy to rule Chuk-Jae-Do, first time in Korean history where not only did on merchant family rule the colonies for 5 times in a row, but also the first time that the Viceroy position as inherited from father to son.

The new Viceroy Kwon Na-Jae continued his father’s efforts into his office, sponsoring scholars’ efforts in creating new theory of economics. This brought along Chaebolism, which came to rule the corporate values of Chuk-Jae-Do as a dominant ideology of the land. First Chaebol of Kwon Family filed a request for the Viceroy to accept the family clans into business in 1882, signaling the beginning of Second Korean Renaissance, where the reconstruction efforts of Korea from the recession saw new heights in technology and philosophy in all aspects of society.

The golden age of Korea is claimed to be ongoing progress, with revolutionary new technologies being born from ancient technologies in Joseon Dynasty being reviewed, creating new waves of military technologies. Korean firms’ focus on circulating capital and social responsibility continues to pour capital in the colonies and even in mainland to promote second wave of industrialization and urbanization in leading Korea into a second age of prosperity.

It is well-known for Koreans that its colonies did suffer in radical political climates during Recession of Arrogance, which included losing valuable colonies lands long been recognized as Korea’s core lands. Furthermore Korean merchants have given ways for European powers access to spice market which the Koreans have monopolized, with several losses in key naval conflicts that threatened to dismantle the nation. With the economy stabilized, Korea is once again seeking to find dominance in the region and beyond, finding new sources of capital and brining Korea into another age of wealth and prosperity that will be hailed as fist Golden Age of Korea.

RP Sample: AltDivs

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

by **Kazarogkai** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:03 pm

I will formerly drop my previous reservation pertaining to my sorta Fading Madagascan Thalassocratic Gunpowder and will be more or less reapplying as my Previous nation of Revolutionary Guyana albeit this one will be a bit different. Located in North America as a former English Colony similar to their Northern Brethren gained independence and were consumed by the fires of revolutionary inevitably evolving into what can be possibly described as a sorta Proto-National Syndicalist Christian theocratic hyper aggressive military regime of sorts. Should contrast nicely with the Revolutionary compact and their seemingly more Pacifistic Libertarian society.

Reservation

Nation Name: The Iron Order of Adamia
Territory:

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

by **Elerian** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:23 pm

Kazarogkai wrote:-snip-

You and the compact ought to divide up the rest of the United States between you two. I doubt anyone is going to want to RP the land that's left, and its just needless empty space.

by **Kazarogkai** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:24 pm

The Hobbesian Metaphysician wrote:Full Nation Name : The Revolutionary Compact of Columbia

You and me, were going to have fun I imagine :twisted:

Elerian wrote:
Kazarogkai wrote:-snip-

You and the compact ought to divide up the rest of the United States between you two. I doubt anyone is going to want to RP the land that's left, and its just needless empty space.

My plan was for the remaining land to be a sorta frontier buffer zone that both of us would be competing for and a good source of tension and potential conflict. He can have the rest I aint interested. atleast not at the moment...

by **Intermountain States** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:33 pm

I see North America is going to be quite interesting.

by **Oscalantine** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:37 pm

Oh and Intermountain, please double-check some of my own apps as it becomes made, especially the parts that I have already put in (government and economy sections).

I did go through with you in the past, but I still want to make sure that you still agree with what I have said. Otherwise it will make a very odd diplomatic relationships between the two of us XDDD.

And... to simplify and give an overview:

Korea's relations with Busang would be "that one colony which doesn't need slaves so there's no legal way to force it to do anything." Korea, after all, acknowledged Busang as not being part of the Viceroyalty's concerns during the revolutionary war, which eventually led to revolutions being won and Busang becoming an independent entity. To the mainland, though this was seen as Busang being one of many "vassals" of Korea and as such feel obligated to protect and support Busang in however way it can. The Ministry of Justice has a long, long list of things that it wants Busang to do, but Busang has no obligation to follow them, since Busang doesn't have a slave economy that the Ministry of Justice can restrict.

Therefore, Korea does not impose any tariffs to Busang in any shape or form (since they consider it "internal trade"), has direct political ties with the mainland despite Busang not located in Far East (since the mainland considers Busang's administration in the same light as Viceroyalty of Chuk-Jae-Do), and are willing to protect the sovereign interests of Busang (since aggression toward Busang itself is challenging the legitimacy of the Imperial Throne).

Let me know if any of that sounds odd or not spoken about before. It has been so long that I remember only parts of what we agreed on in the past, so some details may have been added or went missing as I translate the application from the past to this one.

by **Intermountain States** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:42 pm

Oscalantine wrote:Oh and Intermountain, please double-check some of my own apps as it becomes made, especially the parts that I have already put in (government and economy sections).

I did go through with you in the past, but I still want to make sure that you still agree with what I have said. Otherwise it will make a very odd diplomatic relationships between the two of us XDDD.

And... to simplify and give an overview:

Korea's relations with Busang would be "that one colony which doesn't need slaves so there's no legal way to force it to do anything." Korea, after all, acknowledged Busang as not being part of the Viceroyalty's concerns during the revolutionary war, which eventually led to revolutions being won and Busang becoming an independent entity. To the mainland, though this was seen as Busang being one of many "vassals" of Korea and as such feel obligated to protect and support Busang in however way it can. The Ministry of Justice has a long, long list of things that it wants Busang to do, but Busang has no obligation to follow them, since Busang doesn't have a slave economy that the Ministry of Justice can restrict.

Therefore, Korea does not impose any tariffs to Busang in any shape or form (since they consider it "internal trade"), has direct political ties with the mainland despite Busang not located in Far East (since the mainland considers Busang's administration in the same light as Viceroyalty of Chuk-Jae-Do), and are willing to protect the sovereign interests of Busang (since aggression toward Busang itself is challenging the legitimacy of the Imperial Throne).

Let me know if any of that sounds odd or not spoken about before. It has been so long that I remember only parts of what we agreed on in the past, so some details may have been added or went missing as I translate the application from the past to this one.

Doesn't sound too dissimilar to what we discussed almost a year back and I have no complaints about potential paradoxes between our apps.

by **Oscalantine** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:44 pm

Coolz. It has been so long since we last discussed our two nations. Glad that we are getting this RP rolling again!

by **The Ik Ka Ek Akai** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 9:43 pm

#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

by **Nouveau Quebecois** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 9:48 pm

Shit, Luxembourg is taken. Next best thing, I suppose.

Reservation

Nation Name: Kingdom of Belgium
Territory: Entirety of the Benelux to the extent it doesn't infringe on existing states.
#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Reservation

Nation Name: New France
Territory: to the extent it doesn't infringe on prexisting states.
#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Alright so I'm super confused about what's taken and what's not, so if I can have the first reservation, that's it, if not, then New France is my 2nd reservation.

by **Plzen** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 9:54 pm

Elerian wrote:I'll have my app for Russia done soonish.

We should probably coordinate a few key points to make sure our histories match - my history features Russia quite prominently.

by **Elerian** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:03 pm

Nouveau Quebecois wrote:-snip-

This is the map of current reservations.

Plzen wrote:
Elerian wrote:I'll have my app for Russia done soonish.

We should probably coordinate a few key points to make sure our histories match - my history features Russia quite prominently.

Sure thing! I should have my app up within the next hour or so.

by **Reverend Norv** » Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:04 pm

Nouveau Quebecois wrote:Shit, Luxembourg is taken. Next best thing, I suppose.

Reservation

Nation Name: Kingdom of Belgium
Territory: Entirety of the Benelux to the extent it doesn't infringe on existing states.
#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Reservation

Nation Name: New France
Territory: to the extent it doesn't infringe on prexisting states.
#AltDiv (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)
*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Alright so I'm super confused about what's taken and what's not, so if I can have the first reservation, that's it, if not, then New France is my 2nd reservation.

The Low Countries are still unclaimed, so your first reservation should be okay.

1906: Alternative Divergence [AH][OOC-CLOSED]

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