1812: Alternative Divergence [AH][OOC-DEAD]

[Tracian Empire]

Sorry Banzai, but your reservation expired over 12 hours ago. If Oscal's reservation also expires then I will review your app with priority and accept it.

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

Sorry Banzai, but your reservation expired over 12 hours ago. If Oscal's reservation also expires then I will review your app with priority and accept it.

If Osc's reservation doesn't expire, then I will reserve Korea.

Reservation

Nation Name: Empire of Chosen
Territory: Everything currently reserved by Korea but including Borneo.
#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep 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.

[Kenobot]

Full Nation Name : Sacrum Imperium Romanum (Holy Roman Empire)
Majority/Official Culture : German/Italian/Hungarian/Czech/Slovak/Swiss
Territorial Core : Austria, Lombardy, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Istria, Switzerland, Croatia, Transylvania
Territorial Claim : Germany, Italy, Croatia, Netherlands, Belgium
Capital City : Vienna
Population : 20 Million

Government Type : Semi-Constitutional Federal Monarchy
Government Ideology/Policies : Revanchist/Anti-Revolutionary
Government Focus : Emperor
Head of State : Emperor Francis II
Head of Government : Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Lombardy
Government Description : The Holy Roman Empire has evolved since the Revolution from the grand confederation of German cities, baronies, counties and duchies into a federation consisting of the Grand Duchy of Lombardy, Kingdom of Hungary, Archduchy of Austria, The Duchy of Schweiz, The Kingdom of Bohemia, The Duchy of Transylvania and the Grand Duchy of Croatia. While central authority still holds true in Vienna, the regional Dukes and Palatines conduct day-to-day governance in these territories.

Majority/State Religion : Catholicism
Religious Description : While Catholicism by far remains the strongest Christian sect in the Holy Roman Empire, Orthodoxy still remains a strong force in parts of Hungary and southern Croatia. Something Emperor Francis II is well aware of. Meanwhile in court at Vienna, those Protestant princes that did not flee to Moscow, Paris or Constantinople ended up in-exile in the Emperor's Court. Their talents would not go to waste.

Economic Ideologies : Capitalism
Major Production : Textiles, Iron, Coal, Agricultural Products
Economic Description : From the coal of Bohemia and Hungary to the Textiles of the Alps and Lombardy to the Agricultural Products of all the empire, the Holy Roman Empire may seem a backwater from its largely rural territory but the regional centres like Vienna, Buda and Pest, Milan, Prague and Zagreb are centres of industry that are among the foremost in Europe.

Development: Industrializing
Development Description : Thanks to the innovations out of Vienna, Bohemia and the Alps, the Industrialization of the Holy Roman Empire is well underway.

Army Description : The Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire, once a juggernaut, after much war over the last 30 years has had its wings clipped and reduced in size significantly from its peak. That being said, it still retains a sizeable force with some of the most seasoned officers in all Europe among its ranks, with names like Blücher, Clausewitz, Archduke Charles and The Prince of Schwarzenberg among its ranks. The Imperial Army, numbering some 175,000, is divided among four military districts; Österreichisches Kommando(Austrian Command), Erdélyi parancsnokság (Transylvanian Command), České velení (Bohemian Command) and Comando Lombardia (Lombardy Command). Austrian Command was the largest, with some 75,000 men, followed by Bohemia's 70,000. Transylvanian Command included 15,000 men as did Lombardy Command. The Hungarian Hussars were perhaps the best Hussars in Europe and were spread throughout the Imperial Army, while Austrian light infantry were known for their ferocious ambushes of enemy columns during the Revolutionary war.
Army Weakness : Language Barrier. Although Francis's father had brought back Latin as the common tongue of the Empire to ease this problem, it was not yet common enough to ensure that the many peoples of the HRE could understand each other.
Naval Description : Comprised largely of those ships who managed to escape the revolutionary blockade during the early years of the Revolutionary Wars, the Holy Roman Fleet is experienced and decently sized but their ships are outdated and none are larger than 60 guns.
Naval Weakness : The Holy Roman Fleet, while experienced and of a decent size, is largely comprised of the fleets of the former Northern Merchant cities such as Bremen, Hamburg and Lubeck and as such the ships are outdated.
Further Military Description :

National Goals : Complete the political reforms of Ferdinand I to secure the Empire’s existence, restore Imperial rule in Germany and crush Republicanism
National Issues : The resentment of the Habsburgs in Germany, the Nobility getting in the way of reform, and Republican Militarism
National Figures of Interest : Leader of the Noble resistance against Francis II is Klemens, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein
National Ambition/Aspirations : A Liberal Holy Roman Empire that stretches from the Rhine to the Carpathians

History :
late 900's - The Hungarian Árpád Dynasty is split in two; during the conversion to Christianity half of the Dynasty embrace the Latin Rites, while the other half influenced by the Eastern Roman Empire embrace Greek Rites; soon this would expand as the Schism between Orthodoxy and Catholicism became official.
1273 - Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I, the first Habsburg Emperor creates the Grand Duchy of Schweiz out of the Habsburg Swiss territories

1500's - 1600's The Eastern Roman Empire, never fully acknowledging the legitimacy of the Holy Roman Empire, always sought to restore their rule as far west as possible and successive emperors managed to restore the Danube border and attempted to avert other possible conflicts with Catholic states by establishing buffer vassal states, but this brought them into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperors. The Kingdom of Hungary was the core of this new conflict, as the split between its Catholic and Orthodox populations, and the death of its final legitimate king in a civil war during the Battle of Mohacs led to both Emperors supporting different claimants. The Great Eastern War, as it was called, was in fact a series of wars, waged sometimes by the two empires directly, otherwise through supporting different claimants and nations, and they eventually ended by the 1600’s with a peace treaty that confirmed Habsburg rule over Hungary and parts of Croatia, but acknowledged the independence of the other south-eastern European states.

It was at this same time that the Great Peasant Wars that reshaped the Empire also took place. The First Great Peasant War began in 1524 and lasted three years until 1527, the reasons behind the war were quite simplistic, the major ones being the institution of serfdom and religious strife. The peasants intended to force an abolition of Serfdom across Germany and the Empire and to also force the aristocracy to accept a series of Rights that would grant the proletariat and bourgeois greater say in the governance of their own lives. The rebellion nearly failed but for the realization of many Protestant bourgeois that they stood to gain from a successful rebellion. While this led to an increase in supplies; it could not make up for a lack of leadership, which was in the end filled with mercenaries. With these combined factors, defeat slowly began to turn into victory and the aristocracy began to be pushed back and for the next two years fought an indecisive but bloody conflict, until suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the rebels at the Battle of Nuremberg. With this victory, the rebels looked more and more like a winning force and the nobles ended the war by accepting the demands of the rebels before they could press the advantage.

Though victory was taken by the rebels in the First Great Peasants War it was not without its failures. Many nobles were slow to implement the rights and many nobles didn't implement them at all, keeping large swathes of the victorious population in the same chains that they had thought themselves free of. This, combined with another 50 years of slowly regression back into the very state they had fought to free themselves of lead to the Second Great Peasants war. Lasting from 1580 to 1622 this war was actually a series of a dozen or more successful rebellions and uprisings that saw the establishment of dozens of Republics which replaced several princes in the HRE. While many of republics were only as large as the city or town that was seized in an uprising, some were much larger and usually served to protect these smaller ones. The wars themselves all usually shared the same pattern of a quick, violent, and blood uprisings which seized control of a city before a series of smaller pitched battles and sieges took place.

Though the Great Peasant wars were successful in of themselves, the republics that they had created would not last long thanks to the unifying factor if had for the Nobility of the Holy Roman Empire. Long divided by petty squabbles, the great houses of Germany, Bohemia, Northern Italy and the Low Counties brought together their forces and economic strength to strangle these republics in the cradle. By 1652 the republics were all nearing their last breaths, however it had become clear to all sides that any attempt to take them would be an extremely bloody affair. This was all avoided thanks to the diplomatic skill and surprising openness to reform of the then Emperor Ferdinand III, who entered into negotiations with the remaining republics. These negotiations culminated in 1654's The Great Rights, also called Ferdinands Reforms. These reforms guaranteed the Proletariat and Bourgeoise many of the rights they had been fighting for and more in return for a peaceful resumption of noble rule in the territories held by the Republics. In Germany the peasants and bourgeois came to call the next 120 years the Golden Age. Victory had been seized and their rights secured, peace was achieved in much of Germany between the classes.


This great peace between the nobility and peasants lasted a long 100 years until Maria Theresa's eldest son took the throne as Emperor Joseph II. Wanting to develop the Hapsburgs eastern personal holdings, he introduced crushing taxes that placed a particularly large burden on the middle and lower classes of the Empire. Following this insult up in quick succession with injury, Emperor Joseph restricted religious freedoms and other freedoms and other rights enshrined in the Great Rights. Before the incensed peasantry and bourgeoisie could organise a formal political and peaceful response to the Emperor's actions, it had become apparent that many of the Emperor's taxes and reforms were not as effective with the Great Rights still in place. This led to his total revocation of the Great Rights and worst of all, the re-introduction of Serfdom. The reaction to this however was immediate and violent, the Peasantry and Bourgeoisie had grown used to their rights and were not about to stand aside and allow this to happen. This hatred of the Emperor soon began to instead manifest as a complete hatred of aristocracy and the noble class itself, until that point a fringe viewpoint. Many nobles of both lower and high standing were killed in the first weeks and months of the revolution, some being spared of this fate after they abdicated their roles out of disgust for the Emperors overreach and threw their support behind the revolution.

German Revolutionary Wars, as they were to become known, began in 1778. The Revolution itself started with the first uprisings of 1778 and concluded with the forced abdication of Joseph II by his brother Leopold II after a coup in Vienna, the abolition of Joseph's "reforms" and Declaration of the United States of Germany in 1780. After consolidating his position in the Habsburg realms however, the Emperor and his supporters across the Empire began the the Revolutionary Wars between the Newborn Germany and the HRE, with other European Nations attempting to gain from the revolution. It was names like the Prince of Schwarzenberg, Marshal Blücher, Major-General Carl von Clausewitz and the Emperor's brother himself, Archduke Carl the Duke of Teschen, who earned their reputations on the battlefield. Learning much from each defeat and victory; more often than not defeat. By 1788, however the wars had largely subsided and the once liquid borders of the German Republic had solidified, protected by a now experienced Army and Navy.

Outside of the minor skirmishes following 1788, the Holy Roman Empire, broken and defeated by mere peasants and merchants, used the respite to not just recover her strength but to solidify her position in the greater Habsburg realm. With only Austria and Switzerland remaining as territories of the Holy Roman Empire, rather than abolish the title, Emperor Leopold II used this great opportunity to reform the Empire and expand its reach. No longer just a stand in for a Germanic Empire, the Holy Roman Empire would instead reform itself into a federation with the Emperor at its head and all parts equal. In the Habsburg Italian holdings, the Emperor's younger brother Ferdinand would take up office as the Grand Duke of Lombardy. In the Hungarian holdings, another brother Archduke Joseph would become the Palatine of Hungary. The Grand Duchy of Schwize would continue as it had for the last 600 years with a cadet branch of the Habsburgs ruling. The Kingdom of Bohemia would have another of the Emperor's brothers, Archduke Anton Victor as its Palatine. The Grand Duchy of Croatia would have Grand Duke John, another of the Emperor's Younger brothers as its Grand Duke. Finally, the Duchy of Transylvania would have the exiled Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern Dynasty, Anton Aloys, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen at its helm. The Holy Roman Empire itself would formally annex these territories as core territories; transforming this once-confederation of German principalities into a true multi-national Empire.

After completing this great reform of the Empire, the problem of succession had to be addressed. While ruled by the Habsburgs with only a single interruption since 1440, the Emperor was still technically elected by the Electors of the Empire, who were either dead or in-exile in courts across Europe with no tangible power. Using this opportunity to create a loyal powerbase inside the nobility needed to pass further reforms down the line, the Emperor granted the right of elector to all those exiled nobles who resided inside the Holy Roman Empire from the rank of count and above. While merely a symbolic act given they had no real power, it would bring exiles from across the courts of Europe back to Vienna, Budapest, Milan and Zagreb, where they would serve the Emperor loyally.

After spending the last 20 years reforming the Empire to ensure its stability and long-term survival, Emperor Leopold II died in his sleep at the age of 62 in 1810. He would be long remembered as the saviour of the Empire and liberator of the Empire's minorities. Now taking up the reigns was Francis II, at the age of 42, he had spent the last 20 years watching his father's every move, learning the mistakes of generations past and taking actions in his father's name towards the end of his reign as he suffered bouts of illness. Now he was to take the full authority of Emperor, crowned in Rome by the Pope for the first time since Charles V many centuries ago and elected with an overwhelming majority of the electors support. Now two years into his reign, Francis II prepares for the Holy Roman Empire to face Europe as a fully fledged Great Power once more. With the Romans to the East disputing his legitimacy and Republicans to the North remaining a lingering threat to all Monarchs, Francis has quite a job ahead of him.


RP Sample:

#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

App Complete

[Tracian Empire]

Sorry Banzai, but your reservation expired over 12 hours ago. If Oscal's reservation also expires then I will review your app with priority and accept it.

If Osc's reservation doesn't expire, then I will reserve Korea.

Reservation

Nation Name: Empire of Chosen
Territory: Everything currently reserved by Korea but including the Philippines and Borneo.
#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep 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.

If Columbia's reservation also expires, which will happen later today, sure

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

If Osc's reservation doesn't expire, then I will reserve Korea.

Reservation

Nation Name: Empire of Chosen
Territory: Everything currently reserved by Korea but including the Philippines and Borneo.
#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep 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.

If Columbia's reservation also expires, which will happen later today, sure

If mine is expired, I am pretty sure his is expired, since reservations only last 48 hours and you posted the OOC on the 19th. It has been 3 days now, and his reservation expired "over 12 hours ago". He didn't post an app to get the 24 more hours.

So either my reservation hasn't expired and I should get priority on Japan, or I should be able to reserve Korea.

[Tracian Empire]

If Columbia's reservation also expires, which will happen later today, sure

If mine is expired, I am pretty sure his is expired, since reservations only last 48 hours and you posted the IC on the 19th. It has been 3 days now, and his reservation expired "over 12 hours ago". He didn't post an app to get the 24 more hours.

So either my reservation hasn't expired and I should get priority on Japan, or I should be able to reserve Korea.

"The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations".

His reservation would have expired on the 21st of February at 23:01 EET, which was 13 hours and a half ago, that is true. However, he sent me a message telling me that he was busy, so I've granted him additional time to post his app today, if he does not, then his claim will be removed.

You didn't post your app, or post anything in the new thread at all, and you didn't tell me that you weren't able to post it, so your reservation expired and Oscal claimed an empty spot on the map.

A new round of reservations will expire tonight. I am open to granting people extra time if asked for and properly explained, but no more than a day or two, so soon enough there should be plenty of openings.

[Tracian Empire]

Full Nation Name : Sacrum Imperium Romanum (Holy Roman Empire)


#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

Overall I love the app, a few points that should be addressed:

• Vienna and the other cities should be marked as centers of industrialization, it's a small semantic difference, but calling them centers of industry would give people a wrong impression especially since we've already had a few people missing the era we're in.
• Specifically about the same cities, I'd recommend sticking to Vienna, Prague, and Milan as such centers. Buda and Pest would most likely be less so, unless you've found a way to deal with the Hungarian magnates/landed aristocracy and their influence, which would be detrimental to the bourgeoisie in Buda/Pest.
• Any particular reason the Hungarian command is known as the Transylvanian command and not the Hungarian one? It's not an issue, I'm just curious
• The history generally looks alright - one point that will also be true for the German app however is that referring to the "proletariat" in the 17th century is doubly anachronistic. Firstly because most of those would have been peasants, and secondly since the term of proletariat itself wouldn't have been adopted yet, Marx isn't even born.
• Other than that, I'd just like for you to describe its political situation a little. It's a bit difficult to reconcile the concept that at once, the empire is "liberal", with the past emperor being the "liberator of the Empire's minorities", while also being most likely the center of European reactionary thought and filled with noble emigres. Other than the reorganization into a vague federal framework, I'm confused as to what rights were specifically granted to the minorities, seeing as their respective feudal regions are still led by Habsburgs. A description of what rights they have would then allow you to properly know which of the ethnic groups would be opposed to your rule, Italians and Hungarians most likely, going by historical precedent. A bit of information about the situation in each state would also be helpful - is the Hungarian diet recognized? The Hungarian nobility was pretty particular about it. Do the Habsburg rulers in those countries rule by themselves, or with noble councils?

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

If mine is expired, I am pretty sure his is expired, since reservations only last 48 hours and you posted the IC on the 19th. It has been 3 days now, and his reservation expired "over 12 hours ago". He didn't post an app to get the 24 more hours.

So either my reservation hasn't expired and I should get priority on Japan, or I should be able to reserve Korea.

"The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations".

His reservation would have expired on the 21st of February at 23:01 EET, which was 13 hours and a half ago, that is true. However, he sent me a message telling me that he was busy, so I've granted him additional time to post his app today, if he does not, then his claim will be removed.

You didn't post your app, or post anything in the new thread at all, and you didn't tell me that you weren't able to post it, so your reservation expired and Oscal claimed an empty spot on the map.

A new round of reservations will expire tonight. I am open to granting people extra time if asked for and properly explained, but no more than a day or two, so soon enough there should be plenty of openings.

Maybe that policy should be more transparent since that hasn't been explicitly stated. Everyone is busy.

[Kenobot]

Full Nation Name : Sacrum Imperium Romanum (Holy Roman Empire)


#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

Overall I love the app, a few points that should be addressed:

• Vienna and the other cities should be marked as centers of industrialization, it's a small semantic difference, but calling them centers of industry would give people a wrong impression especially since we've already had a few people missing the era we're in.
• Specifically about the same cities, I'd recommend sticking to Vienna, Prague, and Milan as such centers. Buda and Pest would most likely be less so, unless you've found a way to deal with the Hungarian magnates/landed aristocracy and their influence, which would be detrimental to the bourgeoisie in Buda/Pest.
• Any particular reason the Hungarian command is known as the Transylvanian command and not the Hungarian one? It's not an issue, I'm just curious
• The history generally looks alright - one point that will also be true for the German app however is that referring to the "proletariat" in the 17th century is doubly anachronistic. Firstly because most of those would have been peasants, and secondly since the term of proletariat itself wouldn't have been adopted yet, Marx isn't even born.
• Other than that, I'd just like for you to describe its political situation a little. It's a bit difficult to reconcile the concept that at once, the empire is "liberal", with the past emperor being the "liberator of the Empire's minorities", while also being most likely the center of European reactionary thought and filled with noble emigres. Other than the reorganization into a vague federal framework, I'm confused as to what rights were specifically granted to the minorities, seeing as their respective feudal regions are still led by Habsburgs. A description of what rights they have would then allow you to properly know which of the ethnic groups would be opposed to your rule, Italians and Hungarians most likely, going by historical precedent. A bit of information about the situation in each state would also be helpful - is the Hungarian diet recognized? The Hungarian nobility was pretty particular about it. Do the Habsburg rulers in those countries rule by themselves, or with noble councils?

I'll fix all that up now. As to the Transylvanian thing; it's because Hungarian units are split between all four districts and Hungary itself as an entity isn't bordering any other empires.

"The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations".

His reservation would have expired on the 21st of February at 23:01 EET, which was 13 hours and a half ago, that is true. However, he sent me a message telling me that he was busy, so I've granted him additional time to post his app today, if he does not, then his claim will be removed.

You didn't post your app, or post anything in the new thread at all, and you didn't tell me that you weren't able to post it, so your reservation expired and Oscal claimed an empty spot on the map.

A new round of reservations will expire tonight. I am open to granting people extra time if asked for and properly explained, but no more than a day or two, so soon enough there should be plenty of openings.

Maybe that policy should be more transparent since that hasn't been explicitly stated. Everyone is busy.

It was literally posted in the discord in announcements, of which you are a member

[Tracian Empire]

"The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations".

His reservation would have expired on the 21st of February at 23:01 EET, which was 13 hours and a half ago, that is true. However, he sent me a message telling me that he was busy, so I've granted him additional time to post his app today, if he does not, then his claim will be removed.

You didn't post your app, or post anything in the new thread at all, and you didn't tell me that you weren't able to post it, so your reservation expired and Oscal claimed an empty spot on the map.

A new round of reservations will expire tonight. I am open to granting people extra time if asked for and properly explained, but no more than a day or two, so soon enough there should be plenty of openings.

Maybe that policy should be more transparent since that hasn't been explicitly stated. Everyone is busy.

What hasn't been explicitly stated? I specifically kept pinging people over on the Discord channel from before the roleplay was even launched that we will keep the strict 48 hour deadline. Knowing that, some people have come to me and asked for extensions, which I've granted because the main purpose of this policy is to remove stragglers who hoard reservations for weeks without finishing their apps, something that has happened in past iterations. People asking for extensions expresses interest.

I couldn't have done much more. If old players who are in the Discord ignore announcements or have the server muted that's their decision, and as for newcomers, the 48 hour reservation deadline is very clearly stated in the app formats.

I'm sorry that you got caught into it, had I known that you were busy I would have granted you an extension also, but I assumed that you had lost interested and proceeded to remove you.

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

Maybe that policy should be more transparent since that hasn't been explicitly stated. Everyone is busy.

What hasn't been explicitly stated? I specifically kept pinging people over on the Discord channel from before the roleplay was even launched that we will keep the strict 48 hour deadline. Knowing that, some people have come to me and asked for extensions, which I've granted because the main purpose of this policy is to remove stragglers who hoard reservations for weeks without finishing their apps, something that has happened in past iterations. People asking for extensions expresses interest.

I couldn't have done much more. If old players who are in the Discord ignore announcements or have the server muted that's their decision, and as for newcomers, the 48 hour reservation deadline is very clearly stated in the app formats.

I'm sorry that you got caught into it, had I known that you were busy I would have granted you an extension also, but I assumed that you had lost interested and proceeded to remove you.

Shouldn't the extension be more transparent to avoid confusion? So a person knows what is still reserved and what isn't? Because just looking at it, it would seem Korea would not still be reserved.

[Tracian Empire]

What hasn't been explicitly stated? I specifically kept pinging people over on the Discord channel from before the roleplay was even launched that we will keep the strict 48 hour deadline. Knowing that, some people have come to me and asked for extensions, which I've granted because the main purpose of this policy is to remove stragglers who hoard reservations for weeks without finishing their apps, something that has happened in past iterations. People asking for extensions expresses interest.

I couldn't have done much more. If old players who are in the Discord ignore announcements or have the server muted that's their decision, and as for newcomers, the 48 hour reservation deadline is very clearly stated in the app formats.

I'm sorry that you got caught into it, had I known that you were busy I would have granted you an extension also, but I assumed that you had lost interested and proceeded to remove you.

Shouldn't the extension be more transparent to avoid confusion? So a person knows what is still reserved and what isn't?

That is a somewhat fair point, I will try to make such announcements from now, but I assumed that people would just follow the list, which I've updated in the morning.

[Tracian Empire]

tag

Anything you're interested in?

[Empire of Techkotal]

the usual region, wich is still free

[Tracian Empire]

Full Nation Name : United States of Germany, Vereinigte Staaten von Deutschland, Germany, The German Republic


#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

Conceptually I like it, there are a few things that need clarifying however:

• A bit of information on the federal structure of the state would be appreciated. By the time the German Revolution would have happened, there would have been around 300 states, including free imperial cities, ecclesiastical principalities, and other such smaller states, most of which would have fallen under the control of the republic. Did you underwent a process of mediatisation like the HRE in real life, were there other reorganizations? You don't need to mention all federal states by name of course, but a rough idea of how many they are, and how they are led (how much authority they have, relation to the Federal Government), would be very helpful, as would generally knowing what happened to the states and the Church lands.
  
• A little bit about the elections would also be necessary. Who has voting rights? Are there term limits? How are the members of the different chambers elected?
  
• What kind of Protestants? It's a small curiosity, but I'm mostly interested in if religion is free, or if the Republic tried to merge the various stains of Protestantism (Lutheranism, Calvinism, and so on) into something like the Evangelical Church in Germany. I'm also interested in whether Catholics are oppressed or at the very least cut off from the Catholic Church.
  
• Industrialization could have certainly happened, but we're still in the early water-powered industrial revolution phase so you need to tone it down a little. You should also probably at least vaguely mention agriculture and what has happened to it (was there a land reform?), since most of your industrialization would probably be concentrated in what would become the Ruhr.
  
• Check the app format in the OP to see the new descriptive terms for development. This section would also be where you should mention which regions are industrializing and which are agrarian, and once again keep in mind that while coal is starting to pick up pace, water-powered mills and workshops would still be the norm instead of steam powered factories.
  
• The proper name for People's Army in German would be Volksarmee or maybe Volksheer. Moving further, just as a note, the division system would be a relatively modern thing, as in real life it was adopted by the French and spread around - you could have it, but it should be in a reform post-1800 and the army should still be adapting to it.
  
• At this point the Republican Navy would presumably be very small and mostly focused on coastal/defense and some trade expeditions. If you're friendly with Britain and have major enemies at land, there isn't much justification for the Government to invest into it.
  
• As for the history, like I mentioned in the HRE app, the use of proletariat is an anarchronistic term, you should simply refer to the peasants as peasants and to the bourgeoisie as the bourgeoisie. Moving on, I think you would better justify the bourgeoisie joining the rebellion by having the princely armies infringe on the rights of the cities, rather than them just seeking a profit. You could also like I mentioned play the protestant division and have leaders defect to your rebels like this, because otherwise a victory of the peasants is still difficult to believe. The cities could have hired mercenaries maybe, but you aren't mentioning it, and hiring individual leaders wasn't really a thing at the time. The nobles should also accept only part of their demands - it would be difficult to believe that the peasants could have such a complete victory as to force the nobles to accept all of the Twelve Articles.
  
  Moving on, I think that instead of the Second Peasants' War you should try to use the Thirty Years War. Focusing so much on the conflict with the peasants completely leaves the tensions between Protestants and Catholics out of the picture. It doesn't have to be a Thirty Years War, but I do feel like religious conflict is inevitable, and that you need to use this if you want to explain such a large number of Protestants in your nation. A few vague details about what rights exactly were given after this and perhaps also having a Treaty of Westphalia equivalent could help.
  
  I also don't think that Joseph II just deciding to reinstate serfdom really works in that context, it comes out of a sudden. You should probably make it so that the Emperors subsequent to Ferdinand II eat away at those rights over the next century, and that a full religious ban and/or attempt to reinstate serfdom is something that happens in a specific region. A blanket ban on Protestantism and a general attempt to reintroduce serfdom is simply not realistic after a century of those rights being granted, especially if the agreements that ended the wars to begin with also severely limited imperial power much like the Treaty of Westphalia did.
  
  The Revolutionary Wars by themselves work, but as for the conflicts after you should eventually talk with the HRE and/or France, mostly from the perspective of your military, because if there has been peace since 1790 then that would impact all armies involved.
  
  And finally, I'd like some details about how the United States of Germany became a thing. That is I think the most important part of them all. How did the rebels reorganize the mess that the HRE was? How did they decide upon going with a presidential republic when real life attempts generally led to parliamentary republics? Did they confiscate all of the noble territories and revoked aristocracy entirely? You don't need to write a book on the matter, obviously, but look at the French Revolution or the 1848 Revolution as examples, such large rebellions inevitably come with disagreements and different visions, so you need to explain how this particular vision came to be.
  
  

[Oscalantine]

[[Please remove all double brackets from the app before posting it, including this one]]
Full Nation Name : Yamato Teikoku
Majority/Official Culture : Majority of the Yamato’s denizens identify themselves as Nihonjin, but this does not indicate that all of them are of Japanese descents. As unaccepting as they are, great many Filipino, Korean, and other ethnicities have been integrated and are thus accepted as “Nihonjin.”
Territorial Core : Japanese Island with islands, Parts of Philippines, Maluku Islands, and Sulawesi, Guinea and islands in the Oceania
Territorial Claim : Yamato government sees it their divine right to protect all Asian minorities under their banner of “co-prosperity sphere” of influence.
Capital City : Kyoto is still the spiritual city of Yamato with large population to match its historical status, but Edo (Tokyo) is the largest and most populous city in the empire that serves as political, economic, and military capital of the Empire.
Population : Japanese island has a sprawling population of 30 million in large part due to improved irrigation techniques and hygiene in the urban area during the late 1700s and early 1800s. About a million populous exists in Haponesa (Philippines island of Mindano), and Sulawesi has equally a million population, although due to conflicts in 1700s, Sulawesi in actuality only has 800 thousand at best. Confederation of Muluk doesn’t have a proper census due to it being an independent island entity, it is estimated that roughly half a million individuals are present mostly in the capital island island of Halmahera, Seram, and Sula islands. Japanese colony of Papua (New Guinea Island) is by far the least known and lease populous, with merely ten-thousand “Nihonjin” in the island and no real way to take census of the native population. Islands dotted around the Teikoku has anywhere between just a few dozen soldiers manning the isolated trade port to anywhere hovering thousands for more populated island. In these islands, just like with Papua, native population is usually not part of the consensus.

Government Type : Constitutional Monarchy
Government Ideology/Policies : Yamato Teikoku lies under the spectrum of authoritative dictatorship than an actual “constitutional monarchy,” as the constitution’s existence only affirms the despotism of the Koma clan among the aristocrats, nobles, and capitalists within Yamato. Thus, Yamato Teikoku’s often singular purpose is to executive the macro-agenda of the Koma clan, which is to a larger extent establishing the dominance of the Yamato people in the world.
Government Focus : Yamato’s focus is more inward than out, although due to such paranoia that the government goes through reaffirming the continued existence of Koma clan’s leadership in the land of Yamato, diplomacy and espionage is never far behind. Thus, Yamato’s focus is more of a military one rather than economic, as Koma clan’s safety must be assured through firm and tight grip on all things both external and internal. Whether this force is used for actual warfare, however, is often times more of a debate due to sheer paranoia that the government faces.
Head of State : Tenno (term reserved for those who sits on the Chrysanthemum Throne in Kyoto) is the spiritual leader of the people of Yamato and from whose divine authority the Shogunate gains its legitimacy from.
Head of Government : The two Regents of Edo are the final decision-making body of Yamato’s Constitution, as they are selected from the brightest of Musashi and Kaga clans to serve the daily needs of the people of Yamato. There are always two reared through rigorous and stringent schooling to ensure that both the inner (Kaga clan) and outer (Musashi clan) matters of state is taken care of.
Government Description :

Established in 1731 by the order of Emperor Sakuramachi, the Chrysanthemum Decree is the binding constitutional agreement in which all bureaucracy of Teikoku functions. Under this decree the foremost power of the Teikoku is shared between two equally-divine figures: the Tenno and the Jakko (and, by extension, the Orator of Jakko in the Koma Shrine, who happens to be the Shogun). The two divine beings’ will are passed through a Directorate, which is an establishment set to convene once every five years to determine the new direction that the Yamato people must walk for the next five years. The members of the Directorate are ten members, of which five are selected from the Tenno and five from the two clans of the Imperial Regent (serving as the “heaven’s will” and the “mundane matters of state.” Shogun does not have a member of their own, but they do have the deciding vote as the tie-breaker should there be an impasse in the Directorate.

It is during this meeting of the Directorate that the deeds of Daimyos, colonial governors, senators, and other bureaucrats are judged and sentences are passed. Should the officer fulfill his or her duties to the best of his or her abilities befitting the past Directorate’s will, the said officer is praised and their duties are expanded to hold more responsibility and power. However, if the officer was unable to fulfill the needs of the past Directorate, the said officer is reprimanded and reduced in rank or, in the worst case, sentenced to death. For the most part, Directorate respects the hereditary offices such as Daimyos and colonial governors and keeps such positions within the family, it is not unheard of for the entire clan to be punished and stripped of their rights if the suspicion of treason is underfoot.

Furthermore, it is during this Directorate meeting that the Senate’s direction is given. For the National Diet (Kokkai) exists to pass and review the national law of the land to befit the next five-year plan of the Directorate. While the Senators of Shugiin and Sangiin are selected by the democratic voting system (similar to IRL Japan), the large direction that the Diet is to take is directed by the Directorate, which prevents the National Diet from taking too liberal of an action.

In this sense, Yamato’s macro-decision is decided once every five years by the Directorate meeting. The only authority that the Directorate does not have are the decisions of the office of Shogunate and the promotion of Imperial Regents, of which the Koma clan and the Shogun have the right to.

While the Directorate decides the macro-level actions of state, National Diet decides the legal direction of the state, and the Imperial Regents and regional leaders decide on how best to execute the will of the Directorate, the role of the Shogunate often times exceed the will of the Directorate. For while the Shogunate must also respect the will of the Directorate and move accordingly in order to maintain their legitimacy, the Shogunate’s position is often times to look ahead to “next five years” when the Directorate convenes once more. Thus, the Shogunate’s responsibility lies more towards gathering intelligence and sponsoring various projects that go beyond the current five years.

To this end, the Shogunate has three direct “bureau” that are answerable only to the Shogunate, and thus functions as the source of Koma Shogunate’s power over Yamato: Oniwaban, Joisunin, and Bureau of Innovation.

The last of the three are fairly easy to understand. As the name implies, the Bureau of Innovation pursues all sort of knowledge and fringe ideas in Yamato that can be of use to the Teikoku in the coming future. However, the bureau’s search does not end with science. For the bureau recruits people from all fields, and test various scenarios and technologies to understand what their effects to the Teikoku would be should it become widespread. (OOC: For instance, should such concept as “socialism” and “communism” be mentioned in the far off lands, the Bureau of Innovation would dispatch a team to gather understand on that topic in order to determine its “lethality” to Teikoku and will create scenarios that can be implemented to prevent or encourage such thoughts to become widespread in the next Directorate meeting) While many of the brightest minds are invited by the Shogunate to join such prestigious institution, few refuse such an offer out of ethical reasons. For to the Bureau, the needs of the state overrule such things as “rights of man,” and even human experimentation of radical degrees can be requested and approved if it serves to further the goals of Teikoku.

Oniwaban is a secret organization of the Shogunate which consists entirely of Sena clan shinobis. No longer called such but instead the members of Onmitsu, these secret spies and bodyguards both internally and externally for the Shogun. While many outside the Teikoku see Onmitsu as more of a national spy organization, the true role of this organization lies more in internal investigations and VIP escorts. For Onmitsu serves as secret police for the Shogunate, gather information on the Shogunate’s political opponents and to ensure that corruption that does not benefit the Shogunate will be revealed in the next Directorate meeting. Thus, while the Onmitsu are found overseas and function as both spies and the Shogun’s personal diplomats, many more of the Onmitsu function as a political intelligence and execution service of the Shogunate.

Joisunin is a secret military arm of the Shogunate whose function is to serve as an elite troop that the Shogun can deploy at any time for whatever the reason. While usually used on internal matters such as arrest of political enemies and putting down rebellions, Joisunins are trained from birth and function as a well-disciplined guerilla and shock troops in the field of battle. Trained to survive in the toughest situations, these elites are capable of carrying out orders of the Shogunate to the letter and leave few casualties. Many in Teikoku often lament at how there are so few Joisunin for the needs of the Teikoku, and that a good few thousand more would have allowed Teikoku to dominate all of Asia. Sadly, this fact, although exaggerated, will never come to pass, for the sheer time necessary to train a single Joisunin into service is too much to be carried out at a larger scale beyond what the Shogunate operates with now.

Majority/State Religion : Jakkoism and Shintoism.
Religious Description : In all technicality, Jakkoism is an offshoot of Shintoism which believes in one, singular kami over all other spirits, named “Jakko.” However, this quasi-monotheistic religion has taken such a deep root into the people mindset that, often time worship of different deities other than Jakko are seen as a confusing concept to the Japanese. The center of worship located at the Koma Shrine in the Koma Province (irl. Kai Province), Jakkoism has become simplified state-sponsored religion that demands very little of the Japanese people. Its central tenants are often associated with honesty and self-sacrifice for the great good of many, the Jakkoism believes in the deliverance of Jakko through the times of hardship. The central spiritual figure is the Orator of the Jakko, whose role is often times synonymous with the Shogun himself, although female Shoguns are often time not chosen to lead this spiritual position.

Economic Ideologies : Capitalism
Major Production : Industrialization and urbanization in the mainland has caused large, sprawling factories to keep up industrial needs of the empire, whereas in the colonies precious cash crops such as cloves, nutmeg, sugar, and other spices are cultivated in large plantations.
Economic Description : It is often times very easy to dismiss Yamato’s economy as relying solely on trade of spices from the colonies. And this is not so far from the truth, as the land of Yamato controls lion’s share of all precious spices such as nutmeg, cloves, and sugar which are all originated from the regions that the Yamato’s colonies are located today. As such, the Yamato merchants handsomely profit from controlling such transactions and provide the trade to both European, Asian, and American trade partners directly from the source, ensuring that wealth constantly flows to the empire.

However, this is not to say that the trade simply ends there. For as much as the people of Yamato are interested in the industrial goods of European, exotic crops of the Americas, and silks from the Chinese, the industrial sector of Yamato, focused primarily on the military-related productions, are very much on the rise. Of course, this is more of a forced directive rather than actual supply-and-demand side of the economics, as the Directorate has maintained a sense of control over the Yamato’s increasingly growing military expand. However and as a direct result, such a massive military spending fueled by the spice trades have allowed Yamato’s economy to become more diversified in the mainland, and as a result many capitalist ventures exist to keep up with the various civilian sector’s demands.

Development: Industrializing
Development Description : As mentioned above, Yamato’s industrial needs are often times met by the Directorate’s guidance of next “five year plan.” Long since understanding the importance of strategic fortification and logistics in the key areas within Teikoku, the Directorate sponsored many, many projects across the empire to fortify key locations where the arteries of the Teikoku can be well-protected. And as such trade routes and locomotion necessarily connects major parts of the empire and provides better protection to these key locations, the safety allowed centralization and urbanization concentrated on these prime strategic fortifications.

Almost as a direct result of this, the fortification of Edo and Kyoto has seen the largest central urbanization by the civilian sector in the empire, creating a sprawling city with the attempts at first brick-and-mortar buildings have started alongside more traditional wooden ones. This is also emphasized in the colonies as well, for once-long-garrisons in the larger island chains have caused many indigenous and colonial people to gather in these locations for protection and better supply, creating a large community in which the population surrounds the garrisons laid out by the Directorate’s decisions

Army Description : Yamato’s mighty bulwark is comprised of larger, more standardized imperial guard regiments of Teikoku Gunji (Imperial Military) and the far more specialized and professional Edo Gundan (Edo Corp). Joisunin, while a powerful, elite force of Teikoku, is not formally listed as part of the military but exists on top of such institution’s hierarchy, and as such they are usually not counted as among the core fighting force. During peacetime, both the Teikoku Gunji (henceforth just mentioned as “Gunji”) and Edo Gundan (henceforth “Gundan”) exists mostly as a defensive force around the empire, protecting major population centers and act as a standing garrison as well as the police force for the region. For Teikoku never had a civilian police force in mind, and rather the military were given authority to police civilian population at all times to prevent any elements of dissonance from ruining the harmony of the empire.

This has led to a unique situation where the Gundan serves as an investigative arm of the police whereas Gunji serves as the actual police force around the Teikoku’s many holdings. And it allows the Teikoku to keep a much larger standing army than most of its neighbors as the military doubles as the policing force in the region. As a direct result, Teikoku is often times found much more stable and resilient to espionage during peacetime, as garrisons dotted across the empire serves as hardpoints of security that allows the Shogunate to keep a direct control of every situation in the Empire.

And it is these “hardpoints” or Chuton-sho that serves as a defining feature of Teikoku’s military. Created to serve as both the defensive garrison as well as temporary prison cells for detained delinquents, these garrisons are found in every major city around the empire. Every Chuton-sho is lead by a single Kantoku, who functions as we the leader of the military presence in the region. While every civilian population center surrounding the Chuton-shos has their respective civilian leaders… be it governor, mayor, or even a daimyo, Kantoku answers directly to the Regents in Edo, and thus hold an authority higher than that of these regional authorities. This allows law and order to be universal throughout the Teikoku, and further cements the Regents’ (and, by extension, the Shogun’s) hold in every aspect of Teikoku. The Chuton-sho also acts as the investigative and intelligence HQ of the region should Edo or Shogunate send their operates to the region. As Kantoku still have their military ranks according to the Teikoku’s military hierarchy, leaders of these deployment operations are, out of courtesy, given higher ranks than Kantoku so that friction between regional authorities and those of Edo will not hinder the entire operation.

While the Teikoku’s military do have greater role to serve during peacetime compared to its neighbors, it is during wartime that this organization shines. For Gunji’s role during the period between the declaration of war and mobilization is to hold the front line and to serve as a centerpoint of mobilization logistics, while Gundan is more immediately requisitioned and deployed in the front lines to serve as the first-response force to fight the Teikoku’s enemies. This system allows Teikoku to have some of the best military logistics in the world as active military presence is capable of gathering and safely securing military resources to send them to the next hub until the requisitions arrive precisely at where they are needed the most. The Chuton-sho also functions as an effective defensive force in the frontlines which prevents all but the sizable raid from being able to effectively attack the Teikoku’s countryside.
Army Weakness : As mentioned in the descriptions section, the Teikoku’s military also serves as its policing force. While this allows greater number of standing armies, more stability, and imperial control in Teikoku’s holdings during peacetime, such advantage disappearing during wartime. As more and more military forces are needed int the front lines, the emptying garrison in the back lines also serves as a potential crack in a rather formidable policing agents of Teikoku, and the lands of Yamato becomes once again open for espionage opportunities which would have never been allowed during peacetime. While the Shogunate deploys greater number of Joisunin and Onmitsu to cover for the depleting police force, in the times of total mobilization every soldier including these two institutions are needed against the enemy, which puts greater strain on the empire’s stability.

Furthermore, the Chunton-sho is as much of a weakness as they are hardpoints. While very tough to crack, these garrisons serve a crucial role in both the defense and policing of the region, and acts as the hub of Teikoku’s authority in the region. They also hold prisons for the regional dissonant until they can be formally transported into larger dungeons created for political prisoners. As such, a destruction of these garrisons by whatever means often times creates a power vacuum in the region, and prevents a timely response from Teikoku which is often times lauded as their greatest advantage.
Naval Description : [[Describe your nation's navy in as much detail as you can]]
Naval Weakness :
Further Military Description : [[OPTIONAL]]

National Goals : [[What are the main objectives of your nation?]]
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 set objectives, but rather the big picture that your nation is drawing towards]]

[Oscalantine]

History :

After the intense war of attrition between Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo, King Bojang of Goguryeo, understanding the need to expand the diplomatic relationships to other nations, convince the aging Yeongaesomun to send his second prince Goh Duk-nam to the island of Japan as a contingency should the nation completely collapse, as it could have well happened in 661. Yeongaesomun, while furiously objected to such a weak gesture by his long-time liege at first, reluctantly conceded in order to put his king’s shaken mind at ease. Prince Duk-nam thus was sent along with several Buddhist monks as part of the missionary group to Japan. (This is in stark contrast to the IRL historical accounts of the supposed-founding of Koma clan, which traces their lineage back to 666 after the complete collapse of the Goguryeo Dynasty after the death of Yeongaesomun.)

However, in secret, this was a diplomatic mission moreso than political refugee. Bojang, realizing that his despot (Yeongaesomun IRL held much of political and military power in Goguryeo in its final years, with many stating that Bojang was either relegated into a ceremonial role and or was too dependent on the despot) was too stubborn to realize that this war against Tang could not be won without choice allies. Understanding that alliance with the Empire of Japan could create the distraction to prevent Silla from attacking Goguryeo’s rear when the inevitable “second round” with Tang happened, Duk-nam was sent with a political missive to Yamato household to forge an alliance with the island nation.

Duk-nam thus spend several years in court intrigue and spent many nights under the patronage of Emperor Tenji. Tenji, having just came to the Chrysanthemum Throne on the year of Duk-nam’s arrival, greatly appreciated the prestige that such diplomatic mission from Goguryeo brought. The young Emperor and Duk-nam spent many nights together discussing Confucius teachings and other philosophical virtues of ruling. Duk-name was especially pulled in by the Emperor’s vision of law and order in the land tainted by the corruption of Soga clan. Duk-nam would later be inspired by the Fujiwara no Kamatari and his teachings so much that he would later convert to Shintoism after seeing for the first-hand the creation of Omi Code.

And as friendship with the Emperor of the second prince grew, so did the Goguryeo’s grand vision of alliance. Understanding the situation in Korean Peninsula better thanks to the informants sent by Goguryeo to Duk-name, the Emperor makes a more screwed decision to not invade Silla in 662 CE (which happened in IRL and was subsequently pummeled by Tang-Silla combined forces) but instead bide the time to assist Goguryeo in 668, when the Tang-Silla alliance attack Goguryeo weakened from political infighting. Indeed, this invasion of Silla went far smoother, causing many port cities of Silla to be plundered by the Nippon forces and allowing Goguryeo greater amount of time to mount a proper defense.

However, in the end, Goguryeo’s situation was too grim for one ally to revert. Prior to the war (this is similar to IRL turn of events) Yeonnamgun, the first son of Yeongaesomun who passed away, lost his father’s title to his younger brothers and turned traitor, which allowed Tang Dynasty to enter the war with a significant advantage. And while Silla was relegated to far less significant role, the armies of Nippon could not stem the tie of Tang forces, and was unable to offer significant support for the Goguryeo’s besieged provinces. In the end, Goguryeo fell nonetheless, and the Emperor Tenji and Duk-nam was distraught by the news.

However, this turn of events did allow one positive aspect to the fledging Japanese. Towards the end of the war, Duk-nam personally led the Japanese forces in the more exposed eastern portions of Goguryeo’s countryside. This allowed Duk-nam to ambush the Tang forces weary from the siege of Pyeongyang and managed to liberate Yeonnamgun, the second son Yeongaesomun who stood until the bitter end to defend the capital. Rallying the imperial remnants of the Goguryeo’s forces, including choice elites of Goguryeo, the infamous Joisonin, Yeonnamgun disappeared into the countryside, refusing the public offer of Duk-name to return to Japan with him. Saddened, Duk-nam instead hurried to gather as much refugees from the rear as possible, most of them either scholars or technicians, before returning to Japan.

Returning with some five-thousand refugees, the Emperor Tenji allowed the Goguryeo refugees to settle in a valley few distance off from the fishing village of Oda (the land IRL known as “Koma District”). The flat plains and rolling grasslands were, while not developed, were perfect for people from Goguryeo who delighted in open plains. Duk-nam, not seeing himself fit to be the leader of the refugees after spending so much time apart from the people, instead returned to the Imperial Palace, where he spent the rest of the Emperor Tenji’s reign debating various schools of governance in the Imperial Court.

When Emperor Tenji died in 685 CE (his lifespan expanded due to comingling of medicinal technologies with those of Korean Peninsula), Duk-nam gave up his political posts (what little ceremonial role that he had in the court at the time for convenience) and returned to Koma prefecture where he and his family spent the rest of his life in relative obscurity.

While living in the countryside, Duk-nam’s influence as the friend of the Emperor Tenji, who became the first Emperor in Japan to conduct a successful overseas campaign, was not ignored. Duk-nam was given a relatively ceremonial political office befitting his royal status as essentially a prince in exile. Furthermore, he was given land in which the refugees from Goguryeo gathered, which eventually became known as the “Koma District.”

This Koma District, soon became the center of ironwork in the region as Goguryeo blacksmiths mingled with traditional Japanese ironmaking to create stronger, more flexible steel known as “tamahagane.” Legends of Amakuni was also made in Koma Province (unlike IRL which happened in Yamato Province), where Amakuni, who forced steels for the Emperor in the Koma Province, spent night and day to forge a sword that will not break.

Thus, by the time the Taiho Code was established in 703 CE, the Koma clan was officially recognized as silent, hard-working ironworkers and horse-tenders in the officially recognized “Koma Province” (IRL Kai Province). Koma clan, whose friendship with Fujiwara clan which was built from the Duk-nam’s teacher-pupil relationship with Nakatomi no Kamatari (the founder of the Fujiwara clan), ensured that the Koma Province remained at the hands of the Koma clan, acquiring the royal seal of approval as rightful owners of this region.

The Shintoist belief that Duk-nam oversaw became the central point of religious worship in the Koma Province, where a large Shinto shrine dedicated to kami “Jakko.” This kami, whose characteristics often tends to be linked with the deification of Duk-nam himself, is believed to have brought the Goguryeo refugees good fortune to bring them under the benevolence of the Chrysanthemum Throne. The Koma Shrine, as this large shrine became known as, still serves to this day as a political seat and religious seat of power for Koma clan, whose family head still serves as the head priest leading the religious worship of Jakko.

As Empress Genmei rose to her throne in 707 CE, the Koma clan continued to pay tribute to the Chrysanthemum Throne, but eventually grew more distant following the adaptation of Buddhism by Emperor Shomu, believing more firmly in Shinto beliefs despite many Goguryeo monks still operated in and served as a foundation to many parts of Japanese Buddhism along with Baekje monks. Despite this distant behavior by the main Koma clan, the Buddhist monks who left the Koma family to practice Buddhist teachings. Koma Province thus also oversaw many shrine constructions dotting the region, as Koma clan continued to stay relevant, although not directly from the family affairs.

At this point in time, it is important to recognize the political buildup that was underway from the shadows by the Koma clan. Although the goodwill of Duk-nam was genuine towards the Emperor Tenji, the same could not be said about the rest of the Goguryeo nobility, which was under Yeonnamgun’s leadership. Koma clan’s “lesser house” as it began to be called, consisted of Yeon’s extended family and the families of his “sworn brothers” who fought with him to the bitter end. Upon realizing that Goguryeo was lost, Yeon slowly moved his elite forces, the Joisonin, to Japan disguised as plain refugees. Slowly but surely, some thousands of Koreans moved to Koma Province over time where they worked under the shadow to keep the “main house” of the Koma family alive. Most of the Joisonin soon joined the Koma clan under different surnames, where they dedicated their lives to this secret duty of ensuring that the main house of Koma lineage would never be snuffed out.

This military arm of Koma clan became a mighty sword which served the Fujiwara clan, who often times depended on Koma clan’s elite troops to conduct campaigns which could not be done through bureaucracy. While the Nara period, as the scholars call this time, was relatively peaceful, court intrigue and political infighting still existed among the Imperial Court. Thus, Koma clan and their elite Joisonin warriors were used as personal guards, assassins, and far-reaching strong arm of the Fujiwara clan through the height of Fujiwara clan’s influence and power.

As the Fujiwara clan continued to rise to prominence and became the official regents of the Imperial Family, Koma clan’s silent influence also grew. Given the Shoen of the Koma Province as well as its surrounding regions, the Koma clan grew as a secondary militant power serving as the royal retainers of the Fujiwara clan. Soon, the romanization of the imperial court life and the “way of the sword” that the Joisonin followed became an influential benchmark from which the unique “bushido” culture would be formed.

The true “samurai” as a military class began in 794 with the conscription of military forces under the Sei-i-Taishogun Otomo no Otomaro, whose campaign in the Honshu region was called by the Emperor Kanmu. Otomo no Otomaro, along with Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, began a ruthless campaign against the Isawa Confederation, the strongest Emishi group at the time. Fujiwara clan, seeing the necessity to put an end to Emishi threat once and for all, asked great favor of Koma clan, who obliged their family friendship by sending majority of their warriors to aid to two shoguns to end the conflict that would be later known as “Thirty-Eight Years’ War.” During the conflict, the display of military and strategic prowess shown by the Koma clan and its elite Joisonin members quickly spread and inspired the soldiers and aristocrats alike in this conflict, and cemented the reputation of the Koma clan as elite warriors.

In the end, even without the professionalism of Joisonin and the bravery of Koma clan, the genius of the two shoguns were more than a match for Isawa Confederation, who was shattered into demoralized masses by 802 CE. And as the Emishi leaders surrendered to Yamato’s might, Joisonin took great lengths to continue to stay in the battlefield, crushing the remnants of the Emishi resistance that took place until 811 CE. This brought great wealth to Koma clan, who was able to amass significant wealth from plundering the defiant Emishi tribes.

Thus, when the Emperor Kanmu disbanded the military following the end of the war, Koma clan became wealthy and influential landlord of the countryside. When combined with the Fujiwara court influence, the duo was able to enjoy significant political power in Yamato. This, however, in the end was only possible due to the separatist nature of the Koma clan at this time. While close ally of the Fujiwara clan, the heads of Koma clan did not seek to concern themselves with the matters of Kyoto, merely agreeing to the Fujiwara’s requests as equals and providing men and swords where the Fujiwara needed them. This, in turn, allowed Fujiwara to surface as a solitary regent power in Yamato during this period.

However, as the peace overlooked the land of Yamato, Koma clan’s influence and fame gradually faded back to obscurity. As Koma clan was disinterested in the court life in Kyoto, they did not grow in influence and their Shoen remained relatively small, whereas Fujiwara, Taira, and Minamoto along with other families grew in significance and relevance. While Koma clan initially did not mind such difference, treating the rise and fall of political influence altogether indifferently, the clan soon began to catch subtle hints from their steadfast ally.

Fujiwara clan, towards the 1000 CE, became a singular dominant force in the region, owing to intricate political maneuvering and imperial marriages. And as the Fujiwara clan’s influence became so high as to be able to dethrone the Emperor at will, their treatment of the Koma clan worsened. Seeing Koma clan as little more than tools, Fujiwara demanded rather than requested men and steel from the Koma clan. This breakdown of centuries of friendship at first was a shock to the Koma clan, who did not expect the change in their long-time friends. However, soon the Koma clan understood that such was the price to pay for the indifference in the politics of Kyoto, and slowly acted to gather court intrigues and networks outside the Fujiwara sphere of influence.

It wasn’t necessarily easy at first: Koma clan, after all, grew too dependent on their Fujiwara allies. It took several decades before they were able to reach out and create their own political networks separate from Fujiwara influence. And as Fujiwara continued to use Koma clan’s military might to dominate the conflicts between it and other influential family, the Minamoto clan, by far the closest to the Koma clan in terms of physical proximity, started to realize the fracturing lines between the relationship of Fujiwara’s royal retainers.

Minamoto, interested in separating the strong bushi clan such as Koma clan from Fujiwara as possible, began a series of secret meetings with the disgruntled lower branch members of Koma clan. This continued through the decade until Minamoto family was finally admitted into the Koma clan’s inner household, where the head of the family treatise with the Minamoto clan and allowed secret alliance between the two houses.

But while the secret meetings between Minamoto and Koma continued, the real blow to Fujiwara regency came at the hands of the imperial court itself. In 1068 CE, as Emperor Go-Sanjo broke the Fujiwara rule in the land, the Fujiwara regency gradually fell apart as the reforms by the Emperor systematically broke apart Fujiwara’s influence in the Imperial Court. Meanwhile, while Koma clan was also target of the shoen reforms and some of their defacto lands, the break in Fujiwara influence allowed Koma clan to distance themselves from exclusively dealing with the Fujiwara and allowed their steel to be used by other parties. Despite this seemingly drastic change in stance, Koma clan was still seen as a royal supporter to Fujiwara clan, who generally accepted the steel sales as understanding that they were no longer able to exclusively guarantee the sales. Rather, the family ties seemingly have strengthened, as many of the Koma clan members actively participated in skirmishes that was to protect Fujiwara’s holdings from other major clans.

Following the Emperor Go-Sanjo’s reforms, Koma clan became increasingly separate entities to the Fujiwara clan as the once-great clan fought among themselves for power that they had left. While Koma clan still came to the aid of Fujiwara whenever the conflict rose, the enthusiasm that Koma clan showed towards the interests of Fujiwara clan declined over the years. This, unfortunately, was not realized by the larger part of the Fujiwara clan, who began to distinguish Koma clan less from the rest of the “samurai clans” that the Fujiwara was dealing with. While this did not extend to every family members, the clan as a whole sufficiently treated Koma clan to such extent that ultimately this finally put the total separation between the two clans which matched so well together in the past.

Meanwhile, the Koma clan’s friendship with Minamoto clan grew in earnest as Fujiwara clan cared less about who Koma clan dealt with. As a prestigious samurai clan, Minamoto clan welcomed the “Koma steel,” as it became known, and frequently traded with the Koma clan for fine quality swords and armor. This in turn was returned by political protection from the Minamoto clan, which saw the strategic importance of Koma clan as not just another samurai clan, but of swordmakers and blacksmiths.

Finally, by the time Hogen Rebellion occurred in 1156 due to the disputes between members of the Fujiwara clan, Koma clan responded to neither side’s call for aid. This, in a way, however, was not necessarily because of Koma clan’s desire to separate from the Fujiwara’s completely. Rather, the Koma clan was unsure as to which side would fully win in the war, and as a result stated flatly that “the Koma clan is the sword of the Fujiwara. As such, we cannot take up arms against a Fujiwara, even if such order is given from another Fujiwara.”

Removed of their most powerful sword, the two sides of Fujiwara family declared complete segregation of their household from the Koma clan, stating that the Koma’s are a bunch of cowards that will not take arms for their master’s call. Koma clan, their pride hurt by Fujiwara calling themselves “masters” of Koma, refused any further communications, severing ties completely with the Fujiwara. Desperate, the Fujiwara’s reached out to prominent samurai clans of Taira and Minamoto, which participated in the rebellion.

While the rebellion ultimately failed and the Emperor Go-Shirakawa continued to stay in the throne, ultimately the damage was done, and the reign of Fujiwara which held a dominant grip on the Japanese politics during the Heian period started to crumble. And Koma clan, which did not participate in the conflict and ultimately earned the ire of the Fujiwara clan, no longer was able to enjoy the political backings of the Fujiwara. As a result, what Koma clansmen that existed in the political circles of Kyoto were either exiled or was forced to commit seppuku, as they did not take arms to protect their Emperor in their time of need. Shamed and without support, the Koma clan was ultimately spared from a complete destruction thanks to the Minamoto clan, who protected the Koma clan from losing their lands and their privileges.

Disgraced, the Koma clan turned internally and honed their swords, raising their own military might while the Taira clan rose to power. Regardless, the Koma clan would never again answer the call of the Fujiwara clan, and neither would Fujiwara clan ask for such a call. This is the reason why, even as Minamoto clan asked of the Koma clan’s aid in the Heiji rebellion, the Koma clan refused the call on the principle that the Koma clan would not side with the Fujiwara’s. This, however, ultimately came as a boon for the Koma clan, as the Minamoto clan was unable to usurp the Taira clan’s regency and led to Taira clan solidifying their stronghold as first of the samurai clans to control the land of Yamato.

The following twenty years Koma clan was left to their own devices, as both the Fujiwara clan and Minamoto clan was overshadowed by the dominance of the Taira clan. Seeing the Koma clan distance themselves and dedicate their own in the Shinto shrines, Taira clan was sufficiently pleased, and did not felt the need to touch the Koma clan which seemed to have ultimately denied the call of their two friendly clans. This left the Koma clan rather wealthy and powerful, as they were able to maintain their military capability and retain their ownership of their provinces. Reaching out, the Koma clan continued to solidify their grip in the land, which allowed the clan to grow to unprecedented heights. It also helped that, as Koma clan was left to their own devices, they were able to better consolidate their elite warriors and maintain significant portion of their prestigious weapons, which would come in handy in the following decade.

Ultimately, however, when the Minamoto clan was in its most dire situation, Koma clan honored the call. Fed up with the coup d’etat of Taira clan in 1179 that removed all of Taira clan’s rivals from the government, the Minamoto clan started a series of battles that would later be known as “Genpi War.” At first, neither the Minamoto or the Koma clan spoke to each other about joining forces to rid of Taira clan. For Koma, there was nothing to gain, as Koma clan never really recovered what little political influence that it held before the severing with the Fujiwara clan. For Minamoto, Koma clan was seen as unreliable, as they did not answer the call to arms during the Heiji Rebellion. However, when the Minamoto forces were defeated soundly in the battle of Ishibashiyama in 1180, Minamoto fled to Koma province while reaching out to the Koma clan for aid. Taira forces, judging that Koma clan would not move from their shrines, pursued deep into the province, making their intention known that the Taira was only here for the Minamoto no Yoritomo.

Despite all odds, the Koma clan still remembered the kindness of Minamoto clan and their historical friendship. Thus, when the defeated Minamoto forces were chased all the way to the foot of Koma shrine, Koma clan marched out to face the Taira forces in the Battle of Koma Shrine. Recreating the Thirty-Eight Years’ War of the past, the Koma clan’s Joisonins led a massacre of the Taira’s forces which led to the death of Taira no Kiyomori, who was leading the army at the time. The following rout caused the disarrayed Taira forces to retreat to lick their wounds, and allowed Yoritomo to consolidate his forces in Todai-ji and allowed the Minamoto clan to start the next phase of Genpi war on a favorable ground (unlike in IRL where Yoritomo is resounded defeated and the Todai-ji is burnt as a result of angered Taira clan sacking the temple in the Seige of Nara).

Despite the initial success and the much-needed heavy cavalry that came as a result of the Koma clan joining the battle, the battle was grounded to a stall for about three years on the account of famine that ravaged the countryside. The war resumed in 1183 with both sides recouping from their losses, but the “anti-Taira league” formed by Minamoto grew significantly larger in the recess. Other samurai clans, seeing that the unstoppable Taira could bleed and that the Koma clan, which brought such a bloodied blow to the Taira, were siding with the Minamoto, joined against the Taira’s tyranny. This resulted in an overwhelming numeric advantage to the Minamoto forces in the Battle of Kurikara, which ended with a complete route of Taira army to a point that there was barely enough men to fortify for the siege of Kyoto that would follow shortly afterwards.

As the Minamoto forces was able to consolidate in 1180 (and not before, unlike IRL), they were better equipped to force the siege, resulting in the Minamoto clan being able to “rescue” the Emperor Go-Shirakawa in the siege of Kyoto (unlike in IRL, where the Emperor escape the grip of Taira clan after the Taira forces, along with the emperor, fled the capital). Shattered and unable to shake the pursuers, Taira no Munemori, the leader of the Taira clan at the time, was unable to retreat to their clan’s historical homeland and dies from pursuers in 1183 at the Battle of Mizushima. (This event is completely different from IRL, where Munemori was able to escape as Minamoto clan was split in leadership and was unable to concentrate the attack on the Taira forces, allowing broken Taira to lick their wounds in and around Seto Inland Sea, which was their ancestorial home territory.)

Victorious, Minamoto no Yoritomo and the Minamoto forces centered their work on the reestablishment of the capital, leaving Koma no Motokata, leader of the Koma clan’s forces, in charge of mopping up the Taira remnants in the Honshu and Shikoku region. Koma forces took this mission to heart, result in series of battles that would take place from 1183 to 1185 when the final supporters of Taira met their death and the Taira clan was completely wiped from the lands of Yamato.

While this was occurring, Emperor Go-Shirakawa granted Minamoto no Yoritomo the stewardship of all provinces, which would end up with the beginning of Kamakura Shogunate in the following years after the death of the Emperor. As the Genpei War came to an end and successful Koma no Motokata returned to Kyoto, Yoritomo awarded the general with a seat in Yoritomo’s bakufu, and eventually would become one of the leading figures of Samurai dokoro and would serve royally by the side of the Shugun in the years to come.

As the era of Kamakura Shogunate came in the land of Yamato, Koma clan was positioned in a much better situation than in the past, as Minamoto clan honored the Koma clan with prestige and wealth befitting their new friendship. Again retaining the Koma Province to themselves, the Koma clan was better positioned to influence the political situations in the Shogunate than they were when Fujiwara clan reigned over Kyoto. Many Joisonins were employed under the Shogun as capable generals and elite soldiers, and the Koma clan was able to better utilize this position to bring wealth and power to their family. This period oversaw large expansion projects of Koma Shrine and its fortification to the fortress that is well known today.

“Learning” from their mistakes in the past, Koma clan sought this time to fully integrate itself in the politics of Kamakura Shogunate. As Koma Shrine is close to the Kamakura, the clan was in an ideal place to send its delegation to play a key role in the bureaucracy of the Shogunate. This interest that Koma clan held towards the Kamakura politics was generally welcomed by Yoritomo, who believed Koma clan would bring stability among Minamoto clan. Indeed, in some parts, this was true: due to such a strong show of force that Koma clan showed during the Genpei Wars, for as long as Yoritomo was the shogun there was no outward denial of his decisions. Even his brothers, Yoshitsune and Noriyori, who were against Yoritomo when it came to the matters of Hojo clan and the influence that they wielded in Kamakura, were largely silent in fear of disagreement leading to complete purge of their loved ones.

However, in reality, things were far from simple. Hojo family, being the offshoot of the Taira family whom aligned with Yoritomo during the Genpei Wars as well as being largely responsible for being a strong political foundation for the rising Shogun during his time of need. Hojo clan, despite understanding the need for the purge of their parent house, was nevertheless bitter of the Koma clan which was so through in purging all remanent of Taira family. Likewise, Koma clan was altogether suspicious of Hojo clan for their connection to the Taira family despite the Hojo clan’s royalty to Yoritomo. Thus, while the two families worked to create the foundation of the new shogunate, the two family was working clandestinely to undermine each other in bitter rivalry in Kamakura.

This political entry of the Koma clan ultimately saw through the introduction of Sena clan, a now infamous shinobi clan in existence to this day. While the family itself existed as another “immigrant family” bearing lineage all the way back to one of the royal families of Goguryeo, the family was mostly integrated into the Koma clan through the decades of Koma clan “keeping the bloodline pure” by only marrying their highest branch with those of pure Korean descents. Therefore, by the time the name “Sena” clan came to be, the bloodline of previous family has already merged too closely with Koma clan to be easily distinguished, and thus was easier to say that Sena clan was created as a result of Koma clan’s need of a lesser house dedicated to the service of espionage rather than continuation of the old name.

Sena clan, thus, was chosen carefully from a stock of higher loyal individuals, who would scour the countryside for capable young orphans who held no allegiance. They would thus be raised over the years to become an excellent espionage agent and, when situation called for it, an anonymous killer on the service of the Koma clan. Although Sena clan’s founding year is largely unknown due to Koma clan’s secrecy prior to the Kamakura Shogunate era, it is well-known that in the years following the introduction of Koma clan into the bakufu, the espionage activities of Sena clan can be traced even in the early years of Koma-Hojo rivalry, proving that Sena clan was in existence for some time prior to the Genpei Wars.

Over the years of Yoritomo’s reign, this secret war between Hojo clan and the Koma clan continued, with each other striving to gather one up against the other as possible. Yoritomo, while aware of the feud between the two, was not necessarily ready to act, as taking one side would means removing the support of one of his two strongest allies. Rather, Yoritomo strived to play the mediator, trying to find ways for both sides to be happy. To some extent, this was relatively successful: Koma clan was largely uninterested in controlling the bakufu itself as much as ensuring that their demands were represented in bakufu, and thus disputes were easy to manage during Yoritomo’s lifetime.

However, this shaky truce eventually boiled over when Yoritomo ultimately passed away, leading to Hojo clan’s regency over the young Shogun, Minamoto no Yoriie. While alarmed, Koma clan stood relatively silent, paying allegiance to the new liege with the promise given by Hojo Tokimasa that the shogun will be allowed to make his own decisions once he reaches the age of adulthood. However, when the Sena clan’s agents came with the news that Yoriie was hatching a plan to fight against the Hojo clan. Thus, the Koma clan, along with members of Minamoto clan who shared in Koma’s belief that Hojo was seeking to be the puppetmaster of the Shogun, seized the opportunity in 1203 when the Yoriie was retired to Iza Province, where the shogun is suspected to have died in the hands of Hojo Tokimasa. Demanding the return of Yoriie back to Kamakura, Koma clan interrupted the purge of the Hiki clan and rescued the young Minamoto no Ishiman from certain death by the Hojo clan.

With the heir secured and Yoriie presumed dead, the Koma and the rest of the Minamoto clan came down on Hojo clan demanding to know the bottom of this regency. Thanks to the background work by the Sena clan in obtaining evidence of the regency and the orders of Tokimasa, ultimately the Hojo clan was ousted from Kamakura, and Minamoto no Hironori, son of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (unlike IRL where Minamoto no Yoshitsune ultimately died due to Yoritomo seeking the kill his half-brother due to suspicious of betrayal, Yoshitsune laid relatively low following the Genpei Wars due to the consolidation of Yoritomo as Minamoto’s head far, far earlier than IRL. As a result, Yoritomo had no qualms with his half-brother being bestowed the title of Governor of Iyo and other titles which would later prove invaluable in making his son’s voice legitimate voice of Minamoto against Hojo Tokimasa.) reigned as a regent to young Ichiman which concluded the short reign of Hojo family in the Kamakura shogunate.

In the aftermath of this incident that became later known as “Hojo Rebellion,” Hojo Masako, Yoritomo’s wife, fully retired into nunnery where she would still maintain her influence as the wife of the first shogun. However, Hojo family was completely exiled from the Kamakura bakufu and was forced to return to Iza Province. This created an apt situation for polarizing of opinions, which culminated in the shogunate eventually sending forces to Iza Province to exterminate the Hojo clan once and for all in 1205. Despite this bad blood, however, Emperor Go-Toba ultimately intervened against the actions of Kamakura citing the Hojo clan’s invaluable aid in the Genpei Wars. Hironori, understanding that consolidation of the shogunate came first, relented, and Hojo clan was spared from complete destruction. This would later come to be the shogunate’s downfall, as Fujiwara clan up north and Hojo clan down south will continue to be the ire of the Kamakura Shogunate for the years to come.

Managing to maintain autonomous Shogunate, the Minamoto clan stabilized with Hironori stepping down from his position of regent. Koma clan, instrumental in the maintenance of the Minamoto clan’s strength, was deemed a steadfast friend of the shogunate, and continued to exert vast influence in the bakufu alongside Hiki clan to whom the new Shogun owned his life to. Thus, the three clan maintained a relative stability and was able to retain an iron grip as the defacto rulers of the land of Yamato.

Under the Kamakura Shogunate, the Minamoto clan created a new code of law known as Goseibai Shikimoku (same as IRL) in 1232 which would better codify the legal system to aid in control of local rules and vassals. Furthermore, this systemized legal code outlining the duties of stewards, vassals, and constables allowed greater control of the Hojo clan overall, and was able to firmly establish Kamakura as the ultimate political body of the land.

It is also at this time that a unique cultural split occurred between south and center, as the Hojo clan, more accepting of Buddhist principles, allowed the establishment of Buddhist temples and ideologies through the southern portion of Yamato where their influence still remained. Meanwhile, Minamoto clan and Kamakura Shogunate emphasized more on the traditional, Shinto branch of worship, which was mostly fueled by the Koma clan’s belief of “kami” looking over all of Nippon. While neither was persecuted and fully integrated with one another as time moved on, the emphasis of one religion over another created a clear cultural division between the two section of Yamato, allowing a unique culture to flourish at the same time period.

Ultimately, the peace of Kamakura Shogunate came to a bitter end in 1274 with the Mongol Invasion. Kublai Khan (much like IRL), demanded that the land of Yamato pledge fealty to the Yuan Dynasty and provide tribute to the father nation, which the Shogunate ultimately refused. In response, the Mongol forces stormed the beaches of southern Japan, which was first met by the defenders of Hojo clan. In truth, neither the Koma or Minamoto was too eager to send help to Hojo, who were always seen as historical rivals and blood-enemy of both clans. However, hearing the news from the Sena shinobis of the destruction that the new weapons of the Chinese caused in the Invasion of Tsukushima and Invasion of Iki, the Shogunate was forced into action, mobilizing their forces to march to the capital of Kyoto.

However, before the Shogunate’s forces can be organized and sent off from Kyoto to meet the Mongol forces, report came through that the invasion was defeated. The accounts by Sena agents were perplexing at best: while the Yuan forces were baffling in their battle prowess and Hakata where they landed was burned to the ground, the attackers never made too far inland. Rather, while the Hojo forces were put to a rout and established a final defensive perimeter over the night, the invasion fleet was mostly gone by the following day. Sena agents account strong winds during that night, which to the Shinto priests proclaimed as “kamikaze,” believing that the kami was looking over the wellbeing of the Shogunate. Meanwhile, this only served to bolster the morale of the Hojo forces, who boasted that they alone were defenders of Yamato while the Minamoto and Koma clan stood cowering at the invaders.

Understanding that the first invasion was not a strategic defeat but a natural disaster, Kublai Khan commissioned a secondary invasion. This news was immediately heard by Japan from Korean, who was an unwilling participant of this war. The Shogunate proposed a public works project to fortify the beaches that would be large enough to be the center of next invasion. However, high off their initial victory, the Hojo clan refused such public works, stating that they were will not listen to the cowards of Kamakura.

Thus, when the second invasion came in 1281, the Hojo clan was immediately pushed to the brink of destruction. News of Tsushima and Iki being once again succumbing to the invaders, the Kamakura Shogunate this time acted with more haste. Mobilizing their military, they gathered in great force in Kyoto to march out as a collective army against the Mongol invaders. However, Hojo clan, still believing that they were able to best the Mongols yet again, massed the forces on their own to face the invaders first. This would turn out to be disastrous for not only the Hojo clan, but also for rest of the noble families of Yamato, as Hojo’s resounding defeat after defeat in the Nagato campaign saw almost all of fighting force that Hojo and their allies had. And, as Hojo was still among the most influential clan in the region, meant that the Shogunate basically only had half of their full battle potential against technologically superior and tactically advantageous enemy.

As the Mongol forces moved inland and started to sack the Iwami Province, combined forces of Minamoto, Koma, and Hiki clans marched out from Kyoto to meet the invaders. The two sides clashed in a series of battle in Izumo Province in what is now known as “the Izumo Campaign.” Sena clan’s espionage activities played a critical role in this campaign, as none of the Shogunate generals knew the lay of the land truly well to play to the defensive advantage, and what forces that could play that role were still in a rout from the defeat in Nagato Campaign. Sena clan also provided stealthy operations that worked to cripple of the Mongol invasions by assassinating lower-rank leaders and creating a breakdown of chain of command while warning the cities and villages that were in the pathway of the Mongols in advance so that the Mongols will be left without spoils of plunder.

However, despite this crucial legwork by the shinobis, the first several battle where the two sides faced ended up disaster after disaster, with several of the prominent Koma clan members perishing in the battle. The Shogunate forces were simply overwhelmed by the larger tactical overview of the Mongols, who moved more as a military unit than Shogunate troops which were still used to the individual one-on-one style of battles. As a result, the Shogunate generals had to learn to play the same tactical game that the Mongols were playing, which always came at a heavy cost to their troops’ numbers as well as morale.

Ultimately, the single battle proved instrumental in repelling the invasion. The Battle of Izumo Shrine started with the Mongols essentially surrounding the Shogunate forces. Unable to retreat to more favorable position, the generals decided in one, final battle. The generals and their retinues gathered in Izumo Shrine, where Koma no Tomotake, a head of Koma clan at the time as well as head priest of Koma Shrine, interceded in the deserted shrine to pray to the kami for their victory. At the eve of the battle, fortune smiled on the Shogunate forces as Sena Shinobis were able to set fire to the enemy commander’s tents, and in the result chaos managed to assassinate larger bulk of the Mongol commanders, disarrayed from the loss of leadership, the Shogunate forces charged in a desperate gambit to break through to the countryside. At the end of the day, the Shogunate forces were able to live to fight another day, and the Mongol forces were disorientated and leaderless.

The Battle of Izumo Shrine marked the turning point of the invasion. While guards were increased to a point where Sena Shinobis were no longer able to infiltrate the enemy lines, the Mongol forces were unable to mount proper offensive strategies without enough commanding officers to relay such orders. The Shogunate forces, realizing that they could never win a war in open field, instead split up into tactical units which attempted to ambush and whittle down the enemy little by little. Unable to take the attrition, the Mongol invaders concluded that it was best to reorganize the troops to begin invasion anew by withdrawing to Oki Islands. The Shogunate forces gave chase, and the Island was under siege by small raids day and night, which continued to drain the enemy forces. Frustrated, the Mongol invaders reorganized into a secondary push that was to happen in the morning of August 15th.

However, again almost as if the gods have smiled on the people of Yamato, the typhoon again came especially strong, crashing into the coastlines of Japan while the invasion fleet was beginning to set sail. The generals of the invasion unsuccessfully attempted to make beachhead in the Izumo Province, and many crashed to their doom. The Shogunate forces gave chase, purging the routed Mongolian troops with vengeance. However, to the Southern Chinese and Korean troops, the Shogunate troops showed mercy so long as they did not resist, as they felt that they were equally the victim of this war as the people of Yamato.

In the end, the second invasion was a sound victory for the Yamato people, but the southern portion of the Japan were ravaged by the Mongol forces while the Shogun’s forces were almost completely depleted. The economic devastation left nothing but scars which would create much trouble and ultimately would be the cause of the downfall of the Kamakura Shogunate in the future.

However, it is at this point that Koma clan began to send their spies overseas, seeing the necessity to be well-informed about their surroundings, Koma clan sent out Sena shinobi as spies and emissaries to faraway lands in search of news and technologies. This, in the end, would result in the technological innovation of Japan in the future as Japan came to continue to absorb the technological innovations that the Koreans and the Chinese would make.

[Oscalantine]

As Shogunate was drastically weakened by the Mongol invasion, Kamakura bakufu began to employ talented individuals outside of major families. This was the extent that the Shogunate was hurt, as Koma clan was reduced to almost 1/3 of its original size prior to the invasion while Hiki and Minamoto clan was nearly halved. Furthermore, Hojo clan was almost completely shattered, with barely enough influence to keep control of Iza Province. This gave opportunities of Fujiwara clan up north to continue to disrupt the Shogunate, which led to several skirmishes that dotted the end of 1200s.

The weakened Shogunate also gave opportunity for the Emperor, tired of taking orders from Kamakura, to attempt to break out from the yoke of the Shogunate. Aligning themselves with Fujiwara clan, Emperor Go-Fukakusa attacked Kamakura directly in the First Battle of Kamakura in 1285. This invasion, however, was forewarned to the Koma clan by the Sena shinobis, and was able to be repelled without much difficulties. However, the resulting “rebellion” by the Emperor caused significant distrust of Kyoto’s intentions by the Shogunate, who, while couldn’t flat-out dismiss the Emperor, decided to put further restrictions on what little authorities that the Emperor carried. Furthermore, in order to curtail the political foundation of the Emperor, Minamoto clan promised two contending Imperial Lines to alternate the throne, which the Shogunate hopped would curtail the power of Kyoto.

However, this peace would not last long as Emperor Go-Daigo again attempted to challenge the Shogunate rule in 1331 with the help of both the Fujiwara and Hojo clan. Threatened from both sides, the Shogunate decided to employ Ashikaga Takauji, a capable general who was shown to be capable of holding the Fujiwara clan up north. Takauji, bestowed the title and office to first repel the Fujiwara invasion, was joined by Koma no Suekuni, a young aspiring general of the Koma clan who represented the attaché of the Shogunate’s forces. While the Ashikaga was given bulk of the forces of the Shogunate, Minamoto and Hiki would create a defensive perimeter in Kamakura where they would repel the Hojo invaders until Ashikaga would be able to return.

(This “rebellion” by Emperor Go-Daigo was much larger due to the changes in history. Firstly, the Fujiwara clan was still prosperous up north and was left unscathed during the Mongol Invasion. Second, the Mongol Invasion was far more damaging, as the prideful Hojo refused the Shogunate’s demand to create a defensive perimeter in Southern Japan, which would have allowed the Mongol invaders to land and cause havoc. As a direct result, the Ashikaga would be given far greater force than previously given, while the Shogunate’s major clans would be put to defense. This, of course, would end up being a fatal mistake by the Minamoto clan.)

The following series of conflict, which would be known as “Genko War” in the future, oversaw a dramatic change in the land of Yamato. Ashikaga, at first one of many loyal retainers of the Shogunate, obliged to the orders of the bakufu and led the troops against the Fujiwara, where his tactical genius and the intelligence from Koma clan proved instrumental in in rather swift victory. It is at this time that Seukuni would be impressed by Ashikaga to eventually serve as his retinue in the future. Despite this seeming initial victory, even with the combined force of Shogunate and Ashikaga, Fujiwara clan’s northern holdings were difficult to subjugate. While the Fujiwara forces were untested by the Mongols and easily saw defeat after defeat under the Shogunate’s tactical prowess and battle-hardened troops, Fujiwara’s lands were untouched by war. As a result, the forces of Fujiwara could easily stand lengthy siege while Ashikaga’s troops were unable to continue such a costly campaign.

In the end, the deciding factor came down to Minamoto and Hiki forces, who were able to break out from their siege in Kamakura and fell down on Hojo forces, eventually being victorious. This victory at the Second Battle of Kamakura in 1332, after all, was already foregone conclusion. Hojo and their allies were most directly hit by the Mongols, and few years of recovery wasn’t able to replenish an entire generation’s worth of manpower. Thus, when Ashikaga was able to push back to Fujiwara clan into playing a defensive game, the Hojo forces were unable to continue the siege, resulting in the Hojo forces giving ground until Kyoto was taken and Emperor Go-Daigo was captured in his palace.

The victorious Shogunate decided to impose further restrictions on the Emperor, and immediately asked for the abdication of the Emperor (unlike IRL, this was first instance of this occurring. As the Minamoto clan maintained relative peace and order in the region prior to the Mongol Invasion, the combined force of Koma, Hiki, and Minamoto clans were more than sufficient to keep the power of Kyoto and Hojo in check. As a result, there was never a need for the Shogunate to ask for the abdication of the Emperor, as the Emperor never lashed out in such a way to begin with). When this news reached Ashikaga, he was outraged, and became disillusioned with the Shogunate, as he believed in the role of Shogun as the protector and prosecutor of the divine will of the Emperor, not the other way around. This led to Ashikaga creating a truce with the Fujiwara and even obtaining support of the Fujiwara in gaining troops to march to Kamakura to demand the cessation of Shogunate’s wicked action.

It is at this time, the Shogunate forces become largely divided. Many generals were outraged by the Ashikaga’s defection and simply took their troops and left, making haste to let the Shogunate know of the Ashikaga’s betrayal. Koma clan, however, stayed, as Koma no Seukuni was impressed by Ashikaga to stay, and continued to pledge his loyalty to the general. Once the news reached Kamakura, outraged Koma leaders immediately declared Seukuni a traitor and excommunicated him. However, in a strange turn of events, the upper families of Koma clan decided to allow the Sena clan to continue to support Seukuni’s actions. Despite this action of excommunication and immediate order to the Seukuni’s forces to come back to Kamakura, the Shogunate did ask for the Koma clan members to step down from bakufu and stay in their Shrine, as Seukuni’s action disgraced the family (in a way, this was the best that Koma clan could hope for. Minamoto, as Ashikaga was their best general and obtained large force aligning with Fujiwara, couldn’t risk alienating the Koma clan as well and leading to Koma clan from defecting as well.).

In the following Third Battle of Kamakura in 1333, the defending Shogunate forces were crushed, and led to a siege of Kamakura which ultimately ended with the Shogun and his retinues committing Seppuku in shame. With the Shogun’s surrender, the Emperor Go-Daigo was restored to the throne and was able to take the leadership as the ultimate rule of law, which began a series of movements back to the old system known as Kenmu Restoration. This, however, would eventually play out to a series of disputes between Samurai class and the court nobles which would end up with the restoration of the Shogunate under the Ashikaga’s reign.

Once the peace was restored and Minamoto clan was removed from power, Seukuni was given a new family name of “Musashi” by the now-Shogun Ashikaga Takauji. While Emperor Go-Daigo and his retinues continued to resist in the southern portion of Japan, this “rebellion” was eventually crushed in 1336 (unlike IRL where the two-court system lasted much longer… this didn’t happen as Southern Japan was never able to really restore its economic potential until the middle of Muromachi period). Musashi no Suikuni was given the lands where the old Kamakura Shogunate and Minamoto clan was most powerful (IRL this would encompass Musashi and Sagami Province). Furthermore, Ashikaga Shogunate also gave Seukuni authority to do with Koma Province as he saw fit, to which Seukuni acted with relative indifference, which led to the Koma clan, although disgraced, to survive through the purge of Kamakura Shogunate.

In an interesting turn of events, the Ashikaga Shogunate was able to solidify their claims as the new defacto rulers of Japan through the help of clans from across Yamato. And with both Hojo and Fujiwara clan swearing fealty to the new Ashikaga Shogunate, the new Shogun began his reign with the entirety of Japan in his side, which allowed significant stability in the region early in the days of Ashikaga Shogunate. Furthermore, for a long time Musashi clan served as an important ally to the fledging Shogunate, as the Shogun could always rely on Seukuni’s help when his own ruling base of Shimotsuke Province was threatened. This allowed Ashikaga Shogunate to establish itself in Kyoto rather than Kamakura, which assisted further in stabilizing the Shogunate and thus allowed the subjugation of imperial court all the easier.

Thus, Ashikaga constructed a district from within Kyoto that will be later known as the Hana-no-gosho, or Flower Palace, which served as a new “bakufu” for the new Shogunate, while Kamakura was largely left as a Musashi clan’s new center of operations. Furthermore, as the Hiki and Minamoto clan were completely subjugated and destroyed, such a positioning assisted in keeping a delicate balance between the Shogunate, Hojo clan, and Fujiwara clan, as the positions of Ashikaga’s strongholds were more than capable of checking the advances from both sides.

Thus, while the Koma clan itself again disappeared into obscurity, Musashi clan rose as a forefront and steadfast ally of the new Shogunate, filling the position that Koma clan very much filled in Kamakura Shogunate. This all the more allowed smooth transition from Kamakura to Ashikaga, Musashi clan were able to confiscate individuals and information that the old Shogunate utilized from the Koma clan in exchange for their continued survival. Thus, the Ashikaga Shogunate managed to stabilize much quicker (than IRL), able to conduct serious reforms by the year 1345, when Takauji still reigned over Kyoto.

At this time, Takauji attempted a system of government which did not exist before: the daimyo system. While these regional rules existed in one form or another since the early days of Kamakura Shogunate, it was Ashikaga Shogunate that legitimized their right to rule, and allowed greater autonomy in exchange for swearing of fealty to the Shogunate. Furthermore, the major daimyos would be allowed to participate in the politics of Kyoto, which would include a capable “deputy” who will advise the Shogun and be his word as a steward to the Shogunate. This first “Dairi Shogun” of the new Shogunate would be Musashi no Seukuni, who would play a pivotal role in the creation of new legal codes which would legitimize the Daimyos under the rule of law of Japan.

While the Daimyo system would end up creating the years of constant civil war known as “Sengoku Period” in later periods of history, this system had significant merit to the fledging Shogunate. The main problem that Ashikaga had (much like IRL) was lack of physical capital. Ashikaga only really controlled Shimotsuke, which was in sharp contrast to the previous governments like Fujiwara, Taira, and Minamoto, who held large swaths of land and had many vassals to call upon. Meanwhile, although his allies in defeating the Miniamoto’s, Fujiwara and Hojo still maintained a significant portion of land both north and south which could be used to threaten the Shogunate. Thus, the answer to this problem was to legitimize all daimyos as equals under the eyes of Shogunate, which would free the lands from Hojo and Fujiwara’s influence while at the same time share the power with these powerful clans to better stabilize the Shogunate. Another added bonus was the establishment of Shogunate as the final decision-making body of all of Japan, as every Daimyo, including Fujiwara and Hojo, were technically a retinue swearing fealty to the Shogun.

Thus, for roughly one-hundred years, the Ashikaga Shogunate was able to stabilize and lead the land of Yamato in relative peace and harmony. However, in 1450s, the system started to break down with wear. This was primarily caused by the inward-looking nature of the Ashikaga Shogunate which alienated the daimyos loyal to the Shogunate. This allowed those who are in the position of Dairi, namely those from Hojo and Fujiwara clan, to become increasingly more powerful and influential, as Shogunate itself become the imperial court that Ashikaga sought to replace.

Eventually, this came to a full-scale rebellion which became the precursor to the Sengoku Period with the beginning of “Hojo Rebellion,” in which frustrated Hojo clan stormed the Kyoto Flower Palace to overthrow Dairi Shogunate falling under the hands of Togashi clan, a small Daimyo in the Kaga Province. While the later documents show that this was the ploy of the Fujiwara clan to separate the Hojo clan from Hosokawa clan in order to reduce both of their alliance, the resulting full-scale war between the two influential daimyos from 1455 to 1465 caused no small devastation in the southern part of Japan as well as served to be the final nail in the coffin of extremely weakened Shogunate. Disillusioned Daimyos including the Musashi no longer stayed loyal to the Shogunate, and those whose loyal hang by a thread, like the Fujiwara clan, started active wars to gain control over more territory and establish a political stronghold in which they could reign. Hojo Rebellion thus is widely considered by scholars of Japan now as the beginning of Sengoku Period, a final chapter of civil unrest in recorded Japanese history.

It is around this period of time that Musashi clan started to branch out and away from the rest of the Daimyos as a sponsor of many maritime expeditions. As Sena clan shinobis arrived with news of the bigger world, Musashi no Arima, a powerful Daimyo hailing from Musashi clan off the coast of Edo, sought to develop the small fishing village few distance away from the Koma Shrine into a fully-fledged harbor complete with dry docks for better construction of ships capable of traveling the high seas. An avid reader of histories salvaged from Kamakura, Arima understood all too well the advantage of creating a navy capable of traversing the seas. And while he would never see his dreams of finding new and exciting trade routes through the Asian coastlines, the development projects which he fathered will eventually bring Yamato to brighter fear beyond their home islands.

Thus, by late 1400s, Musashi-sponsored expeditionary ships were frequently reaching farther and farther away from the main island, mapping the high seas. This was mostly possible due to the agents spread in China and Korea by the Sena clan, whose shinobi managed to blend into the provinces to gain keep understanding of the region’s sturdy shipwright technologies. While at the time leagues behind, the espionage allowed the Yamato ships to gain the capabilities to move more and more away from the local waters and allow establishment of small trade ports in largely uninhabited islands to the south of Yamato. Furthermore, the tentative trades established once again with Chinese and Korean traders further allowed the melding of advanced culture and technologies to Yamato, allowing Musashi clan to gain insight and knowledge of the outside world.

Following the aftermath of Hojo Rebellion, the Ashikaga Shogunate was greatly weakened to the point of unable to control the Daimyos who vied for regional dominance. This was mainly to do with how the Ashikaga Shogunate structured themselves: by allowing self-rule of Daimyos and establishing themselves as the final rule of law, the Ashikaga clan only held political power of the region not a physical rule. Thus, when the Daimyos understood through Hojo Rebellion that Ashikaga’s rule was not infallible, many stopped supporting the Ashikaga’s control over their provinces, which caused decades of civil unrest that is now known as “The Sengoku Period.”

This period oversaw many famous heroes and villains which would be romanticized as the world move on from this period, but the most famous of which was the Usami Kaga, a woman Daimyo and a very skilled tactician hailing from Togashi clan who will eventually sire a matriarchal “Kaga clan” which would become the foundation of new power in the region. Usami’s reign from 1546 to 1578 oversaw the unification of the central provinces under Kaga’s name and the usurpation of Flower Palace and the end of the Ahikaga Shogunate as we know it. The burning of Kyoto in 1556 is widely considered by many historians as the end of the Ashikaga Shogunate and the beginning of short-lived “Kaga Shogunate.” While not fully recognized by most Daimyos, the Kaga Shogunate will live to modernize and standardize many of the new and developing technologies that were started to be widely used thanks to the Musashi clan’s influence. Kaga clan’s impressive understanding of arquebus brought by the Europeans in 1512 (this is widely different from IRL, as merchants and explorers commissioned by the Musashi clan would have explored southward and would have founded and traded with the Europeans earlier, resulting in the European technology, as well as Asians’ becoming widely used in Japan earlier) gave the clan edge against other clans who were much less disciplined against such new technology.

However, while Kaga clan managed to unify the central and southern portions of Japan, they were less capable of taking over the western provinces of Yamato. This was mainly due to the Musashi clan and Fujiwara clan’s firm grip on these lands, and thus creating a three-way division between the land of Yamato by 1571. Kaga clan became the official Kampaku of Emperor Yokoin (IRL Prince Masahito, as Kaga clan’s burning of Kyoto caused Emperor Ogimachi to die from injuries earlier) and gathered legitimacy as the ruler of Yamato by the year 1568, which fully enraged and distanced Fujiwara clan which believed themselves as the rightful protector of the Emperor. However, Musashi clan, which really had no real love for conflict, instead chose to settle the conflict with the Kaga clan, with Nijou Musashi bowing to the Kaga’s Shogunate and acknowledging the Shogun’s legitimacy in exchange for Musashi clan’s neutrality in the upcoming conflict with the Fujiwara and sparing the remnants of Ashikaga clan in Shimotsuke Province.

With the biggest obstacle of their reign harmlessly neutralized, the Kaga clan waged an all-out campaign against the Fujiwara clan, which had by now controlled the northern provinces of Yamato for centuries and even expanding their reach to Hokkaido. This campaign would last over two decades with Usami Kaga dying of winter sickness during the campaign in 1574. Sou Kaga, the last Shogun of the Kaga Shogunate, would carry her sister’s mantle and continue the campaign, in which the Fujiwara clan would be fully conquered by 1588.

After the victory and unification of Yamato under the Kaga Shogunate, Sou’s major problem was now settled flatly towards the Musashi clan. Still being the most powerful clan due to being untouched by war, Sou needed a way to unify the clans that were, up until her unification, were at odds with each other while cutting down Musashi’s influence somewhat. This, when combined with Sou’s own illusion of grandeur of accomplishing what not even the Ashikaga could manage, that is, unification of all of Japan under her rule, began to prepare an invasion of China.

This invasion, from the pointview of the Japanese, was more or less understandable: the Wei Dynasty at the time was seen by the Japanese as under the influence of weak Emperors. Just few years back, the White Lotus Rebellion was seen as a sort of symbol of how weakened the imperial authority in China was. Furthermore, the Kaga Shogunate received intelligence from the Musashi clan that the focus of the Empire was occupied north as the Empire was undertaking projects to expand its holdings in the frigid lands of Siberia.

Thus, the pompous Sou called for arms against the Chinese, asking the Joseon Dynasty a passage through their lands in order to attack the faltering and false Chinese Emperor. This, of course, was rejected in all sense of the word, which prompted the Japanese invasion of Korea (known as Bunroku no eri in Yamato and Imjin War in Korea) in 1592.

This war, well documented enough through the histories to not worth too much of a mention in the Japanese annuls of history, was the definitive blow to the Kaga Shogunate and the end of the Sengoku Period of civil unrest. For while the Japanese military was highly disciplined and well-trained in the art of war, the Japanese forces were not necessarily as well accustomed to naval battles, where all but the Musashi clan did not have a proper naval force to speak of. This, when combined with the brilliant naval tactician by the name of Yi Sun-sin led the Korean navy into decisive victories well into the campaign, the Japanese forces were unable to be linked back with home forces for supplies. This eventual lengthy grind and the full participation of the Wei forces put a full stop to the invasion forces, and the Japanese were pushed back to the southern half of the Korean Peninsula by 1597.

As the war ground to a stalemate in the southern half of the country, brief peace talks were attempted by Wei and Japan around 1597. However, these talks were ultimately unsuccessful due to the proud Sou unwilling to look at the facts in the front lines. To many in the front lines, it was obvious that the war that was fought between themselves during the Sengoku Period was widely different and considerably more “honorable” than the war of desperation that the Koreans fought in their home soil. Furthermore, it was obvious that the naval power of the Yamato was truly and well spent as there was barely enough ships to bring the soldiers home.

However, in a sense, Sou’s plans were working: both the Fujiwara and Musashi clan’s forces were spent, and the land of Yamato seemed fully in her grasp. But as the unsuccessful talks continued, there was a stir in the Koma Province which the Kaga clan did not foresee. For while the Koma clan was pushed into irrelevance during the 1300s as the Ashikaga Shogunate came to power, they were far from weakened. Holding significant wealth from being a neutral participant through the turbulent times of Sengoku Period due to the umbrella of Musashi clan, the Koma clan raised up its banner for the first time in centuries to fight against the Kaga Shogunate in what many historians call the finale of the Sengoku Period. This series of wars, known as Sutorenja War, was seen as a complete surprise to the shogunate due to its lightning-fast takeover of the country.

For while this conflict is seen as a “war,” there was no true large-scale battle to speak of. In fact, the first two weeks of this conflict was marred with one political assassination after another, as Sena shinobi’s were once again in the frontpage of Japanese history as oldest and the most skilled ninja clans of Yamato. Shogun was among the first to be dispatched in this way, as her body was found one morning as her retinue rushed to report the news that the Emperor Go-Yozei was missing from the Imperial Palace. Thus, by the time that Koma clan raised up their war banner and marched out from their mountain homes, the Kaga Shogunate was truly confused and unable to mount a proper response. With many of their loyal samurai retainers either assassinated or too injured to lead their forces, the defense of Kyoto was doomed to fail from the start. Sekino, the daughter of deceased Sou and now the new Shogun of the Kaga Shogunate, was forced to flee to their political stronghold of Kaga.

However, on the way, the Shogun would be ultimately ambushed and captured, where she was given terms of her surrender. Koma no Arikuni, the head of Koma clan at the time, offered flatly his terms: the Kaga clan will become the subservient house of Koma clan, with the head of Kaga clan’s household marrying the head of Musashi clan as two who will support the rule of Koma clan. Unable to refuse, Sekino’s retainers conceded, and she was taken as a political hostage by the Koma clan to await Musashi Akimasa, who will return from his campaign once the new Shogunate was able to broker a peace with the Chinese.

As a direct result of this uncertain times, the terms of Koma Shogunate towards the Chinese and the Koreans were simple: white peace. The megalomaniac Sou and her ilk was dispatched, and the madness which shrouded the people of Yamato is broken. Now it is time for peace and allowing the old wounds to mend. Thus, the peace was officially signed into effect by the 1598, although the exchange of prisoners and reimbursement of plundered artifacts continued to be nuisance to the relationship between Korea and Japan for significant period of time afterwards.

With the war over and the troops coming back home, the Koma clan set about a series of reformation to the Daimyo’s that will later be known as “Jakko Restoration,” after the first Shogun of the Koma Shogunate naming himself as “the Orator of Jakko” or Enzetsu-ka no Jakko. The series of reformation that followed greatly diminished the Daimyo’s power as autonomous leaders to more local officials. Furthermore, the bakufu was once again moved from Kyoto. However, the city selected this time was Edo, which by now has become the commercial and political center of power for Musashi clan. Thus, once again Kyoto was left as a ceremonial power of Japan’s divine Emperor, and Edo was established for the first time as the epicenter of new Shogunate’s power base. As a result, many call the current Shogunate “Edo Era” or “Edo Period” after the centralization of Edo as a political and economic capital of all of Yamato.

(the Jakko restoration’s effects, including its political ramifications and reforms, are greatly explained other parts of this application as it is the current form of government that Japan has)

As the Edo Period began in the land of Yamato, Edo became the focal point of exploration as well as center of internal and external trade in Yamato. This was less to do with the geographical significance of Edo as much as its political influence, as infrastructure projects were focused on bringing goods and people from all over Yamato directly to Edo, where it could then be redistributed depending on the needs of Kyoto or Koma. As trade with the Europeans continued through the century, the Land of Yamato quickly became the sort of hybrid culture of learning and understanding of both Eastern and Western ways of teaching, and the two cultures slowly but surely melded together into something that was less of a mix of the two and more of something uniquely Japanese.

The prime example of this was the Worship of Jakko, which became more and more widespread through the years of Koma Shogunate’s rule. As Christian missionaries were present in Japan as early as 1500s, Christianity was something of an alien concept to the polytheistic Shintoist culture of Japan. However, as the worship of singular entity of Jakko became more and more widespread, “Jakkoism” started to be widely acknowledged as a popular religion of Japan. This Jakkoism, which was in its own way an offshoot of Shintoism, recognized only one deity in the form of Jakko, whereas other “kami” became less and less influential in the religion until they became a form of Jakko or sacred being much the same way as saints and angels were in Christian circles. Thus by the 1600s Jakkoism became a widespread enough that Shintoism as a whole started to become a more fringed, “heretically accepted” branch of Jakkoism, which also began to acknowledge Christanity as a Western interpretation of Jakkoism.

Thus, while there were some local movements by few Daimyos to ban Christians from entering their communities, Christians were never persecuted to the point of extermination. Rather, many people of Yamato widely accepted the Christian faith as normal so long as they were willing to accept Jakkoism as equally acceptable way of worshipping “God.” Thus, while there were radicals who believed in purity of Christian faith, many Christians found peace in the Shogunate recognizing their faith as legitimate as Jakkoism was. This religious harmony of both old Shinto faith, the new Jakkoism, and tolerance of Christians as a different way of worshiping the same “Jakko,” was an example of just a few ways that the Koma clan slowly manipulated how the populous saw and accepted foreign cultures.

For it was, in the end, this “mellowing out” of puritan Japanese culture and faith that the Koma clan was after. For centuries, Koma clan observed the divine protection that the Emperor held and the significance of his divinity as unreachable barrier that must be protected. Thus, the Koma clan sought to undermine the power of the Emperor as the singular divine figurehead by establishing Jakko as the prime deity of the Shinto religion. This, by extension allowed the Koma Shogun, who was also the Orator of Jakko, as equally sacred and divine figurehead of the Yamato’s faith. This duality of the Koma clan allowed the clan to sit in the sidelines as not only the protector of the divine Emperor, but also the spiritual medium of the people, and could enjoy the prestige such position brought without fearing the retribution of political rivals who sought to challenge the position of Shogun in fear of the people’s religious wrath.

This was thus the period of stability and prosperity, which fueled the expansionary appetite of the Musashi clan who continued to sponsor the exploration of the southern islands in the high seas. As the shipbuilding technology improved from the exchange of ideas from both the West and East, ship of Yamato were able to become far more durable and able to sail farther, allowing discoveries of islands that were beyond the reach of the ships in the 1500s. This greatly influenced the trade that the Japanese were doing since the Heian period through Okinawa and towards the Philippines, and allowed Japanese sailors to find more suitable and safer trade routes beyond Japan’s coastal waters.

It was thus in the 1600s that first major efforts were made to consolidate Japanese influence in the overseas. Among the first was the subjugation of the Okinawan tribes, which were already under the political influence and economic depending of the Yamato government. Thus, as Musashi clan reached out towards the Kingdom of Ryukyu to bow down to the Emperor of Yamato, there was little resistance towards this act. From this point, Musashi clan became the undertaker of large colonial projects, which started by creating small trade colonies in the southern island chains that ran down towards the Philippines. As the island of Luzon was in relatively decent relationship with the Japanese to begin with, efforts were made instead to invade and subjugate the populous of Mindano and Visayas region. As the invasion efforts were successful, by 1636 the establishment of Yamato colony of Haponesa was complete and serving as an active center of Japanese spice trade in the region.

It was also at this point of time that the Maluku Islands were mapped and fully explored by the Yamato Explorers. And by 1638, many of the smaller island kingdoms swore fealty to the Shogunate and became fully integrated into the Yamato’s influence. This was a continuation of the efforts made during the 1500s with the Musashi clan aiding the smaller kingdoms in the region including Ternate and Tidore in expelling the European influence in the region. As the Europeans continued to appear more and more frequently in the region, the next step for these indigenous island states were to instead align with the people of Yamato, who were against the extermination of the people in the region. As the news of the Shogunate’s protection spread, by 1640 the Confederation of Muluk was established in which the kings of the region swore fealty to the Emperor of Yamato in exchange for protection and trade.

In 1650s there was a conflict between the Yamato forces in the island of Sulawesi in which the Shogunate forces were dispatched to overthrow European colony in the island. This, followed by a larger-scale naval conflict in the region, allowed the colonies of the Yamato to be acknowledged by the Europeans as the land fully belonging to the people of Yamato and thus under the Shogunate’s protection. This conflict, which became known as Liberation of Sulawesi by the Japanese, ended up establishing a fully Japanese colony of Sulawesi. This colony would then become the focal point of Yamato’s colonization efforts in the Southeast as efforts will be made to move westerward into the Island of Papua and islands of Melanesia.

RP Sample: Alternative Divergence

#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

[Alaska Hawaii and the Aleutes]

I'm sorry, but as it is marked on the map, in the reservations list, and in the apps that was posted, all the territories that you are trying to app for belong to either Meiguo or the Wei.

Sad

[The Industrial States of Columbia]

Full Nation Name : Empire of Joseon
Majority/Official Culture : Korean
Territorial Core : Korean Peninsula
Territorial Claim : [[OPTIONAL]] [[The territories that your nation desires]]
Capital City :
Population :17.000.000 Core Population
1.000.000 Korean Ceylon
Some Hundred Thousands in other colonial holdings

Government Type : Bureaucratic Constitutional Monarchy
Government Ideology/Policies : Imperialism, Militarism, Colonialism
Government Focus : The government of Joseon has since its inception been on a path of expansion, be it the expansion of home industry or colonial holdings. Joseon is smaller than her neighbours, and as such it is felt by the government that the best way for the Empire
Head of State : Emperor
Head of Government : Chancellor
Government Description : The government of Joseon is de jure a constitutional monarchy, but in practice, there are very few restrictions placed on the emperor. A system of meritocratic tests is in place for government officials and officers of the military, ensuring in most cases that qualified officials are placed in job positions they are best suited for.

Majority/State Religion : In a compromise between revolutionary elements and self styled second wave neo-confucians, Joseon does not maintain any state religion, nor does it restrict practice of any religion, so long as that religion does not interfere with the government.
Religious Description : [[OPTIONAL]]

Economic Ideologies : The Joseon economy is heavily protectionist, with elements of a welfare state beginning to evolve from benign tradition to effective domestic policy.
Major Production : Joseon factories belch out smoke and a variety of goods, the two most important however for trade being silk and porcelain.
Economic Description : Joseon has wholeheartedly embraced the first industrial revolution, with factories dominating her larger cities. Porcelain is mass produced for outside consumption, while silk is produced much like textiles in Britain.

Development: Industrial (First Revolution)
Development Description : Since the end of the Glorious Revolution and the beginning of the modern era, Joseon has rapidly moved forward with industrial development. Factories darken the skies of Joseon's largest cities, with mass produced porcelain and silk readily being traded with the west for other goods.

Army Description : The Imperial Army stands at around 140.000, with 90.000 soldiers stationed in the North, 48.000 stationed in the South, and 2.000 scattered to maintain order in Joseon's various colonies.
Army Weakness :The army, while well equipped and modern, is very much a static force. Joseon cannot afford to use it to project force, owing to fears of invasion by either the Wei or Japan. Furthermore, the army, while well drilled, has not seen active combat in quite some time, and this likely would show on the battlefield.
Naval Description : The Navy of Joseon is the pride of the nation, large, modern, and well equipped.
Naval Weakness :
Further Military Description :

National Goals : [[What are the main objectives of your nation?]]
National Issues : [[What needs to be fixed in order for your nation to achieve its true potential?]]
National Figures of Interest : Sejong the Great
National Ambition/Aspirations : The Phoenix will rise from the ashes of all others.

History :

Early History

The Japanese Invasions

The Glorious Revolution

The Industrial Revolution

Rise of an Empire

RP Sample:
 
#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

[Northern Socialist Council Republics]

Alright. All the mandatory parts of my application are up except for a history... I'll get to that eventually.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Alright. All the mandatory parts of my application are up except for a history... I'll get to that eventually.

Am looking forward to that!

[Lunalus]

Reservation

Nation Name:Vijayanagar Confederation
Territory:Southern India
#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep 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.

[Tracian Empire]

Reservation

Nation Name:Vijayanagar Confederation
Territory:Southern India
#AltDiv (Do not delete this, it is used to keep 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.

accepted

[Elysian Kentarchy]

Interest tag, reserving Italy.