User:Rekiin/SHIRAKAWA

Prehistory & Ancient history
In 1993 ancient hominid remains originating from about 100,000 BCE were found in lava at a paleolithic site near Goyado, along with a number of stone tools and crafted items. The earliest anatomically modern human inhabitants of Chisei likely arrived sometime around 37,000 BC, and rapidly spread throughout continental Chisei, southern Asaji and the Yashiman archipelago. Around 15,000 BCE, another group known as the Kojin, characterised by a more sedentary lifestyle began to migrate into Chisei from the east. They are thought to have given root to the Eastern Washu culture in Hinomoto, as well as the Kanazawa culture in northern Hashino. Agriculture was introduced to Chisei in 5,500 BCE. Chisei first appeared in written history with the Records of State, written in the Hinoan Haku domain, which stated that by 300 BCE, the country was ruled by fifteen princes, constantly at odds with 'barbarians' on their borders, potentially proto-Hayatic nomads. In 98 BCE, the Hua Dynasty invaded southern Chisei, in response to nomadic raids, and created five commanderies to oversee the security of the Imperial border in what is now Geusyo and western Shirakawa. Four of the commanderies would be quickly overthrown and conquered by the emerging Yezo kingdom by 25 CE, though the southernmost Qiaoye Commandery would survive even after the fall of the Hua.

By 300 CE the Yezo kingdom, ruled successively according to Shirakawan royal tradition by the San, Chin and Sai dynasties, had emerged as the main hegemon on the Chiseian mainland, unifying a realm stretching from Wanshu to Eito, and from Kirimori to Hanamachi - the core of the future Shirakawan state. Also around this time, an increasingly active Hinoan Kingdom had begun to influence the region, and the first major migrations of Yashiman peoples took place. Initially, population movements were sporadic and temporary; the earliest discovered and preserved Hinoan settlement at Usu, dated to 381 CE, was likely part of this initial movement of peoples.

Unification of Shirakawa & the Yeishun period
In 663, a series a bloody conflicts broke out between Hinomoto and the Sai dynasty, resulting in the partition of Yezo into a number of smaller domains ruled over by Hinoan nobles. According to legend, the remnants of the Yezo state fled north, either integrating into or founding the kingdom of Cupmosir on Asaji, the first Kannaguru state in written records, which would unify most of the disparate tribes on the island by 1061. The central authority of the Hinoan court over the Chiseian mainland would begin to wane over the centuries, as the Yashiman and indigenous populations began to mix and domestic concerns of rebellion, reform and succession drew greater attention. By 1100, the mainland states were effectively independent, and frequently engaged in war and piracy against eachother, as well as their nomadic and sedentary non-Yashiman neighbors. In 1183 they were finally unified by the warlord queen Jinhō of the Taisei dynasty. The Taisei empire extended its authority over Chisei rapidly, subjugating the Kingdom of Amagishi in 1194 and finally conquering the Qiaoye, now an independent kingdom of their own, in 1212.

The death of Jinhō in 1216 brought an end to the height of the Taisei Empire, as a succession crisis took hold and eventually erupted into a full-blown dynastic split, with the Kingdom split between the Summer Court in Eito and the Winter Court in Ao'oka (then Sheito). This interlude of conflict, known as the Katō war, would be decisively brought to an end with the fall of Sheito to the Summer Court in 1243.

After the civil war came what is usually seen as the golden age of Shirakawa, the Yeishun Period under the Gejō Dynasty, in which it firmly asserted it's dominance in the north and largely secured it's frontiers and independence, defeating the Kikyō Shogunate of Hinomoto in the Shinzan war. Domestically, there was considerable administrative reform, which established a semi-meritocratic system of bureaucracy (albeit still dominated by the traditional court aristocracy), rule of law, and taxation. Neo-Confucianism and taoist ideas spread among the literate elite, and there was also some religious change, as Jinayana and Akiism were more closely embraced and syncretised with indigenous Jindo traditions.

However, the latter parts of the Yeishun period also saw a gradual decline in central state power. The conquests of the Grand Ejenate at the dawn of the 12th century also created new flows of nomadic migration into Shirakawa and the Cupmosiri states, accelerating the trend as the Royal Court was forced to delegate more and more of its power to regional military governors to control the raids. The Uraani people first settled in the Uraani valley during this era, establishing small khanates and satrapies between Shirakawa and the Ejenate's western frontier.

Another factor in the decline of the Gejō was the outbreak of the White Plague, a devastating epidemic of disease that ripped across Escar from 1300 to 1320. Though felt elsewhere in the continent, Shirakawa experienced the most violent and damaging outbreak - large swathes of the eastern provinces were massively depopulated and the plague especially devastated the densely-packed trading centers of the central lakelands. Agricultural labor markets in many areas collapsed, and the discontent of both large landowners and peasants grew. Besides the demographic impact, the plagues and foreign invasions were interpreted as the dynasty losing its divine favour, and the central governments grip on its frontiers grew ever more tenuous as a result.

Ejenate invasions & rise of the Kyofu
In 1312, the Ejenate finally invaded Shirakawa and rapidly swept aside the weakened Gejō. Eito fell in 1314, and the Court was forced back to its old capital in Sheito, which would eventually also be taken in 1323. Karaqan, the third son of Grand Ejen Ahūnag, was appointed as the governor of the region. He oversaw the consolidation of the western Ahūnagid conquests, leading the invasion of Geusyo in 1336, the failed Ejenate Invasion of Hinomoto in 1340 and brutally crushing the Shinzan rebellion of 1345. The Ejenate administration, as in many of its other territories, simply adopted the previous institutions of the Gejō, and Karaqan himself soon took to wearing Shirakawan dress. There was even broad continuity in officials, as many of the nobles captured following the fall of Sheito chose service under the new regime over execution.

In 1346 Karaqan launched an invasion of Asaji, mobilising much of the fleet that remained from the failed Hinomoto expedition, and successfully landed on the Kitay peninsula. Though the disunited warlords of Menasmosir proved little match for the fast-moving Ejenate host, the army was eventually forced to suddenly retreat in 1347 when news arrived of the death of the Grand Ejen.

The death of Ahūnag in 1347 sparked a power struggle among the Ejenate princes, as the succession was left vague. A mustering (isan) of the lords in 1348 to elect a new Grand Ejen swiftly turned to bloodshed, as the leading Ahūnagid princes (as well as his many widows) clashed over who should take over. On his return to Eito from Ambagurun, Karaqan was murdered by his guards - possibly on the orders of one of his siblings or perhaps his leading general, Tulišen, who moved to seize power in Shirakawa very soon after his death and declared a new dynasty, the Kyofu. Tulišen's coup was opposed, briefly, by other competing states which had arisen to take advantage of the chaos, including the Shigi or Later Gejō (led by Gejō Nanahi, one of Karaqan's widows and a pretender to the Gejō) and the Kanshu Confederacy (led by the Uraani general Batbayar). By 1377 these rivals had been eliminated, and Kyofu control of almost the entirety of mainland Chisei was secured.

The Kyofu dynasty under Tulišen and even moreso under his son, Šurgaci (Kyofu Yoimoto), was surrounded by hostile states and maintained a policy of constant expansion as a result. Both kings spearheaded reforms to the Royal Army and the military governates; Yeishun-era hereditary service in the military was abolished, and 7 military academies were established around the country, with the dual purpose of producing talented officers as well as ones personally loyal to the Kyofu court rather than to their own families. The Kyofu also established the Red Standard Army, an elite, standing army that served as the 'tip of the spear' for major military campaigns, as well as a quasi-military police; small detachments of the Red Standards were deployed alongside conventional levied troops to provide training and enforce discipline.

By the 1390s, Kyofu frontiers reached as far as central Kuiju, with inroads also being made into Huaxia and even Cupmosir. With this new period of prosperity, trade and commerce once again flourished and major social realignments took place, filling the vacuum left by the conquests, succession wars and plague of the decades past. More laborers moved to the cities as the population grew and financial institutions grew highly developed. This era has been described by some modern historians as a precursor to an industrial revolution, comparable to similar developments in the late 17th and 18th centuries - and production certainly increased. Most cities had sophisticated workshops producing a range of specialty goods, supported by complex supply chains and domestic trade networks. The Kyofu court was also a major sponsor of poets, artists and explorers for both prestige and profit; the Gomanriki (Chronicle of Fifty Thousand ) is a famous Chiseian literary classic authored during the period, recounting the travels of court poet, ambassador and monk Gyoshē through Amphia and Central Escar, on the orders of the Grand King.

Fall of the Kyofu
The sudden death of Šurgaci in 1405, with only his nephew (Prince Yoinaga - then an infant) as an heir, resulted in a new onset of political instability as the supporters of different claimants skirmished in and outside the capital. Though stability was eventually restored under Yoimitsu II (younger brother of Šurgaci), the unrest weakened the Kyofu hold on their vast holdings, with Toku Masakado leading a successful uprising against Kyofu rule in Geusyo in 1411 and a series of uprisings led by Uraani officers in the far eastern commanderies from 1410 - 1430. Subsequent attempts to reclaim these territories were not only unsuccessful, but bankrupted the court, forcing the debasing of the currency and heavy taxes. Much of the urban proto-industry collapsed as a result, which also created major problems of vagrancy and banditry in the countryside.

The dynasty was further buffeted by natural disasters such as the 1420 Chōwa event (theorised to be an or perhaps a series of airbursts from a meteor or meteor shower), and the Great Eito Fire in 1422, which destroyed the Royal capital and resulted in the death of the recently crowned Yoinaga. Yoimitsu, who had abdicated in favour of Yoinaga, was forced to retake the thrown. However he was murdered in 1424, on the orders of Kazahara Tsuhako, an ambitious Royal concubine and noblewoman, with ties to the Red Standard army. Kazahara then seized control of the capital and placed her 8-year old son, Kazahara Miyashihu, on the throne, declaring herself Sasshō (regent).

Allying herself with Geusyo, Tsuhako was immediately faced with revolts from Ahūnagid aristocrats, and loyalists within the Red Standards, who rallied around Yoimitsu's sister, Kyofu Noromi. The Kazahara-Kyofu wars lasted from 1424 to 1428, when Noromi was finally captured and executed. At this point the Kyofu dynasty in Shirakawa was considered to be extinct, though the Aso khanate, also known as the Eastern Kyofu on account of partial descent from Šurgaci, continued to persist in Uraan until the late 15th century.