Warring States Era | The History
In the Era of Warring States there existed innumerable clans and nations across the known world, each with its own history, culture and peoples. This was before the advent of ninja villages, in a time where loyalty to one’s clan and family was paramount. Countless men and women lived and died knowing only the company of their own and undulating conflict with outsiders. There were as many different clans as there are stars in the night sky, but all jealously guarded their secrets from the outsiders they had been taught to mistrust, and whom they taught their own young to fear and hate in turn. It was a world of conflict, a world where the spilled blood of the generation that was drove their successors to make war with one another in an endless cycle of violence.
In the Era of Warring States there existed innumerable clans and nations across the known world, each with its own history, culture and peoples. This was before the advent of ninja villages, in a time where loyalty to one’s clan and family was paramount. Countless men and women lived and died knowing only the company of their own and undulating conflict with outsiders. There were as many different clans as there are stars in the night sky, but all jealously guarded their secrets from the outsiders they had been taught to mistrust, and whom they taught their own young to fear and hate in turn. It was a world of conflict, a world where the spilled blood of the generation that was drove their successors to make war with one another in an endless cycle of violence.
It wasn't until the Freehold arose that everything changed...
The Calendar:
No one remembers the time before ninjutsu, before the Sage of the Six Paths bestowed upon man the secrets of chakra. Precious few records from that era have withstood the test of time and so its history is generally considered lost to the world. Thus, nearly all of the inhabitants of the known world have adopted the time of the introduction of ninjutsu as their Year 1 to reflect the fundamental shift of history that occurred as a result of this gift. Though the many different peoples of the world disagree about almost every other thing, about this they do concur.
No one remembers the time before ninjutsu, before the Sage of the Six Paths bestowed upon man the secrets of chakra. Precious few records from that era have withstood the test of time and so its history is generally considered lost to the world. Thus, nearly all of the inhabitants of the known world have adopted the time of the introduction of ninjutsu as their Year 1 to reflect the fundamental shift of history that occurred as a result of this gift. Though the many different peoples of the world disagree about almost every other thing, about this they do concur.
Originally little more than a loose association of merchants and shinobi based in the independent city state of Chungsu, the Freehold of Hanguri arose from the depths of obscurity to become a near global power in the otherwise fractured and turbulent political reality that defined the Era of Warring States. Beginning with the election of their leader, Sai Nobunaga, to the executive office of Daijō-daijin, or Chancellor of the Realm, the group quickly came to dominate the politics of the traditionally patrician-led oligarchy that was Chungsu.
During his 26-year tenure Nobunaga reformed and expanded the long-neglected armed force into a professional, standing army that integrated shinobi and samurai into well-equipped ‘normal’ units. To fund these reforms the army was exposed to partial private management in a system reminiscent of a joint-stock company where shares, in conjunction with political support from the legislative branch, allowed for influence in the deployment and administration of the army. The stocks were sold in a proto-stock exchange and shareholders were promised dividends equal to a portion of the generated return. The landed nobility took little notice of Nobunaga’s reforms, nor of the initial public offering of his army’s stock, which allowed members of the Freehold and other merchant guilds to acquire them and, in close collaboration with Nobunaga himself, launch the city’s first expeditionary force to the neighbouring Tea Peninsula in what became known as the First Degarashi Campaign.
Nobunaga’s reformed army enjoyed astounding success, nearly doubling the city state’s territory during the first half-year of its deployment, then doubling it again during the second. Most of the local daimyō were wont to hire local shinobi clans to defend themselves, but these fared poorly against a larger and more organized force and were subsequently defeated, or paid a modest sum to stand down. The campaign was enormously profitable for Chungsu, but especially so for its merchant class, many of whom enjoyed triple, even quadruple annual returns on their investments, becoming more wealthy than most nobles almost overnight, which fundamentally shifted the balance of power in the city.
To enjoy suffrage and the right to run for public office in the city a resident was required to own property of a certain value or, alternatively, pay an annual fee that amounted to what was, at the time, an average yearly wage. This system divided the seats of the legislative body of the city between a number of nobles and candidates funded by them in a complex system of patronage, one that only the landholders could afford to participate in. With the success of the Degarashi Campaign, however, the nobles found themselves wanting to acquire shares from a social class that, in turn, sought titles and seats in the legislative branch from them. The result was the Hanguri system of government that survived, with few fundamental changes, until the collapse of the Freehold.
The Freehold of Hanguri was neither neither an autocratic nor republican entity. Throughout its existence it remained an oligarchical state governed by wealthy families of noble merchants, or patricians, who jealously guarded their political rights. Authority in Hanguri required a stake in the nation’s army and seats on its legislature and was therefore not inheritable in the strictest sense, but in practice the old families persisted through a combination of inherited wealth, internal competition between family members and the ample use of adoption.
Through its mode of partial private management the Freehold of Hanguri turned its army into an efficient fighting force and, in doing so, created a most lucrative investment opportunity for the wealthy of the region. Due to its resounding successes the army was campaigning almost permanently, reinforced periodically by the growing private armies of the patrician families, government contracted mercenaries and conscripted soldiers from conquered territories. In the first years of its existence the army of Hanguri suffered not a single strategic defeat.
The state of Hanguri employed shinobi in all layers of its administration and they enjoyed many privileges, like being exempt from most taxes, but their mandate was intrinsically bound to and controlled by the state apparatus, thus the shinobi enjoyed very little operational freedom. They were not free to choose their missions or offer their services to foreigners.
Though the state of Hanguri in its infancy relied almost exclusively on its military to achieve geopolitical and strategic goals, and successfully did so, the Freehold reached its territorial zenith – the borders of which would remain nearly unchanged until the country’s collapse in 804 – relatively early in its development. That is not to say, however, that it never expanded beyond the Gulf of Hanguri to which it owed its name, but the strength and stability of Hanguri was derived from its ability to generate revenue through its armed forces and these required foreign lands to operate in to do so. Through a combination of saber-rattling and decisive military victories the Freehold imposed a complex system of tribute and taxation on local daimyō and clans as far away as the Iron Peninsula in the North and the Water Archipelago in the East. Hanguri would inflame tensions between conflicting groups, levy taxes on manufacturing and skilled labor outside the Freehold’s borders and collect tributes from nearby countries to guarantee their independence. This approach to foreign policy endured until the razing of Chungsu in 804, though the state’s exact sphere of varied significantly over the years. Hanguri and its citizens grew wealthy from this system and people flocked to settle within the Freehold’s borders to be a party to its rising levels of prosperity and standards of living.
The Era of Reforms
From it final territorial acquisition in 350 to the election of Shin Toyotomi to the office of Daijō-daijin in 446 the government of Hanguri invested heavily in the development of its infrastructure and industry, founding ports along the Gulf, building roads to connect the various provinces of the Freehold and erecting several defensive fortifications along strategic points on its borders. Known as the Era of Reforms this age saw the cementation of Hanguri as being a cultural identity, though one mainly adopted by the fabulously wealthy patricians and the upper middle-class of merchants and landowners. Still, the comparatively safe and meritocratic standards guaranteed by the government and the influx of skilled labor led to a booming industry blossoming in Hanguri, one that was helped along by the state’s continuous efforts to employ ninjutsu to benefit all sectors of production. Though rather utilitarian in its execution this set the Freehold on the path to a Golden Age, one that began when Toyotomi proclaimed the first Hanguri cultural festival mere months after his election to office, signalling a definitive shift in government policy away from military jingoism towards soft power and cultural hegemonism.
The Golden Age
The Golden Age of the Freehold lasted approximately from the first cultural festival in 446 to the beginning of the Time of Troubles in 659. It marked the apex of Hanguri dominance in nearly all fields, including innovation, the arts, military doctrine and international politics. Despite being the most prominent era of the Freehold, however, it is also the least documented part of its history. The destruction of the Grand Library of Chungsu during the razing of the capital constitutes one of the single largest losses of knowledge and culture in recorded history; it saw the majority of records of the Golden Age lost. Only a few incomplete accounts survive, guarded jealously by the scattered descendants of patricians and coveted by those who seek to unlock the wonders of the Freehold for their own uses.
The Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was precipitated by three unrelated, but devastating events that together created a snowball effect, one that rocked the Freehold’s foundation and marked the beginning of its slow, but steady decline towards total collapse. The first was the succession crisis caused by the untimely death of Naomitsu Fujiwara, 34th Daijō-daijin of Hanguri, whose passing gridlocked the legislature in a year-long stalemate that led to the formation of a powerful executive to supersede the office of Daijō-daijin, hailed as the Second Junta. The second was an invasion of Kaguya Clan raiders, one that ravaged the countryside and cities of the Tea Peninsula and humiliated the Freehold internationally. The third was an influenza pandemic, known as the Red Fever, which was first detected in Keishi, but quickly spread to the surrounding countryside, including the many army units camped in fortifications along the Freehold’s northern border. The disease killed nearly half of Keishi’s urban population and decimated the Hanguri army; nearly a third of its enlisted men expired from the disease during its 18-month rampage.
Individually the events were devastating and all had far-reaching consequences for the Freehold, but in conjunction they permanently scarred the country’s citizens, administration and armed forces. Though the Hanguri army eventually drove the Kaguya from the peninsula in a series of decisive skirmishes, and replenished their numbers during the following years, the succession crisis politicised the army in a way that left it susceptible to internal division and strife during the Freehold’s twilight years. The weakened external security left the borderland exposed to hostile incursions and raids, and the perceived vulnerability of Hanguri as a whole was a major blow to the extent of its sphere of influence. Finally, the gridlocked legislature forced the division of the country’s territory into three administrative regions, in addition to a capital district, that could bypass the legislative branch and manage the essential functions of the state in national emergencies such as the Time of Troubles. These would later become the foundation of the three major rump states that surfaced asserted themselves in the aftermath of the Freehold’s collapse.
What followed the Time of Troubles was a long century of gradual decline for Hanguri in all aspects of society and state. A series of incompetent public administrators, opportunistic military commanders and self-serving factions within the Freehold gradually weakened the internal cohesion and state apparatus of the nation. Several external factors also contributed to Hanguri’s decline; the rise of Arekusandā-tennō and his empire, originating from the Badlands of Earth, – and his efficient legions composed mainly of non-shinobi using advanced light artillery such as the cheiroballistra and wielding weapons like Blue Fire Powder imported from the Howling Wolf Mountains – presented the patrician-led government with a challenge it could not simply overwhelm as it had done to most military threats for centuries. Many patricians advocated for the Freehold to enter into a diplomatic accord with Aléxandros and, to the bewilderment and frustration of much of its officers’ corps, it did so after he led his forces to burn down one of the Five Forts. The resulting Treaty of Keishi effectively put an end to Hanguri’s sphere of influence north of its border, as it agreed to a state of uti possidetis, wherein Arekusandā-tennō acquiesced to respect the Freehold’s territorial integrity so long as they maintained a policy of noninterference north of the Five Forts. This victory made Aléxandros a legendary figure among many; rumors buzzed that he was secretly the jinchūriki of the Five-Tails and a descendant of the Sage of the Six Paths himself, all despite his being a non-shinobi. In 709, only six years after signing the treaty, Aléxandros violated its terms and marched on Chungsu, defeating every force sent to stop his advance, though he succumbed to dysentery during the campaign and died in camp. Despite the abrupt end to his campaign and empire Aléxandros’ victories against the Freehold proved its fragile state to some and put a very permanent end to its status as a great power in many foreign eyes. Though the Hanguri central government attempted to reform its sphere of influence south- and eastwards these efforts were largely unsuccessful.
It was not until after the fall of Arekusandā-tennō that many of the Freehold’s citizens truly realized its, by then, rapid decline. Instability, mismanagement and corruption came to characterize its institutions and state apparatus, which did nothing to curb growing civil discontent and, eventually, unrest. Political horse trading became common occurrence, to the great detriment of the state of its army, finances and public administration, which culminated in the Freehold’s eventual default on its sovereign debt and subsequent national bankruptcy.
On the evening of January 1st, mere months after the government’s declaration of bankruptcy, the Kyūbi no Yōko appeared mysteriously within the capital city of Chungsu, beginning a night of terror that saw much of the city obliterated and its entire population displaced. The city and its metropolitan area was home to a significant number of units from the Hanguri army and the Black Ones, but nothing could stop the Tailed Beast once its rampage through the city began. Chungsu had traditionally been the seat of almost every major institution, agency and organization based in the Freehold and its abrupt doom spelled the effective end of Hanguri, a fact that became increasingly clear as both internal and external powers scrambled to fill the power vacuum left behind during the following months and years.
► The Codex:
The Three Great Unifiers:
Sai Nobunaga: The legendary founder of the Freehold whose reforms and military campaigns laid the foundation for a new era of Hanguri dominance. Sai was the second son of a merchant father and a highborn mother of a poor noble family, and thus not expected to inherit, but grew into a cunning and charismatic leader of the then loose association of merchants and shinobi that was the Freehold of Hanguri. The group nearly bankrupted itself in trying to get him elected to the executive office of Daijō-daijin, but finally succeeded in 290 as part of a larger push for influence in the city state’s political matters. One of Sai’s first acts was to proclaim the Freehold of Hanguri, irrevocably merging the identity of the group with that of the new nation state. His policies, though not outright partisan, continued to disproportionately benefit his former associates throughout his three terms of office until his peaceful death in 316.
Toyotomi Nobunaga: The adoptive son of Sai Nobunaga, little is known about Toyotomi’s life before he was formally inducted into the Nobunaga family in 296. Though not as capable a statesman as his predecessor Toyotomi enjoyed a level of martial prowess that earned him a fearsome reputation, particularly seen in the context of the interventionist foreign policy he spearheaded and maintained throughout his time in office. Toyotomi rose to prominence during the First Degarashi Campaign and became commonly regarded as the Nobunaga family’s heir presumptive after none of Sai Nobunaga’s children survived infancy. Unexpectedly, Toyotomi was elected to the office of Daijō-daijin after the passing of his adoptive father, a responsibility assumed with great enthusiasm. Through a combination of heavy-handed tactics and strategic foresight Toyotomi continued the work of his forebear, most famously launching the Campaign of Fire that saw the Freehold conquer great swathes of territory in the southern Land of Fire. He died of typhus in 330.
Ieyasu Nobunaga: As the only son of Toyotomi Nobunaga’s only sister, Ieyasu was adopted into the Nobunaga family by decree shortly after Toyotomi’s formal induction into office. Though an adoptee, Ieyasu integrated well into the Nobunaga family and was soon considered second only to Toyotomi Nobunaga himself. Ieyasu was the diplomatic counterbalance to Toyotomi’s jingoism and he became such an integral part of the executive branch that he succeeded his uncle almost without opposition, a rarity in Hanguri history. Ieyasu’s life’s work was the fulfillment of Hanguri ambition to control the Hanguri Gulf area in its entirety; an objective many saw as the manifestation of the nation’s destiny. Unlike his predecessors Ieyasu took a very diplomatic approach to conquest and many danshaku willingly swore oaths of fealty to him personally, though his campaign was not without bloodshed. So effective were they that his methods became an inspiration to coming generations of the diplomatic corps. Having achieved his goal by the end of his second term of office Ieyasu opted not to stand for a third term in 350, becoming instead a close confidant and advisor to one of his successors; Hideyoshi, whom he served until his death in 363.
Toyotomi Nobunaga: The adoptive son of Sai Nobunaga, little is known about Toyotomi’s life before he was formally inducted into the Nobunaga family in 296. Though not as capable a statesman as his predecessor Toyotomi enjoyed a level of martial prowess that earned him a fearsome reputation, particularly seen in the context of the interventionist foreign policy he spearheaded and maintained throughout his time in office. Toyotomi rose to prominence during the First Degarashi Campaign and became commonly regarded as the Nobunaga family’s heir presumptive after none of Sai Nobunaga’s children survived infancy. Unexpectedly, Toyotomi was elected to the office of Daijō-daijin after the passing of his adoptive father, a responsibility assumed with great enthusiasm. Through a combination of heavy-handed tactics and strategic foresight Toyotomi continued the work of his forebear, most famously launching the Campaign of Fire that saw the Freehold conquer great swathes of territory in the southern Land of Fire. He died of typhus in 330.
Ieyasu Nobunaga: As the only son of Toyotomi Nobunaga’s only sister, Ieyasu was adopted into the Nobunaga family by decree shortly after Toyotomi’s formal induction into office. Though an adoptee, Ieyasu integrated well into the Nobunaga family and was soon considered second only to Toyotomi Nobunaga himself. Ieyasu was the diplomatic counterbalance to Toyotomi’s jingoism and he became such an integral part of the executive branch that he succeeded his uncle almost without opposition, a rarity in Hanguri history. Ieyasu’s life’s work was the fulfillment of Hanguri ambition to control the Hanguri Gulf area in its entirety; an objective many saw as the manifestation of the nation’s destiny. Unlike his predecessors Ieyasu took a very diplomatic approach to conquest and many danshaku willingly swore oaths of fealty to him personally, though his campaign was not without bloodshed. So effective were they that his methods became an inspiration to coming generations of the diplomatic corps. Having achieved his goal by the end of his second term of office Ieyasu opted not to stand for a third term in 350, becoming instead a close confidant and advisor to one of his successors; Hideyoshi, whom he served until his death in 363.
The Freehold of Hanguri enjoyed a complex relationship with the byzantine network of ninja clans that can be found throughout the known world. Hostile clans were captured and used as manual labor, forcibly resettled, or even eradicated entirely. Cooperative clans, however, were welcomed into the Freehold provided that they demilitarized and integrated themselves into society there. As an oligarchical entity driven by money and militarism the Freehold did not discriminate against ninja clan members, and even saw a number of these in the office of Daijō-daijin, but it did not hesitate to heavily tax uncooperative clans, play clans against each other, or continuously war with militarized clans for tribute. Some were concerned about the separate set of loyalties that even non-ninja clan members living in the Freehold would possess, but most of the focus on ninja clans was centered squarely on those within it that had learned the use of ninjutsu. The state apparatus of the Freehold was loathe to accept the presence of powerful military assets inside the country’s borders that were not bound directly to the establishment and sought to systematically suppress and diminish these forces throughout its long existence.
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