Clockwork Empire

Clockwork Empire 시간의 제국 Ichijao Tokeijikake Noteikoku
c.1863-1948
Flag
Motto: Láizì xǔduō línghún de tǔdì One land from many souls
Anthem: Anthem of Clockwork Empire
Capital and largest city	Unmeikyo
Ethnic groups	Xian, Shihoki, Taebong, and Zhuyeian
Demonym(s)	Korukkan
Government	Unitary autocratic military dictatorship
• Protector	Vacant (Contested)
• Aianrida	Otojiro Kotara
Legislature	Council of State
History
• Unification Wars	20-3 B.F (1841-1863)
• War of Restoration	43 A.F (1906)
• Dissolution	85 A.F (1948)
Area
•	1,856,250 km2 (716,700 sq mi) (1st)
Population
• 1899 estimate	612,780,000 (1st)
Currency	leyi (¤; LY)
Time zone	IMT 0 to +4
Date format	yyyy.dd.mm
Driving side	right
Preceded by Succeeded by The Botoruru Kingdom of Kanahe Ogatai League Imperial Federation Yellow Star Republic Tungnir Federation

The Clockwork Empire, also known as Tieyande, was the largest and most populous country on Gaia Atlia, encompassing the near-entirety of the Tiantian continent. Surrounded on all but one side by water - notably the Moerumi Sea to the west, the Sea of Dragons to the South, and the Eisdrache to the north, the Empire bordered only two countries: the Republic of Ibrahama to the north, and Pahadan states to the east.

As the Empire occupied nearly three million square miles of territory, it contained a wide variety of climates and environmental types, but usually had a tropical and temperate climate. With nearly 500 million people at its formation, the Empire was the most populous state in Atlia, a title it retained until its dissolution in 1948.

As a nation, the Empire was primarily ruled by an absolute monarchy, followed by a military dictatorship, and then a restoration of absolute monarchy. As such, there were no constituent states, but instead military prefectures or zones, which usually formed the basis for administrative divisions. Within the Empire, there were anywhere from 100 to 700 such divisions, depending on the era.

Several cities were large enough to retain their own administrative division, notably Unmeikyo and PLACEHOLDER, with PLACEHOLDER also being granted special administrative dispensation in terms of military jurisdiction. Most of these cities can be found in the Bafun River Valley, nicknamed the 'Heart of the Empire' for its lush fertility and high population. Nearly forty percent of the Empire lived within this area, and the entirety of the Empire relied on its agricultural exports and reliable crop production, resulting in harvests year-round.

The Empire followed the principles of Aikya, a philosophical and governance movement that advocated for extraordinarily strong state control and influence over most aspects of people's lives. Under the Protector Shihei, the Yonqii faith was reformed to be more syncretic and hierarchical, while propaganda was distributed en masse to encourage the people of the power and success of the state. During this time, strong efforts were made to remove ethnic distinctions between states and encourage one common language; all people were to be considered 'Korukkan' and to speak appropriately as a result. Most of these efforts were unsuccessful in the long run, as the ethnic cultures of Tiantian are widely discernible today, rather than the homogeneous mono-culture the Empire's bureaucrats and leaders envisioned.

Tiantian was originally settled around 5,000 BCE, with the movement of various ethnic groups from Pahada across the land bridge into Tiantian. There, the lush productivity of Tiantian's numerous river valleys and the easy availability of geographical divisions caused a splintering of ethnic groups, a phenomenon enhanced by subsequent waves of Pahadan migration. Numerous empires rose and fell in the time between, but none were able to unify the continent in its entirety, due to the disparity in geography, language, culture, and religion. In the 2nd century CE, the Flowering Thought movement spread throughout Tiantian, sparking great philosophical discussions and debates, and leading to the direct formation and perpetuation of the Yonqii faith, a philosophical/religious hybrid that would, over centuries, form the foundation of most Tiantian culture. Encouraged by the principles of Yonqii faith, the Taebong - an ethnic group from southeastern Tiantian - would soon become the leading administrators across Tiantian, with PLACEHOLDER becoming the lingua franca for diplomacy and communication.

Following the Unification Wars, a series of major conflicts that erupted in Tiantian during the 1840s, the Clockwork Empire was founded by General Eijiro Kuang. Creating the title 'Protector', Eijiro governed the Clockwork Empire for an additional decade, launching numerous wars and suppressing dissent and revolution quickly and decisively. Under his rule, the Empire expanded to encompass all of Tiantian save for the Ibrahaman territories to the north. In the 1860s the Empire became a military dictatorship under the Aianrida, who led the nation in the Eastern War. During this time, several Pahadan, Mizraic, and Eiren powers seized or purchased treaty ports in the Empire.

The Empire would prove to be very aggressive, despite several bouts of internal revolution in the 1900s, launching several expeditions abroad to conquer Pahadan territory. Strong internal investment and close cooperation with the new Volksunion and Varen Republic would lead to heavy industrial and infrastructure development, spurring further economic growth. By the 1930s, the Empire was widely predicted to become a 'Great Power to the Great Powers', or what some were calling a 'superpower'. In the late 1930s, the Empire fought a major conflict with the Pavlostani Empire over its Pahadan dominions, and while successful, overstretched its economic and industrial bases, and collapsed shortly afterwards, ending absolute rule in Tiantian.

History

The Rising Phoenix (20 BF - Present Day)

Lasting for under a century, from 1863 to 1948, the Clockwork Empire was formed from a series of major conflicts that erupted in Tiantian during the 1840s, as the Botoruru nation attempted to subjugate other Tiantian powers, notably the Ogtani League and the Kingdom of Kunohe. Led by the self-proclaimed 'Protector of the People' Eijiro Kuang, the Botoruru was ultimately successful in conquering the remainder of the continent, but ultimately became subsumed by the multi-national continent-spanning empire Eijiro was attempting to create. It was at this time that the city of Unmiekyo, the largest in Tiantian and current capital of the Imperial Federation, was created out of the former city of Hezhou.

Eijiro, the first Protector of the Empire, ruled for ten years, before dying of wounds during a major Kunohese rebellion. Immediately before he died, a consort had become pregnant with his heir, the future Protector Shihei. A small military coup occurred at this time, as the Aianrida led the Swan Guard and the Flying Corps back to Unmeikyo, forcing the consort (Dowager Protector Nozumi) to flee to the Kingdom of Inoroth, where Protector Shihei was born. For the following three decades, the Clockwork Empire would be governed under a military dictatorship led by the Aianrida, while the Protector and his mother traveled abroad, gaining support for their successful return. In the meantime, the Clockwork Empire joined the 'Old Order' in fighting the Varen rebels during the Eastern War (1892-1898). Throughout this period, the Empire overran the Ibrahaman territories in northern Tiantian, and reoccupied the various 'New Order' concessions and treaty ports throughout the Empire. The Fanaglian collapse and Drachen Civil War paid an end to Clockwork ambitions, and the Empire withdrew from the war, paying reparations for the damages caused and granting further concessions to the victorious New Order.

In 1906, a rebellion broke out in northern Funui based on coal mining rights. As the Aianrida's forces mobilized, further rebellions broke out in the Empire, and Rothian troops began landing in Zhuyei, displaying the banner of Protector Shihei. This marked the beginning of the Restoration War, which would last for two years and result in the deaths of several hundred thousand people, including the Aianrida. With his death, the war ended, and Protector Shihei would rule over the Empire as an absolute monarch until its end in 1948. The Restoration Wars coincided with the Namcheok Emergency, a major Mendean-funded rebellion in the Taebong prefectures to the south. Buoyed by initial successes, the revolutionaries sought to declare a new independent state, and appealed to the Mendean Republic for support and recognition. It was not until 1910 that the Namcheok state would be re-subjugated by the Empire, and order restored.

Around the same time, the Empire launched a series of expeditions to western Pahada, seeking to force a unification of the disparate Pahadan states into a similar 'Clockwork Empire', and thus buoy Clockwork influence and prestige. These wars would see the subjugation of several Pahadan city-states with large Korukkan presence, which would form the basis of West Pahadan Rail and Automata Arms, a state-owned corporation that oversaw Korukkan interests in Pahada. For several decades, the WPR would expand into Pahada, subjugating and supposedly unifying several native states, occasionally fighting proxy wars with the Khadari League to the south. It was not until 1938 that the Empire would intervene directly in Pahada again, and that would see the start of the Western War.

The Western War (1938-1948) was a decade-long war that encompassed most of Pahada, as the Clockwork Empire and Pavlostani Empire fought over the suzerainty and control of numerous subordinate states. Escalating out of a proxy war conflict initiated by WPR, the war saw multi-million armies and landship armadas for the first time in Atlian history. Ultimately, the death toll of the war would reach over twenty million, and the Western War would become the most destructive war ever waged. It would also prove to be the end of the Empire, as draft revolts and tax protests erupted, and the strained Imperial bureaucracy broke down under wartime burdens. Prominent Korukkan military officials stationed at home often turned-coat to support nationalist rebellions or became warlords in their own right, while the victorious generals returned to find their nation collapsing.

In 1948, Zhang Xieren, the Grand Commandant, launched a military and political initiative to save the Empire in some form. Using the WPR territory as a base, he and four other powerful generals led their troops home to put down warlords and other destructive rebels, while negotiating with those nationalist rebels that would prove reasonable. Those that would not, would be destroyed utterly, with extreme prejudice. Zhang and the other four generals - members of WPR's Five Star Committee - realized that the absolute nature of the Protectorship could not continue in a sustainable way. Their negotiations instead sought to maintain the unity of Tiantian, rather than the power of the Protector, and thus the Imperial Federation was formed.

The Tungnir Confederacy and the Yellow Star Republic remained independent during this time, although the Yellow Star Republic later joined the Imperial Federation.