Ilbon

Empire of Ilbon Irubon Teikoku
Flag Seal
Motto: Subete No Han'ei No Tame Ni For the Prosperity of All!
Anthem:  Bitoku No Uta (official) Song of Virtue
Capital and largest city	Oikage
Official languages	Ilbon-eo
Recognised national languages	Kokuri-eo Kita-eo
Demonym(s)	Ilbonese (ethnic) Ilbonese (citizen)
Government	Unitary Social Constitutional Monarchy
• Empress	Princess Miyako
• Prime Minister	Ozawa Mitsuo
• Deputy Prime Minister	Kuse Shig
Legislature	Kokkai
Establishment
• The First Kingdom	551 CE
• Ruuzoji Domain	1485 CE
• Federal Republic	1815 CE
• National Social Republic	1910 CE
• Kingdom of Ilbon	1939 CE
• Empire of Ilbon	1996 CE
Population
• 2020 estimate	146,416,962
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy
Driving side	right
ISO 3166 code	DR
Internet TLD	.dr

Ilbon (Ilbonese:イルボン, Ielbon or Irubon, officially known as the Empire of Ilbon, and formally Irubonkoku) is an island nation located south of Agleia. It is situated to the south of Agleia and to the north of Sorenwey. Ilbon has no natural land borders, and therefore does not have any neighboring states on its borders, aside from Ueshima, to which it shares a small land border on Eushima's southern coast. Due to its nature as an island nation, Ilbon is surrounded on all sides by smaller island chains, with there being nearly 4,000 smaller islands surrounding the nation on all sides. The nation possesses many smaller city-states across the coasts of Sorenwey and Agleia, it also claims parts of north-western Sorenway and smaller areas of southern Kardia. Oikage is the nations largest city and capitol, followed by Osaga, Kokasa, Mie, Niinoshima, and Ar.

Ilbon is the 8th most populous country in the world, and is one of the most densly populated in some its provinces and cities. Oikage itself is home to nearly 20 million people and is so large that it has become its own prefecture, and is the largest urban metropolitan region in the world. The eastern coast of the nation is the most densly populated with the population density decreasing the further west-ward one travels. Most of the nation's terrain is hilly or flat, with the nations only mountain range being located along the western coast of the island. Ilbon is divided into 11 regions, which are then further divided up into smaller prefectures, which are then divided further into subprefectures.

History

Ilbo-Genesis

The first humans to arrive in Ilbon did so around 10,000 years ago when they migrated from Sorenwey to Ilbon on small wooden vessels in waves and established a primitive hunter-gatherer, pit-dwelling culture on the island. The first wave of arrivals, which later went on to form the Kita-Tomin culture, was eventually pushed out by the second wave which was that of the ancestors of modern middle Ilbonese "Ruuzoji" people, who were later pushed out by the ancestors of the Kokuri who arrived with the third wave of settlers. Based on cave paintings and primitive escriptions found in the mountainous regions of western Ilbon, it is assumed that early Ilbonese settlers from all 3 cultures drifted towards figures of authority and based their tribal structure around obeying these figures of authority. Early Ilbonites have been, due to the lack of found damage on ancient skeletons, theorized to have been pacifistic by nature, only resorting to combat when all other options were exhausted by their surroundings.

The First Kingdom

Ilbon's first unified kingdom came about during the 4th century BCE and was led by King Tsuchiya Mayumi and his council of warriors. Prior to his consolidation of power in the lands of middle Ilbon, King Mayumi led a smaller tribe of warrior-gatherers named the "Omuras" or "growers", who slowly absorbed their neighboring tribes via peaceful annexation over the course of two decades to eventually form the first Ruuzoji Kingdom; every legitimate and unlegitmate emperor after Mayumi's death would claim to be descended from the Tsuchiya and Omura clans. After King Mayumi's consolidation of control in the 4th century BCE, he declared himself to be the true "philosopher king of the Ruuzoji" and took it upon himself to begin expanding the intellectual capacity of his kingdom, reaching out to prominent intellectuals from across his Kingdom such as the mountain-dwelling Sugihara Moriko and his group of apprentices. Mayumi, during his reign as king, was rumored to have been a homosexual due to his lack of a male heir, but eventually married one of his female concubines and produced a male heir the year after.

Mayumi reigned as king until the age of 50 and left his kingdom to his younger son, Tsuchiya Tsutsomu. Tsutsomu, led by his fathers council of warriors, ruled much in the same way as his father and enacted policies similar to his father. At the age of 31, Tsutsomu was shot in the shoulder by an arrow from a Kokuri assassin, which prompted a retaliatory strike from the Ruuzoji army, which eventually resulted in the beginning of the first Ruuzoji-Kokuri war. The Kokuri, although largely outnumbered by the Ruuzoji, were noted to have fought with "stunning tenacity", and many captured Kokuri warriors were even sent back home to the houses of Ruuzoji noble families to serve as bodyguards and mercenaries. After nearly 8 months of on and off fighting, King Tsutsomu of Ruuzoji and King Beon of Kokuri met atop hill Haneul in what is now the region of Izumi to negotiate an end to the war. The terms agreed upon were deemed to be fair to both sides, and the two kings left satisfied by the negotiation, but not before reportedly bowing to eachother in a show of "ancestral respect".

Warring Bastards Period

The isle of Ilbon has never truly been unified. Opposing tribes, clans, kingdoms, and even empires have constantly duked it out for supremacy over the island's resources, guided by a belief that they were the only nation in the world and that beyond the sea lies nothing but endless mist. Most prominent of these clans were the Ityama, Matsui, Komura, Sawada, and Ruuzoji clans; but this all changed when the 13th century became the 14th. The Ruuzoji clan, well known for their red plated Samurai warriors, captured the northern and central capitols simultaneously from their respective clans and declared themselves to be Ilbons legitimate rulers, and that all others were illegitimate. Ruuzoji clan leader Okabe Ryo sent out his couriers to neighboring clans to demand their surrender and incorporation into what was now called the “Ruuzoji Domain"; these demands were met with wildly differing degrees of success, with some clans seeing submission as the only option and many others continuing to put up resistance. Displeased with what he saw as an “unholy betrayal” by his fellow countrymen, Okabe Ryo went on a long and brutal campaign of conquest across eastern and southern Ilbon, this campaign was later known as the “Readmission Saga”. After nearly 5 years of constant warfare with surrounding clans, the Ruuzoji Domain had united what are now recognized as the 6 central Ilbonese provinces. Numerous clans were wiped out and many more cities had been completely and utterly decimated by Okabe’s armies, but peace had finally been established and Ilbon had been unified for the first time in history. Ryo and his successors went on to found one of Ilbons most successful dynasties, lasting almost 300 years before having their powers reduced by the Ilbonese Federal Republic.

Contact with the outside world remained limited under the Ryo dynasty but it was encouraged in some ways; Okabe pioneered a semi-successful doctrine of “self-enrichment”, in which the Ruuzoji Domain would finance explorers in their mission to find unknown riches in faraway lands. Ports remained open and merchants, most of whom had suffered terribly under the conditions created by the last few centuries of warring, hoped that the period of peace established by the Ruuzoji would last indefinitely; this was also around the same time that matchlock and gunpowder weaponry made their way to Ilbons shores on the backs of Essonian merchant ships. The end of the 14th century would mark a turning point in Ilbons history as fortunate decisions and a quick recovery from the warring states period coalesced into a period of prosperity unknown to many Ilbonese at the time. Art, science, and cultural exchange were encouraged by the Ryo dynasty; Okabe himself was something of an amateur poet and saw the necessity of allowing expressive freedoms; his successors would continue this policy up until the mid 15th century. In 1481, Emperor Okabe passed away due to old age, his 3 sons would soon have to decide who would take up the mantle of Emperor.

Centuries of Strife

Okabe’s death in 1481 and the crowning of his son Yamauchi as emperor changed little in the Ruuzoji Domain as Yamauchi kept many of his fathers policies in place, but to many Ilbonese it felt as though the momentum of Okabe’s rule was slowly fading. In 1531 the southern Kokuri kingdom invaded the Ruuzoji Domain, catching the Ruuzoji army off-guard; the emperor was also quite slow to respond because of his nightly drinking habits. The Kokuri army captured Karenko, Hoko, and Karafuto some weeks after their invasion began, Ilbonese citizens were reportedly baffled by just how quickly the Kokuri had managed to occupy southern Ruuzoji. Emperor Yamauchi locked himself in his quarters after being told news of the invasion and refused to come out, instead having food delivered to his door via an intricate network of ropes and pulleys. Yamauchi’s generals traditionally relied on the emperor's leadership during military affairs as was commonplace under Emperor Okabe’s rule, but the new emperor to many of them seemed to lack an appetite for battle.

Many battles were fought during the Kokuri-Ruuzoji Struggle, but one in particular stands out, the Battle of Karafuto bridge. A force numbering 50,000 Kokuri was held back by a battalion of Samurai at the base of Karafuto bridge for nearly 8 hours; Kokuri generals later recounted the red steel clad warriors having seemingly belonged to clan Ruuzoji itself. Prior to this final stand, the local Ruuzoji garrison, being mostly composed of poorly trained Ashigaru units, was quickly defeated by the incoming Kokuri legions, but the confident Kokuri did not expect the 50 Samurai to last as long as they did. The final casualty count is estimated to be at nearly 1,200 Kokuri to 2,549 Ruuzoji.The Ruuzoji high command was eventually able to regain its composure and began to plan a series of counter attacks against the Kokuri army. While the Kokuri possessed a much more skilled and elite army, the Ruuzoji had greater numbers and knowledge of their own territory, and the generals of the Domain made it clear that they were going to use such an advantage against their enemy. By the winter of 1533, Kokuri forces had secured nearly all of South Ruuzoji and began securing their newly gained territories; while this was happening, the Ruuzoji high command acted independently of the Emperor and began training their conscripted forces for offensives planned for the spring of the same year. In March 1534, the Ruuzoji struck the uneasy Kokuri army, knocking them back towards core Kokuri territory; Ruuzoji soldiers became heroes, and those heroes became generals, generals became legends. The war lasted another 4 years as the Ruuzoji began a full-scale invasion of the Kokuri Kingdom; but these plans were quickly pushed aside after the Emperor, now fully out of his self-isolation, began issuing orders to the Ruuzoji high command. The Ruuzoji would beat back the Kokuri invaders, only to secure a weak peace with the southern Kingdom after nearly 6 years of continuous fighting, peace had finally returned to the isle of Ilbon

Emperor Yamauchi would die in the autumn of 1555 after the carriage carrying him and his advisors slid off a cliff, the accompanying Samurai detachment later committed group ritual suicide because of the shame they felt over not having done more to save the Emperor. The imperial court was thrown into chaos over the emperors death but was eventually able to nominate the emperor's daughter, Princess Hitomi, as the new head of the imperial family; Princess Hitomi was only able to secure this position thanks to the help of her godfather and the emperors close friend Yoneda Orochi, who was hired by the Emperor to teach her politics, leadership, and statecraft. Traditionally, women in Ruuzoji and Yamato society as a whole were not allowed to run for any position of power or hold any public office (as part of Okage’s philosophy of "Domainism", whether that position be a mayor or a member of the imperial court. Princess Hitomi’s nomination also secured Domainisms downfall, with its more conservative elements slowly being undone by princess Hitomi and her successors.

Empress Hitomi’s rule was fairly peaceful but did mark the end of her grandfather's expressive cultural policies, satisfying many of the conservatives who she had angered previously. Hitomi saw these expressive policies as “the politics of a bygone era”, something that she harshly moved against. The war-battered south, mostly neglected under her fathers administration, was slowly rebuilt under her rule, seeing much of its old farming infrastructure replaced by new and modern agricultural structures. Women's societal development saw a small renaissance in the coastal cities and towns of the east; the first female advisor to the Empress, infamous philosopher Miyoshi Yuka, was invited to the imperial court by her majesty in 1585. While the empress was still seen by the majority of Ilbonese society as a reformer, she still angered a great many people (such as peasants) who benefited from the reforms of the two previous emperors; this climaxed in the Fuigo uprising of 1592 during which a group of peasants known as the “Lotus Sun Society", organized a revolt which swept through the neglected rural regions of northern Ruuzoji. This revolt lasted nearly a year but was eventually put down by the Ruuzoji army who pushed the insurrectionists into the hills and mountains of northern Ruuzoji. The leaders of the Lotus Sun Society were imprisoned and executed, causing the revolt to break apart; zealotry however remained high and the insurrection continued well into the 16th century.

In 1604, the Empress stepped down from her position and declared her son, Prince Shoji, to be the new emperor of the Ruuzoji Domain. Emperor Shoji’s reign was extremely chaotic compared to his mothers due to him being left the broken carcass of Imperial politics; different factions within the imperial court threatened to break the very balance created by his grandfather and great-grandfather; although the late Empress Hitomi did attempt to control corruption and power imbalance within the court, her reforms were simply not enough. Shoji was also unable to control the displeased samurai class within Yamato society, many of these samurai would later retire from all public positions of power (including the army) in protest, leaving the army in a sorry and degraded state; these same samurai would later go on to blame the Prince and his mother for their absence. Shoji’s reign would start a long line of reportedly ineffectual and incompetent emperors, finally ending in 1815.

Auspicious Revolution

The Ruuzoji domain's rapidly deteriorating state became apparent to many Yamato’s across the domain. Secret societies were formed, cliques in the military began to scheme, and many many other sects of Ruuzoji society saw an opportunity to put their beliefs and developed ideologies into power. However, this plotting was not done just for the sake of grabbing power from the weak imperial dynasty, but so that the Domain could “retake its place under the sun like in the days of Okabe”. Mobs stormed public offices, police stations, and even the imperial court; the army and its various cliques rounded up their riflemen and marched straight towards the imperial capital in Iwigi, storming it and capturing the emperor. Although the emperor was far from a beloved public figure, the revolutionaries deemed that it was far too great a risk to execute him, instead preferring to put the emperor in house arrest for the rest of his life. The domain's new government was extremely chaotic, with the different military cliques, societies, and revolutionary groups all vying for control over the still recovering domain. In the end however the republican revolutionaries of Oikage triumphed and became the founders of the new “Ruuzoji Federal Republic”, an extremely experimental government in a land of feudal lords and samurai.

Reform after reform was passed by the new republic as it went about tearing down the old and archaic structures of the previous imperial dynasty: suffrage was granted to all male Ruuzoji and high-class women, and the nation began a process of rapid modernization modeled off the rapid industrial growth seen in Maris. Land reform was inacted and excess land was taken away from the large feudal lords and distributed back to smaller peasants and landholders, it seemed to many Ruuzoji as though their country was finally crawling out of its stupor. Governmental roles were handed out based on merit instead of social standing like how they had been during the imperial era. Although the government was officially a republic, the president officially didn’t have term limits and could serve for as long as he wished; this issue was debated constantly by the members of the Ruuzoji diet but was never truly solved, only being remedied by weak bills and acts. The lack of term limits led to the first president simply refusing to resign and to accept the diet's ultimatums, resulting in the Republican army removing him from power. As the decades went by, the Republican army's involvement in Ruuzoji politics increased and the involvement of the oligarchs, workers, and peasantry decreased greatly; which to some conservative citizens of Ilbonese society felt like an improvement from the corrupt days of the early republic.

Decades of Renewal

Members of the Righteous Imperial Restoration Alliance marching to the Imperial Palace

Graceful Reconstruction and Aldlocke

As the second great war came to a close, Ilbon was in ruins. Some years before, massive waves from the eastern ocean had washed over Ilbons eastern coast, wiping out the Grand Eastern Navy and putting the nationalist government on edge. Cities were in ruins, refugees were fleeing further and further inland, and political tensions, long thought extinguished, returned and began putting more strain on the Ilbonese National Government. Revolts broke out in many of Ilbons corporate cities as workers were denied their paychecks and bread, similar revolts broke out in Ilbons corporate farms. Activists and revolutionaries attacked provincial capitals and broke into armories to arm themselves in preparation for their upcoming struggle with the National Government. The army was recalled from its deployments around the world to put down the revolts. In the days, weeks, and months following its redeployment to the Ilbonese mainland, the Ilbonese National Army and its associated paramilitaries killed nearly 90,000 insurrectionists, bringing state control over regions which were declared to be in "full anarchy". It was found that the majority of these insurrections were anarchists, libertarians, and "anti-statists", this fact would linger over Ilbon for the rest of its history, as a deep-seated hatred of anarchists and libertarians. Even though the revolts may have been put down, the government's ongoing instability was an unavoidable issue, and so the long-reigning “Directorate” government was replaced by a clique of Junior reformist officers, all of whom were dedicated to preparing Ilbon for the future.

5 years after the deluge, Ilbon once again found itself at war, this time against the Cesyllen Federation, who had committed acts of aggression against its neighbors. Ilbon's military government saw a chancee at redemption and began preparing troops, supplies, and advisors to be sent overseas to fight the Ceysellen Federation; nearly 200,000 Ilbonese soldiers, some of whom were veterans from the second World War, and others were newly trained draftees. Enthusiasm over the nation's supposed redemption in the war espoused by Ra Jiwoo soon died down as the Ilbonese volunteers realized just how terrible fighting in Cesylle would be. Ilbonese troops came across burned cities, mass graves, and other atrocities committed by the Federation against the land. In combat, they went toe-to-toe with Federal tanks, who were often left unopposed on the battlefield until heavier vehicles, such as the Type 5 Heavy, were deployed to the battlefield to deal with them. Ra Jiwoo, after speaking to General Secretary Jad Madsen of Druermarsk, changed his initial strategy in the war almost completely, and began ruthlessly engaging Cesyllen troops wherever his expeditionary force could find them. Fire bombings, napalmings, and other acts of total war were committed against the territories of Aldlocke, the initial task of redeeming Ilbon had become so blurred to thhe that many Ilbonese soldiers reportedly turned to the ways of Bushido to find purpose in the wars brutalitiy. After a year of fighting, nearly 50,000 Ilbonese soldiers had died, the rest had come home, but many were deeply scarred by the experiences they had in Aldlocke; the term "壊れた" (Kowareta or "Broken") given to them. Stories, novels, manuscripts, and autobiographies written and shared by the veterans of the war in Aldlocke would soon be spread across the National Republic in the coming years and eventually helped to form the basis for Ilbonese foreign policy in the coming decades.

Economy

Corporate Combine

As Ilbon continued to rebuild its eastern coastal cities under the Katsuro presidency, the president's council of advisors and ministers saw a need for coordination between the 5 main industrial, technological, and military conglomerates who had been created for the purpose of strengthening Ilbon and catapulting it into the future. The main advocate for increased coordination was the Minister of Economic and Technological Affairs, Shinomura Tsutomu, who believed that only through strengthening the President's and central government's role in corporate affairs could the growth of Ilbon's economy be ensured for the foreseeable future. At the annual "Industrial Future of the Isles" meeting between Ilbonese industrialists and President Katsuro in Oikage, President Katsuro declared that all 5 of the national conglomerates were to be partially fused into a single larger entity, and that a new corporation, Kawasaki, would be founded to head this new organization dubbed the "National Progress and Advancement Assurance Combine" (NPAAC).

NPAAC, although it was founded during Ilbon's time as a "tiger economy", is still around in the modern day and still coordinates economic actions with the 5 still existing conglomerates. NPAAC's function is entirely subordinated to the central government, and any and all proposed projects and national goals are put onto the NPAAC to accomplish within the time frame allotted by the President and the Minister of Economic Affairs. While punishment for failure is not dished out against the NCAAP itself, the executives of each corporation are typically subjected to investigation by the Keisatsu-Tai, and may be replaced if they the aforementioned investigations turn up something damning . Ilbon's official "Social Corporatist" economic policy, along with the existence of the long-standing "Dong-Yul" doctrine, ensures that the "safety, welfare, and rights of its workers are protected to ensure the maximization of output".

The NPAAC's existence has also spawned many new "junior" conglomerates, such as 啓発 (Keihatsu), the corporation charged with ensuring the continued growth of high-quality education in Ilbon, and インターウェブ (Intāu~ebu), the internet conglomerate tasked with managing the Island's various social media platforms as well as coordinating among other things: video game development, expat integration, providing of internet services, and internet regulation as a whole. Keihatsu and Intāu~ebu are expected to be integrated into the NPAAC in the coming years as their operations reach more of the islands population; a corporation is only considered for NCAAP integration once its operations encompass the whole of the island.