Mutulese Global Circuit
Mutuleses Possessions in Ochran and the Vespanian Ocean Och K'ak | |
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 Mutulese Ochran in 1745. In light green, the regions directly adminisred by the Divine Kingdom. The orange squares represent trade ports, forts, manufactures and other outposts. | |
| Largest | Juwon Peten |
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Mutulese Ochran is the name generally given to the parts of Ochran who where under direct or indirect rule from the Divine Kingdom. It was initially a trade-based system which derived most of its influence from merchant enterprise and was considered by the Mutuleses as an extansion of what they called the Market Network System. With a few notable exceptions, such as the Yajawil of Kahei the majority of the Mutulese colonial empire's overseas holdings consisted of coastal forts, factories, and port settlements with varying degrees of incorporation of their hinterlands and surrounding regions. The Nuk Nahob, or "Mutuleses trading companies", were the owners of most of these possessions with the K'uhul Ajaw serving as a distant lawmaker and arbiter of disputes between competing Nuk Nahob.
Since smaller companies lacked the capital or the manpower for large-scale expeditions through the Makrian Ocean and into the Vespanian Circuit, these distant trade operations were left to a shifting collection of merchant-nobles houses chartered by the Divine Throne. During the first half of the eighteenth century, these had a virtual monopoly on strategic shipping-routes westward through the Makrian Ocean. It greatly contributed to a commercial revolution and a cultural flowering in the Mutul during the late 16th and early 17th century.
In the 18th century the Mutulese presence in Ochran and the Vespanian Ocean started to decline following the Tsurushimese revolution of 1750 which changed the balance of powers in Ochran. But it's only seventy years later, during the Second War for Kahei, that the Mutuleses would definitively loose control over most of their possessions in the region.
History
Tsurushimese network
Through the knowledge and use of the Northern Makrian Vortex, the Tsurushimeses had managed to reach Norumbia during the 13th century, establishing colonies in what would become Enyama in 1373. The successive governments of Tsurushima followed a policy of colonialism, cultivating cash crops and exploiting natural ressources in Norumbia to gain significant reserves of cereals, oils, textiles, and other products that could be grown in the vast plantations of the colonies.
Because they had to go southward to catch winds powerful enough to bring them back to Tsurushima, sights of their vessels became more and more frequent with time, ultimately leading to crude trading between the Tsurushimeses crews and the native kingdoms. The first contacts between Tsurushimeses and Latins took place after the explorers from the latter reached the Western Coast of Norumbia. Thus, the "road to the west" became public knowledge, even if the exact roads used by the Tsurushimeses sailors remained a mystery.
Akutze Selenecha's Travels
Akutze Selenecha was but a child when his House, the Ferrenze, was wiped out during the event known as the Patricide, in 1490. The remnants of the family found refuge in the Mutul, where they merged with the local merchant-nobility of Siluik'. Akutze became a sailor, and then worked as a Captain sometime for the Mutuleses, sometime for the Reze Trade Cartel. In 1492, he presented his project to discover the Tsurushimese's "Makrian Road" to the Divine Throne, which agreed to offer a pension to Selenecha and finance his expedition up to 30% of the total expenses.
Between 1511 and 1528, Selenecha completed three round-trip voyages between Mutul and Ochran, each voyage being sponsored by the Divine Throne. Selenecha proved to be instrumental to the installation of trade posts in Tsurushima, and even got the governorship of the first Mutulese legation in Ochran. However this meant he was quickly sidelined by other larger, wealthier, trader-merchants families who got their own charters from the Divine Throne to explore and set trade posts in the Makrian and Vespanian Oceans. This was the beginning of the Nuk Nahob.
First settlements
The Mutulese Legation in Tsurushima was granted in 1517. Other trade ports opened on the archipelago and Kahei in the following decades, depending on the potential profits and which Nuk Nahob had financed the settlement and negociated the agreements. Problems caused by inter-company rivalry led to the Divine Throne seizing direct control over the justice and administration of the ports, following the traditional Market Network System of northern Oxidentale. In 1560, the Mutuleses reached the Solustheris Isles and once again were quick to establish outposts there. In 1575, the first permanent trade-port in Onekawa-Nukanoa was created. In 1581, the Mutuleses reached Barriset and the Tuluran Coast.
Kirishtan Revolt
The Mutul was but a minor trade partner of Tsurushima during the 16th century, far outshined by the economical and political influences of the Belisarians Legations. However, during the Kirishitan Uprising, the Mutulese Legation was the only one to side with the Shogunate and pagan forces. Because of their non-abrahamic faith and their reputation for human sacrifices and body modifications, Mutuleses were also victims of the Uprising, and the Siege of the Mutulese Legation lead to the creation of Mutli-Tsurushimans militias that fought alongside the Shogun’s armies and supporters.
Legation in Tsurushima
After the start of the Closed Gate Policy, the Mutuleses were the last foreigners tolerated inside the Archipelago, and only in one location : the port of Sakurajima. More specifically, in what was nicknamed the Mutulese Legation, located on an island linked to the rest of the city by a single bridge, guarded on both sides.
the island was, administratively, part of the city. The 11 local Tsurushimeses families who owned the land received an annual rent from the Nuk Nahob operating in the Legation. It contained houses for the Mutuleses, warehouses, and accommodation for both Mutuleses and Tsurushimeses officials. Numerous merchants supplied goods and catering, and about 100 interpreters served. While the island was under the strict surveilance of the Shogun, who had a Supervisor in Sakurajima, the day to day administration of the port was left to the council of the Nuk Nahob's representatives, who elected their own Batab, the equivalent of a mayor.
Despite the financial burden of maintaining the isolated outpost, the trade with Tsurushima was very profitable for the Mutuleses, initially yielding profits of 50% or more. The legation proved very profitable up until the First Republic, which saw the end of the Closed Gate Policy and the re-opening of the archipelago to all foreigners.
The Mutuleses traded mostly in silk, cotton, chocolate, and sugar. Also, deer pelts and shark skin were transported to Tsurushima from Kahei, as well as books, scientific instruments and many other rarities. In return, the Mutuleses traders bought Tsurushiman copper, silver, camphor, porcelain, lacquer ware and rice. To this was added the personal transactions of the Nuk Nahob's employees which was an important source of income for them and their Tsurushiman counterparts.
Pulaui reunification
During the Age of Fire, a period of division and conflicts in the Pulaui archipelago, many Pulaui fled the chaos of their time by serving as sailors on Mutuleses ships, beginning a long lasting relationship between the Archipelago and the Nuk Nahob. The Mutuleses traders became important suppliers for the various competing factions, especially for the Solustheris Kingdom where they first established outposts. By the time of the unification of the archipelago in the early 16th century, the Mutuleses had acquired many concessions and benefits from the victorious states and thus from the newly created Confederation.
After the reunification, a number of mercenaries and other companies of aimless soldiers found new jobs and opportunities by serving as private forces for the Nuk Nahob, notably during the War for Kahei. Naval experts from the Solustheris Isles were notably sought after by the Nuk Nahob who engaged them to form their own navigators and officers; Pulaui mercenaries ended up serving as enforcers and guards.
Pulau Keramat would remain independent for the duration of the Mutulese Ochran, serving as an important resting port and jump-pad for the Mutuleses toward the Ozeros Sea, but also as a source of spices and raw products, and a consumer market for Mutuleses goods. The coastal areas and larger islands were chequered by a network of Trade Posts and Factories, strengthening the commercial and political ties between the two kingdoms.
War for Kahei
After the Kirishtan Uprising, Latin traders whom had been present in the region as part of the Maritime Jade Road were forced to abandon their Legations in Tsurushima proper, but remained an important force in the Kahei archipelago through what was known as the Latin Possessions. With the Closed Gate Policy, The clans still loyal to the Shogunate and wishing to enforce its laws found themselves abandoned by the central power in Tsurushima, and at the mercy of their rivals whom took the chance to get rid of them by making alliances with the Latins for whom it was in their interest to make sure the islands did not escape their influence despite the end of the Legations. Left with no little to no other options, the Shogunists and Loyalists clans ended up calling the Mutul for help.
The Kahei war, despite being rather short, was a devastating conflict where clanic rivalries meddled with religious considerations and foreign influences. Ultimately, the Mutuleses won and established their own system in the wake of the dismembering of the Latin Possessions. Spices and silviculture became the dominant activities of the countrysides and inlands, in vast farmlands owned by Mutuleses traders or local aristocratic clans. The spices were sent to Hoxi peten, the siege of power of the Nuk Nahob in Kahei, and important marketplace dedicated to the exchange of spices, while the wood was destined to Japarata, renamed by the Mutuleses Kuwon Peten, as the dockyard of the city were the main producers of Djongs for the Mutulese navy.
Even after the Mutuleses had claimed control over all of the archipelago and established a Yajawil, their administration continued to claim its legitimacy from the Tenno, profiting from the language barreer and cultural differences to slowly shift the meaning of the word from the Tsurushimese ruler to the K'uhul Ajaw. De facto, Kahei would remain the heart and center of the Mutulese presence in the Vespanian Ocean until the Second War for Kahei during the 19th century.
First Barriset Tabanaa
In 1621, the clanic chief Shuleek proclaimed himself Caliph of Barriset with the support of the |Iifae clergy. Through the support of the Nuk Nahob already present on the island, the Iifae Caliphate managed to overthrow the hellenic kingdom that dominated the island. In exchange for this support, the Nuk Nahob were granted larger concessions on Barriset, and now had their own docks, warehouses, factories, and districts. These enclaves remained theoretically under the Caliph's rule, but were de-facto independent from Barriset's authority.
Second Tabanaa and the Yajawil of Barriset
Population in the Mutuleses Concessions grew quickly after the establishment of the Caliphate. Oxidentaleses remained a rare sight, but many Barrisetis emigrated to find work as dockers, shop-owners, or sailors. To ease relations with the Mutuleses, many of the wealthier traders who had regular contact with them converted to the White Path, alongside most of the inhabitants of the Concessions. This is when the first sizeable K'uh Nahs were erected.
Religious tensions between the Iifae and the White Pilgrims started to emerge during this period, leading to criticism toward the Caliphate for leaving too much freedom to the Nuk Nahob. In 1649, the Caliph made some attempt to limit the growth of the White Path, such as making |Iifae the only religion openly practicable outside of the Concessions, with the flux of people in and out of these districts being now closely monitored by the Caliph. This sparkled an outrage from the Mutuleses traders who raised the number of Tulotairi militias and warships present in Barriset as a form of protest, alongside diplomatic lobbying to get the decrees redacted. By the end of the year, the Caliph had been forced to back down, abandon the controls at the Concessions' gates, and proclaim religious freedom all over the island.
After the failure of the caliphate to reign in the Mutuleses, parts of the Iifae clergy started to radicalize, openly calling for the departure of the Oxidentaleses, the crushing of "Those who turned away from Mesfin", and even for the overthrow of the Caliph who had been incapable of enforcing Yen laws. Despite heavy repressions, these imam-priests ended up annointing a "new" tribal lord as Caliph who began a new Holy War against the Betrayers and the Infidels.
The second Tabanaa started in 1656 with the siege of the Concessions and the assault on the Caliph's palace. Deathtoll numbered in the thousands after a week of violence, but ultimately the radicals were driven off the cities by the Tulotairi and the remnants of the First Caliph's troops. The rest of the Holy War was a long campaign of guerilla and counter-insurgency, culminating with the capture and sacrifice of the Insurgent Caliph and of most of his clergy in 1661, even if remnants of the Second Caliphate would continue the fight for many more years.
While the Nuk Nahob present in Barriset had organized themselves into Kuchkabal, they ended up electing to call for the Divine Throne to send judges, lawyers, and administrators to the island to takeover the task of pacifying Barriset, managing the island, and driving off the Iifae insurgents. In 1660, the K'uhul Ajaw proclaimed the constitution of Barriset as a Yajawil. The new B'aatz Yajaw and his administration reached the island, officializing direct Mutulese control over it.
Market System
The Mutuleses had long theorized how a society should be structured to ensure "peace and prosperity in accord with the principles of the universe laid down by the Thirteen Gods". It resulted in a tripartite division of the Mutul society, with producers-commoners, a merchant-nobility, and a priestly caste of scribes and scholars. The merchant-nobility role was to ensure both the circulation of trade goods and its protection, legitimizing their rule as governors and administrators. As a result, the nobility were the one possessing both the knowledge and the capitals needed to establish business ventures and organize what they called the Vespanian Circuit mimicking the system already in place in Oxidentale.
The most important markets were also the political centers of "Ochk'ak", where goods from all over the Vespanian would concentrate before being sent back to Oxidentale. They dominated politicaly and economicaly "local markets" where local traders and producers would sell products to Mutuleses long-range traders or natives mid-range merchants. While there was no forced plantations nor homogeneous agricultural and industrial policies, the Mutuleses traders managed, through their carefully cultivated situation of Monopsony over most of the regions part of the Vespanian Circuit and thus their control over the market prices, to influence producers and native aristocracies into re-organizing their possessions away from Subsistence agriculture and into Intensive farming for luxury goods such as spices, gemstones, coffee, cotton, dyes, rubber, and rare woods.
Because of the development of this proto international trades, the Mutulese aristocracy became ardent advocates for Liberalism and the free market, untouched from the Divine Throne which was to limit itself to its traditional role of maintaining peace, a fair justice system, and a good network of infrastructures, all of this to support a productive and prosperous economy. The question of the K'uhul Ajaw's involvement in the Vespanian Circuit remained a long debated issue, but the Divine Throne remained far less powerful in Ochran than it was in Oxidentale, and it became a political laboratory for the merchant-aristocrats eager to try new organizations of the Market System, such as the inclusion of elections.