1575 Rafusian coup
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| 1575 Rafusian coup d'état 1575 People's Revolution | |||||||
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| Part of Project Shinkei | |||||||
 Deposed Queen of Rafusie Lia Naïlo (left) and Senior-Director of Rafusian Emergency Government Hayato Liadon (right) | |||||||
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Supported by:
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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 Lt. Col Yutaka Yamase(Commander of the 2nd Infantry Battalion) |
 Lia Naïlo(Queen of Rafusie) Himo Amakiir(Commander of the Royal Rafusian Guard) | ||||||
A coup d'état in Rafusie began on the morning of 1 January 1575, when the coronated Queen of Rafusie, Lia Naïlo, and the Rafusian Royal Cabinet were deposed by the self-proclaimed Rafusian Salvation Army, backed by the Shinkei Organization, which then vested power in a military junta. Commander of the Rafusian Salvation Army Keitaro Siannodel proclaimed a two-year-long state of emergency and declared power had been transferred to Senior-Director Hayato Liadon and the Rafusian Emergency Government. It declared the coronation of Queen Lia to be invalid and stated its intent to hold its first democratic election as a republic at the end of the state of emergency. The coup d'état occurred the day after Queen Lia Naïlo was coronated as Queen of Rafusie. The Queen and her close advisors were detained, along with ministers of the Royal Cabinet and members of the Naïlo clan. In Shinkei-controlled records, the coup was referred to as the 1575 Volksrevolution ("1575 People's Revolution").
Before becoming the Queen of Rafusie, Lia Naïlo had constantly voiced her opposition to the Shinkei's oppression and the growing influence of the Nihonjin in Rafusian politics. She was also the regent for her husband, King Aust IV in his later years. Lia consolidated control over the clan when she installed her nephew as the new king at the death of her son in 1568.
Her nephew, King Quarion II, was born with weak health, allowing Lia to gain more control over her nephew's decisions making and the Royal Cabinet. By December 1574, the king passed away from complicated illnesses, leaving no heirs. With power from years of consolidation, the Royal Cabinet put Lia in line for the throne.
As the Organization caught on with the power transition, they sent a cable to the Royal Cabinet asking for specific clarification of the recent events and warning the Cabinet of an Organization intervention due to the sudden transition. When no answers were given, the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Nihonjin forces was mobilized. The Organization also bribed multiple other officials that opposed the Naïlo clan and funded defectors of the Rafusian Civil Army and the Royal Rafusian Guard.
On the morning of the New Year of 1575, the Rafusian Salvation Army stormed the Royal Palace in the Kingdom's capital, Immeral. The RSA met little resistance during the storming. Right after the storming, wearing red scarves for identification, the RSA occupied the capital, took control of multiple governmental buildings, and by late afternoon, the entirety of Immeral was under the control of the rebels. On the morning of 2 January, the Commander of the RSA, Keitaro Siannodel, broadcasted the ousting of Queen Lia for her "unfair ruling and injustices", the establishment of the new Republic, and the state of emergency. The broadcast was made through the Organization Announcement System in Rafusie, helping it broadcast throughout the country.
Background
The Naïlo clan was the elven-led dynasty that ruled Rafusie before the end of the War of The Thousand Flowers. After the Treaty of The Ten Kingdoms was signed, the clan became a puppet for the newly established Organization of Shinkei and the head of the reorganized Kingdom of Rafusie. The clan was severely weakened and all of the political decision-making was heavily intervened by the Organization.
Lia Naïlo was the wife of King Aust IV, the King of Rafusie during the War of The Thousand Flowers. She also served as a regent for him in his later years, and she was also a popular monarch among the elven populace in Rafusie for voicing her opposition against the Organization's interference in Rafusian politics. After King Aust IV passed away, she installed her nephew as the new king at the death of her son, which started the short-lived reign of king Quarion II.
After 28 years of constant political suppression from the Organization, the Naïlo clan appointed Lia Naïlo as the new head of the clan after a series of political decisions and careful planning. A heavy power struggle began in 1574 when king Quarion II passed away from unknown illnesses. During this, the clan began consolidating power away from the pro-Shinkei ministers and towards Lia's loyalists. The power struggle between Lia's loyalists and pro-Shinkei ministers was brought to a head when the Naïlo clan and the Royal Cabinet officially declared Lia as the next in line for the throne.
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The Organization, led by Masanobu Tsuji at the time, eventually caught on with the ongoing power transition and began plotting a possible larger coup to finally oust the Naïlo clan from power. The Organization sent a cable to the Royal Cabinet asking for clarification of the recent events, including warnings for a possible intervention if the transition continued, the opening paragraphs of the cable stated:
It is now clear that the Royal Cabinet and the Naïlo clan had been trying to obtain power through unconventional means. Her Majesty, Lia Naïlo took advantage of the Organization's unawareness and had try to usurp the democratically elected ministers, thus placing the onus on the military in eyes of the world and Rafusian people. It is also clear that she has maneuvered herself into a commanding position.
The Organization cannot tolerate a situation in which power lies in Lia's hands. The Royal Cabinet must be given the chance to rid itself of Lia and her coterie and replace them with the best military and political personalities available.
If in spite of all your efforts, Lia remains obdurate and refuses, then we must face the possibility of a possible military intervention.
The cable went unanswered, leading the Shinkei Regional Control Army to mobilize the 2nd Infantry Battalion. The Organization also began to recruit the defectors of the Rafusian Civil Army and formed the "Rafusian Salvation Army" (Rafusianische Heilsarmee), led by Keitaro Siannodel, a mixed Nihonjin-Rafusian military personnel. All of the pro-Shinkei ministers, including ministers who opposed Lia's ruling, were given a chance to reestablish the order of the country after the coup, to which many agreed.
Final prepartions
The Nihonjin leaders saw the kingdom as a potential resource for their technological advancements and expansion of their already strong influences on the island. The 2nd Infantry Battalion then began to plan the coup d'état, knowing that they needed to act quickly and decisively to take over the kingdom. They formed an alliance with a group of rogue elves who were discontent with the current leadership and loyal to the Nihonjin occupation and promised them power and riches in exchange for their cooperation.
The first step in the Nihonjin plan was to infiltrate the kingdom and gather intelligence. They sent spies disguised as merchants and traders to gather information on the kingdom's military strength, key players in the government, military formations and outposts, and potential allies and enemies after Queen Lia took over. They also started to secretly arm the rogue elves who would serve as their foot soldiers during the coup in the Rafusian Salvation Army and the Rafusian Civil Army. As the Nihonjin forces were preparing for the coup, the elven kingdom was blissfully unaware of the impending danger. The kingdom's leadership was focused on maintaining peace and prosperity for their people after Queen Lia took the throne and was not prepared for an attack from an outside force.
The Coup d'état
The coup began on the morning of New Year when the 2nd Infantry Battalion forces launched a surprise attack on the kingdom's capital city. The attack was swift and brutal, catching the Rafusian off guard and causing chaos and panic throughout Immeral. The rogue elves who had been promised power and riches by the Nihonjin forces quickly turned on their people, joining forces with the invading army and using their knowledge of the kingdom to assist in the coup. The elven military, although skilled and well-trained, was no match for the advanced technology and weapons used by the 2nd Infantry Battalion. They were quickly overpowered and half of the RCA royalists were decimated.
The generals of the Nihonjin military forces wanted and needed to finish the coup quickly with as little hand-to-hand combat as possible, as they knew that Royal Rafusian Guard and the RCA royalists would have time to regroup to fight after the coup, and because drawn out mini-civil war would only allow the RCA royalists to take over the countryside while the Nihonjin forces fought in the capital. Lt. Col Yutaka Yamase had decided to order the Keitaro Siannodel to quickly storm all of the political buildings and capture all of the royalist ministers. Furthermore, a drawn-out conflict would benefit the royalists. Most of the anti-Lia forces also wanted to avoid killing the Queen in a large-scale battle for the city.
Around 16:00 of the same day, virtually the entire capital city of Immeral was under the pro-Nihonjin forces. The entirety of the RCA royalists surrendered to the pro-Nihonjin forces one hour beforehand, effectively decimating the military forces of the royalists and leaving the small-sized Royal Rafusian Guard left to defend Queen Lia, the Naïlo clan and the remnants of her Royal Cabinet.
Most of Lia's followers and Lia herself took shelter in the Honmani Castle after the Royal Palace was raided, refusing to surrender and vowing to reassert her control. Finally, at 22:00, the 2nd Infantry Battalion used artillery and flamethrowers and it fell by daybreak after Lia finally gave the order to the Royal Rafusian Guard to surrender. The coup results pleased the pro-Nihonjin forces. The casualties were light: 9 insurgents killed and 46 wounded, 4 dead and 44 injured on the royalists' side.
After the Coup d'état
The Nihonjin forces then declared themselves the new rulers of Rafusie and installed a puppet government consisting of the rogue elves from the Rafusian Salvation Army, who had helped them during the coup. The new government was more loyal to the Nihonjin and was tasked with providing resources and technology to support the forces' goals.
The Rafusian Salvation Army installed Hayato Liadon as the new "Presiantant" of the new Republic of Rafusie. He then declared a state of emergency and enact martial law throughout the new Republic. The state of emergency would last for two years before a proper election would take place in 1577, with the results being in favor of the pro-Nihonjin political party of the Rafusian Democratic Party.
The aftermath of the coup was devastating for the kingdom. The once peaceful and prosperous land was now under the full control of the Nihonjin forces, and the people were subjected to harsh rule and exploitation. Many elves fled the kingdom, seeking refuge in neighboring puppets where laws were less strict, while others stayed and tried to resist the new government. The resistance movement, although brave and determined, was ultimately unsuccessful in overthrowing the new rulers. The Nihonjin had achieved its goal of fully expanding its influence into one of the most rebellious puppet at the time and had successfully subjugated the elves of Rafusie.