The Date Shogunate
Structure
Culture
Public Agenda
History
1864 AA the War of Succession Rages on in the Archipelago. Bloodshed has reached an all time high and there are many that have come to believe that the Archipelago will become a graveyard. This changed when one calm summer morning a great blaring of a trumpet was heard, then what followed was a catastrophic crash heard throughout the archipelago, the island of Okutoro had collapsed into the sea. In one instant the near-entirety of the Kenshin clan was lost to the sea, with only a few clan member able to escape due to being on trade vessels.
Shintaro Date the leader of the Date clan takes this news gravely. Believing that the War must stop if his people have any hope of survival he shifts his focus from war into statecraft. Primary he begins to look to consolidate his allies. He sends a missive to one of his clan’s oldest allies, the Yoshiro, in order to gain their support in a bid to reunify the archipelago with the clan leaders at the helm instead of a Shogunate. Though the Yoshiro were convinced the, it would be a daunting task to get the support of the remaining clans.
Date sent letters to each of the remaining clans, The Ueno, The Morrimoto, The Kaneshiro, The Arakawa, and The Sakaguchi. He wrote to each a letter of the loss of the Kenshin and his fear that more may be lost unless they unite and find a way to stop the sinking. Urging them to come to a truce, he emphasized that he was not interested in leading, he only wished for the prosperity and safety of his clan, and thus the safety and prosperity of the Archipelago. His hopes rested on those letters, but they would not be enough to sway the other Clans.
The Ueno seemed open to the idea and were interested in discussing the idea further. Date excited to hear of the potential support of the staunchly neutral Ueno, send back a response immediately inviting the head of the Ueno clan to a feast at their Capitol of Nakanobe. They accepted and 1 month later the leader of the Ueno arrived at the docks with Date personally meeting the Ueno.
As the two began to proceed towards the capitol the dull roar of a trumpet reverberated throughout the island. A group of soldiers from the Morrimoto, the Kaneshiro, the Arakawa, and the Sakaguchi appeared from the rice paddies of the Kikoshiri lowlands. Arrows rained on to the two clans, as both leaders looked for cover. Peasants and soldiers alike were skewered by the rain of arrows, it was only due to the protection of Date’s bodyguards who used their own bodies to sheild Date that he survived. When he was able to remove himself from under the cover of his now dead body guards did he see the true scale of their attack. The docks were burned, women, and children alike were brutally slaughtered, and the head of the Ueno clan Leader was place on a stake for all to see.
The enraged Date, sent messages to both the Kikoshiri and the Ueno clans. This was an act of brutality and they must unite now to strike back against those that slaughtered his people and the Ueno’s leader. With both clans agreeing to the unification. The Eastern Alliance went forth to seek retribution and put an end to the war for good. The next year was an especially bloody period of battles, and brutal assualts. The Western alliance and the Eastern alliance went back and forth never gaining much ground either way. It was only the loss of the 2 holy rivers by way of the partial sinking of the Island of Toutama, that both sides agreed to put the war on hold.
The loss of the two rivers were seen as a sign that the favor of Tsubete no Chi Chi was being lost. On July of 1865 that the two sides agreed to meet on neutral ground on Toutama in order to hear each other through. Date spoke to the leaders of the western alliance “We are losing the archipelago. The ground has been stained too much by the blood of his faithful. We caused him to turn his back on us, and thus he turned his back on the Archipelago. I believe that we must take all who wish to leave and bring them to the east were we can settle and find new lands. I long feared this was the case and I had already sent some of my best to learn more about our chances of victory. We need not fight each other we can rule together and ensure the safety and future of our people.”
The leaders were convinced and they began to plan the logistics of how the invasion will go. Though the clans were cordial enough with each other, but it was an ugly truth that once land would be regained the war would continue as a successor to the Tougawa Shogunate was sought.
It was on the 1st of the Month of Harvest 1865 that preparations were complete. The Clans had gotten their best warriors, and assembled their armada’s. Training was completed and basic Common was memorized. The invasion would launch on the 1st of the Month of Frost. The 11th of the Month of Harvest saw the assembly of the invasion force and the leadership in Nakanobe. Group drills were performed in order to increase cohesion. In the central Citadel the 7 clan leaders assembled to discuss tactics. It was there that The Arakawa, the Kaneshiro, the Morimoto leaders drew their blades and attempted to assassinate the other 4 leaders. The Ueno, Shakokumo, and the Yoshiro clan leaders were struck down, but before Date was killed the door was broken down by Date’s soldiers and the traitor lords fled. The Traitor lords tried to frame Date for the assassination saying that he was power hungry and only wished to destroy the other clans so that his would be unopposed in claiming the title of Shogun.
Their words did nothing to convince the leaderless clans. The soldiers united under Date. He and his army marched on to the island of Toutama where he would meet the armies of the 3 clans face to face. The once beautiful grasslands of Toutama were awash with the blood of the armies. Though the battle started at a stalemate, the slow gains of Date began to shake the confidence of the 3 traitors. They began blaming one another for each mistake, which lead to a lack of cohesion, and further deterioration of moral and an increase in losses. After 5 days of battle, Date stood with the heads of the 3 traitor lords in his hands.
With his victory secured Date established a new shogunate under his rule. He established new rules with forced diversification of islands so that clan lines would not be drawn if another succession crisis would occur. He further enacted reforms of the power of Clan leaders, as well as enforce education that would make the children loyal to the Shogunate and not their clans. Lastly he hand selected new clan leaders that were sympathetic to his ideals. With this out of the way the Date Shogunate began its invasion of Eluth, and secured its entrance as a major world power.
Demography and Population
Territories
