Nova:Ishikari Shogunate
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The Ishikari Shogunate (in game: Ishikari) was a nation located in the Japanese Archipelago for the sole purpose of breaking the Japanese cycle of war and fracturing once and for all. The nation started out small and had stayed small, but has built up a large and precious community. The nation declared independence on July 21st, 2020, separating itself from the nation of Shimazu, and disbanded in January, 2021, reuniting with Japan. During the nation's history, it had mainly consisted of one town due to its location and geographical history, but in its later month had around 3 towns: Youshiken (the capital), Kimobetsu (the residency of 2nd in command), and Yamejima. It only ever had one leader, StellarSamurai (now Kouhashi) with the 2nd in command being TechSB.
The founding of Little_Hokkaido
On December 15th, 2019, StellarSamurai founded the town Little_Hokkaido, with hopes of becoming a trading hub. When the town was founded, the proximity limit was still in place, so the town sat on the last piece of land available in Japan. Stellar first joined the nation of Imperial Japan, as he assumed it was the biggest and closest clan to the town, however, when working on an ice highway, Stellar later switched to Shimazu and got his first taste of Japanese politics. The town grew slowly and didn't have proper citizens until at least 2 months after its founding. The town also used to be made primarily of wood, as that was the only material he could afford at the time. The town eventually changed its name to Takikawa after the irl city in central Hokkaido, but was then changed to Sakurashima and then Youshiken.
The 3rd Civil War and Stellar's Time in Japan
As Stellar was building up his town, a war had been ravaging the Japanese archipelago for a few months. On August 23rd, 2019, the nation of Shimazu was made by Baron_Sigma and declared a vassal state of Japan. In an attempt to fix the broken community in Japan, the emperor, Yllalen, declared the clan system, which allowed anyone to make nations in Japan that would work together, however, this plan backfired and the nation of Imperial Japan, made by alek_b, declared war on Shimazu, marking the beginning of the 3rd civil war. By the time Stellar made his town, there were 4 out of the original 6-7 nations, Ashikaga (Yllalen), Shimazu (Baron_Sigma), Asano (KawadaJP), and Imperial Japan (alek_b). Some time in January, Baron_Sigma transferred power over to Sairene, a well known player who had been heavily involved in the community. Soon afterwards, alek_b announced his departure from Imperial Japan and sold the nation to Synargle, another well known player and a previous emperor of Japan. Synargle renamed the nation to Tokugawa and began to push for hard unification, which all the clans agreed to except Ashikaga, which later submitted under pressure. Youshiken (at the time Takikawa), was one of the first towns from Shimazu to join Togukawa for unification and attempted to persuade the rest of Shimazu to join up as well. When unification went through, Stellar became part of the provisional government and later attempted to run for office, but only being around for 3 months, of course he didn't end up winning. Stellar continued to be active in Japan, chilling on discord and talking to other Daimyo and citizens.
The Transition to the Sakura Theme
Eventually, Stellar started to greatly dislike the wooden theme of his town. The building quality was low and cramped and the town looked garbage to the rest of Japan, so Stellar decided to tear down his town and start from the ground up. He first began by terraforming his town to the level of Monbetsu and Habbo_Hotel, two other towns in Hokkaido which had previously agreed on a common Y level. Stellar's town though was bordering Sapporo, which valued its natural landscape. As a compromise, a river was built flowing in between Stellar's town and Habbo_Hotel, and Sapporo. Soon afterwards, new houses with sakura colors began to be built.
The Korea Rebellion
Ssansss, another notable Japanese player, was chosen to become Japan's 3rd prime minister. One of his goals was to colonize Korea, and when the town of Daegu was planted on the Korean peninsula with KawadaJP as daimyo. Stellar expressed his discontent, especially since Korea viewed the Japanese as allies and were listed as so in the Japanese discord. Baron_Sigma contacted Stellar after he had also expressed his discontent. Together, along with a few other players, they staged a protest and sent a letter to the government, stating that if Daegu wasn't disbanded or given to Korea, they'd take further action in 24h. The original plan was to have all the daimyo that supported him leave and join Korea until Japan returned the land they took, however those plans were put on hold. The rebellion lasted 3-5 days before the Japanese and Koreans came up with a treaty.
Ashimazu
After Ssansss' term was up, the fourth prime minister elections began, and once again Stellar decided to run. His campaign mainly consisted of how to improve the archipelago itself and how to reduce Japanese occupation and influence in Korea. The two main candidates in this campaign were Sairene and Arkas (another well known player in both China and Japan). When running, Stellar was invited to a group dubbed "Ashimazu" by a few and consisted of the members that were left from Baron's Shimazu and Yllalen's Ashikaga in hopes to elect Arkas. The group was meant to help crack down on toxic behavior and unite the community, however, Stellar found a different message. Stellar realized that as it stood, Japan had too diverse a group to ever be truly united, and with how the election continued with Sairene leaving Japan with her town for a short while and the arguing that ensued beforehand, Stellar decided that it was time to talk to Baron about leaving Japan.
Shimazu 2 and the Early Stages of the 4th Civil War
On June 10th, 2020, the nation of Shimazu was created to separate the Shimazu community from the toxicity of the 3rd Japanese Empire. For its standing, the nation was a decent size, consisting of Shikoku (Formerly Shikara, capital of Imperial Japan), Hirosaki (Formerly Akita, capital of ShimazuNorth/Honshu), Wakayama (Formerly Awaji), Youshiken, and Yeosu, with Sapporo joining later that day. The nation took on an isolationist stance, choosing to be neutral with all nations. This obviously didn't sit well with Japan, and to make it worse Synargle was inactive for more than a month beforehand. When the emperor officially abdicated the throne, a power struggle began. KawadaJP was the heir to the throne and had claimed to have left emc about 2 weeks before the emperor abdicated. Sairene was chosen as the next heir, however, Kawada returned and fought for his claim to the throne. He had gathered supporters during his time in Japan and made a nation called the Date Clan, which at one point became the biggest nation in Japan. The nation of Hokkaido was created as a neutral zone and when Date and Japan unified under Kawada, the nation of Hokkaido disbanded and the nation of Ryuzoji was made, which consisted of people opposed to the unification.
The State of Ishikari
When Stellar was in Shimazu, he had heard of multiple northern supporters who were interested in joining but were too far away. He told Baron he planned to make a vassal state as a way to make alliances and have the northern supporters in the nation, so on July 21st, 2020, the nation of Ishikari was made to serve Shimazu as a vassal and northern n spawn. Towns that joined during this time were Akita and Karafuto City, with Karafuto City being the town of an old Shimazu supporter. Ishikari was of course restricted on what it could do, but alliances made during this time included the Voliograd-Youshiken pact, allying Ishikari with the planned nation of Sakha and soon allied with the People's United Socialist Leninist Republics of Siberia (now People's Republics of Siberia), a supernation that consisted of most of western Siberia. Stellar grew closer to the people in the nations outside of Japan, which later influenced his decision to split from Shimazu.
The Shimazu Crisis Era and Independence of Ishikari
One of the towns, Wakayama, was being sold off to help the mayor get funds to buy a nation in China. As Baron's and Shimazu's relations got worse with Japan, Baron and Googol (Wakayama daimyo) planned to scam Japan out of the money and sell the town to someone else. Stellar was against this idea and addressed his concerns to Baron, who agreed. When the town was sold however, it was clear that something was off. Googol claimed that after being paid, he accidentally transferred the town to the wrong person and logged out in a panic, however there are now suspicions that the player the town was transferred to was an alt. Stellar didn't like how things played out and was the final push for independence, so on July 21, 2020, with massive support of Japan and other foreign nations, Ishikari declared independence under the name of the Ishikari Shogunate. Ishikari quickly gained allies and a new government system was installed, one which had not been seen before. The nation had a brief era of peace before being brought back in to war.
Ishikari's Late Stage
Ishikari experienced its height around December of 2020, with 3 towns being at least semi active and many active alliances. The people of Japan and Shimazu have a generally decent and somewhat positive view of the nation. Youshiken is highly developed and has a unique place in Japan, being one of the only towns to use pink in its color scheme. Recently, Ishikari had organized a flag competition and a new shopping district, as well as helping link Korea and Japan.
Japan North
On January 21, 2021, the nation of Ishikari rejoined Japan as a northern n spawn. All towns in the nation were instructed to leave and the Shogun and Roju were given minister for the month. A few days later, Youshiken was renamed Ishikari and Ishikari to Japan_North. On February 27th, 2021, Stellar announced his retirement from emc and the nation was disbanded.
Government
Reformed Daimyo System
This government was created with the idea of having the numbers in mind. The system that the nation of Japan has been using works best in big nations and tends to put the same people in power with the smaller nations. With the new sessei system, the government would work similar to early Shimazu/Ashikaga. The system functions as a 2 factor authentication government. First, the high council would suggest laws and debate amongst each other. If the law gets a yes majority, then voting begins in the lower council, and if it passes there, then the law is implemented. If not, then the law is scrapped or put on hold for another day. Every month, there is an election to choose the Tenno, who will represent the people in the high court. In the case that there is only one Tenno candidate running, then the government shall revert back to the sessei system for the month. The titles in the system are meant to reflect irl sengoku jidai period hierarchy and the government itself was based off of the government of the 3rd Japanese empire and the Shimazu clan.
High Council (上の評議会)
Shogun (将軍): The Shogun is the leader of the nation and has the final verdict in High Council debates.
Roju (老中): The Roju is advisor and partner to the Shogun. The Roju is decided by the Shogun, similar to how the roju council was chosen by the shogun in the Edo Period.
Tenno (天皇): The Tenno is elected by the people, similar to the prime minister in the nation of Japan. The Tenno’s purpose is to serve the people in High Council debates.
Sessho (摂政): The Sessho acts as an advisor to the emperor. The Sessho is chosen before/during the Tenno’s campaign, similar to how the prime minister would choose ministers in the nation of Japan.(edited)
Lower Council (下 の評議会)
Daimyo (大名): The Daimyo are the mayors of towns in the Ishikari Shogunate. They will vote on laws sent down from the high council, similar to the kokkai/shugin/sessei system.
Honorary Daimyo (名誉大名): The Honorary Daimyo are citizens that the high council deem fit to be on the Lower Council. They get the same voting rights as the Daimyo.
List of Towns
Youshiken: Ran by StellarSamurai and served as the capital of the nation, also the most developed town.
Karafuto City: Ran by MrAAA264 during Ishikari State, but was disbanded due to fear of invasion by Japan
Hiroshima: Created by EggzOnToast to reclaim the ruins of the previous Hiroshima; was funded to stop the Chinese advance into Japan before Hiroshima left Ishikari
Okhtosk: A town in eastern Russia that originally joined for the claims, but had stayed longer than expected, eventually forming its own nation
Akita: A town being held by TechSB that was later sold to KawadaJP
Kurilsky Sopka: A town made in the Kuril Islands by TechSB; disbanded due to disputes with the nation of Far and inactivity.
Kimobetsu: TechSB's main town in Ishikari. After the Chinese invasion of Japan, the town was handed off to CheetoChihuahua
L_Xia: Town led by TechSB to halt the advances of the Chinese in Kyushu; was the last town to join Ishikari
Lists of Conflicts
4th Japanese Civil War
The war sprung up when Shimazu declared independence from Japan, and naturally since Ishikari is a Japanese nation, it was declared on
Franco-German War
After France violated a border agreement, Germany went to war with them. Ishikari supported Ryuzoji, who was on Germany's side, and Stellar went to fight at the battle of Paris. Ishikari peaced out when Ryuzoji was disbanded
Chinese Advance into Japan
After the Emperor at the time, KawadaJP, decided to disband several towns in Japan before he left, the Chinese attempted to take the now open land for themselves. Joint operations between Ishikari, Japan, and Date halted further advances and later helped establish ground for reunification.