Isotope — Roleplayer Guild

(A few notes before reading this sheet, the vassals referred to in the history are just backstory and are not part of the nation joining.  Mhindar seems ok about me taking Mongolia, but I'll have to verify that with them again to be sure.)

(Orange)

+Nation Name:
Empire of the Great Ming

+Leader:
Zhu Keung, Son of Heaven and Lord of Ten Thousand Years

+Allegiance:
None

+Government:
Absolute Monarchy

+History: 
The history of the Ming diverged from its counterpart during the year of 1407 when what was a short lived invasion and subsequent occupation of Vietnam in this world proved to be a tremendous and lasting success.  With this lasting victory as well as others that followed in Mongolia lessening the Mongol threat, averting the death of the emperor, and preventing the invasions that would have occurred later the Yongle emperor was met with a long reign over a militant yet prosperous China.  This more prosperous China would find itself able to permit the continuation of the treasure voyages and soon enough the liberalization of trade and exploration.  

Merchant trade would bind China to Japan and Korea forging a loose alliance that would allow all the states to grow from both internal and external trade, even shortening the Sengoku period in Japan by supporting Oda Nubunaga.  This loose alliance would solidify over time and soon enough it would severely weaken European interests in the region and stop attempts at colonialism, allowing nations like Japan to leave their borders without the threat of foreign interests disturbing the peace.  Increased exploration would set the stage for the Chinese discovering the west coast of North America a decade after the voyage of Columbus.  Colonies would grow and by the time the American colonies rebelled Chinese and Japanese territory under local vassals would stretch from the coast of the continent to the Rocky Mountains.   So from the year 1800 onward the world would be increasingly divided between two powers, the British in the west and the Ming in the east.  By the year 1876 these two empires each controlled sizable portions of the world and possessed colonies in the Americas.  By the year 1877, these two empires would be at war.

The first World War that the Ming would know began as a dispute over the territory of Burma and would escalate into a vast conflict that divided the world between the European and Asian powers.  Lasting from 1877 until 1883 the eight year conflict claimed the lives of twenty million people and resulted in very little territory change, setting the stage for inevitable further conflict.  That conflict would finally come in 1928 and as of the year 1941 it would still be raging.

The second of the World Wars began as an attempt by the British to seize the oil rich territories of the Japanese in Indonesia and a combined attempt by the United States to size valuable western territory from the many Asian vassals in North America.  The war would almost continually expand and by 1941 it would only appear to be worsening with huge British losses in India and Australia and almost corresponding United States gains on the continent.

+Culture:
The culture of Ming China has much diverged from what it was centuries ago, and the former distinctions of class have been near totally reworked.  The original Four Occupations system was already in decline by the year 1500 as the scholar/officials and the Merchants increasingly became co dependant as did the farmers and artisans, and by 1567 the reigning Emperor finally ordered its dissolution.  What followed was a period of floating class, where before Merchants were considered the lowest class as they produced nothing they were soon able to rise and essentially fuse with the former scholar/officials.  What this created was a system where the highest class in the country were those with the most wealth, a trend that drove new policy to increase the ease of trade.

This period of floating class finally ended in 1623 when at the pressing of the merchants the new and young Emperor instituted the system of social order.  Under this new system the nobility was expanded and all the wealthiest individuals in the country gained title and what came to be known as land-relationship.  Those who previously held land but lacked wealth retained that land, but became technical subordinates of the new nobility while those who were wealthy and owned land were told to choose their own technical subordinates.  What this meant was that the nobility held land, but that land was to be managed by its lesser owners; this greatly benefited the new nobles who had made their fortunes on trade and hadn’t the time to manage land.  Those who remained were known as the common people and these individuals would fall into two distinct sub classes.  First were the workers employed by the technical subordinates who fell squarely at the bottom of society.  These workers were paid but often a mere pittance, however their living spaces were almost always to be provided by the merchant class on behalf of the technical subordinates.  Second were the artisans and shop owners who held a rank far higher than the workers.  These individuals would have generational businesses in cities or on the country side and they would provide the goods workers were unable to as well as sell the goods acquired by the merchants.  Soldiers held roughly equal rank to the artisans and shopkeepers.

This system was disrupted in the Industrial revolution as the workers came to provide nearly all goods from new factories and the artisans were increasingly limited only to shopkeepers.  In the revolution the conditions of workers would degrade to the point several rebellions started.  These revolutions would always be crushed but they communicated the need for reform.  By the modern day the standards in factories and on farms have improved, and though the workers still remain the lowest class they have gained the legal ability to refuse work if it is deemed inhumane. 

+Military:
Years of warfare have shed the Ming military of many delusions, but as with all things other misconceptions have emerged in their place.

Based on prior experience battleships are totally absent from the Ming navy, having been almost totally replaced by carriers of ever expanding scale.  As a result of this the Ming navy lacks large naval artillery but makes up for it with powerful dive and torpedo bombers.  The ubiquitous carriers of the Ming are almost always escorted by two types of cruisers, those dedicated to surface combat to counter attackers that get too close and fend off destroyers, and those wholly devoted to anti-aircraft protection.  Destroyers also play a large role for the Ming and are generally the primary surface combatants, using speed and long distance torpedoes to harass and cripple enemy formations making them easy targets for bombers.

In the air alone an emphasis has been placed on long range bombers escorted by dedicated fighter aircraft.  These bombers had once been used against the British in India and to great effect.  However, this focus on large bombers has often left the army with outdated ground attack aircraft or fighters that have been repurposed with large cannons or new bomb mounts.

The Ming army itself is used to the slow and gruelling combat encountered in the jungles and steep highlands of northern Burma.  This has prompted an under investment in heavy armoured vehicles which was exploited by the British on several occasions.  The army has been reforming doctrine in many cases as a result of these experiences, but regardless of that at current the largest Ming tank still possesses a mere 60mm gun in a forward turret configuration
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