A History of Alyska to the year 1800.

[Count of Crisco]

Following the battle of Ixlaca in 1488 the two factions in Alyska which had been at oneanothers throats since the breakdown of the Ashikaga shogun in the early part of the century had begun to fall apart. With both sides turning against one another as the defeated cities blamed one another for their defeat, while the victors fought over the spoils of their victory.

This period initially saw the last few remaining smaller states absorbed into larger polities. With five major states emerging to dominance by the beginning of the sixteenth century. These being Uniyoshima, Nexo, Aria, Naaro, and Singoshu (see map for locations) in descending order of power. For some time it seemed that these states would continue to conglomerate into even larger states through a mixture of combat and alliance. However it was not to be.

A tense peace would descend on Alyska as fighting died off in the 1490s as the different states were forced to halt their fighting to lick their wounds and recoup the massive losses they had taken in Ixlaca. The temporary peace was not expected to last by any side.

 

[Count of Crisco]

The early Tlingit kingdom under Anxiou II

While the Japanese city states were tearing themselves apart in the south, in the north the still young Tlingit kingdom was facing its own issues as the new king Ainxiou II attempted to effectively govern the kingdom he had inherited from his late father. A kingdom which had been won and held together largely through the personal reputation and power of Ainxiou I.

With the death of the first Tlingit great king many of the vassals and tribes of the kingdom began pushing for independence from Axaa. Either rebelling openly and making war on the new king, or else quietly stopping their payment of tribute and taxes to the king.

Obviously this sudden lack of revenue could not stand, to say nothing of the rebellion of his vassal tribes, both open and quiet. But Anxiou II was limited in his ability to effectively respond to these challenges to his power through military force as large parts of the army had returned home with the death of Anxiou I. Claiming that they owed their loyalty to the dead king, not his son.

Anxiou quickly found his kingdom, a nation he had worked alongside his father for decades to help build, falling apart before his very eyes, and he was unable to stop it from happening because he lacked money to pay an army. What he needed was a miracle. And a miracle is precisely what he would stumble upon.

 

[Count of Crisco]

Ainxiou reasserts control.
While few chose to accept his authority within the kingdom Ainxiou did have his allies. Mostly those he had worked closely with during his fathers reign. And this support allowed him to maintain at least the official title of king, with several key vassals choosing not to declare their independence outright.

While he would officially retain the title of king Ainxiou II was largely a prisoner within the capital of Axaa. Merely one of the numerous local settlements with their own military forces, albeit a fairly large one. Obviously for the son of a powerful ruler with his own ambitions for power this could not stand.

But the fact was that given his own relatively limited strength Ainxiou could not risk open war against the “vassals” which were being less than compliant wit his will without running the risk of open rebellion. And without the money to afford a larger military it was unlikely that even his present position would continue. And money was something he was increasingly short of as the taxes owed by his vassals were ever more late.

But Ainxiou was not only a competent military leader, who had aided in the conquest of the kingdom in a not insignificant way, but he was also a savvy politician with a keen knowledge of the situation around his kingdom.

Notably Ainxiou was well aware of the ongoing situation in the south. Where the Japanese city states were undergoing the opening phases of their own troubles. Many Japanese were looking to escape the chaos gripping their own homeland, both in the Japanese mainland, and Alyska. These people were looking for land to settle and jobs where they could employ their skills.

As the chaos engulfed the south Ainxiou saw his opportunity. Offering extensive rewards for those Japanese who came north to work for his kingdom. Promising them wealth, jobs, and land in exchange for their service to him. Soon he had thousands of Japanese arriving to serve him.

He did not have money to pay them of course. But he had a plan which he hoped would soon solve all his problems and secure his position as king for some time to come.

 

[Count of Crisco]

So I am struggling with a bit of writers block, well more like distraction. You see I have this timeline planned out loosely to the present. Currently I find myself fixated on the 1940s period, basically I am distracted by something else and while I have motivation to write, its not in this era. Going to watch some videos on the Sengoku period, and read a bit on it as well to try and transition back into things.

In the meantime two things come to mind that I want to do, the first is to just briefly summarize the situation in Alyska in the period. Currently the Japanese have broken down into several city states of varying size, with regional power blocks forming around the largest of the states. A brutal war has just concluded pitting a faction loyal to the Shogun against independents which has ended in the defeat of the loyalists, but the disintegration of both alliances. In the north meanwhile the Tlingit Kingdom is also experiencing a period of internal instability following the death of the first king. With his son so far unable to command the same level of authority as his father. Factions are forming and armies coalescing across the entire region in preparation for another round of fighting.

The second thing I wanted to quickly touch on was to see if anyone had any questions about the timeline so far? Anything you found confusing, or not adequately explained? Any issues with the plausibility of a part of the timeline? Or just questions you have about how things will develop going forward? If so please say so and I will try and explain things as best I can.

 

[Count of Crisco]

By 1493 Ainxiou had his hand forced. What funds he did have were gone and with them his time to prepare. He would need to act fast if he were to ever restore the power of his house and excerpt full control over his kingdom again. And with this in mind he began to accelerate his plans as soon as possible.

He called a council with all the lords and nobles in the kingdom to be held in Axaa in spring of 1494, notably he required that all his nobles be there, a departure from prior language he had used in his addresses which struck a more polite tone.

The king would spend the winter performing last minute checks, planning out the coming campaign, and organizing his forces. He did not send further letters to the lords to see if they would meet with him. Instead he did his best to project nothing but strength and authority. He was king and anyone who did not attend his council would face the consequences.

By the time the snow melted and the country thawed a majority of the nobles and lords from the kingdom chose to attend the kings conference. Many having their curiosity piqued at the sudden shift in tone in the letters the king had sent them and wondering what game he was playing at.

Axaa was crowded with troops, many of them Japanese troops. All flying the kings banner. This further raised the interest of the nobles and they hurried to attend to the king in the recently completed royal palace at the heart of the city.

Ainxiou addressed his nobles in full battle dress. A further sign that war was coming. It is said that the king let his nobles speak amongst themselves for several minutes before he said anything to them directly, instead addressing his attendants.

But he did not let them wait very long before he announced that he planned to launch an invasion of the south. Capturing the rich Japanese lands beyond the kingdoms current borders and adding them to his own personal holdings. Any who did not support this war would be dealt with, their authority removed, and their lands seized. This done the king then left, leaving the stunned nobles to think over what had been said.

 

[Count of Crisco]

Part One, the Campaign Begins. Spring of 1494.

Ainxiou had been gathering his forces for his planned invasion of the south since 1493, so he had very little left to do before he sent his forces out to begin the invasion. However, his nobles who had been caught flatfooted by his announced plans, would take significantly longer to get their fighting bands properly assembled. This would take until the very end of the fighting season.

The king had anticipated that however and included it into his plans. His own forces would spend the spring and summer months taking as much land as possible, aiming for the rich trade center of Arai, and once they were nearly exhausted then the nobles forces would be used to garrison the captured territory.

Ainxiou’s main forces were a mix of Tlingit and Japanese troops. Promised great wealth, land and power by the king many Japanese had gone over to his side. Many of these having been on the losing side of the Senso war and thus eager for revenge. At the time Japanese had not yet become the language of the Tlingit court, and thus few of Ainxiou’s native troops understood their Japanese counterparts. Making cooperation between the two elements difficult to impossible.

The campaign began with the kings forces assaulting the town of Jengessi, a fortified border town that Tlingit and Japanese troops had fought over in the past, but had been firmly held by Japanese forces since the 1430s.

Jengessi fell quickly, its lord and people putting up only token resistance before Ainxiou offered them favorable terms of surrender. He did not want to get his forces stuck into a lengthy siege of a relatively unimportant border town.

With the Jengessi mountain pass now in his control and the snow melting early, Ainxiou quickly split his forces off into several smaller groups and sent them out into the Pengai valley below him. As spring turned to summer his troops had captured several further settlements, though none were of any great size. And the Japanese were beginning to realize what was going on.

 

[Count of Crisco]

News of the Tlingit invasion was slow to reach the larger city states in the south. While the northern cities knew almost immediately that they were being threatened the state of Japanese politics at the time, and the lingering aftermath of the Onin war meant that most of the Diamyo in the region were more than happy to leave their neighbors to their fates. Believing that the foreign invaders would exhaust themselves long before they reached their territories.

There was also the issue in the northern cities that many of the local lords would rather save their resources to defend themselves against the Tlingit than band together to defend their neighbors.

Thus Ainxiou quickly devoured many of the outlying Japanese cities. Making rapid progress due to the limited military forces most settlements possessed. The Tlingit king did not only take cities by force, offering them generous terms of surrender if they chose to do so without a fight. Demanding a hefty price and men to add to his forces, but afterwards promising to take only limited amounts of tribute from cities which did not resist.

Some cities took the king up on his offer. Many smaller settlements judging that Tlingit sovereignty would be preferable to control by one of the larger cities which had previously been expanding their influence and control in the region.

Those cities that failed to surrender were quickly overrun and sacked. Anything of value was carried away and the leaders of the village or city were executed. The Tlingit army, while not especially well organized or equipped for sieges, was quite successful, largely due to the small size of the cities they attacked early in their campaigns.

It was only as summer entered its full swing and the Tlingit army reached the outskirts of the territory controlled by Arai that the larger Diamyo in the south began to take the Tlingit threat seriously. With Arai itself calling for aide in July and mobilizing its own military forces. While the Japanese nobles debated if they would come to the aide of the city the Tlingit began to draw down their army. Sending some troops home and establishing garrisons in the towns they had seized and generally preparing for the coming winter, planning to resume their conquest in the next year. Ainxiou not wanting to get involved in a lengthy siege during the winter months. This would give the Japanese several months to come together and draw a plan.

 

[Count of Crisco]

As the winter of 1494 dawned and the snow began to fall throughout the country the two opposing forces, Japanese and Tlingit, began to prepare for the next spring which both anticipated would involve significant aggression on the part of the kingdom.

The Japanese Response
Already in fall of 94 the city of Arai had called for aide from the neighboring city states to the south. The largest city in the region Aria had already seen much of its tribute states annexed by the Tlingit army, with some scouts even being allegedly sighted in the fields around the city.

Their calls for aide initially fell on deaf ears, however as it became ever more apparent that the invasion was a serious matter that threatened them all many of the neighboring lords agreed to a meeting in the city to make a plan to oppose the invaders.

Due to the harsh winter conditions and poor local roads many representatives traveled by ship to the city, some taking time to sail north to observe areas under Tlingit control. During the next several months almost a dozen settlements would hammer out what would become known as the winters alliance, signing the first treaty of Arai in February 1495.

This alliance placed the defense of Arai as its first priority. With the southern partners in the alliance agreeing to send what forces they could to help the city, while Arai paid for the troops and was in overall command of the effort. It was agreed that the alliance would end as soon as the Tlingit had been pushed back, and that no effort would be made by Arai to retake territory lost to the Tlingit with alliance troops.

Opponents eliminated
While the Japanese were working together Ainxiou found himself embroiled in a crisis. While he had managed to secure the resources and money which had motivated the entire invasion many of the nobles within the kingdom had grown to oppose the king, viewing the new lands he had conquered and the resourced he now had as a threat to their own power.

The nobles gathered in Axaa and demanded that the conquered territories be divided among them, rather than be under the authority of the king himself. They argued that since they had participated in the attack they deserved some of the rewards rather than be just paid for their troops. When the king refused to listen to their demands a group of nobles, many of them considered the most powerful in the kingdom, signed a letter demanding that he abdicate the throne.

While reliable sources remain few and far between tradition says that Ainxiou held a meeting with his lords in March of 1495, ostensibly to explain himself and smooth things over. Once assembled in the great hall of the city the king demanded that the nobles divide themselves into those who supported his authority and those that did not.

Once the room had been divided, apparently almost evenly, Ainxiou had the doors locked and ordered his guards to slaughter his opponents. Legend says he then sent the severed heads of these men back to their houses as a warning to their heirs about the dangers of opposing the king.

Up until this point the Tlingit kingdom had not been an absolute monarchy, with the nobility having a significant say in matters of state. Votes had been often held during the reign of Ainxiou the first, and for the first years of his reign Ainxiou the second had continued this democratic process. Needing the nobles on side before he took action. Now with all those who opposed him dead the new king seemed poised to bring the kingdom into a new era of absolutism.