Politics in Liaotopia

By 2016, the Liaotung Empire largely covered the OTL Manchuria and Outer Manchuria, spanning from the Yellow sea to the Stanovoy Mountains, From Sakhalin to the Hulunbuir Grassland. Having lost some of its grandeur after the Liaotung Civil War, and the loss of Korea, it reshaped itself as an economic hegemon within the region. Afterwards, it has been the most advanced industrial power in East Asia for nearly a century, and has been economically dominating the region until recently eclipsed by the rise of the Chinese Empire.

At Bohaipolis, the Imperial Capital, "Liaotopia" is the informal name given to the residence quarter of the Tai Xue, or The Imperial University of Liaotung. Its number of residents, comprising of the elites of all races within the Empire, has been divided strictly by quota, according to the proportion of population within the Empire: 65% Chinese, 15% Koreans, 9% Jurchen, 5% Russian, 4% Mongol, and 1% Muslim and 1% Other Minorities.

In the Central Agora of Liaotopia, a debate has been waged among the students. Watching over them was a bronze statue of the Empire's founder.
 
The Empire's founder was Mao Wenlong, who survived his OTL execution in 1629, and was named military governor of the region in the next year. He managed to gain significant autonomy from the corrupt Ming court, and harbored firearm-using Dongjiang Rebels who defected to the Later Jin IOTL.

In order to gain more expertise, advisory, as well as military and economic supports from the Pope, Mao converted to Roman Catholicism. With the help of Jesuits and Portuguese Mercenaries, as well as profits he gained from smuggling, he attempted to bribe the Mongols and to form an alliance with them.

By 1644, when the Ming Empire fell to Li Zicheng, Mao was made a Jiedushi, or Regional Commander, of Li's new Shun Dynasty.
 
very interesting start... Subscribed!

Given the Greek-ish names "Liaotopia" and "Bohaipolis", I'll have a stab in the dark that this founder is Alexander the Great.

Edit: Oh, it's moved. Subscribed to the other thread.

Well, Alexander might have been too late for this, but I'm planning for the Liaotung Court to have lots of interactions with the Russians, and their Byzantology. Since I feel that the OTL Qing encounters with them could have had lots of potentials.
 
I'm skeptical that a regional military commander like Mao Wenlong could take power when sandwiched between the Shun and the Qing, but I'll give this timeline a few more posts first. The same applies to how such a state develops in Manchuria, and how it would interact with what's left of China, Korea, Japan, etc.
 
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