Pwek Kingdom

The **Pwek Kingdom** (佩pwe國kuk, Pwekuk) was a kingdom that ruled the Isles of Pwek between the 15th centurary and the 19th centurary. It was a tributary state of China, unifying the Isles of Pwek from the Ritpwen period and ruled the isles until being defeated by the German Empire and becoming a German colony. Despite its far away location, the Kingdom of Pwek maintained a secured spot in trade with other countries with the high quantity of gold on the isles.

## History

### Background

Human activity on the Isles of Pwek were present for at least a thousand years. From linguistic evidence, humans possibly arrived on the isles of Pwek from the archipelago of Japan on the northwest, as the Pwekish language has several words related to the Japonic languages, but almost no relations to Austronesian languages, suggesting a period of contact between the Pwekish speakers and the Japonic speakers.

For a long time, the Isles of Pwek was devided between multiple factions of tribes fighting for dominance on the main island of Pwek. Eventually in the 12th centurary, the isles entered the Ritpwen period (三rit國pwen時dyi代day, Ritpwen Dyiday, "three kingdom period"). The isles were ruled by 3 kingdoms, Inexapwen Kingdom (北inexa方pwen國kuk, Inexapwen Kuk, "the northern kingdom"), which ruled the northwestern part of the Puntu Island, Hixapwen Kingdom (南hixa方pwen國kuk, Hixapwen Kuk, "the southern kingdom"), which ruled the southern part of the Pwek Island, and Akixapwen Kingdom (東akixa方pwen國kuk, Akixapwen Kuk, "the eastern kingdom"), which ruled the north eastern part of the Pwek Island and the outlying island of Sekritnkaynres. Although initially the weakest of the 3 kingdoms, the Hixapwen Kingdom had conquered the Inexapwen Kingdom and driven the Akixapwen Kingdom off the Pwek Island, unifying the island under the rule of a single kingdom. After the unification, the Akixapwen Kingdom was renamed to the Pwek Kingdom (佩pwe國kuk, Pwekuk) and was recognised by the Ming Dynasty of China as the rightful ruler of the Isles of Pwek.

### Asserting Control on the Isles

Although the Pwek Kingdom had recently defeated its competitors and ruled over the main island of Pwek, it had not asserted its control on the other outlying islands. In particular, it is still in conflict with the Akixapwen Kingdom on the Sekritnkaynres Island, one of the bigger outlying islands. To assert its dominance over the Pwekish realm, the Pwek Kingdom moved its capital from Silfeppxesilek (龍silfepp潭xesilek, "the dragon lake", the former name of Ryutan) to Pwensñepek (地pwen始sñepek, "the place of the beginning"), a place that holds special religious meaning in Pwekish culture, and blockaded Pwekish islands that refused the rule of the kingdom. Despite this, the Akixapwen Kingdom still survived for about 2 hundred years on the island of Sekritnkaynres. Eventually, the Akixapwen Kingdom surrendered and became a tributary domain of the Pwek Kingdom under the name of the Sekritnkaynres Domain (神sekritn山kaynres藩fon, Sekritnkaynres Fon), and the Pwek Kingdom had finally gained control over all the islands in the Pwekish realm.

### Securing Its Rule

During its rule, the Pwek Kingdom generally maintained good relationships with the nearby countries. This allowed the Pwek Kingdom to maintain trade with other Asian countries. With the high quantity of gold on the isles, traders from elsewhere are attracted to the isles, resulting in significant minorities of Chinese and Ryukyuans. The Pwekish also traded with Europeans, importing various products of the western world, such as technology, weapons, crops and animals. This allowed the Pwek Kingdom to flourish for a few centuries, and avoided severe conflict with countries nearby.

Within the kingdom, policies were made to maintain the country in relative peace. To prevent the formation of multiple factions within the country, it was made that the king shall be chosen within the nobility by elites. Commoners were forbidden to trade with foreign traders, and foreign traders must only trade with state-recgonized traders in specific port cities. This prevented the commoners from obtaining various western weapons, and lowered the chance of the overthrowing of the government. This allowed the kingdom's nobility to maintain their control over the isles and avoid internal conflicts.

### Downfall

As the kingdom entered hundreds of years of peace, the kingdom also focused less in its military. In the 1800s, the Pwek Kingdom reduces its expenditure on its military, thus weakening its own defense power. In the late 19th centurary, however, the kingdom was driven into the race of dominance of the Pacific Ocean between European Powers. The kingdom was demanded by the Germans to support them by allowing them to access the source of gold on the isles, which the kingdom refused, sparkling the German-Pwekish war. Due to its reduced military, the Pwekish was not able to repell the German invasion. This caused the tributary domain on various outlying islands to support the Germans instead. Eventually, the Pwek Kingdom lost to the Germans, and became a colony under German control.