Kingdom of Monsters

The Kingdom of Monsters was a country located primarily in the Cascadia region of North America and one of the constituent nations of the Native Americans Nations. The Kingdom of Monsters was one of the oldest continuous governments in the world, being only exceeded in longevity by the governments of Wakanda and the three main Atlantean states. The Kingdom of Monsters also was notable for having the longest-reigning monarch in the world, as King Asgore Dreemurr ruled the nation for over 2000 years. Monsters had always existed alongside humanity, emerging having been born from the entity known only as Eve and existing alongside humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits and a myriad of other beings in the Hyborian Age. Although many monsters were violent and predatory by nature, others were generally peaceful and sought to coexist alongside humanity where possible (even cooperating with humans in overthrowing the Children of the Night in the early Hyborian Age), though the decline of magic weakened their Kingdom of Monsters as could be traced back to groups of monsters living in what would become East Asia. The first Kingdom of Monsters would undergo a schism over whether to attempt to use their magical abilities to dominate humanity or continue to simply exist. The former faction won out and supporters of the second, led by the Dreemurr family, were exiled across the Pacific to the North American continent. The monsters who remained in Asia would briefly war with humanity, but it ended in defeat and said monsters would end up trapped upon an enchanted mountain patrolled by an organisation later dubbed the Monster Hunter Bureau, with a few stragglers fleeing to the Japanese island of Honshu where their descendants would ultimately help form the realm of Gensokyo. .

The Kingdom of Monsters, meanwhile, constituted itself in the Cascadia region of North America around roughly 23,000 BCE, in what would later become the US state of Oregon. The Kingdom of Monsters existed peacefully alongside Native American tribes and additionally maintained contact with much of the world's magical population for centuries, trading resources and knowledge with both groups. However, this peace would not last. During the reign of the Raven King John Uskglass in North England, magical insight would at once become more widely known and feared. Overzealous members of the Shadowhunter organisation, under the leadership of Lord Gillecomgain, were actively seeking to overthrow the Raven King. To that end, Gillecomgain wanted to eliminate as many magical forces he viewed as aligned to Uskglass, no matter where they might be. Gillecomgain discovered the existence of the Kingdom of Monsters from a Muggleborn wizard who had been involved in trade with the Kingdom, but had defected to the hardline Shadowhunters owing to a strong religious upbringing and the belief that the Kingdom of Monsters was in fact an outpost of demons. Gillecomgain used the wizard's magical abilities to send an army to the North American continent to confront the Kingdom. Initial attempts at diplomatic overtures by the monsters soon yielded to a massacre. The Kingdom of Monsters' forces fought bravely and did receive some aid–a few pupils of Uskglass' acolytes attempted to help the monsters fend off the attack–but in the end, with the humans having a stronger brutality, the outcome was never truly in doubt. Ultimately, the Kingdom of Monsters surrendered to Gillecomgain's forces. The Muggle-born magician who had led Gillecomgain to them banded with a group of 6 other magicians to cast a powerful spell to seal Asgore and the bulk of the Kingdom's population underneath a mountain behind a barrier that would require the strength of seven human souls to break down.

However, the Gillecomgain expedition did not realise they had failed to kill or capture all of the Kingdom's population. One island in a nearby river had been settled by monsters who fled there en masse as the island was in fact Unplottable. Other monsters scattered to the woods or used their abilities to camouflage themselves from their human attackers. Some would make their way south and end up in the parallel, more accepting worlds of Xanth and Halloweentown or to isolated refuges such as the Island of Wild Things, Midian or the Nightside. The Mimiga tribe would flee west and end up colonising a floating island that was close to the coast and remain there for centuries to come. Another tribe of monsters, known as the Muppets, avoided further human persecution by claiming to be a magical race of puppets when discovered and venturing into entertainment over the centuries. The monsters on the Unplottable island would build a large city dubbed Monsteropolis there, which eventually became quite advanced and would develop the ability to use human emotions as a source of energy. Originally this was limited to fear and was risky to obtain as monsters had to be sent to human cities to obtain it (initially spearheaded by the likes of The Gromble), but first it became possible to access human residences using portal technology and then to obtain energy from alternative emotions. Many monsters sought to hide their existence and simply live as best they could. Other monsters left behind would become more hostile to humans, longing for revenge by terrorising those who had once persecuted them. Descendants of these vengeful monsters would often violently target humans–some of them would form the deathtrap theme park known as Horrorland in the name of vengeance.

While the surviving monsters above ground managed to get by, the bulk of monsters trapped beneath the surface could do little but try to maintain some form of positive existence while waiting for the chance to make it to the surface. One day–several centuries after they were sealed underground, well into the European colonisation of North America–a child named Chara would fall underground. The child was adopted by King Asgore and Queen Toriel, becoming a surrogate sibling for the heir apparent Asriel. Chara's personality and character remain somewhat unclear–monsters old enough to recall them often struggle to even identify Chara's gender–but there was hope that Chara and Asriel might somehow together break the monsters free from their underground prison. When the two died at the hands of humans just outside the mountain that had only recently been dubbed Mount Ebott in a failed attempt to break down the barrier, the Kingdom of Monsters fell into despair. The King Asgore declared war upon humanity and that he would on breaking the barrier eliminate humankind. However, this plan would fail as Asgore's declaration was ultimately not one he truly wanted to stand by, though six humans who fell underground ended up falling to his or to other monsters' attacks. However, in the end, the seventh human to fall underground would end up enabling the destruction of the Mount Ebott barrier without dying themself. When the Kingdom of Monsters reemerged into the world, making contact with humans was the first step. In this, the Kingdom ended up fortunate that the nearest town was Gravity Falls, which while a small town was far more aware of and accepting towards nonhuman sentient beings owing to a large supernatural population. This allowed for peaceful first contact to ultimately be established with the United States government.

There was a decent amount of uncertainty about how to proceed from the American government. President Frank Underwood was a personally ruthless, power-hungry man who one would most expect to react violently to the sudden emergence of thousands of monsters claiming national sovereignty within American borders. However, Underwood hesitated in large part because of his tendency towards ruthless power-seeking. The President was beleaguered by scandal–the fact he had gotten to this office after his predecessor James Sawyer resigned, the failure of his government to halt the Washington brain slug infestation or the Galactic Federation conquest of Earth and accusations of general corruption on his part dragged down his reputation in general. Underwood also had, in the year or so since becoming president, alienated large swathes of his party by signing off on the hard right's push for an annual Purge Night, actively supporting the behemothic E Corp against critics and launching military interventions in Israel and Abbudin. As a result, the President–who despite claims to the contrary intended to seek reelection–was very vulnerable to left-wing criticism that could have increased momentum for a primary challenge from the likes of Julian Felsenburgh, Carly Armisten or another contender from the party's progressive wing, which could include endorsements from the more stridently liberal Bartlet wing of the party. Underwood thus saw in the emergence of the Kingdom of Monsters the chance to appease left-wingers in his party by dealing with these nonhumans diplomatically rather than using force. Negotiations would be held in Gravity Falls over the future status of the Kingdom, which gained additional strength when Monsteropolis revealed its existence and announced its intent to rejoin the Kingdom of Monsters, more than doubling the population. Initial negotiations were based on making the Kingdom of Monsters a reservation with autonomy modelled on the arrangement the US had made with the Hork-Bajir over a decade prior. However, these plans hit a snag when Deputy White House Counsel Elle Woods noted the Kingdom's maintenance of a monarchy would likely violate the US Constitution's guarantee of a republican form of government. As a result, what ended up happening in the Treaty of Gravity Falls was that the Kingdom of Monsters was granted independence as a microstate and control of around 30 square miles of land encompassing a territory stretching from Mount Ebott to the island Monsteropolis was based on.

The Kingdom of Monsters, despite its small territory, was able to develop decently in the early years following its emergence. A capital was founded at the foot of Mount Ebbott and dubbed Hometown by King Asgore. Diplomacy with the US was largely carried out in Gravity Falls between the seventh human Frisk Dreemurr (who had been adopted by Queen Toriel) and former US President Quentin Trembley, an eccentric wizard who had founded the town. The economy was able to take off in the immediate aftermath of recognition, bolstered by vast reserves of gold and the curiosity of outsiders. The White Council and a large team of Miskatonic University scholars paid quite a large amount of money for access to texts detailing the history, culture and magical practices of the Kingdom of Monsters. Close ties were forged between the Kingdom and the nation of Japan, despite the vast distance, owing in part to Tetsuo Takahashi's well-read overview of the Kingdom's history from a sympathetic perspective, the backlash to the human supremacist Prime Minister Masayoshi Shido who was ousted from power a year after the Kingdom of Monsters reemerged and the popularity of the Kingdom celebrity Mettaton with Japanese audiences (which mirrored a longstanding fascination many monsters had for Japanese anime, manga and video games that had been obtained while they were trapped underground). A number of monsters from elsewhere would seek citizenship with the Kingdom of Monsters even without emigrating to the actual territory it encompassed and existing institutions such as the Monstersori Schools would end up becoming established within the Kingdom's borders. The number of citizens of the Kingdom would reach 100,000 by 2016, with only about half that number residing within its borders. However, trouble was clearly present on the horizon. In the 2016 election, Republican candidate Herbert Garrison openly declared his intent to re-annex the Kingdom and destroy its inhabitants. Garrison's victory sparked widespread fear within the Kingdom and a mobilisation of the Royal Guard in anticipation of a possible invasion. However, Garrison's impeachment staved off this threat and, while many political leaders continued to denounce the Kingdom's existence, all presidents who filled the remainder of Garrison's term respected the Kingdom's sovereignty. Still, Asgore's government would build ties to other supernatural communities to have allies in case a future US government attempted to actually invade.

Ultimately, this feared invasion would never fully take place though the groundwork was laid. After the 2022 ascension of defeated 2020 presidential candidate David Jefferson Adams, it seemed inevitable that the Kingdom would be invaded. Adams had run with the support of human supremacist groups such as the Defenders, who advocated for the destruction of the Kingdom of Monsters–and indeed all of monsterkind–in retaliation for the deaths of the first six humans to fall underground. Tensions between the new US government and the Kingdom of Monsters only heightened when Adams dissolved the Hork-Bajir reservation, stripped all Hork-Bajir of US citizenship and announced plans to 'repatriate' them, which likely was a ploy aiming to end in genocide. However, Asgore extended an offer of citizenship within the Kingdom of Monsters to the Hork-Bajir and, with the help of ACLU attorney Cher Horowitz, was able to secure the transportation of the vast majority of Hork-Bajir to the Kingdom. This action affronted Adams and war seemed mere weeks–or even days–away. The Kingdom of Monsters, however, would not be directly invaded. Instead, in November 2022, members of the Native American Nations movement approached the Kingdom of Monsters. The NAN leaders shared their plan to organize a large-scale uprising within the Pacific Northwest with the aid of various magical practitioners, participants in the Left Eye organization based in Portland and the Ecotopia commune, residents of the scientifically advanced town of Eureka, and various supernatural partners such as the therianthrope Quileutes of Forks, the 'Fowl faction' of the People, a tribe of Amazons based out of Seattle and a band of the Children of the Night led by one known simply as Harry. The Kingdom of Monsters accepted this lifeline and before mobilisation could get too underway by the US military forces or their deputised 'Christian Marines', the NAN and their partners launched a full-scale uprising. The magic of the monsters within the Kingdom was bolstered by the NAN's own magicians as well as aid from NAN sympathisers within groups like the White Council and the Magical Congress of the United States, who remained nominally neutral.

In the end, the insurgency of the NAN proved too much for the US government to handle and the US was forced to recognise the NAN's independence. The NAN would reorganise its territory to accommodate various tribal claims as well as its allies', including the Kingdom of Monsters. The Kingdom underwent decent territorial expansion as Gravity Falls and its surrounding environs were incorporated into the Kingdom's territory. Post-Ghost Dance War, the Kingdom of Monsters would become a beacon to many nonhuman sentient beings facing persecution in the US and abroad. The Kingdom of Monsters did draw some immigrants before the next big crisis hit. Following the 2025 Inauguration Day bombings and the Allied States of America's attempted 'retaliation', the Greater Korean Republic launched an invasion of the West Coast of North America. GKR forces would occupy much of the coast and NAN forces in the former Oregon region largely would regroup within the Kingdom of Monsters' territory. The monsters of the Kingdom of Monsters who directly fought the GKR forces were largely enchanted by human allies to endow them with increased strength (thought at least one of the Kingdom's soldiers, a skeleton, was able to counter GKR forces with relative ease without any enchantments owing to unusually skilled agility). In the end, the collapse of GKR forces and the NAN resurgence secured the Kingdom of Monsters' continued existence within the NAN, which persisted until the end of the NAN.