Tianguo

Tianguo is a large country lying south of Dalfore, on the western coast of Tairghol. Formerly a great power of the region, it is now beginning to fracture - in living memory, the states of Guang, Yudao, Kuojya and Sanguo have seceded with varying degrees of violence. It also borders Lacrive, Harvota and Mamelkert.

Tianguo is split into several regions - in the far north lies Nongtian, governed from Henghua and encompassing a large, flat plain south of the Merkata River and the towns of Tangshu, Quzihua, Qingrao, Yuanjiang, Jingong, Danxing, Yueshan and Zoaliang.

South of here lies a region of snaking mountain ranges and subtropical jungle, known as Qiutianshan. Proper roads here are few and far between, so many towns here are highly autonomous as the central government considers it a hassle to deal with them. These towns, separated by misty peak, flowing river and rainforest tree, include Yuanping, Qiramay, Qinzhao, Shanghua, Tongping, Sujiang, Tongong, Baoqihar, Guizou and Zhaochang. This area is 'governed' from the marginally larger outpost of Taidong.

## History

Tianguo is first recorded in history in 225 as a small state on the Blue Delta. Its leader of the time, Faiyong Sei, was a vassal lord of the larger state Liancheng. Over time the Sei dynasty centralised more power, intermarrying and taking over the lands of the Wu and Xiang by 270.

In 284, Lord Yuanfang Sei died without a direct heir and, unusually for the Tianguese states in the area, this did not result in the collapse of the state of Tianguo. Instead the throne was taken by a member of a branch family, the Chung dynasty. From here it was established in Tianguese law that branch family members were part of the line of succession. This is widely believed to be the reason Tianguo has held together for more than three times as long as any other Tianguese state.

Tianguo grew further, eclipsing Liancheng in the early 4th Century and annexing several states in the Qiutianshan Mountains in the Fengyuang Mountain War shortly before the Great Gap.

Following the Gap, Tianguo had exploded in size. It now encompassed the entire Blue River basin and showed no signs of slowing its conquests. This all changed when the Zhen dynasty ascended the throne in 578. The first Zhen king, Shunxi Zhen, filled the court with his followers and purged any dissenting voices, a practice continued by his successor Liaoping Zhen. This led to several powerful nobles coordinating open revolts in the outer regions of the country in the mid to late 7th Century.

For decades the imperial army marched from rebellion to rebellion, putting down revolts ruthlessly though they rarely caught the ringleaders. This oppression only riled the populace up more, worsening the situation. Over time the soldiers of the army itself became rebellious. In 682, fully half the imperial army rebelled and marched on the capital in what became known as the Soldiers' Revolt. They decisively defeated loyalist forces in several battles before sacking Tianguo City and forcing the emperor to abdicate. One of the generals of the revolt, Dali Wei, was put on the throne.

Tianguo never fully recovered from the Soldiers' Revolt. Dali Wei, while a fine general, was no administrator and before long the outer provinces were rebellious once again. After an argument with his closest advisor Tan Tai, Tai took his fleet and, claiming sovereignty over the island of Yudao, seceded from Tianguo. This happened at the same time that two southern provinces rebelled and proclaimed themselves the states of Kuoyja and Zhang.

Unable to deal with all three rebellions, Wei marched south and put down the Zhang rebellion at the Battle of Zhenzhen in 694. Kuoyja, on the other hand, had military assistance from Harvota and Wei was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Forest Edge in 695. His successor, Feng Kiao, lost the respect of the army after a series of faux pas and as a result Guang seceded in 704 and Sanguo in 710.

Since the Harvotans had assisted Kuojya to secede and had fought against Tianguo at the Forest Edge, the next Emperor Feng Shiun faced harsh criticism for sending the general Chang Li to help Harvota during Raskinnis' Rebellion in 740. Feng Shiun was ousted and killed in 743 when a revolutionary faction staged a coup d'etat, and Chang Li was forced to flee along with many of the Tianguese volunteers who had fought alongside him. They went mostly east into Kuojya and Harvota, where they were welcomed with open arms as both allies and defectors.

Since then Tianguo has been, in reality, ruled by a council of three elders instead of an Emperor, though the post of Emperor still exists as a puppet of the council.