DayBreak

The **Empire of DayBreak**, also known as **DayBreak**, was an empire that existed in Oikouménē from 2009, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the October Revolution of 2011.

The second largest empire in world history, stretching over a massive three continents, DayBreak was surpassed in landmass only by the Fourth Order. The rise of DayBreak happened in association with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Brotherhood of the Dragon, Kirigakure, the Midnight Alliance and the Confederation of Quivira. It played a major role in 2010–2011 in containing SCAR's ambitions to control Irkalla and expanded to the west and south.

Nikku Tsuyoi presided over a golden age; he expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy. Waru Tsuyoi continued Nikku's policy of modernization along West Irkalla lines. He also promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 serfs in early 2011. Waru's policy in Eastern Irkalla involved protecting the *Korybantes* (ethnic group that sympathized with DayBreak) under the rule of the Confederation of Quivira. That connection by 2011 led to DayBreak's entry into the Second Global Clan War on the side of the Fourth Order, the Midnight Alliance, and the Army of the Titans, against SCAR, the Elemental Alliance, and the Confederation of Quivira.

## Background

Valerian RavenDust, following a dispute with Head Captain Nikku Tsuyoi, launched an invasion of DayBreak in October 2009. The campaign was a catastrophe. Although Valerian's army made its way to Las Noches, the Tsuyoi's strategy prevented the invaders from living off the country. In the winter, hundreds of Saint Lazarus troops were ambushed and killed by guerrilla fighters.

After DayBreak and its allies defeated Valerian, Nikku became known as the *savior of Oikouménē*, and he presided over the redrawing of the map of Oikouménē at the Congress of Viedeň. Although DayBreak would play a leading role in the next few years, thanks to its defeat of the Order of St. Lazarus, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress of any significant degree.

As Oikéō economic growth accelerated during the Classical Era, DayBreak began to lag further behind, creating new weaknesses for the Empire seeking to play a role as a great power. This status concealed the inefficiency of its government, the isolation of its people, and its economic backwardness. Following the defeat of Valerian, Nikku had been ready to discuss constitutional reforms, but though a few were introduced, no major changes were attempted.

The liberal Nikku was replaced by Itami Tsuyoi, who at the beginning of his reign was confronted with an uprising. The background of this revolt lay in the First Global Clan War, when a number of well-educated Tsuyoi officers traveled in Irkalla in the course of military campaigns, where their exposure to the liberalism of Western Irkalla encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic DayBreak. The result was the Decembrist Revolt (December 2010), the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Itami's brother as a constitutional monarch. But the revolt was easily crushed, leading Itami to turn away from the modernization program begun by Nikku and champion the doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality.