Monarchy Over the Danube Far East 2616

The Far East, it’s claimed, once ruled the world. It was also said that for a time, the Orient was a playground of meddling, sanctimonious Western powers.  By the 27^th Century in the Christian reckoning however, the Asian domains have long surpassed both of these. For its great Houses stand as equals alongside the others across the world, holding in their hands the fate of their peoples and the legacy of countless generations. And like their Western counterparts, they too experience this in a more literal sense.

The Japanese Empire once more rules over its Pacific domains undeterred though not unrivaled. Under the ancient House of Yamato, the Crysanthemum Throne has seen pretenders come and go over the centuries, be they shoguns, upstart generals or would-be revolutionaries. Still, much has changed that would baffle as well as impress. Ill-fated mishaps like the Second Great War notwithstanding, Japan’s people have endured trials natural and man-made to forge a peculiar realm. One that embraces technological and scientific marvels far beyond the Emperor Meiji’s wildest dreams, though not without taking their traditions with them. Over the centuries, this has led to a culture that rivals the Danubians of Europe, albeit one as incomprehensibly immersed in “self-improvement” as the Ottomans and Lusophones. In order to guarantee their hard-earned peace and success, they had largely learned from their follies in the 20^th Century and prefer to lead through a political and economic bloc now known as the Pacific Interactive Commune. While it mirrors the Habsburgs’ Mitteleuropa in that the P.I.C.’s member nations share is their common prosperity and are all independent in their own right – some more so than others – there is no doubt in the end that the real power lies within the web of old and new that is Tokyo.

Meanwhile, where the Chinese Republicans once ruled the Mandate of Heaven had long since returned. The return of Manchuria into China’s fold in the 21^st Century seemed back then as little more than a domestic scandal waiting to happen. No one however could have foreseen that the Manchu Emperors and their successors would slowly regain their influence as the Republic gradually decayed into a mess of dictators and petty clerics, before the Imperial Restoration finally came in the 24^th Century in both glory and gunfire. Under the fused Qing-Jiang Dynasty in Nanjing, the Middle Kingdom has sought to surpass the successes of its revolutionary phase, a generations-long goal that they have largely achieved. Of all the Quorum of Twelve’s members, the Chinese are among the most populous anywhere in the world, their industries and armies powered built on the shoulders of millions though the days of massed labor have long passed. The Dragon Throne has also in time sought to bring more weight to the house’s claims to “all under heaven” with a program of space settlement equal with the Prussians of the Reformed German Reich. While a more peculiar development is its brand of Chinese Cosmopolitanism, the end product of generations of “open-door” policies and a rivalry with the World Imperium over mankind’s diversity.

It comes as no coincidence then that the remainder of Asia is dominated in one way or another by the World Imperium of Nova Britannia’s shadow. Neighboring the Chinese are the United Indian Viceroyalties, a powerful domain unique among the rest of the Imperium. A separate collection of realms in all but name, the former British Raj remains in loyal fealty to the King-Emperor with its own laws, customs, rulers and traditions, albeit influenced by Greater London. But even after the lasting impact of Anglo-style Globalism, much of these lands remain recognizably “Indian” to one from the 20^th Century. The Viceroyalty of Oceania meanwhile quietly oversees the rest of the Pacific expanse for their Windsor monarchs. Still more commonly known as Australia-New Zealand, its nobles and bureaucratic orders have succeeded in making themselves unrivaled in power and prosperity, though their off-world adventures have brought them into more heated competition with both their Chinese rivals and even Japan’s P.I.C. And standing in between these influential centres is the ancient trading hub of Singapore, a vital node to the Imperium’s economy and home to one of the largest spaceports in the world.

To the far north on the other hand lies the Empire of Siberia, the easternmost domains of the Tsarian Tripartite Imperium, united with Russia and the Turkic Oligarchies under the Romanov-Kerensky Tsar in St. Petersburg. Its origins however lie in the so-called “eternal cease-fire” between the Russians and what was then known as the Siberian Soviet Socialist Republic. As decades turned into centuries, Siberian culture and society diverged from their more Western brethren and took on a life of its own. One that underwent even more radical changes after the Neo-Bolshevist regime finally fell apart in the 24^th Century. For the creed of Marx, Lenin and Stalin became the basis of a powerful and popular faith known by some as the Social Temple, by others as Neo-Socialism. But though the Siberian way of life is treated as curiosities by their Russian brethren, at worst considered nigh heretical by the Patriarchs of Moskva, the peoples and boyars of this realm remain faithful to their Tsar; so much so that they still lay claim to Japanese Karafuto in their liege's name, generations after the last Russians were integrated. Where old Krasnoyarsk stood now exists a grand capital worthy of the Motherland. While the tundras host several factories and even great construction yards for vessels bound for the ether.

The remainder of the Orient can be best described as a motley collection of free states and piecemeal lands under one member or another from the other great Houses. Of these, the Americans of the U.S.A.E. and the Lusophones could claim to have had some success in ensuring their continued presence in the Far East, while the French take pride in retaining New Caledonia, the last loyal remnant of their Pacific territories. Here too belongs the handful of neutral domains, although only the Kingdom of Cambodia could truly claim to be the Orient’s royalist counterpart to Switzerland, especially when compared to the World Imperium-influenced buffers of Afghanistan and Tibet. While the last surviving remnant of the Communist revolutions in Asia continues on in Burma. Yet in a similar if peculiar manner to the Siberians, its form of Socialism has taken on a form that the Neo-Bolshevists of yore would not recognize or approve of.

Thus, when combined with the clout the region’s mighty domains have in the globe-influencing Quorum of Twelve, it comes as no surprise that the Western World has no monopoly over the fate of mankind or this age of thrones. Indeed, one could argue that in the wake of the Silent Affair in the 21^st Century, the embodiments of the Far East have also seen their fortunes rise in a manner comparable only to the Holy Federation of Danubia. Be it with the guidance of the Mandate of Heaven’s “Eternal Ward” or the “Ever-Living Steward” to the Crysanthemum Throne, a peculiar future awaits.  Although like their Western counterparts, some remain discontented with this order. And not all of them are Neo-Bolshevist.

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For reference, the dates below refer to the Islamic and Hebrew Calendars, as well as a reckoning from the real-life Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich in 1867.

Also, there really was a person named "Emperor Norton I" in 19th Century America: a down-on-his-luck businessman in San Francisco who one day declared himself Emperor of the US and in time became beloved by the people of the city despite not actually being a monarch.

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Just to play it safe, I don't own Hearts of Iron III or other Paradox Entertainment games for that matter, let along the original AAR.

As always, this is not meant to be a political or ideological propaganda piece. This is a work of fiction. Also, just to make sure, all rights belong to their respective owners...including Hetalia. 

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