The Yamato Fortress Shogunate
Capital Planet: Edo
Planets owned: 16
Government Type: Shogunate with regional rulers with the Emperor as the Divine Ruler(Military Dictatorship with Federalist elements with a monarch figurehead)
Economic Type: Corporatism with extreme protectionist policies
Motto: Q- What do you do if your opponent grappled you from behind and you can only move your sword hand to your chest?
A- Stab yourself and kill your enemy. That is the way of the warrior.
HIstory
The spear of destiny
the history of the Yamato Fortress Shogunate is a short but intense one. One day, as legend has it, Tochi Sansei was a boring salaryman in some generic Japanese-filled planet. He lived a comfortable life, but felt empty inside. The world he lived in was corrupt, selfish, and filled with obnoxious things like KAWAII! and DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU!!!! ^_^ Worst of all, the children scorn the culturally sensitive Japanese of the past, taking shame in the national pride of the olden Yamato lineage. This caused Mr. Sansei to be enraged. He fumed for a year, thinking and lamenting on the decay of Japanese moral society. Then, on the night of Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year) of 2542, as Sansei-san was snoozing on his futon near the kotatsu (heated table), a white doe appeared in his dream. It told him to go near the local spaceport and look into the dumpster with a wooden pole that has a chip on top located near the third floor.
Getting up instantly, Tochi Sansei quickly went to the local star port, going through weaboo tourists and sell-out Japanese in order to get to the third floor. Going into a backroom through the restroom, Tochi Sansei found the dumpster. In it, shining brightly was a tip of sharp bone, large enough to latch onto a piece of wood and fashion a spear. Sure enough, as Sansei-san placed the bone tip (conveniently looking like part of a broadsword) to the wood, it magically fused together. Shogunate archivists state that the Spear of Destiny wielded by Tochi Sansei was signaled by the gods of a new Empire.
The Forming of an Empire
To make a force strong enough to start this empire, though, needs men. Strong men. Tochi Sansei knew this and he set out preaching his message of a new Japanese empire to any that would listen. A few historical re-enactors and other annoyed citizens joined his cause during the first year, but as the planet the reactionaries lived in tumbled down due to economic instability, the idea of social harmony and samurai honor started appealing to a decent amount of people. Manpower and resources started funneling into his pockets and Sansei-sama was able to manipulate the Diet from behind the scenes. Empowered, Sansei-sama and a hundred of his fanatic followers went to the nearest embassy of Malaysian wannabes and tried to kick them out of the planet. The guards were stampeded and killed instantly, but as the Sansei Harmon Corps battered the doors and charged through the main entrance, they were beaten back by five mystical Silat masters who defended their ambassadors using only brooms and butter knives. The details of the Silat masters' stand against the Sansei Harmony Corps is for another tale.
Anyway, beaten and licking their wounds the followers of Sansei tried to get the embassy a second time, but the political situation collapsed as the Neo-Malaysian fleet came in to take revenge against the atrocities at the embassy and the planetary army could do nothing to stop them (in fact many soldiers joined the Sansei Harmony Corps). Panicked at this unexpected turn of events, Sansei-Sama, his harem, and as many followers as he can gather hijacked the few colony ships that were there. Others took space yachts, battleships, even tugboats. Rendezvousing near the edge of the system, Tochi Sansei sent the hyperspace coordinates to an isolated and uninhabited sector of space and all 200 assorted ships went speeding out as their former homeland suffered cuisine of
mechada and
Apam Balik.
Unfortunately, many of the ships didn't make it out, either due to untrained hands too frantic to follow safety precautions or glitches in the universal coordinator. Only 21 out of the 200 ships survived, and only Sansei's ship survived big enough to house the resources for colonization. It was not enough to create a comfortable colony life.
That didn't deter Tochi Sansei. Ordering the surviving ships of around 3000 to land on extremely fertile land with lots of alien edibles, he set out having loyal followers create a Shinto shrine to thank the gods for this success. Sensei Sansei then ordered all guns to be dumped as they were now foreign objects in this pure Japanese planet, resorting back to the spear, sword, and bow for protection against wildlife and criminal elements. The Sansei Harmony Corps renamed themselves the Yamato Shogunate and set out building the first village, made from alien bamboo-ish flora.
For two years, all were good in the new village of Edo. The first rice was being harvested, babies were being born, the Ainu descendants thrown out to fend for themselves because they were too hairy and foreign. Sensei Sansei became Emperor Sansei in 2570. The alien wildlife was being driven away for rice paddies and more houses, when the Yokai came.
The Dark Age
The Yokai (
Otherworldy or
weird in Japanese) were the native species of the planet the Yamato called Edo and
. Huge Humanoid bug people who lived by patterns (a result in taking advantage of the seasons and migrations), the Yokai were not pleased at the Yamato's deforestation and killing of age-old herds for mass consumption. The four-armed bugs sharpened their hand-scythes, loaded their crossbows, and set out to rid of the pests known as Yamato.
The incidents were mild and rare at first. The old grandma disappears in the middle of the night, the children are never seen again as they set out into the woods to play, etc. But the people became more paranoid as the incidents happened more and more. Soon whole militias were formed in the various villages despite Emperor Sansei's reassurance that mishaps and accidents happen even in Utopia. The Yokai started to attack isolated hamlets in the open, dispersing into the woods before the Doshin (samurai law enforcement) came to investigate.
The situation got worse when in 2582 the Yokai attacked the thriving city of Yakatsu in open sight. The Doshin tried to stop them with spears and arrows, but the Yokai's brute strength combined with their scythe arms proved too much for the law. Amidst the chaos, a militia quickly formed but was easily defeated. Some survivors were reported to have frantically searched the river beds for working firearms they discarded a decade ago in order to find anything to fight against the Yokai. Man, woman, and child were slaughtered as they tried to escape, and the paper/wood houses were extremely flammable, thus causing more casualties. The few survivors told of the atrocities in Yakatsu, causing pandemonium across the Yamato-controlled land.
Emperor Sansei knew that his charm and authority alone could not keep the people in line with his Utopian image and ordered the Doshin and his own private samurai retinue to cull the dissidents and hush up the Yakatsu survivors. Soon, the people were plagued by both the elusive Yokai and the tyrannical rule of the Sansei Dynasty. The colonists that lived in the frontier and away from the safety of the town of Edo lived in constant fear that either the Yokai would butcher them in their sleep or envious/angry neighbors would report them to the police as traitors or fifth columnists of the Yokai. Many risked ignoring the Sansei's orders and made secret militia groups and watchmen squads to keep an eye out for the isolated Yokai. Armed with bamboo spears and bows, the militia gave little solace to the outer villages and did their job quite well, until the Doshin would come and put down "insubordinate elements." The hope of a new and regal Japan died as the fight for survival became the new mindset.
The Emperor, living comfortably in his stone and sturdy wood castle, had bigger problems to face. He knew that various elements in his government vied for power, especially his many wives and concubines who wanted their sons to be the next emperor. Realizing that a coup or assassination are starting to become a likely end for him, Emperor Sansei took action. He ordered his enemies killed, gave those positions to his loyal friends, and reinforced his castle with highly-paid samurai and slave-soldiers in fear of their lives. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, Emperor Sansei formed an army of 112 males, mostly well-trained and armed with the finest bows, armed with the swiftest and strongest Katanas, and riding the greatest horses....and all sons of the Emperor. Aging from 7 years old to 32, the sons were forced to fight against the strong and stealthy Yokai, and quickly died out; but not before taking many Yokai with them. The people, hearing of their deed from nearby villages, quickly deified the One Hundred Twelve Sons, a light in dark times.
Seeing that the people were uplifted by this display of 'self-sacrifice' and 'voluntary courage of the Emperor's loin-kin', the Emperor then sent his women harem, including daughters, to war in order to rid himself of the angry and vengeful women whose sons and brothers and cousins were pressured to die. Women were not allowed katanas in the Yamato Empire and gave the women a disadvantage. Deciding to follow the Onna-Bugeisha (women warrior) of old, they armed themselves with Naginatas, daggers, and bows; unchained by the level of statute men were expected to follow in battle, some of the women even rediscovered gunpowder and made primitive cannons and bombs during rest periods in between marches, for Emperor Sansei refused to supply horses to them. After seeing them go, Emperor Sansei went off to find a woman to continue his dynasty, promising himself never to make the mistake of having a harem again.
Unfortunately even though the women warriors fought as dirty and brutal as the Yokai with their spears and poison-laden arrows and bombs/cannons, the women were under-trained, poorly equipped, and the Yokai were still too strong for the 200-women army physically. Virtually all of them were slaughtered after a week of constant and bloody fighting.
Two women barely escaped with their lives. Kyou Tokugawa and Izumi Saito, the 21st wife/concubine and the daughter of a courtesan that Emperor Sansei killed in rage a year ago, respectively, managed to survive when a pack of Yokai attacked the camp of surviving seven (including Kyou and Izumi). While they fought valiantly, five women died; Kyou and Izumi were seriously wounded and forced back to back as the pack of surviving Yokai surrounded them. But inner rage was within the two women: Kyou Tokugawa lost her two younger sons and a daughter to her husband who she naively obeyed at a whim; Izumi was still furious over her mother's murder by her father.
They knew death would come to them, like it had for their sisters of battle, but not today. Fueled with rage, adrenaline, and the help of the spirits of their dead family who died for the mad Emperor, the two women screamed at the top of their lungs and charged at their foes. Izumi managed to fend off the scythe-hands by wielding a yari (Japanese straight pike) fashioned from a strong wood pole and a scythe-blade taken from a fallen Yokai. Kyou threw bombs at the Yokai on her end, deafening one of her ears, but killing the foes.
After the battle, the women limped across the forest, luckily evading Yokai patrols as they tried to get to a nearby village, but hunger and fatigue set upon them, and both women collapsed on the ground.
The Usurper
Ionash, a young Ainu lad of 15, ventured outside of his kotan, village, to hunt game for his clan. With is wooden bow and sinew in his hand, Ionash moved carefully through the flora and looked for game. Searching the ground for tracks, Ionash found blood trails instead. Trailing them he found two beautiful women in strange dress, bloodied and armed. Bandaging them up as much as he can, Ionash went back to summon help to get the women to the kotan and get medical treatment. When Ionash, four other men, and two women came to retrieve the injured, Kyou was awake yet weak. Seeing the strange people she shouted and lashed at them feebly, but one of the men spoke in Japanese, reassuring her that they mean the Yamato no harm. Just as Ionash was going to intervene in the tense situation, a group of Yokai came out, hissing and clicking their insect mouths. Kyou embraced herself for the brutal massacre, but tremendous blasts erupted, hurting her ear again. Peeking, she saw the Yokai fall, and in the hands of three of the Ainu, including Ionash, were revolvers.
After getting Kyou and Izumi into his house and having people care for them, Ionash told Kyou the tale of the Exodus:
---
When the Ainu were kicked out of Edo with only the clothes on their back and a few scant possessions, the wilderness was harsh to them. The Ainu at first camped out near the Kaze river that goes into Edo, with its abundance of safe seafood and a way to transport once they craft boats. A few days passed for the impoverished and defenseless Ainu. While the Yamato were feasting on ship supplies and native fruit, the Ainu could only afford to eat fish, berries, roots and the occasional walking clam. The days past, and while canoes were made the native predators started migrating to richer hunting grounds. Unfortunately for the Ainu, the predators consider the area they reside in as a water ground. The Ainu did not know this at the time, and continued on.
One day, the Ainu were foraging for food when they came to a natural dam, and lo and behold,the tossed out firearms were lying idly on the river floor. Quickly grabbing them, the Ainu discovered that many of the manual-operated weapons (bolt action, revolver, lever-action) were still operational, and a few sturdy low-tech assault rifles were also uncovered. And miraculous of all, the bullets were even functioning! Arming themselves, the Ainu considered overthrowing the Sansei followers but decided against it as they were ambushed by reptiles and large birds. Guns ablazing, the Ainu journeyed away from Edo and decided to forge their own civilization. Residing near the lake that connects to the Kaze River and used manure, wood ashes, and organic materials in compost piles to create potassium nitrate within a year. This was, combined with sulfur from nearby hot springs and charcoal, created gunpowder. Unfortunately, the gunpowder wasn't smokeless, and created the large black smoke as well as shorten the barrel lifespan of the gun. Still, combined with guns and a strategic resource-rich area, the Ainu could withstand the wild monsters and the Yokai. Due to the scarcity of guns, each gun was treated carefully and almost religiously, passed down only to trusted family members and courageous warriors who proved exceptional.
Creating villages with palisades and elevated mounds of dirt to give a better view of watchmen, the Ainu gradually spread out as well, establishing networks between villages for trade and security and keeping their cultural heritage. Still, the pain of being exiled by the Yamato edged into their mind and vengeance was a good goal.
---
Hearing this, Kyou developed an idea to avenge her family. She told ambitious Ionash her plan, and the two agreed to it. Ionash knew that he first had to gain the trust of his kotan before the plan could be unleashed. Only a great feat of skill could sway his village towards him, and even then the current chief as well as the other Ainu kotans would be obstacles. But that didn't deter Ionash, who had always dreamed of ruling all the Ainu and beating back the Yamato.
Taking only his bow and a bag of food, he set off into the woods to hunt a pack of Yokai AND the Saber Dragon, one of the most enigmatic and deadliest beast in the planet of Edo that only reside near treacherous volcanic mountains.
And by golly, Ionash did both! Bringing the corpses of the Yokai and the head of the Saber Dragon to his tribe, he easily became chief of his tribe, and set out persuading neighboring kotans to join him. Then, he set out to marry Kyou Tokugawa in order to unite Ainu and Yamato royal blood, taking her last name and thus legitimizing his potential rule for the Yamato people. Kyou taught him Japanese writing and culture, as well as the politics and current situation of the land.
An awkward situation started before the Tokugawa marriage when a powerful chieftain with the largest and most purest gunpowder processing houses offered his daughter as a bride, and Ainu always comes first. Ionash quickly solved such trifling problems by marrying both Kyou and the girl named Kucan) and having hot threesomes. Just if you wanted to know, y'know.
Ionash Tokugawa organized the best warriors of the unified Ainu people into an army. Using his Ainu wife's connections, Ionash built efficient home factories that manufactured flintlock rifles. Supplying them to his soldiers, both warrior and layman, he set out crushing anything that opposed his march towards Edo, now a fortified city with powerful daimyos conveying the Emperor's will on nearby regions. The Tokugawa Army managed to gain the fealty of the frontier villages that grew tired of ineffectual and uncaring samurai who would tax them and then leave the poor peasants to fend themselves against Yokai and bandits. With a growing army, Ionash Tokugawa set out to wage the first battle.
The Age of War
Emperor Tochi Sansei was aging. He tried and tried, but never managed to produce a single male scion, killing the unborn daughters and their mothers. Realizing that the Nationalist Utopia was a failure, he set out to grasp for control, and thus gave regional power to trusted vassals who would keep the population under control. This caused political intrigue and low-tensity infighting, using unwilling peasants as soldiers. Sometimes the more powerful and ballsy daimyos would hire young Yokai who don't have the same anger against humanity as their fathers had. Most of the samurai weren't even better, slaughtering left and right for their personal duels and honor. Life was tough.
There were exceptions, as a group of ronins (masterless samurai), angered by the treatment of the people, decided to take a stand. The 'Wayfarers', as they called themselves, vowed to wander the Yamato lands and fight against injustice. Many died against the combined brunt of the Yamato Empire's forces, but there were those that survived and continued on. Some even joined forces with Ionash as he marched through Yamato lands, fighting the daimyos that he encountered.
Enraged at the bearded devil and his traitorous women, Sansei-sama declared war and mustered loyal samurai and conscripts to fight against the increasingly large Rebel/Ainu army. Supplemented by Yokai mercenaries, Sansei-Sama split the army into two, sending one part straight at the enemy, while the other circled behind them.
Meanwhile the Tokugawa Army won bloody battle after bloody battle, losing many good men but gaining new followers as well. A force combined of rifle-armed
Ashigaru (the foot soldier), the veteran Ainu warriors, and the occasional Wayfarer swordsman, Ionash Tokugawa gained more and more territory.
His goal? To take Edo and be more Yamato than Emperor Sansei himself, beating the founder in his own game!
The Battle of Edo
In 2594 half of the Empire was under Ianosh's control. Under his control, the territories were mobilized for total war: while the men were sent off to join the Tokugawa-led army, the homefront was sent to work, producing weapons and feeding the army. Old men and children were given the important task of guarding the edges of town against bandits and ninjas. War was in the mind of everyone. And because of a human-caused pandemic among Yokai broke out a few years earlier, causing fewer raids, more attention was diverted into killing each other.
By August, Ionash and Kyou's plans came to fruition. Leading a trained army of around 2000, the warlord couple set out to Edo itself, defended by around 3500 soldiers and around a dozen Yokai mercenaries. The Ainu-led army marched that month in solemn determination, hoping to capture the Edo Castle at nightfall. As they reached the Kaze River Bridge, they were ambushed from behind by a thousand Sansei-loyal ashigaru who armed themselves with captured rifles. While Ionash managed to fend them off, his force was depleted to half and himself mortally wounded.
While laying in critical condition inside his tent, three Ninjas managed to infiltrate his camp disguised as messengers and killed the guards watching Ionash's tent. There, they had the frail Ainu leader at their mercy. Raising their cleavers to butcher his body and take his head, Izumi, who was an officer of a regiment of rebel samurai, came into the tent. Promptly slaying the Ninjas, she made sure a new guard post was set, and personally watched over her master. When he came to, Ionash was extremely grateful of Izumi. Many thought he would force her to marry him, but instead Ionash cut their thumbs and shared blood, declaring Izumi his blood sister and equal. He gave her command of a quarter of his army, which was being supplemented by willing enlistees.
On September 14, the battle began. Catapults and cannons were set up in the town itself as intense fighting surrounded the set-up. Cannonballs and debris crushed the castle walls, and the Yokai mercenaries were forced to stay and defend the emperor. Ionash had Kyou stay behind in order to keep the plan going if he is to die, and had his new sister Izumi order the army to capture the town. Ionash had the Wayfarers and a few trusted Ainu warriors follow him to the castle, where they secretly scaled the siege-torn walls at night. Dispatching a few patrols and ninjas, the group of elite soldiers got into the castle and headed towards the emperor's room..
..where they were ambushed by ninjas and Yokais. Outnumbered and fighting in an unknown area, the brave Ionash and his men fought tooth and nail against all odds. Many of his friends died, but each took many foes with them. Ionash himself fought like the Saber Dragon he killed years earlier.
When the dust settled and the blood rage waning, only Ionash was left, two swords in hand. In front of him was Emperor Sansei himself, wielding the Spear of Destiny. No words were exchanged and the two men charged at each other, exchanging slashes and blows. After a while, Ionash stopped playing and promptly cut down the senile Emperor, taking the Spear for himself.
The battle in town was still raging at this time, and both sides refused to give in. Every street was filled with fighting or the dead, and house battles were common. Izumi had fire fighting divisions to douse fires and potential fuel in order to keep flammable Edo from going up like a firelog. She even personally led charges against strong enemy footholds, with her Naginata and bombs in hand. There was no chivalry in it, as soldiers near teenage years were mercilessly cut down on both sides, and friends sacrificed themselves vainly. But soon the Tokugawa forces pushed the loyal Imperial forces back and routed them, ruthlessly. As they charged to the castle and eliminated the occupants, Ionash calmly waited in the Emperor's suite, Tochi Sansei's head on his lap. As the attackers came in, they rejoiced at their leader's valor. The inauguration ceremony of Ionash Anun (meaning Outsider in Ainu) Tokugawa and Kyou Tokugawa as Emperor and Empress occurred that very day, with bodies still being dragged and cremated. Izumi Tokugawa became the first Shoguness.
The New Beginning
Like Star Wars, it didn't just end with the big fireworks and celebration. Life had to continue, and new problems arose. One of the most tantalizing issue for the Empire was the Yokai. While renegade warlords and samurai were easily within human territory, no one knew how many Yokai existed around the world; the Yamato and Ainu controlled lands only make up a single-digit percentile. Realizing that the indigenous beings could be a potential threat if unified, Emperor Tokugawa set out to create a slowly advancing line of fortifications and soldiers, taking down earlier walls to build newer, more distant ones. While it was efficient and greatly reduced Yokai opposition, the task was tedious and expensive, and the Sansei-loyal regions did all they could to thwart progress.
It was up to Izumi Saito, Shoguness of the Empire, to fight against the remnant. Organizing her newly formed, all-female Onna Bushi, Izumi personally routed two of the strongest regions, and commanded the regional forces against other, more less significant rebels. While the Emperor was out finding new ways to kill Yokai, Lady Izumi Saito kept the realm secure. She grew more powerful each passing victory and decree, and by 2600, it was Shoguness Izumi that was in real political power; Emperor Tokugawa and his wife were delegated to the role of figureheads and Yokai slaying generals.
Angered, Emperor Ionash Tokugawa plotted to overthrow the shogunate part of his government, but balked when the regional samurai landlords pledged their support for his bond-sister in a secret poll. Realizing that there was no way he could eliminate her with direct action, he took a jab at her pride by banning the use of Katanas by women; punishment for the new transgression was flogging, and applied to women of all class (women handing their husband's sword to them are exempt). Unfazed, Lady Izumi substituted the katana with the
Uchigatana, a predecessor of the similar Katana. To add salt, she reduced the powers of the Royal Bloodline by publicly stating the beginning of the Neo-Kamakura Jidai (period) where the central Chinese-esque imperial bureaucracy of the Heian era was replaced by land-based economics and a central Shogunate. While the fealty system was used by Emperor Sansei, it was replaced by the Tokugawa Emperor/Empress to consolidate more power; the Neo-Kamakura Jidai gave land owners and historian buffs a hard on and many supported it, suspicious of the Imperial power. This time, the Shogunate got the fealty and fiefdoms.
Now with absolute material power, Izumi made sure her brother would be confined to blessing the First Rice and writing
poetry. She even took away his Yokai-busting authority, deeming it a military matter and thus for her and her loyal daimyos. Empress Kyou tried to assassinate the Shoguness, but the plot was foiled and she in turn was secretly assassinated. While within her power, The Shoguness knew the Emperor still had divine authority over the people and disposing of him would political suicide. The last thing she wanted was another civil war.
Herself too busy fighting and politicking to marry and be an Empress, she arranged one of her trusted Right Hand Woman to marry Prince Sho, Ionash Tokugawa's son and heir. Showering him with geisha whores and a katana tempered with Oni Fish teeth among other gifts, Lady Izumi Saito made sure the Heir-to-Be was loyal to her. She even renamed the Yamato Empire into the
Yamato Toride Bakufu (The Yamato Fortress Shogunate), in honor of her power and the many fortresses and town walls set up against the Yokai. With the bloodline within her control and the nation following her whim (and the fact that her chauvinist brother was forced to write poetry and attend tea ceremonies for his pass time), Lady Izumi Saito was invincible.
But that did not last long. Soon, some of the male daimyos grew to resent a woman shogun, who prevailed and outwitted their male emperor. The conspirators secretly aligned themselves with Emperor Tokugawa and with their loyal samurai vassals, plotted to assassinate the shogunate and bring back the Empire, with a more restrained
male shogun obeying the emperor. With the help of nearby Yokai mercenaries, the secret war began
The Tengu Encounter
Unlike the Battle of Edo, the Secret War (
Kakushigoto Senso) was low-tensity warfare, with rival samurai having small duels in the middle of the night and ninja wars killing warring clans. Both sides knew about the war, but kept a polite and civilized face when ceremonies and marriages took place, similar to the Mafia of olden days.By day two merchants would haggle over a basket of fish; by night those ninjas in disguise would try to poison each other with the fish's deadly liver.
While the Shogunate had the loyalties of many of the regions and samurai class, the Palace had the wealth and the serfs' loyalties. It was a complicated situation, as farmers could be working for a Shogunate samurai master, but paid allegiance to the Emperor. Usually the dangerous situation was subverted with both parties not telling their allegiances at all, or refraining from being offended. The universal Japanese mask of politeness saved the Bakufu from imploding.
The subtle war continued through 2651, with an aging Emperor Tokugawa and an aging Shoguness Izumi Saito. Prince Sho had children of his own, the sons married to Izumi's warrior women and the daughters were sent to become part of Izumi's private Onna Bushi army. The technology of the Shogunate changed little; the muskets became rifled, new herbal medicine were founded and expanded the lifespan and population of the Yamato, and basic gearworks were starting to pop up.
A brawl between Emperor-loyal Yakuza and Shogunate loyal Ronin ensued one afternoon in the middle of a dank street in Edo. They fought over the name of a new beverage the local innkeeper created, wanting to name it after their emperor/shoguness. As the swords and clubs started to get drawn out, a shadow was cast over them. A huge metal ship floated above the town, and smaller ones started spawning from the monstrous metal underbelly. As the noisy ships landed, some gold and some steel green, tall men with pointed noses came out from the mouth. The townspeople panicked, and as the Yakuza and the Ronin teamed up to charge at the tall demons, the foreign devils pulled out alien firearms and obliterated them in an instant.
The Imperial Government and the Shogunate dropped their animosity to work together fighting off the Ameri....who am I kidding? Both factions tried to win support of the alien humans for technology against the other, silencing any who want to kick out the "Tengu" (a folkloric being with a long, long nose and red skin). The Bakufu won, soliciting Americalander support for their cause with offers of "china", and the Americalanders in turn had to persuade their Anglo-Saxons to agree not to subjugate the Yamato (the Anglo-Saxonians considered the Yamato inferior based on the tea and were mighty suspicious about the bone-tipped Spear of Destiny). The Shogunate/Americalander/Anglo-Saxon forces marched their way to Edo, where Emperor Ionash Anun Tokugawa was forced to sign the Drex Treaty, condemning the Yamato to a lifetime of wacky expeditions in space. Shoguness Izumi died shortly after, but not before fermenting her place as an influential leader of the nation.
Within a few decades, the Yokai were curbstomped into a few reservations, the Ainu became part of the Shogunate, and technology leaped at a slow pace, as the Yamato feared change. While civil rights minutely improved (seppuku is no longer mandated as a punishment for most crimes, but encouraged nonetheless), the sense of solemn resignation to one's fate and the traditional clan-based family unit continued, but now with corporations and airplanes.
Geography
Edo has a few metropolitan areas, but generally wants to keep the pristine and scenic environment for haiku and hunting. The planet itself is forest-filled with mountains dotting around the area. Lots of vicious wildlife exist. The biggest river is the Kaze River, which connects with the capital, and ends near the Ikura Basin down south, where jungles thrive.
Military
The Yamato Shogunate have two separate forms of military: The Yamato Interplanetary Defense Force, and the private armies of the Regional Lords (basically Daimyos). The Yamato Interplanetary Defense Force is strictly for the security and maintaining of Yamato/TAU property (loopholes are almost always found), while the Regional Lords have private armies called Task Forces (can range up to hundreds of thousands of soldiers and usually have more than one task) to do the bidding of either the Shogun(ess) or their own agenda.
The Yamato Interplanetary Defense Force
Composed of the Space Fleet and the Army, the YIDF obeys the edicts and orders of the Shogunate office. Each Yamato planet recruits, trains, and garrisons their own YIDF units, ranging from a single regiment and a space shuttle to a complicated, branched out planetary army in its own right with its own weapon variants and special forces. The YIDF usually stick within their own orbit, but if the need arises join forces with other YIDF from other planets to fend off bigger threats, usually having a general from Edo itself commanding. There is no Air Force or Marine branch. Both the Army and Navy have their own units for such tasks.
The
Ashigaru (Foot Soldiers) form the bulk of the YIDF, serving as both soldier and policeman for their planet. This role has caused many to consider the government to have fascist tendencies. Armed with No. 12 Assault Rifles with ammo tipped in Tungsten for more anti-armor power, the Ashigaru also have the state-of-the-art flashlight and kevlar vest. Oh yeah, they have a short Katana (a generic bowie knife for women) and a No. 12 .38 caliber revolver for sidearms. Planets can supplement the armament if rich enough. The End.
Most of the vehicles come from the Americalanders, with slight alterations of the frame to allow for faster but more expendable jeeps and tanks, which in turn allow for cheaper production. A few Ironclops are bought, but mechas aren't the Yamato's focus. Artillery includes squad-based mortars and small anti-infantry cannons. Tankettes are also a favorite. The End.
The airplanes are usually generic jet fighters with cheap engines and lots of explosives (that go off if it hits a hard object at a certain velocity), and helicopters are almost archaic, coming from the Earth period. The End.
The Defense Space Fleet of the YIDF are usually small to medium size sublight cruisers decked with gyrojet cannons and laser panels. The gyrojet cannons usually require technicians and gunners to predict a ship's trajectory, speed, and distance and firing the cannons at the trajectory, speed, and distance needed to hit. Misses half the time, but are great troop transports. The Edo YIDF are much more powerful and house two battleships decked with tractor beams and plasma megacannons, along with destroyers that are basically floating missile platforms. The usual starfighters are triangles with a cockpit, sensors, and measly weapons. Said measly weapons are two small particle accelerators and a single missile tube of 4 rockets. The Defense Space Fleet also houses their own Ashigaru, equipped with gyrojet weapons and space suits that can close breeches if functioning right. A landrover or two are also added into the armory. The End.
Why, you might wonder, would the YIDF be financially neglected? There are two budget-swallowing reasons: The Oni Project and the Bio-Samurai Project.
The Oni Project
Once the galaxy as a whole was revealed to the Yamato, the scientists became interested in performance-improving methods. While hallucinogens were known long ago, the galaxy gave them more powerful and longer-lasting options. The Shogunate ordered the scientists to create a new breed of Samurai. Engineered from birth, these supermen would be drugged to the ceiling. Many would die, but those that lived would be muscular and bigger and faster than the average human. Addicted like hell, these supersoldiers were armored with the best armor and were given ChainKatanas and chainguns, these samurai would hack and blast through enemy (and occasionally ally) with abandon and near invincibility. In peace time, these men would be landlords of drug gardens, harvesting dangerous substances with captured foes and prisoners. These Oni obeyed the Shogun(ess) with utmost loyalty, knowing where their drugs came from.
The Baisochi Symbiont Project
Believing it wasn't enough to compete with the Ironclops/Ironclads of Americaland and the Commonwealth's Steam Knights of Victoria, the Shogunate took the super weapon projects one step further (and one step more poorer) with the self-sufficient
Baisochi (bio-device) Symbiont. While Americaland was all "HURR DURR IRON MECHAS" and the Commonwealth was like "Who needs dumb robot machines when you could stomp those gits flat with your own feet and sip tea while at it?", the Shogunate decided to go the sadistic and gory route of bio-engineering enlarged cyborg lifeforms. Taking the genetics and mass of various alien life forms (and indigenous life forms quite a bit), the scientists bred the Baisochi into various forms, though all have a central nervous system in the the stomach where the pilot would connect with the symbiont. While extremely powerful to the point enemies call "Overpowered!", the Baisochi for some reason require very specific things in order to pilot, so engineering an Oni into a Baisochi is out of the question, and unrestrained Baisochi are dangerous while restrained Baisochi follow only limited commands.
Usually armored with powerful alloys and sensor devices, the armament usually varied from organic to manufactured. Some have guns and power swords, while others used the sharp outgrowths of their body or acid from their stomach as weapons. No two Baisochi were alike, with myriads of genetics and body components.
The most terrifying thing was the pilot-Baisochi relation. Unlike the Americaland Ironclad which was piloted like a tank or the Steam Knight and Ironclop armor which had small pistons or sensors that responded to the body, the pilot had needles stuck into their head, themselves engulfed in the stomach. The pilot's brainwaves would correlate to the Baisochi, who was self-aware itself. Then the pilot can control the body of the Baisochi, whether they be bipedal or four-legged or anything in between. The problem was, adult minds were too developed and didn't have the physical and mental changes needed for the Baisochi to accept the unison. So, teenagers hitting puberty were always selected. There was no training; the drafted teenager, who was shipped to Base X of the Edo North Pole, were immediately placed into a developing Baisochi core, where for two days the pilot and the symbiont would interact with each other. The pilot had a 50/50 chance of survival, and the process was painful. Once the symbiont and the pilot finish "discussing", the nearly-dead pilot is taken out and the scientists read off codes of the symbiont's development mindset before creating a full body suitable for the pilot's psyche.
The Baisochi construction takes about a year, so the pilot is sent to a secret town where they learn both the mandatory educational system and how to pilot the Baisochi with their mind and "gut feeling". After the Baisochi is finished, the pilot takes it out on a test run in order to make sure no tweaks or modifications are needed.
The Baisochi-pilot relationship isn't perfect even after the incubation. The Baisochi consider the pilot a parasite, and sometimes try to eject the pilot, if it weren't for electronic stimuli that restrain the urge. The symbiont vehicle also occasionally shows its disdain for the pilot, and feeds the pilot's brain with a biological version of hate mail and mind rape. Sometimes, the hatred against the pilot was so great that the stimuli was overturned and the pilot was digested slowly if Command didn't send help.
There are also smaller Baisochi, "Baisochi Armor" which are exoskeletons that engulf the pilot and has microscopic stubby needles do the biological connection. The same problems apply, but instead of digestion, the pilot dies of suffocation and lies there, inside the Baisochi Armor. Because the body isn't digest and is inside a vacuum-sealed suit, the living armor continues to operate with the memory, personality and intelligence of their dead pilot inside. Sometimes, other people don't know if the pilot inside is living or not, and incidents where whole weeks go by in combat zones with the teams not knowing one of their soldiers had a mishap until much later when the armor is taken off.
Despite the immense and horrifying drawbacks, the Baisochi outweighs it with benefits. Vacuum-sealed and self-sufficient, the Baisochi can fight for years, only stopping for few hours of sleep or the occasional mental attack. The Baisochi are extremely hard to take down, absorbing kinetic and explosive damage, and can survive a nuclear blast, though incapacitated. Their various forms allow them to do various sorts of tasks, and the weapons can easily decimate a regiment of tanks.
In 30xx, when the Baisochi program was getting into full gear, the survival rate of pilots was a measly 20 percent, and foreign kids were captured to be inserted and brainwashed as well. A few of them were Americalander kids, and when the Americanland government got wind of what happened to them, sent Ironclads to decimate the base and rescue all the kidnapped kids. The Americaland and Yamato government agreed that the program will increase the survival rate by taking extra precautions and using only Japanese kids.
Task Forces
The paramilitary private armies of corporations and daimyos, unlike the YIDF are not restricted to protecting Shogunate interests and can be used in preemptive attacks. With less regulations because they are under the private wallet of the daimyos and not the national treasury, the Task Forces can arm themselves with foreign and alien weapons and are better trained than the average Ashigaru. They are very versatile in form and equipment, so there is no real way to describe the Task Forces. The one drawback the Task Forces have is they do not have the benefit of obtaining Oni samurai and Baisochi (though this drawback can be supplanted by buying foreign mechs). Usually supplements YIDF defenses and TAU expeditions.
Economy
The Yamato Fortress Shogunate owns more planets than the Commonwealth and Americaland, and utilizes most of it in raw resources, with most of the population in isolated space stations. The Yamato own few planetoids, and leave rogue objects and satellites for the Americalanders (the Commonwealth is content taxing the trade lanes). Raw resources and salaryman are the Yamato Shogunate's biggest exports. Due to the large population, the Yamato Shogunate creates space stations where half the children learn English and a trade/service. They learn to love the corporate family over their real families, and those that go to an Americaland or Commonwealth owned business learn cultural and social norms of those areas. These salarymen are given contracts where a portion of their wages are paid to the Yamato, and these contracts can be renewed and can come in monthly, annual, or lifetime warranties.
The Yamato Shogunate limits manufactured goods to come in to the Yamato-native planets, fearing cultural pollution. While the Commonwealth respects the Yamato's wishes, the Americaland businessmen are dynamic and break many rules, and occasionally the non TAU merchant gets through security. Only medicine and raw resources are allowed to be imported, and the manufactured items that do come in usually get censored into a more appropriate aesthetic and cover.
Culture
Food
Japanese food is the mainstay, with some alien ingredients added. While isolationist, Commonweath tea and Americaland sweets are popular in the Yamato Shogunate. Green tea is usually spiced, a habit derived from constant Commonwealth bantering.
Religion
Shintoism, Ainu spiritualism, emperor worship and Buddhism are the most worshiped, although religion in the Shogunate have little meaning other than culture and the occasional fear medicine, thus is mostly irreligious (like 20-21st century Earth Japan). The official government policy is to submit to one's fate and make do with their station in life. Christianity is practiced within isolated communities and usually tolerated, but the Shogunate persecute those that do not bow to the Shogunate's will.
Fashion
The business suit is becoming a common sight alongside traditional Japanese robes and kimonos/yukatas. The youth decorate their hair more, pierce their skin, and accessorize the school uniforms, another common modern clothing. Most "western" clothing is tolerated, but humility is called for and the Shogunate encourages traditional clothing.
Affairs
The Shogunate still has byzantine political infighting, with daimyos and NGOs taking the time to screw each other over or actually fight. The Yokai have little to no rights and are in a constant fight to gain their own freedoms and independence. Americaland and the Fortress Shogunate are in shaky terms, with ideological and philosophical differences being the main obstacles. The Commonwealth of Anglo-Saxonia and the Yamato Fortress Shogunate have grudging respect for each other, both having a monarchy and believe in keeping to themselves culturally in various aspects, but the rule of thumb between them is to never debate tea. Also, most Anglo-Saxons eye the Spear of Destiny very suspiciously, due to the discovery of the bone chip in the garbage can being the same year as the death of LORD ARGON, BONE-WIELDER OF ARGON!
Aliens are usually considered inferior and even the friendly ones are isolated in designated spaceports and space stations.