A Brief History of Amahara

Mythic Era

Long ago, at the beginning of time, the three creator goddesses summoned life, the universe, and everything into being in a fit of yuri. During this Mythic Era, gods and celestials toyed with the world freely and divine beasts struck terror in heart of all humans. The common people hid behind fire during the night and could scarcely carry on with their lives during the day. Tiring of their small place in the workings of the world, the greatest of all humans, Tatehaya, slew the monsters of the realm and upended the barbaric and self-destructive rule of the shaman kings. He gained the love of the moon princess Kaguya by accomplishing her five impossible requests, and then went on to conquer the world. His final, most hubristic campaign was a war against the homeland of his wife, a war by the humans of the Earth against the celestials who dwelt on the Moon. The war saw him killed, the celestials extinguished, and the world shattered. The Great Flood washed all trace of civilisation away, leaving humanity a long age of rebuilding. In the end, the great land of Yamato was submerged beneath the seas and cut off from the rest of the world, leaving only the lands closest to Heaven - Amahara.

Even today, this creation and foundation myth is believed by Amaharans to explain why their nation is superior to the rest of the world. Various places in Lotus Asia such as Ryunan, Silla and parts of the Middle Kingdom are thought to have been the outermost parts of Yamato. The legend of its founding heroes has also informed Amaharan religion and societal structure throughout history. Samurai, for example, consider Tatehaya to be the first samurai and the first shogun. His rule over the legendary realm of Yamato and all of the world during the Mythic Era lended precedence to the preeminent position of the samurai class despite the superior holiness of the priestesses. Unlike Kaguya however, his final fate is interpreted in different ways by various sects of Shinto or Buddhism, from having been consigned to the Netherworld for his hubris to being elevated as a god or buddha with dominion over heroes, wars and kings.

The moon princess Kaguya is considered a foundational teacher or deity as well as the first priestess and even the first ninja, though the latter is only the view within the Izayoi Clan. Kaguya is considered to be enshrined within the Grand Shrine of Amahara (which is in fact the shrine of Kaguya), with the body of the Apostle herself being the vessel. Unlike her male counterpart, Kaguya is reasonably common name, being comparable in spirit to western names like Joshua or Mary.

Classical Era

During the Classical Era, the methods and morals of civil governance were imported from the Middle Kingdom and the religion of Shinto developed out of the superstitions and shamanism of the Mythic Era. Where the older beliefs held gods and demons as awesome and ineffable natural phenomena that mortals could only hope to appease, Shinto came to both revere and understand them - they could be guides or protectors and could also be petitioned for aide. The two sides were to coexist and interact through rituals and ceremonies. Amahara came to be ruled by the Apostles, a matriarchal line of empresses who claim descent from Kaguya and to personally enshrine the foundation hero Tatehaya as a kami. Even through the Shogunate Era and into the modern day, the Apostle remains the ultimate religious leader of the realm.

Shogunate Era

Amahara was overthrown by warlords and the line of Apostles was broken and subsequently followed a sequential selection by the shrine maidens of the apostolic court instead. This allowed the clerics to more closely control the throne in the face of samurai encroachment and thus retain religious and moral leadership even as strongmen took over other aspects of administration. Buddhism was imported, which penetrated into a niche alongside Shinto. Both belief systems became allies of the ruling samurai class. They gained wealth, built vast fortified temples and shrines and acquired military power in their own right.

A series of five shogunates ruled Amahara from 1033 to 1853, interspersed with long periods of fighting and civil wars. The transitions between the third and fifth shogunates proved especially violent and destructive. Amahara Shinto evolved from this militarism, leading to the conquest of Ryunan during the relatively shortlived Toyotomi Shogunate. Despite all efforts of preservation however, the last of the divine beasts retreated into the deepest of wildernesses and most gods fell silent in ever longer periods of slumber.

The Yanari Shogunate became the fifth and last shogun dynasty to rule Amahara, lasting the final 199 years of the shogunate era. Amahara and the rest of the east fell behind Rose Europe during those last two centuries.

Rouran Invasions

The Rouran Invasions of Amahara occurred roughly two centuries ago. Amahara was ruled at the time by the Takamachi Shogunate, the second of the shogun dynasties since the overthrow of direct rule by the Apostles of Amahara. The military strength of the buddhist sects had reduced and the Grand Shrine of Amahara, while still nominally the spiritual leader over all of the domain, was at the nadir of its power. Prior to the invasions, the Rouran Empire had never been defeated and had conquered half the known world. The crown jewel of their empire was the supposedly invincible Middle Kingdom, the conquest of which shook civilisation itself to its foundations. Despite this fearsome reputation, the Takamachi shogun elected not to negotiate and mustered all available military forces to repel the invasion.

Rouran armies fought in a vastly different way compared to traditional Amaharan warfare, where individual samurai call out a worthy opponent by name and engage in single combat. Though heroism retained a place on the battlefield, the Amaharan military paradigm was irrevocably changed by contact with the Rouran hordes, introducing conscripted ashigaru to make up the numbers and the use of signals and tactics in the Rouran fashion. True generalship became vital alongside courage and a sharp sword. As the samurai clans were whittled away, both the Shinto sects centered around the Grand Shrine of Amahara and the various Buddhist sects remilitarised and played a greater role in the affairs of the domain. In the end, phenomenal storms blew away the Great Khan's fleets, mass death befell his armies, and the invasions were extinguished.

The invasions had great importance to the subsequent history of Amahara. Although ultimately victorious, the Takamachi clan suffered irreparable damage and its leadership received most of the blame for the early losses. They were replaced by the war hero Azuma Hatsunari, one of their own former subordinates, who received much of the credit for the later victories. More than just the Azuma clan advanced from the conflict; an entire generation of "young" clans consider themselves to have been founded during the war. Amahara's ruling class also became much more aware that an outside world existed beyond the peaceful trade relations and importation of Middle Kingdom culture that had taken place for centuries.

The other half of the credit for the victories went to the gods and the Shinto sects who interceded with them on behalf of the people of Amahara. The spiritual supremacy of the Amaharan domain and of the Apostle herself were confirmed. The shrine maidens of the various sects gained a greater share of temporal power throughout the realm, though the shogunate remained supreme. Along with awareness of the outside world came the awareness of outside gods as well, which Shinto had an obligation to recognise. Shinto emerged from the war with a militaristic spirit and already the spirit of expansion. Over the next two centuries, shrine maidens would trickle overseas on trading ships, establishing shrines in distant lands and sometimes bringing back tales of foreign places. The Buddhist sects also benefitted from increased prestige, wealth and power as its teachings of Zen and the esoteric arts spread, gaining particular traction amongst the samurai who sought personal enlightenment and martial supremacy.

Bakumatsu and Modern Amahara

Foreign influences and weakness in the shogunate devolved into massive civil strife. The Serene Restoration toppled the Yanari Shogunate and was a quick, almost bloodless affair in the home islands, propelling the motherland into the modern era. The transition has proven much longer, more violent and less complete in the Ryunan region.