Shogunate is one of the major power blocs in Aqua. The power bloc of the Shogunate stretches from the East Pacific through the Philippine Sea to the Indian Ocean. The amalgamation of China, the CIS States, Japan and some of the South Asian Tiger States to an underwater alliance created the biggest power bloc in Aqua.
Background[]
Out of the independent deep-sea experimental stations of the Japanese, Chinese, and Russians in the North Pacific, a loose coalition was founded in the year 2055 that was supposed to assure the survival of the suboceanic citizens. Even as these nations were waging a nuclear battle on the surface, in Aqua, a well-structured transportation, trade and information network was set up between the individual stations, villages and the first small cities.
Smuggler squads were trained and went to the surface regularly. They were ordered to procure new technologies and materials illegally at the risk of their lives. Towards the end of the 21st century, the North Pacific Coalition became largely self-sufficient and independent from supply by the surface. The onetime smuggler squads became a military-police intervention and protection force. The year 2100 was marked by the dramatic immigration flood of the surface inhabitants. They were fleeing from what had in the meantime become the total destruction of the surface of the earth and were seeking their salvation in the underwater stations. Capacity was soon exceeded in the North Pacific and breathing-gas production could no longer satisfy the demand. To find a way out, people bound together with the stations in the North Atlantic and the Indian Ocean to find the swiftest and most promising solution.
At the Florida Conference in 2106 it was finally decided by these three Coalitions to try for a central and independent control of the production of energy and breathing gas. The site of this authority, called ENTROX (Energy-Transport-Oxygen), was planned in the Gulf Stream in the Florida Strait. At the same time, all nuclear reactors and helinox-production facilities were placed under its control.
While the situation with the flood of immigrants became ever more critical as time went on, the first North Pacific Parliaments saw to it that the tribalist currents had as little chance as possible. Soon the stations of the Russians, Japanese and Chinese united under the leadership of the Parliamentary President of Svesda Wostock, Long Guiwen. They formed a centrally ruled unit that from 2108 on wielded the power in the whole North Pacific League.
However, the streams of fugitives also brought the dangerous prejudices of the surface with them into the depths. It quickly became clear that without reeducation of the people and strong leadership, the existence of AQUA would soon be jeopardized. It was at this point of time that Long Guiwen was able to demonstrate his political greatness. Long appointed himself Conductator and with his connections to the military-police intervention force, was able to keep the peace in Aqua for over four decades. A sort of constitutional monarchy was set up in the North Pacific, the center of which was the city of Svesda Vostok in the Japanese Trench.
The League flourished under Long's rule. Technical projects for the extraction of energy and the production of food were created. The military was heavily strengthened and the production of breathing gas was made largely self-sufficient.
Prosperity moved into the depths. Expensive educational projects laid the cornerstone for a stable peace and the selection system of the later Shogunate. The Conductate was also directly involved in the development of the first nuclear fusion reactor in the Gulf of Florida. In 2135 international cooperation terminated in the production of energy by nuclear fusion. The danger of being cut off from the energy supply by a swift blow of the Atlantic Federation had become too great. In addition, too much of the energy was being lost on the long path from the Florida Strait to the North Pacific. Here too, the great foresight of Conductator Long showed itself: he recognized sooner than others the necessity of complete self-sufficiency of the Conductate.
The great love of our entire people to their great leader is thus understandable; they soon revered him as Imperial Majesty. He brought security, assurance of survival, prosperity and stability into the Conductate. Upon Long Guiwen's death, power passed to his half-Japanese son Akira. He solidified the foundation of the Long Dynasty in the following decades and developed the Conductate into a monolithic monarchy with his wise, enduring and uniform code of law.
In 2178, Akira Long appointed himself as Shogun and the Conductate officially became the Shogunate. At its head stands the divine Shogun, whose power is transmitted from father to son and whose word is divine law. At his side stands a staff of military officers, initially all members of the Long family, later including officers from all three nationalities who were true to the line.
Since the last war in Aqua in the years 2625-47 and the subsequent peace conference in Floating Bombay, the capital of the Clans Union, many soldiers, samurai and fighting pilots are unemployed. Most of them were subjected to re-schooling and some of them were sent off to an international peace corps. Nevertheless, there remained some who could not adapt to the times of peace. The latter formed a group that call themselves "Ronin," or "people on the crest," reminiscent of the leaderless and jobless Samurai of the Japanese Middle Ages.
A state purge was able to seize the greater part of the Ronin and banish them to reeducation in the clinics in the Sea of Okhotsko7. However, those who eluded the police formed underground cells or fled beyond the borders of the Shogunate to settle in the South Pacific 's Tornado Zone, as mercenaries, buccaneers or warlords.
Today, the power structure of the Shogunate is more stable than ever. The Long Dynasty still rules in divine harmony and the peaceful coexistence of the power blocs in Aqua guarantees undisturbed development of science and technology. Relations with the main political opponent of the Shogunate and the Atlantic Federation have become cool and formal in the meantime. Cultural exchange practically never occurs, while trade with the Clans Union and the Atlantic Federation is becoming increasingly important.
While the political tensions between the Atlantic Federation and the Shogunate still gave cause for concern in the times of the first great Biont war, a peaceful coexistence on almost friendly terms had been reached by 2666.
Organization[]
In the following centuries, the military became the most important part and the principal employer of our Shogunate. There was no higher goal for citizens in the Shogunate than the rank of an officer of his Imperial Army.
The military was and is the supporting framework of the Shogunate. Every subject, irrespective of sex, attends a martial-arts school for at least five years, leading to training to be one of the lower military ranks. During training, a commissioned officer observes the graduates and assigns them to a special department, according to position, where they are trained either as simple soldiers, samurai, fighting-ship pilots, captains or secretservice officers...
In order not to be exposed to the danger of over-individualization, the Shogun in his great wisdom created a People's School. Here, all citizens learn to recognize the divinity of their leader and to follow him, no matter what he demands of them. At the same time, all citizens of the Shogunate are thereby monitored from their third year of life, so that not even the slightest talent is wasted that could serve the welfare of our state. Through this early selection and encouragement of subjects, the succeeding generations of workers, officials, military and scientists are continually controlled and assured within the Shogunate...
Even if the top ranks of the military or a position as a top official were and are the most sought-after goals within the Shogunate, every subject is proud to be a part of the whole society. There is no unemployment, poverty, crime or drug misuse such as is commonplace in the capitalistic Atlantic Federation. A staff of scientists and officials watches over the mental health of the subjects and if necessary, mixes mood-enhancing and motivation-encouraging vitamins into the drinking water.
Scientists are given a special position within the Shogunate. Since their fidelity to the state is assured by their education, they enjoy greater intellectual freedom than other subjects. Our divine leadership recognized early on that it is more encouraging to accord greater intellectual freedom to a brain that does research. The excellent results speak for themselves. Thus, it was already possible in the year 2617 to build a geothermal power station in the Mariana Trench and shortly thereafter a functioning seismic early-warning system.
Secret police[]
A special problem is presented by the numerous military personnel that have become superfluous in time of peace. Their activities are strictly monitored by a special committee of the Shogun. The secret police also monitors any foreigners for subversive activities, such as trafficking dissidents. These are subject to arrest and interrogation. Those unlucky enough to have no backing will typically wind up in a penal colony somewhere in the dreaded Sea of Okhotsk, where insurrections are handled by gunning people down or flooding their habitats.
Dissidents[]
Due to the Shogunate’s extremely tight social structure, and the Shogun government’s influence being felt in every area of life, ordinary citizens as well as high-ranking politicians and military officers may attempt to flee. The destination of most refugees who have fallen out of favor is the Tornado Zone, where they contribute their technological expertise as well as their extremely efficient military training. Rumor has it that there is nothing more dangerous in the Tornado Zone than a pirate who was once an officer of the Shogunate: For example, Iwan King, the Warlord of the Zone, came from an area near the Mariana Trench.