Haeju

Haeju, officially the Empire of Haeju, is a sovereign nation on the eastern continent

Goryeon Insurrections
For 215 years the Goryeon Empire had ruled over the land of Haeju with a policy of closed doors to other foreigners. In 1851 foreign military vessels would start patrolling the islands around Samseok-Do in which the Goryeon Imperial Navy responded with the ships “Paesok  and “Kaeson  two old outdated sloops, as the two sloops approached the Imperial naval officer hesitated to go further as not only were the two sloops outnumbered but also outgunned. A standoff occurred which led to the sloops and the foreign ships withdrawing, the news reached the Imperial Palace of the aftermath in which Emperor Daeokban and his personal court stubbornly still wanted close doors but with some semi-opening on certain areas

Foreign ships came back but now surrounded the island of Samseok-Do with the foreigners demanding to hand over perpetrators of a Goryeon customs official stabbing a foreign citizen in the semi-open port of Haedon and compensation for the foreign citizen’s family. The Imperial Palace was outraged by this and declined the demands in return the foreign ships opened fire easily damaging the Goryeon Coastal Guns and having 350 Imperial Army troops to be captured and the rest fleeing to the inner parts of the island. Learning of the aftermath the Imperial Palace had no choice but to pay compensation and hand over the individual that stabbed the foreigner. After that event was over the Imperial Government under pressure from the military and some court officials now enacted the “Guem Restoriation”

The Restoration at first ran well with several minor and a few major reforms succeeding like modernizing the Imperial Army and the adoption of some trade deals and technology, later on down the line Emperor Daeokban passed away and was succeeded by Emperor Taedong which essentially backtraced the Restoration in some areas and were very much against dealing with deals with foreigners which culminated in some port cities along with the counties of the port cities to rebel on the backtracking of the reforms which has already brought a huge boost in commerce and wealth already. Taedong would never accept this and sent the Imperial Army to crush the rebels, unknown to the Imperial Army the rebels were an organized force from the counties of Kwangon, Gijang, Onjun, Gapyeong and Danyang which formed the Northern Dongmaeng against the Imperial Army culminating into the Battle of Gangwon which saw the Imperial Army decimated and the lost of influence of some key northern port cities. With the defeat in Gangwon Emperor Taedong agreed to abdicate under pressure and was replaced by Emperor Guktaegong, a pro-open policy Emperor, with the central seat of power placed in the capital city of Namgyeon. The hardline pro-Taedong faction named the “Gaehyeog” disagreed with this new Emperor, its policy and the transfer of power which culminated into the Battle of Namgyeon with Pro-Taedong forces of around 18,350 troops march to the city encountering minor resistance until they reached the Jungang Pagoda and overwhelmed the 450 Pro-Guktaegong force and successfully captured the Emperor’s family and the Emperor himself with this the Pro-Taedong force proclaimed the “Greater Goryeon Empire” with “legitimacy” coming from the “rescued” Emperor, as the proclamation was enacted the Goryeon Imperial Army now patrolled the streets and started a day and night cycle of violence and harassment against Pro-Guktaegong civilians. Meanwhile the rest of the Pro-Guktaegong officials retreated and proclaimed the “Greater Goryeon Empire” as illegitimate and joined the Northern Dongmaeng forces which by now had armed themselves heavily with some units from the Imperial Army defecting to the Dongmaeng

With the sudden brewing conflict between the Dongmaeng and Goryeon now rising. Emperor Guktaegong secretly sent a letter through a servant than to a Dongmaeng official in which it was read out loud on a large plaza in the county of Kwangon.



The war would take a toll on the country itself as the northern and western areas were somewhat ravaged, from 1867-1869 around 250,000 civilians would die from the conflict. Emperor Gojong and Taedong agreed to a ceasefire agreement supported by the Imperial court. Further political agreements were stipulated and as such for both sides to come to an agreement on but a few days later Taedong would pass away from severe stress and a damaged kidney, Gojong not too insite more anger ordered the Royalist to not celebrate or cheer but to be silent and respectful

Gojong and the Imperial court agreed for the reformation of the country to what the land of Goryeon has been called “Haeju” and finally for integration of both Royalist and Imperialist into the Royal Haeju Armed Forces and from the talks between Gojong and Taedong, Gojong would honor Taedong’s wish and started drafting the Gwangmu Constitution and announce a new era for the now Kingdom of Haeju.

ACES and the Great War
Haeju would eventually join the ACES alliance and involved in the Great War (1921 - 1926). The process itself wasn't as smooth as planned as assassination attempts and political unrest would occur in the closing days of the war. Haeju was promptly forced to leave the war before it officially ended.

Post-War and Tension
The end of the war saw Haeju's economy taking a beat from the massive economic collapse worldwide. The assistance from Avumo would at least improve the condition in the country. While this all is happening, a border skirmish occured between Haeju and Desnia, although the short lived conflict would be resolved after a temporary ceasefire was signed due to the emergence of Bol to the north.

Geography
Haeju is mostly covered in plains and grasslands with the eastern end of the middle-range mountain ending on the western side of the country. Haeju borders the United Republic of Desnia to the west, the People's Republic of Bol to the northwest, Arransdahl to the south, and (by sea) United Kingdom of Hayupka to the east.

Trivia

 * The country's name Haeju is taken from an existing North Korean city
 * Haeju uses the Korean Empire's flag