History of Dragon State (1983: Doomsday)

before Doomsday
The Flag of the Dragon EmperorIn the early 80's the Anhui province of china was a poor, backwards region of china split over two cultural areas. it was heavily populated, though the lands to the the east and west both produced more rice. A military base was stationed in the Huangshan mountains had a few of China's precious nuclear warHeads.

[edit] Doomsday
The People's Republic of China was not expecting a strike from the USSR, and as such, suffered incredible losses as more than thirty nukes rained down on their major cities. Other bombs destroyed military bases, in particular those suspected of having nuclear capabilities, and took special care to throughly radiate the common border between the two nations. China quickly collasped into massive chaos, as cities tore themselves and the countryside for food in a terrifying free for all. The province of Anhui was no exception. While its two largest cities were not among those nuked, the military base in the mountains of Huangshan, a suspected nuclear arsenel, received a bomb.

[edit] Post Doomsday: the First Two Weeks
Suprisingly, the leader eventual ruler of the region was a chinese military officer off base who survived the blast due to his location on the other side of a mountain on an extended training exercise. Hong Chow, later known as Hong Long, led his men into a nearby village, where citizens emerging from their homes found their communications to the outside world cut off. Hong Chow promptly pulled off a coup, took control of the local rice supply, and drove to the next village, and repeated the pattern in four or five villages, in each case declaring himself to be the new "government" and taking control of the rice for the purposes of "rationing and safe keeping". Hong and his men afterwards retired back toward the mountains. Before doing so, Hong let his men know that "while we are in the shadow of the bomb, none will aproach us, and when we are sheilded, the bomb is no threat." Chow required an oath of absolute fealty from his troops, then tried to figure out which ones he could trust to do his absolute bidding. the ones he decided he could, he sent ahead to massacre a town not visted yet, and the soldiers he decided against constructed temperary shelters against the poisonous dust falling from the sky. the small army spent the next eight weeks in the bomb shelter of the destroyed village. due to fallout, over 60% of them died, including most of the soldiers Chow did not trust, sending them out for water and other duties on occasion. Hong Chow surivied, and began his quest in what he considered a zero sum game.

[edit] Fall 1983:The Dragon rises
By the time that Hong and his men emerged from the ruins of the village, most of the chinese population was dead, either by fallout, suicide, violence, or starvation. Hong assumed that at least some people would still be alive, and determined to find and destroy them before they knew of his existance. There were several militant groups in the area, but Hong was able to keep his own existence as well as the location of his base a secret, and as he had not been involved in the early fighting, his supply of bullets was greater than any other group. As losses of men and particuarly food reserves grew, Hong's troops gained the title "the dragon" and Hong took up the title with pride, becoming "Hong Long". in a few months, Hong's tactics, along with onset of winter, cleared the area of outside human presence. Hong began to accept small additions to his army, but gave them menial jobs and did his best to expose them to fallout.

[edit] The building years (1984-1992)
In the spring of 1984 Hong began to accept "refugees" who he essentially turned into slaves, did not reveal his bases to, and kept in small communitees his men constantly spied on. In order to protect these slaves, Hong expanded his extermination campaign, picking his men, he slowly expanded his forces. Several of his slave communities were destroyed on occasion, but the "Dragon Troops" as they called themsleves, were never caught, and their main hold in the radiactive mountains was never discovered. after the repair of a munitions factory in 1987, Hong began a rapid expansion of his forces, and minions, Expanding the "Dragon Lands" to dominate the the Yangtze river valley

[edit] Establishment of the Dragon Kingdom (Febuary 13 1993 (New Year's Day))
In 1993, Hong and his top officers wrote down the "laws" for the "Dragon Kingdom", provinces and villages of the kingdom were set up, mostly to restrict travle within the kingdom, the military was regularized, with an incrediable amount of officer control, Slavery was instituted for most people, and Hong received the lofty title of "The Dragon Emperor". The Capital's location remained a secret, becoming known as "the hidden city".

[edit] The Dragon Kingdom 1993-1996
the creatation of the Dragon Kingdom increased the aggressive policies of emperor Hong. He maintained the security of his own holdings by establishing a giant no man's land around his kingdom. anyone found outside of certain areas was killed, or, if his forces felt particuarly confident, enslaved. while the small area of the Dragon kingdom slowly filled in, the no-man's land around it swelled in size. Emperor Hong remained the terror of his neighbors, whom he kept agitated until his death in 1996

[edit] Emperor Zheng (1996)
Emperor Hong died at the age of 38 of cancer due to his residence in the fallout zone of the Haungstan mountains. Ming Xu, his appointed succesor, changed his name to Zheng Long "The Just," or "Proper Dragon" and reigned as Emperor Zheng. He shifted from the survival based policies of Emperor Hong in favor of Building a strong State. He continued the policy of expanding the no man's land, but began to expand the slave village zone or as he called it the "sphere of civillization".

[edit] The Dragon-Jianxi War (1997-2001)
Emperor Zheng's policy of expansion quickly put strain on the troops, who were patrolling an ever wider area and under pressure to capture rather than to kill. Combatants escaped, and the nature and plans of the Dragon Kingdom were known. Inland, in the former province of Jianxi, several dozen formerly competive bands lanched a major assult into dragon territory, moving fast. Most of the Dragon Army was trying to recover the coast, and the forces left behind were overwhelmed. a few dozen slave villages were destroyed and their food taken. As the invaders from Jianxi entered entered the foothills of the nearby mountains, a small force of dragon troops ambushed them and drove them back. The Gangs, having the food that they needed to wage a longer campaign, retired to the region of the destroyed villiages. The main body of the Dragon army returned to find a substantial loss in food supplies, and an armed and ready enemy in their carefully protected settlement zone. While the initial force quickly lost numbers, and reputation of the Dragon Lands was broken, and it was invaded by hordes of men, mostly from the province of Jianxi. Hu Wang, a WarLord in Jianxi, harnessed this flow of men to create a body of troops called the "Tigers". The Dragon Kingdom fought to control lands, but Hu Wang and his Tigers established slave settlements on the other side of the Yangtze. Bickering broke out amoung Hu Wang and the other leaders from Jianxi, erupting into a civl war. Emperor Zheng used this lull to "import" labor and troops from the coastal provinces while putting Hu Wang and his enemies at ease about the dragon threat. However, one of Zheng's officers, Gang Pu, strongly disagreed with the policy, and late in 1998, launched an assault on Hu's Tigers on the othere side of the river. While both sides suffered huge causulties, The Dragons prevailed, and gained a foothold on the south of the Yangtze. That winter was spent battling for ports on the river, Emperor Zheng left the conduct of the south western war with the Tigers in the hands of Gang Pu, and himself focused on former policies in the East along the coast line and in the north. in 2000, after two years of brutal fighting, a small band of men snuck into Tiger Territory, and assasinated Hu Wang. With the loss of their leader, The Tigers quickly lost their territory on the Yangtze and with drew to the old Jianxi province. Gang Pu was all for annihiating the former Tiger forces, but Emperor Zheng Ordered that they be taken and used as front line troops in his war in the east. Fearful of Gang's popularity amoung his men, Emperor Zheng secrately Ordered an officer under Gang, Chen Hui, to assinate Gang at the first sign of rebellion. Chen Hui quickly broke the emperor's confidence and revealed the plot to Gang Pu. However, the war was too pressing for further action.

[edit] The Zheng-Gang Schism (2001-2003)
During the Jianxi campaign, Gang did all he could to rebell against the emperor. As the war was in a critical point, Emperor Zheng waged a political campaign among the soldiers against Gang. However, Gang, along with many others, blamed emperor Zheng for the losses in the war, and "departing from the traditions that made us great". Gang gained much ground amoung the troops that had served before Emperor Zheng, but most of the newer troops owed their new position and security to emperor Zheng. Divisions of the dragon army began to ignore the commands of one commander and follow the commands of the other. As the Tigers were exterminated, both sides prepared for war, or a coup. at the end of 2001, Gang simply refused to cross the river and used his troops to maintain "his side" of the river, starting a dense settlement on the south side of the Yangtze. The Emperor was content to let the situation stay as is, and for two years, an uneasy truce was held. Suprizingly this period was one of great growth, as each side strove to increase his population, and therefore, his food supply.

[edit] Emperor Zhi and Contact with the Outside World
In 2003, Emperor Zheng died of cancer, and his the emperor elect, Ming Hui, became the new Dragon Emperor under the title Emperor Zhi. Emperor Zhi's first official act was to make peace with Zheng, and give him a newly created office called Lord of the frontier. emperor Zhi, while continuing the policies of his predessors, has made a policy of exploring as well as destroying, being interested in the long run where his kingdom is headed.