Has anything been decided about the historical background of NE asia? I read the China thread and it seemed to imply that some decisions had already been made.
If not there are some historical "what if"s that could've happened in NE asia since the Three Kingdoms era in Korea.
Historical background
The three kingdoms of Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla fought back and forth from their founding until around 650-700, when both Koguryo and Paekche collapsed.
They were all founded in the period of 100BC to 100 AD, supplanting all the other states and tribes that had occupied the region. Kaya, which seems to have been an offshoot of Paekche, was quickly absorbed by Silla, so it's not counted in the period.
Koguryo was an advanced militaristic society that blended nomadic traditions and people with a centralised agricultural system.
Traditionally they allied with the horse nomads, collectivelly known as Malgal. A significant minotiry in the kingdom was the Jurchen, who were well integrated and aren't mentioned in the histories until the collapse of Koguryo.
Paekche was a mix of horse nomad aristocracy who came down from Puyo (the pre-cursor to Koguryo) and conquered the SW of the peninsula. The kingdom became one of the most culturally advanced in NE Asia, and in due course they invaded japan and setup the Yamato realm, who remained their fast allies until the collapse of Paekche.
Silla formed out a confederation of tribes in the SE of the peninsula, driven together by outside pressure. They didn't have any permanent allies, unlike Koguryo (ie. nomads) and Paekche (ie. Yamato japan), so they usually allied with the weaker against the stronger. Later on they reformed their military and allied with T'and china to collapse Paekche and later Koguryo. Then they fought off T'ang china's attempt to absorb them and eventually mananged to hold 90% of the peninsula.
Silla (known as Later Silla after the unification of the peninsula) is the precursor to the later kingdoms of Koryo and Choson, which most of the world knows as "Korea". In parallel, Barhae was founded in Manchuria by remaining Koguryo nobles (together with the Jurchen) and existed in parallel (as a rival) with Later Silla until their collapse under attack by the Khitan (~900-1000AD).
Initially Paekche was the stronger of the three but they were eventually driven back by Koguryo, with Silla basically surviving. Without any outside intervention the likely unifyer would've been either Koguryo (most likely) or Parhae. For Silla survival was an achievement in itself.
The balance tipped when china managed to re-unify under one kingdom. The Sui emperor invaded Koguryo after border disputes and was driven back several times, eventually invading with a million man plus army, with a coup (led by the first T'ang emperor) d'etat following his defeat.
T'ang armies continued the invasions and eventually weakened Koguryo (along with internal corruption) to the point where a two-pronged invasion by Silla and T'ang collapsed the kingdom. Paekche was conquered via a similar method.
The aberration
Without going into too much historical depth
, the aberrations I propose focuses on the very likely scenario that either Paekche or Koguryo unified the peninsula instead of Silla.
Since this is getting too long, I'll post scenarios later.
If not there are some historical "what if"s that could've happened in NE asia since the Three Kingdoms era in Korea.
Historical background
The three kingdoms of Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla fought back and forth from their founding until around 650-700, when both Koguryo and Paekche collapsed.
They were all founded in the period of 100BC to 100 AD, supplanting all the other states and tribes that had occupied the region. Kaya, which seems to have been an offshoot of Paekche, was quickly absorbed by Silla, so it's not counted in the period.
Koguryo was an advanced militaristic society that blended nomadic traditions and people with a centralised agricultural system.
Traditionally they allied with the horse nomads, collectivelly known as Malgal. A significant minotiry in the kingdom was the Jurchen, who were well integrated and aren't mentioned in the histories until the collapse of Koguryo.
Paekche was a mix of horse nomad aristocracy who came down from Puyo (the pre-cursor to Koguryo) and conquered the SW of the peninsula. The kingdom became one of the most culturally advanced in NE Asia, and in due course they invaded japan and setup the Yamato realm, who remained their fast allies until the collapse of Paekche.
Silla formed out a confederation of tribes in the SE of the peninsula, driven together by outside pressure. They didn't have any permanent allies, unlike Koguryo (ie. nomads) and Paekche (ie. Yamato japan), so they usually allied with the weaker against the stronger. Later on they reformed their military and allied with T'and china to collapse Paekche and later Koguryo. Then they fought off T'ang china's attempt to absorb them and eventually mananged to hold 90% of the peninsula.
Silla (known as Later Silla after the unification of the peninsula) is the precursor to the later kingdoms of Koryo and Choson, which most of the world knows as "Korea". In parallel, Barhae was founded in Manchuria by remaining Koguryo nobles (together with the Jurchen) and existed in parallel (as a rival) with Later Silla until their collapse under attack by the Khitan (~900-1000AD).
Initially Paekche was the stronger of the three but they were eventually driven back by Koguryo, with Silla basically surviving. Without any outside intervention the likely unifyer would've been either Koguryo (most likely) or Parhae. For Silla survival was an achievement in itself.
The balance tipped when china managed to re-unify under one kingdom. The Sui emperor invaded Koguryo after border disputes and was driven back several times, eventually invading with a million man plus army, with a coup (led by the first T'ang emperor) d'etat following his defeat.
T'ang armies continued the invasions and eventually weakened Koguryo (along with internal corruption) to the point where a two-pronged invasion by Silla and T'ang collapsed the kingdom. Paekche was conquered via a similar method.
The aberration
Without going into too much historical depth
, the aberrations I propose focuses on the very likely scenario that either Paekche or Koguryo unified the peninsula instead of Silla.Since this is getting too long, I'll post scenarios later.
