White Kamuy: British Nipponese Islands, 2007

The Mid-19th Century A.D. was a time of great change. An age of industrialization and imperialism, of turmoil and glory. For the British Empire, though, it also marked the dawn of a new chapter in the Realm's history, involving the unlikeliest of places: the Nipponese Islands. Some would say that this story began with the growing focus on the Orient in the wake of the Opium War waged against the decaying Qing Dynasty in the 1830s, setting the stage for the founding of Hong Kong and the eventual Chinese Associates. Others still would contend that it was either a desire to contain Russian (later on, American) designs in the Pacific or the Cape Colony's authorities preferring to leave both the Bantu peoples and so-called Boers alone.

Whatever the case, British influence in the Pacific had grown considerably by 1850. In the wake of U.S. Commodore Perry's infamous visit to Nippon three years later, Queen Victoria saw an opportunity in being among the first to "open up" the isolationist islands before the other Great Powers could. Before long, adventurers, merchants and aspiring tycoons from as far as England itself were establishing ties with the Nipponese while diplomats in London offered "treaties" that benefited the Empire where the Sun Never Sets; not only were a handful of "Treaty Ports" secured, but so were the Ryukyu Islands, soon known as the Lewchew Protectorate (which would be handed over to Nippon). Many, especially those loyal to the increasingly chaotic Tokugawa Shogunate, however, quickly grew resentful what was seen at the time as subservience to "foreign barbarians." But though others were content with simply swaying this or that clan or playing off various samurai against each other, Britannia had a much larger prize in mind. Following the massacre of a Scottish delegation in Osaka in 1860, Parliament formally passed a declaration of war against the Shogun.

While having the support of some of the more dissident southern clans like the Shimazu of Satsuma Domain, the initial British expedition was a hapharzard collection mainly comprised of Indian and Anglo regiments from the Raj, along with a handful of Royal Marines; in the aftermath of the Sepoy Uprising of 1857 and subsequent dissolution of the East India Company, many former "company-men" were quick to accept military commissions. But even such a ragtag force proved more than capable in holding their own against the martial prowess and fierce Bushido valour of their foes, even as the latter increasingly turned to using modern firearms in place of their ancient swords. Eventually, reinforcements from Australia, Canada and even the British Isles trickled in, soon turning the tide against the Shogunate and those who dared oppose Her Majesty's soldiers; this would culminate in the Battle of Edo in 1867, which finally broke the Tokugawas at the cost of many lives on both sides. It would be the so-called Kyoto Compromise that same year, however, that would finally end the Bakumatsu Wars (also known as the Anglo-Nipponese Intervention) by gaining the full support of the Imperial House of Yamato and its supporters, who quietly sided with them up until that point. Emperor Mutsuhito, known to history as Meiji, was soon recognized as his country's sovereign monarch "by the Grace of Amaterasu," his people promised the right to self-rule and manage its own affairs. In exchange, however, the "Treaty Ports" secured during the conflict would remain under direct British rule, while the rest of Nippon became part of the British Empire as a "Special Protectorate" (the first and only one of its kind), with an acting Commissioner acting as something between a governor and advisor to the Emperor. To the surprise of the defeated, though, the victors proved to be as merciful as they were formidable. Many Nipponese were quick to learn from their new benefactors, modernizing in a few decades what would have taken centuries. By the 1900s, they had even begun to resemble more of an European state than an Oriental one, adopting many Western fashions, trends and technologies while still retaining much of their storied heritage.

The island of Ezochi was another matter. Although the Tokugawas, through the Matsumae Clan, treated it as aborder march and a sliver of Nipponese settlements existed along the southmost portions, it was by and large an untamed land where the mysterious Ainu people lived. While the British initially sought to secure the island as a strategic outpost and native reserve, surveys conducted over the 1870s also found the area to be suitable for settlement and ripe with resources. These proved to be more than enough for rising magnate Cecil Rhodes, who found himself increasingly attracted to the Orient over Africa. Using his existing investments and South African connections, he gained concessions from the Colonial Office in London as well as local Ainu chieftains, his "British East Asian Company" (which also inherited his private security force) granted a Royal Charter by 1885. Hoping to establish a "proper" counterbalance to both the Slavic and Nipponese peoples, he organized a group of Anglo pioneers comprised of settlers and B.E.A.C. volunteers, who founded Fort Salisbury over an abandoned village in 1886; this also marked the formal establishment of the Colony of Hyperborea, which name had been chosen to placate those suspicious of Rhodes' motives. Through shrewd cunning, backroom deals and the British East Asian Police (along with Royal Navy protection), Hypberborea's territory encompassed the sparsely populated Sakhalin and Kuril islands (as Russian control remained weak there) by 1894, with incentives to attract more colonists bearing more fruit, with agriculture and mining proving to be successful ventures. The European population grew even further (including, ironically the first wave of Russian immigrants) with the discovery of gold, soon rendering any tensions with the Ainu moot. Barring some early conflicts and standoffs, what had until then been a backwater into a bustling land of opportunity, where a man could shape the future with his hands.