Cheonje

Cheonje (天齊 thian dzai) was an in Sinju. One of the most powerful and influential countries in Tiandi history, the Cheonje Empire once encompassed the majority of Sinju, and is considered the predecessor of many modern powers in the region, including Jeongmi and Meisaan.

History
Before the foundation of the Celestial Empire, the predecessor of Cheonje was simply known as Je (齊), named after the settlement of Eupje (邑齊) that formed the centre of the minor power. A relatively weak city-state during the pre-classical period in modern XXX, Je was once a subject state of a local power, and was considered a major trading hub and a defensive outpost against the nearby tribes. The accumulation of wealth and influence soon enabled Je to replace its original liege, which was weakened by the escalating wars across Sinju.

In XXXX, the rising power of Je was entrusted by nearby states with the leadership against an invasive force. A mix of good luck and impressive military maneuver and political manipulation between enemy vessels resulted in a surprising victory for Je. Utilizing this advantage, the leader of Je married the surviving daughter of its enemy and proclaimed the foundation of Daeje (大齊, "great Je") as the liege of all nearby tribes and settlements.

The early days of Cheonje resembled more a tribal confederation than a centralized empire. The position of emperor is passed between family members of the Imperial clan based on "merits" instead of clearly-defined succession, and most government positions were held by landed nobles and subjects.

Reign of the Great Emperor
In XXXX, the aristocracy overthrew the rule of Je after a particularly ineffectual and "immoral" rule. However, wishing to avoid another bloody war for leadership, the nobles agreed to enthrone the last legitimate son of the previous emperor, which they believed was gullible and easy to manipulate to maintain the autonomy of the vessel territories. However, the young emperor, while pleasing the aristocracy on surface, secretly plotted to remove them from power and install himself as the undisputed ruler of the empire, if not the entire known world. Adopting several reforms to reorganize his demesne into a militarized society, the young emperor, on the day he was considered an adult by tradition, declared the majority of the aristocracy traitors for plotting to remove him from the throne. After a decisive campaign, the emperor emerged victorious and exiled many of his former captives.

Seeing the aristocracy as unreliable, the Great Emperor soon extended many of his reforms to all corners of the empire. Many of them, such as those concerned with administration by a class of scholar-gentry, soon became a staple of many successor states of Cheonje. Nobles who supported him during the war, as well as distinguished generals and governors were granted territories of the defeated enemies, lineages of them still claimed by many modern noble houses.

In order to house the massive bureaucracy he envisioned, the emperor decreed that the old city of Eupje would no longer be the seat of the imperial government. Instead, a new city closer to the center of the empire was built to be the new capital of the empire. In imperial records, it is said that the Great Emperor, after marching across the entire realm, remained unsatisfied by any of the options offered by his subjects. Frustrated, the emperor was said to have consulted the spirits of the past emperors for guidance through meditation. After a long fast that "purified" his mind, he woke up one day to witness an omen: a brilliant crimson phoenix rose from a nearby mound before flying towards the rising sun. Seeing it as an auspicious sight, the emperor was convinced that the ancestors willed the new capital to be built around the mound. Called Danyang (丹陽), the city would later became one of the great cities of Sinju until its fall with the empire.

Among the enemies of the emperor, one of the most formidable was said to be armed clergy of shrines and temples. Seeing these autonomous religious sects as both potential threats to the imperial government, as well as resistance towards future reforms, the Great Emperor soon began systematically dismantling many of the native religious establishments outside ancestral worship. The official non-endorsement of "spirits and ghosts" remained for several centuries, until another reform introduced the "celestial bureaucracy", a pantheon of supernatural figured recognized by the imperial government to hold a position in the immortal realm, was made as an attempt to mandate and control folk religious figures.

In spite of the series of reform centralizing the government and transforming the empire into a state, Cheonje remained a feudal polity mostly government by powerful local authority, as limitations on technology and geography prevented the central government from efficiently ruling over the massive empire.

Fall
The celestial empire continued to survive for another millennium, until a series of natural disasters and rebellions made it vulnerable to foreign invasion. After several particularly bloody campaign by rebels and invaders alike, the imperial capital, along with the wealthy demesne, was "burnt to the ground along with uncountable souls", marking the end of Cheonje. That said, existing vessels and newborn kingdoms rising from the ruins of the empire - many of them housing noble refugees from the broken empire - continued to claim as successor of Cheonje in various ways, such as bloodline and cultural orthodoxy.