[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/p6PPXJq.jpg[/img]
[h2][color=red][b]The Imperium of Hiron[/b][/color][/h2][/center]
[b][u]The Industrial Might of an Imperium, or Lack Thereof[/u][/b]

Looking upon the skirmishes on the Continent while also speaking with his advisors, it quickly became clear to the Dragon Emperor that in order to begin to approach that steps that the Continentals tread upon, it was necessary to rapidly expand the industrial base of the Imperium. The Imperium, it seemed, was still primarily an agrarian, fishing economy besides some minor locations of industry, a fact that needed to change soon if it was to be able to stand on the same level as the industrialized Great Powers.

It also became evident in the Emperor's eyes in speaking to the Minister of Finance that the concept of pouring money into the economy, even money the government did not currently have, had the potential to result in kick starting the economy. The government was always a particularly strong actor in the economy, one that could direct it in such a way that the common individual could not. Because of this, the Dragon Emperor wrote the following legislation while taking the opinions of both the Emperor's Faction and Nationalists into account in order to further the economic prosperity of both the Hironese People and the Imperium itself as a result. Whilst much of the Imperium's earlier actions had benefited primarily those interested in education and wealth, this one would be fine-tuned to provide jobs to the poor and middle class in addition to those jobs that would be provided by the expansion of the military.

The Dragon Emperor came before the people on the day the 1900 Industry of the Imperium Act was signed to give the following speech, "The Continental Powers have for far too long looked down upon Settumu as a land of 'savages,' lacking practically any modern industrial capacity. The Imperium's prior efforts to innovate and bring the Industrial Revolution to its shore have simply not been enough to put it on solid footing equal with the Continentals.

"Whilst the Imperium mines plenty of resources to power an industrial economy, they are simply not used. Whilst the Imperium's people mill about, making do with lackluster incomes, the Continentals lavish themselves with grapes and wine. It is the Industrial Might of the Continentals that gives them such success. And it is this Industrial Might that will turn the Imperium into a Great Power to be envied, starting with the passage of the Industry of the Imperium Act.

"Starting today, the Industrial Revolution within the Imperium truly begins. The poor shall find significantly more well-paying jobs within the factories, the middle class shall have more wares to trade and make use of, and those already lucky enough to be considered wealthy by Imperium shall find themselves prospering alongside the rest of us! For the Imperium!"

The text of the Act follows;

[center][b][u]1900 Industry of the Imperium Act[/u][/b][/center]
In recognition of the Continental strength that grows primarily out of their industry, the Emperor hereby orders that the construction of a total of four new arms factories within the Imperium begin with all due haste, according to the following paragraphs. The new construction will effectively triple the industrial capacity of the Imperium, putting it on par if not in excess of that of the Continentals, while providing well-paying jobs to the poor and middle class and greatly increasing the economic strength of the Imperium as well as its GDP.

Before construction of the four new factories is to begin, a survey is to be commissioned and conducted expediently but thoroughly to determine the best locations to build the factories. The locations must have access to dockyards capable of handling the shipping of the products rolling out of the factories, while also being located primarily in impoverished areas of the nation that are in need of better employment to provide the poor with more economic opportunity and mobility. The locations must of course also be on ground capable of supporting factories safely, and the closer to sources of iron or coal, the better. However, dock access and impoverished location is paramount.

The Imperium itself shall supply the necessary funds to construct the factories, and the resources for their construction shall be sourced from within the Imperium. Bids shall be taken from various construction companies, and those who offer the lowest amount while ensuring construction shall proceed with few to no delays shall be chosen. Once completed, the factories shall remain under the control of the Imperium, as the other two in the Imperium are. Managers will be up to Imperial choice, subject to performance evaluations, and workers will be primarily sourced and trained locally.

[center][u]End Act[/u][/center]
It would be perhaps one of the most expensive acts in Imperial history, easily putting it into debt, but one that was desperately needed if the Imperium was to truly hope to reach the heights of greatness that it clutched for. In order to pay for the expansion, the Imperium would undoubtedly end up borrowing the lowest interest rate currency it could find, possibly from Imperial banks.

[b][u]Colonial Feelers[/u][/b]

With the claiming of the Kyio, Mado, Calipher, and Setu Islands as Imperial soil, the Imperium stood poised to grow into a colonial power. Although that colonialism did not currently rival either Tara or Violette, all empires had to start somewhere. First, however, the Emperor was most concerned about the exact expense of colonizing the islands and the worth of doing so since it seemed the people themselves would not do it without monetary motivation.

Because of this, a series of Hironese explorers, cartographers, and experts skilled in recognizing resources as well as experts knowledgeable about building colonies received Imperial letters asking them to assemble in Senryu. Once assembled, they would be divided into four groups, given ships to sail to the each of their assigned islands, weapons to defend themselves, all supplies necessary to survive for months, and a naval escort of a destroyer each in order to assure their safe passage. Their missions were simple: scout and map the islands, determine the resources and peoples present, and determine the cost of officially colonizing each one, while ideally not dying in the process. Upon their return, those that survive and succeed would be well compensated for their efforts. Those that perish would have their families or heirs compensated for the loss.

[b][u]The Marines; For Corps and Country[/u][/b]

The establishment of the first autonomous Marine branch of any military in the world is something the Hironese would come to take pride in, with Marines themselves taking even greater pride. The initial ceremony of the inception of the Imperial Marine Corps on November 19th, 1900 was a somber one, a ceremony that had little clue as to the future valor that the Marines would accrue. There, the first Commandant of the Marine Corps, Takada Setotsu, was commissioned, giving the following speech in front of the first 15,000 men selected to begin Marine Basic Training as well as onlookers,

"My brothers and sisters of the Imperium, I am incredibly gracious to be selected as the first Commandant of the Marine Corps. Under my leadership as well as that of my inferiors, we are going to institute the creation of a Corps unlike any other witnessed in the world. It shall be capable of storming any beach on the planet, scaling any cliff, incinerating any enemy that dares to threaten the Imperium and its People. It shall be composed purely of the best, the fastest, the strongest, and even the brightest. It shall be as a family of brothers, men fighting shoulder to shoulder, safe in the knowledge that they shall either prevail or die until those that follow prevail in the end. From this moment on, every man that joins the Corps is absolutely my brother, and in my brothers I have the utmost of confidence. May the Marine Corps forever protect our shores and tear asunder those that threaten them. For Corps and Country!"

Among the crowd was a young man who would later go on to become one of those preeminent Marines, Matsuo Shirobi. During the middle of basic training, the following letter would later be sent to his family and eventually preserved by them,

"I have not known a more grueling time in all of my life. Even the Army Basic Training and two years that I've already served for them does not begin to compare. Every day, we exercise, we train, we eat together using one another for back support. We do pushups with our legs on our brothers' shoulders, forming a kind of human tree with dozens of hands on the ground and only one set of feet. There is marksmanship practice, swimming, learning to dive, float. Knife and bayonet combat. Martial arts. Maintaining information security. Days ago we climbed the side of a damn mountain with not but a rope, hammers, camalots, and the strength of our brothers. My body was already a well-honed piece of machinery before, but now, it is become as unlike I have ever seen it. The same goes for my brothers. Some of them were not the most muscular of men, but now, I swear we could all wrestle a bull to the ground.

"I miss all of you greatly, I do, but there is uncanny sense of thrill in this training. Being challenged and pushed and succeeding is an incredible feeling, and the amount of solace I take in my brothers after a hard day makes things so much easier. Even my blood relative brothers are further from me than them, and that is surprising. All the same, I look forward to the day I can hold all of you in my arms and you can look at me with light in your eyes, thinking to yourself how I've changed and how, 'He's a Marine'"

The Corps and Commandant Takada would later go on to recognize Satsuke Nato as the official Honorary First Commandant of the Marine Corps, presenting the honor to his crying family, proud to have him posthumously recognized for finally achieving his dream.

[b][u]Ryugo Shuu, The Youngest Dragon Emperor[/u][/b]

The Imperial Family had sadly been almost entirely relegated to one man, Ryugo Shuu. Having had no brothers due to bad luck and lack of interest in sex by his mother, the rather early demise of his father, Ryugo Hitoro, at the age of 47 resulted in the thrusting of Shuu onto the throne at the age of 15, just barely considered old enough to rule without temporarily transferring power to a councilor. His two sisters, Ryugo Mari and Ryugo Seshou, were simply too young to be present on the world stage at 13 and 14.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/tktWnxL.jpg[/img]
[i]Ryugo Shuu in his early twenties, wearing the characteristically militaristic royal regalia of the Imperium.[/i][/center]
Ryugo Shuu was a surprisingly forward-thinking young man and Dragon Emperor who always sought above all to advance the aims of the Imperium and its People, even at the cost of foreign powers. It was his opinion that the Imperium needed to be recognized by the world as a leading military and economic power, and he would do almost anything to ensure that happened.

Taught at an early age all of the sciences, as well as exposed to politics, Ryugo Shuu was also somewhat of a controversial man. Behind closed doors, he was known to be highly aggressive towards the enemies of the Imperium since they couldn't hear, prone to 'vulgar' language. In his mind, however, they were all sheep that needed to be either herded or slaughtered by the wolves that were the Imperium. Anyone who wasn't useful was to be discarded.

This personality was evident even in his youth, when he displayed conniving tendencies when playing with other children, tricking them out of candy and treats or rallying them to fake causes. His father encouraged this behavior but was also quick to temper it, reminding him to remember that the other children were also Hironese and therefore deserving of respect. The Continentals, however, would receive no such respect except that earned by demonstration of power.

Respect was also garnered in Shuu's mind by the demonstration of knowledge such as that by scholars, revealing why he had opened the borders for perhaps the first time in centuries, purely to outside scholars and skilled workers. Technology was the path forward for the Imperium, and he who fought hardest, longest, and with the best weapons and training would come out on top.

[hider=Summary]The Imperium of Hiron enacts the 1900 Industry of the Imperium Act, an ambitious project that seeks to effectively triple the economic capacity of the Imperium. The Act's secondary objectives are to provide well-paying jobs to the impoverished of the Imperium and to uplift the general economy through the pouring of government money into it.

The Imperium assembles a group of men well-suited to exploring, mapping, and determining the resource diversity and populations of the newly claimed islands as well as the expense of colonizing them. They will each be sent to an assigned island, expected to take a number of months to complete their survey.

Takada Setotsu is commissioned as the first Commandant of the Marine Corps, and soon Satsuke Nato is posthumously given the title Honorary First Commandant of the Marine Corps. A letter from one of the Marines in Marine Basic Training is displayed.

Dragon Emperor Ryugo Shuu is written about finally, his sisters Ryugo Mari and Ryugo Seshou mentioned as well.[/hider]