Korea

Korea is a kingdom in East Asia constituting the entire Korean Peninsula as well as significant territory in Manchuria. Korea is bordered in the north by the Manchurian Republic and the Caliphate of Russia, to the south by the Chinese Empire, with a maritime border with Japan across the Sea of Japan/Eastern Sea.

Korea was conquered by a confederation of steppe tribes following the catastrophic rise of the Neo-Heilong Empire around 400 AD, with the primary components being the Nestorian Christian Naimans and their fellow Christianized Mongolic people, the Black Khitans. The Naimans united Korea in 442 AD under the semi-legendary Mongolian warlord Jargalsaikhan (Korean:乃蠻幸美 Naeman Haeng-Mi), where they introduced Christianity to the entirety of the peninsula and Manchuria and began to transition away from Chinese language and administration, instead utilizing a modifed and ritualized form of Mongolian, written in a new script developed from the Tibetan Script, called the Square Script (Mongolian: dörbelǰin üsüg ). The Naimans established a dynasty of their own with the succession of Jargalsaikhan's son Temürbataar (乃蠻鐵杰 Naeman Cheol-Geol) in 476 AD. Temurbataar was a significant patron of Nestorian Christianity in Korea, founding the first Christian monastery in the country in Pyongyang. Likewise, Temurbataar granted full protections to minority religions under his rule, granting the right for established Buddhist monasteries to continue functioning, as well as tolerating the existence of ancestor shrines and shamans.

In 507 AD, Christianity had come to gain a significant foothold in Korea. In 518, Temurbataar's son Muunokhoi (憤狗 Bun-Gu), began to patronize Korea culture over Mongolian culture, introducing customs of the locals to his court, and even patronizing some Buddhists along with Christians. Munnokhoi ordered the adaptation of the Square Script to write the Korean Language in 520, and the cessation of Chinese characters in official documents. Christianity had begun to take on strongly Korean Characteristics, with the Aramaic Language completely disappearing from Korea by this time, being replaced with Korean entirely. In 532, Munnokhoi commissioned the translation of Christian texts into Chinese for use in missions to China and across the Sea to Japan. The first Christian missionaries arrived in Japan in 537 AD and in China in 539 AD.

In 546, the Legendary Christian theologian and philosopher Sung Markwe-Yo received patronage by Munnokhoi to begin writing commentaries on the Bible and to engage in discourses on ethics and rulership. Sung worked out of the Monastery in Hanseong, later moving to the monastery in Sariwon during his later years. His first book of discourses came in 552, and was well received by those who read it, with Muunokhoi continuing his patronage of Sung. At this same time, a well known Buddhist writer, Chung Han-Yu, began to write a rebuttal to Sung's works, inspiring a new genre of Buddhist apologetics in opposition to the Naiman's officially sanctioned religion of Christianity.

In 578, Muunokhoi was succeeded by his brother Markörgis, who reigned a short 6 years before being replaced by his son Nikhola in 584, who was better known to his subjects by his Korean name Naeman Nikola-Hyun (ꡋꡫꡏꡋꡭ ꡝꡋꡭꡊꡡꡋꡭ ꡜꡭꡟꡋꡭ), who fully embraced the Korean culture, transferring administration from Mongolian to Korean language, and removing what little vestiges of Mongolian culture persisted in the peninsula. Nikola did, however, retain the title of Khan, simply koreanizing it into the new title of Kan. Nikola negotiated terms of alliance with Japan in 620 AD. However, the remainder of his reign was rather uneventful, as was that of his successor, Markwe II. However, their successor, Kan Anton-Yo, lead several incursions against the Jurchens to the North, conquering massive amounts of Land, and by 820 AD, the Khanate was at the height of its territorial expansion. In 847, handwritten forms of the Square Script had begun to diverge significantly, with a new script appearing in Korean Monastaries and Official Documents, called Hangeul. The Script was recognized under Kan Yak'o, and given official status under Kan Mikael II in 922.

In 1107, the Last of the Vampire remnants in Asia attacked China, as well as nearby peoples like the Jurchens and the Koreans. Much of the Manchurian territory that was conquered by Anton-Yo was lost, with the Koreans being pushed back to the Amur River. Shortly after, the Ming Dynasty sought to conquer Korea, and launched a full invasion of the Khanate in 1212. Korea became one of the hot-spots for Christian refugees from China looking to escape the Ming's policy of "cleansing un-chinese ideas from China".

In 1287, the final ruler to use the title of Kan died, with his brother, Yok'an III, using the title of Wang (King).

In 1545, Portuguese explorers made contact with the Kingdom of Korea and the Oda Shogunate. Though the Portuguese were allowed to establish missions in Korea under Yok'an V, Catholicism never caught on significantly in Korea, and by the mid-1600s, the Koreans ordered all foreign missions to be shut down or converted into trade posts.

By the 1670s, the ideas of the Protestant Reformation had reached Korea by way of Dutch traders, inspiring the movement that would become known as Korean Reformed Christianity. The Naimans saw this movement as subversive and European in nature and sought to suppress it. In 1721, the Wars of Reformatoin broke out in Korea, with the Korean Kingdom eventually becoming victorious in 1728.

Korea did maintain a strong, open relationship with Europe, becoming identified with the "Kingdom of Prester John" by way of the legends of a hidden Christian kingdom in the far east. Korea entered into a military alliance with France in 1798, and fought alongside the Entante in the Great War. The Kingdom remained one of the few countries to never have been colonized by a European Power in Asia in any capacity.

In 1985, Korea joined the League of Nations as a founding member, one of only two Asian nations to do so (the other being Shan China).