>>96824072
Hokkaido Unrest - In 1879, Mount Usu, once thought to be a long-extinct volcano on the southern neck of the island of Hokkaido, began to roar with life. The villages most proximate to the base of the mountain were quickly vacated of life. Survivors would eventually escape to the mainland and report the unthinkable; the great masked legions of New Mu, rising up from their domains in Pangea and Mnemosynia. Spears in hand, and magicks on the wind, Muic forces rounded up native Ainu and Japanese colonists all the same, drove them in herds towards the mouth of the volcanic mountain, and bade them march downwards, into whatever senselessly brutal captivity would please their arcane masters. By 1881, it became apparent to the Japanese government that some measure of intervention had to be launched. Their prior experiences with Taiwan in 1874 demonstrated the effectiveness of their fleet and their army in joint operations. Now would be the true test, against an enemy from within the earth. A bloody and ferocious campaign would thus be fought across the breadth of Hokkaido, the liberation of each Japanese possession revealing more of the Mu’s tendencies. By the spring of 1883, forces of the 3rd and 5th Marine Brigades, or Rikusentai, working in concert with the Japanese fleet, had bottled up the Muic forces around the foreboding silhouette of Mount Usu. There, a deadly stalemate had been created. No authorization to push forward from the Emperor had been provided. No Muic sallies from the mountain have been sighted. What manner of detente have the Japanese fallen into?