The Splintering of Jiuzhou: A Complete History of an Alternate World

In 440 AD, the Central Plains entered an era of division and reconstruction that would last a thousand years. The Great Luo Dynasty rose first, conquering the three states of Qi, Chuan, and Wu to establish its foothold in the north. Meanwhile, the Zangbo Empire dominated the southwest for more than six hundred years. On the grasslands, the Northern and Southern Xiongnu stood side by side, while the Tatak Kingdom somehow endured for a thousand years.

The conflicts among the states grew ever fiercer. The Great Xuan replaced the Great Luo, the state of Zheng rose in Taiwan, the Great Han swept across the Central Plains, and the Great Qian established an enormous system of vassal states. On the East Asian stage, Silla, Balhae, and Goryeo took turns in the spotlight. On the Japanese islands, regimes such as Feilong, Xia, Shuangdao, and Kamakura arose and overlapped. In Southeast Asia, Tianshun, Anshun, and Wu successively expanded their territories.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the Jin rose in the Outer Northeast, while the Yita Khanate and Sultan Khanate divided up West Asia and India. The Shen Dynasty shone briefly, and the Ai Dynasty vanished in a flash. The state of Wu still endures in the Mekong River basin.

This is an epic without a protagonist. Nearly 140 dynasties and regimes, and more than 200 rulers, appear in turn over almost 1,400 years, as war and peace, conquest and collapse intertwine in a sweeping alternate-history panorama.