Republic of Lisenia
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Author:  Kilomuse [ October 30th, 2012, 7:53 am ]
Post subject:  Republic of Lisenia

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The Republic of Lisenia (República de Lisenia) is an island nation located in East Asia. An archipelago of over 3,000 islands, it is located in the northeastern part of the Philippine Sea. To the north, lie the Ryukus and Japan. Across the west and past the Luzon straight, Taiwan and China. To the immediate east, the Mariana Islands and the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Lisenia is a constitutional republic with a long and proud history of democratic government. The country is a federation of 10 provinces and two autonomous regions. As a Spanish colony for over 250 years, Lisenia is the only Spanish-speaking country in Asia, and retains obvious and important cultural links with Ibero-American world. From its conquest and settlement by the Spanish empire in the 16th century and the eventual independence from Spain in 1824, Lisenia has developed into a regional power with a large population, vibrant economy and stable government. Lisenia was a founding member of the United Nations and Organization of Ibero-American States, a special member of SEATO until 1977, and a current APEC and ASEAN Plus Four member. Its military has participated in several conflicts worldwide throughout the 20th century, and enjoys an especially close relationship with the United States, Japan and the Philippines.

Index and Timeline
Part 1: Discovery, conquest, and settlement (1521-1800)
Part 2: ¡Revolución! War with Spain and forging of a new nation (1800-1850)
Part 3: Growing pains, civil war and industrialization (1850-1875)
Part 4: Forging a more modern navy (1875-1890)
Part 5: Hard learned lessons and war between neighbors (1890-1895)
Part 6: Caught between empires: Spain, America and the Philippines (1895-1900)
Part 7: Prosperity at home and trouble abroad (1900-1910)
Part 8: Lisenia and World War I (1910-1920)

Ship Index

Battleships and capital ships
Rio Negro class coastal defense ship (1882)
San Ignacio class coastal defense ship (1890)
Independencia class battleship (1915) - B-side

San Lorenzo class unprotected cruiser (1888)
Estoque class scout cruiser (1892)
Tigre class protected cruiser (1895)
De Leon class armored cruiser (1899)
Victoria class protected cruiser (1903) - In WWI service
Coronado class scout cruiser (1908) - B-side
Hercules class armored cruiser (1911)

Sevillana class destroyer (1905)
Ferro class destroyer (1908) - B-side
Aguila class destroyer (1910) - B-side

Smaller combatants
Martillo class river monitor (1900)


The first recorded sightings of the Lisenian archipelago by Europeans took place in the early 16th century aboard Portuguese trade vessels. The forbidding islands lay unclaimed and undisturbed until their discovery in the 1521 by Magellan's carracks. Lacking the manpower to even contemplate a brief stop following the death of Magellan at Mactan, the carrack Victoria returns to Spanish court in 1522 with news of vast new lands ripe for the taking. Following news of Legazpi's successful campaign in the newly claimed Philippines in 1565, Philip II orders a new expedition led by the grizzled veteran Juan de Salcedo, hero of the ferocious war against Chinese pirates, to the Lisenian islands in 1575. With 600 battle-hardened men at his disposal and aided by native Ize scouts, he defeats a large force of Bahi warriors, and Salcedo forces their prince to surrender the southern third of the islands to Spain. Delighted with his new exotic realm, Philip appoints Salcedo as Governor General of the new colony, now named Nueva Galicia.

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Governor-General of Nueva Galicia and hero of Manila, Juan de Salcedo.

As an important part of the Spanish East Indies, Nueva Galicia thrived as the Spanish galleons arrived to the Philippines. Local goods joined other Asian exports on their way to Mexican shores and from there made their way to Europe. The booming trade encouraged growth, as the local European population steadily increased and as the Spanish army slowly began the conquest of the entire archipelago in earnest. War threatened the prosperity of the colonies at the turn of the century, when the Dutch-Portuguese War broke out in 1602. The rampaging Dutch forces attacked Portuguese and Spanish colonial holdings in Asia in 1646, with an ambitious attack against the Spanish stronghold in Manila and diversionary attacks against Nueva Galicia. Despite making a successful landing on the western coast of the colony and seizing the off-shore Perlas islands, the Dutch squadron sent to capture Manila is surprisingly defeated in a series of naval actions off the Philippines, and retire from the area, leaving behind a token garrison at Las Perlas. After one last abortive attempt against the strategic port of Cavite in 1647, the Dutch vessels cease to be an immediate threat to the safety of the colonies. The end of hostilities in 1648 meant that the Spanish East Indies could return to their trade and the endless task of subduing native rebellions.

Peace and Spanish control of the islands remained uncontested for the next hundred years, until another European conflict brought misery and destruction once again to the area. The Seven Years' War which enveloped most of Europe and large parts of the world spilled into the East Indies in 1761 when the Family Compact was signed between Spain and France. As a result, the British attacked Spanish colonies worldwide, and a strong force of 6,000 British regulars invaded and captured Manila. The disastrous Spanish defense of the capital was compounded when British ships bombarded Nueva Galicia and British soldiers ransacked most of the capital with widespread looting and mayhem, burning down the governor's palace, customs house, the town arsenal and port. The Spanish response in the Philippines under Lieut.-Gov. Simón de Anda y Salazar mustered together 10,000 men to push back against the British and hold them in Manila until the end of the war, but no relief expedition was sent to Nueva Galicia, to the extreme discontent of the population. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 brought forth the end of the war and saw the British leave the Philippines and the Lisenian islands and Spanish control restored yet again the following year. However, Spanish crown's control over Nueva Galicia and its profitable trade would would once more be seriously challenged in the early 1800s, when a new, rapidly evolving threat made its unsettling presence felt throughout the Spanish empire: revolution.

Author:  Kilomuse [ October 30th, 2012, 8:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

Ships coming soon. In my typical disorganized fashion, I've got about 75% of the navy from 1920 to 1950 and a lot of FD scale stuff done and a decent history up until 1945, but I am in the process of re-doing the early ships. They were my first SB drawings and as such, they're pretty terrible but the new and improved versions will be out of dry dock soon.

Author:  bezobrazov [ October 30th, 2012, 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

Very interesting and thorough history line, though, having studied naval warfare and -history of the 17 th c. I find it both surprising and slightly implausible that the Dutch coud be defeated " surprisingly and decisively". However, your description of the events during the 3rd Carnatic War (Seven Years' War) is solid and very believable!

Author:  Kilomuse [ October 30th, 2012, 11:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

The events I'm referring to are the battles off Manila in March-October 1646 and 1647 when superior Dutch naval forces were beat back repeatedly and forced to abandon an invasion of the city by the outnumbered locals. Granted, I'm going off of wiki and what little I can scrounge up on Google Books, so I'll research it a bit further and add more details.

Author:  Kilomuse [ November 6th, 2012, 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia


By the early 1810s, the colony had become a good source of income for the Spanish crown. With the introduction of profitable cash crops, the Lisenian economy supplemented the galleon trade well, and made the great natural harbor of Solís one of the most important in Asia. The development of the port was a great boon to the local economy, making the city around it expand rapidly, and the need to service the many visiting ships led the governor general to encourage the building of repair facilities.

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The busy port city of Solís, birthplace of the Lisenian navy and future national capital.

As Napoleon swept through Europe and the Peninsular War weakened Spanish control over many parts of the crown's realm, a half-hearted rebellion by local patrones in 1813 sparked into violence in San Cristóbal after the death of rioters. The unrest leading to the revolt had been fomenting for over a decade, as relations between the Spanish-appointed peninsular officials and the local-born elite continued to deteriorate over the ever increasing tax burden to support Spanish wars, and resentment over the prohibition with trade outside of Spain. When the revolt threatened to spiral out of control, the governor general in Manila ordered soldiers to crack down on the rebels. Despite the violence, the population of the islands continued to grow at a steady pace, with increasing numbers of mestizos and immigrants.

The lingering discontent with the irresponsible administration of the colony by the crown, and the prohibition on trading with nations other than Spain only became worse after the events of 1817, following the outbreak of revolutions in Latin America and Mexico. Governor General Juan Jose López de León, an ambitious and popular official, and island born, musters support for independence and taking advantage of Spain's weakened position, and declares it in 1823. A few days after the declaration, the first Lisenian navy is created, with three seized Spanish ships manned by volunteers. The crown orders whatever forces could be spared in the Philippines, under the command of Gov. Gen. Juan Antonio Martínez to re-establish royal authority in the face of rebellion. News and orders take their time to reach Manila, by which time the rebels in Nueva Galicia have mustered a sizable militia, composed of both locals and allied tribes, and armed with looted weapons from the arsenals.

Martínez sets out with a strong force of regulars and a flotilla, but his force is battered by typhoon winds near the treacherous waters of Punta Indio, and Martinez dies of exposure. The surviving ships make landfall on the main islands on 19 August 1824. De León's forces engaged the beleaguered royalists at the Battle of Bahía Roja. Despite being outnumbered and having lost most of their artillery at sea, royalist forces put up ferocious resistance, fighting until exhausting their ammunition, and with no hope for relief, Martínez's brother-in-law and second in command surrendered to De León. A second Spanish attempt is only slightly more successful, and wrests back control of three southern towns but falters when it becomes clear that no reinforcements would follow. By this time, the once extremely lucrative galleon trade was long gone, and Spain's coffers were hurting badly.

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The valiant last stand of the Spanish regulars, Battle of Bahía Roja.

By 1825, news of successful revolts in Latin America reach Nueva Galicia, and De León's forces are emboldened. The Battle of Ayacucho in Peru delivers the final lethal blow against Spanish rule in Latin America, and the important loss of the colonial hierarchy in Mexico and the distances involved between the islands and the center of Spanish power meant that retaking the islands would be impossible. The Spanish crown retreated its forces into the Philippines to defend its bastion at Manila, and plans for a new effort against the now independent Lisenian Confederation were put to rest indefinitely by the First Carlist War in 1833, when the ceasefire would be signed into a permanent peace in Manila.

De León's successful junta presides over the new Confederación Oriental de Lisenia. Eager to restore the wealthy trade of years past, the new government dispatches the navy's biggest ship, the ex-Spanish frigate Audaz to establish relations with foreign countries. From 1825 on, the frigate will make many trips to Latin America, the United States and Japan seeking friends and trade partners.

De León dies in September 1830, and a power struggle to fill his void occurs. Initially, another junta, led by De León's son-in-law Domingo López, in 1831 takes power. The Confederation will be short lived however, when the opposition parties, with popular support from the large mestizo population, force the junta to agreement towards a national convention. The provisional government is forced to draft a constitution, but progress is slow and the crisis lasts for the better part of the year, until interrupted by the Yellow fever epidemic of 1833, which devastates the countryside, putting a huge strain on the economy and killing scores. A new constitution is approved and passed on April 19th of the following tear. New government is decreed, establishing a national bicameral congress, a presidential office, and the country's is christened as a republic. Elections are held, Domingo López surprisingly taking the vote for the country's first presidency. April 19th becomes the Día de la República, the national holiday.

Under Lopez's presidency, the young republic struggles to move out of the damage left by the epidemic and economic troubles. Contacts with Europe help to spurn trade and recover the country's exports. Agricultural modernization is made the greatest priority, and handsome sums are paid to foreign experts to improve agriculture int he country. French help in the 1850s develops the ports, which begin to see the first trickles of European and Latin American immigration.

The acrimonious process of forced assimilation of the remaining indigenous groups continues, which by the 1842 had degenerated into open conflict. This Conquest of the Jungle, as it became known, saw the government struggling to expand its control into the northern reaches of the archipelago. Lending a hand to the army, the navy sees its first taste of real combat, using its elderly sloops and frigate to bombard native forces and transport soldiers. With the aim of providing the navy with trained officers, the naval war college was established in Solís in 1838. Needing to replace the rotting ex-Spanish ships, Congress authorized the purchase of three new French-built steam warships. The Constitución class corvettes, built in Toulon, became the first vessels of the new federal navy.

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Once I get the hang of making sails and rigging look acceptable, I'll try to improve the early ships.

Author:  Raxar [ November 6th, 2012, 9:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

Wow! That looks great!

Author:  Colosseum [ November 6th, 2012, 9:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia


Author:  denodon [ November 6th, 2012, 11:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

Very nicely drawn steam frigate. Looks like you got the hang of the rigging too which is good. Keep in mind that ou don't want to show all the riggi g on an image like this otherwise it would get too cluttered; just show the essential ones.

Author:  Redhorse [ November 7th, 2012, 1:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

Good choice using two colors to show the difference between standing and running rigging, too. That helped me get some contrast when I was drawing sailing ships for the Republic of Texas.

Author:  Trojan [ November 7th, 2012, 3:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Republic of Lisenia

This looks like it is shaping up to be one of the better AU's based on the background info alone. Very realistic in my opinion. Very interested to see what happens in WW2, though I think I can guess at least somewhat what will happen

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