GHalfrunt
Just zis guy, you know?
The new Rapanui government quickly saw itself stuck in the same budgetary position as their predecessors. With the assistance of Incan economists, business boomed, but the taxes collected on the internal trade networks were not enough to offset the gigantic costs of running the Empire, especially in its ever-desperate attempt to catch up to the technology of the East...
...and colonize any land available.
The new, relatively more inviting regime spread the doctrine of "Pan-Polynesianism" to encourage other peoples of the Pacific to join them. The small kingdom of Fiji and its tributaries, various non-Polynesian peoples collectively called the "Kanakas", showed interest in voluntarily joining the new Rapanui state, but did not agree to the condition of abolishing vassalage.
Just as the spread of Constitutionalism and Nationalism had caused the Rapanui revolutions a few years earlier, the spread of Liberalism and Democracy caused revolutions across the Eastern World, starting in 1718. By 1724, most of the major powers of the world had abolished their old orders and transitioned to popularly-elected governments with strong labor rights.
This led to trouble in the Empire. As knowledge of this system spread, so did protests amongst the Lower Castes, who demanded their right to vote. The government used this as "proof" that they were violent and unfit to rule themselves (conveniently ignoring that many of their own number had been involved in far more violent demonstrations 20 years earlier). In Hanga Roa especially, the Emancipation protests were amplified by dissent against the recently-instituted draft, which was being used to hastily raise an Expeditionary Force... The independent kingdom of Hattusas was nearby, hostile, and poorly-defended. The Rapanui Congress desperately desired to expand further into South America. The King was apprehensive but was eventually persuaded that the war would end quickly...
In a sense they were right... The invasion was a horrible failure. Three quarters of the shoddy Expeditionary Force, a mixture of hastily-trained draftees and city garrisons not used to offensive warfare, was slaughtered. [screenshot too glitchy to post] After this misadventure and another round of massive research cuts to keep up with maintaining the government, rumors of a coming collapse of the Rapanui Empire spread like wildfire...
Spoiler :
...and colonize any land available.
Spoiler :
The new, relatively more inviting regime spread the doctrine of "Pan-Polynesianism" to encourage other peoples of the Pacific to join them. The small kingdom of Fiji and its tributaries, various non-Polynesian peoples collectively called the "Kanakas", showed interest in voluntarily joining the new Rapanui state, but did not agree to the condition of abolishing vassalage.
Spoiler :
Just as the spread of Constitutionalism and Nationalism had caused the Rapanui revolutions a few years earlier, the spread of Liberalism and Democracy caused revolutions across the Eastern World, starting in 1718. By 1724, most of the major powers of the world had abolished their old orders and transitioned to popularly-elected governments with strong labor rights.
Spoiler :
This led to trouble in the Empire. As knowledge of this system spread, so did protests amongst the Lower Castes, who demanded their right to vote. The government used this as "proof" that they were violent and unfit to rule themselves (conveniently ignoring that many of their own number had been involved in far more violent demonstrations 20 years earlier). In Hanga Roa especially, the Emancipation protests were amplified by dissent against the recently-instituted draft, which was being used to hastily raise an Expeditionary Force... The independent kingdom of Hattusas was nearby, hostile, and poorly-defended. The Rapanui Congress desperately desired to expand further into South America. The King was apprehensive but was eventually persuaded that the war would end quickly...
Spoiler :
In a sense they were right... The invasion was a horrible failure. Three quarters of the shoddy Expeditionary Force, a mixture of hastily-trained draftees and city garrisons not used to offensive warfare, was slaughtered. [screenshot too glitchy to post] After this misadventure and another round of massive research cuts to keep up with maintaining the government, rumors of a coming collapse of the Rapanui Empire spread like wildfire...
holocaust. 'Course that would have been awfully anachronistic at your point in the game, anyhow. Since you say tedium was a factor, too, thanks for sticking with the story as long as you did.
You are a GREEK? Never noticed that before 
