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Description
The Europeans had always been aiming to get to China and Japan when they traveled in search of the Orient, and by the time they got there, they weren't disappointed to see that the same riches they had hoped for were still there. But for the more adventurous, they caught wind of another place further north, something known to its inhabitants as "Aynu Mosir", a place of hairy people who worshiped bears and who violently resisted any efforts by outsiders to dominate their lands. By the time this filtered back to Europe, that had changed to it being a place inhabited by literal bear people, among many other stories such as the giant men of Patagonia or the black Amazons of the island of California.

Eventually, though, the European explorers saw fit to actually try and find this place, and it turned out the rumors hadn't been wrong, the Ainu people were both quite hirsute and incredibly aggressive toward outsiders. The first explorer to try and contact them, a Portuguese man named Ambrósio Ávila, was massacred along with his entire crew near Esaushi. This led to a punitive expedition led by Eduardo Pinho, who was similarly killed along with his entire crew. The third expedition, however, managed to convince the locals that they came in peace, and were allowed to set foot in Ainu lands. From there, the Europeans came to learn of this new people and their history.

The Ainu had lived on the island of Ezo for 10,000 years before the Japanese came by their own legends, but had long been divided. It was under the leadership of a man named Koshamain that the old clans had been brought together into a council for the mutual defense of their lands, founding a form of government the Europeans labeled as a "republic" for lack of a better term. This council once solely governed the lands of Menasun'kur to the south, but over a century soon grew and absorbed all the people of Ezo. When the Ashikaga Shogunate collapsed into a near-endless period of civil war, the council soon took it upon itself to reclaim the lands now called Horepasiunkur from the Japanese settlers. From there, the council would also expand through the islands to the north and to the east, effectively controlling all the Ainu people in a land known simply as "Aynu Mosir", which in their language meant "The Domain of Humanity".

At first the Europeans viewed the Ainu as an extension of the Japanese, given lack of proper information and baseless rumors. Over time, though, Aynu Mosir and Japan soon came to be seen as distinct entities, with characters and peoples of their own. With Ainu Mosir being seen as poor and backwards relative to the rich and productive lands of Japan, the Ainu were thus left by the Europeans to their own devices just as they had always wanted to, with only small missions bringing back local curios and stories from those adventurers who could afford to make the distance. A small corner of a vast stage, all their own and no one else's.

Description
The Europeans had always been aiming to get to China and Japan when they traveled in search of the Orient, and by the time they got there, they weren't disappointed to see that the same riches they had hoped for were still there. But for the more adventurous, they caught wind of another place further north, something known to its inhabitants as "Aynu Mosir", a place of hairy people who worshiped bears and who violently resisted any efforts by outsiders to dominate their lands. By the time this filtered back to Europe, that had changed to it being a place inhabited by literal bear people, among many other stories such as the giant men of Patagonia or the black Amazons of the island of California.

Eventually, though, the European explorers saw fit to actually try and find this place, and it turned out the rumors hadn't been wrong, the Ainu people were both quite hirsute and incredibly aggressive toward outsiders. The first explorer to try and contact them, a Portuguese man named Ambrósio Ávila, was massacred along with his entire crew near Esaushi. This led to a punitive expedition led by Eduardo Pinho, who was similarly killed along with his entire crew. The third expedition, however, managed to convince the locals that they came in peace, and were allowed to set foot in Ainu lands. From there, the Europeans came to learn of this new people and their history.

The Ainu had lived on the island of Ezo for 10,000 years before the Japanese came by their own legends, but had long been divided. It was under the leadership of a man named Koshamain that the old clans had been brought together into a council for the mutual defense of their lands, founding a form of government the Europeans labeled as a "republic" for lack of a better term. This council once solely governed the lands of Menasun'kur to the south, but over a century soon grew and absorbed all the people of Ezo. When the Ashikaga Shogunate collapsed into a near-endless period of civil war, the council soon took it upon itself to reclaim the lands now called Horepasiunkur from the Japanese settlers. From there, the council would also expand through the islands to the north and to the east, effectively controlling all the Ainu people in a land known simply as "Aynu Mosir", which in their language meant "The Domain of Humanity".

At first the Europeans viewed the Ainu as an extension of the Japanese, given lack of proper information and baseless rumors. Over time, though, Aynu Mosir and Japan soon came to be seen as distinct entities, with characters and peoples of their own. With Ainu Mosir being seen as poor and backwards relative to the rich and productive lands of Japan, the Ainu were thus left by the Europeans to their own devices just as they had always wanted to, with only small missions bringing back local curios and stories from those adventurers who could afford to make the distance. A small corner of a vast stage, all their own and no one else's.