Eastern plutocracy is the exact same government as the old "Plutocracy" reform, available to East African, Indian, Muslim, and Chinese tech groups. It was just renamed.
Yes, it uses Merchant Republic mechanics; however, due to barbaric reasons, subject states can't make trade leagues or trade cities, making the unique mechanics unusable to any tributaries.
Still can't believe that it's been several years since MoH and there are still numerous instances of "independent subject states" not really being independent.