Zellonian Navy Expands

Two new drydocks in Vorl were finished, allowing the construction of new warships. One such warship that was completed, laid down in 1899 was the ZRN Viper, a Crown-class armored cruiser.



The Crown-class cruiser was a class of five armoured cruisers built for the Zellonian Royal Navy around 1900. Their design's incorporation of a pair of 9.2-inch guns and armoured sides served to address criticism directed against the previous King class — advances made possible by their 1,000 ton increase in displacement over their predecessors. The ships were notably stable, except for a susceptibility to pitching. By August 1900, the Crown-class was still a relatively formal armored cruiser capable of standing it's own against Osladian and Veletian contemporaries. The Zellonian Royal Navy, expanding already in the fallout of the Zellonian-Osladian War was a move of uncertainty for many.

Violette Mobilizes for War

Violette had been the major power on the Continent for most of the 17th and 18th century: Jacques IV, in the seventeenth century, and Clement I in the nineteenth, had extended Veletian power over most of the Continent through deception and economic prowess. The Treaty of Eisenstadt in 1833 confirmed Violette as a Continental power broker. By the early 1870s, Kalpian President Malcolm Gutermuth started a system of alliances designed to assert Kalpian dominance over neighboring states such as Soreno, Karum and Kuralov. Gutermuth's diplomatic maneuvering, and Violettes's maladroit response to such crises as the d'Or Dispute and the Assassination of Sorenan Prime Minister Hans Lurg in 1869 led to a near Veletian declaration of war in 1869.

After 1870, the Continental powers began gaining settlements in Serranthia, with colonialism on that continent hitting its peak between 1895 and 1900. While the Empire of Tara and the Empire of Violette quickly aspired to become the colonial masters over the Serranthian continent, Kalpian and Osladian influence remained predominantly on the Continent.



In common with most other Continental powers, the Veletian Army was organized on the basis of universal conscription. Each year, the "class" of men turning twenty-one in the upcoming year would be inducted into the Veletian Army and spend three years in active service. After leaving active service they would progress through various stages of reserves, each of which involved a lower degree of commitment.

• Active Army (20–23)
• Reserve of the Active Army (24–34)
• Territorial Army (35–41)
• Reserve of the Territorial Army (42–48)

At the apex of the Veletian Army was the General Staff, since 1897 under the leadership of General Hebert Féret. The General Staff was responsible for drawing up the plan for mobilization against Tyria-Redania, known as Plan Blanc. Using the road network, the Army would be shifted from their peacetime garrisons throughout Violette to the Southwestern border with Tyria-Redania.

The order for mobilisation was given on 14 August, the same day that Tyria-Redania declared war on Itherae. Spirits within the Veletian Gendarmerie were high, with Empress Tsirine penning a personal letter to the soldiers that read "The only soldier to ever truly taste defeat was one that fought against Violette." Violette, unlike the other Continental nations, was maintained almost entirely by roadways, having only just started construction on a rail system in Northern Violette. Thus, while Tyrians and Itheraens rode requisitioned locomotives to the front, the Veletians simply walked.


The 1st and 3rd Auxiliare, under General Fabien Affré and General Léo Asselineau were ordered into the Gabrelle mountains, an affair more logistical than military. Sure footed roads and waving damsels from street side windows gave way to jagged peaks and muggy air. The Gabrelle Mountains had long proved an insurmountable bastion that too often proved the key of victory for the defenders.

New Itheraen Weapons of War

On the eve of war, a request made several month ago was finally fulfilled. The Basilisk Powder Company, tasked with designing a new field gun for the Itheraen Republican Army, unveiled it's 76mm I-DF field gun.



The 76mm I-DF has been developed in 1900 by engineers of the Diopolis Plants. Since 1898 the Itheraen Republican Army was looking for a new field-gun and Kalpian, Osladian and Veletian design companies had sent in their designs. The decision was made in favor for the 76mm I-DF and it became the first Itheraen gun with a recoil system and at the same time the first Itheraen 76.2-millimetre field gun. The prototypes were manufactured in the Itherae Plants.

The gun has an upper and a lower gun-carriage. The upper gun-carriage slides, resting on grooves along the rail of the lower gun-carriage. In the trail is an oil buffer, acting as a recoil brake, which includes 40 india-rubber doughnuts which were compressed when the gun was fired. After the recoil stroke the doughnuts expanded again and the barrel returned into firing position. The barrel is reinforced with a thermal sleeve.

The breech-block equipped with a so-called Veletian turn breech-block with a turn bar, the first one on a Itheraen gun. The recoil system of the gun did not turn out to be sufficiently effective and that is why the number of manufactured guns remained low.

• Design Characteristics
  Calibre: 76.2 mm
  Length of barrel: 31.4 cal
  Weight of projectile: 6.4 kg
  Muzzle velocity: 590 m/s
  Maximum range: 6.7 km
  Elevation: −6° to +11°
  Traverse: ± 2.5°
  Weight (in firing position): ca. 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs)

Initial test firing at the plant range revealed the I-DF to be a seemingly suitable replace. It was a complicated design, requiring skilled craftsman during the construction phase and several well educated engineers on site in the case of "mold firing," where if not heated properly and left to cool, the breech was prone to blowing opening during the rifling stage. Osladian and Kalpian observers noted the I-DF was superior to their own weapons in both range and accuracy.

The Itheraen Bureau of Production promised that the gun could be pushed into production or delayed for refinement, if necessary.

Tensions Rise in Settumu

Southern Meung was an idyllic location, it's geography unmarred by the hands of industry. The city of Xiyung however was the lone indication that the Grand Kingdom reigned at all. Xiyung was an industrial centerpiece and the agrarian breadbasket of the empire. Nearly one half of all grain passed through the streets of Xiyung. It wasn't until 1900 at all that the city of Xiyung saw again the marching soldiers of the Imperial Army once again. The First Army under Major General Lihuan entered Xiyung on August 4th, 30,000 Imperial soldiers carrying Kalpian KR.99 rifles purchased the year before.



The Meung First Army began the Lihuan Expedition on August 17th. "No longer will we bow to the whims of bandits and warlords," a soldier in Xiyung mentioned, only hours before he departed. The soldiers had another 190 kilometers to march into Xiang land, a task that would not be accomplished until well into September. The Xiang lands were broad sweeping plains, pockmarked with nameless villages that served only to serve as barracks and recruiting centers for the Xiang warlords, who numbered a half dozen.

Itherae

The I-DF, a marvelous advance in Itheraen engineering and design, simply could not be halted to refine the small problems that it had, likely due to the approaching menace that was the Tyrian army. Thus the gun was ordered into immediate production, wanting enough to supplement all of its divisions and to also replace every older model field gun that it had. With its ability of outranging the enemy while also being able to hit the intended target, it was a weapon that was simply needed. Yet, there was simply not enough factories to go around and so the Congressional Committee pulled together and first ordered the Basilisk Powder Company’s Diopolis factory to work on ammunition for the I-DF along with two addition military factories to be built in Napaze as well as the temporary conversion of a factory, that was until recently under control of the Vilini Luxury Goods company, into a military factory under the control of the Basilisk Powder Company.

While the action is controversial, conflicting with rights within the Itheraen Constitution Article 7 (the national government may not revoke or displace economic order, including manufactories), the president had released a statement that, “It was a needed change to ensure that the men on the front may better prevent the Tyrian menace from invading the Birthland.” Furthermore, 100,000 of the Armon were called upon to serve for the army, while not breaking the constitution, the act was generally frowned upon and begrudgingly accepted by the populace.

Meanwhile within the nation, the war gains more support from Nationalist Party as Horace Aortas states, “This grand War will showcase the effectiveness of the Itheraen military once more, just like the war games months before!” While not supported at large, the party members work hard to be among some of the first to be picked out by the drafting that had been previously mentioned. Horace Aortas could be seen working to get more funding for the war, petitioning for the supportive wealthy class in Itherae to be taxed an addition 3%, a legion the socialists jumped on with glee. The Aortas Petition was passed with over 400,000 signatures, primarily of the lower income, raising the wealthy tax from 5% to 8%. Though with little enforcement, the petition was inevitably forgotten about.

It was time for the Kalpian army to update its armaments in order not to be left behind in the arms race between continental powers, a race that Kalpia had to yet be defeated in, but the General Staff didn't wish to wait until that happened, so they like many years before decided to call for a design competition on both field guns and rifles, to see what the arms companies had to offer for this year.

One of the main concerns of the Kalpian army was accuracy, reliability, and rate of fire on the battlefield, which had been shown as decisive on the both the Marnish and Zellonian fronts of the war, as the close encounters and long range encounters had taught the Kalpian officers several lessons to the Kalpians, that were represented on the specific requests of design to the arms companies.

There were three companies in Kalpia that could take the job the most famous of them all Kerser Guns, he was famous for designing the KR.99 the main rifle of the Kalpian Army, the next one was the Aurel & Trauggot company, a new upstart company based on Tarist and finally the Company of Kairth and Sons the oldest arms company in Kalpia that had yet to shine in major projects with the Kalpian Army.

Thus the Kalpian Arms Competition started with all mentioned companies asked to provide two designs one for rifles and the other for a field gun.

Rifle:

- Type of Weapon: [Rifle]
- Companies Involved:
-[Kerser Guns] [?]
-[Aurel & Trauggot] [?]
-[Kairth and Sons] [?]
- Design Requests: [ The Kalpian Army asks for a focus on reliability, rate of fire and accuracy while at least on par with the KR.99 on the rest of features]

Field Gun:

- Type of Weapon:[Field Gun]
- Companies Involved:
-[Kerser Guns] [?]
-[Aurel & Trauggot] [?]
-[Kairth and Sons] [?]
- Design Requests: [ The Kalpian looks for heavy artillery pieces. The main focus of the companies involved should be in the firepower, reliability, and rate of fire of these guns, while at least keep on par with the current R98 7.7cm on all other features. ]



It was no surprise that the Kalpian military industrialists saw the chance of profit in the brewing war to the west and they took it, first by making sure that the that they got the permits for it and second by making contact with each interested party in private meetings through government officials.

Kalpian-Radenan Offer (Confidential)

Radena a country with a large army but not enough rifles, a good business venture for the Kalpian industrialists. They sent a confidential offer to Radena offering to send to Radena 15,000 rifles per month for one year at the price of $450,000 per month and 5 million rifle rounds which cost the Radenans $750,000.

The grand total of the offer is $6,150,000

Kalpian-Tyrian Deal (Confidential)

Tyria needed rifles and ammo, it was clear that the ones they would go to were the Kalpians, the nation with the largest military industry, thus it was agreed that 200,000 rifles and 20,000,000 rifle ammunition would be sold and shipped to Toboskoy from where they would continue their route to Tyria through land route going through Oslad, country which had given the Tyrians and Kalpians previous approval for the transportation of military supplies. The total cost was $7,400,000

Later, it was also agreed that 850,000 rifle rounds would be produced and sent off each month to Tyria at the price of $85,000 per month

Kalpian-Itheraen Deal (Confidential)

The Itheraen required large amounts of field rounds and the Kalpian could provide, after an agreement the Kalpians and Itheraens signed a contract in which 2 million artillery rounds would be sold and shipped to Itherae at the price of $4,500,000 .



The government knowing that the previous measures were not even nearly enough to stop the financial crisis coming ahead knew what they had to do and it was to take a loan that was nearly equal to the 10% of the total GDP of the country, in order to cover the costs of this year administration for a total of $343,711,114. This loan would come from both banks and private lenders.

The Imperium of Hiron had initially accepted the mediation of Radena begrudgingly, but with the mounting tensions and news of war circulating from the Continent, as well as the inevitably long period of time it would take for the Radenans to pick their men and send them, it perhaps came as no surprise when the diplomatic delegation from the Imperium simply picked up and left without hardly a word to the Meung. Not long after, any remaining Hironese diplomats in Meung vacated the country, completely severing any and all diplomatic lines of communication between the two nations. The only news the Meung were offered involved second-hand accounts by newspapers that the Imperium, and the Dragon Emperor in particular, had made no official statement on the matter. Indeed, the Imperium seemed to be moving in the shadows, possibly preparing for open war with the Grand Kingdom of Meung. Imperial newspapers remained particularly tight-lipped on the matter, refusing to openly declare the coming of war with Meung, though sometimes speculating on the possibility through the debate of "experts."

Joint-Command, Senryu, Hiron, September, 1900

"Show me," ordered the Emperor.

A Hironese strategist motioned carefully to a map of Settumu, some aides moving symbols of naval vessels across the Hironese Sea, "One of our current plans is a pre-emptive strike against the tattered Meung navy. Intelligence will no doubt have pinpointed its location at that point in time, and with overwhelming force, the entirety of the enemy shall be sunk within an hour, possibly even while still in port. At the same time, the 1st Army shall make headway into the lands with extreme prejudice, slaughtering any off-balance, undoubtedly terribly armed and trained Meung divisions, and promptly entrench, burn forests to the ground, mine the approaches, set barbed wire, coordinate kill-zones to funnel the Meung into through the use of terrain, and establish known shot patterns for artillery to quickly rain fire down upon the enemy. Without a navy, the Meung will be completely incapable of simply going around the line, and with the coast available to our forces, they shall have abundant supplies. They shall march directly into a meat grinder, throwing their men into a hell the likes of which Settumu has never seen."

The Dragon Emperor sat idly for a few moments, considering the possibilities before he looked toward the Minister of the Army, Saito Yasujiro, for an opinion. Saito thumbed his chin for a few moments before nodding, "It is certainly an interesting plan, and one we may need to implement. Of course, we must always be ready for any situation, therefore, bring on the next strategist." A series of other Generals and Admirals shortly gave their approval as well. The plan could almost certainly be accomplished.

The former strategist bowed and left as the latter entered, the Dragon Emperor having been careful not to pass judgement on something he was not entirely informed about. It was the duty of the Emperor to listen carefully to his aides as well, even if he himself had grand ideas.

The Office of the Navy, Senryu, Hiron, September, 1900

The Minister of the Navy, Saeki Ieyoshi, sat leaning forward on his elbows onto a desk, his hands intertwined as a rather young Captain made an interesting case, "Sir, it is my belief that the Navy should immediately install wireless telegraphs into all vessels as soon as possible. As we are taught, information is absolutely vital to any war effort, particularly information concerning the enemy, as well as information concerning ourselves. For it is said that one must know both, of course. Now, I know it is expensive to install these devices, but right now, it would give our navy an even greater advantage over that of others. Whilst they are forced to make use of flags and lights to communicate, our navy could make use of radio to communicate, completely hiding the fact it is even communicating at all. If we further embed these communications with code, it will likely be extremely difficult if not impossible to crack our communications and gain access to our fleet actions. Radio is also much faster as well as capable of transmitting quite far with greater clarity, allowing fleets to send scouts further out if necessary, or even receive intelligence from strategically placed submarines. Imagine the increased ability of submarines to ambush prey, sir!"

Saeki considered the man's words for a few moments before bringing up his palm, "You're aware subs move incredibly slowly, yes? You're also aware that theoretically just hearing the presence of radio pulses could indicate the presence of a sub as well."

To this, the Captain merely shrugged, "The same goes for other naval vessels. But that requires they even be listening in the first place. Subs can still make use of flags and normal signals as necessary as can the regular navy when absolute silence is necessary. I understand it will undoubtedly be a significant expense, but the edge is absolutely significant. Imagine even coordinating with wireless telegraphers on land to adjust naval firepower into concentrated bombardments! The possibilities for radio are immense, and honestly, not to mean any disrespect, I believe only fools would dismiss it."

The Minister deliberated for a few more moments before nodding, "I will take your case into account, speak to the other Ministers and higher-ups as well as the Emperor himself if necessary, and we will see what needs to be done. You make a compelling case, Captain Shoku."

Within a few days, it was quickly determined that the total outfit of the Navy would cost an estimated 1.35 million dollars, an acceptable amount considering what the Imperium was beginning to see as a significant edge. The funds were quickly allocated within the budget, orders sent out for the telegraphers, and ships would began receiving orders for when they could come in for retrofitting and training of personnel on the use of the devices.

The Tyro-Itheraen War Starts in Earnest

Known for their distinctive "flat caps," the Tyro-Redanian 2nd Field Army under General Rolf Hannerman had kept his army under marching orders for the better half of a month. The arrival to the cusp of the Aegorian Plains was completed on 2 September, and from then the men rested for a week while the horse towed field guns--nearly 450 in total--caught up. The Itheraen Front was 450 kilometers, 135 of which where the harsh Normunt Mountains. The soldiers that climbed to altitudes ranging from 6,500 to 9,000 feet were hard pressed to dig in.

The Tyro-Redanians realized very quickly that the Itheraens had constructed makeshift defenses, but had made an interesting mistake. As noted in Tyrian general Hannerman's diary.

"Poised is a man seated in a hole dug for self defense. Almost immune to rifle fire, or even the lethal spray from the Tyrian Prager machinen-gunnen. A man still in his slit however is most vulnerable to fire from the sky, one of our major advantages. We will eradicate the Itheraens, still in their trenches without fear of major return fire."

The Tyro-Redanian Army brought with them 430 9cm M98 Feldkanones, heavy 90mm field guns that were some of the heaviest (and slowest) in any Continental Army. The Itheraens had only sixty of their own, meaning that any counter battery fire would be--at most--minor. On 5 September, the first shots of the war were fired when 91. Battery of the 199th Infantry Division of the 2nd Field Army opened up on Itheraen positions. The Itheraens were dug in. They weathered the brutal assault for hours. A direct hit meant absolute annihilation. Cries came up but few had the audacity to leave their trenches.



The M98 Feldkanones outgunned the 72mm Itheraen field gun, an Osladian design from 1890. The return fire was meager as the majority of the M98's simply out ranged the Itheraens. The artillery barrage ran for nearly four and a half hours, where the Tyro-Redanian 2nd Field Army expended 19,500 rounds of ammunition in a four and a half hour time. The 9 cm Feldkanone M98 was a modernized version of the M76 field gun. Virtually all the M75s were upgraded during 1898. For cost reasons the new gun retained the bronze barrel of the original, although it was actually redesigned to withstand the more powerful propellants coming into use. A touch hole lock was added to prevent accidental misfiring when the breech was open. A spring-mounted spade brake reduced recoil from 5–6 metres to 80 centimetres, although it only worked if the spade was buried in the ground. A depression lever was added to elevate the carriage's trail to allow the gun greater depression in mountainous areas.


The offensive began at 0915 hours, following the opening artillery barrage. General Hannerman ordered 70,000 men against the North and 70,000 men against the South. They attacked thirty minutes prior to a 100,000 man offensive in the center. This began the Battle of Aegoria.

Battle of Aegoria (5 September - 25 September)

The Battle of Aegoria was fought between the Armies of Itherae and Tyro-Redania on the Itheraen front, between 5 September and 25 September 1915. The aim of the Tyro-Redania was to drive the Itheraens away from its defensive positions along the Aegorian Plains and on the nearby mountains. Although the Tyro-Redanians enjoyed a 2:1 numeric superiority, their offensive failed because the Tyrian commander, Rolf Hannerman, employed frontal assaults after impressive (but short) artillery barrages. The Itheraens had the advantage of fighting from uphill positions barricaded with barbed wire which were able to easily resist the Tyrian assault.

The Tyro-Redanians had some early successes. They partially took Feramax Lowlands, took Monte Colowrat, and captured the heights around Nexis. However, they were unable to dislodge the Itheraen troops from the high ground between the Normunt Mountains and the Sextus River. The heaviest fighting occurred around Fiscardo. In addition to the natural defenses of the river and mountains, bastions were created at the surrounding villages of Karpathos and Murtex. The fighting at Fiscardo consisted of street-by-street urban combat interspersed with artillery fire. Tyro-Redanian troops, such as the 154th Infantry Division, were able to advance as far as the suburbs but could get no further and were driven back. They made small footholds in Southern Fiscardo and Suryaei on the Karst Plateau south of Fiscardo but were unable to do much else. The final Tyro-Redanian gains were minimal: in the central sector, they conquered the heights over Suryaei. (Mount Sut); in the southern sector, they made no gains at all.






Orders for a new armaments factory in Itliki were ordered in September, 1900. The factory's fate would most likely be to produce ammunition for the Itheraen war effort. A second factory was ordered to construction in Kepetria as well. The Itheraen Republic's spending went from $87,000,000 to over $157,000,000 from August to September. These increased military expenditures were promised to be "short, but war winning." The Itheraens, who by a score of six to ten approved of the Georgas Administration, had high hopes for a quick defeat of the Tyro-Redanian Army as they had done in war games only some months ago.

With artillery rounds being in short supply, the Itheraen National Government accepted a deal proposed by Kalpia, with 2 million units artillery ammunition for the exchange of $4.5 million. This would allow the war to continue field operations for a good while without fear of lack of ammunition. Alexei Georgas himself approved of the deal and made arrangements for the money to be sent to the Kalpian superpower.

Dominion of Meung

Hiron withdraws from negotiations; Meung condemns Hiron:
The Imperial Foreign Ministry condemned Hironese withdrawal from Redanan sponsored mediation talks before they had even begun. Foreign Minister Xi in a statement released to the international media meant that '' Meung and Hiron can now no longer negotiate in good faith. It is clear that the Imperium knowing that its negotiating position is weak must now resort to strong arm tactics to influence the region.'' The withdrawal from the talks was also followed by the complete withdrawal of all Hironese diplomatic staff in the Dominon. In effect, relations between the Meung have been severed.

Tsardom and Dominion Reach Agreement:
With Hiron's sudden withdrawal from mediation talks, despite agreeing only weeks earlier, Radenan diplomats were left to press on with negotiations with the Dominion alone. Ambassador Yeryomin Vladimirovich and Foreign Minister Xi agreed to cede control of Wenshou Island to the Tsardom of Radena in exchange for twenty million dollars, Radenan military advisors for the Meung Imperial Army, and a license for the Kirov .88 to be produced locally in the Dominion. Foreign Minister Xi in a statement said he hoped the sale of the island '' would help to cool tensions in the region by adding a deterrant to Hironese expansionist claims. The Treaty will be a pillar of Meung security in the future. '' The Treaty of Wenshou is expected to be ratified in a special session by the House of Lords. All civilians have been offered a chance to resettle in the Meung heartland, if they so desire. Local administration is expected to be turned over in the next few weeks, though Meung Imperial soldiers will remain until December to maintain local security.

Empire of Violette

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The Empire of Violette had always been a prosperous realm. Blessed with a lean and effective administration and imbued with the excised wealth of several far off colonies, Violette had been able to push far above its weight throughout the centuries, positioning itself as a global power even with a much smaller population than other Continental greats. This blessing of abundance had allowed Violette to stave off the stagnancy and insolvency suffered by some other old mighty nations, and instead to grow and develop at a pace that kept the nation stable and capable, both politically and monetarily. The perennial cautiousness of the Veletian empire's book-keeping had a time and a place, however, and in a state of war against a numerically superior foe, fiscal conservatism was not a virtue worth keeping. The People's Assembly understood this fact well.

The Wartime Requisitions Act would mobilize Violette's fiscal surplus to provide much needed support to the war effort. Drafted by Philippin Calvet, the Empress Tsirine's hand-picked Minister of the Army and a supporter of the liberal monarchist Bloc Siècle, the bill was written to both help bolster and better supply the Gendarmerie as well as appease the discontented working poor of the major cities. Perhaps the largest expenditure, and the most important in achieving the universality of its support, would be the construction of a new factory: a third manufacturing centre for the Leclerc armaments company, to begin development in the industrially underutilized port-city of Lorre. The Iron Union, a still small political organization but with an unduly large and growing influence over Violette's workers, enthusiastically supported the bill for the industrialization efforts alone. Also important, though, was the reutilization of existing industrial capacity. Half of the rifle factories already existing in the Empire would convert their production to ammunition, ensuring the men at the front would not be under-supplied as they fought the good fight. The Wartime Requisitions Act also held numerous provisions and incentives meant to induce (or induct) more men to active service, with Minister Calvet ambitiously hoping as many as ten new reserve divisions could be organized, so that no rifle would be without a man to wield it.

Some members of the Sujets, stalwart traditionalists with a tendency for spending constraint, initially scoffed at the expenditures involved, but were too nationalistic not to support a pro-military bill in a time of war. Most of the rest of the Assembly was of the same mind, excepting the pacifistic Colombes, who did not support the war and would be sure to virulently oppose any act meant to assist in its waging. A tiny minority in the Assembly Hall, they were jeered by their peers. One of their number, Gervais LeMahieu, a representative from the northern countryside near Rosemère, was so insulted by his own party's opposition to the bill that he proclaimed his departure from the Colombes, intending to continue on in the People's Assembly as an independent. In the end, the law passed by a massive majority, and Empress Tsirine personally attended the final deliberations to codify it into law. With her signature, and with the nation behind her, it was so.

Just Out of Arms Reach

In Violette, the Wartime Requisitions Act passed and the announcement of a new armaments complex was eagerly awaited. Unemployment in Violette, at 9%, was second highest only to Kalpia's 14%. In Valenoir and Aleir, Thecians workers most affected by the hiring freeze stood outside the local municipalities to see if their town had been selected for the new factory. When it was announced that neither Valenoir nor Aleir would be seeing the fruits of the Veletian's treasury, many wanted to riot. Veletian police arrived, expecting trouble.

"The State! The State! L'état! L'état! They have all the money!" The shouts ran the length of the central avenue in Aleir. Men and women gathered, mostly interested at the spectacle of Thecian workers. A man with a flag that read "We Work. We Toil. We Lose" appeared, waving it to and fro in the center of the crowd. The Pinnacle Programme had boosted wages and performed nothing short of a miracle, but in the agrarian Southeast, tensions were high considering the Pinnacle Programme's initial aversion to the Thecian worker. Leaderless and without aim, the mobs in these cities dispersed. For now.



- [Empire of Violette: +3 Labor Unrest. -2% 'Poor' Approval.]

Hiro-Meungese Tensions Rise

In the wake of failed mediation between the Grand Kingdom of Meung and the Imperium of Hiron, the Meung effectively sold Wenshou Island to the Radenans for $20,000,000. Their call for resettlement went largely unnoticed, as only the wealthiest 1% of the nation had any incentive or even the financial means to effectively emigrate back to the mainland. To the vast majority, whether it meant Radena or Meung were in charge, little in their day to day life would actually change.

The island of Wenshou was an agrarian hobble, with a modicum of integrity. With nearly 2,400,000 citizens however, it was an important source of income with a growing agriculture and fishing base. 4% of the population were Hironese, with Gojong minorities present in the Northwest. The news of Radena's purchase came with some pause in Osladian and Kalpian circles, who feared the nation's expansion there with very little dissidence from either Violette or Tara.

Additionally, the Meung were given a product license of the Kirov.86 rifle called the Xi Rifle Model 1. Surprisingly, the Radenans did not charge a licensing fee, which caused some consternation in Continental circles for "arming the Settumese savages with modern weapons."

- [Grand Kingdom of Meung: -2,400,000 'Poor'. +$20,000,000.]
- [Tsardom of Radena: +2,400,000 'Poor'. -$20,000,000.]

Kalpia Looks to the Future

The Kalpian High Command requested new design specifications for a prototype rifle to Kerser Guns, Aurel & Trauggot and Kairth & Sons. The developer of the KR.99, Kairth & Sons reviewed the specifications and immediately dropped out of the design competition, with a signed letter from the CEO. "Only 18 months ago we created the KR.99 rifle, the best in the world at the time. There are few improvements to be made at this time."

Kerser Guns and Aurel & Trauggot both accepted the design requests. They both promised prototypes within the next six to twelve months. Similar requests for a new field gun were picked up by Kerser Guns as well, with no promise on the development of a new field gun in 1900.

The Kalpian government's loans were accepted and in the wake of the Kalpian economic crisis, President Reimund Braun promised, at a speech in Tarist: "The future, while not promised, is at least secured." Economists believe even if Kalpia defaulted on her loans, the nation would not go bankrupt until 1905, when Braun's term was up.



In mid-September, a new drydock capable of furnishing an 8,000 ton warship is finished construction in Voskiya, Oslad. The drydock, which had been under construction only nine months ago, was awarded a foreign investment from the Seljuk Empire of $1,900,000. Additionally, Seljuk diplomats arrived and requested three light cruisers be built in that same drydock of the Kirov-class for the Sultan's Navy. A sum of $710,000 would be paid to cover the cost of the warships, nearly $675,000 in building costs. The Seljuk requested all three ships be finished by 1901.



The Osladian Navy, which had it's hands full with the Zellonian Royal Navy, did not escape unscathed, and Kalpian, Veletian and Radenan alike wonder if a new naval arms race is brewing between the former belligerents of the Zello-Osladian War.

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The War at Sea

While the Aegorian fields were drawing first blood and the Veletian front had been nicknamed the "Sleeping Front" by the soldiers stationed there, the Inner Side had turned into a Tyro-Redanian Lake. The Veletian Marine Nationale had been all but absent, and while the Itheraen Minister of the Navy had begged President Georgas not to sortie the Itheraen Republic Navy against the Dual Monarchy, the Itheraen Navy remained effectively active and only by a stroke of luck had not been engaged by the roving Tyro-Redanian fleets. That changed on October 1st, 1900 at the Battle of Diopolis.

A minor analysis of the Itheraen Republican Navy (Repoumplikanikó Naftikó Itherae or RNI) showed the immense shortcomings of a navy that had never genuinely seen the love from country that the Itheraen Republican Army had. Following it's modernization program in 1889 and the appointment of Konstantinos Smolenskis, little else had been to improve the beleaguered state of the RNI. During the 1866 Sypian revolt, the ships of the Repoumplikanikó Naftikó Itherae were in no condition to support it. Such failure led to the government awakening to the problem of naval insufficiency and the adoption of a policy stating that: "The navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Itherae, should only be created for war and aim to victory." Because of this, the fleet was supplied with new and bigger ships, reflecting a number of innovations including the use of iron in shipbuilding industry and the invention of the torpedo; with these advances, the effectiveness and the appearance of the Itheraen Navy changed.

Meanwhile after 1878, because of the instability of Seljuk to the East in the Inner Sea and the need to expand the Itheraen navy, a new and larger naval base was established in the area of Diopolis and a few years later it was transferred to the area of Golgorina where it remains today. At the same time the Naval Academy was founded and Ilias Kanellopoulos was made Minister of the Navy. A committee from Violette headed by Admiral de Sylvie introduced a new, advanced naval organization and the methodological training of enlisted personnel through the establishment of a training school in the old building of the naval base in Itliki.


At the start of hostilities, the Itheraen Navy was floating just over 60,000 tons at Golgorina and Itliki. The flagship Demetriou was a steel built ironclad cruiser built in Violette in 1899. On September 30th, a Tyro-Redanian fleet moving in to bombard Diopolis was identified and again, Rear Admiral Konstantinos Smolenskis begged for the deactivation of the fleet, citing: "I would rather the Itheraen fleet sit at harbor in defeat then rest at the bottom of the sea in victory." With no reply from President Georgas Alexei, Smolenskis ordered the fleet out to sea on October 1st.


The 1st Fleet under Rear Admiral Konstantinos Smolenskis set sail aboard the Demetriou and the armored cruiser Piteras alongside. Three light cruisers, Spiros, Spinos and Rondos along with eight destroyers additionally joined the fleet action from Golgorina, headed north to prevent the imminent bombing of Diopolis. The Tyro-Redanian Southern Fleet was commanded by Commodore Georg von Trapp.

The Southern Fleet was led by two coastal defense ships--nicknamed Babyschlachtschiff--as they were essentially pre-dreadnoughts without the luxury of range outside the Inner Sea or beyond the coastal waters. Attached to the SMS Venus and SMS Bellona were three armored cruisers SMS Novara, SMS Schwarzenberg and SMS Minerva. A light cruiser squadron of five ships and two destroyer flotillas made up 18 ships in total versus the Itheraen's 13.

The battle was met at 1150 hours when the SMS Bellona opened fire at the Itheraen fleet. In the course of a four hour naval action, the Itheraens turned and fled south following the complete destruction of their sister flagsip the Piteras, the light cruiser Rondos and three destroyers sunk. The Tyro-Redanians saw the SMS Schwarzenberg as heavily damaged with a light cruiser the SMS Carolina sunk by Itheraen torpedo action. Commodore von Trapp for his bravery, ordering the SMS Bellona into fire from both Itheraen ironclad's was to summarily receive the Royal King's Cross, the second highest military honor in the Dual Monarchy.



- [Tyro-Redanian Empire: +1% Overall Approval, -1 CL]
- [Itheran Republic: -1% Overall Approval. -1 CA, -1 CL, -3 DD]

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The case study of Veletian morale during the Tyro-Itheraen War has been the centerpiece of Continental philosophical discussion for much of the early 20th century. Conversations regarding logistics, conditions and even the political background all have merit, but the radical disintegration of the Veletian soldier of the Gendarmerie can be attributed primarily to the forfeiture of initiative between the political and military spectrum. When the soldiers departed into the Gabrelle Mountains, there were no promises of a long war. The men whispered to one another that, facing war on both sides and insurgency from within, the Tyro-Redanian Empire would crumble. That didn't happen. Instead, the Gendarmerie were ordered 9,000 feet up into the Gabrelle Mountains with only lackluster (improvised winter) equipment. There was no grand offensive. "We declared war then sat on our hands, mes amies," one soldier wrote in his diary.



There was no grand offensive. The soldiers were ordered to dig into the frozen rock and glacier in the shadow of Mount Sumier. They learned first hand that sticking your head up didn't mean potshots, but a tat-tat-tat-tat-tat of the Prager.99 machine gun. There was no answer for it, given that the Veletian Army did not bring field guns with them into the mountain side, a luxury that--even at great cost--the Tyro-Redanians did. The Tyro-Redanians lost more field guns moving them into the mountains on the Veletian Front due to accidents and the treacherous terrain than they did to combat on the Itheraen Front. To answer the counter battery fire, Dieumart 75's were systematically moved into the mountains as well. Unlike the logistical genius of the Tyro-Redanians, the Dieumart's were disassembled and taken, sometimes by as few as one or two men at a time, piece by piece up the mountain.


The "Sleeping Front" had earned it's nickname, and on the Tyro-Redanian side men were selected for "one way tickets," where platoons of men were selected to conduct "probing offensives" to test the enemy lines. So called "one way tickets," because not only was the terrain terrible to maneuver: a soldier having to ascend or descend jagged outcroppings, often times slick with snow or rainwater, had to then stay alive from Veletian sharpshooters and either engage them in combat or retreat the way he came. In the five weeks of "probing attacks," less than 10% of the men assigned to these deadly missions returned.

Further detrimental to the Tyro-Redanian side was that those that did return had little to say. Unlike the Itheraen Front, there were no clearly established front lines. Every few hundred yards was it's own war, with men naming valleys and gullies. Machine gun nests on the Tyro-Redanian side were nicknamed "headquarters" and from those headquarters companies and platoons staked their life. Unlike the Itheraen Front, only if soldiers were ordered to attack did they actually come into contact with the enemy. In the Veletian Front, the mountains and not the opposing side, were the most daunting enemy.



Demonstratively minor infantry attacks and meaningless artillery duels were the lay of the land. Men on both sides lambasted their commanders for ordering them into such conditions, and morale eroded here much faster than the more active and infinitely more violent Itheraen Front, where over 80,000 men had died in less than 60 days of fighting.

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On October 2nd, 1900 in the city of Sutra, Thecia, a man stood on the shores of the Civitan Sea with a pipe clutched firmly between his teeth. When he saw the incoming flotilla--nearly forty ships--he turned and ran as fast as he could back to the lodge, poised conveniently on the highest spot overlooking the beach and disappeared inside. He had one message and he had to get it back to his Tyro-Redanian handlers in the city as fast as he could: They're coming.

The 1st Expéditionaires numbered 100,00 men under Lieutenant General Jonathan Devereux. His first combat command and without a naval escort, Devereux was so "encumbered by stress," as reported by the nurse attending to him at Lorre, for fear of enemy mines and submarines, that he was very much nearly removed from command. Three written requests by Devereux himself to be removed were summarily stricken from the record for the War Ministry's alleged fear of "having to plan the entire invasion over again." Without much choice, Devereux stepped above the merchant steamer La Croix and it joined the rest of the fleet's departure at Lorre at 0645 hours.

Devereux's fears were not contained. By the thousands, Veletian soldiers absolutely refused to go below decks considering the entire fleet was moving with absolutely no escort. A single Tyro-Redanian submarine could have sunk as many ships as he had torpedoes, even bothering to surface, considering the complete lack of the presence of even a single Nationale Marine escort. By October 4th, every white knuckled Veletian soldier was ready for death. It never came. Just before noon, the lead ship signaled via flag that the Tyro-Redanian city of Eisenstadt was dead ahead.


The North Coast Garrison under General Vincent Falck were under high alert. Orders had traveled from Aetoria with General Falck that indicated it was likely an assault--given the current absence of the Imperial Fleet--was coming. Falck arrived and immediately ordered the coastal perimeter of the side reinforced with all necessary field guns and any present coastal batteries (2 antiquated 1886 breach loading cannons) turned directly north.



The lead ship Gloire angled Southeast, heading toward the coast. The other ships did much the same, intending to land a few miles outside of the city and then close in around the city in a pincer move. By the night of October 7th the bay was filled with loitering--and unprotected--Veletian ships. Unloading the 2,800 men on a given ship into the small landing boats. The two beaches: designated W Beach and E Beach were summarily out of artillery range and W Beach proved to be a viable rallying party for the units there, while E Beach was hellish in design and orient; while the Eisenstadt coast from the west up to Herzog looked like a stereotypical Continental beach, with simple and unmolested beaches, to the west were jagged rocks and rocky outcroppings. A huge drop off meant that a landing boat a quarter of a mile off shore suddenly found itself dragging the sandy bottom and the men had to disembark. "Who the hell thought this would be a good place?" a soldier asked. "What, you think the Empress ever bothers to vacation in Tyria?"

For nearly nine days the Tyro-Redanians watched the Civian Sea fill up with Veletian steamers and deposit 100,000 men onto their shores. Field guns were out of range, but summarily given the opportunity to reorient themselves to the East and West. Prager 99's were pulled from the beachheads and put into storefronts and windows. The North Garrison had been 20,000 strong on September 29th and by October 7th had been reinforced by 72,000 men from the fronts, taking the train from Holzer to Aetoria.

The Battle of Eisenstadt started on October 7th with a concentrated artillery barrage from E Beach, 50 Diuemart 75's. Lieutenant General Devereux ordered a full bombardment of the city, declaring the utter annihilation of every Tyrian, Redanian and any other person foolish enough to have been born in the city. For three days Devereux's batteries pounded the city with only minor reprisal. While no orders were given to surround the city from High Command, instead the papers reading: "After landing, the 1st Brigade will advance on Eisenstadt from the west, and the 2nd Brigade from the east. Any armed opposition in the city will be destroyed. " (Which Devereux found interesting, considering a brigade was only 3,000 men--what fools High Command was), Devereux ordered three Legions to the South to cut off the road and any supplies that might be inbound from Aetoria.

On October 14th, Devereux's artillery shells ran dry. A major offensive on October 15th begin, with nearly 55,000 Veletians assaulting the city from both the West and the East. The artillery counter barrage, dialed in not to attack Veletian artillery but rather to stunt an incoming infantry assault as well as the disposition of the Prager 99 machine guns was absolutely decimating to the attacking Veletians. In the West the Veletians entered the suburbs of Hollenzern and several times took the Municipality Building, a four story tall building used initially by the Tyrians for artillery support and a machine gun nest, and both times were pushed back. At the end of day, the Veletians claimed the building at the cost of 11,000 lives.

In the East, Shutzen Avenue--a long stretch of road that led literally from the ports on the coast and south through the entire city had become a killing grounds. One Prager M.99 position had fired 3,600 rounds within the first hour of fighting--the barrel so hot that the it warped and the weapon was considered worthless and it's two crew resorted to their rifles. After two days of charge and counter charge, the fighting became house to house and street to street.

The Tyrians and Veletians both were notoriously low on ammunition and both sides used any lull in the fighting opportunity to scavenge weapons and ammunition from the dead bodies of their comrades. The Veletian 6.55mm shell was lighter than the Tyrian 7.25mm and thus could not be interchanged. If a Veletian soldier who died had been found to not have fired his weapon once, it wasn't unlikely that a Tyrian might discard his Mawka in exchange for the Veletian's Vinnault-99.

By October 27th, the Veletians had almost completely run through what ammunition stores they had brought with them and held less than a quarter of the city. By October 29th, Devereux, understanding his orders for the first of the month, called an end to the offensive.

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The Second Battle of Aegoria was fought between the armies of the Iheraen Republic and of Tyro-Redania between 6 October and 28 October, 1900.

After the failure of the First Battle of Aegoria, two weeks earlier, General Hannerman, commander-in-chief of the Tyro-Redanian forces, decided for a new thrust against the enemy lines with a heavier artillery support. Unfortunately, he was replaced by Field Marshal Richard Kronenberg two days later by Tyro-Redanian General Staff in Aetoria. Orders for the offensive were not postponed, and Field Marshal Kronenberg reached the front only eight hours before the offensive was scheduled to begin.

The overall plans of the Tyro-Redanian offensive were barely changed by the outcomes of the previous fight. Field Marshal Kronenberg's tactics were as simple as they were harsh: after a heavy artillery bombardment, his troops were to advance frontally against the Itheraen trenches and take them, after having overcome their barbed-wire fences. The insufficiency of war material – from rifles, to artillery shells to shears to cut the barbed wire – nullified their numerical superiority.

On the Farnau Plateau took place an exhausting series of hand-to-hand fights involving the Tyro-Redanian 155th and 156th Infantry Divisions, with severe casualties on both sides. Bayonets, swords, knives, and various scrap metal and debris were all used in the terrifying melee. The Itheraen 7th division lost two-thirds of its effectives and was routed, partly because of the successive attacks and partly because of the unfavorable terrain.

On 24 October, the Tyro-Redanians occupied the Sumix Wood, a position south of Mount San Michele, which was not very steep but dominated quite a large area including the Itheraen bridgehead of Ficardo from the South. The Mount San Michele was briefly held by Tyro-Redanaian forces, but a desperate counterattack by Colonel Gaulipolis, commanding a group of elite regiments, recaptured it.



The battle wore out on its own when both sides ran out of ammunition for both light arms and artillery. The total casualties during the three weeks were about 91,000 men, of which 43,000 Tyro-Redanians and 48,000 Itheraens.

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In Zellonia, the Zellonian Royal Navy, dismantled by slick witted naval teamsters in Violette, was hoping to bounce back strong. On October 18th, word reached the Continent that designers had finished the blueprints of a new pre-dreadnought, the Majestic class and that at least one ship, the ZRN Majestic was planned, though details regarding where it would be built were currently secret, as Zellonia did not possess the naval capacity to build a 15,000 ton warship following the loss of several drydocks which claimed bankruptcy following the destruction of the companies in the Zello-Osladian War, few doubted King James' resolve to set the ship to sea.



The Majestic-class would be the slowest battleship afloat, fronting only 14 knots. The sacrifice in speed came with the mounting of 4 12" ZR.1 naval guns, two fore and two aft, the largest in the world at the time. Diplomats from the Tarantese government sent out a memo to King James indicating they would be willing to build the ship for $21,000,000 and could be completed in 26 months time.

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In the Kalpian Republic, the Market Deregulation Act had had dire consequences. To pay for the large costs of the Zello-Osladian War, Kalpia suspended the gold standard (the convertibility of its currency to gold) when the war broke out. Unlike the Empire of Oslad, which imposed its first income tax to pay for the war, President Reimund Braun and the Kalpian parliament decided unanimously to fund the war entirely by borrowing, a decision criticized by financial experts such as Murnth Tanth as a dangerous risk for currency devaluation.

The government believed that it would be able to pay off the debt by winning the war, and it would be able to annex resource-rich industrial territory in Zellonia or the Memoital Commonwealth. Also, it would be able to impose massive reparations on the defeated Norrans. The exchange rate of the mark against the Veletian dollar thus steadily devalued from 4.2 to 7.9 marks per dollar. (It was only after the war that the extreme hyperinflation occurred.)

The strategy backfired when Kalpia won the war but flopped at negotiations at Liubeth. The new Braun Government was now saddled with a massive war debt that it could not afford. That was made even worse by the fact that it was printing money without the economic resources to back it up. The Treaty of Liubeth, which ended without any reparation payments from Zellonia further accelerated the decline in the value of the mark so 48 paper marks were required to buy a Veletian dollar by late August, 1900.

Kalpian currency was relatively stable at about 90 marks per Veletian dollar during the first half of October. Because the wart was entirely in Zellonia, Kalpia came out of the war with its industrial infrastructure intact. It was, in fact, in a better position to become the dominant economic force on the Continent.



President Reimund Braun negotiated a huge loan settlement from 321 different banks and private lenders across Kalpia. The interest rate of 25% however was lauded by his opponents in the Fatherland Party, led by opposition leader Janusz Senft, who argued that Braun had sold Kalpia's tomorrow to feed his administration today. Since the end of the Zello-Osladian War seen an increase in popularity by 14%, over 9,000,000 Kalpians who had turned their attention toward the minorities in Kalpia, citing them as the cause for the inflation.

With unemployment at 14%, Kalpians en masse began to emigrate out of Kalpia and to the West, to Oslad. In January, 1900 there had been around 30,000 Kalpians settled in Oslad, and by October over 200,000. By 1901 it was predicted Oslad would be home to a quarter of a million Kalpians--most who were simply seeking a better way of life. Yegurov's government had made no mention of the huge influx of migrants as of yet, but is expected to before the year is up.

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The axe finally fell on October 7th. With the fall of Grodz, the Karumi 16th Army hung the "Stone and Sun" flag, a black and yellow striped monstrosity from the White Palace of the Seronan Principality. The official capitulation of Serona was announced to the world with the signing of the Treaty of Grodz (1900). The complete annexation of Serona was complete, and the Tsardom of Karum nearly doubled it's population and geography.

Tsar Michel I announced an official parade through Grodz to embrace the official expansion of what the Continental newspapers had given the expanded Tsardom the nickname of "Soldier Boy Michel's Empire." With the Zello-Osladian War raging and the outbreak of the Tyro-Itheraen War, few had given credence to the near annihilation of Fetrograd and the Seronan culture. An influx of Seronan refugees was expected in the Itheraen Republic.

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The Liohuan Expedition, also known as the Great March, began from the Meung's power base in Tsao-tung province. In 1899 the White Flower Movement announced plans for a strike and protest against Continental imperialism and its warlord agents in Meung. At the same time the Single Front between the Grand Prince and the Workers Union was questioned after the Flower Pedal Massacre in March, 1899. Subsequent events made Grand Prince Yezhuen the paramount military leader of the Dominion, the eminent political dynasty of Meung. Although Yezhuen doubted the Dominion's policy of friendship with the Tsardom of Radena and the Workers Union, he still needed aid from the Tsardom, so he could not break up the alliance at that time.

Notable military leaders and well-trained soldiers came from the Yujin Military Academy, which was set up by Prince Yezhuen's matriarch Xie in 1897. The Academy accepted all persons regardless of party alignment. The success of the Liohuan Expedition can largely be attributed to both the Dominion and it's majority Workers Union members working together militarily.

The main targets of this expedition were three notorious and powerful warlords: Zhang Xiang, who governed the most immediate Southern Plains; Ma Chuanfang in the South Central Plain region; and Chung Quoc Tuan on the east coast.



On October 9th, 1900, Yezhuen gave a lecture to 30,000 soldiers of the Meung Imperial Army in a ceremony that was the official commencement of the Liohuan Expedition. The Imperial Army was set up by cadets trained in the Yujin Military Academy; its soldiers were far better organized than the warlord armies they faced due to their military advisers and were equipped with Radenan and Kalpian weapons. In addition, the Imperial Army was regarded as a progressive force on behalf of ordinary people, who were persecuted and mistreated by warlords, and the Imperial troops received a warm welcome and strong support from peasants and workers who suffered under the brutal rule of the warlords. It was no surprise the Imperial could march from the Silver River area to the Chun River in less than six weeks and annihilate the main force of Chung and Ma, in addition to increasing its own forces from 30,000 to 38,000.



On September 4th, General Xiao Cai was detached from the Fifth Army and put in charge of the the Liohuan Expedition. The force of 30,000 crossed the border and headed toward Sinpo, with orders to dispel and destroy any forces mustered from Xiang. En route, runners received word that Xiang was assembling soldiers from across Xiang at Hatze in the west, and General Xiao immediately turned and ordered a forced march, a move that many of his lieutenant disagreed with considering that he ordered the field guns to be left behind with a garrison of 450 soldiers.



On September 16th, after nearly two weeks of marching, the Expeditionary Forces had first contact with the enemy. Xiang had arrayed nearly 84,000 irregulars into a single--but barely coherent force on an open plain of grass, the exact type of battlefield he had hoped for. Without artillery, the Meung Expeditionary Force was heavily outnumbered and heavily outgunned. General Xiao, promising victory or death to Prince Yezhuen, ordered his soldiers deployed in a battle line more accustomed to 19th century warfare and engaged the enemy.

Following a six and a half hour firefight and losing nearly half of his force, General Xiao began a retreat, headed back northeast along the path he came. At night on September 19th he ordered the soldiers East instead of North, hoping that Xiang would continue North in a reckless pursuit. Along the way, citizens of the Xiang territory flocked to General Xiao, offering food and water and sometimes ammunition. Starting the journey with 14,000 men, by October 1st he had drawn nearly 10,000 men to his banner--irregulars using Zellonian, Osladian and even Tyro-Redanian weapons from as early as 1891. By October 20th an additional 12,000--when the word had spread to Du Nam in the East--joined his soldiers, though their equipment and uniforms were nearly non-existent.

On October 29th, scouts indicated that dissidents were gathering at Can Tho on the coast, and Xiao had little time to offer reprieve to his soldiers. He ordered the men--regular and irregular alike--to battle, expecting little else except the enemies complete annihilation.

Restructuring and Expansion of the Imperial Army

The Imperium of Hiron had been lacking in the size of the Army for decades, having focused almost solely on the Navy in order to safeguard the island nation that had primarily kept to itself. However, looking out across the Sea towards the Armies of the Meung, Radena, Violette, and Tara, it was clear that that needed to change immediately. The lack of a Marine component in particular was particularly concerning to high level staff within the Imperium, whilst nations such as Violette fielded their own Marines. It was with this in mind that the 1900 Military Restructuring and Expansion Act was passed. Its contents were thusly;

1900 Military Restructuring and Expansion Act

All able-bodied male citizens of the Imperium at the age of eighteen, regardless of class, prestige, or family income, must register for the Imperial Draft and maintain an updated address to be contacted at. The Draft does not require that all male citizens serve a term, however, their name shall be entered into a lottery from which their name may be randomly drawn as necessary to replace a soldier or sailor who is retiring, killed, or otherwise leaving the service of either the Navy, Army or Reserves of either service. Their name may also be randomly drawn in the event that the Emperor orders, at his own discretion, the expansion of either service. Their name shall be withdrawn from the lottery upon the citizen's twenty-seventh birthday or proven death.

If a citizen is selected for service, they shall be contacted to report to the nearest recruitment office to receive their first set of orders telling them where to report for training. If a citizen does not report to a recruitment office after two weeks, they shall be found, given one last chance to accept service or prove they are not able-bodied, and if they simply refuse to accept service while still being able-bodied, shall be summarily shot as a traitor to the Imperium. Any citizen selected for service this way shall be known as a conscript and have a two-year term of service, will start with the rank and pay grade of E-1 (Enlisted-1) after training, and will not be capable of receiving promotions. Their position in either the Army or Navy shall be determined based on the citizen's mental and physical aptitudes which are determined during training and with an aptitude test.

In contrast to the Imperial Draft, any able-bodied male citizen of the Imperium from sixteen to thirty can request enlistment in the Army, Navy, or Reserves of either service. It is entirely at the discretion of the Army or Navy to accept or decline the applicant based on the needs of either service. Enlistment acceptance shall have nothing to do with class, prestige, or family income. Acceptance is based purely on the needs of the military and the demonstrated aptitudes of the applicant. The applicant can accept a four-, eight-, or ten-year enlistment. Enlisted service members shall have the appropriate rank and pay grade of E-2 after training. Promotions shall be weighted towards those with longer enlistment terms. Placement within either service will also be determined based on mental and physical aptitudes.

Any able-bodied male citizen aged eighteen to thirty of the Imperium may also apply for commission as an Officer in the Imperial Army or Navy. Officer selection is a highly rigorous process that takes into account education, mental and physical aptitude, social capability, and prior military service. Selected applicants shall be given orders to report to the Imperium's Officer Training School to begin training. If the applicant passes training, they shall be commissioned as an Officer in either the Imperial Army or Navy, and start with the rank and pay grade of O-1 (Officer-1). Officers are not allowed to voluntarily leave the service of the military nor do they have a defined end to their term of service. They must submit a formal request for separation or retirement. The possibility of separation begins after a term of ten years, and retirement after twenty. Promotion and placement for positions is entirely dependent on the officer's merits.

All Active Duty Enlisted and Officer personnel shall receive thirty days of Leave per year. Active Duty Conscripts receive fourteen days of Leave. Reservists receive no Leave. Leave is a period of time wherein the Enlisted, Officer, or Conscript member is not required to be on station, but can be revoked during times of crisis or emergency. Revocation of Leave due to crisis or emergency allows the service member to make use any Leave lost by revocation after the crisis or emergency has passed.

Pay grades are subject to change, but even service members with a grade of E-1 shall receive enough of a salary to place them firmly within the lower third of the Middle Class. Rank names are specific to each service.

Active Duty service members, when not on Leave, must be on station. Reservists, if not called to duty during a time of crisis or emergency, must report for annual training and spend a minimum of two months on station, primarily to relieve Active Duty service members on leave. The Reserves may be called to duty at any time and for any reason, and shall be released from it once their strength is no longer needed.

The Marine Corps shall be established under the Navy, but is primarily autonomous. Its job is to project power via the naval vessels of the Imperium and to be trained primarily in amphibious infantry warfare. They will be ready to ship out and hit the beaches and coasts of any Imperial enemy at a moment's notice.

Finally, the military is hereby commanded to recruit or draft enough members to reach the following strengths within two years:

Army: 200,000 Active Duty Soldiers
6,600 Army Officers
300,000 Reservist Soldiers

Navy: All Sailors necessary to fully man all Imperial Vessels, as well as all Sailors needed off-vessel in logistics.
50,000 Active Duty Marines
1,700 Marine Officers
75,000 Reservist Marines

End of 1900 Military Restructuring and Expansion Act

The Act was a sweeping reform of the dilapidated old system of the Imperium which scarcely mentioned officers, and merely required that 2 in 100 citizens serve a mandatory 2-year term of service. The Emperor even came forth during its announcement to categorize the Act as, "Perhaps the single greatest change to the Imperial Military, one in which the military has now become a Gateway to the Middle Class for any impoverished Hironese man prepared to fight valiantly for his country!"

Colonial Ambitions of the Imperium

With the Radenan land grab of Wenshou island as well as what were once the Malik Islands, it was clear to the Imperium that the Radenans could not be trusted to keep their goddamned nose out of Settumu. With that in mind, the following proclamation was given by the Emperor,


"The Imperium of Hiron hereby lays claim to the Kyio, Setu, Mado, and Calipher Islands as the territory of the Imperium. Any other nation attempting to colonize or otherwise take any of these islands shall be seen as committing an act of war against the Imperium by setting foot upon Imperial soil. Any Hironese company or citizen seeking to settle these islands is welcome to do so by purchasing a land claim from the government. Investigation of natural resources is also welcome and encouraged. Any settlers moving to the islands shall have an Imperial Naval Escort of at least one destroyer on the journey and if any natives become restless, the might of the Imperial Army shall be used to subdue them. The government shall shortly be appointing Governors for the islands once a population begins to establish itself."



Radenan Greed, Meung Carelessness

With the Radenan purchase of Wenshou Island out from under the Hironese, the Imperium found itself caught off-guard. What was once believed to be a reasonable nation that could be worked with for trade had now displayed itself to have further ambitions beyond what were just the Malik Islands. It was a move that angered the Dragon Emperor, particularly since the Imperium had recently attempted to secure Wenshou from the Meung themselves. The Radenans were clearly greedy sons of bitches who could not be trusted, as the Emperor came forth to deliver this speech to the Hironese people,

"Today, I come before you to admit that the Imperium failed to take possession of Wenshou Island. The Grand Kingdom of Meung, with its complete lack of a navy, could not begin to adequately defend it or its people, either from the Imperium or from the Continentals. Because of this, the Imperium sought to bring it under the more wise control and protection of ourselves, where it could be properly nurtured and raised up to its full potential beyond just an agrarian island. We left negotiations with the Meung, deciding that the Imperium would never simply pay for the lands of Meung with money, and assumed the Radenans would simply return to their country.

Yet we were wrong. The Radenans decided to display a side the Imperium had not seen before; one of intense ambition and greed. They took control of Wenshou by throwing money at the Meung, and the Meung practically sold their people away for some petty cash. Both of these nations are to be condemned. Radena, for taking what should rightfully be Imperial soil right now, and Meung, for selling their land and people, knowing full well few Settumese can or want to pick up their roots and move. The Imperium will never sell its land or people for money. Every citizen and acre of land is invaluable to the common wealth of us all. Because of this, neither nation can be trusted, and believe me, both shall receive the proper punishment in due time. Thank you, and for the Imperium!"

When the king read the denouncement from radena outloud in front of his parliament the boos and hissing were non-stop. While the Tsardoms seemed to be friends it seems the recently failed trade negotiations have set them up as a rival. As such the tsardom even took in the filthy memoital prince he who couldn’t even manage his own country now wastes his life away in radena while somehow still causing troubles at home. In response the army of Zellonia some 60,000 strong were sent to the border and began training exercises which would be taught by older and more experience memoital generals, specifically Brigadier General Franz Vern who was a celebrated war hero of memoital and only 48 years of age.

Furthermore the ambassadors in both the marnish kingdom and kalpia were told to increase tenuous relations with the nation-states neighbors. Specifically in the marnish kingdoms where the king believe he could rally the people together against the osladian who completely ignored the marnish kingdoms. Even further in a sign of good faith and as an apology for bringing war to their steps the Zellonian kingdom sent a sum of 10 million to the government in hopes it would allow them to rebuild whatever was destroyed.


As the first parliament meeting was called into order, the room sat still awaiting the king’s order. He had claimed to the people that he would fix the budget which he had intended to along with his advisors. It took nearly a month to get everything in order reviewing old records seeing what damage the war had done to the country but eventually a plan was set out and on September 26th a new budget formated and new orders for trade.




The ZRN Viper which had been put into production shortly after the war had begun was finally finished almost a year later with two more on the way. Especially with the loss of the 2 pre-dreadnoughts to the empire of violette these new crown-class cruisers would help shape the idea of the perfect navy for a future nation that would be used world wide. In addition with the rise of oslad growing the kingdom of zellonia believe it is in need of new ships of better class and are being sent to Zeel’s Beyond Seas shipping for better ideas.

“It has come to my attention that the tragedy at the Second battle of Aegoria, not just for the losses of my fellow Itheraens, but also the loss of the Tyrians and the Redanians. While we may not have time for mourning these men, I would like to release a statement. As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such a twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of darkness. There are many cases of this oppression within the Tyro-Redanian Empire, the Itheraens and the right of freedom, the Voskiyan right to religious freedoms, and even the Redanian right to lead themselves. It is the wolf that oppressed these rights, forcing them, not representing the will of the people but the will of himself and his own gains. It is the Wolfram who does this and more! It is the Wolfram who encourages Itheraens to hate against their brothers and sisters of the Republic.

Hate is not a way for us to live as people, the Wolfram wants this hate, so that we may not see his selfish actions. Hate is why this war happened and it is damned well apparent that the Wolfram hates the Itheraen, hates the Voskiyan, and even hates his brothers of Redania. Why are we to follow hate? Why are the most powerful men the one with the most hatred? I was elected to represent the people and their will and the Itheraen will is that the Wolfram seeks to destroy and cause hate so that he may do his vile deeds! Thus I implore you, brothers and sisters, brothers against oppression, sisters against hate, protest the Wolfram and his administration! Protest their attacks on Itherae so no other man must die! So that no other family must fall apart! I call onto the other nations of the world and their peoples, I call upon the peoples of Tyro-Redania! Bring an end to this war!”

For the masses of the Empire the summer of 1900 was somber. In late July it was declared that the Zello-Osladian war was officially over and peace had been brokered. Soon after the announcement wives marched their youngest children to the docks and families waited among thrifty merchants and brawny sailors for the ships bearing their sons and husbands to return. For some they would soon meet the embrace of their returning husbands and sons, but for many others the wait would last a lifetime. Of the original one hundred thousand men that sailed north in the spring 1899, only twenty thousand returned alive. With casualties estimated as high as eighty seven thousand and low as sixty four thousand the Zello-Osladian war would be the first of many bloody conflicts that would mark the 20th century. However while many mourned their losses and the nation began the long process of healing, others celebrated. Shortly after the second Liubeth Conference concluded, Count Yegorov and his delegation departed for Oslograd aboard the Count's private vessel. Through personal journal accounts of the journey, the Count and his clique toasted at every meal and many hours of drinking and revelry were had. Unfortunately for the ever gregarious Yegorov, Oslograd was in a much more somber mood when he and his diplomatic corp arrived.

Many believed that the war's end would bring a new calm period for the Empire, and would allow the many bickering factions and cliques to rest and recuperate from the electoral season and politicking it brought with it. However, this would not be the case. Upon arriving back in Oslograd the prime minister was immediately shuffled into countless council meetings to discuss the post-war situation. To the north, the Zellonians turned on their recent Memoital allies and declared King James Conrad to be King of Zellonia and Monarch of the Memoital Commonwealth, needless to say this transgression enraged Yegorov. Though not stated publicly, the Count purportedly stated his intention to "return to that godforsaken hell and break the cripple king's other leg". However, in a statement released to the Duma shortly after the Count's return to Oslograd the new prime minister remained calm.

"It has come to the attention of the Duma and the royal admiralty of Oslad that the Zellonian Kingdom, our foes in the field of battle not long ago, have already begun both naval rearmament and the annexation of the Memoital Commonwealth. It goes without saying that the Osladian Empire will not allow such transgressions to go ignored. While perhaps the Radenan papers might decry me as 'democracy gone wrong' I rebuke those vulturous statements and venomous slanders. I did indeed call King James Conrad of Zellonia a mad king, and today I do so again without remorse for my statement. The Zellonian monarch is not fit to rule his nation, nor is he fit to sit the throne of Memoital. His people suffered through a year's long war that saw their nation torn asunder, and less than a month after the signing of the treaty that ended that bloody conflict Conrad stomps his boot on that treaty. The Mad King of Zellonia does not care for peace! He does not care for prosperity! No my friends, this man is a menace to his nation and to all peace loving peoples of the continent! If I am democracy gone wrong, then James Conrad is interbreeding gone wrong! Thank you for your attention, and hail Oslad."

The statement was unsubstantiated and crude, but the thunder and scandal of it broke headlines across the Empire and the Continent. Indeed, it seemed to solidify Yegorov's appearance as a crude yet bold and unabashed leader who said exactly what he thought. For those already against the Count, it only showed him as unhinged and unfit for his position.

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Behind the scenes, and away from the press, Yegorov continued making his moves across the Empire. In a closed Duma session Yegorov successfully passed legislation giving Minister of the Admiralty, Renzo Luchi Carrano, what amounted to be a 'blank check' to begin Oslad's own naval rearmament campaign. Carrano went immediately to work, and dockyards across the nation were expanded to better accommodate the sheer size and tonnage of new military-grade vessels which were now being planned for the Imperial Navy. If it was a new fight the Zellonians wanted, the Osladians would give it to them.

Elsewhere, in a bold move, the border stations that separated Boletaria from the Kalpian heartland now fell under military control and armed soldiers began holding posts across the Osladian-Kalpian border. In a statement released to the press, war hero and leader of the Voskreya Army Group that fought in Zellonia, General Gregory Yakovich, stated this was simply a measure to ensure border protections for both Osladians and Kalpians with the coming influx of more and more Kalpians attempting to make new lives in the hill-lands of Boletaria. However, many feared this was the first step in a much more undesirable plan.

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While the guns fell silent in the north, they only started again in the south. It is rumored the initial barrages of the Tyrian-Redanian field guns could be heard so far north it startled Tangarian cattle herds and woke steppe-farmers. Regardless, as a long-time friend of the Empire it was expected by all nations that Oslad would make a statement on the war. In the hours following the first shelling of Itheraen land the prime minister's council convened and discussed their next move. It was a tricky situation, with the Tyria-Redanian embassy requesting the allowance of Kalpian goods to go through the Tangarian steppe and to the front to aide the fighting Tyria-Redanian army. Of course this issue alone was a fierce topic, could the government in good conscious allow Kalpian supply convoys to trample through Tangary, the homeland of the prime minister none the less. However, at the same time Tyria-Redania was an important ally to the Empire and their continued survival was paramount to the survival of Oslad as well. It seemed Yegorov's hands were tied, and he permitted the Kalpian requests to advance from the border and begin a supply line to Tyria-Redania. The following morning, on the the 6th of September, Yegorov made a statement outside the Duma to the Osladian and international press.

"Gentlemen I'll make this quick. No, any rumors of an Osladian intervention into this war between our brothers in the Tyrian-Redanian Empire and the Republic of Itherae are just that, rumors. My government, which has only recently ended a war against Zellonia, will not in good conscious march our war-weary men south to fight in a new conflict. However, the Osladian Empire stands in fierce solidarity with the Tyrian-Redanian Empire. I have been an outspoken critic for many years of the dangers of republicanism and liberal thinking, and this only further proves my beliefs. You see, the war now starting between our southern allies and the Itheraens is not merely a war of land and titles, it is a war of ideology. It is simple dialectics you see, the two great contradictions, the thesis of monarchy against the antithesis of liberalism. This great conflict of ideas has been brewing since the days of the revolutions in the 1830s, which saw great dynasties fall and these fledgling republics rise in the first place! The end of the 19th century has only brought us a new era, but the conflicts of the era before us remain. The sins of our fathers remain unrepentant, and it is the duty of all god-fearing good people such as those now fighting in Tyria-Redania to slay the demonic serpent of liberalism and republicanism and bring forth a golden age for tradition and all that is right about our tried and tested way of life. So I urge all good Osladian, Boletarian, Loreni, and Tangarian men who wish to be apart of the great counter-revolution to stand up now and join as volunteers to the Tyrian-Redanian army! They need good men such as you to fight for what is right!"

The statement caused uproar among the Liberal-Democrats, Agrarians, and even the Kadets. While no official military order had been given, the Prime Minister had made his point clear, the Empire would do whatever it could to assist Tyria-Redania without a direct declaration of war or an alliance. However, it was yet to be seen the results of the statement or if anyone would truly join a 'Osladian volunteer corp'.

Meanwhile, a request came to the desk of Minister of the Admiralty Carrano. The Seljuk Empire, a sick man of the continent who was but a hollow shell of it's former self, had come requesting the Empire construct light cruisers for the Sultan's small navy. While it wouldn't directly aid the Empire in this 'arms race' against the Zellonians that was now brewing, it would, in the long term, form a bond between the Osladians and the Seljuks, who had been at odds with the Radenans for some time. Thus it was decided to accept the design request and by mid-October Kirov-class cruisers would begin the slow push to the assembly process.

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Expansion of the Hironese Army

The Radenan seizure of Wenshou Island sent ripples through the Emperor's Faction in the Imperium of Hiron. Those loyal to the Emperor and his whim realized that if changes were not implemented, any future of the Imperium outside of the Isles would be nothing but fanciful hopes and dream. The Military Restructuring and Expansion Act was passed, though at some great cost of compromise to the imperialist Nationalist Faction. The expansion of the military was only possible with promises of it's use as an offensive weapon, which lost some supporters of those who backed the Emperor.

On November 1st, the first measure of the Act, the Conscription Provision was implemented and it was expected that the number of "men capable of service" went from 1,500,000 to nearly 3,700,000. Whether or not these men would ever have to service remained unknown. An order went out to begin the training of 20,000 soldiers with 10,000 reserves as well, an incremental monthly increase until the army was at it's new numbers under the Military Restructuring and Expansion Act.


Additionally, the Imperium of Hiron would officially become the first nation with a dedicated naval Marine unit. It's date of establishment was November 19th, 1900. Artillery logistics officer Satsuke Nato had long been a proponent of a dedicated marine branch capable of operating autonomously, but he would not live to see the day, having been killed in a boating accident in 1896. The first Marines would be available in Spring of 1901 and with the aid of the Kalpian Military Mission, would be undoubtedly the finest soldiers in the world.



- [Hiron:+4 Soldier Quality. Available Manpower from 0.02 to 0.07.]

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Has the Tsar's Time Come?

On November 2nd, Tsar Pyotr II became seriously ill with pneumonia from a trip to inspect the results of the Resettlement Act, precipitating a crisis in the Radenan Tsardom during the entire month. When it appeared that the Tsar's death was imminent, his advisors argued over whether he should be succeeded by his brother, Prince Artur, or, since he had no eligible sons, by his youngest son Olev. Future Prime Minister Alexei Surinov would relate later that a revision of the succession law came from the crisis, that would have allowed an heir under the age of 18 to succeed to the throne.



On November 15th, Pyotr became so ill that he was bedridden and no one--save for his immediate family--was allowed to see him. Olev, just fourteen years old at the time, was given additional security and taken from the Great Mansion to "keep him from the spotlight." The finest physicians in Radena--and Kalpia, Oslad and Seljuk--were ordered to Pyotr's Great Mansion and every precaution was taken. Leaders from the other Great Powers watched on, as suddenly the leadership of the largest nation in the world was suddenly at stake.

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The Zellonian Economy Spirals

The Kingdom of Zellonia and Memoital, for it's meager population, was one of the most resource nations on the planet. It's dual mountain ranges were home to hundreds of thousands of tons of unused iron and coal. In the Northeast nor the Marnish border were untapped chromium and copper deposits. During the Zello-Osladian War, King James Conrad did not reign in the agrarian nation's fledgling industrial base and in the wake of the Kalpo-Osladian invasion, much of the Western industry in Nervington and Vorl were destroyed en masse. Following the Treaty of Liubeth, the free trade of Zellonia once again began to prosper.

In July, 1900 the Kingdom of Zellonia, 94% of Zellonia's production were agricultural goods--mostly along the southern edge of the nation by the Inner Sea. While the iron and coal industries were only just being reignited under King James Conrad's continued reign, it was not by intent or design that the lack of growth came because of a stunted economy in the aftermath of a terrible, terrible war. Zellonia's future lay in the development of it's rich resource laden areas--predominantly the territories of Mowden and Bergen in the East.



Zellonia's vast resources' only limitations were the Zellonian industries that were working them. New companies started to sprout up literally overnight following the Treaty of Liubeth, where, for what it was worth, no harsh reparations or limitations were placed on the Zellonian economy; whether by intention by Osladian and Kalpian diplomats or by simple oversight, the Zellonians took to their cause with a very sincere cause. Those Zellonians who were unemployed moved East to to find work in the logging and mining industries that were rising up there. Borgen's population, 325,000 in 1899 had risen to nearly 800,000 by the winter of 1900.



The agrarian spirit of Zellonia was not lost on the nation however, as it's huge coastal farmlands were some of the most beautiful on the Continent. Norrans, famed for the duality of the mountainous stereotype alongside the well-to-do-farmer was not far off the mark. The Zellonians were not only self-sufficient, but exporting grain to the likes of Itherae and Karum.

In the industrial city centers, the Zellonian national spirit was well alive. On November 15th, the Zellonian National Holiday, King James Conrad ordered the 13th Infantry Division on a military parade through Zeel to help raise morale. The theme of such a parade: "We are Together. We are United. We are Zell." Near forty thousand onlookers showed up to the main thoroughfare to watch the spectacle of the Zellonian Royal Army.



On November 18th, the Zellonian Advisory Parliament was called into meeting by King James Conrad, the reason: an emergency budget reallocation of resources and funds. The so called Phoenix Budget had the following changes:



With his signature, the expectation was that the Zellonian government would begin seeing the effects of the Phoenix Budget in December.

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The Itheraen Front

The Itheraen Front was not a meat grinder, it was a death sentence. The Tyrian and Itheraen High Command gave little respite to their soldiers. When the Tyrians rested after two offensives, the Itheraens began their own. From the 1921 memoir, My Time in the Trenches, Itheraen Private Andres Menas recounted the Battle of Ficardo:

Chapter XIV: The Bloodiest Day in Itheraen History

" .and four months ago we were a thing of nightmares. The Itheraen Republican Army had devastated the Tyrians in every sense of the word in war games. We had the greatest general in our history. And then they told to us dig. You see, those mongrels were slow to get to the getting. Slow to think, slow to move. They took us right up to the border and we saw from the flats the entire expense of the Empire.

And then they told us to dig in. There's no poison worse than waiting.

A man doesn't know digging until it's for his life, for his own damned safety. But let me tell you, it didn't give a lick of safety from the Tyrian guns. I don't know what war they were fighting before this one, but the man who gave the order to dig a hole in the earth should've been hung from a tree.

And then the bastards to told us to climb out of those holes and charge them."

The front had three very minor salients: the Mountain salient, the Ficardo salient and the Southern salient. On the day of November 7th, 50,000 men of the Itheraen 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Reserve Divisions launched an all out and otherwise major offensive on the Tyrian line while a diversionary assault was feigned in the North by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reserve division near Ficardo. The Itheraens--suffering from an abysmal lack of front line artillery offered a short thirty minute barrage from "whistle beating" the men to the front--the art of using whistles as a call to action. The Tyrians, only a thousand meters away, nicknamed it the "dinner bell."


Conducted from November 7th to November 14th, the 50,000 Itheraens plunged headfirst into the jagged terrain of the central plains. The general order for the offensive relied primarily on the success of the diversionary attack in the North against Ficardo, which was successful in the sense that a majority of the Prager.99 machine guns were pulled from their nests the night before and moved north along the line. The result was a moderately successful push along the Southern Edge, but a modicum of machine guns remaining chewed in the 50,000 Itheraens in a week long offensive. The Itheraen "Southern Offensive" was considered a tactical success by the Itheraens for having turned the tide against an almost entirely defensive campaign by successfully pushing the Tyrians back across the center.


The diversionary attack against Ficardo however had an enormous backlash. With a probing offensive that ended just in time to allow the Southern Offensive to begin, the Tyrians immediately ordered a Counter Attack against the Ficardo salient in the North immediately following the attack (that the Tyrians were unaware was a feint) turned into an easy battle for Ficardo, whom the Itheraens gave up without a fight. The front, in a matter of weeks, had turned to a lopsided mess.

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Itherae's Hopes

While war raged in the lowlands and the mountains of the border, the interior of the Tyro-Redanian Empire was an intricate web of cultural identities. Nearly a third of the empire was made up of non-Tyrians and non-Redanians, among them the Voskiyans, the Itheraens, the Karlevians, Deltorans and a slew of others. At the beginning of 1900 there were over five and a half million Itheraens living in the empire's Eastern reaches.

The Tyro-Redanians, their army having been significantly reduced through spending, had deemed it unnecessary to maintain garrisons on the inside of the enemy, leaving their industrial centers vulnerable to subterfuge and espionage. With winter setting in, being outside was an exhausting affair. Only those who had business kept much out of their houses, especially in the North. The Triple I was Itherae's most effective tool for creating chaos in Tyro-Redania, and it's funding increased threefold during the month of November: to $1,500,000 dollars. Through Karum, agents were inserted in Tyro-Redanian culture to help appropriate this cash, turning it into weapons, explosives and bribes.

On November 14th, the Steyrworks factory in the mountainous city of Tarburg was targeted for attack. Responsible for 100% of the field gun production in the empire and with any security, six agents of the Triple I broke in after dark and started a fire. The local constabularies were alerted half an hour later, but much of the damage had been done. By morning, the workers realized that half of the machinery had gone up in smoke and the factory itself was too dangerous to work in. It was apparent by this recent act of sabotage that the promises from the King-Emperor of protection from all enemies, inside and out, were not as solid as they had seemed.

If an approach to stop this rot from the inside, it was likely that the Triple I would recruit more to their ranks and their attacks would grow even bolder.

- [Steyrworks Factory #1 is damaged. 50% Production for November and December. -1% Poor Approval.]

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The Veletian Front

While present in force in October, the Royal & Imperial Navy were given no standing orders during the month of November. The Inner Sea thus was given, entirely uncontested, to the Veletian 1st Imperiale Fleet. Left to it's own devices, the 1st Imperiale Fleet was left free to cruise along the Tyro-Redanian coast, first to Weindorf, where they sat for nearly eight hours and expanded several thousand rounds by bombarding the city.


The 1st Imperiale Fleet continued on unabated. On November 6th, 1900 the Veletian destroyer VX Blason, whom an observer on board believed to have seen the wake of a torpedo inbound in the water, turned hard to port and rammed the VX Paix Éternel. Her starboard magazines, filled high-explosive ammunition went off, setting her ablaze.

The VX Blason sank in four and a half minutes, with 85% of her crew going down with her. The VX Paix Éternel, without emergency orders and limping at 7 knots, was given the opportunity to make way for port at Zanzan in the hopes that no wandering Tyrian fleets were abroad.

The Veletian Front was quiet. Veletian sharpshooters distinguished themselves with high marks. Such aces as Jean-Pascal Frère (17 kills), Edmond Desmarais (12 kills) and Camille Veil (9 kills) become local legends, using the Vinnault-99 with a Technoque II 2.8mm sight. These were not standard issue and only those soldiers wealthy enough to afford one were given the opportunity. The most successful sniper in the Gabrelle Mountains however was Captain Matthieu Duchemin, credited with 26 confirmed kills in just thirty days of fighting.


The curious game of cat and mouse withered as the Tyrians ordered a halt to their probing offensives. The Tyrians attempted to combat sinking morale by rotating brigades down into the city of Holtzer for a week at a time to warm themselves. The Veletians made permanent their foundations and tents, and sent increased rations to the mountaintop with accompanying chefs, a feat that was expected to cost the government nearly $440,000 dollars a month from the War Ministry.

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Osladian Naval Appropriation Bill

With the end of the Zello-Osladian War, the Empire of Oslad had turned it's cheek to many of the wrongs of the Zellonians in favor of embellishing the fate of nearly 75,000 citizens of Nervington and drawing back into the international spotlight the freedom of the Strait. The Zellonians by all accounts took this freedom and almost immediately after continued building their navy, finishing the 12,500 ton ZRN Viper with her two sister ships ZRN Thunder and ZRN Storm finishing this month, adding an additional 25,000 tons to a Zellonian Royal Navy already the fourth strongest in the world.

The Osladians responded with the Naval Appropriation Bill. The bill promised 3 new Kirov-class light cruisers for Oslad, 3 new Kirov-class cruisers for the Seljuk Empire and 5 new Kashin-class Destroyers, adding up to 17,800 tons for Oslad and 15,300 tons for Seljuk respectively for a cost of $5,434,000. The Seljuk job would net nearly $300,000 in cash. While respectable, the Zellonians would outclass a navy already beleaguered of funds in the Osladian state within 3 years. Many believed that if Zellonian were allowed complete naval supremacy than it was simply a matter of time before they tried to retake control of the Strait again. Many believed that a lackluster attempt at bringing in the Zellonian Royal Navy at Liubeth was to blame.

- [Empire of Oslad: $5,434,000 to construction of 5 Kashin-class destroyers, 6 Kirov-class light cruisers. +1 State Power. +1% Poor Approval. +1% Middle Class Approval.]

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Zellonian Colonization in Serranthia

While the Zellonian economy spiraled the drain, King James Conrad, whose political power to change the economic budget in the middle of a fiscal year, appropriated $50,000,000 for "private companies" to trek the globe, and if they felt necessary, colonize pieces of land that might prove financially viable in the future. The first company that broke the proverbial ice was the Nervington Trading Co., or the NTC. Headed by Charles Warner, a former veteran of the Zello-Osladian War, the NTC had prospered by establishing hard to reach travel avenues in the mountains between Zellonia and Marnland. His next big adventure: Serranthia.

Serranthia had been untouched by Continental hands except the Tarantese and Violette, who had cut the continent up in an undisclosed agreement alleged to have occurred in a backroom deal in 1885. In 1900 the Tyro-Redanians seized an opportunity laid upon them by the Survians who lost control of their colony at Radesta. That same stretch of land was where Charles Warner was headed. On November 15th, he and 28 colleagues landed at Heffa and took the coastal road up to Salum. There, they purchased camels and passed through Tez, then into the North Coastlands. The lands there were easily navigated, and upon the shores he claimed the city of Warner. Zellonian Serranthia had just begun.

This was beyond official, as any legitimate international recognition of a colony in Serranthia was up for debate as no official legislation existed anywhere in the world for such a thing. Additionally, a pair of huts and a well were all the city of Warner amounted to on November 15th, a far cry away from the civilized bastions of Argentine and Cotê d'Or.

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Man Takes to the Sky.. Briefly

In the mostly agrarian village of Luska, Oslad, Lazlo Stanislauv toiled as a shepherd in the summer and a courier in the winter. He had a dream that was different than either of those things. Lazlo dreamed of the sky. In his spare time, Lazlo worked on the Stanis Glider, a makeshift machination of wood and sheet. The Kalpian woodworker Boris Braun--a recent emigrant from Kalpia--had been helping refine the wooden frame. The Boletarian miner Yeltsov brought the materials, for which Lazlo paid him fifty cents a pound.

The three toiled for months, purely as a hobby. There was little to be gained besides the friendship between three men and the idea of success. After eighteen months, Lazlo was finally ready to try. Lazlo, Boris and Yeltsov took to a nearby field--the steepest field they could find--and recruited a nearby woodworker Marco to help push the thing down a hill. For two whole dollars, the man was in. On November 19th, 1900, Lazlo climbed onto the glider and gave the okay.

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The Horseless Horse Show in Kalpia

On November 30th, 1900 in Leikap, Kalpia, the world's first Automotive Show got underway. Called the "Horseless Horse Show" by it's attendees, it was a display of the world's various automobiles--some new, some not. Present were the new Jostwagen-2's and the Parnand Amieux, both fuel powered automobiles, both extremely experimental.

The newest arrival to the international automotive scene was the Markin Yenson Co. owned and operated by Wincenty Markin. An equestrian by trade, he saw the invention of the automobile as the evolution of man's constant battle to be faster. By implementing designs from the Parnand Simple and the Jostwagen, he invented the first Yenson 31 HP.



The Yenson 31 HP was a radical early car model designed in 1900 by Wincenty Markin of Kalpia. Its name is derived from the power of the car, 35 Pferdestärke (26 kW, approximately 31 horsepower).

A significant advancement over the previous generation of automobiles, which were modified stagecoaches, the Yenson 31 HP is regarded as the first modern car. It was equipped with a powerful petrol engine, it was both wider and larger with a tailored steel chassis, and its center of mass was near the ground. Originally designed as a racing car, the Yenson 31 HP was further developed for normal road use.

In the 19th century, Wicenty Markin career as an industrial designer had been with Nargutt Corporation in their Falhund workshop (near Arsech), at which together they had pioneered the petrol engine production and were responsible for designing and making some of the world's first automobiles. By 1900, Markin was the Chief Engineer within the experimental branch, which had been an expansion of their previous company that originated from their small workshop. He never got along with the new capitalist board, and later left to join Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt. In 1900.

Sobeslav Kantorowicz was a wealthy Redanian businessman and Tyro-Redanaian diplomat living in Labelle. His daughter Adriana Savorena Kantorowicz, 10 years old at the car's construction, was given the pet name "Yenson". Sobeslav used to name his possessions after her, such as his mansions, the automobiles he sold, his racing car team, etc.. He himself was often known as Monsieur Yenson.

As an avid fan of the Parnand Simple, Sobselav had signed up two Parnand Simple proto-cars for competing in the Lorre-La Turbie race on 30 March 1900, introducing the Yenson name for both his racing team and its cars. A tragedy ensued when Marcus Mauer, the chief mechanic of Parnand, raced one of the cars and was killed after the first curve of the race. Consequently, Parnand canceled all further involvement in motorsport.

Nonetheless, Sobeslav persuaded Markin to design a new model for competing again. He insisted that the powerful engine should be developed by a Jostwagen powered engine and be named Yenson, after his daughter. This wish was granted.



Sobeslav specified revolutionary improvements. Unlike the previous generation of cars, unstable motorized coaches of narrow high bodies which were so prone to overturn, the novel Yenson should be longer, wider, and of a lower center of gravity. Also it would have a light steel body and strong chassis, onto which the engine would be firmly fixed near the ground and lowering the car's center of gravity. 36 of these cars would be delivered, for the large sum of $500,000 Kalpian crowns.

Over the following months of 1900 Sobeslav oversaw the process closely, at first through daily telegrams, and subsequently, by traveling personally. Leikap Corp. tested the new car for the first time on 22 September and JSobeslav received his first delivery on 22 October 1900.

In November 1900, Sobeslav Kantorowicz's Yenson team tested six of the new Yenson 31 HP in the Confluence Prix, but the race car was of a disappointing performance by multiple technical complications and enduring just for few laps.

The Yenson 31 HP had a wheelbase of 2.345 m and a track of 1.400 m. The total weight was also dramatically reduced to 1200 kg by making the main chassis frame of pressed steel of carefully designed U-shaped cross section. The relatively light engine (230 kg, with 6.6 kg/hp) was mounted over the front axle without any extra subframes, so its center of gravity was close to the ground. Running gear The wooden wheels of the Yenson 31 HP were non-removable, featuring 12 spokes, steel covers and pneumatic tires: 910 mm tall, 90 mm wide in front, and 1020 mm tall, 120 mm wide in the rear.

There were two braking systems, one hand operated and the other by foot. The main brake was the hand brake which acted on the rear wheels which had 30 cm drums. The secondary, foot brake, acted on the chain drive's intermediate shaft and was water-cooled.

Both axles were rigid, equipped with semi-elliptic springs. The steering-axles were designed to minimise transmission of road shocks to the driver. The steering column was inclined backwards unlike the vertical shaft on many of its contemporaries.

The engine of the Yenson 31 HP was at the front of the car driving the rear wheels through a large roller chain. The gearshift was at the driver's right side, featuring a gate change system with four forward speeds and a reverse gear. The drum like compact clutch system was attached to the flywheel. The flywheel consisted of a self-adjustable coil spring made up of wound spring steel. The tension at which the clutch operated was regulated by a conical cam.

The main bearings were made of magnalium, an aluminium alloy with 5% magnesium. The crankcase was also made of aluminium. The four cylinders, cast in grey iron with fixed heads, gave a total displacement of 5.918 L (116 mm bore, 140 mm stroke), and were arranged in pairs each pair with a single spray-nozzle carburetor. The intake and exhaust valves were no longer opened by cylinder pressure but by two camshafts on the sides of the engine, driven by gears from the flywheel. There were two carburetors, one for each cylinder-pair.

The engine was started by a hand crank aided by the presence of a decompressor. The engine also incorporated a low-voltage magneto with make-and-break spark ignition. This was fitted at Soneslav's demand, replacing the antiquated hot tube system.

Cooling was provided by a pumped water system. Leikarp's tubular radiator, patented in 1897, known as a honeycomb radiator, was similar to present-day ones. Its rectangular grille had 8070 pipes with a square cross section of 6 mm × 6 mm to improve airflow, and held 9 L of water. The airflow was assisted by a fan located behind the radiator.


The Yenson 31 HP engine ran between 300 rev/min and 1000 rev/min, its speed controlled by the driver using a lever on the steering wheel. Its peak output was 31 HP at 950 rev/min.

After the budget that made absolutely no sense the offical finance minister was arrested today for false report and a trial is supposed to happen soon. In other news unemployment grows and the king at 34 still has no wife.


The King knowing his own age wishes to invite the marnish and memoital royal familes to Zeel to stay at his grand manor. Some speculate it’s to get a wife with royal blood.

The Industrial Might of an Imperium, or Lack Thereof

Looking upon the skirmishes on the Continent while also speaking with his advisors, it quickly became clear to the Dragon Emperor that in order to begin to approach that steps that the Continentals tread upon, it was necessary to rapidly expand the industrial base of the Imperium. The Imperium, it seemed, was still primarily an agrarian, fishing economy besides some minor locations of industry, a fact that needed to change soon if it was to be able to stand on the same level as the industrialized Great Powers.

It also became evident in the Emperor's eyes in speaking to the Minister of Finance that the concept of pouring money into the economy, even money the government did not currently have, had the potential to result in kick starting the economy. The government was always a particularly strong actor in the economy, one that could direct it in such a way that the common individual could not. Because of this, the Dragon Emperor wrote the following legislation while taking the opinions of both the Emperor's Faction and Nationalists into account in order to further the economic prosperity of both the Hironese People and the Imperium itself as a result. Whilst much of the Imperium's earlier actions had benefited primarily those interested in education and wealth, this one would be fine-tuned to provide jobs to the poor and middle class in addition to those jobs that would be provided by the expansion of the military.

The Dragon Emperor came before the people on the day the 1900 Industry of the Imperium Act was signed to give the following speech, "The Continental Powers have for far too long looked down upon Settumu as a land of 'savages,' lacking practically any modern industrial capacity. The Imperium's prior efforts to innovate and bring the Industrial Revolution to its shore have simply not been enough to put it on solid footing equal with the Continentals.

"Whilst the Imperium mines plenty of resources to power an industrial economy, they are simply not used. Whilst the Imperium's people mill about, making do with lackluster incomes, the Continentals lavish themselves with grapes and wine. It is the Industrial Might of the Continentals that gives them such success. And it is this Industrial Might that will turn the Imperium into a Great Power to be envied, starting with the passage of the Industry of the Imperium Act.

"Starting today, the Industrial Revolution within the Imperium truly begins. The poor shall find significantly more well-paying jobs within the factories, the middle class shall have more wares to trade and make use of, and those already lucky enough to be considered wealthy by Imperium shall find themselves prospering alongside the rest of us! For the Imperium!"

The text of the Act follows;


In recognition of the Continental strength that grows primarily out of their industry, the Emperor hereby orders that the construction of a total of four new arms factories within the Imperium begin with all due haste, according to the following paragraphs. The new construction will effectively triple the industrial capacity of the Imperium, putting it on par if not in excess of that of the Continentals, while providing well-paying jobs to the poor and middle class and greatly increasing the economic strength of the Imperium as well as its GDP.

Before construction of the four new factories is to begin, a survey is to be commissioned and conducted expediently but thoroughly to determine the best locations to build the factories. The locations must have access to dockyards capable of handling the shipping of the products rolling out of the factories, while also being located primarily in impoverished areas of the nation that are in need of better employment to provide the poor with more economic opportunity and mobility. The locations must of course also be on ground capable of supporting factories safely, and the closer to sources of iron or coal, the better. However, dock access and impoverished location is paramount.

The Imperium itself shall supply the necessary funds to construct the factories, and the resources for their construction shall be sourced from within the Imperium. Bids shall be taken from various construction companies, and those who offer the lowest amount while ensuring construction shall proceed with few to no delays shall be chosen. Once completed, the factories shall remain under the control of the Imperium, as the other two in the Imperium are. Managers will be up to Imperial choice, subject to performance evaluations, and workers will be primarily sourced and trained locally.


It would be perhaps one of the most expensive acts in Imperial history, easily putting it into debt, but one that was desperately needed if the Imperium was to truly hope to reach the heights of greatness that it clutched for. In order to pay for the expansion, the Imperium would undoubtedly end up borrowing the lowest interest rate currency it could find, possibly from Imperial banks.

Colonial Feelers

With the claiming of the Kyio, Mado, Calipher, and Setu Islands as Imperial soil, the Imperium stood poised to grow into a colonial power. Although that colonialism did not currently rival either Tara or Violette, all empires had to start somewhere. First, however, the Emperor was most concerned about the exact expense of colonizing the islands and the worth of doing so since it seemed the people themselves would not do it without monetary motivation.

Because of this, a series of Hironese explorers, cartographers, and experts skilled in recognizing resources as well as experts knowledgeable about building colonies received Imperial letters asking them to assemble in Senryu. Once assembled, they would be divided into four groups, given ships to sail to the each of their assigned islands, weapons to defend themselves, all supplies necessary to survive for months, and a naval escort of a destroyer each in order to assure their safe passage. Their missions were simple: scout and map the islands, determine the resources and peoples present, and determine the cost of officially colonizing each one, while ideally not dying in the process. Upon their return, those that survive and succeed would be well compensated for their efforts. Those that perish would have their families or heirs compensated for the loss.

The Marines; For Corps and Country

The establishment of the first autonomous Marine branch of any military in the world is something the Hironese would come to take pride in, with Marines themselves taking even greater pride. The initial ceremony of the inception of the Imperial Marine Corps on November 19th, 1900 was a somber one, a ceremony that had little clue as to the future valor that the Marines would accrue. There, the first Commandant of the Marine Corps, Takada Setotsu, was commissioned, giving the following speech in front of the first 15,000 men selected to begin Marine Basic Training as well as onlookers,

"My brothers and sisters of the Imperium, I am incredibly gracious to be selected as the first Commandant of the Marine Corps. Under my leadership as well as that of my inferiors, we are going to institute the creation of a Corps unlike any other witnessed in the world. It shall be capable of storming any beach on the planet, scaling any cliff, incinerating any enemy that dares to threaten the Imperium and its People. It shall be composed purely of the best, the fastest, the strongest, and even the brightest. It shall be as a family of brothers, men fighting shoulder to shoulder, safe in the knowledge that they shall either prevail or die until those that follow prevail in the end. From this moment on, every man that joins the Corps is absolutely my brother, and in my brothers I have the utmost of confidence. May the Marine Corps forever protect our shores and tear asunder those that threaten them. For Corps and Country!"

Among the crowd was a young man who would later go on to become one of those preeminent Marines, Matsuo Shirobi. During the middle of basic training, the following letter would later be sent to his family and eventually preserved by them,

"I have not known a more grueling time in all of my life. Even the Army Basic Training and two years that I've already served for them does not begin to compare. Every day, we exercise, we train, we eat together using one another for back support. We do pushups with our legs on our brothers' shoulders, forming a kind of human tree with dozens of hands on the ground and only one set of feet. There is marksmanship practice, swimming, learning to dive, float. Knife and bayonet combat. Martial arts. Maintaining information security. Days ago we climbed the side of a damn mountain with not but a rope, hammers, camalots, and the strength of our brothers. My body was already a well-honed piece of machinery before, but now, it is become as unlike I have ever seen it. The same goes for my brothers. Some of them were not the most muscular of men, but now, I swear we could all wrestle a bull to the ground.

"I miss all of you greatly, I do, but there is uncanny sense of thrill in this training. Being challenged and pushed and succeeding is an incredible feeling, and the amount of solace I take in my brothers after a hard day makes things so much easier. Even my blood relative brothers are further from me than them, and that is surprising. All the same, I look forward to the day I can hold all of you in my arms and you can look at me with light in your eyes, thinking to yourself how I've changed and how, 'He's a Marine'"

The Corps and Commandant Takada would later go on to recognize Satsuke Nato as the official Honorary First Commandant of the Marine Corps, presenting the honor to his crying family, proud to have him posthumously recognized for finally achieving his dream.

Ryugo Shuu, The Youngest Dragon Emperor

The Imperial Family had sadly been almost entirely relegated to one man, Ryugo Shuu. Having had no brothers due to bad luck and lack of interest in sex by his mother, the rather early demise of his father, Ryugo Hitoro, at the age of 47 resulted in the thrusting of Shuu onto the throne at the age of 15, just barely considered old enough to rule without temporarily transferring power to a councilor. His two sisters, Ryugo Mari and Ryugo Seshou, were simply too young to be present on the world stage at 13 and 14.


Ryugo Shuu was a surprisingly forward-thinking young man and Dragon Emperor who always sought above all to advance the aims of the Imperium and its People, even at the cost of foreign powers. It was his opinion that the Imperium needed to be recognized by the world as a leading military and economic power, and he would do almost anything to ensure that happened.

Taught at an early age all of the sciences, as well as exposed to politics, Ryugo Shuu was also somewhat of a controversial man. Behind closed doors, he was known to be highly aggressive towards the enemies of the Imperium since they couldn't hear, prone to 'vulgar' language. In his mind, however, they were all sheep that needed to be either herded or slaughtered by the wolves that were the Imperium. Anyone who wasn't useful was to be discarded.

This personality was evident even in his youth, when he displayed conniving tendencies when playing with other children, tricking them out of candy and treats or rallying them to fake causes. His father encouraged this behavior but was also quick to temper it, reminding him to remember that the other children were also Hironese and therefore deserving of respect. The Continentals, however, would receive no such respect except that earned by demonstration of power.

Respect was also garnered in Shuu's mind by the demonstration of knowledge such as that by scholars, revealing why he had opened the borders for perhaps the first time in centuries, purely to outside scholars and skilled workers. Technology was the path forward for the Imperium, and he who fought hardest, longest, and with the best weapons and training would come out on top.

Hopes were high after the First Battle of Aegoria, the men waited for orders to assault the enemy lines and crush them just as the had in the war games that had occurred months earlier. Yet, orders for an offensive had never come, rather they were continued to be told to be on the defensive, never to counter attack or move from position. While it was infuriating to some, they bit their tongue and followed the orders of their higher ups, none would defect or dare cause an uproar. Then it happened again, a heavy bombardment hit them, and it was much harder than the last, men dying in droves as shells fell from the sky.

Hours past and men grouped together in the best spots to avoid artillery fire, other simply spreading out to lower the chances of getting hit by a rogue shell. It was a hell, bit they would endure for they what was fighting back the enemy. Then the artillery stopped and the true fighting began, Itheraens firing upon the approaching Tyrian offenders, gunning them down as their boots hit the ground. It was the bloodiest sight, kilometers of bodies lining the soil until the enemy had truly had the chance to engage them. One Itheraen footman recalls his role in the battle as, ”...the bloodiest thing I have ever seen, men falling in droves. I killed at least ten of them with my rifle, the ammo began running scarce. I, unfortunately, was in the Farnau Plateau.”

The skirmish at the plateau is likely to be remembered by both sides as the most brutal conflict in the war, men fighting each other with blades or improvised weapons. Yet, while the Itheraens had superior training, the Tyrian army had numbers, overwhelming the Itheraen position yet sustaining heavy casualties from that alone before properly dislodging the dug in soldiers. A Tyrian would later state, ”I remember watching my brother get stabbed by an Itheraen bayonet, I remember an enemy’s head being bashed in with a rock. I don't want to remember these things, I don't want to remember the war. Yet, I wear the scars for I was one of the lucky ones who received medical attention after having my arm cut off by an Itheraen sword.”

This is why the Second Battle of Aegoria was remembered as the most brutal conflict in the Continent as not even the Zellonian-Oslad War saw this kind of savagery. It is likely to be a conflict that will be largely be seen as something that was not an act of man, but animals, animals who were fighting tooth and nail to kill the other. Many men on both sides will be remembered for their heroic sacrifices to their respective nations over a pointless war.

The Enemy of My Enemy

While before the Imperium had maintained almost no communication with the warlords of Xiang, due mostly to the constantly shifting loyalties and strengths of the various warlords and lack of centralized command, the rather pragmatic Imperium and its Emperor began to take a closer look as the Meung started their 'expedition' into the Xiang lands. Reporters and scouts from the area seemed to lend some insight into Meung military tactics and successes as well as failures, with the Imperial high command thoroughly scrutinizing the mass assembly of irregulars. But that was less important than another precept: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

As much as the Imperium had a significant distaste for the warlords of Xiang and held a quiet desire to conquer the savages and bring civilization and prosperity to her people, such a conquest would be years, if not decades away. In the immediate term, the Xiang Warlords stood against the Grand Kingdom of Meung, and that made them useful, if only temporary. And things that were useful, Dragon Emperor Ryugo Shuu valued.

Seeking to undermine the Meung position on the mainland, the Imperium thus sent out the diplomats Suno Iziro, the chief negotiator who had previously been sent to Meung and recently returned from there, Takana Takano, and Aizo Tsutto, and two translators capable of speaking the Xiang language(s) with an armed guard of eight Imperial soldiers as well as Colonels Tetsu and Eigoi, using the TES Sakunosho once more, to a port in Du Nam. Colonels Tetsu were well versed in Kalpian methods of warfare as well some experimental Imperial doctrines.

Once in Du Nam, the diplomat, colonels, and guard would proceed to the warlords fighting the Meung to make an offer of the Imperium providing advisors to instruct their armies in the fight against Meung in exchange for some small monetary payments of a few million dollars. If accepted, the colonels would stay behind as an advance guard of advisors, in lieu of the provision of more. In reality, the Imperium was prepared to send the advisors for free, but would of course like to extract as much wealth as possible at the same time.

If the warlords accepted the advisors, Aizo Tsutto would return to the TES Sakunosho with four guards to let the Imperium know of the acceptance, leaving Suno Iziro and Takana Takano with the translators, remaining guards, and colonels. The colonels would begin instructing the warlord armies and turning them from a ramshackle shitshow into something resembling a modern fighting force and possibly directly commanding their forces in battle should the warlords allow it. Suno Iziro and Takana Takano would proceed onwards with the remaining guard, seeking to negotiate between the warlords and unite them against their common enemy of the Meung.

If the warlords rejected the advisors, the colonels would return with Aizo to alert the Imperium, but Suno Izirio and Takana Takano would continue with their mission of attempting to unite the warlords against the Meung.