Excerpt from the Atlantic Federation's Anthem
War is an enigma in itself. Technology changes and the timeless act of slaughter is widened further and further than the previous world-changing conflicts. Tactics change and equipment adjusts to try and minimise casualties, but the death toll keeps on rising regardless of their successful advancements. However, one thing that has always differed in itself was the result of the war. How did it change a continent, or even a world? Some wars left no marks beyond personal grievance whilst others led on to struggles within national politics, however none were quite the same as that of the First and Second Europan War. Europa had always been a continent of trying times, expanding its influence throughout history and designating itself as the central point of humanity. Darcsens and the age-old majorities roamed the lands and had built empires, nations and coalitions beyond the imaginable boundaries they'd been set previously. The world grew in size and power, and then it all came crashing down when the 18th Century Industrial Revolution began.
Europa strove forward and surpassed all limitations of technology. It started with the steam engines and plenty of other small contraptions, but soon enough the need for fuel, tools and mechanical machinery was spreading throughout the nations of Europa and becoming the rise to humanity's prowess. Materials were now a necessity for the common man and not just the rich and famous. Factories were demanding extra manpower to quickly churn out new inventions intended to change the world forever. Some were a lost cause that only made a few years of fame before dying off, but others were beginning to take complete control of the situation. Motor vehicles were replacing the aristocratic horse-and-carriages, but only for the rich and monarchists, in the final years of the Industrial Revolution. It was around 1910EC when things started to take its downward stride. A deficit began to arise, and Ragnite, the material crucial to the efforts of industrial success, were running short in their known deposits. The horizons of trade were starting to become a constant declaration of selective neglect. Nations were starting to fall back on their own promises and kept the desperate resources for themselves, worried that they could not upkeep their demand for a sustainable future. And soon enough, desperate minds and greed collided with the shift of eyes. It started with the first strike, where an assassination brought around the very first Europan War.
It was not to be a war like any else. It was a testing ground for new technology found throughout the industrial revolution. It was to last four years, which would claim the most lives of any war before that. Bullets were becoming faster and olden tactics were crude and outdated. Many were starting to see that war was no longer as chivalrous and rewarding as the past romanticism had dictated. Families were to be torn apart, ripped from one another at the striking of a projectile. Men and women were sent overseas to fight in lands they'd never been to, looking for an adventure but only finding desolation, mental torture and the physical battling required to survive the trenches of the war. Fields took a standstill. Cities were destroyed by the heavenly rains of artillery and the eventual organisation of formal charges left hundreds of thousands dead per day. This was the new type of warfare Europa had to adjust to. The men, women and children of the Atlantic Federation, especially, would have to adjust quicker than anyone else, discovering that only in 20 years time an even more devastating Europan conflict was to break out...
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Valkyria Chronicles scenario, titled 'Changing of the Guard'. Me and a few comrades of my own were craving the VC-Style roleplay for a while and I finally have set in motion the plan that I want to thrive. The plan dictates that this will be a rather different experience than that you see in the games and other types of media, for we are going to be entering the First and Second Europan War from the eyes of the Atlantic Federation. What do I mean by this? Well, its quite simple. The basis of this Roleplay is about the changing of views through the eyes of the frontline infantry. Not much is said about the First Europan War, except that it was a brutal trench-based conflict that eventually led onto the more widely appreciated Second rendition. Instead of picking and choosing between one war or the other, going for originality over expansive availability, I have decided to go over it with the idea of looking at our characters grow up throughout the story.
Characters are the crucial part of the roleplay, as most are, and the setting comes second to their journey, carrying them through two different eras of warfare. We are to start out in 1914EC (Europan Calendar), where the second to last year of the First Europan War is taking place. This is a time where the flow in volunteers has slightly dwindled and the nature of conscription for both men and women became a necessary tool for hopeful success. Manpower was being stretched to its limits ever since the first few months of the conflict and now the bogged down nature of the trenches has set itself in motion. We will be focusing on the latter-part of the year, eventually playing out the final 5-8 months of the war from the eyes of experienced or new soldiers, younger and fresher than before. Now their naivety to the war, horrors and lack of adventure are to be tested, as what they experience in the brutal conflict of the First Europan War will carry on through the second half of the roleplay scenario.
Those who are not yet dead and live long enough to see the cease fire (which will obviously take some time to get to) will go on to the timeskip, leading up to the opening days of the Second Europan War. Those who survived will be played again, grown up and changed by the things they saw and witnessed from before. The main reasoning behind choosing this is because I wanted to see how characters lead up towards interacting with one another in the second war and how their experience from the stagnant first conflict effects their will to fight. Many of the characters in the actual universe aren't as effected because they are only old enough for the latter conflict. We will be able to form relationships, rivalries, mental disorders, injuries, potentials and possible romantic engagements throughout the course of the story, dictating how people are to eventually transition over to the second war.
Now I don't want to make this sound overly complicated, and it really isn't. Each RP "part" will contain a large amount of time for battles, character interactions, excitement and deterrence. I want to create a band of characters that actually feel connected, built from the fires of war and then thrown back into it after 20 years of "peace" between the Imperials and Feds. From the younger teenagers/young adults shown in the first war, they will eventually grow into men and women once again forced to join the war, this time fought differently with armour, mobility and a whole new array of technology at one another's disposals. When the OOC is officially made, there will be more information on how Potentials will work, the Character Sheet, information about the sides for those who aren't as fluent in the lore, class choices and the systems of how battles are to be fought. All of that will come in time when we know the interest is out there, and I hope we can deliver a unique and fun RPing experience in this wonderfully interesting universe!
