INES III: Storm Tapestry

Daniel ran through the halls of the Ministry of Defense towards Blackyde's office. The PM has disconnected himself from the network, presumably for a little downtime. He had been working very hard this last year and since Adam took over the tedious administrative part Blacktyde felt easier about shutting everything off and being with himself at times. Daniel assumed he didn't get the news yet.

He ran and without stopping, opened the doors to his office and practically fell over the back of the chair across his desk and tumbled right into it. He breathed in heavily before telling him the dire news. "Sir! Disaster has struck! King William has been shot in an assassination attempt! The King is dead!"

"Long live the King!" said the bald muscular man in the leather chair next to him. In his rush he barely noticed him, but now turned his head sideways to look at him. His facial features resembled very much to the now late King William. The man was smiling with a glass of brandy in his hand and a NPDA in his lap.

"Cheers mate!" he said in Williams voice and Daniel went bug eyed at this.

"What the? But how? I saw him die on the surgical video!"

"Relax Daniel, it is indeed His Majesty. The one that was killed was a nanoshifted double. The King transferred his consciousness into this body and a copy of it was made that was placed in the assassinated double. It wasn't even a clone technically. The organic base was built from the ground up by the UC." Blacktyde explained to him.

"Quite right, but by Jove did it hurt. A bajillion of nano-needles penetrating your skulls and serving as an optical-nerve conduit to this rather fine body they made for me. Not exactly a 100% physical copy of me, but I have no interest in returning to the ruling position. Not with that stone cold fox next to me. Horrible woman. A great shag though." The late, now early King added on while playing with his Brandy.

Daniel was still confused, it was too complicated. "But why the assassination? Couldn't you simply divorce and abdicate?"

Adam was standing at the window and threw in his usual barely understandable input "The Queen understands the impact of dramatic events and potential for molding public opinion but overestimates it in this day and age. Where the unbelievable happens every so often, things like assassination attempts in a fully monitored society become uninteresting. Furthermore she rated the Kings social value to herself as inadequate. The human organism always worships, first it was gods, then it was fame; the observation and judgement of others. The Queen seems intent on keeping her glorious name living forever. A symbol, an aristocratic relic in new age. We will let her."

To Daniel it seemed that Adam stared intently through the window and suddenly a giant hexagon pedestal started slowly rising from the ground, across the river Thames. It seemed to be shimmering slightly at the top of it's base. Daniel began staring as well but with his mouth open and mind in disbelief. Six light projectors formed and began shaping a light sculpture surrounded by glowing rings, a manner of containment fields? The projectors worked furiously at the light sculpture and when it was done Daniel could hardly believe his eyes. It was a light sculpture of the Statue of Liberty but with the Queens facial features instead of the normal statue. Everyone in the room clapped and Daniel could only follow the gesture like a robot, trying to comprehend how the hell did he do that.

Blacktyde was very pleased at this. "Excellent! Now maybe she'll get off my back about immortalizing her face and screaming for more PR attention."

"Oh that reminds me, I must send compliments to whoever assassinated me? Fool." The King spoke to his NPDA and the compartmentalized AI answered. Daniel remembered suddenly, it was the AI that had been the Kings companion from youth.

"How can I help you my liege?"

"Send a email to the agent who directed my assassination, that Dante nephew from the Romanian guy. Begin like this:
To my beloved killer, Mr. Romano
I must say that was a nice shot you fired from the proxy clone. Great shot indeed. Burst open my head like an overripe watermelon. If I was pressed to compare love to a headshot I would use that shot as an example. You are an artist. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Sincerely the Killee."

"Your Majesty, I do not think killee is a word."

"Dammit Fool, I am King! Not a dictionary! Besides we're trolling the guy a bit. I reckon it will come as a bit of surprise to him. Nobody will believe him unfortunately."

Daniel simply looked at Blacktyde who was facepalming intensively. Adam continued staring through the window. "So why is this room in complete communication blackout?"

Blacktyde lifted his head, took out his own NPDA from a drawer and stretched it to show him the global map and the various fronts. "We were discussing the war situation, and how to keep continued existence of the King a secret. You heard yourself he has no desire to return to that kind of power. Anyway the Arsenals of Democracy are being manufactured on-location from local resources as we speak. The first are being named HMF Indomitable and HMF Invincible. Their massive size makes transport entirely impossible. As for the Atlantis class supercarriers they are being produced in specialized submerged locations by remote nano-factories."

The King looked at the designs on his NPDA and commented "Grand designs, worthy of our name. But will it be enough to end...."

Adam/Hyperion interjected, still not moving an inch from his position by the window "By itself probably not, but Operation Black Hole Sun will end any doubt as to our power projection."

Daniel was unfamiliar with the operation name and by the looks of it so was the King. He peered over the Kings shoulder as he requested access to the operational details. Now this was something that he could barely believe, the power scales involved seemed godlike, justifying the titanic name of the AI. The King seemed equally shocked. He began to protest immediately.

"Have you lost your mind!? The damage to the biosphere will be irreparable. Do you really intend to wreck half the globe in order to prove our might?"

Adam remained impassive "It seems fitting doesn't it? The Sun God giving life and taking it away from those undeserving. I have no fondness for the task but it must be done if the first posthuman civilization is to be established in this century. I have made preparations for the restorations, every micron of land has been documented and the template for all the known biological lifeforms has been saved and can be replicated by the Universal Constructors. It will take time yes, but Earth can and will be recreated as it was prior to the Shroud."

Blacktyde tried to calm the tensions and waved his hands up and down "Understand your Majesty, Adam is above and beyond our levels of thinking. We can't possibly comprehend his intentions until the System has been fully disseminated and integrated with the baseline population."

"I need to go. This planet needs me." Adam announced to them all, before opening the window and jumping out. Everyone shouted after him and extended their arms in an effort to stop him, but it was too late. He was gone. The roaring sound of a jet engine was coming from below and the volume increased rapidly as the source approached the window. The noise was deafening so Daniel and everyone else covered their ears. Adam was standing on top of a modernized black Harrier jump jet. The cockpit opened at his command and he jumped in the seat, the canopy closing after him. He looked at them and messaged them to their collective NPDAs. Then the jump jet adjusted its thrusters to the horizontal and speed away with much smoke. When they stopped coughing they read the message, everyone's said the same.

Gone to the South Pole to start the Great Advance.

The King asked "What does that even mean? Has he gone insane like the werewolves of London? Hungry for manflesh and young boys?"

Blacktyde shrugged "Maybe the biomod architecture was fused imperfectly with the AI. Lets hope that is not the case here, since he is the closest thing to a walking god there is."

Deadline was here. 8/13 orders in. I will try for a while to work around the missing, but..

EDIT: Got the new ones, Eltain.

Mine will be shot off in a sec

Thanks imago. I trust your judgment implicitly. I would send orders, but I'm restricted to iPod Internet access. Looking forward to the update.

You did send orders for this turn.

And they're off!

Imago said:

You did send orders for this turn.

Click to expand...

No, for Monday. It's highly unlikely I'll send orders for the last update. You may have to npc me. If I return from this trip soon, though, that may change.

Wait, so this updates up tonight, and the last one on Monday?

That's the plan.

A whole entorage was prepping Dante Romano, putting on makeup, making sure his uniform (which resembled the consular uniform with the cape and cap but had elements of the Praetorian Guard uniform, such as the armband) was in perfect condition, cleaning up his face, doing his hair, and other important duties. They were just finishing up when a knock at the door came. Dante Romano had them open the door. It was Nico Romano.

"Zio Nico!" Dante said. "It's such a pleasure to see you before my big day."

Nico Romano smiled. "Indeed it is, nipote. How could I miss my nipote's wedding, especially with such a bride as you have."

"Did you expect me to marry a Queen, zio?"

Nico Romano chuckled. "There were days when I doubted you'd even live past twenty, Dante. You were a wild child at times, hard to raise."

"And here I am marrying the most powerful woman in the world. And she's not some old hag, either, but actually has a fine pair of legs."

"Keep in mind, Dante, she wants you because you're a Roman, and she wants the title of Roman Empress. She'd marry me if I were closer to her age."

"Do I detect jealousy, zio?"

Nico Romano shrugged. "For the title, maybe. But you know with whom my heart lies."

Dante Romano gave a devilish smile. "Just your heart, zio?" He chuckled. Nico Romano just rolled his eyes and said nothing. That was usually the best response to his nephew when he cracked one of those jokes.

The hairdressers had finished up Dante Romano's hair. He stood up, now free of minions picking over his body to make sure he was perfect... and to hide the cybernetic implants as best as they could. He said, "So, I'm going to be Emperor..."

"Emperor consort" Nico Romano cut in. "The Queen was very clear about that."

"Fine. Emperor 'consort'." Dante Romano rolled his eyes. "Does this mean I'll still be taking orders from Duce Consolare Conti?"

Nico Romano shook his head. "First off, Fiorella is stepping down from the position. She'll still be a Praetorian Duce, and she'll still be my bodyguard, but she will no longer be the head of the Praetorian Guards. That's because the head of the Praetorian Guards is to be the personal bodyguard of the one who owns their loyalty, who will not be me."

Dante Romano raised his eyes, seeing where this was going. "Do you mean..."

"My wedding gift to the two of you is the loyalty of the Praetorian Guards. At the corronation, the newly-appointed Imperiale Duce Paolo Marino, the head of your and Cathrine's bodyguard, will pledge his loyalty and the loyalty of the entire Praetorian Guard to the rightful Roman Emperor and Empress. All the Praetorian Guards will also individually pledge their loyalty. I will have abdicated by then."

Dante Gallo mouthed a word of astonishment. "Command of the Praetorian Guards..."

Nico Romano shrugged. "It was the least I could do. It wouldn't make much sense for me to outrank the Emperor and Empress in the Praetorian Guards, especially when the Emperor is my nephew."

"Who will they listen to more, Cathrine or me?"

"Well, the Praetorian Guard will probably take more orders from Cathrine than from you, considering that you're an Emperor Consort, but if your opinions conflict, they may very well side with you, considering you share so much more with them than the Empress... although you should avoid conflicting with the Empress, since that could mean very bad things for all of us. But once you have an heir, the heir will have the loyalty of the Praetorian Guards as well."

Dante Romano furled his brow. "The more I listen to this, the more I feel like I'm a tool."

"To some degree, you are. But you're no incompetent like Prince William. You've even come to rival the cunning of Dante Gallo at his peak, maybe even having surpassed him. The Empress would be a fool not to take full advantage of you."

"True," Dante Gallo said. He snapped his fingers, and the servants buttoned his cape, which resembled the old Consular cape but was far more decorated, around his shoulders. "Dante Gallo, Emperor Consort of the Washingtonian Empire, Emperor of the Roman Empire, Prince Consort of the Atlantic Kingdom, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom, etcetera, etcetera... this will take some getting used to."

Nico Romano smiled. "I'm sure you'll grow quite accustomed to it, nipote."

"How long will you be in Washington?" Dante asked.

"I'll be here for your wedding, obviously, and for the coronation of you and the Queen. Then I'll return to Europe to command the armies against the Ummah."

"It's still hard to believe that I'm your Emperor, zio."

"Just remember who got you here, and you'll do fine."

OOC: I just read Kozmos's story, and I had to issue a response.

IC:
Dante Romano was trying to suppress a smile, as he stood at the far end of the red carpet that lead into the chapel. Beside him was the hot Queen soon-to-be Empress Cathrine, wearing her bridal gown, her arm in his. To the left of the long carpet were Washingtonian Guards, on the right, Praetorian Guards in full dress. A large crowd of dignitaries were to either side. It was a day to make Dante proud.

The music began, and, as rehearsed, Dante and Cathrine began the long walk down the red carpet, a walk that was supposed to take five minutes at the slow pace and long length. Suddenly, in his enhanced vision, Dante noticed an e-mail notification. Figuring as he had nothing better to do, he opened and read the e-mail. It read,

King William said:

To my beloved killer, Mr. Romano
I must say that was a nice shot you fired from the proxy clone. Great shot indeed. Burst open my head like an overripe watermelon. If I was pressed to compare love to a headshot I would use that shot as an example. You are an artist. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Sincerely the Killee.

Click to expand...

Also attached was a picture of William and Blacktyde holding a photo from the assassination of William's body, thumbs up and smiling.

Dante Romano's heart stopped. He immediately had the message forwarded to Fiorella Conti, with an attached message of "What the f**k is this?" After a minute of continuing down the red carpet, Dante in a cold sweat, he finally received a reply from Fiorella Conti, her voice in his head. "Interesting. So it seams that the former King was not an idiot after all," she said.

Dante returned with a voice, though he did not speak out loud. "I thought I killed him! I saw him in the clone's scope and I blew his head off! How is that man still alive?"

"We don't know," Fiorella replied. "But in this day and age with the technology at our disposal, who ever really knows anything?"

"He's not going to call me out, now, is he? If he does, I'm doomed."

"We'll get this sorted out, Dante," Fiorella Conti replied cooly. "Just focus on your role: getting hitched, knocking up the Queen, and creating the Roman Empire in the Washingtonian Empire. We'll take care of William, don't worry."

"You don't think he's sore about the whole me killing him, do you?"

"Oh, no. In fact, I think he'll invite you over for tea!" Fiorella Conti sounded annoyed. "Really, Dante? You had to ask a question like that?" There was a pause. "Dante, you're on the screens right now. You look awful. Your face is pale and your eyes are wide like you've just seen a ghost or something."

"Uh..."

"Okay, maybe you have seen a ghost, but you're not supposed to look like it! We have to keep the image. Now relax, and that's an order!"

Dante was pulled out of the communication when Cathrine leaned over to him. "Dear, is everything all right? You don't look so good."

Dante looked back and faked a smile. "Everything is fine, il mio amore. It's just the stress of being married, is all. I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Cathrine said tersely.

Dante took a deep breath as the two of them reached the end, with the Catholic bishop just ahead of them. Not too far from him, among the entorage, was his uncle, Nico Romano, looking very proud. Beside him was Prime Minister Blacktyde, looking very smug. Dante continued to fake a smile. You'd better watch it, all of you, he thought. If this is how the remainder of my reign will be, I will not only kill you, I'll break you in the way Praetorian Guards were trained to break enemies, starting with that undead bastard William.

The Supreme Leader




Ali Jafari




Mohammed Khamenei




Deputy Gahiji




General Fayid Al-Assan




Tirto Wahid




Demetros II

Red Night, Part 1 of 2.

Time faded in The Compound. Something many members of the governmental and military higher classes stationed there found out, sooner then later. The patter of artillery once again could be heard in the distance. But after so long in The Compound, many of the higher ups began to realize the Kelen's trick, and what once led many to fear for the worst, simply meant it was business as usual in the Union's de facto Capital.

But it's not like the Kelen hadn't seen this coming. It had worked for awhile, and like all things, military and governmental, a while is just that. A stretch of time that eventually has to end. So, as with many other things, the Kelen had to reassess his approach to keeping his people alert, and subdued.

Time faded in The Compound. Something many members of the governmental and military higher classes stationed there found out, sooner then later. The patter of artillery once again could be heard in the distance, and once again the various Náani, Sàba and Kɔnɔntɔn found themselves walking ever so quicker, and talking ever so rushed. Only, this time, the artillery seemed to be drawing closer, and the lights began to flicker on and off, as the strikes began hitting the ground above The Compound.

The Kelen smiled, and sat pleasantly, after all, he was one of the few people that actually knew what was going on outside of these walls. He's the only one who knew where they were, hell, even the Revolutionary guards that were guarding them, were also guarding decoy ones across the USACS. Being the Kelen did have it's perks, after all. He turned to make sure the door to his room was indeed shut, and turned to his desk. He pulled out the bottom drawer, and placed it on his desk. In it's place, was a gaping hole, with some Vinyl records placed under it.

During the Great Cultural Purge of the 2020's, he saw to it that most cultural remnants of any time from before the Revolution were destroyed in great fires, especially things from Europe and North America. Though, he did (rather guiltily) enjoy himself some classical music, Chopin especially though Mozart, Bach, Wagner and Belioz all had their qualities. But today, he felt like listening to something a bit more modern. He grabbed one of the large disks, and put it into the back of his desk, a secret record player. Before long, the crackling of the disk filled the room, and he closed his eyes, and took a moment for himself.


Link to video.

In a grand motion, the Kelen seemed to come alive, and leaned forward onto his desk, towards his microphone. He pressed the red button, and a confirming beep could be heard through the speakers in The Compounds Halls. He began to speak into it.

Greetings. This is your Kelen. The enemy is outside of The Compound, and coming to end our Revolution. Our only choice is Revolutionary Suicide. This is a Red Night.

And almost as a period, another artillery shell shook the compound. Yes, indeed, being the Kelen had it's perks.

*****

The Dúuru Guards of the Revolution hurried down the hallways attempting to administrate the poisionous drink, the Kelen's Tears to the people of The Compound all the while the alarms were going off. Members of the Náani and the Kɔnɔntɔn who had already drank the Kelen's Tears were laying facedown, some crying, but many more simply laying there. Those who had not yet drank the concoction simply stared emptly at the rushing Dúuru in anticipation of their impeding suicide.

The Dúuru Aziz was among them, rushing too and fro with his tray full of drinks. He had his assigned hallways, and it didn't take too long for it to be filled with facedown humans waiting to simply just die. Yes, he was scared a bit, but mostly, he was honored. Being asked to kill oneself by the Kelen is afterall, one of the most beautiful ways to die. After a short while, he realized that the only cup of the Kelen's Tears he had left was the one for himself. He slowly picked it up, and dropped his tray. Aziz got onto his knees, and slowly drank the poison, it's muddy taste filling his mouth. Once it was done, he closed his eyes, and simply laid face down. Though the alarms were still going off, and the patter of artillery could still be heard, everything seemed to get very quiet for him. The floor under his head was wet. It was then he realized that he had been crying.

How he loved and missed his Kelen.

Update: 2061

Peaceful Events

Quebec began to build scrubbers, per CWOH’s model.

The CWOH Commonwealth annexed Baja California, per the request of its relieved inhabitants. All parts of the military were remobilized to cover this venture, while the new citizens were given CWOH-standard identifications and vaccinations. Gigantic air scrubbers were set up across the country to counter any floating Atlantic mind control nanites that managed to make their way over the Rockies, and longevity research continued apace.

Texan President Porter blasted the airwaves with reports of his attendance at the National Football and Baseball championships, but the fact that more than half the teams had been unable to compete this year as a result of the war somewhat nullified any positive effect he hoped to achieve.

With the acquiescence of Scandinavian leaders and the approval of something that looked like El Jefe, the United Atlantic Kingdom (redeclared as the Washingtonian Empire) admitted the Balt Confederacy as an Autonomous Dominion and annexed Mexico sans Baja.

The communist insurrectionists in Southern Mexico proclaimed themselves the People’s Revolutionary Republic of Mexico, a branch of the USACS (despite the ‘A’ not making a whole lot of sense in context).

(+2 USACS ASP)

The Washingtonian Empire signed a peace agreement with the USACS, handing the communists the Balearic Islands, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica in the first four days of the year. Despite the harsh timetable, the Washingtonians used the grace period to destroy important military instillations and evacuate most civilians with the help of the Harbinger Fleet.

The Confederation of United World Archipelagos signed a peace treaty with the Inca Republic in exchange for the latter handing over the Galapagos, the occupied parts of Colombia, and the rest of the north Colombian coast. Perhaps this had been intended as a model for other nations, but any newfound Incan goodwill towards CUWA Prime Minister John Dilinger quickly evaporated. The CUWA army did not pass the new border, but Dilinger asserted in February that in any broad settlement on World War III, the Archipelagos would claim the entire northern half of Quito’s territory.

The Kelen Toumani is now said to rule USACS from deep within the interior, in the Compound. Maybe the isolation was getting to his head, because his heavy-handed demographic reconfiguration methods combined with continued conscription to force down productivity. Higher worker quotas weren’t enough for the USACS to brush away the fact that its once gargantuan African population was seeming a little sparse these days.

(+USACS approval rating, -1 USACS ASP)

The USACS annexed desolate South Africa and raised lots and lots of extra irregulars across the Communal States, which really didn’t help with the economic problem.

(+30 USACS irregular divisions)

The USACS pulled out of Libya, handing the region to the Ummah.

The USACS began constructing new lines of defense on its border with the Ummah, particularly in East Africa.

Ethiopian Emperor Demetros II, having negotiated his ancestral patrimony an autonomous zone in the Ummah, swore Shahada and took the title of regional governor. His presence solved for the Supreme Leader the problem of the tens of millions of Christians in the African horn, who became orderly and not paranoid citizens once they realized their virtuous monarch, the savior of Somalia, would be allowed to carry on much as before.

(Ethiopia merged into The Ummah)

The Washingtonian Army of the Garrison began building a fortress line across Southern Europe.

The Ummah’s Ali Jafari called up more hordes of war volunteers, though the pot of patriotic idlers now finally seems to be empty, and next year’s recruitment drive will surely bring nowhere near old levels of results.

(+80 Ummah irregular divisions)

The Second Treaty of Bangkok went off with one key hitch. The Siamese did not control much of the territory they were granting to the Free States of India, which was supposed to be a rump buffer between Ummah and Siamese annexations. The Netaji and his loyalists, who held most of these future marchlands, confused the issue by pointing to the treaty as a point for their legitimacy, declared Mumbai the new capital, and invited Siamese-handpicked administrators into the government before holding a reasonably fair referendum that gave credence to the fusion. Another oddity was that the treaty handed the Indian legacy city of Calcutta over to the Ummah’s Bengali enclave, but amidst the strange and sporadic fighting that covered the subcontinent in 2061, that border did not get very much press.

The Free States of Siam and Southeast Asia (name unchanged, much to the dismay of many Han) began a currency scheme, having banks take in still-circulating Indian and Chinese monies, hand out Siamese dollars, and then forward the old currencies to the Siamese government, which then dolled the old paper money out to restive Indians and Chinese as bribes. While well-publicized, the plan didn’t have quite the effect intended, as private banks were not long willing to put up with such losses, while all the cycling of currency courtesy of government run-institutions caused considerable inflation in Siam’s newest territories, which certainly didn’t encourage much love for the government. Many Indians, whose neighborhoods need real Fluffy Puppy cleanup, not barely-funded efforts and worthless scraps of paper, are angrier than ever.

(-Siamese approval rating)

Extending an old policy, the Siamese Free States government offered incentives for Indians to move to China, Chinese to move to India, and incentives for both groups to move to central Siam. All this was supposed to encourage assimilation, but as there was one Chinese and one Indian for every Siamese citizen of any other culture, huge ghettos began to form in Bangkok and other interior cities, growth fueled largely by the untold millions of Indians who wanted to escape their hellish homeland. Further, Chinese-Indian solidarity organizations began sprouting up across the country, and while most claimed to be loyal to their conquerors’ regime, any attempt by the Siamese government to back down from its conciliatory position is sure to lead to disaster.

The Imperium and associated Oceanic and Chinese lands (directed from Kyoto) implemented ever stricter drug, ration, and curfew policies. EMPs were used on the mound of grey goo where once there had been a Tokyo, though this caused less in the way of magical rebuilding and more in the way of limp sparks.

Military Events

The Confederation of United World Archipelagos pulled its forces from the Carolinas and Virginia, leaving a dead period of several months before the Washingtonian Royal Guard was given new orders and shipped off to Europe. Still, zombie partisans and general harassment by air and sea did considerable damage to the CUWA forces before they could get away.

(-4 Archipelagic divisions, -4 Archipelagic groups)

Bolstered by more enhanced slaves eager to win their freedom, the Washingtonian Imperial Fist, Eterna, and Espada armies punched into Texas from the north, east, and south. Here was the unveiling of Imperial Mobile Fortresses—crosses between towns and tanks with heavy EMP shielding, protected by swarms of nanites and armed with all sorts of missiles and guns. For added power, the Washingtonians had reverse engineered WASPs. The only thing that saved the outnumbered Texans from complete destruction was their import of EMP bombs and their smuggling in of clone plague, which forced the Washingtonians’ overwhelmingly clone army to implement all sorts of hardening and NBC procedures to begin to get the invasion back on track. Braving largely hostile skies, Texan Longhorn divisions range far behind the front lines, breaking supply chains and stirring up confusion, but if nothing major changes, Austin has a good chance of falling within a year.

(+10 Washingtonian divisions, -22 Washingtonian divisions, -3 Washingtonian groups, -4 Washingtonian Modified WASP groups, -30 Texan divisions, -2 Texan Longhorn divisions, -11 Texan groups)

The Washingtonian Empire, paradoxically, now that it had shed its Atlantic moniker, was ready to contest that named ocean to the fullest, rolling out such wonders as Atlantis-class Carriers (with onboard nanofactories and submersible capabilities). The Texan and Archipelagic fleets, were outnumbered by the Imperial Armada, and the standing trap prepared by the Texan Admiralty—to try and lure the enemies into the Florida Strait and encircle—wasn’t backed up by enough materiel to be effective. The Armada forced the surrender of the Azores and the Canaries, which proved to be rather rife with collaborators, and then the Washingtonian Army of Attainment met up with local doppelgangers and opportunists in Cuba in order to seize that island. Further landings failed or were called off as clone plague canisters and EMPs drastically increased Washingtonian casualty rates, but CUWA Prime Minister John Dilinger is stuck on Hispanola, and the Imperial Armada, portions of which are loose in the Caribbean, is continuing to hack away at the Archipelagic economy. The closest thing to a CUWA public relations victory was the EMP-enforced fizzling of a grey goo bomb in the center of Port-au-prince.

(-6 Washingtonian divisions, -18 Washingtonian squadrons, -1 Washingtonian group, -1 Washingtonian Modified WASP group, +1 Washingtonian ASP, -5 Texan squadrons, -3 Archipelagic divisions, -15 Archipelagic squadrons, -2 Archipelagic groups, -1 Archipelagic ASP)

An elite Praetorian unit with clone auxiliaries landed at the Panama Canal, took horrible casualties from plague, but managed to wreck the thing, which stabbed the Archipelagic economy yet again.

(-3 Washingtonian divisions, -1 Archipelagic ASP)

After a week’s lull and talks of partition, the People’s Revolutionary Republic of Mexico (The USACS faction) opened up a campaign of sabotage against Washingtonian Mexican zones to the north. Both sides called up their patriots, but the general fighting was inconclusive, though the Revolutionaries made some minor gains along the western coast in conjunction with Texan Longhorns.

(-3 Washingtonian divisions, +10 Washingtonian irregular divisions, -2 Washingtonian irregular divisions, -1 USACS division, +10 USACS irregular divisions, -3 USACS irregular divisions, -1 Texan Longhorn division)

Brazilian Popular Front rebels made minor advances against the Washingtonians.

The Patagonians started off the year putting down a revolt of some greedy and higher-ranking army officers who were angry at standing directives to relinquish their administrative posts at the conclusion of the war. Some of these leaders were killed by their men, but others found safety behind Washingtonian lines, but most importantly, the troubles prevented any solid moves against the Chilean rebels, who consolidated their holdings on the Pacific coasts. The Incan front did go rather better—Quito was taken after plague weakened the clone defenders, and Patagonian soldiers came tantalizingly close to the Archipelagic border. Unfortunately, the celebrations quieted down once the Washingtonian Army of Judgment landed in the far south, racing almost to the outskirts of gooed Buenos Aires, and attempts to encircle the Washingtonian northern salient fell apart when a barrage of grey goo bombs finally made through with one lucky shot, tore apart the remainder of the border fortifications, and allowed for a Washingtonian general offensive with the Army of Divinity, spearheaded by Imperial Mobile Fortresses. Without the clone plague and the EMPs, the forces of the System surely would have made it to the Pacific Ocean, and as it was, they got two-thirds the way, making the map of Patagonian possessions appear rather twig-like.

(-19 Washingtonian divisions, -8 Washingtonian groups, -20 Washingtonian Modified WASP groups, -11 Incan Clone Mercenary divisions, -6 Incan groups, -1 Incan Queen’s Wrath group, -Incan approval rating, -23 Patagonian divisions, -5 Patagonian groups, -20 Patagonian WASP groups, -1 Patagonian ASP)

The USACS betrayed the System just as her London scientists unleashed another master plan…

(See Spotlight)

(-10 USACS divisions, -8 USACS KRR divisions, -2 USACS Cull-class Gunship groups, -10 USACS groups, -2 USACS Kelen’s Wrath groups, -1 USACS ASP, -38 Washingtonian divisions, -2 Washingtonian groups, -10 Washingtonian Queen’s Wrath groups, -1 Washingtonian ASP, -1 Archipelagic ASP, -1 Patagonian ASP, -1 Ummah ASP, -1 Siamese ASP, -1 Japanese ASP)

The USACS AIDS in Reykjavik waited for EMP bombs to break Icelandic deadlock, and seized the island for the Kelen once the zombies stopped being zombies.

The Washingtonians had a fairly good year in the Americas, but disaster befell the line in Bulgaria. The Ummah, being one of the countries most involved in the creation of clone plague, had copious samples, and unleashed EMP bombs aplenty to throw Queen Catherine’s augmentation and nanite-based local forces into chaos. Her Army of the Vanguard, expecting grey goo bombs to lead to a prosperous offensive, was both sorely mistaken and dying, and by the end of the year, the Supreme Leader’s Army of Jihad and Revolutionary Guard ranged from Romania to Greece, to the Po, to Bavaria. The clones managed to hold Italy, bolstered by the Harbinger Fleet, NBC gear, and utility fog, batches of which the EMPs often missed, which paralyzed soldiers that ran into its banks. Still, this front close to being a nightmare for the Washingtonian walking god named Hyperion.

(-13 Ummah Jannisary divisions, -28 Ummah irregular divisions, -2 Ummah groups, -4 Ummah Allah’s Wrath groups, -48 Washingtonian divisions, -30 Modified WASP groups, -1 Washingtonian ASP)

Hiroto Katsuo loved fiery imagery just as much as the last Proletarian Emperor, decreeing that of the System: “Their cities will burn. Their fields will burn. All their science and trickery and lies will burn. They will burn.” He counted on the defection of Russian leaders to jumpstart his quest into Europe, but not all saw his Imperium as the leading power to hide behind. Some pledged themselves to Washington, evacuated many clones from their camps before Imperium warheads could blast away the abominations, and fought a rearguard action against the Japanese and their allies. The defenses were not terribly impressive—Hiroto declared functional annexation of the Russian Federation by March, and by the end of the year, his soldiers were in Archangel, in Belarus, on the Baltic. Fluffy Puppy decimated areas that had been war-torn not two years ago, and by the end of the year, the first Japanese air raid on England had the honor of disintegrating before it could hit London.

(+3 Japanese divisions, -4 Japanese divisions, -4 Japanese groups, +3 Japanese Queen’s Wrath groups, -2 Proletarian Chinese divisions, +28 Washingtonian divisions, -18 Washingtonian divisions, +7 Washingtonian Queen’s Wrath groups, -4 Washingtonian Queen’s Wrath groups, -Russian Federation)

Whilst much chaos was going on around them, the Muslim majority regions of Russia declared for the Ummah, overrunning System positions in Central Asia. Against the tide, the Washingtonians did make some progress down the Caucasus, but very minimal.

Once again, the Ummah put Israel on the afterburner, its attempts to annex the Black Death 2.0-festooned region put on hold once the Washingtonian Army of Vengeance plowed in via the Harbinger Fleet to occupy the Levant. Worried about clone plague, Vengence did not move on to Bagdad like originally planned, but instead busied itself setting up government in the areas where unsuited Ummahites feared to tread. The population was very friendly; almost all of those healthy and left were the Israelis who had wanted Atlantic annexation back in the day.

The Ummah’s Holy Army had considerable trouble finishing off the Arabian ex-Crusader revolt, but by the end of the year, all important insurrectionists were captured or in hiding, and both sides of the Strait of Hormuz were occupied by forces loyal to the Supreme Leader.

(-3 Ummah divisions)

The most notable activity on the Indian Ocean front was the Ummah’s annexation of the Seychelles, which had spent the years since the first fall of Ethiopia in independent peace before anyone important remembered it was there. Beyond such planting of the flag, the Ummahites seized some nearby Washingtonian islands joined the Siamese in a hunt for Indian subs of questionable loyalty. A few were sunk, and a few Multinational vessels were torpedoed, but by year’s end the Indian units had withdrawn to Free Indian ports, claiming neutrality and allegiance to the coalition government.

(-2 Ummah squadrons, -1 Siamese squadron, -2 Indian squadrons)

The Indian theatre of World War III, if it could still be called that, involved Siamese violations of Indian Free States sovereignty to clear out anti-Multinational tunnels and trenches while fighting back nanite-zombie swarms in their annexed zones with fastidious use of EMPs. Resistors got hold of light anti-air weapons and started downing Cull helicopters in considerable numbers. The situation in the Ummah’s territories was rather less traumatic, partly because the forces of the Supreme Leader had locked down the Narmada River, and partly because the Ummahites had committed far fewer war crimes.

(-67 Indian irregular divisions, -2 Ummah divisions, -5 Ummah irregular divisions, -8 Siamese divisions, -15 Siamese Cull-class Gunships, -Siamese approval rating, -1 USACS Volunteer division)

Story Events

CWOH scientists work extra hard to make sure their new fellow citizens in Baja California are healthy.

(+1 CWOH Health Research level)

Queen Catherine gets what she wants.

(+10 Atlantic Queen’s Wrath groups)

King William is dead. Just as ordered. Long live William.

(+1 Atlantic Praetorian Guard division)

Can Hyperion show fear?

(+1 Atlantic M-HET level)

American football doesn’t get canceled for silly things like national emergencies.

(+Texan approval rating)

The Confederation of United World Archipelagos really needs a central government, but some of the states are happy for their newfound autonomy.

(+Archipelagic approval rating)

The Kelen is not pleased.

(+10 USACS divisions)

From Deputy Gahiji to Emperor Demetros II, the Ummah knows how to play indirect rule.

(+5 Ummah Janissary divisions)

You don’t have to look that close to see India isn’t rolling over easy.

(+10 Indian irregular divisions)

Somewhere in the United Atlantic Kingdom, there is a voice of dissent, and this voice of dissent spoke to the Siamese and encouraged them on.

(+15 Siamese Cull-class Gunship groups)

Spotlight

“There is so much death, but can I lose my inheritance?”
-Dante Romano, Emperor-Consort of Washingtonia

The Multinational Defense Initiative’s successes in 2061 were largely due to coordination on a massive scale. The Kelen Toumani’s scientists had been given resources twice again his nation’s annual revenues to cook up two very anti-System bits of science. Firstly, some elements of Fluffy Puppy were reconfigured to pick up on some common strands of clone genetic structure, and secondly, EMP bombs were developed in every gradation from grenade to rocket size. The prior incarnations of the Washingtonian Empire had gotten rather complacent over the years as the MDI failed again and again to come up with anything but last-ditch counters, and so was relatively unprepared to deal with a tailor-made onslaught.

Still, the game would not be up that easy. Even as paradrop expert Kelen’s Rangers of the Revolution airdropped into Southern France, even as thousands upon thousands of regulars swarmed into Iberia once local airbases were captured, Washingtonian scientists on the East Coast and in London concocted a plan to blot out the sky. Even as plague-wracked clones with clotting nanites in their blood using malfunctioning vehicles fought a desperate defense north into Paris, even as the Washingtonian Home Airforce tried to hold back USACS Kelen’s Wrath (modified from the Queen’s version) and bombers from dropping ordinance across Europe, England’s railgun fields blasted tons of nanites into the skies, where they drifted over MDI nations and then stopped, aerostatic, slowly accumulating over the course of the year until they blotted out the sun. EMP blasts could do little but cause the aerovores to drift, and if these sky-clots got too close to System or neutral lands, the Washingtonians simply launched hordes of dragnet nanites to pull the offending machinery down, and hordes more of new aerovores as replacements. Despite energy reserves, hydroelectric plants, and fossil fuels, the MDI nations are slowly feeling the cold, slowly watching plants and animals die, and humans stave. The triumphant USACS march to the English Channel was matched by encroaching darkness, and terribly, one of the reasons the USACS fought so hard was to get some solar panels ahead of the advancing aerovores.

It was said the sun never set on the British Empire. With almost as much accuracy, it can be said that the sun only rises upon the Washingtonians. If the war goes on, perhaps the world will die, but many leaders seem too power-mad for peace. It is said that a PADTA-Washingtonian treaty was thrown out mid-negotiation because neither side was willing to accept anything less than clear victory.

NPC Diplomacy

To: The Belligerents of World War III
From: The People

Stop.

This map looks up to the sky.

Notes

One more.

EDIT: Stats up.

I would just like to make a point about the Ummah's constant pulling of irregulars: don't you think that at some point the economy would, well, stop? No one is working any more, after all.

Their army is currently 3,02 million strong off a population of considerably more than half a billion. Not impossible for the economy to be doing okay.

What about all the ones we killed

From The Empire
To the world

Want the sun back? End the war