INES III: Storm Tapestry

Update: 2053

Peaceful Events

Once again, Quebec began offering substantial tax rebates and incentives to business owners, but this measure didn’t really move the economy, perhaps because of the continued Canadian occupation of Montreal.

(See Military Events)

Industrial development in the Atlantic Kingdom’s South brought with it disquiet, as a number of important lords thought the darker-skinned serfs were being given too many opportunities.

(-Atlantic approval rating, +1 Atlantic ASP)

The Treaty of Cayenne marked the decade’s first official change on the international map, making peace between the Inca Republic and Neo-Europe by having the former pay France a hefty sum to retain the Guianas and be restored the Galapagos.

The Inca declared the day the Treaty of Cayenne was signed to be a national celebration, but Reza Eghtedar somewhat confused the mood by authorizing referendums on independence in Colombia and the Guianas. Though observers gathered that the old party leader was sincere, the PSN machine in Colombia refused to allow accurate vote-counting, reporting that huge majorities wanted to remain Incan. Indeed, many Colombians really were horrified that Reza wanted to throw them out, well aware of the violent demise of their last state. In the Guianas, elections proceeded apace, and the people got their independence, but the ravaged country essentially lacks an economy and is run by a strongman who looks westwards for pointers.

(-Incan approval rating, +The Guianas)

The Union of Patagonia joined the Treaty of the United Americas, making the group total six members. While the niceties of the Atlantic Kingdom’s ascension in 2052 had been clouded by Canada’s aggressive exit, Patagonia got much more press and applause. Thanks to Buenos Aires, the name of the organization was no longer a misnomer.

Patagonia reinforced its forces on the Brazilian border, placating Rio’s jumpy armies by coordinating with them to a limited degree and insisting that the maneuverings were purely to ensure security against the Marxist contagion.

Rumors about the USACS were more the rage than usual this year. Mediterranean captains attested that the line of fortifications along the North African coast is unbroken from Tangier to Gabès, foreign diplomats in Bamako (whose movements are extremely restricted) cabled that crowds cry out for the death of Chinanders, Injuns, and Australian-Hungarians, and Egyptian nomads who live near the long porous sand border with Syndicalist Africa claimed that their brethren on the other side sometimes encounter camps filled with strange looking emaciated people. Meanwhile, the USACS foreign ministry has inundated the foreign press with pictures of hundreds of ‘state terrorists,’ their identities unverifiable, and a particularly gruesome picture of an East Asian cannibalizing African babies has gone viral on the internet. More terrifying for analysts, whatever the Kelen Toumani is doing for the economy of his state appears to be working.

(+1 point invested in USACS ASP growth)

Neo-European Union and LIARS negotiators signed the Gallo-Buchtat Pact, which on its face meant five years of peace, but had a fairly obvious rider. The NEU was tacitly abandoning South Africa, and nothing the pro-treaty Consul Romano said could get the majority of his bloc’s intelligentsia behind him.

Blacktyde’s United Kingdom kept plugging along with the Cyber Revolution, publicizing and selling M-HET mechanical augmentation technology. Medical tourism has picked up far beyond the level in Quebec, and the economy is booming, inching closer to a spike.

(+1 point invested in UK ASP growth)

In most of Neo-Europe, the Treaty of Cayenne was considered an appropriate end to the Inca quagmire, but by dealmaking with the murderers of predecessor in the same city the late emperor had been killed, Napoleon IX earned himself the ire of much of France. He knew as much and abdicated, but his successors on the Regency Council were activist conservatives, banning abortion and divorce within their first couple months on the job. The fact that such proclamations secured a loan from the Catholic Church made the Council seem like a bunch of puppets, and the one socialist measure they enacted (doubling the minimum wage) confirmed most business owners against them. France’s overwhelmingly impressive industrial growth this past year could not have come at a worse time—with no faith in the government, many citizens feel they can prosper perfectly well without its interference.

(-French approval rating)

Germany upgraded the Autobahn.

USACS servicemen fighting with the Balts had escapades throughout occupied Russia, and Helsinki’s sensationalist press reported that this year saw ten thousand new baby Russians of African descent.

The Israeli government declared the Lehi Party to be a terrorist faction after its leader David Rabin claimed responsibility for the Al Tur Massacre, alleging it was a legitimate act of war against “the Iranian Umma and her allies.”

(See Military Events)

A peace treaty between the Meccan Order and her attackers fell through, and it was doubtful Iran had ever been serious about negotiating in the first place.

(See Military Events)

Some level of unrest emerged in India over a well-publicized scandal over soldier involvement in rape, civilian murder, and prison abuse, while communal tensions became the highest in a decade. When war came, however, the reputation of the Indian army as vicious and the growing Hindu antipathy towards Muslims flowed nicely into a rally ‘round the flag atmosphere.

(See Military Events)

Unrest also rumbled through the Chinese provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang. Nothing dangerous has yet come of this.

Authorities loyal to the Second Japanese Empire of the Proletariat handed guns to warm bodies of every age and encouraged the teaming, hyperactive masses to fight so that they might gain divinity in the afterlife.

(+10 Japanese irregular divisions)

Military Events

A little soap opera played out within the Arctic Circle, as some CWOH admiral was ordered to take advantage of the summer months and go hunting for the Canadian navy. His adversaries tried to wipe him out (this was their training ground, and they knew all the tricks) but the arrival of a few Texan squadrons scared them off with numerous casualties.

(-2 CWOH squadrons, -3 Canadian squadrons)

In the early days of 2053, the dictator of Canada had called for a cease fire, which was reacted to differently by each of the North American United Americas. Quebec, perhaps out of worry for Montreal, accepted the agreement, and fighting on Canada’s eastern front was virtually nonexistent. The Caribbean Republic’s air units in the region mostly followed their host’s policy, though intelligence that Canada was trying to commission new fighter jets led to some strategic bombing of factories and bases. The Texas Republic had a laid back position on the war—while, in the words of one Texan general, it was “still on,” Austin’s troops held the line, not bothering to expanding their vast swaths of occupied territory. Indeed, other nations did the work for them, namely the CWOH Commonwealth and the Atlantic Kingdom. CWOH’s plan was elegant in conception—bribe everyone, offer prosperity, and maintain a steady, well supplied advance. Lo and behold, Vancouver surrendered, liking what it heard and not hearing any other options from Ottawa, and CWOH’s army divisions began moving north in a broad front, barely engaging any active resistance. By year’s end, Sacramento had command of even Whitehorse. Meanwhile, the Atlantic Kingdom played ‘bad cop,’ smashing into Ottawa itself and hanging the Canadian dictator, which caused his once proud nation to cease operating as a coherent unit. The soldiers occupying Montreal, lacking a country to fight for, are offering surrender.

(-2 CWOH divisions, -2 Atlantic divisions, -Canada)

The Brazilian government, aided by a sizable contingent of Incas, forced north into the territories occupied by the Marxists and, with popular support, drove them back with relative ease. Some guerrilla units retreated into the Amazon, where they have a chance of dragging the war out, but the rebellion is fading almost as quickly as it began.

(-1 Incan division, -2 Brazilian divisions, -1 Brazilian group)

South Africa reached a tipping point as Zulu, Tswana and other marginalized blacks gave up listening to the ANC’s pacifism and started hacking white farmers to bits. The words ‘USACS’ and ‘communism’ were thrown about with increasing justification as the Cape Town government lost command of whole provinces. In some cities, like Windhoek, peoples’ uprisings installed local communes and Saba linked directly with Bamako, but in many more places, the socialist wave was replaced by tribal nationalisms, as various local kings found they had more than enough USACS-branded weapons to enforce their will as far as they eye could see. The Afrikaner government was not precisely paralyzed; it was still the most powerful warlord council in town, and viciously resecured a quarter of the country, with the cries of the increasingly irrelevant ANC falling on deaf ears. Still, with cities as impressive as Durban in the hands of groups like the Zulu, it will take several different miracles to ensure the apartheid’s survival.

(-13 South African divisions, -2 South African groups, -South African approval rating, -1 South African ASP)

The USACS pulled its troops out of Russia early in the year to deal with other things, leaving the Germans and the Balts to defeat the horde coming over the Urals. The Germans tried to continue their blitz straight into their enemy’s conscript army, while the Balts took a more technical approach, focused on securing Moscow and supporting the Ukrainians. Both allies made heavy use of close air support, smashing Russian soldiers and homesteads, but while the Balts tried to be civil in their occupied zones, the Germans ruthlessly looted burned their way through cities, herding POWs off to work camps in the Fatherland. By the end of the year, the Russian horde had been wiped away, Berlin’s armies stood on the Volga, and Ukraine had the beginnings of a functioning government. St. Petersburg was still in Russian hands, but isolated and besieged, and the Russian presidency (which had been rapidly cycling through leaders) asked for peace.

(-2 German divisions, -1 Geman group, -3 Balt divisions, -1 Balt group, -7 Russian divisions, -14 Russian irregular divisions, -9 Russian groups, +Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine)

Prime Minister Levi Sharett of Israel managed keep domestic Arab unrest from worsening by launching an all out attack on the Lehi Party, moving thousands of soldiers off the Iranian border to conduct sweeps of Lehi offices and strongholds. The Lehi responded by taking hostages and demanding the release of their mid-ranking leaders, and when such demands were not met, bombs went off in cities like Aleppo and Damascus. While the average Israeli Jew does not support the violence, there is widespread anger against Sharett for his virtual abandonment of Israel’s traditional ally, the Meccan Order, to dismemberment at the hands of Iran. Some counter-terrorist units have been ambushed in rightist neighborhoods of the West Bank.

(-Israeli approval rating)

Supreme Leader Khamenei was virtually assured his Arabian prize once Israel stopped funding airlifts to Mecca and the Order’s leadership got distracted by thoughts of a hypothetical peace. Mesopotamia was attacked by armies from the north and south, Shia (who formed the majority in the region) rose up en masse, and the last sizable crusader territory was liquidated. Meanwhile, the holiest city of Islam was surrendered. Most Order locals, who saw the land as their home, had no desire to persist in resistance and incur further destruction for a hopeless cause. Loudspeakers blasted into Mecca, ordering the city’s Muslim minority to protect the Kaaba while the Egyptian military slowly set up checkpoints, but vandals didn’t dare go near the holy site. Grandmaster John disappeared into catacombs, as irrelevant as he is unlikely to be found.

(-3 Iranian divisions, -8 Iranian irregular divisions, -1 Iranian group, -Order of Mecca)

Iranian and Egyptian military emissaries secured nominal occupation of the Arabia’s interior with a minimum of fighting. The most ambitious of the Order pirate lords in the Red Sea were wiped out.

(-1 Egyptian squadron)

Khamenei of Iran and Toumeni of USACS decided that the Indian Union was a shared enemy in need of destruction, and launched an attack to that effect. The biggest problem for the allies of convenience was in gaining momentum. India also had planned on a surprise strike, only slightly advancing the timetable as to not be completely preempted. The two navies met each other in the middle of Arabian Sea, with India having a slight advantage in number of ships, while the combined revolutionaries had a limited edge in the skies. Neither military had really prepared for the Battle of the Arabian Sea, which turned into a long series of fierce skirmishes, but eventually air power won the day, and USACS marines forced their way to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Looping their way around the Indian subcontinent, the USACS fleets attempted to deposit troops in Pondicherry, Vishakhapatnam and Calcutta, but this was an overstretch. The beachhead near that last city was destroyed, the beachhead at the middle city was worse because of the way it was bleeding troops, and the beachhead at Pondicherry, while morphing into an actual front, was more threatened by than a threat to the garrison at the Indian capital Madras. Half of the famous Red Bandits were shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Meanwhile, the USACS forces that had tried to make a diversionary raid on Mumbai were wiped out. Ironically, Iranian armies had more success, but were far less ambitious. With the help of locally overwhelming USACS airpower, they rolled over Indian positions on the far side of the Indus, and were even greeted by some cheering crowds. But once they reached the edge of traditional Pakistani lands, they halted and built defenses, leaving the generals in charge of the almost-broken Indian northern front to breathe a sigh of relief.

(-8 USACS divisions, -6 USACS squadrons, -7 USACS groups, -3 Iranian divisions, -5 Iranian squadrons, -1 Iranian group, -9 Indian divisions, -12 Indian squadrons, -7 Indian groups)

East Asia wages war from Aceh to Honshu.

(See Spotlight)

(-5 Chinese divisions, -4 Chinese squadrons, -4 Chinese groups, -Chinese approval rating, -1 Chinese ASP, -3 Japanese divisions, -4 Japanese irregular divisions, -6 Japanese squadrons, -1 Siamese division, -Siamese approval rating, -1 USACS division)
 
Story Events

The CWOH military is in tip-top shape on top of the clouds.

(+5 CWOH groups)

Once, Man wasn’t made to fly. That sequence of code has been overwritten.

(+1 Caribbean Advanced Aircraft level added in United Americas Tech Pool)

USACS’s Red Bandit pilots encourage many of their comrades to think that in the end, things will probably work out as planned.

(+5 USACS groups)

Man will make his own apocalypse.

(+1 UK M-HET level)

ASP are real. Don’t ya know?

(+1 point invested in French ASP growth)

Myth is being made in the Galapagos. Something…something is there. The dragons are only part of the story.

(+5 Roman squadrons)

Israeli industry builds more planes than the Lehi could ever hope of sabotaging.

(+5 Israeli groups)

The Order of Mecca hallucinates salvation.

(+5 Order divisions)

In Iran, hatred smolders.

(+5 Iranian divisions)

Imperial Proletarian Japan accidently distributed Korean-language propaganda in the Home Islands. Serendipitously, imported Korean engineers were encouraged enough to restore some forgotten decommissioned warships.

(+5 Japanese squadrons)

Spotlight

“The Sun has not stopped its ascent, brothers. It only rises in blood.”
-The Imperial Proletarian Emperor

The latest Sino-Japanese struggle had begun with such stunning strategic success that its expansion into a war of maneuver surprised few. The variance in scales of maneuvers was what was stunning. On one level, the Japanese made the Chinese occupation their homeland a living hell by utilizing such low-tech traps as Punji pits and such high-tech terrors as kamikaze 747s with passenger loads of explosives. Anthrax was used. So were sarin and white phosphorous. Sinic communications systems were hacked, and units were given plausible orders that led to marches on minefields. On another level, however, the Chinese high command had an almost overly broad vision of the war, and the orders given to the soldiers were endless variations of ‘tough it out.’ Indeed, the Chinese rolled out a brand new air force only to use it to support missions further south.

South, the Chinese experienced considerable success. Luzon was taken by the Chinese, the Ever Victorious Army choosing unexpected landing locations and brushing aside the irregulars manning the fortifications. Taiwan fell likewise, and Celebes was a matter of little more than marching in and planting the banner. Korea was a tougher nugget, because five divisions of USACS soldiers had been hiding there during the early stages of the war, and instead of holding the line they burst into Manchuria, poisoning rivers and raiding as far north as the Amur, where they now have their main camp. Still, Pusan and environs were successfully captured by the Chinese in a landing-behind-the-lines operation, and controlling the full set of Korean cities was probably worth the Manchurian unrest.

Pusan, however, was not worth Hong Kong. The Free States of Siam declared war at the moment of their invasion of the almost troopless southern Chinese provinces, rolling from the aforementioned metropolis all the way to the Yangtze. In all likelihood the Siamese could have pushed further, possibly even to Shanghai, but their cautious attack was too bold for some. A large segment of the legislature was disgusted by the onslaught their fellow hawks had unleashed, while Aceh and the Shan States burst into rebellion, claiming that their sovereignty had only been ceded to a pacific federation.

Still, China had a big problem, perhaps because their commanders had spent too much time looking at the big picture. The bulk of their fleet had been prepared to thwart a USACS invasion, not one from closer to home. The Every Victorious Navy, the Bane of the Xiao Riben, did have one stunning success—spotting the surrender ploy of their Japanese opposite number for what it was almost immediately, and managing to destroy a large number of the Proletarian Emperor’s ships before His air force arrived to drive them away. But it wasn’t enough to save their prize.

On Honshu, pulling in loans and cashing in favors across the globe, the Proletarian Emperor managed to find the money and materiel to support 150,000 new regulars. The Chinese, almost outgunned, with as little sky support as ever, and dealing with a slightly delusional and increasingly murderous-suicidal population, had no hope of capturing all the Japanese regional airbases. When fatalities reached an unacceptable level, the order was given to cut looses and pull back to Kyushu.

The Imperial Proletarian Emperor was physically restored to his throne, and the traitors who had run the Sinic puppet State of Nippon were put to such torture they wished they were dead.

The Sun still rises. So Get Back to Work.

But the overseas empire was mostly in Chinese hands, or in tatters. And the Jun of China was a less poetic but perhaps more efficient man than the Emperor. The war wasn’t over. Only the level playing field was back.

NPC Diplomacy

To: Treaty of the United Americas
From: Canadian soldiers in Montreal


Can we go home? We want to go home.

To: World
From: South Africa


Help us, or in a few years, you will be us.

To: LIARS
From: Russia


Name the terms of our surrender.

To: USACS, Iran
From: India


Fools. We pity you.
 
Ma...

Spoiler :
2053iii.png
 
Notes

Germanicus, sorry to hear that. I did take your orders (though I probably would have taken them anyway.)

electric926, converting divisions is a cool idea, and I’ll allow it, but you still need to spend an ASP to create the counter-terrorism unit type.

Omega124 is dropped.

EDIT: Stats up.
 
Agent you backstabbing Muslim treacherous no good jihad-fighting son of a hamster bastard lame no neck cheating godless treacherous pile of all things unpleasant.

Good job killing me ;)
 
Nice update.

To: South Africa
From: USACS
CC: World


Your racist, hateful regime has finally heard the voice of the people. People that want to join our glorious Union. We will accept any and all people that wish to join our Revolution. You're government is no longer to be recognized as the legitimate ruler of those regions on revolt. We would be happy to work out establishing a state specifically for those that wish to toil in there own racism and failures, but a majority of the nation clearly wishes for annexation.
 
OOC: It would appear my internet did not send the revisions to Imago.
 
To: Russia
From: USACS on behalf of LIARS


We propose this.

Treaty of Helsinki said:
scaled.php


-Peace between liars and Russia will be established.
-The current Russian government is to be abolished
-In it's place, a new Soviet government will be elected by local Soviets elected by Worker Unions. This new nation will be admitted into the LIARS alliance.
-The Ukraine shall gain it's independence, and be admitted to LIARS.
-The People of Central Asia will gain there own independence, elect there own Soviet government and join LIARS.
-The German Nation will acquire the lands shown on the map.
-The Japanese Empire will acquire the lands shown on the map.
-The nations of USACS, Germany, the Baltic Confederacy and Japan can all oversea the construction and establishment of the new nations.

Thoughts Baltics?
 
2054 Israeli Election Year

Next year, Israel will go through a change in government. Knesset seats will be up for voting, and a new Prime Minister will be elected. Seeing as the Israeli constitution only allows for a single four-year term for prime minister, Sharett is not permitted to run again, which may be the only advantage that his centrist Likudama party has in the coming election, where they currently hold 71 of the 130 seats in the Knesset. It is believed that the Likudama may run former Israeli Supreme Court justice Ravi Goldberg, the son of immigrant Jews from the Atlantic Kingdom, for the position of Prime Minister.

Prospects for the nationalist right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu, however, look rosy. While no formal candidate for Prime Minister has been announced, the Beiteinu have already put forward a hard-charging platform, blasting the timidness of the Sharett regime and promising the utter elimination of the Lehi Terrorists, and the security of the Israeli nation against outside forces. The Beiteinu party has also received the support of the Zion Party, which is formed of ex-Lehi party members who bolted from the group when it turned terrorist, and a surprising amount of support amongst moderate Muslims thanks to its hard-charging stance against the Lehi.
 
Agent you backstabbing Muslim treacherous no good jihad-fighting son of a hamster bastard lame no neck cheating godless treacherous pile of all things unpleasant.

Good job killing me ;)

I hope you keep playing somewhere in this NES. I enjoyed you coming up with the idea of the Order.

To: USACS
From: Balt Confederacy


As ever, we wish that Lithuania (and Latvia, in this incarnation of the map) would go to us, but if necessary, we would sign that treaty. You did a lot for us during the war.
 
To: The Balt Confederacy
From: USACS


After conferring with Germany, Latvia would be acceptable, Lithuania no.

OOC: Responses from South Africa and Russia?
 
To: USACS
From: South Africa


Leave us with the Cape (the southwest quarter the government holds), and you may have the ungrateful lands.

To: USACS
From: Russia


Leave us to our own government in what will remain of Russia, and we will agree to the rest.
 
To: Russia
From: USACS

We suppose we are fine with that, unless any other members of LIARS have an issue with it.

To: South Africa
From: USACS

Fair enough. Perhaps in your enclave you shall learn how to respect human life.
 
But that would leave the time until the next update as only three days, which is what caused the rush this time...

But a Thursday update is fine for me, so you guys pick. Thursday or Friday? Whichever choice gets the support of the thread is what I'll go with.
 
I doubt I will be able to make the necessary arrangements before a Thursday deadline. I'd prefer a week update, of course. Even an extra 12 hours to the last deadline would've let me realize that my revisions hadn't been sent, saving me a lot of grief.
 
Voting for a Friday update.

The Republican Party
Informally, the new Regency Council reigme was known to the public as the Two-Man Trumviate- nominally, the three most senior posts belonged to Guesde, Conde, and Chevenment- however with Catoriadis moved aganist his will to be Ambassador to the South American Nations (a nominal promotion, but a post of no real influence and away from Paris), Conde and Chevenment were able to manipulate Guesede and divide real power between themselves- Fillion was no longer of political significance, the Emperor (Napoleon X) was too young, and although Conde and Chevenment were opposed to each politically no other rivals were left.

By this point, Conde was a changed man. No longer the figure that had advocated peace with the Incas (prior to their invasion, that is) and entered into the NEU, his sentiments were increasingly anti-monarchist and radical- fearing the power of he Emperor, he became increasingly convinced that the purity of the first French Republic should be restored.

As a result, he made an alliance with a nascent, technically illegal (and up until this point functionally outlawed) Republican Party. Advocating the forcible overthrow of the state, the Republicans were politically aware enough to realise that now was an opportune time to spread propaganda, especially in Paris where their predecessors had won before and they figured they could win again. Using the slogan "All Power to the People!", they promised immediate elections if they took power- and if they won, the renunciation of the Church loan, the legalisation of abortion and divorce, the elimination of Socialism, and the resumption of the War under the technicality that they could invade the Guineas (which the Incans would, so their propaganda claimed, be powerless to prevent).

Although Conde had once been a major figure in the supression of the Republican Party (and was still opposed to resuming the war), his influence increased rapidly due to the usefulness of the alliance- the Republican Party would spread propaganda in the streets and begin building a revolutionary movement, whilst Conde would block or slow down Chevenment's attempts to supress the revolutionary efforts using the argument that any proactive measure would trigger the revolt (and claiming privately to Guesde that the Republicans were in fact a minor problem being used by Chevenment as a pretext to implement measures that, as the new Minister for Security, he could use to take power for himself).
 
Friday would be easier for me, but I can do Thursday. If it is up for vote, I officially endorse Friday.
 
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