alex994
Hail Divine Emperor!
OOC: Yeah, I saw that in the Chinese newspaper when I was in the city. They were both apparently around 37-39. My aunt and uncle were somehow very surprised by that little piece of information.
TNESII: Et In Arcadia Ego
- Thread starter Thlayli
- Start date
I'm disappointed Thy, you could have dragged this out for another month or so of agonising update hints
Y'know, he hasn't actually updated yet.
Kraznaya
Princeps
I think we're at running joke territory for this NES. As such it will no longer be in Thlayli's best interest to update since he would then be undermining his NES's position in lore.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Please. LINESII and N3S have had equally long update waits, and no one is getting angry at their mods. I'm almost done with the update anyways and not posting it would be a waste of work. 
Glad to see I'm back in your sig, Kraz.
Glad to see I'm back in your sig, Kraz.
alex994
Hail Divine Emperor!
OOC: Their mods are less.. flamboyant and physically accessible Before 6 am this morning? 
Before 6 am this morning?
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Long running tradition is I still consider it "today" until I go to sleep.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
I still see you posting and no update.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Sigh. I could have posted a crappy update weeks, eh, months ago. I just haven't had the time (and yes, the work ethic) to put in the hours of work this update deserves. Me being me, I ratchet up the hype-o-meter again and THEN start working. Great planning, I know.
And yes, every player needs their moment in the sun, even if they only made minor domestic reforms, because not doing that would be MEAN.
Three major battles this turn, all decisive one way or another:
Battle of Saratov
Battle of Settler's Butte
Third Battle of Peking
So, another delay. Are you really surprised? I have a calculus test tomorrow that I spent most of tonight studying for. I am going to update this bastard tomorrow or die. You'll thank me, hopefully. The update will be worth the wait, I promise you that.
Oh yeah. Please hold off on posting in this thread until the update is posted. Thanks.
And yes, every player needs their moment in the sun, even if they only made minor domestic reforms, because not doing that would be MEAN.
Three major battles this turn, all decisive one way or another:
Battle of Saratov
Battle of Settler's Butte
Third Battle of Peking
So, another delay. Are you really surprised? I have a calculus test tomorrow that I spent most of tonight studying for. I am going to update this bastard tomorrow or die. You'll thank me, hopefully. The update will be worth the wait, I promise you that.
Oh yeah. Please hold off on posting in this thread until the update is posted. Thanks.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Update 2: Fanfare, or, Imperium, Interrupted
1901
In which a second great wave of unrest begins in Europe, only partially mitigated by new reforms, as wars sweep across both the newest and oldest of continents. The first sprinkling of blood falls upon the Old World, while matters in Asia grow more convoluted by the day. In the new world, a great clash of Kingdom, Republic and Shogunate spills blood on still virgin lands…
---
Part the First: Arbitration by Force
Europe’s domestic troubles began anew when burning rags stuffed into bottles of cheap alcohol were thrown through a storefront window in Milan. The resulting dark cloud of smoke served as a beacon for strikers, who poured into the narrow streets of that once-Imperial city with the furor of a mob in heat. Prominent loyal industrialists were strung up from the lampposts, the police were met with gunfire and soon fled entirely, and banners of red and blue soon streamed from open windows, proclaiming a new revolutionary order.
These events would come to be known as the Po Risings.
Outside of Italy, telekinesis and post-horse soon carried the news to the European capitals, moving faster even than common word of mouth. This crisis, combined with several public outcries against child labor and industrial corruption in the first few months of 1901, legitimized the cause of reformist parties across the Continent, and sped the pace of social reform which the conservative-dominated governments of Central and Eastern Europe cautiously endorsed. Even the Council of Regents in France made some minor alterations in policy. By the end of 1901, however, natural backlash from the excesses of the Italian violence forged the general political consensus among European leadership that the status quo was infinitely preferable to any sort of social upheaval.
The banners of the ‘Arbitrated Republic’ soon covered municipal buildings all along the Po. Apparently foreign weapons from multiple sources had been acquired for or by the rebels, and several local garrisons had rioted, supporting the partisans and killing or imprisoning their officers. The Castiglioni government, roused out of its’ complacency of the past few years, declared martial law, sacking several prominent defense officials and sweeping out corrupt elements among the police force. Additionally, the Presidency took supreme legislative authority, disbanding the legislature until the end of the ‘emergency’, read: indefinitely. This would have unforeseen consequences.
These last-minute reforms slowed the expansion of the rebellion, but came far too late to stop it. What remained of Castiglioni’s government vastly boosted the powers of the military, and created a new military police with sweeping arrest powers, modeled on those of the French. Urban uprisings in Florence and Naples were put down, as the Presidium empowered counter-revolutionary militias to root out any signs of local Arbeitist support.
This situation would be complicated when Castiglioni himself was deposed by a cadre of elite military officials, eliminating the last vestiges of civilian rule in Rome and replacing it with a military dictatorship, with support from the ‘Sectioni Nuovo’ military police/gendarmerie, Castiglioni’s own creation. The Presidium lived on in name, but had effectively purged the remnants of the republican government, all the former civilian roles in the hands of military officers. The nation soon plunged into further chaos, as the militarists, unready to challenge the Arbeitists directly, crushed lingering loyalist republican regiments, and consolidating control over the provincial garrisons and police forces.
Confusing matters further, Castiglioni escaped military custody, fleeing to the south, where republican sentiment continued to run high. Both the Presidium and the remnants of the old Republic oppose the Arbitrated Republic, which appealed to the working class across Europe as it began a frantic military buildup. Pope Celestine VIII, an aging Fleming originally elected as a compromise candidate, has cautiously endorsed the Presidium, perhaps due to the lack of a stable alternative. Castiglioni’s cadre in Taranto is very much a rump state, holding out for foreign support as continued armed resistance to the Presidium is unlikely.
---
The decision of Khan Tegus to legally rout Tverian business interests operating in his country was generally regarded as an intelligent move. It reduced the influence of the corrupt, Tverianized western bureaucracy, while increasing central authority, and most importantly, the prestige of the Khan.
It was a clever move. However, we often find that interactions between nations are much like interactions between men. When faced with clever men playing to their strengths, strong men will play to theirs. A man winning at cards, whether fairly or unfairly, will soon find himself punched in the face but a less skilled player, who nonetheless wins the stakes as the clever one reels from the room with a bloody nose.
Mikhail’s invasion of the Golden Horde was just such a punch.
In this case, the Tverian Imperator (or whatever you call him) had the perfect casus belli, trumped up in state-owned newspapers, of innocent Tverian burghers sent fleeing for their lives by the monopolizing tendencies of the Khan, preventing noble, utterly altruistic efforts to enlighten his people through the spread of free trade and industry. Almost all of it was bollocks, as said burghers were ‘incentivized’ to sell their businesses, but what good businessman doesn’t play both sides? Tverian industrialists signed on to the propaganda effort. Once the outrage percolated down through society, rumors of a Mongol ‘grain embargo’ to further cow Tver into accepting economic subservience made even the common people, more sensitive than any other to the price of bread, clamor for war.
So, ever so reluctantly and with great sadness, Mikhail ordered the soldiers of Tver into battle. For, according to the unanimous declaration of the Tverian Government, ‘grievous harassment and seizure of Tverian business interests in the Territories of the Khan,” Tegus was about to learn the price of questioning a vassal-master relationship that had existed for almost a century.
The Tverian strategy focused on securing the lower Volga and the industrialized region of the western Horde in a lightning assault. Unprepared by the speed and numbers the Ruthenians were bringing to bear, the Khanate’s goal was simply to survive…for the moment. Tribal militias of more dubious loyalty were fanned out to resist the northern flanks of the Tverian advance by harassment, while the more modernized, uniformed guards concentrated to protect the capital region.
The battles began as Tverian skirmishers routed a large, Slavo-Turkic provincial army (of questionable loyalties) at Saratov, while the Khan’s Guard blunted an initial rush of hussars to threaten Sarai itself. The southern flank of the Tverian advance met little resistance as it swept down the Volga, placing Astrakhan under siege, even as Tegus’s Kurultai began to council a full withdrawal to the Kazakh steppes. The Horde position was undermined in part by the defection of several regional governors, who had always been of questionable loyalty to the Khanate to begin with. The Khan’s modernization program had truly not advanced enough to allow the Horde’s forces to contest pitched battles with Tver.
The rush of Uighur reinforcements withdrawing from the conflict in China was a welcome respite for the Khan. But the Tverian advance was masterfully executed. Three Tverian armies closed pincer-like on the capital, one advancing northwest from Astrakhan after having stormed the city, a second descending attempting to sweep down the eastern bank of the Yaik, and a third frontal assault heading towards the capital itself. Tegus’ decision to evacuate his court and salvage most of his forces was the best possible decision given the circumstances.
The Tverian armies spent much of the rest of the campaigning season mopping up resistance between the Volga and the Yaik, and attempting to pacify the truly massive area they had conquered. Once the last remnants of partisan resistance had been eliminated, a secondary drive to the Aral Sea was attempted. This was harassed heavily by local tribesmen and irregular elements loyal to Tegus, and the offensive petered out when Tverian generals realized that the Khan was nowhere in sight.
Tegus himself had retreated to Central Asia, where he was forced to crush a series of internal challenges to his authority from among the various Turkic tribes. The staunch support of the Uighurs was essential in keeping the Khan from being replaced by the tribes furious with his defeat. For the moment, the remainder of the confederacy appears to be holding, but pockets of unrest still remain. Tverian commanders were content to watch the internal bickering of the Horde while integrating the western lands, flooding them with ethnically-Tverian colonists and reforming the corrupt governorates bayonet-style. Whether or not the Khanate recovers or disintegrates, Tverian generals remain confident that after such a severe thrashing, Tegus’ has little chance of threatening the kingdom’s gains.
Either way, the Golden Horde is in dire straits.
Groups of Sibir tribesmen besieged the northeastern Tverian outposts on their own initiative, but the garrisons are well supplied and expect relief in the spring.
---
Sundry European governments were paralyzed by the twin crises in Italy and the Golden Horde. As both wars intensified, France remained chillingly quiet on the diplomatic front, waiting for the situation to evolve further, and see the reactions of its’ various neighbors. European powers are unsure whether France, the Imperials, or Egypt are behind the Italian rebellions, but seem to be split between revulsion against the Arbeitist revolutionaries, and revulsion against the militarist Presidium.
For the Holy Roman Empire, a curious diplomatic situation emerged. Initial threats were minor, as garrisons in the Italian Alpine areas mostly like to rebel were easily strengthened. However, despite the Reichstag’s new efforts for worker compensation and benefits, several of which were mitigated or lessened by conservative elements in the legislature, major protests and demonstrations continued to spread across the nation, in an odd form of solidarity for the Italian Arbeitists, who were increasingly broadcasting their message of social change. These illegal meetings were dispersed, naturally, but the domestic unrest gave pause to the Empire’s leaders.
A defensive pact had been agreed upon by the Golden Horde and Imperial representatives. However, with the threat of Arbeitist revolution just to their south, final approval of the treaty was delayed. Imperial leadership knew that signing of the pact would mean almost certain war with Tver, and if the Arbitrated Republic attempted to extend its’ influence into the Alps, the still-restive Czech provinces, or Germany itself, simultaneous with the French threat, could a war with Tver truly be countenanced? Either way, the decision of the Emperor is awaited on final approval or dismissal of the pact. Even if it is approved, the continued existence of the Horde as a coherent polity is very much in doubt.
In France, Galician and Leonese workers rose up in violent protest against the French administration of their provinces, and largely in sympathy with the Arbeitist revolutionaries. Several of the workers demonstrations were quite similar to those taking place in Italy the year before the Po Risings. Scattered attacks on police and government buildings occurred for about a month before the Oreilles de Dieu swept in and brutally eliminated the most vocal protesters. Even so, tensions in this region are hovering just below the surface.
1901
In which a second great wave of unrest begins in Europe, only partially mitigated by new reforms, as wars sweep across both the newest and oldest of continents. The first sprinkling of blood falls upon the Old World, while matters in Asia grow more convoluted by the day. In the new world, a great clash of Kingdom, Republic and Shogunate spills blood on still virgin lands…
---
Part the First: Arbitration by Force
Europe’s domestic troubles began anew when burning rags stuffed into bottles of cheap alcohol were thrown through a storefront window in Milan. The resulting dark cloud of smoke served as a beacon for strikers, who poured into the narrow streets of that once-Imperial city with the furor of a mob in heat. Prominent loyal industrialists were strung up from the lampposts, the police were met with gunfire and soon fled entirely, and banners of red and blue soon streamed from open windows, proclaiming a new revolutionary order.
These events would come to be known as the Po Risings.
Outside of Italy, telekinesis and post-horse soon carried the news to the European capitals, moving faster even than common word of mouth. This crisis, combined with several public outcries against child labor and industrial corruption in the first few months of 1901, legitimized the cause of reformist parties across the Continent, and sped the pace of social reform which the conservative-dominated governments of Central and Eastern Europe cautiously endorsed. Even the Council of Regents in France made some minor alterations in policy. By the end of 1901, however, natural backlash from the excesses of the Italian violence forged the general political consensus among European leadership that the status quo was infinitely preferable to any sort of social upheaval.
The banners of the ‘Arbitrated Republic’ soon covered municipal buildings all along the Po. Apparently foreign weapons from multiple sources had been acquired for or by the rebels, and several local garrisons had rioted, supporting the partisans and killing or imprisoning their officers. The Castiglioni government, roused out of its’ complacency of the past few years, declared martial law, sacking several prominent defense officials and sweeping out corrupt elements among the police force. Additionally, the Presidency took supreme legislative authority, disbanding the legislature until the end of the ‘emergency’, read: indefinitely. This would have unforeseen consequences.
These last-minute reforms slowed the expansion of the rebellion, but came far too late to stop it. What remained of Castiglioni’s government vastly boosted the powers of the military, and created a new military police with sweeping arrest powers, modeled on those of the French. Urban uprisings in Florence and Naples were put down, as the Presidium empowered counter-revolutionary militias to root out any signs of local Arbeitist support.
This situation would be complicated when Castiglioni himself was deposed by a cadre of elite military officials, eliminating the last vestiges of civilian rule in Rome and replacing it with a military dictatorship, with support from the ‘Sectioni Nuovo’ military police/gendarmerie, Castiglioni’s own creation. The Presidium lived on in name, but had effectively purged the remnants of the republican government, all the former civilian roles in the hands of military officers. The nation soon plunged into further chaos, as the militarists, unready to challenge the Arbeitists directly, crushed lingering loyalist republican regiments, and consolidating control over the provincial garrisons and police forces.
Confusing matters further, Castiglioni escaped military custody, fleeing to the south, where republican sentiment continued to run high. Both the Presidium and the remnants of the old Republic oppose the Arbitrated Republic, which appealed to the working class across Europe as it began a frantic military buildup. Pope Celestine VIII, an aging Fleming originally elected as a compromise candidate, has cautiously endorsed the Presidium, perhaps due to the lack of a stable alternative. Castiglioni’s cadre in Taranto is very much a rump state, holding out for foreign support as continued armed resistance to the Presidium is unlikely.
---
The decision of Khan Tegus to legally rout Tverian business interests operating in his country was generally regarded as an intelligent move. It reduced the influence of the corrupt, Tverianized western bureaucracy, while increasing central authority, and most importantly, the prestige of the Khan.
It was a clever move. However, we often find that interactions between nations are much like interactions between men. When faced with clever men playing to their strengths, strong men will play to theirs. A man winning at cards, whether fairly or unfairly, will soon find himself punched in the face but a less skilled player, who nonetheless wins the stakes as the clever one reels from the room with a bloody nose.
Mikhail’s invasion of the Golden Horde was just such a punch.
In this case, the Tverian Imperator (or whatever you call him) had the perfect casus belli, trumped up in state-owned newspapers, of innocent Tverian burghers sent fleeing for their lives by the monopolizing tendencies of the Khan, preventing noble, utterly altruistic efforts to enlighten his people through the spread of free trade and industry. Almost all of it was bollocks, as said burghers were ‘incentivized’ to sell their businesses, but what good businessman doesn’t play both sides? Tverian industrialists signed on to the propaganda effort. Once the outrage percolated down through society, rumors of a Mongol ‘grain embargo’ to further cow Tver into accepting economic subservience made even the common people, more sensitive than any other to the price of bread, clamor for war.
So, ever so reluctantly and with great sadness, Mikhail ordered the soldiers of Tver into battle. For, according to the unanimous declaration of the Tverian Government, ‘grievous harassment and seizure of Tverian business interests in the Territories of the Khan,” Tegus was about to learn the price of questioning a vassal-master relationship that had existed for almost a century.
The Tverian strategy focused on securing the lower Volga and the industrialized region of the western Horde in a lightning assault. Unprepared by the speed and numbers the Ruthenians were bringing to bear, the Khanate’s goal was simply to survive…for the moment. Tribal militias of more dubious loyalty were fanned out to resist the northern flanks of the Tverian advance by harassment, while the more modernized, uniformed guards concentrated to protect the capital region.
The battles began as Tverian skirmishers routed a large, Slavo-Turkic provincial army (of questionable loyalties) at Saratov, while the Khan’s Guard blunted an initial rush of hussars to threaten Sarai itself. The southern flank of the Tverian advance met little resistance as it swept down the Volga, placing Astrakhan under siege, even as Tegus’s Kurultai began to council a full withdrawal to the Kazakh steppes. The Horde position was undermined in part by the defection of several regional governors, who had always been of questionable loyalty to the Khanate to begin with. The Khan’s modernization program had truly not advanced enough to allow the Horde’s forces to contest pitched battles with Tver.
The rush of Uighur reinforcements withdrawing from the conflict in China was a welcome respite for the Khan. But the Tverian advance was masterfully executed. Three Tverian armies closed pincer-like on the capital, one advancing northwest from Astrakhan after having stormed the city, a second descending attempting to sweep down the eastern bank of the Yaik, and a third frontal assault heading towards the capital itself. Tegus’ decision to evacuate his court and salvage most of his forces was the best possible decision given the circumstances.
The Tverian armies spent much of the rest of the campaigning season mopping up resistance between the Volga and the Yaik, and attempting to pacify the truly massive area they had conquered. Once the last remnants of partisan resistance had been eliminated, a secondary drive to the Aral Sea was attempted. This was harassed heavily by local tribesmen and irregular elements loyal to Tegus, and the offensive petered out when Tverian generals realized that the Khan was nowhere in sight.
Tegus himself had retreated to Central Asia, where he was forced to crush a series of internal challenges to his authority from among the various Turkic tribes. The staunch support of the Uighurs was essential in keeping the Khan from being replaced by the tribes furious with his defeat. For the moment, the remainder of the confederacy appears to be holding, but pockets of unrest still remain. Tverian commanders were content to watch the internal bickering of the Horde while integrating the western lands, flooding them with ethnically-Tverian colonists and reforming the corrupt governorates bayonet-style. Whether or not the Khanate recovers or disintegrates, Tverian generals remain confident that after such a severe thrashing, Tegus’ has little chance of threatening the kingdom’s gains.
Either way, the Golden Horde is in dire straits.
Groups of Sibir tribesmen besieged the northeastern Tverian outposts on their own initiative, but the garrisons are well supplied and expect relief in the spring.
---
Sundry European governments were paralyzed by the twin crises in Italy and the Golden Horde. As both wars intensified, France remained chillingly quiet on the diplomatic front, waiting for the situation to evolve further, and see the reactions of its’ various neighbors. European powers are unsure whether France, the Imperials, or Egypt are behind the Italian rebellions, but seem to be split between revulsion against the Arbeitist revolutionaries, and revulsion against the militarist Presidium.
For the Holy Roman Empire, a curious diplomatic situation emerged. Initial threats were minor, as garrisons in the Italian Alpine areas mostly like to rebel were easily strengthened. However, despite the Reichstag’s new efforts for worker compensation and benefits, several of which were mitigated or lessened by conservative elements in the legislature, major protests and demonstrations continued to spread across the nation, in an odd form of solidarity for the Italian Arbeitists, who were increasingly broadcasting their message of social change. These illegal meetings were dispersed, naturally, but the domestic unrest gave pause to the Empire’s leaders.
A defensive pact had been agreed upon by the Golden Horde and Imperial representatives. However, with the threat of Arbeitist revolution just to their south, final approval of the treaty was delayed. Imperial leadership knew that signing of the pact would mean almost certain war with Tver, and if the Arbitrated Republic attempted to extend its’ influence into the Alps, the still-restive Czech provinces, or Germany itself, simultaneous with the French threat, could a war with Tver truly be countenanced? Either way, the decision of the Emperor is awaited on final approval or dismissal of the pact. Even if it is approved, the continued existence of the Horde as a coherent polity is very much in doubt.
In France, Galician and Leonese workers rose up in violent protest against the French administration of their provinces, and largely in sympathy with the Arbeitist revolutionaries. Several of the workers demonstrations were quite similar to those taking place in Italy the year before the Po Risings. Scattered attacks on police and government buildings occurred for about a month before the Oreilles de Dieu swept in and brutally eliminated the most vocal protesters. Even so, tensions in this region are hovering just below the surface.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Part the Second: Across the Seas of Spice
The War of the Two Dynasties swung into its’ second year, with war exhaustion beginning to weigh on both sides. Both emperors claimed minor victories as the northern Chinese winter gave way to spring: The Uighurs withdrew due to events in the west, signing a white peace with Emperor Wanglong, which bolstered the Qing position in the steppe. The Xin Ming, on the other hand, touted a series of diplomatic recognitions from major foreign powers, including Tver and Arcadia. Of course, due to this, relations with Japan grew much frostier. (See Spotlight)
Most controversially, the Imperial Government at Lisbon abruptly ordered the Viceroy of Guangzhou to stop providing the Qing with supplies, and transfer them to the Xin Ming. The Viceroy was appalled at being ordered to ship weapons and ammunition to the very nation that had been supporting peasant unrest in Portuguese China for more than a decade, and blatantly refused the “request” of the Empress. The Lisbon government went through a minor upheaval at the insurrection, but took the Viceroy’s recommendation. Even so, aid to the Qing was cut off, and not resumed. This would be the first blow against the Qing war effort, and it was significant.
The new campaigning season began with a ferocious battle at Xi’an, which had been besieged by Emperor Wanglong’s forces the entire winter and was near the breaking point. If the city fell, Qing forces could flank the Ming defenses on the Huang He, cutting off the offensive into Shaanxi entirely. Recognizing this threat, Emperor Nancheng personally led the massive relief army, confronting Wanglong directly at Xi’an as the defenders of the city attempted a breakout. In an iconic battle that would be studied in later years, the disciplined, Flemish-trained Ming marksmen drove off repeated flanking attempts by Manchu cavalry, preserving the integrity of the army which successfully relieved the city. His own supply lines extended and outnumbered by the Ming, the Qing Emperor was forced to withdraw his forces to Inner Mongolia.
The impetus of the campaign now shifted north, where a huge flow of supplies and reinforcements could now move unimpeded into Shaanxi. Wanglong had ordered the creation of several more reserve armies around the capital. Unfortunately, they were staffed almost entirely with conscripts. News of Ming victories to the south emboldened defections among the Han serving in Qing armies, and pockets of anti-Qing resistance around Peking continued to tie down troops. Most notably, a reportedly massive Ming bribe caused a major mutiny among the Imperial New Army, the main garrison force of the capital region. While it was put down in typically brutal Qing fashion, the damage had been done. Nancheng ordered a final assault on the Imperial City, to be taken at all costs.
Tverian-made artillery ripped through the fortifications of the capital region, which despite the damage of the mutiny continued to hold out. The reformed Manchurian officer corps was impervious to bribery attempts, and repelled the first frontal assaults on the city, making good use of their limited artillery. The superior training and equipment of the Xin Ming began to show, however, as yet another local rebellion allowed an opportunistic attack to capture Tianjin, exposing the capital’s southern flank. Ming troops inexorably encircled Peking from all sides, before pushing into city itself. Individual Qing units laid ambushes, fortified prefectures and public buildings, and made Ming forces pay in blood for each street cleared of resistance. As the brutal street fighting devastated much of the city, an explosive heavy mortar shell plowed through the Hall of Supreme Harmony itself. The burning silhouette of the Forbidden City, captured by a German using new photographic technology, would become one of the most widely recognized and haunting images of the 20th century.
Peking was left in ruins, but firmly in the hands of its’ exhausted Ming liberators. The capital region was secured, but the battered remnants of the New Imperial Army had coalesced with one of Wanglong’s Manchurian reserve forces to form the New Northern Army, which brought further Ming advances to a standstill. With all the rebellious, Han-majority areas now under Ming control, continued advances into more hostile territory were postponed due to sheer exhaustion. Of course, characteristically, Emperor Wanglong was nowhere to be found. As per usual, the Qing Emperor had other plans.
From Inner Mongolia, the crafty and somewhat unhinged Qing ruler had gathered his western forces. Originally he had planned to hold them in reserve, but the Ming had committed their entire force to a massive offensive in the east. It was time to make the Ming howl for their preoccupation with Peking. Detaching the most elite elements of his personal guard, he moved up to the headwaters of the Huang He, and then passed into the rugged borderlands between Tibet and China. The army’s exact route was unknown, and most likely crossed into Tibet at several points. Finally, the Qing force of several thousand cavalry appeared out of the northwest, not unlike the Manchu raiders of centuries past.
An unwary Chengdu was caught by surprise. The garrison, reduced due to the northern offensive, was slaughtered, and the Qing ran riot through the Xin Ming capital, ransacking Nancheng’s palace and doing unfortunate things to Nancheng’s concubines. Several reserve forces soon rushed up from the Yangtze and the border with the Viceroyalty of Guangzhou, but Wanglong’s force had retreated by the time of their arrival. The implication behind the invasion was all too clear: You destroy my capital, I will destroy yours. The damage of the raid was not catastrophic, but certainly more than nominal.
At this point, the Qing Empire appears to be held together by the sheer force of one man’s charisma and brutality. Emperor Nancheng holds the advantage in men and materiel, and, not counting the upper Huang He, now controls all of the core lands of China. But against a man like Wanglong, who seems determined to continue fighting from the steppe with near-fanatic loyalty from both Manchu and the Mongolian tribes, it seems that a permanent victory for the Xin Ming Empire will remain out of reach for some time.
---
Refreshingly unlike the vast number of new or ongoing conflicts across the world, the Third Gangetic War drew to a rapid conclusion as menacing threats from Hyderabad gave pause to Bengal’s expansion. After some minor skirmishing, negotiations produced the Pact of Varanasi with the Rajput Confederacy. The remaining unconquered Malla territories were inducted as a semi-autonomous unit into the Rajput dominions, in return for a large Malla tribute. Bengal received recognition by the Rajputs of their existing conquests, including Varanasi, a major prestige victory for the Bengalese. Additionally, the two powers pledged jointly to “sweep heathen influence from India, like a fly from the elephant’s rump.” The Portuguese Viceroy in Goa has called for a larger garrison from the metropol, alarmed at the perceived threat. Western powers and Hyderabad alike are alert to danger from the north in the coming years.
Other doings in the Indian Ocean included the continuing modernization of the Knights of the Nile. Increased moderation towards native Lankan enrollment in traditionally European knightly roles drew the reformists toward a clash with more conservative Veneto-Norman elements in the hierarchy of the Knights, but the Grand Master convinced the orders that preventing heathen influence by allowing native converts a larger role was worth the sacrifice.
The Knights did score a major victory with a diplomatic coup at Aleste, the Indo-Venetian trading port on the island of Sumatra. A settler colony with a significant Venetian population dating back hundreds of years, the colony was reluctant to embrace either the Arbitrated Republic or the militarist Presidium, both of which they believed would interfere in the autonomy granted by the old Italian Republic. The highly Catholic colony instead chose to join the Knights, in return for continued promises of autonomy and trading rights.
The other Italian colony in the Gulf of Persia, Sapienza, was not so lucky. A partial withdrawal of the Italian garrison due to a conflict between the republican civilian administration and the militarist local commander left the area denuded of troops. Smelling blood, Jafdid-allied tribes from Arabia soon converged on the foreign settlement of Aosta, which was forced into a state of siege. With a rapidly deteriorating situation and infrequent contact with Italy, the colony has been sending out progressively more frantic pleas for help, from any corner.
Spotlight: The First Tritonic War
“Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Feds?”
-Popular Federationist rallying cry, c. 1901
By 1901, most observers were convinced that the ambitions of Arcadia would draw the Sundered Crown [1] to war in New Albion. The reacquisition of a lost province of the British Crown, assertion of supremacy over the Arcadian Kingdom’s not so distant rivals across the Sea of Triton, [2] and the tantalizing promise of a continent-spanning empire were temptations that the Arcadian leadership could not resist. Unfortunately, their preferred vehicle of annexation was the corrupt regime (though what New Albion government isn’t) of Anderson Bullworth, opposed by a broad coalition of English Catholics, immigrants, and urban dwellers, led by Hampstead Godwin. Only a scattering of backcountry Anglicans and recent Arcadian arrivals supported the Bullworth government; even so their forces were initially better organized. Both sides knew this would not last. The initial contest would be decided based on whether the Federationists could be killed quickly, before reinforcements from the Australian Confederation could arrive.
Hostilities began as the massive Arcadian war effort roused itself in the plains of northwestern Dominion [3], struggling against a railroad system that was not yet fully in place, a long and difficult supply route into New Albion and mountains clogged with snow. Even so, a massive amount of men and materiel was dedicated to bringing Arcadian infrastructure up to par as fast as possible, and they achieved measurable success. Arcadian forces were commanded by General Sir Hector Stanley, an ex-cavalry commander from the Oklahoman frontier, who managed to extricate his offensive forces from the logistical muddle and funnel them across the Salmon River [4] with an efficiently designed system of pontoon bridges. Even so, every hour spent assembling his invasion force gave the Federationists more time to organize.
With the main Arcadian offensive stalled, initial cavalry sorties sought to establish solid lines of communication with Fort Albans, which was under constant threat by Federationist partisans. They ran into determined resistance from the northern Counties, whose militias further delayed the effort to make contact with the south. Nonetheless, the tenacious Arcadian cavalry soon cleared the northern passes for the advance of the main armies. However, initial matters in the south would have to be left to the Directorate. And it is to the south that the true war began. The Federationist military was a loose collection of local militia, some quite well-trained but mostly un-uniformed, and an emerging central command, which had significant Confederation support, and Australian officers pre-inserted into the command structure as “advisors” along the Imperial model. The bulk of Australian men and materiel, a large expeditionary force en route to New Albion itself, had yet to arrive. It would be a race against time for both sides.
Hampstead Godwin, appointing powerful landowners as military commanders to incorporate their militias into the government structure, knew that he had a limited window of time before the spring melt would allow the crushing power of the Arcadians into New Albion in full. Directing his irregulars to harass the cavalry in the north, he moved to face Anderson Bullworth himself. Perhaps enacting on personal initiative, or perhaps under orders from Arcadia, Bullworth sought ambitiously to quickly crush the Federationist government at Abernathy, giving the arriving Arcadians a “liberated” countryside to pacify. So, the First Director also led his troops into the field, hoping to take the large cities of Bolton Bay, crush the Federationist core and assert his legitimacy.
Godwin himself had planned a southern attack towards Fort Albans, but the nascent Federation Army had only begun to assemble when Bullworth’s offensive began. The First Battle of Bolton Bay was fierce and indecisive, a clash of running skirmishes that accompanied a grinding, reluctant Federationist withdrawal back to the major cities. By the end of February, Abernathy was under siege, though local Australian squadrons kept the city supplied by sea. Godwin had thrown his entire military strength early into this offensive. Unfortunately, he had forgotten the County militias. While the “Army of Peter” was holed up in Abernathy by Bullworth’s forces, the “Army of Paul” had assembled itself from the southern Counties, and on the orders of Godwin, attacked Fort Albans from the south. The surprise attack took the Directorate capital by storm. Some government buildings were put to the torch, and although Directorate police managed to extricate most of the government, Bullworth was very much between the hammer and the anvil at this point.
Anderson Bullworth lost an ear at the battle of Settler’s Butte, northwest of Fort Albans, but managed to save a fragment of his army from the encircling Federationist forces. He was very much a renegade in his own country at this point, however. March dawned on the long Directorate retreat up the Central Valley, harassed by enemy militia on all sides, barely escaping capture at several points. The Directorate army had almost melted away entirely by this point, and southern New Albion was under complete Federationist control. Bullworth himself only escaped final defeat and quick scalping at Federationist hands thanks to a reconnaissance-in-force by the advancing horse of the Second Arcadian Army. The assault had finally begun.
Now the Federationist advance turned into a fighting retreat. Buoyed by their victories in the south, the army retreated in fairly good order, and local forces continued to harass the Arcadians as they flowed through the mountain passes into the Central Valley. The first Federationist attempt to stop the tide came at Essex-on-Rye. The cavalry battle went highly in favor of the Arcadians, local militia companies were driven off, and disciplined platoons of Arcadian riflemen with artillery support affected a comprehensive defeat on the inexperienced Federation Army. It seemed that all the gains of the past few months were about to be swept away, and Bolton Bay would once more be under threat.
To the vast relief of the Federationists, the Australian expeditionary force finally steamed into Abernathy harbor. Organizing the Albioners and greatly boosting morale, several corps of Confederate troops had soon established a firm defensive perimeter around the bay, quickly constructing strongpoints in the hills ringing the lowland areas, complete with a telekinetic communications apparatus and effective artillery emplacements. Several smaller forces were landed further up the coast, to distract the Arcadians and reinforce the Counties.
Detaching elements of his cavalry under the command of General Abraham Donner, Stanley himself began a meticulous advance down the central valley, while Donner’s forces were free to wreak havoc among the countryside, necessitating the withdrawal of the militias to defend their Home Counties. With their enemy's irregular support lessened, the Arcadians could continue south unhindered. As they neared Bolton Bay again, the Australians hunkered down within their fortifications. Stanley, slightly perturbed at the lack of enemy aggressiveness, moved to invest the entire bay, surrounding the core region of the Republic in a ring of Arcadian steel. Despite their Australian allies, the morale of the Federation cities turned grim as they came under siege a second time.
Arcadian forces were now fully engaged against Australian and Federationist forces…and they were slowly gaining the upper hand.
It was this moment for which Grand General Nobuyoshi Saito had waited. A combined force of Australian and Japanese troops swarmed across the border between Beikoku and Arcadia along a fifty mile front, the main thrust of their advance moving down both banks of the Salmon River. A secondary attack moved directly down the mountainous border between Albion and Arcadia. Their goal was clear: Cut off the supply route for the First and Second Armies in New Albion, and force their surrender or starvation.
The Arcadians were no fools, having left the Third Arcadian Army under the command of Sir Benjamin More to protect against this very eventuality. Even so, he was hard-pressed in the opening days of the Shogunate advance. Conceding the west bank of the Salmon, he began shelling the enemy to slow their advance, and attempts to cross the river were met with punishing repulsion. Even so, he was forced to split his attention between stopping the advance towards the main garrison center and supply depot at Essex, [5] and keeping the supply lines through the Windward Range [6] secure. To make matters worse, Australian irregulars infiltrated into northwestern Arcadia, targeting the infrastructure that had been so painstakingly built over the past two years. Railroad tracks were ripped up, way stations burned, and chaos sowed. His forces overstretched with limiting the enemy’s advances into Arcadia itself, More sent a frantic communiqué south, informing Stanley that with winter fast approaching, he could only keep the passes open so long.
General Stanley was faced with a grim choice: Potentially strike the final blow against the Albioners and Australians, and win New Albion, but risk losing his supply route and much of Northwestern Arcadia besides, or pull back and attempt to blunt the Japanese offensive. Ever the aggressive commander, Stanley retrenched his rearguard in the northern Central Valley, and swung the remainder of his forces north, dividing them into two prongs of attack. One cleared and held the passes between the Windward Range and the Seraph Mountains. [7] The other slammed into southern Beikoku itself, driving to meet the Firth River [8] from the south. Despite the growing snows, the campaign season did not end as much as pause, with all sides preparing the next strike in a war which has very much spread beyond New Albion.
[1] – Sundered Crown, a popular colloquial name for the House of Northumbria, sundered from its’ native Albion. The term is a poetic euphemism since the Liberation of Britain.
[2] – Triton’s Sea = Pacific Ocean
[3] – Dominion = Arcadian, English-heritage “core lands,” roughly equivalent to Canada + Northeastern/Great Lakes U.S.
[4] – Salmon River = Snake River
[5] – Essex = Near OTL Boise
[6] – Windward Range = OTL Cascades
[7] – Seraph Mountains = Sierra Nevada, named by a rather zealous 18th century English missionary.
[8] - Firth River = Columbia River
Other Reference Points: Fort Albans is located near OTL San Jose, Abernathy is located at OTL San Francisco.
The War of the Two Dynasties swung into its’ second year, with war exhaustion beginning to weigh on both sides. Both emperors claimed minor victories as the northern Chinese winter gave way to spring: The Uighurs withdrew due to events in the west, signing a white peace with Emperor Wanglong, which bolstered the Qing position in the steppe. The Xin Ming, on the other hand, touted a series of diplomatic recognitions from major foreign powers, including Tver and Arcadia. Of course, due to this, relations with Japan grew much frostier. (See Spotlight)
Most controversially, the Imperial Government at Lisbon abruptly ordered the Viceroy of Guangzhou to stop providing the Qing with supplies, and transfer them to the Xin Ming. The Viceroy was appalled at being ordered to ship weapons and ammunition to the very nation that had been supporting peasant unrest in Portuguese China for more than a decade, and blatantly refused the “request” of the Empress. The Lisbon government went through a minor upheaval at the insurrection, but took the Viceroy’s recommendation. Even so, aid to the Qing was cut off, and not resumed. This would be the first blow against the Qing war effort, and it was significant.
The new campaigning season began with a ferocious battle at Xi’an, which had been besieged by Emperor Wanglong’s forces the entire winter and was near the breaking point. If the city fell, Qing forces could flank the Ming defenses on the Huang He, cutting off the offensive into Shaanxi entirely. Recognizing this threat, Emperor Nancheng personally led the massive relief army, confronting Wanglong directly at Xi’an as the defenders of the city attempted a breakout. In an iconic battle that would be studied in later years, the disciplined, Flemish-trained Ming marksmen drove off repeated flanking attempts by Manchu cavalry, preserving the integrity of the army which successfully relieved the city. His own supply lines extended and outnumbered by the Ming, the Qing Emperor was forced to withdraw his forces to Inner Mongolia.
The impetus of the campaign now shifted north, where a huge flow of supplies and reinforcements could now move unimpeded into Shaanxi. Wanglong had ordered the creation of several more reserve armies around the capital. Unfortunately, they were staffed almost entirely with conscripts. News of Ming victories to the south emboldened defections among the Han serving in Qing armies, and pockets of anti-Qing resistance around Peking continued to tie down troops. Most notably, a reportedly massive Ming bribe caused a major mutiny among the Imperial New Army, the main garrison force of the capital region. While it was put down in typically brutal Qing fashion, the damage had been done. Nancheng ordered a final assault on the Imperial City, to be taken at all costs.
Tverian-made artillery ripped through the fortifications of the capital region, which despite the damage of the mutiny continued to hold out. The reformed Manchurian officer corps was impervious to bribery attempts, and repelled the first frontal assaults on the city, making good use of their limited artillery. The superior training and equipment of the Xin Ming began to show, however, as yet another local rebellion allowed an opportunistic attack to capture Tianjin, exposing the capital’s southern flank. Ming troops inexorably encircled Peking from all sides, before pushing into city itself. Individual Qing units laid ambushes, fortified prefectures and public buildings, and made Ming forces pay in blood for each street cleared of resistance. As the brutal street fighting devastated much of the city, an explosive heavy mortar shell plowed through the Hall of Supreme Harmony itself. The burning silhouette of the Forbidden City, captured by a German using new photographic technology, would become one of the most widely recognized and haunting images of the 20th century.
Peking was left in ruins, but firmly in the hands of its’ exhausted Ming liberators. The capital region was secured, but the battered remnants of the New Imperial Army had coalesced with one of Wanglong’s Manchurian reserve forces to form the New Northern Army, which brought further Ming advances to a standstill. With all the rebellious, Han-majority areas now under Ming control, continued advances into more hostile territory were postponed due to sheer exhaustion. Of course, characteristically, Emperor Wanglong was nowhere to be found. As per usual, the Qing Emperor had other plans.
From Inner Mongolia, the crafty and somewhat unhinged Qing ruler had gathered his western forces. Originally he had planned to hold them in reserve, but the Ming had committed their entire force to a massive offensive in the east. It was time to make the Ming howl for their preoccupation with Peking. Detaching the most elite elements of his personal guard, he moved up to the headwaters of the Huang He, and then passed into the rugged borderlands between Tibet and China. The army’s exact route was unknown, and most likely crossed into Tibet at several points. Finally, the Qing force of several thousand cavalry appeared out of the northwest, not unlike the Manchu raiders of centuries past.
An unwary Chengdu was caught by surprise. The garrison, reduced due to the northern offensive, was slaughtered, and the Qing ran riot through the Xin Ming capital, ransacking Nancheng’s palace and doing unfortunate things to Nancheng’s concubines. Several reserve forces soon rushed up from the Yangtze and the border with the Viceroyalty of Guangzhou, but Wanglong’s force had retreated by the time of their arrival. The implication behind the invasion was all too clear: You destroy my capital, I will destroy yours. The damage of the raid was not catastrophic, but certainly more than nominal.
At this point, the Qing Empire appears to be held together by the sheer force of one man’s charisma and brutality. Emperor Nancheng holds the advantage in men and materiel, and, not counting the upper Huang He, now controls all of the core lands of China. But against a man like Wanglong, who seems determined to continue fighting from the steppe with near-fanatic loyalty from both Manchu and the Mongolian tribes, it seems that a permanent victory for the Xin Ming Empire will remain out of reach for some time.
---
Refreshingly unlike the vast number of new or ongoing conflicts across the world, the Third Gangetic War drew to a rapid conclusion as menacing threats from Hyderabad gave pause to Bengal’s expansion. After some minor skirmishing, negotiations produced the Pact of Varanasi with the Rajput Confederacy. The remaining unconquered Malla territories were inducted as a semi-autonomous unit into the Rajput dominions, in return for a large Malla tribute. Bengal received recognition by the Rajputs of their existing conquests, including Varanasi, a major prestige victory for the Bengalese. Additionally, the two powers pledged jointly to “sweep heathen influence from India, like a fly from the elephant’s rump.” The Portuguese Viceroy in Goa has called for a larger garrison from the metropol, alarmed at the perceived threat. Western powers and Hyderabad alike are alert to danger from the north in the coming years.
Other doings in the Indian Ocean included the continuing modernization of the Knights of the Nile. Increased moderation towards native Lankan enrollment in traditionally European knightly roles drew the reformists toward a clash with more conservative Veneto-Norman elements in the hierarchy of the Knights, but the Grand Master convinced the orders that preventing heathen influence by allowing native converts a larger role was worth the sacrifice.
The Knights did score a major victory with a diplomatic coup at Aleste, the Indo-Venetian trading port on the island of Sumatra. A settler colony with a significant Venetian population dating back hundreds of years, the colony was reluctant to embrace either the Arbitrated Republic or the militarist Presidium, both of which they believed would interfere in the autonomy granted by the old Italian Republic. The highly Catholic colony instead chose to join the Knights, in return for continued promises of autonomy and trading rights.
The other Italian colony in the Gulf of Persia, Sapienza, was not so lucky. A partial withdrawal of the Italian garrison due to a conflict between the republican civilian administration and the militarist local commander left the area denuded of troops. Smelling blood, Jafdid-allied tribes from Arabia soon converged on the foreign settlement of Aosta, which was forced into a state of siege. With a rapidly deteriorating situation and infrequent contact with Italy, the colony has been sending out progressively more frantic pleas for help, from any corner.
Spotlight: The First Tritonic War
“Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Feds?”
-Popular Federationist rallying cry, c. 1901
By 1901, most observers were convinced that the ambitions of Arcadia would draw the Sundered Crown [1] to war in New Albion. The reacquisition of a lost province of the British Crown, assertion of supremacy over the Arcadian Kingdom’s not so distant rivals across the Sea of Triton, [2] and the tantalizing promise of a continent-spanning empire were temptations that the Arcadian leadership could not resist. Unfortunately, their preferred vehicle of annexation was the corrupt regime (though what New Albion government isn’t) of Anderson Bullworth, opposed by a broad coalition of English Catholics, immigrants, and urban dwellers, led by Hampstead Godwin. Only a scattering of backcountry Anglicans and recent Arcadian arrivals supported the Bullworth government; even so their forces were initially better organized. Both sides knew this would not last. The initial contest would be decided based on whether the Federationists could be killed quickly, before reinforcements from the Australian Confederation could arrive.
Hostilities began as the massive Arcadian war effort roused itself in the plains of northwestern Dominion [3], struggling against a railroad system that was not yet fully in place, a long and difficult supply route into New Albion and mountains clogged with snow. Even so, a massive amount of men and materiel was dedicated to bringing Arcadian infrastructure up to par as fast as possible, and they achieved measurable success. Arcadian forces were commanded by General Sir Hector Stanley, an ex-cavalry commander from the Oklahoman frontier, who managed to extricate his offensive forces from the logistical muddle and funnel them across the Salmon River [4] with an efficiently designed system of pontoon bridges. Even so, every hour spent assembling his invasion force gave the Federationists more time to organize.
With the main Arcadian offensive stalled, initial cavalry sorties sought to establish solid lines of communication with Fort Albans, which was under constant threat by Federationist partisans. They ran into determined resistance from the northern Counties, whose militias further delayed the effort to make contact with the south. Nonetheless, the tenacious Arcadian cavalry soon cleared the northern passes for the advance of the main armies. However, initial matters in the south would have to be left to the Directorate. And it is to the south that the true war began. The Federationist military was a loose collection of local militia, some quite well-trained but mostly un-uniformed, and an emerging central command, which had significant Confederation support, and Australian officers pre-inserted into the command structure as “advisors” along the Imperial model. The bulk of Australian men and materiel, a large expeditionary force en route to New Albion itself, had yet to arrive. It would be a race against time for both sides.
Hampstead Godwin, appointing powerful landowners as military commanders to incorporate their militias into the government structure, knew that he had a limited window of time before the spring melt would allow the crushing power of the Arcadians into New Albion in full. Directing his irregulars to harass the cavalry in the north, he moved to face Anderson Bullworth himself. Perhaps enacting on personal initiative, or perhaps under orders from Arcadia, Bullworth sought ambitiously to quickly crush the Federationist government at Abernathy, giving the arriving Arcadians a “liberated” countryside to pacify. So, the First Director also led his troops into the field, hoping to take the large cities of Bolton Bay, crush the Federationist core and assert his legitimacy.
Godwin himself had planned a southern attack towards Fort Albans, but the nascent Federation Army had only begun to assemble when Bullworth’s offensive began. The First Battle of Bolton Bay was fierce and indecisive, a clash of running skirmishes that accompanied a grinding, reluctant Federationist withdrawal back to the major cities. By the end of February, Abernathy was under siege, though local Australian squadrons kept the city supplied by sea. Godwin had thrown his entire military strength early into this offensive. Unfortunately, he had forgotten the County militias. While the “Army of Peter” was holed up in Abernathy by Bullworth’s forces, the “Army of Paul” had assembled itself from the southern Counties, and on the orders of Godwin, attacked Fort Albans from the south. The surprise attack took the Directorate capital by storm. Some government buildings were put to the torch, and although Directorate police managed to extricate most of the government, Bullworth was very much between the hammer and the anvil at this point.
Anderson Bullworth lost an ear at the battle of Settler’s Butte, northwest of Fort Albans, but managed to save a fragment of his army from the encircling Federationist forces. He was very much a renegade in his own country at this point, however. March dawned on the long Directorate retreat up the Central Valley, harassed by enemy militia on all sides, barely escaping capture at several points. The Directorate army had almost melted away entirely by this point, and southern New Albion was under complete Federationist control. Bullworth himself only escaped final defeat and quick scalping at Federationist hands thanks to a reconnaissance-in-force by the advancing horse of the Second Arcadian Army. The assault had finally begun.
Now the Federationist advance turned into a fighting retreat. Buoyed by their victories in the south, the army retreated in fairly good order, and local forces continued to harass the Arcadians as they flowed through the mountain passes into the Central Valley. The first Federationist attempt to stop the tide came at Essex-on-Rye. The cavalry battle went highly in favor of the Arcadians, local militia companies were driven off, and disciplined platoons of Arcadian riflemen with artillery support affected a comprehensive defeat on the inexperienced Federation Army. It seemed that all the gains of the past few months were about to be swept away, and Bolton Bay would once more be under threat.
To the vast relief of the Federationists, the Australian expeditionary force finally steamed into Abernathy harbor. Organizing the Albioners and greatly boosting morale, several corps of Confederate troops had soon established a firm defensive perimeter around the bay, quickly constructing strongpoints in the hills ringing the lowland areas, complete with a telekinetic communications apparatus and effective artillery emplacements. Several smaller forces were landed further up the coast, to distract the Arcadians and reinforce the Counties.
Detaching elements of his cavalry under the command of General Abraham Donner, Stanley himself began a meticulous advance down the central valley, while Donner’s forces were free to wreak havoc among the countryside, necessitating the withdrawal of the militias to defend their Home Counties. With their enemy's irregular support lessened, the Arcadians could continue south unhindered. As they neared Bolton Bay again, the Australians hunkered down within their fortifications. Stanley, slightly perturbed at the lack of enemy aggressiveness, moved to invest the entire bay, surrounding the core region of the Republic in a ring of Arcadian steel. Despite their Australian allies, the morale of the Federation cities turned grim as they came under siege a second time.
Arcadian forces were now fully engaged against Australian and Federationist forces…and they were slowly gaining the upper hand.
It was this moment for which Grand General Nobuyoshi Saito had waited. A combined force of Australian and Japanese troops swarmed across the border between Beikoku and Arcadia along a fifty mile front, the main thrust of their advance moving down both banks of the Salmon River. A secondary attack moved directly down the mountainous border between Albion and Arcadia. Their goal was clear: Cut off the supply route for the First and Second Armies in New Albion, and force their surrender or starvation.
The Arcadians were no fools, having left the Third Arcadian Army under the command of Sir Benjamin More to protect against this very eventuality. Even so, he was hard-pressed in the opening days of the Shogunate advance. Conceding the west bank of the Salmon, he began shelling the enemy to slow their advance, and attempts to cross the river were met with punishing repulsion. Even so, he was forced to split his attention between stopping the advance towards the main garrison center and supply depot at Essex, [5] and keeping the supply lines through the Windward Range [6] secure. To make matters worse, Australian irregulars infiltrated into northwestern Arcadia, targeting the infrastructure that had been so painstakingly built over the past two years. Railroad tracks were ripped up, way stations burned, and chaos sowed. His forces overstretched with limiting the enemy’s advances into Arcadia itself, More sent a frantic communiqué south, informing Stanley that with winter fast approaching, he could only keep the passes open so long.
General Stanley was faced with a grim choice: Potentially strike the final blow against the Albioners and Australians, and win New Albion, but risk losing his supply route and much of Northwestern Arcadia besides, or pull back and attempt to blunt the Japanese offensive. Ever the aggressive commander, Stanley retrenched his rearguard in the northern Central Valley, and swung the remainder of his forces north, dividing them into two prongs of attack. One cleared and held the passes between the Windward Range and the Seraph Mountains. [7] The other slammed into southern Beikoku itself, driving to meet the Firth River [8] from the south. Despite the growing snows, the campaign season did not end as much as pause, with all sides preparing the next strike in a war which has very much spread beyond New Albion.
[1] – Sundered Crown, a popular colloquial name for the House of Northumbria, sundered from its’ native Albion. The term is a poetic euphemism since the Liberation of Britain.
[2] – Triton’s Sea = Pacific Ocean
[3] – Dominion = Arcadian, English-heritage “core lands,” roughly equivalent to Canada + Northeastern/Great Lakes U.S.
[4] – Salmon River = Snake River
[5] – Essex = Near OTL Boise
[6] – Windward Range = OTL Cascades
[7] – Seraph Mountains = Sierra Nevada, named by a rather zealous 18th century English missionary.
[8] - Firth River = Columbia River
Other Reference Points: Fort Albans is located near OTL San Jose, Abernathy is located at OTL San Francisco.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Spoiler O, From this day forth, my maps be posted or be nothing worth! :
Notes:
Alright, let's be honest here. I've not been a fantastic mod. Yes, partly due to college, but also due to me being a lazy ass. THANKS A LOT for sticking with me. I will keep this going for a while, promise.
Now, this update is not fully completed by anyone's standards, but you guys need something to play the game with. Casualties need to be done, as do stats. I'm going to do that all together over the course of the next month, but probably in batches, because I have finals and whatnot and I can't be chained to my computer all day.
ALSO, a lot of domestic events are getting lost in the shuffle due to the large number of time-consuming wars that take up most of the update space. You have the right to PM me for specific information about any of your endeavors, and if you wish, I can add a section to the update about all the
Since you guys have been (somewhat) flexible with me, I will be flexible with you. Orders for Update 3: 1902 can be handed in AT ANY POINT during the month of December. Or whenever I get your stats done. When your orders are in, I'll start updating. But no deadline for the time being. Seriously, take a breather, figure out what you were doing, re-connect with your allies, etc, etc. I will be reassembling a list of available NPC's, and if any players don't wish to continue on this joyous journey of althistorical fun, please let me know. Your time, effort, and creativity have been appreciated, and they will be for as long as you choose to play in my NES.
Thank you all again.
Hate to break it to you bub, but that was the 401st post of the thread.
North King
blech
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,165
The French government would like to lodge a protest with the chronicler for comparing the Italian government's martial law with the benevolent, kind, cautious, and careful French police.
Just kidding.
Nice update.
Just kidding.
Nice update.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Alrighty. Map will be up shortly.
Additional details and stuff may be added over the next day or so. Good night.
Additional details and stuff may be added over the next day or so. Good night.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
The update begins with my charming explanations for my lateness.
EDIT: I re-checked, and what the hell, it is Hampstead. Re-correcting.
EDIT2: Map is up. It uses imageshack, sorry Kraz.
Get someone to copy paste for you.To: Tver
From:The Golden Horde
Was Khan Batu's Land not enough for you!? This unprovoked aggression on the Horde will be your downfall.
To: Chernigov, Holy Roman Empire
From: The Golden Horde
The megalomaniac currently running Tver must be put to a stop before he destabilizes all of Europe and Asia.
-----------------------
For Kraz:
From:The Golden Horde
Was Khan Batu's Land not enough for you!? This unprovoked aggression on the Horde will be your downfall.
To: Chernigov, Holy Roman Empire
From: The Golden Horde
The megalomaniac currently running Tver must be put to a stop before he destabilizes all of Europe and Asia.
-----------------------
For Kraz:
Attachments
Kraznaya
Princeps
OOC: Great update, will be writing the proper diplomacy soon. The general gist of it however will be that Arcadia really hopes a cease fire can be arbitrated between the Xin Ming and the Qing in light of the Japanese vulnerability with their preoccupations in the west... and we would like to talk to our Christian allies about the treacherous Australian alliance with the scourge of God the killer of Christians. Also, bad bad Tvers.
Also, the Arcadian press has taken to referring to Stanley as Sir Hector. Please take note. :3
Also, the Arcadian press has taken to referring to Stanley as Sir Hector. Please take note. :3
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