The Kingdom of Anvegad
Summer 1836
Ministry of War, Supreme Commander's Office.

"An ambitious young fellow." Commented the Supreme Commander as he flipped through the extensive paper on military maneuvers published by Lieutenant Pavel Tarkov. "Very much in the spirit of General Strakov. Strategically offensive, tactically defensive."

"Ambitious indeed sir. Ambitious and dangerous."

"The two concepts fall hand-in-hand, lieutenant. And as dangerous as these ideas may be...." The Supreme Commander closed the folder and turned to the two lieutenants in the room with him, who while dressed per uniform grey and blue, were not simply young officers. "War is already rising in the Old World and New. And one day we will eventually be at war with a Great Power. We may very well have need of men such as Tarkov, if he can rise to his so-called genius reputation."

"I take it you intend to test him sir?"

"We're raising a few new battalions to fill out the ranks and free up experienced troops from garrison positions. Tarkov will be promoted to captain, as per his right upon finishing advanced officer training, and take command of a new cavalry battalion. You two will go along with him to fill out his staff. We'll see how his tactics pan out against his fellow officers in the upcoming war games. And if war comes...."

"No kind of testing ground like the battleground, sir."

"Indeed. Observe, assess, and keep tabs on who this rising star stays in touch with. Dismissed." Ordered the Supreme Commander, with the pair of lieutenants from Intelligence and Reconnaissance saluting and departing. Leaving the Supreme Commander to his thoughts of the future.

Tarkov was a danger, for certain. But war and conflict were beginning to sweep the world once again, and Anvegad's time would come once again sooner than most would think. And men like Tarkov could very well be the architects of things to come. Still, on the subject of dangerous yet capable officers, the Supreme Commander pulled out a different file from another cavalry captain. Detailing the need to integrate new weapons and pursue technological advantage over enemies. Radical ideas, yet grounded in a surprising level of reality for lofty ideas of multi-shot firearms.

Radical ideas against radical weapons. Would that be the face of things to come? The traditionalist in him scorned the idea, it was hard enough to acquire regular funding for continued expansion of the artillery they had, but the pragmatist reminded him that others may not be so inhibited. Only time would tell.