[b][/b][h1][center][b][u]The World as We Know It[/u][/b][/center][/h1]
[center][b]Discord Chat[/b]: https://discord.gg/f6n4B8[/center]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/9n9fobL.png[/img]
[i]The World, 1900[/i][/center][center][h2]August, 1900[/h2][/center]
[b][center][h2]Zellonian Navy Expands[/h2][/center][/b]

Two new drydocks in Vorl were finished, allowing the construction of new warships. One such warship that was completed, laid down in 1899 was the [i]ZRN Viper[/i], a Crown-class armored cruiser. 

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/HMS_Euryalus_SLV_AllanGreen-c.jpg[/img]
ZRN Viper [i]leaving the harbour in August, 1900[/i][/center]

The Crown-class cruiser was a class of five armoured cruisers built for the Zellonian Royal Navy around 1900. Their design's incorporation of a pair of 9.2-inch guns and armoured sides served to address criticism directed against the previous King class — advances made possible by their 1,000 ton increase in displacement over their predecessors. The ships were notably stable, except for a susceptibility to pitching. By August 1900, the Crown-class was still a relatively formal armored cruiser capable of standing it's own against Osladian and Veletian contemporaries. The Zellonian Royal Navy, expanding already in the fallout of the [u]Zellonian-Osladian War[/u] was a move of uncertainty for many.

[b][center][h2]Violette Mobilizes for War[/h2][/center][/b]

Violette had been the major power on the Continent for most of the 17th and 18th century: Jacques IV, in the seventeenth century, and Clement I in the nineteenth, had extended Veletian power over most of the Continent through deception and economic prowess. The Treaty of Eisenstadt in 1833 confirmed Violette as a Continental power broker. By the early 1870s, Kalpian President Malcolm Gutermuth started a system of alliances designed to assert Kalpian dominance over neighboring states such as Soreno, Karum and Kuralov. Gutermuth's diplomatic maneuvering, and Violettes's maladroit response to such crises as the d'Or Dispute and the Assassination of Sorenan Prime Minister Hans Lurg in 1869 led to a near Veletian declaration of war in 1869.

After 1870, the Continental powers began gaining settlements in Serranthia, with colonialism on that continent hitting its peak between 1895 and 1900. While the Empire of Tara and the Empire of Violette quickly aspired to become the colonial masters over the Serranthian continent, Kalpian and Osladian influence remained predominantly on the Continent.

[center][img]http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=830661&t=w[/img]
[i]Veletian soldiers during "Leisure Time," circa 1899[/i][/center]

In common with most other Continental powers, the Veletian Army was organized on the basis of universal conscription. Each year, the "class" of men turning twenty-one in the upcoming year would be inducted into the Veletian Army and spend three years in active service. After leaving active service they would progress through various stages of reserves, each of which involved a lower degree of commitment.

[list][*]Active Army (20–23)
[*]Reserve of the Active Army (24–34)
[*]Territorial Army (35–41)
[*]Reserve of the Territorial Army (42–48)[/list]
At the apex of the Veletian Army was the General Staff, since 1897 under the leadership of General Hebert Féret. The General Staff was responsible for drawing up the plan for mobilization against Tyria-Redania, known as Plan Blanc. Using the road network, the Army would be shifted from their peacetime garrisons throughout Violette to the Southwestern border with Tyria-Redania.

The order for mobilisation was given on 14 August, the same day that Tyria-Redania declared war on Itherae. Spirits within the Veletian Gendarmerie were high, with Empress Tsirine penning a personal letter to the soldiers that read "The only soldier to ever truly taste defeat was one that fought against Violette." Violette, unlike the other Continental nations, was maintained almost entirely by roadways, having only just started construction on a rail system in Northern Violette. Thus, while Tyrians and Itheraens rode requisitioned locomotives to the front, the Veletians simply walked. 

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Guarding_subway_entrance%2C_Paris_%28LOC%29.jpg[/img]
[i]Veletian soldiers pose for a photo, somewhere in Labelle, 1900[/i][/center]
The [b]1st[/b] and [b]3rd Auxiliare[/b], under General Fabien Affré and General Léo Asselineau were ordered into the Gabrelle mountains, an affair more logistical than military. Sure footed roads and waving damsels from street side windows gave way to jagged peaks and muggy air. The Gabrelle Mountains had long proved an insurmountable bastion that too often proved the key of victory for the defenders. 

[b][h2][center]New Itheraen Weapons of War[/center][/h2][/b]

On the eve of war, a request made several month ago was finally fulfilled. The [i]Basilisk Powder Company[/i], tasked with designing a new field gun for the Itheraen Republican Army, unveiled it's 76mm I-DF field gun.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/3-inch_QF_gun_Model_1900.jpg[/img]
[i]Blueprint of the 76mm I-DF, 1900[/i][/center]

The 76mm I-DF has been developed in 1900 by engineers of the Diopolis Plants. Since 1898 the Itheraen Republican Army was looking for a new field-gun and Kalpian, Osladian and Veletian design companies had sent in their designs. The decision was made in favor for the 76mm I-DF and it became the first Itheraen gun with a recoil system and at the same time the first Itheraen 76.2-millimetre field gun. The prototypes were manufactured in the Itherae Plants.

The gun has an upper and a lower gun-carriage. The upper gun-carriage slides, resting on grooves along the rail of the lower gun-carriage. In the trail is an oil buffer, acting as a recoil brake, which includes 40 india-rubber doughnuts which were compressed when the gun was fired. After the recoil stroke the doughnuts expanded again and the barrel returned into firing position. The barrel is reinforced with a thermal sleeve.

The breech-block equipped with a so-called Veletian turn breech-block with a turn bar, the first one on a Itheraen gun. The recoil system of the gun did not turn out to be sufficiently effective and that is why the number of manufactured guns remained low.

    [list][*][b]Design Characteristics[/b]
Calibre: 76.2 mm
    Length of barrel: 31.4 cal
    Weight of projectile: 6.4 kg
    Muzzle velocity: 590 m/s
    Maximum range: 6.7 km
    Elevation: −6° to +11°
    Traverse: ± 2.5°
    Weight (in firing position): ca. 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs)[/list]

Initial test firing at the plant range revealed the I-DF to be a seemingly suitable replace. It was a complicated design, requiring skilled craftsman during the construction phase and several well educated engineers on site in the case of "mold firing," where if not heated properly and left to cool, the breech was prone to blowing opening during the rifling stage. Osladian and Kalpian observers noted the I-DF was superior to their own weapons in both range and accuracy.

The Itheraen Bureau of Production promised that the gun could be pushed into production or delayed for refinement, if necessary.

[b][h2][center]Tensions Rise in Settumu[/center][/h2][/b]

Southern Meung was an idyllic location, it's geography unmarred by the hands of industry. The city of Xiyung however was the lone indication that the Grand Kingdom reigned at all. Xiyung was an industrial centerpiece and the agrarian breadbasket of the empire. Nearly one half of all grain passed through the streets of Xiyung. It wasn't until 1900 at all that the city of Xiyung saw again the marching soldiers of the Imperial Army once again. The First Army under Major General Lihuan entered Xiyung on August 4th, 30,000 Imperial soldiers carrying Kalpian KR.99 rifles purchased the year before.

[center][img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--QzqLrRmHJ0/UQfOUDjuy0I/AAAAAAACVAo/ew4L-vUilvw/s1600/18+Bridges+By+Which+The+Night+Police+Of+The+Roofs+Cross+The+Streets,+Canton,+China+%5B1900%5D+Underwood+&+Co.+%5BRESTORED%5D.jpg[/img]
[i]Shantytowns in Xiyung, Meung, 1880's[/i][/center]

The [b]Meung First Army[/b] began the [b]Lihuan Expedition[/b] on August 17th. "No longer will we bow to the whims of bandits and warlords," a soldier in Xiyung mentioned, only hours before he departed. The soldiers had another 190 kilometers to march into Xiang land, a task that would not be accomplished until well into September. The Xiang lands were broad sweeping plains, pockmarked with nameless villages that served only to serve as barracks and recruiting centers for the Xiang warlords, who numbered a half dozen.

[center][It is now [u]September, 1900[/u].][/center]

[hider=Request Design]
I. [u]Designing Weapons of War[/u]
During the game, a nation may require new weapons of war. This may be done at any time IC.

    Request a Design Competition.
    * Please use the Following Form:
    - Type of Weapon: [Rifle], [Machine Gun], [Field Gun] [Naval Ship (Specify Class)]
    - Companies Involved: [Name of Company] [Skill of Category], [etc, etc]
    - Design Requests: [What general specifications are hoped to gain with this design]
    Design Process:
    - After you submit a Design process. 6+1d12 is rolled for a "Prototype Design" to emerge. This is subtracted from the Company's Skill. [Example: 6+1d12 roll is 4. 6+4 = 10. Company's Skill is 2. 10-2 is 8. 8 Months for a Prototype.]
    - Each design will be randomly named and have an approximated design strength of 1 to 6 + [Skill of the Company]
    - If you select the Design of a Company who developed a Weapon initially higher than their Skill, they will gain +1 Skill.[/hider]