[b]Empire of Anvegad
July 26th, 1910
Logistics and Signals High Command
[/b]

The office of the Quartermaster Strategos was silent as Darius Kolbern contemplated the small script of a telegram laid out on his desk. A copy of a urgent dispatch sent to all the heads of the military and government from the diplomatic corps.

[quote]TO: 2ND STATE LORD
FROM: AMBASSADOR TARELL

PRINCE WILEM OF ROTTEBURG ASSASSINATED IN TSUJIN STOP
ASSASSIN AFFILIATION UNKNOWN STOP
INFORMATION STILL COMING WILL CONTINUE INVESTIGATION FULL STOP[/quote]

The Strategos sighed and took a long drag on his cigar as the machinery of his mind went into motion, pondering both the rational and irrational. When the meeting of the Strategos would inevitably be called, either today or tomorrow, all eyes would be turning to him for options on what to be done and what to do to ensure Anvegad would be ready for any probable outbreak of chaos. Kings may issue edicts, and Generals may command soldiers, but ultimately all of their actions had to be routed through his office as the person meant to actually pull off their demands. Further complicating the issue was this fiasco was happening right when Parliament and the King were both reconsidering the entire foreign policy stance of the Empire, and were actively pestering the military for options in that regard. If he wanted to get any point across, he needed to start building a talking position now and find some way to back up his point. Pushing probability and emotion aside, he quietly contemplated the future.

Given that this event happened on the eastern seaboard, it didn’t have any direct impact or strategic implications for Anvegad being an entire continent and many empires separated from a nation born of a thousand city-states. But the complex web of alliances and treaties and marriage pacts on the eastern seaboard were notoriously interwoven, and something like this could easily spark a war, if it hadn’t already.

By past policies of independence and autarky alongside a considerable mix of natural resources, Anvegad stood apart from the Old Empires of the East after abandoning the few dreams of colonial power it had reached for and refocused on internal development. Railroads, oil fields, farmland, Anvegad had a sufficient mix of them all to be self-sufficient and live without foreign goods, which were Valkyrie-blessed gifts in light of the Great Hurricane of 1890 that drove the Anvegad navy into extinction and collapsed it’s merchant marine. But it also meant that they only had modest trade agreements and exchanges of embassies with other powers, with no true allies or definite enemies. And as much as he cared to consider it, Anvegad had done dismally little to secure deeper ties to any foreign power, even the Uruk Empire on it’s border after the last round of inconclusive skirmishes that constituted the last war, such as it was.

[i]Distance. Time. Geopolitical separation. Oceans. Resources. Logistics.[/i]

For now, the only course he would be able to recommend to the Supreme Strategos and the Crown was to sit and wait until more information could be acquired and the battle lines were drawn. Hasty action could drag Anvegad into unwanted conflict. Mobilizing too early would take away vital manpower and resources needed to finish the latest series of coastal batteries and railway double-tracking programs to secure the external provinces. Wars didn’t move into motion overnight, and there would be enough to do just to maintain a slightly elevated peacetime readiness level to brush the dust off some of the regional armies and get more machineguns in circulation to at least fill the on-paper requirements for every division.

[i]On the other hand......focusing on precautionary buildups shouldn’t entirely negate other indirect options of securing alliances of our own. I know the 1st Strategos will bring that up, or the King. Damnit.[/i] [i]Need to have [b]some[/b] bone to throw at them that also lets us get our infrasturucture in order first.[/i] He thought as he walked over to a few folders on his office shelves with logistical reports from the neighboring countries, dwelling on the issue of modernization and infrastructure and deciding a few comparisons with a few other major powers were called for to maybe spark a talking point he could build around his efforts to stall and encourage patience. And a report from the Zeirchmeister Armory on the comparisons of their Armory Rifle with samples from other nations while he was at it [i](new assistant needed more breaking in, this belonged two drawers over)[/i]. New Diya, the Uruk Empire, the Kratorian Imperium, the Segon Dynasty. He drifted through the documents, musing on what he was trying to find in the mix of details and numbers accumulated by dutiful diplomats and merchant observers while still contemplating Anvegad’s place in the conflict to come.

[i]Beans. Bullets. Bandages. Armies require massive amounts of supplies just for day to day maintenance, let alone offenses and combat. The numbers speak for themselves no matter how much the other powers do a good work to obfuscate. Even a rich and powerful nation can run into trouble trying to keep their armies supplied, with Anvegad being no exception. To the point of building the logistics corps into a division of the military unto itself even[/i]. He honestly couldn’t think of any other nation that took supply so…...seriously.

Supply. Supplied. Supplying. Supplying.....the numbers described on the very documents he was looking at.

Well, it would be a longshot to propose to the rest of the Stratagos and the King, but what the hell. Better than trying to spin out a lecture on the benefits of double-tracking railroads like last time to get the point that they couldn't just dump men on the Uruk border and saber-rattle that way, ugh. He thought as he took out a piece of paper and began sketching out a few key bulletpoints for his coming debate while flicking a level on his switchboard for his secretary. “Adjutant.”

“Adjutant here sir.”

“Which planning teams are on priority-C projects right now?”

“Five, six, and eight sir. Focusing on the railroad program, Aiglar aircraft design proposal hearings, and dockyard readiness studies.”

“Tell six and eight to shelve what they are doing and prepare to begin conducting a full review on our present heavy industry and external shipping options, priority A. Have team leads in my office in three hours for further details on their new assignment.”

“Very good sir.”

“Also message the other Strategos. Inform them I will be busy revising contingency plans and devising new ones in relation to this sudden event and that it would be for the best to hold any emergency war council tomorrow so I can come with all the necessary facts in hand. Oh, and bring in a few sandwiches and some coffee would you kindly, I’m probably going to be working late again.”