The Divine Empire of Vercingetorix
|Geography:|
|Geographical Location of Country:| The far North-West of the Central continent.
|Country Size:| Vercingetorix is big, and slowly but surely growing. It wants buffer states with the conclave to be sure, but swallowing up oases or precious aluminum mines from them one by one never hurt anybody.
|Cities:| Myrrheim: This is the capital of the Empire, a wonder it is. Avoiding the over-populated slum of most cities around the world with a population greater than a million, it is the jewel of Vercingetorix. The city is filled with industry, centres for the sciences and arts, military academies, banks, parks, museums, lecture halls, administrative centres, so on and so forth. Much of the country's nobility lives here, enjoying a place close to the Royal family. It has a very large garrison in it of both private and official troops in the off-chance someone decides they like the colour red a little bit too much. Indeed the considerable wealth of the place comes at the price of platoons patrolling the streets and regularly checking individuals at random, large towers with heavy weapons swivel their barrels menacingly across a population they can vaporize, dirigibles with searchlights are carefully placed in quantities just about enough to not block out the sun for the people below. Much of this is indeed self-sustaining as the city is powered by a rather massive and one of the premiere hydroelectric dams of Vercingetorix, situated at a waterfall in the heart of the city. Similarly the city is surrounded by countryside which has mines and farmland all ready to feed the ever growing city.
Jokkes: it is the city of the Jokkes island and people. It is almost perpendicular to Myrrheim, a sad alternate of the city. The same militarism is present in the city, but far worse. Rather than a dozen soldiers marching down a street being the norm one can see a dozen Imperial chicken-walkers stomping along and they won't politely stop for a chat with the baker. Roadblocks appear every kilometre with soldiers manning machine guns, and a curfew from midnight to six in the morning is present. The same dirigibles are present but more than enough to blot out the sky and they make friends in the form of airplanes constantly buzzing overhead. There is almost no variety of hard industry, all steel or car factories long since replaced by Vercingetor oil refineries. Power is thankfully still provided by similar hydroelectric power plants of the island-city, but most things are shipped into the island from elsewhere in the Empire as everything from the countryside to the beaches of Jokkes have been replaced with military installations or oil refineries. Indeed there isn't even a proper port in the place, Imperial paranoia long since insuring that the Island is cordoned off from access by sea through thousands upon thousands of naval mines; only a small line through which hundreds of ferries cross daily, or aeronautical means will allow one to get to Jokkes now.
Kybollt: capital of the Honvesz Kingdom, Kybollt is a quaint city. The ancient gold mines have long since been exhausted but the businesses founded there to accommodate the miners many years back remained and flourished. Much residence is underground and across a wide territory, allowing the city to have a considerable industrial high rise. Sky-high pipes insure clean air as smog spreads across the world keeping the city with all traits of the new century apparently seen unchanged from founding.
Selacci: A major port city in the South-West Coast of the Empire, Selacci has by extensive lobbying insured that it shan't be used for Imperial ship building and other naval industry. It remains purely a year-port, seeing vessels from all around the world dock and resupply. The autonomy of the Ljans additionally guarantees lenience with Vercingetor law and decree; so one can find many ships docking here from nations and groups the Empire would otherwise block from entering Vercingetor ports. That said, it is still somewhat difficult for such vessels to gain access as they must have first purchased an Imperial map from an intermediary to make sure Imperial sub patrols or mines don't sink them on the way there.
Deunrik: Deunrik (sometimes spelt Dunrick) is on the periphery of being a cold and warm water port. Being on the North-West coast of the Empire it is open for all of the spring, summer, and autumn but closed for the climax of winter. It has its very own fleet of icebreakers that while not really able facilitate Northbound travel at least allows ships to not be trapped in Deunrik during the winter, clearing the way for ships to sail south. In contrast to Selacci Deunrik is almost nothing but shipyards with the hellish noise of a navy being constantly built, repaired, upgraded or scrapped, the very few parts of the coast in the region not being covered with shipyards being discreet docks to take in deliveries of parts and resources, while the rest is monstrous hydroelectric power plants. More than a hundred kilometres inland one while still find the industry of Deunrik more or less entirely for service and construction of the navy be it local steel mills or munitions factories.
Dar-es-Fharad: The Southern-most Imperial city that is properly Vercingetor territory, it is effectively just a massive garrison with a few shops and elements of culture to make the soldiers there feel like they aren't in active deployment. Nigh-unassailable and able to send much cavalry and mechs to encircle and overrun any invaders.
Al-Ka: Capital of the namesake puppet state to the Empire's South, Al-Ka isn't a nice place to live. It is very hot, power is expensive while wages are lower all while tribal, religious, and Vercingetor soldiers patrol the streets and take turns harassing folks. People are regularly forced out of their homes to make way for unmarked troops, scientists and prospectors, the only real culture and entertainment being brothels and drug dens.
Drashko: Capital of another Imperial puppet-state, Drashko is close to the embodiment of the era's depressing industrialism. With char black skies, freezing nights and boiling days, cramped living interspersed with much emptiness, Drashko is nevertheless a quite productive city with a massive chemic industry. The Empire is particularly interested in the work with synthetic rubbers and oils being done there in the hopes of one day reaching resource independence.
Haros: One of the three "experimental cities" of the Empire, Haros is a very, very large installation in Vercingetor territorial waters. Many kilometres long and wide with more than one in depth, the Haros station is many things: a portable dry-docks in the sea, a massive ship larger than any dreadnoughts, an aquatic laboratory and all of this largely self-sufficient. Haros was made under a recent naval reform initiative in Vercingetorix and while initially seen as a gimmicky waste of money, most Admirals and Ministers have warmed up to the thing recently. In naval conflict it allows ships to not have to sail all the way back to the Empire for warfare, it allows extraction of minerals and fuels in the sea as a portable oil barge or derrick. Haros as it stands is a generalist floating city, combining military, commercial, scientific and industrial purposes. Four more such floating cities are now under production each with a more dedicated role in mind.
Letta: The second of the three current experimental cities of the Empire, the majesty of Letta can be seen from far away in the sky. Essentially hundreds of connected monstrous dirigibles it is much less of a success than Haros. It has far less use in that it can't support industry, thus it's limited largely to commercial or military use. Currently one more is being built as a more dedicated tool of the military with much heavier armaments, larger runways and similar such things.
Bjorho: Third of the experimental cities, it is a colossus on tracks, wheels and legs seen from far by the billowing smoke it produces. Bjorho likewise to Haros has many uses. It is a portable airport, a mobile garrison, a large relief force in the case of a natural disaster and of course both city and fortress five more of these have been commissioned recently and will soon begin construction.
Karracha: A city in the Empire globally famous for the horses coming from here. It has almost industrial horse breeding with several universities dedicated almost entirely to researching horses and equine related things. A horse bought from Karracha is a horse that will serve long and well, while being very affordable. Karrachan is thus naturally surrounded by many many villages and smaller towns thst make use of horses deemed on par with machinery.
|Natural Resources:| The Empire has a considerable amount of natural resources.
Vercingetorix has fairly fertile soil leading to a noticeable if not particularly impressive surplus of maize and cereals to export. It also has many vineyards, tobacco and cotton plantations. Cattle has been somewhat popular with the Norgelings, but most peoples of the Empire have sheep leading to wool and lamb being in abundance. Perhaps most notable is the great amount of horses the Empire has, with their breeding perhaps ironically peaking at the same time as the horse is becoming obsolete. In the Empire forests are a everywhere one looks, but past attempts at forestry have ruined ecosystems. As such, lumber supply in the Empire is at most what is needed to cover their bases expenses. To finalize the Empire has an enviable catch of fish and shellfish in it's northern coasts; this is however coming under threat in a yet not understood environmental disaster being caused by Imperial industrial projects along their coast as well as the occupied island of Jokkes.
The Empire was also blessed with noticeable mineral wealth. The far North has very large silver deposits that have insured great reserves of hard wealth to fall back on in case of economic crises. The Empire is littered with rich pockets of amber and iron that were both instrumental in the foundation of the state. The Southern periphery of the Empire along with it's puppet states have also been of keen interest for natural resources. There was a large investment in the attempt of harvesting rubber in the South-West coast but these have so far been expensive failures. More important is the quite large amount of aluminum in the South which has attracted many investors and is part of the reason a thorough set of buffer states was developed in the area. In addition, prospectors have discovered tungsten there but at the moment technology only allows for small amounts to be excavated due to the minerals being very deep in the ground. However, mineral tycoons stand around the deposits, salivating until the moment technology improves enough for it to be harvested. Finally, the Eastern side of the Empire has found quite profitable graphite and lead deposits which while not ultimately deciding in a country's fate do make a good profit and oil the cogs of industry.
Of course one would be a fool to not mention the wealth of energy resources in the Empire. The Empire was heavily stunted in its development by the lack of coal in its territory, making it lag behind comparable nations for a considerable amount of time until it was able to arrange massive imports to compensate. The Empire is as such cautious against any conflict with naval powers that might impede its import of coal as this would cripple their economy for the foreseeable future. Oil was also not too common in the territories of the Empire, until quite recently at least. The formerly independent Island of Jokkes to its North-East is sitting on a nigh inexhaustible supply of it, a situation that prompted the Empire to swiftly invade the place. Taking it over they now build pipeline upon pipeline from the island to the Empire proper. Prospectors have also found oil on the Western shores of the state, but currently this is also unobtainable. However while the Island can in theory provide for several countries, transit times and a rather rudimentary and incomplete system means that the oil supply of the Empire is vulnerable to shock demands where a resource so abundant just can't be distributed on time, a key reason for recent interest in synthetic oils. Important to note is also the very, very large coastline and not too shabby area of the Empire. Dotted all across the coast are large hydroelectric power-plants which are an absolute necessity should the day come they are blockaded or for other reasons unable to receive shipments of coal. There is a slight issue with the fact that much of the Imperial Northern coast freezes in the winter, and as such coal is usually stockpiled for the time when these power plants must be shut off. There are also many spacious, windy fields or deserts in the Empire that - seeing an opportunity - authorities have recently decided to beginning projects of building electric windmills in. While the project is only in infancy, already a few stretches of land are covered in great big towers with spinning blades; while some detractors have stated unreliability of the windmills citing needs for repairs, this was countered with the fact that they operate year-round and ultimately are a necessity. On a final note, the North-Eastern frontier of the Empire has recently had a very deep but rich deposit of uranium discovered. Similar to the southern investments, various investors all now rush to get a stake in the strange new material.
|People & Culture:|
|Population:| Within Imperial territory proper there is 81 million, about 1 million unregistered or otherwise unaccounted for. In puppet states, occupied territory, and similar conditions there is about 9 million and another million Imperial passport holder abroad for various reasons be it in trade or diplomatic missions, military volunteering, or other reasons.
|Demographics:| There are nearly a thousand registered ethnicities in the Empire, with unregistered ones totalling the number to a thousand and territories under Imperial influence in one way or another add a few more.
Major Ethnicities:
The single largest ethnicity are the Norgelings, the founding people of the Empire, They are distributed around the capital territories of the Empire and then have a rather large but scattered diaspora throughout the rest of the Empire, constituting about 34% of the population.
The Honvesz are the next in line with a very large and concentrated population being about 31%. They are in an interesting position both seeing as the second most representative population of the Empire and as the most "rowdy", although this may be in part due to the other rowdy folk being unheard of.
Breslaws are the third most numerous ethnicity, a fact with some content as there is strong regional identity among them. Composing 11% of the population they are not the most developed but the mineral wealth and large amount of bank holding families from there make it surprisingly wealthy, and certainly over-represented within higher positions in the Empire.
The Keunski are another people of the Empire, about 9% of the population they are a recent conquest of the Empire, one ultimately resented but not strongly resisted thanks to the people ultimately having nothing to go back to outside of the Empire.
Krajci - similarly to Breslaws - have strong regional identity, and often resent being lumped in together as one people. The are about 6% of the population and thanks to constant strife never managed to attain much development or wealth. These people have always had a passion for horses and insure the Empire has perhaps the best, and the most equines the globe has seen.
Ljans are originally a coastal people, living in the South-West of the Empire being about 5% of its population. They have attained moderate quality of life, their region benefiting from tourism and high prices of the various commodities that grow locally. Despite the influx of foreigners to their lands the people are still fairly insular and reserved against new things.
Notable Minor Ethnicities:
There are many people more numerous than the Cygani, but the Cygani are notorious in the Empire. Disliked as thieving merchants, the only redeeming quality seen in them is their consistent support for the current government and resistance to foreign influence.
Odos are also not a particularly large minority, but they have had notoriety for small closeted communities with some secrecy amongst their kin that always lead to resentment from their neighbours.
Pesvolk is the Imperial name for the various peoples with a small minority at the edgy of the Empire as well as many unregistered within it — they are also the majority within the Southern puppets of crown.
The Raubere are in the Empire from a time it was much, much larger. They are known to be a very cordial and open people, with the few not integrated into Norgeling nobility or other ethnicity lower classes are well entrenched in the upper-middle class in lower nobility.
Finally, the Jokkes are a people of their namesake island. Fairly wealthy, they are resentful of the occupation by the Empire but never had any strong nationalist or patriotic traditions, nor any strong ideological convictions to oppose their occupiers. As a consequence they are slowly, forcefully, but surely being integrated.
|Government:| What is the way your country is ruled. This can be anything from an absolutist democracy or theocratic dictatorship to a democratic republic. All up to you.
|Ruler:| Emperor Klaus-Sigmund-Friederich-Jovan-Alexander-Heinrich-Ottokar-Mario-Hansel-Leonid-Joachim-Anatolius von Ossel-Loteringai, Emperor of all peoples of the Empire. He is the ultimate and final decider on all affairs of the Empire, but this is certainly within a powerful system of checks and balances.
Indeed in many constituent parts of the Empire he is nigh powerless. From its very inception the Empire was a quite loose confederation with many different rulers within. In the modern day some parts of ethnic republics ruled by an iron fisted dictator, others are leaderless communes or syndicates and unions. However, for the most part the Empire consists of crown territories that are ruled by a relative of the Emperor who in turn must share power with various local assemblies. Indeed the Emperor himself, though the final decider must too share power. The Great Parliament is a rather large assembly composed of representatives of various regions, religions, ethnic groups, parties, and in some cases even businesses and various nobility or unions.
|Volksgeist:| One can't pin down a particular attitude to the nearly thousand different registered ethnicities. One can however if forced try to characterize either the sum total of those belonging to the Empire of the Norgelings, the dominant ethnicity of the Empire. If one had to characterize the average Imperial then one would say they're a reserved but warm person, always placing themselves and kinsmen first but making sure that what is left over can help the so called greater good. They will be interested in a hard day's labour but not in doing any more than is their duty. As with the rest of the Empire, the Volksgeist is full of strange contradictions and paradoxes within the attitudes of the people like espousing freedom of various choices throughout the Empire but not for your kinsmen.
|Religion:| The country is about 98.5% religious in one way or another, 1% of the atheist population owing to a long tradition of one of the minorities. The Empire is officially based on religion with the Emperor having divine right for his position. That said, the actual intensity of religiosity varies intensely from fundamentalist extremism to a light expression of cultural uniqueness from another nigh identical minority. Ultimately it depends on who your parents were and where they decided to have you born and live.
|History:|
The Empire is an ancient civilization with a corresponding history. More than a thousand years ago in the area of modern Vercingetorix and surrounding regions were the ashes of great Empires. War was eternal across the land, men dying in thousands by blade and bow. It was clear to all that such a state of affairs could not go on forever, for eventually a great rain had to wipe away all the scum of the land.
In the first Emperor of Vercingetorix that rain was found, a man now simply referred to as "The Emperor" in whom all succeeding Emperors are found to be incarnate. Initially Vercingetorix was quite the small polity, but this wouldn't be for long. The initial founding population of Norgelings was assailed from all sides and this was a state of affairs that could not continue. Successive Emperors invaded the neighbouring states that sought harm against the people of Vercingetorix and brought a swift end to their rule. But perhaps uniquely they did not pillage and oppress their new peoples, rather they desired to integrate them into the Empire as equal contributors to a greater dream.
Their progress was slow as more and more of their foes ended their petty squabbles to band together against the Emperors but so was strengthened the resolve of Vercingetor people. Perhaps the greatest adversaries were the Honvesz and for many years they were a great plight to the Empire. For long a stalemate was held and the Empire found that it could not ultimately push them back so another strategy was tried. Instead of attempting to beat them back they only defended their own borders with troops, yet made sure the borders were fluid; men and women of villages on the borders could interact, at times even trade and marry with much interest from the Empire. Soft power won over hard power and one by one Honvesz nobility turned to the Empire with the grand chief of the foe having less and less friends. The time came that eventually he had but a a town and surrounding villages left under his ultimate rule. The Emperor at the time made an offer to the Honvesz Chief: their children would marry and at last end the long blood feud. The Chief refused until he was informed of several more nobles defecting to Vercingetorix in a coordinated fashion, at last changing his mind.
With that Vercingetorix knew many years of peace. The Empire became a place of knowledge and advancement many territories joining the state as crown territories or tributaries. It was much like this for a long time until a little more than a century ago, when new ideas and inventions spread like wildfire. Much of the nature of the Empire was against all the new thought systems born and the lack of coal in the Empire meant it had much difficulty catching up to other nations. Rebellion upon civil war upon famine upon plague all came on the Empire in cyclical repetition, the state threatening to dissolve at many points. Compromises and reforms had to be made but many seemed to be ineffectual at most exacerbating the situation. An attempt to regain the economic initiative was made in the form of an attempted invasion of Churachaca, to stop the piracy so grossly affecting Imperial trade. This was ultimately a disaster as the troops sent there were not prepared at all for the invasion and this was yet another part of the ever worsening feedback loop of Imperial degeneration. Thousands dead and millions of gold pieces wasted for nothing but international humiliation. It took many years for at last perhaps the core issue to be discovered. The so called "business wars", internal conflict between various new tycoons and businessmen arising together with capitalism. Companies would abuse workers knowing they had nowhere else to go, monopolies of entrenched businessmen would insure companies were no longer interested in competition and providing the best solution.
This was a state of affairs that naturally had to be resolved. The previous Emperor Dietrich was interested in an operational state and so he went forth in solving this problem. The most scrupulous and vaguely moral businessmen were assembled in a large auditorium to which a speech was given, an offer none could refuse. They would have a new contract with the government, informed that if they would try to continue on as others in the past had then they would meet the same fate.
Hours later, newspapers reported thousands of wealthy men dead for apparently no reason whatsoever. Naturally the death of the most abusive and corrupt of the Empire wouldn't miraculously fix all of its issues, but it would leave the door open for such being done. The first thing was a massive investment in hydroelectric power plants that would allow the country to operate some industry in spite of the absence of coal to make factories run, while railroads were built at the same time so that what coal the Empire could muster up could be used for proper transportation. Great naval reforms were done to make proper and efficient ships to facilitate better international trade and further feed the Empire starved of crucial resources, but this all quickly lost momentum as loans and investments had to be payed off. The Empire was certainly in a better state, but it now had great debts which had interest accumulating almost as fast as they were being paid off. With the gears of the state once again coming to a halt so soon after a recent recovery the Emperor had to act fast. What surplus the state had was invested in military reforms, and then a large force assembled.
The Island-state of Jokkes, a very wealthy place for its taking of massive fees and constant arbitrary detentions of ships (not to speak of the oil discovered there, now so valuable) would be invaded. The island was wealthy and its equipment was state of the art, but it had neither numbers nor experience and was within a month wholly overwhelmed by the Empire. Soon following this several hostile territories to the South of the Empire were invaded in "police actions", ones that effectively turned them into puppet states paying considerable tribute in their mineral wealth. All three of these states had their debts cancelled on account of no longer existing and so the Empire used what money they had for themselves.
With the acquisition of these new territories and a military industrial complex made roar for the economy, a crisis was averted. So the Empire rested temporarily, ending its adventures for much time. Quite recently however, with full balance and stability restored, the Empire once more could take the initiative.
Experimental mobile cities were built for the land, skies and seas, while fields begin to be filled with wind turbines. Great pipelines were built to the island of Jokkes so that the oil could be delivered from the Island directly to the mainland at the same time as massive autobahns and airports get built to make cars and planes cover more and more of the country. In addition, the Empire has begun a policy of buying and excess of resources they need to stockpile in the event that war or embargo means they can't get shipments of them, with particular attention to coal and rubber. In addition, waves of military advisors and volunteers are getting sent world wide to hotspots worldwide in addition to massive sales of outdated military equipment to clear out Imperial warehouses. Statisticians of the Empire have also approached the Emperor with great news; a baby boom is occurring in Vercingetorix, families with five being the norm from the lowest cobbler to the noblest Lord. Due to all this, Vercingetorix is now cautious of getting into major wars in the future, knowing it is vulnerable during the current cycle of investments and projects being carried out and prefers to watch other nations fight from the sidelines as they let their population and wealth grow rapidly.
|Armed Forces:|
The Imperial Armed forces were arguably around before the Imperium itself, being the united bands of warriors defending hearth and home who eventually united in civilian life too. To understand the modern Imperial military one must go through some of its history.
The military of the Empire was always one of its prized possessions, responsible for the security of the Empire and frankly its foundation. Large investments were always put into it as military ventures could often keep Vercingetorix afloat in times of crisis. So it was more than a century ago it was decided that a whole reform of how the military advanced was needed, when more than five million old smoothbore flintlock ball-shooters had difficulty being replaced with modern rifled-barrel and shaped-bullet firearms. It was very, very expensive and lengthy to do full replacements and it was soon discovered that new weapon systems were being invented faster than the army could update them. This was proving far too costly to maintain in the longterm for a state with such a large armed force, not to speak of the fact it over time meant that once one of the greatest and enviable forces on the planet was armed with rifles that many failed states could match. Not only that, but similar things were happening to Vercingetor industries and other parts of the civilian sector, a crisis much responsible for the horrid century of the Empire.
It took time with the monstrous bureaucracy of Vercingetorix, but a solution was found, a solution which has lead to the recovery of the Empire as well as resistance to crises. The woes were solved in the form of "The Great First Imperial Decree on the Modularity of Technologies." Ever since then, rather than adopting wholly new weapon systems or other technologies when various new innovations come to be known, they will instead be applied to existing technologies. This minimized the retooling and re-specifications factories had to undergo to keep up with modernity, saving much time and money. Indeed if a previous iteration of an existing thing is lacking than rather than taking up space in warehouses until it can be sold to filthy foreigners old things now get sent to factories where they get cannibalized for parts, old ones thrown out or sold and new ones being attached to upgrade things. While this does mean that the Empire does not immediately feel the effect of great new inventions, it also means that it can much more quickly get them to be standardized, as well as preventing any part of the Imperial State becoming truly outdated in technologies. A fully new variant of a technology is only declared when a current iteration of it has not a single shared part with the first part of a generation, and thus a new generation (about every 30-80 years depending on what is discussed) of said technology is declared. However, it also means that at times various technologies are not outdated - but certainly obsolete - are retained. Take for example their service rifle, the Drugul III. This rifle that now has almost a thousand variants for various Imperial forces is in its base form a single-shot rolling block rifle. For most nations the rolling block single shot design is an outdated thing of the past, closer combat magazine fed bolt action repeating weapons being the norm. The system of modularity means that the rolling block system is here to stay and while the Drugul is certainly a very effective weapon with otherwise for its intended use with otherwise cutting edge technologies in design, one can easily see how it is a lag from modern warfare. Still, the system of modularity also remedies its own shortcomings for heavier magazine fed variants have been adopted for Storm-Troopers, Marines, Gendarmes, Cavalry and some other parts of Imperial armed forces.
Beyond that, the Imperial Army is divided into many parts. All Imperials who hold weapons are ultimately under the Office of Vercingetor Defence. It is roughly divided into aeronautica, ground forces and navy. However this division is very, very rough as all three forces have much overlap as well as - officially - very good cooperation thanks to recent reforms. Aeronautica for now is only divided into merchant airforce, combat force and experimental force. The Merchant airforce is the military wing of Imperial Commerical flights, equipped with far smaller calibre weapons and very little air-to-ground armaments largely interested in preventing hijacking and other piracy of the skies. The Combat Force is made primarily for the times of true declaration of war, containing the normal forces of operation during wartime. Finally, the experimental force is that which contains novelties not properly tested for any direction, with examples being the recently thought of paratrooper force to which an appropriate plane was not yet created and the floating city concept of Letta. The Navy is divided into merchant navy, the armada, territorial water patrol, and experimental forces. The Merchant navy consists largely of smaller vessels made to protect the shipping of Vercingetorix. In particular, the Merchant navy has a very large amount of submarines escorting trade ships of the Empire to make pirates or foreign forces believe they are have an easy target, only to sink to the ocean floor with happy submersible sailors waving to the dying scum. The Armada consists of the ships made for war-time excursions of the Empire. The armada consists largely of massive battleships capable of providing artillery support many kilometres inland, obliterating coastal defences from afar and showing the true brute force of Vercingetorix. Territorial Water Patrol consists largely of mine-laying ships making incursions into what the Emperor has claimed as his ever harder to lay down the great mine wall project, and very light cruisers made to patrol the length of Imperial coasts. Finally come the experimental forces, these consist of the floating city of Haros and early Imperial efforts to make carriers and amphibious vehicles, though for many years there is no plan to actuate these plans. When one considers the Imperial Navy it is also important to note that all branches have a considerable force of Marines, these including largely infantry but also some Mechs and other troops. Last but not least, the Imperial Army. The Imperial army has divisions even softer than that of the other branches of Vercingetor armed forces, but they're still present. National Guard, the truest of the Blue-Caps (a colloquialism for Vercingetor soldiers) are a force made primarily to defend territory from internal terrorist threats, as well as being a rapid-response force for any incursions into the Empire acting as border patrol. The National Guard consists primarily of light to medium infantry, all varieties of cavalry, light to medium mechs, tankettes, armoured cars and trucks, and any other vehicles lighter than tanks. They under their disposal have a not too small force of lighter planes and a very large amount of armoured trains. The Grand Army is the largest part of the Imperial Army, the one made for real military tasks of invading other countries. The Imperial military doctrine is based around unbreakable trenchlines that exhaust the enemy and pound them with artillery in a conflict of attrition until the enemy lines collapses and can be overrun with a new trench to be built. Thus the largest parts of the Imperial armed forces are infantry and artillery. A very large contingent of infantry builds the trenches and mans them with long ranged firepower scything away anyone trying to take down Imperial defences, while very large and brutal artillery - that makes up for lack of sophistication with barrel length and calibre - vapourizes any defences and armoured assaults an enemy might try. To take enemy positions specialized Stormtroopers work in tandem with heavy tanks and specialized heavy egg-mechs that drop down and become stationary turrets for the new trench. Still, such warfare is not suitable for many fronts, particularly the very large desert border of the Empire. For these territories much lighter infantry are used, in addition to armoured cars and half-tracks, tankettes, motorcycles and a very large amount of cavalry. Imperial Special forces and Intelligence are a single branch of the Imperial army with its tentacles on much of the world known officially as "The Institute" or colloquially given the simple but now dread inspiring name of "Black-Caps". Elite infantry are their core facing training that more or less dehumanizes these soldiers and turns them into unparalleled things of killing. They do have far softer forces however, operatives and agents all around the world spying, bribing, assassinating. Finally, noteworthy are also the Experimental troops. The Experimental troops have under their purvey the walking cities of the Empire, prototype drill equipment, development and testing of combat stimulants, and many other things.
Of course, information about a a state's armed forces would be incomplete without a detailing of their arms and armour:
To begin one can examine the (abbreviated DIII) Drugul III, named after the final variant of the beginning of the Empire's current generation of rifle. The Drugul is quite a heft weapon, being both long and thick. It it a single shot rolling block pattern rifle, but this apparently obsolete design should not fool one to its true performance. The Drugul outranges most service rifles in the world to a frightening degree. Not only does it have a very long range, it has a very flat arc and the accuracy is more or less pinpoint even without telescopic sights (which are common, magnifications varying from 3-12x). If that wasn't enough, the very large bullet at about 15.6mm with a large amount of powder behind it allows the rifle to punch through more or less any body armour and even cause noticeable damage to some mechs and lighter vehicles, while not being particularly expensive to manufacture. In addition, the large caliber also allows one to load shotgun shells into the rifle to make it an excellent impromptu trench sweeper, or penetrate through several unarmoured men with normal shot to scythe down lines of mine charging them. The Drugul also has a primary variant thanks to the system of Modularity, the Drugul-Gustav. The Drugul-Gustav (abbreviated DG) is a variation upon the original rifle with many design differences. It fires the same extremely potent round, while cutting out the rolling block system in favour of a magazine-fed straight-pull bolt action system. This variation on the rifle is very expensive, heavy, and difficult to manufacture, however when in use its a weapon that devastates battlefields. Due to its nature it is only assigned to some units, notably the Royal Guard, cavalry, Marines, or Stormtroopers — units to whom the weight or expense of such a weapon is not particularly worrisome. As such, there is about one Drugul-Gustav for every five Drugul III.
Imperial sidearms are also worth of a note. The two main service revolvers of the Empire are of the Hurok family. The first version is the Hurok-Szoda Auto revolver, a strange looking design in which the case and frame make the pistol almost not look like a revolver whatsoever. It is a large calibre pistol at about 12.7mm with five shots in the cylinder, and has a very fast cycling system allowing the shooter to fire the revolver at almost an automatic rate if one can pull the trigger fast enough. The revolver is primarily in use with officers of Stormtroopers, Royal Guard, and Marines to whom the high rate of fire bursts of such powerful rounds is very useful. Officers of other units, primarily cavalry, line infantry, Jaegers, Intelligence, Engineers and Artillery are more commonly in favour of the Hurok-Praha. The Hurok-Praha has a more standard revolver's appearance. It fires the same heavy 12.7mm round but with six shots in a larger cylinder. It is single action weapon, although a recoil compensating system insures that the weapon's recoil is minimized by transferring it into pushing back the hammer so the user only has to flick it to finish preparing the next shot.
There is also a more outdated in design if not in technology weapon popular with some more old fashioned or simply rich officers. The Gracheut is a single shot muzzle-loading pistol, firing about 18.5mm or 12 gauge shots. The fairly long rifled barrel allows the pistol to more or less guarantee kills if the shot hits, or load in pellet holding cartridges to shower tight spaces with death.
To finalize the pistols of the Empire one has to look at the magazine and clip loaded variants, the ones most commonly found in the armed forces with one issued to almost every soldier. The first family of pistols is the Riefenstahl, a pistol which in turn has three primary variants all with their own smaller variants thanks to the modularity initiative of the Empire. The primary variant is referred to as simply the Riefenstahl, a somewhat long pistol with taking both stripper clips and magazines, the pistol maintains a good rate of fire, while having a thin but long 6.5mm bullet that gives the weapon a great balance of penetration and mass. It has a good rate of fire, smooth operation that insures swift reloading and maintenance, while also being surprisingly light, an important factor for designing a sidearm to the ordinary Imperial soldiers who is already weighed down by quite heavy equipment. As such, a good majority of the Imperial armed forces carry a Riefenstahl, primarily Line Infantry, Engineers and Artillery. The Scherp Riefenstahl is a derivative of the Riefenstahl with a rather odd shape. The Scherp Riefenstahl is particularly popular with Cavalry, Military Police and Gendarmes, tank crews. It has a special recoil compensating system at the top that admittedly makes it less effective outside of very close combat due to unnecessary height for the iron sights. However it allows the weapon to have nearly no recoil while firing a much large but still fairly long 10mm round in magazines or single bullet reloads designed to pierce armour or cause tremendous injuries rather than killing. Finally there is the Riefenstahl-Stoltz, a 9mm variant select fire pistol with two-shot burst (the two shots fired in almost instant succession for massive armour penetration capabilites) or fully automatic mode carrying fourteen shot stripper clips. Some in the cavalry enjoy this weapon, however it is particularly popular in the Stormtroopers who will often carry two for devastating bursts as they clear enemy positions.
The alternate magazine fed pistol family is the Niedermaier, a much heavier variant. The primary variant is a magazine fed weapons holding eight 12.7mm shots with moderate rate of fire, yet a very efficient system that afford the weapon some compactness in spite of its heavy firepower. It's popular among the more poor officers who still want a sidearm that holds command and respect, as well as for Mech or Airplane pilots, in addition to Sailors and Airship crews. The Dvoja-Niedermaier or Nidermaier-D is a weapon truly symbolizing the brutal "ingenuity" of Imperial weapon designers. It is simply two Niedermaier pistols attached together with a firing-mode that ever so slightly delays one barrel's firing from the other to make one shot go into the entry hole or dent of another shot for kills against even the most absurdly armoured foes, or the normal firing mode which fires both barrels at once for a monstrous hail of bullets. It is very popular amongst Stormtroopers who enjoy the brutality of the weapon, but is also standard for Tankette operators and Motorcyclists who relatively often have it as their main weapon outside of that which is attached to their vehicle.
However, blades are another very important side-arm of the Imperial army. Almost all Officers of the Imperial armed forces are armed with a sword, as well as the majority of Stormtroopers, cavalry, and the line infantry who can afford them. Most sword variants of the Empire have two key features; the advance in electronics of the Empire has allowed their blades to be electrified with a powerful current, and an explosive pommel that can be an impromptu grenade. The main version is the Filszablja, a long and somewhat weighty blade with an excellent guard. It is razor sharp with a tapered point that lets it stab through body armours in addition to even being able to cut through some lighter suits or at least cause trauma through them. The Konszwert is the variant of the Imperial blade used almost solely for cavalry and by cavalry. It is more or less as thick as the Filszablja to make better use of the momentum one will have on a horse. Finally the Lanhmec is the somewhat more archaic model of the weapon, a long or bastard sword in appearance it is sometimes given to Stormtroopers or at least their officers, but it is also popular amongst officers of other units who find the weapon's romantic nature appealing, cleaving most foes in twain. There are experiments being done with super-heating the blades of Imperial swords to allow them to melt through metals or armour, though it is not predicted to deploy in the near future.
On the topic of melee weapons, lances and similar spears are very common in the Empire, being standard issue for cavalry.
Inside Imperial warehouses there are also stored a few more than a million of the older generation of rifle, the Bretta. The Bretta is a single shot breech loading rotating drum-bolt rifle. Much like the Drugul, it has a particularly long range, with a large bullet that flies at very high speed. While not having the full accuracy of the Drugul nor the penetration, the weapon is still very prized amongst snipers around the world. The main downside of the Bretta in contrast to the Drugul is the fact that for every reload the drum-bolt has to be flipped before one must manually remove the bullet casing and then insert another shot. This almost doubles the reload time of the weapon in contrast to the Drugul, a statistic that while not too frightening for snipers is disastrous on the modern battlefield. Following the later pattern of the Drugul, the modularity system has insured that the Bretta also has a repeating variant. The Bretta-Shkoda is a lever action rifle based on the Bretta with a longer tube-magazine feeding from the stock into the barrel. Though earlier variants of the lever action rifle were very slow to reload after the initial seven-shot burst, the very last variant of the rifle (to which most variants were upgraded to) was designed to take in specialized tube clips that instantly inserted all seven shots into the weapon's tube magazine for a frighteningly fast reload. The weapon is thus prized by insurgents and similar forces worldwide.
|People of Interest:|
The Emperor: A fifty-six year old man who is quite weary of all the nastiness his realm has had to put up with for so long. He has genuine interest in seeing his country flourish, trying his best to navigate through the mire he has inherited. Many however question if he is still fit or the right figure to rule, many in his family, his government and his people looking for... an alternative. He is an intelligent man with both wisdom and education, however many question his rigidity and often stubborn refusal to compromise on key topics, while at the same time his lack of international bravado has insured he cannot fully appease any part of his society. But indeed, perhaps in setting himself at the centre of attention for mutually distrusting groups he has not been so foolish after all.
Prince Jakub von Ossel-Loteringai: First in line to the Imperial Throne after his father, he is a somewhat more controversial figure than his father. Only sixteen with a fifty-six year old father makes many quietly worry what would happen to the Empire if his father died before educating his son in statecraft. Worse yet, the lad himself might die leaving his even younger brothers to rule. In public he carries himself indignantly appearing at charity events and dancing with the right old ladies at balls, but there isn't anything to actually indicate he is interested in becoming an Emperor. Many wonder what might happen if they got their voice to him, a lad so in need of advice... after all, better I have him as my pawn than the other bastards, no?
Viscount Felix de Speer: The Viscount is an old friend of the Emperor and perhaps for the best, considering he is head of perhaps the second most powerful family in Vercingetor, the man who most agree would become Emperor should the house of Ossel-Loterinagai be annihilated. While born with a dozen platinum spoons up his arse he was by pressure of his position forced into some measure of competence and has overseen many important initiatives in the Empire. He was behind the great military reforms of a few decades back, as well as the chief negotiator during the recent nationalist and communist uprisings; he had now been made Chief Clerk of Vercingetorix, a title simply to solidify position as the right hand man of the Emperor.
Sir Hugo von Jurgensen: The face of a capitalist in the eyes of communists, he is a portly bastards with curly mustache and monocle. In the not so distant business wars, Hugo was one of the major entrepreneurs who was surprisingly not found guilty of committing any crimes. So Vercingetor intelligence approached him with a simple offer. He would inherit the business of the rogue businessmen about to be culled, effectively making him the biggest fish in the pond for free. In turn, he would not make a monopoly to squeeze out any potential competitor fish, he would not abuse his workers and the law, he would not entertain foreign interests, he would not let an inept son take over the business later to ruin the nations economy, he would not become like the men before him. He accepted knowing he'd be shot with no thought of legality if he disagreed and now enjoys his position very much. Thanks to him Vercingetorix was able to finally find a balance, an agreement between capital, people and government. He can now be seen smugly smoking cigars in high society knowing that the government has to kow-tow as much to him as the inverse. Still it is undeniable the arrangement is serving fairly well allowing the man to build up the many hydroelectric plants of the nation making it ever less dependent on the coal it lacks, as well as building perhaps one of the most efficient and largest railway systems in the world. Now, he looks towards building airports and highways all across the country to accommodate the burgeoning aeronautics and automotives of the country.
Jovan and Wenceslaus - Yassin Brothers: These two Brothers are geniuses which - for their own good - Vercingetor intelligence whisked away. For many years they were happy to invent new adhesives during their tea break and scrawl digits of pi in their sleep, or when bored during hunting trips they designed wholly new rifles to use — however their publication of papers on potential of splitting the atom and use of jet-streams of fuel for propulsion were a step too far. Now they live in luxury and appear in high society every other year but for the most part they are squirrelled away in a safe location writing world renowned scientific papers to the progress of humanity!... After necessary redactions by military scientists, of course.
|Starting Tech:|
Tech Points allocated with one to infantry, armour, electronics, and supply.
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