Republic of Wolfsbarrow. Location: Grapevine, Texas. (See 707 S Main St, Grapevine, TX 76051)
Black outline, is the extent of land we have liberated from the undead. Green is Residential, and recreational areas. Red is Administrative/Military areas. Blue is Agricultural. Cyan is the railroad infrastructure. Orange is planned expansion.
Government: Currently a dictatorship led by a council of 6. The Head of the council: Edward Webb, was the original founder of the republic shortly after the outbreak. Second in command: Isabella Owens, is in charge of security (Military), and fortifications against the undead. Maintenance/Construction: Braedon Monroe, maintains our buildings, and conventional vehicles. Engineer (no not that kind of engineer).Benjamin Farrell, Is in charge of keeping our steam and diesel locomotives operational, and maintaining the railroad station. Agriculture. Alvin Reid, controls our crops, water, and domesticated animals. Scavenging. Shelby Duke, leads our away teams in search of goods in the wasteland.
Number of Survivors: 218
Important buildings: Railyard. Primary reason for location choice, provides us a quick and easy getaway if need be and allows for mass transportation of goods. Into or out of our little safe haven while remaining relatively unscathed. Flour Mill. since it is the highest building in the area it gives a great vantage point over the base. Grapevine Lake. Just to the north a supply of fresh water. (It may not be crystal clear but it’s fresh water.)
Transportation: Primarily by bus. There are two school bus depots down the road, so we kindly emptied them of their contents and modified them. Secondarily by car. And finally we have two operational locomotives. One steam, one diesel.
Military Structure: Militia type units if at all. No formal training.
Interesting, the unit cards, will be interesting as well. if i may suggest something like this? It's from a WWII miniatures game. maybe you could borrow a few things ;)
4th Feb. 2057, 0730hrs (New Pitam City, Ernst Brandt)
After meeting with the Kor representative last month, Ernst felt that his advances and attempts to broaden trade between the two countries fell on deaf ears. So needlessly to say when during his breakfast a messenger appeared and informed him that the officials were willing to talk about possible trade opportunities. He was very intrigued as to what was occuring in the capital to change their stance. It then occurred to him that he should probably talk to the Emperor before he met with the diplomats. “Tell them that i shall be over in an hour, I need to make a call.” he informed the messenger. And then promptly sent him on his way.
Ernst “Your highness, Apologies for waking you up, but i have received word that the Union of Kor is willing to start talking about trade. Is there anything in particular that i should bring to their attention?” Wolfgang “No worries Ernst i was just doing some paperwork.” the Emperor gestures to the stacks of paper surrounding him “Just inform them of our good intentions, and let them know we are willing to assist them in anyway necessary with their ambitions in space. Oh and for Lotte’s sake man stop calling me emperor. We’ve known each other for the past 60 years!” Ernst “Sorry Wolfgang it’s habit.” he says with a hint of a chuckle “but I will certainly let them know.” Wolfgang “Alright old friend, let me know how negotiations go. I need to go brief the VEA on the Kobold visitors we shall be having soon.” Ernst “Goodbye Sir.” he said as the Emperor ended the call.
Upon Ernst’s arrival at the city hall he was escorted to one of the meeting rooms. This time he noted that the room had two guards posted outside. Inside the room was heavily decorated with chitanite, and other more lavish furnishings than other meeting rooms. A beautiful rug covered most of the floor, the walls were covered in chitanite patterns and beautiful paintings of the ocean. There was a large bay window looking out on what must be one of the few gardens in the city. Ernst walked around the room to grasp the minute detail in each design. After a few minutes of observing the door opened, and in walked a woman he had never seen before.
It had been late at night when Naki emergency phone started ringing. She wasn't expecting it to be the High King though, sure she was one of the diplomats that could speak several foreign languages thus negating her need for a interpreter greatly but it was really something else to hear the High King over the phone. The High King after all rarely left the capital besides a once a year tour of the Tari major cities. Van'kor "Good you are up, I have much to discuss." Naki "What is it High King?" Van'kor "Please call me Van'kor, as our talks will easily go into the early morning." Naki "Yes High- Van'kor." Van'kor "As you know have been a series of launches into space, you are tasked with acquiring trade. Primary goal usual but you are to put a emphasis on resources. Slip in some talks of space and if the bait is taken you are to initiate the talks about acquiring a partner in space. This is no small task, I can call another diplomat but I value your skills as a interpreter could cause issues." Naki "I gladly except!" Van'kor "Good now into the details."
Naki had been promised position of Head Diplomat which was still vacant from Void War as the previous had died in one of nuked Aldabetan Cities. She had been sure to prepare the room accordingly having some refreshments and snacks as she expected the finer details of the talk would take long. One of the nicest meeting rooms that was mainly only used to impress. It was good Naki had been trained to keep a straight face while she walked with Ernst to the room as the nervousness since talks with High King had not gone away. Naki "I can assure you that today's talks will be far more fruitful than previous."
Ernst “I would hope so ma’am. Considering my previous attempts at talks have been unsuccessful.”
Naki "Previously talks were hampered by certain policies that were in effect. Those policies have since been suspended so today will be the day. Many changes are happening in the world and space."
Ernst “Well then, I’m most curious to see what you have to say in both regards.”
Naki “Very well, as you know the Union of Kor has expended a great deal of resources lately. I’m sure news travels fast. First though is the usual resource needs such as food but are willing to expand towards other resources. The space launches really are a strain. Require a great deal thus have facilitated the need for trade.”
Ernst “I’m sure that my empire would be willing to send over some of our resource production, and of course any extra food we have to spare. However our empire is most interested in your space ambitions currently, and may be willing to assist you in reaching them.”
Naki “Space? Ah it is good to hear you are interested in assisting us with that. Truth be told the Union of Kor lacks the ability to finish this project of ours in a timely fashion. We will have the documents brought so you can look them over first. Any assistance would be of great help.”
Ernst “Well then let’s look at these documents….”
Ernst and Naki continued to talk for a couple of hours about various concerns both countries had. The talks would also turn heavily into discussing the information about the Union of Kor space project. Though mostly with checking the documents provided by Naki that listed various specifications and how to go about in future schedules would need to be made for transferring of information and several tari engineers to help bring the Wolfen up to speed as schematic information was primarily hard copy.
10th February 2057, 0900 (Spaceport, Princess Lucina)
The Vaspenian Empire’s space port is located in the mountain range to the south of Venris, amongst some of the highest peaks in the range. The space port was once your average air force base that was home to the Empire’s long range bomber command, and ICBM silos. Both of which have been relocated to other bases.
On the base there are a few workshops, for the construction of spacecraft to be launched. Princess Lucina is standing with the head engineer Evrard Sendler. He stands five foot eight inches tall, and while looking rather portly his arms are muscular and well tanned from the sun. These two are quite the sight as they stand on the scaffold looking into the hangar at the new habitation extension for the orbital command. “Do you think we can get this launched by the end of the month?” said Lucina as she, six foot five inches, towers over him.
“I should certainly hope so ma’am. It’s almost 90% complete right now.” replied Evrard.
“Good” She nods her head in thought, “This extension of the station is badly needed before we can progress on anything else. What is the status on the other additions for the station?”
“The scientific module is almost complete as well. However the new reactor, and shielding modules are still behind.”
“And the status of the new corvette hulls?”
“They are coming along on schedule, but we need more time to incorporate some of the new additions to their hulls. We will also be sending up updates for the ones already in orbit.”
The Princess Nods and thinks to herself for a moment. “Good then we should be ready for the next big undertaking.”
She pulls Evrard into his office from the scaffolding, and pulls out a large roll of paper from her bag. She unrolls the blueprints, and gestures to them.
“Do you think you could accomplish this?”
Evrard looks startled, he wasn’t expecting the Princess to come up with a project of this magnitude.
“This is a Shipyard, yes?” He asks looking a little dazed.
“Yes” replies the Princess
He studies the plans for a minute, occasionally using measuring tools to help him, and eventually says: “I think based on the size of this station, that it would be workable with our current capabilities. But it will take 2-3 years possibly even 4 years to build this given how our talks with the Union are going.” he replies.
“Then once the current tasks are completed, i’d like to you begin work on this.” said the Princess as she made to leave.
“Yes your highness” He said, as he once again looked at the plans.
Cindorayi Empire: Neutral - Cold People’s Republic of Cindorayi: Neutral - Warm Grand Protectorate of Lithla: Neutral - Cold Union of Kor: Neutral - Warm Famsidian Union: Neutral - Cold New Auslassia: Neutral - Cold Unified Soto Guilds: Neutral - Cold Dominion of Isalka: Neutral - Warm Rafinid Technocracy: Neutral - Cold Greater Union of Veluca: Neutral - Warm Pokash: Neutral - Cold
January 2057 (Veluca) Collab with Vicker.
Most of Veluca was a dark and poverty stricken urban hellscape. Most but not all. Like in any society, some did better than others, it just happened that the gap between those people was bigger here than anywhere. Drachma Heavy Industries did what it could to help gather talent where it could and so, a luxurious lifestyle and work environment for its elite engineers and corporate officers was provided. Between here and the embassy however, Princess Lucina didn't even have to see the dirt and the grim of the 'real' Veluca, only the gilded land of the rich and the powerful, those closest to the Holder and this clique of oligarch. The limos and cars parked themselves in the VIP area of the parking under a great tree, insuring the Princess, her diplomatic escort and the Kobold special police escorting her were well posted. There was even a red carpet!
The inside was as luxurious as the outside, however the kobolds couldn't help but give outsiders their particular brand of hospitality. It was subtle, but people gave side glances to the foreigners, smiles dropped, conversations halted when they walked too close. They were polite, but boy were they distrustful. The secretary however, did do her job and show a polite smile. "Miss Lucina? Yes, Mister Drachma was informed for your arrival, he should be there-"
No real republican would call a royal any different than any other citizen though, no matter how good the business was...
"Now! Your imperial majesty, it is a pleasure as always!"
...No REAL republican.
"I hope your travel went well? I heard things are a bit chaotic due to this whole nuclear business above our head. It's like people fear the sky will fall down on their heads! Amusing... considering that likelihood seems much lower now than a couple days ago is it not?"
Indeed, the Cindorayi Empire would certainly be much less able to wave around the menace of retribution from the sky now that their network was crippled... and it did make a good place to segway into the order the Princess had for Drachma and DHI as a whole, something Drachma guessed was of military nature. As always really.
"My trip was uneventful but comfortable to say the least. But on to the business at hand, as you know I have an order for your company." said Princess Lucina, glancing around the room. Upon noticing the number of kobolds within earshot she asked. "May we continue this conversation in private?"
"Ah, looking to buy new rescue shuttles maybe?" the kobolds answered with a sly smile.
"Please, follow me to my office." he said as he turned around and led the Princess down a hallway, and into his “office’.
The 'office' was of course, gigantic, towering over the main building as to look at every departments from one side, and at the magnificent park view outside but all through one way windows. There was already a comfortable vulpine chair for the princess, the oligarch instead sitting on his own before turning around, the chair elevating itself so he may be more at level with the princess. Drachma continued.
"The hegemony of the Empire over space crumbling, what a time to be alive... My government has of course passed a few orders of their own you'll understand, now is a time of opportunity for us all! But I'll always be able to make place for you madam. So, what can I help you with your majesty?" Saying this, Drachma laid back in his chair, awaiting for her words.
Looking around the fairly large office even by her standards, Princess Lucina replied, “I would like you to produce a few different items for me. First, a space station extension capable of docking 5 small ships. Second, a storage extension. And thirdly, 3 small ships. Would you be able to tell me what the cost of this order will be?”
The reptile showed a corner of a smile before lifting open his laptop and writing a few numbers. "Roughly 2.3 billion. Might I ask, within what delays would you like this delivered?" Saying this, he rose his eyes above the screen, waiting for an answer.
“If possible I’d like them in orbit in four months, unless you can get them up there sooner.” she said as she observed him intently.
The lizard stopped typing on his computer to seemingly lick the back of his teeth. "I'll do what I can, but I guarantee that it will not be up sooner. As said before, my government has placed obligations on me that take priority. I should be able to deliver this within the specified delay though. And if I can't, be sure that as per our usual contract you shall receive a hefty reduction of the pricetag as per our policy of 'on time' delivery. This is a special case, I'm sure you understand." It wasn't every day that the Empire's defensive network collapsed. The space ambitions of Veluca were well known.
The princess nodded her head knowingly, the Princess had assumed that they would have ambitions in space. Especially now since the Cindorayi Empire's grip had loosened. "In that case, I will extend the delivery date to 5 months. I shall have my people send over the blueprints for the ships and modules in the next couple of days. But I expect to see same high grade level of craftsmanship that I have seen in the past.”
"Your grace does me too many favors." The kobold got up from his chair, almost jumping down due to his small size, before politely bowing and showing the door. "It shall be done. Might I ask if you planned to leave our nation so soon or was there any business you wished to attend to? The Holder’s 6th son’s wedding is this afternoon if you would like to join us."
Princess Lucina returned his bow, “I do have some other matters to take care of, but I will be there.” she said as she left the room.
Kobold weddings were a complex and large affair taking a bit of their old colonial masters (mainly Cindorayi), their liberators (Aldabetan) and the kobolds own strange roots to blend into something unique. Rather than in a church, the marriage would take place in the male's newly acquired residence, something that could lead to crowded apartment parties but that in this case was conducted in a big country house, or perhaps a small manor, in the countryside of the nation. Who the persons getting married were wasn't important as much as who their parents were, namely it was the 6th son of Holder Vermillion Cray who married the 18th daughter of Bernank Dal Prett, powerful banker of the Union. And where these two men were, people congregated as a vast amount of people who had nothing to do here spoke with one another, including a few foreign dignitaries all standing heads above the reptilian majority.
"To the groom and his wife!"
Bottles of champagne were open as the male in military uniform and the female in a white robe waved at the crowd before it mixed up to converse about one thing or another. When Princess Lucina approached the man in the highest office of the country and the small clique surrounding him, there was as usual a silence of the conversation as the group opened for the Princess to face Vermillion, who honestly looked a lot like any other kobolds without the large blue silken belt across his chest telling of his position of Holder.
"Ah, Princess Lucina, what a pleasure to see you here, are you enjoying your evening?"
"I am Mr. Cray. It is quite interesting to see your countries' customs in practice." the Princess replied.
Vermillion had a polite smile as the cynic in him took this as a lie. Then again this was probably mainly due to having spoken to a Cindorayi recently and a little because Kobolds had little respect for their own traditions themselves. They saw them as colonial remnants, not really 'real' one could say. So a foreigner with actual history calling them interesting, even if true, only sounded like mockery to them.
"Thank you, maybe I'll get to see yours one day." He answered politely to make small talk. He knew how foreigners loved the stuff, even if he hated it.
"I'll make sure to invite you to the next wedding in our family. I think you will find it a little more instinctual than your ceremonies." she said with a small smile. "But that is besides the point. My congratulations to your son on his marriage, I trust he is happy with the arrangement?" she continued with a steady but slightly inquisitive tone as she nodded to the happy couple.
Vermillion actually had to turn around to look at his son and his wife sharing cake together as she smeared some on his face and they both laughed before answering. "Well, we don't 'arrange' marriages here so I unless I am mistaken, he'll enjoy his new life and his many children! Still, if you ask me kids these days marry too old, I was 6 when I met my wife and we married in the same year! I guess times were different back then, 20 years ago. But look at me, rambling like the great grandfather that I am."
He laughed. "I have 52 children, mostly girls, and... over 600 grand children, I actually forget the names of some at times. Still, they bring me happiness and remind me why I work so hard for the prosperity of my nation. Its all for them." His smile got more contemplative as he looked at his glass of champagne. Slowly around them, people excused themselves to go mingle somewhere else, leaving the holder and the princess alone together.
"My apologies, I meant that I hope he is content with how it turned out." she said sincerely. "But I do have a proposition for you to help keep your nation safe, and by extension your family." replied Princess Lucina
"Oh?" He widened his eyes with some surprise. A lot of people had such proposition these days... though he guessed having a man, his thousands of kinsmen and hundreds of millions of countrymen grateful to someone was a way to extend one's lifespan. "Well, the Union is always welcome of new ways to thrive with its neighbors." He said, interested.
"As you may know my country is severely behind in civilian technology in comparison to other modern nations, especially in our production methods. So my father bid me to ask you to assist us in modernizing our civilian industry, and bringing our civilian technology up to date. In return we are prepared to share some of our advancements in defensive technology, including all research needed to develop a prototype shield generator." She said watching Mr . Cray's face intently the entire time. She thought she caught a glimpse of the gears turning in his head when a small smile appeared on his face.
So they had made their move. Vermillion had expected this, the island had been isolated for so long. Only what he didn't know was who they'd chose to be their patron. They could've gone with the more distant, but still monarchist Cindorayi empire... but they went with the Union instead. Very interesting. "Direct and final. There may be some kobold in you, princess... Well, if you would lend me a better shield in exchange for a better hammer, how could I refuse? We generally try to make our people focus on our nation, but I'm sure I can lend a few experts to show you how to streamline your production lines and so forth... It's a deal!" The kobold extended a small scaly hand to the wolf girl to shake.
Princess Lucina took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “May your nation stand tall and strong for many generations to come."
Late January 2057 (Research, Classified)
The National Research Station, where all projects that have been determined worthy of federal funding are moved to. The station is located in an old Mine under one of the many mountains near the capital. Inside is what seems to be a maze of sparsely furnished hallways, offices packed with clutter, and laboratories whose walls are pockmarked with craters of various shapes and sizes. In one of the more tidy laboratories we find Emperor Wolfgang, and his head researcher. The researcher gestured to a few prototypes laid out in front of them,
“Projects 1-094, and 1-107, have completed working prototypes of their projects. While projects 1-085, 1-067, and 1-099, have made some progress and expect to be completed within the next three to four months.” reported the researcher.
The Emperor just responded with an encouraging nod.
So the researcher continued, and gestured to the first prototype. “This is project 1-107” he gestured to a small box on a pedestal. “It is a prototype of a higher capacity energy storage unit, this prototype increases our capacity by 5% over the previous model. ”
The researcher then gestured to the next prototype and continued “and this is project 1-094” he said gesturing to a set of soldier’s combat gear on a stand. “This is a set of the military’s standard combat gear, however we have added a miniaturized shield generator to the rear of the vest.” the researcher turns the stand around, and sure enough on the back of the vest the scientists integrated a small shield generator and removable battery pack into the rear of the vest. “The shield can be activated by a keypad on the user’s wrist. In our ballistics tests the shield can stay active for a maximum of 3 minutes under continuous small arms fire. However anything larger than a .50cal round will reduce that time significantly.”
“Interesting,” replied the Emperor, “i’m sure every warrior of our great country will thank you. However the progress on the next two projects is what really intrigues me.”
“Of course your majesty.” the researcher gestured to a table by the door, and both men walk toward it. “As you are aware project 1-085, is our own version of the cindorayi’s railgun. Our science officer in orbit disassembled the captured gun on the station, and sent down detailed photos, and his notes. While these have been helpful we have had a few setbacks in reconstructing the weapon.”
“Project 1-067 on the other hand is coming along splendidly. Our research into Metamaterials is progressing, however while a prototype is in the works it will take a couple of months before the team is happy with it.” The Emperor turned to him and said “is there anything that team has requested?” “That team has requested a model aircraft to test with.” he replied.
The Emperor thought for a moment before saying “Scrap the model, get them one of our recently decommissioned V-10 fighters to test on. Those things have been in service since the War of the Fangs and should hold up well to a modification like that.”
“Yes your majesty.” the scientist replied before continuing on. “And finally, project 1-099 is coming along as predicted, however it will not be finished until late July early August of this year. They had a little trouble fitting all the armaments into the design specifications.”
“Very good, keep me apprised of 067, and 099’s progress and any requests they make.” the Emperor said. “Those two projects will allow us to reach out and strike fear into our enemies.”
(Excerpt from After Action Report, Konrad Von Bock: Classified) “‘Take the remaining four corvettes to assist the Cindorayians in search for any survivors and to collect the dead from the explosion.’ That’s what the admiral told me to say, what she knew the world would accept for any ship rushing into a battle zone, and picking through the wreckage. ‘We’re looking for survivors!’ that would be the best defence against any challenges to why we were there. But the real reason…. That would never be accepted by the public.”
“The real transmission i received from the admiral was to put up the facade of looking for survivors. While we actually looking through the debris for anything salvageable, and gather data on the armaments of the Cindorayian ships.” Konrad said over the encrypted communication channels to the three other corvettes assisting him in the top secret operation.
“ We have 4 hours to focus on this mission before we default back to the search and rescue parameters. Less if there are Cindorayian ships floating around. So let’s make the most of this time and make Admiral Lucina proud gents!”
The crews of all four ships replied “Hoo-ah!”
All ships got to work searching through the debris.
Three hours later, they had managed to find a heavily damaged, but operational rail gun from the Cindorayian corvette #023. In addition they had gathered all the pertinent data relating to current and past Cindorayian corvette designs. After examining the fleet’s findings and finding them acceptable Konrad said “Alright we have salvaged what we can, let’s proceed with the search and rescue mission.”
January 2057 (New Pitam City, Union of Kor)
Ernst Brandt, woke up in his bed in a cold sweat. This was the third night this week he had woken up in a cold sweat like this. For some reason this time of year always brought back bad memories. Anyway he had a busy day ahead of him, so he may as well get up early…
After a shower and a shave he headed downstairs for breakfast, said good morning to his wife, and set off for the Tarian city hall building. On the way he passed by many empty embassy buildings much like his own, that had once been fully staffed, but now slowly withering away. The Tari guards stand tall on the walls surrounding the embassy sector, proudly doing their duty to keep the undesirables out and keeping their families fed.
As he approached the city hall Ernst noted the imposing look of the stairs, and he could have sworn that these suckers seem bigger than yesterday. Then he thought to himself: “Man my age is really starting to catch up to me now that i’ve rounded the big ol seven oh.” While he was making his way up the staircase, he took note once more of the chitanite embellishments adorning almost all visible surfaces. They made what would normally be very mundane, beautiful.
After tearing his attention away from the chitanite he noted that there were some new guards outside the building. He dismissed it as a new security measure after what had just happened in orbit, why the Union of Kor was concerned about what was happening in orbit, he didn’t quite understand. He resolved to ask about it during the trade meeting this afternoon.
April 2014 (Vaspen Empire, Front lines)
A much younger Emperor Wolfgang is walking among the wounded just behind the front lines, reassuring the wounded, giving them a sense of hope. The Emperor’s Captain of the guard approaches.
“Sir, I know that being among the wounded pleases you, but you are needed at the front.”
“Come now Captain Ernst, we must show these men some appreciation for risking their lives for their country.” the Emperor replied.
“But Sir, the military commanders would like you to come to the front.”
“Very well Ernst. Let me just go though once more, and then we shall head to the front.”
At the front, there are newly dug trench lines for miles in every direction, there are bunkers interspersed with gun emplacements throughout the trenchline. Emperor Wolfgang, and Ernst entered one of the bunkers to find a group of generals huddling around a table finalizing the plan to counter attack. For the past two years the Vaspen army had been hammered month after month with a seemingly endless wave of Wojteki soldiers, day and night, on and on. Then as suddenly as the wave began the wave started to slow, and slow, and eventually the two armies reached a state of equilibrium.
The generals motioned to a PA system in the corner of the bunker.
“We thought it would be appropriate if you were to give some motivational words, or even a speech, before we proceed with the plan.” said the eldest general.
Emperor Wolfgang walked over to the PA system, thought a moment, and then proceeded to tear it off the wall of the bunker and walk outside. He walked out of the bunker, his guards and generals following behind, down the trench line to a gunpit with soldiers manning the weapon. He then turned to the highest ranked general, and stated, “ I think this is a better setting for this sort of thing.”
The general just smiled.
The Emperor, then proceeded to turn on the PA system, every soldiers’ radio squaked in protest. “Soldiers of the Vaspen Empire, this is your ruler Wolfgang Vaspen speaking. Soldiers! As you know all too well, we have lost many comrades, friends, and even family at the hands of the Wojteki. But think of all those behind us! We are the only thing holding the Wojteki back! If not for us the Wojteki would be free to sack, pillage, and enslave our cities and towns.”
“We have successfully halted the Wojteki advance, and now it is our turn to push back! We shall push them back, reclaiming our rightful land! Back Into their barren homeland! Now is the time men! Advance!”
As the Emperor finished that last sentence, the artillery from behind the front line fired what could only be the biggest, and noisiest barrage that they could. Tanks appeared on the horizon advancing towards the Wojteki lines, and the soldiers together as one advanced.
Later that day the high command determined they gained almost a mile out of the advance, and they were still actively pushing the Wojteki back. However for the next couple of days the Emperor could be found walking amongst the wounded, and observing the great loss of life that had occured.
January 2057 (Venris) Supplemental
Emperor Wolfgang sat in his study amongst various piles of documents of all description. His humble little study was one of the few places he could be alone with his thoughts if only for a short while. But this time he sat in front of his desk writing a message to the newly established People's Republic of Cindorya. So far it read as such:
To: Sahrova Verasha From: Wolfgang Vaspen Subject: Support
Mrs. Verasha,
I am proud to say that the Empire of Vaspen recognizes your independence, at least in secret. As we are currently not in a position to stand against your former overlords, even after your utterly surprising attack on their main force. While we may not have the industry, or even space presence that other nations may have, we do have a certain technological advantage others do not.
On a completely different note, we have an exploration ship enroute to your planet, if and when it gets there i hope you will accept my gift of 50 cubic feet of Vaspenite. It should be more than enough to shield a small fleet of corvettes.
Sincerely, Wolfgang Vaspen.
After reading through the letter multiple times, and finding it to his satisfaction he called in a member of his Imperial guard.
“Take this letter to the spaceport ground control, and have them relay it to the People's Republic of Cindorya. This is classified information, guard it with your life.”
“Yes Sir!” The guard said just before he rushed out of the room.
If that letter were to fall into the wrong hands, he didn’t ever dare think of what the Empire of Cindorya would do.
May 2034: Crown Princess Lucina Vaspen (8) flew into the great hall with all of her five siblings in tow. They look to be playing soldier with their wooden weapons of all descriptions, and their clothes have dirt and grass stains all over them as if they were just rolling around in the garden. Lucina ran straight up to the throne and takes cover behind it, Her siblings who are playing as the Wojteki this time, slowly approach the throne. Two of them staying back to give covering fire with their ranged weapons. Suddenly there is a roar from the throne, their father Wolfgang Vaspen shouts in a firm voice: “What are you doing in here?!” All of the children suddenly snap to their senses, they had been so caught up in playing their little war they forgot father had an important meeting with the head researchers! Wolfgang Vaspen noticing their shocked little faces, and proceeds to usher the Wojteki pretenders out of the room saying to them in a knowing tone: “We will talk about this later, but go get yourselves cleaned up, and get back to your studies.” Returning to the throne he finds his little Lucina standing there with her head down looking really subdued. He walks over to her gives her a little smile and says: "How many did you shoot?” She tilts her head up, smiles, and says: “I shot two of them in the garden, and one in the hallway outside before they chased me in here. They never play fair Dad! They always claim they can rise from the dead or something!” “Now now Lucina, you’ve heard my stories. There are almost always more than you expect, but we will talk about this more later. For now head back to your room and clean up, and please stop giving your Instructor the slip just to go play with the boys.” “Alright Dad.” she gives him a little smile and prances off to her room. Wolfgang watches her leave the room and turns back to the researchers, who have just been standing there watching the whole scene with knowing smiles on their faces. Wolfgang says: “How is the prototype coming along?” The head researcher Wilfred turnes to the Emperor and said with a little pride in his voice, “It’s ready.”
January 2057 (Venris) Princess Lucina had just arrived at the spaceport located just outside Venris the capital city. When she received word that her father, Emperor Wolfgang wanted to see her as soon as possible. Upon arrival at the castle she was escorted to her chambers and told to freshen up after her journey from the space station. So she took a quick shower and put on her favorite dress, and then went to the great hall to meet with her father. The Emperor had just finished a meeting with some of his military advisors when she entered the hall. She noted that her father typically didn’t call her into the hall during normal meeting hours, so this must be very important. She waited out of earshot of the current conversation for her father to dismiss the advisors, and when he did dismiss them she approached and said “Hello Father, I trust you have been doing well while I was away.” The Emperor replied, “I have been doing as well as i can, but there is an important matter I need to speak with you about.” “Of course Father I am at your disposal.” “There seems to have been an incident in orbit, the Cindorayi Empire has had a few of their older satellites go berserk and attack their fleet, and their Orbital Command station.” “Do we know who orchestrated the attack?” the Princess said, clearly startled. “No but this only happened moments ago I’m sure the Cindorayi will issue a public statement soon, but I want our fleet to assist with search and rescue operations. I’m sure you can organize that, right Admiral Lucina?” “Of course Father I’ll have what ships can be spared from the current mission assist in the rescue operation.” “Very good, now if you will excuse me I have some other matters to attend to.” As the Emperor leaves the grand hall Princess Lucina rushes to her room to notify the fleet.
January 2057 (Orbit) The Vaspenian Fleet of seven corvettes have just left the space station, and are escorting three newly built exploration ships until they reach orbital escape velocity. Commander Konrad von Bock is relaxing aboard his command corvette, VES-101 (Undine), when his navigational officer noticed some strange readings and said, “Commander i’m getting a large explosion of the port bow.” Konrad startled, replied “What? Are we being engaged?” “No sir, it seems the explosion came from quite a distance away.” “Can we get a visual on screen?” “Yes sir, working on it!” The next few moments are complete silence as the entire Vaspenian Fleet looks on in awe of the massive explosion that once was the Cindorayi orbital Command station. The surviving Cindorayi corvettes, are also visible attacking and destroying their own satellites. Not knowing what happened Commander Konrad gives the order to maintain course and finish escorting the exploration ships. An hour later Konrad receives a message from Admiral Lucina, directing him to leave three of his corvettes to continue escorting the exploration ships, and to take the remaining four corvettes to assist the Cindorayians in search for any survivors and to collect the dead from the explosion. Almost immediately Konrad relayed the orders to all other ships in the fleet, the corvettes VES-105(Gazelle),106(Niobe), and 107(Nymphe) were assigned to protect the exploration vessels. While corvettes VES- 101(Undine), 102(Arcona), 103(Thetis), and 104(Frauenlob) were ordered to assist. Commander Konrad immediately set course for the debris field that once was the Orbital Command station. Konrad then appraises his crew of the current situation, and what he expects from them.
Excerpt from Konrad Von Bock’s after action report: “After the first six hours of searching the three corvettes dispatched to escort the exploration ships, 105, 106, and 107 arrived to assist us. In the end we managed to find the bodies of 18 fallen Cindorayi crew members, and 6 surviving crew members. Two were picked up from the wreckage of corvette #015, one from #007, two from #018, and one from #022. All of the Crewmembers living and dead were dropped off at Kalashnik Research Station. After removing the last of the dead, we returned to our own space station. Moral was in the pits the entire journey home, because we all knew that could happen to us at any time. One slip up was all it took to end up missing or dead.”
Vaspen Empire History Of The Empire: The Empire was founded on September 20th of 1894, after the military led a successful coup d’etat of the Mad King. The military leaders realized after the coup d’etat that the people would never support any move on their part to take the throne, so they looked far and wide to find a suitable candidate to replace the Mad King. They eventually settled on the king’s distant nephew Johannes Vaspen (1869-1934) , he was called to the capital under false pretenses and was astonished to find that he had been chosen to take the throne. Emperor Johannes enacted many successful reforms to improve the small maritime countries’ economy, production base, and mining capabilities. After these economic reforms were put in place, Emperor Johannes put new educational, and social policies into place to promote the sciences, and free thinking. He also reformed the political and social system by repealing the class system and allowing the masses to determine their own destiny. However before he could see the benefits of these policies, he passed away unexpectedly at 65 years old. Passing the throne to his son Maxwell Vaspen (1910-1990), Maxwell continued in his father’s footsteps. Expanding the people’s rights, and continually enacting policy to further scientific development. However early on in his reign foreign spies stole top secret military weapon designs. This prompted Emperor Maxwell to establish an anti-espionage agency, which quickly became known as the VEA. This Agency focuses it’s expertise on internal security rather than actively monitoring other Nations movements, but it is equally skilled in doing both. (This Agency is considered the best espionage, and anti-espionage agency in existence.) Some of Emperor Maxwell’s final Policies, were the establishment of a national space program,(VSA) and a increase in funding for the military to update their weaponry. Realizing the rising tensions on the main continent Emperor Karl Vaspen (1945-2023), encouraged the scientific development of new kinds of weapons and the expansion of the Vaspen armed forces. In addition to expanding the armed forces Emperor Karl pushed the VSA to step up their presence in orbit to include more satellites and to start researching spaceflight and it’s long term effects. The Emperor also ordered research to be prioritized for a new mineral found in their southern mountains, that had previously been undiscovered which is to be named Vaspenite (Found 2010). Vaspenite was found to be extremely efficient at creating electromagnetic fields, and our scientists predict that with some more research into this they may be able to create a working force field prototype by 2030. Emperor Wolfgang Vaspen (1980-Present), wary like his father of any global war saw the 2 separate factions emerging, and setup a meeting with the leaders of both to publicly declare his neutrality. This meeting also setup Vaspen as one of the few safe Havens during the war. However the real reason Vaspen was never dragged into the war, was due to two things.
First: Because of Vaspen’s geographical location and composition, the territory itself gave almost no benefits to justify conquering it. And due to the mountain range in the far south the inhabitants could hold up there and conduct hit and run tactics on the opposing forces, tying up men and supplies.
Second: Because of Emperor Karl’s prioritizing of military, and defense technology, any attempt to assault the small kingdom would result in massive casualties due to the small yet significant difference in technology. And as a fallback plan the force field prototype, while large and bulky, would be able to defend the mountain range in the south from any major artillery bombardment, or explosion. (temporarily) While the war raged on all around the Empire remained stolidly neutral acting as a refuge for those who escaped the destruction and death, all the while slowly building, and developing new technology for the future. When the war did finally come to a conclusion the Vaspen empire remained slightly ahead technologically, and actually had a military presence in space, consisting of a small fleet that while highly trained and equipped is still out gunned by the larger more numerous, but less technologically advanced Cindorayi Empire and it’s allies.
National Characteristics: The Vaspen Empire is considered a absolute monarchy, with a few caveats. The Empire is a monarchy in the sense that there is one family that hereditarily rules the country, however the heir selection process is somewhat complicated. First the current leader typically sires 5-6 heirs so that he may have a selection to choose an intelligent, and kind leader. Until the Emperor announces his heir, he has a selection hidden away in a safe incase he passes away unexpectedly. The princes and princesses compete to gain the favor of their father and the court officials that carry favor with the Emperor. When the heir that has been chosen takes the throne all of their siblings either swear fealty to them, or are exiled and stripped of title. Speaking of court officials, typically they serve for life once appointed however there have been a few exceptions, however anyone can be appointed. The people of Vaspen number 25 million people, concentrated mostly on the two rivers on both sides of our little continent. With smaller population densities in the north in the plains and forests, and in the mountains at one of the few geothermal plants. The Empire’s economy is primarily focused on the research and sale of new weapons technologies, and improvements in civilian, agricultural, and industrial efficiency. The research of these new technologies, and advancements employ 45% of the workforce, and the sale of these makes up 67% of the Empire’s GDP. While Agriculture, Fishing, Space exploration, and Energy production, represent 5%, 7%, 12%, and 9%, respectively.
Species: Wolfen: Humanoid-Wolf like, typically 5.5-6ft tall, well built. They Appear very wolf like, large ears and muzzle like nose, they also have a large amount of hair covering their arms, legs and torso to help them survive the harsh winters. They have a slightly longer lifespan than a normal human, but do possess some enhanced senses of their wolf kin such as: Enhanced sense of hearing, smell, night vision, and cold resistance.
Side Chosen: Neutral, However some of our elite soldiers have participated on both sides of the conflict, earning medals of commendation for valor from both sides.
Technological Level: Near Cindorayi, while being comparable to most modern nations The Vaspen Empire focused primarily on researching defensive technology during and after the void war. As a result The Vaspen Empire has the most advanced defensive technology in the known world, the expense of almost all other scientific field.
Space Presence: Very Small, very few, but highly advanced ships, capable of taking on a fleet of double it’s size due to the electromagnetic shields all ships are equipped with.
Special Resources: Vaspenite, A mineral recently found in the interior mountain range of our island. this mineral is extremely efficient at creating powerful electromagnetic field, however our scientists claim the true potential of this material is yet to be tapped, so it requires more time to work out the kinks.
