CFProxy

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

Looks really interesting if you are still accepting.

@pandapolio

We still have room, so yes, if you're interested then I'll welcome you in.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

Iqua Qoten and The 107th

The 107th was the first Iron Guard division to be created, the personal project of the general who introduced the concept and first experimented with on the 73rd Infantry Division "Mogley" when an adequate reinforcement was unavailable. To compensate for the losses and to hold the city of Balkurk, the major general changed the design of the division and modified its interworkings to better constitute a defensive. His modifications were temporal, but the use of heavy tanks, additional artillery, and more support personnel allowed for better coordination as well as reinforcing the idea that all riflemen should be trained to properly dig trenches at increased rates to resist large infantry pushes with more efficiency. Anti-tank, artillery, and armored elements served as repellents for light tanks and deterred even medium and heavy armor when the conditions were ideal.

The 107th itself took on a brand new design, experimental and last minute. The Major General's confidence in these new division designs were expressed to be primarily for defense, the tanks primarily being distrubuted to the hardest to fight areas where casualties are expected to be the highest. Firepower, as IQ believes, is the essential factor in halting an advance. So long as heavy support is in place, a larger force cannot advance without sustaining heavy casualties in retaliation.

In addition to the division design, the Major General also introduced fire walling, or often referred to by the men as "fire pits", in excess to the point that it has become a staple of Iron Guard defense. The use of "fire pits", trenches that have been filled with gasoline, by which the defending force creates a long range set of ignition lines to discourage the attacking force from using previous trenches against them. In the event that the lines fail to ignite the trenches, incendiary artillery shells are fired to grant a long line of fire which burns the infantry inside, deters attackers from advancing, and allows the artillery teams to take advantage of the hesitation to hit waves of infantry in rapid succession. However, if the infantry manage to work their way past it, it is the duty of the infantry to repel the attackers and of the tanks and anti-tank units to beat back armored advances.

Iqua's successes with the 107th have been remarked as sufficient and with every successful defense comes the promise of improvements to the division. It has had several advances which have worked in the division's favor and it even managed to capture the Tovian city of Toyette which resulted in the rescue of the remains of the Tovian 3rd Armored Division "Alkar". In total, 48 tanks, 1,248 infantry, 2,433 civilians, and a single cow were salvaged from the battlefield along with equipment recovered by the defensive force. However, when the city was besieged again, massive losses were taken as air supremacy was achieved by opposing forces. The results were devastating. Bombing runs, counter artillery, rapid motorized invasions, and heavy tank support drove the 107th out of Toyette, killing 1,800, wounding 3,300, and driving morale low in what was considered to be their most disastrous defense that they were not prepared to deal with.

Iqua openly blamed the airforce for their lack of support in defense of the city, but as the officers of the airforce would often respond with, "numbers are stretched thin." and supporting the exiled governments in attempting to reclaim land and assets has driven the majority of the airwings to the northern and southern front. Despite the lack of air support, Iqua has worked closely with Field Marshall Edwin Qoten to develop new projects for use in the eastern front including new fighter, anti-aircraft tank, anti-air and anti-armor equipment designs as well as several improvements to the general equipment of all personnel.

The division has received praise as well as dissonance within the military, but its slow and steady method has set the standard for defending the eastern front. The major general was also allowed a Tovian support regiment which consisted of 1,000 of the 1,200 men reclaimed from Toyette and an additional 2 tanks to round out the 48 to 50. The remaining 200 men were assigned to communications as the regiment served primarily as a supportive fire power unit rather than a fully fledged division.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

The Iron Guard

The Iron Guard play a crucial role in the Qual military; "Hold The Line." As of January 20th, 583 L.E., there have been a record of 30 Iron Guard Divisions that make up a little over half a million in manpower. Quickly trained, mixed in with veterans, and fresh to the grinder, these men and women serve as the wall between the enemy and the cities they defend. Propaganda, while not completely effective, has been used to pull in volunteers, inspire draftees, give hope to the veteran, and regulate a steady chain of command with morale steadily rising. Cherry picked footage, daily speeches, and victory reports have helped remedy the situation to some degree.

The typical Iron Guard division consists of:

1 Recon Battalion (750)
1 Artillery Regiment (4,500/IR)
3 Infantry Regiments (3,000/IR)
1 Support Tank Battalion (750 [150 5 man heavy tanks])
1 Support Regiment (Medical, Engineers, Signals, etc) (3,000)

While an experimental division composition, the supportive power of combined elements, in theory, provides a sufficent amount of supportive fire power and engaging infantry to progress with armored support without stretching the nation thin on tank supply while it continues to ramp up its production into full gear despite set backs in many areas. While it does not have motorized or mechanized capabilities, the thought to add motorized capability has been issued and is planned to be delivered first to the divisions who prove most useful.

The use of Iron Guard is primarily defense, although the offensive is heavily encouraged if it is believed the battle can be won without sustaining heavy losses.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

I'm definitely interested if you're still looking for people. I've been looking to start writing again and this is right up my alley.

@Prizrak

I welcome you with open arms. Thanks for showing your interest!

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

Don't worry about the ranks, I've got ways around that. It's that I have a concept of my officer, who is pretty much a sensitive, considerate but strong and calm who had seen through the war himself. Basically the ones who feels pain when seeing his men around him die, but is still following orders. His personality I think can work well in this scenario.

I could see more potential interactions if some characters are inexperienced draftees. But it's up to you to decide anyway. And I may have him present on the front line when combat happened. It'll be easier for interactions and I won't be sitting around in HQ when fights begin. I mean British majors do fight frequently according to what I know.

And discord, I would recommend. It is faster to talk stuff with each other. I mean a successful RP's OOC I am in right now is almost completely in discord, as talks are much quicker

@Conscripts

As I think on it I think on it I think I'd prefer a mix of some experienced and some fresh soldiers. While all experienced or all inexperienced also works I would like to see the dynamic of people who are new to the fight and those who help correct them or teach them about the fight while possibly giving the older or more experienced members something to remind them of where they used to be and what all they were fighting for.

The mental can go a lot further than that and characters are naturally complex things so I'll leave the personality up to the individual as with some thought and heart any personality will show itself in its own way.

That being said the majority being fresh recruits sounds nice to me and that's alright with me. I'm even considering having multiple characters at the ready and in my case I kind of need to.

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Officer
As far as the officer concept goes, I think it is a good kind of character to have. I don't disagree with the choice and I'll look forward to future development.

Discord
As far as discord goes I think that would be fine. I will PM invites to members as it is completed.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

I'm quite curious of either choice. Take your pick when you're comfortable. I'll more or less build some characters around the party but I do have some more unique characters in mind.

As for an update on what I've been doing:

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WIP:

• Adding cities to map
• Creating a timeline from 572 L.E. to 583 L.E.
• Creating characters for future use in the timeline.

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While I'm not pumping out content at a fast rate I am doing what I can. I may just make rather simplified things to begin with because pondering all the politics in the game of geopolitical chess is taking up a lot of time so I'm going to hop off of that and simplify a number of things. However, I will try to create a bit of info that the group is likely to know just to help add to the RP from a character perspective.

Thanks for being patient and if you would like to have a discord to discuss things in feel free to PM me so that a group chat can be made readily available for multiple uses within the thread. For now I'll just keep building things up but as it is we'll probably have everyone start in a civilian environment. Something safe for the time being as the division gets itself together and prepares for the battles to come. Last goodbyes, getting in those drinks, practicing with weapons before its time to hit the front line etc.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

Small Update:

• Primary nation we will be roleplaying as has been changed to: Qualia.
• Qualia's demonym will now be: Qual

This is a much more unique sound as opposed to Desti. In honesty, I had a hard time figuring out a name for the demonym as I ended up with things that, I felt, sounded far too similar to Deutschland. I asked a friend for some help and that was the result.

• Starting rank will now be capped at: Lieutenant.

At first I was kind of hesitant with this change because I already told one member he could be a major but as it is this is supposed to be a more close knit experience with characters cooperating and spending time together. The higher up the ladder you go the less communication you'll more or less have. While I may still allow the single major I would prefer any future candidates to take up lieutenant and lower.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

<Snipped quote>

This is gonna split the players. Much as I like the idea of a pilot, you're gonna have a lot of players in different places not interacting. While my formal recommendation to nix this field will kill one of my prospective character concepts, I stand by that advice.

@Sierra

That's a good point actually. To remedy this i see two options.

1. Everyone is in the same branch (army) by default.

2. The original position is stated in the sheet but due to a need for more men in one area or a lack of equipment (something along those lines) they will be relocated with the rest of the group.

As much as I like giving people options without a co-dm I'd probably get bogged down trying to handle several stories at once. Plus the point is for this to be a united effort.

I'll take a look at how to better implement all of this.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

@CFProxy So uniforms, what look exactly are you looking for? German, U.S, ect.

@Raider Dog

Uniforms are likely to be full dress for both genders. Practical stuff that is likely to be more simplistic as the war drags on as production costs will continue to catch up with the resources available.

All in all it will be similar to that of uniforms from the war and things like skirts will not be used on the field unless production costs are way too high/the war is on the brink of being lost.

Examples that I will be looking at mostly for uniform design will be Germany, United States, and United Kingdom. You can expect uniforms to start out more sophisticated for the common soldier but as we head towards the end they will likely be simplified to bare minimums.

We may even have militia which can be identified with a badge or arm sleeve of some kind rather than be given a full uniform but that's a decision which has yet to be reached and one that the players can potentially influence.

[Cancelled]Our Darkest Hour [1930-40s Tech/Aesthetic]

I think this is more visible if you have some difficulties.

Also a few questions. Do you prefer or not prefer any types of pictures, because I know a few people don't want real life or anime-ish pictures in their CS? And the officer role. How far in the military rankings can we start with? Like I am thinking of either a company commander, with around 100 men, as a major, or if possible a battalion, 200 to 300 men, as lieutenant colonel (though I prefer the former, as it is easier to interact with other players)? What's the limit to that of an officer role?

@Conscripts

That's actually a lot better in terms of formatting. Excellent work.

Picture Preference
I have no preference on what you use for a picture. You don't have to use one at all, you can use anime, realistic, any kind of art that isn't too out there. Because this isn't a real life thread hair color and all that don't matter as much although for military reasons they'd probably have your character have a shorter hair style or tied back while on the field for various tactical reasons.

Starting Rank
I would say that major is within reason. Lieutenant colonel is a bit high but it can be worked toward. The limit of interaction is based on the judgement of the individual officer unless otherwise directed by the superior that he is to operate under a certain standard. However, given how many are very busy or are being replaced due to various reasons, the freedom the officer has is much more loose. The fact is that the military is a mess at the moment and they're trying to reorganize and stabilize over time as nobody expected the war to last this long or to have even escalate to this level.

Edit: Although I have stated that major is within reason lieutenant is more towards what I would expect/prefer.