Chairman Stein

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The Liubeth Conferences

On the 16th of May the Zellonian government agreed to a ceasefire. For the first time since the Osladian Imperial Army landed on the shores of Nervinton, the guns had fallen silent over Zellonia. The Osladian government immediately went to work preparing a diplomatic delegation to send to Liubeth, Kalpia to push the Osladian agenda. Among those chosen was the aging Niko 'Old Silver' Shklovsky, who served as both the Empire's Minister of Finance and Head of the National Bank of Oslad. He was accompanied by his apprentice, the young up-and-coming Secretary of the Treasury Stojan Brodszky, who much took after Old Silver. Joining the pair was Lieutenant Admiral Kazimir Benda, the personal assistant and trusted advisor of one Renzo Carrano, the Minister of the Navy, who could not be present himself. Osladian Minister of Security, the serious and astute Srdjan Orlov, was also there, as was Zhivko Litvak, Orlov's chief underling as the head of the Security Bureau. Minister of Supply & Production Lubos Yankovic—a close friend and political ally of the 'Count of Black' Vasilyev Yegorov—was there too, as was Yegorov himself, proudly leading the group. Finally, Oslad's ambassador to Kalpia, Nicholai Dolgorukov, rounded out the delegation.

Citizens of Liubeth gathering outside the Municipal Assembly to observe the arriving delegates.

By the 20th of May the delegation departed for Liubeth, arriving two days later shortly ahead of the Zellonian delegation. After a lunch-in and small-talk among the attending diplomats, opening statements were made and the agenda of the Conference was decided upon. The Osladian delegation immediately went to work pushing the issue of the Oslo-Zellonian strait and the fate of the powerful Zellonian navy. However, the Kalpian delegation in a strange move debated against the issue in favor of a return to the pre-war status quo, a move that left many within the Osladian delegation bitter towards their war-time 'allies'. By the end of the first conference, the Osladian delegation had been entirely shoved to the side in favor of Zellonian and Kalpian demands. Speaking for the first time since he arrived, Count Yegorov decried the entire conference as a sham saying "These half-witted cravens would demand us to sign a treaty that would bring shame to every Slad from Oslograd to Seosong!" and stated that his delegation would not dare sign the treaty under the agreed upon terms. On June 5th the delegation left the conference and a telegram was sent back to Oslograd informing the military high command to make preparations for a new offensive effort against Vorl. However, 3 days later on the 8th the Zellonian delegation came forward and announced their intention to allow the Empire and the Kalpian Republic to put forward new terms for a Zellonian capitulation.

The Osladian delegation returned to Oslograd with the results of the second conference shrouded in mystery, with many today believing this lack of information being intentional for Count Yegorov's 'grand reveal' to the Duma on the 10th.

"Esteemed members of the Duma. When I left our beautiful capital nearly a month ago, many doubted what my administration could accomplish. Perhaps these doubts were not misplaced, as I am sorry to say that no agreement was made. No my friends, I do not bring a treaty of equals to the Duma today. I bring nothing but absolute victory! When I proclaimed the first Liubeth conference to be a farce, and the Kalpians as mere opportunist traitors to our united front, the Zellonians crumbled! They saw our fiery both on the battlefield and at the diplomatic table, and now they bow to our superiority! The terms of the second conference shall be made public within the coming days, and I am proud to have been able to lead such a diligent and honorable group of men to bring this glorious nation the victory she deserved. Hail our glorious nation, and hail Oslad!"

3 days after the Prime Minister's speech the results of the second Liubeth conference were released, with diplomat to Kalpia, Nicholai Dolgorukov, signing the treaty and ratifying the Osladian approval of the results. Finally, after over a year, the war was over.

Kalpian, and Osladian diplomats signing the demands sent to Zeel on June 13th, 1900.

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The Osladian Social Democratic Worker's Party

To explain the rise of Holtzism in Radena and Oslad, one most look to Tyria-Redania and Tara. Erwin Holtz was born in May of 1818 to Emil Holtz, a middle-class lawyer, and Jana Fein, the heiress to a successful vineyard on the coast of Tyria-Redania. Growing up with little unfulfilled needs or unachieved desires, Erwin was the poster-boy for the average upper middle-class Tyria-Redanian during the economic boom of the Empire in the early 19th century. Attending the university of Tannerburg at the age of 17, the young Holtz disobeyed his father's wishes and began studying philosophy and literature as opposed to law as his father had demanded. Within months of beginning at the University, Erwin found himself associating with small yet radical cliques of young poets and upstart philosophers known as 'The Tannerburg Tavern Society'. The Tavern Society was a group monitored heavily by the local constabulary for their ideological leanings against the overtly conservative and monarchical state, and tensions were high whenever the constables and Tavern members encountered one another. After a incident in which a drunk Erwin outright challenged an officer to a duel and was subsequently arrested, his father had Erwin transferred to the University of Aetoria in 1835.

Within a year of study in Aetoria Erwin had fallen in love with the young Baroness Emma Bernauer and the two became engaged in 1837. Between his love-struck heart and endless curiosity, Erwin delved deeply into his studies and by 1839 had published two fiction novelettes and by 1840 finished his doctoral thesis. Over the next three years the young upstart writer and journalist would begin publishing opinion pieces within radical leftist newspapers in Aetoria and associating with the growing leftist philosophical clique in Violette. After a legal battle over his publishing house with the Tyria-Redanian government in 1843, Holtz would move himself, his wife, and his first son west to Confluence, Violette, to start a new life.

Upon arrival in Confluence, Holtz utilized his connections within the city's cultural elite and settled with decent furnishings within the city proper. Soon afterward he immediately began continuing his previous work and cooperating with the 'mutualists', a group of radical Veletian thinkers and journalists. Among these mutualist thinkers was a fellow Tyria-Redanian by the name of Alfred Bischoff, whom Holtz would immediately attach with and the two would eventually begin cooperating on the pamphlet that would create a new era of political thinking.

Artist's depiction of Erwin Holtz and Alfred Bischoff printing 'The Communalist Theory', circa 1862.

In 1848, Erwin Holtz and Alfred Bischoff began printing en-mass 'The Communalist Theory'. The radical piece detailed a post-monarchical society in which social and economic classes did not exist and the world worked together communally for the benefit of all. The piece was groundbreaking, radical, and horrifying to the traditional academia and elite within Violette, and by 1850 both Holtz and Bischoff would be forced to leave the country, fleeing to the Empire of Tara. However, what had been done was done, and the new theory of Communalism had spread like wildfire through the philosophical and political circles across the Continent, cementing it's place as a new ideological contingent in the ever-growing anti-monarchist movement.

Among their other works, Holtz would publish 'The Capital' in 1854 and Bischoff's 'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific' in 1860 would continue to detail the communalist, now known as Holtzist, theory. In 1885, at the age of 67, Erwin Holtz would die of a severe case of the flu, leaving behind four children and his wife. In 1892, Bischoff would follow his life-long friend into the afterlife.

Despite their deaths, the ideas of Holtz and Bischoff lived on. Read aloud quietly by literate workers to their illiterate 'comrades', and debated among the scholars and thinkers, Communalism was discussed and preached. However, like all radical ideologies unable to work with the established governments of the Continent, communalist political parties were banned in most countries and their theories, alongside those of mutualism and socialism, were actively fought by 'the reactionaries' wherever they were found. The first party to advocate communalist thinking that was legally allowed to work started in the Tsardom of Radena in March of 1901; the Socialist Party split from a small minority of social democratic and agrarian thinkers and formed their own minor party within the nation with only a paltry 317 members.

While the movement remained minor within Radena, the more philosophically inclined western Sladics had quickly begun to embrace communalist theory, and it was a consistently debated issue within the Agrarian Front as to how far would their leftist rhetoric truly go. With threats of splitting the Front as early as 1893, the Agrarians were consistently under threat of falling to pieces. Finally, the ax came down in 1901, shortly after the rise of Yegorov and the stealing of seats from the Liberal-Democrats. Seeing a chance to finally gain breathing space from their 'quasi-socialist' Agrarian comrades, the Social Democratic Worker's Party split from the Agrarian Front in May of 1901 and officially became the second party on the Continent to adopt socialism and Holtzism as official ideological tendencies.

Leo Dubinski's 'Strike' depicts a leftist agitator rousing laborers to strike. Circa 1895

After the Spring: A Game of Thrones Roleplay [AU]

Going to have to drop my claim, but good luck on the RP guys! I'll still be following once this moves forward!

The New World: Fate of Albion II (Remade)

The College of Blackhelm - VERY WIP

The College of Blackhelm

Scientia ipsa potentia est

Demonym: Blackhelms/Helmsmen

Description

When the College began is lost to the ages. In fact, some say the College has always been there upon the Blackgape Mountain and the city of Blackhelm simply was crafted around it. Regardless of her origin, the College of Blackhelm has been go to destination for thinkers, philosophers, and inventors outside of the Commonwealth for decades. What lies inside the College is only known to those who have been inside, and only a handful ever venture back and none tell tales of what they've seen, for the College is always watching within Blackhelm. What is known of the College is that the institution is run entirely by a council of scholars called 'The Great Minds', each 'Mind' being the administrator for a certain field of study within the College, and the head of the council being the Arch-Scholar.

The people of Blackhelm live in a general malaise with the College; the College provides for Blackhelm and the surrounding towns and cities, but also requires tribute be paid in 'subjects'. Subjects sent to the College never return from the College, and their families are compensated for the loss. The fate of those who are sent to pay the price for the College's protection is unknown, and many believe the College tests them as victims of likely inhumane experiments. However, all cities and holds under the College's ever watchful eye benefit by being recipients to the ever growing list of wondrous technology the College creates. Not to mention the protection the College brings in the form of 'The Helmsguard', an elite force of musketeers dressed all in black. In addition to the bi-yearly subject payment, the College only has one law that all holds under it must abide if they wish to remain within the College's borders; magic is a crime against nature, and all who practice it are to be immediately seized and brought to the College. It is not uncommon for a citizen to be dragged away in the dead of night by the black armored Helmsguard for practicing minor magic and to never return.

Government

Blackhelm is a technocracy ruled by the Great Minds of the College of Blackhelm, a massive institute housed along the cliffs of the Blackgap Mountain range. The leader of the Great Minds is the Arch-Scholar, who is elected by the council and holds his/her position until death. The Arch-Scholar has complete and utter control over all aspects of the College, and with each new Arch-Scholar the College changes to fit their interests. To ensure loyalty from the minor lords and leaders outside of the College, a representative from the College sits in all courts and councils as an 'adviser', though more often than not the advice these representatives give are politely worded orders.

The iron grip the College holds over the rest of the realm is both a blessing and a curse. While all of the realm does generally prosper from the technological wonders created by the College, some of the common folk and lesser nobility feel they hold no true independence, and these wonders are merely distractions the College gives out to keep the people content while they continue to exist as servants to the whims of the Arch-Scholar and the Great Minds. In fact, in the borderlands of Blackhelm the discontent seems to be growing more and more as the luxuries sent from the College begin to dwindle, with the focus being brought more and more onto the industrializing city of Blackhelm.

Economy

As to be expected of such a state, Blackhelm is a industrial powerhouse. Within Blackhelm-proper, the skies are continually thick with smog from the growing medieval foundries that dot the city. The nobility of old, once content to simply manage agricultural serfs, have fallen to the wayside as merchant-lords have grown to be the more profitable and powerful clique within Blackhelm. Of course, industrialization has downsides. While the College has focused more and more on turning Blackhelm into a city of wonders and power, the rural countryside has decayed and fallen into neglect. Once vast farmlands have become rotten and polluted, and it seems each year Blackhelm city expands and eats up more and more fertile land for new factories and houses. To counter this the College has begun to debate methods on how to properly balance industrial power versus agricultural necessity, though it may be years before the eccentric scholar-lords agree on the most efficient and inventive method to do this.

Due to her geographical position, Blackhelm exports vast amounts of ore and refined metals such as copper, steel, and iron. With the growing food crisis and the lack of immediate response from the Great Minds, foodstuffs and agricultural goods have begun to be imported to the major cities while the crisis is 'handled' by the College. In addition, the miners who work the vast mountains of Blackhelm cannot help but wonder when these great stones will no longer offer their resources, and what will become of Blackhelm and her College when that day comes.

Religion

Geography

Blackhelm is a mountain nation. The College, the heart and mind of the entire nation, looms over the city of Blackhelm from her perch upon the Blackgap Mountain range. Between the great mountains lies vast and deep valleys, once inhabited only by beasts and creatures unfriendly to civilization, now plains fit for farming and agriculture. Across the mountain valleys of Blackhelm, mining towns have risen in prominence as the cities begin to require more and more coal and rare earth materials for their ceaseless expansion. Some believe that, without intervention by the College, the nation of Blackhelm may someday be one vast city in itself, with foundries dotting across the mountains themselves. However, this is but a fantasy.

Population

4,200,000

Demographics

Notable Locations

Personalities of Note

Institutions

The Helmsguard

TBA

The Fleet of the Black

TBA

Other Information & Traits

TBA

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The 1900 General Election Results & The Railway Act

April 10th was a stressful day for the political environment of Oslad. Across the nation the masses came to their voting places and cast their ballots for their local representatives. In anxious silence, all parties waited for the results. In a unsurprising turn of events, by the 12th the ballots had been counted and the Unionists had scored a victory. In a Duma of 518 seats, the Unionists dominated with 270 to the Liberal-Democrats 223, losing over 25 seats to the Kadets and Agrarian Front, who both made gains themselves. It seemed the people had lost faith in the age of liberalism and Selidov's 'words over actions' style of leadership. However, the election wasn't over yet.

While the Union party had won the public vote, there was a crisis over who would lead the party. While the moderates on the left side of the bench called for Palkowski to lead, and thus keep a status-quo in leadership, the traditionalists rallied behind Count Yegorov and called for his ascendance to ministership. An assembly of Union leadership was called in Oslograd and a new vote would have to be held. It took three days of fierce debate and policy declarations from both Palkowski and Yegorov before a vote was made and the decision of leadership final. Of the 270 Union ministers, 128 voted for Palkowski and 142 for Yegorov. It was then final, The Count of Black would become Prime Minister of the Empire.

Results of the General Election and the Union Party Assembly of 1900.

In the early morning of the 17th of April, Count Yegorov stepped into the Duma to thunderous applause from his traditionalist clique, and to silent glares from the moderates and Liberal-Democrats. Standing at the Prime Ministerial Podium, in front of both the Duma, the press, and the Tsar himself, Yegorov made his inaugural address.

"Fellow members of the Duma and our divine holy Tsar, I am humbled to be in front of you all today. As a youth, I was never a man of the right, my position was always on the left, and now it is at the centre of Osladian politics. I swear, to God and all of the Sladic people, that I will hold the title of Prime Minister with humility and honor. I will preside over this Duma, voted for by the people, to the best of my ability and will steer the vessel of this Empire away from the military and political disasters of the previous decade."

At this comment, an uproar occurred within the Liberal-Democrat bench and was countered by applause and cheers from the Unionist bench.

"And I will lead our holy Empire to victory in the ongoing war against the Zellonian menace and their mad King. I will lead an administration of action, no longer can our Empire falter to the sidelines while other nations walk over us economically and politically. We must return this crumbling nation to her roots, where we first lit and carried the flame of civilization to the savage lands of Boletaria, Loren, and Tangary. Together, here in this Duma, we shall relight the flame that the ages shall not again extinguish. We shall guard that scared flame, my friends, until it illuminates all the Empire and lights the path of mankind. Hail Oslad, and god save the Tsar."

After his speech, Yegorov privately assembled a new cabinet. Within only a few hours a large portion of the former cabinet had been purged, aside from Yegorov himself retaining his position as minister of economics and the interior and the recently appointed minister of naval affairs Renzo Carrano who remained on a contract to retain his position. Taking over for Count Rusak as the minister of foreign affairs was Lavro Blokov, an Osloadian businessman and moderate Unionist who was only chosen simply to keep the moderates at peace with Yegorov's administration. Taking over the minister of the army position was retired major general Semyon Teterev, a long time ally of Yegorov's and a traditionalist in both politics and military affairs. Together the two men would be replacing the former liberal-democrat members and firmly establishing a Unionist cabinet for the new administration.

Left: Industrial mogul Lavro Blokov
Right: Major-General Semyon Teterev

The first act of the new government, after the cabinet reshuffle and a budget had been agreed upon, was the announcement of a new national railroad starting in the only industrial city of Tangary, Volovichi, and connecting the city to the coastal trade hub of Toboskoy and then Oslograd. The system, titled the 'Volovichi-Toboskoy Line' would establish a single connecting railway across the Tangarian steppe and would be the first of many industrialization efforts done by the Yegorov administration to bring his home province and the province of Loren to the same levels as Boletaria and Oslad-proper.

Starting in May, minister of naval affairs and Loren-national Renzo Carrano put forward his plan on how to utilize the naval budget to the Duma. In his plan, which had been signed off by Yegorov, Blokov, and the head of the admiralty Kozminski, Carrano prioritized the establishment of a new merchant-marine fleet and the expansion of the Oslograd and Toboskoy dockyards to better suit the construction of a modern navy. The price was hefty, but the Duma unanimously passed the naval budget request and arrangements for the building of new merchant vessels and the expansion of the Oslograd and Toboskoy imperial naval yards would be put into place by the beginning of Summer.

---

The Zellonian Shakeup

Being a military man himself, and arranging his cabinet to be largely military men as well, Yegorov demanded to be allowed participation in the organization and planning on the Zellonian front. Field Marshal Bogolov, despite utterly despising Yegorov's narcissism and ego, allowed the prime minister to attend meetings of the High Command in Oslograd and participate. In a bold move, the Count arrived with his entourage of military lackeys and essentially took over the meeting himself. Yegorov was shocked at the way Selidov had allowed the High Command to simply do as they wished, and decried the horrid state of affairs after personally seeing the disorganization and lack of clarity that was the supply-lines of the army group in Zellonia. After being briefed on the situation, Yegorov agreed to allow General Yakovich to retain his position as leader of the army group, despite originally claiming that Vasiliy Tokorev should take the position, and put forward his cabinet's ideas for the High Command to see. Of all of the suggestions, borderline demands, made by Yegorov, Boglov was personally impressed by Yegorov's plan to establish a Supply Corp and a new branch of the field army specifically trained to organize and establish proper supply lines for both the Zellonian front and all future war situations. Of course, Yegorov's idea came with a price. If a supply corp was to be established, it would be run by Yegorov's military clique, and not the Osladian High Command.

Arguing was ultimately pointless, as a request to establish a new branch of the armed forces would have to be authorized by both the minister of the army and the prime minister, both of whom obviously had come up with this idea to begin with. Thus Bogolov folded and accepted the Prime Minister's request. Starting in mid-April a new corp would be established and recruited for, the Osladian Supply Corp. A branch recruiting educated officers to assist in establishing and minimizing ration waste and losses while also ensuring the maximum usage of all available rations on a front. By June, ration officers would be sent to the front and would work as a form of military police, ensuring that rations were always being watched and that there was no cutting off the top or theft of vital foodstuffs and ammunition by soldiers and officers alike. Some within the High Command viewed this as Yegorov's first step in a full takeover of the military; and Bogolov feared they were right.

IC Response-Zellonian-Osladian War

Establish the Osladian Supply Corps (6 Military Points): [+5,000 free Supplies/Week].

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

Early Morning Barrage

Nikolai woke suddenly, his chapped lips taking in a lung full of cold Zellonian air. Looking around him, and up at the grey sky above, Nikolai could tell he had only slept a few hours at best. Ever since his regiment was moved to the front, and assigned to the god forsaken offensive, he didn't think he'd slept a full night. At around five A.M every morning the artillery brigades would begin their morning ritual of firing at the city and receiving return fire from the groggy Zellonian field guns, wherever they were. To say this made sleep impossible was an understatement, as by five thirty every man was awake and preparing for the day. Mornings in the trenches were an odd spectacle, soldiers stepping over each other as they woke to the morning artillery fire, gulping down the morning water ration before it was stolen by someone else, and silently waiting for the morning whistle.

However, today the whistle didn't come. Every day for a month, that damned whistle sounded and a new bloodbath started. A uncomfortable silence remained, and the men looked amongst each other for answers. Finally, by six A.M, a runner came down the muddy trench line.

"The 4th Oslograd Guard and the 8th Kurakka Guard are being relocated further north up the line. Orders are to pack up and move immediately. Your position here will be taken up by the 5th Volovichi." The young boy stumbled out, grabbing a fistful of the muddy trench wall to balance himself as he breathed.

Pytor, the new Podpraporshchik of Nikolai's squadron, was the first to respond. Rising to his feet and removing the pipe he had stolen from a dead Zellonian from his mouth. "Aye, inform the Polkovnik the 22nd squadron will begin moving immediately."

The runner quickly nodded and continued down the trench, continuing to yell his message.

"Alright then, new orders it sounds like. Start packing up whatever personal items you've still got and start marching up the trench, least Denisovich hear we're slacking." Pytor said nonchantly, sticking the dead man's pipe back between his lips and slapping his recently acquired officer's cap onto his head. Nikolai remembered when Pytor had been promoted to Podpraporschik, it was an immediate promotion after Roman died to a Zellonian barrage during their counter offensive. Had it really only been a month?

"Come on Nikolai, move it. Holding up the line is the last thing we need right now." Maksim, a gruff older man with a likely unapproved beard, grumbled as he pushed past Nikolai, shoving the smaller man aside.

Within the hour, the entire regiment would be again moved. Their purpose for doing so unknown, however word quickly spread throughout the line that General Yakovich was attempting something new in the face of morale and supplies plummeting.

Osladian Field Guns in the spring of 1900.

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The Battle for Kreogen

The February Offensive had taken her toll on Osladian forces, and the Polkovniks from all divisions participating in the offensive voiced concerns of weak morale among the lower ranks and supplies in a equally miserable state. However the high command had given Yakovich an order, and high command was not a group to accept failure. In a written statement sent out to the Polkovniks of all divisions involved, General Yakovich wrote the following.

"I understand the concerns among the lower officers, and I can assure all of the sergeantry that we will be recieving resupply and reinforcement by the month's end. However, as Field Marshal Bogolov and our holy Tsar himself have requested, the city of Kreogen must be taken and the offensive must continue. But remain faithful, fellow Slads of Holy Oslad, we will prevail and once this city falls we will be returning as heroes to Oslograd and Voskreya by Summer! Hail Oslad, and God save the Tsar!

- General Gregory Yakovich, General of the Voskreya Northern Army Group"

The message was met with a mixture of disgruntled sighs, coffin humor, and outright protest among the sergeant-class of the army. However, the order remained, and come the dawn of the 23rd the whistle would have to be blown and the offensive would continue. Quietly, General Yakovich quickly dispatched a new telegram to Oslograd High Command requesting immediate allocation of extra supplies and manpower come March.

An Osladian soldier prays at the grave of a fallen comrade in cold Zellonia, circa 1900.

IC Response-Zellonian-Osladian War

The February Offensive

We Must Take Kreogen: Kreogen is the key. If we take it, we rob them of a vital supply depot. Our men can rest in warm beds, not foxholes. If we complete the Kreogen Pocket, the war may be over before summer. (11 Military Points)

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The 1900 State Duma Election

A war-time election was the last thing Selidov had expected only a year before the new century. With soldiers marching off to the front and returning in pine boxes, a sense of melancholy hung over the entire season. Selidov began immediately with the path he had used in the past, going through the industrialized cities of Oslograd, Dukovsta, and Toboskoy preaching freedom of trade, speech, religion, and now a quick end to the war. Needless to say, Selidov had become unpopular even among his fellow city-dwellers, and the consistent military failures under his administration in handling Zellonia brought many angry widows to his events. In one incident, a group of grieving women brought banners bearing the names of the men they had lost in the war, holding it high above their heads while Selidov could only look on and continue speaking.

Within the Liberal-Democratic party, rumors began to spread about a replacement for Selidov before the election began in earnest. Among the candidates, the most likely to succeed Seldiov as party leader would be Pavel Kryukov, a fellow senior statesman. Born in Oslad Proper into a middle-class family, Kryukov attended university in Boletaria a decade after her addition into the Empire in 1865. During the Karumi War, Kryukov served in the 22nd Oslograd Musketeers and attained the rank of Podpraporshchik, or 'Sergeant First Class' in common Continental, and permanently injured his left leg after taking a Karumi bullet in his left thigh, snapping the bone. After the war he finished his education in political theory and economics and joined the Liberal Democrats in his home city. Kryukov gained his seat in 1882 and has held it ever since, only coming close to a defeat against Union party leader Leonard Palkowski in 1888.

Pavel Kryukov, veteran statesman and Liberal Democrat, circa 1902.

While the Liberal-Democrats bickered. The Union sprang into action and began a fierce campaign. Competing in the cities, especially Boletaria, was Boletarian national Leonard Palkowski. The moderate-Unionist ran a strong campaign of "no peace without reparations" and denounced the actions committed by the Osladian army as "the negligence of the Liberal-Democrats not keeping the dog on the leash". His more anti-war rhetoric led to Palkowski being decried by the Yegorov-camp of his own party, calling Palkowski 'Selidov in a mask' and further stating that Yegorov was the only true Unionist candidate. The results showed otherwise, however, and Palkowski's general denouncement of military atrocities and goal to bring a 'strong yet firm peace' with Zellonia and warming relations with the Radenians did win the moderate much support among the more liberally minded citizens of Oslograd and Dukovsta.

On the fringe of the Union, the Count of Black rallied his supporters and held marches in Volovichi. Black-shirted Unionists carrying portraits of the Count and marching in military goosestep paraded through the streets, calling Yegorov the man who would save the holy Empire and crush the 'degenerate Zellonians'. Yegorov called the war a holy crusade and stated the "the northern lands of winter are plagued with the ranting of a possessed mad king". Though popular, Yegorov's war rhetoric won him little favors in the populated cities and towns where so many had already lost loved ones; however, he did win the military's support and promised stronger support for the armed forces in "liberating Zellonia from savagery".

---

The Southern Breakthrough


Osladian soldiers in Zellonia, circa 1900.

While at home politicians continued to campaign, the northern skies filled with the lights of artillery fire. After 2 months of failed attempts to break through the Zellonian lines, the inexperienced 'grim reaper' Gregory Yakovich had done what he had set out to. Early in January Osladian soldiers finally stormed the Zellonian trenches and, without proper armaments, slaughtered or captured the Zellonian enemy. Raiding the abandoned Zellonian field hospitals and kitchens for any worthwhile supplies, spirits were high that the war was finally turning in their favor.

However celebration was short lived however. Shortly after the breakthrough had been made, the Zellonian armed forces began an immediate counter attack in the hopes of repulsing the Osladians. Fortunately, the better armed and prepared Osladian forces held their ground and thousands of unarmed Zellonian soldiers would die of their injuries in the frozen fields of Zellonia in a incident forever remembered as the 'Black Weekend'. At home, the incident was cheered by Yegorov and the military high command as an astounding success, with the road to Vorl and victory now opened wide for the Osladian army. Seeing success, the Osladian high command permitted more soldiers to be deployed north to the strait and then cross over into Zellonia proper. It seemed that among the soldiery, victory meant only more death and killing to come.

Despite these victories a new problem had risen. Yes, a breakthrough had been made and initial attempts to dislodge the Osladians had failed. While the Zellonian army was not exactly intimidating to the Osladian military elite, there was one group of men that brought them nothing but headaches. The Memoital volunteer corp, a band of comrades from the small island nation of Memoital fighting alongside their northman brethern to repulse 'the Sladic threat'. The volunteer corp had grown to be a pain in the side of the Osladian army; armed and trained, the Memoitals were miles ahead of their Zellonian counterparts and whenever encountered would always cause immense casualties among the Osladian side. Yakovich, in a general report back to Oslograd in early December, wrote the following of the Memoitals.

"If the Zellonians are a culture of stubborn fools then the Memoitals are a culture of warriors. Never in my years as both a soldier and a general have I seen men such as these hardened northmen. With the rage of Tangary horse riders and the speed of the damn horses themselves this 'volunteer corp' is tearing through my men. I fear thousands more will fall before we can eradicate this nuisance holding us from Kreogen."

The question became, if the Memoitals moved south to attempt their own assault on the breakthrough, could it be held in earnest by the Osladians? And if so, how?

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The Battle of the Winter's Solstice

Gregory had forgotten the last time the snow had stopped. For days now it seemed to just mindlessly fall, careless in the chill wind while all around it the world tore itself asunder. In 30 days 19 thousand men had died, 600 every day, yet the world remained virtually unchanged in the absence of those lives. It didn't matter, every soldier that met his end in these god-forsaken Zellonian fields died in the name of the Tsar and his nation; and truly was there a better fate than that?

"General, sir!"

Before he could ponder any further, a young voice pierced his thoughts and brought Gregory back to reality. The flap to his tent had been opened and snow fell idly onto the hard ground. A soldier had entered, his red and sweating face made him look almost like a child, and held a telegraph note in his hands.

"Orders from Field Marshal Bogolov himself, sir." The boy ejected, anxiously holding out the note for his commanding officer.

Gregory took hold of the parchment and began reading. He was unsure what was so urgent, as the orders he had been given prior remained unchanged. March east, take Vorl, win the war. Of course, the old bastard Bogolov had no idea the conditions of Zellonian winter and the underestimated fighting spirit of a poverty-stricken nation facing defeat. Even Gregory himself had underestimated the Zellonians, for even after he allowed the razing of Nervinton the populace remained insubordinate and troublesome. Truly, if there was ever a culture built around stubbornness, it was that of the Zellonians.

"Yes, thank you soldier. Dismissed." Gregory said off handedly, at first forgetting the young soldier had been there at all. However, before the boy could escape back into the camp, Gregory quickly stopped him. "Inform the men preparing for deployment to the front that I will be speaking before their departure."

The boy-soldier nodded quickly and departed, Gregory couldn't help but feel pity for the runners in these winter conditions. He had already seen some collapse from the strain, others falling over unseen obstacles in the snow; it was truly a hellish task. Gregory sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand while he tucked the note away into his jacket with the other. Rising to his feet he departed from his tent and began the trek across the snowy headquarters of the Army Group; for as far as the eye could see smoke clouds grew in the distance as hundreds of campfires and cooking stations were alight, the General couldn't help but wonder how many of the lives in these tents would be lost by this time next year. Of the faces he saw passing, how many would not return to the shores of the Empire? Never before had he had thoughts such as these, hell he'd never seen real war before now, and couldn't help but feel the stress of his position beginning to weight upon him.

---

"So, anyone back at home waiting on you Nikolai?" Pytor asked, smiling wide as he tucked away the note his fiance had sent him into his winter coat.

"Of course, my mother and sister are at home. In all honestly, I worry about them a lot. Mother is sickly, and poor Lada tries her best but with school and all... I worry." Nikolai replied, his own smile fading as he stared absent minded down the dirt road ahead.

His regiment, the 4th Oslograd Guard, had not yet seen deployment to the front. Now, after a month of seeing the frontliners coming back in smaller and smaller numbers, it was his turn for the fire. Nikolai would be lying if he didn't feel a black pit boiling in his stomach like the coals that lit the campfires at night. Even worse, the General would be making a speech to the regiment before they departed. Had he signed their death warrants already? The thought disturbed him.

"Look alive! General Yakovich is coming this way!" Borislav yelled, grabbing his rifle and pushing himself off the ground as the men quickly scrambled to assemble and look orderly for the General.

Nikolai had never seen Yakovich in person, though he had heard that the General was surprisingly young for his position. It was uncommon in the Osladian army for generals to be younger than 50, and Yakovich was barely 40 himself. How he had attained this position no one could say, though some theorized his family must have ties to the Tsar or, if the army was lucky, Yakovich was some sort of genius tactician. The General was indeed young, and walked with an air of confidence as he turned the tent line and began his approach to the assembled men. A small black stubble and a short army permissed haircut, the young General hardly looked any different from the rest of them.

Stopping at the center of the line, the General turned to face the assembly and the soldiers immediately straightened themselves. Yakovich smiled and began to speak.

"At ease. Soldiers of the 4th Oslograd, today you are being dispatched to the front lines to face our long hated enemy. The Zellonian menace, and her lapdop Memoital volunteers, are the bane of our Empire's existence. Remember, it was the Zellonians who brought aggression to our doorstep, and it was their mad King that refused offers of surrender when we came to their shores. Their King has watched his soldiers die without even a weapon in their hands and he still believes he can win this war. Gentlemen, let us prove the Zellonian madman wrong. This war has long been in our favor, and it will continue to be in our favor as we fly the flag of our holy and righteous Tsar and Empire over the ruins of Nervinton, Vorl, and Zeel. I want you all to remember, our empire was not forged by only the Tsar and God; but by the will of the Osladian soldier and his divine right to victory and glory. Your forefathers stood where you stood, on the soil of a foreign and hostile land, and made it their own. Zellonia will fall, much like the Karumi before them and the Boletarian kings before that. For it is the right of our people and our righteous god to smite our enemies. Never forget your ancestors and your birthright. Hail Oslad, and God save the Tsar! Dismissed gentlemen."

The World as We Know It [19th-20th Century Nation RP]

The Osladian Empire

Ний сме достойни!

The War of 1867

The War of 1867, known in Karum as the Osladian War and in Oslad as The Karumi War, was the final nail in the coffin of 'Great Karum' and the end of Karumi dominion over the Seronans and Tangarians, and it was the rise of Oslad as a great power. However, the history of this conflict stretches much farther back then the 1860s. 30 years prior Tsar Dominik I had just finished his conquest of the Tangarian horse lords and quelled the last unrest south in Serona, beheading the upstart Prince Valeriev, thus fulfilling his ambition of 'The Greater Karumi Empire'. With his quest fulfilled, Dominik gave himself the title of 'Tsar-Domnitor' and declared a new age for the Karumi people. In the following years the Karumi state would begin resettlement programs in Tangary and Serona, attempting to colonize the regions and thus expand their cultural influence over the continent. The results of these programs were likely not what the Tsar-Domnitor had expected, and instead of a steady resettlement of Karumi colonists with little resistance, any ethnic-Karumi that attempted to settle in either Tangary or Serona was met with fierce resistance.

Artist's rendition of Karumi colonists in Tangary, circa 1842.

These attempts at colonization came to a head in 1856, 20 years after the original conquest of Tangary and Serona, when an entire colonist caravan was slaughtered by Tangarian cossacks while the colonists rested. The Karumi government immediately reacted and martial law was implemented in the towns of Tangary, with the royal constabulary arresting and outright executing anyone who protested. In 1857 a Tangarian delegation of horse lords and refugees journeyed to Oslograd and pleaded with then Tsar Aleksandr II to support the Tangarians for their independence. At the time the Tsar rejected the Tangarian request, citing the Osladian friendship with Karum and the history of Tangarian 'brutality', thus the Tangarian host returned to their occupied homeland with little faith in the future. However, the tides of turn in favor of the Seronans and Tangarians in an event known as 'Dominik's folly'. A letter sent by the Tsar-Domnitor himself meant for the regional govenor of Tangary was stolen in a raid on the royal carriage by Tangarian bandits in 1865. In the letter, the Tsar-Domnitor expresses disdain with their alliance to the 'weak Osladians' and instead a growing interest in the Osladian province of Loren and a 'Karumi navy'. The letter made it's way to Oslograd and the new tsar, Tsar Nikolas III, was outraged at Karum's treachery. In a public statement spread throughout the continent, the young Tsar declared Tsar-Domnitor Dominik to be a 'treacherous lech' and officially cut all ties with Greater Karum. A year later, likely with under the table Osladian support, the Tangarian horse lords made their move.

On the morning of the 16th of February, as the snow still fell across the steppe, a Tangarian host under chief Kazymyr Tarasyuk rallied the town of Nevidny into a revolt against the Karumi constabulary. The mayoral house was raided and looted of goods and the Karumi police in the town were killed in a vicious attack. In the town square Tarasyuk read a declaration of independence from the Karum Empire to a patriotic crowd. Hours after, the Osladian Imperial Army crossed the border and a declaration of war was sent to Salaz, the Osladians were marching into Tangary.

Artist's depiction of a young Tsar Nikolas III at the battle of Buraclia, circa 1869.

Over the following months the Osladian Imperial Army, under the leadership of Tsar Nikolas III and Field Marshal Viktor Todorov, fought a hard campaign against the Imperial Karumi Army. Starting at the crossing of the River Lus and the siege of Buraclia fifty thousand Osladian soldiers faced off against thirty thousand Karumi within the city. Over the course of five days the Osladian forces managed to cross the river after countless skirmishes with Karumi skirmishers and begin a hard pressed siege of the city, costing thousands of Osladian lives. However the city did fall and with it opened a road to Luska and Fallum. Meanwhile, far to the south-east of the Osladian theater, a revolt in Serona grew to become a rebellion against the overstretched Karumi army, and the declaration of a Seronan principality came in June of 1867.

Seeing defeat as inevitable as the Imperial Karumi Army fled over the Tangary border into Karum, and the Seronan's beginning to push them from their own province, Tsar-Domnitor Dominik watched the empire he had forged only 30 years prior begin to collapse around him. In a final act of defiance to his enemies, the elderly Tsar-Domnitor threw himself from the Spring Palace in Salaz and ended his life, leaving his son of 26 Michel in control as Tsar-Domnitor Michel I. Shortly after Dominik's death, the young Michel was forced by his deceased father's council to wave the white flag and seek peace with the Osladians. The demands were brutal, but had the war lasted any longer there may not had been a Tsardom of Karum to rule over at all. So, in January of 1868 Michel I, Nikolas III, and then Prince-Elector Oksanen signed the Treaty of Salaz, marking the official independence of the Principality of Serona and the Tangarian Hetmanate, though the Tangarian state was little more than a Osladian protectorate. Thus came an end to Greater Karum, and the dreams of the Tsar-Domnitor Dominik. Though of course, Michel I would go on to attempt to follow in his father's footsteps...

---

Oslad at War

As war raged on in the north, life remained much the same in Oslograd for the average citizen. While the already enlisted and deployed soldiers marched to the northern coast, the reservists and high ranking general staff remained in their stations, continuing the ever-lengthening Osladian military bureaucracy that came with a multicultural empire. Musicians still wrote songs, poets still wrote poems, and lovers still quarreled. However, outside the industrialized capital of the Empire, things had changed rather suddenly. Once quiet fishing towns had suddenly been given the task of providing for sometimes hundreds of soldiers, and cities like Voskreya, Shurga, Dukovsta, and even Kurakka began to fill in the weekends with soldiers off duty coming to gamble and enjoy their free time. Indeed, life for the northern Boletarians and Osladians had changed.

But while the soldiers drilled, gambled, and mobilized the navy was busy at work. After their humiliation in the Zeelian strait both the Imperial Navy and the Selidov government had become the butt of many jokes within the military and political right, with Grushanin especially receiving perhaps unworthy hatred by many patriots. However critics were silenced when the second battle came and Grushanin once again proved his honor and integrity as an officer of the Imperial Navy. Three vessels, two of which being miniture pre-dreadnoughts in themselves, being sunk to the bottom was an honor and Grushanin returned to Oslograd's harbor as a hero. Reporters demanded photos of the Admiral and his vessel, artists sent requests for portraits, and sailors told jokes of Grushanin 'spending more time chasing Zellonian ships than sinking them'. Selidov and his twilight government could breathe a sigh of relief for now, their legitimacy was secure for a time a time... Until the alliance.

Rear Admiral Aleksandr Grushanin, circa 1900.

In early September the Republic of Kalpia requested permission to join the Osladian side of the Zellonian conflict. Selidov, seeing no real trouble in allowing a fellow nation affected by the northern King's banditry to join the Empire's struggle, accepted the request and orders were sent from the Duma to the Military Academies and Offices informing the general staff and the admiralty that they were to plan to meet with and plan in coalition with the Kalpian armed forces. Needless to say, Selidov was unprepared for the storm he had brought upon himself.

In a public statement Union traditonalist Count Yegorov lambasted the Prime Minister as 'weak' and 'requiring the aid of a weaker nation to take on a second rate kingdom'. In the Duma mocking names for Selidov continued, and the image of Selidov as old and weak were widespread. However within the moderate camp of the Union party, Palkowski was quick to defend Selidov and remind his own party that it was a Union prime minister that called upon the aid of Tyro-Redania during the unrest of '36, when the liberal revolutions of the Continent were in full swing and the young Tsardom was on the verge of civil war. However the voice of reason within the party was outspoken by the Yegorov camp and his military allies. It seemed as each day passed and victory was not achieved, the military lost more and more faith in Selidov and his supporters.