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Not am empty quote. I do love all these little additions. Gosh freaking dang it, I am the top of the page again!
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Aug 18, 2021 20:33
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 08:44 |
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To die for the people is weightier than Mount Olympus, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather. Comrade Antonio Meleti died for the people, and his death is indeed weightier than Mount Olympus.
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Aug 20, 2021 11:47
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Making another post to keep the thread going. I deeply appreciate all the work mod into the LP so far and I look forward to seeing where this goes. 
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Oct 20, 2021 01:55
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We shall bleed the Frankish demons at every step, until they turn on their masters and recall their true nature as fellow proletariat!
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Oct 20, 2021 02:29
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There is a Spooky Ghost Haunting Europe...
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Oct 20, 2021 04:36
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It's all of the dead from the first two great wars combining together into a really big ghost
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Oct 20, 2021 05:06
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Kangxi posted:Making another post to keep the thread going. I deeply appreciate all the work mod into the LP so far and I look forward to seeing where this goes. 
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Nov 30, 2021 03:34
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This is another post to keep the thread up before the next update. My understanding is that the next post, when it arrives, will be some kind of a State of the World for 1941.
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Feb 16, 2022 01:30
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One more!
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Mar 12, 2022 21:32
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Another out-of-archives bump
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May 19, 2022 20:28
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Flesnolk posted:Another out-of-archives bump is falling into the archives even a thing any more? Either way, looking forward to the eventual update when it comes
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May 19, 2022 23:17
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I think so? It happened to the last thread!
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Jun 17, 2022 04:42
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Aww, I got excited.
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Jun 17, 2022 12:20
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Same
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Jun 19, 2022 01:09
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 STATE OF THE WORLD: APRIL 11th, 1941 Transcript of a conversation between French communist resistance leader Jocelyne Rodier, several of her key lieutenants, and an agent from the Special Operations Executive (SOE) known only by their codename, Domesday. This transcript is derived from a recording surreptitiously made by a member of the Gallic comité de salut public (CSP, also known as the Consilium Salutis Publicae) who had infiltrated the Resistance; the recording, however, never made it to their superiors in Paris-- it was intercepted and forwarded to the Byzantine Intelligence Secretariat.  Jocelyne Rodier RODIER: War's on. DOMESDAY: Yes.  RODIER: Visigoth was right on the money, then. DOMESDAY: To the hour.  RODIER: gently caress me. I can't loving believe the Frumentarii haven't changed their codes yet. loving amateur-hour bullshit. DOMESDAY: Too much emphasis on cracking down on domestic dissent, if you ask me. RODIER: Well, look around you-- I'm still alive, so clearly they're doing a poo poo job there, too. DOMESDAY: [laughter] And thank God for that. In any case, just as predicted, the first shots of the Imperial War-- RODIER: 'The Imperial War'? DOMESDAY: That's what the papers in the RRP are calling it. RODIER: Whatever. So, the first shots-- DOMESDAY: Fired in the English Channel. Gallic submarines under Admiral de Beauharnais attacked Republic Navy ships patrolling the Channel under Admiral Elphinstone at the stroke of midnight, Paris time. Right off the coast from Portsmouth; I'm told people ashore can hear the battleships' guns firing.  RODIER: Too early to say how it's going to shake out, then. DOMESDAY: Yes. But I'm curious if you have any thoughts? RODIER: Thoughts, yes, cold hard facts, no. The Navy's cleaned house-- lost a lot of people there. Vicious, efficient. Cold-blooded. We don't have many eyes on the Admirality anymore. DOMESDAY: I was under the impression that the Gallic Navy was less sympathetic to the fascists than the other branches of the imperial military. RODIER: They're sympathetic enough to kill for the fascists. Which makes them fascists. DOMESDAY: That wasn't what I-- RODIER: I know. What you meant is that the Navy thinks of itself as less fascist. DOMESDAY: Right. No Latin cognomina, no legionary helmets, maintaining the traditions of the old royal French Navy. RODIER: That's just an aesthetic sensibility coupled with self-delusion. They tell themselves they're holding their noses at the fascists' trough, but they're still content to dig in. RODIER: All of which is to say-- of the navy, I only have only suppositions. DOMESDAY: And your supposition?  RODIER: They can't hope to contest the Byzantine navy for control of the Mediterranean. Your Royal Navy-- DOMESDAY: It's the Republican Navy now. RODIER: --fine, your Republican Navy looks like a much softer target. The Roy--Republican Navy probably still outstrips the imperial navy in a pitched battle, but it's no Byzantine Red Navy...  RODIER: So de Beauharnais is trying to tear a great big bloody chunk out of it while the Byzantines are securing the Med and trying not to lose Gibraltar.  DOMESDAY: Anything else you can tell me about Gibraltar? RODIER: Besides some Ayitian general jumping the gun on the offense? DOMESDAY: ...Besides that, yes. RODIER: Legate Rossignol's in charge of the Gibraltar offensive. He has a few legions-- the 17th, likely-- but the backbone of his forces are the Leónese army formations absorbed into the Gallic Legions. DOMESDAY: How are these ex-Leónese forces performing? RODIER: Who knows? Ask me again when the war's been going on for more than six hours.  RODIER: Also I hope you're ready to deal with commerce-raiding. Even the Commune is still a net importer of some crucial war goods like rubber and tungsten, and Great Britain sure as hell isn't the Byzantine Commune.  DOMESDAY: We've prepared contingencies, of course. RODIER: Of course. DOMESDAY: In the short term, however, the situation is especially chaotic, since so much transatlantic traffic goes on WRE and RRP-flagged ships. Even passenger transportation-- RODIER: ...since before all of this, who had most of the big gently caress-off ocean liners? France, Ayiti, Britain, and North Germany. And North Germany's port facilities all got mauled in the civil war, so effectively all your options for getting the hell out of Europe are flying the flags of one belligerent or another. DOMESDAY: Exactly. And a lot of people are keen to get the hell out of Europe. Citizens of neutral countries, mostly-- or, well, neutral in this war, since most of them are probably from the Allies or WPO. Can't really blame 'em for deciding they'd rather take their chances in the middle of the Jimao War than whatever the deuce is about to happen here.  DOMESDAY: Especially since the fighting's died down in Avalon. After the WPO was pushed back out of Zheng He Bay, the Lenape armies went into full retreat. Now the whole Lenape Republic's being occupied by the Haida, Iroquois, and Zheng He, and the guns have fallen silent.  RODIER: What's the state of things in the rest of the Jimao War? DOMESDAY: Business as usual, for the moment. In the coming months, I expect the sudden disruption to exports from the RRP and WRE to make itself felt. Right now, though, it's the same bitter stalemate it's been stuck in for months. The Republican Japanese Navy and Haida Navy's control over the Pacific is unassailable, so the Ming can't do anything to threaten the Japanese home islands-- but also every attempt to invade mainland China ends in disaster, since the Ming army is more than capable of throwing anything the Allies try landing back into the sea. Haida task forces, Japanese armies, even volunteers from North Germany-- they all might as well just be throwing themselves onto Ming machine-gun emplacements and coastal fortifications.   DOMESDAY: The situation is more fluid on the war's other fronts, to be fair. The Somalians are still grinding their way through the al Said sultanate, the Allies are trying to hold the line but are slowly but surely being pushed back-- but if they do manage to parry the Somalian thrust, they'd be well-placed for a counteroffensive.0  DOMESDAY: Things are even more chaotic in southern Africa, since Great Zimbabwe-- which had absolutely no political or ideological ties to either side in the Jimao War-- got pulled into the fighting none-the-less. We don't have much intelligence on the state of General Mareye's invasion-- Great Zimbabwe nominally isn't a proper member of the Allies, just a 'co-belligerent', so our usual sources in the Allied diplomatic services can't help us much here.  DOMESDAY: We have a better sense of where things stand in Asia, though. The Iranian army-- and other Allied forces in the theater-- have taken the brunt of a major WPO offensive out of Transoxiana. The WPO has managed to get past the Zagros Mountains, so the Allies are left to fend for their lives on the Iranian plateau proper.  DOMESDAY: The Allies are having better luck in Hindustan, though; not only have Ming attempts to break through the Hindustani lines come to naught, but the Ming client state in Tibet's fallen to the Hindustanis.  RODIER: So. In short... DOMESDAY: Oh, right. In short, the actual shooting war's confined to these fairly contained theaters. RODIER: Meanwhile we're about to torch all Europe. So everyone who's not stuck living here wants out. DOMESDAY: That's about the shape of it. RODIER: But there's no neutral passenger shipping to speak of. DOMESDAY: Right. RODIER: So people took British or Ayitian ships. Which means when the shooting started in the Channel, those ships were caught right in the middle of the Navy's little exercise in commerce-raiding. Which means... DOMESDAY: Submarine attacks, yes. Just got word this morning that the MV Hibernian got torpedoed this morning. RODIER: gently caress. DOMESDAY: There were 1500 people on that ship. We're still waiting for an official death toll, but we're fairly certain the number of survivors is in the dozens. Poor blighters barely had time to swing out the lifeboats. RODIER: gently caress. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I know how cheap life is to the fascists.  The sinking of the North Atlantic Line ocean liner MV Hibernian by the Marine Impériale submarine Zenon le Méchant DOMESDAY: The crew was mostly British and Ayitian, but a lot of the passengers were citizens of Allied nations-- people trying to get home to Haida, Zheng He Bay, Tianhui Catalina, Anacaona, wherever. I'm a little surprised they'd risk provoking the Allies like that. RODIER: What the gently caress are the Allies going to do about it? Go to war? You just listed all the reasons that's not on the table. DOMESDAY: I still don't see what the point was, though. RODIER: Like a lot of what the fascists do, it's two different things at once. The first-- and I'm sure this is what the sailor who fired the torpedo thought-- is that every liner sunk diminishes the shipping capacity of the Red Rose Pact. They know all those big British liners wound up being converted into troopships in the first two Great Wars, and the Third isn't going to be an exception-- all those Ayitian and Nova Scotian reinforcements and war goods have to make it across the Atlantic somehow.  RODIER: The military's real loving worried about the overseas RRP powers-- safely located across the ocean from the WRE, where the imperium's ships and planes and landships can't get 'em. They'll do anything they can to choke off that constant flow of manpower and equipment.   DOMESDAY: What's the other thing? RODIER: A message, written in blood. They're teaching the rest of the world the same lesson they've spent the last decade beating into the French-- your life is in the empress's hands, and you are never, ever safe. RODIER: Anyway, the Battle of the Channel is just a sideshow. We know this war isn't really being fought so that Shitface Fuckhead, comte de Wherever the gently caress, can reclaim the French Kingdom's glorious royal patrimony by conquering loving Cornwall. RODIER: The point is erasing the Byzantine Commune from existence. So the real hammer blow's fallen along the Danube.  RODIER: Great Britain was in the rhetorical crosshairs, but let's get real. She sent some submarines at your navy. She's sent three goddamn legates to dislodge Hau-Fang from the Danube. DOMESDAY: That would be Legates Mogontica, Vormatia, and Fortissima. RODIER: Jesus Christ, don't call them by their loving agnomens. Legates Lemaire, Blondeau, and Binot, please.    DOMESDAY: We had assumed that the first major WRE offensive would be an invasion of the Italian peninsula, since most of the good Alpine passes are already on their side of the border, and because Italia would be quite the feather in Valeria Postuma's cap. But it looks like it's Hungary on the chopping-block at the moment.  RODIER: Postuma doesn't give a rat's rear end about Hungary. They're just in the way. Also, I hope you guys are keeping an eye on your Eastern flank. WRE troops are massing along the Poland-Russia border.  RODIER: Let's get down to brass tacks. Is the RRP ready for what's happening?  DOMESDAY: As requested, we have a dossier prepared detailing the Red Rose Pact's current military posture. In broad strokes, mind. (SOUND OF PAPERS SHUFFLING)  RODIER: Ayiti Commune's a pretty big get for the RRP, huh? Look at these manpower and production numbers... DOMESDAY: Relying on Nitaino's government was a risky bet-- the whole thing could've easily imploded since socialist government was basically imposed at bayonet-point after the Second Great War. But as you can see, it's a risky bet that paid off in full.   DOMESDAY: And they're far from the only friend we have in Avalon. There's the dominion of Nova Scotia-- RODIER: Can they still be a 'dominion' since you guys ditched the queen? DOMESDAY: Well, they haven't stopped calling themselves one yet, anyway.   DOMESDAY: Nuevo Xi'an's nothing to sneeze at, either. RODIER: Good at killing fascists, too, from what I hear. DOMESDAY: The Right made an attempt to seize the reins of state back in the '20s. Let's just say they won't be doing that again.   DOMESDAY: There's also the Maya Republic-- a recent addition to the Red Rose Pact, but still one of the oldest communal republics in the world--   DOMESDAY: --and the Habsburg Commune. RODIER: ...the "Habsburg Commune." DOMESDAY: What? RODIER: That's the stupidest name for a country I've ever heard. DOMESDAY: To be fair, "Habsburg" is being used as a toponym in which their communal republic is situated, so it isn't named after the dynasty per se... RODIER: They should really think of something better.  DOMESDAY: Moving right along. We also have a fairly sizable presence in Africa-- slightly closer to the frontlines, but still at a safe remove from the actual fighting. For example, in British Congo... RODIER: Speaking of countries that could use new names, holy gently caress. DOMESDAY: It's simply a by-product of the orderly transition from overseas dependency to self-government--   RODIER: Save it. Say what you want about the Byzantines, but they know how to decolonize the right way.    DOMESDAY: Ghana, of course, was one of the founding members of the Red Rose Pact. In terms of manpower, industrial output, and military contribution to the Pact, it is surpassed only by Ayiti and, of course, the Byzantines themselves. The Ghanaian Army Air Corps-- by certain metrics slightly larger than either the Ayitian or Byzantine Air Forces-- could be particularly critical. Assuming we can still stage those assets in in Europe-- if we lose control of Gibraltar, that might be a bit dicey.   RODIER: Does the RRP have any assets in Asia? DOMESDAY: Strictly speaking, no. The two communist governments in Asia-- Marathas and Indochina-- aren't members of the Pact. They are-- understandably-- more concerned with the Ming than anything going on in Europe. Marathan volunteer units are well-represented among the Allies, for example. RODIER: God, can you imagine how drat awkward it'd be for the Hindustani soldiers serving right alongside the Marathis? DOMESDAY: Well, despite the long enmity between the two great powers of the Indian subcontinent, a mutual desire not to be swallowed up by the Ming Empire has ever been common ground between them.   DOMESDAY: As for the Commune of Indochina... well, even if it weren't for the Jimao War happening on their doorstep, I can't really blame them for not wanting to plunge into a Near Western entanglement more or less immediately after independence, however much RRP forces under Generals Pandey, Akinyi, et al contributed to that independence. Relations between Indochina and her sister communes are warm nonetheless-- they are the leading exporter of tungsten to the Byzantine Commune, for example, as well as a major supplier of rubber. RODIER: The two major war goods the Byzantines can't supply domestically. Right. DOMESDAY: In this light, one could argue that Indochina can better contribute to the cause by maintaining its ability to sail under a neutral flag rather than whatever meagre contribution of divisions it could make by directly involving itself.   RODIER: Any chances of pulling the Marathans in? DOMESDAY: The Byzantines have been reluctant to pursue closer relations with Marathas, especially in light of Sharqi's recent purges-- footage of the regime's show trials made it out of Marathas, resulting in an outcry in the Byzantine press and a significant chilling effect on the already tenuous relations between the Commune and the Marathan state. I'm told that the Foreign Secretariat's current thinking is that with Ayiti in the Red Rose Pact, it won't be necessary for Byzantion to sully its hands to avail itself of Marathas's not inconsiderable manpower and industrial capacity. RODIER: Is this really the time for scruples like that, though? If Gallic legions go marching down the Italian peninsula, I don't think anyone is going to think, well, at least we kept the RRP ideologically pure. DOMESDAY: I'm inclined to agree. In any case, the Byzantines haven't entirely discounted the possibility of approaching Marathas-- they're keeping that in their back-pocket, at least. RODIER: Hm.  DOMESDAY: Additionally, there is one formal member of the Pact in Asia-- the Azerbaijani Commune, which is making an invaluable contribution towards keeping the RRP's landships, ships, and motor vehicles fueled and operational.  DOMESDAY: Europe itself will be the war's main battlefield, of course. RODIER: ...Who could've possibly guessed. (SOUND OF PAPER SHUFFLING) Okay, let's see...  RODIER: The Irish Republic and you Brits are insulated from the land war, even if de Beauharnais's submarines are trying to chew off your leg in the Channel. DOMESDAY: For the most part. Great Britain is within range of imperial bombers, though, so there's still a certain degree of risk to our civilian population centers.   RODIER: You guys are still better off than, say, the Lithuanians, though.  DOMESDAY: We've dispatched a sizable expeditionary force under General Ainsley to shore up Lithuania's defenses. WRE forces are massing along the Russian border, but they haven't pressed the attack yet. RODIER: Any defense of Lithuania seems like it'll be a delaying action at best. But, gently caress, that's better than nothing. Fighting an enemy like the fash means you loving take what you can get.   Lieutenant-General Beatrice Ainsley, Continental Expeditionary Force - Lithuania RODIER: Hungary's taking the brunt of things, of course.  DOMESDAY: The RRP has committed a fairly large portion of its ground strength to the Danube Front. In addition to the Hungarian armies under General Király Zsusanna and Hau-Fang's Byzantine Army of the Danube, there is already a sizable Ghanaian contingent present. Further reinforcements from Great Britain, Ayiti, Nova Scotia, and Nuevo Xi'an are currently en route.  General Király Zsusanna, commander of the Hungarian People's Defense Force's Danube Defense Area DOMESDAY: To their credit, the Byzantine Commune has really put their back into defending Hungary. So far, the only fighting in Byzantine territory proper is in Croatia, which is mostly an extension of the larger battle for control of Hungary.   DOMESDAY: The Byzantine War Secretariat believes that an enemy offensive into Italy is imminent, however. The Armies of Milan and the Alps are well dug-in, but the fighting is expected to be bitter and hard.  RODIER: So, near-term, we're looking at a defensive war of attrition. DOMESDAY: Assuming the frontlines hold, yes. RODIER: Pretty slow-going. But I guess that's more time for Byzantine industry to churn out guns and landships. Too bad getting more soldiers isn't that easy.      DOMESDAY: In summary-- the Red Rose Pact is spread out across the globe, which can result in difficulty coordinating forces from far-flung commands-- to say nothing of physically moving military assets from outside the Near West to where the fighting's actually happening. On the other hand, the alliance is clearly dedicated whole-heartedly to the entire Pact's collective security; even the Müllerists in Hungary and Lithuania clearly have the other member-state's unwavering support in the face of fascist aggression. RODIER: Sure loving hope that rosy little prediction is true. But the war's been going on for six hours, so who the gently caress knows.  Prime Minister Mary Napier of Great Britain, Tribune Iouliana Erdemir of the Byzantine Commune, General-Secretary of the Hungarian Union Juhasz Zsigmond, Prime Minister Akwesi Konadu of Ghana, and Tribune Mayneri Nitaino of the Ayiti Commune, at a Red Rose Pact summit in Budapest, February 1941, in which the RRP reaffirmed their continuing commitment to the defense of Hungarian territory from fascist aggression. RODIER: I'll go over all of this in more detail later, but it looks like you've held up your end of the bargain. DOMESDAY: So you'll tell us-- RODIER: Yes. Marguerite! (Rodier is referring to Marguerite Thomas, a member of her Resistance cell responsible for gathering and collating intelligence) (SOUND OF DOOR OPENING AND SHUTTING) MARGUERITE: Ma'am? RODIER: Give the man his dossier. (SOUND OF HEAVY OBJECT HITTING TABLE) DOMESDAY: ...this is fairly substantial. MARGUERITE: It's everything we've got on the fash. DOMESDAY: Going through all of this will take time. Give me the high level version, if you please. MARGUERITE: You'll go through the whole thing later, though? We worked hard to collate all of this. DOMESDAY: Of course. RODIER: Go ahead, Marguerite. MARGUERITE: Okay. Um. Right, the Western Roman Empire. Also known as the Imperium Romanum Occidentale. Even though that's an ahistorical term only used to refer to the western provinces of the old Roman Empire in retrospect as a means of historical periodization-- RODIER: Marguerite. MARGUERITE: Right, right. The Western Roman Empire!  MARGUERITE: The most recent addition to the Western Roman Empire is Third Rome, the fact it's well to the east of the actual Roman Empire notwithstanding. Even during the brief existence of Kiev-Byzantium, the tsar's domains clearly formed the northeastern extremity of the empire, and-- well. Anyway. Both Valeria and Tsaritsa Yekaterina secretly thinks the other one are a bunch of uncouth barbarians play-acting as the real heirs to Rome, but they both agree that the Byzantine Commune ought to be crushed. Valeria Imperatrix might have turned her nose up at 'the Kievan Pretenders', but Valeria Postuma is pragmatic enough to paper over that dispute for the sake of hundreds of thousands of Russian conscripts pouring into the Moldavian Plateau.  MARGUERITE: There's a sizable Russian army under General-feldmarshal Konstantin Mukhomorov linking up with Gallic armies on Byzantium's eastern flank, but it looks like they're not fully mobilized just yet.  General-feldmarshal of the Army of Third Rome, Konstantin Mukhomorov. MARGUERITE: Similarly at odds with the WRE's ostensible raison d'être is Iceland, although at least Iceland's goals are mutually incompatible with Valeria's-- they just want to bottle up a little bit of the old magic of the medieval merchant republic which once ruled the whole North Atlantic. As you can probably guess, Iceland doesn't exactly bring much to the table in terms of production, manpower, or materiel. But it is strategically located between Great Britain and Ireland and Nova Scotia, which could be useful for attempts to disrupt RRP shipping in that region.   MARGUERITE: Slightly more integrated into the WRE proper is Poland. Poor, poor Poland. You almost have to feel sorry for them. One minute you're in an alliance because the king of France is your distant cousin, the next minute you're glued to a bunch of fascists plotting world domination. RODIER: They were happy enough to take Valeria's guns and landships to kick Bohemia in the teeth.   MARGUERITE: Austria occupies a sort of in-between state, not quite an ally of convenience like Russia or Poland, but also not a puppet state in the manner of the Foederati. As best as we can tell, Austria wants a strong WRE hegemony over the Near West, without themselves being subsumed into Gaul in the way that León was. DOMESDAY: I imagine the annexation of León was a shot across Klara Ma's bow. MARGUERITE: If she's bothered by that, she sure hasn't shown it-- Austria is the staging point for the entire Danube campaign, and Austrian legions are well-represented among the WRE forces spearheading the offensive.   MARGUERITE: The Austrian commander of that theater is Praetur Otto Karl zu Ffannhofen und Wissenau, with Legates Siegfried Hafner and Ernst Neudinger serving as corps commanders.    Praetur Otto Karl zu Ffannhofen und Wissenau, Legatus Siegfried Hafner, and Legatus Ernst Neudinger. DOMESDAY: What about Portugal? MARGUERITE: The so-called nation of Portugal-- RODIER: Too small a country to matter. Move on.   MARGUERITE: ...well, that brings us to the Foederati, then. In Valeria's eyes, worthy barbarians being uplifted by the empire in return for military auxiliaries. RODIER: In other words, client states not quite ready to be swallowed up like León was, but still kept on a tight leash. MARGUERITE: The South German Foederati are a composite of various southern German states outside of Austria's Hui-German cultural sphere but also left out when the Holy Roman Empire united around northern Germany under the Habsburgs. The balance of their territory belonged to the former Kingdom of Bavaria, but it also includes smaller German states conquered by the Kingdom of France, but left as difficult-to-govern exclaves after the wars of the first half of the 19th century. MARGUERITE: Batavia, on the other hand, was once Holland, the last surviving outpost of the old Yaroslavovich dynasty. The king hasn't been seen since the fascists seized control of the government, though. RODIER: A loose end. The Imperium hates those.    MARGUERITE: Which brings us to the Imperium Galliarum proper. RODIER: The only member of the WRE that really matters.   RODIER: Honestly. If you really want to know about Valeria Postuma's allies, don't look at her foederati, vassals, or other international hangers-on. Look at her cronies. (SOUND OF PAPERS SHUFFLING)  From left to right: Praetors Laurentin Vannier Rhenanicus and Augustine Guilbert Germanica, Valeria Postuma, Grand Admiral Hélène de Marcognet, Censor Alexius Vodenosid, and Praefecta of the CSP Antoinette Thiébault DOMESDAY: Who am I looking at here? RODIER: Postuma's inner circle. DOMESDAY: I suppose that's Rhenanicus and Germanica with the marshal's batons. RODIER: What did I say about agnomens? They're Vannier and Guilbert. DOMESDAY: Right, right. Two of the three praetors who brought North Germany to its knees in the Lightning War. RODIER: The third one is there, too-- before she molted and became Valeria Postuma, she was Praetor Anne de Vence. MARGUERITE: That's her doing the Augustus of Prima Porta pose just behind them. DOMESDAY: Is that what she's doing? I'd assumed she was just gesticulating wildly. Who's that to the right, by-the-by? I don't recognize her. RODIER: Grand Admiral Hélène de Marcognet. Postuma's pointwoman in the Navy, to keep all the aristos and nationalist fossils in line. She also loving hates the British-- I imagine she's part of the reason so much of Postuma's rhetoric in the lead-up to the war targeted you guys and not the Byzantines. DOMESDAY: And the fellow in the toga and business suit? RODIER: Imperial Censor Alexius Vodenosid. MARGUERITE: The Vodenosids were a Roman family of Cretan origin which eventually achieved Senatorial rank-- even after the Senate was abolished, the Vodenosids regularly occupied various high offices during the Radziwill and Second Yaroslavovich dynasties. Alexius is the distant descendant of a general loyal to the last emperor, who fled to France after Sallajer's revolution cut that emperor's head off. RODIER: He's one of Valeria Imperatrix's people, so he's one of the links in the chain connecting her to Postuma's administration. In addition to controlling 'public morality', he's the regime's main propagandist. DOMESDAY: ...what happened to the woman at the far right? She... RODIER: Former head of the CSP. Current corpse. MARGUERITE: (Laughs) Hopefully she'll have some company before too long. DOMESDAY: I suppose congratulations are in order to your organization, then. MARGUERITE: I should return to my other duties, ma'am. I-- (GUNSHOT) (SCREAM) (LOUD THUD - FEEDBACK FROM MICROPHONE) DOMESDAY: I-- what-- Jesus Christ, Rodier, Jesus bloody Christ, you just-- you just shot her and-- RODIER: Look. She had a tape recorder hidden on her. RODIER: We need to get moving. We aren't safe here. We-- (CLICK) (RECORDING ENDS) State of the World, 11 April 1941 
Empress Theonora fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Aug 5, 2022 |
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Aug 5, 2022 03:29
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Aug 5, 2022 03:34
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Holy poo poo it's here. It's happening. Hey it's me. Hi mom!
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Aug 5, 2022 03:53
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Hell yeah
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Aug 5, 2022 03:53
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Kassad posted:Hell yeah 
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Aug 5, 2022 04:32
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quote:MARGUERITE: The Vodenosids were a Roman family of Cretan origin which eventually achieved Senatorial rank-- even after the Senate was abolished, the Vodenosids regularly occupied various high offices during the Radziwill and Second Yaroslavovich dynasties. Alexius is the distant descendant of a general loyal to the last emperor, who fled to France after Sallajer's revolution cut that emperor's head off.  ...is this a Crete in-joke at all or just a coincidence?
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Aug 5, 2022 04:38
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Yesss. It's back!
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Aug 5, 2022 04:43
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is the world on fire? yes. but the important thing is that everyone looks great during it
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Aug 5, 2022 04:54
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byzantium lives on!!Kangxi posted:Holy poo poo it's here. It's happening.  there i am gary there i am!
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Aug 5, 2022 05:28
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So very, very hyped
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Aug 5, 2022 05:40
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byz lives
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Aug 5, 2022 05:45
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poo poo yeah
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Aug 5, 2022 05:50
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Some of these loving fits, man Napier's crazy glamor shot is the funniest one to me, when I saw her looking like a normal (if tall) person I was like "ah ok I get it."
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Aug 5, 2022 05:55
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So happy to see this update and all the work that continues to be poured into Byzantium's story. Red Rose Pact gang tag when?
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Aug 5, 2022 08:12
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Aug 5, 2022 09:15
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Tulip posted:Some of these loving fits, man Mary Napier's glamor shot doesn't have poo poo on Aoife O'Connor's sailor scout salute/wink.
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Aug 5, 2022 11:59
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Kassad posted:Hell yeah 
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Aug 5, 2022 12:29
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There are so many little details that delight me when I read these. The tank divisions being called Cataphracts was one of today’s.
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Aug 5, 2022 15:39
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GunnerJ posted:Mary Napier's glamor shot doesn't have poo poo on Aoife O'Connor's sailor scout salute/wink. O'Connor's pic is definitely the cutest, no doubt. I can't lie my brain is still struggling to comprehend the combination toga-midcentury uniform fits that the WRE likes. Absolutely insane.
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Aug 5, 2022 16:56
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gently caress, I gotta catch up on this.
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Aug 5, 2022 18:32
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Some say that the west roman empire ended in tragedy. If so, let's hope this one ends in farce.
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Aug 5, 2022 19:16
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Did I miss anything or what is happening with Scandinavia? REAL glad to see this back! Almost forgot that Hungary was ruled by China for a good moment there.
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Aug 5, 2022 21:00
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Coward posted:Red Rose Pact gang tag when? Love the idea. All we need is an image for it.
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Aug 5, 2022 21:17
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Samovar posted:Did I miss anything or what is happening with Scandinavia? Scandinavia is neutral, unfortunately neutrals don't really get to do anything interesting. Maybe like Great Zimbabwe they'll get dragged in somehow?
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Aug 5, 2022 22:45
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Born with a heart full of neutrality. Forget them.
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Aug 6, 2022 01:04
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 08:44 |
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They probably won't do much in gameplay but I wouldn't be surprised if they show up in the narrative some more. There was actually a bit where I wanted to give them more of a tree and/or give Russia a focus branch where they pick a fight with 'em, if that trivia is of interest.
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Aug 6, 2022 01:44
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