SD.Net Kingdoms Story Thread

[Darkevilme]

Enroute to Paris
Lord Mael was not one of the three lords of the Dominion. But that was irrelevent, the situation had clearly become serious, for The Children had sent one of their own. The cloaked figure standing immobile on the foredeck of the air frigate, having not moved for days, not spoken but when it absolutely needed to. This wasn't the first time he'd seen one or spoken with one of course but this was the first time they'd deigned to be involved in diplomacy and he cant help finding them a bit eery. Still they'll be in Paris two days from now and in one of the few times it had spoken The Child had made it clear it was there only in an advisory role and to insure nothing goes wrong, the actual diplomacy would be left to him for the most part with it hanging in the background in case it needs to step in.

[Master_Baerne]

Baernish Embassy
Paris, Empire of the Seine

The Lord Astarlan had been appointed Ambassador to the Empire of the Seine, and would be representing the Duchy at the upcoming conference suggested by Lord Patrik. The Duke himself was busy preparing the nation for war, but there were always crystals if something unexpected came up.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

"It seems everyone responded to your call, sire," Malcador said.

"Excellent. Ready one of the frigates. We will respect the wishes of our allies and bring only a Grey Knight squad for escort."

It will be done sire. And oh sire, someone from the Adeptus Mechanicus wish to see you."

"Bring him in."

In walked one of the Magos from the Adeptus Mechanicus. The cleanly shaven head was almost shinny. "Sire, we bring you an interesting proposal."

"Go on."

"Sire, we propose that we might present you an alternative which will allow you to use your precious warships for other uses, but instead have your large siege guns mounted on.. a more movable platform."

"That sounds interesting. What do you propose."

"Sire, we have been studying other technologies, and a combination of many of them, together with our own technologies, we might produce.. something quite substantially more mobile, and adds a fear factor to the new weapon. Also, a new gun barrel design will soon emerge from our foundries. Some of these new guns will be sent to equip the new fort being built at the Dardanelles."

"I see what you are getting at. How soon can you make ready this new... weapon?"

"In a year or two, m'lord."

"Get on to it. I await your creations most eagerly."

"Thank you, m'lord." The magos smiled, and left.

Result:
- Heading for the Crimean Republic.
- Work begins on a new... siege weapon.

[Karmic Knight]

Throne Room, Great Keep

Deep within the Great Keep at Paris rested a tomb of a room, this was the throne room. Inside the throne room priestesses, children really, slaved away for the Eternal King, the Madgod. One of these priestesses sat upon a cold stone throne, she was the avatar that the Madgod took during his time speaking to his people, or person, as the King did not consider his priestesses’ people in the normal sense of the word. He did not allow his priestesses to hold names, and they never saw a world outside this Throne Room. The Madgod had no reason for it, it just was. The avatar, silently sleeping on the throne of the Seine, stirred slightly.

After a few moments, the avatar noticed the bustle surrounding the throne, and widely opened her eyes. What, what is going on? the avatar thought franticly. She had been protected by the spirit of the King for the entirety of her life, and she believed that she would continue to do so until she would untimely die an early, painless death.

Calm yourself, child, you are simply preparing for the greatest moment in your feeble lives. a hissing inner voice told her, the voice of the King, cracked with age and desperation, The Blasphemer is correct, I have no sight outside this room. I am uniformed about my people. I hold old prejudices close to my soul.

Yet you are still King, the Blasphemer is merely a Blasphemer, nothing more, the avatar thought back, more than slightly confused by this outburst from the King.

I am King, and I need dissenting opinions, I do not need my leaders to mirror my image, the King paused, Yes, I need dissent, I need to be wrong, and told so. Yet I must also be infallible. The King’s ranting tapered off in the avatar’s mind, leaving only silence. After a moment, the silence was cut through with a single, loud, shouted though, THIS IS THE ONLY ANSWER, SACRIFICE OF SELF

The silently working priestesses stirred at this outburst from the avatar. The avatar scanned the room quickly, the insanity of her King at the forefront of her mind, and its result at the forefront of her eyes. A rectangle had been drawn in priestess’ blood across the floor, surrounding the simple throne. At each vertex rested a fresh corpse, the sight of which was too much for the avatar, which chose that moment to jump from the throne and make a break for the only entrance and exit. To the horror of the avatar, who, up to that moment had been free to wander the deeper levels of the keep as she wished, found the other priestesses rushing to stop her.

Once subdued, the King’s voice echoed through the avatar’s head, The Only Way.

The Only Way.

THE ONLY WAY.

A light began emanating from the throne, blue white in hue, and began encasing the rectangle, slowing burning the corpses into oblivion. As the avatar watched this happen, she began to scream, and cry. The King’s ranting in their heads and the expanding light were too much for the Order’s finest priestesses to handle, and they began wailing alongside the head sacrifice, soon only the light and the wails could be noticed coming from the throne room.



The King told his followers one last message as he faded into the light, My people, you have my solemn promise, I will protect you in every way possible. I will find a better place for you after service to me. I will no longer lead you down the path of parasitic endurance. I appoint Lord Patrik La Fortunate, My Eyes, Ears, Voice, and Will, King Patrik I, I bless him and his bloodline for all eternity, and as long as I exist they shall be holy in my eyes. I must now find my way in this Brave New World, and I must stake my claim in the Ever After. We must always fight, and we must now always trust King Patrik I to lead us to greatness.

This I do promise.



And with that, the Protector of the Seine, the Madgod, was borne, and now he must learn what new powers he may have, and what peoples he may accept.

Result: Jackass Parasite becomes The Madgod.

[Zor]

Newly annexed Territories, Red Tsardom

A massive set of troop movements happened after the fall of Novgorod and had just been Completed. The Tsardom's Armies broke up into smaller groups to secure the newly subjugated lands. From Novogorod to the boarderlands, the Red Tsardom's forces had secured these regions to end the risk of reactionary uprisings threating the spread of the Crimson Enlightenment.

At the same time after conquest a massive development project had been sunk into the newly annexed territories. Schools had been opened, roads improved and various other public works had been instigated. Land Reforms had been put into effect, the former nobility's Land had been divided up among the peasants as new Co-op arangements were made from the former fiefdoms of the Nobility. The faiths were consolidated into the internal structure of the Tsardom, either intergated into established preistly unions, assimilated into larger groups (most notably the Rabbinate and Partiarchy of Moscow). Increased mechanization was brought in and general wealth improved, which began to fuel spending on exotic and luxurious new goods produced in the Tsardom's Industrial centers while massive propaganda Campaigns were put into effect, with state run dramatisations and plays to ease peaple's fears. As this happened, a large segment of the Populaces of these newly annexed territories began to loose their fears about being under the Rule of the Red Tsar.

Results-Occupation Force has been deployed to 20 of the the Tsardom's newly annexed territories, totalling too...
3,850 Streltsi
500 Sisters of Scarlet Mercy
2,500 Police
1,000 Cavaliers
500 Ursiods
This omits Mikhailsgrad/Kotlin, which has some 1,000 Streltsi, 200 Sisters and 50 Ursiods stationed there to keep things working and to oversee the some 35,000 inmates at the Gulag Development projects for naval base creation.

At the same time 10 Provinces have been developed using various public works, cost 2,000 Gold.

[Darkevilme]

Starfall dominion troop disposition and expansion
1st grand army formed and held in reserve along with 5th expansion army.
2000 Footmen
2000 Archers
600 knights
60 adepts
2000 horsemen

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th armies move beyond the borders to extend the Dominions control North and North East.

[Akhlut]

Maintaining the Peace in the Newly Acquired Territories

For the provinces around Kiev, the Republic has recruited more Surtite Thanes and human militia to help police the region. All thirteen provinces are getting four groups of militia (4 groups x 25 points = 100 points/province = 1,300 points total), and there is a force of 1,400 thanes being recruited to help police the region, as well, with 100 in each province and 100 roaming the lands (90 points x 14 groups = 1,260 points total), as well as 100 dwarf engineers in Kiev to help fortify the city better (40 points).


For Sochi, there are 18 provinces needing defense and policing. The Republic is providing 200 militia for each province (2 x 25 = 50; 50 x 18 = 900 points), as well as 200 marauders (2 x 50 = 100; 100 x 18 = 1,800). This provides for the defense of the whole of Sochi.

Foundries near Mt. Surt

The Surtite engineers found that simply increase the size of muskets and shot made for weapons little more effective against infantry than their own launchers, the simple wooden and tin curved paddles made for launching leaden bullets.

However, they were much more effective as potential siege weapons and anti-dragon weapons. A musket ball weighing nearly 10 pounds and being shot at high speeds wrecked the small walls they constructed to observe the efficacy of their muskets.

The engineers also proposed making a musket that had a flared end and shot numerous musket balls appropriate for a human musket. These blunderbusses, as they were called, tore dozens of hole into the wild aurochs they had lined up. Now the Surtites simply had to manufacture more of the guns and get their foundries properly expanded to add a great deal of might to the Republic.

The Surtites had also discovered a very effective way of using their fire rubies: use them to light the gunpowder in the muskets. Pull the trigger, the hammer would have its attached fire ruby click down, fire out a spark, and FOOM! The gun would fire. No need to worry about burning rope or flint and steel or any of those other inefficient methods. They would have to tell their gun-bearing allies about this development.

Coast on the Sea of Azov

The dwarf engineers were showing off the new contraption to the Deep Ones.

"Straight from the Red Tsardom! They are explosives that you strap to the underside of a ship and pull this pin out and BOOM! The ship now has a nice big hole in it!"

"Sounds intriguing, mountain-child. We shall find ships that need scuttled and try this out," croaked the Deep One.

Two Weeks Later

The Favored One snarled at the dwarf, fury in his eyes.

"The shock from these explosives kill our kin and kith! Develop something to direct the blast! You fools!"

The dwarf trembled, however, their knowledge of mining did give them some insight into shaped charges...

Chersonesos

Iason Constantine prepared for the assembly of leaders. He would have to show them Republican glory, as he feared that he was seen as one of the weaker members of the alliance. Thus, he had prepared Triumphs for each leader to enter his city, as if they were grand heroes. And, the Surtites had already completed five of their muskets, and 20 human ones had been made already, and with these he would fire off salutes in their honor. Hopefully, the roar of the Surtite guns would inspire a great deal of respect for the Republic.

Results: New territories defended! Surtite guns are huge and deadly! Guns made more efficient! Explosive mishaps! Chersonesos being made ready for world leaders!

[Zor]

Airship Dock, Outside Chersonesos, Crimea

The airship docked safely and routinely at the newly assembled docking tower and was quietly lowered onto the landing Pad to be moored by the waiting crew before the rear and side hatches were opened. The areonauts stepped out of the craft and stood at attention, as did a personnal honorguard of 5 Crimson Guardsmen, their new cartridge rifles in hand as they saluted while Tsar Mikhail-I and his personnal assistant walked by. After the days long airship flight, it felt good to get to move about. As he walked further, he wondered what his accomidations would be like.

Results-Tsar Mikhail-I arrives safely for the conference

Red Tsardom annual Spending

Upkeep-4970 Gold
New Troops-2,500 Policemen, 500 Gold
Consolidation Costs-10 Territories, 2,000 Points
Unit Uprage-15 points for the 50 new breechloading cartidge rifles issued for trial purposes to Crimson Guardsmen

7485 Points spent Total

EDIT-Just because i don't want to look like a Plus One-er.

[Oseng]

Letter to Lord Patrick La Fortunate, (assorted titles)

Greetings from the Twin Thrones,

Lord Askel, Skald of the Kingdom, will attend the conference as our representative.

He has been given full authority to negotiate and speak on our behalf.

Lord Askel will be flying to your kingdom with a small two person escort, so please do not be alarmed at the sight of three Great Birds in your lands.

Sincerely,

King Ryudra and Queen Nina of the Kingdom of Dolgan (various titles)

[Akhlut]

Airship Dock, Outside Chersonesos, Crimea

The airship docked safely and routinely at the newly assembled docking tower and was quietly lowered onto the landing Pad to be moored by the waiting crew before the rear and side hatches were opened. The areonauts stepped out of the craft and stood at attention, as did a personnal honorguard of 5 Crimson Guardsmen, their new cartridge rifles in hand as they saluted while Tsar Mikhail-I and his personnal assistant walked by. After the days long airship flight, it felt good to get to move about. As he walked further, he wondered what his accomidations would be like.

Results-Tsar Mikhail-I arrives safely for the conference

Basileus Iason greeted the Tsar warmly at the docking tower, firmly shaking his hand and greeting the Crimson Guardsmen and the Tsar's assistant with a nod of his head and a pleasant smile.

"Welcome, your Imperial Highness, I have a room prepared for you in the Republican Palace; it is one of the finest we have. You shall be given a tour of the city and a proper greeting by the city and the Republic once the other guests arrive. Then you shall see the glory of the Republic, your Imperial Highness."

"However, we do have some business to attend to prior to that. In thanks for your generous gift of guns, we shall give to you numerous fire rubies. Our Surtite engineers have discovered how to use them in place of the more traditional flints or burning ropes on the hammer, and they only require a small fire ruby, ones that would normally be ignored. Our dwarven craftsmen would be able to manufacture numerous hammers for you if need be. Depending on our the amount we can mine, we could give you perhaps 2,000 fire ruby hammers a year, as well as an additional amount of larger fire rubies for alchemy or any other needs you might find."

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

Annual Report

Your majesty, I present the annual report for this year.

We have acquired 40 territories, 30 in Greece and 10 in Anatolia. We are using our Comitatenses (9000 points) to garrison the new territories. We are also allocating 3000 gold to rebuild the cities of Ikonium and Thessaloniki, and we should have 15 new provinces ready next year contributing to our economy. Money will be allocated next year for the rebuilding of Sedica and the other provinces. We also plan to spend 680 gold upgrading the numbers in the Constantinople Thematic Chiliarchy to the new standard, and the remaining gold in our budget will be used to replenish losses incurred when we fought the Shadow Lord.

In short:
Total Gold: 8000 gold
Total Upkeep: 3984 gold
Investment in new territories: 3000 gold
Thematic troops upgrade: 680 gold
Losses replenishment: 304 gold

[Zor]

"However, we do have some business to attend to prior to that. In thanks for your generous gift of guns, we shall give to you numerous fire rubies. Our Surtite engineers have discovered how to use them in place of the more traditional flints or burning ropes on the hammer, and they only require a small fire ruby, ones that would normally be ignored. Our dwarven craftsmen would be able to manufacture numerous hammers for you if need be. Depending on our the amount we can mine, we could give you perhaps 2,000 fire ruby hammers a year, as well as an additional amount of larger fire rubies for alchemy or any other needs you might find."

"Such an offer is most generous," he said to the Basileus in a freindly tone as he walked "the fighting men of the Red Imperial Army would definatley be thankful for the improvement in reliability. However, in praticular, we have use for the larger versions for areonautics. Depending on their power and indurence, it could drastically increase the range and lift copacity while decreasing operating costs of our airships, or even serve the New Red Imperial Navy, bolstering a planned system which should give it a collosal advantage against whatever foes come our way."

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

The frigate arrived at the main port of the Crimean Republic and landed at the main quay. The metal hulled ship invoked awe from bystanders who had never before seen a floating warship of Byzantium. These ships were as large as any of the frigates of other nations, yet they had the benefit of flight and as a result, excellent mobility. The Despot and his honour guards disembarked from their ships, and were met by representatives of the Basilleus who would bring them to the city. Behind the Despot stood representatives from the Inquisition, the Adeptus Mechnicus, and the Adeptus Alchemi. The latter two brought with them cargo to be shown to the other leaders.

[Akhlut]

Imperial Chronicles

The frigate arrived at the main port of the Crimean Republic and landed at the main quay. The metal hulled ship invoked awe from bystanders who had never before seen a floating warship of Byzantium. These ships were as large as any of the frigates of other nations, yet they had the benefit of flight and as a result, excellent mobility. The Despot and his honour guards disembarked from their ships, and were met by representatives of the Basilleus who would bring them to the city. Behind the Despot stood representatives from the Inquisition, the Adeptus Mechnicus, and the Adeptus Alchemi. The latter two brought with them cargo to be shown to the other leaders.

The chief constable of Chersonesos met with the Despot, bowing before him and greeting all the other representatives from Byzantium.

"Greetings, your Royal Highness and to your esteemed representatives. Please, come to the Republican Palace, Basileus Iason Constantine is already meeting with the Red Tsar. You shall be given a fuller tour of the city after the rest of the parties arrive and after the Triumph held in the honor of all our guests. Please follow me, your Royal Highness."

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

The chief constable of Chersonesos met with the Despot, bowing before him and greeting all the other representatives from Byzantium.

"Greetings, your Royal Highness and to your esteemed representatives. Please, come to the Republican Palace, Basileus Iason Constantine is already meeting with the Red Tsar. You shall be given a fuller tour of the city after the rest of the parties arrive and after the Triumph held in the honor of all our guests. Please follow me, your Royal Highness."

The Despot arrived in the Republican Palace, led by the Constable. Admiring the beauty of the Palace, the Despot and his entourage stepped inside the Palace, and were led to the room where the Red Tsar and the Basileus were meeting. The Adepts from the Adeptus Alchemi and the Adeptus Mechanicus guided their precious cargo to the other palace rooms, while the High Inquisitor, the Fabricator Chief and the Chief Alchemist followed the Despot into the meeting room. "Greetings. The Red Tsar I presume," said the Despot, who smiled as he shook the hand of the Red Tsar. "And thank you Iason, for being a gracious host."

Turning to the Red Tsar, he said, "I have heard much of your most impressive nation, Mikhail I. I have brought actually some interesting devices from Constantinople that I will show later, and I will assure you that they ... should prove interesting."

[DarthShady]

Crimea, The Dark Lords arrival

The streets in front of the Palace were filled with guards and people, everyone was doing something to prepare for the meeting of leaders, that was about to take place. Suddenly a vortex of shadows appeared in the center of the great square, the people panicked and began to run, and the guards immediately surrounded the strange phenomena and called for reinforcements. The vortex swirled with dark energies of the warp and expanded with a flash of light. Strange shapes took form in it and then exited onto the streets of Crimea. A group of forty Tana'ri Daemons marched out of the Warp Gate, followed by a small group of Demilich wizards. The last to come through was the Dark Lord himself, he moved towards the terrified guards and announced in his booming demonic voice, "Inform your master that I have arrived."

Result: The Dark Lord makes an entrance.

[Master_Baerne]

Ducal Treasury Annual Report
Lord Khardeen of Scelt, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Total Revenues: 8,000 pounds of gold
Army Upkeep: 3,000 pounds of gold
Navy Upkeep: 1,000 pounds of gold
Remaining Revenues: 4,000 pounds of gold

New Provinces: 25
Investment/Province: 100 pounds of gold
Total Investment in New Provinces: 2,500 pounds of gold
Remaining Revenues: 1500 pounds of gold

Black Jewels Special Request*: 1500 pounds of gold - GRANTED
Remaining Revenues: 0 pounds of gold


*His Excellency Lord Ragnar requests these monies on behalf of the Black Jewels. Request granted by direct order of His Grace the Duke.

Results: New provinces half paid for, remaining money goes to unexplained arcane project.

Forces Committed to Garrison Duty: 3500 pikemen, 1500 crossbowmen, 500 dragonets, 250 dragons = 5,000 points, or 200/province.

[Akhlut]

"Such an offer is most generous," he said to the Basileus in a freindly tone as he walked "the fighting men of the Red Imperial Army would definatley be thankful for the improvement in reliability. However, in praticular, we have use for the larger versions for areonautics. Depending on their power and indurence, it could drastically increase the range and lift copacity while decreasing operating costs of our airships, or even serve the New Red Imperial Navy, bolstering a planned system which should give it a collosal advantage against whatever foes come our way."

"Of course, we shall offer as many of the larger ones as we can. The Surtites do require a good amount for their own purposes, though, and of course we shall give others to our other allies, but you shall certainly receive as many as we can afford to."

The Despot arrived in the Republican Palace, led by the Constable. Admiring the beauty of the Palace, the Despot and his entourage stepped inside the Palace, and were led to the room where the Red Tsar and the Basileus were meeting. The Adepts from the Adeptus Alchemi and the Adeptus Mechanicus guided their precious cargo to the other palace rooms, while the High Inquisitor, the Fabricator Chief and the Chief Alchemist followed the Despot into the meeting room. "Greetings. The Red Tsar I presume," said the Despot, who smiled as he shook the hand of the Red Tsar. "And thank you Iason, for being a gracious host."

Several other constables showed the Adepts to their rooms, while Iason greeted the Despot.

"Greetings once more, Iustianian, I am glad to greet you in my city as you did in yours. Once the Pogorian King and the Shadow Lord arrive, we shall hold a triumph and have a tour of the city and then continue with the conference."

And then, after the Basileus had finished speaking, but before anyone else could get a word in, a large tumult occurred outside...

"Speak of the devil, and he arrives..."

Iason's countenance fell slightly.

The streets in front of the Palace were filled with guards and people, everyone was doing something to prepare for the meeting of leaders, that was about to take place. Suddenly a vortex of shadows appeared in the center of the great square, the people panicked and began to run, and the guards immediately surrounded the strange phenomena and called for reinforcements. The vortex swirled with dark energies of the warp and expanded with a flash of light. Strange shapes took form in it and then exited onto the streets of Crimea. A group of forty Tana'ri Daemons marched out of the Warp Gate, followed by a small group of Demilich wizards. The last to come through was the Dark Lord himself, he moved towards the terrified guards and announced in his booming demonic voice, "Inform your master that I have arrived."

One of the lieutenants steeled himself as best he could, and, voice shaking, took a few steps toward the Dark Lord.

"Your Eminence, uh, please, follow me, we shall go to meet the Basileus, the Despot, and the Tsar. Uh, please, follow."

And so the Dark Lord and his demonic entourage were led to the already occupied room.

----------------

Hours later

As the sun was setting, enormous reports sounded from the north of the city, as huge horns were sounded off. One hundred thanes entered the city, the first row of 10 blowing large horns, while the second row were playing their enormous drums, sending a heartshaking rumble through the city. Behind them, in near-mirror shined armor were the Fire Guard, surrounding on all sides the towering Fotia, who stood a head taller than even the tallest Fire Guards. Prince Hral stood next to the Fire Lord. Their synchronized footfalls shook the city as they approached the Republican Palace. Upon reaching the Palace, they let themselves in, as they were full citizens of the Republic, and powerful leaders to boot. They went straight to the meeting room.

[Zor]

Turning to the Red Tsar, he said, "I have heard much of your most impressive nation, Mikhail I. I have brought actually some interesting devices from Constantinople that I will show later, and I will assure you that they ... should prove interesting."

"That would be interesting, i hope you appriate that i have a display of my own for the meeting."

Meeting Room, Chersonesos, Crimea, shortly afterwards

Tsar Mikhail-I took his seet while Natasha stood behind him, it was a specific request that she be present. She had set up the nessisary equipment for the demonstration beforehand. As the respected leaders arrived in the conference hall, he waited for them to be seeted while taking a glass of water. He had made his friendly greetings with the Crimean Basileus and the Byzantine Despot, even the Shadow Lord, for sake of Diplomatic Relations.

"If i may, i would desire to start this meeting with a display of what the Red Tsardom has to offer such an alliance." With that Natasha moved about handing a specially made book containing photographs, diagrams and notes to each of the assembled leaders while the lights were lowered and a projecter was set up on. "Thanks to the adoption of a system of Urbaninized Centralized and Mechanized Industry, the Red Tsardom's production yeilds are incrediably high." The slides began showing shots inside one of the Tsardom's founderies, factories and mills. "Our annual output of steel and iron are well above of any other nation due to increased and massive mechanization, as is our copacity to produce textiles, firearms and other goods, both military and civilian, thanks to mechanized tools, standardized components and the assembly line manufacturing process. While a few of our newer technical systems are understandably guarded national trade secrets, the Tsardom would be willing to assist in the development and industrialization of it's allies. We have already offered aid to crimea to develop it's industries and technological prowess. Such should provide us with a critical edge should curcumstances lead us to war against primarally magic using foes."

"Among the most notable of the machines which has driven this Industrial Revolution is the Steam Engine." The slides then switched to an image of a factory's steam engine "This device was first developed about a hundred years ago and was used for pumping water out of mines, however, in the last 50 years thanks to improved designs, it has found a home in various other aplications, including pumping water, powering largescale factory equipment, Powering our railways" The slide shifted to an image of a train and an airship's engine pod "and underwater excavation. If so you desire, we could provide your nations with blueprints for steam engines. However, we have plans for a major new application."

With that, Natasha placed a specially made case onto the table and opened it up, reveiling a model ship on a mount about half a meter long. It had three masts, fourteen Gunports, several positions for skycleaner guns, a straight black hull, but more unusually a singular metal pipe sticking out of is deck at the midsection. "This, gentlemen, is a mockup of what is the future of Naval Warfare, the Aurora." The slides then displayed technical images and the odd artist's impression of the ship "She is to be the first warship of the Red Imperial Navy and assembly should be begining in a modified Novgorodian Shipyard as of now. She is to be some 40 meters long, armed with a set of cannons comprable to our field guns, several skycleaner guns and a pair of ballista for securing ships during boarding, as well as having stocks of a type of specialized Grenade for dealing with subsurface attacks along with a runestone to protect her and her crew against curses, malignent spirits and other such hazards. Her more notable features, however include a hull equiped with Iron Plates, given a coating of alchemically produced paint for waterproofing and a steam powered corkscrew propeller propulsion system, allowing her to move against the wind. We have plans for a more powerful craft in the works, but that is down the line."

"We can also offer to your nation this material" With that Natasha presented a Bottle with about a half a litre of Green liquid inside it, it imited a faint glow just visiable in the diminished light. "This is Alchemite, a powerful catylist for alchemical reactions, used quite commonly by our warrior alchemists in the field and in the production of enhanced armor, weapons and powder as well as in various technical areas, such as producing hardened steel tools. It is somewhat expensive to produce and can not be exposed to oxygen for more than a couple of days, or it will decay into a worthless vinigerlike substance, but never the less it has a myriad of applications which your alchemists should find useful."

"The Red Tsardom is dedicated to the spread of the Crimson Enlightenment, to reshaping the world to elevate it beyond it's fuedal backrounds to a glorious future of knowledge and prosperity. To ensure that, we need strong allies to insure that our boarders remain secure so that this future can be made manifest. What say you to our requests, good kings?"

Results-Tsar Mikhail-I lays out the advantages the Red Tsardom offers, including industry, the strengths of the New Red Imperial Navy and the pros of Alchemite.

[Karmic Knight]

Outer Great Keep, Paris

King Patrik I, King of the Seine, looked at the large mahogany table sitting in front of him. The week following his conversation with Lady Westwood of Gurren-Britannia had been for the most part, uneventful until Patrik had been crowned King following the birth of the Madgod. The oddities were not over following the outburst, the next day a bored looking man wandered into Paris claiming to be the Madgod’s appointed Chamberlain for the new regime, Haskill. Haskill had brought with him gifts from the Madgod, grotesque creatures and peoples to populate his realms, both earthly and not.

This leads to the current situation, winter had come, and General Paris de Paris had returned from the War in Ireland with a laundry list of things he wanted and needed to happen. The first on his list was the creation of the National Defence Militia, to protect the Citizens of the Irish Free State from themselves. His second order of business had been integrating the new beasts, and war technology into the NIAs, this had been solved by forming a ‘Special Corps’ to slowly integrate the armies into the more natural forces. The General had also asked for the title of King of Ireland, which was quickly worked down to Duke of Belfast.

While all this was happening, the king had to deal with preparing for the Winter Conference, as it was being called in internal documents. Preparations had not been too complex, merely deciding who would be in charge of running it, what sort of décor would be unacceptable, where the fuck they would get information regarding their more non-human representatives, Simple things.

But that was the past, he looked up from the table, the Conference would start soon, within this week, and he had to hash out final details, “Duke de Paris, the winter training facilities are preparing for this winter’s Militia building?”

“Aye, sir. The veteran commanders are filling out the Militia’s staff well, and we have no shortage of volunteers and with those Briton firearms to arm them with, we can have a coherent force quicker than ever,” the insufferable jackass turned sycophant replied.

“If I may point out, we also had to send money to the Madgod for the sets of armour both of you now own,” Haskill pointed out, “So we need to begin saving our money for more tributes to the Madgod.”

“Yes,” King Patrik said, “Yes, but that brings us to our next big spending item, the Winter Conference, who have we confirmed?”

“Representatives from the Dominion and Dolgan will be arriving within the next two days, and the Baernish one won’t be far behind. I am still unaware of the Britons decision in the matter, though I think they are sending someone.”

“Good, good, dismissed.”

Result: Bookkeeping, and the Winter Conference only awaits its representatives.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

The Despot stood up and said, "Byzantium also has its own industry centered at Constantinople and other key cities. The Fabricator Chief and the Chief Alchemist will elaborate."

At this, the Fabricator chief stood up. He looked rather machine like, with prothetic metalic hands who waved his adepts to bring the floating box over. In a muffled voice, "The Adeptus Mechanicus prides its technomagic devices, that combine both magic and technology. I have here, a sample of those devices." Lifting the covers, the revealed flurry of pipes, centered around an orb with a mirror that glowed radiant light. "This here is the basis for technology that allows our ships to fly. It is a Gellar Field Generator. Using magical energies and channeling them into high concentration, it allows any ship equipped with it, to fly to great heights and speeds. This here is the smallest model possible, and we plan to build a fleet of transports using multiple modules. The aerial navy of the Despotate is also based on similar principles." One adept brought models of the 3 main vessels of the Despotate's navy, the cruiser, frigate and lastly, the Battle Barge, which resembled a castle mounted on a boxy hull. "The Hagia Sophia class Battle Barge here is our finest engineering achievement. Armour plating made of alchemically enhanced iron produced by my counterparts in the Adeptus Alchemi, the Battle Barge is armed with huge long cannons of long caliber and diameter up to 30", hurling huge projectiles containing Greek Fire. These guns are also made of alchemically enhanced steels that allow them to sustain greater barrel pressure. The Battle Barges can also carry large numbers of troops and chimera dragons and allow the Despotate's armies great mobility."

Then it was the Chief Alchemist's turn. He rose and placed on the table a piece of paper with a seal written on it. He then placed a red stone in the center and a cat, and then activated the seal. To everyone's horror, the cute cat turned into a cat with a feral look; it had sharp claws, tougher skin, sharper ears, eyes that glowed and it had sharp teeth and a more muscular jaw. "This my friend is how we make chimeras, or rather Alchemically enhanced creatures. This stone here is a philosopher stone which fuels the process. Without the stone, you would create an inferior chimera, if you are a good enough alchemist. Otherwise, you will likely fail. The stone also a key element of the Gellar field Generator, and we also use it for many other applications, such as enhancing metals, refining gunpowder etc. Our manufacturing processes might be slightly inferior to the Red Tsar's factories, but we make it up by using alchemy. The only problem would be that the stone requires... souls to create. For this, we have long turned to unstable warp gates, or random heretics who have proven recalcitrant, to create the stones. Now, the Shadow Lord, many thanks, has agreed to supply the ways to create stable warp gates to draw out demons for use to sacrifice them to create the stones. I might add that the process of training a Comitatus involves some degree of alchemy as well."

It was then the Inquisition Lord's turn. An aura of power surrounded him, though it was weaker than the Despot's. He spoke, "My friends, the Inquisition's main tasks are to find and destroy the hidden enemies of the Despotate, and also to research on the Warp. We may not be as.. well informed on the nature of the Warp as the Shadow Lord, but we have studied it well, and we have now sought to trap a daemons with powers of a daemon prince in a .. humunculus, or rather created humans. The humunculus is embedded with many seals which allow us to control the daemon fully and then to use it as a weapon to unleash it on our enemies. Even though it looses some... 10-20% of its combat potential, a daemon prince can still be a fearsome foe for any sorcerer, excepting the more powerful ones, such as the Lord Despot and the Shadow Lord. Thanks to the Shadow Lord, we have a means to create stable warp gates as well, and we will move to trap a daemon prince in our humunculus when the Adeptus Alchemi are ready."

[Darkevilme]

Paris
The starfall Dominion's representatives have arrived. Their airship tethered in the city outskirts. Mael looks back towards it, wondering whether they should emulate the Tsardom are start setting up proper docking facilities for their air fleet... maybe when it expands. Then Mael's eyes turn to the figure gliding across from the ship to him and he turns his thoughts to the more important matter of diplomacy and what their allies will make of the StarChildren. Mael starts towards the greeting party whatever it may be, the Starchild close behind. Mael dressed in the blue caped ensemble of a visiting dignitory. The Child is hooded and cloaked, even beneath that every inch of its strangely Emaciated and seven foot tall body is covered in tightly wrapped cloth and clothing. None the less cold white light emanates from the transitory gaps in its attire as it moves and pours consistently from its eyes, the only part of its face visible.

It has finally come time to make their introduction
“Greetings, I am Lord Mael and i come representing the three lords of the Starfall Dominion. The one behind me is well, my advisor and represents our benefactors, he'd tell you his name isn't important if he felt like speaking right now.” The Child inclines its head for a moment, Mael meanwhile suddenly wonders whether his 'advisor' is in fact male...or whether the Children have genders, its really hard to tell and no one has ever gotten an answer from them on so 'trivial' a matter.

[DarthShady]

Meeting Room, Chersonesos, Crimea

"Gentlemen.", the Shadow Lord began to speak, now in his human form, "My Byzantine friends have already mentioned some of the things that I bring to this alliance, but I will now elaborate further. Our possible enemies are mostly human, but some wield great magical power, power that they will surely use against us. I tell you now, their magic may be powerful, but it is no match for the power of the warp and the Chaos Gods I serve. To those of you that lack the magical power to protect themselves, I will provide that protection."

"I will provide other things as well, such as slave labor and magical means of improving your weapons. For example, lets say that you have a powerful Naval vessel that you wish to use against your enemies, but your enemies possess powerful magic that mere runes cannot stop. I will provide powerful Daemons that will join with such a vessel, possessing it and increasing it's battle effectiveness, and at the same time protecting it and it's crew from enemy magics and magical creatures. There are many more things that my power can provide, the only thing you need to do is ask."

[Siege]

Palace of the Sun, Memphis



“… so those are the two alliances that have formed in Europe, oh great king”, Imhotep finished his summary. “They are not at war, not yet anyway, but that may be a mere matter of time.”

“Hmm”, nodded Atum-Ra. The Pharaoh was lost in thoughts for a moment as the two wandered through the expansive palace gardens. The only ones who noticed them were the servants and the guards, all of whom remained at a respectful distance, and the stone Sphinxes.

“If they go to war…” the high priest of the Egyptian cult continued.

“Then we must stay out of it. The affairs of Europe are not our primary concern”, replied the Pharaoh suddenly.

“But if they decide to come for us…”

“Then they will have to come over sea, and face our powerful navy, or over land, and defeat the Davidian Kingdom before they reach us, or through the air, and face the wrath of my Sky Corps. You forget, Imhotep, that we are quite isolated. Any who would do us harm will have to come from far, and provide us ample warning. No, I am not concerned.”

“Still…”

“I know what you want to say, and you are right. Yet, we do not need to align ourselves with one of these two blocks at this time. It is futile. What would we get out of it? Safety? We have all the safety we need. Land? We do not need any more land. No. We will remain isolated for now – from Europe. As for allies… Send a summons to the princes of the Arabian coast. I am sure they will be interested in an alliance.”

“What about the Great Worms and their Riders?”

“Send an envoy to them too, and see if they will come. If they do not, let them be. They fight anyone, and as long as they do we are safe in the West. If they wish to remain isolated, we will let them.”

The high priest bowed. “Very well, great king. Your will be done.”

Result: Egypt looks with a wary eye at Europe, but doesn’t declare sides. We summon the sultans of the city-states on the coast of the Red Sea, as well as the Fremen – I mean, the folks who live in the Sahara and, apparently, ride giant frickin’ Sand Worms.

[Akhlut]

Republican Palace

"Gentlemen, your industry and magical prowess are impressive, to say the least. The Republic is glad to count you as its allies. However, we are not without materials to aid our allies. Fotia, would you like to show the glory of the fire rubies?"

The Fire Lord strode to the middle of the room, standing 17 feet tall, wearing a simple robe and having his majestic beard braided intricately.

He held a ruby between his thumb and forefinger that appeared tiny, until one realized that the ruby was nearly 2 inches across.

"This is a fire ruby. The sacred mountain Surt brings them up in the molten lava within its heart and yields them to us. These gems are powerful, able to provide an unceasing amount of flame to those knowledgeable in their use. We should be able to teach you the basics about their use, and as our engineers have already shown, they can make your guns more effective. Further, your alchemists might be able to utilize them in some manner."

To accentuate the matter, Fotia made the fire ruby burst into flames.

"Thank you, Fotia; as you can see, that alone would be a wonderful addition to our alliance, but the Republic can do more. Our rule over the oceans is firm, especially due to the Deep Ones. With them, no mere naval power will be able to hold firm against us. Further, our possession of griffons might also be useful to Despotate, as they seem like prime candidates for alteration by philosopher stones into anti-air creatures. The Republic also holds the most powerful magical hold over fire throughout the world, due to the mastery of the Surtites, and our priests are blessed by Jesus All-Mighty with the power to heal and to harm our foes."

"Now, friends, before we get too much further into this, let us await the Pogorian delegation."