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Yes, I agree, but those are not true long-term assets, because of the changing situation on the continent, they may not be able to rely on them much longer.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Vick army divisions have operations on the side, too, like, I dunno, conflict diamond mines in Arkansas or something.*
Domestically, more questions are circulating in Moscow. The Imperial Family, long-expanded by Alexander's many children, has yet to be seen in the capital, and the Kremlin has evaded questions on their whereabouts. Furthermore, many have questioned Princess Katerina's absence, finding her brother's explanation unsatisfactory. There are many shadows cast over Nikolai's coronation, despite his attempts to talk past them. Many challenges await the young Tsar. With the international environment more hostile to Russia by the year, it remains to be seen if he will be equal to them.
People noticed she, along with a load of the Family ain't been seen in public. And he can't execute them all because it's bad, and tends to make other people twitchy.
So the family is likely in prison, whereas Kat, having resources and a proper escape plan, probably hopped the first jet out, then did a few run arounds before finding a safe house.
She's hiding somewhere, meaning either Europe, or someplace the Tsar's spies can't easily find. Which is a pretty short list.
I think the argument could be made that the destabilisation will lead to financial woes and thus lower Russian economic support. On the other hand, the new Tsar announced his willingness for greater support for Victoria, which might mean more debts taken to keep the hegemony stable. But the hawkishness means more intervention (since you replace less expensive soft power with more military expenses), more money for the military complex and more domestic discontent with endless wars instead of better pensions. We know very little about the Russian economy or internal politics, but if the new regime lacks people with economic expertise, they might cripple their economy by pumping vast amounts of money into interventions without getting most of it back. My theory is that Nicky is controlled by military hardliners, so I think economic troubles are likely for Russia.
Mind, words are cheap, and to be honest, betting more cash on Victoria, who is engaged in a civil war, might not be worth it in Moscow. Sunk cost has it's limits.
Yes, I agree, but those are not true long-term assets, because of the changing situation on the continent, they may not be able to rely on them much longer.
I mean, you're right, but I'm just thinking in the very basic sense of "so how full is their national piggy bank."
I wouldn't be surprised if they have a LOT of easily liquidated assets, relative to the size of their national GDP, due to their nature as a state that aggressively loots a much larger area that used to be quite wealthy, that for thirty years could set up a resource extraction operation pretty much at will all over much of a continent as long as the infrastructure required to run it wasn't too big, and that ideologically believes in the value of loot and probably sees loot as a way of symbolizing and enforcing its own supremacy.
Mind, words are cheap, and to be honest, betting more cash on Victoria, who is engaged in a civil war, might not be worth it in Moscow. Sunk cost has it's limits.
The flip side of that is that if the Russians want the civil war to end and pick a side, the civil war ends really fast.
Regardless of which side they back.
The Crusaders would probably last about a day as a coherent fighting force if the Russians started operating drones in New England. The Blackwell government would probably take longer to take down assuming the Inquisitor CMC faction doesn't just abandon it and disappear into nothingness at Russian behest, but it'd die.
They are in the Middle of a Civil War and a Famine, what parts of the Piggy Bank isn't being used to pay for war material is..
A. Being fought over by the Warring Factions.
B. Being Stolen by the Resistance, Refugee's and other unfortunate souls.
C. Being used to pay the soldiers to keep them loyal.
D. Some form of Famine relief.
E. Being stolen by other nations, if they are into that sort of thing.
Victoria is going to be running low on assets and my Omake is going to in some way be going to at least try to go into a few things.
Plus it will let me use my college education and love of Liberal Economic theory to bash Lind and his shitty ideology with CLASSICAL LIBERAL ECONOMIC THEORY.
People noticed she, along with a load of the Family ain't been seen in public. And he can't execute them all because it's bad, and tends to make other people twitchy.
So the family is likely in prison, whereas Kat, having resources and a proper escape plan, probably hopped the first jet out, then did a few run arounds before finding a safe house.
She's hiding somewhere, meaning either Europe, or someplace the Tsar's spies can't easily find. Which is a pretty short list.
I doubt the Europeans are hiding Katerina as we know, through a canon omake, that at best they see her as the friendly propaganda face of the Russian Empire, meant to distract the world from her father's actions.
And honestly, why give the idiot in the Kremlin an easy excuse to start a war when every year that idiot wastes can be much better used to continue arming?
Mind, words are cheap, and to be honest, betting more cash on Victoria, who is engaged in a civil war, might not be worth it in Moscow. Sunk cost has it's limits.
I don't think the gestures are likely to be posturing.
For one, I don't think somebody would loudly announce increased commitment they don't actually intend to do shortly after gaining power in a coup. Attracting hawkish support and immediately betraying has pretty bad consequences. Secondly, Victoria is a cornerstone in the Russian geostrategy for North America. Without their constant warmongering, opposed power blocks would form quicker on the East Coast and the Midwest, leading to a USA or USA comparable power slowly forming over decades. Without Victoria, preventing this is much more expensive and requires supporting local powers that aren't as reliable. Victoria is reliably aligned with Russia, both ideologically and out of necessity (nobody else wants to support them), while other local powers might take russian arms and turn on them. Thirdly, a withdrawal from North America has disastrous political consequences for the russian government, leading to a significant strengthening of chinese and european influence over the decades as the USA slowly unites and rebuilds. Letting your fallen archenemy of the previous cold war reform without trying to stop it isn't a foreign policy strategy that has much support and could lead to your regime quickly crumbling for a lack of military support.
So in short I there a good watsonian reasons for increased russian commitments to Vicktoria, while the doylist perspective requires a Vicktoria that can put up a fight and thus russian support, instead of being defeated in a single war.
They are in the Middle of a Civil War and a Famine, what parts of the Piggy Bank isn't being used to pay for war material is..
A. Being fought over by the Warring Factions.
B. Being Stolen by the Resistance, Refugee's and other unfortunate souls.
C. Being used to pay the soldiers to keep them loyal.
D. Some form of Famine relief.
E. Being stolen by other nations, if they are into that sort of thing.
Victoria is going to be running low on assets and my Omake is going to in some way be going to at least try to go into a few things.
Plus it will let me use my college education and love of Liberal Economic theory to bash Lind and his shitty ideology with CLASSICAL LIBERAL ECONOMIC THEORY.
Yes, yes, I know. I'm not saying they have infinity gold or something dumb like that.
I'm saying that for the specific purpose of paying for famine relief to be shipped in, they may turn out to have deeper pockets than one would expect given the rest of how fucked up their economy is.
Russian is gonna be busy dealing with a War or fallout of the NCR going independent, so they might not have time to deal with the viks
if the Viks win there civil war they are gonna have massive problems as The Crusaders have loot and destroyed the Viks capital and loot and burn down a lot of infrastructure where they are based and on the way to the capital
And they are gonna have manpower problems as they have been losing a hell of a lot of there militia, those are there workforce and a lot of there people will the nation as we force them to open there border for people to leave, so to make a new army they are gonna have to take some of those militia units to make the new army, leaving them with less of a workforce and a drain on there economy as the army still need to be paid for, feed and everthing else need to keep the army going
I think the idea of Russia being "to busy" to deal with Victoria is unlikely. ITTL, Russia is a super power with influence everywhere on the globe. They are currently in a cold war with China and the European Union, so they will likely have a similar strategic mindset as the super powers of the previous cold war, which means constantly supporting aligned governments/rebels/factions in order to increase once own block.
In this paradigm, North America isn't a sideshow, it's one of the main sites for proxy wars in this cold war. Both China and Europe are interested in an anti-russian american power block emerging (which would be almost every north american power block), while Russia aims to keep the NCR under control and the rest of the country fractured. Victorian military capability are vital for the latter goal and even help somewhat with keeping the NCR somewhat in chains, their army and intelligence network being vital for Russian power projection in the Midwest. The fallout from NCR independence will lead to more resources being commited to reassert russian influence on the pacific coast, but also increased investment to Victoria in order to prevent a power block in the eastern USA rising that might ally with the NCR. I expect Russia to reduce commitments elsewhere, in an attempt to get North America under control before it's to late, rather decrease North America commitments.
if the Viks win there civil war they are gonna have massive problems as The Crusaders have loot and destroyed the Viks capital and loot and burn down a lot of infrastructure where they are based and on the way to the capital
And they are gonna have manpower problems as they have been losing a hell of a lot of there militia, those are there workforce and a lot of there people will the nation as we force them to open there border for people to leave, so to make a new army they are gonna have to take some of those militia units to make the new army, leaving them with less of a workforce and a drain on there economy as the army still need to be paid for, feed and everthing else need to keep the army going
Reconstructing Victoria after the war will take time, but it's not impossible. Russia has a large agricultural sector, so providing large scale food shipments for Victoria until their economy is rebuilt is certainly not out of the question. The manpower problem exists, but Blackwell might push for a smaller, high-tech army that mitigates the issue. I think Victoria will retain most of their soldiers and veterans, since they fear retribution from the people outside their own nation. I think high Russian aid could make reconstruction in the next decade a great deal easier, though this aid can't be maintained indefinitely. Successfully reconstructing and reforming the Victorian economy in the mid- to long-term is much more of a challenge. The greatest obstacle to a successful victorian reconstruction is in my opinion the internal politics of Victoria, with any modernization decreasing support among much of the political class. It took the complete destruction of their army for Victoria to consider the idea of "modernize our equipment somewhat", so even with the worst elements purged after the war, the reformers are limited in the options they can take, lest the alienate their own moderates and face the risk of another coup.
Good thing this didnt win.
Since Im sure while satisfying in the immediate event, the aftermath would get rapidly more complicated than our current choices.
I have real issues seeing how a Commonwealth that just got done shooting Aubrey and a bunch of his veterans can then turn around and attempt to "acquire" his surviving men to operate and maintain its planes.
Not without slavery coercion.
And the example of Victoria about why you dont want malcontents in your supply chain remains very fresh.
SO I've got a really odd question? what do you think the status of Victoria's Liquid assets is?
I'm of the opinion that they're going to be running out no matter who wins.
Victoria has been looting North America blind for over two decades, since they got their stomping boots on in the 2050s post-Kraft, and they have done dickall constructive with the money. On top of that, they were basically handed Quebec during the destruction of Canada, and Quebec is filthy rich; the value of its agroforestry and mining exports alone amount to almost 20 billion dollars a year IRL.
And that doesnt count the hydroelectric system and its tens of gigawatts of cheap power being put to use.
If you count just agroforestry and mining(gold, diamonds,niobium, et cetera), and assume that the Vics only get 25% of the take, over two decades that still amounts to around a hundred billion dollars net. Then there's the value of the more than 50 GW of hydroelectric power generation in NY and Canada, there's loot, there's taxes, there's sex tourism and other exports like guest workers to the Arctic.
The Northern Confederacy may be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Greater Russian Empire Incorporated, but it has enough indigenous assets to make a healthy profit for various Russian megacorps and still afford to chock away savings.
Even with the expeditionary army out there every year, they have the economic capacity to have been running a healthy budget surplus year on year and just socking it under the mattress; its Victoria, so no sovereign wealth fund, just rubles, gold and platinum and silver. Gold buggery, just on the level of a nationstate.
Victoria's foreign reserves in hard currency and precious metals after two decades of this must be massive.
Thats probably how they could afford to pay reparations and still have cash for imports.
2)Lemme do some math for you.
Assume Victoria is 30 million people.
Assume that due to the failed harvest and the war, that they are currently running a 70% calorie deficit, which has to be made up by imports for a year, and that Blackwell actually intends to feed everyone, even minorities, till the next harvest.
Google tells me that America IRL averages around 900kg of food per adult person per year.
The St Louis Fed has the global price of wheat since 1991 till date hovering in the mid-200 dollars per metric ton, with a low of 160 dollars and a high of 400 dollars.
Lets use the high price, round up the food consumption to 1 metric ton a year, assume everybody in Victoria is an adult, and that they are being fed to pre-Collapse America standards.
With those assumptions, buying enough wheat to make up a 70% caloric deficit for one year at a rate of 0.7 ton per adult is (400 x (0.7 × 30,000,000)) = 810 million dollars for 21 million tons. Double that to pay for shipping costs, and you get 1.6 billion dollars.
Thats the absolute high end that Victoria could be paying.
Now remember that they arent buying from the international market, but from Middle America.
Where the prices are lower because captive market; if the prices were higher locally, they'd buy internationally and ship through Boston instead of giving the Commonwealth money.
Then account for the fact that Victorians are certainly not eating to First World America's standards, that half the population are minors with only the calorific requirements of children, that harvests of fast growing crops like potatoes and squash start coming in after 60 to 90 days.
And that Blackwell and his Inquisitors are ruthless enough to deprioritize feeding sections of the population.
In my opinion?
Even after price gouging by Chicago and the Commojwealth, they probably wouldnt spend more than half a billion dollars on food imports in a year. And their reserves would cover that comfortably.
TLDR
Victoria should have the monetary resources to afford to fight multiple successive wars comfortably.
It will need technological and specialist aid, but it can afford most everything else.
Not so much the people though. Not anymore.
I doubt the Europeans are hiding Katerina as we know, through a canon omake, that at best they see her as the friendly propaganda face of the Russian Empire, meant to distract the world from her father's actions. And honestly, why give the idiot in the Kremlin an easy excuse to start a war when every year that idiot wastes can be much better used to continue arming?
Yeah, she has no motive to seek refuge in Europe. If she's outside the country, she's either in Japan, where a member of the Imperial Family was explicitly her friend? She'd be secure but under pressure not to make waves. Or she's in India, which is too big and independent of Russia to be pushed around, and where she'd have diplomatic roon to maneuver.
But odds are she was captured with the rest of her family and is in Russia. Possibly even deliberately.
An Elizabeth Tudor situation.
They might still hire mercs.
Go down to Central America, the Gulf Coast and Venezuela, some of the relatively poorer areas where Russia retains influence, and hire a couple divisions worth of light infantry, the way Gaddhafi used to hire Touaregs and other West Africans.
Or you might have some of the Russian Empire's satellite states like Romania and Bulgaria "volunteer" divisions to help defend Victorian territorial claims, like we saw Korean troops in the Vietnam War or WarPact troops in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Or even just ideological recruits, like you saw in parts of Crimea and the Iraqi insurgency.
If you have superpower backing, you can get people. Might not be the best people, but people nonetheless.
On top of that, [Victoria was] basically handed Quebec during the destruction of Canada, and Quebec is filthy rich; the value of its agroforestry and mining exports alone amount to almost 20 billion dollars a year IRL.
And that doesnt count the hydroelectric system and its tens of gigawatts of cheap power being put to use.
On the other hand, the cash value of that resource extraction probably sees a lot of the money go to Russia, or go to reduced-price Victorian payments to Russian companies that supply them with things they need. Because Alexander has no reason to let the Vicks amass unlimited amounts of cash when that same cash could be in his own nation's pockets.
I'm... hesitant to attribute this large a population to Victoria. We've talked about this. Just saying.
With that said, your conclusion is right in that there's a practical limit to just how much money the Vicks can be spending to buy food. The price of feeding that many people seems like a lot TO US because the Commonwealth is insanely dirt poor, and the extra infusion of cash (or liquid assets in general) is a huge boost to our economy because we have effectively no export economy and the Vicks were stealing everything conveniently portable and valuable until not long ago. But that doesn't mean it's nearly as damaging to the Vicks as it is boosting to us.
Though it should be noted that they may have trouble buying on the international market- not that they can't, but that just about everyone will jack up the price, because they know the Vicks have a lot of gold squirreled away in vaults and can pay, and no one has much incentive to maintain a stable commercial relationship with the Vicks.
TLDR
Victoria should have the monetary resources to afford to fight multiple successive wars comfortably.
It will need technological and specialist aid, but it can afford most everything else.
Not so much the people though. Not anymore.
Ehhh. Assuming a population of ten million or more, the Erie War casualties are only a drop in the bucket- note that they weren't drawn only from prime military age males, since a lot of the men in the old Vick divisions were in their thirties and forties. And most of those men hadn't even been back in Victoria for any length of time in years or decades; they didn't participate in the civilian economy and barely even participated in Victorian society except through a very tenuous line of connection.
The Civil War has no doubt inflicted a lot of casualties among the militia, but maybe less dead than you'd think. The Crusaders don't have easy access to resupply, so they're almost certainly focusing on shocking enemy units into breaking and running at the point of contact; sustaining combat operations long enough to slaughter encircled units or things like that is bad for them. Meanwhile, the militia are mostly 0/5-type units, the kind that are prone to things like "not know how to dig in and then shatter and run away at the first touch of mortar bombardment." While the casualty ratios are probably painfully lopsided in favor of the Crusaders, that doesn't necessarily mean the militia are losing men by the hundreds of thousands at the level it would take to demographically cripple a nation the size of Victoria.
All things considered... I'm pretty sure we're not looking at a country like post-WWI France where demographic exhaustion truly hollows out the national economy and military.
Yeah, she has no motive to seek refuge in Europe. If she's outside the country, she's either in Japan, where a member of the Imperial Family was explicitly her friend? She'd be secure but under pressure not to make waves. Or she's in India, which is too big and independent of Russia to be pushed around, and where she'd have diplomatic roon to maneuver.
But odds are she was captured with the rest of her family and is in Russia. Possibly even deliberately.
An Elizabeth Tudor situation.
Catherine is too important an element in the political situation for her presence in Russia to go unremarked upon, and too competent and popular for her brother to be fully comfortable leaving alive. it probably isn't doing him any favors to have his subjects wondering where Catherine is and if she's a potential alternative who might take the throne in his stead.
Well, we didn't loot any significant fraction of their liquid assets.
The Crusaders have to stay mobile and probably don't have a lot of foreign connections, since they're a rebel faction of hardliners within an already unpopular fascist state. As such, they have incentives not to do much looting, and if they do take loot they can't really move it out of the country easily.
Any stuff Blackwell's faction takes is likely to stay in the country.
So there probably won't actually be much of the Victorian liquid asset reserve getting stolen or destroyed during the war, as compared to getting buried or hidden or having possession of it reshuffled around until the winner takes all. Or as compared to just getting spent.
Victoria is also paying us as part of a the peace deal
Also Victoria is very low tech and using slave labour, so the agroforestry and mining would be a lot lower the they would in irl
Hell i am waiting for to maybe hear some news with those slave doing a revolt or something as Victoria keep on losing a lot of its militia so they have to keep calling more of them to fight, so less men to keep the slaves in check
And we have not hear anything about any rebels making moves in Victoria and now is the best chance to do something
You looked into the mirror and then at the suit on your bed and reminded yourself of the most important thing you can do now.
It was to remind yourself that you were Edward Van Alder, one of the few real economists of Victoria.
Or at least one of the few that felt out of place in the chaos that surrounds you.
It was an unenviable position to be in these days, the purges, the fear of death, and other great and terrible tortures you were aware of at your mind.
"Here's to another day of it." You said feeling the weight of your responsibilities getting to you for but a moment.
Your stomach growled and you sighed. "Sorry, no breakfast today." Then you moved to put on your suit and walk to work again.
In Victorian Society, the Mid Level bureaucracy, the ones that filed the paperwork, balanced the budget and worked on making sure that certain aspects of a functioning healthy society continued to function.
These included several low-level departments that were under the purview of the small but still necessary Victorian Department of the Interior.
Now on Paper the Department was responsible for among other things, Game Wardening, Road maintenance, Overseeing commerce, and maintaining civil wider civil infrastructure like phone lines, gas mains, and sewage treatment.
The things a proper society needs….unfortunately, half the time your department doesn't have the funding, most of it goes to the Inquisition or the Malita, or the army...or the god damn CMC. And now you were dealing with the consequences of the incompetence of the state.
Famine and Civil War, a rising power to the west...were it any other day you'd consider this challenge exciting. But no it's more complicated than that.
No Matter the study of economics, markets and the world at large it still surprised you some days.
And these days surprises normally came in the form of the Inquisition coming to question your loyalty, your credibility, and ability. They'd come to your office no less than three times last month, questioning you and your willingness to serve.
You took the verbal abuses, the poking, and the wasting of time, that could be used to stabilize the situation the nation found itself in. Stabilize...it was a funny word, Victoria hadn't been stable since the 2050s when you finished your degree in Economics.
For 20 years you served the state and the people at your leisure, you'd given part of your pinky and ring finger on your hand in battle, you'd already given three of your children in service to the nation and now you give what is left of your life to it.
And they see fit to hate you?
Your office was a one-story building and from the way the trash and mid-day sun hit the ground it was still a mess from the last bread riot, you knew that there would be more in the future. "Any trouble last night?!"
One of your co-workers was sitting on the roof, it was his two weeks of garrison defence it seems. "None sir, it's been quiet and cold."
That made you smile. "Let's hope it stays that way for a little while longer."
Then you clocked in and sighed as you felt Inquisitor Benjamin Arthur Carson stare at you as you finished putting your card away.
He was unfeeling and quiet with blue eyes and a scar from his more active years, he'd been keeping an eye on you and much of your family for years, and despite all appearances he was...more or less the closest thing you had to a friend.
"Ben…"You said sighing.
"Edward." He said. "You know why I'm here?"
"Strip search for items, bits of food, contraband?" You said.
"Pockets?" He said as you undid all of your pockets revealing only your wallet and a few coins you held onto just in case.
He then sighed. "Been sleeping well?"
"Not particularly. Skipped breakfast again," you said. "Have to get to work."
Ben nodded as you went to your desk and opened the next handful of books that were apart of the Victorian Treasury and one of the few recoverable assets you were given care of.
Not like there were many people who understood high degree economics and bookkeeping...but you won't go into how badly run the liquid assets were.
Because what you had was damning enough.
What you had was proof that Victoria was going to be out of Liquid Assets soon. The Nation was nearly bankrupt and you personally didn't see a solution at this moment. It was troubling, the income from the...tourism, and tithes were drying up, the tax base was among other things starving and running out of assets to tax.
That wasn't getting into the lack of prospects in the fishing fleet as of late, winter storms were still going on and things were still chaotic, even with the food shipments from the Machine State you can see it as only a stopgap measure at best.
You looked again and again at the books, and the finance ledgers and what little assets Blackwell had from the Inquisition.
Finally, you bit the bullet and walked over to Ben and knew what you said would get you something resembling progress or the firing squad.
"Ben...I have bad news...looking over the economic situation and what we have in terms of assets, Victoria's liquid assets will be depleted in two year's time." You said with all of the courage you could muster.
The Truth was a dangerous thing to tell, no matter how powerful you were in Victorian Society, the truth, the unshakable and unquestionable truth not sanitized by the Inquisition that works towards the greater goal of maintaining Victoria's control over the population.
The truth is that you wouldn't even have the money to maintain the war with everything going on.
Your nation can't even afford to feed itself in this time of Crisis, for they needed more bullets to shoot at each other.
They couldn't even afford the basic supplies of survival at this rate.
You closed your eyes and waited for Ben to shoot you. To hit you...TO ANYTHING TO YOU!
It was always going to be this way, you were always going to get killed for doing your duty and saying something they didn't want to hear. You'd be dragged to the show trial, named a traitor and shot.
Your accomplishments and life for nothing.
"Open your damned eyes, Edward…" Ben said he was sobering to look at, he knew deep down what you said needed to be said.
"You're going to shoot me aren't you?" You said. "Isn't that all how this works, I say something the government doesn't like and you are duty-bound to kill me, ruin my reputation and gaslight, my family until they say something to get them killed."
You felt it happen before he could say anything "I have given twenty years of my life for this country, and if telling the truth about the situation, is going to kill me then get on with it, we are already killing each other!! FOR What!!"
"What are we killing each other for...this senseless godless killing." You said as Ben looked at you soberly. "Get on with it…"
Ben nodded before walking over to the Phone, to report to his superiors.
Now...it was only a matter of time to see what happens...you told them what was going on, now they could kill you and deal with it when they come to it...or once in their damned lives listen.
------------------------
John Cranfield was an Inquisitor you've met only a handful of times, mostly at the rare government functions that you tried to keep your head down in.
You knew from a few conversations you had, he liked you, or at the very least enjoyed your commitment and honesty with the situation.
You saw how it was and tried to fix it with the tools you had, before going up the chain, and it was in his mind a commendable quality.
"Mr. Van Alder...I wish we could have met under kinder circumstances." He said with a grandfatherly presence that all inquisitors carefully cultivated over the years of service to make themselves more approachable, more open to conversation, and to secrets.
"Am I going to die for what I reported?" You said with a slight shake in your hand, the missing part of your fingers was acting up again.
He did a small click before offering a seat at one of his armchairs and motioned for a drink. "No...I like yourself have seen the reality of the situation itself and am working towards a more effective Victoria."
"I've looked over what remaining assets we have and what little the new Tsar has given us at short notice, but It's just we won't have enough assets to rebuild and fight a civil war, it just can't be done with what we have at our disposal. It will take time to use our Mineral Reserves and we can't exactly use our army to loot and pillage the continent when this is all over." You said calmly as the shaking in your hand stopped. "I'm sure you've already read my report on the matter."
He nodded. "In detail, you were especially wary of the tourism industry's downturn and loss of income, as well as the food shortages...you made a big deal about food security. And the need for it."
"Russia fell to Communism over Bread Riots, I do not what that to happen to our nation, so we need more reliable assets." You said.
"We could go to Russia, they have always given what we needed." He said.
"While in most days I'd approve of such a thing, we know that they are in the middle of a transition, one does not simply replace a great man like Tsar Alexander without a great deal of finesse and effort." You said. "I fear he may be preoccupied with securing his rule and making sure his situation on the homefront is secure...and barring any major changes in geopolitics, that is not going to change anytime soon."
"You doubt his support?" Cranfield said.
"No I don't doubt he means to support us, its that he's a fair ruler replacing a great one and that does take time...time our economy and assets lack." You said firmly.
"So what do we do, find some fool to give us a loan?" He said.
"Yes...we don't have a choice in the matter. It will buy us time to win the war and fix this damn country...I'm not saying it's a perfect solution, but it's a solution." You said.
John Cranefeild nodded. "I will make the arrangements to send you to get this loan from anyone that will listen. But should you fail, it's on your head?"
"It was always going to be someone else that takes the fall for you, I guess you were considering it yourself but needed someone else to come to the same conclusion as you, so you could make the arrangements and be free of the consequences should it fail." You said.
"Am I that easy to read Mr. Van Alder?" He said with a small smile, impressed that you were able to read his intentions.
"No...but it's obvious your planning to use me and my effectiveness as a tool for you to gain power...and I will accept it." You said.
The, for now, was unsaid. But you were now in an unspoken power struggle between Blackwell and the Inquisitor.
You were a tool for now, but now you had a duty to fulfill.
Tools are useful. But you wouldn't be a tool for men who can't see the big picture, they needed to see.
---------------------
You looked at the Sattelite phone with a hint of utter disgust and fury, you haven't used Russian in a long time, but it is better to know it and not need it as they say. "Your tsar said that we'd have the monetary support to continue our war, not this pittance we've been given!! I wish for a better excuse than we are preoccupied with certain functions related to internal security."
The Russian Minister on the other end was one of the finance ministers, not THE finance Minister of Russia, one of the smaller ones that you think deals with people like you nearly every day. "Oh you would know about security...we said we would support our allies but for the moment we have to pick and choose our battles as of late. The wider world has changed a great deal in the last year and not everything revolves around you and your nation, it revolves around Russia and its sphere."
"Can we at least consider an extension of the line of credit to our loan? If only for securing our finances for the rest of the year." You asked.
"No...we have to prop up our more reliable allies in Turkey, continue to pay for the environmental outreach programs to continue our dedication to healing the Earth because we want to rule it not destroy it...and make sure our intelligence assets in the Middle East can find the right tools for.." He stopped for a moment and sighed. "Oh, why am I telling you this your just a stooge of a stooge."
"I hope the millions dead will haunt your nightmares." You said.
"The Twenty to Thirty Million who died in the Collapse haven't made me lose any sleep, adding a few more won't make me blink." He said. "Goodbye, Mr. Van Alder... If you are still alive I shall consider a renegotiation at a more opportune time...we still need Victoria, but in the end, you are a puppet, we can choose to get rid of you at any time, the Tsar may consider you important to the Russian world order, but there are those who know a bad investment when they see one, we have other options on the continent and they can do your job far better then you can if given the chance."
The disconnect tone was a death cry as you went back to the other room with John Cranefeild sipping on another glass of wine.
"My guess is that they weren't feeling it right now?" He said.
You sighed and went to rub your missing fingers. "Indeed, they have their own troubles as of late, we need to think slightly smaller, India?"
Cranfield said nothing for a moment then spoke "Do you even speak Hindi?"
"No...and I don't understand their pagan worship anyway...plus they're well dark." You said.
Cranfield nodded. "Hmm, you're hesitating a good deal, find a path and stick to it, if that won't work find another one."
"Bahh, fine we're going to Germany. Kraft and the founders always spoke kindly of German economists." You said deciding it was easier to go to Europe.
--------------------------------------
Germany was in many ways disdainful to you. The moment you and the small group of men traveling with you exited the plane from New York to Hamberg and saw your passports you knew that the dirty looks and glares would never end.
The extra search had cost you a few hours and the hotel like all things was cheap but somehow more luxurious than anything you've been in several years. But it was something you couldn't enjoy for too long, you could only be in this place for so long.
The drive to Frankfort would already be too long as it is. Yet you can't help but enjoy the lights, and large spires of the city. It was a different world, it was a bit showy and a bit much but it had its own charm.
The homosexual flags you'd do without but...you can't change a Cultural Marxist Nation.
How sad with how far Germany had fallen. But money was money and you'd gladly take it for the prize of saving Victoria, among other things they might actually let you take charge and mold Victoria's economy into something to be proud of.
Hmm, what to read before bed? Ahh. Milton Freidman, so wise in theory...so flawed in execution.
"And none of them good. I find it unlikely you have an empathetic or educated bone in your body." The Banker said calmly as you looked around the office of one Felix Herder, the branch manager of UniCredit AG.
"Well that's fairly rude, I came here for the sake of my nation's welfare, with full diplomatic credentials." You said.
"The EU doesn't Recognize Victoria Mr. Van Alder, so those credentials, however valid, don't carry the same weight as more rational actors." He said calmly. "Herr Herder is going to be with you shortly, to at least consider your request."
"And a worthy one it shall be...I hope." You said.
"No...most likely you're going to get rejected but...we aren't like you, so we will at least endeavor to listen for as long as people can." He said.
The Door then opened to an older man in a fine suit, "Ahh, our...guests have waited long enough. Herr Stevenson, you may go I'll handle this."
The other banker left as Felix Herder went to his seat and prepared a cigar. "These are Brazillian, not as good as Cubans but we get what we can."
You shrugged. "I'm on duty, so I best not partake in vices."
"Suit yourself." He said lighting it up.
"I would like to be the first to point out our nation's great similarities and build a conversation before we get down to business." You said.
"I quit drinking ten years ago, Prussia was not the best german state, nor was it the most cultured, and no, it was built by a population of Pole, jews, and other eastern Europeans agreeing to live with one another for their benefit, not one group being the Ubermenche and KILLING THEM ALL BECAUSE OF SOME ILLITERATE MADMAN!!"He said.
You flinched at that and started to stammer. "..I think we are getting off-topic."
"No...we are remarkably on the topic you illiterate, ill-traveled weasel of a human being." He said.
"Victoria prides itself on being the strength of the White man, beating down the downtrodden and looting and pillaging their former homeland without a care in the world. You are all disgraceful, ignorant and have taken the worse lessons of the Waimer, Prussian and Nazi states." He continued.
"No...We have done what you failed to do oh so long ago...WE have…" You started.
"Can't finish that sentence because you are smart enough to know its shit… or is it the guards you have with you keeping you on the line and know you don't belive it…" He said.
Your hand started shaking as you calmed yourself. " Victoria, killed America, when a Civil war, and the powers of Nazism and Communism, couldn't...what does that say about you and your country...your...decaying liberal nation."
Felix nodded " At least my nation truly believes in something...unlike yours."
"Oh please as if your nation could ever believe in anything after the Highs of the Kaiserriech. You're just marking time until the Bundesrepublik falls to ash, just like the Old US." You said.
He seemed to laugh at that, the silent sort of laugh that seemed to lighten the room. "If the Empire so great and all-powerful, why did it only last for a few decades...while we are still here after over a Century?"
"AFTER the Collapse your Tsar took advantage of." He finished. "Your a puppet, what I'm saying isn't a lie."
You didn't say anything after that...you couldn't.
"As for your request for a loan, your nation has no true collateral at this moment we can truely trust, you can't give us proof that you can pay off said loan. So I and my bank cannot in good faith, given the 70 million dollar loan your requesting."
"SO I came all this way for nothing." You said.
"Beyond certainly," Felix said. "But what happens next is not my problem… it's yours. I'd say I feel bad about you, but your nation is a Slaving Pile of shit who deserves the grave you are digging yourselves in."
The Flight to New York had been long and quiet, the Guards sent with you were like always, taking what Luxury they could, you knew that John Cranefeild was well connected, and these were his men, only working for his benefit.
You wouldn't be surprised if they were going to kill you as soon as you landed in the homeland.
It was always going to be one way with this plan if it didn't work. At least you finally got to see some part of the world. It gave you some perspective and one of several ideas on what you can do next.
The Goldman Sachs Bank was one of the finest in the Free City, with firm and respectable clientele across the world. The American Economy may have fallen, but the banking system remained somewhat intact.
You sat in the lobby and sighed. "I'm forced to rely on an unreliable vassel for this unpleasant work."
The lady behind the receptionist desk looked at you with a dirty glare.
You shrugged at her and sighed as your "Bodyguards" walked around the lobby with a hint of joy and amazement, though not as much as it was in Germany, one of them was even sharing a pretzel with another one.
"What I'm surrounded by idiots at home?" You said.
"You expect me to feel bad about what happened, you are reaping the whirlwind as they say." She said going back to her tablet...computer thing.
"That may be true, but we'll survive." You said.
A teenager seemed to try to slip his way past the door and seemed to stop at the desk with a handful of items in bags and what looked like coffee. "Hi, Ashly….I got your lunch and coffee."
"You also got the order for Mr. Sanchez on the 30th floor, Joe?" She said.
"Thanks, Ash, let him know." He said.
"Mr. Sanchez, Lawson is here with your lunch." She said into her phone intercom.
You shrugged and watched the young man try to get into the elevator.
"Will setting up the meeting take long?" You said.
"Mr. DeSantis will be seeing you shortly." She said.
"You know damn well that Victoria's situation leaves little in the way of real collateral to have a loan of this scale, we don't know who's, winning, so I can't exactly back the wrong horse even with the collateral you have." DeSantis said calmly.
"Its not that I don't get what you're asking for, but...a loan of 70 Million to a side of a Civil War, that might not even win, is a hard sell to any investor." He said.
"I understand that...but considering the other options at play? You really think that the false CMC would pay you back, or just loot you to make a point." You said.
"I'd rather watch both of you burn in hell and get on with my day, but you appear to be that desperate." He said looking out to the Statue of Liberty.
"I wouldn't be putting my neck out for this if I didn't see it as important to the people living there. You keep most of them enslaved in one way or another."
"And it's inefficient...debt Slavery only keeps them in debt and keeps them from being wealthy enough to be a genuine contributor to state income. And don't get me started on the other bits of slavery our nation is known for… it's inefficient and most of them don't even pay that much in taxes, hell they pay less than the ones in debt slavery." You said.
"So you see it as something worth getting rid of?" He said.
"Slavery just keeps a perfectly good population from paying taxes and paying for their own oppression in my mind, but that's neither here nor there." You said.
"I'm sorry to hear that...but we've seen your assets as not worth investing in. Even with your sides still considerable assets." He said.
So he was going to stonewall you...well, you needed to think of something fast.
Hmm, that would piss off someone at home, but it would tie down a...yes that seems like a good idea.
Land for Time, Time and Money...it was going to be a fair idea, after all, it was a carrot, a stick...and weight all in one.
It was a gamble...but it opened many doors.
"Tell me Mr. DeSantes...How would you like to hear a deal of a lifetime?"
This would either kill you...or open a door.
-----------------------------------
Your arrival had been well and truly noted as you and your fellows were shoved into the car and brought to Gidon Blackwell's current location.
His office was sparse and he turned to the Map of Victoria, noting the frontlines and military stockpiles in key locations.
Your son was the one walking you in...a small comfort in such a time.
"Sit down Van Alder." He said with a cool controlled sense of confidence few seemed to possess.
" ..Gentlemen." He stopped and turned to look into your eyes "I hear there have been...complications, concerning your mission."
Ahh, there it is...the Ax and the Executioner.
He knew you and Crenfeild went behind his back to do this...or rather, he was informed you did.
You weren't going to fucking beg, you had risked too much of your life for this. "Indeed, Germany didn't play ball, but we have something in New York, while they say we have nothing truly valuable to back up any possible loan, I pointed out a handful of ideas, but he refused almost all of them out of principle."
"The Hotels and their respective assets? The Mineral and Natural resources?" Blackwell said calmly as you nodded no.
"No, he said such a thing would only be able to afford at best 20 million." You said. "So I looked at a map. And well, pointed out we weren't using New Jersey for anything beyond the target practice range it is. And asked how much of it they wanted and were willing to pay for it long term."
He still stood but a sense of both dread and a feeling of danger. "They'll buy up the whole damn state if we let them...a key reason they haven't been trouble for us is that they are small and contained, now that will be a border risk I'll need to keep an eye on in the future."
"General...It is a danger, but look at the damage the Traitors have done in the past several months...the battles lost...the men killed we can ill afford to lose. Even if we win we may never recover from this madness. And even if the Tsar gives the aid promised it may be too late to truly use it effectively." You said.
"This is a gamble...and a danger you are bringing to my attention...and I haven't agreed to any of this." He said.
"No...all it requires to pass is your signature in writing. Nothing more...I've already gotten approval from Cranefeilds allies...they considered it a calculated risk worth taking." You said.
"But what are they getting out of it...and what are we getting? All I am hearing is risk after risk. Without pay off." Blackwell said as a handful of men started to surround you to make his displeasure clear.
"Well I and the Victorian Government offered the Hudson, Essex, and Bergen counties as collateral, with the possibility of adding Union and Middlesex county if they lower the interest rate from 3.5 to 1.5 percent. All for a Ten Year loan of 70 Million a year. That is Seven Hundred Million Dollars they can't use on themselves or their little gains. Plus its more for us to bomb should any action be taken against us." You explained calmly as Blackwell raised a hand.
"You've given me a bit to think about...this is...a different sort of choice than I'm used to. This is dangerous, yet this is...check this for loopholes and then leave a copy on my desk, I want to know every clause and detail before I make a decision. You've given me a fair bit to think about Van Alder, you are dismissed."
---------------
Cranfeild handed you over the glass of wine and seemed to toast to your health. "Well, you aren't dead, and New York is giving us an offer. Quite peculiar wouldn't you say."
"What I think New York is gambling on is that we won't have the strength to keep them toeing the line, they are making a gamble and that faith they've gained in their survival is misplaced." You said. "Of course, this all relies on Blackwell taking the deal, and he could very well not."
"If he doesn't take the deal?" The old man said.
"Then we've lost nothing of value thinking about it, they stay in their pen causing trouble but incapable of doing anything to us for now and we still have assets we can use, but it won't be assets we can use long term....but if we do take it, well, New York is admitting to taking something on our terms still. I believe it's Soft Power at work." You said.
Cranefield nodded slowly. "...I think we made the right choice with you, Van Alder. See to it that I won't have reason to rethink that judgment."
And with that cheerful thought, the Inquisitor walked away, leaving you behind...somehow feeling both proud and terrified at the same time.
Name: Edward David Van Alder
Description: An older looking gentleman of 53 years, with a former Boxer's physique that still shows in his firm handshake and slightly crooked nose, he is missing two of his fingers on one of his hands, a reminder of his brief service in the Victorian Military. He is more an Office Worker but still finds time for hard manual labor in his home, when on duty he wears a rather formal dress suit, red tie, and worn dress shoes. His Black hair is slowly gaining some white on the temples, but he's certainly aged far more gracefully than his peers who still live.
Biography: Born to a Classic pre-Collapse Family in 2023 in the City of Albany New York as an only child. Edward Van Alder grew up in the Shadow of the Northern Confederation's rise to power, his grandfather, a local judge who had sided with the CMC out of desperation, was one of the few constant pillars of support and stability after his father had died in the War in the South and his Mother...well the less said about how his mother died the better.
His Grandfather had been a practical man, both in judgment, in service, and in teaching his grandson about the importance of avoiding getting involved with individuals of ill repute...how ironic that after Edward's four years of service in the Military that he would join the worse group of all…
The Victorian Civil Service...not the Inquisition, the Actual Government Civil Services that are responsible for the internal infrastructure and economic finances that come with it. His desire and his sense of public duty had essentially handicapped a promising career of service and dedication.
Where any other man would have radicalized, quit to the farm, he held firm, filling out forms, handling requests, pointing the finger at innocent people to save his own skin, and blackmailing several local officials to build a small sensible bubble of civic security for his region. He was by all accounts, the model civil servant, pious, worked with the Inquisition when prompted, trained with his Malita Unit at muster and even found time to study Economic Theory that drove him to reexamine his place in the Civil Service and in many cases, the system he served so diligently and change it to be better.
Wait...what?
Family: He is the Father of Five Children, Four sons and One Daughter, who is married to an Auto-mechanic, they are expecting their second child. He is the Brother in Law to the Mayor of Portland Maine.
Political Affiliation: The Reformist Wing of the Blackwell Clique. On the Surface,he and much of the Blackwell clique walk in lockstep with General Gideon Blackwell's desire to reform the Victorian State into a more modern and reformed brand of "Reteroculture" that will be able to last the modern challenges.
The Complications come from his Personal beliefs on Slavery and his desire for what he calls "Founder's Liberalism" or the belief that the State must work for its prosperity if it is to have the means to arm itself for any challenges.
"Its easy to break and take things, there's nothing wrong with that sort of living, its proof of strength...but when you have too many swords and not enough plow shears, then it becomes a problem...after all...we jumped straight into the mess with the Machine State thinking our old tools could work...when they didn't work, well, we have to pay for it in blood and treasure...everyone can fight and die for what they believe in...but who's going to pay for what happens next, when the houses are ruined and fields are blasted with craters. If we are to win the next war, we must think of HOW and what we spend it on that is the true test of Victoria."
Its a War of Ideology and Civil Wars are expensive, he would rather get currencies that work to pay for the long-term plan of winning. Plus sensible economic theory trumps stupidity sometimes and to show the game of politics.
And why did he make the offer the way he did with New York, an ideological enamy?
A. Its a Carrot and the Stick, the Carrot is "We'll let you pay us money for land and a reasonable loan, to deal with your population, try to screw us you get the stick.
B. The Stick is...well, the Victorian Army marching down fifth avenue.
C. Pay for Mercenaries and Equipment to make the Stick more threatening.
D. Its not his call if Victoria accepts its Blackwell. And Blackwell might not take it, so the status quo remains Van Alder and Crainfeild wins. He accepts? The Vicks get an influx of more cash to use and make the FCNY have a larger, less defensible border they have to work on to make it a kill box, AKA more money New York can't use for themselves on other matters like helping the commonwelth.
I worked very hard on this and updated it based on the Information given today.
ALMOST SIX THOUSAND WORDS!!
Let me have this odd display of Victorian Soft power diplomacy.
On the other hand, the cash value of that resource extraction probably sees a lot of the money go to Russia, or go to reduced-price Victorian payments to Russian companies that supply them with things they need. Because Alexander has no reason to let the Vicks amass unlimited amounts of cash when that same cash could be in his own nation's pockets.
I'm... hesitant to attribute this large a population to Victoria. We've talked about this. Just saying.
With that said, your conclusion is right in that there's a practical limit to just how much money the Vicks can be spending to buy food. The price of feeding that many people seems like a lot TO US because the Commonwealth is insanely dirt poor, and the extra infusion of cash (or liquid assets in general) is a huge boost to our economy because we have effectively no export economy and the Vicks were stealing everything conveniently portable and valuable until not long ago. But that doesn't mean it's nearly as damaging to the Vicks as it is boosting to us.
Though it should be noted that they may have trouble buying on the international market- not that they can't, but that just about everyone will jack up the price, because they know the Vicks have a lot of gold squirreled away in vaults and can pay, and no one has much incentive to maintain a stable commercial relationship with the Vicks.
Ehhh. Assuming a population of ten million or more, the Erie War casualties are only a drop in the bucket- note that they weren't drawn only from prime military age males, since a lot of the men in the old Vick divisions were in their thirties and forties. And most of those men hadn't even been back in Victoria for any length of time in years or decades; they didn't participate in the civilian economy and barely even participated in Victorian society except through a very tenuous line of connection.
The Civil War has no doubt inflicted a lot of casualties among the militia, but maybe less dead than you'd think. The Crusaders don't have easy access to resupply, so they're almost certainly focusing on shocking enemy units into breaking and running at the point of contact; sustaining combat operations long enough to slaughter encircled units or things like that is bad for them. Meanwhile, the militia are mostly 0/5-type units, the kind that are prone to things like "not know how to dig in and then shatter and run away at the first touch of mortar bombardment." While the casualty ratios are probably painfully lopsided in favor of the Crusaders, that doesn't necessarily mean the militia are losing men by the hundreds of thousands at the level it would take to demographically cripple a nation the size of Victoria.
All things considered... I'm pretty sure we're not looking at a country like post-WWI France where demographic exhaustion truly hollows out the national economy and military.
Catherine is too important an element in the political situation for her presence in Russia to go unremarked upon, and too competent and popular for her brother to be fully comfortable leaving alive. it probably isn't doing him any favors to have his subjects wondering where Catherine is and if she's a potential alternative who might take the throne in his stead.
Well, we didn't loot any significant fraction of their liquid assets.
The Crusaders have to stay mobile and probably don't have a lot of foreign connections, since they're a rebel faction of hardliners within an already unpopular fascist state. As such, they have incentives not to do much looting, and if they do take loot they can't really move it out of the country easily.
Any stuff Blackwell's faction takes is likely to stay in the country.
So there probably won't actually be much of the Victorian liquid asset reserve getting stolen or destroyed during the war, as compared to getting buried or hidden or having possession of it reshuffled around until the winner takes all. Or as compared to just getting spent.
1)Alexander has a reputation, at least in this quest, of rewarding his minions lavishly.
Usually in a way that leaves them further tied to him, mind, but lavishly enough they have no complaints. In this case, that involved balkanizing Canada in order to supply Victoria with enough resources to maintain a First World level of life while doing his bidding.
The Vics getting an even share of the loot would be the expected thing; I deliberately lowballed it to a quarter.
I believe he wouldnt be quite so openly contemptuous of the Vic ruling class in private if they were not given the resources to do better. And frankly his drug is power not money. Squeezing out an extra couple billion a year here is not really worth his time.
2)20 million lowball. 40 million high ball. So I split the difference.
Im basing this speculation on the fact that we are supposed to have a Victoria that remains a credible threat post war.
Just the Erie War cost them 150k or so dead and maybe 20k PoWs.
If they were only ten million, that would be out of a 15-55 population of only around 2.5 million. 6% of their military age men, BEFORE the civil war. And before the horrorshow at Buffalo.
3)Russia is itself a major agricultural producer, especially after conquering Ukraine. And an informal call from the Okhrana would have Russian wholesalers charging market rates; Alex's handsoff approach does not necessarily extend to the Imperial Russian natsec apparatus letting their favorite feral dogs die of starvation so some random oligarch can make a somewhat larger profit.
Which is why I think the Vics are buying from the Commomwealth and inner America because despite everything, its markedly cheaper.
4)My reasoning:
Assume a population of 30 million(Ghana 2021, CIA Factbook)
0-14 years are approximately 38%. 15-55 age group is 53%. Round down to 50%.
That puts the military age population at 15 million.
I put African-Americans at an arbitrary 10%; high enough to dispossess and enslave to economic benefit, not enough to be a demographic threat. That leaves us with 13.5 million people of military age. Now remove the half that are female.
We are left with a population of 6.75 million military age men.
Thats a reasonable estimate of the manpower pool that a 30 million person Victoria had available to draw from pre-war.
The Detroit War era Victorian military was 12x infantry divisions(~120k) + 1x tank division(~10k) + 3x CMC (45-60k) + 1x Air Force(~10k) + 2x Navies (~5k) + 1× conscripted water transport navy (10k plus).
Thats 200k - 215k combat age personnel.
Thats all gone between the war and the rebellion. 10-20k PoWs, majority air force.
Thats not counting the casualties of the Buffalo Operation.
Buffalo, where we first broke the ten thousand defenders at the Welland Canal Zone, then exterminated the surviving old monsters in a counter-insurgency operation. Then goaded the Vics into attacking prepared defenses again.
Buffalo, where the Victorian government proceeded to commit hundreds of thousands of half-trained militia to assault into the teeth of six divisions of entrenched combat veterans armed with assault rifles, light and heavy machineguns, shittons of mortars and a couple batteries of proper artillery, and supported by both recon and strike aircraft.
They did this for a week. Gettysburg was only three days by comparison.
I invite you to consider the level of casualties that led the hardline faction of the Inquisitors to blanch, given that their entire strategy for both defending against us and beating the Crusaders was drowning their opposition in peasant blood.
Especially given their lack of a logistics or medical corps.
Combat ratios of 5:1 and 10:1 have been called for when assaulting fortifications, so you can also contemplate how many troops they committed against our 90k troops. But thats just me speculating.
What isnt speculation is that the Bluff Called update explicitly says hundreds of thousands of young men are dead.
And that enough troops were called up that half the harvest rotted in the fields.
And thats before the Crusaders got properly stuck in on their end.
You looked into the mirror and then at the suit on your bed and reminded yourself of the most important thing you can do now.
It was to remind yourself that you were Edward Van Alder, one of the few real economists of Victoria.
Or at least one of the few that felt out of place in the chaos that surrounds you.
It was an unenviable position to be in these days, the purges, the fear of death, and other great and terrible tortures you were aware of at your mind.
"Here's to another day of it." You said feeling the weight of your responsibilities getting to you for but a moment.
Your stomach growled and you sighed. "Sorry, no breakfast today." Then you moved to put on your suit and walk to work again.
In Victorian Society, the Mid Level bureaucracy, the ones that filed the paperwork, balanced the budget and worked on making sure that certain aspects of a functioning healthy society continued to function.
These included several low-level departments that were under the purview of the small but still necessary Victorian Department of the Interior.
Now on Paper the Department was responsible for among other things, Game Wardening, Road maintenance, Overseeing commerce, and maintaining civil wider civil infrastructure like phone lines, gas mains, and sewage treatment.
The things a proper society needs….unfortunately, half the time your department doesn't have the funding, most of it goes to the Inquisition or the Malita, or the army...or the god damn CMC. And now you were dealing with the consequences of the incompetence of the state.
Famine and Civil War, a rising power to the west...were it any other day you'd consider this challenge exciting. But no it's more complicated than that.
No Matter the study of economics, markets and the world at large it still surprised you some days.
And these days surprises normally came in the form of the Inquisition coming to question your loyalty, your credibility, and ability. They'd come to your office no less than three times last month, questioning you and your willingness to serve.
You took the verbal abuses, the poking, and the wasting of time, that could be used to stabilize the situation the nation found itself in. Stabilize...it was a funny word, Victoria hadn't been stable since the 2050s when you finished your degree in Economics.
For 20 years you served the state and the people at your leisure, you'd given part of your pinky and ring finger on your hand in battle, you'd already given three of your children in service to the nation and now you give what is left of your life to it.
And they see fit to hate you?
Your office was a one-story building and from the way the trash and mid-day sun hit the ground it was still a mess from the last bread riot, you knew that there would be more in the future. "Any trouble last night?!"
One of your co-workers was sitting on the roof, it was his two weeks of garrison defence it seems. "None sir, it's been quiet and cold."
That made you smile. "Let's hope it stays that way for a little while longer."
Then you clocked in and sighed as you felt Inquisitor Benjamin Arthur Carson stare at you as you finished putting your card away.
He was unfeeling and quiet with blue eyes and a scar from his more active years, he'd been keeping an eye on you and much of your family for years, and despite all appearances he was...more or less the closest thing you had to a friend.
"Ben…"You said sighing.
"Edward." He said. "You know why I'm here?"
"Strip search for items, bits of food, contraband?" You said.
"Pockets?" He said as you undid all of your pockets revealing only your wallet and a few coins you held onto just in case.
He then sighed. "Been sleeping well?"
"Not particularly. Skipped breakfast again," you said. "Have to get to work."
Ben nodded as you went to your desk and opened the next handful of books that were apart of the Victorian Treasury and one of the few recoverable assets you were given care of.
Not like there were many people who understood high degree economics and bookkeeping...but you won't go into how badly run the liquid assets were.
Because what you had was damning enough.
What you had was proof that Victoria was going to be out of Liquid Assets soon. The Nation was nearly bankrupt and you personally didn't see a solution at this moment. It was troubling, the income from the...tourism, and tithes were drying up, the tax base was among other things starving and running out of assets to tax.
That wasn't getting into the lack of prospects in the fishing fleet as of late, winter storms were still going on and things were still chaotic, even with the food shipments from the Machine State you can see it as only a stopgap measure at best.
You looked again and again at the books, and the finance ledgers and what little assets Blackwell had from the Inquisition.
Finally, you bit the bullet and walked over to Ben and knew what you said would get you something resembling progress or the firing squad.
"Ben...I have bad news...looking over the economic situation and what we have in terms of assets, Victoria's liquid assets will be depleted in two year's time." You said with all of the courage you could muster.
The Truth was a dangerous thing to tell, no matter how powerful you were in Victorian Society, the truth, the unshakable and unquestionable truth not sanitized by the Inquisition that works towards the greater goal of maintaining Victoria's control over the population.
The truth is that you wouldn't even have the money to maintain the war with everything going on.
Your nation can't even afford to feed itself in this time of Crisis, for they needed more bullets to shoot at each other.
They couldn't even afford the basic supplies of survival at this rate.
You closed your eyes and waited for Ben to shoot you. To hit you...TO ANYTHING TO YOU!
It was always going to be this way, you were always going to get killed for doing your duty and saying something they didn't want to hear. You'd be dragged to the show trial, named a traitor and shot.
Your accomplishments and life for nothing.
"Open your damned eyes, Edward…" Ben said he was sobering to look at, he knew deep down what you said needed to be said.
"You're going to shoot me aren't you?" You said. "Isn't that all how this works, I say something the government doesn't like and you are duty-bound to kill me, ruin my reputation and gaslight, my family until they say something to get them killed."
You felt it happen before he could say anything "I have given twenty years of my life for this country, and if telling the truth about the situation, is going to kill me then get on with it, we are already killing each other!! FOR What!!"
"What are we killing each other for...this senseless godless killing." You said as Ben looked at you soberly. "Get on with it…"
Ben nodded before walking over to the Phone, to report to his superiors.
Now...it was only a matter of time to see what happens...you told them what was going on, now they could kill you and deal with it when they come to it...or once in their damned lives listen.
------------------------
John Cranfield was an Inquisitor you've met only a handful of times, mostly at the rare government functions that you tried to keep your head down in.
You knew from a few conversations you had, he liked you, or at the very least enjoyed your commitment and honesty with the situation.
You saw how it was and tried to fix it with the tools you had, before going up the chain, and it was in his mind a commendable quality.
"Mr. Van Alder...I wish we could have met under kinder circumstances." He said with a grandfatherly presence that all inquisitors carefully cultivated over the years of service to make themselves more approachable, more open to conversation, and to secrets.
"Am I going to die for what I reported?" You said with a slight shake in your hand, the missing part of your fingers was acting up again.
He did a small click before offering a seat at one of his armchairs and motioned for a drink. "No...I like yourself have seen the reality of the situation itself and am working towards a more effective Victoria."
"I've looked over what remaining assets we have and what little the new Tsar has given us at short notice, but It's just we won't have enough assets to rebuild and fight a civil war, it just can't be done with what we have at our disposal. It will take time to use our Mineral Reserves and we can't exactly use our army to loot and pillage the continent when this is all over." You said calmly as the shaking in your hand stopped. "I'm sure you've already read my report on the matter."
He nodded. "In detail, you were especially wary of the tourism industry's downturn and loss of income, as well as the food shortages...you made a big deal about food security. And the need for it."
"Russia fell to Communism over Bread Riots, I do not what that to happen to our nation, so we need more reliable assets." You said.
"We could go to Russia, they have always given what we needed." He said.
"While in most days I'd approve of such a thing, we know that they are in the middle of a transition, one does not simply replace a great man like Tsar Alexander without a great deal of finesse and effort." You said. "I fear he may be preoccupied with securing his rule and making sure his situation on the homefront is secure...and barring any major changes in geopolitics, that is not going to change anytime soon."
"You doubt his support?" Cranfield said.
"No I don't doubt he means to support us, its that he's a fair ruler replacing a great one and that does take time...time our economy and assets lack." You said firmly.
"So what do we do, find some fool to give us a loan?" He said.
"Yes...we don't have a choice in the matter. It will buy us time to win the war and fix this damn country...I'm not saying it's a perfect solution, but it's a solution." You said.
John Cranefeild nodded. "I will make the arrangements to send you to get this loan from anyone that will listen. But should you fail, it's on your head?"
"It was always going to be someone else that takes the fall for you, I guess you were considering it yourself but needed someone else to come to the same conclusion as you, so you could make the arrangements and be free of the consequences should it fail." You said.
"Am I that easy to read Mr. Van Alder?" He said with a small smile, impressed that you were able to read his intentions.
"No...but it's obvious your planning to use me and my effectiveness as a tool for you to gain power...and I will accept it." You said.
The, for now, was unsaid. But you were now in an unspoken power struggle between Blackwell and the Inquisitor.
You were a tool for now, but now you had a duty to fulfill.
Tools are useful. But you wouldn't be a tool for men who can't see the big picture, they needed to see.
---------------------
You looked at the Sattelite phone with a hint of utter disgust and fury, you haven't used Russian in a long time, but it is better to know it and not need it as they say. "Your tsar said that we'd have the monetary support to continue our war, not this pittance we've been given!! I wish for a better excuse than we are preoccupied with certain functions related to internal security."
The Russian Minister on the other end was one of the finance ministers, not THE finance Minister of Russia, one of the smaller ones that you think deals with people like you nearly every day. "Oh you would know about security...we said we would support our allies but for the moment we have to pick and choose our battles as of late. The wider world has changed a great deal in the last year and not everything revolves around you and your nation, it revolves around Russia and its sphere."
"Can we at least consider an extension of the line of credit to our loan? If only for securing our finances for the rest of the year." You asked.
"No...we have to prop up our more reliable allies in Turkey, continue to pay for the environmental outreach programs to continue our dedication to healing the Earth because we want to rule it not destroy it...and make sure our intelligence assets in the Middle East can find the right tools for.." He stopped for a moment and sighed. "Oh, why am I telling you this your just a stooge of a stooge."
"I hope the millions dead will haunt your nightmares." You said.
"The Twenty to Thirty Million who died in the Collapse haven't made me lose any sleep, adding a few more won't make me blink." He said. "Goodbye, Mr. Van Alder... If you are still alive I shall consider a renegotiation at a more opportune time...we still need Victoria, but in the end, you are a puppet, we can choose to get rid of you at any time, the Tsar may consider you important to the Russian world order, but there are those who know a bad investment when they see one, we have other options on the continent and they can do your job far better then you can if given the chance."
The disconnect tone was a death cry as you went back to the other room with John Cranefeild sipping on another glass of wine.
"My guess is that they weren't feeling it right now?" He said.
You sighed and went to rub your missing fingers. "Indeed, they have their own troubles as of late, we need to think slightly smaller, India?"
Cranfield said nothing for a moment then spoke "Do you even speak Hindi?"
"No...and I don't understand their pagan worship anyway...plus they're well dark." You said.
Cranfield nodded. "Hmm, you're hesitating a good deal, find a path and stick to it, if that won't work find another one."
"Bahh, fine we're going to Germany. Kraft and the founders always spoke kindly of German economists." You said deciding it was easier to go to Europe.
--------------------------------------
Germany was in many ways disdainful to you. The moment you and the small group of men traveling with you exited the plane from New York to Hamberg and saw your passports you knew that the dirty looks and glares would never end.
The extra search had cost you a few hours and the hotel like all things was cheap but somehow more luxurious than anything you've been in several years. But it was something you couldn't enjoy for too long, you could only be in this place for so long.
The drive to Frankfort would already be too long as it is. Yet you can't help but enjoy the lights, and large spires of the city. It was a different world, it was a bit showy and a bit much but it had its own charm.
The homosexual flags you'd do without but...you can't change a Cultural Marxist Nation.
How sad with how far Germany had fallen. But money was money and you'd gladly take it for the prize of saving Victoria, among other things they might actually let you take charge and mold Victoria's economy into something to be proud of.
Hmm, what to read before bed? Ahh. Milton Freidman, so wise in theory...so flawed in execution.
"And none of them good. I find it unlikely you have an empathetic or educated bone in your body." The Banker said calmly as you looked around the office of one Felix Herder, the branch manager of UniCredit AG.
"Well that's fairly rude, I came here for the sake of my nation's welfare, with full diplomatic credentials." You said.
"The EU doesn't Recognize Victoria Mr. Van Alder, so those credentials, however valid, don't carry the same weight as more rational actors." He said calmly. "Herr Herder is going to be with you shortly, to at least consider your request."
"And a worthy one it shall be...I hope." You said.
"No...most likely you're going to get rejected but...we aren't like you, so we will at least endeavor to listen for as long as people can." He said.
The Door then opened to an older man in a fine suit, "Ahh, our...guests have waited long enough. Herr Stevenson, you may go I'll handle this."
The other banker left as Felix Herder went to his seat and prepared a cigar. "These are Brazillian, not as good as Cubans but we get what we can."
You shrugged. "I'm on duty, so I best not partake in vices."
"Suit yourself." He said lighting it up.
"I would like to be the first to point out our nation's great similarities and build a conversation before we get down to business." You said.
"I quit drinking ten years ago, Prussia was not the best german state, nor was it the most cultured, and no, it was built by a population of Pole, jews, and other eastern Europeans agreeing to live with one another for their benefit, not one group being the Ubermenche and KILLING THEM ALL BECAUSE OF SOME ILLITERATE MADMAN!!"He said.
You flinched at that and started to stammer. "..I think we are getting off-topic."
"No...we are remarkably on the topic you illiterate, ill-traveled weasel of a human being." He said.
"Victoria prides itself on being the strength of the White man, beating down the downtrodden and looting and pillaging their former homeland without a care in the world. You are all disgraceful, ignorant and have taken the worse lessons of the Waimer, Prussian and Nazi states." He continued.
"No...We have done what you failed to do oh so long ago...WE have…" You started.
"Can't finish that sentence because you are smart enough to know its shit… or is it the guards you have with you keeping you on the line and know you don't belive it…" He said.
Your hand started shaking as you calmed yourself. " Victoria, killed America, when a Civil war, and the powers of Nazism and Communism, couldn't...what does that say about you and your country...your...decaying liberal nation."
Felix nodded " At least my nation truly believes in something...unlike yours."
"Oh please as if your nation could ever believe in anything after the Highs of the Kaiserriech. You're just marking time until the Bundesrepublik falls to ash, just like the Old US." You said.
He seemed to laugh at that, the silent sort of laugh that seemed to lighten the room. "If the Empire so great and all-powerful, why did it only last for a few decades...while we are still here after over a Century?"
"AFTER the Collapse your Tsar took advantage of." He finished. "Your a puppet, what I'm saying isn't a lie."
You didn't say anything after that...you couldn't.
"As for your request for a loan, your nation has no true collateral at this moment we can truely trust, you can't give us proof that you can pay off said loan. So I and my bank cannot in good faith, given the 70 million dollar loan your requesting."
"SO I came all this way for nothing." You said.
"Beyond certainly," Felix said. "But what happens next is not my problem… it's yours. I'd say I feel bad about you, but your nation is a Slaving Pile of shit who deserves the grave you are digging yourselves in."
The Flight to New York had been long and quiet, the Guards sent with you were like always, taking what Luxury they could, you knew that John Cranefeild was well connected, and these were his men, only working for his benefit.
You wouldn't be surprised if they were going to kill you as soon as you landed in the homeland.
It was always going to be one way with this plan if it didn't work. At least you finally got to see some part of the world. It gave you some perspective and one of several ideas on what you can do next.
The Goldman Sachs Bank was one of the finest in the Free City, with firm and respectable clientele across the world. The American Economy may have fallen, but the banking system remained somewhat intact.
You sat in the lobby and sighed. "I'm forced to rely on an unreliable vassel for this unpleasant work."
The lady behind the receptionist desk looked at you with a dirty glare.
You shrugged at her and sighed as your "Bodyguards" walked around the lobby with a hint of joy and amazement, though not as much as it was in Germany, one of them was even sharing a pretzel with another one.
"What I'm surrounded by idiots at home?" You said.
"You expect me to feel bad about what happened, you are reaping the whirlwind as they say." She said going back to her tablet...computer thing.
"That may be true, but we'll survive." You said.
A teenager seemed to try to slip his way past the door and seemed to stop at the desk with a handful of items in bags and what looked like coffee. "Hi, Ashly….I got your lunch and coffee."
"You also got the order for Mr. Sanchez on the 30th floor, Joe?" She said.
"Thanks, Ash, let him know." He said.
"Mr. Sanchez, Lawson is here with your lunch." She said into her phone intercom.
You shrugged and watched the young man try to get into the elevator.
"Will setting up the meeting take long?" You said.
"Mr. DeSantis will be seeing you shortly." She said.
"You know damn well that Victoria's situation leaves little in the way of real collateral to have a loan of this scale, we don't know who's, winning, so I can't exactly back the wrong horse even with the collateral you have." DeSantis said calmly.
"Its not that I don't get what you're asking for, but...a loan of 70 Million to a side of a Civil War, that might not even win, is a hard sell to any investor." He said.
"I understand that...but considering the other options at play? You really think that the false CMC would pay you back, or just loot you to make a point." You said.
"I'd rather watch both of you burn in hell and get on with my day, but you appear to be that desperate." He said looking out to the Statue of Liberty.
"I wouldn't be putting my neck out for this if I didn't see it as important to the people living there. You keep most of them enslaved in one way or another."
"And it's inefficient...debt Slavery only keeps them in debt and keeps them from being wealthy enough to be a genuine contributor to state income. And don't get me started on the other bits of slavery our nation is known for… it's inefficient and most of them don't even pay that much in taxes, hell they pay less than the ones in debt slavery." You said.
"So you see it as something worth getting rid of?" He said.
"Slavery just keeps a perfectly good population from paying taxes and paying for their own oppression in my mind, but that's neither here nor there." You said.
"I'm sorry to hear that...but we've seen your assets as not worth investing in. Even with your sides still considerable assets." He said.
So he was going to stonewall you...well, you needed to think of something fast.
Hmm, that would piss off someone at home, but it would tie down a...yes that seems like a good idea.
Land for Time, Time and Money...it was going to be a fair idea, after all, it was a carrot, a stick...and weight all in one.
It was a gamble...but it opened many doors.
"Tell me Mr. DeSantes...How would you like to hear a deal of a lifetime?"
This would either kill you...or open a door.
-----------------------------------
Your arrival had been well and truly noted as you and your fellows were shoved into the car and brought to Gidon Blackwell's current location.
His office was sparse and he turned to the Map of Victoria, noting the frontlines and military stockpiles in key locations.
Your son was the one walking you in...a small comfort in such a time.
"Sit down Van Alder." He said with a cool controlled sense of confidence few seemed to possess.
" ..Gentlemen." He stopped and turned to look into your eyes "I hear there have been...complications, concerning your mission."
Ahh, there it is...the Ax and the Executioner.
He knew you and Crenfeild went behind his back to do this...or rather, he was informed you did.
You weren't going to fucking beg, you had risked too much of your life for this. "Indeed, Germany didn't play ball, but we have something in New York, while they say we have nothing truly valuable to back up any possible loan, I pointed out a handful of ideas, but he refused almost all of them out of principle."
"The Hotels and their respective assets? The Mineral and Natural resources?" Blackwell said calmly as you nodded no.
"No, he said such a thing would only be able to afford at best 20 million." You said. "So I looked at a map. And well, pointed out we weren't using New Jersey for anything beyond the target practice range it is. And asked how much of it they wanted and were willing to pay for it long term."
He still stood but a sense of both dread and a feeling of danger. "They'll buy up the whole damn state if we let them...a key reason they haven't been trouble for us is that they are small and contained, now that will be a border risk I'll need to keep an eye on in the future."
"General...It is a danger, but look at the damage the Traitors have done in the past several months...the battles lost...the men killed we can ill afford to lose. Even if we win we may never recover from this madness. And even if the Tsar gives the aid promised it may be too late to truly use it effectively." You said.
"This is a gamble...and a danger you are bringing to my attention...and I haven't agreed to any of this." He said.
"No...all it requires to pass is your signature in writing. Nothing more...I've already gotten approval from Cranefeilds allies...they considered it a calculated risk worth taking." You said.
"But what are they getting out of it...and what are we getting? All I am hearing is risk after risk. Without pay off." Blackwell said as a handful of men started to surround you to make his displeasure clear.
"Well I and the Victorian Government offered the Hudson, Essex, and Bergen counties as collateral, with the possibility of adding Union and Middlesex county if they lower the interest rate from 3.5 to 1.5 percent. All for a Ten Year loan of 70 Million a year. That is Seven Hundred Million Dollars they can't use on themselves or their little gains. Plus its more for us to bomb should any action be taken against us." You explained calmly as Blackwell raised a hand.
"You've given me a bit to think about...this is...a different sort of choice than I'm used to. This is dangerous, yet this is...check this for loopholes and then leave a copy on my desk, I want to know every clause and detail before I make a decision. You've given me a fair bit to think about Van Alder, you are dismissed."
---------------
Cranfeild handed you over the glass of wine and seemed to toast to your health. "Well, you aren't dead, and New York is giving us an offer. Quite peculiar wouldn't you say."
"What I think New York is gambling on is that we won't have the strength to keep them toeing the line, they are making a gamble and that faith they've gained in their survival is misplaced." You said. "Of course, this all relies on Blackwell taking the deal, and he could very well not."
"If he doesn't take the deal?" The old man said.
"Then we've lost nothing of value thinking about it, they stay in their pen causing trouble but incapable of doing anything to us for now and we still have assets we can use, but it won't be assets we can use long term....but if we do take it, well, New York is admitting to taking something on our terms still. I believe it's Soft Power at work." You said.
Cranefield nodded slowly. "...I think we made the right choice with you, Van Alder. See to it that I won't have reason to rethink that judgment."
And with that cheerful thought, the Inquisitor walked away, leaving you behind...somehow feeling both proud and terrified at the same time.
Name: Edward David Van Alder
Description: An older looking gentleman of 53 years, with a former Boxer's physique that still shows in his firm handshake and slightly crooked nose, he is missing two of his fingers on one of his hands, a reminder of his brief service in the Victorian Military. He is more an Office Worker but still finds time for hard manual labor in his home, when on duty he wears a rather formal dress suit, red tie, and worn dress shoes. His Black hair is slowly gaining some white on the temples, but he's certainly aged far more gracefully than his peers who still live.
Biography: Born to a Classic pre-Collapse Family in 2023 in the City of Albany New York as an only child. Edward Van Alder grew up in the Shadow of the Northern Confederation's rise to power, his grandfather, a local judge who had sided with the CMC out of desperation, was one of the few constant pillars of support and stability after his father had died in the War in the South and his Mother...well the less said about how his mother died the better.
His Grandfather had been a practical man, both in judgment, in service, and in teaching his grandson about the importance of avoiding getting involved with individuals of ill repute...how ironic that after Edward's four years of service in the Military that he would join the worse group of all…
The Victorian Civil Service...not the Inquisition, the Actual Government Civil Services that are responsible for the internal infrastructure and economic finances that come with it. His desire and his sense of public duty had essentially handicapped a promising career of service and dedication.
Where any other man would have radicalized, quit to the farm, he held firm, filling out forms, handling requests, pointing the finger at innocent people to save his own skin, and blackmailing several local officials to build a small sensible bubble of civic security for his region. He was by all accounts, the model civil servant, pious, worked with the Inquisition when prompted, trained with his Malita Unit at muster and even found time to study Economic Theory that drove him to reexamine his place in the Civil Service and in many cases, the system he served so diligently and change it to be better.
Wait...what?
Family: He is the Father of Five Children, Four sons and One Daughter, who is married to an Auto-mechanic, they are expecting their second child. He is the Brother in Law to the Mayor of Portland Maine.
Political Affiliation: The Reformist Wing of the Blackwell Clique. On the Surface,he and much of the Blackwell clique walk in lockstep with General Gideon Blackwell's desire to reform the Victorian State into a more modern and reformed brand of "Reteroculture" that will be able to last the modern challenges.
The Complications come from his Personal beliefs on Slavery and his desire for what he calls "Founder's Liberalism" or the belief that the State must work for its prosperity if it is to have the means to arm itself for any challenges.
"Its easy to break and take things, there's nothing wrong with that sort of living, its proof of strength...but when you have too many swords and not enough plow shears, then it becomes a problem...after all...we jumped straight into the mess with the Machine State thinking our old tools could work...when they didn't work, well, we have to pay for it in blood and treasure...everyone can fight and die for what they believe in...but who's going to pay for what happens next, when the houses are ruined and fields are blasted with craters. If we are to win the next war, we must think of HOW and what we spend it on that is the true test of Victoria."
Its a War of Ideology and Civil Wars are expensive, he would rather get currencies that work to pay for the long-term plan of winning. Plus sensible economic theory trumps stupidity sometimes and to show the game of politics.
And why did he make the offer the way he did with New York, an ideological enamy?
A. Its a Carrot and the Stick, the Carrot is "We'll let you pay us money for land and a reasonable loan, to deal with your population, try to screw us you get the stick.
B. The Stick is...well, the Victorian Army marching down fifth avenue.
C. Pay for Mercenaries and Equipment to make the Stick more threatening.
D. Its not his call if Victoria accepts its Blackwell. And Blackwell might not take it, so the status quo remains Van Alder and Crainfeild wins. He accepts? The Vicks get an influx of more cash to use and make the FCNY have a larger, less defensible border they have to work on to make it a kill box, AKA more money New York can't use for themselves on other matters like helping the commonwelth.
I worked very hard on this and updated it based on the Information given today.
ALMOST SIX THOUSAND WORDS!!
Let me have this odd display of Victorian Soft power diplomacy.
So Edward Van Alder raises an important issue I've wanted to focus on. If we win, what do we do with former regime personnel? How do we decide who we can make use of and who we should get rid of?
So Edward Van Alder raises an important issue I've wanted to focus on. If we win, what do we do with former regime personnel? How do we decide who we can make use of and who we should get rid of?
Personally, I am in favour of a pragmatic solution, those who are essential for the region to function remain in their positions, albeit under surveillance by our domestic intelligence, the top authorities and the political leadership of the nation will be given a public trial under the rule of law.
The rest of the population should not be subjected to any retaliatory measures.
We will have enough problems with the whole region not going up in flames because of all the soldiers we will not employ and all the secret police who will face the same fate as irregulars trying to force our withdrawal through guerrilla warfare.
We don't need to make our work even more difficult.
