I'm saying Modern as in Post-Detroit War current Civil War Military.
See my previous analysis.
Factoring in the Civil War, slow Famine and the fact their Agricultural population is at war and not producing Food.
You're only thinking about the first-order effects, not the second-order effects. Yes, food is scarce in Victoria. Yes, they are fighting a civil war.
From this, you reason "
and therefore, the army will have no food and soldiers will regularly desert for lack of food."
This reminds me of the times you reasoned "disruption of industrial technology means that the Commonwealth will have lost the technology to make guns of any kind, and since we've never been explicitly told the Commonwealth has blackpowder weapons,
and therefore we're presumably fighting this war with bows and arrows," and also "people moving messages around promotes interaction and the Russians want America fragmented,
and therefore there is a vast network of heroic postal workers spreading messages around despite like 90% of them being killed along with their families within five years of starting the job."
Remember the part where, after a situation arises, people react rationally to that situation, often before the obvious consequence has even
happened, precisely because they wish to avoid or modify that consequence
...
For example, in this case, Blackwell
knows that food is very scarce in Victoria. He knows that no one will fight in an army that has no food. He is not a fool, and he is a competent general.
Furthermore, he has the full support of the CMC Inquisitors, a skilled secret police force. Now, the Inquisitors are
not great warriors or generals; in fact, they're kind of ass at both of those. However, they
are skilled bureaucrats and people-watchers, good at keeping track of groups, and good at upholding and maintaining the loyalty of key people the state needs, often by exploiting or hurting some minority group that is less valuable to them. Because all of that is the literal job of a secret police force, and the Inquisitors are pretty good at their jobs.
What does Blackwell do, knowing that food shortages are about to become a problem, and that he must maintain his army in the field at all costs or he will personally be deposed and murdered by the Crusaders?
...
The obvious move is for him to:
1a) Confiscate whatever food can be found within the country, stealing it if necessary, or
1b) Controlling access to food he can purchase from outside the country (e.g. the food we're selling to him at extortionate prices)
2) With a certain amount of food in hand, Blackwell then directs
all of this food, or as much of it as needed, to people he needs loyal.
3a) First priority is the Inquisitors themselves, and any other key state personnel.
3b) Second priority is the army.
3c) Third priority is the family of the army.
3d) Last priority is literally everyone else.
This creates a situation where if you are a militiaman drafted into fighting for Blackwell, you know you're fighting tough enemies under bad conditions and may well die, but importantly,
at least your family is guaranteed food, as long as there's any food at all. And if you desert, not only will the secret police (who have a reputation for omniscience and cruelty) hunt you down like a dog and kill you slowly, but your family will go from having
FIRST priority among Victorian civilians for food, to having
LAST priority. As in, the secret police will kick down your family's doors, steal all their food, give it to the families of the soldiers who didn't desert, then menace and discourage anyone from supplying them with more food.
While this kind of situation doesn't
ensure that no desertions occur, it does mean that the food situation for a Victorian militia conscript is much worse after defection than before. Before defection, they have the assurance that the government will at least
try to feed them, and will abstain from stealing food from their families. After defection, they have no such assurance and the government will be actively trying to kill them and starve their family.
Which doesn't mean
no desertion, but does mean "not much."
the witch will be an issue for years to come until they stabilize. Sir/Ma'm/They.
In my case, the deliberate choice of a male-gendered screenname is a reflection of my being accustomed and happy with he/his pronouns.
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