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If high is bad then we are gonna have a bad time of it due to fascists waiting on the wings politically because those assholes always thrive on promising everything to the desperate.
We are going to have to juggle that with preparing for battle.
[X] Plan Chasing Crises
-[X] Address the Air
-[X] Organize Elections
-[X] Detroit
-[X] Housing Repair X2
-[X] Chasing Down the Lead x3
-[X] Organize the Libraries
Turn Two
Autumn 2074 Results
Address the Air
DC: 30. Rolled: 43. Pass.
You will not have air superiority, in the war to come. Rumford left marks on the Victorian military that outlived his death, untroubled by any conflict with nations capable of making them pay. They have deep flaws, and their wretched poverty makes it extremely difficult to patch those flaws. That said, despite the almost malicious neglect they've inflicted upon their air force, it remains an actual, proper air force with effective and time-tested, albeit outmoded, planes. It is certainly superior to yours, even with the NCR's promised sabotage. You will not have air superiority; you will not, likely, be able to even seriously contest the skies up until perhaps the end of the war.
But you can make Victoria bleed.
Already, they will be losing planes and munitions to maintenance failures born of sabotage, their poor, overstretched maintenance crews helpless even to diagnose the failures. You intend to add wholly natural losses to the mix. At the moment, you have a mixture of anti-aircraft weaponry across your territory, ranging from the distinguishedly antiquated to the shockingly obsolete -- in other words, from parity with to worthlessness against F-16s, the real threat Victoria will field. Unfortunately, you have precious few of those weapons. They have never been needed, to date. They are needed now.
In between other government projects, you approve the purchase of several systems your most modern anti-air weapons, aiming for a more comprehensive safety envelope. It's nothing you can actually deploy with front-line units, as of yet, but you can keep major military targets relatively safe, now. At the very least, Victoria would pay dearly for bombing runs on things you care to protect, and military command centers are no longer entirely bare to airborne decapitation strikes.
It's not enough, really, not for your comfort, but it's better than nothing. The vitals are guarded, now. In fact, given what you've achieved elsewhere, you can do a damn sight better than that.
You can now reliably establish effective (against Victorians) anti-air cover over vital civilian and military targets within your territory. Or...
(More results with Detroit results.)
* * *
Organize Elections
DC: 15. Rolled: 29.
It is done. The parties settle enough that ballots aren't works of fiction by the time they make it to voting stations. The infrastructure is there. You prepare, with a palpable sense of relief, to hand the reigns of government over to civilian control.
And then you hesitate.
Elections organized. Continued below.
* * *
Detroit
DC: 40. Rolled: 44.
"And in Detroit, the City Council today signed the Mutual Assistance Pact pledging the Commonwealth to a military alliance with them," says the woman on the screen, the image grainy and wavering. "Victorian diplomats, also in the city at the time, left with strong words of condemnation for what they called:"
The image switches to a man in a fine-looking suit, scowling into the camera as somebody out-of-frame holds a microphone in his face. "-an open threat to Victoria's safety and interests in the Great Lakes region! Victoria has worked tirelessly to maintain order across the old Country. Our aid workers are present in every city. Our military marches to restore order to areas lost to tyranny and the forces of Cultural Marxism!"
At that, the bar bursts out in a great jeer, workers spitting out vile curses at the man on screen. The woman tending the bar rolls her eyes. "Hey, quiet, QUIET! I wanna hear this, I'll bet you anything it's good." She turns up the volume.
The man continues with, "-despite the brazen murder of our people in their territory, Victoria has remained civil towards the Commonwealth of, "Free," Cities. We have tried diplomatic means of containing Hellfire Burns' efforts at plunging the Midwest into damnation! We have upheld our duties as the protectors of the Free World here on the continent in a peaceful and civilized manner, and this is the response we get! Detroit has made it all too clear that they are willing to bow to threats and fear, but Victoria is not! If force is the only thing these so-called Revivalists hold dear, then the free people of Victoria will just have to resort to force!" He pulls out a piece of paper from his suit jacket, cracking a grin. "I suppose that technically, I should be reading this to the City Council, but I find myself disinclined to trust their good conduct towards Victorians, given their allies, so you'll just have to do." He then reads from the paper. "It is my honor as Ambassador to Detroit to announce on behalf of the nation of Victoria that a state of war now exists between our two nations. When next we meet, it will be in battle. Remember that this choice was yours, as will be the consequences." He stuffs away the piece of paper and steps backward. "And now, I'm getting out of here, before your Council decides to get started on the killing early."
The bar is silent as the broadcast continues. Men and women stare at the screen, processing what just happened.
Then the broadcast cuts out, replaced by a title card.
Emergency broadcast
from the office of the President of the Commonwealth
On the screen, Ron Burns appears, sitting at his desk. His expression is grave. "People of the Commonwealth of Free Cities," he says, hands clasped in front of him. He hesitates. "My fellow Americans. Some of you have just gotten done seeing the news I am about to relate. As of a few hours ago, and broadcast only minutes ago, Victoria has declared war on the Republic of Detroit. Pursuant to the Commonwealth's mutual defense treaty with the Republic -- a treaty approved by the Provisional Congress -- the Commonwealth cannot stand aside." He looks into the camera. "As of this moment, we are at war with the nation of Victoria."
You have drawn Detroit into your sphere and concluded a mutual defense pact with them. And while Victoria would have taken another two turns to finish setting up a line of supply to your territory...Detroit is far closer. Realistically, the fighting won't begin until the winter ice melts next spring, but as of now, you are at war.
And, to conclude the Address the Air results, while you can only protect vital targets across your entire territory, you are quite capable of mounting a very comprehensive defense of the City of Detroit and surrounds.
Now you just have to get there before the Victorians do.
* * *
Housing Repair
DC: 30. Rolled: 21, 12. Failure, failure.
...well, it's done.
Perhaps it was arrogant of you, to think that you could build in a season what eluded the leaders of the Old Country for centuries. Adequate housing for all has historically been...a tricky problem, for a variety of reasons which idealistic young thinkers like to think simple.
Well, from your position of near-absolute temporary power, it was simple. It just...wasn't easy. Lifting an engine block is simple. As it turns out, so is ensuring adequate shelter in a ruined city for a massive refugee influx, and in the same way.
You tried. God help you, you tried, and you actually did save people. Your work crews worked through the winter, and once the first hard frost came with houses still to go, it turned out that the other cities had some room left, after all. You tried, and you got people homes.
It wasn't enough. That thrill of triumph you felt in feeding the Commonwealth, against all odds, has been tainted by ashes. You saved some, but the old, the young, the sick...they suffered.
It's almost worse that, in the end, you completed all of the housing you meant to. You have all the room you need, three months late. But people are still dead. In the grand scheme of things, it was a heroic effort, and you've saved far more people than most could ever imagine. Indeed, for a variety of reasons, people look kindly on you for your efforts, and poorly on your enemies for what the public views as interference.
But you can't stop thinking about the people who died of exposure when they were meant to be safe.
The housing was completed...too late. No AP gain from refugee integration this turn, but your populace's basic needs are now, finally, met. Also, blame for the failures fell largely on Unionists in the Housing Department, and the Government came off looking good for your efforts, boosting the Socialist and Social Democrat ruling coalition.
You have made Crokus Sperling a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very angry man.
Picking up Richard Masters was easy enough. The man wasn't expecting Sperling to sell him out, and he talked quite quickly once the full gravity of his situation sank in. You still have nothing on Sperling himself, but Masters' testimony was all the evidence you needed to set a discreet watch on Sperling 24/7; there's more than enough to justify the necessary warrants.
Better still, it let you roll up absolutely everybody involved in abetting the assassin.
Horrifyingly, you rolled up about half the Housing Department in the course of your efforts. The Unionist rot ran deep there, and the sudden loss of brainpower was a significant part of your failure to build the refugees adequate housing on time. The cynical part of you is glad for the opportunity to point fingers, get the public furious at somebody else, and badly hurt the Unionists into the bargain, but the greater part is just furious at how many people have died for this.
It wasn't just Housing, though. Transportation, Labor, State, Defense...every department had its traitors. Not all of them are actually guilty of treason, of course, but they provided information. Greased the way for their friends. Looked the other way. Chillingly, there was even one in the Central Security Office itself.
Still, they're gone now, and they gave way to a yet-greater opportunity.
ooOoo
Johnson catches your wrist as you go to knock on Goldblum's door. "Don't do that, Ron."
You give her an offended look, jerking your wrist free. "What?"
"You knock, then enter," she says, raising an eyebrow. "We've noticed. It's a little rude, you know."
You flush. "Okay, and?"
"And, Sara sleeps with a Claymore," says Johnson, turning back to the door and knocking herself.
"Whu?" you hear from the other side.
"What?!" you demand, taking a step backward.
"Sara, it's me," says Johnson. "Wake up, big news." She glances over her shoulder at you. "She sleeps with a Claymore mine. In her bedroom, pointing out. And she leaves a security loophole so that somebody could reach her bedroom door."
"Why?" you ask, taking another few steps back. "And for God's sake, get away from the door!"
"I'm up, I'm up," you hear Goldblum mumbling. "Hang on just a minute."
Johnson rolls her eyes. "I'm fine, Ron. And she's been paranoid since Audrey died."
"Yeah, and I've been paranoid, too, but I don't sleep with live explosives!"
The door opens. Goldblum stands there in a patchy robe, a disarmed Claymore, sure enough, dangling from her hand as she rubs the sleep out of her eyes. "What the hell, Sara?"
Johnson turns back to her friend, that fierce grin still on her face. "We got him."
Goldblum blinks. "What? Who-?" Her eyes widen.
You edge a little closer. "The bastard who killed Audrey." You smile, yourself. "We got him."
You rolled up Masters, his active co-conspirators, and the assassin himself, who is currently awaiting his fate in a locked cell. Options available at the end of the post. You have also gutted the Unionists as a political force for the foreseeable future and absolutely infuriated Sperling, who almost certainly expected nothing like this when he sold out Masters. He remains free, however. However, you have gotten the excuse to put a discreet watch on him.
* * *
Organize the Libraries
DC: 30. Rolled: 13. Failure.
You tried. You failed.
It's not politically sexy, so at least there's no backlash, but that was really annoying. Is there really nobody qualified for this sort of thing left in the Commonwealth? You'd think that with all the books, you'd have some librarians.
Nope.
* * *
You wrestle with yourself.
You wouldn't be subverting the democratic process. You'd be participating in it! Strengthening it, if anything! Nobody would object.
Well. Sara would object. Either of them. Johnson most of all, Goldblum on off days. They've always been a little wary of you. But you've proven yourself. And you've done so much good. You can do more, you know that you can. And it feels good to help your people. You've saved more lives than you've ever taken. It feels good! It feels good to be cheered!
...you hesitate. You pull out that last impulse. You drag it into the light. You look at it from all angles.
You sigh. "Yeah. It feels good."
* * *
Ron Burns will never seek elected office again.
Elections concluded (with due thanks to @AKuz for the ideas fodder, visible under Apocrypha as the, "QM Resource," posts).
The President, selected by Congress, is Sara Johnson of the ruling Commonwealth Progressive Party.
Ruling Coalition: Commonwealth Progressive Party (Social Democrat, 33%), Popular Commonwealth Progressive Party (Socialist-Social Democrats, 21%), Christian Socialist Party (Socialist, 15%). 69% share of Congress.
Left-Wing Opposition: Commonwealth Farmer-Laborer Party (Socialist-Communist, 20%), Commonwealth Green Party (Socialist-Social Democrat, Environmentalist, 1%). 21% share of Congress.
Right-Wing Opposition: Unreconstructed Democratic Party (Social Democrat-New Capitalist, 6%), American Constitutional Restorationist Party (New Capitalist, 2%). 8% share of Congress.
Miscellaneous Opposition: American Leadership Party (Executive, Centrist, 1%).
How do you want to deal with the assassin? For the purposes of this question (we'll see the assassin in person in an upcoming interlude), the assassin is a Commonwealth citizen of Chicago.
[ ] The penalty for treason is death.
[ ] The penalty for treason is life in prison.
[ ] The penalty for treason is a comfy retirement in South Illinois after telling us everything they know. (Roll d100, DC 40, defaults to second-most popular death or imprisonment vote on failure.)
[ ] The penalty for treason is working for us, now. (Roll d100, DC 65, defaults to second-most popular death or imprisonment vote on failure.)
[ ] Write-in.
Ron Burns has issued a Shermanesque statement disclaiming any interest in not only the Presidency, but any elected office at all. He remains willing to serve otherwise.
[ ] Retain him as Secretary of Defense. You need somebody who can get your entire military whipped into shape. You are at war.
[ ] Retain him as a General. You're at war; you need this man commanding troops. Maybe he can teach your other Generals a thing or two.
[ ] Retain him as commanding officer for the Devil Brigade. It is what he knows best. And also it keeps him away from power, in case you feel nervous.
[ ] Retain him as an advisor only. You want his skills, but you don't want him tied to a formal post. This way he'll be flexible...and toothless.
[ ] Let him go. His time has passed.
APPROVAL VOTING. MANUAL MORATORIUM.
So! I had you roll a d3 before finishing this. Here's what it was for: do the Unionists a) gain from the housing crisis, b) gain nothing from the housing crisis, or c) lose out from the housing crisis to the gain of the ruling parties? Basically, the Unionists are in a position to hijack certain sets of issues. Housing was one of them, pretty much entirely thanks to @EBR's canon omake establishing that they had people there who could take advantage. When you fail an issue the Unionists have hijacked, they get to benefit instead of there being a more normal party spread. In this case, where you put in a lot of effort, half-succeeded the option, only failed at all by less than ten, and simultaneously turned their assholes inside-out, it came down to a roll, whereupon you rolled option c. The Unionists are, for the foreseeable future, quite down, albeit not wholly out.
Now, I represented this by having your actions in counter-intelligence be directly responsible for the failure of one option as well as your escape from any Unionist gain, but make no mistake -- while the Unionists had to roll because you trashed them so much elsewhere, the housing actions failed because you rolled low, the CI actions passed because you rolled high, and the Unionists lost popularity on the housing crisis because you rolled a 3. In the end, the numbers are why we have the end results we do, not the narrative I laid over those numbers.
I hope you all enjoyed the update, and I hope that you have fun with the votes! And do enjoy the early war. You have a turn to prepare, at least.
Life imprisonment seems like the best option for the assassin to me. Never employ traitors; they already betrayed someone else once. They'll do it again.
Edit: On the subject of the assassin, interrogate the hell out of them and get all the information we can get before throwing them in a deep dark hole or having them executed. Regardless, I don't want them to ever see the light of day.
[] Retain him as a General. You're at war; you need this man commanding troops. Maybe he can teach your other Generals a thing or two.
[] Retain him as commanding officer for the Devil Brigade. It is what he knows best. And also it keeps him away from power, in case you feel nervous.
Return him to the Devil's brigade he is comfortable with, and give him command of the Detroit theater. At the very least it'll focus Victorian attention directly where we want them instead of trying to bypass our strongpoint.
I wonder how good he is at taunting broadcast propaganda?
We can move him upstairs afterwards.
I want him directly in the action as the officer most familiar with his tools and almost certainly one of our most effective field commanders. (And one that drives the Victorians nuts)
-
Give them an entirely aboveboard trial, then:
[] The penalty for treason is life in prison.
IMO, it's best to flip the assassin. Even if they tell nothing but lies, that is useful information - knowing what they lie about, and what they say, gives us information we wouldn't have otherwise.
And then they will retire to a farm downstate, where they can run around.
You wouldn't be subverting the democratic process. You'd be participating in it! Strengthening it, if anything! Nobody would object.
Well. Sara would object. Either of them. Johnson most of all, Goldblum on off days. They've always been a little wary of you. But you've proven yourself. And you've done so much good. You can do more, you know that you can. And it feels good to help your people. You've saved more lives than you've ever taken. It feels good! It feels good to be cheered!
...you hesitate. You pull out that last impulse. You drag it into the light. You look at it from all angles.
That's a cool segment, particularly those last two lines. Genuinely painful analysis of the true motives lying behind your thoughts and actions, that sure as hell doesn't feel very good.
[x] Retain him as Secretary of Defense. You need somebody who can get your entire military whipped into shape. You are at war.
only pick i know what to pick on.
Merely imprisoning the assassin is not enough, as he could be sprung out from prison by Victorian moles, so I think it's best we kill him and make sure he can never cause us anymore trouble .
[ ] The penalty for treason is a comfy retirement in South Illinois after telling us everything they know. (Roll d100, DC 40, defaults to second-most popular death or imprisonment vote on failure.)
[] Retain him as a General. You're at war; you need this man commanding troops. Maybe he can teach your other Generals a thing or two.
[] Retain him as commanding officer for the Devil Brigade. It is what he knows best. And also it keeps him away from power, in case you feel nervous.
Return him to the Devil's brigade he is comfortable with, and give him command of the Detroit theater. At the very least it'll focus Victorian attention directly where we want them instead of trying to bypass our strongpoint.
I wonder how good he is at taunting broadcast propaganda?
We can move him upstairs afterwards.
I want him directly in the action as the officer most familiar with his tools and almost certainly one of our most effective field commanders. (And one that drives the Victorians nuts)
The more I think about this the more I like it. We can turn Detroit into a Stalingrad and focus the Victorian attention on that single point using their hatred of Burns to grab their attention.
If we're lucky we may even be able to taunt them into forgoeing air strikes on civilian or logistical targets and instead launch quixotic attacks into our heavily defended anti air kill boxes.
If we play our cards right here we can neutralize or heavily blunt a Victorian advantage using just psy-ops.
I agree with AKuz's idea re Burns. He's the best field commander we've got, he knows his unit and we know the Vickies will fixate on him like nothing else. They'll assume he's like Rumford or Kraft, is taking direct command and is so important that losing him will cripple us. It fits perfectly with their love affair with winning the moral part of war.
Ensuring they'll throw everything they have into the teeth of a stiff defense in Detroit and disregard any other moves we make along the way.
If we've got the other usual options to choose from now is the time to sweet talk our neighbors into cooperation. We want as many allies as we can get going into this fight, both to get the resources they have for Detroit and to complicate the Vickies' operations with additional X factors.
Merely imprisoning the assassin is not enough, as he could be sprung out from prison by Victorian moles, so I think it's best we kill him and make sure he can never cause us anymore trouble .
The Wehrmacht was a real army. The Vickies are a bunch of fascist bullies playing soldier in the woods with plaid jumpers. Their precious light infantry backed up by a mobile fighting force is precisely the worst thing you'd want for waging urban warfare. Doing that "properly" requires an air force that doesn't just clear the skies and a massive siege train, two things that are the dead opposite of the Victorian way of war.
The Wehrmacht was a real army. The Vickies are a bunch of fascist bullies playing soldier in the woods with plaid jumpers. Their precious light infantry backed up by a mobile fighting force is precisely the worst thing you'd want for waging urban warfare. Doing that "properly" requires an air force that doesn't just clear the skies and a massive siege train, two things that are the dead opposite of the Victorian way of war.
I agree with AKuz's idea re Burns. He's the best field commander we've got, he knows his unit and we know the Vickies will fixate on him like nothing else. They'll assume he's like Rumford or Kraft, is taking direct command and is so important that losing him will cripple us. It fits perfectly with their love affair with winning the moral part of war.
Ensuring they'll throw everything they have into the teeth of a stiff defense in Detroit and disregard any other moves we make along the way.
If we've got the other usual options to choose from now is the time to sweet talk our neighbors into cooperation. We want as many allies as we can get going into this fight, both to get the resources they have for Detroit and to complicate the Vickies' operations with additional X factors.
I'm just worried about our response time; far as I can tell, we need to take the mobilize action next turn, and then the turn after we'll be able to move them to Detroit. If the Victorians are coming in before then, we might not be able to get the assets we need in place in time.
I agree with AKuz's idea re Burns. He's the best field commander we've got, he knows his unit and we know the Vickies will fixate on him like nothing else. They'll assume he's like Rumford or Kraft, is taking direct command and is so important that losing him will cripple us. It fits perfectly with their love affair with winning the moral part of war.
Ensuring they'll throw everything they have into the teeth of a stiff defense in Detroit and disregard any other moves we make along the way.
If we've got the other usual options to choose from now is the time to sweet talk our neighbors into cooperation. We want as many allies as we can get going into this fight, both to get the resources they have for Detroit and to complicate the Vickies' operations with additional X factors.
Honestly that's another angle, the Victorians simply will not be able to accept that he, a sinful Warlord, actually passed power over to the civilian government, and will assume he's still the real power in the Free Cities.
They'll assume that if they get him, the whole house of cards will collapse. (Little do they know, we have the power of god and anime democracy on our side!)
If we put the guy on trial, have it be scrupulously fair, and then lock him up like civilized people. Well, that sends a powerful message about what kind of people we are.
