SD.Net Kingdoms Story Thread

[Zor]

After listening to the Pogorian ambassidor, the Tsar made a few requests "If you have suffient ships to transport it, the Tsardom could have much use for Pogorian Coal in the establishment of our new City of Mikhailsgrad, as well as having Danish Ports serving as a valuable coaling stations for our navy and Merchant craft. As for your nation's Amber, could it be used in the creation of defensive runes?"

"Pogoria has access to Pomeranian ports, most notably Danzig. The Vistula and Oder rivers could serve as convenient transportation routes thanks to river craft...yes, I think with some effort and investment, we could provide the Tsardom with access to as much coal as your country needs. I will not hide, however, that we'd expect some suitable return for our investment."

"We have received word that your nation is currently in the phase of Re-armament, hiring several Byzantine Gunsmiths to produce weapons for your armies. However development of such an industry will take some time. The Tsardom can offer you, however a much more rapid solution. In exchange for your coal, we will supply you with supplies of rifles and powder from Moscow's Factories. Would this be a fair arangement?"

Mikhailsgrad

Commissar Alexi Maykov walked along the newly laid road flanked by a pair of Streltsi in the newly cleared and prepared section of land and watched as things progressed, taking careful note as things progresed. This area, near the newly completed drydocks was given some priority in the Creation of this new city. Around him, he saw the beginings of the city itself, buildings were being erected as fast as possible by teams of laborers as gun armed enforcers monitored the situation. There was no shortage of volunteers among the inmates assigned to the project for aspects to the project which required specific skills such as carpentry. Said people got increased rations, additional time off and got to do work that they generally prefered to do over the drugery and sickness of shoveling dirt or other such hard menial labor. Most of the artisans from recently conquered lands admittedly had a hard time following blueprints at first, but with a little adult education and arrangement of work to have the bulk of the illiterate skilled workers arranged to do fairly more rudimentry things, such as laying floorboards. Never the less, things were going quite smoothly and a few warehouses and workshops had been completed while several sections of housing were under construction while a good number of newly built warfs had really accelerated the loading and unloading of material. All in all, he was confident, things was on shedual in most areas, with the development of Kotlin Island being well ahead of shedual. An addition 300 Streltsi, 50 sisters and 25 Ursiods were brought in earlier this week to provide additional enforcement power over the area, although he was not sure this was nessisary. Casualties had been fairly high, although this was expected and replacements were comming in at a steady enough rate to give the prison workforce a quality comprable to the ancient persian Immortals and their number remained rather consistantly around 35,000. Despite runaways, the occasional lashing out against guards which was met properly with gunfire or mauling and a few hard cases being assigned to destructive labour gangs and put before firing squads the biggest cause of Death for the prisonners on this project was disease. Even with the efforts of the sisters to preserve the more productive members which fell ill and even though the risks had decreased with the creation of the Showerhouses last month, nearly 2,500 of the inmates had died from various diseases since the Project's begining. Soon work would begin on what would become an industrial Zone would begin, which, when outfitted with equipment to be provided from moscow, would provide an arms industry capable of outfitting the Red Imperial Navy so that it could be the most powerful fleet on Earth.

Results-Offer to supply Pogoria with Guns in exchange for Raw Materials
-Progress on Mikhailsgrad continues, with a minor boost to it's garrison

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

The Adeptus Mechanicus prided itself for its tenacious pursuit of Science and Technology, and the study of the warp to a lesser extent. Some would view warp with fear as it represented the unknown. Others viewed it as a way to harness the secrets of the universe. Psykers somehow could entice the warp to grant them the power of prescience and other psychic powers, while the alchemists harnessed the energies of the warp through their runes, but the Mechanicus sought to bend the warp to its power.

For their service to the Despotate, the Despot, bless be the God Emperor, granted them large swathes of land around Konstantinople and Nikea, and other cities, and the control of the city of Adrianople, just a few tens of kilometers from Konstantinople, and Smyrna. They were the only faction granted such a privilege, though the Adeptus Mechanicus willingly offered to share much of the cities with their Adeptus Alchemi friends. All factions had their role in the Despotate, but the Adeptus Mechanicus was the largest and most powerful and the gift of the forge cities was a recognition of their abilities.

The two forge cities were bustling with industry, producing arms and weapons for the Despot's armies and especially his navy and Comitatenses. A new Chiliarchy of Comitatenses was undergoing training and would be due to be released for war soon.

Today, High Inquisitor Lord of the 60 strong Inquisition (not counting the Inquisitor's retinue), which were slated to be granted new resources to recruit and train more inquisitors under the decree of the Despotate, met with the Fabricator Chief. Bowing to show respect, and the respect was returned, the two conversed on a new project.

"We have research much of the warp, and the... daemons of the Shadow Lord have shown us the proper runes to open up a warp gate. However, as with all things, the Mechanicum has long aided us in the harnessing of the warp and today I have hoped that we could jointly study the possibility of a .. device that could potentially open a warp gate more efficiently and grant us... some special abilities," spoke the High Inquisitor Lord and he gestured at the diagrams that were drawn on the scroll.

The Fabricator Chief looked with interest and said, "Fascinating, I myself never thought of this. It does you and your fellow Inquisitors much credit."

"Thank you Lord, what do you say of this project?"

Nodding with excitement, "Yes yes, we will work together on this. Would you like to see our latest creations?"

"Certainly."

The High Inquisitor was led to the balcony and he gaped. Before him stood a hulking giant of steel, pistons and monstrous steam engines.
"What is that?"

"That... is..."

[DarthShady]

The Northern Reaches of the Empire of Shadows

The massive Barbarian Army marched in a massive formation, lead by their leader, a mysterious mage of great power. According to various sources his powers were a match for those of the Shadow Lord himself, those sources however knew nothing of the recent events in the warp. The Barbarian army came to a stop when they noticed a distant shadow approaching, the darkness seemed to accelerate and within seconds the sun disappeared and light became darkness. The Barbarian Mage, their leader began to summon his terrible magics. He wanted to unleash them upon the dark army that approached from the distance, but he was interrupted by a sudden surge of flame. The fire materialized out of thin air and struck the Mage, knocking him down.

Before he got a chance to recover, a warp gate materialized and sucked him in. Tumbling through the dark vortex, the mage panicked and fired his prepared spell, unleashing a torrent of undirected energy. The massive energy release was channeled through the warp gate and out into the real world, striking wildly across the unsuspecting Barbarian Army. Hundreds of men died instantly. The Barbarian army was left leaderless and panicked to face the massive army of darkness that approached.

Meanwhile the Mage found himself face to face with the grinning image of the Dark Lord.

"SO YOU ARE THE ONE WHO CLAIMED HIS POWER WAS GREATER THAN MINE! TIME FOR YOU TO DIE!"

The Warp echoed with the Dark Lords voice, thundering all around the surprised mage.

"You do not scare me...Daemon. I will destroy you and all your kind. This world belongs to the human race, and we will make sure that they are the ones that rule it."

"WE!? YOU HAVE FRIENDS HUMAN?!HAHAHA"

The Dark Lord laughed.

"Enough, I will not listen to your evil tongue anymore. Die Demon!", the mage yelled and unleashed a massive magical attack upon the Shadow Lord.

The magic fizzled and waned and was then sucked into the Shadow Lord.

"FOOL!", the Dark Lord said and charged the mage so fast, that he didn't even get a chance to react, before being impaled through the chest. The Mage looked in despair as blood sprayed from his chest, he didn't even get a chance for a last thought before the Lord of Shadows ripped him to pieces.

Back in the real world the Barbarian Army was surrounded and soon defeated, many surrendered or were captured while trying to escape. The Dark Armies of the Shadow Lord spread like a plague through the Northern territories, destroying all who opposed them.

Result:
Some asskicking and conquering, a little bit of plot. This was written in a hurry and just as an excuse to post the map of some of my new conquests in this turn. Fingolfin is still in charge, because I'll be having even less time to participate.

The Map:

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

It took a while, but the preparations were complete and the fleet set sail. Aerial reconnaissance indicated that the rabble occupying the city of Athens were alert and ready for battle. How best to deal with them? The commanders debated among themselves what sort of firepower they should bring for the battle. Macharius was in favour of heavy bombardment by warships from high altitude to soften the enemy up. Perhaps some of the newly acquired fire rubies from the Crimean republic will do the trick? Or will that prototype cannon that the Adeptus Mechanicus was working on?

It ultimately boiled down to this: The Despot wanted the Byzantine foothold on the Mediterranean strengthened vis a' vis against the Western nations. If need be, the Despot would lead the attack himself. However, the Despot indicated that he had absolute faith in his men's abilities to fight and win.

So it was that the warships closed in on the rebel city. The rebels fired back with their cannons but the warships stayed out of reach. The Battle Barge and the cruisers fired first, followed by the frigates. The mighty cannons rained tonnes of steel rain onto the enemy shattering their battlements and sending them fleeing.

And then the Comitatenses made ready to disembark from the Battle Barge...

[Zor]

Boot Camp, Outside Moscow

Marshall Zhukov road by the new recruits, Human and Ursiod as they stood at attention. The Tsardom had suffered rather severe casualties during the Novgorod Campaign and over the past few months there had brough in alot of new soldiers to replace the losses. The sisterhood of Scarlet Mercy also had also recruited and trained a few sisters to serve as field medics, although their training beyond basic firearms usage and knife fighting was simply not military buissiness. Soon the Tsardom's armies would be back at full strength.

Along the Volkov River, North of Novgorod

Major Dmitri Pyotrvich watched as the oncomming hordes through his telescope. The force was somewhat similar to the Novgorodian forces, a mix of lightly armored levies in loose formation, Druzhina medium infantry organized into loose lines of soldiers armed with ranged weapons and noble cavalry, although the cavalry was lighter than the Novgorod's forces while the Druzhina forces were a mix of crossbowmen and arquebusiers. In the last couple of decades, a few warlords on the Bank of the Volkov had began buying arquebuses from Novgorod, although they lacked the facillities to produce much in the line powder and Novgorod's Merchant Nobility developed a pratical monopoly on powder for Novgorod. Never the less, this warlord had mustered a force of about 2,500 men, while he was limited to some 600 Streltsi, 100 Crimson Guardsmen, 25 Sisters, two field guns, two rocket carts and 50 Ursiods.

The force seemed to try a flanking manuver, with groups with the levies in a fairly loose formation at the front of each mass and the Cavalry and Druzhina. Some cannon and rocket fire managed to inflict some damage as they got into position, although the fact was that they simply did not have the artillery firepower to destroy them. Eventually they got into position and made their charge. As they approached, the infantry forces drew their weapons and brought them to bear upon the oncomming forces while NCOs carefully judged distance while the infantry prepared their weapons. The first salvo was from the Crimson guard forces, which had recently been rearmed with the new Breechloaders and opened salvo fire at four hundred meters. This, when combined with alchemically enhanced powder quickly brought down several dozen levies, while they quickly reloaded, fired again with the same results and repeated the process. Dmitri was still a bit uncertain about these weapons, mostly being conserned with the logistical issues of reallying so much on brass cartridge using rifles but the results on the battlefield were quite promising. This was soon augmented by the more time tested if slower fire from flintlock (human and Ursiod Scale) rifles and grapeshot, which began to cut a massive swath through the oncomming levy hordes. At this point the Cavalry put up a charge, moving through the ranks of levies to try to hack down the Imperial soldiers in close quarters, although they quickly found themselves singled out by fire while their army itself began to break into a route. A few cavalrymen managed to get close enough to fire a few pistol shots at the Tsardom's lines and a few men were wounded, but there simply was not enough cavalry to get through. The Druzhina also pressed on despite being being now exposed and singled out and were fairly swiftly cut down. There would be little resistance when they laid seige to the stronghold the following day.

After the Battle, about three hundred prisonners were taken, either captured by presuing ursiods or salvaged from wounded corpses off the battlefield and treated and would be shipped to Novgorod to be processed before being sent off to mikhailsgrad. Tommorow they would take the local warlord's stronghold and add more territory to the Tsardom. Their was another force fighting of the same size fighting for the same purpose. The plan was simple, conquer the remaining territory between Novgorod and Mikhailsgrad for security purposes. The Campaign was expected to be alot breifer than the push to Novgorod, having far less to go and continous waterways to go along on the trip as well as having larger amounts of food vailabe, although he made soldier saw that as an excuse to be sloppy.

Lake Illmen, Red Tsardom

The exersize was going fairly smoothy as the trainees had managed to get the hang of things as they engaged in a mock landing. The foreign instructers who were brought in were competant enough and things were going fairly smoothly. The human forces had already gottent the hang of close quarters fighting with sabre and revolver, although among the most sucessful of the Trainees were the Ursiods, despite the fact that only three of them could fit in the average naval landing boat, they were powerful swimmers able to take cold far better than a human could and unmatched in hand to hand combat. Soon enough the Aurora would be ready and by the looks of these new recruits.

Results-The Red Tsardom recruits to replace the losses it suffered during the Push to Novgorod
-The Red Tsardom moves up the Volkov River to conquer the lands between Novgorod and Mikhailsgrad, this will involve the conquest of some 7 new territories for the Tsardom
-Training begins on Imperial Marines, Including Ursiod Marines

[Master_Baerne]

Chaillot, Sovereign Duchy of Baerne
Southern Army Headquarters

The dragons slammed into the earth, each titanic lizard kicking up a blast of dust from the dry landing area outside the commander's tent. Two soldiers in the uniform of the Dragon Corps leaped off the backs of their mounts, each turning to help the passengers down. They were a strange pair, these two: One tall and pale, dressed in a black cloak and pants and a white shirt, while the other was a woman with with golden hair and startling blue eyes who wore a black gown, somehow unruffled by the flight. Each thanked their attendant for their assistance, and strode towards the commander's tent.

"Prince SaDiablo, Lady Angelline. We were not expecting you for some time." Lord Finnan was the commander of the forces that were detailed to expand the Duchy's frontiers in this direction, and had not seen the results of the Sorcerous Academy's experiments before.

"We arrived ahead of schedule. The Duke commands that our forces be ready to advance by the end of the week, and it is our task to insure that they do." Prince SaDiablo's voice left no room for argument, but Lord Finnan tried anyway.

"I'm not sure if we can do that, Prince. Half the dragons haven't arrived yet, and..."

Jaenelle answered him, the blue eyes changing to a disturbingly dark sapphire. "Nevertheless, Lord Finnan, you will do as His Grace commands. This is not a point that will be debated; we will begin the attack in four days."

"Yes, Lady."

RESULTS: The Jewels Experiment is revealed to have downsides, namely instilling something of a Darth Vader complex in it's members. Also, we're expanding more.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

The surprise came in the form of hidden artillery. Out from no where, 4 huge projectiles slammed into the warships. While the void shields held, the frigate's shields in particular, took a heavy beating. The frigate immediately backed out and rose higher to avoid taking a second hit. The Hagia Sophia fared slightly better but Macharius ordered the ship to rise to safer altitudes. Closing in was obviously not an option. "Where did the damn enemy get such weapons!?" grumbled Macharius. "Why didn't the Inquisitors find out about the weapon?"

The Inquisitor on board the ship entered a short trance and said, "It appears the enemy has some measure of psyker jamming abilities. That are obscuring our sight. And also, the enemy is camouflaging the weapons with... psychic mirages."

"What?! Damn it. I knew there was more to this then set piece shock tactics. Send a message to all ships: Make sure the Gellar field Generators are at full power and driving the Void shields at full power. No mistakes!" Turning around and looking upon the rebel city, he turned to the Comitatenses Chapter Master, "Legatus, are your men ready?"

"Yes Warmaster, they await your commands."

"We may need them to do a shock insertion in the city to neutralise enemy resistance."

"Resistance will not be light."

"If your men can neutralise the gunners and take those cannons under our control, we will have a chance in taking the city."

"That is true. And I would gather you would like us to take those cannons intact."

"Yes. They have about the same range as some of the heavier guns, but it doesn't hurt to study them just to see if there are any.. interesting differences."

"Understood. My men will be ready for the touch down."

"The Gellar field drop pods will be made ready."

To be continued

[Zor]

Outside Novgorod

The area around the yard was crouded as around 2,000 spectators came to watch the official launching of the Aurora. This was technically not the first time the ship had set sail, it had gone through a two week long test voyage on lake Lagoda to evaluate it's speed and preformance, as well as to get the crew familier with the operation of the craft, with it seeming to meet expectations. The ship herself sat on a dock as an othrodox priest and a Rabbai made their blessings to the ship while the Red Imperial Navy's Jack fluttered in the wind behind her. Her crew and marines stood proudly at attention in full dress uniform. A detachment of Streltsi and Cavaliers stood as honorguardsmen, while the crew and marines stood at attention as the Tsar himself (having arrived via airship earlier that day for the monumental occasion) approached the podium.

"Citizens of the Red Tsardom" he said "Today begins a new era in our history. Today this mighty nation ceases to be a mere landlocked power. On this day, our mighty nation takes to the oceans with what stands behind me, the Aurora. With her launcher increase it's standing among the countries of the world, we gain the means to defend maritime trade from Pirates and the ability to project power beyond. It also marks the dawn of a new age for naval warfare. Her Iron Hull will provide her with unmached protection while her steam propulsion will give her unrivaled manuverability over sailing ships. The Aurora is but the first of her kind, soon the yards of Mikhailsgrad will bustle with the activity as more warships like her are assembled.

"The Aurora has been named as such as she shall stands upon the water as the light of the dawn of the new age, the age of the Crimson Enlightenment. An end to the night of ignorance and backwardness of the and a symbol of the strength of Industry and knowledge. And to all whom would dare try to challenge our claims to the ocean, let them know that as ships flying the Banner of the Tsardom shall sail by the burning remains of their former fleets the Seas will Run Red!"

With that the workers assembled let out a cheer, which was magified as the Tsar shattered a bottle of Byzantine Wine on the craft's hull and a display of fireworks filled the air. Soon the craft would be under way to make her first journey onto the Baltic Sea.

Results-The Aurora is christened and the Red Imperial Navy is born

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

The Comitatenses loaded themselves into the Gellar field drop pods. The drop pods will be dropped down from a great height, and their landing would be cushioned by the Gellar fields as they fell. The hulls were made of high strength alchemically enhanced steel to ensure that the crew could survive the trip. The Comitatus Chapter Master addressed his men, "You know your duties, your orders. Most of all, do your duty for God, and for his emissary, the God Emperor of Man. Go!" With a shout of approval, they marched into their drop pods and braced themselves for the fall.

The drop pods were released and soared down, with the Hagia Sophia and her escorts showering fire from above. The heretics tried to target the pods, but the anytime the cannons fired, they were targeted by the Hagia Sophia and destroyed. The requirement was to capture at least one copy of the enemy cannon, so it was fine to have a few destroyed. The Comitatenses landed among the heretics, sending terror through their ranks, and squashed any that happened to be under the pods.

The Comitatenses immediately went about killing the heretics, preventing the latter from firing the guns. It was then the warships landed and offloaded the Imperial Guard regiment. The fighting ensued, with the Comitatenses and Imperial Guard regiment of the 1st Constantinople fighting to regain control of the city. By dawn, all the heretics were rooted out, at a cost of some 30 or so Comitatenses, and 100 or so Imperial Guards of various types. They would be replenished by year's end.

Results: Athens taken, along with 12 territories taken in the vicinity.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Deleted

[Akhlut]

Grand Republican Palace, Chersonesos, Crimea

Basileus Iason was somewhat displeased that only a Pogorian diplomat could make it to the conference, but he wouldn't let that be known.

"Now, that we are all here, I shall show you the grandeur of the Republic. Please follow my constables and they shall show you to your places."

The constables quickly took the delegates to their respective areas, and started the Triumph through Chersonesos. Beating Surtite war drums thudded with such strength as to be more felt than heard, while the blare of trumpets announced the arrival of each delegation as they reached designated checkpoints while marching through the city. Buildings were bedecked with purple cloth, and the streets had great red Persian rugs stretched before the marching delegates. The march went on a circuit through the city, crowds cheering the delegates, before finally terminating back at the Republican palace, where ten humans and five Surtites stood with muskets at the ready, and then fired their salutes into the air. The Surtite muskets let out a deafening report, as if cannons were fired.

The delegates were then led back into the Palace, and a vast banquet was given to the guests.

Pogoria-Crimea Trade Road

The army of Leukopolis was realigned, and moved out from Kiev, leaving the police forces to handle the brunt of keeping the peace in the newly acquired lands. They marched east, securing the lands around the trade road and the Dneiper, in order to secure better trading with Pogoria. The number of peasants began to dwindle, though, and they began to speak of ogres terrorizing the landscape...

Sochi

The Army of the East continued to press east, conquering more peasants, though the Zygii people were giving way to Alans, enforcers of the mysterious Tiger King of Caspia...

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Grand Republican Palace, Chersonesos, Crimea

Basileus Iason was somewhat displeased that only a Pogorian diplomat could make it to the conference, but he wouldn't let that be known.

"Now, that we are all here, I shall show you the grandeur of the Republic. Please follow my constables and they shall show you to your places."

The constables quickly took the delegates to their respective areas, and started the Triumph through Chersonesos. Beating Surtite war drums thudded with such strength as to be more felt than heard, while the blare of trumpets announced the arrival of each delegation as they reached designated checkpoints while marching through the city. Buildings were bedecked with purple cloth, and the streets had great red Persian rugs stretched before the marching delegates. The march went on a circuit through the city, crowds cheering the delegates, before finally terminating back at the Republican palace, where ten humans and five Surtites stood with muskets at the ready, and then fired their salutes into the air. The Surtite muskets let out a deafening report, as if cannons were fired.

The delegates were then led back into the Palace, and a vast banquet was given to the guests.

During the Banquet

"If by anything Iason, one would have to question the Pogorian delegation's motives. They slight us by sending a mere emissary and not their king. Here we are meeting in good faith and offering to share cherished secrets, and then they send a mere emissary," grumbled the Despot.

"That said, the Fabricator General told me that he has use for the fire rubies, as well as the steam engines and alchemite from the Tsardom," speaking to the Tsar and Shadow Lord as well. If you wish, I could detail the plans to you, in private.

[Akhlut]

During the Banquet

"If by anything Iason, one would have to question the Pogorian delegation's motives. They slight us by sending a mere emissary and not their king. Here we are meeting in good faith and offering to share cherished secrets, and then they send a mere emissary," grumbled the Despot.

"Flavius, dear friend, while I am offended by the Pogorian king's decision to send a mere emissary, I do not yet think he plans anything against us. Surely he must know two things: that we are stronger then anyone in the west, and that all wealth flows through our lands. Even if he were entirely consumed by greed, he would realize it is better for him to be with us than with the west. For now, I do not think we should take any action, though we might leave the better things to ourselves."

"That said, the Fabricator General told me that he has use for the fire rubies, as well as the steam engines and alchemite from the Tsardom," speaking to the Tsar and Shadow Lord as well. If you wish, I could detail the plans to you, in private.

"We are most interested, Flavius, do tell more..."

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

"Flavius, dear friend, while I am offended by the Pogorian king's decision to send a mere emissary, I do not yet think he plans anything against us. Surely he must know two things: that we are stronger then anyone in the west, and that all wealth flows through our lands. Even if he were entirely consumed by greed, he would realize it is better for him to be with us than with the west. For now, I do not think we should take any action, though we might leave the better things to ourselves."

No, I do not think he has concocted any conniving plots against us. He does not trust us, that much is clear. I will watch and see, that is for certain.

"We are most interested, Flavius, do tell more..."

Gesturing to the Fabricator General, who then presented the schematic, "Here, Lord, is a schematic of three proposed classes of what we term as a "Titan". Huge walking machines, they are powered by steam engines and Gellar field generators. The steam engines we will drive them with your fire stones, in part because the steam delivered is of higher pressure than before, thanks to the greater heat. Further, the Gellar field generators will lighten the whole structure, allowing the engines to drive the titan forward. She is protected by void shields emitted by one of the Gellar field generators on board, and also self-healing armor; there will alchemite embedded beneath the armor, and alchemists on board need only activate the alchemite to repair the armour. Finally, each Titan can carry weapons on its two arms, and a rocket artillery larger on the shoulders. The titan arms can be fitted with Warp guns, which we have worked on together with the Shadow Lord's mages, and other siege weapons. All in all, she's one hulking war machine, and will strike fear in our enemies.

Controlling the Titan is more complicated. We imbued a creature of the warp as a machine spirit into her. Here we had to rely on the Inquisition's daemonhosts to serve as the vessel's main controller. The Princeps of the Titan will have to link himself to the daemonhost to control the titan through this device that grants him a psychic link. The daemonhost is controlled by a series of runes to ensure good behaviour of course. Destruction of the war machine might release a daemonhost that might run rampaging through.. just about anyone's ranks... We can sort out a better way of controlling the Titan's machine spirit."

[Zor]

Tsar Mikhail, having recently returned from the christening of the Aurora made a good effort to eat his fill, even if their were too many seafood dishes for his liking. He also had Natasha give the Basileus Iason a special folder, with it a plan for a proposed railway linking Moscow with Chersonesos.

Gesturing to the Fabricator General, who then presented the schematic, "Here, Lord, is a schematic of three proposed classes of what we term as a "Titan". Huge walking machines, they are powered by steam engines and Gellar field generators. The steam engines we will drive them with your fire stones, in part because the steam delivered is of higher pressure than before, thanks to the greater heat. Further, the Gellar field generators will lighten the whole structure, allowing the engines to drive the titan forward. She is protected by void shields emitted by one of the Gellar field generators on board, and also self-healing armor; there will alchemite embedded beneath the armor, and alchemists on board need only activate the alchemite to repair the armour. Finally, each Titan can carry weapons on its two arms, and a rocket artillery larger on the shoulders. The titan arms can be fitted with Warp guns, which we have worked on together with the Shadow Lord's mages, and other siege weapons. All in all, she's one hulking war machine, and will strike fear in our enemies.

Controlling the Titan is more complicated. We imbued a creature of the warp as a machine spirit into her. Here we had to rely on the Inquisition's daemonhosts to serve as the vessel's main controller. The Princeps of the Titan will have to link himself to the daemonhost to control the titan through this device that grants him a psychic link. The daemonhost is controlled by a series of runes to ensure good behaviour of course. Destruction of the war machine might release a daemonhost that might run rampaging through.. just about anyone's ranks... We can sort out a better way of controlling the Titan's machine spirit."

"Interesting" he said as he looked over the diagrams being quite impressed, wondering about the possibility of the Tsardom building it's own force of heavy armored ground vehicles. "I was wondering, how many of these Titans do you plan on building and have you devised a method to transport them if need be over large bodies of water?"

Kiel, Kingdom of Denmark

A myriad of spectators gathered as the two ship's approached the harbor, the sight of the smoke rising from on the craft led the locals to beleive they were in trouble and a few boats had taken to the sea to try save the crews of these ships, and were even more baffeled when they saw that one of the Ships (with the word ABPOPA painted on the bow of her black hull) was moving even though her rigging had been done up. However, eventually they were called off by the crew of this ship (as well as, shockingly, a few Bears), as well as noticing the flags they flew, they were white with a blue lower section, but above it was a Red Star in a Red sheild, which was eventually identified as being a flag of the Red Tsardom. A few people were naturally wary, but never the less, they did their best to communicate friendly intensions. Eventually the strange new craft dropped anchor a few kilometers off the coast and a much more convention three masted cargo ship arrived at the port and began unloading various crates and setting up shop in a harborfont area. Apparently a few Danes were among the Crew and after a short time and eventually (after making some arrangements with the local mayor), one of them got onto a crate to inform the massed of this city what is going on.

"Men of Kiel, on behalf of Captain Makarov of the Red Imperial Navy and his Imperial Majesty Tsar Mikhail-I, i inform the men and woman of this city this is the first foreign port to which the Red Tsardom has the honor of doing buissiness with. We offer forth a selection of various goods from the mighty factories of Moscow and Tver for sale. Thank you."

With that, the store opened and various people went about inspecting the goods the Tsardom had to offer, including Textiles, pocket watches, clockwork toys, greatcoats, dresses, ceramics and various other goods. Many people were curious and things went rather quickly. The tavernowners also found themselves with a set of new faces as they began to enjoy. At the same time, several other crates were delivered more covertly to the mannorhouse of the local mayor, containing some 100 Model 1689 rifles and 50 Revolvers. He was instructed that said weapons were a gift of goodwill to the Pogorian King and that he had received a message stating this.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

"Interesting" he said as he looked over the diagrams being quite impressed, wondering about the possibility of the Tsardo building it's own force of heavy armored ground vehicles. "I was wondering, how many of these Titans do you plan on building and have you devised?"

We intend to build as many as we can afford to. These machines will eventually replace our siege cannons altogether. After all, these walking giants will grant the cannons more mobility than before. There is also the option of a flamethrower...

[Akhlut]

Tsar Mikhail, having recently returned from the christening of the Aurora made a good effort to eat his fill, even if their were too many seafood dishes for his liking. He also had Natasha give the Basileus Iason a special folder, with it a plan for a proposed railway linking Moscow with Chersonesos.

"Ah, Mikhail, this is a very interesting proposition. However, I would like some additions to this railway, should that be possible. Namely, I wish to include Kiev and Leukopolis on this rail, as those two cities are also integral to our trade. Perhaps you could also show us how to build these rails, so that you would not have to keep diverting your own men and machinery to build more rails as we expand our territory? Also, I spoke with some of my engineers, and they think that the coal and timber in those vehicles of yours could be supplemented with fire rubies. We think that this would greatly aid these rails and allow for the use of those materials in other uses.

[Zor]

Tsar Mikhail, having recently returned from the christening of the Aurora made a good effort to eat his fill, even if their were too many seafood dishes for his liking. He also had Natasha give the Basileus Iason a special folder, with it a plan for a proposed railway linking Moscow with Chersonesos.

"Ah, Mikhail, this is a very interesting proposition. However, I would like some additions to this railway, should that be possible. Namely, I wish to include Kiev and Leukopolis on this rail, as those two cities are also integral to our trade. Perhaps you could also show us how to build these rails, so that you would not have to keep diverting your own men and machinery to build more rails as we expand our territory? Also, I spoke with some of my engineers, and they think that the coal and timber in those vehicles of yours could be supplemented with fire rubies. We think that this would greatly aid these rails and allow for the use of those materials in other uses.

"Such would only be right and proper and i will send out plans for such arangements. We shall provide your artisans with whatever blueprints they desire in regards to rail transport, as well as additional machine tools to help in the assembly."

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

"Such would only be right and proper and i will send out plans for such arangements. We shall provide your artisans with whatever blueprints they desire in regards to rail transport, as well as additional machine tools to help in the assembly."

Perhaps extending the rail down south to Byzantine cities will be beneficial as well. Granted that much of the trade between cities currently is conducted via flying cargo ships at the moment.

[Zor]

"Such would only be right and proper and i will send out plans for such arangements. We shall provide your artisans with whatever blueprints they desire in regards to rail transport, as well as additional machine tools to help in the assembly."

Perhaps extending the rail down south to Byzantine cities will be beneficial as well. Granted that much of the trade between cities currently is conducted via flying cargo ships at the moment.

"That could be a good longterm project, but it will take some time to do with the securing of a large amount of territory, let alone the construction. We would be willing to provide you with locomotives for the establishment of your own rail networks."