NationStates Jolt Archive

"Wimbley Common, this is Milkfloat, come-in Wimbley Common."

"Milkfloat, Wimbley Common receiving you. Go ahead."

Milkfloat, an Acorn observation aircraft, puttered across an African sky, maroon and gold roundels announcing the Royal Walmingtonian Air force, serial number specifying Waynesian service.

"Wimbley, spotted smoke outside Tarrifton North. We are requesting_"

"_Granted, Milkfloat, investigate. Clearance H.C.W.1."

"Roger. Tally ho!"

Waynesia simmers, bubbles, smokes at last. Her economy, since the American spat (Walmy's War, to some), has burned brighter than that of the shamed home islands, but this has cooked-up only white discontent on top of a base made of majority black complaint. The colony now agitates on many levels for self-rule, and Walmington, facing recession, is hard pressed in trying to pour cold water on the situation.

But she shall jolly well find some way.

Vollombo, Ceyloba

A whistle sounds at length, high, then low, then high again. Governor Admiral Sir James Frazer makes his way aboard HWMS Royal Oak once again, dressed to the nines, brass here, feather there, posture good as ever but gate a little less forceful than was his more youthful style. He is still every bit the deliberate and dignified personification of his flagship, oldest vessel afloat with the Royal Walmingtonian Navy. Calm in manner, firm in deed. No question of imperial decline.

The Royal Oak, sister of sunken Iansisle and built decades ago in the land of that name, will lead a squadron raised of the Gallagan Fleet, which is judged by the Admiralty best placed of serious extra-African Walmingtonian strength for double-quick deployment to the troubled domain of Sir Henry Wayne.

To Madagascar, and then the Cape Colonies, Royal Oak steams at the head of fleet comprised largely of Walmington's famous fast merchant-transports, an embarked expeditionary force to make inland, for Waynesia.

The anouncement that the Walmingtonian Gallagan Ocean fleet would be steaming to Africa causes some annoyance in the Gull Flag Republic. While no one, from Lenore Room to amatuer naval enthusiasts with a copy of the latest Jane's, expect that their fleet, whose flagship could barely steam, would be any help in a fight, most thought to see at least a show of solidarity. The loss of the Republic hit the country hard; since the end of the Effitian War, there had been no good news on the military front and quite a bit of bad news on the economic. There is some hope at the top levels of the Admiralty: they know that Donahue, with his eight battleships and twelve MAFDs, is bearing down on the Valerian fleet arranged off Luzon and most expect a quick, resounding victory.

Still, the exact state of relations between Great Walmington and Ianapalis is something of a mystery even to foreign policy analysts on the Shield. The dispatch of a large expeditionary fleet, ostensibly in relief of Waynesia is something of a concern; the fleet might actually be heading for Fort Manly, after all, as part of some secret alliance with the Valerians. Lenore Room, who makes a habit of knowing everyone else's business, insists that such an arrangement, given the amount of communication between Walmington and Magnus Valerius, is highly unlikely but more cautious minds at the Admiralty prevailed.

Accordingly, the fast heavy cruiser Shadoran is released from duty assisting convoys from Nusheld to Fort Manly. She steams from Fort Ash on the southern Gallagan coast to intercept the Vollumbo fleet, confident of quickly overtaking the Royal Oak and her flotilla of troopships.

In all, the two government's responses to colonial problems mirror their overall military philosophy: in Walmington, the Navy exists to carry the Army. In Iansisle, the Army exists to be carried by the Navy.

Shadoran would probably have little trouble catching the Walmy flotilla, and this would cause some consternation in the admiralty. This was a rapid deployment squadron, supposedly the RWN's only great strength. But the eight involved troop-ships no longer look world-beating in their pace, and Royal Oak's ancient Westerton Mk. X oil plant had seen better days, so too her Shell J47 turbines. In theory she would cruise at 14 knots, less than the fast troop-ships would like, but, in practice, even that would be a challenge, especially when considering her greatly reduced seakeeping characteristics as brought-on by her ambitious wartime armour refit.

Other escorts were few. The submarine threat, in Frazer's opinion, had declined significantly since the end of the Anti-Fascist War, so Royal Oak's 12" rifles were called sufficient protection for eight troop-ships and a couple of other support vessels.

Relying on the flagship's RSUC model 111S surface-search radar it was anyone's guess as to exactly when Frazer would detect Shadoran, which Ceyloban intelligence had indicated to him as having left port and given no further information.

One thing that may stand to worry any Shieldian suspecting foulplay on the Walmingtonian part and hoping to intercede may be the presence at Vollombo of His Walmingtonian Majesty's Ship Brixton, an Eden Class battlecruiser capable of more than thirty knots and armed with nine 12" rifles (originally intended for 1930s battleships abandoned as too weak) and expansive secondary and anti-aircraft batteries, and several cruisers of the Wayne and Kentonshire classes. Most of these have recently begun slightly increased levels of operation after a couple of years of minimal activity, though, in truth, that is a precaution brought on by the threats facing Iansisle in the Pacific and South East Asia rather than Walmingtonian hostility.

In Southern Africa, meanwhile, businessmen and several politicians in the resource-rich Cape Colonies have become increasingly vocal in support of local rule, further worrying Great Walmington and compelling Frazer to push his rusty squadron all the more rapidly.

((Ta much for the tidy-up, Tsarine :) ))

Time, while I decide what to do with my day, for a quick update on the condition of the Empire and its military, I'd say.

The Walmingtonian Empire today remains centred on the North Atlantic home islands (Walmington-proper, Southend, and Newry), some hundreds of kilometres west of Ireland.

Colonial holdings include Walmingtonian Saharaland (Western Sahara and Mauritania), Sao Tome and Principe, Walmingtonian Togoland (Togo), the Cape Colonies (Lesotho, Swaziland, and much of southern and eastern South Africa), Waynesia (Zimbabwe), Madagascar, and Ceyloba (Sri Lanka).

Since Walmington took on the United States and maintained a brief occupation of large parts of the northeast and almost the whole eastern seaboard, the government has been weak. The newly-formed Whig Party struggles along under PM Mainwaring with historically low approval ratings, and maintains power only by the greater unpopularity of the Tory opposition and the fact that the third party, Social Labour, is still associated by most with a Stalinist legacy.

The economy too is hobbling along, suffering much from a failure to break back into European markets after the war, a continued refusal to trade with the USA or the USSR, and the Iansislian economic crisis. The Cape and Waynesia are now doing far better than the home islands, and Great Walmington is drawing more and more on their resources, irking private business concerns there (Waynesia especially has been traditionally maintained more by corporations than the Walmy government).

The Empire's total population is thought to be pushing one hundred million, driven mostly by growth in the colonies.

The military has suffered budget cuts since the American debacle, and the Army's 200,000 recruits are forced to rely more and more on Anti-Fascist-War-era technologies such as the absurdly cheap Wosten (akin to the Austen) SMG and the bolt-action CaFMIR rifle. The air force has replaced lost jet aircraft primarily with wood-framed, fabric-covered piston-engine designs, and the navy is maintained as follows:

5x Fleet Aircraft Carriers
6x Escort Carriers
6x Battleships
4x Battlecruisers
15x Heavy Cruisers
16x Light Cruisers
36x Destroyers
16x Corvettes

Unfortunately, the escort carriers are Sparrow Class ships built in a hurry to counter German U-boats, largely to civilian standards and fitted with wooden decks and single shafts, and confined primarily to carriage of biplanes.

One of the so-called battleships is infact the Royal Oak, which is older than Noah's Ark, and two are pre-war King Godfrey I Class incapable of making 28 knots.

The battlecruisers are Eden Class vessels that almost look more like pocket battleships, being armed only with 12" guns, even if they are otherwise quite well-made ships.

The Gull Class corvettes can barely paddle along at 17 knots, and hardly see any use since the end of the Anti-Fascist War.

It is doubtful whether the current administration has the will or confidence to use anything of its small stockpile of atomic bombs.

((Ta much for the tidy-up, Tsarine :) ))

((ooc: I dunno. I rather liked the unqualified "OMG". =P))

The Brixton worried the Admiralty indeed, for although the Iansislean Navy vastly outnumbered the Wamingtonian -- eight fleet carriers to five, twelve escort carriers to six, ten battleships to six, four battlecruisers to four, fifty-four total cruisers to thirty-one, and one hundred and eighty-odd destroyers to thirty-six -- the need of concentration in the Pacific theater against the Valerian threat had denuded the Gallagan Ocean of most vessels. There were only two modern cruisers, including the Shadoran, although the 'second Navy' of gunboats, sloops, frigates, and second-rate cruisers maintained a strong presence.

The destruction of the battleship Republic (ex-Prince of Shadoran) at Davao and the delay of the battlecruiser Assembly (ex-King Ian V), slotted to replace her, left the Gallaga Station without a single heavy unit. Still, the Admiralty maintained its confidence in the ability of Fort Manly to hold the Straits against a naval attack. The long, exposed coastline of Gallaga, however, was a different problem and many feared the possibilities of a regular force augmenting and helping one of the various factions. The Gallagan Army, 300,000 strong on paper, was in a state of nearly constant mutiny and although Shieldian troops had so far managed to disarm and disperse most of the isolated rebellions, strategists still feared a massive, foreign-backed uprising that would finally topple the fragile Raj.

GFS Shadoran herself was the last pre-Linhower heavy cruiser built. Armed with nine eight inch guns and capable of bursts over thirty-one knots, she remains a powerful and fairly modern unit, although her detection and propulsion systems are not up to the standards set by the vaunted Elemental class.

Although her radranger package is significantly better than the Walmy's, Shadoran's captain nonetheless keeps his ship on a parallel course to the convoy, turrets trained fore and aft, towards the edge of visual range. While the outcome of a fight between the modern heavy cruiser and the ancient battleship might be interesting to sportsmen, Shadoran's captain has no intention of interfering with the convoy. His orders are to shadow and report if intentions appear hostile, but -- paradoxically -- help defend the convoy should it come under attack.

Exactly who would attack the convoy (Waynesian agitators, being both inland and probably not possessed of the type of hardware needed to attack a convoy, seem a remote chance) is unclear, though the Shadoran does stay ready. There are no indications of Valerian pushes through the Strait, though every possibility remains open.

((Hehe, it could have been worse, I suppose.))

Shadoran's relatively non-confrontational posture is a great relief to Frazer, whose own guns remained facing fore and aft as the cruiser approached, the Admiral less than keen to reveal a fault that currently leaves Y turret quite stuck in that position.

Aboard the troop-ships the mood is varied from one to another. Some 4,000 soldiers are at sea, but while some of these are duty-doing and pay-seeking members of the Ceyloban Fusiliers, others are conflicted and pensive Norbray Rifles, and still others are baffled Saharawi Rangers. Walmers aboard SS Brumby mixed their low-strength pale ale with hesitant discussion of their mission's purpose and rightness.

Keen to save his ailing economy -and government-, PM Mainwaring had allowed his Chancellor, Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, to address the Shieldian question in Parliament. Since the revolution there had been maintained in Walmington a culture of avoidance with regards to Iansislian republicanism. Certainly the dramatic end of the King was not an issue for popular consideration during a time in which His Walmingtonian Highness had dismissed his own Prime Minister and appointed himself temporary head of government only to fall flat on his royal behindness.

To a degree, Walmingtonians had been subtly encouraged to think ill of the revolution, and some tabloids had been allowed to whip up a bit of a red scare implying Bolshevik intrigue behind the very idea of Shieldian republicanism, a model not to be followed.

But, in all honesty, Walmington would not want to lose the friendship of Iansisle at the best of times. The whole American affair had cost enough friends, so too the stubborn refusal to engage with surviving fascist states and Soviet-backed authorities alike. Besides, it was a long time since anybody had heard from the Calarcans, and the world into which Walmington now returned, cap in hand, seemed almost devoid of familiar (friendly) faces.

If the empire was going to face major stress and the home islands a period of weakness, it would not do to have the Ians poised as rivals along the road to Ceyloba.

As such, Thunder-ten-tronckh had, only recently, told Parliament that the unfortunate turmoil in the North Pacific would naturally be resolved in time, and, most importantly, that the Shield's internal affairs remain Shieldian business and no cause for a cutting of ties. He even nodded pointedly to General Square, present in his role as MP for a Burnhampshire district, when retaking his seat after speaking, apparently giving some acknowledgement to the old soldier's generally ignored suggestion that Walmington ought to be sending forces to help the Ians against their somewhat mysterious foreign enemies.

Aboard Brumby some recruits appear to be struggling with the difference between Ians and Wayners. If the Shield's upheaval is none of our concern, then why should we be dictating to Waynesia? As one member of the Norbray Light Brigade deftly noted, indicating his own confusion at the need for his presence in Africa, "It's not like they [the Waynesian elite] are a bunch of coloureds or owt."

The squadron steams on, rounding the sub-continent in a vale of worryingly black smoke.

The lack of open condemnation from the Whig government put Walmington, at least, on the very top of the list of states that weren't hostile to the Gull Flag Republic. Nonetheless, in the new world after the anti-fascist war, one could not be sure whom to trust.

Shadoran continues to tag along with the Walmingtonian convoy even after it becomes patently obvious that the fleet is not headed towards the Pacific. In general, she seems friendly -- though the crew does raise a large Gull Flag from the mainmast, in defiance of protocol but quite in line with revolutionary enthusiasm.

((ooc: erm, not too much more to say besides that. Don't want to divert your thread back to myself -- I've got tons for doing that =P))

HWMS Royal Oak, Port Mavis, The Walmingtonian Cape Colonies

"Well, this is a complete shambles, what?"

"Well, it is rather troubling, I dare say. Bunch of dockers refusing to stand aside for His Majesty's colours? I've never seen anything quite like it."

Frazer wasn't much impressed by the attempts that Royal Oak's captain made towards agreement, judging them largely issue-dodging. Certainly they weren't helping him to decide what to do about the problem.

"Damn it all, this is no good... It doesn't look good for the Navy to be sitting here, doing nothing. We're going to have to move, since we can't very well shoot a lot of dockers. They're still bloody citizens, after all. Captain, signal the squadron to make for Madagascar.

"...and get me a blasted brandy!"

The Admiral's last comment was directed not at the flagship's captain so much as the nameless aether of Royal Oak's superstructure, somewhere within which a significant stash was certainly located.

In the home islands, The Standard and other proper newspapers assured the public that Frazer was off to Madagascar to gather more troops in order to assure the stability and security of Waynesia, which always was seen as the least respectable part of the empire (the uninteresting deserts of Saharaland and the darkly fascinating depths of the Togoland jungle excepted. Perhaps the least respectable part of the empire in which white men dare to treat would be a more accurate judgement).

In the Cape Colonies and Waynesia itself, however, less well regulated publications told of the Empire's humiliation and impotence as the fleet's troopships were turned away by industrial action on the part of Port Mavis dockers. "No more Walmers (slang, Walmingtonian soldiers, usually those from the home-islands) in Southern Africa!"

Most disturbing to the establishment.

Although the Shadoran had parted company with the Walmy fleet mid-ocean, news of their rather inglorious turnback in Port Mavis made its way back to the Shield. The Admiralty was a bit troubled by the information and decided not to release it to the general public for fear of what the news would mean to an already embattled Iansislean Raj.

Much like the Standard, which was government-influenced, the IanCorp rags, which were government-operated, stayed silent about the outrage. A few independent papers mentioned it, either predicting doom for the Walmies or outrage that a colonized people should resist their mother country -- ironic, in the allegedly egalitarian Republic. Theses papers' total readership probably never exceeded a half million, but the leak was sufficient for the Admiralty to advise the Foreign Office to make a quiet offer of help to Walmington, lest the entire colonial system fall apart.

((which brings me to the question of time. Thomas de Fenne is going to be losing his Directorship very soon here in 'Reaction' -- does this happen concurrently with that thread, ahead of it, or after?))

"What would the Triumphal be doing on the Cape? No, this doesn't make much sense, Lieutenant, I don't think that we can credit it. I'll tell you what, why don't you have Dawkins send to Southend after he's done with the reply, and see if we can't clear up the mistake? Good man."

Admiral Sir James Frazer held out the sheet of paper upon which was printed a communique from one of his destroyers, Quixotic -attached to the Gallagan Fleet on the dismantling of Walmington's Mediterranean presence- alleging an exchange of fire between coastal batteries at Port Mavis and the Chaspot Class heavy cruiser Triumphal, implying that the Lieutenant should take it away with him.

Triumphal was with the Home Fleet, and ought to be in the North Atlantic, while the Cape had been clearly placed within Frazer's sphere as commander of the Gallagan Fleet. He was with most of said fleet in Madagascar, having called in reinforcements after the debacle at Port Mavis two weeks earlier, so there could be no purpose to Home Fleet deployment.

Port Mavis, Walmingtonian Cape Colony

Smoke rolling in from the sea turned darker still as it mingled with the brown clouds expulsed from a burning waterfront storehouse recently straddled by a volley of eight inch shells and now flaming out of control. Tonnes of cotton and tea were going to ruin, and perhaps an Empire was suffocating in their skyborne soup of ash and embers...

The shelling of Port Mavis was not an event likely to go unnoticed for long on the Shield, although the Admiralty and the government would almost certainly try to cover it up as soon as possible. Once news leaked back to Jameston -- which was certain to be a while, considering that not even Frazer knew what was happening -- there would be discreet inquiries at the Walmingtonian embassy on exactly how far the Empire was willing to go to retain Waynesia.

Would Walmington go so far today in an effort to retain Waynesia as, in 1921, Sir Henry had gone to claim it?

The Cape has been Walmingtonian, first de facto based upon the presence of armed merchants and later de jure based upon the presence of flag-bearing frigates, for generations, and the Empire has fought twice to retain its holdings there, during the 1890s in the First Cape War against European settlers armed by Walmington's continental enemies, and the Second Cape War of 1919-27 when native armies were finally crushed and their kings stripped of even their ceremonial titles.

It was during the Second Cape War that young adventurer Henry Chaspot Wayne sponsored his famous expedition from the Cape to Lake Kariba and the Zambezi and established Walmingtonian authority there by use of machineguns and mustard gas. His knighthood was concurrent with the creation of Waynesia, a territory that today is home to some five million imperial subjects and booming industries in beef, wheat, and everything from cotton to chromium. Wayne's vast fortune makes the man politically impossible to ignore, and his demands are heard throughout Great Walmington.

Perhaps the corpulent old addict is no longer up to leading a charge of lancers with close-air-support, but he will surely try to promote similar tactics when imposing on the hospitality of this Parliamentarian and that General.

Waynesia is remarkably closed to outside scrutiny, Wayne's companies having monopolies on communications and media, and, while private security agencies put to shame the Stasi and the NKVD, the last efforts of the age of politeness stand to explain why so few questions are asked, or answered.

The Cape Colonies, meanwhile, are evidently just as troubled, and owing to their gold, copper, iron, uranium, and other resources just as prosperous, but with major ports on the tip of Africa and a few hundred thousand wealthy and retired ex-pats from the home islands, usually much more open. Almost fifteen million people live here, and it seems to Walmington that surrendering the Cape would mean isolation from Ceyloba and Madagascar, and, really, the end of Empire.

Frazer continues to search for a simple explanation for Triumphal's sighting on the Cape, but, in truth, the reason is no more complicated than the Admiralty's lack of faith in his ability to do what is necessary after ruling for years as the enlightened and respectable White Prince of Ceyloba. Nations with sufficient intelligence infrastructure in place will be able to discover easily enough that a large part of the Home Fleet, with several brigades embarked, has appraoched the Cape from the west with the intention of breaking strikes and arresting rogue colonial politicians.

Vice Admiral Peter Giallo's South Seas Fleet has been put firmly under the control of former Mediterranean Fleet commander Vice Admiral Penciler, leading the force augmented by detachments from Admiral Longworth's Home Fleet, and General Square assigned to command several thousand veterans of the horrid American campaign.

Frazer is the velvet glove who would turn-up to make a show and sooth dissent by pagentry and polished buckles and barrels, General Square and Vice Admiral Penciler are the iron fist swung at a dazzled opponent.


((Agh, disjointed mess, begone! I have no time, for 'tis Friday!))

Great Walmington

The sun was shining... somewhere on the other side of that grey blanket of North Atlantic cloud, and a cool breeze was blowing... sheets from yesterday's Standard, all coated in the grease of beer-battered cod and deep fried chips and harried by squarking gulls. But, despite these and other appearances -the streets still soiled with the leavings of milkmen's ponies and the national cricket team still trailing the Ceylobans by more than two hundred runs despite being five wickets down- this was no ordinary day in Walmington on Sea.

Outside Swallowbank House, residence of the constitutional monarchy's heads of government, a man was speaking to newspaper and radio journalists. He wore a traditional Walmingtonian black pin-striped suit and bowler hat, and seemed really quite pleased with himself.

"In view of these results I have asked His Majesty's permission to form a government, and, I am delighted to be able to report, he has graciously delivered it."

Called on by instability, decline, and failing confidence, there had been another general election in Walmington... and George Mainwaring hadn't won it.

______________________________________________________

A Tory defeat of Mainwaring's incumbent Whigs would always have been significant in view of current, 'Imperial Stress' but the nature of the win, and indeed the altered nature of the winners, was likely to be of historic importance. The Conservative Party's campaign, once appearing as hopeless as a Walmingtonian run chase in Vollumbo, had been resurrected in the deep pockets of the Henry Wayned Cape Corporation.

Sir Henry of Chaspot donated all that the law allowed, but really bought victory for the Tories at the price of a weekly show on the wireless, two cinematographical productions, and an adventure comic all creatively explaining the value of Walmington's empire and exactly how the Whigs were -deliberately- destroying it, not to mention the parts that Fascism and Bolshevism would play in replacing a void left by a Walmingtonian retreat from Gallaga and Africa.

In the end, Walmingtonians showed that they were tired of feeling guilty about the atomisation of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, which really ammounted to something more than anyone could reasonably have expected of the Antananarivo Device, anyway! They did not want to be made to question the Empire's moral purity as well.

Beauregard Rain, former Governor of Waynesia, was to be a Prime Minister unlikely to surrender to the rising self-rule lobbies there and in the Cape.

_____________________________________________________________

It can be difficult for foreigners to understand this of a nation that set-up its own monarchy during its creation as a sovereign country, but Walmington continues to regard the British Isles as home. The Church of Walmington looks to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the King or Queen of England with as much respect as it afford His Royal Walmingtonian Majesty. The nation's flag bears the cross of St.George as if ignorant of St.Aldhelm's place as Walmington's patron saint. When Britain goes to war, Walmington's declaration is a formality, her involvement a foregone conclusion.

Lately, though, Walmington has often acted alone, sometimes even against London's wishes and interests. The American debacle was a clear example of this newfound independent streak, and though leaders at the time claimed to be defiant for Britannia's greater glory, for the first time since Mary's flirtation with Catholicism in England, questions are being asked about the relationship born of Walmington's C15th discovery by Anglo-Welsh fishermen.

When put to the new Prime Minister, the question of just how far his sense of Britishness extended was answered in no uncertain terms, and The Standard's first post-election headline was written.

"To the bootstraps, Old boy, to the bally bootstraps!"

While Great Walmington’s loyalty to London may go ‘to the bootstraps!’, the relationship between the Atlantic powers and their Pacific cousin is less certain. Fundamental differences between the Walmingtonian government and people and the revolutionaries in Iansisle were being more and more exposed, particularly with the recent affirmation of imperialism in Walmington.

As the Gull Flag neared its eighth birthday, the government of President Nicodemo Ranalte broke with Great Walmington’s policy by creating a new Gallagan state, including all Iansislean possessions, former Ercolonian Gallaga, and the Maratha Confederacy. Burma is retained by the Republic – temporarily, Ranalte assures its people – in order to protect the Gallagan state against Chiangese aggression. That Calarcan Gallaga and Walmingtonian Ceyloba remain outside of the new native state give a sense of irredentism amongst the larger part of the population, even outweighing the Hindu-Muslim divide as a major source of frustration. While the messages from Walmington show a desire for continued colonialism – and, presumably, a polite dismissal of Gallaga’s demands for its territory – Ianapalis is continually bombarded with requests from the Gallagan government to apply pressure and force the ‘return’ and integration of Walmy and Clerk territories.

As Iansisle and Walmington are still close trade partners – although neither state has a particularly booming economy, even with the stability Ranalte’s regime has brought to the troubled Shield – and former allies in a struggle against tyranny, Jameston does its best to tread a line between supporting and encouraging Walmingtonian imperial desires and the demands of its former subjects. Rain’s premiership is greeted with a congratulatory telephone call from the president indicating his desire to continue their countries’ mutually profitable friendship.

Amongst Mr.Rain's first acts as Prime Minister is an order turning Sir James Frazer back to Ceyloba... without his eight fast transport troop ships, which are placed under Penciler's shared command. The White Prince of Ceyloba, it seems, is deemed of more value than Frazer's maritime incarnation as Admiral of the Gallagan Fleet. Frazer is still popular in Ceyloba, but his absence at the very moment of the new Gallaga's creation may be just dreadful timing. Unconfirmed reports from Ceyloba's north speak of unrest amongst the minority population whose ethnicity is shared with a great many mainlanders, unlike that of the Ceyhala majority who continue to dominate the lower (non-white) levels of Frazer's efficient civil service.

It is quite apparent that in Africa, meanwhile, where hundreds of imperial troops remain off-shore, the Tory government intends to force its way ashore after weeks of Whig dithering. Mainwaring raised the expedition, sure enough, but couldn't go through with a land invasion of his own colonies.

With respect to the Ians, Rain suffers from little of Mainwaring's discomfort over the fate of the former monarchy and though his government may if anything be even less appealing to genuine revolutionaries in the Shield, he would be quite happy to fully repair ties, the old royals be damned. His Walmingtonian Majesty has little choice but to be a seen-and-not-heard monarch after his botched intervention in Parliamentary affairs during the American conflict.

[/fairly pointless bridging post]

The news that a Walmingtonian Tory government seems at least tolerant of the idea of cooperation with a regicidal state is very encouraging to the Foreign Office. Reports of the depth of hard-feelings between the crown and the Tories had obviously been understated and a flurry of telegrams between the embassy at #3 Jameston Place spoke to a subtle but definitive change in policy.

The Republic does not offer any material assistance in the developing situation in the Cape Colonies and Waynesia, but neither does it offer any condemnation. Rain's inquiries into the Shieldian position would yield few hard facts, but the general impression that the Republic would not recognize any rebellious government and that, should the force be used, would remain a benevolent neutral. At any rate, that is the official government line and, as far as all except a very small group at the highest point of the Republic know, the truth.

Meanwhile, however, Ranalte and his marshals are drawing up plans for the sweeping reunification of Gallaga. They intend the Iansislean army to be used in an amphibious manner, sweeping across the Bay of Bengal and landing on the Calarcan east coast and in Ceyloba while the Shieldian trained and equipped Gallagan Army drives south-west across the Godavari. Such a plan requires some degree of naval and air superiority, which could prove problematic given the massive military cuts ordered by President Ranalte. As a result, those paying attention might notice the gradual shift of modern military equipment to Iansislean bases around the South China Seas: Gelderlander mach two interceptors replacing old biplanes, Elemental-class light cruisers replacing ancient coal-fueled Aegeans and A/S trawlers, and (most conspicuously) the new battlecruiser Irrefutable taking up her position as the flagship -- and counter to HWMS Brixton -- of the South China Sea Fleet.

Asked about these shifts in resources, Iansislean diplomats and even admirals would reply that they were for the security of the infant Gallagan state against possible Chiangese or Roanian aggression. They would be telling the truth as well, so far as they knew, for the plans were kept secret from all but a select group around the president. Not even Hiresh Dhawan, the president of the new Gallagan Republic, was informed of the secret plans for the reunification of his country. Ranalte would wait, to see the result of a Walmingtonian effort to recapture southern Africa. A massive failure, he knew, could well result in a shock that would dismantle their Empire. If Ceyloba were to split away, either joining the greater Gallagan state or becoming its own country, the diplomatic pressure which could be brought to bear against continued Klatchian imperialism on the subcontinent might well be unbearable and military action would be unnecessary.

The possibility of providing material aide to the Waynesian rebels was, therefore, very high on Ianapalis's list of priorities. Whether through the NIO or, preferably, in some way using Dhawan's extensive contacts with the Rumbiak Brigade, Ranalte had determined that it was best for international stability if Walmington were to lose her south African colonies.

That he should be the one fighting for world stability and simultaneously destabilizing the world were Walmington to reassert her predominance on the Cape did not strike him as the least bit hypocritical.

The Confederated Peoples had, in returning its interest to the international community, made colonialism something of a focal point. This did not mean, as it might for other nations, an attempt either to arm nationalist rebels or to compete in the race for colonial possessions. It also did not mean lots of meaningless declarations and lectures about the evils of the colonial empires. Confederal policy was a little more nuanced and, as far as Walmington's colonies were concerned, it had two parts.

The first part was the creation of publicly funded scholarships for qualified foreign students native to non-self-governing territories. Students with demonstrable natural intelligence but who lacked formal schooling because of colonial or racial policies were considered qualified. The scholarships were for students seeking to study political science, administration, business, economics, engineering and journalism and they came with no strings attached.

The second part was a polite request by the Confederal Council for the establishment of normal diplomatic relations. This was not an uncontroversial move domestically and, although she would never admit it publicly, President Sacker was likely only able to get away with it because she was herself black and thus largely immunized from the stigma of Walmington's African colonial empire. No one could possibly believe her to be personally fond of the Walmingtonians and thus the Confederal people assumed there must be some sort of plan.

For the moment, however, these two policies were all there was of Confederal Walmington policy: One an unsolicited gift to certain Walmingtonian imperial subjects should they qualify and choose to accept, the other a thoroughly routine and relatively friendly move towards formal relations.

The Standard: Mavis Falls Captured! Square in Waynesia

"...after apparently marching over land and crossing the border from British-controlled Rhodesia at the Alliance Bridge between Livingston and Mavis Falls, Royal Walmingtonian Army soldiers entered the latter city reportedly unopposed. Prime Minister Rain today told Parliament that irresponsible actions by colonial administrators would not be tolerated under his government."

With eight transport ships holding Ceyloban fusiliers still stuck off shore near Port Mavis, Vice Admiral Penciler had landed General Square's Walmingtonian men in South West Africa and approached Waynesia from the northwest, surprising self-rule advocates who expected the Cape to be hit first.

The Empire had boots on the ground in Waynesia, but the Cape Crisis was far from resolved.

The Resurgent Dream

The Confederated People's may find some success with their student outreach programmes, especially in Ceyloba where locals place a high value on education but struggle to compete for few places in the island's highly rated but low-capacity universities.

The programme is generating anxious whispers in the Empire, but so far little more than that, as loyal subjects discuss their feelings on this latest foreign meddling in Walmingtonian business, and Kentonshire housewives murmer about the wisdom of educating those people and discuss at the same time the insinuation that Walmington can't provide the proper services to its own Empire.

Still, for now Great Walmington feels that it has little justification for refusing relations, but is keen to limit the degree of self-representation with which the colonies are credited. Walmingtonian Saharaland, Sao Tome and Principe, Togoland, Madagascar, and Ceyloba are all open to consulates, conditional on establishment of a full embassy in Walmington on Sea.

Self-rule advocates on the Cape and in Waynesia all but invite full ambassadors, but at this time have no clear legal right to do so, and Great Walmington officially continues to represent the entire Empire in foreign relations.

Also, it will take little effort to discover that the leaders of self-rule organisations in the two mainland southern African colonies are almost exclusively white Protestant males, mostly English-speaking.

Iansisle

If anyone in Walmington seriously suspected any influential members of the Iansislian establishment of contemplating military adventure in Ceyloba, there could have been little short of deadly panic.

Once considered -in Walmington, at least!- to be narrowly Iansisle's scientific, industrial, and military better in per-capita terms at least, the Walmingtonian Empire has slipped further than the Ians despite marginally better over-all economic fortunes in recent years.

Funding to the military had been frozen since the demobilisation after America, atomic war had shaken the national psyche even without Walmington being on the receiving end, and numerous experimental new ideas, having ended in failure, further discouraged innovation as well as the military's preparedness to gamble on change.

Huge Field Supremacy Tanks cost a fortune, bogged down in Norbray proving-ground mud, and broke-down all over the great plains of North America, so the Turtle Marching Tank familiar even to pre-revolutionary Iansislians remained in service along side the thin-skinned Lancer Cavalry Cruiser, the 2" high-velocity gun mounted by which was once more the best anti-armour weapon mounted on any Walmingtonian armoured vehicle.

Semi-automatic intermediate calibre bullpup rifles had confused many veterans and more importantly proved more expensive than CAFMIR bolt-actions, so production halted. Special Operations Wing only, from now on. With these rifles went other weapons of the same calibre, most notably a design that essentially was a compact Bren gun fed by a belt. It was back to .303" bolt-actions and ridiculously heavy water-cooled machineguns, for now.

The Navy hadn't had a new combat ship since the early years of the Anti-Fascist War -which, much to her dismay, Walmington found that she was still fighting, damnable Bosch!- and the Air Force's jet projects were largely gone the way of the battle-rifle and the heavy tank. Swordfish and Wasp biplanes would attempt to torpedo bomb the Empire's naval opponents, Musca twin-prop fighter-bombers support ground operations as they did to little avail in Libya, and piston-engined Stockley Nimbus fighters looked increasingly silly in a sky full of jet bombers and Mach 2 interceptors, however impressive you thought 476mph to be.

Though it wasn't all bad news: Wychwood was experimenting with the mechanics of super-sonic prop-driven flight, after all! The proposed Freebooter would stand up well against... ah.

All in all, cause for alarm should former friends ever come to blows.

While Saharaland put a lot of maroon on the map and provided handy phosphates, and the Cape and Waynesia had a lot of white people and cattle, Ceyloba was something else to Walmington. Its only Asian colony, Walmington looked on Ceyloba as something almost mystic. It was the Empire's favourite child, and with the exception of those ethnic mainlanders in the north its most loyal, but if there was one thing that conspirators against the Walmingtonian Viceroyalty might underestimate it was nothing more complicated than the importance to Walmington of the tea trade.

Ceyloba produces substantially more tea than China, or all of mainland Gallaga, and in per capita terms Walmington consumes considerably more than any other nation. Quarter of a billion cups of the cheaper home blends last year, plus several million of the more refined and expensive sorts served in the better tearooms, hotels, and grand estates. That's in WoS alone, without accounting for the rest of the less thirsty imperial outposts and export beyond the Empire.

Certainly the loss of Saharaland would be a blow to Walmingtonian pride and security near to home, and letting the Cape slip -especially with a former Waynesian Governor as PM- would strategically wound Walmingtonian power, but if there was one colony for the preservation of which the rest of Great Walmington might just be prepared to risk its own neck, Ceyloba was it.

If only they appreciated the threat.

The Confederated Peoples hadn't the least interest in granting full recognition to the Cape or Waynesia. The local white leadership was considered much more bigoted and objectionable than the (comparatively) more benign paternalists who ran the empire. Of course, the self-rule advocates aren't told this. They are simply informed that consulates will likely be opened in their areas after the establishment of and under the authority of a full embassy in Great Walmington.

As far as the embassy itself, there was no sign the Confederals were trying to directly confront Walmingtonian culture. Theodore Aspinwall, Baron Rosewood was appointed as ambassador and no one could doubt that he was as white, as Protestant, as aristocratic and as male as any Walmingtonian.

The Confederals, for their part, eagerly welcomed a Walmingtonian Embassy in New Amsterdam and were open to the possibility of consulates in Tarana, Worthington, Madero Cabello and Iora. Although the Council did draw attention to the huge cultural differences between Confederal and Walmingtonian society, the papers looked past the formal presentation to the High King to the first meeting with President Sacker as something which would, regardless of what was said overtly, be an intrinsically intense cultural encounter.

As for the educational programs, they were exactly as advertised. It was doubtless an experience for students to be thrown into a multicultural, integrated society and perhaps even more of a shock to be thrown into an environment where both men and women studied in the disciplines available. However, there was no orchestrated political activity among these students except what came through voluntary involvement with legal political groups, none of which received official state support. They were there to learn their disciplines, after which they could either return home or try to get citizenship somewhere else.