NationStates Jolt Archive

What a man builds once he can build again...

ULANGER, LAVRAGERIA

On a still and cloudless morning, a remarkable man trod slowly forwards on a road set in the desolate outskirts of the capital city of a nation all his making. Larionko Aidarov wore his elaborate attire as demonstrated on a prior trip abroad and received with scornful ill humour by the low-brow scum with whom his ancient civilisation was brutally forced into contact. It was in truth clothing partly of his own design, but based on traditional methods, materials, colours, and patterns: it was just that he had the resources and, he believed, the status -as founder of the Republic- to take these traditions on to a new level.

To his left rose the city that he would not surrender in spite of French missile strikes and advancing Estenlandic tanks. It was dotted still with cranes and obvious construction sites, many of which had ground to a halt as promised funding was delayed: thus far, everyone had sufficient faith in Aidarov to believe that this was indeed a temporary delay, and that great progress would re-start, if not before then certainly once Russia's wars were over and the Baltic stable.

Ahead was the tarmac of a great military base, upon which rested the running gear of -amongst other aircraft- two Lavragerian CPFF Flanker squadrons and one of Fulcrum along with an anti-aircraft artillery section and one massive aircraft that represented half of the Republic's airborne early-warning preparations. The A-50 Mainstay was one of two operated by the Republic and officially belonged still to Russia. Along with its sister, the Lavragerian Mainstay worked to give intelligence to Russia during their campaign in the Baltic.

Aidarov was headed at a mournful pace towards an Il-14 Crate diplomatic transport, ignoring the concerned glances of high-level aides who knew what was about to happen as well as he did. Miles away at Vargery, Prime Minister Gukov was quite frantic as the pilot aboard his Crate refused to take-off, insisting that to do so before the agreed moment would explode the President's plans. The Prime Minister's bright red face peered from the window of his dirty old plane and watched with chest-tightening concern as Republican soldiers jumped down from trucks just outside the Vargery airbase and special forces stealthily surrounded Russian quarters on the site and ushered Lavragerian crew aboard the second Mainstay.

Minutes passed until, finally, with snipers positioning themselves under cover almost at his feet, Larionko glanced at his pocketwatch and, without another look at the city that had recently held his attention, quickened his stride and climbed aboard his well-appointed transport plane. Even as he did, Ivan Gukov's aircraft was moving into formation with a number of Flanker and Fulcrum aircraft, a Frogfoot heavily modified for electronic-countermeasures duties, and the big A-50. As this aerial flotilla approached the border, it would be joined by the President's similar little armada, now making its way down runways.

Russian and Estenlandic authorities had only the previous day been informed of the Republic's intention to establish embassies in northern Europe; in Rome, with a view to familiarising Lavrageria with the new European order; and in various African domains such as Algeria and with the Roycelandians there so that Lavrageria could begin to forge trade ties with other parts of the world and bring wealth into the eastern European sphere. As such, there would be a lot of traffic as surveyors in construction, security, and diplomacy would be flying out, along with a good deal of documentation and other items. It was also said that a number of high-level officials would be leaving to tour parts of Africa in the Republic's on-going search for raw material suppliers to support the reconstruction.

On the Lavragerian ground, Russians involved in support of their nation's invasion of the Baltic States or with the co-operative deployment of Lavrageria's two A-50 aircraft may or may not be quickly aware of it, but their communications beyond the base were out of order this morning. Attempts to find out more would be met by apparently grouchy Lavragerian officers who appeared to be even more annoyed about the problem, and staff would surely notice a lot of Republican soldiers outside the bases. These, according to their commanders, were working on renovation and upgrade to a number of Lavragerian systems on the base, and finding out whether they were actually responsible for cutting Russian communications as well would be harder to do, though it is likely that the Russians would be left with the impression that the Lavragerians had botched slightly. They would be assured that such renovations happened only on one facility at a time, so over-all Republican security was not seriously reduced. This, of course, was a lie, but with even local cellular telephone networks interrupted, it would be hard to disprove from within. Problems would only arise if Russians tried to leave the involved facilities. They would then be discouraged, and if one individual absolutely insisted and could not legally be prevented, orders existed for them to be followed and assassinated once out of view. Plans for dealing with a large-scale attempt to leave were less certain, but would probably be greeted as improper given a lack of warning, and discouraged as such.

Aidarov wanted to get his Mainstays out of the country and beyond Russia's control, before it was too late.

The A-50s themselves meant that his aerial armada, reputedly carrying staff and diplomatic materials to a number of countries in one mass gesture of friendship, was alert to any attempt at interception as it entered Baltic airspace, identifying itself and claiming to be en route to Rome and North Africa. They would not be heading directly south because... well, Aidarov hoped to be past Russian and Estenlandic Baltic forces before anyone asked why the diplomats couldn't simply fly over the Estenlands-proper.

Aidarov, still quiet and appearing a little detached, remained hopeful that his departure would not be further mired by bloody conflict, and continued to wish for the Republic's continuation without him, though a more realistic desire was for peaceful integration and a degree of autonomy within the rising empire of the east. He knew that his Republic, especially without him and without his retreating eyes in the sky, couldn't win a war with the Estenlands, even though it might do her more harm than it had managed the first time they came to blows -it now had planes, mechanisation, and artillery that could strike-back in depth- and the idea that he could leave them only to be remembered as a coward who fled a bloodbath disturbed him on a very deep level. Perhaps, once he was peacefully away, his works in the little Republic would make it one of the more prosperous and as such valuable and well-treated parts of the empire; perhaps its grand tradition and extreme modern experiences would make it a land well respected and give its sons heroic careers in the armed forces. Perhaps he would be remembered for building that from almost nothing, and not for leading Lavrageria to ignominious subjugation. But there was no other way. Lavrageria would not let its founder and war-leader step-down while it felt threatened, and Wingert would not make development easy while Aidarov continued to rule a defiant Republic within his empire.

Larionko tried not to appear obvious in his frequent glances to the window of his aircraft as the thought of missile trails or intercept aircraft played on his mind whenever he managed to dispel worries about home. In the event of such a disaster as interception, the escaping President was prepared to try audacious measures in conflict aversion.

OOC: sorry.. please remind me where Lavrangia is.

OOC: Lavrageria (Lav-Ra and Geria pronounced as in Bulgaria, freely translated as meaning something like the place where we settled, or place of permanent dwelling (in contrast to the population's recent nomadic past)) covers Belarus. About 2/3 of it, mostly the south and west, was annexed by the Estenlands (Ukraine) after a bloody war, leaving only a small Republic in the north and east, loosely supported by Russia. The changes in Russia and invasion of the Baltic states have left the Republic's 3.2million citizens hopelessly isolated and the ambitious are making their exits.
New IC post on the way.

THE WESTERN BALKANS

While to the west Rome reasserted its political and religious power as it hadn't for centuries, the eastern shores of the Adriatic staged for many years their own sorts of popular inquisition. The last century left millions residing within a hodgepodge of little-regarded backwaters after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the receeding of Ottoman power let in the desperate southern tribes cut-off from the Lodoz Confederacy by the consolidation of the modern Romanian state and the rise of the Soviet Union. Unable to resist them individually and dismissed by the outside as soon as it was realised that the rampaging horde would have to be delt with in the foundation of a new state, the peoples of the region could do nothing but accept their new role as hosts.

The Russian, Estenlandic, and other Holy League wars of expansion in recent months left Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins, Bosnians, Macedonians, and Albanians feeling suddenly laboured by their now decades old association with the largest surviving Glakatahn population outside Lavrageria as panic struck the clans following the Estenlandic assault on the freedom of their cousins to the north-east. The Adriatic Glakatahn were causing more trouble than they had in three generations as warlords and chieftains sought to create their own confederation with which to protect themselves from the apparently closing storm: the Slavs and others would just have to fall in line or everyone would be doomed.

The general population of the western Balkans shared the Glakatahn's fears and fractures in equal measure.
Fearing the advance of the Tsar's armies, some looked upon Orthodox Christians as bait enticing them towards the Balkans and urged them to leave or to embrace heresy as had in the past protected Bosnians from the fickle shifting of Europe's religiously-directed political pressures, but many feared that this in itself would be a red rag to the Estenlandic bull; while some attacked Orthodox institutions in an effort to erase them or hide the population's presence, some members of that Church turned to Glakatahn-inspired atheism to protect themselves from their neighbours or to reduce their appeal to the potential invaders.
Catholics were suspected of conspiring to join the Holy League without a fight in order to avert Tsarist invasion, and turn the Balkans into a Roman puppet, and life was no easier than for their Orthodox neighbours.
With all this going on, many accused Muslim populations of inviting the Ottomans back to protect them from the Holy League, and the neglected territories of the western Balkans tossed and turned discontentedly, strangely uncertain about when and from where the sun would rise.

<Bump>

very good as always M8.

<taggage>

OCC: Ah, quite good Lav!

Mind if some of my mercenaries from the war with the Estenlands show up again in the Balkans?

OOC: Well, I can't very well stop you! Actually, I suppose that I can try, but even if I want to, that will have to be IC. Hopefully half the point of AMW is that you don't have to ask, and we all know that no bad RPers are around to ruin things. (Short answer, "No, I don't mind".)
At the moment I'm just giving warning to players who might be in a position to meddle with Aidarov's departure, then after that I'm moving on to dealing with the Balkans. The fate of the Republic can come later or elsewhere, I think.

Vasiliy Podgordin sits on his cot in the recovery wing of a gloomy, Tito-era hospital in Sarajevo and pouts. Sitting in a hospital for weeks on end with nothing but a pair of outdated Flypasts to keep him occupied isn't something Vasiliy is used to doing, and he is therefore quite upset.

When the nurse comes to take a blood sample, he curses and mumbles, flinching as the large needle is thrust into a vein and tugged back out after a few seconds. But with his right foot, most of his right hand, several ribs, and some...other bits...gone, the result of being shot down and crashing into a grove of trees while being part of Adirov's small airforce, Vasiliy isn't going anywhere until his infections subside and his fever abates.

But when it does, he already has a job lined up flying L-410 turbolets for a small-time carrier in the region, an occupation quite different from piloting an An-14, with jury-rigged rocket and MG pods, over embattled Lavrageria. And who knows; mabye Vasiliy's taste for action will get the better of him for the second time, again flying for Adirov...

(OOC: Added because of the mention of the Tito-era, in order to elaborate on my rather brief commentary on the Balkans, earlier. It's a little bit speculative since I don't think that WWII has been fully worked-out in AMW, so give me a little leeway! Questions if you have any.)

For centuries the Glakatahn, roaming back and forth through eastern Europe and concentrating in a band running from Lavrageria to the western Balkans, had scuppered the plans of better recognised civilisations. Ottoman attempts to capitalise on their victories over Christian leagues struggled to take hold, Serb uprisings against the Turks rolled-on with Galaktahn help one generation and were crushed by tribal opposition the next.

Serbia's independence from the Ottoman Empire never really resulted in the progress hoped for: there was no time for adopting European bourgeois structures when the tribes saw relative weakness with the recession of the Turks.

The end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's hold on its share of the Balkans enabled further freedom for the Glakatahn as Entente powers, stretched by casualities and other occupations, saw the Glakatahn as just too much to handle directly, and, as ever, powerful clans were actually used in policing and administration to no small degree... or at least this was the excuse given for their actually uncontrollable behaviour. Besides, with the Serbian army's retreat across the Albanian mountain ranges and then the Central Powers' defeat, the Glakatahn were obviously first on hand, and the Serbian army struggled to return from Corfu.

A puny Serbia was disabling to the resolution of the Croat question as Croatian national interests threatened idealists long advocating unity between Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes, and the prospective gathering seemed unlikely to offer any protection against the most threatening tribes, nor did it look to the outside world like a viable counter-weight to anything much.

The Balkans remaind broken and backwards, never recovering from the loss of tens of percent of their male population and failing to build their own empire to replace those collapsing on either side.

The Axis forces, when they came, felled state after state before being confronted by guerrilla armies such as the idealist National Liberation Army lead by Josip Broz Tito, which kept-alive the earlier ambitions towards Croat-Serb-Slovene unity that were scuppered by Croat politicians, and other groups. The Glakatahn tribes fought with typical ferocity against the invaders, and though their efforts lead to many harsh retributions by the Germans, the fact that they typically carried out their own revenge with equal brutality identified them in a strange manner as valiant defenders of the region. The clans also took a sort of credit for settling the serious in-fighting between partisan armies, seeing the successful ones -such as the NLA- as likely to become a challenge. Though their motives were selfish, the initial obvious impact was in the halting of reprisals and fighting.

Coming up to modern times, the western Balkans remain as ever. Ottomans retreated, Austro-Hungarians broken, Serbian losses and emmigrations almost unimaginable, Glakatahn influence and strength pivotal, independent Croation ambitions and Holocaust participation telling, nationalist and unionist armies beaten down in unpopularity. The people now sit in fear of the creeping forces of the Estenlands, many believing that Romania is on the brink of destruction. The Glakatahn feel it most keenly after the invasion of Lavrageria, from which they have long resented their separation. There are renewed thoughts of strength in unity, both within the Balkan Glakatahn who seek to build their own equivalent to the Lavragerian Lodoz Confederacy and the Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs who again think of empire as atrocities slowly slip from living memory.

Aidarov flies towards the simmering cauldron of these mountainous lands as something bigger than the giant hulk of Lavrageria's destroyer Tsar, he flies as the civiliser of the Glakatah and the builder of nations, a champion of democracy: valiant enemy of the Estenlands.

Now leaving Occupied Lithuanian Airspace: Unifiying Glakatahn Hero and Renowned Nation Builder Plus One [small air force], last call for dastardly intervention. To your left, passengers will see one frightened Polish state about to extend hospitality and receive a coincidental defensive boost.

Aidarov's aerial flotilla made its dash across Lithuania following receipt of intelligence from agents and Lithuanian resistance elements on the ground and with their A-50 Mainstay aircrafts' Schnel-M radar seeming to confirm the absence of potential interceptors in the air ahead. It was a matter of minutes until the whole assembly of aircraft was securely inside Polish airspace. Shortly there after, the Lavragerians touched down and Aidarov quite vanished, Gukov making his way to meet openly with Polish officials. At the same time, Lavragerians and Poles worked together in unloading a number of crates from several of the transport aircraft on hand.

In the Lavragerian Republic, state radio and television began to announce the news: Prime Minister Ivan Gukov was in Poland for talks on trade, and President Larionko Aidarov had gone on a grand quest. The builder of the first Glakatahn homeland was off to, "do the same great work for the southern tribes as he had for the northern branch of the family... to build a great ally for the Lavragerian bastion of democracy inside Tsardom and to secure for further millions a stable independent course through the seas of international extremism!"

Polling stations opened within hours as Lavragerians were asked to endorse an old man named Kochan as, "Interim Secretary in the Office of Presidency", and the half-toothless grin of the weathered, rubber-featured septuagenarian began to appear on screens and pasted to walls. Kochan was a political nobody, but one of the first people to settle in the village that became Ulanger and an early defender of that community beset by frequent assault from the Lodoz Confederacy, his was at least a face that community leaders regarded with a spark of recognition and fond memories of an independent and workman-like yore.

The public seemed to go without a significant reaction in the hours after the announcements, and as yet none were aware that the President had skipped town with the entirety of the Republic's reserves of foreign currency, its airborne early warning, and several of its best warriors and thinkers (the former goup from the willing, the latter a mix of that and the press-ganged). Armoured cars still rolled through the streets, and everything seemed normal beyond the on-going inactivity of construction sites, supposed to be holidaying until Russia became stable but actually stopped by a sudden drain of no small part of their capital.

With the great battle that had just been fought between the rulers of of Russia and the Estenlands, the High Command went into shock at the sight of so many planes departing at once, they were able to scramble a wing (12) of Migs and send them out to engage, but it was felt that this would be the only planes able to be sent up in the limited time until they crossed the Polish border, and the fighters were given orders not to cross that border.
Tsar Wingert the Great.

Just to be clear, the construction stopped for one reason, Aidorov skipped town with all of the money, right?

That, and maybe the Russians were too busy and couldn't make their commitments. However, the Quinntonian funding and I think even the Hindustani funding all would have come through, just to be stolen. At this piont, that means that Aidorov would have recieved in the nieghbourhood of 8-9 billion USQD. Considering that at least some would have been spent already on the reconstruction, how much do you think he would have skipped town with? Taking into account that he was probably leaching money from his people all the way along, is it reasonable to assume that he left with 10-15 billion or the equivelent? That, plus military assets and most of teh great talent in the nation. This is a ballsy move. I am excited to see how it plays out.

Also, seeing as how the Quinntonian funds were to be paid quarterly, at least some foriegn money will be injected into the Republic soon.

Hmmm, another thought, if he had borrowed on the foriegn market, though he probably couldn't inspire much confidence yet, he could have probably added a couple more billion to that, though skipping town before footing teh bill, would pretty much make sure that he could never borrow like that again.

WWJD
Amen.

(OOC: Well, I'm not exactly sure how much he'll have made-off with, but I'll talk about his shady doings, anyway.)

Aidarov did invest a fair bit of aid into reconsctruction, and for a time appeared to be attempting to make Lavrageria into a mini industrial hub of new and modern construction so as it make it valuable to Russia. But he gave-up on this quite quickly as he found it impossible to deny that the Republic's situation was only going to worsen.
A lot of foreign currency was put aside as work was gradually on-going, purportedly because the Republic, after the loss of -by Ulanger's official reports- two hundred thousand lives, tens of percent being young men, hadn't the workforce to apply spending as quickly as it was arriving, especially since the job of educating the population sufficiently to have them build a successful nation was far from complete.

More than that, the administration cut a lot of corners. Buildings went up, but with most work-crews unskilled it was not hard to convince them that a bit of aluminium pipe can hold up a block of flats, itself made largely of plasterboard. Most of the buildings were given a fairly sunny facade, with plenty of taditionalist old ladies and their grandchildren happy to adorn new projects with traditional Glakatahn patterns, often made from cheap plaster and out of hand-made moulds provided by enthusiastic volunteer crafts people. The people have been happy about how nice it is to live not just in cities, but in cities that are distinctly their own. A couple of years from now, one can expect buildings to be collapsing without warning and people to be trapped in easily-caught fires... the assumption is that Aidarov will have been long gone and done much of his vital work by the time the blame blows back in his direction, and the money saved by using inferior materials and either failing to make-up safety codes or else just lying about their satisfaction has ammounted to countless millions of dollars across the nation. This also means that any attack on Lavrageria is likely to result in wildly disproportionate civilian casualties even if the attackers genuinely don't intend to cause such... bullets will fly through walls and a defender with a molotov cocktail might easily take two city blocks with him by mistake.

Again, Aidarov spent a lot on defence procurement. Hundreds of millions of dollars, in fact. But he did all right there, too, doing his best to encourage bidding wars between potential suppliers, bribing more than a few people in Russia and elsewhere (Putin probably would have ended up fighting Aidarov if Wingert hadn't got there, first!), and opening his nation to Russian forces in the Baltic campaign in exchange for favourable deals... plus the two A-50 Mainstay AEW aircraft, which were far more than Lavrageria could afford, were provided as Russian-owned and jointly Lavragerian operated from the Republic, meant to defende Republican air space after working for the Russians in the Baltic conflict. Now he's just out-right stolen them! (It is supposed to be that the Polish and other governments that arguably aided his escape were not entirely privvy to information about the status of the Mainstays, as letting every Tom, Dick and Harry know would have been some manner of national security risk for Lavrageria and Russia alike.)

Beyond his embezzlement, bribes, theft, and political favours at home, Aidarov also, you may vaguely remember, took an interest in certain areas of the Russian criminal world, specifically the salmon and more importantly caviar of the Kamchatka Peninsula, which has always been near impossible to police, and worth many more millions when sold in the western cities and elsewhere. Unlike the Mafia, many of Aidarov's agents had anything from diplomatic immunity to a multi-billion-dollar defence budget to clear-up problems with the authorities or unwanted competition. Actually, if the Tsar takes control of all Russia, Aidarov will probably keep-up his criminal interests there, and get even more involved in bribing this and assassinating that in the vast under-populated parts of the empire.

Then of course there's Lavrageria's exports: timber, crafts and mass-produced faux-crafts capitalising on the unusual culture's brief spell in the world's gaze, furs, and Lavrageria's small reserves of natural gas and oil -insufficient to satisfy a significant portion of national need- were almost entirely exported, bringing in a small ammount in terms of a national economy but a lot for an individual looking to pay-off foreign officials directly or with lavish entertainment and gifts. Aidarov is also supposed to have embraced Putin's capitalism... sort of. He has business interests in Russia, but has done his darndest to use his influence, his contacts, his warriors, and his other stolen wealth

Finally, it should be noted that Aidarov's ill-got billions have not really been used to enrich his own life. He lives very comfortably, and above the standards of most of his citizens, and even had a few rather weird palaces built, but all on a much smaller scale than would be seen in, for example, France, and his personal tastes were never so expensive as those of his clients. He has, for example, his personally tailored national dress, but only a few other changes of clothing, and has genuinely been more interested in leaving his mark on society and going down in history than in growing fat in a golden palace. In fact, having a palace built but keeping it small was in part designed to raise eyebrows and illicit remarks about corruption from citizen A only for citizen B to reply that, well, it's only little, smaller than the houses of many Russian businessmen, and all politicians are corrupt so we can be glad that Larionko's only slightly so. Thus the massive scale of his real corruption would if ever uncovered seem absurd to many of his loyal supporters.

(That's probably a bit more information than you really wanted without getting any specific answer, but hopefully you can see that his resources are sufficient to do what has been done and what is being done, without my RP being totally absurd?)

EARLIER, IN THE LAVRAGERIAN REPUBLIC

Kochan, the somewhat feeble old man, was already acting as much as the Republic's leader as would ever be the case if he was able to claim victory in the vote on his proposed interim premiership. Being discussed was the detail of Aidarov's departure, happening at that time.

Someone was worried about the possibility of interception of the airfleet by Estenlandic or even Russian fighters. It was plainly explained that Larionko had a range of options in the event of such a problem arising.

First, it was said, intelligence assets belonging to the Republic and within the sympathetic ranks of at least some Baltic resistance organisations provided data on aircraft dispositions, the latter groups possibly hoping that it might lead to action against the invaders. Long-term observation along with the considerable resources of two A-50 Mainstay AEW aircraft in the flight were likely to combine with the surprise of the operation and the short distances involved to allow the Lavragerians to reach Poland before a substantial reaction could be co-ordinated. This was especially so as the Russians and Estenlanders were thought unlikely to feel the need for large air intercept resources to be stationed in a theatre that saw little aerial combat, nor to expect a threat from the Republic after its co-operation with Russia during the invasions.

Second, Aidarov was actually willing to attempt direct communication with pilots sent against him and to offer them perhaps even millions of dollars to allow his escape, and would, apparently, promise assylum either back in Lavrageria where the pilots could live as heroes or, thanks to his diplomatic and economic contacts, in Poland, Slovakia, or Hungary if they followed his formation out of the Baltic: he could promise to arrange for the pilots new identities and, if desired, to use Lavragerian agents to smuggle their families out as well. Aside from that, he might also offer to take them with him to his new promised land where they would be regarded as founding heroes of the calibre of the captured but still-popular Lavragerian General Tumin Kalmakoff. Their aircraft might be brought along to take part in the foundation of a new airforce, or else left in Poland as compensation for the nation's part in accepting Russian or Estenlandic deserters.

Finally, if interception could not be avoided and negotiations either made no impression or could not be initiated, it was true that the Lavragerian formation contained good airborne intelligence support and consisted of the best Republican pilots considered sufficiently committed to Aidarov, some trained abroad either at the Republic's expense or as part of aid programmes, flying their own MiG-29M2 Fulcrum and Su-30 Flanker machines. They would fight, and the initiation of hostilities would be met by an unwanted Lavragerian offensive in wider Lavrageria and into the Balkans, where it was hoped that Republican forces could meet-up with inspired resistance elements. The little Republic had around six hundred gun, mortar, and rocket artillery pieces, seven hundred tanks, nine hundred other armoured vehicles, forty armed helicopters, and just over one hundred combat jets (all of which well explained why reconstruction work had to be halted and blamed on regional instability afflicting supply of materials, given how much money Aidarov had already accounted for), which would be thrown into action in order to cover the fleet's escape.

Of course, the last point did not exactly settle the nerves of those who had been curious, but it was a matter well out of their hands. Kastus Vorobei was in direct charge of the military, and the military was loyal to him as he was loyal to Aidarov's apparently noble higher purpose in Europe.

(OOC: I've gone back to that because I want to let the Estenlands/Russia have the chance to cause one of those three things to happen if it suits them. So long as at least part of Aidarov's formation -he included- gets away, I can work with whatever else goes down. We can just assume they made the dash as in point one and have nothing happen to disrupt things, we can start a diplomatic controversy that might not go away by having the pilots sent against him succumb to his bribes, or we can make a fight of it and have the Republic fling itself against the Tsarist bayonets.)

As the radio calls came through in Russian, (assuming that they would be able to speak that given their diplomatic ties, but less likley to speak Ukrainain as well) of the 12 planes that were scrambled, three broke formation and fired upon their comrades, all the young single men of that wing. The act of surprise caught two out of the three targets that they loosed their missiles upon and detroyed them almost before they realiused what was going on, and then theyr hit their jets and burned after the air armada, the rest recovered, and using their superior amounts of experience, returned fire, the subsequent dogfight detroying tow of teh three defectors, the last one burned out of the area towards the Polish border while the remaining 7 planes attack the flying armada, loosing the rest of their missiles at fleeing targets, and then alternately engaging and burning out when the armed escort turns to face them. Only two make it home, and no more planes are scrambled to the task.

Diplomats and those military commanders that are charged with Tsarist troops sorrounding the Lavragerian territory go into a full containment mode. The military goes on full alert, the Polish embassy lodges a formal request for the return of the planes, especially the defecting pilot. The Lavragerian embassy also lodges a formal complaint about the crossing of teh armada into Tsarist terrotory, and informs Republican Lavrageria that as of right now the small state is uner a full and total embargoe. All traffic, air and otherwise in or out of the Republic is cancelled and military units are being called up to reinfoce the alraedy large contingent that is around the city.

IN an unexpected move, the Russian embassy also lodges a formal protest in support of their "Brothers and Glorious ally the Tsar!"

Tsar Wingert the Great.

While, not unexpectedly, Mumbai doesn't pick up on Adirov's departure until a while after the event, eventually spotter reports from Ulanger confirm the absence of the Lavragerian Republic's most modern air assets, and it doesn't take a great leap of imagination to realize who took them.

When Parliament finds out about how the former President took a good chunk of Hindustani aid money with him, the mood is one of indignation and Mumbai organizes a mission of diplomats with the aim of repoing some of Adirov's Su-30s as reparation. But in so far as Adirov being a thorn in Tsar Wingert's side as well as a pain to everybody else, he's not so much a pain to Hindustan as he would be otherwise.

And a more defensible Poland also works in everybody's interests.

Meanwhile, Vasiliy Podgordin is discharged from the hospital and takes a taxi to his new place of work. He is met by the toothless, wrinkled chief mechanic and the sight of five surprisingly sharply painted Let 410s. Before the day is out, Vasiliy is given his first assigment. In addition to six more or less unoutstanding passengers, his turbolet is loaded with a number of crates which he is instructed not to worry about.

As Putin lay in the snow, dying, a small device that lay in his pocket, notifying him of various emergencies in the Empire.

It flashed "Aidarov has defected across the Polish border"

Vladimir grimaced, the life draining out of him, and muttered "Good for you Aidarov...At least one of us was smart enough to get out while they still could..."

(OOC: By the way...I've always assumed that Aidarov and Putin were fairly good (albeit slightly antagonistic) friends, judging from their close partnership and various discussions. Is that a good assumption?

(OOC: Yeah, I can imagine that being so. Aidarov would certainly have tried to get in Putin's good books on a personal level, in no small part to distract him from the Lavragerian's shady dealings in Russia, to make him disinclined to believe rumours about them, and to temper his possible reaction, for example. However, I don't see any reason why Larionko wouldn't have ended up actually liking Putin as well. It'd be easy to call him a cynical manipulator, but even I'm not sure whether Aidarov's outward commitment to some form of democracy for his people was actually a charade or really true on some level, and he himself might not remember anymore.

IC post perhaps tomorrow, I've been derailed by minor sickness, for now!)

OVER THE OCCUPIED BALTIC TERRITORIES

Stooped over as he squinted through the window of his small but well appointed Presidential transport, Aidarov was virtually shrieking into the radio transmitter on realising that his crew had got-through to the interceptors and, apparently, that he'd succeeded in causing some dissention. The President was ducking and jumping about in the cockpit as if he could actually see the dogfight breaking out, in fact reacting to what he could piece together from intercepted transmissions.

"How many are on our side? Well find out! Get the bastards! You'll get medals for this, you magnificent bastards!" and a torrent of hardly translatable Glakatahn cursing and salutations which often involved strange mini-sentences about animals, landscapes, and weather conditions all came flying from Larionko as he ordered Republican fighters into the fray. In his excitement the President quite forgot about the rest of his air force, indeed his nation, as he dispatched pairs of his escort to help the defectors. Initially the armada had looked vulnerable as interceptors clung to the two-hundred-knot pace of the transports, just a few accelerating past at worthwhile combat speed and then dropping back to allow others a burst of speed. The Estenlandic fighters might have swept over the formation and blasted half of it out of the sky were it not for the timely distraction of three ambitious young rebels, who provided the delay needed to swing-back the four Su-30 that had been roaring ahead, and to enable a pair of MiG-29 to increase towards combat speed and break formation.

Closing in, the six Lavragerian aircraft, flown by some of the few elite pilots judged loyal enough to join Aidarov's mission, were frustrated by their commander-in-chief and his repeated orders to help the defectors, and apparently the fact that he actually meant help, not 'help'. Bearing down on the all-Estenlandic dogfight, the Republicans excitedly chattered amongst one another and over the frequency used to make contact with the foreigners as they tried to identify friend and foe amongst a dozen basically identical aircraft, not knowing how many fell into each category. The hesistation clearly cost them as missiles came flying out against the quartet of Sukhoi approaching from the west, sending two of them down in flames. Needless to say, however, the source of this fire was sufficient to clear-up confusion for the second pair, which retaliated with counter-fire against the offenders, while from the north Aidarov's two dispatched MiG's arrived to become entangled with the similar Estenlandic aircraft at close range, using guns and infra-red guided missiles. Larionko continued to bounce about, testing his poor flight crew as he leant on their shoulders while peering through windows and shouting in their ears.

Then, a missile trail bearing down on the formation and a sudden change of tone in the President who stood bolt up right, struck his head, stooped again, but began to talk in his dramatic, deep, speech-giving voice, beating his chest and giving defiant words for the benefit of some imagined audience. An escort fighter moved to attempt interception of the threat, but wasn't nearly quick enough and the missile found its mark on or near the bluging port engine of one of the flight's An-72 Coaler transports. Well provided in survivability by the configuration of its engines and a generally hardy aircraft, the machine struggled, desperate to keep its cargo of high-technology items intact. The Lavragerians, light three expensive fighters and with two aircraft trailing black smoke but plus one Estenlandic defector, crossed the Polish frontier and shortly made emergency landfall in that nation.

LAVRAGERIA RETPVBLIKA

Nothing happened. Kastus Vorobei was gone. He'd crossed the border along with several elite troops and security agents in a Russian military truck, the former occupants of which were on their way to possible immortaility thanks to the preserving qualities of the swamp into which their bodies had been dumped. Getting into Poland from the Baltic might be more troublesome, but the Defence Secretary hoped to make it with the help of the Lithuanian resistance while the enemies were concentrating on the containment of the Republic that he already had escaped.

His absence caused a break-down in the Republican military's chain of command, and no order to battle reached the fighting men. Over following hours and days, however, Republican internal security continued to tighten its observation and control of Russian forces inside Lavrageria since the Baltic War. Many Russian units were under virtual arrest where they stood, under watch of snipers and passed by armoured cars. But the Republican authorities had made no comment on these matters.

WESTERN BALKANS

According to Byzantine sources, the Glakatahn had been here for more than twelve centuries, and were identified as Serbs arriving in Europe along with the Huns four hundred years earlier before moving south. Debate on the accuracy of these suppositions persists in certain accademic circles, but the teaching had entered into the Lavragerian school curriculum shortly before Aidarov's departure. The western Balkans confused the issue with the building of Serbian civilisation as most of the world knew it existing for centuries alongside the on-going rampage of the Glakatahn, and Aidarov's new civilisation had never addressed the issue of whether the Southern Glakatahn and the 'conventional' Serbs of the Balkans were in antiquity one and the same before a schism such as that played out recently between east and west in Lavrageria.

Larionko closed the history books and associated Lavragerian policy folders one by one and without any haste, but then, after stacking them on his lap, placed the pile down quite forcefully on the empty seat beside him, expecting that they would be taken away and properly stored before the aircraft landed after the final leg of its journey. He'd concluded that this avenue wasn't the easiest one down which to approach his task, and as such lost interest in it.

Slovakia and Hungary fell away behind the Lavragerians in similar fashion to Poland before them. Aidarov's largely ill-got multi-billion-dollar fortune was light by several percent and no small ammount of Lavragerian intelligence on Russian and Estenlandic events, places, and personalities had been disseminated across several of the Eastern European states feeling threatened by the Holy League and its associates.

Aidarov arrived in Vojvodina at Novi Sad, and stepped from a Lavragerian CPFF Il-14 Crate that was destined for a significant museum place.

His head still full of history as the great man went-over his position and mentally repeated his own rhetoric for the thousandth time, Aidarov climbed from his plane in deep thought. Serbian intervention that finished the short-lived Banat Republic after the Great War might have been followed by significant unity under a Serb state had it not been for the equally great opportunity that the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire afforded the still-nomadic Southern Glakatahn. Vojvodina today represented one of many tiny states in the Western Balkans, and as with many of these others the people of this land feared the eastern arm of the Holy League, and were coming to fear one another. This was as minorities such as Slovak Protestants or Catholic Hungarians and the Serb majority looked -or accused one another of looking- to conflicting sources of salvation. And always the Glakatahn roved amongst them, attempting to force unity and now even to uproot settled Serbs and essentially press-gang them into membership of one or other rival attempt to build a southern answer to the Lodoz Confederacy that might secure the entire region against that which all resented most: manipulation by alien and irrelevent political rivals in Europe and beyond.
Such manipulation had horribly warped the region through the Austrian Empire, the Hungarians, the Ottoman, the Catholic and Eastern churches, the Entente Powers, the Axis, and of course what all of these had made people do... the Bulgarian turn-around against erstwhile allies in the early C20th thanks to support from the Central Powers and what shattering blows this delt to hopes of almost pan-Balkan unity was one example that Larionko's ambitions hoped now consigned to history's wastebin. The Bosnian example of how a decisive break from the structures of international organisation -specifically religious- was a still more promising foundation stone upon which the nationbuilder hoped to work.

This was a land that thought for itself, that had not made-up its mind, and this was a land of opportunity.

WESTERN BALKANS

Several score Lavragerians were now in country that their captain called the southern end of their people's empire. The people of Serbia, and surrounding states as they too were visited, played host to slightly odd foreigners who approached them as friends long missed and spoke of some mysterious new dawn.

Aidarov, meanwhile, was being received by governments as a man who could reign-in the clans. Perhaps at the back of their minds some individuals feared that Larionko might only end-up uniting the nomads under himself as southern Kiba and there after become as much a threat as the Tsar, but for now they all felt that the constant in-fighting and the Glakatahn attempts to conscript settled Serbs into their ranks aligned against the Russias was a more pressing issue (that was save the few who didn't actually see the Russians et al as a threat so much as natural allies: most of these were by now being called traitor, and this sentiment was only increasing as the Lavragerians dashed about making a good and brotherly impression). If the tribesmen didn't settle down there'd be no chance of preparing against Estenlandic and Russian pressure, and if the Balkan states persisted in appearing so weak as to be inable to even keep order in their own houses who was to say that the Turks wouldn't take advantage under pretext of securing their frontiers against Glakatahn and Russias alike?

No, there had never been such a pressing need to settle the clans, and the ever present dream of Slavic and Balkan unity was having one of its good days to boot.

BUMP!
WWJD
Amen.

Aidarov had rewarded the three turncoat Estenlandic fighter pilots with The Standard of Heroes, which was a Lavragerian medal cast in metal of melted-down relics of the war with the Estenlands in the shape of a strong tree and finished with gold detail, worn on a blue and gold ribbon. It entitled the recipient to the title Hero of the [North Glakatahn Popular Democratic] Republic, and, of course, was awarded posthumously to two of the rogue pilots. The third, and only survivor, was a question remaining up in the air. For now he was still in Poland, and while Aidarov supported his freedom and potentially his departure for the Balkans if he desired it, it was suspected that the Tsar wouldn't make life easy for the Poles while the pilot's future remained in question.

Meanwhile, in the south, it was clear to see why the pilot was not receiving 100% of the Lavragerian leader's attention. Larionko Aidarov was by now on his way to the fore in a new arena. The arrival of the creator of the first Glakatahn nation state, the unifier of millions, and by some stretched accounts the victor against combined Holy League forces (well, they started it and he survived! Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, even Putin had all fallen), well, it had a significant influence on the southern tribes. Mortic of the Subotican Glakatahn was first to align himself with the Lavragerians, swearing fealty to Aidarov and expecting a higher part in what resulted for the Balkans than his fifteen hundred warriors could have won him alone. In fact, alone he likely would have been defeated in the struggle for confederacy and executed by the victor so as to remove him as a threat. Now his warriors threw down their bows and bolt-action rifles and broke-open crates unloaded from the Lavragerian planes, revealing automatic weapons and explosives.

Tadan too came forward, claiming eighteen-hundred warriors (Mortic scoffed that it was hardly eight hundred), but then became suddenly reticent and, after a third tribal leader showed a similar ammount of will-he won't-he interest, Tadan became the first to join with Aidarov for an up-front price.

Within two weeks, Larionko Aidarov was at the head of between three and five thousand heavily armed career warriors in Vojvodina along with a few dozen elite guards from his own republic. This was the pattern of things to come, with clans across the Balkans buzzing with positive energy as tales of Aidarov's exploits in the north span off into the domain of the clearly fantastical, and governments across the region smiled through gritted teeth as the Glakatahn problem went into decline and they appeared, hopefully, possibly, to be gaining a mercenary army against imperialism, right?..

The Austrian statement of intent to pursue annexation of Czech territory had been met by a Larionko Aidarov openly calling himself Jugo-Kiba (basically Chieftain of the Balkan Glakatahn) and going by the name Lav (a Serbo-Croatian word meaning lion, and notably sharing commonality in Latin script with the man's given name and the name of his northern republic). This was fair indication of his confidence and of his success thus far in the Balkans.

The scale of it was defined soon after when the Glakatahn of Vojvodina joined with the settled 'original' Serbs of the province and some of those descended from settles attracted by the region's relative prosperity as well as some -though one suspects not all- of the minority groups including a few individuals touted as leaders of the Hungarian community in declaring Aidarov the saviour of the Balkans, recognising him as de facto premier of nearly two million persons resident in Vojvodina.

Larionko "Lav" Aidarov, after apparently declaring himself in a position of some hostility towards the Austrian administration, or at least its expansionist ambitions, made one of his first acts as leader a fairly dramatic one by any standards. With the government of Vojvodina finding its position untennable as Glakatahn flocked to the region and Aidarov's Lavragerian troops and aircraft took charge of Čenej airport, the new premier announced an invitation to all the free-thinking people of Balkans and surrounding lands: there should be referenda on unity under his free banner of democracy in opposition to the Tsar and to the corruption and infighting of the region.

From coast to coast and mountain to field the Glakatahn aligned behind their Jugo-Kiba took it upon themselves, apparently, to organise referenda on unity and to over-see polling themselves...

There was trouble across the Balkans. This Lav had snatched Vojvodina right out from under the feet of the Novi Sad government and, rumour had it, executed several of them for delaying Balkan unification and a second Glakatahn state. Now his thugs, as local governments typically branded them, were ranging across the region distributing propaganda and, much to the frustration of those trying to convince others of their thuggery, establishing polling stations!

Most of Serbia, Bosnia, and other regions seemed to be falling for it -that was, for Lav rather than for the inferior charms of their own politicians- but trouble was flaring-up in Albania as locals generally rejected the Glakatahn and the idea of confederation, in Bulgaria and Hungary where existing states were too strong and too sparse was Glakatahn population, and in Croatia and Slovenia where economies were strong enough to fund disinterest in some quarters.

However, already the Lavragerians and their associates were declaring a series of victories (OOC: I think it seems a bit soon, but I'm posting a lot and there's not much scope for interaction, perhaps, and judging by the bump and the odd post people are at least interested, so hopefully it's okay to just press on?) in referenda on union behind Aidarov. Thousands gathered around the banner while others in isolated communities found themselves being pushed towards it by outsiders only as hard as comrades pulled them there. Glakatahn bands were setting up party offices in remote villages, establishing barracks to train new recruits for a new national army to serve something new that went by a name never before heard: Yugoslavia, Land of the South Slavs, which Glakatahn were equally able to interperate as South Home Land. They were also recruiting party guards, constables, propagandists, informers, masters at arms, spies, and so much more.

Elsehwere, national governments were more able to act on the offence they took at having votes organised against their authority and armies raised on their soil. A smattering of gunfire decorated lands from Sofia to Ljubliana.

Still interested, but you are right, not much anyone can do at this piont, unless they are going to march an army in there and try and stop you.
WWJD
Amen.

SOME TIME LATER

Larionko Lav Aidarov had been bouncing around for days, usually seen in his personally designed faux-traditional Lavragerian outfit, tails swinging behind him and colours just asking government snipers to try their luck against the bobbing shape of the pretender, who skipped about with his hands behind his back and a near ridiculous smirk on his face.

Vojvodina was his by force of arms, the rest of Serbia and Bosnia had accepted him too, though it was possible that a good part of the Albanian majority in Kosovo was following under some coercion. Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia were lagging behind but this was only as Lav's most devoted followers dealt properly with those devisive and self-interested politicians who persisted in keeping the Balkans weak for their own short-term gain.

That was the official line from the Lavragerians, at least. Actually, stubborn political leaderships were being arrested or else assassinated en masse.

But those lands and peoples would come along, eventually, for their own security and local identity.

Albania, Hungary, and Bulgaria, on the other hand, didn't seem to be falling for Lav's charms, even when politely delivered by the southern tribes. The Lavragerians continued to try, hoping to convince Albanians to join their ethnic cousins elsewhere as partners to the Glakatahn and the Serbs; to convince the Hungarians that they had as much to fear from Austria as from the east; and even to export to Bulgaria local fears that the Ottoman may try to expand before the Russians arrived in the Balkans.

Meanwhile, Aidarov was already sinking most of his remaining wealth into Vojvodina's industry, useful for his vision of future federation since the region was something of a Balkan breadbasket and source of the area's modest oil and coal reserves. Aidarov's formative government was starting to invite limited investment from abroad, but would meet all approaches with layers of scrutiny and vetting: Lav wasn't going to let just anybody into his den, and certainly didn't want to give major power-blocs reason to focus on his new domain.

(OOC: I have supposed that I may as well just keep adding talk about the consumption of peoples and lands by Aidarov's new state while the forums are hindering regular RP. I'll probably use this thread to broadly document the rise of the new state and then, maybe when the forums are fixed properly, start a new thread to really drag in the rest of the world. Actually I have two in mind, one your typical time-for-another-war, and one pretty well the opposite. Oh well, come on, forums!)

From his base in Vojvodina, Larionko Lav Aidarov had demonstrated much of his design methodology for the Balkans and, critics said, the Southern Glakatahn empire. The rest of Serbia with Kosovo and now Montenegro gave their support most quickly and willingly, though not without dissenting voices. By and large, officials within the old governments had been fairly quick to correctly assess their situation and make the moves wisest with a view to their futures: many would, by quickly associating themselves with Lav's nobel ambition, continue in positions of privilige, best for them and best for the Lavragerians, too. Massive purges across existing governments and militaries would make the construction of a new and powerful state all the more difficult and likely too slow to save the situation, and Aidarov was only too happy to recycle many existing Serbian officials within new agencies.

A number of disappearances came to pass anyway, as the most dangerous leaders were, 'fired' for conspiring against Slavic unity, or conspiring for the realisation of too much Slavic unity under authority drawn from the Russias. Presumably they'd all gone to live on nice farms in the country where they couldn't do any harm.

Aidarov was recognised domestically as premier of a population just about the same as that which he'd lead before the Franco-Estenlandic invasion of Lavrageria. But he wasn't done, yet. To the west, Lav's agents were continuing to declare local victories in referenda on unity, and the term Bosniak was being applied on his orders to those previously called Muslim: see, these people weren't in league with the Turks, they were as much a part of Lav's great and good empire as their Serbian neighbours, and only the old leaders were trying to corrupt that and perpetuate nationalist in-fighting where only one nation really stood. If you were Bosniak, even if you weren't moved by the name, it was not a bad thing to follow someone who really was prepared to wage effective war on the bastard Holy League, and seeing your religiously and ethnically different neighbours rally to the same cause was something quite moving, regardless of their differing motives.

Glakatahn, Lavragerian, local Serbian, and other local persons were now being deployed in new uniforms hastily produced in Vojvodina and by contractors in surrounding states, some of which were included firmly in Aidarov's ambition. These were Yugoslavian People's Militias, the new big thing, and anybody could become a bigshot by getting in on the ground floor right now, Croat, Bosniak, Glakatahn, it didn't matter, if you got in now you were Yugoslavian and you were one of Lav's cubs, ready to cut your teeth for something epic.

It helped that all of his preparations and his looted millions meant that Aidarov's little Vojvodina was clearly beginning to prosper a few months into his de facto rule. It looked like a promising thing, especially to the residents of traditionally less wealthy lands like an under-developed, food-importing Bosnia.

Bosnia was in.

His comrades had worried about Aidarov's ambitions on relatively prosperous Croatia and Slovenia, but the captain had absolute faith in his Glakatahn. In their ability to convince neighbours of the severity of approaching threats, in their ability to silence counter-productive politicians, in the desire of their neighbours to agree to something that would settle them down.

As time progressed, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia did indeed join Lav's federation. Officials from the former governments of all these lands made speeches or drafted documents recognising The Socialist Unity Republic of Yugoslavia, although some skeptics were already calling it Lavrageria.

OOC-Interesting move with the Bosniaks, but I hope you don't downplay the inter-faith tension. One good leader isn't going to be able to suddenly stop beefs that date back 500+ years.
But, I am also interested in how the Austrian issue is going to play itself out in regards to this situation.
WWJD
Amen.

(As Hindustan)

The Hindustani diplomats are generally supportive of the Lav's mission in the Balkans, and commend the Glatkhan for being uncharacteristically not all too violent. While initially Mumbai meant for the delegation to go to Adirov and demand just about his entire airforce as reparation for stealing Hindustani aid money, the threat posed by both the Ukraine and Austria changes Parliament's attitudes (although Adirov is hardly popular in Hindustan), and it is instead demanded that the Lav use that aid money in his new locale. An advisory contingent is also gathered up from Hindustan's sizeable pool of educated and skilled civil engineers, and Adirov is promised their assistance so long as he doesn't just put all the money and advisory work into his military.

Meanwhile, Vasiliy Podgordin decides to try his luck at jumping a pay level and inquires into joining the Yugoslav peoples' militia. With his Lavragerian war experience and flight qualifications, he hopes to get into the Lav's air wing, perhaps as a group leader.

In fact, a number of surviving 'advisors' sent in by the foregin ministry to Lavrageria resurface in the Balkans, and a number of them go to Lav himself, looking for commissions and salaries.

As time progressed, so did Aidarov's plans. Vojvodina was generating a lot of wealth, and the new Yugoslavians were exploiting its natural resources in the most efficient and prolific way ever seen in the Balkans. Aidarov's own coffers, those filled with wealth brought with him, had been significantly depleted by his heavy investment in this small part of the federation, but as people came from around the federation to attend examples of the kinds of universities that would, Lav promised, eventually be built across the western Balkans, and Vojvodina's growing economic prowess was directed into launching new roads and rails through surrounding territory, it all looked like paying off.

Lav was elated by word of re-directed Hindustani aid and by the appearance of foreign trained professionals who might help to keep Vojvodina's economic miracle ticking over while he taxed its resources by his expansionist ambitions. Yugoslavia was looking good, and Aidarov's cohorts were cementing their gains with, well, with cement and development and with limited workplace democratisation, which the President was keen to insist did not represent a fixation of the Socialistina Sloga-Republika in the Igovian camp. Indeed, inspite of his well known feud with the Holy League; lack of engagement with Washington, Port Royal, and London; and receipt of aid from western India, Larionko had thus far appeared unwilling to confirm his new Balkan super-state as supporter of an existing power faction.

In spite of drives to limited democratisation, including local ministries and executives and the creation of workplace unions and elements of worker self-management, foreigners with specific expertise, such as Podgordin, find it remarkably easy to get good posts once accepted by the slightly nerve-wracking intelligence forces, Sova-15 to those in the know, tasked with vetting applicants from a political standpoint. Provided there was no obvious cause to suspect them of subversive motive or conflicting loyalty, experienced Hindustanis and others like them could easily become squadron leaders, platoon sergeants, teachers, and so forth.

Larionko Aidarov was attempting to make Yugoslavia the land that had it all. Plans drawn-up by Federal Secretary for National Defence Kastus Vorobei called for an eventual 140,000 man army with weapons systems of new native design, Lavragerian adaptation developed during the anti-HL war, and combinations incorporating some of the modern Russian systems airlifted out with Aidarov and Gukov. These would be built by an industrial but relatively high-tech economic base if Lav had his way, and Vojvodina was setting the example, and it would be a relatively fair economy, the President insisted, without bias towards progressive-bloc or western markets and systems. The nation would be self reliant where it really counted, and land reforms were being carried-out to blur national lines and popularise the new order with the masses while creating productive borderline communistic co-operatives across the countryside, without going so far as to deny small farmers the right to call their livestock property.

A strong, modern military; stability through the military, unity, rejection of association within existing global power-blocs; feedom for national self-determination thanks to the freedom that would give... and through rejection of politicised foreign bases of religious authority. The last point reflected the Lavragerian's powerfully atheist Glakatahn background and key support base, but in official literature cited Bosnian historical remoteness from international religious mainstreams and the independent-minded reasoning behind it. It was clear that Lav's reluctance to associate Yugoslavia with NATO or the Progessives was not a sign of any intention to kiss and make up with his tormenters.

Back in the Lavragerian Republic things were not going so well. The old man Kochan was acting head of government, and the Lodoz warlord Kiba Morgan had entered Ulanger and assumed a domineering role as virtual chief of state. It was possibly significant that this man had recently been honoured by the Tsar, and bridged a gap between ethnic natives of Lavrageria and the superior power in the region.

The little Republic was suffering under blockade since Aidarov's violent escape and the no doubt troubling defection of several Estenlandic pilots, one of whom remained a living thorn in the Tsar's great side. It may not have mattered much if the 3.2 million Republicans weren't surrounded by a suffocating cordon of Holy League troops since Aidarov had absconded with most of the society's monetary wealth and intellectual champions (a couple of whom went unwillingly and even unconsciously, or in extreme cases suffered unfortunate early deaths that at least meant the wouldn't finish-up working for the Tsar).

In effect, the noose put around the Republic after Aidarov's iconic dogfighting break-out served only to increase his forgotten peoples' admiration for their absent leader. It made him look like an individual who could do anything, survive anything, and who was able to thrust a defiant gesture in the faces of enemies powerful enough to choke a whole country. It also made it easy to explain the sorry state of affairs since he went off to crusade for a just cause. The economy wasn't collapsing because he'd secretly made-off with billions of dollars worth of currency, thousands of pounds of high-tech equipment and tools, and dozens of bright and educated minds, it was collapsing because the Tsar was strangling it in a bitter showing of poor sportsmanship after being foiled by Aidarov yet again.

But it was undeniably collapsing. People previously employed in vast Kurosite-reminiscent nature-remaking schemes aimed at making the most of the Republic's limited space and to reverse Lavrageria's traditional under-development now sat idle as raw materials previously brought in cheaply from Siberia sat a few miles away on the other side of enemy lines, probably confiscated by now, and as the purpose of development seemed increasingly lost on the current situation. The nation's small export industries in traditional crafts and timber were equally useless under lock-down. Only the farmers and security forces really seemed to be active, and the latter were increasingly put to patrols in areas with the highest unemployment, which didn't really make anybody feel better.

It was hard to say what would become of the Lavragerian Republic. It was outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded, sinking into poverty and civil discontent, some of its best military assets had been taken away, it was lead by second-rate and ill-trained bureaucrats under a battle-scarred old man and a fierce barbarian with known anti-urbanisation beliefs and a recent history of association with the enemy, and the world seemed to have forgotten it as soon as its charismatic founder moved on. On the other hand that founder was still deeply -perhaps unshakably- popular and dear to the hearts of the masses, the population was accustomed to hardship and experienced in warfare, and the Tsar was more hated and ridiculed than ever before.

The efforts of Lt.Col. Dimitar Obradin -and indeed perhaps the character of the man himself- represented a personification of the Republic's opposed strength and weakness. He was probably the closest thing remaining to a reasonably well trained, experienced, and gifted commander the War and Security Executive had left. He served under General Kalmakoff before that man's capture in the desperate effort to relieve Republican forces north of Hia'Itakchi (Minsk), and had been unable to escape the Republic with Defence Minister Vorobei's party. The Lieutenant-Colonel was now doing his best to look professional and confident of his authority, though he had actually no clear picture of how high in the national chain of command he now stood, and was going about the cities looking for idle citizens whom he could put to work on organised defences. This, in truth, he did primarily because of a lack of orders from above for him to carry out, for the sake of giving his men something to do and keep their moral high, and to do the same for the growing ranks of the unemployed whom he dared not imagine turning to violence as he saw every day more armoured cars on the streets. Some of the works he arranged were just what he could imagine on the spot as he chanced upon a gathering mob, perhaps having them blockade streets now going unused as economic activity ground to a halt, or appointing officers amongst them to over-see the drawing-up of civil contingency plans, switching around signposts, setting-up other posts and telegraph poles to look like artillery pieces and confuse enemy planes and satellites as to the Republic's strength. Things like that. Elsewhere he had army trucks take work gangs out of the cities to help dig trenches and create basic tank traps, or to build hardened or camouflaged storage facilities for stocks of fuel and munitions that could no longer be readily replenished if used or destroyed.

These efforts were good, somewhat effective, though not uniform across the nation for Obradin could not be everywhere at once and was having serious trouble finding competent deputies to export his works. But they had the Republic increasing its trend towards preparing for a war that, really, in spite of it all, it could not hope to win. That was not so good. What was the point of getting all dressed-up just to make the guy who was going to kick your backside just that little bit angier?

Kochan didn't seem to be moving towards an alternative idea, and Morgan didn't seem to care.

Vasiliy Podgordin shows up for his first day on the job in grand style, flying into Batajnica aboard a Turbolet and coming out the door as though it wasn't Vasiliy himself who flew it. Eventually he would have to pay somebody to get it back to its rightful owner, but, figures Vasiliy, he'll deal with that when it comes to him.

As commander of 204 Fighter Aviation Regiment, based at Batajnica, Podgordin's first order of business is to introduce himself to the pilots. If Vasiliy's near-complete lack of military education causes those now under his command some consternation, his prosthetic leg and limp, both remants of his time fighting in Lavrageria and more specifically the An-14 crash that put him out of that war, wins the respect of a few pilots at least. Being a master of on-the-spot speechmaking, now-Colonel Podgordin tells his pilots that the future will not be all easy going, but also to look foreward to more flight hours, better pay, and improved popular standing.

Whatever the Colonel says, his motive is, first and foremost, money and standing, and if things go terribly wrong there's always the option of skipping the country.

For the approximately 20 Hindustani foreign service personnel still in Republican Lavrageria, however, skipping the country is no longer an option. For the most part involved in maintaining what's left of the Lavragerian airforce, or rather the original Lavragerian airforce, Hindustanis still pilot An-14s, An-2s, and Mi-8s. Projects are underway with the goal of reconstructing two of the Lavragerian Airforce's original L-29s, programs that gain extra precedence with the departure of most of Adirov's advanced equipment...

The Lavragerian Republic still boasted several An-3 Colt and a couple of Il-14 Crate transports as well as the Mi-6 Hook heavy-lift helicopters and eighteen Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters that couldn't go to the Balkans with Aidarov.

It was well furnished with MiG-29M2 Fulcrum and Su-30/Su-27P Flanker, having had ninety-six fighters before Aidarov absconded with a handful.

The problem was that the most loyal pilots, the best commanders, and the two A-50 Mainstay AEW aircraft had left. The air-force was -being young- set up to rely upon the A-50s for command and had no back-up on the ground.

On the ground, though, nine hundred armoured vehicles and seven hundred tanks. Large ammunition stocks, but rapidly declining production, and only existing oil plus a minute trickle from local reserves, and only one small refinery.

There wasn't much more to say, so felt most in the Republic.

OCC: Oh, forget that then. I thought Adirov made off with more than what he did.

Listen, Etenlands very much wants in on this thread, but can't seem to log in, just FYI.
WWJD
Amen.

OOC: Just create a puppet account...

[tag]

(Don't worry, LRR, the Republic still needs any help it can get. Including active aircraft and those bought and put in storage (and those for which payment was never completed but aren't likely to be given back, now!) Aidarov acquired 24 MiG-29M2 Fulcrum two-seat multi-role fighters, 12 Su-25SM Frogfoot attackers, and 72 Su-30 Flanker interceptors. He made off with 6 Fulcrum to strike any ground-based threats, 2 Frogfoot outfitted as countermeasures aircraft to help the break-out, and 16 Flanker to fight the way out, of which two Fulcrum and one Flanker were lost in the dogfighting. That leaves the Republic with 18 Fulcrum, 10 Frogfoot, and 56 Flanker. Fairly impressive, but still badly outnumbered by the Tsar's assets. The main problem is that there were never enough qualified supersonic combat-jet pilots (hence many aircraft being in reserve) and now the best squadron's worth of them have left, along with the command and early-warning aircraft and the high-ranking officers. There's not really anyone in command of a rabble of half-trained or inexperienced pilots with no significant airborne or ground based control and early warning radars. They're worried about being destroyed on the ground and being reduced to the old situation with just a few aircraft scattered around makeshift airstrips.
I don't really envy the Hindustanis if Ulanger fights and loses or gives in and capitulates.)


Established in what was now called Yugoslavia, Lav was clearly cutting an unusual path. Nobody could deny that he was a grave enemy of the Holy League, specifically Tsar Wingert who even now was consuming half of Eastern Europe. He'd made a lot of Hindustani friends, but was in no danger of being made an ally of that state or of its Progressive cohorts, especially after a pretty drastic misuse of so much Hindustani aid. He'd treated the west with similar aloof disregard, and was following militancy, atheism, and a mix of worker self management and central controls including tariffs that would not appeal to most of the NATO powers. Earlier association with the Korean Kurosites was ended by the Suloist shift over there, and Aidarov had portrayed the Ottoman Turks and most of Europe in negative light during his consolidation of Western Balkan power. He wasn't making many hard-line Muslim friends, either.

The so-called Socialist Unity Republic was making fairly promising progress at home, though. Moves towards much equality and a general improvement of living standards could be seen in formation, economic activity was increasing with an injection of purpose and co-operation not to mention capital and bright minds.

But to really achieve Aidarov's lofty aims, Yugoslavia would need major trading partners as it vastly increased industrial concerns. Some of its equipment was going to have to come from abroad early on, for existing facilities and those built in Vojvodina couldn't spread industrial sufficiency across the whole land. It would also need markets if these little miracles were to be sustained in the long run.

Belgrade -newly proclaimed as Lav's seat of power, though Novi Sad was undeniably the effective administrative capital of his new country- now announced a grand scheme. The SSRY intended to call a conference on non-aligment, and intended to declare neutrality in any struggle between NATO, Holy League, and Progressive Bloc. In a possible attempt to deter Tsarist intervention against his Balkan aims, Aidarov was speaking of an intention to create a constitutional provision against the deployment on Yugoslav territory of any military forces belonging to or associated with any of these three major power blocs, thus hinting that it was better to leave him alone as a neutral than meddle with his ambitions and throw Yugoslavia into one of the rival camps.

Of course, this offered similar theoretical protection against NATO and the Progressives as it did against the Tsar, which may lead one to wonder what Aidarov might do to require any form of protection against their attentions...


(No new action, really, just thought I'd bring this up now that people can apparently get back on the forums. I'm not sure if there's enough people left for a non-alignment treaty to be worth investigating...)

OOC: Lav, sorry if I missed it (haven't had time to do more than skim) but what exactly is the status of over 20,000 Russian troops still based in Lavrageria?

OOC: 20,000? Eh, I dunno. I didn't think that many were still around. Well, a couple were sort of, er, bumped-off when Kalmakoff escaped, but I'm sure the Russian army's used to losing the odd man here and there to desertion and hazing if nothing else.
Some were temporarily the focus of snipers' attention and kept in the dark about mysterious power outages and apparent communications jamming and what not, but only until Aidarov made his get away where upon everything magically started working again and nobody is quietly pointing anything shooty at anybody else anymore.

Now, er, the Tsar has put the entire Republic under blockade, I think. If Russian troops are still there in large numbers, it's safe to assume that any in a position to be isolated from others or to have their weapons confiscated have experienced that starting at the moment the blockade suddenly went up (after Aidarov's dogfighting incident and the defection of three Estenlandic pilots, something that now features heavily in Republican propaganda, even if they were bribed pretty heavily!). It's entirely possible that there's a stand-off in the Republic with Lavragerian tanks skirting billets housing the Russians, and Estenlandic troops skirting the whole Republic!

Most Lavragerians, though, don't have much against the Russians, the provisional government is just terrified that they'll act against the Republic's rear if the Tsar attacks, and is no doubt thinking along the lines of Henry V with all his prisoners at Agincourt (eh, he killed them all when elements of the French army seemed to be re-grouping, rather than try to look after them and fight at the same time).

I suppose it depends on the attitudes of the Russian commanders and men and their previous relations with the Lavragerians, who now because of Aidarov's recent actions are clearly back on the brink of war with the Tsar. The Russians in Lavrageria could align themselves with the Tsar and be bayonetted or shelled (depending on whether they were isolated and disarmed early on or safe with a large enough group) as soon as hostilities break-out, or they can reject the Tsar's authority and side with the Republicans and... probably get shelled by him or bayonetted as traitors when they're captured!

Is my assessment of the situation too glum? Hah! I don't know.

OOC-I can POOOST!!!!!

IC-Tsar Wingert had far more important things to worry about than the blockade against Republican Lavrageria. He was consolidating his power base in Russia at a rapid rate, with mass knightings and people being made boyars all throughout Russia, but the public not really being kept in the loop as to what was going on. The KGB was instantly purged of non-Tsarist sympathisers, which left them a shell of their former selves, but allowed the massive Kargat-the Tsarist secret police to fill in the gaps and dominate the structure that still had an impressive intelligence network as an asset.

The Romonav pretender still was “The King of Tsarist Russia,” which suddenly became problematic now that Tsar Wingert was looking at having himself crowned as “Tsar of all of the Russias.” The Romanov king had served his purpose, and now was becoming a problem politically, that, and he was probably mad. Tsar Wingert ordered his military commanders in Tsarist Russia to move on the King’s Palace in St. Petersburg and place him under house arrest.

Tsar Wingert was also rewarding faithful service by his most loyal followers with various titles. His eldest daughter was already reigning Queen of France, his next daughter, Princess Adrienna, had been instrumental in all of his wars lately and was one of his most important military commander, so she remained a Princess in her own right. The twin first children of the King of France and his daughter, the beautiful Jillesepone, Peter and Catherine were both given titles of their own. Catherine was given the title of “Queen of Tsarist Lavrageria” with the old English Commander in Chief of the Tsarist military, Sir Reginald of Hillfort, acting as Regent of Tsarist Lavrageria until Catherine came to the age of majority. Peter was the heir apparent to the Tsarist throne, and at five years old, was barely aware of it. He was granted a Grand Dukedom, the “Duchy of Moravia” would be his until he claimed the throne as Emperor. Tsar Wingert still retained his rights as King of Ukraine, and was readying himself to be crowned Tsar of the Divine Russian Empire. The Grozney dynasty was looking healthy, more healthy than it had in four centuries.

In Russia itself, there was an election going on, and people were marching to the polls in vast numbers. Putin had been reported KIA and a new Tsarist Party was running a candidate for President. Armand (I forget his last name) was running on a platform that promised the economic prosperity and international power and prestige that was the people’s Divine Right. He promised to place a Tsar as head of state and run the government as his Prime Minister. He promised regular elections would still continue, but Russia would gain from the strength of the Tsar the respect and stability that it needed. The Divine Russian Empire of Putin’s dream was coming true, but it was in a way that he had never expected. Technically, Tsar Wingert already controlled the government military and was taking major steps to make sure that this did not change.

Tsar Wingert thought about his empire, he had started life as a political tool of a small terrorist group. He had, by his own strength of will, wrested the nation of Ukraine from the Soviet’s grip. He had built his strength for decades after that, and on almost a whim, had decided that he would throw his strength around towards their troublesome northern neighbours, Lavrageria. This was after the marriage with the Dauphin of France had been settled and France lent supplies and support to the tune of 40+ billion USQ dollars to the effort against Lavrageria, and though the Lavragerians fought like no other enemy Wingert had ever seen, they fell. The nation was divided in Washington and Tsar Wingert became a successful conqueror in Europe, not a small task. During that war, the Romavov pretender had wrested a small slice of Russia for himself and became a vassal of Wingert. Then, he had entered into an alliance with Putin and invaded the Baltic states, which now rested in his control, as well as annexing Moravia. Then Putin had died, and now he was in control of Russia and Putin’s conquest, Kazakhstan. The Tsar now sat at the head of one of the world’s superpowers. More than he could have ever dreamed of. His lands bordered three oceans and stretched from Central Europe to China to the Middle East. He ruled the largest expanse of land on earth.

Now, businesses and media outlets were brought under control, conquered nations were being restructured and purged of resistance, and the Tsarist Party was winning a landslide victory. Wingert had insisted, against all advice, to allow the Russian people to choose. And they were choosing, by the most democratic means available, to ask a cruel tyrant to be their leader.

Tsar Wingert lay in his home in Kiev recovering from his momentous battle with Putin, and was moving troops on a map with the ease as some play with toys. He moved Morgan’s troops to staging areas in Lavrageria, right on train lines that could bring them to the Moravian border, or to Siberia at a moment’s notice. He knew that these robust warriors would be his first line of defence should Aidirov try anything, or should great China move against him. He was consolidating economic power,. One thing he understood with great efficiency was the golden rule, “He who has the gold, makes the rules.” His nation was entering into political trade talks with United Elias, and was embarking on a trade deal that would see them supplying the entire Tsarist military machine in the foreseeable future. He had also answered his constant problem as Tsar of Ukraine, where do we get enough oil? Now it flowed from Siberia.

With this all happening, he left the Republican Lavrageria blockade to the Regent, Sir Reginald, and he had placed almost half of his troops around the encircled nation, Since he now commanded almost three quarters of the Tsarist forces, not including the new Russian troops, that was nothing small. He was, however, not technically at the head of the forces in the Baltics, as Adrienna was commanding that force personally. The current plan was to encircle them and wait for them to make the first move, as the person laying the siege, time was definitely on his side, and he was in no hurry to start another major war with the Lavragerians, especially with the promises by NATO that they would come back to stop him.

As for the new country, what was that ridiculous name? Yugoslavia? The Tsar’s government refused to recognise it and posted official grievances with Hindustan and The British Federation and Roycelandia and Quinntonia that Aidoriv had made off with the aid money.

And he asked to have himself furthermore referred to as, Tsar Wingert the Great.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

"...and I am sure our sympathies go out to the peoples of Russia, The Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, and Kazakhstan. These are dark days for the Former Soviet Union, especially Russia and Kazakhstan, having extricated themselves from the quicksand of oppression only to be cast back in. A tyrant the caliber of that mad Bourbon, or Italy's new despot who fancies himself Julius Caesar, now sits on that shameful heap called a throne, stomping Russians down into the mud. And this madman Wingert, who wishes now to be called 'the Great,' takes his legitimacy from the fact that he murdered in cold blood Russia's elected head of state. Tell me, fellow Parliamentarians, is Europe still in the grips of the dark ages? I was not aware that civilized nations still practiced death combat as a means of choosing a soveriegn. A blackness descends across two continents, its heart in Kiev, under which countless people are forced to bear the burden of slavery and squalor.

This mad Wingert, this monster and murderer, shouldn't be permitted to hold authority over his own daily affairs, much less those of a nation in possession of a frighteningly large arsenal of nuclear weapons. I call on the peoples of Russia to unite and topple the pillars of oppression."

(Welcome back, you big evil empire, you. I think I'll just have the Republic ticking along in obscurity for a little bit with Morgan drifting about, acting like he owns the place, until we're all bored or someone gets an especially great idea, where upon it'll finally keel over and die. It needs some time to get over love for Aidarov and hate for Wingert, anyway. In the meanwhile, I'm going to start a new thread in celebration of the formation of Yugoslavia and for the establishment of ties. I'm thinking about starting a new nation, because I don't have much left invested in the Lavragerian name, it was supposed to be Lavragaria anyway until I made a typo, and Yugo Slavia is (surprisingly) still free ;) )

OOC-BTW, it should be known that the Putin-Wingert fight was not exactly broadcast, it happened on a remote airfield in northern Lavregeria and Putin was just listed as KIA, with few details given to the public at all.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

OCC: Oh, sorry about that. Just forget that part of the tirade, then.

Kokyo Palace, Tokyo

"The Hindustanis are at it again. Evil this and unjust that, ignoring the fact that Wingert is taking power with democracy."

Shinseiki finished reading the Koancho briefing on the Russia situation before handing it back to Abukara Kiyoshi. "All very intriguing, I must admit. Prime Minister Minase is on his way here as we speak, I think he'll be interested as well."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Putin died? When did that happen?"

Kiyoshi shrugged at PM Minase Tohma. "Not sure, to be honest. Probably terrorists or something similar, you know what that region's like. He'd invaded so many countries that some 'freedom fighter' was bound to kill him eventually."

Tian leant close to Shinseiki. "Maybe it was pneumonia."

Shinseiki nudged him in response and lowered his voice. "We don't know that, and I won't engage in idle gossip. All I will say is that if I was willing to do that, it wouldn't surprise me if Wingert did. As I say though, that's just an opinion."

Tohma turned to Shinseiki. "So what are your thoughts, Majesty? I assume that there was a reason for this meeting."

Shinseiki pointed at the map of Japan which hung on the wall of his study. "This is an opportunity, Tohma. A new government, not well-liked by many for various reasons, will be looking for friends. Trading partners, cultural exchanges, ambassadors, that sort of thing. The JRP has made great political capital out of its diplomatic efforts, so I suggest that we approach Tsar Wingert regarding normalisation of relations. He has control over a great swathe of the planet, it would be madness not to approach him."

"What about the Quinntonians?"

"They are our allies, no matter what comes. I am not speaking of formal alliances with Wingert; we had a non-aggression pact and excellent trade with Putin, we should seek the same from Wingert. Maybe we can solve a few pressing matters to our advantage while we're at it."

Tohma chuckled. "Once again, Your Majesty's experience in the international arena leads to excellent advice. We shall request formal talks with the new Tsarist government as soon as possible. Is there anything else?"

"Best of luck with the election; I know you'll do us all proud."

OOC: Guys, can you place all of this post-Putin stuff on the End Of All Things Thread? I don't want to put all of this on Lav's Yugoslavian endeavor.

Just linking to the new Yugoslav thread, since I gather that some people are waiting for more to happen here, and I'm not sure if it will :) http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=456027