NationStates Jolt Archive

The Baltic Sea

In the Baltic ports of Finland and Sweden there had come to be seen, over recent months, a number of vessels that spent their time sitting around, or ambling back and forth between the two nations, even, from time to time, heading to the Russian-controlled Baltic States, property of a small marine haulage firm based in Romania and with the surprising ability to afford fairly high-capacity vessels. It didn't seem like an especially good company, its ships almost always sailing loaded far below capacity and profit margins surely razor thin. There was even some interest from other firms in acquiring assets belonged to Lion Marine-Freight Baltic Division, and the company was reported to be seriously considering the sale of one or more of its vessels in the next financial year. Its Black Sea Division was doing marginally better, though it was smaller, so nobody was sure if a ship wouldn't be transferred there, instead.

The Lavragerian Republic

What a strange place, this garden. Independent Lavrageria had lost so much in its effort to urbanise, democratise, industrialise, frankly, to modernise, which was for what the population felt they had been punished. Until they settled down, they were the ones to bring terror, once they took root, everyone got mad. Today, 3.2 million North Glakatahn remained independent in their Republic, half so many as lived under the law of the Tsar of the Russias, discounting four hundred thousand clansmen in the west who were living on what was called Tsarist territory but still doing their best to ignore the fact, while Kiba Morgan positioned himself, ostensibly so as to guide the rabble to appreciation of the Russian Empire.

The Republic, most supposed, must be a pretty awful place, blockaded by the Russians, and nobody could dismiss the facts of that matter, with the economic miracle a fading memory. But this wasn't a desperately crowded and hungry Hia'Itakchi under siege, it was a land with population density substantially lower than that of, for example, Ethiopia or Jordan, slightly lower than the Tajik mountain quarter of Depkazia. While Hia'Itakchi had been crammed with frightened refugees, too weak to run further or to turn and fight, the independent republic's situation followed an infusion of patriots, and was ultra loyal as everyone rejecting either defeat or any particular aspect of foreign influence over them fled to Vorobei's defence area during the war.

It was a land in which people, brought suffering by a try at modernity, were now denied all mod-cons.

Shoulders were shrugged, a few official efforts were made by Kochan's administration to impossible sustainability projects for the towns, and everyone went back to being Lavragerian, Glakatahn, cursing the world they'd seen when tempted in by Mickey Mouse and microwave ovens.

Dimitar Obradin was not, practically speaking, any longer a Lieutenant-Colonel, despite what the records in Ulanger may have read. People were calling him Noytan, and listening to his tales of the man now referenced as Kiba Lav.

Towns, poorly built in the rush to republic, were still being used for shelter, but they weren't really homes anymore. Buildings were just caves, tents that couldn't be packed up. Almost nobody even considered them property, anymore: they didn't seem worth it. People rolled out mats and slept in a room of a night, and then rolled it up and walked on to somewhere else, leaving the room for use by another. Tribal flags and traditional rugs hung from the shoddy structures, hiding much of their ruin, and if people had remained attached to their homes there would have been every chance of frustration boiling-over into new tribal conflict. Basements, rooftops, like various plots of land, were either growing with vegetables or housing livestock, all kept by the women of the Republic. The majority of the land, of course, was growing wild, foraged by children and grazed by horses, horses, and more horses, with a new young generation of Itakchi stout ponies growing up. It was intensive nomadhood.

Industrially speaking, little was going on beyond the blacksmiths. All the metal of the old Republic was being broken down. Much of it was already scrap after bombing, some of it was redundant without fuel, a lot of it was holding-up stone and concrete barricades that people cared less for as they became more nomadic. Bullets, blades, and arrowheads, stirrups and tack by the tonne, trees cut for wood burning at the highest sustainable rate according to centuries of wisdom.

Of course, the Republic still had scores of guns and armoured vehicles, and more than eighty combat jets, but since the best crews left with Lav and the supply of fuel, parts, and munitions was cut off, training standards had plummeted, and most pilots, for example, had flown only a few hours in the last several months.

Here and there, men stopped their wanderings, in a clearing, by a track, in the trees, on the marsh, having met in the strength of ten, patted shoulders and called themselves an arban. They wrestled, hunted, butchered, ritualised, shot, drilled, rode, and talked, and then they went on their different ways. They rode at a gallop through thick woods and loosed reusable and non-lethal arrows at one another as they passed scores of metres apart, remembering how to pick and lead targets at speed even when hunting was scarce.

It was essentially impossible to observe, certainly to gague for its scale, but two, sometimes three generations of Lavragerian men and boys were taking arms and organising in the old ways.

Latvia

...clear skies over the Baltic, while at home the sun stops shining, barred by clouds thick as a lion's mane. We expect this to continue through to Friday, so that's clear skies by Friday. Now, brothers and sisters, that's all from Angyalka and the forecast, we take you back to the music of the Pripet in just a moment. You're listening to Radio Retpvblika, on FM...

The Bulgarian sailor sniffed, finishing his drink and leaving a chunk of his pay on the table as he shuffled out, pocketing his little radio. He was bound for Riga and his ship, Yam, apparently to start earning his next payment from Lion Marine Freight, a few words repeating in his head so that he would not forget. Within days, the tanks and crates anchored deep in the open sea would be detached and brought up by Yugoslav engineers aboard Yam's sister ship and the company would be preparing merchant runs to the Baltic states on the weekend.

Later, the Lavragerian weather forecast would prove wildly inaccurate, but, since the scant resources of the Republic meant that traditional methods were used for predictions, this was hardly unusual enough for anybody to think much of it.

The Russian contingent in Republican Lavrageria had long since slipped out, a couple of regiments at a time, taking the last bulk of the 20,000 man Peacekeeping Army out into Tsarist territory with almost no resistance as the Lavragerians returned to their nomadic ways.

But all around them, over half the military might of Ukraine pointed in their direction, with barricades and artillery and constant patrols by helicopter and plane. This was the machine that brought them into this place, and this was the machine that Lav had hidden like a coward from while his people were slaughtered.

And now, under the command of the Regent of Tsarist Lavrageria, Sir Reginald of Hillfort, the British Lord turned Tsarist commander, they made preparations for a conflict that they were waiting for.

OOC- So, what would be the land border that I am covering approx.? Just that given that Belarus’ total boundaries are 2,900 km, I can cover that with something like 138 troops per km, with what I have committed to this blockade, so just wondering if we can get a proper read on the magnitude of the blockade.
Also, given your land area and population, you have somewhere around 50 people per square kilo, am I right? At least that is the approx. density in Belarus, so does that hold true for you? If so, where is everyone roaming to and from? And how are they getting fed? Just wanted to clarify so we can move forward.
I am also assuming that all the Quinntonian and TBF peacekeepers made similar escapes, am I right? Or are they blockaded inside there somewhere? No, wait, the Quinntonians weren’t allowed in were they?

Tsar Wingert the Great.

OOC: Oh, of course, you're controlling the Russian garrison now, hey. I was expecting AC to do something, I don't know why. Right, well, that doesn't matter, hey.

Population density is a little shy of fifty per sq.km, yes. The people are living essentially vegan lives, boosted by periodic hunting that is being managed largely by common sense and experience, and partly by what remains of an official administration in order to keep it close to sustainable.

It would be worth noting -though it's doubtful if anyone on the outside has taken this much specific interest or appreciated the implications- that close to sustainable is a key term, as current hunting quotas are sufficient to seriously reduce game stocks this season, and while the plans enable said stocks room to recover, similar quotas next year would be an ecological disaster. Children are being put to foraging and catching what might previously have been considered pests, and this is less well managed.

Vegetables are king, for now, though, since they're the most efficient source of calories relative to land area used. Potatoes are the staple. The women are growing vegetables on the roof and feeding waste to what livestock remains kept in the basement/street/yard, while the men wander back and forth, largely disguising training as infighting and a desperate search for game. It is hoped that even the act of preparing for war can be made to look like worsening social collapse. While the likes of Albania, similar in population with less than half the land area (of course different terrain) and hardly without unused soil, was able to be self sufficient with grains, more efficient vegetables make it no big deal for the Lavragerians, who see no big change in it since they're not traditionally big traders anyway.

Sorry, may have become carried away, there, defending Lavrageria. I think it's the siege mentality! Still, I suppose it might be useful information, in part.

I don't know about peacekeepers, nobody's seemed all that interested, certainly since Bull lost power. It'd be largely up to the blockaders, anyway, I suppose.

I'm not sure how to calculate the length of border, exactly. 141km with Latvia, er... then it breaks down, since nobody was kind enough to draw the borders in dead straight lines, and I'm struggling to find word on province-specific border lengths. How exactly is the blockade managed? I mean, do you actually have however many dozen or hundred men hanging around in each kilometre of frontier, or X number of bases with a brigade or whatever formation in each one at various points around the place, waiting to react to events observed by the aircraft and/or sending out patrols? I don't know, I've never tried to blockade three million people in an area the size of Sri Lanka.

[OOC: Sorry to butt in, but just wondering if I had any chance to fob off the Baltic exiles/Forest Brothers on someone who keeps a closer eye on events in Europe... if not Yugo Slavia, then perhaps the Germans...

Given Latvia's historical tenacity in the face of Russian occupation (1918-20, 1940-41, 1944-52/56), the remaining resistance there may end up being relevant here].

OOC-Ok, so stocks are depleting, you are preparing for war, the Albania thing, I mean, that is assuming not modern agriculture, but certaintly far more advanced than you are claiming, am I right? Albania is also caliming frequent crop failures, droughts and famines, with a population density of 124 people per square kilo. You are getting your people fed, but they are getting a lot thinner, and if this keeps up, starvation is not far off, is that kind of the feel?
Again, not trying to be a pain, but just trying to get a feel for the situation, within the bonds of reality and stuff.

As for the blockade, no obviously I am not stringing them out across the border (though that would be a freakin cool sight) but as you say there are bases strung out everywhere with X amounts of troops/interceptors/armour waiting to react to anything that the very prodigious patrols spot and/or engage.

Though I should note that the patrols and fly-overs and so on are crazy and everywhere, so getting any movement across the border without being challenged should be next to impossible, and the larger the group, the harder it would be. And by air, well, it would be shot down long before it ever reached any area deemed sensitive. Also, there are a whole lot of Russian spy sattelites and spy planes that are constantly looking at the area.

And right, resistance in Latvia, I guess that could be related, but really in order for it to make sense, I would suspect that another thread would be needed. There is a huge occupation force of Russian and Ukrainian troops on the ground there, and though I don't doubt the ability to resist, I do question its effectiveness, as I don't think any of those resistance moevements faced quite this concentration of military force. Again, I am not saying that resistnace couldn't be happenng, and even effective to a limited degree, just that they would not be in a position to get involved here. But, you could argue the piont, if you wanted.



Tsar Wingert the Great.

OOC: Short version: We're vulnerable but not currently troubled by it, much like we're militarily vulnerable but not currently being bombed. Long version contains more elaboration, of which you are here forewarned :) :

Well, Albania was self sufficient in staple foods decades ago, with primitive means, because it pretty well had to be given Hoxha's talent for breaking friendships, and yes, it has a higher population densitiy... which sort of helps my case, doesn't it? Each portion of Albanian soil had to feed two and a half times more people than does each equal portion of Lavragerian, and did it with less thought of calorie efficiency and for a long period of time. At this point, you don't need to worry about Lavrageria X years from now, or even next year, when we might be hit by a... potato blight (we're not so much for the drought- the northeast of Belarus is damp and, I believe, gets more rain than the Pripet in typical years), or find that we've run out animals to hunt on the side, because we're not yet there, and the situation will be saved or lost by then.

For now, I think, we are fine, though there's a danger of protein intake being difficult to maintain, especially as people move to near-vegan diets without much knowledge of exactly how to do it healthily. The agriculture is pretty basic, but fairly intensive... it is, I expect, using a greater portion of land than should be the case in a modern nation depending so heavily on vegetables, but the fact that we are doing that, and not rearing livestock except on a very small scale (this might even be banned if we're still here years from now with the same problems) and production of other crops is deliberately low has a substantial impact on the scale of land needed. Feeding a healthy Lavragerian would quite possibly take several hundred percent less land than feeding, say, a(n average) Briton or Quinntonian if we had modern systems in place, and without said systems the gap closes, yes, but I think is quite workable.

We're healthy but vulnerable, I think would be the best way to put it. Disease in one staple crop would potentially hammer calorie intake, and over-hunting threatens ecological damage even with attempts to limit its excess.

Actually, to be fair, and make sure that we set out in this RP on the right foot and good humour, I think that I'll account for ill-health in the Republic when it matters in terms of facts, figures, and abilities, and will write something in the next IC post about a national policy related to that, so the pressures of our situation are demonstrated and observed.

As to the borders, right, jolly good. I'm not planning to make sneaking across the frontier a pivotal part of Lavragerian planning. Far from it.

The Baltic states, well, I'll chip in playing bits and pieces with the resistance, if nobody minds, but may soon be conflicted if I try to take over the whole operation.

Oh, hey, militarily, has the Tsar's capture of Russian power changed much. I mean, the Estenlands had a big conscript army, didn't it? And Russia had radically down-sized and modernised into a volunteer force? Are either of those things changed now that Wingert's on top in the whole place? Just wondering with the major standing commitments keeping us in, occupying the rest of the country, plus Moldova(?), an occupation of three Baltic states beyond the scale of the highly militarised USSR, eighteen million sq.km of territory mostly under the rule of a foreign dictator, progressives bordering in the far east and a lunatic to the south. To me, Latvian resistance wouldn't look like a top priority!

I wasn't trying, there, to say that it can't be done, just trying to keep up to date with the hows.

IC post in a bit.

For the Foreign Ministry advisors left in in the Lavragerian Republic, things are definately not looking up. With the Republic cut-off from all foreign support, or at least so the advisors think, there really isn't any point to further defending the Lavragerian Republic, but they do what they can as long as Dimitar Obradin tells them to. Of the advisors left behind when the Lav jumped-ship, many have since departed by their own means, usually attempting to pick their way through the Russian border defenses and then across Glakathan-controlled territory to Poland. Others, following the occupation of the Baltic Republics, slipped across the Latvian border and tried to join the liberation struggle there. The vast majority of these attempts ended in death or capture, and capture probably meant death anyway, enough to discourage further attempts.

Keeping with the growing movement back to Glakathan roots, most of the advisors assimilate into Lavragerian culture. After all, if they're going to spend the rest of their lives in the tiny enclave that is the Lavragerian Republic they might as well make the best of it.

( :) Hey, the Republican enclave doesn't consider itself tiny! It's only a couple of square kilometres smaller than Belgium and Taiwan combined! Though, granted, its population is ten fold less...)

The handful of foreigners left in the Lavragerian Republic, most of them being Indian, are by now witnessing the death of the Republic, which, no doubt, its enemies had predicted. Perhaps they not guessed the precise method of that destruction, for it was not a half-starved whimper of submission, but a defiant rejection of the world of Republics and Kingdoms and Commonwealths.

Outsiders would do well to quickly associate themselves in the proper social strata and remind their neighbours in the enclave of whatever skills they have brought. Any of them trained as pilots or useful as vehicle crew will find a leg of fresh meat placed before them whenever they sit down to eat along side women, children, and sickly people sustained on potato stews and vegetable broth. Passing them by, teenage boys and men far into middle age, still tough of skin and stout of chest, ride their stout ponies and gorge on all the meat that remains after skilled foreigners are satisfied, and the best of the fruits and vegetables.

The children coped by trying to steal scraps of meat and getting caught, as children will do, before going back to their soup, the sick hardly cared, and the women would say of their hardship while the men ate what they hunted and slaughtered the last of the livestock for themselves and the foreigners, well, they will pay their due, soon.

"What the Hell is that, a lawnmower?"

Nwirrrrr!

"Wow!"

Reynard, farmhand and half-resigned Tsarist subject flung himself headlong into the Baltic mud, narrowly saving his head a strimming as the 'lawnmower' flew over. His secretly-held radio fell to the ground, causing the BBC report on the on-going Atlantic battle between Holy League and Anglophone powers to be cut short.

The buzzing passer-by was, in fact, a UAV, made with pride in Mostar, flying a pre-programmed if erratic and unpredictable course between base -a Romanian-registered merchant ship with Lion Marine Freight, bound for Sweden- and target -Lavrageria Retpvblika-, to which it was now very close.

The drone, mostly plastic, small, and flying without a command-link to detect or trace, was hardly flying high enough to miss treetops and chimney pots (or Reynard), but if flying a risky path it was at least hard to detect.

Another drone had, last week, attempted the saem trip, but had never arrived. Nobody knew, but a second was being sent against the eventuallity of a crash, which is what had indeed happened. The lost drone exploded in rural Lithuania, leaving a pool of melted plastic and a few ruined lengths of wire. The Yugoslav UAVs contained timed explosives.

When this second machine reached the end of its pre-programmed flight plan it fell to earth, re-set its timer, and began broadcasting a morse locator signal that spelled-out v-i-d-o-v-d-a-n. St.Vitus Day... in Serbian.

The Tsarists may well detect this, but mounted patrols were already heading for the source, and the signal originated a couple of kilometres inside the Republic.

Within the drone was information on the state of Marshal Lav's Yugoslavia... and the help it would gie on the epic do-or-die shifting of the Last Horde...

Vitsyebskaya, Lavrageria, Lithuanian border
Vidovdan (St.Vitus Day, 28th June)

617 years ago this day saw the fateful Kosovan battle at which the Serbs lost their Empire before the might of the Osmanli House and many Glakatahn returned north. Now the Serbs were part of their own 'empire' again, and the Ottoman was retreated. Different royal houses now menaced the free Slavs, and the Lavragerian Glakatahn were moving again.

Since largely abandoning any thought of industrial or urban life under Tsarist blockade the Lavragerians were again semi-nomadic in the main, woodsmen, rural and pastoral types once more. They began the next, biggest phase of their movement at night, through the forests, following hunters who knew the trails backwards in the dark. The vanguard of this last horde came out of the trees at a Russian border post in the Baltic.

Dimitar Obradin walked forward with a lot of his peers while mroe and more people appeared in the immediate pre-dawn halflight, seeping out of the primeval forest clad in leather and furs and carrying all their world. A few rattles and other ritual instruments compelled ill-fortune to flee the Lavragerians and stampeed into the increasingly out-numbered Tsarist border guards coming out to gawp at the spectacle of a nation marching on them.

"Tribute the North Glakatan in the sum of all food, fuel, and ammunition here and you may join us or wait here under guard until we have passed by, the great Glakatahn nation!"

A dozen rifles trained, many unseen, on every Tsarist. Mortars, guns, grenades, and rockets had the position's co-ordinated, though they themseles had just moved, throwing-off any existing Tsarist intelligence on their location. As dawn broke over the scene with only seconds before a conclusion, half the artillery in Lavrageria Retpvblika spat upon Tsarist positions in the south, east, and west. Raiding parties followed each salvo, attempting to force the border here and there.

The nation's ten Su-25 Frogfoot, fifty-six Su-27 Flanker and 18 MiG-29 Fulcrum lurched into life, their engines grumbling from under-use as their inexperienced pilots -their was not enough fuel in the barricaded nation to give them more than a few flight-hours per year- gripped the controls like little girls holding the safety bar on a rollercoaster. The planes struck against near-by Tsarist airstrips in the Baltic, many of the airmen and women not really expecting to see the end of St.Vitus Day. The Su-27s would receive most of the fuel rations, and would sortie again to cover the moving masses until they were all shot-down or some sort of victory sprang from the soil or fell from the sky.

Like those ancient clans of he Kibas the Lavragerian nation was moving, stamping to the beat of its wild heart.

The Lavragerians moving into Lithuania represented most of the nation. They walked, rode, and drove, taking every beast and vehicle in the nation, from donkeys to Putin-era T-80 tanks. The huge body snaked towards Vilnius, moving relentlessly. People cooked over tractor engines, slept in and on vehicles as they drove, slept in the saddle, slept on stretchers pulled behind machines and animals or slung between them. Locals would later say that the Glakatahn march in their sleep, drive, ride, and possibly eat in their sleep, and perhaps that they could fight while napping.

In truth, if victory were to come, it would leap not from the soil or sky but out from the Baltic Sea on which cruised four ships of that Romanian freight company, ships loaded with anti-tank and surface-to-air missiles.

Obradin didn't wait for an answer. His little speech would be genuine next time he delivered it to a potential resister, but this being the first it was crucial to make a certain point. He gutted the Tsarist officer-on-duty like he would a deer as his men shot-down the rest with enough rounds to make most of them unrecognisable flesh heaps. One dying survivor, a muddy rag jammed into his throat, was hung by his ankles from a branch, his arms pegged to the ground in a painful stretch, if he took all day to die he would not see the end of the Lavragerian procession that was clattering by.

The young man was wrapped in a Tsarist banner scrawled with bloody words that Obradin borrowed from a minor Kiba.

War is with you now, softbodies.

I read this once already, and was kind of shocked, so I gave myself a day to calm down before I responded. This action is going to be simply IGNORED. If there is conflict to happen there, fine, I am all up for that. But this is ridiculous.

Here is why:

Tsarist Lavrageria/Republican Lavrageria Blockade- 330,000
20 Divisions Heavy Mechanised- 200,000 troops
8 Divisions Light Mechanised- 80,000 troops
5 Divisions Light Infantry- 50,000 troops

This is taken from: http://z9.invisionfree.com/NS_Modern_World/index.php?showtopic=271
And that has been posted for a long-long time and based on the RP that we had there.

1. This is not a dozen soldiers on some frontier that we are talking about. First, our whole strategy was to starve you out, in your earlier posts, you stated that you would be able to hold out, but after a year it would start to get dangerous. I am placing the beginning of that blockade at least 3-5 years ago. This conflict was over for almost two years when Russia and Ukraine did their joint invasion of the Baltics. And Wingert has been in control of the Russian Empire for at least 2 years. This all has the effect of the people you are talking to should be so weak and malnourished that it would be difficult for them to walk anywhere, let alone into another nation. Also, there would be perhaps massive defections that had occurred and those people processed through our detainment/camp system and so on.

2. <QUOTE>Just that given that Belarus’ total boundaries are 2,900 km, I can cover that with something like 138 troops per km<QUOTE>

I am guessing that the enclave has a border that is around a third of this, so we are talking about a troop density of somewhere in the neighborhood of 345 troops per kilometer, right? And that would be pretty conservative, I could assume more. Granted, no I am not stringing them out across the border in a huge long line that would be stupid. But we have been entrenched for years with massive resources and personnel. So, if perhaps half of the troops available were in forward positions, with constant patrols, you are talking a base every maybe 5 kms. Let’s say that your border is 1000 kms in length, you know, what I drive here in Canada to go home for the weekend. That would mean encampments every 5 kms that contain somewhere around 825 troops each. And that would mean that another 165,000 troops would be in back positions in heavier concentrations to respond to any trouble that comes up. Each camp would be completely deforested around it, with constant surveillance going on, as well as the troops in the back positions doing constant foot and mechanized patrols in strengths of anywhere from 50 troops to 1,000 for each patrol with amour. Earthworks would be set up all around the nation, trenches, fields of razor wire, and bunkers and machinegun nests. All of these would be in radio communication with each other constantly. There would also be the small issue of the kilometers and kilometers of mines that are emplaced around the nation in every direction, as well as the constant sounds of the air patrols, spy planes, and so on that are going on overhead. As well as the massive amount of satellite imaging that goes on constantly unseen over the “nation.” There is also the fact that we would have built up an informant network that is operating in the nation constantly, and Spetznatz groups that regularly make incursions behind the lines to sabotage and lower morale. This would include surgical strikes made from the air against military targets from time to time, when deemed necessary.

3. In many TGs and so on, you backed out of control of this area. Now, I didn’t want that, and would welcome someone actively playing it, but you said that I, “…could do anything I wanted with it.” and that you were no longer interested now that you had Yugo Slavia. Now, I am not saying that you shouldn’t be playing that nation, or that you wouldn’t be welcome, but we should have a few things straight first.



So, here is the thrust of it, this sort of mass movement a whole country just up and deciding to take a walk one day, simply could not take us by surprise, a movement on this level would have been noticed at various stages and been dealt with. Or at the every least a response would be prepared. There are simply no holes big enough for you to exploit and the ring that I have around this nation is too well monitored with what amounts to an overwhelming military presence against a starving and weak populace. If you want to suddenly come back and play this nation again, fine, I welcome that and thought that the TGs that you sent me were just the result of emotion anyways, but let’s make this civil, with an emphasis on realism.


Tsar Wingert the Great.

OOC: A border post was attacked, and the vanguard of a horde is starting to move past. That's all that's happened. What are you ranting about?

The displacement of your massive army is no more or less realistic than the condition of the Lavragerian Republic (with its Albania-sized population in its Belgium + Taiwan sized territory).

Under the blockade, as indicated, Industry has collapsed, and urbanisation been largely abandoned. The air force is what existed before, and its pilots have been getting only a few flying hours each year since the war ended... the movement has begun to happen now because Obradin realises that his planes and other equipment won't be sustainable if he waits even to next year, due to the need for fuel and spare parts.

The Lavragerians expect to lose their heavy equipment when that massive Tsarist military machine responds to the sudden assault (but they were going to lose it anyway if it wasn't used).

A horde is moving into the Baltic states in the manner of the old Hun and Mongol hordes, tens or hundreds of thousands strong.

People have been moving around inside the Republic for months, planting crops and moving on to graze decreasing numbers of livestock and to hunt and fish, returning to reap when the time is right, and so the movement of people is not in itself an entirely unusual thing to see. The pattern of movement would have changed only in the hours and perhaps to some degree days leading up to this, but what may have been detected of that is hard to say.

In any event, thousands of Lavragerians around the entire border are launching skirmishing attacks and artillery fire against outposts, while the vast bulk of the population is riding, driving, flying, and walking northwest towards and into Lithuania.

And a few people are ignoring the whole affair and continuing to eat broth and chase deer.

Largely, all we're doing is launching an attack. You seem to be speaking as if I've written your part for you, or decided that the Tsarists have lost. It would be better to do something about it. If you've got suspicions, act on them. If you've got soldiers ready, mobilise them. If you think our borders are exposed and you've got men on them and you want to invade the Republic, invade the blasted Republic, good sir! :)

OOC: All right, with the Lavragerians I just wanted to shake things up a bit, give the war a new front and a new face, and make sure that the Tsar doesn't become too complacent. He's forced Ukraine and Russia together, partitioned Lavrageria, and is occupying Moldova, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia... someone's got to revolt, I thought! And it didn't quite seem right for Lav to be... not meddling!

There is a bit of difficulty arising from AMW's fluid time, as really I might have liked to have the Lavragerians revolt a bit sooner, and it would be too problematic to dip back into the decade that has zipped by without anything really happening in Eastern Europe and the occupied states, so it has to happen now, in the IC present.

I am considering that Obradin's hand has been forced by the passage of time, as waiting would mean going with no air support or mechanisation, and even so the Lavragerians' machines are on their last legs, and fuel after the first tank and any carried cans will have to be pretty much looted.

Ok, you know what, I am going to take you at your word, and though I am in the midst of the week from hell in regards to exams, I will make a post in response to this whole situation. However, I am going to make the post reflect a more easily agreed upon starting point for this RP. From that point on, we can just move along.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

Three Weeks Ago:

Sir Reginald sat in his capitol building deep I the recovered portion of Tsarist Lavrageria. Though they had far to go, the many years and billions upon billions USD worth of infrastructure that was being built was slowly turning this nation into something worth conquering. As the tall, slim, Englishman sipped his Earl Grey and read the London paper via internet (old habits die hard) he was calmed as he looked out of his large glass solarium where he enjoyed taking breakfast. Sir Reginald wore bronze scale armour for the most part, with a long red cape that he often flourished in a dramatic way when making a point in the Duma. He wore, strapped upon his side a well-used long sword of flawless steel that had served him while he fought at the side of the giant Tsar. Ah, as a disaffected youth in England, he had spent time in the military, as he was expected to, and when his family died in a sea fishing accident, and he became the next Lord of Hillfort, he immediately resigned his commission and used his vast wealth to fund the revolution of nobility that was going on in Ukraine. Ever since Tulgary, he had dreamed of being one of these dashing nobles out to reclaim their birthright. Well, now he had.

He looked out the expansive windows onto the grounds below, beautiful and green under the care of the local Lavragerian gardeners, and basked for a moment in the sun that warmed his aging body. He was the Regent of Tsarist Lavrageria, the most trusted foreigner in the Tsarist realms, and until the Grand Duchess and twin brother of the heir to the Tsarist throne, Catherine reached the age of majority, he ruled as an almost Palatine authority in this nation.

It was then that the tramping of military style boots broke his reverie. He spun about to see three of his Generals knocking over the butler who was trying to explain that he was not to be disturbed. He stood and saluted his men, “May I inquire as to the meaning of this interruption to my morning repast, gentleman?” he said in flawless Ukrainian.

They saluted, “Your Highness, the Kargat agents and have received even more information from their spy network and informants within Republican Lavrageria. It seems that the exodus that we suspected is going to happen. Of course, for the most part it is a military operation, it would be impossible to just move that many people, but we believe that the military is going to be moving with their families.”

“And where are they forming up?”

“Satellite information and spy planes indicate that a mass of military equipment is occurring in the north of the nation, and our intelligence suggests that they my be heading towards Lithuania.”

“And what about Kiba Morgan?”

“As per your instructions, he had been hired months ago, along with most of his followers who could fight, and sent to Siberia via train to fight on the Spyran/Chinese front for the Far East District should it come to war. But over a month ago, they were shipped en masse to Sochi and Novorossiysk in the Caucus and shipped via military transports when the Ukrainians were rebuffed by Morocco. They sailed to Nigeria, where they are establishing a camp presently.”

“And how many were they?”

“About 40,000 troops, highness, plus families and so on, so about 100,000 total.”

“Why they feel the need to travel with their families is beyond me. Good, and the Lavragerian Peoples Tsarist Militia? What about them? It would not do to have people we trained and armed to rise against us.”

“Sir, we have begun to move them into Modlova. This is in response to a suggestions that is coming from the Kremlin Military Command. We will retain our police forces, and most of the pacification is handled by the Kargat anyway, so it should not be a problem keeping them in line, though if worse came to worse, we could call upon the Divine Russian Army. I know First Minister Armand has offered us the use of the Spetznatz, should we come to need it.”

“I see, so Russian special forces to bring to bear on pacification, that should suffice nicely. I want you to begin a massive recruitment drive again, explain that their national hero, Lord Morgan has asked that his people join him in glorious battle agsint the enemies of the Lavragerian peoples or something, we have always estimated that we can hire upwards of 100,000 warrior/mercs from this country, let’s do it. I want anyone who even knows how to fight to be leaving the country. Inform the Kremlin that we shall soon have need of more transports for Lavragerian mercenaries. Now, what about Lithuania? Are the commanders there on board?”

“Yes, highness, the local militia is already on its way to Kazakhstan, in order to keep the peace from the terrorist activity that is occurring there. All four Divisions are being transferred to that theatre. Of course, the Kazak High Command has offered to replace those troops man for man and have mobilised in order to do so, should the need come.”

“Then who will be keeping order and defending Lithuania?”

“Highness, five Divisions of Ukrainian Heavy Mechanised Infantry still remain there, and are ready to help should they be needed, as well as having two of those Divisions mobilised and ready for border defence, some 20,000 troops. They should prove sufficient to the task.”

“Of course, I had forgotten, I have so much on my mind. And are the border defnses around Republican Lavrageria at full strength?”

“Of course, highness, and they have been placed on high alert pending this incoming attack.”

Sir Reginald then stretched slightly and yawned, as his General looked at him expectantly, “Oh fine! I will be ready to leave in an hour. I will want to have a conference call with Kazak High Command, Lithuanian High Command and Kremlin Military Command en route, have my helicopter ready.”




All across the nation, for the first time in as long as the Lavragerians could remember, they were happy. Sure, they worked hard, but when had they not? Now they had heated homes, their cropped, through the magic of pesticides and irrigation, were more bountiful than even the old one could remember. Veterinarians had nursed their livestock into full producing capacity, and the Ukrainians and Russians had shown them the wonder of factory farms for producing massive amounts of food. In fact, they were exporting already to feed other parts of the empire, something that they were very proud of, as a nation. Clinics has been set up to attend to the health of the people as wells and people were healthy for it, that, coupled with the wells and sewage systems that were being built meant that the plague was a thing of the past and that their children were living through childhood stronger healthier and more often than anyone could remember.

Of course, a Tsarist citizen could not personally own military grade weapons, but hunting rifles and bows were their way anyways. And now schools were being set up, usually with an Orthodox Church attached. Most of them had no use for the Church and what they taught, but their children were learning to read and to run the machines that the farmers used, useful knowledge to make their lives better. And their children were learning that they were part of a larger people and empire, a brotherhood of peoples and nations that spanned the world. The largest empire on Earth, which was apparently round. And that gave them a sense of purpose and pride as well.

Now, cities and communities were forming, and people worked in the fields together rather than hunted, and they even started to work in the many factories that were springing up all over the nation, many of which built the tractors and boots and so on that they had come to value so much, and many more who created the pieces for the machines of war. The soldiers were still everywhere. And some remembered with a sting the brutality that had occurred when they came, but now they were their brothers, and for the most part, the soldiers treated them well, as long as they obeyed the rules of the Great Tsar. And they remembered how hard they worked for so little and how their old ones and children died before as well. With roads and oil fields and factories and farms and towns springing up everywhere, their nation was beginning to be something that they were proud of, and were for the first time looking into the future and seeing hope for something better for their children, instead of the old ways, again.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

Sir Reginald stood in his command post, sipping his Earl Grey as it steamed in the cool late summer morning. Before him were dozens of technicians manning banks of computers with screens flashing with satellite imagery and real-time troop movements and intelligence. Behind him was a massive map of the area, with little plastic units representing his armies and the rebel Lavragerians placed carefully all over it. Soldiers of high rank spoke in deep Ukrainian and Russian voices as they discussed the day to come.

He thought back to the furor of activity that had been the last few weeks, what with world events turning so sharply and the eighteen hour days he was keeping seeming to blur into each other as the preparations were made day after day for the inevitable movement within the besieged nation. Sometimes he felt more a jailor than soldier, but such was life.

He turned, “Is everything in order then, they are on the move as we speak?”

“Yes sire, we just await your seal to be affixed to the Royal Orders.”

He smiled, and took the seal out of its velvet bag, and when the wax was ready, emblazoned his personal seal onto the bottom of the orders that would start Operation: Last Horde. In four countries men flew into action.

Pictures of the Bear taking off-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrhKPog7o8k
Bear on wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu-95_Bear
Tupulov Tu-160 “Blackjack” on Wiki-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-160
Tupoluv Tu-22M “Backfire”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-22M

Russia-
Throughout Russia the (200) Tu-95/142 “Bear” was roaring to life. And roaring is the only proper word for it. These beasts, with their contra-rotating propeller engines, were the noisiest planes every produced. But as they taxied down their respective runways, everyone involved understood their power. Also, the 15 Tupolov Tu-160, the heaviest combat aircraft ever built, screamed into the air as though it were a demon from Hell. With them was the Backfire, which was coming in great numbers from all parts of the Divine Russian Empire. The last had been a favourite of Putin’s. For the first time in Russian History, their massive bomber fleet was sent to flight all at once, and all with a single destination in mind. The air would go black this day with bombers, and the massive sounds of their flights would shake the Earth, even at 50,000 feet. All over Lavrageria and Russia people were looking to the skies for the show of power that was unfolding before them. Tsar Wingert didn’t have a fraction of this power last time he fought a Lavragerian war.

Long Range Bombers-
Tu-22M Backfire 350 (200 Navy)
Strategic Bombers-
Tu-95/142 Bear 200
Tu-160 Blackjack 35
Total-785

Ukraine-
During this time, the Ukrainian Air Force roared to life as well, its strategic bombers would be held in reserve, but the Russian Bombers were going to have all of the escorts they could want, because though they each were going to be escorted with no less than a couple of Russian MiGs, the Ukrainians were going to fly into Lavragerian air space first and pummel the AA capabilities of the nation with precision ground strikes, they knew more about Lavrageria than the Lavragerians, and though they knew they would take losses, they were confident that they could tie up/destroy a goodly number of the defences before the bombers made their appearance. And so, all over Tsarist Lavrageria and Ukraine runways were busy with the sounds of combat aircraft taking off.

The incoming force was fearsome, with:
200 Sukhio Su-24s
65 Su-25 Frogfoots (especially for anti-tank operations)
65 Sukhio Su-27s
150 MiG-23s
225 MiG-29s
Total-775

This first wave of planes was to go in while the rest of the Ukrainian Air Force waited, putting up a CAP over Ukraine should anyone get any bright ideas about a counter-attack. They were to achieve air superiority, engaging any enemy fighters they should come across, destroying them on the ground if they do not take off first, though it was thought that the amount of fighters left in Republican Lavrageria was quite low. Then, they were to engage and destroy any anti-aircraft capability that they found, staying in the airspace and engaging, as needed to both clear the air for the bombers coming in, and to stay in the air to protect those bombers until they had safely left.


Tsarist Lavrageria-
With the orders came a furious amount of activity, as suddenly from thousands of points all along the borders, cruise missiles and artillery shells erupted from thousands upon thousands of sources, aimed especially at the large group of people heading for the Lithuanian border, but all concentrations of any armed personnel or structures that vaguely held a military purpose, but especially heavy equipment, with tanks and APCs the first priority, opposing artillery next, but really anything mechanised, from tractors to motorcycles after that. Billions of dollars worth of ammunition in the way of cruise missiles and artillery were authorised and had been stockpiled for this time, and this heavy bombardment from every side with the ability to hit any place anywhere within the besieged nation could be kept up for months if need be.

Of course, it almost doesn’t need to be said that the 330,000 troops stationed all around the nations, with full air support and attack helicopters are ready and entrenched to repel any amount of people who attempt to cross the almost kilometre wide swath of mines that had been placed around the nation. This land was the largest death trap ever constructed, and it was efficient.


Lithuania-(and Estonia and Latvia)
The troops all over the border were prepared and were stopping anyone and thoroughly searching them before they entered the country, with strict port controls and curfews enacted all over the Baltic states. All over the Baltics, ships suspected of harbouring Lavragerian sympathies, were seized, searched, and escorted out of the area. If anyone resisted, the ship was destroyed by air or sea, it didn’t matter to the Tsarists. The Yugoslavian ships that flew their home flag were sent back upon their merry way, but all resistance was met with deadly force, whether that was the arrests of the crew and the indefinite seizure of the ship, or should the ship resist somehow beyond the capabilities of the soldiers, long-range missiles or broadsides from the gunships that waited. Aircraft were on alert should more trouble erupt and death could rain from the sky just as easily.



Sir Reginald smiled, as his command center rumbled from the missiles and artillery being fired off, and the sounds of the jet fighters rocketing overhead were music to his ears. The bombers would be here soon, the endgame was begun, Operation: Last Horde was meticulously planned, and going flawlessly thus far. This military operation was unlike anything the world had seen before, it was not about conquering a nation, it was about breaking a people.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

Sir Reginald was quiet happy with his work in Lavrageria. The massive bombardment of the nation had begun, much like it had when Lavrageria was initially invaded after they began raiding northern Ukraine. But this was such a more concentrated affair, and if it was possible, more ordinance was being used per hour by about 200% over what was dropped in the first campaign. Sir Reginald has spent years starving out the Republican Lavragerians and making sure their ability to make war was hampered all the while watching the Tsarist Empire grow to 1000% of its size when the initial invasion occurred. He had gathered and stockpiled so that the most blatant shows of strength could be crushed, and from a wounded and starving people, there was little hope. With the weight of the Russian Air Force behind this massive campaign that also had more than one soldier for every ten Lavragerians and entrenched positions encircling the embattled nation, thousands upon thousands of Lavragerians died with very few losses experienced by the Ukrainians. And within two weeks of constant air strikes, cruise missile strikes and artillery, the order to invade with armour in the main came by. Thousands upon thousands of tanks rolled across the border, all the while supported by the massive machine that was pounding them all the while. The Lavragerian warriors were a hardy people, and many fought as they were invaded, but that really only served to show the invaders where they were hiding and allowed them to be destroyed that much more simply. And then the waves upon waves of Tsarist soldiers came, burning everything in their sight and killing brutally all those who opposed them. The Tsarists would report that the casualties that the Lavragerians suffered were less than 20,000 in total, but it was suspected by Tsarist High Command to be ten times that!

But after another two weeks of what could only laughingly be called “fighting” there was just no fight to give. The people had no fight left in them. They were tired and facing insurmountable odds if they were prepared properly. Many cried out to Lav wishing him to come back, but he had abandoned them to these foreigners and their battered God.

All those who had the will to fight were now either dead or in one of the many prison camps, and the populous were being disarmed quickly. They Tsarist camps swelled by over 100,000 new prisoners, and mass graves were being dug to hide all of the rest.

But just like their Tsarist Lavragerian brethren, they started to find out that life was only hard under the Tsars when they fought against such a fierce enemy. As soon as they surrendered, which at the two week mark they began to do so in droves, thousands at a time, they were given more food than they had seen in years, medical attention, and shelter in the form of tents with heaters and new clothes and blankets to keep warm with.

Everywhere there were potholes and craters and mud and tanks and soldiers and the sky was filled with planes, but promises started to be made to the local leaders that they would have seats in the Duma, and a say in how they were governed. And their new ruler would reconstruct their nation, and he would never abandon them to their enemies like Lav had done. They would never fight alone again, now they would always have the protection of a Tsar. Almost three million people now resigned themselves to their new fate. They were now property of the Tsar.

Now, Sir Reginald thought, I will not need almost 400,000 Ukrainian troops any longer, perhaps a third of that will do. What plans will the High Command have for them now?

Tsar Wingert the Great.