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Keeper of the Keys (Aka, fear the Nuclear Pope!)

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The Holy Army

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Map of the Italian Federation and the distribution of its armed forces, January 1936

1 & 2: The Mountain Guard
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Of the three countries bordering the Italian Federation, by far the most capable and dangerous was the Commune of France. Accordingly, when it came time to address the organization of the army, Pope Pius XI's first concern was to ensure that the French-Italian border was secured. To that end, he devoted almost all of the Federation's military resources to creating the Mountain Guard, comprised of ten well-equipped units deployed to Grenoble and Nice to serve as the first line of defense against any possible French aggression. Commanded by Generals Guzzoni and di Baldessero, the Mountain Guard represents the most elite of the Federation's forces, and its only substantial standing army unit.

3: The Army of St. John, Mobile HQ
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In accordance with the Pope's wishes, each functional army group of the Italian Federation's army is placed under the patronage of a particular great saint. The army forces of northern Italy, under the command of Field Marshall Caviglia, are under the patronage & intercession of St. John the Evangelist.

4 & 5: The Swiss Guard and OSG Papal Guard
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A source of some ill feelings and suspicion on both sides, the Pope & the Holy City are jointly guarded by two separate forces. The Swiss Guard, under Col. Dimitri Merian, represents the great tradition of the Pope's Swiss defenders, dating back hundreds of years. The Order of St. Gregory's Papal Guard, commanded by Br. Maximillian, represent the new era of increased Papal authority, direct Vatican leadership, and the authoritarian promptings of Cardinal Innitzer, Prefect of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.

6: The Army of St. Dominic, Mobile HQ
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Commanded by Field Marshall Badoglio, the Army of St. Dominic has jurisdiction over the presently non-existent armies of southern Italy.

7: First Bomber Wing
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The Holy Air Force presently consists of only two squadrons of Fiat BR.20 Cicogna tactical bombers, commanded by Air General Pricolo.
 
The Holy Navy

8: The Holy Fleet of St. Nicholas

The sole naval fleet dedicated to combat duty, the Holy Fleet of St. Nicholas (the patron saint of sailors) is in the capable hands of Grand Admiral Ghe, the Pope's most favored naval officer. Well-rounded, the fleet consists of a number of vessels from nearly all ship classes, providing the Holy Navy with a versatile and powerful fleet to protect Italian waters.

The Holy Flagship
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The Holy Vatican Warship (HVW) Thomas Aquinas, named for the great Doctor of the Church and theological writer, is the largest ship in the Vatican's fleet, and serves as the grand flagship of the Holy Fleet. The super-heavy class battleship was commissioned as a gift from King Alfonso XIII of Spain, the Spanish monarch's response to Pope Pius XI's call for all Catholic nations to lend their support to the fledgling Italian Federation. Heavily armed and armored, the Thomas Aquinas is also home to the largest chapel on any naval vessel, and also contains a specially furnished cabin reserved for the Pope, who uses the vessel on official trips.

The Battleships
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While the Thomas Aquinas is the singular flagship of the Italian Federations' Holy Navy, she is rarely seen without the Federation's first two commissioned battleships, the Michael Archangel and the Ignatius, flanking her sides. While the Assumption-class battleship design is beginning to show its age, the two vessels remain important pieces of the Holy Father's fleet. By tradition, the battleships of the Vatican's navy are named after angels or major saints.

The Battlecruisers
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Serving beneath the battleships of the Holy Fleet are the smaller Battlecruisers: the Leo XIII, the Pius VII, and the Gregory the Great. The La Salette-class is a new and highly efficient design, and is expected to see extended service before being replaced by a new ship model. Battlecruisers are traditionally named after previous Popes, while their ship classes are named after the locations of Marian apparitions or Marian miracles.

The Heavy Cruisers
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The Holy Fleet currently employs three Ephesus-class heavy cruisers: Thomas More, the John Vianney, and the Therese of Lisieux. The Vatican's heavy cruiser ship models are named after major Christian cities, while the vessels themselves are named after saints.

The Light Cruisers
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The smaller cousins of the heavy cruisers, four Champion-class light cruisers serve the Holy Fleet: the Stephen of Hungary, the Anthony of Egypt, the Catherine of Siena, and the Francis Xavier. The smaller cruisers' class names generally refer to titles of Christian warriors, and like their larger cousins, are named after saints.

The Destroyers
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Three flotillas of Temperance-class destroyers complete the Holy Fleet, while two more serve with the heavy cruiser Jane de Chantal in the 1st Transport fleet. The small screening vessels take their ship class names from admirable Christian virtues.

9: The 1st Transport Fleet

A smaller fleet intended for the ferrying of Federation troops across the sea, the 1st Transport Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Camponi, is led by the heavy cruiser HVW Jane de Chantal, protected by two destroyer flotillas, and contains six transport flotillas.
 
Whew! I'm tired. The military overview is a bit overkill on the detail, but I tried to get a good view of the modding I did to the scenario... Half the fun up to this point has been trying to dreg enough fancy names for the OSG's custom generals, all the different ships and ship classes of the Holy Navy, and whatnot.

It's just about bedtime, so hopefully this bit of reading material helps set a bit of a dramatic stage for the start of the game tomorrow. Sometime tomorrow afternoon/evening I'll wrap things up with the production/technology/diplomacy situation at the game's start, and then set things rolling along.
 
Most interesting and, if you could not already predict.... SUBSCRIBED! Since I made a brief video commercial for English class a few months back with me as the Pope in Papal Italy, I feel it necessary to quote myself from that video:

Crilly's Commercial for English 1H Project said:
These are Papal territories, and we shall unite l'Italia!
Click to expand...

Crilly
 
Excellent updates!
Well thought and original setting, and with the 'Grenoble Mountain Guard' you've just made my day. :D
 
Looks awesome!
Do you think that you could upload the modded files?
 
Nitpick: You forget that there were two other guard groups during this time:
The Noble Guard - shared guard duty w/ the Swiss Guard.
and
The Palatine Guard - the real military force of a Papal State (infantrymen)
 
You don't have to be afraid of Commune of France with having such strong mountain guard! Your Italian Federation looks really awesome. :cool:
 
Seeing as he is the Patron saint of Battle, I think that The Archangel Micheal should be the flagship instead of the Thomas Aquinas. It also just seems more appropriate to have the Pope's flagship named after an archangel rather then a saint.
 
A promising start! :)
 
The Noble Guard and the Palatine Guard, eh... Never knew such a thing existed! But then again, Church history never really was my specialty, I'm more of an apologetics kind of guy...

As for the Thomas Aquinas vs. the Michael Archangel, given the description of Pius XI on Kaiserpedia, it seemed to me that he was a bit less warlike than a guy like Innitzer, and so if we were going to name his greatest flagship, he would choose someone like Thomas Aquinas, who was one of the greatest theological scholars, and who actually wrote some convincing statements on the virtue of a Christian monarchy.

Oh, and don't worry about Constantinople... Once the Syndicalists are wiped off the map, I have a feeling the Church is going to get itchy for a reclamation of the Holy Lands, and if the game survives that long I have a feeling the Catholics are going to end up fighting Mitteleuropa.
 
Tritoch42 said:
Oh, and don't worry about Constantinople... Once the Syndicalists are wiped off the map, I have a feeling the Church is going to get itchy for a reclamation of the Holy Lands, and if the game survives that long I have a feeling the Catholics are going to end up fighting Mitteleuropa.
Click to expand...

Nice plan!
 
And by that time, hopefully I'll have the requisite nuclear techs researched.

Pope: For opposing the Holy Church's efforts to reclaim the Holy Lands of Constantinople and Jerusalem, Germany is... EXCOMMUNICATED!!!! *nuke falls on Berlin*
 
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