Makes sense. However given the current mental state of Elias I would not be surprised if he decides to scrap the idea of “divine right” and say that God himself is running the country for the ultimate meme.
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At least Karl lasted a whole year
Even Germany had massively democratized by the end of that, while Canada maintained its managed democracy for decades, which is still slightly better than blatant totalitarianism. No such luck for Jerusalem which, like the Soviets Valentin remembered, is quite honest about its totalitarianism. China is marching in the same direction now and nobody is powerful enough to stand up to Han. As we'll see soon, not even the emperor himself can stand up to him.
Elias has enough nukes to turn the entire world to molten glass twice over, and enough left over to build a rocket for himself to escape to space.
I think the chapters and updates speak well for themselves, and a neutral retrospective would kind of ruin what themes I wanted him to embody. If someone were to skip the narrative and read only the chapters (which is completely understandable), they'd think Wilhelm Karl was certainly a tyrannical Kaiser who masterminded the events of the last eight years before being killed by the Chinese. Reading only the chapters or gaining the context of the narrative gives different perspectives on the same person and shows the importance of context to history, something a retrospective can easily undo. After all, Wilhelm Karl's first narrative update as Kaiser is called "Context is for Kings."
I have a segment involving the Chinese monarchy coming up soon. As I've said before, Han still has special plans for the monarchy.
To be clear, the Mingzhong emperor died a few years ago, I just couldn't come up with a way to work it into the story. His son has taken over by now.
They had earlier versions of the laogais, and I mentioned prisoners were experimented on by Unit 731.
That's actually the "sane" narrator talking at that point
Taboritsky intensifies
Remember what I said on page 314?
Elias would hate a republic. The Schweinfurts and Bernadette's family are out of the question for obvious reasons.
"I AM
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Weird thing is, I’ve decided to go through some of Gaberial’s updates in Vicky 2 and HOI3 on a whim and found these quotes that oddly fit in with the themes of this arc. Feels like Gaberial accidentally predicted the Commitee’s rise long before Valentin and Molotov did. I’m sure he’s feeling smug about calling this right now, assuming me quoting him doesn’t summon him here.
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Surprisingly relevant indeed. If he did predict the committee, he sure did it before even myself.
I agree with Zen. Rereading those post with hindsight of this arch is fascinating. Hopefully next time the Romans enter a golden age after the Committee they will address its problems so that another collapse will not happen. But if one does happen hopefully it is like the Sunset Invasion in were it unites the Roman people as opposed to the Maximist, Angelos's, and Committee.
Sending a Message
Berlin - May 5
The cameras were all aimed on him now. There were no reporters or journalists or even that many crewmen, but Elias knew the whole world was watching. He continued speaking.
“Today, we mourn the loss of our fallen Autokrator,” he said, “Wilhelm IV was a great man and the strong leader we all needed, if not deserved. He led us out of a dark age of censorship, propaganda, and leftist domination and into an age of righteousness and holiness. He was the second coming of Saint Wilhelmina, who similarly purged the nation of heretics and apostates and remade Christendom in her image. For that, we are thankful. His son was taken from us far too soon. Had he reigned longer, he would have made his father proud. Wilhelm V was a devout Christian who was eager to lead his flock towards the Kingdom of God. The apostates of the world, jealous of our devotion and righteousness, robbed him from us. They seek to silence and destroy us again, like Rome persecuted the apostles and had the Jews put Jesus on the cross. While we find a new Autokrator to lead us, I will be leading a regency council that will take on all of the Throne’s affairs. I promise, I will get justice for our Autokrator. His killers will get what they deserve in the end. History is written by the winners. And I intend to write the history books.”
---
“For the last time, I didn’t know this was going to happen!” Theodor said.
“Don’t bull-scheiße me, you were providing security at the event!” Josiah said. “You got the Autokrator killed!”
“You were responsible for vetting the participants!” Theodor said. “You let the bomber in!”
“You didn’t stop him!” Josiah said.
Heinrich quietly sat in the corner.
“Gentlemen, calm down,” Elias said.
“Elias, tell Josiah he frakked up!” Theodor said.
“No, Elias you need to reprimand Theodor!” Josiah said. “He’s never thought things through, and now it’s frakking us all up!”
“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!” Elias shouted, brandishing his pocketknife.
Everyone immediately shut up.
“Neither of you is at fault,” Elias said, “Han was responsible for this despicable act. Han is. But we can work with this. It benefits us in the end.”
“What?!” Josiah said.
“Really?” Theodor said.
“It gives us back control of the narrative, and so much more,” Elias said.
“How so?” Josiah said. “The Autokrator is dead! And we have nobody to replace him with!”
“Exactly,” Elias said, “There’s nobody to replace him with.”
Theodor quickly caught on. “I see what you mean.”
“Now, remember that succession law we pushed through in January?” Elias said.
“Yeah,” Josiah said, “Only male descendants of Wilhelm V may become Autokrator or change the succession law.”
“And since there are no male descendants of Wilhelm V…” Theodor said.
“Nobody can become Autokrator now,” Heinrich realized.
“This regency of ours…it will rule in the Autokrator’s place,” Elias said, “Permanently. Eternally.”
“You mean…we now have the powers of the Autokrator?” Josiah said.
“You’re finally catching on,” Elias said, “Yes, the last person who could stand in our way is now permanently dealt with. And Han Xianyu was so nice to do it for us.”
Privately, he was pissed. He wanted to be the one to kill the boy. He had a plan in place to eliminate Guglielmo’s brat and even pin it on Han in the end. If only Han had waited, he could’ve gladly taken credit for that, for all Elias cared. But killing the Hohenzollerns was his job, his duty, his God-given destiny. Did Han want to take that from him as well? No, he wouldn’t. Elias had to retain control.
“So what do we do now?” Theodor said.
“We take care of some loose ends,” Elias said.
“Like the ex-princess?” Josiah said.
“No, not yet,” Elias said, “I’ll handle her personally. She’ll receive the same fate as the rest of her family.”
“You seem to be very fixated on killing her,” Heinrich said.
“Is that a problem?” Elias said.
“No, I’ll make a note of that,” Heinrich said.
“I must protest,” Josiah said, “We have our empire. We don’t need to do this.”
“Agreed,” Heinrich said.
“On the contrary, we do,” Elias said, “The rest of the world circles like vultures around us. They will come after us eventually. We must destroy them before they destroy us. If Han wants to be the villain of our story, then we’ll be the heroes and give him the fight he wants.”
“Amen!” Theodor said.
“Don’t tell me you’re onboard with this, Theodor,” Josiah said.
“Oh, I am,” Theodor said, “I foresee a lot of profits in the future.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re going to spend those profits on, then?” Josiah said.
“I’ll tell you when I have them,” Theodor said.
“We must send a message to the world,” Elias said, “That we are not to be messed with. The last couple days, the Eimericans have been violating our sovereignty by crossing into our waters. Heinrich, make an example of them.”
“Sir, the Eimerican fleet is mostly civilian,” Heinrich said, “A majority of the people in that fleet are noncombatants.”
“Then the message will be even clearer,” Elias said, “Anybody who stands in my way will be utterly crushed!”
He stabbed his pocket knife into the table.
Heligoland - May 6
The Ocuil Acatl had docked in Heligoland’s small harbor. Due to the harbor’s size and depth, the rest of the convoy was moored offshore. Military transport boats were now ferrying refugees from the island to the ships, with Tania, Atoc, and Ollin overseeing them.
“This reminds me of the evacuation of New Peten twenty years ago,” Atoc said, “My fleet was heading for Quisqueya when we came under heavy fire from a warlord who’d seized the local Mayan navy fleet. There were still civilian boats in the water. The warlord didn't hesitate to fire missiles at them. We fought them off in the end, but we lost fifty civilians.”
“Hopefully this evacuation proceeds without a hitch,” Ollin said.
“I’d like to get off this island as soon as we’ve gotten everyone onboard,” Atoc said, “We’re officially in Jerusalemite waters. I don’t want to stay here anymore than necessary.”
“Agreed,” Tania said, “With what happened two days ago, the situation is unstable.”
“What do you think about all this, Admiral Kirova?” Ollin said.
“Well, it’s a power grab by the committee,” Tania said, “Pretty obvious one. They knew they could get away with it. Now they can do whatever they want.”
“Like what?” Atoc said.
“I don’t know,” Tania said, “But I feel very worried about the next few days. Especially our current situation. I expected there to at least be some coast guard ships in the area to inspect us. Maybe tail us from a distance. But we’ve seen nobody. Why aren’t we seeing anybody?”
“Come to think about it, you’re right,” Atoc said, “This is unusual. Where did the Jerusalemite coast guard go?”
Ollin looked south, towards Bremerhaven and the mainland. “Nothing in that direction too.”
“We might as well make the most of this,” Atoc said, “Get those civilians onboard, and let’s get the hell out of here.”
---
Clara, Anna, Annie, and Walter trudged down the dirt road from the village, following the hundreds of other civilians—both locals and Bremerhaven refugees—heading to the harbor.
“Did you know this island’s name translates to Holy Land?” Walter said. “Because the locals used to worship the Norse god Forseti here?”
“Really?” Clara said. “Like the Fire Emblem dragon?”
She really didn't play that much Fire Emblem. It was mostly just Angelica playing while they were having a slow day at the office. Angelica said it was always the princess' favorite game, so she just had to play it.
“Ironic,” Anna said, “Jerusalem likes one Holy Land but would rather forget about the other.”
“Because one is Christian and the other isn’t,” Clara said.
“One Holy Land or another, it doesn’t matter,” Annie said, “They all suck. They’re just land, in the end.”
“Fair enough,” Anna said.
“Herr Humboldt, what are you going to do when you arrive in Scandinavia?” Clara said.
“I’m going to try some surströmming!” Walter said. “Anders never let me eat that.”
Uh...how about no?
“For good reason,” Anna said.
“Annie won’t be as stubborn!” Walter said.
“No, I agree with Anna,” Annie said, “No surströmming for you. We’ve both tried it. Once is too much.”
“You weren’t like this as a kid, Anna,” Walter said.
“Maybe that was the other Anna,” Anna said, “But not me.”
“Other Anna?” Clara said.
“Complicated family stuff,” Annie said, “You had to be there to understand.”
“Says someone who wasn’t there,” Anna said.
“Technically you weren’t either,” Annie said.
“Well I was the one involved in the matter!” Anna said. “That counts!”
They reached the harbor. The transport craft had just docked at the wharf. Those already there began boarding, with Ollin, Atoc, and Tania making sure each group of family and friends all embarked at once.
“We’re almost there,” Clara said.
Suddenly, Anna tensed up.
“Do you hear that?” she said.
“Hear what—oh,” Annie said, “OW!”
Clara felt a familiar painful dizziness between her eyes. She got a sick feeling in her stomach. She heard a strange grating noise coming from the south, as well as the feeling of pressure or vibration in her ears and eyes. In a way, it was similar to driving a car with the window down, but she wasn’t moving, and there was no wind. She groaned in pain. Covering her ears and closing her eyes did nothing. She ran around the area, but it was also useless. She could also hear the groans of Annie and Anna as they too doubled over and clutched their heads.
Then suddenly it ended with a gunshot. She opened her eyes and saw Tania lowering her still smoking sniper rifle. She followed the direction of the barrel in time to see a distant drone fall from the sky and crash into the water below. Although the sensation was gone, there was still a persistent buzzing in her ear, and her hearing felt dull. Her hearing had deteriorated in Bremerhaven after all of the gunfire she heard, but the buzzing felt off somehow. Like it wasn’t actually her ears…like it was something in the distance.
“Drones!” Ollin shouted.
---
A missile slammed into one of the village houses, blowing it up. The civilians screamed and began stampeding towards the transports. Atoc whistled, and a squadron of Mitteleimerican marines formed a defensive line across the dock, holding them back. Tania’s walkie-talkie buzzed.
“Yes?” she said.
“Multiple aerial targets inbound! Jerusalemite drones!”
“What are they doing so far out here?”
“I knew this would happen!” Ollin said. “We’ve got to move, now!”
Another missile shot overhead and impacted one of the transports, blasting it and everyone inside to pieces. Tania looked up and saw a whole swarm of military drones, both repurposed commercial drones and fully military designs, approaching in formation from the south. She reloaded her rifle and continued shooting. Ollin and Atoc drew their guns.
“Fire on those drones!” Atoc ordered.
The Mitteleimerican marines opened fire. Tania reloaded her rifle again. This looked like it would be a long battle. She was pissed she left her ammo box behind in her helicopter. Those bullets would've come in handy now.
---
Most of the civilians covered their ears to dampen the sound of the gunfire. Clara winced a little, as her ears had already been somewhat damaged by all the gunfire she heard in Bremerhaven. She drew her pistol and fired on the approaching drones, as did Annie. Anna grabbed Walter and pushed him behind a car for his safety. The hail of gunfire took out several of the drones, but the others dodged out of the way.
Berlin
Theodor leaned forward in his chair, watching the camera feeds from the drones. He checked another computer screen for current energy usage and remaining ammunition levels. Cross-referencing that with a map of the drone positions, he typed in a new order. Crosshairs appeared on the camera feeds, focusing on the civilians’ heads. Larger crosshairs targeted the transports and the marines.
“This is so much fun!” he said.
---
That’s Havana Syndrome again.
The original plan was to have Elias actually kill Wilhelm Jr., but after talking with you all, I think having Han do it again made more sense.
Edit: separated Clara's and Tania's POVs.
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I doubt there will be a golden age even if the committee falls.
So it is going to be like Miklós Horthy.
Of course Walter would say that. Also no Walter you do not want to try that if all the videos that I have seen on YouTube about people eating it/trying to eat it are any indication.
Drones really? I thought the Committee would nuke them.
...but worse.
Walter being Walter.
Theodor probably wanted the satisfaction of piloting the drones himself.
Guess we really are going to end up with a "eternal regent" scenario like TWR97 said. Not surprised they immediately attacked the Eimerican fleet, Elias probably doesn‘t even care about how that would start a war given his mental state, or lack thereof. I'm getting a lot of Dunkirk vibes with the situation of the Bremerhaven refugees here.
Elias describing Wilhelm Karl as the second coming of Saint Wilhelmina is more apt then I think he even realizes, considering both realized the errors of their ways and reconciled with the families they previously shunned towards the end.
Elias describing Wilhelm Karl as the second coming of Saint Wilhelmina is more apt then I think he even realizes, considering both realized the errors of their ways and reconciled with the families they previously shunned towards the end.
Imagine what would happen if Gabriel met Olga, the most ardent believer of Romanitas you could find in this arc, she'd probably dismiss it as villainous monologuing like Hans and Conrad did. This really sells the idea that Jerusalem was the Reich’s shadow waiting to emerge at the right moment.
And there probably shouldn’t be if we are being honest. That reward the Roman people for their bad behavior and make it more likely they won't learn from their mistakes, thus causing the cycle of rise and fall to repeat again.
That makes sense. I guess I am just a sucker for happy endings.
Elias: "UNLIMITED POWAAAHHHHH!"
Ironic indeed.
Funny enough, the strongest believer in Romanitas is a Russian. She'd probably go mad and try to shoot Gabriel.
A golden age would also help cover up the worst of the committee and allow the Romans to never learn from the past.
Plus it would become yet another talking point for the next ultraconservative authoritarian movement complaining about so called degeneracy, just as the Committee, Angeloi and Maximists claimed there where trying go back to the golden age of the 12th century or the Imperial Century.
It would be quite easy for the next authoritarian wannabe to consider Elias and his committee martyrs if they fall.
I can't wait till Elias starts pulling a Palpatine and wrestles power from the rest of his fellow committee members, fighting Theodore would be a hell of a sight ngl. The man's psychological health is already beginning to decline me thinks.
Moria meanwhile: "I'm playing both sides so I always come out on top"
Theodor really starting to channel Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik towards the end there.
I can see that. He has become very proficient at pushing all of our buttons regardless if they are red or not.