The snows of St. Petersburg glistened beneath banners of crimson and gold.
Across the frozen city, engineers and craftsmen labored without rest, erecting pavilions and exhibits showcasing the might and sophistication of the new Russian Empire.
Steam engines roared. Clockwork automatons danced. Colossal steel statues of past Tsars loomed over plazas, now dwarfed by mechanical marvels bearing Mikhail's seal.
The Great St. Petersburg Exposition was underway.
[Event: Imperial World's Fair – Status: Open]
Nations came, lured by curiosity, arrogance, and hidden agendas.
The British delegation, led by Lord Pembroke, arrived with their newest repeating rifles and a silent battalion of intelligence officers.
The Ottomans presented exotic spices, textiles, and experimental armored cavalry units.
The French displayed elegant airship prototypes, sleek but fragile compared to Russia's monstrous armored trains.
Even the reluctant Austrians and Germans sent emissaries, thinly veiling their disdain.
But none were prepared for what the Iron Tsar unveiled.
First, the Thunderstrider:
A mechanized quadruped—half-tank, half-steel beast—capable of traversing mountains and frozen tundra.
[Innovation Displayed: Armored Walker – Thunderstrider Mark I]
Second, the Volkhov Arc Generator:
A portable energy weapon, using steam-electrical discharge to fry enemy fortifications at close range.
[Weapon Revealed: Volkhov Arc Projector]
The audience gasped.
Some diplomats whispered that it was a trick. Others realized, in growing horror, that they stood at the brink of a new military age.
Mikhail's gambit had succeeded.
Foreign powers now scrambled to adjust their strategies, suddenly aware of how far behind they had fallen.
[Global Impact: Technological Shock] [Foreign Hostility: Intensified]
But Mikhail had anticipated their reactions.
Behind the spectacles, deep within the bowels of the Winter Palace, secret negotiations took place.
Cipher agents brokered deals with disaffected nobles from rival nations. Scientists from abroad—lured by promises of wealth and freedom from censorship—quietly defected to Russia.
[Asset Acquisition: +7 Foreign Experts]
Every move, every smile, every toast of champagne at the Exposition was another thread woven into Mikhail's web.
And when news broke that a coalition of Britain, Austria, and the Ottomans had signed a "Mutual Defense Agreement" just days before the Exposition's opening...
Mikhail only smiled.
"Let them come," he whispered, standing atop the balcony of the Winter Palace, overlooking the glowing marvels below.
"Let the world come."
The gears of destiny were turning.
And they would grind all opposition to dust.