The Iron Doctrine did not stay confined to Russia.
Within weeks of its proclamation, emissaries from the Imperial Institute for Advancement began arriving in foreign capitals—not as diplomats, but as ideological engineers.
[System Update: Ideological Expansion Protocol – Activated]
They offered "advisors," industrial blueprints, and advanced cipher-technology to emerging nations.
In return, those nations would adopt the Tsar's tenets—either overtly or in practice.
Some accepted eagerly.
In Persia, disillusioned scholars and industrialists invited Russian engineers to modernize their oil refineries, rebuilding cities with cog-fusion infrastructure.
In Bavaria, a nationalist-technical movement—Die Zahnräder—modeled itself directly after Mikhail's reforms, demanding an end to feudal bureaucrats and royal stagnation.
In Korea, Crown Prince Min-gyu sent envoys asking to join the Institute as a "junior partner," eager to leapfrog into the new age.
[Influence Rising: Persia +30 | Bavaria +15 | Korea +20]
But the Iron Doctrine's spread did not go uncontested.
In London, a secret summit of global powers formed the Continental Concord, an anti-Russian alliance dedicated to stopping "the Technarchic Plague."
This alliance was not built on honor—but desperation.
[New Coalition Detected: Continental Concord – Britain, France, Ottoman Empire, Japan]
They began coordinating trade embargoes, seizing Russian foreign assets, and sponsoring insurgencies in newly converted nations.
In response, Mikhail ordered the formation of the External Stability Command—a covert operations branch tasked with defending allied nations and destabilizing Concord sympathizers.
[New Faction Created: External Stability Command – Status: Active]
Their first operation: Project Kraken.
A mission to break the Concord's secret communications hub beneath Gibraltar using deep-sea sabotage drones and a cybernetic kraken-drone disguised as lost marine fauna.
[Operation Success – Concord Intelligence Hub Disrupted | Naval Advantage Secured in the Mediterranean]
Meanwhile, inside Russia, the Doctrine evolved.
The Imperial Institute launched a new education mandate:
Children would now be raised in Doctrine Schools, where they studied science, engineering, geopolitics, and ideological history from age 6 onward.
[Cultural Shift Initiated – Imperial Literacy: 92% → 98% | National Cohesion: +12%]
Mikhail watched the map not with greed, but with calculation.
"We cannot conquer the world. We can only make the world choose—between stagnation and the storm."
As emissaries spread, agents struck, and Concord powers tightened their grip, one truth became clear:
The age of empires was ending.
A new one was rising.
An age forged not in thrones or ballots—but in gears, wires, and will.