Even iron rusts under fire.
The first flames of resistance ignited in the Caucasus, where ethnic militias—armed with Concord-supplied rifles—attacked Doctrine Schools and sabotaged Imperial rail lines.
[Crisis Alert: Caucasus Rebellion – Severity Level: Moderate]
In Persia, the Shah's court fractured. A royalist faction, backed by British gold and Ottoman agents, declared Mikhail's reforms heretical and launched a coup in Tehran.
[Foreign Influence Detected – Persia Loyalty: -15 | Strategic Hold: Compromised]
In Bavaria, Die Zahnräder faced a sudden backlash from aristocrats and clergy fearing their grip slipping. The streets of Munich burned with riot and rhetoric—faith against innovation.
And in Korea, rumors spread that Crown Prince Min-gyu had been assassinated. The Imperial Institute lost contact with its advisory outpost in Gyeongseong.
[Emergency Flag Raised – Korea: Status Unknown | Contact: Lost]
Mikhail responded not with panic—but with precision.
[System Protocol: Iron Web – Activated]
The Iron Web was a counter-resistance intelligence network, powered by cipher-machines, embedded agents, and cognitive prediction models. Its role: identify unrest before it bloomed.
Within hours, dozens of Concord agents in St. Petersburg were arrested. In the Caucasus, drone-rail convoys deployed robotic pacifiers—non-lethal shock armor with facial recognition modules.
[Rebellion Contained – Casualties Minimal | Tech Superiority Maintained]
But suppression was not enough.
Mikhail called a Doctrine Council, gathering key technocrats, military strategists, and ideologues at the Winter Palace.
"Why do they rebel? Because they fear irrelevance. Because they know what we build renders them obsolete."
His decision shocked many:
The Doctrine would shift—not soften—but evolve.
New outreach programs would explain the ideology in local dialects, with cultural accommodations. Select religious leaders would be invited to interpret the Doctrine in ways harmonious with native beliefs.
[New System Branch: Doctrine Syncretism – Launched]
Propaganda units—now called Narrative Engineers—produced plays, operas, and serialized fictions dramatizing the lives of fictionalized "Doctrine heroes."
Meanwhile, Mikhail deployed the Phantom Cadre, the Empire's most elite covert team, to investigate the silence in Korea.
[Mission Code: Black Lotus – Objective: Locate Crown Prince, Identify Hostile Actors, Reinforce Imperial Network in Asia]
Back in Russia, the people stood firm. The Iron Doctrine had weathered its first true crisis.
But Mikhail knew this was just the beginning.
The world was adapting.
And some enemies would not fight with bullets, but with culture, finance, and shadows.