Tsardom of Moscow, Neues Reich…
In the seemingly minimalistic mansion, a place that would not be worth the attention of the oligarchs of Hohenzollern, a majestically bald middle-aged Jerry frowned at the document in his hand.
This was the palace of the Tsar, the Tsar of Moscow. The administrators, also known as the arms and legs of the Tsardom, were silently waiting by the sides of the sparsely decorated hall, with their heads slightly bowed.
*Crumple*
The Tsar crumpled the document before throwing it to the ground, anger boiling within his soul, "Gather the generals!"
His voice boomed across the empty hall while some figures from behind him hurried to turn around, their task obvious. These figures were the secret police, the Okhrana, the eyes and ears of the Tsardom.
Soon enough, figures in military clothing walked in, sweat beaded on their faces. They did not know the reason for being called here, and were too scared to ask, simply waiting for the Tsar. These figures were the military generals, the commanders of the battlefield, the heads of the military; which was considered the body and armour of the Tsardom.
"Hohenzollern has declared war on the Tsardom," The Tsar's enraged voice boomed through the hall, "And I will not stand such a provocation! Prepare the armies. It is time to show these upstarts, who could only use our moment of weakness against the German Reich to encroach our lands, my lands, who the true power is. I want them defeated, by any means necessary!"
"My Tsar!" The generals saluted with eagerness.
The Tsar was the head and soul of the Tsardom, without whose command the Tsardom would not and could not exist. So far, the armies had been idling around, just increasing in number, slowly improving their technology while integrating the Magi who were created with the help of the Tsar's vision, into their ranks.
Finally, it was time to put things into action. The Generals feared many things, the Tsar, his anger, the Okhrana, and some defeatists; perhaps even the mighty German Reich. But war, especially against another nation of lower population, that they did not fear.
They welcomed it with open arms, and so, into the flames of war went one of the most populous nations on Neues Reich, and one of the most technologically advanced nations on Neues Reich.
James watched with intrigue. This was would lead to another wave of Collective Energy. In reality, he was glad that Hohenzollern had declared war on what was evolving to become the future Russian Empire, or worse yet, the Soviet Union. He had no shared love for that behemoth of people.
And just like that horrifying place, the so called Tsardom of Moscow; how the Russian name had evolved from the German language still a mystery to James, had gained the highest population in all of Neues Reich.
It had, like all other nations, started off with only 20% of its population alive. However, over generations, and its inherent corruptness, the living conditions for the common people was horrifying, even compared to Hohenzollern.
Peasants could only work on fields owned by nobility, getting scraps from the animals they raised, and on years with poor rain causing less food for the animals to grow on, they would even have to go months without proper nutrition, surviving solely on the sun.
But that was not enough. If they did no other activity other than absorbing energy from the sun and night sky, it would have been possible to survive, but because they still had to tend to the animals, they would generally expend more energy than they gained.
A cycle had emerged among the lower class of the Tsardom, where the parents would collect and store meat and other foods for their children to grow healthy. But by the time this happened, the parents were already too malnourished to survive much longer, and the next generation would take their place.
This vicious cycle had unknowingly greatly boosted the fertility of the Tsardom, as more and more Collective Energy was sent back to them, allowing their population to finally cross the 1 million mark, but the time Armin II's time was nearing its end.
The Tsar had spent a long time to try and improve the conditions of the peasants, but ultimately was held back by the very instruments created to serve his needs; the Okhrana and the Administrators. They were all simply too corrupt, their greed knowing no bounds and the result was barely any changes taking place.
He had also tried to implement the technologies he had gained, or help cultivate new and powerful Magi, and was once again held back by corruption. Thankfully, since this involved the military, the third tool created for the actions of the Tsar, it took some effect.
New technologies were indeed implements at a slow scale, with gunpowder being the most important one in use, along with musket guns and the likes. Industrialisation was still too far, but certain factories were created that could pump out military supplies, ammunitions, and guns at a moderate pace.
On the other hand, the search for potential Magi had gone smoother than he had expected, as with such a vast population, finding those with the potential for Rank 1 was rather easy. Within these few years, they had found enough Rank 1 Magi to supply every team of 10 soldiers with at least 1, which turned out to be about the same number of guns each team received.
Of course, the administrators inflated all numbers, and the Tsar also knew this. The Okhrana was used to find some corrupt officials in the administration, killing them on the spot, before the military was used to wipe clean the filth in the Okhrana. Finally, the scared administration was used to clean out the weed growing like a parasite within the most powerful hammer of the Tsar; the military.
These actions had just taken place a few years ago, leaving all three arms absolutely terrified of the Tsar, as they should have been from the beginning of his reign, resulting in faster actions and reduced falsities in reports, much to the delight of the Tsar.
And all these positive actions ended with a single bad piece of news that ruined the Tsar's mood, the declaration of war with Hohenzollern.
But it was finally time to put the mighty machine of the Tsardom, one that he had spent the good part of his 20s and 30s, properly aligning, maintaining, and removing rust and other junk from.
'It is time for war…' the Tsar settled back into his throne, contemplating how successful his armies would be in this war against the numerically weaker opponent.
Chapter length: 1123 words
{AN: How is the novel so far? Are the introduced nations (characters) good? Its one technology based Hohenzollern, one mix of technology, mana (magic), and corrupted inefficiency Tsardom of Moscow. Now only two other nations are left to introduce, before you have an understanding of all 5 nations (German Reich, Hohenzollern, Tsardom of Moscow, and 2 more). then there are the 15 tribes that are there was a reason I will explain later. Enjoy!}