The Council of the North

The Black Keep
Windhaven, Gunnland

"This war has the potential to radically change the balance of power. It has already ended Engellexian isolation. It could exacerbate the internal tensions in the Kadikistani Union, or it could strengthen the superpower even more. It is a good thing that joint Elbener-Gunnish forces in southern Elben and joint Geotrian-Gunnish forces in southern Gunnland have been training together this summer."

In the council chambers there were nine chairs -- three for each ally -- around a great round mahogany table, inlaid with a map of Europe. All around them were flags in groups of three, the Elbener and Geotrian red-and-white with Gunnish blue in the middle. The Black Keep, overlooking the Wash on the eastern edge of Windhaven, was a symbolic diplomatic location. It was the site from which Queen Julian negotiated to keep the Xinhaise east of the 80th Parallel, or the Inner Sea. Locating the Council of the North there was meant to send a message of northern independence and diplomatic strength to Ivar.

The Gunnish councilor, Beata mL. MacBenach, in a neat black dress with her dark hair pulled back severely, read off a typewritten sheet of paper. On either side of her sat colonels in olive-green uniforms: Stephen mA. MacGarry, who had negotiated the Windhaven Treaty with Geotrian Assistant Defense Minister Jacob Prochnow and the Elbener General Steiner, and Liam K. MacRigh, soon to take over the Gunnish brigades deployed to southern Elben.

"We warned our Southern friends that the double-dealing Trivodnians would drag them into war. Gunnland votes to remain neutral in the conflict, for now. But we should look carefully, I think, for a ripe time to intervene in this conflict, if we can change its outcome in a favorable direction to our interests."

"This war could potential make the Kadikistani unstoppable, a true Monster of the East. But if Eiffelland and her allies win, who knows what will happen. What governments will be ousted and who will be restricted militarily, which will surely be broken and cause another war."

The Geotrian Representative, Kilian Rossmann, was weary of joining either side. It is still unclear who is to win this Great War. With the declaration of war by Bourgogne and the surprise attack by Engellex, the tides of the war are shifting. He had a rough idea but he was hesitant to pick any side and to sit back and rebuild what was destroyed. He was joined by Assistant Defense Minister Prochnow, and Brigadier General Ulrich Schöpfer of the Second Army.

"We agree that if the war gets to our borders, that we should get involved but for the time being we should still remain neutral. Geotri votes to remain neutral as well, until the situation is dire and risks our peoples."

The Black Keep
Windhaven,

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Von Mellenthin listened as the Gunnish councilor spoke. He looked like a retired soldier, with dark hair cut close to the skin, fresh shave, and grey suit that fit like a uniform. The only ornamentation was a small red and white cross-shaped medal pinned to his breast denoting his BSD knighthood. Beside him were functionaries from the Elbener embassy, there to keep a record in shorthand of what was said and to aid the new deputy minister as needed.

After Beata and Rossmann concluded their remarks, he rose to deliver his own. “Elben votes for neutrality.” Here von Mellenthin glanced at Rossmann and noted, “The war has already arrived on our borders and Kadikistan can control our outlet to the Gothic.” He pointed at the map on the table as he spoke and then went on as he looked to the woman in black, “I am interested in Ms. MacBenach’s suggestion of possible involvement down the line. What does Gunnland see our mutual interests being at this point? For its part, Elben sees Rurikgrad as a strategic threat to its existence and we have little use for Trier.” The last part was said with a hint of distaste.

The Black Keep
Windhaven,

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The aide who wasn't busy keeping the shorthand record wrote on a slip of paper and put it in front of Mellenthin to see next time he looked down: REMEMBER LOAGO.

"Very well, we shall publicize a joint statement of neutrality. With the approval of our allies, we shall make a public offer to broker peace talks between Ivar and Trier. As for our mutual interests..." Beata looked at the military officer to her right, but MacGarry shrugged. It was clear the Gunnishwoman had read the prepared statement with no idea about the last line. What interests? While officially the Gunnish government had remained the same, everyone knew that months of political turmoil had resulted in the ouster of Catholic pro-Gunn hardliners. Perhaps if Robert Gunn and the Smith-Gallagher circle were still driving Gunnish foreign policy, the kingdom would already be at war.

Colonel MacRigh tapped the microphone, and hearing it was on, switched it off. With his bushy black beard, he looked more like a communist militant than an army officer. The rumor was that his appointment was political. More Keiths and MacLeishes into senior military positions to weaken Clan Gunn's grip on the army. But he was also a longtime friend of Robert Gunn's.

"This is off the record, but have some imagination, Hochgeboren. This is a conflict that could redraw the entire map of Gallo-Germania. If Kadikistan begins to implode, do you want to wait to seize Kranislavia, or to put Victoria on the throne of Crotobaltislavonia? The Army Council has begun making plans for regime change in Calidia in that eventuality. If Bourgogne begins to implode, we will need to keep Serenierre from occupying the coasts and northern borderlands, and we will want the royalists there to answer to our Dreikaiserbund, won't we?"

At this point Prochnow turned his microphone off as well, "I agree, to an extent. Calidia and Crotobaltislavonia, in the case of our declaration of war against Kadikistan and her allies, should be our priority targets. Bourgogne on the other hand is in a weird spot, with it not being at war with it is not immediately at threat of losing any territory. But, if the situation were to escalate there would be a major threat in their rear. In this case I would rather not be neighbors with Serenierre, but they also have to now deal with Engellex and a Himyari front that was not expected."

Prochnow likes Trier much more than the Rurikgrad forces, his distaste for the Communists far outdoes his disliking of Trier. But, Trier was at least a Monarchical power which was in his eyes better than a Communist Power

The stenographer stopped writing at the "off the record." Mellenthin listened intently to each speaker. At the words of the colonel, he inwardly smiled. The question had been asked for a reason and even though he didn't like to be patronized, the answer had been to his liking. Better such ideas came from other lips first.

"Of course, Elben would be pleased to see a free and united Krasnislavia and Victoria on the throne of CBS. If Kadikistan implodes, those objectives would be relatively easy to pursue. Bourgogne though... I would think if that came to pass, we'd have far more to worry about with Kadikistan and Serenierre having brought about the fall of all of the Trier Accord." The Elbener minister looked over to the Gunnish colonel and asked, "Do you know what the army council's thought is regarding our chances against Rurikgrad united should the likes of Bourgogne fall?"

Embarrassed at his comrade's brusqueness with the Elbener count, Colonel MacGarry held out a hand.

"How many weeks will there be peace on the Serenierre-Bourgogne border? I do agree with my staff officer. We need contingency plans for the fall of Chagny and the fall of Ivar. But what if we have a chance to intervene and stop the communists from winning a decisive victory?"

The colonel sighed. He wasn't sure. If his old friend Robert Gunn -- the old friend of every powerful person in Gunnland -- were still pulling the strings, the answer would be, Let the red flag wave. The hardline Catholic Right took an odd view, endlessly frustrating to the Eiffellandians. They hated and feared the communists, sure, but they saw Kadikistan and Trivodnia as barbaric lands outside the pale of civilization. Oriental despotism. Meanwhile, the modern liberal societies of the South were traitors to Christian civilization. Sellouts. Jews and homosexuals. MacGarry knew things were changing, and the idea of a united Christendom stretching from Seaguard to Tibur, and from Amstov to Ouistreham, was stuck fifty or five hundred years in the past. He just wasn't sure what his government would do.

"Will there come a time in this war, Hochgeboren, where we have to intervene to stop the communists from overrunning Gallogermania? Perhaps. But we must live with them afterwards, too. That is a serious discussion we must have if Kadikistani and Xinhaise troops enter Bergenheim or Bourgogne. If only Trivodnia falls... and I am mindful of Her Majesty's command not to let anti-Semitism color our policy... but if only Trivodnia falls, this may be strategically positive. With a direct route from Kadikistan to CBS, there will be no more communist pressure to resupply Banja Luka through Elben and Gunnland. And we can then begin talking with Chagny and Trier about how to really defend the West, rather than wasting blood and treasure to defend a vulnerable and isolated country with an erratic government of arms dealers."

During a break, Mellenthin caught up with Beata. "Ms. MacBenach, I wanted to speak to you alone for a moment. One thing I was asked to clarify by my superiors is a comment made during a previous meeting here in Windhaven. Something to do with arranging a royal match? Do you know anything about that?"

"But if we allow Trivodnia to fall, how weak would the Trier Concordat forces be? We may be the shining knights in armor they need but if we allow things to go on for too long it may become to late for us to make a difference. What if Occitania were to fall and Serenierre and Rurikgrad forces attempt to naval invade the Trier Concordat?" He stops to point at the small crossing between Occitania and Retalia," Trier would be stuck in a two front war, with only their navy's to defend them from a potentially devastating naval invasion. Whose to say they are not already planning this?"

Rossman interrupts Prochnow to add his bit,"While I agree we with my counterpart here that if we are to act we should not sit idly by before its too late, but lets do what we can now. Attempt to persuade our respective legislative bodies to do a lend lease program with those we support. In regards to Trivodnia, whether you support them or not, would be better to supply them than to let the 'enemy' to defeat them."

Beata MacBenach told the Elbener count that she could not speak for the Stone Chair on the question of a royal match. This gave the impression that either her remit was quite limited, or that Queen Julian wanted to defray questions of marriage at the moment. When they were back assembled in chambers, Beata finished listening to the Geotrians.

"Gunnland will not aid Trivodnia, but we shall not protest if Geotri aids the Southern allies by leasing materiel, sending aid, and so forth. Our sense is that we must remain vigilant, to see if we can restore a balance of power favorable to our interests. If this war moves quickly, it's true that we might miss that opportunity. But quasi-neutrality is not in our national character. The Gunns' motto, 'aut pax aut bellum,' goes for all of us."

Elben's position had already been made clear and Mellenthin did not reiterate it. Looking down at the note passed to him earlier by one of his aides, the count looked back up at the Gunnish councilor and Geotrian representative.

"With the war here in Gallogermania behind us for now, I have been asked to bring up the situation in Echidna. As you may know, the communist rebels in Loago brought down an airliner, murdering a family from Elben." The count couldn't help but frown at this part before going on, "Elben has recognized the government of Loago and it wishes to sound out the council on if Gunnland and Geotri would recognize Loago as well."

Beata perked up at the mention of Loago. She was feeling somewhat overwhelmed on her first day on the job. In some ways it was difficult in the way she had expected: it was generally well known that Gunnland took a more realpolitik attitude towards Kadikistan, and a harder line against Trivodnia, than either Elben or Geotri. In other ways, there were surprising challenges. A royal match with Elben? She had never been briefed on these things in the Foreign Office.

The Gunnish tended to refer to the entire southern continent as Himyar, and regard 'Echidna' as an Engellexic tug at their shared language.

"We recognize that our Himyar policy needs to evolve, and we shall take the Elbener stance into account. But our position and influence in the region is complex, not only because of the great number of Gunnish expatriates in Loago, but because the formal annexation of Lower Marpesia in 2017 raises Queen Julian to the throne of the Commonwealth of Port Stanley. While Port Stanley is independent of Gunnland, our shared crown has created a special, but delicate, relationship. Her Majesty believes her policy there is untenable. Groups affiliated with the League of Loagin Communists operating there are challenging white rule. Queen Julian believes that the time for multiracial democracy has come, but that foreign powers like Xinhai cannot be allowed to dominate the democratization process. She has sent Robert Gunn of the Inter-Service Office 15AR on a fact-finding mission there. His report will lead to an internal review of our entire Himyar policy."

Rossman sat back, he in all his years had very limited experience in dealing with Himyar. Not many in Geotri pay much attention to Himyar, so now would be as good a time as any to actually formulate a policy. "We do not see no reason why we would not recognize the current Government of Loago. And if I understand this correctly if the League of Loagin Communists attempt to oust the current ruling government, we could be obliged to step in?"

Prochnow leaned in and whispered in his ear to discuss the KS4.

"It has also come to my attention that the KS4, a major military exercise that tests all branches of our armed forces in a simulated naval invasion, may be held within the near future. We wonder if our honorable allies will join us in this military exercise?"

Prochnow chimes in, "It should be held within the next two months, we will let you know the exact date when we are able to."

Mellenthin acknowledged MacBenach's words with a nod. Certainly a wise and prudence course of action. Then Rossmann came in followed by Prochnow.

The count took the floor to answer, "Recognition would not require aiding the government militarily, it would simply be an acknowledgment that the current government is the rightful and lawful government. As for the offer of joint exercises, Elben accepts. Our navy is merely a brown water force, but we would benefit from such efforts."

The two colonels in their olive drab uniforms leaned across Councilor MacBenach and whispered to one another. Colonel MacGarry's boyish features and clean-shaven face made him look younger than the heavily-bearded Colonel MacRigh, though he was almost a decade older. His voice was higher as well, and one could hear an audible, "Sure. Sure," at the end of their brief conversation. MacRigh smiled and exhaled a little laugh.

"We have been looking for an opportunity to test out A2AD capabilities." It was public knowledge that Gunnland had been buying hundreds of BZR-3 mobile anti-ship missile launchers from Eiffelland, turning the isles between the Gothic Sea and the Sea of Rurik into "porcupines" in the event of a naval engagement with Virumaa or Kadikistan. "We will notify Commander P. G. Gallagher to have our naval and anti-ship assets ready for KS4."

"We can discuss briefly what usually takes place during the KS4. We simulate a naval invasion, typically we do three landings but we may have to expand this due to the number of troops participating, and push forward to take a town we build. The design of the town changes with each KS4 and we change the location of the beach landings as well. We also construct makeshift defenses on the beach which would be manned by troops to simulate an opposing force, because of this this is not a live fire exercise. It typically lasts anywhere from a few days to maybe a week or two, naval invasions aren't a one day thing. It will also allow us to set up a Joint Command that would beneficial for our Alliance. More details will be provided before the event will take place of course."

"I look forward to observing such an exercise. Showing the rest of Gallogermania the North is not to be trifled with will do much to add credibility to our alliance." Mellenthin smiled and pushed back from the table. "A shame Elben has so little coast. I've always liked ships and the water."

*11 days after the meeting*

Rossman decides to send his counterparts from the Council the information on the KS4.
"The KS4 has began to be set up, I shall shortly send you the information linked in the email. Some important information regarding the forces Geotri is using, specifically that the 3rd Flotilla shall be used to assist in the landings with IV, VII Army Brigade, II Marines Brigade landing on one beach.

We also respectfully ask if Gunnland would allow our forces to use a runway or military airport to allow for a more 'realistic' usage of aircraft instead of being launched from within Geotri having to circle around to simulate coming from a base.

With many thanks for agreeing to do this with us,
Signed,
Kilian Rossman
Geotrian Representative for the CotN



OOC: I put the image in a OOC context due to me using MSPaint and it not being very high quality and would hopefully be much easier to understand instead of speaking in terms of IC.

OOC part two: The units I specifically mentioned can be looked at here

The Black Keep
Windhaven,

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There were quite a few empty seats in the council chambers now. Beata wondered if there would be slow meetings of only herself, Rossman, and Count von Mellenthin in the near future, like those big legislatures -- every legislature seemed big to Gunnishmen, since the Thing was only a 25-member body -- where most of the congressmen and senators only showed up for the important vote and representatives spoke to an empty room to be "on the record."

For now, Gunnland was cycling through military attachés. The Army Council wanted high-ranking officers -- the highest-ranked officers in peacetime were colonels, and technically the queen was the only 'general officer' in the G.A. -- to develop a working relationship with the Geotrian and Elbener counterparts. So in the eleven days since the first meeting, bushy-bearded Colonel MacRigh had been transferred to oversee the deployment of the 11th Highland Dragoons and 14th Arundel Guards in southern Elben. It was a political appointment, giving a Keith the command of the I Division (East), and transferring Colonel James G. Wilson to command the less critical III Division (West). Wilson would work mostly with Colonel MacGarry, the chairman of the Army Council, to finish integrating the "reivers" of the Duchy of Lower Marpesia Army into the II (Reserve) and III (West) divisions. Now the south of Gunnland, Lower Marpesia had long been an independent neutral country with a fortress mentality and proud military tradition. Its Gunnicized elite distrusted Bourgogne especially. Using their heavily concealed, sometimes partially underground airstrips was a challenge for the much larger and less experienced Gunnish Army.

Gunnish soldiers had a physical appearance that looked little wild, undisciplined, and unkempt. MacRigh's bushy beard was replaced with Wilson's longish unwashed hair that he had to push back over his head when he took off his peaked cap. He could not have looked more different than the Burgundian-trained young military officer, clean-shaven and professional looking, to Beata's left. That was Commander Patrick G. Gallagher, of the small Gunnish Navy. It had been his idea last year to forge a closer alliance with Bourgogne and cede the Grand Duchy a naval base, provoking the diplomatic flurry that led to what was informally known as the "Northern Status Quo Treaty" with Kadikistan.

"The Third Division is finishing a yearlong process of integrating the DLMA into our unified command. For KS4, we shall allow Geotri to operate from the military airstrips in the vicinity of Îls-des-Pins. I shall personally oversee the operations, and Commander Gallagher will command our naval assets."