Pelasgia
Established Nation
Fort Antipas, Antipeia Colony, Pelasgian Southern Himyar
Alexios Protopsaltes was a tall, well-built man from a town near the slopes of the Cyclopean Mountains, near the city of Hagios Demetrios in Old Pelasgia. With blueish green eyes and light brown to dark blonde hair, he could have passed for a Natalian colonist rather than a Pelasgian one, a joke his fellow Pelasgians played on him a tad too often. Family legend went that his family were descended from Germanic crusaders who had stayed behind in Pelasgia and converted. Nobody really knew whether that was actually the case, though Alexios certainly had the skiing skills of an Eiffellandian. In any case, Alexios was for the most part indistinguishable from thousands of others in the olive-green uniform of the Imperial Far Southern Constabulary (VPAN), Pelasgia's paramilitary gendarmerie and security force in the Far South. Bearing the insignia of the colonel, he fixed his tie knot one last time, before hearing his name being called. Resolutely, he walked into the room before him: a large conference room, built in the neoclassical style, with light blue walls and white plaster all over. Around a large white and gold table sat half a dozen of the most powerful men of the Pelasgian colonial regime in the southern tip of Himyar: the High Commissioner, Avgoustinos Solomos, along with the regional COO of the Pelasgian Southern Himyari Compani (PSHC), Georgios Makrinos, General Theodosios Lykourgos of VPAN, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pelasgian military forces in the region, Brigadier Tiverios Rangaves, Archbishop Dionysios of Fort Antipas, and Iakovos Theodorides, the High Commissioner's Minister for Native Relations. Alexios stood in attention and reported, awaiting to be questioned.
"Colonel Protopsaltes," General Lykourgos explained, "has come here to report on the recent events and current state of the Kingdoms."
"Well then," said the High Commissioner, "tell us what you have seen, Colonel."
"The situation in the Kingdoms is dire, Your Excellency," Alexios started; "The Kintu were already determined to exterminate the Kéké long before we came here. And they had nearly accomplished it driving them off the current Far Southern Territories, save for southern Antipeia. As you well know, this is why the Kéké were so eager to work with us when we first landed here. Though the Kintu Kings were persuaded, by the force of our superior arms, to make peace with the Kéké, this has not gone down well with much of their populace, who hoped to take their lands for themselves."
"This we already knew, as does anybody who has paid attention to the events of the Far South," Minister Theodorides explained; "What has happened since the HPU's so-called 'declaration of war'?"
"Minister, the Kintu were already fighting against the Kéké under the banner of the NRA even before the HPU. They had charged their own Kings and the whole Kéké race with treason and selling the Far South to His Imperial Majesty and to our colonists, and were determined to wipe them out or assimilate them into a new nation. VPAN's intervention along with the PSHC's unofficial help certainly checked the bloodshed, as did the intervention by the Kintu Kings, who still carry considerable prestige among the older generations. But we could only contain the inevitable for so long; the HPU has done away with the NRA's pretenses and is openly nationalistic. Thus, they have called for open treason against the Kintu Kings, and the many younger Kintu, eager to seize Kéké land, have heeded this call. I fear that unless the Pelasgian military intervenes, the Kings themselves might be deposed, and we might lose complete control of the Kintu Protectorates. VPAN can only do so much; we're a gendarmerie, not an army. We let His Imperial Majesty's native units do most of the fighting."
The Minister queried anew: "We have all read your report on the Ubaji River Massacre. You say that these militants are popular among the Kintu?"
Alexios was taken aback. "With respect, sir," he said, "I do not believe you understood the meaning of my report. The militants are not popular with the Kintu. They are the Kintu. The vast majority of the young warriors and many of the peasants too are with them. The Kings and their supporters are a minority now. If we do not intervene the Kéké are doomed. We must not wait until they reach the Colonies to deploy the army."
"Thank you for your testimony Colonel," the High Commissioner said; "It is much appreciated. We will discuss matters of strategy amongst ourselves. You must return to your charge at once, given the gravity of the situation. We have your report, and we will contact you if need be."
Once Alexios exited the room, the six men convened for their own short meeting.
"The young man is right," the VPAN General said, "we cannot hold the entire Kintu with just VPAN. The PSHC paramilitaries are helpful, but the most they can do is terrorize the Kintu with reprisals, not actually crush them. And certainly not defend the Kings or the Kéké."
"And why is that a problem for us?" asked the High Commissioner; "We control all press coverage of the Kingdoms anyway. If they take out their own Kings, so much the better for us. We can annex the Kingdoms as Territories. I say let them fight it out, and once they have worn each other out, then we intervene and subdue the Kingdoms. We will mostly use the Emperor's Nethian Rifles and PSHC mercenary units, of course, to avoid the optics of Pelasgian soldiers subduing Nethians. If we handle this crisis well, the natives will serve us their own lands on a silver platter, and take away their own sovereignty."
"And what if the HPU reaches the colonies?" asked the Minister.
"They can't do that without getting through the Kéké lands, and our border garrisons. We both know they won't stand a chance against Pelasgian regulars," the Brigadier responded. "His Excellency is right. We will reinforce our positions near the Kéké border, but hold back for now. Once the Kintu and the Kéké have sufficiently weakened themselves, then we will intervene to pacify the region."
"The Company has forces in the region, Pelasgian, foreign and native," Makrinos noted. "We can use them to wreck havoc behind the Kintu's lines in the meantime. And we can make sure the Kings go, if the Nethians don't do it for us. With plausible deniability, of course."
"Let's hope we don't have to go there," the High Commissioner said; "It's better for everyone if the Kintu do most of the killing. They can't blame us for killing the Kings if the Nethians did it themselves. And terrorist Nethians at that; none of those bleeding hearts abroad like violent revolutionaries, that much is certain."
Alexios Protopsaltes was a tall, well-built man from a town near the slopes of the Cyclopean Mountains, near the city of Hagios Demetrios in Old Pelasgia. With blueish green eyes and light brown to dark blonde hair, he could have passed for a Natalian colonist rather than a Pelasgian one, a joke his fellow Pelasgians played on him a tad too often. Family legend went that his family were descended from Germanic crusaders who had stayed behind in Pelasgia and converted. Nobody really knew whether that was actually the case, though Alexios certainly had the skiing skills of an Eiffellandian. In any case, Alexios was for the most part indistinguishable from thousands of others in the olive-green uniform of the Imperial Far Southern Constabulary (VPAN), Pelasgia's paramilitary gendarmerie and security force in the Far South. Bearing the insignia of the colonel, he fixed his tie knot one last time, before hearing his name being called. Resolutely, he walked into the room before him: a large conference room, built in the neoclassical style, with light blue walls and white plaster all over. Around a large white and gold table sat half a dozen of the most powerful men of the Pelasgian colonial regime in the southern tip of Himyar: the High Commissioner, Avgoustinos Solomos, along with the regional COO of the Pelasgian Southern Himyari Compani (PSHC), Georgios Makrinos, General Theodosios Lykourgos of VPAN, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pelasgian military forces in the region, Brigadier Tiverios Rangaves, Archbishop Dionysios of Fort Antipas, and Iakovos Theodorides, the High Commissioner's Minister for Native Relations. Alexios stood in attention and reported, awaiting to be questioned.
"Colonel Protopsaltes," General Lykourgos explained, "has come here to report on the recent events and current state of the Kingdoms."
"Well then," said the High Commissioner, "tell us what you have seen, Colonel."
"The situation in the Kingdoms is dire, Your Excellency," Alexios started; "The Kintu were already determined to exterminate the Kéké long before we came here. And they had nearly accomplished it driving them off the current Far Southern Territories, save for southern Antipeia. As you well know, this is why the Kéké were so eager to work with us when we first landed here. Though the Kintu Kings were persuaded, by the force of our superior arms, to make peace with the Kéké, this has not gone down well with much of their populace, who hoped to take their lands for themselves."
"This we already knew, as does anybody who has paid attention to the events of the Far South," Minister Theodorides explained; "What has happened since the HPU's so-called 'declaration of war'?"
"Minister, the Kintu were already fighting against the Kéké under the banner of the NRA even before the HPU. They had charged their own Kings and the whole Kéké race with treason and selling the Far South to His Imperial Majesty and to our colonists, and were determined to wipe them out or assimilate them into a new nation. VPAN's intervention along with the PSHC's unofficial help certainly checked the bloodshed, as did the intervention by the Kintu Kings, who still carry considerable prestige among the older generations. But we could only contain the inevitable for so long; the HPU has done away with the NRA's pretenses and is openly nationalistic. Thus, they have called for open treason against the Kintu Kings, and the many younger Kintu, eager to seize Kéké land, have heeded this call. I fear that unless the Pelasgian military intervenes, the Kings themselves might be deposed, and we might lose complete control of the Kintu Protectorates. VPAN can only do so much; we're a gendarmerie, not an army. We let His Imperial Majesty's native units do most of the fighting."
The Minister queried anew: "We have all read your report on the Ubaji River Massacre. You say that these militants are popular among the Kintu?"
Alexios was taken aback. "With respect, sir," he said, "I do not believe you understood the meaning of my report. The militants are not popular with the Kintu. They are the Kintu. The vast majority of the young warriors and many of the peasants too are with them. The Kings and their supporters are a minority now. If we do not intervene the Kéké are doomed. We must not wait until they reach the Colonies to deploy the army."
"Thank you for your testimony Colonel," the High Commissioner said; "It is much appreciated. We will discuss matters of strategy amongst ourselves. You must return to your charge at once, given the gravity of the situation. We have your report, and we will contact you if need be."
Once Alexios exited the room, the six men convened for their own short meeting.
"The young man is right," the VPAN General said, "we cannot hold the entire Kintu with just VPAN. The PSHC paramilitaries are helpful, but the most they can do is terrorize the Kintu with reprisals, not actually crush them. And certainly not defend the Kings or the Kéké."
"And why is that a problem for us?" asked the High Commissioner; "We control all press coverage of the Kingdoms anyway. If they take out their own Kings, so much the better for us. We can annex the Kingdoms as Territories. I say let them fight it out, and once they have worn each other out, then we intervene and subdue the Kingdoms. We will mostly use the Emperor's Nethian Rifles and PSHC mercenary units, of course, to avoid the optics of Pelasgian soldiers subduing Nethians. If we handle this crisis well, the natives will serve us their own lands on a silver platter, and take away their own sovereignty."
"And what if the HPU reaches the colonies?" asked the Minister.
"They can't do that without getting through the Kéké lands, and our border garrisons. We both know they won't stand a chance against Pelasgian regulars," the Brigadier responded. "His Excellency is right. We will reinforce our positions near the Kéké border, but hold back for now. Once the Kintu and the Kéké have sufficiently weakened themselves, then we will intervene to pacify the region."
"The Company has forces in the region, Pelasgian, foreign and native," Makrinos noted. "We can use them to wreck havoc behind the Kintu's lines in the meantime. And we can make sure the Kings go, if the Nethians don't do it for us. With plausible deniability, of course."
"Let's hope we don't have to go there," the High Commissioner said; "It's better for everyone if the Kintu do most of the killing. They can't blame us for killing the Kings if the Nethians did it themselves. And terrorist Nethians at that; none of those bleeding hearts abroad like violent revolutionaries, that much is certain."
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