Too Many Strings, Not Enough Fingers

[Remuria]

WATCHERS ON THE SEA​

Soft summer winds blew over the shores of the Windlust Isles, those southernmost bits of Retalia located to the south of the so conveniently named Retalian Gate. An area of economic and natural wonders, cradle of the Retalian Renaissance, home of the best sea farers and held in fief, although nowadays symbolic, by the Ducal family of Gravesano-Carone, Dukes of the Windlust Isles. A family with a proud history, whose Head has always been one of the Lords of Retalia, a title which existed only in theory and denoted several independent Dukes and Counts who competed for power and wealth in the region.

And a family which came together with other Lords of Retalia generations ago to set aside centuries old qualms between the various Retalian houses and solve the issue of competing claims by cutting the Gordian knot in half and proclaiming the King of Eiffelland as the Higher Lord above them all, to whom all would swear fealty. A process, in fact, launched and proposed by Duke Giovanni III di Gravesano-Carone, who masterminded everything in the face of mounting neighbourly pressures towards the various bits and pieces of Retalia. Back then this managed to avert a war between the Lords and a potential takeover by the Carinthian Empire from the northern reaches.

Of course, not all of the Lords swore fealty immediately and unconditionally. Some had to be convinced, and this convincing eventually left the Lords of Retalia with a shrunk membership of only eight most bright, intelligent and cunning rulers. As the country took shape and the titular Duchies became a fiction of the past, replaced by a firm and efficient administrative apparatus of a united Grand Duchy of Nichtstein (and nowadays the Grand Duchy of Retalia), the Lords maintained an eternal vigil behind the scenes, controlling major stakes in the economy, nudging the politics in the right direction. A secretive cabal so intertwined with the fabric of Retalia that it could operate undetected in broad daylight simply because it made sense for the Old Families to meet together, throw in parties, hold balls and conduct joint investment and cultural programs.

And so it was that on a warm summer night the Lords and Ladies of Retalia met in the virtual space to discuss matters of most pressing national need. This, of course, over the most secure of communication links, supported by their informal connections to the Retalian security and intelligence apparatus. Her Serene Grace the Duchess Helena di Gravesano-Carone, Duchess of the Windlust Isles, had the honour of being the informal host for the virtual conference, which was going on for some time when the attendees reached the next topic on their ever so informal agenda.

"And so, Willhelm, please brief us on what the Government plans to do in concrete and tangible terms with the ever so confident Red Menace?" spoke the Duchess, addressing his counterpart who had a very tight relationship to the Government, holding the position of Minister of Defence.

"Grauholzer will be going in the right direction, Alexander," spoke the Duke Willhelm von Kappel-Touvinoff, Duke of Ermland and Minister of Defence of the Grand Duchy of Retalia. "However, I yet again have to say that whatever we can do alone will just simply not be enough. Should we stand alone, even if the reds lose thirty million souls to war against us, this would serve us to no point as we would still be overrun on the continent and have to withdraw to the Isles. And in the light of the Engellexian maneuverings on the international scene, we cannot exclude that they wouldn't wish to seize the opportunity to deprive the Reds of our isles. And even should they lose half their Navy in the process, it would serve us no point after being overrun, defeated and erased from the books of history."

"Wars are fought for winning, we all understand this," spoke the Duke Alexander d'Ascona-Este, Duke of Ascona, Admiral, First Sea Lord and Watcher on the Seas, himself also intricately positioned in the highest echelons of Retalia's Naval Power. "Powers are shifting as currents, old allegiances are under stress and new ones form every day. We have little to no visibility on Engellex. We at least have a clear understanding of the motivations of Ivar and their vassals."

"And what are you gentlemen proposing then? Continue to rely on Eiffelland?" spoke the Duke Lorenzo III di Losena, Duke of Losena (how conveniently named). "Eiffelland has been useful in the past in shielding us, allowing us to unite and form a single whole. We may not realistically rely on them forever without offering anything in return."

"And yet the Eiffellander perceived complacency may be most unwelcome against the unhindered aggression of the Communist states," interjected the Duchess Helena. "Against an enemy firm and aggressive we must also stand tall and show our readiness to defend our ideals."

"To do so we require more bayonets," spoke Willhelm. "And our own demographic potential is limited and geared towards quality and naval competence, not towards drowning the enemy in seas of blood. I will of course keep pushing our military potential it to the realistic limits. The initiatives we agreed upon previously are being implemented."

"So we shall seek bayonets beyond us and Eiffelland. Maybe time has come to put aside the petty strives with Carinthia?" asked the Duchess Helena, her tone becoming less and less patient. Men and their pride and tenacity in upholding thousand year old grudges of which nobody knows the source or the origin were something the Duchess could barely understand, and yet had to cope with as the Lords of Retalia were unfortunately quite male dominated.

"When the red locust horde comes, the Imperials will indeed be in their way before us," Willhelm agreed. "However, careful positioning will be required. We do not wish to alienate Trier."

"Shall we now view the Engellexians as a potential threat?" queried Anne-Marie von Grindelwald, Duchess of Engelgau. "Or do we still consider them as a potential counter-weight to the reds? You understand that in light of the recent activites and their threads against Carinthia, a rapprochement with Carinthia would not help with Engellex."

"Unfortunately, my Lady, we do not have visibility on Engellex," answered the Duke Alexander. "An omission that will take time to redeem, but as of yet, we cannot be sure of the intentions of the First Republic or what it would do next. However, to mitigate, I believe there are ouvertures, as previously explained by Willhelm, towards Chernovy and Ostrovakia, who have their own particular interests with Engellex. We shall have to play a balanced game."

"And in this, we shall have to be careful in pulling the right strings in the country and beyond," agreed Willhelm. "And unfortunately for us, in this game, there are just too many strings and not fingers."

 

[Remuria]

SENTINELS IN THE EAST
​

Over the many months Reconnaissance, Observation and Combat Control teams of the Retalian Armed Forces have been in a low profile, concealed fashion working in Trivodnia to map out the potential axis of assault into Trivodnia. First from CBS, then from Kadikistan. By the time of the tame Day of Rage in CBS, the ROCC teams had already provided so much topographic information back into the Retalian Armed Forces, that the Retalians had all the grids to coordinate air strikes, artillery strikes (if the Retalians managed to get artillery pieces into Trivodnia, of course) with exact precision and without even on the ground ROCC presence.

However, by the time of the fresh events and protests in CBS the resource began to stagnate as the mapping exercise done by the ROCC teams reached the peak of its efficiency, onto a plateau of productiveness and into a decrease in efficiency as the ROCC teams started to lack missions to execute. And decrease in efficiency was definitely not something that Willhelm von Kappel-Touvinoff expected from his men.

 

[Remuria]

FORWARD UNTO DAWN ​

Threatened, provoked, pressured. Retalians were used to this with the paranoid and irresponsible regime in Villesen that refused any attempts to listen or to reason. They were used to this with the constant threat from Kadikistan and Xinhai. Incessant provocations did their part in strengthening the national resolve, reinforcing the military capacity and reducing any respect or love to the communist regimes to zero.

At some point enough was just enough and so when the communist nations yet again went way too far, the furthest perimeter defence would be put to action.

The Retalian Navy began a pre-arranged movement of assets away from major ports and bases to avoid any potential first strikes. Yet within the protective bubble offered by the many island aerodromes and their aerial squadrons. Air defences were on alert. Air Forces were on alert. Satellites and radars incessantly monitoring all prepared axis of assault. Naval patrol aircraft were out to monitor potential hostile movements.

However, the call up of land based reservists was not yet enacted. The threat from Serenierre was naval and airborne and the standing strength of the active duty Retalian Armed Forces was more than enough to contain and defeat that.

Proper mobilisation could be enacted at a later stage should the hostile states attempt to reinforce Serenierre or should Serenierre make the first shot.

This also explained that while communist reservists decided it was their duty to post on Twatter about their call ups, the Retalian segment of Twatter contained seldom few such notes.

Instead it erupted into a plethora of emotions from "drown the reds in their own blood" to "we should all just get along".

On the political front, messages were dispatched to allied states indicating that Retalia was preparing to repel a communist invasion and was under serious threat of a first strike from Serenierre.