On the November Revolution and Montelimar...
I figured I will tackle the biggest and more important topic to world history first.
Starting in 1969, the Empire of Averin having lost most of it's colonial holding's and having been dealt a crippling blow in The Great War not but twenty years earlier was subjected to a severe economic downturn as a result of years of deficit spending, warfare, and deindustrialization as a result of globalization. (This could have been part of a more regional economic depression or a global depression, doesn't matter.) Unemployment rates shot to double digit numbers and many people, who once had lived comfortable lives, found themselves unable to pay mortgages, feed their families or pay for other basic necessities. Credit defaults rose and a credit crunch soon developed due to the increased risk. Banking failures soon followed as the King's government attempted and failed to rectify the issue only exacerbating the problem, followed by a decrease in the credit rating of the entire empire by international financial institutions.
While the King, other nobility and elites were shielded from the chaos of the depression by their immense wealth, suicide rates and homelessness skyrocketed. In a small Harrowgate community, the patriarch of the Allen family, nearing eviction, poisoned his wife and son and then killed himself shortly after in a misguided attempt to shield them from ending up on the street. The son, Trent, only 18 woke up in a hospital, his neighbor having discovered his dead parents and reporting the still barely living Trent to paramedics. Having had his life upended, Trent spent a month in the hospital where he met with a communist involved with the local GCL (Global Confederation of Labor) member amongst the unionized nurses. Having taking a liking to the nurse who told her politics to him he joined the local GCL chapter and was even sent to the CCCR for indoctrination. (
@UCWR let me know if you agree with this.) Having spent six months in indoctrination in the CCCR, Trent was exposed to the inner workings of Council Communism, he found that there, the government was even more byzantine and slow than the King's government. When Trent returned to Averin he found himself radicalized in the opposite direction and soon was associated with a small but growing fascist movement that called themselves the Order of the Hand.
Within the Order, Trent quickly rose through the ranks, his training by the CCCR's GCL coming in handy as he merged socialist thought with authoritarian autocracy or as Allen called it:
Averinish Socialism. The Order was popular amongst industrial labor unions, the police, the military, and the youth who's lives had been stolen from them by economic collapse, gaining members at an astonishing rate as the King and his government's popularity cratered with the people. By 1973 the Order had infiltrated many parts of Averin's government and society and turned it's focus toward creating links with the native population of Darsenland, Averin's last colony, a place where brutal suppression of native rights and labor rights movements was taking place with greater frequency. By 1974 the Order was ready to strike, when the call to action came, the Order was swift as it moved through the country. Generals and other high ranking military officers, police chiefs, factory management, CEO's, members of Parliament and even the King and his family were all slaughtered over a week long period that brought the entire country to a halt, even the King's son was killed as he visited Cantignia.
The Order of the Hand had executed it's final solution with stunning accuracy as every facet of government and society had been infiltrated by it's zealous members. Shortly after, Trent Allen, installed himself as Director of what he called the Directorate of Averin, revealing his directives to the people of Averin who in their shock and desperate want for change scarcely resisted.
Over the next few years, Allen reshaped the entire country, eliminating private enterprise and property and taking direct control of Averin's vast resources. The old government was disbanded, those who had not been killed or escaped nor swore loyalty to the new Directorate were sent to labor camps where most either died or soon were made willing to follow the tenets of Averinish Socialism. Not long after Darsenland was brought fully into the fold as the last holdouts of the Empire were swept away.
Neighboring
Montelimar, also a monarchy had watched in horror as the Averinish slaughtered the Averin royal family, who unsurprisingly where cousins with the royal family of Montelimar. Montelimar had also been similarly affected by the economic crisis that also affected Averin, but was not as in dire straits. While Montelimar was no slouch in the military department, the former Empire had a modest stockpile of
nuclear weapons which were now under control of the Directorate. Ironically the nuclear material had been provided by Montelimar, who had not pursued nuclear weapons and instead had focused their nuclear program on energy. Far behind in the nuclear arms race, Montelimar started production on a bomb, word of which soon reached Director Allen's ears through Averin's growing spy network. Allen, understanding that Averin was not ready for a war, began to use his spy networks to foment fascist movements across the entire Kingdom of Montelimar. Montelimar was soon embroiled in fascist riots, that Averin funded through the silver deposits in Darsenland and with the help of Azilia. Averin and Azilia had previously engaged diplomatically with each other after Trent Allen installed himself as Director, similarly authoritarian, Azilia saw Averin as a kindred spirit and the two nations began to covertly work together on several projects, one of which was the destabilization of Montelimar, a historic rival of
@Azilia .
By 1979, Averin had built it's industrial base and military to a point where it would be ready for an invasion. Fascist movements, mostly all puppets of Averin struck first, crippling Montelimar's civilian and military infrastructure in a move that harkened back to the Order of the Hand's simultaneous strike on it's target's of interest. At the same time Averin launched it's amphibious campaign, which Montelimar had been aware of, but was now finding itself on the backfoot as the Averinish fifth column incapacitated Montelimar's internal defenses. The initial battle on the beaches was intense, but Averin soon established a foothold and with the help of it's fifth column and Azilia technical and intelligence assistance was able to slowly advance through the country culminating in the death of the Montelimaren King and his family as the capital city was encircled and the Montelimaren Army surrendered in 1982
(At this point if @Eiffelland or @Petits-Pays wants to interject and involve themselves in some way, then I am open to discussing that, however this is the basic storyline that I would like to keep to.)
