Dark Lands close to ZharrNaggrund, five days later
Ernst Herrmann double-checked the timer left on the charges that would incinerate the contents of the KSK hideout again, they thermite would go off no earlier than in 12 hours, by which time he and his people should be at the LZ at least and inside the airship if things would work as planned, something he did not anticipate. Making sure that the timer and the anti-temper-mechanism was well-concealed he made his way towards the waiting buggy that would carry him from the place where they had spent far too much time. He patted his breast pocket for the map stowed there in case GPS would fail and the driver would have misplaced his.
Ernst Hermann was pretty sure he had used up every particle of luck he had staying undetected during the last month, there was definitively no way he would trust it for the last hours in the Dark Lands.
Bundeskanzleramt Berlin, three weeks later
Christian Lindner had the lectern again, the power-point behind him was full of hastily assembled graphs and stomach-turning pictures.
"The DawiZharr have made good on their promise to extradite all Germans working for them. Unfortunately, we should have been more explicit in our demands as it seems all Germans have been sacrificed to their God Hashut before the remains were shipped back to us. While the bodies are badly mutilated we have enough DNA to match against known relatives in Germany so their identities could be confirmed. All in we got 18 Germans back which matches with the intelligence we have for their numbers.
As Markus referred earlier the DawiZharr pull back their forces from the World`s Edge Mountains via the rail link, we have also arranged for a couple of airlifts to speed things up a bit. There is an advanced party in ZharrNaggrund that is scouting things for an Embassy and they are treated professionally well.
All in all my department states that the DawiZharr are compliant with the stipulations of the armistice accord and we should end the state of war that exist between us. I have spoken to Minister VonKluck, my counterpart in the Empire and he agrees."
"The stumpies may agree now and misunderstand us as advantageously as they can get away with, but what happens when they no longer feel threatened? Will they go back to war again?"
"Markus, I don`t believe that the DawiZharr just have changed into good little democrats who are champions of free trade and human rights. If they ever get the idea that they can best us they will go to war to us in a cool minute. The question is what to do about it. Your own Bundeswehr states that a campaign against them would be extremely long, hard and expensive in lives and money as they are so far away."
"So we are to wait until they make even better weapons, until they have armed to the teeth and can really hurt us before we do something about them?"
"So what do you want to do them? Build a 3000-kilometre-long supply line through some of the worst terrain of this world. Send thousands of our people to die so that we can kill our best capturing ZharNaggrund and then occupy a people which will make the Iraqis look docile in comparison? Do you want to do this even when we know that we will ship them the only food that will not kill them and can bombard their greenhouses whenever they step out of line?"
"There are other options."
"Which ones-Napalm the city proper and kill ten slaves for each DawiZharr? Or do you want to leave a crater that glows in the dark"
"We leave a threat in our back."
"We have our hands on their windpipe, they cannot fight back and you want to slash their throats? Markus Söder, this world changes us all, but I do not believe we are at that place, nor will we ever be."
"Markus, Christian, stop it, this is getting nowhere. You are both right in your ways, but we simply cannot eradicate every potential threat to us on this world. We will keep a close eye on the DawiZharr but we will offer them a treaty. We will have peace in our time."
"I hope this time works better."
Palace, Altdorf, three months later
Reiksmarschall Helborg stepped towards the lectern and had a short look at the assembled masses before he went to his speech. There were the courtiers, the functionaries and diplomats, the ministers, the Emperor and Valten, a distinguished and colourful group if there ever was some. At a right angle to the glass front were the orderly lines of the Reiksbund Paladins, their famed power armour giving the assembly a gravitas that even his Reiksguard Knights could not have managed. Opposite to them were the small group of aspirants, many of them the centre of a small group of family, comrades or friends basked in the afternoon sun.
He glanced again at his notes before he started. His voice had carried over the din of many battlefields, he did not need a microphone and nobody had to ask for quiet as well.
"Honoured guests, nobody can deny that this is a world that changes quickly and mostly to the better. Railroads can carry us over vast distances within days, letters will receive anybody in the Empire within a week. Old diseases have lost their threat, old and terrible enemies have retreated and lick their wounds or are no longer. We are members in an alliance with each other when barely seven years ago our countries were not even on the same world. Hunger is pretty much gone and children do not toil endlessly but visit schools so they can carry the light of such greatness forward into a glorious future. And still it is a good thing that some things do not change or if they do they still stay recognizable so they can be a part of that future.
Since many years now we honour those who fought for the realm far beyond the call of duty by making them members of the Reiksguard Honour Company. Many distinguished warriors have joined our hallowed ranks, too far of them only in the memory of those they died to protect. It is one of the highest honours the Empire can bestow on anybody and it is a good tradition indeed. But even this tradition has to change to keep with the times and even when some will decry these changes nobody can deny that those who will join today are imminently worthy.
"Dame Ines Kramer, please step forward. Dame Ines, whenever I expressed my fear of visiting a dentist in the past I was told that I should not behave like a small child. When this happens to me the next time I will point to you and can truly state that dentists can be very scary indeed. The committee stopped a second when I told them that it was time for the first woman to be included into our ranks, but the utter carnage you meted out to save the wounded in your care swayed them as did the utter disregard that you displayed your own safety. At some time during these confused bloody minutes you mast have said "they will not pass" and indeed they did not.
Welcome to our ranks Dame Ines."
"Dame Ulrika Mandragova, please step forward. When I spoke about the many changes in our lives I was thinking about you. Welcoming a woman in our ranks is small change. Welcoming a Vampire is a huge change indeed. The committee was pretty sure I lost my mind when I proposed you and the protests were impressive to say the least. Yet one of the changes of these times is called "Helmet Video" and I was able to show what you did in that cave from several perspectives. You attacked a demon-infested machine five times your height and a hundred times your weight without any regard for your safety and you saved the lives of countless Paladins by doing so. We would be curs to disregard such courage and such ability.
When I talked to you about this ceremony you gave very valuable advice. You said "What I am is not important. What I think is not important. What I do is important." Good worlds to live by in these changed times Dame Ulrika and you certainly live them as you do good. Welcome to our ranks Dame Ulrika."
"Sir Eberhard von Roon, the very first home-grown pilot who joins our ranks. Four years ago there was no such things as an Imperial pilot, let alone one piloting a warplane. A little more than a year ago you have never flown in a plane and you earned your wings quite a bit later. And still in the short time since you received them you shot down five flying disks, destroyed at least three War Machines and killed enough enemies to fill a battalion. You have painted "We protect" on your plane and if the Reiksguard would still search for a motto it would be a good one. Welcome to our ranks Sir Eberhard."
"Herrmann Klement, it is your sad duty to collect the honours in your son`s stead as he has fallen performing his duties in a way that left no doubt about his worthiness. There are still some of my peers who doubt that commoners have real élan and fighting spirit and you son`s example will be what I will use to shut them up. Hermann Klement, please accept these honours that are due to Sir Heinrich, Knight of the Realm and member of the Reiksguard."
"Joakim Vos, only very very few men come to collect the Oak Leaves to their Reiksguard shield. And then only very few rip the leg off a cannon-armed demon-infested machine made from steel and save the lives of their company which incidentally contain the Price of the Realm. Not bad for somebody who punched tickets six years ago."
ZharrNaggrund, same time
Mathias Hartig awoke with a start. His throat was dry as parchment, his head pounded and he felt as light-headed as during a nasty flu. He tried to rise from the stone bier he lay on but the world immediately rotated around him. It took him some time to get his bearings, a time used by his brain to pull up memories this body should not have. A body that felt more and more strange by the minute, but this was something he had been told to expect. His hands and arms were the only part that he could see presently and they were much slenderer and hairless than before. A terrible thought entered his mind and his hands daintily moved to his chest.
His dry throat was still able to produce cries of distress and despair, even if raspy and high-pitched ones. His fingers had contacted breasts. Small breasts and probably well—shaped ones but breasts. The strange feeling of tightness in his back gave him a terrible suspicion and when he was finally presented with a mirror it was confirmed.
When Mordred had transferred his mind into a new host he had chosen one of the slave girls that had been one of Mathias` favourite "distractions"
Bundeskanzleramt Berlin, a month later
Another day, another briefing or so it seemed to Thomas de Maiziere. This was such a new and different world that any decision made on the basis of gut-feeling and "we have always done it that way" was bound to have abysmal results of one were lucky and things could easily work themselves down from there.
While Thomas was far more likely to read himself through long files the briefings had the advantage that everybody in cabinet had the same knowledge and consensus was easier to reach. The briefings ranged from the utterly mundane to the absolutely bizarre. Whoever would have told him eight years ago that information about fiscal issues and magical matters would have about equal impact on the German government would have received an incredulous look at the very least, now he was actually fairly knowledgeable about the matters of the Empyrean.
Yet today`s briefing was about neither, it was about the threat board. Markus Söder, the defence secretary, had asked a small think tank to cobble the information from various sources together and to present them in a condensed form.
The lecturer was well known in this room; he had been here a dozen times during the years after the Weltensprung. Grey-haired, tall and of a military bearing Donald Trevayne had yet to give a bit of bad advice.
Behind the lecturer a power-point went through the slides while a deep voice went through the high points.
"The potential threats to the Reiksbund have changed considerably during the last few years. The Skaven are no longer a menace and some of their surviving factions are actually friendly neutrals at least.
There has not been a significant Chaos incursion into the Empire and the Beastmen are very quiet. The Druchii have not attacked any Reiksbund vessels and actually we have reports of two assaults broken off once the Dark Elves realized whom they were attacking.
The Chaos Dwarf problem seems to be resolved with the treaty so there are no ongoing conflicts concerning us or the allies which is good news indeed on this world.
The bad news is that the potential threat level of some factions has increased significantly. It was probably inevitable that the knowledge for making semi-modern weapons and simple industrial processes would spread to parties that are potential adversaries.
Yet the speed and scope of this proliferation is remarkable. If I had to estimate what progress even a well-versed team of engineers with a basic equipment of tools and machinery could produce within the time frame we are discussing before the Weltensprung I would have stated that US Civil War equipment would already be a stretch.
Unfortunately such an estimate would have been wrong and currently three factions have exceeded it already.
First off there are the Asur. They have not engaged any Reiksbund forces so far, but we know that most High Elves view humans as inferior and several of their internal factions would attack if they perceive an advantage doing so.
The growing industrialization of Ulthuan depends a lot on German trade as the Asur wish to produce very little pollution and therefore work a lot with equipment bought here which makes them vulnerable in case of conflict.
The Asur have equipped three regiment-sized units with bolt-action rifles and have bought crew-served weapons to accompany these. The combat power of these regiments is roughly equivalent to an equally-sized unit from the First World War. The Elves are light on artillery but our consultants in Ulthuan report a very high degree of marksmanship with the Asurian troops already.
Then there are the Druchii. By now we have good intel that the industries founded by the German renegades known as the "Black Company" are still running and slowly expanding. Whether they are run by surviving Germans or by the Druchii they trained is unknown. The Dark Elves have multiple regiment-sized units with single-shot breech-loading rifles, machine guns and some artillery. Their navy now employs at least six armoured frigates roughly equivalent to the old French Gloire i.e. armored with steel, powered by steam or diesel auxiliary engines and armed with breech-loading cannon.
The Chaos Dwarfs were the really nasty surprise. While anybody with an idea about production technology could foresee that early-20th century rifles and crew-served weapons would be doable for a society in the early stages of an industrial revolution when the right knowledge and some tools were introduced everybody would have drawn the line at tanks and planes. Building ICE engines with a good power-to-weight ratios, threads, suspension and gearing would take a much longer time of industrial development. Unfortunately the DawiZharr are not playing by the same rules than we do and managed to arm magitech constructs to the point where they rival armoured fighting vehicles and planes of the 30`s.
Then there is the mercenary unit called the Wild Geese who are currently in our employ. The Antiguillia Magazine produces weapons that resemble WW1-style equipment from the British Empire and have built combat cars based on German Unimog chassis. They have at least one ex-Druchii frigate in their employ and there are reports that they arm merchant vessels. The mercenaries are currently training a division-sized formation of Cathay warriors with modern weapons and equipment, but for now they are our allies.
Among our allies in the Reiksbund the same can be observed: The Dawi produce their first self-loading rifles and submachine guns, even their first fighters and the Empire fields a wing of fighter-bombers of their own construction.
Unfortunately there are also the first less-than scrupulous Dawi weapons merchants who sell to a far greater set of customers than Germany can be comfortable with.
The proliferation of firearms that go with them is worrying as they raise the effectiveness of the armed forces that employ them by a factor somewhere between 10 and 20. While none of these would currently dare to challenge the Reiksbund they have come very far in a very short time and there is intense debate on whether this trend will continue in future. There are good reasons to assume that this development will slow down, but this would mean banking the future of Germany and the Reiksbund on an assumption that has been proven wrong in the past already.
This shows that we cannot sit back and let the development of advanced weapons slide, and neither can we stop upgrading the equipment of our allies and second-line troops. If the Dark Elves would have attacked Papenburg with one of their new-style regiments the Landwehr would have been defeated in short order and until heavier weapons would have reached the battlefield civilian casualties would have been catastrophic.
If we want to avoid more Monschaus, if we want to avoid more Red River Valleys we need to upgrade the forces we already have, we need to build "Force Multipliers" that allow us to use more efficiently what we already have.
There are some very interesting proposals on the table and I would personally recommend the "Meteor" project, the Sea Control Ship and….
Leaflet starting to be distributed throughout the Empire
Oppose chaos with bread and beer!
Do your part with boots and trinkets!
Everything can make a difference, everyone can support the crusade!
Buy products with the official crusade emblem.
The tenth of the price will directly contribute to the crusade.
Beneath the written words are several skillfully drawn images:
(1) Two loaves of bread are displayed. The only difference is that on one of them has the emblem of the Army of Light: Two dark grey wings embracing a bright globe on a darker background. The stylized feathers have the forms of swords, firearms or industrial tools.
(2) A hand points to the loaf with the emblem, while another hand offers ten coins. One of the coins is drawn in a darker colour, with an arrow pointing to the next image.
(3) A sword takes the centre of the image. The arrow of the previous image, accompanied by several others that all originate from the edges of the image, point to the sword.
(4) A group of warriors, all raising swords like in the third image, march towards black schematic enemies.
Birkewiese, Empire
Birkewiese was a small town in Ostland, located relatively near the Kislevite border.
The old and wise major Reinhardt Bruhl had ruled many years, protecting his town from all catastrophes and plagues.
That was, until Germany had appeared.
Having learned it the hard way, Bruhl mistrusted everything new, trusting in the accumulated and proven wisdom of their forefathers.
As result, Birkewiese missed many opportunities that had offered themselves in the past few years.
The local railroad had been built in a neighbouring community, robbing the rather featureless town of many transmigrating merchants that changed their trade routes according to the new railroads.
The few bright and wealthy people the town had to offer, he alienated by this decisions.
They had decided to leave the town, looking elsewhere for a better future.
Realizing his mistake, even if too late, major Bruhl thanked Sigmar a thousandfold when the men of the Army of Light had approached him.
They offered their help, telling him that they searched for a town they could erect their headquarters, transforming it in the years to come into the core of their new order.
Seeing this as his second chance to make the correct decision, the major agreed to cooperate.
At least, until he heard about their plans.
These monster!
They didn't want to help the town.
They wanted to raze it to the ground, erecting a new town in place of the heritage of their brave forefathers, disregarding all the blood and tears the past generations had to shed to maintain Birkewiese.
This price was too high!
This was no question about tradition or progress, these men wanted to willingly throw away the past and tradition, removing Birkewiese from history.
He had to prevent this.
But as he wanted to speak against this heresy, suddenly the strength left his body.
The major fell to the ground, just now noticing that the constant pain he was ignoring for a while was fading, just like everything else.
Instinctively realizing that he was dying, he did his level best to prevent the coming catastrophe.
His assistant, kneeing beside him, speaking something he couldn't understand anymore, was near enough to hear his last words.
"Don't… stop… pro… ect..."
Seeing that the now crying assistant, he always had been the compassionate type, was nodding, major Reinhardt Bruhl could allow himself to peacefully fall asleep.
Even if somewhat naive, the old major knew that his assistant would follow his last orders, he would protect the town.
Don't allow it. Stop them. Protect the town.
Birkewiese, Empire (Seven days later)
Even as the major had made many enemies in his long life, his burial would be remembered for many years.
The railroads and with them the established fast post service had allowed many additional guests to learn about his death.
Many of the townspeople that had left in the past honored the major with their visit or by sending condolence letters.
The Army of Light even had sent its grandmaster to speak at the burial.
"… And even in his last moment, Reinhardt Bruhl had only his beloved town in mind.
Don't stop the project.
That were his last words.
We of the Army of Light will patiently await the results of the coming election for the new major, and the decision the new major will make.
But if Birkewiese decides to follow the last wish of his deceased major, I personally promise you that your town will await a bright future.
It will become a new city, a new beginning, the start of something grand.
And we will forever remember Reinhardt Bruhl, the man that will have made all of this possible."
Altdorf, Temporary headquarters of the Army of Light
"So let me summarize everything before the vote:
The Army of Light will found a department that will act as general labour union for the Imperial worker class.
Its main goals, while keeping a profile as low as possible without prior incentives of the masses, will be the establishment of a system with proper payments, work and safety conditions, and protection from excessive despotism from the employer.
Taking the past of Earth as benchmark, it is only a question of time until the workers will want to organize themselves and rebel against the ruling order.
We have to make sure that we will be a major part of this movement, to allow to influence the events to a certain degree, while also trying to keep the Army of Light in general as much out of the line of fire as possible.
Short to middle-term, we should be able to pressure organizations refusing cooperation with us, and strengthen the bonds between our order and the general public.
Currently, traditional Imperial employers are the greatest enemy of the Imperial worker, while employers utilizing German knowledge or consulting offer more freedom.
So transition to German inspired employment relationships are desired.
But a time will come where Imperial workers will want to have the same rights, privileges and payments as their German counterparts, while the employers will surely try to prevent this from happening, fearing 'profit setbacks'.
While German profits should be of no interest for us, we still should keep an eye on this matter, as it has the potential to cause major unrest."
This speech was held by Torben Treumark, summarizing in a somewhat bored tone the results of six hours of hard negotiation.
While speaking, he closely observed their new German guest, knowing that he already had the approval of most of the present order members in this matter.
Siegfried Erler had only arrived a few days ago, but he already had been through a lot.
Luthor had welcomed him directly at the doorstep, inviting him into his private room, speaking with his most polite tone.
Everyone at the order had already learned that if Luthor was speaking politely to this degree, it was the verbal equivalent to Luthor standing on the battlefield with drawn sword, rushing towards the enemy while roaring at the top of his voice, only moments away from exploding.
It was upon Torben to rescue the German from the dread of the grandmaster, just like they had planned beforehand.
Whoever the Germans would send, it would do them no good to punish the messenger, so they had agreed to try to get the best out of their situation.
It had been a great success to gain the cooperation of Kislev, but the German reaction was more drastic than estimated.
Instead of seeing the order as a competent and eager partner in the fight against chaos, they had seen them as a madman waking up sleeping monsters.
But now that they had a direct connection to Germany and the Reiksbund, they should use it to the fullest.
One needed connections to the German industry, needed training for their troops, Reiksbund intelligence about Empire, Kislev and Troll Country.
Siegfried was nothing special, at least from his looks.
Average height and physique, pale enough to see that he was working mostly indoors.
A bland face with common brown hair and blue eyes, wearing glasses that could only be described as ordinary.
He was hiding something beneath his bandaged arm, but as Siegfried always evaded the topic frantically, Torben still didn't knew what it was.
However, while he looked not very impressive, his knowledge was immense.
After Torben had rescued Siegfried from the wrath of the grandmaster—if this had only been Luthor playing the bad cop, Torben had to make sure to never genuinely anger him ever in his life—the German was more open to him than he would had been normally.
While Luthor's later assessment of the German was that he most likely was no trained spy, just a scapegoat to use until a better man had been found, Torben had to admit that the German brought with him certain interesting ideas, if poked in the right way.
It was one of their many discussions that led Torben to consider the establishment of the labor union.
If even the German government was careful to not unnecessarily anger labor unions, it should be a good idea to use them for their own goals.
As there were no real labor union in the Empire yet, the Army of Light was sure to attract the bright minds wanting to join their union or at least let them approach the order with request about assistance or consultation.
It would take many years until this investment would bear fruit, and it might even trigger inevitable social events earlier than without them founding the labor union, but all of this seemed worth the effort.
When the vote began, Torben had to smile again.
Not because nearly all of the members of the Council agreed with the proposition, but because he already was eager to see what great ideas he could get out of Siegfried.
The order was still young, but still already showed resentments about allowing Germans to join, as it was seeking an own identity apart from Germany.
While the order would have regular disputes with Germany, many times for similar reasons as pubescent children that challenged their fathers, the work of Siegfried Erler and several other Germans would make sure that the order would support 'their Germans' without reservation even during the darkest times.
A farm somewhere in Western Bretonnia
The widely visible smoke of a large fire had attracted many neighbours who wanted to help or at least wanted to know what had happened.
While they quickly discovered that all buildings of the somewhat remote farm were burning and it was already too late to prevent any of them to burn to the ground, something else attracted their attention.
In front of the farmhouse they found the remains of multiple people.
Because of the condition of the corpses, it was very difficult to count them.
By counting the heads, the remains belonged at least to ten people.
Their dismantled corpses had been arranged in some kind of pattern, causing nausea by simply looking at it.
When the authorities had been alarmed, they did their best to downplay the case.
Yes, it was a very gruesome murder, surely done by Chaos occultists.
Yes, they would be hunted with the entire might of the Bretonnian authority.
Everything was under control, something like this would not repeat itself, they would make sure.
There was no reason to tell the locals that cases like this were repeatedly occurring throughout Bretonnia.
That they had no clue about the culprits, even months after the first case.
That it were always only the adults that had been murdered.
And that it had been always families with twins.
Twins that had disappeared, most likely abducted by the culprits.
