Boat No. 4

The lead balls went through the boat like through wet tissue paper. They smashed boards, batteries and bones with equal ease and water quickly started to rise inside. The smell of battery acid mingled with the coppery twang of blood and filled the space that was dark and fully of dying. The helmsman watched the blood that shot from the remains of his left arm and waited for the pain to come. Instead a calm settled on him from knowing that he was about to die now and nothing could change that. He turned the helm towards its target again and pushed the lever forward. It moved without the slightest resistance, the connections obviously shot. When he dropped down from blood loss he still fumbled for the cable that connected the lever and with his last act pulled on something. The last thing he felt was a mild surge forward.

His boat had lost more than half of its batteries. Only the primitive construction employed allowed any electricity to reach the motor at all. It nudged the small boat forward just when more shots reached out and at least two more rounds found the boat which promptly slowed down when a dying hand released a cable. It barely made more than five knots when the long spar at the bow connected with Paravon`s side. The spar was barely under water and the tip held a heavy steel container. Inside were more than a dozen kilogram of homebrew explosives which went the easy way, forward. The galleon was built from stout oak but could not resist the explosion and several square meters of planking converted into a mass of broken splinters. Soreil Bay`s cold water rushed into the ship at a copious rate and she developed a severe list within minutes. She sunk within a quarter hour, her fate illuminated by several more explosions elsewhere in the bay. Two boats even made it back to harbor and the Rebels mounted a creditable rescue effort the next morning. There was not so much to do as one would expect, Bretonian sailors rarely learned to swim and the cold waters induced hypothermia long before the would-be rescuers arrived.

More than 1800 people died that night and Soreil`s blockade vanished for now.

Bunker before Grasgar Castle, Bretonia

Andy Thrope watched the proceedings before with more than a bit of skepticism. That the weapon before him had barely been tested and not at all against the intended target did not make him any more confident. The diesel roar of the generator and ancillary equipment added to the irritation. When he had discussed this campaign with the staff he had told Pierre Laval that they would have to take fortifications here and there. He would need a cannon or something to breach castles walls he had said and Pierre had delivered. He had delivered "something". When Andy Thrope realized what this "something" was he called him out on that and got a load of technical jumbo-mumbo in return. The highlights seemed to have been "no good high-strength precision tubes" "too sensitive explosives" "historical precedent from WW1 and the Spanish-US war" and the grand name of "Dynamite Gun".

Which, when all was said and done could not hide the fact that Andy Thrope`s best hope to breach the fortress walls before him was the world`s largest potato gun. A smoothbore barrel of surprising length, which had been part of a high-pressure gas pipeline in its former life, was connected to two huge air tanks. The diesel generator powered a high-pressure compressor feeding them and a rising needle stated that things were about to boil.

"General, we are ready to fire."
"Very well then,
"Yes Sir."
"Attention
"Qui"
"Tirez"

Quick-acting valves opened the pipes that led to the weapons tube. Copious amounts of air forced themselves behind the projectile and applied pressure. Every bar of pressure applied 10 tons of force to a square meter and while the projectile certainly did not have a square meter of surface in its back there were a great many bars of pressure. The projectile gathered speed in the tube and was ejected at better than 100 meters per second. The projectile looked like an ashcan with stabilizing fins at its back, wobbled through its flight which ended less than three seconds later at Grasgrar castle`s wall. The shot itself abounded like nothing to write home about, a bit like the worlds loudest fart. The impact was a different story though. Dynamite might not the stable enough to be fired from a conventional gun, but 20 kilograms of it will make a very satisfactory bang. The explosive was confined between the projectiles solid walls and the stonemasonry before it. It made a very loud explosion, blackened a couple of square meters of walls and achieved nothing that anybody could see.

It was the Rebels who cheered first and the Royals who kept it up far longer when their wall seemed unharmed. A couple of minutes later the next shot did not have a better result and the next couple of them were not better wither. It was shot number 12 that fractured a rock that had there for several centuries to the point where it dropped from the wall. Five more shots made more rocks go and when the explosion subsided the outer part of the wall descended into the motte like a landslide. With it came a lot of the rubble that filled the space between the inner and outer walls and together they formed a nice ramp through the water into the castle. The next shots took down the inner part of the wall and Andy was about to organize an assault party when the white parley flag appeared above the castle`s keep.

Things went comparatively smoothly from there, except when Baron Ney insisted that serfs were property and would therefore accompany the others whether they wanted or not. That did not go well with the Rebels and things were about to get bloody when the Baron decided that this was not worth dying for.

Couronne, Bretonia

The hall was filled by nobles of all kind. There were the landed ones, some of them barely more affluent than their serfs, others resplendent in the finest armor. There were the Questing Knights, at least those who were in a position to come. The Grail Knights had a presence that could hardly be denied even when they stood at attention and listened. Some of them were barons and counts, they administered the lands inherited by their grand ancestors. There was a riot of colors, heraldry galore, fine armor and ancient weapons on display. Normally the room would be filled with murmurs, with the low-volume exchange of information and the games of status. None of that happened right now, they were all raptly listening to their monarch. Risen from the presumed dead like a figure of legend he seemed bigger and more charismatic than ever. His voice had gained determination and if he harbored the slightest doubt about what he said he did not show any of it. The intensity of the man radiated through the room and it was reassuring and frightening in equal measure.

"The Battle of Grasgar castle was and is fate's great alarm call to the Bretonian realm! A realm that has the strength to survive and overcome such a disaster, even to draw from it additional strength, is unbeatable. In my speech to you, I shall remember the heroes of this battle, who put me and all of us under a deep obligation.

I want to speak to all of you from the depths of my heart to the depths of yours. I believe that the entire Bretonian people has a passionate interest in what I have to say tonight. I will therefore speak with holy seriousness and openness, as the hour demands. The Bretonians, raised, educated and disciplined by the rules of chivalry, the traditions handed down by our forefathers and the wise guidance of the Lady, can bear the whole truth. It knows the gravity of the situation, and I, as your king, can therefore demand the necessary hard measures, yes even the hardest measures. We Bretonians are armed against weakness and uncertainty. The blows and misfortunes of the war only give us additional strength, firm resolve, and a spiritual and fighting will to overcome all difficulties and obstacles with chivalric élan.

Now is not the time to ask how it all happened. That can wait until later, when the Bretonian people and the whole world will learn the full truth about the misfortune of the past weeks, and its deep and fateful significance. The heroic sacrifices of heroism of our knights in this battle has had vast historical significance for the whole war. It was not in vain. The future will make clear why.

When I jump over the past to look ahead, I do it intentionally. The time is short! There is no time for fruitless debates. We must act, immediately, thoroughly, and decisively, as has always been the Bretonian way.

I must ask you to work even harder for the victory, so we can preserve our way of life. There can be no surrender to those who want to destroy our beloved nation and expose our fair people to foreign ideas and decadence that can only lead to the fell gods. This is what we have to fight with all we are and all we can do. Mark my words, nobles there can be no surrender, no retreat. We have to fight this war and we have to win it. We will do whatever is needed to win it and we will have total war. A war more radical and total than you can imagine today. Will you do this for me, for Bretonia and the Lady?"

The hall reverberated with the acclamations of all assembled.

"I have to enact measures I abhor with a heavy heart so we do not waste the sacrifice of our knights. And the first of these decrees shall be that there will be no "honorable surrender" od castles to the Rebels.
Any noble who surrenders his castle will forfeit his title, now and for evermore. He and all of his children shall be commoners as they are defecting from the fight we have to fight…..

King Leoncour had wondered before where the Lady had come up with this speech and a bit surprised when it had such impact on the audience. He had not heard anything like this before, might this be a part of the German books the Lady had studied?

Altdorf, Empire

Valten`s office had not changed much during the last years. He had never started a "I love me" wall here and to the best of Joakim Vos`s knowledge he did not have one at home either. The mixture of new and old was still there, the old desk with the modern chair, the laptop and the warhammer. It was lit by LEDs as the sun had already disappeared a while ago.

Things were pretty quiet at present and both man and Valten prepared for their weekends, wrapping up another week. The two had achieved a very good working relationship for two being of such differing cultural background and state.

"So that is it from my side. How about you?"
"I`ve got one more thing."
"What might that be?"
"This."
The hand and arm did not seem to move very fast, still the small wooden box was nowhere to be seen one second and there the next.

"What`s that?"
"Your future Joakim. Come on, take a look."

Joakim Vos was the Reiksbund Paladins XO for several years now, had seen plenty of battle and death. He still hesitated for a second before picking it up.

The inside was covered with red velvet and contained only two small rank insignia. They were still the silver of his present ones but had two dots above the wings.

"Oberstleutnant Joakim Vos, has a nice ring to it, don`t you think?"
"Lieutenant Colonel, me? Valten, I punched tickets in trains eight years ago."
"Yes, this Weltensprung did interesting things to all of us, didn`t it?"
"In-bleeding-deed. I want to say thank you Valten, but this is no longer the rank of the Paladin`s XO. What hole do you think is Joakim sized and needs filling?"
"The problem is more that there is a Valten sized hole that needs me and that in turn will open a Joakim sized hole that I want you to fill"
"Oh fuck."

"I thought the same thing when I heard of it. Well, it was coming sooner or later, but I would have much preferred later. Well, I think we both have our work cut out don`t we?"

"Seems so."
"So, you accept?"
"Was that a trick question?"
"Thanks, this means a lot, the Paladins deserve a good commanding officer. Say, is your Sophie up to a visit to a good restaurant tomorrow evening?"

Humbolt University, Berlin

Donald Trevayne was a bit self-conscious presently, which was a nice way to say he had a certain amount of stage fright. He was used to giving presentations before august and critical groups such as the German cabinet, but today the audience was quite a bit bigger. Actually the university`s auditorium was pretty much packed to capacity and together with his fellow presenters he was under a lot if scrutiny by many a professor and their staff. He really should not have written that guest piece for the "Spiegel", it had given him far too much attention. Now it was better to follow through than to appear mysterious, his usual customers would not appreciate that.

He shared the stage with an interesting group, comprising Estelio de Miragliano, Fjodor Upenskoy who could be counted on to be quite contrary, Ferdinant from Kluck from the Empire and himself.

Humbolt`s dekan made the introductions about the participants into the panel discussion, touching the controversy that his article had started in academic circles and the realms touched by it.

She was about to finish.

"So as agreed, we will start by giving Professor Trevayne the opportunity to present his thesis and he will then defend it against the critique that has been raised in several realms and parts of the German academic community."

"Thank you for this opportunity Frau von Blumenthal. It is interesting that so many people are interested in such an aspect of history and I will do my best to play my part in what will surely be an interesting discussion.

When Germany arrived in the Warhammer World we quickly found that we had been taken from a world known only from fiction. We also found that many of the realms around us had striking similarities to the predecessors of nations on Earth. There are numerous hypotheses to explain these, staring from the assumption that there are countless parallel universes to connections between Earth and this world and the work of supernatural beings. I know of no hypothesis that covers all data we have and that can be falsified, so no theory has established itself.

This is neither here nor there, today we speak about how the realms of this world perceive their counterparts on Earth and their view about these nation`s history. That knowledge about Earth`s history would the disseminated was to be expected. History books were not declared secret, and so many contacts compared Earth to our new home that it was unavoidable. The Warhammer nations were at least as fascinated by the similarities and differences of their earthen counterparts and I wrote an article about the reactions to them. I am aware that any nation is made up by many people and they will hold a multitude of opinions. Still, there are opinions that are held by the majority and there are the findings that those who rule gather from the history we brought with us. My article was about those.

Let us start with our closest neighbors and closest ally, the Empire. Both the historians and those in power are both fascinated and horrified by German history. They see the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation as weak as it lacked a powerful central ruler, they are aghast at the conflict with the church and will not understand a ruler who governs from the equivalent of Sicily. The Reformation is seen as puzzling, if a God is so distant as the Christian one, why is the way to worship him so very important? The carnage that came from that, the 30 years` War is seen as a dire warning on how not to do things. The Empire often saw conflict between the different religions, especially the followers of Sigmar and Ulric, but outside pressure kept things usually from large-scale bloodshed. The revolution of 1848 is seen as a warning. Even before we entered this world there was development that would secure more power to commoners. The changes in economy and warfare simply gave commoners more economic power and asked for their participation in warfare. This had to lead towards a greater share of political power.

That nobles and commoners interpret this part of history differently is a given, Freiherr von Kluck may share a better insight on this later. World War One and Two are seen as a horrible lesson in industrialized warfare. They are said to show that it can be horrifyingly destructive, and not just to lives and property. The horrors of the Holocaust puzzle the Imperials to no end. They have problems matching up the laid-back modern Germans with the monsters who made themselves the masters of efficient killing innocents. If any good came from that than that the Empire looks at its treatment of Strygani and asks soul-searching questions.

The German reunification and Germany`s history in the EU is under intense scrutiny by those in power and those who deal in legal matters. Some think that it may provide insights into the future, others fear that this may be so.

If Bretonians are united in something these days it is that they are deeply unhappy with France`s history. That is not an insult to la belle France, it is simply that both sides of the civil war see how groups they could identify with failed horribly. The knights and barons look at Luis XIV and Versailles and shudder at the thought of becoming "Chief keep of the Royal Pot" to have any say in politics. They see the then-modern army and navy that this monarch built, armed forces that did not contain a single knight. King Leoncour is said to have despaired at Louis XV under which the budget for the court at Versailles amounted to a significant part of the state`s income. Both sides look at the French Revolution with horror. The Royals as it happened at all, the Rebels as they see the noble beginnings and the horrors of the Regime of Terror. And why France would take on another king so few years after getting rid of the first one pzzles them to no end. Both sides are also united in their disgust at the wars between Germany and France.

The Royals do not like that France did fight heroically but not too successful unless they had allies and the Rebels as they hate the destruction wrought on their counterpart. The conclusion drawn by the sides could not be more different though. The Royals would like Germany to go away somehow or them acquire the power to confront us on an equal footing. The Rebels believe the lesson to be that when working together great things can be accomplished while confrontation will only bring misery and bloodshed.

The reaction in Estelia is much more restrained as the similarities between Spanish and Estelian history seem too few to incense anybody. There is a slight amusement at the thought of sending a few hundred adventurers to Lustria and expect them to conquer the continent. There have been expeditions in Estelia`s past and they showed far too well why this would be a very bad idea. Colonies in the Southlands, the equivalent to Afrika are also bound to fail given the many beastmen there. That Spanish Tericos walked over large parts of Europe is seen with some interest and given that Bretonia and Estelia had their spats in the past there is some thinking of raising a regiment of pikes or two. Clearer thinking heads know that modern weapons are the way to go though.

Tilea is mostly interested in the Italian unification and while practically everybody agrees it would be a good idea, us Germans that made it unlikely to succeed anytime soon. We removed the common foe in the shape of Araby pirates and more importantly the Skaven. On the other hand we provided modern weapons and a lot of trade to Tobaro and Miragliano. Now both city-states vie for supremacy in Tilea and an end is not in sight. Maybe the rulers should look at the Holy Roman Empire of German nation, the role of Austria and Prussia in that conflict and the suboptimal ending that followed.

In Albion Great Britain`s history is practically not perceived at all, so there is no majority opinion upon it. The only one on record is Myrrdin who is said to utter "Humbug, all humbug".
Kislev`s reaction to Russia`s and the USSR`s history is very mixed. Officially it is said that it shows the urgent need for modernization so Kislev is not left behind and towards trustful allies…..

"How can you imbecile say so. The "history" or however you call this fabrication of lies and slander only shows Kislev needs to conserve its purity…."

Fjodor Upenskoy was on a rant and it was safe to say things went downhill from there.