"We have grown weak from our victory in the Great War! Kingdom of Vacuo has grown lazy and complacent, as has our great ally to the east! And our enemy that rests even further east still!"
Before her were her people, listening to her speech, and those that weren't listening in person watched or listened to her live. From a podium she spoke, telling them of the big problem she and Gnarl had discovered.
"Where is our Army? Our Navy? Any Air Force at all? I ask you, people of this great Empire, where are the brave men and women who protected us in the Great War? Who would protect us even now? Gone! Shattered to the winds! The Kingdoms of Vacuo, Mistral, and our dear old ally Vale, all abandoned their armies, their navies, and their air fleets! All replaced with Huntsmen. But! The greatest loser of the Great War has drawn on their bitterness of loss, on their anger, and dwarfs over us where they were once beneath of our feet! My dear subjects, trouble looms in the far north! Kingdom of Atlas, yet again, threatens our very way of life! Now it is us who are weak, who are so close to defeat! Their air fleet blackens the very sky for it is so massive! Their army, not man, but endless machine! It does not eat, does not sleep, does not live, and does not die! And what have we? Nothing! Living by the mere mercy of ones we have once defeated!"
She shakes her head.
"I ask you, my people, is that any way to live?"
The large mass of people cried out in outrage.
"I agree! We should not live in fear from our former enemies up north! How dare they!?"
Her people shouted in approval.
"They had nearly eighty years to prepare. What do they seek? Revenge? Or unquestioned might? We do not have eighty years to catch up, we'll have to do in less. Our spirit will give us strength, strength enough to cross the gap that none but us could! Who else but us could stand up to the Great Threat up North?! The Kingdom of Mistral? They cannot defeat mere bandits! Kuchinashi controlled first by Hana Guild, a band of ex-huntsmen doing crimes like selling drugs, illegal weapons, and performing assassinations. Now it is controlled by Spider crime syndicate. But where are the law of the land?! Afraid, and weak, they allow their people to be abused and destroyed! What of city of Wind Path? Controlled by bandits and thieves! Only the city of Mistral is controlled by the law, and even there their hold is threatened by the ever increasing power of the Spider syndicate! Should we place trust in those too weak to save our people to defend us against the Great Threat up North?!"
The people roared in angry defiance of the idea.
"What of our old ally? The Brother Victor of the Great War? They have become drunk on their victory! Arrogance in their strength poisons their eyes, unable to see their doom! Where are your armies, people of Vale? Your navy? Your air fleet?"
She pauses a bit to take a in a breath.
"No! We cannot place our lives in their hands! They cannot save us! We alone have the strength to move forward, advancing steadily into the future. We will fight on! We shall struggle, compete, and dominate! And in the end the future shall be ours! That's why I, Yang de Ultimus, the Emperor of the Unholy Ultimus Empire, the successor to the failed Kingdom of Vacuo, the cure to its poison, hereby command you! Huntsmen that train to protect this land, train harder! For our enemy too has Huntsmen, and they have more! Show that our spirit cannot be broken! That their arrogance in numbers will be the death of them! To you, people, who wish to help, but cannot be Huntsmen, I declare this! This day shall mark the birth of the Emperor's Army! Enlist, my subjects, who wish to prevent our death! Their faithless machines will fail against our people! We will persevere! To those, yet still, who cannot join, build dockyards! We cannot hope to match their air fleet! But we shall rule the waves! Would our enemies dare to set foot in our land, they'll be shot out of the sky!"
She drew in a deep breath.
"All hail the Empire! All hail our people! All hail the Emperor!"
And the people roared with thunderous cries of applause, of cheers for the Emperor and the Empire. And where once some those cheers were of fear, or submission, now they were fueled by the will to survive, and the patriotic duty to protect their family, culture, and their land.
Times of Vacuo:
The Young Emperor speaks out against the other Great Kingdoms, warns of "the Great Threat up North"
In the latest press conference, the Young Emperor held a speech criticizing the Great Kingdoms of Remnant, including the former Kingdom of Vacuo, and the state the Empire is in. She warned of "the Great Threat up North", Kingdom of Atlas, fearing that their massive army, both in air and ground, possessed a great threat to her Empire, and to the other Kingdoms. To deal with this threat, the Young Emperor announced the "Emperor's Army", and her encouragement of naval buildup implies that a navy branch, likely titled "Emperor's Navy", is soon to be announced. While these actions may strain the already seemingly strained relations between the Empire and the Great Kingdoms, many in the Empire are happy that their Emperor has taken visible steps to protect them.
The Rising Heat:
The Great Emperor announces herself as "the cure to [Kingdom of Vacuo's] poison", and taken steps to protect the Empire.
The Great Emperor spoke out about issues that plagued Kingdom of Mistral, and the "poison" that infected Kingdom of Vale, referred to by the Great Emperor as "dear old ally" and "Brother Victor of the Great War", and the "failed Kingdom of Vacuo", and claimed herself as "the cure to its poison", interpreted as meaning the solution to the issues that plagued the Kingdom of Vacuo, something she has consistently done since the start of her reign. The Great Emperor announced the "Emperor's Army" and naval buildup to combat the threat posed by the Kingdom of Atlas, "the Great Threat up North".
Just Vacuo News:
OP-ED: The Emperor's speech today marks a sharp change in foreign policy.
Today, The Emperor launched into a tirade against Kingdom of Atlas, and in very clear words marking them as a new threat. She proceeded to then announce en masse military buildup against "the Great Threat up North". This, I'm afraid, marks a new and uncertain new foreign policy direction. If the Kingdom sees this as declaration of war, this might end up as aa self fulfilling prophecy. It is clear that the Emperor seeks to scare her enemies away, and to build impressive defenses to discourage attacks against the Empire. Yet, to do it in such a provocative and crude manner might give her what she wants, mass mobilization, but also provoke her enemies to attack. After all, not only did she provoke, but she revealed her weakness. Can the "Death of the Kingdom" who has destroyed one with barely any effort do so again against our mightiest enemy? It remains to be seen if the Emperor is a one-trick-pony, or an as unstoppable force as she claims to be.