Hello, there. Let me introduce this Chapter with a quick Author's Note in the name of the Scorched Banners Dev Team. We are the developers of the as of yet unreleased Hearts of Iron 4 Mod "Scorched Banners".

We intend for this story is to act as place for us to publish Teasers in the form of ingame narrative-events that will be integral to the Mod's storytelling. The general concept of it is an Alternate History scenario in which the Cold War keeps dragging on despite the exhaustion of all sides involved threatening to leave no winners. I'll just quote the introduction from our Discord:

The world of 2006 is a dark place.
Many of the governments in this world are under dictatorships. The USA is losing it's grip on Latin America and has been alienated by Western Europe. The members of the Brussels Treaty Organisation (BTO) in Europe despise each other, only united in their fear of the Soviets. As for the USSR itself, their hard-line stance is seeming to fail rapidly. Factions are popping up and maneuvering to seize power as soon as it falters. The People's Republic of China is ambitious, and vengeful against all who have crossed her. The Steel Curtain stands ever higher, casting shadows of despair upon all. DEFCON is ever closer to 1. Any power vacuum left could be disastrous.
Welcome to the Cold War.

We are also looking for writers that would be interested in writing narrative or slice of life events for the Mod. Further info and a Discord-Invite are on our profile.

Now, onto the first event of this series...

Event Title: The Brewing Storm

Text:

Hamburg, German Democratic Republic, 8th January 2006

It was a bleak morning near the North Sea, even at springtime.

Helmut Schmidt sat alone on the bench at the top of a dyke, watching the leaves of the apple-trees sway down below in the orchard. Right next to the Elbe, in the gloom of the morning, the winds were strong at the top of the dyke.

He watched Markus Wolf, Chief of the Ministry for State Security, almost slip with every step along the footpath. There was something almost slapstick-like to watching one of the most powerful men of the world almost be blown over by a strong wind.

Although he was comfortably wrapped up in a thick coat, Helmut got up to greet the man.
"Welcome to Hamburg.", he commented drly and gave him a casual hug. Markus laughed and gave him a quick hug.

"Glad that you came. I have a little gift.", Wolf replied and handed him something from a linen grocery-bag. The sight sure raised Helmut's mood.

"Can't believe they tried to outlaw these.", he mused while fetching a lighter. The two men sat down on the bench and for a few minutes they just enjoyed the paradoxically refreshing taste of menthol-cigarettes. They were General Schmidt's favourites.

Well, technically he wasn't a General anymore. It was kinda difficult to really process that he actually concluded his 60 years long career from a Flak-Gunner in 1937 all the way to being the NVA's most recognised General. Nowadays he finally went into a civilian party-career. Hamburg and it's adjacent Defence-Districts never truly stopped being his military fiefdoms, though. His power was entrenched deeply and at this point General Secretary Schwanitz trusted only him to keep the Northwest from trying to secede.

For a short while, the two men on the bench chatted casually. Then, the tone eventually started getting serious. They talked politics, current events and more concrete matters. Then, it started darkening. They never bickered, never shouted, but the tension was brewing like the dry storm over the metropolis to the north of the river.

"Markus... Let me ask you something. Did you ever regret it?"

The old spy looked out over the orchard below, thoughful and glad for the privacy. "I don't know. Back then, everthing went so fast. You weren't in the situation-room."

He leaned back and sighed.

"Hindsight is easy, but we thought Gorbatchev had literally turned traitor. That he was some CIA spook who climbed up all the way to the top. From where we stood... there really wasn't any arguing. At that moment, there was no way to be 'nuanced'. Everyone in the MfS agreed, we were right about our methods all along and the only way to stop everything from falling apart was to act decisively."

Wolf looked more tense than he usually did, vulnerable in a way, but Helmut's glare was rather pityless.

"And how did it work out?"

Markus looked at him supremely unamused and Helmut gave a disarming shrug. "They don't tell me anymore since I'm off the round-table, share some insight with an old friend."

There was a long moment of silence and calculation.

"It bought us a chance.", the MfS Chief insisted, but then tensely admitted: "And Pugo is wasting it. He is wasting the time we bought."

"Still think it was worth it?", Helmut asked. "I'm telling you, we need to lead by example."

Wolf nodded in his typical, slippery, non-commital manner. However, Helmut recognised the man was much more tense than usual. It was difficult to read a professional spy, but something felt different than last time.

"The Soviets are reverting none of the mistakes they made. Pugo and his gang are Stalinists in name only. They don't have the courage to do what they need to. At this rate, I'm not sure we'll make it through the decade this time.", he mused and finally got to the point.

"Helmut... I have a plan. I can't afford to talk details, but you're a military man and I need the Northwest. Can I trust you with this?"

Answer-Options:

"Count me in, old friend."

( Ingame Tooltip: "Helmut Schmidt and the Landjut Command join forces with the MfS" / +1 Command Power Point / +2 Political Power Points)

"After what you and Mielke did with my trust?"

(Ingame Tooltip: Schmidt thanks Wolf for the cigarettes and melacholically stares at the storm over his city...)