2007 Note: I do feel a pang of remorse every time I post one of these. I don't feel as though they are particularly popular, and the fact that my other Xanga is where I usually put such trivial things makes their presence all the more questionable, but I started putting these up here, and they are all already written, so here they go and here they stay.
2014 Note: ...until Xanga shuts down, anyway.
After the watershed that was the capture of Byblos, the defeat of the Egyptians was a matter of time. Had the second tide of the Germans and Persians come earlier, the whole of the Jade Falcon might have been fighting desperate defensive actions on their doorstep, tearing up the Great Project as they retreated east across the Persian Bottleneck, leaving the Roman People’s Movement totally, finally abandoned, and watching the Greek Province being occupied by the Germans and even fending off Egyptian landings in the homelands.
But that didn’t happen. The Egyptians were finally defeated as Jade Falcons fought across the Eastern Salt Jungles--now tamed by Egyptian engineers--to the final strongholds of their enemy, where a Jade Falcon trampled the yellow banner to the ground of Dinot, ostensibly forever.
All that remained after trudging to the northeast corner of the world was to turn around, cross the still-unnamed Persian Bottleneck, crush the last remaining vestiges of the Roman Republic, then reverse and overrun the Persians in the Southwest before finally annihilating the enigmatic, groin-kicking haters, the Germans.
The reality was that the demise of the Egyptians was a small comfort; Persian bombers layered the Persian Bottleneck--the union of a broad stretch of desert to the East and two thin strips of land that connected it to the continents of Rome and Persia. Those strips only allowed a division’s worth of troops to travel at a time from one region to another. While the Great Project extended to the Persian Bottleneck, it stopped there, marking, a...um...bottleneck for Jade Falcon troops. It also made the region a murder field for any Jade Falcon troops trying to pass through.
The Persians might have called it target practice
…or…
*sigh*
…a turkey shoot.
Massive losses, and a Jade Falcon tactic of simply moving troops in faster than enemy bombers could destroy them seemed to fail (for the first time). Most blamed Persian bombers best described as totally insatiable. The diagram below encapsulates the conflict. Text is provided in the diagram for those unable to follow the nuances.
The eventual plan of the Jade Falcons was the creation of Dogg Station, a city with a population entirely created by forced relocations from the newly-conquered Egyptian territories and surrounded, 24/7, 365 in 360 degrees of Jade Falcon bombers. From there, the Jade Falcon military could house troops, land bombers and--with a constant influx of civilians and engineers to keep the likewise constant, devastating Persian bombings from erasing Dogg Station from the map--plan a Jade Falcon assault composed of equal parts Timberwolf and pure win.
This strategy--Code-named Tim-pure-win, required a few things to work:
This strategy--Code-named Tim-pure-win, required a few things to work:
I) “A quest!” OR “The existence of this mythical ‘Cloud Falcon Command’”
The Jade Falcons had historically had a very, incredibly, unbelievably, amazingly, fantastically, fabulously, stunning immense ground force. In fact, so entrenched in ground-based warfare were the Jade Falcon generals that when ordered to create an air force, titled Cloud Falcon Command, that they disagreed at first whether their task was the create a force of Summoners carrying 22.5 tons of Improved Jump Jets, tape wings onto the back of a Viper, or to simply catapult mothballed Catapults into enemy lines. The ‘mechwarriors equipment lost in the development of a Jade Falcon navy, however, were far greater, far more tragic, and waaaaaaaaay funnier.
The Jade Falcons had historically had a very, incredibly, unbelievably, amazingly, fantastically, fabulously, stunning immense ground force. In fact, so entrenched in ground-based warfare were the Jade Falcon generals that when ordered to create an air force, titled Cloud Falcon Command, that they disagreed at first whether their task was the create a force of Summoners carrying 22.5 tons of Improved Jump Jets, tape wings onto the back of a Viper, or to simply catapult mothballed Catapults into enemy lines. The ‘mechwarriors equipment lost in the development of a Jade Falcon navy, however, were far greater, far more tragic, and waaaaaaaaay funnier.
II) “For the love of god, newbie, contain the Germans” OR “You’ll never be a good Khan if you can’t contain the Germans”
A new navy was built from the ashes of the old, (‘ashes’ composed of Turkinas sunk with their outboard motors and water-wing omnipods) and it managed to sink a German navy/air force combo that military analysts had hoped could be fought to a stalemate. The majority of battles were fought hit-and-run style by Jade Falcon vessels operating independently, striking and returning to port before German bombers could be launched in for close support. Fledgling air forces, captained by young, enthusiastic citizens of proud, Greek heritage flew interdiction over the newly cleared seas, pushing German bombers to either go around their lines and strike at a handful of cities on the extremities of Jade Falcon territories or to attack head-on and face annihilation.
As more, and more advanced, Jade Falcon bombers poured off of assembly lines, and the Greek citizens became more practiced and able pilots, the Greek Provinces came to isolate--with minimal help from other arms of the Jade Falcon government--the German island entirely. Jade Falcon commanders were stunned with disbelief at this; for some time, the older ranks of the high command had been reluctant to survey Hellas personally. It had been since the earliest days of their service a dangerous area where--outside of cities that bristled with AA rockets, missiles, and auto-cannons--one could easily be picked off by indiscriminate German bombers.
Only the younger, more intrepid members of The Generalship would visit to recognize the progress. They were the ones who first petitioned the Hall of Comrades to utilize one of two plans; the creation of the Athens Bomber Corps & Defense, a task force comprised of massive surpluses of Greek aeronautical production which would be diverted to Dogg Station in accordance with the station’s primary goal or the setup of military bases in the cities of Media, Omnideuce, and Doom Town, in preparation for a strategic force shift to the East that would see Jade Falcon forces crossing the Teutonic Sea in a bid to take Frankfurt, the Germans’ largest airbase and naval complex.
The former was chosen as being more consistent with the Tim-pure-win strategy.
III) “I’ll just buy a mega-army to finish of the Roman Republic…oh, wait, I left my wallet in Sudeten; could you spot me a few billion Kerenskies?”
Over the decades of the Roman Civil War, the Jade Falcons had gradually stepped up their support of the Roman People’s Movement. Initially, they sent advisors, sold a few surplus military units, and simply gave advanced technical schematics wholesale to the ‘rebels.’ Later, they had given some slight monetary support, but more often(on account of the expenses of running the Pride War against the Egyptians) lent out training units and garrison forces as mercenary forces. The Jade Falcons got money and more experienced units, and in return, the RPM received well-equipped forces at rock-bottom prices. Later, the Jade Falcons began sending aid packages to the Roman People’s Movement, first as aid, and a bit later than that, to build infrastructure, then later still to actually pay enlistment bonuses and military factory workers. In fact, many historians believe that the only reason the two sides never reached any sort of diplomatic accord was on account of the Jade Falcon support that constantly put the Roman People’s Movement in the stronger position.
The only catch to this support--however unofficial--was strategic consultation with Jade Falcon military personnel. In exchange for the monies to keep the factories going at full-tilt, the RPM leadership agreed to push for an end to the war(militarily, of course) sooner and then turn their troops to the south, across the Persian Bottleneck, in a dedicated assault on the Persians.
Over the decades of the Roman Civil War, the Jade Falcons had gradually stepped up their support of the Roman People’s Movement. Initially, they sent advisors, sold a few surplus military units, and simply gave advanced technical schematics wholesale to the ‘rebels.’ Later, they had given some slight monetary support, but more often(on account of the expenses of running the Pride War against the Egyptians) lent out training units and garrison forces as mercenary forces. The Jade Falcons got money and more experienced units, and in return, the RPM received well-equipped forces at rock-bottom prices. Later, the Jade Falcons began sending aid packages to the Roman People’s Movement, first as aid, and a bit later than that, to build infrastructure, then later still to actually pay enlistment bonuses and military factory workers. In fact, many historians believe that the only reason the two sides never reached any sort of diplomatic accord was on account of the Jade Falcon support that constantly put the Roman People’s Movement in the stronger position.
The only catch to this support--however unofficial--was strategic consultation with Jade Falcon military personnel. In exchange for the monies to keep the factories going at full-tilt, the RPM leadership agreed to push for an end to the war(militarily, of course) sooner and then turn their troops to the south, across the Persian Bottleneck, in a dedicated assault on the Persians.
There were two large points of contention with this plan. The first is that the RPM had to stop battling over the city of Pisae with the Persians. The Persians had taken it several years ago, and as the birthplace of ‘The Revolution,’ the RPM was fanatical about keeping it out of enemy hands. It took quite a bit of convincing by Jade Falcon envoys to keep the Romans from engaging in attacks that would sap military power and decimate the great city when the Persians inevitably counter-attacked.
The second point of major contention was when the Jade Falcons financially defaulted on account of their domestic economic infrastructure crumbling.
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