Spoils of Victory

Chapter 1 - Triumphs of a Little Girl

Author's Note: This is effectively a remake of the previous prologue in the form of an actual chapter. I intend to use this to make things generally better than the mess they were.

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War, in all sense of its very concept, is inefficient, impractical, and overall a clear waste of everything humanity has. However, despite how futile or useless it seems, there is no avoiding it. In my old life, the nations of the world came close to it, however even where there is the facade of peace, there is still conflict underneath. In my world it took the most bloody and catastrophic war in history, the threat of the annihilation of humanity, and nearly a century of constant pressure from two global superpowers who would like nothing better than to destroy each other to eventually bring about the closest thing humanity has ever seen to peace.

Even that though, was a facade. So long as differences exist in humanity, there will always be the fuse needed to spark conflict, and given enough time, humanity, with no other sparks to light, will light that next one regardless of how small it is. The only way to remove conflict would be to cause humanity to all lose its individuality, to become each the same or to at the very least somehow look past all differences. Such though, is impossible without losing the fundamental principles of freedom, liberty, and individuality that humanity strives not only to maintain, but that they need to thrive in a successful civilization.

And so, war comes. And what we know as true peace acts as little more than temporary breaks in the neverending wars of humanity. The Empire is no exception. The history of this world is at a turning point, where conflicts shift to ones solved through direct confrontation and bloody wars to politics and subversive measures. Fighting wars on foreign soil to expand the influence of nations in the event of a war that will not only likely never come, or will mean the end of humanity if it does.

However that era does not begin so easily, it begins with a spark, a bang, and if my old world was anything to go off of, that explosion will not only come big, but it will come soon. The Empire is on a clock towards its final showdown. War is not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

The writing is on the blood stained walls of Europe, and most competent officers, at least I believe, realize that. None wish to admit it, however. The Great "War to End All Wars" was merely a conflict which laid the foundations of an even greater war to truly do what they thought the last would.

This war will be larger than all others we have faced in the past, and from the very signing of the peace deal, no, before even that, it was clear to tell where the lines would be drawn.

The Francois are angry, they're upset, they're furious. In truth, it's a clear reflection of pre-Nazi Germany. A people punished greatly and their nation crippled and limited. Their democracy is unstable, riddled with corruption, and their economy is on the verge of collapse. The only thing keeping its feeble democracy from falling apart is the division between its radicals, with the Left and the Right constantly at each other's throats, allowing the Democratic government to persist until one faction eventually comes out on top.

However, the Francois will not side with Albion. Their relations have been shattered after Albion signed a peace with the Empire following the fall of their Northeastern holdings on the Southern Continent and the Rocket-Bombing campaign launched in the final weeks of the war. This peace isolated the Francois who were still fighting a desperate resistance both at home and abroad in the colonies. However with them at risk of colonial revolt and being left with no allies willing to continue the fight, they reluctantly allowed for a peace, though it left them with spoiled relations with Albion.