Life After the Bombs: the Story of Pezlevko-RubinoThe post-war landscape of the former Red Star Union.
Purple: Pezlevko-Rubino; Blue: Kashubia; Orange: Western Ally presence; Red: Zvezda.Burtsov Valentinovich tells us that his Ilyich-97 has been in his family for one hundred years, passed down from father to eldest son through four generations. To the Kysetians there is only one god, Gerosha, the horse. But if they were to have a second one it most certainly would be the Ilyich. For them, their mount and their rifle is a way of life, and for decades they struggled to protect their identity under Communist rule. So Burtsov tells us, who one-by-one goes over the many 'battle scars,' as they call them, on his rifle. A genuine Ilyich, in these parts at least, is made out of a fine wood, and it is customary to engrave sections of the buttstock with intricate carvings representing martial achievements. Burtsov's has a recent scar, the one he earned for his service in the Battle of Vasily Eitsaya.
Burtsov, like so many other Kysetians, has used the recent regime change to his advantage. Considered highly adept warriors by Macabean military forces, the Golden Throne is often willing to pay good money for volunteers from amongst this semi-nomadic steppe culture. Organized into makanas, a term that since the 12th century has referred to Kysetian hunting parties, these mercenaries are coveted for their tracking skills and their knowledge of local geography. In a fragile post-war Kashubian political landscape, where Macabean forces are wary of operating in an official manner outside the satrapy's frontiers, Burtsov and others like him have found a lucrative, profitable niche.
As the dust, much of it radiated, settles over the former Red Star Union, supporting factions have largely been forced to fend for themselves after the Ordenite and Mokan withdrawals. Kashubia, which suffered from important territorial losses during the war, also faces legitimacy questions that it has found difficult to resolve. Its control over the area just west of Chernaya is dubious, and this must be compounded with the sheer tension between them and Zvezda there. The situation around Yukar is similar and one wonders how long peace can last between them. In Tuktar, Morridane troops have remained, although for what purpose and towards what end remains wholly unknown. But, their presence is a further affront to Kashubia, and whether the Zvezdans have asked them to remain is unknown. Finally, the relationship between Kashubia and Pezlevko-Rubino remains cordial, but also fraught with doubts.
The unanswered conundrum between Kashubia and Pezlevko-Rubino remains: is Pezlevko-Rubino truly an independent state? That question has not been decisively answered, although the Golden Throne certainly thinks it has. The three hundred thousand Ejermacht personnel who seized Pezlevko and Rubino during the war remain there to this day and the fleet has been replaced by Kríergrup 'Ixchel,' which has been renamed 'Kashubia. Pezlevko-Rubino has been given the status of satrapy, making their defense an imperial obligation, as is the annual tribute that they pay to Fedala. This implies de facto separation from Kashubia, yet recognition of this fact is ambiguous.
Peace exists between the two in large part thanks to common goals, and to a common investor. The Golden Throne has taken to not only fund satrapy's duma, but also the Kendrov regime. In fact, now with the Ordenites gone and fearing a total collapse, capital flowing into Kashubia has only grown since the end of the war.
Kashubia has also seen in good light the cross-border hunter-killer attacks perpetrated by the satrapy's Kysetian makanas. Promised only periodic supply drops and limited close air support, makanas of 100–200 men operate outside of satrapy frontiers for one to two weeks. Their mission: to track down and destroy enemy forces, bases, and civilian supporters.
The Kysetians have proven especially efficient in this regard and unconventional hunter-killer operations in Kashubia have increased substantially as a result. Strikes have focused mostly on the immediate area around Chernaya, although makanas have been reported in the Zvezdan-held steppes to the satrapy's immediate east. Communist insurgents, supported by Zvezdan People's Volunteer Army (ZPVA) — or so the Golden Throne and Kashubia accuse —, use these areas as safe havens to muster their strength and launch raids into satrapy territory. These insurgent forces have also overrun parts of the southwestern fringes of Kashubia, threatening to undermine the area's already tenuous stability. By finding, attacking, and eliminating them outside the borders of the satrapy, the Fuermak aims to take the conflict to the rebel's own turf and undermine their support among the local population.
Although the Fuermak keeps the exact nature of its sponsored attacks, and their number, classified, there have been reports of over two dozen confrontations between Kysetian soldiers and rebels beyond the satrapy's borders.
For Burtsov, these operations are an opportunity to make money, a lot of it. So much so that many Kysetians have begun to sell or abandon their flocks, preferring to join permanent makana formations that then sell their services to the Ejermacht. Contracts can be lucrative. Indeed, Burtsov claims to have been paid close to ten thousand ríokmark equivalent for his role in last month's attack on the largest militant camp discovered to date.
Even a tenth of that is a lot of money in a country with a GDP per capita of less than Ŗ3,500. But, the investment into the services of Burtsov and his people is paying off. Or, at least the early signs are mostly positive. With imperial troops present to provide security, and with the fighting driven as much as possible outside the borders of Pezlevko-Rubino, the newfound peace and stability has made attractive to prospect of local investment. Kysetians who have permanently transitioned to full-time privately contracted soldiers sometimes sell their lands to others within their cultural circle and less often to Macabean soldiers looking to settle there, but they also often sell to foreign multinationals looking to scale their agricultural production. Other foreign capitalists build factories, a lucrative business endeavor in a country with an infrastructure that has been bruised and battered, or worse, from years of war and brutal occupation.
While the Macabean naval base has been present in the area for some years, it's only been in the post-war that Pezlevko and the other nearby towns have truly benefited from it. Now the base, which has grown to better accommodate a larger garrison, employs over ten thousand civilians. Smaller bases and garrisons spread throughout the small satrapy have also played their role in providing jobs to local communities. But, the most significant direct investment the Golden Throne has committed to thus far is the extension of the Pezlevko Kríerstaton, with the intention of most of the new harbor space being constructed to be used as an adjacent civilian port.
Currently, a portion of the military harbor has been opened to civilian cargoships. War in Kashubia has disrupted hundreds of billions of ríokmarks worth of trade income. This is compounded by the destruction of Dathel Port, which while in the midst of reconstruction, Kashubian efforts to do so are hindered considerably, if only, by the fact that the war, in general, has crippled their treasury. Aid from the Golden Throne is sufficient to maintain a standing army and to provide basic services to at least the majority of the country, but there are still many key areas of Kashubia's infrastructure that are sadly neglected. This is a vacuum that the Golden Throne, which invested in the acquisition of Indran ports to the south, has quickly moved to fill.
Connecting with the fishing town of Belorensk, the port — which will take after the town — is being built with the expectations of eventually controlling around 60,000 TEUs. While volume is nowhere near that level these days, it will be expected to facilitate an increasing amount of trade between the Satrapy of New Empire and the Territory of Indras, as well as with Stevid in the west and Lyras, Greal, and the other neighboring economies in the near east.
For almost a year now, a small section of the adjacent kríerstaton has taken civilian cargoship traffic to fill the vital role of taking on humanitarian aid, at least at the very beginning. The aid still rolls in, but more and more other merchants are shipping their wares to the island and a growing percentage of this traffic is flowing through the port. This has presented some problems for the stationed kríergrup stationed at the base, since the growing flow reduces the amount of space available for large-scale maneuvers if the fleets needed to deploy rapidly. Not that the risk has worked to narrow the valve, for the harbor expansion simply builds on the existing infrastructure. It will be the fleet group that moves, to new installations that are being built eighty-nine kilometers to the west.
But, the effects of the expansion ripple well beyond simply trade. It also employs thousands of people, and these people have settled in new, small towns scattered around the harbor's perimeter where laborers can house their families. Not all inhabitants work on the base. Some run barbershops, grocery stores, and other necessities like automotive repair and small-scale metalworks.
It is a thriving, and burgeoning community that is looking like it will coalesce into a larger city.
This newfound wealth has been moving north, towards the city of Pezlevko and surrounding large towns. In Pezlevko, foreign banks — especially Macabean financial firms —have already flooded the local market with cheap credit and capital, taking advantage of their financial power to enter what is essentially a brand new market.
For all the early hub bub, these services still remain relatively primitive compared to what can be accessed by a provincial Macabean or even by most territorials, but it is nevertheless a dramatic and far cry from the poor, destitute, and financially barren landscape of pre-war Kashubia. These banks have expanded to the new towns cropping up around the growing harbor, and this financial network is helping to distribute, and promote, the flow of wealth wealth of the coastal areas immediately around the port with, and to, the rest of the country.
Of course, much of the newfound economic growth has come with the expansion of basic infrastructure, like paved roads and highways, as well as railroad track. Pezlevko's international airport is also seeing an expansion funded by the Golden Throne, and it is no surprise that one of its criteria for completion is the ability to accept GATA-grade orbital trade flights. This alone will more directly connect the satrapy with markets in far eastern Greater Díenstad and even as far as Gholgoth. All of this infrastructural investment not only benefits those who manufacture, trade, and support these industries, but also those who now have road access, electricity, and running water. In many ways, this has been the most noticeable effect of the imperial presence in a world where wealth is, and will always remain, concentrated and only slowly trickles down to those who need it the most.
What's curious about it all is that the Golden Throne has accepted a more proactive role in Pezlevko-Rubino than it has taken elsewhere. The imperial government has, since the rise of Fedor I, always advocated for as private an approach to economic development as possible. This has saved the empire trillions of ríokmarks in costs, allowing it to better juggle the financial burden of their perpetual military oprations, but it has arguably slowed economic development in the territories — territories that have been infested with insurgencies and other forms of political dissent.
To compromise with its laissez-faire philosophy, which is more-or-less enforced by the financial drain of its wars, the imperial government has a plan to leverage its infrastructural investments and get most of the capital it will invest in the satrapy's reconstruction, if not more. The plan: privatize through competitive auctions.
Wharfs and pier blocks all hold value because of the services that are provided through them. These will be sectioned into 'plots,' much like plots of land, and sold to the highest bidder through a digital auction that will be open to worldwide bids from private companies. Plots will be sold in tiers, with the full intention of leveraging market capitalization as the value of trade to the Belorensk poor grows. Sale of the airport will follow a similar pattern, with sections sold off to different bidders. Why this approach? First, the competitive approach minimizes the opportunity for the formation of monopolistic markets, which usually a feature of government sell-offs. Second, by selling individually and wholesale, the imperial government can earn a higher fraction of its original investment back, something which it intends to do since it is facing an astronomical debt as a result of wars in Gholgoth, Holy Panooly, and the ongoing insurgencies.
Through this approach, the empire has found a solution to the chronic lack of infrastructure in the satrapy, while minimizing losses by treating the construction as a genuine investment.
For many Kashubians, the investments — by whoever they are made — are welcomed with open arms. They come with a cornucopia of economic opportunities which have already begun to be felt by the local populace, creating an environment of growth and general optimism. All the same, not all have enjoyed the spoils equally.
The small village of Pyatim nestled against the Yaronskoy Mountains, just southwest of Rubino. Apart from the end of the warring and associated violence, most of the newborn satrapy has changed little under the new regime.
Kholodov Tikhonovich has tilled the same soil as his father and his grandfather before him. His land has been in the family for over eighty years, growing the same crops and selling to the same markets. "It is a good life," says Kholodov, as we ride on his horse-drawn wood-plank-constructed trailer that looks like it has seen better days. "A poor life, but a good life."
"They speak of helping us, of bringing money and work to the country, but they have been saying the same thing since before I was born. All we've ever gotten from the government are wars, death, and taxes," he continued, looking toward the blood-red horizon. "They say they provide security for us and they repeat the same lie in Pezlevko, but those of who live out here know the truth. The war destroyed our lands and our produce, and now as we re-plant militants come from Chernaya and Ivanovka and demand that we pay them to leave us alone! Where is this government? Where are these troops protecting us? We don't see them. Same as always."
The number of cross-border attacks have steadily gone down as the Ejermacht better fortifies the frontiers and as the fighting is taken over the border, into the neighboring regions. Still, many raids still get through. Last month, Pyatim — the village where Kholodov lives — was attacked by a group of thirty soldiers. After an unsuccessful attempt at extortion, they burned his barley fields.
It may be safer these days if seen from the statistics, but all it takes is one successful attack for a small land owner's livelihood to be absolutely ravished.
Not only does the northern margins of Pezlevko-Rubino suffer the most from the intermittent raiding, it also benefits the least from the infrastructural development. While more banks flock to Pezlevko, few venture to Rubino beyond the opening at small commercial branches to cater to a small pool of upper middle class and elite residents. Beyond banking, very little trade flows through the city and the neighboring towns. Local farmers, like Kholodov, do not produce very much, not with their largely antiquated equipment, and they have very little to sell internationally, let alone buy. Most of the little they produce is sold within the local community, and the little they buy from the outside world is bought from warehouses in Pezlevko. Before the war, Rubino was far better connected to Chernaya and Ivanovka, and even Dathel Port. But little commerce passes between these cities now, with militants plaguing the countryside and their sponsors gone.
Pezlevko has always been the 'big city,' but it has assumed this role at an accelerating pace during the last year. And as things in the south pick up, many from the north are contemplating moving. Some already have. They seek jobs in construction, at the port, or in the factories. It's grueling work, but so is agriculture in these parts, where tractors are a novelty and most still travel by horse or mule.
Not Kholodov, though. "I am a farmer, my son is a farmer, and his son will be a farmer," he says.
But many are making the migration south, and not because of the jobs. No, wealthy private parties are beginning to offer large sums of money for vast swaths of agriculture land. They come with the capital to afford mechanization and economies of scale, allowing them to grow larger yields with less effort. This will revolutionize the area's agriculture, and may even create jobs, but they won't be the same kind that men like Kholodov enjoy today. No, they'll be farm hands, menial labor that comes with a wage. Some smaller farmers will always survive, and they too will eventually mechanize, but it will be the corporate farmers who dominate the landscape soon. If not them, it will be the factories and processing plants who overturn the old world with the new. We know because this has largely been the story elsewhere, including the Havenic territories and Zarbia.
Modernization will always come with growing pains, much in the same way as technological revolution is changing the nature of employment in the provinces and fully developed territories. But it may be particularly harsh for those who live around Rubino, as it is always the poorest who suffer the most.
The road for the satrapy looks promising, but the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter for some than it is for others. What cannot be doubted, however, is that, for most, Pezlevko-Rubino represents their best chance towards a better life in a land that is stumbling and grasping for hope after devastating regimes, wars, and occupation. While all is not perfect, and even the new duma suffers from corruption and inefficiency, the heavy investments by an imperial government seeking to revive trade — where it too derives wealth, even if indirectly — are certainly promising.
To Burtsov Valentinovich, these are great times indeed. More money means more at stake, which only magnifies the need to push the communist rebels fully out, and that means more contracts for Burtsov and other Kysetians. The thought of that certainly makes him smile.