Metal for Blood
"Lövsk is an autonomous island of 300,000 inhabitants. Lövskians are fiercely independent and greatly value their ability to govern their own affairs. The waters outside Lövsk are renowned for their fishing and whaling, while the island itself is mostly agricultural-based."
- The Western Isles map dispatch, as of November 13th
The Petrichor emanating from the wet grass was evidence that it had rained shortly before Behl parked his car on the side of the road. Thinking about the time it would take to dry up his shoes after this, he carefully stepped on the grass and walked away from the car towards a stony bench overlooking a lovely pasture. He looked around to see if anyone else was there, only to see an empty road under gray skies, with a few small farmhouses sticking out here and there, and another car parked a few meters ahead.
"Your kind of weather, isn't it?" Behl said to the old man sitting on the bench. The man turned his head around a bit to see how close Behl stood behind him, revealing a slightly scarred face partially covered by a long, white beard. He lifted his hand and gestured Behl to come and sit next to him. "Yeah," the man replied, "I've been waiting for those storms all summer long."
Behl swiped his hand across the bench to make sure it's not too wet, and sat down, surprised to find a bottle of beer in the man's hand. Smiling under his beard, the man offered the remainder of the beer. "I know you prefer stout beer, but that's what they had in the gas station not too far from here," he explained. Behl nodded his head negatively and waited for the man to finish his drink.
"You weren't followed?" Behl asked. "I don't think so. I'm not as cunning as you are though, so I assume a person with your abilities could have followed me here without my-"
"Alright, I get it," Behl interrupted, "they aren't so cunning as well. Anyway, tell me what you need to tell me."
The bearded man took a deep breath and exhaled at length. "The Rooster leaves his office everyday around noon to attend important meetings in his home. For some reason he doesn't like having his most important guests in the office. He uses his regular driver and car for this ride to the house and from it, and the route ins't changed - always through the center of town. Sometimes he stops at the gas station close to the town square to smoke one, standing in an area visible from at least three rooftops around. He is never escorted by anyone else." He handed over an envelope to Behl. "All other details are in there."
Impressed, Behl slowly nodded in approval. He then uttered a "thank you" and got up to return to his car, throwing behind him a small leather bag on the bench. "Don't waste it all at once," he added. The man looked inside bag and a smile started spreading on his face.
Background
It's not that Lövsk lacked modernization - It's that its inhabitants weren't in a dire need for it. With such a low population density and a rich agricultural tradition, Lövskians were making a decent living for centuries; Only a few industrial-scale metal mines operated in the island.
During the economic crisis of the 1980's in Ostehaar, Oster citizens sought "refuge" in Lövsk - Everything on the island was a lot cheaper, and for a few years a sense of "gold rush" and of "endless opportunities" was present among those who moved there. Nature enthusiasts and "new age" hippies soon followed, and by the end of the 1980's one could meet more than a few Osters during a short walk on the streets of Lövsk's towns.
The 1990's electronics-boom in Ostehaar leaked all the way to the island, and by 1995 it was flooded with Oster electronics companies opening factories and exploiting the local Lövskians. The Oster government, wishing to take care of the economical interests of the nation and protecting Oster companies, covertly started operating in the island, using Unit 1088 and infiltrating deep into all ranks of Lövsk's government. Corrupt officials were common, and bribery and extortion were not out of the question. By the year 2000 most Oster companies in Lövsk enjoyed a royalty rate of nearly 0% and a similar tax rate, all the while practically stealing precious and rare metals from the Lövskians and paying their local employees less than enough.
Ten years later, around 2011, voices inside Lövsk began expressing their dissatisfaction from this "arrangement". In 2013 a large mob rallied against the Oster exploitation of Lövsk, calling the government to nationalize the mining industry and to kick the Oster companies out. In response to this, the Oster government deepened its intervention and sent more of its agents to the island - One of them was Behl Rand Khehli. Back in Ostehaar, high ranking officials in the Ministry of Defense began to openly speak of sending special forces or special agents to crack down on the rising opposition in Lövsk. They began to speak of assassinations, sabotage, and incitement - But so did the Lövsk opposition...
On the morning of August 31st 2015, workers of the semiconductor factory outside the Lövskian town of Rovka found out a giant graffiti inscription on the wall of the factory, reading "Metal for Blood!" By mid-November, similar inscriptions were spotted in many other areas of the island.
OOC
I'm using this thread to tell a story, which will initially involve my nation alone. Later others will participate (TWI nations only). Please don't post in this thread before TGing me so we could agree on your role. Also, please refrain from posting OOC questions and remarks in the thread (TGs can be used for this instead).
