IC
Discord
Franchise Main Theme: "Theme of Valkyria Chronicles"|RP Theme: "The Minstrel Boy" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros|Opening Theme: "Raise Your Flag" by Man with a Mission|Closing Theme: "Hymne des Fraternisés" by Philippe Rombi
"The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory."
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower, D-Day Speech (1945)
The Second World War has produced perhaps more stories in fiction and fact than any war before or since, with no single war coming even close. Eighty million men fell into the bloodiest meat grinder in history, the last great war of industrialized killing, and many millions of soldiers and civilians walked out - in an age of radio and film, with the television age nipping at its heels, of course there would be countless stories about it. It was a turning point in history, or perhaps the third act of a massive turning point that was sounded by the guns of August - if World War One didn't end European dominion over worldly affairs, World War Two set it in stone that no longer could a single continent shape the course of history. It was truly a war to end any possibility of war like it again - one with twists and turns the likes of which Hollywood could not hope to match, so it settled for copying in perpetuity. And naturally, a story with so many twists and turns would inspire hundreds of "what-if" stories - What if Rommel succeeded in breaking the backs of the Immobile Farce? What if America had joined in earlier? What if Imperial China survived up until the Japanese invasion? And other, more fantastical ones - what if Germany truly had the Wunder Waffens it claimed to? What if men fought in walking-machines instead of tanks? What if super soldiers like Captain America truly did exist?
We travel now to one of the more exotic types of these what-if scenarios: the alternate reality. Whereas an alternate timeline merely changes a few events here and there, alternate reality changes everything from history to physical geography, but typically keeps the more basic themes of the event. The alternate reality we travel to for this RP is that of Valkyria Chronicles - a low fantasy strategy game series from Japan that, instead of focusing on the future or the middle ages, focuses on World War Two - or its world's version of it. The Second Europan War, starting circa February of 1935 CE over a material known as 'ragnite' which powered cities, fueled vehicles, served as an industrial and military explosive, and in the form of ragnaid was a crucial part of medical work. The great world powers of the world - the alliances known as the Atlantic Federation on one side, and the East Europan Imperial Alliance on the other, clash on the continent of Europa and on colonies throughout the world, with everyone caught in between - especially the oppressed Darcsen minorities, which the Imperials seem hellbent on exterminating - suffer for it.
A terminated ceasefire, and new technology - primitive aeroplanes, ragnite implosion engines, and Artificial Valkyria - men and women in suits of ragnite-powered armor that give them the power of the ancient (and seemingly extinct) Valkyria race that some worship as gods - tear open a new and bloody chapter to the war. In the east, the Oda Shogunate, a long ally of the Imperial Alliance, has formally joined the war on the Imperial side. After proceeding to rampage across the east coast of the Scythian continent, taking out first Federation colonies and then invading the Great Tsung, they made the mistake of inviting the wrath of the sole Federation-allied Great Power, up to then, a neutral state - the United States of Vinland.
That is where you all come in. But not as regular soldiers of the USVA, no - Valkyria Chronicles is ultimately about those units either destined for greatness or with greatness already expected of it. You are members of the Vinland Volunteer Army, Vinland's equivalent of our world's French Foreign Legion, where soldiers of any nation - even those Vinland is at war with, though they pass through greater scrutiny - may join. Even if all the officers and many NCOs are still from Vinland, largely due to the simple distance and cost of even getting there. Specifically, you're members of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Division, 5th Regiment, Company L - 'Loon' on paper, 'Lunatics' in words. A largely fresh-made company formed out of a mix of new recruits and older Volunteers from higher-lettered companies smashed against the Imps in the deserts of western Edinburghish Khumat. After coming within a few miles of the colonial capital of Jedsut, your unit (possibly you as well) pushed the Imps back into the dry Sektham Depression. You're here to push them back into their colony - or better yet, take the colony too.
The IA, formerly the EEIA, used a unified military for most of EWII, at least in
Europan and Cartegan theaters.
When it came to light that a Federation ambassador had pulled strings to orchestrate the war in order to mold Gallia into a nation more accepting of Federation control, even his arrest (and execution) could not prevent the Empire from pointing fingers. Pointed fingers progressed to saber rattling, and after it was revealed that the ambassador had plans to have the new Gallian government secretly attack the Empire using the Artificial Valkyria armored suit systems developed there, the war started once again, this time in earnest, with both sides fielding Artificial Valkyria against the hardest targets. Meanwhile, the Imperials proved their hypocrisy by using a combination of agitprop and assassinations to gain control of every nation around the Bay of Zwolle - a crucial step to further ensure the security of Masceva's sole deep water port in Europa that remained ice-free year round - including Zwolle itself, transformed into a fascist puppet state and member of the Imperial Alliance.
To the south, the Hattusans push into the Federation colonies of the Middle East, and threaten to squeeze into the colonies of northern Cartega, already threatened from the west by the EEIA's own colonies. Such a move would sever the eastern supply chain in Cartega, and allow the Imperials to focus their attention on the Federation-member Empire of Mande - and that would cost the Federation all of North Africa, and without access to their ports, the rest of the continent would soon fall into Imperial hands.
To the south-west and the east, the Non Aggression Pact - a union of nations on the continents of South Columbia and Scythia dedicated to staying out of war unless one is attacked, is falling apart. Gallia, a founding and the sole Europan member, left in the middle of May 1938 to fight alongside (but not officially with) the Atlantic Federation, citing excessive threats by the Imperials to its shipping routes. Increasing pressure from the Federation and Imperials is starting to convince politicians in the NAP to either support economically or even martially one side or the other - off the books, of course. Of the two continents, Scythia is arguably under the larger threat.
The Shogunate's armies in the mountains
of the Tai Republic.
But the Shogunate made one fatal mistake in the autumn of that year. In the early morn of September 7th, 1938, they attacked Ford Harbor in the Vinland state of Honolulu, destroying half the USVN's battleships, plus two airships and a experimental warship designed to carry heavier-than-air craft several times faster than the fastest airship. The same day, they attacked the port of Tayuman in the territory of Luzon. Three landings and two months later they had conquered the entire territory, and set their sights eastward and southward, towards the Irian Peninsula and the Vinland Ladrones further out in the Drakean. President Delano, within the very day of the initial attack, had sworn that they would gain the inevitable triumph of all free people over the tyranny of the Shogun and the Emperor - and at once gained his declaration of war against both the Shogunate and the Imperials.
Vinland was at war, and unlike the rest of the Federation, said one general to the New Randgriz Times, she would not rest for a mere ceasefire. In the Drakean, the Vinland Marines mobilized to defend the Melanesian islands and the Army to Edinburghish Barma, or at least stem the tide of the Shogunate until a proper counter-attack could be made to turn the tide of war in those regions of the world. In Northwest Cartega, the Army would land first in Mande and then twice in Zwollen Mauretania to lessen the pressure on Edinburghish Kemet - and hopefully help free all of north Cartega from the Empire. Here is where the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Division, 5th Regiment, a foreign legion of mechanized infantry in the Vinlandish style, shall have its first taste of war since the turn of the century.
Here, in the chapparal of eastern Mande, is where your journey begins.
R A G N I T E _ M A K E S _ T H E _ W O R L D _ G O _ R O U N D
"Petroleum is a more likely cause of international conflict than wheat."
- Simone Weil, The Power of Words (1937)
- Simone Weil, The Power of Words (1937)
Ragnite ore glows a pale blue when
exposed to light.
Solid ragnite produces no smell, and almost no waste - the ash of burning one pound of purified ragnite can be stored in a shot glass and is non-toxic, if not as useful as wood ash. When electrified and purified into the form of ragnaid, can rapidly accelerate the wound healing process and disinfect, with all but the largest wounds closing in seconds from the radiation of a few ounces of it - so long as the more dangerous things ragnaid emits is blocked by suitable radiation-proof glass, of course. Such a form is known as ragnoline. Powdered ragnite, preferably mixed with a stabilizer or packed tightly into cakes, is an explosive nearly as strong as nitroglycerin, yet both stabler and less toxic. On the other hand, thioragnite compounds, known as ragnides, are powerful nerve agents - most of which are banned by a variety of treaties, and even the Empire will not resort to using them. But perhaps most important of all forms would be liquid ragnite, known as ragnoline.
The first four-cycle ragnoline engine came about in roughly 1863 and was invented in Gallia. Around the world, the Mascevan Empire was undergoing a series of governmental forms and forging alliances that would become the Imperial Alliance, Vinland was in the final two years of its civil war, and Edinburgh was a decade or so from starting a race with the rest of Europa to colonize nearly every square inch of Cartega. But it was a certain Lutetian by the name of Karolus Deppel who had the idea of putting it on a carriage and seeing if he could get it to move on its own, on June the 3rd of 1886. The rest was history - motorized land vehicles that didn't need rails would change transportation forever. Enormously powerful and enormously efficient, ragnoline engines needed no exhaust pipes - just a pan for the ash, and radiators to let out the tremendous heat that burning ragnoline produced - heat enough to make the radiators, consisting of a ragnite/iron alloy, glow a bright blue. In military terms, it is the greatest flaw of ragnite power, as destroying the radiator will completely disable or even destroy the engine.
Twenty-two years later, almost to the day, the Edinburgh military would build a box of armor, put an engine in it, and treads around it, and the tank was born. And it was impeccable timing - by the turn of the twentieth century, Europa was running low on its own supplies of ragnite, and as the first Europan War showed, it was more than willing to tear itself to shreds to get more. The tiny nation of Gallia - politically neutral and possessing of only four colonies, even if two of which had proven quite profitable, had at the time a little over half the remaining ragnite ore supplly in Europa proper. Now they have a little over half, and even after fighting off the Empire twice, the Empire's greed has led them to invade a third time. This time, however, the Gallian military is backed up in earnest by the Federation (out of necessity), and after a bit of weeding within the upper echelons, has proven more than ready.
T H E _ D A R C S E N ' S _ P L I G H T
"Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers."
- Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966)
- Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966)
Darcsen civilians. Note the traditional clothing pattern.
Two histories exist for the sorry state of the Darcsen, both revolving around an event known as the Darcsen Calamity. The more commonly accepted in the popular field of historical circles, and by far the most well known, is that the ancient Darcsens went on a rampage across Europa, killing an estimated million humans across the continent and causing untold ecological and economic damage to wild and domesticated beast alike before they were defeated by the godlike Valkyrur, a race of warriors from north of Europa who used Ragnite weaponry beyond even modern technology and abilities best described as magic to put an end to the Darcsen threat. A far less common theory, supported both by the Darcsens themselves and a number of ruins in the Barious Desert in southeastern Gallia, is that the opposite is true - the Valkyrur were raiders who waged war against the Darcsen and other inhabitants of Europa, a war they largely won, causing the very damage they blamed on the Darcsens.It's the latter theory that is the truth, though few outside of the archeological community know it as an absolute fact, and not many more outside of it consider it any more than Darcsen myth.
Not helping matters is religion - the faith of Yggdism, the largest in Europa and the largest by far of several religions that worships the Valkyrur as gods, may be ambivalent on the issue now but as recently as fifty years ago the bishops were quite adamant that the Darcsens were at fault. Non-practitioners find it quite curious that other Europan religions, such as Mos Maiorum, Asatru, and Christianity make no mention at all of who was at fault, and all three are at the least a few centuries older than Yggdism.
Regardless of which is the truth, the result was the same - Darcsens were stripped of their surnames across Europa (and ultimately the world) and driven from their former jobs and property, chased by prejudice wherever they went. Notably in the Mascevan Empire they have been subject to pogroms for the past several decades, as anti-Darcsen sentiment in its allies have been on the rise for at least that long, to the point that there are reports that the Imperials maintain concentration camps for captured Darcsens and prisoners of war alike. Outside of the confirmed camps that existed in the Gallian mining city of Fouzen in 1935 however, these rumors are dismissed as anything from 'hearsay' to the exaggerated claims of the Federation's propaganda machines by those looking to have the Federation commit men to 'strategically irrelevant' areas.
Some of the few jobs Darcsens have been allowed into are engineering, factory work, and mining. In recent years this has led to new stereotypes, as the oily chemicals used in ragnite mining give off a strong pungent smell that sticks aggressively to clothing. Many who work with them would describe their Darcsen colleagues variously as "doomy", "gloomy", "meek" or "not team-minded". While some of it may hold true because of their passive nature ("Darcsen's don't retaliate," after all), the engineering field has proven very good for the both the globe's image of Darcsens and their own self-image. Many veritable geniuses have been Darcsen, in recent years the most notable are perhaps the Gallian Darcsen Theimer, who revolutionized warfare with the development of turreted tanks, sloped armor, and the first assault rifle, and his daughter Isara (who was adopted by close friend Belgen Gunther), who is credited within Gallia for inventing the airplane, though most outside of Gallia credit Leon Schmidt as he was the one to build it after her death.
V A L K Y R U R , _ A R T I F I C I A L _ A N D _ R E A L
"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."
- Nikola Tesla (allegedly) (1898)
- Nikola Tesla (allegedly) (1898)
Artificial Valkyria fielded by the Gallian Revolutionary Army
in that nation's civil war, 1937
While the Valkyrur are dead and gone, their ruins and weapons are very much here with us, and it is through these devices we have learned much about them. Enough, in fact, to mimic their abilities. The Artificial Valkyria System (AVS) is a comparatively recent invention - only having been made usable since the end of 1935 near the very end of the Mascevan Empire's invasion of Gallia, and only usable on a wide scale by the end of the Gallian Civil War. Both the concept and technology were developed by one Dr. Clementia Förster throughout the early 1930s in Thule, Masceva, and finally perfected in Gallia during their Civil War. How she managed this is tightly guarded by all three governments, but the results have been used by both Gallia and the major powers in the Second Europan War.
In basic terms, an AVS consists of two parts - the Artificial Valkyria itself (or selves), and a wireless power generator to supply them with more power via antennae on the back of the AV suit, as current technology is not to the point where an AV can operate at full strength without an external energy supply. The AV has prostheses specifically designed for the purpose grafted on them, to ease the strain on the body for being a conduit for massive amounts of ragnite-derived power, which is often still not enough for most humans, and many die in the conversion process or testing. When their powers are active, an AV exhibits the same signs as an active valkyrur - a cyan glow around their body and red eyes, plus bulging veins - believed to be a side effect of the AV process. More recent advances in miniaturization have given Artificial Valkyria a much more limited, though still formidable, range of attack and defense via backpack generators if their primary power source is disrupted or destroyed. The equipment borne by an AV consists of items that mimic the lance-and-shield combo of the ancient Valkyrur. On the right arm is an attached or hand-held particle cannon, and on the left a shield capable of projecting an energy field that can effectively block rounds from conventional firearms, though mortar, anti-tank, artillery, and firearms above 30mm in caliber can still damage them.
As the process to create an AV is dangerous, expensive, and dangerous, they are only used in limited numbers and only against targets regular formations cannot handle alone. The nature of their invention is a well-kept secret by the Gallian military, though the methods of creating them is much less so, as first the Federation then the Empire began fielding them by late 1938, with the Shogunate and Vinland catching up in 1939. The location off their inventor is likewise unknown - Dr. Förster seems to have vanished in the breeze well before the end of the Gallian Civil War, with reports of her existence and experiments all across the steppes of the central IA, and the frigid forests to the west.
There are reports, though most are less than rumors, that the Mascevans and even Vinland have been researching an alternative means of gaining the power of the Valkyrur - genetic experiments on women with the blood of the Valkyrur in their veins, their powers triggered by extreme emotional or physical trauma and set loose on the war in secret. In the Empire as supersoldiers, and in Vinland as living weapons. Such things are mere hearsay, but it is hard to prove one way or another - after all, if the legends are true, there are few who could survive the wrath of a real Valkyrur to say one way or another. They're true. But none here have the clearance to know that.
T H E _ V I N L A N D _ V O L U N T E E R S
"No man has to bow. No man born to royalty. Here, we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was."
- Jeff Daniels as Joshua Chamberlain, Gettysburg (1993)
- Jeff Daniels as Joshua Chamberlain, Gettysburg (1993)
M4 "Minuteman" tanks of the Vinland Army in northeastern Mande, 1939
The Vinland Volunteer Army (though it is by strength a corps), as Vinland's equivalent is called, was formed during the early days of the Vinland Civil War. After a speech in the capital city, President Lincoln was approached by a group of soldiers from Wesel, Gallia, Pictland, and Zwolle, all of whom wished to fight "for this most noble of causes," as the leader of their group said. Touched by their offer, he said he would "see what he could do" for them, and authorized the formation of first a regiment, then a whole division, of "volunteers of All Nations" willing to fight for the cause that men might be free. The Vinland Volunteers were formed, and apart from a four-year period after the Civil War when they were disbanded, they have been in continuous existence ever since. They have likewise served in every campaign since their founding, except the Indian Wars - as it was felt, due to the large number of Native Vinlanders at the time, that the Volunteers would suffer unacceptable levels of desertion. Since 1885 however, Volunteers have had the right to refuse to serve against their fatherland or people, should such a situation arise.
From the date of its foundation to the present day, the overall structure and makeup of the Vinland Volunteers has remained stable. It is the only part of the Vinland military (apart from a handful of segregated units) in which officers may be of any color or even Darcsen, as all that is required to become an officer in the Volunteers is to prove that one was born in or is a civilian of Vinland. Foreign members can also become officers and citizens par le sang versé, that is, any injury that would in a normal unit grant a Purple Heart would also be given the opportunity to become citizens barring all of the normal process except the civics and history tests, and are thus immediately eligible for the officer's courses. As of May 1939, roughly 25% of Volunteers are themselves from Vinland (excluding officers), the remainder come from nearly every country or colony on Earth.
Over the years of its existence, the Volunteers have gathered some odd quirks. They are the only unit in the Vinland Army to still use the sunken-topped kepi that was common in the Vinland Civil War, if not where helmets are used. It was the last unit in the Vinland Army to have horse cavalry in a combat role, retiring its last horses to the training roles in 1937, only bringing them out for parades. And speaking of parades, it is the only corps in the Vinland Army to not have a parade/display team, instead the entire corps is expected (and trained) to perform parades, tattoos, and drills itself - which it is expected to excel in, after all, if you can't twirl a ten pound rifle like a ten-ounce baton for hours in the hot sun, how can you be expected to use it to kill Imps, right? Right.
R U L E S
- I am OP, Commander-in-Chief, all who defy my will shall be court-martialed, or worse, subject to NJPs.
- My Co-OPs, should I choose to nominate any, shall be my generals. They can accept apps and their Power is to be Respected.
- PG-13 is the hard limit. I know, it's a war, and there will likely be they typical horrors of war, but I don't want the mods on me any more than you do.
- Bad and naughty behavior in the OOC will be punished as I see fit.
- Try to stay active in the OOC as well as the IC, and TG me if you won't be able to post for a while. While you are certainly replaceable as characters, I'd like to avoid killing off PCs as much as I can.
- You're free to make requests and ask for more info on the setting. I will answer to the best of my ability. Worldbuilding contributions are always welcome.
- Godmodding will not be tolerated.
- This RP operates on a three-strike system. Third strike and you're kicked.
- There's no hard limit on post length, but try to avoid one-liners if at all possible.
- Have fun. And as always, stay frosty.
A P P L I C A T I O N S
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[floatright][size=200][background=black][color=#FFBF00](SURNAME, INITIALS)[/color][/background][/size][/floatright]
[floatleft][box](Image go here, optional, you can also use Appearance below instead if you want, recommend a pic less than 500 pixels wide or tall)[/box][/floatleft][blocktext][b]+++Name:[/b] (Include nicknames and titles)
[b]+++Age:[/b]
[b]+++Sex/Gender:[/b] (Biological and psychological, respectively - surprisingly SRS exists in this era in the VC universe)
[b]+++Sexual Orientation:[/b] (You know good and well the USVA doesn't care, they just need it for census data, surprisingly not being straight is [barely] tolerated in parts of Europa too, not too sure about Vinland tho)
[b]+++Physical appearance:[/b] (Mostly optional if you have a picture, but put in height and weight regardless)
[b]+++Identifying Marks:[/b] (Mostly optional if you have a picture, but describe anything hidden in the image, like tattoos)
[b]+++Rank:[/b] (Use the rank structure of the US Army during World War II, co-OPs have priority)
[b]+++Nationality:[/b] (Remember, only Vinlanders can be officers!)
[b]+++Ethnicity:[/b] (Remember, as long as you're from Vinland you can still be an officer!)
[b]+++Religion:[/b] (Freedom of religion, so this is just for the census' sake.)
[b]+++Birthplace:[/b] (Where you were born, duh, feel free to make cities and towns up.)
[b]+++Permanent Residence:[/b] (Optional, you can make the location up here too, or use other people's locations)
[b]+++Criminal History:[/b] (Optional, if any, the VVA don't care too much.)
[b]+++Skills:[/b] (Don't go overboard)
[b]+++Psychological analysis:[/b] (Personality)
[b]+++Weaknesses:[/b] (Mary Sues to be blam'd on sight)
[b]+++Likes/dislikes:[/b]
[b]+++Interests:[/b] (Optional)
[b]+++Fears:[/b]
[b]+++Equipment:[/b]
[b]+++Biography:[/b]
[b]+++RP Sample:[/b] (Members of World on Fire: Shadow Ops or The Vast and Empty Sky do not need to provide this)
[b]+++Why You Fight:[/b]
[b]+++Theme Song:[/b] (optional)
[color=#00BF00][b]#ItWillBeDone[/b][/color] (DO NOT REMOVE)[/blocktext]
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[b][u]Location Idea App[/u][/b]
[b]+++Location Name:[/b]
[b]+++Location Population:[/b] (if applicable)
[b]+++Country/Colony of location:[/b]
[b]+++Climate of location:[/b]
[b]+++Culture of location:[/b]
[color=#FF8000][b]#NiceThisTimeOfYear[/b][/color] (DO NOT REMOVE)
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[b][u]Mission Idea Title:[/u][/b]
[b]+++What allies would be involved, if any?:[/b]
[b]+++What enemies are involved, if any?:[/b]
[b]+++Location:[/b]
[b]+++Terrain:[/b]
[b]+++What is the objective, if any?:[/b]
[b]+++What is the enemy’s objective, if any?:[/b]
[b]+++Quick Summary(paragraph please):[/b]
[color=#0000BF]#Just1stCavThings[/color] (DO NOT REMOVE)
