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[NUKE9.13]

An alternative option occurred to me, if people are interested. Whilst Madman's suggestion above is... literally the exact same thing as the original Water-driven Wellwood Drum revision, there is something we can do in the field of improved agriculture:

Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer
Crop rotation was discovered in the Embral Empire relatively early on. Perforce, given that the use of Wellwood Drums would otherwise deplete farmland at an unsustainable rate. Basic fertilization was also practised, using manure and bonemeal to revitalise the soil. And, of course, irrigation was widespread- organised by the government, which maintained the channels and reservoirs, and rationed water carefully to protect against drought.
When the Enlightenment-bearing foreigners came, they brought with them- amongst other things- more agricultural knowledge. Seed-drills, scientific breeding, improved fertilizers, and more. Where other aspects of foreign technology were adapted more slowly, the fiercely competitive farmers of the Empire seized on these new innovations. Even as the Empire collapsed around them, they honed the foreign techniques, combining them with domestic customs, and increased farm productivity relentlessly. As farms grew more efficient, a swell of unemployed farmhands emerged, whose discontent was expertly channelled against the foreigners, with many of them joining the Embral Legions, or forming resistance movements of their own.

Following the formation of the New Empire, the unemployed farmhands were given work in modernising other aspects of Embralish society, building roads, schools, hospitals, and- crucially- factories. Within a few decades, the agricultural surplus enabled vast cities to grow, where factories churned out manufactured goods in unheard-of quantities.
Many early factories were powered by waterwheels, though once steam power was introduced, it was quickly adopted. The southern reaches of the Empire proved to be rich in coal, fuelling industry and transport across the Empire.

The farmers, however, did not stand idly by whilst industry grew in importance. Determined to prove that Embralish agricultural expertise could not be beat, they poured money into research, attracting scholars from across the known world. Of particular interest was the chemistry of fertilizers- importing guano, the most effective known fertilizer at the time, was expensive, and it irked some to have to rely on foreign imports.
After many years of work and collaboration between a multitude of chemists, the Embral Fertilizer Company was founded, introducing to the world the fruit of its labour: Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer. Cheaper than guano yet still very profitable, stunningly effective with seemingly no downsides, the EFC soon went from a single small factory supplying a few regions of the Empire, to over a dozen, producing thousands upon thousands of tons of fertilizer that was shipped around the world. The EFC would continue to invest in research, continually improving its products, always one step ahead of the competition.

This chemical expertise was not, of course, confined solely to agricultural advances. In the process of developing their fertilizers, the chemists stumbled across a variety of interesting chemical concoctions with explosive applications. These were quietly snapped up by the Embralish government, and developed further into practical military weapons. Though none were especially noteworthy, it was a fact that the Embral Legions could rely on having explosives that were just a little more impressive than those of their adversaries.

[Madman198237]

Mk2 Sikari Mask: (2) Frostgiant, NUKE9.13
Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer: (2) Madman, Nemonole

[NUKE9.13]

I'm fine with both, so for the sake of moving on;

Mk2 Sikari Mask: (1) Frostgiant
Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer: (3) Madman, Nemonole, NUKE9.13

[frostgiant]

Mk2 Sikari Mask: ()
Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer: (4) Madman, Nemonole, NUKE9.13, Frostgiant

[Man of Paper]

Embralish Defining Tech: Age of War Revision

Proposal: Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer

Crop rotation was discovered in the Embral Empire relatively early on. Perforce, given that the use of Wellwood Drums would otherwise deplete farmland at an unsustainable rate. Basic fertilization was also practised, using manure and bonemeal to revitalise the soil. And, of course, irrigation was widespread- organised by the government, which maintained the channels and reservoirs, and rationed water carefully to protect against drought.
When the Enlightenment-bearing foreigners came, they brought with them- amongst other things- more agricultural knowledge. Seed-drills, scientific breeding, improved fertilizers, and more. Where other aspects of foreign technology were adapted more slowly, the fiercely competitive farmers of the Empire seized on these new innovations. Even as the Empire collapsed around them, they honed the foreign techniques, combining them with domestic customs, and increased farm productivity relentlessly. As farms grew more efficient, a swell of unemployed farmhands emerged, whose discontent was expertly channelled against the foreigners, with many of them joining the Embral Legions, or forming resistance movements of their own.

Following the formation of the New Empire, the unemployed farmhands were given work in modernising other aspects of Embralish society, building roads, schools, hospitals, and- crucially- factories. Within a few decades, the agricultural surplus enabled vast cities to grow, where factories churned out manufactured goods in unheard-of quantities.
Many early factories were powered by waterwheels, though once steam power was introduced, it was quickly adopted. The southern reaches of the Empire proved to be rich in coal, fuelling industry and transport across the Empire.

The farmers, however, did not stand idly by whilst industry grew in importance. Determined to prove that Embralish agricultural expertise could not be beat, they poured money into research, attracting scholars from across the known world. Of particular interest was the chemistry of fertilizers- importing guano, the most effective known fertilizer at the time, was expensive, and it irked some to have to rely on foreign imports.
After many years of work and collaboration between a multitude of chemists, the Embral Fertilizer Company was founded, introducing to the world the fruit of its labour: Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer. Cheaper than guano yet still very profitable, stunningly effective with seemingly no downsides, the EFC soon went from a single small factory supplying a few regions of the Empire, to over a dozen, producing thousands upon thousands of tons of fertilizer that was shipped around the world. The EFC would continue to invest in research, continually improving its products, always one step ahead of the competition.

This chemical expertise was not, of course, confined solely to agricultural advances. In the process of developing their fertilizers, the chemists stumbled across a variety of interesting chemical concoctions with explosive applications. These were quietly snapped up by the Embralish government, and developed further into practical military weapons. Though none were especially noteworthy, it was a fact that the Embral Legions could rely on having explosives that were just a little more impressive than those of their adversaries.

Difficulty: Hard
Result: (3+1)-1=3, Buggy Mess

While Embralish society survived, thrived, and grew, so did their demands. Wellbased materials were too uncommon to be used across the expansive empire, so more mundane methods were deployed closer to the borders to keep up with the requirements of the people.

One such advancement came in the form of the Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer. It's development in the latter half of the 19th century saw it promoted as a miracle chemical fertilizer - the first of it's kind in the known world. Not only did it boost yield of crops but it also worked to repel pests and deter animals. We know now that this was at least in small part thanks to the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane(DDT), and some fields were so saturated by carcinogenic materials that the government sectioned the lands off and to this day they remain completely uninhabited, no matter what rumors you may hear.


----------------

The Air War

The effects of the dangerous fertilizer were not fully understood until a few decades after it's creation. By this time groundwater had been affected. All the farms using the fertilizer happened to be upstream of nearby borders with other nations, so it was the citizens of other countries that suffered the effects most. This mass poisoning was but one of many contributing factors to the Union invasion. Some say it was an intentional act meant to weaken their enemy's borders, but there exists no government leader or agency with the will or ability to willingly destabilize the frontier regions. If, to entertain some, some such group existed, their plan backfired, as the weaknesses caused by tainted water and land made absorption into the Union a much quicker process. This poisoning of land and water was one of the many reasons the People's Union cited for the invasion of Embral.

The Embral forces rapidly maneuvered, hit, and retreated from the front lines over a number of months. The Sikari proved their worth massively during the opening of the campaign, credited with a number of crippling strikes at supply lines and command posts. The initial advance was slowed as the tainted borderlands taxed the relatively disorganized Union supply lines - it was extremely difficult to supply a massive poorly organized force consisting of people using weapons from dozens of different recently-absorbed manufacturers. Without the ability to use local resources, the need for untainted water and food was felt drastically. It wasn't enough to win the war or even completely halt their advance, as the Union was massive and eventually worked out it's logistical issues. It was around this time that another front was introduced to the war as the first armed aircraft set to the skies.

----------------

You are currently charged with designing an aircraft during an era dominated by biplanes. Keep that in mind when trying to estimate difficulty. Note that you may choose to design something other than an aircraft if you deem it more important, but it will impact the path of your nation in a way that will adjust requirements for your final design as well as dramatically influence the narrative.

It is now the Design Phase.

Spoiler: Preliminary Proposals (click to show/hide)

Wellwood Bass Drum: A large man-sized drum made of Wellwood harvested from a Well with an animal hide stretched over it. A steady rhythm helps stimulate plant growth. It isn't a drastic change - a season of growth won't be cut down to days - but harvests tend to be more bountiful if Drummers maintain the beat.

Water-Driven Wellwood Drum: A massive Wellwood Bass Drum with mallets operated by a water-powered wheel. It has a much stronger and further-reaching effect than the human-played Drum.

Wellwood Flute: A mask-like instrument worn over the face that creates an unsettling, terrifying shriek when the mouthpiece is blown into. It's hands-free to allow the use of weapons by the wearer.

Strings of Motion: Specially-made string instruments using a variety of Well-based materials to produce an effect of mildly quickening the body. Military use sees armies covering a bit more ground than one would expect.

Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer: A dangerous chemical fertilizer that is cited as one of a number of causes for invasion by the People's Union of States. Contains a wide variety of chemicals with nasty long-term effects.

Samarata 1902: A 7mm bolt-action rifle with a 5-round magazine effective out to 1000m. Light, reliable, and can utilize a variety of sights.

The Sau-Cihare: A series of syllables that holds meaning with nobody.

Unique Resource - Wells: Wells are strange, relatively poorly understood subterranean environs housing any number of forms of cave-adapted life whose parts can be used to manipulate the world through sound.

[NUKE9.13]

Here's something I consider to be a really stupid idea, but which Nem/Jilla convinced me to write anyway:

Cikaviga Night Flier:
Like most nations, Embral dabbled in aircraft. However, at the outbreak of the 1911 war, military aircraft were all but non-existent. As the People's Union got its act together, they started to deploy aircraft of their own, which for a short period went all but unopposed, performing devastating bombing raids on Embralish targets. Engineers scrambled to respond, but even when they did deploy combat aircraft of their own, they consistently found themselves overwhelmed by the Union's greater numbers. Attempts at bombing PU targets were rebuffed by enemy fighters and AA guns, which the somewhat makeshift Embralish bombers were unable to break through. It seemed that the Empire was to be defeated in a domain they could not contest.

So, naturally, the engineers turned to the standard Embralish fallback: Ancient Music. Digging through a back catalogue of half-baked proposals for various auditory technologies, one engineer stumbled across a hand-written document from a little-known researcher, living in isolation in Embrallia's heartlands. In fact, they did not so much stumble across it as find it on their desk; furthermore, the researcher in question could not remember submitting the report to the design bureau... well, anyway.

This researcher was an enthusiast of a particular Well-beast, known as the Embralish Hunter Bat. In her report, she detailed observations she had made of the bat's aural and ocular organs. Specifically, she wrote that the Embralish Hunter Bat was almost entirely blind, unlike most bats, and relied almost exclusively on echolocation to find its prey. She went on to describe the bat's curious tendency to feed on a certain mineral found deep within Wells, colloquially known as Well-Quartz. A series of experiments with Well-Quartz indicated that, correctly processed, it produced a potent electrical response to vibrations of a given frequency- she speculated that the Embralish Hunter Bat had evolved to integrate microscopic quantities of Well-Quartz into its ears, giving it a greatly enhanced hearing ability.

This fascinating report had, of course, no immediate military applications. However, Embralish engineers were well known for dedicating time and resources to things with no immediate military applications, and so the researcher was invited to continue experimenting with Well-Quartz at the design bureau. Being a proper patriot, she agreed, and within a few weeks she and her team had managed to create a (cumbersome, rudimentary) prototype of an "artificial bat"; a combination of nascent sonar technology with Well-Quartz, that could be used to create an image of objects in the vicinity of the device. This was, in the words of one engineer "Radical, awesome, delightful and revolutionary". In the words of another engineer, it was "Actually maybe useful, now that I think about it".

Resources were poured into the Artificial Bat project, miniaturising the technology whilst boosting the range. Plans were drawn up for a plane designed to fly at night, using the AB to navigate. The Cikaviga, as it would come to be known, was fairly large, as despite their best efforts, the Artificial Bat was still a fairly bulky device at the time; it ended up as a two-engine biplane, with a machine gun turret and a substantial bomb load. It was slow, not very agile, and underarmed for its size- but thanks to the Artificial Bat, it could fly during even the darkest nights, undetected, and still be able to make out ground-based targets with enough accuracy to bomb them to smithereens.

The People's Union would have no defence against it, the engineers predicted, as even if they managed to scramble fighters, the Cikaviga could detect them far sooner than vice-versa, and either avoid them entirely or open fire at ranges they could not match. With this, the Embral Empire could win the air war- as whilst Union bombers were better and more plentiful, they would still have to contend with some resistance, whereas the Cikaviga could freely bomb Union positions wherever they pleased.

E: Changed specs from four engines to two, and from two turrets to one. I was thinking of this thing: https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=584 , but that was a strategic bomber intended to hit targets well behind the front lines, and whilst that is a valid thing to do, the Pisaca Cikaviga is intended to operate on a more tactical level.
E2: Changed name from Pisaca to Cikaviga, because even I kept wanting to call it the Picaso.

[Madman198237]

That is suitably hilarious and actually pretty useful, more useful than standard air attack likely would be considering that it can completely ruin the enemy's ability to sleep.

Cikaviga Night Flier: (1) Madman

[frostgiant]

Cikaviga Night Flier: (2) Madman, Frostgiant

Getting a march on night flying is both flavourful to embral war tactics and just a really useful thing to have. Might be difficult, but i'm fine taking risks with how we have been doing

[Jilladilla]

Let's do it.

Cikaviga Night Flier: (3) Madman, Frostgiant, Jilladilla

[NUKE9.13]

Aw geez, aw geez. Fine, I'll vote for the Cikaviga.

Cikaviga Night Flier: (4) Madman, Frostgiant, Jilladilla, NUKE9.13

E: A lore thing I wrote.

Embral's Stagnation
There is a question asked by many when introduced to the history of the Embral Empire: "How did they fall behind the rest of the world in technology?". This is a complex question, with a complex answer, but I will try to summarise. The shortest answer is this: hubris. To expand, the First Empire was so rich and advanced compared to their neighbours, and had so handily defeated their predecessor, that a mindset developed that they were and always would be the best. The Sack of Samnium obviously put an end to that belief, with the Second Empire having a more realistic view.
Realistic, at least, based on what they knew of the world. As can be seen on any modern map, the Embral Empire and its neighbours are somewhat isolated; to their north, steep mountains, with barren desert beyond. To their south and east, a vast and stormy ocean, not navigable by the shallow-keeled ships that ply the inland sea. And to their west, the increasingly dense and inhospitable jungle. As a result, the Second Empire, whilst vaguely aware of the existence of nations beyond these barriers, had little contact with the outside world. In their isolated corner, they were on top, economically (thanks to the miraculous Wellwood Drum, and the hydraulic engineering that went with it), militarily (thanks to the legionary structure inherited from the Samnites and the Strings of Motion), and politically (thanks to their considerable territory and remarkable luck in diplomacy).
Thus, the Second Empire saw no need for drastic improvements. Technology was refined, with engineers constantly competing to build the most effective waterwheel that could power the most effective drum, but did not advance in leaps and bounds. Knowledge of gunpowder made it over the mountains, but it was regarded as a curio, rather than a weapon. Their prosperity was such that they had no drive to trade with the rest of the world, and so shipbuilding was never considered all that important. The federal structure of the Second Empire was stable enough that there was never sufficient impetus for political change.
Hence the Empire's rude awakening when the outside world decided to come for a visit. When Captain Baker's ship first visited the Embral Empire, their technology was in some aspects hundreds of years 'out of date'. As evidenced by their rapid modernisation, the capacity for technological advancement was always there, under the surface, only waiting for the need for innovation to present itself.

[frostgiant]

Embral folktales and storytelling tradition
Embral, As a country with a flourishing history of music and song stretching far in the past, has a frankly massive tradition of oral storytelling. Even after proper codification of folktales and stories began, the traditions of vocal storytelling remained near untouchable.

Were other cultures would begin to move away from oral storytelling, shortening songs and moving far more into a Culture of literary storytelling the embralish bards seemed more then capable of competing.

While the reasons for this ability to compete with literary storytelling is varied and heavily theorized, ranging from deep cultural roots to the sheer talent of the bards in question, It is a fact that when it comes to oral folk tales/songs, embral is one of the cultural centers of the world.

One of the ancient stories that originate from embral is a story about Barad and his cousin Jasus.
During the course of the story, The two cousins travel across the vast jungles, Deep into unground caverns and back again, Overcoming the obstacles along the way with Beautiful music, Blinding charisma and stunning sleight of hand.

As one of the oldest stories in Embral history,  It is telling that even this ancient tale estimated to be 5000-6000 years old, focuses on a Embral musician.

The First Song of the Ballad of Barad and Jasus

Barad was a child, no more then 3~
When he came upon a singing tree~

Grown up tall in a grove of its own~
Poking from the ground~

Not a fern in the grove to accompany the tree~

Turning on his heel, Barad ran home!
Shouting to his cousin,   
“Jasus, Jasus, Jasus come see what I’ve found”

“Jasus, Jasus, Jasus. Come see the singing tree,
 poking out of the ground”

3 moon Jasus, Met Barad on the way
Followed barad, back to the tree.

“Barad, The tree is singing”

“Jasus, The tree is Singing”

And there in that grove, Barad had a thought.

Jasus Nodded, and ran out to the jungle.

As Barad climbed the tree,
Jasus ran home.

Grabbing a skin, from his fathers hunt.
Jasus turned, back to the Grove.

Barad, Barad, sat on the branches
began to hum a new chord
Barad Barad, Sat on the branches
and ask the tree to give him a cord

Barad Barad, He took the cord and tied it around the branches.
He strummed upon his wooden cord. And the song began again.

Barad Barad, He played the cord, and kindly asked the Tree for a basin.
He was parched and could sing no longer said he.

Born from the tree, came a wooden Bowl, to help the parched boy musician.

Taking the cord and the basin, he jumped from the tree.
To the ground 3 leaks below

Jasus brought the skins, and from the cord, Bowl, and skins Jasus and Barad made A drum.

Barad would travel to the grove every day, With a hum on his lips and the drum on his back.

Singing with the tree.

- Ancient embral Folksong, roughly translated to modern tongue from the original language. More Modern versions with updated syntax and lyrics are a common occurrence in bard guilds and bars.

[Man of Paper]

Embralish Defining Tech: The Air War Design

Proposal: Cikaviga Night Flier

Like most nations, Embral dabbled in aircraft. However, at the outbreak of the 1911 war, military aircraft were all but non-existent. As the People's Union got its act together, they started to deploy aircraft of their own, which for a short period went all but unopposed, performing devastating bombing raids on Embralish targets. Engineers scrambled to respond, but even when they did deploy combat aircraft of their own, they consistently found themselves overwhelmed by the Union's greater numbers. Attempts at bombing PU targets were rebuffed by enemy fighters and AA guns, which the somewhat makeshift Embralish bombers were unable to break through. It seemed that the Empire was to be defeated in a domain they could not contest.

So, naturally, the engineers turned to the standard Embralish fallback: Ancient Music. Digging through a back catalogue of half-baked proposals for various auditory technologies, one engineer stumbled across a hand-written document from a little-known researcher, living in isolation in Embrallia's heartlands. In fact, they did not so much stumble across it as find it on their desk; furthermore, the researcher in question could not remember submitting the report to the design bureau... well, anyway.

This researcher was an enthusiast of a particular Well-beast, known as the Embralish Hunter Bat. In her report, she detailed observations she had made of the bat's aural and ocular organs. Specifically, she wrote that the Embralish Hunter Bat was almost entirely blind, unlike most bats, and relied almost exclusively on echolocation to find its prey. She went on to describe the bat's curious tendency to feed on a certain mineral found deep within Wells, colloquially known as Well-Quartz. A series of experiments with Well-Quartz indicated that, correctly processed, it produced a potent electrical response to vibrations of a given frequency- she speculated that the Embralish Hunter Bat had evolved to integrate microscopic quantities of Well-Quartz into its ears, giving it a greatly enhanced hearing ability.

This fascinating report had, of course, no immediate military applications. However, Embralish engineers were well known for dedicating time and resources to things with no immediate military applications, and so the researcher was invited to continue experimenting with Well-Quartz at the design bureau. Being a proper patriot, she agreed, and within a few weeks she and her team had managed to create a (cumbersome, rudimentary) prototype of an "artificial bat"; a combination of nascent sonar technology with Well-Quartz, that could be used to create an image of objects in the vicinity of the device. This was, in the words of one engineer "Radical, awesome, delightful and revolutionary". In the words of another engineer, it was "Actually maybe useful, now that I think about it".

Resources were poured into the Artificial Bat project, miniaturising the technology whilst boosting the range. Plans were drawn up for a plane designed to fly at night, using the AB to navigate. The Cikaviga, as it would come to be known, was fairly large, as despite their best efforts, the Artificial Bat was still a fairly bulky device at the time; it ended up as a two-engine biplane, with a machine gun turret and a substantial bomb load. It was slow, not very agile, and underarmed for its size- but thanks to the Artificial Bat, it could fly during even the darkest nights, undetected, and still be able to make out ground-based targets with enough accuracy to bomb them to smithereens.

The People's Union would have no defence against it, the engineers predicted, as even if they managed to scramble fighters, the Cikaviga could detect them far sooner than vice-versa, and either avoid them entirely or open fire at ranges they could not match. With this, the Embral Empire could win the air war- as whilst Union bombers were better and more plentiful, they would still have to contend with some resistance, whereas the Cikaviga could freely bomb Union positions wherever they pleased.

Difficulty: Theoretical
Result: (3+2)-3=2, Utter Failure


Lofty goals for the Cikaviga were ultimately it's downfall. Wellquartz was used by the Hunter Bat not for eating as originally announced, but because of the effect it produces. Wellquartz "sings" when rubbed, and depending on the resulting tone can cause a range of emotion from optimism to euphoria and may induce mild hallucinations. This helps explain why some engineers continued to try to integrate it into the Cikaviga anyway. The plane itself was poorly constructed, and it's payload consisted of a few sacks storing grenades for the gunner to toss out of his seat. A seat, by the way, mounted forward of the propeller. With little to no protection throughout the aircraft the gunner was especially vulnerable. Bombing from the aircraft became a nonissue as gunners would often suffer maiming or death as the result of accidents involving flailing arms, flapping clothing, and fast-spinning propellers.

Nobody knows why they utilized a nose gunner as a bombardier when they had the whole rear length of the aircraft, but we benefit from hindsight and understand what they did back then was just wrong.

Much like tales of explorers in days of old, the biologist who initially reported the connection between the bat and wellquartz had embellished her story and paid a "reputable" journal to print her findings. This woman was attempting to get a grant to continue her studies when she'd been spending most of her time on less-than-academical pursuits. Of course, there was a rumor that still circulates today that she was a member of some secret society, and that someone pulled her into the spotlight to vilify her publicly before she was silenced permanently. Of course the biggest issue here is that evidence points to the biologist dying of natural causes after withdrawing from society and cutting off contact with her family, friends, and associates.

There is a marked increase in the amount of things that seem to go wrong for the Embral Empire from that point onward, in that things still had a tendency to go well, just not as often. There is no way this was due to infighting in a shadow organization, because no such thing ever existed, especially one that's existed in the same general state since ancient times. It's not like anyone's ever disagreed on how the Empire should portray itself to the world at large anyways.

----------------

You have been given a single revision. You can, uh, fix that thing or maybe do something else.

Spoiler: Preliminary Proposals (click to show/hide)

Wellwood Bass Drum: A large man-sized drum made of Wellwood harvested from a Well with an animal hide stretched over it. A steady rhythm helps stimulate plant growth. It isn't a drastic change - a season of growth won't be cut down to days - but harvests tend to be more bountiful if Drummers maintain the beat.

Water-Driven Wellwood Drum: A massive Wellwood Bass Drum with mallets operated by a water-powered wheel. It has a much stronger and further-reaching effect than the human-played Drum.

Wellwood Flute: A mask-like instrument worn over the face that creates an unsettling, terrifying shriek when the mouthpiece is blown into. It's hands-free to allow the use of weapons by the wearer.

Wellquartz: A mineral found within wells that evokes a range of blissful feelings with intensity dependent on the tone.

Strings of Motion: Specially-made string instruments using a variety of Well-based materials to produce an effect of mildly quickening the body. Military use sees armies covering a bit more ground than one would expect.

Khada-Miti Artificial Fertilizer: A dangerous chemical fertilizer that is cited as one of a number of causes for invasion by the People's Union of States. Contains a wide variety of chemicals with nasty long-term effects.

Samarata 1902: A 7mm bolt-action rifle with a 5-round magazine effective out to 1000m. Light, reliable, and can utilize a variety of sights.

The Sau-Cihare: [REDACTED]

Cikaviga "Bomber": An aircraft deadlier to it's own crew than the people it's trying to kill. Considered one of the worst ideas of the war.

Unique Resource - Wells: Wells are strange, relatively poorly understood subterranean environs housing any number of forms of cave-adapted life whose parts can be used to manipulate the world through sound.

[NUKE9.13]

Alright, so. Here's the deal. We can either try to fix up the shitty aircraft we got into something vaguely competent (ditching the AB, obviously). Or we can accept that we are not winning the war of 1911, and revise something else.
Now, if it were purely a question of what sort of equipment we start with (competent aircraft or competent something else), I'd go for something else. We can't use aircraft in the middle of the map- you know, where most of the fighting will take place-, and any experience we do get will probably be minimally applicable once we start working with Caelium (I'm assuming that we will get round to capturing some of the Pact mines eventually). However, this turn came with an ominous warning, that failing to design an aircraft could have dramatic consequences. No other turn came with such a warning, so I fear that the dramatic consequences (which I assume would be losing the 1911 war) will have mechanical consequences, as well as narrative ones. If failing here means we, like, get -1 to all our starting equipment rolls, then I definitely do not want to fail here.

That said, I'm not sure that there would be mechanical consequences. And even if there are, they may not be as bad as I fear. TFF indicated on Discord that he'd prefer to do some non-aircraft revision. Nobody else had an opinion. I mean, to be fair, it hasn't been that long. Hopefully there will be some more activity soonish.

Anyway, here's two revision proposals, one each for the two options outlined above.

Cikaviga II:
Following the unravelling of the Well-Quartz deception, Embralish engineers found themselves at somewhat of a loss. This sort of thing just didn't happen; everyone knew that the Embralish were the most trustworthy people in the world. The idea that someone would deliberately try to deceive others on such a grand scale... inconceivable.
There followed a debate regarding the way forward. The air-war situation grew more dire by the day, and something had to be done, lest the Empire's heartlands be put at risk. Embrallia itself would be safe, as the jungles surrounding it would render aerial combat a lot less relevant, but if the Union captured the key industrial cities of Chalybeius or Faberum, it would be a crippling blow to the production of war materiel. The Legions had all-but given up hope of winning in the air, and were considering more radical means of turning the tide of the war; there was a request put in for the development of chemical weapons, and plans were being drawn up for a massive assault on a single section of the Union's front line- a risky plan that was certain to be exceedingly costly in terms of lives, essentially just hoping to overwhelm the defences through sheer numbers.

With the fate of millions hanging in the balance, it was determined that there was no time for radical developments. What little progress had been made on the Artificial Bat was stuffed away in a filing cabinet somewhere, and all efforts dedicated towards simply refining the aircraft that had been designed to carry it into a semi-competent combat vehicle. Whilst there was little chance of single-handedly turning the tide overwhelmingly in the Empire's favour, hopefully a competently-put together aircraft would be enough to at least slow the bleeding, and give the Legions a chance to pursue less radical avenues towards victory.

The nose gunner position was the first to go, as whilst it was agreed to be a great idea in theory, it didn't really pan out in practice. The aircraft's structure was given some TLC, making it slightly more stable and aerodynamic- cutting down on carrying capacity somewhat. The most important feature added was a "synchronisation gear", allowing for a machine gun to be mounted that fired forwards, through the propeller. Hopes of using the craft as a bomber were set aside, in favour of just making something that could feasibly fight enemy aircraft.

Tunnel Warfare:
If we can't go over, go under. Even as the Empire floundered in the skies, the Legions- tired of waiting for the arm-chair engineers at the design bureau to get their shit together- had instituted a new tactic. With the Union drawing nearer to the industrial heartlands* of the Empire, hit-and-run tactics had become less desirable- there was only so much land left to surrender before key production centers, such as the cities of Chalybeius and Faberum, would be threatened; their loss would be a crippling blow to the production of war materiel. A defensive line was therefore drawn up, with layers of trenches and fortifications, and the Legions dug in.
Literally. Appointing a cadre of their best combat engineers to the problem, the Legions developed new mining techniques, borrowed equipment from the civilian sector, and formed new units dedicated to the art of tunnelling. Whilst the Union assaulted the trenches above, miners dug out tunnels below, linking together trenches with secret passages (the Union would capture a trench and move forward, only to have legionaries pop up behind them), creating deep bunkers where men and materiel could be kept safe from air raids and artillery, and setting up explosives under Union positions (the largest of which resulted in a crater that can still be viewed today).


*Not to be confused with the ancestral heartland, Embrallia. Whilst it remained a crucial part of the Empire, the dense jungles surrounding it made for awkward logistics, so the heaviest industrial presence was in former Samnite lands.

[frostgiant]

Cikaviga II (0):
Tunnel Warfare (1) :Frostgiant

[TheFantasticMsFox]

Cikaviga II (0):
Tunnel Warfare (2): Frostgiant, TFF