A Winter of Sorrow [Roskana]

[VoxApocrypha]

Obsillia, 1936

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Open Waters, Northern Walval Ocean 

 Negotiations began, once they had, the order was given. Some few minutes down the chain from when negotiations had been initiated, a radio transmission had been sent out to the Roskanan navy. With the ceasefire in place, ships were able to more freely maneuver. A handful of frontline strike groups were kept close to home to give the impression of a strong barrier and response, though only really three fast battleships had been left in the area with small escort groups of frigates, destroyers, and battlecruisers. 

 Admiral Helena had chosen a number of ships from the active roster, and had various ports to hide them. Some in ports near Auran, others in the further south, only about eight battleships, with four being fast battleships. Among the eight, one was the only present Cerberus class in service, old and venerable but hardly modern and closer to an iron-clad in age. She was pretty, but she wasn't a real warhorse, and had been saved more for symbolic reasons than anything, despite the initial orders given by Apollo. 

 Fleetgroup Rombarda had been organized again and had set off loosely in the wake of Romulus and Raymus, while most patrol fleets either made for ports in the Roskanan islands, or had started then to head towards the south, towards Maiz, the Grecian States, and Amali. These crews were plainly ordered to surrender their ships if need be, and to return home through whatever means were available - barring that, to post up and wait to be recovered in the future. Those headed to Arema had plain orders, containing roughly four hundred warships, of which almost 30 were battlecruisers, and 10 were fast battleships, with 8 proper battleships among their number, this being the majority of the Roskanan capital fleet. 

 The Roskanan fleet had been ordered to act only in defense of self, and no further. For now, they had to maintain a state of relative neutrality. And with the growing contentious atmosphere in Arema, with the continuing arrival of exiled Republican officials from the mainland, and growing dissident activity on the main islands, things were rapidly becoming unstable. They'd been ordered to head for Skipping Crater specifically to avoid the more heated areas, and to maintain a presence where they'd be better protected against any potential conflict. 

 It'd take some time to get there though, so as it stood, they had plenty of opportunity to prepare for a rapid-turn around. At present, the Arema fleet was so small and old it was a non-threat to all but Rombarda, and even Rombarda had some significant, modern firepower in hand to attend to any attempt by Loyalist forces to seize their vessels. But as well, with the rapidly growing political rift, the region was going to likely end up off-limits to them due to a total separation. Roskana could survive lossing Arema, it was contentious if it was the other way around, though the substantial fuel reserves Roskanan Arema had were a big point in their favor. 

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[VoxApocrypha]

Obsillia, 1936

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Mountains, North of Auranopolis, Sundervall Facility - Deactivated
General Amelia Vera Karshkan

 The movement of vehicles had been a relatively easy task by itself. 
What had proven to be far more difficult, was trying to store all of these artillery pieces. 
Aircraft and tanks could be hidden with ease into the mountainside of Sundervall, the large Rombardan concrete warehouses built into the sides of the mountain were enough to house a substantial portion of the produced vehicles and weapons. Of course, they could not contain everything. 

 They had only the space to contain roughly a couple thousand trucks at these old bases, which were designed to hold ammunition in bulk, for a time when horse drawn carriages and very primitive trucks had been the only real means of moving vast sums of munitions and equipment around on land. Not to store the trucks themselves. Though, rather than separating storing it all, the ammo would just be stored on the trucks once they had moved the vehicles and such. The stores of shells and ammo were not too big of a priority for movement. 

 With only a relatively small number of tanks produced recently, there was little worry to be had in regards to hiding those away. 
The planes were hidden in warehouses and secure areas as well, away from prying eyes, not that people were really looking at least. 

 They had only planned to hide a limited number of trucks to begin with, saving priority for armed assets such as tanks, planes, and armored cars. But the massive amounts of artillery they were putting into storage were taking up a lot of space, and it was mostly, after day one, a matter of finding space for all of those guns. Thousands upon thousands, of them. Stores on actual military bases, or being kept in storage at the facilities producing them, both were being done now, but a lot of it was still being put out here just in case such was necessary. Especially the flak guns, which were a valuable asset for both the fact they'd likely be able to punch through any tank that they encountered, and because they were necessary to counter the air power of any foreseeable future enemy. 

 So far the tally of what they'd stored would be:
390 Tanks (300 light, 90 heavy)
700 Armored Cars (400 from new batch, 300 from behind the line postings and Auran)
With almost 7000 trucks being stored in isolated motor pools, in empty and abandoned military bases and industrial facilities, and then the entire new stock of aircraft being hidden in warehouses, or kept at the factories, presumably 'unfinished' and hidden under tarps and away from prying eyes, besides the workers themselves who were forced to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements or face capital punishment. A controversial choice, but given that both were effectively state assets, one the property of the state and the other a tool thereof, such was not uncommon of any Roskanan regime, be that past, or present. 

This being roughly 285 aircraft, they as well were put under armed guard by marines. Similarly, detachments of light infantry were being established at each site, small groups meant to police the area and deter traffic. They'd have a months worth of supplies. 

Anything on the frontlines now was considered to be a lost cause to the Roskanans. Whatever happened, it'd be to those first. They never published accurate figures as to numbers, so no one would really have a source of data to fact-check anything on in the future, so irregardless there'd be no need to worry. A

 The government had decided against storing Landships and Tankettes - there was no use in that, given they were easy to produce and landships were effectively obsolete. It was a useless piece of technology that suffered massively on the field, and could not realistically compete against advanced designs of the modern day. It had no place, and if they lost those, it'd be a non-issue for anyone involved. Tankettes were easy to destroy, and with the mechanical issues they had, the Roskanans would just not supply replacement parts. Most of those vehicles were likely to be virtually useless in a few months with how many mechanical problems the first generations of tankettes had. Amelia herself found that the machines were just not worth the effort to store them, and had omitted them from the list the moment they had come up, though Makaan had disagreed at the time. 

 They were nearing the end of the task, which as well meant that they'd have to return home and leave it to the hands of their troopers out here. 
Amelia intended to start writing a letter of recommendation for future developments in the armed forces, something Makaan had likely anticipated, and Samantha had known was coming. 
They still needed to modernize and mechanize rapidly once this was done. 

[VoxApocrypha]

 The End of Roskanan Democracy

The Obsillia Proclamation
1936, Obsillia 26th

 In the wake of the death of the president and all higher elements of the old Greater Republic, and the collapse of the Diamid, the Provisional Government has deemed that it will be dissolved. Persuing aims and goals in line with the policies laid out by the Ultranationalist Party of Roskana and its political coalition members, the current government will be dissolved, and its constituent parts reorganized into a new government reflecting Tsarist values, with concessions and considerations made for the people in doing so. In recognition of the inalienable individual liberties of the people of Roskana, it will be enshrined into law, with the introduction of a new Constitution, that these laws may not be infringed upon and are protected by an act of the state, the Tsar, and Mars. 

 As part of the shift in governance, a system of Citizen Service will be enacted and enshrined in law. 
A citizen is hereby defined as a individual Roskanan, born in Roskana or a legally recognized Immigrant Civilian, of whom had completed a term of service to the nation and their community. Service encompasses any form of work in the Armed Forces, Civil Services, Public Service, and Emergency Services. No civilian may be denied an opportunity to enter service and receive citizenship and all the privileges, and responsibilities that it entails. No handicap, nor disability, may disqualify a person, unless they are fundamentally unable to understand the Oath of service they will take. 

 The Roskanan government will not stifle nor work to inhibit the persuit of free enterprise, and will seek to promote an environment within which business may thrive. Individuals, be they Citizens under law and enabled to participate in national politics, or Civilians of whom are not legally endowed with suffrage and political enfranchisement, will be legally able to own and operate businesses with no tax, legal, or otherwise economic and civil penalities. Civilians will not be taxed more than citizens, and citizens will not be endowed similarly any legal authority over civilians.  Every civilian and resident of Roskana, citizen or not, will be given access to free public education, a job, and healthcare. To that end, public works programs will be instituted.

Citizens will be the only element of society legally able to hold political office, but must be elected to a position by other Citizens. These citizens will have the power to vote in affairs, and be represented in the Senate, and the House of Citizens. Civilians will be able to bring their concerns to a Citizen representative of the government through the Civilian Interests arm of the new Senate. 

 The Government will be headed by a new Tsar, Apollo Adashenko, head of the Ultranationalist Party, and now, leader of Roskana. This new government will be organized in the coming days, with a focus on first ensuring the safety of Roskana from foreign invasion as to prevent another war like that with Grinvel, and second, a focus on the growth of the Roskanan economy into a dynamic, prosperous one, that benefits Roskanans. The aims of this government are to expand the infrastructure of manufacturing, to invest into the growth of Roskana's knowledgebase, and the creation of a strong medical sector in order to enable Roskana to rejoin the ranks of the developed world as a prosperous and enlightened nation, and to leave the stagnation caused by the Republic and its rule in the past.

 Pro Marte, Pro re publica, Pro Roskana!