9 - …Was the Crime
Off to the Firing Squad! Sentencing Carried Out for Top Officials Involved with Attempted Coup
After the startling developments over the past few weeks, the sentences for the leaders of June’s Insurrection have finally concluded. For their active involvement: Reinhard Suntail, Chiron Stormfeather and Barth Sievert will be executed by firing squad in the Republican Square next week along with many of their subordinate officers. In a surprising show of mercy, hundreds of soldiers and officers including Jansen Freyshatter and Karl Vettericht of the High Command will have their sentences commuted to several months of hard labor. The President has said that – should they show true remorse for their crimes – they may be welcomed back into the military.
Their treasonous organization – the Griffonian National Revolutionary Front – was officially banned and citizens are reminded to report anygriff distributing their literature to the nearest authorities. With their treason clear for all to see, only fools would consider protesting the decision.
While such acts of treachery should be condemned, other acts must be lauded. The conviction of these terrorists would not be possible without the timely actions of key members within the Right NRP. Thanks to their intelligence gathering disseminated prior to the coup, the government was able to quickly apprehend the traitors with minimal risk to public safety. In recognition of this, President Kemerskai has hereby appointed Heinrich Kingfeather to Vice President, with Schnabel Sunglider replacing the traitor Suntail as Chief of Staff.
With the removal of treason and a refresh of the political cabinet, our analysts discuss the possible future of the Republican political landscape. – See page 2 for more
- Headline on the front page of the Griffonian Republic National Newspaper, Der Republifaner (1st Week of August 1003 Edition)
June 26th, 1003 – 9th Infantry Barracks Stockade, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Victor POV
The room was dim, with only a single, small, bright lamp sitting on a table between two griffons. On one side of the table was Victor Kingfeather: brother of the R-NRP leader and a lawyer. He volunteered to “help” the criminal investigations into the treason of the Griffonian National Revolutionary Front members and ensured the investigation went in beneficial directions. On the other side was ex-Major Diamondclaw, a former Republican Army officer and GNRF member. The officer had already been arrested and charged with treason, but he had also been a surprisingly cooperative. It seemed the quick downfall of his faction had changed his tune and he was very willing to betray his fellow comrades for a lesser sentence.
The ex-Major was finishing with his latest appeal.
“I’m telling you, you need to investigate Rosewing! He’s been killing Republican troops for years. I know what we did was wrong, but I won’t let that traitor get away with it!”
Victor suppressed a sigh.
‘They always focus on Rosewing. Do they think their petty grudge against him will change anything?’
It seemed to be a pattern with the GNRF members he’d interviewed. They were quick to lay blame on anygriff other than themselves. Some blamed the President, others the Vice President, some even felt the need to blame Victor’s brother to his face. In all cases, they wanted Rosewing to take the lion’s share of the blame.
Which was something that would not happen. It was why Victor had been so quick to act first in interrogating them. While he had no problems eventually giving the matter over to the regular authorities, he needed to find and destroy any evidence of Rosewing’s own treason.
‘Of course, we can’t let that evidence get out. We were the ones who gave Rosewing intelligence on which patrols to hit in the first place. If Rosewing realizes we let him take some of the blame here, he might decide we should share some in return. While Rosewing losing Republican assets would hurt him, us losing the trust of the people would be a huge blow.’
Victor smiled at Diamondclaw.
“Of course, of course. We’re all servants of the Republic here. Just let me know where your evidence is and I’ll do my best to bring it up with the relevant authorities.”
Diamondclaw sneered.
“Gladly. It’s with the documents in our 3rd Safehouse in Cloudbury. We had to make sure it was stored separately from the common areas in case Rosewing or a traitor infiltrated our bases for a sneak attack.”
Victor pretended to nod sympathetically while writing down the location. It was likely a location that had already been searched, but he didn’t dare be anything less than completely thorough. He was confident that by the time the C-NRP and Vice President Sunglider took control of the investigation, the evidence would be long gone. There would merely be the collective testimony of a few dozen traitors who had plenty to gain from blaming Rosewing. While it would look suspicious, it was better than the alternative.
Having finished his writing, Victor leaned forwards on the small table between them.
“Now, I want to pivot the conversation over to your actions prior to the coup. We have evidence that you were sent to the harbor for a meeting with – what your documents describe as – a “criminal gang”. Can you describe the meeting that day?”
Diamondclaw nodded obediently and began describing the situation: receiving the orders, traveling to the warehouse and waiting for the contact. Victor opened a document and laid the grainy picture of Tanya and her entourage before him.
“Can you confirm that these are the griffons you met?”
Diamondclaw nodded.
“Yeah, that’s them. Red, the six bodyguards and the little chick. Seemed overkill, but I guess the whole thing must’ve seemed shady from their perspective… why do you care though? Nothing happened; the whole thing was a waste of time.”
Victor frowned. That was what the Colonel and the documents had said, but there had to be more. The Major had been very cooperative so far, so it was strange for him to lie now.
“We have the evidence, there’s no need to hide anything, just tell me what happened.”
Diamondclaw looked confused.
“Uh, sure? They came into the warehouse, we sat down, and we discussed the terms: they would do some damage in the city and we would pay them. We’d thought the deal was settled when they went out and had a little chat. Figured they maybe wanted to negotiate the cut or get more details, something like that. When Red came back she said no.”
Diamondclaw shrugged.
“It wasn’t a huge loss. We didn’t have any idea if they were any good – it was just a friend-of-a-friend sort of introduction – and we had a few more choices to go with. Even if we found nogriff, the deal was something we did more out of a need for perfection rather than necessity. Spending a little money for some assurances was a small price to pay, the Colonel said. We ended up finding another gang to do the job, but I wasn’t part of those negotiations. Considering how things went, I guess Red did the smart thing… lucky bastard.”
Victor shook his head and jabbed at the picture with a talon.
“There has to be more to the story. That chick there is Tanya of the L-NRP. You must’ve remembered something about her.”
Diamondclaw appeared shocked.
“What?! No her name was… uh, Lana or Tina or something. If it was Tanya I would have known- Damn! Could she have been the one to make the leak?”
Victor cocked his head to one side.
“Leak?”
Diamondclaw nodded.
“Yeah. You talked about that “secret counter-coup” you government griffs had in the works for a few months, but that was all kept quiet, right? Well, there was some shift in the parties just before the coup took off… it was right after that meeting too! As part of the negotiations, we needed to make clear that a coup was going to happen. If we didn’t, then any gang we had working for us would run scared at the first sign of trouble. We needed to make it clear the money we were burning was proportional to the risk. We’d thought it wouldn’t be a big deal – the coup was only a few days away, and we were talking to criminals after all – but if it was her… damn. We really had no chance did we…”
Victor used the griffon’s sudden bout of melancholy to his advantage to get him to slip a few more damning pieces of evidence, but after a while, Victor had no choice but to leave. He was not going to get anything else.
Out of the room and into the adjacent hallway, he used a telephone with a direct line to Heinrich Kingfeather’s office. He gave his brother a summary.
“… so that’s what I’ve found.”
Heinrich growled on the other end of the line.
“You can’t be serious, Victor?! Are you expecting me to believe that this whole plan fell apart because of a misunderstanding?! What in Maar’s name do you mean Tanya was only there by coincidence?! May I remind you that over 3,000 soldiers lost their lives on both sides of this coup?!”
Victor winced.
“Be that as it may, brother, there’s no evidence. This Major’s admitted to multiple crimes that put him and his group in a very negative light. To be frank, the griffon’s a moron. If Tanya had been involved with anything in that meeting, he’d spill like a broken sieve. Is it possible that Tanya knew about our hidden tail and purposefully revealed herself to incite a reaction?”
Heinrich scoffed.
“That’s even more ridiculous than her being innocent. While I can admit that she’s a gifted little chick, she is still a chick even if she’s backed by some organization that taught her these skills. If not even Suntail could figure out our plan, there’s no way somegriff like her could.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before he continued.
“No… but it’s possible that she figured something out. Her connections with the L-NRP and their ties with Skyvania might’ve given her some insight into our operations… maybe being involved with them and the GNRF helped put the pieces together? There’s a conspiracy here and we’re not going to get to the bottom of it with speculation. We need Tanya behind bars and all of her political capacity ruined before she can cause us any more problems.”
Victor thought for a moment, thinking through the legalities.
“In that case, I’ll need your support. Here’s my plan…”
July 15th, 1003 – City Hall, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Nicholas POV
Nicholas Egscher was frustrated by recent developments.
As mayor of the city of Cloudbury, he had overseen a lot of change, both positive and negative. The city did not have a mayor before the Republic’s annexation, instead it was ruled by a Baron appointed by the former Duke of Cloudbury. As such, the office was still in its infancy which meant a number of adjustments were needed by both the citizens and its administration. For the first 10 years, the mayoral title changed claws every term. He was the first one to last into a second. In that time, the city had ballooned in size from refugees yet had also industrialized into a modern juggernaut. It had grown destitute and rich, powerful and divided.
That was the sort of city he had found himself governing. Unlike the more passive mayors of the past, he was focused exclusively on the Cloudbury 10, 20, 50 years in the future. Working together with the R-NRP, he relaxed regulation for industry and finance; using new taxes to invest in long-term infrastructure projects. He had expanded the harbor district, shored-up the waterway for use by larger ships, paved over the roads for easier use by truck and even oversaw the creation of the first public transit system in the country which allowed workers living in the fringes of the city to make it to their workplaces.
However, things had changed with the rise of the L-NRP during his latest term. Strikes had become commonplace, unions had formed, and stability had crumbled. Despite the instability, the President had done nothing to address the situation, and so Nicholas had been forced to pass sweeping legislation against them, banning their co-ops and councils from taking place. The L-NRP still found loopholes and ways to get around the laws, but their time would come.
However, this was not what frustrated him most. No, he was most annoyed by the cigar-chomping leader of the R-NRP – Heinrich Kingfeather – blowing foul-smelling smoke throughout his office. The mayor not only refused to smoke, but was a self-described “health-nut”. He was a rare griffon that ate only the tiniest amount of meat to survive and stayed away from all vices including tobacco and alcohol. He had experienced a gout attack that had him screaming in pain one morning. Until then, he had been a hedonist and a glutton, but he had taken the illness as a sign from Boreas to change his life around.
Ignorant – or perhaps indifferent – to the mayor’s feelings on the matter, Heinrich blew out another ring of smoke as he finished discussing his policy.
“… and so that would result in lower taxes for the most productive factories and banks while still providing the funding needed for your projects. Anyway, enough of that, perhaps we can discuss another small matter I need a little help with.”
Nicholas stood by his window in a vain attempt to avoid the smoke. Taking a brief breath of fresh air, he reminded himself that Heinrich was his valued benefactor. They shared almost identical views of the future of the nation and wanted the same things. That said, he also knew that when Heinrich came to him personally, it was never something small.
“Heinrich, please, we’re good friends! Tell me all about your problem.”
Responding with a smile of his own, Heinrich continued.
“I’m glad we still see things eye-to-eye. The issue is with Tanya; the flag-waving chick. As I’m sure you’re aware, she’s become something of a popular icon for the socialists.”
Nicholas nodded along.
“Of course, I can imagine that she’s been a bit of trouble… a bit. While the socialists are polling higher than ever, so has the R-NRP. You have a plurality – if not a majority – of the support… assuming the polls are accurate and elections were resumed. Why poke the hornets' nest now?”
That had been his long-standing unofficial policy: push hard for anti-socialist legislation, use the media to condemn their riots and failures, but leave their members alone. It was the unfortunate truth that socialists were as good on the “defense” as they were bad on the “attack”. People were quick to hate them for their violence, but the moment even a single one of their members were arrested, they were “martyred” by the rest. Unless there was hard-evidence for some sort of heinous crime, putting them in prison always backfired.
Heinrich hesitated for a moment before responding.
“I suppose it’s fine to tell you. The truth is, Tanya had been working with the GNRF to take control of Cloudbury. Her recent spikes of popularity were almost certainly a plan to focus popular support on her to act as a figurehead for their radical version of the Citizens’ Militia.”
Nicholas was shocked.
“I- I see… in that case I suppose steps should be taken.”
He thought through what had been said for a moment before frowning.
“That being said. I notice something absent there. If you have this evidence, why not bring her in? There are a dozen trials going on right now exactly like that. Why have me- Ah… you plan to use the lower courts to try her. What’s the reason? Too politically volatile? Not enough evidence?”
There were two tiers of courts in the Republic. The National Court was convened for heinous political crimes or murders. They might also take on other cases if the circumstances were unique enough that it could change the law. In all other cases, the City Court was used. It was a new and radically improved system of justice over the old Imperial system, but still had loopholes.
One such “loophole” was that the mayor of a city could select the judge to try a specific case before the City Court. Such a law had been put in place because city judges – like many important political positions in the Republic – were elected. It had been quickly discovered that judges would use court cases as part of their campaign for re-election or to promote a certain cause rather than passing appropriate judgments. The fix, however, soon became a new problem; a power used by mayors to influence the decision of certain “politically important” cases. It was a well-known “trick” by now and so Nicholas rarely used it, and never to get somegriff out of a crime. While the socialists might call him a greedy capitalist – and he did not disagree – he was no crook.
Heinrich took his accusation in stride.
“We do have proof of Tanya’s associations with organized crime and the GNRF. We can provide evidence and even develop… creative new ways of gathering more, but this can’t go through the National Court. Rikard Astler leaning on the President to handle the case would bring too much scrutiny; a favorable verdict would be unlikely. Of course, I plan to reimburse you proportionally for your work here. I understand that the elections are coming up and Tanya’s arrest will cause issues. I just want to remove a potential risk for a year or so. By next election, this whole thing will blow over. Doing this, I can focus all my attentions on the C-NRP and maintaining the Party’s popularity.”
The 1003 mayoral elections for Cloudbury were at the end of October, so any “proportional reimbursement” now would help a lot in ensuring his re-election. Nicholas sighed. It was not as though he had much of a choice. To deny his primary benefactor would only cause problems, and it was not as though he would cry himself to sleep over the incarceration of a socialist.
“I expect this to be worth it.”
August 4th, 1003 – Tanya Co-Op, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Tanya POV
‘This was completely worth it. Ah… it’s good to finally be free of the damn socialists.’
It had been a long time coming. The recent failed coup had been a mild setback, but the primary cause of the delays had been that “sham capitalist” Ernst Thällgriff who had sidelined her for months in the factory project. Despite the fact she could have been paid far more to take on an active role, Ernst had forced her to do nothing while he reaped in the benefits. The only saving grace from that time was that she could save the measly pay she received and take the large amount of the “free time” to read. That research meant she felt herself capable enough in teaching and theory to begin applying it to her new business.
The purpose of Tanya’s business? A Griffon Resources Consulting Firm.
‘It only makes sense to start a business doing what I know best. It’s something that this world has little concept of, but it’s something that’s invaluable to the efficiency and retention of employees. More importantly, it is something that is sorely missing in the workplaces of the Republic.’
Her negotiation work between the socialists and the factories proved that. While capitalism was no doubt destined to be the leading force of progress for the future of this world as it had been in her former one, it was lacking. Factories had clear priorities, targets and goals, but they were surprisingly behind in making effective use of their employee resources. There were regular strikes, discontent and inefficiency. Basic requests like improved safety standards, more efficient work schedules, or better tools were denied on the basis of cost regardless of their potential benefit.
But where there existed problems, there also existed a business niche to solve them. Like any effective HR firm from her former world, her business would: research the best benefits package for different tiers of employee competency, ensure compliance with regulations, raise awareness with management about potential causes of worker disruption, help with worker relations, handle public relations and recruit new employees.
It was a system that could work for any workplace: for capitalists it would ensure employee retention and avoid downtime from strikes or unions; for socialists, it created a “judicial branch” for their so-called “democratic workplaces” that kept them accountable. While she did not think the way socialists ran things would work in the long run, she was not going to deny her services to them; especially not when they had helped support her co-op.
Said “business” was still in development, however, and had been for the past 2 months. At the moment, it consisted of a tiny two-story townhouse she rented in the heart of the slums. It had 4 bunk-beds, a tiny kitchenette and bathroom on the upper floor, and a larger office/living space on the main floor. It was her workspace as well as her home. She certainly did not have the money for two apartments.
It was also the home of her 15 employees – aged 12 to 14 – who sat on the wooden floor with notebooks in their forelegs, listening to her teach.
“… and so your primary focus will be on engaging regularly with the workers. Once you can compile notes on the goals of the owners and the workers, you will be able to clearly see where the wedge issues are. Just like in politics, that’s where you will need to focus your efforts.”
One of the teenagers raised a claw.
“Miss Tanya, what’s a “wedge issue”?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Here, let me explain…”
In hindsight, it was obvious. The “cheapest workers that could read and write who were also doggedly loyal” could only be orphans like herself. So long as they received good food and a roof over their heads, they would do anything for her. It was even better since – until she started operating her business – she was technically an orphanage and received a small bit of funding from that. Combined with the support of the socialists from technically being a co-operative workplace, and it was something akin to a capital-investment seed-loan from a bank.
Tanya was confused why others did not do something similar. Perhaps it was her unique situation that she could take advantage of the system for her own gain. Of course, it was not that she was performing some sort of “Con”. She was an orphanage at the moment, providing life skills to the orphans. She would be a co-op once she opened for business, one with an immutable "constitution" that only allowed the most competent to be elected as head. If that was not herself, she was fine with that. She had principles. She would never sign a contract without considering the benefit of all parties. It was for that reason she had turned down Red’s request for investment: she could only accept that sort of deal when she was confident she could make a reasonable return on investment.
She continued her lesson.
“… but be warned, pushing for resolutions to issues will cause employees to question you. To avoid this, reinforce your authority with implied punishment. Remind them that finding solutions is their job and yours is only to highlight the problems and failing to do their job can result in their removal from the company. For the owner, imply that strikes, delays or even legal action may result from them failing to address the issues. Remember, do whatever you can do legally to find a solution, otherwise, the sky’s the limit!”
Several claws were raised at once.
“Miss Tanya, what does “resolution” mean?”
“I don’t know what you mean by “the sky’s the limit”. We have wings… the sky’s always the limit.”
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
Tanya groaned.
“Are you sure you want a bathroom break now? You only have 2 left for today.”
The griffon teen paled and lowered her claw.
“… I can hold it for a little longer.”
Tanya smiled. She was glad she had some measure of authority over the children, despite being physically younger than them. She had raised concerns to Red that her age might be a problem, but he had insisted otherwise.
“It won’t be a problem so long as you set clear rules. Just send them to me if it's an issue, I’ll… straighten them out.”
Red had been right; they were all very obedient. Tanya could only envy Red's skill for instilling discipline and selecting ideal candidates. Red would have been great in HR herself.
Another one of her student-employees raised their claw.
“Miss Tanya… I’d always been told that threatening people was bad.”
Tanya sighed. She was not stupid. She knew that her personal views of the world – of seeing others as only resources or for the value they provide – were not normal, but the Republic was not a kind place to "normal" people. She had to prepare these chicks in the best way she knew how if they were to stay off the street.
“In your everyday life that’s sometimes correct, but the employees or owner you’re managing aren’t your friends. You can play games or have fun with others, but never them. You’re supposed to guide them; to put the needs of the business beyond their petty wants and desires. Let me explain…”
It had been frustrating to have to explain HR from first principles, but she figured it was better in the long run. She knew many mediocre HR coworkers from her former life that had no understanding of the basic concepts and had “coasted” through their career on their charisma alone. They tried to “empathize” with employees’ individual plights and utterly failed to grasp the bigger picture. They seemed to completely miss the very concept of Human Resources. It was in the name.
Thankfully, this world had plenty of historical literature that understood reality. She even managed to get her hands on “The Compiled History of the Pomovarra Dynasty” written by somegriff named Nicolas de Charbon, a politician from Flowena. It held many similarities to Machiavelli’s works and she used it regularly as a teaching aide. While much sociological development had occurred since those primitive times, quantifying and managing sapient beings was universal and the books provided a solid foundation to build from.
“… so as you can see, by trying too hard to be loved rather than respected, Prince Philippe de Charbon of Pomovarra failed as a leader and his dynasty ended. The King of Aquileia was forced to step in and abolish his title. In this way, you need to keep work and personal lives separate. It’s fine playing and having fun, but at work, you need to take your job seriously and treat employees properly.”
A claw was raised.
“Just like how you threaten to tell on us to Red?”
She smiled.
“Exactly. Fear of punishment creates respect. While you are my students, you cannot be my friends. Think of what it would mean if I was. You might believe I liked some of you more than others; some might try to gain my friendship in exchange for getting out of work. Those sorts of things ruin your ability to do your job, and what does failing to do your job mean?”
““Being fired and thrown back on the streets.””
She nodded. She was starting to get the hang of this whole “teaching” thing. So long as she kept reinforcing the rewards and punishments, the lessons seemed to sink in easily. That was something most books on teaching taught her.
“Good, now we will continue where we left off. While it’s important to be feared, you must still try to form a positive relationship. Really stress to your employees that you work for them and that you’re their ally in making the workplace better. While this isn’t always true, it is in the best interests of everygriff to maintain the polite fiction in order to-”
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
There was a pounding on the door.
Her employee-students scattered behind whatever furniture was available. Tanya went to one corner where she took hold of a rifle the socialists had given her during the coup and she had kept for herself. While the slums were usually quite safe, that was partially reinforced with the threat of violence. While it was almost unheard of to be murdered, there was still petty theft. Her small townhouse was just on the border of “not dirt poor” where it was possible she might be targeted by desperate vagrants. Waving a rifle in their direction was usually enough to warn them off.
She called out to whoever was beyond the door.
“Who is it?”
A gruff voice responded.
“It’s the police! Now open the damn door or we’ll break it!”
Once Tanya confirmed their story by checking through a crack in the door, she breathed a sigh of relief. While the rifle was deadly, it was feasible that two or more adult griffons could still overpower her. She set the weapon aside and opened the door.
“Good afternoon, how may I help you gentlegriffs today?”
In the doorway were two griffon soldiers. One was a lieutenant and the other a sergeant. They both had armbands emblazoned with the simple logo of the Military Police. Their faces had looks of confusion. The sergeant spoke up.
“Uh, good afternoon little miss. We’re here to serve a warrant. Is your caretaker around?”
Now it was Tanya that was confused, but she quickly realized the source of confusion.
“Ah! Sorry, but this is an orphanage run by myself. Don’t worry, I’m abiding by all regulations and the paperwork has been filed. I hope this isn’t the neighbors making a complaint again. There’s no rules stating that an orphanage can’t be run by an orphan so long as I can prove the necessary financial liquidity.”
The lieutenant was the first to reply.
“That’s… not what we’re here for. We’ve a warrant for the arrest of somegriff named “Tanya” that lives at this residence.”
She sighed.
“That would be me.”
It was an unfortunately routine occurrence for people living in the slums to be arrested for all kinds of reasons. It was just the fact of being in an area of high crime: sometimes mistakes were made and a crime was blamed on the wrong person. While it had never personally happened to her yet, she knew of several employees of Red who had been charged with assault or worse despite doing nothing worse than kicking out rowdy casino patrons.
She turned to her employee-students with a sigh.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to end classes early. Be sure to stick closely to my schedule. I’ll have somegriff keep your curriculum up-to-date. Don’t make me have to talk to Red.”
They all nodded their heads aggressively.
She turned to the guards with her claws outstretched.
“Well, do you need to tie up my forelimbs?”
The two guards looked to each other with a grimace. They whispered to each other low enough that she could not hear any of it.
“Is this a joke? What the hell is-”
“Orders are orders, we need to-”
“I know how to do my job damn it, but this… what next, stealing food from beggars? Beating up crippled chicks?”
“You saw the warrant, she’s a dangerous-”
“Dangerous?! By Eyr she’s barely up to my chest! She runs an orphanage!”
The lieutenant shook his head.
“Ah… you are Tanya? We had expected somegriff… different. We won’t tie you up so please just… come with us.”
As they walked to a carriage, she could not help but frown.
‘I hope this isn’t anything serious.’
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He still thinks she was involved in the GNRF despite none of the leaders knowing of her?
Well this isn’t ominous or foreshadowing anything
Now some possible typos:
So 4 bunk beds for 16 people? 2 gryphs to a bed? Does Tanya have to share a bed with one of her employees?
11758090
Flip it around, he thinks maybe she was involved, but the GNRF didn't know because she was disguised. He's somewhat grasping at straws because nothing makes sense (and saying it was all a coincidence would mean admitting he was wrong).
While this doesn't sound wrong to me, I will fix the weird tongue twisty nature of it:
11758097
Ah, no, but I can see now why you would think so. I had two paragraphs discussing their living arrangements but I cut it since I felt it ruined the pacing.
Despite being in a child body she would not want to do anything that would "look bad". She would sleep at her desk most days or would sleep during the day when they're not sleeping on the bunk beds.
All according to kaikeku
The R-NRP had taken the bait
Little did they know that would be the first step of phase two
The beginning to the end! The rise of L-NRP
Now, can anyone explain the plan to me?
11758357
Fuuuuuuuuuuuck
Sorry :c
11758335
11758353
11758357
Thanks for the editing. I've fixed all the things you suggested.
Tanya word lawyers a victory in court
Penal battalion time right after she pleads guilty by misunderstanding.
Also love how she is getitng softer on fairly radical socialism.
11759055
All fixed. Thanks again for the editing.
11758102
Except that the simplest explanation is what actually happened: Tanya's input was why Diamondclaw didn't get Red's support. She was there, she heard the deal, Tanya and Red talked...Red immediately came back and said no.
By far the simplest explanation is that Tanya talked Red out of supporting the coup.
When you combine this with the fact that they already suspect Tanya isn't really a socialist, and that translators at several meetings all reported that Tanya had expressed interest in joining their party...having her arrested doesn't make much sense. They know she's capable, she has good PR, she's turned the war efforts in their favor by improving ammunition production, and they now have reason to believe that she actively supports their governance because she refused to go along with the coup.
It makes no sense to see her as an enemy, let alone to have her arrested. If anything, they should be inviting her to dinner and recruiting her.
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Argh, maybe this is why I shouldn't do conspiracies, I end up going in circles trying to explain motivations and the word-count skyrockets. I had over 10000 words explaining the motivations of everyone, but I removed it because it just seemed like pointless, rambling filler, but this was explained there. Because I agree that would be the best thing for him to do... but that would go against his character.
For Heinrich, you only need to look at how he does diplomacy. Either you are a partner with clear-cut motivations and a shared interest he can control (Rosewing, that mayor, his brother etc.) or you are enemies that must be destroyed (GNRF, C-NRP, L-NRP etc.). He only suffers their existence because he must - and he might be cordial with them in person - but he never works with them. He is doing everything in his power to get rid of them (legally with anti-socialist policy or illegally with Rosewing killing pro-C-NRP officers) despite the fact that things would be far better if he cooperated without such "Machiavellian" logic.
What I meant in my previous comment was that Tanya's motivations don't make sense to him. Did she know the coup would fail? How did she know? Why is she working with criminals and the L-NRP when she's not a socialist? Is it just power or something else? He doesn't know and that, combined with her "loose loyalties", means he can't trust her. If she joined the R-NRP, he wouldn't be able to control her (in the same way the L-NRP can't control her now).
For him, since that is the case, he won't bother trying to figure it all out. He has the C-NRP to dismantle. Once she's in prison and no longer able to control things around her, all her political power she accrued would disappear (since that is what would happen to himself in that situation).
Sorry for the above... see what I mean by rambling?
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Thanks again, especially if you're doing this on your phone. I had not realized how many errors I'd been making (I had fixed the joined-words in Chapter 4 by not using the site's import function but I figured that was it). I've since taken to reading my work out loud one final time before posting starting with Chapter 9. Hopefully these will get better with that.
It's something of a compromise I make writing EaW fiction not to talk much on the topic of flight. Griffons fly to the battlefield, land, then engage like infantry. This is how it works in the mod too. Pegasi for instance are just faster, paradrop-able infantry. Major Ravenbeak says later that he does so because "It would not do them any good to engage while in the sky, especially this close to night where the sky was still illuminated but the ground was not." Maybe the forest nearby provides better cover than flying over the barricade? Maybe it's hard to reload in flight? I write in a later chapter that the city has AA defenses (flak guns etc.).
There are excuses, but really it's to make things more relatable and allow narrative to happen. It would be rather pointless for Tanya to wave a flag in the sky if everyone was engaging in an aerial dogfight. She would just be making a massive target of herself.
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One possible explanation is the development of gunpowder based weaponry meant that CQC-based combat were rendered completely obsolete, and any attempts to force them would only be meet with why they were rendered obsolete. Not to say they can't be effective, just that the opportunity/situation where they would be effective is so rare in current battlefield as to be effectively non-existent.
Similar to the period around IRL WW1, where the military common tactics were . . . antiquated compared to the advances in military technology equal why cavalry charges is a big no-no. Only, for this civilization, everyone already knows it, even if only in a vague general sense, so everyone with a gun, or not, know better then to force it and just stick to firing at range.
Now city-combat on the other hand . . .
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Thanks again for the corrections.
I had seen both terms and had assumed it was the GLA until the revolution actually kicked off, in which case it became a national movement and changed to the PLA. I will just change it to the PLA everywhere for simplicity as it doesn't change anything.
The latter; he's putting forth more ideas for what to do when the party takes control of government. I've restructured the paragraph to make this more clear.
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Oh, that makes sense. My instinct was to assume the American meaning, which then confused me as the paragraph continued.
Also I didn't realize you've been responding to me entire time, oops.
For the flight thing, flying around on a battlefield when there's modern guns in play would probably be the equivalent of standing up from a trench while under fire, not the best idea.
I imagine it could make urban warfare absolutely hellish, though. A sniper that can fly to reposition sounds like a nightmare to face.
Next chapter is going to be bombastic if it took this long to get an update (you have updated this fic once per 3-5 days) but next chapter broke that record
It's quite ironic that the griffin that Tanya respects most wants her arrested because he thinks she's an ultra nationalist (That's if I'm not confusing the names, again)
Whenever someone uses "It was not as though" I immediately imagine that it will be happening in the near future
This story does a really good job of showing how much Tanya doesn't understand other people. She believes that everyone in positions she wants like ministers and party leaders think how she does when nobody thinks like she does. She thought the armaments minister purposefully ruined a factory to give it to the socialists to fail, when it was pretty obvious it was like that already, because no one in their right mind would think to do that.