11th Year of the SovereignAh, Bearland. The land of all sorts of natural wealth; its great woods, copper, iron, vulcanium, sulphur, and all hot matter; and the famous vulcanium spirit. You, Sandor McNash, by any standard a reasonable drinker, was hungover for two days after you lost a drinking game against your best mate in Bearland, Igor.
Igor was the son of a Bearland Colonel, and you used the friendship to get close to the Bearland Military elites. You learnt of their weapons and tactics - and they are willing to share their new tactics and weapons with you. While you know that they are way behind the frontier of science, your experience there might later prove useful back in Asgard. And they certainly think Asgard will buy Bearland products sooner or later.
Speaking about the frontier of science, this is what you have been studying for a few years there. You participated in the first few high-altitude flights of Bearland, reaching the height of 30000 feet - 10 years ago, it was understood to be unreachable by any sane human being. You also had much understanding in the lowly material of steel, insofar you even created a prototype sword which is absurdly strong enough to be as light as a wooden pole and yet can damage vehicular armor.
However, the time would not last long. In the 11th Year of the Sovereign, you received a telegraph from Asgard, sent through the newly introduced ethero-plasma trunk telegraph network. You were told to go back to Asgard immediately. You understand you have little choice there, and you were back to Asgard in two months, by the way of the Ether-driven Zeppelins. You brought back nothing, except drawings you accumulated for a few years, foreign contacts and your outlandishly powerful sword.
Now you are back in Asgard. Asgard has changed a lot in a few years, and you come to understand why you were called back: the sovereign finally decided enough backwardness is enough and they had to modernize themselves thoroughly. All the students who were studying abroad were called back, and are installed as a new, modern cabinet. Seeing your talents, the sovereign named you the chief weapon designer of Asgard, with some speaking rights in the cabinet.
The cabinet will hold a meeting soon, maybe in the next week or so. Being a junior minister, You were expected to lay out your aims for Asgard's army in the next year. You are expected to satisfy the needs of the three armed force leaders, namely the Army Chief, Navy Chief, and Ether Force Chief, as well as working under the constraints of the finance Minister. Other members of the cabinet include the Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Foreign Minister, Economy Minister, Education and Science Minister, industry minister, so on and so forth.
You looked at the reports given by your subordinates:
2 Labs, very poorly equipped
2 Prototyping Office, very poorly equipped
5 Engineers
5 Skilled workers
Adequate unskilled workers
Population: ~3M
Industrial Capacity: Nascant
Agricultural & Fisheries Capacity: Produce barely enough to feed
Mining and natural resources: Good supply of Vulcanium, Copper; Adequate Iron, woods; need to import everything else including sulphur, saltpeter and other exotic materials
Main exports: raw materials, some cash crops
Main Imports: Machines, Consumer products
Political Unity: low, several local warlords effectively controls 60% of the land
Queenland: Okay
Gentleland: Okay
Greyland: Cool
Eagleland: warm
Bearland: warm
Ball-land: receiving end of a crush
and the nearby nations:
Dragonland: amity but they have too many problems to solve
Monoland: They seemed to have territorial aspirations on Asgard, but so far they are not preparing for war. Moving closer to Eagleland in relations.
Tuskland: They are Queenland-aligned, but wanted to throw off the yoke and let their tusks pierce the queen. Resource exporter.
Chililand: situated across the Asgard peninsula, they might one day become a naval threat. Are now building all sorts of ships.
Other states will show up in this digest if they become relevant.
Imperial Forces: 1000 Professional Infantryman, poor training
Can draft 100000 untrained men
500 Breech-loading Muskets
Adequate Muzzle-loading Muskets, of a design of a previous era (i.e. you can get as many as needed)
5 Up-to-date breech-loading Artillery pieces
~1000 Guns, various custom-made designs, mostly small calibers and muzzle-loaded, outdated
1 Medium Steam Tank /w Steam Cannon
5 Steam trucks
1 Experimental, outdated Blimp
1 500t Steamship
~100 sailboats of various design and construction
Provincial forces:
warlords can reliably call on 1000 - 50000 men in battles
they have mostly outdated weapons but they start to get armament smuggled in over time
The Army chief wanted more advanced weaponry to improve morale and make a larger standing army feasible.
The Navy chief wanted an up-to-date fleet to protect Asgard from being run over again
The Ether Force Chief wanted more blimps and exotic rocketry - he's Gentleland educated so no surprise.
The finance minister wanted to increase mineral exports and is seen pushing the industrial minister to sign contracts for foreign exploitation of resources
The PM wanted to prove to the Emperor he's capable and is looking forward to more centralization
The Interior minster wants the might of warlords clamped down and the police better equipped. He also wanted more foreign influence and hope the foreigners help with policing themselves
The foreign minister is inclined to let foreign government meddle in interior matters is good as long as they keep their own check and balances. He would rather not commit to allying with any country, and he seemed to be content with the central government confined to the capital.
The economy minister wanted to build up production and complains that the finance minister wanted too much immediate benefits.
The Education and Science Minister wanted to keep his share of income and noted that an educated workforce is needed for Asgard's future.
The Industry minister sides with the economy minister and noted they should import foreign production methods.
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The essential question, now, is what you are going to propose on the cabinet meeting? what sort of promises you would want to make? And in what direction - as long as the suggestion do not sound like you wanted to be PM - the holy, eternal state of Asgard should go forward to?Talking is a free action, so feel free to talk until you sound incoherent.