POV : 'Historian'
Sheaves of light reflected off the rich stucco of the interior, opulent gilding almost glaring, lavish candelabras and chandeliers lit by hundreds of candles.
Yet the interior was still dark....even gloomy.
There was nothing surprising about that, after all, innumerable ornaments, fluted with other ornaments, ate up light like politicians bribes.
So wherever the light didn't fall directly, a dark shadow lurked.
A moment's thoth was enough for one's gaze to flee to the magnificent ceiling of the Conference Hall, where a fresco surrounded by a richly ornamented frame emphasized the distorted illusion of perspective.
Which was actually a good thing, because it distracted him from the artwork on the floor that he was about to trample eh ....better not think and walk smoothly and confidently... looking forward to not gaping at the room ceiling like an idiot.
The historian wondered if the 'host' created such an interior to confuse visitors accustomed to functional station rooms or open panoramas of virtual worlds, when the virtual assistant spoke up and suggested.
"Such interior design may be due to the desire to maintain a coherent atmosphere between gameplay and marketing materials - the design can be attributed to the second half of the 17th century of the 2nd era, which is a date compatible with ..... "
After that, it was unceremoniously muted - conducting a conversation while using it was in bad taste, besides, the historian was trying to get used to life without its support, which he will lose access to during the game anyway.
A look at the table revealed 2 empty seats - one on the top of the table, the other on the left - ok - the top is better avoided, so left it is.
Before the 'historian' could sit down in the empty seat.
The guy next to him stood up - his face was blurred, as if it was impossible to focus on it - he wore a black shirt that was too big, loose pants that were ironed at the edges, aviators instead of a tie - he looked bad... the nickname 'Flyer' did not fit here at all, 'Nerd' would have been closer.
The guy extended his right hand in a gesture of greeting.
"Welcome to the team."
A broad smile, visible despite the camera effect, made him look ... uncanny.
The 'historian' did not know why, but he already despised the bastard - he could feel something wrong and dishonest in him.
"I see the first attempts to feel into a new compartment of history - the crisis of the 20s? "
said 'historian' with traces of venom, a strong handshake did not surprise 'flyer' at all, on the contrary 'historian' almost grimaced himself.
Sitting on the left side, 'Kamchatka' didn't even turn around - a fat guy with a monocle looked a bit like an oil baron 'Historian' wondered if Nick was referring to the Second Pacific Squadron ... if so, he may have a shared sense of humor with someone.
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After a while, a bald man with the nickname 'Nile' joined the meeting.
It was hard to say anything about the newcomer - he didn't have any special features, even his age couldn't be estimated except for a wide range from 25 to 45 years old, he was completely forgetful.
'Nile' stood behind the ornamental seat that crowned the top of the table and began his speech,
"I welcome the entire team for the first time in full composition."
He smiled and looked meaningfully in the direction of the 'historian' and the woman in the exaggeratedly ornamented uniform.
"For our remembrance and for the sake of new members we will start with a short introduction, first a few words about our old team: up to now our specialty was games more or less from the 30 Years War to the Napoleonic era. In this team we play or rather played for 3 years, out of 16 games we played we won 4 and stalled 3, which ranked us 4th in the region. Unfortunately, the recent changes in the rules - here a minute's silence for pulse engines and Hexogen.... - have affected our gameplay a bit."
To underline the message, 'Nile' twisted his face into a theatrical grimace.
The 'Host' developed an entire system of solutions built around a massive air force of wooden pulse jet-propelled aircraft.
In its first iteration, this strategy essentially wiped out both historical armies and those built according to the existing meta.
During the following episodes, this doctrine was not as devastating, but there was still no effective counter to it, and soon it was used by all - but despite the competition, the 'host' held on to the first place - their optimized training systems and greatest experience with flying constructions gave them a year in which they won 3 matches unrivaled, and went undefeated in 2 more, the rest being won by the team using their strategy.
In the end, this strategy was considered an exploit and was banned.
It was this unprecedented winning streak that caught the 'historian' attention and caused him to respond positively to the invitation.
"Due to the above we move to the 20th century, where for the moment only fusion is banned.... we're already registered for the califfication match 'Kamchatka' will introduce you to the details."
'Kamchatka' did not get up, but sat back in his chair and began.
"Well, it is like this... we enter the season very late and on really shaky papers - which is both a problem and a opportunity - we have only one chance to enter the league and that is: to dominate the competition in the qualifiers.... If we do not succeed, we will have to grind through the points like any beginner.
About the game.... This is a standard match, 5 teams of 8, we start from 1936 to 1942, depending on the country and starting conditions.
Opservator mode is off, so only what other players reveal will leak out. anomalies and magic are in on historical, inertia starts on high and drops to zero at 42.
Now, leaving aside all the PR logic behind this decision .... we play Poland and begin in February 1936, so we probably start first.
It is a country in Central Europe between two strong countries, the Soviet Union and the German Reich, with both neighbors we have bad relations - with the rest you have to realistically assume that we are playing in solitude.
the armed forces are one big brothel, falling further and further behind our neighbors. the main problems are the lack of resources, the emphasis on domestic production ... historically unrealistic in such a small economy, and the sheer absurdly large size of the army ...., which is difficult to change due to alliance obligations.
Economy, as I said, weak, almost feudal
Society not technical illiteracy is present.
In 1939 there will be aggression from both neighbors.
Is there anything else to add? ....
Lack of national integrity
High degree of infiltration by foreign agencies
Generally good standard to which we are accustomed only these 200 years later."
As he heard more bad news, the 'historian' felt stunned.
- why play the country in such a weak situation, especially when something depends on this game - on the other hand, he himself did not have the experience that the rest of the team had, so in the end he just asked -.
"Hearing all this ... what is the logic of this decision?"
"The classic choice of nations in my opinion would be:
USA, Germany, Britain, USSR, Japan
I would also not be surprised by countries like
Turkey, Spain, Sweden and China"
Would you agree with me?"
"Yes, I see the logic in each of these choices."
"First and foremost we would be threatened:
Germany and the Soviet Union, followed by Great Britain and Sweden."
There was a broad smile on the face of 'Kamchatka'.
"And here in 39 there is a war with these two powers, years before the possible takeover by the players - assuming the defeat of the Germans, you could easily lead an attack on the UK and Sweden.
In short, it starts hard, but if we succeed, we have a good position in Europe with a few years of security from the rest of the potential players."
"Thank you for your presentation 'Kamchatka' . Now to the practical part
-So far we had 3 working groups:
1: responsible for the initial resources and the process of taking power.
Then for its maintenance and intelligence
2: responsible for industry
3: responsible for politics and command of the army.
I don't know if the 20th century requires any changes in this organization, but we will start with this system."
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