“Suleiman! What are you going to do about this predicament we are in?” Bayezid shouted from across the table.
“Watch your mouth, Bayezid, you are talking to the ruler of the Ottomans at the moment. Since I sired him, that insult is a direct stain on my name. Such a tone is extremely disrespectful.” Suleiman’s somewhat distant father, Selim, yelled right back.
“Enough you two. We are meeting today to discuss what we need to do, not try to knock each other down.” Mehmed the Conqueror reminded the two.
“Bayezid, you’re right. When I died, our Ottoman empire was one of the greatest in the world. I was foolish to think that would last.” Suleiman the Magnificent said with a hint of regret on his face.
“Confessing the truth of such an obvious matter is not getting us anywhere. What you have to understand is that we cannot keep going on the path we have taken thus far. I was hopeful too, of your ideas of acceptance and harmony among everyone who wanted to join our community. Trust me, I really did, but you could not make it a reality for very long.” Bayezid said in a much calmer but still agitated voice.
“Suleiman, as much as I respect you, that man is right. We have almost always been a people who were tolerant and accepted others, perhaps we were too lax. The world is changing, who knows how long we will be powerful for.” Mehmed tried to reason.
“Nonsense! The Ottomans are more powerful now than we ever have been. There is no way we can fall so fast.” Selim boasted.
“Selim, how delusional are you? Even the original founder of our community has seen that we are in decline and has left to seek greener pastures.”
“You mean Osman? He was never meant to be a fighter anyway. It’s a good thing that he left control over to us.”
“Selim, even you should know that the new sultans coming in progressively get worse with each generation. Not only that, but we also have not had one come in for over a century now. How can you say that despite knowing the fact that our counterpart on Earth is already being regarded as a country only spoken of in historical context? We are going downhill fast.”
“Are you even Ottoman? How do you have so little faith in everything all of us in this community have fought for? How can you just say that Osman was right to abandon us! He was our first ruler, not only on this planet but also on Earth. How can you approve of his actions?”
“Oh get over yourself! The four of us in this room have fought for the sake of the Ottoman empire for a long time as well. We are a proud people above anything else. Don’t you see how much it pains me to see it all decay into nothingness?” Bayezid turned away for a moment so as to not let the others see his shame.
“Look, all three of you, such discussions will get us nowhere. We must look to the future for where our paths will take us. Not in the past. So that is why I have invited someone here to speak about one of our possible courses of action.” Suleiman told everyone in the room.
“Who did you invite?”
“His name is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He is the first president of Turkey, and the current ruler of the Turkish community.”
“Turkey? I’ve never heard of it. Are they powerful?”
“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of Turkey. After all, this country was birthed from the ashes of the once all-powerful Ottoman empire.” Mustafa replied with a sly smile.
“What did you say? Once great? Don’t confuse us with those horse nomads of the east. We are still powerful, unlike those prehistoric savages.”
“I’m not here to talk about those tasteless matters.”
“Then what are you here to talk about exactly?”
“To put it in as few words as possible, I am here to recruit you.”
“You’re joking, right? Suleiman, tell me you’re joking.” Selim looked to his most successful heir.
“I agree with Bayezid that is going a bit too far,” Mehmed added.
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“Let him finish,” Suleiman said as he insisted Mustafa to continue on.
“Right, well, let’s get to the root of most of your problems. You were once very prominent on the world stage. However, you failed to capitalize on it and nearly stopped your advancement of weapons. The most advanced piece of technology you have with you is outdated World War 1 vehicles. That is not going to cut it anywhere.”
“What do you know about this topic?”
“My community of Turkey is very well equipped in that regard, but we are lacking quite a bit of capable strategists. That is the only reason Sun Tzu has not rescinded your invitation as he has done for the Prussian community.”
“Well, doesn’t that just mean that Sun Tzu thinks higher of us than he does of your pathetic community?”
“At the moment, I cannot deny that possibility. However, what you need to know is that while my community is quite new, it has a lot of support, and is very unlikely to dissolve anytime soon. That means that we are nearly guaranteed to grow at a faster pace than you.”
“Oi, aren’t you getting a little bit too cocky? You and your group haven’t even been on this planet all that long, I reckon. Where is that confidence coming from?”
“That’s just my personality, but as I see it, there are only a few outcomes for dead communities like the one you 4 are running.”
“See your loyal subjects disappear one by one, or make a deal with me and prosper.”
“Suleiman, are you seriously considering his offer?”
“Yes, I am, no matter what you say about him, you can’t deny the facts that he has spoken so far.”
A short silence soon followed.
“I don’t think it’s all that bad of an idea, it’s just that we would have to sacrifice our identity in order to go through with this. I don’t think I am really ready for such a blow.” Mehmed finally said.
“That is true. I think the Chinese said it best, would you rather be the head of a chicken or the tail of a phoenix?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means would you rather be an important person in a failing organization, or would you rather put away your pride and join the winning side, even if you aren’t considered as important?”
“...Even if the four of us agree to such a ridiculous proposition, our citizens will not.” Selim pushed back.
“Well, what you have to know is that your community is nearly obsolete. That means you will have to spend an ungodly amount of resources just to catch up to the other communities. Not to mention the costs associated with training your top brass to get familiar with these new weapons and vehicles to-”
“You can’t know that, Mustafa.”
“-I wasn’t done. And yes I can. I know you figureheads of the past are quite resistant to change, but you need to know that your era is over if you don’t change your ways. Your glory days are over. You need to come to terms with that.”
“Even if what you say is true, why should we pick you and not another one of the more successful communities?”
“Because no noteworthy communities have Islam as their biggest religion, including Turkey. So our people will have the highest chance of success of uniting our peoples into one harmonious group. Due to ancestry, of course.”
“Now, hold on. Are you planning on having a community that fosters anyone regardless of religion?” Suleiman said a bit worried.
“Yes, I would. That would be the easiest way to stir our men to constantly improve themselves. Competition is good, so long as no violence or ill intentions are getting too high.”
“Are you a Muslim or Islamic man?”
“I am secular myself. You might think that is a disadvantage, but I think my status as the person who founded the Turkish community will outweigh all negatives set against me.”
“I won’t listen to anyone who does not practice Islam!.” Selim shouted, visibly infuriated.
“Fine! I’m done trying to play nice. I was going to offer you the services and blueprints that would have given you a slight chance of not embarrassing yourselves in the tournament. But I have changed my mind.”
“We never needed your help!”
“Selim, Mustafa, come on, let’s talk this out. There is no need for either of you to go this far.”
“Forget it, Mehmed. You, Bayezid, and Suleiman don’t seem to completely hate what I have offered. So I will still extend the offer to you three if you wish to join my community. Selim, on the other hand, my generosity will never grace your life again.”
“Humph! Why don’t you get out of here before I have you thrown out?”
“I’ll leave. However, you should not be surprised when I attend to witness the mock tournament. When I do, I can say with 100% certainty that I will watch the Ottoman Empire burn down for the second time. That I can GUARANTEE! Goodbye.”
“Mustafa please wait.” Suleiman reached out to try to stop his guest.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, once military personnel of the Ottoman Empire and fought for Turkish independence where he became the first president of the country, stormed out of the hall decked with the finest of artifacts. Today did not go as he had envisioned, he knew the hardheaded Selim would be the most difficult to deal with but not to this extent.
“Selim! That was uncalled for! We really needed his help.” Suleiman was starting to resent his father more and more.
“He’s only here to make trouble for us. Why did you even invite him here?”
“I had a few bouts with him.”
“So what? He is not your equal in any way. What is your point?”
“That much is true, however, every match where blueprints were allowed, I have lost. Do you know what that means? It means that lesser strategists will be able to compete with even the best of us given that they have the technology to compete with us.”
“...”
“Is that true, Suleiman? If so, that is quite hard to believe.” Mehmed commented.
“Tell me that is not so.”
“Well, that is the truth, Bayezid. You know how much I like to brag about my victories. I will never lie about this matter.”
“Still, I am a much more strategically inclined leader than even you, Suleiman. Don’t underestimate me. I could probably have taken him.” Selim said and immediately got up to leave the room. The other three did not stop him and just watched as their greatest strategist left the room.
“Hopefully, the poor results of the mock tournament will wake him up to our terrible current situation. The only thing I fear is our reputation being tarnished in the process.”
“Indeed, before this meeting, I too was of the mind that we would be able to place in the middle of the pack. Now, I am sort of depressed about where we might end up placing.”
“Is there no one else we could turn to?”
“You heard Mustafa, pay a huge sum to modernize or get left behind with no hope of catching up. Terrible choices, but no other options. “
“Hmm, what a predicament we are in. I certainly hope that Mustafa and Selim can make up with each other. I know he said some pretty nasty things, but the two of them will be able to work it out, I just know it.”