Kannex
TNPer
The closing years of the 19th century saw the Kannexan Reich divided, reunited, and under reconstruction. The divisions of the Kannexan Civil War were fresh on everyone's minds. Even as the Imperial Government asserted its authority over the defeated rebellious provinces, anxiety remained. Kaiser Karl, having seized nearly-dictatorial powers during the Civil War, ruled Kannex using the expanded military as his personal vehicle. Franchise was restored, but limited. Karl's reign saw peace and renewed prosperity, but the rise of the socialist movement and politicization of workers gave angst to the Imperial Government. What the Reich needed, many imperial leaders felt, was a feel-good war for Kannex to rally around. The country would rise out of its postwar melancholy by looking outward -- across the sea.
Pelhafor was a piece of territory populated with several indigenous ethnic groups. This native peoples had warred over the land for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. They had their centuries' worth of beautiful culture, traditions of oral stories in song, artwork, and masonry. The spears they carved for their kings were ornately made; the dresses of their women colored with the rainbow. At the time of the white man's arrival, three major kingdoms divided the land between them.
In the 15th century, the arrival of the Lusitanians brought irreversible change to this land. The Lusitanians brought them ocean-faring ships with sails. They had tubes that shot fire and could instantly kill a dozen men. But worse was that unseen -- the white men brought sickness and plague. Men, women, and children died by the hundreds, struck down by this white man's illness. In forty years the three kingdoms were all but destroyed.
It would not be the Lusitanians, however, to seize Pelhafor's destiny. The Hispanians came and took over the colony. With them they brought culture from their world. For three hundred years, Pelhafor remained a Hispanic colony. Like Kannex across the sea, the culture of the colonizers mixed with that of imported black slaves and conquered natives to form a synthesis that was neither white, black, nor brown, but Pelhaforan. They spoke Spanish, but also their native languages. They went to church and took Mass, but danced to gods of their fathers. Music, literature, culture -- all arose from this mix.
By the 19th century, the Hispanian empire all across the world was dying. The year 1812 saw Teutonic ships sail into Pelhaforan waters and bombard and blockade the Hispanian colony's harbors. After months of combat, the Teutons made Pelhafor their colony.
The invasion did not sit well with Kannex. Kannex sat just across the West Sea (the eastern sea, from Pelhafor's perspective) and had, within the last generation, won its own independence from the Teutons. The resurgence of Teutonic colonial ambitions worried Kannexans. They themselves were a young nation, vulnerable to foreign attack. Word circulated around Kaiser Julius's court that the Teutons' next move would be to reclaim Kannex using Pelhafor as a launchpad. Some ministers began discussing making the first move by attacking Pelhafor. Many Kannexans, at any rate, sympathized with the Pelhaforans -- both peoples were multiracial and the result of colonial adventures. It was not unthinkable that Kannexans should, perhaps, accept their Pelhaforan brethren into das kannexisches Reich.
It was not until nearly a century later that Kannex would have the power to fulfill such wishes. An educated, well-financed native middle-class had risen up in Pelhafor as had happened in Kannex before its independence. This Pelhaforan middle-class, while accepting and assimilating into the cultural dominance of their colonial masters, began to resent their own political subservience to a country far across the ocean.
In 1895, the Pelhaforans revolted against the Teutons. It was to be the last in a series of several attempts for independence. The Teutonic administration, afraid this would be another Kannex, quashed civil rights and emptied entire villages in its counterinsurgency efforts. News of Teutonic atrocities in Pelhafor reached Kannexan newspapers and a call for action was made. Kaiser Karl seized the chance for glory.
The arrest and torture of Kannexan merchants in Pelhafor brew anger. In a calculated move, the Kannexan Empire sent Kraftvoll, one of its old ironclad frigates, to dock in a Pelhaforan port in April 20, 1898. This was both to threaten the Teutons and to push them to peace. When unknown assailants bombed the Kraftvoll and killed a dozen of her crew, Kannex went to war.
The battleships of the Imperial Navy raced across the sea to Pelhafor. These were the most modern designs; each sailed at a speed of 16 knots. Unlike the ships earlier in the century, the new battleships were all iron -- no masts. Steamed turbines powered the ship and a mixed battery of guns -- featuring four main 12-inch guns -- effected the Empire's will from within metal turrets.
Kannexan battleships chased the Teutonic navy from Pelhaforan waters. Led by Kannexan Civil War veterans, imperial troops stormed Teutonic strongholds alongside Pelhaforan volunteers. In May 23, 1899, the Teutonic empire at last conceded defeat. Pelhafor fell under the rule of Kannex.
Pelhafor was a piece of territory populated with several indigenous ethnic groups. This native peoples had warred over the land for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. They had their centuries' worth of beautiful culture, traditions of oral stories in song, artwork, and masonry. The spears they carved for their kings were ornately made; the dresses of their women colored with the rainbow. At the time of the white man's arrival, three major kingdoms divided the land between them.
In the 15th century, the arrival of the Lusitanians brought irreversible change to this land. The Lusitanians brought them ocean-faring ships with sails. They had tubes that shot fire and could instantly kill a dozen men. But worse was that unseen -- the white men brought sickness and plague. Men, women, and children died by the hundreds, struck down by this white man's illness. In forty years the three kingdoms were all but destroyed.
It would not be the Lusitanians, however, to seize Pelhafor's destiny. The Hispanians came and took over the colony. With them they brought culture from their world. For three hundred years, Pelhafor remained a Hispanic colony. Like Kannex across the sea, the culture of the colonizers mixed with that of imported black slaves and conquered natives to form a synthesis that was neither white, black, nor brown, but Pelhaforan. They spoke Spanish, but also their native languages. They went to church and took Mass, but danced to gods of their fathers. Music, literature, culture -- all arose from this mix.
By the 19th century, the Hispanian empire all across the world was dying. The year 1812 saw Teutonic ships sail into Pelhaforan waters and bombard and blockade the Hispanian colony's harbors. After months of combat, the Teutons made Pelhafor their colony.
The invasion did not sit well with Kannex. Kannex sat just across the West Sea (the eastern sea, from Pelhafor's perspective) and had, within the last generation, won its own independence from the Teutons. The resurgence of Teutonic colonial ambitions worried Kannexans. They themselves were a young nation, vulnerable to foreign attack. Word circulated around Kaiser Julius's court that the Teutons' next move would be to reclaim Kannex using Pelhafor as a launchpad. Some ministers began discussing making the first move by attacking Pelhafor. Many Kannexans, at any rate, sympathized with the Pelhaforans -- both peoples were multiracial and the result of colonial adventures. It was not unthinkable that Kannexans should, perhaps, accept their Pelhaforan brethren into das kannexisches Reich.
It was not until nearly a century later that Kannex would have the power to fulfill such wishes. An educated, well-financed native middle-class had risen up in Pelhafor as had happened in Kannex before its independence. This Pelhaforan middle-class, while accepting and assimilating into the cultural dominance of their colonial masters, began to resent their own political subservience to a country far across the ocean.
In 1895, the Pelhaforans revolted against the Teutons. It was to be the last in a series of several attempts for independence. The Teutonic administration, afraid this would be another Kannex, quashed civil rights and emptied entire villages in its counterinsurgency efforts. News of Teutonic atrocities in Pelhafor reached Kannexan newspapers and a call for action was made. Kaiser Karl seized the chance for glory.
The arrest and torture of Kannexan merchants in Pelhafor brew anger. In a calculated move, the Kannexan Empire sent Kraftvoll, one of its old ironclad frigates, to dock in a Pelhaforan port in April 20, 1898. This was both to threaten the Teutons and to push them to peace. When unknown assailants bombed the Kraftvoll and killed a dozen of her crew, Kannex went to war.
The battleships of the Imperial Navy raced across the sea to Pelhafor. These were the most modern designs; each sailed at a speed of 16 knots. Unlike the ships earlier in the century, the new battleships were all iron -- no masts. Steamed turbines powered the ship and a mixed battery of guns -- featuring four main 12-inch guns -- effected the Empire's will from within metal turrets.
Kannexan battleships chased the Teutonic navy from Pelhaforan waters. Led by Kannexan Civil War veterans, imperial troops stormed Teutonic strongholds alongside Pelhaforan volunteers. In May 23, 1899, the Teutonic empire at last conceded defeat. Pelhafor fell under the rule of Kannex.
I have my history teacher to thank.