Tyranny of Steel

Nearly three months had passed since the civil war in Luxembourg began, and news of Hartman ’s brutality in hunting down the insurgents had spread across all of Europe. Berengar, while sympathizing with the plight of the rebels, refused to directly involve himself in the war until his rival ’s reputation was at such a level that the world at large would consider military intervention into this conflict a humanitarian necessity.

However, this did not mean he sat idly by and watched during this time. Quite the contrary, he expanded the South German-Confederations military capabilities by arming and training entire divisions of its member states with the best weapons available. He also spent considerable effort replacing his personal army ’s needle rifles with the new G22 Bolt Action Rifles.

However, most importantly, the Austrian King had spent a small fortune ensuring that a railway stretched from the city of Kufstein to the northern borders of Bavaria. After all, this was critical to the rapid invasion of Luxembourg that he had planned, as well as crucial to the success of his logistics network. Now Berengar was merely counting down the days until this network was complete and he could deploy forces and equipment to Bavaria ’s northern borders.

At the moment, the Grand Duke of Bavaria, Dietger von Wittelsbach, stood within Berengar ’s office. Along his side were the other leaders of the South German Confederation, including Eckhard von Marienburg, who wore his various military honors with pride. Though the middle-aged man was no longer a military official, he was still an important political figure in the union of the South and Eastern German States.

For some time, Eckhard had been dealing with the nobles of his realm, attempting to coerce them into obeying the laws he had implemented under Berengar ’s authority. However, resistance was inevitable and thus he had taken Austria ’s military aid with much enthusiasm, rising an army from the peasants in his personal territory. Currently, he was outlining the delicate balance that existed in the newly formed Grand Duchy of Prussia.

”I understand your need for troops, your Majesty; however, as you may be aware, Prussia is currently amid its own internal conflict, and moving my forces from Marienburg to Luxembourg will surely embolden my vassals to rise against me. They are not exactly happy with losing their power. I simply can not afford to spare the troops without risking civil war within my domain. You will simply have to do without my forces…. ”