The Marshal General of France title was only given to 6 military commanders in French history, a testament to just how militarily brilliant all of them were. 5 of these 6 military commanders formed one of the two major factions controlling the French community. They named themselves the Marshal Generals of France, with many of their top members holding the title of at least Marshal of France. If nothing else, they preached quality over quantity.

Notable figures of this faction would be the leader of the group, Marshal General Francois de Bonne. Next was General Marshal Turenne, the most powerful land strategist of the group. The French naval genius, Marshal General Charles de Gontaut. Then there was General Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars, the aerial warfare tinkerer. Finally, there was Marshal General Maurice, the best frontline fighter strategist of the French community.

Napoleon Bonaparte led the other influential faction, aptly named the Emperor’s faction. Also in this faction was Louis Bourbon, a being of strategic prowess that nearly matched Napoleon and Turenne. Another important figure in this faction was Marshal Luxembourg who learned under both Turenne and Louis Bourbon. Finally, the only one of the 6 Marshal Generals to be under Napoleon was Marshal General Jean de Dieu Soult.

In the past little while, many new factions sprang up out of nowhere and they were becoming very powerful, very fast. Two were especially promising, the Joan of Arcs faction that emphasized more on soldiers’ health and well-being rather than military might. As well as the World War Club. Both were innovators in their own right.

However, these two new factions were nowhere near on the level of the Emperor’s faction nor the Marshal Generals of France. That was why they were excluded when the top 2 French factions got together to discuss their plan for the upcoming mock Death Match Tournament that would be held at the Chinese community.

“General Marshals, I thank you for taking the time to come to my place of residence to talk over this matter,” Napoleon Bonaparte greeted his guests.

“No need for such formalities, Napoleon. We are all the same here,” Marshal General Turenne responded.

“Well, if it isn’t my old rival. Finally decided to participate in these meetings, Turenne? What made you change your mind?” Louis Bourbon asked.

“I finally decided to try a more hands-on approach to my position instead of delegating it to others. Even if I’m not the best at it, I figure it is best to not drag this on any longer.”

“Smart move as always, Turenne. I was wondering when you would reach this conclusion, after all, politics was never your strong suit, that one time you even-” Marshal General Jean Soult of the Emperor’s faction started out.

“Watch it Jean Soult, that jab could come at a cost you cannot afford.” Marshal General Villars interjected.

“Let’s not fight amongst ourselves. Please, everyone, follow me to our meeting room.” Napoleon said before anything else could be said.

Napoleon’s intent was clear, this matter was of extreme importance. As such, it needed to be resolved immediately. Sun Tzu and his close advisors came traveling through the French community just a few decades earlier and had introduced the mock tournament idea to Napoleon and Napoleon alone. It was only recently that Napoleon got the official invitation to the event. During that time, Napoleon had only told his close aides, Louis Bourbon, Luxembourg, and General Marshal Jean Soult.

These influential figures were led to the heart of Napoleon’s HQ which was built in the style of an ancient French Castle. Inside the room where they were seated, there were many artifacts in this room, mostly of historically accurate French weaponry and inventions.

“Napoleon, have you finally decided to share more information about this mock tournament with us?” Marshal General Francois de Bonne, leader of the Marshal Generals of France, asked directly. He cocked his head in Napoleon’s direction in anticipation.

“Straight to the point as always I see. Very well. We have been given an opportunity to scope out our potential rivals before the actual Death Match tournament. I do not plan on giving up this opportunity. This is one way for us to get a better understanding of who will be our top competitors.”

“And the layout of this mock tournament?”

“100 total from each of the invited communities. A total of 12 communities that Sun Tzu has deemed has a fairly good chance to place in the top of the tournament. The only real differences are that the battles are scaled down by a factor of 10. Everything else is relatively the same as the rules that Charlemagne has told us about.” Louis Bourbon replied.

“And where is Charlemagne now?”

“He is resolving the Frankish community’s dissolution and convincing whoever will listen to join our French community,” Luxembourg replied.

“Ah, last I heard, many of the Frankish subjects were quite inclined to join up with the German community. I wonder how that will eventually pan out.”

“What about William the Conqueror, Clovis, Charles Martel, Roland, and all of those Gallic strategists? Have they accepted our invitation?” General Marshal Maurice said.

“Unfortunately, those warriors of old are still clinging onto their past glory. They are still powerful, but with the situation at their current state, they would not even be able to take on our Joan of Arcs faction,” Napoleon spoke confidently.

“How can you be certain?”

“Because I recently challenged them all with nothing but myself along with my house of Bourbon,” Louis Bourbon said very casually. “They are nothing but remnants of the past. They used to be fairly powerful, yet now, they are a lost cause. A true shame, they should have innovated when they were at their peak.”

“Oh? I am confident in your abilities, Louis Bourbon, but just how well did your challenge against them go?”

“Well, my old rival Turenne, it was not pretty for them. They have powerful warriors sure, but their blueprint technology, as well as strategic prowess, is centuries behind mine. They were doomed to fail from the beginning. Charlemagne and William came closest to winning the simulations.”

“What do you think would be the outcome if say you were on an even playing field and fought based solely on tactics?”

“I’ll admit, my victory may not be as clean. However, I’m still fairly confident in my abilities.”

“Perhaps I’ll go and challenge them one day. That sounds like an interesting experience. To challenge our French forefathers.”

“Perhaps another time, this mock tournament will take up much of our time in the coming decades. There are so many considerations to take into account.”

“Turenne, though you are not in my faction, I respect you the most. Who do you think we should place into the 100 that will be competing?” Napoleon Bonaparte asked for genuine advice.

“My take on this matter is that we need to make a strong showing. After all, we haven’t placed in the top 10 before. Sun Tzu believing that our French community has a shot to make it this time around shows just how much promise he sees in our abilities. We need to prove him right.”

“Well said Turenne, I believe that we will place fairly high in this competition as some of the other invited communities have been declining for a long time now.”

“Napoleon, does the invitation tell us who will be participating?” Marshal General Maurice asked.

“From my intelligence in the other communities, it seems quite a few of them are already on the move. The Greco-Romans, the Indians, the Mongolians, the Chinese, the United States of America, the Egyptians, the Ottomans, the British, the Germans, the Russians, the Jordsandinians, and our French community.”

“Who will be our main competition? I haven’t inquired as much as the rest of you into matters regarding the other communities.” Marshal General Charles de Gontaut admitted.

“It seems the Greco-Roman, Mongolian, and Egyptian communities have grown the least in the past millennia. The Chinese, Japanese, and Ottoman Empire growing a considerable amount both in terms of quality and quantity of strategists. Our French community, the Russians, the British, and the Germans have gained the most power in relation to the other communities. However, I have no information about the Jordsandinian community. Of course, these tiers are not indicative of overall power, just growth throughout the past few hundred years.” Napoleon revealed as much as he dared. These were, after all, his competition in a sense.

“Hang on, what’s going on with the Jordsandinian community? How aren’t you able to get any information on them?” Charles de Gontaut questioned.

“Their community is blocked off to everyone except Jordsandinians. Essentially, this means that they are able to block any and all information from getting out.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Isolating yourself as a community is an almost foolproof way to stunt the growth of your strategists.”

“This is true for everyone except the Jordsand community. They are an oddity among oddities. My informants have told me that this has been the way of that community from time immemorial. Sun Tzu has even told me that he could not get an invitation despite being the head of state of the Chinese community.”

“Are the Chinese not the current second place in terms of official rankings? If not even he could get inside that community, I hardly doubt that anyone is capable of getting in without the consent of those at the top of Jordsand.”

“It matters not, he could be lying for all I care. The important part is that no one I send can get in and therefore we have no intelligence on our greatest foe. For us strategic thinkers, not knowing anything about our enemies is a very disadvantageous position.”

“No kidding.”

“Oh yes, Claude Villars, how goes your aerial warfare training?”

“I have to say that warfare in the skies is a lot more exhilarating than anything land-based. I am getting pretty solid, but I don’t think I will be able to surpass the World War Club’s members under command of Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque. As much as I hate to say it, I think we should put more of their strategists if we are to show just how strong our French generals are.”

“Is that so?” Napoleon said while contemplating a few matters silently.

“Do you think that is not a good idea?”

“If that was the only issue that we had to deal with, then no. I would have come to the same conclusion. However, I have been keeping an eye out for them ever since Phillippe Leclerc founded that faction. I am afraid that they will soon overtake us in terms of sheer power and blueprints.”

“Napoleon, while I do agree with you to some extent, that is still a long while away. We shouldn’t be too concerned with this topic until the need arises.” Marshal General Maurice tried to reason with Napoleon.

“Actually, this has been on my mind recently as well.”

“Jean Soult, you too?”

“Hear me out, fellow Marshal Generals. I am not like the 5 of you. I may be a Marshal General but I did not serve under the same dynasty as you. I came to see firsthand how quickly a nation could change under the right circumstances.”

“Look at it this way, everyone, it did not take us long to overtake the throne for ourselves from the previous community heads. How long did that take us from forming our own factions to the fall of the previous leaders? Just over 2 centuries.” Louis Bourbon added on.

“I think all of you are missing the point. We overtook them because they were outdated, and seriously lacking when it came to how to efficiently run a community of this size. They were defeated, yes, and they refused to stay where they were not in power. That’s why most of them left our community. That is their decision.”

“What are you getting at, Turenne?”

“All I’m saying is, no one stays in power forever. I was once heralded as the greatest French military Commander. And just a little while later, Napoleon received that title. I have no doubt that eventually, that title will go on to someone from a younger generation. It might take another few thousand years, but it will come to pass.”

“You aren’t great at getting to the point, Turenne.”

“Sorry, I’ll just phrase this as simply as I can. We should be supporting the younger generation in their quest for power. I know this is likely an unpopular thought, but given our circumstances, this is the best course of action.”

“And what are our current circumstances, Turenne?”

“Just that we are stuck in this strange world with no way of getting out. There are no deaths, no need to eat, no need to do anything. But there are lots of wars. It’s almost a sport at this point! If we can improve the lives of our citizens, then no matter the cost, we need to see it transferred to the next generation. And when that time comes, we will simply step down and advise them on how to take care of matters where we have experience. If they wish us to fight in the sims, then we do so with no pressure.”

“I see your point, Turenne. However, I, as well as everyone else in this room, worked hard to get to the position we are in now. How can we just give it up at a moments’ notice?” Napoleon raised his voice a bit.

“Look, Turenne, I don’t doubt that your way puts the least strain on our community as a whole. The glaring issue with this is, just like those old kings and such we overthrew, I don’t really want to see all the fruits of my labor vanish only to watch in the sidelines.” Francois de Bonne said.

“I won’t argue with any of you, but I think it should be noted that the departure of the old leading faction, has caused no shortage of controversy. Not to mention there were some exceptional strategists that were among them. France has been weakened. What would happen if we decided to fight the new age as they have.” Turenne defended his previous statement.

“You are absolutely correct, Turenne. We French need to unite together if we are to improve our lives. Instead of fighting amongst ourselves, is it not better to band together and fight our common enemies?” Louis Bourbon backed up his old rival.

“As do I,” Jean Soult finally said something after contemplating the matter carefully. This instantly caused Napoleon to crease his brows in surprise.

“What makes you say that?” Napoleon was keen to listen to one of his most trusted strategists.

“Napoleon, you know that I am a Bonapartist. I fought for you and you should know the sacrifices that I had to make. However, your second defeat has made me realize something that I am finally able to put into words. It is that no matter how good you are, there will always be someone better. So I sincerely believe that if we are able to make a massive coalition like the one that defeated you both times, then we will be able to accomplish much more.”

“I appreciate your input, Jean. However, I think we can all agree that everyone standing in this room still has so much potential for growth. I just don’t see them outpacing us in that aspect.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Napoleon. Let me show you one of the blueprints that I recently bought from the World War Club.” Claude Villars brought up seemingly out of nowhere.

He retrieved the blueprint he was talking about and laid it out on the table that they were all surrounding. It was that of the War Bomber Avro Lancaster. Designed by the British and used by the French during World War 2. Claude Villars repeated what he was told by the many strategists he had visited from the World War Club. As Villar’s explanation went on, the eyes of the others began to widen and it slowly dawned on them that they had been sleeping on such magnificent technologies.

One by one, it became clear to everyone that they had spent so much time fighting who they figured was outdated when it turned out that they were nearly outdated as well. If they did not advance along with technology, they will eventually be put into a position like those they forced out. Now that they knew exactly how far technology had come from their time, they felt that there was no way that they would be able to continue with their plan on putting off the World War Club when that time came.

It was quite a tough pill for these men to swallow. During their own time, they were behemoth figures among men. Their hubris began to decrease and after ironing out a few more details of the mock tournament. All of them decided to pay a visit to the World War Club to see just how factually correct the information was.

For the World War Club, this was certainly a surprise. To see the two biggest factions come knocking at their door. Not to mention the nine top officials of those organizations coming in person. This had never happened before, and rumors quickly began to spread throughout the community.

The leader of the World War Club, Phillippe Leclerc, came out to greet them in person to inquire as to what his guests had come to talk about. After some much-heated debate, multiple simulation matches, and a large sum of money was exchanged, the three factions shook hands on what would become the biggest coalition the French Community had ever seen. A few months later, the Joan of Arcs faction was invited to join, but the all-women faction refused.

For a little while, after the coalition was formed, the French community saw one of the biggest spurts of growth that they had ever seen. This reflected on nearly everybody, not just the 3 factions involved. There was no doubt that their strategic prowess as a group was growing, but Napoleon and the others at the top worried if they had waited too long to begin training in the new ways of warfare. If that was the case, they could only blame their incredibly big ego, lack of foresight, and hubris.

This mock tournament represented many things to the French. The biggest being their first chance to debut just how strong their blueprints and strategists were. No longer did they have to hide among the crowds. It was their time to shine.