Walking down the cobbled street, the slowly rising columns of smoke both awed and suffocated me. It made me wonder of those long frozen corpses that lay below the concrete behemoths, set in the eternal prison of permafrost.

And it made me wonder, how many more will build the deceitfully white city?

Suddenly my attention is yanked towards the glittering spires of the Silver Palace, dusted with snow falling from the skies like crystal jewels for our glorious Nikola the Great. His home I will inevitably invade, but with urgent news. Today is the day I prove my mettle. This is where I prove the power of the White Army, second to none. We are the fierce protectors of our gentle Tsar and our hardy people.

We shan’t bow to bloody tyrants like the Zürtzün Empire and their cronies in the Reichsmaschine. Our gentle Tsar must harden his heart, lest we fall to the feet of savages.

“You are in the presence of the Tsar! All those who show reverence, prostrate yourselves or be branded traitors to our motherland!” the guard clad in soft white fur barks out.

With no ounce of hesitation, I get down on one knee, my long braid entangled with pure white hair falls to the side, matching the threaded snowflakes that sprinkle the long purple carpet. The rest of my comrades follow suit, though they show their sincerity on both knees.

“We revere our great and gentle Tsar, the glory of the White Army acting as our gentle ruler’s arms and legs!” I proclaim with fervour.

“We revere!” The rest of the hall chimes in. The middle-aged man clad in regal white and purple robes motions his hand upwards. With a brief nod, I rise but my comrades remain firmly planted to the ground. His mouth opens, a voice a gentle as the falling snow floating out.

“You may speak, Comrade Avrora.”

“I thank you, Tsar Nikolas.”. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

“I must apologize for the sudden meeting between the White Army and our Tsar Nikolas, but I bring urgent and… somewhat grim news. As my comrades in the palace and on the streets may know, Zürtzün is beginning to gather its forces once again. Our violent neighbour to the west clearly knows no bounds, lord only knows. The most worrying part of all this is the current ruling party, the Adlerschrank. If their incompetent King wasn’t enough, now they have a power-hungry lunatic at the helm of their country.”

“That is indeed worrying. We’ve been monitoring the Adlerschrank’s actions for a while, but they have been pushing the limits of the Mefine Treaty. It’s extremely troubling, to say the least, Commissioner.”

“Thankfully for us, that Kugel isn’t the smartest person to exist and has made his dislike of the empire’s neighbours very vocal. Meaning in his foolishness, he has given us time to prepare.” Tsar Nikolas’s eyes become clouded and he heaves a great sigh. Massaging his temples he says with great pain in his voice,

“You’re not possibly suggesting we have a repeat of the Dirty War, Comrade Avrora?”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, I messed up. Such a sore subject, I shouldn’t have even brought it up in implication!

I shake my head vigorously.

“No, no, no, of course not Tsar Nikolas! I know that the Dirty War was a terrible time for both Myromnmiat and it’s people, but it’s specifically because I don't want a repeat of it that I bring it up!” I desperately counter.

We simply can’t have a repeat of the revolution. It nearly tore apart our nation last time, what on earth would happen this time? I have to convince the Tsar, no matter what. “I beg of you Tsar Nikolas, please increase funding for the White Army so that we may increase our capabilities! Without it, we shall be woefully unprepared for the Empire’s assault against our nation!” I pleaded.

He stared thoughtfully at me for a second. Scratching his chin, he looked more torn than anyone I’d ever seen before. Like a clear pond basking in the pale moonlight, his eyes reflected a great sadness and pain, one that wished to forget the horrors of the Dirty War and the raging hellfire that it sparked within the motherland.

The Zündar are foolish to think that they were the only ones to have suffered. What of the many Mynmiat lives taken during White October? What of the terrible revolution sparked that ripped us apart? What of the merciless Red wave that nearly consumed us alive? It disgusts me to think that Kugel tries to pretend as if they were the ones who suffered.

“...tell me, Commissioner, is there really no other way? The last thing that I wish for is another revolution,” he asked in a defeated tone. I shake my head sadly.

“I’m afraid it is the only way, Tsar Nikolas. If we don’t begin to prepare in advance, we will be crushed like bugs. The White Army may be the strongest in the world but without adequate preparation and organization, we will easily fall into the palms of our enemies to the west.” The room grows still, as the remembrance of that stain on the White Army’s reputation pulses through my comrades.

“...We were woefully unprepared for Zürtzün’s fury,” mumbles Yegor. I try to affirm Yegor’s statement.

“It is indeed so, Comrade Yegor. It is indeed so… which is why must learn from the mistakes of our past.”

“If we were to increase the capabilities of the White Army, where would you say we should focus our efforts?” Tsar Nikolas asks, trepidation dripping from his voice. I briefly scan him, formulating my plan of attack.

“It would be most rational to withhold our spending on any specific counter-weapon for now, until our intelligence gets back to us on the Empire’s plans for weapon development.” I begin to pace around the room, words flowing out of my mouth seemingly of their own volition.

“In the meantime, however, increasing and upgrading our weapons cache will be wise. I believe the rest of the budget is crucial to developing an airforce that will be up to snuff with the Luftflügel, at the very least. Any remaining budget that hasn’t already been set aside in the development of a counter-weapon to the Reichsmaschine will be diverted to armoured battalion development. We will adjust and redirect flow as needed.”

He nods.

“And tell me, Commissioner, what is your rationale behind this plan?”

“Allow me to present me and my comrade’s thoughts then, Tsar Nikolas. We in the High Commission believe that one of our most plentiful resources is manpower. However, in great contrast to this, our weapons cache is small and many of the arms presents are severely outdated. This means that most of our forces won’t be properly armed and will serve as nothing more than target practice for the Reichsmaschine.

“If we manage to properly arm at least most of our infantry, we will be able to make a huge difference in the outcome of a battle. We would have just about 5 million soldiers, armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weaponry. Compared to the pitiful 550,000 soldiers of the Bodenarmee, our M.L.C. outnumber them nearly 10:1.”

The hall reverberates with the sound of my voice, echoing off the silver threaded walls. Tsar Nikola taps his finger against his chair, lending his head into his palm.

“If what you say is true, Comrade Avrora, the Adlerschrank will have plans to expand the Reichsmaschine as a whole. I fear they will have the ability to rapidly increase the size and capabilities of the Bodenarmee, leaving our advantage in numbers right in the gutter,” He says. I consider him for a moment.

“This is indeed true. However, our population far outnumbers theirs and our industry is rapidly expanding, we will eventually be able to outproduce them. This is also where the White Wings come into relevance. If we are able to outproduce the Empire with planes, we will be able to maintain air superiority. This is a crucial advantage. We will be able to harass their ground troops while protecting our own. The Luftflügel will no doubt be one of the biggest threats to our men on the ground and thus, one of the biggest obstacles to our success.”

Tsar Nikolas once again begins to tap his finger nervously.

“But what of the rumours of their extensive armoured programme? I’ve heard our intelligence officers say that they have massive steel behemoths being produced. How will the common soldier fight against such a menace?” he wonders aloud. How our gentle Tsar is so considerate, thinking about the troops even in such an impossible scenario. He’s nothing like that venomous snake Kugel. I must reassure him.

“There is no need to fear this so-called ‘Wunderwaffe’, Tsar Nikolas. They are no more far off fantasies, incompatible with the real world. Armoured vehicles are something far off into the future and are unsustainable in a war. They are too premature and will be poorly manufactured, no doubt. A grenade or two would easily take one out.”

Armoured vehicles? What a joke. There’s no way a concept as ridiculous as that could ever even hope to be a viable strategy. Those Zündar really are delusional. If they think that concepts as fantastic as that would actually work, defeating them will be easy. Just to be safe though, It won’t hurt to invest in such a programme ourselves. For future purposes, perhaps? Well, I've already mentioned it to the Tsar, so there’s no need to bring it up again. He breathes a sigh of relief.

“Well if you insist Comrade Avrora, I have no choice but to believe you. But I need to reconfirm… are you sure this is the sort of path we should be taking?”

“I’m positive, Tsar Nikolas. The Zürtzün empire will regret ever even thinking of provoking the White Army.”