Continuation of the briefing for the benefit of those agents of the Sable Intelligence Service  (and others) who were on the Outside on 11th April SY 159.

Please be patient while I get it all in order, as there’s a lot to cover.

Robert de Lacy, King of Sable

Changes Resulting from the Events of 11th April SY159/11th April SY099, continued

Having discussed our important allies, now its time to get to the adversaries.

The Reich

On the whole, the Reich (or the Greater Reich, as it’s now known) as an entity is much the same as it was in the previous timeline. Things were even more difficult between the Reich and Sable for a while in the years immediately following the visit of the Messenger, due to a falling out between myself and Rupert, which lasted for about six years. The Reich made some territorial gains during that period, especially in Veils Five and Six (see the Outer Reich, below), along with the Broken Pattern worlds of Verrien and (eventually) Manira. On the positive side, that did give Wilhelm and I the opportunity to become better acquainted, which was probably no bad thing. While Rupert and I weren’t talking, the tradition of monthly meetings changed to being between myself and Wilhelm. Now, I meet with both of them on a regular basis, rather than just my brother.

Another point of difference is that the attitude towards shapeshifters softened rather earlier. As far as I’ve gleaned from Wilhelm and Rupert, this was not unconnected to an interesting meeting my brother Michael had with the Kaiser, the RFSS and others,  fairly soon after the Messenger visited us. That meeting led to the convening of the Berthelmes Commission, which reported in 19 May 106, and recommended some relaxation of the Shapeshifter Laws. While the situation still isn’t ideal for shifters in the Reich, it’s better than it was.

Wilhelm is still ruling the Reich, and appears to have a stronger position vis-à-vis Rupert this time through. Part of this stems from that period soon after the arrival of the Messenger, when Rupert pretty much went off the Reich reservation following our disagreement, giving Wilhelm time to consolidate alliances with many of those in the Reich as a whole, and in some areas of the SS, who were concerned at the RFSS’s behaviour. Plus, he was been smart enough to use Conrad Berthelmes as his unofficial deputy and personal enforcer much sooner, making him Imperial Chief of Staff in SY110, after the Commission had concluded its business, rather than waste him as NSRAP Chairman. Those two make a dynamic team, which reminds me of how Andrew and I used to be, before things fell apart. Earlier links with Aurellis may have had something to do with it, as well, along with Wilhelm’s personal friendship with Emperor Sirius in recent years.

However, I expect what you really want to know is “Are we at peace?”. The answer is yes. Following an attack by my son Andrew and Technocracy forces on the Port of Rostock at the end of SY123, the Reich made the first steps to sue for a ceasefire. The wheels ground slowly, given the years of hostility between our realms, but they renewed the approach at the end of SY124 and a formal Armistice was signed by myself and Wilhelm in June SY125. This paved the way for the conclusion of a Peace Treaty between our two realms on 25 December SY128. The Treaty came into force on 1 January SY129.

As a side note, as a result of what the Reich calls the Rostock Massacre (Sable’s history books usually use the Rostock Disaster), it is formally at war with the Technocracy, which was never the case originally. This has led to pitched battles between them out in Shadow, but thankfully not at home since Rostock.

What else. Well, Rupert got married about fifty years earlier, and not to Annifrid Ragnarsian. His wife is called Silvie, and she’s definitely his match. She is the mother of his two elder sons: Sigmund and Berthold (poor, ill-fated Stefan from the old timeline was never even born in this one). Annifrid is still in the picture, though, as his favourite mistress, and he has a son and daughter with her, too. From what I hear, it’s just as well that Silvie and Frida get on, or otherwise they’d probably have killed each other by now.

Oh, and Dirk Weber (who is definitely Michael’s son) never joined the Weimar Triumvirate: instead of being spirited out of the Reich, to avoid being murdered out of jealousy by Dominik Gerlinde of the Forstapo, Rupert found a different way to keep the peace between them, and appointed Weber as Head of the Ahnenerbe. If you thought he was a pain in the backside when he was working for Weimar, he’s way worse now!

The Outer Reich

In the early days after the Lighthouse Data was received, and relations between myself and Rupert Delatz were less than amicable, the Reich launched attacks on a number Veil Four, Five and Six worlds. The Blitzkrieg sadly worked as well as it did on the world of my origin, Terra Magica. The Reich made significant gains on the western side of those Veils, and refused to stop until Rupert and I finally started talking again in SY105. At that point, along with Kaiser Wilhelm, we derived a compromise which we took to our respective governments. It wasn’t ideal, but both sides did ratify it. In fact, in the great scheme of things, the Outer Ring Treaty, as it became known, was the first Sable-Reich Treaty ever signed, and ultimately led to the much more comprehensive one which came later.

The Reich now holds a contiguous block of 35 worlds, primarily in Veils Five and Six, compared to the 20 they had before the assault. Oh so subtly, they refer to this as the “Outer Reich”. On the other hand, the Niedersachsen Group, which would have been built in what is now solidly Sable territory, has never come into being. Neither has the Westphalia Group which was part of the security block around the old New Oceania, along with the Silver Shadows.

Valhalla

Yep, the delightful world where old SS officers go to un-die is still around, as well. Rather than being hived off to Veil 50 (as this time there is no security bloc around New Oceania), it is still located in the Sable Mountains, but thankfully nearer to the Reich than Sable itself. The leadership isn’t the same, though, as its pre-Lighthouse rulers Joachim Peiper and Jürgen Kessler, are still alive this time around. Instead, it is ruled by the shade of a woman named Traudl Lange, the original Priestess of the Black Lodge from when Rupert established it in SY000. She’s apparently also Rupert’s ex wife: that was a surprise, I can tell you, as given that it was way before the Lighthouse happened, it must have always been the case. All the founding Knights of the Winter Circle who were previously dead are there, and make up her government. Jürgen Kessler’s (formerly late) wife Irma Adler is also part of that government, as is Andreas Pedersen, who was responsible for bringing Valhalla into being in the first place.

At the heart of Valhalla is some kind of Broken Power related to the Sable Pattern in the Wewelsburg basement, which give some of the Valhallans a limited ability to travel across as far as Sable or the Reich. Only those who are actually of the Blood of Sable or Amber are able to travel beyond Magica Superior.

The “Shadow Reich”

Given the longer timescale involved, over the last thirty years or so, Grey has become aware of a movement which he calls the “Shadow Reich”, although what its actual name is, or even if it has one, is unclear. This appears to be a movement or organisation which is working against both Sable and those within the Reich in favour of the peace (including both the Kaiser and the RFSS), and would prefer to rekindle hostilities between the two Nations. How their actions manifest varies. We believe the Germanenorden, the right-wing occult organisation that was ultimately responsible for the manifestation of Valhalla in the Sable Mountains (see below) may be linked to the Shadow Reich. We also suspect that it had strong ties to the Weimar Republik. Moreover, we are reasonably certain that the “Shadow Reich” may be behind the recent problems experienced in the Lowell Quadrant of the Commonwealth.

New Oceania/The Machine

Yes, sadly these count as one adversary, now, rather than their previous alliance. The Maniran Pattern was moved to New Oceania far earlier than in the original timeline, in SY105 (nearly killing brother Rupert in the process, but that’s a whole other story). I wasn’t upset to learn that my former grandson, Chartris, died in the process. Initially, New Oceania was ruled by Chartris’s wife, Isabella Hamilton de Real and the four children she had spawned with Chartris: Ezequiel and Louhira (twins), Jaime and Carlos. Of these, the first three have remained involved with New Oceania, while Carlos is up to his eyeballs with the Weimar Republik. Also different, this time around, is that it wasn’t brother Michael’s blood that was used to power the ritual, but a new brother I didn’t know I had, called Nicholas Royce.

Isabella managed to keep control New Oceania until SY120, but then Rallissa, the Aurellian Goddess of the Years, decided to take pity on my son Andrew, who didn’t build the Centre Power in this new version of things. He Created a smaller version of the Technocracy in SY120, about eighteen months after the Elementis was built (see Allies), in Veil 100 North. Unfortunately something about the process linked the New Technocracy to New Oceania – possibly just the inevitablity of time. Thus a variant of the Machine was generated on that world, complete with an Andreas Delatz, and he promptly set about wresting control of New Oceania from the de Real family. He also destroyed the Brotherhood and any influence it had on that world, which is now completely secular, although Isabella and her family still appear to maintain some power. More to the point, when we do come across New Oceanian troops – which is more often than before, as there’s no security cordon to keep them in – they usually comprise a mixture of humans and drones.

We have fought large-scale battles with the Machine in Shadow, but as yet they’ve been further out than before. That’s not to say that we haven’t come across smaller enclaves closer to home, but they haven’t been as much of a problem. As such, and because the likelihood of myself and Rupert working with Andrew on pretty much anything is slim to none, we have not undertaken the Exclusion Ritual this time around.

In terms of relations between our adversaries, the one between the Reich and New Oceania is uneasy. There have been skirmishes between the two, but they’ve never formally declared war on each-other. This is probably helped by the fact that because Andreas Delatz was never part of the Reich establishment in the post-Lighthouse timeline, he never had the opportunities to seed it with ringers and Machine drones. Neither have we encountered the long stream of genetic copies of Reich individuals working for Andreas this time around.

Related to New Oceania and the Machine, there is is one further point that I should mention. I believe some of you came across an entity called Andrés Lascius on one of the original missions to New Oceania. He’s around this time, too, and unfortunately, because of the changes to the relationship between the Technocracy and the Machine/New Oceania, I’ve come to the conclusion that not only is Andrew linked to Andreas, but also to Lascius. This is not helping my son’s mental stability.

In the last few years, it has also become apparent that the Machine has an external iteration of its Power, Ex Machina. This is much closer to the original pre-Lighthouse timeline in attitude and operations. Unfortunately, as a result of the mirroring effect caused by the Godstone located on both New Oceania and Technocracy Prime on the Inside, it would appear that the fact that the God of Communications made the Inside-Outside communcations between Prime and Seconde better means the same may be true of New Oceania and Ex Machina.

The Weimar Republik

Most of the events leading up to whatever happened to the Weimar Republik in February SY158 remain similar to previously, apart from some changes in personnel. The most notable of these are:

  • Führer Ernst Keller, and RFSS Sofia Halbeck were still the founders of the Weimar Republik in RY122.
  • They were assisted by Raymond Syke (who may or may not have been the Andreas Delatz of the Machine) and Carlos de Real, son of Chartris and Isabella of New Oceania.
  • Dirk Weber was never involved with the Weimar Republik. Helmut Eckart, who is believed to be Ernst Keller’s son, came to prominence much earlier, in SY125, effectively replacing Dirk Weber in the original Triumvirate.
  • Weber does have a son, Alfred, who disappeared from the Reich around RY125, and later surfaced as another advisor to Führer Keller.
  • The Head of the Weimar Forstapo was Johannes Hirsch, who is believed to have been the son of former Black Knight Johan Hartwin.

Additionally, as Grey’s people gathered more intelligence about Weimar, it became clear that the technological links between the Republik and the Machine were even stronger. In addition, Weimar appears to have had links to, and backing from, the “Shadow Reich”.

However, the major change from the original post-Namenlos collapse of the Republik, was that rather than an EMP pulse being sent out from Weimar on 1 February SY 158, the whole world and the six surrounding it were razed to the ground, rather than locked away. It is believed that the attempt to redraw the “Muster”, as the Weimar Power was called, went even more catastrophically wrong than it did in the pre-Lighthouse timeline.

It is unclear, at this point, how involved the former Argentian Emer family were with Weimar this time around. If they were up to their eyeballs about it, they were a lot more subtle. We suspect that if anything is left of the Weimar Power, it’s probably been relocated to Veil 100 North. That one is going to have to be investigated.

Sable Anti-Treaty Organisations

Of course, Sable also has its own cadre of those who don’t believe that we should ever have signed a Peace Treaty with the Reich. There is even an official Revoke the Treaty political party, which has had some success in the Sable Elections at times, with four seats in Parliament, currently, although Grey has never found any indication that they are actively involved in anything other than  politics.

Most notable among the more militant Anti-Treaty organisations is the so-called Friends of the Lost, who spent a while trying to get my son Andrew restored to the Sable succession (even though he had no interest in being restored). His battles against the Reich out in Shadow, as “General Vindex”, between the SY080s and when the Technocracy was Created, have gained somewhat legendary status in certain quarters (not least through a series of books written by an author called Rorie Kennedy, who has published a number of adventure novels on the subject), and he is generally seen as the major anti-Reich hardliner on the Inside. The fact that the Reich and the Technocracy are at war has added to this view.

Sadly, the Friends of the Lost aren’t the only group that has demonstrated anti-Treaty tendencies, and have occasionally acted to caused trouble in that respect.