Technological Synthesis and Enhancement League

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

*"Only the deep night knows,*

*What they agreed upon.*

*Straighten up now, oh tall rye,*

*And keep their secret scrupulously!"*

- *"Korobeiniki"* traditional Russian folkloric song, often played by TSEL inventors with experimental electronic instruments.
The **Technological Synthesis and Enhancement League**, or just **TSEL**, is an independent military and research wing of Soviet Red Army, under the Ministry of Experimental Sciences that operates technologies that are too dangerous or useless for the regular conscripts. However, all of these mask their overwhelming desire for their further recognition by higher Soviet authorities, and in secret decrypting the strange notes that Zelinsky left with them when he, and a small team of his closest scientists, suddenly disappeared, with what they currently uncovered saying that it holds the information to where he is hiding and that he left to both fix his greatest mistake, which is apparently he and Cherdenko changing time, and to evade Cherdenko who wanted him disposed to hide said mistake, and that once TSEL uncovered where he’s hiding they’ll understand his regret and join him, or it’s just him rambling on progress on uncovering how the Chronosphere works (both of which, with various other ideas, are still being debated until they fully decrypt the notes). Minor faction created by Tim the Grim Reaper, with GearsGoAwryMan being its idea founder, and Flyboy254 and Weeb King expanding on the idea.

## At a Glance

 **Motives** | Innovation, Scientific Advancement, Technological Supremacy

## Background

### Brain Drains

The precise history of the Technological Synthesis and Enhancement League is shrouded in mystery not because it's a state secret, but rather no one in the Party caring enough about it. As far as anyone in the Red Army is concerned, TSEL. is just the drop-off point for any intellectual in any fields that fell out of favor with premiers of their time. Scientists whose projects fail to meet the expectations of their creators and the state, "geniuses" who really were only kicked into a position upstairs where they couldn't interfere with anyone else and their valuable work. Dozens of the Union's best thinkers were pushed into TSEL after Stalin's death, where Cherdenko's "greatest mind" Zelinsky upended decades of Soviet scientific ideas and strategies, though ironically he was the one most supportive of TSEL endeavour and gave what support he could.

A further testament to the Soviet Union's remarkable apathy towards the TSEL, all the experimental weapons, prototypes and equipment that is rejected or is not selected for further development were dumped into the hands of the section. While they quietly resented their treatment among their peers, TSEL scientists chose to work on what has been presented to their workshops to find out if that specific piece of technology does carry some viable application for the military, or civilian duty one day.

As years passed, TSEL. has only made some small contributions to Soviet technology, most of was only thanks to Zelinsky vouching for them and Cherdenko choosing to agree. Officially TSEL was part of the Union, but in the backrooms of the Kremlin it was no secret that TSEL was only something to acknowledge every few months for propaganda. Even during the dark days of the Third World War, TSEL positions were left abandoned in the face of Imperial assaults officially due to "preservation of vital resources". This left many engineers and scientists feeling betrayed, as even exiled they saw TSEL as the way to prove their ideas had merit. But near the end of the war something strange happened. Gregor Zelinsky would sudden disappear, with Cherdenko giving explicit orders to find and execute him for high treason, only to reappear at the doorstep of head scientist Igor Stepanov, frazzled, panicking, and carrying a giant backpack, and shoved in his hand a variety of notes, telling him to never reveal these notes to the Politoburo and that he must leave Russia to fix his mistake, and when asked he ranted and raved, like a mad man, about how he was responsible for killing Einstein, how his actions caused the Axis to exist, and various others things Igor couldn’t understand, before telling to decrypt the notes, which will explain everything and where he would hide, and they’ll understand and hopefully join him, since he considers them the only one he could trust with the info, he would then leave before Igor could ask what is going on. To this day no one know where Zelinsky, and a few of his closest scientists, went.

Post-War, the survivors went back to their labs and workshops to try and rebuild something, anything, from the ashes of their defeats. One thing that did come their way were hundreds of scientists and workers associated with the Cherdenko regime. Cleared of knowledge of Cherdenko's plans but politically blacklisted, these men and women became a new backbone for TSEL. Suddenly gifted with a windfall of personnel and money to "keep those fools occupied", the leadership of TSEL decided that post-war, it was their time to breathe new life into their shattered nation. Under their own ideas for a change.

Machines previously thought obsolete began to buzz and whir again, local garrisons utilized to test out the weapons created in the Siberian workshops. Commanders were beguiled with sweet words and promises of future glories thanks to TSEL. Suddenly there was a new focus as KGB cast-offs started to keep the leadership of TSEL informed on what was happening around the world. Simultaneously, they began to build a new reputation among the Soviet people, one of their feats being the reintegration of the *Grinder* into civilian construction. With a small but sudden surge in voluntary requests to transfer to TSEL, the Ministry of Experimental Sciences began to notice that the number of applicants are enough to be armed with second-line equipment that, while not top of the line, was decent enough to be used in a desperate situation.

### Upended Innovation

Despite being in possession of the more exotic weapons and vehicles that the Union could use, the chief scientists within TSEL are still trying to refine their advancements, and quietly the Soviets' as well. Energy provided by super reactors are far superior to anything their satellite states could have, but that title will soon be taken from it by solar panels once they become more efficient, or if rumors are true, "zero-point energy". Impenetrable armor, no matter how much of it is applied on a tank, will be an afterthought once the Atomic Kingdom invent rays that simply pass through the chassis to kill the crew. Cosmonauts are currently the masters of spaceflight, yet they are already threatened by *far* more serious contenders, and there was also the facts that the notes Zelinsky left required more specialised tools they don’t have to decrypt it. To ensure the continual flow of innovation (and the dominance of Soviet minds in engineering) and fully understand what Zelinsky wrote, they sent a memo to the Ministry of Experimental Sciences detailing their further actions which would need a little more autonomy to come to fruition. Still under the impression that the division was nothing more than a dumping ground that was just trying to expand themselves, they granted some autonomy to TSEL.

Gone are the times where they are just stranded in their workshops, presiding over some malfunctioning walker. Re-organized into more cohesive divisions, TSEL sees numerous conflicts the world over becoming hotspots for potential control groups to be utilized, and hopefully find clues on Zelinsky notes. To be sure, they promised to lend support to pro-Soviet forces in other countries as a sign of solidarity. They have stayed mostly true to it - advisors supply support in the Vietnamese and Amazon jungles with VC and MIR guerrillas, while others remain stationed with the APO in Luanda for example.

They play at their best when it comes to supplementing these armies, but all of these are just plausible covers for gaining brownie points and decrypting the notes. Many times strategies concocted by pro-Soviet fighters were altered to include enemy research facilities, backing them in raids to hijack blueprints or prototypes by other factions. Melees with anti-communist forces fluctuate from one-sided massacres to battles which odds are evened before those very same forces are wiped out as "controlled experiments". While jests are made of self-described 'bringers of zeitgeist' with weaponry that look like they belong in scrapyards, TSEL units simply comfort themselves with this: Imagine what the Union can do if *they* reach their zeitgeist, where all non-Soviet tech do not even look like they belong in the dirtiest of trash heaps - thanks to them.

The future looks bright for TSEL, bright enough that they'll need shades.

## Units & Buildings

*"The Allies have figured out this a long time ago: war is an experiment, and tanks and soldiers are variables to be thrown around to achieve results. But as their wonders come from bourgeois sources, the peoples' inventions come from necessity and hard work."*

-Dr. Igor Stepanov

### Deathmatch Reinforcements

**Zelinsky Science Strike Division**

While not directly part of the Soviet Red Army, the Z.S.S.D. is composed of units that are testing the weapons that have viable chance of being put into production and service, thought they are also sent along with TSEL forces for the field trials. When the TSEL commanders need help, it is Z.S.S.D. that sends in their men and equipment, that are believed to be future of the Soviet armed forces.

## Behind the Scenes

"Tsel" means in Russian "goal", but also "aim", a reference to A.I.M., a scientifically advanced group from Marvel Comics.