Guardians of Monarchy (TUE)

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

*"God keep Francis the emperor*

*Our good Emperor Francis!*

*Long live Francis the emperor,*

*In the brightest splendour of happiness!*

*May sprigs of laurel bloom for him*

*As a garland of honour, wherever he goes.*

*God keep Francis the emperor,*

*Our good Emperor Francis!*

-"Gott Erhalte Franz den Kaiser" a popular song among the Hapsburgian faction of the Guard
The **Guardians of Monarchy** are traditionalists who yearn to bring back the old ruling families whether by words or guns, the Guard can easily engulf the field in the numbers of their expansions and forward bases and blot the sky with their fleets of deadly airships and swarms of lethal and swift moving bikes.

## Background

### Exitum Imperio

The beginning of the 19th century was chaotic for Russia. WWI, following a revolution to usurp Czar Nikolai II, then a revolution to usurp the Kerenski who usurped Nikolai, led by communists. However, when other world powers saw that new ideology was on the rise in Russia, they immediately gave their support to local anti-communist forces. Against all odds, the Red Army triumphed over the White Army, and formed the Soviet Union. Now, there was no place for those who fought against them, and numerous White Army legions flocked to hide in cold backlands of Siberia. But, as the time passed, this last sanctuary became as dangerous as other Russia. The communist forces besieged the remnants of the last opposing armies to shores of pacific ocean. In there they disappeared away from history. The White mainstay was utterly defeated, killed or placed in prison camps. That should have been the end of it, but history had other ideas.

Before WWI had ever started, the mysterious man known as Rasputin was fully aware of just how fragile the position of the Russian monarchy was. Only winning the Russo-Japanese war by a miracle and then drunkenly trying and failing to invade little Sweden to show its power in a fiasco of a second Northern War, the power of the Tsars had become something of a joke. They ruled over a vast country with great riches and a huge population, yes, but their people were barely literate, the Russian economy's fragile boom was heavily dependent on French money and investment ,the infrastructure built in Tsarist Russia in a deplorable state and Russia had no end to its list of potential enemies; the Austrians and Germans to the west, the British, Ottomans, and Chinese to the south, the Japanese to the east, no matter whom the Empire aligned closer too it would face enemies. However, there were other monarchies in similarly-precarious conditions.

The Hapsburgs' multi-ethnic empire was a fragile, fractious thing whose unity could disintegrate at any moment if given too hard a push. Discontent with Austro-Hungarian rule was always a danger for the aging empire, and the nations' military remained relatively weak in spite of all the attempts at modernization thanks to the difficulties in coordinating an army where everyone spoke different languages, and its economy could hardly compare to the juggernaut the Hohenzollerns had created. Farther to the south was the ailing Ottoman Empire; the sick man of Europe. The Ottoman Empire was dying, sloughing off territory in large chunks. Nationalism had destroyed its European holdings and seemed set to destroy its Middle Eastern empire. Imperial China; crushed by the Boxer Rebellion and humiliated over the course of a century, seemed set to perish and die. The Khans, once terrors of Eurasia were now just a political after-thought. Even the Persian Shahs ruled an impoverished, underdeveloped nation where tribal warlords commanded more troops than the court in Tehran.

Old dynasties also yearned to be restored. The Pedros of Brazil; overthrown by Republican sentiments, yearned to rule an Empire once again. The Hapsburgs of Mexico; having tasted power for such a short time, dreamed of once again returning to their nation and restoring its honor after humiliation by America. The old houses of the Bonapartes and the Bourbons sought to be brought back to a proper place at the seat of French power; divested from them in the past century. The Antiones tried to win freedom for the Mapuche, and once ruled a short lived *de facto* kingdom before the Chilean-Argentinian onslaught crushed it. Even Haiti had the old Soulouques and their empire, however shortly lived.

### Magna Carta de Regeum

Gathering representatives of these ailing or deceased monarchies, Rasputin impressed upon them the need to preserve and protect monarchism to form a bedrock of stability in a world dangerously close to powerful and terrible forces unleashed by liberal or even radical movements. While recognizing that war may yet break out between some of the still extant monarchies, he said it was important to devise a way to maintain power even if they should be ousted, at which point he revealed his secret weapon. A group of material scientists investigating the Tunguska had uncovered a wondrous element, a metal named "cavorite". Upon discovering that an electric charge run through it could counter-act gravity, plans were made that would allow the users of this wondrous material to have literal flying ships as well as airships carrying loads far in excess of any purely hydrogen or helium designs in use at the time. Even whole flying cities!

In addition, special microbes had been found in the waters of arctic glaciers where Inuit guardians had been found to not only have miraculous healing powers - regenerating harsh injuries or even whole limbs with startling speed, but also cease to age, living for centuries at a time with no sign of degeneration. A literal fountain of youth, and cultures of these were already being prepared. Interest in this project was immediately piqued, and agreements were made to offer what support they could away from the eyes of the main parts of their government to prepare for this project. When Sun Yat-sen declared a time of no more emperors, the surviving members of the old Dynasty were given refuge Russia, and their loyalist forces were brought to the Siberian hinterland to prepare for the exodus.

World War 1, soon enough, came; a devastating industrial conflict that would not only devastate much of Europe and devour a whole generation, but also bring about the fall of four empires. Rasputin quietly placed a body double in the way of assassins to let the world believe he was dead as he made the final preparations. The Hohenzollern Dynasty now joined the league of monarchies seeking to restore themselves to power; but time was short, the Revolution had come and the Reds were surmounting impossible odds as Lenin sought to turn the Empire of All Russians into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Having gathered as much of the cavorite as they could, the Reactionary Guard, with all the combined forces it had gathered from monarchies and monarchists around the world; and soon joined by sympathetic forces loyal to the fallen monarchies of the Central Powers, took one of the strangest flights known to man. A vast fleet of airships, skyships, and their first few floating cities took off as the reds swept through Siberia, leaving behind the Whites who had dismissed them as an insane clique to their fates. Successfully evading the nascent Red Air force, the Guardians of Monarchy set about creating bases around the world to supply what they couldn't already provide on their fantastical flying fleet. As more monarchies fell, more would join the ranks of the Guard. Bogd Khan and Strenberg's experiment fell in due time to the Reds, though Sternberg managed to get away by placing a hapless impersonator to be shot by the Reds so that he could join the Guard, and were soon brought aboard. The fallen Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam would soon join them in good time, and they finally managed to track down Peshwas of the old Marathan Empire and recruited loyalists to them in secret. Following world war two, the Guardians would welcome the fallen dynasties of many eastern European nations that had voted to become Socialist Republics following the removal of Alliance forces from their lands when the Comintern counterattacked against the Alliance.

As time passed they would launch small raids on republican nations that had caused the monarchies grief in the past, whether they were Alliance or Comintern, building their assets; recruiting more to their reclusive group, and during the second world war they would generally take the side of the Alliance, holding the Comintern in general contempt, perfecting their lightning raid style of warfare against the vast communist war machine; though they in the end could not turn the tide of the vast manpower and industries wielded by the Comintern. They did however, get valuable experience in the war as well as insights into how to wage modern warfare in what they felt would be the inevitable next world war. And soon they would find a benefactor in the Empire of Japan who was interested in securing them as an ally to extend their reach over the world. Following the second world war, they would enter a formal Axis of powers with the Solar Empire of Japan and the burgeoning Pan-African Union; seeking to launch a challenge to both the Comintern and the Alliance and bring about their shared divine desitny. Though the Hohenzollerns and many of the Austrian Hapsburgs left the league after the second world war as the Neu-Deustchland came to power to head the German Empire and the Archduchy of Austria within the Empire respectively the Guardians had never been stronger, and with the patronage of Japan and the Africans they would only grow stronger still as they eyed to turn back the clock on global history.

### Veteres Milites, Orbis Hodierni

With the onset of WWIII they waited until the Solar Empire launched its assault on both sides partway through the war, moving both with the Pan-African Union and the Solar Empire as well as making their own strikes. While lacking in the brute military power of their enemies they were fast and highly mobile, engaging in battle on their own terms against enemies of all sides. The Guardians operated all over the world, even within the UASR as a contingent sought to press the claim of "Emperor Norton" and his family over the entire continent and to try and crush this bastion of Communism; even helping to aid the Empire's attempted invasion of the west coast. In South America the Brazillians found themselves trying to pin down the frustratingly swift Guardians time and time again as they set up a confused and chaotic frontline where their lightning raids would be difficult to force into losing battles. The guardians were violently determined to restore the Pedros to power in Brazil, claiming that the Integralist regime was a regime of butchers and murderers who had betrayed the people who needed their rightful emperor back; and this fighting would be some of the most bitter the guard would engage with in the war, alongside their attempts to return the Hapsburgs to Mexico, place a Jewish king in Palestine, return the Ottomans to Turkey, attacks on France to bring back the Bourbons; assaults on Russia to revive the Romanov dynasty, and more such assaults.

But the sudden betrayal of Epsilon and the revelation that the new "heart washing dynasty", though the Guard always repuditated claims that the Dynasty had any claim to being an Empire so long as the Qing lived; was working with Epsilon forced a reshift in their priorities however and much of the guard had to be redeployed to fight this new mind controlling menace. The Guard shifted much manpower to try and battle the Chinese with the intention of sitting the Qing Emperors on the throne of the forbidden palace once more and the strange intermingling of Christianity, Islam, Animism, Hinduism, and Buddhism that had fermented in the ranks of the Guard was pitted against the strange new faith of Epsilon and the Dynasty in the great plains and steppes of the vast nation of China. Like a new mongol horde the battlefields of central asia would see the Guard racing to battle Alliance, Epsilon, and Comintern forces; often becoming bold enough to engage in direct set piece battles with their enemies. However the war proved to be more terrible than most could stomach; with heavy casualties being suffered despite all attempts to minimize them and increasingly fantastical weapons being deployed by all sides in an attempt to win the war. How could faith in King and Country stand firm against being made a puppet of another man? Against invulnerable tanks and weapons that bent and altered spacetime itself there was only so much that could be won with elan and traditional spirit.

And while there were thoughts that the downfall of the Socialist Federation of China and the Indochinese Socialist Republics may have weakened the Comintern or the tearing away of many African nations and the conquest of many east asian colonies and Epsilon's betrayal may have weakened the Alliance the Axis would find that its calculus about their strength was mistaken. The Comintern had actually grown more powerful than it had been in the second world war and when the fall of the Blue and the Red in China became apparent; most of those true believers had fled to other countries. The Alliance had built up a truly formidable military independent of Epsilon and its colonies were far more industrialized than they once were; while movements such as the Confederacy of Patriots, the Pangaean Generation, and the Revolutionary Vanguard had grown in size to constantly nip at the heels of Axis movements. The battle with Epsilon's new world order also proved to be highly exhausting and though the Guard won decisive victories such as the closing of the Panama Canal (though their attempted raid on the Nicargua canal was only partially successful), the battle of Paris, and participated in the Axis' assault on Antarctica to try and push Epsilon out of the war the tide seemed to be turning inexorably against them.

Though they, the Empire, and the League fought with heroic effort against the Allies and the Comintern, they ultimately could not reverse the tide of manpower advantages that were squarely in the favor of the Blue and the Red. While territorial gains were made, the initial advance was halted; reversed, and the Empire was forced to sue for peace and the Union was forced to recognize that further expansion would not be possible after a string of setbacks. The Union and Empire were able to win terms that let them keep many of their gains however; with the League earning all the territory it had liberated due to drawing a firm line in the sand to stop the advance of its enemies. The Guard itself however suffered terribly; even in comparison to the blitz assaults on the Japanese home islands in the final period of the war. The Comintern began to aggressively pursue the death of its air force by bloody attrition while the Alliance began to prioritize it as a target as the primary challenge to the Alliance's air force the Axis could output. In China and in battles with Epsilon across the world the Guardians bled again and again until the Comintern's massed assault on the Byzantium city-ship; the capital of the Guardians; forced it to surrender. Luckily the Guardians were allowed to continue to exist as they still had some position of strength to negotiate, but the world was now a very different place.

The opening of technology once largely closed off to the various alliance blocs had created a huge technological boom and the nature of the flying cities of the Guardians made it difficult to update their infrastructure to keep up. Space travel was now utterly mundane and expeditions were being made to other solar systems with the announcement of the discovery of worlds with life being made shortly after Man's first explorations of other solar systems with faster than light systems. The Internet was now firmly entrenched all over the world and the video game revolution was sweeping media while the Ultramodernists began to take control in the Solar Empire to try and ready it for competition with the victorious Comintern and the powerful Alliance. And the sinister powers of Epsilon and its supporters continued to grow in power despite the drubbing they had received beforehand. But the Guardians, being a force for reaction and ideologically rooted in the past has found it difficult to make its way in this new era. Some believe that the Guardians need to change with the world as mankind prepares to enter the 21st century and the new millenium while others believe that the Guardians must force the world to turn back the clock. All recognize however; that they must tread carefully lest the world decide that the Guardians are a menace instead of a nuisance.

## Gameplay

The Coalition prefers to expand quickly, and their tier, power and other mechanics represent that.

### Build Mechanic

Coalition builds their bases swiftly and simply:

1. Cartographer marks area area, creating a first-level Foundation.

2. After that, you can choose what to build on Foundation, by clicking it.

3. After the building is chosen, an airship carries the building on Foundation, and after short time, the building becomes functional.

The base defenses are built like Allied ones, contrasting other buildings. Note that none of them require power (They are quite weak, however).

### Power Mechanic

They build power plants, like any other faction.

### Tier Mechanic

When you click the Foundation, you can upgrade it to second-level Foundation instead of a building. It takes longer, and costs more than regular buildings, but allows Tier 2 buildings to be build on upgraded Foundation. You can also build third-level foundation after the second level, to get access Tier 3 buildings, but this costs even more and takes even more time than building second level Foundation. Then there is the level 4, that makes superweapons buildable.

However, some units may require that you build their production building on higher level foundation (For example: If you want High-tier aeroplanes, you will have to build an Air Tower on level 3 Foundation, even if it could normally be build on level 2 Foundation). There is no way to upgrade foundation after building has been built, so think carefully.

### Technology

 File:IconGuard.png | Bikes | In order to gain advantage over slower forces like the Soviets, compete with the mechas of the Empire and successfully counter the teleporting units of the Atomic Kingdom, the Guard has adopted the use of motorbikes in a modern form of cavalry in its armies. Bikes are fragile for their cost but are exceedingly fast.

## Royal Tumens

*"Throughout history, there have always been men and women who opposed societal progress in favor of the old ways. Clinging dearly to tradition, these so-called 'reactionaries' fought tooth and nail to preserve the purity of what they deem to be the souls of their civilization. Alas, the march of history was not kind to them, and eventually they are forgotten in favor of modernity. Even today, there are still people in this world who prefer monarchs over presidents, aristocrats over representatives... dated as they may be, but when these holders of views are organized and armed in large numbers, modernity would probably die out first before tradition does."*

-Emir al-Fassoud, editor-in-chief of a WAP-aligned newspaper, *Al-Ba'ath*

### Buildings

*"Tradition means passing on the flame. **We** provide it shelter."*

-Lady Banu Nasrin

### Base Defenses

*"You shall not pass!"*

-Sign put on Barbed Walls

### Infantry

*"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..."*

-William Shakespeare, *Henry V*

### Bikes

*"Ride out with me, to a red day, a bloody day, to the death!"*

-Sir Yusuf Azulai

 File:IconGuard.png | Scythian Bike | Having more nimble and technologically advanced chassis than rest of the bikes, the Scythian is powered by a portable Electric-generator which also powers the bikes motor. It generates electro-static fields that damage enemy units around it over time while providing slight defensive bonuses to nearby units, or it can pump extra charge into their fields to give them more power at the expense of harming friendlies, forcing them to disperse.

### Construction Vehicles

*"It's not a glamorous job, but somebody has to do it."*

-Johann Schmidt

### Deployable Vehicles (Constructed from Warehouse)

*"They've strayed off the path of civilization; we will do everything to get them back on track... with tracks!"*

-Sir Mau Yaun

### Navy

*"I think I'm going to be seasick."*

*"Has he been huffing that gray smoke?"*

-Conversation inside a Palaiologan

 File:IconGuard.png | Ottoman Devastator | The heaviest ship in the Guard's arsenal, the Ottoman is practically a massive electro-static generator. When this cage is activated, nearly everything near it, be it friend or foe, submarine or aircraft gets brutally elctrocuted. Otherwise, it projects a kinetic shield to help defend the other ships of the Guard's relatively small fleet and can launch Druzhina and Ritter air superiority and surface attack planes or serve as a base for the guard's aircraft.

### Aircraft

*"Thank God men can fly, and lay waste on decadence as well as modernity."*

-Count Reinhardt von Carstein

### Commando and Epic Unit

*"I am a dealer in thunder and death. My enemies are many and my equals are none. My name brings chills of horror even to the inhuman, my legend is a tale of nightmares. I am the Iron Khan, and it is by my hand that the world shall be conquered and the plague of democracy shall forever be extinguished. Be honored that you die at the hands of this machine as I lay waste to all your armies and take your cities of brick and leave them as piles of rubble. For those few who survive and are spared from my dungeons shall forever know the name of Sternberg."*

-Roman Ungern von Sternberg, the Iron Khan and the "Mad Baron"

 File:IconGuard.png | Pankrator Supremacy Airship | A floating military base, the Pankrator can house up to thirty guard airfield air craft and can launch a vast number of planes of its own, including interceptors, tactical bombers, strategic bombers, fighters, and ground attack planes. Those who approach it have to deal with HEAT shell howitzers and V1 missiles that devastate other heavy aircraft and distant foes, large batteries of machine guns, auto-cannons, and flak guns to deal with smaller aircraft and ground based enemies who get a bit closer, and its ability to start up a large cloud of black smoke that it then feeds electricity into to make approaching it very dangerous without the kinetic barrier it grants to allied aircraft in its vicinity

## Behind the Scenes

* The basic look of the Guardians of Monarchy is inspired by look of the World War I, works of H.G Wells and Jules Verne, and video game Iron Storm.