Children of Avalon

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

"*I vow to thee, my Country, all earthly things above,*

*Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;*

*The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,*

*That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;*

*The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,*

*The Love that makes undaunted, the final sacrifice.*

-"I Vow to Thee, My Country" by Gustav Holst

The **Children of Avalon**, or as it is properly known, **The Empire of Avalon,** is Preliminary Military Invasion Force from an alternate British Empire that has become dominated by a zealous and fanatical military dictatorship following the repulsing of a Napoleonic Invasion of the British Isles, and the subsequent protracted Napoleonic Wars. Stuck in a volatile Cold War against multiple blocs based in the Americas, Continental Europe and Asia, Avalon has begun to scout and survey the various nations and organizations that inhabit the 'Red Alert' timeline, in order to not only gain an edge over their enemies in the Avalonbranch, but to also act as a springboard for a massive invasion to clamp this new earth under the heal of their leader, Field Marshal Rixton. Made up of the dangerously loyal Anglican Imperial Army, and supported by incredible breakthroughs in technology from their home Earth, they are dedicated to fighting to whatever bitter end their glorious Field Marshal decrees. Currently, Avalon is just watching the pieces of this timeline fall into place, observing for the proper time to strike and conquer this strange, and dangerous, Earth once and for all.

## At a Glance

 **Basic Look** | Victorian and WW2 Britain, mixed with early episodes of Dr Who, with an added dash of Freemasonry and a slight pinch of WW1 Britain and Edwardian styling. Late Victorian design as well, with added elements steampunk and dieselpunk for certain aspects, such as their airships and defences.

## Background

### Sit Lux et Lux Fuit

The Children of Avalon, or in their full, honorable title, *The Imperial Order of the Children of Avalon*, was officially founded on the 23rd of March, 1804, although the official charters within the Order’s London based Lodge contest that, claiming the Order’s inception was 12th of September, 1803, the day that the first French boots landed on the shores of Southern England.

What can be agreed on, however, is the reason behind the Order’s formation. In 1803, at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, the Imperial French Emperor, Napoleon I, set in motions his plans to invade the British Isles, knowing full well how dangerous the British could be if they were given the chance to mobilize against him. Napoleon had a selection of tricks up his sleeves, in order to make the invasion work, such as the weapons developed by the American, Robert Fulton. Not only did the French utilize newly built Steamships in order to get across the Channel, but a small fleet of dreaded Nautili Submarine Boats were used to harass any English ships looking to intercept the French Invasion Fleet of 200,000 men. And, by September, the French had landed on the British Isles for the first time since the Norman Invasion of 1066.

The French Army marched quick, with the intent to seize and control London by December, and they made good headway. Any Martello fortifications along the coast that refused to surrender ended up being torn down, and the militias raised were quickly and humiliatingly defeated by the seasoned French Army. Everything seemed to be going well for the French, winning any battle that the underprepared British engaged them in, and by late October, London was in the sights of the French.

Times were desperate for London, as the Prince Regent and his father the King had already fled, along with any nobility in London, north into Scotland, and Revolutionary sympathizers gathered in the streets in order to turn the city over to the seemingly undefeated French.

But that was soon about to change. When the French arrived on the outskirts of The Great Wen, an army of soldiers and militia, supported by both cavalry and artillery, fresh and ready for battle, greeted them. The following battle between the two forces is surprisingly and worryingly undocumented within both British and Avalon’s records, and the only real information that the common citizen of Britain knows about the battle, is that the British won it, and drove the French away from their city. Commemorations for the victory on October 29th are still celebrated across the nation to this day.

In light of this defeat, the victorious British forces chased the French across Southern England, even during the biting cold winter of that year, and the French were finally driven from English shores by January of 1804. The French army arrived back in France, beaten and licking its wounds, before being turned against Austria and the falling Holy Roman Empire.

Many across Britain, and in fact the Western World, were surprised that France had been defeated so climatically, despite the devastation caused to the South of England and the damage that would impact on the British economy and society. By late January, the Royalty and the nobility had tentatively returned to London, and they were greeted by a gathering of the self appointed commanders of the defenders. Impress by their defense of the nation, and by their resounding defeat of the Imperial French invasion force, King George III knighted them, and they created the Imperial Order of the Children of Avalon.

The name, while not unusual when compared to the multitude of Orders that have existed in the United Kingdom since the Middle Ages, has often been either a confusion point or a mocking one at the hands of the Americans and the Europeans. The Order’s name, The Children of Avalon, is simply a referral to them being the self-declared defenders of their poetic name for England, based upon their interpretation of the legendary land from Arthurian Legend.

Names aside, the Children of Avalon had a new purpose - The destruction of Napoleon’s Empire.

Although the damage caused to England wasn’t as deep as the damage that the French had wrought upon the German nations, it was still deep enough that any immediate retribution for Avalon would need to wait as they helped with the reconstruction and relocation of those displaced via the invasion.

But, by the year 1807, Avalon was finally ready to strike back against the Imperial French.

### Who Virtue Unites, Death Shall Not Separate

Avalon’s plans against the imperial French Empire were numerous and vengeful, as many of the Order’s commanders would even think of stopping until they had reduced every French city, from Paris to Marseille, into ash and dust, and they certainly would not even dream about letting any French or so-called ‘ally’ of the devious and vile Napoleon live to see the light of the next day.

In the autumn of 1807, the British counter-invasion of the French territories began, bolstered with new technology, British re-inventions of French ‘Science-Machines’, creating the first British Fleet of what would evolve into S-Boats, or even brand new indigenous technology, such as electro-chemical weaponry developed by Humphrey Davy, re-designed Puckle Guns mounted on the steam-based war machines designed and credited to James Watt himself. The infantry of the Children of Avalon had exploded with brand new recruits ready to exact a violent revenge against the French for the destruction of 1803, all trained with the latest weapons, all ready to march on the continent.

The British Fleet, previously broken and decimated from the defeat at the First Battle of Trafalgar, had been rebuilt, remodelled, and given fully over to the commanders of Avalon, before being sent to send their shot and shell against the coastal defenses of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, while the British Flotilla began to set sail. Meanwhile, what little allies on the Continent Avalon could gather, from the Spanish Guerillas in Catalan, to the militias of the Holy Roman Empire that was on the brink of collapsing in on itself, in order to stir discord and violence against the dread Emperor of the Continent.

The first troops of Avalon landed all across the English Channel, and soon began to mount their campaigns. Over the next five years, many battles tore Flanders, Spain, Northern France, and even the Barbary coast to shreds, as the British and, eventually, their Russian allies, rallied against the imperialistic notions of Napoleon and the vile hate that the Revolution had spawned across a previously peaceful Old World. France and its allies were getting beaten back. For every French victory in the Iberian Peninsula, they lost a larger one against Avalon in Flanders, and for every route of the Russian imperial Army saw the British capture yet another French fort that dotted the Mediterranean. Soon, by 1812, the Napoleonic Wars looked like they’d end with a decisive French defeat and Napoleon’s head on display at the White Tower.

What Avalon didn’t count on, however, was the devious nature of their former colony in the Americas; The United States of America.

Under the presidency of James Madison, the United States declared that it was done with Avalon raiding and attacking American ships in an attempt to stop the United States and Napoleon becoming even closer than they already were, as well as British support for Native Tribes to fight against the expanding young nation. Madison knew that the United Kingdom was weak, and even if Avalon was marching across France, Avalon had left Canada wide open to attack. The normally defensive British in Canada lost several early battles with the Americans, mainly due to the element of surprise and due to the a few lucky flukes on the American’s behalf, and by the winter of 1812, American troops were camped along the Quebec River.
However, such a minor setback would not deter Avalon, and they had many arguments with the upstart colonials that needed to be hammered back at them. Avalon, begrudgingly, signed with France the “Year Long Peace of 1813”, a peace treaty that would allow Avalon to focus on fighting America, and France to focus on fighting Russian advances in the east.

Soon Avalon forces were assailing the coasts of New England and the American occupied regions of Canada. Angered at the impudence of the new Republic, Avalon ordered its forces to march upon Washington, and raze the city to the ground. They marched under the cover of night, and turned the city to ashes, killing any Americans that they could get their hands on. Such an act, one that stained the capital until the Great Civil War, brought international condemnation to Avalon, and would only be the first step amongst many in the dark path that Avalon would take over the nineteenth century. Needless to say, the Razing of Washington, Avalon’s shelling of Boston and New York managed to draw the American troops away out of Canada, but it did not cause the Americans to stand down.

Instead, it only vindicated the United States that fighting against the new monster that Avalon had shown itself as was the new draw of the the Union. As Avalon troops marched on New Orleans and Maine, American militias and the few Natives that allied with the stalwart republic stood their ground, and Avalon soon found themselves floundering in Aroostook and the Southern Bayous as Americans picked off the bright red coats of Avalon’s loyal soldiers.

Avalon was forced to extend the Peace Treaty of 1813 indefinitely, a situation that, while France was morally outraged at due to the nature Avalon was treating the Americans and the sheer hostility that Avalon still showed to the Continent, France saw the opportunity to keep Avalon at bay, while maintaining their crushing defeats of Russia and the Ottomans in the other theatres of Napoleon’s wars.

The Year Long Peace stretched on between Avalon and France for almost ten years, as both Avalon and France found themselves bogged down in their respective theatres. Russian Winters and American Guerillas were proving to be the greatest hindrance to the world’s two most powerfulest armies. To both London and Paris, this was a disgrace. A shame.

A reason to re-engage in total war in the continent, and end the Napoleonic Wars once and for all.

America was practically a lost cause, Louisiana a decimated hell hole that Avalon had no business to be in anymore, and the United States had lost too many good soldiers to consider the War with Avalon anything but a Pyrrhic victory at best. A peace, in secret, between Washington and London was drawn up, and all Avalon withdrew to Canada, while a similar situation was brewing between France and Russia in the winter of 1823, and thus, by the Spring of 1824, the Anglo-French branch of the Napoleonic Wars began in full swing.

And so, it began again.

# The Imperial Army of Avalon and its Dominions

*"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."*

-Psalm 23:4, often quoted by Avalonian Soldiers in the heat of battle

## Behind the Scenes

The Children of Avalon is based off of various Alternate History ideas, as well as real life British History during the 19th and Early 20th Centuries. Other areas of influence involve early episodes of Dr Who, secret British Societies, such as the Freemasons, and the popular culture seen around them, and just steampunk in general. Think of the Children of Avalon an embodiment of real-life Victorian British Empire mixed with advanced steampunk style technology.