Characters of the Concordiat

# The Milano Leadership

## Benito Mussolini

 **Occupation** | - Founder of the Unification Concordiat- Former member of the Resistance.

Not many people have made as great an impact in the 20th century of the alternate reality, or "Concordiatbranch" as it is called by the people of 'this' timeline, as the Italian ex-soldier, freedom fighter and important member of the Milano Leadership; Benito Mussolini. Living in this different times, Mussolini's life was different than of his counterpart who met an unceremonious end at the Syndicate's hand, but in some aspects surprisingly similar. Although one Mussolini is dead, and the other is enjoying eternal youth and vigor from Concordiat medical science.

Born in the times of Directorate's "golden age", Mussolini lived under the impression that the rule of the strong is the right path, fighting the Tsarists, Chinese, Norse, and the American Indians showed him that this was the way that things had to be, and that the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and voting was dangerous. The nations that put these freedoms on a pedastal were all destroyed by the march of history after all, and attempts at reviving them always lead to disaster. Systems like Communism which promised economic equality, dragged down the strong to help the weak and thus made the whole weak, while Capitalistic Democracies were ruinous in their paralysis and factional conflicts.

Rather the world would prosper under the same rules as during the Medieval Era, under strong and absolute leadership with a powerful military and a marriage of state and corporate power. A system he named after an ancient Roman symbol of strength and power "Fascism". A new system, one where a powerful state and strong corporations would "be so efficient as to make the trains run on time" in his own words. Despite the strong pressure of abusing these teachings, Mussolini resisted them to an extent, thinking about how to improve the current system, as he saw the present situation as "not overly bad, but not right either". The alternative systems, these weak democracies and would be socialist Utopias however, would need to be swept away and be shown the proper system, to free their people from their plight.

Like many young men of his time, Benito was drafted into the military and sent to the Eastern Front in 1901 to fight with the Russians in the Second Euro-Eastern Campaign, a part of the Second Great War. Mussolini's unit fought mostly to the south of the Volgograd in the attempt at surrounding this city and cut it off in a vise like grip. The intent was to surround and annihilate as large a portion of the enemy army as possible so as to further the end of the war and open the way to the rich oil fields of the Caucasus to the Directorate's armies, and thus deny them to the enemy.

During the assault, he was captured by the Tsarist Russians and found that they were not the savages that the propaganda claimed they were. True they were a people of vast number, bolstered by effective farming and baby boomer programs and very eager to fight the Directorate, but they treated him humanely. He saw that their country was well lead by the autocratic Tsar and gained the impression that a strong single hand could in fact set a country on the right path as opposed to faffing about with councils and parliaments. When he was freed in a swift Directorate counter-attack, he saw that his side were not the heroes they said they were.

Brutal killings and looting were made as well as acts of depravity he thought would be beneath a professional army. It was here that he was convinced that the Directorate was the one in the wrong. And when he returned home after the war, he decided to found a resistance movement based on the principles that he had come to believe were right.

With a group of his former brothers in arms from the Eastern Front Mussolini formed the Fasci Italiani di Resistenza in northern Italy and began his fight against the Directorate. With a force counting in at only few dozens armed with only a surplus of weapons Mussolini was constantly on the verge of being found and executed, requiring him and his men to regularly move from one hidden base to another. But it was not always about running away, the Facists as they began being called like this had several major success in their freedom fighting movements.

Over time the numbers of insurgents under Mussolini was getting higher and higher, first reaching a platoon, a company, a battalion and, a regiment. Fascist operations were mostly in the area of Alps and northern Italy, but Mussolini's example sparked more movements coming in to the light in other parts of Italy, some following the principles of fascism, and also the ideology was reaching into France and Bavaria. Directorate was diverting more and more to root out these irritating rebels which in turn was weakening their war affords, forcing for more conscriptions which was bringing in more disgruntled people who were rebelling.

# Military Personnel

## Maxmillian Kranich

 **Occupation** | - Founder of the Unification Concordiat- Supreme Commander of Concordiat Armed Forces- Formerly Counter Admiral of Imperial German Navy

The life of Admiral Maxmillian Kranich was that of faithful service to the kaiser that he respected, but was shaky about the path Directorate was taking and its methods of achieving global domination. In his opinion the constant warfare and aggressive campaigns towards everyone that wasnt under Directorate's control only caused more resentment and refusal to join them, making enemies from them. Still despite these thoughts Kranich has been fulfilling his duties to the kaiser and Directorate at maximum capacity and beyond, receiving many commendations and honors for his faithful service, leading many naval incursions and fighting in battles with the Tsarist navy and assisting ground forces in the sieges of Russian ports, most commonly the capital Saint Petersburg with bombardments from his battleships.

A simple life of a child of banker in Cologne and the enlistment into the military, specifically the navy of the German Empire, Maxmillian first served as a simple seaman, than through the money of his family attended the military academy and became Fähnrich, the German equivalent of Ensign. Slowly making his way up through the ranks, he seen it all which gave him an exceptional insight into the workings of the navy and on the board of the ship, which he put into good use once he have became the commanding officer of his own ship. Knowing all too well how life of the seaman can be difficult he have established several programs and activities to bolster the morale of his crew, which in the long run made him a popular figure within the Imperial German Navy. Many men have signed up into the navy, and many have been asking for transfer under his command.

Thought it were his skills and experiences that enabled Kranich to live that long and survive the constant warfare his country and the Directorate were waging. The close proximity to the Russia made it the most common of theater where Kranich served, leading his destroyer into many engagements with the Russian submarines in Baltic Sea and Arctic Ocean and come from them victorious, or at least still alive. After two years of service on three destroyer he was transferred to the cruiser *Frankfurt* with promotion to Captain at Sea, his new duties were those of active search and hunt of Russian vessels, as well as the Norse ships in the northern Atlantic, an enemy that was the only one threatening the safety of the shipping lines in the Atlantic.

With promotion into Counter Admiral he was put in charge of German Third Battleship Task Group Schwaben, consisting of 4 battleships *Schwaben*, *Mecklenburg*, *Kaiser Wilhelm II* and *Ulrich von Hutten*, 6 cruisers and large number of other escort and auxiliary vessels. The discovery of SPAM technology have increased the number of battleships under his command in six months from four to nine. His task group was continuing the job of his previous units, engaging Russian and Northern ships, writing a couple of famous battles into the history. Until the aliens came.

Kranich and the Task Group Schwabem were in the North Sea, heading to the Newcastle under Fylker's control to assist in its siege which was going not very well, when the news of "alien vessels coming from the skies" caught up to them. Shortly afterwards with the whole crews of Admiral's ships being shocked and terrified by these events Kranich received a telegram from the nobles in Germany, ordering him to turn the fleet and return back to Hamburg and "protect them and the city from the new enemies from the skies", stating that the Newcastle landing was not important anymore and in fact the siege was a lost cause. Upon reading this, Counter Admiral Kranich's turning point was reached. The culmination of his doubts of the bad orders, none-agreements with many of the Directorate's actions and now a willing sacrifice of men just to protect your own life, betraying them for selfish reasons. That was too much already. Informing the whole task group of his orders and intentions to defile them, stating his causes, and with large support from his men Kranich headed to the Newcastle to help the invading Directorate forces in retreat, saving thousands of men in the process.

WIP