There is a common legend across the peoples of Europa.
It tells of three brothers who led their starving and desperate people across the deepest wilds
of the continent.
At first, they travelled together, taking refuge beneath the same sky, and speaking
with one another in the same tongue.
But the longer they travelled, the more distant they became.
First to depart was the eldest brother, who along with his tribe, departed for the vast
steppes of the East where he saw the wind was blowing freely.
The second brother and his tribe were next to leave, seeking out the fertile lands beneath
the towering peaks of the west.
The youngest brother continued north but found little with which to feed his people.
Until one day, as the sun began to set, he came upon a broad valley, marked by sparkling
rivers each teeming with fish and surrounded by beautiful lands with no equal in the world.
The tribe of the youngest brother rested there, while he alone set out to hunt.
It was not long before he spotted one of the beasts of the forest, but as he made ready
to loose an arrow, a shadow fell over the youngest brother.
He had an unknowingly taken aim beneath the nest of an immense white eagle, which, as
crimson light filled the valley, spread its wings against the setting sun.
The details of this story change with every telling.
The identity of the three brothers and what lands they settled have all been wrapped in
myth and lost to antiquity, but a great white eagle casting its wings against a crimson
sky, can still be seen across Europa.
Now however, it is emblazoned on the flags and banners of the Republic of Polania.
Situated in the center of the vast plains that cut across Europa, Polania has always
been a crossroads of intersecting tribes and cultures.
The establishment of Polanian statehood can be traced to the pagan kings of the Middle
Ages who turned their paltry holdings in a realm of cohesive territory.
This growing Kingdom embraced a union with foreign rulers to the north, creating a grand
Commonwealth that for a time presided over Europa as one of its largest and most populous
nations.
It built a uniquely liberal political system, enshrined in the continents first written
national constitution.
But with time, came the passing of prominence and prosperity.
The country had few natural borders with which to defend itself and in time, found itself
caught between the rise of rival superpowers.
Both the Rusviet Tsardom to the east and the Saxon Kingdoms to the west would invade and
occupy Polania, partitioning it among themselves.
Multiple times across its history, Polania would reclaim the mantle of independence,
only to be conquered again by one or both of its rivals.
But since the famed uprising of 1863, which saw Rusviet armies thrown back from its borders,
Polania has once again been an independent nation.
But while the nation yearns to restore Polania’s now long distant golden age, it has proven
powerless in the face of renewed aggression.
Much of the country’s border territories remain occupied and the government is desperate
to keep the current armistice intact, regardless of whatever conditions it is forced to endure.
While some rage at the apparent inaction of their government, Polania is unique among
the nations of Eastern Europa in the voice it gives its people.
A parliamentary democracy, executive power is held by the Office of the President.
The powers this office wields are limited.
While able to appoint both a Prime Minister to head the government and the upper house
of the nation’s Senate, it is the support of the lower house that is required to pass
laws and enact policy.
The Polanian Senate is split between various political parties, representing not only competing
ideologies, but often minority groups, including Saxons and Rusviets, who live within the country.
The nation was also one of the first in the world to recognize woman’s suffrage and
a greater percentage of Polanian citizens can cast their vote than nearly anywhere else
in Europa.
But frequently changing governments, accusations of corruption, and weariness leftover from
the losses of the Great War have led to a severe lack of confidence among the common
people.
The potential for the rise of a new Polanian autocracy is growing, through either a military
coup or even fair and honest elections.
Much of this is driven by the country’s economic difficulties.
The bloodiest battles of the Great War were fought across Polania and the nation’s industries
were exploited or sabotaged by either the Tsardom or Saxons in equal measure.
Even before the outbreak of war, the Republic had been tasked with unifying disparate economic
regions, which had previously been administered by different countries.
Within the nation’s borders were the remnants of different economic systems and different
currencies, with very few direct institutional links.
While great progress had been made in centralizing the economy and easing the disparity of wealth
across its regions, the renewed occupation of its frontier territories has reversed much
of it.
Frequent border closures and blockades by both Saxony and Rusvia have only worsened
the situation with some regions of Polania faced with starvation.
The nation has also been traditionally agrarian, with most of its modern heavy industries built
by Saxon occupiers.
Major projects initiated prior to the start of the war included the construction of entirely
new industrial cities together with rail lines and seaports.
These were meant to bypass occupied areas and have the potential to bring to Polania
new opportunities for trade and wealth, but these developments were heavily impacted by
the war and remain easily disrupted.
Worse still, the uneven distribution of these advancements has unofficially divided the
country into parts.
The better developed west, and the underdeveloped east.
Together, all these factors are contributing to a rising social unrest.
This dissatisfaction has spread to the armed forces, split between those who favor the
liberation of occupied territories, and those who wish to preserve the armistice.
How Polania might fare in any future conflict remains unknown.
The nation has worked to field a considerable army of nearly 1 million soldiers on active
duty, organized into numerous infantry divisions, supported by cavalry, and mechanized brigades.
Another 700,000 serve in the reserves, mainly veterans from the Great War.
The training of the Polanian army is thorough.
Its non-commissioned officers in particular are highly regarded across Europa, possessing
expert knowledge and high ideals.
Since the end of the Great War, fearing a renewed conflict, a special emphasis has been
placed on training.
This routinely occurs both in the field and in the lecture hall, where modern technical
achievements have been closely studied, discussed and demonstrated.
Yet the eagerness to supply its armies with the mechanized walkers made famous by Nikola
Tesla, has been stymied by budget difficulties.
New models have been introduced slowly, and often in numbers well below what is required.
Unable to compete with the technical sophistication of the Empire of Saxony or the raw power of
the Rusviet Tsardom, Polania has instead embraced a doctrine centered upon mobility.
It’s mechs are lighter and faster, able to quickly engage in hit and run tactics designed
to keep the enemy at a distance.
The PZM-7 “Smialy” is perhaps the best representation of Polanian doctrine, lightly
armoured but equipped with a powerful anti-mech rifle and able to move swiftly.
A revolutionary design at the outbreak of the Great War, it remains competitive years
later, and even the oldest models have been kept in service.
It has been especially successful when deployed alongside cavalry divisions, supporting Polanian
mounted infantry as a kind of modern iteration of the famed “winged hussars”.
The PZM-9 “Straznik“ represents another uniquely Polanian innovation, a fast walker
with advanced stabilization technologies that allow it to fire while on the move.
Such advancements have come at the cost of firepower however, with the PZM equipped only
with lighter machine guns.
Despite the effectiveness of these mechs in the mobile operations favored by the Polanian
Army, heavier, slower, more powerful designs have not been wholly overlooked.
The PZM-13 “Mocny” is essentially a walking artillery piece, equipped with a heavy gun
the equal of anything found in the arsenals of Polania’s major rivals.
It is the PZM-24 “Tur” however, that is the pride of the Republic.
Designed as much for its potency in wartime as for its formidable presence in peacetime,
the PZM-24 is believed to be the largest mech in regular service across the whole of Europa.
Such behemoths have put a considerable strain on Polanian industry however, and have been
deployed only in very limited numbers It is perhaps the presence of these new technologies
that has emboldened certain elements of the Polanian Army to test the limits of the armistice.
A growing resistance has formed in the occupied territories, desperate, angry people who have
refused to give in to the weariness and timidity that has gripped both their government and
their countrymen.
In isolated towns and farms they have seized any opportunity to strike back at foreign
occupiers, before melting away into the thick forests of their homeland.
The Polanian government has sought to end these border skirmishes before they reignite
the horrors of the Great War.
The increasing sophistication of the attacks, and the presence of modern military equipment
among the ranks of the resistance, however, lends evidence to the idea that regular units
of the Polanian Army have begun training, supplying, and perhaps fighting alongside
them.
Many attribute this to the presence of the war hero Lech Kos at the head of the leadership
of the resistance.
His aggressive and fearless style of command during the Great War inspired unrivaled acts
of bravery in the men under his command.
While he remains especially popular within sections of the armed forces, the current
government considers him to be the most dangerous man in Polania.
If he can rouse the general populace to follow his example, then perhaps, the means to overthrow
the Rusviet occupies might be within reach.
There is hardly a cause more noble than in the liberation of one’s homeland, and it
easy to deride the current government as weak and timid.
But the time when three brothers marched together across the untamed wilderness of Europa as
one united tribe is long gone.
It has been replaced by a new age of mechanical constructs and terrible weaponry with the
power to unleash carnage on a scale never seen.
It was not so long ago that the cities of Polania were consumed by fire and armies of
its native sons and daughters were massacred in the fields and forests.
Perhaps however, the burning passion to resist is all that is required, and while its lands
may be occupied, its armies crushed, as long as that fire burns, Polania is not yet lost.