War on Violetist Liberation Army

[Derthalen]

Inquisitorial Work

There had been reports of certain units taking longer than strictly necessary to patrol parts of the jungle, strange incidents of objects disappearing from stockpiles, rations going missing, and of figures being seen leaving camps during the dead of night. So far, no men had disappeared, but enough suspicion had been raised that members of the Inquisition were quietly called for in order to deal with possible defectors amongst the ranks. One such Inquisitor was now silently trailing two squads of soldiers into the jungle, far off the patrol route they were supposed to be taking. He was going to find their camp first, before then signalling for the military police to come after these deserters. There would be no forgiveness... 

The deserters came into a clearing, with thatched huts and a covered pit dug into the centre before a large dirt mound. It was nearing sundown, with a full moon already visible in the sky. Two of the men went into one of the huts and pulled out wood and bone Aquilas atop runic poles, with human skulls hanging from under the wings. The Inquisitor hid in the bushes and watched, fascinated by the objects and wondering for what purpose they had been fashioned. Another two men came out with a large drum. All of the men dropped their weapons and packs, and put on their prayer cowls and began chanting a hymn. The two men with the Aquilas stood by the covered pit, where crying could now be heard. The men who carried the drum put it down and started to beat it slowly. One man, who's cowl was more ornately adorned now appeared with four men who carried man catchers. They lifted the wood and leaf covering off the pit, and proceeded to jab into it trying to catch whatever was down there. They succeeded quickly, as the form of a crying dark skinned man was pulled out of the pit, his clothes marking him as one of the insurgents that they had been fighting. His emaciated from was a sickening sight, as the skin clung to his skull so tightly, you could swear there was nothing but bone underneath. His exposed chest looking in the light nothing but a rib cage.

He continued to cry with whimpering pleas being made to his captors, as he was slowly taken up the dirt mound. Only his handlers and the one with the adorned cowl ascended the mound, with the rest of the congregation standing between the Aquilas and chanting while the drummers played. The prisoner was tied down on the summit, while the leader of this group began to speak: 'Oh Holy Emperor, we unworthy servants beseech you! Extend upon us thy divine aegis, imbue us with thy sacred fury, and grant us thine infinite sight. We are far from the land of our kith and kin, far from the hallowed halls of thy rest; so that we might prove ourselves to be worthy of thy light, and gain once more thy grace, we offer up our blood, a token of those who seek thy purest light! May our offering please thou.' The leader pulled out a gleaming blade from his uniform and cut his hand with it. The Inquisitor captivated by the scene then noticed that the chanters also were cutting themselves as well. Once their blades had been completely covered in their blood, the leader knelt down next to the prisoner and shouted out: 'To the Emperor I give this gift of blood and life, to the Emperor I give the sacrifice of a prisoner of war, an enemy who sought to kill one of the Emperor's servants, and a soul broken and forged in darkness. I ask only that we be cleansed of such darkness, and if I ask too much, then let me pass through thy fire as well!' The sun had sunk below the horizon now, with the light of day being replaced by that of the moon. The drumming and chanting grew in intensity and with a sudden shock, the Inquisitor realised his eyes began to blur. He swore he could see tendrils of darkness coming forth from the Cult's leader now as he raised his blade up high with both hands. As the blade fell into the captive's chest both the Inquisitor and the captive let out wild screams of pain... Realising what had just happened, the Inquisitor fled from that place as shouts came after him. He ran with all of the might he could muster through the jungle, never turning back to see if they followed. Two hours later, he came upon a road and fell down from exhaustion, his clothes torn and his body trembling. He swore then that he would never speak of what he saw in that jungle.

[Iverica]

WHAT NOW? CLOSING A COUNTER-INSURGENCY THEATRE

[Excerpt from the Defence Blog ||||||||||||||||||||||| by |||||||||||||||||||]

Afropa
January 12, 2020

There's much to be said about shipping halfway around the globe, deploying thousands of troops against an insurgency, extending your deadlines by 2 years, and having no concrete exit strategy. But in the least, it can be said that it would be very, very, very expensive.

No doubt the Armed Service accrued an immense amount of experience and data--the Tercios and Exersito units were now expert in conducting tropical and bush counter-insurgency. They had tested several prototype weapon systems, one of which was a satellite guided artillery round, to tremendous success. Yet still, one big but very simple question remained: What now?

You've fought the enemy to a standstill, utterly ruined their logitics, forced them into a corner so much so that their indescriminant terror tactics were even turning the most anti-government villages to doubt them--but you just can't exterminate them. Its an insurgency. You can't destroy weeds completely, they leave enough root... just enough to grow back once the gardener has a busy week doing something else.

So what's one to do? Well it wasn't completely true to say that the Iverican task force had no exit strategy whatsoever.

They completed their objectives-reduced the supply of blackmarket explosives available to the VLA by more than half, captured or killed top VLA leaders, maintained good relations with the local populace (this really meant giving them a lot of food and alcohol and not shooting them), and tutored the Afropan forces in intelligence gathering, tactics in built-up areas, mechanised ops, and Heli-ops. The plan was to do that and be gone by August 2018.

It is now January, 2020. While most Iverican forces had departed in a steady, organised fashion, combat teams remained as advisors and to do occasional HVT raids. Though of course, the media hadn't forgotten and had field day upon field day criticising the Deitorr administration for what looked like a meandering campaign of nothing. So why had the RAS not just pulled out? Why stick around? The answers to those questions and the rumours that abounded them, first relied on the answer to another question:

What had happened since July of 2018?

Firstly, and most infuriatingly--the Derthaler Spring offensive of 2019 never happened. It seems that majority of the palid neckbeards had been pulled out. Their complex, but ultimately outmoded fortifications were largely manned by a skeletal force. No answers as to why.

VLA had, naturally, gotten worked up since the Derthalers had broadcasted the offensive on public systems. They moved troops and shuffled equipment, made ready in the few North-Eastern bush strongholds they had left.

The Ivericans were absolutely pissed at the news, to put it lightly. The brass wouldnt have the albino profligates undo the "hearts and minds" campaign (the Derthaler forces were resolved to use chemical weapons on Afropan soil). So they stayed, formulating an operation to strike first and sieze VLA ground before the lack-witted conscripts could shamble into position. All for waste of course, since by February 2019, drone imagery reported that the Derthalers had abandoned forward OPs.

Wasted effort, fuel, and lives. A few were combat casualties, but most were planning accidents as a result of the impromptu launch. Nonetheless, the strongholds were cleared and swept by the Ivericans, and then occupied by Afropan Army. A few urban and border pockets remained, but for the most part, the insurgency's ability to conduct real offensives was quashed. Most of what they could do was make VBEDs strapped with homemade semtex and prey on farmers and bush cops.

 But the Iverican public were getting restless. The task force was hemorrhaging money and most were beginning to rethink the operation's cost on money and lives--for what? The embassy bombing was becoming less and less of an inflammatory casus belli by the time the public began to grow alarmed at something much closer to home: the Assassination of Vasqqan Consul Subiri in autumn 2019 (which as you know, lead to much debate over Federal powers between the Iberic states). The Deitorr administration was beginning to sweat profusely--likely because it realised how much money solving this booboo might take--bribes, compensation, international summit hosting, leases, loans, etc. Money that the Afropa campaign was drinking like a fat Derthberger drinks weissbier on a hot Andallan summer day.

So we return to the question--why hadn't the RAS pulled out before 2019? Was it really in the interest of the Afropan public--sparing them from imperial chemicals? Was it really just to save face? Or was there something else?

If we link out question with other evidence--particularly, of the fact that several Toledo company directors and C-level officers being present at Dieudonné in 2018 and 2019 and of several powerplants and mineral extraction sites being purchased by Toledo companies. Then its fair to suspect that the operation might not have been done on charitable intentions. This is of course, speculation. Nothing can be confirmed. Do your own reasearch.

What is to be the future of Iverican forces in Afropa?

According to the Ministry of Defence, the last combat element in Afropa is to depart late next month, on February. A handful of advisors and observers remain. But the last ships from Task Force Ultra Violet will depart for Gallambria and later, home quite soon. The insurgency will likely never die, though it will remain silent for a while. So long as there's money flowing (from that shady Sa Haran connection I've discussed in the past), and there's not enough incentive to do otherwise, some new fanatics will always grow out of the sheep. There won't be a shortage of jobless, belief-searching, enthusiastic youth to take up the violet. 

 

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OOC: This has gone absolutely nowhere for a while. So I hope no one minds if I take the liberty to attempt a rough outline of how it would be concluded. I tried as much as possible not to force too many presumptions on what others might do, but still had to take creative liberties to suggest what they probably would do.