Deutsche Welle - German News

[Kaiser Martens]

[b]In the Cold Edge[/b]
[i]Ahoi Svalbard[/i]

Another chapter in the ever-changing borders of the Germanic Metanation is opened when after annexing parts of Norway, the Franz Josef archipielago is sold to England for a great sum. As the Pounds roll in the treasuries across Prussia, a new plan is underway. Faroe is to receive state-of-the-art port facilities, coastal defences and air defences, it is to become a fortress much like Iceland. Many workers from the Mainland, Iceland and former Norway have mobilized to assist in this project. The small Islands are to be a strategic point along the Hamburg-Iceland path, the most important maritime route of our Nation.

But that is not all. Nordheim has ceased to be the northernmost point in our Fatherland, for control of Svalbard, the "cold edge" as the ancient Norronts called it, is to be populated and developed using similar means and technology as seen in our Southern Outpost, Niflheim. Currently the zone is being explored, as geothermal power stations might be viable, and the coasts as well may be suitable areas, hopefully, for Offshore Platforms. At that, several high-risk testing facilities having to do with Medicine and Nuclear research have been opened. Lord de Keizer has spoken, "In order for us to continue to control this territory, we need to bring it up to the population density and development standards of other areas. We will use all we learned in the Far South and bring the land up to date, and, after some years, we will see profit just as we have in the ice city Helheim and in Iceland itself, once considered to be nothing but a place for ships to dock."

Reportedly, Herr Überstein has summoned several members of his old scandinavian government in order to assist with the creation of underground bunkers in the Far North, in order to make everything progress as smoothly as it should.
In the Fatherland's longest period of uninterrupted growth and improvement, there are always new projects and uses for the ever-increasing population and resources.

[Kaiser Martens]

[b]The Raiders return victorious from Australia[/b]
[i]The Longships approach[/i]

The first ships have begun to arrive to Reykjavik, Oslo, Hamburg and Amsterdam, some of them having some trouble maneuvering due to being loaded with so much loot obtained from the Australian Raids. From clothing and food to trucks, different "Viking markets" have been set up across Norsvea and Germanic Union, to sell cheaply what would otherwise have but a reasonable cost. In the end, all seem to win.

Some of the objects obtained were pieces of art, while others were interesting objects sometimes of daily life yet without value proper. In Luxemburg, a New Viking Museum is being created out of a large unused manor to display both these works of art and other items, such as foreign busts taken right off their stands and brought to Europe.

In the South, in the Übersteinian State - formerly known as Liechtenstein - several Viking Chiefs have gathered together in Castle Überstein to sell to the Baron several pieces of what they have obtained, and also to obtain a loan to allow them to purchase, eventually, another Landing Ship. It would also seem that he has sent some of his personal guard into Viking Service, giving these raiders more firepower in every sense of the word. The Old Ruler spoke, "This will help otherwise poor people continue with their profitable operations, which ultimately benefit the whole country and help steer away from socialistic tendencies."

[Kaiser Martens]

[b]Unexpected Recovery![/b]
[i]The missing Ducal hat of Liechtenstein is found[/i]

The ancient Liechtenstein Regalia has been found today at Martenshaven, suddenly deposited at the feet of Mannelig's monument grave by someone wearing a white coat and hat, who has not been identified. Soon a policeman found the jewel and took it into the Lost and Found Office of the city, where eventually research lead to discovering what it was. Specialists were then summonned to do tests in order to make sure that it would be no forgery. Sure enough, the material passed the tests, furthermore, even at the eye, it seemed somewhat worn out.

It is currently undergoing restoration and, next week, it will be returned to Liechtenstein where it belongs. In turn, the replica used until that moment will be sent back south to Martenshaven to the spot where it was found.

The Government officially thanked the anonymous person who brought the hat out of obscurity after centuries since it had been lost, however, nobody has taken responsability for the action.

The hat at Liechtenstein would become for ten days an improvised museum for all to see it, there, the fee would become a donation to Finnish families affected by the nuclear strike at Helsinki, as well as of course, survivors.

[Kaiser Martens]

[b]Economic and Demographic Boom[/b]
[i]New countries, new opportunities - and new Vessels[/i]

As of lately, Germanic Union has seen many favorable changes. The Transvaaler market had opened recently, giving many chances for new investments, and a similar situation was seen in the eastern brother nation, Livonia, or "Far East Prussia" as people sometimes have called it. The stabilization of Scandinavia combined with the ongoing resurgence of Sweden have brought forth even more opportunities and natural resources, while oil is found by Svalbard. The people have better jobs, and those who don't, like the Vikings, have managed a good living while bringing forth many goods at very low prices. Indeed, it is projected that in ten years the population will rise from the last recorded census' 100 millions to at least 140, and education and health indexes will also be positively affected.

Now that the Fatherland has managed not to be involved in serious conflict for a long time, things are blooming and as well is the military's quality rising. Its numbers had greatly decreased after the Francogerman War, but have been on a slow rise ever since to compensate.

Currently, due to the geography of the Germanic Union, a new type of ship is being introduced: the Skjold Class Patrol Boat ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skjold_class_patrol_boat ), built in the newly-renamed "Odensand" city, formerly known as Kristiansand. It had been designed by both Peninsular Germanic (Scandinavian) and Mainland Germanic (Dutch-German-Austrian) but had not been sent into production due to the troubles in the north. Now many will get to have a job position again through the program. The first ships, which are to be a batch of ten pre-production prototypes brought up to production standards have been made available already, and many more will be produced. The target was not specified, but some rumors of a hundred have been heard.

"We want to continue to provide the best security to our people, and the Sea had long been a neglected area of our geographically diverse nation. We will no longer turn our backs to this necessity, because now we can in fact actually afford it."

[Kaiser Martens]

And history repeats itself. Panzers roll across France and Paris. But this time, with a spin...as the crowds riot everywhere in Frankenland, as UK's flags are taken down and burnt, the Germanic Union Forces move in not to conquer but to protect. With them they carry both their own Flags as well as the French Imperial Flags: The past is brought to the present and updated.

They bring forth many goods, especially alcohol and delikatessen, it seemed that the French territory had been rather neglected during UK's ruling, as people seemed to be particularily desperate to get their hands on food, and, for a change, were not overly agressive towards the Germans. Far beyond, to support the English Efforts, Ireland receives a similar treatment through the use of the Luftwaffe Paratrooper Corps.

Lord Martens is seen at his finest and has a podium arranged by the Eiffel tower. Many people are out in the streets, with French Flags at last, having long been oppressed politically. But this was not an announcement only about France, governments across the continent had been asked to tune in. Unexpectedly, he begins to speak in French,

The crowd becomes quiet in expectation.

"People of Europe,

And,

People of Free France!"

Everyone goes back to making noises and drinking for several seconds, until he gestures for silence so that he may go on. So he does...

"Today we have witnessed one of the most surprising events in the history of Europe. The end of the Chimera that had been the United Kingdom! I have been granted the privilege of speaking in behalf of England as well as the Germanic Union itself. Firstly I shall address the matters of France. France has been a punished nation, first misled by a valiant yet misguided Empress, then consumed by civil war and strangled by Communism, only to be split up and once again absorbed by an empire, this time the UK. The French People have endured an ordeal, but, at this point, they are no longer to be in such a terrible condition. For the Former Enemies that we were, will from this moment onwards, become the most loyal protectors of France. We will annex no part of this nation...we are not here to control, neither are we to enforce, we are here to protect, to fix what UK had done, and the desires of the locals will be respected. We will naturely have military bases, but only to prevent the rise of anarchy, and we will have a series of plebiscites as well."

"But at a larger scale, what does the fall of the UK implies for Europe? For England and the British Islands, it implies Stability, and Unity. It implies the return of civilization - that the ones who had launched nukes onto London from Ireland will face trial for their genocide."

"It also implies that, for the first time in History, Europe is to be no longer divided in sides, no longer will we see. We are seeing a new age, one of European Unity, but not unity as we had seen on the past - which was of course unity through arms, or unity through pseudodemocracy. An unity within a certain degree of freedom and diversity, an Europe with French, German, Nordmen, Englishmen, Russians, Hellenics and much more. I declare that, as such, we have achieved the final victory against the forces of chaos."

"Heil France, Europe, England, and Germania!"

European Order was reestablished.

----------------


Later, when the speech finishes, Martens goes, "Whew. That was too !@#$@#$ close..."

[Zoot Zoot]

King Alfred sent a text to lord Martens.

"Couldnt of said it better myself brother"

[Kaiser Martens]

"I'll drink to that."

"Our troops report that they have captured the Irish Government while they were just about to take off for America..."

"...They are all yours."

[Zoot Zoot]

[quote name='Kaiser Martens' timestamp='1303446019' post='2696261']
"I'll drink to that."

"Our troops report that they have captured the Irish Government while they were just about to take off for America..."

"...They are all yours."

[/quote]

"Hold them in custody for the team being. Dinsmore will stand trial for crimes against humanity and genocide, alert the Athenians the man responsible for the nuclear attack in the war is captured.

Moreover, troops in Scotland have uncovered that it was Scotlad who initiated cyber attacks giants England using the Triumvirate reign"

[Kaiser Martens]

"You should put him in a cage and place him smack dab where the London Nuke fell. Let him die by his own radioactive poison."

[Zoot Zoot]

"Nay, he will stand trial. There is overwhelming evidence to have the !@#$%^& shot anyway. What of the other Royals?"

[Kaiser Martens]

"Some have fled, some have suicided, some we caught."

[Kaiser Martens]

[b][u]Of Plebiscites and Homes[/u]
[i]More Territorial Changes[/i][/b]

It has been a week since Germanic Union had taken up Joint Protectorateship of former West Mainland UK. A week of low intensity conflict and riot quelling, in which the Franco-German brigade had been at the forefront of the humanitarian and armed struggle, to try to keep France from destroying itself yet again.

The different Regions had so far acquired a rather "tribal" organization, or one may say a form of "localism". In the face of anarchy, every region and town seemed to go for itself. As such, it was no wonder that Wallonia, in the midst of all this insanity, had gone back to remember the good old days when it had enjoyed a degree of prosperity when it had once been a part of Belgium, and seemed to long to join the Flanders once more.

It is because of this no surprise that when plebiscites started to be held at different parts of France, these people had expressed that 72% of their voters would like to add their provinces back to Germanic Union's famous yet incomplete Seventeen, to go for stability, for after all, unlike the rest of the territories, they did speak Dutch as well as French, therefore were not as isolated from the Germanic Realm. Other regions did not say the same though, and many were outright skeptical of the German-Athenian protectorate, viewing them as yet another tyrant - believing themselves to have simply changed hands from an Empire to the Next.

Ingrid von Glücksburg moved then to Brüssel to announce the annexation of the territory, therefore bringing all of what had once been Belgium in their power, and, unifying the Benelux Area, which has proven to be quite popular among the Luxemburgers and Dutch.

However, what goes around comes around: Plebiscites in Norway yielded mixed results, in which the majority of the west and north was staunchly in favor of Germanic Union due to having been a neglected area in the past, yet the rest of Norway, around the Oslo area, had remained loyal to the old Norsvea ideals, as they had reaped the most benefits from those eras. They would like to go and return to the way things had been prior to the invasions - that is, they would like to move closer to Stockholm than Berlin. With 68% of the voters supporting this idea, the following regions marked with a Cross had opted to become a part of Ny Sverige. Stockholm's confirmation needed to seal the land transfer.

[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/14btegh.png[/img]

In other words, the main UK Treasuries and Depots had been sucessfully taken by the Germanic Union, which had taken most of the goods for themselves in train, to use them to fund the Nuclear Healing Efforts of the nuked areas of Europe, England included - a means of war reparations.

The weaponry had at large been confiscated to prevent further uprisings, but instead of being destroyed, the equipment would be tested and then stored at Bayern as a Strategic Reserve, while a few are to go to museums.

The last half of the treasure was confiscated from several private owners that had been the UK regional government of traitors, and it would be used to benefit the people of France: Housing, Hospitals, Schools, and more.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Kaiser Martens

[Elrich von Richt]

[center][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Sweden-Royal-flag-lesser-coa.svg/250px-Sweden-Royal-flag-lesser-coa.svg.png[/img]
[size=1][font="Century Gothic"]Official Correspondence from HRH Madeleine I, Drottning av Sverige[/font][/size][/center]

To the Germanic Union,

Upon hearing of the potential acquisition of our Scandinavian brethren in portions of Norway, we were most delighted. One of the principles that the new regime, and the royal family has viewed as central to our long-term goals is Scandinavianism. The nationalist tendencies of both the Norwegian and Swedish people following the collapse of the previously existent democratic has shown itself here, and we will proudly welcome them to our family once more. Consider the transfer of these Norwegian territories to rule under the Swedish crown, accepted. I will send a small contingent of forces to the area in question to promote Swedish law, and restore operations in the area to a civil level.

[Kaiser Martens]

[b][u]Nukes Over Europe[/u]
[i]Germania Retaliates[/i][/b]

After narrowly having avoided all-out nuclear war with the UK, upon all of Europe but France finding its' stability, an unexpected threat has risen. Maine, formerly an allied of our Nation, has launched its' entire nuclear arsenal upon various states of Europe and the world, including Austria, without any sort of provocation nor reason to do so.

"This is an act of insanity. They must be stopped." - Lord Martens.

Germanic Union, although not targetted, quickly brought its SDI's attention towards much of the incoming enemy fire, and has been able to stop several of the ICBMs which might have hit Austria. In spite of this stunning performance by our crew, damage across the world is impossible to calculate at this point and aid is being organized to all those affected. Almost immediately, the countries have retaliated, virtually erasing Maine's population centers off the map.

In this dark time, Major General Fegelein, whom is in charge of Germanic Union's SDI Program, has been granted an Iron Cross for his achievements to save millions of lives. Shortly thereafter, Germanic Union launched hundreds of missiles upon Maine - non nuclear in nature - targetting the launching points of their nuclear weapons, military bases, air bases and anything they might suspect to be related to the production of further weaponry.

Europe mourns.

[Kaiser Martens]

[u][b]Baron Überstein Is Dead![/b]
[i]The Passing of a Controversial Figure[/i][/u]

Today, on the Fourth of May of year 2???, Baron Überstein, one of Europe's most controversial figures, has been found dead in his bed, having passed out while in his sleep. He had worked tirelessly for his beliefs, firstly having led a revolution in Russia in which he had lost his family but gained a country. Later on he moved to establish the pan-scandinavist state of Übersteinia, which was the sucessor of Ny Sverige, which had greatly aided Kaiser Martens's Silver Revolution. The then-German-Reich and Übersteinia were closed allies for a long time and together had repealed a Celtic Invasion of Scandinavia. At different times in history, Überstein was known to have been involved with doomsday devices and assasinations. Eventually, he decided to step out of the political scene and his nation willingly joined the First Nordland under Kaiser Martens and Bruno Zamoyski.

Upon its failure, Scandinavia was torn and remained until recent times the "Northern Balkans" so to speak. In spite of Übersteins' harsh measures against Religion - which was, essentially publically forbidden - most came to feel nostalgic of his stability. Therefore, he first settled in Mariehamm, modern Germanic Union (Aaland) and eventually from this point of view created Finland. Controversy only grew later when he had opposed the Second Nordland and was one of the many countries responsible for its' undoing. He led Finland well, which managed to continue to be so far a mostly stable country yet with periods of Anarchy - he tried to end Übersteinianism in favor of longer-lasting institutions, but in a continent of Figureheads, such a thing has been complicated.

Eventually, he made peace with Germanic Union and Kaiser Martens - who then became once more a personal friend - and was set to control the unruly regions of former Lübeck, which felt reassured being lead with someone with his experience. He has been developing Jütland and the Danish Islands ever since, even up to this very day. His last show of greatness has been donating 90% of his personal riches to Germanic Union's Government. This fortune has been announced to be from now onwards put to good use: To heal Austria's Nuclear Wounds.

A statue of Überstein is being built at Mariehamm, Aaland, founded by Kaiser Martens himself. Germanic Union has declared three days of mourning.

"We have had many good and bad times with Überstein, but ultimately he was a man that stood up for his beliefs, and I will always respect him for that. Be it Folkvangr or Valhalla, there will always be a special place for him." - Said Martens the Elder.

The new Governor of Jütland and Denmark will be Detlev Steinarr, of Überstein's circle. He has organized with the Althing a funerary march and parade at Berlin and Copenhagen at the same time, in parallel. Überstein will be buried with full military honors of all of his previous nations. He had been 103 years old.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Kaiser Martens

[Padraig Rua]

[i]Kaiser Frederick Von Hapsburg sends his condolences to the friends and family of Baron Überstein, and to but of course Germany[/i].

[Lynneth]

The German-speaking communities of Sri Lanka would send their condolences as well as set up a fund to keep the Überstein estate in pristine condition. He was an admired man.

[Malatose]

[i]I have only a few words to dedicate to this dead man. He was one of the best Europeans, one of the strongest defenders of free thought, one of the biggest opponents of all the enemies of a free Europe. He fell as a martyr for the preservation and safeguarding of Europe. As leader of the party and as leader of the Greater Nordic Reich, I give you, my dear comrade Uberstein, the highest recognition I have to bestow: the uppermost level of the Dalmatian Order.
[/i]
Michael Visari

[Triyun]

He was still alive?

[Kaiser Martens]

"He was. You know us oldschool leaders, we're die-hard." - Martens the Elder.

[Kaiser Martens]

[b][u]Longships Sail Westwards[/u]
[i]New Protectorate[/i][/b]

The Kriegsmarine has reached Greenland as the previous regime, having already been in the verge of collapsing in the near past, seems to have taken the last, decisive turn into inactivity and anarchy for good. Four divisions have landed already among widespread riots to reestablish order and state institutions, soon backed by Luftwaffe forces deployed from the Carriers.

[i]"From this moment onwards, Greenland is to be our protectorate. We are working around the clock with our Expeditionary Forces there in order to bring basic services back online and to stop the widespread violence seen after the destruction of the local government."[/i]

[Zoot Zoot]

The UK fully supports their German brothers in their move to secure the people of Greenland.

[Triyun]

The 5th UFE Rapid Airborne Response Combat Brigade, and the 3rd PLA Engineering Taskforce in conjunction with their counterparts from the PLAAF Air Operations Regiment would begin their deployment from Fort Beihai to the Southern Coast of Greenland to begin construction on Forward Operating Base Zheng He, additionally the UFE Mobile Offshore Base operating in the Atlantic would be redeployed to Greenland as a temporary logistical starting point while the base would be constructed.

[Centurius]

A division of the First Army accompanied by the 26th and 27th Engineer Brigades would make its way to southern Greenland to commence construction of Boreas Outpost, a multi-functional base for the Federation to fill the final gap in the global projection power of the Federation.

[Elrich von Richt]

Representatives of the Swedish Provisional Government relayed the following to to Germansk Förbund headquarters:

"If it is possible, could the Swedish Armed Forces utilize a small portion of the Eastern coast of Greenland as a forward operating station by which to track, operate, and organize Swedish naval movements and operations in the Northern Atlantic? The outpost in question would remain your territory, with only the base belonging to the Swedish government. If such a proposal is acceptable, the Göta ingenjörregemente (a small detachment of them) will be deployed immediately alongside one of the Navy's lighter transport vessels to begin construction ASAP.

With due regards, Andreas Karlsson."

Edited May 5, 2011 by Elrich von Richt