Blame
This thread for the delay for an update, but in any case, the glorious rodent Hivemind is returning for more.
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First Rat Diplomacy
(Not shown: half a dozen of other events. Because of the way event check works, every time you load a saved game in this mod, chances are you'll be welcomed by multiple events.)
With the growing drumming, the feel, the desire and ambition were reaching a critical point among the members of the First Rat Council, and unless all the tension was relieved, things would turn badly, thus warlords once again clashed for power, and a very influential member of the council forced the Founder to choose between several options to declare war against. Wisely, to not interfere in his greater plans for Kansas, he chooses Gecko, exactly because they lack any kind of border with the Under-Nation, meaning that the war against Gecko would simply be a phony war done to please the rat warlords, with no real goal, for now, other than the convenience of not having to declare war once the time comes to subjugate Gecko.
Meanwhile, the manboons began to realize the futility of life and to choose becoming an heroes over living in misery subjugated by rats. To solve the problem there is no better method than to simply bring fresh meat puppets to the rat overlords. And thus a large shipment of slaves is bought from the usual traders, oblivious to the real plans and caring only about their own selfish interests rather than to any threat to the supremacy of the human race on what is left of Kwanzania.
Also came good news, as a new battalion was raised of blind worshippers of the rat god. They would be very useful in the coming war.
Also...
MADNESS?
THIS IS CAESAR!
With the Phony war against Gecko, the previously locked up penal battalions, I mean, slave battalions are now finally ready for war. They also head to the borders with the Kansas Free State, as soon shall come the time. They realized the threat the Rats posed, and began to prepare, but they were predicting that the invasion would only start once winter ends. They were terribly wrong, as a suprise winter offensive would begin.
on 25th of January, 2246, the war started. A day later, at the break of dawn, the offensive began against Omaha, poorly defended by a small and barely equipped garrison of 3,000 ghouls amidst a frozen desert.
However, with weather on their side, the battle was harsh, but thanks to the tactical expertise of Lt. General Peppermane, victory was ensued. Mastering the desert, The corps controlled by Peppermane became known as the Desert Rats among the rodents, and they would be feared and respected by their enemies, as they brought the hopeless future for the enemies of the ratkind.
The grimdark future of a rat-sized jackboot stomping on a human face...
Forever.
It is predictable that the ghouls capable of doing it will fight to the end to avoid subjugation, having heard of the horrors. However, ultimately they would not add much because of their inability to reproduce, yet the industrial infrastructure they owned would be a nice addition to the Under-Nation.
The struggle continues as new battalions are raised, and with the fresh manpower of newly bought slaves, the Under-Nation finally manages to begin a program of exponential growth of their military forces.
An unusually intelligent but physically frail and too honest to survive rat emerges. It would stand no chance alone, and although others are still tied to their roots, the Founder knows well that the manboons are all the muscle they need, and thus intelligence will soon become far more important for their kind than physical prowess. Considering the potential of a rat with IQ > 180, the Founder decides to secretly protect him and ensure his survival, hoping he could in the future became a solid ally capable of seeing the greater vision of a New World Order of rats instead of petty squabbles like most.
For the Founder, survival was not the ultimate goal. Access to old holodisks gave to the Founder scant knowledge about many important historical conquerors among the men, and he fancied himself as the "Caesar of Rats", inspired by leftovers of works like Mein Kampf. He dreamed of glory rather than simple survival, of a turning their society into a society of prestigious rats, of rising legends among them as surely as the humans had theirs. Aspiring to Glory.
Meanwhile, due to how long it takes to reach Omaha, Peppermane soldiers are completely disorganized.
And thus a minor setback happens. But this war will be won easily, according to what the rats knew about their current victims. It would be possibly the before last "easy" war of conquest they could wage before being bordered only by strong human and mutant factions. Thus the Rattzkrieg better work finely against the potato-eating ghouls.
Unfortunately one more minor setback, however, reinforcements are due to arrive at the front. The ghouls are clawing their lands back in their hopeless struggle to avoid a fate worse than death.
Meanwhile, news come about how a group of tribals successfully defeated a legion of intelligent spiders that also seemed to operate as a hivemind. And a few days later, due to an incident involving "witch trials" against tribals because of their polytheistic religions being declared "heresy", the Manitou Tribes decided to crush the theocratic state of Texas, but they will have to pass through the dead body of Primarch kingcomrade first, and face the gun-toting Trannies of Battle led by Kaiserin. Their chances weren't good thus, after all they were just a bunch of injuns.
Funnily, nobody knows why, but the ghouls foolishly left Omaha completely undefended, and with all forces reorganized, the advance thus carried on while the snow melted over the wastelands.
They send defenders, but they are too few and too poorly equipped and trained to stand a chance. The rats are coming.
And while the first small step towards world domination begins, the First Council carefully considers the implications of this so called Chosen One as a threat to their goals. They heard about a certain being called The Master that was defeated by another, older hero whom the Chosen One is a descendant of. And that the Master had a much, much more powerful army than they do. Right now, however, this man is gone and nobody knows where he is, or even if he is still alive.
Outnumbered, the ghouls of Kansas retreat once again after another battle where victory was certain.
Actually, the Rat Council was expecting for the challenge to be at least a little greater than what it ultimately went through. Apparently the Kansas Free State was caught completely by surprise, and now it was too late for them to remind of the mistake of dedicating too few resources for the defense of their land. Strange considering what borders them. Maybe they are a bunch of hippies. That should explain a lot.
Through many more days, victory after victory ensued, and soon the final battle would begin, and the Kansas Free State would be completely subjugated by the rats. This was so easy even rats would not be afraid of doing it.
The neighbors are a greater worry than the current enemy. Meanwhile, news arrive on how the Dark Cathedral have completely subjugated the remnants of the former United States of Kwanzania, bringing a final touch to ITZ. The Senate and Congress members who were too coward to die fighting became part of a massive human sacrifice in name of dark gods, and their skulls were used to build a new throne within the Dark Cathedral. Tales of horrors arguably worse than those inflicted by the rats came, while a new battalion was recruited again, to compensate for the occasional clashes between rat warlords that were a part of the routine of the Under-Nation to the point it is futile to keep detailing them.
More victories accelerate the inevitable demise of the Ghouls from Kansas, when strange news arrive to the rats. A legion of countless thousands of feral ghouls began a rampage through the East Coast of Kwanzania, causing countless deaths and eating the brains of any other being along their path. With Wichita secured, only Dodge City was left for annexing completely Kansas Free State. New researches also would begin, meanwhile.
A bunch of poorly trained meatshields won't ensue world domination. Thus the rats begin a program of improvement over military training based on what they could scavenge from human holodisks and books about tactics and drilling.
Winter has not started yet, when the final victory was ascertained. It took an entire year to crush Kansas, but it was a certain victory from the start, now all left to do was to reach Dodge City and raise the flag of the Under-Nation over its ruins.
And at last! The ghouls are now subjected to the same misery, mental slaves to the rat gods, puppets to do the worst chores within their civilization. The first small step for world domination was thus concluded, but now, the strategic situation of the Rats changed a lot: they acquired new powerful and dangerous neighbors. Thus a review of their current location:
To the East lies the Brotherhood of Diversity, also known as the East Brotherhood of Steel, a powerful force that began from an airship crash in the outskirts of Chicago, equipped with far greater and more advanced technologies than anything the rats can currently field. If the Brotherhood decides it is rat-bashing time and that the rats are a real threat and must be exterminated, things may get very, very difficult and the Under-Nation would end feeling the same doom of knowing they would be fighting a war they cannot win that the Kansas Free State did.
As if these soldiers in power armor weren't bad enough, to the northeast lies the remnants of the Master Army. Legions of super-mutants, equally capable of posing a very real threat to the future of the rats greater plans.
To the north, a criminal gang of raiders who call themselves the Huns lie. They are one of the primary suppliers of slaves to the Under-Nation, and thus it is unlikely they'd have interest in harming a customer as long as a careful game is played to trick them into thinking they are not a target for the rats plans of world domination.
To the northwest, Vault City, another powerful country and significant threat should they decide to kill the rats with fire.
To the west, Broken Hills. It would have been a first victim, but they have a solid enough industrial base to support a relatively large army entirely stacked in a single province, and the Under-Nation has only one province bordering it, meaning an invasion would likely not succeed.
To the south three factions border the Under-Nation: The Robot Nation, also too powerful but fortunately too isolationistic to pose a threat, a powerful group of raiders known as the Vipers controlling vast stretches of territory and the militaristic ghoul faction known as the Reservation, the weakest of all current Under-Nation neighbors and deemed as the most likely target for the next bid on world conquest.
And finally, to the northeast lie the same Manitou Tribes that made roasted spider and are currently fighting against the Texan theocracy. Despite their tribal nature, perhaps it is unwise to underestimate them. As the year of 2246 ended, the Under-Nation became much more powerful, but many challenges lied ahead, for soon the easily conquered countries would run out and only powerful neighbors would remain.
Many opportunities also lied ahead, specially know that the Under-Nation fielded a much larger army with 18 battalions, and growing.