A GATE: and so the JSDF Fought/Alternate Timeline Fic: GATE: and so the Iron Pact Fought

[alternatehistoryfox]

The Imperial German military can be a paradoxical one at times. At times it's quite conservative in the 'if it works, don't fix it' category, at other times it can be looking so far into the future that it was insane, there are times where it appears that they are trying to satisfy some sort of fetish, then there are the times that it is outright paradoxical. The Sanitäter Corps is one of these outright paradoxes. The bedrock for what would become the Sanitäter Corps would be birthed during the Great War of Resistance, as soldiers and nurses that were trained in first aid went into the field of battle with only a pistol and some recognizable symbols strapped to them. They even painted recognizable markings on their helmets to help with identification. While in the years before the Great War of Resistance attacking medical personnel was generally frowned upon (some more than others), several French and British units would outright ignore these protocols during the Great War of Resistance.

These units would be later be made an example of and were all executed by hanging after the war for Crimes against Humanity.

Now it is -oddly enough- due to the herculean efforts of these 'ad hoc' frontline medics that fatalities dwindled. Stories about men and women only armed with a pistol -usually a Luger or C96- and adorned with as many Red Cross markings as they could without impeding their ability saving lives as bullets flew above their heads (or outright at them on occasion) became legendary. Some of these stories would be written down by men like Adolf Hitler, who had several chapters about a Sanitäter unit that he nicknamed the Walküren (translated: Valkyries) who, to paraphrase Hitler, "came upon the battlefield, taking the wounded to safety without care for their lives like the Walküre of legend, and if they couldn't take the wounded to safety, they would stand and fight only with pistols even it meant dying where they stood. Some kept trying despite the wounds they gained in doing these duties, dying to save their fellow soldiers. Words can never tell the full extent of their heroics, for there are no words to describe it...". Others would be immortalized in cartoons or movies like Disney's The Little Sanitäter and the Hollywood short movie The Humble Sanitäter, both of which told stories of a man and a woman who took the mantle of Sanitäter (both of which toned the exploits a bit because they were breaking the suspension of belief even back then).

As word of these units filtered towards German High Command, they started standardizing the training for these individuals, beginning the formation of Sanitäter units. As the fighting moved on from German soil, High Command would start enforcing a standard uniform for the Sanitäter, leading to the now-iconic uniform.

(a recreation of what would become the iconic Sanitäter uniform that would be used after the first two years of the Great War of Resistance)

The Sanitäter Corps would become the pride of the Imperial German Army as the war progressed. Thanks to their efforts, the German Army and the Iron Legion would suffer fewer battlefield fatalities than their French and British counterparts. The Sanitäter would be retained and expanded after the war, creating a vast system of medical facilities, doctrine, and personnel that would be later copied by numerous countries including the Commune of India (who learned it from Republican Indian forces during the Indian Civil War). This system is still used today, decades later. Sanitäter would gain several responsibilities during the interwar years, including medical checkups in the field (particularly on long marches).

In Imperial German doctrine, one Sanitäter team -with appropriately marked field ambulances- of 2 to 6 Sanitäter is attached to an infantry platoon who are part of a company-level field dressing unit. Sanitäter are clad in modified versions of their company uniform, have two armbands with the Red Cross symbol in a white field, the iconic medical badge in white and gold on the sleeves just before the cuffs, a modified helmet that is painted white and adorned with the Swiss Cross on each facing, and the now iconic Sanitäter Vest (which is a white vest with the Swiss Cross on the front and back). Each Sanitäter is armed with a pistol, partially due to the fact that some groups don't actually take the Rules of War that pertain to field medical units seriously and partially due to history. In the case of forces that consistently target medics, Sanitäter can remove their vest and switch their helmet for a standard one but must retain the rest of his uniform no matter what. Sanitäter is also allowed to defend themselves and their patients as needed.

The company-level dressing unit is only there to ensure that wounds are dressed and anyone that needs more experienced medical attention is prepped and ready for transfer to battalion-level medical camps or division-level field hospitals.

However, one major difference in doctrine between GATE!Earth and Iron Pact!Earth is the provision for giving Sanitäter units the ability to utilize 'combat arms' -pistols on Iron Pact!Earth is generally considered 'defense arms' to allow this- when an enemy force keeps -consistently- killing medics.

Like MPs, Sanitäter is considered to be the closest thing to God on Earth. If a Sanitäter says your not able to fight, you are not able to fight. If you try to override their order, they have the right to literally drag you kicking and screaming. The modern Sanitäter have a higher percentage of their personnel equipped with various cybernetics, so there is the chance that you'll be overpowered by the Sanitäter and dragged out of the combat zone...

[alternatehistoryfox]

Now, Changeling physiology is something of a complex thing. Born on a dying, magic-saturated world, the Changelings looked less like zombie bugs and more like anthro-horse moths. The Gate was -oddly enough- their salvation and after stocking up as much food as possible, they made a mass exodus -along with numerous other races who eventually bred into what would become the modern changeling, the cataclysm itself had been lost to time sadly enough- to the world they now live on. The thing about the magic of the Changeling's original world is that it is influenced by emotions, and the changelings were known for helping the various other races by literally absorbing emotionally charged magic before it would saturate the area to the point of casting even the simplest of spells would have explosively catastrophic results.

We're talking explosions that range from simply causing houses to turn into kindling to 1-ton bombs to -if the ancient records are to be believed- 53 megaton Tzar Bomba equivalent explosions.

This is a very important component for the changelings as it is the ability to simply absorb ambient magical energy that makes them different than anything that has been previously encountered by the various races living on the planet where Equis and Famart reside... and is their greatest weakness. This ability can be easily corrupted with the right spells and curses, one of which that transformed the changeling race into what it is today... just because one particular god hated the changeling pantheon's guts and wanted them to suffer besides.

Spite does not begin to properly characterize what this god did. This particular god basically poisoned the changeling race, making the only way to get any real sustenance by literally taking magic from someone. This partially caused the changelings' bodies to become the zombie-bug look that they're best known today, all but erasing the anthro-horse moth physical physiology out of the various memories of the races that live on Equis. This curse also slowly poisoned their minds and bodies, causing mental and physical problems as time went on (hence why they shifted their homes from surface settlements to underground complexes disguised as cave systems, in their 'zombie bug' form, sunlight can harm them).

At first, the changelings tried to break this curse via an assortment of rituals... but in doing so created the Parasprites and the Windigos... a combination that caused the collapse of all civilizations on Equis millennia ago. As time went on, not only the fertility of the changeling race suffered but also their ability to simply absorb ambient magic... which led to the birth of Chrysalis (who, in all honesty, eventually went a bit mad when trying to get rid of this curse... alongside that even being a child of a goddess doesn't completely stop the curse's effects).

Changelings can simply absorb magical energy and thus feed directly or they can store it in special sacs in their bodies so that energy can be used later or part of numerous concoctions using what is effectively solid magic that had been transformed into food. These concoctions range from drinks and tea/coffee additives to full out stuffing and confectionaries and the more positive the emotion, the tastier the concoction (as Luna found out thanks to King Thorax sharing his tea additive during one meeting, the taste of which nearly -quite literally- blew her socks off). Pure love is, unsurprisingly, the sweetest of emotions. Negative emotions like lust and hate are basically the opposite and are increasingly nonviable as a food source.

Physically, changelings are only slightly more durable than the various races of Equestria, but the curse has made staying out in the sun in their current form... deadly in long periods. Their transformation can mitigate this a lot, it only mitigates not eliminates... hence why you generally see undercover changelings in work that doesn't have much to do outside more often than not. Mentally, there is increasing mental degradation as the curse's power accelerates... which would be a problem in the long run.

[alternatehistoryfox]

First, I'll have to say that RL is a fun ride... and I've been on an Anno and Battletech binge as of late... and with Christmas so close it's getting even harder to find the will to write. Then there is the fact that the current segment I'm writing isn't going as smoothly as I want it to.

So, here is an informational for you guys, this time talking about something that is going to show up in the near-future: the Brown Water Corps of the Iron Pact.

The Brown Water Corps is a specific detachment of the various militaries of the Iron Pact whose sole job is 'Brown Water' -i.e. riverine/costal- operations. The various vessels of the Brown Water Corps are designed around going up and down the various rivers of the world and assist in inland combat operations, usually for combat support or transporting supplies and personnel. It should be noted that despite its inglorious nature, the Brown Water Corps is highly regarded by the rank and file personnel of most militaries within the Iron Pact and almost put onto a pedestal for Imperial Germany, Vietnam, and China. For Vietnam and China, it is the fact that most of their internal traffic is via the numerous rivers that cross significant portions of their countries but for Imperial Germany, it is due to the fact that what would become known as the Rhine Guard ensured that the British and French wouldn't get past the Rhine during the Great War of Resistance and the 2nd World War.

It should be noted that while the British and French wouldn't respect the brown water ships during the Great War of Resistance, they wouldn't make the same mistake twice during the Second World War. The Rhine Guard would suffer a fatality rate similar to the U-Boat service in OTL: i.e. the loss rate of 75%. This is due to the fact that the Rhine is a massive waterway and thus a barrier to invasion and resupplying troops, so controlling the river was paramount.

The various brown water ships within the Iron Pact arsenal were initially made up of appropriated civilian boats repurposed for combat or outdated gunboats with shallow enough draft but during the interwar years and World War 2, they would be mostly made up of purpose-built designs with a handful of standardized conversions of civilian ships. The primary gunboat of the Rhine Guard and other Brown Water units during the 2nd World War would consist of the 'MZ' series of multi-role ships/boats (US designates 'ships' based on ability to carry boats, and with a lifeboat that means the MZ series are considered 'ships', several other navies considered them 'boats'), which largely consist of ships armed with anti-aircraft weapons (usually a pair of 'mid' range and a pair of 'short' range cannon) and a dual-purpose cannon (usually the American 3" guns due to German armament industry having problems making their own until WW2, although some late-war models played with 10cm and 10.5cm guns but not with much success) with removable depth charge launchers and two sets of twin 21-inch torpedo tubes. Some experimental models would also see the use of rocket mortars of the 15cm variety or 12cm standard mortars installed instead of torpedo tubes, something that would be immensely useful during World War 2 and later during the early stages of the Cold War (having some light artillery ordinance prowling the rivers on standby is a good thing).

These vessels would prove devastating in the escort and ambush roles, as they were cheap enough to mass-produce while having a shallow enough draft to navigate all but the shallowest rivers with ample firepower. This would prove crucial in Indochina in the offensive role, where the numerous rivers made it incredibly difficult to move men and material through and thus required the use of riverboats and barges to help navigate the terrain. This gave the Commune of India numerous headaches as they tried to extend their reach into Indochina.

The 'Brown Water Corps' would prove itself during the early days of the Cold War in the various interventions in Indochina kept proving their worth, and kept giving various Commune of India-aligned guerilla groups massive headaches... allowing for the Iron Pact's Vietnam to be far more successful (and, really, the different goals, but that is for another day)... which ensured that the 'Brown Water Corps' would never be disbanded by the United States and other countries.

The current Iron Pact arsenal consists of numerous designs, some familiar, some unfamiliar. The Iron Pact includes PBR style vessels well into the 21st century, but this is backed up by purpose-built river monitors and the latest of the MZ series. While the not-so-modern ones will be used overall, the ones that will be showing up will make things hell for the Empire, for they carry a lot of autocannons, thermobarics, and rocket launchers.

[alternatehistoryfox]

Those that have played the Metro games will understand the basic concept, it is the equivalent of a moment in time burned into reality and stuck on repeat. The Metro Last Light Ghost Plane scene is probably the one that everyone would know of. Each of these latch onto something in the physical world, usually an item or rarely a location. It is extremely rare for a Psi-Memory to latch onto people and those that do have a significant problem that will follow them throughout their lives which I'll go into later.

In the Iron Pact universe, it is an interaction of humans and psionic energy. A sort of echo or death-scream for some of the nastier ones. The odd thing is, before the 1960s in the Iron Pact universe, these are fucking rare. How rare? Rare enough that even the Vatican -who has been keeping an eye on this sort of thing for almost two millennia previous and still keeping an eye for them to this day- had only had encountered... five, one of which was the infamous Prague Program where the supposed Golem of Prague was created and used. The Vatican, in this case, made a standard procedure to send a message that is sealed with a special seal to the local cardinal, who would then direct the stationed Inquisition to the site and recommend the best course of action. Out of the five that the Vatican encountered, only one -specifically the Prague Program in a certain attic- was incapable of being disposed of until Wolfenstein contained it in the early 1990s. There is a very good reason that the Catholic Church had prayers for -seemingly- every occasion, and it partially stems from protecting the people from these sorts of horrors (as, oddly enough, some prayers have improved the chances of people surviving encounters with psi-memories).

When Wolfenstein began their investigations, more and more of these started to show up and Wolfenstein developed the technology to contain and/or dispose of them. This was interrupted by an incident in 1989 when a Wolfenstein operative became the anchor for a psi-memory. It was discovered that when a living being is the anchor of a psi-memory, it is effectively contained... at the price of one's sanity. At times such a person 'lapses' into the psi-memory and it can cause all sorts of havoc, both physical and mental. The operative in question eventually expired after a lapse too many, ending his life in 1993.

It should be noted that people with psionic abilities or specific paranormal abilities (usually the ability to talk to spirits) are able to 'dive in' and save living people stuck in a psi-memory without technological assistance. It isn't always successful mind you, but having these sort of people and Wolfenstein support has a far better chance of getting people out than just either alone...

[alternatehistoryfox]

Alright, that should be all the informational stuff so far... although without thread marks it's going to be messy.

[ukron]

Nov 25, 2020 7:14:30 GMT gillan1220 said:

Subscribed! ukron watch this timeline mate

Thanks Gillan!

[alternatehistoryfox]

Dec 3, 2020 13:22:35 GMT ukron said:

Nov 25, 2020 7:14:30 GMT gillan1220 said:

Subscribed! ukron watch this timeline mate

Thanks Gillan!

So, how do you like the story so far? Just asking because it is something that I've been playing with for a long while.

[ukron]

For now (I have just read one chapter), the story is cool.