World War Weird

[Czernobog]

The year is 1941. The World is at War. But the history is not our own...

WORLD WAR WEIRD

The world is at war, between the three blocs - the Comintern, the Berlin Pact, and the Democratic Alliance. But the world...is different. Fantastic creatures abound, and nigh-immortal National Personifications do battle alongside their armies. Parahumans exist, magic and superscience is used with great frequency, and the world is a much more fantastic and terrifying place.

The blood and iron of the old world are nothing against the power of sorcery, both mystic and technological. The world is changing, and the people with it. The fantastic is becoming the everyday, as armies compete against each other in brutal, terrifying combat. The bloodshed is second only to the wonder, the horror the power of the superweapons the sides use against each other.

In the face of the greatest war humanity has ever known, weapons are developed, technology and magic is used together, and the world changes with horrifying regularity every single day. Nothing is as it seems, and the journey into this world might just be your last...

[Vagrant Orpheus]

Didn't you just get a new universe?

[Czernobog]

The League of Wonders

The League of Wonders was founded by Kaiser Frederich of the Kaiserreich in 1920, as a venue for scientists and magicians to be free in devising wonders of their own design. In practice, however, it is a place of madness and superscience, and its headquarters in Munich clangs daily to the sound of hammers as corps of engineers build the creations of mad scientists.

This article is a list of its notable members and their creations.

Professor Nikola Tesla; Director of Electrics Division

Nikola Tesla is an immigrant, having come from America to the Kaiserreich after he was ridiculed there. His most pressing talent is an affinity with all things electric. His intelligence is high, but his rivalry with Albert Einstein knows no bounds. Nevertheless, the two have worked together, most notably in the creation of the Tesla Projector Cannon, also known as the Type-44 rifle.

Doctor Ruprecht von Eisenstadt; Director of Arcane Division

Ruprecht von Eisenstadt is the director of the League of Wonders' Arcane Division, and a renowned dark wizard and arch-mage. His cunning is incredible, as is his grasp of the arcane, and he is not a man to be trifled with. His most renowned work is the summoning of two Elder Dragons in order to aid the Kaiserreich.

Professor Gilbert Beilschmidt; Director of Robotics Division

Professor Gilbert Beilschmidt is an incredibly intelligent (and somewhat insane) man, and his crude, pseudo-sapient robots have won many a battle. However, his greatest work yet, is an artificial intelligence, of clockwork and whirring gears and vacuum tubes and tape-recorded protocols, to co-ordinate the Kaiserreich's armies without the need for generals. Many are sceptical, but Beilschmidt believes he has made an important breakthrough...

Professor Albert Einstein; Director of Atomics Division

Professor Albert Einstein is a man of few words, with a great rivalry with Professor Tesla. Nevertheless, the two have worked together, such as in the creation of the Type-44, a hand-held nuclear-powered lightning rifle. Einstein has also created the nuclear reactors that supply power to the Kaiserreich, its atomic tanks and nuclear-powered skyships, and is also working on a rumoured 'ultimate weapon' that could conceivably bring a nation to its knees.

Professor Johan Schroedinger; Director of Biology Division

Brother of Sky Admiral Ludwig Schroedinger, Johan Schroedinger has created many things - the Uberkriegers that fight for the Kaiserreich, the vitae-wombs that birth them into existence, the clone-troopers that the Empire of the Rising Sun uses like chaff - all terrible, and all wondrous in their horror. He is a true master of wonders and horror, and in his madness, he is brilliant.

[Czernobog]

Here's the map for this 'verse, as of June 1941. Puppets are denoted by a lighter shade of the controlling country's colour; Dominions by a darker shade.

[Czernobog]

DOSSIER #1

CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET

SUBJECT

The Empire of the Rising Sun

EMPIRE OF THE RISING SUN

Otherwise Known As: The Japanese Empire, Empire of Japan, Japan.

Allegiance: The Berlin Pact.

Territorial Possessions: Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Eastern China up to Nanjing, Siam and Indochina.

Government Type: Absolute monarchy.

Head of State: The Emperor, known as the Chrysanthemum or the Spirit of the Nation. The current head of state is Emperor Keizuke.

Legislative Branch: The Diet, a body of men representing the 108 Prefectures of Metropolitan Japan.They are almost wholly yes-men for the Emperor, whose power overshadows even that of the Zaibatsu and the military-industrial complex.

Judicial Branch: The Imperial Courts, made of judges hand-picked for their harshness towards crime and their draconian view of crime and punishment.

Military: The Japanese Military is made up of three parts - the Supreme Imperial Army, the Rising Sun Navy, and the Imperial Sky Fleet. Each part contains 250,000 men, not including the 1,000,000 'Replica' auxilia that help make up manpower for its armies and fleets. Officers are picked for their ruthlessness; soldiers for their fanaticism.

[Czernobog]

Project Replica

Project Replica was an attempt to mass-produce fanatical soldiers, developed by Johan Schroedinger back when the process of creating the Uberkriegers was slow and dangerous. It was inspired by Schroedinger's research into DNA and the imprecise science of Replication¹. Schroedinger reasoned that while the Uberkriegers may be strong and powerful, there would be no means of mass-producing them, and resolved to find a type of soldier that would be fanatical, easily mass-produced, and have all the advantages of cheap cannon fodder with none of the disadvantages.

Robots were considered, but all lacked the initiative of a human. They were too logical, and failed to act sometimes as their controls broke down while considering actions. Schroedinger was a perfectionist, and he found the robots imperfect.

Eventually, inspired by a breakthrough in vitae-womb technology made at the University of Tokyo, he designed a new type of vitae-womb, one designed to rapidly grow clones with the ideal traits of a soldier. In one to two months, a human could be grown to the age of 18 years, as he was conditioned and with genetic traits chosen to be the perfect cannon fodder.

However, the Kaiserreich's Board of Science was appalled by the ethical implications, and Schroedinger pitched his idea to the Japanese, who had a pressing need for soldiers on the Chinese front. He was accepted, and the vitae-womb construction began, eventually ending with batches of 10,000 being raised every two months.

The Replicas, as Schroedinger called them, were easy to grow and condition, much more so than the Uberkriegers. They are strict disciplinarians, and obey their orders precisely. They are also conditioned with an acute understanding of military tactics while they grow, armoured with powered battlesuits and wielding wave-motion carbines.

They are fearless, and will not hesitate to charge the enemy with their bayonets. They will also not retreat unless ordered to do so, and will gladly protect military officers with their lives. They will never refuse an order, and are single-minded in seeking to kill the enemy - war is literally what they live for. Without the joy of battle, they rapidly become depressed.

They are never to be underestimated.

¹ OTL Cloning.