Greetings Comrades in Japan

Great Power Conference

April 21, 1977 P.C/2018 J.C.

ORP Pułk. Merian Cooper

Östersjön Strait

The modern destroyer bravely beat the waves as it approached the mouth of the river. This river called Albis in its mouth resembled a small bay. In turn, above this "bay" was a city called Cartalpas also known as the second heart of the most powerful Empire of Arcadia, the Holy Empire of Milishiant.

Cartalpas, located deep in the south of the Empire, had been a trading center for centuries. Thanks to its convenient location at the mouth of the Albis River which stretched all the way to the great Vita Mountains, it was a natural terminus for that maritime highway have was the Albis itself. In this way it obviously provided a window to the world for almost half of Milishiant and all sorts of goods produced upstream were cheaply floated to Cartalpas and from there to the rest of the world.

But this was not just one advantage of the place, the other was that Cartalpas itself was located at the intersection of a multitude of trade routes and the traditional maritime road connecting the Second Zone of Civilization with the Third. In a way, it was located at the very center of this route, hence the city was commonly referred to as Arcadia, the Central Port, in many languages.

In short, the city had such a good position in the world that it naturally became the target of any power wanting riches and profits for this reason there was a long network of forts built and expanded over the centuries around the city as well as the entrance to the bay. Even the revolution in naval operations brought about by the Fourth War of Civilization did not change the importance of the forts surrounding Cartalpas.

Well, and it was also a natural place for any diplomatic meetings at the international level. One of these is the notorious throughout Arcadia, the Conference of Eleven. Every four years, the eleven powers of the entire known world gather in Cartalpas to formally regulate the rules of diplomacy, military action and seek agreement among powers.

In fact, only the last is true, although the fact is that the goal is to keep the peace but not because war is hell or other such nonsense. It's purely about order and determining what area belongs to whom and why it belongs so that we don't have to war over every area in exhausting wars. In short, the world is divided like a cake into individual spheres of influence.

Being invited to participate in the conference despite the rather obvious fact of what goes on there is nevertheless quite an honor. After all, it's a sign of recognition that you are powerful and influential enough to dominate your neighbors and create international order, and other powers want to get along with you instead of trying to take it away from you by force.

This year's Conference was unique, for the first time in many centuries there was a significant reshuffling among the ranks of the Eleven. Out of the honorable group flew the Commonwealth of Leifor, which was annexed, the Empire of Parpaldia, which was shattered and humiliated by one power and subjugated by another in alliance, and the Union of the Magic Academies of Pandora, called until recently the Principality of the Great Magic of Pandora, which regained sovereignty after the Altaran-Parpaldian War, although at the expense of power status because it was forced by the knee of Parpaldia to have two votes in the conference.

Other countries were aware of this, of course, but nevertheless, after fierce battles behind the scenes, it was considered a balancing factor and strengthened the nevertheless backward Empire being widely considered the weakest Superpower.

These three were to be replaced by three new superpowers, the Empire of Gra Valkas which brought one of the existing powers to its knees in an astonishing manner, the Empire of Japan also known as the State of Japan, although the Japanese themselves prefer the word State so abroad they are commonly referred to as an Empire because of the stature of their head of state, and of course the only republic in the bunch, the Polish People's Republic. (Which, of course, is a republic in name only).