Aravala (Gollyverse) Main thread

very fascinating, to me especially the ships of the first site. The grey, white and yellow tones fit perfect together and to the underwater section. The details are unbelievable. Great series!

Ive updated the Evoan Fleet, as during the worldbuilding progress the actuall roles of my two focus nations have since clarified from where I begun. The map has been constantly updated and is now starting to take its actuall form together with the mainstory line. The biggest impact is that the Evoan fleet has now to rank number 1 or 2 in the world in 1914 and as my colonial ambitions for this nation have also increased, the fleet I originally posted was indeed inadequate. The original starting point for me was somewhat like Austrian-Hungarian levels, then it got expanded to meet requirments for that "1" in 1922 Washington treaty equalent ratios, but eventually, as my thought and strory progressed alongside completing the Interkommunaali part, I realised that Evo has to be one with the "5" ratio, and equal to the Interkommunaali for my storyline to work.
so if the quideline for Evo previously was to figure what sort of never-were based navy I could craft out of German stocks if the 1898 Naval law strenght would have been the gap....Now its more like what sot sort of fleet i can get from there to for that 525 0000 t in 1922.
Most of the former drawings still remains, but Ive had to reconstructure the naming progress. New drawings are mostly Small cruisers and in large cruisers, with some additional new art in smaller cruiser/gunboats and in capital ships. Some of these ships (as is easily to be spotted) are not exactly neverweres/preliminaries, but actuall real ships just undergoing the same style of architecthual reworking I am applying to the projects. I sort of consider them as placeholders untill something better turns up to model them. Some of the classes (expecially ones following some previous ones) are pure imagination from my part to complete the fleet.

Kommunaalilaivasto 1880- 1905

Origins of the Kommunaalilaivasto (Commune Navy) lies in the civil war that followed the establishment of the Parikan Commune in 1871 in the Uusimaa. The communal forces created a naval organization as early as 1871 but it existed only in papers. First true attempts to form any real naval formations came in 1874 after the civil war but these were merely recommissioning the old Uusimaa’s fleet units.
Prior to the revolution in 1871, Uusimaa had managed to seize overseas colonies in the Last Ocean (Helmisaaret) and in the Far East in Kerric and some islands nearby. These possessions had fallen into foreign hands or as in the case of Kerric, the local colonial administration had declared themselves as the government-in-exile of Uusimaa which was seen as a humiliation in Interkommunaali’s new emerging prestige. There was strong support to seize power in Kerric and overthrow the rebellious colonial rulers from the outset.. This sparked an ill-fated attempt to capture the stray colony in 1877. Despite the local agitators managing to raise the local people into rebellion, Interkommunaali was unable to support the effort due lack of proper and modern naval forces. Old cruiser “Uusi Alku” attempted to intrude into the main port of Konuli but was sunk under fire from a coastal fortress.

The humiliation of the failed operation sparked unprecedented political turmoil in the young socialist nation. It showcased that the ideological enthusiasm and bright-headedness cannot replace proper military strength and thus the handicapped naval forces were dispanned and a whole new naval organization was formed under the name Kommunaalilaivasto (Communale Navy). An ambitious naval construction program was launched after a series of theoretical studies about the role and purpose of the fleet between 1877-79. The 1880 naval construction program called no fewer than 20 battleships to be built before 1900. It also called for creation of a massive naval infrastructure program to build up the logistical base for the fleet as well as naval construction yards. The old Uusimaa shipyards nationalized during the revolution were to be accompanied by collective owned and operated “private” shipyards as well.

During the creation of the Kommunaalilaivasto, the so-called “theory phase” between 1877-80 gave birth to the dualistic struggle of two prominent factions in the naval circles. The so-called Uusi koulukunta or New school was mostly advocated by the new first generation of naval officers and designers and it claimed that the old massive and expensive battleships were of bourgeois ideas and would not suit the new radical Kommunaalilaivasto. Instead it focused on asymmetric naval warfare where the new ideas such as torpedoes and submarines would be in more prominent roles. Its main thesis was that swarms of light torpedo boats would attack the enemy fleet trying to blockade Interkommunaali’s ports and fast but light cruisers would harass and capture enemy commercial shipping and force the enemy to spread its naval forces to protect the trade routes. The Young School theory spread to the foreign naval circles as well and as one Nomidaëan Admiral sarcastically said, it was the first rays of partisan ideas that infected the Ellardaë naval ideas coming from Interkommunaali.

The young school had prominent support in the Yleiskommunaali, the main legislative body of Interkommunaali’s government due the fact that it offered a much more affordable solution for the national defense than a large traditional fleet. It was felt that as Interkommunaali’s unique status in the world as the sole socialist state would bring it to conflict with almost all bourgeois nations, it was impossible to build a naval force that could challenge everyone else on equal basis. The young school offered a lucrative solution for this dilemma. It had, however, almost an equal number of opponents. Not only did most of the naval community against it from an operational perspective, many Commissars felt that the Interkommunaali’s purpose was not to shelter socialism in one country, but to be an Champion of the cause’s international spirit and spread it throughout the world. This would lead to unavoidable and continuous conflict with the bourgeois world and would require strong naval power to support the cause.
The power struggle between the two factions characterized the first two decades of the Kommunaalilaivasto’s beginning with either side seizing the upper hand from time to time. This had a considerable impact on the naval construction program. The first 5 battleships were laid down between 1882-1886 during the first period of traditionalist influence. This was followed by the first young school period between 1886-92 which saw considerable effort on the commercial raiding concept with several cruisers of three different categories being laid down. It also introduced the world's first proper armoured cruiser, the Punainen Saaristo class. Battleship construction was not completely abandoned but the size of the battleships fell; the 1890 battleship program produced 5 battleships considerably weaker than the first program. Following a brief traditionalist era, the most prominent young school advocate, Naval Commissar Keijo Kaarna took office in 1894 and under his 4 year period, no new traditional battleships were laid down. Instead Kaarna focused on large and fast armored cruisers which were to accompany specialized “battleship-cruisers” which were the forerunners of battlecruisers some decade later.

Another distinctive feature of the early Kommunaalilaivasto was the lack of serial construction and overemphasized role and influence of major naval constructors and designers. Of the first 11 battleships built only 2, the Kommuuni class were identical to each other, all other being single ship classes. This caused several interoperational problems and despite their famous participation in the 1889 Kerric reoccupation and in the 1898 war, the operational experience of the 1st Squadron was all but successful. In the post-1898 era the construction of battleships was made by one squadron at a time which instead caused different types of problems. The first generation designs were mostly made by either Erno Huinunen or Mauri Pussinen who both gave away for Eemeli Perttinen, the most famous and capable of the Interkommunaali’s naval designers. Perttinen was responsible for all major warships between 1894-1905. The role and influence of the designers began to diminish after 1898 however.

The first successful naval operation by the Kommunaalilaivasto was the recapture of Kerric in 1889. By the time Interkommunaali felt it was powerful enough to retry to occupy the rebel colony, the “government-in-exile” was virtually non-existing and the land was ruled de facto by various nationalistic groups, backed up by foreign colonial adventurists. When the Parikan Kommuuni spectacularly entered Konuli harbor to engage the naval fortress, it was met with silence of abandoned cannons, the same that had sunk Uusi Alku some decade ago. Helmisaaret had fallen into Interkommunaali’s hands two years earlier after communist revolt took over the islands from their Valagrillaë colonists that had taken over the islands in 1871.
The most important naval engagement of the early history of Kommunaalilaivasto was the 1898 war against Balc. Since the creation of Interkommunaali, it was faced with the two-ocean dilemma with a vast country expanding whole over the new continent but blocked from easy passage between the two sides by hostile colonial states, most importantly the island of Vertala. The Vertala problem had already been acknowledged by the Uusimaa naval strategists prior 1871 and it had become fixated in the naval circles ever since. Initially Kommunaalilaivasto main operations were focused on the eastern side in the Middle Ocean but with the recapture Kerric and Helmisaaret, the importance of the western side rose considerably. Interkommunaali started to train and agitate the local population more intensively as soon as Kerric was recaptured and hoped that the local population would rise against the Balcian colonial overlords. Interkommunaali calculated that the presence of the Kommunaalilaivasto would prevent Balc to interfere the situation and the successful uprising would create a government in Vertala that would be lenient to Interkommunaali’s ambitions.
This work brought fruits in 1897 when the local communist rebels against the colonial administration with Interkommunaali’s help. Balc was however forced to act. The already declining hold on its vast colonial empire had been shaking since the beginning of the century and King Aën IV knew that if it allowed Vertala to break free, it would start a domino effect on its remaining colonies as well. Balc leadership tried to get support from other Ellardaë colonial powers by convincing them that the Interkommunaali and the communist movement was a serious threat to the whole current world order. Despite sympathy and some vague promises, no other power is coming to help Balc. Knowing this, King Aën IV still had no choice but to declare war on Interkommunaali in 1898.
The declaration of War takes Marksila by surprise as the rapidly expanded navy and military might of Interkommunaali is considerably larger than of Balc’s. Some are even suspecting a trap to lure the Kommunaalilaivasto to be engaged by combined strength of Evo, Nomidaë and Balc fleets. Despite these fears, the 1st Squadron, made up from the first generation battleships, headed towards the middle archipelago to intercept the Balcian fleet that had taken off from Diny Chall. The following battle of Emerald Sea was a success to Kommunaalilaivasto as it decimated the weaker Balc fleet. This is followed by the adventurous engagement of the 2nd Squadron, formed from the newer battleships which entered the waters of Diny Chall to bombard the coastal fortress nearby. This is merely for propaganda effort rather than any real military purposes.

Balc was forced to sign a bitter peace treaty where it not only loses the Vertala colony but in fact all its remaining colonies are to be set to Interkommunaali’s supervision and protection. This sparks a joint coalition of the remaining Ellardaë colonial powers with Nomidaë and Evo as prominent members to take over the Balc colonies to prevent them from falling into communist hands. The shocking peace and the bombardment of Diny Chall spreads fear of Interkommunaali’s power in every court and government in Ellardaë and the colonial coalition evolve into anti-communist treaty in which most Ellardaë nations agrees to prevent any communist or socialist uprisings in the old continent.

From naval perspective the 1898 war gives more credit to the successful operations of the Kommunaalilaivasto than it perhaps should. The success in the battle of Emerald Sea is more down to Balc’s incompetent and weakness than Interkommunaali’s own superiority. The loss of protected cruiser Auvo Lahtinen in the early phases of the battle makes Kommunaalilaivasto abandon all other cruiser type construction aside those with armored belts. This leads to an odd unbalance of cruisers and lighter units in the fleet and there is a serious lack of fleet scouts and reconnaissance units all the way to the First Class War. Most obvious effect on the war for Kommunaalilaivasto is however the end of the Young School influence in the fleet. It no longer has the luxury to focus on any other than proper sea control operations with a battlefleet made of powerful battleships. It sparks unseen naval race between Interkommunaali and Ellardaë naval powers. The era of Commissar Kaarna’s armored cruisers and cruiser-battleships are cut short and Interkommunaali lays down no less than 19 battleships in just 7 years.

Evoan Navy 1880-1905

The 1880’s in Evoan fleet can be seen as age of revival and research, as the devastating defeat in the Earlier decade to Nomidaë in series of wars that saw Evo loose its colonial possessions in the Central Arcipelago had shaped the national atmosphere of the Kingdom to its final form in the Reign of the last Evoan King, Väino II.
The 1873 Naval Restoration Act had laid the foundation of building the “New Navy”, which saw slow level of increasing the Evoan Fleet and gave lot of control to the Diet over the admiralty and the King, and it took almost 25 years to complete its programs, as there never
was an established structure for maintaining steady shipbuilding rate. Most of the times, the colonial “adventures'' of the past were seen as dreadful and antagonist by the liberal fractions and the Navy was able to get more ships approved, if they were marked as Coastal Defence and for the protection of the Home Island, rather than fitted to defend the remains of Evoan Empire. This remained the undertone even during the Reign of Väinö II and Admiral Tirpinen’s massive naval race at the late 19th and early 20th century, when most of the fleets strength was massed around in the powerful Homefleet, leaving the defend of the Colonial possession to minor elements and indecisive and sometimes contradictional defense doctrines… and in worst cases, even in the mercy of pure good luck!

For the Evoan overseas Colonial possessions, The trend, that appeared to mirror the fate of the other nations, early in the colonial race was actually turned around, as the 1880’s saw rapid growth of Evoan gains in both Rovintaël (Or Kesämaa = Summerland as it was called by the Old Evo) and in the Far East. The Nauri Canal, which begun as a private venture project by Nomidaëan investors ended up as Key Evoan Colonial possession in the 1883
Annexation of Niego’s Desert in a somewhat adventurous but eventually One Sided takeover. As the canal was built up further to its full potential, The entire course of world maritime traffic was drastically affected, as the travel times from the Far East to the Ellardaë were reduced considerably. Evo was now in the possession of keys to the entire world trade and this served together with the ascension of King Väinö II in 1888 as way for Evo once again rise at the top of the nations in international prestige. Already established trading ports and coaling stations across the Rovintael Western Coast and in Far East were aggressively pressed into larger colonial holdings deeper in the insides of the continent, battling the nature and its disease, hostile natives and the ancient and obsolete realms of the Eastern parts of the Old Continent. Thus the colonial ventures did not end in the defeats in Golden Sea, but continued to bring Evo a source of income and resources in expense of almost constant small scale warfare around somewhere in the world.

The Increased prestige brought together two distinctive courses of developments that eventually lead into the 1914-1918 Great War or the 1st Class War as it was later labeled. The possession of the straight and the increasing colonial race in the Far East, where the two “outside” powers, Marlannon, a freshly independent “White Colony” of former Balcian origins and more menacingly, the Presence of the Communist Interkommunaali in its protectorate in the Kerric Peninsula. During the early 1890s Evo and the so called “minor colonist” nations of the Southern Ellardaë enter into various free trade and freedom of travel agreements, which begun to establish a more formal and binding international relationships between the Ellardaëan nations, specially in their co-operation in the colonial issues. These chains of agreements were constantly being refused for Nomidaë, more often by the insistence of the minor Ellardaëan nations, but also by the age-old rivalry between Evo and its Southern neighbor. Although there are instance of co-operation between all the Ellardaëan nations in the Colonies, the foundation of the 1914’s Anti-communist League are laid down in the bi-national agreements of decreased tariffs on the Canal, as well as the feelings of bitter betrayal by the Central Ellardaë after the 1918 revolutions.

This animosity between Nomidaë and the natural rivalry between the old Imperialist and capitalist nations versus the Interkommunaali are also manifested in the Naval race that culminated in the 1916 Battle of Palkkisaaret, and often regarded as spiral of bad decisions that could have not lead into any other outcome than global war. Most of the international history writing sees the 1890 as starting point of the Naval race, When Evo alone laid down
7 battleships and a large cruiser. The ambitious Naval build up was the way of King Väinö II to redeem the broken prestige of “Ancient Evo '' that was crushed in the traumatic defeat in Battle of Surumav, an event the young prince himself witnessed as a naval cadet. While enthusiastic and determined on the goal of making Evo a great power, Väinö II failed to provide a steady and pragmatic course in naval planning and decision making, often changing his opinions and rivaling the head of the Admiralty due the course of the 1890s.

Biggest implications of the situation for the Evoan Navy was, that while it reached the world's top 2 in the total tonnage by 1914, Its eventual composition was retrospectively seen as way too heavily focused on the Home Fleet and its main battlefleet, which while served as important strategic aspect, even after the defeat in the 1916 Palkkisaaret Battle, had little to offer for the defend the entire Empire, leaving its Oversea forces at the mercy of local superiority by very mundane enemy forces, often in crippling defeats. While the King and the Admiralty realized this disparity, the growing power of the Diet and its anti-colonial liberal and socialist fractions often ment, that the easy way of providing funding for the naval buildup was exaggeration of the Nomidaëan power as imminent threat to the Home Island.
As the Bulk of Valagrillaën fleet was lost to the Marlannon in the surprising colonial war in the Far east of 1905 that mirrored the 1898 Interkommunaali’s victory over Balc, A supplement Naval Law was passed on providing More Large Cruisers for the Colonial work…of which only 1 unit eventually was allocated to that role during the war. Both of these wars in 1898 and 1905 were seen as prelude to the new world order established in the aftermath of 1918, despite it taking decades more before Marlannon could measure its peak power. One of the main lessons from the war from Evoan point of view was the strength of the combined battlefleet, a doctrine that eventually prevented any attempts to create a modern Battlefleet to serve in the Foreign waters as well. During the 1st Class War, old mixed-battery ships were sent to the Nauri Canal’s defense only after their uselessness had been shown in the 1916 Battle of Palkkisaari.

In General comparison, the Evoan Fleet rose from the miniscule coastal defense necessity of 1880’s with its brief interlude with Interkommunaali’s Nuori Koulu doctrines to a battlefleet orientated force. The 12 Urhoollinen class ships built in the early 1890s were an impressive show of force by industrial point of view, but hampered in tactical level by their obscure armament arrangements that echoed the coastal defense needs. Evoan cruisers begun in modesty to transform from the sailing frigates to the full steampowered ones with too few examples to really satisfy the Imperial needs, but the designs proved out to be somewhat successful, and most of the early 1890 ships served in rebuild fashion in the colonial patrol roles During the war. Evoan ships, both Battleships and armored cruisers seldomly marked top level of armament, as the persistence of the 28cm main caliber against the 30.5cm of other nations often gave unfavorable impression of Evoan might. The armor schemes and development of the Rauppi’s steel were factors, where Evoan technical superiority excelled compared to other nations, but usually, Evoan machinery was not so advanced at early on compared to the other naval powers, however this remedy was later cathed up, as The “slow downfall” of Nomidaën lead begun to give away for the “Evoan Engineering”. The rapid industrial growth of Evo during the 1870’s and 1880s had managed Evo to catch up and surpass the Southern Ellardaëan nations that still in the 1860s enjoyed technical superiority over the more backwards and agriculturally dominant Evoan economy.
As the 1890s were generally seen as the era of weak Naval Ministers at the head of the Evoan Admiralty, a body of government, the King himself tried to many times abolish and replace with an army style of three-body command, but without success. It was one of the last of these attempts that eventually led to the resigning of Admiral Hallimies in 1897 and ascension of Admiral Tirpinen, a strong minded Commander of the Far East station that had none of the Kings interfering and indecisiveness in the naval matters.

Under Tirpinen’s rule The admiralty was able to get the King to agree a new Naval Law in 1898 that laid legislative binding strength requirements and replacement ages for naval warships, in aims to provide steady build up and freedom of strategic doctrine from the Diet and its political fractions to the warship development. The law generally assured that, but the force levels anticipated were perhaps too easily gained, and as the Navy and the Dockyard industry now faced up with lack of orders as the Heavy buildup in the early 1890s was not replaceable until the 1910’s. Thus the force compositions of the Law were changed already in 1900 and repeated in 1905 and 1912. The laws somewhat cemented the categorisation of ship classes, as it basically divided the warships into Battleships, Large cruisers and Small cruisers, without any clear rules of what substitutes as what, and as all the existing fleet was also classified by such, a lot of diversity was entrusted. This had two main effects. First, as the size and capacity of the each category was not set in the law, the Admiralty had relative freedom to design whatever ships it needed to full fill such categorial anticipations, but as their main enemy was still the cost spiral, it resulted a careful and cautious bulk construction that only responded to foreign technical and size advances at the very last moments. Despite the law allowing replacements and reinforcements, it also capped the total expenditures and thus the Admiralty was always wary to press for ships in the budget that would cost more than the previous ones. Yet the international trend in the naval race could not be ignored and in the end a creeping cost increasement became evident as the warship sizes kept increasing and where as battleship and Large Cruiser of 1898 had been generally a 10,000t size in displacement, in the last vessels authorized by the law, these figures had risen to nearly 30,000t in mere 15 years.

Also the stiff categories were sometimes seen to harm natural development of the cruiser category ships, as the larger cruiser kept rising into the huge battlecruiser category, and thus presenting a capital ship prestige and importance, that eventually excluded their use in the traditional global cruiser warfare, where the original concept of their class of Large Cruiser was intended. During the 1st Class War, only one Evoan Battlecruiser level large cruiser operated outside the Home Fleet, leaving the actual cruiser work for the venerable ships of the Small Cruiser category, a universal type that was supposed to be jack-of-all-trades. Although the Diet was never suspicious over the minuscule costs of this smaller category in the later period, and the Naval Laws provided a steady build up of forces required by the Navy, the idea that one vessel, and that from the smallest end of the type could do all the functions from fleet scouting to colonial station ship didn’t prove out to be the best solution, Albeit the best of the type created during the war did see good service even in the 2nd Class War.

The general naval affairs of the World in the period marked the rapid advancement in technology and all navies of the era faced constantly the situation, where warship commissioning for the first time only to be already outclassed by the next ships on the docks. After the turbulent 1860s with its series of colonial wars, the World, at least in Ellardaë were in relative peace, and the major maritime engagements took place in the vast colonial Empires of the Ellardaëan powers, predominantly in the Far East. The 1884 Evoan-Rymian war saw the Evoan fleet of Ironclads Kuningas Sakari, Kuningas Jakari and Kuningas Oiva (a 1st class cruiser) together with smaller composite and wooden ships annihilate the obsolete wooden fleet of the Lower-Rym in the Battle of Archachicha (Later Jakarinportti). This was one sided battle that began at both fleets lying in anchorage at the same port prior to the hostilities.

Ten years later, 1894 in the Battle of Irkun Doch, the Anadorean fleet engaged the Cvott Balcian fleet in decisive action where Cvott Balcs larger and heavier fleet was depleted by the superior Andorean seamanship onboard faster cruisers armed with quick firing guns. Cvott Balc’s biggest warships were Evoan built Armored corvettes armed with slow firing 30.5cm guns. Although the general history Has made the point of Andorian superiority of the training (As been brought up to international standards by the Valagrillaëans) The Evoan analysis focused mostly on the remarks on the technical side of things…as if to fade away the fact that the Cvott Balcian Flagship was de facto lead by an Evoan ex-Army officer and Adventurer. Main focus was on the Armour and how important its overall coverage and watertight belt extended to the entire length of the ship. Together with great emphasis on compartmentation with true watertight integrity, the thesis of the 1894 war became the foundation of Evoan Capital Ship armor for the following decades to come. Another remark was the vulnerability of wood for the fire and thus the woodworks and wooden deck plates began to disappear from Evoan warships. All these remarks were further highlighted from the experience of the Interkommunaali-Balcian War of 1898.

The Aftermaths of that conflict were most prominent in the Colonial world, as the Interkommunaali’s actions were first signs of the so called Active De-colonisations, Although rather ill-thought and executed in their consequences. The rise of communism and possibilities of violent extremist among the proletariat in the Ellardaëan home lands was already enough to antagonize the New Continent’s superpower beyond the verge of complete isolation, thus the prospect of communist-inspired nationalist freedom movements spurring in the vast colonial empires of the old world was unacceptable even to the most liberal and free-market orientated South coast nations, as well as for the more authoritarian northern states. The Saraste Pact of 1898 declared unilaterally the Interkommunal-Balcian Peace treaty as null and void, and Powerfull coalition was formed to restore the status quo.
Defeated and humiliated King Aën IV did not agree to the declaration however, and kept hold of his honor and signing of the treaty. Thus the chaotic year of 1899 saw multiple insurgent nationalist as well as white colonial movements to spur violence in the falling Balcian empire. Interkommunaali was not prepared for taking over or otherwise manage this chaos outside spurring agitators across the globe, a move that was later greatly departed and denounced in the upcoming years, and part of the reasons why the 1914 events in Nomidaë later enrolled the way they did and sparked the world war.

As Balc refused to withdraw from its peace treaty, despite the overall global acceptance of such move, the rest of the colonial powers did not spend too much time in trying to overcome Aën IVs stubbornness, but instead acted on their own to fully exploit the sudden opportunity to glob more power in a world, which was now became almost completely dominated by Ellardaän based powers. The former Balcin colonies were divided into spheres of influence, and it was up to each participant of the Saraste Pact, namely Nomidaë, Evo, Antoquë and Valagrillaë to seize power of the areas withdrawn by the Balcian authority. This Took Interkommunaali by surprise, and although they could not prevent the unfolding of the events in global level, they were able to Capture the Islands east of Kerric together with the North-Kerric province, which had been on Nomidaëan and Evoan spheres of influence.

Main Evoan gains of the divide were the Montzur Kaa jungles at the tip of the Rovintael, further increasing the Evoan holdings on the shores of this strategic sea lane. As the Interkommunaali’s troops entered North-Kerric, the Evoan Far East Fleet was deployed to the Islands of Ketjusaaret, another strategic asset that had allowed Balc to control the maritime trade of the Eastern giants of Saiburg and Saanksi since the 17th century. There were brief meditations between Nomidaë and Evo to form a military alliance against Interkommunaali and drive its forces away from the Far East, but neither nation was really up to such war in the aftermath of the communist success. Evo was also given the Islands of Nirupaal in the Central archipelago, but in 1903 In a gesture to restore Evo-Balcian relationships, these were returned to Balcian control after the death of Aën IV. Aside from the Interkommunaali, Marlannon was another major power humiliated in this rather impudent diplomatic maneuvering. A former Balcian colony itself, independent since the early 19th century, Marlannon saw itself as a natural successor of the Balcian reign over its former colonies, and bypassing it was one of the major diplomatic mistakes made by the Ellardaëan old nations in regarding the politics for the decades to come. It didn't take many years, when Marlannon decided it was ready to test its luck against Valagrillaë in 1904, over the possession of the Azbalatsigoan Islands. These events full unfold in another maritime victory that shrinked the Ellardaëan prestige further down as once again, the downfall of the Old world colonist was caused by unwillingness of its neighboring rivals to come in military aids, despite it was clear that the cause of keeping hold of these new colonial acquisitions from Balcian heritage was common to all participant nations of the Saraste Agreement. The feuds between the nations in homelands were eventually too big and deep to prevent such farsighted wisdom, and the bitterness of the outcome was surely another factor for the 1914 events to occur.

Another wall of text, an introduction to the 2nd Season postings strating.

Evoan Naval development and general history 1904-1914

The 1904-1905 War in the Far South-East was another major turning point in naval history. The Marllannonean Navy defeated both the Valagrillaëan colonial fleet and its Home Fleet, who made gallant but futile sailing across the globe to only meet a prepared enemy in waiting. For the first time in history, modern steel constructed battlefleets met and the results of the engagements were carefully studied around the world. For Evo it was interpreted correctly, that the utility of intermediate heavy artillery onboard Battleships was not worth the expenses, as the artillery ranges proved out to be considerably longer than anticipated and the splashing sizes of different artillery shells were unrecognizable between the heavy calibers. Thus was born the Nouseva Tuuli, a First all-big-gun battleship, whose main armament was 12 28cm guns. Laid down in 1906 This embarked yet another upward spiral in the global arms race, as the concept revolutionized the whole naval warfare and rendered all older generation capital ships as obsolete. The heavy armored cruiser type soon followed
with all-big-gun arrangements as Battle-cruiser type. First ships of this type were laid down by Interkommunaali, though still in VTE propulsion and mediocre speed (Although grossly overestimated by the Evoan intelligence.) Evoan response in 1907, the Iso Evo, was first true Battle Cruiser reaching almost 25kts and armed with 28cm guns. From 1908 Onwards, the Evoan Battleships switched to 30.5cm caliber main guns to match more properly those of the other navies. Battlecruisers still retained the 28cm until 1912. Yet within a few years, Both Nomidaë and Interkommunaali, as well as Marlannon had introduced larger caliber main guns in 34-36cm range and the basic trend of Evoan lagging behind this qualitative factor persisted. After 9 30.5cm gunned battleships, the 1911 program ships introduced the
odd 32.3cm caliber and triple turrets, both a feature which was shared only 4 Uiskomies Class Battleships, (the caliber was shared by the 1912 program battlecruisers, but in twin turrets) before Evoan Admiralty decided to make a major leap ahead by introducing the
38cm guns alongside the Impressive Toivo Kultaparta Class in 1912.

For smaller warships, the Evoan Naval law persisted in its categorical subdivision of small and large cruisers, and while the armored cruiser type was simply replaced with the battlecruiser type, the small cruiser type of general purpose type was continued, while each class grew in size and speed, as the turbine propulsion were gradually introduced to the fleet, first onboard torpedo boats and small cruisers and eventually reaching the Capital units. While Nomidaë and Interkommunaali poured out much larger “light cruiser” types by 1913, and many nation had introduced 15cm caliber guns, Evoan approaches were typically
slow and took time. The 1911 program cruisers introduced a longitudinal framing alongside a thin side armor belt after experiences of the 1905 Valagrillaë-Marlannon war were properly analyzed, as well as new 13cm (12.8 actually) midrange caliber, thought also one class
with mixed 15 cm and 10.5cm battery, until by 1914, Evo also switched to full 15cm battery in its light cruiser category. For Torpedo Boats, the trend followed those of the larger ships; that is, they grew in size and cost while achieved new capacities as the armament rose from three 35cm torpedoes to 6 50cm by 1914, and the old 8.8cm short barreled guns gave place for new 45 caliber 10.5cm weapons. By increasing in size to over 1,000t normal displacement, the Torpedo Boat-Destroyers as they were now called approached the avisos and small cruisers of just few decades back and while heated debates raged among the admirals of futility of such large and prestigious ships in the traditionally hazardous torpedo warfare, the Evoan boats were actually dwarfed by many nations over 1,500t vessels armed with 13 cm range guns that were building in 1914.

In 1905 Evo finally joined other nations in commissioning submarines, and while the type was appreciated as novelty and tactically interesting, the prewar building program was almost exclusively relegated to a small coastal defense type, intended to guard the Ports and Naval bases as a sort of self propelled minefield. Only in 1913 was the need for more ocean going patrol types acknowledged.

In general Ellardaë the Naval balance of Power shifted on Evoan Favor, as the then 3rd largest navy of Valagrillaë ceased to exist. In the “decade” of 1904-1914, the naval race fuelled the military buildups of the Ellardaë and Evo laid down 25 all-big-gun type battleships and 7 large cruisers, numbers that no one else in the continent was able to match. Only across the Middle Ocean, Interkommunaali picked up the gauntlet and built almost equal numbers, while Nomidaë and Ondore could both only lay down up to 14 such ships each. For Ondore, this was impressive move, as the old Empire was living its renaissance in challenging the Evoan and Nomidaëan empires around the Golden Sea, while kept in balance in its policy to support other Eastern Ellardaëan nations against the Rim Sachian ambitions, which thus had bring it on at least neutral terms with Evo and sometimes in concert when it came to the division of Rovintaëlian lands. For Nomidaë it was another outward symptom of its economical and social decline as while the High-Kings persisted in standing among the Great Powers at the world's stage, the internal turmoil would soon overcome him, and the whole of the world in consequences. Valagrillaë recovering brought it back to the game with a new 8 ship squadron of battleships launched in 1907 and 1911 was another show of economical power, other nations such as Balc, Rim Sach and Marlannon in the East all constructed around one squadron of such vessels.

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By 1913, Ellardaë had became rather set in terms of the coalitions, as the Valagrillaës defeat in the East had frightened the myriad of the Old Ellarchall-union nations outside of Nomidaë proper to the prospects of the imperial ambitions to resurge in the “Old West” as it was commonly called, and more eastward one traveled across the mighty Daekor river, the more the fear became from the “Old East”, the Rim Shakian hordes. Thus the Ellardaëan custom union of the central states had de facto turned into a military alliance that Also had somewhat secretive closures of Balcian-Antoqueän and Valagrillaëan co-operation in colonial affairs against the larger powers. Thus while this alliance was in somewhat friendly
With Both Evo and Ondore, it was still far from an actual alliance of these greater powers.

In August of 1913 the 400 year Nomidaëan monarchy came to its end after prolonged strikes and demonstrations being repeatedly suppressed violently by the Royal regime finally tipped the general population over. Despite ruling the Ellardaë virtually for centuries, by the beginning of the 20th century, Nomidaës economy was in dire spiral, not by least by rather aggressive Evoan protectionist policies towards turning out the Nomidaëans from the world trade By King Väinö IIs rather hostile policies that approached de facto embargo. The socialist faction had been the strongest opposition force in the country, and one of the most radical of the all Ellardaëan sister-parties. After the revolution, the Socialists who were soon made clear of almost unanimous hostility from all other Ellardaëan nations for their legitimacy, turned to Interkommunaali for help.

Across the Ocean, the Government in Marksila saw their long awaited opportunity in Nomidaëan revolution as its fractions were basically divided by those who sought the world-revolution and spreading of Socialism as the essential foreign policy, and to more pragmatist ones, who saw all means of weakening the Ellardaëan bourgeois powers beneficial and stepping stone on the old world a nice addition to the more long standing ambitions of ensuring the nations intresses. Thus it took really little time before masses of Interkommunaali’s soldiers and equipment began to flow into Nomidaë and the sparks of the civil war erupting were quickly turned off by the Nomidaëan Reds with the help of the Communal Army. As strong Red naval attachment sailed on the Ellardaëan coast, the Other nations decided it was time to intervene to restore the monarchy and “rule of law” as officially proclaimed, a series of ultimatums were imposed in spring of 1914 by Evo, Balc, Valagrillaë and its custom union members, Antoquë and Alkurulaë to demand withdrawal of Interkommunaali’s forces and restoring the lawful ownership of various nationalized property by foreigners.

While this was first seen as bluff and obligatory reaction by other nations by both Nomidaëan Revolutionary government and Interkommunaali, Secretly King Väinö II and the Kings of Valagrillaë and Balc had agreed of military intervention, to achieve surprise victory and overtake of the key Nomidaëan positions to demoralize the revolutionaries and restore the fighting spirit of the deposed monarchist and other white movements. As no actual diplomatic success was to be seen, The Officially proclaimed Anti-Communist League nations declared war on Nomidaë on 30th of july in 1914. After the Initial phase of diplomatic maneuvering, Rim Sach declared war on Alkurulaë in secret agreement with Nomidaë (although its royal government) in hopes to acquire passages and influence in North Rovintaël. This move led Thunordak to join the League and Fight predominately against Rim Shack in the east.