Song of Swords: Free Helicopter Rides!

I am pleased at your interest. WWI has been an infatuation of mine for a long time. There are so many dynamics and I don't think people realize just how important trench warfare was in developing the tactics used in WWII (and to this day even). As for the bagpipers, yes. Most accounts of bagpipers state that "They marched bravely into machine gun fire with no ammunition but their song to protect them." Although there are also accounts of pipers keeping weapons handy during the more 'eveolved' stages of the war for when they finally reached the enemy trenches (usually a traditional scottish shillelagh-pic related). Here's an old doc on them if you'd like to know more. youtube.com/watch?v=toy7A8rbZZU
I'm gonna throw up another post to describe daily trench life during the earlier days of the war.

Ok, onto trench life. Your mornings in the trenches during the early days of the war began with the daily 'stand-to' where soldiers would line up and prepare for the inevitable, and almost formal enemy attack/counterattack/attack of their own. After dealing with this, various duties were assigned such as getting rid of rats/ filling in and digging new lavatories, rotating watches in the listening post (known as a sap, you dare not stick your head up so you merely listened for movement, as well as other duties such as firing mortars or getting the water out of the trenches. After this came what is often referred to as the midday boredom. Here soldiers would settle down and find some way to occupy themselves. Moving around during this time was often dangerous and not recommended. Later in the evening you would have supper (if it could make it) and then perform another 'stand-to' If the enemy didn't attack during this stand-to, a rum ration was delved out to the soldiers. During the early war, this was carefully monitored-soldiers would stand in a line and get rum dealt into their tin by the officer in a quantity he saw fit. The soldiers were then to drink their ration in front of the officer to ensure no hoarding occurred. any rum not drank or refused by a soldier (never fucking happened) was poured into the dirt. Later in the war, when officers were closer to their men than they were command, this became a rarity and the rum was more loosely stored and given. The rum was often used as a sedative and relaxant to help soldiers sleep amongst the constant sound of distant shelling (usually in the direction of verdun, place was shithole). Most soldiers would go to sleep after this, save the few who had to go out in the saps alone and listen for enemies. These night watches were often about 2 hours long, and were dangerous as the soldier had to fight of not falling asleep. (1/2)

Getting caught sleeping on watch by the enemy meant a slight throat or spike down your neck, as well as the death of most of your comrades. While getting caught sleeping on the job by and officer meant a charge of treason and death by firing squad. Later in the war, specially trained dogs were also stationed on watch that would make an audible bark or growl when an enemy was detected. Other nighttime duties also meant patrols in no-man's land, in which you had to be absolutely silent as too much noise would invite a hail of machine-gun fire from both sides. There are common reports of patrols from both sides running into each other, deciding hand-to-hand (the only 'safe' way to fight in no-man's land) was not worth it, and simply walking past each other. Night raids also became a common occurrence after the first year of the war. In these, soldiers would sneak up on enemy trenches, often only armed with grenades and melee weapons, dispatch as many sentries as possible, then granade the shit out of trenches, cause chaos, kidnap prisoners, then retreat. This was actually the early evolution of what is now known as 'shock and awe' tactics. And that was pretty much the daily life of a soldier in the trenches. You would do this for 60-90 days, except in places like verdun where you couldn't be pulled back, and then be cycled back 1 trench line. First to the support, then to the reserve line. Finally, you would get to take some R&R in a local town or city, where activities generally included drinking, eating, and visiting a brothel. Any other questions?

This is very good for the prelude section yes thank you, so what's the process of preparing for a big push? Does the attack stop at the first tech line or are you expected to push until they have to evacuate their artillery battery?

For example I know the 9th (Scottish) Division captured the town of Longueval during the Somme Offensive as was thinking of focusing on this as a statue of a bagpiper now stands there, would they have specific instruction to capture place then stop and fortify?

What would they have to overcome during such an attack? Were direct fire field guns common? Would you find Lieutenants directing platoon MG fire or were their responsibilities different in WWI?

Sadly big pushes often failed due to ambition. Due to the lack of decent communication, it was often unclear when an objective was captured. So here is how things generally went down:
Throughout the war, no-man's land and enemy trench lines were pummeled with artillery to cut barbed wire and knock out machine gun positions. Then, massed units would go over the top (or sometimes, cavalry would charge in with lances beared because commanders were dumbasses). These units going over the top were almost always met with entrenched MG08 fire as a lot of german positions were heavily fortified and difficult to destroy, the german line is where you would first see things like concrete pillboxes. Later in the war, tunneling saps were heavily utilized. These would contain tunnels close to or under the enemy lines. These tunnels often had trap doors to the surface, as well as chambers full of explosives that would cause pesky defences to cave in, destroying MG emplacements and problematic sections. Soldiers would then burst out of trap doors and engage in brutal hand to hand combat so as to paralyze the german lines while the main force bears down upon them unmolested by enemy fire. Of course, artillery is a bitch and still fucks everyone. Another, rather unique weapon of the somme was the Livens flame projector. Placed in an offshoot in some saps, roughly 4 of these devices were used against particularly heavily fortified lines. When activated, a projector head would pop out in the middle of no-man's land and spew napalm in a jet nearly a hundred meters long: pic related. Oh...what am I missing here...of course, gas. Gas wasn't as widely used outside of verdun as you may think. The main reason is that finicky wind would often cause the gas to blow back into friendly lines, causing casualties:look up Ypres for a good example of this. Alright, lastly I need to cover communication, but this will need another post.

Ok, communication. This was a massive issue at the somme. It was actually a big problem though most of the war, and spurned the rapid development of radios (which were still largely too big to be used in the war, but were sometimes installed in tanks and planes near the end of the war). For the time being, three forms of communication reigned supreme: telephone, runners, and pigeons. Yes you heard me, pigeons. Many pigeons were decorated for outstanding service during the war. The most famous (pic related) was Cher Ami, whom managed to deliver a vital message despite having been shot in the chest, losing an eye, and having her leg hanging by a single tendon. This bird's bravery saved the lives of, in one account around 600 men, as well as countless others during the battle of verdun. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her bravery. Anyways, pigeons were important, but so to were runners. A runner was often designated to run messages from the front lines to the unit commander so he could relay them via phone lines to high command. Since command structures were rigid and unit autonomy was low, this meant that many men maintained suicidal orders because their runner was killed and the message was never received by command. By 1916, the British military had increased the autonomy of their units and allowed squad leaders a degree of operational freedom in combat to alleviate this. You also saw it in the latewar elite German Sturmtroops whom were feared by allied lines for their amazingly effective raiding tactics. There were some ways that the more mobile eastern front dealt with these communications issues, my favorite being serbia, whom wore red and white flags on their back while storming an Austrian-held mountain so that rear commanders could see where the serbs were and adjust artillery to avoid hitting them. Anyways, onto the last for of comms:phones. (1/2)

Forgot the pic of Cher, its on this one now. anyways: hello moto. Phone lines were very static, and were usually placed in the second line dugout/command bunkers of support trenches. These lines were routinely cut by artillery fire and had to be repaired. Later in the war, this would be mitigated by burying lines as deep as 6m, and using special redundant ladder lines. However, telephone comms were, quite frankly, shit during the beginning of the war. Command was too lazy to build a communications network, so they often just tapped into the french telephone network. This meant your desperate call to move your artillery up was often interrupted because two french lovebirds were talking on the same line as you. A structure was gradually developed to fix this, and by the end of the war, the British had developed the most efficient and well-designed communications network of the war. Now there were other forms of communication used such as 'spikes', but I recommend looking those up yourself as I can't explain it too well. That one is weird science bullshit. To be honest, good old Indy describes it best in this: youtube.com/watch?v=aG7UzEgH4Co
He also covers a lot of what I just said in a more coherent fashion.

To wrap this all up, most Somme charges that weren't mowed down ended up like this. The objective was captured, but since command didn't know about it, the soldiers sat there reinforced to be destroyed by an enemy counterattack, bombarded by friendly arty that didn't know they were up that far, or ordered to retreat by command after they decided they wouldn't be able to hold those reinforced lines.

That's about the best I can do on this subject for now (at least, while trying to inter-space writing all this with work). If need be, I can attempt to be more coherent later tonight once I have a couple drinks to make myself a little more coherent. In the meantime, any further questions?

>ordered to retreat by command after they decided they wouldn't be able to hold those reinforced lines

Yeah that's pretty much the perfect ending I was looking for; make them go through hell, wipe most of the platoon, have them finally capture the objective and then sit there clueless for about three hours before showing my hand and telling them it was all a bust. Seems like the perfect ending for the tone I want to set.

Thank you based WWIAnon I will do my best this Friday and continue my studies over winter.

Well then the Somme is the perfect place for you. I suggest looking up a video called 'Heroes of the Somme' I think amazon prime lets you watch it for free. It covers several units that were awarded the victoria cross....mostly irish (its and irish production after all). However, it does touch a lot on how a lot of advances went. Could be just what you are looking for. I mean, the somme is the battle with the most documentaries about it since a lot of British died in it and the Brits love making documentaries about how they died a lot. Of course, if you have any more questions or need some more easy source material to read/watch, just ask. I'm actually doing my own WWI style campaign right now, so I've been doing a massive amount of refresh work. Mine is more along the lines of placing NotCanadians! (Half of my family is canadian, and I relate more to canada than the US, plus canadians were badasses in the world wars) into some shitty situations and watching them all go insane from sadness. My goal is to make players cry...yours seems to just make them depressed.

>the Brits love making documentaries about how they died a lot
That we do.
>yours seems to just make them depressed
Well it is for Remembrance Day, I feel that I can't get them truly invested in a rich cast that will then be slowly killed over a few hours. Instead I will have to invoke the spirits of our war dead to create a gradual decent into frustration, terror and pain while always offer that light at the end of the tunnel in the objective.

Pulling the rug out from under them is the essential kick in the teeth to get that lovely analogue to the message a lot of War Poets ran with about the death of chivalry at the hands of modern technology and the lie of glory in war.

Feels rather strange to be subjecting them to this when I intend to run a far more fun western next year but I'll just chalk that up to the flexibility of the system.

Its good to test the limits of the system. I for one would love to hear a storytime of how this goes. If you notice any issues, feel free to bring them up, the devs will hear about it one way or another. I will be storytiming my session eventually as well.

I certainly will.

On the topic of the system, I've got my Lee-Enfields, Webleys and the Gewehr 98 is just a Schwarzvald C5 with CAP 5 right?

What analogies do we have to the MGs in use and how many MGs would move up with the platoon be if at all?

I will be home in roughly 2 hours, I will cover this in detail then.

You're a saint.

I've done my best but I need to go to bed now, I anticipate your correspondence in the morning with great excitement.

Allow me to give you a gift when you wake up then. The Gewehr 98 would actually be a variant of the C5 with extra weight (it was longer and the C5 is the 98K variant). Secondly, due to the magazine loading method, a clip that fell out the bottom, dirt from the trenches often seeped into the magazine, jamming the gun, so give it Jams (3). (pic related, old magazine is on the right, it was upgraded to a stripper design and the magazine hold covered, but some variants in WWI still had the old style because supply issues). I would increase the WT by 1 as well, they were bad in the close quarters of the trench. I'm going to do the MGs in a two part post to cover the two different types that emerged.

Ok, lets start with the Vickers style guns. These are heavy, the gun itself is about 20-30lbs, with a 20 ought lb tripod, and of course ammo and a water can to cool the gun. Water-most people forget that this was how most WWI guns were cooled. You didn't change the barrel, you had that shroud you see around them that works like a modern day's pc liquid cooling system (minus the pump, it was just done via evaporation and shit). Now, I'm certain some gun autist is going to point out flaws, so sue me, I'm trying to be simple and speak fucking english here. Anyways, a three man crew was required to operate these guns, one guy to lead the ammo, one to hold the hose to the water tin so you could cycle water, and then the shooter. All three needed to carry. So, in terms of assaults, these were often held behind and brought in with reinforcements-but fuck all if getting those are reliable.(except for the russians who had cute vickers-style guns on little wheely carts like you see in enemy at the gates). In use these were pretty nasty on the defence, and were the main threat to any enemy attack. during a charge, defending MG nests would cross their firing streams in a V shape so as to create an impenetrable wall of bullets. So charging against an undamaged line was impossible. Now, arty is the answer to that, but how about defending enemy counter attacks when you take a trench? Next up:man portable rooty shooties.

Pic is for reference in image only, ignore the other battlefield 1 stuff. Ok: the MP18 and the Lewis gun. In terms of use, let's start with the lewis gun, because this is the less understood of the two. The lewis gun was a squad support gun....you hear that codfags? SQUAD, SUPPORT. You don't run around going pop pop and watching 4 yr olds drop. You support with it. Generally, these served a couple of functions. When a trench was taken, these were set up as temporary MG nests while reinforcements were en route. On the defense, these acted as both mobile AA guns, and as quickly redeployable mg nests. Was you vicker's blown to hell? replace it with a lewis, it'll do the job. The lewis gun is of course, famous because it is believed that a man on a tripod-mounted lewis gun fired the bullet that killed the red baron. As for the MP18, this was best used by the elite Sturmtroopers to clear trenches. This was actually small enough that it was (marginally) more useful than a sharpened shovel at clearing trenches (the german spade was fucking king at trench combat). It can't take a bayonet, but these cuties could spit a lot of lead down a narrow corridor, effectively suppressing it so a comrade can chuck a grenade around the corner. (the actual king of trench combat, there were sturmtroopers who would crawl up to trenches with no gun, but a satchel full of grenades, and a shovel. They would toss several grenades in before jumping in with beloved shovel to clean up the survivors.) Did that cover everything? Or is there something more you would like to know?

...

>Were direct fire field guns common?
Early in the war, yes, by the British especially. Then they stopped doing that after realizing over the horizon fire was much better, and that HE shells were much better than shrapnel shells.

Sauce: amazon.com/Artillery-Great-War-Paul-Strong/dp/1783030127

>I would increase the WT by 1 as well, they were bad in the close quarters of the trench.
That won't have any actual effect since weapon weight is ignored when you're holding the weapon.

This whole series is worth watching to learn more about weapons and tactics with firearms throughout the ages

youtube.com/watch?v=-nltCzVR0fY&list=PLmW_vcwM_qxvTqoBaHn7MjwVt_oCCr2vt&index=8

Thanks for the infodump.

SoSGen is the comfiest place on Veeky Forums.

Would that I could rouse you all back to violence.

>Rahoo BZK-50 is clearly a Madeuce
>The only other Rahoo machinegun listed is a British version of the same gun chambered in .300
>The Rahoos don't make MGs smaller than 50 caliber for their own use

I just had this incredible imagine of a section sprinting through the woods, with the camera slowly panning backwards, and four guys trying to keep up while lugging an M2 on their shoulders like it's a royal litter. I hope this is canon because it would make the Rahoos the stupidest but most glorious motherfuckers in the setting.

By ballad rules, weapon wt. Isn't ignored by holding the weapon to avoid people sprinting around with a ptsd

I totally forgot to cover that bit, thank you comrade commisar

> people runing with ptsd
> big fifty on squad level
I think, I'll commit some drawfagottry, when I return home later.

Also, ww1anon who did and all the other infodumps that I'm too lazy to try linkin g on this tablet of mine. Thanks to you, I now consider runing something in ww1 or around. But maybe something less depressing than the meat grinder f the western front. Idk, maybe something like africa ,middle east, or post war central asia with interventionist cavalry action. Any exotic sugestions.?

WW1fag is pleased, I fangirl over sharing WWI knowledge the same way as Veeky Forums fangirls over their favorite waifu.

Well, you could do some fighting on the early Hungarian/Serb frontline. If your group is okay being Serbian

I bring up that example because I had made a character designed to just do that (see biskra storytime). That game is/was with the devs, so I was notified that my PTSD still has wt when held.

How about a fun fact in honor of today's elections in America?

From 1914-1917, the United States congress was only in session for a total of 3 months.

Its almost impossibly to find something that isn't depressing. A fun idea though would be to run a session as the Arditi on the italian front, or as Mackenson (best hat in history) kicking the shit out o the Russians. If you want to do Africa, I recommend recreating the ridiculous (and amusing) battle for Lake Tanganyika, funniest fucking engagement of the war. If you want to stick to land battles in Africa, then Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck is the man you want to follow.

...

give me gattles

>Lake Tanganyika
That shit is awesome, I love that the gunship still is in service on the lake

...

Is this me?

Historic night, brothers.
I'm keeping my sabers sharp and oiled.

It's happening. It's fucking happening. I'm getting Jimmy drunk right now.

The hell you are, I was at a welding class.
NOW I'm drinking. I'm not super partisan about this election but I tell you what, the amount of assfracture we're seeing in Santa Cruz California is reaching levels we did not think possible.

Remain calm. Post sabers.

If I wasn't on my phone I would post sabers but I'm wasted and not at home. Cheers, jimmu.

I agree though, the best part of this whole night is the vast amount of butthurt. That's why I voted for Nader.

Goddamn it, you crazy motherfuckers actually went and did it. Good luck in the next couple of years, Americlaps, I have a feeling that you're gonna need it.

Also I just found out that my uni's gym offers saber fencing. Should I?

>Goddamn it, you crazy motherfuckers actually went and did it

Nigga I voted independent, I didn't do shit.

>amount of butthurt
Enjoy then.

>Should I?
Absolutely.

Even as someone who is quite disappointed at the result I will admit the levels of booty bombing have gotten high enough to amuse me.

>Call everyone with a different opinion than you an inbred retarded hick
>get surprised when they start to hate you and everything you stand for

wew, sure love democracy

>LGBTQA
So gays and trannies have Quality Assurance now? What?

Have a drink Jimmu. Just think of how topical Laser Whales will be!

I want to say it's (gender)queer and asexual, but not sure.

This audio book is excellent - first hand experience of a war correspondent who was on the western front from 1914, and always very close to the fighting - often having to dodge explosions, and at one point even fixing bayonet...
The guy knew french very well and knew all the place names and talked to a lot of different people form many different sections of the army and flying corps, as well as reading German letters and interviewing prisoners. Really excellent feel for what it was like:

youtube.com/watch?v=ARD-xXwKI3A

Norman Stones "The Eastern Front 1914 - 1917" is a good read for the eastern front, a completely different world, often of maneuver warfare compared to the west.

Its available online but the hosting sites make you wait for ages, so I uploaded it:
mediafire.com/file/e8969by2wi8127s/1238138104.epub
Excellent resource on a part of the war that is often neglected.

I'm currently working on a WW1 tabletop game - more battalion to regimental level - so doing a lot of research into this. First hand accounts are vital for capturing the feeling of the period.

>I'm not super partisan
Why would you even try to lie about this, Jimmy? Are you as far in the closet about being a fascist as you are regarding your sexuality?

As one of the unironic fascists that lurk these threads, I don't think Trump is actually that fascist outside of liberal memes.

Trump is totally fascist.
Fascist is a synonym for asshole, right?

I thought it was a synonym for "person I don't like." In which case, I guess the American People voted that Hillary is the real fascist.

She did have Lady Gaga in a Man in the High Castle outfit at her last rally... Hmm.

So, trufax: I voted for Jill Stein. Not joking. I'm right-wing, I believe in literally nothing Jill Stein does, but I live in California (lol Cali going anything except cobalt blue) and I want to see third parties rise high enough to get federal funding. Seems like more options would make our democracy better.

I dragged my Republican ass down to the polling booth and voted for the other Socialist Jew. Better luck next time sexy grandma.

Also her running m8 was named Baraka. So I like to imagine you have this old hippie woman and then this fucking slavering blade monster doing sick combos on people in the background while she tries to give speeches.

Fuck me this election cycle has been great.

This reminds me of that scene in Look Who's Back where Hitler explains that the only party in modern Germany he agrees with is the Greens.

vocaroo.com/i/s1LaOGqNvvQ9
Here's one little piece of Election Year that I will not deny you: My voicing of the final chapter of Ted Cruzarugatari.

I meant that I was getting drunk like you, not that I was getting you drunk.

Well, now we can do both.

>pence (2)
>2

Post the rest of that waifu folder, Jimbo.

Also the message of this picture is objectively trueExcept Misato a slut who'd spread her legs before anyone willing. Just to feel a little human closeness and contact, for a short while.Still technically best girl

It's just another picture of my husbando... Who is cute. Cute!

He's a pretty big goy!

Ok, here. I might have lost my creative vein for drawing, but at least I have some ideas for that fun ww1 session I want to run.

Thanks to the suggestion by , I remembered about this gem of a movie that will serve me for inspiration.
CK Dezerterzy which goes by irc H.M deserters in English. here youtube.com/watch?v=Vmef_8MY46w.Though I'm afraid no subs beyond few scenes on yt.
>Set in 1918, in Austro-Hungarian, multi-ethnic company for "Politically Suspect".
>CO is a comfy man. Really doesn't give a fuck, and just wants to be left at peace till the war's over. Basically this youtube.com/watch?v=qJEOYppIyRg (subs) and this youtube.com/watch?v=LAn10B1NkPk (no subs) sums up his character.
>Lieutenant, named Von Nogay, is a typical sadist military type. Likes to brutalize those under him.
>MCs - Soldiers, knowing that the war is nearing its end, and not wanting to endure von Nogay till then' make themselves scarce and go on a trip through the country.

So my idea is to get this, basically as is, and set it up somewhere in AH's Bosnia near the Serbian border, on the outbreak of war in 1914.

I feel that this setup would work with how notoriously rushed the war preparation went for Austro-Hungary early on.
Players would have to deal with being thrust into battle of Cer.
Everything tongue-in-cheek tone of the movie.

>Austro-Hungarian
>multi-ethnic company
Oh boy.

Great movie, good luck with the idea. Look for the italian movie Many Wars Ago, there is the horror of the war, so you could mix it and go for full Szwejk story.

Conrad von Hotzendorf must be a villain for this.

Oh boy indeed
youtu.be/jLET2WVBMK8
>"austrians, step forward"
> no one moves
>"Sing the national anthem"
>only two respond, one with very high voice
>"theres even a castrat in this bordello?!"
>"I dutifully note, sir that this all is due to the dificulties with german language. They know the anthem, they just can't sing it"

Thanks, I'll look it up.
And I like the idea of sudden shift in tone.
>The game starts as the comedy, maybe before the war, in that period when the KuK armee couldn't decide if they should mobilize or not.
> players would be in this as new recruits, or maybe as nerdowells gathered from around the army. Just to keep with the spirit of the movie.
>Till now on penal/garrison duty in small Bosnian border town. Then as the preparations start they have to go through bootcamp-ish training together, just getting to know each other and npcs.
> everything is fine even as they cross the border. Maybe some patrols or very minor skirmishes.
AND then suddenly they are in some heavy frontline combat, trying just to survive.

I see it would work much better as two parter, or maybe mini campaign, rather than one-shot. Where the first session(s) would work as an introduction to npcs, that would make their deaths much more impactful later.

>That first guy trying to sing in German
Holy fuck my sides

Misato would fuck Pen Pen if he showed her an ounce of attention

>He Shinji I'm going to send you to live with this hot slut who drinks all the time and walks around in her underwear.
>Also have a pet penguin. It's sentient.
>Hey I got you two chicks your age in skintight uniforms. One's like a redhead and crazy and the other is demure asf.
>HEY SHINJI I BROUGHT YOUR MOM BACK TO LIFE BUT NOW SHE'S A GIANT ROBOT WHO WILL FIGHT DEMONS WITH YOU

Gendo Ikari is the most perfect deconstruction of the "ideal dad" ever. If you describe him out of context he basically gives his son the coolest wish-fulfilment scenario imaginable, yet he's STILL somehow an asshole.

That's fucking brilliant.

>Go check out the swordfighting .gif thread
>Shitstorm
>Go to /sos/
>People very casually joking about the elections and WWI

Holy fuck, what are they putting in the water in these threads, you guys are chill about everything except kopeshes.

Because the elections are just like any other event.
And don't take me on this, but at least like half the people in this thread will have mostly vented their HAPPENING on /pol/ or something.

As for the latter, we like history.

>chill about everything except khopidingadongding
>STRENGTH
>CAPS

No, you nailed it. This is the bar in Sigil where Devils and Angels hang out and drink. You've got radical hard Leftists, you've got fascists, you've got NatSocs, you've got whatever Jimmy is with his Mike Pence fetish, but we all come here to talk about swords and guns and world war II and Polish cinema and loquats and elf girls and fucking whatever man.

This is easily, EASILY the comfiest thread on Veeky Forums and Goddamn I love it. I wish everyone were as comfy as we are. I wish everyone could know the joys of not giving a fuck, and arguing with a grin about rules and elves and how many swords can fit in a groin. It's like Veeky Forums back in the old days.

>khopesh
BEAT THE BLADE!
HOOK THE LEG!

>swordfighting .gif thread
Just saw this over there. Pretty nifty.

youtube.com/watch?v=FaEZZ43WrTQ

Never speak those words again.

STRRREEENNNGGTTTHHH
CAAAAAAAPPPSSS

Through dick (stabs), unity.

What was Istanbul like at the very end of the Ottoman Empire?

>What was Istanbul like at the very end of the Ottoman Empire?

a Constantinople.

No, but seriously now.
The whole post-1918 Turkey with it's empire crumbling and the whole independence war against both the Entente powers partitioning it between themselves AND the Ottoman Sultanate, is really interesting.
I think there was even significant involvement of Bolshewiks IRC with none other than Commisar Stalin at the helm at one point.
It's been a while since I read about this,
and can't be bothered to check my facts beyond these wikipedia links at the moment, so anyone more knowledgeable might want to step in and correct my drivel.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning_of_the_Ottoman_Empire
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Constantinople
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Smyrna
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_War_of_Independence
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Turkish_War_of_Independence

So, how about we base the Void-verse Not!Ottoman empire on this period? Hopefully, with pic related esthetics

We won't give up, no matter how many times you call this game dead.
As long as we have S C Y T H I A N S we live on.

Remain calm, drink coffee.
Death comes for all in the end anyways.