Tyranny of Steel

Out of all the interested parties in the African continent, as well as its vast land and resources, none was perhaps more avaricious than the German Reich, which saw to control the entire southern half all for themselves.

And while this had been Berengar's objective, Hans had decided to take things a step further and advance his colonial borders further north. Naturally, this resulted in a bit of a conflict between himself and his brothers, and thus, after much effort, the various emperors gathered in neutral ground to speak of their disagreements.

What was this neutral ground, well there was not a wide variety of nation states to choose from in this matter, as most were either directly subservient to the Reich, or indirectly so.

Thus, after a lengthy debate on where to even host these negotiations, Hans and his brother had settled on the Joseon Dynasty.

In the city of Pyongyang, four western emperors sat at a table, which was being moderated by the Joseon King, who watched these men with cautious eyes. They all sipped on their tea, and enjoyed the silence that existed prior to the start of what each and every one of them knew would turn into a fierce debate. Until finally Hans spoke of his demands, and with the authority as the Chancellor of Germany.

"Alright, I'm just going to get right to it. From Nigeria to German South Africa, everything belongs to the Reich, except for the lands that father has recognized as an independent empire for the native peoples.

This is non-negotiable, and if any of you decide to oppose the Reich's demands, we will be more than happy to test our newest equipment on the lot of you! This meeting is not to dispute the colonial borders of the German Reich, but rather to carve up what is left for the rest of you. So, you will each stake your claims, and I will determine what is the most fitting to achieve peace and stability. Emperor Alexandros, you have the floor."

The moment the Reich put military force on the table as a valid way to retain in control of their claims, not a single other Empire could very well disagree. After all, the entire world could gang up against the Reich, and the Reich would win ten out of ten times. There was simply no comparing themselves to the juggernaut that was the Wehrmacht.

Thus, Alexandros did not bother disputing any of Hans' claims, and instead focused on what he could obtain for himself.

"As previously agreed upon with the Iberian Empire, we will be permitting the horn of Africa to remain in their control. However, we demand the land that lies in between the Horn of Africa and the Zulu Empire. Such as Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan."

Hans immediately looked towards his brothers and posed a question that he knew at least one of them would respond to.

"Does anyone have any objections to these demands?"

Almost immediately Lukas objected to these claims that his half brother Alexandros had posed, while stating his reasons to do so in an almost fiery tone.

"You're damn right I do. Both the Iberian and Byzantine Empires both have colonies with access to the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. If you were to give this swath of territory to the Byzantines, then the British would not be able to have a port city with immediate access to the Indian Ocean. I demand all the regions claimed by the Byzantine Emperor to instead belong to Britannia!"

The animosity that flashed through Lukas' and Alexandros' eyes was no small amount, and thus Hans immediately came up with a compromise between the two of them before they could argue any further over this issue.

"The Reich will grant Kenya to the British Empire so that they have some coastal territory with access to the Indian Ocean. However, Uganda and Sudan will go to the Byzantine Empire as they already have military bases established in the region, and if you need evidence of this, I can give you photographs taken from our satellites. Are there any objections to this compromise?"

Both Alexandros and Lukas looked at each other with far less anger and silently nodded their heads in agreement. Thus, Hans was able to directly move onto the next disputed territory.

"Currently, the Byzantine Empire has colonies in the Ivory Coast, while the British Empire has colonies in both Mali and Ghana. Since the Iberians have already agreed to splitting Mali in half with the British, we must come to an understanding on the regions of Togo and Benin.

I must state for the record that it is the opinion of the Reich that these lands should go to the British Empire, as they have already established military outposts in the region and have engaged in combat with the locals.

We also believe that it is only fair that the British Empire gets control over the regions of Niger and Burkina Faso. As compared to the other European Empires, they are severely lacking in terms of colonial land and resources. Are there any objections to these claims?"

Although both Alexandros and Ghazi wanted to dispute these claims, they could tell that Hans was not truly willing to debate them, and thus they sighed heavily and accepted their defeat. Leaving Hans to nod his head in satisfaction before making one last declaration.

"Alright, I am glad we have come to an agreement on these matters. As a reminder, both southern and central Africa, aside from those lands which are recognized as a part of the Zulu Empire, are hereby annexed by the German Reich in perpetuity. With our furthest western colonial borders being the region that father has identified as Nigeria.

With this in mind, the rest of the territory that has not already been covered in these negotiations is up for a free for all, and I trust that you will use your best judgement in how you divvy up control. I must also remind you all that you are more than welcome to exchange land with one another based upon your needs if you can manage to come to such an agreement.

If that is all, then these partitions of the African continent have been concluded, and thus, we are done here. Thank you, gentlemen, and may we all have a safe trip back home?"

After saying this, Hans left the room without saying another word, while his brothers remained in awkward silence.

Berengar sat in the living room of his giant palace in front of a television. A game console had been hooked up to the TV while several of his grandchildren, who were in their formative years, were playing an RPG that focused on capturing and battling cute little monsters.

It took one look at this game for Berengar to have a vague sense of déja vu, as it seriously reminded him of a game he used to play in his past life. And thus, while these young kids were busy arguing about what to name their most recent captures, their grandfather simply smiled and shook his head.

By now, much of the Reich's internal affairs were looked after by his son Hans, and thus Berengar ironically spent more time with his grandchildren, then he had actually spent with his own kids when they were growing up.

Berengar was drinking a glass of whiskey, and reading from the paper when he noticed one of his grandsons fighting with his sister about what type of monster was weak against another type, and if this game was remotely similar to the one Berengar had in mind, then he knew the answer, and thus in between sips of his whiskey he decided to inform his kids of which monster they should be using.

"If your opponent is a water type, then you might want to try an electric type monster..."

The young boy looked at his grandfather as if he had said something foolish, and mocked the man straight to his face, perhaps not realizing just how fearsome Berengar had been in his younger years. Even if he was only currently in his fifties.

"Grandpa, no offense, but what do you know about video games? When you were my age, they didn't even have electricity, let alone computers!"

Just when Berengar was about to scold the little brat, his little sister clearly demonstrated her superior intelligence, not only as a gamer, but as a person.

"Grandpa is right. I read in a game guide that water monsters are weak to electric monsters and grass types. We should listen to him! Maybe if you paid more attention in science class, then you would know that water conducts electricity!"

After saying this, the girl snatched hold of the controller and swapped out the monster for an electric type, where she then took out the opponent with a single attack. She then stuck out her tongue at her brother, who immediately ran off and rage quit.

Berengar simply chuckled when he saw this, and spoke in a curious tone, as he asked a question that he had never thought about before in his life.

"Hmm... I wonder if my own children were this energetic when they were still kids..."