Tyranny of Steel

Adelbrand stood in front of a crowd of Andalusian and German soldiers who had gathered before him in the city of Granada. It had been years since he had taken over command of the Iberian Theatre and every step of the way he had been met with resistance.

However, after years of brutal conflict, the war had finally come to an end. Because of that, Adelbrand was holding a grand ceremony in Granada, announcing total victory, and paying tribute to the veterans of the war. 

The soldiers all had grim expressions on their faces, as if they were fearful that the Iberian Catholic League may strike at any moment. Though they knew the resistance had been successfully put down, in large part due to the sheer brutality of the Reichsgarde, they were still paranoid of an enemy attack. 

Even Adelbrand seemed quite exhausted as he gazed upon his forces with the same thousand yard stare they all had. This war was unlike any other the Germans had fought in. It had started with field armies, and ended in guerilla and urban warfare on a scale which claimed well over ten thousand German lives. 

As for the cost of Andalusian and Catholic Lives, that was in the millions. As the man who had assumed full authority over combat operations within the Iberian Peninsula, and who had been leading such efforts for years, Adelbrand was perhaps the most weary of all. Yet he tried his best not to let such battle fatigue show on his face as he boldly announced the end to war that had lasted nearly a decade. 

"We stand here today to celebrate the end of a war, one that has claimed countless lies in the wake of its destruction. I myself stand here before you all in sheer disbelief of this monumental occasion, for, like many of you, I have been involved in this conflict for several years. 

I suppose I should start in the beginning. Nearly a decade ago, dthe man who is now known as Kaiser Berengar von Kufstein pledged his support to the small state of Granada. An act which enraged the Papacy, and the entirety of Europe. The reason this action caused so much outrage was because the Emirate of Granada was the last vestige of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. 

Reconquista had been going on for centuries, and as a result the once dominate Muslim State of Al Andalus had been reduced to a small emirate in the south of the Peninsula. The Catholics, on the eve of their supposed victory, were now faced with a new threat in the region. 

The Kaiser, in his infinite wisdom, had dispatched an old friend of mine, Field Marshal Arnulf von Thiersee, to Iberia so that he may support the former Sultan of Granada in his efforts to retain his borders. This was when the war we have all experienced began.

It is no surprise that the Catholic Kingdoms became threatened by this and eventually marched on the borders of Granada where they were shocked to face such fierce resistance by the combined forces of Granada and Germany.

The war continued for some time under the control of my predecessor, where victories were gained and losses were suffered by both sides. Eventually, the Iberian Union was formed and, as a result, I was dispatched to Iberia with the intent of supporting Arnulf and his campaign. Battles were fought, and even the Kaiser himself joined us in the field of battle, along with his Byzantine allies. 

With victory over the Iberian Kingdoms, we were able to secure a temporary peace with the treaty of Aquitaine. One which allowed us to annex Portugal and declare ourselves to be a true sultanate. However, while the people of Granada could breathe easily, the soldiers were not afforded such a luxury. Instead, they were forced to fight in Portugal against warlords, despots, and fanatics. 

This internal rebellion was fought for years until the Spanish unified into a single Kingdom and declared war on us. In an attempt to seize our Saltpeter mines.  The result was a decisive Andalusian victory in a single battle. However, this still did not end the bloodshed, instead the Papacy supported religious fanatics with weapons and supplies to continue their fight against Al-Andalus and Germany.

After years of funneling men and resources into Iberia, and multiple attempts at peace, the Kaiser finally had enough of the rebellion and dispatched the Reichsgarde to put an end to the Catholic Resistance once and for all. The Reichsgarde, along with their Andalusian allies, swept through every town and city, killing every insurgent they came across.

All while agents of the crown worked in the shadows to capture and interrogate Catholic terrorists so that they could learn more about how the shadowy Iberian Catholic League operated.  However, despite our best attempts the war waged on, and it was not until the Kaiser's trial by fire, where God in heaven judged the Papacy to be guilty of their crimes, did the spirit of resistance among Iberian Catholics finally break. 

Since then, what few holdouts have remained has quickly been dispatched to the afterlife. Now, after bringing the last known terrorist to justice just days ago, I Adelbrand von Salzburg, the Steward of Iberia, hereby declare an end to the war! From this day forward, Christians and Muslims shall live side by side within the Sultanate of Al-Andalus without fear of discrimination. 

I also wish to announce the formation of the Iberian Reformist Church, who has risen from the ashes of the Papacy's Tyranny. Together, the Sultan, and his government shall work together with the Reformist Church and the German Empire to ensure a new age of prosperity."

After saying this, Adelbrand saluted the soldiers, who returned his gesture and shouted the battlecries in their individual language.

"Gott Mit Uns!

"Allahu Akbar!"

Adelbrand quickly descended from the stage with a weary expression on his face. Though he made some bold claims, the reality was that he had a lot of work to do if he was going to bring any semblance of order and modernization to the Sultanate of Al-Andalus. 

The nearly ten year long war had ravaged the cities and burned most of the fields within the Iberian Peninsula. It would be a long and difficult effort to restore the peace that once existed within the region. Even with the technological gifts that Al-Andalus had received from the Reich, it would be years before Iberia could survive on its own, without constant support from Germany. 

However, Berengar had trusted Adelbrand to build Iberia into a prosperous region that his son Ghazi could inherit, and expand upon. If the Kaiser trusted him with such a position, then Adelbrand would be sure to fulfill his mission to the best of his abilities. 

Despite this determination within the man's heart, he was still under an enormous amount of stress, and because of this, he grabbed hold of the flask within his coat pocket and downed a solid shot's worth of hard liquor.

Adelbrand spent some time discussing his experiences of the war with the soldiers who had fought in it and celebrated among their ranks as a battle brother. These men, both Andalusian and German, respected Adelbrand for leading them into battle for so many years. They, too, understood the stress and fatigue that the German Field Marshal suffered through on a daily basis. 

However, the war was now over, and though shots would no longer be fired in the streets, the soldiers would have a hard time adapting to that peaceful reality. Because of this, it was no surprise that Adelbrand rode in an armored convoy from the site of the celebration back to the palace after it was truly over. 

The man had lost many friends throughout the years of warfare, and now he would have to work hard to rebuild what was destroyed. It had been a long time since he had the luxury of returning to his ancestral homeland in Salzburg. He wondered how much the city had changed since he had last seen it. In fact, it was his greatest dream to return home and see what had become of his family. 

Upon stepping foot in the Palace, Adelbrand was not granted with the peace and quiet he desired. Instead, his secretary, which was a busty young Spanish woman, approached him and handed him a telegram before summarizing its contents.

"The Kaiser has summoned you to Kufstein. The message does not explain the reasoning, but it makes clear this request is non-negotiable. I have already prepared your luggage for you, you only need to check it to see if everything has been accounted for. 

Of course, Adelbrand had no way of knowing that he was being summoned for the Victory Day celebration. The German victory in Iberia would prove to be the ultimate end of the Catholic Resistance in the world.

With the Pope gone, and his cardinals with him, there simply was no longer a system in place to replace the man. The Catholic Religion had been reduced to a number of small local bishoprics, many of which were converting to local variations of Reformist thought at a rapid rate, or even splitting into their own schools of thought entirely.  Thus, the war in Iberia was truly the last gasp of a dying religion.