Between the months of August, 1942 and February, 1943,
the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), and the
countryside around it, was the scene to quite possibly
the bitterest warfare to take place in World War II.
At its height, men died in terrifying numbers (total
casualties have been estimated by some to top one
million) to gain or defend inches of territory. The
fighting was merciless, unending, and utterly
intolerant towards human survival on either side ...
but if there was one 'battle' that broke the Nazi war
machine, this was it. With that in mind, one would
think that David would have a Tether in Stalingrad.
One would be wrong.
David has lots.
Make no mistake of it: Stone owns Stalingrad. At last
count, there were five major Tethers of Stone in the
city itself, at least two in the countryside and
dozens of lesser Tethers, of various sizes, scattered
throughout the area. There are no demonic Tethers at
all: David has officially ruled that attempting to
foster one within twenty miles of the city is
automatically 'striking first', and every single
attempt of Hell's to establish a beachhead has ended
messily. So has any demon or Hellsworn foolish enough
to spend too much time there.
Of course, this does not apply to Heavenly Tethers,
but there aren't very many, either. The sheer number
of Stone Tethers interferes with the creation of those
of non-aligned Words. Michael, Laurence, Dominic and
Eli all have a minor Tether in Stalingrad, but the
latter two preceded the Second World War. The
Archangel of Stone is quite generous, however, in
letting any angel freely use the known Stone Tethers
here, so there aren't too many complaints.
A list of known Tethers follow: it is not complete.
David keeps his cards close to his vest when revealing
the resources available in Stalingrad. Well, he
would if he played cards. Or wore a vest, come to
think of it. For the most part, Tethers in Stalingrad
tend to be Celestial Harbors, Friendly and Noisy - but
even marginal Tethers here were stabilized by David,
so unusual examples ... aren't.
Major
Railroad Station Number One
Site of the Red October Tractor Plant (Seneschal,
Dimitry [see below])
"Pavlov's House"
Main Ferry Crossing for the Volga
Regular
Site of the Barrikady Gun Factory
Site of the Nail Factory
Site of the Grain Elevator
Site of the Lazur Chemical Plant
Mamaev Hill
And quite a few others...
Minor
Not quite too bloody many to count, and not quite one
for every battlefield monument, but there are so many
Tethers to Stone in the area already that even Trivial
ones appeared without much trouble. Many of the
smaller ones are associated with the German defense
against the Russian counterattacks, later in the
campaign.
Dimitry, Malakite Master of the Granite Hand
Dimitry isn't Seneschal to all the Tethers, of course:
he's just the one who rules Stalingrad in David's
name. The other Seneschals report to him: the
situation in this city is such that a chain of command
among them is vital, and Servitors of Stone are
comfortable with pulling together.
Dimitry's rule is an odd combination of loose and
rigid. He's absolutely uninterested in keeping down
disturbance, as by now the local environment is so
riddled with Tethers that new ones haven't been able
to form anyway lately. There isn't really a demon
problem to worry about, either - Stone gangs can be
very thorough, and walking into Stalingrad when you're
an Infernal is automatically 'striking first'.
Getting dissonance isn't particularly noteworthy,
either ... but keeping it is another thing entirely.
There are lots of places to work it off, no?
Generally, Dimitry is fairly calm for a fanatical and
unyielding Malakite Servitor of Stone. He's gone a
bit native in the last few decades - to the point
where he's a bit of a Marxist, and can drink any five
entities under the table. Most of his energies are
tied up into keeping one finger on the pulse of 'his'
city, another on the complex web of relationships
between his juniors and a third on outsiders (read:
'other angels') - and he's always watching for
Infernal activities. No, this is not paranoia.
Paranoia is the irrational fear that they're out to
get you. Stalingrad is still under siege, even now:
somebody from Hell is always ready to step over the
line.
One would have thought that they'd have learned better
by now.
Back to the INC Mainpage.
Back to the Settings page.
Send mail to the Curator