Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/The Eremite-Ind Commonwealth

The Eremite-Ind Commonwealth is one of the forty-four DLC factions in Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict.

Description
In 1948 V.C., Ind gained independence from Fereldan, due to extreme political and social pressure both domestically and in the subcontinent. Still allowed to be part of the Commonwealth, Ind was faced with an extreme situation due to the desperate poverty its population lived in, and the almost immediate splintering of the former colony two new nations; the Eremites, and the Ind. Ind's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, faced an uphill struggle. Most pressing was the realization that communism was a dominant threat on the world's stage that would threaten Ind's newly won independence before it could even get off the ground. It was decided that to prevent the nation from falling to communism, Ind would need to step up onto the world stage in a way few nations had ever done before.

The first break for Ind came with the nascent Sumeru independence movement (a founder of the Elementals) from the Eremites. Quietly, Ind supported the movement, leaving the region indebted. Though nominally independent, the leaders of the Eremites knew that their freedom had only come from Ind money and support. Alone, it was a small gain. Yet the ever-encroaching poverty of Ind's booming population meant that more needed to heed Ind's power.

The first major break came when the Eremites claimed the Kashmir region in the northwest. Though heavily mountainous and with little in the way of actual value, Ind rapidly marshaled a new army and went to war. Utilizing technology that was, to be blunt, obsolete, Ind's sheer numbers allowed the forces of the new nation to quickly overwhelm and engulf the Eremites army, air force, and naval bases. Realizing it was sitting on a power that was once only though available to both Voshkod and Alliance, the government of Ind quickly announced they were forming a new political bloc; the Eremite-Ind Commonwealth.

Other states in the region quickly fell under the sway of the Commonwealth. The Eremites quickly fell under the sway of the Commonwealth, which claimed to be a "loose confederacy of states under the banner of economic cooperation". Though the Allies weren't fooled, they had bigger issues to face; the oncoming GVAW.

The GVAW placed the new Commonwealth in the good graces of the Allies. Ind troops proved invaluable at protecting key positions in the Askaira and Cantha, along with containing the spread of Elsword's communist forces to the south. Showing they were no supporters of Communism, the Commonwealth allowed the Alliance of Hawke to set up bases and facilities within Ind to ensure a steady cooperation. It helped that many nations formerly held under Fereldan rule were also given independence shortly after, the Fereldan unable to effectively hold their colonies after such decimating conflict. The Inds willingly made itself smaller compared to the Allies, knowing that its still struggling economy would need to gather more steam in order to stand a chance on the world stage.

Elysea's Conflict was that opportunity. With the majority of Alliance preoccupied fighting the Voshkod in Hawke, Sultanate forces were perfectly placed when Encantadia began its first push. Pushing through the Community itself, the Commonwealth's new army developed its own operational strategies. Compared to the expensive and high-tech Allied weapons, the Inds settled on easily manufactured and mechanically reliable weapons and equipment. The sepoys were armed with indigenous INSAS rifles, their tanks are a cheap knockoff of the T-72 hammer. Aircraft were kept at airfields far from the front, as mothballed ships from around the world were brought in. Casualties were heavy and in the darkest days of the war, Encantadian troops literally stood at the Gates of the Inds while sepoys deployed to the frontlines immediately after parades, but the Inds's government accepted the grim reality that for all the hundreds or thousands lost in each battle, they could be easily replaced.

And in the face of all this adversity, with the Minea's army all but poised to decapitate the capital of the Inds, the line was finally held after constant retreats and repeated defeats. The Encantadians had surrounded and destroyed whole corps at a time and boasted of capturing vast swathes of land in its "three-point" strategy to conquer Ind. The Sultanate simply called in more troops and redoubled its production efforts. What started out as the three-point plan became the two-point, then the one-point, then holding the line, then retreating through southern Cantha.

Finally, the time came to punish the Encantadia as it retreated across the world, and Ind was all too happy to loan some divisions in the assault on the 1st Encantadian War's Community side. Many had been lost, but the war in Cantha was over, and Elona stood strong.

Post-war, the Inds absorbed even more new members. Eremites was "freed" to give the Commonwealth people a reason to not cause trouble. (Nepal)s surviving population was sheltered from the atomic fallout ravaging their homes. The Commonwealth even managed to negotiate a deal with the Lumeris Syndicate not seen anywhere else. (Bhutan) and the (Maldives) quickly fell under the umbrella of the Commonwealth, and Elona volunteered its troops to man the scattered outposts in Tibet that would observe just what happened in Embry.

At this point, the Sultanate decided to flex some of its new-found political and military muscle. Responding to requests for aid in the war against the MLA, the GIC sent its forces into (Oman) and (Somalia) to counter the lawlessness being faced. This has inadvertently drawn them into a conflict with Elona when Ind decided it would rather annex (Oman) than return it to their control, a war that has caused much tension within Aquila, since Desert Rage. Indira Nehru, the newest prime minister and daughter of Ind's first-ever prime minister, has so far kept the Allies from complaining too much, but there is a trade-off; Ind is now sending her children to fight the Encantadians, with no end in sight. As a further contribution, Ind has sent troops into Maragasy for 'safekeeping purposes', but arrived to find the place devoid of people with strange reports of purple machines.

Desperate to gain some advantage in an ever-stranger world, The Ind's Eremites looked to the atomic hellscape of Embry. Volunteering mass numbers of newly-minted reservists, the Ind brought back valuable information for the Allies to analyze, including a very valuable green rock that the Minutemen fought fiercely to keep from being taken away. And if they valued it, so did the Ind. In their own secret labs, Western-educated scientists looked over the crystals, and found it a source of incredible power if properly harnessed. Knowing that to hesitate could mean losing out on everything gained, the Sultanate organized this research and started pushing forward with their greatest resource; numbers.

Ostensibly supporting Allied actions worldwide, the Commonwealth one day plans to stand as equal, not aide, to the founding Allied Nations members. With the ultimate goal of the creation of their ultimate weapon, the Battletech, finally crushing the poverty it suffers from to a level like that of Fereldan and Orlais, the Sultanate will continue to tow the Allied line as long as it gives them the aid they need. What will happen after can only be imagined.

Lore Articles

 * Battletech Story

Arsenal
Main Article: Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Eremite Arsenal

Structures
Basic Structures