India, GZG-style (LONG)

For your perusal, I submit: The Republic of India. Please comment upon, 
question, praise or savage this as you see fit. Any and all feedback is 
appreciated.

This is the beginning of the effort: the timeline and a few overviews. 
Number/Size/Name/Location of colonies is still undecided, outside of the

general notes. I plan to have this up on the net sometime in the next
month 
or so, with images and SSDs to follow. Ship images, well...as I get them

painted.

India in the GZGverse

This work is non-canon. It is intended to add another mid-level player
to 
the GZGverse, with little disruption to the
established timeline of events.

There are a few departures from standard GZG canon in this work.
Primarily, 
the invasion of India by the Eurasian Union.
There are a few other alterations, specifically the destruction of Delhi

(and subsequent razing of Amritsar), and the other
later actions that cascade from the ESU occupation of India. It's my 
opinion that this will add much to the canon, and
detract very little. I aim to make this at the very least reasonably 
compatible with what Jon has already established in
order to satisfy my own sense of completeness, and to make the Indian 
nation and forces as 'canon' as possible.

The Republic of India (India) is a Conventional power (subject to the 
judgement of Jon & The List), with the following
ratings, per the GZGpedia site:

Political: 6
Military: 6/7
Economic: 6/7
Size: 7/8

(Slash-divided ratings represent India's transitional state. If the
humans 
can win the Xeno War, she might be able to take
her place just below the Major Powers, but this, like all else, is in 
question...)

The Republic of India entered the 21st century as the world's most
populous 
democracy in the world. While making great
strides in technical and industrial fields, it was still weighed down by

internal divisions, low literacy, and grinding
poverty for much of its citizenry. The confrontation with Pakistan over 
Kashmir occupied much of the national security
attention, as did the slow growth of China, already well ahead of India
in 
both economics and industry. India could cast its
gaze west, and see a nuclear-armed enemy. East, and see the potential 
muddle of Indochina, Indonesia beyond that. North,
Russia, Nepal and China, the latter two contesting their borders with 
India. South, naught but ocean until the cold ice of
the Antarctic...and some of the most important trade routes in the
world. 
Danger threatened, while opportunities beckoned.
India had a very fine line to walk, in the coming years. It would fare
the 
best it could, in a changing world, and beyond.

2010+ - The staring match over Kashmir continues on for decades, with
both 
sides sparring now and then, the sabre-rattling
kept low-key, as neither are willing to escalate to the presumed nuclear

war that would follow.

2027 - India watches the destruction of Israel and the beginning of the 
consolidation of Islamic Araby under the House of
Saud with no little trepidation. Industrial, agricultural and
technological 
self-sufficiency is given high priority, a trend
that will continue for more than a century; the practice of buying and 
improving/adapting the work of others proves to be
fruitful.

2032 - India adds its own monies to the Gilderstein Foundation, under
the 
table; small amounts, but it was to have a large
dividend later.

2037 - Border clashes with Pakistan flare up, after the hardline
Security 
Alliance Party is elected to control both houses of
the Sansaad, the Indian Senate. Pakistan is informed, despite its new 
backing by the expanding House of Saud, that the status
quo in Kashmir will be enforced.

2043 - The conquest of Malaysia and Borneo by Indonesia, and the
expansion 
of the new caliphate (now stretching from Morocco
to Pakistan) puts India in what Muslim pundits name 'The Prophet's
Vice'. 
The creation of the Pan African Union puts still
more pressure on India, on the maritime borders. The Indian Navy, a 
benefactor of slow, steady expansion, patrols almost all
of the Indian Ocean, denying the newly-created Islamic Federation and
the 
PAU navies blue-water access, while guaranteeing
passage of all commercial ships. The ports of Chennai, Kolkata and
Mumbai 
bustle with international shipping, adding to
India's coffers.

2047 - The Chinese invasion of Russia and subsequent coup close any 
non-hostile land border India might have had. Surrounded
now by enemies, India again makes her neutral stance very clear - backed
up 
with naval and ballistic missile defense
exercises.

2050 - Indian markets are hit hard by the collapse of the USA, as are 
others worldwide. Still trying to raise its
population's standard of living, some 'austerity measures' are met with 
resistance, and internal cultural divisions sharpen
for a time.

2051 - The Eurasian Union delivers, quietly, an ultimatum to India -
join 
the EU, peacefully, or else. Three months of tense,
high-level negotiations ensue in private, with the militaries of India,
the 
EU - and both the IF and Indonesia - on alert.
Terror incidents are borne stoically by India, the leadership
emphasizing 
the importance of these talks. The Treaty of
Amritsar is signed, guaranteeing peace between the EU and India, and
Indian 
neutrality. The IF and Indonesia are outraged,
but stern warnings from the EU are taken to heart. Rumors fly, neither 
denied nor confirmed by the Indian government, that
at the talks India threatened to take all of Eurasia with them, should
they 
fall.

2052 - Industrial and military contacts between the EU and India are 
created, with economic ties growing at a rapid rate on
their own.

2054 - India's eastern borders are reinforced as the Indonesian 
Commonwealth conquers Burma. Bangladesh is absorbed back into
India, with a massive Muslim population flight to the new border with
the 
IC. Low-level incidents occur, but nothing
escalates, despite sharp words from both sides. The Indian Navy reminds
the 
IC that no major naval movements into the Indian
Ocean will be tolerated, nor will the use of the archipelagos as a
pirate 
base. The latter is practically unenforceable, but
occasional clashes do occur, as elements of the Indian Navy pursue
pirate 
vessels over the (vague) borders.

2058 - Formal relations are established with the Anglian Confederation,
and 
a brisk technological trade begins once more.
Indian know-how earned in long years of lifting its people from poverty
is 
sold to the new super-state, to help with
conditions in certain parts of the old USA. Cultural negotiators are
also 
dispatched, to ease the transition, emphasizing
their neutrality.

2062 - As humanity takes its first step to the stars, the active links 
between India, and both the EU and the AC, make the
subcontinent a hotbed of corporate and political intrigue. The EC, the
PAU 
and the LLAR all establish major trade missions
and embassies in New Delhi.

2073 - India launches her first FTL vessel, a modified ESU craft, after 
years of careful technical study and debate. The
concept of transiting into another 'universe' is viewed at first with
great 
hesitation by Hindus, but scientific reassurance
eases religious concerns. This is seen later as the watershed turnaround
in 
India's cultural backwardness.

2075+ - India begins a long-term plan for shipping significant portions
of 
its population off-world, think-tanks mulling this
long before technological feasibility. India would choose its colonies 
carefully, and huge amounts of colonists would help
make their startups productive, swiftly. 'Trade, and Room to Breathe' is

the motto of the Colonization Service. This era is
also known as 'The Expansion Peace', with conflicts easing, at least a 
little bit, for a little while. India takes full
advantage of this by ramping up their technological capabilities, 
reverse-engineering whatever they can get their hands on,
from anyone (and selling anything, to anyone, the accusation is made).

2110 - India stays generally neutral in the conflict between the IC and
the 
OU, happily threatening forces from both sides if
their struggles stray too far into the open areas of the Indian Ocean.
It 
does watch the use of grav vehicles with particular
interest, paying the OU exorbitant sums of money for good-condition IC
wrecks.

2123 - India again , publicly, stays pointedly neutral as the IF and the

ESU clash, stemming from Muslim pogroms in the
southern territories. Secretly, India assists the ESU against the IF in 
intelligence matters.

2128 - Some Indian units are hired out in the Mercenary War, to gain 
experience against 'professional' forces - the combat
zone of the 'Stans, while good for blooding new units, doesn't provide
very 
modern opponents. The fighting between the PAU
and the IF is watched, closely, with Indian Navy units attempting again
to 
contain the fighting away from commercial routes.

2130+ - Indian and IF units clash occasionally along the spacelanes, as
do 
IC ships as well. The two Muslim empires have
their hands quite full with New Israel, however, India doing what it can
to 
keep them on their toes while maintaining
studious public neutrality. Indian and Israeli technology flows back and

forth, through back channel means. Indian naval
units, following their nautical predecessors, take on a personal
challenge 
of exterminating pirates, often going well out of
their way to find and hunt them down.

2137 - The First Solar War tests India's neutrality, as both sides make 
efforts to sway the small but competent navy to their
side. India politely refuses all offers, and continues to be a conduit
for 
negotiations and espionage.

2143 - The formation of the UNSC is leapt at by India, already with a 
tradition of unflappable calm and neutrality. India
also embarks on a naval expansion program, buying up obsolete and
damaged 
ships, those cast off by the recent combatants.
Into the shipyards they go, to be used as parts, forged into new
vessels, 
or to come out enhanced, modernized.

2145 - India once again keeps its collective head down, as the Second
Solar 
War rages across Human space. Indian crews gain
some more space combat experience, as the UNSC fends off the occasional 
determined foray into the Core systems.

2158 - India engages in a second round of ship-buying and modernization.

Indian naval architects are considered ambitious and
skilled, if somewhat cavalier. India and New Israel begin secret
technical 
consultations.

2163 - The takeover of New Riyadh by an Islamic fundamentalist faction,
and 
the ensuing IF civil war, puts India on high
alert, putting them on a good footing to deal with the sudden outbreak
of 
the Third Solar War.

2173 - Despite Indian insistence on the guilt of the IF for the Sumani
IV 
Incident, the 3SW only intensifies; having learned
from the first two, all major powers conserve their strengths, allowing
the 
war to stretch for 10 years, and more.

2183 - As strange things begin to happen on the Outer Rim, new domestic 
ship designs begin to emerge from Indian docks,
supplementing the (mostly) Eurasian vessels in use.

-FB1 End-

2184 - India greets the news of other sentient life with joy - and its 
apparent hostility with concern. Indian scientists go
to great lengths to get whatever data and resources they can, about this

new threat (and opportunity).

2186 - India announces to the UN that it will can no longer remain
neutral, 
not facing this new threat. Indian assistance is
offered to both the UNSC, and to the other national fleets. Both the NAC

and the ESU and their major allies accept, to one
degree or another. IF and IC naval commands refuse.

2189 - Indian losses at the Battle of Centaurus, both in national and
UNSC 
crews, is significant. The new designs fare well,
however, and the losses are replaced by some of the newer, modern ships,

but never enough.

2193 - India refuses to abandon its colonies - thankfully, few are on
the 
Kra'Vak axis of advance. Much of the Indian fleet
can be used for the defense of the Core, and Sol...

-FB2 End-

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Basic Military Overview

Navy (Space & Wet): India uses mostly purchased ESU ships/hulls,
modifying 
them to a greater or lesser degree. Technologies
are often mixed, as India tends to purchase from several suppliers.
There 
are a few capital fleet units (one being a
Konstantin-class CVA, another a Komarov-class SDN), and a good amount of

mid-sized and smaller ships. Domestic units have been coming out of
India's
slipways for approx. 10 years, in the mid-range of hulls.

Army: India strives to keep up with the neighbors, so to speak, buying
most 
of their ground combat technology from the ESU.
India can field a significant amount of reasonably high-tech troops, and
a 
larger amount of mid-tech forces.

Doctrine: Protect Trade. Remain Neutral. Hunt Pirates. Warn Once, then 
Smash. (Under the table: if it hurts the IF and IC,
it's a good thing. Be nice to the ESU, but remember the ties to the
NAC.)

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