The Black Spring

I wanted to create a steampunk WW1 world that was dark and gritty. It's inspired loosely by Valkyria Chronicles but without magic anime girl here to win the war; as a matter of fact, there are no winners in this war. I created this world many years ago to run as a text-based roleplay with some friends, but I recently polished it up using ChatGPT (I know) to help polish and expand some details. Lymilia was once a thriving kingdom of art, culture, and prosperity, but those days have crumbled under the weight of war, famine, and political strife. What was once a land known for its grand cities, rich farmland, and innovative steam-powered industry is now a barren battlefield, scarred by trenches, artillery craters, and the corpses of the fallen. The Tsardom of Bovaria, an industrialized empire ruled by the cold and calculating Tsar Vasily IV, has invaded Lymilia, seeing the nation’s internal turmoil as an opportunity for conquest. This war—known as The Black Spring—has shattered Lymilia’s once-proud military, leaving its people desperate, starving, and forced into conscription. But the war is only one piece of a larger disaster. With the death of King Proventus I, Lymilia is without a clear ruler. His twin sons, Prince Victor and Prince Travis, both claim the throne, but neither has the full support of the nobility or the military. Victor, a hardened soldier, believes Lymilia must win the war first before fixing its internal issues. Travis, a strategist and reformer, argues that Lymilia must stabilize itself first, or victory will be meaningless. The nation is split down the middle, with soldiers, nobles, and civilians forced to choose sides.