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Giersha rubs at the bridge of his nose. More reports that the Republic of Feran is scaling up their forces at the border. More troops placed within easy striking range of an invasion and he knows full-well that at any moment the two countries could end up moving from a cold war into a very hot war. For now trade is continuing, though tensions are high. The season of the arena matches are still going on completely unperturbed. But that isn't something that should surprise him much. One cannot launch a surprise attack if everyone sees it coming. So the Republic is downplaying just how much they're truly escalating the situation. Of course, his own country is also downplaying their own matched aggression, but that is out of a need to not cause a panic.

If there's one saving grace is that that Feran fighter seems to be doing well enough. Giersha was extremely reticent about the notion of the Royals picking up a Feran. Would have been far safer to just pick up one of their own or from one of the nearby areas. But he has no say on the matter. The team is free to do whatever it wants, unlike the teams over in Feran. And that kid seems to have been doing well enough. No complaints at all about how they've been holding themselves. As far as Giersha's concerned the Feran is a bit of a hot head with a flair for the theatrics but the team's doing well enough, fighting for the top spot in the conference. So clearly they're doing something right. And the kid seems to be the genuine article. Not a single article that has been posted that talks about any scandal of consequence. In fact the biggest controversy around the kid beyond their gimmick of never showing what's underneath the mask, the kinds of food they actually like or weird phrases that they think nothing of. If only de-escalating the situation could be as simple as that kid being on their team. Giersha considers a moment on whether or not it would be even considered viable to have a player exchange program implemented. Of forcing teams to hire someone from the other country. But, he quickly rationalizes that that would simply be impossible. Not only would the Feran never agree to such an arrangement, but the league would not now allow such an obviously politically motivated rule anyway.

"No," he says softly out loud. "There won't be any such saving grace for us in such a neat and tidy package. The divide between our two countries is only going to just keep getting worse and worse until there reaches a point where public opinion of both countries shift from war being generally accepted as bad to not going to war to stop them from rising to power is bad. The people of one of their countries are going to eventually demand that the two countries settle their differences on the battlefield and there really isn't all that much anyone can do to stop it." Giersha sighs, not even really knowing if the leaders of the two countries could actually prevent a war within the next decade if they tried.

Of course, trying to speculate on the future or try to de-escalate the situation is not his job. As much as he would rather that there is no need for anyone to do his current job the fact remains that it is his job to make sure that the forces they have on the border are at least as strong as the Feran army. They can't exactly allow the other country to think they could just win any fight and thus invade. Unfortunately, though sentiment of the country against Feran can be used to help recruitment of normal soldiers, there is the fact that the more useful soldiers simply are a rare commodity. He has been putting out offers to Projectors as well to bolster their troops. They aren't as useful in the grand scheme of things. They are definitely powerful in their own right, but require additional forces to protect their bodies, and have a limited range and duration. They can't just be deployed wherever. But that's what he's being paid to do. Well, amongst other things. He is an elected official representing his district. But the primary job he's been devoted to is working in a small council trying to figure out how to recruit more volunteers and how to get the resources and extra manpower to handle the Feran threat.

Currently Giersha is staring at finance reports, tracking the movements of the Ferans. Using the volume of food and other necessary supplies to get a feel for their overall numbers. And then he can use the number of weapons and ammunition being ordered to get a feel for what percentage of their troops are normal soldiers, leaving the rest to be speculated on. There is a contention amongst the other council members on just how much of the Feran army are support troops and how many are the abnormal soldiers. It is entirely possible that they are bluffing their numbers. They certainly would know that his council would be observing them just as he knows they're observing their own forces. It would be a tactic they might employ to have a far larger force of support units brought over, to give the impression of being in a far better position than they really are. But that is not an assumption that Giersha feels is safe to take. What he can tell is that they have not been bringing in the support structure to handle Projectors.

He doesn't like the current situation one bit and not even moving the troops would really have all that much of an effect. Pull some of the army away and the other side might think they're leaving themselves vulnerable and attack. Push them to the side to not leave the border exposed and they may thing that they're doing a maneuver to flank and attack. Choose to not continue to try and match the buildup of Feran troops and they leave themselves vulnerable to an attack they couldn't push back. And he's not naïve enough to think that if they tried these same tactics that his country wouldn't react the same way. Both countries are currently locked into the unenviable state of being forced to undergo an arms race against each other until either another country intervenes, one country is bankrupted by the military spending or some massive event happens that causes this cold war to change.

That is the biggest crux of the matter for Giersha, the thing that keeps him up at night. There really is no right answer to the situation they're under. No matter what they do they're going to lose, and the same could be said for the Feran. Really at this point there is just a holding pattern until someone makes a mistake. The best-case scenario is they do something that gives Triessa the opportunity to just go in and destroy all of their force at the border and then immediately try to initiate peace talks. That is likely what would lead to the smallest loss of life, because he doubts that they would be satisfied to only knock out their army.

Giersha stands up and stretches his back. He feels the need to go out for a little walk of the promenade. There is little threat to be had against him. There'd be no reason for anyone to want to take him out regardless. He half wants to go schedule a meeting with the general they have there, to get a much more in depth report for the status of the troops beyond what is given through the status reports that would almost undoubtedly be intercepted by the Ferans as well. But for now he has faith. There is little reason to pry at this point. The interconference games are going to be starting up soon. The teams from all the countries spending a few months travelling to all the other countries to play against each other. This will be a good way to gauge the tension and opinions of the general populace.

All things go well and things will go without a single incident. If there isn't even any outrage he might try and see about contacting one of the Feran politicians about whether it'd be possible to scale back their mutual operations on the border. But he's not holding his breath. And far more likely than not, they would either not agree to such terms or would not honor such an agreement. But for now it is a nice little day, if a tad hot for his liking. He can see one of the more popular attractions in this part of town at this time of year. There's a Projector off selling his craft. Definitely gives the impression of a penguin, though some features don't exactly coincide, particularly the arms. He has a permit, Giersha has been assured though it isn't like the man is doing anything dangerous. He has sectioned off a large part of the concrete path and coated it in a thin layer of ice so that people can ice skate and enjoy themselves. For a price he even offers to make skates for people out of ice so that when done they can just kick them off and they'll melt back into water as well as offering cold treats.

It's people like this that Giersha is most concerned about a potential war between the nations. Not everyone is interested in fighting. There are a lot of people like that man in the country; people who are able to project, but either do not have a very strong ability or no interest in taking it into the larger scale. It takes a certain kind of individual to want to go into the arena matches, but that's true for most sports. You need the enthusiasm to use what you can do in a particular way to have any chance of making it in that business. And most people don't have that. But if there is a war, if put in a situation where not using everything at their disposal could be the difference between life and death, just how much more violent would people like him end up becoming? How likely are the people in the other country going to react when things get past the boiling point? Or even more terrifying, what if something gets to the point where someone like that man is willing to use that power to attack their own government for not responding to their concerns. What if it becomes an issue of being forced to choose between fighting an unwinnable war or be destroyed from the inside?

Giersha sits down with his hands clenched in front of him, considering that very possibility and worse. Projectors are dangerous, but their abilities are no more dangerous than a really flashy gun and are far more vulnerable for the use of it. Manifestors are the real threats. People who at a moment's notice could attack and damage someone else without any indication. What would happen if a Manifestor was snuck in with the attempt at executing an assassination attempt. Or worse, what if one decided that they were just going to cause as much harm as they possibly could. How could any society protect itself from that kind of threat. Of that kind of terror that is always lurking just beneath the surface. Unfortunately, there is simply no technology available that can simply detect if someone is a Manifestor. No test that can be run on the blood or sensor to go through. Or not in any meaningful way. There are definitely tests that can determine if someone will be able to project. This is given to everyone at a young age, so that those who can project can be taught how to handle is safely and what kind of abilities they can be likely to expect. And way too many test positive on this for anyone to make any rational argument of containing all Projectors in the country. The problem is that every single test that would determine if someone could project, a Manifestor would pass with the exact same results. So far there have been no successful means of tracking who can Manifest, only that anyone who can Manifest can also Project.

And that is simply all the more reason to do whatever is necessary to try and avoid the war. Even the news stations seem to have completely overlooked that simple fact. They see the other country as evil and want our army to kill off their army, and drive the people out, but aren't willing to think of the fact of just the level of carnage that will occur if the average person who feels their life is in danger and will fight with all the tools at their disposal to fight back. And engage in guerilla warfare by entering into this country and attack. Giersha shakes his head slightly, knowing that this isn't a very healthy way of thinking. He stands up and heads back to his office, to the safety of the numbers. He knows the seriousness of the situation. He knows just what is at stake if things fall apart. And yet, he also knows that for the time being his hands are completely tied. It is not his job to try and avert what he knows is coming. That's for people far better qualified than he is. His job is merely to make sure that the odds that his country can get through a war between them and Feran are as high as can be managed. His job is to monitor what the other nearby countries are doing and offer guidance on what should be done based on the likelihood of them being able to see it to completion. And on that end he's left with the unfortunate dilemma of trying to figure out how to get more troops beyond the normal sort to volunteer for their military.

Because as much as no one would ever actually admit it, the quality gap is just so severe as to be laughable. Briefly Giersha wonders what would be the effect if they went through a mandatory draft. They could even manipulate things to try and trick those people they really want into revealing themselves. But unfortunately, there are a few very obvious problems with this strategy. Not only would the general public be massively against such an idea, but then that would open it up for Feran to do the same thing in which case there will be nothing else to do but to declare war on each other. He resolves to go and see about finding some of the other politicians who are fully aware of the situation they're all in and see if maybe they have any ideas on how to fix things as they are.