It had been years since the French Republic collapsed and entered a state of poverty, anarchy and war. But today, for better or worse, France breathed again. The Gallian Militia had finally seized the last holdout of the nation's largest province.
Corpses of revolutionaries lie dead in the streets in the countryside as Paris stood in the distance, more ravaged and weary than prideful and jubilant. But to the people who had endured, who had lived through the pain and suffering, like the French soldiers wearing their old uniforms now stained with mud, blood, and oil beyond recognition. They didn't truly celebrate in recognition of this victory.
Rather, they smoked cigarettes and cracked open wine as they lamented the cost of it. Whether it was the two brutal and bloody years of the Great War, or the following two years of civil war and anarchy.
