I recently received this document tracking events on New Uralia (Botslean). It begins at a time about a year and a half before the events described in Sitzkreig:

The Great and Sacred Leader of the Uralians is quite elderly. His body is quite uncooperative in doing the things he wants to do - like waging war on the old Uralian settlements and persecuting Lian "subjects" on New Uralia.

But, his brain is still alert. Very alert. Evilly alert.

He notices his sycophants do not seem as sycophantic as they did previously. His disciples do not seem to regard him as the god-like being they had before the Great Migration. Everyday Uran citizens and Lian subjects complain endlessly about having to ration potable water due to the lack of purification facilities and to wear gas masks because the air has not yet been modified to Uralian standards. He feels he cannot maintain his iron grip on the populace given his present bodily weakness.

He calls in his medical providers.

"You need to make my body young again!" he commands.

The physicians are disconcerted. "We are giving you all the supplements and treatments and transplants known to Galactic medical sciences. There is NOTHING we are not doing."

"You must try experimental treatments. I must be physically young again!"

The physicians are disconcerted. They have all taken an oath NOT to experiment on sapients. But they also have taken an oath to obey every command, every passing fancy of the Great and Sacred Leader. Which oath should they follow?

Well, you don't become a medical provider for the Great and Sacred Leader unless you personally believe to the core of your being that his every whim is your primary directive. They begin dosing the Leader with all sorts of experimental chemistry, treating him with all sorts of experimental exercises, transplants, and operations.

***

A year passes (a New Uralian year.)

No change. At least not for the better.

The Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows All (his title has expanded over the ensuing months) has swollen ankles. The backs of his hands are bruised. His neck has a painful rash on it.

The Leader has always been vain of his appearance. He slathers an opaque coverup cream on his bruises. The physicians feel this would be contraindicated for the rash, so he starts wearing a scarf around his neck. He wears leggings to hide the swollen ankles.

This, in spite of the fact that Uralians do not wear scarves or leggings. But, he points out when asked by the press why he is wearing these unconventional items, "Because I'm Leader."

Uralians on New Uralia begin wearing scarves and leggings to honor him. "If it's good enough for Our Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows All, it's good enough for me!"

It is quite a fashion.

The Leader calls in his medical providers and expresses his disappointment with their futile attempts at making him younger.

"You better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of you."

The physicians have only one (wild, crazy) idea they have not yet tried. They hesitate to even mention it... but... they have no alternative...

"Oh, Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows All, the only option we have not yet tried is a full body transplant..."

"A full body transplant?" the Leader seems intrigued.

"It's never been attempted. It would be quite dangerous."

"How would it work?"

"We would transplant your brain into a younger body. Parts of the original brain, accustomed to "running" that particular body would have to remain, but your brain would take over the higher functions."

"I would get to choose the body?"

The physicians look at each other uncomfortably. "Yes, of course, any body you like."

"I'll start looking."

The physicians flee.

***

The Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All (his title had expanded again over the ensuing months) identifies a handsome, strong, young male Uran that he decides would make the perfect transplant.

The physicians are appalled. "But, Oh Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All, that is Lvsprs, the most famous entertainer on New Uralia!"

"He will be honored that I choose to make him Great in this way."

"But the citizens will be appalled! They love Lvsprs - his songs... his moves..."

"I will have his songs... his moves... won't I?"

The physicians are not actually sure what the result will be. After all, it has never been tried before. "Possibly..." one volunteers hesitantly.

"The citizens won't like it. They want YOU to be their strong Leader. Not Lvsprs," the Chancellor states (bravely.)

The Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All nods thoughtfully. "Yes, perhaps you are right. Perhaps we need a body that is unknown. Unrecognizable..."

The physicians and Chancellor (especially the Chancellor) exhale in relief.

"Perhaps the body can be surgically altered to resemble you at an earlier age?" suggests a minor surgeon.

The physicians turn on her and glare.

"Excellent idea!"

The physicians stop glaring and again breathe a sigh of relief. They never know how an idea will be received and are always nervous.

The physicians and members of the counsel resume their hunt for an unknown, strong, young male with facial structures that can be modified to resemble the Leader. Excuse me, the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All.

Eventually they find a candidate. Unfortunately, he is Lian.

"Totally unacceptable!" is the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All's response to this suggestion.

"But, Oh Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All, Lians and Urans are biologically indistinguishable. Your brain would easily compensate for any inferiority in a Lian brain..."

"Don't be ridiculous! I can't be the Leader of Our Citizens in a LIAN body."

The physicians and counsel-members slink away, glad that no one actually must pay a penalty for this insult to the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All's self-esteem.

But they are relieved too soon... the Chancellor (who was NOT the one to suggest the Lian body) is stripped of his titles, his property, his citizenship. He is now a mere "subject" just like a Lian. Apparently the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All remembers all, too. And requires vengeance.

The physicians and counsel-members are terrified. How can they find a suitable body? One that is young, strong, Uran, unknown, and facially-compatible with the Leader?

One of the counsel-members sees a pic on his mate's com. "Who is that?" he asks her.

"That is my nephew back on Uralia5. Handsome, isn't he?"

"Yes.. very handsome... and he bears a strong resemblance to Our Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All..."

***

The surgeons have removed the higher-functioning sections of the counsel-member's mate's nephew's brain. They have modified his facial features to even more closely resemble historic pics of the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All.

The Leader is nervous. "You're SURE this will work?"

"Nothing ELSE will..." his surgeon asserts.

"Then... DO IT!"

The surgeon is relieved. He would hate to have killed the counsel-member's mate's nephew for no reason. And he would NEVER operate on the Leader without a direct command...

***

It has been a month that the Leader has been recovering after his surgery. The citizens are relieved in a way not to have his hourly volatile, random, angry rants. But... they also miss their deity... it is sort of an honor to have your own private deity, even if he is volatile, random, and angry...

***

The leader has reached out to his citizens via a personal com-cast. Those who were missing the hourly volatility and rants are relieved. Life is back to normal.

***

A week later, the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All makes his first public appearance after the surgery. He strides youthfully onto the balcony of his palace (the only actual private residence yet constructed on New Uralia. Most settlers, even the counsel-members are living in tents or transports...)

The crowd is eager to reassure themselves that their Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All is fully recovered.

At first, they do not understand what they are seeing. They are still waiting for the Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All to appear. Luckily, before the impatient Leader blows a gasket, an older member of the crowd recognizes the features. "Oh Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All - it is a MIRACLE!" He lifts his arm-wings and spreads his claws in reverence.

One by one the crowd begins to understand that this YOUNG male is their elderly LEADER. Each lifts their arm-wings and spreads their claws for this miracle.

"Oh Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All and Who Is Miraculously Young Again!" a member of the crowd cries.

"Great... an even LONGER honorific..." mutters a Lian in the crowd.

(It is easy to see why the Leader has demoted Lians to being mere "subjects" - they have no respect for what is important to Uralians.)

***

The Great and Sacred Leader Who Knows and Sees All and Who Is Miraculously Young Again doubles down on his war with the Old Uralian settlements.

He has only one destroyer left, and he can no longer afford to pay for the 10 destroyers ordered from the Xx. They have cancelled the order. And the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo have declared war on New Uralia.

But he is young and strong. He can WIN WIN WIN! Over anybody!

And the disloyal Lians will be eradicated!

They are trying to flee in their Gilgot transports back to the Old Uralian system. But they will not be safe there! Their whole civilization will die, never to be brought back again!

But... his brain is not quite working the way it should.

He can tell...

He can FEEL it...

He keeps thinking unimaginable thoughts:

     "This is WRONG!"

     "This is IMMORAL!"

     "This is EVIL!"

Has the surgery gone awry?

Have the surgeons inadvertently left a piece of a soul from the original body? Has he somehow inherited an unwanted conscience?

Can his surgeons find it and remove it?

And his whiny citizens keep complaining about lack of food, unsafe water, having to wear gasmasks to breathe, having to live in tents. Wimps! Weaklings!

"I deserve to lead better citizens than these... I am beating the Lians into submission - I can do the same to the Urans!"

     "But... that would be WRONG!"

No! No! No!

"If I want it, it cannot be wrong! - My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me. My actions are limited by my morality, and I have a very high grade of morality."

But... his mind is not necessarily his OWN mind.

"I demand the surgeons fix this..."