The Serpents of Chaos’ plan to provoke a European war

The Serpents of Chaos’ plan to provoke a European war is a strategy of engineered escalation: the organization intends to use Germany’s ambitions to draw rival powers into conflict, then exploit the resulting disorder to seize world power. Its scheme joins political manipulation to supernatural force. As Nigel Bollingsworth explains to Theodosia, Germany is not the organization’s master; it is an instrument, while curses connected to Thutmose III and Amenemhab are already weakening Britain and hastening the political crisis.

The Conspiracy Behind the German Connection

The plan comes to light during Theodosia’s confrontation with Nigel. She challenges him over why he is working for Germany, treating his apparent national betrayal as the central question. Nigel overturns that assumption: he says he is working for the Serpents of Chaos, not for the Germans. His disclosure changes the meaning of the German connection. The organization is not simply serving a foreign power or seeking its reward; it is exploiting German policy as one stage in a larger design.

The distinction also reframes the suspicious figures around the conspiracy. Nigel identifies Clive Fagenbush as a convenient diversion rather than the traitor. He says he encouraged Theodosia’s father to hire Fagenbush because his suspicious appearance would draw attention if anything went wrong. That explanation places deliberate misdirection alongside the international scheme: suspicion can be steered toward an obvious target while the actual allegiance remains concealed. The plan therefore depends not only on provoking conflict between countries, but on obscuring who benefits from it.

A Chain of Escalation

When Theodosia asks why the Serpents of Chaos would work for Germany instead of Britain, Nigel rejects the premise that either country is their true employer. The Serpents, he says, are letting Germany work for them. For the moment, they find it useful to cooperate with Kaiser Wilhelm, whose enormous ego and grand ideas for his country suit their purposes. German ambition is not an obstacle to the organization’s aims but the force it means to set in motion.

Nigel describes the intended chain reaction in concrete stages. The Serpents want Germany to confront Britain, pushing Britain onto the defensive and into decisions made in haste. Austria would then support Germany; Serbia would feel threatened; France would stand by Britain; Russia would join the alignment; and Italy would have no choice but to enter as well. The sequence matters: the organization expects one confrontation to draw in the next, until separate national interests become a continent-wide crisis. Nigel’s image of European nations snapping at one another presents the war not as an accidental eruption, but as an outcome the conspirators have mapped and intend to provoke.

The stated objective is to make this conflict a screen for a second operation. While Europe is consumed by war, the Serpents intend to slip in unnoticed and take hold of what Nigel calls the tattered reins of world power. The contrast between visible violence and covert seizure is central to the scheme: the war occupies the attention of governments and nations, while the conspirators seek to use that distraction to make their own move. They do not describe the destruction itself as their final prize; it is the cover and opportunity through which they hope to gain power.

Egypt, Curses, and the Treaty

The political sequence depends on a supernatural advantage. Nigel identifies ancient Egypt as the place where the Serpents can find the powers they need, describing chaos there as only a curse or two away. He says the plagues of Thutmose III and Amenemhab have already fallen upon Britain and that Britain has begun to weaken. In his account, the curses are not separate from the European plan: they are actively changing the conditions in which the political crisis unfolds.

Nigel predicts that within days Britain will be forced to sign a treaty that serves Germany’s ambitions and those of the Serpents. The treaty is the immediate political consequence he anticipates from Britain’s weakened position, and the larger European chain is meant to make that pressure consequential beyond a single agreement. His boastful presentation links ancient supernatural forces to modern statecraft: curses weaken a country, a weakened country makes decisions under pressure, and those decisions can help create the conditions for wider conflict. The plan’s effectiveness, however, remains Nigel’s assertion at this point; the account establishes what he intends and predicts, not that every stage has already occurred.

The Stolen Heart and the Plan’s Unresolved Point

Nigel says that all the Serpents needed to do was let Theodosia’s mother carry out what she was going to do in the first place. Theodosia immediately disputes the implication that they merely stood aside: she points out that they stole the Heart of Egypt from her mother, preventing its return. The exchange exposes a practical obstruction within Nigel’s account. The artifact’s removal is not incidental to the danger; its absence prevents the attempted return that Theodosia says could have countered the curse.

Nigel responds by asking whether her mother would actually have returned the Heart of Egypt. He does not resolve that question in the exchange. Instead, his challenge shifts attention from the theft’s undeniable effect to uncertainty about what Theodosia’s mother would have done. The distinction leaves an important part of the conspiracy contested: Nigel presents the Serpents as having allowed events to proceed, while Theodosia identifies their deliberate act of prevention. That disagreement gives the plan both a political and personal edge. The organization’s grand design depends on broad forces—national ambition, war, and curses—but its progress also turns on control of a particular Egyptian object and on whether its owner would have chosen to restore it.