Flandrean National Response Protocol BX-392a

The Flandrean National Response Protocol BX-392a, popularly known as the "Inordinate Number of Snakes" Protocol, is the National Response Protocol (Biological Existential Threat) that replaced NRP BX-392, the "Ordinate Number of Snakes" Protocol. BX-392a was ratified by the High Exarch Minor Seraphi Ironheart upon her ascension in AES 990, bringing an end to the civil unrest in which Flandre had become embroiled following High Exarch Cerberus Ironheart's untimely demise in AES 988 at the "hands" of Buddy "Literally Made of Snakes" Johnson. Though her detractors launched a protest movement alleging that a twelve-year-old girl couldn't possibly be old enough to understand the correct precautions to take against a large number of snakes, Ironheart proved herself a true daughter of Flandre by having no fewer than three contingency plans prepared for protest movements questioning her competency based on her age, the second of which was later enshrined as National Response Protocol PU-36.

Previous Flandrean attempts to define response protocols for various quantities of snakes were limited by available data, as the greatest quantity of snakes the country had ever dealt with occurred during the Snake Rain of AES 954. This event proved the efficacy of the preparations outlined in BX-391, allowing the draft version of BX-392 to be completed and ratified. Yet the number of snakes that fell in the Snake Rain paled in comparison to the inordinate serpentine resources of Buddy Johnson, forcing Flandre, uncharacteristically, to improvise. The desperate, haphazard use of any and all halfway-relevant National Response Protocols led the country to the brink of civil war, necessitating a Protocol that could end the snake menace.

The newly ascended HEM Ironheart, soon to be renowned for her lateral thinking, initially formulated BX-392a after the model of BX-233g, the Protocol dealing specifically with termites resistant to the poisons prescribed in BX-233f. This was met with resistance from the Council of Exarchs on pragmatic grounds, who rejected her proposed plans for the vehicle that would carry the vanguard flamethrowers. In defiance of the Council's opposition, Ironheart formulated an ingenious plan to convince the "Killer Bus" of neighboring Kingsland to aid her designs. The Council could not argue with the results and ratified the updated BX-392a.

The success of the new Protocol, no doubt aided by the Killer Bus's longstanding rivalry with "Literally Made of Snakes" Johnson, served to revitalize the Flandrean heavy weapons and cryotechnology industries. The subsequent economic boom has made the High Exarch Minor the darling of her people and cemented her control over the country. This contributes to Flandre's vicious opposition to the Disarrangement Act, which would likely result in Flandre being separated from Kingsland and thus necessitate a reformulation of the "Inordinate Number of Snakes" Protocol's vanguard flamethrower section — an uneasy prospect for the young sovereign.

Flandre's massive body of National Response Protocols are organized by topic, with the "X Protocols" defining responses to existential threats. BX protocols specifically address existential threats of a biological nature, like Vigotskian invasions or the whales of the Hegemony growing legs. Given Buddy "Literally Made of Snakes" Johnson's otherworldly abilities, one may wonder why the Inordinate Number of Snakes Protocol is designated under BX, rather than the fringe NRP designation SX for supernatural existential threats.

The answer is the same as to why Flandre has the National Response Protocols in the first place. Flandreans live within a constant tension between the sanctity of the unrealized future and the certainty of the determined present, and planning for every conceivable contingency is how this is reconciled. The category of the supernatural, however, is the category of that which cannot be anticipated or accounted for, and therefore the Methodocracy is incentivized to keep this category as empty as possible. I'm sure that living near Kingsland also does its fair share of shifting what one considers "natural".

Citations: The Contagious Republic of Paul Vigotski / Flandre / The Hegemony of Whales

It's interesting to note that High Exarch Minor Ironheart, in convincing the Killer Bus of Kingsland North to assist her, was following a minor Flandrean command narrative. In Flandrean culture, when all else has failed and you are beset by troubles your plans can't overcome, you head north and hope to find something more terrible than whatever problem you're facing—an approach also taken by St. Stafford before constructing the Zeitgeist Manipulator. It's understood that this course of action is extremely high-risk, but it goes hand in hand with another piece of Flandrean wisdom, which is that sometimes a solvable crisis is better than an unsolvable inconvenience.

Citations: High Illuminator Saint Doctor Heinrich Stafford / Zeitgeist Manipulator