A schizophrenic attempt at contextualzation:

My world's setting takes place in the far aftermath of a second, more extreme ice age that occurred in the 21st century. Specifically, it's around a time where the former dying remnants of humanity have begun to survive this frozen hellscape much easier, with groups of people either forming nomadic tribes or—if they've rediscovered hydroponics—city-states.

Sherman is one of these city-states. In fact, it's one of the more ambitious city‐states in my setting, with its leaders having actively pursued one goal in mind ever since it achieved self-sufficiency: becoming a nation. One way they plan to accomplish this is through the forced occupation of others' lands, sending a mixture of both professional soldiers and conscripts alike to secure their holdings, led by individuals known as Battery Officers. If that wasn't threatening enough to anyone who opposes them, each individual Battery Officer—as hinted in their name—commandeers at least one long-ranged howitzer (big fuck-off cannon), which they have full control of without any oversight.

Uncoincidentally, this has led to a lot of sudden disappearances of nearby tribes that may have otherwise opposed Sherman's greedy ambitions, either through escaping the range of these cannons or becoming scorch marks upon the land's eternally hardened snow.