Pre-NEB2: Feasibility Study / Workshop / Signup Thread

Faction/Nation Submission Deadline: [timer=09/21/2014 00:00 AM GMT;Submissions Closed][/timer]

Hello NESians, its been quite a while since I launched a new NES. I'm still working on the rules for NEB2, the in-progress draft is shown below. I thought a pre-NES thread is in order, to serve the multiple purposes of: taking provisional signups, creating the cradle area(s) of the map, critiquing/clarifying/streamlining the rules, and generally avoiding mess later on.

I'm very grateful for the interest shown so far but drawing on past experience I will have to limit the number of player-nation slots, if necessary choosing only some nation submissions that I think will make a good mixture. It won't be first-come-first-serve, so please don't rush!

I'm open to players teaming up on a single nation, taking it in turns to rule or handling different areas of responsibility - Thlayli and Lord Iggy have already expressed interest in doing that. But its not something I will force upon anyone.

Anyway, first, the rules:


NEB2: The Sum of All Powers (working title)

INDUSTRIAL POST-APOCALYPSE FRESH-START NATION-SIM STRATEGIC-BATTLE NES


Link to video.

Welcome to Never Ending Battle vol.2: a never-ending battle of economics and industry, of technology and intelligence, of culture and propaganda, of numbers, of diplomatic wrangling, of sheer willpower and - perhaps - a battle of armies, navies, aircraft and special weapons. This game can be considered the spiritual successor to NEB1, ZPNESV, and other fresh-start projects I've run in the past, mixed with a little bit of NESCraft and 'Nation States'.

It seems to have become my niche to run NESes with a lighter flavour. In this game, the realism of the setting takes a back-seat to gameplay and player-player interaction, and yes - fun. A certain amount of eccentricity of behalf of players is allowed (nay, encouraged), but bear in mind I will be roleplaying the striving masses of each nation. A healthy balance between fun and iron-fisted brutality, and between hard mechanics and fluid moderating, is what I will be striving for here.

It occurs to me that my most successful projects have always been ones where players build on a relatively simple premise and make things their own, and are able to actually do stuff with other players - rather than being thrown into a huge pre-made world and drowned out in a world of NPC's. Therefore, players will start here with a small nation, and be thrown straight into close contact with at least one other player. I also want to encourage paths other than Constant War... Those being trade, enterprise, exploration, cultural exchanges, political struggles... Of course, its all up to you!

A background narrative follows below. TL;DR: a sub-extinction-level-event-sized asteroid has impacted a 1900's-era, alternate-geography earth, and survivor civilizations are now emerging. But aside from this, your nation's background, culture, history, economy, politics, society, even its geography and ethnicity of its people, are all yours to create...


THE STORY SO FAR...

Let us step into an alternate Earth - a world with different geography, where humans have evolved alongside many plants and animals that would be familiar to us, and a few that would not. Over time, civilization arose much as it did in our world, and became ever more entrenched. Industry and global commerce emerged, and the world entered a largely-peaceful 'Belle Époque'; steam travel was already optimised to its maximum potential, and civilization was poised to enter a new era of aircraft, electronics, cars, modern medicine, and gleaming cities of glass and steel, reaching up to the heavens...

Then came The Catastrophe. Some say, the Supreme Deity punished mankind for his arrogance and wavering piety. Some say, Gaia punished him for his rampant abuse of the natural world. Some say, it was fate lending its hand to the Anarchist cause against the entrenched, aristocratic elites. Some say, the Goddess of Destruction wished to rebirth humanity in fire. Some say it was just jolly bad luck...

All we know for sure is that, one day, a flaming mountain fell from the sky. The oceans rolled up over the lands, destroying most of the world's great cities. The Earth tore itself open and erupted in towers of lava. The sky went dark and the air filled with ash. Storms and wildfires ravaged the darkness, until a chilling winter arrived.

For those that survived, sickness and starvation followed. The cities left standing were largely abandoned, as crops withered and farmers could barely sustain their own families. Anarchy ruled; horsemen and biker gangs roamed the continents, while pirates terrorised the coasts with the powerful warships of former navies. Within a few years, more than half of humanity's number had become bones in the dirt... But great leaders emerged to guide pockets of civilization through the night, fighting off raiders and preserving what they could of the Old World, while attempting to forge a new one.

Seventy years have now passed since The Catastrophe. The sky now shines clear again, as if clearer than ever before. Nature has bounced back with surprising speed. Much knowledge and machinery has survived. Industrial societies have been reborn. People have embraced new ideologies. A Brave New World is here for the taking: it is into this world that you and your nation now step forward...


THE NEW WORLD

It is Year Zero, and you are the power-behind-the-throne of an emerging new nation. World population is probably about 500 million - but nobody really knows for sure. Changes to the land and oceans have made old maps inaccurate, and the presence of raiders on land and sea has prevented casual wanderings. Much remains to be re-discovered.

Technology is roughly at the level of 1914 in our world, but your nation will have more advanced tech in one or two areas of choice. Given that necessity is the mother of invention, in this new era there is potential for technology to progress rapidly.

Meanwhile, so-called 'Anarchists' have taken hold over much of the old civilized world: a patchwork of communes, cultists, chiefdoms and nomadic bands. It is a hard and dangerous life, and these people regularly raid each other's lands, as well as those of the emerging new nations. But they have rediscovered a level of freedom and expression that had been unknown for centuries. These people and their ideas may be highly dangerous to your new nation - or perhaps you will find a way to work with them.




WORLD MAP

Piror to Turn 0, I have only a rough plan for the world map. Players are free to choose not only their starting location but also the geography of their nation, and make suggestions for the rest of the map as well; I'll be floating an idea for a seperate, secondary cradle if enough players are interested in that.

The map itself will hopefully be self-explanatory, and we'll be using a graphic set built from previous Daft™ games and 3rd party artists; which is not only cute and convenient, but easy to customise and easy to read at small scales. Occasional flavour/civilian graphics will be shown on the map, but anything military can be recognised by its rank badges.

If a Town or Factory icons appear on the map, you can assume they are worth at least $1 tax income or 1 Production respectively. Each nation also has a Capital/HQ building which is their centre of government. In war, these can all be individually targeted.

Towns and Factories may cluster together around Ports, Airports, Capitals or other infrastructure to form Major Cities. These will be named on the map, and can be assumed to form a sizeable chunk of the nation's stats, and may be focal points for trade, development and intrigues.

Populations, however, will not be tracked city-by-city or hex-by-hex, but will be abstracted into larger Provinces made up of multiple hexes. At the start of the game, its unlikely any nation has more than one province except some minor island(s).

Provinces will also be individually named. When giving movement orders for units, you can refer simply to the provinces rather than individual hexes - though any landmarks or individual hexes can be named if you wish.

Small Island Territories are unique in that they will consist of one hex that is both land and sea; they are still valid locations for Population, Ports / Airbases etc, and for all kinds of units. These small islands will usually count as mini-Provinces with their own Population.


RULES

Your public stats will look something like this:


Neo-Celtonian Union: Daftpanzer
Liberal Socialist Environmentalist Republic (Faction Flavours & Government)
Prod: 2 (Production Points - for the building of Stuff)
Int: 2 (Intelligence Points - for all things that require brainpower)
Pop: 20 (Available Population / Manpower)
Bank: $2 (Moneys. Recent growth/decline is shown in brackets)
Reinf: $1 (the cost to maintain / repair all military back up to 100%)
Goods: $2 x 3 (the return on selling Consumer Goods here x the amount of demand)
Notes: (this is where I'll pile in misc. background details along with any pressing concerns)


TURN SUMMARY

To begin with, turns take place over the course of one year. The best way to describe the rules is probably to go through the flow of a turn, step by step...


#1: Playing 'Special' Cards

Firstly you can play any special events or bonuses you've acquired - they will come into effect immediately.


#2: Spending Your Money ($)

$ Money is collected from taxes, and from running a trade surplus, selling Consumer Goods, and from any other dealings you happen to make with other players. Money pays for upkeep of your military and social services.

You can also buy and sell at a Trade Hub as and when one appears - you can buy additional Production, hire Mercenary units, or buy military hardware for your own soldiers, among other things. Mercenaries and weapons will take at least a turn to arrive, however.


#3: Ordering Units Around / Combat

Units move around on a hex-by-hex basis and occurs simultaneously for all players.

Each unit has a movement speed or movement range, and perhaps also a bombardment range, which is all counted in hexes. Aircraft will 'likely' crash if you try to exceed their range, while naval units are less limited but will fight at an increasing disadvantage. Note that you can do a Strategic Redeploy to anywhere within you territory, but this takes a full turn to accomplish, and land units need a continuous land corridor with suitable roads/rail - you'll need permission to use a neighbour's land for this. Air and Sea units can similarly redeploy to any friendly Airfield or Port.

Transport Units can carry as many units (or Population, or Production points, or Consumer Goods) as fits their Capacity and they usually only carry certain types of unit (ground, air, infantry etc). Loading a unit onto a transport will consume any remaining moves for both units, unless: both are on the same hex at the start of the turn, or you are loading an adjacent ship via a friendly port. Similarly, unloading / paradropping will end that unit's movement, unless the destination is a friendly Port / Airbase, in which case the unit can move afterwards as normal. None of this prevents the unit fighting or even bombarding after unloading. Makes sense??

Transport Units may also be needed for merchant/supply capacity, to keep your economy and military running, and you'll be informed when this is an issue. This can be particularly important during wartime as independent traders are put off by enemy raiders / blockades etc. Oh, and Transport Units will be needed to Colonise new regions with your Population... More on all that later!

If you happen to be at war, you'll be interested in Combat; by default, uncommitted units will be in 'Sentry' mode, ready to react to enemy attacks in nearby hexes. If you want a unit to Dig In, you must specify it to do so - it will receive a defensive bonus, especially from artillery attacks, but will not be able to move to help other units under attack nearby. You can dig in along a specific hex tile border to block it, or dig in at the centre of a hex - bearing in mind that mobile enemy units 'may' be able to probe around them.

Combat occurs simply by moving onto the enemy, or at least getting in bombardment range. You will be able to tell your men to be ultra-cautious, or launch an all-out attack, or anywhere in-between. While units do have Combat Stats in this NES, there will only be a little dice rolling, and things will not be as mechanical as the combat in ZPNESV for example. Instead I will be making fluid judgement calls for the most part: terrain, supply, fatigue, morale, organisation, flanking, surprise, veterancy / experience, intelligence, and even the weather conditions are all things I will mix into a hearty broth of considerations.

There's a lot more I could say on Combat and (orders for combat), but I'd rather leave it to be a learning experience - there is little IC knowledge of modern warfare. I'll leave it up to players to take notice of what works and what doesn't

VERY IMPORTANT: note that Combat will probably not be as 'fatalistic' as most games you have played. Units will be injured and retreat, lose their heavy gear and downgrade to militia infantry, or they may get captured as PoW's, which you can potentially add to your own population or army later (if they don't get rescued or executed first).


#4: Production and Intelligence Orders
(Playing your 'cards' or projects)

At the beginning of the game, there will be a relatively small list of standard, default projects and builds that anyone can make - Standard Infantry, Ports, Airports, Fortifications etc.

Here I will be trialling a new system for build orders, vehicle designs, covert ops, propaganda campaigns, technology and special projects, etc etc. Think in terms of Magic The Gathering or similar card games; you will have a 'hand' of possible Projects, which you will be able to play only if you spend the required Production or Intelligence points (and perhaps $Money or other things as well).

Note that your 'hand' or potential projects and reserve units will always be private (a google doc) - if you deliberately want to share ideas with another player, you are advised to use your friendly moderator (me) as a middle-man to protect your OOC security. Also if anyone carries out some IC snooping on your secret stuff, they may not be given an accurate picture.

Production naturally represents industrial output, the ability to 'make stuff', while Intelligence represents the collective brain-power of your academics, mavericks, scientists, engineers, code-breakers, analysts etc - along with any electronic calculating devices. Neither of these stats can be banked, but any excess Production can be shunted into Consumer Goods.

Many of your project 'cards' will be repeatable projects or blueprints, which you can share with other players. If any particular design becomes widespread enough, then it may get shunted to the global pile of generic projects for anyone to build.

Many random / chance 'cards' will also appear throughout the game, reflecting what is going on in your nation. These may or may not involve production costs - some will simply be decisions, with associated pro's and con's.

Bear in mind that units will usually require the sacrifice of a Population point (manpower) to become 'active' on the map. You can recoup the manpower by disbanding that unit later - Disbanding is reversible, which is how War Mobilisation works (see below). If you want to completely scrap the unit, you'll get a certain amount of $Money for it as well; ~half the original Production value will actually be converted to Consumer Goods, which will be explained later.

You can thus build units with the sole intention of putting them in reserve, or for sale to other nations, but bear in mind one party will need to physically transport said units.

Anyhow, your building and doing of stuff will come into effect *after* units have moved (and fought, and bombed etc). So be aware that if your factories and cities get bombed, or you lose territory, then your efforts may be disrupted or delayed this turn. Rergardless, any new units will not be able to fight on the same turn.


#5: War Mobilisation / Calling up Reservists

Along with your secret 'hand' of 'cards' / project options, you will have a list of units in storage, and previously-disbanded units - collections of weapons and vehicles lying around in military bases. Provided you have enough free manpower, you can call these up at any time ('Mobilisation!'), however - as with newly-built units - they can't be given any actual orders on the same turn they are mobilising.

Thus, it is not a good idea to have all your forces as reservists if you want to guard against sneak invasions!


#6: Requesting new Projects & Prototypes

As mentioned, this game is controversial in that it does not have a pre-defined tech tree. Want something to improve your economy? Want a new tank design? A new plane or boat? Want to run some covert sabotage on a rival? Want to run a propaganda campaign? Want to build a doomsday device? Well, here is where you request such things. A couple of limits are in place:

* Cannot make more project requests per turn, than you have Production or Intelligence points (whichever is highest - and not counting any bonuses / purchased extras). So if your highest of these stats is 2, then you can make 2 project requests that turn. I will most likely set an absolute maximum as well.

* Cannot have a large amount of 'cards' in your 'hand' at once - IE, unused project ideas floating around. I will let you know when this is a problem. Some will have to be permanently scrapped from the books, or potentially end up in the hands of other players.

Stressing the word request here; the project option(s) that you actually get back may differ from what you asked for - if your original request was too far-reaching, you'll likely get the option to build something else as a stepping stone. IE if you wanted to design something like a King Tiger Panzer, don't be surprised to see a lumbering 'experimental heavy tank' appear in your project list.

You'll have to wait until the end of the turn to get feedback on your request - so we won't be playing 20 questions about exactly what you want or how much it costs . But you can by all means set a target amount of Production or Intelligence that you'd be willing to spend on the finished item.

Note that Prototypes are where you nail down the design of a new unit - they usually don't give you a usable unit and don't consume any manpower. You'll have some idea of the potential combat stats and quirks of a Prototype before you build it, but more quirks may emerge in the process.

All of this should become clear as the game progresses...

If you want to go in-depth:

WAR - what is it good for?




POPULATIONS




ECONOMICS AND TRADE




EXPLORATION AND COLONISATION




WINNING THE WAR OF IDEAS




POLITICS AND IDEOLOGIES




GOVERNMENT TYPES

DEFAULT BUILD PROJECTS




DEFAULT UNITS




DESIGNED UNITS




Hopefully this is all self-explanatory, but some notes on Combat Stats:

'Bombard' is less effective against entrenched enemies (but at least you have a static target).

'Bombard' and 'Bombing' are capable of doing damage to enemy cities and factories.

'Armour' provides good protection until it is matched or beaten by enemy firepower.

'Toughness' provides a certain amount of defence in all cases.

'Melee' is close-quarter combat. Units with Firepower are assumed to have equal Melee unless stated otherwise.

'Speed' and/or 'Altitude' provide a chance to evade enemies if needed, however -

'Speed', 'Altitude' and 'Agility' can be countered by the attacker having equal or superior stats.

CREATING A NATION


Link to video.

Nation Submission Template:

Nation Name:
Ideology Picks (4 max):
Government Style:
Start location:
Geography:
Military:
Unique Unit:
Primary Colour:
Flag:
Ethnicity (optional):
National animal (optional):
National anthem (optional):
Names for people (optional):
Names for places (optional):
Notes:


Description:




Example:

Nation Name: Neo-Celtonia (Neo-Celtonian Union)
Ideology Picks (4 max): Liberal, Socialist, Environmentalist
Government Style: Republic
Start location: North European
Geography: Hilly
Military: Land and Sea balance. Land is infantry focused.
Unique Unit: Highland Commando - tough assault infantry adapted for the local terrain.
Primary Colour: Green-Teal
Flag: Teal with a central Yellow Sun
Ethnicity (optional): primarily what we would call Celtic peoples, predominantly white Caucasian with red-brown hair and prominent facial features.
National animal (optional): Highland Cattle
National anthem (optional): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpHmQW83-Wo
Names for people (optional): anything in the style of OTL old Gallic names.
Names for places (optional): OTL old Gallic, Norse, and Brythonic language. The capital city is Nemasaile and the home country is called Gallica.
Notes: The Neo-Celtonian Union has emerged on the back of revived traditions, with a deep distrust of capitalist and over-centralised systems that they blame for brining ruin on the Old World. While they are an inventive and industrious people, with an interest in shipbuilding, for now they have a renewed interest in old mysticism and nature-worship, a reaction to the trauma of recent past. The people guard their liberties well and fight fiercely for their home valleys. Strong alcohol is brewed to keep people going through harsh winters, the strength of the liquor matched only by the strength of their family ties which keep their society together. They have a somewhat insular and defensive outlook. A Republic of sorts is made up of the most respected elder members of society. The Ri is the head of state that must be elected or re-elected every single year.

Posting is now accepted!

Whether or not you are interested in playing, you are very welcome to make suggestions or observations.

I will more than willing to join this. I'm going on vacation tomorrow so I'll try to have something up today.

Nation Name : Teutonia
Ideology Picks : Capitalist, Liberal
Government Style: Democracy
Start location: North Europe
Geography: Plain
Military : Land and Air balanced, with Land being infantry focused
Unique Unit : The Panzer - an advanced trench wagon that survived the catastrophe
Primary Colour : Yellow
Flag : Yellow, with a black wolf head in the middle shown howling.
Ethnicity : A mix of Germanic races.
National animal : The wolf, an animal which is thought to represent the solidary and brave spirit of Teutonia.
National anthem Melody : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noNhqd1zMWw
Names for people : OTL Germanic languages, with a greater dominance of pre - catastrophe German
Names for places : OTL Scandinavian languages, with the capital named Svalheim
Notes : Teutonia rose out of the ashes of pre - Catastrophe Nogdland, the strongest of the many Germanic nations. Surviving right - wing politicians and military officials, wishing to see a greater re - union with their national counterparts, created a democracy that would do just that. While not per - se a nationalist society, it certainly follows the old trends of capitalism that dominated a land part of the Germanic world, although not the imperial Nogdland itself. As all the Germanic people are now united, there is no reason to use nationalism as a reason against other people, or so does the logic in Teutonia say.

( I hope everything is fine )

Nation Name: The Great Way
Ideology Picks (4 max): Socialist, Aristocratic, Survivalist
Government Style: Monarchy (imbedded over a communist society as the vanguards)
Start location: Ukraine/Central Asia
Geography: Plains
Military: Land focus
Unique Unit: Vanguard Cavalry (more toughness than normal cav, made up primarily of aristocrats)
Primary Colour: Pink
Flag: Solid Pink
Ethnicity (optional): Originally steppe peoples with a mix of Armenians and Georgians
National animal (optional): Dog
Notes: Formed out of lost peoples in the steppes, The Great Way was quickly consolidated by a group of families now known as the Vanguard in order to ration food and organize government effectively. As time went on these families became aristocratic, hereditary, and increasingly steeped in classical tradition of moral superiority and fancy dress. The strongest of these families, and the oldest, became the sitting royal family under Khan Haganno, who would eventually be succeeded by his children until the current Khan, Ymiter. The Vanguard hold absolute power outside the village level and use propaganda to support their position as defenders of the people in these troubled times. The Great Way is still running under the survivalist economic scheme setup decades ago. Everyone is fed. Everyone has shelter. Everyone loves the Khan!

That's cool Polyblank!! Bear in mind, this world is not just a different timeline but it has always had different geography as well. There would not have been a Germany as in our world, but there could certainly have been some kind of Germanic nation or nations.

National anthem - approved!!

@merciary, you've got at least two weeks before Update 0, I don't want to rush too much.

Changed nation history and details according to this, and created Nogdland, the most powerful pre - Catastrophe Germanic Kingdom.

Nation Name: Lodzyzweich Osobystat
Ideology Picks (4 Max): Militarist, Industrialist, Nationalist
Government Style: Oligarchy (power is concentrated within the ruling establishment of the military and associated technocrats)
Start Location: Northern/Eastern Europe
Geography: Plains
Military: Land Focus
Unique Unit: Osobystat Blyskawictrup (Osobystat Lightningtroop, cheap conscript troops trained for high mobility and conducting paramilitary/defense operations)
Primary Color: Dull red/reddish brown
Flag: See above
Ethnicity: Slavic/eastern European with OTL Nordic and Germanic influences. Previously the subjects of an entrenched aristocracy with martial culture and code of conduct; hold-over from a bloody revolution is a highly militarized society. "We Have Reserves" in TVTropes terms.
National Animal: The Badger Rampant, an enraged, rabies-infested badger
National Anthem: This number
Names for people: Slavic-sounding names are preferred, particularly derived from Polish or bastardized from German
Names for places: Also Slavic emphasis with Polish preferred
Notes: Once an esteemed realm, the great Kingdom of Lodzyzweich suffered a number of paroxysms and unrests that culminated in a bloody revolution and the establishment of a socialist dictatorship under the leadership of the army and its political allies. The free people of Lodzyzweich now toil to protect their Revolution and their way of life and hope someday to die to defend their great nation.

Nation Name: Thalmare Commonwealth
Ideology Picks (4 max): Aristocratic, Capitalist, Socialist
Government Style: Republic
Start location: Eastern Europe (Greece)
Geography: flat
Military: Sea warfare is this nation major focus with land and air balanced
Unique Unit: Beluga- Dark blue heavy Gunboats with less speed but more firepower.
Primary Colour: Blue
Flag: Above
Ethnicity (optional): Greeks/Romanian
National animal (optional): Spermwhale
National anthem (optional): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPz59bmBgDo
Names for people (optional):Combination of ancient Greek/Romanian names
Names for places (optional):Same but with a heavy focus on Greek names.
Notes:

The Thalmare Commonwealth arises from the ashes of Greece former government after the horrible events of The Catastrophe. Unlike there predecessors the who deem that all people are equal. The Thalmare Commonwealth went back to the ancient ways of there forefathers in that the ruling power of the nation belong to best qualified citizens of society. Those who families help build the nations up like the merchants, legal officials, etc where selected for there achievement and given rule over the lower class. To make sure that The Thalmare Commonwealth didnt fell to low class revolts some individuals from the Socialist party were given some power so lower class citizens had some amount of quality to there lives in Commonwealth. So after many years of building up resources and strengthing of a good foundation the Thalmare Commonwealth born.

Thanks very much - all good with everything posted so far

Nation Name: Qeng Ho
Ideology Picks (4 max): Capitalist, Liberal
Government Style: Republic
Start location: 2nd cradle
Geography: Temperate forests and hills on an island archipelago
Military: Slight weight to navy, otherwise approx. equal mix.
Unique Unit: Tianfei (heavy cruiser with greater armament and armor)
Primary Colour: Green, Black, and White
Flag:
Ethnicity (optional): Pseudo-Chinese as colonist-governors with some sort of south-American tribe as natives. Fifty-fifty mix but with Chinese generally in positions of command.
National animal (optional): Panda!
National anthem (optional):
Notes: Before the cataclysm, the Luing Fu were a once mighty nation of traders and the island colonies of Qeng Ho were the brightest jewel in their colonial crown. After the cataclysm the Qeng Ho were suddenly cut off and without direction or support from the Luing Fu. Unable to contact their homeland, when the governor died during the famines following the cataclysm, the Qeng Ho choose their own rulers. Today they have developed their own culture and government and become something unique onto themselves.

I am signing up right now. Will fill out later.

As a fan of Advance Wars, I feel semi-obligated to join this. Will come up with something.

I'm entirely open to multiple people running the below described country with me when the game launches.

Flag: (may be altered when the game launches, as I would like to add a number of stars equal to the number of major islands within the Federation)


Nation Name: Federation of the Sattisce Isles (Sattisland)
Ideology Picks (4 max): Liberal, Capitalist, Socialist
Government Style: Democracy
Start Location: Northwest Europe, British Isles analogue
Geography: Hilly and Forested (preferably an island)
Military: Navy is first priority, Air Force second, and Army last
Unique Unit: Battleship/Cruiser (was to be called a "Torch Cruiser", heavy ship that dominates the waves)
Primary Colour: Light Blue
Ethnicity (optional): Celtic
National Animal (optional): European Robin
National Anthem (optional): Ode to Joy
Names for People (optional): Anglicized Celtic and old Saxon names
Names for Places (optional): Brae (island), Suttan (island), Nakry (island), Colhaslyde (city), Tusmore (city)
Notes: A patchwork federation of trade union communes, capitalist boroughs and former cosmopolitan metropoles of a once great colonial empire, the diverse inhabitants of the Sattisce Isles joined together since the Catastrophe in conditional union for national defence, leaving all other issues to provincial districts. The national government is run as a federal democracy of several major parties, and the people of Sattisland (singular of Sattische) at least for now are united in economic growth at home and defence against piracy on the waters.

Name: the State
Ideology: Militarist Industrialist Socialists
Government: dictatorship
Start location: The British Isles (ireland or britain analogue)
Geography: hilly, forested (i.e ireland or southern Britain)
Military: heavy naval focus, followed by the air force
Unique Unit: the Dreadnought, a battleship packing vast firepower for use on the open sea.
Primary Colour: grey
Ethnicity: ethnicity and nationalism is an anachronistic lie. That said the vast majority of Statists are Anglo-Saxons or Celts.
National Animal: Nationalism is a lie. No animal rationally represents a polity better than another. This exchange is irrelevant.
National Anthem:

Link to video.

(sans the lyrics)

Names for People: English names. Attempts to replace names with unqiue ID codes failed due to the fallibility of human memories, so the State let's that one slide.
Names for Places: Cities and sub-national divisions are named after their function and a number. The capital is called Capital, the largest industrial cities outside it are Factories 1 through 4, and the main agricultural district is Cornucopia 1.
Notes: Utility is the only measure of success. Utility is maximised when total utility over population is maximised. The sole Duty of the Government of a Polity is the maximisation of total utility.

Ideology is a lie to keep the rulers in power after they fail in their duty. So are religion and nationalism and democracy. Only a single body dedicated to the maximisation of utility can fulfill the Duty.

Rights are a luxury to be discarded when unproductive. Choice is only the choice to choose wrongly. Emotions, though useful as a tool of encouraging unity of action and purpose, must not affect rational decisionmaking.

Religion is a lie. Race is a lie. Class is a lie. The Duty of the State extends to all others - inefficiency cannot be allowed to fester. All must join the state.

The State is.

All hail the State.

Nation Name: The Orrisi Union
Ideology Picks: Socialist, Militarist, Liberal
Government Style: Dictatorship
Start location: Western Europe, on the coast of the fake-Mediterranean.
Geography: A largely fertile Mediterranean area with nearby mountains, think Southern France.
Military: Land based, with a moderate air force
Unique Unit: Union Guard - Tough assault troops that excel on the attack, making short work of defensive positions.
Primary Colour: Red
Flag: A red background with a yellow circle in the middle (will add but I'm sure you can guess what it looks like)
Ethnicity (optional): Spanish-Catalonian with Occitan French influences.
National animal (optional): Lion
National anthem (optional): Melody - In Universe: Children of the Union
Names for people (optional): Mostly Spanish with some French names.
Names for places (optional): An even mix of Spanish and French sounding names, often blended linguistically. The capital is named El Zaralona.
Notes: The people of Orris were hit hard by the Cataclysm, and the capitalist elite of their nation did little to protect them afterwards. As bandits and raiders moved in on the surviving Orrisi, their oligarchs hoarded all they could and hid from the world, defending only themselves. In response, the people were organised into a great militia under the leadership of the imperious Tomás Cesar, and they reclaimed their land for themselves. Tomás claimed the title Premier, and stated that no man shall ever suffer under the oppression of the rich again, and that this love for all humanity must be spread by any means necessary, a cause eagerly taken up by his people. Orrisi are a passionate people prone to strong outbursts of emotion, and have strong family ties, though they see close friends as practically blood relatives. They are hard workers, but love festive events, with large alcohol fuelled fiestas being a common occurrence. Their passion lends them equally well to both incredible artistic pursuits and fervent ideological warfare.

I'm trying to go for a whole 'Communism with Heart' kind of feel here. A sort of Communism which tries to balance actual legitimate love for the people with the need to expand it against resistance from those seen to oppress the people. Far less Orwellian than most real world communist states.

Daft <3