Autumn of Nations

I also added a third sign up, pursuant to talks I had with Stockholme the other day. Coincidentally, it is also black ideology.

I also added a note to the Ottoman signup about its ideology. Stockholme was convinced as written, my Ottomans might work better as white than green. I just wanted to note that for other people in case that ends up being the case and they get classified as the white sign up rather than the green one as orgionally indicated.
 
I've got three submissions!

People's Republic of Babylon and Assyria (Grey)
Neo-babylonian state founded by Abd al-Karim Qasim, presently run by Saddam Hussein, Champion of Marduk

Following the collapse of the Nazi regime, Britain facilitated the emigration and re-settlement of German capitalists and conservatives overseas, most notably in Iraq, where they established themselves as petro-barons and intellectuals. Here, they re-created the German education system, began work establishing a theory for the archaeological, cultural, and racial history of Mesopotamia, and educated a generation of Iraqi students.

Upon the military overthrow of the Hassemite monarchy the conservatives aligned themselves with Qasim, helping to consolidate his support, suppress and co-opt Ba’athist opposition, and ensure favourable drilling rights for German entrepreneurs. Professors at the University of Baghdad began arguing for the return of Babylonian supremacy – that the region was best served by it’s ancient masters in Ur, Uruk, and most notably Babylon – and that the greatness of its people had been shackled by Persian and Turkish rule. Qasim associated himself with neo-babylonian ideology, embracing an “Iraqi-first” policy and rejecting Nasser's Pan-Arabism.

In the 1970s, the Ba’ath party became incorporated into the government while adopting some neo-babylonian elements, and Qasim is succeeded in the early 80s by Saddam Hussein. With American support, Saddam wages a successful war to seize the “Susiana Plain” from Iran, annexes Kuwait, and strong-arms Syria into a lopsided political union. Dominating a major part of the world’s oil trade, Saddam re-builds Babylon as a planned capital of his new empire, complete with hanging gardens, lush canals, and a grand ziggurat crowned with a palace and statues of Marduk in Saddam's likeness. With the support of Marduk, Saddam exercises his will to power upon the world.

Revolutionary Assembly for Ecological Defence (Teal)
Radical environmentalists committed to the liberation of the natural world, lead by Guardian Ralph Nader

After the ecological and economic disaster of the 1978-82 "Nuclear Abundance" agricultural policies in the Amazon basin, a coalition of rural indigenous communities, labourers, and american liberal, leftist, and hippie political refugees in Rio de Janeiro overthrew the fascist-backed junta and established a radical, revolutionary environmentalist state. Declaring all borders to be human, colonial, and fictitious, the revolutionary partisans rapidly overran much of South America, annexing Venezuela so that its oil fields can serve to power the restoration of the Amazon. State power is centralized in the "Council of the Guardian of the Natural World Order," a 10-member oligarchy lead by Guardian Ralph Nader.

The Righteous Islamic State of India (Green)
Clerics ruling a multi-ethnic, multi-faith state stretching across central and south asia

The partition of India was bloody - Britain refused to give up her colonies without a fight, while the Muslim League aligned itself with the Eurasian Union, precipitating a decade-long proxy war that saw the loss of millions of lives. In the end, a socialist, secular Indian state with a Muslim majority was formed from OTL Bangladesh to Afghanistan. An Iran-style clerical revolution occured in the 1990s, resulting in an Islamic state ruling over a multi-faith population.
 
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Thanks to everyone for your signups. The signup process is now closed. I'll make a map and post the roster of players sometime today or tomorrow.
 
Thanks again for everyone's interest! After consideration, here is the confirmed roster of players and their signups:
  • pink USA - Terran Empress
  • North Sea Fed - Butteryicarus
  • technocratic Argentina - gay_Aleks
  • Duginist Eurasia - MissMizzebra
  • neo-Babylon - Belgarion95
  • red India - Shadowbound
  • environmentalist Japan - Ninjacow64
Since there were more than 7 signups, regrettably not every player can play at game start. I prioritized geographic and ideological diversity, among the other factors outlined in the opening post. If I find that running this game with 7 players is manageable, I may open up an 8th slot in an area where another great power might emerge.

Players among the above roster should do the second half of the signup and collaborate with me and each other on timeline details. I'd like to nail all of that down within a week so that next weekend (or earlier) I can post update zero and the game proper can begin.
 
You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.

Country Profile: South India

Country Name: Federal Republic of India

Government/State Ideology:
  • Blue: liberal democracy or social democracy

Country Description:

The history of modern India begins, unfortunately, with the British conquest. Over the course of the 17th through 19th centuries Great Britain played off political fragmentation on the subcontinent to create a pan-Indian empire, the "British Raj". By the early 20th century, as the empire entered terminal decline following the first world war, Indian nationalists were organized and united under a broad coalition steadily pressuring for independence. Britain at the same time was in steep decline as the economic and human toll of the First World War, labor unrest at home, and the existential threat from the rising superpowers in America and the Soviet Union made its position untenable.

Enter Subhas Chandras Bose, a one-time president of the Indian National Congress. Bose was an advocate for violent struggle for independence, at a time when the INC ultimately chose continued nonviolent resistance, and lost his post as a consequence. His continued agitation against British rule led to his arrest by the colonial government, and a daring prison escape with the aid of local supporters and Soviet agents. Smuggled across the border into the Soviet Union, he combined his considerable support across India with the funding and resources of the Communist Super-state, organizing a Free Indian Army in exile. Bose's moment would come after the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, allegedly by a British agent, sparked widespread unrest and riots across the subcontinent. His Free Indian Army would serve as a the core of a general rebellion that spread rapidly across the north of the Raj.

The Indian War of Independence, Anti-Colonial Struggle, Civil War, whatever you call it would last for 3 years, and end with a ceasefire line stretching across the Deccan Plateau. North India, under Bose, was Azad Hind while the south was the Commonwealth of India. Both states were badly damaged by the war, materially and politically: Bose found himself dependent on Communist support for arms and expertise, fueling the influence of the Indian Communist Party, while the South saw the INC lose much of its northern power base and remain loosely part of the British Empire as a self-governing commonwealth. Both states were forced to make uneasy compromises. Azad Hind was an uneasy coalition between Bose's nationalists and Communists (who grappled with an array of regional militias) while the Commonwealth tolerated continued western influence and the power of the remaining princes, particularly the Nizam of Hyderabad whose state-sponsored Razakar militia were an important paramilitary force to the war effort.

Bose would not rule his free India long; he was deposed in 1951 by Indian Communists, who reorganized North India as the Democratic Socialist Republic of India. He fled to China where he was patronized by the Guomindang until his assassination. The South was less bloody in its political intrigues, at least, but the Commonwealth was still caught off guard in tense political negotiations when northern troops invaded the Punjab, which had remained a self-governing Muslim state during the civil war. Southern troops attempted to intervene and were beaten back handily by experienced and Soviet-equipped Northern troops, which firmly absorbed the Indus River Valley and consolidated control over their strategic flanks. That they did not advance south was due to their considerable domestic issues, not so much by armed resistance from the disorganized southern forces.

The ceasefire now was widely seen as just a pause, one the North used to rebuild stocks of material, train new reserves, and consolidate control over liberated territory. The South used this time too: state and paramilitary forces were consolidated and a new generation of leadership rebuilt the republic's military for the coming conflict. When the Third War came in 1956, it was no surprise: North India began to preposition troops and stockpiles close to the front and the South attacked preemptively with massed airpower and infiltrators to disrupt and defeat the initial troop concentrations, pushing the border further north. Now it was the South that needed time to consolidate, rapidly outpacing their supply lines as it overran northern positions.

The war had exposed considerable rifts between the military and civilian government: corrupt and ineffectual, the civilian government was poorly regarded as western proxies by much of the population and the military enjoyed a sudden boost of prestige. Personal tensions between civilian and military leadership ultimately lead to a military coup in 1962. The coup came with a grand reorganization of the state, formally breaking with the Commonwealth, establishing a republic, and finally dissolving the princely states which had since surrendered their military power to the federal government. The military was cautious of renewed war with the north, but a golden opportunity came with widespread unrest along the Indus Valley, sufficiently destabilizing the north to prompt a Fourth Indian War. The South walked away with Gujarat, which enjoyed considerable autonomy going forward, but was overall a disappointment that firmly demonstrated to both sides that there would be no sudden collapse.

The peace negotiations of the fourth war were just a prelude to a grander compromise. North and South were tired of being a frontline in the Cold War with no visible prospect for knocking out the other. Decades of war and military tension had seen neither side achieve its objectives, and forced both to put a pause on other political projects. It was the army in charge, but only diplomats could finally make it to Kolkata, where a permanent peace treaty between North and South India was finally signed.

Red India would break with the Soviet Union, both over ideological differences and a sense of betrayal following a lack of support in the fourth war, and begin sponsoring aggressive leftist rebellions across the globe. It tested its own nuclear weapon in 1976, firmly cementing a split in the international movement. This split would spread to Burma, too, where the socialist government struggled to hold onto power after purging anti-revisionists, prompting a North Indian intervention that soon found itself fighting regional militias and nationalist rebels.

South India's military dictatorship would muddle along, consolidating power as best it could without the existential northern threat and overseeing economic development. But it was ultimately a losing bid to maintain popular support as student protests in Chennai refused to back down in the face of state sponsored violence. The Saffron Revolution spread from there, as the resentments and tensions of decades of centralized power bubbled to the surface, restoring democracy and federalism.

Meanwhile, North India's occupation of Burma would end with eventual defeat, as western arms flooded the country and were received by enthusiastic anti-communist rebels. Their eventual withdrawal was just one of many crises of legitimacy for the communist dictatorship in the 90s, alongside the collapse of the Soviet Union, famine, and intraparty struggles that eventually resulted in a failed liberalization and civil war. Hindi revisionists fought Bengali ultranationalists across the Gangetic Plain for several years and millions of refugees streamed south into the wealthier, safer, and freer Republic. Burma would have its own mini-civil war, as the different militant groups turned on each other until the most ruthless and a fanatic Buddhist sect asserted primacy.

The 90s were not a Golden Age for India: constitutional and political questions over language, the status of refugees, and rebuilding supply chains disrupted by the collapse of the United States made it a turbulent era. Things began to look up, however. A long-running insurgency in Ceylon ended with a fragile peace treaty that established another autonomous republic, while Indian troops intervened in East Africa in response to Ethiopian expansionism. Compared to its immediate neighbors, embroiled in civil war, it thrived, and as of 2000 emerges as the world's largest and most powerful democracy.

Claims: India controls the Deccan Plateau, from the Satpura Range south to the Indian Ocean. It also controls Gujarat, administered as a separate autonomous republic, and many islands throughout the Indian Ocean, including Sri Lanka.

State Proficiencies:

· Warfare (ground, air, naval, missiles, guerilla) 2

· Espionage (spying, black ops, subversion, surveillance, crime) 2

· Social Control (secret police, criminal justice, mass culture, media, movements) 2

· Administration (diplomacy, state-building, data collection, social policy, legitimation) 4

· Economy (fiscal-monetary, industry, arms, entrepreneurs, engineering) 8

· Science (blue sky, applied, social science, education, WMDs) 2

Capability Descriptions:


The Indian Army is a large, powerful force capable of conducting mechanized warfare and security operations across the sub-continent, albeit it has shrunk and refocused during the 90s. The Indian Navy is also good, developing power projection beyond the subcontinent.

Indian Intelligence is quiet but has a shady reputation, with expertise from its involvement in the Burmese and North Indian Civil War. The extent of its responsibility is unclear.

There is a disconnect in Indian society between government and the population, but one mitigated through a robust national police system and a thriving media sector (Bollywood).

The Federal Republic of India itself is a powerful state with free and representative elections, an independent judiciary and civil society, and a foreign service able to efficiently formulate and enact state policy.

The Indian Economy is diverse and self-sufficient. Arms manufacturing has exploded in the 90s as the modest domestic industry has expanded in order to provide American-standard equipment across the world to former US clients. The nation has a large financial sector and invests heavily in international infrastructure projects. Large private conglomerates control major segments of the economy.

Indian sciences are sufficient for their purposes, focusing mostly on importing foreign ideas and applying at scale. They retain the capacity to scale up with a national effort at providing primary, secondary, and tertiary schooling across the country.


Sources of Stress:

1) India's main sources of petroleum imports are under the control of its immediate rivals: Eurasia, Babylon, and Japan. Tensions with these great powers could threaten its energy security and economy; a unified embargo could be crippling.

2) Millions of refugees and migrant workers from the North have come South seeking work and safe haven, fleeing collapsed economies and oppressive governments. As much as their cheap labor is appreciated, they are a major societal stress.

3) India relies on consensus governance and parliamentary coalitions: no single party outside the years of the dictatorship has held sole control of the state. In good times, this leads to a representative and inclusive government. In bad times, it leads to gridlock and stagnation. This is all complicated by the rise of far-right groups with ties to Babylon, promoting a revival of conservative Deccani traditions.


Neighboring NPCs: The former North India is divided into two: ultranationalist Bengal and the leftist Hindustani People's Republic. Both states hate each other more than their southern neighbor, for now. Burma is recovering from the North Indian invasion, still, under a Buddhist theocracy. India has a close democratic ally in East Africa and an uncomfortable partnership with Australia.

Other Great Powers:

Japan – The radical environmentalist ideology is just another avenue for Japanese militarism, deliberately devolving the development of other nations.

Argentina – A new name for a dictatorship, the rule of an elite not through force or birth, but by education.

United States – America has fallen far from its past glory. True harmony does not come from revolution, but from dialogue between all classes and sects.

Eurasia – An abomination. The red imperialism of the Soviet Union has been replaced with an ethnonationalist, reactionary state that makes no secret of what it is.

Babylon – On the one hand, oil. On the other hand, a psychotic kleptocracy. Babylon is a nation of contrasts.
 
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Butteryicarus has informed me they are withdrawing from the game; I'm sorry to hear that you won't be joining.

Since I've already selected the other states, the target was 6-7 players, and the Buttery's signup was in a reasonably covered area, let's proceed with 6 players for game start.

The maps I made in prep for this post included the North Sea Fed so folks can keep that in-mind when looking at the draft maps

Working out NPCs and the Timeline

I’m hoping to resolve major timeline questions and create a full map including NPCs this week, ideally earlier rather than later, so I can prep for update zero. In that spirit, I’ve gone ahead and given some thought to the map and timeline and have my first suggested resolutions/ideas for players to consider and chat with me and each other about.

My priorities in the NPC generation process:
  • having as few NPCs as realistically possible (merging nations, creating super-nations etc.)
  • leaving countries’ futures unresolved and open to players affecting it through gameplay
  • having balanced distribution of the ideologies
  • having ideologies dispersed widely
  • having interesting points of great power conflict
WWII
The setting I wrote only mentions that the Soviets beat back “fascism” and “ended up in-charge” of most of Europe. That gives a lot of latitude for how to play it out. Moreover, we end up in 2001 with Japan as a major power that holds a lot of territories outside of their home isles, and having talked to Ninja, I understand they feel that skipping WW2 might be the better route to avoid losing those territories, so here’s a quick pitch for WW2 looks like:

Axis: France, Italy, minor east and south European powers, nationalist China (Japan/Britain are neutral)
In this timeline, France goes fascist shortly after Italy, and many other European states go fascist in a vast red scare and wave of anti-communist authoritarianism in the 1920s-1930s. The Chinese civil war largely concludes earlier and in the nationalists’ favour who join the Axis, while Japan decides to stop their imperial acquisitions at just Manchuria and whatever else they have at that point (perhaps sans some bits of Dutch Indonesia which they snag later), and goes socialist as per Ninja’s backstory but in the cold war rather than WW2 or before. Britain remains neutral, an island of democracy in a great wide world of totalitarianism. The United States arms the fascists but does not participate in the fight, its leadership broadly isolationist and perhaps also scarred by WW1 more harshly (perhaps the US got into WW1 earlier and lost a lot more men). The struggle kicks off over some minor event, perhaps communist Germany violates a term of the Treaty of Versailles like marching into the Rhineland, and the Axis powers go all-in on stopping the communists. Ultimately the reds grind out a war in Europe and China until the Japanese and Americans directly intercede to stop the Reds from going further than the Pyrenees and the Yangtze river, perhaps dropping an atom bomb somewhere to force the war to a ceasefire and a peace and protecting fascist Iberia and creating North and South China. North China goes on to become a hermit kingdom like North Korea. South China becomes really big Taiwan. (this also semi-solves the question of why China isn’t a great power in this timeline)

NPCs

Talk to me about what you guys have in mind for your respective regions, I’m just putting down some initial ideas to help us bounce off of and develop a final map.

North American NPCs
@Terran Empress



In this map, the United States’ borders didn’t really change during the 20th century except for some stuff along the Mexico border (perhaps the United States invaded to replace a left-wing government, and took some land in a “sale” as well). The 1989-1991 crisis resulted in California, New England, a Mormon state, Texas, and the deep south seceding. Since the prior regime was an apartheid state, I’ve carved out Mississippi and kept it in the rainbow republic: my suggestion here is that perhaps the apartheid regime engaged in forced population transfers of minorities to locations in the Mississippi and Oklahoma, making that region strongly aligned with your nation’s pink ideology, and also making it impossible politically for the Southern secessionists to take it. Let me know if you have a different idea or what you think of this one. Possible ideologies and interesting tensions:
  • California: not sure what ideology would be in-charge but it’s pretty straightforward that California has enough national identity to go independent
  • Texas: same as California
  • Mormon greater Utah: made them quite large; perhaps they flourished under the apartheid regime and even established political footholds in Arizona and New Mexico, so when the union fell apart, those three states banded together as part of a Greater Utah project; essentially a very Christian republic (so Blue, but could be pushed to Green/Grey/Black)
  • Mexico: stuck in a civil war since the US collapse which will be resolved when the game begins through play; one side is reactionary and has a lot of ex-US apartheid soldiers who were stationed in Mexico and turned to support local reactionaries; perhaps they are influenced by Eurasian pan-nationalism and see Mexico as a potential place to setup a pan-North American government; who they are fighting I’m unsure, could figure that out a little later by seeing what ideologies are under-represented in the final map
  • Alaska: a state deciding if it wants to rejoin the US or remain independent with some other ideology (maybe environmentalism?)
  • Southern Republic: a racist holdover state strongly influenced by Saddamist ideology as a role model
  • New England: this one is easy, because of the Ivy League – Tan all the way. Perhaps it was first a republic for most of the 1990s but led by someone Boris Yeltsin-like and so democracy got discredited fast and instead a bunch of Argentine-influenced Harvard, Yale, and military-industrial complex types took over the state and eliminated democracy
  • Haiti: perhaps we can go back into the 1800s to prevent Dominican Republic from going independent (splitting these two up would be a bit too small for our purposes); this could leave them by 2001 as a pink state potentially, with a successful multi-cultural nation that emerged out of US occupation or perhaps emerged from a non-communist socialist period
Latin American NPCs
@gay_Aleks



I’m not sure how you imagine Argentina getting geographically large in this timeline, but I’m open to ideas. I’m even okay if we want to tinker with the 1800s. I personally would prefer to not have too many countries here, since you are a bit isolated, so ideally I’d like to shrink the “distance” between you and other players by shrinking the number of states. In any case, here’s my suggestion (feel free to propose alternatives): so one route is to mess around with the 1800s, have Gran Colombia survive by decentralizing power so that Venezuela and Ecuador don’t feel they need to go independent (or Colombia could reconquer those territories in the late 1800s or as part of a 1940s WW2 side conflict). It might also be easier for Argentina to have gotten big by conquering neighbours in the 1800s, and then dealing a final blow in the cold war, perhaps during a Brazilian-Argentine arms race in the 1960s/1970s. Since the US is the continental hegemon, perhaps Brazil had a communist takeover (perhaps an Allende figure, or perhaps a Cuban revolution, whatever the case) and Argentina was in the US’ pocket, so they were happy to see Argentina fight an Iran-Iraq-esque war that happened to succeed somewhat, leaving Argentina with some seized Brazilian lands and ousting the communists from Brazil, leaving you the great power in Latin America from which your technocratic turn can occur/flourish. In that world, here are the states:
  • Central America: in the interests of not having tons of small states, I’m inclined to find a way of making Central America unified; we don’t have to go to the 1800s if we don’t want, we could have the Sadinistas get some kind of breakaway revolution that does actually domino through the rest of Central America and consolidates in the 1990s with Red India as its role model
  • Brazil: post-communist regime that was ousted by Argentina in a cold war conflict; communists run a guerrilla campaign from the Amazon like FARC but have converted to Japanese environmentalism and the new government could be a number of ideologies, unsure
  • Colombia: keeping Colombia united would make it a highly prized area for the US to keep in its sphere, so I’d imagine that until 1989 it was a military dictatorship or a very friendly republic, which could leave it by 2001 in any of a number of ideological situations
  • Peru: I’m also not super clear on how Peru might go, but again probably ideal to have it be an ideology from abroad. Maybe an Indian influence Shining Path takes over?
European NPCs
@MissMizzebra



There are big questions to ask about the Soviet period on continental Europe in-order to get all our NPCs borders sorted. If one of my priorities here is to create a situation where there aren’t a ton of minor NPCs (e.g. Slovenia, Slovakia sized countries), and instead a handful of more notable ones, my big idea that I’ve pitched to you already MissMizzabra is that the communists adopt a super-nationalism minorities policy; so instead of doing what Stalin did in OTL trying to speed up the “modernization” of every nationality however small, this timeline’s USSR took the approach of trying to “merge” nationalities together. So South Slavs were put into Yugoslavia, West Slavs put into Zapadoslavia, and east Slavs put into a Greater Russia (Vostoslavia), and maybe the French, Germans, and Italians were put into a western European mega-state (or could just be Italians-French in a Romance-language state). This idea is compatible with different ways the German-Russian power dynamic played out, so it’s one to keep in mind.

Another question is how did the Russians and Germans relate from a power perspective. The two answers that occur to me are:
  1. Russians hand power to Germans: Lenin and the Bolsheviks in OTL history saw their area as a side-show to the World Revolution whose heart would be Germany, so it’s conceivable that if Germany goes communist in its own revolution, that the Russians and Germans form a single state where the party apparatus is stocked with a lot of Germans and power is handed over very early on to Germans in a way that would not have normally happened except for the unique conditions of communism in the wild years of the 1920s. In this world, Germany is the centre of communism, and they could remake the map of Europe how they like. This could be convenient for giving us ways to make Russia smaller or bigger in different areas; perhaps the Germans chopped off Siberia, perhaps they tacked on Poland.

  2. Russians and Germans unify in name only, have two separate spheres: Since Germany and Russia are two separate nodes of power, perhaps a formal USSR was declared between them, but in-practice, there were really two USSRs, the Russian and the German ones, and their disputes and struggles were managed through sub-national diplomacy. So for example, when WW2 ends, they divide Europe between the Russian and German sides of the super-Soviet Union. This is convenient, because it could justify a very large post-communist Russian state that didn’t see lots of breakaways, because it operated separately from the German half of the USSR.
Here is a list of states that could be in Europe regardless of those answers, though the answers will be helpful in figuring out precise borders:
  • Franco-Germano-Italy: my pitch here would be to put this area into a civil war, so as to remove its actually pretty significant human and industrial capital from the game at start and answer the question as to why western Europe isn’t a Great Power. We can let the civil war play out and see who wins through play. Perhaps these three countries simply go their own ways in the civil war if it escalates badly.
  • Iberia: if we go with the suggested WW2 timeline, Portugal and Spain could form a fascist union with apartheid US support throughout the cold war, so by 2001 they have an identity crisis and a political crisis and could swing Pink (overthrowing the regime) or Black or even Grey (reforming the regime with new patrons)
  • Baltofennia: this one’s a bit of a weird idea but I kind of like it. In-line with the idea the Soviets tried to merge nationalities haphazardly, perhaps they threw Fins and Baltic peoples into a union that somehow survived the 1990s and is at a major crossroads by 2001. I’m inclined to have a sizable Pink or Teal faction that is arguing for joining either Japan or US as patrons, since that’d create a good point of conflict with Eurasia
  • Zapadoslavia: We could throw Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and even Galicia into a union, or we could keep Poland out and put it into Eurasia and keep the others. Either way, like Baltofennia, this country would be at a crossroads; though since it’s landlocked, it would maybe be at a crossroads of going Grey/Black or going some other ideology (perhaps Tan?)
  • Hungary: we could give them more territory to make them less of a totally peripheral state; perhaps they support the communists in WW2 and get lots of land in its aftermath; unsure what ideology it has now; perhaps its even still run by a Belarus-style semi-communist and is seeking support from India
  • Yugoslavia: I’d rather not Balkanize the Balkans, but it’s hard to imagine keeping Yugoslavia together; perhaps a Pink ideology with a Yugoslav twist could be in-charge? Perhaps Serb ultranationalists are creeping in the shadows and threatening to Balkanize and we can see if that happens through play?
  • Romania: another state where I’m not fully sure where to go, but perhaps environmental damage to the Danube river delta could have sparked an environmentalist movement that is now in-charge but only in a very fragile way
  • Greece: I would prefer if Greece didn’t exist since its so small, but I personally can’t think of a good justification to toss them into any other state. We can probably just leave them as in-between Pink (US) and Grey (Athenian revival)
  • Netherlands: a Blue state trying to join the North Sea Fed
Middle Eastern NPCs
@Belgarion95



Your signup could very easily involve a lot of conquest (even more than just Iran-Iraq war) in the twentieth century to get to where its at. Moreover, your ideology has been around for a while and people are probably chafing locally under it,. So my pitch to you (you can of coures let me know if you have another idea): have a few client states that are deeply unstable or troubled in your immediate area. For example, perhaps the Nasser-Saddam debate ended in war, with Saddam and Qaddafi invading Egypt and annexing it to greater Iraq, while the Iranian revolution still happens but is killed in its cradle with US support to neo-Babylon, replacing the government in Iran with something amenable to the Iraqis; also maybe the Sauds get attacked by Iraq too, so Saddam basically goes even further than Kuwait. The end result would be a few of weak puppets in your immediate surroundings with a hostile population. It’d be an interesting and different setup than other states, so let me know if you’re interested in that situation. Countries could be like this:
  • Iran: Persian revivalist government (grey) that’s subservient to Iraq, but population deeply hates it.
  • Libya: a loyal Qaddafian dictatorship (grey) that is deeply hated
  • Sudan: a loyal Sudanian dictatorship (grey) that’s got a lot of problems in its south
  • United Kingdom of Arabia: the Sauds, Emirates, Omanis, and Yemenis joined together into a united after the Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia that took all its valuable oil fields. Perhaps a very hostile country run as an absolute monarchy with lots of Tan ideological influence
  • Turkey: perhaps you invaded these guys too in a minor war, and this is like Arabia, a hostile but semi-popular government, dunno what the ideology would be
  • Transcaucasia: another post-communist multi-ethnic state that somehow survives, so probably through liberal democracy (blue) or some esoteric dictatorship (grey or black)
South & East Asian NPCs
@Shadowbound @NinjaCow64



Wrote this up before reading Shadow’s post, but will leave it as-is for discussion purposes.

The three big questions for me are:
  • What happens to Muslims/Pakistan in south Asia during and after partition?
  • What happens to China during WW2/the civil war?
  • Does Japan include Korea, parts of Siberia, Indonesia, etc. and if so, how does it maintain that without dealing with constant anti-colonial unrest?
Let me know your thoughts on these questions. My initial reaction is to a) have Pakistan form and get beaten in a war with red India and end up with less power and influence than OTL but still exist bordering Afghanistan, b) cut China in two, with the north an impoverished North Korea-esque hellscape (thereby making it not a great power) and the south a post-dictatorship KMT unstable democracy (a regional power that could go in a few different directions), and c) give Japan Korea, parts of Siberia, and Indonesia, and have the reason they stuck around have something to do with the regime change that switched Japan from what it was in the cold war to revolutionary environmentalism; so perhaps lots of Koreans, Indonesians, etc. participated in the new ideological shift and therefore their willingness to remain part of a wider Japanese empire is still there for now.

States in this configuration in-detail:
  • Turkestan: a plain old fashioned dictatorship with a strongman who’ll switch to whichever ideology let’s him rule better and gives him benefits (probably leaning black to make the regime a pan-Turkic ideology)
  • Afghanistan: not sure.
  • Pakistan (could rename it too): could be leaning ultranationalist (black) or esoteric Islam revivalist (grey)
  • Tibet: a Buddhist theocracy that’s too isolated to really matter in this game
  • Sri Lanka: although this violates the no small states rule, it could also be an interesting point of tension between another power and Red India, in a similar way to Taiwan
  • Burma: unsure. Perhaps a Tan Buddhist technocracy?
  • Thailand: we can probably just keep the monarchy, though this would also be a good candidate for the Grey ideology
  • Indochina: The simplest route in my view of getting only one state out of Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia is that French Indochina goes Red and independent without a full-on Vietnam war, and just ends up being a bit like OTL China; this leaves them as an Indian ally at game start
  • Indonesia (rump): in-order to make Japan sufficiently big and powerful, I’m inclined to have Japan conquer a bunch of Indonesia in some war. Perhaps the Dutch relocated their government during WW2 to Indonesia, and this was one of the few instances where the Japanese participated in the war, seizing most but not all of the archipelago and leaving the rest a client government. By 2001 they could go in a number of ways ideologically.
  • Philippines: Probably a great place for the US to have influence in this region, so I’m inclined to go Pink and have it so that the Philippines largely benefited from the apartheid US regime and so maintains continuity of friendly relations
  • South China: as per the timeline suggestion I made, just make it a KMT emerging democracy where multiple ideologies are competing
  • North China: as per timeline, just reduce it to rubble underneath the terrible weight of a North Korea esque dictatorship perhaps equally willing to align Red or Black
  • Manchuria: a state that went independent from Japan (perhaps in the 1990s or during the ideological shift in Japan) but doesn’t want to rejoin the South in a union due to fear of the North invading them, so another democracy wose future is uncertain
  • Australia-New Zealand: I’m inclined to go with Ninja’s suggestion of making them an anti-environmental antagonist to Japan, perhaps going Tan
  • Siberia: I’m somewhat inclined to go with Ahigin’s idea from signup brainstorming with having the communists settle lots of Yiddish people in Siberia, along with other nationalities, creating a democracy state caught between major powers
African NPCs
Since there is no Africa player this one is less important but we should definitely try to sort out the basic situations for Nigeria and South Africa. I’m open to suggestions, and I’m also open to editing the way the borders were drawn during the Scramble for Africa to decrease the number of independent states in this region too.
 
Country Name:
Formal: Peoples Republic of Babylon and Assyria
Pre-1992: Republic of Babylon
Informal: Babylon, Neo-Babylon


Ideological Stretch Goals:

1) Neo-babylonian ideology is a response to european communism; it rejects socialistic efforts to eliminate differentiated national peoples. Power often seeks to homogenize, and to make the world in his image. This is anti-human! It is anti-life. Life is in higher glories - honoring the ancestors and the gods, in fierce competition and in grace, in awful destruction and in magnanimity, in our deeds. The Babylonian project must center great deeds and re-establishing the might of our ancestors. The Esagila Marduk must be restored in the great city of Babylon, and a great Ziggurat built in every major capital of humanity.

2) The Babylonian long-term stretch goal is to colonize the moon, followed by the asteroid belt, establish the largest space fleet, gain a monopoly on asteroid mining, and control over the space economy. This should ensure that Babylon will be the first to establish mining operations on important planetary moons, such as Saturn's moon of Titan, and ultimately it will guarantee that Babylonians will inherit the riches of the stars. This will be the greatest way to honor Marduk.

3) In the medium term, Babylon must establish dominance over the global economy. All powers must pay tribute to Babylon, in treasure and in honor. We hope that this will be brotherly, elder to junior (for all Peoples are younger siblings to Babylon, and descend from Great Sumer). But it is the elder's duty to shepherd his juniors when they defy good order. Neo-babylonians accept a clear-eyed view of global power - only strength is relevant, and Babylon can accept nothing but a position of absolute strength against any competitor.

4) Within the Babylonian tradition, an ideal ruler is strong, canny, proud, and a representative of the strength of his people. They must defeat strong opponents in a decisive war, and inscribe their greatness onto history. The Akkadian peoples cannot be masters of the world, as they once were, if their leadership is not a true power. The leader inherits the legacy of Hammurabi, Sennacherib, Ashurbanipal, and Nebuchadnezzar - if he follows their example, he will surely achieve his goals and bring great glory to his name.


Functioning of Government:
Power sharing agreement between two major institutions:

1) President & Ministers
Saddam and his advisors - this institution is controlled by what remains of the Ba'ath party, and is responsible for most executive function. Includes many Sadam loyalists and party members, but possesses a clear succession plan and is disciplined by the Council of Ancients, who can remove ministers at will.

2) Council of Ancients
Upper house of parliament - functionally controls the legislative agenda, can veto anything the lower house does, etc. Members are appointed by the existing council, and is primarily composed of elder statesmen from the lower house, former oil executives, certain national heroes (generals, professors, etc.), and upper class representatives from any state that Babylon annexes

(Bureaucracy is filled by a patronage system, with preference given to Babylonian-educated individuals who are connected, even distantly, to the Council of Ancients.)


Country History: (has been revised slightly from initial pitch)

1901: Mesopotamian Petroleum Company (MPC) is formed to explore for oil along the Berlin-Baghdad railway.

1913: Oil discovered pre-war, such that substantial german capital becomes locked up in oil development. Substantial german enclave is established in Baghdad.

1917-20: During the communist takeover in Germany, Britain facilitated the class flight of german capitalists and conservatives overseas, particularly to Iraq, where the germans solidified themselves economically by obtaining a monopoly on oil exploitation in Iraq for the MPC.

1920-50s: Germans re-create their education system, replicated their bourgeois culture, established a haven for german conservatives in Baghdad, began work establishing a theory for the archaeological, cultural, and racial history of Mesopotamia, and educated generations of iraqi students. Baghdad grew rapidly during this period, and became the center of a germano-arabic blended bourgeois culture. It became fashionable during this period to proudly display finely-preserved ancient artifacts, and to use sumerian motifs in decor.

1958: Abd al-Karim Qasim overthrows the Hashemite monarchy, as in OTL. Upon the military overthrow of the Hassemite monarchy the german conservatives aligned themselves with Qasim, helping to consolidate his support, suppress and co-opt Ba’athist opposition, and ensure favourable drilling rights for German oil barons. The MPC was not nationalized, but rather broken up into 3 competing firms that colluded to maintain an effective monopoly in Iraq while competing and investing elsewhere in the region.

Professors at the University of Baghdad began arguing for the return of Babylonian supremacy – that the region was best served by it’s ancient masters in Ur, Uruk, Nineveh, and most notably Babylon – and that the greatness of its people had been shackled by Persian and Turkish rule. Qasim associated himself with neo-babylonian ideology, embracing an “Iraqi-first” policy and rejecting Nasser's Pan-Arabism.

1960s: Academic effort to render Akkadian cuneiform script in Old Aramaic alphabet, and 'neo-Akkadian' becomes taught in elite preparatory academies as part of the 'Akkadian revival.' This included lots of state-sponsored cultural production (radio-play, television) about Sumerian heroes like Gilgamesh, Babylonian iconography on military equipment, etc. The Ramadan Revolution never happens. The Ba'ath party remains a strong social and political force operating underground with al-Bakr at its head.

1968: Ba'ath party buys-in. Al-Bakr negotiates a deal with Qasim, and a new constitution is ratified that creates the Council of Ancients, with the ba'ath and neo-babylonian factions agreeing to share the council while Qasim assumes the presidency, to rule into his old age. Adopts the name "People's Republic of Babylon."

1970s: Economy prospers as the PRB succeeds in maintaining neutrality during the cold war. Regional tension remains Qasim and Nasser in Egypt.

1978-79: Qasim gradually succeeded by Saddam Hussein, who until then served as Minister of War.

1980: With American support, Saddam wages a successful war in Persia; the “Susiana Plain” is annexed, and the Mushussu special forces seize control of Tehran and hand it over to neo-median generals, who set up a friendly revivalist government.

1982-86: Annexes the gulf states, offering their royal families seats in the Council of Ancients and incorporating them into Babylonian elite culture.

1990s: Dominating a major part of the world’s oil trade, Saddam re-builds Babylon as a planned capital of his new empire, complete with hanging gardens, lush canals, and a grand ziggurat crowned with a palace and statues of Marduk in Saddam's likeness.

1992: Babylon and Assyria enter a political union; Assyrians are described as a the "Younger Brother" of Babylon. Their greatest strength has historically been found in ruling jointly. With the collapse of the global order, Assyria and Babylon are safer together.

1992-96: 3-4 small wars are fought against Turkey and in the levant, as Babylon "resolves the humiliating injustice of colonial borders" and "restores the rightful borders of Assyria."

1997: Babylon, Libya, and Sudan intervene in Egypt, seizing the Suez canal to prevent the red menace from taking hold in the Middle East.


Claims:






State Proficiencies:
Warfare = 8 (ground, air, missiles, navy)
Espionage = 4 (spying, black ops, counter-intel)
Social Control = 2 (secret police, media)
Administration = 2 (diplomacy, legitimation)
Economy = 2 (industry, engineering)
Science = 2 (education, WMDs)


Capability Descriptions:

Ground, Air, Missiles, Navy - the Babylon High Command. The military is highly professionalized and centralized, coupling a large standing army (composed largely of conscripts) with a core of loyal, culturally babylonian officers, capable of occupying territory and fighting competently. This force is augmented by mercenary forces such as the Hand of Death, Wrath of Nergal, and Odin's Gift, who are hired internationally and often serve critical roles. The entire armed force revolves around the missile and air systems, Nuska and Anu, featuring advanced technology, robust information systems, and a highly-paid specialist corps. The naval forces are composed primarily of heavily on aircraft carriers, onboard missiles, and submarines. Naval bases are stationed throughout the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and East Mediterranean. Altogether, this force is designed to occupy territory when necessary, both otherwise focused on an an offensive force capable of being flexibly and rapid deployed anywhere in the region or in neighboring regions.

Spying, Secret police, Counter-intel - The Hasisu Babylon, a.k.a. the Mukhābarāt, operates throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa, though primarily in areas that are close to Babylon. Ends up coordinating between a local security, the military, and diplomatic forces. Tasked with infiltrating both foreign and domestic local governments, foreign labour unions, embassies, and opposition groups.

Black ops - Mushussu special forces; named for Marduk's pet dragon. Elite forces specialized in decapitating unfriendly regimes.

Media - Uskāru ("Crescent"), a state-controlled consortium of news organizations including radio, print, and television stations; media is produced in both Arabic and Akkadian.

Diplomacy, Legitimation, Industry, Engineering - Council of Ancients. See above for background, but the council has a number of important features: 1) Can accommodate new members, and can shape the Executive council, and is very effective in renewing itself in this way. 2) Can appoint diplomats and diplomatic missions, is heavily enmeshed with the oil industry and Babylonian academic institutions, and is generally composed of educated and well-connected individuals who can be persuasive agents of Babylon in domestic and international contexts.

The Cult of Marduk is a social organization based in Baghdad and Babylon with branches in Basra, Mosul, Aleppo, Damascus, and most recently in Alexandria and Cairo. Many directors of the Mesopotamian Petroleum Company (MPC) are rumored to be part of the cult, as are most educated professionals in Babylon. This includes the powerful and capable civil engineering firm Epištu, which is heavily favoured for state construction projects due to their dedication to expressive neo-Babylonian forms in every project (military bases, public squares, dams, etc.).

Education - Babylon Polytechnic, University of Baghdad, Nabu College, etc. System of universities and preparatory academies dedicated to preserving the German academic tradition and simultaneously reviving an Akkadian elite culture. Large endowments, and heavily linked to the Council of Ancients, Cult of Marduk and the civil service.

WMDs - We've got nukes, they're on missiles, those missiles are mobile, they are all over Babylon, we can make more, and they are all controlled by the President (personally, from the presidential bunker in the reconstructed Etemenanki, and from Babylon High Command). System is named for the divine weapon of Marduk, Imhullu.


Sources of Stress:

1) Extreme Corruption / Class divide - Babylonian elites control major political, economic, and cultural institutions, and claim so openly. State business is conducted in neo-Akkadian (though many civil servants speak Arabic privately).

2) Kurdish Insurgency - Akkadian ideology rejects the right of Kurdish people to live in Mesopotamia, and Babylon has for decades engendered bitter hatred from Kurdish groups for their cruel oppression and genocide. The Peshmerga are an effective and popular insurgent group.


Neighbouring NPCs:

Persia - Babylon demands, and receives, reparations from the Persian government for thousands of years of domination by the hateful Persians (and their successors)

Libya - Excellent friends

Kush - Excellent Friends

Arabia - Backward and very tribal, lacking the sophistication of settled Babylonian civilization.

Turkey - Though the fate of the Hattians and Greeks is sad, the steppe Turks now dominate Anatolia; they would be best served by Babylonian leadership and guidance.

Oman - Would benefit greatly from being enlightened.

Transcaucasia - a depressing, degenerate state that is unworthy of our respect.

Babylonian Thoughts on Great Powers:

Japan - is this even a state? They have turned their back on true civilization. For a people that profess a love the natural world, and of life, they live little.

Eurasia - they turn their backs on their fathers; they cannot stand the sight of them. This is weakness, and the sign of an immature state.

United States - the death throes of a young and decaying society. It is a pity, but few states have the strength to endure.

Argentina - ambitious, but misguided and doomed, in the end. They do not know it is death's door they knock upon as they exit the hall of their fathers.

India - we view their society with respect and good feeling.
 
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[DRAFT]

Comrades, the material reality of this new millennium is clear - the liberation of the working class will be impossible unless we first liberate nature herself.
~Chairman Takayoshi Suzuki, Marxism of the New Millennium

Country Name:
Formal: Federation of Greater East Asian Socialist Republics
Informal: FGEASR, The Federation, Greater East Asia, Japan

Ideology: Radical Environmentalism

Ideological Stretch Goals: Second Millennium Marxism (also referred to as Marxism of the New Millennium, Takayoshi Suzuki Thought or Eco-Marxism) is the radical Eco-Socialist ideology that animates Greater East Asia, taking the name from Chairman Takayoshi Suzuki the current leader of the Federation. It is an evolution of the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union. As it advocates for the liberation of both the working class and the environment, its ultimate demands are simple to state:

A complete halt to carbon emissions, greenhouse gasses and other pollutants across the world. Elimination and reversal of anthropogenic climate change. Dismantling of all weapons of mass destruction. Decontamination of irradiated areas. The establishment of a global, classless and stateless society where humanity lives in harmony with nature.

Functioning of Government: The Federation is a federal union of numerous Socialist Republics making up the former Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. It is essentially a one-party state - although there are numerous recognised Communist parties and mass organisations, they are organised around the United Front of Greater East Asia which is comparable to similar OTL organisations (such as the United Front of the People's Republic of China, the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) or the National Front of the German Democratic Republic). The parties are generally based around region (e.g Communist Party of Japan, Communist Party of Korea ect) and the mass organisations are based around demographics and special interest groups (Socialist Association of Science and Technology, Socialist Association of Literature and the Arts, Socialist Women's Organisation).

Unlike most OTL United Fronts there are is no dominant Communist Party that is superior to all the other Communist parties within the organisation. The current Chairman, Takayoshi Suzuki, was formerly a member of the Socialist Association of Science and Technology (senior members within the United Front resign from their former organisation per convention) and no two Chairpersons have originated from the same party or mass organisation. Due to the events of the April Coup, the Socialist Association of Science and Technology has an outsized influence on the National Front.

Despite the numerous political parties and mass organisations "competing" in elections, elections are essentially predetermined. Most members of the National People's Congress are determined through extremely opaque internal party meetings.

Country History: [later]

Claims:

Dark Green = Core, Teal = Stretch, Yellow = China (special case)

Special Cases:
  • Philippines - An independent Philippines just feels too weird with the rest of my borders, especially one aligned with the ideologically similar United States. I get that the idea is to provide some point of tension between me and the Rainbow Coalition, I am happy to work something out with Jayden over some sort of ideological struggle among the Pacific Islands and/or something in California.
  • China - The map I was using didn't have good borders for Manchuria sorry! The fate of Manchuria would be entirely dependent on what the fate of China is. If China + Mongolia is geographically split between the ideologies of her three neighbours then Manchuria should probably be part of the Communist side. I've highlighted in Yellow the rough regions I would like an Communist "East China" to have. If we go "China is now one country" thing then maybe Manchuria went back to China and got reincorporated with the rest of the country or something IDK.
Stretch Goals:
  • Hawaii - Hawaii would a recent addition to the country. Makes sense because of shared cultural heritage. Could be the flashpoint for some sort of cold conflict with the Rainbow Coalition? A Hawaiian autonomous region? Gotta think about it.
  • Indonesia/Malaysia - I know that there were concerns about Indonesia being too much of a stretch for my nation. I sympathise with that but also I think that a South Indonesia would be redundant in the same ideological/geopolitical space as Australia. I would be happy to trade New Guinea for full control of Indonesia and Malaysia
  • New Guinea - If you think that full control of Indonesia/Malaysia is too much of a stretch then I would be happy to give New Guinea to a hostile Apartheid Australia/New Zealand. New Guinea was partially a British colony and there were plans to make it part of Australia OTL IIRC. I think it would be more interesting than a South Indonesia and also less NPCs.
  • Indochina - Probably the least realistic part of the map lmao. I know you were considering having Vietnam go Red but that doesn't really make sense now that India is Blue. Maybe having them be NPCs that are aligned with me might make sense? And Thailand as a Green-aligned NPC too? Thailand is even more of a stretch but it makes the borders a bit nicer.

State Proficiencies:
  • Warfare - 2 (ground, air, naval, missiles, irregular)
  • Espionage 2 (spying, black ops, subversion, counter-intel, crime)
  • Social Control 2 (secret police, criminal justice, mass culture, media, movements)
  • Administration 2 (diplomacy, state-building, data collection, social policy, legitimation)
  • Economy 4 (fiscal-monetary, industry, arms, entrepreneurs, engineering)
  • Science 8 (blue sky, applied, social science, education, WMDs)
Capability Descriptions:

Warfare: Greater East Asian Air Force [Air], Greater East Asian Navy [Naval]

The Federation has a well trained air force and navy as required by its unique geographical position. The Federate Army is perfectly capable of supporting these two more well equipped branches, but due to personal grievances the prestige of the army has atrophied. Federate generals worry that the army would not be able to prosecute a overseas war if it was required to defend the planet or the nation. A major problem effecting all three branches is the lack of Federate industry capacity to supply them with modern equipment. All three branches rely heavily on outdated and imported equipment as Federate industry simply is not large enough to supply everything they need.

Espionage: Communist International/Green Internationale [Subversion], Ministry of Internal Federal Affairs [Counter-Intel]

There are many environmentalist groups and socialist groups around the world, many of which are backed by the Federation. They are organised around the Communist International which was reestablished in Tokyo in 1992. This version of the International is nicknamed the “Green Internationale”, especially by Communist groups that disagree with Takayoshi Suzuki Thought. Groups formally and informally associated with the Green International include both Socialist and non-Socialist environmentalist groups which serve as effective vehicles to drive change in other countries. While some Green Internationale parties in war torn and unstable regions are armed, they lack the specialist training needed to perform sophisticated intelligence gathering or black operations. They also rely on paying third-parties to supply their cadres.

The Ministry of Internal Federate Affairs is responsible for counter-intelligence operations in the Federation. It adequately protects the Federation from being undermined by reactionary forces wishing to do it, the working classes or the environment harm.

Criminal elements within other countries are reluctant to cooperate with the Federation due to their harsh crackdowns on the Yakuza.

Social Control: Ministry of Justice [Criminal Justice], Regional Communist Parties [Movements]

Faith in the ideology of Second Millennium Marxism remains strong among the lowest cadres of the legally recognised political parties in the Federation. Although only a minority of the country are members of these parties, the government can effectively influence change through appealing to the lower echelons of the masses to drive social and political change.

The Yakuza and organised crime in general has been all but eliminated by the Federation’s efficient, fair and well respected criminal justice system - the Ministry of Justice.

Due to various timeline butterfly effects Japan never developed the cultural industry that appealed to an overseas audience they way that they did OTL. The mass surveillance systems of the previous eras that were used to arbitrarily harass the public were dismantled in order to placate the wider populace during the turbulent years following the May Coup.

Administration: United Front of Greater East Asia [State-Building], Ministry of Labor and Social Security [Social Policy]

The United Front of Greater East Asia is truly united. Takayoshi Suzuki has eliminated all revisionists and personal rivals in the Central Committee, leaving only comrades who are deeply committed to his eco-socialist vision. The Special Subcommittee for the Eradication of Corruption has purged almost all corruption from all parties in the United Front. The United Front of Greater East Asia is truly a shining example for other countries in terms of governance.

The Federation maintains a strong welfare state as a consequence of its history of a fully planned economy. This is organised by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Outside of the true believers in the Eco-Marxist cause, there is distrust of the Federation rooting from the idea that the Federation is a continuation of Japanese hegemony during the era of Empire. This makes gathering accurate census data a nearly insurmountable problem. Unsurprisingly, regular sham elections do not disabuse skeptics of the government's intentions. The diplomatic corps of the Federation are not well-respected and often cause more problems than they solve (an OTL comparison would be China).

Economy: Ecological State Capitalism [Fiscal-Monetary], National Champions [Entrepreneurs], Obayashi Corporation [Engineering]

Few countries keep quite as strong a grip on its economy than the Federation. During the May Coup and the Special Economic Period that immediately followed it necessitated the liberalisation of the economy, the Federation transitioned to a policy of Ecological State Capitalism - Capitalism with strict and tight regulatory mechanisms to ensure that corporations obey strict labour and ecology laws. Another mechanism that the United Front uses to control the economy is through a system of National Champions - private businesses that are ceded a ceded a dominant position in a national economy in exchange for government influence. This system keeps the billionaires compliant - they are either true believers in the cause of Eco-Marxism or are smart enough to not fragrantly go against it. One of the biggest successes in the National Champion system is the Obayashi Corporation, a construction and engineering company that has established itself as one of the biggest companies in its field despite the unique difficulties of being a construction company in the Federation.

Because of its strict ecological policies, the Federation has an industrial base that struggles to meet the needs of the Federation. This has caused a large trade deficit for the Federation. This is especially concerning in the field of arms manufacturing, the military simply must import weapons as East Asian supply simply cannot meet its demands.

Science: Blue Sky [Socialist Association of Science and Technology], Applied [Nissan Group], Social Science [Second Millennium Marxism], Education [F11 Universities]

Due largely in part due to Takayoshi Suzuki's influence, the Federation is the one of the largest drivers of technological progress - only second to Argentina. Science is a joint responsibility of public and private industry, generally the government pursues blue sky technological advancement (usually through the Socialist Association of Science and Technology) and private industry pursues applied technological development (usually through the Nissan Group, a national champion reconstitued from ashes of the Zaibatsu of the same name). Being a Marxist state there is a great deal of emphasis placed upon Social Sciences, most notably the immortal science of Second Millennium Marxism!

The F11 University system is a rebranding of the prestigious system Imperial Universities of Japan, disassociating itself from its Imperialist origins. Originally consisting of nine universities, after a period of intesne government and private investment the University of the South Pacific and the University of Micronesia were admitted to the group. F11 Universities are among the most prestigous in the world, only coming second in comparison to Argentina.

Due to the ideology of the Federation, WMD research is entirely negelected.

Sources of Stress:

1) Not only is addressing climate change one of the key issues that the ideology of Eco-Marxism seeks to address, it uniquely threatens many of the constituent states of the Federation. Neglecting this issue will leave true believers in the ideology enraged and half the country underwater.

2) The Greater East Asian military and the military of her clients are heavily reliant on imports of military equipment, especially from [INSERT COUNTRIES HERE]. The Federation is uniquely vulnerable to embargo and sanctions of military hardware.

3) Outside of the true believers in the Eco-Marxist cause, there is distrust of the Federation rooting from the idea that the Federation is a continuation of Japanese hegemony during the era of Empire. This makes gathering accurate census data a nearly insurmountable problem. Unsurprisingly, regular sham elections do not disabuse skeptics of the government's intentions.

Neighbouring NPCs: [later]

Thoughts on Other Major Powers:

India – The collapse of North India was almost as upsetting as the collapse of the Soviet Union. Federal Republic of India claims to be a democracy, but a democracy for whom? The bourgeoisie are the real masters of this nation, we hope that one day soon the workers of India will see through the sham of bourgeoisie democracy and reestablish Communism in India.

Babylon – The so-called People's Republic of Babylon and Assyria is everything we despise. A deeply reactionary anti-Communist petrostate, its extreme and simultaneous oppression of the working class and the environment is matched by few in history. The contradictions will one day soon tear this abomination apart, we only hope that we can accelerate the process of returning this disgusting festering sore on the planet back to the grave where it belongs.

Argentina – We appreciate the country's goal of refining the science of renewable energy in order to combat climate change and will happily cooperate with them on this matter. However, their ideology is deeply and irreconcilably contradictory as it is flawed. Alas the neglect the most important science of all, the immortal science of dialectical materialism. That and that alone shall be their downfall.

United States – No! You are doing it wrong! Establishing productive forces based on polluting industry will not liberate the working class, in the long run it will destroy them! And your liberalising, "New Leftist" policies are merely repeats of the same mistakes that were made by Gorbachev! While we are pleased that the traditionally oppressed groups of the United States are finally freed, we must strive to ensure no other contemporary Communist movement falls to this revisionism. And we hope that we can encourage the Rainbow Republic to take a new path, or that new leadership replaces them, before the region falls back into reaction.

Eurasia – It pains us to see the former Soviet Union, the shining hope for workers everywhere, fall into the blackest of reactions. We hope that the Soviet spirit still lies dormant among the workers of this wicked state and that one day they shall rise and up liberate themselves.
 
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Country Name:
Formal: The Most Serene and Enlightened Social Republic of the Argentine Nation and Its Allies
Informal: Argentina

Ideological Stretch Goals:

The conquest of South America, whether by peace or force; the reunification of the European Spanish and Portuguese peoples under the Argentine Model, from California to Mozambique. That would be followed by the cessation of any elections, the dispersal of any parties – but especially communist parties; the displacement of English as the lingua franca of the world, particularly in academic spheres.

This is all just a step to the last goal: the creation of a world-AI system that would rule the world in a wise, technocratic and fair way, resolving any kind of socioeconomic or otherwise strife.

Functioning of Government:

The division of powers that has existed as a firm base for many regimes – communist & non-communist alike – between that of the executive, legislative and juridical branches fundamentally does not exist. But it is an useful metaphor – and only that – in explaining how Argentina functions today.

1) The Supreme Lodge of Rational Enlightenment & Prosperity – A body of Argentina’s brightest academicians, each representing their respective fields, is perhaps the most supreme power in Argentina. These are the men and – women – who like shining stars, illuminate the path forwards, and therefore, their decisions have what one may consider law-like function. But rest assured, these people undergo a yearly Peer Review of sorts, where they demonstrate their capabilities not just in the sciences, but also, in the art of governing. Should one or more persons be found lacking, that is grounds for removal and replacement.

2) The Illustrious Hand of Rational Growth – De facto, encompassing the entirety of the educational system of Argentina, it represents everything from kindergartens to the highest research institutions. It has advisory capacity, in the sense that even the lowest kindergarten teacher (provided he or she has the proper qualifications, proofs, tests, so on) can forward a proposal to the Supreme Lodge for consideration and possible implementation. In reality, however, the most influential proposals tend to gather around the University of Buenos Aires, which has itself closest to the ear of the Supreme Lodge. The Illustrious Hand(s), of course, have a great degree of self-rule and autonomy within their walls, so long as they do not propose insane, debunked theories such as, but not limited to: neo-Babylonism, Duginism, Second Millenium Marxism, whatever the Americans are trying to peddle this time, and perhaps worst of all: liberal democracy.

3) The Peer Reviewers – Within each level of the Illustrious Hand, there exists a Peer Reviewing commission that supervises the work, functioning and operation of each kindergarten, school and university. Should the Peer Reviewers find that the research of a certain employee or even of the director of an university, he or she can be liable to be demoted or even removed. It is perhaps a last-instance institution with regards to the Supreme Council, and closest thing to “balance”. But it should not be confused with a Supreme Court in a liberal democracy such as India or Colombia. Beyond the narrow vision of precedent-observation that law is both in communist and non-communist countries, the Peer Reviewers aim to be the watchful guardian of efficiency in every sphere of life.

Within Argentine government, the scientific method is held up greatly, seen as the best guide of governance, whichever “pillar” may it take. Conversely, Argentina is a highly centralized state, as a refutal to the old and broken federalism that sank South America to the level it is now in; and which now led to the screaming death of the U.S.

Country History:

The history of modern Argentina’s rise is closely tied with the so-called South American War, which raged across the entirety of the continent, and which would set the stage for the next century’s political map. The 1900s and 1910s were fraught with contradictions, border claims and revanchisms.

Four primary sources of contention existed: the former Paraguayan country, divided between Brazil and Argentina following a much bloodless war than OTL; the Patagonian claims of Chile and Brazil; the desire for the re-establishment of Gran Colombia; finally, the conquest of the Atacama desert by Chile, cutting off Bolivia from the sea.



This led to a very rapid militarization of the continent, a naval and grounds arms race between almost every South American state, but particularly between Brazil and Argentina. It was, also, in a sense, a proxy conflict for British and American influence, as shipyards from both countries competed which can create the best dreadnought, those fearsome monsters of the seas. The frantic pace of arming oneself peaked out and threatened to sink countries if not consumed, and from 1910 to the early 1915, a brutal war raged across the continent. The irony of the dreadnought race was that victory came not from their mighty dreadnoughts, but the early-adopter advantage that Argentina had from buying the submarine technology from Germany at a ruinous cost. This whole war was in essence this: all states involved were perilously close to disaster and breaking apart, moreso than ever at peacetime. Mutinies of Black sailors shook the entire continent, as if a foretaste of what would be a most revolutionary decade, and put an end to the war. In the end, Gran Colombia and Bolivia were the only nations to make great gains: Bolivia restored its sea coast, while Gran Colombia acquired Ecuador. There were no territorial changes between Argentina and Brazil, although, a pro-Argentine government with U.S blessing was installed, while Uruguay, that apple of division, was internationalised under U.S and British control.

WWI was a quiet war in South America. While gladly reneging on any taken German debt, and seizing German properties under suspicion of spying, little of importance occurred in South America.

And then the old world ended in 1917. A bloody, tidal wave overwhelmed much of Europe, buckling only at France and Italy. Strikes and riots left unspared no South American country, either, for the war was still fresh – and the world war was affecting the world economy, too.

Despite that, the interwar era was kind to Argentina. Refugee inflows, often wealthy people fleeing from Europe, and then, U.S capital in particular aiding its development [insofar as it benefited the U.S] lifted up the spirits of the nation and stabilized the situation. Chile was the focal point in that period, as Argentina aimed to bring it closer into its orbit, and even to integrate it, which generated tensions with the U.K, whose industry and military required raw materials supplied from it. It wasn’t until the mid-30s that things began to look ill. A rearming, with British aid Brazil was a portent for ill, and while WWII was peaceful, the pull-out first of British and then U.S troops from Uruguay led to yet another South American conflict, from 1947 to 1949. A bloody struggle, it was ended with an U.S intervention and a blow-out of the previous Brazilian junta. Uruguay was awarded to Argentina as its protector; and all seemed to be well.

Until 1959, when Brazil totally, and completely unraveled. A revolution led by perhaps two of the greatest revolutionaries of the modern era, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro led to the collapse of the pro-U.S regime that was wildly unpopular, with its repressive methods, and attempts to import U.S-style apartheid on Brazilian soil. This meant that, at the peak of the Cold War, Argentina wasn’t on the sidelines – it was right next to the fire. The formation of the Security Council didn’t really seem to tide over the tensions; minimally, it seemed to merely tamper down the risk of nuclear war. Initially, the Brazilian-Argentine conflicts limited themselves to proxies, a peculiar miniature of the Soviet-U.S struggle, with Angola [where Argentina interceded against the Latin Union, seeing that their apartheid, colonial policies were just doing the MPLA’s job for them] and the Peruan-Bolivian struggles being some of the theatres.

But in 1973, Chile was completely integrated within Argentina, which in response resulted into the bursting of the Andes Revolution, with Peru and Bolivia being in the grip of severe revolutionary activity, and the direct intervention of Argentina in defense of both states. A protracted, difficult conflict wages across mountainous terrain, it nearly broke Argentina, as insurgencies began to fan out within its territories. Ultimately, the end-result was the division of Bolivia between the newly communist state of Peru and Argentina. This was also a strong impetus for the first concrete moves towards technocracy, which was seen as creating a middle-class basis for the state which would not bend to the whims of the masses.

The rest of the 70s followed the typical for the Cold War era non-military fronts: espionage, scientific and sports competitions with Brazil, the slow restructuring of Argentine society, by no small degree due to the waves of globalization and interconnection. The early-80s, however, saw a truly apocalyptic conflict between the two countries, each egged on by their patron with money, guns and the promise of South American domination should they win. But the first shot was fired by Brazil [though the Brazilians say that was staged] with an invasion into Uruguay, alongside a front opened by Peru, that was then followed by an attack on Brazil by Gran Colombia. In short: it was, in its own way, the Second South American War, and this time, both sides were ready to fight to the last man. [Apocryphally, POTUS offered nuclear attacks on Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and other major cities. This has not been peer reviewed information, however.]. It was a brutal fight that Argentina nearly lost, but the winding down of Soviet support due to internal crisis is probably what saved Buenos Aires. And the Argentine Model, primitive as it was back then, meant that the insurgencies never got as bad as in the 70s. But Argentina in 1986, the end of the war, wasn’t in a great state.

Then the world ended. In 1989-1991, both the U.S and USSR became history. Eaten out by their own internal problems, both nations lost their backers. But Argentina had begun to develop by the early 60s as nation that’d one day stand independent of U.S support, while the Guevarists always hoped that pan-South American revolution would be better than self-reliance, a gambit that was now failing. In 1992-4, the final Brazilian-Argentine war was fought, retaking all the lost lands, and seizing new ones in Brazil, forcing Che and Fidel to fight a struggle from the Amazonas at an elderly age. A new regime reigned in Brazil, and this time, for good. As a symbol of dominance, Argentina offered to buy the Falklands islands from an insolvent Britain in 1997. Argentina in 2001 has emerged alive, victorious and rejuvenated, even with wounds from the past.

Claims: What you have sounds great to me, plus the Falklands.

State Proficiencies:
Warfare = 2 (ground, naval)
Espionage = 4 (spying, subversion, counter-intelligence)
Social Control = 2 (movements, media)
Administration = 2 (diplomacy, data-collection)
Economy = 2 (industry, engineering)
Science = 8 (education, blue sky, applied, social sciences)

Capability Descriptions:

Warfare: The Argentinian Armed Forces are well-armed, but the strain from the Brazilian struggles means that it is not in peak shape, compared to other Great Power militaries; it is still likely the largest on the continent. The Argentine Navy helps projecting power abroad and defend vital trade and logistic routes.

Espionage:

1) The Eye of Jose Martin, or more commonly known as just the A^3 (Agencia de Intelligencia Argentina) is a well-funded structure within the Argentine government. Few outside of its offices know as much as the goings-on in South America: from the latest movements in the Amazon jungles, to what the Colombian president had for lunch during her meeting with the Sandinista representative.


2) The Amalgamated Universities of the Friends of the Argentine Peoples is, ostensibly, a ring of satellite campuses ran across North and South America, which are ran for “philanthropic” purposes. Ranging from the Ivies in New England, that willingly – after some generous donations, of course – associated with the organisation, to newer, more hastily created universities in Gran Colombia and Peru, it is actually the way that Argentina spreads its influence amongst the middle and ruling classes, by drilling in the idea of the Argentine Model. In South America, its density is the greatest, while in the complete U.S, the uptake’s slightly slower. In Europe, the biggest campus is located in Barcelona and Madrid, although talks are in motion to restore the Prague University to its former glory.

Social Control: State-owned media with a focus on more apolitical programming that rather focuses on scientific advancements rather than any kind of political news. The government tries to manage student movements in universities and elsewhere.

Administration: Argentina possesses a sizeable, but not overtly influential, diplomatic corps, whose focus is mainly on the South American theater and countries where Amalgamated Universities exist. An extensive Bureau of Statistics keeps regular censuses of various businesses and peoples.

Economy: Industrial concerns exist within Argentina, and private property in non-crucial sectors remains unmolested. The necessity for elaborate and specialized machinery & technological tools necessitated the development of a solid engineering sector.

Science: By far the most advanced branch of Argentine society, it takes upon the following branches

1) Big Four Universities: Buenos Aires, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Montevideo are cities within cities, moreso than any other such structures. They have their own rules, their own government – their members receive tax breaks and special privileges. Those who cannot afford them (intellectually) go to the lessers.

2) Research Institutes for Applied Scientific Knowledge: Dotted across the land, some public, some intensely secretive and closed to the general public, within these institutes, cutting-edge technological advances that would make billions of pesos when realized and sold, are being researched daily there.

3) Patagonia Experimental Sciences Complex: In the deep Argentine south, a massive, enormous complex of research labs, apartment buildings, mini-cities, etc, they all exist to further the boundaries of science, here going far beyond the narrow bounds of the marketplace. Hadron colliders? You got it. AI programming? Best place for it. Of course, to partake in this research, one needs to go through a thorough investigation by the Peer Reviewers...and then, the A^3.

4) Social Science Study Division: To understand man, and to rise beyond his narrow horizon, to reach for the world, one must know man’s errors in the past. It also has one of the largest, “unbiased” institute for Marxism studies.

Sources of Stress:

1) The Brazilian Quagmire: Victory over the old enemy, while immediately satisfying, turned out to be something of a disappointment. Yes, the communists have been expelled from Brazil, but nevertheless, the new Brazilian state is very much underdeveloped, sapped by forty years of communism. Still worse is the massive insurgency raging across the Amazon by those Suzukist fanatics…

2) Centralism: It is no secret that Argentina centralises all resources for its development, siphoning from areas like Chile, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay both natural and human resources. This could have catastrophic results if handled unwisely.

3) Unpopularity: The middle classes, which compromise a solid 30% of Argentine population, are today ruling the universities, schools, research, economics, so on, so on. But for those other 70% of the population, life is less labcoats and university rostrums, and more hard work at low pay.

Neighbouring NPCs:

– Brazil: After the defeat of the communist Brazilian regime, Argentina pumped in a lot of money into establishing the new Illuminated State of Brazil. That money, according to not one or two Supreme Lodgers, may well have been sunk into a bottomless pit; the last war with Brazil was particularly ferocious and ruinous. Then, the Amazonian insurgency began, and outside of the mouth of Amazon, the Brazilian government has in essence, very little actual control of the area of the river. Corruption, the inheritance of communism, still hasn’t been cleansed, and often Argentine forces have to step in and maintain order.



– Gran Colombia: During the midpoint of the Cold War, certain foreign policy planners in the U.S began to realize that while Argentina was a sturdy ally in the struggle against Brazilian communism, it was not one without its own goals. Therefore, a more pliable ally was needed, and the Gran Colombian revanchism, only partially sated by the acquisitions during the South American War and WWI/WWII, was “allowed” to seize Guyana and Ecuador. This, alongside the wealth of Venezuelan oil, was enough to establish a dictator who styled himself in a one-party state, the Nuovo Libertadores, and his family ruled Gran Colombia with an iron fist. Until 1989, when all hell broke loose in the U.S, and a civil war broke out in the spiraling crisis. But in 1996, behind closed doors, an unique compromise was forged by Argentina and the U.S: the two states promised to support the liberal democratic opposition, which was the least worst option [between the NL and Guevarists-Suzukists for U.S and Argentina, respectively]. Today, Gran Colombia is a net exporter of oil that exists precariously between its peoples, Brazil, the Insurgency and the U.S…



– Peru: A state mostly lying on the sidelines of post-South American War, where it aligned with Bolivia against Chile and with Argentina, in the Cold War, it acquired something of a “neutral” zone status for communists, fascists and capitalists. Lima, with its Pacific coast, and facing just about every major power’s border, became South America’s spy capital and the place you want to go if you truly want to disappear. It is not surprising then, that it had a sizeable underground communist movement, which launched a revolution in the 70s that was supported by military action from Brazil, that inevitably led to yet another bloody, horrendous war with Argentina. The end-result was the end of Bolivia’s independence [as it had been swept up by the self-same revolutionary fervour] and a strange, barely workable, barely tolerated power-sharing agreement between the communists and the liberals. That agreement ebbed and flowed with the tide of the larger Argentine-Brazilian conflict, but until the 90s, it was “stable”, as far as Peruvian politics could be. The end of the U.S and the USSR led to immense chaos. Argentina, preoccupied with larger matters in Brazil and Gran Colombia, simply could not attend to anything beyond opportunistic landgrabs, some of which were rebuffed. But the Peruvian communists had a crisis not too dissimilar from that which embroiled Russia and created Eurasia: with no outside support, and ideology that was diluted by the constant forced coalitions with the liberals, they embraced a form of ultranationalism that was quite stark, one that was buffed by the fleeing Colombian Nuevo Libertadores supporters. It vows revanchism to all.


Argentine Thoughts on Great Powers:

1) U.S: The wolf may change its coat, but not its character. Why must we believe that this so-called “new” U.S will not attempt to re-impose its yoke over us, citing that it is “for our own good”? A state like this ruled by populism and the masses requires constant conflict – and they’ll find it.

2) Japan: We know many Japanese scientists, bright minds, unfortunately, they have been fogged by the “science” of Second Millennium Marxism (should’ve called it Second Milleniarian Marxism!), and therefore, shall never advance beyond the narrow confines of state ideology. Not to mention, every day that passes, a Fourth Internationale of Tokyo-Chicago-Moscow is being created, so as to plunge us into a new 1917.

3) Eurasia: Ladies and gentlemen – communism. What we call today, the subjugation of the individual to the brutalizing State is here in its purest form, shorn of any kind of substrate about world revolution, liberation, et cetera. All unnecessary.

4) Neo-Babylon: A tragically maldeveloped state, the birthplace of many great Arab minds is now ruled by a clique of warlords standing upon a steadily depleting pile of oil. What will you do once it runs out? Who can predict the chaos unleashed?

5) India: The definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting different results. While, of all Great Powers, India is perhaps the most tolerable, one cannot fathom why the Indian ruling elites and middle classes embrace the very same thing that led to the past century of ruin, liberal democracy! Communism grew out of it like a poisonous vine, and its inability to solve the massive issues facing it have torn the world apart. Why?!
 
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​

Official Name: Socialist Union of Plurinational States
Unnoficial Names: United States (disliked and discouraged), Union of States, Rainbow Republic, SUPS

Ideological Stretch Goals: WIP

Functioning of Government: The Union of States operates essentially as a Dominant Party Republic with a "United Front" being made up of the various parties and popular organizations that constitute the governing "Rainbow Coalition". A third of the seats are reserved for various "People's Organizations" and unions, most of which are affiliated with the Rainbow Coalition. The Plurinational People's Congress operates on the principle of democratic centralism, and it and the various local people's congresses are elected democratically.

Country History: WIP

Claims: What you have is perfect

State Proficiencies:
  • Warfare - 2 (ground, air, naval, missiles, irregular)

  • Espionage - 2 (spying, black ops, subversion, crime, counter-intel)

  • Social Control - 2 (secret police, criminal justice, mass culture, media, movements)

  • Administration - 8 (diplomacy, state-building, data collection, social policy, legitimation)

  • Economy - 2 (fiscal-monetary, industry, arms, entrepreneurs, engineering)

  • Science - 4 (blue sky, applied, social science, education, WMDs)
Capability Descriptions: WIP

Sources of Stress: - WIP

Limited International Recognition

Continued White Nationalist Resistance

Lack of Capital

Thoughts on Other Major Powers:

India – WIP

Babylon – The so-called Babylonian state's purported ideology of "Neo-Traditionalism" is nothing but mess of contradictions that will inevitably sew it's own end. Saddam's regime is nothing more than a re-branding of the very same Kleptocratic Fascism that threatened Europe following the first world war. When the contradictions of the Babylonian system finally catch up to it, and the working classes of West Asia rise up in rebellion the Rainbow Republic will gladly stand behind them in their struggle for liberation.

Argentina – WIP

Japan – You call us liberal revisionists for attempting to rebuild the rust belt's productive forces, and yet you rely on the Imperialist Japanese Bourgeoise for your own economic development! The Federation of Greater East Asian Socialist Republics is clearly little more than a continuation of the Japanese Empire's reactionary imperialist designs. Regardless of their well-intentioned environmentalist "revolution", Japan is still an imperialist state looking down on other people's methods for liberation. You only seek to enforce a narrow-minded idea of environmentalism across the globe at the expense of the sovereignty of the international working class and we will not have it! If the FGEASR cannot stand in solidarity with their socialist brothers regardless of how they seek to develop then we cannot in good conscious stand in solidarity with them! We will defend the sovereignty of the nations of Turtle Island from their imperial ambition.

Eurasia – The Irony of the former Soviet Union falling to fascism at the same time we rose out of our own fascist oppression is not lost on us. However, it brings the peoples of the Union of States great sadness to see former comrades fall to such horrific reactionary sentiment. When the working class of Eurasia finally liberate themselves from the yoke of fascist oppression we will be there to support them.
 
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MissMizzebra has informed me they will be dropping the game (sorry to hear it!). I am therefore opening up their slot (black ultra-nationalist pan-Slavic "Eurasia") to any interested players. Please go on the Discord channel and message me there to indicate interest.

In any event, to get the game going, I will be posting update zero, stats, etc. tomorrow. If a player is confirmed and can get signup info in before then, they can player as normal for the first turn. If not, Eurasia will have its turn skipped and the time between tomorrow and the next update will be available for a player to join and put together signup info for Eurasia.
 
Country Name:
Formal: Eurasian Commonwealth of Order
Informal: Eurasia

Ideological Stretch Goals:

Dedicated "anti-cosmopolitan-european-communist" and anti-liberal "Crusader State" that seeks to unite as many people under its rule, to prevent anymore wars.
Functioning of Government:

Ordo-Totalitarian Federation of States. Ruled by a Council of local strongmen who are united by their anti-communism and desire for Order and Unity.

The Council of Order forms the highest organ of both the executive and the legislative The Council appoints the Chairman who acts as the head of state and government, leading the college of ministers.
Most internal matters are delegated to the regions, leaving foreign relations and military in the Chairmans hands.
A Chairman is only allowed a single term of six years.


Country History:

The Sovjet Union was nothing but chaos. Chaos of the street, Chaos forced upon the people of Eurasia by the cosmopolitan dictators of Europe. It was against the peoples nature, it forced the ideas of fat and pompous Germans onto the honest men and women of Eurasia. So while 1991 may be seen by them as the collapse of Order, for us it was the end of Chaos.
The Armies of Old Russia, Poland, the Baltics, Poland and Caucasus united under the Flag of Daeism, to creat our new past and our Order. Everybody was welcomed, everybody who was willing to seek Order from the Chaos. Since than we have defended ourselves, we keep the Civil War out of our lands and defended ourselves against the Chaos from thos who claimed to seek the betterment of the world. But the only concept that can bring safety and prosperity is Order and Order we shall creat.

Claims: The ones that are on the map
State Proficiencies:
  • Warfare - 4 (ground, air, naval, missiles, irregular)

  • Espionage - 2 (spying, black ops, subversion, crime, counter-intel)

  • Social Control - 2 (secret police, criminal justice, mass culture, media, movements)

  • Administration - 8 (diplomacy, state-building, data collection, social policy, legitimation)

  • Economy - 2 (fiscal-monetary, industry, arms, entrepreneurs, engineering)

  • Science - 2 (blue sky, applied, social science, education, WMDs)

Capability Descriptions:

Warfare:
The Army of Order is a steadfast bullwark that protects the Commonwealth. Formed from the cores of the old armies, from those willing to give everything for order, their discipline is matched by none. The armored fists and shields of the army are supported by the immense air fleets or and the Air Guard, with thousands of jets patrolling and protecting the skies and keeping them in Order. Lastly the military posses an immense missle force, both tactical to support the army and strategic, with missles that can reach almost anywhere in the world, missles tipped with thermo-nuclear warheads that keep and would be aggresor at bay.

Espionage:

Just like the military, the intelligence services are dedicated to Order all the same.

The Nightguard protects the citiziens of the Commonwealth from those foreign agitators that wish to spread chaos and from those poor Eurasian souls, that have been corrupted by the foreigners.

Crime on the other hand does not exsist within the Order of the Commonwealth, for when everything is ordered, there is no crime. However, should somebody believe something to the contrary, the "Orderkeepers" will make sure to dissolve those worrying thoughts and problems.

Social Control: The Nightguard and the State control all Media, for Free Media would cause chaos. So the Media follows its true role, to cement the Order and stability of society.

Administration:
A large state apparatus is needed to make sure that everything is in order. That is why everything is controlled by the state, so that the state can provide order and stability to the people. And what the state sees as necessary to provide Order and stability, it will creat and make a reality, no matter if some believe that it was ever different.

Economy: A ordered economy provides the citiziens with what they need and the military with what it desires to defend our Commonwealth

Science:
For Order to be truly achieved, the people must be educated in it. Therefore the Commonwealth has developed highly efficient ways to explain the advantages and necessity of Order to both the young and the old. And knowing how to shape an orderly society is the most precious knowledge a nation can have.
Sources of Stress:

1) European Chaos: The European Civil Wars still threaten to destabalize our European regions, requiring a large contingent of troops to be stationed there

2) Stretched thin: Esspecially in the East, our People and forces are stretched thing, making infiltration by Chaos hard to prevent.

3) Inflexibility: Order does not wish for quick change, for fast change will always lead to chaos.


Eurasian Thoughts on Great Powers:

1) U.S: The USA has always been the greatest source of Chaos in the world, be it liberal, racial or socialist chaos. To contain and destroy this hell on Earth is one of our most important aims.

2) East Asia: Progress and Change are the root of all Chaos. Almost as bad the Americans, the East Asians bring Chaos were they go and must not be allowed to destroy more of the world. (Though as long as they leave us alone we supply them with second class weapons so that they can keep our other enemies busy)

3) Neo-Babylon: While ideologically misguided, their efforts to unite Arabia under a single, ordered flag, can be somewhat admired. They can be worked with.

4) India: They are infected by the Idea that brough Chaos to the Americas and Europe. Sooner or later they will collapse under that Chaos and they must be contained.

5) Argentina: Their efforts are recommendable, but do not go far enough. They can be worked with but must be shown the ways of Order and Stability.
 
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THE YEAR 2000​

World-Building:
Timeline
NPC Backgrounds

Fronts, Power Centres, Player Countries:
Year 2000 Stats


​


War of Ideas (Special Front): As Francis Fukuyama wrote in his 1992 book, The Beginning of History and the First Man, the morally bankrupt platforms of the Cold War era United States and Soviet Union have been swept away, replaced by a host of more convincing alternative systems of governance. Between Argentine technocracy, the American new left, Indian liberal democracy, East Asian environmentalism, Eurasian pan-nationalism, and Babylonian neo-traditionalism, the war of ideas rages on. This ideological multipolarity is untenable in a globalizing world, and one belief system will emerge as a frontrunner for revolutionary change as each of these regimes is scored by the audience of the world in the coming decade.
Rules: this Front resolves by GM fiat when a) the entire world’s geopolitical situation appears to have clearly swung in the direction of one player’s ideology, and b) that player’s ideological activities have broadened its appeal of the ideology through visible deeds in such a way that it would inspire hundreds of millions of ordinary people
Rewards: a global wave of enthusiasm for your ideology that will last for a large part of the 2010s and will translate into a) at least one or two revolutions, b) one or two oppositions or governments converting to your ideology, and c) other logical narrative benefits from ideological momentum

Soviet Civil War (Super Western Europe Warfare Front): In August 1991, members of the Soviet Ministry of the Interior, secret service, and military came together and relieved their reformist leader of his position. The instantaneous and widespread public backlash was met with martial law and a breakdown of civil order across western Europe, where the hardliners still held substantial control of the military and organs of government. Since then, the Soviet Civil War has raged on across the three core territories of the former union: France, Germany, and Italy. The battle lines have hardened over the past decade of conflict and global economic turmoil, but with the return of Great Power competition, this increasingly stagnant conflict could restart should the status quo be disturbed. (see NPC description for West Europe for factions of this civil war)
Rules: best two rolling players will promote the military expansion of their chosen faction, eliminating other factions with no backer or worse rolls; if a hegemon emerges, a new player may be invited to the game to play them
Rewards: unification of West Europe under your preferred ideology

China’s Warlords (Super China Warfare Front): After the KMT took control of China half a century ago, the country returned to a state of decentralization and corruption over years of mismanagement. Today’s China is governed by numerous minor cliques and warlords that orbit four major factions, one in the east, north, south, and west of the country. Although there are no open clashes, since the 1990s the ideological splits have become so profound that a new conflict between the warlords could be sparked by any minor slight. If a truly unified and reinvigorated China were to emerge, it would rival the other Great Powers in the world. (see NPC description for China for factions of this decentralized society)
Rules: best two rolling players will promote the military expansion of their chosen faction, eliminating other factions with no backer or worse rolls; if a hegemon emerges, a new player may be invited to the game to play them
Rewards: unification of China under your preferred warlord

Filibuster War (Regional Mexico Warfare Front): The United States military maintained a reactionary ideology in many of its divisions that was at odds with everything the Rainbow Republic stands for. This was true especially in American-occupied Mexico during the 1989-1991 collapse, when American forces defected from the United States and joined the local American puppet regime, bolstering it against a new wave of guerrilla activity in the north and south over the course of the 1990s. The conflict has been stale for a few years now, with no movement from any side, but interest from one of the Great Powers could push a final resolution to the conflict in a matter of years. (see NPC description for Mexico for factions of this civil war)
Rules: factions supported by the top two rolling players will be the sides that contest for victory, the other falling apart
Rewards: unification of Mexico under your preferred civil war faction

Amazon Conflict (Super Brazil-Colombia-Peru Warfare Front): The war in the Amazon has gone on for decades. Once upon a time, communists were in-charge of Brazil, and then Peru, appearing to dominate the continent, until Argentina invaded and ousted the Brazilian communists and the Peruvians turned on themselves and forced their enemy leftists into the jungle where they began cultivating cocaine that they could sell for cash to buy guns. These formerly Guevarist communist have turned to Suzukianism as a unifying force across numerous groups, and as a means of cementing their ties to indigenous peoples of the Amazon river basin. The low-grade civil conflict stretches between Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, with no obvious end in sight.
Rules: Progress represents destruction of the guerrillas, Regress represents the guerrillas push out and takeover one of the three affected states, and entrench their position in the other two
Rewards: stabilization of the Colombia, Brazil, and Peru regimes, or the collapse of one of those regimes to Suzukian rebels
Related Fronts: The Drug Trade

Second Dot Com Boom (Super Worldwide Science/Economy Front): The internet began in 1982 but adoption was limited to academics until the advent of the World Wide Web between 1989 and 1993. Fallout from the collapse of both superpowers blunted mass adoption of the internet. Although academics, universities, and laboratories continued to develop browsers, servers, and HTML, the American businesses at the forefront of computer technology spent the 1990s relocating to New England, Texas, and California and scrounging for capital in a recessionary environment. A clunky but technically open internet is in desperate need of user-friendly browsers, search engines, faster replacement for dial-up internet, and all manner of software services. The race to replace Silicon Valley is on.
Rules: best roller is Progress, second best is Regress; another entrant replaces the Regress if they roll higher but lose any points accrued by that side
Rewards: winner receives wins a first round of internet startups (browsers, search, broadband) as a Power Centre worth 1.6 Science points and 0.1 AP

Military-Industrial Complex (North America Super Economy Front): The breakup of the United States left the military-industrial complex in shambles. Spread out over numerous states, the great American arms production supply chain was disconnected from each other throughout the 1990s, and being essentially right-wing in character, arms makers moved as much as possible out of the Rainbow Republic in that decade. Although a substantial portion of the human and physical capital ended up in Texas (Lockheed Martin, Textron, Boeing, General Dynamics), critical elements of the this system remain in California (where naval production is centred), the Southern Republic (where military software for jets and missiles was developed), and New England (where MIT pioneered new military technologies), not to mention supply chain components made in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. If left to waste away, these assets will be reconstituted into domestic supply chains much weaker than the sum of the system.
Rules: the top two rolling countries will be Progress and Regress in a contest to reconstitute the American Military-Industrial Complex as part of their own arms supply chain; collapse will either partition the system or create domestic supply chains that are weaker than the sum of the whole
Rewards: your very own Military-Industrial Complex as a Power Centre worth 0.8 Warfare and 0.8 Economy, and 0.2 AP

Merchants of Death (Europe Regional Espionage Front): The demise of communism and the post–Soviet civil war in Western Europe have together created a black market of military hardware dealers, like “Sanctions Busters” Viktor Bout and Karlheinz Schreiber, who are nimble in moving arms over borders and disappearing state stockpiles. The situation promotes corruption in Eurasia and across Europe, and to a lesser extent in north India and the former United States, while providing a steady stream of arms to any regime or rebellion willing to pay, regardless of ideology.
Rules: Progress on this would make illicit arms trading much harder, Regress would harness this arms trade for the evil ends of whichever country rolls highest to do that
Rewards: if harnessed, your very own Merchants of Death cabal as a Power Centre worth 0.4 Warfare and 0.8 Espionage, and 0.1 AP

Global Reserve Currency (Worldwide Super Economy Front): The collapse of the American dollar and the instability in post-Soviet Europe contributed to the 1990s currency crises, particularly the European financial crisis of 1994 and the Latin American financial crisis of 1997. Although the Pound Sterling is the most used, central banks rarely hold more than 20% in that or any other currency, conferring only a minor economic and political benefit to Great Britain. Should a currency emerge as the primary tender in international trade and central bank reserves, the currency’s issuer would benefit mightily.
Rules: best roller is Progress, second best is Regress; another entrant replaces the Regress if they roll higher but lose any points accrued by that side; collapse is recurring
Rewards: winner establishes their national currency as the global reserve currency, giving them World Facts that allow them to more easily sanction entities, run higher trade deficits, and prevent currency crises

Sahara Conflict (Regional Maghreb-Libya Warfare Front): Due to drought-induced famines of the 1980s throughout the Sahel and resentment against secular authorities, Tuareg and Islamist guerrillas started waging a low-grade conflict over the interior of northern Africa. Algerian and Libyan armed forces have had a hard time projecting power deep into their interiors, but the Tuareg and Islamist fighters have yet to receive support from an outside power that could shift this status quo.
Rules: Progress represents Islamist or Tuareg takeover of the entirety of the interior of Algeria and Libya in a new state, Regress represents efforts to crush their rebellion
Rewards: elimination of oppositions to Algeria and Libya as well as undermining of fanatic Islamism, or establishment of an entrenched new NPC in the interior of the Sahara
Related Fronts: Islamism & Jihadism

Kongo-Sudan Conflict (Regional Kongo-Sudan Warfare Front): The interior of Africa between Kongo, Uganda, and Sudan has suffered numerous social breakdowns due to post-colonial ethnic conflicts, exacerbated by its isolation and the lucrative mines that dot the interior. Hardened by these conflicts, a Dominionist Christian militia movement emerged around a charismatic and unusually erudite soldier who, taking Ivory Coast, Angola, and Argentina, as well as the Lord thy God, as his inspirations, has rallied thousands of rebels into a sprawling insurgency between southern Sudan and eastern Kongo. Religious extremist groups have fought low-grade conflicts since the late 1980s, but only in the latter half of the 1990s did disparate insurgencies organize into a more unified rebellion of Domionist technocrat worshipping rebels. The bizarre ideological mixture makes some suspect the leader of the rebellion could be swayed to a wildly different ideology, should it be politically expedient.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to displace either the Sudanian or Kongolese government with Domionist rebels, Regress represents the crushing of the Domionist rebels
Rewards: the toppling of one or the other afflicted regimes or the destruction of their oppositions

Blockbusters (Super Worldwide Social Control Front): If there was one front of the Cold War the United States dominated, it was entertainment. The Hollywood studio system, from big budget films to Walt Disney’s pioneering animation, delivered American-made pro-American media with gusto and panache to the entire world. The breakup of the United States and the dislocation of Hollywood under ever more repressive Reaganite censorship has left a gap in the international film and television market, as well as the markets for music and other forms of entertainment. In large part, people have turned to local film and television with smaller budgets, weaker production values, and relatively stagnant cinematography and storytelling. This leaves the market ripe for a Great Power to restore the golden age of international pop culture.
Rules: top two best rollers are Progress and Regress, new entrants replacing Regress and starting from zero; a close finish will split the pot between the two sides
Rewards: the creation of a Power Centre representing a major cultural export of your country (e.g. K-Pop, superhero movies, manga, etc.)

The Land of Opportunity (Super Worldwide Administration/Economy Front): Once upon a time the Land of Opportunity for the toiling masses of Europe was America, where anyone could get land and be free. Nearly a century of racist immigration restrictions in America, which were copied to lesser or greater extent in Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, forced migrants seeking a better life to other ports of call, though never enough in any one nation for any place to become the world’s foremost nation of immigrants. For millions of migrants, there is no obvious choice of where to go to better one’s socio-economic chances, but should any of the Great Powers become a beacon of economic opportunity, they could benefit greatly from the intelligence and grit the world’s immigrants have to offer.
Rules: top two best rollers are Progress and Regress, new entrants replacing Regress and starting from zero; a close finish will split the pot between the two sides; collapse is recurring
Rewards: the establishment of a Nation of Immigrants/Land of Opportunity World Fact that represents a huge pull of immigration to the winning Great Power

Islamism & Jihadism (Super Worldwide Social Control/Espionage Front): Despite decades of Babylonian and American suppression, most prominently with the smothering of the Islamic Republic of Iran in its cradle, political Islam continues to be a powerful undercurrent throughout the Islamic world. This undercurrent is fluid and in desperate need of a major role model to decide its fate in the early twenty-first century. The two current pulls across the Islamic world are those between the moderates of Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and Islamic Congress of East Asian Indonesia, and the fanatics like al-Qaeda and the Bengali Islamic faction. Moreover a niche technocratic angle on Islam as a religion of science has taken hold among guerrillas in northern Nigeria. Should a decisively religious Islamic society emerge in world affairs, whether in Bengal, Egypt, Indonesia or elsewhere, it could serve as a role model to determine the future character of Islamic activities.
Rules: Regress represents efforts to eliminate moderate Islamic Republicanism and bolster/harness fanatical Islamism, Progress represents the bolstering of moderate Islamic Republicanism and crushing of fanatical Islamism; collapse is recurring
Rewards: consolidation of global Islamic politics around an ideologically preferred axis
Related Fronts: Indian Tensions

The Drug Trade (Super Worldwide Espionage/Social Control): The 1990s were a boom period for the international illicit drug trade centred on the world’s three big production hubs in Afghanistan-Persia, Southeast Asia, and inner Latin America. The vast majority of the world's opium is made by farmers in the Golden Crescent in Afghanistan, where the Khan government turns a blind eye to poppy cultivation. Heroin is largely produced with the tacit support of the Buddhist regime in Burma and corrupt KMT officers in lands saddling the rainforested borders of Thailand, Indochina, Burma, and southwest China. Meanwhile cocaine is cultivated by left-wing insurgents in the Amazon, Colombia, and Peru. The illicit drug trade promotes addiction in buyer countries and strengthens criminal networks along their supply routes, especially North America and Europe, though increasingly also to Argentina, India, and East Asia.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to clamp down on global drug trade operations, Regress represents harnessing these criminal forces to serve the interests of your state; collapse is recurring
Rewards: end of the drug trade (and resultant economic/political effects on other Fronts, regimes) or creation of a Drug Trafficking Power Centre worth 1.6 Espionage, 0.4 Social Control
Related Fronts: Amazon Conflict

Indian Tensions (Regional India-Hindustan-Bengal Espionage/Front): The breakup of North India has left furious unresolved problems on the subcontinent. The Hindustani People’s Republic based out of Delhi, with nuclear arms and the world’s largest army by soldier count, regularly taunts and threatens rhetoric about retaking Mumbai or invading Bengal. The Bengalis, for their part, do the same over their own territorial grievances. This makes the Indo-Bengali-Hindustani border one of the most militarized in the world, and a place where inevitably a miscalculated military decision will escalate the armed peace into a nuclear war. Such a crisis could emerge when the fractious and untenable coalition government of Islamists and ultra-nationalists in Bengal finally collapses into a dictatorship of one or the other, which is seen as a likely next event in the ongoing tense geopolitical situation.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to prevent war and reach a stable political settlement across India, while Regress represents efforts to stoke a conflict.
Rewards: peace or war on the subcontinent, also regime direction in Bengal

Ethiopian Revanchism (Regional Ethiopia Espionage Front): After a humiliating defeat at the hands of two liberal democracies in East Africa and India, the young king of Ethiopia is eager to prove his valour and reclaim lost glory. His propagandists make no effort to conceal their desire to ultimately invade East African Somalia, and a military build-up continues, though at a slow pace given Ethiopia’s rugged terrain, isolation from international markets, and lack of a domestic arms industry. Should a Great Power bridge these gaps between Ethiopia’s dreams and its present reality, the war path might be cleared for King Zera.
Rules: Progress represents a military-build up that would pose a serious threat to East Africa, Regress represents the frustration or prevention of war erupting over Somalia
Rewards: prevention or inauguration of a war led by Ethiopia against East African Somalia

Greater Hungary (Regional Hungary Espionage Front): In the state press of the Hungarian state, the lands of the Crown of St Stephen were wrongfully stripped from it in the aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian collapse, as well as the numerous border rectification treaties of the communist era. It is believed as well in the intelligence communities of most European countries that Hungarians are a major purchaser of illicit arms from dealers in Eurasia and Western Europe, which by themselves would put Hungary on a path to the military-buildup it would need to start a war, though slowly, and with which of its neighbours, it is unclear.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to build-up Hungary for a war with one of its neighbours (which is up to the player that causes the Progress to succeed), Regress represents efforts to prevent a war and establish a more lasting commitment to peace between Hungary and its neighbours
Rewards: war or stabilized peace with Hungary and its various claims, potentially also the alignment of Hungary’s military Power Centre
Related Fronts: Merchants of Death

Arabian Nuclear Program (Regional Arabia Espionage/Science Front): Ever since the Babylonian invasion of the Kingdom of Arabia, the Saudis have made it an open secret that they are looking for help to build the bomb. Tentative info sharing occurred between Arabia and North India in 1989, but this ceased as North India collapsed into two warring states. Arabia continues to put feelers out for assistance in building a nuclear program, but to date no Great Power has shown interest. The hermit king of Arabia rules absolutely, and could change the tune of his government perhaps a lot more easily than other regimes, should he get what he needs against the only thing he really cares about: protecting himself from Saddam Hussein.
Rules: Progress represents advances by Arabia to build a WMD arsenal, Regress represents efforts to permanently crush the possibility of such an arsenal forming
Rewards: the rapid ideological switch of Arabia to whoever helps them build a WMD program, or the elimination of a potentially threatening WMD program in Arabia

Hawaiian Allegiance (Regional Hawaii Administration/Espionage Front): Remaining inside the Rainbow Republic was never an option for the business-friendly Republicans governing Hawaii back in 1991, but independence for a small, strategically located nation like theirs is untenable without a patron among the Great Powers. Hawaii boasts one of the former United States’ best military ports and still harbours two of its aircraft carriers alongside a notable fleet and its experienced sailors and officers who defected to Hawaii. Although Australia has made diplomatic overtures to Hawaii, the local Republican Party sees them as a last resort and are hoping for another Great Power to guarantee their independence against interference in their affairs from either East Asian and Rainbow Republic, who’s sympathisers fill the ranks of opposition movements.
Rules: Progress represents swaying the Hawaiian regime into your sphere, Regress represents the advance of either Suzukian or Rainbow opposition groups, whichever rolls higher
Rewards: access to Hawaii as a naval port and the restitution of a Power Centre out of the Pacific Fleet worth 1.6 Warfare and 0.1 AP

Untouchable Global Elite (Worldwide Super Social Control/Administration Front): In the shadows, moving from corporate board rooms to fancy estate to ski resorts, there have always been the Eloi, the haves, the untouchable elite whose wealth you don’t even see. They can enter countries without a passport, hide their true wealth behind numerous shell companies, and have powerful connections everywhere that matters. This globalized power class hails from every nationality and knows no borders, but should they see one of the Great Powers as serving their interests, they might be inclined to do them favours in-exchange.
Rules: best two rollers are sides Progress and Regress, replacing the losing side if they join in after two sides are established
Rewards: a geographically unlocated Power Centre representing the power elite and the wealthy 0.01% worth 0.1 AP, 0.8 Economy, 0.4 Espionage, 0.4 Social Control

HIV/AIDS & Malaria (Africa Super Science/Administration Front): Two diseases haunt Sub-Saharan Africa, one ancient and one modern. Malaria, spread by mosquitoes in equatorial climes, kills 800,000 people annually, while HIV/AIDS has pulled down societal life expectancy by 10-20 years in the most afflicted areas in East Africa, Azania, Mozambique, and Equatorial Africa. Although drugs have been developed to manage HIV/AIDS and cure malaria, they are not distributed widely in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria
Rewards: none (it’s just a nice thing to do)

Warming Trend (Special Front): Since the late 1970s scientists identified the threat posed to the biosphere and humanity from greenhouse gas emissions in the form of global warming. Average surface temperature relative to the 1800s has risen by the turn of the millennium to 0.75° Celsius, with climate models warning of rising sea levels, longer droughts, more intense hurricanes, and other natural disasters. The economies of the world, through modern agriculture, manufacturing, energy production, transportation and other sources, emit 35 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide and other gases annually. The impacts of global warming will manifest throughout the decades ahead, and the solutions to this global problem will be numerous given its scope.
Rules: this Front resolves by GM fiat when the entire player base has collectively satisfied the GM with numerous energy transition and climate mitigation Fronts of their own diverse choosing; when this Front collapses it’s collapse timer starts again; collapse is recurring
Rewards: none (avoiding bad things is the reward)

Novel Pandemics (Special Front): Vaccination campaigns, improved sanitation, and improved healthcare systems helped eliminate smallpox and mitigate numerous other diseases in the developed and developing world. Nonetheless, novel diseases emerge routinely, whether from isolated endemic diseases spread to the globalized world, or new diseases mutating and jumping from animals to humans. The threat of pandemics is ever-present, but only are they sufficiently dangerous to warrant global concern.
Rules: is Front resolves by GM fiat when the entire player base has collectively developed medical technologies, systems of pandemic response and mass vaccination that the GM deems sufficient to end the curse of pandemics; time this Front escalates the GM will roll a 1d10 against a table of diseases; escalations will always be structured so that the turn the escalation is announced, players can react preemptively; the next turn, if the pandemic escalates out of control, that particular pandemic will take the place of the Novel Pandemics Front until resolved
Rewards: none (avoiding bad things is the reward)

World-Building Request: Domestic Politics

For turn 1 my world-building request to players is to name and describe the parties or political factions that compose government and what they disagree over. I’m interested in the different academic factions in Argentina, the political parties of India, the disagreeing factions within the popular front and state bureaucracy of East Asia and America, the elite cliques and their differences in Saddam’s court, the major political groups and what they disagree over in Eurasia. Tell me about who are the hardliners and the reformers, what are the ways they disagree over foreign policy or domestic policy, how do they see the dominant ideology of your country differently?

GM Notes

This is a reminder that the Fronts the GM puts out in the update are non-exhaustive of the possibility space. Players can make their own Fronts by simply writing orders to do things that don’t involve the GM-generated Fronts. Players can also tackle the GM-generated Fronts in pieces, shrinking their difficulty ratings from “super” down to more manageable sub-problems - they can also set up contextual bonuses before tackling the “main” Front at that super-rated level. World’s your oyster! Moreover, the Fronts are focused on NPCs and global conflicts, the lack of Fronts based within player countries (and therefore admin) is intentional. Remember that Stresses are not treated as Fronts themselves, but they do escalate, like Fronts, and cause Fronts when they escalate. If players have proposals for interesting Fronts that emerge organically and logically from the timeline and the world as established, please don’t hesitate to make me aware of your idea, as new GM-generated Fronts will arise in future updates.

World Facts are also non-exhaustive, and at this stage, are not even remotely filled out in the interests of getting the game going. As players ask questions and I write more updates, more World Facts will be put down into the spreadsheet. If there are things already discussed that I haven't put down, just mention them again and I'll start more rigorously keeping track.

Orders are due Wednesday May 18th 10:00 AM PST.

Mobilization deadlines are therefore:
  • Thursday May 12th 10:00 AM PST (for a +4 bonus)
  • Friday May 13th 10:00 AM PST (for a +2 bonus)
  • Saturday May 14th 10:00 AM PST (for a +1 bonus) - no mobilizations can be declared after this point (and therefore no wars can be engaged in)
(refer to Declaring Wars rules; remember this applies to NPCs too)
 
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The great nations and powers of the world are invited to Buenos Aires to discuss how exactly to deal with climate change as it faces every single nation, from Argentina to Zimbabwe. It is the belief of the Supreme Lodge that only international cooperation on transition, curbing emission of harmful gasses, new technologies of production & so on can truly resolve this.

[Peer Reviewed by Alyson, F., Germaine, S., Jose, A. & others, 2001. Ask for an extended summary at the nearest consulate.]
 
Al Jazeera Evening News - Turmoil in Turkey
"We are hearing increasing reports of violence in the streets of Ankara, and general anarchy in Instanbul; deeply troubling news for what was once the gleaming capital of the Osmanlı Devleti. There is increasing international pressure on General Çevik Bir and the Turkish military to step in, particularly from President Hussein, who signaled his willingness to support the General in restoring stability."

Babylon will mobilize its military forces to intervene in the Turkish Crisis.
 
gay_Aleks said:
The great nations and powers of the world are invited to Buenos Aires to discuss how exactly to deal with climate change as it faces every single nation, from Argentina to Zimbabwe. It is the belief of the Supreme Lodge that only international cooperation on transition, curbing emission of harmful gasses, new technologies of production & so on can truly resolve this.

[Peer Reviewed by Alyson, F., Germaine, S., Jose, A. & others, 2001. Ask for an extended summary at the nearest consulate.]
Click to expand...

Babylon will be pleased to join this noble conference - we will happily accept new technology that reduces the emissions of our drilling operations.
 
Belgarion95 said:
Babylon will mobilize its military forces to intervene in the Turkish Crisis.
Click to expand...

Since this is the first time we're doing this mechanic I'm going to spell it all out explicitly for everyone's benefit.

This is a GM acknowledgement that Babylon will get +4 to a roll against a military operation against Turkey, should they proceed to do so in their orders, since they are ordering mobilization within the first 24 hours after the update has been posted. This in-thread message pre-commits Babylon to spend 1 AP, which cannot be rescinded even if Babylon later decides not to carry out an actual attack (in which case the 1 AP becomes merely mobilization efforts).

Since Turkey is an NPC they don't receive any bonus for being the target of this action.

Should anyone wish to mobilize their own forces to defend Turkey or attack Babylon, they would have to do so within 72 hours of Babylon's declaration of war, which in my timezone was 6:40 PM May 11th. Each 24 hour chunk still represents the +4, +2, +1 segments, so if you get in before 6:40 PM tomorrow.

For any other mobilization (e.g. attacking any other country unrelated to this standoff) the original timeframes posted in the update and on the opening post still apply 10 AM tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that.
 
gay_Aleks said:
The great nations and powers of the world are invited to Buenos Aires to discuss how exactly to deal with climate change as it faces every single nation, from Argentina to Zimbabwe. It is the belief of the Supreme Lodge that only international cooperation on transition, curbing emission of harmful gasses, new technologies of production & so on can truly resolve this.

[Peer Reviewed by Alyson, F., Germaine, S., Jose, A. & others, 2001. Ask for an extended summary at the nearest consulate.]
Click to expand...

The Federation of Greater East Asian Socialist Republics will send a delegation to the Buenos Aires conference. Despite our many differences, we agree that international cooperation is needed to overcome this serious issue that impacts every creature on this planet.
 
The Federal Republic of India is the foremost proponent of productive international collaboration and will attend the Buenos Aires Conference.

It unequivocally condemns Babylon's invasion of Turkey and calls for dialogue on any disputes. The lesson of the 20th century is that armed conflict can never truly resolve issues.
 
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