[REDACTED]

[Reus]

[REDACTED]

 

[Red_Spy]

Interested.

 

[NinjaCow64]

​

BASIC INFORMATION
Short Name: The Soviet Union
Full Name: United Soviet Socialist Republics
Color: #CD0000
Provinces:

Spoiler Big Map :

Red = Core Territory. Unlikely to negotiate.
Yellow = Probable Territory. Russia is big but like I can't imagine a successful country establishing itself for very long in Siberia or Far East Russia, nor can I imagine players would want to play here.
Green = Fringe. Areas that are part of the OTL Soviet Union but is independent in 2020 and also has strong national identity. I am very willing to negotiate with other players who would be interested in these regions.

I was tempted to fringe claim the rest of the Eastern Bloc, but the Soviet Union is massive as it is already lol.

DESCRIPTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

History:

• Stalin and a bunch of other important people die in the Earthquakes.
• Molotov succeeds Stalin
• Enough graphic designers didn't die in the explosion and the Soviets adopted the new flag sometime in the interwar years.

CIVIL ASPECTS
Politics: Briefly describe the political situation in your polity, how stable it is, how popular is the current government, how corrupt it is etc.
Economy: Briefly describe the economic situation in your polity, how it works, its current state, what it has and lacks etc.
Diplomacy: Briefly describe your polity's reputation, how others would probably perceive it, what things would make it appealing or unappealing, etc.
Research: Briefly describe how advanced your polity is, particularly its educational and research institutions, how accepting are people to new changes and innovations, etc.

MILITARY ASPECTS
Army: Briefly describe about your army, its state, quality, how its organized, etc.
Navy: Briefly describe about your navy, its state, quality, how its organized, etc.
Air Force: Briefly describe about your air force, its state, quality, how its organized, etc.
Intel: Briefly describe about your intelligence agency, its state, quality, how its organized, etc.

 

[JohannaK]

HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

 

[TheGryphonPrince]

Reserving Japan and the southern tip of Korea (if they haven't been reserved already)

Tengoku (天国)​

(Also known as Heavenly Kingdom)



Orange areas are core regions
Yellow areas are either softclaims or regions not wholly controlled by the government.

--More to come later-

 

[Omega124]

​

BASIC INFORMATION
Short Name: Korea
Full Name: United Republic of Korea (URK)
Color: 218 36 29
Provinces:

Red is core territory I'm not compromising on, Blue is stretch territory (in particular I'm a bit wary of the most northwest province as being too much, but the borders look *awful* without it. I'm trying to base it off of this

DESCRIPTION
Give me a history of your polity and as well as some additional information you feel are important to provide. These will affect your starting situation as well.

CIVIL ASPECTS
Politics: The unique political system of the United Republic of Korea was a result of negotiations between mutinying troops of South Korea coming to the negotiation table with North Korean forces, themselves engaged in a power struggle against their leadership. Pre-war, socialism was broadly popular amongst the population of the peninsula, as it was communists and other socialist groups who served as the main form of resistance against the Japanese. However, even as some South Koreans welcomed the North as liberators, President Rhee's regime did have its legitimate supporters, and there fears of the WPK getting increasingly closer to Stalin might mean Kim and his supporters would try to export a totalitarian regime on the South. This was intolerable to the Southern forces, who wanted some guarantee for the nominal democratic rights that they had (even if, in practice, South Korea was a military dictatorship).

The end result was the creation of a democratic socialist republic, one that guaranteed comprehensive land reform and wealth redistribution of the country, but also one which allowed for every citizen to have the right to participate in government and have a say in how it was operated. Strong constitutional provisions were put into place for union protections, defining what is (and heavily regulating, if not outright banning) private property vs personal property, and setting the legal concept for a maximum income. Freedom of speech, association, and religion were also included in the constitution, along with mandating regular elections and the rights of accused in the judicial system.

The political system of Korea is best described as a decentralized, yet unitary, government. Each municipality has a local government, the size and scope depending on the size of the community. A small village has the option to combine the legislative and the executive branch to form a town board, but a larger city would be expected to have a separate local Assembly (as legislative branches in Korea are called), along with a Mayor or Mayor-like role as an executive. Larger cities have more oversight by the central government in how exactly their government is structured, due to them servicing a larger population, but in general, there is a preference to allow communities to organize their specific municipal government to structure themselves to fit their specific needs. Regardless, there is also always a local judicial branch as well; local courts who deal with criminal and civil cases that only impact the specific community. The municipal's government's main job is to provide local utilities and services, such as roads, sewage systems, and the day-to-day affairs of local education (national education policies being held by the unitary government).

The decision to go with one, unitary government, rather than taking a federal approach, was to emphasize the nature of the unity of the Korean people, and to more quickly erode the identities of North and South Korean. The legislative branch is a unicameral system known as the Assembly (the old South Korean legislative branch being called the National Assembly, and North Korean People's Assembly, Assembly was a term both could readily agree to), which operates on a traditional single seat system. The Assembly is constitutionally mandated to make sure the average representation per 100,000 people remains as close to the standardized ideal of 1.5. A term lasts for four years, and the entire Assembly is up for election at the same time.

Due to fears of creating another President Rhee, the authority of the executive branch is divided between a Prime Minister (the head of government) and a President (head of state). The Prime Minister heads the day-to-day functioning of the Assembly, and is the one expected to set legislative goals and to make sure government is running smoothly. The President, on the other hand, is the ceremonial head of state, and is supposed to represent the country itself. While the Prime Minister is selected by the Assembly, the President is directly elected every four years, at the same time that elections for the Assembly go through.

The current government in power, and the largest party in terms of membership, is the Korean Democratic Party, founded in 1945 by Korean independence actvist (and the first President of the United Republic) Cho Man-sik. The KDP is a democratic socialist party, that wishes to mantain the democratic traditions of the Republic largely as they currently are, while providing a strong, modern safety net. They are also in favor of the status quo of Korea's foreign policy, wishing to keep Korea independent of any power blocs while continuing to participate on the global stage. The two main oppossition parties are the Workers' Party of Korea and the Reformed Liberal Party. The WPK was formed in North Korea as the merger of various socialist and communist parties, and to this day advocates for a stronger executive government, moves towards a command economy, rapprochement towards the Soviet Union (the only major party to still hold a positive view of them), and, in the most extreme wing, perhaps even a move towards an orthodox ML one-party state. The Reformed Liberal Party, the only party to form after the formation of the United Republic (specifically a union of various different South Korean political parties, much in the same way the WPK was to the North), serves as a hodgepodge collection of social democrats and radical liberals who form the right-side of the Overton Window of the URK. Largely only a thing in former South Korea, the RLP wishes to open up the Korean government to more private enterprise, give more authority to municipal governments, and add stronger property rights to the constitution. The RLP does not have a coherent foreign policy in its ranks, with members ranging from full-on isolationism to a desire to make the East Sea into a Korean lake, and everything in between.


Economy: Briefly describe the economic situation in your polity, how it works, its current state, what it has and lacks etc.
Diplomacy: Korea was historically a nation that practiced isolationism; its isolationist policies lasted longer than any other East Asian nation, even surviving an attempt by the United States to open it by force in 1871. Not only that, but its experiences with its neighbors have been, in recent memory, mostly awful. The Japanese brutally colonized the region once Korea's historical benefactor, China, was exposed to the world as weak. A period of national resistance against the Japanese followed, even supported by foreign nations such as the Soviet Union, but when independence was finally secured at the end of the Second World War, Korea was simply carved up by the foreign powers, installing two unpopular and oppresive governments, and turned Korea into the next worldwide battlefield. Only did the meteor hitting the world, perhaps a sign of providence, did Korea finally have the means to liberate itself from foreign oppression.

By no means does this mean that Korea wants to return to isolationism; if anything, Korea's refusal to engage in diplomatic relations in the late 19th century exasperated many of the problems the country would face in the next century. The pen is a mighty weapon, perhaps mightier than the sword, and pretending the outside world doesn't exist doesn't help anyone. However, it remains deeply distrustful of foreign governments, particularly the Soviet Union and the new Japanese administration. It sees in both especially states that will, at its earliest opportunity, attempt to reimpose Korean subservience to their empires, regardless if that is even the Soviet or Japanese intention. If there was an American government, said distrust would also extend to them, but it appears many of the American successor states explicity repudiate the policies of the former USA, and the URK is reluctantly willing to let bygones be bygones.

When dealing with other nations beyond those three, Korea has the policy of benevolent non-intervention. Don't antagonize Korea, and Korea will not attempt to antagonize you. There is no willpower in Kaesong to enforce Korean ideology or hegemony to peoples it does not consider to be Korean. Even the idea of international interventions into other countries rubs Korea the wrong way, as they were on the receiving end of such an operation and they believe it only made the precarious political situation on the peninsula even worse. That is not to say that Korea is pacifistic by any imagination, but merely that it is not looking to start any conflicts.

On a more peaceful note, Korea is interested in the more peaceful element of national cooperation. The United Republic of Korea is proud of its ancient culture and traditions, and is more than willing to engage in cultural outreach programs to show the world how far it has come just one hundred years ago. The United Republic was a founding member of the reformed United Nations (although it really wished a different name was picked, finding the name brought up bad memories of 1950, along with also being used as a name for a government branch internally), hoping that it can help make the third time be the charm that the world needs for long-term peace.
Research: The United Republic of Korea's leadership recognizes and appreciates that the good fortune of the country is based on no small part on simply being lucky enough that they were in the right place at the wrong time. The world's most advanced military equipment was left behind in Korea after the meteor hit, and the material advantage the Koreans had on their neighbors guaranteed its security for decades. As the rest of the world rebuilds, Korea understands reverse engineering old tech only can get them so far, and to keep the advantage of parity required domestic research and development.

Korean technology tends to focus on what is "immediately useful", rather than chasing blue sky research that may or may not be leading anywhere. If there is a choice to refine technology that is already working perfectly fine, or an attempt to engage in a paradigm shift, the Korean government will prefer to prioritize the former.



MILITARY ASPECTS
Army: The United Korean Army in the immediate wake of the collaspe inherited the equipment and doctrines of the intervening powers in the country. A battalion carrying M2 carbines, supported by T-34s, wearing Chinese uniforms, would not have been out of place circa the 1960s. Since then, a general modernization program has attempted to synthesize these myriad of influences into one distinctly Korean military, based on indigenous doctrine and tactics. These tactics, in turn, are based primarily on the American doctrine of combined arms and superior firepower, mixed with influences of Chinese short attack to bluff unit sizes.

One of the interesting relics of the Korean War is the United Nations Korean Command, a service branch within the Army that is completely unrelated to the reformed UN and instead one of the last relics of the old UN. As many foreign volunteers within Korea were left stranded after the fall of the meteor, their place within Korean society after the end of the war was ambiguous. Few identified with the land, but fewer actually had the means to return home. Furthermore, many within the North were distrustful of these foreign soldiers, as they were seen as the primary reason why the South was even able to hold out against the North, and were some of the last to actually turn on Rhee. Ultimately, however, it was agreed at Kaesong that long-term reconciliation could only happen if the foreign soldiers were allowed to integrate themselves within Korean society. The UNKC was therefore created as a means to allow the UN troops to serve in separate units from the main Korean forces (who were dealing with their own issues of integration between two sides that were just months prior killing each other). Membership in the UNKC was open to all members of the "foreign nations" (including those who fought for the North, particularly China) who wished to continue fighting for and with the Korean people. Roughly analogous to the pre-event French Foreign Legion, these units were trained as elite shock troops, and used for the most dangerous missions which the government expected heavy causalities. The success of the program led it to continue even as the Korean War-era people retired, as the program was successfully able to draw in new recruits as the world stabilized. Those who serve one full tour of duty, or see combat, are awarded Korean citizenship, making it a popular entry for those wishing to immigrate to Korea.

Navy: After the meteor fell, many of the foreign interventionist forces that had the means of going home, did. This was mostly limited to the various navies, who quickly took their ships and sailed back to their ports in America and Europe. As Korea just recently gained their independence from Japan prior to these events, the end result is that Korea effectively had no navy. Not only that, but the collapse meant that it was unlikely that an invasion would come from the sea, so there was no real reason to invest into a Navy either. The end result was that there was no political will to build an indigenous navy, and it remained by far the most underfunded branch of the Korean Armed Forces. The days of Admiral Yi and his turtle ships are long behind Korea, and there is little will to revisit it unless a major naval threat emerges in the region.

Air Force: The Korean War was the first conflict in human history where jet aircraft dueled one another. The Soviet Union, the Americans, and the British spared no expense getting their most highly advanced aircraft into the peninsula, in order to fight a modern air war to secure air superiority. These aircraft were left behind after the meteor hit Earth, and while combat and attrition did a number to reduce the stock of MiG-15s, Sabres, and other aircraft, some still remained operational by reunification. These surviving aircraft were treasured as the pinnacle of modern military technology, and the operation of working aircraft gave Korea a marked advantage in the early rebuilding world. The fascination with the working warbirds did not end in the early rebuilding. Much like with the army, design philosophies of both Soviet and Anglo-American planes would be synthesized in Korea by the 1970s, as the first indigenous designs were constructed by a burgeoning avionics industry that was likewise recently established.

To this day, Korea focuses on an air force based on quality over quantity. These planes are built with cutting edge technology, a legacy from operating planes for so long, and include modern stealth plating, long range AAMs, and advanced tracking systems. Fighters are the specialty of the United Korean Air Force, given that they were mostly what they have been working with for the past 50 years. Much like the JSF F-35, there is an attempt to consolidate as much roles as possible onto one configurable airframe, both to somewhat save on costs, but simply out of operational inertia, for that is how they operated in their entire history.

Intel: The United Republic's intelligence branch is rather informal, a result of the fact that most of the security concerns Korea had in the past half-century could generally be solved through judicious use of better equipment and technology. That is not to say that military intelligence operatives don't exist, but there is no separate branch of the armed forces that exclusively deals in intelligence. Most intelligence gathering on a non-strictly battlefield related purpose is instead gained from the diplomatic corps of Korea, where diplomats and ambassadors often have informal networks of confidants and agents who help weave the thread of international relations to a nation that mostly tries to remain intentionally somewhat isolated from the world.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I am going to play Iran.

Will set up sign up.

 

[Robert Can't]

United Druze State​

BASIC INFORMATION
Short Name: Druze State
Full Name: United People's Druze State
Color: #66e1a3
Provinces: Lebanon, Isreal, Syria, Jordan

DESCRIPTION
The disaster struck not long after Adib Shishakli's coup in 1949 and Shishakli did his best to capitalise on the resulting chaos. The 1951 invasion of Lebanon was shambolic but eventually resulted in a victory for Shishakli. At home the government was facing increased opposition from Ba'athists and Communists so Syria made further plans for a war to keep the people in line. In 1954 this resulted in an invasion of Iraq which would drag on for years. In 1958 a cease fire was signed with Syria occupying territory up to and including Mosul in the north and a significant chunk of Al Anbar Province along the Euphrates.

Still a work in progress

 

[LordArgon]

I am thinking of taking Panama and some of its northern neighbors

 

[JohannaK]

Reserving India. Only gonna take s handful of provinces but gotta decide which first.

 

[sendos]

It's been so long. 6 years apparently.

I will pick Eastern Australia and New Zealand as nation and starting spot.

BASIC INFORMATION
Short Name: Australia and New Zealand
Full Name: ANZAC Commonwealth
Flag: Land of the Long White Cloud - https://www.designboom.com/design/new-zealand-flag-08-13-2015/
Color: Cyan, White and Black
Provinces: New Zealand, Eastern seaboard of Australia.

DESCRIPTION
After the asteroid impact, Australia was fractured into small disorganised city states. Contact was largely lost to the outside world. New Zealand managed to recover quickly from the cataclysm and reunite as its original nation. The eastern regions of Australia fared relatively better than the western states and were able to re-establish communications with New Zealand. As decades went by, the eastern states united with New Zealand to form the ANZAC Commonwealth.

CIVIL ASPECTS
Politics: It is a Federation, similar to that of Australia and New Zealand, but not as stable and in its infancy. Efforts are underway to reclaim the rest of Australia as part of the Commonwealth. While it is a democracy, the government does have a military President who has a similar role as governor general, who acts on the advice of the elected Prime Minister.
Economy: The economy is largely shattered, but efforts are underway to restore infrastructure and the economy.
Diplomacy: The Commonwealth has been mostly isolationist, focussing on its own development. As it has come into new contact, diplomatic relations are also in their infancy. There has been some development in diplomatic relations with some Pacific island nations, with a view to forming an Oceanic Commonwealth.
Research: New Zealand technology has been relatively advanced and the people of New Zealand are more progressive, while it's unification with the Eastern states of Australia is more challenging. Most technology in Australia is rudimentary but trade within the Commonwealth is addressing this imbalance.

MILITARY ASPECTS
Army: The ANZAC army is rather small, and still in a rather disorganised state, but it is improving over time with the assistance of New Zealand.
Navy: The ANZAC navy is in a strong shape, mostly thanks to New Zealand and is well organised.
Air Force: The ANZAC air force largely consists of old recovered jets from Australia and some more modern forces from New Zealand.
Intel: The ANZAC intel services still depend on New Zealand's small existing intelligence services at this stag.e

 

[Immaculate]

BASIC INFORMATION
Short Name: Akosombo
Full Name: Akosombo
Flag: TBD
Color: Green & Black & Gold
Provinces: Focus on the states surrounding the Gulf of Guinea, stretching from Cote D'Ivoire to Democratic Republic Of Congo

DESCRIPTION
In the wake of the astroid impact and collapse of local governments, a strogman warlord seized control of the Akosombo hydro-electric dam and was able to maintain power, structure, and rule locally. Through brutal intimidation and violence, the Akosombo was able to seize territory, resources, and population from its neighbors. As the effects of the impact began to normalize, so too did the Aksombo state, evolving towards a (still very brutal) corporatocratic police state.

CIVIL ASPECTS
Politics: Officially Akosombo is led by the "Mai aikin Ruwa" (water keeper in Huasa), an appointed position similar to 'president'. The position is evolved from the original warlord leadership's title and implies control of the dam and the civilization its power represents. The position evolved over the last 5 decades and became less openly brutal and autocratic but retains many, mostly ceremonial trappings of earlier, more violent eras. It also evolved to act more as a figurehead and 'puppet' to the true corporatocratic interests of the state. Today, true power lies in a cooperative of secretive unapologetically kleptocratic oligarchs who's intelligence apparatuses and various corporations effectively control the state. While the oligarchs cooperate through mutual control and fear of the state intelligence apparatus, their reign is maintained through monopolized control of wealth and resources, control of social and material mobility, indirect control of of politics, and, as needed, networks of informants, political repression and state terror (including extra-juridicial kidnappings, torture, and murder and the use of 'death squads').
Economy: Akosombo is marked by huge wealth disparity with the oligarchs and their corporate allies controlling the vast majority of wealth. Middle-class citizenry are always corporate aligned. The working poor have no influence in corporate affairs, are uneducated, indebted, abused, and politically repressed.
Aksombo's economy is based on oil, agricultural, fishing, and mineral resource development This underpins and supports industrial, military and security, and commercial manufacturing, as well as computing, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical development. The corporations tend to respect one-another's markets, acting in loose 'coopetition' with each other, preferring instead to flex real competitive muscle with external economic entities.
Diplomacy: The Aksombo interests in its neighbors tend to be economically focused and driven by the business requirements of the oligarchs and their corporations, as such it is often predatory when it can be, and cooperative only when necessary. The Aksombo make no pretense of, nor pretend to be interested in propagating any ideologies or cultures. They are, however, rabid supporters of free market enterprise and resist any effort by foreign governments to regulate their businesses or limit access to resources or markets.
Research: The Aksombo do not have any institutions of public education. That said, its private institutions, always sponsored by cooperative corporate interests, while expensive and mostly limited to the children of 'corporate citizenry' are truly excellent with a strong focus on engineering, technical, bio/medicine, and business applications. The Asksombo also practice significant industrial espionage and integrate these activities into their research and development activities.

MILITARY ASPECTS
Army: The Aksombo military is beholden to the corporations who maintain power within the army and prevent any military coups through their domestic security apparatus which itself controls the army both directly, and primarily, indirectly. The military itself is well-funded and highly-disciplined and has been employed to both seize territory from neighbors and repress internal dissidents on multiple occasions.
Navy: The navy is focused primarily on local protection and the security of international trade. Logistic support and escort operations are prioritized.
Air Force: Quality over quantity. While relatively advanced due to the focus of local corporations on heavy industry and aerospace engineering, the budget is more limited and so the air force is of limited scale, focusing on maintaining local air superiority and providing local ground support.
Intel: The Akosombo political apparatus and corporate interests all converge around its intelligence services who act as a unifying structure to maintain Akosombo organizational stability, military and domestic loyalty and compliance, balance of influence within the corporations, and to project power and influence amongst neighbors. There is no higher power within Akosombo. The intelligence apparatus also controls the judiciary, which while limiting corruption of the later by corporate actors, effectively removes any checks to domestic abuse, leading to operations such as the aforementioned network of informants and associated kidnappings, torture, and murder of dissidents.

 

[JamesCaesar]

Claiming the PNW, more info later tonight/tomorrow

 

[KaiserElectric]

I'm looking at Egypt for a starting point. Stay tuned.

 

[J.K. Stockholme]

​

Short Name: Continental States, Europe
Full Name: Union of Continental States
Colour: 443fb4
Provinces: see map; basically France + Germany + some combination of other west/central European states

Spoiler Map :

Description:
By the end of 1950, food stocks were running out. It was then that the social collapse in western Europe began. The countryside separated from the cities, and cities from each other, devolving into de facto rule by localities. What remained of the national militaries, as well as American troops stationed in Europe, tried to maintain order in their own regions, with the de jure governments in West Germany, France, and Italy evacuating to secure regions where they could concentrate loyalists. As the Great Darkness of 1950-1956 wore on, violent rebellion, gangsterism, and coups churned the political landscape - communists and anarchists seized power in many places, including much of northern Italy, while neo-Nazis and Christian zealots took parts of Germany. The old regimes instituted martial law and cancelled elections, enacting emergency powers for themselves.

After the Great Darkness, which had seen so many die of starvation, agricultural yields met the needs of the population, and industrial activity picked up. A new era of warlordism and constant low-level conflict began. Although extremists had taken over in numerous places, the majority of west Europe devolved polities ruled by a caste of elderly liberal-capitalistic leaders who knew a better world was possible. They were aligned, though not subordinate to, the de jure governments of Konrad Ardenaur and Charles de Gaulle.

Those old regimes slowly, through negotiation and force, stitched back together their respective governments. Philippe de Gaulle succeeded his father, and continued his ruthless campaign to reunify France. The cruelty, abitrariness, and bureaucratization of these old men left the new generation agitated. The children of the Great Darkness were thinned out not only by mass death, but also by the collapse in births - who would bring a child into this world? The baby bust of the 1950s saw a smaller generation than in prior times, but also a generation who knew only hardship - and who's parents told them that this great tragedy was but one in a series of tragedies - the World Wars, the Depression, the Nazis, etc. They chafed under the arbitrary and authoritarian world they grew up in, and sporadically, they protested and rioted. These bubbling tensions rose up until the greatest outburst of May 1976, when large-scale protests across the semi-reunified western European states erupted, wildcat strikes were called halting the production of munitions and arms, and various new ideas on the left were being brought to the public square.

The communist and anarchist holdouts rejoiced for peace and socialism, but the young protestors were not Soviet-style communists - they were neo-Marxists, libertarian socialists, and proto-Eurocommunists. Grassroots leaders rapidly established prominence and this historic moment for time seemed to herald a revolution - Philippe de Gaulle fled Paris (which he had only recently added to his domain) to a military base, and for a few thrilling, confusing days, it appeared that the communists had won. But the forces of reaction were still powerful - the military remained loyal to their governments, and cracked down, triggering further escalation and open rebellion by the new generation. A general European civil war had begun, with old communist and anarchist holdouts allied to new left students and young proletarians, opposed to the jaded liberal old guard, the Gaullists, as well as religious zealots and crypto-Nazis. Europe had recovered enough that both sides could mobilize enough resources to actually fight the war to completion. Neighbouring societies aligned with either side, sending arms and soldiers. Both sides realized that this was a pan-European fight - the revolutionaries declaring the foundation of a new international state of European peoples, and the forces of reaction agreeing to subordinate themselves completely under a single supreme commander, Philippe de Gaulle. After five years of agonizing war, with much of the first few years totally uncertain, de Gaulle had won, with loyal Gaullist troops occupying Germany and Italy, as well as France.

Philippe de Gaulle had seen what an uncontrolled Germany would do to the world during the Second World War, and knew from his father that only through control of Germany would the safety of France be secure. And so he pushed forward the creation of a new state, endorsed by the now entirely subordinated regions he had conquered, the Union of Continental States. For the first time in a generation, elections were held - now for a pan-European president - which de Gaulle won handily, though not without having banned many opposition candidates and various allegations of intimidation.

CIVIL ASPECTS
Politics: The Continental States are an authoritarian democracy, very much a successor to the mid-century French Gaullist tradition of top-down state influence over the economy, interventionist minded foreign-policy. As mentioned in the history above, there is a deep communist, socialist, anarchist tradition that makes protests pretty common and the opposition to government fairly unified around progressive anti-authoritarian ideas.
Economy: Having inherited an economic wasteland from the Second World War to be immediately hit by firestorms and earthquakes etc. makes me assume that the economy likely stagnated more-or-less this entire period until perhaps the last two decades when relative peace prevailed. That said, west Europe was really developed relative to everywhere else, so stagnating from a high starting position of human capital and infrastructure and wealth isn't too bad, and likely there has been a bounce in the last two decades of peace, permitted by a combination of state investment and free markets.
Diplomacy: Being a proof-of-concept of liberal(ish) pan-nationalism would likely make Gaullist west Europe somewhat liked by a lot of liberal and anti-communist regimes - and bitterly hated by left-wing governments.
Research: As a west European society there is a lot of pre-existing human capital, intellectual resources, universities, etc. German chemistry and rocketry were likely still invested throughout the period, with the Gaullists priding themselves in sponsoring technological research once they consolidated power in the more recent period.

MILITARY ASPECTS
Army: By far the most sophisticated and mature part of this country's military, having engaged in a lot of small conflicts and having won a general European war in living memory. Arms and munitions are entirely produced locally as part of a fairly sizable arms industry.
Navy: I would assume the navy was basically non-existant until really recently and has a poor overall tradition, having been more-or-less wiped out during the impact and subsequent crises.
Air Force: While less important than the army, aerial combat likely played a crucial role in all of the wars of the last half century that west Europe has seen. Aircraft are produced domestically and have been exported before as well.
Intel: Likely of middling quality and sophistication, having been unable to effectively suppress dissent, the state security services nonetheless have had a long history, with considerable work as far back as the early cold war (pre 1950 event) combatting Soviet spies and infiltration.

 

[Crezth]

​

Union of African People's Republics
​

BASIC INFORMATION
Short Name: African Union // URPA (acronymical shorthand from the Portuguese/French)
Full Name: Union of African People's Republics / Nyika yeAfrican / Ilizwe leAfrika / União das Repúblicas Populares Africanas / Union des républiques populaires africaines / Unie van Afrika-volksrepublieke
Flag: ^
Color: RGB: 54, 128, 58
Provinces:
Capital: Luanda

Spoiler Luanda :

DESCRIPTION
The URPA has its roots in the anti-colonial movements of the post-impact era. Few places across the world were hit as hard as the African colonies: already stewing in a cauldron of brutal indignation, the impact all but precipitated a collapse throughout the colonial governments - a collapse those same governments fought tooth and nail to prevent.

The result was a truly ferocious decade between the economic spiral of the colonial enterprises and the brutal repression that was introduced to keep the legions of hungry and overworked African workers at bay. Tens of thousands of professional Africans, occupying a myriad of functionary positions for the colonial state, flooded the employment offices of their colonial enclosures, and most were sent home with nothing. But though they had neither money or food, they did not truly come home empty-handed: educated in many languages, hard-working, brilliant, and with far too much time on their hands, these men returned to their letters and studied the writings of revolutionaries.

Though there were in the end thousands of political parties that came and went throughout this time, it was several parties that were devoted to Marxism-Leninism, and which had arranged themselves as vanguard parties, scattered throughout southern Africa that would end up laying the foundations of the URPA.

This movement began with the dominion of the Portuguese Estado Novo regime, which had survived the impact by pulling all stops and was determined to finance its own reconstruction by expanding the exploitation of its colonies to the greatest extent possible. The most symbolic policies of this time were the forced cultivation of cotton and the reckless expansion of mining operations throughout Mozambique and Angola. This venture was accompanied also by the increase of Portuguese emigration to these places, where walled colonies were built overlooking those endless fields and stygian mines. The calls for independence from this period increased dramatically. Although the Portuguese demanded the expansion of all operations, there was still no way for their institutions to absorb the large amounts of educated functionaries whose positions were liquidated. This was not merely a problem in the Portuguese colonies, of course, but was also a major issue in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where the British had just as few solutions for this class. But particularly in Mozambique and Angola, the Portuguese had no interest in making-up for this loss, focusing only on extracting what profits they could. Food was robbed from villages to feed the colonists, and children were sent to plantations where they were never heard from again.

In Mozambique, two young men, the Harvard-educated anthropologist Eduardo Mondlane and the nurse practitioner Samora Machel, led the creation of the Mozambique Liberation Front: an organization devoted to overthrowing the colonialist government and installing a socialist republic in its place. In Angola, the poet Agostinho Neto, the teacher Lucio Lara, and the de Andrade brothers led the creation of the Movement for the Popular Liberation of Angola. And though under British rule in the colony of Rhodesia - which the rebels called Zimbabwe - simultaneously comrades arose there led by the trade unionist Joshua Nkomo and, a little later, the schoolteacher Robert Mugabe.

Though initially separate, the revolution throughout these countries began to take on a similar tone. The colonial governments, predictably, cracked down: many were arrested, and many more killed. All these names mentioned previously found themselves in colonialist jail at some point, taking letters from the outside while their countrymen grew more and more radical. The membership of the liberation organizations swelled; communist literature was widely proselytized, and by 1956 African liberation was a potent force.

It is not necessary to go into too much detail at this point, except to say that in the wars that followed, the nature of the collapse with its slow, stolid recovery meant that war very quickly spilled across all of the national boundaries. And it was not merely in these southern African countries but throughout Africa that liberation, driven by similar conditions, became the word of the day. But what is important in southern Africa is how the expansion of the war, the existence of anticommunist nationalists, and the dogged stubbornness of the apartheid state of South Africa, ultimately drove the revolutionaries of these countries together. The United African People's Congress was elected by sixteen different socialist or liberation parties, and formally identified the united cause of liberation binding the nominal worker's republics of Angola, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia.

Ultimately, a forced settlement was achieved in 1965, between the United Kingdom, Portugal, and this congress. This settlement formally recognized the independence of the URPA, and the colonialist governments formally disbanded. Except, however, in South Africa, where the government rejected this settlement, denounced the London "surrenderers," and declared war on the newly independent government - merely formalizing a state of affairs hitherto predominant.

The war against South Africa raged another 12 years. In 1977, a second forced settlement was achieved, with the collapse of apartheid in South Africa incipient and the northern third of the country occupied by the URPA. This forced settlement was only a ceasefire, and did not establish a formal peace, and the URPA continued occupying the northern part of South Africa. The South Africans had preserved apartheid bloodily, but now had a belligerent enemy on its northern border.

Since then, the URPA has struggled to keep the country united and exercise the principles of Marxism-Leninism and socialism, but with many different communist parties occupying a state of perpetual infighting. No single party has achieved dominance in the Union, though they do in many of the member republics. Many white people in this time fled the Union, taking with them a significant chunk of the region's financial resources. Nevertheless, with some support from the Soviet Union, tempered by the aftereffects of the impact but picking up the longer the wars went on, the URPA has since 1989 finally achieved a consistent growth rate, and prides itself on having provided democracy, freedom from western exploiters, fresh water, electricity, and literacy in over two dozen languages to millions of its charges.

CIVIL ASPECTS
Politics: The URPA is, to put it bluntly, a mess of dozens of assemblies and various institutions with overlapping responsibilities and intramural politics. The vast majority of government activities are handled by the member republics and local assemblies overseen by local communist chapters. However, the central legislature of the United African People's Congress wields a good amount of authority over the entire country, and elects the powerful Central Committee which rules the country from on high. At the highest levels, a good amount of bureaucratic institutional creep dominates the government, and the Central Committee's authority is rarely ventured; at the lowest levels, the government functions in a moreorless effective manner though with many officers comfortable with bending the rules.
Economy: Rich in resources but poor in materiel, URPA has striven to industrialize the economy and develop it. It has not been entirely easy, especially during the war, though since 1980 progress has largely been consistent. Since 1989, an increase in Soviet investment and credit has led to the explosive growth of many industries. A major feature of the URPA economy is that the member republics frequently compete for development quotas, which has the effect of marginalizing the smaller republics and has led to the growth of some serious tensions. However, a few gleaming cities, such as Luanda, Harare, and Maputo, demonstrate that URPA is truly a modern country in its own way.
Diplomacy: URPA has a generally poor reputation in Europe and the former British Commonwealth and America, being seen as an anti-white country and the subject of countless rumors about anti-whiteness and communist depravity. Within Africa however, URPA is a member of diplomatic communities and does indeed participate in the United Nations, usually acting as an ally of the Soviet Union.
Research: URPA is not a particularly advanced nation, although with the economic growth in recent years and the development of industrial technology it has invested heavily in expanding education and providing opportunities for upper education and development. However, some professionals, once they finish their education, leave URPA to go work in richer nations. As a result there is a constant tension there. The biggest achievement of URPA in education was raising the literacy rate to 97%.

MILITARY ASPECTS
Army: The primary institution fielding ground forces in the URPA is the African People's Revolutionary Army (APRA), which is directly descended from the institution of the same name that fought the lengthy wars of independence. Each member republic also fields its own "Revolutionary Guards," which function as national militia.
Navy: The African People's Revolutionary Navy is a relatively small and undeveloped force; a glorified coast guard. There are no battleships or carriers, though there are some destroyers, cruisers, and submarines of recent up-and-coming design.
Air Force: The African People's Revolutionary Air Force is not that small, but very undeveloped, comprising mostly turboprop monoplanes, crop dusters, and helicopters. A few jet fighters purchased from the Soviet Union have been fielded, but they are not too numerous.
Intel: Intelligence in URPA is divided among a dozen different police organizations of the member republics and generally very informal. Recent efforts have attempted to unify the intelligence services under the Committee for State Security have run into some serious obstacles formalizing and verifying the agencies. It suggests there is a problem with corruption in law enforcement.

 

[Gurra09]

I would like to tentatively claim Sweden, sign-up coming later as it is nearly 5 AM when I write this.

 

[Reus]

There's been a big issue revolving around people's expectation on this game and what I wanted to setup - and even at turn 0 its getting a headache to deal with to the point I can't really see it progressing.

I might be back with something revised and entirely different that I feel I can enjoy running. Thanks you for the enthusiasm that you show and the work you've put in your sign-ups, I'm sorry for this very abrupt and early end lmao - but perhaps I'll come back with something better perhaps sooner more than later.

 

[JohannaK]

Classic IOT. It could be no other way.

 

[Double A]

joining as IOTXXV in Argentina