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Don't rush me. I'm still putting the finishing touches on the mod. Plus I have real life stuff to handle first.Start please start!
Ah yes. The greatest roadblock to any AAR, the infamous "Real Life"
I'm not saying too much about how I will start this AAR. I don't want to reveal too much.
Okay, a heads up. My custom mod's about 99% done right now. All of the events taking place in the next 50 or so years have been finished (though I may have to fix some localizations). Population levels and culture distributions have been fixed, as well as a few random cores due to the vanilla-NWO province mapping not being exactly 1 to 1. I'd like to point out that some province names are messed up, but it's nothing major as most of the affected provinces are located in India and Siberia and none are in Europe. I expect to start playing sometime over the weekend or next week, once I finalize the pop levels and fix some countries' units.
I did not create any new cultures. There is no Russian partition. The mod I based this on has no Yankee and Dixie cultures. I won't answer further questions about cultures as I have already 99% finalized them and will explain what I have done in an update, once I get to it.
As I said, don't ask too many questions right now as that will ruin the suspense. I will explain in due time.
Holy h*ll, at last I catch up on this, it took me a while, but it's worth it. Keep it up Zen, destroy the godless heretical equalists
Earth in 1946
The year is 1946. It has been almost nine hundred years since the fateful battle of Stamford Bridge, where the King of Norway, Harald Hardrada, saw a sign in the heavens just as Constantine the Great did centuries ago. Only this sign called for him to abandon Christianity and return to worshipping the old gods of Asgard. He did so, and the battle was a resounding Norwegian victory. Several weeks later, England fell under Norwegian rule for the next several decades, and the Norse faith underwent a reformation, beginning the Pagan Resurgence and a chain of events that would lead to the rise of the greatest empire in the history of humanity, an empire that has withstood the test of time and even bent the course of history to its will.
Nine centuries after Stamford Bridge, the world was engulfed in a war larger than anything that Hardrada could have imagined. The first half of the twentieth century saw bloodshed and destruction on an unparalleled scale. No previous conflict or set of conflicts could match the devastation brought on by the two world wars. Not even the Anarchy, the Fifty Years' War, and the First Roman Civil War could compare to the First World War (called the Weltkrieg in the Reich) alone, let alone the Second Roman Civil War and the Second World War (which was simply referred to as the war). Tens of millions of people lay dead across the killing fields of Eurasia and the Eimericas, and hundreds of millions more were forced to flee their homes. The war came to an abrupt end in the summer of 1944, and it seems like peace may finally return to the world.
But the peace was fragile. The Sword of Damocles, the shadow of war, continued to hang over the three hegemons of the world.
In the Far East, the Chinese Empire reigns supreme, and almost three hundred million citizens from Tehran to Jinshan to Aojing kowtow to the Emperor of China in Nanjing. Nepal's king pays tribute to Nanjing, hoping that the Imperial Chinese Army doesn't descend (or ascend) on Kathmandu for any perceived slight. The lands of India, Persia, and Turkestan have been partitioned with the Reich and placed under military occupation, pending their peoples' deradicalization from fascism.
The Chinese Empire
Central Asia
The Ming dynasty has reached heights that its founder, the 14th-century peasant Zhu Yuanzhang, could never have dreamed of. Expanding out from the plains of central China, the Ming first finished off the last remnants of Mongol domination in China before expanding outwards, establishing colonies throughout the Pacific and deposing the ancient Song Dynasty in Penglai, where they had fled after the Mongols drove them out of China in the 12th century. The Empire was proclaimed in 1868 after liberal pan-unification nationalists brought down the Tran and Jin imperial governments in Vietnam and Fusang, unifying all four dynasties into a mighty nation-state.
The new Empire embarked on a massive industrialization program which within forty years brought it on par with the industrial powerhouse that was the Reich in the west. Naturally, the two superpowers didn't get along, and despite both sides' best efforts to prevent it, war eventually broke out in 1914. Over the next four years, both empires threw hundreds of thousands of troops at the other, seeking to solidify their hegemony over the world. Every single nation was caught up in the crossfire, with disastrous results. While both China and the Reich eventually signed a peace treaty where neither was obligated to admit defeat, many other nations had collapsed to radical movements, both homegrown and supported by the Athanatoi and Jinyiwei. One such nation, which would have far-reaching effects on the rest of the world, was Russia, whose Roman-aligned Slavic monarchy was overthrown first by Chinese-supported republicans and then by equalist revolutionaries, who established the totalitarian dictatorship known as the Commune of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Commune.
The new equalist regime immediately invaded its eastern neighbor, the Suomenusko-worshipping Yavdi Empire, deposing its Roman-aligned monarchy and absorbing it as an equalist republic. Once Yavdi had been subdued, the Soviets turned westwards again, invading Finland in the late 30's and attempting to subvert the Roman-protected Tsarist government-in-exile in Sweden, formerly part of the Scandinavian Fylkirate. Equalist spies and saboteurs also reached out to trade unions and socialist organizations in North Eimerica, building up a large revolutionary movement while the Reich isolated itself from the world under the authoritarian chancellor Markos Angelos. In 1926, with the Reich distracted by a crippling general strike led by future chancellor Konrad Adenauer, the Soviets sprung their trap.
In the span of less than a year, the two powerhouses in North Eimerica, the native-led Fox Empire and the former Scandinavian colony Kingdom of Kanata, both succumbed to equalist revolutions, which saw their monarchies abolished (though the Kanatan monarchy fled to Norway) and replaced with equalist dictatorships, namely the Commune of Michigan and Union of Vinland. After a period of instability in which Michigan fragmented into several small warring states, the Commune reunified most of the former lands of the Fox Empire, except for the State of Pueblo, the Confederation of Southern Altepetls, which became both the Fox and Mexican monarchical governments in exile, and the Union of Seven Republics, which became a major power in its own right. The CSA would later be invaded and its dual monarchies deposed by a joint USR-Michigan invasion, with the Federal Socialist People's Democratic Republic of the Confederation of Soviet Socialist Altepetls (or CSSA) proclaimed. Both monarchs were installed by the Chinese as puppet rulers in Pueblo and Free Aztlan, while both Michigan and the USR would change their names to the Eimerican Commune and the Union of Thirteen Republics, respectively.
Further south lay the ancient civilizations of Mitteleimerica, including the ancient enemy of the Reich, the old Triple Alliance. In the thirteenth century, the Acatl huehuetlatoanis had invaded the Reich and laid waste to the Britannian isles and Scandinavia before being driven out two hundred years later at a high cost. In the centuries since successive Roman invasions to seek revenge and an ill-fated participation in the First World War to regain its lost territories from both the Chinese-aligned Fox and seek revenge against the Reich left the Alliance a shell of its former self, with Tenochtitlan sacked at least five times between the 1780s and 1920s. The perceived weakness of the Acatls allowed radical movements to grow, and eventually the far-right nationalist Azteca faction seized power under Itzcotocatl Yaquica, marginalizing but not deposing the Acatls. They barely survived a years before they too were overthrown by Soviet- and Michigan-supported revolutionaries who installed an equalist republic in Tenochtitlan. In the chaos, the two coastal states of Tlapanec and Tarascan broke away as their own equalist republics, but they were peacefully integrated at the conclusion of the war. The new People's Alliance of Red Altepetls, or PARA, also sought to reclaim the old Alliance's lost territories to the north, leading it to participate in the Michigan-led invasion of the CSA, for which it received a few pieces of land up to the Tejas River and limited influence over the CSSA's government. But with the CSSA's rise as a regional power and PARA's agrarian-based economy struggling to adapt to the economic chaos brought on by the war, it appears that the PARA-CSSA relationship might become reversed.
The Caribbean and the Yucatan is racked with conflict between ethnic Nahua and Mayans ever since the collapse of the Mayapan Kuchkabal in civil war and UTR invasion, which its eastern half was only saved from by a Roman invasion. Originally spanning the various islands of the Caribbean and the whole of the Yucatan, Mayapan has been reduced to just the eastern islands and half of Mayapan Island, with the UTR occupying the other half, PARA occupying the Yucatan, and an equalist regime being proclaimed in Cuba.
Even further south lies a peculiar geopolitical situation. Established a couple years after the First World War in a (somewhat peaceful) referendum on independence from Tawantinsuyuan rule, which had begun after the region was conquered from the Triple Alliance, the United Provinces of Mitteleimerica, a meritocratic monarchy, became a regional power, boosted by Roman investments in its industry and trade through the canal. However, that changed when the Great Depression hit the Reich, followed by the war. With the collapse of Roman aid due to civil war in Europe, its neighbors invaded. Tawantinsuyu, led by a revanchist government bent on kicking all Roman influence out of South Eimerica, attacked the UPM in late 1939, but surprisingly the United Mitteleimerican Army successfully repelled the attack, halting the Tawantinsuyuan advance near the border and engaging Cusco's troops in guerrilla warfare for the next four years. The next government appealed to China for help, and Nanjing obliged, helping to take down Tawantinsuyu in 1943. However, the Chinese also forced it into a war with the Romans. An overly ambitious Mitteleimerican politician then dragged the UPM into war with the Equalist International, which resulted in the UTR overrunning the country's North Eimerican provinces. The Panama Canal and the rest of the country were only saved by a Roman intervention which crushed the pro-Chinese government and restored meritocracy. In the aftermath of the war, the UTR has established the Union of Mitteleimerica, an equalist republic claiming to be the legitimate government over all of the UPM, while the UPM collapsed under a succession of military coups which installed a pro-China constitutional monarchy. The new democratic regime is highly unstable, unpopular, and ironically undemocratic, but with the military in control it looks like it will stay for the time being. That is, unless King Tomogata II Bacata decides to intervene.
South Eimerica largely escaped the chaos that its northern neighbor went through. Ignoring the UPM in the north, the continent is divided between two powers: the Chinese-aligned Tawantinsuyu and the Reich's centuries-old colony, Neurhomania.
Tawantinsuyu was established in the twelfth century, with its true origins remaining shrouded in legend. What is known about the early state was that it immediately came into conflict with the rising Triple Alliance, which had gained a technological advantage after capturing Norse colonists in Vinland. Over the years the Mexica drove the Quechua back into the highlands of the Andes, and for a time it looked like Tenochtitlan would become the master of the Eimericas. At that moment, though, Chinese and Manchu refugees fleeing the Mongol invasions landed on the west coast of North Eimerica, establishing their own empire which also came into conflict with the Alliance. The Jin reached out to the Tawantinsuyuans, and the two decided to ally against their common enemy. The Jin delivered guns and other advanced technology to Cusco, which used them to push back the Alliance and establish control over the western part of South Eimerica. Repeated attempts to colonize the Amazon were initially thwarted by heavy resistance from various jungle tribes and the harsh climate, though improved Chinese medicine and weapons eventually allowed them to expand to the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts. Over the years, Tawantinsuyu adopted a Chinese-style government as its ruling dynasties died out or were deposed due to a lack of the Mandate of Heaven. The Quechua people began using the Chinese writing system and farming with Chinese agricultural technology. Tawantinsuyu remained firmly in the Chinese sphere of influence until the 19th century, when a liberal uprising installed a nationalist government that severed ties with China. While the original absolutist government was restored soon afterwards, the ties remained severed. Sapa Inca Pachacutec III tried to mend ties by intervening in the First World War on China's side, but that only resulted in Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg leading a legion across the Andes to occupy Cusco, after which Markos Angelos, against the rest of the government's protests, imposed a harsh treaty forcing them to surrender most of their Amazonian territory, which comprised a full quarter of their empire. This caused the rise of the nationalist Inca Movement, led by the far-right demagogue Inca Roca Yupanqui, who seized power in the late 20s and early 30s, marginalizing (but not deposing) Pachacutec and declaring the start of a new Inca Empire which would avenge the losses of the First World War and drive the Romans out of the Eimericas. Tawantinsuyu's subsequent participation in the fascist Axis alliance saw it invade Neurhomania and successfully drive the Romans out...but only for four years, after which Roman reinforcements landed along the Neurhomanian coastline and steadily pushed back the Tawantinsuyuans, while the Chinese landed in the west and decapitated the nationalist government, installing a pro-China constitutional monarchy. However, Tawantinsuyu still hasn't renounced its claims on Neurhomanian territory yet, and nationalist sentiment is still popular among the Quechua population.
The Reich first discovered South Eimerica in the 1470s, when the explorer Kristoff Eimerich landed at the mouth of the Amazon, where New Berlin would later be founded. Colonists followed, and once enough colonists had been settled in South Eimerica the imperial government organized the semiautonomous Province of Neurhomania. Neurhomania expanded over the years, absorbing the native tribes of the Amazon, sometimes by force and sometimes peacefully. As Tawantinsuyu expanded from the south and west and the Alliance expanded from the north, Neurhomania's government took measures to ensure that the colony would not be overrun by either polity, granting its natives almost equal rights with colonials and strengthening its military to resist attacks from either country. The annexation of Cherokee and Malian colonies proved to be a prudent decision, as the new citizens proved to assimilate very quickly and become fiercely loyal to the colonial government in New Berlin. The annexation of formerly Tawantinsuyuan lands, however, was a decision that the New Berlin government neither wanted nor condoned, as now they were forced to divert significant amounts of funds to suppressing nationalist movements and integrating the new subjects. The occupation of Neurhomania in the war made things even worse as tensions between colonials and Tawantinsuyuans reached their peak. Many colonials joined nationalist resistance movements which fought against the occupation but also inadvertently helped them form a Neurhomanian national identity. The fact that most of Neurhomania hadn't been liberated by Roman troops at the end of the war (the Tawantinsuyuans simply withdrew after the Chinese told them to) inflamed tensions even more. While the Viceroy holds triumphs in New Berlin to celebrate the restoration of Neurhomania, various nationalist movements have already begun to organize again, this time seeking to establish Neurhomania as an independent nation.
South Eimerica
The Pacific, true to its name, is peaceful and quiet. While there were some engagements between Chinese and Roman fleets and a few Chinese invasions of Roman islands during the two world wars, most of the Pacific remains at peace. In the early modern period, the various islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia were divided up among Vietnam, China, the Reich, India, and even Persia and Abyssinia. The latter two lost their colonies in the early 19th and 20th centuries, respectively, after revolution hit Persia (and was put down by Roman intervention) and Abyssinia lost the First World War. Vietnam's colonies were absorbed into the Chinese Empire, and the Reich seized its ally India's colonies after the Indian Empire collapsed in a Chinese-sponsored republican revolution. Hawaii and Mittagsland are beacons of stability and modernity in the vast expanse of the Pacific. Refugees from all corners of the world poured into the city of Adamshaven, in Hawaii, making it a cosmopolitan city not unlike Constantinople. Refugees continue to pour into both Hawaii and Mittagsland from China and its various colonies as the mainland suffers under military dictatorship. After an ill-fated Angeloi invasion which landed throughout China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Qiandao, Taiwan, and Penglai, Chancellor Wang Jingwei declared martial law and invited the military to take control over the government, suspending the constitution and establishing a junta which now maintains power by claiming that it is the only thing protecting the empire against the equalist menace in Russia. Whatever the case, its oppressive policies have led many to flee to the Reich (which officially has no comment on the junta), though with the junta imposing a complete and total shutdown on all immigration and emigration into and out of China, especially after Wang's death and the rise of his successor, Field Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek, the flow of refugees might just stop.
Africa was once known as the Dark Continent for the large parts of its interior that remained unexplored well into the late 19th century. But viewing Africa as one monolithic region is to ignore much of its culture and civilization. The northern coastline, from Mauretania in the west to Aegyptus in the east, is an integral part of the Reich, home to many bustling cities from which trade flows across the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Most of the natives here have been assimilated into Roman civilization, though a few natives who retained their original way of life remain. To the south of the Reich's provinces lie Mali and Abyssinia, a pagan and a Jewish nation, respectively. The two have existed for almost as long as the Reich.
Abyssinia, though, succumbed to the far right after a Chinese coup installed a republic in Gonder. This republic was quickly overthrown by a Roman invasion which saw Abyssinia stripped of its colonial empire, rendering it susceptible to fascist takeover. The constitutional monarchy of the country, the only democratic regime outside of China that survived the wave of meritocrization in the 1860s and 70s, made it easy for the fascists to legally seize power. The New Abyssinia Party won several general elections in the 20s and 30s, playing on public anger and a desire for revenge. The NAP's first order of business was to sign an alliance deal with fascist India, Iran, and Tawantinsuyu, forming the Axis powers. When the Reich declared war on the Axis after India invaded Turkestan to reclaim its former colonies, only for Angelos to start a civil war against the Kaiser, Abyssinia eagerly joined in, with the NAP claiming Aegyptus, Arabia, and the Indian Africa (the Indian Empire's government in exile in its former African colonies) as being within its natural borders. Abyssinian troops easily overran Aegyptus, Arabia, and Indian Africa, effortlessly destroying the Reich's garrisons and the remnants of the Imperial Indian Army. All but two members of the Indian imperial family were executed by the Abyssinians, while Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina fell under joint Axis occupation, with terrible results. Abyssinian marines even landed at various places throughout the Mediterranean, seizing cities like Tangiers, Smyrna, Heraklion, and Famagusta before they were driven back into the sea with heavy casualties. By 1942, though, the Abyssinian war machine, like the Iranian military, had broken down, crippled by the need to deal with resistance movements in its occupied territories, and in several brilliant offensives from Aegyptus, the Red Sea, and the air, the war hero Hugo Doukas brought down the nation, ushering in four years of military occupation over both Ethiopia and Indian Africa. Both regions remain under occupation for now as the occupation forces carry out deradicalization programs on the Abyssinian people and assemble a government to run Indian Africa.
Mali's most recent borders are almost exactly the same as they were in the medieval period. Once an empire prospering on trans-Saharan trade, with the emergence of new trade routes Mali's riches dwindled away, though its rulers tried to slow that down by signing trade deals with the Reich. When the New World was discovered, the Malian government, eager to find riches which would usher in a new golden age, sent fleets of colonists to South Eimerica, establishing the colony of Nsorala (abbreviated Igbo for "oak land"). This colony lasted for quite some time, sending fleets loaded with gold back to Timbuktu and revitalizing the Malian economy for decades. This ground to a halt when Nsorala, with limited Roman support, declared itself an independent republic and waged war against its motherland. Despite landing troops in Africa and routing the Malian army in all battles, the new republic was unable to establish a stable government, and when the Reich refused to send more aid (as it had done with New Vinland, which became Kanata) it reluctantly sued for peace, demanding that the Malian government reduce its tariffs and renegotiate its colonial policy. Over the next few years, Nsorala was slowly partitioned between Neurhomania and Tawantinsuyu and its inhabitants assimilated into both countries. Mali was reduced to just its African heartland, where it had conquered the other pagan tribes to the south. However, it could not expand further, as the Reich had claimed the land around it as its own. Not much happened in Mali in the 19th century besides a short-lived liberal revolution which was soon overthrown with Roman help. By then, Mali had become dependent on Roman imports and industrial investment for its livelihood. Its small industrial base was almost completely funded by the Reich, and its military was equipped with Roman weapons. Despite this dependence, Mali's government quickly fell to a Chinese-funded coup which brought it into the First World War on China's side, prompting the Reich to invade Mali. Like the many skirmishes between the Reich and Mali in the medieval period, this invasion was completely one-sided and ended in a total Roman victory. Mali's government was replaced with one more loyal to the Reich to ensure that this would never happen again. However, another betrayal did happen in the next war, when the Angeloi, Markos Angelos's pro-Axis faction in the Roman Civil War, couped the Malian government and installed a pro-Axis regime which declared war on the Reich. Despite reinforcing the Axis in Arabia and Aegyptus, the Malians could not stop the loyalist advance from sweeping westwards across Africa, especially after Abyssinia fell. Loyalist troops effortlessly overran Mali while still fighting the rest of the Axis, though anti-Roman rebellions frequently took place. As a result, like Abyssinia, Mali remains under indefinite Roman military occupation until Constantinople can organize a Malian government that definitely won't repeat the mistakes of its predecessors.
But most of the continent remains under the control of the Reich. While the northern coast has been firmly integrated into the Reich for centuries, the rest of the African themes have been annexed and colonized at various points in time after the fifteenth century. The oldest colonies are Loango and Sudafrika. Loango was once a native African kingdom ruling over the Congo basin whose kings converted to Christianity and voluntarily joined the Reich on the condition that they remain the local rulers and retain their traditions. Sudafrika was settled by colonists from Frisia and northern Germania, who mixed with the locals and gave rise to their own unique culture, the Bauers, who hold significant influence over the Reich's African policy. Then there is Madagascar, where local Malagasy tribal rulers still reign as governors over various themes, though they must obey Roman laws and give some concessions to settlers from Europe. The colonies along the East African coast between Indian Africa and Sudafrika constitute the lands of the former Kingdom of Mutapa, one of the few native sub-Saharan kingdoms that had to be annexed by force but still enjoys limited autonomy. Most of the interior was explored and settled in the "Drang nacht Suden" of the 19th century, and one might expect colonial independence movements to be prevalent here. But there are no such movements. Native societies are not forced to convert to Christianity and are allowed to retain their native traditions, provided they pay their taxes to the provincial governor, adopt Roman currency, and speak some degree of German. All natives are granted citizenship rights and the right to participate in the meritocratically-chosen provincial government. The Roman government considers them as Roman as the settlers sent to live next to them as a result of its policy of Romanitas, and while there is still some discrimination against the natives, native assimilation takes place at a record rate. Natives largely do not want independence, as they benefit from the privileges they get as Roman citizens and as participants in inter-Reich trade.
Africa
Finally, there is the arguably most important region in the world currently - Europe. Europe forms one of the twin centers of civilization (the other being Asia, specifically China). Currently, Europe is divided among five recognized nations and five unrecognized governments.
The Nordics are mostly peaceful, in contrast to their medieval history as the source of the Vikings who raided Roman coastlines and their recent history as the sight of some particularly bloody battles in the First World War. In the medieval period, the various Norse jarldoms and Christian kingdoms were united under the charismatic Norse ruler Harald Hardrada, who reversed the Christianization of the region and revived and institutionalized Norse paganism. The new Scandinavian Empire became a regional power, led by the Fylkir, the supreme religious authority of all of Norsedom, and his Hogting, a representative body made up of the nobles and priests of the empire. The Scandinavian Empire embarked on a period of rapid expansion, in just a few years conquering England, Scotland, and Normandy (which Harald had already conquered as King of Norway) and in another few years conquering Leon and Andalusia. The Hohenzollerns under Friedrich the Great and Friedrich the Glorious put an end to Scandinavian expansion after a failed attempt to invade northern Germany provoked a counterinvasion of the Britannian Isles and Hispania, which were both annexed into the Reich. The Fylkirs of Scandinavia would launch pagan crusades against the Reich every thirty years for the next three hundred years, each time defeated by the disciplined Roman legions. After Scandinavia abandoned feudalism and adopted a more modern form of government, its interests shifted away from Germany and towards Finland, which the Russians would repeatedly invade. While the Reich would participate on Russia's side in each Scandinavian-Russian war (of which there were so many everybody lost count), it made sure that neither side could demand too much in the peace treaty to maintain the balance of power in the north. The last of these wars between Scandinavia and Russia took place in 1836, with Russia renouncing its claims on Finland (with Roman urging) twenty years later. Despite this, Scandinavia and Russia would find themselves at war again during the First World War, when Scandinavia sided with China and Russia with the Reich. While the Russian and Roman armies quickly overran Scandinavia, the Scandinavian army inflicted heavy casualties on both invading forces, slowing down their advance. Eventually, the Fylkir sued for peace, and the Scandinavian Fylkirate was abolished. Scandinavia was partitioned into three occupation zones, one each for Kanata, Russia, and the Reich. The Reich installed the former Fylkir Thorbjorn I as King of Danmark in its occupation zone. When Russia and Kanata succumbed to revolution in 1917 and 1926, both of their governments evacuated to their occupation zones. During the war, the Angeloi forced all three Nordic governments to align with it, which resulted in the Reich invading and occupying all three for a second time (the UTR and Vinland seized control over Kanatan Greenland and Iceland, respectively). Their independence has just been restored, but the Reich refuses to permit Scandinavian reunification, as that would entail the deposing of both the Kanatan and Russian monarchs.
Along the Baltic coast lie the remains of Lithuania and Finland. Lithuania was once a buffer state between the Reich and Russia, but when it allied with Scandinavia in its wars against Russia it caused devastation throughout Eastern Europe. During the Fifty Years' War, while the Reich was mired in religious conflict, Lithuania under Queen Giedre seized large amounts of territory from Russia, including the capital of Kiev. Giedre proclaimed herself the first Queen-Empress of the Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth, which despite losing most of its territory outside of Lithuania proper over the next three hundred years remained a regional power up to the First World War, when it joined with Scandinavia and China against the Reich and Russia. Just as in Scandinavia, the Lithuanian army inflicted heavy casualties on the invading Roman and Russian troops. It was here that the war's bloodiest battles took place as the Lithuanians dug trenches outside of the cities of Vilnius and Grodno, killing hundreds of thousands of Romans and Russians before they were overrun. Lithuania lasted for over six months in the face of overwhelming Roman-Russian numerical and technological superiority. After the war, Lithuania's remaining territories outside of Lithuania proper were partitioned between the Reich and Russia, and a pro-Roman government under General Paulius Galdikas was installed in Vilnius. This government lasted until 1939, when instability in the Reich which escalated into civil war cut off aid to the country allowed the Soviets to invade and annex the country in one night. The Palemonids fled to Tsarist Russia, while Galdikas went underground as a resistance leader.
Yavdi was a peculiar country. Its official languages were Finnish and Mongol, its state religion was Suomenusko, and its government organization and titles were Russian. Despite these contradictions, Yavdi emerged from an irrelevant steppe nomad polity in the medieval period to a Mongol client state to a state which kept the peace throughout Siberia and the western steppes. It lasted until the 20th century, when the Soviets invaded and the Reich under Markos Angelos refused to defend it.
Finland, after centuries of being the battlefield for Scandinavian and Russian armies, gained independence after the First World War as a Chinese puppet state established in western and eastern Finland after the Russian Revolution of 1917 toppled the Tsars. However, the Grand Duke of Finland, a relative of the Yavdi Tsar, immediately severed all ties with China and aligned with the Reich. Finland seized control over Livonia (Estonia and Latvia) after the equalists seized power in Kiev, only to sell the region to the Reich after realizing it couldn't defend it (it would later be overrun by the Soviets the same day that Lithuania was overrun). After the subjugation of the Yavdi Empire and the abolition of its monarchy, the Yavdi Tsar fled to Finland, which was also a Suomenusko country, and was proclaimed Tsar in Finland. The Soviets seized Eastern Finland in a brief war in the late 1920s after the Reich refused to defend it, and in 1939 the Soviets invaded the rest of Finland while the Reich was weak. The Tsar was brutally killed by the Red Army, though his family and the Grand Duke escaped to Tsarist Russia. The Finnish monarchy was abolished and replaced with an equalist republic, which would be integrated as a core part of the CSSR. However, the Red Army occupying western Finland is suffering mounting losses at the hands of Finnish resistance fighters, and Soviet control is on the verge of collapse. If something isn't done, it seems like Finland might break free of the Soviet orbit.
In the east lies the most dangerous country in the world - Russia, or the equalist dictatorship masquerading as it. "Russia" wasn't always the villain. In the eleventh century, with the Pagan Resurgence sweeping against pagan Europe, an ambitious ruler united the various Rurikid domains under his rule, declaring himself King of Ruthenia. It was his daughter Sybslava that united both Rus' and Ruthenia and brought all Russians under one banner, her own. Declaring herself the first Tsaritsa of All the Russias, she expanded outwards and prevented Scandinavian expansion eastwards, establishing Russia as a significant power in Eastern Europe. Her descendants over the next few centuries engaged in wars with Scandinavia and Lithuania and modernized the country, building up an army almost as large and as disciplined as the Reich's. Russia's golden age began in the 17th century with the establishment of the new imperial capital of Tsarberg on the Baltic coast by Tsaritsa Rogneda. Yet while the Reich slowly adopted meritocratic reforms in its government, Russia retained its autocratic absolutism, fearing that a Slavic version of the Fifty Years' War might happen at any moment. Russian troops eagerly helped Roman troops enforce peace in Central Asia, where the Indian Empire had finished off the last of the steppe hordes and began colonizing the region. Russian troops participated in the brutal crackdown on the Persian Revolution of 1806, where a radical named Iskander Yinal attempted to overthrow the Zoroastrian Seljuk monarchy only to be crushed by a joint Yavdi-Russian-Indian intervention. His ideas, though, lived on. In 1848, things came to a head in Russia with the outbreak of a liberal revolution that installed a constitutional monarchy in Tsarberg, which was peacefully dissolved twenty years later after the Tsar steadily revoked most of the democratic government's authority. From there the Tsars, especially Tsar Vladimir III, kept on centralizing power in their own hands. Corruption ran rampant throughout the Russian government. Politicians and generals were promoted based on political connections, not merit. The Russian Army began to suffer. When Russia joined the First World War in 1914, Vladimir expected an easy victory over Scandinavia and Lithuania which would boost his popularity again and help him stamp out corruption. Yet the stubborn resistance of the Lithuanians increased public resentment against the government, which the Chinese capitalized on when they sent agitators and demagogues to destabilize the country. Finally, the contradictions within the autocracy collapsed when Chinese-funded revolutionaries launched a mutiny within the working class and the navy, and the government fell apart. Vladimir was forced to abdicate, and a republic was declared. The republic lasted for less than a year before equalist revolutionaries seized control and began a yearlong civil war against far-right nationalist forces in the south. In the chaos, the equalists executed Vladimir and all but two members of his immediate family. The surviving Rurikids fled to Sweden, where they proclaimed Princess Sbyslava as Tsaritsa of All the Russias. Meanwhile, the equalists crushed the anti-equalist forces in the south and firmly established their rule over all of Russia, proclaiming the establishment of the Commune of Soviet Socialist Republics. Led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the new equalist regime's policy was to expand and spread the revolution. Its first target was Yavdi. Red Army troops flooded over the border and seized major Yavdian cities in several weeks, forcing the Tsar to flee to the Reich. Yavdi was integrated into the CSSR as a soviet republic. Trotsky advocated for expanding westwards, but it was here that the Reich got in the way. It would not tolerate any further expansion into its sphere of influence. As a result, the Soviet government decided to bide its time and rebuild the country's industry. Lenin passed away in the early 20s, leaving Trotsky at the helm, where he continued to spread the revolution by funding equalist revolutions in North Eimerica. Trotsky retired in 1936 and was succeeded as General Secretary of the Equalist Party by his colleague and foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov.
Trotsky's assassination in 1941, allegedly by an Angeloi agent, sparked a war between Markos Angelos's Angeloi and the Soviet Commune. Initially the better equipped Angeloi army overran large parts of Russia, reaching the gates of Kiev, but it was there the offensive stalled due to a lack of manpower and supplies. The Soviets, meanwhile, adopted scorched-earth tactics, denying the invaders their industry and natural resources, while conscripting thousands of civilian men, primarily Mongols from the east, into the Red Army as cannon fodder. Using their almost limitless supply of manpower, the Soviets launched a counterattack in late 1943, breaking through the overextended and exhausted Angeloi lines in a matter of days in several locations and encircling thousands of enemy troops. The Angeloi offensive and subsequent defensive crumbled over the next few weeks, and by spring of 1944 the Soviets had begun pushing into sovereign Roman territory. Berlin fell in mid-summer of 1944, with Markos Angelos committing suicide and most of the government fleeing westwards. Finally, to secure the Angeloi's unconditional surrender the Soviets detonated three nuclear weapons stolen from the Axis nuclear weapons program over the anti-Soviet resistance-occupied cities of Warsaw, Konigsberg, and Dresden, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and annihilating all three cities. The war ended on 19 July 1944 with the unconditional surrender of what remained of the Angeloi government. In revenge for the "untold misery the fascists inflicted upon the innocent Russian people," the Soviets occupied large parts of the Reich's territory, despite Constantinople's protesting.
Molotov knows that governments before him have tried to destroy the Reich but failed. That was because they only sought to dominate, not to eradicate. Instead, the Soviets implemented a policy of "deromanization" towards the occupied territories. All traces of a Roman identity would be eradicated and replaced with first national identities and then a pan-equalist identity. Puppet governments with no ties to the Reich were installed in the occupied territories. These governments, including Poland, Bohemia-Moravia, Carpathia, Dacia, and Moldavia, were to enforce Kiev's will on the local population and promote a non-Roman identity. If all went well, within several generations the people of the occupied territories would no longer see themselves as Romans. If a government refused to carry out Kiev's orders...they were expendable and could be replaced.
One should not be fooled by the Red Army's official classification as the "third most powerful" army. The Red Army is the world's largest standing army, comprising of almost a thousand brigades (compared to the Reich's 350), most of them concentrated in the Soviet Commune's occupation zone in Eastern Germania. Molotov argues that they are there to prevent any "fascist rebellions" from taking place, but everybody in the Reich knows that they are there to prevent the Reich from invading to liberate its citizens...or for the Red Army to invade the Reich.
But the Soviets, in their disregard for tradition, forgot the most important one of all: Rome is eternal. Rome endures. Through the ages and through each and every threat to the world, Rome always endures. The Reich was old when the CSSR was young, and it will stand long after it falls.
The Roman Reich rose in the eleventh century when Friedrich the Great conquered the Holy Land and drove the Norse from the Britannian Isles, but it was his grandson Friedrich the Glorious who united the thrones of the western and eastern heirs of Rome into one empire. It was Friedrich the Glorious's daughter Wilhelmina who mended the Great Schism between western and eastern Christianity and brought all of Christendom together under one banner. And it was their family, the Hohenzollerns, who have led the Reich and its people through the centuries. Their descendant, Kaiser Otto, intends to keep the tradition alive.
The Reich's modern government was established by the reforms of Count Klemens von Metternich in the late 1790s and steadily reformed into a more meritocratic state over the years. The Reich of today is arguably the most liberal nation in the world (though by "liberal" the Reich does not necessarily mean full democracy and elections). Any Roman citizen may stand for public office, but there are no elections in the Reich. Instead, a candidate for office must go through a comprehensive series of interviews, examinations, and tests of character to show that they are the best qualified candidate for the job. The examination process is fully covered by the Roman government, and all necessary practice materials, such as textbooks and mentors, are subsidized and made affordable to the poorest citizen. While power is officially vested in the person of the Kaiser, it is up to the meritocratically chosen bureaucrats and politicians to advise him or her on the best course of action.
The current Kaiser is Otto I von Hohenzollern. Born in 1912, Otto was the son of Prince Karl, the nephew of Kaiser Franz Joseph I, Kaiser of the Romans for over fifty years. When Franz Joseph passed away at the height of the First World War, Prince Karl was crowned as Kaiser Karl I. The new Kaiser, though, only reigned for one year before Chinese and Persian agents assassinated him while on a tour of the Reich's Asian colonies. Otto, just five years old at the time, was declared the new Kaiser, and a regency under Erich Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg, the two war heroes, was organized. But with the two generals still leading troops, the ambitious politician Markos Angelos schemed his way into the regency, coopting it for his own nefarious ends. By the time Ludendorff and Hindenburg returned from commanding troops in 1921 and marginalized him, Angelos had caused the destruction of the Yavdi Empire, the rise of the Soviet Commune, allowed the Indian Empire to be overthrown, and imposed harsh reparations and territorial concessions on various enemy powers, giving rise to fascism twenty years later.
Kaiser Otto came of age in a time of crisis. As a teenager, he had successfully negotiated an end to a crippling general strike, which Angelos almost certainly would have escalated into civil war. Just a few months into his reign, though, the Berlin and Frankfurt stock markets crashed, sending the Reich into the Great Depression. Otto was responsible for implementing economic policies which got the Reich out of the Depression, though Angelos took credit for it. He sought to reform the aging institutions of the Roman government and bring them all into the modern day, but Angelos's rebellion and the beginning of the Second Roman Civil War put an end to that. Between 1939 and 1944, Otto fought a multi-front war against the Axis powers and a military-led Chinese Empire bent on a rematch for the previous war. While the first two years saw heavy losses everywhere and loyalists reduced to just Constantinople and the surrounding areas, Otto didn't give up. Even when Constantinople itself was lost in the summer of 1941, Otto refused to surrender. Eventually, he turned the situation around and launched a brilliant offensive against the Angeloi, slowly and steadily retaking lost territory from the Axis. It was his steady leadership and unwillingness to surrender which ultimately won him the war. With the war over, the Kaiser now sees it is time to rebuild the Reich, or what parts of it he still controls. While the destruction of the war has crippled the Reich's economy, infrastructure, industry, and military, Otto sees it as a chance to rebuild the Reich and replace old institutions with modern ones.
In 11 November 1944, with meritocratic examinations taking place for the first time in ten years, Otto decreed that he would be amending and modernizing the Augustinian Code. The Augustinian Code was a legal code promulgated in 1444 which has formed the basis of the imperial government since then, in essence the basic law of the Reich.
Preamble and 22 Articles of the Reformed Augustinian Code said:
In 1946, there were several political parties, many of them just established a year ago. In the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Franz von Papen's government after rumors spread that he had accepted Soviet control over the occupied territories in exchange for Vienna and West Berlin, the Metternich system which had lasted since the late 18th century fell apart, taking with it most of the political factions in the Diet. Otto's subsequent administrative reforms effectively forced the surviving factions, most of them being noble-centered, to disband. The only two of the prewar factions to survive were the Hohenzollern and Schweinfurt factions, which took steps to distance themselves from the dynatoi families they used to lobby for and transition into true political parties; the Hohenzollern faction, which had formed a government every year for the last 110 years, was likely to relinquish power to Adenauer's rising Christian Meritocratic Union and its ally, the Social Meritocratic Party of the Reich. While the two equalist parties (one followed a fringe branch of equalism called "communism") were not outright banned, they were barred from forming a government. Socialist (the Social Meritocrats were social meritocrats, not full socialists) and rightist "populist" parties were not subject to the same restrictions.
Political parties
The Kaiser also enacted amendments, which were collectively dubbed the Ottonian System, into law to replace the Metternich system that had existed since the 1790s. These amendments laid the foundations for a new system by which the entire imperial government could be reformed and centralized to increase efficiency and prevent a madman like Markos Angelos from ever seizing power again. The imperial nobility of the Reich were no longer afforded any special rights, privileges or responsibilities, except for residual rights to stand for examination in either the Reichsrat or the Reichstag (though just like any other citizen), dining rights in the Great Palace (or Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin), position in the formal order of precedence, the right to certain titles, and the right to an audience with the Kaiser (though commoners also had this right).
The Ottonian system was most comprehensive meritocratic reform of the imperial administration since the first Augustinian Code was promulgated. The reforms firmly opened the right to stand for candidacy for all citizens, regardless of gender or social status, above the age of eighteen. Seats in the Reichstag would be alloted by party based on proportional representation, determined by how many registered party members passed their examinations compared to the party's popularity in government-overseen polls (technically not elections). Each imperial province (Lander) and overseas colony (Indochina, Mittagsland, and Neurhomania) had free reign to appoint any two individuals to serve as their representative in the Reichsrat, the replacement for the nobles-only upper house under the Metternich system.
The office of Reichskanzler remained from the Metternich system. The Reichskanzler (Chancellor) was appointed by the Kaiser, generally from the political party which held a plurality or majority in the Diet (though this was just custom), and jointly held executive authority with the Kaiser with which to pass and enforce laws, though the Chancellor must defer to the Kaiser in case of conflict. The Chancellor was also responsible for mediating Diet discussion and advising the Kaiser on various pieces of legislation. The rest of the cabinet similarly advised the Kaiser on matters relating to their respective offices and similarly shared executive authority with the Kaiser in implementing domestic and foreign policy. Like the Chancellor, they must defer to the Kaiser's judgment if there was a conflict. Cabinet members were also generally chosen from the Chancellor's political party or from other parties the Chancellor's party may form a coalition with. The current chancellor was Konrad Adenauer, of the Christian Meritocratic Union.
The judiciary also underwent significant reform. While the basic structure of the judiciary remained largely the same, there was now a formal delegation of powers among different levels of government. Court systems now existed at every administrative level, from municipal all the way up to the national Augustinian Court, or Reichsgericht. The Reichsgericht and the Kaiser both reserved the right to overturn any court decision. The Kaiser would appoint nine justices to the Reichgericht from a pool of candidates meritocratically screened by the Reichstag and Reichsrat.
The administration of the Reich's territories was also vastly changed with the transfer of power from the larger Imperial Provinces to smaller regional Lander. While the Lander had existed since the Metternich system was implemented in the 1790s, they had only minor powers, mostly the powers to collect taxes, pass local legislation, and organize law enforcement, and the Provinces they were part of had representation in Berlin (or Constantinople currently). Many major provincial governments, among them the Gallic government under the traitorous "war hero" Marshal Petain, had defected to the Angeloi in 1939, using their influence and control over large parts of the Reich to form Angeloi strongholds. Otto had to break the power of the provinces to prevent them from rebelling again. While the meritocratically chosen governors and hereditary noble viceroys of each province remained, their powers were greatly reduced and devolved to the Lander. Instead of each Lander sending representatives to a Provincial Diet, which in turn sent representatives to the Imperial Diet, the Provincial Diets were abolished and each Lander was given its own Diet, which sent two senators to the Reichsrat. Smaller administrative divisions which answered directly to the capital would make it harder for a large rebellion to break out.
This system was obviously not democratic and never was intended to be. That was the job of China's governing system. Instead, it was meritocratic and attemped to allow as much popular representation as possible without compromising the government's integrity by special interests and demagogues. Of course, like in the original 11 November 1444 document, there were numerous provisions, emergency clauses, loopholes, and contingency plans which allowed the Kaiser and only the Kaiser to take control over the entire government at will, with the expectation that this only be done in the case of a national emergency. Like many of the other "restrictions" on the Imperial Throne's power, it was more of tradition, custom, and trust than actual law, and the Kaiser was expected to follow such customs. But most people didn't dwell on this. The scars of the war and Angelos's betrayal, which led to the Second Roman Civil War, still ran deep in the Roman population, a large portion of which had only two years ago been Angelos's most loyal followers. Nobody, not even the most radical neo-Angeloi, wanted a Third Roman Civil War, as bloody as the second was. Centralizing more power in the body of the Kaiser would arguably prevent another Angelos from happening again. After all, Angelos was a noble, and it was another noble, Malcolm Bethune, who murdered Kaiser Martin and one of his daughters in 1595 and brought on the chaos of the Anarchy, the Iconoclast Reformation, and the Fifty Years' War. Stripping the nobility's power would ensure none of them would try to follow in their footsteps. Most nobles agreed to hand over their powers. A few resisted but relented after the Kaiser threatened to revoke their titles.
Kaiser Otto expected that this new government would help the Reich get back on its feet following the destruction of the war. Five years of total war had left chaos and devastation around the world, but the damage was heaviest in the Reich, where every single scrap of land that wasn't an island in the middle of nowhere (and even a few of those in the Pacific were occupied by the Chinese) was fought over by Angeloi, loyalists, Soviets, Iranians, Indians, Malians, Abyssinians, Chinese, and even Nepalese. No city (except for Athens and a few small villages outside of Constantinople which nevertheless were still bombed flat) was spared the fighting; the Reich had to wage bloody battles to retake every single village and town. Everybody had been affected by the war in some way. Both Angeloi and loyalist bombers launched countless air raids against each other's territory, raining down thousands of bombs on Roman industry and infrastructure and killing thousands of innocent civilians. The damage was the worst in the traditional industrial heartland of Germania, Central Europe, and the Balkans, where the main fighting took place. Most of the Reich's industry there was completely destroyed, its infrastructure bombed into twisted pieces of useless metal and rubble. The industry of the western provinces of Gallia, Britannia, and Hispania, by comparison, was slightly more intact. The imperial government's new economic policy was to invest heavily into surviving industries of the west, as it didn't yet have enough funds or manpower to invest in rebuilding the rest of the Reich.
Trade, which was almost nonexistent during the war, had returned in some degree after the guns fell silent. The Kaiser encouraged the merchant marine to set sail again, abolishing most tariffs to stimulate free trade. With the loss of the eastern provinces' grain and raw materials (especially Bohemia's uranium mines, though this was kept classified), the Reich had to rely on the Nordics, Mayapan, and its colonies to get the resources it needed to fully rebuild. The colonies saw this as an opportunity to help out their motherland and, in the process, strengthen their causes for autonomy. Roman occupation authorities in Persia, India, Ethiopia, and Mali also tried stimulating local economies, hoping that the extra manpower could help revitalize the Roman economies and restart those of the occupied countries, but as most of the four countries' economies had been completely destroyed, the Reich found itself paying more money to jumpstart their economies than it did to jumpstart its own. Such stimulus programs were eventually cancelled.
The Kaiser also ordered massive budget cuts for the military, despite protests from the General Staff, made up of prominent officers from various military families. Many of these leaders had been serving in the military in some capacity since the First World War, and their tactics and strategies were quickly becoming outdated. The appointments of commoners for Megas Doux (Chief of Staff), Megas Droungarios (Chief of the Navy), Megas Domestikos (Chief of the Army), and Megas Domestikos ton Aeras (Chief of the Air Force) for the first time also angered many of them. But they couldn't do much else, as the Kaiser had the final say as commander-in-chief. Otto knew that the military cost too much as it currently was, but he could not cut back on its size because it was already heavily outnumbered by the Soviet Army. While the Imperial Roman Armed Forces were vastly better equipped and trained than the masses of Soviet conscripts stuffed into tanks and given stolen Angeloi weapons, they could not effectively counter Soviet numerical superiority, as the Angeloi had found out five years ago. It was ironic, given that it was usually the Reich using numerical superiority tactics. It would take a long time for the military establishment to adjust to this new reality.
The ancestral capital of the Reich officially remained in Berlin, which emerged from a small village on the border between Christian and pagan Europe in the eleventh century to the center of Roman civilization. However, the war had taken its toll on the Third Rome. Prolonged street fighting between Angeloi and Soviet troops left most of the city in ruins, and half of it now lay under Soviet occupation (the other half being handed back to the Reich for no official reason but secretly to bring down Papen's government), making it unviable as a capital. The Roman government, which evacuated the city in 1939, could not return to West Berlin until the occupied territories had been liberated, but Otto vowed never to abandon the city of his birth and to return someday to free its citizens.
Vienna, the Fourth Rome, was the third largest city in the Reich. The Kaiser resided here for most of his youth and during the first few months of the war. Despite suffering heavy damage in the Blitz, it fell under occupation in mid-1940 and remained largely intact for most of the war. Roman troops retook the city in 1944, only to lose it several weeks later. In the end, Soviet troops liberated the city, but unlike in other parts of the Reich they returned Vienna to Roman control. In 1946, Vienna ranked among the most intact cities of the Reich, but the Kaiser refused to move his government there, as like Berlin it was near the "border" with Soviet-occupied territories, in this case the Soviet satellite governments of Carpathia and Bohemia-Moravia, and thus open to attack. Despite this, Vienna was still a prime destination for refugees, especially those from the Soviet-occupied east. Vienna remained a center of culture, learning, and diplomacy. The Imperial Opera House gave sold-out concerts every week, while artists from the Academy of Fine Arts consistently reached the pinnacle of the arts world (one of them, Adolf Schikelgruber, was currently the Kaiser's official court painter). The United Nations was based in Vienna, though it will take time to convince foreign dignitaries to meet in a city so close to the Soviet occupation zone. For now, the UN will meet in Constantinople until the required infrastructure is built in Vienna.
Then there was the Second Rome, the City of the World's Desire - Constantinople. The ancient capital of the Eastern Roman Empire remained the Queen of Cities despite the two brutal battles that took place there in 1941 laying waste to most of the industrial and business sectors as well as large parts of the centuries-old downtown. But Constantinople had since rebuilt, and it was now on track to reclaiming its prewar glory and even expanding to absorb the surrounding villages. As the provisional capital of the Reich, more investment and civilians flooded into the city, increasing its prosperity and revitalizing the local economy. This would be the first step towards the Reich's recovery from the war.
The Kaiser resided in Blachernae Palace, in the northern part of the city, while the Diet convened in the Great Palace, in the heart of downtown, right next to Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, and Augustaeon Square. The Great Palace would also be where the United Nations held its first meeting.
In the century prior to the UN's creation, several international treaty organizations and conferences had been formed to regulate conflicts between nations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the Gentlemans' Peace established the Council of Nations to maintain peace between countries. This organization resolved some territorial disputes and created international structures for areas such as postal mail, aviation, and opium control. However, the Council lacked representation for colonial peoples and significant participation from several major powers, including the CSSR and China; it failed to act against the Chinese incursions into Bengal and Kashmir in the 1920s and Indian expansions under Mohandas Gandhi that culminated in the Second World War.
The UN was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Big Three (the Soviet Commune, the Reich, and China) at a conference in 1944. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in Vienna, 25 April 1945, attended by all major governments and a number of non-governmental organizations involved in drafting the UN Charter. The UN officially came into existence 24 October 1945, upon ratification of the Charter by the four permanent members of the Security Council—the Chinese Empire, the CSSR, the Reich and Tawantinsuyu—and by a majority of the other signatories.
The first meetings of the General Assembly and the Security Council took place in Constantinople beginning on 1 January 1946. The General Assembly selected Vienna as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like other UN headquarters buildings in Hong Kong, Frankfurt, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory.
The General Assembly is the main deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states, the assembly meets in regular yearly sessions, but emergency sessions can also be called. The assembly is led by a chancellor, elected from among the member states (after passing a meritocratic screening by an independent party) on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents. The first session convened 10 January 1946 in the Great Palace in Constantinople.
When the General Assembly votes on important questions, a two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. Examples of important questions include recommendations on peace and security; election of members to organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; and budgetary matters. All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member country has one vote (meritocracy only applies to choosing member states' representatives). Apart from approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council.
The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among countries. While other organs of the UN can only make "recommendations" to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25. The decisions of the Council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The Security Council is made up of sixteen member states, consisting of four permanent members—China, the Soviet Commune, the Reich, and Tawantinsuyu—four semi-permanent members—the Union of Thirteen Republics, the Union of Vinland, the Eimerican Commune, and the Commune of Soviet Socialist Altepetls—and eight non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly. The four permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing a permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The chancellery of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month.
The goal of this organization is to succeed here the Council of Nations failed and prevent another world war from breaking out. But only time will tell if it won't meet the same fate as the old Council...
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Before anybody asks, I fudged with the borders and population levels a bit. I also boosted both China's and Russia's armies, which resulted in China becoming #2. Don't call me out on any inconsistencies with the previous post, as I will likely discuss my reasoning in subsequent updates. I'll talk about global demographics in the next update as I couldn't fit all of the culture pictures into this update.
Ignore any other irregularities in the rankings (don't ask "Why is the Reich suddenly number THREE in the ranking?"), as the algorithm for calculating rank got messed up somewhere along the way.
Here are the effects of the event modifiers that I gave myself, as I would hit the 30-picture limit if I tried to post pictures with all of them. Initially some of them were twice as harsh, but that was too much for me to handle so I reduced their effects. They may be subject to change as the game continues.
Postwar Industrial Devastation (Industry in ruins):
Factory throughput: -0.25
Factory owner cost: 2
Factory output: -0.125
Factory input: 0.20
Import cost: 1
Postwar Economic Devastation (Economy in ruins):
tax efficiency: -0.10
rich income modifier: -0.1
middle income modifier: -0.1
poor income modifier: -0.1
goods demand: 0.1
Postwar Infrastructure Devastation (Infrastructure in ruins):
Farm RGO eff.: -0.1
Mine RGO eff.: -0.1
RGO output: -0.1
Farm RGO size: -0.1
Mine RGO size: -0.1
Postwar Social Weariness (People are exhausted by the war):
War exhaustion: 4.0
Political reform desire: 0.5
Minimum social spending: 0.1 (from 0.5, because it wrecked my economy)
Social reform desire: 0.25
Issue change speed: 0.5
Global population growth: -0.001
Core pop militancy modifier: 0.2
Core pop consciousness modifier: 0.2
Education efficiency modifier: -0.1
Suppression points modifier: -0.2
Unit start experience: -0.05
Junkers (Noble-dominated military establishment):
Land organisation: -0.25
Land unit start experience: -0.1
Naval unit start experience: -0.1
Leadership modifier: -0.1
Research points modifier: -0.5
Research points: -0.5
Mobilisation size: -0.1
Organization regain: -0.25
Supply consumption: 3.0
Mobilization economy impact: 0.25
Mobilization impact: 0.25
Max military spending: 0.75
Naval organisation: -0.25
Divided Reich:
Prestige: -0.2
Ruling party support: -0.2
Pop consciousness modifier: 0.2
Pop militancy modifier: 0.2
War exhaustion: 2.0
Diplomatic points modifier: -0.05
Influence modifier: -0.2
Kaiser Otto:
Prestige: 0.1
Ruling party support: 0.1
Pop consciousness modifier: -0.1
Pop militancy modifier: -0.1
Hohenzollerns:
Prestige: 0.1
Ruling party support: 0.01
Pop consciousness modifier: -0.01
Pop militancy modifier: -0.01
Romanitas / Augustinian Code:
Prestige: 0.1
Ruling party support: 0.10
Pop consciousness modifier: -0.2
Global assimilation rate: 0.1
Pop militancy modifier: -0.2
Global immigrant attract: 2
Tax efficiency: 0.25
Research points modifier: 2
Education efficiency modifier: 1.0
The Reich will also lose the above three modifiers and gain the following one if it becomes a republic of any kind:
Hohenzollerns Deposed:
Prestige: -0.1
Tax efficiency: -0.05
Rich income modifier: 0.125
Middle income modifier: -0.30
Poor income modifier: -0.45
Organization regain: -0.25
Import cost: 4.25
Land organisation: -0.25
Factory throughput: -0.125 #0.025
RGO output: -0.25
Loan interest: 0.50
Factory owner cost: 4.25
Farm RGO size: -0.05
Mine RGO size: -0.05
Factory output: -0.125
Factory input: 0.20
Research points modifier: -0.1
Badboy: 0.1
War exhaustion: 4.0
Diplomatic points modifier: -0.1
Influence modifier: -0.2
Ruling party support: -0.1
Pop consciousness modifier: 1
Pop militancy modifier: 1
Global assimilation rate: 0.25
Global immigrant attract: -2
China has the following two modifiers:
Mandate (of heaven):
Prestige: 0.1
Ruling party support: 0.2
Pop consciousness modifier: -0.1
Pop militancy modifier: -0.1
Global assimilation rate: 0.1
Tax efficiency: 0.05
Research points modifier: 1
Education efficiency modifier: 0.5
Military Junta:
Pop consciousness modifier: -0.03
Pop militancy modifier: -0.03
RGO output: 0.1
Tax efficiency: 0.02
Suppression points modifier: 0.2
Education efficiency modifier: 0.4
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I was wondering when the next phase would begin. It obviously took a lot of work to reach this point.
The one thing that stood out to me while reading that was Tawantinsuyu getting a permanent seat on the security council. How'd they pull that off?
The one thing that stood out to me while reading that was Tawantinsuyu getting a permanent seat on the security council. How'd they pull that off?
Lovely overview of things, to refresh our minds and show how things have transferred. Now, on to the Reich conquering the world!
So I thought of this while rereading Hohenzollern Empire 1. It has not been relevant for well over a year, but bear with me:
Saint Wilhelmina is no longer merely a MILF. She has transcended that, to become the first ever GMILF!
Moving on, I had a thought that the Chiang government would probably try to center the new Chinese governing ideology on militarism. Maybe he'd turn it into a combination of Battle Royale and Starship Troopers?
Saint Wilhelmina is no longer merely a MILF. She has transcended that, to become the first ever GMILF!
Moving on, I had a thought that the Chiang government would probably try to center the new Chinese governing ideology on militarism. Maybe he'd turn it into a combination of Battle Royale and Starship Troopers?
Well, the UN wanted a permanent member who wasn't one of the Big Three and wasn't another equalist. Therefore Tawantinsuyu got the seat. I forgot to talk about it in the update, but the four equalist semi-permanent members collectively share one permanent seat which rotates through them, bringing the total up to five.I was wondering when the next phase would begin. It obviously took a lot of work to reach this point.
The one thing that stood out to me while reading that was Tawantinsuyu getting a permanent seat on the security council. How'd they pull that off?
You must mean "balancing," right?
I think she's transcended even beyond that, to SILF.
The Chiang government will try to promote Chinese militarism, but they'll try not to get in trouble with the Reich or the CSSR. They have enough trouble already with the colonies.
CSSA is most definitely not Mexico. PARA is Mexico.
There are progressive senators who are not associated with any party. Senators don't need to be part of a party.
Ever since her death, it has been necrophillia.I think she's transcended even beyond that, to SILF.
To be honest, when she was young, she seems like a nice lass to have a beer with at the pub
Just ask Otto. Only he probably isn't the kind of person to do CKII-style Xewododah...Maybe, but we never got to know her 'assets'.