Those are some good ideas. Maybe Nsorala's flag could take inspiration from real life left-wing black nationalist groups? I'm not familiar with them though. Meanwhile the Amazonian flag could focus on forest, river, and sun imagery because of Tawantinsuyuan influences.Now that you mention it, Neurhomaina probably won't use the colonial flag since they want break off from the Reich. Otherwise, good idea, like the idea of the Nsolorian and Quechua/Amazonian separatist adopting the other flag in opposition to European descended Neurhomainans. Nsoloria would obviously have a communist variant of the flag, while the Amazon would be more Twantinsuyu based.
Otto's upbringing also affected his attitudes towards civilian representation and meritocratic reform. He lost his father at a young age and watched as his regents struggled to hold the country together or, in Angelos' case, intentionally inflame tensions and exploit weaknesses. His childhood was full of clear demonstrations of how the Metternich system was falling apart, telling him he needed to replace it with something. And his experience meeting the Muslim shop owner and his first meeting with Adenauer alerted him to the problems the common people had that were being ignored by the Metternich system. The outbreak of the war and Angelos' rebellion was the nail in the coffin for the Metternich system. If the Reich continued on its current path, another Angelos would inevitably have risen up if the people didn't get tired of people like him using them as cannon fodder first. So when the war ended, Otto established the Ottonian system. To avoid the hypercentralization the state experienced under Franz Joseph and his chancellors, he delegated power to the civilian government and the federal states. He stayed neutral for the most part except to provide a moderating force when political extremes arose again. This preserved the image of the monarchy as a guiding force essential for the success of meritocracy and a guardian of the people's rights and livelihoods.That right there is pretty much the reason why I reacted so strongly to the red flags surrounding Wilhelm Karl since Chapter 451, because Otto has been pretty hands off and neutral as a ruler, allowing liberal traditions to prosper under a meritocratic government, something Wilhelm Karl probably won't do. Not to mention that Wilhelm Karl will probably break the unconditional trust the Roman people have had in the monarchy so far one way or another, though the people no longer seeing the Kaiser as an infallible leader might be for the best tbh considering how reliant the Reich has been on Hohenzollern leadership in the past.
And yet in doing all this, he inadvertently repeated the same issue that plagued Franz Joseph. The whole system assumes the Kaiser acts like Otto as a fair and impartial neutral party who moderates the excesses of government. The decentralization, which was intended to avoid the chaos between 1918 and 1944, only creates another problem when someone decides they want to micromanage again. As you will see, Wilhelm Karl has no desire to be like his father...
It's kind of a miracle the Hohenzollerns have gone for so long without tyrannical rulers for the most part. But unfortunately nothing lasts forever. There will be major consequences moving forward into Stellaris.
It's easy when the enemy is an outsider and other you can easily label. It's different when the enemy is not.Like I said before, as much as I like Otto (him and Anne are my two favorite characters in this AAR), the idea behind Wilhelm Karl is very intriguing. Hohenzollern Kaisers throughout this megacampagin have been very competent and benevolent rulers so far, with Reinhard "the Mad" being the exception (Bethune and Arbon don't count because they're pretenders) so having an Hohenzollern be an antagonistic figure like Angelos or Valentin would be fascinating.
I also liked writing about Otto and Anne. Their character arcs spanned decades and many eras and it was great to see how they were shaped by the Reich and in turn shaped it. But in the end, they are still human.
I will say that you probably shouldn't trust everything you read about Wilhelm Karl...
I actually used his videos on worldbuilding to help write those "essay questions" and responses. His videos helped me work on another series of essay questions where I worked out how exactly Friedrich the Great united the Reich and kept it together. What communication methods he used, what industries he focused on, what branch of the military was prioritized, what made up the majority of troops, how those troops were transported, where fortifications were prioritized and how the Sunset Invasion changed that, how the Sunset Invasion changed Roman foreign, military, economic, and colonial policy to shift to a naval focus and look overseas, and so on. I've been folding most of the information I gathered into the history class segments though they will need some tweaking.So I was watching this video about world building tips for fictional monarchies when I thought about the interesting things about the Hohenzollern monarchy's relationship with liberalism. On one hand the Hohenzollerns were more progressive than most real life societies, leading to backlash from reactionary groups like the Iconoclast and Puritains heresies, the Maxmists and the Angeloi. On the other hand, the monarchy still remains tethered to old ideas like male preference primogeniture despite the Pragmatic Sanction having been abolished for the decades, or the fact it's still technically a dejure absolute monarchy, a left over from the absolutist Metternich system I imagine, even through its more of a de facto constitutional monarchy at this point, not to mention the Reich still practices Caesaropapism with the Kaiser as head of both church and state. Those were the interesting tidbits about the Hohenzollern Kaisers I've noted as a result of the video below, I feel like the role the Hohenzollerns have had in being both promoters of progressive ideas like Romanitas and liberal meritocracy and the old cultural links to the Reich's feudal past, as well as the general shifting of monarchies and republics on the political spectrum between liberal open societies and authoritarian regimes, would make an intriguing topic for a lore update in itself IMO, through whether or not you do want to write said update is your decision.
The Hohenzollerns were definitely very progressive especially compared to many contemporary societies, which Friedrich the Great used as a strength when he united the nation. By drawing the different peoples of Europe together against a common threat and under a regime where all could be treated fairly, he provided an alternative to the other feudal realms at the time, which were slowly subsumed into the growing Reich. Naturally, there was only so far he could go. His reign still relied heavily on powerful nobility, but with the help of loyal noble houses like the Habsburgs, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringens, and Schweinfurts, he succeeded in reducing their powers and increasing his own. Although the political power of the nobility was decisively ended when the Metternich system was replaced with the Ottonian one, their influence remains, as evident by their convincing Otto to name Wilhelm Karl as his heir. Old habits die hard.
The Reich is still technically a de jure absolute monarchy, although it's closer to a constitutional monarchy at this point, with meritocratic examinations filling in for democratic elections and the Augustinian Code and other uncodified laws and customs filling in for a true constitution. Otto still kept the Metternich idea of sovereignty being derived from the Kaiser, only now granted to the people, as well as the old idea of divine right of kings, which ties in with the caesaropapism of him also being the head of the Church. There is an informal separation of church and state being practiced, but it is effectively only enforced by Otto as he is on the line between them.
I might work on your suggestions as part of the school arc I'm working on.
Not really an Origins of Modernity-style update unfortunately but more of students just working on history projects and stuff like that.That's really interesting. The Origins of Modernity were some of my favorite chapters from EU4, so I'm exicted to see more updates in their style.
I could add him in future updates as a university lecturer. I did say or at least implied he wrote those texts from around the present day.I did find it interesting that the Orgins of Modernity were written from an universe perspective as well, a professor from Neu Brandenburg called Reinhard Markos IIRC. Maybe you could have him narrate your future lore updates, or even introduce him as a character in the story arc updates, that would be cool.
That would be cool.Although, now that you mention the colonization of Japan, I'm now really tempted to rewrite this Sabaton song about the Satsuma rebellion into a song about a last stand of an alliance of Christain and Shinto daimyos making a similarly desperate last stand against Ming and Korean armies for the fate of Japan. I get the feeling that such a battle would resonate strongly with the two Japanese countries and the cultural conscious of post colonial Sinosphere and Roman sphere, even more so than the real life battle of Shiroyama.
Maybe I'll add that as an essay question. The Battle of Mobile would definitely have humiliated the CSSA, as they sent much of their army to retake the port, and even with the Eimerican Commune's support they couldn't do it. Maybe it was Atoc Sopa Atoc's (the UPM general) tactics, or maybe it was the equalists' incompetence and arrogance. But the end result is that the CSSA's and EC's armies are severely weakened by this diversion and their governments' prestige is tarnished, allowing separatist and nationalist groups to gain reputation and strength.I'd also like to flesh out the Battle of Mobile between the UPM and the Eimerican Equalists during WW3 in a similar update as well. Maybe I could talk about how the effect the battle had on causing the collaspe of the Eimerican Equalist regimes, due the humiliation the Equalists had in losing the war, while the battle strengthened the UPM's long term posistion in the Eimericas while also causing short term instability at home due heavy causalities the Mitteleimericans took to win the battle (I remember the 80s update mentioned a civil war that occurred in the UPM after WW3 from 1986 to 1992).
At home the UPM's economy was likely put under heavy strain due to all the military excursions around the Caribbean, leading to massive unrest. And with most of the military deployed overseas, there wasn't much domestic forces could do to stop the insurgencies.
Whatever happens, Neurhomania definitely won't be the same after the war.It makes for a really tragic story as well. The Neurhomainans tried hard to avoid the same fate the mainland Reich went to, only for it to be for naught due to the the consequences of several circumstances, some self inflicted and some outside its control.
So there would be the potential for coups from different internal factions I guess? Maybe Bose could try to pull the same thing he did in the main continuity. And since Purandaradasa is already really old at this point, I doubt he will live much longer. Maybe he would die much like George V did in 1936 due to the strain of the war and the effects of the peace.Despite the best efforts of Samrat Chakravartin Purandaradasa to rebuild India’s economy and stability, there remains great economic inequality in Indian society due to the outdated caste system, and India’s meritocracy remains deeply influenced by traditional nobility, corporate interest groups and old guard generals from the Weltkrieg.
Maybe India could reform the Central Powers, only centered on itself now, or join the Tianxia pact against the communists in exchange for China making some major concessions. You could also focus on the sun themes and symbolism since Purandaradasa styles himself as the son of the sun god and was heavy on such symbolism.However, there is hope for India to emerge triumphant from the oncoming storm that will be the Second Weltkrieg. The collapse of India’s Roman ally into revolution and civil war, while tragic, has opened up the possibility for India to exert its geopolitical sovereignty by creating a sphere of influence through the support and protection of the Indochina and Sudafrikan secessionist governments and other states who could grow to have sympathies with India. There is even the potential of an alliance and cooperation with the Tianxia pact of the exiled Ming dynasty to take down the Communist threat, as tempting as it is to turn the constituent dynasties of the Tianxia against Ming leadership. Should all else fail, there is always the option of fostering an internal power struggle in the Nationlist Union of China’s leadership and support Puyi’s faction of populists, at the risk of angering the Communist Party. All of that is speculation, for anything can happen in the dark days to come. All we know is that the sun hasn’t set on Mother Bharat’s empire yet and it’s not about to let it set now.
Like the ideas, and I'll edit the table of contents later.
As important as Engelbert was to HOI3, I also find myself forgetting him and his family sometimes. Conrad and Hans and their families' story has completely overshadowed him. It's actually really hard to envision Conrad and Hans as Inquisitors and Resistance fighters after all they've been through since then.Hoffman is on the move again I see, and quite scary too considering he's now targeting Muslims and Jews at the same time, kinda nice for all the loose ends back in HOI3 being addressed here again, especially since I've quite forgotten most of the characters in the HOI3. And I quite agree with CaptainAlvious, Hoffman being so approachable to his victims really makes him creepy as hell. A worthy antagonist for the X-Division that's for sure.
Yes indeed. X-Division has faced down shadowy global conspiracies, aliens, demons, and literal eldritch entities, but Hoffman is perhaps more terrifying than them in his...normality. Unlike them, he appears to be just a regular man, but his deranged ideology and arsenal of weapons of mass destruction makes him a dangerous threat nobody can expect. Especially since he's supposed to have been dead for decades and the world has since moved on from the Angeloi.
Interesting. Looking forward to it.Thank you for the compliment and positive feedback, I’m looking forward to finishing the last few Volkerschalt updates I have planned. I’m putting in some work on the last update in particular, which I believe will be a fitting conclusion to the Volkerschalt story up until 1936. After that, I might take a break in between the Kaiserreich interludes to hammer out my Tianxia lore ideas, through I am open to posting other interludes besides the KR related ones in the meantime when the ideas come up.
- 1