===
Introduction - Nation Selection
===

The Tenth Crusade had succeeded. The Christian League formed by Aragon had led Venice, Macedonia, and Poland to victory against the Black Sea Pact. The soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Tatarstan had fought bravely and valiantly, and had suffered for it. While the Tatars could dig in behind the Dnieper and the Iranians in the Caucasus, the Ottomans had no such luxury and in the end would suffer the most. They received the full force of the crusade, armies in the hundreds of thousands clashing across the length and breath of the empire.

It could not hold. It would have been swallowed whole by the wolves that tore into it, had it not been for the worker's revolution that stalled then halted the enemy's advances. Much of the empire could not be saved from imperial clutches but Anatolia held and with it the Socialist Republic of Turkey survived the onslaught. It fought them to a standstill and forced a ceasefire, quickly finding international recognition in the Comintern. The United Socialist Republic and Iberian Union acted as intermediaries to ensure Macedonia abided by it, giving their fellow communist country breathing room to recover. Officially bringing an end to the crusade to an end in 1910.

While at the same time Egypt's independence ended quietly, a mere stroke of the pen signing away the nation's once bright future and condemning it to servitude. It would become the crown jewel of the Venetian Republic. It's hopes for greatness dashed like ships against rocky shores. Its citizens subjugated as the country would be transformed into a breadbasket and cotton plantation to feed the empire's coffers.

The victory would not last long. In the wake of the war Aragon grew confident, its king thought the country invincible, so high on his own righteousness that he eagerly blundered into war with the Italian League within the same year. The alliance of petty kingdoms and city states proved a match for the would-be conqueror, unifying under Provence's leadership to reverse Aragon's fortunes and drive them from the peninsula entirely. Stumbling from defeat to defeat, its chances at a recovery would never come as the Maghreb Uprising would see much of its North Africa territory liberated by oppressed peoples. Venice's aid would come too late, proving ineffective and leaving its flank open.

Hungary, sensing opportunity, would charge into Illyria and Dalmatia, overrunning the undermanned forts and wrenching away much of the Adriatic Coast from the republic. In its futile defense of its territory, it called upon its ally, Macedonia, for aid, only for the kingdom to occupy much of Venice's Greek lands and forced Athens to declare an independent Hellenic Republic. The new republic was joined at the hip to the kingdom in an alliance of brotherhood. Egypt too fell under Macedonia's sway, nominally under Venice's control, much of its colonial government purged and replaced with Macedonian officials. Only the governor would remain, serving as a puppet to make their take over appear as legal as possible. On its border Aragon, humiliated, still retained control over Syria and Palestine.

The latter of which would be reborn as the Kingdom of Jerusalem, more commonly known as Levant or Oltremare for its rising population of Southern Italians. The crusader state would set about destroying every Muslim and Jewish landmark and artifact it could get its hands on, destroying the Dome of the Rock and Wailing Wall in the process. It has united the whole of Islam against it and wages a protracted war of attrition against its own subjects with unrest threatening to spill over into neighbouring countries.

Thus an uneasy status quo settled across the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. It was a tense peace that everyone knew wouldn't last. The only question was how it would break down.

Which nation will you play as? You can only pick one.

[] Turkey

The Ottoman Empire fell during the Tenth Crusade, despite its best efforts to modernize, but was hampered by institutional inertia plaguing reformers every step of the way. It was nearly conquered completely, had it not been for the communist revolution led by a cadre of younger officers and multiple socialist parties. It's a testament to their abilities and the spirit of the workers that Anatolia could yet still hold. The state was recognized, introducing sweeping reforms to modernize and industrialize Turkey, receiving aid from its allies in the process. As a somewhat underdeveloped nation, a significant portion of its population was rural and semi-literate. The country undertook its first five year plan. It was a modest success, though one which suffered from numerous setbacks.

In truth however, the revolution was more akin to a military coup than a true mass movement. While the leadership were members of communist parties that aligned with the workers to secure power, many older institutions have been allowed to persist beneath them out of sheer inertia. Co-oped and repurposed, much of the state is governed by an improvised ad-hoc system built to survive the war. General Hassan who led the revolution now leads the country in peace as Chairman, presiding over an united front formed from various parties dubbed The United Communist Party. Its largest factions, the Red Turks and Free Officers, both attempt to pull the party, and by extension the country, in their ideological direction as Chairman Hassan plans to reshape the revolutionary state during the second five year plan.

[] Egypt

Egypt had fallen under Venice over the years, who organized its captured coastline into an overseas department, as integral to the republic as Greece or Cyprus. An uneven system of democracy was introduced, which only allowed Venetian citizens to vote. Egyptian Christians and Jews were extended this privilege, while Muslims were not and excluded as a whole from political life. During the 10th Crusade this fig leaf illusion of independence was quietly shattered as the Venetian governor, Francesco Marcato, dissolved the throne with the stroke of a pen. The king caved without resistance, bringing the whole of Egypt under Venice's control. Its soldiers prepared to march on Sudan, planning to control the entire length of the Nile and the Horn of Africa too in due time.

Such ambitious plans would not come to pass however, as the subsequent Italian Crisis would see Venice lose much of its empire to Hungary and Macedonia. Its former ally intervened under the cover of establishing stability during the crisis, seizing Egypt. The overseas department was re-organized into a colonial mandate jointly managed by Venice and Macedonian, but in truth the former had lost all control. Governor Marcato now rules as a puppet to his new Macedonian masters, kept in place to give their takeover a fig leaf of legitimacy. An irony not lost on the man. Marcato however is not without his options. The first post-crusade election will be held with the Christian Alliance Party and All Egyptian Nation Congress vying for political power, presenting an opportunity to upset the imposed order and purge his enemies, should Marcato try to tip the scales. Whoever wins will alter the course of Egyptian history.

---

This is my first quest. I'm a bit nervous and excited to do it, so I hope everyone enjoys it. I was inspired to work with DoD when I saw lackluster mods based off it for Hearts of Iron 4 and thought how I'd go about it to set up fun conflicts while retaining some of the more out of there country paths. That's part of the charm of DoD I find. It took a while for this to crystalize into its current form and I had a lot of help from @ArvisPresley in sorting out the wider setting.

The format for this quest was heavily inspired by Weygand's The Red Flag Flies Union of Britain Quest and the game Suzerain. I'm definitely keeping it very light on stats. They're less important than making decisions and then living with the consequences of them. The setting for this is based on Divergences of Darkness for Victoria 2. It's a mod with a wildly different timeline that has several points of divergences back in the fourteenth century and subsequent knock on effects caused by said changes. It can be confusing for newcomers, while those familiar with the mod will want to know what events unfolded from 1836 to now.

In regards to country lore I'm more familiar with somewhat older HPM versions of the game, but I am aware of the fan fork project. Ironically I had similar ideas as them in some regards. Otherwise I will be taking a broad strokes approach to background lore. If there's something that I like from one version of the mod I might include it here if I can. The mod's lore is nearly a decade old and spread out for dozens, if not hundreds, of various threads. If something's 'wrong' then that's okay. There's a lot of leeway with the finer details of the world's history. I'll provide info posts on sections of the world to help give context.

The map as well. I didn't want to include it in the opening post since I thought it'd take up too much space. It's massive so it's hidden behind spoilers to be considerate. It was a lot of fun to make and there's a lot of fun stuff to cover as this goes along.

I'll probably call the vote tomorrow. I would have set a timer but I'm still learning the quest post controls, so I didn't. Seems like voting has slowed down a bit, but I want to give more time for newcomers to vote. In the meanwhile, enjoy the first information posts about the history of this world. It's about World War One, which has already happened.

===
World War One aka The First World War aka The Third German Revolution
===

The First World War had begun as a regional conflict that spiraled out of control. None of the powers involved wished for the industrial slaughter they would nearly unleash, but it'd take years of fighting before it ground to a ceasing halt. It all began in 1888, with the forty anniversary of the Second German Revolution, celebrating the formation of the Danubian Confederation after the Congress of Paris. A brief explanation on the Second German Revolution is required to understand the significance of this.

The petty states of Germany had come together in 1848 in Paris to unify the nation, handing the crown to the Archduke of Austria who gladly wore it. Within weeks Burgundy and Bohemian's former allies had left their masters, quickly joining the new state, triggering war. Revolution in Berlin captured Prague's attention, while Burgundy marched its army across Germany intent on squashing the revolutionary state. What followed was a long, drawn out war, sparking fears of revolution spreading elsewhere. When the Austrian King attempted to sue for peace and allow eastern states to be reabsorbed back into Burgundy's sphere, he soon found himself thrown out of the palace as Jacobins and Socialists declared a revolutionary republic to continue the war.

The Danubian Confederation would ultimately hold despite the odds, securing much of Germany save for Brandenburg, Schleswig, Holstein, Saxony, and Pomerania. All states were still held by Scandinavia and Bohemia. In the following years neither nation could truly pacify their respective German populace as they vied for control over the Baltic Coast. Thus in 1888 when Berlin held a celebration and memorial for those who'd died fighting for the revolution, Bohemian soldiers moved to put down the demonstrations.

That sparked outrage across Brandenburg which spread further. Scandinavia, in the king's infinite foolishness, decided that would be the perfect opportunity to reclaim Pomerania from Bohemia, launching a two prong invasion into the region from Holstein and another from Riga into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Unrest would only spread even further, and as the opposing armies fought both each other and revolutionaries, the Danubian Confederation saw its opportunity, quickly launching an invasion into Holstein and Brandenburg to support the revolutionaries.

Burgundy would soon join the conflict to aid its ally Scandinavia, eager to end the German Experiment once and for all. It would not turn out as expected. While Bohemia attempted to stop fighting Scandinavia and form a front line with them, Poland had little concern with Germany, its Prussian subjects considered a breed apart from Germany proper, and had no interest in a ceasefire with Scandinavia. Led by the war hero and future president, General Witold Aleksy Ludomir, Poland halted then reversed Scandinavia's fortunes, pushing them back to Riga.

The Dual Monarchy too would become involved, claiming Burgundy's old capital of Dijon through ancient promises long since forgiven. The legal fiction did not matter as its soldiers pushed northwards, sandwiching Burgundy in a two front war. Spain too would become involved, honouring its alliance with the Dual Monarchy. This saw fighting break out across East, West, and Central Africa as Spanish and Anglois troops clashed with Burgundian, Scandinavian, and Boers across the continent. India and South East Asia would also see fighting, as Burgundy's ally Hyderabad pushed east into Spanish held India, while fleets of cutting edge ironclads would clash in the seas surrounding Indonesia and Vietnam.

Even the Caribbean would see clashes off the coast of Cuba and Lesser Antilles between smaller fleets and colonial garrisons. The slaves of Sudurhafeyjar would use this opportunity to launch their own revolution, overthrowing their Scandinavian oppressors and creating the first free black republic within Arcadia. This inspired similar slave revolts in Plantagenia and Granada, the latter of which had joined the war as it was a Spanish dominion at the time. The revolt would trigger Belgian intervention into Plantagenia, however as neutral powers the Arcadian Unification is not considered part of World War One, merely a secondary conflict to it, thus will be covered another time.

The French Front would grind down to a halt and it is there that the world bore witness to but a mere taste of the horrors of industrial war. The machine guns and heavy guns would see opposing armies forced to dig into trench lines, unable to outmaneuver each other or gain much ground before reinforcements could counter-attack. It was only the limited number of such weapons and munitions that prevented their widespread use, allowing more limited movements to resume within a year, though these were hampered by material shortages.

Burgundy managed to hold against the odds, preventing the combined Anglois and Spanish armies from overrunning it, while Germany focused its attention on liberating its brethren from Scandinavia and Bohemia. This would end the former's dreams as hegemon of the Baltic Sea, while the latter would eventually sue for peace. Poland and the newly proclaimed German Republic would agree on the borders between their states, ensuring peace between the two. Germany would turn its attention southwards, but found it was unable to break the lines of Bohemia and failed to push into Saxony or Silesia. Its armies and supplies were exhausted.

Thus the war would ultimately stall out, a ceasefire called between all parties in 1892. Its armies and workers were exhausted, unwilling to bear the cost of continuing the war any longer. Burgundy would recognize the Dual Monarchy's seizure of land to buy peace, while Bohemia too would be forced to recognize it had lost its northern territories. Germany had agreed to a plebiscite in Saxony to decide the fate of the petty kingdom and by a narrow majority its people had voted to remain Bohemian. Germany begrudgingly accepted the results and the peace treaty, knowing it was unable to prosecute war against Burgundy and Bohemia by itself.

It should be noted that during the course of the war workers across the industrial world had managed to demand raises and more rights in exchange for harsher demands. No country willing to risk a potential strike, begrudgingly agreed to such demands to appease labour. When the war ended, many countries sought to renegotiate and renege on such deals. The Dual Monarchy would go as far as to rescind the right to unionize and begin sending police to arrest union heads and the leadership of leftist parties.

That was considered a bad move by many, and a great move by many others. The general strike would be mishandled by the government, triggering crackdowns and escalating protests across the whole country. It would eventually turn into a revolution as many veterans throw in their lot with their fellow workers. The revolution would spread to Spain, as many of its own soldiers had radicalized on the French Front. While many consider it separate from World War One, it is best included in its discussion.

London, Paris, Bordeaux, Madrid, and Lisbon would fall to revolutionaries, with much of the royal families of both countries executed by guillotine. The surviving Plantagenets would flee to their former colony, and namesake, Plantagenia, and later Bermuda as the last hold out of the once proud dynasty, while the Spanish line would attempt to take refuge in Cuba. The revolutions would spread to the two empire's colonies, though the results were mixed.

Burgundy, Scandinavia, and Provence backed Genoa were eager to grab African territories, strangling many would-be nations in the crib as they repressed their newfound gains. India and Indonesia too would be divided up with Burgundy and Scandinavia seizing what they could. Yemen, Myanmar, and Vietnam would see themselves maintain independence however, overthrowing Spanish colonial officials. They were fortunate to avoid the attention of Burgundy and Scandinavia.

Granada too would become independent, only to see losses against the Inkan Empire, otherwise known as Tawantinsuyu meaning "the four suyu" referring to the realms of the kingdom. The two nominally allied under Spain, the latter wasted no time in liberating its land against the colonial regime. Gran Colombia would march south to liberate Andagoya Isthmus and Canal from Granada. Gran Colombia itself had become a socialist state after its own revolution in previous decades, when the president for life and much of the military's leadership died in a failed offensive against Plantagenia crossing the Rio Grande.

While in the east, in Essequibo a slave revolt would spread, creating a free republic in Guyana. It would soon enter into an economic union and military alliance with its Ayiti and Liberie, commonly called Nouvelle Afrique (French), Nyt Afrika (Scandinavian), or Nueva África (Spanish) depending on the speaker. The trio of revolutionary black and worker states would quickly ally with the Comintern, alongside Gran Colombia, who itself was eager to welcome their former colonial foes as comrades in arms. It was Gran Colombian ships and marines that would aid the revolutionaries on Cuba and liberate the island, ending the Spanish monarchy in 1894.

The world thus settled into an uneasy peace. The tensions left unresolved, yet none able or willing to pursue them for another generation or two. There are some who consider following conflicts and revolts a consequence of the war, but it would be incorrect to say that they were part of the war. They flowed downstream of it.

However it is accepted within academic circles that the exhaustion of the great powers is what paved the war for the eventual Tenth Crusade, as Aragon and its allies had remained neutral during the war and benefited greatly selling material to both sides. The Polish Republic Revolution is worth remarking upon, if only for the man who led it. In 1900, the Polish King would seek to centralize his power at the expense of the Sejm, causing General Ludomir to march on Warsaw and depose the monarchy, proclaiming supremacy of the Sejm and Senate, turning the Commonwealth into a republic. Ludomir would set his sights on the riches of the steppe, eventually aligning his country with Aragon. Poland's entrance into the Tenth Crusade would draw Tatar attention away from the south, which proved decisive in allowing Aragon, Venice, and Macedonia to overrun the Ottoman Empire.

That is all that will be said on such matters. They're best saved for other works. It should be noted that many commentators consider it a stroke of luck that the war occurred when it did. Had certain technologies been more widespread and industry more developed to support them, the world would have seen an industrial slaughter of tens of millions of men. The youth of Europe, and indeed much of the world, had been spared such horrors. If such a conflict had broken out later then the whole of the civilized world would have been destroyed.

In the years since, military experts have devoted their efforts to the question of trench warfare and a myriad of solutions to reinforce, subvert, prevent, or break it. They had received a vision of the future in the trenches of the French Front, and it was hell. This has resulted in an explosion in military innovations, though none want to put their hypotheses to the test, for fear of creating the industrial slaughter that they so desperately wished to avoid. The world has been in a limbo since, nobody yet wanting to break the peace. If it lasts will remain to be seen, but many dread that it will not.