From The Ashes of the Old: A Post-American Collapse Quest

The year is 2000. The sun rises on a new millennium, one dominated by the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics. The great champion of the Free World, the United States of America, is no more. From its carcass, new states have arisen, with creeds and mottos both old and new. You are the leader of one of them:

[ ] The American People's Commonwealth - A frankenstein of a state, born from an uneasy alliance between liberals, libertarians, and anti-Soviet socialists, it now controls New England and much of the old US industrial heartland. Its economic potential is matched only by its political dysfunction. Will the Commonwealth bring a new dawn to America, or will it collapse under the weight of its contradictions?

[ ] The American Republic - The remnants of the Old Regime did not go quietly. The generals and spies retreated amidst the chaos, and have entrenched themselves in the American South, establishing a parody of the old two party system. Strongmen, right-wing ideologues, and oligarchs fight for influence, united only by a lust for revenge. Can they transform their dreams of vengeance into reality?

[X] The Union of American People's Republics - The CPUSA was once a marginal force in American politics. The collapse changed this. After tremendous effort, and with the generous support of the Soviet Union, the renamed Communist Party of the Union (CPU) has established a Marxist-Leninist party state on the West Coast. Now its leader is on his deathbed, and the Soviet Union is dangerously overextended. Will the leaders of the CPU be able to weather the coming storm?

You are Gus Hall, formerly Arvo Kustaa Halberg of Minnesota, and you are dying. You have led the Communist Party through thick and thin, but now it is time for you to choose a successor. Your choice will not assure anything, for your successor will still have to win over the party, but your word still carries weight. There are four three obvious choices:

[ ] Angela Davis - The unofficial second most powerful person in the CPU is an icon of the "New Left", and leads the party's "Social Justice" faction grouping. Alongside longtime comrades like Charlene Mitchell and Kendra Harris Alexander, Davis has promotes criminal justice reform, and has pushed for the party to change its stances on black liberation, feminism, and gay liberation. She has strong interpersonal ties to much of the Soviet bloc, but is far more willing to break with Moscow than the party leadership has traditionally allowed. Davis has a solid power block in California's Communist Party, especially in Los Angeles, and appeals to many of the CPU's younger members, particularly those in the Young Communist League.

[ ] Jarvis Tyner - Jarvis Tyner leads the CPU's "Liberationist" faction grouping, promoting the buildup of military industry and an immediate campaign of reunification through "wars of liberation" . The "Liberationists" are heirs to a long tradition of social patriotism within the American Communist movement, and call for a united Communist America to assume its rightful place within the international communist movement. Tyner is controversial with Moscow, but has firm support from the military and more nationally minded members of the CPU, especially those forced to flee from the People's Commonwealth or Republic.

[ ] John Foster - John Foster is a much newer Communist Party member than Tyner or Davis, but under Hall's patronage he has risen to become one of the chief ideologues of the CPU and leader of its "Eco-Communist" grouping. Editor in Chief of Political Affairs, the primary theoretical organ of the CPU, Foster promotes a mostly orthodox interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, albeit one which will likely be based around a collective leadership rather than a single paramount leader, and to which Foster has added an interest in environmental policy. If Foster has his way, the UAPR will become a model of Ecological Leninism for the rest of the world to emulate. He of course pursues a strict Soviet alignment out of loyalty to the birthplace of Bolshevism and a belief in the importance of international cooperation against environmental threats, and his power base centers around the People's Investigative Bureau (the UAPR's secret police) and the economic ministries.

[ ] Gloria la Riva - la Riva and her supporters have been purged for Trotskyism and their ties to the revisionists in the PRC.

Choose wisely Comrade Hall, it may be the last choice you make.
- - - - - - - - - - -

Welcome to the fevered imaginings of a woman starting grad school and afflicted with writer's block on my fanfiction project, From The Ashes of The Old.

The setting for this quest is based on the Red World mod for HOI4, but with major changes made for the sake of internal consistency, logic, and just general sanity.

In the initial phase of the quest, your job is to consolidate power in the CPU. Once you have secured leadership of the party, your attention will be drawn to the affairs of state. Keep in mind that your opponents will not remain idle, and the world waits for no-one.

The quest will come to an end if you unify America, suffer defeat, or reach the year 2020. No matter what, I will write up an epilogue based on your choices.

I will have a stats page listing various relevant pieces of info up as soon as I can. I have not yet decided what to show you and what to keep hidden.

Good luck comrades.