The World Turned Upside Down - A 20th Century Nation Game (HIATUS?)

[ChaoticGenius]

The World in the Year of Our Lord 1991.

Credits for the scenario undeniably belong to @The Lone Taco, who poured time and effort into this scenario, so much so that it must not be ignored. I pray I do this scenario justice.

The World Turned Upside Down
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Welcome to a world where the 19th Century never really ended. Europe reigns supreme and is the unquestionable leader of the world, monarchies are still commonplace and most republics are seen as little more than unstable regimes where the tyranny of the majority is allowed to rule or tyrants eventually seize the reins of the state. After a long running political and military conflict between the Russian and British empires came to a dramatic, if unexpected, close, the Great Game has given way to what has been popularized as "The End of History" as capitalist liberal democracy rules over Earth and a new era of unparalleled prosperity awaits. The British Empire, the victorious party in the Great Game, and its loyal band of allies in the Imperial Commonwealth, seeks to cement itself as the world's sole political, economic and military superpower by imposing an international globalist regime where the rule of law, human rights and free markets are the guiding principles of any states that wish to join the international community. Forming the World Congress, an international organization which many hope will further promote peace and interstate dialogue, in Geneva just this year, Britain hopes to bring all nations to the table and provide a place where governments can discuss and negotiate on neutral ground and avoid future conflicts. With the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the Russian sphere of influence receding to its borders, almost all former Tsarist-aligned states (barring Russia) have joined the Global Investment Bank, an international financial organization which provides loans to developing countries for investments, which has only increased the British stranglehold on the world's economy and pushed its financial supremacy to new heights as almost all nations rely on London's lead on nearly all issues involving the global economy.

In an age of unparalleled growth and prosperity (for some), there are many being left behind as capital, technological and economic shifts lead to many changes in the way the world conducts business, labors and communicates. Despite the lack of a "great war" between the great powers, something avoided during the Vienna Congress where European diplomats pulled a last ditch effort to keep Europe from igniting into a cataclysmic conflict, "brushfire" and proxy wars have mostly dominated the globe as Britain, Russia and other major players influence smaller and less powerful countries to do their bloody bidding for them. Now, as the European Concordant stands triumphant over the Eastern Bloc, Britain seeks to keep the Concordant alive and merely shift it to other purposes, much to the anger of the new Russian Democratic Republic. The rest of Europe also has its doubts, as the North German Federation looks on at France and South Germany as fertile places to expand now that the "temporary cessation of historical grievances" has ended, Spain is rocked by instability and rebellion, France fends off nationalist hardliners who grow more and more popular by the year and the Greeks seemingly wage a war on their own people.

Europe is not alone in taking its first, timid steps into the New World Order promised by the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, in North America nationalists in the United States threaten to torpedo the Treaty of Philadelphia as the long-running Anglo-American rivalry seems to be re-emerging after almost thirty five years of its side lining. The implosion of the Confederation of Southron America, a recurrent nightmare for the British who, without their aid, would not even exist, has birthed fears of race and class wars dominating the Gulf Coast and a slumbering Mexico seems to be taking its first steps to awakening, which, if successful, could dramatically change the status quo in the Americas. Asia itself is another enigma, with Japan growing increasingly distant and even adversarial towards the British in a departure from the Anglo-Japanese friendship that has ensured peace in Asia for almost a century now and the nationalist, anti-British Chinese exponentially growing their economy could lead to a displacement of the British as the world's largest economy. Islamist Egypt rattles its sabers and wields great influence throughout the Muslim and Arab worlds, Mesopotamia is rapidly tearing itself apart and intervention may soon be necessary. Still, with all these challenges, Britain remains a stalwart fighter for the liberal, human rights regime it has carefully built up for the better part of a century.

The largest economy, the most powerful military, a cultural superpower and the heart of the global financial system, Britain has much to be prideful for. While the world isn't perfect: Woman still face arduous social pressure to conform, most of the West having skipped the sexual revolution promised by The Pill and reliable contraceptives and few women hold public offices, much of Europe remains stuck to a rigid class system and many European monarchs still hold significant sway and influence in domestic politics, the world has never been more peaceful, the economy has never been so prosperous for so many, and technology has never advanced so quickly. There is a sense that, with the trials and tribulations of years past now gone, the world has truly reached its zenith and a bold new age of prosperity, security and advancement is just within reach... if you're brave enough to grasp it.

Sir Rupert Brown places the Union Jack on the surface of the moon, 1974

Europe:​

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
The world's only remaining super power, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland enjoys the largest economic growth and is in the midst of its cultural, financial, political and military zenith: The sun truly does not set on the British Empire. Where it once had direct colonial holdings, the United Kingdom has gone from being a hard power, to one that relies on its tremendous economic, cultural and political clout to maintain its empire. From the Imperial Commonwealth (comprised of Canada, the West Indies Confederation, Nigeria, Malaysia, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and Pakistan), to its multitude of global allies (Portugal, Japan, Hashemite Arabia, Chile, Egypt, and – sometimes – the United States), and states it remains generally warm to friendly relationships with (the North German Federation, France and, until recently, Spain), Britain is well covered in terms of global partnerships. Britain's military, while smaller out of necessity, is immensely well armed with the most advanced technology currently available, boasting a fleet of aircraft carriers that patrol global waters to ensure the freedom of trade and movement. Economically, Britain's economy is booming as it leaves its industrial base behind, moving more and more towards a service economy as corporations move factories overseas to China, Vietnam, Korea and other countries in the developing world. For once, the generations of class conflict and tensions between the stratified upper (which still very much exert influence in government and the economy) and lower classes seem to be subsiding as the economic growth fuels social mobility. Few notice the increasing unemployment in the manufacturing sector or the increasing isolation of rural communities, but for the moment those are all worries for the future: Globalization is here and its effects are seen as overwhelmingly positive as trade barriers fall and free trade rules. However, for Britain's liberal economic and political atmosphere, socially, and at times in the halls of government, the elite still hold tremendous sway and defacto power, the House of Lords, for one, is not entirely symbolic (even with the reforms passed in the late 80s) and a handful of powerful families dominate the British financial and banking sectors. Class tensions exist, but most aren't paying attention at the moment.

Kingdom of France

The Kingdom of France:
Following the overthrow of Charles X and the House of Bourbon in the Three Glorious Days, the House of Orleans has led the liberal constitutional monarchy since 1830. Perhaps one of the most stable governments France has had in its history, the "juste millue" of Louis-Phillippe, which led to a middle of the road approach in avoiding the extremes of the Bourbon conservatives and radical left, allowed the Kingdom of France to avoid yet another destabilizing revolution or chaotic seizure of government by the unruly mob. However, in avoiding the worst of the 1846 Revolutions, France has a stratified class system that rivals that of Britain's, as the bourgeoisie continue to hold a strong grip on France's democratic system. The King has been relegated to little more than a figure head (in the Westminster tradition) as the Prime Minister holds all the power domestically, and almost all the power in foreign affairs (where the King still symbolically holds the right to declare war and is considered the Commander-in-Chief of the military). The House of Orleans mostly attends social functions, commits to acts of charity and work as super ambassadors for the state. Without a great, cataclysmic event such as a generation killing world war, France remains a fairly robust, populated state, but it remains behind their greatest rival, the Prussian-dominated North German Federation, economically and militarily. Perhaps one of its greatest advantages is its vast overseas empire, or at least it has been historically. The Confederation of West Africa and Central African Federation are the "independent" states born out of the end of direct colonial rule in French West Africa. Uniting its large and disparate colonial territories in West Africa, the CWA and CAF recognize the French monarch as their head of state while having control over their domestic politics. Significant French resources have gone into improving and developing the regions since their establishment in 1976 and 1980, respectively, however cracks in the order are beginning to show. Frenchmen and women at home are unhappy about the large amounts of West African migrants, and many on the right and anti-imperialist left believe its time to let go, the immigrants are unhappy at being shoved in ghettos, and people across West Africa see their governments as little more than extension of French colonial domination. Time will tell if the current arrangement can last. For the time being, the Orleanist monarchy remains deeply unpopular with the lower classes and many on the right long for the "days of old" when a Bonaparte enforced order across the French nation, olden days that the current, popular Bonaparte pretender has every intention of bringing back.

Kingdom of Spain

Kingdom of Spain:
Unlike their French, British and Portuguese neighbors, the Spanish were not suddenly swept up in a wave of enlightened liberal reforms. Battered heavily by the loss of Cuba and Puerto Rico to an upstart Confederacy, and disastrous revolts during the 1846 Revolutions (and again in 1879, 1901 and 1923), the "arch-conservative" and very Catholic Spain (currently under the rule of the House of Habsburg, although outside of pleasantries during state visits there is little connection between the SGC and Spain) has seen very little in the way of reform. The rural population still chafes against the rule of powerful landowners and while the age of feudalism might be long gone, you wouldn't exactly know it by looking at the poverty of those that work the fields. No longer tied to the land, few farmers actually own the land they work on and even fewer have anything in the way of property. In the cities, the urban population doesn't fair that much better outside of the rich, many are seemingly perpetually unemployed, simply living off benefits and side jobs that they can perform in the pursuit of a little extra income. Spain has simply jumped from recession to recession (and the occasional depression) since the 70s and coasted along by relying on its economically successful regions: Catalonia and the Basque Country… and unfortunately for the Spanish, their hour of reckoning has seemingly come to pass. In 1990, while much of the world had their attention glued to Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Russian Empire, Catalonia's regional parliament (little more than a symbolic gesture "granted" to them by the Estates-General in Madrid in the so-called 'Great Reforms" of 1971) vote almost unanimously for independence, with the backing of the vast majority of the Catalan public. When Madrid inevitably declares the unilateral declaration of independence illegitimate (and quickly holds its own referendum throughout Spain, allowing non-Catalans to vote, declaring that any "existential threat to the unity and sovereignty of the Spanish state must be decided by all the Spanish people" which obviously ends in a resounding victory for those against the independence of Catalonia (while at the same time keeping international election monitors at bay), Barcelona takes to the streets. Militias are formed, underground resistance movements detonate bombs at Spanish military outposts, rioters attack soldiers in the streets. When a Basque terrorist organization bombs the Spanish Parliament, and kills a few dozen ministers and almost assassinates the Spanish king in a separate but related plot, the entire country is put on lock down as protests spread to the Basques. It seems like, for a moment, with rioters seizing streets and organizing their own militias that the Spanish state would collapse, finally, under its own weight. But, with the support of the military, the King and his government are able to brutally, put down the rebellions, and without a major international organization to rein them in (although international condemnations did pour in), the Spanish military quickly puts down the rioters, often times with live rounds. The regional parliaments in the Basque country and Catalonia are "temporarily suspended" and the military is given direct control of the two regions. Even with the violent destruction of their rebellions, the Catalan and Basque nationalists have only seen an uptick in their support as they are forced underground. The terror tactics that began in Basque Country have now moved into Catalonia and violent protests still occasionally rage on in areas where military control is not as secured. Many Spanish soldiers remark that they feel as if they are occupiers in a foreign land… the Catalans and Basques would agree.

Kingdom of Portugal

Kingdom of Portugal:
The little Iberian state that could, Portugal has maintained global relevance by way of its colonial empire. Much as French did with Algeria, Portugal has integrated Angola and Mozambique into its metropole, even allowing its residents to vote in national elections as of 1986 and officially granting them Portuguese citizenship. Tremendous efforts have been made to integrate and intermix with those in Angola and Mozambique, which have finally paid off after years of controversy and setbacks. Many in Angola feel as if they are part of Portugal, and while Mozambique certainly has a much larger "independence" streak, it is often in the structures of the Portuguese state and rarely goes past demands for greater political and economic autonomy instead of outright revolt. Borrowing heavily from the United Kingdom, the liberal constitutional monarchy has done an excellent job in uniting its citizens and providing a stable political frame for a liberal democracy to emerge and maintain itself since the turn of the century. With a booming economy thanks to its ties to the United Kingdom and raw materials from Angola, Mozambique and its dominion in the Amazons (the State of the Amazonas), Portugal is one of Europe's richest states, boasting a high GDP, near total literacy (in Angola and Mozambique as well) and a fairly stable political system that has high confidence amongst its sprawling population. Its heavy ties with its formal colonial empire in South America further allow it to spread its influence and develop its economy with access to cheap manufactured goods and raw materials. Great Britain's oldest ally on the European continent, Portugal is no stranger to tagging along on the United Kingdom's "international police actions", like Sierra Leone in 1989 to overthrow the collapsing pro-Russian government which had seized power through a military coup, and has been rewarded heavily in terms of British investment and arms deals, it boasts a powerful, if small, military force geared towards homeland defense and humanitarian missions abroad.

Federation of Benelux

The Federation of Benelux
Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) was formed in 1989, a recent political creation formed out of the customs union between the Low Countries that was created in 1942, is a fairly robust and economically powerful state. Boasting a large economy, population and highly educated populace, the Federation of Benelux is seen as a major player in the global economy and a key European power, even having one of the last direct overseas colonies in Guinea (much to Indonesia's anger), who elected to remain in the Dutch colonial empire rather than declare independence or suffer under an unstable and possibly hostile Indonesian government. Despite strong economic ties to the British and French empires, the Benelux nations prefer to remain starkly neutral in global affairs, outside of international peacekeeping operations. Currently the federal parliament is debating on intervening in the Second Congolese Crisis in order to aid long time friend Portugal in stabilizing a former Belgian colony (which is in the state that it is today in large part to the actions of the Free State and the Belgian colonial government. Painful memories of the 70s and early 80s remain fresh in the minds of many Belgian (or Flemish and Walloon) voters and veterans of the First Congolese Crisis leads to strong opposition on any possible military actions.

North German Federation

The North German Federation
Despite being a federal state, the North German Federation is absolutely dominated by Prussia, the Junkers and the Hohenzellern royal family. Slow to change but quick to anger, the NGF is really just a mask for Prussia's imperialist agenda, which has been held in check by the Russians and the so-called "Great Ggame" since the 1900s, that has suddenly been put back into play with the collapse of the Russian Empire. The NGF itself is a highly industrialized, highly militarized and fairly authoritarian. Despite attempts at reform over the years, the North German government (based out of Berlin) has resisted attempts to liberalize and democratize the state's institutions. The Reichstag has grown more powerful over the years, particularly in the 1970s during a political crisis that involved an ailing, heirless Kaiser and a lack of constitutional precedent. While a constitutional state, the Kaiser (who is often surrounded by a powerful and influential camarilla filled with close confidants and advisers) retains the right to appoint (and dismiss) the Chancellor, dissolve the Reichstag, and declare war, among other powers. The Unification Question remains. Ever since the formation of the Federation and the South German Confederation, the question of whether the two states should unify has woven a long historical thread across the years. North German Liberals and those on the Left feel that the time unify Germany fully has come and gone and integration into the international community (alongside the British) is necessary over delusions of military conquest and continental domination. The "traditional" right in the Conservatives are divided between economic liberals who agree and nationalists who wish to join the rest of the right (Metaxists, nationalists, right-wing populists, etc.) in calling for the unification of the two Germany's under the Kaiser and the establishment of a new order of "European stability and prosperity" under German hegemony. While not sanctioned by law, violence against Jews remains quite popular in some areas. Despite having few Jews, the North German Federation has periods of relative hostility against its small Jewish population that nonetheless remains influential in the state bureaucracy and fairly middle class. Thanks to the booming economy and general state of jubilance at the collapse of the Russian Empire, anti-semetic incidences are on the decline.

South German Confederation

The South German Confederation
Traditionally a French ally in the Central European region, the South German Confederation, a far more "equal" union of states than the North German Federation, the SGC nonetheless is enduring a major political crisis on the account of a wayward Italian province. The Venetians, despite their "special autonomous status" granted to them in the 70s through a constitutional amendment and their more powerful regional parliament (which yields more influence within its borders than any other in the Confederation's constituent states), Venetian separatism and nationalism has been a long running movement since small beginnings in the 1890s. While the government has long touted its respect for regional autonomy and state power of its many different monarchies and royal families hailing from different German states, the perception by many outside of Austria and Bavaria are that Austria and Bavaria wield too much influence in the halls of government, particularly a resentful Bohemia, which represents a significant amount of the country's industrial output and economic production. However, while there is resentment, the Habsburg monarchy remains among one of the most successful in Continental Europe. Croatia, Spain, and even far off Mexico, remain among one of the wealthiest and most respected royal families across Europe and have a fairly competent military (armed by the British to counter Russian military maneuvers in the 70s) to deal with their unfriendly Italian, Hungarian and Serbian neighbors and one of the more powerful fleets in the Adriatic. While relations with Prussia remain fraught with tensions, both religious and political, for the moment the mood between the two German states seem to be amiable, if tense underneath the surface. After all, there's a lot to celebrate.

Kingdom of Croatia

The Kingdom of Croatia
Essentially the founders of the "Hapsburg Appreciation Society", the Kingdom of Croatia houses a member of the Hapsburg family and while the Croatian government is officially independent, it has not forgotten its fondness for the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While the Hungarians may have been backstabbing simpletons, the Croatians have remained loyal to the Hapsburg Monarchy and Vienna since the breakup of the Empire in the 30s during the 1937 Ausgleich which saw Hungarian nobility demand independence from the empire altogether and nearly tear the country into bloody civil war and division. With Croatia falling independent, they elected a pro-Austrian government and maintained close ties, even with independence. In a 1942 referendum, the male, voting age population nearly unanimously elected to amend the constitution to form a kingdom, and overwhelmingly elected a member of the Habsburg family president, before parliament would declare him king. The close political, economic and military ties to the Austrians (and by extension, the British) have been a godsend to the Croatians fearful of an expansionist Serbia and Hungarian claims on Croatian territory, both of which were Russian allies during the Great Game. For now, Croatia remains a bright spot in the Balkans in terms of human rights, economic development and regional stability.

Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary
Seeing now, clearly, that their faith in the Russian Empire's power was mistaken, the Hungarian government now faces a serious problem. Faced with mounting pressure from within Slovakiato withdraw thanks to a long running, internationally popular independence movement which has focused on primarily non-violent means of attaining their goals of an independent Slovak state. While the Hungarian government has spent the past decade harshly jailing Slovak nationalists, Hungarian democracy activists, and trade unionists and generally all of those opposed to the current monarchy and government. When the Hungarians had Russian diplomatic and economic backing, they were able to withstand economic sanctions from the British, they were able to overcome mounting diplomatic pressure from British-aligned Europe, as well as their anemic economic growth. But with the fall of the Russian Empire and the sudden economic depression that swept across Eastern Europe in its wake, the Hungarian domestic position has shifted to one of panic. Unemployment has spiked, inflation is high, and there seems to be a malaise settling in the country: people don't trust the government, much less like it, but Hungarian society in and of itself is very divided. Republican nationalists on the right demand the abdication of the king and are gaining in parliament, unionists on the left also demand the abdication of the king, but also call for the legalization of trade unions and the adoption of a "worker owned economy" (they're not allowed to participate in elections). Time will tell if Hungary will weather the storm of the new era that has just begun.

Kingdom of Savoy

The Kingdom of Savoy:
According to the Savoyards, the "Kingdom of Savoy" is in reality the Kingdom of Italy, and that the government in Chambery is the rightful claimant to the entire Italian peninsula. The Sicilians are simply stubborn break aways, the Pope has overstepped his boundaries and the Austrians maintain an illegitimate occupation of Italian lands in Venice. Now if only someone could get the Sicilians, the Pope and the Venetians to agree. While Venice is in the midst of its own political movement to rid itself of Austrian influence, they don't seem to exciting to join in on any "United Italian" ventures. Similarly, for the Papal States, where the Pope's been mostly a figurehead outside of the walls of the Vatican, the status quo is too beneficial for the vested interests and the Papacy to decide to allow themselves to be annexed by an upstart regional kingdom. The Sicilians don't even see themselves as Italian, and any kind of integration would be difficult based on regional and linguistic differences. However, that hasn't stopped the Risorgimento (Revival) Movement from taking a strong hold in Savoyard politics as well as being a convenient vote getter for conservative and liberal parties alike. For now, their support for unification has been mostly political and through the coopting of unification parties in the Papal States and the Kingdom of Sicily, however should Savoy move towards hostility, it does have the largest population, largest military and largest industry of all the Italian states…

Papal States

The Papal States:
A relic of a bygone era, the Papacy's "official" power barely extends past the walls of the Vatican but the Pope's word and influence still holds tremendous sway over national politics and society as a whole. As Europe's "Most Moral State", the Papal States are a strange and often clashing amalgamation of different interests. Powerful landowners dominate the countryside, lording over rural peasants that haven't seen much improvement since the half-hearted land reforms of the 60s and 70s. The coastal and urban elites stay within their cities and ivory towers, often lamenting and anguishing over their "backwards and conservative" government while being the primary benefactors of the low taxes and low wages set by the national government. For the vested interests and powerful elite, the papacy might be a backwards institution with far too much influence over national politics but it's been nothing but rewarding to those in power that maintain the status quo. However, things have been changing; tensions simmer just beneath a thin veneer of stability and state control. Rock music can be heard in the university, drug use and promiscuity is at all-time highs among the youth, rebellion dripping from their lips. Socialism is popular among those who work tirelessly in a society with few means to change or advance your social and economic station… time will tell if His Holiness and his government can withstand the winds of change. A major proponent of Catholic Corporatism, the Papal States and Greece, despite their theological differences, can find a commonality there, and have linked themselves as part of a Metaxist, Southern European bloc.

Kingdom of Two Scicilies

Kingdom of Two Sicilies
A friend to the Pope and a key non-Commonwealth British ally, the Two Sicilies has seen great economic growth in recent times… almost all of it pocketed by the powerful Cosa Nostra and the politicians that are under their employ. While the British are not at all happy with the fact that they're essentially subsidizing a very powerful crime syndicate (one of the most powerful and influential in the world), they've dominated Sicilian politics since the 70s, and for the most part have actually moved on to legitimate enterprising (with a mixture of corruption, extortion and racketeering on the side, but who's counting?) and become a fixture in society and politics. Sicily's strategic location in the Mediterranean allowed it to become a key British ally following the Greek Realignment towards Russia in the 50s and the establishment of Russian military bases in the Peloponnese in '59. Since the end of the Great Game, however, the British have been reassessing their ties to Sicily, as they've essentially become political dead weight and many human rights advocates have taken umbrage with Sicily's continuous jailing of dissidents and extraordinarily corrupt politics, even for an Italian state. Sicily, decidedly a poor nation, still has significant British investments, which really never seem to go anywhere. No. 10 simply can't fathom that every single pound spent in Sicily falls into the hands of the Mob and the government is slow in waking up.

Serbian State

Serbian State
Serbia, unchained. While once kept in check by the Russian Tsar's threats of cutting military and economic aid, the Serbian State no longer feels it needs to worry about a powerful backer keeping it from acting out its worst nationalistic fantasies. When the "Iron Veil" was taken off the Balkans in the aftermath of the Russian collapse and Russian military forces withdrew from their client states' territories, southeastern Europe lost a mediating force. While many in London, Berlin, and Paris openly welcomed the fall of Russia, many experts in Balkan inter-state politics warned that the Balkans could once again become a volatile region, the very same that almost led to numerous continental conflicts in the 19th​ and early 20th​ century. Serbia maintains its claims on Hungary and Greece, former allies that did not see Serbian armies march in their lands due to heavy handed Russian politicking and intervention, and now feels that, with the withdraw of heavy Russian financial aid, is the only means of distracting the population from the declining economic opportunities in the country. The pro-Russian Serbian monarchy was toppled by military hardliners and ultranationalists in 1990, an event mostly ignored by the British, still drunk on victory from the Russian collapse. Winds of war seem to be blowing on the horizon…

Kingdom of Greece

Kingdom of Greece:
It should be so fitting as to see the birthplace of an authoritarian and militarist ideology which has taken the world by storm in the very same place where Western democracy was born. Greece was a poor and broken country in the 1920s and 30s, however with the rise of a powerful leader named Ioannis Metaxas, the country found its stability and grew to become a regional power. Officially the "Third Hellenic Civilization", the Kingdom of Greece is the birthplace of Metaxism, which stresses ethnic nationalism, monarchism, anti-socialism, anti-parliamentarianism, corporatism, protectionism and anti-imperialism. Highly militarist, utilizing British arms and support (for fears of them being pushed into the arms of the Russians), the Greek state would annex Macedonia, Albania and get involved in countless border skirmishes with the Turks. Britain's strategy of appeasement would fall short, as the Greeks wound up defecting to the Russians anyway. After decades of bullying its neighbors, the tides may be turning. Now with Russia gone, there's nothing to keep Serbian revanchism in check, Turkey seems to be spoiling for another fight and the Albanian Salvation Army continues a brutal insurgency in the mountains. There is blood in the water… and the sharks are circling.

Tsardom of Bulgaria

Tsardom of Bulgaria
A former Russian client state, there is little to be said about Bulgaria. Surrounded by more powerful neighbors, the Bulgarians have remained within their borders attempting to fix their economy and resolve internal political tensions between conservatives and reformists, while at the same time trying to keep nationalists in line who remain agitating for irredentist claims on Greek and Romanian territory.

State of Ukraine

State of Ukraine
Ukraine is at a crossroads. While it may boast a proud claim of being the first state to declare independence from the crumbling Russian Empire, the Russians are down but they are most certainly not out. Russian majorities and pluralities still overwhelm the former region of Novorossiya, which are also the country's most economically and industrially powerful areas. Many ethnic Russians and Russian speakers still hold loyalties to Russia and hold little respect for their new Ukrainian leadership. Russia's "Russification" policies (particularly the brutal campaigns in the 60s and 70s under hardline leadership and a Tsar with much to prove) have ensured that the moment Russia is once again on even footing, they'll have plenty of leverage over Ukraine and many of the former Imperial states in Eastern Europe. For the time being, Ukraine is getting closer with Western Europe and Britain in particular, much to St. Petersburg's displeasure, who feels it is a direct challenge to Russia's interests and national security.

Republic of Belorussia

Republic of Belorussia
While there was much jubilance and support for independence in the early 90s, reality has set in and the subsequent contraction of the Belorussian economy has led to many Byelorussians and Russians alike to pine for the "good old days" of 1989 and the Russian Empire. While the liberal party who supported and led the country through its revolution and independence struggle still remains power, a pro-Russian nationalist party is dominating the official opposition at the moment, and could very well win big in the next elections if the economic situation doesn't improve.

Kingdom of Finalnd

Kingdom of Finland
Independent only out of necessity, Finland was quite happy with its position in the Russian Empire and the old Grand Duchy is missed. A contributor to the old Imperial Army and mostly allowed autonomy in domestic affairs (while receiving a good amount of "subsidies" from the Russian imperial government for being such a loyal state), it's easy to see why the Finns would take such a rosy view to the past. For the most part a neutral state, with leanings towards Russia thanks to a mostly beneficial relationship along with a well-armed and world renowned military that has been utilized in numerous peacekeeping operations.

Kingdom of Poland

Kingdom of Poland
The second post-imperial state to declare independence, following Ukraine's departure, Poland has restored her native monarchy and was once hopeful of retaining the independence it had so violently fought for since the Independence Struggle of the 1970s and 80s where Polish nationalists waged a violent and non-violent struggle against Russian imperial forces. However, despite this, as the economic effects of the Russian collapse continue unabated, the Polish government is quickly turning to their old nemesis, the North German Federation, in order to stay economically afloat. Blocked from the sea, and increasingly dependent on Prussian financial and economic aid, the Poles see that perhaps independence wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. But for that matter, even Prussian interference in their internal affairs isn't the worst that could happen, for one, they'll need allies for when (not if) Russia decides to spread its tentacles throughout Eastern Europe once more.

Democratic Republic of Russia

Democratic Republic of Russia
How low the once mighty have fallen. The Democratic Republic of Russia, currently led by the People's Constitutionalist Movement, has arisen from the ashes of the Russian Empire following more than a generation of economic mismanagement, systemic corruption and spiraling ethnic and nationalist tensions. But the troubles of the Empire did not die with it: corruption is still rife, the Russian mob's influence seems to continue unchallenged, the national economy continues to contract and many of those so hopeful to see the Romanov's removed from power have realized that democracy and republicanism might not be everything British propaganda had promised. Wages have shrunk, inflation is high and many are unemployed, particularly following the downsizing of the Russian state's once formidable civil service. The respect for the newly erected democratic institutions are practically nonexistent, the strength of the Mob grows daily and many fear a "Sicilizanization" of Russian politics with members of the Duma becoming little more than puppets for powerful mobsters and corporate oligarchs who are in bed with one another and occasionally war amongst themselves. Not all is lost, and many feel that if Russia could land on her feet she could wind up making a great comeback. Ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking communities, fearful of violent reprisals and repression of their culture by newly formed national governments, dot many border territories in countries like Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Kazakhstan (among others) and are actively looking to Moscow, appealing for diplomatic, if not outright material, support.

Turkish Republic

Turkish Republic
Humiliated and spurned by both the British and Russian empires, the Turks were thoroughly thrashed in the Straits War of the 50s, one of the largest military conflicts in human history which saw mass movements in the Middle East, the Balkans and a direct military confrontation between the British and Russian empires that almost ended in nuclear catastrophe. Turkey was partitioned in the Treaty of Athens, which ceded Turkish Armenia to Russia, Turkish Kurdistan to the newly formed British colony of Mesopotamia and essentially ceded the rest of the Middle East to the British. As a result of growing Russian power, the Prussians would finally stop flirting with both sides and firmly align with the Concord, the Greeks would split with the British and fully join Russia's sphere. The Ottoman Empire was effectively destroyed as a force. With the holy cities in the hands of the British-backed Hashemite Arabia, the need for a "Caliph" and Istanbul's claim to being the Caliphate, leader of the Muslim world, collapsed and along with it went the empire as republican, secularist military officers violently overthrew the imperial government in 1958. Since then Turkey has remained a military despotism, experiencing several other military coups against the sitting military dictator in 1968 and 1979 only to have him removed by another. The most recent rules with an iron fist and has remained in power thanks to his youth, cunning and ability to keep his underlings at each other's throats. However, as age and health scares creep in, the political situation in Turkey threatens to explode. While the newest iteration of the military dictatorship might be popular, it is only because of the effective leadership and charisma of the dictator, not because of any desire to live under the thumb of a military autocracy. Political Islamists on the right and radical socialists on the left threaten to undermine over a generation of secularization, but with no great figure to rally behind at its inception, the military has not done a very good job of "modernizing" Turkish society.

The Middle East:​

Republic of Mesopotamia

The Republic of Mesopotamia
Once a British colony, the Hashemite Kingdom of Mesopotamia declared independence in the 1960s as a result of a deal between the Hashemite family and the British. The incredibly diverse region, comprised of large amounts of Assyrians, Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, proved too much for the corrupt and ineffective leadership of the Hashemite monarchy, which quickly collapses in an economic downturn and massive protests by Iraqi Shiite's who felt that the Hashemites, being Sunnis, were treating Sunni Arabs in the country far better than Shiites. The military steps in to "save the country" following a "Lost Decade" thanks to an ineffective and unstable democratic republican period. Running the country on a platform of "Arab Nationalism" the sitting dictator rules today with an iron fist, having played the Russians and the British against each other during the Great Game and elevated minorities and Sunnis against the Shiites in order to maintain control. While initially anti-sectarian and as secular as the Turkish Republic and the Syrian State, the regime has moved towards encouraging sectarian divisions and moving towards more religiously inspired propaganda. With the annexation of Khuzestan in 1987 and the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the world has its eyes glued to what will happen next as London seems to be gearing up for an intervention. The Mesopotamian regime continues to fly off the hinges of sanity, committing crimes against humanity, utilizing chemical weapons on its own population and even threatening to form its very own "military deterrent". Meanwhile, the dictator has declared his regime "Babylon Reborn" and began making the preparations for "all-out war" with the British imperialists.

Syrian State

Syrian State
The Syrian State was once a primary exporter of its own regional version of Metaxism, however the newly independent and highly unstable country fell under the sway of Mesopotamian influence in the 70s. A former British colony, the attempts to place a pliable Hashemite monarch fell apart around the same time as the troubles and National Revolution in Mesopotamia. The Syrians have been under the economic and political domination of Mesopotamia since the early 80s when surging petroleum prices granted Baghdad regional influence extending far beyond its borders. Being a client state of an absolutist, ex-military general has had its perks: cheap oil, cheap weaponry and protection against foreign aggression by Turkey who has been spoiling for a fight to retake the Hatay Province. However, this heterogenous mixture of Sunni and Shiite Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Maronite Christians, Alawites and many more has been troublesome for the military-nationalist regime that has ruled the country since 1972. Constantly picking fights with its neighbors in order to distract from a lagging economy has even made Mesopotamia worried, as Syrian leadership is always looking for a new means to distract the public from the internal disorder and age-old ethnic and religious grievances.

Republic of Palestine

Republic of Palestine
Yet another country where the British attempted to export the Hashemite royal family to, the Palestinian experience has been much calmer and far less violent than that of its Syrian and Mesopotamian neighbors. Having kicked the Hashemites out in a peaceful, democratic referendum in the mid-80s, Palestine has remained close to both Hashemite Arabia and the United Kingdom, mostly as a bulwark against Egyptian and Syrian aggression. With a rapidly developing economy, Palestine has a bright future if it plays its cards right. Unfortunately, with waves of Anti-Semitic moods coming and going in Europe, and spouts of outright violence against Jewish communities in countries like France, Prussia, and across Eastern Europe, Jewish migration to the Levant has steadily increased over the years, leading to friction between Jewish and Arab populations. While the more education, urban elites see no problem with similarly educated, and at times fairly well off, Jewish migrants from Europe, many of the lower classes and rural populations don't see eye to eye. And then there's the whole problem of Zionist militant groups, often times using terrorist tactics to fight against the British-armed Palestinian National Army, occasionally acting out in violence against the state and the general public…

Hashemite Arabia

Hashemite Arabia
Having overtaken the Saud family with the help of the British during the Straits War, the Hashemites have grown to a prominent power broker in the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world. Despite setback after setback in Mesopotamia, Syria and the Levant, the Trucial States were annexed diplomatically in the 60s following decolonization and the growing importance of petroleum throughout the world has made the Hashemite family incredibly wealthy, along with all their beneficiaries. Staying away from trying to push extremist or puritanical forms of Islamic doctrine, the Hashemites have been mostly obedient British allies, aside from the fact that they've been personally benefitting from the nation's wealth for generations and have run an unbelievably corrupt show since the 50s.With a well-armed yet embarrassingly trained military, the Hashemites rely mostly on soft power and their finger on the price of oil to further their interests. While no fan of the socialists in Iran, the Hashemite family and the Iranian Republic have come together to oppose the violent and unstable Mesopotamian regime since the triumph of Mesopotamia over Iran in the Khuzestan conflict of the late 80s. The annexation of Kuwait was the final straw and the entire region feels like a bomb ready to go off at any minute.

Revolutionary Islamic Republic of Egypt

Revolutionary Islamic Republic of Egypt
The highly unpopular Kingdom of Egypt could not last longer than 1979. No matter how much money flowed into the country (which ended up in the King's coffers anyway) or how many discounted to free military weapons were given by the British, the Egyptian people had had enough of the corrupt and autocratic king and his corrupt family. In a violent revolution the people of Cairo dragged his body through the streets following a violent confrontation between rebel groups, protesters, defected military units and the loyalist elements of the military. The secularism (at any cost) of the previous regime was abandoned and the Muslim Brotherhood, an underground political party that had been banned by the government in years past, came to power. Having been the primary leadership being the Green Revolution, and the most powerful political party that hit the ground running during Egypt's first and last (free) elections. With the Muslim Brotherhood firmly in power, the odd socialist-Islamist mixed doctrine has ruled the country for a little over a decade now. Ravenously anti-British, but also seen as little more than raucous and aggressive upstarts by the Hashemites, and religious extremists by the secular, left-wing Iranian state, Egypt is short pressed for allies as it holds territory that Libya claims. Sudan, however, has proved to be a loyal region that has adjusted well to the new changes and had a local revolution of its own in the 70s, as it has entered into an autonomous, semi-independent region following its formal independence in the 1980s. Despite having bloodily put down rebels in South Sudan several times in the past decade, Ethiopia, another regional power player, has taken notice and begun financing and giving protection to rebels waging war against the Cairo regime. Time will tell if these tensions lead to outright war.

Africa:​

Kingdom of Ethiopia

Kingdom of Ethiopia
Once a major, and perhaps the only, Russian ally in Africa, during the Great Game, Ethiopia has not done badly for itself since the Russian collapse. While its economy took a hit thanks to the end of favorable trade status with Russia and increasingly hostile relations with British-aligned Somalia, Ethiopia has a fairly modern and functioning state, with a powerful, Russian armed and trained military which can finally begin flexing its regional muscles. While not an outright democratic state, the King and his government has slowly but surely been making necessary social, political and economic reforms in order to modernize the country: greatly depleting the landowners' power, ending slavery, instituting parliamentary reforms and limiting the power of the monarchy as of the mid-80s. Increasingly friendly with Kenya, a fellow anti-British state in the region, East Africa seems to be a region where tensions are running high.

Republic of Somalia

Republic of Somalia:
A former British colony, Somalia has had its difficulties but with the flow of British support during the Great Game, and the specter of a powerful Ethiopia on its borders, the Republic of Somalia could be far worse off. Despite regional, ethnic and religious tensions, Somalia has mostly retained its status as a rapidly developing country and is increasingly moving toward democratization and more liberal attitudes seem to dominate the larger urban areas. Unfortunately, this period of economic development is also marked by political tensions between Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Somalia, fearful of warming ties between Kenya and Ethiopia, fears that war clouds are brewing on the horizon and feels that it needs British protection and support more than ever.

People's Republic of Kenya

Peoples' Republic of Kenya:
One of the few countries in Africa to have beaten the British in a war of independence in the 1970s, the people of Kenya were able to unite in their independence struggle against a hated enemy. The Liberation War is a pivotal moment in national history and still influences politics and Kenyan society to this day. Maintaining intense feelings of disdain for British internationalism and British intervention in Africa, Kenya was unable to participate in the Great Game, however even with the now vanquished Russian Empire gone, most in Kenya agree that the British are snakes and cannot be trusted. Warming relations with Ethiopia seem to be a logical starting point in forming a coalition to kick British influence out of the region and form a bloc of "self-sustainable and autonomous" states in East Africa.

National Republic of Katanga

National Republic of Katanga:
One of the most prosperous and stable republics in Africa, Katanga achieved its independence during the Congo Crisis of the 1970s and quickly gained a benefactor in London. Having thrown off the yoke of Belgian oppression, the once united Congo quickly fell into political and ethnic infighting. Katanga saw the writing on the wall early and used its resources to finance its own war of independence against the rapidly crumbling Congolese state. Quickly gaining a friend in the British, the Katangan government quickly consolidated its hold in the region and its legitimacy by providing its people with protection against Congolese militias and warlords while providing some semblance of economic and political stability in a region turned set aflame by conflict, poverty and disease. While it is not a model democracy and authoritarian to its core, while also dealing with major corruption, particularly in the public and mining sectors, Katanga has met a lot of success when compared to many of their independent neighbors.

Congo Administrative Zone

Congo Administrative Zone
The Congo has been a warzone and a festering wound at the heart of Africa for several decades now. Fairly stable regimes have been overthrown by European political and business interests, exploitation of resources by international conglomerates has led to a deep distrust of any foreign backed government and the many different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups have be loathe to work together to form a united national state, far more interested in warring with one another. Thanks to the brutal direct colonial period under the Belgians, many in the Congo actively distrust or are openly hostile against European-led peacekeeping operations. This has not stopped the Portuguese from plunging in (with international, read: mostly British, support) and have formed a peacekeeping mission that has participants from Cisplantina to Japan. For the most part, the Portuguese are in the Congo to enforce some semblance of order and push forward their economic interests, as well as to stop the disastrous refugee crisis that is spilling out into Central and South Africa. Having only just begun in 1989, the Portuguese, while claiming that they have enforced order throughout the Congo, really only control Kinshasa and the major population centers around the country. Warlords and militias still scour much of the rural countryside.

Dominion of South Africa

Dominion of South Africa
The South Africans are among one of the most important British dominions, and the one with the largest independence streak in the entire Imperial Commonwealth. A mixture of native blacks, inter-mixed "coloureds", Indians, British whites and Afrikaners, the diverse South African state is still under the grip of an apartheid government that is increasingly drifting towards an all out police state. The desire to hold on to power comes from the fear that the world may soon turn against it, a fear not at all misplaced. During the Great Game, and despite the Anglo-Confederate Split in the 1960s, the South African government had always been a close friend of the Confederacy and were one of their final trade partners despite the international community's embargo for its harsh treatment of its black population. Similarly, the apartheid regime in South Africa faces similar repudiation from the world's largest economies as the geopolitical reasoning behind ignoring its vast human rights abuses (its regional power status and importance as a stabilizing force in Africa throughout the Great Game) has suddenly disappeared with the collapse of the Russian Empire and the end of the Great Game. South Africa now stands increasingly isolated, only half-heartedly defended by the Conservatives in White Hall, something that cannot be counted for long as the British public (along with many around the West) call for economic sanctions and an embargo of the South African regime. South Africa's membership in the Imperial Commonwealth is challenged by dominion states like Canada and New Zealand, but supported by Australia, and others who have checkered human rights pasts of their own. Rumors persist of Pretoria seeking their own, independent "nuclear deterrent" with some speculating that it may already exist...

Dominion of Nigeria

Dominion of Nigeria
Nigeria has seen better days. Once considered to be the rising African Commonwealth states, Nigeria has fallen into the dual traps of corruption and sectarian conflict. Once dominated by the British elevated, mercantile, and Christian Igbo living along the coast, the Dominion of Nigeria from its inception in 1981 has had uninterrupted and mostly peaceful transitions of power from the parties that make up the traditional political establishment. However, since national politics are dominated by the Igbo, along with already powerful local merchants and businessmen, many Nigerians, particularly those living in the north of the country and practicing Muslims, feel left out and ignored. Infrastructure, education and social services have been heavily neglected, mostly as Lagos sought to focus almost solely on petroleum production and distribution on the global market, a move which has made Nigeria a fabulously wealthy state, among the richest in the world and on the continent. However, this burgeoning "petro-economy" has brought its own share of problems as well: Rebels know exactly where to target the state if they wish to hurt its pockets, corruption has become endemic in the sector, and rapidly threatening to swallow the bureaucracy and other sectors of the economy. Nigeria also hosts a growing rebellion of Islamist-nationalists in the northern fringes of the country, which has greatly bothered the West African Federation and Central African Confederation, who fear that the violence could bleed over into their territory as rebels have no problem seeking shelter beyond the reach of the Nigerian national military, a force which also has no problems occasionally pushing its luck in hunting rebels in French dominion territories.

"The French Dominions"

"The French Dominions"
While not explicitly dominions of the Kingdom of France, the West African Federation and the Central African Confederation are tied to the very heart of France's overseas empire. Utilizing economic, political and military force to keep the governments of the massive African states afloat, as well as a strong degree of support among local leaders of tribes and ethnic groups that mostly trend conservative anyway. The interests found in both businessmen and merchants, elders and right-wing politicians, and those in the powerful colonial garrisons see the French as neutral arbiters in the affairs of the disparate peoples within each "conglomerate state" and an overseer of peace and stability between the many peoples of West and Central Africa. The French are happy to extract resources and unskilled labor from their African "former" colonies, wrapped up under the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), which - while claiming to be an international organization dedicated to "preserving ties between French-speaking nations" and a primarily "socio-cultural experiment" - in reality acts as a military and economic bloc all of its own. The Federation and Confederation recognize the French Orleanist monarch as their own Head of State while reserving significant local autonomy to rule on their own affairs, while also delineating significant authority to local tribes and far-flung towns and villages. Many are dependent on either working overseas and sending money back to their families, or working in French subsidized public works programs, or in the state bureaucracy. Should the French presence one day dry up, surely it would be a terrible dilemma...

North America:​

Empire of Russia (Alyeska)

Empire of Russia (Alyeska)
The remnant of the Russian Empire is a pitiful outpost on the edge of North America. Following the People's Constitutionalist Movement's taking power in Russia proper through mass protest and the defection of a significant portion of the military to the revolutionaries and protesters after orders to fire on them had nearly placed the country on the verge of all-out civil war in the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Tsar and his family fled to Siberia and the eventually (with the majority of the Russian Navy remaining loyal to him) fleeing to "Russian America", typically known as Alaska. Operating out of New Archangel on the Alaskan peninsula, the "Tsarist Remnant" as many call it, the "Imperial Government" still holds out some bitter hope that Russians will see the error of their ways and welcome the Tsar and his government back. Even with the chaos threatening to unfold over in the motherland, the decreasing popularity of the PCM and the burgeoning economic crisis, the passing of every day in exile sees the Tsar and his supporter's hopes grow increasingly far-fetched. International attention itself has turned towards Russian America as the majority of the world does not see the "Empire of Russia" (-In-Russian America) as a legitimate, or even recognizable government. The British and the Imperial Commonwealth have called on the international community (a nebulous term if there ever was one) to act on the future of the region. Canada looks towards New Archangel and sees a potential Pacific port, something the Yanks "stole" from them in the 1830s by taking formerly British Columbia (now a US state), and has a significant guest worker population on the peninsula. However, they're not the only ones interested. Ever since the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century and the more recent "Black Gold Rush" for oil in the 60s and 70s, Yankee, Mexican and even Japanese guest workers (along with smaller populations from around the world and Latin America in particular) following the opening of the colony to foreign workers and businesses in the 70s (following the Aleyskan Missile Crisis of the 60s) and businesses operate in the region, and none are too happy to have the Tsar turn the once prosperous and booming colony into an armed camp. The Yankees are always looking to give their old rival Britain a black eye, especially now with the Treaty of Philadelphia no longer necessary to fight off encroaching Russian influence, and the Mexicans won't give up without a fight if they believe it will advantage the gringos to the north.

Dominion of Canada

Dominion of Canada
The Dominion of Canada is Britain's most steadfast ally, both among those in the Imperial Commonwealth and those that are not. Having been blocked from reaching any significant commercial or economic presence on its Pacific Coast by the United States, Canada has always preoccupied itself with Trans-Atlantic affairs, operating as a major source of peacekeepers for Britain's overseas adventures and involved in conflicts from Kenya, to the Indian subcontinent, to Nigeria. Since the fall of the Russian Empire and the intrusion of the Tsar and his loyalist forces in Aleyska, the Canadians have been fearful of a conflict breaking out on their borders but are also hoping to expand their borders, being the ones to receive Aleyska, surely, once the British make their intentions known. After all, they wouldn't want to leave it to the Yanks to further expand their oil production and territory, the latter of which they have been doing a lot of since the collapse of the Confederacy. With an often unfriendly rival who just happened to be on the same side of the Great Game to their south, and the Russian hordes to their north, the Canadians have been a fairly militarized population, once expecting the inevitable Yankee invasion, followed by then awaiting the inevitable Russian invasion. The military is large (for their size) and fairly professional, armed with Commonwealth standardized weaponry and equipment. Politically, the welfare state has suffered as a result. Currently, the Canadians, at the behest of London, have planned to send a small force of Canadian peacekeepers to join in on Portugal's stabilizing (or "civilizing", depending on who you ask) mission in the Congo and wearily eye the United States, who has just annexed several former Confederate states following the dissolution of the Confederacy.

Third Republic of the United States of America

The Third Republic of the United States of America
With the Articles of Confederation being the First, the 1787 Constitution being the Second, the Third Republic of the United States was formed following the adoption of the 1901 Constitution. Following its defeat in the Mexican-American War, and the Southron Secession (leading to the War Between the States) in 1850, the American experiment had gone off the rails, while it had some fairly impressive early successes (fighting the British to a stalemate in the War of 1812, defeating them in the Frontier War of 1830), by the turn of the 19th Century, with its military in shambles, corruption at every level of the government and private industry, the various immigrant mobs running entire city neighborhoods, elections that could barely be called "free" even for the standards of the day, the economy a wreck and owned by European powers, the Indians (in particular the Sioux, being funded and supported by the British) running amok in the Midwest and beyond, and anarchists and socialists threatening to touch off general strikes and revolutions, the Progressive Party manages to win consecutive victories across the country, appealing to both rural farmers and urban workers, on a platform of anti-corruption, "retaking" American industry and trade from European meddling, and "restructuring the very bonds of American Government", replacing the Democratic Party (which had dominated local, state and national elections since the War Between the States) as "The Party of Natural Government" and drafting a new constitution following the attempts by the Democrats to maintain power through obstructionism and (failed) military force. The Progressive Party turned the United States, which had remained fairly disparate and disorganized since their loss in the WBS, into a centralized state, enforcing Federal authority throughout the country, beating down the Indians before making a deal with them over territory (The Sioux Falls Accords), transforming the United States into a unicameral legislature, and the creation of a powerful Executive Branch while limiting the powers of the judicial and legislative branches. For a time, as the progressive agenda was enacted, the country prospered. Protectionist tariffs nurtured a powerful American industry, immigration controls (thanks to a Neo-Nativist movement sweeping the country) kept foreign competition out for unskilled labor, leading to high employment numbers and increasing wages, soothing the racial divide and integrating "Afro-Yankees" into society and uprooting the vulture capitalism and divisions that had once plagued the nation. But by the 1970s, something seemed to go awry. Having dominated American politics for generations, much as the Democrats did, the Progressives fell into similar perils. Corruption once again became a major issue, subsequent relaxation on immigration laws led to many more immigrants coming to the country, leading to rotten boroughs and crime problems when the generous social security net did not cover them and many turned to organized crime, relaxation of tariffs following the alliance with the United Kingdom and the introduction of free trade legislature. On the surface, America appeared to be a progressive, advanced nation. It would have its first black president in 1976 (just in time for the Bicentennial), integrating the black American population to the point of many associating them as middle class and part of a delicate racial balance in the United States, just in time to jeer and fight against immigration from other parts of the world. However, under the veneer of progressivism and racial harmony, there was a major issue of bigotry against others. While the Irish, Germans and Blacks (among others) had integrated, immigrants hailing from Eastern Europe were not looked kindly upon, or those from Africa (even among Afro-Americans), and there were significant anger towards Latin American immigrants as well. The Progressives had dominated politics through ensuring a delicate balance between urban and rural voters, while also empowering themselves (and their largest base of support; the cities) through constitutional reform. The once supportive rural Americans are slowly turning against the Progressives, seeing their jobs get sent overseas, or lost due to automation. Corruption flourishes once again after years of Progressive control over some districts, with Progressives having nationalized certain industries (telecommunications, water, electricity, healthcare, etc.) the graft is slowly but surely also spreading to those key state industries. With the much more powerful presidency, the country has had to deal with several, inept and corrupt presidents. Following the collapse of their long time enemy, the Confederacy of Southron America, the United States has sent along a "peacekeeping" mission to several border states following their state government's petition for annexation into the United States. The progressives are even further divided now, before it was the rural and urban wings, the protectionist and free trade wings, and the pro-immigration against the nativists, however now nationalists and internationalists seem to also be clashing with what to do next. The government increasingly places restrictions on freedom of expression and the press in order to beat down socialist agitators and muckraking publications. American Progressivism never lost its paternalism.

Confederacy of Southron America

Confederacy of Southron America
America, the Fallen. While most at the turn of the 19th century would have good reason to think that, of the two, the United States was the likeliest to fall apart (since it already had), the reality was that the Confederacy was built on a foundation of quicksand. The enslavement of Afro-Confederates ended in the 1930s, with the Confederacy being the last Western nation to emancipate its slaves officially. Leaned on by the British and the increasingly powerful anti-Confederacy lobby, the relationship between the CSA and the UK began to deteriorate. While blacks were released from their chains, they were not citizens, they were not entitled to movement, or speech or assembly (outside of church) and scarcely had any rights. Most would become essentially indentured sharecroppers tied to the same land their fathers and mothers worked on as slaves, or as convict labor in both fields and in the cities. While some would flee north to the United States (where they faced the problems most other immigrant groups faced, at times finding sympathy among their own who had gone before and a few Northern blacks) and Canada, it was only a trickle, as the Southroners kept most blacks tied to property owners and with a series of "vagrancy" laws and black codes. With states like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia being black majority states for some time, and increasing fears of a revolution among blacks, most were able to stomach surrendering their civil liberties if it meant beating down potential uprisings. But as the world looked on, economic sanctions brought on by the United Kingdom and the United States rallied many to take care in the plight of the Southern Black. Mexico, thanks to the CSA's insistence at maintaining claims on western Texas, followed soon after, and the Western world would not be far behind. No matter the Russian support (dwindling throughout the 70s and 80s as Russian economic decline crept in), it was never enough and too far. State repression led to the radicalization of many Afro-Confederates in the Deep South, and many in the Upper South felt that this farce had gone on long enough. By the 60s, following years of delegitimizing and attacking the Southern Progressive Party (a movement of mostly affluent, middle class urban/suburban whites that focused on healing the nation's class and race issues), their victory in a national Congressional election is denied outright by the Southern Democratic Party, as had happened before in several state and local legislatures when Democratic incumbents refused to give up their seats to Progressives. Protests are put down and the pro-Russian military (which had received a boost in support following the Anglo-Confederate Split in the 1960s) assumes control for the first time after the assassination of the President and the "invitation" by Congress for the military to "Save the Confederacy". This began the long running "revolving door presidencies", going from 1968 to 1989. Military strongmen, civilian administrations, civilian administrations being run by military strongmen and military strongmen sharing power with civilian administrations, as well as a whole messed up combination of everything in between, severely undercut the legitimacy of the Confederacy and its institutions, regardless of whether the seizure of power was being done to quash a black uprising, or a redneck (a colloquial term for a poor southern white, thanks to the Redneck Movement of the 1980s which featured its members wearing red bandana's around their necks) uprising, or in order to oust an unpopular general/president. The collapse began when the Russian Ruble crashed at the end of the 1980s, the Confederate Dollar, falling behind for years, had been pegged to the Ruble in a desperate attempt to save the economy, and the rising inflation as a result of printing more money to pay down government debt led to hunger and food riots breaking out against the established military-civilian joint administration, formed as a final desperate measure following the overthrow of the previous military general by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the representatives of the landowning classes. The For now, the military controls the Confederate Caribbean and has all but annexed the Confederation of Central America, while holding on to Florida and the New Orleans Military Zone for the time being on the mainland. The leftists in the north seek to retake the rest of the Gulf Coast, while agitation from within threatens Florida. In Central America, paramilitaries, gangs, revolutionaries and nationalists have been attacking local garrisons and the Confederate military presence within the Confederation, some in the exiled capital are calling for the complete annexation of Central America in order to protect the pockets of Southron communities there.

Southron Social Republic

The Southron Social Republic:
With the strangling of the progressive-reformist Southern Progressive Party in the 1960s and 70s, a movement meant to preserve and reform capitalism and Confederate class-race relations was violently repressed by the state and went underground, pushing a few dozen college students and left-wing military officers to spend the next decade planting bombs in military barracks and robbing the occasional bank for funding. Radicalized, they targeted Confederate military installations and (infrequently) collaborated with Caribbean and Central American nationalist movements. For "the Bushwhackers", the armed wing of the People's Party, the war against the landowners would have to be fought in both the cities and on the plantations. The Bushwhackers were comprised of mostly rural Southern white sharecroppers and rednecks, while the ideological component (and parts of the urban campaign) was left up to the intellectuals and urban workers. With a low level insurgency wracking the South from the poor white demographic, the Afro-Confederates waged their own war of liberation. The Third Uprising was well on its way as the third major Afro-Confederate uprising in the 20th century began, this time alongside an ongoing poor white insurgency and a crumbling Confederate state. The insurgencies would go on over the course of a decade, destabilizing the country and pushing people into losing confidence in the military and the government. When the Confederacy collapsed, the People's Party were the only ones left to fill in the hole left behind by the retreating Confederate military and the disgraced landowners fleeing the mainland. The many different black nationalist and leftist organizations were invited to join the new government, but discord on both sides and the decentralized nature of the Third Uprising made cooperation difficult, the Afro-Southrons are represented by the National Black Liberation Party in the interim government, but not all heed their words to silence their weapons and return home. In fact, there is much disagreement on both sides on where to go from here. Already, problems seem abundant in the "New South", what to do with the increasing divisions between the cities and the countryside, the Confederate sympathizers and the landowners who decided to stay, a skilled labor shortage, racial tensions between poor whites and blacks, the Hispanic/Latino immigrants and guest workers from around the continent (and who are not entirely anti-Confederate), the crippling drug problem effecting the blacks in the cities and the whites in the countryside and the unraveling of the unpopular People's Government. All of these issues are made worse when you realize that the nuclear weapons belonging to the Confederacy have fallen to the new, unstable Social Republic (with the Confederation still holding on to a few in Cuba and Florida). For the time being, most are focused on the final destruction of the Confederacy, and there is some hopeful thoughts of eventually incorporating the Caribbean and claiming the new state as a successor to the Confederacy, but reality dictates that the "New South" must squabble over every issue that divides the so-called southern social democratic paradise...

Commonwealth of Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia:
Having existed for all of eight months, the Commonwealth of Virginia came into being with the secession of Virginia from the rest of the south following the fall of Montgomery to the People's Party. Following years of diverging with the rest of the Confederacy on matters of race, the economy, immigration and having a long running anti-Montgomery streak and relatively liberal politics compared to the Deep South. The Virginia Home Army and segments of the Confederate military comprised of Virginians defected to the newly independent Commonwealth, and would later accept North Carolina who, tied at the hip to Virginia in terms of trade and economic dependence, seceded from the Confederacy and joined the Commonwealth, retaining its state government in a power-sharing agreement with Virginia while representatives meet at the Virginian House of Delegates to craft a unified constitution and see what the future holds. The mostly rural mountain dwelling west Virginians, who have had frictions with the rest of the state since the War Between the States, are shut out of constitutional negotiations and extremely unhappy about being portrayed as backwater-living hicks. Other political organizations, those not in favor with the Virginian gentry and powerful families that have dominated the state for years, agitate for annexation into the United States (but not many), others seek to join the Social Republic. Plans for annexing (whether peacefully or through force) Kentucky and Tennessee are popular for many, as most analysts and experts feel that only some kind of united front among the "border states" can keep the United States from simply rolling over the region. Still, if the Yankees decide to go South, there are a great many that will fight back... a region with so many gunowners over a large distance with many mountains, forests and rivers would not be an easy place to pacify.

Border States

The Other Border States (State of Tennessee and Commonwealth of Kentucky):
Set adrift on their own when Confederate troops pulled out and the possibility to falling to a bunch of leftist social-democrats was unthinkable on its own, the home armies of the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, along with local defected military units, prop up regimes of their own, with no international recognition and very little prospects for long-term independence. Kentucky and Tennessee wish to avoid, for the most part, the fate of Missouri, Kansas and Sequoyah, which had pro-Union governments elected (or "elected") and, in Sequoyah's case, overthrown by "Men in Green" and had a pro-US government put in place following the defeat of the (mostly Cherokee) government which had attempted to stake their own independence. Despite the governments towing a solidly anti-US line, there remain significant pockets of support for the Union in both Tennessee (in the east) and Kentucky (in the northeast), particularly among the youth who have lived through the worst excesses of the Confederate government and grown up in the midst of significant anti-Confederate government tensions and in liberal urban areas.

Second Republic of Texas

Second Republic of Texas:
The first state to secede from the rest of the Confederacy, way back in 1988 during the "Second Texas Revolution" and a vote by the state legislature to "irrevocably sever the bonds and ties between the 'Republic of Texas' and the Confederacy of Southron States" and sought to forge its own road. The Texan National Guard seized the border crossings with Arkansas, Sequoyah, and Louisiana, and while the Confederate military units in Texas (made up primarily of Texans) stayed in their barracks for most of the tumultuous process between the debates on independence, the state assembly's passing of a proper Declaration of Independence, and the wave of anti-Montgomery protests that followed, they would quickly come out in defense of their state when the short-lived Texan War of Independence broke out between the rump Confederacy and the Texan Provisional Government. While the Confederate military was larger in number, the Texans had taken some of the best land units in their military, along with having the largest and best trained reservist army (the Texan National Guard) in the former Confederacy. Despite this, Texan military ventures beyond their borders (into Sequoyah, where they are beaten back by Cherokee and Southron military units of the Confederate military, Louisiana, bogged down in the marshes and swamps and overwhelmed by larger Confederate numbers, and Arkansas, greeted by mostly hostile locals and eventually pushed back by elements of the Arkansas Home Army and the Confederate military) end in failures or bogged down, which eventually leads to the intervention of the United Kingdom, seeking to avoid a disastrous rise in global oil prices (brought about by the instability wracking the Gulf Coast region of North America, in the South and in Mexico) and to prevent greater bloodshed, who deploys two carrier groups to the Gulf Coast and pushes the government in Montgomery (already beginning to reel from the effects of economic collapse and mass civil unrest) to cave to Texan demands (independence and a return to pre-war borders) after the Russian Empire in no uncertain terms states to their ambassador in Moscow that they are unable (and unwilling) to come to their aid. Thus the Second Texas Republic is born in 1989. Holding hostile relations with all three of its immediate neighbors (having overlapping claims on Mexico, a mutually antagonistic relationship with the Southron Social Republic, and the obvious historical animosity with the United States), the Second Republic of Texas has one of the largest (per capita) militaries on the Gulf Coast, sinking a significant portion of their GDP into their armed forces to defend themselves from enemies they perceive to be encircling them.

Empire of Mexico

Empire of Mexico:
Despite having been much better at maintaining their territorial integrity than the United States and the Confederacy, the Empire of Mexico has not had a stable history. Despite its victory over the United States in the "New California War of 1846", the Empire of Mexico had been wracked by infighting among the Liberal and Conservative parties, as well as the class struggles between the land aristocracy (or as some would call them, nobility) and the small, urban middle class liberals. All this occurs during settler wars between Mexicans moving north and the Apache who dominate the New Mexico Territory and West Texas as well as fighting with the Mayans in the Yucatan, severely destabilizing the Mexican Empire on several occasions. Many in Europe saw the Empire as little more than a thin smokescreen for a military autocracy (and they would be correct, as the Emperor was a popular general who had crowned himself as such following the defeat of the Spanish). Following years of diplomatic offensives and developing relations with European powers and royal families, the monarchy (who, by this time, had significant connections with the House of Habsburg which ruled both Spain and Austria) gains international legitimacy and overall successful at maintaining their power, and many feel, the unity of the Mexican state. Maintaining a powerful monarch, and a politically involved military, the Mexican Empire would remain a limited constitutional (some would say illiberal) democracy, headed by a powerful executive who often overruled the national assembly (but had his power checked by the military), by the middle of the 20th century, the Mexican royal family was essentially considered a branch of the House of Habsburg (with ties to Sicily and the Netherlands) and ruled their country much like Spain's Habsburg monarchy did: with force and the consent of the military-conservative alliance that dominated much of the country. Freedom of expression and the press were severely limited, large assemblies required state permits, the military were also in charge of law enforcement through military police, and many of the same families that were rich and powerful in the middle of the 19th century continued to be rich and powerful. However, by the 1980s, the booming, urban middle class in Central Mexico and Southern California and the slowly growing independent landowners grew tired of the authoritarian government, which placed high taxes on their goods and incomes, and ran all over what many were beginning to see as fundamental rights. The Mexican Student Protests of the late 80s combined with a general strike being conducted by an underground socialist trade union led to much of the country coming out to protest against the government, opportunistically exploited by the Liberal Party opposition, who promised significant reforms should they be the winners in the (heavily weighted towards the Conservative Party) upcoming elections. Forming a shaky coalition with the students and labor unions, the Progressive Alliance is able to secure a majority against all odds, for the first time dislodging the Conservative Party from the legislature and securing the Presidency of the National Assembly. When the Conservatives (with the blessing of the military, the Church and the monarchy) attempt to do the same maneuver that the Confederates had done (and been widely criticized by most of the world, Mexico included) in the 1930s, as in refuse to allow the incoming Progressive Alliance assemblymen to take their seats, the protests intensify and mid-level officers inform their superiors that they would not be firing on the crowds, or ordering their men to perform controversial "crowd-control" maneuvers that had resulted in several dozen dead student protestors and hundreds injured in Mexico City just five years earlier. The Church, fearful of losing its power, tries to denounce the left-wing protesters and the secularist Liberal Party, to little avail as much of Mexico is wrapped up in revolutionary fervor. The Conservatives balk and step down, allowing the Liberals and others in the Progressive Alliance to take their seats, ending the major protests by 1989. Having been in power for almost two years now, the Liberals have slowly begun the journey of reforming the Mexican state: Streamlining the byzantine and corrupt (but powerful) state bureaucracy, slowly instituting federalist reforms to grant more autonomy to local provincial assemblies around the empire and reining in the powers of the monarchy while instituting genuine civil liberties and privatizing sectors of the economy. However, progress moves slowly, the monarchy is still a major obstacle in the way of reforms, and the higher brass in the military are still around the cause trouble, as even the anti-coup officers are fairly conservative themselves, and the Church does not appreciate any kind of liberal, secular reforms, which is something almost everyone in the Progressive Alliance can agree on. Beyond that, the Mexican left is increasingly divided: The students push for socialism closer to that of the Southron Social Republic, with workers cooperatives and social democratic ideals, with the Marxist labor unions joining them, but the political establishment (the core of the Alliance, the Liberal Party) makes up the interests of small landowners and the urban middle class, favoring increasing trade, lowering tariffs (to the anger of the labor unions) and more international cooperation. In Upper California, the Californian Independence Movement picks up steam, as the Quebec independence movement in Canada grows more popular and more organized, Californian nationalists and activists have also coalesced, feeling their moment (spurred on by Quebec, the Catalan and Basque nationalists movements, among others) might be coming sooner rather than later. California itself is split between californianos (or Spanish-speaking Mexicans in California who consider themselves "Californian" before Mexican) and chicanos (Mexicans living in South California) who remain loyal to Mexico City. Along with the descendants of white settler populations who had moved to the region to mine gold (and had attempted a rebellion during the New California War, which was crushed by the Mexican army) and slowly integrated throughout the years. However, with the booming California economy, immigrants from all over Asia, Latin America and Europe have been settling in the province and a history of mass migrations weighs heavily on Southern and northern California. It is a place both unmistakably similar and undeniably different from Mexico proper.

South America and the Caribbean:​

Confederation of Central America

Confederation of Central America:
Ethnic violence, crime and military conflict have marred Central America for decades now. With the withdraw of Mexico due to political instability and a general policy of looking inwards by the administrations of the 1960s and 70s, the power vacuum was filled by the Confederacy, who already had significant influence in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, while hoping to take Honduras in a game of political influence involving the Honduran military and a coup. With the seizing of most of Central America (with Russian backing) the Confederacy instituted tight control over their overseas client states (who looking increasingly like colonies with every year). The local political and landowning elites were given power, but with the passing of the years, Confederate business interests fleeced the local landowners and have quickly replaced them with both absentee and present Confederate landowners. In the span of twenty years, the Confederacy has drastically changed the political landscape of Central America, utilizing the puppet states as little more than economic colonies while allowing the local militias and Confederate "military actors" to enforce the harsh rule of Montgomery. The local workers and farmers essentially became colonial subjects, working to provide cheap materials and agriculture (usually sent to the Confederacy and then exported abroad at the Confederacy's gain) and abused by repressive local governments. Central America's "golden age" would be short lived, as the embargo against the Confederacy grew in size in the mid 80s, the mainland quickly found itself cut off, and just as Montgomery was, so were the Central American states. Guatemala attempted to build ties with Mexico only to have their government "suspended" by the Confederate military apparatus present in the country. Quickly, attempting to take the wind out of the sails belonging to an underground, anti-Confederate "pan-Central American" movement, by pushing the local puppet governments to 'restructure' into the loose Confederate of Central America, giving the CCA a degree of (mostly "window dressing") autonomy and symbolically abolished trade tariffs, border checkpoints and the local consulates and embassies. While this did stave off a rebellion, it would only do so for three years before the Confederate economy plunged with the collapse of the Russian Empire. The Confederacy is now gripped waging a mountain and jungle war with Guatemalan and Honduran insurgents, while holding on to the coastal regions and attempting to put down a gang uprising in El Salvador. Calls in the exiled capital increase for an outright annexation of Central America, while others believe it best to relinquish the region and consolidate forces to retake the mainland.

Empire of Haiti

Empire of Haiti:
Weren't expecting that, were you? The Haitian Empire is currently ruled by a local monarchy that was formed shortly after its chaotic war of independence and the expelling of French influence from Hispaniola. Despite attempts by the French to reassert themselves by other means, the Haitians took advantage of a political crisis in France during the mid-19th century to repudiate their debts and expel French landowners from the island, followed by intensive land reform. Having taken the short-lived Dominican Republic in a border skirmish that saw the Haitian army going all the way to Santo Domingo, the united island of Hispaniola has progressed significantly. While still fairly poor by regional standards, Haiti still maintains a robust agricultural sector which is growing rapidly as investment and funding drained from the Confederacy and moved elsewhere. It has also been a government which has actively fought back Southron meddling and filibuster attempts for decades, a fact that it is very proud of. Hispaniola has been a popular destination for escaped blacks who feel that Canada is too cold and the United States too nativist and several Afro-Confederate communities dot the island. Afro-Confederate flight has increased significantly now that the Confederacy has collapsed and refugees pour into the Caribbean and the United States.

Dominion of the West Indies

Dominion of the West Indies:
An amalgamation of the British Caribbean, the Dominion of the West Indies had always lived in fear of Confederate chauvinism and potential filibuster operations should they go independent. Stretching from the Bahamas to British Guyana (where the capital is held at Georgetown), the West Indies are now facing what could very well be the mother of all refugee crisis. Already stretched at their limit after years of taking in fleeing Afro-Confederate escapees, the Dominion now faces a tsunami of anti-government dissidents, fleeing Confederate blacks, and those escaping the violence and chaos in Confederate held territory. Boats, teeming with refugees from all walks of life, wash up ashore with regularity.

Republic of Colombia

Republic of Colombia:
Perhaps, had Simon Bolivar died in 1830, he would be remembered more fondly, by a greater number of people. Alas, he lived on until 1840, dying at the age of 57 having kept Colombia united at the edge of a bayonet, with Bolivar at its helm for more than twenty years. Leaving behind a harsh and authoritarian (and often illiberal) legacy, el libertador set Colombia up for decades of authoritarian rule, ruled by caudillo after caudillo following in his footsteps, as many in Hispanic America did. Following the social revolutions of the 60s and 70s, along with some economic downturns and major political scandals in the 80s, the reformist, vaguely left-wing, populist party has successfully managed to push for a constitutional reform, changing the Colombian constitution to allow for a more democratic and constitutional government, along the recommended lines set by the British. However, while this reform, occurring in 1987, was organized to much fanfare and goodwill, little has changed for the average Colombian citizen. The middle class city-dwellers were already well off, the powerful landowners and businessmen were already well off, the poor remain as they had before: poor. While the franchise was streamlined and made many of the methods previously used to produce "favorable outcomes" by the ruling elite, Colombian politics remains corrupt to the core, with the wealthy elite and the cartel bosses remaining powerful figures (with the later growing exponentially in recent years) and the poor (especially those living in the rural countryside) going on much as they had in previous generations. Bogota remains the political center of the country (although, economically, Caracas and Medellin have grown exponentially in influence), enforcing an incredibly centralized state across a remarkably large and geographically isolated country. Despite ample amounts of public spending in the major cities in the interior and the Atlantic coast, the government has neglected the Pacific coast and amazonian regions, leading to great amounts of regional inequality. The state bureaucracy remains a byzantine and corrupt institution, with graft at virtually every layer of the civil service. The cartels of Medellin, Guayaquil, Cali and Caracas, along with smaller, local and affiliate organizations, operate with some level of impunity in the country, having infiltrated entire sectors of the government and political organizations through bribes and threats of violence, they export cocaine (among other narcotics) to North America and Europe, while fighting for territory, working together against one another, and cutting deals. The casualties are enormous and violence has infested the urban centers, particularly Medellin and Cali. The Province of Ecuador, always a den of separatism and anti-Bogota agitation, has been restless in recent years, having gotten nowhere near the level of concessions they felt they were owed during the Constitutional Crisis of 1987. Perpetually lagging behind the Province of New Granada and Province of Venezuela, state investment has never flowed into Ecuador as it should, the Bogotan and Caracan elites preferring to pit the mercantile Guayaquil elite against the inland, Quito landowners in order to maintain control and keep Ecuadorian politics confusing and dynamic to discourage any consensus on independence from the local liberal and conservative parties. Of course, the Ecuadorians have been flirting with the idea of independence or even seceding and joining the Peru-Bolivia Confederation... this has alarmed many elites across the country, and really the Ecuadorian demands aren't exactly unrealistic, its simply a matter of powerful interests coming together to agree on a reform that would set back their profits. Coming to a compromise which keeps everyone happy will be a lot easier said than done. A long time British trading partner and one of the first to join the anti-Confederate embargo, the Colombian Republic relies heavily on its export economy, selling petroleum across the Americas and to Europe, as well as cheap clothing and manufactured goods. Colombia is also one of the few nations in Latin America with access to heavy industry, which litters the departments of Antioquia and Atlantico where many multinational corporations outsource their production to.

Peru-Bolivia Confederation

Peru-Bolivia Confederation:
While an initial failure the first time the Confederation was formed in the 1830s and 40s, the legacy of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation would live on in the close neighborly ties and regional co-dependence between the independent states of Peru and Bolivia. By the time of the 1880s, a conflict between Peru and Bolivia (backed by Spain, seeking return to prominence in Latin America, with hopes of eventually regaining relevance on the international stage) and Chile (backed by regional power broker and global heavyweight, the United Kingdom) would commence which would become a bloody regional conflict going on for three years ending in a hard fought and well deserved victory for Chile, who pressed its claims on all of the Atacama Desert and cut Bolivia off from its coast. This led to several years of political and economic instability in both Peru and Bolivia, who both elected to work together to quell a regional indigenous rebellion following a major miner's strike in Bolivia, creating bilateral military ties and increased economic co-dependence from years of enveloping trade treaties. By the turn of the century, Bolivian and Peruvian politicians and members of the landowning class believed it better to be united in confederation than separate, and so the Peru-Bolivia Confederation was reborn. A "raw material superpower", Peru-Bolivia has access to significant reserves of copper, coal and other minerals which have significant value on the international market and has brought the state significant wealth and allowed Peru-Bolivia to develop significantly, particularly in its large cities like La Paz and Lima. However, this wealth has not translated to much for the rural poor, which still dominate the country, civil rights for the indigenous are still lacking even that of Colombia's and white minority governments are still the norm in both Peru and Bolivia. The state, much as it is in Colombia, is notoriously corrupt and cocaine production (a malady brought on by powerful Colombian drug lords) is skyrocketing for exportation to Colombia and later around the world - this is an issue further exacerbated by the cold relations between Lima/La Paz and Bogota, interstate cooperation is at an all time low, meaning drug traffickers and other criminals can move through both states' porous land and sea borders with impunity. Having remained neutral in the Great Game, Peru-Bolivia has had its brash, radical streak, being led by a group of socialist military generals in the 1970s that mucked up the country's economy and set it back several decades before being violently overthrown in a counter coup by vaguely pro-Russian military generals. Despite receiving significant Russian military and monetary aid, the Peruvians and Bolivians did little to aid the Russians on an international scale, even rejecting the typical economic dominance the Russian enforced on its client states outright, the envisioned Andean conflict between Colombia and Peru-Bolivia never came to form before the Russian Empire collapsed in the late 80s. The natives remain restless, being blocked from entering government and forming their own political organizations due to a brutally repressive military and an indifferent oligarchic, flawed democratic society. Neither Colombia nor Peru-Bolivia will be high on the international list of democratic states any time soon.

Republic of Chile

Republic of Chile:
Like the other nations of the Southern Cone, the Republic of Chile is a fairly successful parliamentary democracy, with healthy economic growth, decent degrees of income distribution and generally stable and lacking in major crime syndicates. Chile also boasts one of the strongest military's in the region, backed by British arms and Prussian-military tradition, it has significant ties to another major pro-British power in the region, Argentina, which it uses to leverage its strength against Peru-Bolivia. A major naval power in the region, a left over following a naval arms race in the mid 20th century with Colombia and Argentina (generally seen as having been won by Chile), Chile punches well above its weight class and is one of the most developed Latin American economies, boasting high economic growth and high standards of living.

Republic of Argentina

Republic of Argentina:
A flourishing democracy, while low in population, Argentina is typically found high on the list of the wealthiest countries in the world, having a higher GDP and standards of living than some Western European countries. While not a militarily oriented country (but boasting a fairly strong navy), Argentina's true strength comes from its soft power: culture, economics and trade. Despite overlapping claims over the Falkland Islands, a British territory in the South Atlantic disputed by the Argentine government, the issue was mostly settled via bilateral talks in Rosario between British and Argentine representatives, eventually leading to Argentina accepting British administration over the island in exchange for a redrawn maritime border between the British and Argentina in the South Atlantic. Argentina itself holds significant ties with British aligned Cisplatina and Chile. While at times rocky and susceptible to undermining by nationalists in all three countries, the relationship between Santiago, Buenos Aires and Montevideo is warm and trade ties are incredibly strong, only beaten among all three by the British.

Union of Cisplatina

Union of Cisplatina:
A union between Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul, both Brazilian breakaway territories that gained independence in the 1830s and 40s respectively. While initially beating back an Argentine invasion in the 1850s that sought to "retake" the region, the intervention of the British to bring about a negotiated settlement essentially made the Union a neutral (yet openly British-leaning state) entity recognized by Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay with the Treaty of Montevideo. Being a major shipping route and tax haven, Cisplatina has a robust economy and high standards of living like most countries on the Southern Cone.

Federal Republic of Brazil

Federal Republic of Brazil:
Brazil the fallen, once lording over the continent as a territorial behemoth, the lack of a centralizing, unifying executive and several years of economic and political mismanagement by aspiring caudillos lead to civil collapse in a wave of rebellions from slave uprisings in what is now known as the Confederation of the Equator and the utter failure of Rio to address them or the Republic of Bahia, which seceded to avoid land reforms being pushed by a reformist congress. The far flung Amazonian regions, which had significant Portuguese settlement that did not consider themselves as a part of Brazil, quickly fell under the influence of the Portuguese empire. Today, the Federal Republic is racked by crime and poverty with a seemingly unshakable landholding class that has remained wealthy throughout much of Brazil's existence. The oligarchic republic restricts the franchise as well as press rights, and has little problem sending the police to crack open the heads of radical student protesters every year or so. However, things seem to be rapidly changing, support amongst the poor and students for a populist, reformist agrarian movement that claims will stamp out corruption and "put the rich in their place" has exploded in recent years, and when the government in 1981 attempted to outlaw the party, they simply went underground. Due to popular support and international pressure, the Brazilian government was forced to allow them to compete in local elections, where they won significant amounts of state legislatures and mayoral positions across the country. Time will tell if they are a flash in the pan or a genuine movement that can eventually break out into national politics.

Dominion of the Amazons

The Dominion of the Amazons:
Once a Portuguese colony, Portugal granted them independence under the framework of a dominionship not too dissimilar from that of Canada or Australia. An important Portuguese international partner, it also holds significant ties to Britain and the Commonwealth. Currently supplying peacekeeping troops for the Portuguese mission in the Congo.

Asia and the Pacific:​

Dominion of Hawaii

Dominion of Hawaii:
Once the target of Yankee and Mexican business interests, the local monarchy elected to side with the British who had cut them an excellent deal involving British use of Pearl Harbor and significant autonomy for local Hawaiian culture and domestic affairs. Over the years, immigration from Asia (particularly Japanese fleeing over-populated cities or Chinese fleeing poverty) has greatly bolstered their population, and while pockets of white/mestizo communities from North America persist and have active roles in the government, Hawaii is seen as an indisputably "Asian" country. With British acquiescence, Hawaii has swallowed up former British overseas territories such as Wake and Midway islands as the British withdraw from "petty territories" over budgetary concerns. This is all backed by the sizable Anglo naval presence at Pearl Harbor, (re)leased to the British until 2031.

Dominion of New Zealand

Dominion of New Zealand:
Little to report here. Friendly people, nice beaches, lots of sheep.

Confederation of Australia

Confederation of Australia:
The odd one out, Australia has had quite the independent streak since the 1970s. The far-flung "dominion that isn't a dominion but still is a dominion" has had a strong and vibrant republican movement that has a presence in both the conservative and liberal parties and a strong grassroots movement. Australia has persisted within the Imperial Commonwealth if only because many fear that a move to a republican form of government would lead to the ejection from the Commonwealth due to Australia no longer recognizing the British monarchy as their own (which is literally the first clause of the Commonwealth constitution), which would almost certainly lead to a reevaluation of British-Australian trade ties. Much like South Africa, Australia has had a history of going against British interests and was not a fan of British military ventures, even before the growth of the anti-British lobby in 1970. Along with South Africa, Australia fought tooth and nail against the Commonwealth (later global) embargo of the Confederacy and still holds Aboriginals in a state of systemic poverty and racism. The allure of trade ties with the UK has dwindled significantly in recent years as the Japanese and Chinese (among other Asia-Pacific states) have grown exponentially and slowly displace the British as major Australian trade partners. While Australia itself has a checkered history with racism towards the Aboriginals and Asian migrants, most would agree that cheap Asian manufactured goods and cars have been great for Australia... just make sure the people actually making them "stay over there".

The East Indies

"The East Indies":
A former Dutch colony, the various states of the East Indies emerged following the failure of united Indonesia and nearly two decades of anti-colonial resistance against the Dutch, have fallen into disarray, being mostly led by unstable, kleptocratic regimes from the "Sultanate" of Aceh, which persecutes non-Muslims with state-sanctioned violence (via morality police), to the Java Republic, who is more tolerate in matters of religion, but not politics. You probably won't be persecuted by the state (independent non-state actors though...) for being a Christian, but you will if you hold the wrong political beliefs. You can ask the hundreds of socialists and other left-wingers murdered by the regime from independence to 1991. Sulawesi and Kalimantan on the other hand are borderline lawless "narco-states" where drug traffickers hold most of the power and control over local politics. Sulawesi only recently emerging from over a decade of civil war and ethnic strife and Kalimantan being under the grip of a brutal dictator who allows drug traffickers free reign so long as they stay out of his way and pay a good amount of kickback from their drug trafficking endeavors. This of course has brought the attention of the international community, the Commonwealth and the East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere in particular, as the spiraling of drug fueled violence and instability has become impossible to ignore.

Republic of the Philippines

Republic of the Philippines:
A former Spanish colony who gained independence in the 60s, the Philippines quickly fell to repeated military coups and kleptocratic presidents not at all too different from the trials of Latin America, also former Spanish colonies. With Japanese aid, a reformist party was able to take control of the government with the help of some disgruntled pro-Japanese military officers, bringing hopes that the new government would be far more democratic and less corrupt... hopes which were quickly dashed when business as usual returned and the only major change had been the infiltration of Japanese influence at every level of society. Now however, the government could point to significant economic growth as a result of Japanese investment, which cemented both the legitimacy of the Philippine government and their place in the GEACPS. A grassroots, anti-corruption movement has once again begun shaking up politics in recent years, but for the most part it has been beaten down by the government in Manila with the Japanese complicit in selling them the police gear and tear gas needed to quell the urban poor when they riot against the government.

Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan:
The Asian great power, Japan is one of the most developed states on earth, boasting a powerful navy that can give the British a run for their money. Boasting a high tech economy, the Japanese unfortunately lack many resources on the homeland, requiring them to expand their influence abroad for resources such as oil and even food in order to maintain their hegemonic status. Long time Chinese rivals, the end of the division of China through Japan's long running support for the "Empire of China", a Qing holdout in Manchuria which claimed to be the legitimate owner of the Chinese mainland over the "treasonous" KMT-ruled Republic, ended when the Qing themselves collapsed due to years of economic mismanagement and had grown incredibly unpopular for those living in northern China. A peaceful reunification between south and north China (something that had seemed virtually impossible just a few years earlier) occurred in 1989, which led to a thawing of tensions between Nanjing and Tokyo for the first time since the Chinese Revolution. While there are still grievances (Japan's ownership of Taiwan/Formosa for one) Sino-Japanese relations have never been better (granted, that's a low bar to surpass). Nationalists, for the first time, are beginning to call for stronger ties with Nanjing, as Japanese and Asian nationalism moves towards an "Asia for Asians" narrative, a narrative that sees the British (among other European powers) as the cause of long running conflicts in Asia and exploitative of Asian states. For the time being, both the British and the Japanese are locked in together with the Treaty of Anglo-Japanese Friendship signed almost a century ago, which has formed into a more general treaty overseeing trade tariffs between the two states and promising to work together on matters of global stability and anti-drug trafficking measures. Japan's government is fairly liberal democratic, in its own way, with the emperor still seen as a divine figure by most of the Japanese population but a strong, long running parliamentary government. There are however extreme nationalists on the fringes, many who feel that Japan's greatness is being stifled by the British for their own interests, and see China (who has been anti-British for decades) as a "natural ally" in kicking European influence out of Asia. The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere includes Japan (at its helm), Korea, the Philippines, the Vietnamese, and Siam, with India forming friendly political and economic ties with the sphere as the countries within it have grown increasingly less favorable of the British. Japan will have to decide which way it will work towards: internationalist globalism or nationalist militancy.

State of Korea

State of Korea:
A nation in transition, Japan had occupied Korea as a colony until the late 1970s but Korean demographic and economic growth meant that the status quo could no longer continue. Following an embarrassing crisis which led to the Imperial Japanese Army firing on crowd of Korean nationalist protesters, leading to global condemnation and threats of British withdraw from the Anglo-Japanese Treaty, the Japanese government, at the insistence of Emperor, caved to moderate nationalist demands and formed a dominion-like state which has close ties to Japan, pegs themselves entirely to Japanese foreign policy and recognizes the emperor as their head of state. Koreans are, for the most part, quite happy with the way things are going. Japan's colonial period, following reforms in the 1940s, has mostly been seen as a net positive for Korea and Koreans: infrastructure, hospitals, schools and national defense were all handled by Tokyo, taxes were never exorbitantly high and many preferred the Japanese to living under the thumb of "unenlightened Russian" who would place far more restrictions on their daily lives than the Emperor and his government. Korea is experiencing tremendous economic growth now as an independent state, as old Japanese laws barring foreign (non-Japanese) investment and trade have been all but stripped away which has led to an explosion of economic development for a state with a large population and ample resources. Now with tensions between Tokyo and Nanjing going away, Seoul is in an excellent position to profit, as they can now tap into trade with the Chinese and hawk their electronics to the growing Chinese middle class, and the disappearance of the specter of war has led to cuts in the local military garrisons meaning that state funding can now be used elsewhere.

Republic of China

Republic of China:
Years of economic mismanagement, corruption, political scandals and violence... and still "Nanjing China" was able to overcome the illegitimate Beijing Regime after decades of their own regional "great game". A former Russian ally, the Chinese have always resented British interference from the 19th century, and particularly during the Warlord Era, this tradition of anti-Angloism remains strong. Without a very tumultuous 20th century outside of the usual third world shenanigans, China's population never experiences a significant decline due to cultural revolutions or overzealous communist rulers forcing the population to abandon the fields and make low grade steel. And while millions and millions of people still being alive is generally a great thing, this has not been very good for Chinese development. The general incompetence (and sometimes malice) of the republicans has meant that, outside of the booming cities, much of the countryside is still incredibly poor, with many Chinese still living in conditions that one would expect to see peasants living in more than a hundred years ago. Infrastructure is dilapidated and falling apart (Chinese roads are considered among the most dangerous in the world), the occasional peasant uprising still occurs and the military is forced to beat down thousands and thousands of rioters, angry over food prices. Many are still angry over the economic mismanagement that led to the Great Hunger famine of 1974, which was brought upon by really terrible economic policies from Nanjing which led to skyrocketing food prices and a near collapse of the country. It wasn't as bad as a cultural revolution but it was enough to kill several hundred thousand people (a fact Nanjing vehemently attempts to hide or sugarcoat). Those who have done well, however, are minorities. Granting the Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongolians, Manchurians, among other minorities, autonomy and positions in the government has meant that Nanjing really hasn't had to worry about a revolt from the peripheral regions for some time now and most local governments are only glad to help the Chinese in dealing with local, rebellious peasants. The hundred year lease on Hong Kong, currently held by the British, is coming to an end in 1997 as well as Portuguese Macau's in 1999. Needless to say, China is only glad to have these developed cities returned to its fold but the local citizenry don't feel the same, and neither do London and Lisbon depending on who you ask...

Kingdom of Vietnam

Kingdom of Vietnam:
After a bloody war of independence against the French, the Vietnamese were forced to accept a peace treaty that tied all of former French Indochina to France via economic and cultural treaties that were incredibly unequal. The newly independent Kingdom of Vietnam had a Vietnamese emperor on the throne who was decidedly pro-French. By 1978, the majority of the population wanted to see the French presence out for good, and the military was only happy to show the sitting king the door, replacing him for his more popular, nationalist brother who exploited the popularity of the monarchy as an institution in order to keep the country stable. While Vietnam formed its own path, Cambodia and Laos remain intrinsically tied to the Kingdom of France and are essentially regional client states. Now, a member of the Japanese sphere, Vietnam is a rapidly developing economy with a growing middle class and improving standards of living. Of course, now that China and Japan seem to be growing closer together, Vietnam feels that perhaps all this sunshine and rainbows aren't to its benefit. Sino-Vietnamese relations remain terrible, just as they have been for generations, and many on both sides don't feel like trading the clenched fists for open palms, China's claims over the South China Sea and the Spratly Islands in particular, mean that the growing anti-Chinese sentiment might throw a wrench in all this Asian reconciliation.

Kingdom of Siam

Kingdom of Siam:
Little to say here. However Siam is quite the troublemaker, being ruled by a nationalist ex-military general with an ax to grind with the British and is one of the principal causes for the deterioration of Anglo-Japanese relations as Siam continues to rattle sabers at the dominions of Burma and Malaysia, as well as its French-aligned neighbors.

Dominion of Malaysia

Dominion of Malaysia:
Has spent the better part of a decade screaming about the situation in Indonesia to the rest of the Commonwealth with little avail. The masters of the Straits of Malacca, the Dominion of Malaysia might just be the most pro-British state in the entire region, as the Anglophillic elite are only happy to remain in the Commonwealth and receive its economic and military benefits. Is also beginning to look at the rapidly developing Chinese republic with distrust, particularly with all the Chinese communities within its borders.

Dominion of Burma

Dominion of Burma:
Britain's Vietnam, a long running and bloody conflict which really tested Britain's endurance as an empire occurred throughout the 1960s, with the Russian-backed nationalists being eventually crushed in late 1969, nevertheless Burma has always stood on shaky ground with the many ethnic groups battling one another and the occasional ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by paramilitaries and militias that the British are forced to intervene in. A major reason for the British-Australian drift is thanks to the Burmese War, where the Australians committed hundreds of troops to mostly be slaughtered in Burma's jungles.

Democratic Republic of India

Democratic Republic of India:
Not at all democratic, India has held together thanks to strong leadership from the ruling party, without it, the subcontinent would have likely further divided and national unity would have been torn asunder. That national unity however rests atop the corpses of thousands of dead Indians, thanks to the precarious early days of the post-British era. Ethnic and religious strife have always wracked India as the Hindu-majority government still has to rule over many millions of Muslims, a faith that is not particularly popular (to say the least) among Hindu-practicing Indians. Claiming to be the only true Indian state and claiming all of Bangladesh (a former British dominion), the Dominion of Ceylon and the Dominion of West India, its easy to see why New Delhi is so isolated, with its only major ties being to Japan and Iran. Corruption and graft are still present at every level of Indian society, massive tariff walls that are only just now starting to come down have led to anemic economic growth. Despite all this, India still has great potential, if it can reform or at the very least find a way of elevating its poverty stricken population's standards of living and better distributing wealth across all levels of society.

Dominion of West India

Dominion of West India:
The polar opposite of the DRI, West India is a pluralistic, secular and democratic state, with many different ethnic groups and faiths calling it home. Increasingly prosperous, many analysts feel that West India could surpass the British economy sometime within the next ten years and outside of the UK, many see West India as the centerpiece that holds the Commonwealth together, demonstrating that while Britain is the "first amongst equals", London allows for more powerful and populous states to retain influential and at times even hold adversarial positions on inter-Commonwealth trade and defense policies.

The World of Endgame:

With the lack of two world wars but the bloody and violent regional conflicts of the Great Game, technology is essentially at the same place as it is in our world's 1991. Britain was the first nation on the moon and no one has returned since, having brought the Space Game to an end. It is however, not the only one with a space agency as most major and regional powers own satellites and have the capability of sending people and structures into space. There are some people that wish to go to Mars, most of them are ignored. While still fairly liberal and democratic, most of the West still hasn't quite caught up to the social framework we have in our world: Women's rights have stalled, LGBT recognition is practically non-existent when they're not being discriminated against, class structures in Europe have proven themselves rigid and incredibly resistant to change which has led to some resentment among the less privileged, some democracies such as the North German Federation and Mexico still have weighted franc hies, and so on and so forth. Nuclear weapons exist, but they've never been used in combat and have mostly remained tactical weapons used to deter invasion and guarantee security. Non-governmental organizations, particularly cartels and terror organizations, seem to be the new target of the British, trying to wage a war on drugs in Latin America and the East Indies while also combating nationalist, Islamist terror groups in Nigeria and elsewhere with little headway. For now, the issue seems to be a far-off problem for "other people" while most of the British public remains content to purchase their cars, refrigerators and tune in to the latest BBC drama than worry about silly squabbles over ethnicity in Mesopotamia and the Former Confederacy...

Nuclear Ten (In order of most nuclear devices to least):

• United Kingdom (and Commonwealth)
• Russia
• Japan
• China
• United States
• Former Confederacy*
• Mexico
• France
• North Germany
• South Germany*
• India*
• Argentina*

*Lacking long-range delivery systems

Rules:

1. Don't be a dick
2. After major war results are posted, you wait 24 hours before appealing to me. This allows you to calm down and build up an argument should it be necessary.
3. We will be using the 3 claims system.
4. If your nation isn't mentioned or a particular facet of your nation isn't mentioned, then it's up to you.
5. There will be unplayable nations (The Central American states, states in Central Asia, etc.).
6. Feel free to use OTL and fictional politicians and leadership as you please, just make sure it makes sense. I don't really mind either way and I'll be using both.

Mods:

We are using a three-claims system for mods. List the three types of mod you would like to be from most to least. All diplomacy and plans must include the God Mod as well as any other appropriate moderator, otherwise they will be rendered non-canon.

God Mod: @ChaoticGenius
General Mod(s):
NPC Mod(s): @ChaoticGenius
War Mod(s): @ChaoticGenius
Map Mod: @HumanityDark, @Ceslas, @Kerensky
Espionage and Minor War Mod(s): @DonFitz, @Kerensky, @HumanityDark

Turns:

Turns will last approximately three to four days, with each "group" of said days lasting a year. A report will be issued on the state of the world in the middle of each period, highlighting important world events to pay attention to, and describing various events, from military to technological, to social to diplomatic. After all, nation games are not all about war!

Spoiler: Turn Format

Nation Name In Native Language - 1991
National Flag

Name: Nation Name in English
Head of State: Name
Head of Government: Name
Type of Government: Self-explanatory
Population: Use populstat for a basic idea; if you have questions, PM me
Capital: Capital


Domestic

Internal Events:
-Any internal events to talk about...

Economic Status:
-Great (Example)
-Economic information goes here....

Military
-All military information not dealing with the numbers themselves goes here...

Army:

• Number of Men in total currently in the active military
• Number of Reserves (State whether or not they are demobilized here, in parentheses)
• Number of Tanks

Navy:

• Type of ships...
• Type of ships...
• Type of ships...

Air Force:

• Type of planes...
• Type of planes...
• Type of planes...

Alliances, Agreements, Pacts, and Trade:

Diplomacy:

Spoiler: Espionage Format

Espionage Format:
YOUR NATION: the name of your nation
TARGET: who your espionage is aimed at
MISSION: what you want to do
METHOD: how you plan to do it
MOTIVE: why you want to do this
OTHER: anything else relevant to the mission, ex: a trading company in the same city that could supply your spies with weapons

Spoiler: Warplan Format

Warplan Format:
YOUR NATION: the name of your nation
ALLIES: any allies
COMBINED FORCES: the total number of men you are sending and however many men your allies are contributing
OPPOSING NATION(S): who you are fighting
THEATRE(S): where you are fighting
MILITARY DOCTRINE: the style of war your military is orientated towards, about a paragraph
MILITARY GOALS: what you are fighting for
STRATEGY: how you will fight on a strategic level – don't bother listing battlefield tactics, this should just be about where your men go and what they try to capture

Spoiler: Space Exploration Plan Format

Nation: XYZ
Space Program Name: XYZ
Funding Amount: XYZ
Plans for Program: XYZ
Goals: XYZ

The nation and space program names are self-explanatory by listing the name of your country, and in turn your space program. For funding, I will specify by glorious mod-power currently engaged in the space race what your funding amount is, and depending upon actions you do in your turn posts, along with the RNG gods can determine what your funding can turn into the year after that. Plans for the program are more short-term aspects, and must explain what you do. "Going into space" is not reasonable for plans for program. "Launching a satellite into orbit" or "Studying the Earth's climate" are reasonable aspects for plans. Goals are more long term like "Start a manned space flight program" or "Send a probe to Mars".

Nations and Their Leaders:

The Empire of Mexico - @Ceslas
The Democratic Republic of Russia - @Kerensky
The Kingdom of Two Sicilies - VACANT
The Southron Social Republic - @FightinFrenchman
The Kingdom of Finland - @naxhi24
The Japanese Empire- @BritishGrenadier
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - @Maugan Ra
The Kingdom of Portugal - @Demonic Spoon
The Third Republic of the United States of America - @Arthur Frayn
The Kingdom of Savoy - @King Saul
The Kingdom of Ethiopia - @firepelt123
Hashemite Arabia - @DanMan
The Republic of China - @ZealousThoughts
The Revolutionary Islamic Republic of Egypt - @mcclay
The Kingdom of France - @Gamelin
The Union of Cisplatina - @ByzantineCaesar
The Congo Administrative Zone - @Another Amoeba
The Kingdom of Hungary - @Texan
The South German Confederation - @Crilltic
The Republic of Turkey - @Korona
The Commonwealth of Virginia - @DonFitz
The Dominion of Canada - @Harpsichord
The Federation of Benelux - @SuperMissile
The Kingdom of Siam - @RedDragon2000
The Empire of Alyeska - @HumanityDark
The North German Federation - @Cybandeath
The Confederacy of Southron America - @Arrow
The Dominion of Nigeria - @baboushreturns
The Kingdom of Poland - @bigseb31213
The Democratic Republic of India - @Traveller76
The Second Republic of Texas - @Secretariat
The Dominion of South Africa - @Theravis
The Kingdom of Greece - @EmperorCasey
The State of Kentucky - @Heavy W. Guy

​

 

[ChaoticGenius]

The following participants will be assigned to their corresponding nations:

The Empire of Mexico - @Ceslas
The Democratic Republic of Russia - @Kerensky
The Kingdom of Two Sicilies - @Altzek
The Southron Social Republic - @FightinFrenchman
The Kingdom of Finland - @naxhi24
The Japanese Empire- @BritishGrenadier
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - @Maugan Ra
The Kingdom of Portugal - @Demonic Spoon
The Third Republic of the United States of America - @Arthur Frayn
The Kingdom of Savoy - @King Saul
The Kingdom of Ethiopia - @firepelt123
Hashemite Arabia - @DanMan
The Republic of China - @ZealousThoughts
The Revolutionary Islamic Republic of Egypt - @mcclay
The Kingdom of France - @Gamelin
The Union of Cisplatina - @ByzantineCaesar
The Congo Administrative Zone - @Another Amoeba
The Kingdom of Hungary - @Texan
The South German Confederation - @Crilltic
The Republic of Turkey - @Korona
The Commonwealth of Virginia - @DonFitz

We lack participants for the cousin German nations, and I encourage persons looking for a regional role in this nation game to look into perhaps the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Greece, the Turkish Republic, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Argentina, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Democratic Republic of India, or any other nation states still open to applicants.

In the meanwhile, those who have had their claims accepted will be updated as participants on the nation list, and are encouraged to begin developing turn posts and plans for the beginning of 1991, set tentatively tomorrow at 9 pm EST.

Furthermore, if anyone is interested in being moderator of geopolitical changes on the map, I would welcome them so long as they have experience, as I can take care of the other moderation.

Cheers, and let the games, soon, begin!

 

[ChaoticGenius]

I don't mind that. I, in fact, encourage it. I really have no idea what counts as reasonable.

Click to shrink...

In regards to yours and, inevitably, other participants' questions surrounding accurate military strength, I suggest the use of this as a gauge from which to base numbers around: Military capability and international status

Exact numbers are oft hard to formulate, but going by this resource provided, the Empire of Mexico, being an expeditionary military power, would have a standing army capable of intervention up to division strength, with various other aspects of the military being further described.

If you still have questions regarding estimates, use our timeline's 1991 population, your nation's government, and traditional sizes of military units to give a ballpark estimate of what the military numbers would be for your nation state, as this scenario means no major world wars, but incredibly violent regional wars, along with a distinct slow period of growth in tech and booms seen in our timeline. This means that, in essence, the population of our world and that of this scenario are approximately similar.

 

[ChaoticGenius]

@ChaoticGenius two rules-related questions:

First, how are internal civil wars handled? Do the players just write out their own updates and put them up, or do we need to run them by mods?

Second, how will technological advancements work in game?

Click to shrink...

In order to not sideline either the moderator or the participant, if the situation is strictly an internal civil war, with no participation from or in foreign states, it is the duty of the participant to have an event explaining the context for the beginning of that situation, whereupon war plans must be submitted if military action is to be taken against the internal opposition force. All diplomacy of said opposition force will be handled by the moderator accordingly.

As for technology, the turn report will make note of technological advancements, from which nations are expected to act upon realistically according to their situation. For example, if new satellite technology was discovered, I would expect the British Empire to begin planning a few new launch satellites, whereas the Congo Administrative Zone would be slightly too occupied to notice.

Empire of Alaska
Dominion of South Africa
North German Confederation

@ChaoticGenius

Click to shrink...

The Dominion of Canada, the Third Republic of the United States, the Japanese Empire, the Mexican Empire, and the Democratic Republic of Russia all eye you warily. Welcome to the Empire of Alaska.

 

[ChaoticGenius]

The game is now afoot. From this day, the year of 1991 will last until next Tuesday, 9 pm EST.

The World Turned Upside Down - A 20th Century Nation Game - IC - Alt. History

 

[Arthur Frayn]

To be fair, this is in the immediate come down from TTL's Cold War, so the various Great/Regional Power militaries are going to be beefy-but-creaky, if you know what I mean.

Come to think of it, is there an official breakdown of who was in the various camps? From what I gather, it's:

• European Concordat/Imperial Commonwealth (UK)
  • UK
  • Canada
  • France
  • Portugal
  • DoI
  • North Germany
  • South Germany (Maybe? I could see South Germany and Croatia being the European Neutrals)
  • United States of America (not a member, but UK-leaning)
• Russian Empire
  • Finland
  • Bulgaria
  • Hungary
  • Serbia
  • CSA

I think that's it?

 

[ChaoticGenius]

If possible, I'd like to note that this scenario begins at the end of a cold war between two superpowers, meaning standing armies are going to be less appreciated, more so than usual.

That being said, some nations can have the case made where perpetual militarization is the culture, but not all.

 

[ChaoticGenius]

All final war and espionage plans for turn one are due by tomorrow at 9 pm EST, whereupon results will be formulated and released.

 

[ChaoticGenius]

Real quick WIP, should be done before the end of the weekend

Click to shrink...

Excellent work, I look forward to its completion. However, do not be hasty, as there are some significant changes from the base map to be made soon.

Would it be possible to ask for an extension of about twelve hours? I'm in China, and right now my VPN has gone down, which among other things means I can't actually access all my notes on googledocs and such. Also I was working today and yesterday; I have tomorrow off and can use it to get everything sorted out and properly submitted, but the current deadline is around ten in the morning my time...

Click to shrink...

Of course, after all, the turn periods are meant to range from four to five days, so an extension due to your particular circumstances is granted.

The new deadline for all plans that require moderator action will be tomorrow at 9 am EST.

Furthermore, all participants can expect a report on the World Congress and the global economy soon, as well as, perhaps, minor reports on plans already submitted. Non-played nation diplomacy will be out soon.

 

[ChaoticGenius]

Here is the plan: I am extending this turn to 9 pm EST on Wednesday. The goal is to respond to questions asked, non-played nation diplomacy, and minor war and espionage plans as necessary. The rest of the time will be spent on finishing results for major conflicts a la the current crisis in the Mesopotamian Republic.