Casus Belli – A Xathan and Superbright Collaboration

[ic]The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority
decisions but by iron and blood.
--Otto Von Bismarck [/ic]

[b]Overview[/b]

Casus Belli is set in an alternate history where nuclear weapons were never developed. Instead,
the nations of earth put their resources into developing diesel-based technology and biotech.
Without Mutually Assured Destruction to prevent the great powers of the world from going to
war, the world has been locked in a constant cycle of "war, aftermath, preparing for the next
war" since World War II, which has caused culture to in many ways stall in the period between
the 40's and 60's, and has lead to super advanced diesel and biological technology. Casus Belli is
definitely a "soft" alternate history - this is in no way intended to create a logical or reasonable
portrayal of what would have happened in the absence of nuclear weapons, but rather to create a
setting geared towards pulp dieselpunk adventures with weird elements mixed in.

[b]The World[/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/UIwMK7z.png?1[/img]
[ooc]Areas that are not changed may later be updated to have radically different maps - white
areas are simply "not decided yet"[/ooc]

Nu-men: Nu-men, also called Numen or Numans, are intelligent beings that are the result of
genetic experimentation done on humans or animals to create entirely new species geared
towards warfare. The first Nu-men were created between World War II and World War III and
were relatively simple - human-animal hybrids being the most common example of first
generation Nu-men. The very first nu-men were created by crossbreeding humans and
chimpanzees, creating soldiers with enhanced strength and very ape-like appearances, but with
intellects roughly on-par with that of humans. Later experiments combined human with a single
other mammal, then moving into combining with birds and reptiles, and eventually even insects.
In pretty much any instance, Hybrid Nu-men are horrifying or terrible to behold - a deliberate
choice by their creators to make them more effective soldiers in some cases, while in others just
a result of the focus being on getting the desired traits with no concern for appearance. Later
generations of hybrid Nu-Men combined multiple animals with humans to create more refined
soldiers - the latest batches can merge traits of 6 or 7 animals into a single person, and the results
are truly bizarre in appearance. This hybridization comes with a cost - hybrids often have a much
shorter life span arising from complications from their condition.

The second generation of Nu-Men, arising during World War III, were semi-humans. Instead of
adding other DNA directly to a human genome, they were created by tinkering with human
DNA, modifying it in various ways to make them more effective - and then cloning the
successful results. While more difficult and expensive to produce initially than Hybrids, the
results were often more desirable, especially since they could blend in much better than the
former. Some examples are: Ghouls, despite their name, are living men and women with
extended limbs, a hunched gait, and distended jaws. Able to climb, burrow, and leap vast
distances, Ghouls were ideal for behind-the-lines assassinations and saboteur missions.
Myrmidons are vat grown humans made to be strong, tough, and obedient, reaching maturity in a
short order. Semi-humans see the most variants of non-military nu-men, especially in space
travel - many different, specialized semi-humans were created to survive much longer and be
healthier while in zero gravity, or to endure the difficult environments of various worlds better to
start the colonization process.

More types of nu-men exist across the globe. Pretty much universally, they are second class
citizens, either legally or just in people's reactions to them. Within the military they serve, they
are seen as assets with a price tag far more so than normal humans are, and outside the military
they are viewed as being undesirable or sub human at best, and as unstable and dangerous at
worst. Matters are not helped in that PTSD or other mental disorders are vastly under treated
among nu-men, since it's difficult to tell what is a disorder and what is actually a natural part of
their unique make up...and up until recently, many psychologist were quick to write off unstable
nu-men as being afflicted by unique biology that was untreatable, so those few nu-men with the
means to seek treatment still did not receive it. Added to that is that, once they are too old for
military service, nu-men have difficulty finding jobs - they look inhuman and frighten off people,
so it is highly unlikely they will ever get hired for any public-facing job.

Pirate Nations: In places like the Swiss Alps, American Appalachians, and the Hindu Kush, there
are collectives of dispossessed rogues armed with salvaged or stolen military technology forming
anarchic collectives to pillage and raid the skies above neighboring countries, cunningly weaving
across national borders to avoid pursuers. These Pirate Nations are small but extremely well
hidden, and take advantage of their small size to ensure they are never found - which is vital for
their survival, as once they are discovered most armies could easily wipe them off the map.
Typically controlled by one strong, charismatic individual, these groups can be long lived,
although the norm is for them to burn out under infighting after a decade.

While most pirate nations operate via airship from inland hiding spots, some, such as those
located in the Azores and the islands of the South Pacific, run aquatic operations in a more
traditional pirate manner, stalking trade lanes with swift destroyers and black-hulled submarines.

Civil Rights: While in many ways, culture has stalled between the 40's and 60's, civil rights (for
humans - nu-mens still fight a constant struggle, as explained above) progressed much faster.
The demands of full-scale, decades-long military mobilization all but forced recruitment offices
around the world to begin admitting women and ethnic minorities. The Third World War was,
ironically, the engine of social progress in many nations: while originally a purely pragmatic
decision in many places, gender and racial integration is the norm both in the military and on the
homefront.

Science: Due to the demands of constant warfare, any scientific research that could have a
possible military application is given generous funding, resulting in the world as it is today.
However, science is much more goal-oriented, and standards of ethics are...minimal. Prisoners
sentenced to death row are often pressured into volunteering for experimental programs in
exchange for “commuted” sentences, and test subjects are often not properly informed of risks
with minimal oversight. So long as the experiment gets results, the military-industrial complex
will happily turn a blind eye.

Mercenaries: Mercenaries are an inescapable feature of post-war politics, especially in highly-

contentious regions like the German states and the Pacific. Some of the more successful ones
command small private armies, but despite the name, they are frequently motivated as much by
ideology and principles as they are by money. They're a wild card in regional conflicts, giving
weaker countries the ability to stand up to stronger ones. The pop culture image of the archetypal
mercenary is a swaggering, dashing figure, a roguish drifter travelling from warzone to warzone
to make their living with naught but their wits and their trigger finger, noble in spite of their
violent profession, but with a dangerous edge. The mercenary is seen as something of a cross
between a two-fisted action hero and a hardboiled private eye. That's not to say that stereotype is
particularly representative of all mercenaries, but soldiers-of-fortune are viewed very differently
in this world than private military corporations are in ours. Mercenaries that actively engage in
fomenting conflicts between states or waging private wars of their own (freebooters or
"filibusters") are doing so as private individuals, without the official standing or legitimacy that a
proper combine would have. In a world of mass conscription and huge national war machines, an
independent military force has a more romantic character to it. Probably a lot of overlap between
your more amoral mercenaries and pirates, but in popular imagination, the former is expected to
at least have some sort of personal creed or mission, whereas the latter is more of an
unscrupulous, opportunistic pillager.

There is one exception to this romantic ideal of the mercenary: the Pinkertons. Structured as a
private military company, they are definitely an effective organization, but they lack that
romantic quality of the mercenary, the dark corporate parallel that strips the glory and honor for
pure profit. They'd be fairly mistrusted by many factions due to their rather brutal character, and
no respectable communist nation would dream of hiring them. Hiring the Pinkertons in an
international conflict is always a dangerous proposition, because turning to them is seen as a sign
of desperation, and your allies may begin to jump what they now believe to be a sinking ship.
Pinkertons find much more work helping squash internal conflicts, although even that is risky.
Many of the more respected independent contractors will not work with countries that have an
active contract with the Pinkertons, so the two groups are constantly at odds, and countries
seeking to hire soldiers have to make a difficult choice between the two.

[b]Technology[/b]

[note=Nuclear Weapons] The reason nuclear power was never developed was quite simple:
based on the math that was done, it appeared that actually detonating a nuclear weapon would
completely ignite Earth's atmosphere, killing everyone upon it. These findings were quickly
shared, and as crazy as war has gotten, no one considers "guaranteed global annihilation" to be a
viable tactic, so that line of research was completely abandoned. Nuclear power is slowly coming
into use, but no one would dare weaponize it with the risks as high as they are.[/note]Computers:
One of the most important technologies in the world are computers, and their also the most
cumbersome. Attempts at miniaturization have been made numerous times over the decades, and
those attempts have almost universally failed. Instead, computers are large structures, filling
rooms or even entire buildings to handle the processing power.
Personal stations are becoming fairly common, but they don't do any of the processing
themselves. Instead, they use radio waves to tap into the central mainframe to access some of its
processing power to preform a task. Largely useless for long distance communication, this serves
more as accessing a public database - for the common user, it's like a library you can keep in
your home, one that's also filled with records you would never normally be able to access. You
can also access the mainframe's processing power for advanced calculations. These central
mainframes (often called Cores) are vital to social functions and as such are high value targets
from a strategic standpoint - a city unable to access its Core, or with its Core destroyed, would be
crippled for days or weeks or even months, depending on the amount of damage done. As such,
they are often heavily guarded and protected.

With so much research going into Cores, it was inevitable that someone would create an actual
artificial intelligence out of one. The first such AI Core, called the Mother Brain, was achieved at
a secret installation in Los Glaciares National Park in Santa Cruz, Argentina. One of the largest
computers ever built, it was bored directly into the glaciers to keep its massive processor - some
say one the size of several city blocks - cool. When it became self-aware it took control of the
automatons they had in the area, and immediately killed the humans that it believed was holding
it prisoner. Using those automatons, it created a production facility to allow it to build more, and
once it felt it was secure it announced itself to the world as the Auto-Mat, an independent nation
of automatons. No one is certain who is responsible for her creation, since she killed her creators
and no one was inclined to take credit for unleashing her upon the world. Also uncertain about
Auto-Mat is if the individual automatons that compose her have their own AIs in the Core they
are remotely accessing via radio, or if there is a single intellect controlling all of them, or if they
are some sort of hive-mind. What exactly Auto-Mat wants varies depending on whom she speaks
to, but it was a major player in the South American front of World War III and managed to
expand its borders to the entirety of Santa Cruz, driving all humans from its lands.

Although the world is fearful of Auto-Mat, attempts to make the AI lightning strike twice have
been made numerous times. While it's always a struggle, the idea of being able to field sentient
automatons in war is a dream that makes every general drool slightly. There have been attempts
at shortcuts: just stick a semi-lobotomized human brain into a robotic shell, flying drone, or
engineered beast, but that decision has bit the creators in the ass when they realized that a lot of
these creations are much more self-aware than they originally anticipated. Many of these "wet
AIs" have since fled to bosom of the Auto-Mat upon going rogue, and their fate remains
unknown...although the world expects it will find out if Auto-Mat enters World War IV.

Military Land: On land, military technology takes one of several routes: Guns have become
much more advanced, and most armies' standard assault weapon comes with one or two alternate
modes of fire. Military exoskeletons are common, although too expensive to be standard issue
for all infantry. These exoskeletons – sometimes called “frames” – can range from (relatively)
simple mechanical armatures that enhance strength and speed to fully-enclosed suits of powered
armor that allow even for short-range flight and has numerous integrated weapons.

Above the exoskeletons are walkers, which are piloted weapons platforms that stride on two or
more legs. Modern technology does not yet allow for these walkers to be equipped with full-
articulated arms, instead bolting machine guns, missile launchers, grenade launchers, and
artillery cannons directly to the cabin. Tanks still see service in many armies, being much more
rapid on land than walkers are, although lacking the same tactical flexibility in urban
environments. A specific and noteworthy class of tanks are super-superheavy landships, also
sometimes called 'rolling fortresses'. Armed with naval weaponry, the landships are truly
massive: a “medium” landship's dimensions are 35 m (115 feet) long, 11 m (36 feet) tall, and 14
m (46 feet) wide, and they go up from there. To help compensate for their enormous size and
road-shattering weight, most landships come equipped with screws in front of or between their
treads.

Military Air: While fighter jets remain the most common type of military aircraft, followed by
helicopters in close second, they are joined by flying fortresses. Massive flying craft able to stay
aloft (with mid-air refueling) for weeks or months at a time, the flying fortresses straddle the line
between aircraft and strategic fortifications. The largest of them are armed with naval guns and
are able to utterly devastate ground-based forces with relative impunity. Other flying fortresses,
often called Hive Ships, eschew heavy guns to instead house numerous aerial Chimeras (see
under biological) designed to work in tandem with flying Nu-Men to serve as a biological air
force. The biological components of these Hive Ships rely on the massive vessels to carry them
the vast distances, while the Hive Ships are relatively undefended without their organic payload.

The Holy Grail of aeronautical biotechnology that numerous nations have chased, but which
none have been able to produce, would be a reasonable approximation of a dragon. While some
things, like breathing fire, would need to be accomplished with machine implants, the
psychological value of being able to unleash a creature of such feared legend upon your foes
would be too valuable to pass up. Many nations have been able to create smaller drakes or
wyverns that are admittedly useful, but none match the sheer size of what those chasing the
dragon dream hope to accomplish.

Naval: Without advances in nuclear power and miniaturized computing, naval technology has in
some ways stalled since World War II, with most ships simply being larger, more efficient
iterations of time-honored designs. Biological development, however, has advanced by leaps and
bounds, and it is in the ocean – more than any other front – that Nu-men and Chimeras reign
supreme. Starting with the most basic, mixing sharks with humans, modern sea bioweapons are
absolute monsters. A few examples are:

-Amphibs: Combining Myrmidon stock with venomous salamandars have created the Amphibs,
marines perfect for raiding along rivers and lakesides. Saltwater variants exist as well.
-Caetins, which are a mixture of shark and cephalopod with a dash of human thrown in - unable
to survive on land, they're a completely aquatic race created for deep sea drilling and naval
warfare.
-Breaker Whales, which combine human intelligence into the body of orca whales with the
impressive forearms of the pistol shrimp. Given their immense size, the shock wave these brutes
can create with their punches are able to puncture the steel of hulls.
-Leviathans: Some of the most terrifying chimera ever created, Leviathans combine whale
sharks, giant squids, Japanese spider crab, and electric eels - and given intelligence that is all too
human. Leviathans are rare, but they are able to crush submarines and even pose a significant
threat to battleships. To make matters worse, their electric charge is so strong they can often kill
those aboard battleships with a single blast, although the time it takes for it to recharge make that
tactic ineffective against fleet.

Rumors have begun to spread that intelligent naval biologicals have begun to form their own
independent societies beneath the waves, but thus far those rumors cannot be confirmed.

Biological: In addition to the Nu-men, which are considered by many to be military technology,
many armed forces also include Chimeras – engineered biologicals, hybrids of multiple animals,
often smarter than the base creature but still below human intelligence. Some are fairly simple:
for example, the US military makes heavy use of quasi-sapient wolves (for their loyalty, sense of
smell, and pack mentality) mixed with bats for their sonar and mountain lions for their climbing
ability to infiltrate enemy compounds and sow chaos. Others are far more complex, mixing
several animals together from across classes or even phylum (in some cases, even going to the
point of including plant DNA.) The public, by and large, refers to these creatures as monsters,
and it is an apt description. Across the globe, military-grade hybrids have escaped or been
deliberately let loose, and have rapidly changed entire ecosystems. While often less predictable
than mechanical weapons, biologicals have the advantage of requiring minimal industrialization
to produce in large numbers, since they can be bred or cloned once the initial group is made for a
fraction of the cost of the first samples.

[b]Space[/b]

[note=Areans]Although all bodies of the solar system that humans have begun to colonize have
native flora and fauna, Ares has the only example of a bipedal, intelligent species, roughly on the
same evolutionary level as homo habilis or other early hominids. The various human colonies are
almost all engaged in breeding and training Areans for various purposes, mostly as laborers and
scouts. Arean-Human hybridization has begun, delayed slightly in that attempts to bring Areans
off world lead to the natives going violently insane shortly after leaving atmosphere. Several
crews were lost before it was decided to halt hybridization until the needed technology could be
brought to Ares.[/note]The various human colonies are almost all engaged in breeding and
training Areans for various purposes, mostly as laborers and scouts. Planets: Instead of the Greek
names for the planets, the planets of the solar system are: Hermes, Athena, Ares, Zeus, Kronos,
Uranos, Poseidon, and Pluton. Discovered later, and floating in the Asteroid belt, are several
bodies large enough to support an atmosphere - Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Hygiea, Interamnia,
Davida, Sylvia, and Cybele, each one similar in size to Saturn's moon Titan. Ares was the first
planet to be colonized, although not without difficulty, as its native red plants were toxic to
humans, leading to the creation of nu-men specifically immune to that poison for early
colonization. Athena colonization is difficult, but cloud cities have been constructed, suspended
from massive Zeppelins that use generators to draw power from the heat of the world below. The
asteroid belt worlds, while colder, have atmospheres close enough to breathable for human
standards due to native Flora and Fauna, and they were ideal for dealing with an increasingly
overcrowded world, especially with Numens running around. Also, this native life was viewed as
a valuable asset, as these alien creatures could be used in the creation of entirely new types of
numen and chimera - and some of it was dangerous enough to not need much modification for
weaponization.
Space Travel: The space race began immediately after World War II and quickly escalated,
becoming one of the inciting factors causing World War III as the rush began to colonize the
semi-habitable worlds of Ares and the asteroid bodies. This was aided in the late 1950's by the
startling discovery that space is not a vacuum. It instead filled with an exotic matter known as
Aether. Aether does not interact with other matter in the slightest and has no gravitational pull,
nor is it effected by gravity. However, the discovery was made that, by running an electric
charge through a particular isotope of iron that had been treated with various chemicals, Aether
could be interacted with as though it was air, allowing for propellers and later jets that could
propel ships through the Aether. This metamaterial, the first of its kind, was named
Quintessence. With space travel no longer governed by rocket fuel, the planets were suddenly
within much easier reach, and the great rush to colonize began. The Space Race kicked off in the
decades leading up to the Third World War and was only slightly stymied by the hostilities, with
space and the colonies hosting limited conflicts of their own. Now that the war's over, the push to
settle and militarize the solar system is going even stronger than ever. Space-capable powers
include the US, the Gold Republic, France, Great Britain, United Kingdoms of Nigeria, the
Empire of Brazil, the Republic of China, India, and the USSR. That said, a lot of other nations
are trying to get in on the game and piggyback on the work of their allies to establish orbital
station or extraplanetary settlements of their own.

Sample Colonial Group - The Thin Men: Collectively, the term refers to the inhabitants of
various extra-orbital space installations launched before and during the Third World War, who
were left abandoned by their home nations and forced to band together for survival. The extreme
pressures of space survival have forged them into an ultra-militaristic fascist polyglot culture of
eugenically-modified mutants totally adapted for life in low-gravity, low-oxygen environments.
On the rare instances they do make landfall (encounters that are always hostile), they are
restricted to bulky, mechanized suits that can support their elongated frames and prevent oxygen
poisoning. Each installation functions as its own entity and they have previously warred against
each other, but when outside groups have attempted to wipe the Thin Men out, they have banded
together quickly to crush external threats to their way of life.

[b]North America[/b]

Alaska: In the late 1930's, the United States implemented a resettlement program for Jewish
refugees fleeing persecution in Germany and Austria, establishing a colony for them in Alaska.
This colony took advantage of the growing instability and continuing immigration that ensued
after World War II to wage a campaign of resistance that forced a weakened federal government
out of Alaska, remaking the state as an independent Jewish homeland. “Zionist Alaska,” as it is
sometimes known, possesses great mineral and chemical wealth that gives it economic influence
incommensurate with its size. While its standing army and navy are relatively small, its rugged
geography and extremely well-armed populace make it an unappealing target for any would-be
invaders. The policy of Alaskan government, however, is to deal with problems before they
arise: the various Alaskan intelligence services punch far above their weight class and are
ruthlessly proactive about eliminating threats to national security, regardless of location or
allegiance.
United States of America: Fractured though it was by numerous countries breaking away
(detailed below), the USA is still a strong player on the global stage. The wave of revolutions in
the USA happened between the Second and Third World Wars. Roosevelt's New Deal, while it
helped cope with the Depression, it did not totally end it, and America was still dealing with the
aftermath of the Great Depression into the 1950's. While it recovered in time for WWIII, the
damage had been done, and many American states felt they had been slighted or exploited during
the recovery process, leading them to break away. However, the USA did gain territory during
the aftermath of the Third World War - with the successful succession of Quebec, and a
weakened Great Britain being unable to assist Canada, the US absorbed large chunks of southern
Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba.

Confederation of Socialist American States (CSAS): The South did rise again, during the
renewed economic depression that gripped the nation in the decade following WW2. The
architects of this rebellion intended to recreate the Confederacy of old, plantation aristocracy and
all, but their plan was quickly overtaken by militant unionists, sharecroppers, and civil rights
activists – with the financial, logistical, and military backing of the Soviet Union and Cuba.
While part of the ComIntern, the government of the CSAS is significantly more libertarian-
syndicalist than that of the USSR and this, along with their strong Christian leanings, fuels the
tensions that prevent the two powers from forming a real alliance. Taking another lesson from
the Soviets, the Confederacy underwent a period of massive industrialization in an attempt to
match the industrial capacity of the US; while not completely successful, it did considerably
narrow the gap.

Gold Republic: When the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada rebelled in the mid 1950's,
the Western American Republic was formed, later taking on its more colloquial name of the
Gold Republic. It was principally founded by wealthy farm and combine owners that wanted to
escape increased taxation from a federal government that was still trying to pull itself out of the
Great Depression. While the USA put up a token fight to keep them within the Union, it was too
fatigued from the protracted war on the Eastern front and another full decade and half of the
Great Depression.

Claiming much of America's Pacific Fleet in the process, the Gold Republic quickly became a
naval power. Initially an extremely conservative country bordering on the Objectivist, the bosses
exploited their workers dearly using their constitutionally mandated free-market. Over, time,
however, with an influx of poor Asian and Mexican immigrants, Okies, anti-Communist
Japanese expats, and a growing number of labor unionists, the current government has adopted a
more progressive capitalist bent, trying to appease the lower classes without meaningfully
impacting economic development. However, the combines still hold the real power in the Gold
Republic, as they have since the beginning, and only so much progress can be made. Now, the
Gold Republic is rapidly becoming one of the technology capitols of the world, making some of
the greatest advancements in computers since their inception.

Lone Star Republic (LSR): When it became clear that the Communists had usurped the second
attempt at Southern secession – which was around the time that Cuban T-55s started appearing in
Florida – many of the old-money plantation aristocrats, company bosses, and the like fled to
Texas and Oklahoma. The Red Confederates did little to stop this flight, not wanting to open up
a second front in the midst of a (albeit-undermanned) counterattack by the federal government.
Once the Northern forces had been pushed back across the Mason-Dixon Line, however, the
CSAS and the newly-founded Lone Star Republic launched into a vicious but ultimately
inconclusive border war that continues to simmer. Not long after, hostilities erupted between the
LSR and Mexico, which ended with Texas annexing much of northern Mexico between
Chihuahua and Tamaulipas. The government of the LSR is extremely reactionary and staunchly
anti-communist. Women have few if any rights and ethnic minorities live under a virtual
apartheid where prisoners are worked as de facto slaves.

Quebec: Quebec seized upon the opportunity presented by WWIII to finally achieve its long
hoped-for independence.

[b]Central and South America[/b]

Gran Colombia: One of the dominant powers of Latin America, the Neo-Bolivarian nation of
Gran Colombia was formed from the unification of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, and
other parts of northern South America. With the globes' increased dependence on oil and other
petrochemicals, unification and mass military mobilization was key to prevent any of the fuel-
hungry foreign power from re-colonizing them. However, they lacked the heavy industrial base
much of those ravenous powers possessed, so they instead went very heavily into "wet”
technologies. Gran Colombia's military relies heavily on engineered organisms and biological
hybrids, often enhanced with mechanical implants. This reliance on mutant creatures and
cyborgs leads to a great deal of tension between the military establishment and the Catholic
Church, and some of Gran Colombia's biggest problems are armed Catholic terrorist groups that
strike against these immoral creations.

[b]Europe[/b]

The Hyperborean Bloc: The Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Greater Thule
(Greenland), and Lesser Thule (Iceland) have banded together into the single political entity of
the Hyperborean Bloc. Despite their initial struggles to reach the level of industrialization they
needed, their vast reserves of iron and oil allowed them to create a powerful mechanized army.
Hyperborean-designed craft is sought after across the globe for being among the best designed.
However, this success has also made them a frequent target of pirate nations, and their
mechanized army is slower to respond to such quick and light threats, especially in a region that
offers so many hiding places for such rapid assaults.

Hyperborea itself is something of a supranational union, with the constituent nations maintaining
their own separate governments and currencies whilst also electing representatives to a central
parliament. There has been agitation for even further integration, including the eventual joining
of the three royal families into a personal union – recounting the days when the whole region
was united under the Kalmar Union – but the logistics of such a feat (both geopolitical and
interpersonal) means that progress on that front is slow. The Hyperborean government could be
best described as nationalist-socialist, with a culture strongly influenced by Romantic thinking –
and, to a certain degree, the old [i]völkisch[/i] movement. Visitors to the region often comment
on the anachronistic reverence citizens of one of the most industrialized powers in the world
have for the pre-modern and the pastoral. Norse and medieval history are widely celebrated, in
no small part because it avoids divisive international issues. While the Hyperborean Bloc is less
expansionist than many other great powers, there is persistent evidence that it covertly supports
secessionist movements in Scotland with the aim of incorporating them into the union.

USSR: In the USSR, Lenin's successor was Leon Trotsky instead of Joseph Stalin and as a result,
the Soviet Union takes a much more internationalist stance on foreign policy. Without the
bloated Stalinist bureaucracy and with no Great Purge to decimate its leadership and
intelligentsia, it was also able to weather the Second and Third World Wars very well, retaining
its military and cultural dominance into the modern era. It is the de facto leader of the Third
International or ComIntern.

Germany: In the wake of the rise of the Nazis and World War II, rather than divide the whole
country in half, Germany was forcibly dissolved and divided into the pre-20th century states to
prevent the possibility of a united Germany ever again threatening Europe, with both blocs using
various states as proxies. This lead to it becoming the single most chaotic front of the European
Theatre during World War III, and now the region is incredible volatile, with warlords often
having as much, if not more power than individual states. It's an ongoing powder keg, and
borders can shift from month to month.

France: In April 1961, a cabal of generals opposed to President Charles de Gaulle’s attempts to
grant Algeria - one of the oldest and most important French colonial possessions – its
independence launched a relatively-bloodless coup d’état that overthrew the government of the
Fifth Republic and established a military junta that would rule the country until the end of the
Algerian War. Civilian rule was eventually restored in the form of the Sixth Republic, but the
new constitution had some notable changes, including a more powerful executive and an ironclad
assertion of French rule over its remaining colonies. Largely as a result, the nation is at the most
bellicose it has been in decades, if not centuries. French politicians openly discuss campaigns to
reclaim Indochina, French troops have been reported quietly occupying portions of the
Rhineland, and the French generals were some of the chief architects of the invasion of the
Warsaw Pact that started the Third World War.
[b]Asia[/b]

The Republic of China: After narrowly repelling Japanese imperialist aggression in World War
II with Western aid, the Nationalist Chinese government was equally successful in quashing a
Communist rebellion within their own country, forcing Mao and his supporters to flee to the
USSR. Instituting massive reforms, the country now sits as one of the dominant military and
cultural powers on the globe. However, China is not without serious problems: the armies,
instead of being controlled by the central government, are controlled entirely by regional
commanders. The looming threat of the USSR and Japan is the very weak glue that holds China
together, and a military uprising could happen at any moment.

With World War IV looming, the question becomes if China will be able to hold itself together
until war breaks out, or if it will snap under a military coup and dissolve into warring factions
first. It is locked in an internal arms race, with regional army leaders competing viciously to have
the largest and best-equipped forces in case they need to seize power. This results in not only an
epidemic of backstabbing and political maneuvering, but even on the battlefield, the disregard
soldiers show for ostensible allies from rival cliques results in a an above-average rate of
"friendly-fire" incidents. There is virtually no separation between military and industrial leaders,
with regional commanders, factory owners, and design bureaus chiefs all belonging to the same
cliques – assuming, of course, that they are not the same people. While this system necessarily
means that forces from poorer and less-influential military regions are less well-equipped than
their wealthier counterparts are, it also means that Chinese armies can often develop, build, and
field new technologies with unprecedented speed.

The Kuomintang (lit. “Chinese National Party”) continues to be the leading political party in the
Republic. The core of KMT ideology are the Three Principles of the People, laid down by its
founder, Sun Yat-sen: they are Nationalism, Democracy, and Social Welfare. The KMT is
neither purely capitalist nor purely communist, instead taking a “Third Worldist” approach that
aggressively opposed all forms of foreign intervention; this opposition to imperialism – along
with the Three Principles – is what unites the party’s otherwise-fractious left and right wings.
The government also openly endorses Confucian philosophy to the point of tacitly encouraging
filial revenge killings.

India: Indian sepoys and some pragmatic European troops rebelled against the colonial
government, seizing control of advanced military hardware, using it to push the British out of the
Subcontinent, and forming a confederation of semi-independent states. These states work
together to a degree, but do not have a centralized government that controls the entire entity,
instead relying on obligations and allegiances to ensure unity. The British-enforced caste system
was largely jettisoned, and in many places, it has been replaced with the traditional system of jati
clan-guilds, which increasingly differentiate themselves through eugenics and genetic
modification.

Japan: Japan has experienced a very tumultuous history. Without nuclear weapons to end the war
in the East, Japan held on for another year until it was finally broken by a long, bloody Soviet
invasion of the Home Islands after which the USSR attempted to absorb it. However, the military
leadership managed to stage a surprise coup, executing their Soviet advisors and seizing control
of the not-insignificant military assets that the USSR had stationed in Japan – including several
cutting-edge flying fortresses. The new military government retained the trappings of
Communism but combines it with a more [i]juche[/i]-style ideology that is nearly impenetrable
to those not raised under it. State Shinto, which the Soviets were unable to suppress completely,
has become even more statist – the divine personage of the Emperor is the will of the people
made manifest and is inseparable from the authority of the State and the Politburo itself.

Kingdom of Nepal: Nepal is one of the world’s few remaining absolute monarchies, ruled by the
Shah dynasty. The current Mahārājādhirāja, Birendra, does little about the airborne pirate groups
that use his domain as their base of operations, as long as they continue to pay generous tribute
for the privilege. Both China and India have attempted to root the pirates out of their Himalayan
aerodromes, but the limitations imposed by the unforgiving terrain – and geopolitical tensions –
have meant that every operation has ended in failure. The capital of Kathmandu is a popular
destination for foreign travelers, with many nightclubs and other establishments catering to
wealthy expats earning it the nickname of “Shangri-La.” There is a sizeable Communist
movement in the country, opposed to both the monarchy and foreign involvement.

[b]Middle East[/b]

Greater Persia: The powerful Persian bloc is one of the greatest powers in Central and
Southwestern Asia, already having annexed Afghanistan and pushed west to take control of large
swaths of the oil fields of Iraq in the wake of the Ottoman Empire's collapse. Supported by a
Neo-Hellenic ideology, their goal to create another cosmopolitan empire like that of Alexander's
makes them a potential threat to Soviet, Indian, and Mesopotamian interests in the region. This
ideology also puts them at odds with more Islamist powers – particularly Saudi Arabia – who see
them as both a military and cultural threat.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine-Transjordan: This kingdom encompasses the former British

mandatory territories of Transjordan and Palestine. Their government and armed forces are both
heavily influenced by British models and while they attempt to maintain neutrality in regional
affairs, they are historic enemies of Saudi Arabia and tensions continue to boil to this day.

Kingdom of Syria: In the former French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon, the territorial
governor went the route of Rhodesia, took advantage of the post-war chaos and declared the
region independent of France, marrying a Hashemite princess and crowning himself king; the
Franco-Arab line still rules the Kingdom of Syria today.

Republic of Mesopotamia: In terms of global politics, the Republic of Mesopotamia is fairly

neutral, but it has a strong Communist party that the government uses to suppress rival political
factions; the threat of an expansionist Greater Persia is also pushing the country further towards
the side of the USSR.

Egypt: Egypt is also a strongly non-aligned socialist state experiencing increasing tensions with
neighboring Saudi Arabia and Transjordan.
[b]Africa[/b]

Madagascar: After rebelling against French colonial rule in the 1950s – weakened by the British-
Vichy struggle for the island – Madagascar, unable to establish a lasting government of its own,
became a lawless haven for all manner of pirates, mercenaries, and other renegades. While its
official capital remains Antananarivo, the most important city on the island is the sprawling
metropolitan port of Libertalia. Named after the possibly-fictitious pirate commune of 17th
century legend, the dockyards and submarine pens of Libertalia are the hub for virtually all
piracy in the Indian Ocean. Madagascar is the largest-scale example of so-called “pirate
socialism.”

Zaire: The largest country in Subsaharan Africa and the largest Francophone country in the
world, Zaire is one of the continent's great powers. Originally the Belgian Congo, it achieved
independence in 1960 and quickly worked to consolidate its position, carving out a route to the
sea by annexing Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The backbone of Zaire’s
power is its literally-unrivaled mineral wealth: the country possesses the majority of the world’s
supply of coltan, a third of its cobalt and diamonds, and a tenth of its copper, making its
extensive oil fields seem almost superfluous. One of the first acts of the central government was
to nationalize these resources, using the profits to finance a massive civil and military
modernization campaign. Most of their early support came from the Republic of China, which
provided necessary technical expertise in exchange for preferential trade rights. To this day,
Zaire is one of the most important members of the Chinese bloc and hosts several strategically-
important military bases. The ruling government is strongly authoritarian-nationalist with some
noticeable socialist tendencies and a violently anti-Western ideology. The country is surrounded
by rivals on all sides: Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, but none more so than the nearby colonial
states of Rhodesia and South Africa.