Mutants Among Men: A Dying Order (OOC/Signups)

[New Demorvian]

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"There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise" - Albert Camus

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Introduction

It's the year 1962. The world is in chaos and ruin. Ever since a strange disease emerged in rural Spain in 1942, the world has devolved into chaos. World War 2 ended gradually as nations collapsed, cities became abandoned, economies collapsed, and armies were decimated. Most of the world either collapsed, or had major government changes. Only some nations remain, and those that still exists, are shells of their formers selves. Can hope survive on this decaying world? Or will darkness and chaos prevail?

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The Mutation Plague

Although the disease has existed on earth for nearly 20 years, not much is still known about it. But what is known is its symptoms, mortality rate, and it's effects on Human Civilization. It all started in February 25th, 1942 when an unknown aircraft entered airspace over Los Angeles, California. Right before it was shot down however, it fired an unknown projectile. It landed all the way in the small town of Cincovillas in Spain. Patient Zero is believed to be a farmer in the area. From there, it spread across Spain, soon crossing over the French and Portuguese borders. Even worse, it happened during what was the largest war the world has ever seen. Armies were decimated, the disease went global, and hundreds of millions of people died. Europe was the worst hit region in the world, and Spain, the worst hit country. Asia, Africa, and South America were also hit hard by the virus. North America and Australia were the least affected continents, resulting in a somewhat better standing as of 1962.

The disease itself is quite nightmarish. It causes flu-like symptoms, but the alien microbe does its damage by altering the DNA of whatever it infects, be it a plant, human, bird, etc. Most of the mutations lead to increased cancer risk, which kills 75% of infected humans. Around 23-24% survive with no deadly affects, some minor changes like increased intelligence, strength, speed, etc might occur, but nothing too horrifying. However, 1-2% of infected humans mutate to the point where they're considered "mutants". Most mutants no longer resemble the people they once were. Not all of the mutants are the same, but around 300 varieties are known to exist. The mutants were thought to be only threatening for their large numbers, but the failed West Russian Liberation War proved that the mutants had more intelligence and ability to cooperate than previously thought. Mutants still inhabit and dominate parts of the world. While most of the world sees the mutants as monsters, sometimes the true monsters lie within what remains of the world.

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The World: 1962

The German Reich
"My honor is my loyalty" - Heinrich Himmler

Ever since the mutation plague reached Germany in the Spring of 1942, Germany has been thrown into disarray. The war stagnated, and its enemies collapsed. The Wehrmacht was decimated by the disease as it spread. It eventually climaxed when Hermann Goering mutated in 1946, leading to a wave of suicides among high ranking Nazi officials. Heinrich Himmler, seeing an opportunity, used his Schutzstaffel to launch a coup against the failing Reich. Many of the Reich's non-German territories either collapsed, or declared independence from the Reich. Germany has not reconquered these lands due to the Wehrmacht being weak, and Himmler's inward focused policies. It does still maintain two puppet states however. The Ordenstaat Bohemen, lead by Reinhard Heydrich, and the Reichskommisariat Polen-Litauen, lead by Odilo Globocnik. The current German Reich and its puppets are very secretive, but follow Himmler's views of an Aryan Spartanist Dystopia. Czechs, Poles, and Lithuanians are nearly extinct in the Reich's territories, either being exterminated, enslaved, or fleeing to the Balkans, Scandinavia, Russia, or even as far as America, causing an ongoing refugee crisis in Eastern Europe. Himmler's ideology, commonly known as Aryanism has secret plans behind it. Himmler and his inner circle plan for what will eventually be, their final act. Thermonuclear extermination of the undesirables, and the creation of a so-called "Pure Aryan World." The World has yet to see Himmler's true plans, but it seems like his reign of terror will only spread Across Europe.

The Black Sun dawns over Europe, determined to set the continent alight.


The United States of America
"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war" - General Douglas MacArthur

The United States, after the virus started to spread across Europe, closed its borders to all other nations. But infected fish off the coast of North Carolina brought the Mutation Plague to the United States in October 1945. A Japanese-American Armistice was signed in March of 1946, after the Japanese Emperor succumbed to the disease. Due to military preparedness, The United States was not hit as hard as most countries, but things still went south for America. In June of 1947, President Truman, being desperate to slow down the disease, ordered the air force to drop two atomic bombs over the heavily infected New York City. This was the final straw. Riots erupted across America. In an attempt to restore law and order, a clique of Generals led by Douglas MacArthur launched a coup against Truman. The coup succeeds, Truman is executed, and Marshall Law is declared across the US. The virus slowly fades as military crackdowns and curfews reduce cases. America had survived, but had lost its liberty. MacArthur's health is rapidly declining. His death is inevitable. Multiple Generals and Admirals are now vying to be his successor. The main candidates are Admiral Chester Nimitz, a MacArthur loyalist, and General Omar Bradley, a reformist who wants to restore civilian rule. But there are other factions, ready to rebel when MacArthur kicks the bucket. Ranging from Fascist, to Communist, to Democratic, to Socialist, and others. Racial tensions are increasing as the Military Junta enforces segregation upon the country. America's future is uncertain, but is sure to lead to chaos.

America shall follow General MacArthur into the grave.


The Soviet Wastes
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The of millions is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin

When the plague first entered Russia, it at first seemed like a blessing, as the Wermacht were crippled. However, by 1946, the plague was devastating Western Russia. Stalin died from disease complications in 1946, causing the collapse of the Soviet Union into a series of warlord states. By 1950, Western Russia was overrun by the mutated. In a desperate attempt to retake Moscow, a massive partisan attack led by the West Russian Revolutionary Front began in 1951. The front eventually broke in 1954 as the Mutated seemed to work together against the Russian attackers, also proving that the mutated had higher levels of coordination and intelligence than previously thought. Various factions have popped up in the wastes of Russia. Whether it's the Leninist Vanguards of Buryatia, the WRRF loyalists of Arkhangelsk, the Monarchists of Kirov and Zabaykalsky, the Fascists of Amur, the former German collaborators of Samara, the unstable Democracy of Komi, the Pagan Theocrats of Perm, the crap ton of Generals, or any of the other factions, Russia has a chance of reunifying. Whoever reunites Russia will have to face the ultimate task of reclaiming Moscow, and Western Russia as a whole, from the mutants who roam the wastes.

Can reason survive in the wastes of the shattered union?


The Rest of the World
"What silence rules the ghostly hours that guard the close of human sleep." - George Sterling

The rest of the world has suffered immensely. The island of Britain has fallen into a series of warlord states, as has Northern France. Iberia, Southern France, Northwest Italy, Morocco, Italy's Colonial Empire, the Amazon, much of Central Africa, Afghanistan, Greenland, and areas surrounding Mexico City, Beijing, and Shanghai have fallen into anarchy, or have been overrun by the mutated. Japan's Empire has fallen. Korea and Southeast Asia are independent, while the Japanese islands have fallen into warlord states. China has mostly unified under Mao Zedong's Chinese Soviet Republic. Former British Raj has fallen into endless civil war. Most of Mexico, Central America, much of South America, and much of Africa has fallen into warlord states. The royal family fled to Canada. Other remnants of the British Empire exist such as the West Indies, the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Ceylon. What remains of France only exists in West Africa and Oceania. The Balkan nations, especially Yugoslavia are on the verge of collapse. The Baltic States, Scandinavia, and Benelux once again face the prospect of German invasion. Vietnam is under the Communist rule of Ho Chi Minh. The Middle East is dealing with ethnic tensions as Colonial possessions gained independence. Whatever is left of these nations may one day become new powers should they play their cards right in this dark age.

In this darkness, some will thrive, others won't.

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Rules

1: The OPs word is law.
2: Technology has stagnated, so think 1940s tech instead of 1960s tech.
3: No glorification of mass atrocities.
4: Any disputes between players should be brought to me.
5: The progression of time is 1 month per page.
6: Every IC post must be at least 3 paragraphs long.
7: No godmodding or meta-gaming.
8: No bad grammar.
9: February 1942 is the point of divergence.
10: No matter how dark this world is, have fun.

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Applications

Nation App:

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[b]NS Name:[/b]

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[b]Head of Government (If not the same as Head of State):[/b]

[b]Capital:[/b]

[b]Territory:[/b]

[b]Ideology:[/b]

[b]Ruling Party or Force:[/b]

[b]Government Description (at least 2 paragraphs):[/b]

[b]Economic Description (at least 2 paragraphs):[/b]

[b]Foreign Relations Description (at least 2 paragraphs):[/b]

[b]Short-term Goals:[/b]

[b]Long-term Goals:[/b]

[b]History Since 1942:[/b]

[b]Armed Forces Name:[/b]

[b]Army Name and Size:[/b]

[b]Navy Name and Size (if it exists):[/b]

[b]Air Force Name and Size (if it exists):[/b]

[b]Other Military Branches (if they exist):[/b]

[b]History Since 1942:[/b]

[b]Other Information:[/b]

1942 TRACKING PURPOSES[/align]

Faction App:

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[b]NS Name:[/b]

[b]Faction Name:[/b]

[b]Type of Faction(Paramilitary, Political Party, Group of Wasteland Bandits, etc):[/b]

[b]Ideology:[/b]

[b]Flag or Symbol:[/b]

[b]Leader:[/b]

[b]Where Does It Operate?:[/b]

[b]How Does It Operate (1 to 2 Paragraphs):[/b]

[b]History Since Founding:[/b]

[b]Number of Armed Members (If Any):[/b]

[b]Other Information:[/b]

1962 TRACKING PURPOSES[/align]

[New Demorvian]

Accepted

Accepted Nations:

Northern Commonwealth - Plzen

Accepted Factions:

[Plzen]

NS Name
Plzen, the R. C. of

Official Nation Name
The union maintains official names only in its official languages, but the Northern Commonwealth is a generally accepted English translation of the official Nordisk Samfundet (da).

Unofficial Nation Name
Norden is common as a short name for the country among speakers of English or Scandinavian. Pohjoismaat is common among speakers of Finnish. Scandinavia is common among speakers of English, but is not domestically accepted.

Flag
The flag of the Northern Commonwealth is a stylised white swan with five wing feathers inscribed in a white circle against a bright blue field.

Head of State
The Northern Commonwealth does not recognise a Head of State, for reasons further explained below (see: Government Description).

Head of Government
Tage Erlander, as Secretary-General of the Northern Commonwealth, serves as the head-of-government and has done so since the formation of the Commonwealth.

Capital
Nominally, the Northern Commonwealth does not recognise a singular capital city, giving equal legal weight to the capitals of all five of its constituent nations. Practically, the Northern Council and many of its executive departments meet in Copenhagen, which serves as the effective capital of the Commonwealth.

Territory
The territory of the Northern Commonwealth is subject to some degree of controversy. The official stance of the Northern Commonwealth is that it holds authority within the territories of its five constituent nations, which remain unchanged from 1921 except for the Finnish annexation of those territories, all of Karelia and Ingria north of the Neva and Svir rivers, that it has occupied in the Continuation War of 1941 onwards, an annexation that many of the Post-Soviet warlord states of Western Russia dispute. In actuality, the Northern Commonwealth has no meaningful presence in Greenland, which has effectively become an independent, semi-anarchic country. The Northern Commonwealth further occupies the Orkney and Shetland islands, although the Northern Commonwealth officially insists that its presence there is merely a "maritime security measure", that it recognises the islands as British territory, and that no transfer of territory will be contemplated until a legitimate British government with which such matters can be discussed re-establishes itself in London.

Ideology
The Northern Commonwealth is a liberal-democratic and mixed economy state, with a firm commitment to human liberty and equality.

Ruling Party or Force
As of 1962, the Northern Commonwealth is governed by a coalition government consisting of the Social-Democratic Group, the senior partner, and the Centre Group, the junior partner. The ruling coalition is broadly centre-left in its ideological outlook and inoffensively cautious in its policies.

Government Description
Despite effectively functioning as a single state, with a single foreign policy, a unified military, a common tax and tariff scheme, a joint parliament with legislative powers, etc., the Northern Commonwealth nominally maintains that it is a regional alliance consisting of five independent nations, each with their own capital, heads of state and government, laws, and national symbols. The Northern Commonwealth thus claims only those powers which were invested in it by a series of treaties signed between 1943 and 1948, leaving it a relatively devolutionary state.

Supreme authority in the Northern Commonwealth is vested by the people of its constituent nations in the Northern Council through elections held no fewer than once every four years theoretically under universal suffrage and proportional representation in multi-member districts. In reality, citizenship has yet to extend to the populations of newly-acquired territories, with Russian speakers in the east and English speakers in the west still largely denied representation. The Northern Council holds legislative authority over the entirety of its territory, and nominates a Secretary-General, who leads the executive functions of government. The Northern Council may also appoint, subject to approval by at least four of the five national governments under it, members to the Commonwealth Court, the apex of the Northern Commonwealth's judiciary system, as well as determine the number of justices required for the function of the Commonwealth Court.

Economic Description
The Northern Commonwealth maintains a highly developed and trade-oriented economy aided by abundant hydropower and mineral resources, especially noted for its large and technologically sophisticated heavy industry sector. Human development is very high throughout the Northern Commonwealth and incomes are both high and distributed relatively evenly, albeit regional differences persist, with more heavily industrialised Denmark and Sweden leading ahead of less industrialised Finland and Norway, with the economic situation especially poor in the newly-acquired eastern territories. The Northern economy is a mixed economy, with a highly liberalised private sector market economy coupled with relatively heavy corporate and income taxation and a large public sector. It has a social-democratic model of welfare, with a strong focus on public services that are among the strongest in the world, especially in healthcare.

It has extensive economic ties to the German Reich and the Low Countries, its main partners in trade, but also conducts significant trade with other stable states outside of Europe. Commercial relations with North America do tend to be somewhat strained, however, with the wary Americans generally seeing the Commonwealth as a nation firmly in the German sphere of influence. Furthermore, although the Northern Commonwealth's trade with the Baltic States is small in volume, for geopolitical reasons the Commonwealth government has incentivised trade with and investment into this region through various preferential trade agreements.

Foreign Relations Description
The Northern Commonwealth's foreign policy is dominated by its relations with the German Reich, to which it is an uneasy partner and sometimes ally. The Northern Council generally considers maintaining favourable relations with the German Reich its highest diplomatic priority. Germany is by far the largest trade partner of the Northern Commonwealth and the Northern economy thus heavily influenced by the terms of trade between the two countries. Not only that, despite heavy investments into defence in the past two decades, the Northern armed forces is a fraction of the size of Germany's and the military threat coming from Berlin is very real. On the other hand, there are also domestic interests pressuring the government to maintain a more distant and aloof stance to Germany. While both countries are fully willing to simply ignore, for the sake of convenience, the fact that they are each other's ideological anathema, with the German Reich being a totalitarian national-socialist state and the Northern Commonwealth committed to its liberal democracy, there are also more pragmatic concerns, with the United States and the former British dominions abroad generally unwilling to broaden relations with the Northern Commonwealth so long as the latter continues to be seen as a German partner. Not to mention the anti-German sentiments in Denmark and Norway inspired by three years of occupation.

The Northern Commonwealth maintains cordial, if not particularly close, relations with the Low Countries and the warlord states of Britain and Western Europe, although the somewhat unstable nature of the warlord states makes the maintenance of regular relations occasionally difficult, and crises do break out over the North Sea from time to time. The Northern Commonwealth generally considers the Russian warlord states to be its nemesis, with chronic brush wars against the various former-Soviet warlords across its eastern border, the Continuation War still not fully over. With the slow realisation that the mutant hordes that dominate Western Russia are both intelligent and organised, the Northern Commonwealth has been trying to establish relations with these mutant hordes as a counterweight to the Russian warlords, although this has seen little success.

Short-term Goals
End the Karelian Nightmare
Since its formal annexation in 1943, the former Soviet territories of the east, now incorporated into four Special Administrative Regions of Petrograd, Aunus, Viena, and Kuola, has also been a constant thorn in the Northern Commonwealth's side, an open wound bleeding away men, resources, and political will. Two and a half million ethnic and cultural Russians inhabit these new territories, still not happy under what they see as foreign rule, and terrorist attacks, riots, and other forms of civil unrest is essentially daily news. Furthermore, the infrastructure in Karelia and Kola is atrociously poor, making it extremely difficult to militarily secure or economically develop the region, and leaving it open to border smugglers or pillaging bandits. To make matters even worse, images of this violence, lawlessness, and poverty is ruining the Northern Commonwealth's reputation in the world stage, making the western allies skeptical as to the Commonwealth's diplomatic overtures. And yet, the Northern Commonwealth cannot rid itself of this eyesore. Not only is it now considered an integral part of the Northern Commonwealth, with Finnish nationalist sentiment feeling extremely strongly about the issue, but the territory is also considered essential to the Northern Commonwealth's defence, with a short border protected by three rivers and two lakes separating the Northern Commonwealth from the mutants and warlords of Russia. The new territories are a nightmare; one way or another, the Northern Commonwealth needs to wake up from this nightmare, and soon.

Continue the Southern Policy
The Northern Commonwealth stands at a precipice. It can't afford to be a friend to the German Reich, and it can't afford not to be a friend to the German Reich. For two decades the Hansson government and later the Erlander government has stood on the tightropes trying to have it both ways, leaving its diplomatic alignment ambiguous and trying to sell Berlin the idea that it is a firm and reliable German partner, a Germanic Aryan people proud of their heritage, and trying to sell to the United States and the British dominions the idea that it is a neutral and humanitarian power, committed to capitalism and global trade. Enough concessions are given to keep Berlin happy, but enough must also be denied to make clear that Copenhagen does not answer to the Reich. It is a difficult diplomatic game, and more crises will no doubt roughen the way into the future, but it is a game that the Northern Commonwealth has played successfully for two decades and must continue to play in the future, lest its people and territories be embroiled in the fires of war and desperation again.

Long-term Goals
In the long-term, the Northern Council hopes to maintain the openness of its politics and society, the wealth of its economy, and its proud independence and integrity. It seeks, to this end, a stable and peaceful international order in which its security and prosperity can be continuously assured.

Armed Forces Name
The armed forces of the Northern Commonwealth is simply called Commonwealth Defence (da: Samfundets Forsvaret). Excluding the Home Guards, it has a service personnel of 1.59 million, 8.3% of the population, of which 238,000, 1.2% of the population, are in active service. In terms of citizens, excluding permanent residents who contribute very few troops to the military, the proportions are 9.5% and 1.4%.

Army Name and Size
The Commonwealth Army (da: Samfundets Hæren) is a relatively small one, constrained first by the Commonwealth's small population and second by the government's prioritisation of the Navy and the Air Force over the Army, which it sees as less important. It fields a total of 246,000 personnel (of which ~85% reserves), sorted into two armoured divisions, fifteen infantry divisions, four garrison brigades (homeland defence), four boreal brigades (specialised arctic/forest/mountain troops), two customs brigade (sovereignty enforcement and border guard), two cavalry brigades (largely for garrison purposes), and one civil guard brigade (government security and civil defence).

Navy Name and Size
The Commonwealth Navy (da: Samfundets Søværnet) is of considerable size, making the Northern Commonwealth major contender in the North and Baltic Seas. It is not, however, a navy built with force projection particularly in mind, with coastal defence being the core consideration, and as such the ability of the navy to operate outside of the North, Baltic, and Norwegian Seas is somewhat limited. The Commonwealth navy fields a surface force of 7 battleships, 10 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, and 56 destroyers, an underwater force of 36 submarines, and various auxiliary or amphibious forces, with 442,000 personnel (of which ~75% reserves).

Air Force Name and Size
The Commonwealth Air Force (da: Samfundets Flyvevåbnet) is surprisingly large and well-developed for a nation of its size and stature, with ~27,000 aircraft and a staff of 905,000 personnel (of which ~90% reserves), oriented around interception and reconnaissance, although other capabilities were not neglected. It is by far the branch with the largest budget, with the government believing that a strong presence in the sky will deter any warlord states contemplating hostile action in the North or Baltic Seas, as well as significantly reduce ground casualties in the never-ending Karelian brush wars.

Other Military Branches
The Army is also supported on the ground by the Commonwealth Home Guards (da: Hjemmeværnet) of another ~100,000 or so personnel (all reserves), which forms a semi-regular defensive force despite not formally being considered a part of the armed forces.

History Since 1942
The Great Plague of 1942 found the north of Europe fractured and divided. Finland, a co-belligerent of the German Reich in the Second World War, was well into their Continuation War with the Soviet Union, while Denmark and Norway were under German occupation, the former through a still largely-independent Danish government and the latter under direct German military administration, and Sweden stood aloof, neutral, watching the world burn around it.

Denmark, after being one of the least-affected European countries in the Spanish Influenza of 1918, once more benefited heavily from its sophisticated healthcare infrastructure, keeping its head somewhat out of water as the plague began to devastate the world. Sweden, heavily mobilised and out of the war, was able to use its administrative resources in effective quarantine and emergency basic care measures to also keep its society stable during what was possibly the greatest crisis of the 20th Century. Norway and Finland, the former occupied by a callous authority and the latter embroiled in a war against a superior foe many times its size, suffered much more.

And yet, the plague also shifted the diplomatic position in northern Europe in favour of the northern European countries. The German ability to effectively hold its occupied territories in Denmark and Norway were severely weakened, with the Danish government in Copenhagen beginning to feel much bolder about their ability to demand greater autonomy from Germany. In late 1942, as the rotation of German troops spread the plague to the Scandinavian north, Sweden, with German approval, began sending the much-famed "white buses" (sv: vita bussarna) into Denmark and Norway, bringing in humanitarian and and, where they could get away with it, bringing out political prisoners. By February 1943, a formal agreement was in place between the German, Swedish, and Danish governments (the Norwegian government at the time being in exile in London) to organise the response to the plague throughout the region, with the Finns parlaying themselves into the agreement that summer.

As the German position grew increasingly weaker, with the plague devastating the densely-populated Rhineland and German troops in the eastern front, Sweden also began training Danish and Norwegian refugees in Sweden as military police, ready to restore Scandinavian order to Denmark and Norway should the German occupation collapse - which it did, Denmark securing effective independence in late 1943 (although de-jure independence would not be achieved until 1945 and German military bases in the country would remain until 1947) and the Swedes mediating a ceasefire between Germany and Norway in early 1944, with the Norwegians holding a snap election later that year to form a new government.

The necessities of dealing with the global crisis that was the plague pulled these countries closer together, each realising that their own none-too-substantial resources were insufficient at handling a disaster of this magnitude. An agreement for the distribution of necessary humanitarian aid and medical resources was signed in the summer of 1944, followed up very quickly by a general agreement on economic mobilisation in the autumn and later by a customs and currency union in 1947. An interparliamentary commission to respond to regional issues as necessary was also established that summer, which would later grow into the Northern Council after it was granted emergency powers in 1946, held its first public elections in 1947, and was granted formal legislative powers in 1948. Militarily, a defensive agreement to protect their own small nations from ever going through something like the Second World War again was agreed upon in early 1945, with the militaries of first the Scandinavian nations being integrated in 1947 and the Finnish one in 1948, although it was agreed that Finland would continue prosecuting its existing war against the Soviet Union alone.

In 1946, the Soviet Union collapsed, bringing a tentative "end" to the Continuation War with Soviet troops along the Karelian front virtually dissolving into the countryside and Leningrad, after five long years of siege, surrendered to the victorious Finnish Army. This so-called victory would prove, however, very short-lived, with the disappearing Soviet troops reappearing throughout the countryside and across the new border as partisans, warlords, and resistance movements, becoming a permanent security black hole staining the eastern side of the newly-emerging Commonwealth.

By the 3rd Rønne Agreement in November 1947, which united the overseas diplomatic missions of the participating countries in the interests of saving manpower and government resources in the ongoing emergency, it was clear that what was emerging from the shattered shell of northern Europe was a unified country of sorts, albeit one without a united nation to serve.

As the plague that swept the world slowly faded in the early 1950s, the newly created Northern Commonwealth was faced with the daunting task of reconstruction in a wild and uncertain world. Despite considerable popular disapproval, the Erlander government pushed to normalise relations between the new Northern Commonwealth and Germany, binding the two nations together economically initially through a series of state-to-state exports and then through a relaxation of trade regulations, believing that only through active participation in the European diplomatic scene could the Northern Commonwealth defend its security, and only in security could it recover and prosper. On the other side, the early Erlander years also set clear norms of military neutrality, siding neither with the Danish and Norwegian inclination towards western allies and the Swedes' and Finns' inclination towards Continental Europe. Slowly, the Northern Commonwealth made an effort to present itself as a reliable trade partner and trustworthy neutral power.

The year is now 1962, two years into the new decade, and the peoples of Northern Europe emerge from the darkness, battered but very much alive.

1942 TRACKING PURPOSES

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

So this is basically "The New Order: Last Days of Europe" with a Generator Rex twist?

I dig it

[Plzen]

I kind of like how this thread stood for hours without a response and as soon as I post an application someone pops in within 20 minutes. It's probably coincidence, but I like it anyways.

I dig it

I'm going to throw a wild guess out there and say you'll be interested in applying for Germany. :p

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

I kind of like how this thread stood for hours without a response and as soon as I post an application someone pops in within 20 minutes. It's probably coincidence, but I like it anyways.

I dig it

I'm going to throw a wild guess out there and say you'll be interested in applying for Germany.

Well, you posting an app just happened to put it on the front of the page as I was perusing, so there's that.

And I was initially going to go with a New Byzantine Empire, but now that you mention it...

Also, what happened to Hitler?

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

Actually, might do something different: perhaps an African Warlord State led by Erwin Rommel? After all, I doubt he'd return to a Germany led by Heinrich Himmler

[Sarderia]

Curious... I want to do a UK rump state ruled by Churchill in right of the King, comprising only England.

Any chance the Orkney and Shetlands would be given to England?

[Plzen]

Any chance the Orkney and Shetlands would be given to England?

If my application is accepted, you mean? Probably not. The Northern Commonwealth likes having naval bases in what is, to it, a strategically important stretch of sea.

Of course the official response will be something along the lines of we have no intention of handing back the islands unless we are confident in the UK government's ability to keep rogue warlords from operating off of them. But the actual reason is we like those bases.

[New Demorvian]

NS Name
Plzen, the R. C. of

Official Nation Name
The union maintains official names only in its official languages, but the Northern Commonwealth is a generally accepted English translation of the official Nordisk Samfundet (da).

Unofficial Nation Name
Norden is common as a short name for the country among speakers of English or Scandinavian. Pohjoismaat is common among speakers of Finnish. Scandinavia is common among speakers of English, but is not domestically accepted.

Flag
The flag of the Northern Commonwealth is a stylised white swan with five wing feathers inscribed in a white circle against a bright blue field.

Head of State
The Northern Commonwealth does not recognise a Head of State, for reasons further explained below (see: Government Description).

Head of Government
Tage Erlander, as Secretary-General of the Northern Commonwealth, serves as the head-of-government and has done so since the formation of the Commonwealth.

Capital
Nominally, the Northern Commonwealth does not recognise a singular capital city, giving equal legal weight to the capitals of all five of its constituent nations. Practically, the Northern Council and many of its executive departments meet in Copenhagen, which serves as the effective capital of the Commonwealth.

Territory
The territory of the Northern Commonwealth is subject to some degree of controversy. The official stance of the Northern Commonwealth is that it holds authority within the territories of its five constituent nations, which remain unchanged from 1921 except for the Finnish annexation of those territories, all of Karelia and Ingria north of the Neva and Svir rivers, that it has occupied in the Continuation War of 1941 onwards, an annexation that many of the Post-Soviet warlord states of Western Russia dispute. In actuality, the Northern Commonwealth has no meaningful presence in Greenland, which has effectively become an independent, semi-anarchic country. The Northern Commonwealth further occupies the Orkney and Shetland islands, although the Northern Commonwealth officially insists that its presence there is merely a "maritime security measure", that it recognises the islands as British territory, and that no transfer of territory will be contemplated until a legitimate British government with which such matters can be discussed re-establishes itself in London.

Ideology
The Northern Commonwealth is a liberal-democratic and mixed economy state, with a firm commitment to human liberty and equality.

Ruling Party or Force
As of 1962, the Northern Commonwealth is governed by a coalition government consisting of the Social-Democratic Group, the senior partner, and the Centre Group, the junior partner. The ruling coalition is broadly centre-left in its ideological outlook and inoffensively cautious in its policies.

Government Description
Despite effectively functioning as a single state, with a single foreign policy, a unified military, a common tax and tariff scheme, a joint parliament with legislative powers, etc., the Northern Commonwealth nominally maintains that it is a regional alliance consisting of five independent nations, each with their own capital, heads of state and government, laws, and national symbols. The Northern Commonwealth thus claims only those powers which were invested in it by a series of treaties signed between 1943 and 1948, leaving it a relatively devolutionary state.

Supreme authority in the Northern Commonwealth is vested by the people of its constituent nations in the Northern Council through elections held no fewer than once every four years theoretically under universal suffrage and proportional representation in multi-member districts. In reality, citizenship has yet to extend to the populations of newly-acquired territories, with Russian speakers in the east and English speakers in the west still largely denied representation. The Northern Council holds legislative authority over the entirety of its territory, and nominates a Secretary-General, who leads the executive functions of government. The Northern Council may also appoint, subject to approval by at least four of the five national governments under it, members to the Commonwealth Court, the apex of the Northern Commonwealth's judiciary system, as well as determine the number of justices required for the function of the Commonwealth Court.

Economic Description
The Northern Commonwealth maintains a highly developed and trade-oriented economy aided by abundant hydropower and mineral resources, especially noted for its large and technologically sophisticated heavy industry sector. Human development is very high throughout the Northern Commonwealth and incomes are both high and distributed relatively evenly, albeit regional differences persist, with more heavily industrialised Denmark and Sweden leading ahead of less industrialised Finland and Norway, with the economic situation especially poor in the newly-acquired eastern territories. The Northern economy is a mixed economy, with a highly liberalised private sector market economy coupled with relatively heavy corporate and income taxation and a large public sector. It has a social-democratic model of welfare, with a strong focus on public services that are among the strongest in the world, especially in healthcare.

It has extensive economic ties to the German Reich and the Low Countries, its main partners in trade, but also conducts significant trade with other stable states outside of Europe. Commercial relations with North America do tend to be somewhat strained, however, with the wary Americans generally seeing the Commonwealth as a nation firmly in the German sphere of influence. Furthermore, although the Northern Commonwealth's trade with the Baltic States is small in volume, for geopolitical reasons the Commonwealth government has incentivised trade with and investment into this region through various preferential trade agreements.

Foreign Relations Description
The Northern Commonwealth's foreign policy is dominated by its relations with the German Reich, to which it is an uneasy partner and sometimes ally. The Northern Council generally considers maintaining favourable relations with the German Reich its highest diplomatic priority. Germany is by far the largest trade partner of the Northern Commonwealth and the Northern economy thus heavily influenced by the terms of trade between the two countries. Not only that, despite heavy investments into defence in the past two decades, the Northern armed forces is a fraction of the size of Germany's and the military threat coming from Berlin is very real. On the other hand, there are also domestic interests pressuring the government to maintain a more distant and aloof stance to Germany. While both countries are fully willing to simply ignore, for the sake of convenience, the fact that they are each other's ideological anathema, with the German Reich being a totalitarian national-socialist state and the Northern Commonwealth committed to its liberal democracy, there are also more pragmatic concerns, with the United States and the former British dominions abroad generally unwilling to broaden relations with the Northern Commonwealth so long as the latter continues to be seen as a German partner. Not to mention the anti-German sentiments in Denmark and Norway inspired by three years of occupation.

The Northern Commonwealth maintains cordial, if not particularly close, relations with the Low Countries and the warlord states of Britain and Western Europe, although the somewhat unstable nature of the warlord states makes the maintenance of regular relations occasionally difficult, and crises do break out over the North Sea from time to time. The Northern Commonwealth generally considers the Russian warlord states to be its nemesis, with chronic brush wars against the various former-Soviet warlords across its eastern border, the Continuation War still not fully over. With the slow realisation that the mutant hordes that dominate Western Russia are both intelligent and organised, the Northern Commonwealth has been trying to establish relations with these mutant hordes as a counterweight to the Russian warlords, although this has seen little success.

Short-term Goals
End the Karelian Nightmare
Since its formal annexation in 1943, the former Soviet territories of the east, now incorporated into four Special Administrative Regions of Petrograd, Aunus, Viena, and Kuola, has also been a constant thorn in the Northern Commonwealth's side, an open wound bleeding away men, resources, and political will. Two and a half million ethnic and cultural Russians inhabit these new territories, still not happy under what they see as foreign rule, and terrorist attacks, riots, and other forms of civil unrest is essentially daily news. Furthermore, the infrastructure in Karelia and Kola is atrociously poor, making it extremely difficult to militarily secure or economically develop the region, and leaving it open to border smugglers or pillaging bandits. To make matters even worse, images of this violence, lawlessness, and poverty is ruining the Northern Commonwealth's reputation in the world stage, making the western allies skeptical as to the Commonwealth's diplomatic overtures. And yet, the Northern Commonwealth cannot rid itself of this eyesore. Not only is it now considered an integral part of the Northern Commonwealth, with Finnish nationalist sentiment feeling extremely strongly about the issue, but the territory is also considered essential to the Northern Commonwealth's defence, with a short border protected by three rivers and two lakes separating the Northern Commonwealth from the mutants and warlords of Russia. The new territories are a nightmare; one way or another, the Northern Commonwealth needs to wake up from this nightmare, and soon.

Continue the Southern Policy
The Northern Commonwealth stands at a precipice. It can't afford to be a friend to the German Reich, and it can't afford not to be a friend to the German Reich. For two decades the Hansson government and later the Erlander government has stood on the tightropes trying to have it both ways, leaving its diplomatic alignment ambiguous and trying to sell Berlin the idea that it is a firm and reliable German partner, a Germanic Aryan people proud of their heritage, and trying to sell to the United States and the British dominions the idea that it is a neutral and humanitarian power, committed to capitalism and global trade. Enough concessions are given to keep Berlin happy, but enough must also be denied to make clear that Copenhagen does not answer to the Reich. It is a difficult diplomatic game, and more crises will no doubt roughen the way into the future, but it is a game that the Northern Commonwealth has played successfully for two decades and must continue to play in the future, lest its people and territories be embroiled in the fires of war and desperation again.

Long-term Goals
In the long-term, the Northern Council hopes to maintain the openness of its politics and society, the wealth of its economy, and its proud independence and integrity. It seeks, to this end, a stable and peaceful international order in which its security and prosperity can be continuously assured.

Armed Forces Name
The armed forces of the Northern Commonwealth is simply called Commonwealth Defence (da: Samfundets Forsvaret). Excluding the Home Guards, it has a service personnel of 1.59 million, 8.3% of the population, of which 238,000, 1.2% of the population, are in active service. In terms of citizens, excluding permanent residents who contribute very few troops to the military, the proportions are 9.5% and 1.4%.

Army Name and Size
The Commonwealth Army (da: Samfundets Hæren) is a relatively small one, constrained first by the Commonwealth's small population and second by the government's prioritisation of the Navy and the Air Force over the Army, which it sees as less important. It fields a total of 246,000 personnel (of which ~85% reserves), sorted into two armoured divisions, fifteen infantry divisions, four garrison brigades (homeland defence), four boreal brigades (specialised arctic/forest/mountain troops), two customs brigade (sovereignty enforcement and border guard), two cavalry brigades (largely for garrison purposes), and one civil guard brigade (government security and civil defence).

Navy Name and Size
The Commonwealth Navy (da: Samfundets Søværnet) is of considerable size, making the Northern Commonwealth major contender in the North and Baltic Seas. It is not, however, a navy built with force projection particularly in mind, with coastal defence being the core consideration, and as such the ability of the navy to operate outside of the North, Baltic, and Norwegian Seas is somewhat limited. The Commonwealth navy fields a surface force of 7 battleships, 10 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, and 56 destroyers, an underwater force of 36 submarines, and various auxiliary or amphibious forces, with 442,000 personnel (of which ~75% reserves).

Air Force Name and Size
The Commonwealth Air Force (da: Samfundets Flyvevåbnet) is surprisingly large and well-developed for a nation of its size and stature, with ~27,000 aircraft and a staff of 905,000 personnel (of which ~90% reserves), oriented around interception and reconnaissance, although other capabilities were not neglected. It is by far the branch with the largest budget, with the government believing that a strong presence in the sky will deter any warlord states contemplating hostile action in the North or Baltic Seas, as well as significantly reduce ground casualties in the never-ending Karelian brush wars.

Other Military Branches
The Army is also supported on the ground by the Commonwealth Home Guards (da: Hjemmeværnet) of another ~100,000 or so personnel (all reserves), which forms a semi-regular defensive force despite not formally being considered a part of the armed forces.

History Since 1942
The Great Plague of 1942 found the north of Europe fractured and divided. Finland, a co-belligerent of the German Reich in the Second World War, was well into their Continuation War with the Soviet Union, while Denmark and Norway were under German occupation, the former through a still largely-independent Danish government and the latter under direct German military administration, and Sweden stood aloof, neutral, watching the world burn around it.

Denmark, after being one of the least-affected European countries in the Spanish Influenza of 1918, once more benefited heavily from its sophisticated healthcare infrastructure, keeping its head somewhat out of water as the plague began to devastate the world. Sweden, heavily mobilised and out of the war, was able to use its administrative resources in effective quarantine and emergency basic care measures to also keep its society stable during what was possibly the greatest crisis of the 20th Century. Norway and Finland, the former occupied by a callous authority and the latter embroiled in a war against a superior foe many times its size, suffered much more.

And yet, the plague also shifted the diplomatic position in northern Europe in favour of the northern European countries. The German ability to effectively hold its occupied territories in Denmark and Norway were severely weakened, with the Danish government in Copenhagen beginning to feel much bolder about their ability to demand greater autonomy from Germany. In late 1942, as the rotation of German troops spread the plague to the Scandinavian north, Sweden, with German approval, began sending the much-famed "white buses" (sv: vita bussarna) into Denmark and Norway, bringing in humanitarian and and, where they could get away with it, bringing out political prisoners. By February 1943, a formal agreement was in place between the German, Swedish, and Danish governments (the Norwegian government at the time being in exile in London) to organise the response to the plague throughout the region, with the Finns parlaying themselves into the agreement that summer.

As the German position grew increasingly weaker, with the plague devastating the densely-populated Rhineland and German troops in the eastern front, Sweden also began training Danish and Norwegian refugees in Sweden as military police, ready to restore Scandinavian order to Denmark and Norway should the German occupation collapse - which it did, Denmark securing effective independence in late 1943 (although de-jure independence would not be achieved until 1945 and German military bases in the country would remain until 1947) and the Swedes mediating a ceasefire between Germany and Norway in early 1944, with the Norwegians holding a snap election later that year to form a new government.

The necessities of dealing with the global crisis that was the plague pulled these countries closer together, each realising that their own none-too-substantial resources were insufficient at handling a disaster of this magnitude. An agreement for the distribution of necessary humanitarian aid and medical resources was signed in the summer of 1944, followed up very quickly by a general agreement on economic mobilisation in the autumn and later by a customs and currency union in 1947. An interparliamentary commission to respond to regional issues as necessary was also established that summer, which would later grow into the Northern Council after it was granted emergency powers in 1946, held its first public elections in 1947, and was granted formal legislative powers in 1948. Militarily, a defensive agreement to protect their own small nations from ever going through something like the Second World War again was agreed upon in early 1945, with the militaries of first the Scandinavian nations being integrated in 1947 and the Finnish one in 1948, although it was agreed that Finland would continue prosecuting its existing war against the Soviet Union alone.

In 1946, the Soviet Union collapsed, bringing a tentative "end" to the Continuation War with Soviet troops along the Karelian front virtually dissolving into the countryside and Leningrad, after five long years of siege, surrendered to the victorious Finnish Army. This so-called victory would prove, however, very short-lived, with the disappearing Soviet troops reappearing throughout the countryside and across the new border as partisans, warlords, and resistance movements, becoming a permanent security black hole staining the eastern side of the newly-emerging Commonwealth.

By the 3rd Rønne Agreement in November 1947, which united the overseas diplomatic missions of the participating countries in the interests of saving manpower and government resources in the ongoing emergency, it was clear that what was emerging from the shattered shell of northern Europe was a unified country of sorts, albeit one without a united nation to serve.

As the plague that swept the world slowly faded in the early 1950s, the newly created Northern Commonwealth was faced with the daunting task of reconstruction in a wild and uncertain world. Despite considerable popular disapproval, the Erlander government pushed to normalise relations between the new Northern Commonwealth and Germany, binding the two nations together economically initially through a series of state-to-state exports and then through a relaxation of trade regulations, believing that only through active participation in the European diplomatic scene could the Northern Commonwealth defend its security, and only in security could it recover and prosper. On the other side, the early Erlander years also set clear norms of military neutrality, siding neither with the Danish and Norwegian inclination towards western allies and the Swedes' and Finns' inclination towards Continental Europe. Slowly, the Northern Commonwealth made an effort to present itself as a reliable trade partner and trustworthy neutral power.

The year is now 1962, two years into the new decade, and the peoples of Northern Europe emerge from the darkness, battered but very much alive.

1942 TRACKING PURPOSES

Accepted.

[New Demorvian]

I kind of like how this thread stood for hours without a response and as soon as I post an application someone pops in within 20 minutes. It's probably coincidence, but I like it anyways.


I'm going to throw a wild guess out there and say you'll be interested in applying for Germany.

Well, you posting an app just happened to put it on the front of the page as I was perusing, so there's that.

And I was initially going to go with a New Byzantine Empire, but now that you mention it...

Also, what happened to Hitler?

Hitler was imprisoned by the SS during their coup and was executed in 1949.

[Barapam]

Since the Nordics are taken, I might do a Nordic faction instead, if it's all right with Plzen. Plzen, what happened to Nazi collaborators such as Vidkun Quisling once Norway and Denmark was liberated? (Not saying I'll make a Nazi faction, but it's one idea)

[Plzen]

Plzen, what happened to Nazi collaborators such as Vidkun Quisling once Norway and Denmark was liberated? (Not saying I'll make a Nazi faction, but it's one idea)

Any Norwegian native highly ranked in the Norwegian occupation government would have been imprisoned, executed, or exiled to Germany, with very few exceptions. Denmark never really had an occupation government in this timeline, though, what with the 1943 resignations that happened IRL not happening in this timeline, so there wouldn't have been any purge of Nazi leaders in that country - Clausen might plausibly still be alive, albeit getting old.

As a political force, though, the Nazis would still be around in 1962. They would've gotten 2.1% of the popular vote in the 1943 Danish elections - the same as in IRL - and they'd probably have stayed at 1~2% support since, largely irrelevant as a political force but still technically contesting elections.

[Barapam]

Plzen, what happened to Nazi collaborators such as Vidkun Quisling once Norway and Denmark was liberated? (Not saying I'll make a Nazi faction, but it's one idea)

Any Norwegian native highly ranked in the Norwegian occupation government would have been imprisoned, executed, or exiled to Germany, with very few exceptions. Denmark never really had an occupation government in this timeline, though, what with the 1943 resignations that happened IRL not happening in this timeline, so there wouldn't have been any purge of Nazi leaders in that country - Clausen might plausibly still be alive, albeit getting old.

As a political force, though, the Nazis would still be around in 1962. They would've gotten 2.1% of the popular vote in the 1943 Danish elections - the same as in IRL - and they'd probably have stayed at 1~2% support since, largely irrelevant as a political force but still technically contesting elections.

Ok, got it. In Sweden irl they were fractured in different parties, and never really got much votes either. The German Nazis preferred to make deals with the established politicians during the war, and I guess it'd be the same here, since Himmler's seems sort of isolationist.

You've given me something to think about. I'm not completely abandoning the idea yet, but it would of course be fun to play a faction with a little more power.

[Sarderia]

(Delete all in parentheses)

NS Name: Sarderia

Official Nation Name: Her Majesty's Interim Emergency Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (IEG-UK)

Unofficial Nation Name: Great Britain or just Britain for short; England is commonly used.

Flag:

Royal Standard


Union Jack

Head of State: officially: Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom

Head of Government: Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden

Capital: London

Territory: England proper; the city of Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff, the Channel Islands, the Hebrides, Gibraltar

Ideology: As with all the other former dominions of the British Empire, the Interim Government's ideology is what would best be called pure revanchism. It seeks to estabilish order again under His Majesty's Government in the whole British archipelago; and it seeks to reconnect with Britain's former overseas territories.

Ruling Party or Force: The current party in power is the Conservative Party (commonly Tory; the Tories). Tories have constantly occupied the Government position since the general elections of 1935. Other major political parties - such as Labour, Liberal National, and the British Union of Fascists, has an extremely diminished influence if not having no power themselves. By this time Britain is essentially a police state controlled by the central government in London and the Royal Army, firmly under the grasp of the Tories and Churchill.

Government Description: While technically the Interim Government is still a constitutional Parliamentary monarchy operating on the basis of the Westminster System, in practice it works more similar to the authoritarian, one-party state system of government. With the departure of the British Royal Family to Canada and the subsequent government collapse, the Conservative Party effectively became the only semblance of government Britain still had. Throughout the span of a decade, called the Consolidation, the Tory-backed Interim Government successfully captured most of England from independent Army officers, regional independence movements, and opposing parties.

The 650-seat House of Commons is filled with Tories, making a majority Government of 630 seats. The rest are divided between Labour and Liberal National members of Parliament. The House of Lords was declared to be in an indefinite recess since 1945, and no real attempt to revive it has taken place throughout recent history - as such, the British Parliament is effectively unicameral. There are no Shadow Cabinets; the Government High Command, which replaced the Cabinet, is the extension of the Prime Minister.

Economic Description: Currently, the English economy is experiencing a massive upward momentum due to the reconstruction efforts of Winston Churchill's government post the Consolidation era. Economists have frequently compared the resurgent economy of England with those of the United States during the early 1900s. The combination of a well-developed road and railway infrastructure (which were relatively intact following the Consolidation period), a burgeoning workforce, and well-estabilished industrial factories made England a major exporter in Europe. Especially notable is England's automotive and machinery sectors, two of the country's most important heavy industry sectors, which generated a considerably large amount of the nation's GDP. England also imports less than it exports - most of the imports originated from America, Canada, and other British Empire dominions through the "Empire First" and "Buy English" policy, which encourages the consumption of English-made goods. English-made products could be easily found in Europe and the Americas. The trade relations between England and Latin American/Asian nations (their largest customer after Europe and North America) is reciprocal; they exported raw natural resources and imported English processed products.

The country maintained a relatively steady and low corporate tax compared to its neighbors, such as the Northern Commonwealth - and lesser regulations of workforce. While this comes with several downsides, such as less benefits to employees, the working spirit of the English people remains quite high compared to other countries (save for perhaps the United States) because of the higher (Protestant Christian) religiosity among the population, and the advent of prosperity theology - also a major driving factor of this work ethic. Subsequently there are less social security nets in England compared to other European countries.

Foreign Relations Description:
AMERICAS
The Interim Government maintained a good to cordial relationsip with virtually all American states - most importantly, the Kingdom of Great Britain (formerly the Dominion of Canada), of which the Interim Government considers itself a part of, and with other members of the Commonwealth who abides by the Dominion Decree (a mix of home-rule and British colonial rule exercised from Ottawa), primarily Guyana, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. The combination of a similar system of government (an authoritarian state), being a fellow English-speaking nation, and deep economic ties put the Interim Government on the fringe of the American influence. As such it maintains a cordial relationship with the United States as well. Diplomatic relations between the Interim Government and the Latin American nations are good to neutral, which consists primarily of economic ties (the export of heavy machinery and manufactured goods from Britain to the Americas, and the export of raw natural resources to Britain).

EUROPE
Perhaps any animosity left between Great Britain and Nazi Germany are already well buried deep into the ground, since the diplomatic relations between the Interim Government and Germany are best described as neutral. While this runs contrary with the policies of Canada (the current head of the British Empire), the Interim Government maintained that such position is necessary to maintain peace. England does not have the resources to challenge Germany, and is now currently experiencing a massive economic momentum, so the Government's focus is to avoid diplomatic confrontation with Germany at all costs. Perhaps the relations between England and the Northern Commonwealth is the only one with significant animosity currently; caused by none other than the occupation of the Shetland and Orkney islands, which the Government deemed illegitimate.

Short-term Goals:

Long-term Goals:

Armed Forces Name:

Army Name and Size:

Navy Name and Size (if it exists):

Air Force Name and Size (if it exists):

Other Military Branches (if they exist):

History Since 1942:
Britain's Empire, already battered by its involvement in the Second World War, took the final hit in form of the Plague of 1942. The burgeoning British population, coupled with the influx of refugees from France, Poland, and the occupied Northern countries, further decimated the British healthcare infrastructure's capability to handle the plague. At first the plague's arrival was widely remarked as an end to the German threat; however, it became painstakingly obvious that the effects of the disease are far more brutal towards Great Britain than to Germany.

In 1942 alone hundreds of thousands fell victim to the plague; the Churchill government, already very strained from the burden of managing the War and providing incentives to the British economy, now have to contend in preventing this deadly plague from sweeping over Britain with a far deadlier effect than any German force could bring upon. This only was further exacerbated with the presence of the Mutated - horrific monsters that rose up from the dead, attacking humans and animals alike. All over Britain, the Grey Army was immediately assembled from the elite regiments of the Royal Army - their job was initially to maintain the peace and to kill Mutateds that threatened the British population. In 1944, the Churchill government facilitated King George VI's departure to Ottawa, and the subsequent proclamation of the Dominion Decree - the British Empire was no more, instead replaced with a coalition of dominions who share the King as their collective Monarch. However, the rulings of Canada (now the seat of government for all the British Empire) still takes precedent. Meanwhile, the dire situation in Britain prompts the government to declare a state of emergency and martial law - the regime which still persists until now, dubbed the "Interim Government".

1944 to 1950 saw a mass migration of people from Britain to Australia and Canada, and also the collapse of Britain itself into several fractured states. Britain's 1945 general election was cancelled; part of it because the Conservative Party, who by now had their own personal paramilitary who are ubitquous throughout British cities, objected to it - and part also because the people had no incentive to vote. The Irish Free State managed to seize Northern Ireland in the 1949 Belfast offensive. The Churchill government had no choice but to capitulate and negotiate with the Irish leaders. Under the term of the Dublin Treaty of 1950, Northern Ireland is ceded as a condominium between the Interim Government and the Irish Free State, with only the city of Belfast remaining the bastion of full British sovereignity on the Emerald Isle. The year also saw the mass migration of Irish Protestants to England and the city of Belfast; and the construction of the new City Walls. However, the situation in Britain proper had became so dire that the Interim Government itself splintered to pieces. The Scottish National Party convened at Glasgow in 1951, declaring the independence of Scotland; meanwhile, several regiments of the Royal Army declared themselves as "appointed" by Elizabeth, Heir Presumptive (as technically the "Princess of Wales") to estabilish a separate government in Wales. The Labour Party seized control of Birmingham and estabilished their own Interim Government. Another group of splinter government officials declared the Republic of Cornwall in Truro. Faced with the collapse of Britain, Churchill consolidated whatever remained of the Royal Army he could muster, and launched a blitz three-year long offensive from London to other parts of England - such as Northumbria, West Midlands, and Cornwall in the aim to re-estabilish London's control over these regions. Emerging as the victor, the Interim Government completed the Consolidation (the period of internal strife and civil wars) over England. Coincicentally the date of the Government's proclamation of Victory in England was just a day before the coronation of Elizabeth II as Queen of Great Britain - as such, the event is largely celebrated as a national holiday, and "Royal Favours" (formal alliance and trade agreements between Canada and the Interim Government) is estabilished.

The subsequent decade saw the reformation of the British government to follow an increasingly authoritarian model. The Interim Government seized major weapon-producing and mining companies, and estabilished the Royal Investigative Commission, an agency allegedly formed to combat corruption and "anarchistic dissent among the population", but effectively served as a secret police for the government. Further curfews are implemented throughout the country, and membership of the Royal Pandemic Military Service (the Grey Army) was doubled. In 1953, the virus was by far suppressed - infection rates reached an all-time low, and mutation incidents became even rarer. This allows for a relatively peaceful rebuilding period of the British economy, which the Interim Government took advantage of greatly. In the span of ten years the Interim Government transformed a devastated England to a major center of production once more - boosted by Britain's natural resources, extremely cordial relations with Canada, Australia, and other realms of the British Empire (which the Interim Government saw as one nation), and also the infrastructure of Britain, which survived relatively unscatched following the Consolidation. The Humboldtian education model is made mandatory among all the British universities, increasing the quality of education. Daily pledges to the Government and the Queen is implemented in factories and schools. The Anglican Church of England became increasingly dependent on the Government. The advent of prosperity theology - which motivated the English middle class to work harder and produce more economical initiatives, also helped a role in the country's reconstruction. The sentence "God, King, and Country" quickly became the unofficial motto of the new Britain.

Now the date is 1962. Four years ago in 1958, Churchill resigned from his position as Prime Minister due to falling health - Anthony Eden, which is widely considered as Churchill's appointed successor was elected (by the Parliament, not through general elections) landslide as the new and current Prime MInister of Great Britain. Two years ago in 1960, the Royal Army declared a new offensive against the warlords who ruled the cities of Glasgow in Scotland and Cardiff in Wales - their close proximity to the border allows for easier mobilization and quick capture by the Army. Currently, the Interim Government is facing a two-front war against a myriad of warlords; in Wales and in Scotland, with largely successful results so far. As the reunification of Britain dawns... time shall tell if Britain could emerge again to reach the peak it once sat upon - Rule Britannia.

1942 TRACKING PURPOSES

Dropping this concept for now... just a concept, though, not a final app.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

Well, you posting an app just happened to put it on the front of the page as I was perusing, so there's that.

And I was initially going to go with a New Byzantine Empire, but now that you mention it...

Also, what happened to Hitler?

Hitler was imprisoned by the SS during their coup and was executed in 1949.

Why would the SS execute Hitler? Isn’t the whole point of the SS that they were fanatically loyal, even when Germany was obviously being crushed from both sides they still fought on to the last man?

I’d be surprised Himmler has anyone supporting him anymore if he was the one who killed Der Führer, that’s like one of the founding fathers launching a coup and executing George Washington.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

At the very least, that means the recruitment potential of my new Rommel led African State has gone from some to everyone

[New Demorvian]

Hitler was imprisoned by the SS during their coup and was executed in 1949.

Why would the SS execute Hitler? Isn’t the whole point of the SS that they were fanatically loyal, even when Germany was obviously being crushed from both sides they still fought on to the last man?

I’d be surprised Himmler has anyone supporting him anymore if he was the one who killed Der Führer, that’s like one of the founding fathers launching a coup and executing George Washington.

Okay, nevermind that. He's put under house arrest at his Berghof residence.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

Why would the SS execute Hitler? Isn’t the whole point of the SS that they were fanatically loyal, even when Germany was obviously being crushed from both sides they still fought on to the last man?

I’d be surprised Himmler has anyone supporting him anymore if he was the one who killed Der Führer, that’s like one of the founding fathers launching a coup and executing George Washington.

Okay, nevermind that. He's put under house arrest at his Berghof residence.

Ah, so he’s being held captive?

Recruitment potential’s gone down from everyone to almost everyone, cool.

Is it okay if Speer managed to escape to Africa? It’d be funny to see Himmler manage to miss the one man he hated the most.

[New Demorvian]

Okay, nevermind that. He's put under house arrest at his Berghof residence.

Ah, so he’s being held captive?

Recruitment potential’s gone down from everyone to almost everyone, cool.

Is it okay if Speer managed to escape to Africa? It’d be funny to see Himmler manage to miss the one man he hated the most.

Sure, you might as well put Speer there.

[Barapam]

I've decided to work on an app for Cuba instead. I reckon Castro still took over, but without Soviet support (since they collapsed) Cuba never turned full communist. The relationship with the US should be interesting.

[Plzen]

I've decided to work on an app for Cuba instead. I reckon Castro still took over, but without Soviet support (since they collapsed) Cuba never turned full communist. The relationship with the US should be interesting.

Sounds interesting, although I was hoping for a major power of some sorts. :p The world is a big place, and it seems that the thing that always hampers nation RPs like this one is the lack of player states to fill it with.

Cuba's maybe close enough for the two of us to interact in more than just trivial ways security-wise.

[Barapam]

I've decided to work on an app for Cuba instead. I reckon Castro still took over, but without Soviet support (since they collapsed) Cuba never turned full communist. The relationship with the US should be interesting.

Sounds interesting, although I was hoping for a major power of some sorts. The world is a big place, and it seems that the thing that always hampers nation RPs like this one is the lack of player states to fill it with.

Cuba's maybe close enough for the two of us to interact in more than just trivial ways security-wise.

My other ideas were warlord states or Manchukuo, but it felt like too much to study for.

I suppose Cuba and Norden could find common ground in being two medium powers with powerful and dangerous neighbors which are neither really allies or enemies (US and Germany). Not to mention Olof Palme liked Cuba, so maybe that's an opening.

Not to mention Cuba being the main sugar exporter of the world, with all what that means for trade deals and so on.

Or did you mean that Norden could become what the Soviet Union was for Cuba iotl? Interesting, since I think Sweden had a nuclear weapons program back then...

[Benuty]

Will probably try a faction out in the American west coast trying to restore democracy to their locales since the U.S is clearly past due for its expiration.

[Plzen]

-snip-

Palme was a refreshingly direct foreign policy firebrand for sure, with a great deal of sympathy towards the developing world, but it's just 1962 and he isn't particularly highly placed yet. :p Once Erlander steps down it's unlikely the other four constituent nations of the Northern Commonwealth will let Sweden get away with another Swedish Secretary-General, either.

Norden is certainly not any kind of a superpower, just a great power in some ways and a secondary power in most others, but if Cuba ends up finding it particularly difficult to acquire an international sponsor I suppose it's not out of the question that Norden ends up being a partner of sorts. I'm not entirely sure what Cuba can offer Norden in terms of security and influence, though; the threats we're concerned about are all in Europe.

Maybe if the US collapses into outright civil war?