Dev Diary IV: The Black State news

Dev Diary IV: The Black State

Hello and welcome to the fourth dev diary of The New Order: Last Days of Europe! This week we're focusing back in on a single nation, and back to the German sphere. But first...

And Then There Was Art:

Before I get started on the diary, I’d like to show off one of our new loading screen art pieces, made by Matheus Graef, of the Gibraltar Dam. I think it’s a damn impressive piece of work (I’m sorry) and I’m happy to say TNO will have many more like it! I hope you’re excited to see some of the other pieces we will be showing off :)



The Black State:

Today we are going to be speaking of one of several of the Reichskommissariats, ostensibly vassal states of the Reich and originally planned to eventually be incorporated into Greater Germany, the crash of the 50s did away with this authority, and now the Reichskomissars essentially rule their realms as kings, working each into their unique vision while, for the most part, attempting to keep Germany pleased enough to ensure regular aid and military shipments.

The most independent Reichskomissar in Europe, however, is Reichskomissar Josias Georg Wilhelm Adolf Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont. The head of the Princely house of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the noble born SS officer had been given the Kaukasus to rule, and may have done so well, had he not been captured by local partisans on his arrival. Scarred and deformed, he barely escaped with his life after a rescue mission by the German garrison. His scars go far deeper than physically, however, mentally, Josias was deeply affected by the attempt on his life.

Kaukasia is a land ruled by fear. Josias has subscribed to the newly founded ideology of Ultranational-Socialism. Coined by Heinrich Himmler in response to the Reich’s slow slide back to the left and into decadence, Ultranational-Socialism calls for a return to spartanism, a complete removal of those deemed undesirable from the social ladder, and the military to be fully connected part of the state, visible in every scion of society.

The people are broken, and the German garrison, led by Josias, have terrorized the Caucasus into a hellscape. Strip mining and massive industrial development have ruined the countryside, and German Kaukasus is known as one of the most polluted nations on the planet, a constant smog filling the nation and passing into its neighbors. (We are looking into custom weather for smog, but for now, here is Kaukasia ;))



The smog is fitting, as Josias and his black clad ‘True Kaukasian League’, have almost entirely cut off contact with the Reich. Besides the regular oil shipment to Berlin, little word comes out of the Reichskomissariat, Josias and his men preferring to be as separated as possible from Hitler’s dying beast. So serious do they take their isolation, that the Führer himself was once humiliated, as he attempted to arrive unannounced to meet with Josias, and was forced to circle the country in his plane for several hours as the request for a landing strip was stalled.

This is a nation that has suffered great deaths in the pursuit of one man’s ideological goals that even now remain unclear to both the general populace and outside forces. What is clear is that this isolation will not be able to continue forever, but nobody knows how exactly it will be broken.

1962:

At the beginning of 1962, the nation is the most isolated from Germania of any of its fellow Reichskomissariats. With the assassination attempt on Hitler, however, what few ties remained were severed. As it is clear the Reich is on the verge of anarchy, it sparks movement in RK. Kaukasia.

There are several paths available to the Reichskomissariat, and we will go through its focus tree branch by branch (note, the focus tree is still WIP, and the military section will most likely be expanded upon when we introduce our new tech tree :)):



The Black Army is a rather straightforward, due to the nation’s low manpower and stringent recruitment standards, it must make up in other ways. Special forces is a major focus, focusing on elite mountain soldiers to hold the southern front and ending with Werewolf Gruppe, an attempt to create a wholly Kaukasian-German special forces group, meant to rain hell on anyone hoping to invade the nation.

Otherwise, the Black Army will focus on improving the power of its battlefield support, and of its mechanized and tank brigades. A force focused on armor and mechanized forces, with a core of elite and fast moving infantry, makes RK. Kaukasia able to hit well above its weight in a war.

The Dread Fleet follows a similar idea. Instead of focusing the fleet towards being able to hold in a straight war, it will instead focus on lightly building up its force, holding a core of battleships, and finally working towards establishing a superior force of submarines, hoping to greatly soften any force it will need to stand against.

Finally, the Aerial Raiders tree focuses mainly on providing deadly, and elite, fighter aircraft. RK. Kaukasia gets large bonuses to ace generation and air superiority efficiency due to its pilot’s ‘do or die’ attitude.

Politically, Kaukasia has three very distinct branches once Germany begins its inevitable descent towards anarchy, which we will describe a bit more later:

Josias can fully embrace Ultranationalism, dedicating himself to Himmler, modelling his nation in Burgundy’s image and finally crushing any hope for resistance still struggling against his rule. As relations between Germany and Burgundy deteriorate further, he can use the opportunity to, with Burgundian support, attempt to invade the surrounding Reichskomissars, as well as Turkey and Iran. This isn’t to say this is easy, or even very possible except for very skilled players, but opportunity is ripe for Josias’s empire to expand.

The second portion of the political tree involves Josias moderating back towards German National-Socialism. Much of the political structure will need to be restructured, again, and support given to appropriate parties in Berlin who will be friendly towards reconciliation, notably Göring or Bormann, but Josias can use his support for the Reich to elevate Kaukasia’s position. In a Reich where the majority of its vassals seem to be attempting to tear themselves free, and the nation itself falling apart at the seams, Kaukasia’s support can greatly elevate it among its peers.



Finally, and perhaps most interesting of all, Josias can fully embrace his noble blood. A Fourth Reich, centered in the east, can form with Josias as its Kaiser. The Kingdom of Kaukasia will have to struggle to realign itself, and of course will also need to find a means to break away from the Reich without leading to its own demise, but can become a powerful force in its own right. A new and expansionist monarchy in this day and age may not be received well by all, however, but there are those in Europe who would be happy to support such a state…



The Triumvirate will happily accept Kaiser Josias and his Kingdom, desperately desiring further opportunities to erode the Reich’s position and rip apart its sphere, the Triumvirate presents an opportunity for protection for the young Kingdom. However, the Triumvirate will have issues of its own, and waiting and supporting its reform will leave Kaukasia open for conflict until then. If Germany turns itself from oblivion quickly enough, Kaukasia can find itself having greatly overplayed its hand, and in the crosshairs of Europe’s strongest military.

The final portion of the tree is the Occultic Adventures branch. With Kaukasia fully embracing Himmler’s Ultranational-Socialism, it can, inspired by the Burgundian’s own attempts, attempt to find many ancient and powerful artifacts from a bygone era. Worry not, despite the claims of Josias and his men, it is doubtful that any of these items carry any real power, and there is little way to prove their authenticity.

Each of these expeditions, however, present great opportunity for Josias and his men. Whether it can end in foreign contacts, prestige, new knowledge, cultural finds, the journey for each artifact represents a unique event chain with multiple possible outcomes and benefits… they can also lead to useless wastes of time, loss of materials, international humiliation, or worse.

And of course, Kaukasia will also have its own unique cultural and political events for the player to discover:



Kaukasia is a country of great risk and great reward. Possibly its biggest benefit is that most of its neighbors expect little from it, not seeing the massive threat that the mysterious and dark state represents on their borders. If played correctly, the Kaukasia player can be the largest thorn in the side of any of its chosen enemies… it won’t be an easy path however, and doubtless not for a player of the faint of heart.

Conclusion:

I can’t wait to spend all night typing up our next diary for you! Next week and onward we will begin exploring outside the German sphere, for now at least, and we will be revisiting the British Isles. Afterwards, we are considering taking a short break from diaries to give the team time to build up what we currently have, but we will have more word on that then.

I also apologize if this diary was a bit more 'thin' and the focus trees a bit more bare. I wanted to do a bit more this week but ended up falling very ill for the first half, and miscommunication on the team led to the release of this diary being a bit... insane.

Until next time! Thanks for reading! And as always, find us at our Discord, on Reddit, the Paradox Forums, and now Alternatehistory.com!