Characters / TNO Asia

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Chinese Mainland

Republic of China Proper

Republic of China

^{Flag of North China Political Council}

Official Name: Republic of China, North China Political Council (Defeat in Western Insurrection)

Ruling Party: Guomindang - Gaopai^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Gao Faction

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

The Japanese collaborationist Republican Chinese government founded by Wang Jingwei. With Chiang Kai-shek's death in Chongqing during WWII, Wang has cemented himself as the legitimate leader of China and the KMT, and the true successor to Dr. Sun Yat-sen. But Wang's military victory could not conceal China's sickly reality: a poor and divided puppet state politicaly dominated by a foreign invader.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Instead of the Four Modernizations (of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science with technology) implemented by Deng Xiaoping in OTL, there are Five Modernizations (education, technology, industrialization, militarization, and reunification) outlined by President Gao Zongwu.
• Authority in Name Only: Formally, the Republican government in Nanjing is the governing body over the entirety of the old Qing Empire but Manchuria and Guangdong. In reality, it only controls the eastern portion of the country. The inland cities have poor communication infrastructure and bandits are so rife that the government can only confidently claim control over the coast.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In the 70s, China will try and break free from Japan, sparking the Great Asian War. However, it would be an endeavor with a hefty price in death and destruction, whether or not the Chinese even win.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • The Chinese characters on their flag translates to "Peace and National Construction", reflecting their subservience to Japan as a satellite state.
  • If Long Yun wins the Western Insurrection, the Republic of China reorganizes into the "North China Political Council", with the Chinese characters on their new flag translating their name on the game map.
• Bittersweet Ending: If China wins the Great Asian War, the nation will be completely devastated, with millions of Chinese people dead. But China becomes a free nation once again, and the survivors of China can begin to rebuild their nation for a better tomorrow.
• Les Collaborateurs: The new Republic of China was formed by the collaborationist regime of Wang Jingwei during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Within the government, there are pro-Japanese factions that want to further integrate China with Japan.
• Crapsaccharine World: The Co-Prosperity Sphere boast of how China has reached a golden era of unprecedented prosperity and glory under a fair and equal partnership with Japan. Even ignoring the millions of people who were needlessly massacred to achieve this "dream", the weak and divided state of China in 1962 show that this narrative is total farce.
• Enemy Mine: The Republic of China has a history of cracking down on labor groups with the Kenpeitai, but they will make an exception with the CCL to undermine Guangdong, who they hate even more.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: If China's opinion of Guangdong is less than 50%, they will discreetly aid the Guangdong Riots to undermine their despised neighbor. However, this can greatly backfire if the Chief Executive discovers this and exposes the connection, forcing the Chinese Consulate-General to be recalled in disgrace.
• Necessarily Evil: For backwards China, industrializing is extremely difficult, and many tragic stories of poor people in China suffering during the push towards full industrialization can appear throughout the playthrough. Yet despite all the hardships that ensue, industrialization is absolutely required to achieve the greater good of putting China on its feet again.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: Despite being controlled by a collaborationist regime, anti-Japanese sentiment is still very strong. To prevent Japan from cracking down on Gao's government while rebuilding itself, China needs to manage its internal factions and prevent conflicts. However, when China does fully rebuild itself, fighting a war to liberate China from the Japanese might not be out of the question...
• Puppet State: In spite of Japan's proclamations that they liberated China from foreign imperialism, it's flagrantly clear that the Chinese have merely traded one oppressor for another and that they exist as a satellite state to be exploited by their conquerors.
• Realpolitik: Even though China hates Guangdong, they are willing to overlook this if they can get some pragmatic benefit from them:
  • At Guangdong's request, China can lend simplify the immigration process to let more workers into Guangdong, provided that they are not exploited too much.
  • If China's opinion of Guangdong is above 50%, they will offer aid in unraveling the Hitachi Coup because Komai's antics could set a precedent for Manchurian interference in Chinese affairs.
  • China is well-aware of the gross labor abuses that the companies go in Guangdong, but they can permit them to expand their operations into the country, hoping to benefit from their investments.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: The current Nanjing government is an inefficient regime that struggles to communicate with its major cities for tax collection and policing, fight off banditry and rebel fighters in the outskirts, and maintain control of the inland regions. Despite this, Japan continues to pour money into the regime so that they don't lose their prize and some Japanese companies eye a chance to sell them the solution, such as Fujitsu and its computers.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • China is the prize of Japan's colonial empire, but their relationship is far from harmonious. As the two most powerful countries in the Sphere, there is deep tension from both sides, as China carefully plots its own liberation in a planned war and Japan stares at China with suspicion of what they might try. By the start of the 1970's, both countries begin arming for war and the rest of Asia trembles at what blood may be shed.
  • Despite being in the same faction, China has no love for its smaller southern neighbor, Guangdong. In China's eyes, Guangdong is an abomination occupying their rightful territory, especially one that was historically significant for China and is the home of several Chinese nationalists. Thus, while Guangdong can lighten China's opinion on them with some minor decisions, they can never be on friendly terms with each other.
• Worthy Opponent: Downplayed from Ibuka Masaru in Guangdong. He admires China's rapid modernization, but dismisses the threat they could pose because of Guangdong's technological might.

Gao Zongwu

Role: Head of State

Party: Guomindang - Gaopai^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Gao Faction

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}There exists a point in every man's life where everything thereafter is decided by the single wheel-turn of destiny, whereupon which paths at a crossroads they choose to embark upon would induce a change so irreconcilable that of the multiple possibilities, none are identical. For Gao Zongwu, his turn came in Guangzhou, on one rainy evening as he mulled over Wang Jingwei's Sino-Japanese Treaty. The specificities of the agreement stirred something within him. A dark admixture of emotions ran wild in the reaches of his mind. Loyalty, to mentor and leader; anger, at the humiliation of the Chinese people; the currents of his ideals bore him up and downstream, washing him in colours of various temperaments. A question bubbled in his psyche, rising like the scum of dirty conviction heated to a boiling point: who was he?

He coughed. With all the possibilities that lay before him, his chronic tuberculosis rose up to buttress the feeling of being a human being in the world of nations. How simple would it have been to remain a professor, he thought, forever ignorant of current politics. Educated in Kyushu Imperial University, however, it would seem that from the start his fate was tied to rising and ebbing waves of Sino-Japanese relations. Despite his chronic disease, he took up Wang's offer to serve in the diplomatic corps. Gao was very fit for the job: after all, he could speak fluent Japanese: one of the Peers he met would describe his talent with the language as greater than even most Japanese. Flattering praise, but Gao's charm was undeniable.

Yet, though he stood often on the periphery that marks the boundary between the two peoples, in his heart Gao loved his country. He admired Sun Yat-sen, and believed that Wang carried the founder's vision in all of its radiating, hopeful brilliance. Though Wang had failed to carry it to the future, Gao is now President, after the downfalls of both Zhou Fohai and Chen Gongbo. He thinks back to that evening in Guangzhou often: how different the world would have been!

No one can change the past, he realizes. There is nothing to do but to atone for the present.

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• The Atoner: Gao regrets that he ever decided to collaborate with Japan and now seeks to fight for China's influence to atone for his mistake.
• Book Ends: One of the first events for China is Gao taking a morning walk near Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Tomb in Nanking, wondering if the Chinese people will ever be free again. If Gao's modernizations fail and his actions lead to a stronger Japanese presence in China, he takes another morning walk near the tomb, wondering the same thing again, but this time he asks himself not in his anticipation of the great changes for the republic, but in a sorrowful expectation of the dark days ahead.
• Cooperation Gambit: Gao is a Chinese nationalist who seeks to free his country from the Japanese yoke, but he knows that China is still too weak to rise up against Japan, so he bids his time and cooperates with the Japanese, benefiting from their investments to develop and industrialize China before the time comes to overthrow them.
• Driven to Suicide: If Long Yun's Western Insurrection succeeds, Gao shoots himself out of grief for failing to liberate China more peacefully and to ensure that Long Yun's forces don't desecrate his corpse.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Gao Zongwu in real life is known for facilitating negotiations between Wang Jingwei and Japan, then defecting from Wang Jingwei upon learning of Japan's extremely harsh terms and exposing Wang's plans in 1940. In TNO, President Gao Zongwu is even more of a nationalist and works to totally rebuild China and possibly even rebel against Japan's occupation.
• Necessarily Evil: Gao sees working with Japan and feigning subservience as this. Whether or not he pulls off his plans for the Great Asian War, he nonetheless sees temporary cooperation with his enemies as the key in bolstering China's economy and military while he still can.
• Realpolitik: Gao is an ardent follower of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, including Chinese nationalism. However, trying to rise up against the Japanese when China is weak would spell certain defeat, and bowing in fully to the Japanese would mean betraying the dreams of Dr. Sun. As such, Gao acts as a mediator between the government factions and Japan, balancing all the different factions to achieve long-term goals.
• The Starscream: Gao Zongwu's long-term plan for China is for China to rise up against Japan and take Japan's place as the dominant power in Asia in the Great Asian War.
• Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: Gao is downright bewildered by Long Yun's demand for China to rebel against Japan before the Modernizations (which Long Yun seems to be completely ignorant of) are complete, and decries him as a deluded, Scatterbrained Senior. He's even more incensed when he demands Yunnan's surrender and receives a Blunt "No", to the dismay of the legislative Yuan.
• Worthy Opponent: Gao considers Chiang Kai-shek to be this, even after his death. Repressive and authoritarian as Chiang was, Gao still respects him for that at least his state was truly independent of any foreign power.
  "Chiang's KMT was many things", pondered Zongwu, "but at least they were free."
  "Maybe we too shall be free."

Tropes pertaining to the rework

Role: Minister of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister

Party: Kuomintang^note Chinese Nationalist Party

Ideology: Wang Jingwei Thought^note Despotism

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• Anti-Villain: In the China rework teaser, he collaborated with Japan during the Greater East Asian War, but because he genuinely bought into their rhetoric and saw them as the best way to liberate China from European imperialism. When Japan's Co-Prosperity Sphere failed to live up to its promises, Gao intends to demand more fair terms for his homeland.
• Internal Reformist: Though critical of Japan's colonialism, he earnestly believes that the Sphere can live up to its original goals through internal reform and a more equal partnership between Japan and China, as detailed in his teased biography.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: According to his teased biography, Gao is an expert on Japanese culture and one of the few talented politicians of Wang's cabinet. Shiratori Toshio, a former foreign minister from Japan, praised Gao, stating "If Zongwu were a Japanese, I would nominate him as my successor without hesitation."

Chen Gongbo

Role: Head of State (Gao deposed)

Party: Guomindang - Gaizupai^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Reorganization Faction

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

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• Evil Reactionary: Chen despises all of the reforms carried out by Gao, thinking that China is already prospering under the "guidance" of Japan.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He uses rigged court trials to defame his enemies and have them executed. When Zhou Fohai overthrows him, Chen meets the exact same fate.
• The Quisling: Chen Gongbo can take over China and usher in a pro-Japanese regime, if the Five Mordernizations fail or if Long Yun deposes Gao.

Tropes pertaining to the rework

Role: President of the Legislative Yuan^note Head of Government (Lin cabinet)

Party: Kuomintang^note Chinese Nationalist Party

Ideology: Wang Jingwei Thought^note Despotism

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• Enemy Mine: In an event from the China rework teaser, Chen is approached by Zhou Fohai to work together to depose Lin, even though both have always had an adversarial relationship.
• Passing the Torch: According to his teased biography, Chen was named by Wang as his next successor, while the President was on his death bed. Unfortunately, Chen Bijun, Wang's widow, intervened and installed Lin Baisheng as her puppet ruler, in which Chen Gongbo only ceded the presidency out of respect for Wang's supposed last wish.
• Villainous Friendship: From the China rework teaser, Chen was one of the few people who personally cared for Wang Jingwei, always siding with him and even being appointed his successor. Hoping to overthrow Lin, Chen plots to ingrain the late Wang's legacy into China forever.

Zhang Renli

Role: Leader of Gaizu Pai (Japanophile), Minister of Finance^note Economy Minister (Gao cabinet), Head of State (Sphere GAW Victory)

Party: Guomindang - Gaizupai^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Reorganization Faction, Kuomintang - Xiezuopai (Sphere GAW Victory)

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

In-Game Biography (Economy Minister) ^{Click to Show}Son of the famous Qing era official Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Renli has been a loyal ally of Japanese interests since 1935, serving them first as an administrator in East Hebei. After later being successively promoted to Mayor of Wuhan and Tianjin, showing the trust that the Japanese had chosen to place in him, and after performing exceptionally well in these roles, he earned a place within the highest circles of society in China. Inspired by his elder brother Zhang Yanqing, a prominent official within the Empire of Manchuria, Zhang Renli is a genuine believer in Pan-Asian solidarity and cooperation, and that good relations with Japan are the key to Chinese prosperity. With his prominent family, long history of competent service, and pro-Japanese beliefs, Zhang acts as the leader of the Huabeipai within Nanjing, made up of people with similar views to himself. He will do everything he must to keep Gao in check and preserve Japanese leadership of Asia- even if those means should happen to be less than peaceful....

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• Heel–Face Turn: Zhang is initially an eager collaborator to the Japanese, but once Gao's modernization plans succeed, he changes his mind and fully commits himself to China's upcoming war for liberation.
• Pet the Dog: In a rare moment of solidarity, Zhang supports Gao's plan to reinvent China's military doctrines, believing that the old strategies are too outdated to be effective in the modern world.
• The Quisling: Zhang is a devoted believer in Japan's pan-Asian rheoteric and seeks to disrupt Gao's modernization plans so that China can remain subservient to the Japanese.

Zhou Fohai

Role: Leader of Zhongyang Julebu (Old Guard), President of the Executive Yuan^note Head of Government (Gao cabinet), Head of State (Chen deposed)

Party: Guomindang - Zhongyang Julebu^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Central Club

Ideology: Artistocratic Conservatism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}Zhou Fohai was not always a prominent member of the KMT Old Guard; way back in the when, in fact, he had helped found the Chinese Communist Party. By the time he joined Wang Jingwei and Chen Gongbo in defecting, however, all this was far forgotten. When the Reorganized National Government was consolidated Zhou was already influential enough where nobody dared bring it up.

Having served as the economy minister for the past two decades - as well as replacing Chen Gongbo as the Premier of the Executive Yuan later - his political and financial influence is omnipresent; just as much so, in fact, as his flagrant and militant corruption.

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• Corrupt Politician: Of the all the Chinese collaborators, Zhou is noted to be the most flagrantly corrupt one. In particular, Zhou is extremely friendly to potentially letting Hitachi invest in China and underhandedly take their construction contracts because he was offered a huge cut of the profits.
• Kangaroo Court: If Chen takes over China, Zhou can plot his downfall by accusing him of treason for working with Japan. This leads to a sham trial that invariably finds Chen guilty and sentended to death.
• Meet the New Boss: Zhou Fohai is the leader of the Old Guard faction within the Kuomintang who consist of Wang Jingwei's old associates and followers.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Zhou collaborates with the Japanese because he and the Old Guard can profit off of their occupation of China.

Tropes pertaining to the rework

Role: Minister of Finance^note Economy Minister (Lin cabinet)

Party: Kuomintang^note Chinese Nationalist Party

Ideology: Wang Jingwei Thought^note Despotism

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• Ambition Is Evil: His primary concern in life is becoming the most powerful person in China, serving and plotting within the collaborationist regime because it's the best avenue to achieve this goal.
• The Chessmaster: Zhou is a cunning schemer, building a vast web of connections to accumulate more power and outcompete his rivals.
• Defector from Decadence: Subverted in the China rework teaser. When Wang split off from the Central Club Clique of the Kuomintang, Zhou seemingly joined him, but he actually still maintains some ties and sympathies to the movement.
• Enemy Mine: When Lin announces the beginning of the Five Modernizations in the China rework teaser, Zhou senses an opportunity to overthrow him and forms an alliance with his rival, Chen Gongbo, to work against their common enemy.
• The Starscream: In the China rework teaser, Zhou openly plots to overthrow Lin and seize the presidency for himself.

Tao Xisheng

Role: Leader of Weixin Pai (Reformist), Minister of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister (Gao cabinet)

Party: Guomindang - Weixinpai^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Reformist Faction

Ideology: Paternalism

In-Game Biography (Foreign Minister) ^{Click to Show}Tao Xisheng is a propaganda officer of the reorganized Chinese Kuomintang; he has stood with President Gao Zongwu for decades. In fact, the two go as far back as the era of the Peace Movement, when Gao and other collaborations advised the then KMT government to cooperate with Japan and seek peace at any price. Being a loyal, staunch ally of Gao even now, and having some experience in foreign affairs, Gao has entrusted him with the office of Foreign Minister of China. Tao will strive to see Gao's dream of a modernized and eventually free China to fruition through strategic alliances and other such statecraft.

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• Internal Reformist: Tao leads the reformist faction in China, which advocates the modernization of China for its eventual liberation from Japan.
• Old Friend: Tao is one of Gao's oldest friends and is just as reform-minded as he is.

Wang Yintai

Role: Head of State (Great Asian War)

Party: North China Political Council

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Graduating from the University of Berlin with a degree in law, Wang Yintai first served as a young diplomat for the Beiyang Government. Upon the collapse of that regime, he left for Shanghai and became a locally famous lawyer. His time working for the Beiyang government taught him one thing above all: the Great Powers of the west cannot be trusted. They neglected to deal with him on equal terms in his attempts to negotiate the adjustment of unequal treaties that China had been subjected to, or worse, ignored him entirely. The incompetence of the Beiyang government itself disillusioned him when it came to attempts by the Chinese central government to secure China's place in the world through its own power. For these reasons, when Japan called for officials to serve in Wang Kemin's Provisional Government, Wang Yintai answered; as the sole great power of Asia, he was convinced that Japan alone could free China from its excessive burdens. Replacing Wang Kemin as the leader of the North China Political Council in 1945, he then retired shortly after the end of the war. With the fall of Gao Zongwu, Japan calls upon Wang Yintai once more to aid them; although now aged and fragile, Wang will still gladly serve as a figurehead for the purposes of Pan-Asianism within China.

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• Puppet King: When Long Yun's Western Insurrection succeeds and Gao commits suicide, Yintai is ascended to lead the Republic fragment state, though he's largely just a figurehead for the sake of justifying Japanese imperialism over China.
• The Quisling: Wang enthusiastically believes that the Japanese occupation of China is the best route for his homeland against the aggression of European imperialists and for modernization.

The Second Northern Expedition Facelift

Upcoming content related to the Second Northern Expedition facelift in a future update.

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• Crapsaccharine World: The Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser mentions that Quanzhou came out of World War II with relatively little damage and it seems like a prospering port city. However, this does not hide the IJN presence in the city, importing Japanese goods to displace the Chinese products and facilitate its colonization.
• Et Tu, Brute?: The battle of Chongking was exceptionally short and brutal, where the Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser says that it lasted a week and costed tens of thousands of lives. The survivors were shocked and betrayed when orders for surrender came through and nullified their sacrifice, a fact that hasn't been forgotten by the people of the newly named Wanzhou. Though they still await a chance to liberate themselves, they will never submit themselves to the KMT remnants in Guizhou.
• Merchant City:: Quanzhou is one of the largest ports in Southern China. Though conquered by Japan, the Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser shows that it's still being used by Japanese cargo ships.
• Open Secret: As shown in the Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser, the populations of Ganzhou and Ganjiang resent the occupying Japanese force and it's obvious to everyone that their stated loyalty is fragile at best.
• Stand Your Ground: In the Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser, Wenzhou was one of the most resilient cities during World War II, as its defenders refused to submit to the Japanese invaders. It was one of the only coastal cities to avoid being directly captured. By the time it finally surrendered to the Nanjing Government, the city avoided much of the worst fighting and it's largely recovered by the early 50's.
• Suddenly Significant City: Shimen, previously known as Shijiazhuang, was not known to many beyond those travelling the Northern China Plain. However, the Second Sino-Japanese War turned into a major operational base for Japan, in which the Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser shows that it's now the capital of the newly formed Zhongyuan province.
• Unluckily Lucky: For how many tragedies befall the rest of China, the beautiful garden city of Suzhou somehow escapes all of them. In the Second Northern Expedition teaser, Suzhou has never once been destroyed by the Manchu conquest of China, the Taiping Rebellion, the entirety of the Century of Humiliation, or the Second World War. It's truly astounding, considering that each of the aforementioned conflicts have killed millions of people.
• Wretched Hive: Xiamen, as shown in the Second Northern Expedition facelift teaser, represents everything wrong with the Century of Humiliation. It used to be a well-fortified, tea trade center until the Indian plantations outcompeted them and the Europeans colonized the city, turning it into the depopulated, decrepit place it is now. Even under the collaborationists, conditions have not improved and the people have no opportunity to escape their predicament.

"The Setting Sun" Update

Upcoming content coming with the China rework in the "The Setting Sun" update

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• Blatant Lies: In a Chinese newspaper teaser, pro-Japanese propaganda espouse all sorts of lies to whitewash their invasion of China and blame it on something else, usually the Communist Party of China. In perhaps the most outrageous example, a Chinese newspaper claims that Japan wanted a peaceful coexistence with China and only invaded because the CPC plotted the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that started the Greater East Asian War. The reworked China teaser show that most can see through the deception, but go along with it because they have no choice.
• Crapsaccharine World: Contrary to what propaganda might say, China is in a severely crippled state after their crushing defeat by Japan and all but one of their teased national spirits is some kind of debuff. The economy is in utter shambles, the oligarchs and collaborators are ignorant to the cries of their people, and the Chinese spirit is in dire straits. Even the one positive teased national spirit ("Core Member of the Sphere") speaks ill about China's state, mentioning that their de jure seniority over the rest of the Sphere is an excuse for Japan to extract even more wealth from them for its own defense and infrastructure.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: An in-universe example from a teaser Chinese newspaper. Wang Jingwei, the original head of state for Japan's puppet Chinese government, is hailed by Japanese media as a national hero who liberated his country from the threat of imperialism and communism by advancing the pan-Asian cause, romanticizing the fact that he betrayed his nation to help a foreign, colonizing empire.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In a teased national spirit, most are aware that China is in an unequal partnership with Japan, but few would dare challenge their neighboring superpower.
• Paper Tiger: Depicted in the China rework teaser. Ostensibly the Jewel of the Sphere, China's military, the ROC Armed Forces, is an absolute embarassment. Whenever they are sent to quash the NRA or CPC remnants, the ROCAF is always trounced and forced to scurry back to Nanjing, which has only further crushed their morale. Many have half-seriously joked about the IJA replacing the ROCAF completely and that's one of the nicer things people have said about.
• We ARE Struggling Together: According to the China rework teaser, factionalism plagues the Nanjing government, which worsened after the death of Wang and the abdication of Chen Gongbo and Zhou Fohai. Lin is no respected leader by his peers and many are preparing to overthrow him.

Lin Baisheng

Role: Head of State

Party: Kuomintang^note Chinese Nationalist Party

Ideology: Wang Jingwei Thought^note Despotism

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• Nepotism: His teased biography mentions that he started as a mere propagandist with minimal experience in politics, which his makes ascension to the presidency highly suspect. As such, some suspect that his close relationship with Chen Bijun, the widow of Wang Jingwei, contributed to his promotion.
• Pragmatic Villainy: In the teased starting event, Lin announces the beginning of the Five Modernizations to repair the country's sorry state, but only to live up to the ideals of Wang and turn China into an equal "brother" to Japan.
• Propaganda Machine: From the reworked China teaser, Lin ignorantly believes in Japan's Pan-Asian lies, where he's organized many propaganda campaigns in favor of their invasion.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Depicted in his teased biography, where Lin dreams of himself as Dr. Sun and Wang's greatest disciple and not a cowardly collaborator whose career was only accelerated because of his nepotistic connections.

Li Shiqun

Role: Minister of National Police^note Security Minister (Lin cabinet)

Party: Kuomintang^note Chinese Nationalist Party

Ideology: Wang Jingwei Thought^note Despotism

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• Animal Motifs: His teased biography compares him to a serpent, fitting his scheming nature and willingness to shift political ideologies depending on which one will be most advantageous.
• Dirty Cop: From the China rework teaser, Li practically runs Jessfield 76 like a gang, extorting money from innocent civilians and kidnapping anyone who doesn't pay up.
• The Spymaster: In the reworked China teaser, Li serves as the head of Jessfield 76, hunting down and destroying dissidents and underground rebel movements.

Luo Longji

Party: Crescent Moon Club

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• The Last Dj: Like Wen in the dissident teaser, Luo is an honest figure who criticizes the power abuses committed by the Republic and wants to orient it in a more liberal direction.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Luo has a sharp tongue and fiery charisma he channels in his promotion of liberalism and human rights. However, even Wen in the dissidents teaser acknowledges that his pride blinds him from seeing that mere talk would make minimal progress and more serious work is needed.

Wen Yiduo

Party: Crescent Moon Club

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• Knight in Sour Armor: Wen is disapproving of Luo's excessive focus on pro-reform rhetoric rather than action, knowing that the Republic's problems and failures in upholding Sun Yat-sen's ideas can't be solved through mere talk. This doesn't stop him from sharing Luo's values, however.
• The Last DJ: Wen hasn't yet submitted to the idea that China will forever be shackled by Japan, strongly disapproving of the Republic's current kowtowing to them. In the China dissidents teaser, Wen has tried to be an activist standing against Japan's oppression, but to no avail.
• My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: Wen is a staunch Tridemist who's disgusted that those in the Chinese government who claim to uphold Sun Yat-sen's legacy are embracing the Confucian values he fought to reject.

Huang Yanpei

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• Feeling Their Age: He has worked in politics since the Xinhai Revolution and, in his teaser event, accurately points out how Japan has mercilessly exploited China dry under the guise of pan-Asiainism. Unfortunately, Huang can't do much because he's retired and too old to rekindle the fighting spirit he had in his youth, so he can only hope that the next generation can pick up the struggle.
• The Idealist: Compared to the pessimistic Liang in the China dissidents teaser, Huang hopes that the announcement of the Modernizations will somehow help China return to an age of prosperity, even if he knows that the intentions behind them are less than sincere.

Liang Shuming

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• The Cynic: In the China dissidents teaser, Liang doesn't share Huang's optimism that the Modernizations will fix anything in China, calling it a foreign trick to leash the country tighter to Japan and remarking that it will become the latest chapter in China's failed attempts to revitalize itself.
• Feeling Their Age: Though he is more vocally opposed to the Republic than Huang in the Chinese dissidents teaser, Liang can't help but heed his friend's advice that they're too old now to do anything substantial and they must leave it to more youthful politicians to dig China out of their precarious situation.

Li Gongpu

Party: Democratic Youth League

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• Cool Old Guy: He is a senior ranking member of the Democratic Youth League, who have been organizing opposition to the Republic and their Japanese puppet masters, as seen in the dissidents teaser.

Jiang Zemin

Party: Democratic Youth League

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• Number Two: Jiang is one of Li's most fervent supporters and close friends. In their event teaser, Jiang is entrusted to distribute left-wing pamplets and magazines throughout Yunnan for the Democratic Youth League and he happily greets Li when they reconvene.

Zhang Junmai

Party: Chinese State Socialist Party

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• The Last Dj: Zhang is one of the few leading democratic influences left in the Republic, having advocated for social democracy and helping draft a Constitution that would actually guarantee the people's rights. In the China dissidents teaser, Zhang has attracted a small following, but he can only hope that his rhetoric will escalate to changing the course of history.

Jinsui Administrative Office

Official Name: Jinshaan Administrative Office, North China Political Council (Sphere GAW victory)

Ruling Party: Jinxi Junfa^note Shanxi Clique

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

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• Bilingual Bonus: The Chinese characters on their flag translates to their name on the game map, "Jinsui^note Chinese acronym for the provinces Shanxi and Shaanxi Administrative Office".
• Realpolitik: Though nominally a part of the Republic, Shanxi is ruled independently because Yan Xishan and Fu Zuoyi cut a deal with Japan so that they would operate separately and remain in the Sphere, sacrificing their integrity in exchange for some jurisdiction over Shanxi.
• Wretched Hive: Shanxi governs its own affairs separately from Nanjing because bandits and partisans are a prevalent threat in the region, leaving it to Fu to take care of them, with assistance from Tsuji.

Fu Zuoyi

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Jinxi Clique^note Shanxi Clique

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Was Fu Zuoyi a traitor?

Examine the past of this once-war hero and life-long National Revolutionary Army fighter, and you shall find your answer. Hail, how he had hurled himself to the revolutionary flames of 1911 as a mere sixteen-year-old adolescent; hail, how he had, under Shanxi governor Yan Xishan's command in the early 30s, dedicated his mind and vigor to the betterment of the patch of soil called Suiyuan under his watch; and hail, too, how he had fought tooth and nail to defend it against the Japanese jackboot, securing victory after decisive victory against the treacherous Demchugdongrub and his dogmasters.

But good fortunes are not to last. Eventually Suiyuan fell, then Shanxi too, under the blood-soaked bayonets brought forth by Operation Go-Go; with this, Fu vanished along with his erstwhile superior. It's all too easy, then, to point fingers at the duo's all-too-convenient reemergence just in time for negotiations, and their all-too-eager self-presentation as the definite solution to the border partisan problem, winning back Yan his precious home province, and winning Fu the wretched bandit lair that was Shaanxi. To the casual observer it might be inexpiable betrayal against China itself; to Fu, his one last bid at sheltering noble, like-minded patriots from total annihilation, even if it takes selling his very soul to the invader. So granted them a safe escape he did - no matter Yan's grumbles - swearing on his life that one day, maybe one day, he would reunite with them in their crusade for liberation once more.

Onto that promise he held, as he tended to his new homeland and its people as he had done Suiyuan. Onto that promise he held, even as his old comrade Yan departed from life and as Shanxi submitted itself under his jurisdiction. Even today, as he stands as undisputed commander of two provinces, he holds onto that promise. Yet the spark of hope dims and dims before his eyes with every passing year - and as the butcher Tsuji makes his bloody waltz along Shaanxi's western borders, Fu can only watch as the spark wavers and flickers, as if to be snuffed out the very next second.

Was Fu Zuoyi a traitor? Let history decide, for he has already done all that he can.

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• Choosing Neutrality: Fu initially tries to keep Shanxi out of the Western Insurrection altogether because, much as he would love to help liberate China, he also recognizes that Shanxi is cut off from the National Protection Army and would very likely be crushed by the Japanese if they tried rebelling too. Despite this, he can eventually be swayed to Long Yun's side, if the insurrection is successful.
• The Quisling: After Suiyuan and Shanxi fell to the Japanese invaders, Fu disappeared and suddenly reemerged in time to negotiate for a ceasefire. To most, this was an unforgivable betrayal of the Chinese people, but Fu believes that it was a necessary step to help his comrades escape from the Japanese occupied territories.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: On the surface, his collaboration with Japan makes it seem like he's a traitor, but he actually did so to shelter his former comrades and escort them to a safer location where they can continue their resistance against Japan, irreparably sacrificing his reputation forever.

Su Tiren

Role: Head of State (Sphere GAW victory)

Party: Huabei Zhengwu Weiyuanhui^note North Chinese Political Council

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

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• The Quisling: Su is a Chinese politician who has served the collaborationist regime since the Second Sino-Japanese War and a governor of one of its balkanized states if Japan wins the Great Asian War.

Guangxi Province

Official Name: Guangxi Province

Ruling Party: Guixi Junfa^note Guangxi Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

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• Bilingual Bonus: Their flag's Chinese characters translates to their name on the game map, "Guangxi Province".
• Pyrrhic Victory: During Japan's invasion of China, Guangxi actually managed to drive their armies out of the province. Unfortunately, they knew that Japan would only come back with a second, more fearsome invasion, so Xia Wei was forced onto the negotiation table and submit Guangxi to Japan.
• The Remnant: Isolated from the rest of the Sphere, Guangxi is governed by the remnants of the National Revolutionary Army, who are secretly waiting for a chance to rebel against Japan.

Xia Wei

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Guixi Junfa^note Guangxi Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Xia Wei is a man of loyalty. Always has been.

He was loyal to his childhood acquaintances Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong, as the trio went through the trials and tribulations of the early 20th century together, first as classmates, then as comrades. He was loyal to the New Guangxi Clique and everything it stood for, throwing himself into its endeavors and crusades against Chiang Kai-shek's pawns and communists bandits alike. But if there was one more thing he was unwaveringly loyal to, it was China itself; after all, had he not fought for her sake as the rest of the National Revolutionary Army had, when the War Against Japanese Aggression raged under the heavens?

Yet loyalty didn't save China from the jackboot; instead, it brought only barely enough time for Guangxi, for the 11th, 19th, 20th, 29th, 31st, and 38th army groups to launch one last victorious offensive and drive the Imperial Japanese Army out of the borders. As the dust began to settle, Xia found himself the last top man of the New Guangxi Clique left standing; helpless, and with the Emperor's soldiers still at his doorsteps, he was pushed to the negotiation table. There he was faced with the ultimate question: will he stand defiant to the very end, or will he, on behalf of a "free" Guangxi Province, swear his loyalty to the sole legitimate government of the Republic of China? To this, Xia could only offer a bitter smirk. They want loyalty? They'll get their loyalty.

So gave them his signature Xia did, but never his heart; no. His loyalty lies not with marionettes on strings, nor with communist backstabbers; it lies with a dream, an eternal yearning for liberation, persisting to this very day as he leads his home province with an iron fist. It doesn't matter that the people tire of the sky-high taxes and the wanton conscription. It doesn't matter that Guangxi has become little more than a war machine. What matters is that China shall never again serve a foreign master; Xia Wei is a man of loyalty, of devotion to a cause, and in its pursuit no sacrifice shall prove too extreme.

For there is nothing else left to hold on to.

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• Fake Defector: Xia seemingly has chosen to switch loyalties to Japan and now helps administer their control over Guangxi. In truth, he is still loyal to the Chinese cause and is merely waiting for an opportunity until he can split from Japan.
• Revenge: Not only does he want revenge on Japan for invading China, but he also wants retribution from the Communist Party of China, blaming them for costing China's chances of winning the Second Sino-Japanese War. This hatred between the Japanese and the Communists leaves him conflicted over joining the Western Insurrection, as Long Yun has recruited several communists to his side.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Wei's rule over Guangxi is fairly authoritarian, in which the people suffer from sky-high taxes and extreme conscription, but Wei views it as necessary for Guangxi to prepare for its eventual liberation from Japan.

Yunnan Province

^{Flag of Xinan (Post-Unification with Guizhou)}

^{Flag of the National Protection Army}

^{Flag of the Republic of China}

^{Flag of the Xinan Reconstruction Authority}

^{Flag of the Southwest China Political Council}

Official Name: Yunnan Province, National Protection Army (Long Yun), Republic of China (NPA victory), Xinan Reconstruction Authority (NPA defeat), Xinan Political Council (GAW defeat, status quo), Southwest China Political Council (China balkanized)

Ruling Party: Dianxi Junfa^note Yunnan Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Lu Han's policy of aggressive industrial expansion at the cost of turning the people into slaves directly parallels and is obliquely referred to as the Great Leap Forward. The difference is that this time, the people are worked to death by corrupt landlords instead of communist secret police.
• Anarchy Is Chaos: Thanks to the mismanagement of Yunnan, bandit holdouts have taken advantage of the government's lack of authority to raid and pillage the land.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Their flag's Chinese characters translates to "Yunnan Province", matching their game map name.
  • Yunnan's unification with Guizhou is also reflected in their new flag, which translates to "Southwest Administrative Office".
  • The NPA flag's Chinese characters reads "National Protection Army of the Republic of China", succinctly characterizing their war to liberate China.
  • The Southwest China Political Council, after Japan wins the Great Asian War against Long Yun and balkanizes China, has a flag whose Chinese characters translates to "Southwest Political Council".
• The Dreaded: The neighboring warlord state, Guizhou, fears Yunnan because they control the entirety of their military and could potentially annex their territories. These fears are realized when Yunnan does pursue greater integration with Guizhou and eventually annexes them.
• Heel–Face Turn: The bandits of Yunnan are initially only interested in pillaging the countryside, but when Long Yun takes power and recruits them to his side, the bandits realize that fighting for China's liberation is far more important than any raid they've ever done and thus become determined allies to the NPA.
• Invading Refugees: During the Western Insurrection, many people will immigrate from Yunnan to the relative safety of Guangdong, leaving the question of whether only educated specialists should be let in or if the border should be opened.
• La Résistance: In addition to the bandits, there are three other dissident groups that pose a threat to the collaborationist government, all three of which join Long Yun's rebellion:
  • The National Revolutionary Army include the KMT holdouts that have begun harassing trade along the Burma Road.
  • The Communist Party of China runs rampant in the countryside, gathering supporters to rebel against the local landlords.
  • The National Protection Army is the most dangerous and prevalent resistance movement in Yunnan, espousing the total liberation of China and eventually getting the opportunity to do so when Long Yun defects to them.
• Small Role, Big Impact: None other than Jiang Zemin, the third Paramount Leader of China in OTL, appears in an event that describes him as "The Zealot" and details him as the professor of electrical engineering at a regional university, moonlighting as an anti-Japan agitator. It seems like this is just a one-time nod to a random, real world leader, but Jiang in fact has a whole host of events that reveal that he's pivotal to coordinating with the NPA on behalf of the Communist Party's remnants in the run-up to Long Yun's coup.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters:
  • The various pro-Japanese governments in Asia portray the NPA in Yunnan as terrorists threatening the entire continent rather than an army trying to liberate China from colonial oppression.
  • Tellingly, the developers have used two different names to describe the war between the NPA and the collaborationist ROC: the Western Insurrection (from the perspective of the collaborationist government), and the Second Northern Expedition (from the perspective of the NPA).

Lu Han

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Dianxi Junfa^note Yunnan Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Anyone with even a slight comprehension of the situation in Yunnan will understand that General Lu Han, governor of that far-flung state, has a complex legacy.

A Chinese of Yi ethnicity, he was born in 1895 in Zhaotong. From an early age, he studied the military arts and was close to his cousin by blood, Long Yun. As time passed on and the Japanese imperialists invaded, Lu Han honed his craft and fought diligently and cunningly to defend his homeland from oppression. But it was not enough. Much to Lu Han's grief and pain, the Japanese broke through, and their advance forced his beloved cousin to step down to mere second-in-command and hand the position of Governor of Yunnan to him. Since then, he has had no choice but to do his best to protect his people.

Bleeding-hearts and dissidents may condemn his methodology of dealing with the various bandits and rebels that plague Xinan - the southwest of China. Lu Han admits in his heart of hearts that they are right, but he has no choice. He has to do it, no matter how much his conscience threatens to eat him alive.

For his own safety, for the safety of his homeland, and for the welfare of the people in his homeland, he must go back on his values. Defense against imperialism means nothing now. All that matters is survival, controversy and dishonor be damned.

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• Et Tu, Brute?: When Long Yun arrests his cousin to ensure that he doesn't interfere with the Western Insurrection, Lu Han will express befuddlement over how his closest comrade has betrayed him.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lu Han is a despot and an active collaborator to the Japanese, but he does have a close relationship with Long Yun.
• Face Death with Dignity: In captivity after Long Yun's coup, Lu Han prepares for his execution and quietly resigns to the possibility. When it's revealed that his punishment is instead house arrest, Lu Han is taken aback, but goes along with it.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The tin reserves and mining rights' auction event. Lu Han can challenge the bid by using his local Yi rulers, offering even camp-full of slaves to top the bid, only for Japan to add another zero, then another. The result is Japan raises the imperial taxes to hurt Yunnan in retaliation, and taking the bid money under made-up laws back to its treasury as well. Lu Han can work with Chinese National Government for a higher bid, only for the entire delegation to be burnt alive by the Japanese agents, THEN the bid gets taken back for nothing. He can concede to the Japanese as a "little brother", making them happy...at the cost of antagonizing its entire country, AND China. He can not challenge and make the bidding laissez-faire... only for the Japanese to pillage the countryside and destroy what little agriculture he has left.
• Heel Realization: If Long Yun wins the Great Asian War, he and Lu Han will walk together through Zhaotong, their childhood home. There, Lu Han sincerely apologizes for his collaboration with Japan, recognizing that he betrayed the Chinese people when he submitted to them. Long Yun accepts his apology and the two cousins reconcile, right before the former passes away.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Lu Han knows that collaborating with Japan and instituting indentured servitude is morally wrong, but he submits to them anyway because future resistance would invite Japan to invade Yunnan and slaughter even more of his people.
• Indentured Servitude: His landlords are corrupt to the bone, indenture the peasants through near-impossible to pay-off rent rates and even use enslaved criminals in chattel slavery. Considering the laws and rents, the peasants are little more than the slaves they till the fields with, and their landlords take them wherever there needs to be minerals to be harvested in mobile homes.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Lu Han's cynical concerns of Long Yun liberating China are very much valid. In the Western Insurrection, the National Protection Army will have to fight off the Republic of China's bigger military, in which victory will be unlikely. Even if they do succeed in conquering the majority of China, Japan will eventually just declare war on them and summon all of the Co-Prosperity Sphere to put down the rebellion, which has a strong possibility of overwhelming the National Protection Army, no matter how many potential allies they can rally. Long Yun's rebellion almost never succeeds in the hands of the AI and is one of the most difficult wars to win in the hands of the player.
• Pet the Dog: When removing He Yingqin from power, Lu Han has the option to let him retire him peacefully rather than forcefully exile or imprison him.
• The Quisling: He doesn't enjoy collaborating with the Japanese, but he views it as the only way to prevent Japan from cracking down even harder on the people of Yunnan

Long Yun

Role: Military Commander, Head of Government (Lu cabinet), Head of State (Western Insurrection)

Party: Zhonghua Minguo Huguojun^note Republic of China National Protection Army, Linshi Junshi Weiyuanhui^note Provisional Military Committee (Western Insurrection victory)

Ideology: Civillian Dictatorship^note Despotism (Lu cabinet), Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism, Military Junta^note Despotism (Western Insurrection victory)

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The great Yue Fei of the Song Dynasty bore on his back a tattoo: "To serve one's country with the utmost loyalty." His was a tragic tale: though he supported his liege loyally, the Empire awarded him with death. Centuries after, in the aftermath of the Xinhai Revolution, he has become the very idea of resistance against foreign imperialism. Long Yun, like so many young men in the aftermath of the Revolution, looked to him as a paragon of loyalty, piety, and, most of all in these times, of the relentless struggle against the superior invader, transcending one's being to serve one's country.

Before his tenure as the Governor of Yunnan, Yue Fei's legend drove him to enlist in Tang Jiyao's army. From the lowly rank of private, he rose to the position of corps commander. Then, he staged a coup against Tang, claiming the province from the corrupt, power-hungry ruler. When the Japanese came knocking, Long Yun raised his troops, and headed to the front. Through his province ran the Burma Road, the Nationalist lifeline that would keep China fighting.

So it was in this spirit of resistance that so many young Chinese men marched and fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Whether they were Communists or Nationalists it mattered little: the spilt blood formed a bond of its own, a memory of a nation that would not surrender against the Japanese. Long Yun watched as thousands of men gave their lives, cut down by machine-gun fire, blown by artillery shells, yet - China did not surrender. Chiang retreated to Chongqing and made his stand there. Though he died in the defense of the city and the NRA scattered to the four winds in the retreat, China did not surrender.

Clothed in the garments of its overlord, the Nanjing Government may fancy itself the ruler of all China. They are wrong. Yue Fei's death might have marked the beginning of China's darkest days, subjugated to foreign lords. However, Long Yun and the National Revolutionary Army shall carry the torch of his struggle, running ever faster towards the golden dawn.

In-Game Biography (Head of Government, Lu cabinet) ^{Click to Show}The cousin of Yunnan's warlord, Long Yun settled down in the southwestern province after the fall of Chongqing made clear that further resistance to the Japanese menace would do more harm than good to China. Collaboration became a necessary evil, and Yun has since become an efficient bureaucrat and politician within the warlord state.

However, Lu Han has now taken it upon himself to exploit the Yunnanese to their limits under the guise of Pan-Asian unity, and Yunnan has found itself bleeding dry to fuel the ever demanding Reorganised Government. Something has to break soon, else Yunnan will die a death of a thousand cuts.

In-Game Biography (Head of Government, Long cabinet) ^{Click to Show}Hatred is humanity's finest weapon, a lesson the Axis imposed to the world at large, and one that Long Yun has taken not only to his heart but to his gaze, posture, and words. The collaborators and the traitors stole of him everything of worth, but what he weeps most is not what he lost, but what his beloved nation lost; her pride, her people and her history have been cast into oblivion. An entire generation was raised to bow upon the Rising Sun in fear - to leech off their home's bounty and sell to foreigners their dignity for mere scraps.

With the National Protection Army under his umbrella, the lesson Japan carved in his soul will echo like a drum as the army marches on.

And upon the Begonia Leaf, Long Yun hopes to carve a second lesson to be seen by the world at large: That China will not bow to the order that Japan and their ilk imposed upon the world, that her sons and daughters will be avenged, and that, by trial, blood, tears and fury, they will be free.

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• Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: Despite being classified as an Stratocrat and using any means necessary to defeat the Japanese, Long sincerely wants to liberate his fellow Chinese people from Japanese imperialism. This is further reinforced by the High-Legitimacy ending, where Chinese democracy is restored with the inauguration of President Sun Fo.
• Blatant Lies: In a speech after seizing power, Long Yun claims that Lu Han is dead, which is a flatout lie, since Lu Han is only imprisoned and later reconciles with his cousin if China wins the Great Asian War.
• Defector from Decadence: Long Yun has always been an NPA sympathizer before he later defects to them out of displeasure over how Japan has exploited the Chinese people.
• The Dreaded: Long Yun's campaign to liberate China draws panic from all across the Sphere, from the Republic of China itself to Guangdong and all the way up to Japan, as everyone scrambles to put the NPA down.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In order to achieve the best possible ending for China, Long Yun will not only have to win the Western Insurrection and Great Asian War, but also maintain a high enough legitimacy to be acknowledged as the rightful government of China. If all of these conditions are met, Long Yun will peacefully pass away, while the National Protection Army will invite Sun Fo to lead the newly liberated country, ending the campaign on a bright note over China's future as a free, democratic nation, as Sun Yat-sen envisioned.
• Foil: To Dmitry Yazov. Both Long Yun and Yazov are ultranationalistic stratocrats who seek to reverse the political and territorial blows that the Axis powers have dealt to Russia and China, respectively. Both of them expresss intentions to give up their iron grips on their country and democratize, but the difference is that unlike Yazov, Long Yun actually means it. The Great Asian War also has the option to stop at the Korean border, thus averting nuclear war, while the Great Trial is guaranteed in the event of the Black League getting its way.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In World War II, Long Yun was forced to surrender Yunnan to the Japanese and abdicate leadership to Lu Han, knowing that further resistance against Japan would end badly. In Long's eyes, this was the greatest mistake of his life and he plans on rectifying it by going on a reckless insurrection to liberate all of China.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Gao's approach of working with Japan for now so that China can have a better chance of succeeding when it does rebel is unacceptable to Long Yun, who's in favor of rebelling as soon as possible and sees the Chinese government as little more than Quislings and cowards.
• Military Coup:
  • Right before the Japanese invaded Yunnan in the Second Sino-Japanese War, Long Yun staged a coup against the corrupt governor of Yunnan, Tang Jiyao, where he rallied an army of his own to ward off the upcoming invasion.
  • Eventually, Long Yun will get sick of collaborating with the Japanese and stage a coup against Lu Han, taking charge and preparing for the Western Insurrection.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Long Yun's Western Insurrection stands a very high chance of failing, dooming Yunnan to even more oppression than before. This becomes more pronounced should Long Yun capitulate the Republic of China, leading to the possibility of China being balkanised even further by Japan should the Insurrection be defeated.
  • Upon liberating all of China, Long Yun is presented with the option of going even further and directly invading Japan through the Korean peninsula. Obviously, this choice will result in Thermonuclear War.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: Long Yun wants to completely remove the Japanese from Chinese lands and achieve total liberation.

Sun Fo

Role: Head of State (Republic of China)

Party: Zhongguo Guomindang - Zhengtong Wenhepai^note Chinese Nationalist Party - Orthodox Moderates

Ideology: Xunzheng^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In the hearts of many throughout the cities and plains of China, the memory of the Xinhai Revolution burns bright, a tale of oppression and liberty, a triumphant hymn celebrating the nation. This light is carried perhaps brightest by the son of Sun Yat-sen himself, Sun Fo.

Akin to the pursuits of his father, Sun Fo devoured through tome after tome at a young age, immersing himself within the pages of western and Chinese authors alike, bringing that with him as he studied in the United States. By the time Sun Fo had boarded the ship back to the mainland, it had been engulfed by the caldera of revolution, becoming the mayor of Guangzhou, another chess piece upon the board of the Chinese Civil War. He stood opposed to Chiang Kai-shek as he held the reins of the nation, watching as the Japanese onslaught swept across the hills and rivers of China.

When the chariot was finally overturned, he departed the land which he had sacrificed so much for, returning to the United States, a place which he had eagerly arrived in during his youth, a drastic contrast with the present.

Decades passed by, Sun Fo watched as Japan had carved his homeland into unrecognizable pieces, installing a government of shame masquerading as the one which his father had fought for all those years ago. However, he watched as the sun rose in the east, as the armies of the NPA had reclaimed the legacy of his struggle, he could breathe in the air and admire the land of China once more. At this point in his life, he just wishes to gaze towards the endless horizon from his office and listen to the cacophonous echoes of the streets below. He knows for certain that he wasn't brought back due to altruism, but being able to return to home, surrounded by his countrymen, that would be enough.

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• Old Retainer: Sun Fo was born in 1891 and is 71 years old at the beginning of the game. Though the old republic was defeated decades ago, he has remained loyal to the Kuomintang and his father's Three Principles of the People.
• Self-Imposed Exile: After the Japanese conquest of China, Sun Fo exiled himself to California, but he'll return to his homeland if Long Yun's rebellion succeeds, prepared to uphold his father's dream of a free, democratic China.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Sun Fo is the offspring of the revered Sun Yat-sen and has inherited his dreams of a democratic government in China.

Zhou Longxiang

Role: Head of State (Western Insurrection defeated)

Party: Xinan Chongjianju^note Xinan Reconstruction Authority

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Zhou Longxiang has served the Chinese collaborationist cause for decades. When Gao Zongwu, won over by the Japanese dream of a Greater East-Asia free from colonialism and imperialism, defected to them and assisted Wang Jingwei in forming the Reorganized Government, Zhou Longxiang was right there with him in the first cadre of Chinese defectors to the Japanese Empire. In that role he puttered away for years while his homeland was subjugated, doing what he could to organize the Reorganized Government's faction KMT and promote the will - or more accurately the whim - of his Japanese masters.

When Gao Zongwu at last realized what he should have realized years earlier, that all the brave talk of Co-Prosperity and the elimination of Western influence was nothing more than a Tèluòyī mùmǎ - a Trojan horse - for Japanese imperialism, Zhou joined Gao in his anger and disappointment. He then abandoned his previous enthusiasm for Japan and instead made to undermine the latest unequal treaty to which China had been subject, as well as the shameless neocolonialist degenerates that enforced it.

Having stood vigil with his president for decades, Zhou Longxiang is now entrusted by him with a difficult task. Now that the Western Insurrection has been quelled, it falls to Zhou to clean up the bloody, violent mess that the mad Long Yun left behind and bring some semblance of peace, order, and healing to the broken land of Xinan, ruined first by a brutish despot straight out of the ancient Chinese classics, then by an angry, insanely bitter madman with a messianic complex.\n\nZhou knows quite well that his work is cut out for him.

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• Number Two: Zhou has loyally served by Gao's side, both in governing and preparing the Republic for eventual rebellion against Japan. When Long Yun's rebellion gets put down, Zhou will be assigned by Gao to govern Yunnan and restore some semblance of peace back to the region.
• The Quisling: Once wholeheartedly agreeing with Japan's rhetoric of anti-colonialism and pan-Asianism, Zhou defected to their side and serves as a collaborator to them. However, he grew out of this mindset when he realized that these claims were just excuses to start exploiting the Chinese people, so he quickly became a close ally to Gao.

Zhang Zhongzhi

Role: Head of State (Sphere GAW Victory)

Party: Xinan Zhengwu Weiyuanhui^note Southwest China Political Council

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

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• The Quisling: Zhang is ethnically Chinese and sent to govern a Japanese puppet regime if Long Yun loses the Great Asian War.

Guizhou Province

Official Name: Guizhou Province

Ruling Party: Guizhou Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

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• Satellite Character: Much of Guizhou's content is based around its close relationship to Yunnan, until it inevitably first gets annexed by Yunnan, and then later becomes a puppet to Guangxi.

He Yingqin

Role: Head of State

Party: Guizhou Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}It is unfortunate that every day, He Yingqin's control of Guizhou seems to be coming closer to its end. The military is already practically controlled by Yunnan and the economy is hanging on by a thread.

Most had expected He Yingqin, as one of Chiang Kai-Shek's right hand mans, to take an important role in the governance of China, and his shrewdness only supported this. Of course, few expected the Second Sino-Japanese War, in all of its furious terror, to render the old KMT dead and Wang Jingwei ascendant, least of all Yingqin. After defecting in the last few days of the war, He Yingqin's political reputation survived by the slimmest margin, and he lies on a razor's edge.

Now the Chinese appointed governor of Guizhou, balancing minority and Han relations and attempting to steadily liberalize the country, He Yingqin has one worry that keeps him up at night. Yunnan.

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• Authority in Name Only: He barely has any control over Guizhou, as Yunnan's influence over the region grows every passing day.
• The Exile: In the pursuit of unifying with Guizhou, Lu Han can potentially exile He to ease his state's integration.
• The Quisling: When a Japanese victory was all but inevitable in the Second Sino-Japanese War, He betrayed the Kuomintang in favor of Japan and was appointed to govern Guizhou.
• Pet the Dog: He used his high position in the Jingwei regime to spare his son-in-law, Wang, from punishment, even though he fought against the Japanese in the Second World War.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: While He may be a traitor, he is a fair leader who is interested in balancing the minority and Han relations in Guizhou, while steadily attempting to liberalize the country.

Tropes pertaining to the rework

Role: Head of State

Party: Southwest Military and Administrative Committee

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}He Yinggin stands in Guiyang as one of the last of Chiang Kai-shek's adjutants with any power left over in the aftermath of the Generalissimo's accidental death.

Surviving to this point was not easy. Difficult negotiations forced him to admit the superiority of the traitors in Nanjing and their "Reorganised" Government. But he did not sell his loyalty cheaply: he received from the Japanese autonomy and a permanent recognition of his leadership over the warlords of the southwest, securing Xinan from the greedy hands of Tokyo and Nanjing.

But Heaven disposes with what Man proposes. The crises of 1955 and 1959 distanced He from the warlords who are his subjects; angered by his indulgence to Nanjing, they struck out each on their own. Moreover, those same crises lost He the favour of the Army, whose men distanced themselves from him as they remembered how he bowed his head to the Japanese instead of fighting to the last man.

No more. With the announcement of the Modernisations, He Yingqin clearly perceives Nanjing's intentions. If Guizhou is to survive, the general must reconcile with the warlords and his own subordinates one way or the other.

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• Cooperation Gambit: Viewing Nanjing's modernisations as a threat to Guizhou's autonomy in his teaser, He seeks to reconcile with the same warlords who dislike him, attempting anything to preserve his status.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He's change of allegiance, along with his loyalty to Nanjing during the crises of the 1950's, has diminished his respect among the various warlords and army figures, something that He keenly wishes to change in the Guizhou teaser.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: After Chiang's death, He defected to the Japanese and begrudgingly accepted the authority of the Nanjing regime in exchange for recognition of his leadership in the southwest and regional autonomy, a status he still holds in the Guizhou teaser.
• The Leader: While the warlords of the southwest are equal in power, He Yingqin acts as the leader among them, serving as the head of state in Guizhou's teaser and answering issues that affect the whole of the Southwest.
• The Remnant: As stated in his teased biography, he is one of the last adjutants who were aligned with Chiang and still maintain any relevant power.

"The Setting Sun" Update

Upcoming content coming with the China rework in the "The Setting Sun" update

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• Bilingual Bonus: Their flag's Chinese characters translates to "Southwest Political Council".
• Les Collaborateurs: Downplayed. The warlords of the Southwest were some of the last to surrender to Japan and have now pledged nominal allegiance to the Nanjing Regime, while maintaining de facto independence through a mutual defense pact and extensive militarisation in their dedicated teaser.
• Crazy-Prepared: In the region's TSS teaser, Guizhou is extremely militarized, with defenses and a strong military force to dissuade any attempt by the RGOC to integrate the region.
• Vice City: Guizhou's economy and expensive militarisation is largely funded through the production and trade of opium within China and beyond to such an extent that some compare Guizhou to a narco-state in their dedicated teaser. There runs a major risk of this becoming a Crippling Overspecialization, as disruptions could upend Guizhou's economy and the people of Guizhou become increasingly addicted.

H.H. Kung

Role: Vice-Chairman^note Head of Government (He cabinet)

Party: Southwest Military and Administrative Committee - Kung-Song

Ideology: Corporatocracy^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The Generalissimo fell, and power over the Executive Yuan fell into the hands of Kong Xiangxi, more commonly known as H. H. Kung. It fell to Kong to serve as one of General He's assistants in negotiating peace with the victorious Japanese. Since then, the "Duke of Confucius" has seen his influence spread.

His prestigious position on the political stage aside, Kong's extensive network in business and finance gives him immense influence over the Xinan economy and enables him to maintain a stable budget in Guizhou despite heavy militarisation and industrialisation. However, not all is perfect for Dr. Kong - recent rumours of Kong's apparent opposition to Nanjing and Tokyo, which are said to have become more and more explicit, are stirring up controversies.

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• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: After the fall of Chiang, the legislative power fell onto Kung, who assisted He in negotiating with Japan, according to the Guizhou teaser.
• Dragon with an Agenda: In the Guizhou teaser, Kung is He's second-in-command and runs a vast business network that wields significant influence over the Southwest. However, his willingness to conduct business with opponents to the Nanjing regime along with rumors of opposition to the CPS has made him controversial.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Kong Xiangxi is more commonly known as H.H. Kung or the Duke of Confucius.
• Vetinari Job Security: Due to his business connections and fame as an economist and banker in the Guizhou teaser, Kong has become indispensable to the economy of the Southwest and Guizhou, able to keep the economy afloat using investments and modernisations that don't rely on the opium trade.

Zhang Qun

Role: Secretary-General^note Foreign Minister (He cabinet)

Party: Southwest Military and Administrative Committee - Political Science Clique

Ideology: Managerial State^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Without a doubt, Zhang Qun is a force to be reckoned with - his decisions have the power to shape Guizhou. One of the reasons is simple: the China of today, only two men can be truly referred to as "Chinese experts of Japan". One is Minister of Foreign Affairs Gao Zongwu; the other is his former superior, Zhang Qun. Small wonder, then, that Zhang was the man that bargained successfully for Xinan's autonomy as the chief southwestern representative at the peace talks.

Since then, Zhang's influence has grown thanks to his relationship with Gao and his knowledge of Japan. Thanks to him, relations with Nanjing and Tokyo are kept stable, despite whatever momentary buffering the relationship might suffer due to his colleagues' exclamations. Moreover, his leadership of the Zhengxue Xi, or Political Science Clique, contributes prominently to the governance and diplomacy of Guizhou.

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• The Ace: Zhang is one of two experts in Japanese culture within China's political leadership, the other being his former subordinate Gao Zongwu. In the Guizhou teaser, he used this to successfully negotiate with Japan for regional autonomy within the Southwest during the peace talks.
• Third-Party Peacekeeper: As stated in his teased biography, Zhang uses his relationship with the Japanese foreign ministry and Gao to maintain relations with Nanjing and Tokyo and calm tensions whenever one of his colleagues says something out of line.

Zhang Jia'ao

Role: Minister of Finance^note Economy Minister (He cabinet)

Party: Southwest Military and Administrative Committee - Kung-Song

Ideology: Corporatocracy^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}When there are differences between factions, or a risk of disputation between those factions, an in-between man is important. Zhang Jia'ao, courtesy name Gongquan, fulfills that role for the Guizhou government and Xinan writ large.

The Consortium in the Jiangzhe region reorganized itself in Xinan, and Zhang Gongquan sat at its head. As H. H. Kung's right-hand man and a core figure of the Political Science Clique, he obtained the trust of all sides in Guizhou. Leveraging this trust, he first stabilised the Xinan economy after the disastrous effects of war, then protected it from the effects of the RGOC economic crisis. Today, in accordance with Dr. Kung's orders, he continues to preside over the economy of Guizhou.

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• Number Two: In the Guizhou teaser, Zhang is the right-hand man of H.H. Kung and serves as the state's Minister of Finance, helping stabilize the economy after the war and later economic crises.
• Third-Party Peacekeeper: As seen in his teased biography, Zhang serves as a neutral mediator between the various factions within Guizhou, as a result of his relationship with H.H. Kung and his membership of the Political Science Clique.

Gu Zhenggang

Role: Chairman of Political Department^note Security Minister (He cabinet)

Party: Southwest Military and Administrative Committee - Neo-Gaizu

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Once a core figure of the Zhongyang Julebu, the Central Club (CC) Clique, Gu Zhenggang is the leader of the Xinan organisation of the KMT, the serving Secretary-General of the party and the head of the CBIS.

The chief guarantor of order in the KMT, and the man that safeguards Guizhou from underground threats, Gu is also responsible for monitoring the warlords on behalf of the province. Yet he is not as trusted as, say, Zhang Gongquan is. Having at one point been associated with Wang Jingwei, Gu has deep roots in and connections with Nanjing. This fact, combined with rumours of him being one of the few Xinan officials in whom Nanjing reposes its trust, frequently brings Gu's intentions into question.

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• The Friend Nobody Likes: In the Guizhou teaser, Gu is the leader of the southwestern wing of the reorganized KMT, responsible for monitoring the regional warlords and safeguarding against resistance movements. Because of his close connection with the Nanjing regime and rumors of being one of the few trusted by Nanjing in return, he is widely distrusted within Guizhou as someone who could be seeking to bring the region back under government control.

Seihoku Homengun

Official Name: Seihoku Homengun^Tr.Northwestern Area Army

Ruling Party: Imperial Japanese Army

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

The Northwestern Area Army of the Imperial Japanese Army currently occupying the Gansu province. Led by ruthless Japanese officer Tsuji Masanobu, the Army was dispatched by the IJA to pacify Northwestern China.

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• Army of Thieves and Whores: The army of Tsuji quickly turned into a bunch of thugs who regularly organize bandit raids in the countryside.
• Bilingual Bonus: The Seihoku Homengun's flag has the kanji characters, translating to "Northwestern Defense Command".
• Undying Loyalty: Unsurprisingly for a Japanese army, the Seihoku Homengun will always side with Japan in the Great Asian War against Long Yun.

Tsuji Masanobu

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Imperial Japanese Army

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}If one were to ask a high-school student in Kanazawa or Nagano or Osaka about Tsuji Masanobu, the result would be a glowing review. To Japanese from Kamikawa to Kitakyushu and beyond, General Tsuji is a war hero, a great champion of the Pan-Asian dream, who freed Malaya from the British imperialist bastards through his innate genius and cunning planning.

The real Tsuji, the one known to the oppressed from Davao to Lanzhou, is far different. He is a ruthless, brutish mass murderer, a butcher in willing, fanatical service to a new imperialism. True, he is the general that planned the invasion of Malaya and brought it to completion in a month. But that was done in an orgy of cruelty and brutality that painted streets from Alor Setar to Kota Tinggi in blood time and again.

And that was not the end, for bleeding Malaya white once was not enough for Tsuji. Since then, he has partaken in a multitude of massacres and targeted genocides, not least among these the brutal Sook Ching - Purging-through-Cleansing - of Chinese Malayans and Chinese in Singapore, and the terrible Bataan Death March in which prisoners died or were slain like flies.

Now, after some time spent in Japan, the old brute is let out of the doghouse to tear people to shreds once more. The Imperial Japanese Army headquarters have dispatched him and a Northwestern Area Army to pacify the unruly northwest of China. He will do so with gusto, partaking eagerly in yet another festival of blood and murder. A rapacious, iron-fisted, ruthless, and conscienceless brute is needed to defeat the last bastions of Chinese resistance, and one could not ask for a better example of that than Tsuji Masanobu.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Tsuji Masanobu's image in Japan as a war hero is not dissimilar with how he presented himself in OTL Postwar Japan, which propelled him to the Diet. Unlike real life, however, wherein his political career was ruined by the truth about his war crimes being exposed to the public, his heroic facade remains intact in TNO, as far as the average Japanese citizen's concerned.
• Asshole Victim: If defeated by Long Yun, Tsuji Masanobu is personally shot dead by Long Yun with twenty-four bullets being fired and owing to his brutality, it is hard to feel sorry for him.
• The Dreaded: Tsuji's past is shrouded in myth, created by the terror surrounding the man.
• General Ripper: In official Japanese press, Masanobu is a great war hero who led the invasion for free Malaya from British colonization. In truth, Tsuji's invasion was a brutal one that slaughtered its way through the entire country. Worse still, Tsuji also headed a number of massacres and genocides across East Asia, including the Sook Ching to slaughter Chinese people in Malaya and Singapore, as well as the Bataan Death March that tortured and massacred many prisoners-of-war during World War II.
• Glory Hound: Tsuji has deliberately cultivated an image of a valiant war hero and embellished his exploits accordingly. Evidently caring more for his own delusions of lasting fame than anything else.
• Insane Admiral: To the peasant, Tsuji is a man who ignored due process and executed anyone suspecting of taking part in the resistance. To the discharged army man, he's an insane general who threw human waves at a resolute army.
• Just Following Orders: He justifies his conflict with the Ma Clique by claiming that he's merely doing his duty.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: It's implied that Tsuji Masanobu was stationed in Northwestern China as a consequence of his Gekokujo antics becoming too much of a liability even to Kishi and the Kwantung Army.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Japan claims that Tsuji is a valiant war hero who champions the Pan-Asian dream and liberated the continent from European rule. Considering all of the massacres that the man has committed, this is a laughable claim.

Rebel Provinces

NRA 24th Army

^{Flag of the Xikang Province}

Official Name: NRA 24th Army, Xikang Province (Sided with ROC in Western Insurrection), Sichuan Pacification Zone (Sphere GAW Victory)

Ruling Party: Chuanxi Junfa^note Sichuan Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

The National Revolutionary Army remnant forces in control of the Xikang province, headed by Sichuan clique leader Liu Wenhui.

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• Bilingual Bonus: The text on both of their flags read "Xikang Province" in reference to their geographical position.
• Beneath Notice: The remaining Kuomintang forces in Sichuan retreated to Xikang after Sichuan fell to the Japanese, whom decided not to follow them and have since remained uninterested in attacking them again because they were deemed too unimportant to do so.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Most Chinese soldiers and officers in Xikang view continued resistance against Japan as suicide and frequently protest against Wenhui's calls for his country's liberation.
• Undying Loyalty: They represent the forces still loyal to the Kuomintang, in which they seek to free China from Japanese control.

Liu Wenhui

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Chuanxi Junfa^note Sichuan Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Born in 1895, Liu Wenhui is a military man through and through, graduating from Baoding Military Academy in 1916. Returning to Sichuan from Baoding, Liu Wenhui originally joined Liu Cunroi's Sichuan clique, but later joined the Kuomintang in 1926. Quickly rising the ranks of the National Revolutionary Army, Liu was promoted to Commander of the NRA's 24th Army, and appointed governor of the entirety of Sichuan Province in 1929. Facing fierce competition from more than 5 other warlords, Sichuan Province was exceedingly unstable and a hotbed for conflict. Coalitions, counter coalitions, skirmishes and plotting defined his governorship of Sichuan as he struggled to maintain power. Eventually in 1934 he lost power to his nephew, Liu Xiang, and was kicked out of Sichuan and declared Governor of Xikang province instead. Liu's relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, much like the province of Sichuan itself, was unstable. Far away from the central government, Liu was able to repeatedly deny orders from Chiang.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Liu Wenhui was cautious and made sure his troops saw as little action as possible. When the Japanese arrived in Sichuan during their Go-Go offensive, Liu Wenhui, as the strongest remaining contender in Sichuan, rallied his men and retreated far into Xikang, setting up camp in the small city of Ya'an. Liu refused to surrender to Japanese, and the Japanese, seeing no importance in the small mountain province, decided not to follow him.

Now more than a decade after Japan's offensive into Sichuan, Liu Wenhui sits isolated as one of the only remaining free warlords in China. His native homeland of Sichuan lies across the border, and while it may be under the direct control of the central government, Sichuan has once again been plunged into instability with many factions and partisans battling it out for control. While Liu himself would like to see a free China, he faces resistance from many of his subordinates who claim facing Japan would be suicide. It would truly take a miracle for Liu Wenhui to take up arms once more...

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• Jumped at the Call: Liu is the easiest Chinese warlord for Long Yun to sway to his side in the Western Insurrection, as he is also eager to liberate China from the Japanese.
• The Remnant: Liu Wenhui continues fighting in the mountains of Xikang, having fled to the mountains as Chiang's KMT was defeated at Chongqing and both Chiang and Mao died fighting there.
• Self-Made Man: He was born into an impoverished peasant home, but he eventually rose through the ranks of the Kuomintang, even forming a friendship with Chiang Kai-Shek and being given control of Sichuan as a reward for his loyalty.
• Universally Beloved Leader: His honorable personality won the support of his people, allowing him to continue his conflict with Japan.

Takashina Tahekhiko

Role: Head of State (Sphere GAW Victory)

Party: Shisen Gunseikan^note Sichuan Military Administration

Ideology: Colonial Government^note Despotism

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• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Takeshi Takashina was an IJA general who was killed in the Battle of Guam from OTL World War II. Since Japan had better fortunes in this timeline, Takeshi is still alive and a possible governor after Japan wins the Great Asian War.

NRA 40th Army Group

Official Name: NRA 40th Army Group

Ruling Party: Ma Jiajun^note Ma Clique

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

The National Revolutionary Army remnant forces in control of most of Qinghai, headed by the Qinghai Ma clique.

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• The Remnant: The Ma Clique is the biggest remnant of the pro-Chiang Kai-Shek KMT resistance from the Second Sino-Japanese War and uses its old name on its flag (the 40th Army Group of the National Revolutionary Army).
• Undying Loyalty: They've continued the Kuomintang's fight against Japan, even after Chiang Kai-Shek's death, though their operations are only limited to small raids into Tsuji's territory and retreating before Japan can retaliate.

Ma Jiyuan

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Ma Jiajun^note Ma Clique

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show} The Northwest is a bloody place. Many fathers lay dead in the austere, spartan landscape that the region is known for, some buried, most not. Those fathers have left behind countless sons, some bearing arms, others bearing pitchforks, to mourn and to nurse anger and resentment in their hearts. And yet, it is the grave of one father, and the rage of a single son that will come to define this corner of China. Ma Bufang perished against the Northwestern Area Army, and his son, Ma Jiyuan, will avenge him.

With the previous leader of the Ma Clique, his father, dead in the wake of a campaign against the Northwestern Area Army, control of the Ma Family and its armies fell to the young and ambitious Ma Jiyuan. Ma Jiyuan has been forced to watch as Tsuji and his band of rapacious bandits tear through the Northwest, and left just as helpless as the perfidious Tibetans tested their southern border in their moment of weakness. Though his enemies may wish it, Ma Jiyuan has not forgotten these crimes.

The air is still once again, a calm before the storm breaks. Plans are drawn up, and the preparations will be complete soon. Ma Jiyuan will pay back blood for blood, he will right the wrongs that have been committed against his family, against his lands. They have been battered and bruised, but the Ma are not beaten. Ma Jiyuan knows this, and soon, all of China will as well.

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• Refusal of the Call: Zig-Zagged: Upon hearing of Long Yun's insurrection, Jiyuan is reluctant to join in, recognizing the unlikely odds of the rebellion succeeding. However, he can be convinced to join in, if Long Yun is successful enough in his campaign.
• The Remnant: Ma, a stalwart defender of the old Kuomintang, has never stopped fighting the Second Sino-Japanese War. As a ceasefire stabilised the east, Ma smuggled out refugees and former generals, and continues to raid Masanobu Tsuji's domain, never giving the Japanese a chance to retaliate.
• You Killed My Father: Ma Jiyuan has sworn to avenge his father Ma Bufang, who was killed by the Japanese.

Xinjiang Border Defense Administration

^{Flag of Xinjiang Province (Sphere GAW Victory)}

Official Name: Xinjiang Border Defense Administration, Xinjiang Province (Sphere GAW victory)

Ruling Party: Xinjiang Junfa^note Xinjiang Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

The anti-Wang Jingwei Xinjiang province, harboring the remnants of Chiang-aligned KMT and also CPC forces. They are at conflict with both the pro-Wang Chinese forces (and their Japanese backers), but also native Turkic Uyghurs.

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• Bilingual Bonus: Their map names "Xinjiang Border Defense Administration" and "Xinjiang Province" are also written in Chinese on their respective flags.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: The Xinjiang clique is stuck in a never-ending war with native Uyghur insurgents. Han colonisation has failed spectacularly, and their homesteads are burnt down by horsemen who seek to reclaim their land.
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Stuck in Xinjiang, Zhang Zhizhong leads a coalition of his Kuomintang forces, the last remnants of the Communist Party, and the local minorities of the region. Now, Zhang is left with the uncomfortable task of serving and satisfying all of their interests.
• The Remnant: Xinjiang contains the remnants of the Kuomintang and the Communist party, united in their opposition to Japan.

Zhang Zhizhong

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Xinjiang Junfa^note Xinjiang Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Born in Anhui Province in the year 1890, Zhang Zhizhong was one of many young Chinese men whose nation was lost to them in the chaos of the Warlord Age. Unlike many of his peers, however, the fighting of that time never truly ended. Zhang studied and graduated from the Baoding Military Academy, and was nearly immediately thrust into the very heart of the chaos of early twentieth century China. He served the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army with courage and valor, participating in the legendary Northern Expedition, before turning his gun from his countrymen against the invading Japanese menace during the Anti-Japanese War.

The Japanese advance was vicious, inexorable, but Zhang Zhizhong held firm in the province of Hunan, holding the line against fate itself for months. One solitary mistake, a single broken communication ruined it all in the end. Fearing the fall of Changsha, Zhang Zhizhong gave the order to burn the city's most valuable assets before the Japanese could secure it, and yet no such risk of capture existed, and the general had to not only deal with the embarrassment of this err, but so too did it cripple his ability to properly defend Hunan. Zhang Zhizhong, however, was not done fighting. He would take his war to the Northwest, and he would never surrender to the invader.

Xinjiang is an inhospitable place, even moreso for an outsider like Zhang. His army is not alone, and he finds himself in the uncomfortable position of needing to negotiate between the Kuomintang, the last remnants of the Communist Party, and the local minorities upon whom they depend. Zhang Zhizhong takes the days as they come though, one step at a time, and just hopes that the long road he walks brings him closer to the restoration of his nation.

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• The Determinator: Even after his mistake of burning down Changsha and failing to defend Hunan, Zhang has no waivered in his fight against the Japanese invaders, in which he's now taken the fight to the Northwest. He can even join Long Yun's Western Insurrection and contribute to his quest in liberating China.
• War Hero: Zhang is a decoared war hero of the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army, participating in the Northern Expedition before clashing with Japan.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: On the brink of losing the city of Chansha to Japan, Zhang tried denying Japan of victory by burning it down Changsha, destroying any strategic value if may have, but also killing its 30,000 inhabitants. This action infuriated Chiang, who stripped him of his title as governor of Hunan.

Mongolia

Mengjiang United Autonomous Government

Official Name: Mengjiang United Autonomous Government

Ruling Party: Mongolyn Nokhon Sergeekn Khoroo^note Mongolian Rehabilitation Committee

Ideology: Aristocratic Conservatism^note Despotism

An autonomous region of China encompassing both Outer and Inner Mongolia.

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• Puppet State: Mengjiang is a de jure puppet state of the Republic of China in Nanjing, who themselves are puppet to the Empire of Japan and thus makes them Mengjiang's true master. Essentially, Menjiang is a puppet to another puppet.

Demchugdongrub

Role: Head of State

Party: Mongolyn Nokhon Sergeekn Khoroo^note Mongolian Rehabilitation Committee

Ideology: Aristocratic Conservatism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}How will one call Prince Demchugdongrub - the hero of Mongolia, or the traitor of the Chinese Nation? Born in the Sönid Right Banner of Inner Mongolia in 1902, Prince De is the 31st generation descendant of the Golden Clan and the only son of Prince Namjil Wangchuk. Six years later, Prince De inherited his father's title with the approval of the Aisin Gioro court, and he was indoctrinated with the essence of the Chinese Civilization. Among all historical figures, Genghis Khan, the ancestor of Prince De, was whom the young Prince worshipped the most, and whose legacy the Prince pursued after throughout his life.

In 1931, Prince De concurrently served as the Chief of the Xilingol League, and much has changed in the steppe - the Republic of China has replaced the fallen Qing Empire and the Beiyang Regime as the Central Government of China, whereas Outer Mongolia was lost under the schemes of Russia. Prince De decided to make use of the troubled times for his ambitions, and the entry of the Kwantung Army to Manchuria gave him the opportunity to start his Pan-Mongolian self-rule movement. The Nanjing Government, fearing for an independent Mongolia under Japan's orcestration, reluctantly agreed to negotiate about the status of Mongolia - and ultimately fell apart due to the Han Chauvinism of Chiang Kai-Shek and his followers. Out of strong desire to achieve the independence of Mongolia, Prince De turned to his last resort - the Kwantung Army - despite realizing that the Japanese carried no goodwill in their offer.

Decades of war and struggle has partially fulfilled the Prince's dream. Nine years after the Greater East Asia War, the Mongol Autonomus Government crushed the forces of the Soviet puppet and recovered the lost territories. And yet, Mengjiang is still a de jure vassal of Wang Jingwei and his dogs, as well as a de facto fiefdom of the Kwantung Army. The lands of Eastern Mongolia remains under the grip of Manchukuo, and the resistance of Outer Mongolia never stops troubling the Prince. Despite Prince De's grand accomplishments, Mongolia has yet been united, let alone independent.

Some despises Prince De as a traitor humilitating the spirit of Genghis Khan, while some contemns him as an upstart vassal with delusions of grandeur. Somehow, Prince De echoes with their words - for he has zero desire to follow the steps of his previous overlord Puyi as a Japan puppet. With Nanjing announcing their Modernization Programme, Prince De vigilantly feels that the storm of revolution will soon reach East Asia once more, and perhaps this will be his last chance to prove himself as the worthy descedent of Genghis Khan - the last chance to free Mongolia from the oppressors.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Demochugdongrub is a Japanese collaborator, but him Dying Alone with little fanfare is a rather pitiable fate for an oft-despised man in Mongolia and the rest of Asia.
• Contempt Crossfire: Demchugdongrub is despised by his people as a sellout and a traitor, and scorned by the Japanese as an upstart vassal with delusions of grandeur.
• Dying Alone: When Demchugdongrub succumbs to stomach flu, his passing is largely ignored by the rest of the world. The highest-level dignitary attending his funeral is an ambassador from Japan.
• Hero-Worshipper: He's idolized Genghis Khan since he was a Prince and aspired to achieve a similar reputation to the legendary conqueror.
• Opportunistic Bastard: With China severely weakened after the Beiyang government's downfall and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Prince De negotiated for Mongolia's independence with the Nanjing Government by playing on their fears of aligning with Japan, if they refused. The deal almost came through, until Chiang rejected it out of pride, so the Prince turned to Japan next.
• Pyrrhic Victory: With the Kwantung Army's help, Demchugdongrub has established an independent Mongol government and recovered some of their lost territory from the fallen Soviet Union. However, his country is a mere puppet to the Wang regime in China, can't do anything to claim the eastern Mongolian territories held by Manchuria, and still waging a hopeless guerrilla war against the resistance in Outer Mongolia. Beyond the humiliated state of his government, Demchugdongrub will always be disdained as a traitorous collaborator to the Japanese, making it highly unlikely he will ever reach the famed status of his idol, Genghis Khan.
• The Quisling: Prince Demchugdongrub has spent the majority of his life serving various foreign empires occupying Mongolia, from Qing China to Japan.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Demchugdongrub wants to become the next Genghis Khan, but given the sorry state of Mongolia under his watch, most dismiss him as a petty collaborator with delusions of grandeur. However, nothing has yet discouraged Demchugdongrub from trying, especially with the announcement of the Modernization Programme in China, which he sees as a chance for him to realize his ambitions.

Dugursulong

Role: Head of State (Demchugdongrub succession)

Party: Mongolyn Nokhon Sergeekn Khoroo^note Mongolian Rehabilitation Committee

Ideology: Aristocratic Conservatism^note Despotism

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• Villain with Good Publicity: He's noted to be a charismatic leader and it's implied that optics surrounding him are more positive than Demchugdongrub's.

Other Mainland Chinese States

Empire of Manchuria

Official Name: Empire of Manchuria, State of Manchuria (monarchy abolished)

Ruling Party: Manzhouguo Xiehehui/Sōmucho^note Concordia Association of Manchukuo/Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

Japan's puppet state in Northeastern China, a de jure independent constitutional monarchy aligned with Japan's pan-Asian vision. With a developed industry and a compliant populace, Japan presents Manchuria as an achievement of pan-Asian Co-Prosperity. In reality, Manchuria is a brutal colonial state built on a mountain of lies, with Japanese officers lording over the civilian government and Japanese bureaucrats directing an exploitative economy.

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• Abandoned Area: The frontier between Manchuria and the Russian warlords has become a desolate battleground often left abandoned in the freezing temperatures. Twenty years of battles has left many abandoned supplies amongst the trenches and bunkers, leading to a market of looters plundering supplies from the dead.
• Armies Are Evil: The Kwantung Army are the brutal colonial overlords guiding the nominally independent state and can possibly overthrow the government to create a hyper-militaristic defense state at the expense of everything else.
• Blatant Lies: The Manchurian officers of the Imperial Army are forced to report to the Kwantung Army, ostensibly to foster a spirit of Pan-Asian prosperity. However, everyone knows it is just intended to keep the Imperial Army on a leash.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Downplayed. A local village head appointed by collaborators in the Concordia Association holds an association meeting with other village heads to announce the increase in taxation being done by the government in preparation for the Pan-Asian Economic Conference. During this, his eldest son makes a face expressing defiance prior to the meeting and once the announcement is made the son leaves the main hall, with the village head doing his best to hide his frustration.
• Les Collaborateurs: In addition to the ruling Aisin Gioro family, the Manchurian civilian government and Imperial Army are made up of Chinese, Koreans and Mongolians who collaborate with the Empire of Japan. The Concordia Association of Manchuria is the primary vehicle of opportunistic collaborators, formed in 1932 following the invasion by the Kwantung Army. It is the de facto sole legal party, with only Russians and Jews being able to form separate associations, and theoretically represents the interests of the native peoples of Manchuria in government. In reality, its a rubber stamp full of figureheads and it was not until the end of the war and the death of Tōjō that the Concordia Association began to increase in importance, now taking a real interest in power.
• Confidence Building Scheme: After the economic stagnation of the 1950s, the Manchurian government plans to host the Pan-Asian Economic Conference to attract the Sphere's economies through a grand fair. The planning and outcome of this conference is a major plot line as it can determine Manchuria's future. Who gets what during the planning can sway domestic politics and security measures need to be planned in order to prevent partisans from attacking the high-profile conference.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Decades of forced industrialisation under Japanese supremacism have made the Manchurian Industrial Development Company and its electronics subsidiary Nissan's Hitachi notorious for its callous disregard for life and morality.
• Crapsaccharine World: Despite appearing to be a fairly modernized and stable pan-Asian state, Manchuria is in fact a colonial state ran by the Kwantung Army and fueled by a highly repressive corporatist economic system. Manchuria's cities like Mukden and Hsinking appear like thriving metropolises, with the former being known as a major industrial and commerce hub comparable to Osaka and the latter a luxurious capital filled with greenery, wonderful architecture and qualities of life. Harbin has gained notoriety for the many different peoples and cultures which found home here from the Chinese, Russians, Poles, Jews and now Japanese. However, all of these cities share the commonality of government repression, natives living in poverty outside the developed city centers and vast fields of abusive factories which surround their outskirts.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Manchuria's economy is heavily dependent on the production of heavy and military equipment, meaning that when WW2 ended and demand declined, Manchuria's economy stagnated during the 1950s as the state failed to attract investors.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: Two individuals make a break north seeking to find the NAJUA knowing that if things are to change they need to resist with their common citizens. However, one of them doubts that there is anyone in the area that they ought to share the same fate of hiding away in the forests.
• Deal with the Devil: When the USSR collapsed, the Kwantung Army annexed a big section of the Amur coastline. These territories are majority Russian and largely lawless, with only Vladivostok being useful to the administration. Manchukuo can either send colonists there or use them as a bargaining chip with Konstantin Rodzaevsky, the powerful Russian fascist warlord based in Amur.
• Dirty Cop: The Manchurian Imperial Police serve as the collaborationist police force, but they are notoriously involved in widespread criminal activity, namely the opium trade. Though nominally loyal to the government, they are truly beholden to the Kwantung Army. Their support from the Kwantung Army, along with the police acting in-turn as a moderating force on the Kwantung Army, has made them invaluable and immune to any large scale reform attempts. However, the scale of corruption and criminality in recent years has even started to concern those within the Kwantung Army, paving the way for the appointment of Yu Jingtao with the orders of conducting a general investigation into their corruption.
• Evil Colonialist: The Japanese and Manchurian puppet governments have encouraged millions of Japanese people to settle in Manchuria in farms and select urban centers. While a small part of the overall population, the Japanese serve as the Foreign Ruling Class.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: Manchuria's "Innovation Bureaucrats" and the Kwantung Army have run this place for more than a quarter century by the time the game starts under a totalitarian command economy drawing both from Fascist and Soviet Communist inspiration. While this had some benefits back in the day, by this time it is running Manchuria into the ground economically and failing to compete with rivals in the wider world or even the sphere.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Manchuria cannot be directly confronted by Guangdong, but they are a distant antagonist that plays an influential hand in the Hitachi Coup and Komai's plot to turn Guangdong into a vassal of the Manchurian companies, as well as the attempt to financially wound Sony or kidnap Li's family, in Morita's path.
• The Hermit: One event details a man who spends his existence looting supplies from the dead on the battlefields that dot Manchuria's frontier with the Russian warlords. Rummaging through trenches and shelters with his looter coat, he takes cans, rifles and even gold teeth. He sometimes entertains the idea of returning to larger settlements and finding work in the towns on the horizon, but without identification or friends such a task is difficult.
• Kick the Dog: In preparation for the Pan-Asian Economic Conference, the government decides to make a 15% increase in taxation in local administration for that season's harvest, claiming that the success of the conference requires significant sacrifice.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste:
  • The Concordia Association rose in authority and prominence, thanks to Puyi's apathy and the divisions that fracture the Japanese ruling class.
  • In the Yasuda Crisis, Manchuria takes Ibuka's invitation of Hitachi to join the Legislative Council in Guangdong, planting a foothold there and hoping to eventually take the country for themselves.
• I Am Who?: Manchuria does have a cultural foundation, albeit a thin one. There aren't many pure Manchus left, while the bulk of the population is a hodgepodge of Han Chinese, Russians, Koreans, and Japanese settlers. Instead, the Sphere advertises Manchuria as a pan-Asian experiment where multiple cultures can intermingle with each other and get protection from Western imperialism, but this "culture", more often than not, was just an excuse for the Japanese to keep exploiting the natives. Though not to the same degree as Guangdong, this still results in an identity crisis over what the country even is, especially if the monarchy is abolished.
• Industrialized Evil: Manchuria has been developed at the behest of Japanese bureaucrats and industrialists to serve the needs of their colonial empire, rising to becoming Asia's third most industrialized nation while the native populace is overworked and lives in squalor.
• Inter-Service Rivalry: Manchuria has two standing armies: the Kwantung Army and the Manchurian Imperial Army. The former is a Japanese army acting as the puppet masters of Manchuria, well-known for their aggressive militarism, while the latter is an underperforming army made up of collaborators. The Kwantung Army has sought to subordinate the Imperial Army in their command structure by forcing the Manchurian officers to report to their Japanese equivalents, but this backfired as the newly integrated Manchurian general staff threw their weight behind Kwantung reformist, Sejima Ryūzō.
• Man Behind the Man:
  • The Kwantung Army are the true masters of Manchuria.
  • If Komai takes over Guangdong, his throne will be backed by the higher-ups in Nissan and Mangyō, who are based in Manchuria. From there, they direct Komai to shaping Guangdong after their economic model and opening the country to Manchuria investments, overrunning the domestic competition. Whether Komai can break free of them or remain under their thumb will depend on how he handles the Oil Crisis.
• Meaningful Rename: The town of Changchun was chosen as the puppet state's capital city and was renamed to Hsinking/Xinjing, which translates to "New Capital".
• MegaCorp: Downplayed but there. Japanese corporations establish themselves in Manchuria, Asia's third-largest industrial nation, and twist national laws in the name of profit. One corporation dominates economic life, an inescapable colossus: the Manchurian Industrial Development Company and its many subsidiaries. Mangyō was formed by a joint venture between the reform bureaucrats, South Manchuria Railway Company and the Nissan zaibatsu. It was designed with the intention to overlord the economy and direct national resources into the service of the state with half it owned by the Manchurian government, resulting in a megacorporation comparable to its German counterparts in both scale and brutality. The other half of Mangyō is owned by Nissan and in the past decade has slowly steered towards the pursuit of profit instead of its original purpose in addition to cracks in its design appearing due to Manchuria's faltering economy. Most wish to reform Mangyō, but its vitality to the Manchurian economy makes any such effort a gargantuan task to overcome. It is downplayed because while structured like a corporation, the Manchurian Industrial Development Company is ultimately a creature of the Kwantung Army and the fascist visionaries in the Japanese bureaucracy, and even corporate leaders have to tiptoe around them.
• Military Coup: In the aftermath of Puyi's death, the Kwantung Army and Imperial Army can launch a coup, abolishing the monarchy and rendering the civilian government powerless, dropping any pretenses that Manchuria was anything more than a Japanese puppet.
• No OSHA Compliance: Manchuria's workplaces lack any basic safety for the workers condemned to them. One early event details how a manager of a worksite in an exceptionally warm Heilongjiang watches over the masses of machinery and workers working away at the land before cutting his own hand on a sharp railing, necessitating a bandage.
• Obsolete Mentor: Manchuria is held up by the Japanese government as the model Pan-Asian fief, but in reality it relies on a colonial model of brutal, totalitarian central planning (ironically similar a marriage of the resource extraction corpocracies from the Western colonial powers Japan "liberated" Asia from, and the Command State of Soviet Communism) that's ethically horrendous and practically far, far unprepared for the corporate environment of the 40s, let alone for the 60s. As such, fellow (but drastically more modern) corporatocracy Guangdong, essentially The Gadfly of the Sphere, inevitably rockets past it in economic terms.
• Please Select New City Name: Some Russian cities annexed by Manchuria were renamed back to their Qing-era Manchu/Chinese names^{Full list of city names}E'suli (Svobodny), Miaochieh (Nikolayevsk-na-Amure), Chumin (Komsomolsk-na-Amure), Bohori (Khabarovsk), Huangtukantzu (Arsenyev), Kangte (Sovetskaya Gavan), Niuleimanho (Raychikhinsk), Feifulalisike (Fevralsk), Hailanpao (Blagoveshchensk), Ch'imuniwochi (Birobidzhan), Juru Hoton (Ussuriysk), Lankouwai (Nakhodka).
• Puppet State: The Empire of Manchuria is a puppet of Japan, where both the Japanese bureaucracy and the Kwantung Army play important roles in the apparatus of state and political society. Japanese bureaucrats are made the vice-ministers of all Manchurian ministries, blocking the passage of any initiative that may impinge on Japan's ability to extort concessions from Manchuria. In the Great Asian War, Manchuria is the only Sphere member that will never fight against Japan under any circumstances.
• "Rashomon"-Style: During a house call a detective insists that a woman's son got involved with running drugs for communists before getting killed, but the woman insists that he was involved with Japanese speaking gangsters making her very confused.
• The Remnant:
  • The Empire of Manchuria is the last vestige of a Qing monarchy devastated by domestic republicanism and Japanese military adventures. Even now it still hangs by a thread, as pro-Japanese elements can abolish it without significant effort at any time.
  • The partisans still lurking in the vast countryside are mentioned as being very much the last of their kind within their corner of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, with Kim Il-Sung's Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army being all that remains of organized Korean resistance.
• La Résistance: Partisans continue to operate in the steppes and plains of Outer Manchuria, most notably Kim Il-sung's Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. Konstantin Rodzaevsky will eventually have to deal with them once he unites the Russian Far East and asks Japan to return Outer Manchuria to him.
• The Rival: Ever since the first Five-Year Industrial Development Plan in 1937, Manchuria has been committed to a planned economy focused on heavy industry. The emergence of Guangdong as a fellow artificial puppet state, driven by a free-market economy, is seen as a rival upstart by the Manchurian government, leading to an economic race mechanic after the Pan-Asian Conference.
• Shown Their Work: The Manchurian city names have a seal next to them, which are the same ones they had in OTL.^{From left to right...} Mukden, Dalian, Fushun, and Anshan in row 1; Andong, Yingkou, Jinzhou, and Siping in row 2; Harbin, Qiqihar, Jiamusui, and Mudanjiang in row 3; and Xinjing, Qingdao, Jinan, and Rason in row 4.
• Superficial Solution: With the Pan-Asian Economic Conference approaching, the government begins to take issue with the opium addicts that line streets in the area around the conference. Rather than finding a long-term solution or criminalise consumption, the government instead chooses to use laws against trespassing, vagrancy and public decency to target addicts and use the Imperial Police to remove them from public spaces.
• Suppressed History: Japan's invasion of Manchuria was justified by the false flag attack of the Mukden Incident, which the Japanese have furiously attempted to hide the truth of.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: The powers that be in Manchuria may not agree on much, but they all recognized the threat Guangdong's rapidly developing economy poses as a future competitor. This is why they decided to send Komai to Guangdong in the hopes of either taking it over from the inside or at least hobbling the growing threat.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • The Kwantung Army is divided between an orthodox faction led by Chief of Staff Katakura Tadashi and a reformist faction led by Sejima Ryūzō with the support of the Manchurian general staff. The former wishes to continue the corporatist legacy of the 1930s in the pursuit of a militarized, defense state feared by the common people. The latter used to advocate for a socialist-state driven economy before Sejima assumed leadership of the faction and moved towards reforming the existing system.
  • One major faction in the Concordia Association is the Japanophiles, a class of opportunists and oligarchs educated in Manchuria's bureaucratic universities, loyal to Japan's version of Pan-Asianism, well-connected with Sōmucho, and are currently led by Gu Ciheng. Their rivals, the Sovereignists, are also part of the Association, composed of native administrators who rose during the mid-1950s and are currently led by Puyi's relatives. They seek better terms with Tokyo and the bureaucratic-military complex that rules Manchuria, which are fundamentally at odds with the Japanophiles.
  • In the aftermath of the Russian Civil War, Harbin became home to much of the white Émigrés movement and the Russian Fascist Party. Supporting the Japanese and their invasion of Manchuria, these exiles found support in return, but disagreements in the mid-1940s made such cooperation tense. The Émigrés have since left the city in the wake of the USSR's collapse and are still backed by the Japanese as warlords in the Russian Far East, even if they have no love for each other.
• This Is My Name on Foreign: If Katakura and the Kwantung Army overthrow the government and establish their National Defence State, Manchuria will be labelled on the map under its Japanese name Manshūkoku, representing Japan's tightened grip over the state.
• Travel Montage: One of Manchuria's opening events details a worker being huddled on trains and travelling from a village to the capital with other workers as he looks out at the ever-changing landscape morph from forests and mountains to plains with ramshackle villages before arriving in the capital with its imposing buildings and wide streets, finally being marched off into a narrower new district filled with concrete buildings and dormitories.
• Urban Segregation: Manchuria's ostensibly diverse and developed cities are largely divided between the Japanese who live in the developed urban centers and the natives who live in industrialized, impoverished districts that lie on the outskirts.
• Vast Bureaucracy: One of the primary factions in Manchuria is the Sōmuchō (Manchurian General Affairs Council), what was meant to be an advisory entity that has taken the form of an all-powerful centralized bureaucracy that is responsible for drafting the laws and decrees promulgated in the grand halls of legislature and Imperial Palace.
• Vice City: Cities in Manchuria are plagued by opium and prostitution, particularly affecting the impoverished and minority communities. The Japanese bureaucracy actively peddles these excesses, controlling its flow and maintaining a monopoly on the production and distribution of opium.
• Visionary Villain: Sōmuchō was the birthplace of the Innovation Bureaucracy ideology, which seeks to subordinate the economy under the total needs of the state and resource management over profit through a fascistic brutality guided by a cabal of technocrats. Seen as a cutting-edge ideology in the 1930s and having achieved many of its aims in Manchuria, it has since stagnated under Manchuria's faltering economy and decaying apparatuses, leading to calls for modernization in pursuit of new technologies
• We ARE Struggling Together: Beneath the propaganda of racial harmony, Manchuria's Japanese, Russian, Manchu, Korean and Han Chinese populations are constantly at each other's throats.
• Yakuza: The Yakuza have connections in Manchuria, as part of their opium trade, which extends as far down into Guangdong.
• You No Take Candle: Kyowa-go is a pidgin that was created to simply communication between Japanese officials and the Han and Manchu populations. However, the language is more of a pet project pushed by a small clique with little influence in the Japanese administration, so it's barely practiced.

Aisin Gioro Puyi

Role: Head of State

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Once the son of heaven, Puyi's life has been a long descent into hell. Chosen by the Empress Dowager Cixi herself a day before her death, he would serve as little more than a ineffective child emperor in the dying days of the Qing dynasty. Forced to abdicate by the Empress Dowager Longyu under pressure from the leaders of the Xinhai Revolution, Puyi grew up in the Forbidden City, temporarily left to him by the newly established Republic of China. There, he married Wanrong of the Gobulo clan, and became close friends with her younger brother, Runqi. In 1924, the court was expelled from the Forbidden City, and forced to eventually take refuge at the Japanese Concession of Tianjin, taking his life in a decidedly pro-Japanese direction.

After six years in Tianjin, in 1931, Puyi was visited by Kenji Doihara, head of the espionage office of the Kwantung Army, who offered to make him the head of a new Manchurian state. After some initial hesitation, Puyi accepted, traveling with his court to Changchun. He was made 'Chief Executive' of Manchukuo in 1932, and finally became an Emperor once more in 1934. Despite this, Puyi soon found that he was nothing more than a glorified prisoner of the Japanese, kept in a gilded cage.

This was keenly felt by those around him as well: Wanrong, who had never liked Japan, grew ever more distant and deeply addicted to opium, his brothers were no longer as close to him as they once were, and even Runqi became concerned by the control of the Japanese over Puyi. However, Puyi gave up on any hope of challenging the Kwantung Army, especially after the victory of Japan in the war. Now, nearly 30 years after his coronation, he has accomplished little and is despised by many, even those he cares about. This knowledge increasingly eats away at Puyi as his own health begins to deteriorate. His only legacy is a lonely life and an empire in chains.

The puppet emperor of Manchukuo, Puyi is the last living emperor of China. In reality, Puyi has very little power and is effectively under house arrest in his imperial palace.

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• 0% Approval Rating: Puyi is despised by nearly everyone. His staff and family were alienated by his abusive outbursts and declining mental state. The people he governs hate him as a relic of a toppled monarchy clinging on with the help of a colonial invader. The Japanese see him and the royal family as a mere impediment to their ambitions and will always abolish the monarchy if one of their factions come to power after Puyi's death.
• Allohistorical Allusion: Some of Puyi's experiences, as detailed in his diaries, are based on the real experiences of the real Puyi, who lived in isolation as a deposed emperor in Manchuria and Communist China.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: When Puyi dies and Sōmuchō launches their coup, the Mangyō executives will celebrate with a dinner, having seized power after the death of their monarch.
• Awful Wedded Life: While growing up in the Forbidden City, Puyi married Wanrong from the Manchu Gobulo clan. In the decades since, they have grown distant over fights worsened by Wanrong's crippling opium addiction. Wanrong herself has spent much of her time isolated and both parties have started abusing their house staff.
• Dying Alone: His death, though attended by a few dignitaries (including Emperor Hirohito), is largely ignored by the rest of the world, and ultimately forgotten. Not even his own family, whom he's alienated long ago, give him much reverence.
• Gilded Cage: Puyi is more or less under house arrest in a big fancy imperial palace, only ever leaving for trivial state duties.
• Last of His Kind: He was forced to abdicate the throne as a child in the wake of Xinhai Revolution, ending millennia of monarchist rule in China. Upon being hoisted up the throne of a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, his death will usually result in the monarchy being abolished yet again.
• Manchild: Puyi was never raised as a responsible person and he is reaching 60. As he talked about himself in real life:
  "For the past forty years I had never folded my own quilt, made my own bed, or poured out my washing water. I had never even washed my own feet or tied my shoes."
• Puppet King: Manchukuo is in practice directly ruled by Japan's Kwantung Army. Puyi has very little power and has been under effective house arrest for the past three decades, which has greatly contributed to his depression.
• The Quisling: After being exiled from the Forbidden City to Japan's holdings in Tianjin in 1924, he grew closer to the Japanese before being offered the chance of governing a new puppet state in Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931. First as Chief Executive in 1932, then crowned Emperor in 1934, Puyi has spent the past thirty years living as a powerless and imprisoned puppet beholden to the Kwantung Army and Tokyo's imperial ambitions.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Hardly anyone respects him outside of being a tool to be used, but Puyi thinks he's far smarter than the Japanese give him credit for and could've averted his figurehead status. Not that he ever tries to back up his talk with action.

Tropes pertaining to upcoming content

• Bad Boss: In a teaser event, Puyi is still bitter over how little respect anyone gives him and he uses what minimal power he has to verbally, physically and sexually abuse his household servants, aggressively barking commands to them to vent his frustration.
• The Cynic: In the teaser event "Pebble in the Ocean", Puyi admonishes his reformist brother Pujie as a foolish idealist, believing that there is no hope for Manchuria to gain greater sovereignty from Japan. It's also why he's got no motivation to avert his status as Puppet King.

Aisin Gioro Pujie

^{Civilian Outfit}

Role: Head of State (Puyi succession)

Party: Mǎnzhōuguó Xiéhehuì^note Concordia Association of Manchukuo ^note Officially, Mǎnzhōuguó Xiéhehuì, or the Concordia Association of Manchukuo, is an "uncodified constitutional institution" that acts as the "matrix of the government", unifying the nation under a common vision for ideology, civilization, and politics. Of course, it failed to live up to its own propaganda - the organization was dominated by the Japanese bureaucrats under the "internal guidance" of the Kwantung Army.\n\nThe Great Compromise of the 1950s allowed some Concordians to choose their own stance on the relationship between Manchuria and Japan. As a result, the Court-led Sovereignists came out as a rival to the Japanophiles. Both factions have their own plans to lead the country, and they are looking for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Ideology: Artistocratic Conservatism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}On paper, Manchukuo is an Empire - and every empire must have an Emperor. Though Aisin-Gioro Pujie was once born in the shadow of his elder brother - first the Xuantong and then the Kangde Emperor - circumstances have made him much more than just another Manchu noble. Noted as being much more charismatic and thoughtful than his brother, Puyi's inability to produce an heir has left Pujie the new heir presumptive - and witnessing firsthand the Court's prostrate servility to the Japanese at the cost of the people has made him determined to restore the Imperial Court to its true place: at the very apex of Manchukuo's government. Furthermore, his marriage to Hiro Saga, a Japanese noblewoman - surprisingly happy for one arranged - links him with the highest ranks of Tokyo's aristocracy and grants considerable amounts of legitimacy to his reform-minded end goals.

Whether he will be able to effectively tie together this spider's web of influence and alliances to secure Manchukuo a constitution and an empowered throne and court against the endless pressure from outside forces - most dangerously, the Kwantung Army - remains to be seen, but one thing is certain - Pujie is at least determined not to end up like his brother has.

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• Anachronism Stew: Pujie is seen by many in-universe as a balance between antiquity and changing times. He is continuation of Manchuria's long-standing Qing dynasty and political system, but also surrounds him with competent ministers and promises to bring Manchuria to the modern era. His lavish coronation is further proof of this, as Matsushita and Ibuka express distaste for the ceremonial affair, while Komai sees the lavishness as unnecessary for a "small affair".
• Cultural Rebel: As much as Pujie genuinely believes in the promises of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, he also firmly believes that those promises could never come to pass so long as Manchuria remains a glorified colony of Japan.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Pujie cultivates strong connections within Japanese society, which though partly out of genuine belief in Japan's vision for Asia, is also done as a necessary evil to help leverage his political influence for Manchuria's benefit.
• Internal Reformist: Pujie is one of the most prominent reformists among the Concordia Association, advocating for the restoration of greater native power from the Imperial Court. If he manages to claim the throne, he will get a chance to implement these reforms while combatting Manchuria's web of intrigue.
• Meet the New Boss: At least, according to the Guangdong Chief Executives. Many of them see Pujie as a continuation of the outdated status quo and Manchuria's stagnation.
• Passed-Over Inheritance: Even though Manchuria is a monarchy and Puyi does not have any sons, Pujie's ascension to the throne after his older brother's death is not guaranteed to happen, due to significant internal opposition and the lack of legal succession laws.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Pujie's arranged marriage with Japanese noblewoman Hiro Saga is surprisingly happy and has helped Pujie cultivate ties to the Japanese aristocracy, helping his reformist cause.
• Redeeming Replacement: Pujie is not like his docile brother and wants to redeem the imperial family's legacy by curbing Manchuria's worst abuses. Even Pujie's rivals in Guangdong, barring Komai, can respect the fact that he brings some reforms to the old-fashioned political system, with competent ministers and an ability to keep his political rivals at bay.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Unlike his brother Puyi, Pujie is charismatic, powerful, and motivated to reform Manchuria and steer it away from dependence on Japan. This is also the only path that does not abolish the monarchy after the death of Puyi.
• Superior Successor: Pujie has always had a reputation for being more charismatic, thoughtful, and generally more politically savvy than Puyi ever was. Should he succeed his elder brother, he also proves to be more competent and formidable.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Pujie's sovereigntist faction includes his other family members, Aisin Gioro Yuyan and Gobulo Runqi, who all have differing aims for Manchuria.
• Vetinari Job Security: Through the connections he's carefully fostered within the Japanese government, military and aristocracy, Pujie has sought to make himself far too indispensable to be sidelined, even by his other family members.

Gu Ciheng

Role: Minister of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister (Puyi and Pujie cabinet), Prime Minister^note Head of Government (Puyi cabinet - Ruan succession), Head of State (Sōmuchō coup)

Party: Sōmucho^note Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Ideology: Reform Bureacracy^note Fascism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Though many were surprised by Gu Ciheng's seemingly sudden rise to the office of President, those paying attention would have already realized it was a foregone conclusion. Having previously been the Deputy Director of the General Affairs Agency, he developed a strong and positive relationship with the Manchurian bureaucracy, retaining clear links with them even after being promoted to the cabinet. During his time in the Ruan cabinet, disagreements developed between Gu and reformist elements of Concordia seeking to curtail the influence of the bureaucrats on the state, and these tensions eventually erupted upon Puyi's death, leading to Gu cooperating with a coup launched by the bureaucracy that successfully took full control of the state and disbanded the Concordia Association. His own ambition fulfilled, and content with being the figurehead of the newly empowered bureaucrats, Gu Ciheng watches without interest from above as the government he supposedly leads undertakes perhaps the most drastic reforms Manchukuo has seen since it was established.

In-Game Biography (Foreign Minister) ^{Click to Show}Graduating from a Japanese university, Gu Ciheng served in various minor posts in the Fengtian Clique before enthusiastically collaborating with the invading Kwantung Army in 1931. His eager opportunism paid off, being made a member of the cabinet of Manchukuo and serving in various posts until 1937, when he was made deputy director of Somucho, the general affairs agency. Though he only remained until 1941, it was in this role that he attracted significant attention and established key contacts both within and without the government of Manchukuo that he maintains to this day. However, in the uneasy years of the 50s, Gu Ciheng steadily lost his personal influence and was left in the shadow of his old compatriot Ruan Zhenduo. Today, Gu Ciheng seems to have no future ahead of him- though should he manage to turn his fortunes around, it is only a question of who pays the price for it.

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• The Coup: Allying himself with the bureaucracy, Gu launched a coup against the civilian government to abolish the dissident reformist factions in Manchuria.
• Long Game: As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he plots against the Prime Minister Ruan Zhenduo and the royals as he reckons that this is a sinking ship, and he just needs to avoid getting dirt on himself so he and allies in the Sōmuchō can seize power and implement their ambitious ideas. As far as he is concerned, Ruan is an unremarkable leader destined to fail and the royals are the ungrateful relics of a bygone era holding them back.
• Passed-Over Promotion: During the 1950s, Gu lost much of his influence and stagnated, while Ruan Zhenduo rose in importance. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, many think his career has hit a dead end but Gu still plans to reverse his fortunes.
• Pen-Pushing President: While Sakomizu is busy celebrating the success of Sōmuchō's coup with his Mangyō allies, the executives find it humorous that Gu cannot attend because he is left with the busy work as president.
• Puppet King: Even though his coup establishes Gu as the president of Manchuria, his power is solely reliant on the backing of a bureaucratic coalition that seeks to reinvigorate Manchuria's failing industry. Gu himself knows that he has no real authority of his own, but he's content to remain a figurehead anyway.
• The Quisling: Having graduated from a Japanese university and worked within the Fengtian Clique, Gu eagerly collaborated with the Kwantung Army in 1931. He held numerous cabinet positions within the government before spending four years as deputy director of Sōmuchō, forming connections and paving the way for him to become a prominent Japanophile collaborating with Tokyo.

Sejima Ryūzō

^{Military outfit}

Role: Military Commander, Minister of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister (Gu cabinet), Head of State (Manchurian Imperial Army coup), Chief of Kwantung Army Staff^note Head of Government (Sejima cabinet)

Party: Kantōgun - Manshū-ha^note Kwantung Army - Manchu Faction

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

In-Game Biography (Foreign Minister, Gu cabinet) ^{Click to Show}One could say that Sejima Ryuzo has a near-perfect career history. An intelligence and staff officer within the Kwantung Army, Sejima has had an excellent track record of pacifying Manchuria proper, as well as helping to break Chinese intelligence efforts and resistance throughout the postwar pacification period. Well on his way to join the big leagues in the Home Islands, Sejima's ascent was cut short by his violent disagreements with the Kwantung Army establishment, rendering him a political pariah and clipping his wings.

Instilled with a bone to pick against the Kwantung traditionalists, Sejima bides his time waiting for a perfect opportunity to spread his wings in Manchukuo again. When the Aisin-Gioro and their sycophants were removed from power, he did not strike either - not when the Kwantung Army is as powerful as it is. It is only when Wada Hiro usurps control over the General Affairs Agency does Sejima extend his political arm, relying on a massive wave of anti-Kwantung sentiment. While his means are established, his ends are yet to be known.

In-Game Biography (Head of Government, Sejima cabinet) ^{Click to Show}When the Aisin-Gioro were evicted from the Salt Palace and a reforged state was established, the Northeast entered a crisis of identity once more. Suddenly, the bureaucratic and Kwantung higher-ups were in a race to see who can stabilise the Northeast the quickest, and another, far more important one to assume the coveted position of a model colonial administrator.

Years of meticulous planning mired with opportunistic plays and convenient betrayals and alliances has left Sejima Ryuzo on top of the pile, leaving behind a trail of ruined careers from the Concordia Association to the Bureaucrats. Envisioning a grand, modernised Manchukuo able to bear the torch of Pan-Asianism on the continent, Sejima has massive plans for the renewal and rebirth of Manchukuo's industry.

As for his formalities however, he is keen to be out of the spotlight - only making his metaphorical peacock's feathers visible to those he personally wants recognition from. To this end, he has built a carefully picked network of native collaborators to rule on his behalf. For Sejima's brand of colonial governance, chauvinism matters less than personal loyalty and reliability.

This is not out of goodwill or benevolence - it is simply a matter of pragmatism as the more natives he appoints to the Manchurian government, the greater his legitimacy is among the weary population of the Northeast. Nevertheless, Sejima's coup marks a new era for the Pan-Asian experiment - and it is safe to say that Manchukuo is embracing the trends of the future.

A future tied to the Rising Sun, with all the implications such an entwinement entails.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: In OTL, Manchuria was the last place that Sejima was stationed in before being captured by the Soviets. His more pragmatic, if not lenient rule, meanwhile, is based on his real life exploits as a business tycoon in postwar Japan.
• Ambition Is Evil: Sejima is extremely ambitious and will use his coup to enact vast reforms to the obsolete Manchurian state. Tellingly, if Komai is in charge of Guangdong, Sejima is quick to discuss how Guangdong can integrate into Manchuria's administration and raise the possibility that Komai will have to be subordinate to him.
• Gun Nut: Downplayed. Sejima does take an interest in antique firearms, reminding him of his youthful days as a captain in the army.
• Just the First Citizen: After his coup, Sejima is officially neither the President nor the Prime Minister. His official position after the coup is "Chief of Kwantung Army Staff" despite being a de facto dictator under Martial Law.
• Les Collaborateurs: Sejima employs a network of native collaborators to govern Manchuria for him, as their presence would make his rule seem more benevolent and legitimate. Even his support base in the Kwantung Army is more so composed of members from the Manchurian Imperial Army, which mainly consists of Manchurian and Korean collaborators who have been unofficially subordinated to the Kwantung Army.
• The Dreaded: Sejima is the single most feared leader of Manchuria for the Chief Execuives of Guangdong, as he is a capable administrator with the power to conduct wide-reaching reforms and streamline the economy. It also doesn't help that the Chief Executives pinned much of their political career in proving the superior of their economic model and the race has just gotten harder with Sejima on board. Both Morita and Matsushita feel outright physically unwell thinking about it.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Sejima's no saint, but he's leading the moderate faction of the Kwantung Army in opposition to the more repressive Katakura.
• Military Coup: Upon Puyi's passing, Sejima can launch a coup against the civilian government, planning to reform Manchuria's inefficient administration.
• Passed-Over Promotion: Sejima was a rising star expected to have a prosperous career in the Home Isles before his disagreements with the Kwantung Army establishment stunted his career.
• The Purge: Shortly after taking power, Sejima begins purging dissident factions who oppose his agenda.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • In a speech, Sejima pledges to improve Manchuria's economy, start urbanization programs, and curb the government's worst excesses, intending to turn the country into a productive member of the Co-Prosperity Sphere.
  • Unlike most military officials in the IJA and Kwantung Army, Sejima is more focused on economic matters and is less confrontational with the private sector because he thinks these matters are more important than pointless militarization. He is quick to reassure Mangyō that they don't need to worry about his military regime.
• Repressive, but Efficient: Sejima has the potential to be one of the most efficient leaders in Manchuria, maximizing their productivity with an organized political-industrial complex. Notably, he is the most dreaded competitor for Morita and Matsushita in Guangdong, aware of how tough it's going to be to outpace him in economic growth. Even Ibuka shivers at the thought of facing him and Komai seriously considers that he might end up serving him in the future.
• The Spymaster: In the Kwantung Army, he serves as an intelligence and staff officer with an exceptional record of pacifying the Manchurian resistance and breaking Chinese counterintelligence efforts.
• Stealth Insult: If he takes over Manchuria and meets Ibuka, Sejima will offer a few kind words about his agenda before condescendingly remarking that Manchuria could easily replicate them, subtly wounding Ibuka's pride.
• Worthy Opponent: Sejima's efficient rule has earned him the respect of Ibuka in Guangdong, perceiving him as a man focused on economic efficiency and who worked his way through the IJA against the militarists, Imperial Courty, and Sōmuchō. Ibuka takes his challenge very seriously and wants to one-up by economically outpacing him.

Katakura Tadashi

Role: Military Commander, Leader of the Military, Chief of Kwantung Army Staff^note Security Minister (Gu cabinet), Head of State (Kwantung coup), Chief of Kwantung Army Staff^note Head of Government (Katakura cabinet)

Party: Kantōgun - Seitō-ha^note Kwantung Army - Orthodox Faction

Ideology: Stratocratic Corporatism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}Katakura Tadashi is a shining example of the ideal Japanese military officer. Shortly after joining the Kwantung Army, he stood by the Emperor Shōwa when curbing the Kodo-ha faction.

Examples of cunning would only add on over time, until Tadashi eventually became the head of the Kwantung Army after Tojo's death.

Katakura has a unique take on administration, as he shows more sympathy towards allowing Manchurian civilians to rule themselves with the army acting to only ensure order and justice. However, he has made it known that he would not hesitate to curb undesirable factions from arising within the state, as he has done before.

His devotion to the Kwantung Army above all else has given spoils; his only job now is to keep Manchuria from bursting at the seams by any means necessary.

In-Game Biography (Security Minister) ^{Click to Show}A man surrounded by the military his entire life - having been born into the family of a Colonel, involved in the February 26 incident, and actively involved with the front in Burma and India - Katakura now finds himself returned to his old post in the Kwantung during the Empire of Manchuria's most turbulent period yet. In the wake of Tojo's death, Puyi's rapidly declining health, and increasing pressure from the Northeast, the role of the Kwantung as the guarantors of Japan's massive investments in Manchuria and its sole lifeline against disorder and social collapse (in his eyes) is a responsibility he does not take lightly.

Though the Concordia and Manchukuo's trappings of a civil administration are much more convenient to control the state with - if somewhat more convoluted - his path forward should the state become at risk of being co-opted by undesirables is clear.

The Kwantung is here to secure Manchuria, and Katakura is here to ensure this.

In-Game Biography (Military Commander) ^{Click to Show}Born in 1898, Katakura Tadashi started his military career at a young age, joining the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1917. Rising through junior officer ranks throughout the 1920s, Katakura became a Captain in 1930 and was posted to the Kwantung Army shortly before the Mukden Incident. During the Toseiha-Kodoha power struggle, Katakura became fiercely loyal to the Toseiha, well known for his involvement in actions curtailing the influence of the Kodoha.

Eventually reaching the rank of Colonel, he was assigned to direct the Burma Area Army and was involved in the victories in Burma and India. Later assigned to the Kwantung Army once more, he continued to be promoted, coming to head the Kwantung Army after the death of Tōjō Hideki.

Now head of the Kwantung Army, Katakura Tadashi leads a tight ship. Strongly believing in the ideals of a national defense state and the supremacy of the army, he is not shy to show the power of the Kwantung Army. However, he isn't a foolish man, recognizing that pulling the strings of a civilian government is much easier for governing the state than taking direct control. Despite this, if Katakura Tadashi feels that Manchukuo is in danger, and falling to undesirable groups, he will not avoid direct action if necessary.

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• Downer Ending: Besides the obvious ethical pitfalls of amplifying an already deeply repressive system and making it serve the military, Katakura's takeover is bound to be an economic disaster for Manchuria and will cripple its ability to compete with Guangdong. Even Reform Bureaucrats like Komai express the sentiment, if only because they see Katakura ruining Manchuria's economic model and taking the country down to an unimaginative military obsession.
• Do Wrong, Right: As far as Katakura is concerned, Manchuria's primary purpose is to serve the Kwantung Army which acts as Japan's shield and sword. He believes the army has become blunted since the end of WW2 as Sōmuchō continues to divert funding away towards other matters of economic importance. Katakura argues that profits don't matter if you can't defend them and when he takes power he directs everything towards building a hyper-militarized defence state. The fact that the Kwantung Army has blunted because Japan has successfully achieved military dominance over the Asian mainland with no force able to credibly threaten it and now can rely on nuclear deterrence to keep the peace with its superpower rivals but needs an economy to fuel it goes blissfully over his head.
• The Dreaded: Katakura is dreaded by many as a merciless general who is closely tied to the Reform Bureaucrats and keep Manchuria under the Japanese boot.
• Evil Reactionary: Katakura and his clique have upheld Tōjō's idea of the Kwantung Army remaining subordinate to Japanese superiors and subjugating Manchuria further, even years after Tōjō's passing.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: Katakura is obsessed with military might and defense, but this zealous single-mindedness could cripple the Manchurian economy. For this, Morita, Matsushita, and Ibuka in Guangdong are elated and assured that they can capitalize on Katakura's weakness to usurp their title as Japan's crown colony.
• General Ripper: Katakura has spent his entire life in the military, being born to a military family and joining at a young age in 1917. His loyalties lie with the Kwantung Army, which he sees as the shield necessary to protect Japan and ensure that they will never lose Manchuria to the partisans or anyone he thinks is driving the state to ruin.
• Improperly Paranoid: Katakura is obsessed with the national socialist "Total War State" and on spending stratospheric amounts on war material and the military. While always inhumane and brutal, this made a semblance of sense when Manchukuo was first created with Japan in a massive war in China and just across the border from the Soviet juggernaut as tensions with the West rose. However, he has continued to hold onto this mindset into the 1960s, after Japan has utterly crushed every conventional military threat in Northeastern Asia and now needs Manchuria to provide economic outflows, not more guns.
• The Man Behind the Man: If the Kwantung Army conducts a coup after Puyi's death, the army installs Yu Jungtao as president, but Katakura is the one calling the shots as he guides the country towards a militarized "National Defense State", a relationship that is obvious to most observers.
• Military Coup: If he believes that the situation in Manchuria grows too chaotic upon Puyi's passing, Katakura will lead the Kwantung Army to coup the civilian government and install himself as dictator to restore order.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: While his ideology has little ideological connection to German Nazism, his mixture of ruthlessness and belief that Manchuria should be a militarized "National Defense State" means that he is classified as a National Socialist in-game.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Morita Akio has been made Chief Executive in Guangdong, he realizes on the way home from Yu Jingtao's "inauguration" that the sheer contrast between Guangdong and the economic travesty that is Manchuria under Katakura will validate Morita's benevolent model even more.
• Old Soldier: Katakura has spent essentially his entire life in the IJA, enlisting in 1917. He's still there half a century later.
• Open Secret: Katakura doesn't even bother hiding the fact that Yu is his puppet president, going so far as to speak on his behalf at the inauguration.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Although Katakura believes that Manchuria should become a militarized, defense state, he's avoided direct action against civilian government because it's much easier to pressure administrators to do his bidding than take direct control himself. However, this could change if the domestic situation becomes too chaotic.
  • He lets native administrators run the country so long as the Kwantung Army remains free to ascend to new heights.
• Undying Loyalty: In his first assignment to the Kwantung Army, Katakura sided with the Tōseiha faction against the Kōdōha faction and was fiercely loyal to them, curbing their influence until the Kōdōha lost most of their influence in the February 26 Incident.
• Up Through the Ranks: Having joined the military at an early age, he rose through the ranks during the 1920s, becoming a Captain in 1930 and a Colonel when he was leading the Japanese war campaign in Burma and India. Reassigned to the Kwantung Army after the end of World War II, he rose to lead the army itself after the death of Tōjō and the coalescing of Kwantung establishment figures around himself against the reformists.

Ruan Zhenduo

Role: Head of the Concordia Association, Prime Minister^note Head of Government (Puyi cabinet)

Ideology: Corporatism^note Fascism

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}Some say that politics is a game of perseverance more than it is of clever policies or intricate webs of influence, and Ruan Zhenduo personifies this perfectly. A native of Manchuria starting with the study of medicine in 1913 and finishing with a doctorate at Kyoto Imperial University - no mean feat for a Chinese man in Japan. First dabbling with official work as a chief army medical officer for the Fengtian Clique, he steadily moved upwards through the ranks of local government positions until the formation of Manchukuo.

One of the founding members of the Concordia Association, his posts have now ranged from Minister for Education, to Finance, to Construction, with brief stints even in the Foreign Office. As one of its single most key officials, Ruan has made himself indispensable for the functioning of the Empire's government - though he has mostly focused on keeping it going despite immense contradictory pressures from outside, as opposed to beginning the process of change that it is increasingly becoming clear the state needs.

With Puyi's undecided succession turning from a smoldering, long-term problem to an immediate concern, Ruan as the 'caretaker' of the government now finds himself at the center of its apparatus, surrounded by people who only barely tolerate him and few real friends or allies. It is now evident that in order to survive the coming years, Concordia will have to rise out of its stupor and attempt to fulfill its long overdue promise - but how it will go about this rests on Ruan's decisions.

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• Death or Glory Attack: The Pan-Asian Economic Conference is Ruan's biggest gambit to reverse the stagnation of Manchuria's economy and he anxiously knows it could make or break him. The conference's success would guarantee his legacy as a competent statesman and failure would doom his career.
• Internal Reformist: Inverted. Ruan has spent most of his political career trying to maintain the status quo, despite all the other factions vying to change things their way. His reluctance to implement much needed changes, along with the looming succession crisis surrounding Puyi's declining health, has earned him very few allies, with most seeking to undermine him one way or the other.
• I've Come Too Far: Decades of collaboration with the Japanese has brought him to the position of Prime Minister. As he asks if it had been worth it in the hope that prosperity would come, having seen the land develop under a decade of stagnation, he remains determined to turn the fortunes of himself and the state around.
• The Quisling: A native of Manchuria, Ruan was one of the founding members of the Concordia Association and has spent decades serving a variety of cabinet positions, making him one of the most prominent politicians within the association and becoming Prime Minister.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Ruan is removed from power after the fallout of the Pan-Asian Economic Conference and the Yasuda Crisis, ruining his political reputation and opening his position to either Gu Ciheng or Aisin Gioro Yuyan. At best, Ruan can retire with some dignity. At worst, he will resign with disgrace.

Tropes pertaining to upcoming content

• Dramatically Missing the Point: As Ruan watches Suzuki's Pan-Asian Conference speech in the Manchurian economic war teaser, he ponders how far Guangdong had come in a decade. He correctly assesses how the Chinese citizens of Guangdong are treated as disposable workers whose only chance of social mobility is becoming a Zhujin, even fearing that Japan might question Manchurian sovereignty, if Guangdong succeeds. However, Ruan earnestly and incorrectly believes that all five races of Manchuria can succeed on their own terms, missing how the state is just as abusive and stratified as Guangdong.

Aisin Gioro Yuyan

Role: Prime Minister^note Head of Government (Puyi cabinet - Ruan succession, Pujie cabinet)

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}LA distant nephew of Puyi and Pujie, Aisin-Gioro Yuyan was taken under Puyi's wing after moving to Manchukuo with his family as a child, and became one of the few people close to his uncle. Becoming involved in politics after the war, Yuyan quickly came to be very influential in both the Imperial Court and the Concordia Association both, able to work with both mainstream politicians and reformists both and rising to be a top candidate to succeed Ruan Zhenduo as Prime Minister. After the death of Puyi and the ascendancy of Pujie, Yuyan was the natural choice for the next Prime Minister.

Though he has quickly shown himself to be capable, there are rumors that his ambition reaches even higher than the post he currently occupies. Whether or not this is true, as of now all eyes are on him as he guides the Manchurian state in a new direction.

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• Dragon with an Agenda: After Ruan's resignation or Pujie's ascension to the throne, Yuyan is made Prime Minister to represent the Concordia Association's reformists. However, there are rumors that his ambitions are not satisfied here and that his aims are even grander than what he's already achieved.
• Internal Reformist: Yuyan is a prominent member of both the Imperial Court and the Concordia Association, pushing a reformist platform to increase Manchuria's sovereignty over Japan.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In OTL, Yuyan was a member of Puyi's court before the fall of Manchukuo and his subsequent arrest. He spent the rest of his life in China as a pretender to the throne and was arrested on numerous occasions. In TNO, Manchukuo's survival permits his continued presence in the Imperial Court, becoming involved in politics after the war and rising to be one of the most prominent reformists within the Concordia Association.
• Workaholic: Yuyan works many late nights as everyone else in the palace dines and wines, dealing with petitions as holder of the privy seal, declining orders to attend household palace dinners to work through the piles on his desk. The requests that he frequently sees, particularly from that of landowners, brings him great frustration as the royals would not have dealt with such matters in centuries past.

Sakomizu Hisatsune

Role: Director-General of Sōmuchō, Head of Government (Gu cabinet)

Ideology: Reform Bureacracy^note Fascism

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}Sakomizu Hisatsune was always a bit of a black sheep among the clique of Commerce Ministry bureaucrats who made their mark on Manchukuo throughout the late 1930s. A competent bureaucrat in his own right, Sakomizu never really got the chance to break through into the big leagues in the Home Islands and join a Prime Minister's administration like Kishi, Yoshino or Shiina. Instead, he was reassigned to lead Somucho alongside his politically volatile former colleague Wada in the early 1950s. For all intents and purposes, Sakomizu's career has hit a dead end, with no room for advancement at home.

What was supposed to be a dead-end path has turned into a bountiful opportunity following Yuyan and Runqi taking a step too far - and the subsequent purge and removal of the Aisin-Gioro. Now, Sakomizu and his colleagues have one last chance to solidify Japan's grip over Manchukuo as a republican state is established - a chance to end the task burdened unto them thirty years ago.

Of course, unity is merely an illusion in the wilds of Manchukuo - and beneath Sakomizu's precarious pyramid lies a swarm of opportunists and rivals circling, waiting for the time to strike.

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• Don't Make Me Destroy You: During one of the Sōmuchō's weekly Wednesday meetings between Sakomizu, his subordinates and the vice-ministers, the Vice-Minister for Communications reports that there were some disagreements over postage cuts in said ministry. Sakomizu cuts him off and tells him that he is perfectly qualified to handle it himself and ensure those opposing him learn their place, before threatening to do the same to the vice-minister if he fails.
• The Dreaded: Sakomizu is feared as a competent rival to the Chief Executives of Guangdong, if Sōmuchō's coup is successful. He leads a centralized bureaucratic machine filled with competent political players and policy makers who will do anything to secure Manchuria's triumph in the rivalry. The only one to not be alarmed is Komai, sinc eboth belong to the broad Reform Bureaucrat bloc within Sōmuchō and Mangyō.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Sakomizu previously failed to make it into a Prime Minister's administration like his colleagues Kishi and Shiina, with his reassignment to lead the Sōmuchō being considered to have led his career to a dead-end. However, if the Sōmuchō coup takes place, Sakomizu will be able to fulfill his technocratic vision for Manchuria to its fullest potential.
• The Gloves Come Off: Lampshaded by Morita who learns of Sakomizu's succession of Puyi and interprets it as a sign that the Manchurian bureaucracy are getting serious about outpacing Guangdong in the economic race, outright abolishing the monarchy to do so. Morita himself seeks to double down and immpediately prepare new product designs to face the renewed threat.
• Industrialized Evil: Sakomizu is the leader of the Sōmuchō, a faction of colonial bureaucrats who advocate the complete subordination of Manchuria's economy to extract its rich natural resources, no matter the human cost. This became the basis of the "Reform Bureaucracy" ideology.
• The Man Behind the Man: The Sōmuchō will install Japanophile Gu Ciheng as president, but Sakomizu is truly directing the nation, according to the wills of the Reform Bureaucrats.
• Passed-Over Promotion: Unlike Kishi, Yoshino or Shiina, Sakomizu was never rewarded with a position in the Home Isles for his service in Manchuria, instead being appointed to lead Sōmuchō. Most consider this a dead end position, dooming any advancement in Japan proper. However, if Sōmuchō coup the Manchurian government after Puyi's death, he can become the puppet master ruling Manchuria and downplay this status in all but name.
• Visionary Villain: Sakomizu and the Sōmuchō envision a new technocratic system that focuses more on maximizing resource output than financial capital, which they believe should spearhead Japan's pan-Asian mission.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Despite the rivalry that Manchuria and Guangdong have, Ibuka respects Sakomizu as a worthy competitor, more so than Pujie or Katakura.
  • Morita expresses that Sakomizu and Sōmuchō cannot be underestimated, acknowledging them as a significant challenge in the economic race.

Takasaki Tatsunosuke

Role: President of Mangyō

Ideology: Fascism

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• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Takasaki's company dominates nearly every aspect of Manchurian life and powerful enough to match the German megacorporations in Europe, but it's extremely corrupt, more focused on maximizing profit rather than reforming itself to adapt to the Sphere's post-war problems.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's normally a terse individual, but he's really good at turning up his charm during a business deal, which is extremely well-reputed.
• Morton's Fork: Almost everyone knows that Takasaki's Mangyō (Manchurian Industrial Development Company) corporation is sluggish and corrupt to the core, but few want to enact sweeping changes to it because it's such a cornerstone to the Sphere's economy. Either way, Manchuria's stability would suffer.
• Pet the Dog: Takasaki praises Komai, if he undermines the Zaibatsus in Japan, pledging to wire him the assets needed to complete his mission. Once this plan bears fruit, he calls Komai and praises him, albeit quickly, and states that Komai's superiors have taken notice of his success.

Lu Guangji

Role: Leader of the People

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• Pragmatic Villainy: While Lu doesn't care about what the people think about pan-Asianism and Japanese imperialism, he does want to implement token reforms so that they will at least be apathetic enough to tolerate living in Manchuria.
• The Quisling: He is among the many native Chinese collaborators assisting in Japan's pan-Asian mission.

Tropes pertaining to upcoming content

• Bread and Circuses: In the political interface teaser, Lu wants to implement token reforms to make life tolerable enough that the people will not become entirely alienated by the state and tempted into joining the various bandit and partisan movements.

Yu Jingtao

Role: Commissioner of the Manchurian Imperial Police, Minister of Justice^note Security Minister (Puyi cabinet)

In-Game Biography (Security Minister) ^{Click to Show}After graduating from the Harbin Institute of Higher Education, Yu Jingtao served in the railway garrison during the era of the Fengtian Clique. With the establishment of Manchukuo in 1932, he served as dean of the Police College. Continuing to hold posts related to policing for the rest of the 1930s, Yu was made director of the city police of Harbin and, afterwards, Hsinking. In 1940 he became Governor of Binjiang Province, and in 1943 became Governor of Fengtian Province. By 1947, however, increasing disorder caused his recall to the post of police director of Hsinking, a role in which he had previously served with great distinction. He was tasked not only with protecting Puyi and his court, but also with keeping an eye on them on behalf of the Kwantung Army. This resulted in Yu developing a good working relationship with the Kwantung general staff, which he maintains to this day. After the ascension of Ruan Zhenduo to the post of Prime Minister, Yu Jingtao was a natural choice for the post of Minister of Justice in the new cabinet, taking his experience in policing with him to the national stage.

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• Mandatory Unretirement: Yu spent most of the 1940s as governor of either Binjiang or Fengtian Province. However, by 1947, rising disorder recalled him to his old position of Police Director of Hsinking.
• Puppet King: If the Kwantung coup Manchuria, abolish the monarchy and take power for themselves, Yu is installed as President of Manchuria but it is clear to all international observers that Katakura is the one calling the shots.
• The Quisling: Yu has been a collaborator for all of Manchuria's existence, rising from dean of the Police College to Police Director of Hsinking during the 1930s. It was during the afterwar period that he used this position to keep an eye on Puyi for the Kwantung Army, developing a relationship between which persists to this day and can pave the way for him becoming a Puppet King on behalf of the army. Once Ruan Zhenduo became Prime Minister, Yu rose to Minister of Justice and Commissioner of the Manchurian Imperial Police, implementing basic anti-corruption measures on authorization of his Kwantung benefactors.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed. Yu is set to investigate and resolve the deep corruption found in the Manchurian police force, but there are rumors that he has quite a few corrupt dealings himself.

Takagi Masao

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

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• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: As Korea is still under Japanese occupation in TNO, Park Chung-hee is still known by his Japanese name, Takagi Masao, and is serving in the Manchurian Imperial Army as part of the native collaborators aligned with Sejima Ryuzo.

Tropes pertaining to upcoming content

• Villainous Friendship: The "Beyond the Willow Palisade" teaser shows that Takagi has a close friendship with Sejima Ryuzo, both admiring an antiquated rifle that the former took from a Chinese collector as a debt payment.

"The Creaking Wheel"

Upcoming content coming with Manchuria in "The Creaking Wheel" update.

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• Advantage Ball: As shown in the Manchurian economic war teaser, the Manchurian government has a head start in their race against Guangdong. While the former's economy is constantly growing, the latter is dependent on short growth during product cycles, coupled with long periods of economic plateaus. However, the Manchurians should not get too comfortable, as mishandled disruptions could cause them to lose their advantage.
• Break the Haughty: Manchuria arrogantly believes that their economic system is superior to Guangdong's. Should they lose in the economic war teaser with Guangdong, their pride will be taken down a peg and their authenticity will be crippled; the Sovereigntists will lose all proof that the Chinese must face subjugation or assimilation, while the Bureaucrats will be forced to admit that the "irrationality" of capitalism is superior to their managed economic model.
• Passive Aggressive Combat: In the Machuria economic war teaser, Ruan meets with Suzuki at an open bar. With the Pan-Asian conference concluded, the two exchange pleasantries about each other's successes and Suzuki promises Guangdong's success is just beginning. As they bid farewell, both leave with the notion that a political war has just begun in an exceptionally polite manner.
• Playing Card Motifs: In the Manchurian Playing Cards teaser, a major mechanic revolves around the use of playing cards as policies that the government can play to affect the country on a state and national level, all in service to the endless pursuit of industrial and economic development, while putting down groups who threaten the current regime.
• Robbing the Dead: An event from the "Beyond the Willow Palisade" teaser features a Russian hermit scavenging two-decade old battlefields and robbing the corpses of their belongings, since he's not a legal citizen in Manchuria.
  A walking corpse robbing others in the white winds.

State of Guangdong

Official Name: State of Guangdong

Ruling Party: Kanton Minseifu^note Guangdong Civil Administration: The Legislative Council is, in theory, an apolitical advisory body appointed by the Chief Executive to advise and legitimize their actions as part of an unified political corpus - the Guangdong Civil Administration. In practice, of course, the capture of the Legislative Council by corporate interests have made political factionalism a fact of life. Those who remain loyal to the appointed Chief Executive Suzuki's vision, to the prerogatives of the state above that of moneyed interests, are seen as the executors of the Civil Administration in the Legislative Council.

Ideology: Corporate Statism^note Fascism

An artificial Japanese colonial state carved out of China's Guangdong province. For its tropes, see the dedicated Guangdong subpage.

Ganden Podrang

Official Name: Tibet

Ruling Party: Kashag

Ideology: Theocracy^note Despotism

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• Team Switzerland: Tibet tries to remain neutral in the Western Insurrection, content to remain in isolation from the rest of East Asia. Long Yun, for his part, will be insulted by this and has the option to invade them.
• The Theocracy: Tibet is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Dalai Lama according to Tibetan Buddhism.

Tenzin Gyatso

Role: Head of State

Party: Kashag

Ideology: Theocracy^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}As the Twentieth Century has witnessed several massive upheavals, with the order of things dramatically shifting again and again, the nation of Tibet has stood as an unshaking, unchanging pillar amidst it all. At the head of this unflinching nation sits the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Also known as Tenzin Gyatso, he is the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, in that order. Though lacking much in the way of direct political power, the sway that he holds over Tibet and the Tibetan Buddhist Faith as a whole is felt very clearly.

As with all Dalai Lamas, Tenzin Gyatso is believed to be the reincarnation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, the latest incarnation of Avalokiteśvara. Tenzin was born on July 9th, 1935 in the small village of Takster, along the border of Tibet and China, and was discovered by the Lamas of Tibet at the tender age of four, passing all of the tests and methods they used to determine the identity of the next Dalai Lama.

From there, he was placed at the head of Tibet's spiritual and political organizations, though from the first moment of his rule, the real authority in Tibet has been held by the Lamas who nominally rule underneath him. Such an openly theocratic system is a curiosity to outsiders, and there is no shortage of criticisms levied at Tibet and the general system of rule within it, yet it has kept Tibet independent and free for the half-century since the Qing's destruction.

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• Puppet King: Although he's supposed to be a reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama and is supposed to lead Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama's government is actually ruled by the Lamas who are nominally his subordinates.

Oceania

Australia

^{Flag of the Republic of Australia}

Official Name: Commonwealth of Australia, Republic of Australia (Republic)

Ruling Party: Australian Labor Party - Right

Ideology: Progressivism

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• The Alliance: Australia is a founding member in the United States' OFN, easing their fears about a Japanese invasion that would threaten their sovereignty.
• Allohistorical Allusion: Australia’s Republican flag uses a modified version of the "Southern Horizon" flag proposed in OTL 2014.
• Hypocrite: White Australians call Japan a menace threatening to invade and subjugate them, but the indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are treated little better by the Australian government. These groups are viewed as second-class citizens who aren't even counted on the census.
• I Am Who?: Australia is a nation without a definitive ethnicity. The indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are treated like second-class citizens in their own homeland and most of Australia's settler population come from a multitude of different nations. Following the surrender of Britain after World War II, most Australians are left wondering how to define themselves, whether to chart their own course or stick to the traditions of their founders.
• In Spite of a Nail: The Maralinga nuclear tests can still happen in this timeline, but now intended to counter Japanese aggression in the Pacific.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Australia will attempt to retake Christmas Island at the outbreak of the Indonesian civil war. This however, may cause tensions between Japan and the OFN.
• Mutually Assured Destruction: At the forefront against the Sphere in the Pacific, Australia has received extensive American support to develop nuclear weapons to deter any Japanese aggression, lest both sides destroy each other.
• Old Shame: Most Australian politicians are not proud of the White Australia policy, an attempt to "safeguard" white Australians by forbidding immigration from non-European groups.

Kim Beazley Sr.

Role: Head of State

Party: Australian Labor Party - Right

Ideology: Progressivism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Perhaps in better times, Kim Edward Beazley could have been known as a patron of education. A crusader fighting against the plague of illiteracy and slack-jawed idiocy in the Sunburnt Nation. In other, missed futures - slipping through his fingers like minute grains of sand - perhaps Beazley wouldn't have had to become Prime Minister. Content with his position inside the House of Representatives, Beazley could have settled himself as a modern Cicero, tackling his opponents with acerbic wit and passion inside his shining city on the hill.

But these are not peaceful times. Australia finds itself on the verge of encirclement by Tokyo's unrelenting waves. An entire generation of young men lies rotting inside the Papuan jungle, with not even the Charon's consolation of victory cradle, their spirits as they cross the Styx. Only the logistical nightmare of invasion and occupation of the Land Down Under saved Australia from being skewed upon the blood-encrusted bayonets of the Japanese Empire. With only a tenuous lifeline to America, many are starting to wonder. Will Australia survive to fight another day? Or will it - like Eastern Asia - succumb to the Sun's blinding glare? Or will, the most heinous enemy come from within?

Faced with such dire consequences as one's independence, it is no wonder why the young man is such a proponent of renewed ties to Washington's warm embrace. After all, with Brittannia's Throne, claimed by traitorous pretenders, is it little wonder why Australia should align with the Last Hope of Liberty? Beazley stands, with his back to the past, and his brow to the future and shouts;

Australia, Advance!

The Labor Prime Minister of Australia.

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• Honor Before Reason: Beazley doesn't get implicated in a pork-barreling scheme spun by several of his high-profile supporters, but he chooses to resign anyway for failing to uphold the integrity of his own party.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Beazley retires within the first year of the game out of shame for letting a pork-barreling scandal go without noticing.

H. V. Evatt

Role: Head of State (Interim Prime Minister)

Party: Australian Labor Party - Left

Ideology: Reformist Socialism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Herbert Vere Evatt was once a lambent star. An intimidatingly intelligent lawyer, Evatt graduated from the University of Sydney with first-class honors in four fields, two university medals, and, later, a Legum Doctor. He became an industrial lawyer, then the youngest High Court Justice in Australian history, and then from Leader of the Labor Party to be Prime Minister. But Evatt's brilliant mind has rusted away.

Evatt suffers from the dual blights of cerebral thrombosis and arteriosclerosis. His memories. Once like delicate friezes etched into steel, have slowly receded into an ambient buzz. Many in the Labor Party would say that Evatt's fall began before his mind slipped away - when he first decided that he was smarter than everyone else. He made a million decisions without consultation, half of them successful, half of them not. In Parliament, Evatt could no longer impress a pace on his environment.

Oscillating between serenity and belligerence, but nightmarishly lucid, Evatt hews at the heart of a political quagmire. The factions and the Liberals crowd him. Parliament has turned against the White Australia policy, and Evatt has not turned with them. His mind lies to him as the clock counts down, suggesting facts he knows are false. Perhaps what good Evatt could have done has already been done. Perhaps all his judgments will succeed him sooner than he thought.

Perhaps his time is at an end.

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• Feeling Their Age: Evatt was once one of Australia's most well-renowned lawyers, having won numerous honors and awards for his work. Unfortunately, Evatt's brilliant mind has deteriorated after he developed cerebral thrombosis and arteriosclerosis, which led him to become more slow-witted and arrogant to a fault.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Unlike the rest of the Parliament, Evatt still supports the White Australian policy.
• Short-Lived Leadership: He only serves as interim Prime Minister after Beazley's resignation before stepping down in the upcoming 1962 elections. Given his declining mental health, it's for the best.

Paul Hasluck

Role: Head of State (1962 or 1965 election)

Party: Liberal Party of Australia - Conservative

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}From poet to politician, to historian, and now Prime Minister, Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck has built his entire career on a fathomless energy for his dearest passions. Coming from a modest Fremantle home, Hasluck first broke into public policy by writing newspaper articles under the pseudonym, "Polygon.' Many Western Australians knew his advocacy for forward defense or international governance before they knew his real name. But when Hasluck arrived in the House of Representatives in 1949, many members found him difficult to know.

Hasluck's contemporaries have supplied many assessments: he is collegial but somewhat stuffy, prohibitively fastidious, formal, well-read, private, and good-humored, with a preference for governance rather than politics. He despises shouting and loud noises in general. He prizes clarity. Hasluck resents delegating, preferring the comfort in private ministrations and a sense of duty sated. He is demanding, sometimes aggressive to subordinates, and loves the Australian land dearly.

The red flatness of the Outback is now just a vagrant memory. Even in the tight halls of Parliament House, with its stubborn cigarette haze and crushing tight corridors, Hasluck occasionally feels the phantom touch of windswept sand, tracking around his ankles. But his task is unchanged. The order that must be impressed - if necessary, by assimilation - is one of liberty and individualism, respect and duty, and resoluteness. Hasluck pretends at no higher purpose. His mission, he knows, is born of the common obligation at the heart of all humankind.

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• Dark Horse Victory: Hasluck is considered a black sheep from within his own party, since most are unfamiliar with his old, Tory-style paternalistic views. Should he become elected in 1962, it would signify a widespread shift in Australian politics.
• Reconcile the Bitter Foes: Hasluck believes that Australia's current problems are due to its lack of social unity, which he vows to mend.
• Rousseau Was Right: One of his major campaign promises is to inspire the average citizen to become more generous to their neighbors, believing that he can inspire them to instinctively become better people.

Arthur Calwell

Role: Head of State (1962 or 1965 election)

Party: Australian Labor Party - Right

Ideology: Social Democracy^note Progressivism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Support for the White Australia policy has slowly diminished over the last twenty years. The network of racist legislation first passed to safeguard Australia as an outpost of the British race in Oceania has been, and is slowly being, unwound by a new generation of cautious reformists.

Political lepers, the lot of them!

Arthur Augustus Calwell is the most dogged, full-throated defender of the White Australia policy in the Federal Parliament. Calwell contends that, standing as sovereign of his own nation, the African, the Asian, and the mulatta is equal to the white man, but upon his first step in Australia, he, becomes a pollutant. No nation, however strong, can, survive the unsegregated cohabitation of the races. It is with this line of thinking that Calwell argues he is not a racist, but merely proud of his color, as any man ought to be. His critics deride him for this. Calwell reckons they're all ratbags.

Indeed, what Calwell reckons has always come first. He argues that the media misrepresents him: that they never focus on the working-class man orating from the back of pickup trucks in isolated townships on the need for rural hospitals; on the self-educated unionist conversant in Mandarin who argues against involvement in foreign wars; or the community-minded Socialist who champions welfare, and good wages.

But all of that ends at the color line. In the hazy bar of Parliament House, holding a shot glass level to his eyes, the Prime Minister grins and rasps to his comrades, "Two Wongs do not make a White."

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• Can't Take Criticism: If anyone criticizes his racism, he'll merely deride them as "ratbags".
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Inverted. Calwell genuinely fights for societal equity, seeking to uplift the working class and empower unions...so long as none of these boons are enjoyed by non-white immigrants to Australia, whom he wants kept out with a passion.
• Noble Bigot: Calwell wants a better life and a more equitable society for all working-class Australians...that is, all working-class Australians who aren't non-white immigrants.
• Pet the Dog: While racist, Calwell is generous towards the labor unions and will grant them full liberties during his tenure.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Calwell is a crusader who fights for greater benefits to the labor unions and downtrodden, but he's also unflinchingly defensive against efforts to reverse the White Australian policy, considering all non-White races as "pollutants" on Australian soil.

John Gorton

Role: Head of State (1962 or 1965 election)

Party: Liberal Party of Australia - Moderate

Ideology: National Liberalism^note Liberalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In a party of economic liberals, a larrikin centralist rules the roost. John Grey Gorton, Prime Minister of Australia, is a self-aware anomaly. Treading the narrow passageways of Parliament House, he overhears party adversaries deride his policies as a strain of creeping Socialism - "Gortonism", they call, it. They say they're like a club of mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed on shit. Gorton just laughs and asks if he can join, and so his backbenchers call him "Chief Spore".

But past all his jokes, Gorton knows that he is isolated. He is an economic nationalist, social liberal, hard drinker, and chronic womanizer, and for these abnormalities, he is on one day labeled a threat, and on the next, an embarrassment. They don't know how little their jibes sting; Gorton has endured, much worse. They don't know about the airplane crash, or the childhood spent loving a mother trapped in a sanatorium. They don't know the man who lost his face, only to walk in front of the cameras and smile anyway.

Gorton's mission, as he sees it, is to bring progress to a nation content with the security of political Luddism. Whether he will trust his cabinet with this mission is sure to be one of the defining dilemmas of his premiership. Or, perhaps, his last.

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• Beneath the Mask: Underneath his sarcastic and clownish persona, Gorton is deeply aware that he's disliked throughout the political scene for his anomalous political beliefs and other vices, including alcoholism and philanderism.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Gorton has suffered numerous tragedies throughout his life, notably losing his mother when she was locked up in a sanatorium and having his face deformed from an airplane crash. Despite this, Gorton has endured with a smile on his face and brushes off any insult thrown his way because he's already used to being put down so often.
• Enemy Mine: Gorton holds relatively unfavorable views on the OFN, believing that Australia should be self-reliant. However, he considers Japan an even bigger threat and maintains ties with the OFN to counter the mutual enemy.
• Insult Backfire: Gorton's detractors like to call his policies "a club of mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed on shit". Gorton merely laughs and joins in on the fun, which has earned him the nickname "Chief Spore".

Clyde Cameron

Role: Head of State (1962 or 1965 election)

Party: Australian Labor Party - Left

Ideology: Reformist Socialism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Clyde Cameron broods at the fork of old and new Labor, not knowing which way the wind will blow. He rakes his hair, scratches his neck, and considers the currents. He refers to his diaries, which he has kept every day since he joined the parliamentary caucus, with times, vote tallies, and snide remarks all recorded. Looking over the figures of Australian leftism - from the antediluvian party elders to the neophytes running student occupations - Cameron decides on the need for a new strategy and a change in leadership.

Once a Labor head-kicker, Clyde Cameron gradually developed into a calm, diligent, and vindictive political operator respected by parliamentarians on both sides of the aisle. Within Labor, he champions the need to accommodate a changing electorate and the erosion of old voting coalitions. But Cameron's image as a pragmatist hides the idealistic, stalwart Socialist underneath. No one will dissuade him from his dream: an Australia where the worker lives in happiness and security, tolerance has triumphed over bigotry, and war is never waged.

To forge such a future, there must first be the Socialists who will bring it about. Cameron knows that Parliament considers him spiteful and fastidious. He suspects that the ASIO and the CIA monitor him, as well. If he fails, despite his energies, then Cameron will educate the next generation of Australian Socialists to accomplish what he could not. Cameron has vitriol in surplus for his enemies, but he affords the struggle for a better world, and the strugglers most of all, nothing but admiration.

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• Chummy Commies: Cameron's goals are to secure greater rights for the common worker, instill pacifistic attitudes, and overturn the racist policies still active in Australia.
• The Idealist: Beneath his image of a calm pragmatist, Cameron is an idealistic socialist who will never give up on his dream for an egalitarian Australia. He'll aim to teach the next generation of socialists to keep his vision alive and finish his work, even if he fails to achieve his goals himself.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Despite his party getting into a pork barrel scandal, Cameron drums up electoral support by highlighting the uncertain nature of the Cold War and Japan's potential moves against Australia. By comparison, voters turn to him as the dependable Prime Minister needed to counter Japan, regardless of his party's history.

Malcolm Fraser

Role: Head of State (1968 election)

Party: Liberal Party of Australia - Liberal Conservative

Ideology: Liberal Conservatism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Born to Victorian sheep farmers, Malcolm Fraser originally intended to continue the family business, going to school for economics and philosophy. However, a fateful meeting of the Young Liberals in Hamilton in the early 50s changed Fraser's career, and he soon found himself enraptured by Australian politics.

His time in the party has been rough, losing his first election, only to find success a year later. Slowly Fraser built up his standing in the party, cycling through a series of party positions and cabinet ministers over the years. Finally, having battled and won against Billy Snedden in a party leadership spill, he now finds himself both the leader of his party and all of Australia.

Politically, Fraser is a supporter of multiculturalism, standing with the oppressed people of the Sphere that might see Australia as a refuge from tyranny, and a continuation of the nation's welfare state, even if heavy on the purse. All progress should come at a measured pace, and Fraser is not about to stop the steady pace that got him where he is today. More than anything though, he is a staunch hawk in foreign policy and is willing to do anything to see fascism repelled both at home and abroad.

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• Pragmatic Hero: Fraser wants to turn Australia into a welfare state and a safe haven for those fleeing Japanese oppression, but he also believes that it must come at a steady and measured pace above all else.
• War Hawk: Fraser pursues a hawkish foreign policy and is willing to do anything to see fascism repelled both at home and abroad.

William McMahon

Role: Head of State (1968 election)

Party: Liberal Party of Australia - Moderate

Ideology: Classical Liberalism^note Liberalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The telephone sitting on the Prime Minister of Australia's desk is beige and glossy and new. Before William McMahon, calls came into the Prime Minister's office through a row of telephonists tucked between hardwood partitions in the northeastern corridor of Parliament House. Now, every call comes through McMahon. Every scheme comes through McMahon. Every friendly message from a media magnate comes through McMahon, and every policy order comes from McMahon. He can hardly think to part with it all, Tiberius With a Telephone and his network for deregulation.

William McMahon is the Liberal Party's specialist on economic matters. His overscrupulous memoranda have been read aloud in Parliament House many times and debated in party rooms many times more. Liberal Members of Parliament know well, though, to scrutinize every word that comes out of McMahon's mouth. He is a brilliant administrator and a knowledgeable economist, undoubtedly, but he dispenses half-truths, exaggerations, and lies more frequently than anything else. He is stiff and uncharismatic, nervous, and intense; a tireless advocate for financial deregulation, budget-balancing, and progressive innovation wherever the budget permits. His challenge is getting the Parliament to trust him when things come to a vote.

Now, William McMahon sits at his desk, rapping his fingers on the handpiece of his telephone. He knows that the person who picks up won't trust him. He knows that wrangling the Senate and the House and the public will be as hard as a fresh-cut diamond. That's fine. He's not above putting in a few extra hours.

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• Compulsive Liar: McMahon is one of the Liberal Party's best economists, but he's a constant liar who frequently tells half-truths and exaggerations. In Parliament, his fellow party members must carefully scrutinize his words to ensure that he tells the truth.
• Nervous Wreck: His lack of charisma can be partially be attributed his nervous disposition, which only gets worse when becomes President and left the task of wrangling the Senate, the House, and the public.

Gough Whitlam

Role: Head of State (1968 election)

Party: Australian Labor Party - Right

Ideology: Social Democracy^note Progressivism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Gough Whitlam is a massive man with a massive ego, a massive brain, and a massive, massive plan. Whitlam has spent the better part of the sixties raging against the Labor Party's old-style social conservatives to advocate a new program of radical reform. He kept dissenting even when it broke party rules and the higher-ups threatened expulsion. He kept going, he says, because people either crash through or crash. He couldn't go any other way because his conscience wouldn't allow it. He couldn't accept the current state of things because all of it is so embarrassing, because all of it is so wrong. So, with a new generation of middle-class reformers behind him, Whitlam crashed through.

Gough Whitlam, the Prime Minister of Australia, is a compassionate, moral man who bludgeons people with his intellect. He is inflexible and withdrawn, belittling as often as he consults. Few in the Federal Parliament can challenge him in debate or knowledge of the issues he selects for remediation. His opponents call him arrogant. Whitlam agrees and insists that they are ignorant. Enraged, his opponents ask him how he would face God at the end of his life. Whitlam says they can all be sure he'll treat Him as an equal.

Whitlam will turn the House floor into an anvil upon which he will hammer progressive legislation into being and reactionary MPs into oblivion. No one should have to suffer the products of ignorance. Within the next three years, so Whitlam swears, Australians will enjoy universal healthcare, free university, legalized abortion, recognition of Aboriginal land rights, freedom from conscription, and sweeping constitutional reform to enshrine new fundamental rights. All of that, Whitlam swears, and so much more, when he crashes through again.

"They are lofty, I am eminent."

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• Good Is Not Nice: Whitlam is an intellectual who will stand firm with his morals, but he's also very stubborn and belittling to people he disagrees with.
• Insult Backfire: His enemies call him arrogant, which Whitlam accepts and calls them ignorant in turn.
• Internal Reformist: Whitlam is one of the most radical reformists in the Australian political scene, never once moderating his promotion of rights like universal healthcare, constitutional reform, and the recognition of Aboriginal land rights.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Whitlam's open criticism of the Labor Party's social conservatives have made him disliked for breaking party rules and sometimes risked expulsion. However, this never dissuaded Whitlam from keeping his opinion to himself.

Jim Cairns

Role: Head of State (1968 election)

Party: Australian Labor Party - Left

Ideology: Reformist Socialism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Much has changed in Australia, to have James Ford Cairns serve as Prime Minister of that island nation at the hour in which he finds himself. Cairns shall seize the moment and do what he can to bring about his concept of a better nation.

Cairns, a socialist from very early on, was born to a family whose father went to war and did not return. He served as a policeman from 1933 to 1944, then joined the Labour Party, operating in opposition to the Catholic Groupers until H. V. Evatt forced them out. Winning a seat held by a prominent Grouper, he continued on his career, promoting his concept of socialism and doing what parliamentarians did—until it all changed and he found himself Prime Minister.

The new Prime Minister is a socialist adherent of the so-called New Left. By profession an economist and deeply attached to theory, he is not so far into theory that he loses track of reality; he is rightly commended for his administrative skills. He is not one to change his behaviour for anyone; everyone gets the "full Jim", who is typically polite but forthright about his wishes.

Though he is not violent, he is committed to his views; this combined with his public sympathy for the more psychological and spiritual elements of Australian counterculture may lead to grating against some Australian institutions. But Cairns is certain that he will be able to do what he can regardless; time shall tell the truth of his views.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Cairns is usually polite, but he's also defined by a strong moral code and thus not easy to push around.
• Chummy Commies: He became a socialist early in his political career who espouses his anti-nuclear views and sympathy for the counterculture movement in a non-violent manner.
• Disappeared Dad: His father participated in World War I and was never seen again after he left Australia.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Cairns is strongly opposed to the Australian nuclear program and dismantles it after years of the government funding it, losing millions of dollars in research.

Billy Snedden

Role: Head of State (1971 election)

Party: Liberal Party of Australia - Moderate

Ideology: Classical Liberalism^note Liberalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Born in Perth to an illiterate mother and a father who fled from Scotland to escape the law. Few ever thought Billy Snedden would amount to much, but he was no quitter. At the age of 8 he worked in construction with his brothers, helping out any way he could. In 1942 at only 15 he landed a job as a junior law clerk, paving the way for his entry into politics.

Officially entering the political arena in 1954 as a Liberal member for the House of Representatives, he served in the Cabinet of Robert Menzies until their eventual defeat in 1961. As a member of the opposition he was made Shadow Minister for Immigration. There he made a name for himself as an extremely effective legislator, and a hawk internationally.

In 1971 he challenged the leadership of the Liberal Party. Seen as a dark horse candidate by most MP’s, Unexpectedly not only did Snedden defeat his main competition in Malcom Fraser, he utterly bulldozed him, becoming leader of the Liberal Party. Campaigning against Labor, Snedden promised to strengthen Australian democracy.

Winning the election after a brutal campaign, the first thing on the Prime Minister’s agenda is to reform the culture of Parliament. His detractors doubt his time in the top job will amount to much, but Billy Snedden is no quitter.

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• Dark Horse Victory: In 1971, Snedden challenged for leadership of the Liberal Party. Against the odds and to the surprise of his colleagues, Snedden won out over Fraser.
• Short-Lived Leadership: Given his campaign to reform the culture in Parliament, most don't expect his time as Prime Minister to last long, though Snedden is willing to take that gamble.
• Warhawk: His hawkish views on international affairs is one of his most infamous traits.

Joh Bjelke-Petersen

^{Dictator portrait}

Role: Head of State (1971 election)

Party: Australian Country Party, Australian Country Party - Radicals (Constitution destroyed)

Ideology: Right-Wing Populism^note Paternalism, Aristocratic Conservatism^note Despotism (Constitution destroyed)

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}To say that this was unexpected would be understating things. Few expected Johannes 'Joh' Bjelke-Petersen to run for the Premiership. Burdened by such a narrow support base, his violently inflammatory rhetoric and a run as the Queensland Premier marred by scandal and accusation upon accusation, it was clear why most mainstream political figures shrugged him off. Making his takeover of the Liberal-Country Coalition and victory in the elections only more stunning.

But of course, Joh was never aiming for the 'mainstream' audience now, was he? What has propelled the polio survivor to victory was not his backing by large corporations and fat-cat donors - although Joh was never one to turn down a free boost in the campaign - or his skilful handling of the burgeoning television and mass-media news - although that certainly helped. No, it was something much more base and primal. Hatred. Hatred for the pompous elites. Joh is a Prime Minister for the common man - a group that has had little weight inside Parliament until now. What Australia needs is someone who can speak with, not down to, the Citizen. Not that relentless scrabble in the trade unions or the tax office, that demands more and more to line their own pockets. If they're under the delusion that they can act as one, then they'll find out just how wrong they are.

While the old, dying guard and the chains of bureaucracy may attempt to stop Joh, they cannot stop the people. Australia, by any means necessary, will be rebuilt into a home for all true citizens. Even if he has to break every single rule and defy every single regulation in the book.

In-Game Biography (Constitution destroyed) ^{Click to Show}Australia is diseased. Putrescent to the palpitating, rotting core. Its institutions - keeping its satrapies flush with millions of taxpayer dollars - only serve to perpetuate this shambling husk of a nation. Australia is built off the tears and blood of a class assailed. Not just by the traitorous Communists and their fellow travellers in the Australian Labor Party - who would have our great people subjugated to a dying, decrepit ideology spouted by half-frozen Russian fanatics and yellow-bellied peaceniks but from above. Yes, above. The Canberra Elites, with their imported cigars and decadent orgies of backroom scheming and chardonnay, laugh from their ivory towers. They cackle as their puppets play politics while they continue to put their diamond-encrusted boot on the hard-working taxpayer. What has this land become?

No more. No more cries Joh. Like the tatters of the Constitution that line Joh's feet, these twin snakes will be strangled with the full might of the Executive Branch. Critics whine about the 'brazen' disregard for democracy by destroying that Constitution, live on air. Good, says Joh. Good that the ultimate symbol of elitism and champagne-soaked 'intellectualism' reels in agony. Good that the mainstream media, with their pockets lined with blood money, detests him so. Good that nobody will be able to stop him now.

Even now, a transformation is occurring in Australia. Those who refuse to cooperate with Joh's new order, will be crushed underneath his boot. Police, armed to the teeth with lethal firepower, storm the offices of unruly journalists. In candlelight, Country Party enforcers redraw the lines of districts into grotesque salients and blotches, making sure that Australian Democracy only has one master. Corruption is a dirty word in Politics, but in Joh's Australia, it will be a curse that is uttered often and soon.

Storm clouds have broken over Australia. Whatever emerges into the sunlight will be truly unrecognisable.

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• Card-Carrying Villain: He embraces his media image of a corrupt, anti-democratic tyrant, unwavering in his oppressive tactics.
• Corrupt Politician: He will employ all manners of dictatorial and illegal tactics to realize his vision, up to destroying the Constitution itself.
• Dark Horse Victory: Bjelke-Petersen is extremely controversial for his usage of media manipulation and cronyism, making his election one of the most unexpected and polarizing in Australia's history.
• Downer Ending: Electing Bjelke-Petersen is the worst outcome that Australia can find itself in, as the nation descends into an oppressive police state where all opposition media and speech is silenced.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Bjelke-Petersen in OTL had gained notoriety as the closest thing Australia had to a dictator, controlling Queensland for decades. In TNO, he not only takes his brand of leadership to the federal level and goes much further than his real life self ever did, but also embraces the negative public image around him as a tyrant.
• Hypocrite: Bjelke-Petersen is a populist who exploits the people's anger against the upper class, but he'd happily accept aid from these elites if it'd give him an advantage.
• Inherent in the System: Eventually, Bjelke-Petesen decides that the current political system in Australia is beyond repair and that it can never stop oppressing the common Australian to benefit the elites. This epiphany fuels his descent into becoming Australia's dictator, dedicated to rooting out anything he sees as dangerous to his goal.
• Insult Backfire: His populist, brash rhetoric has made him widely denounced as a lawbreaker, a label that Bjelke-Petersen happily accepts.
• Known Only by Their Nickname: His full first name is "Johannes", which is usually shortened to just "Joh".
• President for Life: After being elected Prime Minister of Australia, Bjelke-Petersen condemns the constitution as another tool of the elites, tearing it apart with a pair of scissors, and proclaims the beginning of a new era of 'proper governance', with dissident journalists hunted down by armed police and elections gerrymandered to ensure that the Country Party will be the sole master of Australia.
• Red Scare: After taking power, one of his first announced actions is to root out "communist plotters" in the Labor Party.
• Stupid Evil: His destruction of the Australian Constitution makes him the most hated man in his country, as every party condemns him as a new Adolf Hitler and riots spring up in opposition to their new dictator.
• Villain in a White Suit: Joh starts wearing a white suit after he destroys the constitution and transforms Australia into a one-man dictatorship.

John McEwen

Role: Head of State (McMahon leadership spill)

Party: Australian Country Party

Ideology: Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}John "Black Jack" McEwen, the Prime Minister of Australia, is a grim man who grew up in a narrow room in the back of a chemist's shop. McEwen's mother died when he was two and his father died when he was seven. He left school at thirteen to provide for his grandmother and younger sister, and in 1918, he left his work to join the Australian Imperial Force in their fight against the Central Powers. He never saw combat, but his service made him eligible for a grant of farmland from the Australian government. From there, he tilled the land, made a productive farm, and joined the Victorian Farmers' Union to do, as he saw it, the same thing but on a bigger scale. Federal politics was the next step up.

McEwen climbed up the Country Party quickly; he became a minister, then deputy leader of the Country Party, then leader. Country activism came naturally. All he had to do was stand straighter than his company and stick to his guns. In a party of free-traders, McEwen became known as an advocate of protectionist economics and agricultural-industrial development, vaulting into rage-filled outbursts when his steady fund of patience wore out. Now, having endured the full tenure of a deposed prime minister, McEwen weathers the storm at the top of the mountain, stone-faced and obstinate, trying to enforce a sense of calm.

But the stress is adding up. All the arguments, all the travel, all the labor, all the years filing him down, are working him from top to bottom. The skin on his feet, hands, and chest has grown scaly and dry. Whenever he walks, his skin cracks and his feet bleed. He'll change bandages during the day and get on with his work. It's what the country needs. Hard yakka makes a hard man, and John McEwen reckons it's only right that Australia's hardest man does Australia's hardest yakka. The rough and ready life is the only life worth living.

You've just gotta work through the pain.

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• Beware the Quiet Ones: McEwen is a stoic and patient man, but if he can't convince someone to accept his beliefs in protectionist economics and emphasis on agriculture, his outbursts are extremely explosive.
• Dark and Troubled Past: McEwen's parents died by the time he was seven and he had to abandon his education so that he could provide for his grandmother and sister.
• The Determinator: Being Prime Minister is wearing on his nerves and health, but he never considers resigning because his country needs his leadership.

New Zealand

Official Name: New Zealand

Ruling Party: New Zealand National Party

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

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• Small, Secluded World: Subverted. While New Zealand remains relatively isolated geographically from other OFN members apart from Australia, they are very keen on joining the world stage and bearing the torch of liberty for all to see.

Keith Holyoake

Role: Head of State

Party: New Zealand National Party

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Keith Holyoake is a man known for many things - his level-headedness, thick accent, and reputation for being overly polite amongst them. Holyoake's origins lie in the rural areas of New Zealand, being the son of a pair of store owners turned farmers. Joining the rurally-focused Reform Party in 1932, Holyoake quickly became a rising star in the party, playing a key role in reforming it into the modern National Party.

Taking the role of Prime Minister in the First National Government, Holyoake presided over National’s loss in 1957, following the resignation of previous Prime Minister Sidney Holland in 1956. Three years were spent as leader of the opposition, before going on to win the 1960 General Election, earning the position in his own right.

Advocating for maintenance of a strong national defense against the ever-present threat of the Japanese, Holyoake's ministry has already begun to pursue a progressive social agenda of abolishing capital punishment and expanding Māori rights. As the 1963 General Election looms closer, Holyoake hopes that New Zealand will continue to endorse his vision.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand.

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• Reasonable Authority Figure: During his first two years in office, Holyoake has pursued a socially progressive agenda of of abolishing capital punishment and expanding Māori rights.
• The Reliable One: Holyoake is known for his level-headedness and is responsible for modernising the National Party, leading it to victory in the 1960 General Election.
• War Hawk: Holyoake advocates for a strong national defense against the threat of Japan's imperialism, eager to join the OFN in crusades against fascism across the globe.

"The Setting Sun" Update

Upcoming content coming with the East Asia rework in "The Setting Sun" update.

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Northwest NRA

Ruling Party: NRA - Central Army

Ideology: Chiang Kai-Shek Thought^note Despotism

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Similarly to OTL, the national academy of the Republic of China, the Academia Sinica, was relocated from its previous headquarters in Nanjing. However, while its OTL counterpart moved to Taipei as a result of the Chinese Civil War, the academy in this timeline has moved to Wuwei, as the Northwest NRA teaser shows that the region is still held by the Chinese resistance.
• Authority in Name Only: Downplayed in the Northwest NRA teaser. Parts of Qinghai are not fully integrated into the administration, as the locals are apprehensive to what they see as economic interference.
• Bilingual Bonus: The Chinese characters on their flag read "Northwestern Revolutionary Government", signifying their geographic position in China and opposition to Japan.
• Defeat as Backstory: Zig-Zagged in the Northwest NRA teaser. Under Hu Zongnan, the NRA was nearly defeated, with the risk of the region falling to the Japanese. However, under control of Zhu Shaoling, the army reorganized its defenses in the Hexi Corridor and repelled the advancing collaborationist army.
• The Determinator: The government in Xibei vows to continue the fight against the Sphere in the Northwest NRA teaser, fighting against the corruption of Tridemism's ideals.
• History Repeats:
  • The ruling diarchy cities, Wuwei and Xining, have existed for thousands of years and spent much of their time as border cities, defending China against nomadic invaders. Once again, as shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, they are an important defensive line, but now against the Japanese and their collaborators.
  • As mentioned in the Northwest NRA teaser, hundreds of thousands migrate through Wuwei and Xining, recalling much of the activity previously seen in the era of the Silk Road.
• Inter-Service Rivalry: In the Northwest NRA teaser, the revolutionary government is divided between its civilian and military institutions, who are divided themselves by triumvirates within each; the civilian institutions are fought over by Chen Lifu, He Zhonghan, and Zhu Jiahua, while the military is split between Chen Cheng, Hu Zongnan, and Ma Jiyuan. Though all are united in loyalty to Zhu Shaoling, infighting is still common between and within these factions, disrupting the government's efficiency.
• Passing the Torch: Gu Zhenglun, the founder of the military police for the Northwest NRA in their dedicated teaser, admired Li Shizhen as a man who shared his vision and he personally intervened in his career so that he could be his successor.
• The Migration: The Northwest NRA teaser shows that hundreds of thousands immigrated to Xibei to escape the Sphere, bringing to the region a level of vitality not seen since the Silk Road. While living conditions are poor, the people, at least, still have hope that China will be liberated one day.
• The Remnant: As shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, Xibei is home to the remnants of the Chiang-aligned Chinese nationalists, who have continued to resist the Japanese decades since the Second Sino-Japanese War.
• Start My Own: Many in the Northwest NRA teaser have abandoned the Kuomintang altogether, believing that it has become perverted as the party of the collaborationist government and demanding a return to the anti-colonialist origins of Tridemism. This led to the creation of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, which as an added bonus was the original name of Sun Yat-sen's organization before he reorganized it into the Kuomintang.
• Suddenly Significant City:
  • Wuwei has a long and storied history as a defensive city and hub along the Silk Road, albeit somewhat overshadowed by its neighbors. However, the fall of Lanzhou to the collaborators has led to the NRA making the city their new headquarters. As shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, this has revitalized Wuwei's importance and spurred a wave of immigration there.
  • Xining has also risen in status in the Northwest NRA teaser. Though a less noticeable trend compared to Wuwei, Xining has still become an important center of power, due to its prominent religious institutions, status as the Qinghai province's capital, and importance to the Qinghai Ma clique as a major base of theirs.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While united in opposition to the Japanese and their collaborationist government, those within the Qilian Mountains are significantly divided in the Northwest NRA teaser. Conflict is rife between the Qinghai and Gansu regions, the central government and the Ma clan, the Han Chinese and various minorities, and the civilian and military cliques.

Zhu Shaoliang

Role: Head of State

Ruling Party: NRA - Central Army

Ideology: Chiang Kai-Shek Thought^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Hu Zongnan fought valiantly to defend the Northwest, but he failed so decisively that the NRA in Xibei nearly fell to pieces. It fell to Zhu Shaoliang, then regional governor of the Northwest, to pick up the pieces and serve as the Chiang-appointed steward of the last bastion of free China, a task he has taken to with alacrity. Since those days, Zhu Shaoliang has served as Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission of the Revolutionary Government.

The collapse brought about by the twin disasters of the surrender of Chongqing and Hu Zongnan's failure could well have demolished others of similar ability to Zhu. But he was able not only to hold the line by reorganising the NRA in the Hexi Corridor but to also humiliate the Nanjing traitor government by destroying its pissant forces with his army.

Everyone knows that Zhu Shaoliang is no Sun Bin, nor even a Xue Yue. Despite that lack of transcendent martial prowess, he has the sort of prestige Wu Zixu must have had among his contemporaries. One of the few NRA and KMT figures to genuinely shun factionalism, he is the reason why Ma Jiyuan revolted against his traitor of a father. As such, despite his military mediocrity, he is a strong and respected leader respected as the core official of the Northwest Government.

The General is not a fool. He knows the time is near for him to hand over power to a successor. But there is an opportunity and an urgent need that must first be fulfilled. If Qin-Lan Province can be retaken from the hanjian, Zhu Shaoliang will be able to join his ancestors with peace of mind.

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• Passing the Torch: As shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, Shaoling is preparing to hand over power to a successor, but he wishes to enact one last operation to liberate the Qin-Lan Province before he goes.
• Superior Successor: Succeeding the mediocre Hu Zongnan, Shaoling successfully established a defensive line in the Hexi Corridor and united the factions in Xibei against Japan. His success allowed the NRA to survive there, as shown in the Northwest NRA teaser.
• Universally Beloved Leader: In the Northwest NRA teaser, Shaoling is widely liked within Xibei for his successful defense of the region, despite his lack of military talent, and his ability to quiet the factionalism that plagues the state. His appeal also played a major role in the rebellion of Ma Jiyuan against his father.
• You Are in Command Now: Zhu Shaoling was previously the regional governor of the Northwest, but was thrust into command of the NRA after Hu Zongnan's disastrous defense when he was Chairman of the Millitary Affairs Commission of the Revolutionary Government. Fortunately for the NRA in their dedicated Northwest teaser, Shaoling reorganized their forces and saved them from certain destruction by the Japanese.

Zhu Jiahua

Role: General Senate and Chief Civil Officer^note Head of Government (Shaoliang cabinet), Secretary-General of the Military Affairs Committee

Ruling Party: CRP - Academia Sinica

Ideology: National Conservatism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}President of the Academia Sinica in exile and Secretary-General of the MAC, Zhu Jiahua is often the only thing standing between free China's last bastion in the Gan-Qing region and a collapse of education and culture. A protégé and successor of Dai Jitao, one of Chiang's closest subordinates, and the nominal civilian head of government, Zhu leverages the influence he wields to strengthen learning in his adopted home region to great effect.

But not all is pleasant. A former member of the CC Clique, he had so total a break with them that he became their worst enemy in every field, including rulership over the CRP and the Zhongtong. That worsens the factional disadvantage he already suffers from due to not sharing Chen Lifu and the Whampoa students' close personal ties with Chiang. The result of this is that, despite his prominent position, Zhu finds himself increasingly isolated among the Chiangists. Doubt fills him more and more, despite all his successes.

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• The Ace: As mentioned in the Northwest NRA teaser, Jiahua has played an instrumental role in organizing Xibei's educational institutions, strengthening the academia and practically being the only thing keeping the region's education and culture alive.
• Allohistorical Allusion: IN OTL, Zhu Jiahua became the acting president of the Academia Sinica in 1940 and orgnized it srelocation to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. In this timeline from the Northwest teaser, he fulfilled a similar role, but moved the academy to Xibei instead.
• The Apprentice: The Northwest NRA teaser mentions that Jiahua is the protégé and successor of Dai Jitao, one of Chiang's closest subordinates.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Despite his prominent position in the Northwest NRA teaser, he finds himself largely isolated because of his lack of personal connection to Chiang and his rivalry with the Central Club Clique.
• Number Two: As shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, Jiahua is the nominal civilian head of government and Secretary-General of the Military Affairs Committee, which would make him Zhu Shaoling's number two.
• The Rival: Jiahua used to be a member of the Central Club Clique, but the Northwest NRA teaser mentions that he left them and has since become a rival to them, competing for influence in areas like the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the Zhongtong.

Chen Lifu

Role: Political Minister^note Foreign Minister (Shaoliang cabinet)

Party: CRP - CC Clique

Ideology: Chiang Kai-Shek Thought^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}As a witticism has stated for a long time, the KMT is Chen's party in Chiang's nation. Though the nation is no longer Chiang's, being instead under the control of traitors to the homeland, the control and legacy of Chen Lifu, Director of the Political and Organizational Departments, still persists today.

Being the drafter of Chiang's ideological magnum opus, "China's Destiny", solidified Chen's position as the premier ideologue of Chiang Kai-Shek Thought and the CRP. This fact, combined with the Central Club Clique's influence over the party, civil society, and the intelligence apparatus, makes clear why it is that "Chen's party" holds true even with "Chiang's nation" long gone.

But these influences are not certain to remain forever; dissidents from all directions constantly challenge Chen Lifu's authority over Chiang Kai-Shek Thought, and the ideologue must be prepared for the trials that are to come if China is to be free one day in the way that the Generalissimo envisioned.

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• Dragon-in-Chief: According to the Northwest NRA teaser, Chen has a reputation of being the individual in charge of the party. During Chiang's reign, there was an expression that the nation was Chiang's and the party was Chen's. Even now, he still lives up to this reputation, commanding vast influence over the party, bureaucracy, and intelligence services.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Chen is one of the founders of the Central Club Clique and a major ideologue behind the formation of Chiang Kai-shek Thought as an ideology, having drafted the book China's Desiny. In the Northwest NRA teaser, Chen is the Director of the Political and Organizational Departments, reflecting the grip that the Central Club committee has over the party and that Chen is one of the few chains committing the state to Chiang's old ideology.

Liu Youchen

Role: Minister of Finance^note Economic Minister (Shaoliang cabinet)

Ideology: Authoritarian Developmentalism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Minister of Finance Liu Youchen is the proud owner of a qualification now vanishingly rare in modern China: an American master's degree in economics, which he obtained at Columbia University-a far cry from his birthplace of Tianshui. Since his return to China on graduating, he has served in the local economic sector as a professor and bureaucrat.

Seasoned in finance and trades thanks to his work and studies, Liu was appointed by General Zhu as part of the latter's plan to integrate locals into the administration of Qinghai. In that post, Liu has managed to keep the budget stable despite ongoing heavy spending on the military. Though devoted to securing and developing the economy, he has often found himself bedeviled by the twin problems of Gansu's complex politics and Qinghai's resistance to economic "interference".

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• The Ace: As shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, Liu is one of the few people to have earned an American master's degree in China, which he earned at Columbia University. With this prestige, he served as a professor and bureaucrat before becoming a Minister of Finance, due to his experience.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Despite being set back by the politics in Gansu and resistance to economic policy in Qinghai, Liu has successfully stabilized the budget, against the state's vast military spending. In the Northwest NRA teaser, Liu has devoted himself to further developing the region.

Li Shizhen

Role: Director-General of the National Police Agency^note Security Minister (Shaoliang cabinet), Commander of the Military Police Command, Chairman of Gansu

Ideology: Civilian Dictatorship^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Commander of the Military Police Command, Chairman of Gansu, Father of the Police Force-Li Shizhen has several sobriquets and titles, all of which point to a man devoted to the promotion of a rich country and happy people through a modernised, independent police force. Admired by his predecessor, the founder of the military police Gu Zhenglun, as a like-minded partner, he was sworn in as the number 1 security official in the Northwest thanks to Gu's influence.

Proficient in and proud of his job, Li shuns factionalism as unnecessary. The importance of his bureau to the war machine has forced factions to respect his neutral stance. Taking the Juntong as the prime negative example, he detests military and intelligence interference over the police sector. However, since he acknowledges the securocratic forces' necessity and influence in getting him where he is today, he cooperates with them so long as they stay out of his business.

But that bargain may end up changing before long. Being a rising star in Xibei, Li fears he may yet find himself fought over by everyone looking to get ahead in Gansu and Qinghai despite his clear and repeatedly stated desire to remain independent of factional politics.

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• Choosing Neutrality: Li refuses to partake in the factionalism within Xibei, in which his leadership skills and command of the police force the other factions to respect this. However, Li fears in the Northwest NRA teaser that the factions will still fight for his approval, giving them a boost ahead of their rivals.
• Red Baron: As shown in the Northwest NRA teaser, Li is nicknamed the "Father of the Police Force" for his commitment to modernizing the military police and serving as a capable, well-liked administrator.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Li resents military and intelligence interference in the police force and wants them out of his business. However, the Northwest NRA teaser shows that he must work alongside them because they were instrumental in getting him his political position in the first place.

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