Characters / TNO Eastern Europe

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Slovakia

Slovak State

^{Flag of the Republic of Slovakia}

Official Name: Slovak Republic, Republic of Slovakia (Golian)

Ruling Party: Hlinkova Slovenská Ludová Strana^note Hlinka's Slovak People's Party

Ideology: Clerical Fascism^note National Socialism

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• Persecuted Intellectuals: Deconstructed. Obviously, Tiso's administration doesn't allow freedom of speech and represses anyone who violates this rule, but this law has also severely slowed Slovakia's research speed and remains extremely unpopular among the populace.
• Puppet State: Slovakia is a puppet state (Marionettenstaat) of Germany.

Jozef Tiso

Role: Head of State

Party: Hlinkova Slovenská Ludová Strana^note Hlinka's Slovak People's Party

Ideology: Clerical Fascism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The entire life of Dr. Jozef Tiso, Cleric, a Roman Catholic priest, and President of the First Slovak Republic, has been an unparalleled success. From early strides in his education to ordainment in the Catholic Church as a priest, and then a successful career as a moderate politician. It seemed that Tiso was a beacon of hope, a decent and good human being. Yet, by the middle of the 1930s, Tiso's views had shifted toward authoritarian and totalitarian ideas, he had become a radical figure in Slovak politics. Then, when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, Dr. Jozef Tiso was appointed President of the First Slovak Republic. Tiso betrayed his own people, buying into the 'Führer-cult'.

After the Axis' resounding victory in the Second World War, Europe prospered for a short time, then came the decade of unrest. The Slovak economy, brought down by the German economic crash, had been all but annihilated. Yet, the Slovak government prevailed. In response to increased unrest in the nation, President Tiso introduced further repression against his own people as a mean of silencing all discontent.

By 1962, President Tiso's health has rapidly declined and shows no sign of improvement. As Tiso's health worsens, many concerned parties within the government have begun to prepare for the incoming event of his passing.

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• Head-in-the-Sand Management: It's heavily implied that Tiso hasn't done anything to quell the Slovak resistance movement, as their activity has become more open by the game's start, contrary to reports that state such activity has already been suppressed
• King on His Deathbed: By 1962, President Tiso is 75 and not long for this world. As his health declines, many members of the Slovak government have begun to prepare for his inevitable death.
• The Quisling: When the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, Tiso betrayed his country and was appointed President of the First Slovak Republic. When unrest gripped Slovakia following the 1950 crash, Tiso repressed his own people to silence all discontent.
• Sinister Minister: Tiso has long been a Roman Catholic priest before he became the fascist dictator of Slovakia.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Tiso dies right after the German moon landing at the start of the game.

Štefan Tiso

Role: Head of State (Jozef succession)

Party: Hlinkova Slovenská Ludová Strana^note Hlinka's Slovak People's Party

Ideology: Clerical Fascism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Though his origins are humble, Štefan Tiso now stands in the center of Slovak politics. Born in the Slovak hinterlands, he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army during WW1 and later joined the Czechoslovak Legion, returning to his newly independent country in 1920. Later, he became a member of the HSLS, though he endured some criticism within the heavily anti-semitic party, as his wife was Jewish. Tiso earned his Law Doctorate at the Komenského University in Bratislava, became a judge in Trenčín, and eventually was transferred back to Bratislava and became a member of the National Court.

As the Axis achieved victory in the Second World War and Slovakia was separated from Czechia, Tiso's party, the HSLS, came into power in the First Slovak Republic. He became Chairman of the National Court, where he remained until 1944 when he replaced Vojtech Tuka as Prime Minister due to his failing health. Tiso also held the offices of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice simultaneously. As PM and foreign minister, he oversaw Slovakia's entry into the Einheitspakt upon its founding.

Štefan Tiso is now President of the Slovak state, succeeding his distant cousin Jozef Tiso upon his death. While his rule has remained stable, there are rumors of disgruntlement amongst the military. He is also directly opposed by the more radical wing of the HSLS, including those who seek closer cooperation with Germany, such as Alexander Mach.

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• Even Evil Has Standards: While Štefan is willing to cooperate with Germany, he is firmly opposed to the idea of seeking even closer ties, which is advocated by the radical wing of the HSLS like Alexander Mach.
• Wicked Cultured: He's part of a heavily anti-semitic party and has a number of law degrees.

Ján Golian

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (Popular revolt)

Party: Slovenská Národná Rada^note Slovak National Council

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

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• Allohistorical Allusion: In OTL, Golian was an anti-Nazi general who commanded troops during the failed Slovak National Uprising in 1944. In TNO, he can lead a similar revolt against the Slovak collaborationist government when the German Civil War begins, and unlike in OTL, he can succeed in liberating Slovakia.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end of this, if Germany invades his country to overthrow him and return Slovakia to the German sphere, in which Golian will stand no chance against the overwhelmingly larger German army.
• Only Sane Man: A veteran of World War II, he has continued his fight against the collaborators to form a free, democratic Slovakia.

Alexander Mach

Role: Head of State (German invasion of Slovakia)

Party: Hlinkova Garda^note Hlinka Guard

Ideology: Fascism, National Socialism (Bormann victory)

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• The Quisling: Mach wants Slovakia to maintain its ties to Germany and he'll be instated as their leader once Germany finishes their civil war and invades Slovakia to bring it back to the German sphere.

Poland

Generalgouvernement

^{Flag of the Reichsprotektorat Polen}

Official Name: General Government of the Vistula, Reichsprotektorat Polen^Tr.Reich Protectorate of Poland (Negotiation with Bormann), Übergangsregierung in Polen^Tr.Transitional Government in Poland (Speer occupation), Reichsland Polen^Tr.Reich Territory of Poland (Speer colonial "reform")

Ruling Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

The German occupation administration in the central and eastern parts of the former Republic of Poland, officially an autonomous region within the German Reich. It is a failing state with rampant resistance activities, and only maintains a veneer of stability.

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• Curb-Stomp Battle: An AI Generalgouvernement has an extremely low chance to win their civil war, usually getting rapidly crushed by the rising Polish resistance.
• Just Before the End: The Generalgouvernement is essentially on its last legs after years of stubborn Polish resistance, however much Hans Frank tries to hide it. It's not a matter of even when it collapses, but how.
• Paper Tiger: The Hans Frank government supposedly Germanized 70% of Poland and completely destroyed all partisans. In reality, the Generalgouvernement by the 1960's is a borderline failed state. The underground Polish resistance remains alive and widespread, not having risen up yet due to the presence of a sizable German garrison. Once the German Civil War begins and the garrison is called back to pacify the country, the Polish uprising happens and the Generalgouvernement almost instantly collapses.
• Please Select New City Name: As part of Germanisation of Poland, cities in Eastern Poland (which have never been under German or Austrian rule) were given entirely new German names ^{Full list of city names}Reichshof (Rzeszów), Pulawy (Puławy), Cholm (Chełm), Pflugstadt (Zamość).

Hans Frank

Role: Head of State

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

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• Evil Colonialist: Frank is a staunch Nazi who has been suppressing the Poles and turning their homeland into a puppet state for the Nazis.

Eduard Wagner

Role: Head of State (Bormann appointment)

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The land that was once Poland lies at the center of the Reich, forming an essential connection between West and East. Now that Poland is won once and for good, a man who can make the trains run on time is required. A man with drive, with quiet dedication, and without scruples. This man is Eduard Wagner.

It is rare for a logistician to make a name for themselves, but as quartermaster-general Wagner rubbed noses with the likes of Himmler and Heydrich in 1939, yet avoided falling into their parasitic sway. The enthusiasm with which he enforced security behind the front lines is admirable, coordinating Wehrmacht and Einsatzgruppen into a well oiled machine of pacification. As the Reich pushed yet further east his job became more and more difficult, but Wagner was no yes-man to kowtow to demands from on high. Expressing his concerns over the fuel situation to Hitler may have earned him temporary ire, but gained him a reputation as a man who would never sugar-coat a situation. His opinion became highly sought after in the Wehrmacht, and while he remained sidelined his influence grew.

Wagner's time out of the limelight makes him all the more eager to remain in it, and he will do whatever it takes to ensure there are no delays when passing through the heart of the Reich.

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• Brutal Honesty: Unlike the other yes-man in the Wehrmacht, Wagner was known for his blunt honesty, in which he was unafraid to voice his concerns to Hitler himself. This trait may have earned him some temporary ire, but it ultimately built up his reputation as a man who would never sugar-coat a situation.
• Defector from Decadence: He used to have connections to Himmler and Heydrich, but he's since renounced his alignment with them to avoid falling out of favor to Germany.

Theodor Koch

Role: Head of State (Bormann appointment)

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The Reich is a machine - what better than an engineer to run one of its most vital components? As important as the Generalgovernement is to the Reich, it remains an underdeveloped backwater, a far cry from the German heartland it was meant to be incorporated into - this is where Theodor Koch comes in.

A rifle is a beautiful thing, a machine of singular purpose that must work in every environment, under all conditions. Koch's stint at Mauser taught him to love the purity of the gun. There is no loyalty in business, however, and Koch soon took what he learned at Mauser and applied it with their government sponsored rivals at the Reichswerke. Carving out his own sphere within with an impressive blend of technical and business acumen, he has dominated the small arms sector of the conglomerate, guarding his technical secrets like a dragon hoards coins. With the reinstatement of the Generalgouvernement, he has found an opening.

Koch's vision of the Generalgouvernement is one of twisting gears and winding conveyors, endless hands on endless factory floors working with one singular purpose - to arm the Reich. Check the maker's mark - rifle, pistol, helmet, bullet. GGN, one and all.

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• Internal Reformist: After ousting Frank and his incompetent rule, Bormann can appoint Koch to turn the Generalgouvernement into a productive colony of the Reich.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Koch seeks to expand his own influence over the German sphere, utilizing his technical and business skills to dominate a small arms sector in the Reichswerke and potentially leading the Generalgouvernement to further enrich himself.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: OTL, Koch was an engineer and machinist working for Mauser before helping found German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. In TNO, he does the mostly the same but can additionally be tapped to further German colonization of Poland.

Werner Dollinger

Role: Head of State (Bormann appointment)

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Werner Dollinger is a rare sort - a reformist that is actually liked by the establishment. While his past studying economics and social studies might be suspicious to the more reactionary elements of the party, he did his duty in the Wehrmacht fighting in the fields of Russia like a true patriot. Since his duty ended, Dollinger has dutifully worked away in the realm of economic planning, serving his home state of Bayern with a skilled hand. Recently however, his own unique and quiet form of reformism has gained attention.

Dollinger found himself championed by the big fish of Bavarian industry in the bid for Governor-General. His high quality analyses and advanced fiscal predictions make him the ideal candidate for the consolidation of their interests in the underdeveloped backwater of what was once Poland, and his affable manner and views that stand on the more acceptable side of reformist earned him the support of the Party apparatus. If he does his job right, a balance might just be struck between German interests and Polish needs. Might.

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• Internal Reformist: Dollinger is a skilled economist and has advcated for changes in the Reich's economic system. If he is chosen to succeed Frank, he will actively seek a balance between the Reich's demands and the well being of the Polish people.
• Token Good Teammate: Unlike the other potential leaders of the Generalgouvernement, Dollinger is at least interested in considering Polish needs and balancing them with German interests.

Albert Forster

Role: Head of State (Bormann appointment)

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

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• 0% Approval Rating: Forster is only put into power by Bormann to ensure German hegemony in Poland, and is hated for being a German Nazi. Immediately after his appointment, observers note that riots and violent protests break out in Poland.

Werner Schrader

Role: Head of State (Speer occupation)

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Reformed National Socialism^note National Socialism

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• Short-Lived Leadership: Under Speer, Schrader governs Poland for a short period of time, until Germany is ready to reorganize the territory as a Reichsland or a collaborator republic.

Adam Baworowski

Role: Head of State (Speer colonial "reform")

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Reformed National Socialism^note National Socialism

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• The Quisling: Baworowski is put in charge of Poland if Speer organizes the country under a Reichsland, keeping a relatively tight leash on them to Germany.
• Serendipitous Survival: In OTL, Baworowski was killed in the Battle of Stalingrad, where he stayed behind so that an injured soldier could be evacuated and was killed in the fighting. With Germany far more successful in this timeline, Baworowski avoided this agonizing fate and can become a Reichsländer under Speer.

Poland

^{Flag of the Polish People's Republic}

^{Flag of the Polish State}

Official Name: Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej^Tr.Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland (Fieldorf), Polish People's Republic (Radkiewicz), Polish State (Giertych)

Ruling Party: Krajowa Rada Narodowa^note State National Council

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

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• Back from the Dead: If Speer's Germany invades Poland (turning it into an occupation government) but then goes full reformist and adopts the Collaborator Government solution, the Republic of Poland will be restored.
• Beneath Notice: Part of reason why the Polish Underground State has been able to survive under Nazi rule, on top of Hans Frank’s incompetence. Though by 1962, the Poles increasingly drop any pretensions of hiding their long-awaited struggle for freedom.
• Les Collaborateurs:
  • In Bormann's path, he can offer Poland a chance to become a Reichsprotektorat of Germany, letting them keep their government and nominal independence, at the cost of putting a German Wehrmacht officer as an overseer and joining the Einheitspakt, or else he'll invade them and turn them back into the Generalgouvernement. If Bormann agrees to the Poles' own demands, the Polish leadership will accept the Reichsprotektorat deal, causing outrage in the Polish émigré communities and the more strongly anti-German partisan groups in Poland.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: The game refers to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland by its Polish name Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej.
• Honor Before Reason: Despite knowing the possibility of being brutally crushed, regardless of who wins the German Civil War, and the likelihood of the very idea of a Polish nation being purged should they lose, the Poles still push through with their revolution.
• Hope Spot: In 1963, the Poles finally find an opportunity to overthrow the German occupation regime and reclaim their independence after Germany falls into civil war. However, as soon as the civil war ends, the nascent Republic of Poland, surrounded by hostiles on all sides, will find itself facing a resurgent Germany wanting to reclaim it.
• Necessarily Evil: Should the Gang of Four have their way in Speer's reformist path, a compromise is made with the Polish resistance in which nominal subservience to the Reich is maintained, if it means a progressive transition to greater independence and liberties as part of the Zollverein. This could also happen should Speer pursue Speidel's bloodless takeover plan after the GCW ends.
• La Résistance: The Polish resistance in the General Government is thriving and ready to take action against the Nazi occupants as soon as the Reich starts to crumble.
• Satellite Character: Poland's political developments heavily depends on the political developments in Germany. All of its endings relates to what path Germany goes down:
  • Speer's Germany: Speer can restore the Generalgouvernement after invading or allow the Republic to continue, as long as they remain nominally subservient to the Reich.
  • Bormann's Germany: Bormann can invade Poland and turn it back into the Generalgouvernement, or negotiate a deal with them to turn them into the nominally independent Reichsprotektorat Polen, overseen by German administrator Albert Forster.
  • Heydrich's Germany: Heydrich can invade and establish Spartanist rule over Poland, or ally with it and bring it into his Anti-Himmler Coalition, which require him to have successfully allied with the rebelling Polish slaves in the Children of Spartakus first. In the aftermath of Heydrich's victory and suicide, Poland collapses into anarchy alongside Germany, Burgundy and the Netherlands.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While the three Polish resistance groups (the centre-right Home Army, the communist People's Army and the far-right National Armed Forces) disagree with each other on many things, they're willing to set aside their disagreements for the sake of Poland.

Emil 'Nil' Fieldorf

Role: Head of State

Party: Armia Krajowa^note Home Army

Ideology: Provisional Goverment^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In 1939, Poland's three decade long nightmare began. Invaded and subjugated by the Reich, the Polish people were subject to cruelty and barbarity known only to those the Nazis viewed as subhuman. Though the Polish state on the map was wiped out, the Polish nation lived on in the forests, hills, and sewers. Partisan warfare never ended, the Polish resistance never gave up, and neither did Emil Fieldorf.

Fieldorf assumed command of the Home Army following the horrors of the Warsaw Uprising. A life-long patriot and veteran of both World Wars, Fieldorf is a warrior born, committed to the ideals of Polish independence and democracy. If the Polish state had survived the night of 1939, Fieldorf might have been a celebrated general, maybe even a president of the republic. As it is, he is now the ruler of an underground republic, a state in the shadows that Fieldorf hopes, prays, and begs the Almighty, might one day step into the light.

The agony of Poland has been terrible, and Fieldorf feels the death of every one of his fighters strongly, and for their part, his warriors see the old soldier as a father figure. Fieldorf knows that the Polish nation is an idea, an integral part of every Pole, and if even one of them lives, then Poland lives on with them. The night is long, the Reich seemingly unstoppable, but Fieldorf has never given up hope.

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• The Determinator: Fieldorf has been fighting the German occupation for over two decades and he's remained committed to his dreams of an independent, democratic Poland.
• Enemy Mine: If Heydrich won the German Civil War, he can subsequently ally with Poland against their common enemy Heinrich Himmler, as neither Heydrich nor Fieldorf wants the world to end in nuclear fire.
• Four-Star Badass: He is a Brigadier General of the Polish Home Army who ultimately takes the reins of the Polish provisional government, modeled after the pre-war system of the respected Marshal of Poland, Józef Piłsudski.
• A Father to His Men: Every one of his resistance fighters admire Fieldorf, who cares for every single one of them and mourns for the loss of every man he's lost.
• Rebel Leader: Fieldorf leads the Polish Home Army and the Polish Underground State, which survived in the Generalgouvernement underground.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The mutual hatred that Fieldorf and Reinhard Heydrich hold toward each other is obvious, even as they're negotiating to form a pact against their common enemy Himmler.

Stanisław Radkiewicz

Role: Head of State

Party: Armia Ludowa^note People's Army

Ideology: Bolshevism^note Communism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The burnt out forests and smoky plains of what was once Poland still holds its secrets. Between burnt out husks of trees and piles of soot, those Bolsheviks who have resisted the Germans for so long still survive. Now, with the Germans gone, the People's Army finally emerges from the shadows, ready to create the red paradise they've always dreamed of- and their leader, Stanisław Radkiewicz, is willing to do anything to achieve it.

Radkiewicz has been a dedicated Bolshevik ever since the Russian Revolution, working tirelessly to spread the revolution into Poland, even at risk of imprisonment. Even the reactionary government, however, was nothing in comparison to the German Scourge that would sweep Eastern Europe like a plague, forcing Radkiewicz and the KPP into hiding. There, Radkiewicz's true skillset began to show itself-armed terror. The People's Army may be small, but no other faction can claim such a dreaded reputation, nor can they claim so many assassinations and attacks.

The Germans are dead and gone, finally, after 20 years. Unfortunately, they've taken much of Poland with them. Nevertheless, Radkiewicz has not spent the majority of his life fighting for the revolution to give up now. His forces melt out of the trees, trained and armed, ready to expel the counterrevolutionaries that have made life so hellish for so long- the Germans, the conservatives, the Ukranians, the traitors- All must go.

Radkiewicz will see the hammer and sickle rise over Warsaw, and he will see the revolution not only succeed, but survive- for even Nazi tank treads and Krupp steel cannot crush the united will of the people.

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• Cool Shades: His teased potrait features him wearing a pair of shades.
• The Determinator: According to the Poland teaser, Radkiewicz has been working tirelessly to start a communist revolution in Poland and he hasn't waivered in this goal when the Germans invaded his country.
• The Dreaded: As stated in his teased biography, Radkiewicz has earned a dreadful notoriety after claiming responsibility for many attacks and assassinations.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Radkiewicz and his People's Army do have some extreme views on removing all "counterrevolutionaries", with his teased biography mentioning that this will include the ethnic cleansing of Ukrainians via deportation. That said, they are legitimately anti-Nazi partisans and are the lesser evil compared to their occupiers.

Maciej Giertych

Role: Head of State

Party: Narodowe Siły Zbrojne^note National Armed Forces

Ideology: National Catholicism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}As the lizard sheds its skin to be born anew, so too has the NSZ been resurrected under the command of Maciej Giertych. Young, strong, and energetic, Giertych enforced the divide between the far-right NSZ and the merely conservative Home Army. Under Giertych's leadership, the NSZ grew into a force to be reckoned with, a true powerhouse comparable in influence and tactical achievement to the AL and AK. It was this reinvigorated and righteous army that drove the Germans out of Poland, and the very same which is fated to return Poland to glory.

As the strands of fate twisted and snapped, the warlord of the NSZ now finds himself at the head of a new Polish government. As Germany looms nearby, already recovering from its ragged wounds, Giertych must act swiftly to bring his dream of Poland into reality. A Poland ethnically pure, free of Germans, Jews, and Ukrainians. A Poland ruled by the righteous fist, powerful and mighty as to never be threatened again by her myriad enemies. A student of Franco and Mussolini, Giertych and his Lizard Union seeks to transplant elements of Italian fascism and falangism onto Poland. However, Giertych himself is not a fascist, but a reactionary who desires the glory days of Poland when she bestrode the Baltic like a giant.

Strong, united, and pure, no nation on earth will be able to threaten Poland again.

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• Evil Reactionary: In the Poland teaser, Giertych doesn't consider himself a fascist, but he is extremely reactionary, taking inspiration from the ideals of Franco and Mussolini, as well as ultranationalist ideologue Roman Dmowski. If he takes power, his administration will notably carry some elements of Italian fascism and falangism.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: In the Poland teaser, Giertych is an ethnonationalist in the Dmowskiite tradition who believes that the Poles are superior to every other ethnicity and is the most unsavory of the three potential Polish leaders. That said, he at least doesn't advocate a genocide on par to the Holocaust, which gives him the moral high ground over Frank and the Nazis.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Giertych in OTL was a Polish national conservative politician who had some small political prominence after the 2000s, and is notable for being a member of a political family associated with the Polish far-right National Democracy party.^note His father, Jędrzej Giertych, was a prominent activist of the ND, while his son, Roman Giertych, was a leader in the post-Soviet ND successor party, the League of Polish Families. In TNO, Giertych became the military leader of the right-wing ND-aligned NSZ (National Armed Forces) in the middle of the 20th century, and can go on to lead a liberated Poland through the NSZ; in OTL, he was a professor in dendrology during this time.
• Token Evil Teammate: From the Poland teaser, Giertych is on the side of the resistance, but he leads the most openly racist faction in Poland, dreaming of an ethnically pure Poland.
• Young and in Charge: Giertych was born in 1936, and is by far the youngest among the three Polish resistance groups' leaders.

Stanisław Wachowiak

Role: Head of State (Treaty of Konigsberg)

Ideology: National Conservatism^note Paternalism

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• The Quisling: Wachowiak will lead Poland, if Speer reorganizes the country under a collaborator republic.

Ostland

Reichskommissariat Ostland

Official Name: Reichskommissariat Ostland^Tr.Reich Commissariat of Ostland

Ruling Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

The German occupational regime of the Baltic states and western Belarus. A highly Germanized, stable, and profitable "model colony", Reichskommissar Lohse has maintained this stability by keeping both his ambitious subordinates and Ostland's dissident rebels in check. However, as Lohse's health declines, his control over Ostland falters, and cracks of violence are starting to show on Ostland's walls.

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• Civil War: Ostland starts with a 6-way civil war after Lohse's death, and can potentially (even if rarely) escalate up to a 12-way civil war, depending on the course of events.
• Crapsaccharine World: According to German reports, Ostland is a profitable and somewhat Germanized state that serves as a model for all other Reichskommisariats to follow. In reality, Ostland is heavily factionalized within the government and plagued with both corrupt bureacrats and prevalent resistance movements, which ultimately leads to a civil war when Germany collapses into their own conflict.
• Evil Versus Evil: The only sides in the initial 6-way Ostland Civil War that can be described as "good" are Meyer-Landrut's radical reformists and (to a lesser degree) Kovner's partisans. The other four sides are a continuation of the Nazi colonial administration, a hardcore militarist, a power-hungry collaborator-turned-dictator, and a bunch of crazy Spartanists.
• Military Coup: The first spark of the Ostland civil war appears when either Stahlecker or Drechsler is appointed as the new Reichskommissar, and their opponent attempts or causes a coup against them.
• Please Select New City Name: Three Belarusian cities were given entirely new German names under the Reichskommisariat's rule^note Plotzkow (Polotsk), Lahiyn (Lahoysk), Baronenwald (Baranavichy).
• Plot-Triggering Death: The natural death of Reichskommissar Hinrich Lohse and the unnatural death of his appointed successor Karl-Siegmund Litzmann shortly after see Ostland quickly unravel and collapse into a civil war.
• La Résistance: There are a couple of native partisan groups in Ostland. However, they have not been very active as of 1962.
• Short-Lived Leadership: After Hinrich Lohse's death, his successor Karl-Siegmund Litzmann dies in a plane crash when on the way from Germania to Riga, not even having had the time to take office yet.
• Succession Crisis: In the immediate aftermath of Lohse's death and the crash of Litzmann's plane, Stahlecker and Drechsler immediately begin a power struggle over the position of Reichskommissar, which soon collapses Ostland into a civil war.

Hinrich Lohse

Role: Head of State, Head of Government (Lohse cabinet)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}If one was to take a look at all the Reichskommissariats of Germany, they would not find an impressive sight. Most of the Reichskommissariats are falling apart at the seams, disloyal to the Reich, or simply unprofitable hellholes. However, one among these squabbling puppets stands out as a true jewel of Germany. Reichskommissariat Ostland is a mostly calm, profitable, and somewhat Germanized state, and it was all because of one man: Hinrich Lohse. A veteran of the Great War, an early devotee to the Party, and High President of Schleswig-Holstein, it was no surprise when Lohse was appointed to the job as Reichskommissar. From there, he managed Ostland loosely, delegating much of the necessary work to his most loyal and competent subordinates. This strategy has borne much fruit, as Ostland is one of the most Germanized, most profitable, and most stable Reichskommissariats. As long as these men had Lohse to control them and act as figurehead, this system worked.

However, bad health gets the best of everyone, and over the last few years Lohse has slipped away from the spotlight more and more. With him goes his uniting presence, and those under him have understood this. With Lohse's already loose hand growing more and more limp, those subordinates who once served loyally now begin to eye Lohse's seat with a growing hunger.

As Drechsler, Stahlecker, and Meyer-Landrut bicker with one another, Kovner's attacks grow more and more bold, and Vituska and Jeckeln watch and plot behind closed doors, one can see the clear cracks in the system. The people of Ostland can only hope that either Lohse recovers or a compromise candidate is selected as his replacement, lest chaos and blood flow through the streets of Riga.

The Reichskommissar of Ostland since World War II.

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• Evil Colonialist: Like the many other Reichskommisars in the Einheistpakt, Lohse has led an oppressive system of Germanization to convert Ostland into a loyal subject to the Reich.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: The reason why Ostland is so mismanaged is because Lohse ignores its glaring problems, refusing to come up with any long-term solution to alleviate them.
• King on His Deathbed: By 1962, Reichskommissar Lohse has been slipping away from the spotlight due to bad health. With him goes his uniting presence, and subordinates who once served loyally now begin to eye Lohse's seat with a growing hunger.
• Passed in Their Sleep: Lohse dies peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack in October 1963, shortly after Hitler dies.
• Plot-Triggering Death: His death allows the civil war in Ostland to happen.
• Puppet King: His administration is a very loose one, as he delegates most of his work to his most loyal subordinates, while Lohse himself takes a backseat.
• Villain with Good Publicity: While the stability of his position in Ostland's hierarchy has somewhat deteriorated along with his health, Lohse is a brilliant administrator (by the standards of the Reichkommissars) and as such is well-liked by most Germans.

Franz Walter Stahlecker

Role: Head of State (Lohse succession)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}At a quick glance one might assume Franz Walter Stahlecker is the stereotype of a Nazi official. His story seems to check every box, fighting in the the First World War, serving in right-wing militias during the chaos of the Weimar Republic, and joining the NSDAP when it became clear that Hitler was poised to seize control of the nation. Indeed, Stahlecker's career path within the party seems to be a model of the mid-level bureaucrat's journey, climbing the ladder of postings, accumulating a long but uninteresting resume. It was not until the Second World War that Stahlecker seized his chance to make an impression.

Placed in command of Einsatzgruppe A, Stahlecker led the SS through a campaign of genocide across the territories that would become Ostland. Stahlecker made sure his soldiers killed more Untermenschen than any other group in the hopes of earning further promotions. It worked, and Stahlecker secured his place in Ostland's administration. However, his ambition exceeded his reach, and Stahlecker spent the next decade stuck in his position, struggling to advance. Even abandoning the SS after their failed coup did not win him any friends.

Now, Ostland has fallen into chaos, but Stahlecker does not despair. Where others see disaster, he sees opportunity. The power and status he has craved are finally up for grabs, and he will stop at nothing to seize them."

A former SS security functionary who infamously commanded the Einsatzgruppe A death squad in WWII, now serving as a high-ranking official in Ostland. A ruthless Nazi careerist, Stahlecker sees Ostland's unraveling as an opportunity to seize power, and leads the remnants of the RK administration to restore order—his order—over Ostland.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Stahlecker's entire life was devoted to climbing the social hierarchy of Nazi Germany. To achieve said ambitions, he pushed the SS group he commanded to kill more "untermensch" than any other group, being rewarded with a position among Ostland's administration for his service. After being stuck as an administrator for years after his campaign, Stahlecker fully seeks to take advantage of the Ostland Civil War to once again climb the ladder.
• Corrupt Politician: While Stahlecker dedicates some of Ostland's funds to his projects, he's not above taking some money, purely to fill his own pockets.
• Final Solution: In Stahlecker's backstory, he implemented a brutal extermination campaign in the future territory of Ostland, out of a desire to impress Nazi leadership and be granted further power as a result. He's continued his Germanization campaign to the present day and will stay the course if he wins the Ostland Civil War.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears a pair of glasses and has implemented a system of repression and genocide to cement Ostland's brutal rule.
• Internal Reformist: A more villainous example than most in this setting. Once in power, Stahlecker will make massive reforms to the Wehrmacht in Ostland.
• Meet the New Boss: Stahlecker's rule represents a continuation of Lohse's status quo, preserving the National Socialist structure without committing to any radical agenda.
• Opportunistic Bastard: While most dread the Ostland Civil War, Stahlecker instead sees it as an opportunity to accumulate more power for himself. If he wins, he'll seek any avenues to satisfy his own agendas, whether it's starting pointless pet projects for more prestige in the German sphere or embezzling funds.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stahlecker was originally a commander of the SS, and led a brutal extermination campaign in the region of Ostland, only to bail after Himmler's attempted coup to save his own reputation.

Ostland Civil War

Generalbezirk Lettland

Official Name: Generalbezirk Lettland^Tr.General District Latvia

Ideology: Stratocratic Nazism^note National Socialism

Ostland's General District Latvia becomes an independent faction in the Ostland Civil War, apparently opposing the authority of Franz Walter Stahlecker. They're headed by a clique of Nazi militarists under Generalkommissar Drechsler, who apparently seeks to propel himself to the leader of all of Ostland.

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• Blood Knight: The Generalbezirk Lettland is led by a clique of brutal militarists who have ordered various massacres and reprisals during their time in Ostland, and have now congregated themselves behind Drechsler's philosophy on an eternal war.
• General Ripper: Dreschler's "little war-masters" are sadistic militarists and war criminals who have carried out innumerable atrocities in Ostland, fueled by the philosophical messages of their leader.

Otto-Heinrich Drechsler

Role: Military Commander, Security Minister (Lohse cabinet), Head of State

Ideology: Stratocratic Nazism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Look on upon a older gentleman, curled up by the fireside in his blankets and his wheelchair. A veteran of World War One, a faithful servant of the Aryan race in its efforts to expand across the Reich's Lebensraum. In the fires of the first World War was he forged, for life is war. Drechsler took up this reality, codified it into a way of life and took up the mantle of the warrior from his wheelchair's bounds. The war tore his leg from his body, but it taught a life-long lesson to the old soldier. If the war will never leave you, then perhaps it isn't supposed to.

Drechsler did not adopt this identity, but grew into it after years of philosophizing on warrior culture, the traditional roles of the genders and social-Darwinism in government. He has been called the "Philosopher-King" for his politico-military theories on the concepts of nationhood, and how society itself can be molded in the crucibles of conflict and evolution towards ever-greater horizons. A specific, all-encompassing theory of his has gained traction above all others: the idea that Untermenschen withhold the urge to rebellion within their blood, and that so long as the Reich maintains peace, this urge will only cultivate and expand until the Reich is left broken by its own ungrateful state of sloth. Life may not be war, but it could and should be, so says the ever-prattling old man. But who listens? Who follows? Who is this man without authority? Look no further than a clique of war-starved, heads-in-the-clouds militarists and war criminals. Drechsler's little "war-masters". Those who do the dirty deeds of commanding the troops, ordering the massacres and reprisals, dehumanizing opponents and the civilians who follow them. While Drechsler writes his thoughts, extols his vision, his men do war and all that doing war entails.

This man is no general, no diplomat nor commander of men. But he can speak and he can think, and so long as he is able to exalt his wars and lionize those who fight them, paint his struggles as something heroic, poetic and mythological, then may the battle for ever-lasting glory be his and his alone forever."

The aging Generalkommissar of Latvia. After settling in Ostland, Drechsler became a political theorist, arguing that only by becoming a warrior society can the Reich triumph over the Untermenschen's corrupting pacifism. As Ostland unravels, Drechsler allied himself with a clique of militarists who find common vision with Drechsler's political theories, and seeks to use them to carry himself to Ostland's throne.

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• Blood Knight: Drechsler, the 'Philosopher-King' of the Ostland militarists, glorifies warfare as the solution to national sloth and decay.
• Evil Cripple: Drechsler lost a leg during World War I, and is confined to a wheelchair.
• General Failure: For a man of his militaristic vigor and support for Göring's principles, Drechsler himself is a massive coward who is completely incompetent in military affairs.
• Wicked Cultured: Drechsler loves philosophizing on warrior culture, traditional gender roles, and social-Darwinism in government.
• Red Baron: He's called the "Philosopher-King" for his many politico-military philosophies that cover the ideas of nationhood and how a society can evolve through warfare.
• The Starscream: Believing that only war can fix Ostland's problems, Drechsler leads a Wehrmacht mutiny against the Reichskommissariat government following the German Civil War.

Vereinigte Ostlandliga

Official Name: Vereinigte Ostlandliga^Tr.United Ostland League

Ruling Party: Vereinigte Ostlandliga^note United Ostland League

Ideology: Oligarchy^note Paternalism

A coalition of student movements, business groups, and Baltic German groups under the lead of the liberal Baltic German politician Andreas Meyer-Landrut, who seeks to bring democracy to Ostland.

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• The Alliance: The Vereinigte Ostlandliga is a shaky coalition of liberal students, reformist politicians, pragmatic businessmen, and Baltic Germans who seek to reform the Ostland into something more benevolent.
• Balkanize Me: Meyer-Landrut's ultimate goal is to peacefully dissolve RK Ostland altogether and divide it into the independent countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus, alongside the German-ruled free city of Riga.

Andreas Meyer-Landrut

Role: Economy Minister (Lohse cabinet), Head of State

Party: Vereinigte Ostlandliga^note United Ostland League

Ideology: Oligarchy^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}From the basements crying out with rock 'n roll, to the university students downing reefer upon reefer in communal clambakes, and the street-bound rebels swearing their allegiances to new evolutions of anti-fascist thought, the next generation has arrived to Ostland and they won't let you forget it. Their blood runs in the gutters, the swastika's hooks have cracked their ribs and made them spit bile. The Reichskommissariat deigned them degenerates, Bolsheviks and race traitors, and beat them down once the buds of insurgency sprouted. But even though the administration could not envision it, their will triumphed. Whole metropolitan areas were overtaken by rioting youths, following in the footsteps of a world which has never existed. Journalists, utilizing what few media outlets exist in Ostland, spread news of their movement and pushed it into overdrive. The fascists tried their damnedest to beat back the tar pit into which they were being swallowed, transforming Vilnius into their personal slaughterhouse. But oh, what fools those butchers were.

And yet, the success of the youths was restrained by the realities of leadership. A fog of neons can hardly be called on to arrive at once, let alone organize or take up positions in a hierarchy of command. That is, until he arrived.

Gold watches, sunglasses of silver trim, gelled-back hair and a fit suit to match his ego. A playboy? Perhaps. Andreas Meyer-Landrut is a product of old Baltic German society, and yet, also a member of the new radical and charged generation defining Ostland's future. Born a rich boy to a family of industrialists, Meyer-Landrut has inherited a very important position, cutting deals between Siemens and the Reichskommissariat's administration. Himself a multicultural man, raised by a Russian nanny and taught to speak both German, Estonian and Russian as a child, Meyer-Landrut could only feel pain at the sight of Ostland's slaves, begging for mercy in the same tongue as he. He has been a student of law ever since (backed by his own, independent studies into Slavistics), and one of the most well-connected reformers to exist within Ostland. From this position he has gained the backing of the youths, but more importantly, of pragmatists, businessmen and Baltic Germans across Ostland. The coalition he oversees may be shaky, but Meyer-Landrut thinks himself able to be the torchbearer of liberation, no matter how his flames transform on the journey."

A young Siemens executive of Baltic German ethnicity, who's also a prominent liberal reformist politician in Ostland. Compelled by the multicultural environment of his upbringing, he empathized with Ostland's downtrodden, and believed in liberation through reforms. As Ostland collapses into war, he has formed a shaky coalition from his idealistic supporters and pragmatic connections, forced to fight his way to Ostland's liberation.

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• Being Good Sucks: His liberal mindset makes him few friends, with only the Gang of Four being willing to work with him.
• Broken Pedestal: If both Meyer-Landrut and Speer managed to win their respective Civil Wars, the new Führer will send out a formal invitation to the former for them to meet at Germania in person, in order to negotiate for Ostland's handover back to the Reich. Meyer-Landrut could then potentially be arrested by his former idol on the charges of treason, after Speer determined that he is a true believer in democracy and liberalism instead of just a political pragmatist, hence, a dangerous element that needed to be removed. This could be averted, however, should he manage to align himself with the Gang of Four.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Should Meyer-Landrut succeed, despite Speer turning on him, he could still manage to get what he wants through the Gang of Four.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Meyer-Landrut's goal of splitting Ostland and returning independence to its native peoples can't really succeed, since no Führer, not even Albert Speer, would consent to such a radical plan (the closest thing to Meyer-Landrut's goal that can be achieved is Speer splitting Ostland into the German-controlled Baltischer Bund and an independent Belarus).
• Foreign Culture Fetish: Fascinated by Eastern European cultures ever since he was a child, Meyer-Landrut developed admiration and respect for the people of Ostland who were deemed subhumans by the Nazi system.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Meyer-Landrut is a high-ranking Siemens executive in Ostland, and also the face of the democratic movement in Ostland. He uses his connections and influence to promote democratic reforms in Ostland and improve the conditions of the Ostland natives.
• Internal Reformist: Meyer-Landrut wants to implement radical liberal reforms (even more radical than those of Speer) in Ostland.
• Omniglot: Meyer-Landrut speaks German, Estonian, and Russian, and thus feels intimately connected to the oppressed Slavs.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Meyer-Landrut in real life was a West German ambassador. In TNO, where the Baltic Germans were never expelled to Germany, he instead became an industrialist in Ostland; this has some plausibility based on real history, as Meyer-Landrut's parents are Baltic German industrialists.
• Token Good Teammate: Meyer-Landrut is one of the very few morally good German leaders within the Einheitspakt. His desire for reform and political liberalization stand in sharp contrast to the far-right leanings of his colleagues.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: While Meyer-Landrut has a noble goal in granting independence back to Ostland's oppressed natives, he fails to take into account that no Führer would actually allow him to do so, especially after Lohse's efforts to prepare Ostland for direct integration into Germany itself. Even if he could win the Ostland Civil War, he'll end up arrested by Bormann or Speer, except if he manages to align himself with the Gang of Four, but even in this case he wouldn't exactly be able to achieve his goal.

SS-Oberabschnitt Ostland

Official Name: SS-Oberabschnitt Ostland^Tr.SS-Main District Ostland

Ruling Party: SS-Oberabschnitt Ostland^note SS-Main District Ostland

Ideology: Spartanism^note National Socialism

The regional SS unit of the Allgemeine SS in Ostland, under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln. On the surface, the Ostland SS is a singular engine of extermination marching towards racial purification. In reality, the unit is a tangled hydra made up of warlords, ideologues, and mercenaries, their mindless cruelties justified as ideological purity after the fact.

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• Final Solution: If the SS led by Jeckeln wins in Ostland, they immediately restart extermination campaigns with new fanatically purist standards. Entire cities that are deemed impure are burned to the ground.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: For those who didn't follow Himmler's exile into Burgundy, many of them were reassigned to Ostland so that they wouldn't pose much of a threat to Germany.
• State Sec: They are composed of SS members in Ostland, and are more loyal to Himmler than to the Reichskommissar.
• We ARE Struggling Together: They are sharply divided between the German SS and Burgundian SS factions, in which conflict between them ill be inevitable if they win the Ostland Civil War.

Friedrich Jeckeln

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: SS-Oberabschnitt Ostland^note SS-Main District Ostland

Ideology: Spartanism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Europe's engines of mass extermination did not disappear following the introduction of the pan-European slave economy, no, they only went into disuse, sitting and churning along for rightful hands to reactivate them. The hands of Friedrich Jeckeln are rightful hands indeed, ragged and worn-out from the good days, when the engines were fired and the Lebensraum cleansed. But those good days are over now, and in the place of mass extermination there is a new, supreme monolith of racial triumph Ostland's wing of the Schutzstaffel gropes towards. The "Crusade for the Purification of Ostland". It is Ostland's victory over the Untermenschen, it is the victory of National Socialism as National Socialism should be, in Burgundy's image. This will be Jeckeln's final death-blow to the rotting structure, yet who is Jeckeln to be the restorer of Aryan purity to Ostland?

Friedrich Jeckeln is a man without the limitations of morality. He is a man willing to undertake whatever actions necessary to end all threats to the Aryan race, real or what he thinks to be real. Inventor of the "Jeckeln System" during World War Two, a process of human "sardine packing" in order to more efficiently exterminate Untermenschen, it is clear Jeckeln is willing to exceed all drawn-lines. Humanity is nothing to race. Yet, who is Jeckeln the man? Who sits on the Hochmeister's throne?

On the throne there is a servile, weak and feeble creature. A slavishly devoted follower of Nord-Paris's every command. Jeckeln searches for any chance to fulfill his careerism, for Ostland is but a step to him, but not to the rest of Ostland's SS. In Ostland there are police leaders, Waffen-SS Landsknechts, officers, soldiers and mariners, personal cliques, Oberabschnitt Ost exiles, Burgundians and bureaucrats and any other number of SS men. This hydra of leadership pulls Jeckeln in whichever way they wish him to focus, and he has no option but to dance to their tune."

The deeply amoral commander of SS-Oberabschnitt Ostland. Apparently a fanatical sadist, yet in truth a servile careerist, Jeckeln slavishly follows Himmler's orders to further his SS career. Following his higher-up's demands, Jeckeln has restarted an extermination campaign in Ostland, and is functionally puppeted by both his dogmatic superiors and his uncontrollable subordinates.

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• Do Wrong, Right: He is renowned for his invention of the "Jeckeln System".
• The Dreaded: Jeckeln is dreaded by the entirety of Ostland, since he and his SS have been running a brutal terror campaign in Southern Ostland. His brief "official state visit" to Burgundy is considered a relief for both the government and the people of Ostland.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Jeckeln is envious of Reinhard Heydrich's position as Himmler's Dragon and strongly believes that he should hold the favor of the Burgundian Reichsführer-SS.
• Industrialized Evil: His "Jeckeln System" consists of "Sardine-Packing" untermenschen in order to exterminate them more efficiently.
• Sinister Shades: Jeckeln's portrait boasts a pair of aviators, and he is easily the most despicable among the six initial participants in the Ostland Civil War.

Centraĺnaja Rada

Official Name: Centraĺnaja Rada^Tr.Central Council

Ruling Party: Weißruthenischer Zentralrat^note White Ruthenian Central Council

Ideology: Naturalised National Socialism^note National Socialism

The Byelorussian collaborator government under the lead of collaborator commander Michał Vituška, currently working alongside anti-German Byelorussian nationalists.

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• Full-Circle Revolution: If Vituška wins the Ostland Civil War, he will form a ruthless dictatorship that is only marginally better than the German Reichskommissariat.
• Railroading: If the player is playing as Reinhard Heydrich, the Central European Council gets a massive artificial power boost so they're guaranteed to win in Ostland, since Heydrich's story is written with Vituška winning in Ostland in mind.

Michał Vituška

Role: Head of State

Party: Weißruthenischer Zentralrat^note White Ruthenian Central Council

Ideology: Naturalised National Socialism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In this man's heart there is a fire, a signal of walking the righteous path. But this is no path, and it is not righteous. Vituška, charmer, man of culture, climber of the rungs to power. At the end of this ladder is Ostland, yet Belarus too? At Vituška's back is a nation, those souls clamoring for autonomy, independence, retribution against their slave-masters. Vituška has done the impossible, formed a coalition of hardline, Germanophobe nationalists and collaborators too, united the hopes of Belarus behind his smile and wit. This was not Vituška twenty-years ago, and in truth, it still is not.

Vituška was but a collaborator in the 40s and 50s, not just of Germany but the SS too. Back in those days, Vituška was on the frontlines of the "war against Judeo-Bolshevism". No man could organize more raids, oversee more massacres, stuff more Untermenschen into burning barns than he could. But, the Jewry left for the woods and Vituška did not follow. He awaited the sun to shine down upon him, for the promotions and celebrations to follow in his steps. None of it ever came, but a new opportunity would allow him to catch the attention of his masters, surely. The Ostland Crisis washed over Belarus, Jews, Bolsheviks and partisans breaking out all over. Vituška and his Black Cat commandos forced them northwards, into the Baltics and out of Belarus. Championing his "mastery in terror" as having saved Belarus, the world seemed to be Vituška's and promotion was imminent. Yet, fate conspired against him again. The German administration, seeking to split the Belarusian nationalist movement, snubbed him of promotion and the Belarusian collaborators clapped along, their positions protected from Vituška's ambition.

No one but Vituška knows how Vituška clawed his way back to prominence. First, Vituška's own cousin died and the Black Cats were once-again unified. Then, the head of the Belarusian collaborators died, and the collaborators were walking in-step with him. The presses printed his name, yet everyone seemed fit to ignore him. It is ignorance no longer. Fear, for Nemesis strikes as he strikes."

An ambitious Byelorussian collaborator with connections in nationalist groups. Always passed over for promotions in Ostland despite his ruthless security campaigns, Ostland's collapse has given Vituška a final chance for glory. He has eliminated his rivals and forcibly united the collaborators and nationalists, and aims to use them to propel himself to Ostland's crown.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Vituška is ready to take any sacrifices to become the sole ruler of Ostland, even if that means burning the Reichskommissariat to the ground.
• Enemy Mine: During the SS Civil War, Vituška can be convinced to send aid to Heydrich against Himmler, but dance around the idea of joining his coalition and his aid is the bare minimum of supplies to the point that it could still be considered useful. Heydrich is irritated by this, but recognizes Himmler as the greater threat and holds off on the idea of attacking Vituška.
• A God Am I: It's implied that Vituška has delusions of godhood, as he believes that he, like the dirt, is eternal throughout Belarus and that everything, including the flora and fauna, serve him.
• Klingon Promotion: After being snubbed of any rewards for his servitude to Germany, it is implied that Vituška returned back to prominence by murdering those in high positions, including his cousin and the head of the Belarussian collaborators.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: When suppressing partisans in Ostland, Vituška expected to receive much praise and promotion for his efforts, but instead, Germany split from his Belarussian nationalist movement and snubbed him, in which Vituška's fellow collaborators went along with it to increase their own chances of promotion. Incensed, Vituška will betray Germany during the Ostland Civil War to assert his own authority over the region.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Though Vituška claims to be working to liberate the natives during the Ostland Civil War, he doesn't actually give a shit about the natives, and his real goal is to make himself the dictator over all of Ostland.
• Opportunistic Bastard: He rebels against Ostland for the sole purpose of attaining more power for himself and, should Heydrich also win the German Civil War, Vituška will take advantage of the ongoing chaos from the SS Civil War to rule Ostland like a dictator.
• The Quisling: Vituška is the head of a group of collaborator commandos, but his ambitions go far beyond that.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Despite not being much better than the Nazis he's turned against, Vituška is nonetheless supported by some natives who earnestly believe that he is going to liberate them.

Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye

Official Name: Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye^Tr.United Partisan Organization

Ruling Party: Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye^note United Partisan Organization

Ideology: Partisan Movement^note Despotism

The United Partisan Organization (FPO) is the largest partisan group in Ostland, composed of Jewish, Byelorussian, and Baltic resistance groups. They are led by veteran Jewish partisan Abba Kovner, who has been bitterly resisting against Germany for 20 years.

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• Occupiers Out of Our Country: They want to expel the Germans from Ostland and return it back to native rule.
• La Résistance: They're the largest group of anti-German militia units that have plagued Ostland.

Abba Kovner

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye^note United Partisan Organization

Ideology: Partisan Movement^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}"We will not go like Sheep to the Slaughter."

These words have defined the entire life of Abba Kovner, the leader of the loose confederation of partisans known to him as the Fareynikte Patizaner Organizatsye. From the presses of Germania, papers roll, telling the evil deeds of Judeo-Bolshevik terrorists: of the graves dug for innocent men, women and children. A devil in the skin of a man, Goebbels would claim.

Borm in 1918, Kovner grew up in a world that despised him and his family for the simple reason of thei rfaith and culture. As a local leader of the Marxist Zionist youth group Ha-Shomer Ha-Tzair, Kovner watched anxiously as the sparks of the Second World War exploded into an inferno - and in 1942, as an influential man in the Vilna Ghetto, became one of the first to correctly determine the sum of German antisemitism: the total physical annihilation of Europe's Jews. Kovner refused to go quietly into the night; unlike the local leaders of Vilna's Jews, and instead led his young partisan group into the forests outside of Vilna - calling themselves the Nokmim: the Avengers. Kovner was not under any delusions of grandeur over his position. It was a hopeless war. The best he could ask for was to show the world that he, his friends, and his comrades had taken a stand against immeasurable odds - all attempts at justice had, however, faltered. The sympathetic officers in the Wehrmacht were executed for treason - the officers he assassinated were always replaced. Every slave camp that was liberated and destroyed only served as fertile ground for the next to be constructed. Even upon the West Russian War, between the assassination of Wilhelm Keitel, the conspiracy with Ponomarenko, and the SS's coup - no justice was gained. The earth became littered with bodies, Ponomarenko and Keitel among them, united in their insignificance.

Even after all these long, bloody years, Abba Kovner is still not the monster that Germany assumes him to be. He is not a mythical slaughterer of innocents nor children; rather, he is a Dybbuk: a vengeful spirit in the skin of a man, heart aching for justice.

Perhaps there is no justice left in this world - perhaps there is no justice for the millions sent to their deaths.

But there shall be Nakam.

The decades-long leader of the FPO, a husk of a man where once stood a poetic warrior. Resisting against genocide since 1942, Kovner has experienced nothing but defeat, death, and despair in these 20 years, as every chance at justice was unceremoniously crushed into the earth. Yet Kovner still fights on, for he still has one last hope for redemption:

If the world will not grant his people justice, then he will. With vengeance.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Abba Kovner in real life was a Jewish partisan who, right after WWII, became one of the founders and the leader of Nakam (revenge in Hebrew), a short-lived conspiracy group that aimed to kill Germans and Nazis in revenge for the Holocaust. In TNO, Kovner never formed Nakam, but he still eventually dedicated himself to taking revenge on the Germans for the Holocaust (though to a much more extreme degree than he was in real life).
• Badass Israeli: Even though Kovner is hardly a moral paragon, it is hard to argue that he is a strong-willed partisan as well as an efficient leader of insurgents who has been waging a successful 20-year guerrilla campaign in Ostland and still has the opportunity to emerge victorious in the Civil War against all other factions.
• The Cynic: Disillusioned by the seemingly hopeless struggle against the Nazis, Kovner believes that there is no justice left in the world and now only seeks to carry out his revenge plot of Nakam.
• The Dreaded: Kovner is the most feared person in Ostland, his name whispered with terror from Brest to Moscow.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kovner compares himself to a Dybbuk, a vengeful spirit in the shape of a man that aches for justice. If Kovner's United Partisan Organization emerges as the winner of the Ostland Civil War, he sure will bring revenge to the Germans for the Holocaust and other atrocities...
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Fighting a guerrilla war against the Nazis for decades has hardened his heart. It's telling that his portrait makes him look much more haggard than he actually was in the 1960s.

Ukraine

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

Official Name: Reichskommissariat Ukraine^note Reich Commission of Ukraine

Ruling Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

For its tropes, see the dedicated Reichskommissariat Ukraine subpage.

"Europas Narben" Update

Upcoming content coming with the Eastern Europe rework in "Europas Narben" update.

Belarus

Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic

Official Name: Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic

Ideology: Communism

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Piotr Mašerau

Role: Head of State

Ideology: Communism

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• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Before becoming the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Belarus in OTL, Mašerau fought in World War II as a resistance fighter, commanding his own unit during the German invasion. However, unlike OTL, the fight to expel the Nazis never ended and so Mašerau is still a Belarussian partisan, specifically leading the communist movement in the Ostland rework teaser.

Belarusian People's Republic

Official Name: Belarusian People's Republic

Ruling Party: Partyzanski Atrad Imia Kirava^note Guerrilla Detachment of Imia Kirov

Ideology: National Liberalism^note Liberalism

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Ailes Adamovič

Role: Head of State

Party: Partyzanski Atrad Imia Kirava^note Guerrilla Detachment of Imia Kirov

Ideology: National Liberalism^note Liberalism

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• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In OTL, Ailes Adamovič became a World War II partisan fighter at the tender age of 15 before becoming a writer and critic of the Soviet Union in the 1960's. However, since the German occupation of Belarus never ended in this timeline, Adamovič continues his life as a native partisan and leader of a Belarussian resistance movement in the Ostland rework teaser.

Caucasus

Reichskommissariat Kaukasien

^{Flag of Kaukasische Militärregierung}

^{Flag of Caucasian Federation}

^{Flag of Reichsprotektorat Kaukasien}

Official Name: Reichskommissariat Kaukasien^Tr.Reich Commissariat of the Caucasus, Kingdom of Caucasia (King Josias), Kaukasische Militärregierung^Tr.Caucasian Military Government (Pleiger), Caucasian Federation (Collaborator Government), Reichsprotektorat Kaukasien^Tr.Reich Protectorate of the Caucasus (Reichsländer)

Ruling Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Himmlerite^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party - Himmlerite

Ideology: National Socialism

The German occupation regime of the Caucasus. Kaukasien is a polluted wasteland where unrestricted industrialization has severely damaged the nation's environment. It continues to suffer under the rule of Reichskommissar Josias zu Waldeck und Pyrmont, who rabidly oppresses his subjects after he was driven mad due to torture from partisans.

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• Adventurer Archaeologist: Kaukasien under Josias can launch expensive archaeological expeditions for alleged legendary artifacts of the ancient past. While the artifacts, if they are even found, don't have much practical use, such expeditions can bring international prestige and new acquaintances, though they can also lead to humiliation and a pointless waste of resources.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The original proposed Reichskommissar for Kaukasien, Arno Schickedanz, never shows up in-game, nor is there any stated whereabouts on him.
• Crushing the Populace: Josias doesn't spare any means to completely subjugate the population of Kaukasien, be they either full-scale terror, draconian laws or ruining the local environment.
• The Federation: If Albert Speer chooses to reform the Eastern European Reichskommissariate into native collaborator governments, RK Kaukasien will be transformed into the Caucasian Federation, headed by Georgian prince Irakli Bagration.
• Forbidden Zone: Kaukasien is a very closed nation, even from the Reich.
• Gaia's Lament: Mining works and unrestricted industrialization practically destroyed the environment of Kaukasien, making it one of the most polluted nations on the planet.
• Inspirational Martyr: The Tiflis Three (Lavrentiy Beria, Valerian Kobakhia, and Vasil Mzhavanadze), leaders of the Transcaucasian Soviet partisan group that launched an anti-Nazi uprising against the RK but were captured and executed a year prior to the game start, are lionized by the suffering native population of Kaukasien as martyrs for the cause of liberation.
• MegaCorp: Many German industrialists came to Kaukasien to extract resources such as oil. They are very influential in the RK, and can potentially even overthrow Josias.
• Ominous Fog: Heavy industrial development without any regard for the environment created constant smog blankets over the entire nation, making life even more insufferable for native Caucasians.
• Please Select New City Name: As part of the decommunisation and Germanisation of the Caucasus, the city of Krasnodar (meaning red gift) was renamed Katharinastadt.
• Polluted Wasteland: Under Josias' rule, the Caucasus is turned into a massive industrial wasteland with constant smog.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: Although he still sends resources to Germania, it is rumoured that Reichskommissar Josias zu Waldeck-Pyrmont is actually receiving orders from Heinrich Himmler. When he organises a lavish parade for an anticipated state visit from Himmler without confirming whether he could actually attend, Josias goes rogue from both the Reich and Burgundy alike, believing that the Reichsführer-SS has betrayed him.
• Team Switzerland: Despite its relative stability compared to the rest of German Eastern Europe, Kaukasien will remain neutral in the SS Civil War, but only because Josias is so deluded, that he'll denounce both Himmler and Heydrich at the same time when the latter tries proposing an alliance.

Josias zu Waldeck und Pyrmont

^{Josias as the King of Kaukasia}

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Himmlerite^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party - Himmlerite, Deutsch-Kaukasischer Königlicher Bund^note German-Caucasian Royal League (King of Kaukasia)

Ideology: National Socialism, Absolute Monarchy^note Despotism (King of Kaukasia)

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Josias, Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont was raised in power and nobility, but was powerless to stop his family's noble titles and privileges from being stripped away when the German Republic was proclaimed. He joined the Nazi Party in the late 1920s, quickly falling in with the SS and steadily climbing its ranks. Josias soon developed a reputation for being meticulous and fiercely devoted to the letter of the law, even prosecuting Buchenwald camp commandant Karl-Otto Koch for embezzlement of funds. By the time the West Russian War came to a close, Josias had a comfortable job as the SS High Police Commissioner in Wartheland, and he largely remained above suspicion regarding Himmler's failed SS coup. In order to keep his reputation airtight while serving as Himmler's eyes and ears in the Reich's eastern peripheries, the two engineered a falling-out that culminated in Josias publicly denouncing the SS and tearing up his membership card.

When it came to light that Reichskommissariat Kaukasien was overrun with partisans and needed a new Reichskommissar, it was easy for Josias to sway the Führer with his excellent work record and sterling reputation. But less than a week after arriving in Tiflis, Josias was captured by a branch of the Transcaucasian Soviet partisan group and gruesomely tortured for three days. He remembered every bit of pain he suffered, as well as every face that watched. After he was finally rescued, he put his plan for "pacification" into place. Highways and cities were fortified, natives were forcibly relocated, and uncooperative regions were indiscriminately firebombed. Josias also began filling the bureaucracy and garrison with loyal SS members, and quietly rejoined the organization (though he considers it an insult his original membership number wasn't restored). He still sends his resource quotas to Germania so they don't complain, but there are those who still believe that he really takes his orders from Ost-Paris.

In-Game Biography (King Josias) ^{Click to Show}Josias, Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont, found himself utterly alone. He had cut off his ties with the SS after feeling slighted by Himmler, he had refused to aid any of the so-called Führers at each others' throats in the Reich, he had alienated the industrialists for frequently trying to exact greater and greater taxes upon their mines and refineries, and the damnable natives would never accept a foreigner ruling over their lands. There was only one thing Josias had left to turn to: his noble heritage.

The idea was dismissed as madness, both by his family and his closest advisors. An absolute monarch in the twentieth century? What an absurd fantasy! But to Josias, it seemed that there were few other options. Monarchs could rule multi-ethnic states with more ease than military dictators, let alone National Socialists. After all, had the Habsburgs not managed to hold together a cosmopolitan Empire in the heart of Europe for five hundred years? And thus, he ordered it to be done. A crown was crafted, a date was set, a cathedral was chosen, a bishop was found, and a large swathe of the bureaucracy and military who spoke out against it were quietly purged from the government.

Now, the Reichskommissar's official title is His Majesty Josias I, King of Kaukasia, Protector of Kuban, and Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. He wears elaborate uniforms, holds court at his palace in Katharinastadt, and hears the petitions of regional governors who must bow before his throne. Although some call it madness, there is method to it: he has taken his duties as a monarch just as seriously as he did as a Nazi, and he seems to have little intent of relaxing oppression against the natives.

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• And There Was Much Rejoicing: RK Kaukasien's natives react to news of the cruel Reichskommissar Josias' death with celebrations.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Josias is a member of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont and one of the most brutal rulers, even among fellow Reichskommissare.
• Asshole Victim: He was brutally tortured by partisans for three days, but he was still an ardent Nazi who was brought in to "clean up" the RK's partisans.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Josias can fully embrace his noble blood and declare himself King of Kaukasia.
• Bait-and-Switch: If Heydrich wins the German Civil War and rebels against Himmler during the SS Civil War, his focus tree changes so that Heydrich can reach out to different nations for aid in his struggle. One tree involves reaching out to Josias, enticing him to join with either promises of power or wealth, which makes it seem like it's possible to recruit him. Instead, reaching out to Josias just causes the Reichskommisar to ramble about his hatred for both Himmler and Heydrich, too crazed to even get involved in the conflict and rendering the idea of an alliance void.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: While Josias was already a devout Nazi and a close ally of Himmler, the torture he faced by the hands of the Transcaucasian Soviet partisans removed any reservations he had about bombing the countryside back to the stone age.
• Berserk Button: He hates being snubbed or placed under less priority. Himmler failing to arrive for a massive celebratory parade to welcome him (without even getting confirmation if Himmler could attend it) spurns Josias enough to leave his cause. Heydrich's attempt to negotiate for his support in the SS Civil War will fail if Heydrich has negotiated with slave rebellions before him.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Twice in the same event. If Heydrich wins the civil war and negotiates with the slaves before Kaukasia, Josias tells him over the phone that he thinks Himmler is a "chinless worm" and refers to him as "that fucking mongoloid." However, he then grows incensed that Heydrich dared negotiate with the slaves before him, and tells him "You know what they said about you in the SS? You look like a fucking Jew," before hanging up the phone.
• Evil Colonialist: The worst example of this among the Eastern European Reichskommisars, whose rule has turned Kaukasien into a Polluted Wasteland.
• Facial Horror: His facial scars are very gruesome, as can be seen in his portrait.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: His face was horribly scarred during his torture by partisans, which is why he's so uncompromisingly brutal against partisan resistance.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: The real Josias was a high-ranking NSDAP member and SS officer. This Josias is a high-ranking NSDAP member, SS officer, and also an insane adherent to Esoteric Nazism who brutally oppresses native Caucasians.
• Nazi Nobleman: Josias is both a high-ranking member of the SS and the leader of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont. When he goes rogue from Himmler, he can take advantage of his aristocratic heritage to crown himself King of Kaukasia.
• Nepotism: Looking at Kaukasien's general list shows that Josias had made a few of his own children generals in his fiefdom. This includes his daughter Guda, a rather notable departure from the hyper-masculine dogma of the NSDAP and the SS in particular.
• The Purge: Prior to his official coronation, King Josias I quietly purges a large number of military officers and bureaucrats who opposed his decision.
• Railroading: If the player is playing as Reinhard Heydrich, Josias will not declare himself king nor will he be overthrown by Pleiger.
• Take a Third Option: During a Heydrich playthrough, Heydrich will have the option to offer Josias an alliance to prevent Himmler from plunging the world into nuclear chaos. Josias will denounce Himmler and refuse to help him, but then angrily rebuke Heydrich for reaching out after negotiating with the slaves first. Heydrich decides to let the man wallow in his situation.

Paul Pleiger

Role: Economy Minister (Josias cabinet), Head of State (Coup)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Hitlerite^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party - Hitlerite

Ideology: Technocratic Nazism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Although Reichskommissariat Kaukasien may have been created as a way to test limited autonomy for collaborating minorities, its continued existence has always been to serve one purpose: to wring every drop of oil and pry every ounce of precious metals from the earth. To ensure this end, the upper echelons of the Reichskommissariat's bureaucracy was filled with mining magnates, oil barons, and other industrialists who would have a very personal interest in maximizing operations. The undisputed leader of this corporate clique is Paul Pleiger, who previously ran prestigious industrial operations like the Reichswerke Hermann Göring.

While Pleiger and his ilk have been content to take a backseat while the Reichskommissars kept the natives in line, Josias's recent... eccentricities have convinced him that actions must be taken to keep the Reichskommissariat's primary mission active. Now that cooler heads have prevailed, Pleiger hopes that he and his fellow industrialists are able to keep things steady, keep the oil flowing back to the Vaterland, and keep their many investments profitable for the rest of their lives. Pleiger also has decades of experience in expropriating property from liberated territories, and many in both Katharinastadt and Germania are confident that he can deal with this pesky native problem that not even Josias's heavy-handedness could crush. All he needs is a few years of stability and steady funding, he insists, and everything will settle into a happy status quo that will benefit everyone (and their portfolios).

For tropes related to his role as the head of Reichswerke in the upcoming Speer facelift, see his entry in TNO Germany.

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• The Coup: Finding Josias too crazed to support any further, Pleiger can launch a coup against him so that he and the industrialists can restore some level of sanity back to Kaukasien.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Although he is still a Nazi, Pleiger is nowhere near as insane as Josias zu Waldeck-Pyrmont is. After overthrowing Josias, he'll tone down the oppression and make life a little more bearable for the Caucasus' native peoples.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Pleiger is a Nazi who wants to squeeze out all the juices out of Kaukasia, but he doesn't have much love for Josias' eccentricities and can take action against him under the right circumstances. In power, he can allow some leniency towards the Caucasian minorities if he considers it more beneficial.

Wittekind zu Waldeck und Pyrmont

^{Wittekind as the King of Kaukasia}

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (Monarchist succession)

Party: Deutsch-Kaukasischer Königlicher Bund^note German-Caucasian Royal League

Ideology: Absolute Monarchy^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Wittekind Adolf Heinrich Georg-Wilhelm zu Waldeck and Pyrmont has been surrounded by the Nazi elite literally since the day he was born: his godfathers were Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler. And as one would expect of any scion to a Nazi nobleman, his father made sure to intellectually and ideologically groom him as his successor. He was sent to an SS-Junkerschüle and trained to be an SS officer, where by all accounts he was a rather bright student. However, he was far more interested in economics and finance than politics or military strategy, so his father reluctantly bade him to go and study business administration in Frankfurt. It was his studies that spared him from having to see frontline combat in the West Russian War, and kept him safely out of suspicion when Himmler attempted his putsch.

When his studies were finished, Wittekind departed not to his family estate in Hesse, but to his father's administrative headquarters in Katharinastadt. Here, it was once again that Josias began grooming his son for leadership, but of a far different kind than before: monarchy. Wittekind stayed quiet when his father announced his royal ambitions, believing it to be a practical joke or desperate cry for international attention that would soon be abandoned. But Josias refused to drop the charade, staying fully committed to his role as King of Kaukasia until the day he died.

Now, Wittekind wears a crown he does not want atop a throne he despises in a country he wants nothing more than to abandon forever. But flight is no longer an option. And with the land around him rapidly descending into chaos, King Witteking I will have no option but to fight for his life.

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• Like Father, Unlike Son: Despite their familial relationship, Wittekind is not insane or genocidal like his father.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Wittekind only joined the SS because his family expected him to do so and he just goes along with whatever his father tells him to do.
• Reluctant Ruler: After King Josias' death, Wittekind finds himself wearing a crown he does not want, atop a throne he despises, in a country he wants nothing more than to abandon forever, but flight is no longer an option.

Eccard Freiher Von Gablenz

Role: Head of State (Bormann appointment)

Ideology: National Socialism

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: He's a Nazi colonial administrator who will be put in charge of Kaukasien after Bormann retakes the colony, but his rule is generally less repressive than the one led by Josias.

Irakli Bagration

Role: Head of State (Speer's Caucasian Federation)

Party: Amierk'avk'asiis Demokratiuli Partia

Ideology: National Conservatism^note Paternalism

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• The Quisling: If Speer organizes the Caucasus under a collaborator republic, Bagration will be put in charge of it by the ruling Germans.

Caucasus Collapse

Adygea

Official Name: Adygea

Ideology: Left-Wing Populism^note Progressivism

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• Non-Indicative Name: Despite its name, this country consists of more than half of the North Caucasus. Its capital is located at Vladikavkaz, a good 500 kilometres away from Adygea proper.
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Freed from Kaukasien's control, Adygea will be composed of prisoners, war heroes, priests, politicians, and farmers who have rallied around Lyubov Lysenko, inspired by her tenacity during the occupation.

Lyubov Lysenko

Role: Head of State

Ideology: Left-Wing Populism^note Progressivism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Lyubov Kirillovna Lysenko is no stranger to suffering. When the drums of war beat and the Germans swarmed over the horizon, her father, brother, and husband were all drafted to serve their motherland in the Red Army. None of them would ever return. The Nazi occupiers rounded her and everyone else in her hometown up, forcing them to help dig a reservoir along the Kuban river with primitive tools, grueling hours, and no safety standards. She lost many of her friends in those years, but Lyubov persisted. When the reservoir was complete, the surviving worers were relocated to various sweatshops and mines along the Black Sea. Lyubov was frequently beaten and starved by the sadistic guards, but she persisted. Over the years, she had developed a reputation as someone who was very good at survival. Some even found it inspiring.

When the Reichskommissar died and the guards were left scrambling, the workers in the camps and mines seized their chance and rose up. They rallied around the prisoners who they revered most. Some were war heroes, some were priests, some were inspiring politicians, and some were simple farmers admired for their inner strength. Lysenko soon found thousands of people, ragtag survivors like herself, flocking to her for advice and assistance. And like every other burden put on her shoulders in her life, Lysenko swears that she will persist as always.

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• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Lysenko was the leader of a collective farm in Adygea who was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. In this timeline, she leads the Russian rebellion in the North Caucasus against the German boot.
• Hope Bringer: Enslaved by the Nazis, Lysenko was forced into hard labor and brutally beaten and starved repeatedly, but Lysenko endured through every horror she faced. Many admired or were inrpised by this showcase of determination, which is why many have joined her after the Caucasus collapse.

Avaria

Official Name: Avaria

Ideology: Liberalism

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• La Résistance: Even after their homeland was conquered by the Nazis, the Avar people have never submitted themselves to them and can potentially retake their country if Kaukasien collapses.

Rasul Gamzatov

Role: Head of State

Ideology: Liberalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov grew up the heir to a long familial and cultural tradition of music and literature, with his father being a traditional Avar bard. But despite his rural upbringing, he was able to pursue an education, becoming the director of a theater in Khunzakh. But when the war was lost and the Nazis occupied the major cities, Gamzatov was forced to flee back to his home village. The Germans did not care to directly rule the countryside, instead opting for bombing runs and the occasional raid to capture new slaves for their mines. Music, theater, and poetry were some of the few things that provided a glimpse of happiness, and it was something that Gamzatov was eager to provide for his people.

During the West Russian War, Gamzatov turned his services toward propagandizing and recruiting through the mountain villages for the Transcaucasian Soviet partisan group. Thousand enlisted thanks to his words, and eagerly marched off to battle with fresh shipments of West Russian and Kazakh arms. Few would return, but those who did said they were glad to have fought for a worthy cause. The years following the West Russian War were especially hard, as the brutal Reichskommissar Josias insisted on giving no quarter to the natives. Gamzatov hardly had to put any more effort into his speeches, for dozens of men would volunteer at every village as soon as he opened his mouth.

Josias's death brought new opportunities for the Avar partisans, who eagerly seized cities and slew Germans all across their homeland. When asked about establishing a civilian government, many of them turned to the man that inspired them to fight in the first place. Gamzatov was called to lead the mean he once recruited, a task he took up with a joke that he had valuable leadership experience from directing acting troupes. But will he be able to guarantee Avar survival, or does the curtain call loom close in the future?

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• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Gamzatov was an Avar poet and bard. In TNO, he inspires the Avars into fighting against the German yoke, eventually becoming their leader after the Germans are kicked out.
• Rebel Leader: Despising Josias' reign, Gamzatov became a propagandist to inspire thousands to continue resistance against the Nazis during the West Russian War and even after.

Azerbaijan

Official Name: Republic of Azerbaijan

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

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• La Résistance: A rather inactive example of this trope, but many Azeri instead voiced their discontent of German rule by chanting and printing anti-German poems written by Vahabzadeh, in which they will immediately take back their countryside if Kaukasien collapses.

Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh

Role: Head of State

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh grew up having two loves: the written word and the Azeri people. He dreamed of his plays and poetry being published without fear of censorship or reprisal, and he longed for the day when Azeribaijan would be ruled by Azeris for Azeris. He was beginning his university studies when the Germans captured Baku, indiscriminately rounding up "partisans" (often just any man of military age who was not a slavish collaborator) and dragging them off to their deaths at the end of a gun or in the depths of a mine. It was by sheer luck that Vahabzadeh was able to escape and flee into the sparsely-populated hillside villages, whose populations had become swollen with refugees.

Here, life continued with some semblence of normality, except for the occasional German terror-bombings. It was also here where Vahabzadeh was able to resume writing poems, publishing them on crude printing presses and distributing them through neighboring villages. His eloquence and fierce patriotism started to generate a reputation for himself, and his works were recited in villages all throughout the Azeri countryside. And when the partisans were able to recapture the cities from the Germans, they chanted his poems in celebration.

Vahabzadeh's vision was at last becoming a reality: Azerbaijan was free and independent. But more importantly, they wanted him to lead it. He accepted, though bemoaning that it would delay the completion of his latest poetry collection. And now, he drafts battle strategies and legislation instead of anti-German literature.

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• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Vahabzadeh was a poet, dramatist, lyricist and translator. In this timeline, he is the leader of the Azeri partisans fighting against RK Kaukasien.
• Skewed Priorities: Played for Laughs: When the Azeris rebel against RK Kaukasien, Vahabzadeh will be invited to lead the new state for the many poems he wrote that encouraged resistance against Josias' administration. Vahabzadeh will accept, but bemoan the fact that it would delay the completion of his latest poetry collection.

Georgia

^{Flag of Legionary Georgia}

Official Name: Georgian Socialist Republic (Javakhishvili), Legionary Georgia (Loladze)

Ruling Party: Sakartvelos Kumisturi Partia^note Communist Party of Georgia (Javakhishvili), Kartuli Legioni^note Georgian Legion (Loladze)

Ideology: Revolutionary Front^note Socialism (Javakhishvili), Fascism (Loladze)

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• La Résistance: Even before Kaukasien's collapse, a shadow Georgian government was established under Javakhishvili and his partisans, whom invited union leaders, scientists, accountants, teachers, and other specialized workers to build a fledgling state that would emerge immediately after the Caucasus collapse and avert any potential chaos that might result from the aforementioned disaster.

Givi Javakhishvili

Role: Head of State

Party: Sakartvelos Kumisturi Partia^note Communist Party of Georgia

Ideology: Revolutionary Front^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Givi Dmitrievich Javakhishvili was no soldier or fiery orator, but a mild-mannered bureaucrat who ran the committee overseeing the Georgian S.S.R.'s water pipe infrastructure. The partisans with whom he sheltered once Tblisi fell decried him as useless in building a resistance network, but he promised he had skills in a far more important task: building a government. Winning the war was all well and good, he insisted, but what is the point of winning a war if they were unfit to solidify their hold and restore order? Would the people not trust the side that offers survival and sustenance over chaos and poverty?

And so, Javakhishvili began building contacts between other resistance cells. Not just soldiers, but also union leaders, scientists, accountants, teachers, anyone and everyone who could help prepare a new Georgian state. And what started out as a loose coalition of partisans gradually coalesced into something greater: the foundations of a shadow government, one that would be able to seize power and pick up right where the old bureaucracy left off.

They initially attempted to coordinate with the Transcaucasian Soviet during the West Russian War, but the Germans had managed to counterattack and reassert their control before any substantial cooperation could occur. So they went back under ground, bided their time, and waited for the next opportunity to strike. The death of Josias meant Javakhishvili's dreams were finally able to come to fruition. He and his allies launched their long-awaited uprising across the territories of the former Georgian S.S.R., overwhelming the collaborators and the beleaguered German garrison. And when the smoke cleared, his fledgling government was able to step right in and begin retaking the apparatuses of state. But though Javakhishvili promised he could build a state, it was implicit that he would have to win the war first. And now it is time for him to uphold all his promises.

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• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Javakhishvili was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Georgian SSR. In this timeline, he is leads the Georgian Resistance against the German occupiers.
• The Remnant: He was a mild-mannered bureacrat who oversaw the Georgian SSR's water pipe infrastructure and has remained in the Caucasus as a resistance fighter after the Nazis took over.

Shalva Loladze

Role: Head of State

Party: Kartuli Legioni^note Georgian Legion

Ideology: Fascism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Shalva Loladze has given everything he had to defend his homeland: his honor, his dignity, and his blood. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, he enlisted in the military, becoming a pilot in the Soviet Air Force. However, luck was not on his side, and he was shot down over occupied Ukraine. Faced with the choice between a Nazi prison camp and a position in the collaborator Georgian Legion, he gave in and chose the latter. The Legion's lower echelons were recruited from Georgian PO Ws resentful of their Soviet overlords or desperate to stay alive, but its leaders were a clique of generals and politicians from the defunct Democratic Republic of Georgia. Exiled from their homeland since the Soviet victory, they longed to return. When the war was over and the Reich was victorious, the Legion's wish was fulfilled. But rather than arrive as liberators, they were forced to serve as occupiers for their new German masters.

An ideological rift formed in the Legion between the old guard, who advocated for patience, and the younger generation, who preferred more direct action. When the West Russian War came and the Transcaucasian Soviet rose up, the Legion's commanders stayed faithful to the Reich; when the Germans inevitably came to restore order, they would reward the Georgians for their loyalty. That reward never came. And when the Katharinastadt lost its grip with Josias's death, the generals told their men to wait once more. The colonels, however, were tired of waiting. Shalva Loladze led the mutiny, arresting his commanding officers and shooting those who resisted. He rallied the Legion, who quickly deposed the German garrison, and the flag of Georgia once again flew over Tbilisi. Now, he would fight for no master but himself, and under no flag but that of his homeland.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Shalva Loladze in real life led a Georgian Legion insurrection in the Netherlands in 1945. In TNO, he leads a Georgian Legion insurrection against RK Kaukasien.
• The Mutiny: After authority in Caucasia breaks down as a result of Josias zu Waldeck-Pyrmont's death and the Georgian Legion's leaders refuse to act, Loladze leads a mutiny, arrests his commanding officers, and flies the flag of Georgia over Tbilisi again.

Moskowien

Reichskommissariat Moskowien

Official Name: Reichskommissariat Moskowien^Tr.Reich Commissariat of Muscovy

Ruling Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Kasche^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party - Kasche

Ideology: National Socialism

The German occupation regime of Western Russia, conquered from the Soviet Union in World War II. For its tropes, see the dedicated Reichskommissariat Moskowien subpage.

Slave Revolt (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Armeeverband "Freies Europa"

Official Name: Armeeverband "Freies Europa"^Tr."Free Europe" Army

Ruling Party: Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold

Ideology: Guevarism^note Socialism, Social Nationalism^note Paternalism, Partisan Movement^note Despotism

Armeeverband "Freies Europa", or the Free Europe Army, is an alliance of German and Eastern European resistance groups organized around German resistance leader Willy Brandt. Führer Albert Speer's social reforms in the late 60s gave the European resistance an opportunity for a mass slave revolt across German Eastern Europe, directly challenging Speer's vision for the Reich. Determined to free Europe from Nazi tyranny, Germany's reactions towards the European resistance will define the future of Speer, his cabinet, and all of Germany.

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• The Alliance: Armeeverband "Freies Europa" (meaning Free Europe Army) is a coalition of multiple resistance movements across Eastern Europe, united in their defiance against the Nazi tyranny.
• Badass Boast: The quote that accompanies the Freies Europa revolt event is straight out of a passage from Friedrich Schiller's William Tell.
  One people will we be, - a band of brothers
  No danger, no distress shall sunder us.
  We will be freemen as our fathers were,
  And sooner welcome death than live as slaves.
• Climax Boss: The Slave Revolt is the last domestic obstacle for Speer's Germany that must be actively dealt with in the closing years of the 1962-1972 segment. The revolt is a major watershed moment for Albert Speer's Germany, as how Speer deals with it (whether peacefully or violently) will lead to one of his three paths in the upcoming 1972-1982 segment.
• Establishing Character Music: The Slave Revolt super event that officially signals the start of the Slave Revolt features a triumphant chorus of the famous German worker's song Einheitsfrontlied.
• Multinational Team: The movement is made up of enslaved Eastern Europeans of all nations as well as German dissidents, with a German anti-Nazi, a Polish priest, a Ukrainian rebel and a Belarusian partisan at its helm.
• Rainbow Speak: Mentions of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold is almost always coloured as such in the UI of Speer's Germany.
• Satellite Character: The Slave Revolt is not meant to be a playable country; its only role is to interact with Speer's Germany at the end of the first decade and determine which route it would take in the second decade.
• Slave Revolt: "Freies Europa" is a massive slave revolt that occurs across the entirety of Eastern Europe after Speer pacified it. Their ultimate goal is the manumission of all slaves across the Reich.
• Walking Spoiler: The faction does not appear anywhere in the game unless Speer wins the German Civil War, and plays a major role at the end of his first decade.

Willy Brandt

^{Social Nationalist}

^{Partisan Movement}

Role: Leader of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, Head of State (Slave Revolt)

Ideology: Guevarism^note Socialism, Social Nationalism^note Paternalism, Partisan Movement^note Despotism[[/note]

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Willy Brandt fights for a Europe many believe will never exist. Born as Herbert Frahm in 1913, he strove with determination during the Weimar years to maintain the democratic republic against the threats of the Nazis and Communists alike. As Frahm, he joined the SPD aged 16, the SAPD aged 18, and the anti-Nazi resistance just aged 20. The death of Frahm and the birth of Willy Brandt came when he fled to Oslo to establish an SAPD cell as a bastion of German resistance.
As Norway and later the Soviet Union collapsed, Brandt and his fellow resistance members attempted to flee to the US to continue the struggle against tyranny. The cruelty of fate saw them all captured by the Kriegsmarine and thrown in an eastern European KZ, where they toiled with little but gruel and the threat of a bullet to sustain them.
Refusing to be crushed by such brutality, Brandt covertly organized camp resistance cells and established outside contacts who were not surprised when Brandt and his allies escaped during the chaos of the West Russian War. Free at last and as fervent as ever, Brandt coalesced much of the German resistance around the re-established Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, working undercover as he grew his network to include European partisan organizations and German student leaders, exploiting the mayhem of the Bürgerkrieg to his advantage.
Many would have given up such a fanciful dream in search of a peaceful life. Not Willy Brandt. The Slave Revolt provides the final flame of hope for the forces of liberation and democracy, whatever the cost may be. The final die has been tossed, and only time will tell if it heralds freedom or death.

Willy Brandt, long time member of the SPD, SAPD, and the German resistance, fights tirelessly for the freedom of all of Europe. Put into a concentration camp after WWII, Brandt persevered and escaped during the West Russian War, and restarted organized resistance. He reestablished the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, once the SPD paramilitary that defended Weimar democracy, as an organized German resistance network, and reached out to Eastern European partisans for a pan-European alliance. Now that the Slave Revolt has begun, Europe reaches its fateful moment, one that may herald the coming of freedom or death.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: In one event, Willy Brandt kneels before a monument dedicated to the victims of Nazi Germany, similar to his famous genuflection at a monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in our timeline.
• Chummy Commies: Willy Brandt can adopt Che Guevara's ideology and strategies to topple the Nazi system and European slavery.
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat: In Speer's GUI, the leader of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold is depicted wearing a trenchcoat and shades.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Should the revolt succeed, the full truth could never be revealed so long as Speer remains in charge. This is partly due to the Gang of Four's collusion with Brandt, and his own status as a criminal in his homeland.
• Hero Antagonist: Brandt leads the uprising against the oppressive institutions of Nazi Germany and its exploitative policy in Eastern Europe and his forces represent the greatest domestic challenge to Speer during the late 60s.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: In OTL, Willy Brandt only became his legal name after he regained his German citizenship in 1948. Since he almost certainly never regained it ITTL, and Norway is still occupied, his legal name is most likely still Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm. ^ContextWilly Brandt was a pseudonym he adopted while hiding from the Nazis in Scandinavia. He had his citizenship revoked during this time, and became a Norwegian citizen even after fleeing to Sweden following the German invasion. He was actually working for the Norwegian government when he first returned to Germany after the war.
• Rebel Leader: During his time in a concentration camp, Brandt covertly organised resistance cells and established outside contacts. During the chaos of the West Russian War, Brandt escaped coalesced much of the German resistance around the re-established Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, working undercover as he recruited European partisan organisations and German student leaders into his network.
• Red Baron: The RND files indicate that his moniker is "Spartakus".
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Willy Brandt was a German dissident who was forced to flee to Norway and Sweden to escape the Nazis, then became a prominent politician from the Social Democratic Party who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He promoted integration and cooperation in Europe, and even got a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. In TNO, he is a German dissident who is very remorseful for his people's role in the suffering of millions, and so he and his supporters, in cooperation with native Eastern European partisans, start an armed struggle to abolish slavery in the Reich and its eastern colonies.
• Smoking Is Cool: He is the leader of an anti-Nazi slave revolt, and is shown smoking a cigarette in his portrait.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Even if the slave revolt leads to Germany abolishing slavery and the Gang of Four dismantling the Nazi dictatorship, Willy Brandt knows he can't just return to the Reich and live a normal life, as he will be arrested for treason immediately. Due to this, after the revolt is over, he is forced to immigrate to the United States.

Karol Wojtyła

Role: Military Commander

Party: Solidarność Walcząca[[note]]Fighting Solidarity

Ideology: Conservatism

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• Allohistorical Allusion: His faction has the same name as a real life anti-communist resistance movement that was founded after Solidarność was declared illegal in 1982.
• Badass Preacher: He is a Catholic priest and a member of a slave uprising.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: In OTL, Wojtyła - better known as Pope John Paul II - became a priest in 1946 shortly after the Second World War ended, and later faced repressions from the pro-Soviet government of Poland, eventually becoming the first Polish Pope and a major figure representing the anti-Communist movement in that country alongside the Solidarność. In this timeline, he personally leads the Polish slaves in their fight for freedom.
• In Spite of a Nail: It seems like no matter the timeline, Karol Wojtyła remains a devout Catholic and advocate for justice, especially for his Polish compatriots.
• Rebel Leader: Represents the Polish people fighting under the Freies Europa banner.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Priest Karol Wojtyła, who would become Pope John Paul II in the late 1970s in real life, instead became the leader of the Polish slave revolt in the late 1960s in the TNO timeline if Speer won the German civil war.

Viacheslav Chornovil

Role: Military Commander

Party: Spilka Demokratychnoho Vyzvolu^note Union of Democratic Liberation

Ideology: Liberalism

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• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Chornovil was a Soviet dissident who resisted Soviet Ukraine's lack of freedoms, which lead to his arrest several times. In TNO he is a full on leader of an armed revolt against German colonial oppressors.
• Rebel Leader: Represents the Ukrainian people fighting under the Freies Europa banner.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Viacheslav Chornovil was a prominent Ukrainian dissident in the Soviet Union who advocated for liberalization as well as for Ukrainian independence, leading to him being arrested multiple times in the 1960s and 1970s for his political views. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he played a pivotal role in Ukraine's struggle for political independence. In TNO he is one of the leaders of a massive slave revolt, representing the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom.

Nadezhda Troyan

Role: Military Commander

Party: Di Nay Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye^note The New United Partisan Organization

Ideology: Communism

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• Determinator: She has been fighting a partisan war for almost thirty years by the time the Freies Europa revolt breaks out.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Nadezhda Troyan was a Soviet Belarusian partisan fighter and nurse during World War II, and became a Red Cross representative in the USSR after the war. In TNO, she has been fighting against the German occupiers of her homeland for about thirty years, and is one of the leaders of the Freies Europa slave revolt.
• Rebel Leader: Represents the Belarusian people fighting under the Freies Europa banner.

Deutsches Freikorps

Official Name: Deutsches Freikorps^note German Free Corps

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

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• Band of Brothers: The only other thing that binds the Freikorps together other than heritage is their shared experiences in the battlefield, where they bond in times of peace and fall side-by-side in times of war.
• Private Military Contractors: The Freikorps is a band of mercenaries, paid by Ferdinand Schörner and the Wehrwirtschaftsführer to crush the slave revolt.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It's no surprise that a bunch of German mercenaries aren't very good at administering Baku, and as a result it has become highly militarized and is unstable both politically and socially.
• Walking Spoiler: As with Armeeverband "Fries Europa", the faction's very existence spoils an important story twist for Speer's Germany, namely the slave revolt during and after the collapse of the Greater Germanic Reich.

Otto Weidinger

Role: Head of State

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}The slave revolt has sown chaos and destruction across the Reich's eastern territories, but nowhere has been hit as hard as Kaukasia. A land famed for its brutal treatment of slave and native alike, the fires of rebellion burnt hot and fast here, shredding the old order in a furious maelstrom. The final vestige of German administration retreated to Baku, the heart of the Reich's oil production, and was forced to rely on corporate bought mercenaries to replace the shattered garrison. It was to be their undoing.

Otto Weidinger is no bureaucrat. He is a soldier, plain and simple. An SS man turned mercenary, Weidinger has spent the better part of his life criss-crossing the east with his mercenary bands, aiding whatever buyer needed him for the right price. From putting down partisans to defending corporate holdings, Weidinger has seen it all- the quintessential mercenary, on par with Siegfried Müller. However, if there's one thing Weidinger has no experience in, it's running a nation. That's where the companies come in.

Weidinger is nothing more than a figurehead for the real administrative powers- the companies. Oil companies, tungsten companies, all sorts of corporations have come together behind Schörner's promises of a return to the days of glory. Their influence over the Caucauses has ousted the pro-Germania government, placing Weidinger on top and giving him the power he needs to deal with these pesky slaves. Weidinger himself has no qualms with his situation- a fat paycheck and full control over the company soldiers in addition to his normal band would be enough for him without helping return Germany to its glory days. With the latter as well, this may as well be his dream gig- assuming he can maintain it.

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• Puppet King: He is given control over the Deutches Freikorps during the Slave Revolt, but he has no experience running a country, and is nothing more than a figurehead for the numerous corporations who hold the true administrative power. Weidinger himself has no qualms with his situation, as he only desires a fat paycheck and full control over his mercenaries.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Weidinger was an SS officer who became a writer and published embellished versions of the Waffen-SS's history after World War II. In this timeline, after leaving the SS, he instead became a mercenary.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: In his portrait, Weidinger still wears a black cap with the Totenkopf symbol, part of the Waffen-SS uniform, even though he has already left the SS to become a mercenary.

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