Characters / TNO Komi Communist

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Communist Party of Komi

Flag of the Komi Soviet Republic

^{Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Suslov)}

^{Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Bukharina)}

^{Flag of the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics (Zhdanov)}

Official Name: Komi Soviet Republic

Suslov/Bukharina: Soviet Republic of Western Russia (regional), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (superregional)

Zhdanov: Soviet Federation of Western Russia (regional), Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics (superregional)

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General Tropes

• All for Nothing: Tasked by Suslov to stabilize the ruble's viable by setting it to the gold standard, an individual economist wonders to himself if all his hard work will ultimately be rendered null when the Soviet industry becomes more organized and money can finally be abolished, but he pushes these thoughts aside, believing that this dream will become a reality one day.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Some Ultravisionary scientists come up with extremely odd proposals for new inventions, such as an "ape-man" supersoldier or a species of regenerating cattle. As impressive as they sound, the person going through the proposals knows that such concepts will never happen and puts them in the discard pile.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: The communists reform the Red Army by studying past strategies used during past conflicts like the Second World War or the reunification wars, learning from history to repeat successes and avoid certain blunders.
• Bilingual Bonus: The flag of Bukharina's Komi has the communist rallying call "Proletarians of the World, Unite!" written in various languages.
• Condescending Compassion: If Zhdanov takes power and reunifies West Russia, he opens the newly formed Soviet Union to the outside world and welcomes socialist delegates from all around the world. However, they are unable to represent every country in their meeting, so they cast Russians in their role and portray how they would likely act. Though they mean well, one American visitor lampshades the troubling implications of their act, especially when they're representing groups like the "oppressed African peoples".
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Suslov offers a milquetoast proclamation of social equality, a woman proclaims this as a victory, but her feminist friends chastises her for celebrating so soon, pointing out how it doesn't address the core issues creating gender equality in the first place. As her friend leaves, the woman wonders to herself why she's so upset.
• Effective Knock Off: The military will blatantly copy the design of the established AK-47 to produce their own standard battle rifles for the Red Army, mirroring their efficiency.
• Enemy Mine: Despite the fact that they hate each other, the communists can cooperate with the Center to neutralize the Passionariyy, if either Andropov or Zhdanov was elected in 1963.
• Everyone Has Standards: Dmitry Shepilov, Zhdanov's economic minister, is unnerved by the insanity of the visionaries' projects and experiments, being one of the few men to voice such criticism to Zhdanov's face.
• He's Back!: When Suslov restores the education system, a student returns home to tell his drunk uncle about how he's learning about Vladimir Lenin. The uncle, traumatized since the horrors of World War II, is reinvigorated for the first time in years, having idolized Lenin as the last hope for Russia.
• Insane Troll Logic: While Suslov is recruiting Khrushchevites from West Siberia, the interviewer questions one of the applicants why he was found with drunkards and women. He responds that it's how he can know the people he's representing, which doesn't impress the interviewer.
• Kangaroo Court: If the KPK takes over Komi, they will conduct rigged trials against "counter-revolutionaries" that inevitably ends with their executions. Among those killed are Elena and Yevgeny.
• Necessarily Evil: Should the KPK get elected into power from the 1963 election, they will pass the Popular Apportionment Act to allow the President to dissolve the Assembly to prepare for future elections, as well as redraw election districts so the KPK can always maintain a plurality. This gets frequently criticized as an undemocratic move, but the President justifies it as a necessary move to take power away from the bourgeoisie and return it to the workers.
• Never Recycle a Building: Subverted. All three potential leaders will reopen the previously defunct Kazan Military Academy, now intended to train new Red Army officers rather than provide a secondary, military-focused education.
• New Technology Is Evil: When Bukharina hands out industrial farming equipment to the peasants, one individual becomes annoyed by their presence for ruining one of his grilled cutlets and refuses to use them himself out of principle.
• Only Sane Man: One of the more rational members of Zhdanov's cabinet is Yekaterina Furtseva, who focuses on revolutionary social reform rather than the more unrealistic prospect of conquering space.
• Opinion Flip Flop: In Suslov's route, a group of bureaucrats go to a tea shop and order drinks, but their opinion of it always changes to whoever speaks up. At one point, one could call the tea "quite good" and someone could later call it "bitter", but everyone murmurs in agreement when these two comments are given. It's a sign of Suslov's well-organized and legalistic bureaucracy, which expects all of its members to obey the law and abate their ambitions for the good of the whole.
• The Purge:
  • If either Andropov or Zhdanov get elected in the 1963 election, Chelomei will be tasked with firing mid-ranking officers who could threaten to overthrow their communist government.
  • Additionally, if the Left comes to power through a coup, they will review the Komi Republican Army and remove any officers who could be disloyal to their cause.
• Realpolitik: Despite their opposing ideologies, every communist leader will conduct diplomacy with the OFN and Scandinavian nations, opening trade and requesting diplomatic recognition.
• The Scapegoat: If Bukharina assassinates Suslov after taking control, the local Muslim community will be blamed because Suslov was found in one of their halal slaughterhouses. It results in the government issuing a Revolutionary Directive to investigate the site and begin harassing the citizens, such as forcing the women to take off their veils or driving them to flee their homes.
• Science Is Good: Every communist leader, especially Zhdanov, increases funding for schooling and science, considering innovation to be a monumental benefit to the communist movement.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: When Bukharina opens vocational schools, a pair of Russian parents learn about their children learning how to press metal, in which the father teases his son that he can repair a tractor and impress the neighborhood girl he has a crush on. The son gets flustered and tries to deny it by angrily throwing a reed of grass at his dad, but everyone just laughs, not believing him.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Yekaterina Furtseva is one of the few women in Zhdanov's cabinet and often either ignored, courted by other politicians, or exploited by others as proof of their policy's widespread support. In truth, Furtseva is much more shrewd and can manipulate others into supporting her social reform proposals, eventually securing future support for her entire agenda in the Presidium by promising that better infrastructure would allow them to achieve their more ambitious projects.
• The Stool Pigeon: The People's Commissariat of Science under Zhdanov is not just tasked with observing culture shifts in the population They've also required by duty to rat out anyone who speaks ill of Zhdanov so they can be sentenced to reeducation and effectively destroyed personality-wise.
• Stunned Silence: If Zhdanov conquers Western Siberia, he sends messengers throughout the region, proclaiming their liberation under Soviet superculture and blaring propaganda that the Soviet Federation will one day conquer the cosmos to spread the revolution of Ultravisionary thought. In one village, the entire audience stares at the messenger with wordless befuddlement.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • The KPK has an infamous reputation for infighting, so the Presidium must pass a decree outlawing factionalism after their coup, so they can keep the government stable enough to weather counter-coups.
  • Chelomei and Kardashev do not have a good working relationship. The former wants a speedy progress for the Ultravisionary projects they oversee, while the latter urges for caution and careful planning.
• We Will Use Lasers in the Future: As some Ultravisionary scientists discuss how to rebuild the military, a controversial idea brought up is the use of laser weapons that will become the new form of combat in the future, but this idea gets discarded as too far out in the future and the group returns their focus to more traditional military strategies.

Heads of State

Mikhail Suslov

Role: Premier^note Head of Government (Presidium of the KPK cabinet), Head of State (KPK election)

Party: Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Komi (Ortodoksal)^note Communist Party of Komi (Orthodox), Kommunisticheskaja Partija Sovetskogo Sojuza^note Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Regional Unification)

Ideology: Bolshevism^note Communism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Despite his humble origins, having been born in a rural community near the Volga, Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov has made a name for himself in his homeland. Starting from the Communist Youth, Suslov quickly became a prominent member of the Bolsheviks in Rostov and even managed to entangle himself in the local administration of the Party.

When the Germans attacked, Suslov was designated to orchestrate guerrillas in the Caucasus. With the arrival of Wehrmacht forces, he was nowhere to be seen. There were rumours that he continued fighting in the woods, or that he was hanged by the garrison, but these rumours were soon proved false for the people of Arkhangelsk, as the man appeared in the city so far away from his home. Soon, just like when he was young, he entered the political stage of the West Russian Revolutionary Front. Climbing up the hierarchy, he became one of the most prominent WRRF politicians, and soon, was granted the prestigious position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. With the passage of time, Suslov was becoming even more influential and it was believed he could be the next Premier. Then, the West Russian War happened.

As the West Russian Revolutionary Front collapsed, Suslov found himself in the city of Syktyvkar, along with economic planner Nikolai Voznesensky. Together, they carefully created the Komi Republic, but soon this uneasy pact would end as each side had a different vision for the country. Suslov quickly used his position as leader of the red paramilitaries to gain power and influence, and managed to make himself an integral part of the Republic in political and military affairs, which meant removing him from the equation would not be easy. Having remained a puppet master for a long time, Suslov has finally come out to assume leadership as the Komi Republic has become a socialist state, allowing him to carry out his plan for governing the country.

A prominent statesman under the WRRF, now the de facto head of the Communist Party of Komi, known as a cunning "Red Eminence" with wide-reaching influence in Komi's shadow politics. Ideologically, Suslov is an Orthodox Marxist-Leninist, and intends to create an incorruptible socialist Russia should he take power.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Downplayed. Suslov's USSR can be rather similar to how the OTL Soviet Union had been during Leonid Brezhnev's rule, during which time the real Suslov served as the de facto chief ideologue. On the other hand, Suslov can make mild reforms that can mitigate if not prevent the stagnation which came to define that era.
• Action Hero: Mikhail Suslov, chief puppet-master of the Komi far-left, isn't just able to hold his own in the political scene: an event sees him personally kill a far-right assassin for what is apparently not the first time.
• Anti-Hero: Suslov starts out as a major antagonist in the early-game (at least from the perspective of the Center) and resorts to some underhanded tactics to kickstart a communist revolution. However, if he succeeds, Suslov's Soviet Union provides stability and a relatively good living standard for its citizens and guarantee their safety from bandits and reactionary forces.
• Assassin Outclassin': In one of the first events in Komi, Suslov personally kills an assassin sent by the Passionariyy Organization, and offhandedly makes a comment that implies that this wasn't the first time he had to dispatch an assassin himself.
  Suslov: Leave him on the steps of the National Assembly. Gumilyov hasn't gotten the message yet, it seems.
• Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: Despite being a master manipulator and a Control Freak (with a racist streak), his obsession with orthodoxy means that he fully implements collective leadership, ensuring that his Soviet Union is a one-party state rather than a one-man state, and he is willing to accommodate some social reforms as long as his party line isn't touched. This ends up making his incarnation of the USSR less autocratic than Yagoda's Dengist Police State, Kaganovich's Stalinism or Zhdanov's insane science cult.
• Beneath the Mask: Outwardly, Suslov projects himself as a stoic, unflappable individual. In private, Suslov is actually afraid of failure, fearing that the factionalism and revisionism plaguing the KPSS will doom the Soviet Union and wondering if his dream of democratic collective rule is even possible.
• Blank Stare: His default expression is a blank stare at the person he's conversing with, intimidating even those close to him, like Ponomaryov.
• Blind Without 'Em: When he's shoved by a mugger during a midnight stroll, Suslov loses his glasses and is left blind on the ground. He doesn't take any more night walks after that.
• Boring, but Practical: What defines Suslov's USSR is just how banal it is compared to other potential Soviet Unions. It's merely comparable to the directorial era between Stalin's death and Gorbachev's rise or your average 70s non-Stalinist Soviet bloc government, and that's about it. There's no obvious bias in favor of factions such as the military and secret police, and while he's not very democratic, he's not a vicious tyrant either. Suslov's approach is simply just maintaining the USSR without anything too extreme, keeping order and pragmatism as a priority and making him a useful benchmark against which to compare other socialist Russias to see how far off-course they get.
• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: ZigZagged. He can give women more opportunities to explore the same career options as the opposite sex, but unlike Bukharina, it's implied he's only doing it for pragmatic reasons, remarking "Perhaps they'll stop complaining now". Alternatively, Suslov can pay mere lip service to the idea, proclaiming social equality, but not doing anything to address the actual issue.
• Broken Pedestal: Suslov can potentially repudiate Bukharin for not only destroying the USSR through his policies, but also for deviating from Marxist-Leninist principles in alienating his critics.
• The Chessmaster: Suslov is said to be the shadow master of Komi, manipulating the events in Komi so he comes out on top.
• Consolation Prize: Suslov doesn't personally believe in progressive values and welfare for the disadvantaged, considering it a burden on the state, especially while Russia is still divided. However, he's willing to pay lip service to the idea and offer some consolation policies to those who demand it.
• Control Freak: Suslov, a hardline communist ideologue in real life, leads a faction of orthodox Marxist-Leninists in Komi, who are derisively called 'Dogmatists' by his rival Svetlana Bukharina. Suslov wants everyone in the Communist Party to adhere to his socialist Orthodoxy; no revisionism, reformism, or deviation from the party line is allowed.
• Corrupt Politician: Downplayed. Suslov isn't normally corrupt, but when his initial anti-corruption measures fail, he resorts to bribery for party officials to rat out the colleagues.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Subverted. Suslov is aware that relying on a few industrial cities would make the Soviet Union vulnerable, so he helps industrialize large agricultural towns to diversify.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • In the coup-countercoup stage of Komi, if Taboritsky takes over, he can decide to assassinate Suslov and his inner circle with the Syktyvkar Arsenal's poison gas. If he successfully does so, Suslov and his lieutenants perish as they are locked inside their safe house and die an agonizing death.
  • If Bukharina decides his influence in exile is simply too great to allow him to continue to live in the regional stage, he gets murdered and shoved into a meat grinder. Hopefully in that order.
• Defector from Decadence: Suslov used to be the foreign minister of the Front, but he lost faith in them after their failure to retake Moskowien during the West Russian War and joined Voznesensky's secession.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: If Suslov adopts an uncompromising stance against imperialism, he writes a letter to each of the three superpowers, condemning their interference in foreign countries and oppression of the helpless. All three recipients react with dismissiveness, belittling his audaciousness.
• Dragon-in-Chief: While Suslov doesn't take any higher positions within the Communist Party, it is clear to everyone that he is the main force behind the Komi left. He doesn't involve himself in public affairs as long as he is confident in his ideological and organizational power over the Communist Party. Appropriately enough, his in-game leader trait is called "Red Eminence".
• Enemy Mine:
  • After nominating Zhdanov for the upcoming election, Suslov realizes that he's becoming too powerful to control and tries to form an alliance with Bukharina to curb his influence.
  • In his Soviet Union, Suslov cooperates with non-Marxist-Leninist socialists, knowing that division and infighting would harm the country in the long run.
  • Though he ideologically opposes the United States and can criticize their imperialism, Suslov can also contact the White House in the superregional stage, offering to coordinate a mutual strategy to isolate and attack Nazi Germany.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He despises fascism and will purge Serov's followers from the party when they reveal their true convictions.
  • Beyond his hatred for "revisionist" strands of communism, Suslov also despises Stalinism and the Black League for the litany of crimes they've committed against the Russian people.
• The Extremist Was Right: Compared to Voznesensky (who still considers himself a socialist, but prefers to bring forth socialism through liberal democracy), Suslov is an orthodox communist with a hardline anti-revisionist stance. Should Komi unifies the western half of Russia while remaining a liberal democracy, as Konstantin Katushev takes over the SMR and drops socialism entirely and turns his party into a neoliberal one, Suslov's prediction that revisionism leads to the betrayal of socialism is proven correct all along.
• Face Death with Dignity:
  • Should Tukhachevsky conquer Komi and put all of its leaders (except Bukharina) to death, Suslov decides to not grant him the pleasure of either mounting a defense or begging for his life, choosing instead to simply tell the court "I have nothing to say."
  • Pinned down by Bukharina and Zhdanov's bodyguards during their coup, Suslov tries his best to maintain his confidence and dares them to finish him off. However, no one in the conspiracy wants him actually dead, since they need him alive to legally surrender his power to them.
• Feeling Their Age: Suslov's old age has made him less physically capable of defending himself and using his concealed pistol, as shown when Bukharina and Zhdanov launch their coup and have their bodyguards easily disarm him.
• History Repeats: If Suslov reunifies Russia, it's effectively a return of the old Soviet Union under a Marxist-Leninist government.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He promotes Bukharina as a prominent speaker in the KPK to attract more support with her charisma. Unfortunately for him, her personality proves too mesmerizing and she ends up building her own support base to potentially challenge his control of the KPK.
• Hope Spot: If Suslov is targeted for capture after his exile, heis remaining supporters hold off the government soldiers long enough for their leader to burn his office of sensitive documents and make it to his escape van. Just as he seems on track to a safe getaway, Suslov's driver is suddenly shot while trying to reverse out of the garage, as several soldiers close in on the Shadow Master and arrest him.
• The Infiltration: After Voznesensky tries to suppress the Left, many members of the Voznesensti will mutiny in protest. Following an investigation, it turns out that these mutineers aren't acting on their own; they're actually Suslovite agents who have been encouraging dissent in the DSNP so that negotiations with the protestors is impossible.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Though his punishments are unforgiving, Suslov has a point that corrupt officials and power-hungry Soviets are a drain on the bureaucracy's efficiency and need to be stopped before they harm the nation as a whole.
• Kicked Upstairs: If the reformists take power in the Communist Party, Suslov will either be forced to resign or be "promoted" to the largely useless position of the head of the "Bureau of Ideological Analysis".
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • Suslov knows that his starting navy in the regional stage is small and vulnerable, so he tasks them with defending the port of Arkhangelsk rather than trying to project Russian influence overseas.
  • After reunifying Western Siberia, Suslov may refrain from open antagonism to the OFN because they still need their cooperation to combat the German threat.
• Long Game: He renews the Gosplan to rebuild the economic damage Russia has suffered, in which it'll start off relatively weak, but grow with continued, long-term funding until it is as powerful as it was in Bukharin's days. Eventually, Suslov will cement his control and oversight of the economy to carefully control how it grows.
• Love-Interest Traitor: In Bukharina's path, two members of the party end up falling in love with each other and have a temporarily stable relationship, until an investigation reveals one of them was a Suslovite mole all along. His partner feels absolutely betrayed by this reveal, commenting that she should have never fallen for him and cutting all ties with him.
• Make an Example of Them:
  • After casually outwitting and murdering an assassin sent after him, Suslov tells his bodyguard to leave his body on the steps of the National Assembly as an unspoken warning to Gumilyov, the assassin's contractor.
  • Suslov, after booting Serov from the party, also purges his followers as well during a party meeting. One of Serov's followers arrived at the meeting whereas the rest of them fled; that man is immediately executed by Suslov in the middle of the meeting to show his party what happens when they show fascist sympathies.
  • In preparation of the coming 1963 elections, Suslov and his supporters kill and mutilate one of Voznesensky's men, publicly displaying him with a sign reading "SOCIAL FASCISTS WILL NOT BE SPARED WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES".
• The Man Behind the Man:
  • Zhdanov is the official head of the Komi Communist Party, but everyone knows that Suslov is the real one calling all the shots in the party.
  • After Suslov coups the Komi government, he appoints his puppet underling Boris Ponomaryov as General Secretary of the Komi Soviet Republic, while he himself becomes Premier. If the player goes down Suslov's path, the two will later swap positions, making Suslov the General Secretary and Ponomaryov the Premier.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • If Voznesensky tries to reinforce the Center and cuts ties with Zhdanov, Suslov will frame a Voznesentsi politician of leaking Voznesensky's connections to the Left and ramp up hysteria of Suslovite agents infiltrating the DSNP. In the ensuing panic, Voznesensky will ruin his reputation by unjustly punishing the accused leaker and thereby weaken the democratic coalition through division.
  • If Voznesensky refuses to budge on his truce with Zhdanov to target Gumilyov exclusively, Suslov will leak evidence of Voznesensky's tie with Zhdanov to exaggerate him as a plant by the Left, while also spreading rumors of internal party division to Vozenesensky himself. His gambit hinges on a bitter Stalina and Morozov sharing this information so that the coalition can turn on Voznesensky and divide the Center. In the alternative that Voznesevsky walks back on his truce, Suslov leaks this betrayal and Voznesensky's connections to Zhdanov, destroying his friendship and his public reputation in the coalition.
  • If Stalina's reconstruction government plan is rejected by Voznesensky, Suslov leaks the President's collaboration with Zhdanov to Morozov and Stalina, gambling on the chance that they will investigate the matter secretly and inevitably get caught, which will permanently destroy the coalition parties' trust in each other.
• Morton's Fork: Suslov tries to strike one of Gumilyov's presses at the Kuratov Street loading dock, where he can either commit all of his resources to the operation or hold himself back. Both options end disastrously, with Gumilyov's men slaughtering most of Suslov's agents and forcing him into damage control with the help of either Bukharina or Andropov.
• Mugging the Monster: During a midnight stroll at the start of the game, he ends up mugged for his wallet by someone who has no idea about Suslov's reputation in Komi or the type of power he wields. Fortunately for the thug, Suslov also forgot his gun back at home and doesn't have anyone nearby to help him, so Suslov is forced to give up his wallet without a fight, much to his frustration.
• Not So Stoic:
  • If he flees from Komi when one of the other factions consolidate their power, Suslov's normally stoic demeanor falters into worry in his getaway vehicle, as the drive to Vologda takes longer than he expected and the fear of being pulled over sets in. Fortunately for him, the ride goes without a hitch in this scenario.
  • Should he be targeted while trying to flee Komi, Suslov and his getaway van will be ambushed by gunmen, who manage to kill the driver. Upon realizing this, Suslov panics and desperately tries to take control of the wheel, but to no avail when the van flips over and kills him in the crash.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Suslov, normally a stoic and collected individual, explodes in fury when Serov sends him a letter containing the details of his Ordosocialist Manifesto, utterly enraged at seeing that Serov's socialist ideology has gone from mere revisionism to straight-up fascist-sympathetic reactionary thought.
  • Played for Drama with two events that deal with Suslov's wife Yelizaveta struggling with and eventually dying of cancer. The otherwise unflappable Suslov left emotionally vulnerable and powerless due to her death.
• Pet the Dog:
  • After reunifying West Russia, Suslov introduces democratic centralism so that the people can vote and have a say in the party.
  • Besides his anti-semitism, Suslov is more progressive to other ethnic minorities, affording more autonomy to groups like the Tatars by reforming their ASSRs.
  • Contrary to his usual dogmatism of orthodox Marxist-Leninism, Suslov can allow young politicians to come up with new political theories to guide the next generation rather than suppress their thought.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: At the superregional stage, one event shows Suslov trying to grasp how and why Lazar Kaganovich, Leon Trotsky, and Vyacheslav Molotov opposed Bukharin's ascent to power, which in his mind helped bring Russia to ruin in the lead-up to World War II. He comes to an ugly conclusion: because of their Jewish ethnicity (or in Molotov's case, that of his wife plus his susceptibility to outside influences), he determines and announces to his followers that they had been part of a Zionist plot to destabilize the Soviet Union.
• Principles Zealot: Played With. Suslov is an ardent ideologue who will not accept any significant deviation from orthodox Marxist-Leninism and its principles. That said, however, he's not above making pragmatic compromises and concessions to ensure that socialist Orthodoxy remains a viable system, at least for as long as such policies don't go against the party line.
• Propaganda Machine: To ensure everyone remains committed to communist doctrine, Suslov will create a propaganda machine to produce mass media instilling socialist values and calling for workers to unite so they can build a better world.
• Puppet King: If Bukharina and Zhdanov coup him, Suslov is reduced to a puppet leader of the Party, still considered an official member, but forced to cede his power and retire to his dacha forever.
• The Purge:
  • In one of Komi's first events, Suslov bans Ivan Serov and his followers from the Komi Communist Party upon discovering Serov's fascist sympathies, resulting in his clique joining the Passionariyy. After taking over Western Siberia, he also purges what remains of the Black League and Lazar Kaganovich's followers, viewing the former as fascists, the latter as revisionists, and both as traitors.
  • In the regional stage, Suslov purges his administration of any corrupt or incompetent officials to set an example to everyone that they are a beacon of efficiency.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite his obsession with maintaining orthodox Marxist-Leninism, Suslov pursues several lenient social policies to fix some of its past mistakes, such as reprioritizing the interests of the farmers.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Downplayed. Suslov can retroactively rehabilitate Stalin as a Soviet hero unduly slandered by Bukharin. On the other hand, the only Stalinists he's willing to tolerate and listen to are the ones led by Khrushchev, while Kaganovich and his supporters are purged for being traitorous revisionists.
• Relative Ridicule: Potentially falling prey to a pre-regional coup by Bukharina and Zhdanov, Suslov insults the former as a bastard born from an affair between Bukharin and his secretary.
• Reluctant Retiree: Suslov can be forced to retire if the reformists led by Zhdanov and Bukharina take power in the Communist Party.
• Rightful King Returns: In the superregional stage, Suslov reasserts the Soviet Union's position as the vanguard of international socialism, reclaiming its rightful position after it was temporarily destroyed by the Reich.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Suslov takes up Lenin's role as the vanguard of a new socialist revolution, one where the workers can reunite and rebuild Russia.
• Victory Is Boring: Subverted. After Suslov reunifies West Russia and hosts the All-Union Communist Party's First Congress, he thinks back to the days of Bukharin and how chaotic, yet exciting it was to navigate the ferocious political atmosphere then. However, Suslov snaps back to reality and considers the stability he fought hard for to be better.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: If Tyumen manages to unite Western Siberia, not only can Suslov potentially incorporate it peacefully. Moreover, he'll directly bring Nikita Khrushchev and his clique into the Party, as they're the only Stalinists he deems reasonable and anti-revisionist.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Subverted. Suslov criticizes Bukharin's reign for its overreliance on industrial cities to keep its economy afloat and will avoid repeating history by prioritizing the wellbeing of the rural peasants, financing a large agricultural mechanization program for the farmers to collectivize on Kolkhozes.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Even if Suslov is eliminated by his rivals, many of his followers will remain, still clinging to their ideals of an orthodox socialist democracy.

Andrei Zhdanov (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

^{Post-regional unification Zhdanov portrait}

Role: Head of State (1963 Election, KPK Election)

Party: Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Komi (Reformist)^note Communist Party of Komi (Reformist), Reformirovannaja Kommunisticheskaja Partija Sovetskogo Sojuza (Dal'novidnaja)^note Reformed Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Visionary) (Regional Unification)

Ideology: Revolutionary Front^note Socialism (façade), Ultravisionary Socialism^note Socialism (actual)

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov - a name surrounded by either love or suspicion, depending on how much one actually knows about the man. Zhdanov is one of Komi's key politicians, a proud socialist leader with experience from chairing the Leningrad Communist Party before the Great Patriotic War, Zhdanov ended up entangled with the government of the West Russian Revolutionary Front, serving as an influential figure in an attempt to encourage Russian cultural unity against the Germans.

However, the Front fell, and with it, Zhdanov's beloved universal cultural program. When the government fled to Syktyvkar and promptly dissolved, Zhdanov stayed behind, forming ties with Mikhail Suslov in the series of coups and power struggles that preceded the formation of the Republic. Despite his more authoritarian socialist stances in the early days of the Republic, Zhdanov has recently taken to pushing for more libertarian initiatives - democratization of a Komi socialist state, encouraging growth of minority culture, and reconciliation with the center-left. Additional initiatives he has supported include a greater synthesis of universal culture, science, and ideology into a general doctrine of Zhdanovshchina, increasing prioritization towards research into scientific management within the Communist Party, and creating standards for 'revolutionary art'.

Still, paranoia seems to follow him, as persistent rumors push the idea that his true nature is not truly changed, but rather lying deep below the surface, waiting for him to acquire true power.

In-Game Biography (Post-Regional Unification): ^{Click to Show}An Ultravisionary future is within grasp, and Andrei Zhdanov has no intention of allowing it to slip through his, or the state's, fingers.

Having occupied senior positions in Bukharin's old Soviet Union, the Komi Republic's old Assembly and now, of course, in the position of highest authority within the Federation, Zhdanov is well-accustomed to power, which he has used to advance not only his own cause, but also the cause of the Ultravisionary movement in general.

He carried it to victory through the chaos of the late Republic. He presented it with a clear path forward. With well-defined objectives that he had meticulously crafted and patiently explained to lesser men. And he had thought his confederates to have supported his view entirely.

But such was not the case. The rot had set in. Compromise and deviancy had corrupted the agenda, diverting resources and attention from critical projects, scientific and otherwise. The very destiny of the Federation itself was at stake, and as a true visionary, Zhdanov could not remain idle.

Roundly denouncing and taking decisive action against the libertarians and other holders of unorthodox interpretations of the Ultravisionary agenda, Zhdanov has now reasserted his authority over the movement. Now firmly in absolute control, he can turn both his attention and the resources of the state, finally and once again, outwards.

To the stars - and beyond.

A veteran Communist and the second in command of the Communist Party of Komi. Formerly an authoritarian ideologue, Zhdanov has made a turn to libertarian socialism in Komi. However, rumors accuse him of feigning his beliefs to garner public support, and some say the old ideologue is making plans for an extreme syncretic vision of science, culture, and ideology, one of a so-called "Ultravisionary Socialism"...

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: If the Left is exiled from Komi and Zhdanov flees, he will make his getaway to the WRRF, where he's stopped by the border guard. When they express hesitancy about letting him in, Zhdanov resorts to begging that they let him pass, believing that it's his only chance to contribute to the socialist cause in any substantial form. After an uncomfortable amount of time, the guards relent.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Zhdanov might've been an oppressive tyrant and authorized inhumane experiments, but the aftermath of Chelomei becoming Vice Premier highlights Zhdanov's old age and failing health in a pitiful light, as the Paramount Leader reflects on his own mortality and how little time he has left in the living world.
• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • Most of Zhdanov's projects did exist in reality in some manner, though some are only loosely based on real projects.
  • A policy that Zhdanov can adopt in the superregional stage is Zhdanovschina, but rather than promoting censorship of art like in OTL, it now calls for the Soviet superculture to encompass the entire world before it presents itself to extraterrestrial civilizations, lest it appear too weak.
  • Some of the "Psychological Revolution" experiments bear resemblance to those conducted by the CIA in OTL during Project MKUltra.
  • The Human Utopia Project is human version of the Mouse Utopia Project. The Human Utopia Project's results fortunately are not a complete 1:1 reproduction of the nightmarish results of the mouse experiments; the test subjects simply go back to basic tribalism (though with child neglect), and in the failure event, a fire happens and forcibly shuts down the project.
  • Almost all of Zhdanov's Experimental Weaponry projects have real counterparts:
    • Project TREZUBETS: German Korobov's TKB-059.
    • Project AEROFLOT: Caspian Sea Monster
    • Project SOTKA: Sukhoi T-4
    • Project SZHATIE: 1K17 Szhatie
    • Project CHEREPAKHA: Object 279
• Always a Bigger Fish: Zhdanov’s Ultravisionaries are this to Magnitogorsk, having potentially much more reach and power than Lysenko could only dream of.
• Arc Words: Each starting focus for a regional focus tree begins with "A Vision for the X".
• Armor-Piercing Question: After forming an alliance with Bukharina, Zhdanov further builds his influence by contacting Voznesensky and requesting his support to countering Suslov power. When Voznesensky expresses hesitance about how it would benefit his own party, Zhdanov subtly hints at Suslov's infiltration of the DSNP with his supporters and rhetorically asks him if he really needs to explain why they need to eliminate him. The question catches Voznesensky off-guard and pressures him to accept Zhdanov's offer.
• Bait-and-Switch: After assembling a team to build a space shuttle, Zhdanov tells them that he expects their work to be done in a mere six months and threatens to execute them if they fail. A few seconds after letting the terror set in, Zhdanov laughs and reveals that he was kidding, informing them that he will treat them for their work with caviar and champagne.
• Beneath the Mask: For all of Zhdanov's grandstanding about progress, he couldn't care less about how absurd and pseudoscientific his more ambitious plans are. All so long as they help maintain ideological purity and control.
• Boring, but Practical: One of his more grounded proposals is to increase industrialized farming by providing more plows and tractors to the farmers, a necessity to keep the country fed.
• Brain/Computer Interface: The Human Cybernetics Initiative under Zhdanov attempts to develop an implanted and functional brain-computer interface. It fails, because the technology just isn't there yet, and the scientists' attempts to replace sections of the brain with mechanical interfaces leads to several horrific deaths. The bit of technology that does work in the partial success scenario works purely through physical motion rather than brain activity, showing potential in small, motion-based implants for the future, but nothing more.
• The Cake Is a Lie: After promising through the Revolutionary Decrees that he would return power to the people, Zhdanov can go back on his word, stating "the government has the right to break its promises for the good of the nation". No one is happy when news of this breaks and riots break out throughout the nation.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Since Zhdanov was the USSR's foreign minister during the Winter War (instead of Vyacheslav Molotov like in real life), the weapon known in real life as molotov cocktails are instead called zhdanovs in TNO.
• Color Motif: Many of his focus icons are colored blue, giving a science-fiction vibe befitting his ideology.
• Cool, but Inefficient: Zhdanov's experiments can be summed up both as this and Awesome, but Impractical. On paper, they look like technological wonders that would be incredibly impressive even in present day OTL. When put into practice, however, it becomes clear why these technologies aren't available for us either: the tech available for the experiments just isn't advanced enough to perform them effectively, and some of the projects are based purely on pseudoscientific theories that never had any chance of working in the first place. For the most part, only his Experimental Armaments researches end up producing truly positive results. Moreover, at least for some of the more ambitious projects, they aren't supposed to succeed as intended, being little more than glorified excuses to enforce ideological purity.
• Corrupt Politician: To deal with the remaining Suslovites, Zhdanov will bribe those "reasonable enough" with "economic incentivization".
• Crazy Enough to Work: For all his outrageous experiments, there are a couple of them that have a chance of working, such as the Optimized Language Initiative and Project TARAKAN.
• Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: The Revolutionary Literature program is meant to rewrite classical literary works to better enforce and fit with Soviet values, which means rewriting War and Peace to be set in the Civil War, The Last of the Mohicans to portray the Native Americans as living in a communist society, and The Legend of King Arthur to rewrite the Round Table as a soviet fighting for the mud worker communes. In the partial success scenario, only the young children have their worldview changed by the new books. In the inconclusive scenario, nobody is thoroughly changed and the scientists conclude that they must instead focus on rewriting cinema and music, more popular mediums with younger audiences.
• Deadly Euphemism: As he consolidates his power, Zhdanov mentions that some politicians can be convinced to join his side, while others will find themselves on the "political persecution" list.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After conquering West Siberia, Zhdanov recruits several scientists from Sverdlovsk who can develop new technology and make themselves useful to the superculture.
• Defector from Decadence
  • Once an official working in the ComIntern. Zhdanov joined Voznesensky's secession of the Komi ASSR when the WRRF was facing defeat during the West Russian War.
  • He specifically distinguishes Ultravisionary Socialism as a different ideology from Leninism, one that has evolved from the faults of its origin and will run the country by relying on machines.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • In the Human Cybernetics Initiative, Zhdanov tries to link brain activity to mechanical devices by implanting artificial interfaces to the subjects' brains. However, Zhdanov didn't consider if his subjects could survive with such implants, as they end up dying several minutes afterwards and forcing a reevaluation of how to augment the brain.
  • One of his more mundane, but no less ambitious, projects is tying the ruble's value to the state energy output, ignoring the fact that it would destroy all confidence in the currency and force the state into total autarky. Many Ultravisionaries find this idea too far and convince Zhdanov to delay the "excellent" idea, until Russia has been liberated.
• Dirty Communists: Zhdanov outright fabricates a façade of libertarian reform and makes promises of "Revolutionary Decrees" that he never intends to deliver on, all in order to propel his political career. His actual Ultravisionary Socialist rule is a big case of Utopia Justifies the Means, with many totalitarian and even immoral acts done in order to create a technologically advanced socialist utopia.
• Enemy Mine: After either he or Andropov are nominated in the election, Zhdanov offers to form an alliance with Bukharina against Suslov's control of the KPK so they can take power themselves.
• Emperor Scientist: Subverted. Zhdanov's ideology is known as "Ultravisionary Socialism", and advocates for using scientific knowledge and technology to achieve socialism. Though superficially technocratic, Zhdanov is actually highly ideological, promotes only scientists and engineers that suit his ideology to power, and engages in many pseudoscientific pursuits in the name of ideology. It is not until Zhdanov's death that actual scientists can succeed him, but even they only see science as a means to achieve socialism and not an end to a truly technocratic society.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's introduced as "The Visionary", out on an excursion not known by even Suslov, dedicating his time to watching the stars through a telescope. In his stargazing, Zhdanov dreams for a better future, where humanity has managed to progress beyond their current turmoil and conflict through intellectual pursuit. All while hiding the true nature of such pursuits.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • When given plans for a type of biological weapon that would specifically target Germans, paving the way for genocide, Zhdanov shuts it down on the basis that it's unethical and puts the scientist behind the idea on probation.
  • For all the excesses done in the name of Ultravisionary Socialism, even Zhdanov is genuinely shocked at how insane Lysenko's misadventures in Magnitogorsk truly are. While some of the "research" is salvaged, much of it's either destroyed or dismissed as worthless.
  • He doesn't want to be a Bad Boss to his subordinates, considering such an attitude to be like a Nazi.
• Evil All Along: Zhdanov pretends to be a libertarian socialist before he takes power, and drops the façade immediately after, revealing his true colors as an ambitious, ideological and pseudo-scientific dictator who performs many insane experiments.
• Eye Motifs: Several of his focus icons feature the image of an eye, symbolizing the "enlightening" aspects of Ultravisionary Socialism.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Some of Zhdanov's more outlandish projects cannot succeed at all, with their possible outcomes being a case of bad outcome vs. worse outcome.
  • Specifically, the projects for the Psychological Revolution Initiative are likely to fail and can only end in either a partial success or inconclusive result in the most optimal scenario.
  • For the Socialist Society Initiative, only the Optimized Language Initiative can truly succeed, with most ending in either a partial success or inconclusive result and the Subliminal Immersion Project always ending in failure.
• The Federation: Zhdanov doesn't just see his country as a mere nation; he envisions it as a future federation which will spawn the socialist superculture and encompass the entire world in a global revolution. Then, he will spread the Federation out into space, conquering planet after planet to educate the extraterrestrial workers of Ultravisionary Socialism and liberate the universe under a single power.
• Fictional Document: To smoothen the integration of West Siberia, Zhdanov writes the Great Soviet Encyclopedia to illustrate the ideals of Ultravisionary Socialism and ideologically unite the country behind one cause.
• Foil: Zhdanov is one to Trofim Lysenko. While there are parallels in how both have pseudoscientific pursuits in the name of ideology and aren't letting things like ethics stand in the way of progress, Lysenko has all but bought into his own delusions of advancing "Soviet science". Zhdanov, meanwhile, doesn't let it all get to his head and only sees Ultravisionary Socialism, even at its most audacious, simply as a means of enforcing ideological purity through a science-obsessed veneer.
• For Science!: Zhdanov believes that scientific progress is intertwined with socialism, as both facilitate the advancement of the human race by freeing them of their superstitions. He creates a People's Commissariat to facilitate the growth of this experimental superculture and, more unethically, authorizes cruel experiments tested on humans to collect data. There are three overarching ideas he can invest in:
  • The "Socialist Society Initiative" is the ultimate goal of Zhdanov: to reshape Soviet society and culture so that it can prepare to expand into the cosmos.
  • The "Psychological Revolution Initiative" is dedicated to unlocking new abilities of the human mind and how human will and thought can be controlled.
  • The "Experimental Weapons Initiative ", as the name implies, is about developing new weapons to combat the forces of fascism and capitalism.
• Galactic Superpower: Zhdanov's long term goals are to spread Ultravisionary Socialism beyond the petty confines of Earth, and create an Intersolar Soviet Federation, whose Intersolar Red Armada would liberate alien planets from feudalism, capitalism, and fascism, and eventually create a final Universal Soviet Federation of eternal peace, tranquility, and liberty.
• Garbage Hideout: If he's been exiled from Komi and sentenced to be imprisoned, Zhdanov will try to hide from some nearby patrols in a dumpster. It does him no good luck when the soldiers find him anyway and drag him out.
• Glorious Leader: Zhdanov, after revealing his true colors, takes up the position of Paramount Leader, fusing together the positions of General Secretary and the Premier.
• Got Volunteered: To repair the damaged infrastructure from the German bombings, Zhdanov organizes a mass urban resettlement program for the rural populations, forcibly transferring them to the nearest city so they can get to work.
• Government Agency of Fiction: The People's Commissariat of Science is a ministry that Zhdanov creates after unifying Western Russia, dedicated entirely to the cause of unfettered scientific development.
• Hidden Depths: Though Zhdanov trumpets the Soviet superculture, he still enjoys American rock music that he listens to in his office.
• Historical In-Joke:
  • One of Zhdanov's late-game focuses is "Poyekhali", which historically was Yuri Gagarin's farewell to Sergey Korolev as Vostok 1 launched into space.
  • In our world, Zhdanov led a faction of the Soviet leadership that emphasized ideological purity above all, being opposed to Malenkov's faction, which sought to promote scientists and the heavily educated to top government positions. In TNO, ironically, it is Zhdanov who leads those obsessed with science, even if it is for ideological purposes.
• Hive Mind: The Collective Consciousness Initiative attempts to create a shared consciousness and possibly revolutionize human existence. The Initiative is a failure; in the failure scenario, the uplink simply electrocutes all test subjects to death, while in the inconclusive scenario, several dozens of test subjects were electrocuted to death, and a final group of survivors report that they did have some hive mind experience, but the scientists feel like they might be reporting good results so they can leave, so they can't make any conclusions.
• Hollywood Science: Zhdanov's Psychological Revolution and Socialist Society projects delve heavily into fringe science, pseudoscience, and bizarre theoretical science projects that are often highly unrealistic but fits into his vision of a far-future socialism. They often end predictably poorly.
• Humans Are Bastards: His Human Utopia Project ends up showcasing this viewpoint in both the inconclusive and failure scenarios. Despite adequate living conditions being given to a sample population, they devolve into cliquish infighting and neglect the children they produce through birth control failure. In particular, the latter scenario involves the experiment being cut short because of a fire breaking out in the compound, with some suspicion that one of the subjects was behind the incident.
• The Infiltration:
  • Disgusted by the experiments committed by Lysenko, Zhdanov sends his agents to Magnitogorsk, either to spy on him or collect information on them, if Lysenko was overthrown by the NKVD.
  • He also spends spies to infiltrate Orenburg and search for any potential troublemakers, such as an "anarcho-ultravisionarist" trying to mesh Ultravisionary Socialism with anarchism.
• Internal Reformist: Zhdanov leads a faction of reformists in the Communist Party, and desires to reform the socialist Orthodoxy with libertarianism and Zhdanov's own visionariness. The trope is eventually subverted after Zhdanov unites Western Russia, as Zhdanov reveals that he hated libertarianism all along and was just playing along as a reformist to boost his political influence.
• Kent Brockman News: His New Names program gets covered by the local station, Radio Pravda, who glorify the new patriotic direction he's heading in and bring in a family who have named their son "Melz", after Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Zhdanov. Behind the scenes, the family didn't even want to be part of the program, only doing so after being paid to and given scripts so they can gush about the good work Zhdanov is doing.
• Language Equals Thought: Zhdanov believes that altering the Russian language through the Optimized Language Initiative can make it harder to express counter-revolutionary ideas and concepts deemed "unhealthy to a functional socialist society". It's one of the projects that can unambiguously succeed, creating a "New Russian". Otherwise, it can't be considered a complete failure, as the project can also end in a partial success or inconclusive result, where they show that the environment can play a role in how likely it is for an individual to accept the new language.
• Loophole Abuse: He centralizes more power to himself by carefully placing his supporters in key locations during party meetings so their applause can be louder and pressure the other delegates to clap along with them so as to conform with the majority. Without doing anything technically illegal, Zhdanov can merge the offices of Premier and General Secretary, effectively turning Russia into a dictatorship without anyone in the Party to stop him.
• Mad Scientist: Even though he's not a scientist himself, his highly authoritarian and unrealistic vision of Ultravisionary Socialism means that he actively promotes some truly outrageous ideologically-motivated scientific ventures. The Psychological Revolution and Socialist Society projects in particular are often extremely immoral, with Gulag prisoners being used as test subjects.
• Manchurian Agent: The Subliminal Trigger Project is an MK-Ultra-like project aimed at brainwashing individuals so they will respond to implanted subliminal triggers. The most optimal outcome of the experiment is having one subject become completely adverse to violence and raise future psychological questions of the human mind. Otherwise, the project's original goal is a failure in both possible scenarios, as none of the subliminal triggers works, and a couple of subjects (and guards, when they are attacked by a subject in the failure scenario) die during the intense brainwashing.
• Meaningful Rename: While he calls himself a communist, when Zhdanov reunifies Russia, he does not restore the USSR but instead calls his state the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics to espouse the need for a new Russia.
• Newspeak: The Optimized Language Initiative attempts to create a variant of the Russian language that is harder to express anti-socialist ideas, making its speakers more receptive of socialism. This project appears to have produced some positive results in the children that they tested the language on, but the conclusion is later changed to inconclusive due to the limited positive effects, which are attributed to proper orphanage guidance more than using the new language.
• Patriotic Fervor: Zhdanov forges a new national identity that glorifies the Soviet Union as the greatest country on Earth and promises to have it encompass the entire world one day.
• Pet the Dog: Zhdanov is generous about giving welfare to the poor and repairing national infrastructure, which he sees as necessary for the Soviet superculture to ascend.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • If Voznesensky decides not to cut ties with him to strengthen the Center, Zhdanov thanks him by leaking important intel on Suslov's plans to undermine the democratic coalition, which the DSNP can accept. However, Voznesensky suspects that Zhdanov didn't do it for purely altruistic reasons and that he expects some repayment in the future. Even when Voznesensky rejects Zhdanov's offer in the first place, there is a stated possibility that Zhdanov's sadness is not out of emotional hurt, but disappointment that his plan was foiled before it could begin.
  • After taking power away from corrupt party officials, Zhdanov can honor his promise to empower the people rather than keep it, but only because he knows the alternative will inspire a mass backlash.
• President Evil: Zhdanov's willingness to run in Komi's bourgeois democratic elections (in contrast to the anti-electorialist Suslov and Bukharina) is only part of his reformist libertarian façade, before he reveals his true colours as a totalitarian and pseudo-scientific Ultravisionary Socialist dictator.
• Psychic Powers: Several Psychological Revolution projects research into the possibility of developing psychic powers like Telepathy or extrasensory perception.
  • The Mental Communication Initiative researches all kinds of psychics, telekinetics, and other paranormal individuals like plant communicators in an attempt to develop technology useful to the state. The inconclusive result scenario shows a story of two emaciated lovers who volunteered for the project managing to "communicate" their love to each other through a bulletproof glass, while the failure result scenario is an Epic Fail as the scientists realize that literally everyone they've gathered up are Phony Psychics, and they've wasted a ton of time and money for nothing.
  • Project RAINBOW BODY researches into extrasensory perception, going into an out of body transcendental state, and possibly affecting the world in this transcendental state. The project is a failure, and no ESP is achieved. In the inconclusive scenario, two of the subjects go into mental breakdown and the third seems to accurately find the source of war sound recordings, though it's left ambiguous if it's coincidence or an accurate prediction they're making. In the failure scenario, the subject starts hallucinating, but never achieves the ESP the researchers were looking for.
• The Purge: KPK members who don't fall in-line with Zhdanov will be expelled from the party, which effectively kills their political career.
• Quality over Quantity: Believing that the Soviet Union can't match the Wehrmacht in numbers, Zhdanov turns to developing experimental weapons, which will be few in number, but powerful enough to compensate for the numerical disadvantage.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After unifying West Russia, Zhdanov will write a letter to the German government, condemning the long list of atrocities they've inflicted against Russia and swearing to destroy every trace of the Nazis, once Russia is ready.
• Repressive, but Efficient: Though his actions are autocratic and his experiments less than well thought-out, Zhdanov's economic policies are fairly efficient, repairing the infrastructure damaged from the German bombings and kickstarting a Five Year Plan to rebuild their industrial sectors.
• Rousseau Was Right: Zhdanov's Collective Environment Initiative can prove this viewpoint right in the partial success scenario. After forcing fifty people to cohabitate in a transparent compound with no privacy, the subjects can end up bonding with each other and being highly sociable with each other by the end of the experiment, save for two individuals who are detained for further questioning. However, it can also be subverted in the inconclusive outcome, where the subjects divide into cliques, fighting, killing, or driving each other mad.
• Rule of Drama: In OTL, Zhdanov died of ill health in 1948, and had no plans for anything even remotely similar to Ultravisionary Socialism. However, by being a Stalinist ideologue with some unusual cultural theories, his OTL antics fits the needs for the highly authoritarian and unorthodox theories of TNO's Ultravisionary Socialism. As such, Zhdanov's life in TNO has been purposefully extended to 1972 so he can develop the ideology, even though it is highly unlikely he could've survived to this point given the worse conditions in TNO.
• Scrapbook Story: Some of the results from Zhdanov's projects are presented as documents reporting the test results to Zhdanov.
• Secret Police: Zhdanov sets up the Directorate for the Investigation of Special Circumstances, which can "forcefully correct" any deviation from Ultravisionary Socialism and target dissenters for reeducation.
• Shout-Out:
  • The setup of Project RAINBOW BODY is a Whole-Plot Reference to SCP-2498 in the SCP Foundation, where during the Cold War a government tried to create psychic agents who can enter a transcendental state and use extrasensory perception to gather intel. Unfortunately for Zhdanov, he lives in a political Alternate Timeline story, and not a supernatural conspiracy thriller, so Project RAINBOW BODY fails.
  • The SCP Foundation is also referenced more generally in the Scrapbook Story presentations of some of the project results, and some of them even include [DATA EXPUNGED] and [REDACTED] sanitization notes.
  • The Collective Consciousness Initiative is very likely a reference to the Common Consciousness (C-Consciousness) from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, being a Hive Mind research project initiated by the Soviet government.
  • The Optimized Language Initiative, Subliminal Trigger Project, and Collective Environment Initiative are references to Nineteen Eighty-Four, A Clockwork Orange, and We respectively.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: When he unifies Western Russia, Zhdanov switches his green uniform for a white one and also puts on a sailor's cap, as he reveals his true colours not as a libertarian reformer, but as the Ultravisionary Socialist who seeks to build a universal-spanning Soviet Federation.
• Soviet Superscience: Zhdanov aims to create a visionary socialist utopia through the power of science and technology, and creates an entire ministry called People's Commissariat of Science and generously funds their outlandish projects in order to accelerate Soviet science past its fascist and capitalist competitors. Deconstructed and Subverted in most cases, as the resulting technology will often be too impractical, since the resources and technology of the 1960s and 70s just aren't capable enough, or won't work at all by being outright pseudoscience.
• Superior Successor: While Zhdanov considers himself to be better than his Soviet predecessors, his own successors are undoubtedly superior to him, by virtue of actually being competent scientists and specialists who know what they're talking about. This is especially the case for Nikolai Kardashev, who seeks to reform Ultravisionary Socialism into a genuinely benevolent force for the people. Whereas Vladimir Chelomei continues Zhdarnov's status quo as it benefits his ambitious plans to advance space exploration.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Zhdanov's scientific pursuits are highly expensive, and recklessly funding all of them will result in a massive national debt. Most of them also end predictably poorly, due to human nature, insufficient technology, or just because they're pseudoscientific. In general, the Experimental Armaments projects are likely to produce good results, while the Psychological Revolution and Socialist Society projects are likely to end in failure. The failure scenario for the Mental Communication Initiative in particular ends with the scientists realizing that all of the psychics they found are Phony Psychics with no supernatural powers whatsoever.
• Totalitarian Utilitarian: Through "Revolutionary Decrees", Zhdanov shifts the party away from privileging the few politicians and reorienting them to focus on improving the nation as a whole.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: After taking power away from comparatively reasonable communist politicians, Zhdanov merges the offices of Premier and General Secretary, effectively becoming Russia's newest autocrat.
• Undignified Death: If he gets targeted for execution in his exile, Zhdanov gets killed while trying to hide in the janitor's cupboard and screaming in terror when the gunmen kick down the door.
• The Unfettered: Zhdanov will stop at nothing to realize his vision for an advanced, technological Soviet Union. In the regional stage, Zhdanov specifically rebukes ideas that he's already accomplished his goals, noting that he's just laid the groundwork to achieve even greater heights.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Zhdanov justifies his public manipulation, totalitarianism, and unfettered (sometimes immoral) scientific development with his vision of a grand socialist utopia that stretches across the stars.
• Villain Respect: Though he criticizes Rokossovsky as a man who would not assimilate into the Soviet superculture, he respects his military talents and adopts his legacy through the Sverdlovsk Design Bureau, which will be useful in developing new military technologies.
• Visionary Villain: Played With. Zhdanov is a radical ideologue with an insanely ambitious vision for the future of the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics. He wants to technologically accelerate the nation beyond all other nations on Earth, spread the ultravisionary socialist superculture across the planet, and then go beyond Earth and eventually create a Universal Soviet Federation stretching across all of the universe. On the other hand, much of that is simply a means for him to enforce ideological purity with a scientific veneer, suggesting that he doesn't really believe in the more ambitious aspects of his own system.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • If Voznesensky tries to strengthen the democratic coalition, he may decide to end his friendship with Zhdanov because it'd make him seem too friendly with the communists.
  • After Voznesensky's attempts to suppress the Left backfire and bleed support for the DSNP, Zhdanov will offer to end the hostilities if he turns on Gumilyov instead. If Voznesensky rejects his offer, Zhdanov betrays him by cutting off his favors to him and threatening to expose his ties with him, if he doesn't give him more concessions.
  • During the Center's campaign against the Right, Voznesensky may form a truce with Zhdanov to focus on the common threat, but then walk back on his deal when pressured by Stalina and Morozov. Unfortunately, his plan to betray Zhdanov gets leaked by Suslov before it can get initiated, irreparably destroying the friendship between the two.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Many of his dictatorial measures are justified by his belief that the people can easily fall prey to demagogues and bourgeois elites, so he and his clique need to defend Russia by centralizing all authority to themselves.
• Wham Line: For most of the early game, Zhdanov seems to care about ruling on behalf of the people's will. Until he finally takes power and makes a speech revealing himself to be a dictator all along.
  Zhdanov: "If we wish to seize our destiny, we cannot wait for popular consensus, but must establish it ourselves."
• Wicked Cultured: When he's in his office, he's listening to jazz music in his office and drinking vodka.
• The Xenophile: While observing the stars through his telescope, Zhdanov fantasizes about the existence of aliens who have freed themselves of the typical vices that blight humanity and considers them a model for his species to follow.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Even if Zhdanov himself is eliminated, the idea of Ultravisionary Socialism will survive through his remaining supporters in the KPK.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Zhdanov knows that his advanced age will eventually catch up to him, which is how Chelomei tries to get his appeal to become Vice Premier and his designated successor. Right after reunifying all of Russia, Zhdanov finally bites it after getting cardiac arrest and leaving it up to the Vice Premier to fill in his position.

Svetlana Bukharina

Role: Head of State (KPK election)

Party: Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Komi (Reformist)^note Communist Party of Komi (Reformist), Kommunisticheskaja Partija Sovetskogo Sojuza - Levaya^note Communist Party of the Soviet Union - Left (regional unification)

Ideology: Left Communism^note Communism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Svetlana Nikolayevna Bukharina was brought up at the very top of Soviet society, being the daughter of General Secretary Nikolai Bukharin. She spent her youth in the Union's best academies, attending galas and cultural exhibitions with the Party's uppermost echelons, and carefully observing her father's debates and political maneuvers. When the Union disintegrated and Bukharin vanished, so did Svetlana. Rumors flew that she had escaped with her father and gone into hiding, gotten "disappeared" by a political rival, or even hiding in a secret bunker complex beneath Moscow. Those rumors were quashed when she eventually resurfaced in Syktyvkar, capital of the (relatively) democratic post-Soviet Komi Republic. But her idle years had not dulled her political edge.

Many in Komi's socialist movement saw that having her as a figurehead would be a massive propaganda coup, and quickly worked to gain her willing support. But they did not anticipate that she would have ambitions of her own. Through careful manipulation and backroom deals, Svetlana was able to build up a powerful support base, and ended up launching an internal coup against the ideologues who once tried to control her. Now that she sits at the top of Komi's political ladder, people wonder - or fear - what her next move will be. Few believe that her vaulting ambition has run out, and many suspect she may soon turn her eye toward the rest of her father's former domain...

The daughter of General Secretary Nikolai Bukharin, now a Communist politician in Komi. Although a de facto figurehead leader used for propaganda purposes, Svetlana harbors real political ambitions and skill beneath an unassuming surface. Should she maneuver her way past her competitors in the party and the state, Svetlana aims to create a renewed Soviet Union that can be genuinely accountable to its people.

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• Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: One event makes it seem like Bukharina is a tyrant when she shows up at a peasant family's home and announces she is there to liquidate them. She's actually there to make sure they're involved in her initiative to liquidate illiteracy in Komi.
• Beneath the Mask:
  • She doesn't show it to anyone after she betrays and murders Zhdanov during their conspiracy, but Bukharina feels remorseful about killing another person and wistfully wonders to her pet bird that it will only get easier with time.
  • During her first days as leader, Bukharina comes to quietly hate the bureaucratic side of running the country, finding it to be overwhelming and mentally screaming to herself in frustration.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Her implementation of creches is intended to prevent awful parents from instilling negative values into their children and put them in the proper care of the community. Even if Bukharina doesn't break the family structure, Russians are still encouraged by her egalitarian values to end their families' unsavory traditions, such as the idea of women being forced to work at home.
• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: As a woman, Bukharin places special emphasis on gender equality and establishes the Gender Equality Commission so that women can enjoy the same liberties and living standards as men.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Svetlana Bukharina is the only potential leader of Komi that Tukhachevsky spares if he captures Komi, as he sees her as a valuable propaganda tool due to her popularity and name recognition.
• Chummy Commies: Bukharina is a genuinely progressive council communist, and rules over a democratic USSR, where the workers are empowered by a bicameral legislature and human rights are guaranteed by the legislature.
• Despair Event Horizon: If caught in her exile and about to be killed inside her getaway ZIS by an LMG, Bukharina loses all hope and whispers an apology to the Party, her friends, and, more importantly, her father for failing them.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Suslov promotes Bukharina because her magnetic charisma, intelligence, and relation with Bukharin will boost the popularity of his party. However, Bukharina has no interest in becoming his stooge for long and will try to take power herself when the opportunity arises.
• Enemy Mine: In the upcoming elections, Bukharina is contacted by Suslov and Zhdanov about joining forces to eliminate the other. Bukharina knows that she won't be friends with whoever she allies with, but decides to pick either one so that she can accelerate her ascension.
• Establishing Character Moment: She is introduced as "The Seeker", where every member of the Communist Party in Komi can't help but constantly bring her father Nikolai up in every greeting and conversation with her. After brushing off their remarks and paying lip service to his legacy, Bukharina turns her attention to the upcoming meeting with analysis of the social developments amongst their numbers. She deduces Serov will soon be out of their ranks and takes note of the growing discontent the rest of their members have against Suslov and Zhdanov, biding her time until she can enter the scene as a player in her own right. Though many brush her off as living in her father's shadow, Bukharina lets it known that she has her own agenda and the planning needed to see it happen.
• Everyone Has Standards: Though Bukharina is opposed to the idea of religion, she can condone violence against its proponents if she adopts a moderate stance to the issue, condemning a group of socialists for attacking five Muslim women.
• Fish out of Water: She finds herself more comfortable meeting and negotiating with the common worker than being in her office or giving a speech to the Presidium, as she usually finds herself in her job.
• Good Is Not Dumb:
  • Bukharina empowers the local soviets so they can represent themselves in the government and set their own quotas in the workplace. However, Bukharina is no fool and knows that people will take advantage of her idealism to lie in their reports and cheat the system. As such, she establishes a Directorate of Revolutionary Preservation to monitor potential dishonesty.
  • She's aware that integrating West Siberia will not automatically make their populations loyal to her government, so she can optionally ramp up surveillance there to ensure that no violent revolts happen.
• Good Is Not Soft: She advances a noble cause, but Bukharina is also willing to resort to murder or policing to remove her political rivals and climb up the hierarchy.
• Hero-Worshipper: One of her idols is Alexandra Kollontai, one of the few female Old Bolsheviks who championed gender equality and the idea of Marxist feminism.
• Heroes Gone Fishing:
  • After cementing her rule in West Russia and eliminating potential political rivals, Bukharina relaxes in her private quarters by making some tea and silently conducting to the jazz music playing from her record player, all while lazily lounging in her chair.
  • When Western Siberia is conquered, Bukharina takes a break from her job so she can enjoy a pleasant walk through Omsk and enjoy its natural beauties.
  • Another one of her hobbies when not working is to read books about the rest of the world, analyzing images of Incan statues, African masks, and other cultural objects.
• History Repeats: Defied. If Bukharina flees Komi after a different faction takes over, she will make the dangerous and difficult trek into Vologda, refusing to perish and repeat her father's presumed fate. With enough determination and her pet bird by her side, she succeeds.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: The real Svetlana Gurvich (as Bukharin's daughter was forced to take her mother's name after his execution) lived a rather uneventful life as a historian. Here, she is one of the most prominent members of the Komi left, and a politician capable of reunifying Russia under her banner and turning it into a benevolent Council Communist state through ruthless measures.
• Honesty Is the Best Policy: Downplayed. While Bukharina knows some things must be kept confidential, she can be transparent with the citizens and declassify state documents for the public to see and expose any corrupt government official for punishment. However, it can also be subverted, if Bukharina decides to keep these records classified for the sake of security, letting those officials escape justice.
• Hope Spot: When exiled in Komi and marked for capture, Bukharina will not waver in the face of overwhelming odds and gather her most devoted followers to organize and underground resistance. As her hopes soar and she hugs the nearest Unionist, government soldiers raid their meeting and arrest everyone present, in which it's implied that the person she hugged was the person who sold them out.
• Hypocrite: Despite proclaiming her devotion to egalitarianism, she may compromise on this principle if she doesn't legalize homosexuality on the basis that it'd be too troublesome, forcing this demographic to continue their relationships in secret rather than in the open.
• Internal Reformist: Bukharina is a rising voice within Zhdanov's reformist faction in the Communist Party, espousing the need for stronger social equality, workplace democracy, and human rights.
• Iron Lady: Chairwoman Bukharina is willing to use coercive forces (including Yuri Andropov's Secret Police) to keep watch on her government, preventing it from falling into anti-libertarian revisionism.
• Necessarily Evil:
  • Learning of the potential threat that Suslovite and Zhdanovite supporters pose to her rule, Bukharina commands the Directorate for Revolutionary Preservation to purge them. She feels guilty about resorting to such measures, but assures herself that they are necessary.
  • She justifies her use of surveillance as a necessity to keep the government stable and ensure all people are being treated equally.
• Nervous Wreck: While she is nominating candidates for the Congress of the Soviets, Bukharina can't suppress her nerves and she begins trembling visibly. At one point, she jitters and stumbles, almost into a trip while trying to leave the podium.
• Odd Friendship: Bukharina, a council communist, has a very good relationship with Yuri Andropov, the orthodox Marxist-Leninist secret police chief working for Suslov.
• Oh, Crap!: If exiled and targeted, Bukharina will see a car driving up to her escort's old ZIS and visibly freak out when she sees that it's picking up more speed, hollering at her driver to go faster.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Bukharina is unfailingly kind to her pet bird, Karba, showing that, despite having a ruthless side, she's still a good person with noble goals in mind.
  • Despite having an opportunity to assassinate Suslov and remove him as a political rival in the regional stage, Bukharina can also spare him because it would be immoral.
• Power of Trust: She may accept the idea that the people in West Russia weren't necessarily loyal to their reactionary government and try to build trust with them by smoothly integrating them, building a better country by the end.
• Pragmatic Hero:
  • Bukharina is willing to ruthlessly purge her opponents, but she is a progressive and aims for the greater good of the people. It helps that her opponents are usually not very good people.
  • Though Bukharina would like to start experimenting with small-scale communal raising through creches, she may deem the issue too troublesome and instead try to reform the family structure to be more egalitarian.
• The Purge: In order to cement her rule and enforce her progressive social and economic policies, Bukharina will have to expel most of Suslov's and Zhdanov's supporters from the Party and keep watch on them for the rest of their lives, so they could not usurp power.
• Redeeming Replacement: She admits that Bukharin engaged in his fair share of repressive tactics and will redeem her family legacy by building a more benevolent incarnation of the Soviet Union, where the people do not need to fear being oppressed.
• Religion Is Wrong: Bukharina is opposed to organized religion as a tool used by the wealthy to keep the poor distracted and justify the unequal social hierarchy.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Svetlana Gurvich-Bukharina, daughter of Nikolay Bukharin and his second spouse Esfir Gurvich, was a historian. In this timeline, she followed in her father's footsteps to become a politician, after witnessing Russia's destruction at the hands of fascists.
• Shoot the Dog:
  • After seizing power, Svetlana will subject many members of the centrist democratic government to show trials and execution.
  • Bukharina can have Suslov assassinated in the regional stage, if she decides that Suslov's influence, even after his demotion, is still too great and too harmful to her cause.
• Silk Hiding Steel:
  • Though Bukharina appears to be an easy target for Soviet ideologues to control, she does have her own political ambitions and can outmaneuver the other factions and come out on top.
  • This trope also applies to how Bukharina rules: though she is genuinely progressive and libertarian, she is willing to use strong coercive measures to ensure that nobody can challenge her and stop her from realizing her vision.
• Sixth Ranger: Bukharina is the latest rising star in the KPK, eager to join the political scene and spearhead a revolution that will bring Russia back to its glory days.
• The Spook: Bukharina is a mysterious figure who becomes the source of many rumors when she makes herself known. Some didn't even believe that she existed before her arrival.
• Taking Up the Mantle:
  • Bukharina sees it as her duty to continue the legacy of Alexandra Kollontai, one of the few female Old Bolsheviks and an early champion of women's rights, who spearheaded the idea of Marxist feminism. Gender equality is enshrined as a significant part of the new Union's ideology and policy, ensuring that Russia is entrenched as a champion of equality and one of the first nations to truly confront the matter.
  • In a more downplayed case, Bukharina will adopt similar economic policies to her father, reviving the Siberian Development Plan to build Russia's economy and infrastructure.
• Walking the Earth: After the Soviet Union collapsed and her father disappeared, Bukharina wandered aimlessly throughout West Russia, arriving in Komi when Operation Suvorov of the West Russian War started and only deciding to stay and get into politics when she witnessed the horrors of war inflicted on her country.
• What's Up, King Dude?: Her favorite part of the job is getting to personally meet with the unions and workers to befriend.
• Worthy Opponent: While she and Andropov are eating together, Bukharina tries to interrogate him about potential disloyalty in the Directorate, having a sniper monitor the situation and subtly pointing a pistol through her handbag at him. Andropov instantly notices and mentally notes some mistakes she's making, but he's nonetheless impressed by her boldness and leaves while giving her a tip on assassinations, leaving the Chairwoman flustered.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Even if she gets captured by the government after being exiled, Bukharina shows no fear to her captors, defiantly whispering to one of them that her work will leave a lasting legacy that will outlive her and one day liberate Russia.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After initiating her coup against Suslov in the pre-regional stage, Bukharina may turn on her co-conspirator, Zhdanov, at the last second, deeming him no longer useful to her plans and recognizing that she can force the vulnerable Suslov to give up his power anyway.

Ultravisionary Successors (Unmarked Spoilers)

Vladimir Chelomei

Role: People's Commissar of Defense^note Security Minister (Presidium of the KPK and Zhdanov cabinet), Vice Premier^note Heads of Government (Chelomei-favored Zhdanov cabinet), Head of State (Zhdanov succession)

Party: Reformirovannaja Kommunisticheskaja Partija Sovetskogo Sojuza (Dal'novidnaja)^note Reformed Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Visionary)

Ideology: Ultravisionary Socialism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}A longtime member of the Ultravisionary faction, Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomei became a household name within the movement through his tireless participation - and enormous success - within the Federation's space program.

Trading on this recognition, as well as his ability to muster support amongst a broad range of influential figures within the Federation, he has been able to rapidly advance his standing, ascending to fill the office of Paramount Leader.

One of the most prominent members of what could be considered the 'orthodox' wing of the Ultravisionary movement, Chelomei unsurprisingly holds true to many of the core tenets laid down by Zhdanov and other central figures. This includes strong support for initiatives relating to space exploration as well as the ideological concept of the ultravisionary superculture.

Indeed, he believes this to such an extent that he holds it as a simple fact that space is the natural 'next frontier' of the terrestrial Cold War. Securing victory in space, therefore, means securing victory on Earth, and vice versa.

And he intends to do everything possible to ensure that the Federation achieves that victory.

The People's Commissar of Defense and the leader of the "Orthodox faction" of the Ultravisionary Communist Party, he wants to continue much of Zhdanov's core tenets and batshit crazy experiments.

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• Baddie Flattery: To secure her support, Chelomei can appeal to Furtseva, complimenting all the hard work she's done for Russia and promising her ample funding, if she backs his succession to become Vice Premier.
• Boring, but Practical: One of his more grounded ideas is the Visionary Management Techniques program, which will introduce modern computers to the People's Commissariat of Central Records to make their work easier. Though less flashy than something like mind control, it's still a noteworthy advancement and, more significantly, prioritizing its implementation makes it more likely for the Commissariat to support him in the race to become Vice Premier.
• Broken Pedestal: Chelomei used to be idolized by Kardashev as a scientific genius and a model Ultravisionary. Unfortunately, when the two met, their conflicting work philosophies put them at odds with each other.
• Cliffhanger: After succeeding Zhdanov, Chelomei moves into his office and takes in satisfaction of what he'll do next, mainly thinking about what new programs he'll have to sponsor to advance the Ultravisionary cause. However, just as he's about to get to work, the game ends.
• Cool, but Inefficient: Like Zhdanov, Chelomei is entranced with inventions that sound cool on paper, but would be unfeasibly to actually deploy. For example, he rejects a proposal to increase agricultural productivity in Central Siberia so that there can be space for an electroconductive fluid to fuel exoplanetary mining.
• Crazy Enough to Work: While trying to convince Mstislav Keldysh and the People's Commissariat of Science to support him becoming Vice Premier, Chelomei can promise to fund a project to achieve a Mars landing by 1980, a far more ambitious proposal than funding military technology. There's a far rarer chance to convince Keldysh if this option is chosen, but there's still a chance.
• Emperor Scientist: Chelomei is an engineer by profession, and seeks to advance the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics's space program.
• Everyone Has Standards: Though he works for Zhdanov and believes in the potential of Ultravisionary Socialism, he's taken aback by Zhdanov's suggestion to create a currency based on energy rather than a traditional material, like gold, silver, or even national confidence. However, as he and Igor Kurchatov work harder on the proposal, he comes around to the idea as a liberation from monetary exploitation.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: An in-universe example when Chelomei is building support to become Vice Premier by currying favor from Alexander Sheremetyev. In their meeting, Chelomei presents a dossier of his economic plan called "Visionary Social Commitments". As Chelomei lampshades, the plan does what it's title implies, namely in shifting the country's industrial burden to the citizens so as to relieve the People's Commissariat of Industry from closely managing so much territory.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Inverted
  • When garnering support from the military, who will always support him in his bid to become Vice Premier, unlike Kardashev, who may have to resort to compromising to scrounge even the barest support from them.
  • Vladimir Semichastny will also always support his bid, if he's approached before Kardashev.
• For Science!: Like Zhdanov, Chelomei is obsessed with new, cutting-edge technology. He specifically courts support from the People's Commissariat of Science by making lofty promises about funding more ambitious projects, including new weapons, mind control, or even a landing on Mars by 1980.
• Graceful Loser: If Kardashev wins a narrow victory to become Vice Premier, Chelomei will clearly be disappointed in the results, but nonetheless show grace to his opponent and accept his defeat with dignity.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: If Kardashev's influence is only slightly higher in the upcoming Presidium vote, Chelomei will recognize the futility in winning by that point because the winner would simply be too controversial to get anything done, so he can contact Kardashev to withdraw from the contest in exchange for some benefits, like a guaranteed seat in the Presidium.
• Mad Scientist: Played With, as Chelomei isn't so much mad as he is amoral. Unlike Zhdanov, he actually is a competent scientist who knows what he's talking about. Nonetheless, he upholds his predecessor's tenets anyway because they let him justify his ambitious plans of securing the stars, at the expense of those on Earth.
• Meet the New Boss: Chelomei is the leader of the "orthodox" wing of the Ultravisionaries and seeks to maintain the core tenets and policies of Zhdanov's regime.
• Mood Whiplash: While looking for the enigmatic Vladimir Semichastny so he can count on his vote, Chelomei is led to a hidden room by a suspicious individual, where he feels intimidated by the darkness and isolation of the office. After what feels like an eternity for Chelomei, Semichastny finally arrives and suddenly cuts the suspense by abruptly informing him of his support, without so much as looking up at him. As he's being led out, Chelomei ends the scenario on a humorous note by thinking that Semichastny could've just sent a letter or a phone call.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Chelomei can cease the persecution, possible pardon, the Old Reformers who were once oppressed by the Ultravisionaries in exchange for their support to become Vice Premier.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: If Kardashev secures his succession, he'll have Chelomei exiled to Orenburg, removing him as a future rival.
• Rousing Speech: Double Subverted. While presenting his bid to be Vice Premier, Chelomei makes a grandiose speech to the Board for Intersolar Activities, promising to expand the Soviet superculture across the stars and calling his opponent an unworthy successor who can't match the ambition of his goals. Unfortunately for him, the only reaction to his lecture is an awkward cough, with one of the audience members requesting for more specific promises before they commit to him. However, Chelomei can recover and gets a standing ovation if he sets a goal, particularly if it's a bolder one.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Chelomei was an engineer who facilitated the creation of many weapons, such as the first anti ship cruise missiles and the Universal Rocket (UR) system. Here, he is a potential successor to Andrei Zhdanov as Paramount Leader of the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Chelomei is one of the two potential candidates for the Vice Premier when Igor Kurchatov retires and opens the position, establishing him as the second-most powerful person by Zhdanov and second in-line to the succession.
• Tranquil Fury: If his bid to win support from the Old Reformers fails, Chelomei will quietly fume over his failure, knowing that the power struggle with Kardashev has just gotten more difficult.
• Villainous Breakdown: If the People's Commissariat of Science rejects his proposal to support his Vice Premier bid, Chelomei will crumple up the paper and angrily mock their attempt to be impartial.

Nikolai Kardashev

Role: Vice Premier^note Head of Government (Kardashev-favored Zhdanov cabinet), Head of State (Zhdanov succession)

Party: Reformirovannaja Kommunisticheskaja Partija Sovetskogo Sojuza (Dal'novidnaja)^note Reformed Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Visionary)

Ideology: Ultravisionary Socialism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}One of the youngest senior figures within the Ultravisionary faction, Nikolai Semyonovich Kardashev is also perhaps one of the most prominent, inextricably linked with the movement through his development of one of its foundations - the eponymous Kardashev scale.

A method of evaluating the level of technological advancement of a society he, along with everyone else within the faction, ensures that every policy acts to increase it. This, together with his natural administrative abilities and affable personality, allowed him to rapidly advance towards the office of Paramount Leader.

A physicist by education and trade, Kardashev takes his goal of scientific advancement very seriously. Despite this, however, he is not a member of the so-called 'orthodox' wing of the faction, and indeed disagrees with many of their projects and pursuits. Dismissing the many pseudo-scientific pursuits of others towards a nebulous 'superculture,' he instead concentrates upon economic affairs.

This expresses itself in his tireless advocacy and pursuit of developments supporting what he considers to be true ultravisionary socialism - a fusion economy where science serves the people and permits the creation of a post-scarcity society. Though many scoff at this dream, Kardashev knows it is achievable.

And he intends to make sure that it is so realized.

The People's Commissar of Energy under Zhdanov. He is not a member of the orthodox wing of the Ultravisionary party, and seeks to move away from Zhdanov's pseudo-scientific developments in favor of more practical scientific-economic developments.

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• Badass Pacifist: Unlike Chelomei, Kardashev advocates a peaceful, exploratory program that will search the cosmos and non-violently industrialize space for the good of the human race. Compared to his rival, his agenda has far better reception when it is presented to the Board for Intersolar Activities.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Compared to Chelomei, Kardashev's proposed space technologies are relatively grounded and practical, such as zero-gravity experiments and programs on how to travel space safely.
  • Another grounded proposal of his is to increase productivity in the industry sector and presenting this plan is how he can rally support from Alexander Sheremetyev, the People's Commissar of Industry. His scheme can rely on modest sources like increased electrical availability per year rather than nuclear fusion. The more practical it is, the more likely it is for Sheremetyev to throw his support behind Kardashev.
  • While trying to convince Alexey Poskonov and the People's Commissariat of Central Records to support him becoming Vice Premier, Kardashev presents the relatively feasible program of cybernetic management, which means using computers to make their work easier and increasing the bureaucracy's efficiency.
• Cliffhanger: The final event of his succession ends with Kardashev sitting in Zhdanov's office and moving his stuff in before he starts thinking about what needs to be fixed in the country and preparing to get to work.
• A Degree in Useless: Subverted. With the Soviet Union in anarchy, Kardashev's doctorate is effectively worthless and he's seemingly condemned to a life of writing useless intellectual theories, but it finally comes in handy when Zhdanov finds his work and recruits him to the People's Commissariat of Science.
• Emperor Scientist: Kardashev is a physicist by education and trade, and takes his goal of scientific development very seriously. Compared to Zhdanov and Chelomei, Kardashev is generally less authoritarian and strongly disagrees with the nebulous Hollywood Science of the orthodox Ultravisionaries, believing that more grounded scientific advancements can achieve their desired, classless society.
• Everyone Has Standards: He is among the many Ultravisionaries who are horrified by Zhdanov's proposal to back the ruble's value on state energy output, knowing the catastrophic ruin it would bring to the economy.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Inverted.
  • When assembling support from the Old Reformers to become Vice Premier. As the less politically repressive of the two potential successors, Kardashev will always earn their support by easing the government's suppression of them.
  • Despite being unable to locate his office, Kardashev can always rely on the support of Vladimir Semichastny when he's focused on, with the latter sending a letter pledging his approval.
• Good Counterpart: In contrast to Zhdanov, Kardashev genuinely believes in the promises of Ultravisionary Socialism, but believes that science should serve the people, not the other way around. While in contrast to Trofim Lysenko, he not only rebukes pseudoscientific ideological pretentions, but also adopts a more benevolent hand to help the people instead of treating the population as fodder for experiments.
• Graceful Loser: If Chelomei gets narrowly elected to become Vice Premier, Kardashev will be displeased, but remain calm and respectfully accept his defeat.
• Heel Realization: While Kardashev joined the nascent Ultravisionaries under the assumption that Zhdanov's claims of reform and progress were sincere, it didn't take too long before he caught to what was being passed for "orthodoxy". He thus begins advocating for a genuine Ultravisionary Socialism where science and the disciplines serve the people, not the other way around.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Famous as an astrophysicist that devised the Kardashev scale, which indicates how much power a civilisation uses. Not only does he adopt involvement in politics, but he also strives to either reform the worst excesses of a totalitarian regime (if he succeeds Zhdanov) or overcome a mad regime's collapse (when he ends up leading the Chelyabinsk Institute after Sergey Taboritsky's Holy Russian Empire collapses).
• Historical In-Joke: If Kardashev is narrowly voted into the position of Vice Premier, Chelomei (instead of Kardashev, in the full victory scenario) will promote a member from the state's nuclear directorate to take his position of the People's Commissar of Energy: Anatoly Dyatlov, the OTL deputy chief engineer of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and the supervisor of the safety test that resulted in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the changed circumstances, his idea of a civilization scale garners the approval of Zhdanov and named the Kardashev Scale in his honor.
• Internal Reformist: Kardashev disagrees with the orthodox wing of the Ultravisionaries in many ways, most prominently their pursuit of the ultravisionary superculture, and seeks to reform Ultravisionary Socialism toward his vision, away from the hardliners' pseudoscience. However, he will face an uphill battle getting rid of Ultravisionary Socialism's worst elements.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: If Chelomei only holds a slight lead in the Presidium vote, Kardashev may take a deal with Chelomei to make the latter Vice Premier on several conditions because continuing the roughly even struggle could have adverse effects on the country.
• The Last DJ: Kardashev is a true believer in Ultravisionary Socialism, or rather what it ought to be. Given the chance, he would see that it actually lives up to the name in the service of the people. Whether it's by succeeding Zhdanov or surviving the post-Taboritsky wasteland.
• Long Game: Kardashev's ultimate, long-term goal is to set up a fuel economy, dependent on fuel, a resource common in space. Though the plan impresses Zhdanov, Kardashev has to keep this plan on the downlow because the infrastructure needed to kickstart it will take years and especially because the succession crisis of Kurchatov is of greater importance to the Presidium. It's much better for Kardashev to heed caution than continue advertising fusion's importance because it makes it more likely that Zhdanov will favor him as a successor.
• Nervous Wreck: Kardashev is a brilliant scientist, but also wracked with nerves and occasionally imprudent.
• Post-Scarcity Economy: Kardashev's ultimate goal is the creation of a post-scarcity society fueled by a fusion economy where science serves the people, something which he considers to be true Ultravisionary Socialism.
• Rank Up: After being recruited by Zhdanov, Kardashev finds himself rapidly promoted through the ranks, up to becoming the People's Commissar of Energy. Kardashev feels pretty overwhelmed by how quickly he's advancing in a short timeframe.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: If Chelomei secures his succession, he'll have Kardashev reassigned to Sverdlovsk as a nuclear power plant supervisor, effectively exiling him.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Kardashev was an astrophysicist famous for devising the Kardashev scale, which indicates how much power a civilisation uses, but never had any involvement in politics. Here, he is a prominent member of the Ultravisionary movement, and a potential successor to Andrei Zhdanov as Paramount Leader of the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics.
• Science Hero: Kardashev is determined to build a better society through science, whether he succeeds Zhdanov or establishes the Chelyabinsk Institute after the Holy Russian Empire falls into anarchy.
• Taking Up the Mantle: After Igor Kurchatov retires from being Vice Premier in the superregional stage, Kardashev can succeed him in this role and become Zhdanov's second-in-command and future successor.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Not so much "cruelty" as in "apathy". When Kardashev is trying to curry support from the People's Commissar of Science for his bid to become Vice Premier, Kardashev can talk about investing in asteroid mining or other impressive technologies without mentioning its benefit to the people. Doing so makes it more likely for the department to withdraw support and remain neutral in the vote.

Other Important People

Boris Ponomaryov

Role: Head of State (KPK takeover), Chairman of the Council of Ministers^note Head of Government (Suslov cabinet)

Ideology: Marxism-Leninism^note Communism

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• Bait-and-Switch: Early on, Boris Ponomaryov arrives to Komi, with fears circulating that he's going to be a rising star among the communists. A subsequent police investigation reveals that Ponomaryov is a lot more mediocre than they thought, being a toady for Suslov who would never be a threat on his own.
• Generic Guy: Beneath his bravado, Ponomaryov is a terribly uninteresting figure. He's spent most of the Russian anarchy being a lacky to Suslov inside the WRRF before being recalled back to Komi.
• The Face: He's impressive at delivering speeches and swaying the masses against the Center, but he's virtually powerless on his own and is a tool for the true mastermind, Suslov.
• Poke the Poodle: Whenever he went out drinking with his friends, Ponomaryov would often skip paying the bill.
• Puppet King: If the KPK violently takes over Komi, Ponomaryov will be installed as a figurehead leader until Suslov, Bukharina or Zhdanov can gather enough influence.

Yuri Andropov

Role: Head of State (Election), Minister of State Security^note Security Minister (Presidium of the KPK, Suslov/Bukharina cabinet)

Ideology: Marxism-Leninism^note Communism, Revolutionary Front^note Socialism (Election)

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• Dragon with an Agenda: Andropov works for Suslov, but he's also keenly interested in Bukharina and her surprising expertise in politicking. Impressed by her rise to power, he later joins her cause, defecting from his old boss in the process.
• The Dreaded: Throughout the KPK, Andropov is feared as Suslov's attack dog, interrogating and purging those deemed a threat to the General Secretary's vision. Even when he is imprisoned by the Ultravisionaries, a general feeling of unease still surrounds the man.
• Great Escape: If Zhdanov outplays Suslov and Bukharina, Andropov is thrown in jail and held there, until he masterminds an elaborate escape plan that goes off without a hitch.
• Historical Downgrade: Yuri Andropov, the third to last General-Secretary of the USSR in our world, is merely a member of the Communist Party branch in Komi. He's a supporting character in Bukharina's campaign and works as her security minister, but does not have the chance to lead the reborn Union.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Downplayed. Suslov and Bukharina are powerful schemers in their own right, but Andropov plays a key role in building up their political power. Once he defects to Bukharina's side, she quickly rises to become one of Suslov's chief rivals.
• Non-Answer: When Suslov asks for a report on Bukharina, Andropov gets nervous for a brief second and suggests that they ignore her as a minor threat. Despite the vague answer, Suslov catches on to Bukharina's power play to take control of the KPK and sets the stage for a conflict between the two.
• Pragmatic Hero: On the surface, he's a shady individual who purges those who pose a threat to his superiors, but he does help Bukharina in her quest to create a free and democratic USSR.
• The Spymaster: Andropov is one of Suslov's most important enforcers, tasked with eliminating anyone in the KPK who earns his ire. If Bukharina takes over Komi, she tasks him with the same job of rooting out counter-revolutionary activity.
• Status Quo Is God: Whether working for Suslov or Bukharina, Andropov will always have the same work of searching through dossiers and judging who can be spared and who should be killed to secure his boss' power. The only substantial change Andropov notes while working for Bukharina is that his coffee tastes better.

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