Heartwarming / The New Order: Last Days of Europe

"Be strong in the belief that life is wonderful. Be positive and believe that the Revolution will always win."

Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

---

Germany and Its Sphere

• In a very unusual case, there is one for Adolf Hitler himself. During the opening of the Adolf Hitler Art Gallery where the best works of German artists are demonstrated, Hitler, presenting his new painting, breaks into tears as he speaks about how much it means to him for his art to be appreciated and how he much hopes to inspire a new generation of the most talented Aryan painters to follow their dreams and passions, no matter. Even though he was one of the most monstrous figures of the 20th century and easily culpable for the deaths of millions, it is hard to not feel sympathy for Hitler, the rejected artist, as a human being, with his own simple aspirations to be admired and loved for his work, something that is common for many people.
• Despite the Nazis ruling for nearly 20 years longer then OTL there are still people in Germany and the Reichskommissariats who want to make a change for the better and ultimately make the world a better place. People that want to reform and liberalize the political system. The most prominent being Speer who can end the slave system, start the transition of Germany towards democracy, and create the world's version of the United Nations.
  • As it turns out, Speer is not as committed to those things as he seems. The Gang of 4 on the other hand are in essence Nazis in name only and are absolutely committed to democratizing Germany, abolishing the slave system and building a genuinely more peaceful world. And while Speer is vehemently against their more radical reforms, in certain paths he doesn't have any choice but to sign off on them, laying the groundwork for sanity to return to Germany.
• Germany has another Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Awesome combined in Speer's scenario. By solving the Slave Revolt by executing the renegade militarists, and negotiating with Schmidt alone, not only can slavery be abolished and the uprising be resolved peacefully, but the prospects of a new and democratic future are all but assured. In one event, Antonin, a slave who was deprived of family for two decades can finally earn his eventual freedom and find his soulmate Anna. The icing on the top, is the "Eignikeit, Recht, and Freiheit" focus tree, which would certainly dismantle Nazism once and for all.

Japan and Its Sphere

• Similarly to Germany, the fact that despite decades of militarist rule under the Taisei Yokusankai, there are still many in the Empire of Japan (even within the Taisei Yokusankai itself) that want to bring genuine reforms, whether in the name of Japanese pride, truly living up to their own rhetoric, or generally making the world a little bit better. Takagi's Goken Conservative path is particularly notable, not only for allowing something like OTL Postwar Japan to emerge through liberalizations (including women's rights), but also in laying the groundwork for the Co-Prosperity Sphere to live up to its name.
• As tragic and pitiful Puyi's fate is in TNO, despite nominally being Emperor of Manchukuo, the fact that Emperor Hirohito himself was among the handful of delegates present at the former's funeral speaks volumes. Despite being all but forgotten by the outside world, the last Emperor of China still received a dignified send-off, with the added implications that the Japanese monarch had been corresponding with the man in life.
• Amidst the industrial and polluted cityscapes of Guangdong, the denizens have found a close camaraderie with their fellow workers. From playing 'shukyu' (their version of soccer) to celebrating the Chinese New Year with smuggled rice wine, it's sweet to see that not all is lost for the people, despite their otherwise horrible situation.
• While walking through a marketplace in Guangdong, a woman snags a good deal on better-quality food than she's used to. She plans to share her recent purchase with her husband to celebrate the Lunar New Year, fondly thinking about how their relationship has made living in Guangdong slightly more bearable.

Russia

• Russia went through Hell and back multiple times in TNO, being ravaged by Germany and warlords alike for more than 20 years. Yet, it still can overcome the rule of thuggish despots and be reunified by a more sensible state, which can turn the New Russia into a democratic republic, constitutional monarchy, a sensibly run and peaceful anarchist free territory, a benevolent near-anarchist state inspired by Christian principles but not forcing them on anyone or a sincere Soviet democracy with free elections and liberate the oppressed people of the former Soviet Union from Germany (but preferably not beyond). Even if scars of the past won't be healed for a long time (if ever), Russia in New Order can prevail over the Nazi and warlord horrors and become a free and strong nation.
• Sablin's Buryatia faces one of the worst uphill battles in order to reunite Russia, but if they successfully take down◊ Yagoda's Irkutsk, Sablin and his allies hear the news over a radio, and celebrate with a wild party. Bonus points for detailing how each member of Sablin's government rejoices in their own way:
  Sitting down, Sablin looked around happily. Markheev was joking with his men, Ulanovskaya downed glass after glass of vodka, even Braun was smiling for once. Catching Pechuro's eye, Sablin shot her a smile. She grinned back at him, raising her glass in a mock salute. "We did it, Valera!" she shouted, already slurring. Sablin smirked; she'd always been a lightweight.
  Taking another pull, Sablin felt lighter than air. They still had a long road to go down to end Russia's chaos and bring her people into a new age of greatness, but the revolution could wait until tomorrow. Tonight, they'd paint Verkhneudinsk red.
  • Sablin in general is Heartwarming for being a one of the most moral leaders on the world stage - another example is when he defeats Chita◊, and brings in "Tsar" Mikhail II for questioning. While in most cases of a revolutionary army overthrowing a monarch ends with said monarch getting on the chopping end of a guillotine, Sablin realizes through Mikhail's confessions that he didn't want to rule as Tsar in the first place, and was essentially kidnapped by the White forces before having the crown forced into his hands as a powerless figurehead for the Whites to rally their forces behind. Sablin decides that Mikhail would not be put on trial, and his punishment would be being expelled from Russia while being forbidden from returning... but since Mikhail simply wanted to go back to his home in Australia, Sablin's "punishment" allows to Mikhail to finally get what he wants, an option he wouldn't have had even in victory.
  • Another heartwarming event that happens in Sablin's path is found after beating "Vohzd" Rodzaevsky, as his soldiers liberate a prison camp. The event's perspective is from two prisoners (who were imprisoned for the "crime" of being a homosexual couple), and while one of the men sarcastically asks if the commotion is the Vohzd's men finally deciding to execute them, the sheer relief of realizing Sablin's forces have liberated them is palpable.
  • And then, crossing with Awesome, there's the sheer catharsis of actually pulling through in the end and rebirthing the Soviet Union under the first truly democratic institution it's ever seen since the Russian Republic fell. Seeing the Soviet Union be reborn after over thirty years under a fair, free dictatorship of the proletariat that is actually democratic as Marxist theory dictates is enough to bring even the most hardened of cynics to joy, and not just for the fact you've made this timeline a bit brighter; it's for the fact you defied all expectations and stayed true to what you believed in, and in returned, made it through with one of the best choices for Russian unification, outside of a Men-led Mandate or Humanist Tomsk. You didn't just Earn Your Happy Ending, you guaranteed it, and thanks to you, the Soviet Union has a brighter future than ever before in either the Original Timeline or this world.
  The Dream of a Better World: "We thought nobody would hear us, or that they would share our dream. But they did."
• Given that the world of The New Order is one on which unimaginable horrors have been unleashed by totalitarian regimes, the Siberian Free Territory is an icon of liberation and joyous escape - and in contrast to the variously stirring, mournful, intimidating, or downright nightmarish reunification themes of every other unifier, the SBA's reunification theme oozes happiness.
  • As with Orenburg, the SBA will face the question of LGBTQ rights. But where the best outcome for Orenburg is decriminalization, with homosexuals tolerated as long as they stay quiet, the Siberian Free Territory already has legal protections (viewing homophobia as reactionary), and their choice is simply how soon full acceptance comes. And when it does, it is beautiful◊.
    • A later SBA event◊ shows a Wartime Wedding between two brides in black dresses, which is simply heartwarming throughout, even when too much celebration vodka and petty arguments between the communes devolves into a brawl, which itself has a somewhat sweet reassurance that, despite the HIGHLY dysfunctional union between the communes, they wouldn't dare shoot each other despite literally everybody from the brides to the priest having guns and ultimately declaring that they would still fight as one against the SBA's enemies.
• One of the endings for the Ural League has the soldiers preparing for an invasion by the West Russian Revolutionary Front under Georgy Zhukov. Many of the League's soldiers and leadership were former prisoners from Bukharin's and Voroshilov's reigns before the West Russian War, and brace themselves to fight for their freedom once again. However, when the WRRF finally arrives, they are not there to invade, but to begin peaceful negotiations for a cooperation between the two states.

  "Comrade Mendriks," General Zhukov would say, "I've come to bargain."

• After Kemerovo unifies Russia as the Kingdom of Rus, King Rurik II is on his deathbed surrounded by all three of his children◊, including the feuding Yuriy and Lydia, where they assure their father he has done everything in his power to assure that the people of the Kingdom are strong and ready for the eventual 2nd West Russian War. Content with doing all he could for Russia, Rurik's final words to his children is admitting that perhaps his "whole charade was Worth It in the end" though while his children note that even if his last words was just one last bout of madness it didn't matter. Russia was made nearly whole and strong again for the first time in nearly twenty years, The Good King having done all he could to ensure such.
  His children didn't question his final words. Perhaps assuming it was madness like others has done since the beginning. Perhaps it was madness, but that didn't matter. Russia was nearly whole again, united and strong. He had done all he could for the people, his heir would do so much more, of that he was certain. While he had his regrets, Rurik II, King of the Rus, was satisfied with what he had built.

  And so Nikolai Ivanovich Krylov closed his eyes for the last time, his duty finally ending.

  Applaud my exit.
  • If Yuriy is chosen as heir to the throne, he sends Lydia to govern Magadan, a land "so frozen and sparse it practically runs itself". Lydia is clearly furious with her brother, but Yuriy admits that in spite of their disagreements and stark ideological differences, he still loves her dearly and wants her to come around to his side, and he insists that her new assignment is not a punishment, but a means for his sister to earn his trust again. Yuriy offers her a handshake, and a stunned Lydia hugs him instead, telling him, "I will try, brother. All I ask is that you don't forget me."
  • All signs point to "Rurik III" ruling over the new kingdom as a fair and just monarch in much the same way as his father, and his rule even shows some promising signs of turning towards constitutional monarchy and democracy, akin to Britain in our OTL.
• Even after the nightmarish rule of Sergey Taboritsky, and the subsequent collapse of the HRE into a new age of warlordism, it's shown that there are still those who still cling on to sanity. Whether it's Kardashev and the last Ultravisionaries bringing together the survivors of Magnitogorsk, the Bastillards of New Tomsk re-emerging, or even an ex-NKVD agent taking up the mantle of "Alexei II", some continue to strive for a better future. And if the final epilogue is anything to go by should any of the sane factions succeed in reunifying the Russian wastes, those hopes are vindicated.
  Time heals all wounds and washes away hatred. In a distant future, let it all become faded.
  • If Svetlana Stalina is not targeted by Igor Shafarevich after he comes to power and Taboritsky subsequently takes over the Passionaryy, she escapes into self-exile and disappears from the murderous reach of the Shturmoviki. The event above, describing a woman named Svetlana reaching the last leg of her journey from Amur to Komi's former capital of Syktyvkar via Archangelsk and featuring a tooltip with text adorned in the colors of what would be Stalina's Russian Reconstruction Authority, heavily implies Stalina's survival - and to the digital age, no less.
• Komi is (in)famous for the various dystopian futures it can visit upon Russia, but if the democratic coalition grows strong enough early in the game, they can decisively win the 1963 election and deal with the extremists once and for all, paving the way for an idyllic future. One event at the regional stage involves a schoolteacher, Katerina, crying tears of joy after a delivery of new, modern textbooks covering the latest in every field. Once, she worried that the German bombings destroyed any chance for young Russians to know their history. Now, however...
  For the first time since she was born, Katerina knew what it felt like to have hope for the future. And she could dream that...

  ...the children had a chance to never know a world without it.
• In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the Russian states field a single united Olympic team, the "United Team", showing to the world that Russia has not been consigned to the ashes of history. The event showing training for the Olympics also shows the spirits of both the players and the inhabitants of the town they are practicing in being lifted by the hope of practicing for the Olympics.
• As depressing as Novosibirsk can be, by the regional stage, it's possible for Vasily Shuskin to not only stand up to the siloviki and megacorporations. But he takes it upon himself to push for environmental policies, restraints on corporate abuses, and a genuine drive towards democracy, as originally envisioned when the Federation was founded. In so doing, he brings back, albeit in measured form, the idealism of Tomsk, all while still bringing order and prosperity to Russia.

  Dreams of Federation

• There are a few in the story of the bogatyr:
  • In Amur, the bogatyr helps bury a dead Jewish man. This is particularly heartwarming given that in Jewish tradition, caring for the dead is considered among the highest of good deeds, because the dead can never repay it.
  • After journeying across Russia, the bogatyr returns to Vyatka and to Sofia.
• Steve, the American tourist who treks across Russia from Kamchatka to the WRRF, collecting stories and trinkets and making friends along the way. If Steve survives the trip and arrives back in the States, he details his adventure in a book called "Across the Tundra" which becomes a New York best-seller and raises awareness across America of the plight of the Russian people.

The USA

• The George Wallace presidency promises to attack the Civil Rights Act and enforce racial segregation, with much of his focus tree dedicated to applying it across several facilities. However, it is possible for one to ignore all of the segregation-based focuses and instead spend time downplaying such rhetoric, all while making meaningful economic reforms. Doing so means that Wallace will end up allowing integration to happen in a way that moderates approve of, and in a secret event that occurs from this◊, he spends a private drive across the Maryland city and can't help but smile at seeing a young black girl being guided by a white crossing guard to the newly integrated school. Even though he knows that a small part of him won't fully accept integration, he feels good about the steps he's taken to get to this point, with no riots and turmoil in sight. Instead of going down in history as a man that forced America apart and regretting it all, Wallace is welcomed for tactically handling the standoff in Texas and allowing the nation to move forward, his contingent of hardline Far-Right supporters be damned.
• Successful decolonization of the OFN African Mandates. While the leaders of the various OFN mandates are pressured by corporate interests, they genuinely have good intentions and leave a democratic and independent Africa prepared to determine its own future. Whatever path they may take in the future, Sub-Saharan Africa has gone from being ruled by the Nazis to being on a stronger footing than even OTL.
• Depending on everyone's perspective, including the player, The Civil Rights Bill of 1964, just like in OTL, was made to stop discrimination against, not just blacks, but also to every minority such as the LGBT community, immigrants, Indigenous people, Latinos, Asians and so on. If president RFK or Lyndon B Johnson won the election, there might be a possibility to sign the bill. Despite the opposition's antagonistic opinion about the bill, and unlike on the countries in Japan and Germany for what they did to the Koreans and the Jews, it would also combat the discrimination and slavery since 1865.
• Despite being a Tearjerker moment, McCormack telling RFK about his condolences to his brother and the former president John F Kennedy, is a huge nice touch to him, continuing his brother's legacy and promise to, not only to John and his family himself, but also the entire nation to make this democratic country free for all people.
• Getting Very Powerful in all five Great Society categories and finishing the Lyndon B. Johnson tree each gives the player a separate epilogue event. The former describes the impact Johnson's Presidency has had on American society, with poverty and discrimination largely vanquished, education and healthcare taken for granted by all, and the environment protected for future generations. The latter describes how proud Johnson is having completed his Great Society despite all the troubles that were in his path, as he prepares to leave the White House. Since the majority of Johnson's events tend to be negative, revolving around some variation of things going wrong and American discontent with his policies, hearing good news about all the changes that you've fought hard for is really heartwarming.

Other Europe

• While forced to compete under a Slovak banner, Vera Caslavska's training for the 1968 Olympics (and her success in the 1964 Olympics) illustrates to the world that regardless of German policies, the Czech people still live on.
• Iberia begins as a country divided, under a dictatorship, having to deal with the ramshackle Gibraltar Dam and with terrorist groups attacking. It can end as a prosperous, strong democracy with peace on the horizon.
• The return of the Free French from exile, whether from fighting their way or by Pinay's Repubic or Guichard's Kingdom reaching out for reunification.

Other/Misc

• From the various nuclear endings:
  • An old couple married for 50 years watching the end of the world together. Crosses over into Tear Jerker with the wife dying of insulin deprivation the night the bombs fell and the husband implied to have died not soon after.
  • The Queen of England is heavily implied in one event to have stayed behind to help their people flee into the bunkers, with her last radio broadcast calling on God to bless her people. Her last radio address is discovered by the survivors and she is remembered as a martyr and a hero by the descendants of those that survive the apocalypse.
  • Rival hockey teams in the ruins of what was once America working together to rebuild society.
  • A Chinese couple watching fireflies (or embers) dancing in the forest not long after the missiles go off.
  • Some Native American tribes returning to their ancestral homelands nearly two centuries after being forced out. While they are unsure what will happen when they arrive, they know one thing:
    No more tears.
  • In post-apocalypse Austria (called "Osterland" in the event), a girl implied to be of Jewish descent kisses a boy with romantic feelings for her, but who had feared telling her his feelings in fear that he'll be rejected due to his Nazi ancestry. They get married with their entire village blessing the marriage and live long and happy lives.
  • If Omsk's Black League was the one to reunify Russia and inevitably caused the apocalypse, we get one of his far-off descendants telling their child a Fairy Tale version of the war against the Germans, and how Yazov finally came to his senses once it was over, dedicating him and his survivors to rebuilding the world they had destroyed, making sure this burden was passed on through the generations.
  • The descendants of some of the Nazis chosen by Himmler to survive the apocalypse in the alps see everyone that they meet in the post-apocalyptic world as Aryan, and subsequently abandon their racial hatred, providing aid to everyone.
    Time erases even hate.
  • Two siblings become the first of the post-post-apocalyptic age to rediscover the airplane, and manage to take flight for a few seconds.
    For a brief moment, Debrya had the sensation of being watched from above. Almost as if generations long-dead were smiling upon them. It was a strange feeling, but a hopeful one.
    
    Two siblings claim the skies together, just as it was long ago.
  • Far into the future, a post-apocalyptic civilization manages to land men on the moon once more. As astronauts proudly jump onto the lunar surface while millions watch, they pause as they spot something in the distance. A flag, bleached white by the sun. The astronauts replace the ancient flag with their own, and take it back to Earth.
    And as their ancestors dreamed, they dreamed.
    • That flag being the Nazi flag planted on the Moon at the start of the story. Now, it is a flag of surrender: The old world is surrendering to the new one; the monstrous ideology of Nazism has been forgotten and humanity can move on from the horrors of the past.
• If relationship between Henrique Teixeira Lott and Janio Quadros becomes very friendly, they have a cordial meeting where they acknowledge that it was a good decision to become friends with each other at the end of Lott's presidency.

---