Recap / Mayr Neuschwabenland

Antarctica Recap:
Index | Neuschwabenland | OFN Antarctic Administration | Argentine Antarctica

For those exiles who'd caused the blast, the sleeper was known by a different name... Neuschwabenland.

"And here you can see penguins, bravely hunted by intrepid Aryan explorers..."

— Museum für Naturkunde Germania Tour Guide

Even before the Second World War, Germany was interested in claiming Antarctica for itself. In the Third German Antarctic Expedition, Alfred Ritscher explored the frozen continent to find potential locations for a whaling station and a naval base. Richard Mayr, Richard Heinrich Schirmacher, and Alfred Kottas mapped out thousands of square kilometers and struck a territory claim for Germany, though their achievements were quickly overshadowed with the outbreak of World War II. The claim would largely be ignored, until a Antarctic territory dispute between Argentina and Chile spilled into the Scramble for Antarctica. Soon, all three superpowers were keen on claiming the continent for themselves, where Norway's former claims and the Third Expedition were used as an excuse to form Neuschwabenland. The Nazis envisioned a colonization of Antarctica, but these plans quickly fell apart when supply shortages and the West Russian War made such efforts unsustainable. Hundreds starved to death or succumbed to the cold, leading to Neuschwabenland's reorganization into a military administration, tasked with experimenting with new weapons and technology. Mayr and Schirmacher were brought back to Antarctica to oversee this process, where Neuschwabenland has devoted most of its resources to developing new aviation technology.

Though Neuschwabenland has since become a dumping ground for exiles and disgraced German officials, Mayr is joined by a colorful cast of Nazis who make up his cabinet. One of his closer allies is Ernst Herrmann, a member of the German Society for Polar Research and former explorer who secretly resents the Nazi regime for killing his friend during the Night of the Long Knives. A more enigmatic member is Erich Schumann, the man who invented the nuclear bomb and dropped it on Pearl Harbor, ending World War II in an Axis victory. Schumann believes that Germany can only win the Cold War with unrelenting nuclear superiority and he uses his connections to Hermann Göring to open more nuclear testing options; his work becomes so impressive that Neuschwabenland defunds Mayr's aviation projects to support Schumann's experiments. Lastly is Anton Grasser, Schumann's adjutant whose main job is to run security and counterintelligence to foreign agents.

Work in Neuschwabenland is thankless and hard. The environmental conditions are cold and merciless, the food tastes awful, and there's little to see besides the penguins and other scant wildlife; often, the only solace is the camaraderie, the coffee, and the traditional movie nights. In addition to the researchers and security, there is also the 2nd Mountain Division, commanded by General der Gebirgstruppe Hans Degen and trained in Neuschwabenland, until they are deployed in the Second Malagasy Uprising.

While many will think that life in Neuschwabenland is monotonous, it can also be very dangerous. Being stranded in the wilderness is an effective death sentence and an occurrence common enough to claim several lives. More ominous are the mysterious Ahnenerbe Antarktis Gruppe, an SS research group searching for evidence in support of the Nazis' esoteric theories on racial purity. They answer only to Heinrich Himmler and prove less than loyal to Mayr. Case in point, the Ahnenerbe flood Neuschwabenland's Arminius Station with Pervitin and cut off their other luxuries. The crew gets hooked on the drug, to the point they think that their captive emperor penguin is a person and name it "Maximilian". If they don't break their addiction, the entire station collapses as the crew become high enough to start killing themselves or forsake their basic necessities and perish.

Danger lurks within Neuschwabenland itself. Knowing that Germany will soon be torn apart in a succession crisis, Schumann conspires with Göring and Grasser to launch a putsch and depose Mayr, who is a devoted Bormannite. The triumvirate and their supporters imagine a new future for Neuschwabenland, one where the men of science and technocracy are no longer beholden to party politics and free to conduct their experiments. Their predictions of conflict are proven right when Hitler dies and the German Civil War begins. With one final order from Göring, Schumann and Grasser mutiny in Neuschwabenland's main research center, Schirmacher Station. However, Mayr anticipated such treachery and his men get into a standoff with Schumann's conspirators. Soon, the two sides realize that they'll destroy themselves if they keep fighting, as the German Civil War means that the supply line to the Reich has been cut off. Neuschwabenland is under a supply shortage and it will need to ration as much as possible if it is to survive this season of desperation. The need for unity becomes even more urgent when news breaks out of an Ahnenerbe attack.

While Mayr and Schumann have been fighting, the SS invaded Neuschwabenland to kidnap Schumann and steal his nuclear designs for Himmler's own machinations. The crew of Neuschwabenland valiantly fight off the Ahnenerbe attackers and beat them back, albeit not without sacrificing some lives in the process. More vulnerable than ever, the crew of Neuschwabenland agree to a truce and must hunker down, until someone emerges victorious in the German Civil War and can send help to Antarctica.

Drastic measures must be implemented if the supplies are to be conserved. All but the most essential missions are abolished, everyone is consolidated in Schirmacher Station, and vehicles are stripped down for their parts. An old Neuschwabenland colony is even raided to scavenge what's left, though the crew has a firefight with some stranded Ahnenerbe soldiers. However, the most controversial and desperate means of survival is cutting the food rations for everyone, which will lead to starvation and disease epidemics. If cut down enough times, the men are starved enough to consider cannibalizing on the frozen Ahnenerbe corpses they still have. Mayr is reluctant to stoop so low and can either approve or reject this proposal. If he accepts, some soldiers get bloodthirsty enough to kill and eat one of their weaker comrades, earning them a death sentence via exile. However, if Mayr rejects, more soldiers will starve to death.

It is imperative that the crew does not run out of supplies during the German Civil War. If they do, almost everyone perishes from starvation, hypothermia, disease, or suicide. Among the few survivors, Schumann and Grasser head outside so they can kill themselves and escape an even worse fate to the elements. Mayr, Schirmacher, and Herrmann gracefully accept their looming deaths by sharing a last drink and bantering to each other. Eventually, the population of Schirmacher Station hits zero and Antarctica reclaims its territory when millions of emperor penguins make it their nesting grounds. And thus Neuschwabenland's crew meets a similar ignoble fate to the colonists so many years ago.

However, if Neuschwabenland perseveres and the German Civil War ends, a rescue Kriegsmarine ship arrives to relieve their suffering. With either Speer or Bormann in charge, it's agreed that new blood is needed in Antarctica. Neuschwabenland's status can either be retained as a military base or converted into a scientific or civilian administration. Meanwhile, most of the old crew is recalled back to Germany so they can be honorably discharged and rewarded. This means that Mayr will be replaced, either by Konstanty Gutschow in Speer's route or Viktor Lutze in Bormann's route. In a more unique case, Göring's victory means that Schumann will be given temporary leadership of Neuschwabenland and permitted to continue his experiments; the latest delivery on Schumann's doorstop is the creation of chemical and biological weapons. No matter who the new Führer is, a new chapter is about to begin in Neuschwabenland's history and the Exile curiously watches what the winds of change will bring.

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This route provides examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: After non-essential missions are suspended to conserve supplies, a soldier tells his colleagues and even Grasser a joke to boost their morale: Hitler and Göring are standing atop the Vokshalle and the former asks what he can do to make every Berliner happy. Göring tells Hitler "Why don't you jump?" After a brief moment of silence, everyone present laughs.
• Addled Addict: A few workers in Arminius Station have a Pervitin addiction, causing them to treat the penguin in their enclosure as a "prisoner" and naming it 'Maximilian'. On a serious note, it's later revealed that the SS in the Ahnenerbe have been sending these drugs to Neuschwabenland to weaken them, ensuring that they would get hooked on Pervitin by reducing their other luxury items. If they refuse to give up their addiction, Arminius Station falls apart as the entire staff die from drug overdose or are so high that they don't notice the SS patrol sent to investigate them and leave them to perish.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • If the Germans scavenge the Saint Brendan, an Irish civilian vessel, they don't find any supplies, but they discover that the vessel was sending encrypted messages to the Irish Taoiseach for unknown reasons. While the rest of the ship is demolished so it won't fall in enemy hands, the mysterious messages are sent to the Abwehr to discover what the ship's purpose was, though they are never revealed within the mod's timeframe.
  • During the Civil War, a scout finds the wreckage of a Ki-37, a Japanese transport plane. Their investigation reveals three dead bodies: one with two bayonet wounds to the chest, the second with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head and a broken leg, and the last one with bleeding around the mouth. The scouts ponder whether they killed themselves to avoid a worse fate or if they killed each other to desperately save the supplies for themselves. No one knows the answers to these questions, but the sight is startling enough for one scout to wonder if dwindling supplies in Neuschwabenland will cause a similar scene of violence.
  • If Milch wins in Madagascar and sends supplies to help Neuschwabenland during the Civil War, the captain he sends will refuse to take any wounded with him on the return trip, claiming that the ship barely managed to carry its cargo in one piece and it would be riskier to transport them on the vessel. Mayr doesn't believe him, but doesn't press the issue so he doesn't spoil Milch's good grace, leaving the topic open-ended for whether the captain is telling the truth or not.
• Animal Lover: Houndmaster Theodore Baden doesn't mind his stay in Antarctica because he loves the hundreds of sled dogs who have been bred in Neuschwabenland and used to bring supplies to distant outposts. He thinks that they have an almost-telepathic bond with each other and is greatly upset when they are killed for food, to the point of nearly committing suicide.
• Any Last Words?: Subverted for the food thieves caught after rations are cut in half. Mayr is so disgusted with their crimes that he denies them the opportunity for last words and coldly hangs them on the gallows in front of everyone.
• Ate His Gun: Subverted, if the sled dogs are killed and eaten to survive the supply crisis. The Houndmaster is distraught by the slaughter of his companions and puts a gun in his mouth to shoot himself. However, he doesn't pull the trigger because he imagines one of his oldest dogs coming round the corner and dissuading him from ending his life.
• Bait-and-Switch: Two German soldiers capture a supposed prisoner and take them in for interrogation. The prisoner is not very talkative and the soldiers see malice in its every movement. When their superior arrives to lecture them, it's revealed that the soldiers are high on Pervitin and their so-called prisoner is a penguin.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The sled dogs of Neuschwabenland are usually loyal companions, but when they go unfed, they turn vicious. Some SS soldiers in the Ahnenerbe attack learn this the hard way and get torn apart by the hungry dogs.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Bormann and Göring endings of Neuschwabenland are a mixed bag for the leadership. In either case, the crew are rescued from their isolation and promised a safe evacuation back to Germany. However, the former case leaves most disappointed, as Herrmann knows that the horrific Nazi regime will live on and Grasser resigns due to the news of his sons being killed in the Civil War. It would also be more bitter if Neuschwabenland is converted into a military administration, meaning the threat of conflict will persist in Antarctica. Meanwhile, in the latter case, Schumann is free to conduct his nuclear experiments in aid to the Reich, but most of the crew will be honorably discharged from service, while Mayr and Schirmacher are given permanent advisory positions in the German Society for Polar Research.
• Boring, but Practical: As an iceberg is about to calve into the sea and take a base with it, the crew transport their magnetic equipment on sled dogs, the most primitive method at their disposal. However, it was also the only practical way to do so; a plane or truck would've been too risky.
• Both Sides Have a Point: To conserve supplies, Mayr can cease all naval endeavors and scrap the boats for useful material. But this sparks outrage from a captain, who argues that the boats could be their last resort to access shipping lanes and that scrapping the fleet would be a blow to Neuschwabenland's international standing. Picking either option has different in-game benefits and it's up to the player to decide which side has the greater point.
• The Bus Came Back: If the local wildlife is repeatedly hunted down for food, Maximilian from the Pervitin subplot reappears as the sole surviving penguin left in Neuschwabenland, tricking a hunter into falling through the ground before escaping into the wilderness. Maximilian also returns again if Neuschwabenland runs out of supplies and the entire crew perishes, where he and millions of other penguins reclaim Schirmacher Station as their territory.
• But Not Too Foreign: One soldier in the 2nd Mountain Division is Norwegian instead of German.
• But Thou Must!: Encountering Ahnenerbe soldiers in an abandoned colony, the scavenger crew can either quietly retreat back to their helicopter or ambush the SS to clear their escape. Both options end with the crew successfully escaping with no casualties and reporting their findings to Schirmacher.
• Character Customization: There are a number of events where a mutually exclusive choice must be made to customize the specializations and traits of the German high command:
  • In the first event for Degen, giving a rest break will grant a "Planned Training" trait and a quick training will give a "Rapid Training" trait.
  • The type of training doctrine can be picked to determine a trait for Degen, where his own plan gives him the "Manuever Training" trait, Grasser's plan gives the "Defense Training" trait, and Zorn's plan gives the "Attack Training" trait.
  • If the supply lines are secured per Degen's orders, he will be given the "Supply Assurances" trait.
  • A group of soldiers are sent to dig a foxhole. If they dig a second hole, Zorn will gain the "Entrenchment Speed" trait. If they keep digging their first hole deeper and wider, Zorn will gain the "Entrenchment Depth" trait.
  • During a training exercise, Zorn will gain the "Environment Training" trait if several soldiers avoid the "enemy" igloo outpost. If the soldiers attack the outpost, Zorn will be given the "Night Attack Training" trait.
  • A Feldwebel soldier can punish some bickering troops by either sending them to sort the storeroom or pore over maps of Antarctica. These will grant Zorn the "Sorted Supplies" and "Planned Offensives" trait, respectively.
  • Zorn debates whether to give the fuel reserves to Kottas' navy or Preuschoff's air force. The first option will give Kottas the "Naval Supplies" trait and the second will give Preuschoff the "Air Supplies" trait.
  • Training the 2nd Mountain Division to withstand encirclement will give Zorn the "Prepared for Encirclements" trait. The alternative strategy of securing their rear and increasing their mobility will grant the "Prepared for Defense" trait.
  • Tropic warfare in Madagascar can be studied to give Zorn the "Hot Climate Training" trait, but ignoring this strategy will instead give the "Cold Climate Training" trait.
  • Moving to the Stubai Alps for an exercise, the 2nd Mountain Division can either press onwards to try beating their best time or hoist the guns on their current position to prepare for the training. Respectively, these will grant Fuessenegger the "Speed Training" or the "Attack Training" traits, respectively.
  • With news of factionalism seeping into the countryside, the 2nd Mountain Division can end its leave early and begin training, giving Fussenegger the "Extra Training" trait. The Division can also give an extra week of leave for the soldiers to enjoy more time with their loved ones, granting the "Rested and Ready" trait.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: After giving up his Pervitin addiction, Lukas Bayer releases Maximilian from his enclosure and treats it as another human being. It's an idea that no one's thought about before, but Maximilian is a great morale boost for his friend suffering Pervitin withdrawal. It works so well that Bayer proposes releasing all of the penguins and imagines Maximilian approving his idea.
• Crazy Enough to Work:
  • A German patrol is sent to scavenge decade-old ships that crashed in Antarctica, with the leader thinking that such a venture would be hopeless and entirely reliant on luck. When they reach the wreck and scavenge the vessel, the Wotan, everyone is shocked to find nonperishable food, medical supplies, clothing and, best of all, liquor.
  • If the machine guns are armed to defend the base, an MBB Bo 115 helicopter enters the battle on Mayr's behalf and easily shreds the SS mutineers with machine gun fire. One of the soldiers below calls them "mad bastards," yet he loves the decisive move enough to give an order to charge at the Ahnenerbe.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: In Mayr's encirclement plan, the Ahnenerbe mutineers are finished off with smoke grenades that burn their flesh with white phosphorus.
• Defector from Decadence: As communication to the Reich falls apart during the Civil War, Stefan can no longer tolerate working for the Nazis or hiding his Jewish ancestry from them, so he leaves at night so he can defect to either Chile or the OFN. Karl catches him right at gunpoint, but Stefan kills him to escape.
• Decided by One Vote:
  • The 2nd Mountain Division's loyalty in the German Civil War is tied between Fessenegger for Bormann, Zorn for Göring, and Feurstein for Speer. The tiebreaker vote lies in Degen's hands.
  • Neuschwabenland's planned counterattack to the Ahnenerbe is divided between encircling them or clearing them out one room at a time. Mayr and Grasser vote for the former option, while Schumann and Schirmacher favor the latter option, leaving the tiebreaker to Herrmann.
• Destroy the Evidence: As the militarists gear for war, Schumann sends a letter to Göring that he's ready to initiate his putsch and awaits his final order, but he also tells Göring to burn the letter after reading it so that any evidence of the conspiracy will not be uncovered.
• Don't Celebrate Just Yet: The scavenger team sent to one of Neuschwabenland's old colonies finds some supplies to alleviate their shortage, but their relief is interrupted when one of their men gets his throat slit, meaning that abandoned Ahnenerbe soldiers are also present. They'll need to fight their way out before they can enjoy their victory.
• Driven to Suicide: If all supplies are used up during the German Civil War, most of the surviving crew either shoots themselves or walks out into the Antarctic wilderness so that the cold will kill them.
• Due to the Dead:
  • Despite being Norwegian, Larsen's demise is mourned by his comrades and they're the only ones who attend his funeral, since he has no family left. They bury him in Léopoldville, Zentralafrika and salute, as his body is lowered and "Ich hatte' einen Kameraden" is played.
  • When news of Alfred Ritscher's passing reaches Neuschwabenland, Mayr and Schirmacher pour a drink and give a toast to his memory.
  • If a German patrol scours the Italian freighter Antonio, they won't find any supplies, but instead find the entire crew dead there. The patrol pays their respects by covering the bodies in blankets and lowering them into the sledges.
  • Mayr and Schirmacher mourn Hitler's passing and share a glass of schnapps in his memory.
  • An aircraft designer sacrifices his life to stop the SS from seizing Schumann's nuclear plans. His close friend and two pilots give him a proper burial in the snow to honor him.
  • Subverted when a crew investigates an abandoned settlement's munitions building for supplies and finds the frozen corpses of its inhabitants. The crew are disgusted that they were left for dead and wish that they could give them a proper burial, but they have no time to do so and can only promise that they will return.
  • If supplies run out and the German Civil War is ongoing, most of the crew will perish from starvation, disease, hypothermia, or suicide. Mayr, Schirmacher, and Herrmann use their last living moments to share a toast to their memory and drink the last of the schnapps.
• Emergency Food Supply Animal: With the supply chain to the Reich cut off during the Civil War, Mayr may authorize the consumption of Neuschwabenland's sled dogs as a last resort food source.
• Empathic Environment: Clouds rarely appear over Schirmacher Station and the day they do is when the crew siphons the fuel of their vehicles and somberly bid farewell to the machines they've worked with for so long.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As a victim of an SS attack lays dying, the last thing he thinks about is his parents and sister, whom he deeply misses.
• Even Evil Has Standards: A Wehrmacht division was disgusted with the atrocities committed by an SS detachment during the West Russian War, so much that they turned on them and executed them in mass graves, much like how the SS killed most of their victims. During the Ahnenerbe attack, a soldier from that division is reminded of his revulsion and feels greater satisfaction in killing them.
• Eye Scream: A crew member of Theodoric Station gets lost in a cold snap and a search party discovers his body, which had its eyes plucked out by scavenging petrels.
• False Reassurance: After acquiring supplies from the SS, a Neuschwabisch officer tells his men to hurry back to base under the promise that they'd have Sauerkraut and Schnitzel for dinner. He neglects to mention that the latest shipment they have will be the last one until the solstice, but he omits this information so they can remain motivated with the promise of a meal.
• Fetch Quest: An early subplot revolves around a German patrols mission to scavenge abandoned ships that crash landed in Antarctica and bring them back to Neuschwabenland. After searching the SS Wotan, the patrol only has the time and space to scavenge either the Antonia, the Ponce de León, or the Saint Brendan, which will give 2 legitimacy, 2 militarization, and 2 intelligence, respectively.
• From Bad to Worse: If rations are halved to survive the German Civil War, cases of scurvy pop up throughout Neuschwabenland. However, it gets worse when ten men die without exhibiting any scurvy symptoms and a doctor discovers that they perished from botulism, due to eating bacteria-infected food. On top of that, the doctor also reports that everyone in Neuschwabenland has lead poisoning from years of eating improperly canned food.
• Godzilla Threshold: With the supply line to the Reich cut off during the Civil War, matters can get desperate enough for Mayr to cut rations in half. This will deal a major hit to the crew's nutrition and potentially facilitate an epidemic of diseases like scurvy, but it might be the only chance for everyone to weather the crisis.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: When the Civil War ends, everyone in Neuschwabenland goes ecstatic when they see a ship with the Kriegsmarine flag, signaling their rescue and ending the season of desperation.
• Heroic Sacrifice: An elektrokineer intervenes in the SS mutiny and sacrifices his life in either scenario. If he rushes to his jet lab, he gets shot in the leg and bleeds out, but not before turning on the turbine to incinerate the SS soldiers. Meanwhile, if he improvises the lab's last pot of coffee, he and his colleague kill several mutineers, but he also gets stabbed deep enough in the leg to slice his femoral artery and bleeds to death.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Stefan likes the look-out duty because it appeals to his desire of becoming an explorer, such as observing the penguins residing on the Antarctic coast.
  • Stefan secretly listens to the McMurdo Radio Station. Even though he doesn't know English, he likes the music they play.
  • A soldier of the 2nd Mountain Division plucks Edelweiss flowers he finds in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains, knowing how unique of a plant they are.
• Hostage Situation: Desperate after starvation rations are reduced to a quarter, some mutinous soldiers seize a supply depot and hold the guards there hostage. Grasser can either respond with force or try to negotiate. The former option ends with all the mutineers arrested, but five hostages executed. The latter option saves the hostages, but promises increased rations for the participants and leads to the creation of a watchlist for more potential cases of treason.
• The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: In an abandoned colony, some abandoned Ahnenerbe soldiers stalk after a scavenger crew sent to find supplies and they slit one of their member's throats. However, the scavenger crew can turn the tables around and ambush them when they approach their helicopter, giving them an opening to escape.
• I'm a Humanitarian: One soldier, Ryker Hannemann, gets desperate when starvation rations are declared and starts developing a taste for human flesh. If Mayr authorizes cannibalism, Hannemann greedily consumes the bodies of cooked SS mutineers and later gets executed when he eats one of his starved comrades. Meanwhile, if cannibalism remains outlawed, Hannemann is defeated to see every frozen corpse burned and starves to death, still wondering if the cannibalism could've saved himself.
• Improperly Paranoid:
  • After the SS attack on Schirmacher Station, a German scout is terrified of more incoming attacks, so much that he orders a retreat when he sees thousands of emperor penguins approaching and thinks that they're all carrying plastic explosives sent to sabotage Neuschwabenland.
  • One Gauleiter from Neuschwabenland's colonies was a paranoid man who locked down his office and was suspicious of everything, including the penguins.
• It Can Think:
  • The local penguin populations are not stupid and will migrate away from Schirmacher Station if they start shooting them for food, until Maximilian is the only bird left in Neuschwabenland.
  • Maximilian is a lot more crafty than he looks. He sits in a particular position and even steps forward to lure a hunter into a spot where he cracks through the ground and bruises himself. By the time the hunter climbs back out, Maximilian flaps his wings once in amusement before disappearing.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: As Grasser leads a group of insurrectionists in Schirmacher Station, he thinks that the base is too quiet. His suspicion is confirmed when two soldiers appear in front of them and more loyalists appear from the rooftops, holding them at gunpoint long enough for Schirmacher to begin negotiations.
• Lazy Bum: After communications with the Reich are cut off during the Civil War, the soldiers in Neuschwabenland start getting lazy and appear on-duty drunk and with disheveled uniforms. Grasser notices the dozens of uniform infractions and warns everyone to stick to the Wehrmacht's standards, knowing from the West Russian War that unenforced rules are just a slippery slope into disorder.
• Lesser of Two Evils: One soldier in Neuschwabenland was caught trying to smuggle himself to Zentralafrika and was sent to Hamburg to work in social services as punishment. Even though he could've more easily escaped to Madagascar, the soldier explains he didn't because he knows the island is a career deadend for those who end up there and would rather take his chances trying to flee to Zentralafrika.
• Medicinal Cuisine: When rations are cut in half, a scurvy epidemic hits Neuschwabenland and the doctor tells Mayr that it can only be alleviated by consuming more fresh meat.
• Might Makes Right: After losing a dog sled race, the person in second-place punches the victor and breaks his "perfect Aryan nose". The former considers this a victory for proving his martial superiority.
• Misery Builds Character: When some soldiers complain about digging a foxhole in the frozen ground, one of them jokes that they're put to work because it "builds character".
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Within the first two months of the game, Herrmann receives a summons to Bremerhaven so he can lecture about the scientific and operational developments in Neuschwabenland. Harrmann excitedly awaits the chance to temporarily return to academia and catch up with his old colleague, Alfred Ritcscher. As he fondly reminisces about his past and thinks about traveling the world again, Herrmann is interrupted with devastating news for the Reich; Hitler has just been shot and his plane needs to turn around, since German airspace has gone under lockdown.
  • The otherwise comedic Pervitin subplot takes a dark turn if the Arminius staff refuses to give up their addiction, either dying from drug overdose or going mad from the influence. When the SS investigate, they don't even bother killing the survivors and leave them to perish in the fallen station.
• Moral Myopia: One soldier grieves the deaths of one of his comrades during the Second Malagasy Uprising and vows revenge on the 'untermenschen' for inflicting this loss, completely ignorant of Germany's own atrocities conducted against the indigenous Malagasy people.
• Motivational Lie: Though supplies are dwindling in the midst of the Civil War, Mayr can lie about how dire the situation is for his men and downplay its severity to keep morale up.
• Mundane Luxury: Penguin meat tastes horrible and has an awful texture, but the food situation in Neuschwabenland gets so desperate that, if a hunting party is repeatedly sent out, they will be cheered for bringing something to eat.
• Mushroom Samba: On the influence of Pervitin, Lukas Bayer hallucinates that a captured emperor penguin, "Maximilian", speaks German and tells him to stop taking drugs. It's up to Bayer if he listens or not.
• Nature Is Not Nice: As much politicking there is over Antarctica, the true threat menacing Neuschwabenland is Mother Nature:
  • The threat of freezing to death is ever present and multiple soldiers end up perishing in the cold, if they get lost or are caught in a storm.
  • An entire base is lost when an iceberg is about to calve away from the continent, forcing the crew to evacuate with the most expensive equipment and vital supplies before the base is lost to sea.
  • The animals also act in a morbidly creepy way, such as when a man is caught in a cold snap and has both of his eyes plucked out by snow petrels.
    Natura non contristatur.
  • If they try fleeing to the Argentinian territory, three deserting soldiers get swallowed whole in an ice plain that suddenly calves in from the weight of their tractor and swallows them whole.
• New Meat: A new arrival in Neuschwabenland hates the difficult work he's put through and thinks that his superiors are only hazing him because he's the new guy that needs to prove himself.
• Nightmare Sequence: In an early event, Schumann wakes up in a cold sweat from a nightmare of his nuclear bombing in Pearl Harbor. He remembers his takeoff in a Nakajima G10 N and launch of an atomic bomb that killed a hundred thousand people and even destroyed the Japanese bomber that accompanied him. The sheer destruction haunts Schumann, who fears that it could destroy Germany if a third world war breaks out.
• Non-Answer: If Mayr lies about the severity of the supply shortage, some soldiers will openly question his honesty to Schirmacher's face. The suspicion hits Schirmacher like a gut punch and he dodges the conversation by claiming he's not authorized to speak on the matter.
• No True Scotsman:
  • On a supply run to the Peter I Island outpost, Karl openly states his support for Heydrich and calls Stefan a "Jew-lover" who is betraying the Reich and its ideals. That's because Karl knows Stefan's secret Jewish ancestry.
  • One soldier is outraged with the implication that Hitler might die soon. When a foreign comrade tries to calm him down, the soldier excludes him as an Aryan and calls him a "Norwegian mutt".
• Nothing but Skin and Bones: By the time starvation rations are declared, one German soldiers loses his fit stature and becomes bone-thin from starvation and the lesions of scurvy.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ships have come and gone through Neuschwabenland throughout its lifetime, so everyone knows how dire the German Civil War is if naval endeavors cease so that the base can conserve its limited supplies.
• Open Secret: Nearly running out of food during the shortage, Mayr may authorize the consumption of dead SS mutineers and the cooks try to disguise their true nature in a stew. However, everyone knows what the source is, but many willingly consume it out of desperation.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: The transition of power from Mayr to Lutze is considerably tense, but indirect. Mayr hints at Lutze's foolishness in accepting a reassignment to Antarctica, while Lutze subtly criticizes his mismanagement of Neuschwabenland.
• Perspective Flip: If two soldiers arm all weapon systems to prevent the Ahnenerbe from sending reinforcements to their mutiny, the perspective takes an unorthodox switch to an emperor penguin, who witnesses the destruction of the Ahnenerbe's snowmobiles, hates the heat and smell of burning bodies, and retreats back to its brood.
• Pet the Dog: If Herbert Freitag tells his grandson about the Ahnenerbe attack, Ryker Hannemann will inform him that Mayr will punish such treason. However, Hannemann helps his friend defect to the United States, giving him a compass and a map to McMurdo so he can escape jurisdiction, while he directs the search party in the opposite direction of where Freitag is going.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: As Neuschwabenland is attacked by Ahnenerbe soldiers, a soldier is horrified to see his friend bleeding out and futilely begs him to stay alive.
• Poke the Poodle: Schirmacher Station has several large film reels from the 1930s to 1955, which were illegally acquired, but still watched by the crew during their break time.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • During a training exercise, some soldiers joke that it's hard to imitate the American forces because they don't have "Jew or Negro blood".
  • A new recruit in the 2nd Mountain Division reminisces his past and excitement that he's helping Germany cleanse the world of people they deem "vermin".
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: The crew in Theodoric Station work in some of the coldest regions of Antarctica. When the supply chain to Germany is cut and a retreat to Schirmacher Station is ordered, the crew have to pray as a desperate resort that the temperature doesn't dip below -86°C and cause their heating system to fail.
• Properly Paranoid: The consolidation of everyone to Schirmacher Station can be slow to secure their border from potential threats. This fear is vindicated when some OFN helicopters fly in to push their boundaries before they are warded off with heat-seeking missiles.
• Pyrrhic Victory:
  • Downplayed when the Germans win the Second Malagasy Uprising. Degen and Zorn are handsomely awarded for their efforts and they're proud of the 2nd Mountain Division's accomplishments, but they both express disappointment that their victory failed to unite the factionalized Wehrmacht. With this bleak outlook, they agree that the divisions will only worsen in the coming months.
  • Schumann's plan to take out the SS mutineers one room at a time will succeed, but it comes at a heavy cost when a grenade detonates some nearby propane containers and loses some supply reserves in a time where it is desperately needed.
  • Mayr can order a quick consolidation of everyone to Schirmacher Station so they won't waste any supplies. The plan goes relatively smoothly, but the number of supplies saved is so low that no one considers it to be worth the effort and Schirmacher rubs his temples in frustration.
• Rank Up: Parodied when a soldier who fought against the Ahnenerbe mutineers is "rewarded" with a promotion to penguin hunting so that Neuschwabenland won't starve during the German Civil War.
• Reaction Shot: Following Hitler's death, the reactions of each significant character in Neuschwabenland are described. Mayr and Schirmacher give a toast to his memory, Herrmann takes small satisfaction that his friend's death in the Night of the Long Knives is avenged, Grasser is in a state of sullen silence, and Schumann prepares his long-awaited mutiny.
  We all grieve in different ways.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The three deserting soldiers during the German Civil War end up getting punished, no matter where they go. If they flee to the Argentinian territory, the weight of their tractor falls through a calving ice plain and swallows them whole. If they flee to the OFN territory, their tractor stops cold in the snow, so one of them commits suicide by leaving the tractor and the other two huddle together before they freeze to death too. If they flee to the Ahnenerbe, two of them are deemed racially impure and have their throats slit, while the survivor gets to see his two friends killed in front of him.
• Right Under Their Noses: The emergency food cache is hidden in a warehouse that everyone thinks holds classified weapon systems and thus would never bother to look through there.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When his friend is killed by Ahnenerbe mutineers, a German soldier kills two SS men before dedicating himself to wiping them off of Antarctica.
• Rousing Speech:
  • Left alone in the German Civil War, Schumann first mobilizes his mutiny with a rousing speech to his men, proclaiming that it's time that the "men of science" prevail over Mayr and those who have towed the party line.
  • If Mayr is honest about Neuschwabenland's dire situation during the Civil War, he will still try to raise everyone's morale with an encouraging speech that they can survive by working together, calling everyone the finest explorers in the world. It's rousing enough that nearly three thousand people cheer in reaction.
• Sibling Rivalry: Grasser's two sons hate each other because one is a reformist and the other is a militarist in the Luftwaffe. Even when his father was about to go to Antarctica and hosted one last fishing trip with them, the two siblings end up brawling over their political differences, disappointing Grasser that his family is torn apart.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: With increasingly desperate measures being employed to survive the supply shortage, three soldiers steal some reserves and desert Neuschwabenland, either to Argentina, the OFN, or the Ahnenerbe.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After the Second Malagasy Uprising, a soldier of the 2nd Mountain Division still has nightmarish visions of his dead comrades, reflecting his guilt and horror that his blood brothers perished while they were still young.
• Sore Loser: A dog-sled race among Neuschwabenland soldiers turns violent when the person in second-place attacks the victor, having bet his week of coffee on the competition and feeling his pride wounded from the loss.
• Spotting the Thread: Göring's letter to Schumann is rather brief, despite having the time and flexible schedule to write more. It's a warning sign that trouble brews in Germany, specifically over the succession crisis of Hitler.
• Starting a New Life: Freitag's defection to the United States allows him to start a new life in Alaska, where he sends a postcard to Hannemann about his settlement and thanks him for helping him escape Neuschwabenland.
• The Stool Pigeon: After the Civil War's conclusion, a veteran soldier reunites with his grandson on the rescue ship and may spill information about Neuschwabenland's conflict with the Ahnenerbe. Doing so will force the soldier to flee Antarctica with help from one of his friends, allowing him to retire to Alaska.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • A submarine crewman is rudely awakened with a false alarm and hates his monotonous, routine life, but he catches a break when his job for the day is look-out duty, his favorite task.
  • The winter crew suffers the worst seasonal conditions to man Neuschwabenland, but they're given a brief respite in the annual tradition of watching a movie and enjoying each other's company. They especially enjoy a film of a crew member touring Schirmacher Station to bid farewell to its inhabitants and the ice-cold continent.
  • Starved for help during the German Civil War, the Neuschwabenland crew can catch a break when Schirmacher finds a map of abandoned settlements and sends a crew to recover supplies from them. Checking the supply dump is optimal, as they find a good number of crates containing food rations. The armory is also a good outcome for the crew, as they find weapons and rations to alleviate their situation. Searching the Gauleiter's office gives the least amount of supplies, but it's still alcohol that the men won't deny as a luxury and respite from their dire situation.
• Too Broken to Break: The final resort option to surviving the German Civil War is to cut down to starvation rations, so all but the most critical duties are suspended. Unlike the many times where rations have been cut, no one bothers to protest or rebel, having suffered enough that they just want to conserve their energy.
• Too Dumb to Live: Karl was smart enough to know that Stefan would try to defect from the Reich, but is arrogant enough to turn his back on him when he gets caught and held at gunpoint. This costs Karl his life when Stefan pulls out his own pistol and shoots him in the head before leaving on his tiny submarine.
• Tranquil Fury: When a soldier complains that he can't dig a foxhole through solid ice, his officer gives him a death glare and softly reiterates the order to him.
• Trust Password: A tattooed sailor is sent to supply Schumann's conspiracy, but requires a codeword before he gives them. When he yells at a German soldier, the latter forgets the password and is about to be scolded before Schumann steps in.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • The Ahnenerbe soldiers in the abandoned colony are left behind by the scavenger crew and presumably left to freeze to death in the coming storm.
  • After Neuschwabenland burns through all of their equipment during the German Civil War, three soldiers volunteer to take their last MBB Bo 115 and seek aid from the Argentinians. They were last seen flying into the twilight sky and probably froze to death when they ran out of what little fuel they had.
• Understatement: One scientist complains about his stay in Neuschwabenland, claiming that it's a punishment for "one little accident" back in Germania. One of his colleagues laughs and points out that said minor accident was forgetting to lock the door of a Chimpanzee pen, so it escaped, defecated all over the office, and attacked the Head of Research. The first scientist still defends himself on the last point that he had it coming.
• Victory by Endurance: The 2nd Mountain Division can be trained to hold their ground in case of encirclement, surviving by attrition until they can exhaust the enemy and relink to Neuschwabenland.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Mayr may refuse to kill and consume the sled dogs to make up Neuschwabenland's dwindling supplies, cheering the Houndmaster and being karmically rewarded when the dogs prove useful sled teams to rescued stranded outposts and discover a weapons depot with supplies still intact.
• Wham Line: A rescue crew drives a Raupenschlepper Ost tractor to recover a lost patrol who froze to death. Searching their inactive tractor, they're confused as to why the crew didn't return back to base when they still had extra gasoline, but further investigation reveals that the tractor stopped because its fuel saving modification caused a lower engine temperature and thus allowed the fuel to freeze. Then, they hear something awful that leaves their fates uncertain:
  Suddenly it became apparent that the familiar hum of their tractor's engine could no longer be heard.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After shooting Karl, Stefan can either defect to the OAA, Argentina, or Chile, but the choice doesn't matter because the plotline ends with his departure by submarine and the ambiguous note of whether he made it to his destination.
• What Is This Feeling?: As Schumann's men prepare for mutiny, they discover a feeling that they haven't felt in years: hope.
• What You Are in the Dark: Stefan isn't in Neuschwabenland for no reason; he actually has Jewish ancestry and wanted to hide in Antarctica from the SS.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: If the Germans scavenge the Ponce de León, an American liberty ship, they discover the vessel's robust construction and are impressed that a people they deem "racial degenerates" know good ship design.

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