Characters / TNO After Midnight

Main Character Index Superpowers: Großgermanisches Reich (Heydrich's Germany) | The United States of America (1964-1968 American Presidents | 1972 American Presidents) | Dai-Nippon Teikoku Major Powers: Regno d'Italia | Iberian Union | Republic of Turkey | Ordensstaat Burgund Other Countries By Region: Africa: Northern & East Africa | West Africa | Southern Africa | Post-Colonial Central Africa Asia: Mainland China & Oceania (State of Guangdong | 1964-1972 Guangdong Chief Executives | Guangdong Flavor Characters) | Southeast Asia (Republic of Indonesia) | South Asia | Middle East | Central Asia Europe: Northern & Western Europe (British Isles | French State) | Southern Europe | Eastern Europe (Reichskommissariat Ukraine | Reichskommissariat Moskowien) Americas: North America | South America (United States of Brazil | Argentine Republic | Oriental Republic of Uruguay) The Russian Anarchy: West Russia (West Russian Revolutionary Front | Komi Republic | Communist Party of Komi | Passionariyy Organization | Taboritsky's Russia) | Southern Urals | Western Siberia | Central Siberia (Siberian Black Army) | The Far East (Harbin Three) | After Midnight Miscellaneous: Antarctica | Miscellaneous Content | Non-Canon Content

Unmarked spoilers ahead! You Have Been Warned!

After Midnight

The Empire is as dead as its promised Tsarevich. Yet, what became of those that lay within its fractured carcass?

Russia's story may be over, but her people are not...

Disclaimer: Unification of Russia post-Midnight is not currently possible through regular gameplay. Therefore, all post-unification names and flags should be considered easter eggs and not official or final content.

General Post-Taboritsky tropes

• After the End: After Taboritsky's death, the Empire slowly disintegrates into total anarchy before the successor states emerge. No more radio broadcasts come from Russia anymore (aside from one constantly repeating mantra), and Russia essentially becomes a wasteland.
  Remain calm.
  The Regent endures.
  Alexei lives.
  The Holy Russian Empire shall endure.
  There is much to be done.
• Ambiguous Situation: There are events for national reunification, but they are only accessible through console commands, nor are they Superevents like with the normal Russian unifiers. The option to see them also comes in the form of a question, "...Unify Russia?", which describes the scenario as illogical and practically impossible for decades at the least under normal circumstances.
• Anarchy Is Chaos: Russia, after the collapse of the Holy Russian Empire, is plunged into a new warlord era made up of some of the most deranged and unstable people imaginable, with radicalized rebels and HRE remnants fighting over what remains of the nation.
• Anyone Can Die: Georgy Zhukov, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Mikhail Suslov, Lazar Kaganovich, Dmitry Yazov, all of Tomsk's Salon leaders, Rurik II, and Alexander Men are all confirmed dead by the time After Midnight occurs. Out of all of the starting warlords with a known fate in After Midnight, only Rurik II was killed before the HRE arrived in Siberia.
• Apocalypse How: The collapse of the HRE leads to a Regional Social Collapse, with much of the land being reduced to uninhabitable wasteland due to the mass chemical attacks, and what habitable land there is being fought over by warlords of often questionable sanity.
• Ascended Extra: By the time the HRE reaches Midnight, all of the original warlords present at the start of the game is dead either through the HRE's war of conquest or during the regional unification wars before Taboritsky's armies began marching east. As a result, most of the non-HRE remnant warlord states have figures who'd otherwise only be generals and ministers promoted to leaders.
• Balkanize Me: The Holy Russian Empire collapses into twenty-five different successor states.
• Bolivian Army Ending: Most if not all of the events for the HRE successor states end on either the leaders ponding an uncertain and bleak future, or start a war with their neighbors with the outcome left to the player's imagination.
• Burying a Substitute: According to the event "A Fallen Throne", Taboritsky didn't even get buried in the plot set aside for him in Vyatka, being burned by the Shturmoviki under Larionov's command. Instead, they just inherited a weighted casket for the public funeral.
• The Cameo: A number of generals of former Warlord states have survived Taboritsky's rule and now run with other factions that occationally differ from their starting ones, a few even alligning with the HRE remnant states.
• Clocks of Control: Some clock motifs return in the wake of Taboritsky's fall. The After Midnight update subtly does this with its hopeful ending, declaring that time heals all wounds.
• Crapsack World: After Taboritsky dies, there is little hope to be found in the wastes of Russia, as starvation and death run rampant while crazed followers of the late Regent are either clinging to their final orders calling for genocide or carving their own fiefdoms in the ruins, not to mention the Satanic cult in Omsk who sacrifices anyone they can get their hands on. Pray for salvation if you want, just don't expect God to answer, assuming he hasn't turned his back on Russia already.
• Darker and Edgier: In 1962, Russia wasn't exactly a walk in the park but at least most warlords could feed their people and the worst factions that could be found were only the Nazi cultists in Perm and the Fascist hardliners in Amur, both of whom often disappear from the map during the regional stage. In post-Midnight Russia, there are still HRE fanatics across the shattered landscape and one faction that partakes in honest to God Human Sacrifice. With starvation and leftover chemical weapons rampant combined with HRE remnants and various violent Ultranationalists running around, the new warlord period of post-Midnight Russia is much more violent and desperate as many factions simply wish to survive rather than reunite Russia.
• Death World: While Russia wasn't the most stable place in the world, at least there were independent warlords who were largely able to feed and care for their people. In post-Midnight Russia, if starvation or leftover chemical weapons don't get you, then either the Imperial remnants, the Satanists, the Black League, or the Kazakh ultranationalists will. Subverted however in that while there are certainly a number of factions who are either loyal to the madness of the HRE or have been radicalized by Taboritsky's descent to hell, there are many more factions who still have hope for a brighter future and try their best to lead their people.
• Despair Event Horizon: The people are far too tormented to move for national reunification this time, at least for now.
• Determinator:
  • Despite the humiliation brought on by the loss of WWII and the Holy Russian Empire's self-genocide, much of Russia's warlords are still able to regroup to fight for their ideals and rebel against Holy Russia's weakened vestiges. Even the Free Aviators survived with functional aircraft.
  • While national unification is very unlikely, the people are still capable of dreaming for a better and more hopeful tomorrow.
• Developer's Foresight: Knowing full well that players would try to reunite Russia once the HRE collapsed, the dev team also incorporated newspaper event cards along with national unification names and flags for all of the new warlord states.
• Distant Finale: The epilogue is implied to take place sometime in the 2010s, with references to smartphones.
• Downer Ending: Of all the possible warlords who can unify Russia, the development team considers Taboritsky's ending to be the absolute worst for Russia itself (though not the entire world, that honor goes to Hyperborea and the All-Russian Black League, both of which are likely to start a global thermonuclear war and end the world), which is known as the 'failstate'. Taboritsky's mad rule of Russia causes the country to collapse so catastrophically that becomes an absolutely lawless wasteland inhabited by all sorts of brutal, fanatical warlords, with the ideological, societal, and demographic madness inflicted by the Holy Russian Empire being so severe that it seemingly kills off the very idea of a unified Russian nation, forever. Easter Egg events imply that even if Russia were to unify within the next few decades, it can get even worse depending on the winner.
  Quote from news event of Taboritsky's national unification: "God save Russia - for no-one else can."
• Dragon Ascendant: Some of the institutions of Holy Russia aim to unify the country under their reins, making their move after the Regent's death.
• Dragon Their Feet: Several of Taboritsky's supporters and inner circle become major players in the new warlord era and are only directly confronted after his death.
• Drone of Dread: One is featured prominantly in post-midnight Russia's theme, The Clock Strikes 12, giving a player a sense of exactly what they did.
• Evil Tainted the Place: A large portion of Russia remains uninhabitable from chemical bombardments. Many, like the Brotherhood of Cain, also come to believe that malevolent spiritual forces were involved.
• Forbidden Zone: The great powers in general consider the post-HRE chaos to be one gigantic no man's land. One faction, the Salvation Committee of Kamchatka, frantically tries to contact the United States and ask it to accept Kamchatka as a U.S. territory. The Americans consistently refuse, being aware that the expenses to restore this new territory will be much more than its potential profits.
• From Bad to Worse: The Holy Russian Empire seemed to have been the definitive end to Russia and its people, sending its territory into a pitch-black state of anarchy with the vast amounts of land constantly chemically bombarded. Then After Midnight enters and introduces new warlords and events, showing that the suffering is far from over.
• Here We Go Again!: Upon Taboritsky's death, Russia is back to square one: shattered into a myriad of warlord states, with many of the initial factions reemerging. However, the damage done to Russia's land and psyche has made the anarchy even more violent and desperate, not able to reunite for decades if not centuries.
• History Repeats:
  • Once again, Russia has been shattered and reduced to warlordism at the hands of Nazism.
  • Should the HRE's remaining forces or those with similar ideas unify the wastes, the suffering that Taboritsky inflicted will continue over and over again.
• Hope Springs Eternal: In the wake of the HRE's collapse and the disarray it brought to Russia, there are just as many warlord states that optimistically seek a better future with their renewed ideologies to combat the insane and radicalised factions. And in the distant future, the suffering seen is implied to eventually dissipate as time begins to heal the country's wounds.
• Internal Reveal: Slowly but surely, the death of Taboritsky is made known to the public.
• It Is Beyond Saving: The world's great powers, and even some of the post-HRE warlords have all but written off the idea of Russia ever being reunified, let alone returning to some semblance of civilization or sanity. While unsurprising, given how devastated the landscape is by the time Taboritsky dies, whether those bleak sentiments are proven true depends on who emerges triumphant.
• Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair: All of the militant factions, the vast landscape, and the imposing presence that Holy Russia's chieftains perpetuated are brought to ruin. A large portion remains uninhabitable while several places have already begun rebellion.
• Loose Canon: For understandable reasons, the breakaway states that emerge from the HRE's corpse aren't determined by whatever unifiers a player defeats in their playthrough, but there does seem to be some set order of events to the scenario of After Midnight:
  • Mikhail Pervukhin's biography implies that Tyumen was the first unifier to fall to the HRE.
  • Alexander Zinoviev's bio mentioning Tomsk being purposely leveled by the HRE implies Tomsk united Central Siberia but were the next to fall.
  • Boris' biography notes that Kemerovo fell sometime before the Regent's armies began marching through Siberia.
  • One of the first factions to try and liberate the Far East following Taboritsky's death is the second coming of the Divine Mandate. Assuming the implication that Alexander Men survived the regional stage is correct, it rules out Yagoda or Rodzaevsky as having united the Far East, as they can only kill Men rather than spare his life like Sablin and Matkovsky do, not to mention the Divine Mandate being the last warlord left at the end of the regional stage due to its starting position.
  • One of Sobchak's events "From Across the Seas" mentions that Mikhail II fled back to Australia, though it isn't made clear if this implies the Transbaikal Principality was defeated during the regional stage or united the Far East and was the last to fall to the HRE (both of which would be decent enough reasons for why several White Army generals are now fighting for other warlords in the Far East). If Chita did fall during during the regional stage, then neither Yagoda or Rodzaevsky was responsible as they can only execute Mikhail II rather than let him go back to Australia.
  • After the North Russian Liberation Front appears following Taboritsky's death, Finland will automatically annex Karelia and the Kola Peninsula with next to no fanfare as if they never left, even if Taboritsky captured both regions just before uniting West Russia. While it could imply that Finland took back the regions following the Regent's death^note In fact, there is an event for the NRLF where Altunin surrenders all claims to both regions, there are no events of Finland retaking the regions to restore order and dealing with the legacy of Taboritsky's rule.
• Mounted Combat: According to the events for the warlords around the Kazakhstan region, horses have made a comeback as a popular mode of transportation in addition to making a return on the battlefield.
• Neverending Terror: Exaggerated by being applied to the entire population of Russia, as the world of After Midnight sees everyone in fear and panic. The chemical artillery and other stockpiled weapons in the main vestige of the HRE keeps its population, soldiers, and enemies in line. The liquidators refuse to abandon their missions to burn their targets down. Dikiy himself wants to establish an eternal regency. Not even the non-HRE remnants and more benevolent warlords are safe, as the new period of internal war has already crushed many people's hopes of national reunification, and attacks from other factions are a frequent concern. Should the HRE remnant states claim victory, the horror will continue.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Should Taboritsky be the one to reunify Russia, his empire's collapse makes the idea of a fully reunited Russia nearly impossible, even leaving areas permanently uninhabitable from his regime. His death causes a new descent into warlordism with completely new factions rising from the old.
• Oh, Crap!: The general reaction from Taboritsky's remaining henchmen have to the reveal of the Regent's Jewish heritage in the "Son of Cain" event. Larionov's men eventually announce it to the public in order to justify his own rule as Regent in the event "Quid est Veritas?", but some supporters either ignore it or dismiss it as a lie while others Go Mad from the Revelation. The citizenry meanwhile are largely too broken to really care anymore.
• Out of the Frying Pan: The Holy Russian Empire's reign may be over, but in its place are not only various successors and rabid supporters, but also new versions of previous warlords and their ideologies. Some have been radicalized by their experiences and have worsened in their flaws and violent tendencies.
• Player-Exclusive Mechanic: Some of the events may only fire through console commands. Though none of them have focus trees or further content at the moment, the new warlord era is playable through a sandbox mode.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: Following a full Taboritsky playthrough, the HRE is no more, dead by its own hands. However, the concerns of its legacy have become the next focus.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Taboritsky's unification of Russia only results in burning Russia east of Moskowien and Kazakhstan to the ground and subsequently dying sometime after reunification, turning a standard The Bad Guy Wins scenario into a horrifying dipiction of this trope as the HRE breaks into peices and may never unite again, let alone take back RK Moskowien from the Germans.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: The epilogue is a Distant Finale which shows that after several decades, Russia has begun to heal from the aftermath of Taboritsky's reign.
  "Time heals all wounds and washes away all hatred. In a distant future, let it all become faded. The End."
• The Remnant: Besides remaining forces leftover from the Holy Russian Empire, several of the new warlord states are formed from followers of previous warlord territories and their ideologies.
• Salt the Earth: Carried over from the original regime and a National Spirit shared by all warlords. The population and recruitment factor sharply decrease with the land usually being far too tainted to grow anything.
• Secret Character: Mikhail Pervukhin, Alexander Zvyagin, Abaddon/Anatoly Motsny, Sultanakhmet Kozhikov, Alexei II/Michał Goleniewski, and Nikolay Artamonov are all characters that were added to the game in the After Midnight update and are only playable in post-Taboritsky Russia.
• Shadow Archetype: The new stage of warlordism is in response to the horrors of the HRE's monarcho-Nazi rule being an additional layer of suffering and humiliation to the Soviet wastes after WWII. As such, the groups and states this time around are radicalized and even more extreme. Examples include the Black League conducting the Great Trial on their own people, a similar but twisted and inverted Irkutsk-Buryatia conflict in the Far East, and direct successors who carry the same ideals and purposes but under a lens of cynicism and depression.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Once Taboritsky comes to power, the rest of the Passionariyy, Svetlana Stalina, and Svetlana Bukharina all hightail it right out of Komi and eventually Russia. As post-Midnight shows, they were right to run.
  • According to one of Sobchak's events, Mikhail II fled back to Australia once Chita fell to an unspecified enemy.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • While a number of warlords are said to have died during the regional stage or during the HRE's own expansion if not having fled Russia altogether, many more leaders and important figures remain unaccounted for. Justified as due to the many states the HRE could potentially go through to unite Russia, it would be far too much work to craft a post-Midnight Russia with states that only emerge depending on which unifiers Taboritsky defeats.
  • Both Stalina and Bukharina can potentially flee Komi when Taboritsky successfully holds onto power. A Svetlana does appear as the viewpoint character for the Distant Finale, but it seems she isn't meant to be either woman as Svetlana is a common name for Russian women.
  • Prince Yuriy Krylov and Princess Lydia Krylova, Rurik II's other two children who can actually ascend to the throne after him, are only mentioned to be missing but considered all but dead.
  • Georgy Shekherev, Amur's Foreign Minister and an implied possible successor, is no where to be seen in Dikiy's Regency or even mentioned. In fact, he's the only starting member of Amur's general staff to not align with the Regency.
• Villainous Legacy: Taboritsky's death is followed by several factions proclaiming themselves to be his successors or attempting to fulfill his last orders for liquidation. His reign and actions will forever remain in memory and history long after his empire's collapse, though his name may fade.
• World Gone Mad: At game start, Russia was already pretty crazy, with fascists, ultranationalists, and all sorts of other ideologues capable of reunifying the country. Taboritsky's insanity has left Russia in an even more radicalized and violent state. The remaining democrats, socialists, despots, fascists and even the Rurikids are now competing with HRE remnants, even more Ultranationalists, genuine Satanists, and a former NKVD agent claiming to be Alexei himself.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea:
  • Despite Taboritsky's efforts, there are several Communist, anarchist, intellectual and (in his eyes heretically) religious successor warlord states that emerge from the corpse of the Holy Russian Empire.
  • On the darker end of this trope, Taboritsky's death does not mean the death of the Holy Russian Empire or of his mad ideology in Russia, with there being five different remnants of the HRE scattered over the landscape.
  • Hidden event cards hint that despite everything that's been done to the Russian people, the dream and possibility of a reunification under a more benevolent government is still alive even after Taboritsky's madness.

West Russia

Holy Russian Empire

^{Flag of the Holy Russian Redemption Authority}

Official Name: Holy Russian Empire, Holy Russian Redemption Authority (national unification)

Ruling Party: Obshchestvo Vozrozhdeniya Rossiyskoiy Imperii^note Society for the Revival of the Russian Empire

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism

The remnants of the Holy Russian Empire headed by Viktor Larionov, Taboritsky's former head of government, based near Vyatka.

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• Bait the Dog: One event details them halting the Gas Chamber procedures, as the guards hurriedly gather their prisoners outside. Tsvetnov, the prisoner whose perspective this is told in, can only wonder if this new Regent is kinder than the last. The troops then select specific names from their list to spare and take with them, dooming the rest. Those not called beg to be taken, but they are only answered with a firing squad.
• Book Ends: Their starting territory and the only place under their control is mostly Vyatka, the land where Taboritsky formed his fringe theories about Alexei's survival and Vladimir being a pretender to the throne, and the place he was exiled from for trying to spread his beliefs.
• Broken Pedestal: Upon receiving the passage revealing Taboritsky's mother as Jewish in his journal, Larionov and the rest of Holy Russia's chieftains are appalled and enraged.
• Dark Horse Victory: Their armies are barely held together, the fields are chemically razed and unsustainable, their populations constantly decrease, and the only thing they can really do is raid other states and send threatening messages. Despite all of this, they have a potential reunification event and threaten to actually restore their empire.
• Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: After discovering Taboritsky's Jewish heritage, they move to spread the information under the narrative of him planning to sacrifice Alexei upon return and being righteously slain by their coup, trying to solidify Larionov's rule as the new Regent.
• Divine Right of Kings: Introduce themselves in their event with this. They style themselves as the divinely-chosen servants of God and His supposed "vicar" on earth, Tsar Alexei.
• Doublethink: They hold a massive ceremonial funeral proceeding for their Regent, trying to uphold his legacy and burying a weighted casket to give off the air of respect. Shortly after, they discover his journal and are shocked to see that he was half-Jewish, and without any second thoughts, move to spread propaganda about him being slain in a righteous coup.
• Due to the Dead: They hold a grand procession and traditional Christian funeral with Taboritsky's own religious sect managing the rituals.
• Dystopia Is Hard: They have a hard time trying to control territory and claim authority after information regarding their leader's death breaks out.
• Forbidden Zone: Larionov's Holy Russian Empire is nothing but a pariah state guarded by a depleted army kept loyal solely by fear and the promise of riches. The rump empire is walled off from the rest of Russia, its only interactions with the other warlords being raids and threatening communications.
• History Repeats: Starting from Vyatka, they are the only faction left that truly believes in Alexei's return, and when following their story as a unifier, spread eastward to subjugate the masses under the Taboritsky's Imperial Cult. By the end of their After Midnight events, their leader slowly goes insane and suffers a stroke, prompting his close subjects to feign his survival and a decision to be reclusive.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: They personally dealt with Taboritsky as his inner circle. Now, they are but one of many vestiges to The Holy Russian Empire and reduced to launching petty skirmishes like every other warlord state.
• I Reject Your Reality: The Mad Regent's vision is their vision. Also subverted with his death, which they regretfully accept and transmit.
• The Mutiny: It hasn't happened yet, but several events show that the Holy Russian Empire's ranks are beginning to voice their dissent and are close to outright revolting.
• Never Found the Body: They attempted to do this by burning Taboritsky's corpse. It only delayed the news.
• The Purge: Anyone that does not recognize Larionov as the new Blessed Regent is immediately executed by their Shturmoviki.
• Rightful King Returns: Their mission remains the same as before; the purification of the country in the name of calling Tsar Alexei forth. It also remains just as possible.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Despite their dreams of restoring the Holy Russian Empire's original borders, it's clear that their just a mere pariah state that's only capable of inciting raids and sending threatening messages to their neighboring warlords.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Larionov and the rest of the government have no qualms trying to tear Taboritsky's legacy down after they discover the journal entry revealing his mother to be a Jew, if only to cement Larionov's rule.
• Sword of Damocles: The horrific stockpile of weaponry in their possession is the only other thing keeping them relevant and their leaders in power.
• Vestigial Empire: Larionov's government, the 'legitimate' successor to Taboritsky's, only controls Vyatka and the surrounding lands. The Empire's position is maintained solely by the horrific weapons it has stockpiled and the obedience of the broken, shackled peasantry.
• Villainous Breakdown: They are what remain of Taboritsky's inner circle, and they are constantly in a state of this insanity after the news of the Regent's death breaks. Their troops are barely held together under empty promises and a political machine that pathetically subsists on threats they can back with a stockpile of weapons.

Viktor Larionov

Role: Military Commander, Minister of Defence^note Security Minister (Clerical Fascist Taboritsky cabinet), Minister of War^note Security Minister (Imperial Cultist Taboritsky cabinet), Chancellor of the Committee of Ministers^note Head of Government (Shabelsky-Bork succession, Taboritsky cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Obshchestvo Vozrozhdeniya Rossiyskoiy Imperii^note Society for the Revival of the Russian Empire

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}In the chemical ridden hellhole that is Russia, hatred thrives, new and old. Viktor Aleksandrovich Larionov is one such symbol of old hatred, the newest Regent of the Holy Russian Empire following Taboritsky's footsteps.

Formerly a soldier in Wrangel's White Army during the Civil War, and later, an officer of the ROA during World War II, Viktor came to become a close associate of Taboritsky. Following his death and Shabelsky-Bork's disappearance, Larionov was appointed head of cabinet following the power struggle, after which he made use of his Shturmoviki to purge any opposition, proclaiming himself as Blessed Regent of the Holy Russian Empire.

Now nestled in Vyatka, the Blessed Regent keeps paving the way for the rightful monarch's return, though his belief in Alexei's return specifically questionable as opposed to his predecessor. But, isolated in the Russian wasteland with few followers - most kept in line through fear and bribery, Larionov is but a mere mad man in a realm of theives and raiders.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Although he was fully complicit in Taboritsky's horrific crimes, there is a shred of pity surrounding his situation in the After Midnight scenario. Since Taboritsky's death, he's become the empire's next official Regent, a position that he despises and doesn't know how to use. As time passes, the situation has begun having a toll on Larionov, where he is getting physically weaker by the day, jumps at even the sound of a thunderbolt, mutters to himself confusedly, and sobs at his current predicament. Eventually, Larionov's mental health takes a sharp turn for the worse, as he then suffers from dementia, completely paranoid of anyone who comes too close to him and weeping like a child.
• Ascended Extra: If Komi is taken over by any of the other three Passionariyy unifiers, Larionov only appears as a general and has no role in their stories.
• Authority in Name Only: Isolated in Vyatka with his few loyal subjects kept in line only through bribery and fanaticism.
• Book Ends: At the end of his After Midnight Events, Larionov suffers a stroke and is all but stated to have developed dementia, just as Taboritsky did before him. Larionov's personal secretary, Antonin Odoyev, expects to soon be whisked away and shot to prevent knowledge of this leaking to the public. However, he then gets the idea to instead to feign Larionov becoming reclusive, leaving Odoyev to act as Regent by forging his signatures.
  There is much to be done.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: By the end of his After Midnight events, Larionov goes from the next Blessed Regent to a pathetic old man suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's.
• Dragon Ascendant: Larionov replaces Taboritsky's old friend Pyotr Shabelsky-Bork as his head of government after the Regent purges him, and proclaims himself to be Taboritsky's successor after his death.
• Dragon Their Feet: When he is fought, as he insists on the empire enduring after the collapse and their leader's death.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Began life as a soldier in the White Army during the Civil War, became an ROA officer in WWII, then fell into Taboritsky's ranks and ascended to the title of the next Blessed Regent.
• Historical In-Joke: In OTL, Larionov was for some time the leader of the NORM (National Organization of Russian Youth), a Russian collaborator youth organization founded by OTL Sergey Taboritsky in 1944.
• Historical Villain Upgrade:
  • In OTL, Larionov was only an anti-communist writer affiliated with the White Army who had very militaristic views, later serving in the Russian Liberation Army as a Nazi collaborator. In TNO, he ends up in Komi like Taboritsky and can becomes his Head of Government and a field marshal, loyal to the Imperial Cult and the monstrous government Taboritsky creates even after the Regent's death.
  • Larionov can also be a general for other Passionariyy unifiers, making him villainous by association, but otherwise plays no role in their stories.
• History Repeats Itself: Larionov is an old man who's physically unfit to lead the Holy Russian Empire and implied to be suffering from mental delusions. Just like his predecessor.
• Hope Spot: Stuck in the unenviable position of leading the Holy Russian Empire, Larionov's spirits initially soar when he thinks that he can abdicate from his position and retire. However, he soon realizes that his followers would just kill him for knowing too much about the Holy Russian Empire or even daring to admit that his position was less than perfect, quashing his enthusiasm.
• Meet the New Boss: Just like Taboritsky, Larionov is a delusional, mass-murdering totalitarian despot who starts out with an already tenuous grasp on reality that is gradually worsened by deteriorating mental health. Downplayed ever so slightly in that he is willing to adopt some slightly less insane policies out of Pragmatic Villainy that Taboritsky was simply too crazy to ever consider.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Adopts the title of "The Blessed Regent".
• Original Character: Antonin Odoyev, Larionov's personal secretary who assumes de-facto control over the Regency following his boss' descent into dementia, is the only notable character who leads a state to not have actually existed in reality.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Some of the executions from the previous reign are stalled indefinitely or merely replaced with firing squads, taking the spared to address issues of manpower.
• The Purge: With the assistance of his Shturmoviki, Larionov has proclaimed himself Blessed Regent of the Holy Russian Empire and purged his opposition.
• Shoot the Messenger: After being informed of the emergence of the North Russian Liberation Front, an enraged Larionov immediately shoots the messenger dead outside his office, believing the report to be nothing more than a lie after having personally overseen the destruction of the WRRF so long ago.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: One of the first signs of Larionov's developing dementia is waking up one day in his bed and not recognizing his responding aide or even knowing he's the Blessed Regent of the HRE.

North Russian Liberation Front

^{Flag of the Russian People's Free Republic}

Official Name: North Russian Liberation Front, Russian People's Free Republic (national unification)

Ruling Party: Severo-Russkiy Osvoboditel'nyy Front^note North Russian Liberation Front

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

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• The Cynic: Scarred by the horrors unleashed by Taboritsky, the soldiers of the North Russian Liberation Front have no grand dreams of uniting the rest of Russia and are too focused on trying to survive even the next day.
• Expy: Aside from the obvious WRRF influence, the NRLF also mirrors Konstantin Rokossovsky and Pavel Batov's Sverdlovsk, who also use Soviet heraldry and iconography despite not being classed as Communist or Socialist. Of course unlike Sverdlovsk, Altunin and the NRLF don't really have a choice there.
• Hope Spot: The leadership of the NRLF believes they have found enough aid to save everyone within their borders, then it arrives and they realise it can barely feed a third of Archangelsk for a week and nothing else is coming.
• In Name Only: The Liberation Front still uses Communist imagery and slogans, but has mostly abandoned any ideology in favour of raw pragmatism.
• Leonine Contract: In exchange for Finnish aid, the NRLF is forced to sign a treaty handing over Karelia and the Kola Peninsula and renouncing all claims to the region. None of the NRLF wants to do this but has no choice.
• People's Republic of Tyranny: Downplayed in the national unification. The state remains a military junta, not exactly something a "People's Free Republic" should be. However, there are indications the Republic is fairly decentralized and egalitarian by the standards of juntas (or by the standards of post-Taboritsky Russia).
• The Remnant: Led by Alexander Altunin and Vasily Chuikov, the NRLF represents the last remnants of the West Russian Revolutionary Front, banding together in their former territory to try and survive as long as possible. As such, they are also the last remaining Russian state - Central Asia notwithstanding - to claim to recognize the old pre-World War II USSR.
• La Résistance: The NRLF is made up of slaves, partisans, former military officers, natives, and other figures desperate and pragmatic enough to survive ten years of the Holy Russian Empire's apocalyptic rule.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The NRLF relies on Finnish aid to feed its people and ward off starvation a bit longer, despite the poor feelings Altunin and the NRLF have towards Finland.

Alexander Altunin

Role: Military Commander, Security Minister (Yegorov cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Severo-Russkiy Osvoboditel'nyy Front^note North Russian Liberation Front

Ideology: Bolshevism^note Communism, Interim Government^note Despotism (After Midnight)

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}As the West Russian Revolutionary Front collapsed around him, Alexander Terenyevich Altunin shouldered the crushing weight of defeat once more. A war hero during the West Russian War, he was known for coordinating logistics to the Front and protecting refugee convoys during the darkest period of the war.

He played a similarly important role during the brief resurgence of the Front in its bid to reunify Russia, but as defeat swept over Altunin and his comrades once more, he was spared the fate of death. Fleeing to the Far North and living in an obscure fishing village, he survived the nightmare.

When Taboritsky died, Altunin, crippled by survivor's guilt, stepped forth. Coming out of hiding and inspired by his past successes against the Germans, he has taken up the reins of the so-called North Russian Liberation Front, an organization dedicated to the plight of the Russians of the North West. However, he cannot alleviate the suffering of the people while hiding behind the curtain of ideology. By heading the Liberation Front, Altunin has made the choice to abandon ideology, and perhaps the very notion of a unified Russia to ensure that his land begins to heal from the deep scars of Taboritsky.

In-Game Biography (Yegorov minister)^{Click to Show}Alexander Terentyevich Altunin was born in 1921 in the village of Steklyanka, near Omsk. Joining the Red Army in 1939, he served with distinction, and on June 22nd, 1941, at the rank of Lieutenant, he was assigned to the Kharkov Military District in the Ukrainian SSR. That same day, everything changed for Altunin when the Germans invaded. Suffering multiple wounds in early battles, he was reassigned to the Volga Military District to serve as a company training officer in 1942, joined the Communist Party in 1943, and received the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1944. Despite his excellent service to his country, however, he could not prevent the defeat of the Soviet Union in the war and the resulting collapse. Nevertheless, he was sent by the Front to one of the few general staff academies still in operation, and got his first taste of strategic command during Operation Suvorov. Though the operation as a whole ultimately failed, Altunin himself exceeded expectations, leading Marshal Yegorov to choose him as his Minister of Defense.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Since his territory encompasses some of the least arable land in West Russia, he regularly has to beg for food supplies from neighboring countries like Finland and England. Unfortunately, these donations are often not enough to feed his entire populace.
• All for Nothing: He realises that all of his attempts to save his people were for nothing and they will die as if he had done nothing at all.
• Ascended Extra: Just an old WRRF general aligned with Zhukov, he takes charge of the North Russian Liberation Front after both Zhukov and Tukhachevsky died during Taboritsky's rise to power.
• Despair Event Horizon: The final event shows Altunin completely breaking down and giving up all hope after realising that the aid he begged for isn't close to enough and there is no one left to ask. Realising his years of struggle were all for nought he collapses into a fetal position crying for his mother.
• I Want My Mommy!: Curled up on the floor after realising his failures this is all he can say between sobs.
  So the useless disappointment sobbed as he tucked himself inwards. The tears flowed louder than the whispers calling for mama.
• Old Soldier: In his 50s by the time the Holy Russian Empire collapses, Altunin has been fighting against the evils of Fascism for most of his life by this point, ever since the days of the Soviet Union.
• You Are in Command Now: With every other high ranking leader from the WRRF dead by the time of Midnight thanks to Taboritsky's conquest of western Russia or being hunted down by Larionov and his Shturmoviki, the leadership of its remnants falls to the otherwise lower ranking Altunin.

Imperial Mercantile Consortium

^{Flag of the Imperial Principalities of Holy Russia}

Official Name: Imperial Mercantile Consortium, Imperial Principalities of Holy Russia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Imperskiy Torgovyy Konsorcium^note Imperial Mercantile Consortium

Ideology: Corporate Statism^note Fascism

The ensuing chaos in the aftermath of Taboritsky's death has allowed the slavery-based megacorps he created to gain de facto independence from the dying HRE.

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• Corrupt Corporate Executive: The Consortium is ruled by a collection of corporations that enslave countless Russians.
• Dirty Coward: They unofficially cut ties with the Holy Russian Empire at the first sign of trouble and they're constantly under the fear that their oppressed slaves will one day rebel against them.
• Driven to Madness: In their final event, one of the Consortium's foremen gets lost in a mine, where he is haunted by visions of the many slaves he's exploited and his visions only grow stronger as he begins to lose his mind.
• Face–Heel Turn: Pavel Butkov, a former general for Samara, is now fighting for the Consortium.
• Incompetence, Inc.: They are both unwilling and unable to dismantle or reform the ridiculously inefficient and wasteful slavery-based nature of post-HRE economy, thus dooming any long-term sustainability for their enterprise.
• Lack of Empathy: While many of the executives are under the fear that their slaves will rebel against them, some are completely indifferent to their suffering, only focusing on the products they make.
• MegaCorp: The Imperial Mercantile Consortium is the remnant of the massive corporations created to run the HRE's economy.
• One Nation Under Copyright: The Imperial Mercantile Consortium is run by a Board composed of the corporations established under Taboritsky's Empire. The corporations have their own private fiefs where their word is law - the central currency is merely that of the largest corporation's scrip and the state apparatus runs oiled by backroom deals.
• Pragmatic Villainy: They've stepped away from the Imperial Cult because it was better to work their slaves to death rather than just execute them on the spot.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Whilst de jure a component of the Regency, the Consortium has seen the way that the wind is blowing and operates essentially independently, paying mere lip service whilst working to cut itself loose from Larionov's dying monstrosity.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: They've enslaved thousands of Russians, who work themselves to death and produce goods that can be traded with other nations, particularly Germany.

Nikolai Talberg

Role: Minister of Finance^note Economy Minister (Taboritsky cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Imperskiy Torgovyy Konsorcium^note Imperial Mercantile Consortium

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism, Corporate Statism^note Fascism (After Midnight)

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In the withering eyes of Nikolai Dmitrievich Talberg, there is only power or death.

First a government official under the monarchy and later a devout monarchist professor, Nikolai Talberg expected his final days to be papers and lectures in the halls of the Komi Republican Academy. Everything changed when Talberg gained the favor of Taboritsky. Soon, Talberg became the first elder statesman to support the imperial government, and was handpicked by Taboritsky to lead his corporate council. Under Talberg's leadership, the Imperial Mercantile Consortium grew to become the servile beast of the empire, churning through an ever-growing mass of slaves to build the weaponry of Taboritsky's army.

With Taboritsky's death, many felt the Consortium should take new management, but Talberg silenced any critics foolish enough to state such ideas openly. Instead, Talberg quietly broke from his obedience to Vyatka. Free of its master, the consortium shifted focus, focusing only on ideals which could bring it further riches. Talberg became the leader of the empire's only grace - its empty wealth.

Still, Talberg knows it will all end soon. Facing increasing bouts of illness, the leader has grown unable to sniff out traitors in the council, leaving dissent to fester underneath him. At times, Talberg fondly remembers times when he had students who believed in him and revered his every word. Today, Talberg wakes each day to a council of dogs, waiting to tear apart his domain at the first sign of weakness. And as Talberg grows older, he is only more certain that that day will come.

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• Evil Old Folks: Talberg was born in 1886, making him around 86 years old by the time the HRE collapses. He assisted in Taboritsky's crimes and he is getting older and weaker each day, but he conceals this fact, knowing that he'll be overthrown if his followers recognize his weakness.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: In our world, Talberg was just a monarchist that isn't known to have affiliated with German collaborators such as Taboritsky. In TNO, Talberg allied with Taboritsky, becoming his economic minister and profitted off the suffering the HRE's mega-corps caused and continues to do so even after the Regent's death and the country's collapse.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: While still complicit in unleashing the horrors of Taboritsky's rule onto Russia, Talberg is now a Fascist instead of an Imperial Cultist like his former colleagues.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Talberg is revealed to have never cared for Taboritsky's agenda. This is best showcased when Taboritsky allows Talberg to build a skyscraper under the condition that a metal sculpture of Alexei be built as well. Shortly after Taboritsky's death, this sculpture is taken down.
• Realpolitik: Talberg despises the Germans, but he's willing to make economic deals with them, using his slave labor to produce goods that they want.

Christian Republic of Samara

^{Flag of the Christian Republic of Russia}

Official Name: Christian Republic of Samara, Christian Republic of Russia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Samarskaya Patriarhiya^note Samara Patriarchate

Ideology: Christian Conservatism^note Conservatism

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• Being Good Sucks: Their altruism is implied to be causing major problems for the republic, as they lack the food needed to sustain the population that is growing with each refugee that arrives.
• The Cynic: Despite their benevolent rule, they believe that Russia has been too twisted with sin and isn't worth saving.
• Disaster Democracy: In the aftermath of the Holy Russian Empire's collapse, Samara becomes a semi-theocratic republic led by a mixture of clergy and laity.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Ivan Kalinin, normally a general for the Order of Saint George, is technically the first character from the Order to be properly playable, as the faction had yet to be made a possible Russian unifier before the After Midnight patch was released.
• Everyone Has Standards: Several clergymen, appalled by Taboritsky's twisted version of Orthodox Christianity, split from the Holy Russian Empire and ultimately established their own warlord state in the wake of the Regent's death.
• Hidden Elf Village: Their National Spirit "Blessed Isolation" states that they have little to no ambition to reunite Russia. Seeing the post-Midnight wasteland as beyond salvation, they instead concentrate on internal affairs and welcoming those refugees who make it to Samara.
• Hope Bringer: The Christian Republic of Samara is a popular destination for many Russian refugees, perceiving it to be an island of stability in an otherwise chaotic mess.
• Necessarily Evil: While creating a constitution, the government includes the power to conscript any citizen into the armed forces, knowing that it would be immensely unpopular, but would be necessary to protect Samara's independence.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Their effort to help everyone they come across has inflicted a famine in Samara and it's not getting any better, as more people continue to arrive. When a census is held during one event, it's implied that Samara's population has grown to a point where it doesn't have enough food to sustain it.
• The Paranoiac: Although the priesthood is willing to welcome all incoming refugees, some within Samara distrust these newcomers as potential threats or imperial agents.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: After an execution of four Sturmoviki, a mob stampedes onto the stage to tear their corpses limb by limb. Although this event establishes that Samara isn't totally flawless, the Sturmoviki's complicity in Taboritsky's crimes makes them unsympathetic targets.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Their ranks include regular clergymen, as well as remnants of Vyatka, the ROA, and Order of Saint George.
• The Remnant: Samara is home to what seem to be the only remains of several West Russian pre-Midnight warlords, with generals Boris Lyubishchev, Vladimir Bayersky, and Ivan Kalinin being from Vyatka, the ROA, and the Order of Saint George respectively.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Even in the benevolent gonvernance of Samara, feelings of hate are still prominent towards Taboritsky's followers, in which four of them are executed and torn apart by a mob in one event.
• Saintly Church: After Midnight, Samara has become the site of an Orthodox Christian semi-theocracy that is one of the most stable and benevolent warlord states in post-Taboritsky Russia.
• Unperson: In their churches, they've removed any relics honoring Alexei, wanting to remove all of the horrific memories inflicted by Taboritsky.

Sergey Izvekov / Pimen I

Role: Foreign Minister (Antonov-Ovseyenko cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Samarskaya Patriarhiya^note Samara Patriarchate

Ideology: Liberal Conservatism (Antonov-Ovseyenko cabinet), Christian Conservatism^note Conservatism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Sergey Mikhailovich Izvekov was not special. He, like many other priests of the Orthodox faith, fled the Holy Russian Empire after the revelation of Taboritsky's hellish perversion of the church. Izvekov helped those he could, leading them out of the nightmare and into the city of Samara. Things were not much better in the former capital of the ROA, but Izvekov and his companions kept their faith alive. They hid in sewers, basements, and in the forests, praying that the nightmare would end.

And end it did with the death of the Blessed Regent. The people of Samara rose up, casting off their chains and sending their oppressors back to Hell. Once the city was freed, a new order was established.

Communism, fascism, tsarism, the hated Burgundian System, all had led Russia deeper into ruin. No, another way must be found, and so the people of Samara looked to God. It was His kindness that led Izvekov, now Vladyka Pimen, to become the first ruler of the theocratic republic of Samara, earning the love and respect of his people to garner enough votes in the first election.

Vladyka Pimen is not a weak man, and knows that Larionov rants and raves from Vyatka. It is only a matter of time before the second Blessed Regent turns his guns on the Christian Republic. When he comes, the people of Samara will be ready with faith and steel, and Vladyka Pimen will lead them.

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• Ascended Extra: A potential foreign minister for Sverdlovsk, Izvekov becomes the leader of Samara in a post-Midnight Russia.
• All-Loving Hero: Countless refugees flee to his state, which is one of the few bastions of stability and benevolent rule left in Russia. Izvekov welcomes and houses all of these refugees.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's an altruistic priest, but he's fully prepared to fight off Larionov and the Holy Russian Empire remnants.
• Good Shepherd: Izvekov's theo-democratic brand of Orthodox Christian governance is functional and just, a far cry from Taboritsky's regime and teachings.
• Meaningful Rename: In Samara's unification event, Izvekov changes his name to Pimen I, the name he took when he became the 14th Patriarch of Moscow in our world.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A Good Shepherd that genuinely cares for the people under his leadership while keeping a religious-esque government makes him a second Alexander Men in the wastes of post-Midnight Russia.
• Turbulent Priest: He condemns the teachings of the Holy Russian Empire, intending to lead his people under a benevolent community with religious influence.

Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army

^{Flag of the Autonomous Soviets of Eurasia}

Official Name: Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army, Autonomous Soviets of Eurasia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Autonomiczna Armia Wyzwolenia Radzieckiego^note Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army

Ideology: Left-Wing Nationalism^note Socialism

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• Big Damn Heroes: One of their events "Black Clouds" shows them rescuing civilians from pursuing Kazakh Purification troops.
• Bilingual Bonus: Their national unification flag has "Autonomous Soviets of Eurasia" written in Russian, which is their name on the game map.
• Chummy Commies: The Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army will stop at nothing to put down the Kazakh ultranationalists and build a free, equitable state.
• Determinator: They are the survivors of Kazakhstan's Polish population and a second incarnation of Poland, rising from TNO's decades of Soviet wastes.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Some have gotten along remarkably well, regardless of their ethnic divisions. In one case, dozens of Poles, Kazakhs, and other peoples work together to rebuild their village and, despite their respectful disagreements, remaind cordial with each other and a compromise is reached among the groups.

Not everything need be fought over.

• Horseback Heroism: The above mentioned "Black Clouds" event shows that the forces of the ASLA utilize horsemen in combat against their enemies alongside ancient tankettes and modern firearms.
• The Idealist: Despite having lost their homeland twice, the Poles remain hopeful of liberating Kazakhstan and will fight to the last man to achieve that dream.
• Multinational Team: The ASLA is a coalition of Poles, Russians and Kazakhs who resist the brutal Purification Army.
• The Remnant: The ASLA is effectively what's left of the Poles in Kazakhstan, still fighting for their survival in the face of those seeking to exterminate them.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: There are some ethnic tensions between the Poles, Kazakhs, and Russians. The former two groups often fight each other who owns which territories and both of them blame the Russians for the destruction of their homeland by Taboritsky.

Ryszard Kukliński

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Autonomiczna Armia Wyzwolenia Radzieckiego^note Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army

Ideology: Left-Wing Nationalism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Poland is an idea, a little flame kept alive in the hearts of every living Pole. That flame burns within Ryszard Jerzy Kukliński, and within every Pole in his Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army. Once an officer in Nowa Polska, Kukliński has gathered together a ragtag assortment of Poles, Kazakh freedom fighters, antifascists and Russians taking command of his little slice of Kazakhstan.

His is a battle of life and death, of freedom against certain extermination. Kukliński's primary objective is the destruction of Safa Gaziz's insane regime and the establishment of a free socialist state on the steppe. Bread and work for all, and a bullet for the mad dogs that haunt the hellscape.

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• Ascended Extra: A general for the Kazakh SSR in the base game, Kukliński survives the horrors of the HRE's extermination campaign in the steppes of Kazakhstan and leads the Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army.
• Hope Bringer: Even though his Kazakh is hard to understand, his speech of liberating Russia revitalized the spirits of his Kazakh supporters, who became just as determined to aid his cause.
• President for Life: Although he means well, Kukliński believes that he and his party are the only ones capable of securing the Autonomous Soviet Liberation Army's safety, banning all other political parties to effectively create a one-party state.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, he was a staff officer in the military of socialist Poland who was disturbed by the crushing of anti-Soviet protests in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and fed intelligence on Warsaw Pact battle plans to the Americans in order to prevent Poland from being glassed in a nuclear war, among other things. ^note In case you were curious: Poland was a crucial staging area in case of the Cold War in Europe going hot and it was generally assumed that NATO would resort to nuking logistics hubs, and that would include about every major Polish city. If the Americans knew these battle plans, they could intimidate Soviets to back down by implying they know them, or at worst, plan around them so a less destructive solution would be chosen. So, the general assumption is that he became a mole for the Americans to protect Poland and is generally considered to have acted on patriotism.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Invokes this in his in-game biography, declaring Poland an idea in the heart of every living Pole.

Idel-Ural Free State

^{Flag of the Eurasian Pacification Government}

Official Name: Idel-Ural Free State, Eurasian Pacification Government (national unification)

Ruling Party: Bush Dalalar Berlashterelgan Sovety^note Joint Council of Free Peoples

Ideology: Social Nationalism^note Paternalism

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• Arch-Enemy: The Ural Purification Zone's liquidators are their main enemy.
• The Assimilator: Ethnic Great Russians living in the Idel-Ural Free State are encouraged to reject their old identities and assimilate into a more "moral" ethnicity.
• The Cynic: Their hopes of working with the Russians in an equal partnership are destroyed due to Taboritsky's brutal rule and now always suspect that the Russians will collaborate with a future oppressor against the other ethnic groups.
• The Federation: The Idel-Ural Free State is a pluralist ethnostate unifying the Tatars, Bashkirs and Udmurts, all of whom have suffered greatly under the Mad Regent's nightmarish rule.
• Foreign Ruling Class: If they manage to conquer Russia, they will establish a rule of steppe ethnicities (and a few assimilated Russians) over the Russian majority.
• Genocide Survivor: The people of the steppes were some of the worst hit by Taboritsky's extermination campaign, but they managed to survive and have banded together to form a defensive alliance.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: While the Idel-Ural Free State is an Apartheid state that openly and legally discriminates against Russians, they are still saints compared to their counterpart in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Purification Army.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The Idel-Ural Free State break free of their oppressors after Taboritsky's death, where they execute his followers in a variety of cruel manner, usually shooting or butchering them with knives.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When they rebelled against Taboritsky's forces, they slaughtered them without mercy and some even left their home for the purpose of killing more Sturmoviki out of revenge.
• Survivor Guilt: It's implied that many of their survivors feel a sense of guilt that they survived over their family and friends, in which they now regularly suffer from nightmares as a result of this guilt.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Decades of oppression since the Russian Tsardom have made the populace wary of Russians and determined to erase their culture and assimilate them into a new one.

Joint Council of Free Peoples

Role: Head of State

Party: Bush Dalalar Berlashterelgan Sovety^note Joint Council of Free Peoples

Ideology: Social Nationalism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Even after nearly half a millennium spent under Russian domination, the peoples of the steppe have endured. Chauvinistic policies imposed upon them by the tsars of old did not manage to break their spirit, nor did the socially collectivistic nature of the Soviet Union wash away their sacred identity. The Tatars, Bashkirs, and so many other minority peoples began to believe that no matter who their masters were, their cultures would survive.

Then came Sergey Taboritsky.

Wielding a capacity for cruelty that even the most belligerent of Russian autocrats would consider a bridge too far, Taboritsky and his dreaded Shturmoviki came down upon the minority cultures dotted across Russia's landscape like a ton of bricks, systematically wiping out communities with reckless abandon. As the Regent's dark grip upon the nation continued to tighten, it seemed as though the steppe peoples were, after so many years of proud existence, facing total extinction. Then, as though by divine intervention itself, Taboritsky was consumed by the dark abyss that he himself had created, and his regime followed.

With a chance to catch their breath, the minority communities of the steppe decided now was the time to come together for mutual defense, before the scourge to the north had another chance to finish their bloodthirsty mission. What resulted was the Joint Council, an administrative body for the so-called Idel-Ural Free State. With two representatives from each constituent republic, Tatar, Bashkir and Udmurt, as well as three to represent the people as a whole, the Council provides a level of representation that these besieged peoples have not experienced for some time.

Whether or not they can preserve what remains of the sons and daughters of the steppe, however, remains to be seen...

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• Multinational Team: The council is made up of two representatives from the constituent republics of Tatar, Bashkir, and Udmurt, as well as three to represent the people as a whole.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Numerous factions in the council fiercely debate over each other, such as whether the council should expel the Russians or allow them to stay.

Ural Purification Zone

^{Flag of the Purity Order of Holy Russia}

Official Name: Ural Purification Zone, Purity Order of Holy Russia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Komandovanie Imperatorskoy Gvardii - Ural'skiy Region^note Imperial Guard Command - Ural Region

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism

One of several Purification Zones established in the Holy Russian Empire to eradicate undesireable ethnicities in Holy Russia, the Ural Purification Zone has withstood the violent collapse of the Empire. After losing contact with their superiors, the regional Shturmovik commanders has decided that, until new orders arrive, they will continue pursuing the last holy orders they received from the regent: exterminate all enemies of Holy Russia.

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• Arch-Enemy: They become this to the Idel-Ural Free State, declaring war upon approaching their land.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Evtukhovich and his soldiers' motivations bring comparisons to Captain Martin Walker and his unit. As lost and confused military units, they dedicate themselves to laying waste to their enemies, become delusional over their respective authority figures Taboritsky and Konrad, and they share being horrified by the sight of a child and its mother scorched by their white phosphorous attacks. Evtukhovich is a darker take on this, always viewing Taboritsky as a source for admiration and conducting his mission with the full intent to bring destruction.
• Deadly Gas: They still use the chemical weapons mandated by the late Taboritsky in their mission to ethnically cleanse Russia.
• Evil Counterpart: An even more evil version than the Dirlewanger Brigade (already one of the most evil warlords in 1962 Russia). While sharing some similarities to it, Evtukhovich and his troops outshine the Brigade in their cruelty, making them look less monstrous in comparison. The Brigade, at least, had aspirations of power and plunder, which is more than what could be said for Evtukhovich and his ideological zealotry, and they actually accepted Slavs and Kazakhs into their ranks if they were just as brutal as Dirlewanger was.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: One event outright compares their soldiers to walking corpses who are both exhausted and malnourished. Justified since Evtukhovich has dedicated himself totally to Taboritsky's cause and refuses to allow anyone to waiver in that goal, explaining why many of them are exhausted at this point.
• Foil: To the Brotherhood of Cain. Both groups were liquidators for the HRE and fall into despair once news of his death and Jewish heritage spread. The Ural Purification Zone differs by remaining loyal to their leaders and their orders, while the Brotherhood reject their former rulers and set out for their own goals.
• Forever War: How they view their situation with Western Russia, and a cornerstone of their beliefs.
• History Repeats: Refusing to see their leader as dead, they will try to accomplish their insane and impossible mission for Tsarevich Alexei and continue to burn everything to the ground until a long-dead monarchistic figure tells them they've done enough. Their hypothetical national unification event says this almost word-for-word.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Events constantly compare them and Evtukhovich to Death on his Pale Horse, while their last event is named "By Sword, Famine and Plague".
• I Reject Your Reality: They still believe in Taboritsky and his cause, unwaveringly referring to the Tsarevich and God. They interpret the lack of new orders as meaning that they have not yet accomplished their mission.
• Obviously Evil: The group boasts no greater resolve past constantly administering their last mission.
• Ominous Mundanity: The "Ural Purification Zone" is territory that sees complete destruction by the units of liquidation.
• Omnicidal Maniac: They seek the destruction of their enemies, the last order given to them by the government. No greater goal or vision but the death of those in their sights.
• The Power of Hate: They are fueled by rage in their situation, embittered and driven desperate by the collapse of the empire around them, and the only purpose they see in themselves is the execution of those deemed "subhuman".
• Psycho Supporter: Evtukhovich and his ranks served Taboritsky's regime with zeal, and after his death, still stand by his orders to enact a Final Solution.
• The Purge: Conduct this on their previous targets and anyone in their ranks that seem to show slight signs of disloyalty to Taboritsky after his death.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The Ural Purification Zone doesn't have any ambitions beyond fulfilling Taboritsky's last orders: to maintain imperial rule over Kazan and exterminate the Holy Russian Empire's enemies.
• The Remnant: The Ural Purification Zone is made up of Shturmoviki and Imperial Army units stranded from the main Imperial remnant in Vyatka.
• R-Rated Opening: The events introducing them are just as brutal as the rest of Taboritsky's nightmarish reign.
• Rule of Symbolism: Events pertaining to them compare them to The Horsemen of the Apocalypse for bringing further death and destruction to the chemically plagued, conquest-obssessed warlord era.
• Shout-Out: Their event, "And Hell Followed Him", depicts their units observing the devastation after their attacks. Evtukhovich's zeal is paused and almost brought to question upon the sight of a child in the arms of his mother, both scorched by white phosphorous.
• Sociopathic Soldier: The Imperial Shturmoviki remnants, who do not stop their operations after Taboritsky falls and the order collapses around them.
• Sole Survivor: Feliks Shnayder, a general for the Aryan Brotherhood, is all that remains of Vagner's old cult and is now a general under Evtukhovich's command.
• Stepford Smiler: They are feverously in support of continuing to raze the Urals and its people to the ground, but even their leader knows that despair lies deep beneath their dedication.
• Undying Loyalty: Still associate with the Holy Russian Empire and fly their flag, dedicating their lives to continuing their orders for liquidation.
• The Unfettered: They wish to see the Urals and their enemies eliminated, no matter what it takes and no matter who they are. The horrors that they cause and witness never deter them.
• War Is Hell: The conflict between them and their targets boils down to butchers and desperate victims clamoring for survival. They see no glory or joy in it.
• Would Hurt a Child: As seen in "And Hell Followed Him", children and infants are among their targets of white phosphorous.

Yuri Evtukhovich

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Komandovanie Imperatorskoy Gvardii - Ural'skiy Region^note Imperial Guard Command - Ural Region

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}The Blessed Regent of the Holy Russian Empire may be dead, but the fighting spirit of his loyal subjects most certainly is not. Even as the resplendent empire Taboritsky worked so hard to build continues to collapse at the seams, the dreaded Shturmoviki, his holy will made manieft, continue to fight tooth and nail against any they perceive to be enemies of the empire. Yuri Nikolaeivich Evtukhovich, commander of the Second Imperial Guard Division, is one such man who refuses to aceept the continued disintergration of the Regent's legacy.
Yuri Evtukhovich was a steadfast ally of the Regent since the beginning, serving with what would eventually become the Shturmoviki amonst the dark street corners and alleys of Syktyvkar. The ascendence of the OVRI and Sergi Taboritsky saw Evtukhovich being named as one of his key generals, and he proceeded to the lead the resurgent empire's armed forces from one battle to the next, always conducting himself with the reckless brutality that so many have come to expect from the Regent's troops.
Now, however, the situation has changed. The Blessed Regent has been struck down in his prime, and the empire is again at the brink of ruin. Evtukhovich and his troops find themselves cut off from the central government in Vyatka, and surrounded by all manner of hostile forces. So it is that the Second Imperial Guard Division and their commander once again march to war in the name of the blessed tsar.
The rumors may claim that the late Regent was a Jew in disguise, but the general dismisses this narrative in favor of his own. Sergei Taboritsky was called to the heavens, and Yuri Evtukhovich will fight bitterly to continue his holy mission on Earth.

---

• And Then What?: Evtukhovich does not have any goals beyond the orders that he and his platoon were given. If anything, the means themselves have become his end.
  • His only public motivation is securing the Urals. Not having gotten any new orders must mean that the Urals are not secure, and he refuses to stop their operations until this order is officially deemed finished, something that cannot happen.
  • Their hypothetical national reunification event sees them not satisfied with any bigger agenda, simply turning inwards to finish their duties.
• The Anti-Nihilist: A villainous version. He likens himself and his unit to a pistol devoid of purpose when not in use. If it takes being used to give it purpose, then he too will grant his unit meaning for existence by continuing their mission.
  Quote from news event "And Hell Followed Him": "I do what I must. Because I can."
• Ax-Crazy: He is introduced looking over a hill with a pistol in hand, philosophizing about the purpose and usefulness of it. When a soldier asks if they've received any new orders or info, he shoots him on the spot, immediately reloads his gun, and keeps firing at his corpse, while loudly demanding that they continue to kill.
• Bad Boss: A soldier interrupts his contemplation, and Evtukhovich unloads his entire pistol into the poor man for asking. The same fate befalls the rest of the cowering troops.
• Bait-and-Switch: As he observes one of the Ural Purification Zone's attacks, he comes across the bodies of many civilians, including families hugging each other in despair and one body being covered in deep scorch marks. Evtukhovich is disgusted by this... because the scene smelled like garlic and he hated that odor.
• Death of a Child: He observes the corpse of a child, held in its mother's arms. The sight is enough to shake him into contemplation, but he refuses to stop.
• Final Solution: Evtukhovich sees it as his task to cleanse the rebelling peoples of the steppe in his quest to serve the Blessed Regent and the Empire.
• General Ripper: He's an extremely brutal general who enforced Taboritsky's rule when he was still alive, believing all the minorities of the steppe, even small children, pose an existential threat to Russia's existence. To this end, intends to carry out Taboritsky's genocidal orders to full fruition after the latter's death.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: The real Evtukhovich was a rather obscure figure, who was seemingly an agent of the German Abwehr during World War II and later executed by the Soviets in 1945. In TNO, he's a die-hard loyalist to Taboritsky's regime and remains committed to the Regent's genocidal orders after the HRE's collapse.
• I Did What I Had to Do: He swears that he has no other choice but to continue with what they were told to do. Not even seeing children become their ideological threats and targets deters him.
• I Reject Your Reality: In contrast to the Brotherhood of Cain, he has denied the information regarding Taboritsky's Jewish heritage and has decided that his unit must continue their operations.
• Kick the Dog: When he captures a group of prisoners, he has them brought to a crowd with sacks over their heads, in which he rips them off to unveil their scars and publicly humiliate one last time before hanging them.
• Moment of Lucidity: When he sees the corpse of a dead child, the sight is revolting enough to make Evtukhovich actually contemplate his crimes. Unfortunately, he assures himself that his actions are necessary and carries on with his genocidal campaign.
• Rousing Speech: He mobilizes their remaining forces, declaring that they are all willing to die to see their orders finished.
• Rule of Symbolism: His introductory event has him contemplate the concept of a pistol and its purpose to kill. If it isn't being used to kill, he deems it useless. Just then, a soldier arrives and asks if they have any new orders, to which he angrily responds by reloading the pistol and telling them that they are to continue the liquidation. Just like the gun, he is at odds with his squad's lack of direction beyond Taboritsky's last orders, and is eventually renewed in his purpose by deciding that they have no other choice but to "cleanse subhumans".
• Team Killer: He shoots his own subordinate, a dedicated supporter, for daring to ask if they have any new orders.
• Undying Loyalty: Like Abaddon, he heard of Taboritsky's heritage, but unlike the Brotherhood of Cain, his Shturmoviki and Imperial Army units still swear allegiance to Taboritsky's empire.

Revolutionary Communes of Orenburg

^{Flag of the United Revolutionary State of Russia}

Official Name: Revolutionary Communes of Orenburg, United Revolutionary State of Russia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Revolyucionnaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Orenburga^note Revolutionary Communist Party of Orenburg

Ideology: Marxism-Leninism^note Communism

In the Southern Urals, the remnants of Tyumen's Stalinists have taken hold of the region and lit a new flame of hardline Bolshevism underneath Taboritsky's collapsing Empire. Within the Revolutionary Communes of Orenburg, the iron hand of the Stalinists grips tight on the society, but the people of Orenburg tolerate and respect their new leaders, for the alternative is far, far worse.

---

• Book Burning: On searching the homes of anarchists killed by the Red Army, the soldiers responsible gather all of the "devianist literature" and burn it.
• Dirty Communists: Orenburg is the most totalitarian and brutal among the leftist Post-Taboritsky re-unifiers.
• The Gulag: As the agricultural situation in Orenburg worsenes, a system of gulags is implemented, where prisoners work under "redemptive labor" and are given reduced rations than the typical civilian.
• He Who Fights Monsters: In their quest to suppress any trace of Fascism, Orenburg has turned into a totalitarian dictatorship that regularly oppresses its own citizens.
• Illegal Religion: The neo-Stalinist regime takes a particularly hardline stance toward religion, burning churches and putting clergymen on kill lists.
• Kangaroo Court: Trials of collaborators are frequent in Orenburg, and even the slightest bit of evidence against one's neighbour may have them facing a revolutionary tribunal.
• Kill It with Fire: When one company goes to dismantle a church under Pervukhin's orders, they forcibly seize the people's holy books, who fiercely protest this. The platoon, though ordered to execute any protestors, chooses a "more sensible approach" and burns down the church with all of the protestors in it.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Deconstructed. While Pervukhin's rule is less reppressive than Taboritsky, numerous events make it clear that the populace of Orenburg is still heavily oppressed under the new Stalinist regime. However, no one is willing to rebel against Pervukhin because they've been so conditioned to Taboritsky's brutal rule, that they'd accept any lesser evil, keeping any authoritarian dictator in power, so long as they are better than their predecessor.

If Pervukhin's revolution falters, what else do you turn to?

• The Paranoiac: To Orenburg, anyone could be a potential collaborator to Taboritsky, so they summarily execute anyone who has evidence of being even slightly against the revolution.
• People's Republic of Tyranny: Their name implies that their a decentralized group of communes when they're actually under the authoritarian rule of Pervukhin.
• Toppled Statue: Averted, the anarchist peasants try to do this to a statue of Pervukhin but are gunned down by the Red Army, who also agree with the anarchists about the statue.
• Police State: The peasants of Orenburg are placed under heavy surveillance by the government: anyone accused of working with Taboritsky, criticizing the party, or carrying illicit personal posessions are executed either by bullet or burning at an altar.
• Sole Survivor: Played with. Dmitry Ustinov, who is now a general for Orenburg, is the last man standing from Tukhachevsky's clique in the WRRF, rather than being the sole survivor of the organization as a whole.
• Stepford Smiler: On the surface, some of their citizens are happy to accept Pervukhin and his Stalinist ideology, but in private, they're support for the regime becomes less certain and some even voice their discontent with their friends.
• The Remnant: Orenburg is ruled by the remnants of the Stalinists from Tyumen led by Mikhail Pervukhin. Additionally, they include the remenants of the Ural League, who have been enslaved as "Spetz" to enforce Pervukhin's rule.
• Repressive, but Efficient: Orenburg's government obsession with industrialization gives them significant buffs in the economic growth rate and construction speed.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Although Pervukhin's revolution has not been pleasant, the people of Orenburg see it as necessary to fight off Imperial reactionaries.

Mikhail Pervukhin

Role: Head of State

Party: Revolyucionnaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Orenburga^note Revolutionary Communist Party of Orenburg

Ideology: Marxism-Leninism^note Communism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}No amount of reactionary thuggery could ever extinguish the flame of Bolshevism in Russia, and Mikhail Georgiyevich Pervukhin is living proof of that.

With the death of Kaganovich and subsequent collapse of the Tyumen government, Pervukhin followed his last orders and led the last few Stalinists on an odyssey towards the Southern Urals. There, he found fertile ground for a revolution, which he planned for and organized from a mountain hideout, in expectation of the moment for Taboritsky's reactionary monstrosity would finally collapse. When that day came, the Bolshevik coup was swift, and General Secretary Mikhail Pervukhin was sworn in as chairman of the Orenburg Revolutionary Communes.

In other circumstances, it is likely that a regime so fanatically dedicated to the ideals of the late Kaganovich would be intolerable to any population that aspires to a dignified living. In fact, there could scarcely have been a less-fertile breeding ground for a dictatorship of the proletariat as totalitarian as Pervukhin's, than the patchwork former anarchist villages around Orenburg. Such was the extent of sheer oppression practiced by Taboritsky's men, that an eventuality so unlikely became first a foretold certainty, and then a fact. Indeed, for many whom just a decade earlier professed an unbound love of liberty and freedom; Pervukhin's cult of personality, all-encompassing iteration of the NKVD, and absolute control over every facet of economic life; are now harsh but fair measures.

For Pervukhin himself, the situation could scarcely be more exciting. In effect, the revolutionary Southern Urals: besieged, impoverished, and ravaged as they are, form a perfect analogy to the Russia of 1917. It is only fair, in turn, that Pervukhin be considered its Lenin.

---

• Allohistorical Allusion: OTL Mikhail Pervukhin was a Stalinist hardliner who oposed Khrushchev's economic and administrative reforms.
• Belief Makes You Stupid: Pervukhin, believing that the Orthodox Church is intwined with Sergey Taboritsky's ideology, deems the church to be irredeemable and wants it removed, but many citizens in Orenburg refuse to do so. As a result, Pervukhin comes to believe that the people have been too entranced with religion, or at least too weak, to overcome the church, so he sends his forces to exterminate the clergymen.
• Skewed Priorities: In the hellhole that is Post-Midnight Russia, Pervukhin treats ideological orthodoxy as the most important thing in the world and tries to maintain it at any price.
• Undying Loyalty: Pervukhin wants to fulfill Lazar Kaganovich's dreams of establishing a Stalinist dictatorship and keeping his ideology alive.
• Vindicated by History: An in-universe example or at least how Pervhukin sees it. To him, he knows that many will condemn his actions, but he doesn't regret any of them because he thinks that they're necessary to bring Russia back into prosperity and that his crimes will be justified when everyone realizes that.

History will absolve me.

Dmitry Ustinov

Role: Military Commander, Economic Minister (Tukhachevsky cabinet), People's Commissar of Defence^note Security Minister (Chelomei-favored Zhdanov cabinet), General (After Midnight)

Ideology: Stratocratic Communism^note Communism, Bolshevism^note Communism (Chelomei-favored Zhdanov cabinet)

See his entry on the West Russian Revolutionary Front subpage.

Western Siberia

Trans-Ural Confederation

^{Flag of the Grand Confederation of Eurasia}

Official Name: Trans-Ural Confederation, Grand Confederation of Eurasia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Zaural'skiy Komitet Spaseniya^note Trans-Ural Rescue Committee

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

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• Anti-Hero: They commit pretty heinous acts, but their goals of bringing stability to Russia are benevolent.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Confederation is a Heinleinian "democratic stratocracy", where every citizen is a soldier and military virtues are the same as civic ones.
• Elite Army: Their members have been trained by the NKVD, Ural Guard, and/or Third Army, making them one of the strongest fighting forces in Russia.
• Determinator: They're fully dedicated to their mission of bringing stability back to Russia, inspired by the heroism of the Ural League's founder Jānis Mendriks.
• Heel–Face Turn: Mikhail Kalashnikov gives up his status as a greedy merchant and willingly produces arms for the Trans-Ural Confederation for free.
• Kangaroo Court: Surprisingly averted. Even when they capture a member of the Ural Purification Zone, they give him a fair trial, in which the soldier merely curses the jury, who finds him guilty on all of his charges.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Despite their pessimism and ruthless tactics, they genuinely want to help the hundreds of thousands of people they rule over.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: The Trans-Ural Confederation ruthlessly suppresses any “extremism” in its population, and its democracy is unquestionably flawed on a fundamental level. Still, with the undeniable amount of legitimate extremists in Russia, and the lack of any sort of democracy in most other states, it still remains one of post-Midnight Russia’s more moral warlord states.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Confederation is a rag-tag assortment of former slaves, partisans, Ural League and NKVD survivors, Zlatoust mercenaries and soldiers from Sverdlovsk.
• The Remnant: The Trans-Ural Confederation is all that's left of the Ural League. They are also proponents of Eurasianism, but their version of it has little relation to Gumilyov's ideas.
• Shout-Out: The flag of the Grand Confederation Eurasia uses elements from the flags of the Osean Federation and the Federal Republic of Erusea.

Hadji-Umar Mamsurov

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Zaural'skiy Komitet Spaseniya^note Trans-Ural Rescue Committee

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Even as Hadji-Umar Dzhiorovich Mamsurov leads a nation, his heart still screams in defeat.

In a better time, Mamsurov was a commander in the Ural League, protecting his people from the tides of tyranny that had surrounded them. When Taboritsky's men invaded, Mamsurov fought them to the end, but to no avail. As Mamsurov lost contact with battalion after battalion, the truth gradually became clear to him — the Ural League was gone, and his men were alone.

With the guard's destruction, many lost hope and surrendered to the Regent and his madmen. Yet Mamsurov did not — could not — let go of the dream. As the Empire rose and fell, Mamsurov and his band of partisans never ceased their struggle. Years later, when Taboritsky's death tore apart the Empire, Mamsurov at last arrived to liberate whoever could be saved from the madness to come.

With the partisans victorious, Mamsurov had certainly spared some precious few — but he is certain he could have done more. The Ural's new leader still has visions of the world he promised his people, where his men beat back Taboritsky and saved the land to which they were sworn. But there is no time for regret. The Urals need a new protector, one strong enough to save them from any foe. As Mamsurov walks through empty villages and charred forests, he is certain that this duty falls to him.

---

• Determinator: Mamsurov has been fighting against seemingly impossible odds for decades and hasn't lost any resolve.
• History Repeats Itself: During his ascension to power, he makes an oath to serve God and the people of the confederation, mirroring the same vow made the Ural League's founder.
• Old Soldier: Born in 1903, making him just shy of 70 by the time the HRE falls. He's been fighting Fascism one way or another for most of his adult life much like Altunin, being a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, the Winter War, the Nazi invasion of the USSR, and the West Russian War.
• Sole Survivor: He's the sole surviving general of the Ural League.
• Survivor Guilt: While Mamsurov and his men have saved many lives, he is still haunted by the many more that he couldn't.

Chelyabinsk Institute

^{Flag of the Russian Ultravisionary Soviet Federation}

Official Name: Chelyabinsk Institute, Russian Ultravisionary Soviet Federation (national unification)

Ruling Party: Sovet Direktorov^note Board of Directors

Ideology: Ultravisionary Socialism^note Socialism

With the collapse of Taboritsky's nightmare empire, scientists, researchers and technocrats from all around Russia have gathered in Chelyabinsk, desperate to escape the chaos of the Russian anarchy. Lead by Nikolai Kardashev, they have managed to rally partisans and former NKVD officers to their cause, equipping them to the best of their ability. Now the Institute stands as a bright light in the darkness of Russia, striving to overcome the collapse brought upon by the Regent.

---

• Bait-and-Switch: Given that they're a successor to two countries that performed human experimentation, the audience is inclined to believe that the Chelyabinsk Institute is an even more insane version of them, aking to the Redeemed Black League. However, they are actually much more benevolent than their predecessors.
• Chummy Commies: The Institute is a benevolent institution, the last enclave of science and vision within Russia, founded by the combined effort of Ultravisionary refugees, saner scientists from Magnitogorsk and intellectuals that have fled from all over Russia.
• Composite Character: They are made from uniting Stepan Bunkov and the remaining NKVD from Magnitogorsk with Zhdanov's Ultravisionary Socialism successor, Kardashev, combining their scientific prowess under Kardashev's benevolence.
• Elite Army: While the Institute's forces are small, the infrastructure of Chelyabinsk means that they are capable of equipping an army with capabilities that outstrip their size.
• Emperor Scientist: The Institute is a cabal of technocrats and scientists that rules over Chelyabinsk with the assistance of their loyal security forces.
• The Famine: Despite the visionaries' idealism, hunger and poverty are prevalent throughout Chelyabinsk, in which the ministers struggle to even know how many food rations they have left.
• Former Regime Personnel: In post-Midnight Russia, Stepan Bunkov and what's left of Magnitogorsk's NKVD align with the genuinely benevolent Chelyabinsk Institute.
• Heel–Face Turn: Bunkov fights under the banner of the Chelyabinsk Institute after the HRE collapses, with no desires to establish a tyrannical rule. It helps that his new boss is not a Mad Scientist who engages in human experimentation, but a benevolent technocrat and genuine scientist.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Their forces and territory are small, but the infastructure of Chelyabinsk has allowed them to equip their army with some of the finest military technology available in Russia.
• Poor Communication Kills: The Institute's greatest issue is the lack of information on its own populace. The government is often left uninformed on vital information like how much food they have or how resources are being distributed. Kardashev tries resolving this issue by hosting a committee, in which the only thing they can agree on is establishing a census and survey to actually communicate with the citizens and gather information.
• Powder Keg Crowd: The mobs they deal with escalate in tensions, and it's unfortunately a case where the powder keg goes off when nervous guards fire live rounds into the unruly crowd.
• Redeeming Replacement: Both of their "parent" organizations have, to put it very mildly, checkered pasts and were often more concerned with tech-fetishistic ideology than actual science. But between Taboritsky knocking off all their more ideological (and therefore less sane) coworkers and Russia collapsing into a post-apocalyptic hellscape, the Institute has become genuinely heroic.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Even though Chelyabinsk is a more benevolent successor to the Ultravisionaries and Magnitogorsk, many people in Russia still perceive them to be enigmatic, elitist, and shadowy.
• The Remnant: Chelyabinsk is both the last holdout of Ultravisionary Socialism and successor to Magnitogorsk.
• Scienceville: The country is largely composed of researchers who want to heal the Russian land from Taboritsky's chemical weapons and ultimately make it more livable for the average citizen.
• Shadow Archetype: Inverted for Zhdanov's Ultravisionary Socialists and Lysenko's Black Mountain scientists. The Institute is an optimistic group of technocrats that pursue scientific endeavors to benefit the people.
• Shout-Out: In the event "For the Future", Kardashev gathers a conference to determine their next plans of action. Due to a lack of sufficient data, they can only agree to further a census to make sure they can allocate their resources. It concludes with the quote, "Reality is often disappointing."
• Torches and Pitchforks: The people become unruly during their events, not pleased with the hopeful words and lack of current resources. They get worse once the Institute's troops get too spooked and open fire with live rounds, leading to the death of six people.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: In spite of everything, Kardashev and his circle believe in a better world after the wrath of dictators, with scientific progress to back their means. Unfortunately, numerous problems like widespread starvation prevent them from acting out on their vision in a timely manner and many of their citizens are growing restless with their perceived lack of progress. Their idealism is greatly shattered when several of their soldiers fire live rounds into a crowd of protestors, throwing into question whether Kardashev's dream is achievable.

Nikolai Kardashev

Role: Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Sovet Direktorov^note Board of Directors

Ideology: Ultravisionary Socialism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Once a brilliant physicist working to ensure the continuation of Russian scientific advancement even as the land fell into anarchy, Nikolai Semenovich Kardashev was finally sent to a death camp just before the death of Taboritsky. After escaping in a large prison uprising occurring in the chaos that followed, Kardashev went to Chelyabinsk, located nearby the camp that once held him, and found a society of scientists and researchers already working in hiding to build a better society out of the inevitable ashes. Quickly taking charge of this group, Kardashev used his excellent administrative skills to attract other intellectuals as well as partisans and former NKVD officers to serve as security forces. As a result of his hard work of developing this haven for progress, he was elected Director of the Chelyabinsk institute by this colleagues.

See his entry on the Communist Party of Komi subpage.

Stepan Bunkov

Role: Military Commander

Party: Sovet Direktorov^note Board of Directors

Ideology: Socialism

See his entry on the Southern Urals subpage.

Imperial Airborne Brigades

^{Flag of the Invincible Junta of the Imperial Guard}

Official Name: Imperial Airborne Brigades, Invincible Junta of the Imperial Guard (national unification)

Ruling Party: Kilka Melkikh^note Melkikh's Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

The least politicized branch of the HRE, the Imperial Airborne Brigades have now turned to banditry and pillaging, abandoning Larionov's dying monstrosity of an empire.

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• Airborne Mooks: They served this role to Taboritsky when he was still alive and they now use their helicopters and planes to pillage towns from the air.
• Always a Bigger Fish:
  • One event has them attack the Redeemed Black League, with predictable results.
  • The Free Aviators manage to force Melkikh and his fleet into a retreat despite the Air Brigades having superior technology to them.
• Always Someone Better: They enter a clash with the Free Aviators and are crushed until they're forced to retreat. When their leader gets shot down, he's reduced to a raving madman, enraged over losing his claim over the skies to the Night Witches.
• Bandit Clan: They use and organize their air power for banditry.
• Bullying a Dragon: The Redeemed Black League become their next targets. Their paratroopers are unable to find any openings to their defenses and are rather easily taken out by the Black League's anti-aircraft guns.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: While the event detailing their battle against the former Night Witches starts and ends with Melkikh enraged at their decisive loss, it still makes it known that plenty of the downed planes and debris also came from the side of the Free Aviators.
• Dirty Coward: When they suffer military defeats to the Free Aviators, they try poisoning a lake to get revenge on Nenets, unwilling to face the Free Aviators in combat again.
• Death from Above: The Imperial Airborne Brigades use their remaining helicopters and aircraft to raid all across Russia.
• The Dreaded: Russia's people run for cover and their cellars whenever they hear the beating of the brigade's helicopter rotors.
• Evil Counterpart: To the Free Aviators, who used their air power to defend Russia's people instead of killing them and/or extorting them. They are also capable of conquering Russia, whereas the Free Aviators are a non-unifier.
• Foreshadowing: In the Polandball comic teaser for After Midnight, the Imperial Airborne Brigades is the only HRE remnant state that doesn't have a clock replacing right eye, hinting to their lack of loyalty to Taboritsky's system after the Regent dies.
• Former Regime Personnel: Used to be the airborne troops of Taboritsky's HRE before the country's collapsed. Now they're only concerned with pillaging and looting.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: After the Holy Russian Empire collapses, the Imperial Airborne Brigades begin looting and pillaging the wastes of Northern Russia.
• Hellish Copter: During a particularly harsh winter storm, a helicopter's blades are caught on wind and snow, causing it to careen to the ground. The downed crew try to signal to their fellow helicopters to rescue them, but they misinterpret the signal to believe that the Nenets acquired a rockets, causing one helicopter to move forward to face the non-existant enemy and crash into another helicopter, ultimately wiping out the entire fleet.
• History Repeats: In the "Riders on the Storm" event, Ivan Melkikh disregards the reports of the dangerous and upcoming winter when attempting to raid the Nenetsian Free Army. Like Napoleon and several others before him, he vastly underestimates the power of "General Winter" and loses badly.
• Hostile Weather: Melkikh doubts the power of Russia's winters, and his men pay dearly for it.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Of all the HRE remnants, they are "merely" despotic bandits instead of fanatical adherents to Taboritsky's Imperial Cult.
• Military Coup: Downplayed. They break away from Larionov's government and decide to try to conquer Russia for any spoils they can get their hands on. The hypothetical situation in which they manage to reunify the country christens them the title of the "Invincible Junta", though Melkikh himself doesn't bother having the situation recognized as an official government.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In contrast to People's Republic of Tyranny, Melkikh's statelet calls itself the "Invincible Junta of the Imperial Guard" upon unifying Russia, without a single hint of irony.
• Nature Is Not Nice: Melkikh disregards the reports of hostile winters above the Nenets, thinking that the strength of their helicopters and men will be able to beat the storm. The weather becomes so hostile that it wrecks all of the aircraft sent there, causing their numbers to believe that they were being attacked with rockets. When Nenets scouts arrive on the scene of a downed helicopter, they are greeted with completely frozen corpses, some shown to be missing due to wolves having already arrived to claim them.
  Quote from news event "Riders on the Storm": Mother Nature tolerates no egoists.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: The villages they harass need to pay tribute or else get bombed into oblivion.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Their favored method of operating, executed with aerial firepower.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: The group still sports the coloration and symbols of the HRE despite having abandoned the order in favor of becoming self-serving bandits. It adds to their intimidation factor as the new terror-bombers to fear. This even extends to their hypothetical national unification flag.
• Totalitarian Gangsterism: Can't get any more totalitarian than a former death brigade of a genocidal dictator.
• Water Source Tampering: They try poisoning a lake near Oksino when they realize they can't take on the Free Aviators in a straight fight, but still want revenge against Nenets for resisting their attacks.
• Wham Line: Their last event shows them struggling against other aerial foes. The Red Stars on their wings mean only one thing—The Free Aviators have survived and are as strong and dedicated as ever.

Ivan Melkikh

Role: Military Commander, Minister of War^note Security Minister (Taboritsky cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Kilka Melkikh^note Melkikh's Clique

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism, Warlordism^note Despotism (After Midnight)

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}When Ivan Aleksandrovich Melkikh learned of Taboritsky's death, he supposed he couldn't be bothered much to care. The old man was dead, and so was his empire, no matter what Larionov says. The Imperial Airborne Brigades, the least politicized branch of Taboritsky's military machine, was now under the sole command of Melkikh. The old order is as dead as Taboritsky, and Melkikh, ever the ambitious man, has no intention of serving under another warlord. Why not, mused Melkikh, be a warlord himself? The new bandit king of the skies has taken well to his role, and he is served by cruel, uncompromising men who project his decrees through vicious thuggery.

Taking to the skies in their helicopters in a grim parody of the Free Aviators, Melkikh and his cabal of airmen terrorize towns and villages in search of loot and entertainment.

Townsfolk run inside cellars and nervously whisper prayers when they hear the chopping of the Brigade's propellers, cowering much as they did during the terror bombings of yore.

Still waving the flag of their old formation, Melkikh reminds those he brutalizes and horrifies that though the Regent is dead, the airborne terror lives on.

---

• Bad Boss:
  • Units are sent out with expectation of bringing back spoils. If any are to return empty-handed, they end up executed.
  • He throws one of his troops out of his helicopter as his army loses a dogfight against the Free Aviators.
• Determinator: He fashions himself as one, along with the Russian people, as they have all managed to survive the wrath of the Tsar, the Nazis, and Taboritsky.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He cared little for the HRE and was barely affected by the news of Taboritsky's death. Recognizing Larionov's government to be a lost cause, he launches operations for his own personal gain.
• For the Evulz: Melkikh became a bandit because he enjoys raiding and even compares himself to a predator.
• General Failure: The Air Marshal of Former Regime Personnel, yet fails to lead his men to any success past standard pillaging and raiding.
• Historical In-Joke: Ivan Melkikh, like Viktor Larionov, was one of the leaders of the NORM organization founded by OTL Taboritsky.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Ivan Melkikh was an extremely minor German collaborator in our world, being one of three leaders of the NORM^note National Organization of Russian Youth, a Fascist youth organization founded by OTL Taboritsky, alongside Taboritsky and Larionov. In TNO, he becomes Taboritsky's Security Minister and the eventual leader of the HRE's Airborne troops and a bandit king in post-Taboritsky Russia.
• Just a Gangster: If Melkikh re-conquers Russia, he will refuse to seek any international recognition for his state, giving himself an excuse to continue being a King of Thieves and not bother with political formalities.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After losing significant numbers to the Night Witches, Melkikh reluctantly and angrily orders for his forces to retreat as quickly as they can.
• Miles Gloriosus: He prides himself on being "king of the skies", but when he encounters resistance from the Free Aviators, he orders his forces to fall back.
• Opportunistic Bastard: He takes advantage of Taboritsky's death to establish his own bandit fiefdom, revealing that he never truly cared about fulfilling his cause.
• Rage Breaking Point: Losing the dogfight against the Free Aviators drives him into a rage-fueled rant about his claim over the sky, much to his soldiers' shock and worry.
• Sarcastic Devotee: He obeyed the orders of the Regency, though wasn't fiercely devoted to the cause and propaganda. He wastes no time mocking Taboritsky and Larionov once the order collapses.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Not physically leaving Russia behind, but like the Mercantile Consortium, he can't be bothered to listen to the orders of a dead empire and breaks away to embark on his own campaign.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Melkikh boasts himself to not only be a survivor, but also a predator, relying on his unique asset of aerial superiority to decimate his foes. While this works on smaller bases and warlords, his men are torn to shreds by AA guns from the Redeemed Black League, unable to overcome the winters of Russia, and are completely outclassed by the Free Aviators. By the end of the Imperial Airborne Brigades' events, Melkikh is seen angrily ranting about being the true king of the skies, as his men look on in utter bewilderment.
• Smoking Is Cool: Is introduced looking to the gray skies and contemplating his situation with a cigarette.
• Smug Snake: Rather confident in his capabilities as a warlord, thanks to having a fleet of helicopters and planes under his command. His self-assurance is challenged once he engages in forces stronger than small villages and starts losing battles.

Nenetsian Free Army

^{Flag of the Free Communes of Russia}

Official Name: Nenetsian Free Army, Free Communes of Russia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Nenetskiy Revolyucionnyy Komitet^note Nenets Revolutionary Committee

Ideology: Left-Wing Nationalism^note Socialism

---

• Anarchy Is Chaos: Averted. Their communes mutually agree to benefit one another with close communication while retaining some semblance of independence.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Nenets are protected by the surviving Free Aviators, who occasionally land in these settlements to refuel and resupply.
• Chummy Commies: The Nenets socialists seek to liberate their homeland from the bandits and raiders who have harassed them for so long.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Since their recruitable population is so small, they would be on the receiving end of this by the Imperial Airborne Brigades if it weren't for the aid of the Free Aviators.
• The Cynic: While many express hope of restoring stability to their homeland, others are more cynical over their current predicament, believing that it is hopeless to resist Melkikh's frequent air raids.
• Determinator: The Nenets are willing to die for their homeland and to ward off the raiders harassing them, particularly the Imperial Airborne Brigades. One event even depicts a family moving to their old home in Nenets, hopeful that they can restart new lives there.
• Hidden Elf Village: Scarred by their experiences under Taboritsky, the Nenets have isolated themselves from the rest of Russia, keeping them blisfully unaware of the lands beyond their control.
• The Remnant: Apart from partisans native to the area, an event from the Imperial Airborne Brigades shows that the Free Aviators are of their ranks, having pushed through Taboritsky's reign to still be capable of defending Russia's skies.
• La Résistance: The Free Army is a force of former Free Aviators, native partisans, and miscreants who fled north to escape the Mad Regent.
• Forever War: The Nenets have been fighting malevolent forces for a long time now. The latest threat they are fighting against are the Imperial Airborne Brigades led by Ivan Melkikh.
• Too Dumb to Live: Their ignorance of the outside world nearly costs them greatly on several occasions, such as when the Imperial Airborne Brigades poison a lake and the Free Aviators need to dedicate effort to informing the rest of Nenets on this before they drink the water there.

Alexander Zvyagin

Role: Head of State

Party: Nenetskiy Revolyucionnyy Komitet^note Nenets Revolutionary Committee

Ideology: Left-Wing Nationalism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Alexander Evstafievich Zvyagin has a dream, a daring vision of a sky unburdened with horror. First came the Luftwaffe, then Taboritsky, and now Melkikh and his Imperial Airborne Brigade. Housing the remnants of the Free Aviators, the Nenetsian Free Army duels with the helicopters of the Imperial Airborne Brigade, while the Nenets, abused for centuries, struggle to eke out a living in this poisoned land.

Zvyagin and his warriors know that theirs is almost certainly a lost cause. The enemy is numerous, better equipped and better trained. The only reason they haven't yet been overrun is their knowledge of the land. The Nenets know this, but their resolve is iron. Never again will the Nenets be enslaved by Russians. Never again will the Nenets be subjected to the nightmarish purges of the Taboritsky regime.

Never again.

Never Again...

---

• Rebel Leader: He fought against Taboritsky's nightmarish rule and is now fighting against Melkikh's bandit forces.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Years of fighting against foreign threats has eroded the idealism of Zvyagin, who now knows that the Nenets will surely die to Ivan Melkikh without substantial manpower.

Redeemed Black League

^{Flag of the Russian Government of National Vengeance}

Official Name: Redeemed Black League, Russian Government of National Vengeance (national unification)

Ruling Party: Iskyplyonnaya Chernaya Liga^note Redeemed Black League

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

The Black League of Omsk has survived Taboritsky's regime thanks to their Plan Hydra bunkers, but has become twisted beyond description. It had not gone unnoticed to them that Russia's second destruction came not at the hands of a German, but from a turncoat Russian who embraced the German ideological hellspawn. Thus, before they can even think of combating the Teuton menace, the Redeemed Black League must cleanse Russia of German taint first: a Second Great Trial on Russia itself.

---

• Absolute Xenophobe: Only those born and raised within the Redeemed Black League's borders are considered to be true Russians. As such, they keep a close watch on their own population, deter or shoot refugees on sight, and brutally subjugate any groups that they conquer.
• Anti-Air: Use these weapons against the Imperial Airborne Brigades, with devastating effect.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: The Redeemed Black League's ideology bears an eerie resemblance to that of the Aryan Brotherhood (which is among the warlords that the original Black League hates the most), except that instead of pursuing a nebulous and arbitrary Aryan purity, they pursue a nebulous and arbitrary Russian purity instead.
• Dark Is Evil: They were already, but in the nightmare of the Holy Russian Empire, the Black League has fully embraced their hatred to purify Russia, dropping the yellow from their flag.
• Determinator: Survived Taboritsky's empire and still wish to proceed with the Great Trial, though with some extra parameters.
• Eviler than Thou: After the disrepair their group was sent in under the Holy Russian Empire, many cells that survived lost faith in the Great Trial and wanted to put their skills to use as hired guns or banditry. Those in the ranks of the Redeemed Black League made sure they were the first to be executed.
• Evil Wears Black: The Redeemed Black League's infantry still sport their black uniforms, and they've even dropped the yellow from their flag.
• Expy: The Redeemed Black League are the surviving forces of an ultranationalist faction that rise from their bunkers to patrol polluted wastelands, fight to take control of said wastelands, and purge anyone that isn't from their territory because they believe that they are the only "pure" countrymen left. These are all similarities that they share with Fallout 2's Enclave.
• Final Solution: Ironically, they launch a campaign to wipe out every Russian that shows even a hint of adopting the ways of Nazi Germany. Of course, this precedes their intentions for Germany as well.
• Gas Mask Mooks: Their soldiers conceal their faces with gas masks and enforce the Redeemed Black League's iron grip, executing civilians and stealing their personal possessions.
• Genocide from the Inside: According to Lazarenko's new thesis, the Great Trial must first come for fellow Russians before it can come for the Germans, since Russia has become infected by the disease of National Socialism. Only those born under Black League auspices, subject to the strictest regimentation, are pure and worthy. All others are to be considered existential threats and either expelled or dealt with in other ways.
• Guilt-Free Extermination War: The Great Trial, once only intended for the Germans, has now been extended to Russians not from their territory.
• Hellish Copter: Shoot down a helicopter using their Anti-Air guns.
• He Who Fights Monsters: In redirecting their insane hatred onto their countrymen, the Redeemed Black League has become like the Holy Russian Empire whose taint they seek to excise.
• The Horseshoe Effect: The Redeemed Black League shares beliefs with the Aryan Brotherhood and the Holy Russian Empire, whom they oppose. They all carry a fierce focus on Germany's influence. Like the former, they promote a small group of Russians as the racial elite ("Aryans" vs. "pure Russians") and oppress other Russians that are not a part of the group. In the latter's case, they both share the belief that Russia must be purged of imperfections and be reshaped to fit their own standards, by gas, bullet, or more.
• It Is Beyond Saving: Anyone and anything outside of their borders are to be executed and crushed under their rule, not willing to risk the chances of outsiders bringing any sort of beliefs perpetuated by Germany and Taboritsky's twisted cult.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Black League was ominous enough, but The Russian Government of National Vengeance is downright terrifying.
• Non-Indicative Name: The "Redeemed" Black League may lead one to believe that they have had some sanity knocked into them by Taboritsky, but a "invokedsane path" this is not. Russia has been corrupted by the Nazi taint, and the Black League believe they are the only ones pure enough to cleanse it.
• No True Scotsman: Only those from within their territory are to be trusted as true Russians. Anyone else they meet are deterred or executed if not already subjugated under their rule.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: They shoot down the aircraft of the Imperial Airborne Brigades and murder any prisoners, but they're one of the Redeemed Black League's less sympathetic victims, since these bandits frequently harass smaller villages.
• Police State: The streets of Sverdlovsk are filled with men of the Internal Security Directorate, distinguished by their gas masks and assault rifles. They watch the city's residents, punishing even the most minor of transgressions with extreme cruelty. At night, the men of the ISD raid the homes of everyday citizens, taking any form of personal possession forbidden by the Redeemed Black League.
• The Power of Hate: Carried over from their determination to see Germany ended as the Black League of Omsk. Further deconstructed, as it fuels their new motivation.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Under the Militarized Village Program, the Redeemed Black League forces entire populations to relocate at gunpoint, where they are forced to produce munitions to fuel their upcoming war effort.
• The Spartan Way: The Redeemed Black League has embraced a truly vicious training regime for their Reformed Redemptionary Brigades, turning the recruits into merciless killers that are more beast than man.
• The Stoic: Their soldiers have been trained to obey orders without showing a hint of emotion, even when slaughtering entire populations by bullet or by hand.
• Thoughtcrime: Certain opinions and material possessions are forbidden by their government, trying to snuff out any potential heterodoxy.
• Training from Hell: Each recruit is put through an inhumane training process befre they can join the Redeemed Black League. On top of the harsh drills, the barracks are cramped and lack pillows or blankets, every recruit is starved and fight each for scraps, and the losers in these fights are sent to solitary confinement.
• Undying Loyalty: Every member of the Redeemed Black League are fanatically devoted to Lazarenko's new thesis.
• The Unfettered: Just like before, they are unwavering in their duties and will user any means to ensure the Great Trial is brought both to Germany and to Russia itself.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Black League of Omsk's sorrow at seeing their nation crushed and conquered by Nazis has been further compounded by witnessing the horrors caused by one of their own countrymen adopting their ways and oppressing others under his rule. This serves to influence their belief in the Great Trial, but just like before, there is no justification for its insane tenets, especially since it is now being applied to their fellow countrymen.
• You Are What You Hate: They are warped from the suffering inflicted by the HRE, and in response, have declared its intentions to wipe out all Russians for simply not existing within their borders and those that do not fall in line with their ideology. The only thing that separates themselves from the Holy Russian remnants, like the rabid liquidators of the Ural Purification Zone, are their appearances.

Alexander Lazarenko

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Iskyplyonnaya Chernaya Liga^note Redeemed Black League

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Dmitry Yazov was wrong. The Teuton, for all his disgusting evil and inhumanity, was but one great enemy of the Russian race. Taboritsky and his followers were not Teutons, but Russians horribly ridden by a Germanic ideological disease. In germ warfare, only the proper precautions and vaccinations can prevent an outbreak amongst your own population. To Alexander Ivanovich Lazarenko and his Redeemed Black League, hidden from the surface in their deep Plan Hydra bunkers, only the cold embrace of the earth ensured the purity of his soldiers.

Russia a corpse writhing with maggots, with each rancid grub wearing a uniform and proclaiming nations of their own. The Russians, once thought by Lazarenko to be the race to save Mankind from the horrors of Nazism is now polluted beyond redemption. That is the ultimate cruelty of the Teuton, to have poisoned the very essense of the Russian race.

With a heavy heart, Alexander Lazarenko has proclaimed a new crusade, a Second Great Trial to cleanse the Russian people of their Teutonic pestilence. By bullet, gas, and shell, Russia will be redeemed. There is no other way.

---

• Ascended Extra: Outside of a post-Taboritsky collapse, Lazarenko is simply one of the Black League's generals. Here, he becomes the proactive leader of their remaining forces and has an agenda.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: In OTL, he was a ruthless agent of the KGB. In TNO, he joins the ranks of the Black League and supports their ambitions for Germany's complete extermination. If Russia is unified by Sergey Taboritsky, he ascends to leadership over their remaining forces after being forced into hiding, and is now regretfully intending on bringing the same treatment to his own countrymen.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Though he has come to the conclusion that the Great Trial must be conducted on fellow Russians, he is distraught that he feels that it needs to be done.
• The Social Darwinist: He believes that only the strongest soldiers are fit to serve the Redeemed Black League and the rest deserve to perish. With this mindset, each recruit is starved and forced to fight each other over food and equipment, culling the population down to the strongest and most feared recruits.

Brotherhood of Cain

^{Flag of the Kingdom of the Hellborn}

Official Name: Brotherhood of Cain, Kingdom of the Hellborn (national unification)

Ruling Party: Bratsvo Kaina^note Brotherhood of Cain

Ideology: Fundamentalism^note Ultranationalism

A band of Shturmoviki who were stranded in the city of Omsk. In the devastation, their leader experienced a revelation of the Regent's true nature — he was a Jew. God was indeed working through the Regent, and His true purpose was to destroy the Russian people. Casting aside their previous allegiance, the Brotherhood of Cain worship a new master: Satan.

---

• Ax-Crazy: The Brotherhood was originally made from the rank and file soldiers of a regiment trained to rabidly execute the Holy Russian Empire's targets. The reveal of Taboritsky's Jewish mother to the public drove them insane enough to tear into themselves, and they now engage in Human Sacrifice and welcome serial killers into their group.
• Biblical Bad Guy: They invoke the name of Cain and Satan to rebel against God for supposedly orchestrating Taboritsky's rule and the Empire's collapse.
• Bloodier and Gorier: The Brotherhood's events are likely the most graphic and gory in the entire mod, going really in-depth into their depraved sacrifice rituals.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Their ideology agrees that God blessed and established the Holy Russian Empire, but upon the revelation of the Regent being Jewish himself, they compound this with the idea that the ensuing collapse was intentional. They wish to resolve this by pledging their allegiance to the other side of Biblical conflict.
• Broken Pedestal: After Taboritsky's death, horrified by the revelation that the Blessed Regent was himself a Jew, a large swathe of the Shturmoviki disavowed their 'rightful' commanders and seized the bunker-city of Omsk. In their eyes, Taboritsky's religion, his government, and his cause are all lies perpetuated by the Jews to destroy Russia.
• Cult: A Satanic one, with Human Sacrifice and underground candle-lit rituals. One of their National Spirits is even titled "Deranged Cult".
• Culture Police: They have their forces tear down monuments and other symbols representing either Christianity or Taboritsky's legacy. Anyone caught worshipping any deity other than Satan is caught and prepared for sacrifice.
• Dystopia Is Hard: While the Brotherhood of Cain can potentially reunite the shattered remains of Russia, they are very unlikely to do so or be a contending warlord. As a result of their sacrifices and brutality, they have to contend with a 50% and 75% debuff in Stability and Monthly Population, respectively.
• Eviler than Thou: By far the most evil faction to emerge from post-Midnight Russia that isn't a Holy Russian remnant. To really drive the point home, one of their National Spirits is even called "Evil Unbound".
  Only the worst of the SS could hope to match Abaddon's followers in cruelty and sadism. Serial killers and nihilistic brutes are the vaunted elite of this new society, their inhumanity cloaked in religious fervor born of their old commander's ravings against a world gone mad.
• Expy: Of the Order of Nine Angles. Both are anti-Semitic Satanist cults with Nazi influences with their ranks filled with rapists. They also have similar-looking flags to boot.
• Former Regime Personnel: The Brotherhood of Cain is the largest group of former Shturmoviki who have since gone rogue.
• God Is Evil: They still believe that God was working through the Blessed Regent, but as His means to destroy Russia due to Taboritsky being a Jew, causing their conversion to Satanism.
• Hollywood Satanism: A group of Satanists who have dedicated themselves to the destruction of Christianity and partake in human sacrifice.
• Human Sacrifice: A staple for the Brotherhood and their regime, dragging victims to the depths of Omsk's bunkers to be prepared for sacrifice.
• Kill It with Fire: Their most public ritual is the burning of dozens of non-believers in the name of calling Satan forth.
• Mythology Gag: The Brotherhood of Cain bears some resemblance to the Bogi Smerti, the old version of Zolin's Brigade, a bandit group in RK Moskowien. Unlike the Bogi Smerti, who simply pretended to be Satanists to terrify people into giving up their wealth, the Brotherhood of Cain consists of genuine Satanists.
• Name of Cain: Their namesake is Abel's brother, whom they instead believe to be a righteous killer.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Named after Cain from the Book of Genesis.
• Obviously Evil: Formerly the soldiers assigned to purge Russia of minorities and other ideological enemies. They outright enjoyed their duties, and when the HRE collapses, their leader resorts to Satanic occultism and brands his group under the Name of Cain, as he believes the "Blessed Regent" being a Jew meant that God intentionally destroyed Russia through him, causing a rejection of anything and everything deemed holy. The writing and their abilities make how awful they are explicitly clear.
• Purple Is the New Black: Their dark purple flag and robes, used alongside their black colorations.
• Rage Against the Heavens: Believing Taboritsky's claims of divinity were true, they chose to rebel against God and Christianity for daring to choose a Jew as His representative, claiming that the entire collapse was His plan to bring mankind's end. In their eyes, Satan will bring Russia to glory.
• Religion of Evil: The Brotherhood of Cain is a cult devoted to Satan, who inspired murder in the mind of the righteous killer Cain.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their post-unification flag is entirely black and red, befitting their Satanic aesthetic and beliefs.
• Sadist: Brutality is a way of life for them, and their leader eagerly served in the State Sec of the HRE.
• Self-Harm: When the news of Taboritsky being a half-Jew reaches them, their men begin to rip themselves apart out of grief and madness.
• Serial Killer: Their main motivation is human abduction and sacrifice, continuously depleting the populace of whatever territory they can get their hands on. Their ranks are described as having plenty of serial killers.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Their raids also have them abduct people for slavery and rituals requiring their torture.
• Straw Nihilist: Their National Spirit "Evil Unbound" notes that the Brotherhood includes nihilistic thugs among their ranks.
• The Theocracy: Their territory is a brutal theocracy with Satan as their higher power and Abaddon as his High Priest.
• Wretched Hive: Omsk, already a dreary place under the Black League, is now the center of the Brotherhood's operations. Captives are taken into the bunkers under the city for ritual sacrifice and worse.

Abaddon (Anatoly Motsny)

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Bratsvo Kaina^note Brotherhood of Cain

Ideology: Fundamentalism^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}As Shturmoviki commander Anatoly Andreevich Motsny watched as the Russian monster state collapsed, he was a man lost. After the death of Sergei Taboritsky, the empire was shattered, its armies scattered across Russia. As warlords and subhumans fought each other in the ruins, Motsny and his unit took hold of the fortress city of Omsk. It was in Omsk that Motsny learned the gut-wrenching truth: Taboritsky, His Most Holy Regent to the Blessed Tsar, was nothing more than a disguised Jew. The revelation shook the devout Motsny to his very core and forced into doubt all he had ever believed in.

As Motsny ruined his own flesh and imbibed hallucigenic drugs in search of the truth, the answer became painfully clear. Taboritsky was indeed a holy man, the true prophet of God, just as he was a Jew. If God would permit this vile creature to be his servant on earth, then what use was there in worshipping him? Motsny felt terribly alone, cut off from his faith and alone in a hostile world. That was, until a second epiphany came to him. If God would ally himself with the Jews, then His enemy, mighty Lucifer, must be the true savior of mankind.

With the hole in his soul mended by newfound devotion to his dark master, Motsny has abandoned his former life and adopted the moniker of Abaddon, the High Priest of Satan. From Omsk, he commands his Brotherhood of Cain to tear down the decadent and insipid monuments of Christianity and of Taboritsky the Arch-Jew. A dedicated occultist and believer in blood sorcery, Abaddon demands that fresh captives be brought to the bowels of Omsk to be made as offerings to his beloved Morning Star.

---

• Allohistorical Allusion: Motsny/Abaddon bears great resemblence to the Liberian Joshua Milton Blahyi, AKA "General Butt Naked". Both were unironic Satanist warlords who practiced cannibalism and human sacrifices, and both rose to prominence in a period of national instability for their respective homelands. Unfortunately, Abaddon seems to be very far off from a Heel–Faith Turn of the type Blahyi experienced, if he ever gets one at all.
• Biblical Bad Guy: One of his namesakes is a demon in the Book of Revelation, described as summoning swarms of locusts that attack anyone that does not believe in Christ.
• The Caligula: He crowns himself as "Son of Satan" upon reuniting Russia as the Kingdom of the Hellborn, his new domain being built off the back of untold human suffering and depraved rituals that aren't just limited to human sacrifice.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Abaddon followed Taboritsky's orders with glee and adopted Satanism under the belief that it would help express and execute their intentions more effectively.
• Do Wrong, Right: He had no issues with executing a Final Solution, but instead became disillusioned after discovering that the man he was taking orders from was a Jew himself. He responds by adopting all-out Satanism to see their operations completed.
• Evil Counterpart: In a way, he serves as one to Nikolai Krylov/Rurik II. Both were military commanders who were shaken to the core by the losses suffered by their respective regimes (Central Siberian Republic for Krylov, Holy Russian Empire for Motsny), both turning to alcoholism and adopting a persona based around mysticism after certain revelations they believe to be paranormal in nature. It's just that while Krylov was a heroic general of a democratic republic who proclaimed himself the second coming of Rurik while remaining quite humane and reasonable even after, Motsny is a former death squad leader working under an insane Nazi inspired empire who began styling himself as a dark prophet and became even more psychotic and genocidal than he already was out of despair.
• The Faceless: Abaddon nevers removes his mask and unlike his now retconned predecessor The Antikhrist/Andrei Chikatilo, there is no portrait in the game or otherwise that shows his face.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Motsny was once just a loyal and insane Shturmoviki commander, not even appearring outside of post-Midnight Russia. After the collapse of the HRE, he becomes even more insane by adopting Satanism and starting a legitimate cult.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Anatoly Motsny turned to Satanism and became Abaddon after learning that Taboritsky was secretly Jewish, causing Motsny's entire world view to come crashing down.
• Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Motsny was inspired to build his mad Satanic cult while mutilating himself, abusing hallucinogens, and angsting about serving a Jew.
• High Priest: Gives himself the title of Abaddon, the High Priest of Satan.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: In real life, Anatoly Motsny was a Soviet tanker and a Hero of the Soviet Union who saw some extreme combat during WWII^note In one battle, Motsny's tank destroyed over 100 cargo trucks, killed more than 100 soldiers, incapacitated a Tiger after their own tank was knocked out, and then captured multiple enemy positions on foot; in another battle he killed 11 German soldiers with the tank machine gun after his tank was knocked out, and then he killed two more with his knife after his machine gun became unusable and received many injuries there (likely including shell shock), and after the war his son was murdered by an unknown perpetrator, leading to him being baselessly accused of banditry and "parasitism". He was then sent to a labour camp, and then had his award revoked. In TNO, Motsny became a loyal supporter of Taboritsky's regime, putting "subhumans" to death with glee, and became a Satanic cult leader after the collapse of the HRE.
• Human Sacrifice: Abaddon demands captives to be brought to the bowels of Omsk to be made as offerings to the Morning Star.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Doesn't get more Malevolent than the skull-wearing leader of a genuinely Satanic cult who used to be loyal to Taboritsky.
• Manifesto-Making Malcontent: The revelation that Taboristky was a half-Jew, after he gave Motsny hope and encouragement to act on his homicidal and genocidal urges, drove him to seek occultism and a new ideology.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • His name translates to "Doom" or "Destruction" in Hebrew. His Biblical namesakes include a bottomless pit that accompanies texts about Sheol and a locust swarm-summoning demon in The Book of Revelations.
  • He proclaims himself to be the High Priest of Satan, later the "Son of Satan" under hypothetical national unification.
• Obviously Evil: Previously an eager supporter of Taboritsky's genocide, Abaddon now wears a ram skull with horns and engages in human sacrifice.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Abaddon is so devoted to the Christian ultranationalist OVRI's antisemitic philosophy that he came to the conclusion that if Taboritsky, a Jew, ruled the Holy Russian Empire in God's name, then God Is Evil and the Jews are his agents. He promptly "defects" to Satan.
• Psycho Supporter: Abaddon was an especially deranged follower of the Holy Russian Empire and gleefully executed liquidation. After the empire's collapse, he proved himself to be even more unstable by adopting a new identity with Satanism and human sacrifice in response to the new warlord era.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Abaddon wears a ram's skull which covers his entire face.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Anatoly Motsny was part of Taboritsky's crazed Imperial soldiers tasked with "purifying" the land. His only regret was serving under a half-Jew.
• That Man Is Dead: Upon adopting Satanism, Abaddon refuses to go by his old name Anatoly Motsny.

Kazakhstan

Kazakh Purification Army

^{Flag of the Purified State of Kazakhstan}

Official Name: Kazakh Purification Army, Purified State of Kazakhstan (national unification)

Ruling Party: Qazaq Tazarty Armiasy^note Kazakh Purification Army

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

With the destruction brought upon Kazakhstan by Taboritsky, it's unsurprising that many Kazakhs seek revenge against Russia. The Kazakh Purification Army is made up of these people, with them wanting to destroy Russian culture and civilization as revenge for their plight. In their eyes, Russia must pay... with its blood.

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• Accomplice by Inaction: On top of blaming the Russians for their near-extermination, they also blame various other ethnic groups like the Uzbeks and Iranians for not doing enough to save Kazakhstan.
• Cruel Mercy: They don't immediately kill some of the Russian women they capture; instead they have their hair shaved and leave them to die in the wild steppes of Central Asia.
• Culture Police: Russian culture and civilization are torn down by their forces.
• Expy Coexistence: Their motivations and character are very similar to the Black League of Omsk, who also appear in After Midnight as the "Redeemed" Black League still carrying the same motivations as them.
• Foreign Ruling Class: They plan to establish a Kazakh regime over all of Russia that constantly purges its territory of anything pertaining to Russian civilization.
• Final Solution: They want to eradicate all Polish and Russian influence in their land.
• Irony: The Cycle of Revenge turns, and Gaziz's Kazakh Purification Army seeks to do the Russians as the Black League of Omsk seeks to do the Germans.
• Light Is Not Good: The Kazakh Purification Army is a genocidal state whose flag incorporates a beautiful set of gold and white symbols and calligraphy.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: They want to get revenge against Taboritsky's brutal rule by exterminating the Russians, ultimately becoming little better than their former oppressors. One of the KPA's character-establishing events sees them hunt down and run over a lone Shturmovik with a tank.
• Persecution Flip: With Taboritsky dead, the Purification Army now oppresses the Russians in their territory, dragging Russian families to be executed and forcing others to flee for their lives.
• Rivers of Blood: When the Purification Army exterminates an entire village of Russians, they dump their bodies in the Aral Sea, which turns red with their blood.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Radicalised by Taboritsky's extermination, with nothing left to lose, and consumed by hate, the Kazakh Purification Army seeks to completely erase the concept of Russia from the face of the world.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Kazakh people have been radicalized by Taboritsky's extermination campaign and now seeks to destroy Russia to make the country pay.
• You Are What You Hate: For all their hatred of the Holy Russian Empire, they espouse similarly racist rhetoric against other ethnic groups. One Russian even thinks that, if their speech replaced their references of Russians and Iranians to Jews and Tatars, they would sound just like the Holy Russian Empire.

Safa Gaziz

Role: Head of State

Party: Qazaq Tazarty Armiasy^note Kazakh Purification Army

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}A long time ago, a certain German philosopher warned that one should be careful of not becoming a monster himself in the process of fighting them. Unfortunately, Safa Gaziz is now but a reflection of the Mad Regent's reign of terror.

Originally a minor NKVD officer of the Kazakh SSR before the Soviet Union's demise, Safa led a relatively quiet life prior to Taboritsky's reign of terror in Kazakhstan. Under the Holy Russian Empire's occupation of his homeland, Gaziz led a group of raiders and partisans, wreaking havoc in the countryside against Russian forces.

As time went on, his hatred for the Russians and Slavs as a whole grew, removing the "-ov" Russian suffix of his surname as a sign of rejecting any Slav cultural influence. Now that the Regent lies dead, Gaziz and his clique of hatred filled partisans have risen up to purify their homeland of any Pole or Russian foolish enough to set foot in Kazakhstan.

He who fights monsters should look to it that he himself does not become one himself...

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• And Your Little Dog, Too!: In one radio message, Gaziz promises to make Taboritsky's army pay by killing them, slaughtering their families, decimating their homes, and eventually destroying the rest of Russia.
• Boomerang Bigot: He despises the former Soviet Union and has the corpses of their former citizens hanged near their entrance, even though Gaziz himself used to work for the Soviet Union in the NKVD.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Witnessing the destruction of his home country radicalized Gaziz, driving him to adopt extreme Russophobia to liberate his country.
• Former Regime Personnel: A former minor NKVD officer before the USSR's collapse.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Was only a minor NKVD officer in the Kazakh SSR before becoming the ultranationalist leader he is in post-Midnight Russia.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Safa Gazizov used to be the leader of a group of raiders and partisans who resisted against Taboritsky's extermination campaign against Kazakhs. As the war continued and worsened, his Russophobia rapidly grows until he becomes but a reflection of Taboritsky's own rule. His in-game description also explicitly references Nietzsche's quote.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Safa Gazizov was an obscure Kazakh KGB officer in real life but in TNO, he can become a genocidal ultranationalist in a post-Taboritsky Russia.
• Meaningful Rename: Safa Gaziz's birth surname was Gazizov. He removed the Russian -ov suffix when he adopted his ultranationalist, anti-Russian ideals.
• Rebel Leader: During Taboritsky's rule, Gaziz led a group of raiders and partisans against him, which only radicalized as his hatred for Russians grew.

Free Kazakh Clans

^{Flag of the Free Republic of Kazakhstan}

Official Name: Free Kazakh Clans, Free Republic of Kazakhstan (national unification)

Ruling Party: Qazaqstannyn Halyqtyq-demokratialyq Partiasy^note People's Democratic Party of Kazakhstan

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

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• Beware the Nice Ones: They're one of the most moral warlord states in the After Midnight scenario, though various events establish that they have a fully capable fighting force trained by Kazakh military veterans, preparing them for any external threats like the Kazakh Purification Army.
• Commune: Their territory is comprised of a loose confederation of towns and villages based on mutual aid and defense.
• Disaster Democracy: With both Kazakhstan and Russia itself destroyed, those Kazakhs outside of any other authorities have coalesced around their shared heritage and the desire to simply survive, building a loose confederation of towns and villages based on mutual aid and defence.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite having endured beyond horrendous treatment, the unification event for the Free Republic of Kazakhstan details how they triumphed despite facing extinction. Furthermore, and unlike the Purified State, they were able to overcome the anger and dismiss any notion of revenge, instead genuinely wishing to reform under a unified and free Kazakh republic.
  By Allah's Grace, the Kazakh people will know peace.
• Fire-Forged Friends: ZigZagged. Having endured Taboritsky's insane reign together, some bands of surviving Kazakhs and Russians have forged a deep bond with each other and driven them to work together in the new nomadic lifestyle they share. However, the game also notes that not all Kazakh clans are friendly to the Russians, whom are in an uncertain future of whether they will be accepted or not. Despite this, there is also hope that the two ethnic groups can reconcile their differences with each other until they become indistinguishable and can live in harmony.
• Genocide Survivor: Their members are the Kazakh tribes who were lucky enough to avoid total extermination by Taboritsky, as had happened to many others.
• The Idealist: Despite having nearly been exterminated, the Kazakhs immediately get to work to rebuilding their homeland after Taboritsky's death, remaining optimistic of their newfound freedom.

Sultanakhmet Kozhikov

Role: Head of State

Party: Qazaqstannyn Halyqtyq-demokratialyq Partiasy^note People's Democratic Party of Kazakhstan

Ideology: Paternalistic Conservatism^note Conservatism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Even in the face of oppression and death, mankind finds a way to cling onto hope, something that can be seen in the Free Kazakh Clans's continued existence in the Kazakh wastelands of the former Holy Russian Empire.

Though his name might be hard to remember in its entirety, the impact that Sultanakhmet Kongyrkhodzhayevich Kozhikov has had over the remaining Kazakhs is unforgettable: a soldier of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War, the future leader of the Free Clans became a grassroot movie director following the USSR's collapse, seeking to show the life and traditions of his people.

This came to be an important detail, as he saw his homeland fall under the Mad Regent's reign of terror and sought to show the horrors his people were subject to under the Holy Russian Empire through his underground photography documentation. Through this, he came to be elected by the unified councils of the Free Kazakh Clans at their first gathering following the fall of Taboritsky's regime.

A beacon of hope in these war-torn lands, Sultanakhmet will lead his people towards a better tomorrow, one where their way of life is no longer threatened.

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• Hope Bringer: Kozhikov wants to lead the Free Kazakh Clans under the hope of building a better future where their culture can be accepted.
• Overly Long Name: His own biography lampshades this fact, as his full name is Sultanakhmet Kongyrkhozhayevich Kozhikov.

Central Siberia

Central Eurasian Republic

^{Flag of the United Eurasian Republic}

Official Name: Central Eurasian Republic, United Eurasian Republic (national unification)

Ruling Party: Evraziyskaya Nacional'naya Komissiya^note Eurasian National Commission

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

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• The Assimilator: The Eurasian Republic believes Russian national identity to have been destroyed and irredeemably tainted by Taboritsky's atrocities. Therefore, it seeks to fuse the ethnicities of Russia into a new Eurasian identity.
• Dismotivation: Aside from their ambition to create a new Eurasian identity, the republic rejects all other politics and dreams beyond pragmatism.
• Freudian Excuse: Being subjected to Taboritsky's harsh rule is the reason why the Central Eurasian Republic has become extremely cynical.
• Historical In-Joke: The eight-pointed star on the Central Eurasian Republic's flag is based off of the one used by Young Eurasia movement.
• It Is Beyond Saving: The Central Eurasian Republic views the very notion of a Russian nation as being so tainted by the HRE that its government purposefully seeks to create a new "Eurasian" identity in its place.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Several Russians actually feel a sense of nostalgia for the old corporations that once oppressed them during the first warlord period. While they may have been exploitative, at least they didn't work the people to death like Taboritsky and get senselessly executed en masse.
• Never Recycle a Building: Averted. When two Russians remember that the old Novosibirsk government started construction on an incomplete water treatment plant, they head there to see if they salvage its purifier and resolve the water contamination problem left by Taboritsky.

To build the new, we use the old.

• Pay Evil unto Evil: Upon Taboritsky's death, the Central Eurasian Republic slaughters all of his supporters in their territories, ripping them apart.
• The Remnant: In Gumilyov's absence, they are the main bastion of Eurasianism in Russia.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Taboritsky's followers are torn apart and their buildings are either blown up or physically torn down by the people.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Some Russians have fled their homeland from here, taking advantage of the surviving airplanes Novosibirsk still has.

Mikhail Baganov

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Evraziyskaya Nacional'naya Komissiya^note Eurasian National Commission

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}How can the human spirit endure the death of one's nation? How could such a spirit, no matter how resilient, endure the death of one's nation a second time? Mikhail Petrovich Baganov knows, though he wishes day after day that such knowledge was not his. A former Novosibirsk general, Baganov and a cluster of partisans, refugees, and anyone with legs with which to run, melted into the Altay when the madness that had engulfed Komi engulfed Siberia. In the forests and hills, they fought a desperate battle for survival, praying that the dawn would come. It never did.

Baganov watched as Novosibirsk died; no, as Novosibirsk was murdered. As madmen, zealots, and sycophants tore his former country apart, Baganov wept bitter tears of grief. The Russia he once knew was raped, slaughtered, turned inside out, leaving only an ugly, brutalized exterior of blood and pain. As he and his partisans began to lose all hope and as Baganov considered ending his own life, a single ray of hope shined. Taboritsky, the Monster of Syktyvkar, was dead.

As the Holy Russian Empire began to collapse, Baganov seized his opportunity, his rag-tag army taking back his beloved Novosibirsk. In this new, old city, Baganov proclaims the death of Russia and the birth of a Eurasia free from the agony and hatred of past regimes. A new nation will live on, if it can only survive until dawn.

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• Ascended Extra: In a normal game of TNO, Mikhail Baganov is one of the generals of Novosibirsk. However, in a scenario where Taboritsky takes over Russia, he leads a Eurasianist regime (albeit one unrelated to Gumilyov-style feudalist Eurasianism, and much more akin to Eurasianism in its original prewar form) which controls Novosibirsk and the surrounding countryside after the death of Taboritsky.
• Cynicism Catalyst: While Novosibirsk already exemplified a cynical-pragmatist mindset by 1962, Taboritsky's rule not only reinforces those views in Baganov's eyes, but convinces him that even the idea of a Russian national identity is too dangerous and tainted to be kept alive.
• Driven to Suicide: He nearly kills himself until he receives news of Taboritsky's death, giving him just enough will to spare his own life.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Baganov has inherited this worldview from Pokryshkin's government.
• Necessarily Evil: Baganov is unwilling to spare food and other aid to his citizens because he wants to put more effort in stabilizing his country and warding off Taboritsky's forces.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: One of the Central Eurasian Republic's National Spirits is called "Benevolent Authoritarianism".

Republic of New Tomsk

^{Flag of the Third Russian Republic}

Official Name: Republic of New Tomsk, Third Russian Republic (national unification)

Ruling Party: Bastilyary^note Bastillards

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

When Taboritsky conquered Central Siberia, he made sure that heart of Siberia itself would suffer the most. Most of Tomsk was razed to the ground, the Salons were destroyed, its leadership was purged and his troops took whatever that was left. And yet here stands the Republic of New Tomsk. Unbeknownst to Taboritsky, hundreds of former Decembrists, Bastillards, Humanists and Modernists were secretly doing their best to resist his influence. After he died, the Bastillards under Alexander Zinoviev took charge of the remnants of the Salons and proclaimed the Republic of New Tomsk.

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• Due to the Dead:
  • After New Tomsk is established, the few surviving members of the Humanist salon made it their duty to identify every victim of the Mad Regent and give them what little dignity could be afforded to them.
  • In an effort spearheaded by the Decembrists, Boris Pasternak is given a proper reburial after his intact body was miraculously found buried out in the woods.
• Meaningful Funeral: After Boris Pasternak's body is found surprisingly intact, he gets a proper reburial in a plot on a hill overlooking the river Ob. The remains of the Salons remember him fondly while the Decembrists lead a moment of silence in his memory.
• Persecuted Intellectuals: Even more so than in the base game. Tomsk received a horrible beating at the hands of the Holy Russian Empire with most of Tomsk razed to the ground.
• The Remnant: New Tomsk is run by the Bastillards, the largest surviving of the old Central Siberian Republic's four political salons.
• La Résistance: When Tomsk fell to the Holy Russian Empire, hundreds of former Bastillards continued secretly doing all that they could to resist the influence of the Mad Regent. After Taboritsky's death, New Tomsk was formed and the Salons were revived, albeit much reduced and with only a shadow of their former power.
• Good All Along: In universe. The men and women living in Tomsk used to see the Bastillards as the coldest Salon, caring only about Russia but not the people who lived within it. With Russia shattered beyond repair, the Bastillards established makeshift kitchens and clinics throughout Tomsk and the surrounding towns, with the people coming to the realization that the Bastillards were Jerks With Hearts of Gold.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: With the Academy of Sciences completely destroyed he surviving Modernists try to restore the building by activating a power plant for it. Although several die during the effort, the Modernists eventually succeed with this small victory, giving a sliver of hope that Tomsk will endure in the wasteland.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

• Urban Ruins: The city of Tomsk has been ravaged by the Sturmoviki, with several districts and the old duma bulding being completely levelled. The national spirit "Crumbling City" explicitly states that it will take time for the city to rebuild to its former state.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The surviving Salons have put aside their disagreements in the interest of survival in the hostile Russian environment.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Despite the seeming failure of the Salons and the abject horrors of the HRE, the idealism of Tomsk, even in its shattered state, proves impossible to destroy.

Alexander Zinoviev

Role: Head of State

Party: Bastilyary^note Bastillards

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}An opponent of the USSR during its existence, Alexander Alexandrovich Zinoviev is a man with philosophical inclinations, who has nonetheless been spurred into action in his country's time of need. Nearly conscripted during the first war with the Germans, the USSR fell before he could be brought to the front. Zinoviev made his way to the newly established Central Siberian Republic in the aftermath, seeing it as a beacon of relative tolerance and stability, and joined the Bastillard Society, rising to an undistinguished position in their leadership. With the rest of the leadership of the Bastillards dead or missing as a result of the vicious purges of the Empire, he has taken charge of the rebuilding of Tomsk, large portions of which were leveled by imperial forces. Deeply haunted by the devastation of the Modernist and Humanist societies, Zinoviev is very willing to compromise in order to ensure the continuation of much needed stability.

The current president of New Tomsk, Alexander Zinoviev is the only surviving Bastillard leader in the aftermath of the nightmare that was Taboritsky's regime. Zinoviev has now taken charge of the rebuilding of the city of Tomsk and is willing to work together with the other surviving Salons for the benefit and stability of Tomsk.

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• Hope Springs Eternal: Despite the horrors of the HRE, and the near-destruction of everything Zinoviev held dear, he still holds on to a glimmer of hope for a better future, not just for New Tomsk but for all Russia.
• Survivor Guilt: Alexander Zinoviev is still haunted by the devastation suffered by the Modernist and Humanist salons and his failure to save them.
• Sole Survivor: With Kharms, Likhachyov, Shostakovich, Sakharov and the rest of the Salon leadership dead or missing, Zinoviev has taken charge of the rebuilding of Tomsk.

Now, he was the last one standing; the dying fate of Tomsk rests in his hands alone.

• You Are in Command Now: With the rest of the Bastillard leadership either dead or missing, it falls to Zinoviev to restore the Republic of New Tomsk.

Kingdom of Altay

^{Flag of the Kingdom of the Rurikids}

Official Name: Kingdom of Altay, Kingdom of the Rurikids (national unification)

Ruling Party: Ryurikovy Loyalisty^note Rurik's Loyalists

Ideology: Absolute Monarchy^note Despotism

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• Burying a Substitute: Altay's very first event "For the Fallen" has empty coffins meant for Boris' family being buried.
• Downer Beginning: As mentioned above, their very first event has Boris bury empty coffins clearly meant for his family while he mourns them.
• Due to the Dead: The above mentioned "For the Fallen" event has Boris mourning for his lost family at their funeral.
• Never Found the Body: The bodies of Rurik II, Prince Yuriy, and Princess Lydia were never found. While Rurik is confirmed dead, Boris' siblings are only mentioned to be missing but in post-Midnight Russia, that's a Distinction Without a Difference.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: In the final event, Boris finds a pile of books and papers that his father used to read and picks them up to read himself. As he scans through the pages, he begins to learn that he needs to inspire hope in his subjects to be a good king, bringing back his spirits in a measured form and implying that he'll eventually become as good of a ruler as his father was.
• The Remnant: The Kingdom of Altay is led by what remains of the neo-Rurikid dynasty who once ruled over Kemerovo.
• Rightful King Returns: Altay, resting on Kemerovo's starting location, is ruled by a neo-Rurikid once more.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Altay's council are completely divided over what to do, in which Boris I gets too overwhelmed by this factionalism to make decisive actions.

Boris I

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Ryurikovy Loyalisty^note Rurik's Loyalists

Ideology: Absolute Monarchy^note Despotism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}When Boris Nikolaevich Krylov refused his father's offer to be made a prince in his kingdom, he remained as a general in the kingdom's military. But his position wouldn't last — as the city of Kemerovo fell to their enemies, Boris narrow escaped the probable fate of the rest of his family.

Hiding out as a fugitive in the Central Siberian wilderness, he eventually settled in a small village under an assumed name. As the Holy Russian empire swept eastwards and established their administration within Siberia, nightmarish atrocities descended upon the population of Siberia as the Blessed Regent's agents turned brother against brother and father against son.

When the news came to Boris that the Regent had died, he believed it to be false. But as the wanton killing ebbed, and the terror evaporated, dread was replaced by anxiety — what would be the future for Siberia?

Believing that any central authority was required to inspire trust and hope within the people who had survived the Holy Russian Empire, he assumed the mantle he never wanted: Boris I, King of Altay. His rule, kind and fair-handed to Russians and the few surviving minorities alike, has earned him many friends.

When Boris Nikolaevich Krylov heard his father's declaration of a kingdom in Kemerovo, he would never forseen the disaster that would follow. His father's kingdom fell to their enemies, his father was killed and his siblings went missing while he went into hiding in a small Siberian village. When the abomination known as the Holy Russian Empire swept through Russia, Boris heard of atrocities and unspeakable acts being committed upon the people of Siberia in the name of a long-dead monarch. Ironic. Everything changed when the Regent died, and Boris reluctantly came to the conclusion that he would take upon the mantle of Boris I, King of the Rurikid Kingdom of Altay. Now Boris rules over his subjects like his father once did, with kindness and fair-handedness.

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• The Alcoholic: Subverted, but then played straight. He's initially tempted to drink away his sorrows during his coronation, but he recognizes that his addiction would not be in the best interest of his subjects, so he abstains. Unfortunately, it's implied that he eventually caved and begins taking swigs of vodka in his room.
• Ascended Extra: In a typical Kemerovo playthrough, Boris is pretty much a non-player in the royal court, never choosing one sibling over the other in Yuriy and Lydia's feud. After Midnight, he becomes the last surviving Rurikid and reestablishes a neo-Rurukid Kingdom in Altay.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Should Boris reunify Russia, he formally coronates himself as Boris I, though most people refer to him as Rurik III, the name his older brother Yuriy would have taken.
• The Chains of Commanding: Compared to his portrait in the base game, where Boris's hair is still black and actually has a bit of a smirk, the Boris I that rules over Altay has aged significantly (being 38 when the HRE falls but looks at least a decade older) and just looks tired overall. Considering he's been working himself to the bone to provide for Altay's people and survive Taboritsky's nightmare, it's not surprising its taken a toll on him.
• Cool Crown: Seems to have held onto his late father's crown but by the time the HRE collapses, it's clearly seen better days with its sheen gone and pieces of metal being missing.
• The Creon: In a normal Kemerovo playthrough, Boris has no political ambitions and even refuses to take the title of prince, content to serve as a general. In the event where Rurik II is on his deathbed◊ after 1972, he even shares his last words with Boris while his siblings look on.
• The Cynic: Unlike his more idealistic family members, Boris has no higher ambitions beyond keeping his kingdom alive for the next day. Unfortunately, this pessimistic approach has also left his people in low morale in a time where they desperately need hope.
• The Good King: King Boris' kind treatment of non-Russians has endeared him to them, and his focus on Altay's necessities has saved precious lives and resources, though the drab nature of his rule has created problems with morale.
• Good Is Boring: Boris is doing what he can to provide for his people, but his style as a dull, steady pair of hands at the wheel isn't necessarily what the people need at a time when morale is low and hope is rare. His events suggest he comes to understand this, and adopt a more flamboyant style to kindle his people's passion for life.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Despite genuinely being the best ruler he can possibly be for the people of Altay, the events for Altay shows Boris plagued with self doubt over his ability to be an effective leader and symbol of hope for his people.
• History Repeats: In Altay's final event "Once More, With Feeling", Boris turns to the very same books his father did during his lowest, before adopting his Rurik II persona. The event implies that Boris is going to have the exact same experience his father did in order to give his people some hope.
• King Incognito: After Kemorovo's downfall before the Holy Russian Empire arrived in Siberia, Boris hid in a small village under a fake name, not revealing his true identity until after the HRE's collapse.
• Last of His Kind: He is the last of the Krylov family by the time Taboritsky's domain collapses, with his father dead and his siblings missing (and that's in a best case scenario).
• Like Father, Like Son: Boris ushers in a kingdom that mixes Kievan Rus' and the Muscovite Tsardom with the modern Soviet Union, just like his father once did.
• Modest Royalty: King Boris is a monarch without a throne or castle, often going days or weeks without wearing his crown.
• Rags to Royalty: Of the Hard Way route. Boris was initially a prince in Kemerovo who had no desires for the throne, and having settled in a nameless village after Kemerovo's defeat. After the fall of the HRE, Boris takes up the neo-Rurukid crown like his father before him to give the people some hope.
• Reluctant Ruler: With his father and elder siblings dead or missing, Boris Krylov was forced to reluctantly crown himself, and is uncertain if he wants to keep his title or not.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Boris Nikolaevich Krylov in OTL was a Soviet officer who served in the Strategic Missile Forces (like his father) and was later promoted to a Major General. In TNO, Boris's life went down a different direction due to his father's actions in Kemerovo (he refused to become nobility and remained as a general in Kemerovo), and he would be forced to become a monarch in the After Midnight scenario.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Already a general back in Kemerovo, Boris's leadership has been the main reason why the people of Altay have survived the collapse of the HRE.
• Sole Survivor: The sole surviving member of the Krylov family.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Although they themselves are starving and poor, a group of Mongol pastoralists sympathize with Boris' current plight and send food to feed his subjects. Although the donation isn't enough to feed very many people, Boris is still grateful for the Mongols' altruism and tries giving the supplies back to the Mongols, who refuse and allow Boris to keep them.
• Tragic Keepsake: Seems to have kept his father's crown long after Rurik II died, Boris having begun to wear it himself once Altay is founded. As mentioned above though, the crown has seen some better days.
• Unexpected Successor: Boris Krylov was just fine being a general in Kemerovo's army and had no aspirations for the throne. But with his father certainly dead and his siblings likely dead as well, it's up to Boris to carry on the Neo-Rurikid legacy.
• What Would X Do?: Often overwhelmed by the new responsibilities he has to take, he takes walks to observe the local pastures and ponder about what his father would do in his current predicament.
• Younger Than They Look: Boris is only 38 when he proclaims the Kingdom of Altay, but looks at least a decade older than that.

Siberian Free Territory

^{Flag of the Free Motherland}

Official Name: Siberian Free Territory, Free Motherland (national unification)

Ruling Party: Sibirsky Anarkhichesky Sovet^note Siberian Anarchist Council

Ideology: Anarcho-Communism^note Socialism

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• Anarchy Is Chaos: Averted and Inverted the same way its predecessor, the Siberian Black Army, styled their government. Their communes are ordered enough to gather at the advice of Taratuta.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: The news of Taboritsky's death prompts the Day of Freedom, an uprising that leaves all of Holy Russia's officials found and executed publicly. One revolutionary tells Taratuta of how a factory commissar, who was now seen hanging from his neck at the town square, ruled with such brutality that it led to him losing an eye under his employment.
• Arch-Enemy: With the Bratsk Communal Vanguard, a neighboring bandit clan who wants to pillage their lands and is the most immediate threat to them.
• Bilingual Bonus: The text on the flag of the Free Motherland reads "Death to the Fascists"
• Civil War: Somewhat applies, against the Bratsk Communal Vanguard, the other "Anarchist" force in the area.
• The Cynic: Much of the populace has been disillusioned with Taratuta's calls to join the first Siberian Soviet conference, pessimistically believing that they'll be oppressed again by a government and merely want to live peacefully in isolation.
• Disaster Democracy: Although Pyotr Siuda is long dead, the peasants of Kansk were thankfully beneath Taboritsky's notice. Returning from their exile hiding amongst the peasants, the former ideologues and committee leaders of the Siberian Free Territory have endured and returned to their anarchist traditions, under the advisory leadership of Yevgeniya Taratuta.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Despite kicking the Holy Russian Empire's forces out of their land, the Siberian Free Territory still carries out public executions against perceived enemies, including both genuine collaborators to Tabortisky's empire and even innocent citizens who were falsely accused.
• Heroic Spirit: Although they lack the materials to wage a modern war, many of the pesants remaind loyal to Taratuta's cause, determined to defend their communes to the last man.
• Hidden Supplies: Weapons were stored between crevices and under floorboards, unearthed to fight off the remaining imperial forces during the HRE's fall.
• No True Scotsman: Mishurenko's messengers rebuke Taratuta's followers, and declare war on her territory. She responds in kind, declaring Mishurenko's people to be statists and no better than fascists and the Blessed Regent. The event is even titled, "No True Anarchist".
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Taratuta is reluctant over mob justice, worrying about possible innocents being harmed. The other revolutionaries are zealous in ensuring her that their vengeful executions are necessary. She begrudgingly accepts.
• La Résistance: After being forced to hide under the reign of Taboritsky, they move to overthrow the government once his death opens the opportunity.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized:
  • Once the HRE began collapsing, the citizens of this territory wasted little time eliminating the imperial rulers by any means necessary.
  • Public executions are held for the imperial officials, and many often voice how glad they are to see them dead.
• Skeleton Motif: Following Yuri and Ivan before them, they use the jolly roger as a symbol of Anarchism. Moreso in the case of the former, being genuine in their motivations as opposed to the bandits of Bratsk..
• Torn Apart by the Mob: The peasants of Kansk announce the re-establishment of their Free Territory by tearing Kamarov, the brutal governor appointed by the Mad Regent, apart with their bare hands.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Taratuta has a hard time trying to keep the masses together after they all united to drive the imperialists off.
  • Her speeches have low attendance, much to her dismay. There is at least one farmer left unenthused at the prospect of the government managing his crops and land again.
  • Mishurenko and his people declare themselves to be true Anarchists and urge the people to reject Taratuta's advice.

Yevgeniya Taratuta

Role: Director of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister (Siberian Soviet cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Sibirsky Anarkhichesky Sovet^note Siberian Anarchist Council

Ideology: Anarcho-Communism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}A former member and ideologue of the old Siberian Black Army, Yevgeniya Aleksandrovna Taratuta survived the purges imposed by the empire on her fellow anarchists, and came out of the experience more determined than ever to free the Russian people from the chains of the state, having witnessed firsthand the depths to which a government could sink. Having rallied those of her old allies that remained, Taratuta seeks to restore the Free Territory as it once was, a beacon of freedom in a land in desperate need of it. She will show the world that Russia can be free, can rise above the depredations of the Holy Russian Empire, or die trying.

See her entry on the Siberian Black Army subpage.

Mikhail Kilchichakov

Role: Director of State Development^note Economy Minister (Siberian Soviet and Security Council cabinet), General

Party: Sibirsky Anarkhichesky Sovet^note Siberian Anarchist Council

Ideology: Anarcho-Communism^note Socialism

See his entry on the Siberian Black Army subpage.

Bratsk Communal Vanguard

^{Flag of the All-Russian Liberation Vanguard}

Official Name: Bratsk Communal Vanguard, All-Russian Liberation Vanguard (national unification)

Ruling Party: Sibirskaya Chernaya Armiya^note Siberian Black Army

Ideology: Vanguard Anarchism^note Despotism

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• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Their men spend time partying and brawling with one another at the conquered home of the former Bratsk governor, with drinks constantly served from the basement distillery to fuel their antics.
• Anarcho-Tyranny: A group of bandits that pilfer the territory they come across and claim to be the true successors to the Siberian Black Army. Their hypothetical scenario of reunifying Russia has analysts projecting a short lifespan from the constant instability.
• Anarchy Is Chaos: Mishurenko wholeheartedly believes this, envisioning conquest over the wastelands to do as his people please in the homes of their vanquished enemies. More devoted Anarchists like Taratuta are shunned for being 'puritan' about their ideology.
  After all, what was anarchism if not the freedom to eat, drink, revel, and celebrate where one wished?
• Bandit Clan: One that rose from the remains of the Siberian Black Army.
• Bilingual Bonus: A Russian motto is written on their unification flag, which translates to a boastful "Death to those who are against us!"
• Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: To the extent that they claim to be the successors to the SBA but do little other than terrorizing the populace.
• Dark Is Evil: Appropriate the jolly roger as they raid and crush innocents.
• Evil Wears Black: They fly the black anarchist flag and wear dark uniforms, but are despots caring little for those standing in their way.
• Greed: The Black Army does not care about the wellbeing of their citizens, just whatever loot they can squeeze out of them.
• Hate Sink: All events pertaining to them show how little they care for their rhetoric, only using the ideology as a means to placate their potential targets for plunder. They often voice just how much they enjoy pilfering the goods of their enemies and the populace.
• Hope Spot: They let some of their captives, former imperial personnel, free onto the fields. They then encourage them to run as fast as they can to escape their bullets and earn their freedom. Growing tired of the charade, Mishurenko quickly has them shot to end it.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Two of their men mug and brutalize a girl from the Siberian Free Territory. One of them snarks, "God bless Mishurenko" and "damn the Regent". His partner wonders aloud if they're meant to be using "statist" concepts like religion, to which the man replies, "Ain't we [statists]?". They laugh and head back with the goods they thieved, knowing their cause is a sham.
• Insistent Terminology: Their soldiers steal crops and gains from the populace, swearing that they are merely doing 'inspections'. Forcibly separating people from their goods is mockingly referred to as 'taxation'.
• In Name Only: Unlike the genuine anarchists of the Siberian Free Territory, whose ideology is Socialism, the Bratsk Communal Vanguard's ideology is Despotism. Any sort of anarchist doctrine they may seem to hold is merely a veneer for their brutal rule, as shown by their actions.
• Kick the Dog: In the Siberian Free Territory's event, "Lessons Learned", two of their men violently mug a girl and laugh over their execution. Before they ride off, they decide to mention how they care little for their so-called "Anarchist" cause, showing them to be nothing more than self-serving bandits.
• No True Scotsman: Mishurenko sends messengers to rebuke Taratuta, declaring war on her territory. She responds in kind, declaring Mishurenko's people to be statists and no better than fascists and the Blessed Regent. The event is even titled, "No True Anarchist".
• Pay Evil unto Evil: They hold former imperial personnel captive and torment them with the prospect of freedom, only to eagerly have them shot down like wild animals. Deconstructed, as this shows the cruelty of Mishurenko and his men by directly comparing the pain they inflict to the suffering under the HRE. One of their executions is for the wife of a governor, who may not have held much guilt beyond mere association.
• People's Republic of Tyranny: For all their anarchist rhetoric, the Bratsk Communal Vanguard is nothing but a tyrannical bandit state. Those deriding them are silenced as quickly as possible.
• Protection Racket: What their approach to 'contributions' boils down to. They even smugly declare how their 'taxation' will switch from monthly to weekly, depending on how they feel.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Though they hesitate to burn settlements down, if only to keep them around to loot and celebrate in.
• Sir Swearsalot: Their messages denouncing Taratuta aren't lax on what words they choose to describe their hatred of her.
• Skeleton Motif: Following Yuri and Ivan before them, they use the jolly roger as a symbol of Anarchism. Moreso in the case of the latter, being rebellious millitarists that couldn't care less about their supposed ideals.
• The Social Darwinist: Mishurenko and his men value the enjoyment of spoils brought on through violent conquest, exerting their influence over any land and faction they can intimidate and crush.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: The bandits celebrate Taboritsky's death with jubilation, even pissing on his portraits to the cheers of their drunken comrades.
• Smug Snake: The entire group is full of snide bandits who can't help but chuckle to themselves every time they twist anarchist ideals and torment their next targets.
• Villain with Good Publicity: At least initially. Their honeyed words of fighting for Anarchism actually manage to win over anybody not already familiar with their operations, including some of Taratuta's supporters.

Androniy Mishurenko

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Sibirskaya Chernaya Armiya^note Siberian Black Army

Ideology: Vanguard Anarchism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Androniy Afanasyevich Mishurenko is the leader of an all-new Siberian Black Army that rules over what remains of the wastes of Siberia. After the horrors of the Mad Regent, Mishurenko stoked the flames of internal dissent within the remnants of the Siberian Black Army, breaking off the Bratsk Communal Vanguard under his personal vanguard. Now, his warriors ride about the desolate remains of the countryside, tasked with securing order in the communes. He claims to be the true heir of the Siberian Black Army, a personal protector of anarchist ideals and a warrior for equality, forced into his despotic position by the circumstantial horror of the Holy Russian Empire. Most, however, see him as little more than a bandit king with delusions of granduer.

See his entry on the Siberian Black Army subpage.

Far East

Russian Empire

Official Name: Russian Empire, Russian Peoples' Empire (national unification)

Ruling Party: Imperskie Loyalisty^note Imperial Loyalists

Ideology: Absolute Monarchy^note Despotism

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• Arch-Enemy: They're directly in conflict with Dikiy's Regency.
• Cassandra Truth: Some of Goleniewski's fellow former NKVD agents know that he's not Alexei and even try to tell others about it in a bar. People seem to have a hard time believing them while others are too apathetic to bother. The fact that his rule is actually benevolent seems to quash any ideas of rebellion.

Quote from news event "Words Uttered in Secret": What matters more: a man or what he represents?

• The Coup: "Alexei" rises to power by convincing everyone of his legitimacy with his acting skills, swaying the public and the guards into overthrowing the old HRE rulers in the area.
• Empire with a Dark Secret: The real Alexei is dead and the so-called "Alexei II" is an impostor. Yet the empire derives it's legitimacy from a facade.
• Gone Horribly Right: Its creation could be considered one for Taboritsky's efforts. After destroying Russia in a mad effort to "purify" it for Alexei's return, he succeeds... in the form of an imposter who goes against everything Taboritsky stood for.
• The Good Kingdom: The new Russian Empire was founded by Goleniewski as a beacon of hope in Russia's current darkness.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Former Chita general and member of Shepunov's White Army clique Leonid Chernykh, former Irkutsk general Arkady Apollonov, and former Divine Mandate general Pavel Adelgeim now fights for Alexei II's Russian Empire.
• Irony: Alexei II's domain arises where Yagoda's Presidium did at the start of the game, while Dikiy's far-right Regency claims the site of Sablin's old starting position in Buryatia. The conflict between the two nations becomes a twisted version of the Irkutsk-Buryatia conflict that occurs right at the start of the game.
• Refuge in Audacity: Anyone with common sense would have agreed that Alexei II was long dead and never coming back, many officials believing that he was simply an Empty Promise to place Russia under Nazism. But their leader manages to do such a good job of convicing people that he's the real deal that he overturns the entire order of his area in his favor. Even when his rule obviously contradicts Taboritsky's values, his rule is so effective and benevolent that even skeptics are happy to see him reign.
• Scam Religion: A positive example. The populace is manipulated to believe that Alexei II has returned to Russia and is blessed by Jesus, unaware that he's actually just a former NKVD agent posing as Alexei II. However, this image is meant to raise the spirits of the people in the otherwise cynical nature of the After Midnight wasteland and Alexei II's rule is genuinely benevolent.
• Sole Survivor: The above mentioned generals Arkady Apollonov and Pavel Adelgeim seem to be all that's left of Yagoda's Presidium and Alexander Men's Divine Mandate respectivly.
• This Cannot Be!: The event, "He Lives", depicting Alexei's "return". A corrupt governor that simply agreed with the empire's rule without a shred of faith in the Tsarevich is shocked when Alexei not only arrives as promised, but manages to sway the loyalty of everyone in the area, including his own guards.
• Undying Loyalty: Alexei II's benevolence has earned the love of many of his followers. Even when Alexei II decrees a socialist policy of redistributing land and collectivizing property, his monarchist allies are baffled, but follow him anyways out of loyalty.

Alexei II (Michał Goleniewski)

Role: Head of State

Party: Imperskie Loyalisty^note Imperial Loyalists

Ideology: Absolute Monarchy^note Despotism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Who is he? A man? A god? An idea? Each Russian has their own answer, Taboritsky's Imperial Cult having stained Alexei's name into the collective consciousness of the Russian people. Many understand him as the nightmare, the final end that awaits them all. Others, styling themselves as more rational than the rest, view him as naught but a name, used to justify the most horrid of crimes. But to some, he is the avenging angel of the people; the light, the guide, the savior of Russia.
He watched as his people slaughtered each other in his absence, saw the rise of the Reichsadler and the fall of the motherland, and wept as the Regent, the wretched despoiler of all Creation, plunged Russia into its darkest chapter. His people find themselves broken and beaten, with no hope of recovery. They till ravaged fields, eat poisoned food, and salt the earth further with their tears. Russia calls out in agony for something to save it from destruction; the voices of suffering millions begging the void for someone to bring them salvation.
And finally, Alexei answered.
Born Michael Goleniewski, he has seen the triumph of Nazism everywhere it has stepped foot. His Polish homeland fell in mere weeks, the Union didn't last a year, and even the Americans surrendered before the power of the atom. His heart lies with the people, socialistic tendencies bleeding into his governance as tsar.
But he is no extremist. Russia has suffered more than any people ought to; dying three times in under a century, each more brutal than the last. Now is not the time for ideology or division. Russia needs to be reborn once more, and Michael will take up the mantle of its phoenix.
God has not seen fit to help Russia, but Alexei lives, and he loves his subjects.

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• The Alcoholic: He's implied to drink often, with vodka being his favorite.
• Allohistorical Allusion: In OTL, Michał Goleniewski was a member of the Polish Secret Service spying for the KGB and then the CIA. After defecting to the United States, he proclaimed himself to be Tsarevich Alexei, despite being born in 1922. A rather odd note in our history, but a radical and impactful statement to make in After Midnight.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: His acting skills help sell the idea of an authoritative and regal monarch, enough to turn soldiers and guards over to his side to overthrow the oppressive governor of the state he begins in.
• Beneath Notice: Despite being a part of the former NKVD, Goleniewski managed to survive because he wasn't relevant enough to be noticed by the Holy Russian Empire and summarily executed.
• Beneath the Mask: Underneath the wise king image he presents to the public, he's a casual man who enjoys unroyal hobbies like smoking and having a good laugh with his friends. Furthermore, underneath that mask, he carries a lot of sorrow from witnessing Taboritsky's crimes, but chooses to laugh instead of crying because it would be "less kingly".
• Break Them by Talking: How he deals with Governor Marenko, the HRE official appointed to his starting area. In a booming voice with the air of a nobleman, he recounts his crimes to an exact degree in spite of the security measures established. He then sentences the rapist and murderer to death in the name of the crown.
• Can't Believe I Said That: He's willing to create a speech depicting Alexei's divine right to rule as God intends, despite being a Marxist and an atheist, but he's fine with such speeches if it means keeping people's hopes up.
• Chummy Commies: Even after taking the mantle of a monarch, Goleniewski still considers himself a Marxist, and ends up creating a socialist monarchy. His economic policy stresses the importance of workers' self-management and collective property.
• Composite Character: Invoked by Goleniewski. He dons the identity of Alexei II but styles his facial hair into the beard of Tsar Nicholas II to portray him as an adult. His royal outfit is also a mishmash of several robes that have never been in use by actual monarchies, as he and his friend simply cobbled his outfit together from whatever they could find.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: As bizarre of an ideology and identity this "Alexei" might posit, his rule is genuinely benevolent.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Subverted. He's styled to have a handlebar mustache, but he's actually a benevolent leader.
• Dead Person Impersonation: 'Alexei II' is in truth Michał Goleniewski, a Polish-born former NKVD agent, who has styled his moustache, put on the most regal outfit he can find, and declared himself to be the Tsarevich returned to the citizens of Irkutsk.
• Dramatic Irony: In a way, he ends up bringing Taboritsky's insane prophecy to fruition, but by establishing a governing style that goes against everything that the Blessed Regent stood for.
• Expy Coexistence: Very similar to Nikolay Krylov in that he's a former Soviet official who assumes the identity of a long-dead Russian noble, leading his people under a benevolent socialist monarchy. He appears in the After Midnight world alongside Krylov's son, Boris, who has the same intentions.
• God Guise: With all of Taboritsky's delusional insistence that Alexei II survived and became capable of bringing Russia back to glory, Goleniewski assuming Alexei's identity also counts as this.
• The Good King: Following the mantle of Peter and Catherine the Great, Goleniewski's enlightened despotism may be one of the last pockets of sane rule in the new anarchy.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Goleniewski was a spy who revealed the identities of several KGB agents in Western governments and militaries, but aside from defecting and then proclaiming himself to be Alexei Romanov, remained rather obscure. In TNO, his claim to the throne is one of the last few vestiges of sanity in the post-Taboritsky wasteland.
• Hope Bringer: He dons the identity of Alexei II and uses Taboritsky's previous messages and ideology to raise the morale for the people in his territory.
• Icy Blue Eyes: His eyes are described as "blue-gray" as they stare down a corrupt HRE governor and denounce his crimes against the people.
• King Bob the Nth: Alexei II, with "Alexei I" being Alexis of Russia (1629-1676).
• Mysterious Past: Nobody knows much about his past beyond his position in the NKVD, which is something Goleniewski wants to maintain in order to not break the mythology surrounding his new nickname and thus keep the people's spirits up. Even if some people know and share the scant few details about his known background, not many people care anyways because he's a Hope Bringer and a benevolent king.
• Napoleon Delusion: Though seemingly more self-aware about his true identity, he takes the mantle of Alexei II to bring hope to the former HRE's population and wishes for a benevolent rule.
• The Power of Acting: Goleniewski did some theater training in the past, once even portraying a Russian nobleman. This lets him further his image as a messianic and inspiring Tsar, despite personally being a rather down-to-earth atheistic socialist.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers this to an HRE governor, announcing his crimes and sentencing him to death.
• Rightful King Returns: Goleniewski invokes this trope to get the people of the Far East on his side. He may not be the real Alexei, but that doesn't matter when there are things to be set right in the wake of Taboritsky's fall.
• Rousing Speech: When addressing his people, Alexei II is prone to delivering these. In particular, one of his first acts as king is to build radio loudspeakers in every town and village center, which he uses to deliver a speech rallying the people behind his cause and condemning Sergey Taboritsky and Andrey Dikiy.
• Rummage Sale Reject: None of the items on his already gaudy and unwieldy costume are patterned after real royal regalia, with some of the clothes torn and comparable to something out of a cheap play. It at least gets the job done.
• Sad Clown: He laughs with his friend about the current situation in post-Taboritsky Russia as they're creating the outfit for his impersonation. On the outside is a silly but inspirational figure that elicits laughs from himself and his former fellow agents, but on the inside is a man with many responsibilities on his shoulders.
• Secret-Keeper: Some of his friends and other NKVD agents helped him in establishing his rule. Even those that did not play a role in his crowning know very well of his act.
• Something Only They Would Say: He manages to convince even a governor of Holy Russia of his authority and omnipresence by recounting his atrocities and shameless cruelty behind closed doors, despite Taboritsky's goons having top security to prevent any spies and eavesdropping.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Invoked by Goleniewski, who makes his version of Alexei look like the Tsarevich's father Nicholas II.
• Took a Level in Badass: If his fellow former NKVD comrades are to be believed, Goleniewski was nothing more than a paper-pusher in the agency before assuming his throne.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Those within his territory are usually so convinced of his divinity by his act that even the guards of the HRE's government officials take his word over theirs. Though his governance and ideas are blatantly far from what is expected of a Romanov's rule, everyone agrees to follow them anyway, refusing to challenge the benevolence and wisdom of what they believe to be the returned and blessed Tsarevich.

Regency of Holy Russia

^{Flag of the Eternal Regency of Holy Russia}

Official Name: Regency of Holy Russia, Eternal Regency of Holy Russia (national unification)

Ruling Party: Obshchestvo Vozrozhdeniya Rossiyskoiy Imperii^note Society for the Revival of the Russian Empire

Ideology: Imperial Cult^note National Socialism

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Dikiy's purge of his rivals and even the Shturmoviki in the very first event for the Regency, "In Taboritsky's Footsteps", mirrors Saddam Hussein's own purge of the Ba'ath Party in 1979.
• Ambiguous Situation: The remains of Rodzaevsky's branch of the Russian Fascist Party are all present in the Regency, but it remains unclear just how exactly they broke with Rodzaevsky, then later getting involved with the Holy Russian Empire and Dikiy's own subsequent Regency.
• Arch-Enemy: The other claimant to Alexei's legacy and the main force against Goleniewski's Russian Empire.
• As You Know: Their events begin with Dikiy reciting to a disloyal government official that he has been informed of the other HRE remnants going rogue, and more specifically, he was told such information instead, displaying his growing influence and power.
• Composite Character: They take their starting location from Sablin's old position as a reversal of the Irkutsk-Buryatia clash and use the aesthetics and Imperial Cult ideals of the Holy Russian Empire. Additionally, the designs of fascist Amur are incorporated, replacing their flag's swastika with Holy Russia's eagle and implementing Okhotin, Tyrsin, and Ageev as generals.
• Continuity Nod: The flag for Dikiy's Regency is a near carbon copy of Amur's flag, replacing the swastika with the HRE's Imperial Eagle, fitting for a state that houses the last of Rodzaevsky's RFP.
• Eviler than Thou: Nearly the entire general staff of the old All-Russian Government of Amur (except for Georgy Shekherev) are now fighting under Dikiy's banner, a man so vile that even Rodzaevsky likely would've been disgusted by him.
• Illegal Religion: Downplayed. The church is kept, but the idolization of Jewish figures like Paul and Moses are banned and Dikiy's own brand of Imperial Cultism are entwined with the old religion.
• Irony: The far-right Regency sits in Sablin's old starting position in Buryatia. Combined with Alexei II's domain sitting on the site of Yagoda's Presidium, the conflict between the two nations becomes a twisted version of the Irkutsk-Buryatia conflict that begins right at the start of the game.
• Neverending Terror: This is their goal. Dikiy tries to hijack the insane prophecy of Taboritsky for himself, by declaring himself the true successor to the Regency and publicly swearing that he will retain control until Alexei returns, which he fully knows is impossible and will result in an eternal Regency with himself as ruler.
• The Remnant: Dikiy's Regency is the remnant of the HRE's administration in the Far East, and also home to the last remains of Rodzaevsky's Russian Fascist Party, with Lev Okhotin, Vasily Tyrsin and Konstantin Ageev available as generals.

Andrey Dikiy

Role: Minister of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister (Clerical Fascist Taboritsky cabinet), Keeper of the State Seals^note Foreign Minister (Imperial Cult Taboritsky cabinet), Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Obshchestvo Vozrozhdeniya Rossiyskoiy Imperii^note Society for the Revival of the Russian Empire

Ideology: Clerical Fascism^note National Socialism(façade), Imperial Cult^note National Socialism (actual)

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Andrei Ivanovich Dikiy was a longtime associate of the Blessed Regent, dating back to the days before the rise of the Regency. He rose rapidly within the ranks of the Regency, ingratiating himself to the Regent whenever and wherever he could. When the collapse happened, Dikiy found himself in the Far East, overseeing the purification of the region. After the pretender, the morally-decrepit pit of subhumanity masquerading as the so-called "Alexei II", Andrei Ivanovich knew the truth. Marshalling what soldiers he could, he rose against the pretender, dedicated to putting down who he referred to as the "satanic imposter".

In reality, Dikiy is little more than a naked, power-hungry cretin with few true ideological convictions past the all-consuming desire for power. As the political machine that he helped build and reinforce fell apart around him, he did not weep or grieve. Where his former compatriots saw tragedy, he saw opportunity. Equipped with a dogged desire to empower himself, he views the destruction of Alexei II and his movement as his ticket to acquiring enough legitimacy to declare himself the true Regent of a resurgent Holy Russian Empire.

Andrey Ivanovich Dikiy, formerly another of Taboritsky's sycophants, reveals his true loyalties after the death of the Regent and his Empire: he is loyal to himself alone. Seeing opportunity amidst suffering, Dikiy has proclaimed himself Taboritsky's true successor as the Blessed Regent of Holy Russia, and breaks from Larionov's government, carving out his own fiefdom in Buryatia as the rest of the Far East fell. He is prepared to kill his way into becoming the sole ruler of the wastelands, and his first target is the false "Alexei II"; hope and salvation for Russia will be damned, if he gets to rule over it in the end.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Dikiy is entirely motivated by his hunger for power, and seeks to kill his way into becoming the new overlord of Russia in the aftermath of Taboritsky's death.
• Ax-Crazy: He is introduced not only conducting The Purge of his rivals, but also the mass arrest and execution of everybody and anybody, just because he could. The arrests include the most dedicated supporters and other Shturmoviki.
• Bastard Understudy: He had very little real loyalty to Taboritsky and his ministers, and jumps at the opportunity to claim the post-Midnight wasteland for himself.
• Blatant Lies: Invoked by him, to twist the propaganda and ideals of Holy Russia. He claims to be the true successor to the Regency and promises that he will surrender his power over to Alexei upon the Tsarevich's return. Dikiy knows such a prophecy is patently false and is merely establishing an excuse to make himself Regent for Life.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Is introduced slowly killing a governor of the Holy Russian Empire for refusing to submit to him, while he is unashamed in boasting about the loyalty that others in his territory have for him. Governor Alexandrov is implied to be one of many officials slaughtered in Dikiy's rise to power.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Dikiy is willing to do anything, betray anyone, and brutally snuff out any spark of goodness and hope if it means that he gets to rule over the ashes of Russia.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Dikiy loyally followed Taboritsky and helped enact the cruelty of the Holy Russian Empire, but for his own gain and pleasure rather than total devotion to the Mad Regent. Upon his death, Dikiy declares his realm separate from Larionov and the other Holy Russian remnants, seeking to claim the wasteland for himself.
• Dropped Glasses: As he falls into unconsciousness from one of his paranoia-fueled moodswingings, his glasses fall from his face and he hears himself stepping on them.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: His method of governing is the same theocratic-monarcho-Nazism of Taboritsky's Imperial Cult, established under an eternal regency.
• Evil Feels Good: Upon seeing the liquidation of a village, Dikiy feels a sense of pride with his "work".
• Evil Regent: He specifically adopts the title of "Regency" for his fragment of Holy Russia and claims to be Taboritsky's successor as regent for the true Alexei II.
• Evil Reactionary: Unlike Goleniewski, who pursues a quasi-socialist monarchy and styles himself after the enlightened despotism of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, Dikiy is a Nazi who gleefully admits his crimes against the Russian people.
• Faint in Shock: The concerns over the false Tsar across the river and the lack of trust he has in his underlings constantly swirl in his mind, until he eventually falls unconscious from the paranoia and stress.
• For the Evulz: Dikiy's goal is to crush and brutalize what's left of Russia under a cause that he knows is lost, feeling proud at being able to rule the ashes with an iron fist. His purges target anyone and everyone he feels needs to die, partly because he has the power to call for them and partly out of paranoia.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears glasses and is the most despicable leader in the Far East.
• Hate Sink: Andrey Dikiy is one of the vilest—if not the vilest—of all the Holy Russian Empire remnant leaders, and is second only to Abaddon in moral depravity among all the post-Midnight warlords. He is revealed to have not only been complicit in the genocidal violence unleashed by the Holy Russian Empire on the Far East, but also revealed to have willingly partaken in these atrocities. Additionally, it was not out of any ideological convictions, but instead as a way to increase his own power and influence. Larionov is depicted as an ultimately pathetic and broken down recluse after all the horror he has helped to unleash, Evtukovich at least expresses a twisted sense of loyalty to Taboritsky's cause, and both Talberg and Melkikh are at least a few notches down from the horrors of Taboritskyite Nazism, even when they're leading a neo-feudal oligarchic hellscape and a bandit kingdom respectively. Dikiy, on the other hand, is both fully willing to impose the horrors of Taboritsky's Imperial Cult on Russia a second time and only does so to exert his own control and take over Russia for himself.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: In our world, Andrey Dikiy was already an unpleasant figure, being a far-right anti-Soviet writer known for pseudo-scientific, anti-Semitic, and anti-Ukrainian writings. In TNO, he is able to put his hateful ideas into effect, serving as Taboritsky's foreign minister and taking pride in the atrocities of the Holy Russian Empire. When the Empire collapses, he takes up the mantle of Regent and Alexei while declaring war on the pretender in Irkutsk— not for ideological reasons or out of loyalty to Taboritsky's legacy, but solely as a means to secure his own power.
• Insane Troll Logic: His paranoia makes him distrust the guards standing near the entrance to his room, believing that there is a conspiracy to assassinate him. The solution? Declare war on the neighboring warlord states, starting with the Russian Empire, to send his guards on the frontlines instead of near his doorway.
• It's All About Me: Dikiy declares war on the false Alexei II not out of conviction to Taboritsky's legacy, but only as a starting point allowing him to take over Russia for himself.
• Mood-Swinger: The grim political situation in the Regency has taken a toll on Dikiy, who goes back and forth between sobbing bouts of despair and delusions of grandeur.
• Opportunistic Bastard: As other government officials were driven to despair over their Regent's death and the political machine's collapse, Dikiy latched onto the Mad Regent's narrative for his own personal gain.
• The Paranoiac: His very first event shows him executing anyone he perceives to be a threat to his power base, even his own followers. His paranoia only gets worse with time, as he begins to suspect even his own bodyguards want to murder him.
• The Purge: At first, his rivals for power are the first to go. Minutes later, his announcement is followed by the mass arrests of everybody in attendance, and not even the guards and imperial soldiers are safe from their own comrades.
• Rage Breaking Point: After Goleniewski has radios working to broadcast his messages, Dikiy seethes in anger and sets his sights on the false Tsar.
• Regent for Life: Dikiy doesn't really care about Alexei's survival and handing over Russia to him should he actually return; all he cares is that he can hijack the name of Alexei's Regency and make himself the eternal ruler of Russia.
• The Starscream: In the aftermath of Taboritsky's death, Dikiy proclaims himself the legitimate Blessed Regent of the Holy Russian Empire, essentially declaring independence from Viktor Larionov's government.
• Uriah Gambit: Growing ever distrustful of his guards and underlings, he sends the ones he's most suspicious of to the front lines of the warlord clashes to get rid of them.
• Villainous Breakdown: The National Spirit "All Alone" states that Dikiy recognizes that he is in an extremely desperate situation, with no support anywhere in sight. As such, he swings between bouts of sobbing despair and delusions of grandeur.

Amur Refugee Zone

^{Flag of the Russian Restoration Government}

Official Name: Amur Refugee Zone, Russian Restoration Government (national unification)

Ruling Party: Komitet Nacional'nogo Spaseniya Rossii^note Committee for National Salvation of Russia

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

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• Being Good Sucks: Accepting every refugee who arrives has resulted in a widespread famine, which is only getting worse each day when more refugees are being housed.
• Book Ends: In Amur's last event, a little boy is forced to flee his home in Russia during the Russian Revolution, as his family was rich and would most certainly face persecution from the new communist government. As they await to move to Canada, he asks his father if they would return home, in which his father replied "Yes". Decades later, the boy, now grown up, and his family would indeed return to Russia to fight for Mikhail II, but once again face oppression from Sergey Taboritsky's rule, until the only surviving members of his family were himself and his son. As the two wait to evacuate to the United States, his son asks him the same question of whether they will return to Russia again, in which the father can only respond "No. Never again."
• The Cameo: Mikhail II makes a indirect appearence in the event "From Across the Seas", arranging for Amur to receive much needed grain from Australia.
• The Famine: Despite Sobchak's best efforts, there are simply too many mouths to feed and not enough to go around. The people, starving in the cold, are dying— only to be replaced by even more refugees.
• From Bad to Worse: Despite its altruistic cause, it's hopes for heavy foreign aid are often obstructed by bureacratic obstacles. From the Co-Prosperity Sphere, Sobchak's connections are useless because his supplies are held up by red tape. Meanwhile, potential American donors want hard cash that the Amur doesn't have, blocking off yet another source for foreign aid. Although Amur does receive some foreign aid like from Mikhail II, it's often not enough to feed the thousands of refugees fleeing there and the problem is only getting worse as more people arrive.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the refugee zones unification event, it's mentioned that international observers noted that Sobchak leading his largely unorganized and undisciplined refugees to unify Russia was a practically impossible outcome and that they “achieved an unprecedented strategic miracle”— in other words, the player guiding them to victory.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Helping as many refugees as possible is straining their already minimal supplies. The sentiment is reinforced word-for-word in their capitulation event.
• The Remnant: The Refugee Zone is home to some of the last elements of the Transbaikal Principality. Sobchak seems to be the highest ranking government official left alive while generals Dmitry Volkogonov and Nikolai Kossov are the only ones from the original White Army to remain with the Principality's remnants. Their other surviving comrades now fight in other warlord states across the Far East.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • There are several times where foreign aid actually comes through to aid their efforts like from Mikhail II or a group of Japanese stowaways.
  • One Russian manages to find one diamond in an old mine, showing that Amur isn't totally impoverished in terms of mineral wealth and can possibly use this wealth to aid their humanitarian effort.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: The Refugee Zone was set up in the hopes of saving as many Russians as possible, but this mission is proving harder than initially thought, as famine runs rampant in the territory.

Anatoly Sobchak

Role: Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Komitet Nacional'nogo Spaseniya Rossii^note Committee for National Salvation of Russia

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}For every hundred tales of loss and sorrow, there's one of survival that gives the faintest glint of hope in what often seems to be a doomed land. The story of Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak is one of those tales.

Formerly involved in the monarchist White Movement in Chita during the early 60s, he was mayor of the major Far Eastern city. When the Whites were on the brink of defeat, he fled the city with a meager handful of friends, first into the Siberian wilderness before covertly slipping over the border to Manchukuo. When he was there, he helped rebuild whatever sort of a Russian expatriate community was left in Harbin.

When news arrived in the Manchurian city that the "Blessed Regent" had died and that his empire was rapidly crumbling, Anatoly Aleksandrovich made one of the hardest decisions of his life: he went back.

Crossing the Amur with no more than two dozen followers, Sobchak founded what he called the Amur Refugee Zone, swearing that he will use his international connections in the Sphere and the West to bring in all the foreign aid he could to what few people remained in Eastern Siberia. Sobchak has dedicated his life to an attempt at alleviating the vast suffering that has been inflicted upon the Far East.

See his entry in the Harbin Three subpage under the Transbaikal Principality folder.

Free Port of Magadan

^{Flag of the Restoration Government of the Russian Admiralty}

Official Name: Free Port of Magadan, Restoration Government of the Russian Admiralty (national unification)

Ruling Party: Klika Abramova^note Abramov's Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

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• Bullying a Dragon: Many of their smuggling operations involve diverting Japanese resources to Magadan. However, this business may end up backfiring, as Abramov discovers that Japan may be trying to expand their naval patrols in the Sea of Okhotsk, which would threaten his smuggling business.
• Greed: Magadan is a petty warlord state that sells imported goods to Russia at exorbitant prices, only caring to make the biggest profit possible.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Once a general in Chita's army and aligned with Boris Shepunov, Vladimir Abramov now fights under Magadan's banner.
• Hostile Weather: Operations in Magadan are hard to carry out due to the frigid conditions there, which isn't helped by the fact that Magadan also lacks ice-free ports.
• The Remnant: Their ranks consist of the few survivors left from Matkovsky's branch of the Russian Fascist Party.
• Ruthless Modern Pirates: Although they generally avoid making piracy their main business, Magadan isn't above sending about ships to raid others and loot them.
• Sole Survivor: Yuri Viktvitsky is the only general from pre-Taboritsky Magadan left standing now under the Free Port's command.
• Wretched Hive: Magadan is a city with an economy built entirely on smuggling and is ruled by a clique of greedy ex-Fascist gangsters.

Nikolay Abramov

Role: Military Commander, Head of State (After Midnight)

Party: Klika Abramova^note Abramov's Clique

Ideology: Warlordism^note Despotism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Armageddon itself may have come to Russia, but that does not necessarily mean that one can no longer make a tidy profit. Enter Nikolai Ivanovich Abramov, a former associate of Konstantin Rodzaevsky's Russian Fascist Party who has always had a keen eye for opportunities; be they to increase his influence or to line his pockets.

After the Russian Far East fell to the dark behemoth to the west, Abramov was one of the lucky few who were able to evade the gaze of Taboritsky's security forces. The RFP's naval wing, of which Abramov was an admiral, was never the most prestigious branch of the organization, and perhaps it was this fact that saved his life in the end. The good fortune would not stop there, though, as soon Taboritsky's regime would crumble with his apparent death, leaving Abramov in a key position to climb the ladder once again.

With the help of old contacts all across Amur, Abramov was able to carve out a slice of his own in the midst of the apocalypse, and he now finds himself in control of one of the only functional ports still left standing in Russia. Now that the dust has settled, he has offered all sorts of premium services for the privileged few who remain alive; be it safe passage away from the madness that has befallen Russia, or luxury goods from across the world.

Not that he cares too deeply about Russia's plight, of course. Nikolai Abramov saw a chance to get rich, and he took it.

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• The Alcoholic: He loves drinking vodka and gin, which is part of the reason why he starts a piracy business to divery Japanese alcohol shipments in the Sea of Okhotsk to Magadan.
• Ascended Extra: Abramov is an RFP member who can become a naval officer in Amur or Magadan depending on who wins in the Far East. He gets his own little warlord state in the post-Taboritsky Russia.
• Beneath Notice: The naval wing under his command wasn't very prestigious, which is why Taboritsky didn't notice and have him killed.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Abramov is no longer a card carrying Fascist, having ceased to care about either Rodzaevsky's or Matkovsky's school of Fascism. All he cares for now is profit and survival.
• Lack of Empathy: When he sees a sinking ship full of Russian refugees, Abramov remains indifferent to their plight and ignores their calls for help because they refused to pay the full amount required for docking when they exited the port.
• Only in It for the Money: Abramov cares nothing for the old ideologies that he once served — not when there's money on the line, at least.
• Opportunistic Bastard: He only wants to make himself rich and despite having given up his fascistic beliefs, he's still willing to murder others if it means expediting his business.

United Siberian Salvation Committee

^{Flag of the Russian National Reconstruction Authority}

Official Name: United Siberian Salvation Committee, Russian National Reconstruction Authority (national unification)

Ruling Party: Obedinennyy Sibirskiy Komitet Spaseniya^note Joint Siberian Rescue Committee

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

Since Russia's thorough defeat in the Great Patriotic War, many Russians have lost faith in the idea of a united Russia. For the Siberian Salvation Committee based in Kamchatka and Chukotka, the apocalyptic ruin brought upon by the HRE was the final straw. The people needed help from the outside, foreign intervention. In a solution some call brilliant, others mad, the Committee plans for Russia's annexation by the United States of America, to grant Russia peace and quiet at the cost of its nationhood.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Not that the United States is going to willingly pass up a chance for Russian diplomacy, but they and the OFN are certainly baffled by Kamchatka's worship of America as their chance for survival and salvation, as seen during their hypothetical national reunification event.
• Allohistorical Allusion: Fittingly enough, the Russian Eagle in the National Reconstruction Authority's flag is the same one used by the historical Russian-American Company.
• Eagleland: The citizens of Kamchatka believe in Type 1 due to propaganda. Considering the ruin brought by the Holy Russian Empire, it's perfectly understandable that they would turn to the closest possible source of hope, thin as it might be.
• Expanded States of America: After the collapse of the Holy Russian Empire, Kamchatka joined the United States of America as a territory. Nikolay expresses a desire for a "United States of America and Russia" in the state's hypothetical national reunification event, with analysts doubting the possibility.
• Foreign Culture Fetish: The rallying and propaganda from Artamonov and the OSKS have led to a strange sense of hope from people. Already, wild and idealistic depictions of the United States abound in Petropavlovsk as Kamchatka prepares for American salvation.
• Hope Bringer: Although many think that their calls for American annexation are mad and overly idealistic, it still provides the best source of hope for many Russians, especially compared to the many despots and radicals ruling the Russian wasteland.
• The Migration: Many Russians leave the United Siberian Salvation Committee and risk their lives on the arduous journey to escape to Alaska in the United States. However, many die on the way because the ships transporting them aren't in a condition to withstand the Bering Sea's harsh waves and often sink.
• Redeeming Replacement: To the Aryan Brotherhood. While the former has a Foreign Culture Fetish for Nazi Germany, the latter has the same for the United States of America. However, while the former's leadership wants to oppress Russians as subhumans, the latter intends to help them by surrendering to America.
• The Remnant: Home of some of the last of Yumashev's Pacific Fleet and technically a sucessor of Alexander Men's Divine Mandate.

Nikolay Artamonov

Role: Head of State

Party: Obedinennyy Sibirskiy Komitet Spaseniya^note Joint Siberian Rescue Committee

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography: ^{Click to Show}Nikolai Fedorovich Artamonov was once an unassuming man in a rather underappreciated branch of the Soviet military. Now, however, he may just be the last hope for the people of Kamchatka.

Although he did not achieve much acclaim under the rule of Admiral Yumashev, he received some minor political influence when the forces of Alexander Men overran the ports of Kamchatka. He was seen as the most competent man available to manage the local ports, and was given a comfy and relatively well-paid job to administer them in the name of the Divine Mandate. The good times would not last forever, though, as soon a great and terrible storm would blow in from the West.

The unprecedented scale of the atrocities committed by Sergey Taboritsky's armies served as a sobering reminder to Artamanov that this was a time of action, and to rest on his laurels would be an almost criminal breach of his responsibilities to the people of Kamchatka. With the aid of like-minded local leaders, Artamanov rallied what few remained into a statelet devoted towards a singular goal: the safety and security of Russia's survivors no matter what the cost. Desperate times call for unorthodox solutions, and Artamanov sees only one path forward: the immediate secession of Kamchatka from the state formerly known as Russia, and the admission of the region as a territory of the United States.

Some say that this goal is laughable; a completely impractical solution thought up by a silly man. Artamanov sees no other option. In his eyes, every other avenue has failed, and only that shining city on a hill beyond the Bering Strait could possibly save Russia from total annihilation now.

Nikolay Fedorovich Artamonov is the eccentric head of the equally eccentric Salvation Committee, who believe in offering their autonomy to America in exchange of the Motherland's survival. Artamonov was formely a sailor of the Divine Mandate headed by Alexander Men, and its tragic end played a role in the reshaping of his beliefs.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Nikolai Fedorovich Artamonov (also known as Nicholas George Shadrin) in OTL was a Soviet naval officer who defected to the United States in 1959. In TNO, he "defects" to the United States under completely different circumstances.
• Determinator: When a journalist interviews him, Artamonov asserts that he'll refuse to give up on trying to save Russia.
• Dumbass Has a Point: While it's unlikely that the United States would want to annex his territory, Artamonov's assertions of American aid aren't untrue. For instance, an American ship lands near Kamchatka after being guided by a makeshift lighthouse, in which the sailors set aside their irritations to genuinely help the Russians rebuild. Other countries also try to help the Russians, such as when a Canadian ship lands to donate precious resources like coal.
• The Pollyanna: In the face of the suffering inflicted upon Russia over the past few decades, Nikolay has refused to give up on his motherland, and still clings to the idea that things will improve one day and how it can still be saved, even when many around him are doubtful.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Defied. He's been tempted to simply sail himself and his people elsewhere, and the idea of simply migrating to America's urban life enters his thoughts during his visit to Los Angeles. Despite the chance to, he refuses and instead strives to find a way to bring further support to Kamchatka and all of Russia.
• Sole Survivor: According to his biography, Artamonov was once a sailor in Yumashev's Pacific Fleet before the Divine Mandate took over Kamchatka when they arose. By the time of After Midnight, he seems to be all that's left of the Fleet along with being one of two other members of the Divine Mandate still alive.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After surviving Taboritsky's harsh rule for years, the United States invites Artamonov to Los Angeles. There, Artamonov enjoys the warm and comforting environment of the city in contrast to the cold horror back in Russia, which makes him even more determined to liberate Russia through American annexation.
• Voluntary Vassal: With the support of his government, Artamonov has held referendums amongst the populace for annexation by the United States of America as an overseas territory, personally seeing to it that the referendums turn out positively. As a US territory, Kamchatka will not be independent—but, to him, it will be free, and that is what matters.
• You Are in Command Now: With the rest of the Divine Mandate's leaders dead or missing, Nikolay Artamonov is left with the task of saving the Russian survivors still left under his control.

The Wilderness

In-Game Description ^{Click to Show}In a distant, faded memory, on these faraway, remote lands, there was a dream. A dream of a peaceful Russia, free from all strife and suffering, under the caring guidance of one of God's many servants, a son of Men himself.

However, God's favor was not enough to protect him, and the land suffered under a usurper, who used of His name for a tragedy beyond understanding.

Now, from this cradle of hope, all that lies is poison and death, for God dare not give Russia a false hope again.

Northeastern Siberia. It was remote and isolated, but faithful and hopeful.

Now there is nothing.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Not for the region itself but for who the second Mandate's leader might have been. It is implied Alexander Men survived the regional stage, but isn't outright stated if it really was Men or just one of his generals using his legacy to inspire the partisans.
• Defiant to the End: An event◊ shortly after Midnight strongly implies that Alexander Men tried to expel the Empire's forces from the Far East and re-establish his Divine Mandate. Unfortunately, the event immediately after◊ shows that the Empire retaliated by wiping out all life in much of the northern Far East.
• Doomed Moral Victor: The region was a major hotbed of partisan activity during Taboritsky's rule. The partisans' attempt to rebel from the crumbling HRE and establish a second Divine Mandate only brought them to an undeserved end.
• Downer Ending: The ultimate bad ending for Alexander Men's core regions and the very idea of the Divine Mandate, having been suffocated to death by the Regent's chemical weapons.
• Evil Tainted the Place: The region is one of the last victims of the united Holy Russian Empire, having been chemical bombed to hell and back following a massive uprising sometime after Taboritsky's death.
• The Hero Dies: The region was a base for major partisan activity, which eventually tried to form a second Divine Mandate. Their efforts however were all for naught, reducing the region to the depopulated hell it is now.
• Hope Spot: The partisans of the second Divine Mandate were one of the first groups to revolt against the Imperials after the Central Eurasian Republic emerges first. Sadly, the Mandate was wiped out before they could come to be.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: With a name like "The Wilderness", only so much good can come from its lore.
• Posthumous Character: The region was already doused in chemical weapons by the time the second warlord era begins, with no life left anywhere. It only exists for some extra lore and to represent the Villainous Legacy of Taboritsky's rule of the Far East.
• The Remnant: Was at least home to partisans claiming loyalty to Alexander Men's ideals and his Divine Mandate once upon a time before the region was gassed.
• Satellite Character: In a dark twist to the region's status at game start, The Wilderness only exists to be annexed by a player using console commands to reunite post-HRE Russia in addition to being the site of some lore.

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What was once changeable, is now set in stone. Of what was gleaming with possibilities, none remain.

We can only move on, and let fate dictate the rest.