Video Game / The Fire Rises (Mod)

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The Fire Rises is a Hearts of Iron IV Game Mod that is set in an alternate 2020 where the COVID-19 Pandemic is much stronger, leading to many more deaths and increased political unrest. The world's economies plunge into another recession, societies further radicalize and worst of all, political instability is on the rise. While many still hope that the world can go back to normal once the pandemic is over, the reality is far from that.

Despite his best efforts to avoid it, the aging Saudi monarch catches the virus and dies shortly thereafter. The crowning of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman causes a civil war, which in turn causes oil prices to skyrocket and creates even more headaches for the world.

The United States is now more divided than ever, with nationwide riots against police brutality (at a scale somehow worse than the 1992 LA riots) breaking out. The aforementioned problems have only worsened the tense political situation in America, not helped by radical and terrorist groups seeing a surprising uptick in membership. With an election looming amidst a sea of anarchy and death, it's not looking good for the land of the free.

The rest of the world isn't doing any better, with the current events shaking the geopolitical status quo between the East and the West to its very core.

The fire has risen, and with it, the world burns...

The mod was released on October 18, 2024 and can be found here. The mod also has an official Discord server and a subreddit. Additionally, an official (albeit non-canon) webcomic known as The Fire Rises: Igniting Barrage can be found both here and here.

See also Extremis Ultimis, another (mostly unrelated) Hearts of Iron IV mod set in an alternate 2020s that similarly involves extreme political radicalization.

This Game Mod provides examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Past: The mod begins in an alternate 2020.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: An Artificial Intelligence-controlled fighting vehicle during the Russo-Ukrainian War ends up turning on its Russian masters and causing a friendly-fire incident before being put down. Bonus points for said fighting vehicle's designated name being Terminator.
• A.I. Roulette: The AI usually picks its paths completely randomly, and since TFR has three mostly separate theatres^note the U.S., Europe and the Far East that doesn't interact with one another much in the game, this can result in some wacky and ideologically bizarre outcomes, such as a Union of America and the European Spring in the West while a Confucian Hyperconservative China wins in Asia and starts a mass genocide of all non-Chinese ethnicities, or an APLA-controlled America paired with Dugin's Eurasia and a victorious PDTO.
• The Alliance: The Pacific Defense Treaty Organization, or the PDTO for short, is a collection of democratic and liberal states in Asia initially formed by Japan, Taiwan and Australia in order to defend Asia from China after the collapse of the United States.
• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • Myanmar's fate in TFR is the exact same as in our timeline, with a coup d'etat happening in February 2021, followed by a civil war shortly thereafter.
  • As per OTL, Russia under Dmitry Medvedev will call the invasion of Ukraine a "Special Military Operation".
  • Russia's pro-democracy protests still happen in the exact same way as in OTL, sparked by the arrest of Alexei Navalny.
  • If the player backs Donald Trump but loses the 2020 Presidential Elections to Joe Biden, he will make a speech encouraging his followers to march on DC, which is an obvious echo to the January 6th Capitol attack, though with the heightened tensions in TFR, the result is a lot bloodier than the real January 6th Riot.
  • Should Donald Trump host a rally at Minneapolis during the opening months of the Second American Civil War, he will be shot during the rally, with his portrait updating to one where he has a bandage on his ear - an obvious reference to his real-life assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024.
  • Most of China's Centrist path is this, with China carrying out most of its OTL policies, examples include the codification and promotion of the Xi Jinping Thought and publishing the 15th Five Year Plan, centered on AI and automation. China's penultimate event also sees the establishment of the International Organization of Mediation, headquartered at the Old Wan Chai Police Station, something which happened in real-life in 2025.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear who's behind Bill DeBlasio's assassination. The government can pin the blame on either the Patriot Front, Antifa, or the Atomwaffen Division. Said groups make good points about why the other is responsible, but the worsening political climate means that nobody will admit to doing it.
• Anarchy Is Chaos:
  • Averted in the case of the Anarchists in the APLA who have no problems governing America like the other factions.
  • Justified in the case of the permanent state of anarchy that consumes Europe following the Catharsis revolt against Klaus Schwab’s World Government as the Catharsis is described as being made up of Europeans who are so mentally broken as a result of living under the World Government’s Brave New World-esque dystopia that they no longer care about going back to the way things were or building a better future but rather want to just burn and destroy everything out of anger and spite.
• Animesque: Downplayed, the mod's aesthetics are based around near-future synthwave visuals rather than an anime-derived art style, but nonetheless some nations, specially those located in the Asian continent, make use of anime visuals in their focus trees and events, such as Japan who depicts various different characters from Reinhard to Osaka, and even some western nations aren't left out of it, with the APLA having a battalion named after "cat girls" with a full-blown motivational poster in the decisions tab.
• The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Just before the Atomwaffen Division destroys the world, an international coalition of countries attempt to stop them. Unfortunately, they are too late.
• Apocalypse How:
  • Class 3a, potentially 4, if Atomwaffen gets their way.
  • A Great Asian War that sees China and Japan make use of nuclear weapons, resulting in India and China collapsing, a Second European War devolving into the 30-Day War nuclear exchange between Russia and Europe or the Catharsis winning against the World Government and causes it to collapse, as well as a Caligula collapse in America will lead to Class 0 in Eastern Asia, America and Europe respectively. However, if all three scenarios occur simultaneously, then it can be classified as Class 2, with the five biggest superpowers (the U.S., Europe, Russia, China and India) all wiped off the map, leaving the rest of the world in chaos.
• Arc Words: For the New World Order paths (that being Klaus Schwab's World Government and the Union of America's Cognoscenti), they describe their motto as the Three Pillars of Order, Capital, Purity.
• Authority in Name Only:
  • King Salman is technically the ruler of Saudi Arabia, but his declining health and advanced age means that his son (Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) is the actual ruler of Saudi Arabia who makes all the important decisions and is reflected as such in-game.
  • The US President elected in the 2020 elections has little to no power in most of the 50 states thanks to the other candidate having their own inauguration and the chaos sweeping America. By the time the Second American Civil War starts, he only has de facto control of his strongholds.
• Back from the Brink:
  • Russia after the defeat of the First European War is punished with territorial losses in the Caucasus and massive reparations, while also being crippled by a devastated industry and the collapse of the previous elected government. Despite this, Navalny, Dugin or Prigozhin can launch and promptly win the Second European War, turning Russia into the new hegemon of Europe.
  • China following the failed invasion of Taiwan will see mass societal unrest and an economic collapse, combined with the collapse of order in Xinjiang and Tibet, which culminates in Xi Jinping getting overthrown by the PLA. Whomever his successor may be will relaunch an invasion of Taiwan during the Great Asian War, and can bring China to glory by defeating the PDTO, cementing China as Asia's hegemonic superpower.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • If chosen as Rashkin's successor as leader of a restored USSR, there is no way for Alexei Navalny to overthrow the Communist Party from within. He will be inevitably overthrown by Gerasimov should he try to, whom can return power to Rashkin or consolidate a military dictatorship.
  • If special game rules are not enabled, there is no way for Prigozhin's coup to succeed should United Russia lose the First European War, as he is killed by a liberal and this creates an opening for the (initially) pro-western liberal factions under Alexei Navalny to take over.
• Balkanize Me: The European Union under Gunther Fehlinger embraces this trope, as Fehlinger's #ExRussia plan advocates for the total balkanization of Russia to destroy the Russian identity once and for all.
• Big First Choice:
  • If you're playing the United States, you'll get to either side with Trump or side with Biden after the focus "State of the Union" is finished. Choosing Trump will lock you into playing as the Trumpist ACG when the Second American Civil War begins, with siding against Trump allows you to play as the liberalist UOA or one of the four non-federalist factions.
  • A similar logic applies to France too, as you'll get to either side with Macron or Le Pen after the focus "The Opening Salvo" is finished.
• Bittersweet Ending: Even if everything goes right in the world with America and Russia under benevolent governments, the Pacific Defense Treaty Organization defeated by a non-Revanchist China, and other extremist groups dealt with, the untold destruction brought to the world has still easily dwarfed World War II, as well as India completely collapsing and Japan potentially being nuked several times over.
• Black Market: The black market is the lifeline of the many warlords in the mod, allowing them to acquire badly-needed equipment despite the dire situation in their home country making normal trade impossible.
• Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: The various anarchist factions within the Divided States of America are all said to be violent extremists who want to tear down the old USA and start anew. The anarchist faction within the APLA in particular thinks that American society itself is the problem and fight with the other factions in the APLA because of this. Elements of the Anarchist faction even go as far as to subscribe to the theory of Sakaiism, which is the idea that the "white proletariat" are a inherently racist and reactionary class of settlers on land seized from Native Americans rather than a genuine working class.
• Category Traitor: The Atomwaffen Division considers any White person who doesn't share their insane genocidal White supremacist ideology and disagrees with their plans of starting a global nuclear war to annihilate all non-White people on Earth as traitors of the White race.
• Central Theme: Radicalization.
• Character Narrator: Every path in the mod is told from the perspective of the leader.
• Childless Dystopia: Downplayed in the case of the corporatocratic Great Reset/Fourth Industrial Revolution path of the European Union that is formed after Medvedev’s Russia victory in the First European War as going down the focus tree applies severe debuffs to population growth (with the population growth debuff potentially getting as low as -1575%).
• China Takes Over the World: With the collapse of the United States, China is already the world's only superpower by 2022, and should they win the Great Asian War as any faction (especially under Xi's Centrists), they will become the most powerful nation in the world, turning the entirety of the Far East into puppets, with neither Russia, the European Union or a resurgent America being able to match China's military, political and economic might. Exaggerated if the Catharsis destroys the World Government and either Caligula or Cognoscenti America collapses.
• Civil War: Many, many such examples.
  • Saudi Arabia will collapse into a civil war after the death of King Salman, with the war being fought between Mohammad bin Salman's loyalists, rebelling princes under the banner of the Royal Arabian Coalition, Republicans under Yahya Assiri's Arabian Republic and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, with the jihadist Jaysh Alfath later joining in when they seize Mecca a few months later.
  • The United States of America will collapse after an extended period of radicalization and extremism, with the Second American Civil War breaking out, mainly between Joe Biden's Union of America and Donald Trump's American Constitutional Government, with various factions such as the American People's Liberation Army or the Patriot Front potentially seizing the opportunity to destroy the old Federal governments. And should Joe Biden go down the Eternal Republic path, the even bloodier Third American Civil War will occur between various extremist warlords.
  • Besides the United States, the Americas will also see the Cartel Wars breaking out in Mexico, while a failed coup d'etat will throw Colombia into a civil war.
  • In Asia, Myanmar is guaranteed to descend into a civil war in 2021 after a coup d'etat, similar to how it happened in real life, while India will collapse into a civil war should China defeat them during the Great Asian War, while China will implode into various warlords should the PDTO emerge victorious in the Great Asian War. And yes, both can happen simultaneously.
  • In Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo will collapse into the Third Congo War in 2021 between various warlords, with the war later expanding into the Republic of the Congo and potentially the Central African Republic should the Wagner Group or Kony's fundamentalists be in charge. South Africa will also collapse into a civil war between the ANC-controlled Republic, the Military, the Economic Freedom Fighters and ethnonationalists.
  • Many European countries will collapse into a civil war should Russia defeat NATO in the First European War, which includes the UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece. In addition, should Klaus Schwab's ultraglobalist European Union defeat Russia in the Second European War, a state of mass Catharsis will plunge the newly formed World Government into the Ultraglobalist Civil War.
• Cult:
  • One of the factions vying for the control of the Atomwaffen Division is the Order of Nine Angles, a satanic Nazi cult.
  • One of the factions that can appear in the Second Chinese Civil War is the Falun Gong, a cult led by Li Hongzhi.
• Colonized Solar System: Downplayed. Some countries with active space programs like France and China can establish a base on the Moon and engage in asteroid mining at a heavy upfront cost in exchange for long-term research and economic bonuses.
• Commie-Nazis:
  • Jacobinism, a subideology for totalitarian socialism, combines authoritarianism, socially conservative nationalism, and far-left populism; with its adherents seeking to create an authoritarian nationalist Communist state by any means necessary. It's adherents include American Patriotic Socialists under Caleb Maupin and the radical wing of the NUPES coalition under Antoine Léaument.
  • Aleksandr Dugin, the architect of an ideology combining aspects of Soviet ideology with far-right Russian ultranationalism known as the "Fourth Political Theory", can potentially come to power in Russia if they lose the NATO War. He also literally bans every political party except the totalitarian left(totalitarian socialist in-game ideology wise) and ultranationalist right (national socialist in-game ideologywise) factions of his Eurasia party. This can be somewhat subverted if he allows for some democracy in Eurasia.
  • To recruit communists with potential far-right leanings, Atomwaffen Division forms a party imitating Jim Jones' People's Temple. In addition, Joshua Sutter, leader of the Satanic Atomwaffen, at one point pledged fealty to North Korea, and Atomwaffen, in its accelerationist tree, can implement Juche principles.
  • Strasserism, a worker-oriented variant of Nazism that was purged from the original Nazi party following the Night of Long Knives, receives a shot in the arm as the global situation deteroiates. The National Socialist Movement can rehabilitate aspects of Otto Strasser’s ideology in one economic focus branch, and if the Soviets win the European War and Germany chose to purge extremists, resulting in Day X being led by Neo-Nazis, one of the far-right groups that can take over Germany is Der Dritte Weg, whom themselves establish a Strasserite regime in Germany.
  • If Xi loses the initial war against Taiwan, he can be overthrown by Revanchists that can govern in an increasingly Han nationalist and even fascistic manner. The Confucian Nationalists can even declare a People’s Heavenly Empire/Republic and establish “Purification Zones” to exterminate the native populations and replace them with Chinese people.
  • In the Iraqi Civil War, the Ba'athist party remnants are classified as "National Socialist" ideology wise and their ideology description notes a combination of ultranationalism, secularism, and socialism.
  • If the CPRF adapts aspects of Dugin's ideology and start canonizing Stalin and Gagarin, and neither reformers or hardliners dominate, then Lukashenko, if he takes over, can radicalize the CPRF even further by embracing Jucheism. In addition to Jucheist Lukashenko, another Soviet leader that can combine aspects of Russian nationalism and Soviet Communism is Leonid Pasechnik, whose rule combines soviet-style authoritarianism with Eurasianism.
  • Update 1.0.6 introduces Sergey Kurginyan and the Essence of Time movement, a movement combining Communism, social conservativism, Orthodox Christian nationalism, and Russian nationalism. Fitting this trope even further, his movement comes to prominence not in CPRF-led Soviet Russia, but in LDPR Russia, with him being opposed to the so-called "Red Globalism" of the Socialist European Alliance, that forms in response to a far-right Russian victory in the 1EW.
  • Franco Freda, a far-right terrorist whose ideology literally combines Nazism with Maoism, is a possible leader for Fascist Italy.
  • The leader of the German National Communists is Michael Koth, a German Strasserist whom has expressed sympathy for Juche, runs pro-DPRK organizations in Germany, and is an avid supporter of the Quertfront strategy which seeks to unite far-left and far-right movements to overthrow capitalism.
  • Should Trump’s American Constitutional Government defeat a non-Jacobin-led APLA, Trump can let the Jacobin-remnant-led MAGA communist faction which combines Trumpian America First nationalism and anti-globalism with economically left-wing populist rhetoric join his movement as a minor faction.
• Crapsack World: An even worse COVID outbreak combined with the Saudi Civil War and the subsequent collapse of the global economy ends up creating a far worse 2020s than in our timeline:
  • Civil wars breaking out everywhere and extremist groups rising up left and right, causing a death toll implied to be in the millions.
  • Events literally note that multiple Weapons of Mass Destruction are used in Europe and Asia, and Atomwaffen can deploy them on the American population.
  • It can get even worse if the more overtly totalitarian factions^note A Patriot Front (especially a NJP influenced Patriot Front) NSM, Atomwaffen(with said unification spelling the death knell of humanity), Jacobin APLA. Patriot Caucus ACG or American Caligula Biden victory in the Second American Civil War, a Chinese victory under the Revanchists (all three paths which are the Nationalists and Digital Leninist, and Red Junta routes) in the Great Asian War, either a Neo-Fascist, A Europe led by Klaus Schawb or a Totalitarian Socialist European victory in the Second European War, or alternatively a Russian victory in the same war under either Dugin, Jucheist Lukashenko, Azarenok, Alikhanov, Puchkov/Zhukov or Ultranationalist Navalny achieve regional hegemony after their respective conflicts.
  • While the world can get better if more benevolent forces achieve regional hegemony after their respective conflicts, it's clear that the world is significantly scarred after all this and even a victory by a Reformist/New Left China or a non-totalitarian Russia against Japan and Europe respectively will see a total war unfold, potentially with nuclear weapons used.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Taiwan War pre-1.0.7 almost always led to the People's Republic of China successfully taking over Taiwan, as the PDTO is usually too weak to beat China whether at air, land and *especially* the sea, with PLAN dwarfing the Japanese navy in size and strength. After the update, the Taiwan War was rebalanced with the U.S. Seventh Fleet remaining in the Pacific after the outbreak of the Second American Civil War, which allows the naval war to be a much closer affair between China and the PDTO, while Taiwan was given a wartime focus tree to better equip itself from defending better.
• Dark Horse Victory: Despite their extreme beliefs, the Atomwaffen Division at the onset of the civil war is fighting an uphill multifront war against the much-better-equipped National Guard and the various criminal gangs, which makes their chances of being victorious in Florida very slim. The devs themselves have stated that the Division has an only minuscule chance of actually unifying Florida, let alone America.
• Dark Is Evil:
  • The Eternal Republic, one of the possible incarnations of America should Joe Biden become insane and transform the Union of America into a brutal and totalitarian regime, is colored in pitch black.
  • The Atomwaffen Division is pitch black and so are the “Purification Zones” established in countries occupied by Confucian Nationalist Revanchist China with the intent of exterminating the native populations to make space for future Chinese settlers.
• Deep South: There's a group of neoconfederates in Arkansas named the "League of the South" who unsurprisingly want to restore the old Confederacy in the midst of the civil war. Ironically, most of the southern states stay neutral in the Second American Civil War unless the Federal governments, League or Black Liberation Army come after them.
• Divided States of America: The chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election leads to the formation of two federal governments, The American Constitutional Government (Trump's government based in Denver) and the Union of America (Biden's government based in Washington D.C.). When the inevitable civil war breaks out, many states declare their neutrality and secede from the union. Many of said neutral states immediately collapse due to unrest, leading to extremist groups, criminal gangs and self-defense militias establishing their own petty states within the divided United States.
  • If the Union of America goes down the Eternal Republic path, then it will inevitably collapse into different warlords, while if it goes down the Cognoscenti path and fails to find Judas in time, the country may break apart in the form of the American Federal Republic.
• Don't Go in the Woods: Invoked by the Hutaree Militia if they capitulate to the National Socialist Movement, where they retreat deep into the treacherous forests of Northern Michigan to continue their resistance against the Nazis.
• Double Standard: If a far-left or far-right faction ends up establishing control over the mainland United States of America and wins the Second American Civil War, the US Naval Command refuses to peacefully reunify with them on the grounds of the new American government coming to exist as a result of an unconstitutional violent uprising and will not accept reunification even with moderate democratic socialist APLA for that reason. However, the Naval Command has no issue reunifying with an America that comes under the control of the Union of America or the American Constitutional Government even if either faction’s victory comes as a result of a violent uprising against a legitimately elected American president from the opposing party.
• Dirty Communists: In general, the "Totalitarian Socialist" ideology is this, with the ideology exemplifying specifically extreme authoritarian leftists such as Stalinists, Maoists, and Patriotic Socialists. Some specific examples include:
  • The APLA’s Jacobin faction seeks to impose a Soviet style Centrally Planned economic system on America combined with American Nationalism.
  • The Communist Party of the Russian Federation can come to power under its' dominant Stalinist and nationalist faction and restore the Soviet Union, along with a smaller scale Warsaw Pact, provided they win the war with NATO.
  • If the Nationalist faction of the Chinese government takes over following Xi's failure to take Taiwan, they can take things in a more ultranationalist and fascistic direction.
• Downer Ending: The Atomwaffen division will end up destroying the world if they win.
• Dystopia: According to the description text for the Catharsis revolt against Klaus Schwab’s World Government, life in Schwab-led Europe is downright nightmarish. It’s so bad that an event describes some Europeans feeling envious of the people in the warlord-ruled Russian anarchy since at the very least they are free of the World Government’s rule:
  • People having to work all the time in slave-like conditions without any time for rest and recreation while the government offers them no support.
  • Housing is completely unaffordable.
  • All food is extremely unhealthy slop made out of insects.
  • Censorship and surveillance are omnipresent.
  • Emotions being regulated through cybernetic implants.
  • Everything being monetized to hell and back.
  • The family structure along with any sort of communal support system experiencing complete collapse.
• Eagleland:
  • The Union of America is a mixed flavor leaning towards Beautiful. However, they can end up as closer to Boorish if Bloomberg takes over and establishes a corporate oligarchy, and dive headfirst into Boorish if Biden were to lose his sanity and assume absolute power as the American Caligula. A Union of America that fell to the Cognoscenti would also qualifies as America the Boorish, though they will be America the Beautiful to a regular outsider.
  • The American Constitutional Government sees itself as America the Beautiful, as "patriots" that supposedly had their election stolen from them, but leans closer towards America the Boorish, with most of its paths being authoritarian in some way. However, they can lean closer to Beautiful or Mixed (depending on your political preferences) if they align themselves with Rand Paul's constitutionalists or if Trump maintains a multiparty system, and dives straight into Boorish if Trump enacts the Dark Mandate.
  • Anything established by the unifiers associated with the National Front (Patriot Front, National Socialist Movement, Atomwaffen Division) exemplifies America the Boorish,^note Although The Patriot Front sees itself as America the Beautiful the end result being a fascist, white supremacist dictatorship with exclusionary at best, or in the case of the NSM (especially if the hardliners win the power struggle) and Atomwaffen Division, outright genocidal, attitude towards minorities. And if Atomwaffen is in power, they will use America's nuclear arsenal to destroy the world in the name of purifying it.
  • Among the APLA, the Jacobins subscribe to an America the Beautiful view of American history and culture, viewing it's national identity as fundamentally good and only led astray by capitalism—they will go as far to declare themselves a continuation of the United States if they unify the nation. The Anarchists subscribe to an America the Boorish view of American history and culture, viewing its national identity as inherently rooted in settler colonialism and exploitation, and seek to abolish its national identity outright. The Neosocialists and the Octoberists can subscribe to either interpretation of American history depending on if they take the "Nationalization" or "Decolonization" focus(of which the Jacobins and the Anarchists are locked into taking only the focus that applies to how they view American national identity). In general politically the Jacobins and the Octoberists would create a government closer to Boorish with aspects of Mixed flavor as authoritarian Communist regimes(the Octoberists moreso, being a dictatorship that is very socially progressive, while Jacobins would be such if they choose to reconcile America's conservative and progressive populations, otherwise they are a straighter example of America the Boorish), while the Neosocialists and the Anarchists are closer to America the Beautiful, being socially egalitarian and democratic societies.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: It is extremely hard for the Atomwaffen Division to unify America, let alone achieve their final objective of ending the world in nuclear hellfire, and they are intended to be the hardest faction to play.
• End of an Age:
  • America's fall into civil war pretty much destroys its standing on the world stage.
  • The western world order will collapse as a whole if Russia led by the KPRF or LDPR wins against NATO, leading to fascist or communist uprisings everywhere as a response to the political alignment of the Russia in question. Somewhat ZigZagged if Russia is led by United Russia as that will cause the EU to federalize rather than radicalize, but can be played straight if the EU is defeated again.
  • Being defeated twice in a row at the hands of Europe will result in the death of Russia as a unified state.
  • Atomwaffen winning means the end of humanity as a species when they succeed in their plans.
  • The Catharsis rebellion winning against Klaus Schwab’s World Government will see civilization in Europe descend into a permanent anarchy. However, if the World Government crushes the Catharsis, all European cultures and nations will be permanently erased as the World Government considers nationalism an obstacle to their goal of a One World Order
  • No matter who wins the Great Asian War, it will end with Korea being finally reunited after decades of being divided.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • All the factions in the Saudi Civil War (the liberals who seek to reform and bring democracy to Saudi Arabia and the infamous Hezbollah included) declare a safe zone around the holy city of Mecca, not wishing it to be destroyed in the conflict. This fails, however, with the Islamic fundamentalist Jaysh Alfath seizing control over Mecca to start a Salafist jihad.
  • Almost all of the factions in the Second American Civil War, even the far-right factions, agree to not use nukes in the conflict. The Atomwaffen Division, however, has no such qualms.
• Evil Versus Evil:
  • With the 1.0.6 French Update, multiple far-right and far-left authoritarian paths will see the French split from Germany at the end of the game and launch a Third European War against them.
  • Schwab's ultraglobalist European Union can either face off against the far-right Derzhavist Anton Alikhanov or the hardline Putinist Vladislav Surkov.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: Should they have the most influence in the National Conference, the Atomwaffen will inevitably be kicked out of the National Front (the alliance between the Patriot Front, the National Socialist Movement, and Atomwaffen Division) after Biden, Trump, and the APLA are dealt with, leading to one final struggle to determine which version of neofascist white nationalism comes out on top.
• Evolving Character Portrait: Some post-American warlords who unite the country have their portraits ditch their wartime outfits in favor of dress uniforms or suits.
• Final Solution:
  • Should the Revanchists come to power in China following its defeat in the Taiwan War, go down the Confucian Nationalist path, and then win the Great Asian War, they will establish a series of “Purification Zones” in various Asian countries occupied by the PLA with the intent of gradually wiping out the native populations in favour of the Chinese.
  • Downplayed in the case of the World Government led by Klaus Schwab which will commit culturicide of all European cultures in order to destroy the influence of European nationalists who resist his goal of a unified Earth.
• Fourth Reich:
  • Obviously America if the NSM wins the second civil war.
  • Neo-Nazis can take over Germany and restore the structures of the Third Reich if they lose the European War to the Post-Soviet Reunion.
• Game-Breaking Bug: In most post-1EW loss paths for France and Germany, most of their foci is designed with the designated faction winning the civil wars that break out post loss, should a non designated faction instead win, it can usually lead to their focus trees getting soft locked and requiring a use of the console.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: The First European War between Russia and NATO, now under the command of France, The United Kingdom and Germany following the collapse of the US. On one hand Russia is a revanchist state that can possibly be led by a Stalinist CPRF or the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party seeking to forcibly re-impose its rule on Eastern Europe regardless of what Eastern Europeans think. On the other hand, NATO and Ukraine, while democratic, can take underhanded means to fight Russia such as arm militias opposed to the Russian government that themselves have far-right and outright neo-Nazi viewpoints, and a post-NATO victory will see harsh reprisals against the Russian speakers in Ukraine.^note through the developers had promised that the player could influence the severity of the post-war reprisals to be more lenient or even harsher once Ukraine gets content.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: Due to more people becoming radicalized as a result of political instability, obscure left- and right-wing groups in the USA end up having a sudden surge in members and are more powerful in the alternate 2020. These include:
  • In our timeline, the various groups espousing American Patriotic Socialism (Center for Political Innovation, Students and Youth for a New America) are mostly fronts for Caleb Maupin's ideas and are disliked by the American far left for their cult-like behavior, sympathy for National Bolshevism, tendency to cozy up to the far-right and their unabashed pro-America viewpoints. In the mod, they are a vocal and sizable faction within the APLA as its Jacobin faction.
  • Elements of the Democratic Socialists of America go from seeking to reform American capitalism and the Democratic Party from within to taking up arms and seeking to bring about a revolution through force as the APLA's Neosocialist faction. Their leader Julia Salazar is herself a minor New York senator linked to the DSA in the real world who is put in the position of leading the Neosocialist faction.
  • On the far-right, the Atomwaffen Division goes from a small group of 30+ neo-Nazis in real life behind a string of horrific rapes and murders to an organization large enough to control a chunk of Florida at the onset of the Second American Civil War.
• Historical Villain Upgrade:
  • Caleb Maupin, while generally perceived to be extremely unpleasant by even Marxist-Leninist standards due to his ideology arguably resembling third positionism over authoritarian socialism, ultimately amounted to doing little more than working for pro-Russia propaganda outlets and setting up far-left nationalist factions that ultimately imploded when revelations about his grooming of minors were exposed by disenchanted ex-allies. Here, Maupin can become the totalitarian leader of the APLA if the Jacobins come out on top at the Worker's Congress and can exert totalitarian control over the newly Socialist America via total control of religious institutions and a mass surveillance system.
  • The Atomwaffen Division, which already adheres to an extremely horrific brand of neo-Nazism AND has already engaged in multiple rapes and murders before disbanding in 2024, becomes strong enough to be a serious contender in the Second American Civil War to the point where they can potentially unify America as the worst possible unifier of the Second American Civil War and end up destroying the world. Their primary leader, James Mason, is in real life simply a neo-Nazi writer most infamous for writing Siege, which wasn't even influential in extremist circles until far-right forums discovered it in the 2010s.
  • If the Soviets win in the First European war, multiple far-right movements end up getting this such as the Greek Golden Dawn, the Identarian Movement in both France and Italy, CasaPound, Forza Nuova, and the Nazi-Maoists in Italy, and the NPD, Der III. Weg, and the Reichburger Movement in Germany, all of which can take power in their respective countries.
  • The France Content update gives one to Antoine Léaument, in the real world a NUPES politician with a strong social media presence, and turns them into a militaristic neo-Jacobin seeking to impose total state atheism on Europe, carry out authoritarian purges, and spread the revolution by force.
  • Vladimir Zhirinovsky, in the real world a Russian ultranationalist politician whose most infamous for making unhinged comments and crazy stunts that landed him in many controversies prior to his death in 2022 from COVID-19, can not only have his LDPR seize power after Putin's death and transform Russia into a fascist dictatorship but go on to conquer all of Europe and chaining the continent to the Russian sphere.
  • Alexei Navalny, while a prominent Russian dissident credited for exposing the corruption of Putin's regime as well as leading major rallies against Putin, was never able to muster a serious attempt at overthrowing Putin and United Russia prior to his death in 2024. Here, he can become the head of a reformist Soviet Union or a post-Alikhanov Russia, but take over as the new President of a crippled Russian Federation after losing the European War and launch the Second European War against the entirety of Europe. Navalny can even turn to ultranationalist methods and deploy chemical attacks on cities during the war.
  • Germany's Horst Mahler, who was a far-left militant before turning to the far-right before dying in 2025, can take over as the leader of a communist Germany, and going on to defeat LDPR's Russia in the process.
• History Repeats: If the Soviet Union defeats NATO in the First European War then it will have to fight against a coalition of far-right European countries led by Neo-Nazi Germany in the Second European War and it can end up winning against Nazi Germany for a second time in history.
• Hollywood Satanism: If the Satanist faction takes over Atomwaffen, they will burn churches and practice human sacrifices in the areas they control.
• A House Divided:
  • Despite being much more unified than in previous years, the Democrats are divided between three factions at the beginning of the civil war. Dire consequences are promised if Joe Biden cannot juggle said factions' loyalty and they turn against him.
  • The various other far-right dissident groups that were incorporated into the Patriot Front unsurprisingly don't get along, and often argue amongst themselves about the Front's ideals and goals.
  • The Association of the Freed is a ramshackle coalition between Right and Left Anarchists. While they're initially working together to survive the Second American Civil War, an AOF victory can result in the Left Anarchists forming opposition governments if things go wrong.
• I'm a Humanitarian: One of the events that accompany the Catharsis rebellion against the World Government led by Klaus Schwab mentions that the people of Europe have become so mentally broken and nihilistic due to the World Government’s oppression that some of them have started to engage in acts of cannibalism.
• Inciting Incident: The murder of Quinston Evans starts a chain reaction where a much more violent version of the Black Lives Matter protests kickstarts a domino effect that ends with the United States collapsing into a civil war, and in turn throwing the world into complete chaos.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Joe Biden can end up winning the 2020 presidential election despite the overall chaotic atmosphere in America. This electoral win ends up meaning nothing, however, as Trump will just establish his own government in Denver prior to the Second American Civil War breaking out.
  • Russia will launch an invasion of Ukraine just like in OTL, with the United Russia variant being called a "Special Military Operation".
  • Shinzo Abe will end up resigning as Prime Minister of Japan in 2020 just as it happened in real life, and it's also possible for him to get assassinated in 2022 by a furious assailant.
• Invaded States of America: If the Atomwaffen Division wins the Second American Civil War and fails to carry out its plan of destroying civilization with nuclear weapons quickly enough, all of America’s neighbours will form a coalition and invade it with the goal of removing the Atomwaffen Division from power.
• Irony:
  • The majority of the Deep South states who formed the Confederacy during the original American Civil War declare neutrality when the Second American Civil War breaks out and wait out the conflict.
  • The League of the South starts out in Arkansas, a Confederate state that only joined after the capture of Fort Sumter. The original capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, is under the control of Joe Biden and the military (who the League oppose).
  • The territory under the control of the National Socialist Movement is said to be in much better shape and less chaotic than the other factions in Michigan, despite many people's open contempt for them.
  • Ukraine will ''always'' be invaded by Russia no matter who comes to power, even the communists, who seek to reclaim the Soviet Union's old breadbasket.
  • In real life, Putin's rule has been increasingly authoritarian and dictatorial, but in the mod's timeline, Medvedev that went down the “Putinism with a Human Face” path can justify his democratic reforms by saying that this is what Putin wanted for Russia.
  • In case of the Catharsis victory over the Schwab-led World Government in Europe, not only does Schwab’s attempt to establish a One World Order fall flat on its face but it ends up resulting in Europe falling into a permanent state anarchy, becoming devoid of any sort of central authority (be it national or corporate).
• Japan Takes Over the World: Downplayed. If the Pacific Defense Treaty Organization defeats China in the Great Asian War, China collapses, leaving Japan as the most powerful country in East and Southeast Asia.
• King on His Deathbed: King Salman is already in poor health by the time the mod starts, and the coronavirus which the elderly king catches only accelerates his inevitable death.
• A Lighter Shade of Black:
  • The reformist faction in the National Socialist Movement is still racist and authoritarian, but are much more lenient on the NSM's racial hierarchy (advocating "alternatives" for the non-Aryans rather than direct action) and are more focused on bringing back prosperity to the ruined America.
  • The National Socialist Movement and the Patriot Front (even if under the so-called hardline factions of the party) are much saner and less extreme than the Atomwaffen Division. They will even attempt to stop the Atomwaffen Division following a National Front conference where the Division has high power, acknowledging that the future of an America under them is not a bright one.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: With one specific exception (Jucheist Lukashenko), the routes for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, while they can do some authoritarian things in order to consolidate power and rehabilitate the Stalin era, are far less totalitarian than some of the far-left options that can come into power in routes where other parties take power following Putin's death such as Sergey Kurginyan's Essence of Time in the LDPR route and the Neo-Stalinists that can take power if Alikhanov's regime was to fail if they were to first take over from United Russia.
• Land of One City: Enforced for Mecca at the start of the Saudi Civil War, as it relies on their neutrality, and thus on remaining unattached to political entities outside of itself, to protect both the city itself and the holy Kaaba from ruin.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste:
  • China and Russia take advantage of America’s collapse and the subsequent civil war by consolidating their power and attempting to take over Taiwan or Ukraine respectively.
  • Iran will attempt to take over the Gulf states should Hezbollah win the Saudi Civil War, and will intervene if the Neo-Baathists win in Iraq.
  • The Jihadists can use the Saudi factions' willingness to turn Mecca into a neutral zone to their advantage, overthrowing the current government there and using the city as their base of operations in Saudi Arabia.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: If Alexei Navalny takes power in Russia, one event describes him hearing the voice of what is strongly implied to be the ghost of Vladimir Putin but only briefly and that happens just as Navalny is about to head off to bed after being exhausted from working late into the night so it is ambiguous whether that was just a stress-induced hallucination or not.
• Mob War:
  • A rather bizarre example of this is happening in Detroit, with the Detroit Highwaymen (a biker gang that happens to wear all black) fighting against the Black Mafia Family (an infamous group of Gangbangers that previously used their hip-hop business as a front) for control of Detroit.
  • The various criminal gangs in Florida are fighting against each other, leaving them vulnerable to either National Guard or Atomwaffen Division attack.
  • Mexico will collapse into the Cartel Wars, with numerous cartels fighting for control over all of Mexico directly.
• Mutually Assured Destruction: Should China take too long to defeat India in the Great Asian War, India may respond by launching thermonuclear missiles at Pakistan and inland China. China will respond with nuking most of India, completely destroying the Indian subcontinent.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Atomwaffen Division, which roughly translates to "Nuclear Weapons Division", is a group of neo-Nazis who are so hellbent on destroying their enemies and killing nonwhites and so extreme in their beliefs that even other neo-Nazi and far-right groups despise them and only collaborate with them out of necessity. Should they win the civil war and get their hands on nukes, they will end the world in nuclear hellfire.
• No Blood for Phlebotinum: The Third African war will start in 2024 between the Nile River Coalition^members Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Tigray Defense Forces, Somalia and the East African Pact^members Ethopia, East African Federation (If they are taken over by Wagner PMC and survive the Third Congo War), Somaliland, Djibouti, Rapid Support Forces (if they survive in the Sudanese Civil War for long enough) over the Nile River and its flow of water.
• Nuke 'Em:
  • Should its enemies come to close to winning the Arab-Israeli War, Israel will enact the "Samson option," nuking the capitals of hostile nations.
  • If China starts losing the Great Asian War (measured as being 30% towards capitulation), it will respond by nuking Japan with thermonuclear bombs. Taken even further if the Revanchists are in charge, with them having a secret focus tree that concludes with them nuking Korea, India and Australia as well.
• Old Shame: The entire German nation is ashamed of their hypermilitaristic and fascist past. This antimilitarist attitude has caused a shortage of men in the army, but the looming crisis may convince the German people to think otherwise...and if they lose the NATO war to a resurgent Soviet Union, the far-right will make their move.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The Atomwaffen Division is unique among the other far-right unifiers in that they believe that the modern world as a whole has reached such a level of degeneracy and corruption that nuking the world and bringing about an apocalypse is the only way they can safeguard a homeland for the "Aryans." They can do this if they win.
• One Nation Under Copyright:
  • If corporate influence gets too high in the Union of America or the Innovationists get elected, Michael Bloomburg will establish a corporate oligarchy.
  • The EU becomes dominated by corporations in their authoritarian path.
• Plot-Triggering Death:
  • King Salman’s death due to the Coronavirus ends up inadvertently causing the ensuing civil war and oil prices to skyrocket, which have tremendous effects on the world.
  • The killing of an unarmed Black protestor named Quinton Evans during the nationwide US riots against police brutality leads to a chain of events that culminates in a Second American Civil War.
  • The sudden death of Vladimir Putin from COVID-19 ends up temporarily halting their plans to capitalize on the US' collapse, resulting in an election being hastily called to decide Russia's new leader. Said election will decide what path the Russian nation will take.
• Post-Soviet Reunion: If the communist Zyuganov is elected as president of Russia, then he and the Communist party will attempt one. While Belarus willingly joins the revived Soviet Union, the other former Warsaw Pact states have to be defeated in a war with NATO to integrate them into the Union.
• Post-Scarcity Economy: The Chinese New Left can aim for this, eventually placing the government under the hands of an AI singularity.
• Putting on the Reich:
  • America if either the NSM, Atomwaffen (which will destroy humanity), or an NJP-influenced Patriot Front wins the civil war.
  • Potentially Western Europe as a whole should they lose to a restored Soviet Union in the European War.
  • Russia if Aleksandr Dugin takes over and embraces the right wing aspects of Eurasianist ideology.
  • Neo-Nazis seeking to replicate the original Nazi Regime can take over Germany again if they lose the European war to the USSR and Germany purged extremists from the army beforehand.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Even with a full victory on either side on the conflict, the Great Asian War is this on spades, and it says a lot when this is the best outcome of the war. If EADI achieves total victory, they have complete dominion over the Asian continent... but India is completely shattered. And if the PDTO wins, China completely Balkanizes into multiple nations, creating a humanitarian crisis as a result.
• Realpolitik:
  • Despite Japan's previous pro-American policies and their disputes regarding the Kuril Islands, it is possible for Russia and Japan to develop closer ties on the basis that neither of the countries wants China to become too powerful.
  • Despite being a socialist one-party state, Vietnam has the option of joining the Japan-led, capitalist Pacific Defense Treaty Organization against China out of fear of China growing too powerful.
• Red Scare:
  • Happens on a continental scale should NATO lose the war to a resurgent Soviet Union, with multiple states becoming military dictatorships, absolute monarchies, and neofascist regimes as a result, or an unholy mix of all of the above in the case of the Reichsburger movement.
  • Inverted should NATO lose to a resurgent Russian Empire, which causes a Brown Scare, with Europe instead becoming Socialist Democracies at best or Totalitarian Communist governments at worst.
• Religion of Evil: The “Christian” branch of the Atomwaffen Division qualifies as one as it fully supports the group’s genocidal racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and transphobia in addition to condoning the use of slavery. Moreover, they are fully onboard the group’s plan to nuke the world to “cleanse” it of anyone who is not a neo-Nazi heterosexual white “Christian.”
• The Remnant: The collapsed state governments in California, Michigan, Vermont and Florida have various remnant states that have the National Guard on their side. Unfortunately, the remnants are usually capitulated by the unifiers in their quest to reunite said states.
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Downplayed for the Patriot Front. While Rousseau's faction and majority of the Front are undoubtedly a group of far-right militarists (who are classified in-game as Fascist), there is a growing number of factions within the Front who wish to steer the Front away from this path.
• Russia in Ruins: If Russia loses the Second European War, it inevitably balkanizes and collapses into anarchy.
• Russia Takes Over the World: Downplayed. If Russia wins in both European wars, it will become the uncontested dominant power on the European continent for years to come.
• Sanity Slippage: Biden needs to both manage his mental health and win the war. Failure to do so will lead to either his death or total mental collapse into a mad tyrant assuming more authoritarian options were taken during the war.
• Shocking Defeat Legacy:
  • NATO being defeated in a war with either Russia or the Soviet Union will have a massive effect on local politics, seeing Europe swing to the opposite of Russia's current ideology or (in the case of United Russia winning) federalize into an ultraliberal EU)
  • The same goes for Russia (who in turn lose the Caucasus and their foothold in the Donbass), which sees either Prigozhin, Navalny or Dugin to become leader.
• Shout-Out: Has enough for its own page.
• Starter Villain:
  • While they are “villains” themselves due to being authoritarian, neofascistic, white nationalists, from the perspective of the National Front(The Patriot Front, the National Socialist Movement and the Atomwaffen Division), they would have to deal with the other factions in their respective starting states before they can pursue their ambitions of reunifying America.
  • From the Russian perspective, Ukraine is their first obstacle to either reforming the Soviet Union (if Zyuganov was elected president) or establishing Russian dominance in Eastern Europe (if either Medvedev or Zhirinovsky was elected president).
• Succession Crisis:
  • Downplayed. King Salman has an official successor in Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, but the numerous princes that belong to the House of Saud attempt to seize power upon MBS' ascension to the throne and form the Royal Arabian Coalition in a bid to overthrow him.
  • Vladimir Putin's death from COVID-19 throws the Russian political scene into chaos, and an election is called to decide Russia's new leader.
  • Vladimir Zhirinovsky's death after Russia's victory in the First European War will trigger a power struggle between the numerous flavors of nationalists that have bonded together over the course of Zhirinovsky's dictatorship.
• Status Quo Is God: If Valery Rashkin becomes the leader of Russia, he can organize a referendum on the legalization of same-sex marriage in Russia, but it is always doomed to fail.
• Take a Third Option:
  • Medvedev's Reformist path sees him forging a two-party sovereign democracy in Russia, but parties outside of the system can win the post-war elections, those being Vladislav Davankov's social liberal New Russia party and Anton Alikhanov's fascist National Russia party.
  • France's early game revolves around the 2022 French Presidential Elections between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. However, should the right conditions arise, both candidates will lose enough favour that it opens the door for the far-right Eric Zemmour (with the help of the military) or the left-wing Popular Front to take over instead.
• Take That!: One of the events for APLA has a farmer shooting and killing streamer Ian "Vaush" Kochinski while he was trespassing on his ranch and invading his stables wearing a full horse bodysuit, most likely based on an online expose on him which came out a few months before the mod's initial release, which revealed he had written many pro-zoophilia messages in private.
• Taking You with Me: If the Arab coalition succeeds in conquering Israel, then all of their capitals will get nuked by the latter, which will also result in the deaths of their leaders.
• Team Switzerland: Various US states (like the ones in the Deep South) will declare their neutrality at the onset of the Second American Civil War, not wanting to get involved with either Biden or Trump.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Should China decide to nuke Japan if it starts losing to the PDTO in the Great Asian War, it will proceed to nuke the entire Japanese archipelago with thermonuclear bombs.
• Timed Mission:
  • The Third African War must be won by Egypt or Ethiopia in under a year or a Status Quo Antebellum peace deal is signed.
  • The Arab-Israeli War must be won by either side within 700 days or it will end in a compromise realizing the two-state solution.
  • The Taiwan War has a timer for the duration of the conflict: China must capitulate Taiwan before the timer expires to force a victory while Japan and the PDTO must hold off the Chinese assault until the timer expires to force a victory for them. The two can extend or reduce the deadline respectively with certain decisions and foci.
• Token Good Teammate: Despite having one of the worst far-right outcomes for Europe (the Carolingian Fascists), France can end up such in the new Pact of Steel if the military junta stabilizes itself and rejects legitimizing fascism in any way (preventing the Identitarians and Yvan Benedetti's ultranationalists from coming to prominance in government, and avoiding Vichy rehabilitation from taking root in the military). This is while every member of the Pact of Steel are at best regular authoritarian (normal authoritarian-monarchist Italy and Britain), or at worst multiple variants of hyperreactionaries, ultramilitarist, and genocidal white nationalist, neofascist, Red-Brown and Neo-Nazi regimes, the French junta can potentially end up restoring democracy and ultimately break away from the pact to restore democracy in Europe.
• Triumphant Reprise:
  • The music for the Second American Civil War super-event is a booming instrumental cover of the beginning of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", a popular song that originated during the first American Civil War.
    • On a meta level, this cover serves as one for Heart of Iron IV modding as a whole, as it was previously used on the soundtrack of Kaiserreich.
• United Europe: Most prominently happens should Europe lose the First European War to a Russian state led by Dmitry Medvedev. Germany will vote to have the European Union federalize, leading to three paths that lead to the now-united Europe inviting Russia to a round two, this new EU either being led by:
  • The Corporatocracy ideology of the Volt Europa Party.
  • Gunther Fehlinger-Jahn's "Fehlinger Doctrine" of "decolonizing" and Balkanizing Russia (and even China should the player choose to go even further east).
  • The nightmarish "World Government" led by Klaus Schwab in which the Conspiracy Kitchen Sink relating to the World Economic Forum becomes reality]].
• Utopia Justifies the Means: The Anarchist faction of the APLA seek to create a wholly new society of total equality... by completely tearing down modern American society and culture, which they deem inherently reactionary.
• Victory by Endurance: How Taiwan survives the Taiwan War - by holding out for long enough that the war becomes unpopular for the citizens of the PRC and Xi's reign crumbles, resulting in a white peace.
• Violence Is the Only Option:
  • The Second American Civil War is inevitable no matter what. As it says in the country's help screen:
  IT IS INEVITABLE
  • Despite the fact that the party contains a fair number of individuals nostalgic for the GDR, there is no way for Germany led by Die Linke to try and placate the Soviets in attempt to avoid the European War.
  • No matter who comes into power in Russia, they will inevitably invade Ukraine which leads to the First European War. Likewise, the Second European War is inevitable no matter who comes into power, even if Navalny is in charge.
  • It is not possible for a peaceful resolution regarding Taiwan, as China will always invade it after the outbreak of the Second American Civil War. It is also not possible for a peaceful resolution for the Great Asian War, regardless of who is in charge.
• We ARE Struggling Together:
  • The only things that the different factions within APLA seem to agree upon is that racism against minorities must be stopped, the high inequality must be solved and American capitalism should be discarded entirely. Aside from that, the APLA’s factions cannot agree on their basic tenets and are only held together by vague promises of socialism.
  • The reformists and the hardliners within the National Socialist Movement constantly fight for power within their small state, and Burt Colucci will have to sooner or later choose between one of them.
• We Hardly Knew Ye:
  • King Salman dies a few months into the mod from COVID-19, which leads to a Saudi Civil War that has horrific effects on the world's economies.
  • Vladimir Putin lasts longer than the Saudi monarch, but not by much, and quickly dies just before he could capitalize on the Saudi and American collapses.
• World Gone Mad: The world of The Fire Rises is absolutely bonkers, with a Second American Civil War involving fringe far-left and far-right groups breaking out and Post-Soviet Reunion just being the tip of the iceberg. The most extreme situations tend to take more from conspiracy theories, satire, and pop culture than realistic projections. Other potential highlights include:
  • China being taken over by a rogue Artificial Intelligence (that is actually mostly benevolent) or restoring the imperial system and proceeding to go on a campaign of genocide against their neighbours with the goal of creating their own version of “Lebensraum”.
  • Return of national socialism in Germany.
  • The Middle East being destroyed in nuclear hellfire after the Arab coalition conquers Israel.
  • Japan being nuked again (this time by China and on a national scale).
  • Wagner PMC establishing a mercenary republic in Central Africa.
  • Joe Biden becoming an insane Pol Pot-esque totalitarian dictator who executes his opponents left and right.
  • The United States falling to a band of insane Satanic Nazi cultists who will start a global nuclear war to rid the world of all the Jews and non-White people.
  • The European Union being taken over by Klaus Schwab and the WEF who will proceed to turn Europe into a soul crushing Cyberpunk dystopia straight out of Brave New World.
  • A Deep State takeover in the United States, which will see the Cognoscenti secretly control the government and all aspects of American society while waging many wars across the globe.
  • Barack Obama being reelected for a third presidential term.
• World War III: The European War is the closest thing to one, and can ultimately become a true world war given that A Cognoscenti ruled United States of America intervenes in the Second European War and Great Asian War, which will no doubt result in a massive conflict. Alternatively, an initial Russian victory in the war could see Europe radicalize left (if Zhirinovsky wins) or right (if the KPRF wins), or in the case of United Russia maintaining power, because of a federalized EU seeking revenge or due to Russia wanting to expand further (if Putinist hardliners take power under Sergei Shoigu postwar), leading to a continuation of the NATO War with Europe—and this ultimately coincides with the Great Asian War, leading to conflict all across Eurasia.. Word of God has gone on to state that the winners of each regional conflict will be able to start World War III with the other powers who won their regional conflicts once more content is added.
• Walking Spoiler:
  • The paths of Western Europe and Russia are determined by whether or not they lose the European War
  • Mostly Averted in the case of Asia, where losing the Taiwan War doesn't have any spoilery paths excluding the Loji paths and the Heavenly Empire/Republic.
• You Are Too Late: If the Atomwaffen Division wins in the Second American Civil War and successfully executes its plan of starting a global nuclear holocaust, the ending slide mentions that an international coalition invades America in order to stop the launch of the nukes. Unfortunately, the nukes are launched just as they step foot on American soil and human civilization is wiped out from the face of Earth.