A New Order

A New Order is a series of alternate history RPs beginning in 1962, in which the Axis won WW2, leading to a three/four way Cold War between the Fourth Reich, Italy, Japan and the United States.
The first RP was made and originally GMed by [Seed Eater]. VOSK at some point joined him as a co-GM, but he left the position after a while. After some personal events, Seed gave the positions of GMs to Sobotnik and Mr. Face. Afterwards, the RP went into a hiatus, after some dissatisfaction from some RPers, pointing out errors within the 3rd turn. Due to no response, it was safe to say that this RP has ended.
With permission from [Seed Eater], ImperialGuard did his own take, using the same assets from the original. Named V2, it lasted for 2 turns before he got bored of GMing it.
At some point, a mod about this RP's setting was created. Originally planned for Paradox Interactive's Victoria 2 by Masterofstars, using the provinces on the map, development switched over Paradox's other strategy game Hearts of Iron IV and has since become the now popular mod The New Order: Last Days of Europe (more info found here here). Despite its roots, however, the mod at this point is only tangentially related to the original RP.
==Lore==
===The world pre-1962===
USSR was under command of Nikolai Bukharin in 1921 until 1941. His economic reforms in favor of the free market significantly fucked Soviet industrialization and failed it when the Germans invaded in Barbarossa.
Once Germany made its successful march to the East, the rest of Russia not occupied balkanized into small states. Reunification of the Russians is a thing that some people want. Most Slavs live east of the Urals, with perhaps 20% of the entire Slavic population living in Europe due to a secret mass extermination and not-so-secret mass forced migration of Europe.
Western Europe fell more easily because of a greater amount of forces on the western front- a weaker USSR allowed for a strong German offense into France, Belgium, etc.
Finland does not formally ally with the Axis.
Japan, seeing more success in Asia due to German oil supplies from the occupied Caucuses, makes significant advances in China and east Russia before declaring war on the United States.
Joseph Kennedy is president at the outset of the war. Kennedy is generally anti-war, so mobilization is slow to occur and the US remains politically neutral. When Henry Wallace becomes president in 1940, the US remains isolationist until Japanese aggression in 1943 brings America into the war. Japan sees several major victories against America.
American troops land in Britain for support in late 1943. By this time Germany is hitting Britain hard. British naval power has pushed against Germany for most the war, but in mid 1944 Germans land in Ireland with the consent of the Irish government. A land invasion of Northern Ireland, and then a seaborne invasion into Wales and Cornwall catches the Allies off guard. Combined with an invasion from northern France, Britain is overcome and falls by 1945, with the Scots holding out the last enclaves.
By November 1945, Japan has virtually destroyed American naval power. A German atomic bomb lands over Hawaii, forcing the USA to surrender, granting Japan a port in Los Angeles and San Francisco, control of American Pacific holdings, and neutrality in European affairs.
The Holocaust occurs, but it kept secret. It remains a fringe conspiracy theory for most, no one believes that the German government liquidated something close to 30 million Slavs, gays, Jews, gypsies, socialists, and PoWs.
Germany and Japan break their conquered territories into puppet states and colonial slave empires. Germans spread east into the emptied post-Slavic lands. Japanese generally refuse to move into greater China, but an abundance of Chinese slave workers and underclass rises in Japan, causing rapid overpopulation in the rigid state-worshiping society.
America is mostly peaceful. Though trade is cut off with two major allies, Australia and New Zealand, the alliance of Canada, America, Greenland, and Iceland is strong. Italy, under the reign of Mussolini, successfully expands into the oil-rich Middle East and parts of Africa, establishing a new Roman Empire of sorts.
An economic crisis in 1949 creates a divide in Nazi thought. While the majority of Germans fear another depression, a small sector lead by those friendly to the SS pushes for pure National Socialism. Politically, the Reich is a mess. The revamped, expanded, and re-designed Berlin is host to a fracturing single political party. Under the order of the Fuhrer to prevent national fracture and with support from Himmler, occupied northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg are formed into a new country known as the Order-State of Burgundy led by the SS and Himmler himself. The release valve is turned.
America is somewhat isolated but grows using the productive forces of a combined US-Canada trade and labor alliance. The two nations are near inseparable. With the fall of Britain, the loyal Commonwealth nations adopt new constitutions, new flags, and a new goal. Canada itself adopts a constitution modeled after American values. The shared relationship leads Canada to be referred to as the "51st State" and "America's Commonwealth".
Leadership of the United States remains under Wallace until 1948. William Dudley Pelley of the Silver Shirts, or the American Fascist Party, wins the presidential election of 1947 with a narrow victory. He is seen as unpopular and Joseph Kennedy Jr., son of former president Kennedy and the youngest president America has ever had at 37, takes popular leadership. With another Kennedy in power, the US sees a progressive and economically positive spurt of growth. Kennedy Jr. is no push-over and reforms the military for the changing times. In 1960, his younger brother John F. Kennedy wins the election and continues his brother and his father's economic and military plans. The Silver Legion still presents a small opposition.
Hitler is still holding on. At 73 years old, the Fuhrer is aging but retains his image as the head of Germany. Politically, he is weak. The cult of Hitler has diminished significantly with his age as an entire generation of Germans has grown without knowing the ideology of National Socialism, only encountering the moderate state-capitalist economy of contemporary Germany. While Hitler is the de jure head of government, major players in the Nazi Party create major factions. Competing personalities include Goring, representing a more militaristic Reich; Bormann, seeking a return to the Nazi status quo of Hitler's age; Speer seeking moderate progressive reform; and Heydrich representing Burgundy and the SS.
Burgundy is still run through a cult of Himmler and his radical idealist Nazi ideology. Where Germany became moderate and saw reform, Burgundy saw the opposite, radicalizing until it became a nation of near-equality in terms of class, with the majority of its population fitting the "perfect Aryan" ideal. Folkish paganism, hero worship, racial purity, and a grand aesthetic similar to Norse and early German designs makes Burgundy larger than life. Burgundy sees Germany as abandoning its ideals, and Germany sees Burgundy as being too extremist. This has led to distancing between the two nations and a split in fundamental politics. Burgundy plays a major political faction in Germany, controlling the German SS and representing Burgundian interests in the Reichstag. Germany sees the SS, Himmler, and Burgundy as out of line and out of control, but the faction is too large to snuff out unlike the SA from the 1930s.
Hirohito still rules the throne of Japan. The cult of the Emperor is stronger than ever before, and State Shinto demands state worship as religion and the state are mixed. State functions are also religious functions, and it is not uncommon to see religious shrines to state offices and functions. Socialist and ideological purity are strictly maintained, as well as the social-class system. The Kempeitai acts as the internal secret police of the Home Islands, maintaining ideological purity and loyalty to the state and the Emperor. Abroad, things are more relaxed, with the primarily Chinese and Russian colonies mostly left to their own autonomy so long as they loyally serve the wishes of Japan. In these puppets and colonies, Japanese citizens are extensions of the Emperor himself, being socially held to the status of above-human compared to the local ethnicities.
Japan has the largest standing military in the world at this point. State Shinto demands the involvement of the military in everyday life. Conscription demands that all men age 19 and above join the military for four years, establishing a militarily trained populace for reserve. America has a large standing military but is not particularly powerful or active compared to Japan or Germany. While America has the ability to massively produce for war, it is not in a wartime standing. Germany has become very relaxed and lazy comparable to its power heights in the 1940s. While all German men are required to have some military experience, most opt for the civilian corps or community militias, paramilitaries that act more as community service and police forces than military divisions. Germany has a standing volunteer army that places it above America, but significantly lower than Japan. Burgundy has a standing military made of the entire "fit" population of men ages 17-35. All women ages 17-22 also enter to civilian corps. Every person is militarily trained in some capacity and is expected to serve the state. The population alone keeps Burgundy from overtaking Japan in military might.
Like the OTL Cold War, the four major superpowers command nuclear weapon arsenals capable of wiping each other out. Mutually Assured Destruction makes it unlikely that they will be used. Alongside the nuclear arsenals, Germany and Japan have amassed awesome chemical and biological weapon stores.
The Mediterranean was damned and drained with the help of nuclear explosions, and a river was constructed through to the Congo Lake, providing a quick and effective trade route. Harnessing the power of hordes of Africans enslaved under German command, these projects cost the German people little. In Germany, Japan, and Burgundy, massive architectural and infrastructural programs at the expense of untermensch slaves and underclasses have catapulted these nations' populations into convenience and ease. Leisure is more common than labor for ethnic Germans and Japanese. Technologically, the space race has just began. Germany is expected to land its first manned mission to the moon within a year, and Japan has already had unmanned satellites around Mars.
The game begins in June 1962, after a Japanese spy shoots Hitler, but does not kill him.
== Hearts of Iron 4 Mod ==
A mod based off of ANO has been made for the Paradox Studios WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron 4. The mod, called The New Order: Last Days of Europe, has been developed by ThePinkPanzer (ImperialGuard), and was released on July 21st, 2020. It is heavily based off of ANO but adds far more depth in regard to minor nations and makes significant changes in German political factions, American politics, the physical geography of the map and various aspects of the lore. The subreddit for the mod can be seen here.
==Media==
Japan, China and his children (Sobotnik).png|An image made by Sobotnik showing China and Japan's relationship.
Why yuo of war, Japan? (Awegner).png|A comic by Awegner, showing off how, as Japan, everyone thinks he's warring, while Germany is invading Sweden.
Chinese labour (Sobotnik).png|An image by Sobotnik, responding to his overlord's comic.
American ignorance (Telepethi).png|A comic by Telepethi showing how America doesn't care for Canada.
Assassin_For_Hire_(Damian0358).png|An image by Damian0358 showing how he's joining as a crime syndicate and how he's available for hire.
Category:RP series