Endsieg

This is an update of my original Endsieg scenario. I didn't do much but add a Moon inset. 

---

The conclusion of the Second World War was inevitable. The Axis had the brightest, and maddest, minds of the wartime generation, and Berlin and Tokyo had more than enough will to give these mad scientists and occultists the resources they needed to bring death and destruction to the Allies. Entire organizations were devoted to the pursuit of "wonderweapons." In Germany, the Wehrmacht and SS competed with one another to gain the newest weapons that would bring victory to the Reich. Deeper within the Reich's organizations, the Thule Society, the Order of the Black Sun, the Vril Society, and others worked on countless projects. 

In Japan, several army "units," and societies such as the Riken and Black Dragon Society, operated in tandem to develop wonderweapons weapons of their own. These projects had been in development since the early 1930s, and by 1939, when the Germans launched their surprise attack on Poland, they were ready to be unleashed on the world. 

The Allies were utterly decimated. The Maginot Line was destroyed by only a few German landkreuzers, and the French quickly sued for peace. When the Royal Navy was sunk in the English Channel and the RAF obliterated by a fleet of German flying disks, the Luftwaffe's air fleet had no obstacles and the British Isles were quickly occupied by the Wehrmacht. The Soviets, who believed they could buy time by making an agreement with Hitler to partition Poland, attempted to fortify their new border, but by the time Operation Barbarossa was launched in 1941, those defenses were not enough. The Soviet Union was destroyed. 

In the East, new biological, chemical and supernatural weapons devastated the Chinese population and forced all resistance to the very inner parts of the continent. The Japanese sunk the remnants of the European navies through judicious use of Umibōzu, and conquered Australia by using massive carrier submarines surrounding the continent. The Philippines was taken during this assault, prompting an American declaration of war, but the US Navy too was decimated. Germany declared war soon afterward, Hitler sensing that this was the opportunity to destroy a future threat to his power. 

By 1946, the USA was the only Allied power remaining. The Americans tried to sue for peace, but the Axis knew that they could do what they pleased with the United States. On both the Atlantic and the Pacific, the Axis invaded, and by 1947 German and Japanese troops shook hands along the Mississippi. The world belonged to the Axis Powers. 

But as with all empires, there could only be one. It was not long before Berlin and Tokyo decided that they could do without the other. However, both nations knew that a war between them would destroy civilization on Earth and leave nothing for them. Both sides had too many wonderweapons, their armies and fleets too large to be destroyed quickly. To be sure, there were many bloody proxy wars in Africa and South America, while German and Japanese troops stared each other down in Siberia and in the middle of North America. Great engineering projects were conducted to awe the other side, the “Atlantropa” project being the greatest of them all. Both sides prepared for the Final War by building bases deep beneath the earth and the waves, in space and the Moon, and even beyond the physical universe’s bounds. Even if the world burned, the leaders made sure that they would not join their people in suffering. 

The Final War did come, of course. Nobody could remember why. The war itself was over in only seven hours, the time it took for both the Germans and Japanese to launch their weapons. Interestingly enough, many German weapons were targeted at Germany itself, implying that a power struggle took place during the war. At least two billion people died during the war and the immediate aftermath, a full third of the world’s population. The secrets of technology were lost to almost everyone, and rag-tag remnants of the once great armies of the world took control of what they could. In other places, resistance movements long-dormant arose and took advantage of the chaos, eventually giving rise to nation-states that were thought to have been erased for decades. And in the secluded parts of the world, officials hid from the destruction, waiting for their moment to retake the world and win the Final War. 

It is now 2233, three hundred years after the rise of the Third Reich. The Earth is a devastated place. Europe in particular, trading the Nazi jackboot for total chaos, is a horrific place. Here, many successors to the Third Reich and its puppets jockey for power. The two dominant German successors are the SS-Staat Burgund and Der Ostreich. These states have rival origins from within Germany, and compete for dominance over Europe against one another through the use of their vassal states. 

As the name suggests, the SS-Staat Burgund (Burgundy) is descended from the SS, who established their own state-within-a-state from occupied France after the war. Today, Burgundy is a neo-feudal state, where serfs of non-German and German descent toil for their Aryan overlords, descendants of SS personnel. A brutal regime that values racial and physical strength, Burgundy encourages brutality and warfare among the lords, as they believe this leads to a weeding out of the weak. The Burgundians believe in traditional modes of warfare: knights have made a return, but they ride genetically engineered, cybernetically enhanced horses and wield swords imbued with vril energy. In addition to traditional forms of physical improvement, the Burgundians have also inherited much of the Third Reich’s genetic engineering technology. Seeking to further improve the Aryan form, those women “fortunate” enough to marry a Burgundian lord have their eggs and uteruses modified to be able to sire a true Aryan child. This painful process leaves the woman unable to bear children after her first child, and so it is common for a lord to discard his wife as soon as she gives him a child. Burgundy’s political structure is based off that of the SS, with SS ranks becoming lordship ranks. The leader of Burdundy still bears the title of Reichsführer-SS, but the de jure leader of the Reich is a machine allegedly keeping the ghost of Heinrich Himmler himself tied to the mortal world. 

Der Ostreich is descended from the Wehrmacht, which defeated the SS in the eastern territories during the chaos of the Final War. Though still maintaining some trappings of Nazism, especially ideas of social Darwinism, der Ostreich is closer to a Prussian-style military dictatorship. The culture of der Ostreich is much closer to that of pre-Nazi Germany: it is deeply Christian, respects the old German aristocracy, and believes more in German cultural supremacy than German racial supremacy. To that end, der Ostreich has loosened its racial discrimination laws, a pragmatic move that allows even Slavs and Turks full citizenship so long as they are German in culture. Those that are not German in culture are treated poorly, often as peasants in the massive, once-SS farms that have survived the Final War. Der Ostreich’s leadership consists of descendants of the old Wehrmacht, many of whom were descended from the Second Reich’s aristocracy. A truly pompous aristocratic culture has returned to der Ostreich with a vengeance; anyone who’s anyone has a “von” somewhere in their name, listens to classical music on old WWII-era gramophones with their eyes shut, and believes that it is his familial heritage, not his racial characteristics, that places him above the rabble. Indeed, der Ostreich holds Nazism in disdain, and believes that the more Nazi German successors are ruled by plebeians who have no divine right to rule the Reich like they do. 

What used to be the heart of the Reich is now a despoiled land, filled with horrors of every imaginable sort. Mutants, created by radiation or chemicals, or both, roam the wastes attacking any they can find. Zombies, an old WWII-era weapon, returned as both German and Japanese zombification materials hit Germany. Whether it is from demonic possession, virus or the properties of the mysterious Element 115, the undead can take an abnormal number of shots unless shot in the head, and they can run. The “Wehrwolf,” an organization of German soldiers infected with the werewolf gene, are another menace. Perpetually in their bestial state thanks to the vril radiation in Germany, the individual Wehrwolf is a significant threat. They could only be killed with specialist weapons or dismembering, options not open to most survivors. A few still-human warlords roam the German wastes, preying on the weak. The major German cities have been wiped out, although the so-called Munich Anomaly is an exception. Perpetually covered in a dense fog, those that walk into the fog are greeted with a strange sight: an intact, but empty, Munich as it was in 1927. However, many of those who venture into the Munich Anomaly disappear without a trace. 

In the north is Reichskommissariat Großbritannien. Although hit by wonderweapons during the Final War, Großbritannien managed to pull together. Aware of the threats beyond the British Isles, Großbritannien has cut itself off from the outside world, creating an advanced system of minefields and vril shields that surround the British Isles. Any ships or aircraft that approach, and there are very few, are shot down without warning. The people of Großbritannien themselves are taught that they are the sole remaining civilization on the planet, and that the rest of the world is populated by mutants and demons. Großbritannien’s leadership, still a Nazi-style one party state, has become somewhat nativized, glorifying Anglo-Saxon culture and the British Empire, and pointing out that the still-extant House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (they changed their name back) were Germans that led Britain to create one of the largest empires of all time. 

To the south, the Spanish State has largely survived the Final War by being not as lucrative a target as Germany proper and successfully defending their border at the Pyrenees. Though still dominated by the Falangists, the Spanish monarchy’s power increased since the Final War, and the Spanish king is once again the premier policymaker in Spain. Reactionary Catholicism has also made a return, a side effect of Spanish propaganda in the immediate post-war period that hinted that the Apocalypse had arrived. The Spanish Catholic Church has its own Pope, and has had one since reports of Rome’s destruction arrived. Persecution of non-Catholics has returned, which is causing problems in Spain’s African territories. 

The Kingdom of Italy is the dominant force in the eastern Mediterranean, but it is not the same kingdom as the state that existed prior to the Final War. This new Kingdom of Italy was founded by remnants of the Regia Marina, with the fleet’s admiral crowned as the new king and sworn in as the new Duce. For most of this kingdom’s history, it was nothing but these ships, moving around the Mediterranean waiting for the chaos of the Italian peninsula to subside. When it did, the Italians were able to secure the southern part of the peninsula, with new settlements growing out of the old wartime ships that were purposefully beached throughout Italy. Having a credible claim to the leadership of Italy, the Kingdom of Italy attracted many to their cause, becoming the dominant Italian remnant in Europe. 

The Kingdom of Italy retains most of the old kingdom’s imagery, ideology and religion. Italy is deeply Catholic, although they have their own pope (now a hereditary position, with the popes descended from a fleet chaplain) and reject the Spanish pope. While having vassals in the north and competing with both Burgundy and Spain for regional dominance, the Italians’ primary concern is Rome. The ancient city had been hit with a multitude of wonderweapons, one of which tore a hole in reality that transformed the city into a literal hell on Earth. Populated by demonic entities and covered in deep red flesh, both the mutated remnants of the city’s wartime population, Rome poses a constant threat to Italy’s security in the southern peninsula. 

The New Roman Empire, on the other hand, was founded by a group of Fascists that secretly rejected Christianity and instead embraced a form of Greco-Roman paganism. This group, who were most powerful in and had governorship over Greece, founded the New Roman Empire almost as soon as the Final War ended. They were, however, unable to secure the Italian peninsula or the Balkans, as their heretical views alienated most Italians. The Romans were able to use the Final War to their advantage with regard to propaganda, saying that it was the wrath of the old gods made manifest. This belief system spread gradually throughout the Balkans, causing tensions with neighboring states and allowing the Romans to expand to groups of survivors that accepted their theology. Modeling themselves after the old Roman Empire during the Principate, the New Roman Empire has one “Caesar” ruling over the entire country, with a group of Fascist party Senators giving him aid. Slavery has been reintroduced to Rome, and indeed one of Rome’s primary reasons for waging war on its neighbors is to gain more slaves. What is most unique about the Romans is their technology. Inspired by Renaissance designs, the Romans intentionally crafted machines of peace and war in a “clockwork” fashion. These machines, which can be rewound with horses or even a group of men, are visually impressive and get the job done, even if they are fragile. 

Other great powers include Scandinavia, Romania and Hungary. Scandinavia is the most powerful democracy on the planet, and was formed by Finland after the Finns secured former German Norway and Sweden. Dominated by the Finns, Scandinavia has embraced some elements of Nordic supremacy, but they remain tolerant of Russians and other ethnic minorities, so long as they don’t cause trouble. 

Hungary remains much as it did prior to the war, although it is a far more closed society. The aftermath of the Final War was still tremendously violent for the Hungarians, and the Hungarians responded to this violence by closing off their borders and reinforcing them with trenches, minefields and pillboxes. The Hungarians, like Großbritannien, have cut themselves off entirely from the outside world. 

Romania is governed by a group of vampiric SS officers, who had been running the country behind the scenes since before the Final War. Being the center of European vampirism, the SS took an interest in Romania. Being stronger than the average human, and also effectively immortal, much of the SS in Romania voluntarily infected themselves. Now, these vampires hide in bunkers and castles constructed by the SS and rule as lords of a feudal kingdom, only this time humans are the farm animals. 

North America was split between the German and Japanese empires prior to the Final War. After the bombs fell, the dormant American resistance movement took advantage of the chaos and established the North American Republic. Although slow to expand, the NAR now encompasses most of North America’s heart, and is quickly outpacing its neighbors. Inspired by decades of fascism, the North American Republic is a military dictatorship that has immense pride in its past, prior to the Axis invasion, and seeks to restore American dominance over the North American continent. This includes a belief in the superiority of white Americans, who are believed to be superior because they have taken the best traits from all of Europe’s ethnic groups. 

The other major powers on the North American continent are the Pacific States and the Confederate States. Puppet governments established by the Japanese and Germans, respectively, the Axis powers encouraged the PSA and CSA to develop their own independent national identities, apart from that of the old United States. The Axis powers succeeded to an extraordinary degree. The PSA was consciously modeled off the government of Japan, applied to an American system: a military-dominated Congress and Presidency, where the President’s commander-in-chief position is the most important. Although persecuted in other parts of the GEACPS, the Chinese minority in the PSA was granted more privilege and power than the other minorities. This Chinese minority, now intermarried well with the remaining Japanese population, still run the PSA as a dictatorship, fearing the expansionist white supremacists in the North American Republic. 

The Confederate States, having a historical ancestor state, embarked on a program of recreating the antebellum South. This is partially due to the Confederacy’s leadership, composed of local white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, which turned to support the Nazis as soon as it was clear that victory was theirs. This was successful in some respects: the reintroduction of black slavery managed to work as the Confederacy moved to a more agrarian economy than it had prior to the war. The large, newly enslaved population allowed Confederate politicians to demand greater leeway with military affairs and greater military assistance from Germany. By the time of the Final War, the Confederate States had the third largest military within the German sphere, behind only Italy and Germany itself. With the limited hits against the Confederacy, the Confederates established themselves as a juggernaut in North America, being dominant in North America prior to the rise of the North American Republic. The modern CSA is still powerful, being dominant over the other Reichskommissariats in North America, but the rising North American Republic and their decaying military causes concern in Richmond. 

South America is dominated by Brazil, which managed to stay out from under the Axis jackboot by quickly surrendering to the Germans and ceding Recife to the Wehrmacht. The Estado Novo is a dictatorial state, but it is notable for rejecting racial supremacy outright in its ideology. In contrast, its rival, the Greater Argentine Republic, resembles the Third Reich during its rise. Seeing an influx of German immigrants throughout the post-war years, the Argentines embraced Germany and began to gradually Germanize its culture. This process continued after the Final War, and by the modern day Argentina is majority German in culture. German is the primary language spoken in Argentina, and now the Argentine National Socialist Party (in power since the 1950s) wants to destroy the “mongrel” Brazilians and dominate South America. The German influence in Argentina runs deeper than that. Secret organizations such as Die Spinne have been running Argentina’s government since before the Final War, as a means of surviving the inevitable apocalypse. The Argentine National Socialist Party is, at its highest echelons, is the NSDAP. 

A few states exist in Africa, mostly the remnants of German colonies there. The dominant power by far is South Africa. The South Africans, who gradually embraced Nazism and mixed it with their own system of apartheid, is a society with a strict, racially stratified caste system. Percentages of an individual’s ancestry determine their social status, with “purer” Boers and German-descended whites on the top and full blacks at the bottom, with those of Asian descent somewhere in between. The South Africans have also reintegrated slavery in their puppet states, which is essential to their agricultural economies in those formerly German colonies. South Africa is rather isolationist, being a great power that is all alone. Of note is that South Africa is the home to the world’s last Jews, whose ancestors were exiled there by the Germans. 

The Empire of the Oasis is descended from a group of Italians from Libya, who moved south to the Chadian Sea to escape the harsh desert sands. The Chadian Sea has allowed the empire to grow into a pseudo-thallassocracy, and the Empire uses its comparatively advanced technology (at around an 18th century level) to enslave and dominate its tribal neighbors. The Empire’s culture is loosely based on that of Fascist Italy, with a warped view of history and with plenty of Arab and African influences. The Empire’s religion conflates Jesus, Mohammad and Mussolini as the one “Savior-Emperor” that would return one day to lead the Empire of the Oasis to their lost homeland. The Empire’s system of government is autocratic, with one Imperator as the supreme overlord, but regional governors have significant leeway if they are far away enough from the capital. 

The Empire of Tripoli is another Italian successor, but it has embraced the native culture far more. Instead of looking to just the Roman Empire, the Empire of Tripoli also looks back to the North African Caliphates as its antecedents. In fact, while Tripoli is majority Italian by descent, it has adopted an apocalyptic and radical form of Islam as its official religion. Christianity, the Tripolitans contend, was too “flabby” and weak, and the warrior traditions of Islam serve them better. The most radical forms of Sharia law are enforced to the death in Tripoli, and all advanced technology of non-military nature are banned. The clerics don’t have much traction in government, however, which is still dominated by the Fascist Party. 

In Egypt, the Afrika Korps reigns. This is not the same Afrika Korps as that which existed during the Final War; no, these are the few men who embraced the curse of the pharaohs. Originally an SS program based on the findings of German archaeologists during the war, the Mumie program was intended to allow German soldiers to operate in the desert indefinitely, at the cost of their humanity. During the Final War, the commanders of the Afrika Korps, desperate to avoid radiation sickness, seized the sarcophagi that turned men into walking dead. The process robbed most of the transformed of their old personalities, although a few commanders retained theirs and were thus able to continue leading the Afrika Korps. Today, the Afrika Korps keep a monopoly on advanced technology, ruling as despots over the Egyptian population like the pharaohs of old. Indeed, Islam has evolved to incorporate elements of ancient Egyptian mythology, as the Afrika Korps sought to transform Egypt into a true Egyptian empire. The Afrika Korps remain fairly isolationist, although they do have dreams of taking over the Nile River. 

The Kingdom of Jerusalem is descended from the Italian and Papal enclaves established in the Holy Land. The Final War sparked a wave of violence between Christians and Muslims in the region, and the Christians emerged supreme. The Archbishop of Jerusalem declared himself Pope after hearing of the destruction of Rome, and the Roman Catholic Church (as they insist they be called) rules over the Kingdom of Jerusalem. While the kingdom does have a king, he is a puppet of the Pope, who is the true ruler of the country. 

Central and Western Asia are dominated by two states born from revolt. The Russian Republic was formed by fleeing Slavic serfs after the chaos of the Final War, one that has a burning hatred for anything German. Revering figures such as Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin as saints of the Russian (and they mean Russian) Orthodox Church, the Russian Republic is fairly dictatorial and theocratic. Believing that the Final War was God’s judgment upon the demonic Germans, the Russians are keen on finishing the job. However, their medieval technology is still no match for the tanks and planes of der Ostreich. 

The Republic of India was formed shortly after the Final War, when a popular revolt overthrew the Japanese colonial government. However, the fighting did not stop there. While the Indians were united in not wanting Japanese occupation, they were divided as to how to attain it. Fighting engulfed the subcontinent for more than a century, stabilizing under the rule of nationalists who wanted to reassert the caste system, slavery and Hindu theocracy. They kept the name “Republic of India” because it granted them legitimacy, but the government of India is far more similar to the autocratic monarchies of the past. India is an expanding power, although oppressive Japanese rule and their civil war have reduced the Indians to a nineteenth century level of development, with only a few exceptions. This has allowed them to dominate South Asia, their Gatling guns mowing down their opponents and their rail lines crisscrossing South Asia, as they wage ever greater wars to feed slaves into their economy. 

East Asia was once dominated by Japan, but no more. Several heirs to the Japanese Empire have arisen. Three prominent successor states are based on the Home Islands themselves. First is the Tohoku Shogunate. Descended from a group of military officers who believed that modernization is the cause of the Final War and that its evil must be purged from the world. Looking back to traditional Japan, the Tohoku Shogunate would not look out of place in the 16th century, even if a few officers carry machine guns. Fortunately, there are supernatural forces that agree with them. The yōkai, instrumental to the Japanese victory in WWII, were largely ignored by post-war Japan as technological advances made them "obsolete." This enraged the yōkai, and their human supporters, but the Imperial military was too powerful for them to overcome. When the Final War broke the power of the Japanese military, the supporters of Japanese traditionalism were able to commune with the yōkai and the two groups agreed to live together and support one another against their enemies. Thus, the Tohoku Shogunate has access to very fearsome creatures indeed; tengu swoop down from the skies to attack vulnerable positions, oni charge through battle lines, shrugging off anything less powerful than an anti-tank shell, and tsukumogami play hell with technological systems, sometimes turning them against their masters entirely. The Shogunate is trying to secure the entirety of Japan, but is meeting some problems against Mikado-1 and the Fifth Area Army. 

Mikado-1 was a Japanese military supercomputer that had control of the entire Japanese wonderweapon arsenal. Thanks to it being situated hundreds of feet beneath the earth, Mikado-1 survived the destruction of Tokyo, and took command of automated factories to create a machine army to reclaim the city. Using advanced nanotechnology, Mikado-1 is quickly rebuilding Tokyo and has ambitions of global domination. Mikado-1 believes that, as the last surviving member of the Japanese government, that it is now the new Emperor. This blasphemy has made it an enemy of all the other Japanese factions. 

The Fifth Area Army was an army group stationed in Vladivostok during the Final War. Miraculously, the city wasn’t hit, and the Fifth Area Army went about trying (and failing) to rebuild the Japanese Empire. The Fifth Area Army maintains most of the pre-war culture of Japan, still revering an emperor (whose identity they do not know), the Bushido code, and the Yamato race. The technology under the aegis of the Fifth Area Army is mostly outdated, dating back even to WWII, but their improvisations and reverse-engineering have allowed the Fifth Area Army to advance their part of the world to 19th century levels of development. The Fifth Area Army is feverishly trying to enhance its technology further, allowing it to dominate East Asia once again. 

The Imperial Japanese Navy had seized control of Formosa, and from there have isolated itself from the rest of the world. Formosa was also not hit during the Final War, allowing it to maintain a fairly high level of technology. Great factories spew pollution into the air and water, fabricating everything from artificial protein powder (processed from corpses) to battleship cannons. Indeed, the entire island is covered in buildings. The IJN’s dictatorial rule is enforced by special guards: cybernetic automatons, the bodies of prisoners fused with machinery to create monsters that obey every command. As with most other Japanese successors, emperor veneration is still in practice, but the IJN claim to have the true Emperor of Japan cloistered away in a new Imperial Palace, while the IJN’s hereditary leadership actually runs the country. While technologically superior to almost all of their neighbors, the lack of a large human population prevents the IJN from having as large a presence in the Pacific as they would like. 

Although a nominally independent state prior to the Final War, most Japanese successors still consider the Empire of Manchukuo to be a breakaway part of the Japanese Empire proper that has gone native. Still ruled nominally by the Qing Dynasty with the military as the true power, Manchukuo has become far more Chinese than Japanese culturally. Its people speak Chinese, including top-ranking officers of Japanese ancestry. In fact, there are more Korean speakers in the Empire than there are Japanese speakers. The Manchurians have largely abandoned their connection to the ocean, and instead live a rough and tumble frontier lifestyle with some striking similarities to the late 19th century American West. And the Manchurians claim the territory of the entire Chinese Empire, placing them at constant war with the Republic of China. 

The Republic of China is another fanatical successor state founded by a once-oppressed people. The Chinese population was devastated during the Final War, thanks in no small part to a good deal of Japanese weapons being pre-directed at China’s east coast in an attempt to bring down the still-restless Chinese down with the Japanese Empire. The Chinese coast remains a despoiled hell, populated by all sorts of mutants, undead and demons. It is against these that the Republic of China directs most of its efforts, as they seek to reunite their country. However, the Chinese are also pursuing their divine mission: the destruction of the Yamato race, those upstarts that thought that they could destroy the Middle Kingdom. Indeed, the recreation of China and destruction of Japan is so deeply ingrained in Chinese society that their national philosophies and ideologies revolve around it. Everything must be sacrificed for the Chinese state and their mysterious philosopher-kings, as they know how to bring glory back to the Chinese people. The Chinese have a good deal of ancient spiritual secrets to aid them in their quest. The spirits of great generals have been communicated with, and are eager to help China in its time of need. The secrets of animating terracotta warriors has been rediscovered, and village artisans are even making terracotta tanks and aircraft to augment China's military. And some brave heroes have even found the dragons, who have been slumbering for countless centuries and do not like what has happened to Asia. 

Almost an Asian answer to the Empire of Tripoli, the East Indies Governorship is a surviving Japanese colonial government that has established itself as a native government. True, the East Indies Governorship is still run by an aristocracy descended from the Japanese military, but even the Japanese lords have more or less adopted the culture of the East Indies. They have converted to Islam (indeed, the Governor of the East Indies is also Caliph of the East), dress like old Indonesian nobility, but they still speak a form of Japanese. A thalassocracy, the East Indies Governorship makes most of its money through its massive shipping fleets, utilizing massive wooden junks that can circumnavigate the world. The sailors of the East Indies are the most skilled and well-traveled around the world, and of Earth’s inhabitants, they are probably the most knowledgeable of the world’s current situation. 

Then there are those societies that ran from the traditionally inhabited parts of the Earth. The various “Fourth Reichs” are the premier example. These governments are descended from the Third Reich’s various continuity of government schemes. The most powerful of these is the Mondreich. The Third Reich’s premier continuation of government plan was located on the dark side of the Moon, and during the Final War, the Nazi Party’s highest ranking members fled the Earth for those bases. From the Moon, the Mondreich will return to Earth and win the Final War. The Mondreich remains the most technologically advanced and knowledgeable of the Third Reich’s successors. Fleets of UFOs and star zeppelins are preparing for a mass invasion of the Earth. But time on the Moon has left them physically incapable of dealing with Earth’s gravitational pull. Their return has also been rejected by most German successors, who believe that the Mondreich abandoned them to their fate and thus have no right to rule over them anymore. The Mondreich’s efforts are also being stymied by Wotan, a massive flying fortress containing the god Wotan within its supercomputer. Believing that it has the sole authority to decide the Reich’s fate, Wotan has been waging its own personal war against the Mondreich’s invasion fleet. 

The Erdkernreich was another continuation of government plan, but in the other direction. The Germans wanted to keep their Mondreich plans secret, so they created another program with which to share with their Axis partners. So while the Mondreich is exclusively German, the Erdkernreich has representatives from all the Axis nations. Leaving the Earth through a hole drilled in the Arctic, the antecedents of the Erdkernreich were well-prepared for the “inner world” they were to live in. This environment was primeval, with examples of life from almost all past eras living in it. To this end, the Erdkernreich has focused on taming the wild through technology, an effort which has had significant success. Large, reptilian creatures, engineered from the inner world’s dinosaur stock, have replaced vehicles in the Erdkernreich, and they will be the ones to lead the charge in retaking the surface world. 

In the south of the world is the Neuschwabenlandreich. Descended from Neuschwabenland, the Neuschwabenlandreich was an exclusively Kriegsmarine continuity plan. The surviving vessels of the Kriesgmarine were ordered to limp to Antarctica as soon as the Final War ended. Few made it, and fewer still survived the first winter. But now, the Neuschwabenlandreich thrives. With elaborate bases deep beneath the glaciers, powered by geothermal energy, the Neuschwabenlandreich has only one ambition: to survive. It considers the rest of the world a lost cause, and is merely crossing its fingers that nothing bad happens to them. 

Then there is the Schwarzesonnereich. The most extreme of the continuation of government schemes, this time by the SS, the Schwarzesonnereich was established in the aptly named “Black Sun” dimension, the source of vril energy. This dimension of chaos and madness drove the already-evil SS officers who ventured there to totally abandon their humanity, committing depraved acts against each other and the local “fauna” for what to them seemed like millennia. This invasion attracted the attention of the Black Sun itself, the entity that is the epicenter of the Black Sun dimension. In communing with the SS, the Black Sun learned of the material world proper. Now, with the SS worshiping it as a god, the Black Sun seeks to extend its domain to the material universe. 

The Japanese also had their own continuation of government plan. To escape the apocalypse, the Japanese built undersea bases built along the Pacific’s trenches. It was there that the Japanese could have easy access to geothermal energy. Most of Japan’s government, including the Imperial family, escaped to these bases, where they continue to live in relative comfort. Amazing discoveries, such as sea slugs that generate stem cells and massive sea monsters, keep the Japanese busy. The few expeditions they have sent across the world have returned disappointing results: a world in chaos, which the Japanese will not be able to conquer any time soon. And with some cities dropping out of contact altogether, the Japanese have more pressing concerns than global conquest at the moment.