Part 2/? Of my series. This is disregarding ALL other content but the focus tree, but could be for buffs, flavor/lore, anything else relevant. Personally I'd have to go with Twilight Theory's Canterlot Regency tree. Not too complicated and tons of really interesting flavor for it. Alternatively I'd go with the Ascendancy as a close second

finaly i have found a name for my fanfic? scenario? au? call it whater you want it onestly.

i think the description perfectly fit and unite the thems of 1984 whit eaw nicely.
let me know what you think.

if you want know more abaout this here my other post:

map whit flags

map whiout flags

info on the state

info on marelandia

info on the neuz

my next post on this are probaly going to be the minors

Ravakh knows all

Playing this guy and just been making factories, lobbying, railways and focusing on industry before his political path.
Def gonna use a mod to speed up focus

Twilight stared at a window. She stared at it for a while.

It was a big window, its glass panes framed by a pair of tall, crimson curtains. From the palace, she could usually only barely see the city below, but luckily, the room she was in was a little more forgiving in that department. So with her height, she peered out in absent curiosity.

The scene outside was a colorful, if mundane, slice of Upper Canterlot. Cars, carts, trucks, and carriages rolled along the city’s brick and cobblestone streets as pedestrians walked on hoof and claw and passed by the many bistros and shops that lined the way. In the far-off distance, the chime of a clock tower signaled what specific hour of the day had just begun. It was already late in the morning, and lunch was just around the corner.

Paying no more mind to the quaint hustle and bustle of the capital, Twilight moved her eyes about until they landed on an open hole dug straight into the pavement, a sight that had become so common these days. The princess smirked.

The last time she heard of an underground utility line being repaired in Canterlot, she had just passed out in her room at the palace after organizing the most recent Grand Equestrian Summit. She had left Spike in charge of guarding her room while she was knocked out cold.

It did not go well. His antics somehow ended up with a water main right outside bursting in spectacular fashion just as an angry mob of indignant delegates had already stormed in and were loudly demanding answers in front of her stupid, sleepy face.

Twilight sniffed. She was well-rested today, at least.

In the dull thrill of the wait – she counted about ten minutes since she’d arrived – Twilight briefly shuffled her wings. She would have continued on musing in her head, bouncing around in there aimlessly for perhaps another five short minutes, had it not been for a voice that quickly snapped her attention straight.

“Your highness? Our agenda are in order. We may now begin this meeting.”

Twilight finally remembered. She was in a meeting.

The princess had already read the agenda beforehand, of course, and it was a pretty sparse list. It barely expounded on things beyond a few general points, and even then.

But she also knew this meeting would be the first one ever held by what she could only ascertain to be a very recently assembled Crown committee. And it was one personally ordered by Princess Celestia herself at terribly short notice too, so Twilight could at least forgive such an oversight.

For what reason this committee was assembled, Twilight had a bit of a clue. The last few years hadn’t exactly been quiet, and even this meeting alone didn’t give off any confidence. The moment that letter landed onto her desk through the one secret government channel that had just been set up for her and Celestia specifically, she had to quickly scramble to remember her correct authentication signature lest the whole damn thing disintegrated before she could even open it.

This also wasn’t the first time that had ever happened, though this meeting in particular was markedly different in both size and secrecy. And urgency, for that matter; Twilight had to pack her bags rather quickly once she received the message to come to Canterlot.

Then, there were the attendees.

Twilight shifted in her seat, resting her body against a hardwood chair that was just a bit more decorative than functional for her alicorn frame. She looked around. There were one or two empty chairs, but the room otherwise had full attendance. The people gathered around the table were what one would have expected – and not expected – to show up.

Princess Twilight herself was near one end of the table, her chair sat along its length. On her immediate right was Princess Celestia, placed at the table’s head and currently shuffling some papers. She did so with the help of the royal secretary to the Crown, a primly cut and modest unicorn named Raven Inkwell, though there seemed to be another mare beside her who was supplying all those papers to her. Right across them at the other end of the table was Princess Luna, seemingly lost in her own thoughts and lazily scanning the room around her. Twilight tried not to make eye contact, and instead, looked elsewhere.

There was Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts and newest air marshal of the armed forces, with an expression that was hard to guess plastered all over her face. She had her mane down, and her iconic photogenic shades were nowhere to be found. Across from her was Fancy Pants, current chairpony of the royal privy council, with mane and moustache groomed to perfection. From Twilight’s experience, he was much more humble than he looks.

There was also Prince Blueblood, who was somewhat uncharacteristically quiet in his seat. The blond-headed stallion made shifty gazes between Celestia and Luna before rearranging the binders in front of him for what was seemingly the thirteenth time that morning. Maybe the military appointment was finally getting to him.

Then there was Flash Magnus for some reason, almost anachronistically stuffed into a coat and clearly being incredibly uncomfortable in it. And beside him was an awfully familiar beige pony Twilight swore she knew back in Ponyville, a mare with soft pink and blue curls that was currently the most conspicuously casual among everyone at the table.

And out of all the ponies to show up that day, there was Granny Smith, dressed in her Sun Day’s best. Stars knew why she was there.

Along with them were a few other top brass and suits that Twilight did not recognize, their names and faces coming up blank in her head. Among them was the brand new defense minister, fresh in his suit after having been recently appointed by Princess Luna. He somehow seemed even more on edge than both Blueblood and Magnus combined. Not the most reassuring impression so far.

Yet before Twilight could continue, the whole table around her suddenly came to life, and the meeting began in earnest. Twilight sat straight up, her ears swiveling forward to listen.

Celestia spoke first. She began with a few opening remarks expressing her gratitude for the people gathered in front of her, though she moved and conveyed her words without as much of her usual warm energy. After that, she politely handed things off to Raven.

The mare was brief, thankfully, rattling off the first few points of interest in the order of business, all while her previously invisible undersecretary calmly scribbled down notes onto a small book.

After that, more people started talking. Luna spoke up and called out a few ponies to the stand to present whatever they had on hoof that was relevant to the meeting. There was a moment as the ponies looked at each other, stood up, and arranged their findings into a somewhat more manageable pile in front of everyone. From what Twilight could tell, they were high-ranking cabinet ministers.

The slight commotion continued, and it was at that point, as charts and tables about Western Equestrian geography and demographic statistics came into view, that Twilight promptly checked out and mentally smashed her head into a concrete wall with a frightening speed.

How could she?

She was a princess, for sisters’ sake! There Twilight was, put into her first real private meeting in her capacity as one of the highest, most trusted rulers of the entire country, and she barely even knew the actual people supposedly running her own country’s government. Princess Twilight Sparkle had never once thought to formally get to know any of them before all of this, and now, that decision was biting her in the flank hard.

It was terrible timing too. Twilight had already figured out that, whatever this was, the stars-damned military was evidently getting involved. And the last few times they were involved, Severyana broke away in bloody revolution and Canterlot was utterly blindsided by an entire changeling army showing up right on its doorstep in the middle of a royal wedding.

Twilight slightly sunk into her seat, sulking without anyone appearing to notice. Horseapples.

What did they expect her to do? Ask the Cutie Map for a friendship problem to solve?

Believe her, she tried. It didn’t work. Hell, it hadn’t even been working at all for a while now. From a few years ago until that very moment, there was only complete radio silence from that oversized magical diorama plopped right into the middle of her big, shiny, pretty-princess castle.

Twilight was not in the right place, she just wasn’t. She knew she shouldn’t say such a thing, but this time was different. This time, she was truly and utterly out of her depth in a way that had so embarrassingly failed every expectation about her station as a princess. She could sense it.

Every minute that ticked by, every second she pretended to listen, little Twilight could already feel the weight of it all slowly grabbing onto her and digging into her chest, even if she hadn’t yet fully deciphered just what the big idea was.

And yet…

It wasn’t like she had any other choice. She was the Princess Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and Princess of Friendship, one of only a few alicorn princesses to have ever existed. And from yonder west, a storm was coming, one she had been tasked to help Equestria navigate, whether she thought she was up to it or not.

But what storm?

Princess Twilight looked around once more.

The meeting had already gone well into its first half hour. Prince Blueblood was on the podium, talking in a way that just did not fit the young stallion she knew. But Twilight forced herself to listen anyway. It was her job.

“In all, the First Army’s total operational readiness at the present moment leaves much to be desired. The logistical situation at the border is still a work in progress, and our current estimates place the army’s mobilization capabilities at a frankly abysmal level for the kind of military force we aim to achieve by the end of next year. Military production and procurement remain tentatively adequate, however; a golden ray of sunshine afforded to us for now.”

Prince Blueblood paused to take a breath and relieve his chapped lips before continuing.

“But, your highnesses, I cannot stress this enough. We are woefully underprepared for any future armed conflict that could last any more than a single month of sustained combat operations.”

Blueblood hardened his gaze, if only slightly. “I say now: the alarm bells of Equestrian and allied military armament are ringing, and the warning they bring swiftly knocking at our doors. You cannot deny the proof – chief among them the predictions born out of that report of mister Dotted Line that, now, have all become chillingly true. The next two years, I believe, shall most likely decide whether Equestria remains whole and intact... or not at all."

Once the words had settled, Blueblood sat back down on his seat, looking like he had just gone out for a brisk jog without anyone noticing. And like clockwork, the next presenter stood up from their chair, eager to tell everyone just how bad things really were.

It was like that for a while, and Twilight didn’t like it, not one bit. She looked to her right and immediately locked eyes with Celestia.

The younger mare seemed like she was not alone.

Princess Twilight then looked to her left, and Luna was somehow even worse. Twilight looked back to Celestia.

What the hell happened? What could have possibly happened in just three months? Everything was fine before. We had a plan, and you told me it yourself. Luna did as well.

But Celestia didn’t need to respond. Twilight already knew.

“Regrettably, due to our current situation, we remain unable to provide any substantial aid to the Kingdom of Olenia in their struggle against the changeling invasion,” the pony now speaking at the table said, white collar wrapped stiffly around her neck.

She continued, “And that is not likely to change anytime soon. Worse still, the latest reports on the strategic situation at the front suggests that this may no longer even be relevant in the near future. Vaverfront, and indeed even Hjörtland, are expected to not be in Olenian hooves within a week or a fortnight. I… apologize, your highnesses, for this terrible news.”

After that, there was an awkward silence before the mare nodded and meekly sat back down onto her seat.

And it just didn’t stop. Things were either bad or terrible from every angle one looked:

Equestria’s outdated navy rendered trade routes with New Mareland and Hippogriffia completely vulnerable. Her large, obsolete air force was much more of a liability than an asset. And the country’s overall economic picture did not promise any good news either, neither having the ability to retool in good order nor the fortitude to sustain a major financial shock without harrowing costs to the state and the average pony.

And the food...

On top of all that, there were even rumors from the Crystal Empire about a possible return of Sombra, as if things weren’t already the opposite of peachy.

No rest for the wicked, huh?

Twilight could only think about Flurry Heart, Shining Armor, and Cadance. She’ll have to write a letter to her brother soon to ask him about the situation in the Crystal Empire.

Suddenly, before the next speaker could gather all their things together, another pony raised his hoof. He was a greying, mild-mannered gentle-stallion, almost blending into the rest of the table before he grabbed everyone’s attention.

Raven Inkwell gave the go ahead, and the old stallion proceeded.

“If I may, what exactly is the possibility that we would have to deter changeling aggression through violent and threatening means? Could a large-scale border war really happen? If we are wrong, and the changelings do not decide to actually dominate the whole of Olenia, what would we have achieved in such provocations in far-away Acornage that would not be a net loss for our political position with the western polities?”

As if to punctuate his little speech, the old pony paused for a second before he said, “In other words, is our position final? Is open conflict possibly on the horizon?” A brief silence swept the room as the old pony finished his inquiry, multiple figures visibly musing his words.

However, before anypony could reply, Celestia spoke up, and all eyes immediately shot towards her direction as she did so.

“Sir, and I ask that you forgive me, but at this stage of the matter at hoof, I believe we are now well beyond the question of a border conflict in ‘far-away’ Acornage. Or for that matter, the rest of western Equestria and Crystallia.” Celestia paused, everypony waiting for her to continue.

“Your concerns about the uncertainties are valid, very much so. But as we weigh the present facts, the calculation is becoming clearer, clearer than they ever were just a year ago since the Dotted Line report came out.” The princess held herself still, seemingly undisturbed in her seat.  “And so, as for your last question, sir..."

Not a single soul in the room moved.

“Yes.”

Twilight stared at Celestia. She stared at her for a while.

(Barony of Angriver path) have som picruees. (PS changelings made me make airfoces.)

I think these two

I'm not talking about Zargey either, since her "communist" affiliations are a bait n switch to her true corporotocratic/sellout nature, which admittedly, WAS a pretty unexpected twist, but leaves out a problem related to the anti-revisionist/marksist coup path which is just a flavorless short tree where the last focus is a (again, admittedly funny) meme that takes 1818 days to complete. I was really hoping there would be a full communist tree with actual content and not the current one which feels more like a failstate than anything else, specially how the story until them really hyped the idea of a "Ragtag Band of Slaves trying to implement communist theory in a backwards feudal country" and them pretty much abandoned the concept as soon as Zonni gets overthrow.

On an unusually cold autumn morning in 1010, General Applejack's voice crackled over the radio static with a solemn order: not one step back. Steel Crunch huddled closer to the radio perched atop their light tank. He was the youngest of the crew, so young his flank was still blank, but it worked out fine, for the cramped confines of their Muletilda meant being small had it's advantages. Such were the needs of wartime- though he heard his commander sometimes ashamedly mutter something about scraping the barrel. He glanced at the older mare, who was listening intently to the radio. She gritted her teeth, and ordered them all inside. They scrambled in and shut the hatch, the engine roaring to life. Crunch was their gunner, and at the commander's gesture, he loaded a shell.

They were several miles outside Mead Resort, in the rolling foothills of the unicorn mountains. They were all alone out here, the forty-second armored division stretched thin across the rural wilderness. Their tank thundered across the alpine meadow, making for the cover of the tree line. But they were never going to make it.

Their driver gasped as he spotted a pair of panzer III's emerge from the bushes. The recon-pegasi had underestimated the speed at which the incoming armored line was approaching- they were already here. Crunch gripped the controls and twisted the gun around even as the driver took a hard left, desperate to put distance between them and the enemy. Crunch knew in a moment they were outmatched as well as outnumbered, their muletilda was several years behind the metal monstrosities bearing down on them. One fired, a tank shell whizzing overtop their heads as it went wide. He steeled his nerves and took aim, answering the attack with the roar of their own cannon. Their only hope was to ground the panzers where they sat, and hope their light tank could outrun any reinforcements. His shell flew true, smashing into the left treads of the nearest panzer and instantly tracking it where it lay. No time for celebrations, though, he scrambled for the next shell, leaning down to pick it up.

A terrifying boom blew their eardrums out as white flashed across their vision; the second panzer, still advancing, had much better aim than the first. The whole of their tank shook- the shell had blown clean through their turret, passing through the commander on it's way to nail the engine in the back. When the world stopped spinning, Crunch found himself gripping the second shell like a teddy-bear, smeared in some sort of liquid. He glanced over to find the commander headless beside him, flames licking at her torso. The driver rolled over, yelling something crunch could not hear, his eyes wide in desperation. Crunch watched as he threw what was left of the hatch open, scrambling out of the metal coffin, but he would not get far. Light machine gun fire tore through him the moment he peaked his head out, the stallion's corpse tumbling down beside their beloved muletilda.

Crunch blinked, finally getting up. He hurriedly pushed the shells away from the slowly encroaching flames, ignoring the choking smoke as he rushed to see what was left of their cannon. He gripped the controls- stuck. The turret would not turn. He looked through the cracked targeting reticule, knocked out of alignment, and in the corner, he could see the second panzer approaching, almost cautiously, as though inspecting the smoke billowing out of his tank. It appeared worse than it was. Crunch slid the shell into the cannon to find the gun miraculously intact. He re-checked the reticule to find it hopelessly off-target. A quick peek through the hole in the turret let him know where his gun was aiming. He was going to have to eyeball this one.

The panzer drove forward, almost lazily, slowly entering Crunch's firing line. Flames licked at Crunch's' flank, his oversized uniform starting to smolder, but he did not move, hoof on the firing pin. This panzer III was a newer model, but he knew just where the fuel tank was on the II's, and by the grace of Celestia, the vertical angle was not far off. He gripped the gun, forcibly pushing it down, gears squealing in protest as adrenaline flooded his system. By Celestia's light, he just needed a few extra inches of depression, if only she would grant him that, if only she would bless him with the strength to push the gun into place-- the gun clanked, gears breaking, and he slammed his hoof onto the firing pin. His cannon roared in mighty defiance, the shell finding the chink in the armor he'd been aiming for.

The panzer detonated in a terrible conflagration, the turret popping clean off. Crunch's hooves were shaking as he watched burning changeling forms tumbling out of the tank only to collapse into stillness, the scent of burned flesh finally hitting his nose. Whether it was the enemy, or his commander, he did not know. A small burst of light flashed on his flank- the emblem of the forty-second armored division.

As a side note, I was too lazy to check if muletildas were armed with cannons or heavy machine guns.... so there might be a slight anachronism here. But uh, yeah. Art by u/caterpillarcult

I’ve dumped about ~100 hours into this mod and I love it whenever I play HOI4 it’s never the base game and pretty much always this mod however,99.9% of runs I have done are equestria as iam biased towards them and whenever I try different countries I either don’t know what to pick cba or whatever the reason may be.
Does anyone know any good countries apart from the o code neighbours of equestria such as changlings,griffonia etc a

So I’ve been working on a rough draft for a story I’ve been wanting to write since early 26 for an island in the sea of time style story (faction or country getting transported back in time or into another world) and the Escalation ‘84 story told by Seaners on YouTube have me the perfect idea on how to do its

Instead of just the late Cold War powers limping out of the hellhole that earth had become due to the third world war onto Faust (in just gonna use that for the name of the planet) why not have other powers transported to the planet for other reasons?

(It’s basically a rimworld crossover so be aware)
That’s where the Confederation of Arkadia comes in. The universe Arkadia is from basically uses rimworld lore as its foundation that adds on extra stuff to it but to make a long story short

Arkadia is a small council communist confederation from the Planet Boise of about five to six settlements on the rimworld of Boise at the dawn of the 3rd millennium in 2986. Arkadia’s technological base is a mix of late 20th century and early 21st century technology. 1980s-2020s, but more well adapted to surviving in a foreign environment due to a mix of their frontier/communist culture and ideology, along with all of their infrastructure being transported alongside them, instead of just traveling through portals.

The confederation gets transported via a ring of fire style event similar to 1632, but instead of some alien artist, it’s due to a piece of archotechnology found in an expedition that had been activated that sent them through time and space. And unlike the Cold War powers, the Confederation was much more “cosmopolitan” in a species sense, due to having many more different species of human living within it than the 20th century Soviets and Americans, in their timeline humanity having diverged and become its own tree in terms of size on the hominid family tree. They even happened to have a few non human species already, having a small amount of uplifted apes.

And other than their main tech base, the Arkadians have: a Gravhulk, the ACN luxemburg, allowing for limited space travel (to the moons, orbit, and around the planet and that’s about it. It’s not a weapons platform) intranet, (local internet between the settlements) the ability to produce mechanoids (but not at an industrial scale) very limited ultra-tech technology, such as the one former stellic defender from the empire that still has his cataphract armor, a supply of glitterworld medicine (basically futuristic medicine) locked up tight and rarely used since even before transportation they rarely had access to this sort of technology, only getting it from merchant ships up in orbit, more advanced tech used by only special unit. But most of their technology is still just 20th-21st century.

Oh, and they happen to have a gold vein within their territory that they slowly mine just for electronics, rarely using it for currency. And another thing, they also have a very small supply of Psycasters, (fancy way of saying magic users) not enough for a specific unit military wise, but potentially one man armies depending on what “psycasts” they know

Infantry wise while they have other units I don’t have the time to mention, their main infantry and mechanized aren’t proper “soldiers” compared to the Soviets and Americans, or the local griffins, at least aesthetic wise.

They’re militamen, wearing civilian clothing with tactical or bullet proof vests, knee protection, sometimes having Kevlar helmets, etc with their main service weapon being a model of AKM designed for the frontier. A perfect mix of high quality and mass produced.

But I don’t know where to put them if I’m gonna be honest. Does anyone have any advice on where to put them? I’m mostly set on Griffonia. But don’t know WHERE on Griffonia to put them

What do you guys say