Lake City



The Republic of Lake City has stood vigilant for hundreds of years against the great Griffon hordes, and the brave, fearless ponies are prepared to stand brave and tall for hundreds more. It is known as the first point of contact of Ponies and Griffons, and stands as a prosperous republic with strong, powerful merchant guilds that keep money flowing into industries. With the nations of the Griffking river basin and the lands of Southern Griffonia falling into chaos and disorder, it is Lake City's time to strike and begin a Second Golden Age, reclaiming the glory of Blessed Sword himself, and perhaps even uniting the Riverlands.

Their military is incredibly influential and has a strong hold on politics, even assassinating the previous president of the Republic. Any Harmonists must deal with the power of the military, or risk suffering a coup. The nation's fanatic militarism must be solved, either by encouraging it or discouraging it, and the army's influence must be either curtailed or strengthened.

Their economy is in shambles due to the Griffonian depression, and monopolistic guilds control the majority of the nation's wealth. A player who wants to send Lake City into the 11th century must deal with the problems of poverty and incomplete industrialisation.

Empire of the Lake
In 66 BLB, Grand Prince Blessed Sword faced Strategos Adynatos of  Nimbusia in the Battle of Chaeroneigh and defeated him. The last obstacle to Lake City's domination of the Riverlands was gone and its hegemony began. It would last for centuries and would later be considered the Golden Age of Lake City's long history. Even the Gryphian Host in the south had been subjugated.

However, all good things must come to an end. In 353 ALB the Zaphzans rose up, tired of wearing the pony yoke on their necks. Soon enough unrest spread as the East hungered for freedom. To make things worse, the Princely Civil War began. Lake City stood no chance and was defeated. The Zaphzan griffons founded the Kingdom of Zaphzia, River Republic formed its own Principality and all other subject nations in the Riverlands broke free.

Sacking of Jezeragrad and Subsequent Rise of the Republic
In 752, the capital of Lake City, Jezeragrad, was sacked by the Griffonian Empire, and in the following turmoil, Grand Prince Frail Spear was forced to abdicate the throne. Later in 752, the Guilds launched a coup, establishing a democratic republic with considerable merchant and military influence. In 898, following an attack from the Empire, Lake City signed the Treaty of Coltstream, being one of the founding members of the River Coalition.

Factions and Characters
Social Democratic Party (Harmonist) - The SDP is a party based on the liberalization of the economy, increased social spending for ponies in need, and the continuation of a strong, stable, equine democracy. Their goals include the socialization of healthcare, the empowering of Lake City's powerful merchant guilds, and the right for unionization and fair working rights. However, the SDP is also against the military that has held the Republic of Lake City under its thumb for the past decades. They advocate for the slashing of the military budget to ensure poverty is dealt with. Because of their advocation for democracy and their hostility towards military spending, they have become enemies of the military and if they come to power, they must watch out for a military coup. The SDP has rallied behind two major ponies - while they support Wavebreaker 's candidacy against Westerly Leeward, the environmentalist and activist Deirdre Skye represents the true beliefs and goals of the SDP.

Constitutional Democratic Party (Non-Aligned) - The CDP has stood triumphant for years, coming to power on the back of a military coup that exalted Springtime Frost, CDP leader, to the highest office in the nation. The CDP's policies include continued support for the Lake City Army, the guilds, and the military-industrial complex. They are a status-quo party, a party that will safeguard the republic's stability, but will not necessarily introduce any major reforms. In addition, they are fiercely anti-griffon, advocating for a massive fortification plan that will see bunkers built all across Lake City's hostile borders. They support the independent candidate Wavebreaker against Westerly Leeward for the 1007 elections.

Republican Vanguards (Supremacy) - Westerly Leeward, the xenophobic, militaristic pony, is a sworn enemy to all Griffonkind, and his party plans for massive overhauls of the pony society. Though it is more of a militant group than a party, and shows no love for Lake City's stable democracy, instead preferring a highly militarized republic controlled by the Republican Vanguards and without the influence of the traitorous SDP and the decadent guilds.

Princely Restoration Faction (Supremacy) - The Princely Restoration faction seeks a return to the old regime of Lake City, the Grand Principality that once ruled over all of the Riverlands. While it appeals to the common people's militarism and anti-Griffon sentiment, the faction has little support from the people - and its only support in the military comes from Wild Tree, a prominent general in the Lake City army. The faction proposes a traditionalist, powerful monarchy, and some figures within the group even support leaving the River Coalition and uniting the entire continent under a Holy Pony Empire.

Relations to Griffonkind
The nation of Lake City is known by the world as "the first point of contact between the Ponies and Griffons of Eastern Griffonia", leading to the nation being the frequent victim of consistent Griffon raids. This long history of brutalization has instilled the ponies of Lake City with militarism, passion, and pride in holding back "the hordes of Griffonkind", and created a largely anti-Griffon environment in the nation.

The Lake City Army
While the LCA is relatively new in its formation, it has proven a worthy adversary to the Griffon raiders of the Gryphian Host and other neighboring Griffon nations. But over the last few decades, the LCA has grown more and more influential in Lake City society, and militarism has skyrocketed. LCA troops are present in every aspect of civilian life, and they are seen as the defenders of the republic, although they often interfere in the politics of Lake City. The military's interference with the Lake City political system is downright undemocratic, and the LCA is notorious for using violence to achieve their goals, even assassinating the previous President to install Springtime Frost, a conservative military puppet.

The Guilds and the Economy
Due to Lake City's undeveloped industrial base and the Griffonian depression which has ravaged all of the continent for decades, poverty has spread rapidly, and Lake City has been forced to call upon the heavily monopolistic guilds to bail its economy out. The Guilds now have a stranglehold upon much of the nation's resources and considerable influence upon the government like the military. Both princely factions and militarists condemn the Guilds for working against the interests of common ponies, but both the CDP and SDP support the Guilds and actively further their interests. This is because the Guilds continue to support the interests of the CDP and especially the SDP, who promise to offer the guilds additional resource charters to ensure their continued support for the political party.

Starting Situation
Lake City's close proximity to both the Ordensstaat Hellquill, the  Gryphian Host, and the  Principality of Lushi allows it to pursue expansionist policies into Griffon territory and obtain a significant industrial advantage over its opponents in the River Coalition. However, expansion into Griffon territory may result in loss of critical focuses that could have been used to one-up Lake City's opponents in the Race for the River Federation or could result in expulsion from the River Coalition all together.

Military
Lake City starts out with a weaker military of 6 Onhooves Divisions, contrived of 6 infantry brigades, 1 support artillery brigade, and 1 engineer company, and 1 Pegasus Division, contrived of 6 pegasi brigade and 1 recon company.

The army has full manpower but starts with a deficit in artillery, support equipment, and infantry equipment. As such, their divisions are only 60% equipped.

Threats and Opportunities
Lake City has no major threats at the beginning of the game other than the occasional raid from the southern Griffons, and Lake City's griffon enemies such as Hellquill and the Gryphian Host will only achieve war goals later into the game. Because of this, it is easy to build up industry and focus on the Race for the River Federation, making Lake City a nation with two major strategies - attack Griffonian enemies and then move on to attack the River Coalition, or focus purely on the Race for the River Federation. These strategies will be suited to different ideologies - both non-aligned and Supremacy paths are more successful at expansion than the harmonic path.

Strategy #1 - Race for the River Federation (Every Ideology)
Because of Lake City's absence of major threats at the start of the game, the Race for the River Federation is a key strategy for a non-princely Lake City. The only ideology that cannot do this is a Co-Prosperity Sphere Princely Faction, who will break away from the River Coalition in favor of its own goals. This path is a simple one, focusing entirely on rushing down the River Coalition's shared tree to become a powerhouse of the East.

This path works better as Non-Aligned or Supremacy however, because of the war goals against the Griffons that you can pursue after you have united the Federation, but if you want to play Harmonic, this is the only viable path to secure Lake City's dominance.

Strategy #2 - Expansionism (Every Ideology except Harmonic)
Lake City's focus tree allows for a variety of war goals against Griffon nations such as the Gryphian Host, Lushi, Longsword, Hellquill, and numerous others, allowing for the nation to expand its borders into these conquered lands. With industry and manpower from these lands, they will be able to build up a sizable army to challenge the rest of the River Coalition and even the Griffonian Empire.

This strategy is best done as the Prince, however, because of his ability to puppet Deponya, but it can be done as any ideology as long as they have the ability to obtain war goals against major Griffon nations. Some ideologies may even get war goals against Prywhen, allowing them to secure a massive amount of land if Prywhen has expanded before they take the focus to destroy them.

Political Tree
There are four major paths in the political tree. Princely Restoration, Unify with the Military, Placate the Military, and Curtail the Military. The political path the player goes down is determined by the outcomes of a restorationist coup by radical elements of the military, which occurs on February 4, 1007.

The player can choose the outcome of the coup, which determines the political path the player goes down.


 * The coup succeeds: Princely Restoration.
 * Westerly's vanguards crush the coup: The player will have another choice on whether or not mayor Springtime Frost died during the coup.
 * The mayor has survived, and Westerly demobilizes his forces: Triggers Election of 1007 event (see below).
 * The mayor has died, and Westerly assumes "temporary" mayoral powers: Unify with the Military.
 * The rest of the military crushes the coup: Triggers Election of 1007 event (see below).

In the Election of 1007 event, the player can choose to elect Wavebreaker or Westerly Leeward:
 * Wavebreaker: Choice between Placate the Military or Curtail the Military.
 * Westerly Leeward: Unify with the Military.

Princely Restoration (Supremacy)
Princely Restoration will restore the Grand Principality of Lake City and create a new expansionist imperial regime. This path has opportunities to puppet Deponya, to leave the River Coalition and create the East-Griffonian Co-Prosperity Sphere with a Supremacy Diamond Mountain and other nations, to march into the River Republic and declare the creation of the River Empire, invade the Griffon-Riverlands frontier, and finally conquer Herzland to take revenge for 752 and establish the Holy Pony Empire. It is perhaps the most fun path for a player, because of its variety of war goals against the River Federation and Griffonian Empire. However, it does not get war goals on nations such as the Gryphian Host and the Principality of Lushi like other paths do.

Unify with the Military (Supremacy)
Unify with the Military will create a Supremacy government under Westerly Leeward, leader of the Vanguards. Leeward will expand into Griffonia in the name of security, with the possibility to attack Hellquill, Longsword, Lushi, the Gryphian Host, Prywhen, and possibly even the Griffonian Empire. This allows the country to become incredibly powerful in the early game by picking off weak Griffon nations. However, you will get kicked out of the River Coalition if you expand too heavily, so be wary. This path will give great bonuses to the military and will end the problem of the guilds by nationalizing them into the state.

Placate the Military (Non-Aligned)
Placate the Military sees Wavebreaker appease the military and maintain the status quo of the Lake City's flawed democracy. Wavebreaker can, if he desires, pursue the same interventionist actions to the west and the south like Westerly, but he can also pursue a defensive policy. This path will encourage militarism but will encourage the guilds for their support of the military-puppet democracy. This path will receive election events, but the only candidate will be Wavebreaker, who will be elected either with a narrow majority, or with 110% of the vote.

Curtail the Military (Harmony)
Curtail the Military will create a free, prosperous, and harmonic society - if you can make sure that is it not overthrown by the military. A player who goes down this path will have to take decisions to reduce the risk of military unrest before taking the first focus to avoid a coup by Westerly Leeward. Should Wavebreaker successfully establish a democratic government, he will pursue real elections. These elections will be held between Wavebreaker and Dierdre Skye, an activist and environmentalist. They will quash militarism and pursue a more civilian-focused economy.

The Red Talons focus grants the possibility to form an anti-communist defensive alliance with non-communist Griffon nations in the Evi Valley and a possible puppet war goal on the Griffon Liberation Army. Aside from this however, this path provides no expansion opportunity. As such, the path is suitable for racing for the River Coalition and securing an independent River Federation.

Political Paths - Comparison table
Below are listed the various bonuses received from each political path. Note that since some bonuses might be received from a mutually exclusive choice, those will be marked with L (Left) or R (Right).

Staff and Designers
Political Advisors

Tank Designer

Ship Designer

Aircraft Designer

Materiel Designer

Industrial Concern

Theorist

Chief of Army

Chief of Navy

Chief of Airforce

Military High Command