Gryphian Host



For centuries, the Cossacks of the Gryphian Host have plied the plains of the Evya River basin - farming, flying, fighting, and looting to make their living. Once an ancient border march of the Griffonian Empire, they have become famous as the terror of Riverponies and a protector of Griffons - though they have occasionally "slipped" and stolen from their charges. Now, in 1007, the Host faces rapidly dwindling coffers. A raid must be launched to make up for this deficit - but the world is far more dangerous than it used to be. Communists agitate in the countryside, and secret societies meet in the shadows. Many begin to doubt if the ancient Hetman Calus Bulba will even survive the next raid - if it were to go wrong, chaos would ensue.

Lore
Originally known as the Kingdom of Zaphzia, the nation was formed in a violent rebellion against the Principality of Lake City who had subjugated the tribes a few centuries before. The proud griffons of Zaphzia lived as their ancestors had, launching daring raids against neighboring countries, and this was their primary way of securing wealth for themselves. Once Grover I of the Griffonian Empire conquered Zaphzia in his vast unification campaign, an oath was sworn and the Zaphans would change their nation's name to Gryphian Host, becoming an Imperial border march against the riverponies. Over time, they became known as the terror of riverponies and the protectors of Griffonkind.

Now many years later, having declared independence when the Empire fell, the nation is in turmoil. Hetman Calas Bulba, leader of the Gryphian host for the last forty years and the griffon responsible for the relative stability of the nation, is growing old. At the same time, the nation's coffers are rapidly dwindling and this, along with the ancient semi-feudal system which forces the common griffon to be tied to their lord's lands, has made the peasant population increasingly agitated. Many join the Communist Revolutionaries, supposedly funded by the communist rebels in Prywhen. Meanwhile, there are talks of succession among the griffons in Rada, with two potential candidates: Borad Grifnitsky, a charismatic leader and an advocate for democratic and social reforms, and Yeven Krawevelets, Hetman's grandnephew, a noble backed by wealthy landowners who believes in tradition and strong centralised authority. He is an opponent one should not underestimate.

With a looming crisis at claw, it is becoming increasingly clear that a raid must be done. Though if the upcoming raid were to fail, the revolutionaries would be in a very favourable position to seize power.

Starting Situation
The Gryphian Host starts in a very poor situation. As the stubborn griffons have held too strongly to their traditions, with no attempts at industrialisation and with the ancient semi-feudal system still in place, most of the nation's economy is centered around agrarian production and most of the population are serfs under their noble lords. This, combined with your rapidly mobilising neighbors, and your poor industry and science base, will make surviving a struggle as your neighbors might attempt an invasion.

Gryphian Host starts with 8 under-equipped regular infantry divisions, using a total of 48K griffonpower and having a reserve of 26K griffonpower.

Threats and Opportunities
Griffon Liberation Army / Kingdom of Brodfeld - Your unstable neighbor will start the game in a civil war, and you can have some say in what happens to either side. You have the possibility of raiding either Prywhen or Brodfeld, giving them a national spirit which has some negative debuffs. There are also events regarding both of these nations, such as providing griffonpower or equipment to either side. You will later have focuses to attack or ally either one once the civil war has ended, depending on your chosen path. Should the communists win, you will have a short tree which gives special bonuses before beginning an invasion. Prywhen will also have focuses to either invade you or support remaining socialists in your country, which starts a communist uprising.

Principality of Lushi - Lushi is a small nation to your west, with a weaker army and less industry and many negative debuffs at the start of the game. They are ideal targets for early conquest. You also have the option to ally them, depending on your chosen path. Supremacy Lushi will also have war goal justification - reduction and a focus to integrate your lands, though they are very unlikely to invade you.

Lake City -  Your primary threat, as they have more ponypower, a big army, big industrial base and allies at the game start. They will often choose to attack you through the focus Stabilizing the South. Lake City will always take this focus if under Westerly's Supremacy regime, and under Wavebreaker if the focus Intervening Within Griffons Affairs has been selected. Should they attack you, they might also bring the coalition to the war as well, making the war extremely hard to win without allies. You will have your own focuses to invade Lake City, with the harmonist path requiring them to have either a Supremacy or a Communist government, and with the Supremacy path being able to invade no matter what. The Communist path will also have an option to declare war on the Kingdom of Wittenland, and depending if they are in the coalition or not, they might invite Lake City to the war as well.

Free Towns of Gryphus - Gryphus is a minor nation south of you, who have a smaller army and as such will generally be an easy target for conquest. You will be able to invade or ally with them through your focuses, depending on your chosen path. Gryphus has a lot of coastline, so should you wish to expand your navy, they are a good target to kick-start your naval expansion. Most of their focus paths will not result in Gryphia being threatened by them.

Wingbardy - If both you and Wingbardy are Supremacist and you have selected the Zaphia Pererodjuetsya! focus, you will have the option of requesting an alliance with them. It will not only significantly boost your chances of surviving but will also allow access to the faction's research, possibly allowing you to catch up in technology faster than you normally would.

Gameplay Mechanics

 * Much like raiders of Sunstriker Clan, Gryphian Host can raid its current neighbors for different kinds of loot, like equipment. Both sides of the skirmish will have a maximum of 6 troops engage on their borders, and the Host will receive rewards if they win it. Note that since the Cossacks are known as the Protectors of Griffonkind, they will only be able to raid Riverland nations, which are  Lake City and  Kingdom of Wittenland at the start of the game.


 * Once the Economy tree becomes available, Host will have the option between picking the Focus Physiocracy, which focuses towards agrarian products, or picking Rapid Industrialisation, which focuses in Construction speed and rapidly improving the nation. Depending on which path is taken, the Host will receive more or fewer factories from their chosen political tree.

National Focus
As the raid draws near, the nation's fate will be decided.

The Raid Succeeds
The Supremacy Path - Support Yeven Krawvelets 

The Rada has elected Yeven as the rightful heir to the throne. Disgusted by this decision, the harmonists will attempt to raise an insurrection, but the following 6 focuses will cement Yeven's rule.

After his rule is secured, Yeven will be left with a choice.

Restoring the Kingdom of Zaphzia and crowning himself as the king, after which he will proceed to reward the peasants while stripping away the nobles' power. The main bonus of this path is the increased factory output and construction speed as well as the ability to ally Wingbardy, should they have chosen the Supremacy path as well. This path will also reward you with civilian factories and give you a new cosmetic tag and flag.

The other option is to maintain the Hetmanate, although in a form more convenient for your party. This is done to please and empower the nobles. The main bonuses of this path are the large bonuses to recruitable population and 15% more war support. This path will also reward you with military factories.

No matter what path he chooses, he will then proceed to unite the various tribes in the country.

After this, the options for expansion will become available. Potential targets are Kingdom of Brodfeld,  Principality of Lushi and  Free Towns of Gryphus. You will get focuses to integrate Gryphus and Lushi. Lastly, you will have the option to attack Lake City, which may drag into war the rest of the River Coalition.

The Harmonist Path - Support for Borad Grifnitsky

The Rada has elected Borad as the new Hetman, who now has the chance to put forth the reforms he has promised to the people. Borad's path has two options:

The Black Cloaks will not attempt an open coup, which will result in some harmonist reforms, but overall the nobles will not approve of the more radical ones, leaving Borad to attempt a compromise where a more benevolent, harmonist monarchy is created. You will get a new cosmetic tag and a flag.

The other option will have Black Coats attempting an open coup, but Borad will manage to convince them to stand down. With his new authority, he will reform the nation into a proper harmonist republic.

Borad will then start his various reforms, such as granting representation to the tribes and giving concessions to the communists by enacting some of their social reforms to better the quality of life for the common griffon. Borad will also attempt to give land from the nobles to the commonfolk. He will then have to search for a compromise with nobles, since they are still influential and powerful. He will also attempt to put forth his bureaucratic reforms to rid it of corruption and ineffectiveness.

Now starts the nation's foreign policy. Borad will have several options.

First is the path of neutrality. The main bonus of this is the "Defend the Homeland" national spirit, which will give an excellent 10% attack and defense on core territory, as well as 4% recruitable population. Other bonuses are 10% stability and 15% division recovery rate.

The second path is joining the River Coalition. This will usually only be accepted if Nimbusia is Harmonist along with the  Kingdom of Wittenland and that  Lake City elected Wavebreaker as their Grand Mayor in 1007. The main bonuses of this path are the 15% construction speed, as well as buffs to your divisions' attack/defense and additional command power.

The last path is forming your own Faction, which will allow you to invite in Gryphus and Lushi. You will also have the option between inviting Griffon Liberation Army into your alliance or getting a puppet war goal on them. You will also get puppet war goals on Lake City and  Wingbardy.

The Raid Fails
The Communist path - Young Socialist Coup

As the nobles are squabbling and blaming each other for the lack of loot, the Socialists will seize power from the Rada, promising radical reforms and the nation's transformation into a socialist utopia. First, the socialists will invite Khurshevich and his communist GSDLR into the government, to better organize elections for the state. They will also have decisions to unite the various tribes. They will then attempt to seize nobles' property and put forth land reforms. After these focuses have been taken, the Kaiv Commune will be proclaimed.

Now, they will have the ability to join Griffon Liberation Army and to either rehabilitate or purge the reactionary generals. This will either give you race-specific technology boosts or a national spirit, which provides some general buffs for your armed forces. You will also get more military and civilian factories, depending on the stance you took towards industrialisation.

Finally, the commune will choose their foreign policy. They will either follow the lead of Prywhen, which will help you get rid of Mass illiteracy faster, give some bonuses to land doctrine and political power. The other option is to take matters into your own claws. This will give you some war goals on your neighbors, as well as the option to attack the River Coalition.

Non-aligned path - Counter-revolution                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              [[File:2018-12-16 (27).png|thumb|190x190px|

Non-aligned focus tree]]

Should the communists have seized power, then picked the focus "Seize noble property" but not have completed the land reforms in time,the counter-revolutionaries will start a civil war to dispose of the socialist government and restore the Hetmanate. They will get a few short focuses giving them additional units, ponypower, and equipment, which will help them in the civil war. Winning the war will grant additional 15% stability.

Once the war has been won, it will be their task to rebuild the nation. This includes getting the support of nobles, rewarding loyal tribes and removing the remaining communists and the Black Cloaks. You will be able to either remain with the absolutist rule of the Rada, or implement some of the harmonic policies, so that the common griff will have more say in the government. At the end, you will have a choice between asking to become the Griffonian Empire's border march, remaining neutral or forming your own faction with  Principality of Lushi,  Free Towns of Gryphus and  Kingdom of Brodfeld if they exist.

Political paths - Comparison table
Since some mutually-exclusive branches of the political trees offer different bonuses, to tell which branch is being mentioned is indicated by L (Left) or R (Right). Since the Harmonist and the Non-aligned trees have another mutually exclusive choice later down the tree, these will be indicated by LL (Lower Left), LC (Lower Center) and LR (Lower Right).

Industrial path
The industrial path is split between two paths: Physiocracy, which focuses on agrarian products and gives bonuses to recruitable and monthly population. The other path is rapid industrialisation, which gives construction speed. Depending on which path you choose, you will get different amounts of civilian and military factories from certain focuses. Later on in the tree, you will be able to modernize both your science and industrial base.

Army
The path of your armed forces is divided between three doctrines: Grand Battleplan, with research bonuses to engineers and mountaineers, Mass Assault, which gives additional griffonpower and research bonuses for field hospitals, and lastly, Superior Firepower which provides research bonuses to support artillery and reconnaissance companies. Later on you will get bonuses depending on which path you have chosen.

Navy
Naval path is split between Fleet in Being and Trade interdiction, each giving research bonuses to either cruisers or submarines respectively. At the end they will get a research bonus to marines. Note that this path is only available if you have coastal states.

Air
Air warfare tree is unique in that unlikely many other trees, it only gives two research bonuses to air doctrines, but gives various research bonuses to different aircraft models, Radar and airborne technologies. At the end of the tree you will unlock kamikaze missions.

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