Nimbusia



Since ancient times, Nimbusia has been a democracy ruled by a pegasus warrior class. These stalwart ponies are some of the best-trained soldiers in Griffonia, but require a large class of indentured labourers (helots) to produce for them. The democratic nation has reached a turbulent time. Split between those who seek reform, those who want to abolish democracy, and those who defend tradition. A smart and well-spoken politician will be able to take advantage of the situation to win over the hearts of the Nimbusians.

Origins
The mountainous coastline which marks the eastern boundary of the River Coalition harbours little room for pony settlement. The many myths and legends which surround the founding of Nimbusia’s first cities tell the same narrative of how the area got settled.

Ponies that came to the Riverlands from the north were divided by their tribe; earth pony, pegasus or unicorn. The rugged mountains of Nimbusia were left for the pegasi guardians of the expedition, as they would be easily able to settle the area which was hard to traverse on hoof. Only later did the other tribes make their way into Nimbusia, but this initial divide has left its mark on Nimbusian society today. Initially many disconnected cities, or poleis, dotted the country, but the ponies from Nimbusi, the largest polis, managed to subjugate the other cities with their disciplined pegasi army. Combining discipline instilled from youth and an almost complete lack of ground units, the Nimbusian army has been the marvel of East Griffonia ever since.

Nimbusia has remained independent and aloof since its early days, only falling once, after the Nimbusian army led by Strategos Adynatos lost the Battle of Chaeroneigh to Grand Prince Blessed Sword in 66 BLB of Lake City, becoming part of his Riverlands empire - the Greater Principality of Eastern Ponies. It would be a part of this empire until the Empire collapsed with infighting in 147ALB, regaining its independence.

Direct Democracy
Nimbusia, unlike other Republics, is a Direct Democracy, in which the citizenry directly vote on issues, instead of representatives. It is made up of 2 separate bodies, the Boule and the Ecclesia. The Boule is the governing council made up of 500 citizens randomly selected each year from a pool of candidates chosen by each of the 10 tribes. The Boule is a place for debate and while it has some legislative powers, it is the Ecclesia, made up off all the citizens that votes on and determines if certain laws and proposals are passed.

The Caste System
Nimbusian society is divided into three rigid castes. The Citizens, composed almost exclusively of pegasi who have undertaken the Agoge and passed the Trials of the Cyclone, posses all the political power and are required to serve in the military. The non-citizen perioikoi, who, while they are not being represented in the political system are free citizens, mostly serving as merchants, artisans and bureaucrats for the martial pegasi. The serf Helots forms the backbone of Nimbusian agriculture. These Helots are mostly from conquered cities, the defeat of their ancestors still haunting them today. While they are not treated as badly as chattel slaves in some other nations, they have no real rights and freedoms and are the property of the state or citizens. They, and the non-citizen perioikoi class stuck in the middle, were needed to sustain the martial lifestyle of the citizen-warrior class at the top.

Protector of the Riverponies
In the modern day, the citizens of Nimbusi see themselves as protectors of not only the helots, but also of all the Riverponies. This is in many ways true as Nimbusia played decisive roles in safeguarding the Riverponies numerous times.
 * In the 559 ALB Battle of Mareathon the invading forces of the Katerin Principality would be defeated by Nimbusian armies led by Strategos Manetiades. This victory would drive griffons out of the Riverlands for a decade.


 * In 569 ALB a group of 300 Nimbusians lead by Strategos Leoneighdas held off a huge army of Griffons for 3 days, long enough for the Riverponies to evacuate to the eastern mountains. Leoneighdas died in the battle. This would be known as The Battle of Thermoponylae and is a huge source of pride for Nimbusia.


 * Mere days after Grover I's death in 785 ALB Nimbusia invaded the Gryphian Host. However this attack would be repulsed by the Griffonian Empire.


 * Grover II's crusade against the Riverponies culminated in 854 ALB, when Grover II's armies occupied Lake City. The Nimbusians drove them back, killing Grover II and ending the Griffon Crusades.

After repeated attacks by the Empire on the Riverlands, Nimbusia would sign the Treaty of Coltstream in 898 ALB as part of its duty to protect the Riverponies. However, time has not stood still outside the mountains of Nimbusia and the Oracle at Prancetras has predicted a turbulent time.

Present Struggles
Political strife has almost completely stalled all politics in the ancient democracy. Three factions are vying for power.

The traditionalists seek to uphold the status quo of Nimbusian society. If they want any change at all, they want it to be built on the past and be gradual. They see Nimbusia’s ancient traditions and values as the cornerstone of the state. Seeking to have the state run by ancient virtues such as justice and bravery. They have rallied behind Pegalaios, an old veteran, both of politics and war.

The reformists have taken inspiration from their allies in the River Coalition. They seek to modernise the economy, to emancipate the perioikoi class into the citizenry and to cooperate more closely with Nimbusia’s neighbours. Uniquely, this faction is led by Metakeros, a well-respected unicorn who served in the army and gained citizenship. Lastly, a coalition of young officers and soldiers, who call themselves the purists, has formed around Andreia, a young general in the army. These soldiers have had enough of the bickering of Nimbusian democracy and seek to centralise power under the military. However, they are criticised for their complete disdain of foreigners and civilians, especially of the non-pegasus variety.

It remains to be seen which faction manages to convince the citizens of Nimbusia. The pegasi of Nimbusia are weary of anypony garnering too much popularity and every politician is taught about what happened to those with hubris, who thought they had the crowd on their hand, the Nimbusians ostracised them. Whoever wins the political battle, however, will find perhaps the most fearsome forces of ponies on the continent at their command...

Starting Situation
Nimbusia uniquely starts out as a nation already prepared for war due to its laws. Unlike many other nations it begins the game on extensive conscription and early mobilization. Nimbusia was the protectors of the riverponies in the past and that still stands true today. There are no direct threats to Nimbusia so it is free to send troops to protect the other river nations. Its army is powerful due to the various national spirits.

However many other aspects of Nimbusia suffer due to its focus on the military and the class system. Not to mention the outdated industry and science base. Nimbusia has a long way to go to modernise itself. However despite these flaws, weak neighbors to the south and the strength of it military gives it the potential to become incredibly powerful.

Military
Nimbusia starts with an army of 10 divisions totaling 74K ponypower. Of these divisions, 4 are pegasi divisions and 1 is a mountaineer division. All the divisions are highly experienced and the starting templates are quite good. They have a small airforce of 24 fighters and 10 carrier naval bombers. They have a moderate navy consisting of 3 destroyers, 2 light cruisers, and a sea cloud carrier.

The Sea Cloud Carrier


Nimbusia's unique unit the Sea Cloud Carrier is essentially a cheap aircraft carrier. Its stats are lacking, but it makes up for it with a low production cost.

Political Struggle
Before any other parts of your focus tree can be done you must solve the political struggle between the 3 factions vying for power. The mechanics are summarised below, and more detail follows.
 * 1) Select your faction - choose one of the 3 political focuses.
 * 2) Earn Party Popularity - Party Popularity will go to the winners of political debates, and the results of certain events. Debates are chance based, but stability and PP can be spent to increase the chances of winning.
 * 3) Balance Party Popularity - Aim for 50% to 56% support for your faction- attempting to swing the populace in your favour will cost Stability and Political Power - push too far or too little and you will suffer.
 * 4) Grow too powerful (>56% support) and you will be Ostracised
 * 5) Fail to reach 50% support at the end of the tree and you will suffer a stability loss proportional to the shortfall
 * 6) Become too weak (<35% support) and you will suffer a Helot Revolt

The Debates
The 5 focuses following The Boule Deliberates will have the factions debating on certain issues. Choosing the choice which benefits your chosen faction will cost 20PP or 2% stability if your PP under 20.

The 3 focuses next will be 1 on 1 debates with one of the factions against another. The faction which wins the debate is based on chance. You can choose to support one of the factions to make them more likely to win the debate. However if your faction is involved then supporting them will cost 80PP or 8% stability is your PP is under 80.

A Pair of Wings will see another debate and the opinion which benefits your chosen faction will cost 80 PP or 8% stability if your PP is under 80.

A New Chief of Army will give you a chief of army. Choosing the candidate your chosen faction puts forward will cost 50PP or 100PP and 10% stability if your chosen faction has less then 50% party support. Note you will be able to normally change your Chief of Army later on by spending 150PP.

Along the way you will get random events that could either increase or decrease support for one of the factions

Ostracism
if your chosen faction gets over 56% support then the other factions will prepare to ostracise your faction. If you do not lower the support of your chosen faction to under 52% in time then you will lose a large amount of PP, stability, and support for your chosen faction.

Helot Revolt
If your stability reaches under 35% then a mission will activate. If you do not bring your stability back up within 120 days then the Helots will rise up and cause a civil war. This will almost certainly spell doom for Nimbusia.

Finishing the Tree
By the end of the tree you selected faction must have over 50% party support to do the corresponding focus and unlock a new political focus branch. If you are at the end and your faction does not have the necessary support then a mission will activate. If you still do not get the necessary support in time then you will automatically get the required party support but will lose stability depending on how much party support you needed.

At the end with the sufficient support your chosen faction will pass a new law that ensures their political victory in Nimbusia. A few days later, the new political branch will load.

Faction Political Trees
Reformist Victory With the Reformists securing their political victory they can now pass their reforms such as giving a more diverse education. They have a choice on either to strength Nimbusia into a representative democracy or direct democracy. Most importantly they will give more rights to the neglected classes of Nimbusia. The main benefits of this path is the penalties from Martial Society will be greatly reduced and Citizens, Perioikoi and Helots national spirit will have its penalties removed and turned into a positive modifier. As a result on higher conscription laws this is the best path for ponypower.

Traditionalist Victory With the Traditionalists securing their political victory they will of course try to keep the status quo as much as they can and only make minor changes. They will seek to honor their traditions and ancestors. The decision unlocked by Consult the Oracle will give 1 of 6 random bonuses for 180 days and can be done again after 210 days.

Purist Victory The Purist will end democracy and under their rule they will centralise the power under the military. The first major choice will be the leader. Either Andreia, the young general who leads the Purists can remain as leader or Gylhippos, a veteran officer can be given leadership.

Note that while this path generally gives the most military bonuses and a large number of recruitable population, the recruitable population factor penalty from Citizens, Perioikoi and Helots is increased so you will only get a faction of the recruitable population shown in the focuses. This means initially this path will get the most ponypower but once you increase your conscription law it will fall behind when compared with the other paths.

Below is a table of the bonuses from the focuses in the 3 unlockable political paths. Leader traits are not included and it takes into account the end results of the 3 national spirits that are modified.

Diplomacy Tree
The Foreign Diplomacy Tree is unlocked the same time the new political branch is unlocked. There are 3 different paths that can be available depending on which political faction won the political struggle. These paths are about Nimbusia's stance towards the River Coalition.

Confrontation is the anti River Coalition path and is available to the Purists and Traditionalists. This path will put Nimbusia into a conflict with the River Coalition. You will demand tributes from the leader of the River Coalition but this demand will always be rejected and lead to Nimbusia leaving the River Coalition. The focus at the end will give war goals on all the River Coalition nations.

Cautious Cooperation is the status quo path with the River Coalition. It only gives a few industry research bonus and a small number of forts.

Integration is the pro River Coalition path and is only available to the Reformist. This path will put Nimbusia in closer cooperation with the River Coalition, giving reduced license cost, increased army experience, air experience, command power gain, and a point towards the federation race. Note that most of the focuses in the Shared River Coalition Tree are only available if this path is taken. Meaning this is the only path where its possible to form the River Federation as Nimbusia.

Both paths where Nimbusia stays with the River Coalition have access to focuses that will increase trade relations with the rest of the River Coalition and give military experience.

All paths will give war goals on Austurland,  Kása Free State,  Barrad Magocracy,  Gryphian Host,  Ordensstaat Hellquill, and  County of Longsword.

The colonization decisions will give cores on  Austurland and   Kása Free State. With the Barrad Magocracy you can either give it to Wittenland or the more beneficial opinion of dealing with it yourself in which case you can either unlock decisions to core the area or evacuate the area which will remove population and factories while adding population to your own states. If the Purists are in power then you get the additional opinion of releasing Barrad as a puppet and get a national spirit decreasing research time.

Industry Tree
This tree is of course based around improving Nimbusia's industrial ability. The important focus to take note of are
 * Philosophic Traditions to increase Nimbusia's science base.
 * Educate the Helots to remove the Mass Illiteracy national spirit
 * Hillpony Miners will add 18 aluminum. 10 steel, 6 tungsten.
 * Back in Business to remove the Poverty national spirit and get a further -5% consumer goods.
 * A Modern Industry to start the improvement of Nimbusia's society development and unlock decisions that will further improve society development.
 * Industrial Research will give a research slot.

Military Tree
Befitting of Nimbusia, its military tree is quite powerful with several focuses to take note of.
 * Officer Training increases the bonuses from Nimbusian General Staff.
 * Special Operative Training increases the military bonuses from the Trials of the Cyclone national spirit plus research bonus in special forces and pegasi technology.
 * War Makes Progress will give a research slot.
 * Glory to the Army gives a nice 2.50% recruitable population.
 * More Hunters in the Sky reduces the production cost of fighters and heavy fighters while also giving a increased ace generation chance.
 * Offshore Oil Rigs adds 20 oil.

The Helot Revolt
The Helot Revolt can be triggered by low stability during the early political struggles, or by communist agitation from a communist River Republic.

The player can choose to play as either side during the revolt. The Helots start with most of the nation in their control with Nimbusia only retaining control of the state of Nimbusia. Most of the army will remain loyal to Nimbusia, however several divisions are spawned for the Helots. While the spawned divisions will give the Helots a numerical advantage, the spawned divisions are poorly equipped and trained. The River Coalition generally won't interfere with the civil war. If the Helots are win the civil war then they will be able to start doing their focus tree. The focus tree will remove the crippling Political Chaos, Nonexistent Economy, and An Army of Slaves national spirits you will receive after the first focus.

The last focus will switch to the generic Griffonian tree and starts a event chain that determines how the River Coalition will react to the Helots. The response is determined by how the Helots fixed the problems caused by the revolt. If their measures are satisfactory then the leader of the River Coalition will offer to the Helots to rejoin the Coalition if they become a puppet. If the measures are too extreme or the Helots refuse to become a puppet then the leader of the River Coalition will gain a war goal on the Helots.

Overall the Helot Revolt tree has no lasting bonuses.

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