River Republic



Lore
The River Republic is a haven of peace and prosperity in the heart of the Riverlands. In 357 ALB it gained independence from Lake City, and in 814 it became a republic when the last Princess, Soft Water, decided to peacefully hand her powers to Sabor, the parliament, to avoid a bloody succession crisis after her death. The final defining moment was the signing of the Treaty of Coltstream on the soil of the River Republic, making them the strongest force behind Riverlands politics, rivaled possibly only by Lake City

Whilst Lake City battled the crusades of the Griffons, the Grand Principality of Rijekograd grew to become the great power of the Riverlands, relying on the immense trade allowed by its many rivers. With their wealth, and with their rival to the west distracted, Princess Wild Water hired mercenaries from Diamond Mountain and Nimbusia to invade the Kingdom of Wittenland, attempting to conquer Coltstream.

Her invasion was successful, capturing Coltstream. Emboldened, she pressed on into Wittenland, advancing on its ancient castles. The unicorns of Wittenland made her pay for every inch of territory. Even as her forces dwindled, she pressed on to the fortress of High Mane.

The battle was close but decisive. High Mane was breached, and Wild Water herself charged in, where she was thrown from the ramparts by the fortress' commander herself. Her three daughters, Velvet, Lily, and Rose also met their end to assassins, the chaos of war, and the final assault on the fortress.

With their forces smashed, the Wittenlanders launched a counter-offensive, recapturing their losses. But they found Coltstream manned and defended by fresh militias and the regrouped armies, and could not retake it.

Despite terrible losses, the Grand Principality of Rijekograd had won. Coltstream was theirs. However the Royal Family was devastated, and the last remaining Princess, Soft Water, died childless. In her will she wished that her mother's mad ambitions never be repeated - Rijekograd would become a republic, accountable to its ponies, not to any one pony's ambitions, yet it never returned Coltstream. And the River Republic evolved as a republic and maintaining its monopoly on river trade.

The government stayed this way, free, harmonic and prosperous. In the year 1001, River Swirl, a graduate of Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns, was elected to lead the nation. She championed hard-needed reforms for the nation and did great work in continuing the prosperity held by the River Republic for a long time. These reforms brought growth, but also a new consciousness to the River Republic, causing either the growth of the greatest threat, or the greatest opportunity the republic has ever seen.

The year is now 1007 ALB and recently a new political force has risen in the River Republic. The Socialist Alliance led by Nova Whirl, a new face in River Republic politics, championing socialist policies with great support from the lower classes of the Republic who have not necessarily had the best years in recent memory with poverty being prevalent in the nation. Meanwhile, Nova Whirl's deputy Caramel Haze advocates for a much more authoritarian style of socialist rule in the country and Nova should be careful if she comes into power, as the partnership between her and Caramel is purely pragmatic and they hold no affection for each other or their policies.

Though there is only one part of the government that can claim to be both excited and fearful about the new Socialist Alliance. That is the OHS, the Office of Harmonic Services. An artifact of the early Republic, created to guard against lingering monarchist sentiment directly after Soft Water's death. As the Republic evolved into a prosperous democratic nation the importance OHS diminished somewhat. But now its director, an enigmatic pony by the name of Arclight, sees a new opportunity for the OHS to once again to return to the position of glory and praise of its glory days. He sees the socialist movement within the nation as a way to get the OHS back into its slot, right next to the Chancellor. While he holds no hatred for Nova Whirl personally, he values his own vision of harmony in his own heart, and Nova may even hold some of that kind of Harmony herself. But Arclight knows it will take a bit more to get River Swirl to enact the kind of laws he needs to be enacted.

But through all this political turmoil still stands River Swirl. Intent on keeping her position in the Chancellorship and continuing on with her reforms and changes, both in her native Republic and stretching out to the rest of the Coalition, always wary of the changing powers of the area surrounding the Republic, River Swirl must help her nation stand as the Bulwark of the East, against all threats that may present themselves.

Internal Affairs
At the start of the game, the political situation in the River Republic is unstable, initially, it may seem functional but upon closer inspection, the player will discover their dreadful 5% war support as well as their "Unstable Government" National Spirit heavily curtailing any ability to easily stabilize or wage war

The situation can only be solved through the Unstable Government National Focus which will have the player remove the national spirit by the same name but have the possibility of hurting the nation overall if the events do not resolve in their favour.

Finally, the presence of poverty and mass Illiteracy, as with other nations, causes issues. But one upside is the National Spirit of the City of Three Rivers giving a small reduction to consumer goods, and a large trade deal opinion factor bonus.

External Affairs
Looking ouwards, the River Republic neighbours all members of the River Coalition with the exceptions of Diamond Mountain further to the northwest and  Lake City, which is separated by a very small area of land owned by the  Kingdom of Wittenland. This offers the River Republic complete safety from any threat in the early and even into mid game.

The largest concern of any River Republic player should be to hold together the River Coalition, as not only will it be your endgoal to unite them and separatism damages this. Early events to be marked down by the player should be: The Lake City Coup, party popularity of Nimbusia, the paths taken by the northern nations like  Farbrook and  Firtree Villages, as you may be able to invite them or intervene to protect your interests there.

How foreign policy will be shaped will depend infinitely on your political party choice with choices of isolationism within the Coalition and interventionism abroad exist in both branches and every ideology of the focus tree.

Military
The River Republic Army in 1007 is decent but not inherently weak, the army takes the form of 8 infantry divisions, all 12 width. Every division is under-supplied and the River Republic starts with a severe deficit of equipment.

Threats and Opportunities
For the early game there are no real or significant threats to the River Republic as it is being bordered by friendly nations at game start.

Moving into the middle game, the main threat for any player will be nations leaving the River Coalition, nominally the Lake City coup will always become a threat if either the Prince or Westerly Leeward take power, or the Purists in Nimbusia win out. A strong Griffon Liberation Army could also pose an issue though your cumulative alliance is almost always stronger than them. The only other mid-game threat is if the Griffonian Empire got a leg up in the continent in one way or another, war erupts between the Coalition and  Ordensstaat Hellquill and  Longsword and the two ask the Empire to assist them.

Gameplay Mechanics
As other Riverlands nations they have the River Coalition features in their decisions tab and as part of their focus tree.

Your first mechanic is their first focus, "Unstable Government", which will present you with many events and a few decisions to influence your government choice.

In addition, Nova Whirl's branch of the focus tree offers the possibility to infiltrate and subvert the River Coalition governments from the inside later on.

Industry
The River Republic's industry tree will grant free factories, infrastructure, and improve social development levels. The tree also grants some industry-boosting national spirits and research bonuses for nuclear and rocket technology.

The first focus, Continue Economic Reforms, unlocks a Captain of Industry advisor. The mutually exclusive focuses of Rijekograd Steelworks and Aluminium Smelters grant 27 steel and aluminium respectively. Legalize Labour Unions improves industrial development, and also grants a production-buffing national spirit.

University Of Rijekograd grants 1 research slot.

Military
The military tree of the River Republic consists of four sub-branches, with some very strong focuses that can provide massive bonuses to the Rijekan military. The opening focus for the tree, Focus on the Military, provides 25 XP of each type, and national spirit Officer Training, which increases Command Power cap by 25.

Grand Army of the Republic
The Army Focus Tree starts with one of the best foci in the game, Grand Army of the Republic, giving 15% recruitable population factor, 25% mobilization speed and +5% war support.

The right sub-branch of this branch of the military focus tree grants several research bonuses to artillery, motorised, armor, and land doctrine. Mountain Guns grants movement bonus for artillery in hills and mountainous terrain.

The left sub-branch grants a research bonus for infantry weapons, a research bonus for either land or air doctrine, then a choice between either a unicorn or pegasi research bonus. The River War Games, which grants the land/air doctrine research bonus (and some army/air XP), also gives all River Coalition allies an event granting the same bonuses as the national focus.

Aid From Allies unlocks Riverland Technological Exchange Program decisions, where the River Republic will ask their River Coalition allies for their military knowledge. Each decision costs 70 PP, and triggers an event in the target country asking for their knowledge. If the target country accepts, the River Republic will gain the requested tech research bonuses.


 * Table of Riverland Technological Exchange Program Decisions

Capable Officers
This branch of the military tree mainly focuses on improving generals, special forces, and military high command. The starting focus of this branch, Capable Officers, modifies the Officer Training national spirit with +10% planning speed and +0.1 daily command power gain. Then there is a choice between unlocking either an offensive or defensive Chief of Army option at genius level.

The focus Special Forces Battalion grants a strong +10% special forces capacity multiplier, and unlocks a genius-level military advisor that grants an extremely powerful +20% special forces attack and defense bonus. The focus also unlocks RZPO (Republikansko Zapovjedništvo za Posebne Operacije) decisions, which establishes several different special forces units with different specialities. The RZPO decisions require the player to pay manpower and army XP to train several different elite special forces divisions.


 * RZPO decisions

Expand Coltovac Military Academy grants all current and future generals +1 planning, and Promote the Best grants a level 4 general with commando, hill fighter, ranger traits. Light Infantry Training grants bonuses to infantry in forests and urban. River Marines grants a marine research bonus. Several focuses in this tree also grants some Army XP.

Look to the Skies


The air force tree grants air research bonuses and adds free air-related buildings, including air bases, radar stations, and anti-air buildings. There is a choice of Riverland Bombers/Riverland Interceptors paths; the former grants bomber and strategic destruction doctrine research bonuses, the latter grants fighter and battlefield support doctrine research bonuses. CAS, heavy fighter, and strategic bomber research bonuses are granted in focuses shared between both paths.

The final focus Fill the Skies! grants -10% production cost bonuses for fighters and tactical bombers.

Mouth of the River
The navy tree requries the River Republic to control one coastal state to be unlocked. The first focus, Mouth of the River, adds 4 naval bases to a random coastal province and 25 navy XP. The navy tree grants research bonuses for destroyers, cruisers, and a choice of focus on either aircraft carriers and Base Strike doctrine, or battleships and Fleet in Being doctrine.

Flow Into The Sea grants 2 x100% research bonuses for any naval doctrine. The branch on the right adds 4 naval dockyards and a -10% production cost bonus for convoys.

Politics
There are 5 main political paths in the River Republic: 2 Communist paths (1 aggressive vanguard socialist path, 1 democratic socialist path), 2 Harmonist paths (1 offensive path, 1 defensive path), and 1 Non-Aligned path.

The first focus, Divided Government, triggers a series of political events that decide whether or not the player goes down the Undermine the OHS path or the Strengthen the OHS path. During these events, the incumbent Harmonist Chancellor of the River Republic River Swirl and the Socialist runner-up Nova Whirl are stuck in a political deadlock. Several events will fire where the player can decide to back River Swirl's policies or Nova Whirl's policies; both choices in all of the events will have a chance to succeed or fail, and the party popularities will change accordingly to the Harmonists and Socialists' successes and failures.

During this stage, River Swirl is offered to sign an Emergency Powers Bill. A decision called Invoke the Emergency Powers will be unlocked. Taking it grants 25 PP at the cost of -3% base stability.

After 35 days into Divided Government, the political deadlock escalates into a vote of no confidence. If the player had not taken the Invoke the Emergency Powers decision, the event's only choice will be to dissolve the government and hold a snap election. If the player had taken the decision, then an additional choice will unlock, where the Emergency Powers Bill is invoked and the Constitution will be suspended.

If the player takes the snap election option, several debate events will then fire, where the player can choose to back River Swirl or Nova Whirl, granting popularities to the Harmonist or Communist parties respectively. Two Electioneering decisions are also unlocked, which the player can use to boost the popularity of the Harmony or the Communist parties at the cost of some consumer goods factories or stability. When Divided Government completes, the election event will fire, and either the Harmonist party or the Communist party will be voted into power depending on who has the higher popularity, forcing the player down their path. The Unstable Government national spirit will then be removed.

If the player takes the Emergency Powers Bill option, then the focus Divided Government is immediately bypassed, the national spirit Unstable Government is immediately removed, and the country gets -10% Base Stability. The player will then be forced down the Strengthen the OHS path.

All political paths give a research slot at some point in their focus tree.

Strengthen the OHS (Harmony/Non-Aligned)
The Harmonists have secured their position, either by winning the snap election or by invoking Emergency Powers. This then divides into two paths: The Phoenix Programme, the non-aligned path (requiring invoking Emergency Powers) where the OHS takes over the country, and Bastion of the East, the harmony path which offers offensive and defensive sub-paths.

Bastion of the East (Harmony)
The Harmonists have embraced a defensive policy and seeks to strengthen the River Coalition and pursue internal developments. This tree is suitable for a defensive playthrough with a peaceful unification of the Riverlands through River Federation mechanics.
 * Prepare For The Storm


 * The River Games branch of the focus tree has many focuses that grants basic but useful bonuses, and the final Equestria Of The East focus gives some major bonuses. The first focus also adds 1 point to the River Federation race standings.
 * The Border Defence Fund of the focus tree is a war readiness mini-tree, giving various buffs and allowing the River Republic to request aid from Equestria.
 * The Dog Question and Harmony in Watertowns branch of the focus tree focuses on influencing Diamond Mountain and  Watertowns into adopting harmony.
 * The Dog Question unlocks a decision to fund a coup in Diamond Mountain led by the Harmonist Princess Molly to depose the Supremacist King Rover Diamondshield.
 * Harmony in Watertowns will trigger a series of events where friendly delegations are sent to Watertowns, gradually converting it to Harmony. If all the events finish successfully, Watertowns will become Harmonic.

The Harmonists have embraced an interventionist defensive policy and will seek to expand their alliance to protect themselves against the Griffonian Empire. They plan to create a Golden Curtain of Harmony encompassing the Griffon nations of the Herzland-Riverlands frontier ( Ordensstaat Hellquill, County of Longsword) and the Evi Valley ( Principality of Lushi,  Gryphian Host,  Free Towns of Gryphus).
 * The Golden Curtain


 * The Golden Curtain unlocks decisions to guarantee non-aligned or harmonist countries within the planned Golden Curtain.
 * Establish the Minutemares expands the River Republic's ability to send volunteers, allowing them to send 4 volunteer divisions regardless of world tension.
 * The Emergency Arms Provisioning branch of the focus tree grants some general developments, giving factories, 1 research slot, political stability, daily harmony growth, and a unique national spirit giving 10% recruitable pop factor.
 * The focus Secure the Riverlands, unlocked if members of the River Coalition have seceded from the faction, allows the River Coalition to unite the Riverland nations by force. The River Republic will gain decisions that grant war goals on the nations that left the Coalition, should they resist unification.
 * Operation: Cherry Party and Operation: Magic Star allows the River Republic to fund harmonist coups in countries within the planned Golden Curtain (through decisions). The former focuses on nations within the Frontier region, while the latter focuses on nations within the Evi Valley.
 * After taking the above focuses, if the targeted countries are already harmonist or became harmonist, they can be integrated into the Golden Curtain and become puppets of the River Republic (through decisions).
 * Friendship Without Borders gives all of the River Republic's puppets 2.5% recruitable population and increasing the amount of their manpower divisions the River Republic gains from them.
 * Intervene In Prywhen grants puppet war goals on the Griffon Liberation Army and the  Kingdom of Brodfeld.
 * The Final Battle, unlocked after the Empire has proclaimed its resurgence or if another country had unified the Herzland, grants a war goal on the Empire or the unifier of Herzland.

This path shares the Border Defence Fund and The Dog Question focus tree branches with the Prepare For The Storm path described above.

The Phoenix Program (Non-Aligned)
To unlock this path, the player must have used the Invoke the Emergency Powers decision, and invoked the Emergency Powers during the vote of no confidence event. Grover V also needs to have died to unlock this path.

In this path, the Harmonists embrace an offensive policy, aiming to stop the Griffonian Empire its tracks before it becomes strong again to threaten the Riverlands.

Replace the Unstable Government triggers an event where the Office of Harmonic Services steps in to replace the unstable government with their own "temporary" government in the face of widespread threat on harmony. The coup is entirely legal under the Emergency Powers Bill that River Swirl signed.

The event has two outcomes, either director Arclight seizes full control of the government and takes dictatorial powers, or the OHS "convinces" River Swirl to agree with their move, keeping her as a puppet chancellor. The former grants -25% base stability, while the latter grants -15% base stability, but adds a national spirit Puppet Chancellor that adds 10% stability. Either way, the Non-Aligned becomes the ruling party, and OHS director Arclight becomes the head of state.

Notably, the three focuses exclusive to this path that grant war goals on Griffon nations, i.e. The Griffon Communists, The Western Corridor, and End the Empire, will all incur stability penalties if the war support isn't high enough when the focus is taken. The lower the country's war support is, the more stability will be lost. The Griffon Communists and The Western Corridor have the target war support (where no stability is lost) at 30%, while End the Empire has the target war support at 50%.


 * Wartime Harmony grants a national spirit that reduces generate war goal tension limit by -75% (allowing the country to justify war goals at any world tension), and reduces lend-lease and send volunteer tension limit by -25%.
 * OHS Divisions/OHS Detachments: These two focuses are mutually exclusive, and OHS Divisions is only unlocked if the OHS has taken full control of the government during their takeover event. OHS Divisions grants +10% division recovery rate and +5% reinforce rate, while OHS Detachments only grants +10% division recovery rate.
 * Recruitment Drive is unlocked when world tension exceeds 25%, and grants 2.5% recruitable population.
 * The Western Corridor grants puppet war goals on Ordensstaat Hellquill and  County of Longsword.
 * Crackdown on Dissent grants 15% base stability at the cost of 75 PP.
 * Reconcile Nova Whirl/Arrange an Accident: These two focuses are mutually exclusive. The former grants 5% base stability, while the latter grants 10% base stability and -10% communist popularity.
 * The Griffon Communists requires taking Arrange an Accident to be unlocked. Grants a puppet war goal on the Griffon Liberation Army. It also grants puppet war goals on the  Gryphian Host and the  Principality of Lushi if they also became Communist.
 * End the Empire requires either taking The Griffon Communists or The Western Corridor, and grants a puppet war goal on the Griffonian Empire.
 * A Job Well Done: The OHS will step down from power and let the Harmonists back in power. Doing so grants -25% war support, +30% base stability, and allows the country to justify wargoals on nations that have not generated world tension, which is a Non-Aligned ideology trait.
 * Never-ending Emergency: Director Arclight will continue his dictatorship to safeguard the River Republic against communism and supremacy. Grants +30% non-aligned popularity and +15% base stability.

This path shares the Secure the Riverlands, Emergency Arms Provisioning, and the Operation: Magic Star and Operation: Cherry Party focuses/focus branches with The Golden Curtain path described above.

Undermine the OHS (Communist)
The Socialists have won the snap election, putting Democratic Socialist Nova Whirl in power. The OHS will be defanged, leading to a rise in the popularity of socialism.

In the Red Saturday focus, general Caramel Haze, a radical member of the Socialists, will attempt a coup on Nova Whirl, believing that she is a revisionist. If his coup succeeds, the player will go down the more aggressive and authoritarian Proletarian Dictatorship path. If his coup fails, the player will go down the more pacifist and democratic Democracy Prevails path.

Caramel Haze's coup fails, and Nova Whirl's democracy prevails. Nova's branch will give significant economic buffs and a great amount of political power.
 * Democracy Prevails (Nova Whirl)

The center path of the Communist focus tree, under R.E.D.ucation, grants a research slot, stability, war support, and a national spirit giving bonuses to division attack and defense. It is shared between Nova Whirl and Caramel Haze.

Nova Whirl has two options for foreign policy: Arsenal Of Socialism and Beacon of Peace.


 * Arsenal Of Socialism: Nova Whirl will actively support socialists abroad by peace or by force. This path unlocks decisions to send agitators, militants, or spies into fellow River Coalition members to subvert them from the inside.
 * Seed Agitators decisions: Costs 40 PP each, and takes 30 days to complete. Once completed, the target country will gain national spirit Communist Infilitration, which grants +0.10 daily communism support. Can only be taken once for each target country.
 * Nimbusia's Communist Infilitration instead grants -25% stability; this is because if Nimbusia's stability gets too low, they will fall into a civil war with Communists.
 * Send Militants decisions: Costs 40 PP each, and takes 30 days to complete. Once completed, the target country will gain national spirit Militant Socialists Organising. The national spirit does not incur any effects at peace, but when the Socialist River Republic goes to war with the target country, the national spirit will activate and grant maluses on division attack and defense. The decisions can be taken repeatedly, and successive uses of the decision will upgrade the national spirit.
 * Infiltrate Spies decisions: Costs 40 PP each, takes 40 days to complete, and can only target River Coalition countries with >15% Communist popularity or Nimbusia at any Communist popularity. Once completed, the target country will gain national spirit Few Socialist Saboteur Spies, which reduces Encryption, Decryption, Ideology drift defense, but increases Enemy operative detection chance factor. The decision can be taken repeatedly, and successive uses of the decision will upgrade the target country's national spirit, strengthening its effects.
 * Beacon of Peace: Nova Whirl will reassure the country that the country will stay at peace, and her strategy to spread socialism in Riverlands is known as the Josipean Strategy, where she will introduce subtle socialist indoctrination into River Federation policy. Whenever Nova Whirl's Socialist River Republic passes a reform in the shared River Federation focus tree (i.e. takes a River Federation reform focus), and a River Coalition nation accepts it, they will gain a national spirit that grants daily support for Communism. The more reforms they accept, the stronger the national spirit becomes.
 * Nimbusia will instead receive national spirits that reduce their stability should they accept Nova Whirl's reforms.

Nova Whirl can choose between Proclaim The Riverland Socialist Union and Solidarity as her final foreign policy focuses.


 * Proclaim The Riverland Socialist Union: Available only in the Arsenal Of Socialism path, Nova Whirl will call upon Communist supporters in the River Coalition to join her in a war against the capitalist members of the River Coalition. She will secede from the River Coalition and form the Riverland Socialist Union faction. Any country with at least 30% Communist support will join Nova Whirl's faction, and Nova Whirl will receive a war goal on any country that did not.
 * Solidarity: Available in both paths, Nova Whirl will unlock decisions to integrate any original members of the River Coalition that has at least 50% Communist support (and only if they are still in the River Coalition). These decisions cost 100 PP each, and when taken, will immediately annex and core the target country.

Caramel Haze's coup succeeds, and he institutes an authoritarian socialist dictatorship. He will immediately secede from the River Coalition. His tree gives buffs to the army, recruitable population, some economic foci, and a few factories. He will also have access to the R.E.D.ucation focuses, as described above.
 * Proletarian Dictatorship (Caramel Haze)

Great Patriotic War is the only foreign policy path available to Caramel Haze. He will prepare the country for a great war with the entirety of the Riverlands. The focuses under Great Patriotic War grants forts on Rijekan core provinces, changes the conscription and economy laws to Service by Requirement and Partial Mobilization respectively, and provides 30% war support.

Upon taking Proclaim The Riverland Socialist Union (the only option available for Caramel Haze), all starting members of the River Coalition will declare war on the Socialist River Republic. The River Coalition is heavily outmatched and needs to properly prepare before it takes this focus.

After the Socialist River Republic managed to unite all of the Riverlands by peace or by force, it will be able to take Triumphant Revolution and declare the creation of the Riverlands Socialist Federal Republic. However, the rapid expansion has caused serious divides in the new united Riverlands, and the RSFR will receive four negative national spirits dealing with disorganized military, cultural divides, reactionary militias, and disunited economy.
 * Triumphant Revolution

United Army, One Nation, One Culture, Crackdowns On Reactionaries, and Socialism For All center on removing these four national spirits. These focuses will unlock decisions to weaken and eventually remove the negative national spirits, during which events will appear, giving the player the choice of either paying a political power/stability cost or choosing to have the negative national spirits strengthen by one level.

Once all four negative national spirits are removed, the RSFR can choose to take its final foreign policy focuses. Stalliongrad Of The East strengthens defense on core territory and greatly increases the country's ability to send volunteers to other countries, while Aggressive Defence grants +10% division attack and leads to three other focuses giving RSFR puppet or annex war goals on several neighbors (the puppet war goals are only available if the target country isn't Communist):


 * Secure The Western Border: Ordensstaat Hellquill (Annex),  County of Longsword (Annex),  Principality of Lushi (Puppet), and  Gryphian Host (Puppet)
 * Secure The Northern Border: Farbrook (Puppet),  Firtree Villages (Puppet)
 * Secure The Southern Border: Barrad Magocracy (Annex),  Kása Free State (Puppet),  Austurland (Puppet)



Military Leaders
Army Commanders