Join the new world

First the New World was created,
The people came and it was good.
Then the people discovered grain, oil, wood, diamonds and iron,
and there was much rejoicing.
Finally the people took iron and shaped it into many wondrous things.
One of those shapes was a gun.
There was silence...
Then the New World exploded...
And silence again...
And the New World danced and capered with glee.
- extract from Manifest Destiny and the Rise of Empire.


Manifest Destiny

There are 11 high iron regions in the New World. Each one of those regions is extremely valuable and of considerable strategic importance. At the outset 8 countries were blessed with the privilege of owning these rare regions. In most cases, the wealth potential of the high iron was not realized by the original nation due to their inability to exploit or defend them.

Initial distribution:
Brazil - North of Brazil, Northeast of Brazil.
China - Heilongjiang, Liaoning.
Russia - Urals, Western Siberia.
Greece - Central Greece.
India - Karnataka.
Peru - Great Andes.
Spain - Asturias.
Ukraine - Podolia.

Until recently, many wars have evolved around the defense or acquisition of high iron. Usually these wars have spawned many side conflicts as the whole of the New World would get involved on one side or the other. For as long as most of us can remember, nations have been split between two great solitudes. Two massive alliances one time called Atlantis and Peace, later Eden and Phoenix. Although nominally neutral or part of sub-alliances, every country leans either one way or the other towards these entities.

Romania, the First Empire, built their strength and prestige on the back of conquests of important regions most notably the eastern Russian regions. Indonesia, the Second Empire, did the same with their Asian, African and Oceanic colonies. When Hungary rightfully took their place as a New World superpower, they did so by taking control of high iron of their own. Same story with the USA, Russia and Serbia, always at the expense of the previous owner (for example, Romania, although still a powerful nation, never led in the same way again after the losses it suffered in occupied Russia).

At the height of their power, the forces of Peace controlled all but two high iron regions: Central Greece and Great Andes. At that time Central Greece was relatively newly liberated and Peru was an undeveloped new nation. The loss of Asturias in particular had the potential to permanently cripple forces opposed to Peace.

Because of the great wealth they generate and the intense pressure to control them, so many high iron regions are almost impossible to maintain a monopoly on. There is always going to be at least one in a vulnerable position. This was so in the last Great War as the rallying cry was the liberation of obliterated countries and the restoration of home regions to nation who had previously had no chance to reclaim them on their own.

These days the pendulum appears to have swung the opposite way. Hungary losing control of Heilongjian paves the way for a re-alignment of influence everywhere in the New World. Phoenix still has access to enormous wealth of iron in Brazil and Russia but depending on how Hungary reacts, the threats evolve. Suddenly Serbia finds itself isolated in Liaoning and all their colonies become extremely high value strategic targets. The reason for this is that both Hungary and Serbia have long and extremely expensive roads to travel if they wish to reclaim these regions. Russia and Brazil, previously as safe as two nations can be because of their geographic position and their population base, must now plan for both international intervention and attacks on their home soil.

India and China are growing at rates that can at least match the similar growth in the greater powers, meaning that as each day goes by they become bigger players in the global conflict and better able to be guardians of their own wealth in the instances were they are once more in possession of their original regions.



The biggest potential player in all this is the USA. Because of their own colonies in the East, they have the envious position of being able to intervene in almost every single front that may develop. Tibet and Qinghai are central enough that a few moves would bring them in direct conflict with Russia or Serbia. Mindanao allows them a door to Indonesia. Andhra-Pradesh is the security line to the defense of their holdings in Karnataka.

The second biggest player is Poland. They only control high iron indirectly through Peru. But as they have shown once already, they are but a single push away from the shores of Brazil.

Spain is the trump card. They have no immediate threat to the supremacy of the regions they control allowing them the luxury of committing almost all their forces in helping allies. This is no longer the case for Phoenix forces. Any massive move by the traditional powers of Hungary, Serbia, Indonesia, Russia or Brazil could come at the cost of the loss of more home nations and strategic colonies.

This is not to say we are witnessing the End Game. If history has taught us one lesson is that no nation is ever truly defeated. As a matter of fact, many rise even more powerful from the ashes of their initial defeats.

We live in interesting times and perhaps we are witnessing the last greatest movements of the Iron Empires before the coming of titanium.