The Edges of the Map

[Tegyrius]

Heffe's recent political alignment map work got me thinking about the map of the Twilight world in the figurative, rather than literal, sense. What are some of the more interesting regions that have the potential to generate unique stories with opportunities for PCs to do PC stuff?

For me, I'm looking at places where the war had secondary theaters but America didn't do a lot. Published sourcebooks to date, leaving aside the SGUK and the Finnish-language material, have focused near-exclusively on action around American forces. That's understandable from a marketing perspective, as the majority of the fan base is American, but this forum's membership proves that it isn't exclusively American. So I think there's some potential out there...

- C.

[Heffe]

Great topic!

So in light of that map and the 4e expanded timeline project, I’ve been doing some deep reading into the political histories of a lot of nations lately. Huge shoutout to Chico as well for hooking me up with some amazing background documentation, btw - the sheer amount of data so many of you work with, as a relative newcomer to it, is staggering. While I can’t speak much to South America and Africa yet (though I’m looking forward to getting to those continents), I feel like the 90s were a much, much more fascinating time than I remember as a teenager. Some of the hotspot areas I’ve come across include:

The Balkans - the break up of Yugoslavia had enormous repercussions for the entire region. The rise of Milosovic in Serbia, the fighting in Bosnia, etc, I think is an area that probably doesn’t get enough love in most campaigns. Most all of those former pact nations were grappling with their own identities all through the 90s, trying to determine who they were and who they wanted to be in the “ashes of an empire”. I suppose this area may hold less or more interest depending upon the timeline you’re playing in, though.

Southeast Asia - I don’t even know where to rightly begin here. Vietnam looking at reform and Laos following it move for move, Cambodia still grappling with identity and insurgency (at least early in the decade) after the horrendous actions of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Myanmar and Bangladesh with their own wild political exchanges, illegitimate elections, and transference of power. It’s a wild area just begging for a campaign or two. Hell even Sri Lanka was dealing with the Tamil Tigers at the time. And on top of all of this, ASEAN was slowly trying to expand their influence of economic cooperation throughout the entire region.

[Rainbow Six]

I think China would offer all sorts of possibilities. One idea that I toyed with at one point was a British LRRP operating out of Hong Kong and gathering intel in the areas surrounding the Colony, e.g. Shenzen and Guangzhou / Canton, which I figured would give the option for British, Gurkha, and Chinese characters.

You’ve got the possibility of local warlords, free cities, rogue military units that have turned marauder, stray Russians that really shouldn’t be there (traders, Spetznaz, shot down pilots), macguffins that need to be recovered, etc, etc. It would also work well with a Free Company type unit that could be working for as mercenaries for one or other of the warlords / merchants.

The India / Pakistan War. Could have something set up in Kashmir (my CEO is an ex Indian Army officer and he has some interesting tales to tell).

Then there’s Africa. In V1 I believe it’s pretty much a blank canvas. What happens in South Africa for example? Does Nelson Mandela get released and we see the transition to democracy that occurred IRL or does a continued Cold War mean the status quo continues? I’m inclined to think that the former is the more likely but what if the transition is less peaceful and the end result is some sort of Vortex style War involving multiple participants? And what happens in North Africa, e.g. Egypt, Libya 9I know Libya has a brief mention in Med Cruise)?

Plus everything that Heffe said about SE Asia.

[Tegyrius]

R6, Hong Kong strikes me as a particularly interesting setting. Before the nuclear exchanges, it would have been a logical port of entry for NATO military aid to China. With the planned handover from UK to Chinese governance occurring right around the time the nukes started flying on the Sino-Soviet front, that entire process might not have occurred on schedule, and by 2000, there's some question about which Chinese successor government, if any, has the legitimacy necessary to take it over. So I'm assuming it would still be under some degree of UK governance.

Did you do anything with it in your Alternate Survivor's Guide to the UK?

- C.

[Rainbow Six]

Nothing detailed, just some broad strokes that roughly align with what you’ve suggested here, namely that the port was a major entry point for military supplies to China during the latter half of 1995 and most of 1996 as the Soviets couldn’t take any direct action to close it, it being British Sovereign territory. I did beef up the garrison slightly during this period, largely as a way of trying to come up with a plausible 6th UK Infantry Division, which is mentioned in canon.

The nuclear strikes then delay the handover and as of the Summer of 2000 the British are still in de facto control mainly because as you say there’s no recognised Chinese Government to hand it over to.

Checking my notes I can see that I did have the nuclear strike aimed at HK miss and land in the South China Sea.

ETA. At one point I did have grand plans to write a series of companion volumes to the UK work, one on the island of Ireland, one on France, and one on Hong Kong, which would all form their own continuity. But time and other responsibilities kinda scuppered that a while ago.

[Mahatatain]

Great idea for a topic of discussion.

Originally Posted by Heffe

Great topic!
The Balkans - the break up of Yugoslavia had enormous repercussions for the entire region. The rise of Milosovic in Serbia, the fighting in Bosnia, etc, I think is an area that probably doesn’t get enough love in most campaigns. Most all of those former pact nations were grappling with their own identities all through the 90s, trying to determine who they were and who they wanted to be in the “ashes of an empire”. I suppose this area may hold less or more interest depending upon the timeline you’re playing in, though.

I agree. I think that the Balkans is potentially a very interesting place to set a campaign as you have some foreign forces present as well. From memory the US forces are CIVGOV aligned, making that a bit different to normal campaigns. You also have Greece and Italy nearby and, if your timeline has them joining the Warsaw Pact, that is some interaction that is rarely explored. Personally, I think that the whole region is primed to collapse into petty warlord kingdoms who keep fighting each other and that would make a great setting.

I think that another interesting region (I have no idea what canon says on this) is southwest of the Black Sea with loyalist Soviet (particularly Russian and Armenian) forces fighting against Georgian and Azerbaijani separatists who are alied with NATO forces in Turkey.

I've also set a couple of games in the Ukraine, and they have focussed around a Ukrainian civil war with pro NATO, pro Soviet and isolationist factions. That's probably not one to discuss much further in the current climate though.

[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by Mahatatain

I think that another interesting region (I have no idea what canon says on this) is southwest of the Black Sea with loyalist Soviet (particularly Russian and Armenian) forces fighting against Georgian and Azerbaijani separatists who are alied with NATO forces in Turkey.

There’s a brief reference to Armenia in the RDF sourcebook.

"[In 2000] General Suryakin had some big problems in his own backyard. The 77th Motorized Rifle Division, comprised mainly of Armenians, mutinied. They held the area around Yerevan and called themselves the Transcaucasian Republican Army."

There was an article on the USSR in one of the early Challenge magazines - can’t recall the exact issue number, but it was in the low thirties - that expanded slightly on that. From the article

"[In January 2000] in the Trancaucasus, two Soviet divisions deserted and joined with the rebels who held the city of Baku. They called themselves the Transcaucasus Republican Army and formed the Transcaucasus People's Republic. Based roughly on socialist principles, they had a mixture of nationalistic sentiments and religious feeling (Greek Orthodox).Terror swept the area as the army seized and executed people suspected of being politically or religious different. Although the Transcaucasus People's Republic seemed to be a potentially viable state, its fanaticism drove civilians in the area to other newly arisen states."

(The reference to Greek Orthodoxy would seem to maybe be a mistake. As best as I can tell the main religion in Armenia is Oriental Orthodoxy which is different to Greek Orthodoxy and Azerbaijan is predominantly Moslem)

The same article also refers to the creation of an Islamic State centred on what is now Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan that is in conflict with loyal Soviet forces.

it’s an interesting read. Some bits would definitely need some work to tidy them up I think but it has some useful ideas that can be mined. Whether it’s canon or not is up for debate (I think opinions vary on Challenge articles) but ultimately that isn’t really relevant - if a GM wants to use it they will, if they want to ignore it they well.

[Mahatatain]

Very interesting Rainbow Six. And I believe that you're correct on the error on religion.

lol, yeah, the Armenian church is not Greek.

Armenians take great pride in noting that Armenia was the first Christian nation in the world. The mother church is in Etchmiadzin:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etchmiadzin_Cathedral

The country is also home to a few interesting Roman ruins, like the temple at Gari:

http://harbinger.twilightwar.net/Garni.jpg

Throughout Armenia (Hayastan in Armenian), there are myriad stone churches, ancient fortresses, and monasteries, which would certainly find use in classic Twilight 2000 fashion.

http://harbinger.twilightwar.net/snowcap.jpg
http://harbinger.twilightwar.net/stone.jpg
http://harbinger.twilightwar.net/Amberd.jpg

Armenia suffered heavily from the dissolution of the USSR. They had some very tough winters after the collapse, which forced them to restart one of two VVER nuclear reactors; due in no small part to people were freezing to death in winter because of energy shortages.

https://www.world-nuclear.org/inform...f/armenia.aspx