The year is 1962. Europe survives beneath the shadow of the jackboot.
The Second World War did not merely destroy the old world — it forged a new one, twisted and suffocating. Born from ruins, sustained by tyranny, it stands as a monument to devastation. Millions have turned to dust, and “victory” has yielded nothing but a deeper darkness. The flame of freedom has not been extinguished, but it flickers now, faint and fragile.
From the ashes rose the Greater Germanic Reich, undisputed master of Europe. Yet its dominance is hollow. Its armies are bloated and stagnant, its politics consumed by endless infighting, its economy teetering on collapse. The ambitions that once defined it lie shattered, replaced by the fragile illusion of order. Adolf Hitler lingers at death’s edge, and beyond his fading sight, successors circle like vultures, awaiting the inevitable.
In the East, the banner of the Co-Prosperity Sphere stretches across vast lands. The Empire of Japan proclaims unity and prosperity, its influence spanning from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. Its brilliance is blinding — yet beneath it lies decay. The subjugated remain silent, but not broken. Resistance endures in the shadows, patient, waiting for the moment to tear the façade apart.
The United States — the so-called last hope — survived the nuclear fires of Pearl Harbor. It still stands, but diminished. The wounds of war remain unhealed, while internal fractures deepen. The government seeks to rebuild strength against external threats, yet the nation itself drifts toward division. A new struggle is forming, not abroad, but within.
The Mediterranean has found no peace. Iberia, Italy, and Turkey maintain a fragile Triumvirate, united less by strength than by necessity. Prosperity and decay, stability and unrest intertwine. The old order has not fully fallen, and no new order has truly taken its place. The balance is precarious — and may collapse at any moment.
To the far East, Russia is no more. Its lands are fractured, its people divided against one another. Countless warlords and factions seek to rebuild a nation from ruin, yet reality stands as an unyielding barrier. Moscow’s glory has long since faded; Vladivostok lies in foreign hands. Still, one truth remains: Russia must be unified — whatever the cost.
This is a world consumed by shadow. Order rests upon fear, and peace endures only through the threat of annihilation.
In such darkness, does victory still hold meaning?
Or perhaps—
Who, if anyone, will be the last to claim it.