Characters / TNO Burgundy

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Unmarked spoilers ahead for both Burgundy and Heydrich's Germany! You Have Been Warned!

Ordensstaat Burgund

Official Name: Ordensstaat Burgund^Tr.Order-State of Burgundy

Ruling Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Himmlerite^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism

The SS Order-State of Burgundy (SS-Ordensstaat Burgund) is a totalitarian pariah state conceived and ruled by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the head of the fanatical Nazi Party paramilitary, the Schutzstaffel. Located in what was once Eastern France and Belgium, Burgundy is exclusively ruled by the SS, and subscribes to a fundamentalist version of National Socialism known as the Burgundian System. Despite official subservience to the Reich, Burgundy answers only to Himmler, and Himmler answers to no one but himself.

Burgundy came into existence after Himmler's failed coup attempt during the West Russian War, when Hitler made a deal with Himmler: Himmler would leave the German political scene, and in exchange receive his own fiefdom made from the eastern part of the French State and Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich. Under Himmler's rule, Burgundy became an isolated kingdom of nightmare and oppression the world had never seen before.

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General Tropes

• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • "Ordensstaat Burgund" is actually the name of a proposed state controlled by Germany that some of the Nazi leadership hoped to create in OTL once they'd occupied France.
  • Burgundy mirrors the reputation of North Korea. They are an isolationist esoteric state vying for nuclear power to back up their image, but their many domestic and logistical issues prevent them from realizing any plans for world domination. Despite having branched away from former allies with their own brand of oppressive authoritarian rule, much of it is reliant on its more influential neighbor Germany and are otherwise despised by much of the world with very few (equally-disliked) sympathizers.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Fortunately for the player, they won't have to do much math when juggling their slaves and secret police on the domestic interface of Burgundy. The GUI for the feature helpfully highlights the states where Himmler's influence is weakening and tells how many slaves will need to be moved out so that the state's loyalty to Himmler will rise again.
• Artistic License – History: The fact that "From Cradle to Grave" is a Burgundy-only event portrays forced child euthanasia as a Burgundy-only policy, even though in reality, forced child euthanasia was a nation-wide policy under Nazi Germany as a part of Aktion T4.
• Balkanize Me: Burgundy can collapse into various squabbling SS Collaborator fiefdoms, with Himmler controlling a rump state.
• Big Blackout: The instigating event for the Burgundian Spring (the Red Poppy Movement's great revolt) is a massive blackout across the entire country.
• Book Burning: To Eichmann's joy, book burnings are treated as a ritual in Burgundy, cleansing the state of any "subversive material".
• Civil War: When Burgundy collapses, the two Belgian SS legions will declare war on each other in addition to on Burgundy, as do the New French State (led by the French SS-Charlemagne legion) and the Red Poppy Movement (a French resistance group).
• Les Collaborateurs: Burgundy employs French and Belgian Waffen-SS regiments that trace their history back to World War II. They have little love for their Burgundian masters, who are attempting to eradicate their culture, but they are forced to serve Burgundy anyway, as doing otherwise would lead to their eradication as well.
• Cruelty Is the Only Option: One of the reasons why playing Burgundy is such a nightmarish experience is that any domestic development, be it political, industrial, or military, is built upon a systemic and gamified representation of oppressive slavery, where things like factories or infrastructure are "exchanged" with a cost of skilled workers. The player is forced to participate in this slave system and go into the shoes of a Burgundian bureaucrat, treating the slaves like a resource token rather than actual people. To develop Burgundy's industry, the player has to feed slaves to Rodomo, which, over time will inevitably have a monthly ''loss'' of skilled workers throughout the region. To develop Burgundy's infrastructure, the player has to work slaves to death. To prevent slaves from rebelling, more slaves must be worked and starved to death, or more Secret Police members have to be stationed in their collective region. There is no way to get around this active player participation in oppression if the player wants to continue playing as Burgundy; if the player stops oppressing the slaves, they will eventually rise and topple the country.
• Crushing the Populace: Burgundy's formation and expansion damn the French and Belgian people residing in its territory to a nightmarish fate. These doomed souls aren't only dying due to accidents and forced labor as depicted above, as the famine and oil crisis are dealt with, over time, entire regions of "skilled workers" will dry out due to forced industrialized farming and brutal conditions. A Burgundy that completes all its focuses and missions will effectively kill thousands per month in every region, steal food openly from civilians, erect weapons factories and synthetic oil refineries to the point that the player, initially juggling the slave labor to put them in well-policed area, will start lacking skilled workers as they are used up in forced farming practices, rapid construction and Rodomo's monthly loss of work accidents even without using its special powers.
• Culture Police: Burgundy has taken it upon itself to purge the "rot" of degeneracy from their society. As such, it tries to eliminate the "degenerate culture" of France and Belgium from their state. The French, Dutch and Franco-Provençal languages are suppressed and destroyed, and their cultures are being wiped out, reduced into a relic of history. This can be seen in the cosmetic provincial culture groups for Burgundy: French, Flemish, and Walloon are replaced by Burgundian, which is described as a man-made culture of total oppression. Once they push to the Seine, Burgundy will also begin to "convert" their new territory into the Burgundian culture.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Soon after the German Civil War breaks out, Burgundy will launch an invasion of the French State. Burgundy has one of the strongest armies in the world, second only to the world's superpowers, while the French State only has a few weak militia squads. The war is deliberately designed to be one-sided (no matter how skilled the person playing as the French State could be), as defeating Burgundy so early would break the story.
• Dark Is Evil: Himmler's Burgundy is (at least initially) the single most evil country on the planet, and their flag and map color are both pitch-black.
• Deadly Euphemism:
  • Burgundian cabinet ministers who betray Himmler's trust are stated to be "disappeared". This being the SS, they were either killed or hauled off to the camps.
  • Burgundy's "skilled workers" are used as currency, "exchanged" for industrial, agricultural, and urbanization developments in Burgundy.
  • Himmler gives his officers a "promotion" whenever he feels like some of them are doing "good jobs".
  • Burgundy uses "liquidation" as a euphemism for "extermination".
• Death Is the Only Option: Burgundy's ultimate victory condition is starting a global thermonuclear war, which will inevitably destroy the Shadow State. Fail to do this before Himmler dies, and Burgundy just disintegrates anyway.
• The Dictatorship: The most extreme example in The New Order universe. While its neighbors are already dictatorships, Burgundy takes it to an absurdly high level as an isolated, closed-off state run by the SS that practices a fanatical form of National Socialism known as the Burgundian System, which emphasizes outright cruelty to make the German people "stronger", ethnic cleansing of non-Aryan groups and outright subjugation, especially if they're the ones to start a nuclear apocalypse.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Ultimately serves as this at the end of TNO1, with Burgundy potentially collapsing in the 1970s thanks to Himmler's excesses due to to massive revolts followed by a US or Unity-Pakt invasion, depending on who France aligned with.
• Dystopia: Burgundy has been described as a nation-sized concentration camp, and it shows. Oppression, slavery, racial purism, and mass extermination have gone from widespread to completely omnipresent. They even have dystopian brutalist architecture.
• The Dog Bites Back: The French and Belgian Waffen-SS regiments are not happy with their current situations, and if given the chance, will rebel and establish their own Ultranationalist factions.
• Empty Quiver: If Heydrich is losing the Civil War, Burgundian divisions will attempt to steal several nuclear weapons for Himmler's... personal use.
• Eviler than Thou: The very concept of Burgundy is a Nazi State so vile and cruel that it makes regular Nazi Germany look like a nice and sane nation to live in. It says something when even Heydrich turns against them after learning their plans for a nuclear holocaust.
• Evil Versus Evil: Burgundy's primary domestic enemies are the collaborator legions, who are none too happy to see their culture get wiped out and wish to establish their own repressive, ultranationalist governments.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: Himmler, a ghastly madman who wants to end the world, will come into conflict with Heydrich, a brutal tyrant who nonetheless doesn't want a nuclear holocaust, should the latter win the German Civil War.
• Evil Wears Black: Their flag is pitch black, they are ruled by the SS that still use their black uniforms, and those who follow the Burgundian System wave similar black flags.
• False Flag Operation: The Kempeitai agent who attempts to assassinate Hitler in early 1962 is in truth a mole of Burgundy. Although he failed in his task, the attempt nonetheless escalates tensions between Germany and Japan, and demonstrates without a doubt that the Reich will not survive the death of Hitler.
• The Famine: Burgundy imports almost all of its food from elsewhere in the Reich. When the imports end and Burgundy is forced to farm its own food, a horrific famine strikes the country, which starves many slaves to death and forces even more to farm themselves to death.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: Himmler's insane plans create gaping economic and industrial problems, which is "controlled" purely through constant violence and repression, which only builds up even more internal pressure. Inevitably, Burgundy will face a massive crisis at the start of the 70s, with its collaborator legions and workers all openly rebelling against Himmler.
• Fate Worse than Death: Living in Ordenstaat Burgundy is to live under the most horrific totalitarian regime imaginable, where only the barest necessities for life are granted. Life as a French or Belgian native is a waking nightmare with no escape but death — a life under a whip, quite literally working until you drop dead from the sheer pain and exhaustion in appallingly inhumane conditions. Even the relatively "privileged" (and that's using that word very charitably) "Aryans" still live under a system of fear and dystopian brutality meant to weed out the weak.
• Final Boss: In Reinhard Heydrich's route, after he secures enough warheads and loyalty in the power struggle between the Anti-Himmler Coalition and Himmlerite loyalists, he'll have to invade and destroy Burgundy.
• Final Solution: Burgundy not only slaughters its French and Belgian population like flies every step of the way, but also destroys their culture and languages. In the final foci, Himmler slaughters the native SS legions' leaders, the last members of the Resistance, effectively turning the entire country into a soulless pit of poverty with a rapidly decaying industrial and academical base.
• Forbidden Zone: Due to the Order-State's totalitarian control over its territory, foreigners are almost non-existent inside its borders, with access only occasionally granted to high-ranking officials from Germany proper.
• Foreign Ruling Class: Burgundy, located in what was once France and Belgium, has a totally German ruling class.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: While Burgundy is nominally part of the Einheitspakt, they do not answer to Germany and are secretly working against them. Because of this, as well as the fact that Himmler got Burgundy as a result of an attempted coup, most German leaders see Burgundy as a traitorous rogue state.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Of the Deliberate Integration variety. At the end of the story, Himmler finally reads an economic report, only to be horrified at how the 'bombed-out hovels of West Africa' are more developed and richer than Burgundy. Sure enough, if you check the GDP-per-capita mapmode, not one state exceeds $100, and the original borders are on par with the Sahara Desert.
• Gone Horribly Right: Germany in part intended Burgundy to be a controlled playground for Himmler and his SS loyalists, keeping them out of the political mainstream until a more permanent solution could be found. Unfortunately for the Reich, this worked a bit too well.
• Industrial Ghetto: One of Burgundy's projects is the intentional conversion of the entire city of Rouen into "Industriebezirk Rodomo", a city-sized industrial concentration camp that functions as a black hole for excess slave labor.
• Industrialized Evil: Burgundy, as the focus tree advances, is so fanatically dedicated to establishing a massive, deadly industrial war camp where a guard getting a slice of apple with his bland bowl of oatmeal is a luxury, that the agricultural infrastructure of pre-war France and Belgium has been effectively destroyed. When Ukraine is ripped from Nazi control, it bites them hard in the ass, necessitating another long minigame of food management so the Ordenstaat doesn't collapse.
• Irony:
  • The Ordenstaat is run by a miserly, penny-pinching, self-loathing, ugly, hateful and purity-obsessed group of alien minority lording over an unassuming society of white Europeans who can only suffer and be used as cannon fodder, their entire monetary reserves and any little wealth controlled by the ruling elite whose leader himself sees as not-Aryan. Said elite also forcefully destroys the old traditional families and cultures and unites Burgundy as an artificial, frugal, thrifty and subservient "one culture" with possible veganism(simple oatmeal and apples for a soldier talks a lot). The so-called elite's goal is to subvert, corrupt and ignite the world in a world war with secret conspiracies and subversions of culture so that they can take over, their new race reigning supreme. For all their talk of hating the Jews, Burgundy mirrors the neo-Nazi "New World Order" and "Z.O.G" (Zionist Occupied Government) conspiracy theories uncannily.
  • invokedReaches absurd levels in hindsight when the capital of the European Union, the bastion of what neo-Nazi conspiracies perceive as "New World Order" today is situated in these three lands.
  • For all of Burgundy's posturing as a pure Aryan ethnostate and the supremacy of the German race, its very existence is reliant on non-German SS-divisions whose only reason they haven't overthrown their colonial overlords is that they hate each other more.
  • During the German Civil War, they have the option of supporting Heydrich and (should Heydrich lose) Goring, but not Speer or Bormann. Speer and Bormann can only invade Burgundy under very specific circumstances (namely, to help France regain it's lost territory), while Goring and Heydrich are guaranteed to come after Burgundy at some point - and in the case of Goring, the game actually does account for the possibility of him winning, unlike with the United States or Japan.
• Keystone Army: Burgundy is dependent solely on Himmler. If there is no Himmler, Burgundy will be disintegrated in no time, to everyone else's relief.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: After the start of the German Civil War, Burgundy will seize the opportunity to invade the French State to solidify its base, close all black market roads coming from France, secure more resources, and formally declare to the world that it is officially not part of Germany anymore. With Germany being engulfed in civil war and unable to provide military aid, the French State is far too weak to pose any sort of resistance to Burgundy.
• Luck-Based Mission: Because Burgundy spends almost all of its efforts and resources on maintaining internal purity, it is almost completely incompetent externally, and Himmler cannot execute his plans to manipulate global politics and cause a nuclear war. As such, Burgundy is totally reliant on the global superpowers luckily stumbling into World War III to achieve Himmler's dreams.
• National Anthem: "SS Marschiert in Feindesland" is the closest thing to a national anthem in Burgundy and its melody is the basis for the "Burgundian Lullaby" song.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: Downplayed, with there being one instance of this. The SS Civil War that follows Heydrich's victory in Germany only happens if the player is controlling him; it cannot be experienced from Burgundy's perspective.
• Non-Indicative Name: While the House of Valois-Burgundy did control a fair amount of the territory that the Ordenstaat now controls, Ordenstaat Burgundy does not actually contain much of Burgundy proper, if any.
• Master Race: Burgundy takes the Nazi Master Race rhetoric to such a high level that other Western Europeans, who are accorded some degree of respect by Nazi Germany in their racial hierarchies, are being dehumanized and enslaved or exterminated.
• Meet the New Boss: If Himmler loses to any of the SS Collaborator Legions, their respective regimes are shown to be not much better than the Burgundian System they replace. For the average citizen, it's just a more tolerable version of the same nightmare, albeit under a French, Flemish, or Wallonian veneer.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Ultimately, Himmler's dream is impossible; his nukes don't actually kill everyone in the world, leaving many so-called Untermenschen to rebuild, and when the descendants of Burgundy finally come out of their Hidden Elf Village, they've become so convinced of the idea that only Aryans survived the end of the world that they believe the new civilizations they meet are therefore Aryan and happily help everyone. This includes Jews who built their Neu Zion in Germania and Third Temple from the Reichstag's remains, the African Muhlar tribe who venerates Siegfried Müller as a god, Russians who toast vodka to the memory of the war, and eventually, an astronaut who speaks a poem while holding the bleached Nazi flag on the moon in the far future, the war and Nazism completely forgotten.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The French and Belgian SS legions have no love for their German masters, and constantly work to undermine the Order-State. If not eliminated, they'll eventually rise up in rebellion.
• Monumental Damage: As part of its plan to erase France's cultural history, Burgundy demolishes many iconic monuments of Paris and rebuilds them in a way that conform to its artistic standards. Only a small number of sites of particular importance to German history, such as the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, will be kept unchanged.
• Obviously Evil: Just look at them! They decorate everything all black (even their country on the map), and their focus tree is filled with images of swastikas, mushroom clouds, and death camps.
• Painting the Medium: To represent the intense secrecy of Burgundy's operations, the names and descriptions of Burgundy's national focuses are hidden when playing as any other country. To every other country, all of Burgundy's focuses are called "STRENG GEHEIM", meaning "TOP SECRET".
• Paper Tiger: On the surface, Burgundy appears as a menacing Big Bad that has efficiently expunged their country of all "subhumans" and have an influential hand in geopolitical affairs, slowly and subtly manipulating the world into a nuclear apocalypse that will kill billions and allow the Aryan race to dominate the Earth. However, a playthrough of Burgundy reveals just how moribund and inefficient Burgundy is in managing their economy and reining in their numerous slaves and collaborators. Ultimately, Burgundy is so busy dealing with these domestic threats, that they can't even muster the resources to significantly sway other countries into starting nuclear war. Even if Himmler manages to stave off these threats in the 1960's, the game makes it absolutely clear that he's only delayed the inevitable and that his iteration of Burgundy is doomed to collapse within the next decade. Recent updates have made sure even the Globalplans are little more than a weak, token attempt at influencing some countries into fascism with a few agents who disappear soon anyway(and fail miserably).
• Place Worse Than Death: As mentioned in Fate Worse than Death, Burgundy is the crown-jewel in The New Order's status as a Crapsack World, a hellishly dystopian spartanist state where the life expectancy is in the 20s and a slice of apple with his bland bowl of oatmeal is a luxury are considered to be luxuries. It genuinely manages to make even Oceania look like a socialist paradise by contrast with how barbarically cruel it is, as Oceania at least inverts all the luxuries to the lower class as to better control the middle and upper class in a brutal Cult of Personality. Here, if you're name isn't Himmler, everyone suffers in this state. The game gives a clear perspective to how nightmarish such a place would be in actuality given among the first events features a baby being euthanized for having "Mongoloid" features; it's damningly telling that while The New Order in general is A World Half Full and can potentially get better with the right endings (and, mind you, potentially get much worse as well), there is no saving Burgundy, as the best ending for the nation is it collapsing altogether.
• Please Select New City Name: As part of Burgundy's aggressive Germanisation policies, every former French or Belgian city within its territory had to be given German names if they didn't have one already^note Kalen (Calais), Dükirchen (Dunkerque), Merowechskrone (Amiens), Ryssel (Lille), Hafenstadt (Le Havre), Rodomo (Rouen), Virten (Verdun), Rheimen (Reims), Trojen (Troyes), Autrikus (Auxerre), Tischau (Dijon), Bisanz (Besançon), Leyden (Lyon), Graswalde (Grenoble), Eburo (Évreux), Neustadt (Versailles), Mannzeller (Le Mans), Aurelstadt (Orléans), Turon (Tours), Piktenstadt (Poitiers), Limogen (Limoges), Burgen (Bourges), Vichusstadt (Vichy) and Stefanstadt (Saint-Étienne).
• Purple Is the New Black: It's not like Burgundy has a shortage of black, either, but purple is also widely used in Burgundian focus icons.
• R-Rated Opening: In one of Burgundy's first events, a mother is forced to name her newborn son for bureaucratic purposes a minute after being told that he was euthanized for "mongoloid" traits. Many players stopped their Burgundy game right here. And it only gets worse, to the point that the baby can be considered lucky to have died there and then.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: Despite being de jure part of Germany, Himmler's SS-led Burgundy is de facto independent from the Reich's control. They are also so insanely radical that they are hated by basically everyone in Germany except the German SS. When the German civil war breaks out, Burgundy cuts ties with the homeland for good and also leaves the Einheitspakt.
• Slave Race: Burgundy enslaves the French and Belgian people on the territory it took from France and Belgium.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Nazi Germany is already an awful country for abusing millions of forced laborers, but Burgundy takes slavery to a new level by actively trying to work all of their slaves to death with the exact calories keeping them alive until their master plan is complete.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The harshest example in-game, examining why a hyper-genocidal Nazi state would never succeed in even a semi-fantastical setting like TNO.
  • Himmler denies economic reports right around the start of the game, makes up numbers, sends people to death and uses slave labor production and neglects any semblance of civilian economy. Even the economics interface took a bullet◊. Needless to say, the forced labor to make up the discrepancy between actual figures and reality catches up when starving slave workers get insane enough to destroy Burgundy along with them.
  • The "Globalpläne" foci are downgraded to token increases in fascism in other countries, and per TNO politics, do not affect anything at all because Burgundy dedicates too much time and resources to keep their domestic situations stable and their intelligence agency is simply outpaced by the superpowers'.
  • Even if nuclear armageddon were achieved and Burgundy's goal fulfilled, the surviving Aryans won't create their "pure" utopia because they're just as vulnerable to fallout as any other race.
• The Spartan Way: Burgundy is built on the ideals of Himmler and it shows. The Aryan people in Burgundy are under constant watch, obliged to serve in factories or the army, are not allowed to have too many luxuries and experience constant rationing. Needless to say, for non-Aryan people (about half of the population of Burgundy), the situation is even worse.
• State Sec: Burgundy is the personal fiefdom of Himmler and the SS. It's more of a nation that the SS has rather than a nation that has the SS.
• Stress Vomit: As the Burgundian Spring rolls around, Himmler realizes that he can no longer ignore the truth about the terrible state of the Burgundian ecomony, even if he was previously willing to kill Oswald Pohl over being too honest about it. As a nervous aide lays out the facts before him, Himmler is so shaken that he ends up walking out on the briefing without a word, straggers into the adjacent room, and then throws up on the floor.
• Stupid Evil: The description of the Burgundian System as an economy makes it clear that it's an unsustainable system of oppressing the underclass as slaves and offering no respite for anyone else. The longer the system is in place, the more this underclass must be expanded, until either all manpower has been exhausted or the people finally revolt.
• Sword of Damocles: Burgundy steals nuclear weapons from Germany during the German Civil War, no matter who wins, and produces some of its own in order to deter any potential invader.
• Thoughtcrime: Himmler's vision of purity is so extreme that he gives ideology tests to aspiring SS officers, and anyone judged to be insufficiently loyal to the Burgundian System is summarily Unpersoned.
• Villain Protagonist: There is no shortage of genocidal and tyrannical states in the world of TNO, but Burgundy beats out all of them in villainy, ruling its territory with an absolutely dystopic ideology, and being ruled by a man who knowingly wants to destroy the world. Thus, a playthrough as Burgundy will cause you to play this role. Notably, unlike some other "evil" states across the world, there is no possible way to reform or change Burgundy's government to something more humane before it collapses.
• Villainous Legacy:
  • As much as the SS Collaborator Legions resent Himmler for various reasons, neither of them are much better. If anything, even if Burgundy falls, should either of them emerge dominant, they'll ensure that the Burgundian nightmare would endure under their version of it.
  • Even if the Burgundian nightmare is put down for good, it would take generations to undo the damage done, in both a material and psychological sense.
• Would Hurt a Child: In one extremely infamous opening event, "From Cradle to Grave", a German mother's son is euthanized upon birth for displaying signs of "mongolism" (the now-obsolete term for Down syndrome), and the mother's first look at her baby is through a form notifying her of her son's death, that a cold nurse gave to her to request a name for the baby so the Burgundian bureaucrats can fill out their forms.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: When the German Civil War starts, Burgundy invades the French State to secure resources and secedes from the Einheitspakt. With the battle being one-sided in their favor and the potential for nuclear exchange warding off any ideas of interference, they execute everything without a hitch.

Reichsführer-SS

Heinrich Himmler

^{Post-Burgundian Collapse Himmler portrait}

^{New Himmler portrait, coming in Victor & the Judge}

Role: Head of State

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Himmlerite^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Heinrich Himmler has been a loyal member of the Nazi Party for decades, having even joined in the abortive Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. And much like the months following the Putsch, the Reich's failures have left Himmler embittered, disillusioned, and more devoted to his ideology than ever before.

When the postwar euphoria wore off and the grand projects began to strain German industry, Himmler's faith wavered. When the economy collapsed and the government in Germania was powerless to save it, his faith faltered. And when the Russians nearly took back Moskowien, his faith shattered. This could not be a Jewish plot or Allied sabotage. Nobody stabbed the Reich in the back... except the Nazis themselves.

Himmler became convinced that the Nazi Party had been corrupted and was rotting Germany from the inside out. It was Himmler's duty - no, his mandate - to save the Reich from itself. From Paris, to Germania, to the rapidly-disintegrating A-A Line in the east, Waffen-SS units prepared to topple Hitler and right Germany's course. However, Speidel got wind of the plot and snuffed it in the cradle with Operation Backfire.

With word of Himmler's plan leaked, and dozens of divisions captured, it seemed as if the SS was doomed. Hitler, in a rare moment of lucidity, knew that killing Himmler would trigger a civil war, so he offered Himmler a fiefdom far away from Germania, one where he could stay out of Reich politics: SS-Ordensstaat Burgundy. Himmler reluctantly accepted, leaving control of the Deutschen-SS to his loyal lieutenant Reinhard Heydrich, and left for Ost-Paris. But Himmler has only grown more steadfast in his views, and he has not forgotten the injustice against him...

70's In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Incompetence. Sabotage. Treason. From the very beginning Heinrich Himmler had been surrounded by those who wished nothing more than to see him fail, to see his grand vision for Burgundy collapse into dust, degeneracy, and anarchy.

Despite this, Heinrich Himmler endures.

The state he has devoted his life to is little more than a hollowed out husk, one stripped of nature and color. One filled with concrete cemeteries of industry that lie dormant in the darkness of the blackout. One with a population in revolt, or living in abject terror.

The state he presides over is a mass grave, yet to Himmler it does not matter how many die. Thousands have died on his orders, and would condemn thousands more to see the dream of Burgundy realized - even as it collapses all around him. It does not matter that his authority is ignored. It does not matter that resistance grows stronger. It does not matter, because it cannot matter. The Shadow State may be a shambling corpse of a nation, awaiting its final breath, but he will hold onto the dream until the very end.

Because without Burgundy, he is nothing.

In-Game Biography (Burgundian Collapse) ^{Click to Show}It was never supposed to be this way.

Who, ultimately, is responsible for the failure of the Ordensstaat? Not he, of course - not the Reichsführer! Subversive elements are everywhere, naturally, for that is the way of the Eternal Jew. But was he not careful enough? Twelve years of the Gestapo grinding down on the emaciated neck of France, and still the perfidious nation kept its secrets from them? Unlikely! No, it was higher up, closer to the top. The SS Legions were already suspect for their selfish, anti-German nationalism, but hadn't they all been checked, double-checked, checked again, and monitored for the entirety of their service? It had to be higher still!

Heydrich, maybe? His failure after such an illustrious career was suspect. 'White Moses', they used to call him. He had always believed it to be a mere schoolboy taunt, but did the slur sprout from a seed of truth? Or perhaps he was an unwitting servant of the Jew, like Oswald Pohl? No, impossible - that didn't make any sense! What rational explanation could there be for this outcome?

So goes the delusional mind of Heinrich Himmler, running in circles and chasing shadows, even as his subordinates beg for orders and the crackle of gunfire grows ever closer.

In the 1950s, the Reich was in deep trouble. The fires of the German economic crash and the West Russian War threatened to engulf the Reich in its entirety. Heinrich Himmler, having been loyal to the Nazi Party for decades, had a crisis of faith. The Nazi Party had failed Germany; it was corrupt, decadent, and far, far too soft, and he saw it as his mandate to bring Germany back on course again. From Paris to Moscow, Himmler's Schutzstaffel prepared to topple the government and take control of the Reich.

The coup was a failure, thanks to intervention by Hans Speidel's loyalists; however, Hitler realized that simply executing Himmler would cause a civil war that would shatter the Reich. Thus, Hitler offered Himmler a state of his own, the Order-State of Burgundy, in return for him and his SS forever leaving the German political sphere. As time went on, Himmler and Burgundy became more isolated, more powerful, and more unhinged. Himmler envisions a world of utterly purity - not just in Burgundy, but across all of the world.

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• 0% Approval Rating: Due to his plans for the world, he manages to get an impressive roster of people who oppose him, especially in a Heydrich run.
• Afraid of Blood: Despite being one of the biggest mass murderers in the setting, Himmler gets squeamish over having to personally execute Henri Grouès, leader of the Red Poppy Movement, finding death to be "distasteful". This is Truth in Television too, as the real Himmler felt nauseous whenever he witnessed executions, and on both occasions he went to personally inspect a concentration camp, the sights he witnessed during his visits made him vomit.
• All for Nothing: Possibly the most damning indictment on Himmler's competence is also the most ironic one: he ultimately never has any chance to truly "win," no matter how hard he rigs the board. All of Himmler's plans, due to his inability to handle criticism, the inherent flaws of Nazism exaggerated with the Burgundian System and his sheer inability to understand human nature meant his plots were a three-prong Morton's Fork; either his plans to instigate nuclear war fail and potentially backfire on the Nazi state altogether, or they succeed and draw everything closer to his ideal of a pure Aryan state through nuclear genocide... only to completely fall apart without his cult of personality present, and if anything, does a far more effective job at eradicating Nazism than any Jewish plot could ever hope to do. All Himmler is doing is chasing phantoms, and everything his ideals of a world only inhabited by Aryans ever amounts to is the destruction of the power of his own ideology in a thermonuclear Reset Button.
• And Then What?: Himmler wanted to effectively kill off all of the "undesirables" among humanity through thermonuclear holocaust so only the "true Aryan race" can survive... and that's about as far as Himmler thought into it, not considering or even planning out how the Burgundian slaves would even respond to this new world order, if they were even educated on upholding fascism as an ideology. Predictably, this leads to the failure of his plans to impose an eternal Aryan state even in the event he technically succeeds.
• Asshole Victim: Even in the routes where he bites it, it's pretty much impossible to feel anything resembling pity towards the man that is complacent in the deaths of millions and has made a real-world Place Worse Than Death for his people to suffer in that makes North Korea look like a socialist paradise.
• Bad Boss: Himmler doesn't tolerate failures and treats faulty subordinates in a pure Spartanist manner. Joachim von Ribbentrop (for opposing his invasion of France) and Oswald Pohl (just for calling attention to the fact that Burgundy had unsolvable budget shortfalls) learn it the hard way. Even the very first event displays this trope about Himmler, featuring the purge of General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsführer of Burgundy. He's The Starscream to the German Führer, and has much bigger plans for the world than Germany - namely drenching the world in nuclear hellfire in the hopes that only "pure" people will survive. Despite his plotting, Himmler is still subordinate and actually lacks the proper means to enact his insane goals. With Burgundy's capabilities, he's far too busy oppressing the natives than manipulating the world powers into starting a nuclear war, which makes him a mere background villain in the grand scheme of things.
• The Caligula: When all his plans backfire and culminate in mass revolts in the Burgundian Spring, Himmler loses whatever composure he has left and becomes a paranoid, pathetic wreck who orders the execution of any of his subordinates at a whim.
• Can't Take Criticism: If Himmler tells one of his subordinates to speak freely, they better not heed that advice or else they get purged for insubordination. He only ever seeks his ministers' counsel because he wants to get confirmation for his means and ideology.
• Classic Villain: Representing hatred, wrath, and ambition in fullness. He decorates his Ordenstaat with an even more Obviously Evil appearance than that of Nazi Germany. Himmler is so consumed with hatred that he would rather see the world bathed in hellfire than any of the so-called "lesser races" survive. He intends to attain this goal through his SS manipulating events behind the scenes, moving the world towards nuclear armageddon out of his hatred.
• Deadly Euphemism: In a letter to Heydrich, Himmler offers to look past his "underwhelming performance in the past" if he can take over Germany. However, he also warns him that there will be severe consequence if he doesn't.
  The Ordenstaat has no place for failures, Heydrich.
• Defector from Decadence: Himmler views himself as one, believing that the Nazi Party has become stagnant and prone to failure, and that it is his duty to take up the ideological torch.
• Didn't Think This Through: A disturbing amount of Himmler's fascist extremism in of itself would've been avoided if he had actually assumed a more nuanced stance for more than five seconds on the logistics and indoctrination with the Burgundian proles he lords over after the nuclear apocalypse happens; he didn't even think this through, practically ensuring his plans were doomed before they even begun due to his hardline stances.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Even as mass revolts spring up towards the 1970's and his own health begins to deteriorate, Himmler is still determined to uphold his vision for Burgundy and destroy the resistance.
• Do Wrong, Right: Himmler rebelled against the government under the belief that the Nazi Party had grown degenerate and corrupt, and that Germany needed a return to a more fundamentalist course.
• Dramatic Irony: Himmler purges the majority of his cabinet and only spares Eichmann and Eriksson, whom he considers to be the only men left that he can trust. Unknown to the Reichsführer, the two men he keeps are actually traitors, while the rest of his cabinet are the true loyalists.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: As the original creator of the Burgundian System of National Socialism, Himmler's fundamentalist beliefs in National Socialism leads him to seek Aryan purism to an utterly absurd degree. Dutch and French culture are considered degenerate and purged from Burgundy, Aryanism in the SS is enforced down to how Aryans are supposed to think, and global nuclear destruction is justified to totally cleanse Earth of the Untermenschen.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The very idea of somebody being kind for no ulterior reasons in of itself is alien to Himmler, and it's ultimately this fatal lack of understanding of the human spirit as he forcibly tries and fails to mold it into one of hatred that effectively dooms all of his plans to failure, even in the event he "wins".
• Evil Is Petty: Himmler mandates paintings of himself in the exact same position and size as the Hitler portraits present in Burgundy, where they are to be hung at the same height.
• Evil Overlord: Checks all the major boxes: a powerful despot with significant resources sitting in a fortified, secluded, and oppressive kingdom, planning for global destruction.
• Failure Is the Only Option: In a way, even if Himmler can bring forth the nuclear apocalypse, it turns out that it does not lead to the 'Aryan utopia' without 'lesser races' he envisions, because reality does not follow Himmler's delusions that blond hair or blue eyes grant can any sort of resistance to nuclear explosions and radioactive fallout.
• Fatal Flaw: Himmler has many flaws that lead to the fact his efforts are doomed no matter what he does — inability to handle criticism, Pride, a sheer inability to understand basic human decency — but one flaw unites them all in one supercategory: his extremism. Himmler was so extreme politically that he was effectively Reassigned to Antarctica by the other Nazis, when even they were creeped out by him; his utter dogmatic devotion to the idea of Aryan purity and Nazism causes him to be utterly refusing to compromise in any way, and either destroys Burgundy altogether in a spectacular collapse, or succeeds in thermonuclear war which in turn obliterates Nazism from the public consciousness altogether with it. Quite literally, almost all of Himmler's problems would be solved if not mitigated outright if he was more pragmatic in his approach to villainy; Nazism has a far better chance of success at winning the Cold War if a moderate reformist Nazi like Speer was in charge than somebody as utterly insane as Himmler.
• Fat Bastard: His 70s portait makes him look very fat.
• Final Solution: Himmler sees non-Aryans across the world as the problem, and his solution is a global nuclear war that would exterminate all non-Aryans.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: As always, Himmler is depicted with his omnipresent pair of glasses, and he might very well be the evilest human being in this mod.
• Hate Sink: Far and away the single most vile character in the entire game, which is really saying something. He's an unrepentantly cruel fascist who organized the Holocaust and was considered too extreme even among other Nazis, and has turned Burgundy into a spartanist hellhole state on top of trying to initiate thermonuclear war worldwide, which will kill millions — if not billions — of people should he succeed. To top it all off, he's a Dirty Coward of the highest order and is completely unable to handle criticism. Even other similarly-irredeemable fascists like Heydrich and Taboritsky are given redeeming qualities; Heydrich for his Heel Realization and realizing that literally all he ever worked for was for quite literally nothing, and Taboritsky going insane upon realizing that Alexei was Dead All Along. Himmler, meanwhile, has no redeeming qualities to speak of, as his heart is as black as the Burgundian sun he claims is his birthright.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Himmler's actual agenda is known only to Himmler himself and his very narrow circle of supporters. Even Heydrich, his protégé, isn't aware of Himmler's true motives until he wins the German Civil War.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Heinrich Himmler, while already one of the most evil Nazis in real life, has gotten even worse in TNO, making Hitler of all people look decent in comparison. He creates a form of Nazism that's more extreme than Nazism, and plots for the destruction of all of the non-Aryan world, being more genocidal and warlike than Hitler ever was.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Losing faith in most of his men, Himmler proclaims Eichmann and Eriksson as the few people left that he can trust, unaware that they're secretly planning to coup him when the time is right.
• Hypocrite: He enforces Spartan-like lifestyles for everyone to follow, which includes abstinence from alcohol. However, when the Burgundian Spring erupts, Himmler starts drinking as a coping mechanism to the increasingly dire situation.
• In Their Own Image: Himmler wants to set the entire world on fire of nuclear apocalypse, destroying the entire Human civilization in process, so the Aryan race, as the strongest and fittest to survive the nuclear war, can recolonize lands and build the new world for themselves.
• Insane Troll Logic: If Burgundy collapses, Himmler can barely rationalize the situation, thinking that Heydrich was somehow behind the sabotage, simply because his old classmates used to call him a "White Moses". The only other conclusion he comes to is that the Jews manipulated him into destroying his own country, but even he recognizes how little sense this makes when gives a second of thought.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: When the Burgundian Spring begins, Himmler decides to try and stem his frayed nerves as report after report of SS positions getting overrun by rebels keep on coming in by chugging whiskey. Before taking a glup of the booze, he briefly considers how he has always preached and railed against alcohol as a poison and that he is betraying his own Spartan ideals by drinking it right now, but he needs to do something to stop himself from shaking uncontrollably.
• Knight Templar: Fanatically, almost religiously, devoted to the idea of pure Aryan state and the utmost ideals of Nazism, Himmler is unquestionably the worst offender of this in an entire party of genocidal, fascist Knight Templars.
• Kicked Upstairs: After his failed coup, Hitler gave Himmler a fiefdom in Burgundy so he would leave Germany's political sphere forever.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Himmler hates almost the entirety of humanity (aside from a small group of Aryans) whom he deems sub-human, and he is absolutely willing to subject the world to a nuclear holocaust in order to completely exterminate them.
• Never My Fault: Himmler is utterly incapable of acknowledging or recognizing the inherent flaws in his Burgundian System, believing it to be an absolute perfect method of government, even as his subordinates all around him can see clear as day how the very apparatus they are trying to enforce is leading to Burgundy's collapse. To him, any and all evidence that the state is faltering under his governance is due to outside forces interfering in his 'perfect system' and must be eradicated, and his ministers pointing out the shortcoming of Burgundy's policies is a sign of treachery to both Burgundy and Aryanism as a whole. Once the Burgundian Spring fires off and Burgundy collapses into anarchy as a direct result of Himmler's oppressive, tyrannical governance, rather than realize it was all the result of his policies Himmler instead doubles down, declaring all but two of his minsters to be compromised and purges the rest as he desperately tries to gain control of the situation.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Himmler seeks to destroy all lesser races, as well as the entirety of human civilization, through nuclear means, so the Aryans can restart the world, recolonize the Earth, and create a utopia.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: As punishment for his attempted coup, Hitler exiled Himmler to Burgundy, so that he can be forever banished from mainstream politics, preventing a potential civil war with his loyalists and leaving control of the Deutsche-SS to Heydrich.
• Reassignment Backfire: Himmler was put in charge of Burgundy so he would be as far away from German politics as possible, and would instead have to spend most of his time pacifying the rebellious French and Belgians. Hitler's plan was that the SS who stayed in Germany could then be brought back in line until Burgundy could be dealt with. The continued collapse of the Reich meant that this never happened, especially with the SS still ostensibly being one of the only somewhat competent and useful military organisations in Germany, and the German Civil War finally put the nail into the coffin. Meanwhile, Himmler merely had to strive for his goals behind the curtain, and the military potential of Burgundy is more than expedient for his plans.
• Sanity Slippage: Age, the horrifying experiences during the West Russian War in the 50s, and watching over the slow decline of the Reich made Himmler more and more entrenched and certain of his Spartanist and omnicidal beliefs, with the failure of his attempt to assassinate Hitler being the breaking point for him.
• The Scapegoat: As part of his propaganda campaign, Kiesinger uses Heinrich Himmler as a scapegoat for all of Germany's woes, Himmler being guilty enough already that nobody will mind a few more crimes being ascribed to him.
• Shoot the Messenger: Oswald Pohl might be one of Himmler few real friends, but he will still have him purged without any hesitation when he admits that the Ordensstaat has a unsolvable budget shortfall on their hands. The way Himmler sees it, Pohl's statement is evidence that he has turned against him, because he firmly believes said "admission" is an obvious lie and a pathetic attempt to undermine his faith in the Burgundian System, because the system is designed by him to be perfect and can therefore not possibly contain any flaws.
• The Social Darwinist: Himmler's utter disgust of "weakness" leads him to forcibly impose the Spartanist lifestyle upon his Aryan subjects and make plans to instigate nuclear holocaust and exterminate all non-Aryans.
• The Starscream: He attempted to oust Hitler and take over the Reich during the West Russian War, but failed. Even from Burgundy, he still plots against the Reich, and many speculate he plans to take over Germany again, not realizing the true goal of Himmler's plans...
• Stupid Evil: Exaggerated. Himmler's devotion to the fascist ideology is so extreme that it ends up looping back to this. All of Himmler's plans and goals — from making Burgundy into a terrifying hellstate and his plans for nuclear war — do a far greater job at destroying the credibility of Nazism as an ideology than it does to save it, with nuclear war even wiping out the very idea of Nazism from future generations and giving humanity a fresh start. Himmler even lacked any sort of contingency plans into the idea of what would happen after thermonuclear war would start, as his repressive fascism and the Burgundians being so utter uneducated led them to assume all others on the surface were fellow Aryans as well.
• Tempting Fate: After he suppresses the rebellious collaborators and the Red Poppy Movement, Himmler celebrates his victory and proclaims that the Aryan race will prosper forever in the invincible state of Burgundy. Shortly afterwards, massive riots break out throughout the country in the Burgundian Spring and Himmler's forces are unable to contain them.
• Thanatos Gambit: Himmler considers himself and Burgundy perfectly disposable as long as his plan proceeds.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • He has one when the "Kempeitai" assassin fails to kill Adolf Hitler, exploding into a wild rant about "the inept assassin, the Japanese race, the ever-menacing Jews, the decrepit Führer, his damnable personal guard, and every god he could name", before slumping back, suddenly feeling hopeless at the failure.
  • After Heydrich wins the German Civil War, he'll betray Himmler and subsequently capture him in the ensuing 2nd Civil War. Himmler can only call Heydrich will be the end of their conspiracy, spouting antisemitic claims, and call Heydrich "A Jew in human skin" all while his voice cracks and stammers like the cowardly rat he is.
  • When he's unable to contain the Burgundian Spring, Himmler grows distraught, unable to bear the thought that his Burgundian experiment is falling apart before his own eyes.
• When He Smiles: A very dark example. Seeing a successful nuclear test is the first time Himmler has smiled in years.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Himmler's nuke plot isn't based on any idea he had in real life, but rather the plot of the apocalyptically white supremacist book The Turner Diaries by American neo-Nazi writer William Luther Pierce.
• You Have Failed Me: In the face of growing riots in the Burgundian Spring, Himmler blames his entire cabinet, barring Eichmann and Eriksson, for failing him and has them all purged.

Burgundian Ministers

Oswald Pohl

Role: Economy Minister (Himmler cabinet)

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism

Head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office and head administrator of the concentration camps during the war. Serves as the Economy Minister of Burgundy in 1962.

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• Gameplay and Story Integration: Once he is purged, the player can no longer adjust Burgundy's economy, as the normal economic screen in-game will be broken with a bullet hole on its surface. It represents how Himmler has no interest in reforming his state for the sake of long-term survival and signifies that Burgundy will inevitably collapse at some point.
• Only Sane Man: Unique among Himmler's more sycophantic minions, Pohl recognizes that Himmler's uncontrolled spending will lead to Burgundy's demise and he tries warning him about this. Unfortunately for him, Himmler not only refuses to believe him, he even sees this as treason.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Pohl urges Himmler to cut his bloated spending so that Burgundy's economy won't implode and compromise its stability.
• Sacrificial Lamb: He dies within the first two years of the game, but his execution destroys any hope of Burgundy reforming its economy and subverting its collapse.
• The Starscream: Subverted. Pohl is actually trying to do his job as Economic Minister when he warns Himmler of an upcoming financial crisis, but Himmler perceives his advice as treason because he believes that his vision for Burgundy is perfect as is.
• Villain Has a Point: Pohl is absolutely correct that Burgundy has inherent economic problems that significantly harm the nation's lifespan in the long term. Unfortunately, Himmler doesn't want to hear it and even perceives his criticism as cause to have him purged.
• Villainous Friendship: Pohl was one of the few people Himmler had a personal friendship with. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop Himmler from purging him when Pohl gives the news that he can't resolve Burgundy's budget problem.

Joachim von Ribbentrop

Role: Foreign Minister (Himmler cabinet)

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism

The former foreign minister of the Third Reich, with numerous connections to the Schutzstaffel, which swayed him towards Himmler's side during the coup. He occupies the very same position in the Order-State of Burgundy in 1962.

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• Defector from Decadence: He sided with Himmler during the coup because of his hatred of almost every other senior member of the Nazi Party.
• Expert in Underwater Basket Weaving: Ribbentrop is an excellent diplomat, but there's not much call for a Foreign Minister in a pariah state that's isolated not just from the rest of the world, but the Einheitspakt itself, and whose interactions with other countries usually consists solely of backing Schutzstaffel rump states if they collapse.
• Harmless Villain: Ribbentrop serves as the Foreign Minister of Burgundy, a job that is functionally useless, since conventional diplomacy is not something that Burgundy does.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Ribbentrop opposes the Burgundian invasion of France because it would only lead to unnecessary casualties for Burgundy, in which those lives could've been better spent on other purposes beyond a pointless war. While he manages to get support from two Burgundian admirals, Himmler is not as open to suggestion and views it as enough justification to purge all three of them.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Ribbentrop is an experienced diplomat, having served as the Foreign Minister of Germany before and during the Second World War. But now he holds that same position in a pariah state that is essentially run like a massive concentration camp, with barely any information about it making it outside. Any foreign relations it maintains are informal at best, making his position pretty much worthless, as his only real job is to maintain a facade of Burgundy's legitimacy on the international stage, and to cover up Burgundy's many, many atrocities. The entire ordeal seems to have taken a toll on Joachim, as his portrait shows him noticeably tired and despondent.^note His portrait was actually modified from Ribbentrop's photo in his cell at Nuremberg.
• The Resenter: During the decade he served as Germany's Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop was constantly sidelined. After World War II, he was basically forced to resign due to Hitler personally increasingly disliking him, and was replaced by Walther Hewel, whom he hates. His hatred of almost every other senior Nazi led him to side with the SS during their failed coup.
• Too Dumb to Live: Only God knows what Ribbentrop expected when he condemned Himmler's invasion of France.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Less than two years after the game begins, when Burgundy invades the French State in response to the eruption of the German civil war, Himmler 'promotes' Walter Schellenberg to Ribbentrop's position of Burgundy's Foreign Minister due to Ribbentrop's opposition to the invasion.

Sepp Dietrich

^{Dietrich, the Duke of Bavaria}

Role: Military Commander, Security Minister (Himmler cabinet), Head of State (SS Civil War)

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism, Warlordism^note Despotism (SS Civil War)

Former bodyguard of Adolf Hitler during the rising years of the Nazi Party, and later one of the top-ranking officers of the Waffen-SS. Serves as the Security Minister of Burgundy in 1962.

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• Anarcho-Tyranny: As the "Duke of Bavaria" in the chaotic SS Civil War, he decrees for the territory to become a place of "ordered anarchy", an unstable region loosely managed by paramilitary groups loyal to him.
• Ascended Extra: Dietrich only gets a major role in Heydrich's Germany. In Himmler's Burgundy, he's only mentioned towards the end of the playthrough.
• The Caligula: When Germany collapses into warlordism following Heydrich's victory in the Civil War, Dietrich goes mad and returns to his native Bavaria, there to declare himself Duke of Bavaria.
• Despair Event Horizon: Seeing the Reich collapse into the German Civil War disillusioned him after he dedicated his life to serving and guarding Hitler. The SS Civil War rising from Heydrich's betrayal and the further shattering of Germany drives him off the deep end.
• Evil Old Folks: Dietrich is so old that it begins to negatively affect his health and work, meaning that Himmler has to replace him with Barbie when revolts begin springing up in Burgundy.
• Make Way for the New Villains: He gets purged for his incompetence and replaced with Barbie, who's even more brutal and sadistic than his predecessor.
• Nazi Nobleman: Switches from following the Burgundian System to being the despotic "Duke" of his conquered fiefdom after losing his mind in the SS Civil War.
• Madness Makeover: When Dietrich declares himself Duke of Bavaria after Heydrich wins the German Civil War, he replaces his SS uniform with an anachronistic fur coat and crown, signifying that he has gone off the deep end.
• Rags to Royalty: A completely deranged take on this during the SS Civil War, as he conquers Upper Bavaria and proclaims himself Duke of Bavaria.
• Totalitarian Gangsterism: Claiming rule over Bavaria in Heydrich's campaign, he rules his chaotic self-declared fiefdom with patrols from his "Volkswache", organized from several former prisoners.
• Trading Bars for Stripes: After Dietrich declares himself Duke of Bavaria in a Heydrich playthrough, many imprisoned criminals declare their loyalty to him and asks him to pardon them. In a show of magnanimity, Dietrich has 100 of them executed and inducts the rest into the newly formed Volkswache (People's Guard).
• You Have Failed Me: When the people of Burgundy rebel, in spite of the Red Poppy Movement's dissolution, Himmler purges Dietrich, blaming his incompetence for the Burgundian Spring occurring.

Adolf Eichmann

Role: Head of Government (Himmler cabinet), Head of State (SS Civil War)

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism, Spartanism^note National Socialism (SS Civil War)

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• Bastard Understudy: Eichmann is the highest-ranking Nazi left by the time Himmler purges the rest of his cabinet, where he secretly collaborates with Eriksson to one day overthrow their boss.
• Do Wrong, Right: During a book burning, Eichmann judges the SS soldiers in charge of the ritual because they aren't enthusiastic enough. To him, they're just mechanically doing their job and aren't fully committing themselves to the National Socialist cause.
• Enemy Mine: To overthrow Himmler, Eichmann forms an alliance with Eriksson, even though both fully intend to betray each other at some point.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A bespectacled, genocidal Nazi, just like his boss.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: While Eichmann was already infamous enough in OTL for Israel warrant a Mossad operation, in TNO he becomes even more notorious. This in no small part due to how he's now able to do achieve his goals without significant scrutiny.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He's paramount to Burgundy's survival, in charge of investigating and rooting out disloyal collaborators and resistance movements. By the time he prepares to betray Himmler, it's implied that his version of Burgundy will have a longer lifespan.
• Lack of Empathy: Cold-blooded and hateful, Eichmann holds no regrets for any of the war crimes he's initiated during the Holocaust and after.
• Misanthrope Supreme: He fully agrees with Himmler's nuclear plot to wipe out every non-Aryan race, leading the Globalpläne department to realize their goal.
• The Power of Apathy: While educating a class of SS officers, Eichmann teaches them that the concept of evil exists, but not as a label for their gross atrocities. Instead, he says that evil exists as a Zionist tool to make people apathetic to their manipulations and "degeneracy", in which it's up to the SS to stand against them.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Eichmann secretly resents Himmler for his incompetence, blaming him for all of the inherent issues contributing to Burgundy's slow demise.
• The Spymaster: Eichmann is in charge of investigating and hunting down Burgundy's most dangerous domestic threats, including the SS-Charlemagne, the SS-Wallonien, and the Red Poppy Movement.
• The Starscream: Perceiving Himmler as a failure, Eichmann teams up with Eriksson to plot a coup against Himmler and try to keep his Burgundian state alive.
• Villain Has a Point: Eichmann derides Himmler as an incompetent leader whose own stubbornness contributed to the uncontrllable instability of Burgundy. It's hard to disagree with that sentiment.
• Villainous Friendship: Implied to have one with Heinrich Himmler, as shown when he includes a postscript in one of his letters to Himmler, mentioning how much he enjoyed having dinner with him and his wife. However, any genuine friendship they may have had gets tossed out the window when Himmler's health begins to deteriorate and the Burgundian Spring occurs, in which Eichmann begins developing treacherous thoughts towards his friend.

Klaus Barbie

Role: Security Minister (Himmler cabinet), Head of State (SS Civil War)

Ideology: Burgundian System^note National Socialism

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• Ambiguous Situation: In the SS Civil War, his rule in Danzig is so brutal that many debate over whether his methods are a scare tactic to bring the Poles into submission or if he's trying to initiate a Final Solution against them.
• Face Death with Dignity: With Himmler's sanity slipping by the 1970's, he purges most of his inner circle out of loathing for their "failure". Barbie visibly swallows in panic, but he nonetheless stands firm and calmly follows his executioners out the door.
• Red Baron: Just like in real life, Barbie is known as the Butcher of Lyon due to his brutal tortures of enemies during his time in Vichy France. As Barbie is commanded by Himmler to begin liquidating Brutalist cities, he's simply nicknamed "the Butcher".
• Sadist: When Barbie receives orders from Himmler to suppress the Burgundian Spring rebels, he flashes a smile, eager to start massacring people.
• The Spymaster: In a Heydrich playthrough, Klaus Barbie is Himmler's eyes and ears in East Prussia, his intelligence operatives siphoning all of the information passing over the region and sending them to Himmler.
• Stupid Evil: His brutal oppression of the people just feeds their anger and they begin revolting against their masters, having nothing else to lose. This even backfires on Barbie himself, as Himmler blames him for the Burgundian Spring and purges him.
• Undying Loyalty: During the SS Civil War, Barbie is eager to get earn Himmler's good graces by spying on Heydrich and providing him intel that could grant Burgundy a significant advantage during the upcoming conflict.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appears at the end of Burgundy's campaign and gets purged just as quickly.
• You Are in Command Now: In the face of growing revolts prior to the Burgundian Spring, Himmler purges Dietrich and promotes Barbie to Security Minister, charging him with liquidating cities and towns to snuff out the resistance.

SS Collaborator Legions

SS-Charlemagne

Flag of the Nouvel État Français

Official Name: Nouvel État Français^Tr.New French State (Burgundian collapse)

Ideology: Stratocratic Nazism^note National Socialism

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• Civil War: If Reinhard Heydrich wins the German Civil War and subsequently defeats Himmler, the remnants of the SS-Charlemagne legion will come into conflict with the rump French State to the south when Heydrich dies and authority in Germany collapses again.
• Contempt Crossfire: The local French people despise the SS-Charlemagne for their collaboration with Himmler, while the Burgundians despise them for being "inferior" to the Aryan race.
• The Hedonist: Most men in the SS-Charlemagne flagrantly violate the Burgundian policy of Spartanism and lazily neglect their duties to Germanize the French people. Behind Himmler's back, the men of the legion love to drink, party, engage in prostitution, or get high off of meth produced in their own labs.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Inverted, as out of all the SS collaborators, Mazière and his legion ascribe to a version of Nazism, whereas the other two are known for "Ultranationalism" instead. Also Downplayed, since they all simply wish to continue the Burgundian nightmare under new lenses.
• The Remnant: After Germany's final collapse following Heydrich’s suicide, the remnants of SS-Charlemagne remain cohesive enough to potentially usurp the French State. It could, thus, become the last functional bastion of Nazism.

Christian de La Mazière

Role: Head of State

Ideology: Stratocratic Nazism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In the center of what was once France, the Charlemagne Division struggles to re-assert their control- but there is no doubt who they'll back when they regain their footing.

Christian de la Mazière is an odd bird, one of the few men in Burgundy who pledges themselves to the Reichsführer more out of a personal loyalty than a belief or obligation. Once a soldier in the French Army, Mazière has spent the last two decades working his way up the ranks of the Charlemagne Division, the predominant French collaborator division in the Waffen-SS. It was here where he first met Heinrich Himmler, and a loyalty to a man that most found disturbing at best formed as he moved higher and higher, becoming Commander of the division just as the Ordensstaat was founded. For years now, he has worked side by side in pursuit of the Spartanist ideal, even as worries rose about Himmler's disgust for the French culture that Mazière loved.

Before he could truly reflect on those worries, however, everything changed. The Führer died, eventually replaced by Heydrich- a best case scenario, and Mazière celebrated as such. For a brief moment in time, all seemed like it would work out after all- that is, until the new Führer suddenly broke from what the SS believed, denouncing Himmler with ridiculous accusations of apocalyptic dreams, and everything changed again- not for the better.

Charlemagne was caught off guard by the sudden flip, and it shows. Mazière watches as his men scramble to re-assert their control over cities they hadn't bothered to pay attention to for a year. Though the initial situation seems dire, he has no fear- he knows that the right side will win in the end, and the Spartanist dream will be back on track. With no question of where his loyalty lies, it's a matter of when, not if, his forces will rejoin Himmler's and march off to war.

In-Game Biography (Burgundian Collapse) ^{Click to Show}Standartenführer de la Mazière has long awaited this day - the day when the backstabbing swindler who calls himself Reichsführer would show his weakness. The purpose of the Charlemagne Division was to crush Judeo-Bolshevism, not serve a deluded, decrepit old mystic in the annihilation of their own people. That he was ever expected to do so was nothing short of an insult to the flower of French soldiery, who perished in the hundreds on the Eastern Front.

Perhaps there are still good men in the Reich - Germans who would have comrades, rather than subjects - but that cannot be said for the Ordensstaat. Christian de la Mazière will take what is owed to the legion and more; first from the SS, then from the enemies of France. If Germany herself is among them, then so be it. As long as he lives to see Heinrich Himmler dangling from a noose beneath the Arc de Triomphe, he will be satisfied with his lot. Survival, with the promise of plunder and a purified France, is just a bonus.

Commander of the French SS-Charlemagne legion.

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• Addled Addict: Contradicting the tenets upheld by the SS, Mazière is constantly high on methamphetamines, giving him a twitchy, nervous appearance.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Christian de La Mazière in real life joined SS-Charlemagne late in WWII (where he was a low-ranking squad leader), became a journalist post-war, and had his life documented in some post-war media, and was also at one point bizarrely an advisor to Togolese ruler Gnassingbé Eyadéma. In TNO, he managed to climb up the ranks of SS-Charlemagne and become its leader by 1962.
• The Starscream:
  • Christian de La Mazière can mutiny against Himmler if his loyalty gets too low, declaring a Stratocratic Nazi "New French State" (Nouvel État Français).
  • More subtly, an investigation reveals that Mazière has allowed his men to steal and hoard French education material to start their own underground French schools to glorify their past with anti-Germanic material, strongly opposing Himmler's plans for Germanization.
• Wicked Cultured: Mazière likes setting up weekly high society galas for his men to admire France's past, including artwork, cuisine, and history lessons.
• Yes-Man: Mazière rambles empty praises in the presence of Himmler, which irritates Eriksson and, ironically, Himmler.

SS-Wallonien

Flag of the Belgian National Union

Official Name: Belgian National Union (Burgundian collapse)

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

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• Arch-Enemy: The SS-Wallonien and SS-Langemarck are bitter enemies due to their opposing goals: the former wants Belgium to be whole again, while the latter seeks to secure Flemish independence from Wallonia. If a player-controlled Burgundy fails to control them and causes them to revolt, they'll declare war on each other in addition to on Burgundy.
• Back from the Brink: In a perverse sense, it can succeed in reviving Belgium as a sovereign nation, albeit a heavily warped version of it.
• Elite Army: The Walloon Legion is not particularly numerous, but is of exceptionally high quality.
• Inadequate Inheritor: After Degrelle goes on the run from Himmler, he's replaced by Jean-François Thiriart, who is noted to be an extremely incompetent commander compared to Degrelle.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Slightly, at any rate. Instead of some form of Nazism, the Walloon Legion upholds its brand of Belgian ultranationalism, which in practice is little different from the Burgundian nightmare.
• Never Recycle a Building: Subverted. A seemingly undisturbed old bunker from World War II is actually a secret base where the SS-Wallonien convenes in to plot against Himmler, hence why Degrelle and his fellow conspirators often disappear at times.
• Propaganda Machine: Secretly, the SS-Wallonien reprints old propaganda posters about Degrelle's former Rexist party, praising Belgian nationalism in opposition to Himmler's vision for a pure German state.
• Red and Black Totalitarianism: The Belgian National Union's flag are two red branches on a black background and they're a clique of ultranationalists who are barely less oppressive than Himmler.

Léon Degrelle

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - Degrelle Clique^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Leon Degrelle began his political career as the leader of the Rexist movement within Belgium, a far-right, Catholic political party, heavily influenced by Fascist and Corporatist thought. During the war, Degrelle proclaimed Rexism to be a close friend of National Socialism, choosing to collaborate with the occupiers of Belgium and join the Wallonian Legion, quickly rising up within the ranks of this organization to become its leader. After the war ended, Degrelle became responsible for the rule and control of much of southern Belgium under the Reich, as one of the most influential collaborators in all of the Einheitspakt.

Now, with Wallonia fully integrated into Heinrich Himmler's Ordenstaat, Degrelle continues to exercise control over the lands as commander of the SS-Wallonien collaboration brigade. Though Degrelle has competently and ably served the Ordenstaat in their adoption and application of the Burgundian system, the Reichsführer-SS has grown suspicious of the Belgian. With how important Degrelle has grown, however, Himmler has been unable to get rid of him without proof that the man is plotting something.

In-Game Biography (Burgundian Collapse) ^{Click to Show}Who would have thought that Leon Degrelle would have made it this far? Not many, least of all the man himself- but he's here now, and he has one chance to succeed.

Leon Degrelle was torn on the German invasion at first, along with his party, but he grew into one of their most ardent collaborators with time. An Iron Cross recipient, a war hero, and a proud advocate of the Wallonian people, suffice it to say that Degrelle was heavily displeased with the news that his lands were to be put under the control of Heinrich Himmler and his acolytes- a displeasure that has only grown with time, as Himmler's spartanist Aryan ideal ground Wallonian culture and independence into the dirt.

At first, Degrelle tried to covertly undermine Himmler's work, subtly stocking arms and preparing his men for an uprising. This was revealed, despite his efforts to keep it hidden, and Degrelle and his men have been on the run ever since. Even as they have succeeded in hiding from the SS brigades that hunt for them so far, Degrelle thought it was only a matter of time until they found him, he and his men were playing for time- that is, until the Ordensstaat collapsed in spectacular fashion, and a faint hint of hope broke through.

In the chaos of the split, Degrelle and his men have seized Wallonia from Himmler's clutches, setting up their forces for the inevitable counterattack. There is only one hope for the Walloon Division now- to fight off Himmler's and the other factions' assault together. If, for whatever reason, this endeavor fails, then Degrelle and the Walloon Division will certainly die- and Wallonia may go with them.

Commander of the Walloon SS-Wallonien legion.

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• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Subverted. Degrelle disappears during the invasion of France to seemingly try overthrowing Himmler, in which the attempted coup fails and Degrelle supposedly commits suicide. However, an autopsy of his "corpse" discovers that it doesn't belong to Degrelle and he's actually gone into hiding, biding his time to betray Himmler later.
• Elaborate Underground Base: Hiding from Himmler, Degrelle situates himself in an underground complex below the Ardennes, nicknamed the "Lion's Den". There, Degrelle commands his legion from afar and has an elite batallion to guard himself.
• Enemy Mine: During the SS Civil War, Degrelle is the only one of the three SS collaborator commanders who can be turned over to Heydrich's side, since he knows that Himmler wants to kill him.
• Faking the Dead: No matter what choices Himmler makes while hunting them, it inevitably leads to Degrelle going into hiding and leaving behind a badly burned corpse that his men insist is his.
• General Ripper: Degrelle has little tolerance for traitors, executing a pair of Himmlerite loyalists in his legion during the SS Civil War.
• Only Sane Man: Among the leaders of the three SS collaborator legions, he's the only one who recognizes that Himmler has no intentions of preserving his native culture in any capacity and thus is the only one to actively rebel against him.
• Properly Paranoid: In the first investigation against him, a paper outlining a Walloon conspiracy is discovered, but Degrelle was paranoid and smart enough to obscure most of the important information of the plan and thus Himmler doesn't have enough cause to purge him early on.
• The Resenter: Despite his years of service to the Reich, Degrelle increasingly became disillusioned over being sidelined, especially after Himmler took over Belgium. Even while still presenting a façade of loyalty, this only grew more pronounced with time as his homeland's culture was being purged. By the 1960s, this resentment boils over into covert, and eventually open, revolt.
• The Starscream: Degrelle was quite displeased that Himmler took over Belgium, and as Himmler implements his Spartanist rule over Wallonia and began wiping out Walloon culture, his resentment only grew, and he began covertly resisting Himmler's rule by stocking arms and preparing for an uprising. If Himmler doesn't investigate into and purge Degrelle, he and his troops will almost certainly revolt and declare an independent ultranationalist Belgium.
• Visionary Villain: Despite serving under Himmler for decades, Degrelle hasn't let go of not just reviving Belgium as an independent nation, but one remade in his image, and his alone.

SS-Langemarck

Flag of the Vlaamse Nationale Staat

Official Name: Vlaamse Nationale Staat^Tr.Flemish National State (Burgundian collapse)

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

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• Arch-Enemy: The SS-Langemarck's struggle for an independent Flanders puts them in irreconcilable opposition with the SS-Wallonien, who wish for Belgium to be whole. If the player causes both to revolt against Burgundy, they'll also declare war on each other as well; while if Heydrich wins the German Civil War and plunges Germany and Burgundy into the SS Civil War, as soon as the SS-Wallonien sides with Heydrich, the SS-Langemarck will quickly join forces with Himmler, even though they have no love for Himmler himself.

Bert Eriksson

Role: Military Commander, Security Minister (Himmler cabinet), Head of State (Burgundian collapse)

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In Flanders fields, the Langemarck Division re-asserts their control over territories they had lost- and prepares to rejoin their Reichsführer.

Bert Eriksson is an anomaly in the SS in many ways. The youngest of the major figures in Burgundy today, Eriksson joined the SS as soon as he could, swiftly making his way through the ranks of the Langemarck Division. Even if the troubles of the 50's have blunted his once favorable views towards the economic side of things, he remains one of the most driven collaborators in Burgundy today- reliable, useful, and loyal.

However, this loyalty is less driven by a personal liking of Himmler, nor even a particular attachment to the System that the Reichsführer endorses, but rather an intense dislike of his southern counterpart, Leon Degrelle. Eriksson knows that, should he be removed from his position of power, Degrelle and the Walloons will waste no time in seizing Flanders for themselves- something that he refuses to allow. As such, the leader of the Langemarck Division has used shadier methods to boost his division's strength, making under-the-table deals with Breton traders and falsifying resistance attacks to gain aid and strengthen his side.

Now, with Heydrich's split and Degrelle seemingly wavering on the edge of outright treason, Eriksson sees his opportunity arise- and he has no intention of letting it slip away. Soon, he and his men shall join Himmler's forces in one final, crushing strike against Degrelle and his pack of dogs. Then, and only then, will Eriksson know that he has succeeded in keeping the Flemish way of life safe.

In-Game Biography (Burgundian Collapse) ^{Click to Show}In hindsight, Eriksson never would have aligned himself with Himmler. He accepted the Greater German ideal, but not the eradication of his Flemish heritage and identity. They were supposed to be one of the many Germanic peoples, standing side-by-side against international Jewry and its plutocratic-Bolshevik puppets. If not for the damned coup attempt, which forever sullied the glory of the SS, he could have found succor in the camp of Reichsmarschall Göring, or perhaps the militarist camps of distant Ostland. Too late now, though.

Degrelle and de la Mazière have made their moves, and the French resistance has returned to haunt the SS. There is no hope for the Ordensstaat to survive, and Eriksson knows that his Walloon 'comrade' has designs on Flanders. As if that wasn't enough, Germany will doubtless be looking to reclaim its western conquests, and the Flemish themselves are not enamored of the Langemarck Division.

Bert Eriksson had better think of a plan quickly, lest he become a mere footnote in history.

Commander of the Flemish SS-Langemarck legion.

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• Enemy Mine:
  • When Degrelle disappears, Eriksson only agrees to help find him and work with the loyalist Walloon members so that he can witness Degrelle's capture.
  • During the SS Civil War, Bert Eriksson and the SS-Langemarck will never respond to Heydrich's attempts at diplomacy and will quickly rejoin Himmler, since he hates Degrelle and the Walloons, whom he believes wants to take over Flanders.
  • With Himmler's health deteriorating, Eriksson allies with Eichmann to one day overthrow the Reichsführer, with both fully intending to betray each other once their mutual enemy is taken care of.
• Insane Admiral: Herbert Gille describes Eriksson as a nutjob and a poor commander, who rules by fear just as much as Himmler does.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Bert Eriksson was a Flemish neo-Nazi who joined the Hitler Youth during World War II, and later led the Vlaamse Militanten Orde (VMO) in the 1970s. In TNO, Eriksson continued with his Nazi life and became the leader of the SS-Langemarck legion.
• Shoot the Messenger: If Reinhard Heydrich tries to sway the SS-Langemarck to his side against Himmler, Eriksson will have his envoys rent open from neck to foot. It takes Heydrich a second to even register that the mangled corpses had once been human.
• Sole Survivor: Eriksson will be the only surviving collaborator leader left, if Himmler successfully dismantles the other rebellious legions.
• The Starscream: If Burgundy collapses into civil war, Eriksson, like the other SS collaborator commanders, will mutiny against Himmler and attempt to create his own ultranationalist Flemish National State. Even if this civil war doesn't happen, Eriksson has plans to eventually betray Himmler when the opportunity presents itself, working with Eichmann to eventually take over Burgundy for themselves.

The Resistance

Red Poppy Movement

Ruling Party: Red Poppy Movement

Ideology: Socialism

A deep underground resistance movement within Burgundy, led by French priest Henri Grouès. Their ranks consist of former captives of the Burgundian regime, and the few lucky enough to evade the horrors and remain in hiding. Steadily growing its ranks as Burgundy rabidly oppresses its workers, the small but durable movement is an existential threat to Himmler's nightmare state.

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• Chummy Commies: The Red Poppy is a socialist movement that seeks to free France and Belgium from the tyranny of the Burgundian regime.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Should the French State be an OFN member and intervene in the Burgundian collapse, the Red Poppy Movement can join them, being annexed into France with their units joining it, and avoiding certain doom.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: From the start, Burgundy knows little about the Red Poppy Movement or even what their leader is. The only clue that hints to its existence is some missing equipment, in which investigations toward it reveal the full extent of the Red Poppy's plan for a revolt.
• Only Sane Man: They are the only rebel faction not composed out of disillusioned ultranationalist defectors from Himmler's regime who want only to preserve power under the pretense of self-rule. The Red Poppy's goals are the removal of everyone involved with Himmler's atrocities and freeing all others from the oppression of the Burgundian System.
• Propaganda Machine: The Red Poppy Movement prints propaganda targeted towards the laborers slaving away in the Rodome or the camps, inspiring them to rebel against the Burgundians and free their homeland.
• La Résistance: The Red Poppy Movement is a deep underground resistance movement operating within Burgundy.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Despite Himmler's best efforts to remake his domain in his image, the idea of a free France and Belgium proves too strong to truly erase.

Henri Grouès

Role: Head of State

Party: Red Poppy Movement

Ideology: Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}He watched, waited, and prayed for decades. In the basements of ruined churches, in the sewers of Paris, in whatever dark, dank corners were beyond the vision of surveillance cameras, the Red Poppy Movement did the same. Some prayed to God, some to YHVH, some to whatever they hoped was listening.

At last, their prayers have been answered.

After thirty years of brutal, crushing totalitarianism, the iron yoke of the Ordensstaat has snapped in two, rusted through by corruption, paranoia, and hubris. An entire generation of French men and women were raised in the dark for this moment, their muscles and spirits primed to deliver a coup de grâce with their misericorde, straight into the black heart of Burgundy. Grouès tended to them no matter their faith or ideals, nurturing the potential they all held within themselves to deliver France from evil. His heart aches at the bloodshed to come, and the thousands of his brothers and sisters who will surely die for their cause, but freedom will be the salve that soothes and heals all wounds - be they of body or soul. If everyone who fights beneath their red banner should perish, then that too is a form of salvation. Either way, their suffering will end.

The leader of the Red Poppy Movement, who is working to liberate Burgundy from Himmler and the SS.

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• Badass Preacher: Henri Grouès^note better known as "l'Abbé Pierre" OTL, the leader of Red Poppy, is a former priest who led Jews out of France during the original occupation. He has recently resurrected the long-dead Resistance to galvanize the workers of Rodomo to rebel.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: In real life, Grouès was a member of the French resistance who heroically helped numerous Jews and political refugees escape from Vichy France. Here he's taken a step further by leading an armed rebellion against the most frightening and dangerous of all the Nazi states.
• Inspirational Martyr: Even if he is executed by Himmler before he can rebel, his death still inspires many from across Burgundy to rise up against their oppressors, starting the Burgundian Spring.

Post-German Invasion

Paktkommission Frankreich

Official Name: Hohe Paktkommission für Frankreich^note High Pact Commission for France (Burgundy defeated by Germany under Speer or Bormann)

Ruling Party: Übergangsregierung^note Provisional Government

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: The German invasion of Burgundy and establishment of Frankreich may just be yet another landgrab by the Reich, but it's practically a godsend compared to the hellish conditions imposed by the SS.
• Les Collaborateurs: Paktkommission Frankreich is slated to be a collaborationist state upon its full establishment, not too unlike the French State. Given the shattered state of Burgundy, however, Germany is forced to be hands-on with administration until competent and trustworthy figures can be put in place.
• Lesser of Two Evils: The establishment of Frankreich is seen as this for Germany. As much as it would be a drain on the Reich's resources, it's still preferable to annexing the land outright or leaving it unattended, which can run the risk of an OFN-aligned France taking control.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Whatever misgivings Germany has under either Speer or Bormann, Paktkommission Frankreich is nonetheless given significant investments, even if only to make it a viable member of the German sphere in the long run.
• Meet the New Boss: Downplayed, whether Burgundy is defeated by Speer or Bormann. While a significant improvement for the average citizen compared to what came before, and is being prepared for rule by local collaborators, in practice it's still a German puppet state that's dependent on the Reich for its continued existence.

Adolf Heusinger

Role: Military Commander, Head of State

Party: Übergangsregierung^note Provisional Government

Ideology: Interim Government^note Despotism

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• Cincinnatus: Heusinger only intends to hold power until the political situation in Northern France can stabilize, where he can then pass power on to a reliable French collaborator.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Heusinger recognizes that taming and rebuilding Burgundy's former territories will be a difficult endeavor due to the horrors that Himmler inflicted upon them, but he accepts the task anyway because leaving the lands unattended is simply an option the Reich cannot afford.

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