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Extremis Ultimis Demo: The Death of Democracy

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” 
- Antonio Gramsci



Ever since the Crash of ‘08, the neoliberal order has been in a death spiral. Economic collapse, violent insurgencies, environmental destruction, unchecked nuclear proliferation, political gridlock, and radical ideologies both new and old threaten to plunge humanity into a new dark age. Meanwhile, the elites have proven unwilling or unable to enact change, still believing that a path to normalcy can be found. 

The year is 2023, and the USA is on the brink of collapse. The unpopular President Tulsi Gabbard faces unrest not seen since the Days of Rage; unrest which may spark another civil war. As anarchists riot in the streets, people flock to the Eagle’s Spirit Party, which promises order and stability. Will democratic ideals prevail? Or is this truly the twilight’s last gleaming? 

We are proud to present the first demo for Extremis Ultimis, The Death of Democracy. This demo covers the 2nd American Civil War, and includes three playable factions: The Republican Union of America, the Lion Rebellion, and the Confederation of America.

• The Republican Union of America: James Galloway Haddock. Prominent lawyer. Respected legal scholar. Presidential candidate. And would-be Tyrant of America. Born into a prestigious family of lawyers, Haddock’s life was ruined by the Crash of ‘08. After the failure of his family’s law firm, Haddock drove himself into bankruptcy through legal battles against those he blamed for the economic collapse. Bitter, angry, and thirsting for vengeance, Haddock embarked on a grand political quest, forming his own third party and running in the 2024 elections. But the Eagles Spirit Party is not just some populistic vanity platform railing against the elites. Haddock’s true goals are much more visionary. He seeks to construct a nation of order and stability. A culture of obedience and selflessness. A truly immortal state. 
  
  
• The Lion Rebellion: As the 2024 elections failed to produce a clear winner, the city of Norfolk erupted into rioting. The National Guard may have been able to restore order, if not for the emergence of a self-proclaimed champion of anarchy. ‘The Lion of Socialism’, a hulking, gasmask-clad man of unclear background and uncertain motivations, became a symbol of the uprising after a video of him brutally murdering a National Guardsman went viral. Now the figurehead of the ‘Insurrectionary Army’, the Lion of Socialism seeks to free America from anything he deems statist, such as police, capitalism, taxes, vaccines, and public schools. The armies of anarchy will sweep across the nation, with fire axes and molotovs in hand. The fire rises. 
  
  
• The Confederation of America: As the Federal government fell into tyranny, the states of the Southern US once again succeeded from the Union. This time, however, they are the last major bastion of democracy in a nation fallen to extremism. With warlords and tyrants all around, Dixie must make its stand. As the progressive Stacy Abrams, conservative Ron DeSantis, populist Tom Cotton, or libertarian Jo Jorgenson, it is up to you to keep the torch of liberty going. Can you bring democracy back from the brink and reunite America? Or will the mistakes of the past be repeated?

• Three playable American warlords
• An extensive generic focus tree for American warlords without full content
  
• Five available “perspectives” on the leadup to the 2nd American Civil War (three corresponding to the playable warlords, and two secondary perspectives with somewhat less content), which you select at the start of the game. These control what events you see and how you respond to them, and result in a completely different experience of the leadup content. This ensures some degree of replayability of the America content.
  
• Minor playable content for North Korea
  
• Leaders, ideas, and history for every country in the world
  
• 17 ideology groups with over 200 total subideologies
  
• A Dynamic UI that changes by ideology (not everything has been converted, if you are interested in helping to design more UI, apply to join us! No coding experience necessary for this, although familiarity with Inkscape and the principles of UI/UX design is preferred)
  
• Completely reworked tech trees for engineering, tanks, and artillery
  
• An all-new tech tree for near-future combat exoskeleton technologies, complete with custom models
  
• A very different combat balance, more reflective of modern warfare
  
• Many high-quality custom models, including generic exo-infantry models for all three types (light, medium, and heavy), and unique models for the Lion Rebellion’s light exo-infantry, the Yellowstripe Confederacy’s medium exo-infantry, and the Republican Union of America’s heavy exo-infantry.
  
• Various technical advances (see below)
  
• An extensive music mod!
  
• An in-progress Simplified Chinese translation submod!

What’s the point of divergence?
Well, there’s not really a single one. Extremis Ultimis is more like a funhouse mirror of our own timeline. Basically, everything that could go wrong after 1945 did go wrong. If you’re playing as the USA, there is a large lore popup which explains the background and timeline in depth. It can be reopened while playing, so you don’t need to read it all at the start!

This doesn’t seem very plausible.
We’re not trying to be. If you come into this mod expecting hard alt-history, you’re going to be disappointed. We make up political figures and movements, throw in goofy stuff because we think it's funny, and generally approach worldbuilding from a ‘hey, wouldn’t it be cool if’ perspective, from which we then ‘work backwards’ to generate narratively-compelling lore. Hell, magic is canonically real in the XU universe (in Occult mode, which is the canonical mode).

Is Haddock/The Lion/Whoever a real person?
No, no, and quite possibly not. Many of the characters in this mod are fictional. We did this partially to avoid getting real-life people angry at us, and partially for creative freedom. 

What’s next?
We hope to get a second demo out that will cover several Chinese warlords, Japan, and California. Additionally, we are working on a Simplified Chinese translation of the entire mod, which will be developed alongside the main mod. The full release will include at least the British nations, France, and some Russia content.

• Our Discord Server[discord.gg]
  
• The Modding Co-op[discord.gg], of which Extremis Ultimis is a member.
  
• Our Subreddit, though we would prefer if you would ask questions on the Discord server.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxPA7b2uu5U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGEEIpwoLEM

Extremis Ultimis includes a number of innovations and specialized coding systems, most of which are available (code and some degree of implementation help) on request for other mods. If you’re interested, ask Ciara on our Discord server. On account of the Steam Workshop character limit, you can find a quick rundown of these advances in this Google Doc[docs.google.com].