Developer Diary | Ethiopia #2

As explained in the last Ethiopian dev diary, Ethiopia starts in a dire situation with the Italian invasion of the country well under way and any hope of winning the war rapidly diminishing. Haile Selassie historically left the country to rally support through the League of Nations for stopping Italy’s illegal invasion. But Haile Selassie wasn’t the only one in Ethiopia with ideas on how to end the war…

Let’s wind back the clock to early 1936, before Selassie leaves the nation for Geneva. In such desperate times, there are rumblings of discontent with the emperor’s handling of the conflict. Among the regional aristocrats, there is talk of reaching out to the Italians and switching sides in the hopes of maintaining hereditary titles. Meanwhile, the troops grow ever more disgruntled with officers leading them into defeat after defeat, knowing well that they were only given their ranks by birth right. Behind enemy lines, the fierce anti-fascist Black Lions begin to wonder if their successes and sacrifices are having any impact on the war as the Italians continue to push deeper and deeper into the heart of Ethiopia.

With so many disgruntled factions, the slightest nudge can drastically alter the structure of the empire.

Facist Path

Let's start by looking at the fascist sympathizing aristocrats. Starting at the top of their focus branch, we have Reach out to the Italians. This focus puts the feelers out to see whether the Italians would be willing to support a coup against Selassie in exchange for letting them maintain some level of control once the dust finally settles. This focus also determines who will be the leader of the revolt against Selassie. As can be seen from the icon, there is a choice of three potential leaders, Haile Selassie Gugsa, Hailu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam and Abba Jofir of Jimma. Each leader has different strengths and weaknesses and will move the power center of the country to their respective regions, should they succeed in overthrowing the emperor. Unfortunately the portraits for these guys aren’t complete, yet so I can’t show them off today.

Should the Italians rebuff your attempts to reach out to them, the focus tree will unlock the first section of the historical/imperial branch and the fascist sympathizing aristocrats will have to swallow their ambitions and do as the focus says, Rally around the Emperor. The decision to lock the player in this path in such a scenario is due to the importance of time for Ethiopia as it is immediately at war with Italy. Italy’s decision to accept the proposal will be weighted on how close they are to defeating Ethiopia and the war escalation levels mentioned in the last Ethiopia dev diary. For instance, if the war is dragging on for Italy, the odds of them accepting the deal will increase. Meanwhile, if Ethiopia is close to capitulating, Italy will be less likely to accept the deal.​

However, if the Italians are receptive to the idea of Ethiopia tearing itself apart,