Subscribe to download
Equestria at War - Better Ideology Names

Note - Since the introduction of "Supremacy" as a replacement for Fascism in the vanilla mod, this submod is less relevant. I have kept it here for those who still prefer the changed names for Communism and Non-Aligned.

This mod replaces the ideology names in Equestria at War with four virtues, each representing a value that is important to their nation. Harmony is kept unchanged from the mod. Subideology names and descriptions have also been changed to match the new ideologies. Notably, Independent nations are typically either classed as "Traditional Rule" or "Independent Democracy".

Harmony - Peace, friendship and cooperation are the foundation of society. With so many different creatures and cultures, it is only natural that we should recognise and support that diversity, ensuring that our society allows the freedom for every creature to reach their full potential. Sometimes this means choosing a wise, benevolent leader, beloved by all. Other times it means election and debate.

Supremacy - (Previously Strength) The world is filled with many creatures, all who live by the credo of predator or prey. What kind of creature shall we be? The answer is obvious. The strong shall rule the weak, the united shall triumph over the divided. States that venerate strength tend to favour nationalistic rhetoric, primacy of force, and a strong, powerful leader.

Equality - From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. Harmonists claim to support peace and cooperation, but merely provide a veneer of legitimacy for the rich to amass power and exploit the work of others. Radical new governments such as Communism, Syndicalism, Anarchism are the answer.

Independence The world demands we change. They demand we abandon our time honoured ways in the name of progress. They demand we embrace faddish global ideologies, "one-size fits all" solutions that claim to work for any creature and any culture. We know better. We will do things our way. Whether that way is radical or traditional, it will be our way, and we will not be goaded into dying for someone else's values.

Ideology names have long been debated in Equestria at War development team. Noone is happy with what we have, but there is no consensus on what we should change to. Equestria is not our world, and names like "fascism" and "communism" have real world connotations that do not quite apply here. Consider Queen Chrysalis. Yes by a real world definition she would be considered a "fascist", but she could also be reasonably considered "leader of very hungry bugs who want to invade other places because they want to eat" - not quite what you think of is it? The thinking of a changeling is more the thinking of a predator than a fascist. Our ideology names need to be more general.

People seem to agree Harmony is a nice name, so I have followed this theme, which is a theme of the show, of naming virtues (consider the Elements of Harmony - they are 5 virtues) as important. Each virtue represents an idea that is important to that nation.

This is not a perfect classification - Non-Aligned remains particularly contentious and there is no alignment that satisfies everyone. I have heard "Sovereignty" as a good alternative - feel free to share your feelings about this below.

I ask you to consider this. What do Kingfisher, the populist promiser of wealth, Gabriella, the regent of the ancient expansionist Griffonian Empire, Hellquill - loyal Knights and vassals of the Empire and Kermaskai, pragmatic and "temporary" dictator to a Revolutionary Democratic Movement, have in common? These are all non aligned countries. The only thing in common is their insistence on doing it their own way, and have no intention of falling into neat categories of Harmony / Strength / Equality.

No it doesn't. Doing so is a headache to update alongside EaW and increases the changes of mismatches between the mod and game.

I also don't consider it a problem for "Fascist" and "Communist" to be mentioned in the game. These are still in game ideologies with in game governments. They're simply not the overarching virtue that labels many disparate nations.

If there is popular interest in this mod, I may take that step of more aggressive rewrites, but that's a question for the future.

Equestria at War - Better Loading Screens
Equestria at War - Animated Leader Portraits