Contest Europa sets up a system of competing factions. A state will choose to join one, or in some cases more than one, faction. The choice of a faction reflects the development goals of the state (what territory it wants to expand into) and creates conflicts with other states that have competing claims. States that have not selected a Strategic Decision or have selected the Strategic Decision Nationstate do not get faction derived claims, missions, events and decisions.
There are three kinds of factions: named, geographic and title.

Named factions are entities that are custom defined. France is an example of a named faction. A state that selects the Strategic Decision to form France gets missions to conquer French territory and conflicts with other states that have selected Strategic Decisions that have territorial claims inside of France. The mod generally only creates named factions for concepts that two or more different states can compete for. Various French minors can compete for the throne of France so it is worthwhile to have France as a named faction.

Geographic factions are essentially everything else. A geographic faction is enabled when a nation selects the Strategic Decision Nationstate and then does not select a further named faction. If such a state gets to a total development of 200 they will then select the Strategic Decision Empire. This means indicates they have selected a geographic faction. Geographic factions get competing claims based on the geographic area in which the state’s capital is located. So a state that has its Capital in the South German Region will be in the ‘South German Region’ geographic faction. That state will have competing claims with other states that have capitals in the South German Region, each surrounding region and all named factions that have claims in the South German Region. Geographic factions do not have custom defined missions, events and decisions. Geographic factions are in the mod because there are lot of places in the world in which there isn’t a viable named faction for states to compete for. They allow a state from any part of the world to play in the rivalry system. They also allow a state to keep its original identity but still compete in the rivalry system (the empire of Ulm can have claim conflicts with France).

Title factions are named factions with custom defined claims but are not mutually exclusive. A state can only select 1 named faction OR 1 geographic faction. A state can additionally select 1 or more title factions. A title faction will create a separate set of competing claims for the state. Examples of title factions include the concepts of Islamic Rome, Third Rome and the Caliphate.

Named Factions:
Algiers
Andalucia
Arabia
Austria-Hungary
Austrian Empire
Bharat
Burma
Carolingian Empire
China
East Slavic Union
Eastern Roman Empire
France
German Confederation
Germany
Great Britain
Great Mongol
Greece
Hindustan
Illyria
Inca
Independent Germany
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Kingdom of God
Latin Roman Empire
Malaya
Manchu
Maya
Morocco
Mughal
Netherlands
North German Confederation
Ohio Valley Confederacy
Pan Slavic Federation
Persia
Poland
Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
Romania
Russia
Scandinavia
Shan
South Slavic Union
Spain
Tibet
Tripoli
Tunis
Unified Holy Roman Empire
United Roman Empire
West Slavic Union
Western Roman Empire

Title Factions:
Third Rome
Islamic Rome
Caliphate