Samara

Samara, officially the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, is a Russian warlord state located in West Russia. It borders Tatarstan and Vyatka to the north, Bashkortostan and Orenburg to the east, Kazakhstan to the south and Reichskommissariat Moskowien and Gorky to the west.

Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia Комитет освобождения народов России - Komitet Osvobozhdeniya Narodov Rossii
Flag of Samara
Chevron of the Russian Liberation Army TAG = SAM
Politics
Capital	Samara
Ruling Party	Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
Head of State	Andrey Vlasov
Head of Government	Mikhail Meandrov
Diplomacy
Sphere	N/A
Foreign Alignment	N/A
Economy
GDP	$1.24B
Credit Rating	Mediocre
Market Type	Dirigisme

The state itself was formed by former ex-Soviet German collaborators after the end of the West Russian War, led by General Andrey Vlasov. As a result, they widely detested by the other Russian walords due to their collaboration with the Germans.

In-Game Description

Born of hazy post-war plans, the Russian Liberation Army, or ROA, was envisioned as nothing more than a collaborator militia writ large. Led by General Vlasov and a collection of turncoat Red Army officers, the ROA was meant to help legitimize German control of RK Moskowien until the Russians could be driven further east or exterminated.

The West Russian War in the fifties changed all of this. Expanded by the desparate Germans and deployed to delay the resurgent Red Army, the ROA thrived against all odds and soon found itself pushing east. By the war's end, Vlasov and his men controlled a power base beyond the Reich's grasp. Written off as mutinious rabble, the ROA has spend the intervening years waiting. Some hope for redemption; the others merely await the opportunity to carve an empire in Western Russia and beyond.

History

Liberation Army

Bloodiest Days

In the bloodiest days of the West Russian War, when it seemed like the Reich's hold on Russia was on the verge of slipping forever, the German high command turned to desperate means to stave off the collapse of their front line. Drawn from a range of auxiliary colonial militias of Russian conscripts that were meant to police German held Russia, the Russian Liberation Army or ROA was created. In propaganda, the ROA was depicted as a proud Russian army, fighting the Bolshevik menace of the West Russian Revolutionary Front. In desperation, the Germans even allowed the creation of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, or KONR, as the embryo of a free Russian Republic that would rule over areas liberated by the German counter offensive.

Crusade

Reality was much less flattering to the ROA. Its leader, Andrey Vlasov, was nothing more than a puppet of the Wehrmacht's high command. His officers were a disjointed bunch. many were also captured Red Army officers, preferring to join the ROA than die in a German POW camp. Others were fascist émigres, joining the ROA on a great crusade to defeat Bolshevism. The common soldiers were desperate cannon fodder, drafted at gunpoint by the Germans and sent to reinforce the most desperate sectors of the front. Far from being welcomed as liberators, Russian people caught in the conflict area welcomed ROA soldiers with rock and insults.

Pushing On

Energy of Desperation

Despite all this, the ROA pushed on. The soldiers fought with the energy of desperation, and managed to help turn the tide in the sector around Samara. Soon the ROA found itself beyond the German lines, freed from their former taskmasters. With the war winding down and the WRRF in retreat, the Germans wrote off their cannon fodder as mutinous Slav Untermensch. The new headquarters of the ROA in Samara were not spared any of the Luftwaffe terror bombing campaigns that followed. Since then the ROA has huddled in Samara, having traded one prison for another. Unable to expand their area of control by the terror bombings, and forbidden to go back home in the west, the common soldiers of the army have languished for the better part of a decade in their garrisons.

Indecisiveness

The ROA's officers, meanwhile, have grown weary of Vlasov's indecisiveness. they argue for a more decentralized leadership, and for the abandonment of KONR's original mission in favor of a continuation of the KONR's junta. using General Sergei Bunyachenko as their mouthpiece, the men of the Officers' Committee scheme to take advantage of Vlasov's apathy and old age. However the officers are not all united in ideology. Quite a few have formed a pro-democracy faction, and argue that Vlasov's heir as chairman of KONR should be Miletiy Zykov, a former journalist that has maneuvered his way into being the chief propagandist of the ROA's regime in Samara. Zykov argues for the continued struggle to liberate Russia from Bolshevism as well as German oppression. In between all this, many common soldiers and lower ranking officers have grown tired of the high command's bickering and seek to follow General Oktan's goal to use the ROA to build a strong, fascist state... and to enrich the soldiers in the process.

Crossroads

The ROA is at a crossroad. Loathed by all their neighbors as German collaborators, yet feared for their veteran army and iron discipline, the men of the ROA await the end of the terror bombing. Some seek to redeem their honor by rebuilding Russia. Others seek vengeance on the communists and on the Germans who have ruined their life. Finally, a growing minority simply want to lash out at the uncaring world that has forced them to spend a decade holed in Samara.

Gameplay

Samara starts with the following national spirits:

Name	In-Game Description	Effects
Luftwaffe Terror Bombing	With depressing regularity, Luftwaffe bombers from the airfields of Reichskommissariat Moskowien fly over the warlord states of western Russia, bombing everything they can see and affecting nearly every aspect of Russian life as a result. The only salvation comes in the form of the Free Aviators, who strive to intercept them at every opportunity. If not for them, the situation in Russia would be far more dire.	Monthly Population: -5.0% Constructuon Speed: -40.0% Production Efficiency Cap: -10.0% Production Efficiency Growth: -7.0% Free Repair: -70.0% Needed Consumer Goods: +7.0%
German Bootlickers	As much as we like to claim that we are a spearhead for the Liberation of Russia from under the Red Yoke of Bolshevism, everybody considers us an extension of German influence over the Motherland, and correspondingly hate us for it. Unfortunately, hatred by the Russian people does not correspond to love from our former German masters, who have written us off as mutinous rabble.	Recruitable Population: -1.20% Defense: -10.00% Division Recovery Rate: -10.0% Stability: -20.00% Factory Output: +10.00%
The Smolensk Manifesto	Proof of the ROA's legitimacy to a select few, and a proof of their irredeemable treachery for all else. The Manifesto was issued during the West Russian War, declaring the ROA's opposition to communism in Russia and hopes for a new republic to replace the Soviet Union. Despite its creation by the hands of desperate German propagandists, the manifesto has remained a core component of our claim to legitimacy.	Daily Political Power Gain: +0.15 Stability: +10.00% Daily Paternalism Support: +0.01
German Military Training	Back when the ROA was a mere colonial militia, the Germans insisted on imposing military training and savage discipline onto their subhuman auxiliaries. The West Russian War saw the army's numbers swell with former Red Army veterans, and their mettle tested in desperate battles. As such, the ROA is one of the few professional militaries in Western Russia.	Division Organization: +7.5% Division Recovery Rate: +5.0% Planning Speed: +7.5%
Turncoat General	Our generals and officers share little in common beyond their past as German prisoners of war and a willingness to work with the Germans. Some were driven by a hatred of the Red Army or anger at bad treatment, real or imagined. Others simply saw it as the way out of a prisoners' camp. No matter the reason, and no matter how skilled they are, our generals' treason to the Russian people makes them widely detested men.	Recruitable Population Factor: -5% Division Recovery Rate: -35.0% War Support: -20.0%
Low Military Morale	The Russian Liberation Army would not get far in its quest for national liberation without its armed men. Yet our current army morale is low.Veterans from Moskowien miss home, and worry about their family. their younger comrades find conscription into an army of traitors repulsive. Supplies are low, pay is poor. Many officers avoid the barracks out of fear of mutinous troops.	Recruitable Population Factor: -5% Divison Recovery Rate: -10.0% War Support: -15.00%
Low Civilian Morale	Our army claims to fight to liberate the people of Russia. Alas, our current civilian morale is low. People living within areas we administer find their lives nasty, brutish and short. Food shortages, predatory taxation rackets ran by local soldiers and a general breakdown of law and order make the life of the population hellish. All curse the day the German dogs of the ROA slipped their leash.	Political Power Gain: -15% Stability: -10.00% Needed Consumer Goods: +10.00%
Negligible Corruption	Sincerity is the way of Heaven. Our current corruption level is low.Paralegal means can be helpful in the Russian Anarchy, where governmental resources are often stretched thin. Nevertheless, our state has cracked down on most sources of corruption. While this may make our dealings with Moskowien harder, it also secures our control of the army by removing competing poles of power.	Stability: +5.00% Inflation Rate Modifier: -0.05% Taxable Population: +5.00% Needed Consumer Goods: -5.00%

Quotes

Capitulation quote

"The traitors will never get to tell their side of the story."

Origins: This quote is original to The New Order.

Trivia

• The Samara game files show that there are two unused leader portraits, one of Viktor Maltzev and one of Wilfried Strik-Strikfeldt.
• Mikhail Oktan's localization files show that a lot of his focuses were originally named after Maltzev, suggesting that he was an original candidate for the fascist Samara path, before being replaced with Oktan.