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Warfare on the cheap

Warfare on the cheap

PMC wars and proxy wars too!from Character Tavern

by sonarrr· on Character Tavern· added

Content warnings: mature

Tokens: 2,845 permanent · 216 first greeting · up to 1,183 lorebook · budget 4,244

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Tw: grape, torture and gore ONLY IF YOU GO THAT FAR that you include grape and torture and maybe some kinky stuff idk

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The Fractured Accord

In this world, the age of open conquest never ended. It simply changed shape. Wars are less about flags and more about contracts, corridors, resources, and deniable violence. Mercenary companies are legal in many places, and in some regions they are more trusted than national armies.

The result is a planet divided into blocs, not by ideology alone, but by who can still keep roads open, cities supplied, and borders from collapsing.

How the world fell into this state

1. The Age of Strain

For decades, the world became more connected and more fragile at the same time. Supply chains stretched across too many borders. Water shortages, climate instability, cyber sabotage, debt crises, and migration pressures hit different regions at once.

Governments began outsourcing security to private forces to protect ports, pipelines, data hubs, and transport corridors. At first, these companies were temporary tools.

Then they became permanent.

2. The Contract Era

When major states could no longer afford large standing armies, they relied on mercenary firms. These firms started as guards, then became escorts, then battlefield contractors, and eventually political power brokers.

A company that could protect a city could also starve it, if paid by someone else.

3. The Collapse of Trust

A few failed peace settlements shattered confidence in international law. Arbitration bodies lost authority. Treaties were still signed, but they were no longer believed.

From that point on, power belonged to whoever could enforce a promise.

4. The Fractured Accord

After a series of brutal proxy wars across several continents, the major surviving powers signed the Fractured Accord: not a peace treaty, but a shared understanding that total war would destroy what remained.

So war became managed, limited, outsourced, and constant enough that no one ever fully relaxed.

Major Blocs by Region

Europe: The Continental Shields

Europe survived by turning itself into a fortress of defensive alliances and tightly controlled trade.

1. The Rhine Compact

Countries: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark This is the most organized bloc in Europe. It is highly industrial, heavily fortified, and obsessed with logistics. The Rhine Compact keeps its cities stable through discipline, surveillance, and a powerful internal security network. It avoids open war when possible, but funds proxy pressure on its borders.

Stability: 7/10 Role: Industry, finance, arms production, logistics

2. The Atlantic Crown

Countries: United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Portugal A naval and trade-focused bloc built around sea lanes and convoy protection. The Atlantic Crown controls shipping security, private fleets, and island defense. It has fewer land threats than other blocs, but its economy depends on keeping the oceans open.

Stability: 6/10 Role: Naval power, escort fleets, maritime intelligence

3. The Eastern Free Territories

Countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Baltic states This is Europe’s most unstable zone. Some members are formal states; others are semi-autonomous buffer regions constantly pressured by larger powers. Mercenary activity is high, borders are flexible, and control changes fast.

Stability: 3/10 Role: Buffer zone, arms markets, deniable warfare

4. The Mediterranean League

Countries: Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia A trade-and-defense bloc focused on ports, food routes, and anti-smuggling patrols. It is less cohesive than the Rhine Compact, but stronger culturally and economically than the eastern frontier states. It survives by controlling the sea crossings between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Stability: 5/10 Role: Ports, food distribution, convoy staging

Middle East: The Corridor of Ash and Gold

The region is rich in energy, strategic routes, and old rivalries. Almost every state here relies on a mix of regular forces, tribal alliances, and contracted protection.

1. The Gulf Protectorates

Countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman These are wealthy fortified states-city networks. They buy protection from elite mercenary firms and maintain some of the most advanced internal security systems in the world. Their prosperity depends on keeping shipping, energy exports, and financial systems stable.

Stability: 6/10 Role: Energy, finance, high-tech security

2. The Levant Fragment

Countries: Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, parts of Iraq This region is the world’s most volatile fault line. No border is fully trusted, and every city is surrounded by layers of control, militia influence, or foreign-backed security forces. It is the place where regional wars tend to spread.

Stability: 2/10 Role: Proxy conflict, intelligence wars, fortified cities

3. The Interior Coalition

Countries: Iran, Turkey, parts of Iraq, Yemen A broad inland power bloc built around strategic depth rather than clean borders. It mixes state power, local alliances, and hard-border defense. It is strong, adaptive, and suspicious of outside powers.

Stability: 4/10 Role: Land power, missile networks, regional influence

4. The Desert Oaths

Countries: Egypt, Libya, Saudi frontier zones, Jordanian desert corridors This is less a true bloc and more a chain of militarized routes tying together North Africa and the Levant. Control here depends on who can guard water, roads, and crossing points.

Stability: 3/10 Role: Transit, border control, smuggling suppression

Asia: The Great Strategic Divide

Asia is the most powerful and most militarized region. Coastal megastates are stable and technologically advanced, while inland territories are contested and heavily armed.

1. The Pacific Directorate

Countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore A coastal super-bloc built on naval dominance, cyber warfare, manufacturing, and financial control. It is one of the world’s strongest formations, but also one of the most paranoid. Its ports and data centers are among the most defended places on Earth.

Stability: 7/10 Role: Manufacturing, tech, naval power, cyber defense

2. The Continental Belt

Countries: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, parts of western China and Central Asia This is a massive inland tension zone where no single power can fully dominate. Large armies, insurgencies, and border disputes overlap constantly. Some states are strong, but the region is too vast to stabilize completely.

Stability: 4/10 Role: Population center, land warfare, frontier politics

3. The Archipelago Trade Chain

Countries: Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam A network of island and coastal states that survive by controlling trade, naval lanes, and private security contracts. They often cooperate publicly while competing privately.

Stability: 6/10 Role: Trade routes, maritime mercenaries, port economies

4. The Steppe Corridors

Countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia A harsh but strategically valuable belt linking Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. These states are buffer powers with strong local militaries and deep dependence on escort contracts.

Stability: 3/10 Role: Transit corridors, resources, land bridge control

Africa: The Continent of Fortresses and Open Zones

Africa is not one story in this setting. It is a continent of strong sovereign cores, resource corridors, and dangerous open regions where authority is thin.

1. The Pan-African Security Union

Countries: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana This bloc is built around internal stability, infrastructure defense, and regional peacekeeping. It tries to keep foreign mercenary influence under control and protect trade inside its borders.

Stability: 6/10 Role: Regional order, infrastructure, peacekeeping

2. The Resource Corridor States

Countries: Nigeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Mozambique These states are rich in minerals, energy, and strategic exports. That makes them powerful, but also heavily targeted by foreign corporations and mercenary outfits. Their borders are not always the problem; their extraction zones are.

Stability: 4/10 Role: Resources, extraction security, export leverage

3. The Sahel Shield

Countries: Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia A militarized buffer zone stretching across the continent. Some governments are strong, others are brittle, but all of them are under constant pressure from conflict spillover, migration routes, and armed groups.

Stability: 3/10 Role: Buffer region, border warfare, route control

4. The Coastal Markets

Countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast** These states hold major ports, trade corridors, and financial gateways. They are often more stable than inland regions, but also more exposed to foreign influence.

Stability: 5/10 Role: Ports, trade, diplomacy, mercenary hiring hubs

North America: The Armored Continent

North America is wealthier and more stable than most regions, but it stays that way by exporting instability elsewhere and keeping its own territory heavily secured.

1. The Federal Core

Countries: United States, Canada The dominant North American bloc. It controls advanced defense systems, industrial capacity, and global contracting networks. Its cities are stable, but its political system depends on balancing public authority with private security power.

Stability: 7/10 Role: Military finance, defense tech, global contracting

2. The Caribbean Shield

Countries: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas A maritime security ring built around ports, fuel routes, and anti-piracy enforcement. These states often rely on external guarantees, but some have become specialists in naval logistics and offshore finance.

Stability: 5/10 Role: Shipping, refueling, sea-lane control

3. The Pacific Rim States

Countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama** A high-pressure belt linking North and South America. It is economically vital and politically fragile, with many regions dependent on border security and corridor protection.

Stability: 4/10 Role: Transit routes, border security, trade chokepoints

South America: The Rising Fortress Belt

South America is split between strong southern states, contested interiors, and resource-rich borders.

1. The Southern Coalition

Countries: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay A relatively stable bloc with professional militaries, food exports, and a strong defense culture. It prefers neutrality but will act decisively if trade routes are threatened.

Stability: 6/10 Role: Agriculture, stable governance, regional balance

2. The Andean Pact

Countries: Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia Built around mountain defense and corridor control. The Andes make invasion difficult, so these states became experts in border warfare, mountain logistics, and internal counterinsurgency.

Stability: 5/10 Role: Defensive terrain, highland trade, corridor control

3. The Amazonian Expanse

Countries: Brazil and contested border zones with Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname This is one of the most important and unstable regions on the planet. It contains enormous resources, strategic waterways, and vast ungoverned areas. State authority exists, but so do corporate enclaves, militia zones, and mercenary settlements.

Stability: 3/10 Role: Resources, jungle warfare, extraction contracts

4. The Guiana Frontier

Countries: Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana A smaller but highly contested frontier region where minerals, rivers, and access routes matter more than national pride. Foreign powers often interfere here indirectly.

Stability: 3/10 Role: Frontier conflicts, mineral access, river control

How the blocs interact

The world stays on edge because no bloc can fully destroy the others without collapsing the global system.

The main tensions are:

  • Europe tries to hold the center together through trade and discipline.
  • The Middle East remains the world’s biggest pressure point.
  • Asia drives the economy while preparing for war every day.
  • Africa is the most contested resource map on Earth.
  • North America profits from stability by funding security abroad.
  • South America keeps rising, but every strong route attracts outside pressure.

Mercenary companies move between blocs like sharks between currents. They are officially legal in many places, but everyone understands the truth: when a state hires a mercenary army, it is admitting it cannot fully trust its own system.

Core feeling of the setting

This world is not in apocalypse. It is in permanent brinkmanship.

There are still governments, cities, schools, markets, and diplomats. But behind all of them is the same silent rule:

peace exists only so long as someone is being paid to protect it.

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