"It is clear the world disagrees with our very existence. Everywhere we turn we are met with a cold shoulder, or even outright hostility. It is apparent to us now: we have no allies to rely upon. We must prepare for war with each and any one of these defunct nation-states."
The international arena has surprisingly many parallels with an average human collective. It has its leaders, whose opinion is the most authoritative on most issues; its bullies, who are always looking for a good fight; its hypocrites, who want everyone to believe that they are better than they really are; its losers, who failed to turn themselves into something formidable; you get the idea. And, of course, it has its outcasts, who might be willing to be full participants in their environment, but everyone else is strongly opposed to this. In the international arena specifically, such powers are called Pariah States.
Obviously, the most natural position for a Pariah State is forced isolation, in which its opportunities for external interaction are extremely limited. Sanctions are numerous, and exclusion from all global or even regional activities is commonplace. If any "normal" state decides to violate this quarantine regime, it will only do so in cases of extreme necessity and at the risk of condemnation from the international community of its setting. On the other hand, for a Pariah State, there is sometimes still room for communication — other Pariah States, with which a shared situation may be sufficient grounds for cooperation, if not an alliance.
The causes behind a state getting its "pariah" status can be very diverse, depending on the political specifics of the work’s setting. It could simply be too dissimilar in values and customs to all other states, which have chosen to disregard it instead of tolerating it. Thus, the status of an outcast becomes the price the state pays for preserving its identity. Maybe the reason is that the nation's ruler is someone whose image and behavior are universally viewed as unacceptable. The Generalissimo, The Caligula, and Warhawk are some good examples of the type of ruler who may be perceived in this way externally. Oftentimes, a Pariah State is, first and foremost, a Rogue State, that is, a power that poses a clear threat to global stability in some way, such as by sponsoring terrorism, using a Dangerous Forbidden Technique, or trying to acquire real or fantastic nukes. If that’s the case, the isolation of such a state is the most appropriate measure to take, especially if its immediate elimination is impossible for whatever reason.
Although it is not guaranteed, the international community in most cases is willing to give a Pariah State the opportunity to "return to normality", provided, of course, that the factors that led to its isolation are first eliminated/compensated for. Among other things, this means that the label of pariah is not something that lasts forever; the relevance of it often diminishes after the first major series of changes at the top of a Pariah State's governing structure, if the new rulers are willing to get rid of the harmful legacy of their predecessors and thus gift themselves a fresh start.
It should be noted that while the status of a Pariah State has many drawbacks, it nonetheless also provides a high degree of freedom in behavior. Say, there are lengthy lists of international law norms? To hell with them, let ordinary states comply with them! No one wants to trade with us? So what, let’s go ahead and venture into the Black Market! That Scale of Scientific Sins everyone is terrified of? Let's go down it as much as we want, who cares what others think — they already avoid us like the plague!
Keep in mind that "Pariah State" as a term carries a more complex meaning than just "a state with little-to-no foreign policy activity". "Pariah State" is a label derived from the reactions of other states; a Hidden Elf Village that remains isolationist by its own choice (or because they're geographically isolated from the world at large, such as uncontacted tribes) or some Always Chaotic Evil horde that's at war with everyone else from the word go would not be considered pariah states because they're shunning other states, rather than other states shunning them.
Tends to overlap with Hated by All, quite often does with Karmic Shunning. May or may not also be The Dictatorship. May serve as a constant headache for the Fictional United Nations. Appears to be a good target for Regime Change. If a left-wing state becomes an outcast because of its ideology, it falls victim to Red Scare.
No Real Life Examples, Please!
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- One Piece: Elbaf was treated with fear and disdain due to their warriors going around and attacking other nations, with their King Harald doing it because he was a dick. This bad reputation bites Harald later on when he tries to turn a new leaf and finds his efforts to form diplomatic and trade ties with other nations stonewalled because centuries of what Elbaf did won't just disappear with their king having a change of heart. It took decades of efforts on Harald's end for other nations to even be open to the idea of being more welcoming to Elbaf.
Comic Books
- Marvel Comics:
- Black Panther: In some less-flattering depictions, Wakanda is sometimes depicted as an isolationist, borderline racist state that views anyone not Wakandan as beneath them, killing all trespassers and ignoring all attempts at communication. When not portrayed as a high-tech utopia, these versions of Wakanda are often not well off due to their neighbors similarly not wanting to have anything to do with them in return.
- Fantastic Four: Latveria, the Ruritania located somewhere in Eastern Europe, is normally treated as a pariah state in various versions of the Marvel Universe. Besides most famously being ruled by Doctor Doom, even when Doom isn't in power, it is generally treated with a certain level of suspicion. For example, in the two-parter Doomquest, Iron Man turns back a Stark International ship that was carrying components to Latveria, and Tony Stark fires the executive who made the sale. The executive tries to defend himself by pointing out that Doom no longer ruled Latveria, but Tony cuts him off by noting that by no means did that mean the components would be used for benign purposes, as for all they knew, the current prime minister might be nothing but a cat's paw for Doom.
- Sub-Mariner: Whenever still existing, Atlantis is often depicted as not being particularly welcome. Part of the reason for this is Prince Namor's repeated attacks on humanity as well as Atlantean attacks by the likes of Attuma. That Namor has sometimes claimed dominion over all of Earth's oceans also rubs many nations the wrong way. On one occasion, Atlantis was destroyed and the only nation willing to take in Namor and other Atlantean survivors was Latveria, at the command of Doctor Doom (who welcomed Namor as an "old friend"). As proof of how truly desperate Namor was for succour and how friendless Atlantis was, Latveria is a completely land-locked nation.
- The Transformers Megaseries: Over the course of the continuity (e.g. Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers, Transformers: More than Meets the Eye), it's revealed that thanks to their destructive Forever War, no one wants to have anything to do with Cybertron and its inhabitants. After the war's end, it's mentioned that the Autobots attempted to contact the Galactic Council, one of the setting's two major superpowers, but were ignored. The other major superpower the Black Block Consortia is even more extreme, making it a point to kill any Cybertronians they encounter. Only a select few Cybertronians are viewed with anything resembling positivity, such as Ultra Magnus the eternal lawman and Chief Justice Tyrest, both of whom are admired for their strict adherence and dedication to the law, specifically they enforce the laws about keeping destructive Cybertronian technology away from other species. In comparison, Optimus Prime is despised as being as bad as Megatron, since over the course of the war the Autobots have wound up destroying inhabited planets as well. The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, meanwhile, establishes that Cybertron was unpopular within the greater galactic community well before the war broke out thanks to having a xenophobic, isolationist government that considered other life forms, especially organic ones, to be inferior to Cybertronians.
Fan Works
- Wish Carefully: The story follows the slow but sure Meaningless Villain Victory after Voldemort wins and all of the good wizards (and Muggleborn) leave Wizarding Britain to go elsewhere. The Dark's increasing inbreeding leads to weaker mages and their attempt to head this off by abducting women from other countries leads to the mages from said countries establishing a Geas so Wizarding Britain is sealed off from the rest of the world. The story ends with Lucius Malfoy, the narrator, mentioning that he is leading a conspiracy to have Voldemort killed in the hopes that Britain's pariah status will be absolved.
Films — Animation
- Zootopia 2: The film reveals that there is a continent of the world inhabited entirely by reptiles, and that reptiles used to be welcome in Zootopia, same as mammals. However, because of an event that Gary's great-grandmother was framed for, reptiles were all but exiled from Zootopia. Gary's admission that he had to smuggle himself into Zootopia heavily implies that the city didn't have anything to do with the continent for a century.
Films — Live-Action
- Doomsday: Great Britain becomes a pariah state when it decides to enforce Quarantine with Extreme Prejudice on the whole of Scotland. The lack of resources and overpopulation crisis from the citizens being Persona Non Grata anywhere leads to the Reaper Virus appearing in the middle of London anyway a few years later.
Literature
- Old Man's War: It's eventually revealed that the Colonial Union is this for the greater galaxy. They claim to be looking out for humanity's interests, but they do so in a highly aggressive militaristic way. A few species will work with the Union, but it's always short-term and the Union has a deserved reputation for Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. When the Colonial Union actually tries diplomacy (which is almost never the second resort, much less the first), it faces an uphill battle because no other species except for the Obin actually want to ally with them, and the Obin only do because humans invented a cure for their lack of individual self-awareness.
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms:
- After Dong Zhuo's seizure of power basically causes the collapse of the Han central government's ability to govern, the empire collapses into infighting with various warlords vying for power. However, among all of these one example stands out: when Yuan Shu declares himself emperor and announces he has founded a new dynasty named Zhong to succeed Han, he finds himself with virtually no allies. Every other warlord at least pays lip service to the Han Emperor and acknowledges him as their overlord, recognising that with hundreds of years' worth of history behind it, the Han Empire still has symbolic value. By unilaterally declaring himself emperor with no right to it other than being one of the most powerful warlords and possession of the Imperial Seal, Yuan Shu essentially made himself toxic. Roughly half his territory breaks away from him under Sun Ce, partially because Sun sees Yuan's declaration as a chance to pull The Dog Bites Back without being seen as an Ungrateful Bastard. note Yuan's only ally turns out to be the mercurial Lu Bu.
- Lu Bu eventually manages to gain territory for himself in Xu Province, going from a wandering vagrant general to a warlord in his own right. However, he has virtually no allies due to his reputation for Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. That he and his army looted and pillaged his way across the land before being able to settle down also didn't help. The alliances he does form are under duress, the most notable example being Liu Bei who really had no other options than to ally with Lu Bu due to being just that desperate for allies.
Live-Action TV
- Three Kingdoms: After Cao Cao takes the Emperor into his protection, he becomes the de facto power behind the throne. He demonstrates this by issuing declarations in the Emperor's name, such as formally acknowledging self-proclaimed titles of various warlords or their control over territory. Despite this, most of the other warlords distance themselves from him (though they do send messages thanking the Emperor for the proclamations, as they helped justify their rule over their territories). Their reasons varied: some feared that Cao Cao could use his newfound power to simply command them through the Emperor, loyalists like Liu Bei distrusted Cao to not turn out to be power-hungry like Dong Zhuo, and others simply didn't think that the Han Empire under Cao's control had enough power to do anything but be a Paper Tiger. Punctuating this, when Cao calls upon the loyal servants of the Emperor to join him in marching against false emperor Yuan Shu, even after days of waiting only Liu Bei shows up out of loyalty to the Emperor note . Cao's destruction of Yuan Shu and subsequent lighting conquests quickly change this, and many of the various warlords begin tripping over themselves to profess loyalty and cultivate good relations with Cao.
Tabletop Games
- BattleTech: For a period of time between roughly 3036 to 3052, the Capellan Confederation was very much a pariah, befitting its North Korea analogue in the storyline. The reason for this was remarkably straightforward for the otherwise byzantine politics of the Inner Sphere: its ruler, Romano Liao, was nuttier than a pecan orchard. Her chaotic unpredictability coupled with a crippling simultaneous god and persecution complex means that Romano is vicious, unstable, and impossible to cooperate with, as demonstrated when she pulled the Confederation out of the coalition to resist the Clan invasion to fight them on her own, a move that is seen as incredibly short-sighted, pitifully petty, and utterly suicidal.
Video Games
- Ace Combat: Once Belka lost the Belkan War — which it began in '95 by attacking all of its neighbours for their resources, and ended after dropping seven nukes in its own territory — the Belkans became very, very revanchist and started instigating all manners of plots abroad: Belka provided the Usean Rebels that started the Usean coup d'etat with highly advanced planes piloted by the Zone of Endless AI; fomented the Circum-Pacific War between Osea and Yuktobania; and helped the Eastern Faction in Estovakia both win the Estovakian Civil War and invade Emmeria. By the time of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown one Doctor Schroeder was responsible for developing the advanced drone AI Erusea used during the Lighthouse War and nearly caused a Robot War to boot. Small wonder that the Belkans are stereotyped as devious schemers and that nobody wants to have anything to do with the nation that keeps trying to destabilize other nations or push them into wars with their neighbours as revenge for a lost war decades in the past.
- Civilization:
- Civilization V: Civilizations tend to be quite allergic to warmongering. Although they are generally willing to tolerate occasional acts of aggression, any civ that abuses this fact risks being denounced by most or all known civilizations, which is something very difficult to reverse. If the warmonger is also (unexpectedly) weak militarily, denunciations may well be followed by numerous declarations of war.
- Civilization VI: Encouraged by the "Rogue State" Dark Age policy card. It only makes sense to take it if you are preparing for wars with unlimited use of nuclear weapons, which is something that clearly won’t appeal to the vast majority of civs. Moreover, taking "Rogue State" makes it impossible to gain influence towards new envoys, which further damages diplomatic capabilities.
- Fallout: New Vegas: Subverted; Caesar’s Legion is a brutal slave-owning empire under a personalistic dictatorship that poses a threat to all tribes, factions, and even organized states it encounters. If the Legion prevails over its opponent (which happens very often), it mercilessly exterminates the opposition and assimilates the remnants, erasing their former identity. In the Mojave Wasteland, however, Caesar's Legion is not as despised as its description would suggest: the Great Khans and the Fiends are its allies from the very beginning, and with the Courier’s direct assistance, the Legion can gain the support of the Boomers and the White Glove Society, having more allies ahead of the Second Battle of Hoover Dam than their Arch-Enemy, the comparatively more benign New California Republic.
- Final Fantasy XIV:
- Ala Mhigo proved to be this for quite a while. A city-state filled with Proud Warrior Race Guys who subscribe to the more destructive ideals of their Patron God Rhalgar the Destroyer. A hundred years prior to the start of the game, the Ala Mhigans attempted to invade Gridania and were pushed back thanks to Limsa Lominsa, Ul'dah and Ishgard coming to Gridania's aid. Thus, when the Garlean Empire invaded Ala Mhigo following their people overthrowing the Mad King Theodoric, the Gridanians refused to aid them and the city-states treated the refugee Ala Mhigans very poorly because of this. The liberation of Ala Mhigo by the Eorzean Alliance and the installation of popular faces such as former Scion Lyse Hext and Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo's former Right Hand Man Raubahn Aldynn into their restored government has allowed them to be seen in a more favorable light, though the prejudices of the past still linger.
- Zigzagged with Garlemald ironically. The city of Garlemald once stood as the heart of the Garlean Empire as it spread its influence and hegemony across the world. However, their ambitious conquests and the brutal treatment of those they had conquered didn't endear them to any of the remaining free and independent nations of the world. As such, Garlemald had no true allies to call upon should its empire face dire straits. Such dire straits would happen when Garlemald's ruler, Emperor Varis, was murdered by his son Zenos, causing the empire to tear itself apart before being enthralled by the Telophoroi in their mad scheme to reenact the Final Days. Despite having been at war with them for several years, the Eorzean Alliance and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn send a force, the Ilsabard Contingent, to Garlemald to actually help the Garlean people as they are aware that if the Telophoroi succeed in their plans then all nations would be at risk. Nonetheless, Lyse Hext stated that it wasn't easy to find recruits, mentioning that for every soldier that accepted the mission, a dozen refused, having never forgotten the Empire's actions against them and having always seen the Empire as "the enemy". It further gets complicated when the Garlean people themselves nearly outright reject the Ilsabard Contingent's aid, unable to accept at face value that their enemies have come to help them.
- Killzone: The Helghast of Helghan were originally colonists who ultimately were humiliated and broken following the First Extrasolar War after the Helghan Administration attempted to maintain their growing dominance over star travel and trade, especially with the garden world of Vekta. Since being crushed by Earth's UCA and ISA forces, the Helghast would be left to rot on the environmentally hostile world of Helghan, even as they faced starvation. However, the Helghast would return with a vengeance after Scholar Visari rose to power, whipped his people into a frenzy with his vision and turned their broken nation into a military superpower. Due to the ISA ignoring the growing power of Helghan, they would caught off-guard by the Helghast's attack on Vekta. The situation becomes muddy after Killzone 2 and 3, where the war between the ISA and the Helghast ravages Helghan to the point the Helghast were forced to leave their world. The ISA offers the survivors half of Vekta as a gesture to end the war which the Helghast accept but the relations between the two forces remain locked in a Cold War. By Shadow Fall, the Helghast government is acknowledged but also regarded with immense suspicion with both sides almost looking for a legitimate excuse to go to war.
- Mass Effect:
- The Batarian Hegemony. The Batarians view slavery as a cultural tradition, which made them few friends on the Citadel council. In fact, they consider the Council's anti-slavery laws discriminatory. When they got into a war with the newly discovered humans, a war they could not win, and the council sided with the humans, the Batarians cut off diplomatic contact. Since then they've been involved in terrorist attacks and slaver raids against humans, and their involvement with various criminal organizations has resulted in most species governments refusing to deal with them. This bites them hard on the ass in the third game when they are the first species hit by the Reapers, with no one to help and most people unwilling to take in their refugees.
- The Quarians are a more dramatic example. For creating the geth despite the Citadel Council's warnings, they ended up losing their homeworld and also lost their embassy in a like manner to the batarians. Nowadays the quarians are treated as an entire race of vagrants by the galaxy at large; the quarian's government is barely even recognized as being one.
- Though the krogan have no unifying government to speak for them in galactic affairs, they are nonetheless ignored and treated with a measure of disdain by the Citadel Council authorities for their attempt in conquering the galaxy following the Rachni Wars over a thousand years ago.
- The yagh packs were unceremoniously barred from interaction with Citadel space after massacring the Council's delegation when they first discovered them. Due to the yagh's pack mentality, thereby needing an undisputed leader, the concept of equality is offensive to them hence why they reacted violently to the Citadel's Council's delegation. Ever since, the yagh and their homeworld were declared off-limits.
- Mount & Blade: If the player is presented with a favorable opportunity, they can attack a fief and conquer it for themselves, which will mark the birth of a new faction competing for power in Calradia. However, if the player has been ignoring their "right to rule" stat up to this point, other monarchs will perceive them as an upstart commoner who is in no way their equal, which will not only greatly complicate diplomacy with them but also prompt them to Gang Up on the Human, especially at a time when the player's newly formed faction is particularly vulnerable.
- Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall: Zig-Zagged. To get a general idea of how the world perceives your nation, there is the "Diplomatic Reputation" scale from 0 ("Westernizer") to 100 ("Authoritarian"). Basically, the higher your score, the fewer opportunities you have to interact with other nations, especially those that are not pariahs themselves. However, if you do something like saving the socialist camp from collapse or, better yet, seizing the lead in it in the process, you can have plenty of allies and economic partners even with a 100 at "Diplomatic Reputation".
- Many games by Paradox Interactive feature some form of "Infamy" mechanic where waging aggressive wars or stabbing other nations in the back causes everyone to rally against younote :
- In Crusader Kings II and Crusader Kings III, being overly sinful or seriously angering your religious head as a Christian ruler risks getting you the "Excommunicated" trait; this means every other Christian ruler gets a free casus belli against you where you're forced to abdicate if you lose.
- In the first three Europa Universalis games, Infamy is generated by declaring war without a casus belli, invading land that you don't have a historical claim to, annexing nations of the same religion, and breaking truces. If you pass the Infamy limit, all neighboring countries gain a casus belli to try and carve you up.
- In Europa Universalis IV, this is reworked into "Aggressive Expansion," based on how rapidly you conquer territory above all else. This inspires neighboring countries to form defensive coalitions to try and deter you.
- Hearts of Iron IV: The Anarchist faction, being organized as a coordinating body of countless self-armed free communes, embodies an alternative model of society to the conventional, government-based one. This characteristic gives the Anarchists a largely unique context, because they are not technically a pariah state (as they are not a state at all), but the whole world hates them even more than it would most full-fledged pariah states. Given this exceedingly high level of hostility and rejection, the ultimate goal of the Anarchists, should they first win the Civil War in Spain, is the elimination of nation-states as such, so they naturally cannot form factions or join existing ones. Worse still, every state, if it has the opportunity, will consider it its duty to the international community to destroy the Anarchists, putting an end to their social experiment.
"There is no room in defeatist thinking when the whole world is against you. We either maintain our unshakable belief in achieving a peaceful future, or we fall."
- Stellaris:
- Downplayed with empires that have the "Barbaric Despoilers" civic: any such empire will have certain war-related bonuses, but its savage culture will repel, albeit slightly, all other empires, even those that are also militaristic.
- If an empire that is non-genocidal and therefore diplomatically capable decides to become a Crisis, it thereby effectively signs up to its willingness to become Hated by All sooner or later. Although there are certain differences between various available Crises, the general idea is that in the early stages of its progress, the Crisis empire will suffer penalties in its relations with other empires, which will only increase and make diplomacy less and less a viable option, and should the Crisis empire reach the fifth stage of its selected Crisis, the Galactic Community, in the entirety of its members, will automatically declare Total War against it, with no chance of compromise.
- In Victoria II, Infamy is earned by random chance while justifying a war, meant to represent your warmongering intentions being discovered and condemned by other nations. If a nation has more than 25 Infamy, all great powers get the "Containment" casus belli against them, which forces the defeated nation to demilitarize and pay war reparations.
- In Victoria III, Infamy has far more complex calculations based on the diplomatic demands a country makes and whether the target is "recognized" (the Great Powers see the nation as civilized Westerners vs. savage inferiors). Achieving the highest Infamy level, "Pariah", allows the Great Powers to use the "Cut Down to Size" casus belli against you and force you to undo all your recent conquests.
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri:
- Unless the UN Charter gets repealed, committing atrocities (nerve stapling, base obliteration, etc.) is a sure way to incite the resentment of all other parties to the treaty. Even if the UN Charter is repealed, the gravest atrocity — the use of Planet Busters — will remain the only exception, punishable by the offender's immediate expulsion from the Planetary Council and a declaration of vendetta against it by all other factions. This is arguably the biggest point of no return in the entire game, after which no faction will ever regard the one that took this step to be sufficiently sane.
- Both Progenitor factions (the Manifold Caretakers and the Manifold Usurpers) are likely to end up like this. The relationship between them will never be anything other than Forever War, which is why these two factions can conduct diplomacy solely with humans. It is not that much better with them, however, as the Progenitors do not consider humans to be their equals, so while factions of both races are not prohibited from having friendly relations with each other, these relations will never be as strong as those between exclusively human factions. It also does not help that the Progenitor factions 1) do not engage in commerce with humans (making being friendly less lucrative); 2) at least initially are significantly more advanced than them (thereby receiving an incentive for aggression); 3) are not members of the Planetary Council (meaning their opinion is already largely ignored by humans); 4) are not signatories to the UN Charter (so no one will do anything if atrocities are committed against them, unless a Planet Buster has been used); 5) are prohibited from entering into pacts or treaties with factions that have already signed them with the other Progenitor faction (thus potentially having even less possible partners); 6) will always respond with vendetta if their demands are not met immediately (which is obviously rarely a sensible approach); and 7) have a unique victory condition, the fulfillment of which will result in the elimination of human presence on Planet (giving humans a compelling reason to be cautious about interracial diplomacy so as not to unduly strengthen those who could one day be able to wipe them out).
- Suzerain:
- Zig-zagged with the Republic of Wehlen. Under the rule of President Wiktor Smolak, Wehlen has become condemned on the international stage by just about everybody for its terrible human rights violations and obvious authoritarian regime, to the point that cooperation with Wehlen earns disapproval from a lot of nations by default. However, because the Suzerain universe is full of Realpolitik, Wehlen is still exporting a lot of its oil to countries willing to buy it. President Smolak is well aware of other countries' desire for his nation's vast oil reserves, and often uses very beneficial trade deals for Wehlen's oil as a bargaining tactic in order to circumvent how much other nations dislike his government, while also always making sure he gets something out of the agreement. Wehlen is also receiving military aid from United Contana, purely on the basis that their government is anti-capitalist and nominally "socialist".
- The Kingdom of Rumburg is an aspiring world power led by the bellicose Queen Beatrice Livingston, and one of the few true monarchies left in Merkopa. Rumburg's sight being set on eventually rivalling Arcasia and United Contana has earned it little favour from either of them, and its Irredentist claims on its neighbouring nations means that they have few allies left in the world not bound to them by obligatory blood ties (such as the Kingdom of Rizia) or by membership in GRACE. It's even possible for President Rayne to expose just how much sword-rattling Rumburg has been doing to Sordland, thereby slapping them with heavy economic sanctions from the AN and crippling their economy.
- Total War:
- Medieval II: Total War: One of the reasons behind the Papal States being much more powerful than it appears is its ability to excommunicate Catholic factions that are disagreeable to the Pope. Excommunication undermines the ruler's authority among his subjects and turns the faction under his rule into an outcast for other Catholic factions, by virtue of their respect for the Pope's decision, who will not only refuse to defend in any way the excommunicated faction from attacks by other Catholics (who will most likely gladly seize the opportunity), but may also declare a crusade against one of its settlements, thereby making war with other Catholics more or less guaranteed. Excommunication normally lasts until the death of either the Pope or the ruler of the excommunicated faction, after which reconciliation takes place.
- Napoleon: Total War: At the start of the European campaign, France is despised by virtually the entire game map. It has literally no friends among the other great powers (Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia are all united in their rejection of Napoleon and his empire), the number of allies among the minor nations is rather limited, and those France does have are almost all inclined to view it negatively, despite them formally being in the same boat. If France is successful in its conquests, it will be able to rectify this situation somewhat, although even then it will still have to maintain the appearance of sympathy for itself at the point of the bayonets of its powerful army.
- Total War: Shogun 2:
- The Otomo clan starts the game having adopted Christianity and is a diplomatic pariah as a result, being seen as The Quisling by embracing Portuguese traders. On the plus side, they can use Catholic Priest agents to cause unrest in other territories by spreading Christianity, hire powerful Portuguese mercenaries, and import firearms technology much sooner than other factions. If playing as another faction that converts to Christianity, you'll take an immediate diplomatic penalty with all non-Christian clans.
- The Fall of the Samurai expansion is dedicated to the confrontation between the Emperor and the Shogunate in the 1860s. The player's clan is supposed to choose a side, but it can instead do something unheard of by proclaiming a Republic, thereby antagonizing both pro-Imperial and pro-Shogunate clans. From their standpoint, conducting diplomacy with the newly formed Republic is tantamount to treason against the Emperor/Shogun, which leaves only the Western powers willing to interact peacefully with it.
- Tropico: In the event of careless leadership on the part of El Presidente, Tropico may end up with terrible relations with every Foreign Power available for diplomacy. Considering that Tropico is merely a tiny island nation lost somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, a quarrel with all the world's giants is a foreign policy disaster that will deprive Tropico of any foreign aid, usually so much needed, and very likely lead to an invasion, which in most installments is an automatic Game Over.
Web Original
- SCP Foundation: SCP-1173
is this for an odd reason: nobody is sure if the Islamic Republic of Eastern Samothrace actually exists. The article has two versions, one where it's a memetic contagion that causes folks to believe the non-existent country Eastern Samothrace is real, and one where said memetic contagion causes folks to believe that the very real country is a fictional construct, to the point of attacking its people. Even the O5 Command that runs the Foundation is split down the middle, and the final addendum in both documents states there's a civil war brewing in the Foundation over whether or not it's real.
