Today yet another flag from TNO and one of my favorite unifiers. Long live Comrade Yagoda! Enjoy 
Irkutsk, the current headquarters of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, is the official remnant of the tattered Bukharinist Soviet Union, under the securocratic rule of Chairman Genrikh Yagoda and his NKVD. When Moscow fell, Yagoda relocated much of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet eastwards, and reestablished some semblance of control in the Far East from Irkutsk. However, traitors, reactionaries, and opportunists soon collapsed Yagoda's Far Eastern Soviet, and Valery Sablin's mutiny threatens to end the old Union for good.
Historical In-Joke: In real life, Yagoda and his cabinet were among the defendants in the Trial of the Twenty-One.
Police State: The Soviet Union under Yagoda's rule has completely degenerated into a police state controlled by the NKVD. After Irkutsk unites up to the regionals, Yagoda gradually downplays this by bringing civilian life back to normal, though his Securocracy still plays a heavy role in state control.
Right Hand vs. Left Hand: There is a power struggle within the Soviet remnants between the Party faction and the State faction. The Party faction represented by Bessonov argues that the state should be subordinate to the will of the Party, and is more idealistic, while the State faction led by Yagoda argues for the reverse and is more pragmatic.
Reign of Terror: Irkutsk's unification of the Russian Far East is unmistakably this, especially as the NKVD executes each leader of the defeated factions. The term is even used in the reaction quote when Irkutsk unifies the Russian Far East.
The Remnant: Genrikh Yagoda leads a portion of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Irkutsk, after their defeat during the Second World War. His government has the strongest claim to be the successor of the original Bukharin government in Moscow, as the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was evacuated to Irkutsk after the fall of the Union.
Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: The image for the event announcing to the world that Irkutsk has united the Far East features a NKVD Executioner doing this. Especially more appropriate considering the executions of everyone who stands in Yagoda's way during said unification.
Secret Police: The NKVD, already one of the most dreaded organizations in the pre-war Soviet Union, became even more omnipresent in Yagoda's Irkutsk, taking most of the state functions for themselves and helping their chief to eliminate any opposition to his tyrannical rule.
Vestigial Empire: Genrikh Yagoda's petty warlord state based in Irkutsk is the "official" Soviet Union, as it contains the remnants of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. After the fall of Moscow, this rump USSR controlled most of the Russian Far East, but as time went on, many of Yagoda's lieutenants refused to follow his orders or turned to the reactionaries of the Harbin Three, leaving Yagoda only with his personal domain in Irkutsk. Sablin's revolt has a chance to put the final nail in the coffin and end the Soviet Union for good.
Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda, director of the NKVD, was one of the most powerful and feared men in the old Soviet Union. After the Soviet collapse, Yagoda managed to secure his lead over the official remnant Soviet government, but his subsequent fall from a mighty Chairman to a petty warlord convinced him that nobody but his NKVD are ideologically pure enough to lead the Union. As Sablin's revisionists threaten to forever destroy his glorious Union, Yagoda tightens his grip and doubles his purges to ensure the security of the state, refusing to compromise even to the Bukharinist politicians.
Allohistorical Allusion: Yagoda in the regionals will declare a "Transitional Approach to Economics", stating that the Union is currently in a transitional phase between market economy and true communism. He will then reduce state intervention in the economy, invite foreign investment, and open up Special Economic Sectors with free markets. These economic reforms are a dead ringer for the Chinese economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping.
And There Was Much Rejoicing: Although merely captured instead of killed, if Yagoda is defeated by Buryatia, Sablin and his allies almost unanimously celebrate Yagoda's defeat with a wild night of drinking. Similarly, if Amur defeats Irkutsk, the citizens of Zeya join the Blackshirts with glee and genuine enthusiasm as Yagoda is brought to the gallows.
Bald of Evil: Yagoda is completely bald, as well as one of the most brutal and oppressive warlords in Russia.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: If Yagoda succeeds in maintaining power from the Party faction and from Bessonov's attempted coup, he's shown calmly looking at Bessonov breaking down from an upstairs window before casually turning away, as though it's just another day in Irkutsk.
Cult of Personality: Yagoda has built a cult of personality around himself, including rejected propaganda photos which involve a shirtless Yagoda hunting, fishing, and riding on horseback through the wilderness.
Defiant to the End: If Yagoda is defeated by Father Alexander Men, he will be dragged to the city square and told to repent and join Men. Yagoda has none of it and pulls out a Tokarev and tries to shoot Men, only to find out that his gun is empty. The crowd surrounding the Father turns into an enraged mob right after, and stones Yagoda before lynching him.
Dirty Communists: Yagoda is absolutely brutal during his campaign to reconquer the Far East. After reuniting the region, Yagoda improves his nation and liberalizes the economy, but remains highly autocratic and politically repressive.
Dying Alone: If Irkutsk is defeated by Buryatia and Valery Sablin decides to spare Yagoda's life, nobody gives him a second glance when he walks the streets of Irkutsk after being released from the prison farm, and nobody is there to hear his final words, as he realises that all he did in his life has meant nothing.
Evil Old Folks: Yagoda is 71 by 1962, and he maintains a tyrannical rule over Irkutsk.
Internal Reformist: While Yagoda is politically more oppressive than even Bukharin was, only rivalling the Stalinists and Tukhachevsky, economically hes one of the most reformist Communist unifiers available for Russia, pushing for China-like reforms of the command economy into state capitalism.
Irony: Nikolai Yezhov, the man who executed Yagoda on Stalin's orders in real life, was executed by Yagoda some time in the 1950s, after the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet moved to Irkutsk.
Meet the New Boss: Yagoda views himself as Nikolai Bukharin's legal successor and tries to continue his old boss' policies as much as possible; that said, Yagoda's Dengist reforms are his own ideas, and many in the party see them as a deviation from Bukharin's old policies.
Necessary Evil: The most charitable description one could give for Yagoda's brutal measures, and what the man himself seems to believe.
Not So Different: In a sense, with Albert Speer in Germany, especially in pursuing Dengist reforms to ensure the survival of both Bukharin's legacy and Russia's status as a great power.
Rated M for Manly: Invoked. As part of his Cult of Personality, Yagoda has propaganda pictures of himself taken doing "manly" activities like riding horses, fishing, and hunting a leopard while shirtless. If Yagoda is overthrown by the Party faction and replaced by Bessonov, the Presidium passes around these posters with great amusement, seeing it as another example of the ridiculousness of Yagoda's regime. Its also direct reference to what current russian president Vladimir Putin is doing.
Reassigned to Antarctica: If the Party faction triumphs over Yagoda's State faction, General Secretary Yagoda is demoted to just another Party member and internally exiled.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yagoda genuinely believes that he's doing what is best for the Soviet Union, and that only after his draconian and ruthless measures see their fruition could he consider bringing his real plans to light.
Berserk Button: An event at the superregional stage shows that the thought of his old boss, Yagoda, makes Bessonov positively furious, as he sees Yagoda as a traitor to the core values of socialism.
Internal Reformist: Bessonov is a liberal political reformer who seeks to make the USSR less oppressive by dismantling the gulags and Yagoda's cult of personality. At the same time, this is partly inverted, since his faction of the party is also the economically conservative one, favouring a traditional Soviet command economic - as opposed to Yagodas China-like reforms.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Bessonov believes that socialism must serve the people, and that Yagoda is oppressing the people and forcing the people to serve him.
Reassigned to Antarctica: If Bessonov's gamble to coup Yagoda fails, he finds himself informed by a guard that he's been "promoted" at the last minute to a high-ranking agricultural post in the ass-end of Siberia. He breaks down upon realizing this, knowing that he's lost his chance to seize power and doomed to languish in obscurity.
Main Source Used:
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… https://www.deviantart.com/thegreypatriot/art/Irkutsk-Yagoda-TNO-876608140
featuring Sakuya from the TouHou Project! As usual, I hope you guys like it!
