Game Starting State
Every country in A House Divided begins with a fixed set of parties, an empty legislature, and a pool of generated NPPs. This page documents the exact starting configuration for each country — who's on the ballot, what ideological ground is already occupied, and how much each party has in the bank before a single player joins.
Ideology scale reminder: Economic and social positions each run from -5 to +5.
- Economic: -5 = far-left (nationalization, high taxes) → +5 = far-right (free market, low taxes)
- Social: -5 = progressive → +5 = traditional/conservative
United States
System: Federal presidential republic — fixed 4-year executive term, no coalition or confidence votes.
Legislature: U.S. House (435 seats) + U.S. Senate (100 seats, staggered thirds)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | DEM | #3B82F6 | −2 | −2 | $1,000,000 |
| Republican Party | REP | #EF4444 | +2 | +2 | $1,000,000 |
Both are default parties — they always exist and cannot be deleted. The US is the most binary starting landscape: two equally funded parties, neither far from center on either axis. Third-party entry is structurally expensive here: founding a new party requires 5 state footprints and 10 seeded NPPs.
Starting NPPs
US NPPs are generated dynamically at world creation using the name generator. There are no pre-seeded named NPPs. NPP counts per state are weighted by party organization strength and state lean.
United Kingdom
System: Westminster parliamentary democracy — Prime Minister requires Commons confidence; snap elections possible.
Legislature: House of Commons (650 seats)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | LAB | #E4003B | −2 | −3 | $1,000,000 |
| Conservative Party | CON | #0087DC | +2 | +2 | $1,000,000 |
| Liberal Democrats | LD | #FAA61A | 0 | −2 | $1,000,000 |
| Scottish National Party | SNP | #FFF95D | −2 | −2 | $250,000 |
| Plaid Cymru | PC | #3F8428 | −2 | −2 | $250,000 |
| Green Party | GRN | #02A95B | −4 | −4 | $100,000 |
| Reform UK | RUK | #12B6CF | +2 | +4 | $100,000 |
| Democratic Unionist Party | DUP | #D46A4C | +2 | +4 | $250,000 |
| Sinn Féin | SF | #326760 | −3 | −2 | $250,000 |
All nine are default parties. The UK has the most parties at game start of any country, giving players a wide ideological range to choose from. The major parties (LAB, CON, LD) open with full £1M treasuries; the regional and minor parties start with less.
Starting NPPs
UK NPPs are generated dynamically at world creation, weighted by regional polling and party organization. One named NPP is pre-seeded:
| Name | Party | Role |
|---|---|---|
| King Charles III | Independent | Ceremonial head of state (retired — does not run in elections) |
Germany
System: Federal parliamentary republic — Chancellor requires Bundestag majority; constructive vote of no confidence required to remove.
Legislature: Bundestag (630 seats, majority threshold 316)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | SPD | #E3000F | −2 | −2 | $1,500,000 | |
| Christlich Demokratische Union | CDU | #000000 | +2 | +1 | $1,500,000 | |
| Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern | CSU | #0080C8 | +2 | +2 | $500,000 | Bayern (BY) only |
| Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | GRN | #64A12D | −2 | −4 | $1,000,000 | |
| Freie Demokratische Partei | FDP | #FFED00 | +3 | −1 | $750,000 | |
| Die Linke | LNK | #BE3075 | −4 | −3 | $500,000 | |
| Alternative für Deutschland | AFD | #009EE0 | +2 | +4 | $500,000 |
All seven are default parties. The CDU and CSU act as a sister-party bloc (CDU/CSU Fraktion) in the Bundestag but remain distinct parties in the game — players can join either. The CSU is strictly restricted to Bavaria. Germany is the only country that pre-seeds a large named NPP pool.
Starting NPPs
Germany starts with approximately 201 pre-seeded NPPs, proportional to the 2021 Bundestag Zweitstimmen results:
| Party | NPP Count |
|---|---|
| SPD | 57 |
| CDU | 40 |
| Grüne | 33 |
| AfD | 23 |
| FDP | 25 |
| CSU | 12 (Bayern only) |
| Die Linke | 11 |
NPPs are distributed across all 16 Bundesländer, weighted by state lean and party organization. The Federal President (Bundespräsident) is a ceremonial head of state created at runtime via the admin panel — not pre-seeded.
Japan
System: Parliamentary constitutional monarchy — Prime Minister requires Diet majority; snap elections possible.
Legislature: House of Representatives (465 seats, majority threshold 233)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democratic Party | LDP | #2BA547 | +2 | +2 | $1,000,000 |
| Constitutional Democratic Party | CDP | #1E4D8C | −2 | −2 | $1,000,000 |
| Komeito | KMT | #F5A623 | 0 | 0 | $500,000 |
| Japanese Communist Party | JCP | #D71920 | −4 | −3 | $500,000 |
| Nippon Ishin no Kai | ISH | #39B54A | +3 | +1 | $500,000 |
| Democratic Party for the People | DPFP | #FF6B00 | 0 | −1 | $500,000 |
All six are default parties. The LDP and CDP are the dominant two. Komeito historically plays the role of the LDP's coalition partner; Ishin leans neoliberal reform. Japan has a distinctive mechanic: Cabinet Bills, which can be introduced by the executive without going through the full parliamentary bill process.
Starting NPPs
Japan NPPs are generated dynamically at world creation. One named NPP is pre-seeded:
| Name | Party | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Emperor Naruhito | Independent | Ceremonial head of state (retired — does not run in elections) |
Brazil
System: Federal presidential republic — President directly elected, serves fixed terms; no coalition confidence vote.
Legislature: Chamber of Deputies (513 seats, majority threshold 257) + Federal Senate (81 seats)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partido dos Trabalhadores | PT | #EE2027 | −3 | −2 | $1,500,000 |
| Partido Liberal | PL | #004A99 | +2 | +3 | $1,200,000 |
| MDB | MDB | #36A9E0 | 0 | 0 | $1,000,000 |
| União Brasil | UNIÃO | #003399 | +1 | +1 | $900,000 |
| PSD | PSD | #007A32 | +1 | 0 | $800,000 |
All five are default parties, calibrated to the post-2018 Brazilian political landscape. PT (Lula's Workers' Party) sits left economically; PL (Bolsonaro's party) sits right economically and is the most socially conservative of the five. MDB is the centrist big-tent broker. Brazil has the most fragmented real-world legislature of any country in the game — coalition-building is essential even for the President.
Starting NPPs
Brazil NPPs are generated dynamically at world creation. No named NPPs are pre-seeded.
China
System: One-party dominant state — Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) framework; all parties operate under CCP leadership.
Legislature: National People's Congress (2,980 seats, majority threshold 1,491)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Communist Party | CCP | #DE2910 | 0 | +3 | $2,000,000 |
| China Democratic League | CDL | #FFD700 | −1 | 0 | $200,000 |
| China National Democratic Construction Association | CNDCA | #1E90FF | +1 | 0 | $200,000 |
All three are default parties. The CCP is the dominant ruling party with by far the largest treasury. CDL is associated with intellectuals and educators; CNDCA represents private entrepreneurs and business interests. The minor parties hold symbolic CPPCC seats and operate within CCP-defined limits.
Starting NPPs
China NPPs are generated dynamically at world creation. No named NPPs are pre-seeded.
Ireland
System: Parliamentary republic — Taoiseach (PM) requires Dáil majority; coalition governments are the norm.
Legislature: Dáil Éireann (160 seats, majority threshold 81)
Starting Parties
| Party | Abbr | Color | Economic | Social | Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine Gael | FG | #009DD6 | +2 | −2 | $1,200,000 |
| Fianna Fáil | FF | #66BB00 | 0 | 0 | $1,200,000 |
| Sinn Féin | SF | #326760 | −3 | −3 | $800,000 |
| Labour | LAB | #CC0000 | −2 | −2 | $400,000 |
| Green Party | GP | #00B140 | −1 | −3 | $300,000 |
All five are default parties. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are the traditional Civil War rivals — both centrist by international standards, reflecting Ireland's historically non-ideological big-tent parties. Sinn Féin has grown into the strongest left-wing force. Labour and the Greens are smaller but pivotal coalition partners. The Taoiseach requires Dáil confidence, so coalition arithmetic matters from day one.
Starting NPPs
Ireland NPPs are generated dynamically at world creation. No named NPPs are pre-seeded.
Economy & Sector Markets
Each country seeds an unowned sector market for all 17 sector types across every region. Corporations acquire slices of this pool; the remainder stays unowned until other players move in.
Sector market sizes are seeded proportionally to real-world GDP composition — not split equally. A state's seeded market for any given sector is:
seed = state GDP × exchange rate × 450 × sector weight
where sector weight is the fraction of that state's economy attributed to the sector (weights sum to 1.0 per region). The scale factor of 450 produces a starting US stock market roughly four to five times larger than the previous equal-split baseline.
Examples:
- California: technology seeds at ~20% of its sector pool; extraction seeds at ~1%.
- West Virginia: extraction seeds at ~20%; technology at ~1%.
- New York: financial services seeds at ~18%; agriculture at ~2%.
- Tokyo/Kanto (JP): financial seeds at ~16%; automobiles at ~2%.
- Bavaria (DE): automobiles seeds at ~18%; entertainment at ~1%.
The interactive map below shows the seeded weight for any sector, for any country. Select a country tab and a sector from the dropdown to visualise which regions have the largest starting market for that sector.
Darker = lower weight; brighter teal = higher sector seeding share.
Cross-Country Notes
Default parties cannot be deleted — they exist in every game world and survive regardless of treasury or membership. Player-founded parties can be dissolved if they lose all members.
Dynamic NPP generation uses weighted name generators seeded per country. All generated NPPs start with ideology positions drawn from their party's range, blended with their home region's lean. Their favorability, loyalty, and stubbornness are randomized within bounds.
Starting treasuries do not regenerate passively — parties grow their funds through player-paid dues, tax rates set by leadership, and event outcomes. Low-treasury parties at game start (Greens, Reform UK, minor parties) can still be competitive if players fund them aggressively.
No government is formed at turn 0 — all parliamentary countries begin with a "pending" government formation. The first coalition or majority must be assembled through in-game votes once NPPs and players are in place.
Related
- Create a Character — Country selection and what it changes for your character.
- Political Parties — How parties work, party creation costs, and leadership structures.
- Party Ideology — How economic and social positions affect primaries and NPP alignment.
- NPP Behavior — How generated NPPs vote, campaign, and interact with players.
- Coalition Formation — How parliamentary governments are assembled from the starting state.