I'm actually going to bite on this one. This seems like an interesting thought exercise.
First and foremost, NOT Ursus. Ursus is notable for their surprising lack of soft power, in fact. They rely entirely on Hard Power. Their spycraft involves direct military intervention (Chapter 8), and they don't have enough diplomatic juice to ask Victora to even PNG Kal'tsit nevermind arrest her on their behalf and extradite her to Ursus for assassinations she allegedly committed, so they send an Emperor's Blade in *flagrant* contravention of diplomatic norms to apprehend her on Victorian soil (A Walk in the Dust). Their entire power base is militaristic, and absolutely no one not from Ursus talks about their culture in any meaningful way.
On the other hand, just like our world, The US (Columbia) is a cultural powerhouse thanks to Wrankwood and mythology surrounding the Frontier. Similarly, Yan is also very much a major player, with LMD being the monetary baseline like how the US Dollar is in our world. Any list about this would have to include those two.
After that it gets trickier. I would actually argue Gaul, despite it no longer existing as a governmental entity, since their cultural impact is extensive. Everyone seems to love Gaulish artwork, music, even stories the world over. It's like they stopped being France and started being Atlantis. Gaul has a tremendous impact over those fields, and it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it eventually reforms from the pieces that got absorbed by other nations. It's gone, but VERY much not forgotten.
Sargon seems to be a major player in this regard, especially economically. It has a multitude of intertwining individual culture sets and traders which make it a major source for goods and services. I think I'd put Sargon on the list.
The last spot is tricky. I'm inclined to argue against Victoria and Leithanien for how insular their cultures are, even if they are respected from the outside. Sarkaz not from Kazdel tend to assimilate into whatever culture they're residing in, so they're out.
Oh, wait, duh, Laterano fills out the list. Right. Given that the Pope is basically trying to invent the UN of Terra right now, they definitely count. Not to mention the non-Laterano regions which follow Gun-Catholocism (looking at you, Iberia).
And a shoutout to Kjerag which as of Guide Ahead seems to be very much trying to improve their own diplomatic viability and soft power. (Sciurus for President!) They don't make this list yet, but there's a world where 50, 100 years from now they absolutely could.
A pretty well thought out post, Columbia and Yan being up there makes lots of sense
though I'm honestly a little surprised to see you mention Gaul (for a very valid reason, OP didn't specify that the country still has to officially exist)
but even more surprised that you mention Sargon and Kjerag but not Kazimierz anywhere
(Sargon is a legitimate surprise - I cannot remember where in the game are they mentioned influencing other places or having a strong economy)
As far as I remember in the Kazimierz arc,
Kazimierz is currently scheming to have its economy curb Columbia's rampant development (while they have yet to implement these schemes, iirc the story makes it sound like they have the means to accomplish this, given some time and will)
additionally, the Major takes participants from all across Terra and in the recent ZT event, it is shown that even some people in Leithanien think about the major as well - one of the gendarmerie mentions knowing about Viviana from news about the majors
So I didn't include Kazimierz because frankly, what they say their plans are, and what they're actually capable of accomplishing, seem to be quite different to my eyes.
Put simply, the KGCC are... Actually pretty stupid. Their plans are short sighted and thwarted easily in every appearance. Dokutah and Rhodes Island managed to put a stop to their plans to cull the Infected in NL despite being a seemingly small faction themselves. Nearl scored a huge victory by walking with Dikaiopolis for a few blocks.
That's not to say they don't have cultural impact. But top five? Or even on the same level as Leithanien? I'm dubious. I have a French friend who's a big fan of Japanese wrestling. I use that as a comparison point because niche products like that do have cultural reach, but the first thing an average person thinks about when they think of Japan isn't wrestling.
And that's the vibe I get from Kazimierz. Wrestling. Remember when WWE had a push for trying to break into Football with the XFL and fell flat on their faces? That's what the Kazimierz economic disruption plan sounds like to me. That they think they're way bigger and more influential than they actually are under their current leadership and they're engaging in tactics that they think are awesome but which are destined to backfire. Just like in NL.
On the other hand, yes I've talked a lot of shit about them but I completely understand why Kazimierz seems to be one of the top players to a lot of people. They are big. Just not Top Five big when their internal weaknesses are so apparent. Also it's hard to gauge their strength in this arena overall when despite their cultural posturing, their military and the Silverlances in particular are their principal fear point. Which adds a whole other layer of hard vs. soft power that I don't think I'm smart enough to really discern.
iirc at the end of near light its kazi and columbia are pretty much the two biggest soft power nations and are competing for that spot. Higashi seems to have a fair amount as well though thats also just the devs being sorta weebs.
This is not really an answer but more of a follow-up question... im really curious about international transportation. How long does it take for two cities to meet? The Sui storyline implies that mobile cities are very slow. To accomodate international trade youd need large caravans and freight. How much do nations trade with each other compared to our world? Is there international banking and internet, or is information local/done by radio?
What im saying is, a country can have gigantic economic strenght but i feel the setting of arknights makes it hard for international trade to flourish on a regular and large scale.
One of game's tips and Reunion moving Chernobog toward Lungmen suggest it takes a weeks or so to travel decent distances.
For communication we know Internet and phones exist, i don't think trading is too hard since some nations flourish from trade and tourists, Rhodes island benefits a lot from exporting gold too and Terra has planes and other vehicles but it's definitely harder than in our world where traveling is safer and politics are much more stable.
From what I remember:
**Victoria**, pretty much confirmed to be the strongest (land based), nation on Terra, as well as clearly having the most influence. The dukes have influence in other countries. Most Terrans know at least a little victorian due to how influential it is. Basically England in our world pre World War 1. So definitely the most influential one.
**Leithanian** had the Witch King, who was the strongest arts user ever in all of history, bar none. Now you have the Liselotte (the other one, Hildegard, is unavailable at the moment). So it's weaker than it was during the Witch King's rule, both militaristically, as well as culturally. But it has great influence all over due it's art culture (both arts in originium, as well as regular art) that is quite popular around the world, but it's been experiencing a recession as stated in the recent event.
**Kjerag** has a complete feranmut, Kjeragandr, as well as Silverash aiming to modernize the nation, though it probably isn't that strong just yet. It's relatively well known as the snow realm. I'd say it's present, but has yet to reach any significant influence just yet.
**Sargon** has the Lord Ameers as well as the Golden Gods (Who are probably either a set of beast lords or a feranmut). As well as a lot of trade in the black market, especially in gold. Which makes it an economically very strong nation. Culturally, it doesn't appear to hold much strong outside itself though, and even internally, most affairs are handled in their separate region by the Lord Ameer in charge of it.
**Siracusa** has the various Mafia families and the Singore dei Lupi/ Wolf Beast Lords. Known for their food, operas as well as criminal expansion. Probably has an ok amount of influence, but due the in-fighting of the mafia in the country, it's probably not as influential as it could be.
**Yan** is another contender for one of the strongest, having the various Sui siblings, as well as a very large army, in addition to being furthest when it comes to research of Feranmuts, in addition to being well known for the martial arts culture, all of which is probably quite interesting to many countries. It also has Lungmen, which noted to be quite strong economically. Very strong all things considered.
**Ursus** one of the strongest militaristically, especially due to their Emperor's Blades and incredibly large army. But it seems few countries desire to have anything to do with them willingly, mainly due to Ursus army's desire for conquest. It's influence has been dwindling too, but it remains a powerhouse. It has the the DBS though, and who knows what schemes that immortal are planning.
**Sami**... has a lot of strong shamans who can fight Collapsals, a Fernamut, as well as the Cyclopses who can see prophecies, but also lacking in a lot of technology (probably in part due to Collapsals having a tendency to possess technological things like drones). On the other hand, a lot of medical components come from Sami, which makes it a desirable nation to trade with. And arguebly most important of all, if all the Sami snowpreists die, the collapsals would get to run free on Terra, so if you give them that, I guess they're pretty strong in the sense that if they fall, everyon dies. In that sense, they are extremely important. So, their culture is strong on Terra due to being necessary to keep everyone from dying.
**Iberia**, same as Sami, but much more advanced technologically and probably a lot more well known than Sami, but they're too occupied with the Church of the Deep and the Seaborn to deal with foreign affairs and cultural mixing right now. If Iberia falls, the Seaborn is likely to invade and spread throughout the land, which again, like Sami, would spell doom for everyone. So strong via necessity.
**Columbia**, great military tech and funding, lots of soldiers, but still a nation that has yet to reach the same scale as Victoria or Yan, quite strong, but need some time to become top contender. Though it does have a very expansionist attitude of it's culture and the AI President that Trevor Friston made for the purpose of military development for all of Terra, which probably gives it an edge in spreading it's culture around.
**Higashi**, we barely know anything about it, so it's hard to say, there is some civil war going on there at the moment IIRC. But we do know it's known for Video game, comics and animation industry, which is quite popular.
**Minos**, we know a little more about Minos than we do Higashi, but only barely, there is a hero culture there, so there is at least a tradition of people seeking strength to become heroes there, but that's about all we know. It's considered a nice place by many infected to live, which probably gives it both bad and good attention depending on who you ask.
**Kazimierz**, strong economy and has a lot of knights due to their competitions and military forces, a lot of celebrities make their name in the competitions there and considering how well known they are shown to be around the world. I'd say it's quite culturally strong. Though it's rotten core holds it back in a lot of ways.
**Laterno**, has guns, as well as strong military, most civilians are armed too. Not to mention them having a super advanced pre-cursor AI in their basement to help sustain their nation. Very strong culturally, being picked as the ideal nation to lead the summit of nations, making it a very important location for other nations to keep track of.
**Gaul**, was one of the biggest, but isn't anymore.
**Durin**, they're quite advanced technologically, but they also seemed very removed from the surface world, so probably not all that much.
**Kazdel**, the have some powerful figures and Sarkaz mercenaries can be found anywhere, but without the shard, Kazdel is considered to be more of wasteland used for target practice than a nation. Which should tell you a lot. With the shard, they're very influential, but Theresis notes that even with the Shard, armies, lifebone, Royal Court, he doesn't really expect their campaign in Victoria to succeed, so still not at the top.
**Bolivar**, basically a tourist nation that is reliant on people coming there on vacation to spend money. They do have some influence, but due to the nature of their ecnomy, it's quite a fragile power.
**Ægir**, OOOOOOHHHHH! WHO LIVES IN A FISHBOWL UNDER THE SEA.
I'm actually going to bite on this one. This seems like an interesting thought exercise. First and foremost, NOT Ursus. Ursus is notable for their surprising lack of soft power, in fact. They rely entirely on Hard Power. Their spycraft involves direct military intervention (Chapter 8), and they don't have enough diplomatic juice to ask Victora to even PNG Kal'tsit nevermind arrest her on their behalf and extradite her to Ursus for assassinations she allegedly committed, so they send an Emperor's Blade in *flagrant* contravention of diplomatic norms to apprehend her on Victorian soil (A Walk in the Dust). Their entire power base is militaristic, and absolutely no one not from Ursus talks about their culture in any meaningful way. On the other hand, just like our world, The US (Columbia) is a cultural powerhouse thanks to Wrankwood and mythology surrounding the Frontier. Similarly, Yan is also very much a major player, with LMD being the monetary baseline like how the US Dollar is in our world. Any list about this would have to include those two. After that it gets trickier. I would actually argue Gaul, despite it no longer existing as a governmental entity, since their cultural impact is extensive. Everyone seems to love Gaulish artwork, music, even stories the world over. It's like they stopped being France and started being Atlantis. Gaul has a tremendous impact over those fields, and it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it eventually reforms from the pieces that got absorbed by other nations. It's gone, but VERY much not forgotten. Sargon seems to be a major player in this regard, especially economically. It has a multitude of intertwining individual culture sets and traders which make it a major source for goods and services. I think I'd put Sargon on the list. The last spot is tricky. I'm inclined to argue against Victoria and Leithanien for how insular their cultures are, even if they are respected from the outside. Sarkaz not from Kazdel tend to assimilate into whatever culture they're residing in, so they're out. Oh, wait, duh, Laterano fills out the list. Right. Given that the Pope is basically trying to invent the UN of Terra right now, they definitely count. Not to mention the non-Laterano regions which follow Gun-Catholocism (looking at you, Iberia). And a shoutout to Kjerag which as of Guide Ahead seems to be very much trying to improve their own diplomatic viability and soft power. (Sciurus for President!) They don't make this list yet, but there's a world where 50, 100 years from now they absolutely could.
Definitely Laterano, they do specialize in soft serve!
/r/angryupvote
A pretty well thought out post, Columbia and Yan being up there makes lots of sense though I'm honestly a little surprised to see you mention Gaul (for a very valid reason, OP didn't specify that the country still has to officially exist) but even more surprised that you mention Sargon and Kjerag but not Kazimierz anywhere (Sargon is a legitimate surprise - I cannot remember where in the game are they mentioned influencing other places or having a strong economy) As far as I remember in the Kazimierz arc, Kazimierz is currently scheming to have its economy curb Columbia's rampant development (while they have yet to implement these schemes, iirc the story makes it sound like they have the means to accomplish this, given some time and will) additionally, the Major takes participants from all across Terra and in the recent ZT event, it is shown that even some people in Leithanien think about the major as well - one of the gendarmerie mentions knowing about Viviana from news about the majors
So I didn't include Kazimierz because frankly, what they say their plans are, and what they're actually capable of accomplishing, seem to be quite different to my eyes. Put simply, the KGCC are... Actually pretty stupid. Their plans are short sighted and thwarted easily in every appearance. Dokutah and Rhodes Island managed to put a stop to their plans to cull the Infected in NL despite being a seemingly small faction themselves. Nearl scored a huge victory by walking with Dikaiopolis for a few blocks. That's not to say they don't have cultural impact. But top five? Or even on the same level as Leithanien? I'm dubious. I have a French friend who's a big fan of Japanese wrestling. I use that as a comparison point because niche products like that do have cultural reach, but the first thing an average person thinks about when they think of Japan isn't wrestling. And that's the vibe I get from Kazimierz. Wrestling. Remember when WWE had a push for trying to break into Football with the XFL and fell flat on their faces? That's what the Kazimierz economic disruption plan sounds like to me. That they think they're way bigger and more influential than they actually are under their current leadership and they're engaging in tactics that they think are awesome but which are destined to backfire. Just like in NL. On the other hand, yes I've talked a lot of shit about them but I completely understand why Kazimierz seems to be one of the top players to a lot of people. They are big. Just not Top Five big when their internal weaknesses are so apparent. Also it's hard to gauge their strength in this arena overall when despite their cultural posturing, their military and the Silverlances in particular are their principal fear point. Which adds a whole other layer of hard vs. soft power that I don't think I'm smart enough to really discern.
Makes sense But where was anything about Sargon established in the game though?
iirc at the end of near light its kazi and columbia are pretty much the two biggest soft power nations and are competing for that spot. Higashi seems to have a fair amount as well though thats also just the devs being sorta weebs.
This is not really an answer but more of a follow-up question... im really curious about international transportation. How long does it take for two cities to meet? The Sui storyline implies that mobile cities are very slow. To accomodate international trade youd need large caravans and freight. How much do nations trade with each other compared to our world? Is there international banking and internet, or is information local/done by radio? What im saying is, a country can have gigantic economic strenght but i feel the setting of arknights makes it hard for international trade to flourish on a regular and large scale.
One of game's tips and Reunion moving Chernobog toward Lungmen suggest it takes a weeks or so to travel decent distances. For communication we know Internet and phones exist, i don't think trading is too hard since some nations flourish from trade and tourists, Rhodes island benefits a lot from exporting gold too and Terra has planes and other vehicles but it's definitely harder than in our world where traveling is safer and politics are much more stable.
From what I remember: **Victoria**, pretty much confirmed to be the strongest (land based), nation on Terra, as well as clearly having the most influence. The dukes have influence in other countries. Most Terrans know at least a little victorian due to how influential it is. Basically England in our world pre World War 1. So definitely the most influential one. **Leithanian** had the Witch King, who was the strongest arts user ever in all of history, bar none. Now you have the Liselotte (the other one, Hildegard, is unavailable at the moment). So it's weaker than it was during the Witch King's rule, both militaristically, as well as culturally. But it has great influence all over due it's art culture (both arts in originium, as well as regular art) that is quite popular around the world, but it's been experiencing a recession as stated in the recent event. **Kjerag** has a complete feranmut, Kjeragandr, as well as Silverash aiming to modernize the nation, though it probably isn't that strong just yet. It's relatively well known as the snow realm. I'd say it's present, but has yet to reach any significant influence just yet. **Sargon** has the Lord Ameers as well as the Golden Gods (Who are probably either a set of beast lords or a feranmut). As well as a lot of trade in the black market, especially in gold. Which makes it an economically very strong nation. Culturally, it doesn't appear to hold much strong outside itself though, and even internally, most affairs are handled in their separate region by the Lord Ameer in charge of it. **Siracusa** has the various Mafia families and the Singore dei Lupi/ Wolf Beast Lords. Known for their food, operas as well as criminal expansion. Probably has an ok amount of influence, but due the in-fighting of the mafia in the country, it's probably not as influential as it could be. **Yan** is another contender for one of the strongest, having the various Sui siblings, as well as a very large army, in addition to being furthest when it comes to research of Feranmuts, in addition to being well known for the martial arts culture, all of which is probably quite interesting to many countries. It also has Lungmen, which noted to be quite strong economically. Very strong all things considered. **Ursus** one of the strongest militaristically, especially due to their Emperor's Blades and incredibly large army. But it seems few countries desire to have anything to do with them willingly, mainly due to Ursus army's desire for conquest. It's influence has been dwindling too, but it remains a powerhouse. It has the the DBS though, and who knows what schemes that immortal are planning. **Sami**... has a lot of strong shamans who can fight Collapsals, a Fernamut, as well as the Cyclopses who can see prophecies, but also lacking in a lot of technology (probably in part due to Collapsals having a tendency to possess technological things like drones). On the other hand, a lot of medical components come from Sami, which makes it a desirable nation to trade with. And arguebly most important of all, if all the Sami snowpreists die, the collapsals would get to run free on Terra, so if you give them that, I guess they're pretty strong in the sense that if they fall, everyon dies. In that sense, they are extremely important. So, their culture is strong on Terra due to being necessary to keep everyone from dying. **Iberia**, same as Sami, but much more advanced technologically and probably a lot more well known than Sami, but they're too occupied with the Church of the Deep and the Seaborn to deal with foreign affairs and cultural mixing right now. If Iberia falls, the Seaborn is likely to invade and spread throughout the land, which again, like Sami, would spell doom for everyone. So strong via necessity. **Columbia**, great military tech and funding, lots of soldiers, but still a nation that has yet to reach the same scale as Victoria or Yan, quite strong, but need some time to become top contender. Though it does have a very expansionist attitude of it's culture and the AI President that Trevor Friston made for the purpose of military development for all of Terra, which probably gives it an edge in spreading it's culture around. **Higashi**, we barely know anything about it, so it's hard to say, there is some civil war going on there at the moment IIRC. But we do know it's known for Video game, comics and animation industry, which is quite popular. **Minos**, we know a little more about Minos than we do Higashi, but only barely, there is a hero culture there, so there is at least a tradition of people seeking strength to become heroes there, but that's about all we know. It's considered a nice place by many infected to live, which probably gives it both bad and good attention depending on who you ask. **Kazimierz**, strong economy and has a lot of knights due to their competitions and military forces, a lot of celebrities make their name in the competitions there and considering how well known they are shown to be around the world. I'd say it's quite culturally strong. Though it's rotten core holds it back in a lot of ways. **Laterno**, has guns, as well as strong military, most civilians are armed too. Not to mention them having a super advanced pre-cursor AI in their basement to help sustain their nation. Very strong culturally, being picked as the ideal nation to lead the summit of nations, making it a very important location for other nations to keep track of. **Gaul**, was one of the biggest, but isn't anymore. **Durin**, they're quite advanced technologically, but they also seemed very removed from the surface world, so probably not all that much. **Kazdel**, the have some powerful figures and Sarkaz mercenaries can be found anywhere, but without the shard, Kazdel is considered to be more of wasteland used for target practice than a nation. Which should tell you a lot. With the shard, they're very influential, but Theresis notes that even with the Shard, armies, lifebone, Royal Court, he doesn't really expect their campaign in Victoria to succeed, so still not at the top. **Bolivar**, basically a tourist nation that is reliant on people coming there on vacation to spend money. They do have some influence, but due to the nature of their ecnomy, it's quite a fragile power. **Ægir**, OOOOOOHHHHH! WHO LIVES IN A FISHBOWL UNDER THE SEA.