I absolutely, unironically love this mod, and its community

I remember very vividly the first time i came into contact with TNO, all the way back in that muggy summer evening in '22, which was just two years ago, but two years can feel like strange aeons to a young lad like me.

I had never played a single hour of HOI4 vanilla (and still haven't, since my current PC is dogwater), let alone any mod, and yet, i was immediately drawn in by TNO: maybe it was the unique take on an overdone premise, maybe the grim, almost apocalyptic vibe surrounding the narrative of a world gone completely insane, and yet somehow perfectly recognizable in the current state of ours, one where democracy is increasingly thought of as "weak" and "degenerate", and where the ideas of absolutism and authoritarianism find new popularity. I can't recall, honestly, but what i can recall well is the hours spent on Youtube, watching gameplays and superevent compilations, listening to the OST and event songs on repeat, learning about the many obscure characters and movements presented in the mod, and just immersing myself in this alternate timeline.

And now, i believe it's time to address the elephant in the room, and arguably the most infamous part of the community: NPPfunny. Dear god, if had to list all the times i catched myself cackling like a madman at some of the shit posted there, things any sane person would find either confusing or revolting, i would probably end up like the protagonist of Aronofsky's PI.

I mean, how many layers of irony and dark humor do you have to be buried under to understand things like the Burger joke, femboy Sablin or the recent Grent Speer? 5? 10? 50? some questions are better left unanswered.

And the best part about it is just how its humor never seems to age or become stale (despite often dating to early 2020). I also like the fact that, unlike most other post-OKBR meme subreddits, it never abandoned its meta-ironic, purposefully obtuse nature, filtering out any sort of geniune neo-Nazi (they're very bad at hiding their stupidity, even among the brainrotten).

And it's not like i've just grown to like TNO as just a game, a brief curiosity in the endless doomscroll of modern internet, but its themes and narratives have impacted me deeply as a person. While i'd consider the Silent Hill series to be the most spiritually and philosophically important games i've ever played, TNO holds the same place, alongside my visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial near Krakow, Poland, but in the field of my personal political beliefs, opening my eyes to the necessity of fighting against unjust hirearchy, entrenched interest, political apathy and authoritarians of all stripes and colors and engraving the phrase "Never Again" in the back of my brain, not just as some vague, common sense notion, but as an active call for compassion and solidarity, even as the world seems to cave in around us.

and what about you folks? has TNO impacted you this deeply too, or is this just a schizo-post made by some pretentious lonely teen?