ideologies of Novistranans are generally influenced by their class or career. Police brutality and political corruption are prevalent. Novistrana has its own national anthem, which is sung in a fictional language. Similarly, the alphabet used in Novistrana is fictional although it draws heavily from the Cyrillic alphabet. "Novistrana" can be translated in Russian and some Eastern European/Slavic languages as "New Country". In other Slavic languages it could be translated as "New Party". Plot Republic depicts the rise to political power of the player in the country of Novistrana. Following the collapse of communism across the Soviet Union, Novistrana has deteriorated into a totalitarian regime run by Vasily Karasov. Elected President-for-life, Karasov has overseen enormous inequality in Novistrana, whilst orchestrating crackdowns on dissidents, siphoning state funds into his own accounts, and conducting clandestine arrests with the Secret Police. The player is a young man in Novistrana who is compelled to take political action after witnessing the arrest of his parents by the Secret Police. The player has been monitoring the rise of Karasov over the previous decades, waiting for a chance to exact revenge. The game's ultimate goal is to build a faction to topple Novistrana's government and liberate the country from Karasov's rule. Development Production Republic was the initial project of Elixir Studios, a company established by London based founder Demis Hassabis. Hassabis had closely collaborated with Peter Molyneux on the 1994 simulation game Theme Park with Bullfrog Productions. In 1998, Hassabis left the successor company Lionhead Studios to pursue his aspirations to establish his own studio. The Republic development team initially consisted of 15 Elixir Studios staff, growing to a team of 35 by 2003. Hassabis acquired several staff for Elixir Studios from colleagues and graduates at Cambridge University, and had avoided poaching staff from his connections from Lionhead Studios due to having left on good terms with the studio. The studio immediately began work on Republic, inspired by a range of sources, including the board games Junta, Illuminati, and Diplomacy, and the Elias Canetti book Crowds and Power. Starting in 1998, Republic had a troubled production, with the game experiencing considerable delays over its initial release schedule for Spring 2002. Demis Hassabis attributed these delays at the time to an underestimation of the time needed to implement features at scale and detail desired for the game. However, alternative explanations have included the decision to hire Cambridge University graduates