One thought I've proffered for consideration is what we want to happen with Nuclear weapons.
My suggestion is for them to be developed midway through the war, and see considerable use. The weapons would be first generation bombs, dirty and inefficient, and primarily used in the field (and not against cities). The somewhat unexpected radiation sickness experienced by many soldiers, and various other effects, would lead the new "UN" post war to take nuclear non-proliferation and mutual limitations very seriously (allowing us to effectively ban nukes post-war OOC in a way that makes sense IC).
I"ll be clear: on IRC, there is no consensus behind this. Please correct me Oz if I'm wrong but I believe the alternate argument is that we should just not have nuclear weapons exist, period. It would harm my suspension of disbelief, some, but if others feel my proffered scenario is too destructive and doesn't limit nuclear weapons enough, we can stick with "nukes are never developed." (??)
Separately, Gulliver and I have been discussing Rykkovaa's role in the war: he would like Rykkovaa to stay fascist post-war, so I've suggested that if it be on the antidemocratic side of the war that it seek a separate peace midway through the war, while the allies still need every advantage they can get.
Funkadelia, I see a few ways to make a North v South (+Rykkovaa) war work:
1. The "South" starts the war, and manages to achieve significant successes with decisive aggression early on, such as: occupation of important resource producing or industrial territories, Taranto/Pearl Harbor-like devastating harbor attacks on fleets, and opening communications between AK and MO.
2. The "South" includes Al Khem, which is at this point quite heavily industrialized, geared to a total war economy.
3. The "North," as it includes traditional enemies in St Oz and Eluvatar (& Myroria), has difficulty cooperating militarily at first. (ersatz League of Nations has no military command system).
4. The Megatridimensional Order could also have a potent war machine at this time, though I think bigbaldben indicates they'd have some logistical difficulties.
5. The "North" could be in the middle of economic and social difficulties when the war begins, perhaps a melange of the Great Depression, labor unrest (perhaps supported by Khem), and rapidly modernizing social mores (in terms of music & dance, birth control, drugs, gay pride, and declining devotion to religion). This would make preparing for war harder.
6. The "South" could develop nuclear weapons first.