Map of the Fortnight: Main thread

[KCammy]

I may be able to get in a late entry before midnight tonight.

[Beedok]

Darn it, I just had an idea. . . too late to do it though as I need to do reading today.

[Krall]

Okay, I think "A New (FillInNation)" is the most popular suggestion at the moment, so it shall be the next MotF challenge. MotF 46 should have been up today, but I forgot about it until now, so the new threads should be up tomorrow instead. Sorry for the delay!

[Krall]

MotF 45: Alternate Soviet Union - Voting thread

MotF 46: A New (FillInNation)

Sorry for the delay, but the new threads are finally up! Get ye voting and/or map-making!

[couldawouldashoulda]

heads up: lengyth map challenge request...

[couldawouldashoulda]

I apologize for the long concept post, but I’ve had this idea running around in my head for a while now… I would love to see how people interpret:
The People’s Republic of Euphoria

Depict a world in which most, many, or at least a significant faction of the socialist/ communist/ leftist etc regimes of the Cold War deeply embrace the use of psychedelics as a fundamental part of their ideology. It may be a third camp alongside scientific Marxists and the Maoists, or in place of one or both of these camps, or perhaps somewhere cozily in between. It would seem that the utopianism of Maoism would mesh nicely with the hallucinatory aspects of this new “laced” leftist ideology, but then again maybe not. Just a thought.

Basically, instead of having both the West and the East seeing psychedelics as “culturally poisonous,” have only the West do so while the Communist bloc, or at least some significant portion of it, see perception altering drugs as an integral new part of the revolutionary equation. These ATL psychedelic communist regimes can be extremely authoritarian, verging on anarchism, or somewhere in between. One of their passions though is spreading revolution through various chemical subversion operations abroad (see your imagination for the definition(s) of “various chemical subversion operations”).

Another prominent characteristic of these regimes is their architectural, artistic, and musical aesthetics as well as the symbolism found in the clothing of their populations. Diets are also often found to have changed dramatically in these countries.

Psychedelic Communist symbolism found in murals, “people’s temples,” flags, military uniforms, and other components of society usually include some or all of the following elements:
-The regular revolutionary symbols such as hammer & sickles, stars, fists, cogs, wreaths of wheat, hydro-electric plants, compasses, AK-47s, machetes, scythes, the color red (as well as yellow and sometimes white and black), etc, etc. AH.com seems pretty familiar with these symbols.
-References to already established national/ ethnic symbols and colors (many times recalling a pagan past)
-Psychedelic “instruments.” The vehicles for revolutionary transcendentalism. Pills, tabs, powders, pipes, papers, needles; whatever you can think of. Might also be metaphorical though… (swirling clouds of exhaled smoke and dilated pupils come to mind)
-Purely psychedelic designs: swirls of vivid contrasting colors, intricate repeating patterns, geometric impossibilities (think Victor Vasarely and M.C. Escher), etc
-An emphasis on radicalized “wild eyed” Utopianism
-A disturbingly conflicting promotion of both absolute pacifism and extreme militancy and psychedelic subversion and terrorism

The emergence of the pro-psychedelic bloc within the communist world can begin with any POD after 1900. The USSR and PRC are not required to exist, but it would be interesting to see how they react to a third rival leftist bloc (not counting the NAM of course) or the incorporation of this “psychedelicist” bent into their Sino-Soviet split dynamic. And all mentions of the term “West” here just means the capitalist/ fascist/ imperialist/ theocratic/ etc other nations of the world. The West does not necessarily have to be in the west. WWI and WWII do not have to happen before or even at all in this ATL, but I originally conceived of this world “coming up“ sometime after the end of OTL WW2.

Example POD ideas:
-Some important communist leader, OTL or ATL, experiments with, or is slipped, a psychedelic substance and has a really good time.
-The OTL 1960s psychedelic revolution, or some ATL counterpart of it simply expands much further and happens to meld into the revolutionary left, perhaps largely in part because of some popular band’s lyrics or an extra-conservative reaction from the US or another Western government.
-Leftist intellectuals develop the new faction on their own in universities, underground cosmopolitan nightclubs, or out in some “revolutionary commune” in the country.
-Imprisoned Leftist rebels in either a western country, or even a “standard” communist country, are tortured with and experimented on with new psychedelic drugs. Soon after though, they somehow escape or are freed. Some of these liberated lefty lab rats go on to become revolutionary leaders…
And I’m sure there are plenty of other POD ideas out there too…

Example Country Name Ideas:
The People’s Serene and Euphoric Republic of Nusantara*
The Excellent Republic of Madagascar
The Enhanced Worker’s Republic of Japan
Some of these names may seem corny: “Dewd! This republic is toad-uh-lee excellent!” But in this ATL world, these regimes are not taken lightly by other nations.
*For some reason, I really want an Indonesia-wank to be included, but it’s not required
　

For those looking for a simple watered down one sentence description of the challenge: Create a map of a Cold War where there’s a bloc of communist countries that follow an ideology that is essentially “Pol Pot + LSD and MDMA.”

BTW: I posted a similar request in the recently deceased Flag Thread II a week or so ago, and Marc Pasquin made some awesome flags. They were very well done and made me laugh. These were goofy and ASB though. The world of this challenge however is entirely serious, somehow not ASB, and indeed quite a bit darker and even dystopian.

Once again, sorry for the lengthy description of the challenge, and I know it sounds almost like a general AHC or flag challenge as well, but it is just a map challenge (though feel free to take shots at those first two as well if you want!). Good luck and thank you ahead of time if this challenge happens and anyone attempts it.

-CWS
　

[couldawouldashoulda]

oh and one more thing just to give you a feel for the character of these radical regimes. the fusion of communism and psychedelia was soon followed by the enthusiastic incorporation of the sexual revolution. this eventually lead to, among other things, the occurrnce of state sponsored mass orgies in the public squares of some communist capitals. These countries were radical, crazy, and wierd!

[Krall]

@couldawouldashoulda

I think that's much more complicated and specific than is normal or good for a map challenge. Generally a good map challenge suggestion is easily understandable and provides an obvious theme for entries, whilst also being general enough to allow for numerous varied interpretations.



Also, I'd just like to note that Nusantara's entry in MotF 46 has unfortunately been disqualified, as the self-governing colony shown in his map is too small in population and size to meet the challenge requirements.

Edit: As Nusantara has deleted his old entry and posted a new one, I would just like to note that h(er/is) new entry does qualify and will be included in the voting.

[Future8]

I'd like to participate in this challenge. However, it is the first challenges I am participating in, so I have a really noobish question, here goes:

What is POD? Both Nusantara and Iserlohn added it in their maps, and I'm really wondering what exactly it is.

I apologize for my ignorance.

[KCammy]

Originally Posted by Future8

I'd like to participate in this challenge. However, it is the first challenges I am participating in, so I have a really noobish question, here goes:

What is POD? Both Nusantara and Iserlohn added it in their maps, and I'm really wondering what exactly it is.

I apologize for my ignorance.

Point of Divergence.

When the ATL (Alt. Time Line) and OTL (Our Time Line) diverge into two seperate ones.

[Krall]

Originally Posted by Future8

I'd like to participate in this challenge. However, it is the first challenges I am participating in, so I have a really noobish question, here goes:

What is POD? Both Nusantara and Iserlohn added it in their maps, and I'm really wondering what exactly it is.

I apologize for my ignorance.

What KCammy said. I should note that you don't need to specify what the PoD (Point of Divergence) is in your map description.

[GodRaimundo]

Are there two images in Iserlohn's post? Because I can see the ma of New Bengal just fine, but there's a red X underneath it.

[Beedok]

I'm having trouble with m efforts, but I should have something by late next week.

[Krall]

Originally Posted by GodRaimundo

Are there two images in Iserlohn's post? Because I can see the ma of New Bengal just fine, but there's a red X underneath it.

I'm getting a similar thing. Previously both of his images didn't show up and I asked him to fix it, after which the first one worked, so I'm assuming that the second one isn't meant to be there or just isn't part of the entry.

[tormsen]

I'm wondering, we seem to have done a few alien-related ASB challenges, but we haven't done any crosstime, inter-TL related challenges. Considering how much fiction there is related to that sort of thing, it seems a bit odd. Some of the maps might come out a bit incoherant, but it might be worth considering.

Maps showing the colonization of an empty TL, or maps showing transport links between two TLs. Occupation zones of a particularly hostile Earth that had to be taken out by an intertemporal coalition. There's lots of possibilities.

[Kaiphranos]

Originally Posted by tormsen

I'm wondering, we seem to have done a few alien-related ASB challenges, but we haven't done any crosstime, inter-TL related challenges. Considering how much fiction there is related to that sort of thing, it seems a bit odd. Some of the maps might come out a bit incoherant, but it might be worth considering.

Maps showing the colonization of an empty TL, or maps showing transport links between two TLs. Occupation zones of a particularly hostile Earth that had to be taken out by an intertemporal coalition. There's lots of possibilities.

This seems like it could have its moments...

[Iserlohn]

Originally Posted by GodRaimundo

Are there two images in Iserlohn's post? Because I can see the ma of New Bengal just fine, but there's a red X underneath it.

I can explain that. I tried uploading it to two different image hosters at first and it worked with neither. However the second one was a bit... sneaky... and I didn't see whenether I had deleted it from the post or not (had to check the forum codes version to do so). Now it should work properly.

[Future8]

Originally Posted by KCammy

Point of Divergence.

When the ATL (Alt. Time Line) and OTL (Our Time Line) diverge into two seperate ones.

Thank you.

[Beedok]

My entry is just fine right?

[Krall]

Originally Posted by Beedok

My entry is just fine right?

It looks fine to me.