WI: A more evangalizing Buddhism?
This map explores a world in which Buddhism, after its founding, is spread with more vigor and to even farther out places due to slight theological differences. It spreads far to the West, eventually piquing the interest of the Hellenics, particularly the small Stoic movement, which syncretized its beliefs with their own. From there, it spread, becoming known as the "Stoic Faith" in the Hellenic world. This map is around OTL 100 AD.
Also of note is "Aryabhatism," a relatively new branch of loosely Hindu thought based around the teachings of the holy man Aryabhatya, who is emphasizing the inherent "one-ness" of all the polytheistic pantheons as representations of one Divine God, an amoral deity who blesses those who follow his holy commands and curses those who do not. Aryabhatism is quickly gaining favor among the poor for its rejection of the caste system of the Magedyan Empire, a very decentralized empire which has managed to last more or less in its current form for the last 200 years.
In Europe, the Makedonians have managed to forge an empire, though a much smaller and more stable one than we saw IOTL. Time will only tell if they win in their struggle against the Etruscans. The Punic Kingdom is consolidating Hispania, and is looking to be a real naval power, but has lost its last four land wars and its prestige alongside them.
China is currently under the rule of a traditionalist Confucian emperor, the first in over a century, after the ruling Ma Dynasty, born of a peasant revolt, brutally overthrew the ruling Xianzhong Dynasty, liberal followers of Eoistic Stoicism (Buddhism.) “China” ITTL is not considered to include its Southern portion, which is largely ethnically, agriculturally, and culturally far different, and— more importantly— ruled by a powerful Viet Kingdom.
Let me know if there are any questions or if there is any interest in seeing a sequel map! There’s a lot of interesting ways a world like this can go.
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