Heeeeere's... A MAP CHALLENGE!

I haven't done one of these in a while, so here ya go.

All I'll tell you about this world (because it's all I've thought out so far) is:

• Islam never came to be, but there are at least four major (and mutually hostile) branches of Christianity - Coptic, Celtic, Orthodox, Nestorian.
• Nearly all other religions have been either incorporated into the various strains of Christianity or gone extinct.
• The Empires of the Rus and the Byzantines are bitter enemies.
• The POD is probably in the 5th or 6th century.

Anybody want to take a guess on what a good POD might be, and some subsequent events?

Given the strength of the Byzantines, I'd go for a Justinian-period PoD. Perhaps he turns his attention eastward, to Persia, instead of attempting to reconquer the Western Empire?

Your Mali doesn't include Tombouctou, and your Ghana is north of it. Ghana is by Nigeria

Othniel said:

Your Mali doesn't include Tombouctou, and your Ghana is north of it. Ghana is by Nigeria

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The original state of Ghana originated to the north, in the region of modern-day central Mauretania. Mali originated a bit to the south and eventually subsumed all of ancient Ghana before being displaced in turn by Songhay.

Hah! I have it!

Apparently, the Persian Shahanshah, Khavadh, requested that Justinian adopt his son, Khosrau. In OTL, Justinian refused. Suppose, though, that he accepts on the condition that the adoptee be raised in the Byzantine court, in the hopes of bringing the interminable conflict between Byzantium and the Sassanids to an end. When Khavadh dies in 531, Khosrau (backed by the Byzantines) is able to succeed him; he maintains a lasting peace with Rome, and when Justinian's Empress, Theodora, dies without providing an heir in 548, Khosrau is named as his successor.

In 565, Justinian dies, and the Byzantine Empire is wracked by civil war, as many Romans refuse to acknowledge a Persian Emperor. This is the point at which Egypt and the Italian state break from the empire, and much of the rest would have been lost were it not that Khosrau was much favored among the armies, on the simple basis that his governance of Persia had prevented war against the greatly feared Mede.

That has real possibilities, Lurker. I like it. Any more thoughts? What about the Vandals in Carthage? Does Justinian drive them out and retake the province as in OTL, or is he too busy concentrating on Persia to bother with it?

How do the Persians feel about merging with their nemesis? Would the Empire adopt a more Persian flavor overall?

With Persia friendly, Justinian can afford to give Belisarius more funding and troops; I'd expect the Vandals and other Germanic tribes to fall on schedule at the latest. On the other hand, that fifteen hundred years would pass without the land once changing hands is a little unlikely; instead, we can postulate that the kingdom revolted along with Egypt during Khosrau's ascension, and that at some later point was retaken.

I'd expect initially, that Persian influence is strong; this won't, however, last long. In OTL, Khosrau was a great reformer; this will be even stronger when he's reconciling two similar but distinct systems, and will give him the ability to take what needs to be kept and discard anything else.

The really interesting thing will be religion. I will assume, because it pleases me to do so, that the "nearly all other religions" which disappeared do not include Zoroastrianism. Now, that means we have three different religions, two of which are used to being the dominant state religion, in one empire. I predict that Orthodoxy loses sway in the Byzantine Empire, with the patriarchy ultimately moving to Rome or Ravenna; Orthodox Egyptians, fleeing Coptic persecution, will migrate to the Vandal kingdom, making the later reacquisition more feasible. Obviously, the Synod of *Whitby must not result in a reconciliation.

Is Mikilyrland an native American state?

You can't beat Byzantine Australia and South Africa, and Egyptian Tasmania.

Interesting… I wonder what’s going on in Western Europe, thou. (China and Japan look interesting, too)

Western Europe has three major forces: Ispaniya, Britannia, and Saxony. Ispaniya will likely be a direct descendant of the Visigothic kingdom, lacking any Arab expansion; there is the question of when and how the Visigoths blended into the Spanish population, or were replaced by a native dynasty, but that can wait.

Britannia holds no continental territory, and expanded entirely westward. I'd guess, then, that it's the heir of the Britons and Angles, possibly having discovered the New World during the Medieval Warm Period and avoided continental entanglements by marriage.

Saxony is simply *Prussia; one Germanic state gains power over the others, probably in response to Russian threats rather than French.

China appears to have hit its expansionist period and kept going; their equivalent of Zheng He simply headed north, and made it across the Bering.

Current power politics look like they should be a two-bloc affair. On the one hand is Byzantium, likely allied with China against the Red Menace; on the other, Russia has claimed Brittania and Egypt as allies. To balance this, Ispaniya should be a Byzantine ally, though this will be a more recent turn of events. Saxony probably still harbors grudges against Russia, and relies on the buffer states to keep it safe from Byzantine predation, so will be part of the Byzantin bloc. Mikilyrland is likely neutral, as would the Khmer be; the grey nations are playgrounds for the cold war between Constantinople and Kiev.

Forum Lurker said:

Byzantium, likely allied with China against the Red Menace;.

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?! Does this mean that there is Communism somehow?

Hermanubis said:

?! Does this mean that there is Communism somehow?

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Nah. I just like that color.

@Lurker: That's pretty much the way I figured the alliance systems would work as well.

@Thande: I saw Mikilyrland as a sort of descendent of a bunch of smaller Irish/Viking/Britannic states. There is probably a significant skraeling component to the culture though, since the Americas were probably discovered early enough in this TL for the natives to attain at least some parity with Europe. Also, I saw the smaller states in the American south and southwest as almost wholly native nations. The one in the west might be some kind of Anasazi descendent.