List 2.2: "Yet more Franks?"
Map 1: @Minnesota_Nationalist
"I received a map that, in all honesty, I'm kind of confused on when the POD is supposed to be. On the one hand, there's a United Kingdom, but on the other, the Frankish Empire is still around, so I don't even know what's going on. Anyways, it had Britain split into two from what looked like a fairly recent civil war between Republicans (maybe Socialists?) in England/Wales and Monarchists in Scotland/Ireland.
It also featured a Frankish Empire that appeared to have rather large and powerful vassals in Brittany and Normandy, possibly having Francia as Holy Roman Empire equivalent. I included Italy, Switzerland, etc. in because I felt it really needed more land to justify the Frankish Empire title. Anyways, I imagined that the Frankish Empire started to seek reform after the United Kingdom fell, but featured resistance from some of these powerful vassals, leading to a Civil War. Italian Nationalists also took their opportunity to rise up."
Map 2: @KaiserEmu
Map 3: @APeninSpace
Map 4: @Blacklister3000
"The map I got from APenInSpace include the Kingdom of Frankia and a united Dutchland. I assumed that imperialism and colonialism would prevail into the 20th century and beyond. This map shows the Treaty of Aachen in 1950, establishing the border for the two dominions, New Normandy and Ottonia respectively. A bit of background: New Normandy, founded in 1340 became a republic with a notable degree of autonomy following the Frankian Civil War, 1935. The Kingdom of Ottonia was established in 1661, but remained integrally part of Dutchland for the past three centuries. The two states remain the most economically advanced economies in the Americas, as of 2019."
List 3: "A Trip to the Middle East"
Map 1: @IcyCaspian
Map 2: @TheKutKu
"Well i noticed the large byzantine empire, so i guessed a POD could be a Manzikert, i also noticed one of the country at the south wasn't labelled so i took liberties and thought it was the Seljuk or successor, and i assumed they would go more into the caucasus if they can't go deep into Anatolia, then some Turkish general secedes Rûm sultanate-style and establish a turkish empire around the caucasus and armenian highland, pushing more Armenians into Cilicia. I also butterflied away the mongols due to the early POD. Also i guess the Turks would manage to settle the fertile georgian plains, and become a sizeable population there if the Plague killed half of the Georgians."
Map 3: @XFE
"The Kutku’s map featured a Cicilian Armenia that went on a reconquest spree far into Seljuk territory, reclaiming the Armenian highlands. I’m not especially familiar with the 13th Century Middle East, but the magnitude of the reconquest quickly made me think of Alexander the Great.
Taking the idea to its extreme and logical conclusions, we'd end up with a multiethnic Christian, Armenian empire lording a over Perso-Arabic majority. Focusing in on the Alexandrian parallels, the Armenian Empire might well meld Greek political traditions (inherited from its rule of Cilicia) and Persian cultural traditions (with well over a millenia of cultural osmosis) into one. Like Alexander before them, the Armenian Kings would style themselves as latter-day Achaemenids. However, all empires must end. There is a day that the well-oiled Armenian machine must sputter and die, and when Greek, Persian and Armenian can no longer tolerate one another...
Where to go aesthetically? My mapping style has evolved quite a bit since working on the
Islamic Incas and my first
Austria-wank. Notably, I chose to include elevation in this map and make good use of Paint.NET's opacity function. Choosing some comfortable colors was also fun to do, but in retrospect, I should have better planned the color coding. Then again, I have Uni applications to deal with, so whatever.
Note the Magic: the Gathering cards in the corner. To make this map stand out, I decided to include Risk/Twilight Struggle board game elements. Elevation is admittedly a weird aesthetic choice for a board game, but the rule of cool is paramount--and so it was that years after the Armenian Empire was dead and buried, an Iranian board game company would make a game depicting the Armenia's downfall.
The map is fresh out of the oven at the time of writing, and there are some hints scattered throughout the map I hope zalesky and Falkanner pick up on.
The Saoshyant bomb: a nuclear device invented by Iranian rebels
The use of Persian numerals: Perhaps Persian mathematicians have a more long-lasting cultural impact?
The abundance of provinces in the Empire's West: A sign of neglect in the East?
Mention of the Mughals: The Mughals of Babur Shah would likely have been butterflied. Might this be a Persianized Mongol Empire?
Now behold my pitiful attempt at narrative.
My Praises and My Fame
It was the 14th of April, 1916 in the Christian calendar, a beautiful day in Armenia.
His majesty, the T'agavor Thoros VII was Lord of all he surveys. He was head of House Rubenid, the supreme authority between the Karasu and Indus, King of the Armenians and Shah of all the Aryans, blessed of all three Abraham faiths, and ruler all that he surveyed. In Summer, he ruled from Ani, the city of a thousand churches, cradled high in the Armenian Highlands. In Winter, he ruled from Antioch, the greatest metropolis on the Mediterranean coast. Thoros was a latter-day Achaemenid, tolerant, civilized and kind. He was loved by all in an empire divided by religion, culture, language and ethnicity. The best and brightest of each nation were brought to the twin capitals to build cities of gold and marble.
That afternoon, Thoros was to attend the premiere of
Khosrau and Shirin, the first Electric Theatreshow in the world. Part publicity stunt; part technological marvel, the theatreshow had a clear intent in capturing the friendship of Eran and Armenia.
"Father! Father!" the clamouring of his daughters swept aside Thoros' cynicism. The young princesses had been clamouring to go. The elder, Sibylla even did the impossible and promised to pay extra attention to her Farsi tutor. She also wouldn't shut up about sitting next to their handsome Chauffeur who would drive their horseless carriage to the Theatreshow, but ah well.
Just before they boarded the carriage, Sibylla stood up straight and recited in fluent Farsi,
"I've reached the end of this great history
And all the land will talk of me:
I shall not die, these seeds I've sown will save
My name and reputation from the grave,
And men of sense and wisdom will proclaim
When I have gone, my praises and my fame."
Thoros smiled as only a father would. A passage from the Shahanmeh--Sibylla's tutor deserved a raise. Her sister, Irene pouted, swore that she could do better, and their mother was soon forced to break up the argument.
"Women."
Thoros chuckled and left them be, turning to the royal carriage. It was an ornate masterpiece. Hiding beneath a coat of jet black paint, it's engine growled like a chained Rubenid lion, with the chauffeur it's tamer. Thoros had always wanted a son. He'd dreamt of father and son side by side, racing on sports carriages through the outskirts of Ani like horsemen of old. This was a time of glory. This was a time for dreams.
Where the T’agavor saw Kūruš’ dream reborn, historians see an empire on the brink of collapse. The T’agavor read odes written in Rubaiyat, but did not know that the land of Fars had long suffered under the jackboot of military governors. The T’agavor read of the subjugation of the Fergana and victories against vile Mughal orientals, but did not know that Armenian logistics were built upon vile serfdom. The T'agavor read of technological marvels, but did not know that much of the empire outside Ani and Antioch remained impoverished and hungry.
A year hence, the T'agavor awoke from his dreams to see the true state of his empire. Unfortunately, that reckoning cames at the gallows, before a horde fuming dockyard serfs in the winter capital of Antioch.
It was the 14th of April, 1916 in the Christian calendar, a beautiful day in Armenia."
XFE's map went to both Falkanner and Zalezsky
List 3.1: "Century of Hayastan"
Map 1: @Falkanner
Map 2: @Fred Guo
"I am not too knowledgeable on particularly Balkans history, but the one thing that piqued my interest was the presence of the gigantic Armenian Empire. Deciding to tackle a different (and hopefully not shown yet) region instead of focusing more on a subregion shown, I added a lot more historical loose strings (i.e. Fundamentalism) that the next player can hopefully get creative about."
Map 3: @Thanosaekk
List 3.2: "A new Civilization"
Map 1: @zalezsky
Map 2: @Bicentius
"So I was given a map depicting an ancient civilization in the fertile valley, but this was in the caucuses instead of Iraq. So this left it quite open-ended for me, and I started imagining different starting points for other major civilizations. Perhaps the focus shifted away from the Mediterranean and towards the other seas in the middle east. The Black Sea, The Caspian Sea, and the Persian Gulf could all become analogues to the Med, and the opening into the Arabian Sea and bigger Indian ocean could serve as the Atlantic.
I then started focusing on civilizations to populate this new center of civilization. The Vintar in the map I received would certainly be a big player as well as some smaller names in the globe in the received map. I decided to go with three main civilizations in the Caucuses, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. I then filled in the rest of the space with pseudo civilized tribes and kingdoms originating from the names on the given globe. The Arabian peninsula became a sort of Greece with multiple city-states and The mountain kingdoms in Iran and Afghanistan become a sort of Great Game between the three main powers.
Finally, to add a bit more detail and some flavor to the map, I threw in several structures, including temples (based on the given map) citadels, major cities, and for fun, some floating cities on the water. This was a really fun game and I'm really looking forward to the next iteration!"
Thanks to everyone that took part in this crazy thing, despite the curse of list 1 or the mess that updating the list was for me! I must say there are some really amazing maps here, so congrats to everyone!
For Edition 3, I want to make things simplier but also maybe introduce something new, so stay tuned for the next round!