List 2.2: "Yet more Franks?"
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.
map went to both Falkanner and Zalezsky
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!