Pod: An Ice Age began between the 18th and 19th centuries and wiped out the societies we know.
Letter from a Madrian monk to the court of the King of the Iberic Empire after his numerous trips around the Mediterane:
We are 1000 years after the arrival of the Great Cold and our old continent continues to agonize under the eternal snow and ice as the winters pass.
The world has suffered the wrath of God for having strayed from the path to follow. The mighty empires in the north of the Mediterane continent, Erope, have suffered the coming of glaciers destroying crops down to the ground, castles, towns and villages. These ancient empires fought for survival with powerful armies wiping out what little remained of the continent. Entire peoples fled south to protect themselves from the cold towards the Mediterane, causing with them the disappearance of all the known peoples of the time. The numerous wars that followed created new coherent groups of people dominating the last viable lands of the region.
In the West, the Madrian Empire dominated the lands of the Iberic Peninsula and the western Mediterane as far as Italy. Its capital, Madres, already existed before the Great Cold. The kings who reigned there were already coming from the North welcoming their brothers from the north of the Pyrenees. It is difficult to know the ethnicity of the inhabitants and their origin in such a vast and varied empire. But faith in the Roman papacy (despite certain heresies such as "Saint Pasteur", a demigod doctor who can cure any disease with needles of the ancient world) and its King made Madres the first power. With her powerful flying machines she travels the Afrikane continent and brings back many riches from her trade. Many explorers set off in the snows of the north to find the ancient cities of the time and their wealth.
In the centre of the continent appeared the Empire of Mittelerope. This Empire was born from the many peoples who descended along the continent. Over the centuries they formed a powerful federation and threatened the interests of the Madrians. Some of these emperors are trying to regain the legitimacy of an ancient so-called Germanic empire that ruled in the far north. Their faith, although claiming to be Christian, is not homogenous and has many deviant sects that do not recognise the authority of the Pope and his dogmas. However they have aims on the whole of the Italian region as well as the holy eternal city: Rom.
The last of these empires is in the East. It bears the name of an ancient eternal city: Konstantinopole. The people of this empire are unique and come from the far north and have crossed the black ocean to chase heretics from their holy city. Although their faith resembles ours, they do not seem to accept the primacy of the Holy Pope. Their faith is led by many patriarchs gathering in Konstantinopole. Konstantinopole is a powerful city with numerous walls and fortresses. It is said that before the great cold it was by the sea. Their faith seems to be gaining more and more success in the East by repenting in distant empires. We owe it to ourselves to maintain good relations with them so that our pilgrims may still have access to the Tomb of Christ.
We must also keep an eye on Afrikane, which is more and more in our orbit despite its recurrent instability. We need to keep our vassals of northern Afrik as well as our outposts near the great Niger River.
However, we must prepare ourselves. The health of the Rom is seriously ill and the heretics of the north are preparing to descend upon us.
View attachment 516417
Map of the Mediterane continent located in the Madres Palace. This map still bears the mention of the continent "Erope".
I hope you'll like this universe and the accompanying map (I still have trouble with pixel art in decorum) If you wonder what the distorted names mean, don't hesitate (they're distorted with French phonetics). If enough people are interested I could do the rest of the world in other maps like this.