Map Thread XIX

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A new version of my Golden World Timeline. If you want to know the lore see here. I am reworking the timeline and I will add some stuff to it.
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I've finished the second of the Galilean Republics series for the Crumpleverse. I have to admit I found it a little trickier to think up points of interest for Ganymede because of its lower population than Callisto whilst still being similar to Callisto in many ways, but I think I got there in the end. Here's a deviantART link in case there's any quality issues with the image in the post.

With a permanent human presence on Callisto by the 2150s humanity’s grasp extended yet further within the Solar system. Saturn was now within reach, and by 2159 work had begun on infrastructure to skim a little of that gas giant’s bounty for human use. The prospective helium-3 crunch had been averted. What now for Jupiter and its moons, what did their future hold? At first people were content to settle on Callisto alone, not wishing to challenge the Jovian radiation belts. Any closer settlement required such tremendous precautions against radiation that they would be hardly worth it. It seemed the Jovian future was one of quietly increasing prosperity. For some decades this status quo held. But technology had no intention of standing still. Commercially available radiation shielding continually improved its reliability and decreased its cost. By the 2190s it was increasingly feasible that a space station or a settlement might mount radiation shielding capable of withstanding Jupiter’s fierce gaze without astronomical expense. Attempts to settle on the other Galilean moons were only a matter of time.

Ganymede was to be the test case for further settlement of the Jovian system. This began with a literal ongoing test in the form of the Diomedes Orbiter, launched in 2206. The orbiter was designed to test the long term strength and reliability of the radiation shields available. It was only after years of observation and experimentation that these shields were greenlit for structures intended for permanent habitation. All space is dangerous, but the space around Jupiter is especially dangerous, and until all concerned were sure that these shields really would stand up to local conditions not a solitary soul would be allowed to live in Ganymede’s orbit. It wasn’t until 2210 that work began on what would become Assaracus Habitat, and not until 2212 that enough shielded areas were online for anyone to consider living there full time. This was the birth of Ganymedean society and identity, and also began the process that would later lead to the formation of the Galilean Republics.

Ganymede is the second most-populated of the Galilean moons, with a permanent population of just over 300,000 people. Like Callisto the majority of permanent inhabitants live in orbit rather than on the surface. Unlike Callisto this is almost exclusively concentrated in a few stations rather than spread out around a myriad, and the surface population is even more concentrated. This is a result of well-justified caution regarding radiation. Ganymedeans would much rather keep humans underneath multiple protective systems (with a few more redundant protective systems) in a few specific locations thank you very much. This has produced a very different environment for cultural development compared to Callisto, whose varius are small-scale societal units as much as centres of industrial production.

As a whole Ganymedean culture owes much to Tanzania and Callisto, with the majority of its early inhabitants coming from one or the other. Many of the moon’s languages descend from Swahili with a certain amount of Callistoan influence. It also has historic ties to the Azanians of Kahlo, with a diaspora community established on Assaracus Habitat since the 24th century. The resulting dialogue between Ganymede’s own Tanzanian influences and the pan-East African Azanian culture has come to define much of Ganymede’s recent culture. It also has the strongest links to the Trojan communes of any among the Galilean moons.

The notion of hospitality is as strong on Ganymede as on Callisto, though Ganymedeans can often seem somewhat parental and protective of newcomers by comparison. Given that to live in or around Ganymede is to effectively defy Jupiter this is an understandable instinct. Ganymedean practice emphasises communal eating, with an emphasis on heavy evening meals on Ganymede’s surface in particular. This is due to the common practice of commuting to surface installations, leaving the evening the ideal time for group meals. Ganymedean cuisine generally involves a lot of slow cooking, from barbecued meats to curries to Callisto-style boils. Ganymede fish curries are famous system-wide, though Ganymede’s most famous culinary product is bananas. Over ninety known varieties of banana are grown here, with many of those varieties now popular and widely grown across the human sphere.

Ganymede is the gateway to the inner Jovian system, and an unavoidable destination for atmosphere skimmers braving the challenge of Jupiter. Indeed, the importance of Ganymede to the Jovian skimming industry gives the moon an influence that belies its significantly smaller population and infrastructure to Callisto, though its major industries remain water and ammonia. Its permanent population is considered a testament to technological development and wherewithal as much as the terraformation of Mars, even if the visual results are significantly less flashy. That settlement here was even possible was a testament to how far humanity had come in a relatively short time. Though less significant to daily conversation than Callisto this is not a backwater within the solar system. Its citizens remain a byword for self confidence and the adventuring spirit, even in the present day.

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Hey guys, here is a map from ~Historiae mutetur!~ featuring the Kazel Empire. The spiritual predecessor of Aztec culture before the Nahuatl would migrate south into Mexico
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Cool timeline, love the map...but that compass rose is too extra. The focus of a map should be the main topic of the map. Right now the largest element by far is the compass rose. You could really improve the composition by shrinking it to down a lot, loving it to the bottom right, dropping your legend down into that space and cropping out all that ocean.

Man, I love maps with unconventional orientations. Great way to look at a landscape in a new light.
 
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A map base on my Golden America timeline. However, this one is set in which the central powers loss the great war. I'm still thinking of a POD for it but Il just says that the US was more incompetent in its army and poor leaderships cause it to lose the war. Eventually, The entente would push the members of the central powers of Europe to surrender.
The US would turn fascist following its economy crashing much harder than it did irl.
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The next map for it. in 1939 The US has taken over Mexico and some Caribbean nations.
 
Just the usually cross-post from the MotF. I was very late this session, but life's been crazy. Anyway, the result turned out good enough, IMO. Do tell me your thoughts, city-designing is a medium I struggle with but that I love deeply, so criticism is very valued.

Well, this map was an adventure to make. I gave up on it several times, but ultimately I'm glad with the way it turned out.

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So, one could say this city has taken a very different path in History. Today, it is a but a village called Karaundi, in the State of Madhya Pradesh, that has very little of interest by itself, except for the fact that, in a plot of land near it, is the geographic center of India. There's a small monument, but nothing fancy, really. From what I could tell, the people there live very simple lives, build clay furnances and cultivate the countryside.

I decided to then take their area for a test and use it to design an eco-friendly Gandhian socialist city to serve as capital for an India under Gandhian socialism. Since one day I may want to work on this scenario, I won't give many details, but the general idea is the Bihar Movement of Gandhian socialists triumphing over Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, and leading to the Total Revolution movement triumphing in India and reforming the country under their principles. In my writing idea, the support of retired Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw is what leads them to victory, making him the first President under the new Constitution and giving him the statue in the city. Also representing a union between the pacifist Gandhians and the Indian Army (or better yet, National Force of Guardians) that would be quite necessary for the country, considering Pakistan was already a thing and wouldn't become more amicable by India turning a weird form of socialist.

The ideals of the new government and the nomenclature used are inspired in that of the Gandhian Constitution, written by Shriman Narayan in 1946; to put it short, the majority of power and functions would be in the local village Pachayat, elected by a council of all its citizens, around 1000 adults, which elects one of its members as President. They were to enjoy maximum local authority, being entrusted with matter such as education, recreation, protection, agriculture, industry, commerce, sanitation and healthcare, justice and taxation.

A few dozen villages would bind together as a Taluka, with a pachayat made from the presidents of each village, with one of them being elected as Taluka President; the taluka would audit the villages' dealings, provide high school eductation, maintain hospitals for more specific treatment, run cooperative banks, keep roads, maintain model farms and organise inter-village sports tournaments.

A dozen Talukas would bind together as a district, with a Pachayat made of the presidents of each Taluka, electing one of their own to be District President. They'd audit taluka accounts, provide college education, maintain hospitals for very specific diseases, maintain a reserve of Guardians for emergencies, run larger cooperative banking societies, make arrengements for irrigation and organise sporting events. In urban scenarios, the district would be a Municipality. Due to its status, Gandhinagar and its wider area form a district.

The District President is a member of the Provincial Pachayat, which elects one of its own as Provincial President. They are responsible with auditing districts, maintaining a reserve of Guardians for emergencies, arrange for university education and research centers, organise transport and communications, provide irrigational facilities, organise famine relief, run a cooperative bank for credit loans, develop the natural resources of the Province and manage its key industries. The Pachayat should also appoint a Provincial executive branch of Ministers to oversee these efforts.

Finally, the Central Government, headquartered in Gandhinagar, has its legislative branch in the All-India Pachayat, to which the President of each Province is a member and which elects one of its leaders as the President of India to serve as Head of State. They also appoint a Cabinet of Ministers. They'll have the mission of defending the country against foreign threats, develop the National Force of Guardians, coordinate provincial plans of economic development, run the key industries of importance to All India, manage the departments of transport and communications, regulate currency, customs and international trade, maintain educational institutions of All India importance to manage key research points and to shape foreign policy of the Nation.

Gandhinagar was built specifically to host the Central Government, but not only that, but to serve as a model for the reconstruction of large cities into the Gandhian way. Always advocates of ruralisation, the Gandhian socialists struggled most with adapting their ideas to an urban and industrial lifestyle and, although great opponents of the Nehrunian industrialisation of India, they nevertheless understood it was necessary for the country to maintain certain industries that produced domestic products. Gandhinagar was born out of the ideal of binding together the simple rural life of the Gandhians with the modern necessities of the world; a city made Gandhian, to show the entire nation the world they had been promised could occur. If Gandhinagar could function, then why couldn't Mumbai or Delhi be like that?

If it worked or not, and how truthful is the image of "The City of Gandhi" as the paradise he envisioned... Well, that I'll let each reader decide, to be honest, because I myself can't figure out what would be the natural evolution of things here. All I know I was challenged to change the destiny of a city, and I took a small village in central India and made it into a thriving, if odd city built around a concept that, really, is that of an "upside down town".

I hope you enjoyed the map, and the details (I stole a lot from the Gandhian Constitution, it is a real thing, I'd suggest anyone interested reads it, as it has a very interesting manifesto of the views of the Gandhian socialists. Designing cities remains a challenge to me, but it was really fun working on this, since I basically had a blank canvas to work on, in a neat little valley that gave me limits by nature where to work the city and give it a rather natural contour. It turned really well, in my opinion. At least I wasn't expecting myself to like the design as much as I do.
 

AHE

Gone Fishin'
So basically this COAAW map game that me, @GBehm, @Red Arturoist, @Aurantiacis, @Gokbay, @Gabzcervo and a couple others were working on kinda died out, so I decided to fill in all the missing spots on the map with countries, and here it is, the finished map:

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The link to the map game is right here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...n-alternate-world-close-enough.482695/page-27
Oh that, I forgot that existed! Fun to participate in
 
Cool timeline, love the map...but that compass rose is too extra. The focus of a map should be the main topic of the map. Right now the largest element by far is the compass rose. You could really improve the composition by shrinking it to down a lot, loving it to the bottom right, dropping your legend down into that space and cropping out all that ocean.

Man, I love maps with unconventional orientations. Great way to look at a landscape in a new light.
Your probably right. I found a video on making compasses and got a little to excited for it. Thanks for the tip
 
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Most of my timelines and maps always result in a dismantling of the British Empire, so I decided to go the opposite direction with this.

(Note the Cape-to-Calcutta Railway.)
 
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