alternatehistory.com

Between work and having a monster of a cold it's been a hard slog getting this next update together, but the good news is that it is coming together, and I think we can expect it finished in the next week.

In the meantime, I found myself with some free time and made a map. In true Achaemenid Hellas fashion, it is not a straightforward map, nor is it a map of a state that we've seen before, because I'm nothing if not consistent.

Let me introduce you to the great Empire of the Karnutes of the *1st-4th centuries AD!

This is meant to be my 'translation' of a period map, commissioned by the Empire itself, showing all of its claimed domains, along with the coast of Africa (both because of the Karnutes' allies there but also because it would have looked less harmonious). The attempts at symmetry and equal divisions are entirely purposeful, along with the unusual orientation; the Karnutes, along with the rest of the Gauls, have long since been influenced by Etruscan notions of all things having their proper divisions, with the districts of the heavens being reflected below. It is with great purpose, then, that the map attempts to do the same for the provinces and peoples of the Karnute state.

The symbol in the upper parts of the map is the official one of the Karnute Empire, the wolf surmounted by a yellow star. This is adapted from an OTL Karnute symbology found on their coinage, and ITTL the imagery is fairly archaic given the kind of art now being produced for the Empire and its ruling classes, even crude.

I am interested to see what you all think, and don't worry; if people like it, it doesn't mean I've given up on making the map of TTL's Achaemenid Empire to end all maps. But I might well make more maps from the world itself, as it fits with the philosophy of the timeline so well.