Something a bit different (insofar as it's not technically a map) - the presidential election from the season 2 finale of Battlestar Galactica.
SPOILERS.
For those of you who haven't seen the show (and aren't looking to, since you've brazenly ignored the spoiler warning), the basic premise is this: Humans created a robot race called the Cylons (a somewhat contrived acronym for CYbernetic LifefOrm Node) to serve them, and were apparently completely unaware of all existing sci-fi tropes regarding this, because the Cylons then immediately rose up in revolt against their masters - first in a decades-long war that ended with the Cylons forced out of human space, then in a surprise attack some forty years after the war that managed to wipe out most of the human race. The only surviving citizens of the Twelve Colonies, the dominant human state (possibly the only one - we never see or hear of any others, at any rate) are in those spaceships that managed to flee at the time of the attack and join together in a ragtag fleet under the protection of the titular Galactica, an ageing warship that was about to be decommissioned when the Cylons struck, only to avoid their onslaught due to their outdated electrical systems (which apparently make their computers immune to hacking). They set out to find the fabled long-lost home of mankind, a world spoken of only in ancient religious scrolls: a place called Earth.
One of the survivors of the attack is Laura Roslin, the Secretary of Education, who becomes President of the Colonies (who apparently function under a pseudo-American form of government) when all outranking officials are presumed killed in the attack. The military reluctantly agree to follow her lead in the name of democratic legitimacy, and a civilian government is set up on the passenger liner she was on (rechristened Colonial One). A power struggle breaks out between Roslin and Tom Zarek, a former terrorist turned populist politician and member of the Quorum of Twelve (an advisory body consisting of one representative from each of the Twelve Colonies), which leads to the former being forced to put her office up for election at the end of the scheduled term.
Zarek ultimately opts out of running for President, leaving the task of opposing Roslin to her vice-president (a position that seems far less "active political figure" and more "designated successor" than its modern American counterpart), the famous but somewhat politically inexperienced computer scientist and former traitor Dr. Gaius Baltar. Baltar is absent-minded, scruffy and self-serving, making him a dead fish in the largely personality-driven race - until the fleet stumbles on a habitable planet. Zarek (who runs Baltar's campaign behind the scenes) decides that this could be a useful wedge issue, and Baltar comes out with a plan to abort the search for Earth and settle on the new planet, which he dubs New Caprica after the capital world of the Twelve Colonies. Roslin sticks to the plan of finding Earth, supported by what remains of the religious establishment as well as the military, and is privately concerned over rumours that Baltar was the one who betrayed Colonial defences to the Cylons (as indeed he did, though if it makes it better, he does feel remorse over it and only did it because of the poontang anyway).
Baltar gains a lead in the polls, bolstered by what's seen as negative campaigning from Roslin's camp, until election day, when a last-minute result from the Zephyr (one of the larger ships in the fleet) carries the election for Roslin. It later emerges, however, that the Zephyr ballots were rigged, and that the actual ballots would probably show a lead for Baltar - in fear of Baltar's supposed collaboration, Roslin's aide colluded with the second-in-command of the Galactica to steal the election. Roslin chooses to stand down in Baltar's favour rather than allow an inquiry, and Baltar becomes the new President. He immediately orders settlement on New Caprica - a decision he will soon come to regret.
The results by ship are never discussed in dialogue, but they do appear on a chalkboard on the Galactica during election night - someone on the eminent Battlestar Wiki had come across a large photograph of the board and uploaded it, for which I am eternally grateful. The results are merely a background prop, but do reveal some remarkable attention to detail by the producers of the show, for instance:
- With the probable exception of the Zephyr, larger ships tended to break for Roslin, and smaller ones for Baltar. This makes perfect sense - after all, people on smaller and less defensible ships would have more to fear from a Cylon attack, so it's only logical that they'd be more susceptible to promises to settle down and stop huddling together on the fleet.
- One of Baltar's biggest strongholds is the Astral Queen - this is the former prison ship that serves as Zarek's base of operations and main political support structure. Obviously they were going to vote for whomever Zarek told them to.
- On the flipside, Roslin's biggest stronghold by far (even outstripping Colonial One itself) is the Gemenon Traveller. Why is this clever? Well, the Gemenons are described as a deeply religious people who believe in the literal truth of the scriptures. Roslin's campaign was based on the search for Earth, which is the subject of a prophecy in said scriptures, and she had the backing of religious leaders in addition to being a revered figure herself (some even referred to her as "the Prophet Laura").
- Somewhat surprisingly, the Pegasus (the other surviving warship besides Galactica) went narrowly for Baltar. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that the Pegasus had only very recently joined the fleet, and were unused to the presence of civilian leaders - why they'd vote for someone who basically pledged their abolition is beyond my powers of reasoning though.
Oh, and "ACH" stands for "After Cylon Holocaust". It's obviously a fan-created epoch rather than an in-universe one, but it's the best we have.
SPOILERS.
For those of you who haven't seen the show (and aren't looking to, since you've brazenly ignored the spoiler warning), the basic premise is this: Humans created a robot race called the Cylons (a somewhat contrived acronym for CYbernetic LifefOrm Node) to serve them, and were apparently completely unaware of all existing sci-fi tropes regarding this, because the Cylons then immediately rose up in revolt against their masters - first in a decades-long war that ended with the Cylons forced out of human space, then in a surprise attack some forty years after the war that managed to wipe out most of the human race. The only surviving citizens of the Twelve Colonies, the dominant human state (possibly the only one - we never see or hear of any others, at any rate) are in those spaceships that managed to flee at the time of the attack and join together in a ragtag fleet under the protection of the titular Galactica, an ageing warship that was about to be decommissioned when the Cylons struck, only to avoid their onslaught due to their outdated electrical systems (which apparently make their computers immune to hacking). They set out to find the fabled long-lost home of mankind, a world spoken of only in ancient religious scrolls: a place called Earth.
One of the survivors of the attack is Laura Roslin, the Secretary of Education, who becomes President of the Colonies (who apparently function under a pseudo-American form of government) when all outranking officials are presumed killed in the attack. The military reluctantly agree to follow her lead in the name of democratic legitimacy, and a civilian government is set up on the passenger liner she was on (rechristened Colonial One). A power struggle breaks out between Roslin and Tom Zarek, a former terrorist turned populist politician and member of the Quorum of Twelve (an advisory body consisting of one representative from each of the Twelve Colonies), which leads to the former being forced to put her office up for election at the end of the scheduled term.
Zarek ultimately opts out of running for President, leaving the task of opposing Roslin to her vice-president (a position that seems far less "active political figure" and more "designated successor" than its modern American counterpart), the famous but somewhat politically inexperienced computer scientist and former traitor Dr. Gaius Baltar. Baltar is absent-minded, scruffy and self-serving, making him a dead fish in the largely personality-driven race - until the fleet stumbles on a habitable planet. Zarek (who runs Baltar's campaign behind the scenes) decides that this could be a useful wedge issue, and Baltar comes out with a plan to abort the search for Earth and settle on the new planet, which he dubs New Caprica after the capital world of the Twelve Colonies. Roslin sticks to the plan of finding Earth, supported by what remains of the religious establishment as well as the military, and is privately concerned over rumours that Baltar was the one who betrayed Colonial defences to the Cylons (as indeed he did, though if it makes it better, he does feel remorse over it and only did it because of the poontang anyway).
Baltar gains a lead in the polls, bolstered by what's seen as negative campaigning from Roslin's camp, until election day, when a last-minute result from the Zephyr (one of the larger ships in the fleet) carries the election for Roslin. It later emerges, however, that the Zephyr ballots were rigged, and that the actual ballots would probably show a lead for Baltar - in fear of Baltar's supposed collaboration, Roslin's aide colluded with the second-in-command of the Galactica to steal the election. Roslin chooses to stand down in Baltar's favour rather than allow an inquiry, and Baltar becomes the new President. He immediately orders settlement on New Caprica - a decision he will soon come to regret.
The results by ship are never discussed in dialogue, but they do appear on a chalkboard on the Galactica during election night - someone on the eminent Battlestar Wiki had come across a large photograph of the board and uploaded it, for which I am eternally grateful. The results are merely a background prop, but do reveal some remarkable attention to detail by the producers of the show, for instance:
- With the probable exception of the Zephyr, larger ships tended to break for Roslin, and smaller ones for Baltar. This makes perfect sense - after all, people on smaller and less defensible ships would have more to fear from a Cylon attack, so it's only logical that they'd be more susceptible to promises to settle down and stop huddling together on the fleet.
- One of Baltar's biggest strongholds is the Astral Queen - this is the former prison ship that serves as Zarek's base of operations and main political support structure. Obviously they were going to vote for whomever Zarek told them to.
- On the flipside, Roslin's biggest stronghold by far (even outstripping Colonial One itself) is the Gemenon Traveller. Why is this clever? Well, the Gemenons are described as a deeply religious people who believe in the literal truth of the scriptures. Roslin's campaign was based on the search for Earth, which is the subject of a prophecy in said scriptures, and she had the backing of religious leaders in addition to being a revered figure herself (some even referred to her as "the Prophet Laura").
- Somewhat surprisingly, the Pegasus (the other surviving warship besides Galactica) went narrowly for Baltar. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that the Pegasus had only very recently joined the fleet, and were unused to the presence of civilian leaders - why they'd vote for someone who basically pledged their abolition is beyond my powers of reasoning though.
Oh, and "ACH" stands for "After Cylon Holocaust". It's obviously a fan-created epoch rather than an in-universe one, but it's the best we have.
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