Here's a little something I made a few months ago and never finished or posted. I took the basemap from a post that, for the life of me, I can't find. But the credit for a lot of this goes to whoever made that. I also took some bits from other maps, mostly just sea level rise ones. Anyway, this is from my own science fiction universe where humans have mastered the art of terraforming thanks to an alien race gifting us all of their technology in the early 22nd century. This is a near-clone of Earth, with plenty of modifications.
One of the concepts in this universe is groups of people wanting to settle planets similar to their own homeland. For example, Polynesian colonists got Polynesia Prime, a world covered almost completely in water, with lots of little archipelagos and few large landmasses. That planet has a weather control system even more strict than Earth, to prevent catastrophic hurricanes.
Keeping that in mind, this planet was created at the request of several distinct groups to imitate their homelands but with a significant twist. I'll try and hit just the highlights here.
The Middle East: A new pan-Abrahamic religious movement that borrows heavily from Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Sufism. A little weird, but harmless and very friendly.
Green North Atlantic: An amalgamation of neo-Celtic and neo-Pagan groups from various planets. Both identities saw a huge revival as people went out into space and began to forge their own identities, some new, some very old. We probably wouldn't recognize a lot of the things they consider "Celtic" in the same way our images of Vikings as horn-helmeted red-haired berserkers isn't very Viking at all.
Light Blue Europe: People from various parts of the old North Atlantic Federation of Earth. They like to think they're very cosmopolitan and sophisticated. To be fair, they kind of are.
Olive Green North America/Atlantis: People from old New England. They wanted to forge a new identity, one based on the traditions of the coastal Northeast but even more centered on the ocean. This planet's oceans are teeming with marine life, so their diet is even more fish-based than 21st century New England.
Gray-Blue North America/Atlantis/Mexico: settlers from the American side of the North Atlantic Federation. Enough of them had cultural ties to the Valley of Mexico that their portion of the planet includes it. Many of them wanted to recreate a pre-Collapse version of the Old United States, one that would seem, to us, ridiculously anachronistic. They've created a cultural aesthetic from an amalgamation of 1909, the 1920s, the 50s, the early 60s, the 80s, and the 90s.
Yellow Southeast North America/Central America: I don't remember what I planned for this one. Their color is the one I use for any pan-Caribbean federation, so I think most of them were originally from there. All those barrier islands are for protection from hurricanes, since that would make an expensive weather control system pretty much unnecessary. They only need a cheaper one.
Teal-Blue in North America: Former residents of the Pacific States or their descendants. Lots more Hawaiian and SoCal than anything else. They wanted to see what life would be like if the Channel and Hawaiian Islands could support much larger populations. They also got those big islands close to Japan because why the hell not.
Yugoslavia: My guess would be people from the Balkans/Dalmatia who still want to live in their ancestral homeland. They could hang out in Sarajevo II or on the Croatian coast but have it be truly their own, not part of anything larger except the Republic.
Japan/Korea: Okay this one is fun. This is the first true homeland of the Yamato, a bizarre cultural phenomenon combining anime/otaku culture, vaporwave, Meiji-era nostalgia, samurai nerds, and the descendants of the current J-pop/K-pop fad. They're super weird.
Australia: They finally got that inland sea they always wanted.
Aotearoa: The Maori, given a lot of land and resources. With a few Anglo Zealanders thrown in. Not a completely accurate recreation, since that would be nearly impossible for ships to navigate. Most people travel by air/space in this era, but the Maori are still fans of boats.
Why Atlantis: It's awesome, and it's a great excuse to say "I live on ATLANTIS!" It also helps make up for all those extra lakes/seas
Lake Chad: Easier access to freshwater and fish for people in the Sahara/Sudan
North American Lakes: No idea, really. They just look really cool. Having more water would probably help moderate temperatures in the South, since their weather control system won't do much except keep hurricanes below Cat 3.
Spratly Island: Looks cool, more land, neato place to live.
Japanese Islands: Helps the whole non-Earth, anime-feel.
Salton Bay/Lake Fresno: Oh man, if the Central Valley had a big lake? Come on. And a big bay is better than a stinking salty pond full of dead fish. So is just about anything.
Galapagos: Bigger to fit more potential settlers.
Bermuda: Same.
Please tell me what you think, even if you think this is dumb. I hope you like it.
(and also don't need "alternate history" explaining before you can get to the heart of the question!) Would this be the case for any planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a close binary pair, do you think? Is it the kind of thing you could simulate at very rough rule-of-level in a spreadsheet, or would it need real programming and number crunching to model?
