How do I expand an image in a way that keeps proportions? (apologies for n00b)
Graphic Thread
- Thread starter Glen
- Start date
Um...copy the image into a word document, expand that, and paste it back into the image? Might have issues with anti-aliasing, though...
Never mind - zooming in it is.
Some ai art from Me. A modern day French empire of sorts. Along with a Palace of a Byzantine empire that still stands.
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Empress of All Anglos
Empress of India
Empress of Guantanamo
Protector of the Russo-Ukranian-Belarusian-Caucasus Confederation
Well, here's a map i made for a 2050s world. Probably a bit ASB. Forgot what map i used as the base. PS: The Subcontinent is balkanized because of an Indo-Pak war
Hapsburg
Banned
Crossposted from my recent update to my TL.
Anthena Petronia (among the halians, family name comes first), born 2396, Chairwoman of the Federation of Solar Soviet Republics from 2438 to 2458. She was the daughter of halian exiles who had fled the initial government crackdowns in the 2390s. Ironically, the Halian Republic experienced a brief cultural revolution when a communist faction led a coalition in the Governing Senate, and began instituting land reform and collectivization in the mid-2410s, before the Terran Federation blockaded its worlds and jump gates, and forced capitulation as a Terran protectorate. By that point, the Anthenae were well-established in the Soviet Federation as a notable bureaucratic family. Petronia gained early recognition as a diplomat and scholar, publishing a monograph on Halian naval politics. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2430 to 2438, and was one of the architects of the peace treaty with the Terrans in 2432. Her experiences in diplomacy convinced her of the necessity of peaceful coexistence with rival nations if the Soviet experiment was going to endure.
She came to lead a populist reform faction in the Communist Party of the Federation, and in the 2438 Party Congress, she made her move. They compelled the ailing general Taz ra Layra, chariman of the State Committee and the military council, to step down from effective power; he was elected as Precentor, the formal head of state, but this was largely a symbolic role. She was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairwoman of the Federation in his stead, and began a series of reforms. While certainly the ideological guide of the next era in Soviet politics, she refused dictatorial control and instead restored the civilian collective leadership after decades of military rule. Demonstrating her commitment to socialist pluralism, she invited ideologues of previously-repressed factions into the Central State Committee. For the first time in a century, the committee included Trotskyists, Orthodox Marxists, Anarchist Syndicalists, Traditional Leninists, and varying democratic socialists, alongside Mackenists and her own partisans. Notably, she directed political assignments among the ministers in accordance to their ideological commitment to that area of expertise-- nominating, for instance, a Syndicalist to the position of Minister for Trade Unions, and an eco-socialist as Minister for Environmental Protection, and so on. She did act to limit the influence of more belligerent factions, however, believing that ceding too much power to Trotskyists or Maoists would bring her ideals of peaceful coexistence crashing down as they hungered for conflict with the capitalist Terran and "old alien" states. It was largely by their influence that the Soviets backed the viridian rebels in their civil war that erupted in 2448, over her strenuous protests, though she managed to effect restraint to avoid a full-blown proxy war. Her primary foreign policy concern was the theory of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist and feudalist states of the galaxy, provided that Soviet territorial integrity allowed for appropriate time and space to develop socialism within the federation; much of her contributions to theory would be to justify this détente. For the most part, she succeeded, and while the Soviet defense forces assisted in joint peacekeeping operations, they avoided direct conflict with rival nations; this proved controversial among communists within the capitalist "first galaxy" nations, many of whom saw her policies as revisionist betrayal of Connor Mackenzie's ideals.
In domestic politics, she espoused a "Third Way to Socialism", liberalizing local government so that each member world of the federation may pursue the form of socialism that best suited their material conditions and demography. A moderate degree of government control at the federal level, mainly for the military and core industries and trade, would be combined with a hands-off approach to the Soviet Republics as "laboratories of socialism", believing that scientific socialism required room to experiment to find the best path. Thus crafting a system that was neither authoritarian nor libertarian, and devolving economic planning horizontally to the member worlds. Part of this was the transformation of the Federative Communist Party into a federation of parties, rather than a single party, composed of affiliates unique to each world; some planets may have multiparty elections between different socialist factions, while others might be led by a vanguard party of varying ideologies, from Leninism to Trotskyism to Maoism, depending on the planetary demographics. This reduced the power of the military and bureaucracy, which previously dominated the Federation under the ideology of Mackenzism, though they still were represented in the state and military committees and plenty of worlds still were governed as Mackenzist one-party republics.
She retired after the Party Congress in 2458, after amending the Soviet Charter to place fixed term limits on the main offices of state and the collective leadership. This would force the state to have "new blood" enter politics and ideally prevent stagnation. She died peacefully in 2489 soon after acting as diplomatic backchannel to broker peace in a proxy war between the Terrans and Soviets in the Perseus Arm.
Anthena Petronia (among the halians, family name comes first), born 2396, Chairwoman of the Federation of Solar Soviet Republics from 2438 to 2458. She was the daughter of halian exiles who had fled the initial government crackdowns in the 2390s. Ironically, the Halian Republic experienced a brief cultural revolution when a communist faction led a coalition in the Governing Senate, and began instituting land reform and collectivization in the mid-2410s, before the Terran Federation blockaded its worlds and jump gates, and forced capitulation as a Terran protectorate. By that point, the Anthenae were well-established in the Soviet Federation as a notable bureaucratic family. Petronia gained early recognition as a diplomat and scholar, publishing a monograph on Halian naval politics. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2430 to 2438, and was one of the architects of the peace treaty with the Terrans in 2432. Her experiences in diplomacy convinced her of the necessity of peaceful coexistence with rival nations if the Soviet experiment was going to endure.
She came to lead a populist reform faction in the Communist Party of the Federation, and in the 2438 Party Congress, she made her move. They compelled the ailing general Taz ra Layra, chariman of the State Committee and the military council, to step down from effective power; he was elected as Precentor, the formal head of state, but this was largely a symbolic role. She was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairwoman of the Federation in his stead, and began a series of reforms. While certainly the ideological guide of the next era in Soviet politics, she refused dictatorial control and instead restored the civilian collective leadership after decades of military rule. Demonstrating her commitment to socialist pluralism, she invited ideologues of previously-repressed factions into the Central State Committee. For the first time in a century, the committee included Trotskyists, Orthodox Marxists, Anarchist Syndicalists, Traditional Leninists, and varying democratic socialists, alongside Mackenists and her own partisans. Notably, she directed political assignments among the ministers in accordance to their ideological commitment to that area of expertise-- nominating, for instance, a Syndicalist to the position of Minister for Trade Unions, and an eco-socialist as Minister for Environmental Protection, and so on. She did act to limit the influence of more belligerent factions, however, believing that ceding too much power to Trotskyists or Maoists would bring her ideals of peaceful coexistence crashing down as they hungered for conflict with the capitalist Terran and "old alien" states. It was largely by their influence that the Soviets backed the viridian rebels in their civil war that erupted in 2448, over her strenuous protests, though she managed to effect restraint to avoid a full-blown proxy war. Her primary foreign policy concern was the theory of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist and feudalist states of the galaxy, provided that Soviet territorial integrity allowed for appropriate time and space to develop socialism within the federation; much of her contributions to theory would be to justify this détente. For the most part, she succeeded, and while the Soviet defense forces assisted in joint peacekeeping operations, they avoided direct conflict with rival nations; this proved controversial among communists within the capitalist "first galaxy" nations, many of whom saw her policies as revisionist betrayal of Connor Mackenzie's ideals.
In domestic politics, she espoused a "Third Way to Socialism", liberalizing local government so that each member world of the federation may pursue the form of socialism that best suited their material conditions and demography. A moderate degree of government control at the federal level, mainly for the military and core industries and trade, would be combined with a hands-off approach to the Soviet Republics as "laboratories of socialism", believing that scientific socialism required room to experiment to find the best path. Thus crafting a system that was neither authoritarian nor libertarian, and devolving economic planning horizontally to the member worlds. Part of this was the transformation of the Federative Communist Party into a federation of parties, rather than a single party, composed of affiliates unique to each world; some planets may have multiparty elections between different socialist factions, while others might be led by a vanguard party of varying ideologies, from Leninism to Trotskyism to Maoism, depending on the planetary demographics. This reduced the power of the military and bureaucracy, which previously dominated the Federation under the ideology of Mackenzism, though they still were represented in the state and military committees and plenty of worlds still were governed as Mackenzist one-party republics.
She retired after the Party Congress in 2458, after amending the Soviet Charter to place fixed term limits on the main offices of state and the collective leadership. This would force the state to have "new blood" enter politics and ideally prevent stagnation. She died peacefully in 2489 soon after acting as diplomatic backchannel to broker peace in a proxy war between the Terrans and Soviets in the Perseus Arm.
Hapsburg
Banned
Table of the main Empire-wide political parties active in the Terran Empire during its middle period, circa 2550. Some of these are closer to federations of more provincial and planetary political parties, which may differ from the national organization in greater or lesser degrees. But these are the main ones, and their presumed political stances on the main political issues. The Terran political scene is divided mainly on Technocracy vs Democracy, Centralization vs Federalism, Monarchy vs Republic, but other major issues include the relative power of Parliamentary institutions, the continuation of the welfare state, economic liberalization vs nationalization, continued feudalism in the colonies, and military intervention or isolation.
The Social Democratic Labor Party formed from splits and mergers of the preceding center-left parties. The more liberal wing of the Progressive Labor Party split off to join the Terran Liberal Party, while the social democratic wing merged with the Interstellar Socialist Party. The result was the SDLP, a predominantly center-left social democratic party promoting a mixed economy. It supports the monarchy, the welfare state, and administrative technocracy combined with strong, central parliamentary democracy. At least in its rhetoric, it remains committed to working-class empowerment, strong labor unions, and gradually reforming Terran society towards socialism under the guidance of a parliamentary monarchy.
The Federal Conservatives split following the Terran Civil War of the 2520s and the Imperial Reform, creating two conservative parties. The Imperial Conservative Party is the center-right counterpart to the SDLP; it supports a strong centralized parliamentary monarchy, technocratic administration, but is socially conservative and supports replacing some of the welfare state with paternalistic charitable institutions managed by local elites.
The other socially conservative splinter party is the Imperial Federalist Party, supports conserving or restoring the feudal rights of planetary nobles, increased federalization of the Empire, limiting Parliamentary power, and local devolution in the hands of proprietary lords. It more or less seeks a return to the Empire at its foundation, opposing the centralizing reforms.
The Liberal and Progressive Party formed from the Liberal Party absorbing the more liberal wing of Progressive Labor. It is a big tent of liberals and centrists, though it has come to generally support a federal structure, economic liberalization, social liberalism with few constraints on individual activity, and a commitment to democracy at every level, from a strong central Parliament to responsible government and devolution, though it is agnostic on the monarchy's role. A minority wing supports social democracy and maintaining the welfare state, but most have pivoted to deregulation and free market capitalism, supporting industrialists in accelerating development in the colonies.
The National Humanist Imperial Labor Party, or NHILP, is a far-right ultranationalist party. It rose in 2491 from the ashes of the banned Empire of Man Party and National People's Party, in part driven by the far right reaction to the Empire forging peace in the Perseid region, continued rapprochement with the Soviets, and tolerance of socialist agitation in the colonies. It advocates centralization around a military government, creation of a corporatist economy geared around war, and traditionalism. Sharp ideological divisions exist between monarchists and republicans, and between those that support or reject androids and synthetics as human. The Party as a whole supports the welfare state, though some wings are more explicitly agrarian. Despite its considerable variety in specific beliefs, the NHILP is united under a militarized structure and the belief that humanity requires national rebirth as a single state in order to survive in the galactic political scene.
The Terran Communist Party continues to be a far-left Mackenzist communist party, positioned as the militant vanguard of a proletarian revolution. It is bitterly opposed to the Terran monarchy and generally hostile to the bourgeois and neofeudal Terran state. It generally supports reorganizing under a socialist federation, local radical democracy, and a fully nationalized economy and welfare state. As always, it rhetorically supports various armed revolutionary movements, though it has no provable ties to any. While it once had the backing of the FSSR, it has split with the Soviets over the issue of peaceful coexistence, with the TCP upholding an anti-revisionist Mackenzist line. Despite its venerable status, its parliamentary popularity has declined as more acceptable rivals have emerged on the communist left.
Its main rival is the Communist Party of the Terran Empire, a federalist and socialist party backed by the Soviets and the Cominstel. It holds to the Petronian Marxist line of peaceful coexistence between communist states and capitalist states. It advocates instituting radical democracy at every level of the Empire, strengthening the welfare state and labor unions, and achieving political power through parliamentary democracy. Unlike the more radical TCP, it is neutral about the monarchy, believing that communism can be instituted on the planetary and local level even in the context of an interstellar monarchy. Its critics view it as revisionist and democratic socialist, disparaging its abandonment of revolutionary struggle. Its supports contend that revolution can be accomplished peacefully, and that allying with social democrats is necessary for defeating the neo-feudal conservatives in the colonies.
The Colonial Republican Party is the political wing of the Colonial Liberation Organization. It remains a far-left anti-colonial party, generally advocating Maoist resistance and colonial secession, though it has shifted towards being a united front coalition of local parties which vary in their ideologies-- some social democratic, some communalist, some Maoist. Its party line is to advocate for a loose confederation of liberated colonial republics. The CRP seeks to advocate for this through parliamentary democracy, while the Colonial Liberation Army seeks to achieve this through violent revolt, which has led to a split between the two wings of the organization. It often caucuses with the TCP in parliament.
The Social Democratic Labor Party formed from splits and mergers of the preceding center-left parties. The more liberal wing of the Progressive Labor Party split off to join the Terran Liberal Party, while the social democratic wing merged with the Interstellar Socialist Party. The result was the SDLP, a predominantly center-left social democratic party promoting a mixed economy. It supports the monarchy, the welfare state, and administrative technocracy combined with strong, central parliamentary democracy. At least in its rhetoric, it remains committed to working-class empowerment, strong labor unions, and gradually reforming Terran society towards socialism under the guidance of a parliamentary monarchy.
The Federal Conservatives split following the Terran Civil War of the 2520s and the Imperial Reform, creating two conservative parties. The Imperial Conservative Party is the center-right counterpart to the SDLP; it supports a strong centralized parliamentary monarchy, technocratic administration, but is socially conservative and supports replacing some of the welfare state with paternalistic charitable institutions managed by local elites.
The other socially conservative splinter party is the Imperial Federalist Party, supports conserving or restoring the feudal rights of planetary nobles, increased federalization of the Empire, limiting Parliamentary power, and local devolution in the hands of proprietary lords. It more or less seeks a return to the Empire at its foundation, opposing the centralizing reforms.
The Liberal and Progressive Party formed from the Liberal Party absorbing the more liberal wing of Progressive Labor. It is a big tent of liberals and centrists, though it has come to generally support a federal structure, economic liberalization, social liberalism with few constraints on individual activity, and a commitment to democracy at every level, from a strong central Parliament to responsible government and devolution, though it is agnostic on the monarchy's role. A minority wing supports social democracy and maintaining the welfare state, but most have pivoted to deregulation and free market capitalism, supporting industrialists in accelerating development in the colonies.
The National Humanist Imperial Labor Party, or NHILP, is a far-right ultranationalist party. It rose in 2491 from the ashes of the banned Empire of Man Party and National People's Party, in part driven by the far right reaction to the Empire forging peace in the Perseid region, continued rapprochement with the Soviets, and tolerance of socialist agitation in the colonies. It advocates centralization around a military government, creation of a corporatist economy geared around war, and traditionalism. Sharp ideological divisions exist between monarchists and republicans, and between those that support or reject androids and synthetics as human. The Party as a whole supports the welfare state, though some wings are more explicitly agrarian. Despite its considerable variety in specific beliefs, the NHILP is united under a militarized structure and the belief that humanity requires national rebirth as a single state in order to survive in the galactic political scene.
The Terran Communist Party continues to be a far-left Mackenzist communist party, positioned as the militant vanguard of a proletarian revolution. It is bitterly opposed to the Terran monarchy and generally hostile to the bourgeois and neofeudal Terran state. It generally supports reorganizing under a socialist federation, local radical democracy, and a fully nationalized economy and welfare state. As always, it rhetorically supports various armed revolutionary movements, though it has no provable ties to any. While it once had the backing of the FSSR, it has split with the Soviets over the issue of peaceful coexistence, with the TCP upholding an anti-revisionist Mackenzist line. Despite its venerable status, its parliamentary popularity has declined as more acceptable rivals have emerged on the communist left.
Its main rival is the Communist Party of the Terran Empire, a federalist and socialist party backed by the Soviets and the Cominstel. It holds to the Petronian Marxist line of peaceful coexistence between communist states and capitalist states. It advocates instituting radical democracy at every level of the Empire, strengthening the welfare state and labor unions, and achieving political power through parliamentary democracy. Unlike the more radical TCP, it is neutral about the monarchy, believing that communism can be instituted on the planetary and local level even in the context of an interstellar monarchy. Its critics view it as revisionist and democratic socialist, disparaging its abandonment of revolutionary struggle. Its supports contend that revolution can be accomplished peacefully, and that allying with social democrats is necessary for defeating the neo-feudal conservatives in the colonies.
The Colonial Republican Party is the political wing of the Colonial Liberation Organization. It remains a far-left anti-colonial party, generally advocating Maoist resistance and colonial secession, though it has shifted towards being a united front coalition of local parties which vary in their ideologies-- some social democratic, some communalist, some Maoist. Its party line is to advocate for a loose confederation of liberated colonial republics. The CRP seeks to advocate for this through parliamentary democracy, while the Colonial Liberation Army seeks to achieve this through violent revolt, which has led to a split between the two wings of the organization. It often caucuses with the TCP in parliament.
From this TL:
"Vömtöröš" (IPA: [ˈvømtør̪øʃ], Qumbian for "Emptiness") is the 18th studio album of Qumbian Heavy Metal band KORAŠÁŊ (IPA: [ˈkor̪ɒʃaːɲ]) and was recorded between September and December 2010 and released on April 1st, 2011.
The album has been released with a bonus-DVD included, which contains the recording of a live gig in Čöröbörd in June 2010.
The album has 13 songs and length of 54 minutes and 59 seconds, the Live-DVD contains 19 songs and is one hour, 29 minutes and 56 seconds long.
Although the band exists since 1983, this is the "25th Anniversary"-album, because the first (and self-titled) KORAŠÁŊ album has been released in 1986.
The style of this album should be roughly between this this, this and this, but singing in Qumbian instead of Hungarian of course.^^
Speaking of Hungarian....Hungarians should have no problems to say "Korasány" and "Vömtörös". ;-)
"Vömtöröš" (IPA: [ˈvømtør̪øʃ], Qumbian for "Emptiness") is the 18th studio album of Qumbian Heavy Metal band KORAŠÁŊ (IPA: [ˈkor̪ɒʃaːɲ]) and was recorded between September and December 2010 and released on April 1st, 2011.
The album has been released with a bonus-DVD included, which contains the recording of a live gig in Čöröbörd in June 2010.
The album has 13 songs and length of 54 minutes and 59 seconds, the Live-DVD contains 19 songs and is one hour, 29 minutes and 56 seconds long.
Although the band exists since 1983, this is the "25th Anniversary"-album, because the first (and self-titled) KORAŠÁŊ album has been released in 1986.
The style of this album should be roughly between this this, this and this, but singing in Qumbian instead of Hungarian of course.^^
Speaking of Hungarian....Hungarians should have no problems to say "Korasány" and "Vömtörös". ;-)
Hapsburg
Banned
Diagram and explanatory notes for the general election of 2657 in the Terran Empire. Since the constitutional reforms of 2525, the Empire has used a simple party-list proportional representation system for electing its parliament. While at one time packed with minor parties, the 5% threshold instituted in 2550 along with the constriction of membership to 800 MPs shifted things definitively towards a handful of large parties. In reality, except for the tightly-organized NHILP and the Terran Communist Party, these Empire-wide political parties are more like loose federations of affiliated planetary parties, with some national leadership.
The 2656 election is notable for being the first in which the National Humanists held a plurality and the party leader had a mandate to form a coalition government. The previous premier, holding office since 2637, was a Conservative who dual-carded in the NHILP, but was not a leader in either party.
The 2656 election is notable for being the first in which the National Humanists held a plurality and the party leader had a mandate to form a coalition government. The previous premier, holding office since 2637, was a Conservative who dual-carded in the NHILP, but was not a leader in either party.
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Maybe you should have the title a bit higher. I assume the person on the right is Obama but I can't recognise who's on the left.Just a fun image from my TL.
From what I can tell, their hair and face look a bit different from Lula, and Lula’s laugh lines aren’t that sharp and are more rounded than straight.
Given this timeline's origin, it's a Canadian guy.
