Is there a map for post 20 years war Europe? (If not, I'm willing to volunteer to take a crack at it, being fairly close to done with my current commissions)
That map was done some time ago (with minor tweaks that are in the works), but there is scope for some maps of Aururia in the Hunter's era if you have some time. I can drop you a PM if you're interested.
Do we still get the Europeans empiring everywhere? It's not a proper timeline without the British Empire
Imperialism in some form is probably inevitable, sadly. Whether it looks so much like OTL's version is harder to say. The Nuttana go in much more for soft imperial power than firm control (though they do have the latter too). For that matter, the European trading companies started as mostly just seizing small areas too, although they became notable examples of mission creep along the way.
Continuing with my weekend re-read, and noting a four year old reply to a question I asked about the inland Five Rivers kingdoms which stated that Gutjanal and Yigutji both wanted but were unable to get direct access to the Europeans, was there ever any talk in Gutjanal of accessing the sea via newly-independent Tiyanjara either through conquest or agreement? I don't actually know if there are any decent natural harbours in this region that roughly corresponds to Queensland other than Westernport of course, which is under Yadji control. I doubt that the Gippsland Lakes have been opened to the sea.
Nonetheless it's a short distance from the Gippsland coast to the Gutjanal border, and I would not be surprised if Tiyanjara would not mind an agreement with Gutjanal which saw both gain direct access to muskets and other goods... a Gutjanal conquest is probably unlikely though as both the Yadji and Tjibarri would be less than impressed. AFAIK this did not happen ITTL, of course, would I be overstating Gutjanal strength and understating the capacity of the post-plague Yadji to stop them?
Coincidentally, the next chapter includes a viewpoint section from a character in Gutjanal, which touches on the contact with Tiyanjara. I won't spoil things too much, but I'll note that although the distance between Gutjanal and Tiyanjara is not long, the geography is awful. This is some of the most mountainous areas of the continent, with not too many direct roads even today. The easier routes take them via territory which is controlled by Durigal.
In terms of ports, there is *Port Albert, although that's a strange place in itself, for reasons which I'll get around to covering at some point. The Western Port shoreline is divided between Durigal and Tiyanjara, but that's too dangerous to rely on. The Gippsland Lakes do actually open naturally to the sea, but the channel tends to silt up periodically and re-opens later, not always in the same place. It wouldn't be beyond European technology to fix the channel in place, although it would involve some effort.
As an aside, Yigutji has
some trade with a European power, but again the logistics are against them. (This is also covered in one of the upcoming posts.) For all that it grates, it's far cheaper for Yigutji and Gutjanal both to import European goods via Tjibarr.
As Jared has indicated, the Swedish seem much stronger than iOTL, having both broken Prussia, gained Silesia *and* getting through the war without ending up with the Danes as a particular Enemy. (Which still blows my mind)
The Swedes lucked out during the 20 Years War, in that Denmark saw greater opportunity and less risk in picking up territory from the HRE than getting into a bruising fight with Sweden. That doesn't mean that the Danes and Swedes will
stay friends. In fact, I'd consider a war or two as inevitable. However, Denmark also has no particular liking for Poland either, so won't be much help there.
Which leads to changes in any likely alt-Northern War. Russia will still be looking to grow, however in OTL, they actually stopped fighting the Polish for a while with concerns about the Swedish getting too strong. This concern will be even more significant iTTL. Also iTTL, the border between Poland and Swedish territories will be much greater than iOTL, giving the Swedes both more men (not sure the modern concerns about those men not being ethnicall Swedish apply) and more area to defend.
Sweden is certainly in an interesting position. War gets complex because Sweden is also involved in HRE politics in a significant way. But it's safe to say that regardless of who comes out better off between Russia and Sweden, Poland will be worse off. That doesn't necessarily mean partitioned off the map as happened in OTL (which was a rather contingent chain of events), but significant territorial losses are likely.
Just wondering if
@Jared has received any fanart of the towns described (eg the White City, the pyramid in OTL Queensland)?
There's been some of various individuals and peoples from cultures, but not as much of the towns themselves.
