Map of the Fortnight: Main Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Upvoteanthology
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I figure we could work out some categories. Some for best style, some for best story, some for whackiest or most out of the box. Stuff like that.
Having run the Turtledoves for the last few years, would be happy to help out with this idea if you need it.
Those are some great ideas! Just here to point out, pretty sure this year is 2024 and not 2025 ^^"
Congrats to @NeonHydroxide for winning Map of the Fortnight 293: On Your Ruins, My Empire with their map of the German-Soviet Deportation of the Ukrainians. Don't forget to post for MotF 294: Newspeak, closing in one week.
My guess at lore for Kruglyasheo's entry:
Putin and Xi give way to more hawksh successors during the 2030s and 2040s, resulting the US being forced to resume an active hand in the type global conflicts that dominated the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, the continuation of the internet turns this area of human development into the new battlegorund for political influence, as small time political commentators of every political persuasion are quickly outdone both by concentrated revolutionary organizations and the propaganda campaigns of each major power bloc. The result of this new digital landscape, combined with new emerging methods for job applications and employment, is that the concept of national identity begins to gradually dissipate in favor of allegiance to several competing world systems, all made from the uniting of national defense governments and online business networks among different ideological poles until the First World and its offshoots are collectively ruled by military allegiance directly descended from the old Pentagon. The climax of this new system comes with the final defeat of the New Russian Alliance, a direct successor state to the CIS as well an empire that appeals to the people by combining vanguard socialism with a nationalized Orthodox Church that reveres past Russian greats as incarnations of the same Slavic protector, taking the now attainable riches of Siberian permafrost as spoils while the United People's State is forced to heel (Amazing Original). The rulers of this new Enlightened World Union, no wanting to bring the citizenry down the path of 1984, try to avert this by declaring a new world order based upon the ideas of classical republicanism, with the increased democratization at regional levels being heralded as the perfection of a federation built on Kant's ideal confederation of peaceful republican states. The second "End of History" however is shattered in much the same way as the first of the 1990s, with the authorities taking increasingly drastic measures to avoid interconfederatory conflict and direct war with rival powers (given that weapons technology has now reached a level to make the Hiroshima bomb look as antiquated as arquebusers) while new philosophies of polical change fail to change the mainstream opinions of the voters (Beloved Sequel). Seizing on underground discontent often among individualists. a coup happens in the center of North America that rejects centuries of tinkering with liberalism in favor of a state catering to intellectuals with heterodox views of the human animal (hence the infinity sign, representing this as well as unending progress while the colors homage the Rio Grande rebels who first ignited the spark of rebellion) and giving anyone with merit (artistic, scientific, economic planing, etc.) free reign to take up segments of the land and experiment with social organization, so long as the citizenry there consents, ins compensated for possible failures and is allowed to democratize any new discoveries and spread them across the whole nation (Confusing Spinoff). This new state, called the Proressive Republics of the Americas, soon takes onto the task of reaching out to a now liberalized east and hosting joint colonization of Mars and the other inner planets as a means to extend human extraction of resources as well as secretly prepare to leave the majority of planet Earth to the now decaying and splitting EWU and allow human civilization to branch out into two different resets. What was only partially foreseen, however, is that North America had now exhausted itself in a Faustian search for the upper limits to human knowledge and eventually descended into the third "End of History," whereupon the remaining peoples of North America dig up obscure fragments of Hegel and misunderstand him as usual, deciding to fuse the liberal individualism of the previous two regimes with the goal oriented collectivism of a people seeking to build a nation based around communal service and healing (Short Lived Reboot). The Posthuman Complex (PC) seeks to unite as much as it can under a regime where evolution is directed specifically to weed out the traits of selfishness and factional hate which ruined all previous regimes in favor of producing a race of technohumans who blend together energy saving technology and the etails of remaining natural beauty. You will be free to pursue your goals, but Nature alone can be master. Meanwhile on Mars, generations isolated from the homeland yet thriving on a scarce planet have ingrained a disgust for the EWU and all its successors, viewing them as imperialists and hypocrites who want to preverse liberty and wilderness on their own terms while using the same justification to assimilate lesser nations across the globe and deny them the right to use their own storhouses of potential wealth. This regime on Mars, known as the Exploratory Hive (EH) (Weird Fanfiction), has similar wishes to the PC in regards to communal technological living within limited ecosystems but differs in that it is far more expansive, wishing to make contact with bodies further away in order to turn them into raw resources for a renewed Martian economy; at home the greatest challenge is how to keep this rivalry in check without a full slide into authoritarian brutality, and will only become more complicated once more signs of intelligent life are found on the horizon, while the PC falsely denounces the EH as a space dictatorship in the making and uses this as pretext to begin uniting Earth against Mars. Now only time will as to whether this final incarnation of the battle between biocultural preservationism and the desire for a united effort to colonize the stars will be resolved through synergy coming from all parties involved--or the final land war to take place on Earth's unclaimed territory.
Putin and Xi give way to more hawksh successors during the 2030s and 2040s, resulting the US being forced to resume an active hand in the type global conflicts that dominated the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, the continuation of the internet turns this area of human development into the new battlegorund for political influence, as small time political commentators of every political persuasion are quickly outdone both by concentrated revolutionary organizations and the propaganda campaigns of each major power bloc. The result of this new digital landscape, combined with new emerging methods for job applications and employment, is that the concept of national identity begins to gradually dissipate in favor of allegiance to several competing world systems, all made from the uniting of national defense governments and online business networks among different ideological poles until the First World and its offshoots are collectively ruled by military allegiance directly descended from the old Pentagon. The climax of this new system comes with the final defeat of the New Russian Alliance, a direct successor state to the CIS as well an empire that appeals to the people by combining vanguard socialism with a nationalized Orthodox Church that reveres past Russian greats as incarnations of the same Slavic protector, taking the now attainable riches of Siberian permafrost as spoils while the United People's State is forced to heel (Amazing Original). The rulers of this new Enlightened World Union, no wanting to bring the citizenry down the path of 1984, try to avert this by declaring a new world order based upon the ideas of classical republicanism, with the increased democratization at regional levels being heralded as the perfection of a federation built on Kant's ideal confederation of peaceful republican states. The second "End of History" however is shattered in much the same way as the first of the 1990s, with the authorities taking increasingly drastic measures to avoid interconfederatory conflict and direct war with rival powers (given that weapons technology has now reached a level to make the Hiroshima bomb look as antiquated as arquebusers) while new philosophies of polical change fail to change the mainstream opinions of the voters (Beloved Sequel). Seizing on underground discontent often among individualists. a coup happens in the center of North America that rejects centuries of tinkering with liberalism in favor of a state catering to intellectuals with heterodox views of the human animal (hence the infinity sign, representing this as well as unending progress while the colors homage the Rio Grande rebels who first ignited the spark of rebellion) and giving anyone with merit (artistic, scientific, economic planing, etc.) free reign to take up segments of the land and experiment with social organization, so long as the citizenry there consents, ins compensated for possible failures and is allowed to democratize any new discoveries and spread them across the whole nation (Confusing Spinoff). This new state, called the Proressive Republics of the Americas, soon takes onto the task of reaching out to a now liberalized east and hosting joint colonization of Mars and the other inner planets as a means to extend human extraction of resources as well as secretly prepare to leave the majority of planet Earth to the now decaying and splitting EWU and allow human civilization to branch out into two different resets. What was only partially foreseen, however, is that North America had now exhausted itself in a Faustian search for the upper limits to human knowledge and eventually descended into the third "End of History," whereupon the remaining peoples of North America dig up obscure fragments of Hegel and misunderstand him as usual, deciding to fuse the liberal individualism of the previous two regimes with the goal oriented collectivism of a people seeking to build a nation based around communal service and healing (Short Lived Reboot). The Posthuman Complex (PC) seeks to unite as much as it can under a regime where evolution is directed specifically to weed out the traits of selfishness and factional hate which ruined all previous regimes in favor of producing a race of technohumans who blend together energy saving technology and the etails of remaining natural beauty. You will be free to pursue your goals, but Nature alone can be master. Meanwhile on Mars, generations isolated from the homeland yet thriving on a scarce planet have ingrained a disgust for the EWU and all its successors, viewing them as imperialists and hypocrites who want to preverse liberty and wilderness on their own terms while using the same justification to assimilate lesser nations across the globe and deny them the right to use their own storhouses of potential wealth. This regime on Mars, known as the Exploratory Hive (EH) (Weird Fanfiction), has similar wishes to the PC in regards to communal technological living within limited ecosystems but differs in that it is far more expansive, wishing to make contact with bodies further away in order to turn them into raw resources for a renewed Martian economy; at home the greatest challenge is how to keep this rivalry in check without a full slide into authoritarian brutality, and will only become more complicated once more signs of intelligent life are found on the horizon, while the PC falsely denounces the EH as a space dictatorship in the making and uses this as pretext to begin uniting Earth against Mars. Now only time will as to whether this final incarnation of the battle between biocultural preservationism and the desire for a united effort to colonize the stars will be resolved through synergy coming from all parties involved--or the final land war to take place on Earth's unclaimed territory.
Asking some fairly obvious questions:
Where is the cutoff for when a denomination ends and a new religion begins? Would denominations count at all? Would mystery cults count as a religion? Or what about more modern cults that went extinct?
Does it have to be a direct line of survival or could a noticeably earlier revival count? And what's the verdict on religions that were revived IOTL? Are they allowed?
Lots of great questions! Let me try to provide some clarity:
- Where is the cutoff for when a denomination ends and a new religion begins? Would denominations count at all? The subject of your map shouldn't directly parallel anything we have in modern day OTL. As long as it meets this criteria, I think you can make the determination for yourself.
- Would mystery cults count as a religion? Or what about more modern cults that went extinct? Since there isn't an easily quantifiable definition of what constitutes a religion, let's use the Wikipedia definition: Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements (link). If you think your subject fits in this category, we can call it a religion!
- Does it have to be a direct line of survival or could a noticeably earlier revival count? And what's the verdict on religions that were revived IOTL? Are they allowed? I'd refer to number 1 - it shouldn't directly parallel anything we have in modern day OTL.
So a more robust/unified Miaphysite church dominating the easternmost Mediterranean would not fly, but the Arians and Donatists are fair game?
Personally, I'd like to see more maps exploring religions outside of the often-covered Abrahamic religions, but if this is the angle you want to go, it should be clear to the casual observer how these extinct religions differ from modern day OTL religions.
Congrats to @Iserlohn for winning Map of the Fortnight 294: Newspeak with their map of the Low Saxon's Modern Linguistic Revival. Don't forget to post for MotF 295: I Am the Resurrection, closing in one week.
May I propose a new challenge?
The Philosopher Kings: Make a map showing the effects of an OTL great thinker entering politics.
Napoleon II: Depict a victorious Continental System by thetime of 1848.
Now We Are Free: Show the first attempts at rebuilding after the fall of a totalitarian state.
Congrats to @Keperry on their first MotF win for MotF 295: I Am the Resurrection with their map of The Celtic Church. Don't forget to submit for MotF 296: Napoleonic, closing on Monday.
It has been 15 years since @Scarecrow first proposed the creation of the Map of the Fortnight. Since then, we have seen hundreds of creators compete in nearly three hundred rounds of MotF. You can read more about the history of the contest here.
July 24th, 2024 marks 15 years since the first contest was posted, and in recognition of this milestone, I have several avenues to celebrate and honor the contest and those who have participated:
- An updated Map of the Fortnight Contest Rounds wiki page. This holds a record of every previous round, the winners of each round, and totals individual participants' wins. I also updated the recognition system to recognize those who have won multiple rounds.
- An All Stars Invitational round of Map of the Fortnight, with the prompt "This Is My Legacy", which challenges past MotF winners to recreate a past map they created that brought them victory in the contest. This round is timed to start now, 15 years after the first round was posted, completing on August 7th. Instead of using a poll to vote, voting will be done via discussion in the voting thread for the round.
- An invitation to discuss the best of MotF over the past 15 years. For map entries, we will be discussing which of the hundreds of submissions deserve one of ten (10) spots in the MotF Hall of Fame. Maps should be evaluated on their scale, creativity, and storytelling. For participants, we will be taking a page out of Time Magazine's book and discuss who the MotF community should bestow the following titles upon: Icon, Pioneer, Titan, Artist, Leader, and Innovator. Each title can only be obtained by one participant, and participants can only hold one title.