Map Thread XIX

Status
Not open for further replies.
unknown.png


A project I'm doing for fun; started with Germany, but have now decided to just keep going out as long as I can

If you don't want Val Tellina and Val Chiavenna to go with Milan, it would make historically more sense to give it to Switzerland than Venice. It would have no strategic value to them, and its defense would be rather complicated. Cremona is a bit of a stretch, but it could work
 
I liked this comment so it could be like I was liking it again.

Liking what again, you might ask, as a casual visitor to the map thread who may have missed the map in question?

This! This map! Go ahead and check it out and give it some love because Fred Guo is right, Native American empires don't get enough love!

And since commentary is often more gratifying than a like, I have a few questions. How far back is the PoD? Are languages/language families in roughly the same area as OTL? What exactly do the colored-in areas on the map represent? Are they medieval states as we would understand them today or are they general culture groups? For example, if the ruler of Tongva decided to declare war on Ivilyuqaletem, would the decree directly affect (as the decree intends) the lives of people right on the border of Azucsagna (send an able-bodied fighter or a bushel of whatever)? Speaking of Tongva, are they going to absolutely steamroll Ivilyuqaletem when Lake Paui dries up? What is their relationship with Huatepec, if any?

More than anything, what strikes me about this scenario is the extent to which the societies, particularly the Californian (sorry, Califernean) societies, are urbanized and presumably agriculture-based. How are diseases developing? Are there well-known ailments or plagues that have developed to thrive in a city environment, capable of killing thousands of people but not everyone altogether? When someone crosses the ocean blue, in 1492 or otherwise, will the diseases they bring demolish this beautiful ecosystem and will any diseases from these regions bring similar ruin to Europe in a double-whammy of horror?

thank you much for the interest! :^)

the PoD is pretty fuzzy and takes place during pre-history: the Proto-Algic peoples turn around and go back west around the upper Missouri River. OTL the Algonquin came from the Columbia River Valley, headed east, reached the Atlantic (the ancestors of the Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Narragansett, Massachusett etc) and then some groups headed back west, the farthest groups ending up just east of the Canadian Rockies. so in a way, they migrated in a big oval across the entire northern half of North America, and are pretty much the most widespread language group of eastern North America. ITTL, they originate in the same place but skip the migration east, instead staying in the northern plains and heading over the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. there's a rough map of language families and the ATL structure of American language families in the TL's thread if you want to know more about them.

the polities of the continent vary a lot in political organized-ness, but those depicted on the map are all settled, complex farming societies. the extent of the "civilized world" here as, say, a Huatepec provincial governor would view it would probably be from the Yucatan to Central California, there's a lot of stuff going on in Mexico that I haven't depicted yet. i'd compare the state of society in 1000 AD to a cross between the Aztec, Mesopotamian city-states and a bit of Zhou China. the groups north of the Bay Area are sparsely populated in comparison to the South, they're Closer to OTL indigenous society but are still being strongly influenced by the increased volume of coastal trade up the Pacific coast from the Tongva, and are either going to fall under their influence eventually or form their own proto-statelets.

the Tongva political system is very centered around their core cities in the LA Basin. there's probably around 300,000-400,000 Tongva in the Basin, the San Gabriel Mountains and the north shore of Lake Paui, but the more distantly related groups (of which there's probably a million or two nominally under Tongvan rule) either live in the cities and learn Tongva or are from the three largest tributary states. this would primarily be the Chumash, Acjachemen and Azucsagna/Northern Tongva. for now, they're generally getting along amicably. the Tongva are first and foremost a trading empire, and as such they're fairly averse to war. however, they have and will come into conflict in the past, and when they do it's more of a flower war type situation. mainly to demonstrate their might and capture slaves. as to your question about the tributaries' role in warfare, the road and trail system of the Tongva makes it relatively easy for them to commit troops from a, for the time period, far distance. if they're unable, they'd be obligated to compensate with something else material like slaves for a public works project, a few large ti'aat (which require hundreds of man-hours to construct), etc.

in OTL Lake Cahuilla lasted until almost 1600, and this map is only in 1050. the Ivilyuqaletem have plenty of time to conquer/be conquered by other groups until then. when it Does dry up (when I Hopefully get the TL to that point), it'll be pretty bad for everyone in SoCal, but they'll be sophisticated enough to adapt with minimum death.

the Huatepec and Tongva are mostly indirect trade partners, as the Ivilyuqaletem block their path to them. however, the origins of many Tongvan concepts of statecraft and construction came up from Mesoamerica by way of the pre-Confederation kingdoms and city-states of the area, and they're definitely in contact and aware of each others' existence.

you're right in the assumption that urban society here is developing some pretty bad diseases, but to reveal more would be spoilers for the TL. Europe in this TL is already a nightmare as a result of the rise and collapse of a continent-spanning theocratic bastardized Roman Empire worshipping a man who claimed to be Jesus Christ 2, and by the time American diseases hit it Europe will be in really rough shape. that's not to say European diseases won't affect America too though. side note: America is discovered in the late 1000s by Christian refugees from the aforementioned theocracy who end up assimilating into local cultures imprinting their ideals on the East Coast indigenous groups. the europeans WILL be back once they get their shit together though.
 
If you don't want Val Tellina and Val Chiavenna to go with Milan, it would make historically more sense to give it to Switzerland than Venice. It would have no strategic value to them, and its defense would be rather complicated

The Milan State leaves from Lombardy-Venetia rather than Venetia taking over the region
 
Oh? That's rather new. I kinda like it actually, have Milan fight for its independence from Venice, but how do you justify Venice taking over Milan without Austria's involvement (in fact, with no apparent Austria)?

All the Vienna Congress stuff has already happened, Lombardy-Venetia is not meant to be the same as the Republic of Venice
 
grandeuropepreview.png

I know there's a work in progress thread, but let's be honest, you don't generally get as much feedback on that thread as the main map thread, which is why I'm posting this here. What's depicted is the progress I've made so far on a world which will be focused on a three way cold war. All I'm asking for right now is feedback on what's been completed.
 
View attachment 499811
I know there's a work in progress thread, but let's be honest, you don't generally get as much feedback on that thread as the main map thread, which is why I'm posting this here. What's depicted is the progress I've made so far on a world which will be focused on a three way cold war. All I'm asking for right now is feedback on what's been completed.

Has Britmerica always been at war with Europa?
 
If North America and British isles are meant to be completely separate nations, then the colors between them need to be more distinct. Right Now, I can't tell too much difference.
They are in fact one and the same.

Has Britmerica always been at war with Europa?
Tensions have been going on for quite some time, though lack of a shared land border(for now) means there has been no outright conflict between the two.
 
View attachment 499811
I know there's a work in progress thread, but let's be honest, you don't generally get as much feedback on that thread as the main map thread, which is why I'm posting this here. What's depicted is the progress I've made so far on a world which will be focused on a three way cold war. All I'm asking for right now is feedback on what's been completed.
That Pan-Europa thing is gorgeous... but what year is this and what year was the POD? was Denmark a willing part of this empire or more of a conquered territory? because to my knowledge, Denmark very infrequently splits from Scandinavia, despite their differences.
 
That Pan-Europa thing is gorgeous... but what year is this and what year was the POD? was Denmark a willing part of this empire or more of a conquered territory? because to my knowledge, Denmark very infrequently splits from Scandinavia, despite their differences.
The pod is a failed American revolution, causing the French peasants to be even more annoyed at having all the (unwillingly) given taxes ultimately going to waste, this causes a harsher French Revolution which evolves into a war to purge France of "non-European" influence, and that is all I can divulge right now...... mostly because that is the bulk of what I've planned in terms of overall backstory.
As for Denmark, it was indeed conquered, though not without a long fight, a fight which also saw everyone's favorite Island nation swoop in and "protect" Iceland, Greenland and the Falklands.
 
I know there's a work in progress thread, but let's be honest, you don't generally get as much feedback on that thread as the main map thread, which is why I'm posting this here. What's depicted is the progress I've made so far on a world which will be focused on a three way cold war. All I'm asking for right now is feedback on what's been completed.
Is that a communist Ottoman Empire? And what's going on in Persia?
 
Alright! Map completed! I've been working on this map on and off for about 2 months. It's the first time I've tried to really flesh out an AH scenario for the entire world, and while it might not be perfect, it was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and hopefully it'll be fun for you too! There's a lot of detail packed into this baby.

The idea behind the map was to do a realistic take on the "Orthodox Ottomans" strategy in EU4: how an Orthodox Turkish dynasty could come to power, how it could excel and achieve the status of great power, and how the rest of the world would react to such a thing, and develop into the future with it.

Here's the map:
OrthoOtto_complete.jpg

EDIT: JPEG format turned out a lot better. The original png was apparently absolutely massive, too much so to post here, so the full-detail version of the map can be found here, where it should a bit better: https://pasteboard.co/IFd3QVL.png

And of course, no map is complete without a huge-ass writeup:
This world diverges from our own at the Battle of Manzikert between Seljuk and Byzantine forces. In this world, the battle is much more even and mutually destructive, ultimately resulting in a Seljuk victory as in OTL but with much heavier losses and the death of both Romanos IV and Alp Arslan. The young man who would become Malik-Shah I in our world is rushed from Aleppo to Isfahan to be crowned the new Sultan but dies en route when kicked in the chest by a horse. The Seljuk Empire is thrown into internal disarray and its influence is greatly weakened, particularly in Anatolia, the Levant, and the steppes. This leaves the Anatolian beyliks great freedom to pursue their own agenda, resulting in a period of warlordism but also great religious diversity as various would-be emperors either convert to a religion they find more advantageous for extending their influence or recommit to Islam and appeal to southern patrons for advantage against their neighbors.

The true PoD, the moment when this timeline becomes a world alien to our own, comes with the ascension of Oğuz Dogan to power in central Anatolia and the establishment of the Salurid beylik. Dogan had assisted in the fight against the Byzantine Empire and had become fascinated with Greek culture, history, and language. In light of the sudden decline of the Seljuk Empire, Dogan decided to make use of this interest and made an effort to build ties with the Byzantine court as well as the Doukas family, which had risen to power, and the Patriarch of Constantinople. The mutual houses of Dogan and Doukas began to grow close, as the Byzantines funded Dogan’s efforts to unite the Orthodox beyliks under one crown and spread the Orthodox faith to the people of other Anatolian beyliks while the growing Salurid presence in the Byzantine court worked to undermine opponents of the emperor and reinforce the house of Doukas’ hold on the throne.

It was only too late when Emperor Michael VIII realized Dogan had been merely consolidating his opposition and building secret networks of support for his own bid for the throne. Michael fell prey to assassination and the Patriarch thereafter proclaimed his support for Dogan’s son Constantine (the result of a marriage between Oğuz himself and a noblewoman from a Doukas cadet branch) as heir to the throne. Dogan found himself the victor of the resultant power struggle and, after killing all members of the House of Doukas that failed to flee Constantinople, Constantine XI Dogan was proclaimed Emperor of Rome. Thus the foundations were laid for the empire that would drive so much of history.

Constantine XI had a skill for diplomacy to match that of his father, and used that skill to expand the house of Dogan’s influence in Anatolia. This remained the empire’s agenda until the invasion of the Mongols. Thankfully for Anatolia, however, the Mongols proved much more focused on Arabia after steamrolling through a war-torn Iran already suffering from the collapse of the short-lived Khwarezmian Empire. While Anatolia was invaded, so much so that over half the region fell to invading forces, the stiff resistance put up by the resurgent empire and the relatively greater appeal of cities like Baghdad, Damascus, and Alexandria, ultimately drove the bulk of the Mongol armies southward. While the damage from the invading Mongol armies was great, it put the empire on track for reclamation of the region following the Mongol collapse and even expansion, as Turkish armies rode north following the conquest of Georgia into the floundering western portions of the Cuman-Kipchak Confederation. The results of this conquest were the creation of the constituent imperial kingdom Kipçaka and the tripolar imperial system that would persist for hundreds of years after. The house of Dogan was secure and the future of the (nominally) Roman Empire was bright.


Fast forward a bit to the year 1700 and the impact of Dogan’s Empire have been felt around the world. To the north, the myriad states of the Rus have finally managed to form a unified confederation. For centuries, Turkish meddling in Russian affairs had kept principalities divided and ultimately subsidiary to both the overwhelming power of the empire and its cultural weight as the center of the Orthodox world. The Confederation of the Rus is a loose-knit organization, but one with ambitions and plans for the future that worry its senior partner to the south. Plans to send Rusi settlers to the east and bring the word of Christ to the heathens have found great support from the deeply religious peasant population as well as from several wealthy Novgorodian investors.

This plan was first met with laughs from Turkish elites but then with quiet acknowledgement of the potential such a project had to shift the balance of power in the region. To counteract this, the King of the Romans and Khan of all Turks has been working with the subservient Lesser Khans of the League of Six Khans to embark on a project to settle the Siberian steppe with a hypothetical Seventh Khanate composed of Turks of all sorts. The project has seen mild success; while a name for this supposed Khanate is still the subject of debate, the Yenisei and Lena rivers, along with Lake Baikal, have seen settlement by primarily Anadolu, Kipçak, and Kazani Turks, as well as the incorporation of indigenous peoples deemed to be Turkish or “of Turkish blood”.


Further east, this project has been watched with great anger and fear by the Mongolian Khanate. Not that they’re able to do much about it; their hands are tied trying to digest the portions of China they grabbed in the wake of the Fall of Ming. While they’ve been able to keep the land they grabbed thus far, they’ll have to be watchful that none of the Big Three to the east are able to overcome the other two and unite China once more. The northernmost of these claimants, the Jin dynasty, is the result of the Jurchens uniting the region, leading a successful campaign into the Korean peninsula, and marching south to capture Beijing. While theoretically they should have enough power to overwhelm their southern neighbor, much of their energy has been spent trying to prevent rebellion in Goryeo.


Similarly, the Wei dynasty to the south should be capable of conquering the rump Ming dynasty; but are prevented from doing so due to interference from the Great Sukhothai Empire, the true source of intransigence in the current situation. The Sukhothai Kingdom came about as in OTL but had much greater success in both military conquest and the securing of power in relevant markets. By the time the Ming dynasty collapsed, Sukhothai was in a position to secure dominance over Vietnam and take the status of greatest power in eastern Asia from Chinese hands. Together with their Tibetan allies, they secured their influence over the crucial Yunnan and Sichuan regions, making it far more difficult for any one dynasty to get an edge over the others.


The Thai have not been the only ones to benefit from this vacuum of power. The fledgling Empire of Yamato has been using their uncontested naval supremacy in the region to dominate northern Chinese trade and explore regions to the north and islands to the south that are ripe to be settled and conquered. Further to the south still sits Sukhothai’s primary rival and greatest enemy; the Sultanate of al-Jawi. The relatively new polity was formed from the conquests of the Sultanate of Pasai and aided by other Muslim powers on the Indian Rim; Oman more than any. With help, Pasai proved able to conquer all of Sumatra, and then Java. Today, al-Jawi stands as a united empire of thousands of islands and part of the Malay peninsula. While the ruling class is Acehnese and the religion Islam, the empire is composed of hundreds, potentially thousands, of different langauges and ethnicities and is proud of its rich cultural patchwork.


Speaking of Oman, they have been building an empire of their own and establishing themselves as hegemon of the Indian Ocean. After Ayyubid attempts to reclaim Anatolia for Islam proved an embarrassing failure (more on this later), the Islamic community of nations looked inward and assessed how Islamic polities ought to proceed in light of this obstacle. The result was twofold: first, a reaffirmation of friendship between Muslim rulers and a general rejection of dogma (this after a prominent commander in the Anatolian campaign famously promised his troops the infidel Turks would flee at the sight of the zeal of God’s army – instead, he met one of the most humiliating defeats of the Anatolian War, one that would become legendary for Turks and Arabs alike). This resulted in an explosion of Sufi influence and a focus on regional affairs as opposed to the larger Islamic community, but also eased cooperation between otherwise opposed Islamic rulers. Second, a turn toward the south, and the spread of Islam to denizens of Africa and the islands. Oman took this directive and ran with it, and the great wealth of east African trading cities brought into their orbit have given them no reason to slow down. This has caused great tension between Oman and the Ayyubids; while Oman would describe themselves as aligned with the Ayyubid sultanate, their willingness to buck Cairo’s interests in favor of their own has led to many powerful Arabs viewing them as a rogue power.


Aside from Oman and al-Jawi, the Islamic world today can largely be broken into three spheres, or axes of power; the more conservative and integration-focused Cairo axis, made up of the Sultanate of Iraq, the Ayyubid Sultanate which also holds the title of Caliph, and their client states. To the east lay what are often referred to as the Indian powers or the Delhi axis, the more liberal and spiritual branch which sees value in decentralization and regionalism as a way for all the people of the world to find Islam on their own terms in a way that makes sense for them. To the west, the most recent bloc is composed of the great empires of Morocco and Mali to form the Marrakesh-Niani axis. These two powers have found themselves captivated by the untold promise for wealth and power in the expansive lands of America and Africa, and have slowly developed to the point where they will put their commercial and political interests ahead of Cairo’s priorities. They still heed the word of the Caliph, of course, and take the integrity of the Muslim community very seriously. But when push comes to shove and there’s money on the line, you gotta look out for #1.


Further to the north, Europe has reacted in a variety of ways to the unexpected ascendance of Orthodox Turkish power. The Hungarians, sick of conflict and condescension coming from the Germans, took the opportunity to align themselves with the Turks and managed to carve out their own little empire, even managing to secure a personal union with an ailing Poland. A sense of mutual struggle against the rest of the world (along with a mutual position of overlord over their northern Slavic neighbors) has led to a famous alliance between the two, with the two nations growing more and more closely aligned in terms of foreign policy, economic advantage, and even internal administration.


The French have done quite well for themselves. In the early days of Turkish ascendancy, the Islamic powers took notice of the fact that the Turks were trying to use their advantageous position in global trade along with their recent addition to the Christian family to build trade networks into Italy and Germany and thus secure greater influence and power in European affairs. This prompted Cairo to invest in a North African roads network and to permit heavily de-regulated North African trade with the powers of western Europe so as to undermine Turkish influence and build the possibility for a coalition against the Turks and central Europe, if such a thing became necessary. Such a thing did not become necessary, but France took advantage of the opportunity to inject large quantities of luxury goods into their economy (at the reproach of the Pope) lending weight to their already powerful position and allowing them to expand at the expense of their neighbors. Today, France stands as the behemoth of western Europe, their continental borders stretching from Zeeland to Turin, from Bilbao to Brest, while their influence grants them hegemony over southern Britain and Iberia. With a growing colonial empire to boot, France stands poised to face the 18th century as a power on the rise from strong to strongest.


Naturally, all of these events to both the east and the west put central Europe into something of a panic. As France began to expand, Austria, under the Habsburgs, used the situation to lend support to a number of imperial edicts that greatly centralized the Holy Roman Empire under Vienna’s direction. This met with some resistance, particularly in the empire’s south, but the conquest of Switzerland gave Austria secure control over the Alps and access to Italy to punish any imperial principalities that stepped out of line. Austria’s new control over the empire allowed it to crush proto-Protestant movements with a rigor and thoroughness that won them the admiration of the Vatican. Over the course of the 16th century, Austrian-Papal relations would develop to such an extent that the two would restructure the empire entirely so as to allow the Papal states entry into the empire with Rome as the spiritual and nominally judicial capital of the empire and to conquer the remainder of the Italian peninsula and incorporate it into the empire as a series of new principalities and duchies.


Scandinavia would see a similar process, as Turkish influence over the Rus’ grew to the point that the two powers combined threatened to overwhelm Danish interests in the region entirely and even pose the possibility of overrunning Norway and Sweden in a future war. The external threat prompted the powers to unite the three countries into a single crown. This allowed the resultant United Crowns of Scandinavia to maintain dominance over the Finns, to reassert control over the Scots and, once they realized the vastness of America, to build their own colonial empire.


Speaking of America, colonization has gone more slowly than OTL. Given the flow of goods from Asia through Anatolia into Europe, the focus of France on expanding their power in Europe, and the lack of any great power in Iberia and Britain, the drive to sail westward was not as strong. Of course, that drive eventually found a home in Morocco, whose first explorer set foot on the Brazilian coast in 1538. Moroccan interest in the continent was primarily one of exploration, study, and diplomacy at first. A consistent flow of gold, salt, copper, and ivory up from Mali meant that Morocco did not see the New World as the answer to any particular hunger for luxury goods. As the lack of a central authority in their area of operations became apparent (and as many people began to die from Old World diseases) Morocco did eventually begin a policy of colonization, but a slow one. Wary of would-be emperors trying to build a power that could possibly stand up to Marrakesh one day, colonists were granted only small plots of land at a time, fit for a family or two, and could petition for more land once they could demonstrate the land was producing consistent crops, or had been developed in some other way. Attempts were made at building friendly relationships with native tribes and nations, and a network of Moroccan clients began to grow. This caution allowed for Tawantinsuyu to overcome the instability that gripped them OTL and establish diplomatic relations with Morocco. This has proven a balancing act for the Andean empire; while Tawantinsuyu has managed to develop and expand mightily with Moroccan assistance, the fear of encirclement and the accelerating Moroccan presence on the continent has prevented the two from ever becoming true allies.

Not so for Mayapán. Early contact between Mayapán and Morocco were productive, and several Yucatec elites soon journeyed to Marrakesh to learn Arabic and Moroccan culture, to meet the Sultan, to speak with Moroccan scientists, and to relate the story of their own people. One Maya representative proved to have a knack for Arabic and became an eloquent writer with a devoted following among the literati. Settling in Tangiers, he related the story of Maya history to the Moroccan public, comparing them to the Old World society he felt was most similar: that of the ancient Greeks. Fortuitously, this came at a time when the Greek influence on Islamic culture was celebrating something of a… shall we say… rebirth in north African culture. The association between the two endured in popular Moroccan opinion, the two often conflated as the seed of civilization for the East and West respectively, and through association, Maya culture enjoyed a fad-like fascination that lasted for more than a decade. Since then, Mayapán has had to work hard to survive the great changes facing their continent, but they have done so with a devoted ally. The League has grown past the original extent of its jurisdiction and expanded south, heading off Tawantinsuyu expansion north.

Unfortunately, North America has not fared quite so well. The powerful Meshique to the north, so long the dominant power in the region, have been humiliated by the French and forced to serve as neglected vassals. Poverty, crime, and disease are rife in the great old city of Tenochtitlan, as French influence grows ever more powerful and begins to seem more and more permanent. Little do they know, the French are the lesser of three evils seeping into the continent from the east.


As the world becomes more and more interconnected and the rate of technological development accelerates, there is no corner of the world where the shifting balances of power cannot be felt. This feeling will only accelerate as time progresses, with such events as the invention of the petroleum engine and the Maritime Revolution draw ever closer. The empires of the land will have to adjust and innovate to combat the growing influence of the maritime powers, while the fledgling centers of development in Africa, Europe, and the Pacific will need to maximize their advantage to secure their place at the table with the other global empires instead of becoming the backwater province of another nation’s legacy. A boiling stew of good and evil, of progress and tradition, of experience and innovation, the 18th century promises to change the world fundamentally and permanently before the dawning of the 19th; a promise many view with excitement and apprehension alike.

Let me know what you think! Criticisms and comments of all kinds are welcome! I left a lot out of the write-up so any questions are also welcome!
 
Last edited:
The Benedict Option

ddjki44-6c0751dc-621d-4b85-8274-99f1e13109a2.png


~​

Barnaby,

This is an underutilized muscle. I don’t much write, much less letters. Most I do is itemizing repairs. They appreciate me, you know, their mechanics were well outdated. They were still using cobalt batteries! Imagine that! But I digress.

They don’t want us to think we’re imprisoned, so they’ve got us writing to outsiders. Could be spreading propa I figured I’d write you. They chose letters because it’s more personal, less clinical than an email. They eschew all sorts of modern tech here. Public data centers and the like are always available and censorship isn’t as bad as down south, but it’s pretty ‘going up to country’. No personal computers unless its work related, which is fine for my work, but Lily missed her online orders. My boys play outside, something they couldn’t do in Canton lest they get eaten by streetsweepers. I’m surprised it’s not on the poster, would’ve thought there’d be some appeal in dedigitizing.

I’ve got so much to talk about.

The poster didn’t lie, it didn’t even much overstate itself. The healthcare is good, they treated Owen’s bronchitis, and it is so different to live among trees and farmland. I ate actual beef just a week ago! None of that vat-grown shit junk. I thought it was an ‘every man a king’ sorta thing, but that’s just not the case. Everything’s communal aside your personal affects, and that does go too far in my opinion. I had a long argument with Father da Costa about people borrowing my truck, ended up getting it personalized. Lily wasn’t happy with me, and I got some foul looks from the more ‘enthusiastic’ congregants, but just because I brought the damn thing into the conclave doesn’t mean it’s a carousel! Trying to get off the swearing. It’s not a good look among Catholics.

I should order my thoughts better, this is a messy letter. Guess I’ll go over the differences between the two. It’s nice to feel the sun leering at you from a blue sky, rather than a cartoon rat projected against aerosol-smog. Food grown in the Earth, rather than synthesized in some lab. It’s good to be able to feel truly valued by the community, even if I’m not yet adjusted to this ‘yours is mine’ attitude, rather than a literal number in one of those automated chop shops. And the space! 500 square feet is big in Canton, but it’s like a car trunk compared to what we have in St. Benedict. Guess there’s more real estate when your numbers drop under 10 mil

I mentioned Owen’s bronchitis… Look Barnaby, takes a lot for me to cry, but I never knew he could sing until I saw him in the church choir post-treatment. I wasn’t keen on the mandatory Sunday service, but that voice unlocked something in me I didn’t know existed.

There are negatives. Food’s less varied even if it is healthier and more interesting food is all at community events. That’s how they get us new congregants involved, I suppose, dangling a hot dog on a string. Sport is all local stuff, I know Canada’s a weird place, but cricket? Rather put my head in a vise. There are no TVs. None. It’s all books or radio, though on the positive side it’s given me that much needed kick to actually read my damn Bible. Damn next to Bible, that’s awful.

Literature’s weird, and you’ll find this interesting. They don’t like how media digitizes the dead right? They reacted hard against that, so all their new writing is abstract. Characters are tree-centaurs and eyed wheels, talky animals and grain ghouls. I’m currently reading an epic about a stellar migration of the faithful through a Bok globule, called The Miracle of M

Father da Costa just visited. Knew he would, he does with all the new congregants. He’s only around my age, young for a priest and very young to be running a whole conclave. He’s a relaxed guy, had a beer. We talked about a lot. My boys, Lily, my work, the truck which we patched things up over, even you and this letter. You’re allowed to visit, you know. Da Costa suggested you go to their branch office in Canton, could arrange a flight up here. Don’t worry, they’re not gonna keep you here with pitchfo I’d like you to visit, Barnaby. If not, I can come down, though to be honest I don’t really care to go back to that slum. Just give it some thought.

Anyway, I best bring this letter to a close. How are you? Did you get your lungs checked? What happened to that girl you were messing around with? What are you watching? Tell me everything, Barnaby.

With love, your brother,
Rob.

~​

This is based on the Benedict Option, a peculiar proposal by Rod Dreher that Christian communities should form what essentially amount to self-segregating international communes away from an ‘increasingly hateful, post-Obergefell world’. I did debate for a long time whether this belongs in the map thread or the graphics thread, but it does depict a map with relevant visual information and frankly there have been less orthodox maps in here than this, so why not? I was quite careful to not make a utopia, though on the other hand it’s not difficult to beat Disney’s megacity dystopia. Hope you enjoy it!
What's with the www. restriction post-2089?
 

Isaac Beach

Banned
What's with the www. restriction post-2089?

That act gave a collection of megacorporations an oligopoly on new servers, on the not entirely spurious basis that they’d be more capable of protecting them from endemic cyberattacks. This has had the affect of creating a feudalistic dependency on different server providers; it’s not uncommon for an entire city to have its servers owned by one megacorporation. They engage in a lot of censorship, making it difficult to gain a platform for groups such as the St. Benedict Society, charities and other subversives.
 
That act gave a collection of megacorporations an oligopoly on new servers, on the not entirely spurious basis that they’d be more capable of protecting them from endemic cyberattacks. This has had the affect of creating a feudalistic dependency on different server providers; it’s not uncommon for an entire city to have its servers owned by one megacorporation. They engage in a lot of censorship, making it difficult to gain a platform for groups such as the St. Benedict Society, charities and other subversives.
I hope we get to see more of this dystopic world because it sounds interesting.
 
Getting back into map making, so I thought I'd make a GIF of the Second American Civil War. Perhaps some more maps of this TL soon.

ezgif-1-d66bcca18129.gif


October 1913: Beginning of the Second American Civil War after months of riots and strikes in Chicago.

December 1913: Revolution begins in Seattle, Communist victory in Milwaukee

May 1914: Revolution begins in Detroit

August 1914: People's Republic of Wisconsin declared, Communist victory in Portland.

November 1914: Great Leaks Commune and People's Republic of Washington declared, Siege of St. Louis begins. Confederate States declare independence.

July 1915: Commune-Confederate Non-Aggression Pact signed. Communist victories in St. Louis and New York. Sieges of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. begin. U.S. capital moved to Denver. New England declares independence.

December 1915: Canada annexes Alaska. Communist victory in San Francisco.

June 1916: Sieges of Denver and Salt Lake City begin. Fall of Philadelphia. People's Republic of America declared.

November 1916: Treaty of Denver. Temporary peace?
 
Top
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top