Followup and roughly to scale with my previous Mata Nui basemap, here is my interpretation of Bionicle's Matoran Universe and how it all fits together with all of the canon islands.
Start with a dark background layer, then make a layer where you'll write the text and make the boxes and map and everything: do everything in a neon color (in this instance blue) and when you've created it then apply Paint.NET's glow effect (any glow effect will probably do) and fiddle with the settings until it looks about right. As for the scan lines on the portrait at the top, I used PHOTOMOSH.com and screencapped the output to paste in (because the regular download output comes in a low quality jpeg.
Start with a dark background layer, then make a layer where you'll write the text and make the boxes and map and everything: do everything in a neon color (in this instance blue) and when you've created it then apply Paint.NET's glow effect (any glow effect will probably do) and fiddle with the settings until it looks about right. As for the scan lines on the portrait at the top, I used PHOTOMOSH.com and screencapped the output to paste in (because the regular download output comes in a low quality jpeg.
IDK if it's really a map, but here's one of mines
Well thank you so much! I'm really flattered to hear that!...Wow. Just wow. I, uh, have so many questions to ask, this scenario is so amazing and, well... here goes.
The darker states are territories that lost statehood due to the chaos caused by the Climate Crisis. The destruction of infrastructure, mass exodus, and commonplace violence meant that the federal government essentially seized control over these states in the late 2050s to focus on reconstruction. As the American government isn't in the best financial position right now and resettling land where infrastructure is depleted and deadly tropical storms are commonplace isn't an appeal offer, so for the time being these regions remain territories until statehood is feasible.
- What's the deal with the darker (Louisiana, Virginia, Florida and the Carolinas) and the lighter (California, Utah, Texas) U.S. states?
The Russian Federation is a centralized military junta established following the coup on the actual Russian Federation, hence the retaining of the name. For the most part, it seized total control over local oblasts and heavily centralized authority around Moscow, but some more autonomous regions took advantage of the emerging warlordism across the Ural Mountains in the 2070s and opted to become de facto independent warlord states that aligned with the Russian Federation, otherwise often referred to under the exonym "Moscow Clique," especially by Omsk.
- What's the difference between the Russian Federation and the Russian Provisional Government?
System of government-wise, the Republic of Botswana hasn't actually changed all that much. Political parties come and go and demographics change, but it remains a unitary (excluding the two autonomous regions established out of South Africa) parliamentary republic. With the exception of its brief intervention in the South African Civil War and a conflict against a pariah dictatorship in Namibia in the 2080s, Botswana has actually remained fairly neutral in African political affairs, opting to become a sort of South African Switzerland. It does very well economically, being one of the largest economic forces on the continent, but it stays completely out of the affairs of the Juba Alliance and the Communalists. Botswana maintains a very small and local sphere of influence of neighboring neutral states, and they are all in a mutual defense agreement with Botswana, which maintains a very large military force to defend from potential encroachments. As for relations with South Africa, things were initially bitter following the annexation of two provinces (it didn't help that Botswana was a capitalist state seizing territory claimed by a socialist government), but that was decades ago and free movement between South Africa and the autonomous regions is common. Collectivized modes of production are increasingly common throughout remaining capitalist nations, but due to strong interconnection between South Africa and the Botswanan autonomous provinces, this is especially the case within South Africa. Simply put, Botswana is still cautious around South Africa and the Communalists, but any former active hostilities are water under the bridge.
- What's the deal with Botswana, and what are its relations with South Africa like?
Actually, Simon Bolivar is looked upon in an increasingly negative light within Venezuela, considering that the current government is a product of the regime installed by the United States after the defeat of Maduro's Bolivar-admiring regime in the 2020s. While Caracas recognizes Bolivar as one of the founders of Venezuela and admire his fight for independence, his less redeeming qualities are displayed more openly and the leadership of other revolutionaries, such as Miranda, is emphasized much more these days. It doesn't help that the South American socialists (especially Bolivia) strongly admire Simon Bolivar. The USV has instead glorified the Founding Fathers of the United States to a large degree, especially James Monroe. Venezuela's foreign policy is essentially just a copy and paste of the Monroe Doctrine, and you may have noticed that all Venezuelan allies on this map are states that, in the present day, contain American military presence. That's no coincidence, as Venezuela sought to consolidate authority over the previous American sphere of influence first and also happened to find some local support for a sort of recreation of the Monroe Doctrine.
- Does the United States of Venezuela have any kind of affection for Gran Colombia and Simon Bolivar's vision of Latin America?
You mean within the socialist states? No, capitalism is viewed pretty negatively throughout the Arabian sphere of influence. Through the eyes of the Arabian world, capitalism is nearly universally viewed as inherently undemocratic, so no prominent pro-capitalist movements exist outside of states that had recently undergone revolutions and amongst clubs of pre-revolutionary officers and nostalgics. That's not to say capitalist sympathies are unheard of throughout the Arabian sphere of influence, we're talking about some of the most populated nations on the planet so of course there will be some diverse opinions, but it's a mostly niche line of thought primarily relegated to edgy hubs online. With that being said, the DCAR and its allies do maintain cordial relations with most capitalist states and there are varying opinions on the ethics of these governments and how to interact with them. Some don't care, some think that the fact that liberal democracies are okay but could get better, and some think diplomatic ties to any capitalist state is reprehensible.
- Is there, broadly speaking, any sort of capitalist counterculture as of 2113?
Bad. Internment, second-class citizenship, assimilation policies, brutal socioeconomic conditions, and ethnic cleansing as Japanese colonists move inwards is all commonplace in directly-managed territories. Imagine Japanese Korea, but in the 2110s. The autonomous regions within the Siberian interior are basically protectorates, so they don't have it as bad, but they still face bad economic conditions and poor treatment by Japanese colonial authorities. This has caused an influx of Russian refugees to Central Asia (or, for the really desperate or naive, the Russian warlord states) whereas treatment of the non-Japanese within Alaska and Hawaii has only fueled the flames of American revanchism. It's also worth pointing out that people of Japanese descent who were born in the colonies prior to their annexation, don't have it well-off either and are either treated like traitors or second class colonials, as was a similar case for Japanese-Americans during WWII.
- What is life for non-Japanese in Alaska, Hawaii and the former Russian Far East like?
Exactly! South Sudan would invade Sudan in the 2030s alongside the ADCF, annexing the southern chunk. From here, the region was very difficult to control, and as Sudan went through constant regime changes, Christian theocratic sentiments began to grow within the south. This led to the establishment of the Sudanese Christian Republic following a theocratic coup in the 2050s that subsequently went about efficiently consolidating control over the historically unstable state. Juba remains the capital, and both the cultural and religious identity of South Sudan have been permeated by the theocratic regime.
- Did the Sudanese Christian Republic originate from South Sudan?
Yes it does. As the global superpower, it's a pretty stable place with a high standard of living, good economy, and absence of persecution found elsewhere in the world. Many migrants are just people abroad seeking a better life by moving to the DCAR, and these groups don't come from any one nation in particular and usually don't leave their homes due to local circumstances, however, there are also often large influxes of refugees from the Russian warlord states, who often cross the Caspian Sea to avoid Ukrainian forces in the Caucasus. Furthermore, the DCAR faced a large influx of refugees in the 2090s from southern Asia following the Third West Asian War due to the region being devastated by the Hindu State and warfare that plagued much of Asia during this time period. Even though the region was stabilizing, South Asia was still in ruin from warfare and many wanted to start a new life in the stable and prosperous DCAR. In the decades since the end of the Third West Asian War, however, migration from South Asia has steadily declined. Finally, while I don't think they qualify as migrants per say, there have also historically been many international volunteers throughout the DCAR and its predecessors' history that ultimately chose to settle down and start a new life within the DCAR, with many volunteers becoming prominent military or political officials.
- Does the DCAR attract a lot of immigrants?
Sorry that I didn't get around to answering these earlier, as I had some work to do in the morning!
Yeah, honestly every internal border from the eastern line of OTL Mississippi west needs to be altered. Most of America's straight lines and box-shaped states out there have rather arbitrary boundaries that could easily have been changed with far less of a divergent timeline than this.This is an interesting take on the oft-used AoC analogue, but I think butterflies will not permit for both the state names and boundaries in the western United States. Its all too similar to OTL.
"Draw the line to the Allegheny, then... I dunno, keep going?"I've been experimenting a bit more with "conflicting claims" maps. This one is inspired by a recent discussion about ways to improve the lot of Nieuw-Nederland. What we see here is just such a scenario. One wherein the British are driven from the North-Eastern end of North America, whereas the French (and Spanish) are pushed out of the South-Eastern regions. In between a French North-East and a British South-East, the Dutch manage to hold onto their colony. The British, more oriented towards the Caribbean, deprive the Dutch of their colonies in that region. Nieuw-Nederland becomes the only Dutch colony in the Western hemisphere, and is taken over by the Staten-Generaal as the Dutch West India Company folds.
That's the compromise they end up with. The Dutch position initially was: draw a line West to the Allegeny, and then everything South of the Allegheny/Ohio is definitely for the British, but everything North of it is ours for the claiming, yes?"Draw the line to the Allegheny, then... I dunno, keep going?"
I love seeing the slow evolution of Earth 98 from a interesting Ameriwank map to an entire worldsnip