Map Thread XV
- Thread starter rvbomally
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It's finally done! Hope this helps explain things @B_Munro
"The Revolution" timeline is a (Relatively) non-dystopian timeline with a world in total conflict between Socialist and Libertarian forces. The POD takes place when the First French Republic is strangled in it's cradle, with Napoleon never coming to power, and Robespierre being viewed as a hero, rather than a tyrant. The young United States is clobbered in an alternate War of 1812, with it being divided between a victorious Spain and England into various puppet states. As result, by the 1850's the unrest of many nations combines explosively into mass revolutionary fervor lasting into the 1860's. The current year is 1868 and the world is divided into 3 blocks. The two most powerful blocs, the Socialists and Liberals compete for the hearts and minds of the people, while in the background the last of the monarchies plot their revenge.
"The Revolution" timeline is a (Relatively) non-dystopian timeline with a world in total conflict between Socialist and Libertarian forces. The POD takes place when the First French Republic is strangled in it's cradle, with Napoleon never coming to power, and Robespierre being viewed as a hero, rather than a tyrant. The young United States is clobbered in an alternate War of 1812, with it being divided between a victorious Spain and England into various puppet states. As result, by the 1850's the unrest of many nations combines explosively into mass revolutionary fervor lasting into the 1860's. The current year is 1868 and the world is divided into 3 blocks. The two most powerful blocs, the Socialists and Liberals compete for the hearts and minds of the people, while in the background the last of the monarchies plot their revenge.
fashbasher
Banned
Ladies and gentlemen, Pygmywank. Heavy ASB, but the nominal departure is that East African Twa pygymies (in OTL a potting caste) make contact with Egypt during the first intermediate period and serve as a skilled craftsman/banking/mercantile caste that eventually dominates by the New Kingdom. This map shows the following empires (dark indicates core, light indicates periphery/colonies, lightest indicates allies, and grey indicates civilizations not under pygmy domination):
1) The BaTwa Kingdom of Masr (blue) grew out of the ashes of Egypt. Stretching the entire length of the Nile, more or less, and relying heavily on Phoenician technology and navigation, it discovered the new world in OTL 1526.
2) The Kingdom of BuTwa (pink) split from Masr after the former adopted Abrahamic monotheism and also developed a seafaring tradition, partially from coastal East African peoples. Both BuTwa states have discovered the new world - this map is as of 1600.
3) Aka (turquoise) and Kongo (green) are dominated by the Western Congo and Mbuti pygmies, respectively, who learned writing and Mediterranean technology from their Twa neighbors; disease and the harsh jungle climate have constrained Kongo's expansion.
4) Champa (yellow) split from the Republic of BuTwa after a revolution led by Austronesian sailors who crewed their (Phoenician-based) ships. The Republic of BuTwa has ousted the Champa from their mainland Indochinese seat, forcing a retreat to Papua.
5) Other major civilizations include Dacia in Southeastern Europe (kinda the equivalent of Italy - the "Roman Empire" was founded by them but was eventually taken over by BuTwa), China, Gondwana (in South Asia), Arabia, Mauretania, Mexica/Aztecs, and Incas.
1) The BaTwa Kingdom of Masr (blue) grew out of the ashes of Egypt. Stretching the entire length of the Nile, more or less, and relying heavily on Phoenician technology and navigation, it discovered the new world in OTL 1526.
2) The Kingdom of BuTwa (pink) split from Masr after the former adopted Abrahamic monotheism and also developed a seafaring tradition, partially from coastal East African peoples. Both BuTwa states have discovered the new world - this map is as of 1600.
3) Aka (turquoise) and Kongo (green) are dominated by the Western Congo and Mbuti pygmies, respectively, who learned writing and Mediterranean technology from their Twa neighbors; disease and the harsh jungle climate have constrained Kongo's expansion.
4) Champa (yellow) split from the Republic of BuTwa after a revolution led by Austronesian sailors who crewed their (Phoenician-based) ships. The Republic of BuTwa has ousted the Champa from their mainland Indochinese seat, forcing a retreat to Papua.
5) Other major civilizations include Dacia in Southeastern Europe (kinda the equivalent of Italy - the "Roman Empire" was founded by them but was eventually taken over by BuTwa), China, Gondwana (in South Asia), Arabia, Mauretania, Mexica/Aztecs, and Incas.
NOT my map. But its a cool map!
Plus, it makes me imagine ISOT scenarios centered around the drive time lines (which are basically how connected the areas are to those around them). Like imagine ISOTing all the region out to the 2-4 hours drive back to the 13 colonies or something haha.
Don't do it! The illuminati is deploying an orbital magnifying glass!
>they may already have deployed their ninjas!
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NOT my map. But its a cool map!
Plus, it makes me imagine ISOT scenarios centered around the drive time lines (which are basically how connected the areas are to those around them). Like imagine ISOTing all the region out to the 2-4 hours drive back to the 13 colonies or something haha.
Oh
I haven't done a full blown stand alone alternate history map in quite some time, so I thought I'd put something original together. Skip to the TLDR at the end if you'd like.
In our timeline, despite being roughly as old as Middle Eastern Civilization and Chinese Civilization, India took quite some time to develope writing. As a consequence (or cause? some things are like the chicken and egg) early Indian cultural unequivicolly valued the oral tradition. It was not until the 3rd century BC when (most experts believe) writing came from the Middle East, at least partially the result of the Persian Empire's expansion. As a result, quite unlike many other ancient civilizations, the written forms of the Vedas and other ancient Hindu writings were seen as wholly mundane compared to their spoken forms- writing things down, at least religiously, was no more than a 'memorization cheat-sheet' not actually meant to replace memorization of the entirety of Holy texts. Not until the great reactions and responses to Islamic invasion (and the rise of Sikhism which followed it) did Holy Books come to be seen as literally the same as their spoken forms. On the one hand this irreverence to the written word meant that a variety of slightly different alphabets has come to dominate each major literary language of the subcontinent; on the other, this irreverence also may explain why outdated spellings were dropped quicker than elsewhere and why these languages remain highly phonetic.
But what if things had gone differently?
In this world, despite the Indus Valley Civilization's collapse in a manner mostly similar to the IVC of our world around 1900 B.C., there are a few pots and things with inscriptions on them lying around the following centuries. By around 1500 B.C. (the era in which some of the earlier Vedas were composed) a logo graphic script (with curious similarities to the Indus Valley Civilization's markings) is used to write the Vedas is is early development. In the following centuries, a solitary Kingdom, rising on the riverbanks of the Ganges, slowly grows. National Legends will one day claim 966 B.C. as the date of the First Emperor (or 'Chakravarti', 'Wheel-turner', referring to the world as the cosmic chariot wheel). Various Middle Eastern peoples will refer to the land beyond the river Sind, and gradually refer to that kingdom by the river's name. But just as the Chinese will refer to their realm as 'the Middle Kingdom,' this India will see itself flanked north by the heavily realm of Gods in the Himalayas and refer to themselves as 'the Great Southern Abode of the Civilized,' or 'Aryanasya Mahadakshinavarta,' who's latter half becomes shortened and changed to 'Dakhyinabarata.'
Though a Sanskrit-speaking (at least initially) civilization, Dakhyinabarat, or Sind evolves along completely different lines than our world's India, despite vegetarianism's continued popularity. Like China (or Chin as it is known here), Sind has existed continuously since ancient times. Unlike China, the Royal Family has adopted an air of importance which results in their continuously unbroken lineage (usurpers throughout the centuries have had to forceably marry into this family in order to claim legitimacy). Though there were early elements of a caste-system, those got positively squashed. The Royal Family has been eager, even if it means working with conquered peoples and slaves, to promote a much simpler two-fold division of society; those in the royal family, and those not. Indeed, efforts to break down Brahmanical cultural dominance of village and rural areas has actually resulted in a more egalitarian and meritocratic society than virtually any that existed in our medieval world. Though the relatives of the royals are large in number, the government has taken so many steps to avoid the real creation of a nobility that they're not treated differently than wealthy commoners. Indeed, this Sind's cultural enshrinement of rugged individualism as a virtue makes it almost unimagineably alien to our India (lol). Rugged Individualism for the rare 'Heroic Man' (and it is unfortunately only men) that is- in actual practice the empire is an organized bureaucracy.
An early development of an insanely complicated logographic language (imagine the radicals and complications of Traditional Chinese Characters with the aesthetic fonts of hand written Malayalam) where characters are common Sanskritic prefixes and suffixes has led to the rather different development of language (at least Chinese doesn't have verb conjugation based on tense or a complicated case system or gendered adjectives/verbs based on nouns' gender). As with Chinese, the different languages of Sind are mostly 99% intelligible in written form, and at any rate the linguistic variety in the subcontinent is much less than in our world- with only five major spoken languages (all of them Indo-European descendants of Sanskrit- the Dravidian peoples being heavily and rather brutally subjugated).
That time spent composing beautiful couplets to the gods was largely spent on glorifying the Royal Family instead, and aside from some poetry on the beauty of trees and forests, the Post-vedic religious wonderings composed in Sind also pale in comparison to our India. A mystical and metaphysical element has remained though, a philosophy has developed nonetheless, albeit rather differently. The natural sciences have progressed splendidly, though searching for practical applications to the discoveries of state-sponsored Ashrams is seen as fairly gouache.
Much to the chagrin Chinese Diplomats, the Sindian Royal Family wears only simple loincloths and a characteristic rope (rather akin to a crown) and are barefoot (not that their feet ever often touch the ground).
Early relations between ancient Persia and India were mostly the reverse of our world; while the Sindians never really held Persia down, they did bite chunks out of the edges for extended periods of time. The Achaemanids failed to materialize, and without them Greece took a more gradual role as lords of the Eastern Medditerranean, followed in medieval times by a smaller Arab migration. The Greeks arguably had more of an impetus to conquer all the way to India than OTL, but sans Alexander only made it to the Persian Gulf.
To the South, Sind found an ever receding frontier of peoples to enslave and subjugate. Rather than Hinduism being a Sanskritizing force on various Dravidian peoples, South Indians found themselves forcibly 'cultured' through brutally secular means. Large numbers of them remain enslaved, but by now some are well-off enough (and speak good enough Indo-Aryan languages) to own slaves of their own (the end of the Southern wars of subjugation in the last few centuries has meant that more slaves now come from Himalayan or North-Eastern Austro-Asiatic peoples, or even the indebted Indo-Aryan farmers themselves). The very Southern-most tip was never conquered, but vassalized; without religious affiliation (ie, without Vedic Hinduism) uniting it to the North, it developed as a civilization completely unlike any in our world; more on them later.
Where Sind truly met its match however, was in China, the form China would take in this world. Without Buddhism, Confucianism, or Taoism, it developed a bit differently (meditation is actually most associated with Chin here, rather than Sind), but is nevertheless more recognizably China than Sind is India. In many ways, it is Sind's mirror; between the two of them, almost half of humanity lives, and more than half of the world's wealth is. Both are headed by an Emperor (the Sindians laugh how the Chin end up changing Dynasties every few centuries), overseeing vast (relatively meritocratic) bureaucracies and provincial systems, both have logo-graphic writing systems, both are surrounded by a system of vassals. Just exactly who is a vassal of Sind, and who is a vassal of Chin, is confusing in many cases, sometimes resulting in little states being abused from both sides, sometimes resulting in little states successfully playing the two big empire off against one another. At the very least, trade and war (mostly over the Silk Road and straits of Malacca) has meant that Sind and Chin see one another as equals in a world populated mainly by barbarians. This has resulted in a bit of an arms race, and a race to develop engineering principles. The two nations' unwillingness to share (or steal) from one another has meant that often the same stuff gets invented twice; both have developed early calculus, but write mathematical functions in entirely different notation systems. Arguably, if they co-operated more, then Sindian steel and the proto-steam engine developed in Chin could make a killer steam-boat.
Indeed, both Sind and Chin have ships sailing far and wide across the oceans, in a bit of a competitive game of "Who can find the most exotic animal to bring back for our Emperor?" which has resulted in boats to Africa (mostly Sindian- the Sindians try to discourage the Chinese from going all the way there) and Australia.
In Modern times, Sind is increasingly more worried about a looming threat from the West, rather than from Chin.
Without a Persian or Alexandrian or Roman Empire, the Middle East and Mediterranean World evolved rather differently. The Greek states, more loosely aligned than OTL, still gradually emerged supreme over the region. Different wars of colonizers over Israel lead to the demographic dispersion across Greece and Egypt of Jews and new waves of religious writings around what would be the first century A.D. Gradually, a variety of Jewish Rabbis began writing more cohesively about an Apocalyptic Messiah who would arrive and take reigns of the world. This gradually emerging religion was more explicitly political than the Christianity of our world and just as egalitarian; slaves were meant to rise up, and restore a righteous kingdom of God here on Earth. Once free of Pagan rule, the 'Children of God' were meant to bring the Torah and the words of the Prophets to all peoples of the world, by force if necessary (Christianity's universal brotherhood, minus the pacifism). Although devoutly monotheistic, this new faith was arguably less so in practice than Christianity or Islam- the varieties of Prophets (both old and new) and mythical Angels said to interact in human affairs, continued to be worshiped almost as lesser deities. Indeed, without a single unifying Prophet a la Jesus or Mohammed, various 'minor prophets' have continued popping up to the present day- with varying levels of truth, depending on who you ask.
Though no doubt more sane and lawful than some of the crazier Roman Emperors of our world, the Greek and Near-Eastern Cities under which this new conversion-friendly sect of Judaism formed were not eager to allow the progress of a violent class revolution with spiritual overtones to take place. Increased repression of the new Believers backfired spectacularly and a fringe belief system soon became the genuine mover of the people. Before long, Councils declaring themselves the Lawful representatives of Nations under the Children of God sprang up. By the 600 A.D.s, most of the Eastern Mediterranean World had converted to Mesianism after a more violent transformation.
Culturally, some things changed. In order to 'purify' the Greek scripts and other alphabets which had been used for so long to write Pagan lies, it became the custom to write Right to Left (as in Hebrew), though once that change occurred Greek became an even wider Lingua Franca than before. 'Science', being seen as oriental trickery, stalled for a while- though Turkic hordes from Central Asia have recently brought with them wonders of the East, reigniting a search for 'Godly Science'. Even the increasing invasions of the Greek-Punic-Latin World by Germanic-Slavic-Arab outsiders (including the destruction of both Greek and Latin civilizations on their home peninsulas) only slowed the expansion of this religion for a few centuries; the invaders gradually adopted the ways of the people they conquered.
[The Ever-Expanding Realm of the Children of God is symbolized by a Tree; the Trunk is the teachings of the Prophets, the branchs are the multitudes of people spoken to be their word, and the Unseen but present roots of the Tree is God]
By 1511 A.D., the current year, the Mesianist World is still very connected. Significant doctrinal disputes have built up around the edges, but a healthy willingness to 'agree to disagree, so long as their not pagans' has allowed most to see each other as on the same side in the battle against the unbelievers. The Rabbinical Councils of Thebes in Egypt and Athens in Hellas act as roughly equal decentralized Papal-equivalents. Though the Lombards (the biggest winners of the Great Migration period) insist on holding their own Rabbinical Council which no one save their vassals attend, the two main Rabbinical Councils act as roughly undisputed organizers of the faith.
In the last century, three things have happened that have made some in Sind begin to worry of an impending crisis.
First, Kanathur, the state which has long resisted Sind's Southern expansion, converted en mass to the Western Religion. There had been minorities present since the 700s A.D., but in the last century, the peoples and elites of Kanathur embraced many things (Mesianism, Greek writing, etc.) from their trade partners in the Middle East, adding to the already present identity of those who strongly resist Sind. The Snake-worshiping Temples have been redecorated, and the Kanathuris are more proud of their racial and national identity than ever; they now dream of not only standing strong against their Northern neighbor but of freeing their slaves. Second, the Malay traders who embraced Mesianism have emerged victorious over the Malay states in the archipelago. Though much less 'fire & sword' style Mesianists, even Chin has been shocked for the first time by the spread of the 'barbarous anti-civilization ideology of the western peoples.' Third, the Rabbinical Councils of the West proved themselves organized enough to corral the various Mesianist states into cooperating in an invasion of Iran. Though it is doubtful whether or not the conquered lands will remain in the hands of the Holy Warriors, and many other states are beginning to grumble that only the King of the Mesopotami received the benefits of the Holy War.
Sind, by and large however, is oblivious. The grand cities of gold have always seen tribute flowing into the cities of the Ganges. So what if the vassals in Persia have been conquered by Western barbarians? Surely the Emperor's Elephant-riding armies and navies shall destroy them. The walls of the cities along the banks of the Sind river are greater than any cannon ball. The Sindian Emperor pleads with his Chinese counterpart to see that the Western Barbarians are the real threat to both; it remains to be seen to what extent the Chinese will reverse their ancient relationship with the Sindians should the Westerners continue their Holy Wars Eastwards.
Across the oceans, the Americas are broadly as they were in our world; Mayan civilization has fallen much less hard, and organized states beyond just the city level, though Mesoamerica is still dominated by invading outsiders. In the Andes, the absense of the Incan Empire can be attributed to a more technologically backwards area, though Quechua peoples have been trying to go Empire-forming.
In the far East, the Wa (or Japanese) have quietly entered isolationism, avoiding the sea filled with Chinese (and a few Sindian) ships. Even without Buddhism the Japanese have imported quite a lot from the mainland, but traditional culture never disappeared and is roaring back now with Imperial backing. Only a few Sindian traders are allowed into this quiet land's two port cities.
And across the deserts of Persia, the largest and most diverse army the world has ever seen, composed of soldiers from all nations which have accepted the coming Messiah, marches in the name of God. Whether they succeed or not in conquest against the great Pagan Kingdom of Sind matters not in this lifetime. Heaven awaits for those who die righteously.
TLDR: India develops writing and a centralized state along Chinese lines early on. Butterflies flap and a more united Abrahamic Monotheism now begins a Holy War against India as it and China are on the verge of industrializing.
In our timeline, despite being roughly as old as Middle Eastern Civilization and Chinese Civilization, India took quite some time to develope writing. As a consequence (or cause? some things are like the chicken and egg) early Indian cultural unequivicolly valued the oral tradition. It was not until the 3rd century BC when (most experts believe) writing came from the Middle East, at least partially the result of the Persian Empire's expansion. As a result, quite unlike many other ancient civilizations, the written forms of the Vedas and other ancient Hindu writings were seen as wholly mundane compared to their spoken forms- writing things down, at least religiously, was no more than a 'memorization cheat-sheet' not actually meant to replace memorization of the entirety of Holy texts. Not until the great reactions and responses to Islamic invasion (and the rise of Sikhism which followed it) did Holy Books come to be seen as literally the same as their spoken forms. On the one hand this irreverence to the written word meant that a variety of slightly different alphabets has come to dominate each major literary language of the subcontinent; on the other, this irreverence also may explain why outdated spellings were dropped quicker than elsewhere and why these languages remain highly phonetic.
But what if things had gone differently?
In this world, despite the Indus Valley Civilization's collapse in a manner mostly similar to the IVC of our world around 1900 B.C., there are a few pots and things with inscriptions on them lying around the following centuries. By around 1500 B.C. (the era in which some of the earlier Vedas were composed) a logo graphic script (with curious similarities to the Indus Valley Civilization's markings) is used to write the Vedas is is early development. In the following centuries, a solitary Kingdom, rising on the riverbanks of the Ganges, slowly grows. National Legends will one day claim 966 B.C. as the date of the First Emperor (or 'Chakravarti', 'Wheel-turner', referring to the world as the cosmic chariot wheel). Various Middle Eastern peoples will refer to the land beyond the river Sind, and gradually refer to that kingdom by the river's name. But just as the Chinese will refer to their realm as 'the Middle Kingdom,' this India will see itself flanked north by the heavily realm of Gods in the Himalayas and refer to themselves as 'the Great Southern Abode of the Civilized,' or 'Aryanasya Mahadakshinavarta,' who's latter half becomes shortened and changed to 'Dakhyinabarata.'
Though a Sanskrit-speaking (at least initially) civilization, Dakhyinabarat, or Sind evolves along completely different lines than our world's India, despite vegetarianism's continued popularity. Like China (or Chin as it is known here), Sind has existed continuously since ancient times. Unlike China, the Royal Family has adopted an air of importance which results in their continuously unbroken lineage (usurpers throughout the centuries have had to forceably marry into this family in order to claim legitimacy). Though there were early elements of a caste-system, those got positively squashed. The Royal Family has been eager, even if it means working with conquered peoples and slaves, to promote a much simpler two-fold division of society; those in the royal family, and those not. Indeed, efforts to break down Brahmanical cultural dominance of village and rural areas has actually resulted in a more egalitarian and meritocratic society than virtually any that existed in our medieval world. Though the relatives of the royals are large in number, the government has taken so many steps to avoid the real creation of a nobility that they're not treated differently than wealthy commoners. Indeed, this Sind's cultural enshrinement of rugged individualism as a virtue makes it almost unimagineably alien to our India (lol). Rugged Individualism for the rare 'Heroic Man' (and it is unfortunately only men) that is- in actual practice the empire is an organized bureaucracy.
An early development of an insanely complicated logographic language (imagine the radicals and complications of Traditional Chinese Characters with the aesthetic fonts of hand written Malayalam) where characters are common Sanskritic prefixes and suffixes has led to the rather different development of language (at least Chinese doesn't have verb conjugation based on tense or a complicated case system or gendered adjectives/verbs based on nouns' gender). As with Chinese, the different languages of Sind are mostly 99% intelligible in written form, and at any rate the linguistic variety in the subcontinent is much less than in our world- with only five major spoken languages (all of them Indo-European descendants of Sanskrit- the Dravidian peoples being heavily and rather brutally subjugated).
That time spent composing beautiful couplets to the gods was largely spent on glorifying the Royal Family instead, and aside from some poetry on the beauty of trees and forests, the Post-vedic religious wonderings composed in Sind also pale in comparison to our India. A mystical and metaphysical element has remained though, a philosophy has developed nonetheless, albeit rather differently. The natural sciences have progressed splendidly, though searching for practical applications to the discoveries of state-sponsored Ashrams is seen as fairly gouache.
Much to the chagrin Chinese Diplomats, the Sindian Royal Family wears only simple loincloths and a characteristic rope (rather akin to a crown) and are barefoot (not that their feet ever often touch the ground).
Early relations between ancient Persia and India were mostly the reverse of our world; while the Sindians never really held Persia down, they did bite chunks out of the edges for extended periods of time. The Achaemanids failed to materialize, and without them Greece took a more gradual role as lords of the Eastern Medditerranean, followed in medieval times by a smaller Arab migration. The Greeks arguably had more of an impetus to conquer all the way to India than OTL, but sans Alexander only made it to the Persian Gulf.
To the South, Sind found an ever receding frontier of peoples to enslave and subjugate. Rather than Hinduism being a Sanskritizing force on various Dravidian peoples, South Indians found themselves forcibly 'cultured' through brutally secular means. Large numbers of them remain enslaved, but by now some are well-off enough (and speak good enough Indo-Aryan languages) to own slaves of their own (the end of the Southern wars of subjugation in the last few centuries has meant that more slaves now come from Himalayan or North-Eastern Austro-Asiatic peoples, or even the indebted Indo-Aryan farmers themselves). The very Southern-most tip was never conquered, but vassalized; without religious affiliation (ie, without Vedic Hinduism) uniting it to the North, it developed as a civilization completely unlike any in our world; more on them later.
Where Sind truly met its match however, was in China, the form China would take in this world. Without Buddhism, Confucianism, or Taoism, it developed a bit differently (meditation is actually most associated with Chin here, rather than Sind), but is nevertheless more recognizably China than Sind is India. In many ways, it is Sind's mirror; between the two of them, almost half of humanity lives, and more than half of the world's wealth is. Both are headed by an Emperor (the Sindians laugh how the Chin end up changing Dynasties every few centuries), overseeing vast (relatively meritocratic) bureaucracies and provincial systems, both have logo-graphic writing systems, both are surrounded by a system of vassals. Just exactly who is a vassal of Sind, and who is a vassal of Chin, is confusing in many cases, sometimes resulting in little states being abused from both sides, sometimes resulting in little states successfully playing the two big empire off against one another. At the very least, trade and war (mostly over the Silk Road and straits of Malacca) has meant that Sind and Chin see one another as equals in a world populated mainly by barbarians. This has resulted in a bit of an arms race, and a race to develop engineering principles. The two nations' unwillingness to share (or steal) from one another has meant that often the same stuff gets invented twice; both have developed early calculus, but write mathematical functions in entirely different notation systems. Arguably, if they co-operated more, then Sindian steel and the proto-steam engine developed in Chin could make a killer steam-boat.
Indeed, both Sind and Chin have ships sailing far and wide across the oceans, in a bit of a competitive game of "Who can find the most exotic animal to bring back for our Emperor?" which has resulted in boats to Africa (mostly Sindian- the Sindians try to discourage the Chinese from going all the way there) and Australia.
In Modern times, Sind is increasingly more worried about a looming threat from the West, rather than from Chin.
Without a Persian or Alexandrian or Roman Empire, the Middle East and Mediterranean World evolved rather differently. The Greek states, more loosely aligned than OTL, still gradually emerged supreme over the region. Different wars of colonizers over Israel lead to the demographic dispersion across Greece and Egypt of Jews and new waves of religious writings around what would be the first century A.D. Gradually, a variety of Jewish Rabbis began writing more cohesively about an Apocalyptic Messiah who would arrive and take reigns of the world. This gradually emerging religion was more explicitly political than the Christianity of our world and just as egalitarian; slaves were meant to rise up, and restore a righteous kingdom of God here on Earth. Once free of Pagan rule, the 'Children of God' were meant to bring the Torah and the words of the Prophets to all peoples of the world, by force if necessary (Christianity's universal brotherhood, minus the pacifism). Although devoutly monotheistic, this new faith was arguably less so in practice than Christianity or Islam- the varieties of Prophets (both old and new) and mythical Angels said to interact in human affairs, continued to be worshiped almost as lesser deities. Indeed, without a single unifying Prophet a la Jesus or Mohammed, various 'minor prophets' have continued popping up to the present day- with varying levels of truth, depending on who you ask.
Though no doubt more sane and lawful than some of the crazier Roman Emperors of our world, the Greek and Near-Eastern Cities under which this new conversion-friendly sect of Judaism formed were not eager to allow the progress of a violent class revolution with spiritual overtones to take place. Increased repression of the new Believers backfired spectacularly and a fringe belief system soon became the genuine mover of the people. Before long, Councils declaring themselves the Lawful representatives of Nations under the Children of God sprang up. By the 600 A.D.s, most of the Eastern Mediterranean World had converted to Mesianism after a more violent transformation.
Culturally, some things changed. In order to 'purify' the Greek scripts and other alphabets which had been used for so long to write Pagan lies, it became the custom to write Right to Left (as in Hebrew), though once that change occurred Greek became an even wider Lingua Franca than before. 'Science', being seen as oriental trickery, stalled for a while- though Turkic hordes from Central Asia have recently brought with them wonders of the East, reigniting a search for 'Godly Science'. Even the increasing invasions of the Greek-Punic-Latin World by Germanic-Slavic-Arab outsiders (including the destruction of both Greek and Latin civilizations on their home peninsulas) only slowed the expansion of this religion for a few centuries; the invaders gradually adopted the ways of the people they conquered.
[The Ever-Expanding Realm of the Children of God is symbolized by a Tree; the Trunk is the teachings of the Prophets, the branchs are the multitudes of people spoken to be their word, and the Unseen but present roots of the Tree is God]
By 1511 A.D., the current year, the Mesianist World is still very connected. Significant doctrinal disputes have built up around the edges, but a healthy willingness to 'agree to disagree, so long as their not pagans' has allowed most to see each other as on the same side in the battle against the unbelievers. The Rabbinical Councils of Thebes in Egypt and Athens in Hellas act as roughly equal decentralized Papal-equivalents. Though the Lombards (the biggest winners of the Great Migration period) insist on holding their own Rabbinical Council which no one save their vassals attend, the two main Rabbinical Councils act as roughly undisputed organizers of the faith.
In the last century, three things have happened that have made some in Sind begin to worry of an impending crisis.
First, Kanathur, the state which has long resisted Sind's Southern expansion, converted en mass to the Western Religion. There had been minorities present since the 700s A.D., but in the last century, the peoples and elites of Kanathur embraced many things (Mesianism, Greek writing, etc.) from their trade partners in the Middle East, adding to the already present identity of those who strongly resist Sind. The Snake-worshiping Temples have been redecorated, and the Kanathuris are more proud of their racial and national identity than ever; they now dream of not only standing strong against their Northern neighbor but of freeing their slaves. Second, the Malay traders who embraced Mesianism have emerged victorious over the Malay states in the archipelago. Though much less 'fire & sword' style Mesianists, even Chin has been shocked for the first time by the spread of the 'barbarous anti-civilization ideology of the western peoples.' Third, the Rabbinical Councils of the West proved themselves organized enough to corral the various Mesianist states into cooperating in an invasion of Iran. Though it is doubtful whether or not the conquered lands will remain in the hands of the Holy Warriors, and many other states are beginning to grumble that only the King of the Mesopotami received the benefits of the Holy War.
Sind, by and large however, is oblivious. The grand cities of gold have always seen tribute flowing into the cities of the Ganges. So what if the vassals in Persia have been conquered by Western barbarians? Surely the Emperor's Elephant-riding armies and navies shall destroy them. The walls of the cities along the banks of the Sind river are greater than any cannon ball. The Sindian Emperor pleads with his Chinese counterpart to see that the Western Barbarians are the real threat to both; it remains to be seen to what extent the Chinese will reverse their ancient relationship with the Sindians should the Westerners continue their Holy Wars Eastwards.
Across the oceans, the Americas are broadly as they were in our world; Mayan civilization has fallen much less hard, and organized states beyond just the city level, though Mesoamerica is still dominated by invading outsiders. In the Andes, the absense of the Incan Empire can be attributed to a more technologically backwards area, though Quechua peoples have been trying to go Empire-forming.
In the far East, the Wa (or Japanese) have quietly entered isolationism, avoiding the sea filled with Chinese (and a few Sindian) ships. Even without Buddhism the Japanese have imported quite a lot from the mainland, but traditional culture never disappeared and is roaring back now with Imperial backing. Only a few Sindian traders are allowed into this quiet land's two port cities.
And across the deserts of Persia, the largest and most diverse army the world has ever seen, composed of soldiers from all nations which have accepted the coming Messiah, marches in the name of God. Whether they succeed or not in conquest against the great Pagan Kingdom of Sind matters not in this lifetime. Heaven awaits for those who die righteously.
TLDR: India develops writing and a centralized state along Chinese lines early on. Butterflies flap and a more united Abrahamic Monotheism now begins a Holy War against India as it and China are on the verge of industrializing.
This is actually really interesting. I don't think I've seen the concept of a Pygmy-wank before on this forum. The cartography isn't super great, but like anything, you get better at it with time and a little bit of passion. I also like how you didn't fall into the cliche of space-filling empires; the empires are large, but you've also saved room for smaller countries and terra nullius. I look forward to seeing any other ideas you might have.
Shikata Ga Nai
Banned
NOT my map. But its a cool map!
Plus, it makes me imagine ISOT scenarios centered around the drive time lines (which are basically how connected the areas are to those around them). Like imagine ISOTing all the region out to the 2-4 hours drive back to the 13 colonies or something haha.
Figures darkness would fall on America while a certain tangerine-tinted person occupied the White House.
Don't act so high and mighty, there was one in 2012 too.
This is actually really interesting. I don't think I've seen the concept of a Pygmy-wank before on this forum. The cartography isn't super great, but like anything, you get better at it with time and a little bit of passion. I also like how you didn't fall into the cliche of space-filling empires; the empires are large, but you've also saved room for smaller countries and terra nullius. I look forward to seeing any other ideas you might have.
I agree, but there are a few cases where space-filling to the max is oddly satisfying; http://quantumbranching.deviantart.com/art/The-Lovers-141161183
I'm going to southwestern Virginia this summer to build houses with my church. Of course, this happens a week after I leave...NOT my map. But its a cool map!
Plus, it makes me imagine ISOT scenarios centered around the drive time lines (which are basically how connected the areas are to those around them). Like imagine ISOTing all the region out to the 2-4 hours drive back to the 13 colonies or something haha.
So which of the 3 blocs is the strongest?
How is life in Second French Republic, the Corporation, New England, the Socialist Great Britain, People's Republic of Russia, and Siberian Republic?
They're pretty equally matched by design. But the Monarchists are the weakest.
2nd French Republic life is pretty good. It's basically a stable capitalistic democracy not unlike OTL US at this period.
The Corporation has life as a wild thing. Anyone can make or break themselves within days. It's like if a stock exchange floor covered a good chunk of the world.
New England is pretty relaxed. It's like OTL Switzerland though less neutral.
Socialist Great Britain life is kinda like OTL French commune. It's democratic but the people are pretty revolutionary minded.
PR of Russia is just like the Leninist Soviet Union.
Siberia is kinda like Gold Rush culture on a nationwide scale.
Shikata Ga Nai
Banned
That was an annular one. And it barely touched the USA. This thing is going to cut across the entirety of the USA.
Well. With my next project, I'm going to be working on a "Rise of the Tinfoil" TL. Where idiotic conspiracy theories are true. Any ideas?
Shikata Ga Nai
Banned
Chemtrails! The FEMA death camps! HARP is a real weather control base and my personal favourite - soy milk makes you gay.
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