I saw a proposal for a division of France into squares that I think was floated during the Revolution. The square for Paris was divided into nine smaller squares, so I wanted to see what the US would look like in a similar setup. As for the goal, mostly I just wanted to see what would happen.
Map Thread XVII
- Thread starter Upvoteanthology
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I saw a proposal for a division of France into squares that I think was floated during the Revolution. The square for Paris was divided into nine smaller squares, so I wanted to see what the US would look like in a similar setup. As for the goal, mostly I just wanted to see what would happen.
I don't know how many times I've posted this, but here goes again.
The whole world 15 years after the supernatural Apocalypse.
The whole world 15 years after the supernatural Apocalypse.
This is my first map on the forum, and it is based on the Third Odyssey mod for EUIV. Feel free to ask any questions and tell me what you think!
History
By 1444 A.D., the Byzantine Empire was in dire straits. While they had been able to eventually take back their territory from the so-called 'Latin Emperors' of Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade of 1204, their moment of weakness had been taken advantage of by the various Turkic beyliks in Anatolia; while the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum had collapsed, many lower noble houses had risen to prominence, primarily the House of Osmanoglu, which had, by 1444, united much of Anatolia and was making inroads into Eastern Europe. Even Thrace had fallen to the Osmanoglu, known more commonly in the West as the Ottomans, and by 1444 the Byzantines were only left with some minor holdings in the Peloponnese and, of course, their capital, Constantinople, the city of the world's desire. With the combination of remnants of the Latin Crusaders, Italian merchants taking territory, and the Turks growing steadily in power, many believed that Constantinople itself would fall within the decade.
Many had begun to look for new solutions. One of these men was the Basileus himself, John VIII Palaiologos. John VIII had been fascinated by the stories of the Hellenes and ancient Romans, primarily the works of Homer and Virgil. He had read of Odysseus's great journey across the Mediterranean, as well as that of Aeneas, the latter of whom had taken the remnants of Troy to found the eternal city itself, Rome. John had been inspired, and went to his court to bring up the possibility of conducting a great exodus out of Constantinople and to a new land, so that the Empire of the Romans may remain intact, unmolested by the Turkic hordes or Western crusaders. His court initially believed him mad, however, when they realized that he was serious, they reluctantly agreed, realizing that there was no way the Empire could feasibly survive otherwise. And so, the greatest men of Constantinople convened to design a plan which would make this new odyssey a reality. A great fleet was constructed, the greatest that had ever been seen by the likes of Europe. Much of the knowledge of Rome and the classical world had been taken with the fleet as well, and one scholar was even able to rediscover the secrets of Greek fire. To gain funds, the various territories the Byzantines held in the Peloponnese were sold to various Genoese and Venetian merchants, as they would have no need for these territories when they were oceans away. With everything set, the Byzantine fleet left the harbor of Constantinople, never to return.
While sailing in the Mediterranean, no true problems emerged; while some merchant fleets had questioned their presence, there was mostly smooth sailing. Indeed, the first problem occurred at the end of the Mediterranean portion of the voyage, when they were about to cross the Straits of Gibraltar. The local Grenadine and Moroccan emirs had collaborated to ensure that the Byzantines would have to pay a toll in order to pass. However, this never came to fruition, as the Byzantines were able to employ their newly rediscovered Greek fire, which caused great damage and shocked many of the locals, as it had not been seen in generations. Once they began to sail into the Atlantic, however, more problems started to emerge. Rations had to be implemented, as they could no longer stop at friendly ports to collect the goods they needed. The sailing was also much worst, as many of the ships had been designed for use in the Mediterranean as opposed to the Atlantic. The greatest peril the Byzantines faced however was a great storm which engulfed much of the fleet, sinking many of the ships and causing many others to lose direction. Thankfully for them, most of the fleet was able to make it through at least somewhat intact. This good news was overshadowed by much worst news, however; due to poor conditions on the ship, disease was rampant, and many had become gravely ill and died. One of these men was the Basileus himself, who had died from what we now know as tuberculosis. Thankfully, his heir, Constantine XI Palaiologos, had been on another ship which had remained, for the most part, healthy, so he was able to be crowned as the next Basileus following his father's death.
After his coronation, the new Basileus was reported to have been encountered by the scholar Gemistus Pletho. He said that he was a student of Neoplatonism, a school thought to be long dead, and he told the Basileus that he had studied the downfall of the Roman Empire in comparison to the rise of Christianity, noting a direct correlation between the two. Pletho said that ever since the conversion of his namesake, Imperator Constantine I, Rome had gone down a downwards spiral, with invasions from all sides for centuries. He blamed this largely on a lack of devotion to who he saw as the true gods; the old gods of Olympus. Indeed, he is even reported to have claimed that the previous storm was the wrath of Poseidon, and that in order to prosper in whatever new world they land in, they would have to pay proper homage to the gods. Constantine, perhaps intrigued by Pletho's studies, perhaps simply overcome with grief over the loss of his father, agreed to forsake Christ in favor of the Olympians. Many of his crew, who hadn't been devout Christians, agreed to convert as well, marking the old religion of the Hellenes as the official religion of the new empire.
After a few more weeks, the fleet finally made landfall in a land they called Elysium (~OTL Maryland). Constantine had begun to refer to his empire not as the Byzantine Empire or even the Roman Empire, but as the Elysian Empire, marking a new age where they would be dominant on the world stage. They began to found a new settlement, which they referred to as New Constantinople.
Over the years, the Elysians thrived; they were able to maintain good relations with many of the native tribes in the area, and were able to expand their realm far beyond the initial settlement of New Constantinople. There had also been contacts with other civilizations; to the north, the descendants of Norse settlers in Vinland had been openly received, with Norse goods flowing into Elysia and a new Varangian Guard even being formed. Meanwhile, other refugees from Europe also came into Elysium, most notably the Albanians, who fled from Ottoman conquest and were integrated into Elysian culture.
Rise of Sparta
By 1480, the Elysian Empire was in a very prosperous state; trade had been conducted with both the Vinlanders and natives (referred to as Barbaroi by the Elysians), the empire had expanded to engulf much of the Eastern Seaboard, and work had begun on an intricate aqueduct system through the Appalachian Mountains. By this point, Elysian culture had also evolved to a point where it could be considered distinct from the Hellenic cultures of the Old World which they had originated from.
Meanwhile, however, ambition arose. The nobleman Belisarius Palaiologos, cousin of the current Vasilissa, Zoe II Palaiologos, had heard rumors of a land to the south of Elysium which was dominated by vast empires and stock full of gold, dangerous beasts, alien cultures, and bloodthirsty gods. This intrigued Belisarius; his father was a prominent general in the Elysian military, and he had grown up on tales of great conquerors such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and his namesake, the Roman general Belisarius. However, most inspiring to Belisarius were the warriors of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta; while there had never been any great Spartan conquest or empire, they had been fierce and devoted warriors, defending their realm even when all hope seemed to be lost, be it from Persian invaders or the Athenians. Therefore, when he came of age and had garnered enough support to form a large army, he sent word to his cousin to ask her permission to lead an expedition south. His cousin had always been fond of him, and she was currently busy with affairs at court, so she gave him leave to travel south.
After a few weeks at sea, the armies of Belisarius had arrived in the fertile lands of Cemanahuac, as it was referred to by the natives. They had made a small settlement which they would come to refer to as Laconya (~OTL Veracruz) after the lands of ancient Sparta. The men were able to secure the land around Laconya as their own, and named their new civilization Spartania, after the ancient city-state. The Spartans, having consolidated control of the area around Laconya, marched on Tenochtitlan. Through a combination of native allies who despised the Aztecs and had sworn fealty to Belisarius, advanced technology, cavalry, and the use of Greek fire, Tenochtitlan was captured, with the former Tlatoani bending the knee to the Spartans. Leonidas took a daughter of the Tlatoani as his bride, and declared himself not only Vasilias of Spartania, but also as Huey-Tlatoani of the Aztec Empire, declaring himself successor to that empire. Belisarius also abandoned his old identity, taking the regnal name Leonidas, after the ancient Spartan king, and establishing the House of Spartakon as a cadet branch of the Palaiologoi in the north.
After his conquest of the Aztecs, Leonidas continued his conquest of Cemanahuac, with most native realms either bending the knee willingly or being forced to by the sword. Leonidas was also able to take advantage of the recent collapse of the League of Mayapan to subjugate the remaining Maya rulers, declaring himself K'uhul Ajaw of the Maya. By the year 1495, all of Cemanahuac was under Spartan dominion.
While many viewed Leonidas as a bloodthirsty conqueror, he was very tolerant of the locals and their traditions. He studied the histories and myths of the Maya and Nahua just as fervently as he did his own Hellenistic and Roman histories and myths, and tried to incorporate the pre-existing atlepetls and kuchkabals into his own realm as effectively as possible. After his conquests, one of his greatest contributions was the reconstruction and revitalization of many ancient cities in the region, such as Tenochtitlan (which had been badly damaged by the Spartan conquest), Chichen Itza, Tikal, Palenque, and Mictlan, the supposed entrance to the underworld of the Aztec religion. Leonidas was also very religiously tolerant, allowing the people of his realm to worship as they pleased, so long as they asked their gods to bring prosperity to the House of Spartakon. Many mystery cults surrounding Aztec and Maya deities were formed, such as those of Acolmiztli, the Aztec god of the dead who was syncretized with the Elysian Hades, as well as the Cult of Ketsalos, a Hellenized version of the worship of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.
Triumph of the Aztlan
Leonidas died in the year 1520 at the age of 56, passing his realm to his eldest son, Itzcoatl I Spartakon. Between the years of Leonidas' death and the Aztlan Reformation, much had changed in Spartan society. For one, it was becoming far less Spartan, or even Elysian, in nature. There were still plenty of Elysian influences on the culture, yes, but there had also been a growing amount of native culture that was integrated into that of Sparta. Society was now divided into several groups of people; they were the Apogonoi, the Spartan nobility who had been the most orthodox in their culture, holding pride in their relative Hellenism; the Pipiltin, the local nobility which had been integrated into Spartan society; the Macehualtin, the warrior class of Spartania composed of both Spartan and native warriors; the Pochteca, the merchants of Spartania; and the Tlacotin, the slave class of Spartania. There were also the priests of Sparta, the Hierateia, who had mostly come from Elysia and were responsible for converting the natives; while they were still allowed to worship their own gods, the locals were encouraged to begin worshipping the Olympians as well.
By the 1550's and 1560's, two religious movements had begun. The first had largely been from the locals and focused on the syncretization of the Aztec and Maya gods with those of the Spartans. Many local priests had begun to study both the texts of the ancient Hellenes and Romans and those of their local religious traditions, finding similarities wherever they could and preaching the different pantheons of gods as equal. The other movement had been more universal in a move to have Leonidas deified. Of course, this was not a foreign concept; in the ancient Mediterranean world, deification happened often to great rulers, such as with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, with the cult dedicated to the latter being influential in Rome for a time. Even in Elysia, many of the Vasilias' and Vasilissas have been declared deities. However, with Leonidas, many held him in very high regard; while other men had been able to be deified, there were those who believed that Leonidas was always a god, who had been sent to Cemanahuac to deliver the Spartan people to the promised land and to liberate the locals from what they deemed as barbaric gods, especially Huitzilopochtli.
Neither of these movements especially worried the Spartan government, and while the Hierateia were a bit nervous about them, even they didn't think much of them at all. That changed in 1562. A priest from the city of Xoconochoco (OTL Soconusco) had decided to formalize his religious views by writing them down on parchment. Inspired by both the movement to syncretize the local religions with Hellenism and to deify Leonidas, he wrote that Leonidas was a god who had been sent by Kukulcan, The Great Serpent, from the land of Hellas to slay the mad god Huitzilopochtli, who had been corrupted by Omacatl in his jealousy. After this, Leonidas prevented the sixth destruction of the world, becoming Sun God and beginning the Sixth Age. It is believed that the Sixth Age will end when Leonidas finds Omacatl, who had been responsible for the world's destruction five times before, and slay him, bringing justice for his prior actions. The priest wrote that while the Olympians did exist, they were weak and decadent, doing nothing to help the world when Huitzilopochtli was about to destroy it. The exceptions to this were Poseidon, who helped guide Leonidas' fleet to Cemanahuac, and Ares, who is viewed as the divine father of Leonidas. It is said that when the Seventh Age dawns, the fleets of those faithful to Leonidas will sail back to Hellas and siege Mount Olympus to bring justice to the Olympians for not helping them in their time of need, and that when the war is won, Kukulcan will ascend to Olympus and devour Zeus whole in retribution, so that the true gods of Cemanahuac (including Poseidon, Ares, and some minor Hellenic deities) can ascend to their rightful throne. These ideas were spread through the use of the printing press, which was spread to Sparta after the rediscovery of Europe by the Elysian navigator Pytheas (as well as Elysian connections to Portugal which had been formed after Leonidas' expedition). Eventually, much of the southern empire had submitted to this new religion.
Naturally, this disturbed the Hierateia, as this was a group which openly declared the gods of Olympus were inferior to the local gods and that vowed to destroy Zeus, King of the Gods. This similarly angered the regent and Queen Mother, the Elysian Irene Palaiologos (up until this point, the Elysians and Spartans continued to maintain good relations, often intermarrying), who was a devout follower of the gods. Irene collaborated with the Hierateia and other Hellenic clergy to put an end to this religious movement, which was referred to as 'Aztlan' by its followers, leading to the Irenian reforms in 1574. With them, the worship of the Aztec and Maya gods was outlawed, as was any reference to the idea that Leonidas was divine. However, this had the opposite effect, with many followers of the Maya and Aztec gods who also followed the Olympians flocking to the banner of the Aztlan, with a similar effect being had on the worshippers of Leonidas. The Aztlan spread out from their initial Xoconochoco, as well as to other prominent locations; much of the western empire had embraced Leonidas, including Tenochtitlan, as had prominent Maya cities such as Chichen Itza. By the end of the regency, a plurality even existed in Laconya.
The Irenian reforms were marked by mass persecution of the followers of the native gods, rivaling the Spanish Inquisition in scale. They would not last forever, though. Unbeknownst to Irene, her son, Moctezuma I of Spartania, II of the Aztec Empire, was sympathetic towards the Aztlan. Having grown up on the legends of his Aztec ancestors, as well as those of Leonidas, he found himself far more in agreement with the teachings of the Aztlan than those the Hierateia spoke of. So, when he came of age in 1580, he arranged something special for his coronation. As he was about to be anointed by the head priest of the Hierateia, he stepped back and openly rebuked the Olympians, encouraging the Aztlan in the crowd as they tore down the idol of Zeus. Many in the military were also sympathetic to the Aztlan, as Moctezuma found out, and he used this to his advantage by having them guard him against the Hierateia. After that, Moctezuma forced his mother to return to Elysia, where she shared the grim news with the Vasilias, ruining any diplomacy had between Sparta and Elysia. He also formed a new clergy, the Tlamacazqui, based on the Hierateia but dedicated to the promulgation of the Aztlan faith.
Many more would join the Aztlan with the Vasilias being an open member of their ranks, however many also held onto their old gods; this was problematic, as the new Tlamacazqui declared that the followers of either Zeus or Huitzilopochtli were heretics, worshipping either a weak, decadent god or a mad god who nearly destroyed the world. While no official civil war would break out, religious rebellion became common throughout the empire, and would persist into the mid-1600s.
History
By 1444 A.D., the Byzantine Empire was in dire straits. While they had been able to eventually take back their territory from the so-called 'Latin Emperors' of Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade of 1204, their moment of weakness had been taken advantage of by the various Turkic beyliks in Anatolia; while the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum had collapsed, many lower noble houses had risen to prominence, primarily the House of Osmanoglu, which had, by 1444, united much of Anatolia and was making inroads into Eastern Europe. Even Thrace had fallen to the Osmanoglu, known more commonly in the West as the Ottomans, and by 1444 the Byzantines were only left with some minor holdings in the Peloponnese and, of course, their capital, Constantinople, the city of the world's desire. With the combination of remnants of the Latin Crusaders, Italian merchants taking territory, and the Turks growing steadily in power, many believed that Constantinople itself would fall within the decade.
Many had begun to look for new solutions. One of these men was the Basileus himself, John VIII Palaiologos. John VIII had been fascinated by the stories of the Hellenes and ancient Romans, primarily the works of Homer and Virgil. He had read of Odysseus's great journey across the Mediterranean, as well as that of Aeneas, the latter of whom had taken the remnants of Troy to found the eternal city itself, Rome. John had been inspired, and went to his court to bring up the possibility of conducting a great exodus out of Constantinople and to a new land, so that the Empire of the Romans may remain intact, unmolested by the Turkic hordes or Western crusaders. His court initially believed him mad, however, when they realized that he was serious, they reluctantly agreed, realizing that there was no way the Empire could feasibly survive otherwise. And so, the greatest men of Constantinople convened to design a plan which would make this new odyssey a reality. A great fleet was constructed, the greatest that had ever been seen by the likes of Europe. Much of the knowledge of Rome and the classical world had been taken with the fleet as well, and one scholar was even able to rediscover the secrets of Greek fire. To gain funds, the various territories the Byzantines held in the Peloponnese were sold to various Genoese and Venetian merchants, as they would have no need for these territories when they were oceans away. With everything set, the Byzantine fleet left the harbor of Constantinople, never to return.
While sailing in the Mediterranean, no true problems emerged; while some merchant fleets had questioned their presence, there was mostly smooth sailing. Indeed, the first problem occurred at the end of the Mediterranean portion of the voyage, when they were about to cross the Straits of Gibraltar. The local Grenadine and Moroccan emirs had collaborated to ensure that the Byzantines would have to pay a toll in order to pass. However, this never came to fruition, as the Byzantines were able to employ their newly rediscovered Greek fire, which caused great damage and shocked many of the locals, as it had not been seen in generations. Once they began to sail into the Atlantic, however, more problems started to emerge. Rations had to be implemented, as they could no longer stop at friendly ports to collect the goods they needed. The sailing was also much worst, as many of the ships had been designed for use in the Mediterranean as opposed to the Atlantic. The greatest peril the Byzantines faced however was a great storm which engulfed much of the fleet, sinking many of the ships and causing many others to lose direction. Thankfully for them, most of the fleet was able to make it through at least somewhat intact. This good news was overshadowed by much worst news, however; due to poor conditions on the ship, disease was rampant, and many had become gravely ill and died. One of these men was the Basileus himself, who had died from what we now know as tuberculosis. Thankfully, his heir, Constantine XI Palaiologos, had been on another ship which had remained, for the most part, healthy, so he was able to be crowned as the next Basileus following his father's death.
After his coronation, the new Basileus was reported to have been encountered by the scholar Gemistus Pletho. He said that he was a student of Neoplatonism, a school thought to be long dead, and he told the Basileus that he had studied the downfall of the Roman Empire in comparison to the rise of Christianity, noting a direct correlation between the two. Pletho said that ever since the conversion of his namesake, Imperator Constantine I, Rome had gone down a downwards spiral, with invasions from all sides for centuries. He blamed this largely on a lack of devotion to who he saw as the true gods; the old gods of Olympus. Indeed, he is even reported to have claimed that the previous storm was the wrath of Poseidon, and that in order to prosper in whatever new world they land in, they would have to pay proper homage to the gods. Constantine, perhaps intrigued by Pletho's studies, perhaps simply overcome with grief over the loss of his father, agreed to forsake Christ in favor of the Olympians. Many of his crew, who hadn't been devout Christians, agreed to convert as well, marking the old religion of the Hellenes as the official religion of the new empire.
After a few more weeks, the fleet finally made landfall in a land they called Elysium (~OTL Maryland). Constantine had begun to refer to his empire not as the Byzantine Empire or even the Roman Empire, but as the Elysian Empire, marking a new age where they would be dominant on the world stage. They began to found a new settlement, which they referred to as New Constantinople.
Over the years, the Elysians thrived; they were able to maintain good relations with many of the native tribes in the area, and were able to expand their realm far beyond the initial settlement of New Constantinople. There had also been contacts with other civilizations; to the north, the descendants of Norse settlers in Vinland had been openly received, with Norse goods flowing into Elysia and a new Varangian Guard even being formed. Meanwhile, other refugees from Europe also came into Elysium, most notably the Albanians, who fled from Ottoman conquest and were integrated into Elysian culture.
Rise of Sparta
By 1480, the Elysian Empire was in a very prosperous state; trade had been conducted with both the Vinlanders and natives (referred to as Barbaroi by the Elysians), the empire had expanded to engulf much of the Eastern Seaboard, and work had begun on an intricate aqueduct system through the Appalachian Mountains. By this point, Elysian culture had also evolved to a point where it could be considered distinct from the Hellenic cultures of the Old World which they had originated from.
Meanwhile, however, ambition arose. The nobleman Belisarius Palaiologos, cousin of the current Vasilissa, Zoe II Palaiologos, had heard rumors of a land to the south of Elysium which was dominated by vast empires and stock full of gold, dangerous beasts, alien cultures, and bloodthirsty gods. This intrigued Belisarius; his father was a prominent general in the Elysian military, and he had grown up on tales of great conquerors such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and his namesake, the Roman general Belisarius. However, most inspiring to Belisarius were the warriors of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta; while there had never been any great Spartan conquest or empire, they had been fierce and devoted warriors, defending their realm even when all hope seemed to be lost, be it from Persian invaders or the Athenians. Therefore, when he came of age and had garnered enough support to form a large army, he sent word to his cousin to ask her permission to lead an expedition south. His cousin had always been fond of him, and she was currently busy with affairs at court, so she gave him leave to travel south.
After a few weeks at sea, the armies of Belisarius had arrived in the fertile lands of Cemanahuac, as it was referred to by the natives. They had made a small settlement which they would come to refer to as Laconya (~OTL Veracruz) after the lands of ancient Sparta. The men were able to secure the land around Laconya as their own, and named their new civilization Spartania, after the ancient city-state. The Spartans, having consolidated control of the area around Laconya, marched on Tenochtitlan. Through a combination of native allies who despised the Aztecs and had sworn fealty to Belisarius, advanced technology, cavalry, and the use of Greek fire, Tenochtitlan was captured, with the former Tlatoani bending the knee to the Spartans. Leonidas took a daughter of the Tlatoani as his bride, and declared himself not only Vasilias of Spartania, but also as Huey-Tlatoani of the Aztec Empire, declaring himself successor to that empire. Belisarius also abandoned his old identity, taking the regnal name Leonidas, after the ancient Spartan king, and establishing the House of Spartakon as a cadet branch of the Palaiologoi in the north.
After his conquest of the Aztecs, Leonidas continued his conquest of Cemanahuac, with most native realms either bending the knee willingly or being forced to by the sword. Leonidas was also able to take advantage of the recent collapse of the League of Mayapan to subjugate the remaining Maya rulers, declaring himself K'uhul Ajaw of the Maya. By the year 1495, all of Cemanahuac was under Spartan dominion.
While many viewed Leonidas as a bloodthirsty conqueror, he was very tolerant of the locals and their traditions. He studied the histories and myths of the Maya and Nahua just as fervently as he did his own Hellenistic and Roman histories and myths, and tried to incorporate the pre-existing atlepetls and kuchkabals into his own realm as effectively as possible. After his conquests, one of his greatest contributions was the reconstruction and revitalization of many ancient cities in the region, such as Tenochtitlan (which had been badly damaged by the Spartan conquest), Chichen Itza, Tikal, Palenque, and Mictlan, the supposed entrance to the underworld of the Aztec religion. Leonidas was also very religiously tolerant, allowing the people of his realm to worship as they pleased, so long as they asked their gods to bring prosperity to the House of Spartakon. Many mystery cults surrounding Aztec and Maya deities were formed, such as those of Acolmiztli, the Aztec god of the dead who was syncretized with the Elysian Hades, as well as the Cult of Ketsalos, a Hellenized version of the worship of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.
Triumph of the Aztlan
Leonidas died in the year 1520 at the age of 56, passing his realm to his eldest son, Itzcoatl I Spartakon. Between the years of Leonidas' death and the Aztlan Reformation, much had changed in Spartan society. For one, it was becoming far less Spartan, or even Elysian, in nature. There were still plenty of Elysian influences on the culture, yes, but there had also been a growing amount of native culture that was integrated into that of Sparta. Society was now divided into several groups of people; they were the Apogonoi, the Spartan nobility who had been the most orthodox in their culture, holding pride in their relative Hellenism; the Pipiltin, the local nobility which had been integrated into Spartan society; the Macehualtin, the warrior class of Spartania composed of both Spartan and native warriors; the Pochteca, the merchants of Spartania; and the Tlacotin, the slave class of Spartania. There were also the priests of Sparta, the Hierateia, who had mostly come from Elysia and were responsible for converting the natives; while they were still allowed to worship their own gods, the locals were encouraged to begin worshipping the Olympians as well.
By the 1550's and 1560's, two religious movements had begun. The first had largely been from the locals and focused on the syncretization of the Aztec and Maya gods with those of the Spartans. Many local priests had begun to study both the texts of the ancient Hellenes and Romans and those of their local religious traditions, finding similarities wherever they could and preaching the different pantheons of gods as equal. The other movement had been more universal in a move to have Leonidas deified. Of course, this was not a foreign concept; in the ancient Mediterranean world, deification happened often to great rulers, such as with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, with the cult dedicated to the latter being influential in Rome for a time. Even in Elysia, many of the Vasilias' and Vasilissas have been declared deities. However, with Leonidas, many held him in very high regard; while other men had been able to be deified, there were those who believed that Leonidas was always a god, who had been sent to Cemanahuac to deliver the Spartan people to the promised land and to liberate the locals from what they deemed as barbaric gods, especially Huitzilopochtli.
Neither of these movements especially worried the Spartan government, and while the Hierateia were a bit nervous about them, even they didn't think much of them at all. That changed in 1562. A priest from the city of Xoconochoco (OTL Soconusco) had decided to formalize his religious views by writing them down on parchment. Inspired by both the movement to syncretize the local religions with Hellenism and to deify Leonidas, he wrote that Leonidas was a god who had been sent by Kukulcan, The Great Serpent, from the land of Hellas to slay the mad god Huitzilopochtli, who had been corrupted by Omacatl in his jealousy. After this, Leonidas prevented the sixth destruction of the world, becoming Sun God and beginning the Sixth Age. It is believed that the Sixth Age will end when Leonidas finds Omacatl, who had been responsible for the world's destruction five times before, and slay him, bringing justice for his prior actions. The priest wrote that while the Olympians did exist, they were weak and decadent, doing nothing to help the world when Huitzilopochtli was about to destroy it. The exceptions to this were Poseidon, who helped guide Leonidas' fleet to Cemanahuac, and Ares, who is viewed as the divine father of Leonidas. It is said that when the Seventh Age dawns, the fleets of those faithful to Leonidas will sail back to Hellas and siege Mount Olympus to bring justice to the Olympians for not helping them in their time of need, and that when the war is won, Kukulcan will ascend to Olympus and devour Zeus whole in retribution, so that the true gods of Cemanahuac (including Poseidon, Ares, and some minor Hellenic deities) can ascend to their rightful throne. These ideas were spread through the use of the printing press, which was spread to Sparta after the rediscovery of Europe by the Elysian navigator Pytheas (as well as Elysian connections to Portugal which had been formed after Leonidas' expedition). Eventually, much of the southern empire had submitted to this new religion.
Naturally, this disturbed the Hierateia, as this was a group which openly declared the gods of Olympus were inferior to the local gods and that vowed to destroy Zeus, King of the Gods. This similarly angered the regent and Queen Mother, the Elysian Irene Palaiologos (up until this point, the Elysians and Spartans continued to maintain good relations, often intermarrying), who was a devout follower of the gods. Irene collaborated with the Hierateia and other Hellenic clergy to put an end to this religious movement, which was referred to as 'Aztlan' by its followers, leading to the Irenian reforms in 1574. With them, the worship of the Aztec and Maya gods was outlawed, as was any reference to the idea that Leonidas was divine. However, this had the opposite effect, with many followers of the Maya and Aztec gods who also followed the Olympians flocking to the banner of the Aztlan, with a similar effect being had on the worshippers of Leonidas. The Aztlan spread out from their initial Xoconochoco, as well as to other prominent locations; much of the western empire had embraced Leonidas, including Tenochtitlan, as had prominent Maya cities such as Chichen Itza. By the end of the regency, a plurality even existed in Laconya.
The Irenian reforms were marked by mass persecution of the followers of the native gods, rivaling the Spanish Inquisition in scale. They would not last forever, though. Unbeknownst to Irene, her son, Moctezuma I of Spartania, II of the Aztec Empire, was sympathetic towards the Aztlan. Having grown up on the legends of his Aztec ancestors, as well as those of Leonidas, he found himself far more in agreement with the teachings of the Aztlan than those the Hierateia spoke of. So, when he came of age in 1580, he arranged something special for his coronation. As he was about to be anointed by the head priest of the Hierateia, he stepped back and openly rebuked the Olympians, encouraging the Aztlan in the crowd as they tore down the idol of Zeus. Many in the military were also sympathetic to the Aztlan, as Moctezuma found out, and he used this to his advantage by having them guard him against the Hierateia. After that, Moctezuma forced his mother to return to Elysia, where she shared the grim news with the Vasilias, ruining any diplomacy had between Sparta and Elysia. He also formed a new clergy, the Tlamacazqui, based on the Hierateia but dedicated to the promulgation of the Aztlan faith.
Many more would join the Aztlan with the Vasilias being an open member of their ranks, however many also held onto their old gods; this was problematic, as the new Tlamacazqui declared that the followers of either Zeus or Huitzilopochtli were heretics, worshipping either a weak, decadent god or a mad god who nearly destroyed the world. While no official civil war would break out, religious rebellion became common throughout the empire, and would persist into the mid-1600s.
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You might notice the lack of third degree divisions in Tuscany, Veneto and some of the other Italian statelets. If you have any information or maps that cover those regions between 1859 and 1927 I'd be very grateful if you could share them. Also special thanks to @FrankCesco for helping me find the Italian circondari maps!
I'm beginning to suspect that the people who came up with Virginian municipal government were from Mecklenburg.
Bog Standard Nazi victory scenario with a decaying third Reich standing in opposition to the US current senile Furher and the power struggle in the Reich prevents the Germans from putting down some unreliable allies
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(I got this from a dream I had two nights ago and it was very interested that I decided to make a map all about this)
(Music to listen to while reading this)
The Stars Demand Blood
The year is 8,000 AD and Coatlicue (Earth) has been long gone after being destroyed in series of brutal and endless wars between the five major powers. Humanity had no choice by to relocate across the stars to create new homes or had to colonize any planets that were suitable for human-life to thrive or by the means of terraforming.
Tonatiuh (Sun) himself has began to grow brighter to the point that life can't even exist on Coatlicue (Earth) anymore due to it becoming like that of planet Xolotl-Lahun Chan (Venus) due to the intense greenhouse gases rendering mankind's home now a dead world where no life can survive except for a few species of bacteria.
The Solar System was dying as well due to few resources left and over-population, the red planet Xiahxanpelt (Mars) formerly terraformed by the Aztecs to house a population of 5 billion people was now failing due to outdated technology that kept the planet's climate in order.
As a result humanity left the solar system without looking back seeing it as a place where it all began for them. Not to mention the fact that the world was remade five times already according to the Aztecs' beliefs. This meant the Fifth Sun or what the people of Europa and Asia call the "Fifth World" finally came to end not by a worldwide earthquake like the Aztecs previously thought, but instead ended by massive famine, wars over resources, overpopulation, and climate change by the greenhouse effect.
The people of Turtle Island (North America) and Tawantinsuyu (South America) were always the rightful masters of the world, colonizing New Tlaxcala (Africa), Europa, Asia, and Oceania. They were the ones chosen by the gods to rule the world over the weak ones in the Old World and thus able to do so.
And as a result they were once again masters of not the world anymore, but the galaxy now since it was now all theirs for them to expand and colonize. They cared not for the fact other primitive alien races were around since they enslaved them or made them assimilate into their cultures over a period of a couple generations.
The Aztecs, Salisash, Pueblos, Muisca, Incans, Mayans, Mississippians, and the Tupi were able to eventually colonize the entire galaxy in a period of two hundred centuries by mostly using generation ships or "children ships" where children be taken care of by AI and robot servants and their childhood was prolonged until arrival.
However the galaxy is getting ruined by the galactic colonialism brought by the red skinned Native Americans and eventually there will be no room left for expanding their population, since the only option is to travel into extragalactic space to the neighboring galaxies which would take perhaps tens of thousands of years if the Mayans and Aztecs are able to calculate the math right.
And most galactic nations aren't pleasant places to live in either, the Aztec Galactic Empire is more like that of Oceania from George Orwell's 1984, there is no such as privacy in fact the word itself doesn't exist, lower classes (which are the majority of the empire) aren't allowed to raise families or get married either, only the rich elites can still be able to do so. Most people are born are then instantly taken away from their mothers and then raised by the Aztec government where both boys and girls are taught and trained to be proud Aztec soldiers and to make sure that the Aztecs will rule the entire galaxy one bloody war at a time. And once a person turns 18 years of age they are required to by law have what Aztecs call "Mating Month" with the opposite sex in order to boost the empire's population. So whoever you had sex with your never going to see ever again since love is now nonexistent, and not to mention you will absolutely have no contact with the child you made with your own genes, only thing you can do is have the right to name your unborn child and thus the Aztec government will make it the name you gave it.
And not surprising either is that the Aztec society still worships human sacrifice to appease their many gods. Only over time this has changed to the point that every Aztec citizen of the lower class has to be sacrificed once turning to age of 30, reason is to prevent overpopulation and famine.
Mayan Confederation even though it is very liberal and progressive on many issues, privacy too no longer exists, class-based system of society was scrapped centuries ago and replaced with a classless society where everyone has a equal share in things, thus the Mayans no longer have nobles, kings, or queens like they did thousands of years ago back in Yucatan. Their ancestors surely would be very ashamed and feel disgraced by their descendants for getting rid of nobility and classes, seeing their future people aren't even "True Mayans" anymore.
The Mayan Confederation itself is constantly at war with the Aztec Galactic Empire and the war is never going to ever end. In fact all Mayans believe that the war will end when the universe itself finally comes to an end (In which the Sixth Sun ends when every star in the universe dies). But with them being highly advanced in technology (after all they invented gunpowder the right unlike the annoying Chinese many many centuries ago back on Earth), there won't be any worry of the Aztecs taking over the Mayan Confederation any time soon.
The Incan Empire now in space has become more united to the point that the former minorities now identify as "Incan". The empire itself is very nationalistic and war-like against it enemy the Muisca Empire. However the Incans themselves really hate the most is the Aztecs seeing them as the biggest threat in the entire galaxy, just like the Aztecs' goal for galactic domination the Incans have the same goal, but the way they wish to achieve it is through total mass genocide on a galactic scale.
The Incan Empire has been very evil to alien primitive species where at first they were placed on reservations and lived in poor conditions until eventually the Incans decided it be better off wiping out any alien species for being in their way of galactic domination.
Coming back to the Incan and Aztec relations it is sour and bitter as they are locked in a thousand year cold war that may never end. However history never was like this, originally the Aztecs and the Incans were once allies almost like that of close brothers during the time the evil Europeans were trying to take over the Americas. They teamed up to crush the evil Europeans and eventually chase them all the way back to Europa where they together took it over in massive bloodshed that European primitive people couldn't match due to the advance tech they both had.
So yes it is true, the Incans and Aztecs were once brothers in past, but this all changed when during the 2150's the Aztecs began to violate environmental laws and even tried to overthrow a Incan emperor in a coup, who tried to bring about good reforms to the poor classes. This is what made them hate each other to this very day sadly.
There are many other nations from the Americas that dominance over some parts of the galaxy, but these civilizations aren't happy places to live in either well except for the Salisash since they are the only civilization with democracy left where the peoples' voices are heard and listened to. But Salisash are considered as the Swiss of the galaxy having not involvement with wars happening between the Incans, Aztecs, Muisca, and Mayans, and the civilization itself doesn't like outsiders either.
So there you have it. The galaxy is slowly dying as we speak as galactic colonialism continues to destroy trillions of lives. In the far future we do know one civilization will eventually win complete dominance over the entire galaxy but the question is who?
That question will probably remain unanswered.
The Stars Demand Blood
The year is 8,000 AD and Coatlicue (Earth) has been long gone after being destroyed in series of brutal and endless wars between the five major powers. Humanity had no choice by to relocate across the stars to create new homes or had to colonize any planets that were suitable for human-life to thrive or by the means of terraforming.
Tonatiuh (Sun) himself has began to grow brighter to the point that life can't even exist on Coatlicue (Earth) anymore due to it becoming like that of planet Xolotl-Lahun Chan (Venus) due to the intense greenhouse gases rendering mankind's home now a dead world where no life can survive except for a few species of bacteria.
The Solar System was dying as well due to few resources left and over-population, the red planet Xiahxanpelt (Mars) formerly terraformed by the Aztecs to house a population of 5 billion people was now failing due to outdated technology that kept the planet's climate in order.
As a result humanity left the solar system without looking back seeing it as a place where it all began for them. Not to mention the fact that the world was remade five times already according to the Aztecs' beliefs. This meant the Fifth Sun or what the people of Europa and Asia call the "Fifth World" finally came to end not by a worldwide earthquake like the Aztecs previously thought, but instead ended by massive famine, wars over resources, overpopulation, and climate change by the greenhouse effect.
The people of Turtle Island (North America) and Tawantinsuyu (South America) were always the rightful masters of the world, colonizing New Tlaxcala (Africa), Europa, Asia, and Oceania. They were the ones chosen by the gods to rule the world over the weak ones in the Old World and thus able to do so.
And as a result they were once again masters of not the world anymore, but the galaxy now since it was now all theirs for them to expand and colonize. They cared not for the fact other primitive alien races were around since they enslaved them or made them assimilate into their cultures over a period of a couple generations.
The Aztecs, Salisash, Pueblos, Muisca, Incans, Mayans, Mississippians, and the Tupi were able to eventually colonize the entire galaxy in a period of two hundred centuries by mostly using generation ships or "children ships" where children be taken care of by AI and robot servants and their childhood was prolonged until arrival.
However the galaxy is getting ruined by the galactic colonialism brought by the red skinned Native Americans and eventually there will be no room left for expanding their population, since the only option is to travel into extragalactic space to the neighboring galaxies which would take perhaps tens of thousands of years if the Mayans and Aztecs are able to calculate the math right.
And most galactic nations aren't pleasant places to live in either, the Aztec Galactic Empire is more like that of Oceania from George Orwell's 1984, there is no such as privacy in fact the word itself doesn't exist, lower classes (which are the majority of the empire) aren't allowed to raise families or get married either, only the rich elites can still be able to do so. Most people are born are then instantly taken away from their mothers and then raised by the Aztec government where both boys and girls are taught and trained to be proud Aztec soldiers and to make sure that the Aztecs will rule the entire galaxy one bloody war at a time. And once a person turns 18 years of age they are required to by law have what Aztecs call "Mating Month" with the opposite sex in order to boost the empire's population. So whoever you had sex with your never going to see ever again since love is now nonexistent, and not to mention you will absolutely have no contact with the child you made with your own genes, only thing you can do is have the right to name your unborn child and thus the Aztec government will make it the name you gave it.
And not surprising either is that the Aztec society still worships human sacrifice to appease their many gods. Only over time this has changed to the point that every Aztec citizen of the lower class has to be sacrificed once turning to age of 30, reason is to prevent overpopulation and famine.
Mayan Confederation even though it is very liberal and progressive on many issues, privacy too no longer exists, class-based system of society was scrapped centuries ago and replaced with a classless society where everyone has a equal share in things, thus the Mayans no longer have nobles, kings, or queens like they did thousands of years ago back in Yucatan. Their ancestors surely would be very ashamed and feel disgraced by their descendants for getting rid of nobility and classes, seeing their future people aren't even "True Mayans" anymore.
The Mayan Confederation itself is constantly at war with the Aztec Galactic Empire and the war is never going to ever end. In fact all Mayans believe that the war will end when the universe itself finally comes to an end (In which the Sixth Sun ends when every star in the universe dies). But with them being highly advanced in technology (after all they invented gunpowder the right unlike the annoying Chinese many many centuries ago back on Earth), there won't be any worry of the Aztecs taking over the Mayan Confederation any time soon.
The Incan Empire now in space has become more united to the point that the former minorities now identify as "Incan". The empire itself is very nationalistic and war-like against it enemy the Muisca Empire. However the Incans themselves really hate the most is the Aztecs seeing them as the biggest threat in the entire galaxy, just like the Aztecs' goal for galactic domination the Incans have the same goal, but the way they wish to achieve it is through total mass genocide on a galactic scale.
The Incan Empire has been very evil to alien primitive species where at first they were placed on reservations and lived in poor conditions until eventually the Incans decided it be better off wiping out any alien species for being in their way of galactic domination.
Coming back to the Incan and Aztec relations it is sour and bitter as they are locked in a thousand year cold war that may never end. However history never was like this, originally the Aztecs and the Incans were once allies almost like that of close brothers during the time the evil Europeans were trying to take over the Americas. They teamed up to crush the evil Europeans and eventually chase them all the way back to Europa where they together took it over in massive bloodshed that European primitive people couldn't match due to the advance tech they both had.
So yes it is true, the Incans and Aztecs were once brothers in past, but this all changed when during the 2150's the Aztecs began to violate environmental laws and even tried to overthrow a Incan emperor in a coup, who tried to bring about good reforms to the poor classes. This is what made them hate each other to this very day sadly.
There are many other nations from the Americas that dominance over some parts of the galaxy, but these civilizations aren't happy places to live in either well except for the Salisash since they are the only civilization with democracy left where the peoples' voices are heard and listened to. But Salisash are considered as the Swiss of the galaxy having not involvement with wars happening between the Incans, Aztecs, Muisca, and Mayans, and the civilization itself doesn't like outsiders either.
So there you have it. The galaxy is slowly dying as we speak as galactic colonialism continues to destroy trillions of lives. In the far future we do know one civilization will eventually win complete dominance over the entire galaxy but the question is who?
That question will probably remain unanswered.
It been a while since I posted a map I managed to force myself to make. However this one I had entirely fun doing and took me probably an hour or 2 hours to complete.
I cannot grasp the level of ethnic issues on Austria. The balkanization is going to be insane.
Amazing! I could use this... Are you planning to finish all of Europe? :3
I think the idea I had was that Austria went through some sort of revolution and became a multi-ethnic, semi-democratic federation. Not likely, but any excuse to wank Austria-Hungary is a welcome one in my book.
Won't be easy with the Hungarians, though. Federalization to mangle the Hungarian lands. :3
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