Map Thread XVIII
- Thread starter FesteringSpore
- Start date
-
- Tags
- map thread maps
- Status
I've got another Crumpleverse map ready to go. Normally I do a specific, shorter writeup for AH but this writeup took long enough to write that I hope nobody takes offence at me recycling it.
Outer space, even to a nascent interstellar civilization, is a vast prospect. The Milky Way is very, very large indeed. This takes on a different meaning when said civilization has the ability to travel between stars at a rate human perception would consider fairly prompt. The vastness is no longer a barrier. Instead the vastness hides wonders, and opportunities. Even when human habitable worlds are rare, such worlds with pre-existing biospheres even more so, there are a multitude of stars and an endless number of planets. Terrestrial-adjacent planets, rare gems of the cosmos, might as well be commonplace as far as humans conceive. 4-dimensional drives have a way of making the lightyears seem like yards.
The 4-D drive, the crumple drive, enabled and continues to enable this relationship between humankind and the galaxy at large. The first extrasolar colonies were planned, built, and peopled on the scale of decades. The targets of such efforts had to be precisely chosen on the basis of distance and the effort required to establish a human-safe biosphere. Infrastructure was established by automated construction years before a human even set foot on the surface of these planets. It would be said latterly that first wave human colonisation was driven by somewhat cruel equations. The creation and propogation of 4-D transition technology in the early 22nd century allowed humans to take a different approach.
New Mercia was one of a huge wave of colonies founded in the early 22nd century as the crumple drive suddenly brought many worlds within reach. It was also one of the first privately established colonial enterprises, as the affordability and accessibility of settling other worlds drastically increased. It was a foundation that relied on the newfound scale of humanity’s reach, for what the colonists sought to create was rural idyll. The New Mercia Project wished to make the British notion of the pre-industrial arcadian countryside a reality, and when dozens, perhaps hundreds of worlds were opening up to human reach would it be such a waste of space to enact this idea on the canvas of an entire planet?
The planet that became New Mercia was already approaching human tolerance levels in most areas. However, it lacked any complex biosphere outside its bodies of water, presenting a minor challenge and a great opportunity. The Mercians effectively terraformed the planet, with a little bioengineering adjustment here and there, though one might say large swathes of the planet were instead Britanniformed. Then a controversial decision was taken within the colony’s first two years of official existence; the colonists petitioned UNSA to ban all interstellar trade within their solar system. It was thought that with the rapid technological development of humanity it would prove impossible to retain a ‘real’ rural character, for with the development of the 4-D drive who knew what else would transform human civilization practically overnight?
This was a decision that the next two generations, the first born on New Mercia itself, grew to resent intensely. This was not a compact they had made together but a society that they were born into, a society increasingly disconnected from humankind at large. The colony’s hydroponic farms ensured nutritional independence but over the decades many pieces of equipment became difficult to replace as they became damaged or developed problems. It felt to many like living in a society deliberately impoverishing itself to ensure that its immersion wasn’t broken, and that the choice to continue a rural lifestyle was more meaningful if choice was involved. The ban on trade was finally overturned after 53 years, directing the colony more along the lines of a continuous, consensual commitment than an enforced societal level roleplay.
New Mercia remains a planet in keeping with that realignment of its core principles. No settlement on the planet exists beyond the size of a large village, with the spaceport at Tamword being the largest ‘urban’ site on the entire world of New Mercia. It’s now a society deeply connected with the rest of the human sphere, but that connection is on the population’s terms. This extends to activities and technologies likely to give the original colonists conniptions, not the least including anti-grav racing taking place on the planet’s surface. Thanks to the Lightspeed Classic New Mercia is perhaps one of the most well known human worlds of them all in the 28th century. The thinking behind taking part in the Classic is that living at a slow-pace doesn’t have to mean everything has to be that slow, which goes to summarise a lot of modern New Mercia in general.
This is extremely my shit! I love stories about offworld colonies where people set up their society in radically different ways. I have my own sci-fi universe where stuff like this is pretty common. This is really well done. I love the idea of this kind of semi-radical (but non-violent) rejection of the hypermodernity of a future society in favor of an older, simpler kind of existence. No idea why, to be honest. Just a story element or trope that I love. But I'm glad to see other people like it too. Nice job!
The second cold war is upon us! Our nation and its allies are standing up against Chinese individualism and degeneracy. This cold war had its origins in the 1949 victory of nationalist china against soviet backed communists. Since then America opposed the communist ideologies by supporting groups and countries that were opposed to the communist ideology. One of the most notable instances of this is the Korean war when north Korea invaded south Korea and was then defeated and then annexed by South Korea thereby uniting the Korean peninsula. The Vietnam war was another instance. The US was engaged in war against the communist Vietcong. The Vietcong lost and north Vietnam was annexed by south Vietnam and Vietnam was unified. In 1976 the Republic of China acquired nuclear weapons and ICBMs. After the eastern bloc fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Russian instability resulted in the establishment of a new Tsardom in Russia lead by a man named. Vladimir Putin. Then the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred. 2 nuclear bombs went off in New York City and in Chicago. Tens of thousands died due to the attacks. It was discovered that Osama bin laden was the mastermind of the terror attack. The effects were disastrous. Millions of people fled the cities of the United States. More terror attacks brought about more erosion of civil liberties and opposition against Islam occurred in America and in other European Countries. American forces invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. By February 12, 2017 at 7:12 eastern standard time after a particularly nasty terrorist incident involving a dirty bomb explosion in San Francisco and a slew of chemical attacks in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and Fresno democracy and liberalism fell in the united states. The constitution was suspended and the president took absolute power. Within minutes the United States of America became a totalitarian and nationalist country. Many leftists organized large protests which soldiers suppressed. During the next day China went up against the united states thus starting the second cold war and became the new leader of the free world. Putin had Russian armies invade Ukraine. The country was annexed by Russia in it’s entirely after a few weeks. Belarus was annexed by Russia after it’s government was overthrown causing a civil war and widespread anarchy in the country. Donald Trump established a new personality cult and in Russia on June 16, 2017 a bunch of armies mutinied starting the second Russian civil war. Putin Asked Donald trump for help against the rebellion and china started supporting the rebels which formed the Russian republic. Putin came out victorious and the rebels fled to an island. Russia later annexed Kazakhstan and made the rest of the central Asian countries it’s client states. Canada along with the United States of America invited Russia to NATO once china became more dangerous. Russia accepted the invitation and later joined NATO. China began a new cold war against the west to “stop American nuisance to democracy”. Serbia came under the was under the influence of an ultranationalist and pan-nationalist government which sought to have Bosnia and Kosovo annexed to Serbia. In exchange for American support and the entry against China Serbia extended it’s influence throughout the former Yugoslavia eventually annexing Bosnia and Kosovo. During January 2018 Russia and America jointly invaded the middle east. Russian armies invaded Georgia and Azerbaijan and then Iran. Russian missiles were launched and Iran was nuked with most of it’s major cities being obliterated. Iran was eventually defeated by Russia and was eventually annexed. American forces invaded Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain and eventually the countries were defeated. The United States annexed the oil rich portions of Saudi Arabia and all of Qatar as well as Bahrain while the rest of Saudi Arabia remained occupied by US forces. Russian forces helped to stabilize Yemen which became a Russian client state. Somalia became stable once again with American aid and Eretria joined the American side. Somalia would later join the western coalition against china. The east African federation was founded due to political instability in East Africa. In July of 2018, In the Democratic Republic of the Congo a new totalitarian regime was founded which came under attack by china. After annexing the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Congo the regime allied the country with the united states. On August 14, 2018 Brazil and Mexico joined NATO. With American and European assistance Brazil and Mexico dominated south America and central America making most of those countries client states. During 2021 instability rose in Mexico resulting in the fall of democracy in Mexico and the establishment of a totalitarian regime in Mexico City. During the 2020s NATO, The United States and it’s allies got many of countries of Africa to join the western bloc. China allied itself with India and many other African nations. The southeastern Asian countries joined the Chinese side. In 2025 india declared war against Pakistan. Pakistan was defeated by India. During the war Bangladesh became a puppet state of india. After the war Pakistan became an Indian satellite state. Mali and South Africa would join the western bloc after china threatened war against them. In 2026 Chinese-backed leftists and ANTIFA terrorists began a rebellion in Scotland. This resulted in significant instability in Britain. France, seeing a chance to expand it’s influence in Europe backed Britain against the leftist rebels. The war was long and protracted and ended in 2034 with a British victory. This resulted in a totalitarian party coming to power in Britain and Britain became a fairly independent satellite of France. Russia gave Armenia land in Azerbaijan in 2035. From that year onward populist nationalism began to slip and democracy and liberalism began to decline in European union. By 2050 democracy and liberalism in Europe was largely discredited. In it’s place totalitarian nationalist regimes reigned. In 2051 india made Nepal and Bhutan satellite states. South Africa dominated Lesotho and Swaziland the same year. China with the support of it’s allies forced Laos into it’s alliance. In 2052 America made Colombia and Venezuela it’s satellites. Now the 100th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy is approaching. China is losing the cold war against the western bloc. It’s social and conservative democracy is failing. The economy of the western bloc is booming and is much more advanced than the Chinese bloc’s economy. The Chinese bloc’s economy is on the verge of decline and collapse. Only time will tell when the Chinese block will fall just like the Eastern bloc that came before it. I am confident that with time and hard work the Chinese bloc will fail and be defeated by the western bloc.
Skallagrim
Banned
I like it! It reminds me of the old Most Confusing Maps from a few years ago.
Delightful, satisfying, and pleasing to the eye.
Forgot to post this earlier:
The state of affairs in East Asia as at early 1928. For more details, read @JBukharin 's Blues of a White Sun
The state of affairs in East Asia as at early 1928. For more details, read @JBukharin 's Blues of a White Sun
CFA stands for "Communauté Financière Africaine". It used to be economically tied to the French franc, now it's tied to the Euro.
On the other hand, the map is inaccurate because there's two Franc CFA.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franc_CFA#/media/Fichier:CFA_Franc_map.svg
Already brought it up, as with how Macau and Hong Kong have their own currencies. I also presume Nagorno-Karabakh uses the Armenian currency. Anyone know the currency used in the Russian leaning areas of Ukraine and Moldavia? Ahhh, and the issue of the Spanish and Portuguese islands not being colored Euro blue. Not a bad map altogether, though this is the first time I have seen a map extending Myanmar two extra colored pixels down the coast of Thailand. Anyone know if that is standard for the new base maps? And what color is the Indonesian island between both halfs of Malaysia? Can't tell at this resolution. Would be fun if someday it managed to use the currencies of Singapore or Brunei, which are at parity with each other.
I wrote that at what was around 1 am for me. No stroke, just sleep exhaustion.
- Status