Here's my first proper map for 2021. And it's another cover map for the
Hearts of Iron IV mod
The New Order: Last Days of Europe, but with a twist, and then some. Instead, it's a post-apocalpytic map following one of the worst failstates possible:
nuclear war. The DeviantArt version
can be found here.
Despite the civilization-destroying "game over" that's indicative of, however, it's not quite the end of the story. As it turns out, life always finds a way, time eventually erases hate, and time...
heals all sorrows.
And if that sounds familiar, it's because the map is also a crossover with the light novel and Kyoto Animation series
Violet Evergarden. A crossover no one wanted or expected or needed...but well, a first time for everything! Beyond just the unlikely combination, and how the setting's main location bears more than a passing resemblance to Australia, it's also something of a challenge to see how I could make two seemingly disparate works connected, while making it fairly seamless. All things considered, the end-result's worth it.
At any rate, this is a work of fiction. This is not a political or ideological screed. Depiction is not endorsement. All rights belong to their respective owners.
All the same, hope you enjoy this as much as I have in making it!
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The New Order: A New Home
A Post-Apocalyptic Crossover
For so long, much of what's known about the distant past has been through fragments. These were normally found in folklore passed down orally, sometimes invoking languages no longer spoken and muddled in myth. What precious records that survived the countless centuries, meanwhile, were either woefully incomplete, or had been warped almost beyond recognition, in which the line between legend and fact often got blurred. Though greater interest in archeology has begun opening up new inquiries, it is not for nothing that it took generations for academics to piece enough together from such sources to arrive at some approximation of the truth. If it is indeed close to it, then we all may need to take heed.
There had once been a time when man had reached the stars themselves. This was an age, in which its prosperity and industry have yet to be surpassed, as was its capacity for destruction. The world was divided between the great powers of their age, their names as vast as their territories, with each seeking an advantage over the other. Whether they feuded over ideology, the great black sands, or the simple question of who deserved dominion over all others, any one of them could have touched off a blaze which would engulf them all. Certain myths claim, nonetheless that the gods themselves were displeased with what humanity had wrought. Alleged canticles speak of how the Partei of Bormann and Goering feuded in the latter days of the Deutschesreych, while the servants of the Black Rus sought vengeance for the wrongs done to their people by the Deutsche people.
Perhaps the distant Jews of Neu-Zion or the Polska, both of which claim a lineage going even further into the dim past, know more on what transpired. In all likelihood, however, the truth in its entirety perished with whoever's responsible. What could be said for certain was that the skies streaked with flying machines and rockets unlike any we could conceive. So began the last war of the old world, and so it ended just as soon. For the flames consumed their great cities, rendered their terrible weapons useless and turned all unfortunate to be close, innocent or guilty, to ash. For those who survived, it must have seemed like the end of days. If the silent killer called in a few sources as the innocuous-sounding "fallout" didn't take their lives, then the savagery of their fellow men and lack of any social order would have been a grim reality. Yet it was amidst such drudgery that some chose to leave their shattered homes behind in search of a new one.
Legends talk of a great voyage, though none could agree on how it began. In some accounts, it was led by either the Sea-Koenig Doenitz of the Kriegsmarine, or one of his many heirs. Others point to a fisherman of Iberia, wandering Anglos, and even a lone scholar from the semi-mythical Italians. Regardless, there's enough consistency to suggest that these disparate groups, converged near an Iberian town called Porto, where it was decided to venture forth into the continent they called Australia. Given how certain oral tales roughly corresponding to the period make mention "turning the Outback green" and form a "Bastion against the Rising Sun" in the ancient tongues, these refugees may have had reason to undertake such a perilous journey. Thus, with whatever they could bring aboard their vessels, they set off, never to look back again.
Much is muddled in contradictory details, fanciful allegory and horrid imagery when it comes to approaching the voyage itself. Though the great oceanic monsters and intervening angels likely never existed, references to savage people-eaters, deranged warlords, and nameless heroes who stood their ground suggest that the perhaps makeshift fleet rarely had any respite. The ordeal would extend upon arriving at their promised land. For to their dismay, though largely spared from the flames, it had degenerated into a maelstrom of madness. Whether wrought by despair, the fracturing of the Dreamtime, or some unknown plague, folklore has since called this chaos the "whiteline". Where men fed on men, and dominated all those seen as beneath them.
Despite such incredible trials, they dispersed through various regions and intermingled with other, local survivors. Among the more prominent embers of order said to have been lit was a place called Adeleide, while another group led by the L'Ancienne Branch made landfall near the ruined town of Perth, to say little of the Iberians who ventured much further east in search of their own prospective homesteads. Alas, much else seems to have been lost in the ensuing dark ages. The last war's lingering effects, so it's been told, went on to change the shape of the shores, and irrevocably transformed the countryside, albeit more by nature than divine intervention. By all accounts, those enclaves all fell to barbarism, whether at the hands of the last "whiteline" adherents or by the hands of their own erstwhile comrades.
Yet, it is not without reason that some scholars believe that these ancient fragments can shed light on the origins of the continent's ethnicities and nations. The accounts regarding the old world and voyage could explain why the advances in agricultural research and blackpowder seemed peculiarly faster, suggesting some prerequisite knowledge had been carried over, if not rediscovered. They may also provide evidence for how the cultural strains observed in the present appear to be remarkably similar to those of societies thousands of leagues apart, however divergent these may have become. There are those who have even theorized that through language drift over generations, the names invoked closely correspond to cities such as Leiden and polities like the Enciel Kingdom. While a few go so far as to suggest that certain lineages, be it the martially-inclined Bougainvillea of Leidenschaftlich, or certain royal families, can be traced to those semi-mythical heroes.
Perhaps with further patronage, archeological finds, and the complete deciphering of the old texts, we may learn even more about ourselves. Though the sooner this is achieved, the better. The contemporary world, after all, has seen a resurgence in industry and progress. Railroads and roadways increasingly criss-cross the continent of Telsis, as the Australia of folklore is now known, while steamships unite the myriad landmasses of the globe. More and more, women are finding new opportunities on the social ladder, as seen with the Auto Memory Dolls. At the same time, however, the wounds of the Great War remain fresh, fought as it was with modern firearms, artillery and even more devastating strategies. Whether it's scarred soldiers, grieving families, or resentment between monarchs and sovereigns, some fear that the seeds for the next major conflict are being sown. And if some recently uncovered relics are any indication, this may well have happened before.
Will we, too, wind up repeating those old legends? Or can we break this cycle? One can still hope. Time can yet heal all sorrows.
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For some trivia, the text (both in the lore and map itself) contains references to the
post-apocalyptic events in the mod. Some of those depend on which factions instigate the nuclear apocalypse or otherwise dominant, especially if Omsk/the Black League is involved. Curiously, some of the more distant ones heavily imply that Jews and Poles remain very much recognizable.
Parts of the distorted recollections are also a nod to the introduction of
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. While the mix of strangely accurate and "future imperfect" descriptions are intended to reflect how the map in-universe was made a few decades after the nukes fall, as well as how some pieces of knowledge would be more intact than others, even countless generations into the future.
The script, Nunkish/Telsis, is also from
Violet Evergarden, which is provided for free by
よづき on Pixiv. As for the translation:
And yes, the map at the bottom-right
is from the anime, and does look like Australia. With Leiden even being situated roughly where South Australia (and Adelaide) would be.
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Alternate version:
Unfiltered version:
