Definitely a unique version of Hyrule.
I like that you took from some lesser known areas in the Zelda Universe like Crenel Mountain from Minish Cap and Parapa Desert from Zelda 2.
I find it interesting that you made Death Mountain an island.
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I like that you took from some lesser known areas in the Zelda Universe like Crenel Mountain from Minish Cap and Parapa Desert from Zelda 2.
I find it interesting that you made Death Mountain an island.
I plan on using a lot of forgotten stuff, definitely. There's a lot of bleedover with the Super Mario franchise, too, so I have plans to incorporate Goombas, Koopas, Shy Guys, and Boos. Plus, Digdogger from Zelda 1 and one of the Oracle games is supposed to be a giant Unira from Clu Clu Land, while Link's Awakening of course featured "Anti-Kirbies" as enemies. It's great fun to see what can cross over and what can't. The setting can stretch and bend quite a lot.
As for Death Mountain, here it's a recently formed volcanic island, home to the Subrosians from one of the Oracle games. The Parapa Desert is the land of the Gerudo and the Zuna from Four Swords Adventures. The Crenel Mountain Range is home to the Mogmas from Skyward Sword, while the Kikwis live in the Eucalypt Forest. The Butchering Thicket and Granajh Savannah are home to the Lynel Khanate, who are at war with the Gerudo after the latter took their mountain home from them.
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The Iustiniad: Ave Restitutor Orbis!
A map of the Roman World c. 565 AD upon the death of Emperor Justinian the Great, and the ascension of his son, Emperor Justin II.
A map of the Roman World c. 565 AD upon the death of Emperor Justinian the Great, and the ascension of his son, Emperor Justin II.
This is basically an alternate history scenario where everything goes Justinian's way and thus he manages to fulfill his dream of reuniting the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman world under him. And ruling from Constantinople and restoring most of the Roman world to the true Nicene faith rather than the heretical Arian creeds of the Germanic Kings, he styles himself as the successor of Constantine. In recognition for his efforts in bringing back the light of the Rome back to the West, both the Senate of Constantinople, and the Eternal City, Rome bestowed him with numerous titles and honors such as "Pater Patriae" and "Restitutor Orbis" (Father of the Fatherland and Restorer of the World).
In this timeline, Emperor Justinian and Theodora have a son whom Justinian painstakingly ensures is raised like he was with the best possible education and eventually military training to properly rule the Empire. Emperor Justinian gave his son the name Justin as a posthumous honor to his uncle: the man who was a father figure to him, and the father of the illustrious Justinianic Dynasty. As a result of having a son, Justinian is more cautious and restrained in his ambitions. True to his nature as a palace Emperor, he uses effective statecraft in combination with intrigues to take down his rivals and foes.
Thanks to the economic reforms and wise fiscal policies levied by the previous Emperor Anastasius, the Empire had a massive surplus of solidii to help fund its war efforts to reclaim its lost territory. These policies had also generally ushered a badly needed economic expansion to help rectify the damage from the chaos and instability from the various crises of the 5th century. This period of course in modern Roman historiography is referred to as the Crisis of the 5th Century, or by some as the 120 Years Anarchy. This period is roughly date from the Sack of Rome by the Visigothic Sack of Rome in 410 up until the Roman reconquest of Italia proper in the mid 530's thanks to the efforts of the ever faithful and brilliant General Belisarius.
Following the deposition of the Vandalic King Hilderic by his cousin, who was on very friendly terms with Emperor Justinian I, Emperor Justinian seeing it as the perfect premise to launch an invasion, sent his armies with the official casus beli being to free the "rightful" monarch from captivity and restore him to power. Of course the usurper Gelimer seeking to deny the Romans a figure to stir a revolt against his rule, had his cousin Hilderic executed. Such an egregious action alienated some of the Vandal elites who defected to the Romans. And with their potential puppet King dead, the Romans now had the perfect opportunity to annex the Kingdom outright back into the Roman fold, and avenge the humiliating sack of Rome of 455. The integration thanks to the willing Afro-Roman population, was very smooth. Emperor Justinian himself gained personal popularity at home being seen as a liberator by the Romans. The Emperor also bringing back North Africa from the control of the heretical Arian sect, also earned him a great deal of clout with the Roman Church hierarchy which felt emboldened enough to agitate against their Arian Kings in the West.
The subsequent reconquest of North Africa, and the Vandal Kingdom, naturally made the other barbarian Kingdoms nervous about facing the full focused attention and wrath of the Eastern Empire which unlike the Western Empire whose corpse they had carved new petty Kingdoms from, the East had stabilized and rebounded. Following the death of her son, the Queen of the Goths, Amalsuntha had been forced by the Ostrogothic to rule jointly with her cousin Theodohad. Amalasuantha who had been more of an intellectual and Romanophile had grown unpopular with the Ostrogothic nobility as she tried to better assimilate into the Roman society turning away from her Gothic traditions. Capitalizing on this resentment, Theodohad mounted a coup against her, but much to his dismay, she had fled upon a ship securing much of her family's wealth and the Ostorogothic treasury to the Court of Emperor Justinian. Justinian whom had been on friendly terms with the Gothic queen had offered her refuge and granted her an estate in the Roman territory where she took up residence. Gaining another casus beli, Emperor Justinian launched the invasion of Italy, beginning the Second of the many series of wars of Reconquests. Officially Justinian had used the casus beli of restoring the rightful Ostrogothic Queen, but as his actions later demonstrate, he never had any intention of restoring Amalasuantha.
Theodohad now facing the full brunt of the Roman invasion, and a largely depleted treasury thanks to the caution of Amalasuntha, had found himself in a tough position. Now without sufficient funds to raise a proper army, Theodohad now had to put pressure upon the Ostrogothic nobility to help support a defense against the Roman onslaught. Theodohad was also facing other problems on his own as the Patriarch of Rome, Pope Sergius who had seen the way the wind was blowing, began openly supporting the Romans and agitating the Arian heresy practiced by the Goth. Simultaneously Roman revolts had broke out against Ostrogothic rule, and many cities threw open their gates to the Romans. Other nobles disgruntled by the leadership of Theodohad, and those loyal to Amalasuntha soon defected to the Romans which ensured that their positions as part of the new Italian aristocracy were secure.
Thanks to the ongoing Sassanid War with the Hephthalites, the Romans could now turn their full focus Westward. The Romans thus were able to quite easily steamroll the Ostrogoths thanks to Emperor Justinian being able to send more reinforcements to the West allowing for the Romans to reincorporate long lost regions like Pannonia and Rhaetia back into the fold. With Italia near bloodlessly reincorporated into the fold, Emperor Justinian held a massive triumph in Constantinople. He later sent his son the young Justin II to the West where he gained experience managing Italy and was received by the Romans in a similar triumph showcasing the renewed spirit of the Romans. Of course, after the conquest of Italy was over, Amalasuntha was later found dead in her villa. Procopius in his secret history says that the Empress Theodora in a jealous rage had her strangled to death after rumors reached her ear about Amalasuntha seducing Justinian. Of course these rumors are likely gross fabrications stemming from Procopius's patrician contempt towards the Imperial Coup for the peasant origins. The real reason Amalasuntha likely was murdered was because she had outlived her political usefulness to the Romans, and they wanted to eliminate her as a potential figure for any dissenting Ostrogoths to rally around.
With the reconquests and later consolidation of the Ostrogthic Kingdom largely complete by the 540's, Emperor Justinian focused his attention on the Romans' old foe, the Visigoths. As the Visigoths were nominal subjects of the Roman Emperor, ruling Hispania and Southern Gaul in the Emperor's name, he called for the Visigothic King to officially swear fealty to him and pay taxes. The Visigothic King predictably refused and thus Emperor Justinian invaded fully bringing Hispaniae to the fold as the local Ibero-Romans and Gallo-Romans welcomed the Romans with opens arms. Seeking to save their state, the Visigoths allied to the Franks, but their hopes were dashed by Caesar Justin II's crushing the Frankish army at the battle of Toulouse where the Frankish King and the main Frankish army was destroyed. This threw the Frankish Kingdom into chaos as it fell into civil war. For his actions, Justin II was granted the title of Francicus Maximus by his father.
Meanwhile in the East Khosrau I having concluded his war with the Hephthalites, and growing concerned by the possibility of a resurgent Roman Empire, tried invading the Empire in the East. But his army was defeated by the combined tacitical genius of General Belisarius and Justin II. This crushing victory, earned the Romans control over the Caucuses where the Romans carved out client states securing the invasion route into Persia and gaining secure buffer states.
In the distant North in the lands of Britannia, the region had been thrown into anarchy following the Roman withdrawal from the region saw Britannia break up into a collection of petty warring Kingdoms, and in the power vaccum, the Saxons invaded. Though in the year 511, thanks to the efforts of a Romano-Celtic nobleman Artorius, known by the Briton legends as Artorius Rex (The first King of the Britons). Though after the battle of Mount Badon, the Britions were unable to capitalize on their victory and broke up into various petty warring states once again, until the rise of King Vortimerius I who forcibly reunited all the petty states once again where he went on to drive out the remaining Saxon enclaves in the East retaking Londonium, where he established his new capital upon crowning himself Rex Totius Britanniae (King of all Britanniae).
What do you guys think of this map? I'm thinking of writing a Justinian timeline in the future after I finish up the first part of my Eastern Roman Timeline: The House of Komnenos, Like a Phoenix from the Ashes.
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Nice map! I like the way the red of the empire mixes with the terrain.
Please do, I've not seen many Justinian TLs.
Slight nitpick: Shouldn't this be Ostrogoths? The Lombards would not invade Italy until after Justinian's death.
I would think, based on my understanding of coastal erosion that the Holderness (East Yorkshire Coast) would keep eroding down to the Humber which would keep flowing and probably have an even bigger estuary in this TL. Lincolnshire would keep spreading out towards Norfolk and you might start seeing a delta effect due to a large amount of sediment clogging the Humber Estuary.
Historically the Islands in the North Sea would act as a good base for Roman expeditions around Britain in the 1st century AD. Before that either Celts or pre-IE people inhabited the islands. Maybe the Iceni could've reached them and established a rump state on the Isles. After the 500s these isles are overran by Angles though and in the 800s by Norsemen both of whom have a lasting impact on the culture, language and genetics of the Isles.
I finally figured out how to use the overlay feature on Paint.net.
Me too. I was initially leaning towards writing a Justinian era self-insert fic, but now I'm leaning towards a timeline.
Whoops! Thanks for pointing that out! I'll correct that error soon.
Martinus Padueius
Banned
Above water doggerland butterflies all of European prehistory, and maybe even human evolution itself given climatic effects.
Incredible work. And a nice wank without being ridiculously so.
I'm curious - with so much of the Western Empire restored, would the Latin-speaking-and-accultured regions of the Empire ensure Latin once more becomes an equal to Greek in terms of importance or even the OVERALL identity for the Empire? Would an "ethnic Roman" identity based on Italian blood and culture begin to reign in Italy and eventually the Western Empire the way there were both ethnic Greeks but also Hellenized-in-culture-but-not-blood regions/peoples in control of the Eastern Empire (think of Greeks versus hellenized Armenians or Syriacs, say)?
This world also may very well see the Roman Empire becoming an 'eternal' state a la the Chinese Empire, one of those things like Toynbee's universal states or the "civilization-state" concept floating around.
What did you base the election results on? Some of the results in New Hampshire look a little strange to me. For example, I can't imagine the Dover-Rollinsford-Sommersworth district would ever vote for a conservative candidate. That area hasn't voted for a conservative president since the 80s. Conversely, I'm not 100% sure that the Portsmouth-Greenland-Etc. district would vote for the Progressive Party. Portsmouth definitely would, but that district also includes some much more conservative areas like Rye and New Castle.
How did you come up with the voting districts? Again, I'm most familiar with New Hampshire, so that's what I'm looking at in particular. As I suggest above, they look a bit like several townships mashed together for each district.
Anyway, good work!
Thanks! I was just outlining the maximum possible extent to which Justinian could realize his ambitions had things gone his way. In otl what hampered his reconquest was the plague, and later the lack of a proper male heir to leave the throne to. Justinian likely would have been more cautious if he had a son to leave the Empire to as he likely would have been more focused on leaving a stable empire for his descendants. He might also work to put more effort into founding his dynasty especially when it would be his direct descendant inheriting the throne. Justin I practically treated the young Justinian as the son he never had, and put in a ton of effort into giving him the best education money could buy. Theodora would also likely push for this with her son as well.
Latin was already was the main language in the West. over 1,000 years after the Fall of the Western Empire. Latin was the prestige language in Europe and was spoken primarily by the nobles. The other regions of the former Western Roman Empire, were already Latin speaking, but because of political fragmentation and the collapse of urbanization, people became isolated. All the other regional dialects of Vulgar Latin (what the common people spoke) developed into the various Romance languages we all know. Though because travel and communication was limited, there weren't really unified languages that developed. An example would be modern French which is basically Parisian French. Parisian French was basically what the old Kings spoke as they were based in France following the foundation of the Capetian monarchy. Even still there were other various dialects/subgroups like Occitan, Picard, Gascogne, Arpitan, Norman, Burgundian, etc.
Here with the most of the Roman and Latin speaking world reunited under one polity, the development of Latin will follow a more unified development. Of course there are bound to be some more variations in dialects, but these should be all mutually intelligible to each other. Modern Romance Languages have a high degree of mutual intelligibility with each other much like the various South Slavic languages. Because Francia is more closely tied to the Roman world, the Franks would likely be Romanized faster as the Gallo-Roman population ruled by the Franks would look to the wider Roman world as the cultural leader.
Still because the capital of the Empire is centered in the East, the Empire would very much be a bilingual state where Latin and Greek are used. Though because the West was relatively undamaged here, it would likely still be used in a more official capacity in the East as well due to the political continuity of the Roman state.
The "ethnic" identity of Romans being of Italy is largely anachronistic viewpoint largely fueled by 19th and 20th century nationalism and from misinformation from Hollywood and pop culture which only focus on the Roman Empire during the Classical Era where it very much was an Italian centered Empire. The Roman dominate is a mere footnote in pop culture consciousness while the Eastern Empire is all but ignored. As other provinces were incorporated into the Empire, the peoples in the Empire became Romanized over the many centuries of Roman rule. The local languages spoken alongside Latin led to the various Romance languages emerging. Even after the fall of the West there still was a "Roman" identity present among the population. This was why Charlemagne's coronation was a big deal at the time. Plus even in Charlemagne's day, in what's now Southern France/Aquitaine there was a distinct Gallo-Romance identity present that considered itself distinct from their Frankish overlords.
By Justinian's day there were Gallo-Romans, Romano-Britons, Afro-Romans, Ibero-Romans, Illyro-Romans, Thraco-Romans, etc. Many of Rome's significant Emperors like Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine were Romano-Illyrians and were seen as Romans by the population. Justinian himself was of a Thraco-Roman background where his family was of a generally more Latin speaking background. The Senatorial aristocracy which traditionally held contempt for the provincials became increasingly irrelevant after Trajan who himself was from Hispania. As the Empire grew more, it evolved from being a collection of various realms that served the economic interests of Italy, and more of united realm where all the provinces were integrated, and the peoples of the wider provinces were seen as just as Roman as a person born in Rome itself.
Greek had been the lingua franca of the East since Alexander, and as it became more divorced from the West, its politics and administration became more Greek centric as that was the main tongue of trade, and communication in the Eastern Mediterranean. Though other languages like Egpytian Coptic, and Aramean still existed and were spoken alongside Greek. Justinian's last volume of his codex was actually published in Greek as opposed to Latin which shows the historical shift towards Greek in place as Justinian's reign was largely a transition from the Classical to the Early Middle Ages.
Then again with a successful Justinian, this development is reversed/arrested as Roman culture remains intact in the West. And because Rome is ruling both the Latin West, and Greek East, both languages will still be alive and well. I think for a parallel for the development of Latin, something akin to Koine Greek might develop for Latin out of Classical Latin, as Language over the centuries and millennia are prone to changes.
It already was in otl. The concept of the Universal Empire in Europe was stemmed from the Roman Empire. Even after the Second Rome fell in 1453, Russia proclaimed itself the Third Rome.
In the West the HRE was seen as the legitimate continuation of the Western Empire by its contemporaries. The HRE after the 15th century was vastly different beast to the HRE at its height in the Middle Ages when it actually was an Empire and debatably Roman (more of a parallel to the Western Empire rather than as an actual successor). The Holy part was only added during the reign of the Hohenstaufens in the 11th/12th century to specify its independence from the Pope. The purpose of the HRE was to provide order and some sense of political order/hegemony in Western Christendom in the way the Western Empire did. The HRE was seen as the universal Empire. This was why the title of Emperor was not pursued by anyone as it was associated by Rome. Russia seeing itself as a successor to the Eastern Empire took the Imperial Title of Tsar/Czar. Czar translates to Caesar in Russian while in the HRE Kaiser is the Germanic equivalent to Caesar.
But with a surviving Roman Empire, it would likely be seen by later historians as a parallel state to China in terms of development especially since Latin culture is more unified here and avoids the fragmentation of otl.
@Basileus_Komnenos interesting scenario.
Romano-Celtic should be Romano-Britton(ic) since noone included the Isles as part of Celticness until the Victorians.
And while Artorius is an acceptable relatinisation of Arthur's name (I lean towards the Arcturus root btw) Vortimerius seems odd. What's it supposed to be a latinisation of?
Romano-Celtic should be Romano-Britton(ic) since noone included the Isles as part of Celticness until the Victorians.
And while Artorius is an acceptable relatinisation of Arthur's name (I lean towards the Arcturus root btw) Vortimerius seems odd. What's it supposed to be a latinisation of?
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I'm overall much more satisfied with this map (I found a better base map and didn't have to deal with any pixelation issues like I did with the previous base map), but admit it's very much a WIP: I would like to add the subdivisions to the United Provinces at some point, and still feel like Perú's color could be more distinct. I'm going to miss the clearer demarcation of where the UP's authority in the Chaco region thins out, so I may add it back in as I work on its internal subdivisions, but at the point I'm leaning more towards the possibility of having it filled in with a lighter color and including the borders of the future provinces.
So here we are, 10 years in: the United Provinces obviously have managed to not just secure their position, but in fact push their eastern border a bit further to their advantage with Brazil's loss of the Misiones Orientales. Its successful defense of the Alto Perú has had dramatic consequences for the independence wars: the royalists are forced to flee to a last bastion to the north, instead of fighting on from Bolivia for years IOTL. This means two things: Perú's liberation goes a lot smoother, happening both sooner and more swiftly while being spared several years of costly warfare (so costly it would bolster royalists ranks due to lack of payment for its troops twice); but Quito's defenses are a lot stronger, making it a considerably more formidable redoubt.
This turns Ecuador into a huge flashpoint: IOTL, it was liberated in 1821-22 with help from Gran Colombia, but its 200-man intervention won't be enough ITTL, since there are now some 10,000 royalists garrisoned in Quito. They could also theoretically threaten Guayaquil, but most of them have just limped into the city after a desperate retreat through hostile territory, so they're not in any shape to do so just yet. But the threat exists, so Guayaquil is going to ask for help to everyone willing to listen, which includes the UP ITTL.
But the 1820s are also going to see the United Provinces and Chile pushing south now: Chile's conquest of Chiloe is the result of a generally less acrimonious civil war, meaning that its relations with the Mapuches to its south haven't soured quite as badly as OTL; while the United Provinces can now turn their navy's attention to consolidating its control of the Atlantic Coast at least as far south as Carmen de Patagones (and it'll be setting up outposts further south too), with demobilizing veterans leading the charge into the south of the pampas.
1821 is going to be quite a turning point as well, with the imminent collapse of Spanish authority - even if it's essentially only symbolic at this point - in Central America that's coming up. But in general, the region is considerably more peaceful than IOTL: the South American Wars of Independence are all but finished everywhere but in Ecuador, Chile and the union of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay have been spared decades of civil war between them, and Perú won't have to spend the first several years of its existence "re" conquering its south.
Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
A less disruptive transition to independence for Latin America could have some very interesting knock on effects.
I presume Brazil is still a monarchy?
I presume Brazil is still a monarchy?
Yep, it's still the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves at least until 1822. But trouble is brewing there as well, as liberal rebellions spread across Iberia in the beginning of the 1820s.
An alternative version of northern South America, where Trinidad remains a peninsula, then Brazil remains a royalty and not British Guiana, since Trinidad has not separated from the continent, the British will have no more interest in coveting the mouths of the Orinoco.
A second version here:
A second version here:
Oh, and an incredibly detailed reply. I'm gonna pay attention to this timeline with glee when it's made.
Everything you pointed out in terms of culture versus ethnicity is of course correct - I tend to narrow in too much on ethnicity versus merely acculturated at times - but in this case your talks are very relevant with the integration of an Italian/Latin-dominated Empire becoming genuinely Romanic overall through economic integration and immigration. You cut to my question's root anyway and that a unified Western Empire will keep "Latinity" more unified in language and culture without so much of OTL's fragmentations, so I have no shame conceding it was probably too simple a question otherwise.
The US States of New England, Columbia, and Dixie - From my timeline called "Freedom Rings"
I had to post it to Imgur again, as it is too big (also including the Reddit post)
Imgur Link: Reddit Link:
I had to post it to Imgur again, as it is too big (also including the Reddit post)
Imgur Link: Reddit Link:
alt-geography happened to it, I wanted Alabama to have its eastern border go straight down, and I felt the best way to achieve that was with alt-geography (if you look at Bermuda, and close enough at Rhode Island, you'll see some other differences).
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