Map Thread XXI
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Damn, what's up with Maryland? Is it under some form of brutal dictator?
Guys I think he gets it.
Iirc I think we just set a POD for the game and went nuts after that.
's on a private server. Admittedly the project petered out after awhile (I was there at the start and it finished probably a few months later).
Had to double check--something along the lines of "a republic believing in the principles behind the French Cult of Reason"--although the Cult itself was disbanded(?). Again, it's been a minute, sorry for the lack of clarity!
[50+ Likes] Snowfall (an Earth with an ice age), by Marsby2024orbust
SNOWFALL
Over the course of the previous eras, the world has undergone a sweeping transformation, initially it's creeping nature would ensure that it would remain under the notice of most, but it would not be wholly so. Accumulating flocks from all corners of the world came to perceive the seeming ebbing of the seas and remarked of the equivocal nature of the developments, and with their various rationalities cited innumerous reasons for such an inconspicuous occurrence, but for all this was conveyed with the sensation of an augury portending an impending shift that would forever alter the ways of all life in the world. Hereafter, the changes that it brought unveiled the appreciable gamut of the picture. Where there were once itinerant bands, small communities and grazing herds in the desolate pastures that spanned the breadth of the polar regions, now left behind are destitute fields as the regional climate began to slanter towards one much arid and less hospitable for life. Where broad and imposing seas once lied, now form new lands upheaved from beneath the waves. The once seemingly solitary ice sheets crescively engorged and subsumed vicinal demesnes, the deserts brought neighboring areas into their sere embrace and the arboraceous wealds that once enveloped regions, evanesced into vast pediplains and grasslands.
From which these unforeseen instances unfolded, sprang the events that shaped the world into what it is in the present day. The whole of Arabia was brought under the heel of a unified state as the Arabs were brought together under a single banner, until the innumerous clans that had resided on the northern periphery of the Huaxian[1] states were confederated together by power of the sword and began to lay for the foundations of the later Grand Khaganate. Occurring the same period, Yamato[2] mariners, carried away in search of a new route that would lead to Indian ports[3], made landfall on the brisk shores of a vast new land crowned with silver-tipped mountains and dissected by numerous, steep-sided stream valleys. New ideas and theories formed the crux of new social movements that would come to sweep through the world. Where an assemblage of multifaceted bureaucrats exchanged their opinions in the corridors of the city of Zhao's chancellery, reviewing the idea of coalescing the Zhao Union states into a single polity. The time arrived when industrialization had been fully realized with the ignition of fiery blast furnaces and for it's benefits provided for the consistent rise of the standards of living in the nations.
Though the development of industrialization had brought its own downsides, starting with the contamination of the environment and onset of the large-scale emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, though almost promptly efforts were done to mediate the former and public awareness of the effects of the latter would surface in contemporary times. War had come a long way in the world prior to the Deluge, where barrages of arrows discharged from crossbows once defined the frontlines of centuries prior, now maelstroms of projectiles and bombardments of ordnance have become the norm. While aircraft soared through the skies above, the inroads of novel mechanized infantry descended unto the frontlines on the ground. With these technological developments set in mind, the next great conflict that would occur would undoubtedly involve unprecedented scales unseen in previous eras, and that formidable conflict would soon arrive in the form of the Great Asian Deluge, which would come to eclipse much of the Eurasian continent.
The Deluge itself was the culmination of tensions accrued between broad conflicting alliances through the decades, and ultimately discharged in mass destruction. What had started as a brewing conflict between an antecedent power on the continent and a rising force on the political stage, came dreadful forewarnings and not long after, in the following year, the onset of a conflict that would forever reshape the continent. The superseding years would later come to be defined by lamentable havoc and harrowing atrocities. In the span of a few years the Grand Khanate, the antecedent great power on the continent, had fallen asunder and not long their extensive alliance held aloft by the Rhomanians[4], Panchanadans[5] and Yamato had met a similar fate. In the case of the Grand Khanate, while it's sheer breadth of territory ensured that it did not come entirely occupied by inroads of enemy forces, once their walls were torn down the coercions of an internal seizure of power from the leadership would effectively bring it to its knees. When the Grand Khanate and its allies dispersed to the four winds, the Central State and their now ascendant compact composed of the Empire of Bhangla, the Harmonious Fraternity of Tieshan, and Farighunid Persia emerged as the victorious cause from the ashes of the Deluge.
In the intermediate period between the end of the Deluge and the present day, and perhaps an inevitable facet of destiny, the compact of nations that had overturned the Deluge in their favor, collapsed and began to chart their own courses in history. One of many that arose from the ashes of the deluge was the One Sky Union, which in its many ways was the descendant of the Zhao Union, though that is where the similarities end. Where the Zhao Union once came to encompass Dai Viet along with the Huaxian and Goryean[6] states, the One Sky Union now oversees an area stretching from the boreal forests of Sibur[7], the intersecting river valleys of Ferghana, to the great xeric deserts that compose of Tansela's[8] interior, in any case overshadowing its predecessor in sheer scale and breadth. Once the OSU had solidified it's grasp on the world that had emerged from the Deluge, it began to emphasize the primacy of dialogue in the state of continental and overseas affairs, along with positioning itself as the bulwark of a more stable and serene political order.
Known for their intricate systems of examinations and dedication to the ideals of meritocracy, civil service and a state-centered approach to economics, the Central State is the face of the One Sky Union to the rest of the world. From the malodorous and sprawling city of Zhao[9] where millions of commoners come to call home, to the towering edifices that stipple the antique citadels scattered throughout the region, the sweeping modern road systems that have evolved from dated pavements, and the interior vestibules of the imposing rotundas that echo with the hushed whispers of bureaucrats, the Central State is a nation of many faces, and speak with innumerous tongues. Nonetheless, the Central State sees the One Sky Union as the forerunner of a new beginning in the region, one that would not come to be defined by constant division and conflict. If there is one such thing that the Central State is renowned for, one could confidently state that it would be it's far-reaching ambitions.
Lying to the southern perimeter of the Central State is the nation of Great Pyu. While the old monarchy has long since dissipated into the annals of history, having been torched by the inferno of revolution, it is now supplanted by a more abiding state of which now stands in its place. Where a brilliant spattering of Buddhist temples once defined the affluence of the Great Pyu, now are air-conditioned spires forged from steel and hardened glass that loom far above the heads of most. The burgeoning 5 Great Cities of Pyu, though in contemporary times notorious for its cloak of industrial brume, is where the foundations of the modern Pyu state were placed centuries prior, and additionally the cradle of most of the continent's towering megacorporations, of which are large contributors to the nation's affluence. In a sizable number of the countries in One Sky Union, products and commodities that don "Made in Pyu" stamps have maintained a hegemony on shelves.
In the lands that once bore the name of Dwipantara, known in venerable epochs to have previously been a constellation of a dozen cays, isles and landforms that were separated by a vast sea, is the state of Wiratamanegara. The Dwipantara was once the stage for the numerous endeavors constructed on the orders of revered monarchs and conducted on the actions of regional hierarchs, though none were capable to materialize their envisioned goals of bringing these sundered lands under a single state, and so Wiratamanegara is the vestige of the latest effort of such. Although Wiratamanegara's government takes the form of a monarchy, it is a peculiar one that hasn't seen the coronation of a potentate in the span of a decenniad, and so in the place of a solitary crown is substituted with a regency council comprised of an quincunx arrangement of officials.
Crossing into the lands that lay south of the Dwipantara, the nation of Kungara emerges into perspective. A product of Dwipantaran intrusions and ventures in Tansela, the beginnings of Kungara itself as a nation lies in the initial furor of Dwipantaran economic interest that followed the initial discovery of the continent of Tansela by mariners of whom were blown off-course and subsequently made landfall on it's shores. The reaches that would compose Kungara were astir with activity and trade between the indigenous peoples and the Dwipantaran traders that sought their commodities. Though conflicts were not unheard of and the initial contact between Dwipantarans and Tanselans would prove to be disastrous for the former. Kungara developed as an viaduct between two cultural spheres, and would find it's successes in grasping the numerous pre-existing states into its fold. In contemporary times, it is renowned for its colorful cuisine, cultural refinement and opulent mining industries that furnished much of the nation's wealth.
Skirting the eastern margins of the boundless Azure Ocean, on the other side of the world lay the Harmonious Fraternity of Tieshan. The discovery of the continent of Tieshan by pelagic Yamato mariners on their nautical coracles from across the breadth of the Azure Ocean was superseded by the accentuating of prolonged contact of indigenous groups and the surveying of hinterlands beyond the coasts. With the deepening of trade ties between the two sides of the Azure Ocean, transmitted along such were plagues that terrified the peoples most woefully, novel armaments that permitted new forms of aegis and organization, along with equus and forms of political statecraft from across the shores beyond the sunrise. Yet, it was from this laid the beginnings of a new state, first arising among the itinerant bands that populated the hinterlands, but substantially grew to encompass the modest trade ports and forts that straddle the coast, a state under a single banner that referred to itself as a "harmonious fraternity of peoples of the land". Hereafter, it would extend its roots further and too come to encompass the peoples of the scarped interior afield.
Lying in the penumbra of the One Sky are the Bhangla, the descendants of the gallivanting Bama from the hither north, the flocks of such arrived in raids and settled in the valleys and fertile lowlands of the region. The newly arrived Bama would intermingle with the local population, cultivating a new cultural identity that would come to define contemporary Bhangla. Over the course of the next hundred years since these first arrivals, small principalities emerged and not a few empires surfaced that had projected their power over much of the Gangetic Plain. In these periods of its history, abound are intervals of the subjugation of faraway lands, and as such many such areas saw integration as components of the Bhangla nation, which made a lasting cultural impact on these regions and their peoples. In contemporary times, other than the host to one of the great vehicles of contemporary Buddhist faith, Bhangla plays a major role in the fluctuating political dynamics of the Indian subcontinent and the affairs of their descended overseas colonies.
In the peninsular reaches of the Indian subcontinent, reigns the states of the Confederation of Manavyasagotra and the Cenni Vaccalate[10], and following closely are the continental member states of the Great Mandala of the 4 Seas. The Cenni Vaccalate, renowned throughout the subcontinent for it's intricate and sizable systems of plebiscites which are the receiver of millions of cacophonic voices, hosts the confluence of the Great Mandala. The Great Mandala is a supranational sodality that has its roots in a resuscitated period of exploration by the Deccan states followed by economic engagement with far flung lands, with the corollaries of such manifesting in the propagation and flowering of Hinduism in these areas, particularly in Africa and Tansela where it has arduously syncretized and molded into numerous new forms. The Great Mandala itself has been forged on the bonds of trade and commerce, though by contemporary times it is now whole as a political and defensive bulwark that spans the seas and estuaries.
Observing from afar the variable dynamics of the Indian subcontinent is the Empire of Iranians. Standing sumptuously upon it's gains reaped from the Deluge, the Persians have largely remained free from the meddlings of both the One Sky and the Cooperative, instead choosing it's way to carve its own independent sphere of influence, known as the Sublime Shamshir. The vibrant and expansive Persian state is overseen by the ruling Farighunid dynasty, with the incumbent Shahanshah wielding significant authority over the pre-established legislatures along with assuming the guardianship of the Atar, the sacred fire. While Zoroastrianism was established as the official state religion, other existing faiths have been largely tolerated. Though besides it's exports of milk, silk and minerals, the Persian state has undertaken a number of pioneering projects, from the rolling channels and conduits that dissect the alluvial plains of Mesopotamia, to the irrigated fields of high yielding grains and cereals of Central Asia. Persevering, the pyres have remained flickering.
Lying to the southern boundaries of Arabia is the Yahrid Kingdom of Saba, of which is an absolute monarchy. The Yahrid dynasty had its roots in the dissolution of the unified Arab state of yore, which initially had brought most of Arabia under their heel, before succumbing to internal conflicts. In the internecine period of conflict that followed, the Yahrid dynasty was subsequently founded by a minor Sabaean prince by the name of Abu Yahri'sh following his arrival in the region of Hadramawt. Although a seemingly insignificant figure at the time, once the situation began to rapidly escalate and deteriorate, the prince successfully rallied the masses under his banner and in the process had brought much of South Arabia under his thumb. The contemporary Yahrids, for all their absolute dictates, has pulled the nation into the Ethiopian sphere, which was largely done in part to spite the Persian-aligned state of Mazoon to it's north. Apart from its extensive Jewish community, Saba is one of the great centers of Saalihinism[11], or the Righteous Path, a major religious movement.
Straddling the spine of the Nile is the Empire of Khemet, or known by its numerous exonyms, is the prevailing force that is driving the Cooperative forwards, and the most widely recognizable face that represents it to the rest of the world. Khemet still retains a pharaoh as it's head of state, though the absolute position of the pharaoh prevalent in previous eras has largely been diminished to a nominal ceremonial one in contemporary times and likewise the pharaoh is still seen as a prevailing symbol of the unity of the people of Khemet. Otherwise, Khemet is renowned for its prominent cairns and edifices constructed in previous eras of it's history that dot the amplitude of the Nile and beyond that are visited by flocks of tourists each passing year. Other than being renowned as the birthplace of the vibrant Middle Seas Cooperative and one of the most developed regions in Europe, Khemet is a major cultural power in the region, with its exports of literature, plates of cuisine and the blaring broadcasts of radio shows and various forms of animated media[12].
From the foliage of evergreens of the rugged ranges and inclined peaks that dot the length of the Atlas mountains, to the lonely bristly furzes and boulders that are occasionally passed by caravans crossing the xeric tracts of the Libyan desert, to the urbanized sprawl of the metropoles, and the crystal blue waters of the Atlantic, the Agellidom of Mauretania reveals itself as one of the great centers of the eastern dichotomy of the Mediterranean Sea. Mauretania is renowned for its chaabi folk music, beautiful botanical gardens, and communal agadirs most prominent on the ighreman of the exurbs. Mauretania largely exports chemical fertilizers, wheat, automobiles and a wide array of aquaculture products. On another unrelated case, Mauretania is the conceiver of the gallant quinquennial Eurodyssey peripatetic floating cultural festival that peregrinates through the major port cities of the Cooperative in the span of a month. Eurodyssey is usually accompanied by a songwriting competition broadcasted on live television and radio, in which voting is used as a mechanism to determine a victor.
In the eastern margins of the Mediterranean, facing against the currents of the Atlantic, is the Consulate of Hispathen. One of the notable states that can trace its origins to the chaotic period that followed the demise of the Roman state and subsequent migrations, with the notable imposing domus and insulae that date to this chapter of its history have endured to the present day. The history of Hispathen itself primarily began when a phalanx of East Germanic tribes crossed the river Hiber and subsequently settled in the peninsula. Following soon after their arrival, this bevy of peoples consolidated their presence over the region, and laid the foundations for a distinct Hispathenian identity centered around a fusion of pre-existing norms and the influx of otherwise foreign values from the arrivals. Though the tokens of a reigning monarchy were eventually replaced by decline, upheaval and subsequent substitution by a consulate decades before the present. Nonetheless, the Consulate of Hispathen is otherwise characterized by its political system primarily derived from the widespread Indian vaccalates.
Persisting in the world following the Deluge is the Rhomanian State, the locum tenens of the late Rhomanian Empire. As the inferno of the Deluge abated in Europe, what was once the Rhomanian Empire was subsequently swept under the joint occupation on the behalf of a contingency of nations that consisted of Khemet, Mauretania and Persia. The former regions of Italia were spun off as sovereign states while the regions of Judaea, Africa and Mesopotamia were integrated into Khemet, Mauretania and Persia respectively. Created on top of the ashes of its predecessor, the nascent Rhomanian State was made a vital component of the Middle Seas Cooperative. In contemporary times, Rhomania is once more a prominent political and economic center in Europe. To the farther north, the pluralistic 25 Arrows Confederation shines, a splinter of the late Grand Khanate. Until recently, the formerly neutral Confederation had been granted observer status in the affairs of the Middle Seas Cooperative, and if their recent application for full membership is accepted, it could mark a paradigm shift in the area.
Following upstream along the length of the Nile eventually leads to the ancient nation of Ethiopia. The contemporary Ethiopian Empire hails descent from the Aksumites of antiquity. From the polychromatic frescoes that line the walls of immemorial monolithic churches, towering hawelti and the hoar and crumbling podia of dilapidated Aksumite palaces, it is renowned in contemporary times for its textiles, agricultural commodities and lustrous minerals. Although the land that contemporary Ethiopia resides in is more arid and denuded than it was during the Aksumite era, there is not a lacuna of substantial afforestation initiatives and other such national projects that aim to contain and countermand the looming specter of desertification. Though coterminous with such efforts are the creation of large desalination facilities, with their power sourced from Ethiopian fissile power plants. Besides the physical, as part of a two-party agreement with Khemet there is the implementation of a nationwide distributed network that transmits files and messages, though it is primarily reserved for academic and defense usage. What the future has in store for this digital venture has yet to be seen.
Following the East African coast further south from the kritarchies of the Somali peninsula, one can find the thriving and vibrant ports of the Union of Zinchia. Known as Zingium and Azania in antiquity, the coasts of what would be known as Zinchia were host to the activities between the merchants that hail from the various corners of the Indian Ocean and the Bantu communities that were built along the coast. This multilateral exchange between entities eventually culminated with the development of the distinct Zinchian culture, which in words can be described as a unique composite of Indian, Arab and Persian worlds built on top of a Bantu substrate. In contemporary times the ports and waters of the metropolitan Greater Zinchia thrum more thoroughly than ever and the current Union of Zinchia is now an exporter of coffee, gold and pharmaceuticals. A wide range of faiths exists within the nation, from the Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations of Hinduism which compose a majority, Theravada Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, traditional faiths and the increasingly popular Saalihinism.
In West Africa, the Union of the Great River stands as it's preeminent power. The Union itself is largely the bulwark of an emergent line of revolutionary thought that has emerged from the ashes of the former Yaresna Empire and much of the region was subsequently congregated under the fraternal West African Mutual Assistance Compact, or WAMAC for short. The story of the Union begins with the onset of a commodious torrid drought that would linger in the area for years[13]. As the sections of the country deflagrated, the sodden mires of the wetlands cracked open and the once plentiful harvests became barren. The Yaresna Empire, already positioned at a nadir prior to the aridity, were subsequently and swiftly toppled by a popular revolt ignited by the lower Jonw strata of the rigid caste system[14], many of whom were forcibly displaced by the great drought. Embracing the tenets of liberationist Christian theology[15] and the ideals of a decentralized economy organized on the lines of workers' councils, once the whole of the nation was fully under their sway and exurbs and conurbations hoisted the golden standard, the Union of the Great River was declared. Though the implosion of the Yaresna would subsequently provoke a Mauretanian intervention which concluded with the bifurcation of the former Wolofian state.
In the heart of the African continent, lies the Commonality of Kongo. The revolution that toppled the Yaresna Empire, which would come to be referred to as the Great Thaw, would ripple throughout the region and come to inspire a set of similar revolutions in adjacent states, laying the foundations of the later Mutual Assistance Compact. Though nowhere else where the ripples were more thoroughly felt than in the former Kingdom of Kongo. At the onset of the Great Thaw, the former Kingdom of Kongo was already deep into a spiraling recession, as typified by the upsurge of unemployment rates and the precedent decline of productivity among the labor force of the nation. This deadlock decisively proliferated into open conflict by way of an aborted attempt to depose the ruling crown that was perceived as inept, but swelled far above the capabilities of the individuals involved. The Commonality agglutinated from bevies of civic militias that promptly began seizing vital road arteries of the nation and numerous full-scale revolts of malcontent farmers and peasants that originated in the southwestern provinces. In the present day, the multifaceted Commonality which has begun to turn their gaze towards West Africa, can be best described as a municipal confederation.
On the east coast of Tieshan is the Despotate of Asaphelia and the adaxial states of the Asaphelian Commercial and Commodity Circle. Although the ruling authority of the nation of Asaphelia is naught but an autocracy, it is one that peculiarly has held resolute environmentalist sympathies. Deposited on these shores, innumerous flocks of disparate Europeans fleeing unrest and periodic upheaval and interested in economic opportunities made their way and established the foothold of a patchwork of European states in Tieshan. Conflicts would erupt between the pre-existing indigenous peoples of the land and the inroads of Europeans that expanded into the hinterlands, with bloodshed following after and culminating with appalling expulsions and liquidations. In the intervals of these periods, this patchwork of European states eventually coalesced into the unitary Despotate of Asaphelia, that in modern times renowned as the pith of an economic sphere in the region, the Asaphelian Commercial and Commodity Circle that it conceived with other European states on Tieshan. Besides, Asaphelia is renowned for forestry products, anthracite and dairy produce that form a basis of its exports.
Lying to the south of the Despotate of Asaphelia and the member states of the Commercial and Commodity Circle is the pluralistic Mansate of Keibana. The Mansate of Keibana is the preeminent power of maritime Tieshan and otherwise restrains the Asaphelians with their extensive nexuses of argosies and flotillas. Returning to continental Tieshan one would arrive at the Anahuac Union. Starting with the arrival of novel technologies that were transmitted from the coastal trading posts, the middling Nahua city-states that occupied the precipices of the interior were able to coalesce into a single centralized union of states that came to encompass the lands between seas. In contemporary times Anahuac is renowned for its imposing cuneate temples, it's exports of electronics and semiconductors and the cosmopolitan communities and blocs of the highly urbanized capital city of Cuatlatl. Though starting in recent times, it has begun to realise it's aspirations for the beyond. To the western margins of Anahuac is the Maya Confederation. It is a confederation of Mayan city-states, with a dynamic royal court and a particularly hierarchical form of government. Though renowned for its ephemeral markets that convene on specific days of the calendar.
Laying in the scarped uplands of Jinshan is the Federation of the Azure Mountains. With its origins lying in the initial contact period in the area that had provided the conditions that propelled the formerly pastoral Quechua, which formerly gallivanted the highlands and valleys of the further interior, into the dominant force in the area. In the brief period that followed after contact, a patchwork of polities gradually emerged, although this process was impeded with the transmission of diseases that ravaged the region. Further afield, the Quechua, incorporating forms of novel political statecraft and organization, began a far-reaching series of territorial expansions and by it's conclusion established the Empire of the Azure Mountains. A vibrant nation of contrasting extremes, while a monarch no longer lies at the center of the state, deposed and the contemporary Federation established, it still comes to unify the four corners that dissect the land. Shifting away from the highlands and towards the Atlantic lays a triarchy of Imazighen states. Having its roots in the initial furor of economic activity in the area which followed the landfall of West African ships on the shores of Jinshan, they are primarily the progeny of the notable throngs of Mauretanian sailors and settlers. In the present day, they are the abode of innumerable commoners.
To its south of the Federation lies the Lupaqa Empire. The Lupaqas emerged as a Aimara-speaking city-state that straddled the coasts of lake Titicaca, initially structured along the lines of a diarchy as there were two rulers that oversaw the affairs of each society, once the Lupaqas consolidated their dominance over the other numerous polities in the region, they abandoned the initial system of diarchy and instead opting in favor of a coordinated absolute monarchy that would endure towards the present day. Once in motion, the nascent Lupaqa Empire initiated a prolonged period of militaristic expansion and conquest under the command of the ruling monarch, culminating with the peaks of the southern spine of the Azure Mountains hoisting the prominent prismatic banner. In the modern era, they are renowned for their exports of vogue awayus, aquaculture and ores. To the downstream of both the Federation and the Lupaqa, is the Concordium of Xingu, which emerged as a confederation that prominently links together the autochthonous peoples of the Xingu basin. Forming centuries prior as bulwark against perceived external threats, in these contemporary times they oversee the vestiges of a once spacious green expanse, and fulfill whatever measures are required to preserve it.
Descending from an colony founded decades after the initial landfall of the first mariners on their coracles from West Africa, the nation of Teepunwara has been founded as the seat of an exiled branch of sovereigns that had conducted an exodus from across the sea in an abscond from the face of strife and rebellion. Teepunwara itself can be described as a political entity structured on the lines of municipalities, notably with each such municipality possessing autonomous status along with its territory of it's own, a recognized name, and functional political systems of decision-making where both male and female Teepunwarans were able to partake in. To the southern ends of Jinshan are the Chiefdoms of the Great Green. The itinerant peoples of the clement prairies, driven by necessities sprouted from changing conditions, had begun to organize and meld together under political structures that have continuously been compared to by foreign circles as peculiarly analogous to the khanates of the Eurasian steppe.
Pinned in the xeric intramural of Tansela is the Alliance of Kati Thanda. A fluidious propinquity bound together by external contiguities, the Alliance arose from an initial ad hoc coalition of the Arabana, Dhirari, Wangkangurru and Dieri ethnic groups of the interior hinterlands that would subsequently subsume numerous flocks of vicinal ethnic groups into its echelons as the nascent Alliance initiated a bout of external expansion into the vicinal areas of Kati Thanda effectuated by necessities and by its immediate terminus would encompass a vast portion of the whole breadth of the Tansela. Its official name is primarily derived from an Arabana endonym for an endorheic inland sea where the initial contrivers of the Alliance lay adjacent. In the current era, the Alliance is renowned for its economic exports of valuable mineral commodities such as precious metals and agricultural fertilizers, along with its culinary arts. Though for the current time being, the collective heads of the Alliance heeds their concentrated efforts to conceivably make the deserts bloom.
Located within the southern margins of the Azure Ocean is the manifold Southern Seas Synod and their constituent member states that are distributed in the pelagic expanse of the Azure Ocean. A convocation of peoples, the Synod is an integrated supranational organization established on the basis of mutual cooperation and more or less collective security, though the purposes of the Synod also comes to extend towards the lines of economic development and trade. Turning to individual polities, one of the more prominent heads of the Synod is the Hapunate of Aotearoa, which adheres to a distinctive political system centered around rule by an administering coalition of hapu or clans, though each unit of hapu operates autonomously from its iwi or tribe. In essence, a hapunate is a system of governance defined by familial bonds. The affairs of the Southern Seas Synod in Tansela are primarily dominated by the burgeoning Confederation of the Three Tributaries and the Queendom of Iutruwita. Though on the greater world stage, for the Southern Seas Synod their strength is not derived individually, but primarily together as a collective.
In regards to the wider state of the world, the field of technology has advanced a considerable distance in the world that was shaped from concomitants of the Deluge. Where the limits of the firmament have been surpassed, where engineers in pressurized suits come to traverse the powdered surface of the moon, where a gonfalon glimmers on the rusted surface of the red planet and autonomous vessels cross paths with the great giants. Where promising developments in virtual space have opened opportunities for commercial use and where a single micro-particle weapon can easily annihilate an entire city. Yet for all the apparent tranquil emanations that the contemporary world has to offer for an uninformed observer, it is an inordinately skewed perspective that neglects the continuous upheavals and turbulence that the polities of the world currently confront. Once more the imminence and perils of a changing climate grip the world, though for this instance it is done at the hands of man itself and it is one that arose from the emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases into oceans and atmosphere. Immediate coordinated efforts have promptly been carried out to curtail contemporary climate change and avert the potentially irreversible environmental devastation as a consequence of such. Perhaps beyond various rationalities, if there exists a universally agreed consensus over the prognoses of the succeeding era, it would be the sensation of an impending climax, that once more the ways of all life will forever change.
[1] China
[2] Japan
[3] By then, the seas had already fallen low enough that the straits of Malaya were effectively closed. This has it's butterflies, such as the forestalling the demise of the Funan for a few decades. Though running parallely at the time was the expansion of the Pyu and another series of wars for the unification of the Dwipantara had emerged. Additionally, the Grand Khanate began to take shape at around this time.
[4] A standardized exonym for the former Eastern Roman Empire.
[5] A large nation that existed at the time and encompassed Northwestern India. It's name is derived from an archaic Sanskrit name of Punjab.
[6] Korea, of which never really managed to unify up until the formation of the Central State.
[7] Siberia
[8] Australia, Tansela being a hypocorism of "tanah selatan" (lit. "southern land")
[9] A city on the confluence of the Huai, whose namesake is a garrison commander named Zhao and founded back when the last dynasty of Huaxia fell. The namesake Zhao Union was also conceived here.
[10] Derived from Vākkāḷar, the Tamil word for electorate, a vaccalate is essentially a democracy, though one that is quite distinct to OTL's liberal democracies. Most vaccalates border on the lines of oligarchies and dominant-party democracies.
[11] This world's equivalent of Islam, though radically quite different from OTL's.
[12] Exactly what you think it is.
[13] The Sahara ITTL is more extensive than OTL, largely as a side effect of the world overall getting colder and more arid. This extends to the Namib desert as well.
[14] Historically many West African societies possessed caste systems, such as those of the Fula, Mande, Soninke, Toucouleur and many others.
[15] I should also clarify that the Yaresna Empire was indeed a Christian state in the Sahel.
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So frankly, this took a while, largely due to real life kicking my ass. This is probably one of my largest projects yet, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out in the end. Though this TL does have a PoD however, it is the 4th Millennium BC. This TL was primarily inspired by this video.
From which these unforeseen instances unfolded, sprang the events that shaped the world into what it is in the present day. The whole of Arabia was brought under the heel of a unified state as the Arabs were brought together under a single banner, until the innumerous clans that had resided on the northern periphery of the Huaxian[1] states were confederated together by power of the sword and began to lay for the foundations of the later Grand Khaganate. Occurring the same period, Yamato[2] mariners, carried away in search of a new route that would lead to Indian ports[3], made landfall on the brisk shores of a vast new land crowned with silver-tipped mountains and dissected by numerous, steep-sided stream valleys. New ideas and theories formed the crux of new social movements that would come to sweep through the world. Where an assemblage of multifaceted bureaucrats exchanged their opinions in the corridors of the city of Zhao's chancellery, reviewing the idea of coalescing the Zhao Union states into a single polity. The time arrived when industrialization had been fully realized with the ignition of fiery blast furnaces and for it's benefits provided for the consistent rise of the standards of living in the nations.
Though the development of industrialization had brought its own downsides, starting with the contamination of the environment and onset of the large-scale emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, though almost promptly efforts were done to mediate the former and public awareness of the effects of the latter would surface in contemporary times. War had come a long way in the world prior to the Deluge, where barrages of arrows discharged from crossbows once defined the frontlines of centuries prior, now maelstroms of projectiles and bombardments of ordnance have become the norm. While aircraft soared through the skies above, the inroads of novel mechanized infantry descended unto the frontlines on the ground. With these technological developments set in mind, the next great conflict that would occur would undoubtedly involve unprecedented scales unseen in previous eras, and that formidable conflict would soon arrive in the form of the Great Asian Deluge, which would come to eclipse much of the Eurasian continent.
The Deluge itself was the culmination of tensions accrued between broad conflicting alliances through the decades, and ultimately discharged in mass destruction. What had started as a brewing conflict between an antecedent power on the continent and a rising force on the political stage, came dreadful forewarnings and not long after, in the following year, the onset of a conflict that would forever reshape the continent. The superseding years would later come to be defined by lamentable havoc and harrowing atrocities. In the span of a few years the Grand Khanate, the antecedent great power on the continent, had fallen asunder and not long their extensive alliance held aloft by the Rhomanians[4], Panchanadans[5] and Yamato had met a similar fate. In the case of the Grand Khanate, while it's sheer breadth of territory ensured that it did not come entirely occupied by inroads of enemy forces, once their walls were torn down the coercions of an internal seizure of power from the leadership would effectively bring it to its knees. When the Grand Khanate and its allies dispersed to the four winds, the Central State and their now ascendant compact composed of the Empire of Bhangla, the Harmonious Fraternity of Tieshan, and Farighunid Persia emerged as the victorious cause from the ashes of the Deluge.
In the intermediate period between the end of the Deluge and the present day, and perhaps an inevitable facet of destiny, the compact of nations that had overturned the Deluge in their favor, collapsed and began to chart their own courses in history. One of many that arose from the ashes of the deluge was the One Sky Union, which in its many ways was the descendant of the Zhao Union, though that is where the similarities end. Where the Zhao Union once came to encompass Dai Viet along with the Huaxian and Goryean[6] states, the One Sky Union now oversees an area stretching from the boreal forests of Sibur[7], the intersecting river valleys of Ferghana, to the great xeric deserts that compose of Tansela's[8] interior, in any case overshadowing its predecessor in sheer scale and breadth. Once the OSU had solidified it's grasp on the world that had emerged from the Deluge, it began to emphasize the primacy of dialogue in the state of continental and overseas affairs, along with positioning itself as the bulwark of a more stable and serene political order.
Known for their intricate systems of examinations and dedication to the ideals of meritocracy, civil service and a state-centered approach to economics, the Central State is the face of the One Sky Union to the rest of the world. From the malodorous and sprawling city of Zhao[9] where millions of commoners come to call home, to the towering edifices that stipple the antique citadels scattered throughout the region, the sweeping modern road systems that have evolved from dated pavements, and the interior vestibules of the imposing rotundas that echo with the hushed whispers of bureaucrats, the Central State is a nation of many faces, and speak with innumerous tongues. Nonetheless, the Central State sees the One Sky Union as the forerunner of a new beginning in the region, one that would not come to be defined by constant division and conflict. If there is one such thing that the Central State is renowned for, one could confidently state that it would be it's far-reaching ambitions.
Lying to the southern perimeter of the Central State is the nation of Great Pyu. While the old monarchy has long since dissipated into the annals of history, having been torched by the inferno of revolution, it is now supplanted by a more abiding state of which now stands in its place. Where a brilliant spattering of Buddhist temples once defined the affluence of the Great Pyu, now are air-conditioned spires forged from steel and hardened glass that loom far above the heads of most. The burgeoning 5 Great Cities of Pyu, though in contemporary times notorious for its cloak of industrial brume, is where the foundations of the modern Pyu state were placed centuries prior, and additionally the cradle of most of the continent's towering megacorporations, of which are large contributors to the nation's affluence. In a sizable number of the countries in One Sky Union, products and commodities that don "Made in Pyu" stamps have maintained a hegemony on shelves.
In the lands that once bore the name of Dwipantara, known in venerable epochs to have previously been a constellation of a dozen cays, isles and landforms that were separated by a vast sea, is the state of Wiratamanegara. The Dwipantara was once the stage for the numerous endeavors constructed on the orders of revered monarchs and conducted on the actions of regional hierarchs, though none were capable to materialize their envisioned goals of bringing these sundered lands under a single state, and so Wiratamanegara is the vestige of the latest effort of such. Although Wiratamanegara's government takes the form of a monarchy, it is a peculiar one that hasn't seen the coronation of a potentate in the span of a decenniad, and so in the place of a solitary crown is substituted with a regency council comprised of an quincunx arrangement of officials.
Crossing into the lands that lay south of the Dwipantara, the nation of Kungara emerges into perspective. A product of Dwipantaran intrusions and ventures in Tansela, the beginnings of Kungara itself as a nation lies in the initial furor of Dwipantaran economic interest that followed the initial discovery of the continent of Tansela by mariners of whom were blown off-course and subsequently made landfall on it's shores. The reaches that would compose Kungara were astir with activity and trade between the indigenous peoples and the Dwipantaran traders that sought their commodities. Though conflicts were not unheard of and the initial contact between Dwipantarans and Tanselans would prove to be disastrous for the former. Kungara developed as an viaduct between two cultural spheres, and would find it's successes in grasping the numerous pre-existing states into its fold. In contemporary times, it is renowned for its colorful cuisine, cultural refinement and opulent mining industries that furnished much of the nation's wealth.
Skirting the eastern margins of the boundless Azure Ocean, on the other side of the world lay the Harmonious Fraternity of Tieshan. The discovery of the continent of Tieshan by pelagic Yamato mariners on their nautical coracles from across the breadth of the Azure Ocean was superseded by the accentuating of prolonged contact of indigenous groups and the surveying of hinterlands beyond the coasts. With the deepening of trade ties between the two sides of the Azure Ocean, transmitted along such were plagues that terrified the peoples most woefully, novel armaments that permitted new forms of aegis and organization, along with equus and forms of political statecraft from across the shores beyond the sunrise. Yet, it was from this laid the beginnings of a new state, first arising among the itinerant bands that populated the hinterlands, but substantially grew to encompass the modest trade ports and forts that straddle the coast, a state under a single banner that referred to itself as a "harmonious fraternity of peoples of the land". Hereafter, it would extend its roots further and too come to encompass the peoples of the scarped interior afield.
Lying in the penumbra of the One Sky are the Bhangla, the descendants of the gallivanting Bama from the hither north, the flocks of such arrived in raids and settled in the valleys and fertile lowlands of the region. The newly arrived Bama would intermingle with the local population, cultivating a new cultural identity that would come to define contemporary Bhangla. Over the course of the next hundred years since these first arrivals, small principalities emerged and not a few empires surfaced that had projected their power over much of the Gangetic Plain. In these periods of its history, abound are intervals of the subjugation of faraway lands, and as such many such areas saw integration as components of the Bhangla nation, which made a lasting cultural impact on these regions and their peoples. In contemporary times, other than the host to one of the great vehicles of contemporary Buddhist faith, Bhangla plays a major role in the fluctuating political dynamics of the Indian subcontinent and the affairs of their descended overseas colonies.
In the peninsular reaches of the Indian subcontinent, reigns the states of the Confederation of Manavyasagotra and the Cenni Vaccalate[10], and following closely are the continental member states of the Great Mandala of the 4 Seas. The Cenni Vaccalate, renowned throughout the subcontinent for it's intricate and sizable systems of plebiscites which are the receiver of millions of cacophonic voices, hosts the confluence of the Great Mandala. The Great Mandala is a supranational sodality that has its roots in a resuscitated period of exploration by the Deccan states followed by economic engagement with far flung lands, with the corollaries of such manifesting in the propagation and flowering of Hinduism in these areas, particularly in Africa and Tansela where it has arduously syncretized and molded into numerous new forms. The Great Mandala itself has been forged on the bonds of trade and commerce, though by contemporary times it is now whole as a political and defensive bulwark that spans the seas and estuaries.
Observing from afar the variable dynamics of the Indian subcontinent is the Empire of Iranians. Standing sumptuously upon it's gains reaped from the Deluge, the Persians have largely remained free from the meddlings of both the One Sky and the Cooperative, instead choosing it's way to carve its own independent sphere of influence, known as the Sublime Shamshir. The vibrant and expansive Persian state is overseen by the ruling Farighunid dynasty, with the incumbent Shahanshah wielding significant authority over the pre-established legislatures along with assuming the guardianship of the Atar, the sacred fire. While Zoroastrianism was established as the official state religion, other existing faiths have been largely tolerated. Though besides it's exports of milk, silk and minerals, the Persian state has undertaken a number of pioneering projects, from the rolling channels and conduits that dissect the alluvial plains of Mesopotamia, to the irrigated fields of high yielding grains and cereals of Central Asia. Persevering, the pyres have remained flickering.
Lying to the southern boundaries of Arabia is the Yahrid Kingdom of Saba, of which is an absolute monarchy. The Yahrid dynasty had its roots in the dissolution of the unified Arab state of yore, which initially had brought most of Arabia under their heel, before succumbing to internal conflicts. In the internecine period of conflict that followed, the Yahrid dynasty was subsequently founded by a minor Sabaean prince by the name of Abu Yahri'sh following his arrival in the region of Hadramawt. Although a seemingly insignificant figure at the time, once the situation began to rapidly escalate and deteriorate, the prince successfully rallied the masses under his banner and in the process had brought much of South Arabia under his thumb. The contemporary Yahrids, for all their absolute dictates, has pulled the nation into the Ethiopian sphere, which was largely done in part to spite the Persian-aligned state of Mazoon to it's north. Apart from its extensive Jewish community, Saba is one of the great centers of Saalihinism[11], or the Righteous Path, a major religious movement.
Straddling the spine of the Nile is the Empire of Khemet, or known by its numerous exonyms, is the prevailing force that is driving the Cooperative forwards, and the most widely recognizable face that represents it to the rest of the world. Khemet still retains a pharaoh as it's head of state, though the absolute position of the pharaoh prevalent in previous eras has largely been diminished to a nominal ceremonial one in contemporary times and likewise the pharaoh is still seen as a prevailing symbol of the unity of the people of Khemet. Otherwise, Khemet is renowned for its prominent cairns and edifices constructed in previous eras of it's history that dot the amplitude of the Nile and beyond that are visited by flocks of tourists each passing year. Other than being renowned as the birthplace of the vibrant Middle Seas Cooperative and one of the most developed regions in Europe, Khemet is a major cultural power in the region, with its exports of literature, plates of cuisine and the blaring broadcasts of radio shows and various forms of animated media[12].
From the foliage of evergreens of the rugged ranges and inclined peaks that dot the length of the Atlas mountains, to the lonely bristly furzes and boulders that are occasionally passed by caravans crossing the xeric tracts of the Libyan desert, to the urbanized sprawl of the metropoles, and the crystal blue waters of the Atlantic, the Agellidom of Mauretania reveals itself as one of the great centers of the eastern dichotomy of the Mediterranean Sea. Mauretania is renowned for its chaabi folk music, beautiful botanical gardens, and communal agadirs most prominent on the ighreman of the exurbs. Mauretania largely exports chemical fertilizers, wheat, automobiles and a wide array of aquaculture products. On another unrelated case, Mauretania is the conceiver of the gallant quinquennial Eurodyssey peripatetic floating cultural festival that peregrinates through the major port cities of the Cooperative in the span of a month. Eurodyssey is usually accompanied by a songwriting competition broadcasted on live television and radio, in which voting is used as a mechanism to determine a victor.
In the eastern margins of the Mediterranean, facing against the currents of the Atlantic, is the Consulate of Hispathen. One of the notable states that can trace its origins to the chaotic period that followed the demise of the Roman state and subsequent migrations, with the notable imposing domus and insulae that date to this chapter of its history have endured to the present day. The history of Hispathen itself primarily began when a phalanx of East Germanic tribes crossed the river Hiber and subsequently settled in the peninsula. Following soon after their arrival, this bevy of peoples consolidated their presence over the region, and laid the foundations for a distinct Hispathenian identity centered around a fusion of pre-existing norms and the influx of otherwise foreign values from the arrivals. Though the tokens of a reigning monarchy were eventually replaced by decline, upheaval and subsequent substitution by a consulate decades before the present. Nonetheless, the Consulate of Hispathen is otherwise characterized by its political system primarily derived from the widespread Indian vaccalates.
Persisting in the world following the Deluge is the Rhomanian State, the locum tenens of the late Rhomanian Empire. As the inferno of the Deluge abated in Europe, what was once the Rhomanian Empire was subsequently swept under the joint occupation on the behalf of a contingency of nations that consisted of Khemet, Mauretania and Persia. The former regions of Italia were spun off as sovereign states while the regions of Judaea, Africa and Mesopotamia were integrated into Khemet, Mauretania and Persia respectively. Created on top of the ashes of its predecessor, the nascent Rhomanian State was made a vital component of the Middle Seas Cooperative. In contemporary times, Rhomania is once more a prominent political and economic center in Europe. To the farther north, the pluralistic 25 Arrows Confederation shines, a splinter of the late Grand Khanate. Until recently, the formerly neutral Confederation had been granted observer status in the affairs of the Middle Seas Cooperative, and if their recent application for full membership is accepted, it could mark a paradigm shift in the area.
Following upstream along the length of the Nile eventually leads to the ancient nation of Ethiopia. The contemporary Ethiopian Empire hails descent from the Aksumites of antiquity. From the polychromatic frescoes that line the walls of immemorial monolithic churches, towering hawelti and the hoar and crumbling podia of dilapidated Aksumite palaces, it is renowned in contemporary times for its textiles, agricultural commodities and lustrous minerals. Although the land that contemporary Ethiopia resides in is more arid and denuded than it was during the Aksumite era, there is not a lacuna of substantial afforestation initiatives and other such national projects that aim to contain and countermand the looming specter of desertification. Though coterminous with such efforts are the creation of large desalination facilities, with their power sourced from Ethiopian fissile power plants. Besides the physical, as part of a two-party agreement with Khemet there is the implementation of a nationwide distributed network that transmits files and messages, though it is primarily reserved for academic and defense usage. What the future has in store for this digital venture has yet to be seen.
Following the East African coast further south from the kritarchies of the Somali peninsula, one can find the thriving and vibrant ports of the Union of Zinchia. Known as Zingium and Azania in antiquity, the coasts of what would be known as Zinchia were host to the activities between the merchants that hail from the various corners of the Indian Ocean and the Bantu communities that were built along the coast. This multilateral exchange between entities eventually culminated with the development of the distinct Zinchian culture, which in words can be described as a unique composite of Indian, Arab and Persian worlds built on top of a Bantu substrate. In contemporary times the ports and waters of the metropolitan Greater Zinchia thrum more thoroughly than ever and the current Union of Zinchia is now an exporter of coffee, gold and pharmaceuticals. A wide range of faiths exists within the nation, from the Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations of Hinduism which compose a majority, Theravada Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, traditional faiths and the increasingly popular Saalihinism.
In West Africa, the Union of the Great River stands as it's preeminent power. The Union itself is largely the bulwark of an emergent line of revolutionary thought that has emerged from the ashes of the former Yaresna Empire and much of the region was subsequently congregated under the fraternal West African Mutual Assistance Compact, or WAMAC for short. The story of the Union begins with the onset of a commodious torrid drought that would linger in the area for years[13]. As the sections of the country deflagrated, the sodden mires of the wetlands cracked open and the once plentiful harvests became barren. The Yaresna Empire, already positioned at a nadir prior to the aridity, were subsequently and swiftly toppled by a popular revolt ignited by the lower Jonw strata of the rigid caste system[14], many of whom were forcibly displaced by the great drought. Embracing the tenets of liberationist Christian theology[15] and the ideals of a decentralized economy organized on the lines of workers' councils, once the whole of the nation was fully under their sway and exurbs and conurbations hoisted the golden standard, the Union of the Great River was declared. Though the implosion of the Yaresna would subsequently provoke a Mauretanian intervention which concluded with the bifurcation of the former Wolofian state.
In the heart of the African continent, lies the Commonality of Kongo. The revolution that toppled the Yaresna Empire, which would come to be referred to as the Great Thaw, would ripple throughout the region and come to inspire a set of similar revolutions in adjacent states, laying the foundations of the later Mutual Assistance Compact. Though nowhere else where the ripples were more thoroughly felt than in the former Kingdom of Kongo. At the onset of the Great Thaw, the former Kingdom of Kongo was already deep into a spiraling recession, as typified by the upsurge of unemployment rates and the precedent decline of productivity among the labor force of the nation. This deadlock decisively proliferated into open conflict by way of an aborted attempt to depose the ruling crown that was perceived as inept, but swelled far above the capabilities of the individuals involved. The Commonality agglutinated from bevies of civic militias that promptly began seizing vital road arteries of the nation and numerous full-scale revolts of malcontent farmers and peasants that originated in the southwestern provinces. In the present day, the multifaceted Commonality which has begun to turn their gaze towards West Africa, can be best described as a municipal confederation.
On the east coast of Tieshan is the Despotate of Asaphelia and the adaxial states of the Asaphelian Commercial and Commodity Circle. Although the ruling authority of the nation of Asaphelia is naught but an autocracy, it is one that peculiarly has held resolute environmentalist sympathies. Deposited on these shores, innumerous flocks of disparate Europeans fleeing unrest and periodic upheaval and interested in economic opportunities made their way and established the foothold of a patchwork of European states in Tieshan. Conflicts would erupt between the pre-existing indigenous peoples of the land and the inroads of Europeans that expanded into the hinterlands, with bloodshed following after and culminating with appalling expulsions and liquidations. In the intervals of these periods, this patchwork of European states eventually coalesced into the unitary Despotate of Asaphelia, that in modern times renowned as the pith of an economic sphere in the region, the Asaphelian Commercial and Commodity Circle that it conceived with other European states on Tieshan. Besides, Asaphelia is renowned for forestry products, anthracite and dairy produce that form a basis of its exports.
Lying to the south of the Despotate of Asaphelia and the member states of the Commercial and Commodity Circle is the pluralistic Mansate of Keibana. The Mansate of Keibana is the preeminent power of maritime Tieshan and otherwise restrains the Asaphelians with their extensive nexuses of argosies and flotillas. Returning to continental Tieshan one would arrive at the Anahuac Union. Starting with the arrival of novel technologies that were transmitted from the coastal trading posts, the middling Nahua city-states that occupied the precipices of the interior were able to coalesce into a single centralized union of states that came to encompass the lands between seas. In contemporary times Anahuac is renowned for its imposing cuneate temples, it's exports of electronics and semiconductors and the cosmopolitan communities and blocs of the highly urbanized capital city of Cuatlatl. Though starting in recent times, it has begun to realise it's aspirations for the beyond. To the western margins of Anahuac is the Maya Confederation. It is a confederation of Mayan city-states, with a dynamic royal court and a particularly hierarchical form of government. Though renowned for its ephemeral markets that convene on specific days of the calendar.
Laying in the scarped uplands of Jinshan is the Federation of the Azure Mountains. With its origins lying in the initial contact period in the area that had provided the conditions that propelled the formerly pastoral Quechua, which formerly gallivanted the highlands and valleys of the further interior, into the dominant force in the area. In the brief period that followed after contact, a patchwork of polities gradually emerged, although this process was impeded with the transmission of diseases that ravaged the region. Further afield, the Quechua, incorporating forms of novel political statecraft and organization, began a far-reaching series of territorial expansions and by it's conclusion established the Empire of the Azure Mountains. A vibrant nation of contrasting extremes, while a monarch no longer lies at the center of the state, deposed and the contemporary Federation established, it still comes to unify the four corners that dissect the land. Shifting away from the highlands and towards the Atlantic lays a triarchy of Imazighen states. Having its roots in the initial furor of economic activity in the area which followed the landfall of West African ships on the shores of Jinshan, they are primarily the progeny of the notable throngs of Mauretanian sailors and settlers. In the present day, they are the abode of innumerable commoners.
To its south of the Federation lies the Lupaqa Empire. The Lupaqas emerged as a Aimara-speaking city-state that straddled the coasts of lake Titicaca, initially structured along the lines of a diarchy as there were two rulers that oversaw the affairs of each society, once the Lupaqas consolidated their dominance over the other numerous polities in the region, they abandoned the initial system of diarchy and instead opting in favor of a coordinated absolute monarchy that would endure towards the present day. Once in motion, the nascent Lupaqa Empire initiated a prolonged period of militaristic expansion and conquest under the command of the ruling monarch, culminating with the peaks of the southern spine of the Azure Mountains hoisting the prominent prismatic banner. In the modern era, they are renowned for their exports of vogue awayus, aquaculture and ores. To the downstream of both the Federation and the Lupaqa, is the Concordium of Xingu, which emerged as a confederation that prominently links together the autochthonous peoples of the Xingu basin. Forming centuries prior as bulwark against perceived external threats, in these contemporary times they oversee the vestiges of a once spacious green expanse, and fulfill whatever measures are required to preserve it.
Descending from an colony founded decades after the initial landfall of the first mariners on their coracles from West Africa, the nation of Teepunwara has been founded as the seat of an exiled branch of sovereigns that had conducted an exodus from across the sea in an abscond from the face of strife and rebellion. Teepunwara itself can be described as a political entity structured on the lines of municipalities, notably with each such municipality possessing autonomous status along with its territory of it's own, a recognized name, and functional political systems of decision-making where both male and female Teepunwarans were able to partake in. To the southern ends of Jinshan are the Chiefdoms of the Great Green. The itinerant peoples of the clement prairies, driven by necessities sprouted from changing conditions, had begun to organize and meld together under political structures that have continuously been compared to by foreign circles as peculiarly analogous to the khanates of the Eurasian steppe.
Pinned in the xeric intramural of Tansela is the Alliance of Kati Thanda. A fluidious propinquity bound together by external contiguities, the Alliance arose from an initial ad hoc coalition of the Arabana, Dhirari, Wangkangurru and Dieri ethnic groups of the interior hinterlands that would subsequently subsume numerous flocks of vicinal ethnic groups into its echelons as the nascent Alliance initiated a bout of external expansion into the vicinal areas of Kati Thanda effectuated by necessities and by its immediate terminus would encompass a vast portion of the whole breadth of the Tansela. Its official name is primarily derived from an Arabana endonym for an endorheic inland sea where the initial contrivers of the Alliance lay adjacent. In the current era, the Alliance is renowned for its economic exports of valuable mineral commodities such as precious metals and agricultural fertilizers, along with its culinary arts. Though for the current time being, the collective heads of the Alliance heeds their concentrated efforts to conceivably make the deserts bloom.
Located within the southern margins of the Azure Ocean is the manifold Southern Seas Synod and their constituent member states that are distributed in the pelagic expanse of the Azure Ocean. A convocation of peoples, the Synod is an integrated supranational organization established on the basis of mutual cooperation and more or less collective security, though the purposes of the Synod also comes to extend towards the lines of economic development and trade. Turning to individual polities, one of the more prominent heads of the Synod is the Hapunate of Aotearoa, which adheres to a distinctive political system centered around rule by an administering coalition of hapu or clans, though each unit of hapu operates autonomously from its iwi or tribe. In essence, a hapunate is a system of governance defined by familial bonds. The affairs of the Southern Seas Synod in Tansela are primarily dominated by the burgeoning Confederation of the Three Tributaries and the Queendom of Iutruwita. Though on the greater world stage, for the Southern Seas Synod their strength is not derived individually, but primarily together as a collective.
In regards to the wider state of the world, the field of technology has advanced a considerable distance in the world that was shaped from concomitants of the Deluge. Where the limits of the firmament have been surpassed, where engineers in pressurized suits come to traverse the powdered surface of the moon, where a gonfalon glimmers on the rusted surface of the red planet and autonomous vessels cross paths with the great giants. Where promising developments in virtual space have opened opportunities for commercial use and where a single micro-particle weapon can easily annihilate an entire city. Yet for all the apparent tranquil emanations that the contemporary world has to offer for an uninformed observer, it is an inordinately skewed perspective that neglects the continuous upheavals and turbulence that the polities of the world currently confront. Once more the imminence and perils of a changing climate grip the world, though for this instance it is done at the hands of man itself and it is one that arose from the emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases into oceans and atmosphere. Immediate coordinated efforts have promptly been carried out to curtail contemporary climate change and avert the potentially irreversible environmental devastation as a consequence of such. Perhaps beyond various rationalities, if there exists a universally agreed consensus over the prognoses of the succeeding era, it would be the sensation of an impending climax, that once more the ways of all life will forever change.
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[1] China
[2] Japan
[3] By then, the seas had already fallen low enough that the straits of Malaya were effectively closed. This has it's butterflies, such as the forestalling the demise of the Funan for a few decades. Though running parallely at the time was the expansion of the Pyu and another series of wars for the unification of the Dwipantara had emerged. Additionally, the Grand Khanate began to take shape at around this time.
[4] A standardized exonym for the former Eastern Roman Empire.
[5] A large nation that existed at the time and encompassed Northwestern India. It's name is derived from an archaic Sanskrit name of Punjab.
[6] Korea, of which never really managed to unify up until the formation of the Central State.
[7] Siberia
[8] Australia, Tansela being a hypocorism of "tanah selatan" (lit. "southern land")
[9] A city on the confluence of the Huai, whose namesake is a garrison commander named Zhao and founded back when the last dynasty of Huaxia fell. The namesake Zhao Union was also conceived here.
[10] Derived from Vākkāḷar, the Tamil word for electorate, a vaccalate is essentially a democracy, though one that is quite distinct to OTL's liberal democracies. Most vaccalates border on the lines of oligarchies and dominant-party democracies.
[11] This world's equivalent of Islam, though radically quite different from OTL's.
[12] Exactly what you think it is.
[13] The Sahara ITTL is more extensive than OTL, largely as a side effect of the world overall getting colder and more arid. This extends to the Namib desert as well.
[14] Historically many West African societies possessed caste systems, such as those of the Fula, Mande, Soninke, Toucouleur and many others.
[15] I should also clarify that the Yaresna Empire was indeed a Christian state in the Sahel.
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So frankly, this took a while, largely due to real life kicking my ass. This is probably one of my largest projects yet, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out in the end. Though this TL does have a PoD however, it is the 4th Millennium BC. This TL was primarily inspired by this video.
Also happy Christmas y'all!
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Very nice! Still reading the writeup, but one initial quibble is the use of white for minor nations: it makes it seem as if northern Europe is all glaciers! (Although quite a bit of it _would_ be: I am doubtful about the viability of the Triarchy, since most of its territory in a full blown ice age would be ice or arctic tundra, with maybe some boreal forest in the SW.)
Here's my TL-191 take, but Canada wasn't annexed and Sonora and Chihuahua is returned back to Mexico. The year is 2021, where the United States of America stands as the dominant power of the Americas. Confederacy was broken up, spun off as independent states. Canada still resents USA, while Quebec praises the USA. There is no COVID-analogue in this world.
Would Quebec really be so grateful for the American intervention, given what has to be half of its population was annexed?
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