Well, in that case I guess I can start posting the zoomed-in maps.
Reminding everyone it's still a work-in-progress. As such, I will mostly be elaborating on the reasons I chose these borders and the potential changes I'm considering more than the TL lore.
Europe
The first nation I designed with proper thought on the map was France. I knew I wanted to make it bigger, but I also didn't want to go for a full-absurd wank. So instead, I tried to look at it logically. The left-bank of the Rhine border was the easiest part since France always had an interest there in regards to its "natural borders". Plus, France getting the Burgundian inheritance or controlling Lotharingia earlier in its History are easy ATLs to think of.
Adding the Basque Lands to France essentially is built around the idea that the Kingdom of Navarra kept control of it all, then entered into a dynastic union with France just like OTL. Pushing the border to the Ebro river required a bit more thinking, but I feel there is room for this to feel plausible. The
Marcia Hispanica was put under West Francian control and the Counts of Barcelona technically stayed under French vassalage until the Capetians rolled in. Aragon also has dynastic ties that can potentially link it up to France with a few more luck, like the 1284 Crusade or the Yolande of Aragon's son getting chosen in the 1410-1412 Aragon Succession Crisis.
The addition of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, felt plausible on linguistical terms. To this, you have ties into Burgundian and Savoyard affairs as well.
The Savoy family regularly intermarried with the French royal family, and Francis I even tried to seize the whole Savoyard possessions for his mother Louise OTL: that's the basis for my idea of France getting control of everything owned by Savoy. Couple this with the idea of France asserting its rights over Milan (a major factor of the Italian Wars OTL) and the fact the Gonzagas of Mantua were French vassals, and you've got the basis for my final borders.
Politically, France is a Monarchy but it's ruled by an Emperor. Instead of going the "boring" Napoleon route though, my idea combines more the desire to assert autonomy from the Empire, frustrations from failing to get the Imperial crown of the HRE and the renewed interest for Antiquity during the Renaissance that reminded the French Kings of the IIIrd Century Gallic Empire.
The British Isles were easy to come up with, and they are frankly the most boring part of the map: it's basically just keep the isles united. However, the geography is slightly different since I've lowered the sea level a bit in some parts (though only in small doses). In terms of ideas I have around the nation, honestly I'm just trying to play around with Arthurian myths and making the Tudor's claim of having blood ties to King Arthur and the mythical Kings of Britain a reality. So instead of Arthur returning as prophesized in the legend, it's his bloodline getting back on the throne. Only other difference would be that the monarch would take the name Emperor, pretty much for similar reasons to the French, with an added motivation in traditionnal Anglo-French rivalry.
Iberia was also pretty easy to come up with, as I have a certain fascination for Miguel da Paz and the genealogy of the Spanish and Portuguese royal families. So despite me gifting the Basque lands and everything North-East of the Ebro to France, I basically went with the idea that a combination of Reconquista and dynastic unions led to a unified Spain. The players have to be a bit different of course, but that's basically it. The monarch is once again an Emperor, because of the existing
Imperator Totius Hispanie title that a few medieval spanish rulers used: with the peninsula unified, a revival of that title feels likely. Unfortunately, at least for the people of my TL, Spain is probably a rather nasty place in my views for two things. One: historically, the Reconquista led to the concept of
limpieza de sangre. Two: I have a certain affection for
Warhammer. You probably can see where this is going...
Keeping Italy disunited was pretty obvious. Italian unification is fun, but competing italian states are funnier in my views. Having Venice, the Papal States, Tuscany and Naples-Sicily/Two-Sicilies on the map also became a given in that scenario. Sardinia as an independent realm came to be after I read a bit about the Judicates and how they had tried to resist Pisan, Genoese and Aragonese influences and conquest. Here you'd have to imagine that Arborea actually managed to unify the island.
The other states I have started to reconsider though. Genoa is the one I have the least problems with because it was a French ally for a while and I sort of envision it as being heavily influenced by France despite its independance... But given how much I've expanded France into Italy, I'm not sure it would stay independent and not be absorbed into the Empire in the end.
Parma is another problem... I put it on the map without bothering too much to look into its History. However, after checking, this somewhat clashes with putting the French in control of Milan. I could try to bother finding an excuse for its existence despite that, but it's probably simpler to have it absorbed by France.
The final one is the fact I've split Modena from Ferrara. Once again, this is a result of me not doing enough research. The division can still happen since Modena was an imperial fief while Ferrara was a Papal one. But both were ruled by House d'Este. So fusing the two together seems more natural.
The Holy Roman Empire is honestly one of the parts of the map that I'm the least satisfied about... Now the basics of the idea are what I like: keep the HRE alive, and keep it as divided Germany that is nominally united under the Emperor. The problem? Beyond the fact that I don't want the situation to be as bad as
Kleinstaaterei, I'm not completely certain on how I should divide the HRE internally. So the nations you see inside the HRE and their internal borders aren't fixed and still very much WIP.
I'm mostly fixated on having the Hapsburgs around and in control of Austria and Bohemia, as well as the part of Switzerland where the castle the family owes its name to is located. Coincidentally, this is why Switzerland look the way it does: aside from Romandie being in French hands, the Swiss weren't as successful at getting away from Austria as they were OTL, making the confederacy smaller. The Grisons also never joined the Confederacy (even if they're allied) and are their own independent state known as the Three Leagues. Lichtenstein exists as well: it's basically the smallest state I've put on the map and more here as a joke, but I still want to keep it around.
Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria and Prussia are states that feel "iconic" to me, probably influenced by my interest in the Napoleonic Wars. This is more or less why they are on the map and look that way.
Hesse, Brunswick, Saxony and Mecklemburg all basically fall under me decided to group together states that were divided into several branches of the same family.
Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck form what's basically the Hanseatic League, only more organized as one state.
I've kept Oldenburg on the map, but I'm questionning the decision.
Frisia is something I at first kinda threw at random. But after hearing about the Frisian Freedom, I somewhat want to keep it in: that makes the region look like it was a sort of proto-democracy as far as I understood though without unity. That had kinda made me want to turn Frisia as a Republic inside the HRE.
The real problem I have though is Westphalia... In all honesty, it's more something I put here to fill a gap because I have no idea what I could put there. As far as I can tell, the region OTL was mostly made of bishoprics and small states without any major one that emerged. Because of that issue, I'm not sure about my choice of creating a Westphalian state here... And this is causing me to reconsider my current HRE set-up entirely.
As you can see on the map, Doggerland is surfaced here, unlike OTL. To imagine what it would look like, I made a quick and rough study of population movements in the area to come up with its History. The end results basically makes it's pretty similar to England before the Norman Conquest. The population thus speaks a language that is rather close to Old English. Doggerland's main ressources would be fishing and the North Sea trade, making essentially a nation of experienced sailors.
United Scandinavia is probably a bit of an AH cliché, but it's one I do admittedly enjoy. My idea right now is more or less that the Kalmar Union managed to hold on, though it was rocky. Essentially all constituting nations still have their respective Riksrad, which forced the monarchs to do a very careful balancing acts... Something which they didn't always managed to do. In terms of boders, I more or less tried to combine Denmark-Norway with the Swedish Empire of the XVIIth Century. This might need some border adjustments though.
Poland-Lithuania is really a fascinating state, which is why I kept it on the map. My idea is that it's pretty close to the PLC, except that there was no need to establish an elective monarchy and that Royal Authority is thus a bit stronger than OTL, even if the Magnates still have a lot of power. Borders might be WIP though, especially in regards to the East... I don't want Poland to extend too much in Russia, but I also am not fully satisfied with where I actually put the border.
The Kingdom of Hungary basically has its usual borders. The neighboring state is the Grand Principality of Moldova, that incorporates roughly all the territories that constitutes the historical region referred as Moldova.
South of the Danube lies the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire. I knew I wanted to keep Byzantium on the map from the start, but right now I'm questionning the borders I've given it. While I want the Empire to survive, I also kinda want Constantinople to be a bit of a mess internally: not a "Sick Man of Europe" level as it's not supposed to collapse nor replace the Ottomans, but still a state that went through hardships even if it overcame them. Right now, the situation in the Balkans feel it might be a bit too strong, especially after doing some further reading. In that case, I might just add Wallachia, Bulgaria and Serbia on the map, with Bosnia being split between Hungary and Serbia. The situation in Asia Minor looks closer to what I want, though I think keeping control of Trebizond might be pushing it... Especially if I do what I'm considering doing with the Balkans.
The state based around the now Crimean island (I really liked the idea of splitting the Peninsula from the continent) is one of the times I designed it with the ASB factor in mind: the Amazon Kingdom of Taurica. Now the Amazons of the Greek myth were more likely meant to be located on the other side of the Black Sea. However, it's pretty clear the Amazons have inspirations from Scythian Warrior Women and other steppe cultures where you had women fighting on horseback. Herodotus also recalled a myth about how Amazons eventually migrated to Scythia, becoming the eventual predecessors of the Sarmatians. Adding the fact the Pontic Steppe is famous for being the core of many nomadic steppes throughout the ages (such as Cimmerians, Cumans or Crimean Tatars), I felt confident putting the Amazons around here. The way I envision them, they're basically Hellenized & Matriarcal Steppe Nomads, with a bit of Cossack thrown in the mix. I might revise the borders of their kingdom though...
Russia is frankly one of those states that I find frustrating to design on the map... Even without Siberia, it's still pretty big. And of course, you have the question of where to put the borders. The one you see on the map came to be more or less because I hadn't a precise idea beyond knowing that Russia had to not have crushed the various Turco-Mongol nomads as it did OTL. But right now, in my mind, I'm considering just going back to making the Ural Mountains and River the eastern border... And if I do, that means I'm basically removing the Khanate of Kazan from the map. I might also change the situation in the Northern Caucasus, which would also see me remove that Kalmyk state you see. And of course, depending on what I decide with Poland and Taurica, the western border might be different. Essentially, I think I'm considering giving Russia full control of the Volga river... Probably because I've been listening to Leonid Kharitonov singing the
Song of the Volga Boatmen a bit too much and because of some vague ideas I have about the lore for Russia. This is a bit of a radical change compared to what I started with though, which is why I'm hesitating.
To end the chapter of Europe with the situation in the Northern Caucasus, beyond that Kalmyk state that I might remove if I go for my idea with Russia, I also don't know if Daghestan is going to stay... Truth is it's a state I put on the map more because I don't know the story of the region that well. I probably need to rework the whole Caucasus region anyway if I change my mind, but I have no real idea about what I'm going to do exactly. Might replace with a state that dominated by the Galgai/Ingush, since they are said to be descendants of the Gargareans, the ones that the Amazons visit for reproduction in the myth. Not that my Amazon are supposed to be 100% accurate to the myth, but I think it'd be a fun reference.
Georgia is also probably going to need a rework. I basically put in on the map because of the Bagrationid dynasty, which I have a bit of curiosity about because of one Pyotr Bagration, russian general during the Napoleonic Wars... Now I did do some resarch and it seems that Bagrationid Georgia could extend as far as I made it. But given that my knowledge about the country's history is limited, I probably need to do a bit more research. As is, it Georgia exits on the map because of one my whims...
Africa
Designing Africa was a bit of a challenge since my knowlege about the continent's History and Geography is... well... let's politely say "lacunar".
There was an easy way out of this of course: going for the classic route that's kinda the default one in AH and have Africa being colonised by Europeans. But that's precisely the problem: it was the boring choice. Plus, with me deciding to go for the Fantasy ASB angle, it actually felt more interesting to let my mind wander and think about what Africa would look like had it not been colonized by the Europeans. And this was also a case of me wanting to really put in the work and try to learn new things. The end result is far from perfect of course: I have my limits... However, I'm still mostly happy with the end result. That said, if you have criticism or suggestions to make on what I could change, you are welcome.
Especially since I'm starting to see the flaws more and more.
North Africa was the part I had the least trouble designing, since I already had a bit of knowledge and some clear ideas. To the west I wanted a powerful Moroccan state that more or less dominated the Atlas mountains, as well as the Saharan coastline. In the middle, I essentially wanted Ifriqya, but with the Arabs actually keeping Carthage as its capital instead of replacing it with Tunis, and thus adopting the Carthaginian legacy as their own. Ironically, this also puts them at odds with the Italian states...
Egypt was the last state in North Africa I had a pretty clear idea about what I wanted to do with. The fact it got so big was more me playing around with Egyptian expansion following the Nile. Not sure if I didn't go overboard in doing so though.
The Sahara provided difficulties, due to the fact it's a desert and thus pretty hard to map... And I didn't help myself when I first thought of avoiding rectilinear borders because that feels like a colonial heritage... But with few landmarkers that I can use as reference, and the realization that in some places those lines aren't as arbitrary as they seem, I eventually gave in. I'll probably need to redraw the borders though, to get a "cleaner" feeling.
The empire that covers most of Western Sahara is a pure ASB creation of mine: I refer to it as Adrar, since it's the name of a number of mountainous formations in that part of the world. It also happens to be the name of an Emirate that formed at one point in modern-day Mauretania. The Adrar Empire that I've created though has no relations to the former. If I had to summarize, that is a part of the desert where the Berber tribes are ruled by dragons that have seized control of the Transaharan trade routes.
There are three other Berber states that I've created. There is one that I currently refer to as the Emirate of Ouargla but frankly I'm not sure if I didn't fuck up my geography here... The second one is centered around the Hoggar mountains, which is why it's the Emirate of Hoggar. And finally, we have the Emirate of Fezzan: given I've given Tripolitania to Carthage and Cyrenaïca to Egypt, I felt that I could just make Fezzan independent.
In regards to West Africa, I wanted to put the Mali Empire in there and I tried to give it borders that would make sense. I also ended up putting the Songhaï on the map, though in that case I'm less certain of the borders I've given them. South of Mali is a pretty big Akan nation, though I probably need to learn more about those ethnicies before improving that nation's design... And given my limited knowledge of African history, I'm not sure if it makes much sense.
Designing the area around Nigeria turned out to be relatively simple ironically. The nations that formed are basically the Yoruba, the Hausa and the Igbo as well as the kingdom of Benin.
When it comes to Central Africa, I knew I had to put the Kanem-Bornu Empire down the line because of Lake Chad, especially given I've turned it into basically the Chad Sea due to my messing around with elevation. Or at least a stand-in, as I don't know how much of the actual Kanem-Bornu lands would be put under water here...
Neighbouring Darfur was more a result of me trying to not make Egypt too big and trying to figure out one state I could put in the region. Turns out Darfur was the heart of a Sultanate at one point, so it gave a me a pretense to put it on the map.
The state that replaces OTL Central African Republic is still a bit of a headhache to be frank. Truth is that it's the last African state I put on the map and it was as a sort of Space Filling Kingdom (because it's too small for an Empire), as I had no idea what to put here. It got so bad that I jokingly referred to it as Wakanda in my notes... because it really felt artificial. Recently, I've begun toying with the idea of making it an Azande Kingom, as it seems they migrated in the area... But this is very much WIP.
The Kongo Kingdom was one the native sub-saharan African states that I had heard about despite not knowing much about it. And the Congo river is also a pretty big feature of Central Africa. Add in the two Congolese republic of modern-day OTL, and it gave me pretty quickly the idea of a huge Empire around the area. That said, I also didn't want Kongo to get too big... Which is how it got its borders.
Angola is on the map mostly because of me reading about Nzinga and the context around her. But I haven't really developped it much beyond that.
In truth, there are a number of state that I put on the map because I was using the SUCK color scheme to paint (might replace it with TOAST3R if I redo the map, since it actually feels larger), which gave me names I could search whenever my knowledge failed me. That's how I put Kivu and Kasaï on the map without giving much thought. The country that's the color of Katanga though is actually the Lunda Empire, whose History I fell upon while doing my research.
Ethiopia was one state I was sure I would put on the map, even if I had no clear idea of how big I should make it. The shape of the country was eventually decided after I read about Menelik II's campaigns: it gave me the idea of an Ethiopian realm that basically covered the Horn of Africa. Throw in a bit of Prester John in terms of inspiration, and you more or less get that final result.
The Maasaï are a people that I find fascinating, so I wanted to put them on the map with maybe a bigger territory than the one they have.
Buganda replaced Uganda after I learned exactly how that country is made up.
The case of Rwanda & Burundi being a single country came after I read that both states originally had Tutsi minorities ruling over the larger Hutu population. So fusing them as a single state felt like it made sense.
Tanganyka is once again a case of a "Space Filling Kingdom" so to speak. I don't know much about the region... That being said, with Lake Tanganyka being a feature, I felt like it wasn't incoherent having a state called Tanganyka around. Still, I have to dive more into that area to know what I'm gonna do with it.
Zanzibar I put on the map because I kept hearing about that Archipelago without really knowing its History. After reading about it, it felt right to have that state the long of the Swahili Coast. Wether or not the borders make sense is another problem.
Turning the Malgache into a powerful nations on the seas was already part of my plan: even before I deiced to play with elevation, there are a lot of small islands and Archipelagos that felt like they could be ruled from Madagascar. After I played around with elevation, it made even more sense, especially when I realised I got a second big island as result, the one that looks like it's shape as a snake's open mouth.
During my research regarding Africa's history, I learned about the Maravi kingdom that probably gave their name to Lake Malawi. I simply decided to keep them around and just slightly increased their territory so that they got full control of Lake Malawi and it surrounding area.
To the Maravi's south like Great Zimbabwe, pretty much in all its glory.
West of Great Zimbabwe is a bit of an hommage to Naomi Novi's
Téméraire cycle: the Tswana Empire. I don't know if I didn't go a bit overboard when I designed it on the map... But I really wanted a big Tswana state in Southern Africa.
The states you see in South Africa are the Xhosa, a greater Lesotho than OTL, the Zulu Kingdom, Estwaini/Swaziland and a kingdom made of Northern Sotho speakers. I frankly though am considering reworking that part: the Xhosa state feels satisfying but the truth is I'm wondering if I shouldn't simply have the Zulu conquer the others...
The last state I should talk about in regards to Africa is the small Archipelago that you find in the West, way off the Angolan coast. This is actually the result of me fooling around with the sea floor in the region: as such I not only got a bigger St.Helena, but also a small archipelago that goes along with it. Right now though, it's nothing but that on the map... I haven't given it proper thought beyond some vague concepts.
Asia
With Asia, I didn't run into the same troubles as I did with Africa. There are still areas where my knowledge is limited, but I at least had a vague idea of what I wanted to do with the continent. And I was able to improvise pretty well in the areas I don't know that much. Corrections are still possible though, especially if I feel they will improve the map and the setting.
Starting with the Middle East, my basic idea was that the Crusades still happenned, but the Crusader States actually managed to stick around. This wasn't done through mindless crusading, but more by adapting to the landscape, favoring oriental christians, and eventually moving for tolerance policies in regards to jews and muslims. The Frankish/Latin aristocracy though still had the bad habit of keeping to themselves, which eventually caused the various Crusader States to be united as one through dynastic marriages. Relations with Constantinople evolved between rocky (which led to Cyprus and Cilicia falling into crusader hands) to amicable (they still both hated the Turks). It was more open hostility with the Muslim states around at first, though mutual coexistence and respect was eventually achieved.
While I wanted the Crusades to be successful and Byzantium to survive, I also didn't want the Turks removed from the picture either. The idea was more that they kept control of Anatolia because the Byzantines weren't able to recover it and the Crusaders not really willing to try. This more or less leads to a surviving Sultanate of Rum.
Neighboring Armenia is probably going to need some rework... I wanted an Armenian state in the region that wasn't Cilicia, but I think I went overboard. This is more or less Armenia at its height, which I'm not sure fits really well with the way I'm planning to design the region. Which is why I'm tempted to redraw the border to make it a bit smaller, probably closer to a surviving Zakarid Armenia that would have managed to become a truly independant realm.
The whole Arabian Peninsula is united under one Caliph, partially for simplicity but also because I quite like that idea. At one point, I considered the possibility of extending that Caliphate even more, but I wasn't sure that made much sense with how I was designing the Middle East. And while I know I went for ASB, I still didn't want to go fully into the absurd... Even if playing around with the 1001 Nights could be fun. But frankly, if there is a Caliph in Bagdad strong enough to rule both the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula, then why are the Turks independent and how the hell would the Crusaders have managed to stick around? Maybe I'm overthinking this, but truth is that I didn't want to add a big blob on the map around here... Especially since I already put quite a few in the neighborhood.
That's how the ideas for two Islamic states located respectively in Syria and Mesopotamia came to be. The idea for Syria was more or less that the Crusaders started cultivating good relations with some neighboring states like Damas, supporting them against the other muslim states to create a friendly buffer.
Mesopotamia meanwhile, I designed in mind more as a muslim state that came into existence by playing Arabia and Persia against each other. It more or less survives because its existence avoids the two rival power from going at each other's throat directly.
The Persian Empire, I designed with the border of the old Achemenid Empire in mind as that's kinda how big I wanted Persia to be. There might be a need to do border adjustments in the future though, depending on how much of a rework the Middle East and Steppes get.
In terms of the Steppes, I knew I wanted various nomad states to be around. These can afford to be rather big in regions that never really had a high population and are mostly made of vast empty steppes, taïga and tundra. And with me deciding to keep Russia stuck west of the Urals, there was plenty.
North of Persia is basically the Kazakh Khanate. Honestly, I kinda put it there because it covers most of modern-day Kazakhstan, so there wasn't much work...
The Khanate of Kazan is one I put because I thought a Tatar state in the region could be fun... But as I've said when I talked about Russia, it's probably going to disappear if I decide to keep the whole Volga into Russian hands.
North of the Kazan and Kazakh Khanates is essentially what's supposed to be a surviving Khanate of Sibir. With the Russians not going east of the Urals, it was allowed to continue ruling over Western Siberia.
Then we've got the Sakha/Yakut Khanate that covers a good chunk of Siberia and not just the territories of the modern-day Sakha Republic. The reason it looks this way is because there are easy geographical markers: the Yenisey river to the West and a number of mountain ranges to the South and East.
Then we've got the Mongolian Khaganate, that more or less covers the core of the Mongolian Empire of old. The way I see it, it's still ruled by descendants of Genghis Khan who claim dominion over the other Khanates but only have nominal authority over them and in effect only control what you see. I guess one way to see it would be if the Northern Yuan dynasty didn't fall.
The last Khanate I created was essentially the Dzungar khanate. I knew I need a state that would rule over the Uyghurs of Xinjiang and neighboring lands and the Dzungars did that. But after reading more about them and given what I've done with Mongolia, I probably need to look for an alternative solution. Maybe a surviving Mogulistan?
In terms of the Indian subcontinent, the easy option would have been to unify it under one state, but I felt this didn't represent India's diversity much. So I took the idea from the start to make India divided between several states. I wasn't completely sure how I would do it though, especially since Indian History isn't one my fortes. Some concepts eventually emerged, and this final result is kind of inspired by XVIIIth-XIXth Century India.
The Sikh Empire formed and rules Punjab and Kashmir. That's because I find the Sikh intriguing both from a religious and ethnic point of view. Also because typically people tend to focus more on Hinduism or Islam when we're dealing with India: so to have a state for that one particular group is something that I love.
South of the Sikh and East of Persia lie the remnants of the Mughal Empire. My idea is that the Mughal did lose their control over India but that their downfall wasn't as bad as it got OTL, possibly that they also recovered a bit of their authority.
The states that occupy most of the Indian subcontinent is the Maratha Empire. The idea being that without British colonialism, it was allowed to thrive. I don't know how much sense its border make though.
South-East of the Maratha is Hyderabad. It was one of the most powerful and rich princely state of India, so it feels logical that it would become extremly powerful.
Mysore is the state that dominates most of Southern India. Their might be a bit of influence from History since Mysore was a French-allied state.
The state covering Ceylon and the southern tip of India I refer to as the Tamilakam because it's a Tamil state. But I don't know if it would be called that.
Going back north, Bengale is an independent state. My idea is that with the collapse of Mughal authority and without the British East India Company to mess with them, the Nawabs of Bengal became powerful enough to establish themselves as one of the major states on the sub-continent.
Nepal is still called the Gorkha kingdom here, and I've taken care to try and make it be in control of most lands inhabited by Gorkha people. Admit I got kinda motivated to do that after reading the quote that if you say you're not afraid of death, you're either lying or a Gurkha.
I've kept Bhutan on the map and kept it pretty much unchanged for the sole reason that I kinda like that country for its dragon flag and the fact it's ruler is actually called Dragon King in the local tongue. It's a bit of a stupid reason, but hey it's ASB...
To finish with the Indian subcontinent of sorts, I should talk about the islands that tend to be associated with it. On the Western side, we've got what I right now only refer to as the Greater Maldives, since it's basically the Maldives archipelago but with its sea floor raised.
On the eastern side are the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which are slightly bigger than OTL. I don't really have lore on them right now.
Going back to the Himalayas, we've got a big and indepedent Tibet. My current idea with this is that China didn't fully exert its influence over Tibet, which allowed the country to be fully independent and left to its own devices. I still have to work the details.
I knew I wanted to put China on the map, but I didn't know exactly how big I would make it originally, nor how what I would do with it. All I knew was that Mongolia and Tibet would escape its grasp. Then my eyes turned to Manchuria and it gave me the idea of making that independant as well... Some research into Chinese history also gave me the idea of having the Qing dynasty actually fail to acquire the Mandate of Heaven: they do rule Manchuria, but they never got the rest of China.
That being said, at the time my knowledge of Chinese History remained rather limited and I had no clear idea of what I would do. Which led to me colorizing in early attempts China with SUCK "Other chinese country" color. But that color was too close to the one used for Brunei and Siam, so I used the "Other Radical China" one, while still not having a clear idea, beyond maybe making fun of how bureaucratic China is (even the Gods have a bureaucracy!) Recently though, I've learned about Li Zicheng, the peasant who led a rebellion and almost became Emperor at the end of the Ming dynasty, and who also clashed with the Qing. Making him actually suceed thus looks perfect given the setup... And come on, from peasant to Emperor? Guy would more or less be the equivalent of a Chinese Napoleon in some ways.
We have a unified and independent Korea, that is more or less a Joseon period that never ended.
Japan meanwhile has extended quite a bit beyond the home islands, being a major naval power. I haven't completely decided what I'm going to do with Japan to be frank: I know I want the Emperor to be back in power, but I don't really want to put an end to the Shoguns. Right now, my idea sort of leans towards playing around with the Kenmu restoration being a success and the emperor asserting back his authority. The title of Shogun wouldn't be supressed, but it'd be reduced to its original use. This is still very WIP though and not final.
Indochina is a region I didn't really know much nor particularly cared about, with only vague ideas of what to do. Early on I kinda thought that I'd simply put the Khmer Empire on the map and have it cover the whole area... But pretty quickly, I came to the conclusion this was a bad idea.
Burma hasn't changed much in terms of shape since I had little ideas on what to do with it. After some research, I kinda decided that it would be a surviving Taungoo dynasty surviving, but that's about it.
One of the original reasons that made me feel like keeping the Khmer Empire around was a bad idea was that Siam felt far more interesting as a nation. That's how I put it on the map at its greatest extent more or less.
OTL Viet-nam is divided between the Dai-Viet at the North and the kingdom of Champa in the South.
The Philippines are an area I knew next to nothing about, and I originally didn't know what to do with it. Considering the archipelago is one state OTL, I thought however it would be more interesting to keep it divided. That's how you basically end up with the Kingdom of Manilla in the North, the Rajhanate of Cebu in the Center and the Rajhanate of Butuan in the South.
Indonesia also got divided because I wanted to make it more unique to OTL. Deciding how required some thinking though.
To the West, I decided to put a Sultanate of Malacca that not only control the Malay Peninsula, but also Sumatra.
While looking for potential state to put, I came to learn about Brunei's History and how it had actually control not only all of Borneo but also some neighboring islands. his led me to precisely resurrect that Brunei Empire.
The other state that I put on the map in Indonesia are Java, Flores, Timor, Gowa and Maluku.
Yeesh... Didn't think the description would be this big when I planned to do this...
Well, in any case you know see the way I designed Afro-Eurasia for my project. I apologize if this sounds more like me rambling about my ideas, feels rushed in some places despite the length and bore you to death... But if you have thoughts, please share them.
Next time, I'll describe the Americas. I hope I won't go as overboard as I did there...
