MotF 233: Mare Nostrum

[Kaiphranos]

MotF 233: Mare Nostrum

The Challenge

Make a map showing a significant body of water entirely controlled by a single power.

The Restrictions

There are no restrictions on when the PoD of your map should be. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed.

If you're not sure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me or comment in the main thread.
---
Entries will end for this round when the voting thread is posted on Monday, April 5, 2021 (extended by a week).
---
PLEASE KEEP ALL DISCUSSION ON THE CONTEST OR ITS ENTRIES TO THE MAIN THREAD.
Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything other than a map entry (or a description accompanying a map entry) in this thread, you will be asked to delete the post.

Don't forget to vote on MotF 232!​

 

[Xibalba]

During the second half of the 6th century, there where several ambitious emperors in the west declaring their intent to recover the lost territories in the east. Those ambitions where partly realized with the reclamation of Egypt and the Middle East from the Ostrogoths, Asia Minor from the Vandals and Thrace from the Visigoths, making the Mediterranean a Roman Lake once again. Holding on to these territories however proved to be a challenge with the rump Visigoth and Ostrogothic states as well as the Sassanids causing problems in the East and putting a strain on the on the Empire's limited resources. This forced the imperial government to devolve power and establish the Vicariates to deal with the constantly evolving situation at the new frontiers in the east.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've had this scenario in my head for a while, so I decided to just go with it. The main idea behind this map is that the Eastern and Western Roman Empire switch fates, eventually leading to a Justinian-esque figure trying to restore the old Imperial Borders.

 

[Prince di Corsica]

The Sea of Fire: the Rebirth of Zoroaster​

After the fall of the Sassanid Empire before the Arab forces, 1200 years after the beginning of the Era of Zoroaster, the followers of the faith of the magi fell back, scattered across all of Persia, against the invaders who had destroyed the empire. Many, persecuted by the heathens who now ruled the land, fled to India, where they found safety from the encroaching forces, while others, deciding to fight until the end, retreated to the land beyond the Alborz Mountains, who, holy as they were, served as a shield for the defenders of the faith to save the last remaining piece of the empire from the enemies who sought to destroy it.

In that land called Tabaristan for its ancient inhabitants, its princes, cousins of the Sassanid household, reigned over the last remaining faithful and, through the following centuries, held a steadfast defense of all things Persian and Zoroastrian against foreign and heathen invaders. The great Persians, once so mighty, now found themselves confined to a thin stretch of land, between the mountains and the sea. Deprived of the ancient connection to their kin, and of the roads and pathways that had crossed their lands, they turned to the sea in front of them where, through the following centuries, they would develop their own empire, where the faith of Zoroaster would regrow, reborn from the ashes of the invasion.

That sea would one day be known as the Sea of Fire, for it was through it that many nations came to know the powerful traders and missionaries of Tabaristan, who would create great trade networks, connecting East with West, North with South, taking upon themselves trade that came from China to Egypt and from India to Scandinavia. Coins of Tabaristani princes are found in coins scattered around much of Northern Europe and as far as Vinland, while fire temples still exist in much of Khazaria, Bulgaria and the Rus, brought there by the missionary waves of Zoroastrian preachers, having learned to outgrow the chauvinistic pride of previous generations.

The creation of Tabaristan as an independent power would git to the Sea of Fire a life that, in truth, it had never had before, becoming a booming center of the trade that enveloped Eurasia throughout History. Against the harsh conditions of the regions that surround it, a thriving civilization grew, one of sailors and priests in a Sea of Fire


__________________________________________________________________


For some reason, when I read the challenge, I immediately thought about the Caspian Sea. So I went to do some research, found the interesting late Zoroastrian principalities in Tabaristan, decided to play along with them, use the whole "fire" thing to play around with the colours, try to make it more original, and I have to say I rather like the result. Even the way to depict mountains, which I thought wouldn't work, looks very nice, I think.