MotF 247: A Crown From The Gutter

[Kaiphranos]

MotF 247: A Crown From The Gutter

The Challenge

Make a map showing the establishment of a new dynasty or royal house.

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.
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Entries will end for this round when the voting thread is posted on Monday, December 6, 2021 (extended by a week).
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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 246!​

 

[Guildencrantz]

NAPOLEON OF THE WEST
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This POD comes a few years before the Mexican War of Independence. Napoleon and Louverture are able to come to an agreement that keeps Haiti in the French Empire. This changes the calculations for Napoleon and Talleyrand with Louisiana. The bulk of Louisiana remains French for some time and never joins the US This lack of extra land weakens the US, so it never goes to war with Mexico over the OTL US Southwest and Texas. France and Mexico do fight over Texas and Florida, which were seeded with Francophones instead of Anglophones. Butterflies have slight impacts on the Mexican War of Independence-to the point where Santa Anna still seizes power but maintains the trappings of the First Mexican Empire. Further butterflies and a weaker US are what allow Santa Anna to guide Mexico to keep its massive northwestern frontier.

 

[Lothal]

 

[Prince di Corsica]

All Hail the King, Hero of the Revolution!

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A few months ago I found out that the anti-Portuguese career of Holden Roberto, one of the early leaders of the Angolan War of Independence, began as he was passed over as successor to the kinship of Kongo by demand of the Portuguese authorities, on account of him having been raised in a Protestant school and hence them fearing he'd go against the Church and against Portugal, in favour of the British. He ended up founding the UPNA, Union of the Peoples of North Angola, which then became the UPA, essentially losing the "Northern" in favour of bringing in other groups besides his native Bakongo, and then became the FNLA, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola, which would become rather close to the US in opposition to the MPLA and its pro-Soviet outlook. To its credit, Holden Roberto and the FNLA were rather important in actually starting the Angolan Independence War, starting the first actions and being for much of the game the main opposition to the Portuguese, until a series of blunders (and the fact the US's position regarding Angolan independence was shakier than the USSR's funding of the MPLA) had them on the losing side.

Anyway, how from there we get to a divided Angola and a monarchical North at that, I don't know, but I like the idea. Originally, I had all of Angola in the game, but then decided a partition would be more interesting, and although I would have preferred to have kept it in Bakongo territory, I think it's aesthetically more pleasing, it would also make sense for the carved-off FNLA rump state to include as much of the natural resource deposits as they could get their hands on, hence the swallowing of the diamond mines. As to why Holden Roberto would suddenly want to be a King, rather than a President, I'll admit it's rule of cool. Because come on, if you have a Kongolese prince leading a revolutionary movement, you've got to have an African kingdom by the end of it. (Speaking of which, I hope the difference between the tribal Kingdom of Kongo and the modern State of Angola are enough not to disqualify this as not from the gutter)

As to how this state would be: probably not very pleasant. I can imagine it being a Bakongo-supremacist country, and I also had this idea they'd really promote Protestantism, probably in an ever-more American Evangelical variety, and at some point I don't want to imagine how gruesome that could get.

Also used the opportunity to do some topography and roadmapping. Hope it looks good.