Rememberences of Map Contests Past

[B_Munro]

DPKdebator:

In 1921, the Weltkrieg ended after seven long years of conflict. The Central Powers (mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire, plus other allies) faced off against the Triple Entente (France, Britain, and Russia) and their allies. The main point of divergence in this scenario is Italy joining the Central Powers, giving the Central Powers less strain in the southern front and forcing France to defend its southern regions. The Lusitania is not sunk because the submarine that sunk it, U-20, departs later than it actually did due to a faulty engine needing to be repaired. The Zimmerman Telegram is not intercepted by the Americans, either, so there is little public resentment against the Germans in the United States.

Russia and France are squeezed into submission by the Central Powers in 1917 and 1919 respectively, but the British fought until late 1921, when dissent among the British public lead to communist uprisings in many of England's major cities, including London. Both parties met in the city of Brussels, Belgium, where a peace treaty was "negotiated" upon. The people of Germany were unhappy that the war had taken so long to stop, and wanted to severely punish the French due to propaganda leading the German public to believe that France was the reason why the war took so long. France was to give independence to the Occitans, Bretons, and Normans; cede more of Lorraine to the Germans; cede the city of Calais to the newly-founded Concert of Nations; cede the French Basque Country and Northern Catalonia to Spain; cede Savoie and other lands on the Italian border to Italy; return Menton and Roquebrune to Monaco; give away their entire colonial empire besides half of Algeria, the Ivory Coast, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and French Guiana; and pay 3 billion francs for war reparations to the Central Powers. On the other hand, Britain was given much more lenient terms in comparison to France. Britain was required to give independence to Ireland (as a kingdom with a German on the throne); cede the Channel Islands to Normandy; cede western Nigeria, Walvis Bay, and Sierra Leone to Germany; grant independence to the Boer Republics; give Germany use of the ports in Aberdeen and Plymouth if necessary; and pay 500 million pound sterlings for war reparations. Belgium was dissolved and replaced by the Kingdom of Flanders, a monolingual Dutch state that lost its eastern regions to Germany but was compensated with Dunkirk and the rest of French Flanders.

Many critics of the treaty saw it as too harsh, and stated that virtually dismantling a country as large as France would not go without major tremors. Those who supported the treaty dismissed these doubts at first, but shortly after the Treaty of Brussels went into effect in 1922, the supporters were proven wrong. Inspired by the Bolsheviks of Russia and the French Revolution of the late 1700s, French Communists took over Paris and other major French cities, proclaiming the People's Republic of France. Meanwhile, the rump United Kingdom prepares to strike back against the communists that control southern England. Austria-Hungary (in violation of a treaty between the two senior members that peacefully dissolved the empire) and the Ottoman Empire have collapsed into civil war, with the various minorities of the region wrestling for independence. It seems that no one, not even the mighty German and British empires, will be able to escape the effects of the Weltkrieg unscathed...

 

[B_Munro]

DPKdebator was first, Zaius second, shiftygiant third.

 

[B_Munro]

MotF 131: Race to the Other Side

The Challenge
Make a map showing an alternate long-distance road (can be a railroad or a highway), involving some sort of competition between 2 or more countries (or companies). It can involve 2 separate routes or different starting points on the same route.

 

[B_Munro]

Upvoteanthology:

he PoD regards the War of 1812, in which the British crush the US even more than they did IOTL. Maine is taken over, all British claims in Oregon are kept, and expansion is far more rapid, as is competition. While the US was originally heavily against the British, a pro-alliance government came into power in the 1860's, going to war with Mexico on their behalf. After the British takeover of California, the Trans-Continental Railroad was built, a still-reluctant cooperation between the United States and the British Empire.

 

[B_Munro]

Rubberduck3y6:

Southern African Railways

Instead of being annexed into the British Empire, the Boers republics in southern Africa manage to retain their independence through an alliance with a newly unified and ambitious German Empire. Wanting to ensure their access to the mineral riches of the upper Limpopo region, German interest in the southern areas of Portuguese East Africa intensifies to the extent that with some expert negotiation round the conference tables of Europe, Germany is able to gain official control of the area as the German colony of Sofala. Naturally, the Portuguese aren't too happy at losing an area that had been under their control for over 350 years, leading to the development of a Germano-Portuguese rivalry in southern Africa. Thus, when the Germans start construction of their "Southern African Railway" to connect the gold, copper and diamond fields of the South African Republic and Matabeleland to the Indian, and later Atlantic Oceans, the Portuguese respond by planning their own African transcontinental railway, known as the Zambezi-Angola Railway.

The map shows southern Africa at the close of the nineteenth century, with the routes of the German Southern African Railway and the Portuguese Zambezi-Angola Railway, plus other railways built by the British, Boers and Germans.

 

[B_Munro]

Only two that time! Rubberduck3y6 took first place, and Upvoteanthology second to infinity-th, inclusive.

 

[B_Munro]

MotF 132: Deus Vult



The Challenge
Make a map showing an alternate crusade, of any religion.

 

[B_Munro]

MrL567:

King of Spain yet Emperor of Africa

“The Spaniards are remarkable in their fervor. For the first time in millennia, the people of North Africa will see the light of Jesus Christ. Praise the Kings of Spain, for they have done what others have found impossible, retake the old lands of Africa!” Pope Julius II

The Spanish focus there efforts more on Africa instead of the New World, eventually conquering the majority of the North African Coast. Meanwhile the Portuguese and other powers have more focus in the Americas due to more limited Spanish presence.

 

[B_Munro]

Locheil:


(The big difference here, is that when the Mongols invaded they didn't run over the top of small Russian city states, they hit the brick wall of a highly organised set of Roman Legions. This driving back meant that the Mongols were unable to bring gunpowder into Europe until much, much later than OTL. This meant, for one thing, that technology has had a slowed pace. The Roman Empire have only just adapted inaccurate powder cannons bought from the Shang Dynasty in China, and while the Mongol and Persian empires have used cannons for slightly longer, rifles and the like are still a long way off. This has had the effect of slowing the rate of colonization in Novaterrum. Furthermore, a notion that Novaterrum was "pure" means that very many less Old World diseases have reached the New, as those ill stayed away to avoid "corrupting" the New World. This means that the Great Dying, was a great deal less Great, and natives still make up over half the population of Novaterrum.

KEY

Warm colors, i.e. yellow, orange, red. = Roman Capitoline Colony

Cold colors, i.e. green, blue, purple, = Native Territories.

------

S.P.Q.N - Formed as a republic by one of the many, many splinter groups of the New Senate, the Senatus Populusque Novaterrum is nominally loyal to the Emperor and Senate, but enjoys a great deal of autonomy.

Mithrasia - Oh look, if it isn't everybody's favourite military cultists.

Mamertinia - The Emperor of Mamertinia claims descent from the Captain of the Mamertines, the mercenary group who began the Punic Wars.

Jovia - A union of the original states set up by the original Capitoline migration. They've lost the coast to what they consider the Roman "establishment". Almost constantly at war with the Shawnee.


Algonquia - Would like very much to be left alone, thank you.

Mohauqia - The Mohawk were convinced to separate from the Haudenosee due to Jovian machinations. The Jovian Senate began to immediately regret this, as they found themselves unable to control the unchecked expansion of the new Mohawk state.

Haudenosia - Hassled constantly by Roman settlers told to "Trek Northwest Fratrem" and by Mohawk raiders, the Four and a Bit Nations have certainly seen better days.

Eria - Even the High Chief of Eria is mystified as to how his slightly boring country came to be.

Lenapia - Less an actual country and more a dumping ground for non-latinised coastal natives.

Shaunia - Shown here is the iceberg-like tip of the Shawnee's tottering multicultural empire that expands to the Gulf of Novamedditerranea and the Mare Pelagia (Pacific Ocean).

Cherokia - In contrast, that is pretty much the entirety of the Cherokee's fast decaying state. The true Cherokee homelands are now a constituent part of Shaunia, meaning that the Cherokian state is feeling somewhat embarassed and disenfranchised.

Historia Sancti Colonias (Or, The History of the Holy Colonies)

After his father's death at the hands of Pompey the Great for his part in Lepidus' uprising, Marcus Junius Brutus (the Younger) was adopted by his uncle.

Or at least, thats how it should have gone. But a mysterious fever swept through Rome, taking away poor Uncle Quintus and sending Brutus, and his mother and siblings, into relative poverty.

This event cause Brutus to blame his father, and he came to value loyalty above all other values.

This meant that, when Gaius Longinus came to him with his plan for betrayal, instead of agreeing he informed Caesar, who was spurred to action.

Within the week the betrayers were dead, and the Empire secure. The Ides of March passed forever into history as the date when, apart from his compatriots, Gaius Longinus gave an impassioned speech to the populace of Rome before his execution. He pleaded with the Romans to rise up and destroy Caesar. But it was far too late. Caesar was too popular and too powerful. His loyal compatriot was rewarded well: he was named Caesar's heir.

And as such, the foundation of the mighty Bruto-Caesarian dynasty formed. This mightiest of families ruled the Roman Empire with a marble fist for nearly 16 centuries, a record unsurpassed by any ruling family in all the world. But of course, all good things must come to an end. In Anno MDCXLIV (ITTL 1644) the ironically named Romulus Gaius Brutus Caesar died heirless, and no family member remained. The following civil war was brief and brutal, between the New Senate, who wished a return to their idealized days of democracy, the Scipios , the greatest of the remaining patrician families, and most importantly of all, the Capitolines, a sect of fundamentalists who worshipped Minerva, Juno and Jupiter above all else. The New Senate eventually reached an agreement with the Scipios, to share power amongst themselves. However the raging of the Capitolines had transcended their religious goals and had degraded simply into looting and burning and raping and really creepy praying.

So, the High Priest of the Capitolium, (who had created the Capitolines to helop him seize power, but was now worried they'd pick him for their next holy burning) declared he'd had a vision: there was new land, to the west across the Mare Atlanticum. Holy Land, pure land, where the Consentes Dei might be found.

Almost as one, the Capitolines packed up and went west, across the sea. Rome then promptly decided to forget about them and focus on the big problems, like Persia (again) and those bloody Mongols.

Over in the newly christened Novaterrum, a near half century of politics, angry natives, war, gold rushes, and at least one military conspiracy occurred at a rapid pace. Now, in Anno MMDC (1700), war is brewing. All over the place actually.

 

[B_Munro]

Upvoteanthology:

PoD: The Fourth Crusade goes even worse than OTL, allowing Constantinople to fall to Muslim invaders months afterwards.
After the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders, the unstable Latin Empire was founded as a last resort. However, it quickly fell to the hungry Rums, who killed the Emperor to assure their succession to the Latin throne. After the fall of Constantinople in the 1300’s, they quickly advanced to take over Greece, and then moved north to fight the Golden Horde, Bulgaria, and Austria. Having centralized their power beyond that of the smaller countries, the Rums managed to quickly expand into Central Europe. In 1485, Austria and its allies of Bavaria and Venice fell to the Muslim alliance. The Pope called for another crusade, but it was much too late. The armies of many Papal allies had been turned against them, and the subjugation of Christianity was at hand. The Spanish quickly focused on the Reconquista, making sure the Rums wouldn’t take any of their precious Iberian Peninsula. It was reminiscent of the eighth century, and essentially moved Europe into a second Dark Age. The Rums and its new puppets of Venice and Sicily fought a valiant war against the Papal States, a war which they eventually won in 1502.
A while after the conquest of the Christian church, a French explorer stumbled upon the continent of Alpin-rouge (OTL Central America/Caribbean). As the French were at war with the Muslims at the time (Eventually ending with the conquest of Avignon and most of Occitania), a mass exile to the former Aztec empire ensued. From 1560 to 1600, a large influx of European settlers from all walks of life moved into the region, many desperately getting jobs to convert the populous. The three allied cities of Tenochtitlan were taken over by a French-English-Italian alliance, with soldiers from Moravia and even Poland assisting with the conquest. With their homelands gone, the Europeans united together to form a new empire, which they named Zephyrus (After the Roman name for the southeastern wind). The church in exile founded new cities to base their Christian ideals off of, while much of Europe moved from their home continent to Alpin-rouge. The Spanish were tasked with taking down the Inca and the Mapuche, while the Zephyrussians worked to take down the Aztecs. The Rums eventually colonized Mustarshida, their name for OTL North America east of the Mississippi.
However, there was one group who was not too happy with this exodus; the natives. While much of the former Aztec empire was converted to Christianity, the believers in the Aztec religion still existed on the fringes. In a strange showing of unity between the Aztec people, a crusade was called against the Christians. They quickly mobilized an Aztec army to take down Tenochtitlan, and assassinated the Zephyrussian emperor, along with a few high-ranked Christian political figures. Soon enough, the empire was fractured, dividing into two factions. There was the official continuation of Zephyrus, belonging to the French settlers in Tlacocum (the Latin name for the area around Tenochtitlan) and New Carcassonne, and the “Union of the Church” in Avignon and New Latium. The Aztec crusader states, founded in majorly Christian regions, got along okay with the “Restored Aztec Empire”, the new major power in the area. The states remained fractured for decades, some dominating over others. By 1675, the major powers were the Restored Aztec Empire, the Tlacocum Remnant of Zephyrus, and the majorly-French (but Aztec-run) Yancuictlan. Eventually, the Aztecs would be pushed out for good, but they had the upper hand for a long while.

Big-ass original here: http://i.imgur.com/GY3DWEP.png

 

[B_Munro]

Winner Upvote, second MrL567, and Locheil was poorly treated.

 

[Bytor]

Britain was required to give independence to Ireland (as a kingdom with a German on the throne);

I foresee an Irish Civil War in there … ;-)

 

[B_Munro]

I foresee an Irish Civil War in there … ;-)

Eh, the majority might be OK with it if he's a Catholic...

Edit: kingdom of Ireland-Bavaria?

 

[B_Munro]

MotF 133: And Then There Were Few

The Challenge
Show a map of the world having the least nations as realistically possible.

 

[B_Munro]

Zek Sora:

What Remains, Part 2: 1961 A.D.

This entry is a sequel of sorts to a previous MotF entry of mine, which you should really check out for full context, but the gist of the setting is this: The zombie apocalypse arrives in late 1898, and most of the surviving nations of the world exist on islands. That's pretty much all there is to the setting, so I'll go through the surviving nations:

Great Powers

United Kingdoms of Britain: The world's premier power. Based out of Iceland and run largely by the Royal Navy with colonies and co-Kingdoms all over the world, the U.K. is a somewhat decentralized affair, and each Kingdom effectively runs their own business, with the exception of military and foreign affairs. Despite this, the Kingdoms are growing a little overstretched, having to defend against the dead and the living in so many places around the globe. Crown Provinces, however, are usually run by either whatever authority Victoria sends, or whatever authority the local Kingdom sends. Crown Colonies are resettlement areas, where the undead still exist in fair numbers, but not enough to dissuade settlement on a medium scale. Military Zones are just that, zones where only military are allowed. Outside of the bases, your life cannot be answered for.

• Kingdom of Iceland: During the Collapse, the British made a deal with the Icelanders: Iceland would recognize Queen Victoria as their rightful sovereign and allow British settlement, and in return the British would crush the budding infection in Reykjavik. Most of Scotland and northern England was evacuated here, at least at first before being sent elsewhere for resettlement.
• Kingdom of Canada: Parts of western Canada managed to escape overrunning by the Horde by abandoning cities like Winnipeg and leaving large amounts of space between themselves and the Horde.
• Kingdom of Australia: Western Australia survived solely thanks to its isolation from the rest of the continent, and remains today the prime source of coal for the Royal Navy, which is mostly why they made an effort to secure it during the Collapse.
• Kingdom of Aotearoa: New Zealand (the only places it is called Aotearoa are on state documents and in Maori villages) is one of the highest-populated areas in the Kingdoms, and is usually referred to as the lynchpin of Asian Britain, mostly because it is.

United States of America: The United States was split in two with the coming of the Collapse, with huge travel times between the two halves making unified administration essentially impossible. Thus, two governments were set up, one in San Francisco and one in Havana, and while on paper and in the national consciousness the United States is one country, practically it is two.

• Pacific: The Pacific half of the United States is by far the larger half, and the only half that still holds parts of the former continental United States. Run from San Francisco, the deserts and Rocky Mountains protect the West Coast from attack by the Horde, not to mention that those pesky Mormons stand in between them. The Pacific U.S. is currently occupied in East Asia, staring down Japan (some things never change) and the Dutch (some things do).
• Atlantic: The Atlantic half of the United States spends most of its time trying desperately not to fall into brutal ethnic civil war between the "settler" American populations and the "native" Caribbean populations that were living in the Caribbean before the U.S. Navy conquered all of it in a last-ditch attempt at survival. This avoidance is mostly done by brutally oppressing the natives -- there is definitively an upper class and a lower here.

Empire of Japan: Japan is currently trying to keep those pesky hordes of undead away from their last foothold in the Home Islands while they quietly ethnically cleanse the other islands in their possession so that they can start moving their main administration to them. However, this process has hit a snag: the U.S. was overwhelmed with so many refugees the last time that the Japanese tried it (I bet you were wondering why Taiwan was a Prefecture) that they have threatened war if the Japanese even think about it again.

Kingdom of the Netherlands: The Dutch spent most of the Collapse doing two things: 1) sitting in a corner and thanking God a lot, and 2) killing anyone who so much as looked at any of the East Indies funny. They didn't attempt to expand during the Collapse, but they also didn't take in many refugees, so they've got a fair amount of empty land that the U.S., among others, is looking at pretty hungrily. The Dutch themselves are getting very nervous thanks to this.

Franco-Malagasy Union: After what happened in Corsica, the French were desperate to keep Madagascar, as the last place that they were able to evacuate to. They got desperate enough to do a lot of things, including full citizenship for the Malagasy, and even an official name change. Some French transplants were...unhappy with this state of affairs, enough so that there is now a simmering insurgency, involving both French radicals and Malagasy ones. The Union's foreign policy is essentially nonexistent, and its government spends most of its time just trying to remain in existence.

Republic of Hokkaido: Grabbed its independence from Japan during the Collapse, and followed up that feat by grabbing all of the surrounding islands. The Republic is mostly Japanese, with a fair amount of Ainu and Russians tossed in. Really the only reason that it is perceived as a Great Power is that it intimidated the overstretched Americans into staying out of Far Eastern Russia.

Other Nations

Republic of Brazil: Managed to survive by running as fast as it could to the deep Amazon and staying there. The only reason it isn't a Great Power is because, well, it has no ports at all and the rest of the world is only vaguely aware of its existence. Someday, it will burst out of the jungle and subjugate huge swathes of land -- that is, if it can ever get the European population to stop fighting with the indigenous.

Republic of Corsica: Long story short: The Corsicans really don't like the French. Which explains all of the (French) refugee bodies drifting in the water between Calvi and Marseilles.

Kingdom of Italy: With a population swelled somewhat by a fair amount of refugees, and the entirety of the Italian government, Sardinia had the potential to be a powerhouse in the Mediterranean immediately post-Collapse, if not for those pesky secessionist Sicilians and their shipyards. Then came the Italian Brothers' War, ended by British intervention. Now, Italy is glad to be a junior partner to the U.K., repeatedly casting nervous glances at the "Crown Colony of Sicily" (did somebody say ethnic cleansing?).

Kingdom of Spain: About as close as you can get to a bog-standard state here in the Apocalypse. The Spanish king and government fled to the Balearics after Madrid fell, and have been here ever since, turning away refugees and oppressing peasants as per usual. The Canary Islands are also under Spanish rule, and are pretty much the only reason the British haven't annexed the Balearics yet.

Kingdom of Portugal: See Kingdom of Spain.

Republic of Venice: Venice, after pushing refugees and zombies alike away from its canals at gunpoint in order to survive during the Collapse, began to go its old route of a Merchant Republic, trading for money and food to survive. Then, they realized that a) nobody could trade them enough food because b) everyone close enough was dead. Thus, they took over most of the small islands in the Adriatic and began to practice some pretty intense agriculture on them.

Kingdom of Greece: Grabbed Cyprus after a Greek Cypriot rebellion against Ottoman rule there, and never looked back. Started expanding as fast as they could, becoming the ascendant power in the eastern Mediterranean as Russia and Venice look on angrily and enviously.

Empire of Russia: Suffering from acute lack-of-expansion syndrome. Unfortunately, there isn't really anywhere that they can expand, so Russia is stuck with being just Russia-in-Crimea. For now. And probably going forwards.

Republic of Ecuador: Literally the least relevant state in the world.

State of Deseret: The Americans hate them. So. Much. The Americans feel that the Mormons betrayed them by breaking off, and the Mormons feel that they were never really that integral a part of the U.S. anyway. They keep the U.S. occupied in North America, keeping them somewhat overstretched all of the time, which means that they can never quite launch a full-on campaign to take Utah back.

Full sized (huge) map: https://www.deviantart.com/zeksora/...new=10%3A1458104107&ga_type=edit&ga_changes=1

 

[B_Munro]

My weakass effort:

Post WWI, neither Stalin nor Hitler live the full, rich lives they did OTL, but drama still ensues. The second Polish-Soviet war expands into a major conflict when Germany (under a more conventional right-wing non-democratic regime than the Nazis) sees this as an opportunity to expand eastwards. The US is not available to help out, a mix of poor response to the *Great Depression combined with an American off-brand of fascism leading to a situation where by the mid-1940s there are no less than three "legitimate governments" in place.

An armistice based on limits of logistics, money, and troops is finally reached in Europe, leaving the USSR in a favorable position. Fearing the likely outcome of a Round Two, France and its allies move to a strong federalism on the basis of "hang together or be hung separately." Britain tries to go it alone on the basis of it's empire, helped by the Canadians don't want anything to do with the mess ongoing to the south and the Australians being decidedly worried about the Japanese. There has been some talk over the years over merging democratic Europe and the federal Empire in some sort of giant union of democracies, but the whole "learn a second language" thing sort of spooks the British.

 

[B_Munro]

Alex Richards:

Well, this is a bit vague and slaughters a lot of butterflies, but here goes.
Matters began in the late 19th Century where the first steps towards the creation of an Imperial Federation in the British Empire were undertaken, culminating in its establishment in the closing days of WWI. Versailles went mostly as OTL, but with Austria and Bohemia sticking together under the Habsburgs and Slovakia remaining part of Hungary. Meanwhile the US was taking a much more expansionist tone in Central America, beginning to bleed on down into South America.

By the mid 30s, India and Ireland had been granted full Dominion Status, and the Imperial Federation was beginning to see the strains of balancing the shear demographic weight of the Subcontinent with the traditional heartland of Britain and the White Dominions. Perhaps if matters had ended there the whole thing would have collapsed in on itself, but there was another twist to come.

WWII saw a slightly different, right wing anti-Semitic regime in Germany take a much more collaborationist attitude with Slavic minorities in Eastern Europe, with the result that after crushing the French the war in the East dragged out for longer. With America uninterested in anything more than dealing with the Japanese problem, France ended up taking Britain up on the offer of a Commonwealth between her Empire and the Imperial Federation. The war dragged on to 1947 and ended with the Franco-Imperial forces sweeping in a broad arc through Austria, reaching Vienna, Prague and Dresden but with the Soviets pushing north along the Elbe to Lubeck and Hamburg. Schleswig-Holstein was eventually neutralised as part of the Nordic Union in order to get the Russians to withdraw from Hamburg, but the eventual lay of the land led to the Soviets occupying Turkey and most of Greece.

Post war, the need for defence against a USSR which had annexed everything she controlled led to the creation of a European Community of Free Europe, minus the Nordics, which soon negotiated a continuation of the Commonwealth agreement with the Imperial Federation. Save for the Communist takeover of Dakar in the dying days of the war, there has been little overt fighting between the two since- though plenty of covert conflict.

In the east meanwhile The US and USSR coordinated to defeat Japan, with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and Korea taking place shortly before the US utilised newly developed nuclear weapons to bring Japan to surrender. In the aftermath, the US propped up Chiang's regime in China, took advantage of the weakened French State to split Indochina off and then fought a war with the USSR over control of Iran.

The world is thus carefully balanced between the three Superpowers- the US is more industrious and richer as a rule, but has greater issues with imposing her influence abroad both in international relations and justifying it domestically, leading to the least unified of the three spheres. The Soviets on the other hand have greater control over their sphere, but are the economically speaking the worst off in terms of the strength of their core area, and are more likely to be opposed by both the other powers in foreign influence.


The Commonwealth meanwhile would be undisputed master of the planet, if it was not for the vast unwieldy bureaucracy, complicated federal systems and opt outs and delicate negotiations that are intrinsic in keeping it together and maintaining the delicate power blocks that ensure it works for all parties. Ignoring the Imperial Federation (who's own federal organs have atrophied somewhat with the conversion of its legislature to one for the whole Commonwealth), the system of government is quadricameral, comprised of:


-The Chamber of Representatives, elected from all directly administered and autonomous parts of full members (but not sub-national protectorates) by PR.

-The Chamber of Regions which acts as a sort of Senate with the various entities (Bavaria, India, Fiji etc.) having three members each.

-The House of Peers and Princes which serves as an expanded House of Lords and where the heads of the Protectorates have their only input into the system.

-The Commonwealth Secretariat, comprised of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, President of France, Prime Minister of India, President of the Council of the Imperial Federation and Secretary-General of the European Community.

A ceremonial joint executive comprised of the British monarch and an elected President of Europe holds nominal power of this structure.

In this manner, India's dominance in the Representatives is balanced out by it's weakened position in the Regions but equal status in the Secretariat. The slow enfranchisement of Black Africans and Afro-Caribbeans has introduced a third block that is rapidly approaching equal ranking with the others, led by the Union of East Africa.

There is a potential crisis ahead though. The Levantine Four technically qualify as Protectorates of the Imperial Federation at the moment, but in recognition of their important place in the front line against the Communists and American backed states of the Middle East have been granted full voting rights in the Representatives and Regions. Yet there are questions about how they eventually fit into things. A position as full members of the Imperial Federation has been offered, but looks likely to be declined, going it alone within the Commonwealth would be an unprecedented constitutional issue which could cause many of the carefully arranged dominoes to start collapsing. On the other hand, between Tunisia, Tripolitania, French Algeria and Lebanon there is a growing sense that for the Arabs (or at least the right sort of Arabs) might qualify as sufficiently European to be accepted as full members of the Community- a position which could revolutionise the manner in which the French Empire is organised, but would at least fit within the Commonwealth.

The war has been over for 30 years. It's effects are still reverberating strongly.

 

[B_Munro]

Rubberduck3y6:

I originally started making a massive Inkscape map that wasn't really working, then when the deadline was extended I decided to try making a Worlda for a change! So here it is, complete with bonus flags!

--~--
Excerpt from the Omnipedia article on Supranationalism:

"Supranationalism, or Pan-nationalism, is a feeling of identity shared by members of several national groups, usually over a large geographic area, based on linguistic, cultural, historic and sometimes religious connections...

History
The development of supranationalism as a political ideology is usually traced back by most historians to the anti-colonial revolutions in the Americas in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many of the revolutionaries involved in the United States' War of Independence, inspired by the ideals of the European Enlightenment and the earlier French Revolution, expressed a desire for all colonial powers to be removed from the continent. They were later followed by revolutionaries in Spanish America, among them Simón Bolívar, who fought against European rule and then appealed to the same ideals of a shared American identity and desire for freedom, republicanism and democracy to create the world's first supranational state, the Union of Bolivaran Republics. While attempts at liberating Brazil and the Guianas ultimately resulted in failure, the new county remained unified and proved the success and viability of supranationalist ideas.

Supranationist-inspired uprisings spread to Europe, resulting in revolutions that overthrew the old monarchies in Spain, Portugal and the Italian and German states and the creation of the "New Republics" of Iberia, Italy and Germany which looked to restore Europe after the humiliation of the loss of the Americas and the destruction of the Napoleonic Wars, with a desire to unify the continent in a way that it had not been since the days of Rome. Alarmed by the threat the New Republics represented to their power and sovereignty, the governments of northern Europe responded by fostering their own supranationalisms around the ideas of a unified Scandinavia and a globe-spanning multi-national British Commonwealth of Nations. In the east though the Romanov, Hapsburg and Ottoman dynasties reacted by trying to suppress the calls for freedom and European unity, with limited success. This tension between the New Republics of the west and the old monarchies of the east was a major contributory factor to the outbreak of the Great European War in 1888, after which the modern European Federation, Turkestan and the United Arab State emerged from the ashes of the old order.

In Africa and Asia, supranationalism enjoyed less success than in the Americas and Europe, with many looking warily at the costly wars attributed to the ideology, preferring the stability and security of existing orders. Nevertheless, some supranational states did emerge such as a republican Iran and Malaysia in Asia and the Gulf of Guinea Union in Africa."
--~--

 

[B_Munro]

Upvoteanthology:

A collaboration between myself an AnachronistRocketeer, hope you guys enjoy!

Imperio Terra

Imperium Romanum, the ancient symbol of both Power and Prestige, lasting centuries through calamity, famine, and war. The Great Empire which came so close to falling, but instead was able to survive in name if not always in law through to actions of one Emperor Severus Augustus, the man who was able to successfully start an ordered transition of power by increasing the power of hand-appointed regional governors, and by starting a line of succession where the reigning Emperor upon ascending to the cognomen Augustus would name a successor, most often their child or a suitable figure. With this system in place, and a line of Emperors and Governors able to cement this practice against any generals who attempted to march on Rome, the Empire stabilized as a rather loose “confederation” which while more stable than the Roman System, the title of Augustus would change hands many times as dynasties fell to their more influential neighbors who would by 350 AD be able to offically outvote the other Governors on who the next heir should be after the death of Princeps Galerius Augustus. This lead to Regional Governors focusing more on their own territories and less on the Emperor, while the Empire would eventually set it’s sights and conquering Germania…

Germania would be a sticking point for almost every Emperor, the lands they simply are unable to conquer despite the best efforts of nearly a dozen emperors across two centuries. By the year 500, The Germanic states would settle into a coalition in order to resist Rome, occasionally losing some territory but always regaining it within a generation or two. However, in 1374 the Assembly of Kings would unite the states under one empire, Tsemonia, with an elected King of Kings from amongst the assembled Kings. However, that tradition would quickly turn into an election from amongst the family of the last reigning King of all Semnones. However, as the threat of Roman invasion lessened, Tsemonia would turn it’s sights on their northern cousins, conquering the local Kingdoms that had not already joined the Assembly.

However, to the east Dynaties had risen and fallen, various dynasties more and more closed off as the confucian scholars took control. However, the fall of the Great Zhu dynasty in 1352 to famine and ethnic revolt against the reigning Manchu would lead to the rise of the Zuigao Dynasty, assisted by often-buddhist White Lotus enuchs who would manage to sway influence in the court away from the Confucian Scholars. However, the Zuigao Dynasty would also prove to be rampant in it’s militarism, establishing a standing army, and in 1420 invading Dong in order to quell the rampant piracy of their trade. It wouldn;t be long however before their trade dominated the coastlines, massive ships collecting tributes and selling goods from the lands of Heaven itself after the dynasty’s name. Trade would eventually lead to cultural and then political subjugation for many nations, although the rule of the Emperor was often light in unimportant locations as their attention was often drawn to wars with a series of states across the Himalayas as well as rebellions from the Koguryo and defending against nomadic raiders which would eventually be forced northward.

Across the mountains, the Patna Empire had fallen to raids by a band of Mongol horsemen and the advances of several minor Republics in the region, leaving way for a few centuries of divided states while to the south the Kingdom of Kalinga dominated their neighbors and became well known for it’s architecture and preservation of traditional Hindu texts while to the north Bhuddism had maintained a strong hold over the populace. However, it would not be for centuries that these shifting states would unite and form a serious threat to Zuigao…

However, in Rome something almost unthinkable had occured, the province of Brittania, considered a somewhat backwater colony had entered into open rebellion as yearly temperatures dropped and the summers were shorter, causing massive crop failures. That in addition to the war against the now-fracturing Tsemone into three states gave a perfect time to adress the long-standing grievance many Bretons had against their Roman masters for giving control of their province to a Patrician from Italy during the reign of the last Princep. The Bretons would rebel, declaring the Britannian Republic in 1410, modeled after the Roman Republic with small changes in accordance to local traditions. Despite their attempts to try, Caledonia would remain somewhat firmly in the hands of the Romans, as by now the mountainous province was home to the descendents of one of the leading families and the local Caledonians were unwilling to submit to Britannia.

The Britannians had an issue however, as Roman dominance of trade proved almost a stranglehold upon the small nation, only having the Germanic neighbors and the Rourran Horde to provide vital goods to the aristocracy and peasentry which had now ascended to the aristocracy. This issue would be solved by the creation of Britannia’s first colonies in the 1340’s, nothing more than garrisons in small trade villages along the african coast.

In 1449, a fairly young explorer tasked by the equally-youthful Britannian Republic to find a new route would instead find his crew traversing a previously uncrossable ocean to the New World, sparking the semi-rapid colonization of the New World, with delays as it would be several expeditions often a decade apart by Britannia and then Rome before any contact was even made much less open colonization.

The year 1598 is a big year for the Bharatam Empire, the year in which the small Republic would manage to conquer several of it’s neighbors and begin to rival Kalinga. It would vassale several smaller states, even taking over Abhira and Kot which would begin it’s dominance over much of the Indian Ocean trade, sparking a short war with Zuigao in which it would take over Tibet and gain several former vassals in south-east asia. After that, Kalinga would fall to Taprobane, a confederation of states theoretically controlled by a Roman aristocracy and allowed a Governor in 1600. This incursion by the Romans would serve to push many states into the arms of Bharatam, where they would be given defence from the invading Legions. The slow and informal annexation of these vassal states into republics of the Bharatam Empire would be finished by 1740 when Pallava would be reconquered from the Romans while they would lose territory in Hydrema to the Romans, and small portions of land to nearby Persia.

All was not well in the New World however, colonization was a risky buisness, and the Romans unable to msuter much effort into the practice, while the Britannians had failure after failures. Several colonies stuck, including the vassal state of an enterprising Zuigao Emperor, but many failed to native attacks, disease, or simple lack of resources. Outskitter was one of the most successful, The islands turned into Sugar Plantations to satisfy global demand, the outskitter plantations outpacing the Romans by the end. However, resentment by both locals and transported slaves from around the world would reach a boiling point along with those of the poorer Brittanian farmers in 1788, when a war would cause massive taxes to be implaced on the local islands, the rich Planation owners becoming more industrial and cruel in order to offset costs, while poor britannians and natives would often find themselves poor and sickly. It would be a wave of revolution and counter-revolution, invasion by Britannians and Romans, invasion of native lands by aristocratic Britannians attempting to set up Empires of their own, and slave revolts before out of the dust, the Kingdom of Outskitter would be born, run by the poor Ewrindo slave-turned general and then King Ferai. The Kingdom was rather revolutionary for it’s time, guaranteeing various rights and priviliges to the people in exchange for one of the strongest executive figures of the major powers, a constitutional elected monarch who’s only check is the assembly of the people upon their death. Relations have been tense since then, with Terra Nova being rife with native wars and even a rebellion in Alwioneua.

However, the Brittanians have just recently hit on a large patch of coal which may change the modern world and possibly allow them to finally defeat the rebellious Outskitter and their allies..

Map too big to upload, go here https://www.deviantart.com/upvoteanthology/art/MotF-133-Imperio-Terra-597797887

 

[B_Munro]

Upvoteanthology and AnachronistRocketeer won first place, with Zek Sora second and Alex Richards third. (Although I can't help thinking that reducing the number of countries by having zombies kill almost everyone is sort of cheating. )