Something by Sregan:
Well, this project took WAY too long and I'm still not entirely happy with it - the key still looks a little unfinished and I've never been totally satisfied with the borders in Europe (which are supposed to look like this), but I think it's time to sign off on it. I think I'm getting better at this whole Photoshop thing - the margin background is based on this tutorial for creating a wet stone texture, though it didn't turn out quite as craggy as I hoped. The borders are anti-aliased, though I couldn't bring myself to do it with the internal subdivisions. All the borders and text are actually very dark turquoise - something I discovered worked well with my last project (which used dark green).
This is La Muerte De Mí, a TL/Scenario based around three different ideas I wanted to develop. Firstly, I wanted to explore the Union of the British and French crowns that nearly happened in OTL - but didn't want to turn it into a generic 'Hurr hurr, Britain and France unite into The Mighty Fritbrance and conquers the world'). Secondly, I had some rough ideas for a Scotwank focusing around Scottish migrants building a powerful dog-wagging colony in the Americas, but had no idea how to get them the necessary cash and manpower. Finally, I had an old idea kicking around called Inter Caetera, about Spain and Portugal dividing the Holy Roman Empire between them. I roughly combined the ideas here and here, and was so pleased with the result I decided to give it a go in PS.
La Muerte De Mí takes as its P.O.D. the survival of Henry V of England until 1441, by which time he has secured the French throne, defeated Charles VII, and married Joan of Arc. Unfortunately, whilst the House of Lancaster (now simply referred to as Anjou) becomes ever more firmly ensconced in France, their grip on England progressively weakens, and in 1458, outraged by Henry VI's decision to govern from the continent, the Yorkists rise up under Richard III (our Richard Plantagenet) and are able - at great cost - to defeat the Lancastrian loyalists and seize the island throne. However, England does not remain independent for long. Lacking a warfleet, ravaged by the Red and White War and virtually bankrupt, England is invaded not once but three times over the course of the next century, falling under Scottish, Portuguese, and finally Spanish control. 'Londres' becomes a gigantic sweatshop, supplying Spain with an unfathomable quantity of cheap manufactured goods and textiles for export. The year is now 1920, and Spain has dominated Europe - and the globe - for five hundred years. But with the French, Germans, and Scottish carving out their own empires, how much longer can Spain remain the master of the world?
The map should be more or less self-explanatory, and includes some explanations of different aspects of the LMDM world. Some other points:
- Cúrsa Pathadh ('The Road of Thirst') (OTL Namibia) and Grande Java were founded as penal colonies - transportation to Rémission on the east coast of *Australia was a particularly feared punishment. When France began to settle the west coast, it was made a free colony, and penal colonists who had earned their freedom through hard work could travel west to Côte Libre.
- Venice was forced to surrender its non-contiguous possessions in exchange for Milan, the Papal States, and the Neapolitan Abruzzes. Bosnia, Serbia, and 'Wallachia' are Spanish puppets, pried out of Hungary's zone of influence as a result of the *War of Austrian Succession.
- After a catastrophic defeat in a continental war with Spain, Portugal was forced into political union and the Portuguese language, like English, has been all but erased, leaving Brazil as the only Portuguese-speaking nation. When Brazil broke away from Iberian control, the Siete Ciudades ('Seven Cities') - the first historic colonies in *South America - counter-seceded and submitted to Spanish authority. Since then Brazil has rebuilt its industrial strength, on the south-east and north-east coasts, as well as at its huge new capital, Sul-Cruz/South Cross, and is more or less as powerful as OTL Brazil, despite its loss of territory.
- France played a Great Game with Russia in the 18th century and won quite convincingly, taking most of *Turkestan, including *Almaty. Russia had to settle for dividing Mongolia and *Japan with a much more modernised, outward-looking China.
Well, this project took WAY too long and I'm still not entirely happy with it - the key still looks a little unfinished and I've never been totally satisfied with the borders in Europe (which are supposed to look like this), but I think it's time to sign off on it. I think I'm getting better at this whole Photoshop thing - the margin background is based on this tutorial for creating a wet stone texture, though it didn't turn out quite as craggy as I hoped. The borders are anti-aliased, though I couldn't bring myself to do it with the internal subdivisions. All the borders and text are actually very dark turquoise - something I discovered worked well with my last project (which used dark green).
This is La Muerte De Mí, a TL/Scenario based around three different ideas I wanted to develop. Firstly, I wanted to explore the Union of the British and French crowns that nearly happened in OTL - but didn't want to turn it into a generic 'Hurr hurr, Britain and France unite into The Mighty Fritbrance and conquers the world'). Secondly, I had some rough ideas for a Scotwank focusing around Scottish migrants building a powerful dog-wagging colony in the Americas, but had no idea how to get them the necessary cash and manpower. Finally, I had an old idea kicking around called Inter Caetera, about Spain and Portugal dividing the Holy Roman Empire between them. I roughly combined the ideas here and here, and was so pleased with the result I decided to give it a go in PS.
La Muerte De Mí takes as its P.O.D. the survival of Henry V of England until 1441, by which time he has secured the French throne, defeated Charles VII, and married Joan of Arc. Unfortunately, whilst the House of Lancaster (now simply referred to as Anjou) becomes ever more firmly ensconced in France, their grip on England progressively weakens, and in 1458, outraged by Henry VI's decision to govern from the continent, the Yorkists rise up under Richard III (our Richard Plantagenet) and are able - at great cost - to defeat the Lancastrian loyalists and seize the island throne. However, England does not remain independent for long. Lacking a warfleet, ravaged by the Red and White War and virtually bankrupt, England is invaded not once but three times over the course of the next century, falling under Scottish, Portuguese, and finally Spanish control. 'Londres' becomes a gigantic sweatshop, supplying Spain with an unfathomable quantity of cheap manufactured goods and textiles for export. The year is now 1920, and Spain has dominated Europe - and the globe - for five hundred years. But with the French, Germans, and Scottish carving out their own empires, how much longer can Spain remain the master of the world?
The map should be more or less self-explanatory, and includes some explanations of different aspects of the LMDM world. Some other points:
- Cúrsa Pathadh ('The Road of Thirst') (OTL Namibia) and Grande Java were founded as penal colonies - transportation to Rémission on the east coast of *Australia was a particularly feared punishment. When France began to settle the west coast, it was made a free colony, and penal colonists who had earned their freedom through hard work could travel west to Côte Libre.
- Venice was forced to surrender its non-contiguous possessions in exchange for Milan, the Papal States, and the Neapolitan Abruzzes. Bosnia, Serbia, and 'Wallachia' are Spanish puppets, pried out of Hungary's zone of influence as a result of the *War of Austrian Succession.
- After a catastrophic defeat in a continental war with Spain, Portugal was forced into political union and the Portuguese language, like English, has been all but erased, leaving Brazil as the only Portuguese-speaking nation. When Brazil broke away from Iberian control, the Siete Ciudades ('Seven Cities') - the first historic colonies in *South America - counter-seceded and submitted to Spanish authority. Since then Brazil has rebuilt its industrial strength, on the south-east and north-east coasts, as well as at its huge new capital, Sul-Cruz/South Cross, and is more or less as powerful as OTL Brazil, despite its loss of territory.
- France played a Great Game with Russia in the 18th century and won quite convincingly, taking most of *Turkestan, including *Almaty. Russia had to settle for dividing Mongolia and *Japan with a much more modernised, outward-looking China.
The LMDM German Republic has very little in common with the OTL German Empire>Republic, being more an analogue of the OTL French Republic. As its subdivisions suggest (or would suggest if I didn't have a compulsion to cover them up with annotations) it's a direct descendent of the HRE, and has historically been dominated by Bohemia. In terms of national culture they're similar to the colonial Dutch, with a soupçon of Revolutionary French Rationalism. Prussian militarism doesn't get a look in, which significantly alters their outlook.
