Map Thread XXII

Dr. Doom

Pax_Nihil said:
2073 huh? What happened to the Middle East and the Siberian coast country, where I am potentially living, is it crappy?
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The Middle East is a fractious and violent place, rife with proxy wars between rebels and regimes backed by Turks vs. Iranians vs. the Global North. The Islamic World in ATL, facing the changes wrought by climate change, desertification, globalization, automation, etc, has embraced (to varying degrees) a bottom-up democratic, eco-socialist, Islamist movement, that is now starting to win fans across the formerly and currently Christian nations as well.

Unfortunately this doesn't mean that nations are going to get along just because they share an ideology. Just as we had the Sino-Soviet Split, ATL had the Turko-Iranian Split.

Ophois said:
What's the big patch in the Sahara/Sahel region and why is it a lighter shade than the generic colour?
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Uninhabitable due to Climate Change.

I actually did the border myself based on rainfall patterns.

As I was typing this, I realised the probable answer was climate change.
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Actually Antarctica was an error. It is still largely uninhabitable, though more and more military bases, research stations, and even small intentional communities are popping up on the coast!! (OTL also had intentional communities popping up in the 1960s-70s, given that we are going for a rough Cold War analogue, it seemed fitting.)
 
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B_Munro

Patrician Lipwig said:
View attachment 863271
This is my vision of a sequel to S.M. Stirling’s Nantucket Series, AKA the Island in the Sea of Time Trilogy (ISOT), in which the present day Island of Nantucket finds itself teleported back to 1250 B.C. It is the time of Ramses II (that Ramses), the time of the Trojan War. The Island has not only to adapt to the Bronze Age, but confront the machinations of William Walker, a ruthless megalomaniac that deserts with some companions and uses their knowledge of the future to conquer Mycenean Greece and forge a super power with himself as High-King. The story ends right when things were getting interesting and since there’s no sequel, I decided to make one.

----------------------------------------------------

It has been 10 years since William Walker, High Wanax (King) of the Achaeans died at the hands of his own ruthless secret police chief. His closest Achaean advisor and supporter, Odikweos of Ithaka (Odysseus. Yes that Odysseus) had for a long time suspected him to be lying about his origins. He knew that Walker came from the far away Island of Nantucket, called the Eagle People for their patron God (though their King insisted he did not even believe in Gods, something Odikweos found hard to grasp). He knew Walker and his allies held too much knowledge of his lands, of where to find wondrous resources, to be simply a different advanced people. They were either some sort of Demigod race, or they came from the times to be. And he hated Walker for what he did to Achaea. Yes, Mycenean Greece now ruled an Empire they could never have imagined before, but it did so through mass enslavement, through a secret police that even the Telestai, the Achaean aristocracy, feared. The cities founded by the Nantucketer deserters, such as Neayoruck, Filadelkar and Atwanka (you get the naming convention) were ruled as glorified slave camps. And worst, Odikweos has read the Odyssey. He knew that, had Walker not come, his name would’ve gone down in legend and still be known 3 thousand years from now. Walker stole that from him. And now Walker was dead.

Odikweos seized the reigns of power, making himself High King. Peace was made with Nantucket, the Hittites and the Babylonians (all allies of that far away Island). Sicily was made independent, its enslaved population forever holding a grudge. Odikweos was fine with all that. He wished for peace, but that did not mean he would settle for anything less than greatness for the Achaean people. The excesses of Walker’s regime were toned down. The Mass enslavement ended (though the practice itself could not simply be removed overnight). The Secret Police destroyed, along with a particularly nefarious snake cult headed by Walker’s former (now very deceased) concubine.

But overall the bones of Greater Achaea were preserved and expanded upon. The Rail lines, where before Elephants imported from Egypt pulled carts, now boasted actual steam engines. This, coupled with the concrete roads, made transportation incredibly more efficient across Achaea. The Sacro Collegium, Walker’s attempt at a State Religion, proved an useful tool to strengthening religious authority (it helped that Odikweos genuinely believed himself a descendant of Zeus Pater). He was anointed as rightful High King by the Priests, and his son, Telemakion, would one day take his place, divine succession slowly becoming very much a thing. The many Vassals of Achaea proper (those in lands not governed by Achaean Telestai or Achaean colonists) were ruled through a bureaucratic administration that sought to assimilate these people culturally as soon as possible, and Greater Achaea now expanded as far north as the Great River (the Danube), where Odikweos founded a number of colonies. Troy, now a conquered vassal, was quickly rebuilt, and the High King made a show of being merciful and generous to his new subjects as a way of distancing them from their former Hittite overlords.

The technologies introduced by the Nantucketer’s were simply wondrous. Breechloading Rifles were already being replaced by repeaters as the standard for the Achaean army, while steam boats, steam trainsand steam airships made movement so much simpler. Their military remained the most powerful in the Mediterranean. Telegraph and telephone polls went up all over the major Achaean towns. Paved roads, and arched architecture. Concrete, cement, steel!

Walkeropolis, the capital of Greater Achaea, now has brick as well as concrete buildings on a grid style, underground sewage and horse pulled trolleys. It is a capital of poetry, industry and commerce. Many other cities has also flourished, some founded during Walker’s time, others during Odikweos. And of course, the changes had also come to the ancient Mycenean Cities. Thebes now held a particularly large sports stadium, where a form of proto-football was quickly emerging.

One great positive of the Walker Regime was the birth of social mobility in that land. Before, a person was bound to the land they were born in, most likely to remain under the thumb of their local Telestai. Now they could move to these cities in search of fortune, and often find it. Enroll into a new merchant guild, or perhaps join the army, with a guarantee of land and a pension (most likely in a Italian colony) after a 5 year tour of duty. Or they could even join the Priesthood if they wished, itself a powerful new institution bound to the crown and keen on spreading the worship of the Pantheon of 12 beyond Achaea itself.

Basic germ theory, as well as some knowledge of surgery and dentistry ensured a population boom the world had never seen before, and in the last decade or so the number of Achaeans was increasing exponentially.

Geopolitically, Odikweos needed allies. Both the Hittites and the Babylonians were firmly on the Nantucket camp, and both were too close for comfort. Beyond the sea lay Egypt, and though the Pharao’s technology was still inferior to that of the other great powers, that land held half the human population on the planet. Odikweos made many diplomatic forays to that land in the last few years, formulating a treaty of mutual cooperation. Pharaoh was still angry at the Babylonians seizing Cannan (basically the Levant) and gaining sea access. To the west lay the Iberian Empire of Tartessos, a firm ally. Together both powers had basically carved out the Mediterranean for themselves, though the Sicilian Republic presented a problem. That island had been devastated by Walker’s regime, but now its independence was guaranteed by treaties with Achaea and the might of Nantucket. The latter was determined to make the only other Republican experiment in the planet work, and poured significant resources into the Island through their naval ports in the Babylonian Levant. Beyond the Danube, Greater Achaea can count on the Ringapi, a confederation of Horse riders (a rare thing by 1200 B.C. standard) who fight viciously when given incentive. Odikweos has kept a close eye on them, as he does not wish for any single group to develop into a possible threat to his north. Should they get any ideas, a hot air balloon armed with firebombs would put them back in their place.

Indeed, there has been an unofficial doctrine that everything above the Balkans, to the East of the Italian Peninsual and West of Central Asia was reserved for Achaean economic and political hegemony. The Black Sea is a main focus of Odikweos, and a sort of (still very) cold war has emerged with Hatti Land over that area of the world. The Volga river in particular, holds untold opportunities to the Achaean King.

Overall Greater Achaea rules in peace, for now. It is a peace that the High King and his son wish very much to preserve, but never at the cost of that classic Mycenean pride. Beyond that, who knows what the future (the new future), holds?
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Huh, coincidink. I'm just starting on a map for the ISOT world 100 years after the event: mind if I steal an idea or two? (full credit, of course).
 
Tyche

Tyche

I don't think it deserves a full reporting but you should at least mention when you do take very specific inspiration in idea and design from pre-existing work, like Separated at Birth by the esteemed ERB
 

User_1204

Tyche said:
I don't think it deserves a full reporting but you should at least mention when you do take very specific inspiration in idea and design from pre-existing work, like Separated at Birth by the esteemed ERB
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Now that you mention it, I do see the similarities. A lot of them, in fact. I have no idea how it got so similar, but I'll be taking it down. Apologies!
 

athgtq16129

Dr. Doom said:
Uninhabitable due to Climate Change.
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Isn't this more or less the areas that are already currently highly uninhabited in real life, like in population density maps? asking cause I like this effect of desertification (on fictional maps of course!) and I simply use the sparsely populated areas of the Sahara as an example.
 
AK47Productions

AK47Productions

K3PcGJI.png

​
A long time ago, I stumbled across this map on Lonely Planet that had climate analogues on Australia. The link, which I kept bookmarked for years, no longer leads to the article but the map from said article seems to originate from Reddit (link here, in case that map ever disappears as well here's an imgur mirror of it).

The map above is my attempt to make a worlda cover of it the best I could, which I was inspired to do after discovering Alexander North's The Heartland of Humanity sometime ago. I might even do my own one-shot for this map in the near future, with the areas shown being sent from OTL 2012. The original reddit map was exactly 100% clear on a few things so I had to make some of my own calls on this one:
  • The Florida/NE India area implies they'd be both mixed together though Guwahati had a bigger population in 2012 than Miami and Daytona Beach combined. They'd probably end up as enclaves for a rump US.​
  • The "Sonoran Desert" in eastern Australia wasn't clear who was there but when I looked at the map on the wikipedia page and saw the term also applies to southern Arizona and southeastern California, I decided to roll with that. Arizona is now on the outskirts of the Macintyre river rather than the Salt River.​
  • Central Tasmania had the UK, Vancouver and Ireland as weather analogues. I decided to cut Ireland out of the equation entirely so it's just England & Scotland (and I only know Scotland's there because the original map clearly has Edinburgh listed).​
  • I placed Vancouver roughly on the site of OTL Southport. Fully prepared for someone to tell me that was an entirely incorrect thing to do.​
  • The original map only mentioned Southern Chile being an analogue for eastern Tasmania. That's it? How far south? The wiki page for the term says it's an informal term for anywhere south of Santiago.​
  • The original map only gave me Tamanrasset to go off of for the Sahara, so I decided to bring in parts of Mali and Niger for some variety.​
  • Mexico's share of the Sonoran desert also has the city of Chihuahua in it according to the original map. I decided to just split the difference and have both Sonora and Chihuahua state in it as the former state is in its own desert.​
 
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Patrician Lipwig

B_Munro said:
Huh, coincidink. I'm just starting on a map for the ISOT world 100 years after the event: mind if I steal an idea or two? (full credit, of course).
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Well Well Well. I used to obsess over your maps for hours (the fatherland one is chef's kiss) and now here we are. Flattered and honored, feel free to borrow. I'm also on deviantart as Mervynhaspeaked, would appreciate a mention when you roll out the map!

If you don't mind me asking, any ideas in particular you liked?
 
Tomislav Addai

Tomislav Addai

A map of a hypothetical Lutheran self-government structure in Slovakia, based on the 2021 census.
Blue lines show the borders of districts (each with at least 5000 Lutherans), light grey show borders of municipalities (each with at least 200 Lutherans).
Luterska samospráva.png

Larger density of districts and municipalities thus equals to larger density of Lutherans. The city of Bratislava is divided into four districts (Petržalka, Karlovka, Ružinov and Podunajské Biskupice), while the eastern part of the Košice conurbation was separated into the district of Kecerovce.
The towns of Stará Turá, Turany, Liptovský Hrádok, Sliač , Dobšiná and Giraltovce, as well as the village of Kecerovce have no corresponding district currently.
1697888792039.png

These 43 districts are further divided into five regions:
  1. Bratislava Region (light green, 9 districts)
  2. Myjava Region (light blue, 7 districts)
  3. Martin Region (brown, 10 districts)
  4. Banská Bystrica Region ( orange, 10 districts)
  5. Košice Region (pink, 7 districts)
 
Filo

Filo

OT: Not sure if it goes here, otherwise tell me.
The Confederacy2.png

Google map of the Confederate States of America. Early 2000s.

OT2: This is an experiment with GIMP (I'm not so proficient, so i tried)
 

p0lish_runn3r

Filo said:
OT: Not sure if it goes here, otherwise tell me.
View attachment 863633
Google map of the Confederate States of America. Early 2000s.

OT2: This is an experiment with GIMP (I'm not so proficient, so i tried)
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I actually think this looks really good. My only critiques would be to make the border more of a grey to better match google maps and make the country name more faded so it doesn't totally block the characters behind it. Still good job nonetheless!
 
Arkocento

Arkocento

Donor
Filo said:
OT: Not sure if it goes here, otherwise tell me.
snip
Google map of the Confederate States of America. Early 2000s.

OT2: This is an experiment with GIMP (I'm not so proficient, so i tried)
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Damn, Kansas made out like a king, stealing that Oklahoma Panhandle. Colorado Too, though they def didnt get as much.
 
Pax_Nihil

Pax_Nihil

Arkocento said:
Damn, Kansas made out like a king, stealing that Oklahoma Panhandle. Colorado Too, though they def didnt get as much.
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Is the Oklahoma Panhandle really that big of a win to have annexed to your state? I don't think it has any particular resources that can be a boon economically so if you're interested in just more square miles than the next guy you are right I guess but maybe I don't know enough about the area and its worthwhile to have for some other reason o_O
 
Filo

Filo

Pax_Nihil said:
Is the Oklahoma Panhandle really that big of a win to have annexed to your state? I don't think it has any particular resources that can be a boon economically so if you're interested in just more square miles than the next guy you are right I guess but maybe I don't know enough about the area and its worthwhile to have for some other reason o_O
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I have found that Oklahoma Panhandle has some quite gas wells and some mines. I assumed was lost during the WWI to Usa. I assume, also, that it would have been absurd for the US to make a state out of it.
 

B_Munro

Does anyone recall a map in which Siberia is made up of multiple states created by Russian/Cossack adventurers rather than unified under centralizing Russian rule? I think it might have been by @Beedok , but I'm not sure: searching "Siberia" and "Cossacks" doesn't yield any joy.

Patrician Lipwig said:
Well Well Well. I used to obsess over your maps for hours (the fatherland one is chef's kiss) and now here we are. Flattered and honored, feel free to borrow. I'm also on deviantart as Mervynhaspeaked, would appreciate a mention when you roll out the map!

If you don't mind me asking, any ideas in particular you liked?
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I am interested in the notion of Odysseus formalizing Greek Polytheism. The book series strongly suggests Christianity is going to spread far and wide: I suspect there will be a fair degree of resistance from the elites of states trying to modernize while at the same time trying to avoid becoming carbon copies of the "Eagle People."
 

Patrician Lipwig

B_Munro said:
Does anyone recall a map in which Siberia is made up of multiple states created by Russian/Cossack adventurers rather than unified under centralizing Russian rule? I think it might have been by @Beedok , but I'm not sure: searching "Siberia" and "Cossacks" doesn't yield any joy.


I am interested in the notion of Odysseus formalizing Greek Polytheism. The book series strongly suggests Christianity is going to spread far and wide: I suspect there will be a fair degree of resistance from the elites of states trying to modernize while at the same time trying to avoid becoming carbon copies of the "Eagle People."
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Odysseus formal state religion does seem really fascinating and I like to imagine they would try to do some serious proselytizing.

As for your later point, I'm working on a sequel focused on the mediterranean at the same time as this map (20 years after the event) and I like to imagine Achaea, Tartessos and Egypt forming a sort of Bronze Age "Holy Alliance". Basically a reactionary alliance built on the idea of resisting the Eagle Peoples secular and republican ideals which, to these bronze age aristocrats, would be offensive and umnatural as hell. Not to mean Odysseus would be backward minded, but simply use that notion to do some fine alliance building.
 
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