Rememberences of Map Contests Past

[B_Munro]

Shaucker:

1882 and not a harp in sight...

[B_Munro]

Whanztastic:

[B_Munro]

Sir Scott was the winner, with Big Tex in second and myself third.

Now, MoF 14:

THE KING IS DEAD!

Under the smoking ruins of the capital lies the sovereign - fallen, dead - but o'er these once-proud parapets and ramparts, now scarred by conflict, rises a new flag, and a new regime. Whether the revolution was bloody or bloodless, the debris real or figurative, and the change for better or for worse, the country is now under new management.

Make a map showing the events leading up to, the moment of, or the aftermath of a king or other sovereign being killed, deposed, or rendered unable to rule in some way.

[B_Munro]

First, Alex Richards.

First, this has to be the largest map (in terms of file size) I've made yet. Hence, 3rd party hosting.

Now, the map itself. The PoD is that the Rizzio murder gives Mary such a shock that she miscarries (this child would have been James I/VI). The trauma is extensive enough to prevent further children being born, and Darnley meets a nasty end in 1575. By 1580, the Catholic James Hamilton, Duke of Arran and Duke of Chatelleraût, and Protestant James Stewart, Earl of Moray, are fighting for the thone. Matters to note are:

1. Early actions include both sides trying to gain control of Mary, until she flees to England.
2. Though the Darnleys have a better claim to the throne than Moray, they are too close to England (indeed, the son of the Duke of Lennox is living in Derbyshire).
3. The Lady Elizabeth Stewart is a rather interesting character. IOTL, she broke into Mary's wardrobe and rifled through her clothes and jewels soon after the Queen's abdication. She was also very ambitious, and has been thought a candidate for the real Lady Macbeth.

[B_Munro]

Zuvarq:

In 1910, the Ottoman Revolution started. Well, that's when the main phase began; small, nationalist revolts had occurred across the Ottoman Empire since 1909.

By 1910, the small nationalist revolts of 1909 had evolved into... well, a revolution. In addition, a new rebellion... a socialist one, had begun in Trabzon.

The interesting thing about these nationalist revolts, were that they didn't quite want to break away from Turkey entirely; indeed, they considered themselves Ottomans. They only rebelled because it was an excuse to do away with the corrupt administration of Abdulmecid II, not with the idea of a united Ottoman nation.

And so, by 1912, the socialist revolution and the nationalist revolts combined forces. The rebels were then a united force against the Ottoman government.

In January 1915, Sultan Abdulmecid II was assassinated by Ahmed "Marx" Hilmi, the leader of the Socialist Revolution.

Ahmed "Marx" Hilmi negotiated with the leaders of the nationalist revolts.

And the UNION OF SOCIALIST OTTOMAN REPUBLICS was born, as a union of many socialist republics.

EDIT: to make this clear, the POD is in the 1820s. Greece is reannexed in 1829. I'm only describing 1910-1915 though.

[B_Munro]

Jman:

The rules don't say it can't be an FH, so I went with one of the few present-day monarchies...

It is June, 2033. The "Peak Oil" crisis hits Saudi Arabia, and plunges the state, which is almost entirely dependent on oil revenue, into financial collapse. Unable to provide social programs, and facing massive unemployment among former oil workers, the House of Saud becomes increasingly unpopular. Two simultaneous rebellions spring up. The Red Revolt is a far-left socialist/quasi-communist movement among the poor and unemployed workers of the formerly oil-rich eastern region. The Green Revolt is a far-right Islamist movement in the Hejaz, centered on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In May Red revolutionary mobs took to the streets of Riyadh, breaking through the security cordon and into the road from the palace to the airport, where the mob swarmed around King Khalid's armored limo as the King tried to flee the city. King Khalid was pulled from the car and lynched by the Red mob.

This is a picture of part of a bulletin board in a bunker underneath King Khalid Military City. The American troops once stationed there have withdrawn, not wanting to be embroiled in the Saudi Civil War. It is now the de facto capital of the Royalist north. The new King is Muhammad bin Fahd, highest surviving member of the line of succession. He rules from the de jure capital of Tabuk. Both Tabuk and King Khalid Military City are marked with blue pins to show that they are Royalist strongholds. The blue line is the military's current defensive position, labelled as "the June line". The red and green markings are the Red and Green revolts, and the pins mark their respective strongholds in Dammam and Riyadh (Red) and Mecca and Medina (Green). The center of the country is in anarchy, and the south and southeast are sparsely populated deserts. Other items on the bulletin board include a Royalist recruitment flyer reading "death to all rebels" (left), a printout from Military Intelligence describing a dissident Green cleric (lower left), a photo of an M60-Patton tank (lower right) and an aerial photo of King Khalid Military City (upper right).

[B_Munro]

A smaller copy of Alex Richards, so it can be seen at once:

[B_Munro]

Mine:

One of them Vikings hang around in N. America TLs...

Tshominkow is remembered as one of the greatest of the High Kings, although his extraodinary military achievements were partly reversed after his death due to sucession squabbles. Ironically, the warrior-king would not be slain in battle by his many foes, or overthrown by a nobility grown alarmed over the overextension of the Empire's forces, but assasinated by a favorite slave, a man of Iroqouian blood resentful of his homeland's loss of autonomy and direct incorporation into the Empire.

In retrospect, Tshominkow shines so brightly because none of his successors would extend the bounds of Empire any further than he had, and the next two centuries would see a slow decline that would in time see the Empire saddled with the unflattering title of "sick man of Ericsland."

Bruce

PS-sorry if the mountain kingdoms look like a bunch of sick amebas, but I'll be a bit too busy the next few days to get much more done on this before the submission date...

[B_Munro]

Zuvark/Xwaq won, with Jman second and Alex Richards third.

Bruce

[Alejandro]

Originally Posted by B_Munro

MoF 12, I meant!:



WHAT ONCE WAS OURS...
... shall always be ours. Make a map showing the irredentist claims of a country in an AH scenario.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Irredentism (from Italian irredento, "unredeemed") is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged.

First, Jman:

Mexico, 1861. The Conservatives win the Reform War, and a militarist, nationalist government takes over. With the US embroiled in its own civil war, the regime looks north, hoping to gain prestige and legitimacy by invading the American Southwest (or the Mexican North, depending on who you ask). This is a propaganda poster put up by the regime (which uses a combination of these two flags, by the way: 1 and 2). If Google Translator is to be trusted, the Spanish reads "It is ours by right of blood! Mexicans! Recover your land! Upper California, Texas and New Mexico are yours! Enlist and support the war! Ministry of Education 1861"

The translation is not correct, but you get the idea. In red the right way
"It is ours by right of blood!
¡Son nuestras por derecho de sangre!
Mexicans!
¡Mejicanos!
Recover your land! Upper California, Texas and New Mexico are yours!
¡Recuperemos nuestra tierra! Alta California, Tejas y Nuevo Mejico son nuestras!
Enlist and support the war!
¡Enlistate y apoya la guerra!
Ministry of Education 1861"
Ministerio de Educacion 1861

[B_Munro]

Heh, thanks for the input...

AND NOW...

FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

(NO, ACTUALLY PRETTY MUCH THE SAME)

MOF 15!!!

Long After The End...

Make a map showing a post-apocalyptic Earth or part of a post-apocalyptic Earth where society has redeveloped along different cultural and technological lines.

[B_Munro]

First, Jman:

The Christian World, a few centuries after the Flame Deluge (apologies to Walter Miller). Latin America was less hard-hit in the nuclear war than many regions (with the exception of Cuba), and the strong bedrock of Catholicism kept some sort of social fabric alive, as well as a spark of knowledge (or at least literacy). However, over time, different branches of Catholic practice have splintered off, such that there are currently three Papacies with three distinct theological positions. The Empire of the Mexicans is very theologically accepting, and tends to absorb other local religious traditions. The Church of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Saint Death have already been absorbed into the dogma of the church. The Yucatan Empire is smaller, but its beliefs are descended from Liberation Theology, making it popular among the poor. The Empire of the Pious is a staunchly orthodox nation which routinely sends crusaders against the cannibal tribes of the Amazon (called the Anthropophagi by the Latin-speaking church). Finally, there are several heretical factions (in grey), such as the Voodoo groups in Haiti, the Cult of the Ancestors in Panama (whereas most places, the Ancestors are semi-mythical figures from the distant past, the Panamanians have a rather large Canal reminding them that the Ancestors were at least very advanced men, and possibly even semi-divine), and a strange group in what was once Ecuador who follow something called the Shining Path, and claim that they are a colony of a much larger Shining Path empire to the south...

Map to follow.

[B_Munro]

Jman's map:

[B_Munro]

Big Tex:

An older map that I've posted before, hope it meets the criteria; post-apocalyptic Texas

[B_Munro]

Tormsen:

21st century nuclear war shattered most of human civilization, and killed a good 90% of the population of the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere managed to survived slightly better, and industrial-literate cultures were maintained in South America and the Pacific. After centuries, the regions most affected by radiation are now largely under ice: the war had triggered another ice age.

Human cultures have once again formed coherant cities and states, particularly in the temperate woodlands of Anatolia and Greece, along the Nile and along the Tigris and Euphrates, which now flow through what once was the Persian Gulf but is now home to bustling trade routes. The civilizations here developed from the survivors of the war, mostly northern Sudanese, Kurds and some of the Iranic peoples.

Technology is highly variable. In some regions, the manufacture of modern weapons was never forgotten, though literacy and industry is at very low levels. Medicine is relatively advanced, however. Religion is rather warped, Judaism and Christianity are largely extinct in this region, while Islam has fragmented and adopted elements that are almost pagan.

[B_Munro]

Analytical Engine:

We are the custodians of the world. We await their return.

It has been three thousand, five hundred and ninety-seven years since the Elder Ones departed the Earth. The world was left in ruin, but we repaired it as best we could.

We still care for the Younger Ones, those that stayed (some say left) behind.

Still, it remains – the dominion of Humanity over nature is over, and we, the Machine Men, have been left to take up their mantle.

We are the custodians of the world. We await their return.
--

Over three and a half thousand years ago, the world was hit by a terrible disaster. However, no one left alive knows what that was, or why it happened.

(At least, if they do, they’re not saying…)

At any rate, only around 2% of Earth’s self-aware population (somewhere around nine and a half billion) are humans, left alone in “Reserved Areas”. Most attempts to integrate the so-called “Younger Ones” into general society have been unsuccessful – it seems most of the humans fear/hate their mechanical cousins for some reason.

Meanwhile, most of the cybernetic beings have built new cultures, societies, nations and religions (or attempts to reconstruct pre-Event ones) in imitation of their original creators, the so-called “Elder Ones”.

Unfortunately, they have also discovered a knack for emulating the petty jealousies and prejudices of their creators, and it shows.

The Earth is polarising into two camps- The first is composed of the Northern Union, the Gleaming Ones and South Africa. The other is composed of the Western Dominion, the Centaur Khanate and the Rusland.


Most of the cultures should be fairly self-explanatory, though here is a brief rundown of the major powers:
Union of the North – federal democratic monarchy; culture approximates neo-Victorian cyberpunk; religion approximates Roman Catholicism, though with some (fairly odd) modifications
Empire of the Dragon Throne – enlightened absolutist monarchy; culture is Imperial Chinese (Confucian); Buddhist/Taoist
South Africa – federal democracy republic; culture approximates neo-Victorian cyberpunk; religion approximates Lutheranism
Western Dominion – authoritarian federal republic; neo-Roman; religion approximates Roman Catholicism combined with reconstructed Sol Invictus religion
Eastern Dominion – federal democratic monarchy; neo-Byzantine; religion approximates Eastern Orthodoxy
Empire of the Gleaming Ones – enlightened absolutist monarchy; culture is neo-Persian (pre- and post-Islamic mixture); religion is a mix of reconstructed Zoroastrianism with something that approximates Shi’a Islam, but isn’t really
Egypt – mostly democracy monarchy; modernised Ancient Egyptian with cyberpunk elements; religion is a mix of something that claims to be Sunni Islam and Aten worship
India – federal democratic monarchy; neo-Mughal culture; religions are various denominations of something called “Digital Hinduism”
Brazil
Andean Empire – absolutist monarchy; neo-Incan; religion approximates Roman Catholicism combined with reconstructed Inti worship
Medjico – absolutist monarchy; neo-Aztec (no sacrificing, though); religion approximates Roman Catholicism combined with native elements
Rising Sun – enlightened absolutist monarchy; neo-Japanese with cyberpunk elements; religion is Techno-Buddhism (transhumanism with Buddhist elements)
Central Europa – absolutist republic; culture approximates pre-Roman Germanic; religion approximates Roman Catholicism, though with some (fairly odd) modifications
Two-headed Eagle – absolutist republic; culture approximates enlightenment Russia with cyberpunk elements; religion approximates Eastern Orthodoxy
Rus Kaganate – enlightened absolutist monarchy; culture is a mixture of reconstructed Medieval Russian and Kipchak; religion approximates a mixture of Eastern Orthodoxy and Sunni Islam
Machine Centaurs – absolutist monarchy; culture approximates that of the Medieval Mongol/Turkic people; Tengrist
East Africa – mostly democracy republic; modernised reconstructed Zanzibar culture; religion approximates Sunni Islam
Sun Farmers – various; harvest and use sunlight for power and industry; religion are various forms of post-neo-Pagan
Technology is approaching what is believed to be that of the Elder Ones before the Event. Hopefully, the terrifying half-remembered stories will serve as a warning not to repeat that mistake.

Unfortunately, it may not…

[B_Munro]

Der mappen De Analytical Engine.

[B_Munro]

Rubberduck3y6:

The Great Collapse of the early 22nd century was primarily caused by a combination of climate change induced sea level rise and an agricultural crisis. The resultant mass migrations and food riots that occurred throughout the world overwhelmed governments to the point that they effectively collapsed. Starvation, disease and violence became endemic and billions of people died during the Collapse.

The world that eventually emerged from this chaos was a very different one. Global population had been reduced to a tenth of its pre-Collapse level and all electric technology had been rendered effectively useless, except as a source of metal. Politically, most people now lived in small nomadic or subsistence farming communities like the Steppes peoples of a millennium previously. In Europe, however, a different type of civilisation had developed. This small corner of Afeurasia was instead characterised by a multitude of small city states, ruled over by a group known as the Keepers. These elites claimed to be the holders of the knowledge lost in the collapse, and that they would use this information to rebuild society. To add legitimacy to these claims, the Keepers chose to base themselves in the ruins of the old towns and cities, in contrast to the rural nature of the Neomanorial cultures of Noreurasia and Normerica, but in common with the Guardian cultures of Soueurasia and Norafrica.

The Keeper cultures of the Central European Plain, known as the Westropan groups had the highest population density of anywhere in Afeurasia, due to the desertification to the south and the considerable cooling of the north due to the shut down of the Gulf Stream. This concentration of people inevitably led to conflict, meaning that the Keepers’ knowledge found use in gaining a competitive edge. It also meant that the knowledge was spread through the region. By 2400CE, the Westropan Keeper cultures were the most technologically advanced peoples in the world and were expanding eastwards in search of new resources, spreading Westropan knowledge. This expansion, however, required more collaboration between the Westropan Keepers and at the end of the 25th century the Neuropan Empire was formed, uniting the Westropan Keepers and ushering a new era of civilisation.

[B_Munro]

GodRaimundo:

In 2020, the rise in sea level was too great to ignore, and governments finally tried to avert it. But the damage was done. Millions died as the water rose, further and faster than anyone had believed possible. It passed the 80m rise that had been declared the maximum rise, and rose ever further, stabilising between three and four thousand metres above the 2000 sea level datum.

It is estimated that almost a billion people died of flood-related causes, including drowning and starvation as most of the arable lands flooded.

A further three billion died in the wars that followed, as governments fought over the scraps of land remaining, though fortunately few of the wars turned nuclear, the Tibetan War between China, Russia, India, and Iran, and the war between North Korea and South Korea being the exceptions. These wars left much of Asia a nuclear wasteland, which is still uninhabitable several decades on.

The year 2120AD, one hundred years later. The world has stabilised into three political entities; the Democratic Alliance, the Socialist Union, and the People's Republic of Asia.

These superstates are locked in war, and have been for fifteen years. The Socialist Union is the only truly socialist state left in the world, and it appears to be working so far. It has recently won some victories against the Democratic Alliance, taking most of South America, large areas of the European Archipelago, and has recently landed troops on Greenland.

The Democratic Alliance is made up of the USA and it's allies. During the early days of the flood, they occupied much of the middle east in order to gain the valuable oil supplies there, though these are long since drowned. They are falling back on all fronts in their wars.

The People's Republic of Asia claims to be a socialist state, but is the corrupt communist successor to the People's Republic of China. The only remaining state to utilise high technology, including nuclear, nanotechnology, and genetic modification, they are quickly driving Alliance troops out of Asia, and have made plans to decontaminate the nuclear wasteland to the south. They have also returned to space, and landed on the Moon once more in 2115.

[B_Munro]

Mine! All mine!

since fantasy is apparently alright with Krall…

Two hundred years ago, the Stars Were Right. R’lyeh arose, and the most psychic 20% of mankind either went mad from fear or went gleefully psychotic. The seas arose and billions of Deep Ones flooded ashore. Unimaginable things emerged from beneath the ground, and darkness fell upon the Earth.

Nuclear weapons could at most annoy Great Cthulhu himself and destroy some of his stuff, but a sufficient number of them could in theory wipe out most of humanity and deprive him of subjects, as well as doing a serious number on his oceanic minions. A rump US and Russia managed to negotiate a tenuous armistice on the basis of “you don’t eat our brains, we don’t blow up the world to spite you.”

Two centuries passed. The continent underlying R’lyeh arose further, and the seas penetrated deeper inland. The spawn of the Great Old Ones multiplied and built monstrous cities across the face of the earth. The wild shoggoths of the sub-Antarctic were taught obedience with a little trouble. Some disputes with distantly related horrors deep within the earth were resolved with the death of only a few tens of millions of humans, mostly from famine, although some through submersion in hot magma.

Now, the world is mostly ruled by the heirs of the Cthulhu Cult and opportunistic evil bastards and mages, an all-powerful priesthood whose rule as “shepherds” of the human flock includes slaughterhouse delivery and whose rule is backed by divine retribution far more swift and sure than any previous variety. Mass human sacrifice is the norm, although the details of how the various human states are ruled are of no great concern to Cthulhu and the other Great Old Ones which are his “family” and friends. Bloodlust, violence and weird sex are the social norm: close influence of the Great Old Ones may lead to power, but it leads to madness or monsterism in the long run, and as for those too psychically insensitive or strong to be driven mad by the general psychic background, they are reduced to a state of foggy placidity by various foul magics.

Technology is an odd mix, mass slave labor and 20th century hardware, cities more monumental than New York but no computers, the occasional odd bit of unearthly super-science and the use of weird forces best called “magic.” The Great Old Ones prefer their subjects and soul-munchies ignorant: research, scientific or otherwise, is not encouraged.

The star-spawn and associated horrors – Cthulhuoids (like the big C, but smaller: think classic King Kong vs. Godzilla), shoggoths, night-gaunts, zombies and litches, Hounds of Tindalos and Deep Ones large and small, Colossal Worms, worm-men etc. – inhabit and build the monster cities of dubious geometry that disfigure the face of the Earth. What everyday life (or undeath) is like in these cities is unknown – like a roach motel unto Blattidae, humans check in but do not check out. There is often but not always a full Great Old One in residence in the central temple complex; Cthulhu generally stays in R’lyeh, although he occasionally visits his human subjects for a little Al Fresco dining and to remind his human subjects Who’s the God?

The huge polygonal region surrounded by 2000-foot walls remains wrapped in impenetrable darkness, while the Atlantic Vortex is quite visible but equally unexplainable: and these are only two of seven equally vast and obscure projects the Great Old Ones and their servants have created in the last few decades.

These developments worry the Democratic Human Republic of America, which has made determination of their nature a top priority. After a long period of instability and various withdrawals in the face of irresistible pressure, the Democratic Human Republic of America has managed to achieve some stability: there hasn’t been a pro-Cthulhu revolt above pants-bomber levels of competence in decades. Given existential despair at the continued non-appearance of Jesus & Co., and the frequency with which the religious-minded were befooled by the Great Old Ones, the theocratic rule of the Republic’s early decades failed to sustain itself, and has been replaced by a ruthless scientific atheism as the creed of the Republic. Although the Government’s refusal to call a spade a spade or Black Magic Black Magic is perhaps a weakness, the insistence on the non-demonic nature of the Great Old Ones and the eventual scientific explicability of all their mysterious powers is something of a spine-bracer.

Powered by fusion reactors, bristling with atomic weapons, and recycling every scrap (there’s not exactly much trade with the rest of the world, although a lot of smuggling), the Republic is more democratic than it used to be, but is still a fearfully regimented society, in which any deviation from the Rules for survival is punished ruthlessly. Psychic sensitivity is tested from infancy, and all “susceptibles” are required to wear protective head-gear (aluminum-foil lined and marked with certain ancient symbols) whenever outside. (All buildings are heavily psychically shielded as a matter of course). Constant closed circuit monitoring for signs of Alien Influence is an accepted norm, as are physical and blood tests for signs of Monsterism.

There has been a return to space, although made risky by the fact that most of the Great Old Ones and many of their minions can move through space with little difficulty (How Not to be Seen is an important part of space science: low-flying spy satellites in particular tend to cease working rather abruptly, especially when passing over R’lyeh).

The Republic is not entirely alone in a world of Cthlhu-worshippers: radio communications remain open with the New Russian Empire. Other forms of communication are trickier: it takes a brave and highly skilled individual to travel undercover through the slave nations, boats and subs are too easily noticed by the Deep Ones, and planes are also rather visible (and taking a detour through other dimensions always carries severe risk of attracting unwanted attention). Besides communications difficulties, relations with the Empire are inherently a bit shaky, given its far more open embrace of Black Magic and Abominations in their pursuit of survival. (There is considerable suspicion that the Fifth Putin, which has ruled for over fifty years, is no longer technically human).

There is also the Sultanate of Dust in the Arabian Desert: its inhabitants no longer look very human even on satellite photos, and they appear to have managed to remain independent through some sort of terrible pact with the even more powerful Outer Gods. (One of the more creatively decadent Saudi princes discovered that his multi-million dollar collection of blasphemous books and scrolls was actually useful while the world was coming to an end). Communications are understandably limited.

Other “free humans”, refugees from the Archonate, squat on the territory of the Mi-Go: the chance of being abducted and experimented on or even end up as a brain in a jar are probably higher than of becoming a snack or sacrifice back home, but at least the Mi-Go have no interest in governing humans or eating them, and as long as they stay away from the Mi-Go’s mining operations, they are free to pursue their primitive agricultural lifestyle unmolested. The Archons have complained to the Great Old Ones, but the Mi-Go do have a solid short-term (less than a million years) lease.

Other potential allies include the Chthonic Old Ones and the Outer Gods, but so far the Republic’s government has put them very solidly in the “Friends like These” category. There are also contacts with some discontented mages and dark creatures within the boundaries of Great Old One territory, who find that the Return of the Great Old Ones has not been nearly as cool or rewarding as promised or find being immortal and masters of life and death over millions does not make up for having the ultimate Boss From Hell. Special Intelligence has a new and very promising contact in New England, whom they just refer to as “the T.O.M. …”

The Great Old Ones are not particularly concerned about the Free Humans, although they are a bit miffed by the Outer Gods putting a tentacle in their pie. Two centuries are barely a blink of an eye to the immortal Old Ones: and in very little time (quite likely less, even, than another two centuries), certain plans will come to fruition, and the minor annoyances will end.