Map Thread XX
- Thread starter Balkanized U.S.A
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Yes they were. That's another reason for them fighting with the Byzantines.
The Commonwealth of Aegyptania
As a UAR commonwealth, Aegyptania is led largely by a strong legislature. It's executive is known as the Imperator, whose functions within Aegyptania are largely ceremonial (though they oversee the realm's Realm Guard). The Imperator, like other executives of the UAR, plays the role of the realm's chief representative at the confederal level, serving on the Executive Council. One of Aegyptania's Imperators, Abraham II Taggart, was elected Governor-President of the UAR in 1998 following the assassination of Bert Long. Taggart held the position for 14 years as he worked to pacify the tensions that had grown during the Long years - he also over the 2007 U.A.R. lunar-landing which made the UAR the fourth nation to land humans on the moon. Taggart passed away in 2014 and was succeeded by current Imperator Martin Bellman.
Greater Italy c. 1925
A map I made based on my Italy game in Victoria II. I started from 1815 using the Concert of Europe mod (more time to industrialize and build myself up). I exploited the 1848 Revolutions while Austria started to crumble in flames allowing me to rapidly take over most of Northern Italy. From there I aligned myself with the French in lieu of the Austrian counterattack taking Venetia. Since Two-Sicilies was allied to Austria, they suffered dearly in the war and had a couple of revolutions allowing me to annex them in the 1850's. Unlike the Italian government of otl, I spent time actually helping to develop Southern Italy making it catch up with the North. From there I had most of the dejure peninsula under Italian rule except for Latium itself which was ruled by the Papacy, and Corsica and Nice which were under French rule. I then began improving relations with Prussia which triggered a major Franco Prussian style war. Though unlike otl's war France actually was like the Napoleonic France of the First Empire and began a bit of a curb-stomp against the Prussians with Austria eventually joining in. This brought in Russia into the War allowing the young Italian Kingdom breathing room. With Russian support the war ended in a Prussian and Italian victory. I took Istria and Dalmatia from Austria while France was forced to cede Nice and the remnant of the Papal states to Italy. France humiliated had a revolution which triggered a three-way civil war between the Legitimists, Bonapartists, and Republicans (in ttl there was no Orleanist monarchy as Charles X and Louis XIX abdicated to Henri V with Louis-Philippe serving as regent). Croatia had its own revolt which led to them becoming independent and part of Italy's sphere of influence.
In the Balkans, the ideas of nationalism had spread leaving the Ottomans reeling as the Balkan states clamored for independence and liberation. Italy high off its victory against the Austrians and French, had then joined in the Balkan wars allowing it to expand its territory and spheres of influence. In the early 1900's Italy began a war against Tunisia and later Libya realizing the Italian irredentist idea of fourth shore across the Mediterranean Sea. France and Britain had later come to blows over Morrco and I used this opportunity seize Provence and Corsica.
What do you guys think of this map and timeline? Some of the events in that game were because of luck/RNG events while others were planned based on the lessons from many failed playthroughs as Italy.
A map I made based on my Italy game in Victoria II. I started from 1815 using the Concert of Europe mod (more time to industrialize and build myself up). I exploited the 1848 Revolutions while Austria started to crumble in flames allowing me to rapidly take over most of Northern Italy. From there I aligned myself with the French in lieu of the Austrian counterattack taking Venetia. Since Two-Sicilies was allied to Austria, they suffered dearly in the war and had a couple of revolutions allowing me to annex them in the 1850's. Unlike the Italian government of otl, I spent time actually helping to develop Southern Italy making it catch up with the North. From there I had most of the dejure peninsula under Italian rule except for Latium itself which was ruled by the Papacy, and Corsica and Nice which were under French rule. I then began improving relations with Prussia which triggered a major Franco Prussian style war. Though unlike otl's war France actually was like the Napoleonic France of the First Empire and began a bit of a curb-stomp against the Prussians with Austria eventually joining in. This brought in Russia into the War allowing the young Italian Kingdom breathing room. With Russian support the war ended in a Prussian and Italian victory. I took Istria and Dalmatia from Austria while France was forced to cede Nice and the remnant of the Papal states to Italy. France humiliated had a revolution which triggered a three-way civil war between the Legitimists, Bonapartists, and Republicans (in ttl there was no Orleanist monarchy as Charles X and Louis XIX abdicated to Henri V with Louis-Philippe serving as regent). Croatia had its own revolt which led to them becoming independent and part of Italy's sphere of influence.
In the Balkans, the ideas of nationalism had spread leaving the Ottomans reeling as the Balkan states clamored for independence and liberation. Italy high off its victory against the Austrians and French, had then joined in the Balkan wars allowing it to expand its territory and spheres of influence. In the early 1900's Italy began a war against Tunisia and later Libya realizing the Italian irredentist idea of fourth shore across the Mediterranean Sea. France and Britain had later come to blows over Morrco and I used this opportunity seize Provence and Corsica.
What do you guys think of this map and timeline? Some of the events in that game were because of luck/RNG events while others were planned based on the lessons from many failed playthroughs as Italy.
I think I forgot to mention: since anime has effectively become the propaganda method of an extremely brutal regime, it has been banned in most of the West, and video games are also facing persecution. It's how those evil Buddhists recruit children and teach them how to kill with nerve agents, you know
Probably been filled in by the spoil from the Niagara Peninsula.
It's been a little while since I did anything related to my ASB Wisconsin Civil War story but with Covid getting in the way of things since early 2020, I've been not updating this war for a while. Also for some stupid reason my spellcheck is not working and I just got this new laptop a month ago so if there are any spelling errors, I am sorry.
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A War at a Standstill
It was supposed to have been one of the largest offensives in the history of the Wisconsin Civil War starting the spring of 2020. A large scale militray operation to lift the brutal 3 year siege on Green Bay, an industrial city home to over 400,000 people was halted because of the malignant coronavirus. The first reported case of Covid-19 was recorded in the city of Milwaukee in mid-February when a traveler from Germany brought home the virus who in return got the virus from an infected passenger from Wuhan, China in January of 2020 this year. By early March, Wisconsin's Ministry of Health reported that there were around 400 cases and community transmission was established by the Ministry of Health. Fearing that the novel coronavirus would cripple the Wisconsin nation, already crippled from 5 years of brutal civil war which has killed over 300,000 people and has displaced over 4 million people since 2015, President Marco Nikan declared a ceasefire be carried out throughout the country to avoid a total catastrophe. The country facing economic sanctions from their rivals and neighbors such as the U.S., Minnesota, and Canada and with a constant flow of refugees fleeing from the warzone, the government of Wisconsin declared on March 12, 2020 a day after Covid-1 9 was declared a pandemic, Wisconsin's socialist government declared a national ceasefire in order to halt the spread of the virus and so that the regime could focus on combating the malignant disease. Though this was ignored by many of the rebel factions for a week and a week long series of clashes did erupt it was by the end of March that many of the waring parties including the far-right Wisconsin People's Front and the neo-Nazi Wisconsin Blood Resistance began to see cases spread within the ranks of the fighters. Though the majority of the fighters being relativily young and healthy meant that they were less likely to succumb to the virus, the rate of the spread of the disease prompted the rebels to take the virus seriously and take a lull in the fighting. Offiically on March 29, 2020, fighting offiically stopped as the country grinded to a complete halt. In order to ensure that all parties complied the March 2020 Ceasefire Agreement was signed by all warring factions including the far-right who unlike their alt-right counterparts did not regard the virus as a "hoax". It's an uneasy peace that could easily be shattered as none of the signers refused to acknowledge each other and only met for a few minutes outside to sign the agreement.
Taking similar cues from Europe and Asia, Wisconsin declared a total national lockdown which included suspending fighting against the rebels in order to combat the spread of Covid-19. Air patrols would continue but no fighting would occur even if the rebels had violated the ceasefire on multiple occasions since late March. Fighting has for all intents and purposes has stopped.
The armed forces was mobilized to hand out PPE to workers and frontline health care workers for the Ministry of Health and other state organs. They imposed a harsh lockdown that similar to other countries, only allowed residents in all cities in government held territories to go out if they had a valid reasons to be out. A national mask mandate was passed by the People's Assembly and failure to comply would result in heavy penalities with some being brought up on charges of "treason to the nation" according to some outside sources. With most of the refugees finding refugee either in Minnesota, Iowa or in the United States, they were prevented from returning for fear of causing larger outbreaks in Wisconsin.
The Ministry of Health by mid-April reported that there were over 1,000 cases and around 5 deaths attributed to Covid-19. By May and early June those case numbers climbed to 7,500 cases and 25 deaths. The lockdown continued until June when the Ministry of Health reported that case numbers were declining. Though they continued to rise slowly again in the summer, Wisconsin unlike the United States managed to get control of the virus despite the war.
In late August however, cases began to raise again prompting Wisconsin to lockdown again starting in early October which as of October 10, has recorded around 20,000 cases and around 350 deaths.
Though Wisconsin has managed to keep the virus at bay unlike other countries like the U.S., Brazil and India, it has come with an economic cost. The country already facing economic difficulities because of the 5 year long brutal civil war has now faced economic difficulties not seen since the 1990s with the Wisconsin Dollar nearly worthless thanks to the combination of the war, economic sanctions placed on them by their enemies, and from the lockdown and international isolation as the result of the Covid-19 restrictions. Food shortages were reported in some rebel controlled parts which was an ongoing occurance even prior to the pandemic, but it has been exacerbated since then.
While it faces near international isolation, Wisconsin still has a foreign troop presence helping them fight the civil war. Ushen which last year faced a military coup by a far-right monarchist nationalist organization and Iowa have been key players in helping to aid Wisconsin's fight against the rebels since early 2017. Ushen has withdrawn some of its troops to help deal with civil unrest following the 2019 coup, and to aid Ushen against the pandemic. Ushen had at its height 120,000 personnel stationed in Wisconsin in 2019, now it has 55,000 troops and only 1,000 military advisors left to aid the Wisconsin military.
With fighting largely tappered out because of the pandemic, Wisconsin has constructed a large demilitarized zone (see the black lines on the map for reference) since late April and they intend to fortify it with land mines , machine gun nests, barbed wire and guard posts to keep watch. If Covid is able to be fully snuffed out and if a vaccine comes out that has promise to ensuring safety to its citizens thus allowing Wisconsin to resume back to a normal life, a ceasefire will remain in place until further notice stretching possibly into the next year in 2021.
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A War at a Standstill
It was supposed to have been one of the largest offensives in the history of the Wisconsin Civil War starting the spring of 2020. A large scale militray operation to lift the brutal 3 year siege on Green Bay, an industrial city home to over 400,000 people was halted because of the malignant coronavirus. The first reported case of Covid-19 was recorded in the city of Milwaukee in mid-February when a traveler from Germany brought home the virus who in return got the virus from an infected passenger from Wuhan, China in January of 2020 this year. By early March, Wisconsin's Ministry of Health reported that there were around 400 cases and community transmission was established by the Ministry of Health. Fearing that the novel coronavirus would cripple the Wisconsin nation, already crippled from 5 years of brutal civil war which has killed over 300,000 people and has displaced over 4 million people since 2015, President Marco Nikan declared a ceasefire be carried out throughout the country to avoid a total catastrophe. The country facing economic sanctions from their rivals and neighbors such as the U.S., Minnesota, and Canada and with a constant flow of refugees fleeing from the warzone, the government of Wisconsin declared on March 12, 2020 a day after Covid-1 9 was declared a pandemic, Wisconsin's socialist government declared a national ceasefire in order to halt the spread of the virus and so that the regime could focus on combating the malignant disease. Though this was ignored by many of the rebel factions for a week and a week long series of clashes did erupt it was by the end of March that many of the waring parties including the far-right Wisconsin People's Front and the neo-Nazi Wisconsin Blood Resistance began to see cases spread within the ranks of the fighters. Though the majority of the fighters being relativily young and healthy meant that they were less likely to succumb to the virus, the rate of the spread of the disease prompted the rebels to take the virus seriously and take a lull in the fighting. Offiically on March 29, 2020, fighting offiically stopped as the country grinded to a complete halt. In order to ensure that all parties complied the March 2020 Ceasefire Agreement was signed by all warring factions including the far-right who unlike their alt-right counterparts did not regard the virus as a "hoax". It's an uneasy peace that could easily be shattered as none of the signers refused to acknowledge each other and only met for a few minutes outside to sign the agreement.
Taking similar cues from Europe and Asia, Wisconsin declared a total national lockdown which included suspending fighting against the rebels in order to combat the spread of Covid-19. Air patrols would continue but no fighting would occur even if the rebels had violated the ceasefire on multiple occasions since late March. Fighting has for all intents and purposes has stopped.
The armed forces was mobilized to hand out PPE to workers and frontline health care workers for the Ministry of Health and other state organs. They imposed a harsh lockdown that similar to other countries, only allowed residents in all cities in government held territories to go out if they had a valid reasons to be out. A national mask mandate was passed by the People's Assembly and failure to comply would result in heavy penalities with some being brought up on charges of "treason to the nation" according to some outside sources. With most of the refugees finding refugee either in Minnesota, Iowa or in the United States, they were prevented from returning for fear of causing larger outbreaks in Wisconsin.
The Ministry of Health by mid-April reported that there were over 1,000 cases and around 5 deaths attributed to Covid-19. By May and early June those case numbers climbed to 7,500 cases and 25 deaths. The lockdown continued until June when the Ministry of Health reported that case numbers were declining. Though they continued to rise slowly again in the summer, Wisconsin unlike the United States managed to get control of the virus despite the war.
In late August however, cases began to raise again prompting Wisconsin to lockdown again starting in early October which as of October 10, has recorded around 20,000 cases and around 350 deaths.
Though Wisconsin has managed to keep the virus at bay unlike other countries like the U.S., Brazil and India, it has come with an economic cost. The country already facing economic difficulities because of the 5 year long brutal civil war has now faced economic difficulties not seen since the 1990s with the Wisconsin Dollar nearly worthless thanks to the combination of the war, economic sanctions placed on them by their enemies, and from the lockdown and international isolation as the result of the Covid-19 restrictions. Food shortages were reported in some rebel controlled parts which was an ongoing occurance even prior to the pandemic, but it has been exacerbated since then.
While it faces near international isolation, Wisconsin still has a foreign troop presence helping them fight the civil war. Ushen which last year faced a military coup by a far-right monarchist nationalist organization and Iowa have been key players in helping to aid Wisconsin's fight against the rebels since early 2017. Ushen has withdrawn some of its troops to help deal with civil unrest following the 2019 coup, and to aid Ushen against the pandemic. Ushen had at its height 120,000 personnel stationed in Wisconsin in 2019, now it has 55,000 troops and only 1,000 military advisors left to aid the Wisconsin military.
With fighting largely tappered out because of the pandemic, Wisconsin has constructed a large demilitarized zone (see the black lines on the map for reference) since late April and they intend to fortify it with land mines , machine gun nests, barbed wire and guard posts to keep watch. If Covid is able to be fully snuffed out and if a vaccine comes out that has promise to ensuring safety to its citizens thus allowing Wisconsin to resume back to a normal life, a ceasefire will remain in place until further notice stretching possibly into the next year in 2021.
I always wondered what would happen if the Aum Shinrikyo succeeded even though they were too few in number.Just cross-posting some utter dark madness from the MotF 225. Look at the risk of your own sanity
My Chemical Salvation
The Japanese Coup of 1995
It all started in 1984 with a yoga and meditation class given by 29-year-old Shoko Asahara, a student of esoteric Buddhist, Taoist and Christian traditions, with a growing family that needed supporting. The class grew and, by 1989, it gained official recognition as a religious movement, with its main demographic in college graduates. The group called themselves Aum, for the Sanskrit syllable that represents the Universe. They were considered odd, but not dangerous, and a part of the growing eccentricities that the Japanese bubble economy was creating. And, as it was, the group adhered to that aspect of their origin, adopting themes that were popular in manga and anime, such as space missions, international conspiracies, powerful weapons and a quest for an ultimate truth to spice up their creeds. To appeal to the modern, cultured Japanese man, they quoted ideas from Buddhism, the Bible, and from the great Isaac Asimov.
A monastic order was established for the followers to join, with a base in the village of Kamikuishiki, which would become the epicenter of the cult. Many would join the order as lay members. Shoko Asahara would write books, appear in magazines and in television, and give lectures at university, all of those giving the movement further credibility and helping it reach more followers, who dedicated their lives to it. There was even an anime made by the cult's studio, presenting Shoko Asahara as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, as he had concluded himself to be.
As the following grew, so did the controversies surrounding it. Rumours came out of recruits being deceived and even extorted, and a prominent lawyer who opposed the religion disappeared mysteriously with his family, with his colleagues pointing the finger to Aum. Leaders of rival sects and critical people would also be assassinated or disappear, with the group being always suspected, but never proven guilty.
By the end of 1994, the group was preparing for its greater task, by amassing weapons, conventional and otherwise. Their favored tools were by that time already chemical and biological weapons. In Kamikuishiki, they started producing VX gas and the sarin nerve agent, while they also accumulated anthrax for offensive use. Throughout Japan, enemies of the cult were followed and used as test trials for the weapons, proving just how effective they could be. The most daring attack would be in the city of Matsumuto, where a trial was taking place surrounding a real estate dispute with the group. Using the sarin nerve gas within the city's courthouse, they were successful in killing some 500 people, and injuring many others. This was enough proof that the chemicals were ready for combat. The group was ready for combat.
On March 20, 1995, the great plan was set into motion. The Tokyo Subway was filled with the sarin gas, entering the lungs of the thousands of commuters following their routines as usual. With just that attack, six thousand people would die, and many others would be injured. Taking the entire Japan by surprise, the group moved towards the government building, seizing them under threat of further attacks; several neighbourhoods were sprayed by poisonous aerosol with an airplane the group had somehow acquired. It was brutal. In the following weeks, similar attacks and takeovers would happen throughout Japan, as the cult proved just how well-organised and well-armed they were. Unafraid to resort to either chemical or biological weapons, they proved the full power of their ruthlessness - 4 million would die in this campaign, to the cheers of the members of Aum, who truly believed that they were doing the work of God.
The Imperial Family and the political leaders were executed on national television, and the Enlightened Republic of Japan was declared, with Sonshi Shoko Asahara being declared Supreme Leader, as the Reincarnation of Christ. And so began in earnest his reign of terror. As Aum militias took over the military, a strict regime was imposed that brought down much of Japanese culture in deference to proper religious behaviour; shrines of rival sects were destroyed and their leaders killed. Deviancies were punished harshly. Ties with foreign countries were cut, especially the US, the Beast of Revelation according to Aum; trade ties would later be resumed with other countries, such as China, who couldn't care less for what mode of government the Japanese chose as long as trade flowed smoothly, but this trade was now strictly in government hands. Japan was, for all purposes, in splendid isolation once again.
And the most terrifying part was how easy they managed to bring large swathes of the people to support them. A great campaign of propaganda was thrown, with rallies, television shows and billboards announcing the triumphs of the new government. The youth in particular were brought in line, using manga, anime and video games to spread the ideals of the group. Youth groups would form the backbone of the State apparatus.
Ever since, Japan, once believed to be the thriving center of the future of technology and industry, has been under the strict rule of Aum and Sonshi Shoko Asahara. The few dissidents who escape tell the most horrible of tales, of a State that uses mental manipulation to the maximum, where every aspect of life is controlled and supervised, and where the terror of chemical burns and of the anthrax are frequent to leave one thinking twice before opening their mouth. Very little is known of what happens inside the country, however, as the government is quite secretive and their communications esoteric. It is known an extensive natalist program has been increasing the births in the islands, and industry seems, amazingly, to be thriving. How long this will last is unknown. But suffice it to say that the DPRK is no longer the strange kid in the neighbourhood
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Well, that was dark. I stumbled upon a video about this particularly nasty cult and decided "Hey, wouldn't it be interesting if they actually took over and formed a State so theocratic that would make the Ayatollahs blush? Then I went research what kind of weapon caches they had, and since apparently OTL they had enough chemical agents to kill 4 million people and, by default, they'd have to be even stronger in this scenario, this ended up being the result. It is terrifying.
I did not find much information in what they *believed*, beyond being a mix of apocalyptic Christianity-Buddhism with some weird esoteric meditation techniques, but then again, just looking at the way they worked, I can't imagine there'd be much sanity involved in whatever they'd do if they had the opportunity to do anything more than the damage they already did OTL.
If anyone is wondering, I used the jarring colours and weird patterns as a way to express the utter madness involved in this entire scenario. I hope it came across. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch kitten videos until I remove the darkness that working on this created on my soul
Thank you very much! As far as Pixel art is concerned, I learn it on the job. I had already trained at the beginning of the year.
For the Ohmu I recovered an image from the film where we see him drawing. I decided to transfer it and redraw it for my map (and I surprised myself by realizing it very quickly). Then the colors of the Ohmu I took a picture of Miyazaki.
As for the trees and mountains I was inspired by a map by @Valdore Javorsky although now I would like to move a little further away from it, the mountains remain similar even though they are more varied on my map. The sand dunes are entirely mine.
For the fortresses I did a little randomly trying to get inspiration from what's in the manga. I was inspired by pixel art that I had already seen to make the shading in three colors.
For the Crypt of Shuwa I took again an image of the manga which I took again freehand.
For the frame around the card it's not my try, I already made a map with colorful and complex drawings to make illuminations and jewelry.
If I tell you these are no longer secrets. 😏
More seriously, what do you want to know?
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Korea does a thing. TTL Korea gets strong somehow and turns much of West Japan into tributaries. They modernize a bit too late, however, and northern Korea (north of the Yalu river) was lost to Russia in the 19th Century. Lost territories were won back in WW1, and Korea subsequently imposed direct rule upon Kyushu and the Ryukyus, keeping Chugoku as a puppet. Militarism and nationalism came to dominate the Kingdom, but the war in Japan became more and more unpopular, culminating in the overthrow of the military-led monarchy. Korea is now a republic and, though it dominates West Japan economically, no longer controls any Japanese territories.
The islands of Daema are not Japanese, any claims that the PRJ makes are completely fabricated.
About 2 weeks ago I published an incomplete version of this map, and I have had enough time to finally finish it. Didn't expect it to come out with the 70s computer aesthetic, but man does it look nice. Description about the isles below.
In short, the history of the Tosilan Isles starts with settlers coming from the eastern Geranakin continent and setting up shop in tribes and eventually kingdoms. This goes on for about 2,500 years before the central island, Manasis Tosilo, sees the formation of the 2nd Tosilan Empire. The empire then, over the next 3 centuries, sees a period of expansion into the rest of the Isles, a period of exploration and colonialism into the rest of the world, and the start of an industrial revolution. Unfortunately, the empire starts to see mass public dissent in its later years due to the growth of new ideas about democracy and socialism. While the empire does attempt to become a constitutional monarchy, the corruption and subversion of the senate during the reign of Genitiraro II, as well as a destabilization caused by various radical forces, leads the empire to experience a civil war. The civil war ends with a Socialist Democratic coalition taking power in the Isles, while the royalty flees to the remaining colonies still loyal to the empire. The new "Tosilan Red Republic" (Red is associated with socialistic ideologies just like our world) starts its journey on the world stage, with it coming a few times close to collapse. After a period of conflicts all across Geranakin, a period similar to the Cold War starts, with Tosilo facing off against a conservative democratic block led by Rogamato, a large nation present in the center and north of the continent. The cold war also involves some smaller blocks, including an authoritarian capitalist, royalist, along with an Orwellian state in the mix.
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