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BobHopeXIVRedux — Antonine Map 1634AE

Published: 2022-05-19 20:34:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 5602; Favourites: 19; Downloads: 12
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Antonine Empire

The Empire has been in a state of decay for years, sure, some of the borders are still expanding but power is starting to concentrate around the major cities, Antioch, Athens, Babylon & Alexandria. It will need a strong Emperor to pull them all back together. Already Native states are starting to generate in & around their South-East African possessions & Sardinia is in revolt.

 

Roman Republic, Gadezian Empire & Roman Kingdom of Senegal

The evolution of firearms in Iberia allowed the successful revolt of the Gadezian Empire which went on to conquer both the Helvetii & Ostfalien in alliance with Galische. The Republic is now confined almost entirely to the Italian peninsula & some areas are autonomous entities. Gallia dominates the Western Alps & has its own satellites. The North Roman Republic is a mountainous state that has also absorbed some southern Slav lands & is Roman only really in name.

Senegal is a hybrid nation where Roman military techniques have enables them to form a powerful nation that will soon drop "Roman" from their name. The changes have allowed the Wolof peoples to rise in Futa Toro but a much reduced Futa Djallon still exists, if barely hanging on.

 

North-Western Europe

Norselund has benefitted on the continent but lost its holdings in the Alban Islands where the Kingdoms of Strathclyde & Eireland have expanded or coalesced. The Frankish states have fallen to the Kingdom of Rheinlund & its culture is influencing the smaller statelets to the south.

Small Western Slavic states dominate the lands north of the Alps. Their tradition of giving land to every son creating a hodge-podge of small states easily influenced by their neighbours, allowing the rise of the Principality of the Burgunds which dominates the middle Rhein. The Kingdom of Veltania has bucked this trend but only after a series of "Family" Wars to re-unite much of the original Kingdom.

 

Scandinavia, the Baltic & Eastern Europe

The Eastern Slavs of the Kingdom of Mazavia changed their succession traditions earlier, after suffering from aggression from the Kingdom of Saxe-Viborg, absorbing  their southern relations, the only surviving small state Lviv playing its neighbours off against one another. Novgorod has used the instability in Scandinavia to secure its hold on the Eastern Baltic, colonizing & incorporating the local tribes into its state structure. Both Sveaalund & Nvierge have supplanted their previous states with some losses of outlying territories. Kiev has absorbed the smaller Rus principalities & has vassalized the Western Hungarian Cossaks after their state started to splinter.

 

West & Central Africa

North of Senegal the Maures founded their own state based on the Roman government system gaining political leadership of the surrounding Maures tribal states. Songhai has been reduced to Songhai-Gao, conflicts with the Mande or Mail rebels in the West & the Hausa Federacy in the East allowed Djenne & Timbuktu to gain their independence.

Along the Southern coast only Kong has changed, absorbing its vassal states.

Inland, Kanem has had to grant autonomy to Darfur after a prolonged civil war.

In Central Africa Angola has had a mixed time, expanding its borders too much allowed Louano to gain its independence. Angola's inconclusive war with Kuba forced Kuba to integrate its vassals & it is now a centralised state.

Luba, which was more of a trading hegemony has evolved into a true Empire after a change in dynasty. Although retaining its former name it is now ruled by Luwa Kings.

 

Eastern & Southern Africa

Influenced by the Antonine Colony to their North both Sothu & Amazulu have evolved into recognizable states vying for control of their neighbours. The Xosha to their south have splintered into small tribal areas as a result of their conflicts  which has seen the Amazulu lose land but Sothu unable to gain access to the sea.

Merina has gained ascendancy on Madagascar whilst in East Africa Rufiji, adopting Antonine methods, has formed a dominant coastal state. Inland, Tabor continues to resist not only Bugandan but also Luba influences.

 

The Americas

The Iroquois Federation continues to admit tribes, its technology level rising as it trades with Skraelinglund. Skraeling trading posts & fishing camps to the North of the Great Fjord have evolved into small colonies & outposts.

The tribal areas are pretty much as they were, raids & bush wars don't change the borders much but trading can. we see the result of this with the establishment of the Porter state at the mouth of the great river trade route, a response to contact with the Gadezian Empire which is also establishing colonies on the larger islands of the Gulf.

The Anasazi, descendants of the Pueblo culture, have expanded to the coast to secure the fishing grounds.

The Aztec have been destroyed by an alliance of subject tribes & the Xalisco Kingdom which now dominates the area.

On the North coast of the Southern Continent trade in worked Gold & other products has seen the rise of small states, the Kogin, Chibcha & Taimo Kingdoms.

The Inca Empire is a threat to these states & Incan city states already exist around the isthmus. Araucanian peoples continue to resist Incan expansion in the south.

 

Eastern Asia

Centuries earlier there had been an attempt to unite the Mongol tribes, it had been only partially successful but still strong enough to conquer the Chin Empire. The Mongols tried time & again to defeat the Sung Empire of Southern China but the enterprise turned into a war of attrition, a war the Mongols could never win. It was internal troubles that caused the downfall of both the Sung & the Mongols in China. The resultant Ming Empire was formed about 1450AE, spreading quickly, adopting the bureaucracy of its predecessors to instil order. This led to its stagnation & to Civil Wars that halted its rapid expansion. On the map of 1634AE we see another period of Ming expansion starting towards the North & West. To its North-East the Manchu peoples are also expanded along the Amur River towards the sea about this time & the non-aligned Mongol & Nomadic tribes begin to flex their muscles as the main Mongol state deteriorated.

 

Central Asia & the Middle East

Khwarizm has ceased to rule over the lands that gave the Empire its name. The Cannons of the Solturk Empire have taken the great cities of Tashkhand, Bhukhara & Samarkand where their co-religionists of the Ha'mazshist Faith welcomed them. The great wealth & production might of these cities together with the universities, founded upon the teachings of Abu Raihan al-Biruni, the master of mathematics, astronomy, mineralogy, geography, cartography, geometry and trigonometry around 1067AE, are now at the disposal of the Solturk Empire.

 

Southern Asia

In North India the lands conquered by Khwarizm's allies had offered only token allegiance to that Empire for many years & with its defeat by the Solturks only the Safarids seemed able to retain & to some extent expand its lands as the Ghazni & Ghurid Kingdoms declined. Even this was only really taking advantage of its competitors defeats by Kashmir in the North & Scinde in the South.

The Hindu Kingdoms of Southern India is where we find a kind of "Empire" with no dynasty ever really dying out but one after the other subduing its neighbours. Rather like the High kings of ancient Ireland an Emperor or King would rule until the rise of of a new power or resurgence of a previous one. By 1634AE Vijayangar is very much declined but no new "High King" has yet taken the stage.

Around the Bay of Bengal, Bengal itself has annexed Orissa, Pegu is still advancing into the Shan & Northern Thai states of Laos but Siam is resisting in a War that seems set to run for a long time. Taking advantage of the vacuum where Siamese influence has withdrawn from the Malay Peninsula is the Sumatran Kingdom of Aceh which now controls the straits along with the lucrative trade that passes through it.

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