HOME | DD

Description

Hello everybody!

This is my eight map in my series based of AFSNES, a collaborative alternate history map-game hosted in Civ Fanatics Forum many years ago.

In this map, I depicted the greatest empires of TTL’s Europe; more multi-polar than India or China, Europe was home for numerous civilizations, that warred, traded, mixed, migrated, and generally influenced each other. From Tartessos, the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean, to the Tartars, the foremost among the steppe people; from the Thracians, mercenary lords of the Balkans, to the Arecomicians,a migrating Kingdom that twice chose to search for a new home abroad; from Hellas to Hessonia, the two Greek civilization the frequently fought over the control of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Europe various polities were generally less extensive as the eastern empires (aside maybe Tartessos), and felt strongly the influence of ideas coming from the Middle East; autochthonous faiths, like the Cult of the Sacred Bull, later evolved into Tigranism, the Belenist faith of the Ligurians, Greek or Thracian polytheism, each fought bitterly against the two encroaching and eventually majority faiths, Akkadian Agade Dag and Nubian Ashaism.

Still, they developed vibrant and resilient cultures, that survived plagues, invasions and social upheaval, and firmly placed themselves at the end of the trade network that went far into China.

The first Empire depicted is the Empire of Tartessos. In particular, I decided to describe the start of the Tartessian Dominate, founded by Dominos Arganthos in 90 BC, and not the actual apogee of the Tartessian Empire in 475 AD, as it was already the subject of one of my previous maps.

Tartessos was since its birth the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean, surviving many storms, and defeating formidable enemies, like Rome. Its conquests and its commercial endeavours spread religion, ideas, political and social structures, influencing as far as Pictland, Germany and sub-Saharan Africa. Tigranism would survive the end of Tartessos and would be embodied by their Arecoman brothers, and despite the conquest at the hands of Watchur, the memory of Tartessos and its tradirions. would be the foundation of nations like the Tarekids or the Teutons

The second is the Hellenic Empire. The peak of the civilization of Hellas, the Hellenic Empire reunited the main political experiments of their past, like the colonial Leagues of Taras or Cyrenaica, or the Eretrian Hegemony, the first polity that actually united the entirety of Greece with a political system not unlike the one of the Avyaktagaran Ascendancy of the East, mixing with autocratic traditions coming from their eastern neighbours. Born after the fall of Eretria and the ousting of the hated Hessonians, the Hellenic Empire was thalassocratic and hegemonic over the Central Mediterranean, and quickly became a centre of cultural and artistic output that influenced strongly its surroundings.

The third is scourge of Central Europe, the Bane of Gaul, the Tartarian Empire.

The Tartars, after arriving in Europe at the end of the 3rd Century, settled in Pannonia, and from there created a multi-ethnic empire built on extensive raiding, subservience of it tribal vassals, and the rule of the mightiest. The Tartarian rule in Central and Eastern Europe was extremely influencing for the history of the people of Europe: the Tartar rule in Thrace broke the power of Pupuldeva and paved the way for Gaidreskolm’s rise; their invasion of Italy forced the Athanoi south, and weakened their control of the Eridanus Valley; the conquest of Germany forced thousands of Germanic to flee to Gaul, and beyond; the void left after their conquest allowed the expansion of Arecome and Tartessos, to the West, and of the Lithuanians east. Despite a short history, Mugula and his son, Aladar, shaped Europe.

The fourth is Tureno’s Arecomician Empire. Built by the Arecomicians after their second migration from TTL’s Sicily to Britain (the first brought them from Southern Gaul to Sicily), the Kingdom grew over decades as the comparatively more sophisticate, but fewer Arecomicians conquered, intermarried with and influenced the Brythonic tribes, and converted many to Tigranism. Arecomicia didn’t have an easy history, as its dependency from external commerce and its fluctuations actually provoked the collapse of the Kingdom, but it managed to come back, and establish its hegemony over Albion. Arecomicia greatest extent was during the Prophet-King Tureno, a reformer and a holy man, who repelled the Tartars and conquered Northern Gaul.

The fifth is the Hessonia Empire. An offshoot of the Greek Civilization that was strongly influenced by the great Kingdom of Paphlagonia, Hessonia first conquered Hellas at the behest of King Lyphatoris, bringing great fortune but poisoning the relationship with their western cousins.

The rise of the Hellenic Empire reduced Hessonia to a few cities around the Propontis, but they managed to prove their resilience, eventually conquering both Hellas and Anatolia. The Hessonian Empire was then instrumental for the spread of Ashaism, as the royal family eventually favoured the Nubian religion against Agade Dag, and after the royal marriage of Queen Helen with King Shebitku, they actually became a constituent part of the Watchurian Empire.

The sixth and last empire is the Thracian Empire of Gaidreskolm. The Thracians were a war-like civilization influenced strongly by both Hellas and Paphlagonia, frequently divided between squabbling principalities. The martial nature of their culture made the Thracians the best mercenaries of the Mediterranean, fighting as far as Iberia and Canaan. Back at home, Thrace was united by various Empires, like the almost legendary Deosporid Odrysa, or Sitalkes’ Kingdom of Akurna, but the greatest one was the Empire of Gaidreskolm. Thanks to the power-vacuum left by the Tartars, from the city of Singidum he reunited Thrace, and conquered further, in Illyria, Dacia, and Hellas; his alliance with the Agade Dag faithful nobles in Greece allowed the Akkadian religion to spread north, replacing Thracian Polytheism.

This will be for now my last map of the Empires series. Next I might do a world map about the future of AFSNES (the player-driven future that resulted at the end of the gameplay, or a map taking place centuries later, maybe even at the start of TTL’s Exploration Age.), or other more specific maps (about other civilizations, or maybe about the more influential wars). We’ll see in the future.

As I already detailed in my previous maps write-ups, do mind that the scenario depicted is not my creation, and I had a minimal contribution in its creation (I was one of the many players involved); The main “culprit” was the moderator of AFSNES, Das, that coordinated the player efforts into as realistic as possible way. The other players involved in the creation of the four empires will be detailed in the Credits. Please enjoy my new map! Any feedback is appreciated.

CREDITS
Das – Moderator, curator of the whole scenario
Kal’thzar – Nubia, Ashaism, Watchur and its successor states, Tarekid Amsurate
JoesfStalinator – Arecoman Celts, Caerix and Tigranism
Insane-Panda – Tartessos
Disenfrancised – The whole Avyaktaraga civilization, Paramantism, Zuubhrabhanu
Dachs – Latins, Rome, Thuringia
Thlayli – Parthenian Republic, Greek poleis, Corcyran League
Niklas – Ur and its various empires, Agade Dag
Nuka-Sama – Racadonia
Littleboots – Athanoi
Shortguy – Mitanni, Frisians
LightFang- Sardinia
Daftpanzer – Odrysa and Thracians
Altair – Liguria
erez87 – Caeon
The13thRonin – Hessonia, Hessonian Greeks and Delphian Empire
j_eps – D’mt, Axum, Liths

Description

Hello everybody!

This is my eight map in my series based of AFSNES, a collaborative alternate history map-game hosted in Civ Fanatics Forum many years ago.

In this map, I depicted the greatest empires of TTL’s Europe; more multi-polar than India or China, Europe was home for numerous civilizations, that warred, traded, mixed, migrated, and generally influenced each other. From Tartessos, the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean, to the Tartars, the foremost among the steppe people; from the Thracians, mercenary lords of the Balkans, to the Arecomicians,a migrating Kingdom that twice chose to search for a new home abroad; from Hellas to Hessonia, the two Greek civilization the frequently fought over the control of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Europe various polities were generally less extensive as the eastern empires (aside maybe Tartessos), and felt strongly the influence of ideas coming from the Middle East; autochthonous faiths, like the Cult of the Sacred Bull, later evolved into Tigranism, the Belenist faith of the Ligurians, Greek or Thracian polytheism, each fought bitterly against the two encroaching and eventually majority faiths, Akkadian Agade Dag and Nubian Ashaism.

Still, they developed vibrant and resilient cultures, that survived plagues, invasions and social upheaval, and firmly placed themselves at the end of the trade network that went far into China.

The first Empire depicted is the Empire of Tartessos. In particular, I decided to describe the start of the Tartessian Dominate, founded by Dominos Arganthos in 90 BC, and not the actual apogee of the Tartessian Empire in 475 AD, as it was already the subject of one of my previous maps.

Tartessos was since its birth the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean, surviving many storms, and defeating formidable enemies, like Rome. Its conquests and its commercial endeavours spread religion, ideas, political and social structures, influencing as far as Pictland, Germany and sub-Saharan Africa. Tigranism would survive the end of Tartessos and would be embodied by their Arecoman brothers, and despite the conquest at the hands of Watchur, the memory of Tartessos and its tradirions. would be the foundation of nations like the Tarekids or the Teutons

The second is the Hellenic Empire. The peak of the civilization of Hellas, the Hellenic Empire reunited the main political experiments of their past, like the colonial Leagues of Taras or Cyrenaica, or the Eretrian Hegemony, the first polity that actually united the entirety of Greece with a political system not unlike the one of the Avyaktagaran Ascendancy of the East, mixing with autocratic traditions coming from their eastern neighbours. Born after the fall of Eretria and the ousting of the hated Hessonians, the Hellenic Empire was thalassocratic and hegemonic over the Central Mediterranean, and quickly became a centre of cultural and artistic output that influenced strongly its surroundings.

The third is scourge of Central Europe, the Bane of Gaul, the Tartarian Empire.

The Tartars, after arriving in Europe at the end of the 3rd Century, settled in Pannonia, and from there created a multi-ethnic empire built on extensive raiding, subservience of it tribal vassals, and the rule of the mightiest. The Tartarian rule in Central and Eastern Europe was extremely influencing for the history of the people of Europe: the Tartar rule in Thrace broke the power of Pupuldeva and paved the way for Gaidreskolm’s rise; their invasion of Italy forced the Athanoi south, and weakened their control of the Eridanus Valley; the conquest of Germany forced thousands of Germanic to flee to Gaul, and beyond; the void left after their conquest allowed the expansion of Arecome and Tartessos, to the West, and of the Lithuanians east. Despite a short history, Mugula and his son, Aladar, shaped Europe.

The fourth is Tureno’s Arecomician Empire. Built by the Arecomicians after their second migration from TTL’s Sicily to Britain (the first brought them from Southern Gaul to Sicily), the Kingdom grew over decades as the comparatively more sophisticate, but fewer Arecomicians conquered, intermarried with and influenced the Brythonic tribes, and converted many to Tigranism. Arecomicia didn’t have an easy history, as its dependency from external commerce and its fluctuations actually provoked the collapse of the Kingdom, but it managed to come back, and establish its hegemony over Albion. Arecomicia greatest extent was during the Prophet-King Tureno, a reformer and a holy man, who repelled the Tartars and conquered Northern Gaul.

The fifth is the Hessonia Empire. An offshoot of the Greek Civilization that was strongly influenced by the great Kingdom of Paphlagonia, Hessonia first conquered Hellas at the behest of King Lyphatoris, bringing great fortune but poisoning the relationship with their western cousins.

The rise of the Hellenic Empire reduced Hessonia to a few cities around the Propontis, but they managed to prove their resilience, eventually conquering both Hellas and Anatolia. The Hessonian Empire was then instrumental for the spread of Ashaism, as the royal family eventually favoured the Nubian religion against Agade Dag, and after the royal marriage of Queen Helen with King Shebitku, they actually became a constituent part of the Watchurian Empire.

The sixth and last empire is the Thracian Empire of Gaidreskolm. The Thracians were a war-like civilization influenced strongly by both Hellas and Paphlagonia, frequently divided between squabbling principalities. The martial nature of their culture made the Thracians the best mercenaries of the Mediterranean, fighting as far as Iberia and Canaan. Back at home, Thrace was united by various Empires, like the almost legendary Deosporid Odrysa, or Sitalkes’ Kingdom of Akurna, but the greatest one was the Empire of Gaidreskolm. Thanks to the power-vacuum left by the Tartars, from the city of Singidum he reunited Thrace, and conquered further, in Illyria, Dacia, and Hellas; his alliance with the Agade Dag faithful nobles in Greece allowed the Akkadian religion to spread north, replacing Thracian Polytheism.

This will be for now my last map of the Empires series. Next I might do a world map about the future of AFSNES (the player-driven future that resulted at the end of the gameplay, or a map taking place centuries later, maybe even at the start of TTL’s Exploration Age.), or other more specific maps (about other civilizations, or maybe about the more influential wars). We’ll see in the future.

As I already detailed in my previous maps write-ups, do mind that the scenario depicted is not my creation, and I had a minimal contribution in its creation (I was one of the many players involved); The main “culprit” was the moderator of AFSNES, Das, that coordinated the player efforts into as realistic as possible way. The other players involved in the creation of the four empires will be detailed in the Credits. Please enjoy my new map! Any feedback is appreciated.

CREDITS
Das – Moderator, curator of the whole scenario
Kal’thzar – Nubia, Ashaism, Watchur and its successor states, Tarekid Amsurate
JoesfStalinator – Arecoman Celts, Caerix and Tigranism
Insane-Panda – Tartessos
Disenfrancised – The whole Avyaktaraga civilization, Paramantism, Zuubhrabhanu
Dachs – Latins, Rome, Thuringia
Thlayli – Parthenian Republic, Greek poleis, Corcyran League
Niklas – Ur and its various empires, Agade Dag
Nuka-Sama – Racadonia
Littleboots – Athanoi
Shortguy – Mitanni, Frisians
LightFang- Sardinia
Daftpanzer – Odrysa and Thracians
Altair – Liguria
erez87 – Caeon
The13thRonin – Hessonia, Hessonian Greeks and Delphian Empire
j_eps – D’mt, Axum, Liths