Are the empire names tongue in cheek to show where which drug is prevalent or do there actually exist all these global (trade?) empires?
Diversity Maximized World Map | Atlas Altera
- Thread starter Telamon Tabulicus
- Start date
Just tongue in cheek / a bit of a propaganda slant, trying to show the hold of Big Quid on those parts of the world haha.
Infographic map for the SoN territory of Katesh
This infographic showcases the independent global city of Katesh, located on the northwestern corner of the Sinai Peninsula. It is part of our ongoing project Atlas Altera. Atlas Altera is a syntopian fiction project that leverages the classroom cliché map to reimagine how diversity and co-existence can take shape, all the while building from real but buried geographies. To learn more about Atlas Altera, visist AtlasAltera.com. or check out Youtube.com/@AtlasAltera.
There are a two maps at different scales in this stylized infographic—one for its geopolitical context and another for its urban layout—plus an orthographic map to pinpoint Katesh in the world. Katesh is one of the two major independent cities built and controlled by the Society of Nations (SoN), analogous to our OTL United Nations, and having begun at around the time of OTL's League of Nations, only with less cynicism and more Cosmopolitan idealism baked into its institutions. Being headquarters to most of the SoN's major governmental bodies and agencies, Katesh functions as a de facto capital of the world.
Around the large scale map in the bottom are sketches of various high profile or famous buildings located in the city. These buildings showcase the Internationalist architectural tradition, rarely used in other parts of the world, though sharing similarities to the Brutalist/Modernistskaya traditions adopted by most countries in the socialist bloc.
Both Katesh and the other independent global city, Liberum, are located along the geopolitical hotspots of major canals—the former being on the Suez and the latter on the Marelago. For Katesh, this is a result of the Egyptian concession of the town of Casia and the Bardawil Lagoon to imperialist Britain, which then relinquished the territory to the SoN for guarantees that the Suez would be enforced as an international body of water. In the wake of the wars revolving around the Israeli-Palestini conflict and Egypt's transition to a constitutional monarchy under the socialist Tawo Party, the SoN is now the sole entity that oversees the canal's operation, though canal revenues are split evenly between the SoN and Egypt, while Israel receives none in return for perpetual access and recognition of its current borders by Egypt and Pheran.
After the Second World War, the importance of the Suez as an international body of water and the need to find a permanent and centrally located headquarters relative for most members of the SoN led to Casia coming out on top of the list of contenders. As early as 1946, a new city named Ka-téš was already being envisioned in the largely barren Casian peninsula jutting out into the Bardawil lagoon. Its literal translation, "united," is a legacy of the aborted Cosmopolitan campaign for resurrecting Sumerian as a world language.
The Tzanvarites were able to maintain rule for nearly three decades despite the shaky foundation of various political actors with differing aspirations. But this came crashing down when the Zionist context after the Second World War, largely defined by the Biltmore Program, saw uncontrolled and rapid migration of Jewish settlers to Rinokoloura and, more problematically, beyond into most of the major cities of Palestine. To complicate matters, by this point, Rinokoloura and the other muhafzas of Palestine had become de facto autonomous and self-governing after the Egyptian government's retreat to Phiom for much of the Second World War.
With a lost in social license to govern by any foreign powers and a power vacuum due to a disparity between de jure Egyptian ownership and de facto Commonwealth control, came the unilateral Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, and with that, the half-century-old Israeli-Palestini conflict.
The current borders around Katesh are a result of SoN-led peace initiatives and peacemaking interventions after a series of bloody wars, eventually leading to the normalization of relations between Egypt and Israel; the 1979 Israeli withdrawal and concession of an independent south Sinai state, Pheran; and an unofficial truce between Palestine and Israel since the 1990s. Though there has been nearly three decades of relative peace and economic prosperity within the borders of the state of Palestine, the conflict ensues due to violations of minority rights in Israel's West Bank.
There are a two maps at different scales in this stylized infographic—one for its geopolitical context and another for its urban layout—plus an orthographic map to pinpoint Katesh in the world. Katesh is one of the two major independent cities built and controlled by the Society of Nations (SoN), analogous to our OTL United Nations, and having begun at around the time of OTL's League of Nations, only with less cynicism and more Cosmopolitan idealism baked into its institutions. Being headquarters to most of the SoN's major governmental bodies and agencies, Katesh functions as a de facto capital of the world.
Around the large scale map in the bottom are sketches of various high profile or famous buildings located in the city. These buildings showcase the Internationalist architectural tradition, rarely used in other parts of the world, though sharing similarities to the Brutalist/Modernistskaya traditions adopted by most countries in the socialist bloc.
Both Katesh and the other independent global city, Liberum, are located along the geopolitical hotspots of major canals—the former being on the Suez and the latter on the Marelago. For Katesh, this is a result of the Egyptian concession of the town of Casia and the Bardawil Lagoon to imperialist Britain, which then relinquished the territory to the SoN for guarantees that the Suez would be enforced as an international body of water. In the wake of the wars revolving around the Israeli-Palestini conflict and Egypt's transition to a constitutional monarchy under the socialist Tawo Party, the SoN is now the sole entity that oversees the canal's operation, though canal revenues are split evenly between the SoN and Egypt, while Israel receives none in return for perpetual access and recognition of its current borders by Egypt and Pheran.
How did Katesh become the capital of the world?
The borders of Katesh originate from the British shoring up their interests in the Suez Canal by annexing the territory around around the Bardawil Lagoon—corresponding to the modern borders of Katesh—in exchange for allowing their allies the Tzanavarites in Egypt to claim Palestine from the Ottomans in the aftermath of the First World War. This territory, known briefly as Casia (as well as Kasaroun or el-Kas), was famous for being an Allied last stand against the Afrika Korps right after their stunning defeat in the Western Desert and the Fall of Alexandriya, leading to the Tzanvarites to retreat to Phiom for the rest of the war and the Commonwealth forces to regain the Delta in their own bloody campaign.After the Second World War, the importance of the Suez as an international body of water and the need to find a permanent and centrally located headquarters relative for most members of the SoN led to Casia coming out on top of the list of contenders. As early as 1946, a new city named Ka-téš was already being envisioned in the largely barren Casian peninsula jutting out into the Bardawil lagoon. Its literal translation, "united," is a legacy of the aborted Cosmopolitan campaign for resurrecting Sumerian as a world language.
How did Katesh become a geopolitical hotspot?
Though the Tzanvarites did not officially encourage Jewish emigration into Palestine, they continued to honour the Ottoman agreement with Theodor Herzl by allowing for the historically sleepy coastal town of Rinokoloura (also known as el-Arish, and nowadays as Telaviv) to be a homeland for the Jewish people. Meanwhile, the native Muslim, Christian, Druze, and Samaritan Palestinians—who were united in their differences towards the Egyptians in religion/sect, culture, and language—demanded independent statehood.The Tzanvarites were able to maintain rule for nearly three decades despite the shaky foundation of various political actors with differing aspirations. But this came crashing down when the Zionist context after the Second World War, largely defined by the Biltmore Program, saw uncontrolled and rapid migration of Jewish settlers to Rinokoloura and, more problematically, beyond into most of the major cities of Palestine. To complicate matters, by this point, Rinokoloura and the other muhafzas of Palestine had become de facto autonomous and self-governing after the Egyptian government's retreat to Phiom for much of the Second World War.
With a lost in social license to govern by any foreign powers and a power vacuum due to a disparity between de jure Egyptian ownership and de facto Commonwealth control, came the unilateral Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, and with that, the half-century-old Israeli-Palestini conflict.
The current borders around Katesh are a result of SoN-led peace initiatives and peacemaking interventions after a series of bloody wars, eventually leading to the normalization of relations between Egypt and Israel; the 1979 Israeli withdrawal and concession of an independent south Sinai state, Pheran; and an unofficial truce between Palestine and Israel since the 1990s. Though there has been nearly three decades of relative peace and economic prosperity within the borders of the state of Palestine, the conflict ensues due to violations of minority rights in Israel's West Bank.
Infographic map for Major Initiatives of the SoN
Major Initiatives of the Society of Nations | Atlas Altera
For a higher resolution version, go to my Deviantart.
For a higher resolution version, go to my Deviantart.
Here's another map to follow that Society of Nations (SoN) map we did for Katesh. It offers wider view of the current state of global affairs from the perspective of crisis management. The map showcases the major missions and initiatives overseen by the SoN. The map is stylized as an infographic to creatively give a glimpse of some current events in the lore. By the way, if you're interested in learning more about SoN, I wrote a cursory overview of its beginnings in the foreword for the project.
Borealean Lects | Sprouting from Babel
Back on track with the Sprouting from Babel series, featuring Borealea this time. Each country depicted has an easy to Google 3-letter code that corresponds to an OTL / real ISO-639-3 code for a lect/language.
Gandrasean Lects | Sprouting from Babel
Following with last month's Sprouting from Babel map on the languages of Borealea, here are the languages of Gandrasea! Each language has a corresponding OTL ISO-639 language code, which you can use to search up for further reading. The map is numbered and colour coded by the first major branch of each language family.
Hi @Telamon Tabulicus
I just spent a few hours catching up up your project here, DeviantArt, Reddit, the website and wherever else and I've got a few questions for you off you don't mind.
First I want to say I really enjoyed your work and hop to check out the YouTube channel some time in the future. I would consider supporting your pattern but I actually just cut off most of my patron contribution to save money when I went back to school this fall. Again maybe sometime in the future.
1. There is something about my brain that can't help but be drawn to blank spots on the map, so naturally I am insanely curious about what is going on inside the Exclusion zones: Dja, Jagana, Xingu, and Andamana. Would it be acurate to say the SoN administers them or do they just try to keep outsiders out and leave people there to live their traditional lifestyles? How did these areas get created the first place, I note from the map most date to 1920 except Adamana which is 2023, how did that come about? Is there any trade allowed, missions (medical or religious), "civilizing" efforts, or conversely prohibitions on the import of modern technology? What's going in the blue labeled Forts, Ports, and Stations?
2. I love the survival of megafauna like Mammoths, Saber-Tooth Tigers, and Moa's. Did you have a full list of extant megafauna or just winging it? In particular I'm wondering about some North American ones like the Giant Beaver, Giant Sloth, or North American Horses prior to their European reintroduction. Are the SoN reservers global versions of a National Park or more "Keep Out" zones?
3. Am I to assume every Nation TTL is a SoN member or are there many holdouts?
4. Just wow you have managed to pack an insane number of countries onto so many areas. Because of the small size of so many countries are there a lot of Schengen Area or EU type groupings in this world allowing free trade, travel and cooperation among their members? For that matter is there a European Union?
5. Nemo Island? Liberum? How did these places come to be and fall under SoN control?
6. Ok last one: Have you given any thought to space travel or off world settlements TTL? You have so many geographical ASB's I feel like a habitable Mars or Venus wouldn't really be stretching it. Pretty sure the answer is gonna be no but besides history I'm such a space nerd I have to ask!
Sorry that was a lot. I understand if you don't get around to answering all of it or my other random questions I sprinkled as I read on different websites, but I hope you do!
It's an absolutely fabulous project and I'll be watching closely for your future updates. I think I saw somewhere a hint and a democracy or HDI map on the way?
Awesome work! I love it!
That is all
I just spent a few hours catching up up your project here, DeviantArt, Reddit, the website and wherever else and I've got a few questions for you off you don't mind.
First I want to say I really enjoyed your work and hop to check out the YouTube channel some time in the future. I would consider supporting your pattern but I actually just cut off most of my patron contribution to save money when I went back to school this fall. Again maybe sometime in the future.
1. There is something about my brain that can't help but be drawn to blank spots on the map, so naturally I am insanely curious about what is going on inside the Exclusion zones: Dja, Jagana, Xingu, and Andamana. Would it be acurate to say the SoN administers them or do they just try to keep outsiders out and leave people there to live their traditional lifestyles? How did these areas get created the first place, I note from the map most date to 1920 except Adamana which is 2023, how did that come about? Is there any trade allowed, missions (medical or religious), "civilizing" efforts, or conversely prohibitions on the import of modern technology? What's going in the blue labeled Forts, Ports, and Stations?
2. I love the survival of megafauna like Mammoths, Saber-Tooth Tigers, and Moa's. Did you have a full list of extant megafauna or just winging it? In particular I'm wondering about some North American ones like the Giant Beaver, Giant Sloth, or North American Horses prior to their European reintroduction. Are the SoN reservers global versions of a National Park or more "Keep Out" zones?
3. Am I to assume every Nation TTL is a SoN member or are there many holdouts?
4. Just wow you have managed to pack an insane number of countries onto so many areas. Because of the small size of so many countries are there a lot of Schengen Area or EU type groupings in this world allowing free trade, travel and cooperation among their members? For that matter is there a European Union?
5. Nemo Island? Liberum? How did these places come to be and fall under SoN control?
6. Ok last one: Have you given any thought to space travel or off world settlements TTL? You have so many geographical ASB's I feel like a habitable Mars or Venus wouldn't really be stretching it. Pretty sure the answer is gonna be no but besides history I'm such a space nerd I have to ask!
Sorry that was a lot. I understand if you don't get around to answering all of it or my other random questions I sprinkled as I read on different websites, but I hope you do!
It's an absolutely fabulous project and I'll be watching closely for your future updates. I think I saw somewhere a hint and a democracy or HDI map on the way?
Awesome work! I love it!
That is all
Thanks for your questions! I recognize your name from your comments on the other platforms hehe.
And yes, the SoN Administers these territories to keep out state-derived processes from happening (industrialization, globalization, large scale transformation of the environment and cultural ways of lives that exist there). In short, all of this was a pragmatic way to territorialize territories that seemed impossible to lay over with nation-states. In these "reserves" there are hundreds of distinct languages and dozens of language families that would not make it in any nation-states to take possession of the territories.
For a deeper dive, here's more context: If you read my site's about page, you'll come across a reference to a League of Nations analogue, the Society of Nations. Essentially, a Wilson-analogue gets his domestic support to spearhead the formation of this international body, which is strengthened in WW2, where the Allies are akin to the UN force in our OTL Korean War. Part of the SoN's initial wave of optimism when it became an intranational actor was to address international atrocities that were relatively actionable (i.e. it was easy to gang-up on perpetrators, as ulterior motives of resentful competing powers, international norms or higher morals, and geopolitical power dynamics all aligned in favour of intervention).
Essentially, the SoN was concerned with the rubber boom and the atrocities that occurred in the Xingu (OTL Amazon) as a result, as well as the fiasco of the Belgian Congo. This, plus the fact that the global decolonization movement was already in full swing by the end of WW1, helped lead the SoN to idea of creating "reserves" so that these territories could revert back to formally unclaimed territories, kind of like how the Congo was in limbo for centuries before the Belgians stepped in, or how Antarctica was unclaimed until it was formed under a condominium in OTL. In these territories, the Society operates FUNAI-equivalent rangers to confront illegal logging, mining, poaching, squatting, and protect uncontacted peoples or regulate contact with non-state peoples. In the analogue to the OTL Congo or Jagana (from an obscure early Portuguese reference to "barbarians" on the borders of Angola in early colonial times) and Dja Reserve, there are also the historically vulnerable "pygmy" hunter-gathrer peoples.
Lastly, don't feel bad about not being able to support the project on Patreon at this time. As long as you're interested in what we're putting out, I'm happy! There is lot's more to come, so I hope you follow, and maybe one day you'll be in a better position hehe. Also, feel free to join our community on Discord if you like chatting about lore.
First, the year ascribed for Adamana is a typo. It should be a much older year, probably pegged to when the Raj ended in ATL.
And yes, the SoN Administers these territories to keep out state-derived processes from happening (industrialization, globalization, large scale transformation of the environment and cultural ways of lives that exist there). In short, all of this was a pragmatic way to territorialize territories that seemed impossible to lay over with nation-states. In these "reserves" there are hundreds of distinct languages and dozens of language families that would not make it in any nation-states to take possession of the territories.
For a deeper dive, here's more context: If you read my site's about page, you'll come across a reference to a League of Nations analogue, the Society of Nations. Essentially, a Wilson-analogue gets his domestic support to spearhead the formation of this international body, which is strengthened in WW2, where the Allies are akin to the UN force in our OTL Korean War. Part of the SoN's initial wave of optimism when it became an intranational actor was to address international atrocities that were relatively actionable (i.e. it was easy to gang-up on perpetrators, as ulterior motives of resentful competing powers, international norms or higher morals, and geopolitical power dynamics all aligned in favour of intervention).
Essentially, the SoN was concerned with the rubber boom and the atrocities that occurred in the Xingu (OTL Amazon) as a result, as well as the fiasco of the Belgian Congo. This, plus the fact that the global decolonization movement was already in full swing by the end of WW1, helped lead the SoN to idea of creating "reserves" so that these territories could revert back to formally unclaimed territories, kind of like how the Congo was in limbo for centuries before the Belgians stepped in, or how Antarctica was unclaimed until it was formed under a condominium in OTL. In these territories, the Society operates FUNAI-equivalent rangers to confront illegal logging, mining, poaching, squatting, and protect uncontacted peoples or regulate contact with non-state peoples. In the analogue to the OTL Congo or Jagana (from an obscure early Portuguese reference to "barbarians" on the borders of Angola in early colonial times) and Dja Reserve, there are also the historically vulnerable "pygmy" hunter-gathrer peoples.
I don't have a definitive or finalized list yet but people have helped out with my initial scoping on this page of this thread. The non-settled reserves like the Ascensions, Galapagos, and the territories in the poles are meant to operate more like what we known as national parks, sure, but they are also often inaccessible for regular tourism and more for scientific research.
I don't know... I want to say yes, but it is possible there may be more pariah states in ATL. I haven't fully thought out how the SoN would be able to pressure states to join, since the threshold for joining is much higher now due to more potential for enforcement of global norms (i.e. state sovereignty is no longer the excuse for infallibility of a regime or its license to do nearly anything it wants). Perhaps no regime is able to last long as a holdout because it would give its citizens a clear and easy rallying point to actively seek regime change...
Yes, there are lots of IOs, a lot more ranging closer to the EU in having more than just free trade, but also common travel zones and monetary unions. In Serica (OTL East and Southeast Asia) there is something like the EU, with a monetary union, free trade zone, and freedom of travel within member states. There is something similar but to a much smaller scale in Europea, as Britain does not partake, nor do the northern Italian states and Spain and Aragon due to different political alignments after WW2. And...there is quite the range for other kinds of IOs. For instance, the Emporic Rim (Big Indosphere) also sees a transition from the Raj (Company rule persists instead of a British Raj btw) to an OPEC-like trade cartel, known as SPICE. We plan to do a map about these IOs soon...
Nemo Island is an altgeo reference to Point Nemo ...It was just for shits and gigs. Liberum and Katesh are two major SoN settlement areas, both born out of territorial disputes/conflict, becoming later key assets for helping settle stateless peoples and refugees and processing asylum seekers in a far more coordinated and less cynical way, as well as becoming home to the SoN's institutions (so no more OTL New York City being home to the world's HQ).
No interest in space travel on my end! Sorry haha. I am more into trying to get younger folks to redirect their awe for space travel and exploration for all that humanity currently possesses and stands to lose. I do see it as a zero-sum issue, unfortunately, where many people see the need to "shed the ornamental" (i.e. cultural differences) for progress/modernity's sake. To me, there is no hope for pluralism in space travel and colonization... Don't get me wrong though. Sci-fi is awesome as a genre...
Lastly, don't feel bad about not being able to support the project on Patreon at this time. As long as you're interested in what we're putting out, I'm happy! There is lot's more to come, so I hope you follow, and maybe one day you'll be in a better position hehe. Also, feel free to join our community on Discord if you like chatting about lore.
Awesome! Thank you for the details answers.
There's a lot of pages to that site I had read a bunch but definitely missed a few, I'll have to look more closely.
Random tangent but I love how at the end of the page linked you tie some perspective behind your project to a camping trip in Desolation Sound, because I went there for the first time last summer to hike the northern Sunshine Coast Trail and it was gorgeous! BC kicks Ontario's ass in nature that's for sure.
Are you saying the discord is open to non-paying supporters? If so where can I find the link I'd love to join
Nice! I did the same hike. If you noticed any oyster shells in the lake at the top of one part of the inland portions of the trail, that was from us hauling them from the beach to do a bbq there hehe.
Anyone can join the Discord! https://discord.gg/WFkJ9fNe
A World Steeped in Steeps - Video
Thought I'd share this video we did to go along with the map we did not too long ago on what a fresh morning cuppa looks like around the world.
Blasted youtube. I'm subscribed to the Atlas Altera channel (and, yes, I have clicked the bell thingy too), and it didn't pop up in my notifications 
Stretch
Donor
Yeah, they've changed those, the notifications for channels I've rung the bell for come in just fine, but no number indicating how many there are appear now!Blasted youtube. I'm subscribed to the Atlas Altera channel (and, yes, I have clicked the bell thingy too), and it didn't pop up in my notifications
And I bet most of my subscribers probably have the same experience...Blasted youtube. I'm subscribed to the Atlas Altera channel (and, yes, I have clicked the bell thingy too), and it didn't pop up in my notifications
Ah that's too bad! I guess notifications have never been geared towards/about the smaller niche channels you follow
World Map for Languages of the World
To cap off all the recent continent-level maps on languages, here's our latest wallmount map for the prevailing languages of all the countries in Altera.
By the way, you can now subscribe to my Patreon for free to follow all project updates. I've also got a special offer right now (receive a handwritten unique postcard from 1 of 3 countries in Altera, as well as 2 vinyl stickers).
Prelude to WW2
Winding back all the way to 1938, this map is meant to tease out more of the lore for Altera's WW2 era. The map will also help guide some of our fellow travellers who are trying to produce a HOI4 Altera mod...
Also, I've still got that special offer where you can receive a handwritten unique postcard from 1 of 3 countries in Altera (as well as 2 vinyl stickers) if you support me on Patreon.
As always a beautiful map, but I have to say that the parallelism is quite high even though a fundamentally different geography should surely entail an unrecognisable geopolitical scene in the 19th century
Definitely see your point. The project is not really meant to be an exercise of alternate history, methodology-wise. It has parallel history and familiar-looking borders in some places to allow people to see a recognizable world while also appreciating the differences (the greater diversity). Without one, the other becomes meaningless or hard to appreciate, in my opinion.
Fair enough that actually makes a lot of sense, especially considering that you post your creations to many less AH-inclined forums, too. I rescind my criticism