Did you come up with that ATL script yourself, or was that devised by someone else?
Map Thread XXII
- Thread starter Balkanized U.S.A
- Start date
Did I come up with the Insular Script? No, that would be mediaeval Irish monks
It's been adapted into a variety of serif and sans-serif typefaces by Irish typographers (there's even a Comic Sans version of it...)The sans-serif one I've used (e.g. in the titling) is actually used OTL on road signs in the Irish gaeltachtaí, although they use a more readily legible variant with the "normal" r and s rather than the insular long r and insular long s I've used here (which are actually encoded separately in Unicode). It's called Lánchló GC. The serif one is Glanchló GC.
Very neat! So in this timeline, “Celtic Israelism” is the official narrative of the government? Or should it be compared to the way that eugnicism and national mythologies were pushed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: very openly but not necessarily proscribed? It’s interesting to imagine a similar group of romanticist intellectuals that spawned the Celtic Revival IOTL are actually studying Hebrew language and Jewish traditions here and trying to infuse that into the popular culture. You can just imagine instead of the springing up of Gaelic Athletic Associations, there’s instead a lot of “Israelite cultural associations” and public ceremonies or something. Great concept.
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Yes, that's right. The UKSII is Insular Christian; this denomination is not a retention of mediaeval insular Christianity but rather a revival of it in conjunction with a Reformation that roughly coincides time-wise with OTL's English Reformation, except instead of happening in England, it happened in Scotland and Ireland; the TTL Kingdom of England is Catholic. There was then a similar philosemitic movement borne out of anti-Catholicism as happened in 17th century England, and consequently significant Jewish immigration.
ITTL, at the beginning of the 19th century with the dawn of racial "science", there's then a similar role reversal in terms of ethnic ideas (in fact, much of TTL's early modern history can be essentially regarded as a role reversal between the UKSII and England, with the UKSII becoming the largest imperial/colonial power etc etc).
Based on the received wisdom of traditional history, 19th century UKSII anthropologists construct a racial hierarchy wherein the Celts are superior to Germanic peoples (so the reverse of OTL), and this then gets expanded to contending that the "Semites", as conceived of ITTL, are the "master race" and the "Aryan" races (like for instance the English) inferior and in need of the civilising authority of Semitic peoples. This unfortunately results in (further) persecution of the Scots-speaking communities in the south and east of TTL Scotland (OTL Northumbria, Lothian, Fife, Angus, Grampian)
It's important to note that the conception of "Semite" differs significantly because the Celts weren't the only "Lost Tribe" discovered through this bizarre historiography; they identified the Greeks as descending from Ephraim - which is why they proceeded to successfully help the Greeks realise the megali idea against the Ottomans - and the Basques from Gad.
So the history of Western civilisation, back then, was conceived of as a grand struggle between violent brutish peoples like the "Aryans" (to include Romans, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Slavs) and "Turks" (including Magyars and Finns), versus the enlightened civilisations of the Semites like Israel, Greece, Arabia...and Gaeldom and the Basque Country!
This racialism is no longer de rigueur and hasn't been since the 1960s-70s, but where the racial theories have been abandoned, the historical narrative has not; it is a significant source of legitimacy for the powers-that-be and this in conjunction with the promotion of Biblical literalism is seen as foundational to the "Judeo-Christian world order".
Claiming that the universe is more than 5,784 years old, or indeed that the Celts are not Israelites, remains punishable under blasphemy laws in 2024, albeit not very stringently enforced and now with a maximum penalty of 1 year's imprisonment (lowered to this from 20 years in 1992, having theoretically been eligible for the death penalty until 1978, although the last execution for blasphemy in the UKSII took place in 1898)
This is a sequel to/enhanced version of my previous map. This is a sort of preliminary version of the project, basically like a first draft. There's no lore written up, it's just me doing whatever I want. I will answer any questions you may have about this world.
deviantArt post
John Waters
Banned
This is very well thought-out!!! I want to know much more about this TL! Are you planning on producing amy related content? A map of the UKSII wpuld be cool! Also, is there a Celtic US-analog in America? And what's the fate of Wales in all this?
John Waters
Banned
One thing I have to say is that it's nice to see so many different states in India instead of a generic space filling empire that a lot ofaps feature for a change, cool that you put so much thought into this
This is a sequel to/enhanced version of my previous map. This is a sort of preliminary version of the project, basically like a first draft. There's no lore written up, it's just me doing whatever I want. I will answer any questions you may have about this world.
deviantArt post
Tell me, lads, what are some good map drawing software I could use? (Preferably one that's free)
I honestly just use Microsoft Paint most of the time and Paint.NET for some other stuff.
If you're wanting to do more complex stuff with layers and SVGs and stuff there's Inkscape and GIMP.
I’ve asked this before, but now seems like an opportune time to ask again, are there any basic programs like MS Paint or paint.net for the Mac? I’ve installed GIMP but I can’t seem to get the hang of it, and I’d love to keep making maps but unfortunately I don’t have access to my computer while I’m at college.
I'm not a Mac user, so I'm not 100% sure, but I'm leaning towards no, like there are work arounds to download them onto a Mac I think, but yeah.
Also, GIMP, while I don't use it much, is more like a secondary program, one you use when your project is done and you're adding to it, I wouldn't really try to use it for actual map making.
There's Paintbrush if you don't want to do anything complex, and Pixlr Editor if you do
Strange as it seems the history isn't properly fleshed-out, I've done a bit of work on the UKSII itself but the history of everywhere else is fairly vague.
I've mostly focussed on the present day back to the early modern/late Renaissance period, even though the PoD would either be with Malcolm Canmore or Robert Brus back in the Middle Ages. I'll have to properly work through that before I can really produce a modern-day map (unless I just leave all the other borders blank, but that's a bit naff) because it's not supposed to be an ISOT.
In the meantime, however, you can have a flag: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/flag-thread-v.495057/page-124#post-24906998
...and a Coat of Arms: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/a-new-coat-of-arms-thread.66255/page-78#post-24906990
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" I inform HM King Philip VIII of All Spain that thirty-three years after the bloody Quioto Rebellion those called Iquis continue in absolute decadence and that neither your highness nor the honourable members of the Court shall fear for HM's realms in these island of the Orient, to which its Indians call Nijon..."
"The inquisitions (this is a typo btw, "Inquisición" was always treated in singular, not plural) continue on their godly path of evangelizing (converting) these Indians, and I can reassure to HM that three out of every four Indians in the New Aragon profess already our catholic faith and speak our language".