This is a map of the world "Coil Gun" is set it. Nations without coloration are not much different than the ones in our world in terms of history, cultures, and borders.
Here's what happened: The world diverged from our history in the late 16th Century, when some additional Spanish victories in the Dutch war for independence lead to some Dutch organizing an exodus to the Cape of Good Hope. Basically the Cape Colony is founded centuries earlier than in our history and there's no Dutch East India Company imposing restrictions on where the settlers can move and trade. The Dutch presence in the Indian Ocean is stronger and when this world's analogue to Napoleon seizes the Netherlands, the Afrikaners inherit vast tracts of territory in the East Indies and India proper that reject the French-backed puppet regime. India is divided between the British and the Afrikaners after the expulsion of the French until this world's WWI.
Meanwhile, this world's Cromwell deports large numbers of Irish to North America to make room for Protestant settlers. In the long run, this leads to Dublin and other areas being included in this world's "Northern Ireland," but in the short run, this leads to more Catholics in the American colonies. This world's United States is less phobic of Catholics than our own, which means the U.S. takes more territory in the war with Mexico and more Caribbean territory when it can get away with it. There's less concern about large numbers of Catholic voters.
The butterflies flap their wings in this world in different ways. The 1848 revolutions succeed, leading to a unified mega-Germany and an enlarged free Hungary whose own minorities throw off the Magyar yoke in WWI. The Australians end up with all of New Guinea, while the Japanese are less thoroughly trounced in WWII and retain Korea and Taiwan. The Sokoto Caliphate, which I remember from a college course on Islam in Africa, manages to remain independent in this world, while an analogue to Mohmamed Ali bloodies the Anglo-French and makes Egypt a middling power.
All this leads up to war depicted in "Coil Gun" in which the Afrikaners and their allies (the Persians, the Sikhs, the Thai, etc) challenge the League of Democracies (the United States, Europe, Russia, etc).
You can see the map on DeviantArt here: Apartheid Superpower Map 2.0
And that's where the "merchandise" part comes in. You can buy magnets, prints of various sizes, and coffee mugs. My friend Nicolas Hoffmann critiqued an early draft of "Coil Gun" and I bought him a coffee mug with this map on it. You too can have an Afrikanerverse coffee mug too, if you order it online. :)
Great map Matt. It makes the image of the geo-political situation much clearer in my head than it was when I first read the story :) and I actually pictured the Afrikaner's as being larger.
ReplyDeleteJust how large did you imagine the Afrikaner Confederation being?
ReplyDeleteI had actually envisioned them as controlling all of West Africa and the Sudan and a wee bit more of the Arabian peninsula. Other than that about what I expected.
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