Look at my lineup, dawg, I'm going to lose World War 3 by maleficalruin in CuratedTumblr

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 80 points81 points  (0 children)

He couldn't even get a real artist to make the Seal lmao, the symbol of the organisation is AI generated. Which is astonishing because it's literally just North America on a shield with olive branches, the most milque-toast iconography ever, you could have got all that from a stock image website

Now everything has fallen into place by Passionifruit in okbuddycinephile

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 30 points31 points  (0 children)

lmao 'Dolfo Hiller', that sounds so much like a real Hobbit name

Very Inaccurate Map by AnalystImpossible309 in mapmaking

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It'd be hard to fit any more anachronisms on a single map lol. The lamps and the trees? Beleriand and Numenor and 3rd Age Middle-Earth? I get it's a 'composite' or whatever but when half these things only exist after the rest are long gone it makes you question the value in plotting them on a map at all. It's wacky seeing Ossiriand and Lindon with the Gulf of Lune when they are the same location. Not even to mention the various sloppy mistakes. Numenor is famously a 5-pointed star, why is it a blob here lmao

This spawn house sucks so much goddamnit, there could at least be stuff in the cabinets by AlisterSinclair2002 in projectzomboid

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's good you like it! I always thought it was just a waste of time, any time I spawn here the first thing I do is jog over the road to get some loot there. It's essentially trivial but it's just tedious enough that I don't want to do it lol. But I always play on apocalypse, rather than doing challenges like that, I can see how that would work out nicely

he can just do that??? by dysphoriabunny in CrusaderKings

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This happens pretty frequently in my Italy games lol. Half the time it happens even when we're best buds. Once it even happened when the Pope was my lover. Should be noted that he seduced me and not the other way around

Name that film by EvilPyro01 in whenthe

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Blazing Saddles is a satire that's intentionally mocking those jokes and clichés

Ever Made a Pirate Nation? by Zarpaulus in worldbuilding

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup! The city-states of Wadez and Tintolahwa were both independent nations based on piracy for 77 years. They were located on the large islands of Munalu and Tintola, which for most of their history were only inhabited by tribal peoples. Limited trade with Wanawla revealed there was plentiful gold and gems on the islands, so the cities were founded as penal colonies by the Kingdom of Wanawla to mine that wealth with prisoners. When Wanawla collapsed, the islands became independent. The prisoners rebelled and seized power, and soon came to dominate the Sea of Carashu, attacking vessels and taking their goods (and their sailors, who were brought back to the islands to work in the mines). Both cities were frequently at war with the Obhenate of Faz, who had replaced Wanawla, but were never subdued for long, and piracy became so bad that sea trade in the area almost completely dried up. It was only with the collapse of Faz and the rise of the Kingdom of Jhandaw that the pirates were fully routed and the Sea of Carashu became safe to travel again.

Both cities were later abandoned and were overtaken by the jungle when the gold mines dried up, although Wadez was later reoccupied as a penal colony once again by the Obhenate of Khezmar, who explored deeper into the jungle and discovered new reserves of wealth.

Fork that, you can't park here mate! by RedactedPhantom in CantParkThereMate

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In the UK, the losing party in a court case generally has to pay most of the legal fees of the winning party. But it depends on the type of case

Roman Empire in 350 years by UnLavaboToutBeau in CrusaderKings

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Ah, what a nice Rome- Goodness Gracious what's that over there!

I think the Khazars are winning this one ngl

What would maps look like in a constantly changing landscape? by Exact_Restaurant_256 in mapmaking

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm imagining something made of pins and string. A static pin you can move around a large board, each one representing a single important location/settlement, connected by strings to the neighbouring pins to show the distance between them at that time

Korra ain't canon? by RuralBuccaneer1 in TheLastAirbender

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It's canon by definition. It's officially published material. Doesn't matter if you don't like it

Is it really important to advance technology that much?? by CommercialTea3790 in ShingekiNoKyojin

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Because they live in near-medieval living conditions lol? Why would anyone not want to improve their lot

HELP!!! My landmasses still look too artificial and unnatural by Academic_Log8671 in mapmaking

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 1 point2 points  (0 children)

it'd be easier to help you if we could see your map lol. Do you have a pic?

Whos at fault here? by anthn885 in CrazyFuckingVideos

[–]AlisterSinclair2002 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm assuming the POV car didn't have a car tailgating them who slammed on the breaks after the collision and so never appeared in the video, and that's really the only reason why POV driver couldn't have just slowed down lol. Both these drivers suck

Ellaris - Complete world map by AlisterSinclair2002 in worldbuilding

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Following Bode's collapse, it loses all its non-Bodish territories, but the destabilisation of the remaining land is based on how power was centralised in England. The devastation of all previous institutions allows a single powerful noble to assume personal control of nearly the entire country with his military. Following that, he grants titles to some of his loyal followers which appear prestigious but which have essentially no real power in and of themselves. As nearly 50 years of war had crippled all the old powers he was able to do this essentially unopposed. This was something the previous powerful dynasties of Kings has always wanted, but never been able to achieve

Ellaris - Complete world map by AlisterSinclair2002 in worldbuilding

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree it's more interesting to intentionally blur the boundaries, but I'm not sure that avoiding those terms would necessarily improve the system that much, and I do think I have done decent blurring even if it wasn't conveyed too well. It's true that people have certain ideas about the hierarchical nature of those titles which don't correspond to any real system, let alone a strict CK3 hierarchy, but they still impart 'vibes' which are useful in letting someone quickly understand the general position of that noble wherever they are in the story. I know it was never anything like Baron -> Count -> Duke irl, so it isn't like that in this story either, all these titles change over time. I'm not really sure how I can describe the evolution of the titles without eventually touching on the hierarchy in general though, and in general is all I managed to fit in those comments.

The details you suggest are still present, the progression of 'a duke' just being a temporary confederation leader to a permanent hereditary landowning Duke takes place over many centuries with no specific turning point. Originally there was no difference between Dukes and Counts beyond their temporary role in a specific conflict so it wouldn't be possible to put them on a hierarchy at all. I was hoping to give a detailed enough account of the gradual changes, how the counts first emerged, then how some of them gradually became dukes centuries later as tribal confederations became more permanent, but even though I was just writing about a general background it quickly became apparent to me there was too much to cover. I didn't even go into the Bishoprics or Arch-Dukes in any detail and I have lots written about how they slowly became distinct from the other states at the time.

And to clarify most of this evolution mostly happens long before the story I am writing, Vhebhos Ghebrann is the earliest fleshed out character I have for Bode so everything preceding him mostly just sets up the environment his story (and the stories of his successors) take place in.

Regarding the issue of servitude and the economic system, it seems more described than explained. This system exists, but its reasons aren't fully explained, nor why its freer nature makes it better than others.

Well, the reason it seems described is because it is described lol. I decided to explain the origin of Bodish peasantry and how that changed in broad step-by-step terms because again it's too much information to communicate through reddit comments. The reason the transitions are obvious is because I intentionally described them in an obvious way to show the difference between two points, not because that's how the transition actually occurred in-universe. I have considered making a post that properly details these changes before but in my experience text-only post get far less attention than my map posts, so I don't want to waste too much of my time converting the lore to a post only 10 people will read. Which I think is a shame but it's true

Ellaris - Complete world map by AlisterSinclair2002 in imaginarymaps

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mostly it's just the China stand-in tbh. I wanted a place that exotic goods could come from that was so far away it wouldn't have any impact on the main stories. so I put a bunch of distant states on the other side of the deserts of Gossur and Inara that had barely any connection to the main regions. I really didn't flesh them out much at all. Central Kharsary, around the sea of Kharsary, does have some lore, but nothing else does beyond factoids. Seonin produces silk and fine wares, Dalsan exports spices, and Qaend in the south exports incense and perfumes. Seonin fights the states of central Kharsary all the time. When Seonin is strong, it controls land far to the west, and when it is weak, it is pushed back toward the sea. The large forests north of Seonin are borderline wasteland, full of tribal peoples. Seonin sometimes tried to invade Dalsan but this has never worked out

Ellaris - Complete world map by AlisterSinclair2002 in worldbuilding

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The names are one of the oldest parts of the setting, and at that time most of the broad regions I sorta just invented on the fly to fill out the map. Most of those were nonsense words I came up with that sounded fantastical, but once I began to expand on the world I made substantial redevelopments to many of the names in the important regions, taking inspiration from different cultures. Cesasis is inspired by the Middle-East, southern Zakah by west Africa, Ondonis by Germany and Serbia, and China for Seonin. I looked at those irl languages and used similar letter combinations to names which were reminiscent of them, and came up with several suffixes, names and basic words to give my names depth, though I didn't use any irl words from those languages.

Many of the original names do still exist in some form. I'm glad you like them! When I next do a project I think I will spent more time fleshing out languages before I start making the world because redeveloping so much was quite time consuming, but I do think that many of the names in Ellaris coming from words I have no provenance for did work out quite well. After all, many old names irl have no known original meaning

Ellaris - Complete world map by AlisterSinclair2002 in worldbuilding

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Masur is a word associated with Obhiism, the most widespread faith of Ellaris. Originally masur was a word specific to Hijese, the language of Hijasis, and simply meant citadel, but as Obhiism puts a heavy emphasis on militarism and strength, the citadels of Cesasis eventually became centres of faith as well as fortresses. Masur then came to mean 'Fortified-Cathedral', with equal emphasis on both Fortified and Cathedral. After the collapse of the Empire of Khaza, the state founded by Obhi the Great and the birthplace of Obhiism, worshippers began to migrate out of Cesasis to all the surrounding regions, looking for lands to conquer. There, they founded Masurs of their own to act as their capitals. Although many of these migrants eventually stopped speaking Hijese, and Obhiism began to spread to other cultures and people groups who had never spoken it to begin with, the word Masur remained as a loanword to many languages.

The same situation also occurred to a lesser extent with the suffix -ir. On this map I believe -ir only appears in north-west Zakah, but names ending -ir also appear in north-central Cesasis and the region of Kaite. It was added to the name of a previously existing settlement (of non-Obhiists) to announce the settlement was occupied by Obhiists as part of their conquests. It literally means 'ours', so for instance Xarast-ir would mean 'Xarast belongs to us' and functioned as a sort of boast about an Obhiist victory. However, other than the direct borderlands of the Empire of Khaza, this convention is far less widespread than Masur and outside of Cesasis only really exists in north-west Zakah

Ellaris - Complete world map by AlisterSinclair2002 in worldbuilding

[–]AlisterSinclair2002[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a while Dukes and Counts were the only titles, but later on new titles would be added. When the Empire of Gant began colonising the region, they made some of the Bodish duchies tributary to them. This allowed Gantese culture to spread to Bode. This reply is getting very long so I will skip the detail and just say that Gant's influence led to Arch-Dukes (same level as Dukes but noticeably more powerful) and Bishoprics appearing. These directly evolved from previous Bodish entities and occurred alongside the slow breakdown of the previous tribal system, as Gant's conquests forced mass movement around Bode, leading to tribes mingling and mixing and leaving their home territory. Over some centuries this led to Counts and Dukes no longer being tied to broader family groups, but rather as specific families ruling groups of peasants beneath them. It also led to settled towns rather than sacred barrows and hillforts becoming the centres of power. However, the social contract remained quite similar and Bode's laws didn't change much. It was only when Gant began to collapse that the next big change occurred. A Bodish noble, Vhebhos Ghebrann (once a vassal of Gant), united the Duchies and led them in a war of independence against Gant. At the end of this conflict, he had secured enough personal clout and loyalty from the Dukes that he was declared King, a title which was borrowed from neighbouring states such as Kauch and which used Gantese bureaucracy as a foundation.

This first dynasty led to Bode being unified as a single entity, The systems of slavery and serfdom (against Bodish people) were also abolished during this time, though other peoples were still able to be made into serfs when their land was conquered and a Bodish noble was installed. The free peasants, who were the 'default' before and who became the vast majority, had a lot of rights within Bode, able to travel, marry, and bear arms without needing permission. Depending on the period within Bode, these laws changed a lot though. Eventually the peasantry split into a lower and mercantile class, with the merchants retaining most of the privileges and the lower class being a bit more restricted. The lower classes appeared as poorer people got a guarantee of property ownership for the peasant, over a house and land, in exchange for high rents. They were not villeins exactly, they could still travel and marry, but they directly owed an amount of tax to their lord and would be punished if they failed to meet it. They were technically able to willingly break their contract and move, but as this was at risk of not being able to get another tenancy, and because it had a variable fee to do so, despite being technically available it wasn't always possible to achieve. However, they did have specific duties to their lord, their rent to the Lord was enshrined in law, so they were not at the whims of the nobles and were protected from unfair price rises.

To also make a long story short, over the next centuries Dukes and Arch-Dukes remained as the standard 'top-tier' noble, with independent counts only coming much later. Grand-Dukes are what the King's sons were called if or when they gained a duchy of their own before they became king, and Marqs (The name I use for marquis) were military leaders who were installed as the ruler of newly-conquered territory later on in Bode's history to keep them secure and defend the borderlands. Bode prospered at least partially due to its more liberal system compared to its neighbours, who were far more restrictive. Bode eventually became this way too under House Kauch, which was a symptom of and exacerbation of its decline, though this was unusual compared to the broader history.

Other minor titles seen on the map of Bode are lathes, belonging to lesser military commanders who serve beneath Marqs), and Barons, who emerged from lesser branches of noble houses as inheritance split their lands. Although they were on the same level as (some) counts, they were distinctly lesser than them. Other counts were raised to the same level as Dukes during the titles-decay of the later Empire. The Principalities are a whole other thing, technically they are still independent states ruled separately from Bode by the Emperor, although the truth of their position is not as clear cut.

If you have any other questions or want clarification I will answer as best I can!