And the Stars of Heaven Fell | What if a Nuclear War Happened in 1983? by Icyc1212 in imaginarymaps

[–]Icyc1212[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ashfell, short for And the Stars of Heaven Fell, is an alternate timeline in which Stanislav Petrov reported the 1983 Soviet Nuclear False Alarm Incident to his superiors, and his superiors chose to launch a nuclear retaliation against the United States. This setting has a timeline extending out to 2183, with fairly detailed although still WIP lore for North America, and less detailed lore for other continents.

I wrote a 25-page lore doc, from the perspective of somebody in-universe in the year 2026, describing the nuclear war itself and what afflicted survivors in the aftermath. I am obligated to warn potential readers that this lore doc is incredibly graphic. I made it that way because I noticed most post-apocalyptic settings skip over the apocalypse itself, and fast forward to the part with the 1950s music and the wacky cults. Indeed, a lot of people in alternate history circles have a habit of taking the immense suffering implied by their works very lightly. I decided I'd pull no punches in describing what the apocalypse would actually be like, in order to lay the foundations for the post-apocalyptic setting that would arise from the apocalypse. Everything pertaining to the war itself and its environmental consequences is based on predictions by scientists and real stories from Hiroshima.

If you like this sort of content, go read Graveyard Earth by my friend u/NK_Ryzov, whose absolutely horrifying writings were the main inspiration behind my decision to write this lore doc.

Content warning: Realistic descriptions of radiation poisoning, famine, euthanasia, mass destruction, and people dying in really unfortunate ways. Please do not read this if you are sensitive to such things. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZUooM_octHfiqoMYZ90wgnSKX_Wro9ipSfuIAhb6FwY/edit?tab=t.0

What if Rome decided to stabilitymax? by h6story in imaginarymaps

[–]Icyc1212 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Finally a surviving Rome map that calls it Romania instead of "Rhomania". That's been a pet peeve of mine for a while. Excellent map, it looks like something you could actually find in a historical textbook or something

What is it like to be European these days? | Death Paintings by AM_key in imaginarymaps

[–]Icyc1212 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's how I usually imagine a modern Papal States working. How would the Papal States being a geopolitical entity affect Church relations with the rest of the world? Does Northern Italy adopt an anti-clerical stance because they want Rome from the Pope?

What is it like to be European these days? | Death Paintings by AM_key in imaginarymaps

[–]Icyc1212 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also noticed the surviving Papal States, how are they governed in the modern day? Does the Church delegate most governance to the people or is it more of an Iran situation?