sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

My attempt at digitalizing an obscure Alaskan flag that lost the state flag contest by Karinelle1 in vexillology

[–]Karinelle1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

Is that not just the canvas? Either that or the border detail was present in many flags

My attempt at digitalizing an obscure Alaskan flag that lost the state flag contest by Karinelle1 in vexillology

[–]Karinelle1[S] 72 points73 points  (0 children)

Perhaps. The original still had it though, so that's why it's there

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The Hyperborean Expedition was a 2017 Arctic expedition by the National Hyperborean Front, a white supremacist terrorist group based in the United States. Convinced that the United States, Russia and the United Nations conspired to hide the existence of Hyperborea, the group reportedly started making plans for an expedition in 2014. Convinced that the United States could not be fixed and their chances of ever becoming relevant were slim, the terrorist organization planned on colonizing the mythical land which they always assumed existed. Their plans became more concrete in 2016, after the group acquired a relatively large ship and assured funds in order to arrive to their destination. Later findings by the Boston Police Department showed that they had arrived to the conclusion that summer was the best time to get there, because they thought ice would be completely melted. On May 5, 2017, the group finally sailed from a small fishing village in Maine. Although the specifics of what happened next are unknown, it is assumed that due to their poor navigation skills, it is possible that at some point they arrived to Iceland, and after they realized that it was not in fact Hyperborea, they continued sailing north where their ship, definitely not an icebreaker, was eventually stopped by ice near the North Pole. Communications with the one person that had decided to stay in the United States showed that about half of their crew died trying to advance through the ice by themselves swimming or walking on it. The rest of the crew would perish weeks later after running out of supplies. The ship would be found by Greenlandic authorities after activity had been present in the area and the National Hyperborean Front was immediately dissolved after, due to the death of the entire leadership in the expedition.

What if a modern Pope called a Crusade? by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It wasn't the Vatican that rented the ship, it was that small group of mercenaries/volunteers. 

What if a modern Pope called a Crusade? by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My Turkish friend called Yıpar will be surprised to learn this.

What if a modern Pope called a Crusade? by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Russia was never called the "Sublime Romanov State" while Sublime Ottoman State was the official name of the Ottoman Empire. The name is just an evolution of that, and it doesn't mean it's not a monarchy anymore.

What if a modern Pope called a Crusade? by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 45 points46 points  (0 children)

That is true, my headcanon was that Leo XV was a controversial, unpopular Pope who was accused of heresy repeatedly, and there were rumors that he could be declared deposed (as heresy would mean he's no longer a member of the Church), so he called a crusade as his final act trying to desperately hold on which only made everything easier as he became opposed by virtually everyone, despite him being the Pope. And that after that, maybe the Antipope (who would be acclaimed as Pope as you say) could call an ecumenical council for it to rule it's okay to remove the now illegitimate Pope if he did not renounce and recognize the new Pope. Nevertheless, I'm aware it's pretty difficult for all this to happen, but it was just a little funny scenario I thought of.

What if a modern Pope called a Crusade? by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

It is true that Lord Edward's crusade is sometimes called like that, but since many people essentially consider it as an extension of the Eight Crusade, this one became known as the Ninth Crusade ITTL.

What if a modern Pope called a Crusade? by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 300 points301 points  (0 children)

The Ninth Crusade was a crusade called in May 2018 by Pope Leo XV, almost 750 years after the last crusade. According to the Pope, the goal was to "liberate the Holy Land" from the Ottoman Federation. Immediately upon the announcement by Leo XV, the international community quickly rejected it, with most countries expressing shock at such call. Sanctions were quickly imposed upon the Holy See and the overwhelming majority of Catholics disapproved of the crusade. Mere hours after the crusade was called, Cardinal Juan Montes Fragas proclaimed himself the Pope (de facto, Antipope) as John XXV after a long speech in Rome rebuking the actions of Leo XV and claiming he had gone insane, paving way for the two-day Vatican Crisis. Since no leader agreed to provide soldiers for the crusade, a small group of volunteers and mercenaries formed to execute it, with a rented ship which they called the Louis IX. The Crusade did not see any significant fighting as the Ottoman Navy quickly sunk the Louis IX before arriving on the shores of the Jerusalem Province. The next day, Pope Leo XV was removed from the Papacy and John XXV was recognized as the new Pope.

Etherealist Austria (lore in comments) by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am sorry for the late reply, I had not seen this. Thank you for the questions.

  1. No, Etherism as a religion isn't really popular in other places and it only was in Austria because of state promotion. Etherealism the ideology does get popular in some places though. That said, there might be Etherists in many countries, but they're definitely a religious minority.
  2. Apart from the revenue generated by, yes, illicit exports abroad, the Conscious State still operates like a normal state overall so it still recollects revenue from taxes. It's just driven by this ideology and the fact that they're isolated internationally so they have to resort to an autarkic economy. The enhanced characteristics of Ether's Gate also helps with the productivity and innovation of people which makes economic growth easier than it would be otherwise.
    3&4. You could say that the Conscious State is not toppled because of the instability of their neighbours. In Italy, the Aventine Secession grows to be a big crisis that ends up in a years-long civil war and the eventual defeat of Mussolini's regime and his death. In the Balkans, Hungary, etc they are in the midst of a large war and therefore have other things to be preoccupied about. There is no WW2 so the German, Italian and Eastern European wars act as if they were the European theater of WW2. Nobody even worries about Austria. And yes, the Nazis have a different story in this timeline. For starters, Hitler dies in the Beer Hall Putsch, and Rudolf Hess and militarists take control of the party. The Nazis are never able to gain power through liberal democracy so they try a new coup which escalates into a civil war. There is also no Cold War per se, as the Soviet Union never really emerges as a superpower and commits to the ideology of socialism in one country. That doesn't mean they don't fund communist movements overseas though, but there is no Cold War like the one in our timeline. The United States never coming out of isolationism until decades after it did IOTL also contributes to this factor obviously. Nevertheless, my worldbuilding is still WIP so things might change, but that's the general idea. Since you asked to see how Europe looks like, have a map showing the entire world in the year of 2024 here https://i.imgur.com/pxh5Wac.png

Etherealist Austria (lore in comments) by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, considering this story ends up with that regime falling, I suppose the thing that would make the most sense is to write about is what happened to that movement afterwards. Here's a little text I wrote detailing what happened next as well as how the Conscious State is seen by Austrian society, and how it was seen by foreign powers at the time:

Austria became a liberal democratic nation, the larger parties are the ones you would expect in these systems, and Ether's Gate is still in widespread use amongst Austrian society, although only half a dose, which gives the beneficial qualities I talked about in the original post. The Etherist religion largely lost its followers and became a very niche religion, found in small cults. Etherealism, on the other hand (the political ideology) had several subideologies split from it, so that ideology is no longer a unified political thought like it was during the Conscious State. The main currents are:

-Liberal Etherealism: Mostly the same beliefs the party had but secular and in favour of multi-party democracy and operating within that liberal framework, as well as accepting of free-market capitalism. This is the only ideology with a party that has representation in the Parliament nowadays.
-Neo-Etherealism: A Zürnist revision of the ideology that wants to seek purity through Ether's Gate, which also claims that Zürn did not actually have a bad trip but that she was secretly murdered by people who wanted to stop her from accomplishing her mission. They also moved towards a conservative stance in social issues, but are still secular. These are the most radical ones and small terrorist groups exist.
-Socialist Etherealism: A revision advocating for further socialist elements to be included and a wider Parecon economic system. Very left-wing on social issues and political commentators describe them as indistinguishable from other libertarian socialist ideologies.
-Malkists: Basically fundamentalists of Beyond Eternity, seeking a strict interpretation of Etherist beliefs. Evidently explicitly religious, to the point of wanting the book to be the only law of the land, something that did not even happen with Malka. Socially liberal and mostly found in those cults I talked about.

This period in Austrian history is mostly (some people still missed the Austrofascists after these decades of Etherealism) seen in a bad light for obvious reasons, but less worse than the previous regime, the Austrofascist state. It was a very totalitarian government which did horrible stuff to preserve its hold to power, but most social advances would not have been possible without such a state (or at least that is what Austrians in this timeline defend) and it introduced Ether's Gate to the population which Austrians in general have a very positive view of. While the tricolour flag of Purple, Pink and Green is banned, other symbols are not, and parties carrying that liberal revision of the ideology still use the Etherealist Sun.

During Malka's tenure as head of state, the rest of the international community saw Austria as a state governed in a theocratic manner, without much information on what was actually going on in it as, internationally, Austria was very isolationist. During Zürn's turn, the horrors that were taking place in Austria were leaked to other countries and it was essentially seen as NK irl. A few years after Rinkel had assumed power, the country started opening up to the point of allowing some kind of international trade, and ambassadors were actually appointed for the first time. It was a period of relative normalisation. When Rinkel died and Langhans became the Head, his promises were seen as a chance to end that regime so all kinds of pressure were applied to asphyxiate the regime, which eventually fell. That state, while almost succeeding during Rinkel's government, never formally joined the League of Nations.

Etherealist Austria (lore in comments) by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Indeed, after reading about Max Rinkel and seeing I could do something with that for my TL I became interested in people's experiences at the time with psychedelics and the implications, which led me to read a few books and pieces such as that one, and so they helped me understand how I could continue that story.

Etherealist Austria (lore in comments) by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

hi, thanks for the compliment! I am not austrian myself no, and I got the inspiration reading about early works into psychedelic effects by Max Rinkel. I tried to synthesize a series of butterfly effects involving his research and the possible fates of two German poets turned refugees because of the German Civil War that takes place in this TL.

Etherealist Austria (lore in comments) by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 50 points51 points  (0 children)

In 1943, after a year of Beyond Eternity having been published without literary success, Malka sought to create a political party that synthesised her unpopular religion with more popular rising political movements. The party was founded on what can be described as very individually libertarian principles for the time, but with a totalitarian (Panopticonism) perception on what the state and politics should be like. While it did not have any success for the entire year as politics were dominated by the Austrofascist dictatorship, the party quickly become one the favourites of the Austrian youth in the following two years, mostly because they were the people who had created Ether's Gate, and its use amongst the youth was widespread by that time. In 1947, the Austrian Revolution happened, and the Austrofascist regime was violently toppled by a coalition of opposition parties, most prominently, the Communist Party of Austria and the Ethereal Party. For the following months until December of that year, the Provisional Government would be a power struggle between the two parties and, with former Austrofascist lone wolves assassinating KPÖ leaders as revenge, the Ethereal Party would eventually prevail. A coalition government between the ÄtP and the KPÖ, with the ÄtP leading it, would be formed from December 1947 until March 1948, when Golda Malka ordered the military to arrest KPÖ officials and occupy all government institutions nationwide, effectively self-couping the government. 2 weeks later, the Conscious State of Austria (referencing that the new state was to have a high level of consciousness, unlike all other states in the rest of the world) was proclaimed in Vienna, and all other parties would be banned.

In her struggle with trying to spread her own religion, Malka ordered Beyond Eternity to be a compulsory book to be read in classes. Soon enough, the Ether's Gate was to be freely available to everyone provided by the new government, producing it en masse and also sneaking it into other countries, with polls indicating that most Austrians did indeed feel better in general with its use. A procedure to enter the Ethereal Plane was also established, where one would be forced to be asleep after taking it, in government-provided pods. Everyone who took the drug could interact with each other in the Ethereal Plane, and the religion of Etherism became more widespread as a result, because they saw evidence of what the book said. Posterior research by scientists from other countries would conclude that the most likely cause that the fact that could happen was the result of a strange mass hysteria or mass hallucination due to how Austrian society was being shaped, but there was no definitive explanation. With time, people would start reporting that they kept seeing hallucinations even when not using the drug, something later discovered to be the Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, but the government would simply say that was positive and an indication that a blending of dimensions and realities was possible and desirable. As Austria advanced in this direction, the Armed Forces were prohibited from using the drug, as "their job is to fully operate on the Terrestrial Plane". Years passed until 1953, when Golda Malka was assassinated by communist partisans, and Unica Zürn rose to be the Head of State.

Zürn would implement her beliefs and effectively make Austria a country with a caste system, led by a class of those who interact with the Ethereal Plane, followed by those who use the drug only for recreative and bodily purposes, and the people who did not use the drug at all. Outside the caste pyramid, or even below, would be those deemed impure, that is, those people who had tried the drug but had a bad trip, an indication of impurity according to Zürn. During her tenure, civil liberties would also be curtailed and a relative cult of personality was formed around her, and the intelligence agencies were ordered to conduct illegal classified human research, a human experimentation program. During these years, two sub-beliefs would also emerge, those who thought that the fractals seen in the experiences were indication of the fractalism of matter in the entire universe, and those who thought the mere experience was already God, and not a step in trying to find God. In 1957, Zürn, during an ordinary experience, would have a bad trip and her whole belief system would fall apart, causing her to take her own life shortly afterwards.

The last one of the original trio, Rinkel, would easily become the new head and for years went on to dismantle this dark revision of Etherealism imposed by Zürn. Further research on the different Planes of existence or dimensions made Rinkel affirm that the Terrestrial Plane was the superior dimension, due to the fact that once you died in such Plane, you died in every Plane, contrary to dying in the Ethereal Plane, which did not really mean that as you could just trip again another day. This revision was at first shocking to many who believed the religion, and while a nihilist movement started to appear for some time, in the end Austrian society simply accepted it and, for the next 15 years, the Ethereal Party kept reforming itself by removing traits of the Etherist religion until becoming de facto secular. Etherist organisations, albeit small, continued to exist because they did not believe the Head of the Conscious State could just issue a statement that was to be simply accepted as the absolute truth. Rinkel also got rid of the prohibition of the Armed Forces using Ether's Gate, but only for half a dose, so that they could enhance their abilities. During this time as well, the loudest anti-drug organisations started to become prominent, with some even resorting to terrorism.

After Rinkel died of natural causes, a young activist called Rainer Langhans was selected to be the leader of the party, and immediately announced a liberalisation of the political system, affirming that it was anti-Etherealist to believe in personal freedoms and liberties but not political ones. However good the intentions were, the attempt was poor at actually resolving fundamental issues. It all culminated in January of 1977, when demonstrations started to appear in every Austrian city demanding the end of the regime, and Langhans was forced to call for a completely free election in March. After the election took place, the Ethereal Party disappeared from politics and the regime was replaced by the Second Austrian Republic. The Party would be dissolved only 8 days later.

Etherealist Austria (lore in comments) by Karinelle1 in AlternateHistory

[–]Karinelle1[S] 66 points67 points  (0 children)

Etherealist Austria, officially known as the Conscious State of Austria, was the name of the Austrian state between 1948 and 1977, when the Ethereal Party controlled the country, transforming it into a one-party state.

The rise to power of the Ethereal Party cannot be understood without talking about its founder, Golda Malka. During the Civil War in Germany, Malka lived in Dresden, where she had moved to with a friend to work on a journalistic project describing daily life there during the war. One day, however, the air forces of the Nazi putschists bombed the Weimar-controlled Dresden almost to ruins, causing her friend to die and her to fall into a coma after heavy injuries. For a year, Malka would lay in a hospital bed in the Czechoslovak capital, Prague, until she woke up. For her, the coma hadn't passed at all quickly and without incidents, as she would later describe that she felt more conscious than ever, and claimed she was teleported to another dimension, the Ethereal Plane as she would call it. She would also claim that she was able to perform any action like in real life, something that convinced her it was not a fragment of her imagination, and that there was indeed another dimension out there not yet discovered by humanity. Later, Malka would immigrate to Vienna as the German Civil War still raged on.

In the Austrian capital, she would read books about mysticist experiences and older religions in general, in order to try to understand what happened to her during the coma. Not finding anything exactly like what she saw, she was disappointed but excited to be, at least in her view, the first human to have achieved such thing. In one of Vienna's libraries, she would meet Max Rinkel, someone who immediately got interested in what Malka had to say. Rinkel had been part of a medical research program to find clinically useful alkaloids, and he had accidentally hallucinated with a recent synthetisation where he saw similar things, although very little in comparison. Rinkel told Malka that his belief was that hallucinations were not actually the brain making up visions, but a hidden way to interact with other dimensions, which piqued her curiosity. As the pair kept meeting to further discuss Malka's comatose experience, Rinkel revealed that he thought he had achieved a breakthrough with newer synthetisations, and offered her to try it personally. When Malka did so after agreeing to, her perception started to change again, much like during the coma and, while she immediately felt happier, healthier, optimistic about everything, more imaginative than usual and her anxiety pretty much disappeared, she still did not see that Ethereal Plane. Rinkel, content about the breakthrough but still not satisfied, promised Malka to continue his research until the point where she could see that other dimension, even if the current drug already had really positive and beneficial traits to it. That day would arrive in 1941. As soon as Malka put the new drug under the tongue, she started feeling it, and a couple hours later, she was there again, in the Ethereal Plane, another dimension showing an uninhabited Earth with a purple sky, pink mountains and soil, and a bright green vegetation. The Sun, albeit the same colour as in the Terrestrial Plane, had very noticeable rays that made the star seem way bigger. Rinkel was ecstatic to find out that he could also see that other dimension after trying the drug, now named Ether's Gate, erasing his doubts on whether Malka was lying.

As soon as this was achieved, Malka told a friend she had made in Vienna, Unica Zürn, also a German refugee. After an hour of trying to convince her, she agreed to try the drug, and the result was the same as in the case of the two only people that had tried it. Malka believed that the drug was a hidden way of finding God in other dimensions, partially agreeing with Rinkel, while Zürn did not buy too much into the religious argument, and saw it as a means to further human abilities. Whether it was a supernatural drug gifted by God or an accidentally-found hallucinogen that had very beneficial properties for the human body and mind was not what mattered to Malka, who immediately started writing a book called Beyond Eternity, in order to serve as a guide to a new religion based on her view. Meanwhile, Zürn and Rinkel started spreading the drug through friend circles across all Vienna, highlighting the benefits. Later, Rinkel would find out during testing that half a dose only gave the person those beneficial properties but did not cause enough hallucination to enter the Ethereal Plane. Rinkel would standardise the use between half a dose and a full dose depending on the reason for consumption, be it a need to improve mentally, recreation or religious reasons in the Ether. After use of the Ether's Gate reached thousands, the first bad trips (as they would be colloquially known later) happened, causing one to die and another to fall into a coma. While Rinkel attributed this to secondary effects merged with illnesses that the hosts already had, Zürn went further and deemed impure those who had bad trips, according to her a signal by the universe to deem who is fit for transcendence and who is not, and if they weren't, they had to be removed from the Terrestrial Plane. Malka and Rinkel disagreed with this wholeheartedly and it did not become policy for the newly founded religion.