Saturday, November 17, 2018

Government and Warfare.

Here's another, more specific checklist distilling what we know for sure. I do a little more theorizing for the pages that haven't been covered, but I'm mostly trying to speculate using historical precedents. For the most part, the type of troop that dominate roughly correspond to how they're governed--monarchies and warlords use knights, republics use pikemen, although you could also classify it by terrain--mountains and cities for pikemen, open woodland for knights, and plains and deserts for horsemen.

Secretarial States: White's own invention, found in the Caribbean island and adjacent continental territories, where women run the civil government and households.

Hydraulic Empires: Not necessarily invented by White, but a relatively uncommon term who's definition is still being sussed out. They are absolute monarchies enabled by a top down control of water, usually found in arid regions.

Tribalism: This was probably the default for North America thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers, and in Medieval America favored by denizens of the continent's center, due to their nomadic lifestyle. The American are strictly pastoral, but some Hunter/Gatherer types look to exist in Canada (and likely Alaska).

Feudalism: Feudalism is almost synonymous with "Medieval", particularly Europe, and commonly used to describe pre-modernized Japan. It's somewhat new to America, although people have invoked the word to describe the Patroon system of New Amsterdam, the seigneurial system of Quebec, and the Antebellum South. In fact, White mentions contemporary plantations and we may have seen something splits the difference between them and the old school medieval manor.

Republic: The United States was itself a republic, of course, and the vestigial U.S. remains one, at least nominally. They are also found in the independent city states of the Pacific Northwest, as well as New England. Medieval precedents would include the Italian city states and the Swiss Cantons (Which bore some resemblance to Colonial New England's town halls). It's possible White would have gone into why some parts of America remained republican, and it would possibly be chalked up to things like continuity, urbanization, an economy based more on finished goods than raw agriculture, and the relative difficulty in establishing a land-based aristocracy.

Unlike Government and Religion, it appears none of the Military units have been invented, or even creatively subverted by White.

Horse Archers: The only one of the four pages for Warfare that White created, it's actually the style of military combat most familiar to Americans as it was the medium of choice for Plains Indians, even well into the industrial revolution. 

Lancers: Or knights, or heavy cavalry, as emblematic of the Middle Ages as they are alien to America. From White's illustration, the knights seem to resemble those of Easter Europe and Asia minor more than Western European knights, though the profile also hints at something akin to the conquistadors and armored soldiers of the Colonial era. White makes a reference to sabers, which may be the primary type of blade--considering it was the sword most often used in America's history, (though mostly for ceremonial purposes) as well as the sword of choice for eastern Europeans--who's climate is most similar to the American Midwest. Knights largely dominate feudal states, but can also be found in the hydraulic empires (Which, considering the climate and ostensible celibacies, evokes Holy orders and Crusader states.) They're also the dominant in the core U.S.A. territory, and it's interesting to ponder the difference with the warlords.

Pikemen: Pikes, which are usually distinguishable from spears and other polearm type weapons, were the favorite medieval weapon of armies from places like the Italian City States, the Swiss Alps, and the Scottish Highlands--all areas with Medieval American counterparts like New England, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Pacific Northwest. In the "trying to resemble early America as much as the Middle Ages" trend, it's possible White's version of Pikes might be similar to bayonets. Pikemen also seem to be the main force in New Jersey, which a feudal state, but part of the urbanized, pike-using Northeast.

Navy: It seems that the United States of America (which as a political unit, is more a successor to the U.S. Navy than anything) is the supreme naval power of Medieval America, and has all but a monopoly on the east coast. Charleston, South Carolina seems to be the only major east coast city not under its control. (Though that may also include Boston) The Great Lakes would also see more military action than its previously peaceful borders are used to. While Naval battles are not new to the continent, the Medieval way of boat-ramming would be a little more unknown territory. and to fill the void left by canons or missiles might tempt them be cockier with fiery arrows.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Locations


Once again, going over a soft refresh.


On the front page, on the main map, clicking on it will take you to one of 19 pages. Of these 19, only five were completed. For the most part, these are specific locations. You can also access most of these locations by clicking on flags on one White's various section maps, divided into the following sections: The Northeast, the Feudal Core, The Plains, and the Desert. There is also a "Cascadia" sectional in the index, although it's not found on any of the site's finished pages. Most of these pages come with a flag, and some kind of map of the state's borders.

Some locations are countries or nations with their own pages, White having covered four of them. They're usually, but not always, states that have retained, or even expanded, their original size and exists as a single political unit. However, in some cases, they're divided, usually a parcel of land to give a religious institution autonomy.  There doesn't seem to be any correlation to a nation getting its own page and size, though most of these seem to be in the "million" range or so. These nations include

Iowa: Includes what was Illinois. A sizeable kingdom forged by barbarians going native Straddles the line between herdsmen and Non-Denominational culture.

Deseret: Most of Utah and Idaho. A Hydraulic Empire, practices Mormon. Salt Lake City is an important trading city.

California: Split between a so-called republic, and some kind administrative polity for the head of the Church of Scientology.

The United States: The former US Navy now exists as a sea-faring, dominating the coasts and islands of the Northeast, it has something a little different than the usual border maps.

Ohio: Composed of Ohio, Indiana, and large pieces of both Kentucky and West Virginia, and by far has the largest population of any nation in America. It's also home to eight sizable cities, and Cincinnati if a candidate for the continent's biggest city overall. In its borders are four former state capitals, which in White's World, means four supervisors for the American Non-Denominational Church. While it has access to the Great Lakes, it seems most of the action is by the Ohio River.

New Jersey: Borders have expanded to now include Philadelphia, one of Medieval America's biggest cities. Something of an outlier, as it is a feudal kingdom when most countries on the northern coasts are maritime republics or city states. This may have something to do with it being more agrarian, as the trade map infers it's the only place east of the Appalachians that has a surplus of grain.

Louisiana: A counterpart, and perhaps rival, to the United States of America, like the US, it has two separate click points on the front page map. Louisiana has shifted its borders away from its historically inland parts , and now holds non-contiguous parts of the Gulf Coast. Here is where Voodoo is practiced, and it seems to the most "Caribbean" part of North America. It has New Orleans, which may be the continent's biggest city.

New Mexico: A desert empire in the southwest, most of its population living on the Gila or Rio Grande. They practice a yet undisclosed religion known as New Age. There are a few references to Ancient Egypt, but it's likely Native Americans would be a large part of their ancestry.

Columbia: So named for its place on the Columbia River,situated between the Cascadian and Rocky Mountains (and White seems to call it the "District of Columbia", presumably as a joke to torture those who get Washington D.C. and State mixed up.) Is the only feudal kingdom to exist in Western America, though it apparently shares some culture with its western neighbors. Its flag appears on the hidden Cascadia section page, but you cannot access it through the front page map.

Quebec: There's no section map with which to access Quebec, nor does White have a map showing its full borders, as while he likes giving hints here and there of Canada, the most information is about the United States itself. What we can surmise is that some of its outer borders have been chipped away at, but the Quebec along the St. Lawrence largely remains intact. It's a typical feudal nation, although unlike Anglo North America, it seems to be largely Catholic. Quebec City seems to be an important religious center-though we don't quite know what became of Montreal.

New York: Curiously, most of the nation states White deemed giving their own page places that remained largely intact in size, or have even grown, but political New York seems to now be a rump state--The State of New York, with Syracuse its only manjor city. The NYC area and Long Island are now under the control of the United States, and western New York seems to be largely a Lakes nation now. White apparently felt Central new York was worth writing about, as the area is the gateway between the Atlantic and the Lakes. In general, it's been divvied up into sections that have merged with broken up  parts of other states, with the exception of  what was historically the Capital District (Albany and surroundings), and it may act as something like an ecclesial fiefdom.

There's also Tennessy [sic]: This also a state that has been broken up, although it's possible white uses "Tennessy" to distinguish it as a region, as opposed to the state, which still calls itself "Tennessee". It's probably Balkanized due to geography, with the deep south subtropical west compared to the mountainous east. The Iowa page also mentions that Missouri had been annihilated by barbarians, but now merchants from the Tennessee area are now rebuilding it, so even though it's divided politically, on a cultural level it's expanding.

These are the multi-nation, more informal region pages that clicking on the map will take you to. Besides the Plains, which is a special case, White never finished a page for any of these entries, so we don't know what they would be like. Most do have political border maps, though. Here's where I'm starting to throw in a little more conjecture.

The Plains: Basically clicking anywhere on the Great Plains will take you to the lifestyle map, as they're nomadic an don't really have states. It does seem some larger tribes have claimed land of their own, and one of the tribes, the Andersons, have their own flags.

New England: Where once was six states, there's something like ten or so, depending on what is still considered "New England" (maybe Albany), and most are similar in geographic size, although Massachusetts (the only state White has given a flag to) probably has most of the population, absorbing most of Rhode Island and Connecticut, With the United States taking the rest (not to mention a piece of Massachusetts itself). In fact, the relationship between Massachusetts and the US would be interesting, as White hasn't made it clear who New England's two biggest cities, Boston and Providence, belong to. (If Mass isn't a client state of the U.S. itself) With the exception of the Lake Champlain area, New Englanders tend to form republics, probably similar to the town councils dating back to the colonial era.

Lakes: A collection of decent-seized fiefdoms on the Great Lakes, consisting of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, and western Pennsylvania and New York, with Michigan being the most populated. Chicago and Toledo are major cities on the Lakes, but their respective countries seem to focused on more inland matters. Like USA and Louisiana, the Lakes page has two separate click points, although they don't seem to be as maritime-based. The combination of rich farmland, snowy winters, and peninsulas would probably create an interesting, dualistic, amphibious culture. Also, the Lakes would be a more important fulcrum of trade, as well as a theater of war, as has not been any military action there since 1812.

Piedmont: Named after the plateau between the Appalachians and the swampy tidewaters, Piedmont refers to Virginia and the Carolinas, this is some of the oldest colonized land in America, and may most closely resemble a turning back of the clock, as opposed to something new. The warfare map seems to also indicate the area is relatively relaxed.

Deep South: Funny enough, on the main site, the "Deep South" is the heading for the page for southern lifestyle, though the address says "Dixie", which makes one wonder if White was going to switch things around. It's also interesting that "Deep South"'s click range is irregular-shaped, just like the Plains, which is also a lifestyle page. In any case, the mini-nations include Georgia and an expanded Mississippi. Between the lifestyle page, and the race page, we probably have a good idea on what it's like there, but what's especially interesting is that each of the Deep South's two "big kingdoms"each have these castle icons called "major fortress", and this page might be the place that what a major fortress actually is.

"South Front": Possibly called "Southern Frontier". Made up of a reduced Arkansas and a new nation called "Red River" territory, which includes parts of Texas, remaining bits of Arkansas and Mainland Louisiana. A real patchwork nation. This seems to be at the very edges of the "Non-Denominational World", with the herdsmen to to the west, and the Voodoo to the south. In fact, Red River may indeed practice some Secretarial government.

Pacific Northwest: Clicking on the uppermost left of the map with bring you to this page, which has the same address as the section map; Pac NW, though the map itself calls itself "Cascadia", and it seems White never actually claimed the domain name. From White's various map, we can surmise is a collection of sizable, but independent city states. They generally practice Buddhism, and are a little more belligerent than the region has a rep for being today.

If you click on a certain point in the Appalachian range, you're led to something called "eheresy", which you can also access on one of White's religion maps. I generally have no idea what that involves--if I had to guess, something to do with either Elvis or the Mothman or snake-handling, but I can't really be sure.

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Churches

America is vast, with a variety of people, climates, and resources. Also, in their early years, the Non-Denominational Church tried to appeal to many localities, usually with their own identities religious majorities. Trying to appeal to such a disparate group, the various Church buildings can have their own distinct flavor.

Ohio: Veering towards the imposing but austere, Ohio's major cathedrals and Church centers are made of limewashed granite with wide open rooms and angular figures, while the churches themselves tend to have rounded roofs. The windows are sizable, but largely geometric in their imagery. Pulpits are often in the center.

Iowa: Many Iowan Non-Denoms are recent converts, and the New Israelite ancestry means the Churches are kept very low key. They're made of lumber, and there's very little imagery besides simple crosses.

The Gulf Coast: Being on the rosary belt, and with a diverse and Carribean-descended population, any Non-Denom presence in places like Florida is infused with a good deal of syncretism, including frescas full of creatures from Voodoo mythology. While Madonnas are generally more popular here than in other churches in the Non-Denom world.

Piedmont: The most gilded imagery you'll find anywhere east of California, Churches in Piedmont are also very fond of using marble columns. These guys like to employ top sculptures, and flaunt their mineral wealth.

New England: Due to New England's revolving door history of Puritanism to Catholics to Secularism, the religious imagery and architecture can be quite contradictory. The the most part they've settled into simple unassuming masonry with the iconic white pointy roofs. However, the carpentry can be quite elaborate, with stained glass widows being an art unto themselves. Being the backyard of the Non-Denominational Church, capital cities like Boston and Providence can also have larger cathedrals for offices higher on the ladder.

New Jersey: New Jerseyans had to be talked very hard out of their Catholic faith, and most Non-Denom Churches in New Jersey don't look too indistinguishable from their Catholic counterparts.