Western Europe c.2015: RDNA-verse

It took much longer than expected and needed quite a few further rewrites and tweaks, here's one more new map for alternate history/Axis Powers Hetalia hybrid RDNA-verse! And the reason for the long work on this map is because this one focuses on Western Europe c. 2015 in that AU. 

Although this uses various bits of information from earlier RDNA-verse profiles (fav.me/d3ky2tk , fav.me/d46i1yc), it's also a chance to flesh out the RDNA-verse timeline more. At the same time however, notice the in-verse text. As it not just references the state of the U.K. and South Italy, but also highlights some aspects of the continent-spanning Collectivist Internationale, which occupies much of the Old World since the Terror in that world's 1920s. Given how the "Eternal" Cold War pans out, the map likewise highlights how the darkening situation there becomes more and more reminiscent of a certain book from George Orwell called 1984. With implications that the "Reds" might be doing that on purpose. As though someone is pulling their strings even if there seems to be no explicit evidence...so far.

So expect this to be as dark and sobering as much as it's substantial. And just to be safe given some word terminologies, this isn't meant to be a political, ideological or propaganda piece. It's a work of fiction.

So without further ado, welcome to the grim dark landscape of Western Europe.

(UPDATE: Adjusted viewing size. Apologies!)

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The Eternal Cold War: Western Europe

 

The lands encompassing Western Europe – including the region known as Mitteleuropa – were once home to various countries and Great Powers, of a number of storied cultures, industries and nationalities. During the so-called Indian Summer in 1920, few according to the historical record believed that the relative peace that prevailed at the time was to be irreversibly shattered. Thus when the first stirrings of the Terror occurred, it came as a shock, albeit one that could be countered and remedied. But even as that hope diminished and the Collectivist chaos grew to engulf much of the Old World, it didn’t occur that the Continent – from Scandinavia down to the mountains of Greece – would succumb until it was too late. Let alone become one of the largest focal points of a Cold War that continues nearly a century on.

 

Today, a few Free Nations remain or otherwise hold territories around the region. Their existence at large is as tenuous as it is defiant in the face of the Collectivist Internationale.  A “Red Curtain” separating what remains of Europe from contemptible tyrants seeking to complete their vaunted Revolution, even at the risk of global war.

 

Of the monarchies in particular, only the Kingdom of South Italy is able to cling to its people’s Continental homeland.  Originally the Kingdom of the Two Italies following the 1854 Unification, the realm was among the last in Western Europe to be affected by the Terror. As their neighbors crumbled around them, from 1926 to 1930 the House of Savoia-Siracusa enacted what was called Case Rubicon: a series of gradually receding defense lines meant to protect whatever could still be saved of their country from the Red tide. Those who were left behind for one reason or another left nothing for the advancing Collectivists to take, including the brutal Fall of Rome in 1928. Their honourable sacrifice bought time however for the remnants of the original Papacy to escape as well as for Italian forces and remnant militias to fortify against what would soon become the Internationale. But it wasn’t until further years of entrenched conflict, culminating bloodied retreat from Napoli in 1937 that South Italy’s borders and domains – including the Italo-Arabic Tunisian provinces – were firmly secured. In the process fostering both a close sense of solidarity and a fortress mentality among the populace, which could be seen today in its militaristic policies, mass conscription and one of the most heavily armed frontiers in the West.

 

Under nominal South Italian protection meanwhile is Malta, often called the last of the Crusader Kingdoms. This informal title stems from the reigning Sovereign Knights of Malta – itself a direct continuation of the famed Knights Hospitaller from medieval lore – which have ruled since 1530, now under Grand Master Zimmerman. Over the centuries, especially since becoming a protectorate in 1870, the Maltese have made the most of their seafaring position in the Mediterranean as well as fostered a deep sense of continuity. Since the Terror however, this small land has developed a notoriety that reaches across the Atlantic. For while the Knights are in communion with the Vatican-in-Exile, the peculiar, zealous form of Roman Catholicism being encouraged has helped cultivate a vocal and increasingly unpredictable zeitgeist. Still, despite the as yet hollow rallying cries of waging a final Crusade against the Collectivists – as worrisome it may be for the Italian delegates as well as cardinals in faraway Mariazell-am-Meer in New Austria – Malta has proven time and again to be a vital partner for the realm’s liege.

 

In the Atlantic, off the shores of the Old World, the scattered remnants of fallen realms have long become host to their own colonial successors. The Canary Islands, originally part of the Kingdom of Spain since 1402, became a vital stopping point during the Terror, primarily of refugees hailing from that now-Lost Nation; from here, Spaniards fled to relative sanctuary of the New World, notably Kuba and the former colony of Gran Patagonia. From here and unable to arrive in time to save the mainland, the expeditionary forces sent from Buenos Aires took command of what remained of that realm’s navy before bringing the islands under republican rule in 1929, when it became apparent that the centuries-old European power was no more. A similar fate befell Madeira and the Azores, which had been Portuguese since the 15^th Century before falling under the monarchist Brazilians in 1925. While the fates of the Free Nations that hold sovereignty over these islands have diverged even more over the past generations – with Gran Patagonians eclipsing Brazil in their sphere – these small fragments still hold as much cultural value as strategic ones. For in their myriad peoples, landscapes and landmarks, one could still glimpse shades of what their ancestral homelands once were.

 

While across the English Channel, the British Isles remain battered but free. The United Kingdom, under the reigning Windsor-Romanovs through Her Majesty, Queen Victoria III still stands firm as the historic heart of the British Imperial Commonwealth. Compared to the Continent, the initial impact of the Terror manifested in unrest and emergency rule across parts of the British Empire, with some such as Southern Africa, Australia and most of Ireland having declared independence by 1928 under an ideology called Reactionarism while others succumbed to the Reds. London persevered nonetheless and alongside the Canadians succeeded in consolidating what remained into a major power, codified in 1938 with the Commonwealth Reforms. Much damage was wrought however in the attempted Invasion of 1942-44, be it from invading Reds, their sleeper cells or the Pyrrhic scorched earth “victories” of that madwoman New Austria. Though the worst has long passed, Britain today continues to be a protectorate of Loyalist Canada, a sizable portion of the populace descended from refugees as far afield as former France, Russia and even India. There remain portions of the countryside where the scars of war are visible, haunting reminders of a dark time when the Kingdom’s fortunes seemed to slide forever. Yet in spite of lost glories, disputes with the isolationist Irish Reactionaries and disheartened talk of being “one glorified airstrip” for their Canadian brothers-in-arms, the U.K. strides onward with valour. From England’s factories to the Scottish Highlands, from the rebuilt capitol of London to the garrisons in Dover, Britannia’s influence endures.

 

It’s not surprising then that the U.K. holds at least on paper, the honour of sovereignty over Fort Gibraltar. Encompassing the old British territory and a sliver of Andalucía that was saved as the Iberian Peninsula fell in 1927, it is a vital link to South Italy and the Free Mediterranean at large; most of the original Spanish inhabitants long fled for safer shorts however, resulting in a predominant Anglo-Canadian populace. It is also a crucial keystone for the Red Curtain: a joint defense boundary protected in cooperation with the Commonwealth’s traitorous New Austrian, Italian, American and Gran Patagonian allies that was originally established in 1940 not long after the final collapse of Iceland. With the Reactionary “League of Neutral Defiance” more content to withdraw into their authoritarian domains, it fell upon the monarchies and republics of the Free World to keep the Reds from overrunning what was left of Western Europe. Since the Liberation of Britain in 1944, Fort Gibraltar has thus served as a hub for espionage, naval patrols, aerial surveillance and orbital relays while hosting a formidable network of fortresses. All these intended to intimidate – and protect this small enclave from – the Reds as well as contain them.

 

Indeed, beyond the border lies the vast expanse of the Collectivist Internationale. Since its emergence in the 1920s, it has been at a state of war with the Free World – and by its dogma it has always been at war with the Free World. Much of what is known of that graveyard of Lost Nations come from intelligence reports, scattered diplomatic missions and the dwindling number of so-called “unpersons:” dissidents, reformists and general malcontents deemed a threat by the omnipresent Party. Although various rebellions and uprisings were known to have occurred in the past, it is unknown whether such groups still exist save for internal purges and infighting among Party cliques, suspected to be instigated by the Supreme Politburo. Suffice to say, to live in what has long been Red territory is, whether or not one is a “Party-ColMem” in ColStandard or among the throngs of proles, is to partake in one of the most twisted, dogmatic social experiments in history. Little remains of the cultures, histories, nationalities and heritage that once existed there if at all. Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Bern, Vienna, Budapest and many other cities lost forever save for what could be saved before the curtain closed on those realms. In place of what was destroyed, the Collectives have been remolding Europa in the image of their so-called Will of the Workers. All the while bolstering their strength close to the Curtain in No Man’s Lands, where entrenchments and occasional skirmishes occur amidst desolate ruin.

 

Beyond that, all that can be said with certainty is that for all the Collectivists’ drive for continuing the Revolution that raged in the Terror, power over all mankind is paramount. Meanwhile, there are those in the Free World still longing to return to if not free ancestral homelands that no longer exist. The presence of Revivalists and those seeking to put an end to this endless Cold War in some manner wield significant presence in Government, be it in London or elsewhere. But since the rise of atomics and other powerful weapons however, deterrence has proven to be the most resilient and sane policy available. But as concerns have emerged of possible breaches in the Red Curtain around South Italy as well as aggressive activities being reported from across the Channel and elsewhere, some dread the possibility of  impending global war, if not atomic annihilation. Nonetheless, barring drastic, large-scale changes or a boot on our faces forever, the status quo in Western Europe is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. 

 

I bloody hope so.

 

P.S. You never did forgive me, Arthur, even when Matthew did. Perhaps it may be for the best. – Fraulein F.

 

 - “The Cambridge Journal of Contemporary Affairs.” United Kingdom. 2015.


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As a bit of trivia, as with the earlier maps I tried to incorporate elements of real history into the context of the 'verse. These include nods to the historic Knights of St. John (aka, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta), the Italian Unification and the long-standing European settlement of the Azores, Madeira and Canaries, all since the 15th Century AD.

The references to the "Invasion" and "Liberation" of Britain in 1942-44 are from these maps:

fav.me/d30xqp6 
fav.me/d30j9e3

Which also explain in part the "bittersweet" triumph that left the UK in shambles as well as calling back to New Austria's darker moments. And why the British remain rather upset with their New Austrian "allies."

The various coat of arms, including those used and otherwise modified to represent the various countries are taken from Wikimedia Commons, while the Collectivist insignia is based on this: fav.me/d30felb

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