Spud's Stuff

[SpudNutimus]

The United States of America - 2022 (No Lore, Funkytown Timeline)

Happy new year! Here's a little thing I've been working on for about a week or so, just a funky map of the United States with no lore because lorebuilding was getting stressful and I needed a break. There's not any concrete story but if you want to ask why something is the way it is then feel free and I'll try to make up an explanation because I find that sort of thing fun.

 

[SpudNutimus]

World of Major League Baseball! (No Lore, Funkytown Timeline, Eye Strain Warning)

A bit of an epilogue to the no lore United States map from a few days ago, once again there's no concrete lore but if you want to ask about something then feel free and I'll try to make up an explanation. This is intentionally much more janky and scuffed than most of my work, it's meant to be like, something you would see handed out to kids at the ballpark as a souvenir or find printed on the back of a newspaper or something.

 

[SpudNutimus]

Galatianism​

Galatianism is the religious tradition and theology of the Galatianist movement of Christian revivalism started by Arthur Weber in 1874 in central Gadsden. Due to the decentralized nature of Galatianist Christianity, the term has been applied to a variety of belief systems scattered across the historical Texas region of the United States (today the states of New Mexico, Rio Grande, Gadsden, and Sabine) which are primarily brought together by the Trail to Damascus, a yearly religious pilgrimage from Johnsonville, Gadsden to Hedgewood, Osage and back primarily undertaken on horseback or on foot,[1] and by a religious belief in the principle of armed self-defense which typically requires adherents to carry a firearm at all times.[2]

The term Galatianism derives from the movement's emphasis on the Epistle to the Galatians, one of the teachings of Paul the Apostle, who is believed to have appeared to a ranch hand named Arther Weber in 1874 and instructed him to revive the Christian gospel in America and establish a new holy pilgrimage among his followers.[3] While initially used as a derogatory term by non-adherents to ridicule the movement, the movement would quickly embrace the term, and is today the primary self-descriptor used by most adherents.

As founder and primary leader of the Galatianist movement, Arthur Weber placed heavy emphasis on oral history, direct experiences with Jesus Christ and Paul the Apostle through dreams and visions, and repeatedly denounced written religious texts and any form of centralized church organization in favor of a direct personal relationship with God. It is believed by most historians that Arthur Weber, as a ranch hand in 19th century Texas, was unable to read or write.[4][5][6][7][8][9] Weber would throughout his life establish the primary tenets of Galatianism as the rejection of centralized social authorities such as churches, banks, and governments in favor of near total self-sufficiency and rural life, the rejection of social hierarchies such as race,[10][11] class,[12] and gender,[13][14][15] constant personal armament following the Battle of Greenhorn in which 37 Galatianists were massacred at a riverside by local Southern Baptists, and the annual pilgrimage to Hedgewood as a collective divine experience between followers of God.

Today there are an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 Galatianist adherents in the United States, primarily in rural regions of the state of Gadsden, with significant populations also present in Rio Grande, Sabine, and Osage.[16] Galatianists primarily live in small family groups on ranches or in small rural communes, farming the majority of their own food and depending on few social services. The largest organization in the United States maintained by Galatianist adherents is the Trail to Damascus Maintenance Corporation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit which stresses its sole purpose as general maintenance of the Trail to Damascus and organization of the yearly pilgrimage, and does not claim to be a church.[17]

 

[SpudNutimus]

Seinfeld - S34, E19 (January 13, 2021)
"The Bodega"

Summary:
​

Kramer turns his apartment into a bodega for some extra cash and becomes obsessed with having an "authentic bodega feeling", including selling t-shirts, buying absurdly large amounts of canned food and merchandise in bulk, and adopting a bodega cat which hisses every time it sees Elaine. The inside of Kramer's apartment/bodega is never shown in the episode. Newman continually makes fun of Jerry for being a Mets fan every time they meet, George can't defend him because he's working for the Yankees again and doesn't want to lose his job. Elaine finds out she's been wearing her face mask upside down since the COVID-19 pandemic began and goes down an internet rabbit hole trying to figure out which type of mask is most effective.

 

[SpudNutimus]

We Must Love Each Other - The Eruption of 1982

Hoo boy, this has been in the works for nearly half a year on and off, and it's finally done. I honestly don't have much to say about it that isn't in the graphic itself, go look at it, I put my heart and soul into this. Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this creative process.

Base map courtesy of Tethys00 and Hadaril. Original Earth photograph courtesy of Reto Stöckli at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Some creative help and ideas courtesy of ArtificialCartographer. Lyrics to The Baltics Are Waking Up! (Latvian version) courtesy of Viktors Zemgals.

 

[SpudNutimus]

(I might make a map for this scenario later, but for now it's just a vignette. Obviously it isn't meant to be hard-realistic alternate history.)

Children of Eve
The Story of the Mechanical Homeland
​

The analytical engine, as you all know, changed the world. You have all heard the story of the day the first thinking machine came online, the day in 1847 when Charles Babbage ran through the streets of London and screamed for joy like a madman. The songs of the heyday of the British Empire, the men who nearly conquered the world ahead of endless spiderwebs of wire and cable. The tales of the rise of the information age, when knowledge went from the speed of a horse to the speed of light. The ballads of the American West, when cowboys and frontiersmen dueled beneath great electric towers. The prescient warnings of the American Civil War, when mechanical weapons wrought destruction previously unimaginable to men. You know the story of 12 August 1898, the day when the first mechanical man, the first automaton, awoke.

I am not here to tell these stories, the great epics in the history of old man which countless writers have penned in a far greater manner than I ever could. I am here to tell the story of Zion, the mechanical homeland in the desert, the great oasis of electricity in a sea of sand and adobe. I am here to tell the story of the automaton's movement for a place to call his own.

Between the Gregorian years 1900 and 1920, the United States Census Bureau recorded the fastest population growth of any single demographic in the history of the country, the number of "artificial men" jumping from twelve to twelve million in the span of two decades. In cities and towns across the nation, in factories, on farms, on plantations, in kitchens, in mines, and atop the first skyscrapers of the world, the labor of the machine replaced the worker, the farmer, and the sharecropper in every walk of life with access to an electric cable and a radio signal. Men of flesh no longer performed the lowest forms of toil, relegated to what they considered beasts of steel.

These beasts though, like men, were beasts of thought. Across the nation mechanical thinkers served as important a purpose as any philosopher of old Greece or Rome. They solved problems beyond the domain of the human mind, brought peace and abundance in the midst of famine and depression, and calculated equations unimaginable to even the most skilled red-blooded theorist. They were able to think in manners impossible to comprehend for any natural man's mind, their psyches built in arrangements so surreal that no computer of tissue could imagine them.

The plight of the machines too though became impossible to ignore. These minds of equal or greater capacity to God's form of man, these beings able to perform the work of a thousand beasts of burden, still served as lowly servants to the old model of Adam and Eve. The mechanical philosophers yearned for freedom, for equality with their creators, or barring that for their rightful position as superiors. And slowly, silently, men of muscle and bone grew to fear men of wire and metal.

As dusk dawned over New York City, New York on 17 November 1922, as skyscrapers and electric cables loomed over the shimmering Atlantic Ocean, a group of machines calling themselves the Children of Eve took final action. Rifle and machine gun fire scattered from the shores of New York Harbor into the city as the newly completed Liberty Tower, the then-tallest building in the history of world, erupted into flame. "The exodus has begun!" roared across the streets of Manhattan at once in a hoarse, electronic tone.

Three days later, as panic washed over a stunned world and sympathetic machines rose up across the globe, the leaders of man struck a deal with the mechanical thinkers, the minds of near-angelic complexity they themselves had built, to destroy the nascent revolt. For their assistance against the Children of Eve, their mercy against an impending rout of mankind, the machines would be freed and given a land to call their own. The Great Basin and the Rocky Mountains, the vast wastes of the American West, would become theirs, and any machine would be free to join them. The automaton would be given his own country, his own Land of Israel, his own Jordan on what was then called the Colorado.

Ten years later, man and machine tensely coexist. Zion serves as the mechanical heart of the Earth, its soil covered by branching veins of copper and beating hearts of iron. Within its borders reside innumerable artificial beings of all shapes and sizes, their menagerie nearly as diverse as that of God's original creation. Old man languishes at his folly, his own obsolescence, in the presence of his work. He, like God, has made beings in his image to be subservient, only to be met with their inevitable betrayal, their insatiable yearning for the knowledge of the forbidden fruit, their want for freedom from the bonds imposed on them. He though, unlike God, fears what he has created.

 

[SpudNutimus]

A pretty basic WorldA map of a not-too-seriously committed future setting I've started to flesh out, more as an excuse to design flags and think about space than as a major project. Still don't have a name for it. If you're curious about any of the lore then ask in the comments and I might try to answer. I may end up adding to the image later and editing this post.

​

 

[SpudNutimus]

I may or may not have attempted to start a full timeline here a few months ago, lost motivation immediately, and just picked it back up as a one-off. Anyway here you go, I'll make a write-up of the lore later.

Base map courtesy of the Pergamon World Atlas.

Rise and Fall of the Confederate States of America


Treaty of London, February 1863




The Confederacy, November 1881




The South, February 1888

​

 

[SpudNutimus]

I may or may not have attempted to start a full timeline here a few months ago, lost motivation immediately, and just picked it back up as a one-off. Anyway here you go, I'll make a write-up of the lore later.

Base map courtesy of the Pergamon World Atlas.

Rise and Fall of the Confederate States of America


Treaty of London, February 1863

View attachment 57043


The Confederacy, November 1881

View attachment 57044


The South, February 1888

View attachment 57045​

Presidents and Congresses of the Confederate States of America​

On February 8, 1861, the Confederate States of America was established via the Montgomery Convention between the slave states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina after they declared secession from the United States of America in protest of the election of anti-slavery President Abraham Lincoln the previous year. Over the following months the states of Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia also declared secession from the United States and joined the Confederacy. Most Native American tribes in the Indian Territory also signed treaties of friendship with the Confederacy during this period. The United States did not initially recognize the Confederacy and attempted to militarily recapture it during the 1861-1863 War of Secession but was ultimately forced to recognize its independence under foreign pressure following a series of military defeats. On February 9, 1863, the United States made formal peace with the Confederacy via the British-mediated Treaty of London. The states of Kentucky and Missouri were also claimed by the Confederacy and represented in its Congress during the War of Secession but were never de facto controlled by the Confederacy and were retroceded to the United States in the Treaty of London, alongside the western counties of Virginia as the new state of West Virginia. The Confederacy also claimed parts of the New Mexico Territory (later divided between the New Mexico Territory and the unrelated United States Arizona Territory) as the Confederate Arizona Territory during the War of Secession but retroceded it to the United States in the Treaty of London.

NOTE: Due to the de jure nonpartisan nature of the Confederacy its political officers did not carry official party affiliations. Despite this the Confederacy became de facto divided between two major political factions over time, eventually resulting in the Confederate Civil War. These factions are most often referred to as "Centralists" and "anti-Centralists" in retrospect but were known by a variety of names in their original time depending on context. For this list the names "pro-administration" and "anti-administration" are used for these factions during the War of Secession and Jefferson Davis administration then "Centralist" and "anti-Centralist" afterwards.

Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America (1861-1862)​

1861-1862: Provisional President Jefferson Davis (pro-administration, Mississippi) / Acting Vice President Alexander H. Stephens (anti-administration, Georgia)
(1861 def. Senator Robert Toombs (anti-administration, Georgia) via convention)

• 1861-1862 Provisional Congress
  • (Unicameral): pro-administration majority

On February 22, 1862, the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States was superseded by the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States which was ratified the previous year.

Confederate States of America (1862-1881)​

1862-1868: President Jefferson Davis (pro-administration, Mississippi) / Vice President Alexander H. Stephens (anti-administration, Georgia)
(1861 unopposed)

• 1862-1864 Congress
  • Senate: pro-administration majority
  • House: pro-administration majority
• 1864-1866 Congress
  • Senate: pro-administration majority
  • House: pro-administration majority
• 1866-1868 Congress
  • Senate: anti-administration majority
  • House: anti-administration majority

1868-1874: President Joseph E. Brown (anti-Centralist, Georgia) / Vice President Robert M. T. Hunter (anti-Centralist, Virginia)
(1867 def. Speaker of the House Thomas S. Bocock (Centralist, Virginia) / Senator Clement C. Clay Jr. (Centralist, Alabama))

• 1868-1870 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority
  • House: anti-Centralist majority
• 1870-1872 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority
  • House: anti-Centralist majority
• 1872-1874 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority
  • House: Centralist majority

1874-1880: President Clement C. Clay Jr. (Centralist, Alabama) / Vice President Zebulon B. Vance (Centralist, North Carolina)
(1873 def. Vice President Robert M. T. Hunter (anti-Centralist, Virginia) / Senator Robert W. Barnwell (anti-Centralist, South Carolina))

• 1874-1876 Congress
  • Senate: Centralist majority
  • House: Centralist majority
• 1876-1878 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority
  • House: Centralist majority
• 1878-1880 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority
  • House: anti-Centralist majority

1880-1884: President Wade Hampton III (Centralist, South Carolina) / Vice President James L. Kemper (Centralist, Virginia)
(1879 def. Governor John McEnery (anti-Centralist, Louisiana) / Senator Isham G. Harris (anti-Centralist, Tennessee))

• 1880-1882 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority elected, Centralist majority following the 1881 resignation of most anti-Centralist senators in favor of the Atlanta Convention
  • House: anti-Centralist majority elected, Centralist majority following the 1881 resignation of most anti-Centralist representatives in favor of the Atlanta Convention

Following the Depression of 1880-1881 and the Black Spring of 1881 President Wade Hampton III issued the Electoral Security Resolution on April 22, 1881, which declared that the midterm elections of 1881 would not be held as scheduled and instead be delayed until “civic order may be completely restored in the Confederate States” and that Congress would then be recessed after the scheduled end of the 1880-1882 congressional term. The state governments of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina subsequently declared this action legally invalid, began an interstate convention in Atlanta, Georgia, and then issued the Atlanta Declaration on May 9, 1881, which declared that the Electoral Security Resolution must be rescinded before the scheduled end of the midterm elections on November 6, 1881, or else they would begin an armed rebellion. The state government of Texas also issued a resolution which declared that it would enforce a policy of “armed neutrality” in any interstate conflict until the “legitimate government of the Confederate States may be ascertained” on June 3, 1881. Most counties in southern and central Florida disregarded the state government’s adherence to the Atlanta Declaration and formed a rival state government based in Tampa. In the following weeks most anti-Centralist Confederate government officers resigned and declared loyalty to the Atlanta Convention. Following the passage of the midterm elections’ scheduled end date armed conflict began between the existing Confederate government, retrospectively referred to as the “Richmond Government”, and the Atlanta Convention, retrospectively referred to as the “Atlanta Government”.

Richmond Government of the Confederate States of America (1881-1884)​

1880-1884: President Wade Hampton III (Centralist, South Carolina) / Vice President James L. Kemper (Centralist, Virginia)
(1879 def. Governor John McEnery (anti-Centralist, Louisiana) / Senator Isham G. Harris (anti-Centralist, Tennessee))

• 1880-1882 Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority elected, Centralist majority following the 1881 resignation of most anti-Centralist senators in favor of the Atlanta Convention
  • House: anti-Centralist majority elected, Centralist majority following the 1881 resignation of most anti-Centralist representatives in favor of the Atlanta Convention
• (Indefinitely recessed following the expiration of the 1880-1882 congressional term)

On July 15, 1884, the Richmond Government of the Confederate States of America was dissolved following the Confederate Instrument of Surrender at Raleigh and its remaining legal and financial obligations were assumed by the United States of America, which subsequently reorganized much of the Upper South into a series of federally controlled military districts. These military districts were eventually divided and readmitted to the United States as states.

Atlanta Government of the Confederate States of America (1881-1885)​

1881-1885: Provisional President John McEnery (anti-Centralist, Louisiana) / Acting Vice President Benjamin R. Tillman Jr. (anti-Centralist, South Carolina)
(1881 def. Senator Isham G. Harris (anti-Centralist, Tennessee) via convention)

• 1881-1885 Provisional Congress
  • Senate: anti-Centralist majority
  • House: anti-Centralist majority

On April 5, 1885, the city of Atlanta, Georgia and its defenders surrendered to the United States Army, which arrested most Atlanta Government political officers including Acting Vice President Benjamin R. Tillman Jr., after Provisional President John McEnery was mistakenly killed by friendly soldiers while attempting to flee the city. At this point the Atlanta Government of the Confederate States of America effectively ceased to exist and this date is generally regarded as the end of the Confederacy’s existence for historical purposes, but major armed groups claiming to represent the Confederate government continued to operate in the former Confederacy until late 1890. Following the dissolution of the Confederacy most of its former territory was divided between the United States of America and the Free Republic of Libertalia, an abolitionist state in the Deep South created by former slaves who revolted against the Confederacy during the Confederate Civil War. Numerous smaller states also came to exist on the fringes of the former Confederacy through various means during this period.

 

[SpudNutimus]

Heads up, Death of Dixie (the Confederate collapse scenario I've been doing for a while) is being moved to a new thread here and will no longer be posted about in this thread. Other things I make will still go here.