Perse's Graphics and Gubbinz

[Persephone]

What's this?

A graphics thread from an otherwise unremarkable member on this forum and the other place who joined twelve days ago? It's more likely than you think.

Anyway, memes aside, I figured I'd make a dedicated thread where I can show off store the various wikiboxes, propaganda posters, graphics, future compasses, and various odds and ends I make for my current timeline/story on the other place (Of Poets and Supermen) as well as stuff I just make for fun. To start things off, here's a couple quick and dirty propaganda posters I made recently with paint.net for said timeline, as well as a chapter image that I made with Ribbet, all of which I'm really proud of. I hope folks like them!

A recruiting poster for the Black Star Party's (name subject to change) paramilitary wing, the African Legion. Based off of this OTL Nigerian propaganda poster during the Biafran War.



A French (or German, haven't decided yet) political cartoon depicting Marianne murdering a woman (presumably representing Germania) with the factories of the Ruhr in the background. The caption reads "The law is dead, long live the brutality!" and it's based off of this OTL German political cartoon from Kladderadatsch.



An image for the upcoming chapter on Carnarism, my timeline's Blue-and-Orange *Fascist ideology that violently seizes power in Italy after a bloody three-sided civil war that's based off of the Charter of Carnaro, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto and the Manifesto of the Italian Futurist Political Party, Valentine de Saint-Point's Manifesto of the Futurist Woman and Futurist Manifesto of Lust, Enrico Corradini's Theory of Proletarian Nationalism, and more. Naturally, the movement is led by Gabriele D'Annunzio himself as well as the colorful band of conservatives and radicals who followed him in his grand venture.​

 

[Persephone]

Here's a future compass for the same timeline, because future compasses are cool and frankly, underutilized.

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[Persephone]

Another image for Carnarism for my timeline, this time based off of a portrait of D'Annunzio himself by a friend and contemporary of his, Romaine Brooks. While I liked the first image I made, I felt like using an actual OTL depiction of D'Annunzio rather than the cover of Bruce Sterling's excellent Pirate Utopia was the better artistic choice.



Another chapter image for an alternate ideology in my timeline, this one being the Volkssturmbewegung, a rather different form of German nationalist ideology that comes to power in place of the Nazis, which become something of a non-entity following TTL's version of the Beer Hall Putsch. I made two of these, with this first one using the Nietzschean phrase "The Will to Power", an appropriate phrase given the Nietzschean origins of the ideology.



The second chapter image for the Volkssturmbewegung! Both of these are based off of this poster for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. While the first one featured the phrase "The Will to Power", this one features the infamous title/phrase "The Triumph of the Will", best associated with Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 propaganda film of the same name. I chose this name so it could serve as a "false friend" to the OTL term, since the phrase is heavily associated with the Nazis in OTL.​

 

[Persephone]

Here we have a pair of chapter images for another alternate ideology in OPAS, namely the dominant form of Communism within the timeline, Petrosianism! It's named after and promulgated by Simon "Kamo" Ter-Petrosian, Lenin's successor ITTL and an early OTL companion of Ioseb Djugashvili (Stalin). These images are based off of a 1921 Soviet poster celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Paris Commune.

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[Persephone]

And here's a third version of the Petrosianism image because I keep seeing minor issues with spacing that drive me mad from an aesthetic point of view.​

 

[Persephone]

Good stuff, it seems the battle will between Italian Futurism vs. Soviet Futurism if anything. Joking aside, I would say if you can maybe do some Rodcheko style stuff, always love a good montage.

Also Simon Ter-Petrosian is an interesting pick for Lenin’s successor. I guess he’ll be very different from Stalin in both good and really bad ways.

Ha! I'm not sure if I'd be able to do something in Rodchenko's style on my own with my meager skills, since all these are are modified OTL posters using paint.net and Ribbet, but I could give it a shot. If I wanted to make them in English (for chapter images or as Soviet propaganda in the West), that's feasible, but if I wanted to make Russian ones that might be a bit trickier with the characters and the translation.

As for Kamo being Lenin's successor, he's going to be similar in some respects (mainly in a few coincidental ways, nothing too major) but very different for the most part, yeah. In some ways a lot softer than Stalin both personality-wise and policy-wise, and in other ways a lot worse than Stalin.

Anyway, here's another poster, probably my best one to date!

Recruitment poster for the Parti Français, a revisionist socialist offshoot of the French Section of the Workers' International. The message here is roughly translated (read: I used Google Translate plus the original poster's text) as "No more bad days! Papa is making money once again!" "Join the Parti Français!" "Long live France and Hail to the Chief!"​

 

[Persephone]

I honestly don't know what I might use this for. A Japanese-aligned, Ungern-Sternberg-led Far Eastern Republic? Manchukuo? Some unholy combination of the two? Your guess is as good as mine.​

 

[Persephone]

This one's a bit of an experiment in what I could do with my limited skills. A Carnarist propaganda poster promoting athleticism and physical fitness among the youth. Roughly translated, the message reads: "You wanna look like that? Exercise!". Based off of this 1951 Soviet poster from OTL.​

 

[Persephone]

Not bad, I would maybe try and blur the symbol as well because it doesn't blend as well as the rest but otherwise good stuff. I suspect that Carnarism will be split between the 'Realist' school of Art and the 'Futurist' school of art in terms of propaganda.

I made an attempt to blur the symbol after adding the pixels to the poster through paint.net, but by that point, it was really too small to be distinguishable and the blur didn't help.

Anyway, here's another Parti Français poster.

Parti Français propaganda poster encouraging hard work among the populace. The rough translation is: "By working diligently, you will show the world French excellence!"​

 

[Persephone]

Here we have another Carnarist poster, directly based off of the poster that @Time Enough posted upthread. Enjoy!

Recruitment poster for La Disperata ("The Guard of Desperate Men/The Desperate Ones"), the elite personal guard of the Commandant and a new form of military order in their own right. Roughly translated, the sentences in the upper left reads, "Rush toward the Future! Embody the New Order! Protect the Commandant!". "Eia! Eia! Eia! Alala!" and "Quis Contra Nos?" are mottos coined by D'Annunzio, with the former being a war cry to replace the barbaric (in his view) "Hip, Hip, Hip, Hooray!" and the latter being a Latin phrase meaning "Who is against us?".​

 

[Persephone]

A pair of postcards promoting Premier Kamo's policy of "Populace Allocation", in which displaced ethnic minorities were given full government support in exchange for voluntarily settling in underdeveloped and underpopulated locations of the Soviet Union in order to help develop them for the continued prosperity of the Motherland. These two postcards are in Polish and German respectively, roughly translating to "Greetings from the new Soviet frontier!" Based off of this OTL postcard.

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[Persephone]

I'll admit, this one's a bit low-effort compared to previous ones, but it's also simple and straight to the point.

Hungarian recruitment poster for the Rongyos Gárda ("Ragged Guards"), a royalist Hungarian paramilitary formed by Regent Pál Prónay following his violent seizure of power from former Austro-Hungarian Admiral and Regent Miklós Horthy. They would be instrumental in securing Prónay's power after Horthy's downfall and helped pave the way for Prónay's 1921 restoration of King Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen to the Hungarian throne as King Charles IV. The text (from top to bottom) reads: "For Crown and Country!", "You are a traitor! If you do not serve King Charles!", and "Join the Ragged Guard!" Based off of this OTL poster by Miltiades Manno.​

 

[Persephone]

These two were trickier than usual, because of the nature of Arabic and making sure I was able to fit everything onto the rather small posters in order for them to be large enough to be legible, which required splitting up the phrases on two line. Anyway, these are for a hypothetical Syrian Personalist Party led by Antoun Saadeh. Not sure if I'm gonna use that concept or not, but we'll see.

Propaganda poster for the Syrian Personalist Party. From top to bottom, the text reads (as always, roughly translated) "The Whirlwind of Syria will sweep away the Colonial Oppressors", "Embody the Three Theories of Syrian Personalism", and "We will reclaim Natural Syria for the good of our people". Based off of this OTL Syrian Social Nationalist Party poster.



Syrian Personalist Party propaganda poster. Roughly translated, the text reads as "The Eagle and the Whirlwind shall liberate Natural Syria and guide our people to greatness". Based on this OTL Syrian Social Nationalist Party poster celebrating the 81st birthday of the SSNP's founder, Antoun Saadeh.​

 

[Persephone]

Well folks, I've got a special treat for you tonight. Boys, Gals, and Non-binary pals, I present to you the power couple of the Japanese-aligned Far Eastern State, the Bloody Baron himself and his equally illustrious bride, the Joan of Arc of Manchuria, as well as some other related things in the FES. I haven't decided whether I'll use this in the timeline just yet, but it's the sort of pulpy fever dream that I want OPAS to be known for, to be honest. The patchwork image isn't the best, but seeing as how I don't have photoshop and have zero knowledge of how to use GIMP, it's the best I can do.

Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg and his bride, Aisin Gioro Xianyu (better known as Yoshiko Kawashima) in 1927. What was first a marriage of convenience between the Baron and the Qing princess after the death of the Baron's first wife soon blossomed into a true romance as the Baron was taken by his new bride's dominant and passionate personality, beautiful appearance, and her dashing nature. Truly, a match made in hell.



Left: Baron von Ungern-Sternberg leaving his headquarters in the capital of the Far Eastern State, Vladivostok, flanked by one of his underlings.

Right: The Baroness Aisin-Gioro (the Baroness preferred to keep her maiden name rather than take her husband's, much to his amusement, dressed in the military uniform of the Far Eastern State.



Konstantin Rodzaevsky, subordinate of the Baron and chief ideologue of the Far Eastern State. Amusingly, he was first brought on as the chauffeur of the Baroness, who noted his devotion to the Far Eastern State and recommended him to her husband. Rodzaevsky would go on to become one of the Baron's most trusted underlings alongside his veteran commanders from Mongolia.



The Imperial Club in Vladivostok, headquarters of the Baron and seat of government for the Far Eastern State. It was Rodzaevsky who suggested that the Baron display the mystical swastika in glorious neon as a show of strength and the undying defiance of the Far Eastern State. A similar structure would be erected atop the Russian Club in Manchouli, at least a mile from the Soviet border.



Left: Ferdynand Ossendowski, Polish adventurer, anti-Communist, political advisor to the Baron, and the head of the Hoankyoku, the Far Eastern State's secret police/intelligence agency. It was Ossendowski who managed to gain the support of the Japanese Empire on behalf of the Far Eastern Republic, much to the consternation of the Soviet Union.

Right: Boris Rezhukin, Far Eastern general and the Baron's second in command, a brutal man with a penchant for bloodshed.



Left: Nikolai Kazagrandi, Far Eastern general and White Russian exile. One of the Baron's many subordinates who followed him into service in the Far Eastern State.

Right: Ataman Grigory Semyonov, Ataman of the Baikal Cossacks, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg's friend and superior officer, and the first ruler of the Far Eastern State. Rumors that he was poisoned in 1927 by the Baroness on her husband's behalf in order for the ambitious pair to seize power for themselves are nothing more than unsubstantiated Communist misinformation.​

 

[Persephone]

Here's something new: A cover image for a short story/vignette I'm writing. Inspired in part by @Time Enough's excellent In The Time of Lead.

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[Persephone]

Just some quick and dirty alterations of a party symbol and flag, said party being the British Carnaristi/British Carnarists formed by Rotha Lintorn-Orman.

Party symbol and flag of the British Carnaristi/British Carnarists, an ultra-royalist, imperialist, and self-declared "British Carnarist" political party founded by Rotha Lintorn-Orman in the spirit of Carnarist Italy.


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[Persephone]

Here's a cover image for a short story/novella thing set in OPAS' Weimar Berlin that I'm hoping to write at some point in the near-future. Based off of a 1939 poster by Jupp Wiertz, Berlin at Night.

Kriminalkommissar Gereon Lang has been assigned to solve a series of murders within Weimar Berlin's decadent underworld, bringing him into contact with all manner of individuals and organizations, from the organized criminals of the Ringvereine, to the dissolute teenage brotherhoods of the Wilde-Jungen, and the political radicals of the KPD and the Volkssturmbewegung. In a search through the nightclubs, brothels, and cabaret halls of Berlin, Lang is led on a hunt for a mysterious serial killer that may or may not be entirely human.​

 

[Persephone]

Another cover image for a short story/novella set in the OPAS timeline that I hope to write at some point in the future, this time set in 1930s Shanghai during the Warlord Decades (tldr the Northern Expedition goes to shit, resulting in the Warlord Era continuing for even longer as China fractures into at least a dozen different cliques/factions, supported by a few foreign nations, namely the British and the Japanese). Based on this Canadian travel poster for the White Empress line.

Shanghai, an alternate 1937. George Welles: one-time child prodigy, aspiring actor, and reluctant detective. After wasting his small inheritance, George has become indebted to the grandmaster of the Shanghai underworld, Big-Eared Du, and is stuck between a rock and a hard place. As he looks for a way out of the untenable situation he's found himself in, George gets caught up in the political intrigues of Shanghai. Soon enough the young man from Kenosha finds himself involved with a revolutionary actress, an idealistic fellow American, an Italian mercenary-turned-secret agent, and a parade of colorful characters in the Shanghai underworld.​

 

[Persephone]

Here's some more Soviet propaganda, this time focusing on the economic policies of the Petrosianist government.

A pair of posters promoting Premier Kamo's "Great Leap Forward", the continuation and overhaul of the New Economic Policy. The top poster features a man with Eurasian features, symbolizing the concept of the New Soviet Man, blowing a bugle as fellow citizens march in the background. Roughly translated, the text reads "Comrades! Join together in the Great Leap Forward!" The bottom poster features Lenin himself pointing towards the East. Roughly translated, the text reads "Kamo's Great Leap Forward will finish what Lenin's NEP began". The two posters are based off of this Chinese poster and this Soviet poster, respectively.

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[Persephone]

So, I wasn't going to post this anytime soon, since it deals with events a fair bit further along in the timeline, but since the ratio of people who post here and also read the timeline on the other place is like 1:1 or so, I figured it would be fine to post it. So, here's another *Future Compass for the 40s-60s or so.

*Future is used loosely here, since I mostly make these as a way to come up with ideas for the timeline and then decide later whether I want to use them or not.​