Exploring Antarctica is an adventure barely a century old. Newly revealed old photographs bring us to the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration!
Description Although I've been on hiatus for a while now, I've still been actively working on various maps and scenarios. One of them has revolved around revisiting one of my older maps here and giving it a major overhaul. After far too long, I feel it's finally ready to post online and share with everyone else. This timeline is a bit different from anything else I've made. I don't think of it as alternate history, per se, but more... parallel history or historic fantasy. While events don't exactly repeat themselves, they certainly rhyme and feel familiar to our own world, and I think the end product will be both alien and mundane, as the more things change the more they stay the same. After nearly a century of calamity and civil war, Augustus Caesar successfully took the throne as the first Roman Emperor and brought about decades of unprecedented peace. However, his reign could not last forever, and in AD 14 (767 AUC) the Emperor shuffled off his mortal coil. While all of Rome gathered around his mausoleum, their cries were interrupted by the appearance of Mercury himself. The divine messenger announced that the revered Caesar had ascended into the pantheon of gods and would continue to preside over his subjects from the afterlife. Mourning turned to celebration, and a new star appeared in the sky to mark the occasion. A new Heroic Age had begun. Not since the Trojan war had the gods taken an active role in the world, at least in the West. Drusus, known to history as Drusus the Lame due to his limp following a fall from his horse, soon took the reigns of the Empire. Campaigns into Germania and Marcomannia continued, and were finalized under his own son and successor, Emperor Germanicus. By the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in AD 95 (848 AUC), Imperial borders stretched from the Elbe river in the north, the Saharan wastes to the south, and the Euphrates river to the east. The most important changes to come, however, were not from the various conquests, but from the internal reforms put into place by Emperor Vitus, who emerged victorious in the ensuing civil wars of the early second century and established a new dynasty of his own. Among Vitus' reforms were a restructuring of the military, shifting the role of soldier's pay from their generals to the imperial throne. This also necessitated tax reform and the end of private tax farmers. Since soldiers also demanded sizable land grants upon retirement, this also encouraged the Empire to seek out new conquests. By this time, the rekindled magical arts coming out of the various temples and academies also began to play a larger role in outward expansion. Cultists of Jupiter could invoke his powers to control the weather in their armies' favor, while followers of Apollo could help heal and mend wounds. Neptune was frequently called upon to protect the navy, and Osiris saw increasing popularity for those hoping to give their loved ones an easier journey to the underworld. Magic at this point was almost entirely religious in nature, with little interest in discovering alternate sources. The most formidable foe to the Empire continued to be the various dynasties of Persia. Rome was not the only civilization revisited by the gods, and Ahura Mazda, Mithra, Anahita, and others became more involved in the escalating wars. More and more powerful magic continued to be discovered and utilized in a theological arms race, which devastated the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, and beyond. It would not be until the reign of Emperor Valentine in AD 170 (923 AUC) that Rome would finally gain an edge, and even then victory only came through the help of new amazon and centaur auxiliaries from the north. His lover, main general, and successor would take on the royal name Parthicus in honor of this achievement. Just as Alexander had before them, the Romans took an ever greater interest in India and Arabia following the war over Persia. Emperor Parthicus sent emissaries as far as the islands of Chryse and Argyre, bringing back with them tales of immense wealth and exotic races of both men and beast. Tributes and ambassadors flooded the Emperor's halls in Rome, and plans for further conquest were already being drawn up even before the last Persian rebels were subdued. In the wake of conquest, the Eastern gods did not fade away in defeat, but continued to have popular support from the common people. Some, like Mithra, actually became more powerful as Roman veterans began to worship him and bring his cult back home with them in retirement. By this point, Rome's religious makeup began to shift. The endless local spirits and gods were now understood to not be actual individuals, but merely different manifestations of a handful of entities. Soldiers were slowly abandoning their sacrifices to Mars, Minerva, or Ares, and instead offered them to the universal God of War. The God of the Underworld could take on the forms of Hades, Anubis, Orcus, or dozens of others, depending on who it was interacting with. In this sense, the ancient concept of religious syncretism reached its logical conclusion. It was also in this time that other religious interpretations and sources of magic became more popular. The first came from the tradition of the Jews, Platonists, and Akhenaten. While many people accepted that the thousands of gods were manifestations of merely a dozen, the monotheists took it one step further and believed even the handful of recognized deities were merely aspects of one, universal God. The exact nature of this god, and how best to worship it and invoke its magic, was hotly debated between the various groups, but their individual cults still came in and out of fashion throughout the generations. The second group were the alchemists and philosophers. Influence from the East, and the rediscovery of lost Atlantean texts in Egypt, lead to a greater scientific understanding within the Empire. The properties of nature were slowly being uncovered, and with them came the exploitation of various new sources of magic and energy, such as magnetism from lodestones or electricity from amber. Atomism, the belief that everything in the universe is simply composed of atoms, including the gods themselves, was especially popular among the new generations of scholars. To them, there were no true gods at all, and the entities that claimed to be gods drew their power not from divine mysteries, but from a greater knowledge of the natural world. With a deep enough scientific understanding, then, it would be possible to supplant and even surpass the so-called gods. In the ensuing centuries, the Empire again turned more inward. The end of the Livian dynasty founded by Emperor Vitus resulted in three decades of civil war and unrest. Powerful generals would take hold of the throne, only to be overthrown by another, or assassinated by their own praetorian guards. Regions such as Persia were able to successfully throw off imperial control, and remain independent for another generation. Foreign enemies were able to take advantage of this instability as well. Barbarians from the north, comprised of both wild men and 'troak', half-human half-wolf hybrids, were able to push south and settle in formerly Roman lands. This instability lead to the establishment of Istantium as a second, more defensible, capital. Despite endless squabbling among the Romans, it was a warlord from one of these peoples who eventually claimed the throne and restored the peace. Ulvane Gothicus founded the first of the "barbarian dynasties" in AD 463 (1216 AUC). His armies were successfully able to integrate the various non-human peoples, such as the troak and giants, into the military, and from there the imperial bureaucracy itself. Regions that had been depopulated from decades of war, famine, and plague were quickly replenished by the incoming tribes. The increasingly diverse military was able to take full advantage of the different strengths each race could offer, which helped to secure the borders and push other invaders, such as the undefeated Huns, back to the steppes. The largest change came from the introduction of another wave of gods. The Aesir had long been worshiped by the various tribes, and a smattering of eastern deities had grown into prominence. Among them was Crodone, a universal god who had become popular among the Slavs, Saxons, and a number of elvish clans. Just like Yahweh or Aten, Crodone was believed to be a universal God, and monotheism became widely popular in the coming centuries. The Empire slowly recovered from its prolonged crisis and restored its former borders. Province by province, land were retaken, and soon enough the frontier was being pushed back yet again. To the east, this meant expansion into the steppe and assimilation of the various tribes and lost Greek colonies there. Emperor Hermone wished to fulfill Alexander's ancient dream and marched down into India to plunder its wealth, but was quickly crushed by the powerful kingdoms there. The Emperor himself was captured in battle, and kept prisoner the rest of his short life. To the south, the Empire became more interested in the African interior and slowly absorbed the trade cities along its coasts. As usual, the Empire's thirst for salt, gold, and slaves drew it into the unknown lands. However, once ivory's powerful medicinal properties were discovered, Roman filibusters also sought out better sources for it. In AD 582 (1335 AUC) the last of the barbarian Emperors was deposed, and Roman rule was reestablished. By this point, of course, 'Roman' had grown to encompass more than just the Latin people. The human-centric Empire had slowly begun to view all of its "civilized" human subjects as being Roman, and even then that definition was becoming too narrow. Various reforms meant that anyone could gain citizenship through military service, regardless of tribal or racial background. The Babylonian dynasty founded by Emperor Sargones, named so after its ancestral homeland, was considered thoroughly Roman by most of its contemporaries. The short-lived Babylonians were themselves displaced by the Arabian conquests, which resulted in Emperor Mohametus taking the throne in AD 625 (1378 AUC). The monotheism of Crodone went into decline, and was replaced by the monotheism of Elaha or Allah, who was identified with Yahweh and Jehovah. Despite this, other cults still grew and spread, such as that of Hubal. The Hashemian dynasty saw a flourishing in scholastic knowledge and magical arts. Part of this came from the teachings and study of various djinn and new access to items of great power such as the Black Stone. Another part came from the final invasion of Axum, and the plundering of the many libraries and universities there. The Hashemians proved to be more resilient than the dynasties that came before, and helped streamline imperial bureaucracy. The various types of provinces, colonies, and imperial holdings were consolidated into simple, politically equal provinces. Italia, which had once been the heartland of the Empire, was broken up into three provinces and became just another region. Istantium was renovated and expanded, and the wealth of the vast Empire went into building amazing new temples and academies. By this point the city had become the sole capital of the Empire. Growing borders and better technology had helped to turn the world into a smaller place. Roman explorers began to sail down the western coast of Africa, and eventually circumnavigated the continent to prove the eastern and western oceans were connected. Expeditions into the open ocean itself also took off in search of any remains of Atlantis and the invaluable ruins it would contain. While many small, uninhabited islands were found, they mostly only served as penal colonies in this period. Roman merchants were reaching the southern coast of Serica with more regularity, and brought back alchemical manuscripts and legends of an immortal Emperor. As with everything, this golden age eventually came to an end. While the large construction projects and massive expeditions into the unknown brought glory, they also quickly drained imperial coffers. Roman society itself was also becoming more unstable as the various religious schools clashed. For centuries monotheists had fought against the old pagan beliefs, and whenever those pagans were able to retake the throne they repaid the monotheists in kind. The senate and imperial courts were increasingly subjected to religious purges, and many expensive temples were torn down and burned, only to be rebuilt by the next Emperor to continue the cycle over. The gods, or God, became increasingly silent on these affairs, and magic in the West began to go back into decline. The period between the tenth and thirteenth centuries has been known as a dark age to historians. The benefits of free trade across most of the known world broke down as civil wars erupted and regional rulers became more powerful. The pagans and the monotheists regularly burned one another's books, and both destroyed the heretical works of the atomists, resulting in a shortage of surviving technical knowledge and historical records. Many regions became de facto independent, and only claimed to be ruling in the name of any of the dozen men fighting for the throne at any given time. An end to this Dark Age came with the appearance of Artorius from the north-western corners of the Empire. His exact origin has been lost to time, but countless legends abound. It is widely believed he was descended from a line of old Roman aristocracy, whose ancestry was traced to the ancient heroes and gods themselves. After the spirit of Augustus (or God, depending on the source) brought Artorius to Attila's lost grave, the young man rediscovered the Sword of Mars and began to use its power to rally armies around him. He was able to cut through the petty kingdoms and decayed imperial government alike, and reforged the Empire once again, just in time to celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of the founding of Rome. Emperor Artorius would come to use the phoenix as his dynasty's symbol, representing Rome's continual fall and rising from the ashes. The renewed peace was soon tested by the oncoming hordes from the steppe. The Mongols, backed by Tengri and herds of tulpar (pegasi), came crashing down against the eastern borders and overwhelmed numerous provinces. They reached as far as Baghdad and threatened the great library there before finally being pushed back. While Rome had become experienced in fighting the nomadic tribes of Asia, the Mongols were fiercer, more advanced, and better organized than any foe they had faced in the region before. Helping them were armies and engineers captured from the distant lands of Cathay and Serica. This deadly war for survival pushed Roman priests and alchemists to their limits to use their magic to aid the military, just as the Persian wars had a millennium before. Empress Laurentine would come to a peace settlement with the great Khan in AD 1368 (2121 AUC), offering yearly tributes to their eastern neighbor and letting them focus on their invasion of India, a much bigger prize. With much of the eastern border being militarized and made more hostile to traders, the silk road had started to decline, and Roman merchants began to look for new trade routes. Knowledge of Atlantic islands was already ancient by this point, and a few ships had already been blown off course when trying to go around Africa, landing in a strange land full of jungles and strange peoples. There were also stories of the Norse and Celts who sailed along the arctic and settled new lands there. Up until this point, however, they had all been of little interest. But now that the path overland was less reliable, some had hoped that it would be possible to reach the East by island-hopping across the immense ocean. Empress Laurentine funded the first of these fleets, and this policy continued under her successor Emperor Cibio. By AD 1392 (2145 AUC), one of these fleets finally made landfall in the great Western continent. It did not take long for Djiscos, the explorer heading the fleet, to realize they didn't make it to East Asia. Over the following decades, outposts were established, and the tropical islands of the Caribbean were colonized. While further expeditions have pushed deeper into the continent, spurred on by legends of a fountain of youth and cities of gold, there has been little territorial progress on the mainland itself. Instead, Rome has maintained diplomatic relations with the Nahua and Maya kingdoms to the west, and the Decembrians in the south (named for the council of ten who rule their confederacy) have grown rich by acting as middlemen between the Roman islands and the Incan empire. The year is now AD 1492 (2245 AUC), and tensions along the east have risen once again. The Mongols have been overthrown from both Serica and India, but still remain an ever-present threat. Now, a new enemy called Rome threatens them as it marches its armies east and slowly picks away at small regions to the northwest and south. The Empire is in need of new conquests to fill its treasury, and it finds ripe targets all around. While the government is preparing for new wars, the theologians and alchemists themselves are hard at work pushing the boundaries of science and magic. The atomists have started to regain power, and are slowly discovering the true potential of coal to usurp the gods themselves.
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration began at the end of the 1800s when Antarctica became the focus of international efforts for scientific and geographic exploration. 17 major explorations were launched by ten different countries. As a precursor to the Historic age, British explorer James Cook, in the late 1770s,…
