#courland

[diemelusine]

Königsberg Cathedral

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:A.Savin

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Russian tank T-34-85, destroyed during the fighting in the Courland, Latvia, January 1945...

[livesunique]

The Duke’s Dressing Room, Rundāle Palace,

Pilsrundāle, Rundāle Parish, LV-3921, Latvia

[esnezinusudusparrigu]

r/imaginarymaps - If the duchy of Courland fulfilled all of it's colonial ambitions.

1,735 votes and 68 comments so far on Reddit

[rvexillology]

Flag of Courland -> another instant classic

from /r/vexillology Top comment: The **Courland Governorate**, also known as the **Province of Courland**,[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_Governorate#cite_note-TEC-1) **Governorate of Kurland**[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_Governorate#cite_note-2) ([German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language): *Kurländisches Gouvernement*; [Russian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language): Курля́ндская губерния, [romanized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Russian): *Kurljándskaja gubernija*; [Latvian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_language): *Kurzemes guberņa*) was one of the [Baltic governorates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_governorates) of the [Russian Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire), that is now part of the [Republic of Latvia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Latvia). 📷German and Russian map of the Courland Governorate The governorate was created in 1795 out of the territory of the [Duchy of Courland and Semigallia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Courland_and_Semigallia) that was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the province of Courland with its capital at [Mitau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelgava) (now Jelgava), following the [third partition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland) of the [Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth). Until the late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russia but was administered independently by the local [Baltic German nobility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_nobility) through a feudal Regional Council (German: *Landtag*).[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_Governorate#cite_note-3) The governorate was bounded in the north by the [Baltic Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea), the [Gulf of Riga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Riga) and the [Governorate of Livonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governorate_of_Livonia); west by the Baltic Sea; south by the [Vilna Governorate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Governorate) and [Prussia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia) and east by the [Vitebsk Governorate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitebsk_Governorate) and [Minsk Governorate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_Governorate). The population in 1846 was estimated at 553,300.[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_Governorate#cite_note-TEC-1) It ceased to exist during [World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I) after the [German Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Empire) took control of the region in 1918. Russia surrendered the territory by the [Treaty of Brest-Litovsk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk) on 3 March 1918.

[leftpinkie]

[vigilantsycamore]

Crossposting from a map thread on alternatehistory.com, here’s a bit of worldbuilding I did for a scenario I’ve come up with. This is a WIP that, once I’m done with it (at the moment a lot of the map still has the base map’s borders) will be an electoral map for the Polish-Lithuanian Federation in the year 1900. Right now, it’s just an electoral map for 7 of its 13 constituent republics, and again the surrounding borders are not the actual surrouding borders in this scenario

Anyway:

Dark Green - Federal Party. Have gotten a lot of bad press for their abuses of power, but their miltary reforms made them popular again in coastal areas after the Swedish invasion in the War of the Turkish Succession.

Yellow - Nowa Szlachta. Derisively called the Rich Peoples' Party by their opponents, and there's definitely some truth to that.

Gold - Constitutional Democrats. All that was left of the Constitutional Party after the Federals and Liberals left. Neither liberal nor authoritarian, but they still tend leftwards on the other axes of the political compass.

Blue - Liberal Party. They believe in encouraging social progress, and in a limited government. Very popular in areas that have industrialized well, not so popular everywhere else.

Magenta - Agrarian Party (formerly the Peasants' Parliament Party, they changed the name because the Peasants' Parliament got renamed the People's Parliament after the Commonwealth became the Federation)

Pale Brown - Polish National Party. Their platform consists of intense patriotism, vague promises, and either arguing for a weaker Federation with more autonomy for the Republics or a strong Federation where Poland has more influence. This is not too different from similar parties in other republics, and once in a while one of these parties does win a Voivodeship somewhere, so them having a Voivodeship isn’t a shock

Dark Brown - Kashubian National Party. They want Kashubia to be its own Republic. They're especially popular now that Lusatia is a Republic, since it raises questions about just what the population threshold for becoming a Republic is - a question that wasn't answered in the Constitution itself.

Red - The Socialist Party

Grey - The German People's Party. Popular in German-majority areas, they tend to just promote German culture and advocate for things like making German one of the official languages of the Federation, sometimes for greater autonomy for German-majority areas, but the more extreme members of the party have advocated for secession in the past.

Pale Green - Lusatian National Party. Used to be a minor party in Silesia advocating for greater autonomy for the Sorbian-majority areas of Silesia, now they've got a brand new Republic under their control

Greyish Blue - Tikun Olam Party. Especially popular in Jewish-majority areas, but with a decent amount of supporters elsewhere too, this is a party that was formed by Jewish activists who split from the Socialist and Liberal Parties. Their platform is based on the ideal they named themselves after. They advocate for things like a strong welfare system and a justice system focused on rehabilitation, and in places like the Krakow Voivodeship (and the City of Krakow itself), the beginnings of environmentalism

__________

So, what do you think?

[ejbarnes]

Yah, it’s taken way too long to finish the color studies for this scene -- I hope I’ll be faster with the next one. These are the completed color studies for pp4--9 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland, with the end of that scene finished on P10 and the initial tone washes (sans cast shadows) for the first panel of the next scene, where the séance finally begins. Any nitpicky advice is welcome at this point, since I’d rather get these things fixed before I do the final art on these pages.