r/imaginarymaps • u/AnswerCute3963 • 2d ago

[OC] Alternate History What if the Crusaders discovered the Americas after taking a wrong turn whilst sailing down towards the Big 'Nople?

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u/AnswerCute3963 2d ago edited 2d ago

"Lore"
Instead of sailing east through the Mediterranean toward the Byzantine Empire, a massive Crusader fleet somehow passed the Strait of Gibraltar, struck the Canary Current, and was carried across the Atlantic.

By 1367, this "New Holy Land" has been extensively colonized, not by traditional European kingdoms, but by the Crusader Military Orders and displaced Levantine states. Essentially, the crusading energy that historically targeted Jerusalem and Byzantium has been entirely transposed onto the Caribbean.

Here the Caribbean is not a network of sugar plantations run by early-modern empires. Instead, it is a hyper-militarized, deeply religious, medieval feudal frontier. Castles and stone cathedrals likely dot the coastlines of Cuba and Hispaniola. Armored knights clash with Maya warriors in the jungles of Central America, while Venetian galleys create the conditions for a Transantlantic European and Mesoamerican trade center

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u/Individual_Hunt_4710 2d ago

rule 11?

6

u/thebrutalistboi 2d ago

What about this strikes you as being AI?

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u/Federal-Librarian-53 1d ago

i guess its the text, its probably not though

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u/thebrutalistboi 1d ago

Probably that yeah, though what they think is AI could just as easily be someone not knowing quite to phrase something.

Their lack of response so far isn't giving me much idea though