Flag Friday: Royal Standard of Scandinavia by Unknown

There is a popular alternate history trope (which I considered doing for Trope Talk) where the nations of Scandinavia (and maybe a few other states around the Baltic Sea) unite to form one nation. There is historical precedent for this in the form of the Kalmar Union, a personal union that joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then including Finland), and Norway (plus its colonies). Legally the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic and foreign policies being directed by a common monarch. As you may know, it didn't last and today the countries are all separate states.

Alternate historians, however, have speculated on multiple ways these Nordic countries could have become one nation (and only occasionally did they have to nuke the world to accomplish it). I assume this was what the creator of this flag was doing when he or she created the "Royal Standard of Scandinavia":

Although posted by a "Luddicus" on the Vexillology subreddit, I can't say with certainty if he or she was the creator. The flag was tagged as "Fictional" and, if I understand the rules currently, that is used when posting a flag that you did not create. Regardless of who created, it is a well designed flag that help captures some of the elements of the flags from that region. Two commentators pointed out that the flag reminded them of the Confederate States and Novorossiya, but I still think you can see the flags from the actual nations in there as well.

That being said, I kind of like the idea of a united Scandinavia stretching to the Black Sea and North America...

Honorable mention this week goes out to the "Flag of the Minoan Empire" by Sam McDonald and don't forget to check his recent edition of The Audio File.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Map Monday: Jewel of the Nordic Empire by Lynn "ToixStory" Davis and AshleeNova

It was hard to pick what map to feature today. There were some really good maps posted last week, but the one you see below gave me a lot to talk about, so I decided to go with it:

That is "Jewel of the Nordic Empire" and it is unique for many reasons. First, it is actually a collaboration between Map Monday alum Lynn "ToixStory" Davis and newcomer AshleeNova, which is actually pretty rare for this blog. Second, this map was created for Krall's Map of the Fortnight contest on Althistoria.proboards.com (a new alternate history forum). These contests were originally hosted on AlternateHistory.com by Krall, but he took him to his new site recently. So this map has some interesting behind the scenes details that caught my eye.

To sum up the story: the Kalmar Union (later Nordic Empire) expanded eastward while the Russian states fought with the Mongols eventually creating one of the largest land empires in the world. Despite its size, the Nordic Empire has a rather small population and is now trying to encourage settlers from England. This map acts as a piece of propaganda by showing all of the wealth awaiting for any of the families willing to move permanently to Northern Eurasia, which I found to be a nice touch.

The map itself is well done with easy on the eyes colors and fold lines that give the idea that this is a scan of the actual handout from this timeline. Admittedly the text that accompanies the map has weird extra-long spaces after the periods. You can even see them from the small size of the map I use for this article, but you can get a better look at them from the full sized version here. In the end I am just nitpicking because I do like "Jewel of the Nordic Empire".

Honorable mentions this week goes out to "Alternate History North America" by Keperry, "Strength Through Unity" by Rvbomally, "2000 AA (after Ascension)" by Pischinovski and "The Reluctant Railroad" by Rebecca "Upvoteanthology" Stirling. If you want more map goodness check this scenario that imagines the collapse of Russia and this map featuring Soviet WWIII plans.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.