Blue Monkey
Archon Without Portfolio
So in thinking about a "real" map with alternative cultures it helps to think about alternative histories. In your case, a "what if" based in historical events that would lend themselves to a more occult development. Try this on for size:
- The Albigensian Crusade failed, so Occitan culture dominated Mediterranean Europe (Andalusia to Venezia) and made fertile ground for the blending of several spiritual paths. [There's your French]
- The Hanseatic League flourished, stabilized Northern Europe as a Thalassocracy (think Phoenecia transported to the Medieval era) and spread from the Baltic into the area that would have become Northern France in our world/ [There's your German]
- Since the Occitans were far more interested in cultural exchange than conquests there were never the ongoing wars between Europe and the Moslem world. Saladin (a Kurd) was able to concentrate his efforts on creating a long-term politically stable Caliphate - North Africa, Egypt, Middle East as far as Persia, and Anatolia. By the time Suleiman came along the cultural renaissance of Islam was even stronger than in our time line - well able to tolerate many small heterodox groups. [There's your Turks]
- The long-term stability and economic strength of the two major European powers and the Caliphate meant that Timur had to look elsewhere to expand. The Mongols instead focused their military conquests to the Southeast ( the Gangetic plain), Central Asia (including Tibet) and North into the Russian Plain, reuniting Sarmatia under the rule of Central Asians for the first time since the Roman era. [There's your Russo-Asiatics]
