u/Pria_Blitar

Lore :
Instead of annexing Northern East Prussia directly into the Russian Oblast, Joseph Stalin deployed a social engineering strategy similar to the one used in Moldova. To permanently sever the region's ties with Germany, the Soviet regime prohibited Standard German and initiated a process of "New Prussian" ethnogenesis. Soviet linguists revived the extinct Old Prussian language, a Baltic tongue and mandated it across schools and administration. This synthetic identity formed the basis of the Prussian SSR (1945–1990), aligning it culturally and structurally with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, this engineered identity backfired on Moscow. Reluctant to reunify with Berlin, largely to protect their local industries and avoid the severe economic displacement seen in post-unification East Germany, the local elites and populace in Königsberg declared full sovereignty as the Republic of Prussia.

Hello everyone! I’m new here, and wanted to share my alternate history scenario that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time, which I finally decided to put into a map that I designed myself.

What if Mataram Sultanate had successfully unified the Javanese states?

In this timeline, the Mataram Sultanate rose as the dominant force in the Nusantaran archipelago following its decisive win in the Siege of Batavia (1628–1629). Unlike in real history, the campaign succeeded. Jayakarta fell into Mataram hands, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) presence on Java collapsed, and the balance of power in maritime Southeast Asia shifted dramatically in favor of the Javanese court. Under the reign of Sultan Agung, Mataram transformed from a powerful inland sultanate into a pan-Javanese imperial state. Many years after the Siege of Batavia, through a combination of military conquest, dynastic diplomacy, and political integration, the remaining states of Java were gradually unified under the Mataram crown. Some realms were subdued directly and reorganized into kadipaten under imperial authority, while others retained varying degrees of autonomy as vassals or federated states.

The resulting polity became commonly known as the “Empire of Java”, a Mataram-led empire encompassing nearly the entire island of Java. Its vassals included the Sultanate of Cirebon and Sumedang Larang, while region of Sampang (Madura islands) were integrated more directly into the imperial structure through subordinate kadipaten. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of Banten and the Blambangan enteerd the empire as federated states, united by a shared strategic interest in resisting European expansion and preserving regional sovereignty. Although referred to as the “Empire”, the state itself continued to be ruled by a Sultan rather than an emperor. In this context, the term “Empire” refers not to the ruler’s formal title, but to the empire’s political reality as a multi-state hegemonic realm unifying much of Java under a single sovereign authority.

The flag itself symbolized this unity in diversity. Its design incorporated the traditional Javanese Kawung motif, representing harmony, balance, and royal authority. The three primary colors within the motif symbolized the major constituent realms of the empire: red representing Mataram Sultanate and its vassals, green representing the Sultanate of Banten, and yellow representing Blambangan. The blue field of the banner reflected the empire’s maritime character, while the crossed keris embodied the unity of the Javanese realms under a single imperial order.

Note: Some of the cities, towns, and villages shown on the map may not share the same names as their modern counterparts, as many place names evolved over time from the Mataram era to the present day. In creating this map, I tried to research and compare various historical maps produced by the VOC, as well as later Dutch, British, and French cartographers and colonial administrations that once held influence in Java during different periods. I apologize if there are still inaccuracies or inconsistencies, but I have done my best to make the map as historically detailed and authentic to the Mataram era as possible.