Line #54 Main/SpaceFillingEmpire


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4	[[quoteright:345:[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sfempire_2151.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:345:[-What do you mean, the borders don't make sense?-] ]]
6
7	When writing alternate timelines or playing around with maps, [[AlternateHistory counterfactual]] historians sometimes don't see the point of coming up with lots of different countries, especially for regions they know little about. There may also be a need to make sure that the entire earth is PVPBalanced in more warlike stories. So what they do is just fill the map with large polities, even when [[AlternateHistoryWank there would be little plausibility to a single empire ruling these territories]]. This is referred to as a Space Filling Empire.
8
9	The number of empires will often be at least three, the [[RuleOfDrama minimum number needed for alliances and betrayals]], and popularised by the pictured setup of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''.
10
11	This trope is so prevalent that the Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom wiki even has [[http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php?id=alternate_history:space_filling_empire its own page]] for it.
12
13	Contrast BalkanizeMe. See also RiskStyleMap and SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic. Several types are found in UnitedEurope, ExpandedStatesOfAmerica, and MiddleEasternCoalition. Can lead to OneFederationLimit.
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15	-----
16	!!Examples:
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18	[[foldercontrol]]
19
20	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
21	* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': The world is divided into three main superpowers; [[UnitedEurope Europia United]] (all of Europe, Russia, and most of Africa) the [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire Holy Britannian Empire]] (North and South America, Parts of Africa, most of the Pacific) and the [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld Chinese Federation]] (East, South and Central Asia, including Indonesia and India). There is also Japan (independent, but invaded by Britannia in the opening of the first episode) and the [[MiddleEasternCoalition Middle-Eastern Federation]] (taken by Britannia in the first season). Australia is the only one to stay uninvolved for the entire series. Predictably, almost all of the important events [[CreatorProvincialism take place in Japan]]. It's entirely lampshaded near the last third of the series, when the BigBad, the Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, mocks the protagonists forming TheFederation to stop him: in his opinion, all the protagonists have done is allow the world to easily distinguish one faction from the other on a map.
22	* ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'': The Universe of TheFourGods is divided along the cardinal compass points into four main empires, each with its own god, Seishi, climate, Shinzaho, scrolls, and priestess. Konan is in the South and worships Suzaku, Kutou is in the East and worships Seiryuu, Hokkan is in the North and worships Genbu, and Sairou is in the West and worships Byakko.
23	* ''Franchise/GundamExpandedUniverse'':
24	** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': The world is largely split into three power blocs, at least in the first season: The World Economic Union (the Americas, Australasia, and Japan, dominated by the United States. Also known as The Union Of Free Nations And Solar Energy, or just Union); the Human Reform League (Russia, China, India, most of the rest of South, Southeast, and East Asia except for Japan, dominated by China. Often abbreviated to HRL in-universe); and the Advanced European Union (current-day EU plus Turkey and Israel/Palestine. Often abbreviated to AEU in-universe).
25	** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'': The Earth is divided between four power blocs - Arbrau (which comprises Russia, Alaska and Canada), the Strategic Alliance Union (which comprises the rest of North America, Central America and South America), the African Union (which comprises Africa, Europe and the Middle East) and the Oceanian Federation (which comprises East Asia, South Asia, Australia and the Oceanian geographic region). Of the four, only Arbrau and the SAU play any role in the plot.
26	* ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'': The militaristic neo-Prussian Dorssian Military Alliance controls Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Russia. The nominally democratic ARUS controls the Americas, Western Europe, and the western half of Africa. They both run significant areas of the DysonSphere where most of humanity now lives.
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29	[[folder:Comic Books]]
30	* ''Comicbook/AmericanFlagg'': The Plex represents the former governments of the USA and USSR, but (particularly since the Plex seems to be largely abandoning Earth for its Mars-based "temporary" headquarters), the world's true superpowers are now the fascist Brazilian Union of the Americas and the communist Pan-African League, which has also conquered Italy.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Fan Works]]
34	[[AC:Crossovers]]
35	* ''Fanfic/{{Worldfall}}'': The fan fiction is all over the place with this trope. In the epilogue, the post-war power blocs include -- Russia, renamed the Eurasian Federation, absorbs all of its Soviet era territory (minus East Germany) plus Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran; the rest of Europe becomes UnitedEurope; China absorbs most of mainland East Asia; India expands to absorb much of the remaining Middle East; Egypt and Sudan (except Darfur, which secedes as a free state) unite as the Nile Republic; the rest of North Africa becomes the nation of Sahara; what's left of the continent becomes the African Confederacy; and in the most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example, [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica the United States expands]] to include pretty much the whole Western Hemisphere, becoming the United States of ''the'' America'''s'''. [[FlyoverCountry No mention is made of the Pacific nations.]]
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
39	* ''Film/BattleBeyondTheSun'': The film, being an edited translation of the Soviet sci-fi movie ''Nebo Zovyot'', invented two of these to hide the fact that the race to Mars being depicted was really the Soviet Union and America, with the Americans naturally being painted in a bad light. The setting is moved to a post-nuclear war future (complete with obligatory StockFootage of UsefulNotes/TheDeadliestMushroom) and has a map showing the two nations: North Hemis (present-day US, Canada, the former Soviet bloc and much of Central Europe) and South Hemis (basically everywhere else). This has the advantage of making both the Americans ''and'' Russians as the antagonists and conveniently allowing all the Russian characters to have Anglicized names (yet weirdly, American-sounding accents rather than Antipodean ones).
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Literature]]
43	* ''Literature/HeavyObject'': After the [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower U.N.]] falls, four new superpowers form dividing the world into districts of fallen countries based on their values. The four include the Legitimacy Kingdom, the Capitalist Corporation, the Information Alliance and the Faith Organization. Unique in that location has no bearing on which country belongs to which group meaning there are constant skirmishes between neighbouring countries belonging to different groups.
44	* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'': The best-known example. The world consists of just three super-states -- Oceania (the Americas, the British Isles, Australia, and Southern Africa), [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Eurasia and Eastasia]] -- and the 'disputed territories'. The latter (Africa from the Congo to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, the polar regions, and the Pacific islands) is a permanent buffer zone with control of various regions constantly shifting between the nearest pair of super-states, and where the three powers wage endless war against each other so as to divert resources and attention away from domestic problems. Alliances constantly shift so no side gains an advantage, but officially [[InternalRetcon Oceania has always been at war with whoever they're currently fighting]].
45
46	* The United States of Africa from the Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse.
47	* ''Literature/TheDraka'' series: OK, the Draka empire's insane growth is sort of the whole point, but areas like South America seem to randomly agglomerate for no real reason except to cut down the number of polities in the final wars. This is mentioned in one book. Someone from the Draka universe comes over to an Earth like ours and is astounded at how many countries the modern world has. It's taken for granted due to their world's experience that as the world develops an inevitable result is the reduction in individual states as they all merge.
48	* ''Literature/JenniferGovernment'' has the Corporate States of America spanning several continents.
49	* In John Birmingham's ''Wave'' trilogy a South American Federation controls an unknown number of formerly independent nations including Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. By the third book, ''Angels of Vengeance'' there are hints of a grand alliance of the Anglosphere (Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the remnants of the US and Canada) coming together to replace NATO.
50	* German sci-fi series ''Mark Brandis'' has just two blocks left: The EAAU (European-American-African Union), with Australia as an associated member; and the UOR (United Oriental Republics), Asia except for the Asian parts of the former [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]].
51	* The eponymous ''Vampire Empire'' by Clay and Susan Griffith is a subversion as it's only an empire in the eyes of the humans it's displaced. Yes it occupies much of the northern hemisphere including all of Europe, Russia, China, Japan and most of North America but in reality it's composed of clans who rarely cooperate. Played straight however with Equatoria, descended from the Victorian British Empire which occupies India, the Middle East and the British Empire's African holdings, also with the American Republic which controls Central America, the Caribbean, the Yucatan and parts of South America and the Japanese Empire, relocated to Singapore and controlling Asia east of India and south of China.
52	* ''Half Crown'' in Jo Walton's ''Small Changes'' series involves a conference set in London in which Britain, Japan and Nazi Germany are negotiating spheres of influence, specifically the dividing up of the former Soviet Union and the potential divvying up of the US.
53	* In Taylor Anderson's ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' series the Grik Empire controls, at least (the exact extent is unknown) India, southern Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Persian Gulf and most of the eastern coast of Africa. Meanwhile the Dominion controls Mexico, Central America and an as yet undisclosed portion of South America. The Alliance is heading in this direction, controlling the Philippines, parts of Indonesia and Australia and most recently, Japan and the Hawaiian Islands voluntarily and Sri Lanka by conquest.
54	** It now looks like North America has at lest two more countries one of which pushed the Dominion out of Mexico for a time and their rivals on their other border, plus there's another mystery faction with radio that may side with the Grik.
55	** And one led by some Czechen guy that's north of Girk controlled India.
56	* In ''The Martian General's Daughter'' by Theodore Judson the Trans-Polarian Empire controls North and Central America, Eastern Asia, Western Europe, the Baltic nations, North Africa and Turkey as well as Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and several asteroids. It's in a state of decay however. It used to control the entire northern hemisphere of Earth and by the end of the book the other world colonies have died due to a metal eating plague and both North Africa and Central America have fallen out of it's sphere.
57	* Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''[[Literature/{{Worldwar}} Colonization]]'' trilogy (the sequel to the ''Worldwar'' series) starts in 1962 with Earth divided between [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_World_Colonization.png only a few states]].
58	** The Race's Empire controls mainland Latin America, Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Poland, Australia, and all of mainland Asia aside from Indochina and the USSR.
59	** The Soviet Union, the US and Canada remain unchanged from 1939.
60	** The Greater German Reich rules continental Europe, either directly or through allies such as Romania and Finland.
61	** Imperial Japan controls Indochina, Indonesia, the Philippines and most of the Pacific islands.
62	** The British Empire is a recent memory, reduced now only to the United Kingdom itself.
63	** A few other countries such as New Zealand and "Free France" (French Polynesia) are still independent from these main players but they don't really factor into the world's politics.
64	* Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'' duology takes place in an AlternateHistory where UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} was killed as a baby and was replaced by a different Messiah. Thanks to the Redeemer's efforts, the Roman Empire never fell and remains stronger than ever to this day, now known only as the State with its ruler, the Possessor, having his capital in [[IstanbulNotConstantinople Lutetia]] (alternate Paris). The State controls most of Europe and has colonies in Africa and the Americas. Several vassal nations serve as the buffer zone between the State and its on-and-off enemy the Russian Khanate (Russia never threw off the Mongol yoke and becomes a mix of both cultures). The Chinese Empire is the most advanced nation in the world and controls most of Asia. The Ottoman Empire is the weakest of the major powers. Smaller nations are mentioned, such as the Aztec Empire that constantly clashes with the State's colonies in America, and Judea, which is a tiny vassal nation of the Ottomans.
65	* In the "An Orison of Sonmi-451" segment of David Mitchell's ''Literature/CloudAtlas'' Nea So Copros controls East and Central Asia and whatever is still inhabitable of Oceania (the Philipines and Indonesia are specifically mentioned). Colonies in Africa are also mentioned.
66	* In the ''Literature/VenusPrime'' series, most of Earth's nations have become part of either the North Continental Treaty Alliance (basically North America, Europe, and Russia) or the Azure Dragon Mutual Prosperity Sphere (China, Japan, and some of the Middle East). There's also apparently an alliance between South America and Africa, and a bloc made up of India and various countries in Southeast Asia.
67	* Although it's [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] because its not the main focus of the book, in the AlternateHistory classic ''Literature/ForWantOfANail'', the German Empire takes over most of [[UnitedEurope continental Europe]] and absorbs much of the [[MiddleEasternCoalition Middle East]] in a like manner.
68	* Greater Brazil in Paul [=McAuley=]'s ''The Quiet War'' controls South America and, in theory North America as well, although most of North America is, at best a frontier, at worst complete wilderness. The European Union and Pacific Community are also mentioned as major powers but not how big they are.
69	* The geopolitics of ''Literature/DanteValentine'' are a little hazy, but the Hegemony seems to control most if not all of the Americas, while the other major nation, Putchkin, is implied to control Asia.
70	* In the future of ''Literature/TheLunarChronicles'', there are only six nations in the world, each of them spanning continents, and together they form the Earthen Union. Emperor Kai rules over the Eastern Commonwealth, which is composed of all of Asia and many of the surrounding islands.
71	* In ''The Compleat Literature/{{Discworld}} Atlas'', many of the countries named in the chronicles are much larger than the descriptions in the books might suggest, to reduce the number of new countries that might otherwise be needed to fill the gaps. The Welsh FantasyCounterpartCulture of Llamados, for example, is about five times the area of its real world counterpart, and longer than the entire UK. Inverted with a large empty area on the previous map which ''could'' have been parts of various countries, but is now known as The Great Outdoors, and apparently consists of several independent cultures who get by without much in the way of government. (According to Bernard Pearson of the Discworld Emporium, he suggested that this area, being of a suitable size and close to Genua, could be Discworld America, to which Sir Terry replied "I don't know if I ''want'' it to be Discworld America." There are still some suggestions of this, like the strict Omnian sect who settled on a salt plain.)
72	* In the ''Red Stars'' trilogy, the alternate Earth is pretty much split between the US and the USSR, the latter of which occupies most of the world, while the former is barely holding on.
73	* The prologue of ''[[Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy Blind Punch]]'' has the world divided into four superpowers: [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica US]], [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain Russia]], [[UnitedEurope European Union]], and [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld New Asia]]. The four powers are based in [[MegaCity megacities]] that cover pretty much their entire territories. Africa and Australia aren't mentioned at all, although the Antarctic is stated to be the last unsettled continent on Earth, which is about to change with the construction of the Antarctic Megacity. However, the prologue ends with the four largest [[MegaCorp corporations]] conspiring to cripple the militaries of the superpowers in order to force the creation of the [[OneWorldOrder World Government]] (to be fair, the superpowers were on the brink of WorldWarIII).
74	* In Oleg Makushkin's ''Literature/CrystalLattice'', the world is divided into two opposing superpowers: the [[CyberPunk Cyberempire]] (also frequently called the [[MegaCity Cybercity]]), largely located on the American continents, and the [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke Gaiian]] [[LadyLand Republic]] in Eurasia. The rest of the world is composed of city-states that are being quickly gobbled up by the superpowers in an attempt to increase the sides' advantage for the coming war.
75	* {{Inverted\|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': In the 3000 years since TheTimeOfMyths ended, the Westlands were covered by ten nations which fragmented into 30, were briefly reunified into TheEmpire, and fragmented again. The modern-day nations have contracted to the point that half of the continent is unclaimed, which some characters fear presages the slow decline of civilization into oblivion.
76	* In ''Literature/WeAreLegionWeAreBob'', Bob is awakened 117 years in the future to learn that the US has been taken over by religious fanatics, who have turned the country into FAITH (Free American Independent Theocratic Hegemony). FAITH now dominates North America. South and Central Americas are, for the most part, in the hands of the Brazilian Empire. The United States of Eurasia controls most of Europe, with China dominating Asia. There's also Australia, but it's a smaller player. There is an African republic, but it's not likely to play a significant part in global politics.
77	* ''Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'' is an AlternateHistory novel taking place in a universe where the Black Plague killed around 90% of Europe's population, leading China and the Islamic nations to become the world's two dominant superpowers. By the time the plot gets to the 20th century, virtually all of Africa and Eurasia is ruled by either China or Dar al Islam, while virtually all of America is ruled by the Haudenosaunee League (the Iroquois).
78	* ''Literature/SeparatedAtBirthAmericaAndDrakia'': Drakia. By the 20th century, they've conquered all of Africa plus the Middle East as in the [[Literature/TheDraka original series]] by Creator/SMStirling. The US too owns most of the North American continent.
79	* ''Literature/LegendSeries'': [[UnitedEurope Europe]], the [[MiddleEasternCoalition Middle East]], and [[AfricaIsACountry Africa]] have all united into single countries each. Since most of Europe has been submerged and the United States is [[DividedStatesOfAmerica divided in two]], Africa is one of the world's new three superpowers, alongside [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China]] and Antarctica (whose ice has melted, promoting settlement).
80	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
81	** Played straight with the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, which used to be composed of seven independent monarchies. When Aegon I Targaryen arrived 298 years ago, he subjugated six of the seven and crowned himself the King of the Seven Kingdoms, beginning a united monarchy. The seventh monarchy, Dorne, remained stubbornly independent, however, and was only integrated by the Targaryens through AltarDiplomacy 189 years later.
82	** For hundreds of years, the continent of Essos used to be dominated by an empire called the Valyrian Freehold, which was said to be the greatest state in the Known World. Like the Targaryens after them, the Valyrians achieved superiority through liberal use of dragonfire, an advantage that no other nation possessed. However, since the [[CataclysmBackstory Doom of Valyria]], Essos is back to being fragmented to multiple states fighting for supremacy.
83	* Subverted in ''Literature/TerraIgnota''. By the year 2454, the world's nations have been superseded and replaced by the seven Hives, but the Hives are "non-geographical" nations that claim no sovereign territory apart from their capital cities. In other words, the entire Earth is a commons where citizens from any number of Hives bump shoulders and sleep under the same roof. There are places where the population is more one Hive than another, but that's about it. Citizenship to a Hive is optional, voluntary, and can be renounced at will, meaning it's possible to be a citizen of ''no'' Hive and still live a normal life. [[spoiler:The one exception is the United Nations of the Great African Reservation, a pan-African federation of the world's last true nation-states, which the seven Hives have long dismissed as irrelevant to global politics. Book 4 proves this to be a mistake, as while their power is limited, they play a crucial role in bringing WorldWarIII to a close.]]
84	* ''Literature/InTheYear2889'' extrapolates the imperialism of the late 19th century to the point where the United States controls all of the Americas (and Britain), France controls western Europe and all of Africa, while Russia controls eastern Europe and India.
85	* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Literature/LookToTheWest'': much of West Africa becomes officially known as the Space-Filling Empire after its main architects, a Mr. Space and a Mr. Filling.
86	* Yakutia in ''Literature/SuperpowerEmpireChina1912''.
87	* ''Literature/DecadesOfDarkness'' has this with the US which conquered most of the Americas, the Russian Federation which includes most of Eurasia and various member of the Restored Empire like Central Africa.
88	* The Literature/ChaosTimeline has the New Roman Empire, the Russias and the German technocracy. However, the trope is mostly avoided by introducing "Chaos" - wide areas of the world, esp. in Africa, where the governments change every few months and the borders every few years.
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91	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
92	* ''Series/FTLNewsfeed'': Very early in its existence, the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] produced a daily short series in which the Earth of 150 years in the future has consolidated into six super-states:
93	** North American Union: union of US and Canada. Capital: Chicago.
94	** European Community: stretches from Ireland to Russia. Capital: Brussels.
95	** New Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere: all Pacific Rim and East Asia nations except for Australia. Capital: Singapore.
96	** Holy Islamic Federation: formed by Middle Eastern Islamic nations and exerts loose control over all of Africa. Capital: Cairo.
97	** Hispanic Commonwealth: Central and South America. Capital: Bogota.
98	** Fortress Israel: pretty much the same as today, except surrounded by a unified Islamic state. Capital: Jerusalem.
99	** There's also India, but no super-state wants it.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
103	* ''TabletopGame/TwentyThreeHundredAD'': Mexico has absorbed all the other Central American countries with the exception of Panama (they also have large parts of California, Arizona, and New Mexico, [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack and for a while they held onto Texas as well]]).
104	* ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'': An InvertedTrope. For several centuries, the (known by humans) world has been under the control of a single [[TheEmpire empire]]. After things get messed up, several nations go from declaring independence ''and'' opposing the Empire (Azur Alliance) to independize and watch what happens waiting to act with one band or another, or simply ignore all the fuss and go in their own. By far the three major [[spoiler:not in the shadows]] powers are the already mentioned Empire of Abel (much larger and powerful than any other, but with its forces scattered over its entire area) and Azur Alliance (considerably smaller than Abel, but looking for ways to offset that difference of power and with its armies much more concentrated), plus the Holy Church of Abel (very small in geographical terms, but having significant political and especially religious power).
105	* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The majority of the Inner Sphere is ruled by a grand total of five [[FeudalFuture Feudal Houses]].
106	* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the majority of the timelines of with even the Reich-5, which was conquered by the Axis powers, is still full of minor nations that were too insignificant to directly take over and/or voluntarily joined the Axis.
107	* ''TabletopGame/TheHyborianCampaign'': Vendhya (which was originally a FantasyCounterpartCulture of India in Literature/ConanTheBarbarian) could definitely be considered this by the time the campaign ended. It began conquering minor [=NPCs=], before going on to conquer one of the player empires and then proceeded to subjugate everything between [[FarEast Khitai]] in the east to Shem to the west. Note that Shem is the FantasyCounterpartCulture of ''Egypt''.
108	* ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'': Done with the first map ever printed of the titular planet, which depicted a major hunk of continent as "the Empire of Dorfin IV", and showed the Empire of Thyatis (whose actual boundaries were much less) encompassing the entire "Known World" region. Averted and {{Lampshaded}} by Bruce Heard's ''Voyages of the Princess Ark'' article series, which revealed this map to be a complete fraud, perpetuated by a DeadpanSnarker who'd named its various Space Filling Empires after his wife, his mistress, and his dog.
109	* Cyberpunk RPG ''[=NeoTech=]'' combines this with BalkanizeMe, some regions balkanizing (eg. North America) and some consolidating (eg. Europe). In Africa countries have been split and joined apparently at random.
110	* ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}}'':
111	** In the ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' SpecialEdition game, the 1-on-1 BlackAndWhiteMorality set up has roughly 1/3 of the territories (most of the unaligned ones) occupied by 2 neutral troops each. This is to help balance the game at the outset, creating enough of a hindrance that neither player can simply sweep across the board on the first turn, but also giving the players a chance to use their strategic defensive positions without having to conquer half the map first.
112	** The main ''Risk'' series also has this mechanic for two-player games, likely for similar reasons. The difference is that the two Powers choose their 14 territories, rather than going from a list.
113	* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': The eastern edge of the world map has several of these, which includes Cathay, Nippon, and Ind (each of which is a FantasyCounterpartCulture to, respectively, ImperialChina, Feudal Japan, and Ancient India). Cathay would end up being UnseenNoMore almost ''thirty years'' after the game launched, being given AdaptationExpansion in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' (with GW [[WordOfGod confirming most of this content would be backported into Warhammer: The Old World]]).
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Video Games]]
117	* Done in the online game ''The Spectrum Wars'', dividing the earth up into major regional power blocs in order to lessen the disparity in power between major superpowers and the third world. For similar reasons, the United States and its military was usually split in half by a civil war in the backstory.
118	* Space-filling empires are the typical result of a game of ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' or ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. Justified in the case of the latter, as there are only seven groups of human settlers, and a few of them usually get eaten up. ''Civilization'' will sometimes have "Barbarians", who may have cities, but they are always hostile, exist to get swallowed by larger civs and never appear beyond the early game.
119	** The "minor civilization" mechanic originated in the Rhye's and Fall of Civilization mod, using them in place of pre-unification civilizations (such as with China), for people native to the Americas and Africa that don't fall into one of the base game's civilizations and the remainders of larger civs that fall apart from civil war.
120	** The Civilization IV expansion Beyond the Sword comes with a mod called "Next War". There are four states: the Pan-Asiatic People Co-Operative, [[OneNationUnderCopyright America Inc.]], The Great Southern Empire, and Europa.
121	** Civilization V tries to avoid this with the concept of "city-states" - smaller one-city landholders that cannot win the game, but which can provide resources and other benefits if appeased. Nothing stops you from conquering them (in fact, the Mongols get bonuses when attacking them), but [[EveryoneHasStandards this is considered very bad form by AI civs]].
122	* The Strangereal Earth of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' is less exaggerated than other examples, but still has considerably fewer nations than our Earth. Notably, superpowers Osea and Yuktobania are approximately the size of South America, while the continent of Anea is divided into only three countries.
123	* The world of ''VideoGame/{{Earth 2150}}'' is dominated by only two nations: the United Civilized States in the West and the Eurasian Dynasty in the East, with the Lunar Corporation controlling all of the Moon. Granted, this is the aftermath of WorldWarIII, but there's no reason why there should not have been more smaller empires.
124	** There are still independent tribes. It just that they are not of real importance.
125	* ''VideoGame/{{DEFCON}}'' has the entire world split between [[AllNationsAreSuperPowers roughly comparable atomic superpowers]], even Africa and South America! The only land that sits out the war is Australia and New Zealand.
126	* Paradox Interactive go to great lengths to try and avert this one, typically releasing numerous patches to rebalance nations to stop, for example, France or Ming China devouring all of their neighbours as far as the Caspian Sea in ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis III''.
127	** Not that this stops anyone from trying... or succeeding. One player managed to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the entire world as the Xhosa]], a one-province pagan minor country with a built-in technological handicap.
128	** In one PVPBalanced designed-for-multiplayer scenario in ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronII: Armageddon'', the world is divided equally between 18 great powers that each control an equal share of the globe. [[AlternateHistory Due to a certain surrealism of the scenario's backstory]], there are many unusual variations of what can happen within the campaign itself. For example, it is possible that the Russian Empire will oppose the Cossack Union or the CSA will fight against Red Japan (People's Republic of the Rising Sun).
129	* To historical sticklers, ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' is considered to be playing this trope despite the above-average number of factions it offers (in some games, upwards of 20). Prior to ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar'', "Independent" regions did exist, but were controlled by the "rebel" faction where each city/region was completely independent from all other "rebel" regions, was incapable of expanding (or even defending its territory properly), any diplomacy with the greater factions (or other rebel cities), and would generally be eaten up by the first empire to send a sufficient number of troops its way. By around 50-100 turns of game-start, there would normally be no remaining rebel territories - the world would be divided between all major factions.
130	** Also, smaller countries and/or city-states that in history were quite independent though sharing cultural resemblance to one another were often merged into single centrally-controlled empires. This happened to the Greek City States in ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'', and most Muslim factions in ''VideoGame/MedievalTotalWar'', among others.
131	** ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar'' changed this a little by introducing lots of "minor" nations that could be engaged diplomatically and would generally behave like the larger factions (with some caveats to prevent them from expanding). Of course, the number of Major factions (empires) vying for power was considerably smaller than in previous games as a result.
132	** Inverted in ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'' with the Romans of all factions: Instead of one unified empire, it was split into three houses with agendas in somewhat different areas of the map. Of course, all factions had to stay mindful of the wishes of the senate, but this was more of a guideline.
133	*** This was done so that 1) The Roman faction wouldn't have to divert it's attention in three different directions at the same time (the Romans are supposed to expand into Gaul/Germania, Spain/Northwest Africa, and Greece/Asia Minor/Egypt/Near East), and the make the Civil war actually work.
134	** When the first expansion for the first game came out it had a bug which made the rebels into an organized faction. Since they started with more than half the map but didn't count as a faction when calculating victory it was possible to win by digging in in your capital with your starting units while all the other factions were overrun in the first few turns.
135	** Also ''subverted'' in the first ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' game. There, races could were limited to certain areas to prevent them from blobbing and keep them more realistic (as in, certain factions wouldn't go certain places because they found it uncomfortable to live in). Imperial Humans, for example, wouldn't move beyond the Grey Mountains or past the borders of Kislev. The Dwarves wouldn't move beyond the mountains, and the Wood Elves of Athel Loren wouldn't leave their magical forests. To facilitate more widespread gameplay in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'', this was done away with in favour of a climate system.
136	* The second ''VideoGame/{{XCOM}}'' game, ''[[VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep Terror From The Deep]]'', has a multitude of countries creating empires. Notable examples include the United States apparently comprising all of North America, The European Union, Southeast Asia, and the Oceanic Alliance (Japan and Australia being the major participants). Notably, there's also a lot of ''empty'' space in the Geoscape, representing countries or alliances that aren't funding the X-Com project, and are therefore not particularly important or worth protecting. According to the backstory, the global consolidation results in 16 recognized nations. Only once is this trend inverted, when Alaska secedes from the US to form the People's Republic of Alaska.
137	* In the backstory for the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series, the USA had already annexed Canada and was invading Mexico with the goal of annexing it when the nukes started flying.
138	* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Dark Crusade'' uses a RiskStyleMap to represent the twenty or so territories being fought over by seven different factions, occupying a single continent. Frankly ridiculous in Soulstorm, where the number of territories is roughly the same... but now spread over ''four planets''. Any given faction could conquer two territories and be ruling over half the planet.
139	* In ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'', the world is divided up between several NATO-like alliances with varying degrees of logic. The United States and Japan form P.A.T.R.I.O.T., Europe and her former colonies form S.A.B.R.E., Russia and Cuba are H.A.M.M.E.R., what's left of Asia forms A.N.V.I.L., and the oddest is S.M.A.S.H., an alliance of Africa, South America, and Antarctica.
140	* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' has North Korea steamrolling right over all of Southeast Asia just like Japan did in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, despite there being several very strong armed forces in the area. (It makes a bit more sense when you know the original antagonist was [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China]].)
141	* ''VideoGame/{{Starsiege}}'', Dynamix's HumongousMecha RobotWar simulator, featured [[OneNationUnderCopyright Meta-Nations]], nations created from a fusion of countries and corporations in the aftermath of the ''first'' unspecified apocalypse. These "Meta-Nats" effectively ended up being entire continents with some sparse subdivisions. Canada, Greenland, the United States, and Mexico merged to form the North American Prefecture, while the rest of Central and South America formed the Inca-Brazil Axis. Everything West of the Ural Mountains became the European Alliance, because China had spread down to India and up to Russia to become Greater China. The response to this was Japan, Australia, Indonesia, and a slew of other oceanic countries (including a chunk of Alaska) uniting to form the Pacific Rim (no, not [[Film/PacificRim that one]]). Not to be left out, almost all of Africa formed United Africa. Finally, the entire Arabian Peninsula and its nearby countries like Egypt, Iran, and parts of both Afghanistan and Pakistan were claimed by the [[OneWorldOrder Great Human Empire]] as their Imperial Protectorate. Remarkably, there is fairly little of the expected squabbling or corporate warfare with seven such powerful groups on the planet, as they ''do'' have to worry about a [[AIIsACrapshoot homicidal supercomputer AI somewhere in space]] plotting [[OmnicidalManiac total extinction of all biological life on Earth]].
142	* ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'' has the world conquest mode, which due to its effects on history, typically ends with 3-5 major empires dominating the map. For hilarity, there is nothing forcing these to be the ones that dominated in real life, nor are major monuments limited to where they're supposed to go, which can result in the Lakota invading Britain as a prelude to capturing the Great Pyramid of France.
143	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' has most of the world split up between two mutual defence treaties that [[HistoryRepeats intentionally mirror NATO and the Warsaw Pact]]-- the [[TheFederation Winslow Accord]] and the [[TheEmpire Common Defence Pact]]. The WA is made up of the US and UK, most of the former EU/NATO nations (since both organisations have collapsed by the 2060s), and various Western-allied countries like Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia etc., while the CDP is led by Russia and comprises most of Eastern Europe, big chunks of Africa (who have their own smaller superstate, the Nile River Coalition), and numerous traditional "bad guy" countries like Iran and Cuba.
144	* ''VideoGame/MarchOfWar'' could be described as "Space-Filling Empire: The Game". An AlternateHistory, DieselPunk, WeirdHistoricalWar game where UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is a ''literal'' world war being fought by six superpowers:
145	** The Shogun Empire, the Tokugawa Shogunate turned expansionist conqueror in the 17th Century; rules Southeast Asia from Japan to India.
146	** The Soviet Union, founded by the collapse of the Russian Empire in the late 19th Century, secretly backed by meddling European nations. Occupies mostly the same territory as the real world Soviet Union.
147	** The Latin Junta, a military dictatorship backed by the Soviets to undermine Europe. Controls Central and South America and fights the Soviets to promote its own flavor of communism.
148	** The African Warlords, who were inspired by the Latin Junta to depose their colonial overlords as well. Controls Africa though prone to in-fighting and coups.
149	** The European Alliance, Europe unites under England, France, and Germany after losing all of their colonies and having half of the world hate them.
150	** The United Republic, Canada being annexed by the United States.
151	* ''VideoGame/MercsOfBoom'' has the world split into the North Atlantic Defense Alliance and the Red Dragon Union. While there are neutral territories, the majority of the surviving population is in either Alliance or Union megacities.
152	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'': The Commander's Challenge has a variation where the three world powers (Allies, Soviet Union, and Empire of the Rising Sun) are fought all over the world with little regard for geographic or historical sense (the in-story justification is that the borders are completely messed up after the wars). Thus you fight the Japanese mostly in Asia but also the Caribbean, California or the Atlantic, the Soviet Union in Russia, India, or Australia, the Allies in South America, Europe, Africa...
153	* ''VideoGame/TerraInvicta'': The player can enforce this through national unification policies. You can create a ExpandedStatesOfAmerica to include Canada and Mexico, create a UnitedEurope with only a little push (and expand it to include the UK, Norway, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia), form the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Union African Union]], or either [[MiddleEasternCoalition the Arab League or the Caliphate]], or do something even crazier like folding Europe into a Russia-dominated Eurasian Union, or uniting Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand into Greater Indonesia. The game also pragmatically incorporates smaller nations into a larger geographic area (for example, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are one "Baltic States" nation; the various Balkan states are similarly two larger nations of that same name, Northern Balkan States and Southern Balkan States, though you can optionally reform Yugoslavia too) [[AntiFrustrationFeatures because it would be a pain in the ass to manage over two hundred smaller countries]].
154	* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' in Space stage has the Grox, whose empire spans the entire center region of the galaxy and comprises roughly 2,400 star systems and 5,000 planets. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with other alien empires, who start with only one planet just like the player.
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156
157	[[folder:Web Animation]]
158	* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The [[FictionalEarth planet Remnant]] is only made up of four kingdoms - Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral - on three continents with a few other landmasses, such as the continent of Menagerie and the island of Vytal.
159	** However, this is a JustifiedTrope due to the ever-present threat of Grimm, who will invariably attack any settlement without extensive and expensive protections. Even just building new cities requires several times the amount of resources than normal, with the settlements still failing ninety percent of the time.
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161
162	[[folder:Webcomics]]
163	* ''Webcomic/LeifAndThorn'': Some regions of [[http://leifandthorn.com/comic/saturday-sketchbook-world-map/ the World Map]] have lots of small (and mostly-nameless) countries, but the whole polar region is simply labeled "Sønheim." In addition, the southeastern part of the continent is mostly covered by a space-filling ''desert''.
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:Web Original]]
167	* ''The Aggluti'''nation''' and the Americans'' subdivides the world into 11 supercountries. The titular Aggluti'''nation''' (yes, the bolding is important) was the first to be created and, through various methods, conquered most of South America, southern Africa and parts of Australia, and others (including [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica Hockey Stick!]], [=SuperMexico=], *Ia and others) united so they would be better-equipped to fight the '''nation''', once it was clear that the '''nation''' meant [[TakeOverTheWorld serious business]]. In addition, two countries, Russia and North Korea (which now renamed itself to simply Korea) avoided being conjoined into these supernational groups, and a small part of South Africa remains separate from the Aggluti'''nation'''. [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101115103134/pasaruconworld/images/d/d2/2033_The_Mega_Manning_Begins.png Their world map looks like this.]]
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Western Animation]]
171	* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Both the original ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and its sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' take place in a universe where there are four nations spread about the planet: Fire Nation, Air Nomads, Earth Nation, and Water Tribe. The Water Tribe occupies two different regions, the North and South Poles, as well as the small Foggy Swamp Tribe in the Earth Nation. The all-but-extinct Air Nomads were traditionally nomadic, though they had four temples that acted as their central bases, with a fifth temple added in the sequel series as they try to revive the culture of the Air Nomads. A fifth nation, known as the United Republic, is formed in the sequel from the area where the Fire Nation first invaded the Earth Kingdom after the war ended with the townspeople refusing to separate as many have learned to co-exist including marriages between the two nations citizens.
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Context Main / SpaceFillingEmpire