· v1.5.0
Rulers with faces, successions in the open, theories over a state's whole history, and an “i” on every block
- Investigate
- Theories
- Rulers and reigns
- Design and reading
A state's investigation now shows its succession at the top — every reign on the calendar, the rulers in order as portraits, and how many handovers were irregular — rather than behind a mode. Every ruler named anywhere wears their picture, opens their entry and answers the hover card. The theories are read over the events of a state's own history, every block explains itself on request, and tables of numbers are drawn as bars.
- How power changed hands, in the reading itself: the reign strip coloured by how each reign ended, the rulers in order as faces, and the irregular handovers counted — a killing, an execution, a death in battle, a coded deposition, a violent death within a year of leaving, a rival already reigning, a rising beside it or a coup. “Died in office” includes a tsar strangled in his bedroom, and the violent share is printed beside it.
- Every mention of a ruler — in the reading, the reign list, the rows of the rail — shows their portrait where Wikimedia Commons has one (5,276 of the 6,394 rulers on the lines), opens their entry on a click, and shows the card on hover, including rulers the atlas holds no entry of its own for.
- The theories are read over a state's own history: for each theory, how many of the risings, regime changes, massacres and wars the atlas records under the state it applies to, and which — so the Byzantine Empire no longer reads as a state no theory has anything to say about.
- A way back: a “Back to the investigation” button at the top of the Succession, Background data and Compare cases panels.
- An “i” beside every block of the investigation, opening two or three sentences on what the block is and how to read it.
- Tables of numbers — how the reigns ended, the line by century — are drawn as bars with the count, the share and the source on hover; the columns are one click away.