Map Project: Great Northern Wilderness (100% DONE)

[zyanitevp]

You keep getting better! Awesome work!

[Glistam]

Man, this looks so good! I thought at some point that I saw Havea and Avramstown were elsewhere, but when I went to go try and prove it I ended up coming to the same conclusion you did, that it must be in that city location noted in the Wolfen Empire book map. So I don't know what I was thinking. Those small rivers along the inland sea across from Lopan seem to have strange names - I assume they came from your insider info on the Lopan book?

It's strange to me that there's nothing around that nexus in the Disputed lands - it's only noted in Library of Bletherad (though it's said it's in the mountains themselves) and it's one of the few ley line nexuses from that map which the book says has been verified. Such a strange phenomenon. I love the icon you use for the Nexus though! I also think it's very interesting how many of the Northern cities seem to line up with the one ley line there.

I also literally just now realized that you called out the Western Empire colonies over in the Grasslands, but what about the other Western colonies, and the Eastern and Lopan colonies along the coast? Page 19 of the Wolfen Empire book shows the colonies. The Wolven stronghold you placed along the inland sea coast is actually right next to a batch of Eastern colonies! I also see now, looking at this, that there are Eastern/Lopan colonists where that Nexus I was just lamenting about is located (the section later on the Bruu-Ga Belimar Mts notes Lopan colonists as well as Eastern colonists). This information just begs for an adventure to be written - what are the Eastern/Lopan "colonists" up to by settling such a potent source of magical power?

[Hotrod]

Thanks for the feedback!

Man, this looks so good! I thought at some point that I saw Havea and Avramstown were elsewhere, but when I went to go try and prove it I ended up coming to the same conclusion you did, that it must be in that city location noted in the Wolfen Empire book map. So I don't know what I was thinking.

I went back and forth on it, too; I tried three or four combinations of locations for Havea and the Algor Mountain Collective; this seemed to fit the source text the best.

Those small rivers along the inland sea across from Lopan seem to have strange names - I assume they came from your insider info on the Lopan book?

They did. "Vreim" and "Tleirf" seemed a little odd to me, but given the different cultures present, there are bound to be some weird-sounding names. I blame the Coyles.

It's strange to me that there's nothing around that nexus in the Disputed lands - it's only noted in Library of Bletherad (though it's said it's in the mountains themselves) and it's one of the few ley line nexuses from that map which the book says has been verified. Such a strange phenomenon. I love the icon you use for the Nexus though! I also think it's very interesting how many of the Northern cities seem to line up with the one ley line there.

That seems a bit odd to me as well. There are three ways I can explain it.

First, it seems that the Bletherad ley line map is very incomplete. Consider Bizantium, for instance. There multiple canon ley lines in its northern woods that are mentioned but not described in detail. This incompleteness is consistent with Palladium's tendency to imply that there is more to a region (settlements, ley lines, places of interest) than what they mention in the books. This is further supported by the decision Kevin and Wayne made not to include the ley line in the printed Bizantium map that I made, which was in the Bletherad ley line map.

Second, ley lines and their nexuses aren't obvious in the Palladium world like they are in Rifts. They don't glow at night, they don't have rifts open up randomly, and nexus-based pyramid technology isn't a thing here, so there would be no obvious markers. Most magic users probably wouldn't want to advertise the locations of such places, preferring to keep such information to themselves.

Finally, if this is a known location, then it's a known location to lots of powerful and jealous magic users who come here to perform some specific magic, and then go away. The way I see it, taking ownership of such a location would be very risky, because very powerful people would contest any effort to exclusively control it.

As a side note, I was looking through Bletherad in the same section, and there are some former Dwarven and Elven Empire cities that are likely ruins now that should be on the map. One of the dwarf cities was right on this nexus (I may or may not add that one; it depends on how it looks), but there are also two in northern Lopan and another on the Inland Sea coast. I'll add those in.

I also literally just now realized that you called out the Western Empire colonies over in the Grasslands, but what about the other Western colonies, and the Eastern and Lopan colonies along the coast? Page 19 of the Wolfen Empire book shows the colonies. The Wolven stronghold you placed along the inland sea coast is actually right next to a batch of Eastern colonies! I also see now, looking at this, that there are Eastern/Lopan colonists where that Nexus I was just lamenting about is located (the section later on the Bruu-Ga Belimar Mts notes Lopan colonists as well as Eastern colonists). This information just begs for an adventure to be written - what are the Eastern/Lopan "colonists" up to by settling such a potent source of magical power?

The Eastern Territory colonies are tricky for several reasons. First, they aren't specifically described in the published canon text as far as I know (yet). Where's the reference on the Lopan colonists? Glen has provided some info on one of them in the area of the aforementioned oddly-named rivers, and I will add that one in. However, I've got nothing on the colony just west of the Belimar mountains other than that one map in the Wolfen Empire book. It's possible that the Wolfen Empire fortress is located in the same spot because they just took over, or perhaps this is the center of a high-drama standoff or an active conflict? Glen would have to address that. The Wolfen Empire outpost at the western foot of the Bruu-Ga Belimar Mountains comes from Glen Evans. This seems consistent with the text from page 48 of Wolfen Empire, where the wolfen have a heavy military presence in the Southlands, drawing a line as if to say "come here and there will be war" to the Eastern Territory.

I was going to say the same of the other Western Empire colonies, but I was just looking through Western Empire, and found two names: North Port and Falton Crest. Their populations are small (2,000 people or less), too small to control the amount of territory they're assigned in the Wolfen Empire map, but I'll put them in (possibly with somewhat-reduced land areas).

[Glistam]

The reference to Lopan colonists is later in the Wolfen Empire book, where it talks about the Bruu-Ga Belimar Mountains and their population breakdown. I can get a page number later tonight - it's just the one reference and as I recall, it's no more than 3,000 total in "the mountains" and none of the shaded colonies on the other map are called out as Lopan - just "Eastern." I thought that area near the Nexus might be settled by Eastern & Lopan colonists because the Library of Bletherad, despite clearly drawing the nexus south of the mountains, says it's IN the mountains, and the map showing the colonies as shaded areas has a small shaded area right around there as well.

You're pulling the information about the ruins from the Elf-Dwarf wars maps, right? I wish I thought of that! I went to look at the maps but only in an attempt to try and see if I find a city that could be equivalent to Northern Elfland. I was dismayed the war maps didn't show that far north.

The point about the Ley Lines makes sense. Even LoB calls that out, saying they shift over time and there are many more than the map shows. It doesn't even show the Ley Lines or Nexus at Glade, for example! I like your idea of having ruins near or at the nexus - that gives my issue some closure and opens up some cool potential story hooks.

[Glistam]

Also as far as the colonies go, I was talking about an area shade like you did with the Western Colonies and like how the Wolfen Empire map noted it. I don't think the Wolfen Empire book ever calls out names for any specific settlements, just a general area range of "there's settlers and settlements here-abouts in the area." But finding any specific named colonies is pretty cool, too.

[Hotrod]

The reference to Lopan colonists is later in the Wolfen Empire book, where it talks about the Bruu-Ga Belimar Mountains and their population breakdown. I can get a page number later tonight - it's just the one reference and as I recall, it's no more than 3,000 total in "the mountains" and none of the shaded colonies on the other map are called out as Lopan - just "Eastern."

Found it! page 136, in the middle of one of the adventures. I'm more than a little surprised at the amount of world information that's been packed into those. I might just add in the two towns of Wrijin and the Badd Lands, as the canon description of their locations doesn't match up to any of the trading centers on the published maps. It also mentions a Lopan monastery in the 101 adventure ideas section, where this weird troll monk character is described, but I don't think I'll throw that in, since I don't have a precise location.

I thought that area near the Nexus might be settled by Eastern & Lopan colonists because the Library of Bletherad, despite clearly drawing the nexus south of the mountains, says it's IN the mountains, and the map showing the colonies as shaded areas has a small shaded area right around there as well.

What some folks might call "in the mountains," others might call "in the foothills." It's a matter of perspective, I suppose. Though my map has the nexus about 100 miles south of the peaks, that could be considered part of that same rough country. Then again, maybe I'm just rationalizing my own laziness of not wanting to re-draw these things.

The point about the Ley Lines makes sense. Even LoB calls that out, saying they shift over time and there are many more than the map shows. It doesn't even show the Ley Lines or Nexus at Glade, for example! I like your idea of having ruins near or at the nexus - that gives my issue some closure and opens up some cool potential story hooks.

I found a way to make the ruins icon work at the nexus despite the overlap, so that will be included as well.

[Hotrod]

Also as far as the colonies go, I was talking about an area shade like you did with the Western Colonies and like how the Wolfen Empire map noted it. I don't think the Wolfen Empire book ever calls out names for any specific settlements, just a general area range of "there's settlers and settlements here-abouts in the area." But finding any specific named colonies is pretty cool, too.

There are 4 colonies along the north shores of the Inland sea. As of now, 3 of them have names on the map and will get town icons. The last one is the one next to the wolfen fort. I'm going to shift the fort slightly east and put it right on the western foot of the Belimar Mountains, and I'll draw in a border for the colony. I'd feel better if I could put in a town with a name there as well, but I suppose that a small, decentralized colony would work, too. I'll put it in.

[Hotrod]

Update: I've made tweaks to all three versions of the map, especially the political one. I will update the OP links this weekend when I upload them to my DA account, but you can click below to get a preview now:

Changes to the Bare version:
+Added in lots of tiny trees in many places where totally bare ground didn't seem appropriate.
+Added autumn leaf colors for the Kadriel region in Kiridin, since that's the land of eternal autumn(This may be a bit too subtle, I'll re-look it tomorrow)

Changes to the Natural Geography version:
+Updated Natural Geography version to include the latest Bare geography updates and the red nexus/Devil's Mark.
+Increased the size of the paw symbol in the compass rose because GLORY TO THE WOLFEN EMPIRE!

Changes to the Political Geography version:
+Updated to include the latest Bare map version and the updated compass rose.
+Re-worked the national borders to include Lopan and the newly-added colonies along the Inland Sea coast.
+Added additional ruins icons in Bizantium to match the published canon map.
+Added ruins icons in Lopan and the Inland Sea coast to match former city sites of the Dwarven and Elven empires.
+Added two canon Western Empire colonies, North Port and Falton Crest, along the northern shores of the Inland sea.
+Added icons and labels for Wrijin and Badd Land.
+Touched up the wraparound thematic frame inscription to clean up the corners.
+Adjusted some of the text headers in the panel.
+Changed the Western Empire mainland town icon into a city icon and labeled it “Arenatown” in accordance with canon. It's a provincial capital, even if it is under my 50,000 person city threshold (I'll need a whole new scaling system for Western Empire cities when I do that region)
+Added labels to the Western Empire mainland, the wolfen fort west of the Belimar Mountains, Southwatch, and several small, but significant town icons (especially the isolated colonies). Note that I'm not sure about the size of the Lopan settlements, so I'm guessing they're towns, not big cities. I'll ask Glen about it.
+Re-worked the Bizantium label to make the otter easier to see.
+Added the wolfen fort icon to the legend.

At this point, I'm ready to call this a finished product. I don't plan on adding any more features or doing any more major revisions, except for one more version I'm personalizing for the folks over at the Rebuilt campaign. That said, I'm happy to correct any errors that pop up, especially when Lopan gets published.

[Glistam]

It looks great!

[Hotrod]

It looks great!

Thanks! The latest versions are now posted on my DeviantArt web page (see the original post in this thread). I'll update those pages with any future tweaks/revisions.

[mirithol]

Bravo Sir! Love it.

[zyanitevp]

Heading to the yearly Rebuilt meet up in Vegas. Get back with my group. Will reach out next week.

[Glistam]

I was the guest G.M. for the last two A God Rebuilt games and I was pleased to be able to use this map in our game! I loaded it into Roll 20 and placed our ship icon in it and used it as a visual reference for our sailing trip from Whitewater to the Dragon's Claw. Every time I look at these maps I'm just in awe again over how great they turned out.

I never mentioned it before, but I also really enjoy the subtle touches to the map, such as how you made sure to color in the Kadriel region in Autumn colors. These maps are simply splendid!

[kiralon]

another great map, hmm maybe we should crowd fund the next one

[Whiskeyjack]

another great map, hmm maybe we should crowd fund the next one

I've suggested this a few times.
There was even a brief discussion on an Atlas, which I recently had some more thoughts on for filling the pages...

[pblackcrow]

Good job!

[pblackcrow]

You forgot to label Northolme...Eastern Territories.

[Hotrod]

You forgot to label Northolme...Eastern Territories.

Nice catch. I'll fix it.

[Hotrod]

Fixed.

[zyanitevp]

Fixed.

Nice

[kiralon]

Have had GNW and Timiro printed to a1 professionally.

The timiro map looks good
The GNW looks even better, the deep blues of the ocean look magnificent.

[Hotrod]

Thanks! That's good to know. out of curiosity, what kind of paper and print size did you use?

[kiralon]

Just saved the png files and took them to a printing shop who then printed them to A1 (23.4 x 33.1 inches) on mapping paper (their words), nice and thick, feels good, looks better. Should have done it ages ago. Might actually go for the A0 next time.