Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added

[darebear]

Thanks Tbone. When GURPS Fantasy came out in the mid 80s I felt the same way: great potential, lack of detail on the physical representation of the world.

Ytarria is vast and the individual nations cover a much larger physical area than they probably should (based on their populations). Either the authors never bothered to actually compare the population numbers vs the size of the continent, or the canon numbers are only vague estimates. My guess is, due to the lack of a properly vetted and rationalized map, the answer is the former (especially since the original map was done in the mid 80s).

Some facts:
Cardiel, 6 million folks and 275,000 sq/mi (slightly bigger than France) has a population density of 22 people per square mile.

Megalos, 16 million folks and 1.3 million sq/mi (the size of India) hovers around 12 souls per square mile. Modern India has over 1300 folks per square mile.

Now, I live in Canada and our population density is just over 10, with most of the country being uninhabited forest, swamp and tundra.

Megalos, by the book, is the same as Canada: almost uninhabited. In fact, when I ran the numbers from a few supplements which deal with this topic (Magical Medieval Society and ACKS) the inhabited areas under cultivation are not much more than the settlements on the map (92% of the 16 million population is rural, 67 cities and towns, 450 rural population per manor, 1 manor per square mile, 1 map hex is 500 square miles equates to 66 populated hexes. Of course not every hex is fully populated, but the simple fact is that the countryside is in most cases a vast wilderness. The various regions of Megalos, as I interpret the book anyway, are semi-autonomous regions with little to no interaction with each other or the Capital. Megalos, at least to me, is a degenerate fantasy version of the Third Imperium, from GDW's Traveller.

Of course, at the gaming table, none of this matters. 99% of players are not interested in demographics since it is irrelevant to the game. For GMs though what this means is Ytarria has huge potential for traditional fantasy adventures. There is room to fit just about anything: lost valleys, civilizations, monster lairs ect. GMs are also of course free to increase the population numbers to whatever levels they wish (just ignore the timeline and assume much more time has elapsed since the Banestorm than the canon 1000 years).

The canon map is basically done. There is not much more I can add, other than a few minor details, perhaps naming some minor rivers and mountain peaks. Going forward, I will be adding non-canon specific features to the map and posting that map alongside the canon one. These ideas come to me in waves so this is very much a living document.

North America was not explored all at once. The same goes with Ytarria. Who knows what lies over the horizon.