Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by darebear

There is a volcano on the island. It has a red peak. If you want another one we can do that.

I didn't see the red bit, so no need to add an extra volcano. The French & Caribbean themes to Aratere really make me think of Montserrat.

[Pursuivant]

The "boring" areas of the map might be good places to drop in cultures that didn't get mentioned in the Banestorm book. There could be areas with Amerindian-, African-, Eastern European- or German-descended populations.

An African-based culture with lots of little villages would be perfect in for arid rift valley region between the Fence of God and the unnamed SW coastal mountain range. The transported Eastern and North Africans lucked out and ended up in territory that was so similar to their original homelands that they adapted easily. The only drawback to their new existence, other than orcs, is the djinni using them as servants and guinea pigs.

[darebear]

Agreed Pursuivant. There is a lot in the Banestorm book which only gets a few sentences, requiring the GM to run with the scant amount of information presented (which I think is designed to spur the imagination rather then limit it).

Sadly, the blank, featureless large scale map does not always facilitate creativity on a micro scale. Tens of thousands of square miles end up disappearing to the background where in reality we are actually dealing with huge areas which could easily swallow up whole civilizations like Greece without taking up more than a few hexes on the map.

[apoc527]

Originally Posted by darebear

Agreed Pursuivant. There is a lot in the Banestorm book which only gets a few sentences, requiring the GM to run with the scant amount of information presented (which I think is designed to spur the imagination rather then limit it).

I fully agree and for the most part, appreciate that!

Sadly, the blank, featureless large scale map does not always facilitate creativity on a micro scale. Tens of thousands of square miles end up disappearing to the background where in reality we are actually dealing with huge areas which could easily swallow up whole civilizations like Greece without taking up more than a few hexes on the map.

It would be great to superimposet Greece and some other ancient civilizations (or even all of medieval Europe) over Ytarria the same way that the US was superimposed. I think it would be great for really hitting on scale.

[darebear]

I am reworking the mountains in Zarak and al-Haz today. Nothing major, but I will be using the space better. When I originally laid the area out I was not thinking about what I could do with the area on a micro level. The re-layout will provide for some much needed valleys, plateaus and glaciers, with the individual mountain chains having a little more space between some of them.

Tbone had an excellent idea: a large canyon leading to the lower realms of Ytarria. This will be going in the small area between the Great Desert and the western edge of the Fence of God. There are ancient ruins there as well, which fits the backstory that I am working on. The Landtear, likely caused by a Post-Banestorm Reality Quake leads down to the realms that I refer to as The Deep. The gash, almost 200 miles long is surrounded by volcanoes, badlands, mutated/dead forests and the decayed cylopean stone ruins of unknown origin. Beyond the memories of even the Elder Races, the Landtear defies all attempts to divine its origin or purpose, while down in the Deep, lays beings and artifacts which were ancient before Man walked upright.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by darebear

The plains just south of the Great Forest, between the Great Desert and the mountains.

The terrain suggests dryland uplands or possibly a rift valley. Its proximity to the Great Desert means that the area was magically transformed before it turned into a Low Mana Zone.

It's possible that a river once flowed between the ruins to the north to the ruins to the south near the unnamed southwest coastal mountain chain. The entire region was lifted by the Banestorm or tectonic action, making the southern end of the river, which once emptied into the Southern Sea, into a dry canyon. That might have been the mundane origin of the The Deep. (It's also possible that the Banestorm didn't blow away the mana in the desert, but "drained" it into the underground, making the Deep a Normal or High Mana Zone.)

Think of the coastal regions of Kenya or Somalia. For that matter, you could have an African-based nomadic culture in the area. If the Banestorm picked up people from Asia, it could have just as easily picked up some Africans.

Originally Posted by darebear

The area north of the al-Wazif hills, and the region between the Smoke and Makarem rivers.

It's anything but boring because it's on the border between Caithness, Megalos, and Al Wazif, with the elves of the Great Forest to the immediate Southeast. That means also sorts of international tensions.

It could also be an area like the "Debatable Lands" along the Scottish-English border prior to unification or the 19th century U.S.-Mexico border with warring clans/cattle-raiders/bandits taking advantage of international tensions and slipping over the borders as needed. You could reinforce the "Wild West" theme if the governments of Al-Wazif, Caithness & Megalos are encouraging settlers to "civilize" the territory, while the natives vigorously resist them.

Since the terrain is relatively flat it might lend itself to herding animals, which would reinforce the cattle-raiding or Wild West themes.

It might also be a good place to put a population descended from Eastern Europeans or Spaniards (or both) with "Cossacks" or "Reconquista" overtones.

Geographically, it's might be an area of low rolling hills and uplands which separate the Smoke & Makarem River basins before flattening out near the points where those rivers join with the River Conn. It looks like a temperate climate, so it could be terrain reminiscent of Northern England, the Ohio or Upper Mississippi Valleys or the Rhine or Danube Valleys. There will probably be intermittent forests in the areas not specifically marked as grasslands.

Originally Posted by darebear

West Megalos - between the Blackwoods and Lake Acheron.

Assume that the nominally flat areas to west of Lake Acheron are actually rolling hills that drain the streams flowing out of the Blackwoods Forest hills, while the more coastal areas are fertile flat formerly glaciated areas. You've got a line of unnamed towns which are clearly on a major trading route which means lots of fertile agricultural hinterlands to support them. It might look like the Shenandoah or Yakima Valleys but bigger.

In terms of settlement, it's got all the advantages that the Great Lakes had in the 19th century - cheap transport of goods to and from the interior of the continent. There will be a lot of money to be made from trade alone. It could also be an "industrialized" region since it will have lots of streams suitable for mill races. Loggers will try to log the Blackwoods hauling it the coast (via a magic road or golems?). The various trading towns might be at each others' throats. Finally, there will be plenty of monsters coming out of the Blackwoods to raid more settled areas as well as ordinary banditry and piracy.

It might be good place to put a German-descended population to get a sort of Hanseatic League meets Black Forest feeling akin to Warhammer FRP.

Originally Posted by darebear

Eastern Orclands around Castle Defiant. I have considered populating this with small human enclaves, beholden to no other Leige, with a rebuilt/undestroyed Defiant, struggling to hold back the Orc tribes.

This is another good place for human bandits, outcasts, and would-be empire builders. That lake to the east of the Castle Defiant hills/forest is fed by three rivers, one of which flows to the sea, so it's a great place to found a city.

Fertile grasslands to the east of the lake might be potentially good farming or herding land. Perhaps an area reminiscent of the Black Hills of South Dakota or the Wasatch Valley near the Great Salt Lake.

This is another place you could drop villages of human descended from Eastern Europeans, Africans, or even Amerindians. It's also a fantastic place for technological reformers, inventors, and recent Banestorm transportees who don't want their memories wiped since it's about as far from Megalos as you can get without being completely in the wilderness.

Castle Defiant is also in a really stupid location if its job was to deter orc raiders. A better site might have been to the east of the lake controlling a major river ford (to prevent orc armies from crossing) or up in the wooded hills so it has a better field of view and better defensibility as a watchtower.

There's got to be a very good reason that the castle was built in the middle of nowhere and the region had to be appealing enough to attract enough people to build and run it. It might have been built as a political statement as much as a defense, hence the name.

That suggests lots of very stubborn and resourceful humans in small villages around the lake and in the forest to the east of the castle. There also have to be abundant and potentially valuable resources if the area can just be properly settled and developed, but it also has to be something the orcs don't want or can't use themselves (rare spices? valuable woods? magical minerals?). Local sentiment is virulently anti-orc and there's lots of popular will to push human settlement as far west as they can. Think early 19th century American settlers or 21st century survivalists.

[apoc527]

Originally Posted by darebear

. This will be going in the small area between the Great Desert and the western edge of the Fence of God. There are ancient ruins there as well, which fits the backstory that I am working on. The Landtear, likely caused by a Post-Banestorm Reality Quake leads down to the realms that I refer to as The Deep. The gash, almost 200 miles long is surrounded by volcanoes, badlands, mutated/dead forests and the decayed cylopean stone ruins of unknown origin. Beyond the memories of even the Elder Races, the Landtear defies all attempts to divine its origin or purpose, while down in the Deep, lays beings and artifacts which were ancient before Man walked upright.

MORE ON THIS PLEASE!! (And when will the map of The Deep be ready for sharing?? :-) )

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by darebear

The Landtear, likely caused by a Post-Banestorm Reality Quake leads down to the realms that I refer to as The Deep. The gash, almost 200 miles long is surrounded by volcanoes, badlands, mutated/dead forests and the decayed cylopean stone ruins of unknown origin.

Useful atmosphere for this kind of place can be found in China Miéville's novel The Scar.

[darebear]

Thanks for the feedback fellas. Took much longer than I thought. Inkscape has so many features/tools that it often takes me awhile to translate an art concept into something digitally pleasing.

3 versions of the map are posted:

1) One with all the various new areas (deserts, wastelands, ect).
2) Near canon map without large area changes.
3) Canon map based on the original bare bones map.

Bronze Mountains and Fence of God re-laid out. Valleys, larger glaciers and frozen mountainous badlands added. I need to figure out how I want to draw ridges and plateau lines to my liking.

Dycastle Island detailed, along with Meglan villages and scattered towers (sorcerous or otherwise).

Added a small-medium sized forest in southern Cardiel, the Ivywood (may or may not keep this...thoughts?)

Small woods of one or two hexes are now marked with green contours rather than just individual tree icons.

Some special location details along the Zarak and Caithness border (valleys, major water falls, ect). Lots more still to add. Gorges, lairs, canyons, major mountain peaks.

Landtear Wastelands added. Strange radiations permeate the blasted area in small pockets, creating zones of extreme climate changes, along with dead and mutated forests and cyclopean ruins which dot the landscape, spreading outward from a large ruined city of unknown origin. The Landtear is an 8 mile wide, almost 200 mile long fissure leading to the Deep.

The Western Badlands are now the Glowing Hills - an area laid to waste by the Djinn during their many internecine conflicts. The area is home to dangerous energies, blasted ruins (both above and below ground), artifacts and mutated monstrosities which wander the wastes and surrounding plains.

The 12 major Orc tribes are now located in the Orclands. The area east of the Defiant is now empty of Orc tribes. I will likely populate that area with settlements suggested by Pursuivant.

I need to give the islands off Ytarria some love. Naval adventuring is amongst the most enjoyable that I remember from my youth.

[JulianLW]

Again, this is totally awesome.

A couple of notes: the Abydos supplement describes the island of Agartha, and it might be worth making a small change or two. Abydos is apparently on the southern coast, next to the Charon River, which I'm guessing is too small for this scale. The east side of the island has silver mines, which I *think indicates it's probably got substantial hills. The northern coast of Agartha is "heavily forested."

Also, I know you said you're going to work on the islands a bit more. Are those two islands in the far southeast corner of the map named anywhere?

Thanks for this superexcellent work! I've been just going over your map, and I love the additions. Especially the Landtear. Cool cool cool.