Map Beginnings

[Darkniciad]

I've redrawn the world map, which is going to slightly reorient a few places ( for anyone who saw the original maps ) Hoping that I'm remembering everything right and these movements aren't going to clash with what I've written anywhere *laugh*

 

This is just a beginning. There aren't any rivers, lakes, or a lot of other features. It's just a general world map with some of the mountains drawn in, experimenting with the tools in the new cartography suite. Thought I'd post it, as well as a labeled version, with some information.

 

Here's the WIP, unlabeled map:

 

 

And here's one I've slapped a few quick outlines and numbers on just to show where some places are:

 

 

1 = Egoria, the setting for Blackhawk Hall, King Thakkorias, Queen Alicia, etc.

2 = Draxnia, mentioned many times, especially in Blackhawk Hall and the upcoming story "Lowborn"

3 = Freeland, mentioned quite a few times. Richest/most powerful nation in the region.

4 = Normandal, mentioned recently in SOTM, and going to come into some Nobles stories eventually.

5 = The Western Baronies, where the Forge and Witharton ( from Ebon Genesis ) are.

6 = Ferrartene, where Zoraster's complex is.

7 = Protectorates of Armand, where Danica and Devan grew up, seen in the Arts Ardane series.

8 = The Greek/Roman region of my world, which I believe we've only visited in "Danica"

9 = The Egyptian region of my world, featured in Danica and recent chapters of SOTM.

10 = Right around this large island somewhere is where Darkni's island is. The island itself is too small to show up on the full world map.

11 = The Japanese/Chinese region of my world, which will get some screen time soon in SOTM.

12 = These islands are a combination Polynesian/African culture. A lot of Ch. 14 of "Danica" took place here.

 

Celes is from somewhere up North on the main continent. It's a Norse region that hasn't really had any screen time.

 

Anyway, that's a few general locations. Now, I'm going to get back to writing for a while After nailing down a few things last night in the new software, I just had to get something down to make sure I actually understood it *laugh*

[Darkniciad]

A little bit tighter ( but still quickly and crudely labeled in Photoshop ) view of where most of the action in my world takes place. There are a few more features added in with the cartography software ( still WIP and may change )

 

I went ahead and broke up Egoria into the four Duchies: Leonar ( Capital is on the coast ), Cratel ( Fightershaven is in the lower center on the rim of the Great Crater ), Mithas ( Sparsely populated except on the coast and near the mountains where there's money to be made stone cutting and mining ) and Gana ( Given over almost exclusively to the Plainsmen, Elves, and the Ironanvil Dwarves -- having only one sizeable human population near the Eastern Border on the edge of the lake )

 

The only heavily populated Duchy is Leonar. There are large tracts of the rest of the country that are open plains. Thakkor set aside large chunks of the nation important/sacred to the Plainsmen and forbids settling there. People still do, but they're risking sudden relocation when discovered ( Or worse if they start attacking Plainsmen )

 

 

I also changed my mind about Normandal *laugh* I put it back in a position closer to where it was on my original maps ( also closer to the original pen-n-paper maps from my tabletop game )

 

Odds are that I'll shrink Freeland a little bit East, and extend Ferrartene South into that unlabled area. I only thought of it after saving the map, and don't feel like editing the thing again

 

This let me reorient things a little better, making more sense of a few things that go on in the stories.

 

Such as hiking for days on end in Egoria, seeing little civilization, in the Nobles history tales. The current orientation better fits that. Putting Normandal where it is alleviates concerns that I might have mentioned it being to the East at some point in the story. Here's hoping I never said "North", because I'll have to edit any chapter where I did.

 

Draxnia now only touches Cratel ( well, a bit of Gana, but there's not much there he wants ) which explains why it bears the brunt of assaults from there )

 

That little area of desert surrounded by mountains is an as-yet unexplored area of my world ( Not sure if it's been mentioned in any stories ) It's populated by ancient explorers from Osiran who got shipwrecked here. They're quite mixed race from years of wandering, though upon discovering the valley that reminded them of their desert home, they've stagnated and now shun outsiders. They have their own Pharaoh, and a little mini-kingdom there.

 

It's also populated by several powerful undead NPCs from my world. It was actually called the "Land of the Dead" on my original world maps. Odds are that it will get some screen time, eventually.

 

Okay, back to writing.

[Darkniciad]

This one is pretty much done, as the stories stand right now. The nice thing about this software is that it will be exceedingly easy to make changes or add to my maps now, as everything is saved as individual entitites that can be edited. If I get new symbols to pretty things up, I can simply replace existing ones ( The roads, for example )

 

So, if you've ever wondered exactly how all the locations ( well, except for Kindred, which takes place in the BWCA ) in the Magic of the Wood series relate to each other, here you go.

 

 

I've already roughed in a location or two for later, as well as placing Dan & Brooke's house on the map, even though that location has never been mentioned.

 

All those open fields are simply expansion zones, where I'll end up adding locations as the tales continue to emerge. You can pretty much assume that all the open areas are wooded.

[Darkniciad]

Did a little more work on the Xantina map, incorporating the new symbols. The old one is in the previous post, for comparison.

 

 

And here's what it looks like when you zoom in a little. You can actually get in a lot tighter than this.

 

 

With the custom, modern houses, this map is now complete as the storyline stands. First one to go final

 

All the maps will be subject to updating with new locations as stories evolve, so even a "final" isn't really final.

 

Now I have something to actually put on a maps page when I get it coded.

[Darkniciad]

Here's the beginnings of a new one, to coincide with me writing Blessing of the Wood. Just landmass and water right now. Helping me visualize my location in the BWCA.