OOC: Maps

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Graybeard
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OOC: Maps

Post by Graybeard »

As things get more intricate in both Kiyoka and Port Lorrel, I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to create on-line maps of those two cities so that participants (and kibitzers) can keep track of where the action is. I'd do this myself, but I'm an utter klutz with map-making software, as some previous attempts have demonstrated rather conclusively. However, if anyone is willing to do the graphics magic, I'd be more than happy to help -- IF people think it's really a good idea.

Two issues must be dealt with. First, there needs to be some consensus as to the contents of the map. It won't be useful, but will be a bone of contention, if half the people running characters in Port Lorrel think the World Traveler Inn is north of the harbor and right on the shoreline, while half think it's south of the harbor and well inland. The in-principle solution, presumably, is that a location not be added to the map until context makes it reasonably clear where it is, which leads to the second issue: the maps will obviously develop over time, and will need fairly frequent maintenance. This has to be consistent with both the forum software (which shouldn't be a huge problem) and the time and availability of the developers (which may be).

How do people feel about this? Comments encouraged.
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Viking-Sensei »

It'd be nice if we knew where exactly Port Lorrel is. I'll get with Poe tomorrow and see if there is a slightly more complete world map somewhere in existance that we can update the master off of... or, alternately, I'll say "Ok, here's a red marker. Make me some X's."
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LordofNightmares
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by LordofNightmares »

A map of the cities would be nice as well so we know where the shopping area and the like, also a world map.
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by AdamZero »

http://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/Map

here's a start. Right under our noses even.
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Graybeard »

AdamZero wrote:http://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/Map

here's a start. Right under our noses even.
A thing that has bothered me from the day this map first went up (or the day I first started reading Errant Story, I forget which came last) is that the Farrel part of this map doesn't make sense. It looks like the Farrelian mini-continent is completely bisected by a river -- as in, it starts on one side of the landmass and runs uninterrupted all the way across to the other side. Continents just don't form that way. Yeah, I know --
:catgirl:
and all that -- but there is an in-story reason to be bothered by it. If the doughty crew currently in Port Lorrel ever ventures out into the countryside, which is desirable -- who wants to spend all their adventuring time cooped up in an inn? -- there must be a sensible countryside to venture into. I have no idea what that might look like in Farrel as drawn.

Since Poe isn't (or at least isn't supposed to be) watching this, I propose a minor "clarification" of that map for Errant Road purposes: let the two lake-like things in the middle of Farrel represent mountain ranges that form the "headwaters" of the rivers flowing southwest and northeast. One of these (I'd prefer the northeastern one) could be the "Mountains of Madness" that have come up a few times in the narrative -- where there will be some stuff for the party to do, if and when they ever get there. Really; I promise. Viking? Could you get a read from The Poe on whether this, or something superior, makes sense?

Meanwhile, a capacity for city-scale mapping would still be nice.
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Weirdonian
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Weirdonian »

I can help out with this map project. My credentials...

http://www.vikingspace.com/multiversestudios/ES_Map.jpg

And this...

http://www.vikingspace.com/multiversestudios/MP_Map.jpg

I actually drew that Errant Story map earlier this spring and it's based on the one in the Heretic Knowledge Vault. As to why I never posted it before, well, I thought I did an OK job with what info there was, but I didn't really have enough to make a proper, useful map, so I kind of abandoned the project.

As for the other map, it's depicts a certain planet at a certain time in my own scifi story that I'm working on: Weirdonaja.

I can provide some initial sketches for Errant Road once we sorta figure out where things are.
Graybeard: Continents just don't form that way.
Indeed. Unless the rivers aren't natural and the Dwarves, or whomever, built a massive canal system on Farrel and it just sorta degraded into a river or series of rivers over the millennia.

...And it's a good thing I previewed this post because apparently we can now only post images that are 600 pixels wide, so the links to the images will have to suffice. :|
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Graybeard »

Weirdonian wrote:
Graybeard: Continents just don't form that way.
Indeed. Unless the rivers aren't natural and the Dwarves, or whomever, built a massive canal system on Farrel and it just sorta degraded into a river or series of rivers over the millennia.
Canals don't naturally turn into rivers; rather, they silt up. That's the general problem with long, narrow, stagnant waterways, and it's the reason why a completely trans-continental waterway like the one on Farrel is implausible unless somebody is going to a lot of effort to maintain it.

Of course, one can't completely rule out the possibility that some predecessor of Meji or Kureji had something to do with this ...
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Viking-Sensei »

Oh yeah, that reminds me... gotta fix that. Maybe tonight... mwahaha.

Anyway, how about this...

Farrel could be sitting atop two seperate plates... at one point in time, they were pressed together and the resulting disruption formed a chain of volcanoes which provided the raw material to form the island... or the resulting bulge never volcanized, but the pressure from underneath raised the sea floor up in that area. Then, millions of years later, the pressures shifted suddenly, and now the plates are pulling apart, causing the land mass to seperate... and what we're seeing isn't so much a 'river' river as it is a giant water-filled crack that runs across the landmass. That would also explain the giant gouge in the mainland that more-or-less corresponds to the direction of the fault, as Veracia and south is slowly drifting south and east (I'm picturing the southern plate as twisting clockwise slowly over the course of ages).

Alternately, the entire landmass of Farrel could have been one giant super-volcano ages and ages ago that's slowly sinking back down... the lakes in the middle are actually in a barely-noticable caldera. Weather paterns still cause massive amounts of rain to fall in the center, being partially effected by the mountain-ranges lining the caldera, which feed the massive central lakes.
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Graybeard »

Viking-Sensei wrote:Oh yeah, that reminds me... gotta fix that. Maybe tonight... mwahaha.

Anyway, how about this...
(geological weirdness omitted)

I suppose weirder things have happened in otherwise earth-like fantasy worlds. The main thing is that we need to arrive at SOME kind of understanding of what Farrel and other locales look like. At the very least, it would be handy to leave room for the Mountains of Madness somewhere north (northeast) of where Port Lorrel is. Hmmm ... maybe that fits the caldera model. Kugelheim needs to be out there too, but it could be anywhere within a day's (horse/stage) travel of Port Lorrel.

With Tsuiraku, things are obvious: a mountainous spine running the length of the main island, with other terrain as needed, and most of the population (except in Tsuirakushiti) concentrated in the coastal lowlands. (BTW, this explains perfectly how Grope came to find himself in Kiyoka.) Veracia isn't difficult either; think either Scotland or Greece, with a meandering central mountain range leading to similarly meandering watersheds and thus rivers. The lands of the Northern Confederacy can be whatever they need to be. But I'm still struggling with what Farrel is really like.
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Re: OOC: Maps

Post by Viking-Sensei »

As to city locations, I took a guess at a few of them... some established, some are the ones I made up.

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Also, ignore that continent to the south. It doesn't exist. No sir.
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