My homemade map of Amn and the surrounding region:
(Click to open in new window.)
The map is the first map I've ever (successfully) made. I'm working on a hex version of the above map, with each hex roughly equivalent to one day of travel. The map I used contains all canon locations, and is largely based off the 3E Map with some information drawn from the 2E Map of the region.
The Merchant Kingdom of Amn
The Merchant Kingdom of Amn
"The Merchant Kingdom," as it is frequently called throughout the Realms, was nearly brought to its knees by the ravages of the Spellplague. Things were already going poorly before the Year of Blue Fire, as Amn struggled to deal with rebellious southerners defecting to a stabilized and strong Tethyr, revolts within the colonies - particularly Maztica - and the aftermath of the Sythillisian War. All of these things weighed heavy on Amn, and just when it looked as if the Merchant Kingdom had turned the corner things got worse.
In the wake of the Spellplague virtually no major settlement went unravaged. Even the beloved Amnian capital city of Athkatla saw major destruction, with nearly two thirds of all its buildings leveled or burned to the ground. Hundreds of thousands died, if not more, not only as a result of the destruction, but to the plagues and famine that followed. Vast numbers of refugees that flooded forth from the cities into the countryside turned to banditry and lawlessness, which only further prolonged the devastating event.
The majority of the Council of Six died in the destruction of Athkatla, and most that survived lacked the legitimacy and ability to hold the government together. All except one. Though in his early 70's Erlranther Alibakkar, the Meisarch of the Council, publicly declared a state of emergency and named himself First Councilor of Amn. He gathered what remained of the Amnian military, and numerous mercenaries that were willing to fight and secured what was left of Athkatla. With none able to resist he stabilized the city and began working to restore order to the surrounding countryside, and ideally to all of Amn.
Though he did not live to see his plans come to fruition, he singlehandedly laid the foundation for the new Amnian government that arose from the ashes. It would take nearly twenty-five years for Amn to be restored to a sense of stability, and in that period drastic changes were made.
Today, Amn has recovered much of her former glory. The Merchant Kingdom is the wealthiest nation in all of Faerûn, and there is rarely a single coin that does not touch an Amnian hand at one time or another. The cult of Waukeen flourishes and considers the nation its spiritual home on the mortal plane; and the cults largest temple (one of the wonders of the new world) is located in the capital of Athkatla. As in the past, so it is today: business is trade, and trade is business - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
"The Merchant Kingdom," as it is frequently called throughout the Realms, was nearly brought to its knees by the ravages of the Spellplague. Things were already going poorly before the Year of Blue Fire, as Amn struggled to deal with rebellious southerners defecting to a stabilized and strong Tethyr, revolts within the colonies - particularly Maztica - and the aftermath of the Sythillisian War. All of these things weighed heavy on Amn, and just when it looked as if the Merchant Kingdom had turned the corner things got worse.
In the wake of the Spellplague virtually no major settlement went unravaged. Even the beloved Amnian capital city of Athkatla saw major destruction, with nearly two thirds of all its buildings leveled or burned to the ground. Hundreds of thousands died, if not more, not only as a result of the destruction, but to the plagues and famine that followed. Vast numbers of refugees that flooded forth from the cities into the countryside turned to banditry and lawlessness, which only further prolonged the devastating event.
The majority of the Council of Six died in the destruction of Athkatla, and most that survived lacked the legitimacy and ability to hold the government together. All except one. Though in his early 70's Erlranther Alibakkar, the Meisarch of the Council, publicly declared a state of emergency and named himself First Councilor of Amn. He gathered what remained of the Amnian military, and numerous mercenaries that were willing to fight and secured what was left of Athkatla. With none able to resist he stabilized the city and began working to restore order to the surrounding countryside, and ideally to all of Amn.
Though he did not live to see his plans come to fruition, he singlehandedly laid the foundation for the new Amnian government that arose from the ashes. It would take nearly twenty-five years for Amn to be restored to a sense of stability, and in that period drastic changes were made.
Today, Amn has recovered much of her former glory. The Merchant Kingdom is the wealthiest nation in all of Faerûn, and there is rarely a single coin that does not touch an Amnian hand at one time or another. The cult of Waukeen flourishes and considers the nation its spiritual home on the mortal plane; and the cults largest temple (one of the wonders of the new world) is located in the capital of Athkatla. As in the past, so it is today: business is trade, and trade is business - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Dude, awesome.
As promised, here are two hex maps.
Light Hex:
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Dark Hex:
(Click to open in a new window)
The hexes are the same size in each, the only difference between the two is darkness.
If anyone is interested here is the template I used:
(Click to open in a new window.)
It's the large 3E Map that's downloadable from the WotC website. As you can see everything adheres pretty close to the original. There are only a few non-canon changes: The "neck" of the Dragon's Neck is a little wider, which I think makes the Peninsula look better visually. The island of Brynnlaw was added, which houses Spellhold; though I moved it much closer to Athkatla than in canon. Mosstone is a bit further to the north. Purskul was also moved slightly south (very slightly!) so it could be close to the River Esmel. It made more sense that way. The same is true for Keczulla - it's moved very slightly to the east so it is closer to the river.
Aside from two road name updates (the Trade Way maintains its name north of the Cloudpeaks - it doesn't become the Coast Way, and the southern road along the Wealdath forest becomes the Wealdath Road), everything else is the same. All of the locations listed are canon locations, most of which are taken from the 2E Map.
I am hoping the scale is correct. I attempted to determine the correct scale for the map at Candlekeep, but didn't receive that much help. Ultimately, based upon my own measurements using the 3E Map scale, I determined that Amn was roughly the size of modern day France. So, using that as my baseline scale, I stretched the template map to fit the scale I was using for my hexes.
Each hex is 25 miles across. The square miles of a given region of the map is used by measuring the blocks with the hexes. Each block is equal to 15,625 square miles (125 x 125). The total map covers 625,000 square miles - water and all. However, Amn itself (excluding water) covers an estimated 231,250 square miles - slightly larger than modern day France. The area "claimed" by Amn extends from the coast, the entire range of the Cloud Peaks and Small Teeth, south along the Troll and Giant's Run Mountains, east along the Deepwash, moving south along the Wealdath Road, with the southern border being the Wealdath Forest.
I decided to use 25 miles for each hex because it is roughly equal to one days travel for a human walking or on horseback. Assuming that the human maintains an average speed of 2.5 miles per hour and travels for 10 hours. This is roughly what is expected for a day's travel and is pretty accurate based upon what I could find on the subject. Of course, this assumes optimal terrain (flat land and a road) and weather conditions. If less optimal terrain or weather conditions are encountered, the speed of travel decreases. However, using the hex as a baseline is amazingly helpful.
With the hex map you can determine troop movements and travel times. I'm currently working on something that will detail how traveling works based off the stuff I've researched. This may seem unimportant, but it'll help determine things such as: If an apple is harvested in an Esmeltaran orchard how far can that apple travel in realistic conditions before it is no longer edible? Hopefully, I'll have the answers to such questions very soon.
Also, if anyone is interested, I have an estimate of the size of Faerûn. It's roughly the size of North America which is 9,361,791 square miles (Canada + Mexico + United States). For comparison Europe covers 3,997,929 square miles. I stretched the entire 3E map to fit the scale used for Amn.
Yeah, the scales are kinda wonky from map to map, especially between editions, well 1st and second were pretty much the same. But the 3e one's a little off, and then the 4e one...
well I dont want to get into that, haha!
Ive been told that according to Ed, all the maps are inaccurate, I believe there was something written up about that in the Old Grey Box, about the maps being more accurate around large cities, but less accurate further away from civilization.
But from what I understand, Ed has said that the maps from the Forgotten Realms Atlas are the most accurate, of couse 4e Spellplague kinda screws alot of that up.
Oh and I love that you added in Spellhold!! I wouldnt of even knew that that wasnt its canon location if you hadnt of said anythin.