Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 drjug Oct 31, 2008 17:13:46	Hey All, Well I own a large set of FR maps. All the maps are wonderful, but only recently I noticed I have no political maps. I then thought, well maybe they are all city-states, I realized how foolish that was. There are nations without a doubt, but I cant find any maps that shows their borders. If someone would be kind enough to direct me to a location where I can find one, I would be very thankful.
#2 colman Oct 31, 2008 17:45:20	I don't know how you'd draw one: to take an example, the eastern border of Cormyr seems to be pretty much undefined, and I've done a pretty detailed sweep through the canon lore on the region recently. Kingdoms seem to fade out into no-mans land: the edge of the kingdom is whereever the King's power peters out. Calling them nations is problematic by the way, because it attaches assumptions about how things work that don't seem appropriate. Unlike the real world, it is possible in FR for a piece of land to have no owner.
#3 Stigger Nov 01, 2008 3:29:43	Political boundaries are a relatively recent modern-era invention... perhaps two nations decide that a border rests along a line from the Eastern Edge of Mount Blah-Blah, to the Southern End of the Valley of Blub-Blub... but where it actually rests probably depends more on who draws the maps or leads the patrol than anything else. And most rulers like it that way, as it gives them a pretense to start a war when some farmer plows a field on the wrong side of some rock he decides to conveniently claim.
#4 wannabesuperman Nov 01, 2008 7:29:53	For campaign building, the lack of explicit borders is a two-edged sword. It offers a wealth of potential conflict and adventuring, but it makes me work harder to plan/allow for it.
#5 suin_bahhar_02 Nov 01, 2008 9:28:05	That borderline would snake and move each year. Heralds would try to raise banners at crucial and easy to spot landmarks and patrols would have to actually protect them. Those banners could only be maintained on the most stable of borders, those with the intention and resources to uphold such vigilence.
#6 lord_karsus Nov 01, 2008 11:56:04	-All of the above is why there aren't any maps with well defined political boundaries. ;) -There is a smaller map in the FRCS that has political boundaries on it. Not the greatest, but it provides exactly what you're looking for.
#7 wannabesuperman Nov 03, 2008 7:13:14	-There is a smaller map in the FRCS that has political boundaries on it. Not the greatest, but it provides exactly what you're looking for. Are you referring to the 3e book? I haven't seen an updated political map in any of the 4e books.
#8 markustay63 Nov 04, 2008 0:32:28	As everyone has pretty much said, borders are wherever you want them to be on any given day. You really CAN'T define set borders in the Realms - for instance, how the heck would you seperate the Dalelands from Cormanthor?
#9 1_ton_ghost Nov 04, 2008 11:49:50	Depends on the mindset/nationality and their political/military clout. Some are understood and clearly defined per tributaries, particularly rivers. Some have geographical landmarks of no small order: The land rift between the Shaar and Eastern Shaar is a good one, but it's impossible to govern and who's want it anyway? Thay's mountainous border is fairly well defined. Shadovar holdings are allegedly all of Anauroch but impossible to fully patrol. The Wealdath, Cormanthor, and the High Forest are pretty much, "where the green (forest) ends", etc. Others are more grey; the jungle wastes between Chult and Tashalar leave alot of "unknown area" as to where 'x' starts and 'y' ends. And even then, in climates like that, they are impossible to patrol regularly. Even now, they have to remap Amazonia alot per GPS cuz' it's so meandering and far from static, hence it's namesake, "The Green Hell".
#10 rinonalyrna_fathomlin Nov 04, 2008 20:35:13	Ill-defined borders in the Realms suits me just fine (and IMO, suits the nature of the setting just fine too).
#11 markustay63 Nov 05, 2008 13:40:37	The borders of any country are drawn at the end of whatever sword-tip is is furthest away at the moment.
#12 rinonalyrna_fathomlin Nov 06, 2008 9:40:22	The borders of any country are drawn at the end whatever sword-tip is is further away at the moment. LOL, That's too true.
#13 Bluenose Nov 06, 2008 10:20:39	The borders of any country are drawn at the end whatever sword-tip is is further away at the moment. In Shou Lung, the border is where they buried a dragon. (OK, so it's a magical binding ritual, but...) Practically, in a lot of areas the "border" is defined as anywhere your troops can patrol without getting challenged by someone else's troops. Lots of fuzzy bits.
#14 colman Nov 06, 2008 14:25:32	challenged by someone else's troops Or eaten by a monster.