Once they put it up I'll remove it from my site, but in the mean-time here it is for everyone to enjoy - consider it a little 'Thanksgiving' present from me to D&D, for all the wonderful years it has given me.
Laerakond (Returned Abeir)
Cool!
arg, so close to my idea... back to the drawing board.
18DELTA (Chosen of Cyric) ;)
The 'bare-bones' map from the FRCG gave me a lot more creative freedom with this then I am normally used to, and I hope it shows.
Ed Greenwood is going to be doing a series of articles about the place, so I thought it deserevd a 'cleaner' version.
I also left-off Anchorome and Lopango - both of which should be close enough to be seen on that map. However, I felt folks may want to use this as a stand-alone setting, or even place it elsewhere in the Realms (thats how 3e players will probably want it), so thats why I don't give any indications to the positions of other nearby landmasses.
If you need a visual reference for it's official placement, then check this quick throw-together of mine -
http://markustay.deviantart.com/art/Laerakond-Placement-103795833
Impressive. I need to browse some more maps...
My only issue is that Fimbral is bitterly cold. So I envisioned Returned Abeir as being further North. Getting rid of Maztica was not necessary, all they had to do was nudge the two continents a little further east. Oh well, that is why we all add a touch of home brew.
I'm actually considering a re-work of the Returned Abeir lore for Anchorome - when I do Anchorome (after the holidays), I'm going to have a terrain-only version, and then one with placements for all the RA stuff, so that people who don't want Retuurned Abeir appearing in their campaigns can still use its lore for Anchorome, which was never detailed.
And almost makes me wonder why the heck WotC didn't do that.
As for the mountains - I found it a bit weird myself, but I picture it being like Tibet. Even though it falls out at the exact same lattitude as Saudi-Arabia (mostly hot deserts), it is freezing cold. Altitude plays a huge part in how cold Fimbrul is.
However, I still agree with you 100%, and felt that the continent should have been more north, especially considering how it was described as being near Evermeet (which I had to move to make the 4e lore work).
Ya know... :lightbulb
Now that I think about it... why the hell didn't it just replace Evermeet? They turned the Elven Isle into a barren lump, and then swapped-out Maztica for ho-hum Returned Abeir. Wouldn't it have made boatloads more sense in Laerakond had appeared in place of Evermeet, thus killing two birds with one stone, and leaving poor misunderstood Maztica alone?
The more I think about the decisions that were made...
But you should get rid of everything Maztica, Lupango, Anchorome... its dead, over and lost. Raise Evermeet and Returned Abeir... it will only be alone in the Great Trackless Sea. Also, your Faerun part of the map is not 4e but 3e (look at Chult, Lantan, etc.), you should remove them to make a True 4e World Map !
I too am not happy with what they've done to Maztica, but I found Returned Abeir more "realms standard" and interesting than an Aztek-like nation.
Anyways... Amn can trade even more greater Golds or strange things !
I also liked the other map you've done with Xendrik in place of Katashaka... I always love the idea of Xendrik and its forgotten empire ! So much Indiana-tomb adventure !
The Xendrik one was based on that one, and an even faster 'rush-job" (it took me five minutes using the other reference map).
I'm not proud of either, and they weren't meant to ever be used in any sort capacity other then "ahhh... thats where it is".
Lopango is not gone, and neither is Anchorome, and since I like both better then Returned Abeir, why the heck would I get rid of them?
If I'm going to produce non-canon material, it will be about stuff I like. I don't care for 4e, so any maps I do for it will be strictly canon (except for a couple of things I named myself on that map, but WotC can have those - I make no claims to them).
Lopango is not gone, and neither is Anchorome
What's on those two continents? Where's the canon?
Good enough for me - I certainly can't remove them if they are indeed still there, which several designers have attested to (maybe not Lopango, but they said Abeir replaced Maztica, and it's way smaller then Maztica, so I'm assuming the southern, un-detailed portion remains.
Someone could just as easily say that it replaced Anchorome, or that it did replace ALL of Maztica (erasing Lopango as well), which would shift it slightly south on my reference map , and further away from both Anchorome and Katashaka (which are still there - Ed was even supposed to detail Anchorme in the 4e FRCG, but some brain-surgeon came up with Returned Abeir instead, late in the game).
However, I left off any references to the other continents on the Laerakond Map itself, so you could use it anywhere, even on another world or as a stand-alone setting. Put it wherever you want, I don't care - BRJ had a somewhat more northerly placement on his 'suggestion' map. The fact that they didn't bother to include a world map for 4e leaves the whole thing wide open.
Personally, I would use Xendrik before either Retrurned Abeir or Maztica - it's much better developed, and not so similar to existing Faerûn to be a needless redundancy.
"Hey look! A bucket-load of medieval-style fantasy kingdoms with dragons and Orcs"
Yeahhhh... FR needed that like a hole in the head...
The other thing I've been toying with for my own Homebrew Realms is that Maztica and Chult were always one locale - and then do a map blending the two (making it very similar to GH's Hepmonland, which was that settings Africa and Meso-America). I really like the idea of a large landmass where 4e Chult is for all my jungle-goodness needs. :D
Then I'd just dump Xendrik below Anchorme in place of Katashaka, and use some other setting in place of Anchorme (not sure what though - perhaps GH). I'd also use Retruned Abeir in place of Evermeet - I never liked the Elves having an Island Kingdom, especially one so far north.
Time for me to start tinkering with my own world again...
-A natural disaster instead of a spellplague to advance the realms into 4E.
18DELTA (Chosen of Cyric)
Doing to humans what that meteor did to the dinosaurs - he was a total loon.
Kind like you. :P
Back on Topic:
Does anyone see any corrections that I need to make? I noticed a little weirdness with a couple of locale names - Font sizes and positioning - and I'm working on corrections now. Also cleaning-up a little bit of the terrain I wasn't entirely happy with.
How do you make those wonderful maps ? Photoshop ? Campaign Cartographer ?
and is it possible to burrow your unflattenned image ?
Also, I beleive when they decided to drop maztica, it was all the Maztica and adventures that they drop, including Lopango...
But its still possible to play 3.5e or 3.75e with 4e FR... personnally if I stay with 3.75, I may be more incline to include Spellpoints from old Netheril Box ! After all, they say that Netherese weren't using the weave... so you don't NEED to make yourself an homebrew world and continue to make great FR maps ;)
18DELTA (Chosen of Cyric) :P
I have a feeling Ioulum was the first of Mystryl's Chosen - or at least the first human one. His invention would have gotten all the Netherease to switch over to 'Weave Magic', which would have been a considerable boon to Mystryl's power.
Thats just my take, but I picture Mystryl and her Weave being somewhat different then her clergy let on. ;)
As for the maps - Photoshop and lots and LOTS of patience.
When you say 'unflattened', do you mean stripped of all the loacales?
Since your using Photoshop, I'll speak in photoshop terms... your psd file with all towns and things layered. ;) (that is what I call unflattened ;), since you flatten the image to make one layer and saving in jpg). So the question is, would you share those files ?
Thanks !
PS: On another topic, if you like a 3.5e alternate magic system, I suggest Monte Cook Experimental Might which split spells on all the levels. Mage gains new spells every level. Very interesting !
And for that I'll post a 'blank' of RA for you tomorrow. ;)
Believe it or not, I only started using layers a few months ago - I used to re-daw everything over and over again until I learned how to use them properly. A year ago no 'unflattened' version would have existed.
EDIT: I just realized - you are not looking for a 'Nakit' version - you are looking for the PS file. PM me your E-Mail and I'll shoot it to you.
I had given CandleKeep the exclusive on this, but they don't seem to be putting it up (it's been two weeks).
Once they put it up I'll remove it from my site, but in the mean-time here it is for everyone to enjoy - consider it a little 'Thanksgiving' present from me to D&D, for all the wonderful years it has given me.
Laerakond (Returned Abeir)
:OMG! And I felt so good about myself when I updated our downloaded 3rd edition realms map with a few extra names and one tiny little forest.
I'm considering worshipping you, but what kinda domains do you grant and all?Since Madness is in my portfolio, I suppose that gives me some power over Cyric.
I suppose it makes me a Lord of Madness as well... talk about ironic - I HATE Aberrations.
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Dark and Empty Domain?