Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Jan 14, 2021 21:52:27 GMT
Kantas geography isn't actually as complicated as it has been made out to be, the various gathered accounts have simply been from unreliable narrators and uneducated adventurers. In this essay I will-
"Our grant application was approved." "How in all the hells did you manage that?" "Some lord thought it might be 'financially beneficial' to have more than a vague sense of the geography of this continent." "Yes, and there's a reason no one's managed it before, you know." "And I say again, how hard could it possibly be?"
"We're going to need a slight extension, sir, it's just that the rivers appear to exist in several places and none at all, possibly also at any given time. A few more weeks should do it. We won't let you down."
"It doesn't add up." "It has to! There's no magical interference detected in that area!" "Run it by me again." "Kurzig Vondar is 120 miles north of Kundar but still on the same latitude as Neuyeya and the Angelbark forest is-" "The Angelbark forest ends 80 miles from the nothern coast." "It can't!" "It has to." "I need more coffee."
"What do you mean 'the mountain moves'?!"
"I haven't slept in 72 hours. Apparently a party made it to Joran by foot some 18 months ago." "That's- that's not possible." " I know."
There's a timid knock on a solid oak door. A gruff voice calls out, "Come". "Sir? So sorry to bother you." "Out with it boy, what is it?" "We've had another grant application, sir." "And this is newsworthy in what way?" "It's from the cartographers, sir. They finished, and now they want to do another one."
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Jamie J
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Player of Taffeta, Heret, Dwirhian, and Egg; Downtime DM
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Post by Jamie J on Jan 15, 2021 8:20:46 GMT
Extremely #relatable. 😅 And a gorgeous map! Thank you for this.
Should we (players) treat the map as 100% objectively out-of-character Correct or as an in-universe map that represents the best efforts of many scholars but may possibly still turn out to contain inaccuracies?
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Jan 15, 2021 9:12:06 GMT
Extremely #relatable. 😅 And a gorgeous map! Thank you for this. Should we (players) treat the map as 100% objectively out-of-character Correct or as an in-universe map that represents the best efforts of many scholars but may possibly still turn out to contain inaccuracies? Both? Both. Both is good. |
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Lykksie
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Posts: 348
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Post by Lykksie on Feb 25, 2021 13:31:19 GMT
Then:
"What does that say? Buried Tower? Is that real?"
"It's been corroborated by three different accounts."
"But what is it?"
"Haven't the foggiest."
"Great."
"Not to be confused with the Sunken Tower over here. You've got to hand it to them, adventurers are nothing if not descriptive in their naming conventions."
"Does that mean I should be concerned about this bit in the Spines where it says White Dragon?"
"Again, not a clue. No one's been over there to explore for a while. Same goes for most of these places, I think."
"Of course not."
....
"Think someone'll go check?"
"Well, I sure as shit ain't."
Now:
"I worked really hard on this you know."
"I do. I listened to you moan the whole time."
"Hush. Have some respect. We're laying an old friend to rest."
"We're archiving an outdated map that we've since made a better version of. It's not a funeral, and I want to go to the pub."
"Yes alright. But you're buying."
Cartographer's note: Please see the updated Dawnlands map further down this thread.
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Lykksie
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Posts: 348
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Post by Lykksie on Mar 19, 2021 21:26:54 GMT
"There you are! Where have you been? I've been waiting for 20 minutes." "I've been waiting for you on Bowler Street, where you said to meet. Where have you been?" "Here. On Bowler Street." "This isn't Bowler Street, this is Bless- Hey, where are you going?"
"Is Daring Street supposed to do that?" "Oh, very much so. It was entirely intentional." "Doesn't it get confusing?" "Yes. But apparently the residents of the street in question like it that way."
"What do you think came first, Tato Street or Hot Potato Corner?" "I'm not getting a doctorate in philosophy, why are you asking me?" "Goddamnit, now I want cheesy chips."
"Hehehehe." "What?" " Grinder Street." "Don't."
"Yes, I see. There's four main roads neatly dividing the city into four perfectly serviceable quadrants but they didn't like that because...?" "Because - and I quote - ' Fuck off, this is Castleside'."
A Note From The Cartographer: This map of Daring Heights is more or less to scale and is also a chonker. Open it in a new tab and zoom about at your leisure. Look at all those pixels go.
A Second Note From The Cartographer: The streets in colour are the cobblestone streets, the rest is good old dirt. And Yes, there's probably more streets with names, but you can't expect the poor PhD students to keep track of them all, can you?
 Last Updated Feb 2022 |
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Apr 26, 2021 16:32:09 GMT
"Why do we need maps of the Fort? We live here!" "And?" "And what?" "And who else lives here?" ".... adventurers." "And what do adventurers do? What do they do really well?" "They wreck shit and cause cha-" " They cause chaos professionally.""Yeah, we need a map."
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Jun 14, 2021 19:48:17 GMT
"Where have you been?" "Making a map of New Hillborrow." "I thought you were working on Port Ffirst?" "Yeah, well, no. It's not working. Can't even get halfway done with a draft without destroying the whole thing. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm probably cursed." "Or you're trying to do the same scale as we did for Daring and all the ink is ruining the parchment." "... fuck me running." "Yeah, could have told you that ages ago. Just change the scale and draw fewer houses, you overachiever." "Fuck off." "Anyway, a map of New Hillborrow?" "Yeah, it was dead nice. Some giant Firbolg gave me a flowercrown and I'm pretty sure an old gnome hit on me. We should go sometime."
 (Zoom in on BB's house, it's super cute.) |
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Jun 25, 2021 17:27:13 GMT
"So is there like a hard line between the two?" "Between New and Old? Not officially." "But you cross the street and feel underdressed suddenly?" "Exactly."
"What happened to you? You're soaking wet!" " IhadtoswimbackfromJinlin'sEstate." "Come again?" "I missed the last boat back from the northern tooth and had to swim back to New Port, okay?" "The Lenoirs aren't going to reimburse your clothes, you do know that?"
"This says Hidden Quay." "Yes." "Should it be going on the map if it's a secret?" "Oh, everyone knows about it." "Of course they do."
"It's not the same." "It's still a perfectly serviceable map. It looks lovely, and it's got all the important bits on it." "The scale isn't right." "I honestly don't think the Lenoirs will care as long as people can find The Flourished Hook and spend a lot of money there." "... The bit around the lighthouse does look cool." "It looks super cool. Well done. Shall we go get drunk now?" "Please."
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Aug 28, 2021 9:28:36 GMT
" Bloody Creek, huh? Another Pro Bono case?" "Listen, Father Jonathan is a total babe and we both know it." "Yeah, I don't know who I'm trying to fool."
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Feb 12, 2022 20:30:12 GMT
"You made another one?" "Yes." "What was wrong with the old one?" "It was outdated! That happens with maps. It is known.""It is also known that when that happens we can update them." "Well. The old one was..." "What?" "It was a little.. meh." "Did you just call my map ' meh'?" "Listen, we've gotten better since then! And look at these colors! The contrast. It's crisp." "I hate you."
 Updated last: February 2022 |
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Mar 17, 2022 18:50:10 GMT
"They found a what north of the Scorching Badlands?"
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on May 22, 2022 21:02:55 GMT
"Listen, about the blueprints for Fort Ett-" "They're wrong, we know." "Then why are they still circulating?" "Because Aurelia Archselon is many things-" "Incredibly hot and very powerful." "-yes, that, but she's not an architect. She designed the fort and as she recast that spell for like A Year, there were gradual changes." "We did in fact make new maps of it, last year. Just in time for a wild magic surge to turn the whole thing pink." "Yes, I see your point. Well, these are nice. And there's no risk you'll have to remake them any time soon?" "Can't see why we'd have to do that. It's a sturdy build. Some thicc walls on that thing." "What if it gets attacked by something? Adventurers live there, you know." "It doesn't even have a front gate. Who in their right mind would use it as a defensive position?"
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Lykksie
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Post by Lykksie on Apr 13, 2023 20:53:20 GMT
"Joran eh?"
"How'd you know?"
"Your hair's a fucking mess."
"Shut up."
"...Isn't that already on the continental map?"
"We got told off for it not being detailed enough."
"Well, they've got a point."
"Plus now there's an election going on and all. Clear borders could be useful."
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