A rearranged Known World
by morgueJust thought I'd share a version of the Known World I've been tooling around with for a possible future campaign. Map done up in Hexmapper (unlabelled)
It basically goes for a higher degree of cultural/geographical logic, so Ylaruam and Ethengar are moved elsewhere and the Atr Clans are gone. It also flips Karameikos and the Five Shires around, so that Karameikos is on a frontier against a big wild region, rather than surrounded on all sides by civilized nations. I think I'll move Hattias off the island and into the gap where Ylaruam was, and Heldaan comes down into the space where the Khanates were.
(Don't worry, I do totally love the Disneyland logic of arabs-next-to-vikings, but I'm curious about playing in a Mystara that plays down those aspects!)
The geographical logic of it is to basically take the map of Europe and flip east/west, so Ylaruam-Arabia is off to the west, on the south coast of the Plain of Fire. Darokin trades overland with it, running a caravan route from the far side of Lake Amsorak through the wild terrain there to the Plain of Fire and then down to Ylaruam.
Ethengar is unplaced, but would probably land somewhere above Hule.
Sind is gone to somewhere-else, too.
I haven't thought too hard about stuff off the map, like the Isle of Dawn and Ochalea and the Savage Coast and even the Isle of Dread. If I get really enthusiastic I might work out nice placements for them. I'm mostly thinking about this as a tool for a campaign, though, so I won't need to reinvent the whole world unless the characters get all excited about globetrotting.
As a further note, part of the goal with this was to be able to use most of the Gazetteers as written - Karameikos, Shires, Glantri, Northern Reaches, Alfheim, Rockhome are pretty much unchanged, Darokin is mostly the same despite a very different geography, Thyatis will need a number of changes but mostly is intact.
Even Ylaruam and the Khanates will be pretty much the same, just in new locations and resultant historical changes. The Gazetteers were designed as drag'n'drop supplements, so they handle this treatment pretty well I feel.
Noted. I haven't thought too hard about the fate of the Isle of Dawn and Alphatia yet. I don't even know if I'm keeping the shape of the continents or changing everything once you get out of the Known World. Probably I'll keep the outlines at least, and probably Alphatia will stay the same, but Isle of Dawn will likely end up very different.
(In other words, I have no allegiance whatsoever to Thothia staying on the Isle of Dawn. The backstory of Alphatia is low on my priority list!)