Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 spellweaver Nov 22, 2004 9:08:40	Just read about the people of the Northern Reaches that "they are notorious seafarers and explorers roaming far and wide in their longships". That got me thinking: What places are left to explore? Seems to me with the Empire of Alphatia mapped out, Norwold becoming gradually civilized and the Voyage of the Princes Ark having detailed all of the Savage Coast, Northmen would have to sail halfway around Mystara (almost) to explore uncharted coasts and waters? How availble are reliable maps in your campaigns? How well would a Minrothad Merchant know the waters and coasts of, say, Norwold or the Jennite Holdings? :-) Jesper
#2 Hugin Nov 23, 2004 21:17:39	Well, IMC anyway, I'd probably say that Norwold still has some considerable stretches of coastline to be explored and almost all of its interior. Other than that though, the western coast of Skothar would have a lot of unexplored area I think. Thats a long sail past prying eyes, mind you. The serpent peninsula should have most of its coastline unexplored, as with the Immortals Arm and pretty much all of Davania, Hinterlands excluded. I think there would be a lot of Thyatian explorers around there however. Closer to home, I'm sure they haven't been everywhere along the coasts of the Isle of Dawn, it's rather large! It may be time to venture farther upstream some of the rivers they know about. When it comes to good, reliable maps (again IMC), I'd say they generally only exist for the Known World, the more civilized central portion of the Isle of Dawn (the extremidies have some errors), Alphatia and surrounding islands, the Savage Coast is descently mapped for the most part (again, minor errors) but could be rare. I'd think a map of anywhere else could have major errors in it and be difficult to find. Of course, it's usually easier to find a map of the local area than of one of distant lands.
#3 zombiegleemax Nov 24, 2004 2:13:15	Well, you know, it really depends where you are. Alphatia is a mighty magical empire, so they've got access to easier ways of mapping and screening places (divination magic). I'm fairly sure that if you went to Alphatia and paid a good deal of money, they could supply you with COMPLETE maps of all the places under their jurisdiction (Alphatia, the Yanifey, Norwold, Isle of Dawn, Bellissaria, the Alatians and Skothar) Thyatis and Minrothad have also access to magic, so they may have fairly accurate maps of the Known World, Ochalea, Pearl Islands, northern Davania, Isle of Dawn, Tanegioth, Serpent Peninsula and up to the Savage Baronies). If you're looking for maps of the Savage Coast, you obviously must go to Vilaverde or Texeiras, and they'll give you a complete map of all of the coastlines from the Gulf of Hule to the Yalu Bay, including the eastern coast of the Arm of the Immortals. But apart from these regions and cultures, you've got plenty of unexplored and unmappped regions. The whole mid-north-and western Brun, the whole mid-southern part of Davania, even Skothar and Norwold may not be all mapped out by Alphatians (I especially think about the eastern and southern regions for Skothar and north-west for Norwold). Ostlanders are surely good seafarers, but I wouldn't say they're the best in the world, also because they're rather primitive. They're prolly the best you can find in the Northern Reaches and Heldann, that's for sure. So they will have a perfect knowledge of the Sea of Dawn, the coasts from Thyatis to the Great Bay in Norwold, and all the northern half of the Isle of Dawn, but I don't think they've ever ventured father from this area. ;)