A story told in seven maps.
In a previous post, I introduced the Cerulean language, spoken by the peoples of the Kalenesyan Archipelago in one of my fantasy settings, the world of Atla.
Today I’d like to take you there.
Let’s just start off running, then I’ll talk about how I created these maps toward the end.
1: The Cormeideon Empire
The Cormeideon Empire gets its name from the Amethyst language K.R.M.E.DH, five glyphs pronounced /ka.ra.meː.ða/ (“Karamedha”), or Scarlet.
It’s not really an Empire, and hasn’t been in a thousand years. They’re just very slow in changing traditional names.
In fact, Cormad considers itself a meritocracy; through extensive testing, the community chooses the profession that best suits you. Some disagree with that, but the fact is, this is the most powerful nation on Atla, and it doesn’t really tolerate argument about its internal affairs.
2: The Lawless Lands
Ask someone from the Cormeideon Empire for the name of this place, and they’ll call it The Western Provinces. That hasn’t been true for hundreds of years (but like I said: slow to change).
A network of fiercely independent city-states, the Lawless Lands is lawless only in the sense that “none may govern or command us.” That sounds wonderful, until you realize many of the cities are governed by powerful, conniving, aggressive, and ambitious leaders.
3: The Kalenesyan Archipelago
In the old days, the sparsely inhabited Kalenesyan archipelago was home to pirates, renegades, failed revolutionaries, the dispossessed, and in the end, people fleeing tyrrany. For a while the old ways persisted, with a dozen Great Houses fighting endless battles with each other for trade and resources.
Then, while they were distracted and weak, every nation around them attacked. The choice was unite or die, and thus today we have All Fleets Unified.
4: Reizatlan
Reizatlan proper is a long-settled land of impressive nobility and quiet desperation, a society with an entrenched feudal system, caste system, and bureaucracy. This has led to a large number of rebellions and breakaway regions, so much so that only the Serokh Plains hold on to all the Old Ways. (Notably, they are on the opposite coast from the traders of Kalenesya and the wealth of the Forestlands, facing the isolationist nation of Mahekset—thus they’ve escaped a lot of modernizing influences.)
5: The Forestlands
If one were looking for a place for the next Land Grab War or global conflict to start, it would be the madly fertile cliffs and valleys of the Forestlands and the rich mineral deposits of the volcanic ranges.
Every nation on Atla vies for influence there, but there’s one important factor to consider: the native population is far from helpless. Four out of every nine Forestlanders is born deaf. Over time, they developed a language that switches effortlessly between speech and sign. No invading army has ever prevailed against them on their home territory; instead, enemies find only sudden, silent death.
6: Mahekset
The Amethyst Continent was once home to the Masters, also known as the Ramatlan, beings who claimed to have created the human race as servants. After the Third Rebellion, they fled through World Gates to other realms.
The Hekat people hail from the Silent Forests of the Emerald Continent. A careful, contemplative people, they eventually worked out a lot of the magic, alchemy, and technology left behind by the Masters, and guard that knowledge fiercely.
A strict matriarchy, women are in charge of all government and political systems, while men control the military.
7: The Northlands
In combination with its remote location, the worst weather on Atla prevented exploration of the Northlands until four centuries ago, when the first reliable three-masted ships and global navigation techniques were developed.
The Northlands are mostly barren and hostile, with intensely active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Cities on the coast suffer not just from intense storms, but from the occasional tsunami.
Interestingly, just a few decades back, someone discovered enormous coal deposits there … as well as a strange, tarry substance the alchemists at the All Fleets Academy dubbed “Petroleum.”
Surely that will remain just a quiet curiosity.
About the Maps
Maps are Moments in Time
Atla has a very long history, going back hundreds of thousands of years. Human civilization has been around for 5000 to 9000 years (it’s complicated). This world is not static; things change. Therefore this map is a snapshot of Atla at one stage in its development.
For one thing, the Kalenesyans have united to become All Fleets Unified, and are becoming the dominant force for global trade in the world. Therefore, this map is labeled in the Cerulean language (you’d see different labels if this map were from Mahekset).
Further, everyone would have a different opinion as to what to call the year this map was made:
- The All Fleets Academy (who made this map) would say it’s the year 242 Unified.
- They’d grudgingly admit that Imperial historians might call this the year 4020 Standard.
- The Masters (if they were still around) would say this is the 3331st year of the 25th Maralika, or the Ordinal Year by Atlan Reckoning 113,923.
How These Were Created
Every time I show these maps, someone comments that they must have taken a lot of work. They did, but I chose my tools wisely:
- Wonderdraft to generate many, many continental shapes and landforms.
- The GNU Image Program* to edit the equirectangular basis maps, then project these onto a sphere.
- Inkscape to add the labels in a way that they are easy to edit.
* The GNU Image Program has a name that can be considered (and is) a slur. I don’t use that word; neither can I provide a direct link.
I’ve created maps like these a lot over the years, so to me, this is all an established method. In fact, my first accepted story, “The Good that Demons Do,” takes place on a different world, Taián.
Stick around. One day I’ll take you on a tour there, as well.