The Big Plan (Yes it's insane, but that's never stopped me before)
Added 2023-04-23 20:16:17 +0000 UTCI sat down to lay out what the world outside Tir Thelandira looks like and this is what I came up with. All of this is preliminary and nothing is set in stone. Tir Thelandira is the little island on the right.
I don't know exactly how long it would take to write lore and draw maps of all the places on all these islands, but I'd guess it would be approximately the rest of my life. That works for me. This feels like a worthwhile thing to spend a lifetime creating.
Of course, it's not going to be a world for quite a while. It'll be a number of islands that can be inserted into another setting. That's what Tir Thelandira is right now and it's what all the islands will be for a long time. In several years, there may be regions of the map that can be used as a setting by themselves. But the finished world, in which every island on that map has its own story and its own maps? That's something so far away that you may never see it. I may never run a game in it. But that part of it isn't for us, it's for the people after us. It something we can create as a legacy to leave for the next generation of DMs.
Here are a few ideas I had for this world:
- The ruins of an ancient empire, dangerous and uninhabited except for treasure seekers. Littered with colossal statues, crumbling cities and buried palaces.
- An island populated by humans and ruled by vampiric noble families who treat the commoners as cattle. A very bleak place.
- An island of giants who raid other settlements. Basically, super-vikings.
- An island whose people were wiped out by a disease. Now overrun by undead.
- An island populated by humans but ruled by giants. There's an interesting relationship between the two groups.
- Underwater kingdoms of merfolk and aquatic elves.
- Greek stuff
- Islands with cultures inspired by East and Southeast Asia, India, East Africa and Arabia. And Europe, in case that doesn't go without saying.
- A Polynesian-inspired region, parts of which are very advanced. Like, imagine the Republic of Venice was built by the Maori.
- Islands at war
- Dwarves living on volcanoes.
- Lizardfolk with an amphibious kingdom
- An advanced society in an arctic climate.
I'd love to hear your ideas as well. I want to make this thing and I think I've proven that I can. So, what do you say?
Comments
Just got back from an amazing trip to the Galapagos Islands and that is what this reminds me of. An archipelago of volcanic islands with very unique endemic species.
Tom Mechler
2023-04-28 23:06:48 +0000 UTCHey, I'm always glad to have more suggestions and input. I'm trying to make this a collaboration with patrons as much as possible, so if you have any ideas, by all means let me know!
Milby's Maps
2023-04-28 15:15:38 +0000 UTCNo worries it is your patreon. I just have a very active imagination.
Ethan, J.
2023-04-28 14:28:34 +0000 UTCThere will be a history of the area and part of it will probably involve an ancient empire based on one of the larger islands. That empire will be in ruins, but the history of a lot of other places will tie into it. Tir Thelandira probably won't have much connection to it since Tir Thelandira is an isolated place in the middle of nowhere. I'm planning to make that fallen empire one of the first islands I draw after Tir Thelandira and I'll write the lore of the place as I draw it. I don't think it'll necessarily provide a background for the whole world. though, but rather for a large region. And other regions will have their own histories, which may be very different. I'm thinking about it sort of like the history of our world, in which the history of Europe would be very different from the history of East Asia or Central America. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion! I'll have another look at your story when I'm ready to start thinking about that part of the lore.
Milby's Maps
2023-04-28 14:16:42 +0000 UTCI think this would be a great story for the map and give you a good background to decide and shape whatever you decide to put on the islands on the map. It gives plot hooks, cultures and adventures galore tied to a common history along with an object of desire for players to chase after on a campaign. You can even still add something to the lore of the Island of Tir Thelandira like the elf chief secretly has an Argenstone or there is one somewhere on the island. This idea is of course a suggestion and you can change any of the names I've given, but I think it would be an awesome way to tie in all the locations on the map to one history.
Ethan, J.
2023-04-28 03:26:37 +0000 UTCI got it!!! Here is idea for a common history. You can call this map the Fractured Seachain or the Starfall Island Chains and here is the idea. Once long ago the islands ware home to an ancient empire that ruled much of the known world. Its ancient kings, the Tetrarchs, were said to have great powers over the sky and seas and their armies were so numerous that none in the world even came close at the time to match the power of the empire. They had almost absolute power of the area and forced many races and those that wouldn't submit into vassal states. The empire lived in luxury while most of the other races and civilizations lived in poverty or servitude. The Tetrarchs and the empire thought themselves chosen to rule the world and demanded the heavens to make them into gods. Swift was the heavens response for on that day the stars began to fall. Meteors bombarded the empire and fell into the sea causing tidal waves, earthquakes and disasters across the land causing the empire to fall into the sea and greatly changing the landscape. The empire fell and the gods saw fit to protect the people shackled by the empire. With the empire gone many of the people previously under the empire's tyrannical rule then began to spread across the land inhabit the islands rebuilding their civilizations or building their own new ones in the aftermath of the fallen empire on the numerous islands. But the meteors the gods sent actually retain the power they sent to destroy the empire and protect the victimized people. These meteors are called Argenstones and they are objecta of power and desire to the islands and beyond for they can still grant great power to those who know how to use them.
Ethan, J.
2023-04-28 03:21:19 +0000 UTCI think a good idea to start would be to come up with a common history for the map and then see what fits in. After all while fantasy can be pretty random but there still needs to be a common level of technology and society or it just doesn't make sense.
Ethan, J.
2023-04-28 02:17:07 +0000 UTCIt's way too early for that. No one is allowed to be impressed until I've finished at least one island.
Milby's Maps
2023-04-25 00:57:21 +0000 UTCWow! Impressive.
Morgan Holt
2023-04-25 00:49:04 +0000 UTCI was thinking an entire island with the theme, rather than a way to travel around. If players don’t realise at first they might be very confused when after a couple weeks on the ‘island’ they’re in a different part of the ocean. Could even have a secret island cult devoted to feeding and steering the dragon turtle.
Silas
2023-04-23 21:54:54 +0000 UTCOoh yeah. I was originally just thinking watermills down the river but a steam one as well. Dwarves or gnomes would go wild.
Thomas Lockton
2023-04-23 21:39:44 +0000 UTCThat's really interesting! Wait, what if you used the steam to power an engine of some kind? There's a lot you could do with that idea.
Milby's Maps
2023-04-23 21:25:08 +0000 UTCYeah, that's good. I like that a lot. I'd probably make it smaller than Tortuga rather than larger, but I think something like that would be an amazing way to travel around a setting like this.
Milby's Maps
2023-04-23 21:23:54 +0000 UTCI feel like a grander version of your Tortuga map would fit perfectly into this. One island that is a dragon turtle or similar and literally wonders around the great ocean.
Silas
2023-04-23 21:21:37 +0000 UTCI almost said I can't wait to get started, but then I realized I already have, haha. I'm literally working on it right now.
Milby's Maps
2023-04-23 21:09:01 +0000 UTCI cannot wait to see more from this project! I'll of course be turning these Islands into Asteroid-like cities for my campaign's expanded Spelljammer setting
Lost_nebula
2023-04-23 21:05:07 +0000 UTCI love the map and your ideas Matt! You sparked a memory in me with the dwarves living on volcanoes. I had a dream about a volcanic island where they made a man made river: Dug a tunnel that brought seawater close enough to the volcano to turn to steam, then another tunnel brings the steam up to near the peak where it condenses before flowing out as a river. I feel like dwarves living on a volcano with no fresh water source would totally do this.
Thomas Lockton
2023-04-23 20:44:36 +0000 UTC
