Region Mapping
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| The theme that I chose to use for Avalon dealt with Great Britain from the 5th century to the 15th century. Just prior to this time period, Rome had withdrawn its forces and plunged England into its Dark Ages. This matches with the LS timeline of when the Altrian Empire collapsed and withdrew all of its troops. After a long period of darkness, invasion, and struggling, one king rose above the rest and unites all of England. This matches Arthurian legend, and matches the in-game history of Arthur. During this time period, there were also the Crusades, which have some ties to the Almerian Inquisition, and can be a huge source of new material in the future. Towards the end of the time period selected was when the Renaissance came about. Basic theme that has come out of this- Great Britain during the highlight of the knighted cavalry. | The theme that I chose to use for Avalon dealt with Great Britain from the 5th century to the 15th century. Just prior to this time period, Rome had withdrawn its forces and plunged England into its Dark Ages. This matches with the LS timeline of when the Altrian Empire collapsed and withdrew all of its troops. After a long period of darkness, invasion, and struggling, one king rose above the rest and unites all of England. This matches Arthurian legend, and matches the in-game history of Arthur. During this time period, there were also the Crusades, which have some ties to the Almerian Inquisition, and can be a huge source of new material in the future. Towards the end of the time period selected was when the Renaissance came about. Basic theme that has come out of this- Great Britain during the highlight of the knighted cavalry. | ||
| ===Originality=== | ===Originality=== | ||
| + | Originality is relatively easy when it comes to regions, due to the fact that no one really owns a copyright to a huge landmass. So long as there are no direct references to specific traits of a well-known location, and no factually identifiable names are used, everything should be fine. Avalon is pretty much open source and has been used by bards for centuries. There are even scholars who have devoted their studies to determining if Avalon actually existed and whre it would have been. The main concern with originality is in reference to anything else already in LS. When I originally came up with the idea for Avalon, I was going to place a barbaric island to the north, and a Roman civilization to the south or southeast. I was going to call the Roman-derived region Imperia. Then I found out that LS already had a Roman-derived Empire, that had already collapsed, and there was no real point of making a second one, especially since so many of the concepts were so similar. So, I had to revamp my concept of Imperia into the Altrian Empire, which was actually easy to do and a lot less work on my behalf. The key to originality within the realms of LS is to know what has already been worked on and what has been documented in the history of the cosmology. | ||
| ===Location=== | ===Location=== | ||
| + | Location plays a key factor in determining the terrain of the region, as well as its economy, basic population, and several other variable. Gaia has been set up into temperature zones, and the regions should logically reflect these zones. There shouldn't be an arctic region located directly between a desert region and a jungle region. With 256 possible location for your region, there is little reason to cram an inappropriate climate where it doesn't belong. With the location of Avalon, it was a small island off of the eastern coast of Almeria. This much was already set up for me under the current system. Being that it was directly east from Almeria, and Almeria is predominantly a Temperate clime, Avalon is a temperate clime. Given its placement, just to the northwest would be the current Northlands (if the maps connected, which they will at some point). Drawing from this, I decided to add a slightly cooler aspect to Avalon, which also matches with a lot of the depictions of England. Since it is an island, rainfall should be plentiful, which is why I added description of the lush and fertile vegetation. In the overall scheme of Gaia, this also placed Avalon east of Almeria, south of Gardagh, and far to the west of Esartur. Combining these aspects, it is easy to set up a much more unique feel for the project. Under the Altrian Empire, Avalon flourished. This would be why there is still a remaining port city of Devonshire and enough population to support castles and knights. With the collapse of the empire, Avalon was pretty much left open to attack, since they had grown dependent upon the occupying Altrians for protection, trade, economy, and a steady influx of new bodies. It was in the chaos of the collapse of the empire that the Knights were able to make a name for themselves. The barbarians from Gardagh, sensing easy plunder, began raids into Avalon. From this, I added more forts along the northern portion of the map. Also, since it lies between Almeria and Esartur, most invasion forces would land at Avalon to either resupply right before an attack on Almeria, or would just invade the much more vulnerable island itself. Now I have something I can work with and make a lot of future material from. | ||
| ===Inhabitants=== | ===Inhabitants=== | ||
| + | The inhabitants of the region add a lot of character to the project. The difference between the vikings and the barbarians of Gardagh were one of the first things noted once the area was released. When Avalon was released, several players took note of several of the unique creatures, and of the roving knight sentries. Combining the fief structure from medieval England, and the unique location in the world of LS, the inhabitants started to take on a certain image in my head. Rather than the dashing knights in shining armour, they started to be much more weary, perhaps with slightly worn armour, and much more militant. Rather than the cerulean sky of the land of eternal summertime, the sky was always a muddy grey, the ground was as much mud as solid ground, and the expectation of invasion from either the north or the east, with absolutely no assistance from the west, lead to a state of constant readiness and intense independence. With so much to deal with, the knights sometimes had to deal with situations quickly and forcefully, which is why I added in several gibbets around the region (at the crossroads, along the northern coast as a message to the barbarians, and on the passage in from Almeria). Also added into the regions was the older religion of the druids and witches, which is what the people had clung to during the darker ages, but there is also the host of Yehovah that has made their presence known. Under normal circumstances, the rigid rules of Yehovah would have tried to banish the older religions and their pagan customs (even to the point of vanquishing those vile advenus and their magicks and psionics). With so much to deal with and so few allies, the church of Yehovah has bigger concerns, such as survival, so a general rule of "don't give us a glaring reason to persecute you, and we'll leave you alone". | ||
| ==Mapping== | ==Mapping== | ||
Revision as of 13:44, 8 December 2008
Firstly, I'll start with some basic definitions and concepts that I use when setting up a region. A 'region' is one of the 16x16 grids that makes up the surface of Gaia. Each region, as dictated by Chaos and the cosmology of the MUD, has an x axis of 40, y axis of 40, and z axis of 5. Regions are also known as 'main maps', 'continents', or 'overland maps'. Each region can have its own identity, or it may be merged with an adjacent region to form a super region. As time goes on and more regions are released, this will make more sense.
When I am creating a new region, I use a standardized system of develop, which help speed things along and makes sure that the same fundamentals are used in each region.
Contents |
Concept of the Region
The first thing that you need to have when starting a new region is the concept of the region. With Avalon, there were a few aspects that I knew I wanted to have. LostSouls already had the Avalonian culture, which consisted of Camelot and Devonshire, but the culture really didn't have a home region. Since Camelot is a major legend from England, I started with that as a basic concept. I did a little research, and found that England has a port city called Devon. Okay, so as a general concept, I wanted a Dark Ages England. More specific research placed the main components of pre-vulgate cycle Arthurian Legend in 5th century England, but post-vulgate cycle in 15th century. That's a lot of history to dig through, but it does give a solid foundation to work with.
References
The next step is to gather your reference materials. These are useful for more accurately mapping out the geography, detailing creatures, and describing the map definitions. For Avalon, I had plenty of resource material to choose from. Robin Hood (Kevin Costner version and Errol Flynn version), Arthur, First Knight, Excalibur, the Mists of Avalon, Primevel Season 1, Canterbury Tales, a Knight's Tale, as well as google and wiki for particular aspect of England, such as local legends, cryptozoology, and weird tales.
Theme
Having the greatest concept for a region is meaningless is it doesn't match in with the rest of the world. In reviewing the resource material, it is important to keep in mind where LS is at theme-wise, and match it as closely as possible. The theme that I chose to use for Avalon dealt with Great Britain from the 5th century to the 15th century. Just prior to this time period, Rome had withdrawn its forces and plunged England into its Dark Ages. This matches with the LS timeline of when the Altrian Empire collapsed and withdrew all of its troops. After a long period of darkness, invasion, and struggling, one king rose above the rest and unites all of England. This matches Arthurian legend, and matches the in-game history of Arthur. During this time period, there were also the Crusades, which have some ties to the Almerian Inquisition, and can be a huge source of new material in the future. Towards the end of the time period selected was when the Renaissance came about. Basic theme that has come out of this- Great Britain during the highlight of the knighted cavalry.
Originality
Originality is relatively easy when it comes to regions, due to the fact that no one really owns a copyright to a huge landmass. So long as there are no direct references to specific traits of a well-known location, and no factually identifiable names are used, everything should be fine. Avalon is pretty much open source and has been used by bards for centuries. There are even scholars who have devoted their studies to determining if Avalon actually existed and whre it would have been. The main concern with originality is in reference to anything else already in LS. When I originally came up with the idea for Avalon, I was going to place a barbaric island to the north, and a Roman civilization to the south or southeast. I was going to call the Roman-derived region Imperia. Then I found out that LS already had a Roman-derived Empire, that had already collapsed, and there was no real point of making a second one, especially since so many of the concepts were so similar. So, I had to revamp my concept of Imperia into the Altrian Empire, which was actually easy to do and a lot less work on my behalf. The key to originality within the realms of LS is to know what has already been worked on and what has been documented in the history of the cosmology.
Location
Location plays a key factor in determining the terrain of the region, as well as its economy, basic population, and several other variable. Gaia has been set up into temperature zones, and the regions should logically reflect these zones. There shouldn't be an arctic region located directly between a desert region and a jungle region. With 256 possible location for your region, there is little reason to cram an inappropriate climate where it doesn't belong. With the location of Avalon, it was a small island off of the eastern coast of Almeria. This much was already set up for me under the current system. Being that it was directly east from Almeria, and Almeria is predominantly a Temperate clime, Avalon is a temperate clime. Given its placement, just to the northwest would be the current Northlands (if the maps connected, which they will at some point). Drawing from this, I decided to add a slightly cooler aspect to Avalon, which also matches with a lot of the depictions of England. Since it is an island, rainfall should be plentiful, which is why I added description of the lush and fertile vegetation. In the overall scheme of Gaia, this also placed Avalon east of Almeria, south of Gardagh, and far to the west of Esartur. Combining these aspects, it is easy to set up a much more unique feel for the project. Under the Altrian Empire, Avalon flourished. This would be why there is still a remaining port city of Devonshire and enough population to support castles and knights. With the collapse of the empire, Avalon was pretty much left open to attack, since they had grown dependent upon the occupying Altrians for protection, trade, economy, and a steady influx of new bodies. It was in the chaos of the collapse of the empire that the Knights were able to make a name for themselves. The barbarians from Gardagh, sensing easy plunder, began raids into Avalon. From this, I added more forts along the northern portion of the map. Also, since it lies between Almeria and Esartur, most invasion forces would land at Avalon to either resupply right before an attack on Almeria, or would just invade the much more vulnerable island itself. Now I have something I can work with and make a lot of future material from.
Inhabitants
The inhabitants of the region add a lot of character to the project. The difference between the vikings and the barbarians of Gardagh were one of the first things noted once the area was released. When Avalon was released, several players took note of several of the unique creatures, and of the roving knight sentries. Combining the fief structure from medieval England, and the unique location in the world of LS, the inhabitants started to take on a certain image in my head. Rather than the dashing knights in shining armour, they started to be much more weary, perhaps with slightly worn armour, and much more militant. Rather than the cerulean sky of the land of eternal summertime, the sky was always a muddy grey, the ground was as much mud as solid ground, and the expectation of invasion from either the north or the east, with absolutely no assistance from the west, lead to a state of constant readiness and intense independence. With so much to deal with, the knights sometimes had to deal with situations quickly and forcefully, which is why I added in several gibbets around the region (at the crossroads, along the northern coast as a message to the barbarians, and on the passage in from Almeria). Also added into the regions was the older religion of the druids and witches, which is what the people had clung to during the darker ages, but there is also the host of Yehovah that has made their presence known. Under normal circumstances, the rigid rules of Yehovah would have tried to banish the older religions and their pagan customs (even to the point of vanquishing those vile advenus and their magicks and psionics). With so much to deal with and so few allies, the church of Yehovah has bigger concerns, such as survival, so a general rule of "don't give us a glaring reason to persecute you, and we'll leave you alone".
