It took me eight months to bring this map from preparatory stages to completion. (If you’re a Mystara fan, you’re probably saying, “What, just eight months?! You posted a map earlier today that took you ten years!!”) Suffice it to say, this is a big map.
It’s made up of five 18 x 12 inch panels covering Caldwen itself, plus significant sections of the neighbouring states, Osriel and Nordheim. The full map is just over 46 x 34 inches.
This is a land of mages and demons, dominated by an academic culture which always puts magic first. It’s the subject of Bruce Heard’s next book, CAL2 On Wings of Darkness.
I completed the first year of my Patreon campaign in October, with Phrydias:
Many thanks to October’s patrons:
Jesper Andersen, Diederik van Arkel, Azure Admiral, Hans Peter Bak, Trentin Bergeron, David Chart, Francesco Defferrari, Christopher Desmond, Joshua DiCicco, Paul Dupuis, Andrew P Gibson, Bruce Heard, Brian Isikoff, Eric Jackson, Belinda Kelly, Grégory Le Louette, Wendy Lord, Harri Mäki, Nate Mangion, Matt, Gordon McCormick, Anna B Meyer, Sverre Midthjell, Hervé Musseau, Wolfgang Neckel, Cameron Paine, Thomas Pizard, Dave Poppel, Stephen Rider, Friedrich Röhrer-Ertl, Jeff Scifert, Robert Slaughter, Erin D Smale, Joshua Starnes, Kurt Stoffer, Maciej Szydłowski, Devan Sykes, Charles Tait, Sandra Tait, Greg Traeger, Douglas Zielsdorf.
The smallest of the Great Caldera’s nations, Phrydias actually only takes up about half a page when shown at the same scale as the other nations I’ve been tackling. It’s even smaller than Meryath. So I’ve taken advantage of the extra space to turn it into a vertically oriented map, with a nice big space for the legend at the bottom.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported my work over the past year. I can’t tell you how much your backing has done to help, and I’m really proud of what we have accomplished: at least one new map each and every month, and sometimes more. Most of the Great Caldera is now mapped at a nice medium scale, while 10 mile hex maps have expanded out from Meryath into neighbouring Narwan, and are continuing with Caldwen. On top of that, you gave me the motivation I needed to complete the Soltan Ephemeris illustration I had conceived three years ago.
Where do we go from here? Well, there are still two Great Caldera nations to detail at medium scale (Ellyrion and Belledor), as well as Caldwen’s hex maps to finish. After that, there are hex maps to be developed for the rest of the nations, but also some major new projects to start — which I’m hoping to begin work on over the winter.
For now, tomorrow we’ll begin exploring Caldwen at 10 miles per hex
Jesper Andersen, Azure Admiral, Hans Peter Bak, Trentin Bergeron, David Chart, Francesco Defferrari, Christopher Desmond, Joshua DiCicco, Paul Dupuis, Bruce Heard, Brian Isikoff, Eric Jackson, Belinda Kelly, Grégory Le Louette, Wendy Lord, Harri Mäki, Nate Mangion, Matt, Gordon McCormick, Anna B Meyer, Sverre Midthjell, Hervé Musseau, Wolfgang Neckel, Cameron Paine, Thomas Pizard, Dave Poppel, Stephen Rider, Friedrich Röhrer-Ertl, Jeff Scifert, Robert Slaughter, Erin D Smale, Joshua Starnes, Kurt Stoffer, Maciej Szydłowski, Devan Sykes, Charles Tait, Sandra Tait, Greg Traeger, Douglas Zielsdorf.