#mapmaker mapmaker make me a map
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Creation Crater
I have time to write. I have motivation to write. I have plotted out what I want to write. I have STARTED the NEXT CHAPTER. I get four sentences in before I realize I need to name another city because reasons. I then spend several HOURS looking up canon references for locations, documenting every city/town/village/location I have invented for my own canon because they don't exist in the OG canon. (We don't have any cities even LABELED on the map for the Wandering Isle?!) Inventing like 5 news places for future purposes. Laying out an entire timeline of Inej's "Lion Hunts" based in part on said invented locations. AND THEN ALSO, updating the map of the Grishaverse that I have putting overlays on to show all of my invented cities/towns/villages.
Um. I took a break for lunch, and now maybe I can start writing again? WTF, brain.
Sharing because this was ALMOST like a research rabbit hole, but instead was a creation crater that while, including WRITING, wasn't actually, yanno, WRITING. A creation crater is a pothole on the road to your goal, a procraftination, if you will.
Go me! ::laughs in highly detail map overlays that I even sourced the correct FONT for because I am THAT FREAK.:::
#soc fanfic#a03 writer#soc fandom#maps#mapmaker mapmaker make me a map#invent some shit#where are all the cities and towns?#six of crows#crooked kingdom#grishaverse#inej ghafa#BAMF Inej Ghafa#pekka rollins#Lion Hunts#creation crater#research rabbithole#procraftination
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OMG ITS HAPPENING
2 DAYS UNTIL APOTHEOSIS?!?! aaaaAAAAAAAAAA
#minecraft#drehmal: primordial#spectre says#went on twitter just to skim through the posts of the few ppl i still follow on there#and i saw. this announcement#i just about threw my phone kfghdfnsgsfg#im so excited !!!!#probably won't be able to play it for a while after the updated map launches BUT#that doesn't make me any less happy to see this ;A;#ok but like. y'all don't understand. this map means EVERYTHING to me#it's what inspired me and my friend to really work on our own characters and storytelling#by playing in the world and interacting with the way these mapmakers approach lore and world-building#it really inspired us to try and do more of that ourselves;;#so yeah. our characters likely wouldn't be where they are now without Drehmal#and this map holds a very special place in my heart for that reason ;o;;#but because of all that!! the update has been something i've been looking forward to for a while now as well!!#anYWAY enough of my sappy rambling haha im just xD so happy
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RANT INCOMING!!!!! AGAINN
im still so pissed that 1. you can't store multiple data values on a single item and 2. armors & weapons dont support data values. because minecraft's shitty ass spaghetti code decided to replace the DATA value with a DURABILITY value.
this could just be fixed by storing mutiple values and having the subsequent values after the first be used as ACTUAL data and not durability. you can't even go around it like the amplifiers in java because if you go above a tool's max durability it just goes null and makes it break in a single use
#tired post#mapmaking rants#yaaayyy#me making this map is the embodiment of that 'dont make unnecessary journeys' meme#if you ever consider making maps in minecraft/getting into command blocks#do NOT#PLEASE just use an ACTUAL game engine#FOR YOUR OWN SAKE
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Straw hat women redesigns :) I was trying to doodle some of the crew and came to the realization that I just Could Not with Nami so I wanted to play around with it a little bit
Some more design notes below:
Nami’s design actually went a lot smoother for me than Robin’s! I think canon post timeskip Nami is a very low bar. While you can argue that to some extent Nami being vain and seductive is part of her character, I do feel that there are many more integral parts of her character that can be highlighted in her design, namely map making and her combat. Though not one of the stronger straw hats, Nami does seem to be well practiced with her staff outside of its use for weather manipulation, and I think her being a physical combatant, even slightly, can be better reflected with more loose clothing for better mobility.
For her mapmaking, I wanted her to have constant easy access to her tools and to information about the locale, so around her waist she has one large pouch at the back for books and scrolls and maps in progress and one small pouch to the side for writing utensils and measurement tools. As backup she also has 2 pens in her bun, which also act as pins for keeping her hair up if she ever needs to move a lot.
I’m not sure how clearly it shows up in the notes, but Nami’s shoe soles are also made from whatever artificial cloud material makes up the weather island she stayed on during the timeskip, so that it both pads her steps to make them soundless and bounces for better mobility. The shoes are naturally shaped like heels but without the actual heel, since she tends to move around on tiptoes anyways- a nod to her epithet as cat burglar and her past as a thief.
I made her shoulders a bit broader because I think they probably get a lot of exercise with her staff, and changed out the bikini top for a more supportive chest wrap, with a loose tank over it for breathability. The compression socks and sleeve are more stylistic than anything, since I like layers, but they might come in handy for her if she spends extended amounts of time sitting down making maps for the crew.
Robin’s was a bit more difficult for me to figure out, and I might go back and revisit it at some point. For Nami, it was a bit easier to imagine what would pair well with her combat methods and her needs as a mapmaker, but with Robin, she’s an academic who fights almost completely hands off, without a specific weapon to her name. Because her strength lies mostly in her devil fruit, she has a bit more room for style over functionality, but I also still wanted her to have something that made sense with what she was. I don’t really think I succeeded in that regard, but it’s also hard to convey what she does visually— she’s more of like a professor than a field archaeologist I think.
I really really enjoy her cowboy hat but I didn’t think it would match with the rest of the outfit so I switched it out for a wider brimmed hat and kept the orange sunglasses on it, as a nod to the revolutionaries with the combination of headwear and eyewear. She deserves a trench coat. I don’t make the rules. And the rest of the fit mostly came down to things I think I would enjoy wearing, haha
The trench coat is partially a nod to the scholars of ohara, who seem to wear white coats like lab coats in some screenshots of robin’s backstory. I think also the reading glasses help to make her seem a bit more academic, but aren’t prominent enough to leave a strong impression. All in all I do wish robin’s design had more functionality in it but I also think that robin is a character who probably enjoys dressing up nicely like this, especially in the comfort and stability of the straw hats.
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Hiiii hope your having a wonderful day. I enjoy reading your scenarios especially dreamcatcher and aespa. Which made me wonder if I can request aespa as your pirate GF :o
Pirate! Aespa as Your Girlfriend
a/n: Thank you for the lovely message, anon! I'm so glad you love my aespa and dreamcatcher stuff 🫶 and of course you can, dear! Hopefully, you enjoy this! Obligatory tag of @foolish-sparrow ❤️ can't write about pirates without acknowledging the Pirate AU queen! Please check out all of her stuff because it's all so amazing 🫶🫶 also I tried something new with the banners, so let me know if you like it or not!
tw: it's in order of how the girls are introduced in the Pirate AU fic universe (no, I have not forgotten about Giselle or Ningning I will be getting back to them plz have patience with me 🫠) instead of age order, booze and drunken activities, violence, pirating and other forms of stealing
♡ Masterlist ♡
Winter ~ The Captain
she's always busy as the Captain of the Red-Haired Pirates, either trying to corral her crew (mostly Karina and Giselle) or find the next place or ship to plunder.
but for you? she has all of the time in the world.
You're very famously known as her soft spot on the crew, and people will use it to their advantage.
Of course she knows this, but if you're going to continue to kiss her and whisper sweet nothings in her ear... she'll let the shenanigans slide, for now.
Winter likes to show you off, whether by letting you commit the finishing blow on an opponent or giving you a chance to show off your own unique set of skills
Most of the time you spend together is at night when you're out at sea.
She'll be busy looking over the a map or checking some coordinates when you wrap your arms around her waist
a rare smile appears on her face as you state out at the open ocean together.
"Where are we going, my lovely Captain?"
"As long as you're by my side, wherever the seas take us, my dear."
Karina ~ The Marksman
the loser (affectionate) marksman by day, the greasy (slightly drunk) flirt by night finds herself changing her ways as you two enter a serious relationship.
Karina feels much more comfortable being her dorky, usual self when it's just the two of you alone, but as your relationship progresses, more and more people see a different side of her
if you aren't a marksman like her, she takes you to a local shooting range and teaches you everything you need to know
"You need to aim a little higher on the target, otherwise you won't do much more than give them a good scare."
"I'd love to focus my aim, Karina, but you're making my heart pound when you're this close to me."
Karina is well-known on her crew for her drunken antics, especially with the various people she meets during her travels
It all stops with you - either you're watching her to make sure she doesn't get absolutely wasted, or you're the one participating in her antics while you're both drunk.
If it's the first option, you're able to pull her away from the bar with lots of affectionate or promises of stronger booze on the ship (you just send her straight to bed, and she's too tired to argue)
If it's the latter, you two often find yourselves cleaning the decks in order to avoid Winter's wrath due to the shitstorm that you usually cause.
But hey, at least you have someone to cuddle with as you nurse your hangover away.
Giselle ~ The Arms Specialist/Mapmaker
Pulling double duty on the ship takes a toll on the amount of free time Giselle has, but when she has a free night, you can be sure that she's living it up, especially with you at her side.
You'll literally have her heart forever if you help her with her daily tasks, she's so stressed out with everything on her plate.
Depending on your specialties, you're either marking the map or helping with coordinates, or you're cleaning up gun powder and restocking the gunroom with newly pillaged supplies.
It works in Giselle's favor because she always can find a reason to talk with you when you're working on similar tasks.
"Do you need some help, darling?"
"I think I can handle myself, Giselle, but I don't mind the company."
After the ship has docked and the sun has disappeared from the sky, Giselle is finally free from most of her responsibilities.
She's dragging you to the nearest bar, either to hustle some of the crew at cards or to grab a few drinks.
You tell her that it's unfair to play cards against people you can't even sit straight, but you find that your concerns are silenced when a bottle of your favorite liquor is sitting at your side.
And if you're just grabbing drinks with her, she's sure to tell you how much she loves you (and all of the awesome pirating stories you missed out on before you started dating).
Ningning ~ The "Rogue" Mercenary
The quiet, withdrawn "misfit" in the crew isn't drawn to having a friendly relationship to many on the crew, except for you, of course.
She hasn't fully adjusted to the pirating life, considering that she joined the crew after being held captive by them, so she often is quietly looking over your shoulder to understand how to be more useful aboard the ship
"You can come closer, it's easier to learn how to tie a knot when you can see what I'm doing."
"I can see fine from where I'm at, but thank you for the offer."
You invite her to many of the crew's nighttime activities, and it's rare for her to accept, but when she does, you see her cracking a smile and occasionally laughing at everyone's antics.
Ningning likes spending time with you one-on-one, and that's when she confesses her feelings for you.
Literally no one knows that the two of you are together, except for a drunk Karina that saw the two of you embrace one night (and no one believes her, to this day).
She doesn't like to teach you her trade, she went through a lot of shit to get her skills, but she will show you how to fight if you aren't the greatest at it.
You'll just have to put your pride to the side because she will beat your ass, every time, without fail.
Plus, she can steal a kiss or two while she has you pinned to the ground. She lectures you about not being distracted with a smirk on her face, as if it isn't her fault.
#kpop x reader#kpop imagines#kpop scenarios#kpop#kpop fanfic#girl group imagines#girl group scenarios#girl group x reader#girl group#kpop au#girl group au#girl group fanfic#aespa x reader#aespa au#aespa imagines#aespa fanfic#aespa#karina x reader#karina scenarios#karina imagines#giselle x reader#giselle scenarios#giselle imagines#winter x reader#winter scenarios#winter imagines#ningning x reader#ningning scenarios#ningning imagines#x reader
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Okay so people rightly make fun of LotR's maps and how cartographically and geologically implausible Middle Earth is, but I've not seen any discussion of the maps of middle earth from the pov laid out in the introduction to the books: LotR is supposed to be a translation of a translation of a transcription etc, of an original manuscript, from a time where there was no satellite imaging or other technology associated with mapmaking. The different societies operate at different levels of technological fashion, but none of them seem (to me) overtly to be the kind of society that would necessarily create maps of an accuracy that we expect in our era, or even in Tolkien's own era.
Does anyone know of such discussions? Surely other people have thought about this idea before.
On the one hand, you CAN take the creation story in the Silmarillion as literal fact for the purposes of LotR, and this means that natural geologic processes did NOT form Mordor's square mountain range, so the maps can be perfectly accurate for a non-realistic scenario.
On the other hand, there's no reason to take the maps as the literal truth, in the same way that the text is not intended to represent the unfiltered truth of the experiences of those stories. The Hobbit, LotR and the Silmarillion equate to the collected texts originally written by Bilbo, Frodo, and Samwise in The Red Book of Westmarch, which was written after the fact and then translated much later. For example, the character named Kalimac Brandagamba is rendered as Merry Brandybuck for the purposes of making the Hobbits and their names feel more familiar to English readers. A different example would be that during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields the narrator delivers us a song not sung *during* the battle, but which was written *about* the battle at some later date in order to demonstrate that the deeds of the heroes were considered valiant. So why would the maps be precise cartographical representations of Middle Earth in a time when that might not be necessarily expected?
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I just want you to know, I've spent the last month reading through all of your work. I'm so obsessed I don't want it to end. I even marked off all of your stories on the map as I finish them. Theres only a few left now and I'm going to be so sad when I'm all done. It's really great to see that you're still writing after all this time. I seriously can't wait to see what more you have in store. Take care!
I'm so happy you're enjoying them!! I also showed this to the mapmaker himself, and he's so excited that people are using the map<3
And it's hitting me just how long I've been doing this (eight years since I reworked Siren's Call and posted Sea Songs, which was the start of Shanties), but I've just really loved writing these stories, and out of everything I've ever written, Shanties has been the project I've poured most of my heart into. And while my audience is small, it's the kindest and most supportive I've ever encountered in all my years of writing fic. Case in point: messages like this, where all the work I've put into this series feels so worth it, because eight years and 2.5 million words later there's someone making their way through all of it and they still don't want it to end? Incredible<3
And there might yet be more unexplored islands added to the map! There's also the still-uncharted "?" ;)
#I'd like to finish at least one more fic before starting a new one#(I know - famous last words)#but I'm hoping to finish Tideswept before summer so we'll see!#either way I'm just happy that someone is excited to read these stories<3
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Woah another picture of Scott making maps? Who'da guess?
I just think he's neat and him being a Cartographer has my heart what can I say
Inkotber Day 5: Map
Sketches? Under the cut? In this economy?? (Yes)
I got so much sharpie on my hand to make fingerprint smudges on the map I. Am gonna have so much brain damage by the end of inktober
In other news, my dumb hc about this silly little mapmaker is gonna, in fact, make me better at making maps.
Also I plan on more pirates content after inktober I'm just.
Tryna not to burn myself out, yknow?
#scott major#smajor1995#scurvyblr#mcyt#dangthatsalongname#pirates scott#pirates smp#psmp#heron scott#map making??? in thIS ECONOM#Slowly losing my mind /pos#inktober#inktober 2023#inktober day 5#inktober day 5 map#day 5 map#ollie's art#🪽
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Palace Walls | R.A.B
prince!regulus black x fem!guard!reader
request: one day, for some reason, the reader gets hurt. And then we get the iconic, "Who did this to you?" and then pure unbridled rage! And then fluffy ending, cause I need that happiness in my life...
All kings had enemies, but the Black family had the most notorious ones. Even their own subjects were executed when claims arose of them being in the order of Phoenix — that too, without substantial evidence. It's not fair, they'd scream and cry.
Toujours Pur, right? Since when was any of it fair?
Rumors of assassinations were frequent, but for the past few days, word reached the king that there was an attack planned by the Order, possibly with a spy inside the palace. Paranoid as ever, he let go of all his servants and appointed new ones.
For Prince Regulus's disappointment, his new head guard happened to be you.
------
"There's the new set of maps—"
"How many times have I told you to knock before entering?" Regulus snapped, covering up his paintings with a frown.
"The door was open..." you said, confused.
"He was showing me the flowers he drew," Sirius said lazily from the nearest chair. "You know how he hates to be associated with anything pleasant."
"Sirius!" Regulus groaned. "Nevermind, just leave the maps on the bed and go."
"I need to discuss the changes in them," you prompted quickly.
"Why on earth do I need to know that?"
"You are a prince; when time comes for a quick escape, you need to understand the mapmaker's symbols."
"Bold of you to assume I'd run from a fight."
"Stupid of you to assume I'd let you stay."
"I can do as I please!"
You rolled your eyes. "Unfortunate for you, I'd be held responsible if you die. So yes your safety's my priority."
"I'm not a baby!" he said, too shrill that he accidentally did sound like a toddler throwing a tantrum. You sighed.
"I'll come back when you're done with the paintings."
Sirius's eyes followed you as you walked out. Regulus scowled.
"What! She's looking particularly ravishing today."
The younger brother came out of his trance, watching Sirius with newborn annoyance. "Father would murder you."
"Oh please, I know his list of mistresses. Known some of them intimately too."
"Gross."
"He shouldn't care about anyone I have an interest in, even if they're someone who works for him."
"So you do have interest? In her?" he asked, alarmed. "Why?"
"Have you seen her?"
"I suppose she's tolerable in looks," Regulus answered, his nose scrunched up. "Her smug smile and calculating eyes are a different matter entirely."
"It's okay Reg, you can admit she's cute."
"What, no!"
"You totally want to fuck her."
Regulus gasped. "I do not!"
"She's been controlling way too much of your moves that you want to have your way with her for one night — just to show that she could turn into a mess too. It's all okay."
"I'm ignoring you said any of that."
Sirius smirked, standing. "Whatever makes you sleep at night, brother."
He paused at the bed, pocketing the maps without a word.
"What do you need them for?" Regulus asked quickly.
"You're not the only prince who needs escaping," Sirius winked, walking off.
----
The one good thing about Regulus's life was that he wasn't the heir to the throne. It gave him a sense of relief nothing else could. He often felt sorry for Sirius, but something told him his brother won't be a king anytime soon either. Especially since he was a friend of Potters, something he'd get disowned for... if anyone knew.
What if father already did? What if all the increased security for me was just a precaution for preserving his legacy? Regulus wondered, then scolded himself for being so rational. He'd rather be oblivious.
He'd rather be free.
He spotted you walking outside, and sighed, throwing himself to bed like a grounded teenager.
He hated how he saw you almost everywhere, and he hated how he looked for you when you weren't.
Sirius's words echoed in his mind as he drifted off to sleep.
----
They only blew the horns when something terrible was happening.
Regulus sat upright, hung up on his sleepy daze. He poked his head outside the window, then immediately wished he hadn't.
Dozens of soldiers were fighting obvious members of the Order, and neither of them was backing down. Spells were flying, and screams took over the air.
The rumored attack was finally here. He got out of his room.
"Reg!" Sirius emerged from the nearest corridor, grabbing him by his sleeve. "I need you to run, okay? Take the maps and run. Don't ever come back—"
"What's going on?" Regulus interrupted, taking his wand out. "I thought you wouldn't rat out your family but I suppose the Potters are more important. Am I wrong, traitor?"
"If you're implying I'm the spy, you're heavily wrong."
"Don't expect me to believe you're on our side."
"You're not on their side either, I know you're not." Sirius shook his head softly. "This fight was a long time coming, you know it. Our father works with the Dark Lord. Do you know how many lives will be lost if their alliance goes on?"
Regulus stared blankly.
"I won't fight you," Sirius continued. "If this is the last memory you'll have of me, I don't want it to be us fighting. But please, come with me."
"I can't," Regulus whispered, shaking his head violently. "I just can't."
"Think on it." With that, the oldest Black brother disapparated on the spot, probably to help with the fight one way or another. Regulus slumped back to his room with intention of getting his sword. If there was any use for it, it was now.
"Regulus?" You sounded surprised to see him in his own room, and he was shocked to hear his name called without any fancy titles, but he didn't comment on it. It was the least of his worries right now.
"I'm not runn- wait," he stopped, observing you quietly. Your sleeves were torn, obviously cut through with a blade. You appeared weak, injured, and helpless — so much so that he was instantly filled with anger.
"Who did this to you?" he asked venomously, as though he'd march through the fight and murder them right there on the spot. You could see the fury in his eyes and feel it in his words.
"It's fine, the fight's not over—"
"Come here, I'll patch you up," he commanded, nodding towards the bed.
"Now's not the time for medical assistance—"
"That's an order."
Now, this was entirely new territory. Cautiously, you pulled yourself to the bed with clear annoyance.
"What happened?" he asked, kneeling to observe the scars in your hands. You winced when he touched them.
"Sectumsepra, didn't patch myself well. The healing spell barely worked."
"You didn't bleed out so that's something," he sighed, but the anger hadn't dried out. "I need you to rest here while I go deal with the attack."
"No," you grabbed his hand as he stood up. "You're staying here. I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around."
"You're hurt."
"Everyone is. There's a war outside!"
"I'll call the royal healer to get to you—"
"Don't tell anyone I'm here," you interrupted. "Please."
He stared at you quizzically. "I won't sell you out, if that's what you're worried about."
You blinked. "You knew?"
"Sectumsepra's rarely a curse the Order knows about. So if Death Eaters attacked you, you're obviously the spy."
"You're not...?"
"Angry, betrayed, sad? No. But why did you come here? You could have disapparated with someone from the Order."
"Are you not listening to me? I wanted to make sure you were safe."
"You need to go," his voice was firm. Clearly another order, but one you refused.
"Not without you," you bargained, teeth clenched.
He paused, thinking it through. It was stupid to go with you, stupid to even consider it. But somehow, it appeared more tempting than staying.
"You're going to ruin my life," Regulus said, pacing around the room.
"What are you doing?"
"Packing," he replied, throwing you the books from the table. You smirked.
#regulus black x reader#regulus black x female reader#regulus black x y/n#regulus black x you#regulus black x reader fluff#regulus x reader#regulus x you#royal!au#prince regulus black#astoria writes#august letters;
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Entry 27
Day 204
Guess who was heading NORTH instead of SOUTH. How could one mess up this bad? Well, apparently the sun's direction has flipped! It rises in the west, and sets in the east! The earth has done a full turnaround on how it works! That asteroid really screwed us over.
Although I only learned that fact with the help of a man named Keralis. I just happened to see the smoke billowing out through a forest of Evergreens (Still shocked that those trees are even alive) and followed it to a rather lovely wooden cabin.
I would love to say I turned tail right there and left while I still could! (-Random buildings with smoke means people and I would rather not want to find out if they are deadly-) But my plans were foiled when my foot got caught in a snare trap and left me dangling like a pinta!
And just to make matters worse, guess who happened to walk out at that time!
(Spoilers, the owner of the cabin!)
"Are you alright? No broken bones?"
"A slight head rush! But nothing too awful!"
Now, one may think the most sensible way to untie somebody hanging upside down is to undo the rope around their ankle and lower them down. That would be a perfectly sane, reasonable option.
Not taking an axe and slashing just a few centimeters above your foot and sending you falling head first into the ground.
(My neck still hurts as of writing this.)
"You really need to watch out for those traps! Scavengers and bandits love to use those sorts of things to rob people blind!" The best way to describe his voice was Swedish. (I think. I've only ever heard Swedish accents in old TV shows in the G.U.I.D.Es)
"I'll definitely try harder in the future?"
After I had managed to collect myself from that little mishap, the man explained to me what he was doing out there. Apparently Keralis had been living in the woods for a few years now and had rigged it full of traps in case any wanderers (like me) or Stranglers got a bit too close to home.
He seems like a nice enough man. Brought me inside, got me a couple glasses of water and was overall very hospitable. Asked a few questions about where I was going and... Well.
"I'm trying to find the Demon and Heavy-Body Builder. I should get there tomorrow but I haven't really seen... Anything, really."
Keralis had fallen silent at the mention of the names. However... Back then he just sounded like he was holding in his laughter the more I think about it. "And are you sure you're going the right way?"
"Yes? The sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Work off of that and you're fine."
"Switch those two around."
"... What do you mean, switch those two around?"
And thus began a minute of the loudest, heartiest belly laughter I've ever heard. This poor man may have died from his laughter if he had not collected himself!
"I'm sorry- I'm sorry! But goodness-" A wheeze and another laugh. "-I haven't met anyone who didn't know that! Of course you haven't found them, you're going the wrong way! Come, come, I'll show you something that should help!"
Keralis showed me a room that would have been any mapmaker's dream come true. There were so many maps pinned up on the walls, feather quills laying about on a cluttered desk, and a huge window that just made the room feel SAFE.
I hadn't realized I had been staring at everything for so long when he set a compass in my hand. "This, my dear friend, will get you where you need to go." He had said with a twinkle in his eyes. (His HUGE eyes, mind you.)
"I... Are you sure? These things seem hard to find."
"Oh nonsense! Nonsense! I can make another one if I really need it. But you, mister, are running around like a dog trying to catch its own tail! In circles!" His hand had fallen on my shoulder at that point and something about it... Just seemed off. His hand was unnaturally firm and felt colder than a normal hand? "Where you need to go is Comparator City! I have a map just for it as well- I know a few people there myself!"
The man kept rambling about something (I can't tell you what) because I had seen something off with his neck. Why was it darker on one side than the other? And what was up with those lines? They looked so much like...
"Sweet face? You are staring!"
"I-I'm sorry, who?" That shocked the ever loving stars out of me. Even now, I have never met anyone who calls a stranger 'Sweet Face.'
"You silly! Sweet Face! Since I still don't know your name after all!" He dropped a rather heavy roll into my arms while I was still in my state of shock. "Those are for you! One map straight to Comparator City, and a few slips of blank paper to make your own maps." Before I could even thank him for his kindness, Keralis was pushing me out of the room. "I have a spare room you can stay in for the night. It's the least I can do for you getting strung up like that! There is also a river nearby, if you need to take a plunge. I've already tested, no flesh eating bacteria in it! Just... Don't drink the water. To be safe."
And... That leads us to now. Me writing in this journal after being able to actually soak in water for once (No more ten minute rushes) and a soft bed for the night. It's really nice here. But unfortunately I can't stay. I need to find The Doctor. And now...
Now I'm just one step closer to finding him.
-MLW
-G.U.I.D.E 67
#hermitblr#hermitcraft#original art#void art#the crash#hermitaday#keralis#martyn itlw#martyn inthelittlewood
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i rambled about maps earlier and now i am making my own csp brushes for mapmaking because i realized thats the reason it takes me forever to make the ones for the ehlverse
#i want it to be in MY style yaknow but sometimes doing everything by hand is. too much#so if i make these brushes.................. best of both worlds#braindumps.txt
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@flashfictionfridayofficial I’m doing this one on time for once I swear
I thought this would be fitting for Ash’s realization that Zach is from… well, out there. Beyond. Etc.
Slowly, I say, “You’re in the City of Vanithea. On a central island separate from the local landmasses. Most of us live here in the city, although some human populations have settled closer to the shores.”
Something is wrong, though. I don’t know of any of the shore towns named Seahaven, and Zach’s smile has dropped. He looks like I just delivered bad news, but why?
“Do you have a map?” Zach asks. “Like a world map?”
Feeling the thrilling pull of a new mystery, I stand up behind my desk.
“Follow me.”
Technically, bringing him back into the private room I use to store all the materials I am currently studying is going above and beyond Help Center duties. But I keep a copy of Bordreau’s map to help me with my research, given that hers is one of the more academically accepted interpretations of voyage reports we have. And because I see her whenever I visit the administrative office, I can usually get up-to-date copies.
Zach doesn’t need to know all that, though. It’s embarrassing enough to have someone else see the disjointed spread of yellowed papers and notes tacked to each wall. I don’t need to go into detail about how I’m close colleagues with the mapmaker.
“Here it is,” I say, spreading it out. “And here is where we are.”
I don’t know what I expect him to do. The map matches what I explained earlier: the edges of various landmasses line the map to the east and northeast, and the scattered merfolk islands dot the south. In the center of the map is our island, with its shores drawn in significantly sharper detail than the sketched landmasses. It’s generally agreed that Bordreau is the best at walking the line between honoring what the voyagers who make it back have spotted from afar, and taking creative liberties.
Zach looks it over for less than a minute. I’ve seen the map before; I watch him instead. From what I can tell, he spends most of his time studying the illustration of our central island.
“The smaller islands,” he says, tapping the handful of islands located in merfolk territory. “What’s past them?”
“Hard to say,” I say with a shrug. “The merfolk don’t let us pass through. About a decade ago, the city council decided we had lost enough boats trying.”
Too bad Gran isn’t here to hear me deliver the news with such neutrality. With how many of my rants she has heard on the decision, she’d probably be proud of me. I’ll have to tell her later.
“Well, they should start up again,” Zach says with completely unearned confidence. “Because that’s where I’m from.”
“You’re from the merfolk islands?”
That would explain why he doesn’t know the city, but… Actually, no, it wouldn’t. He would have swam here, climbed ashore, and traveled to Vanithea, so he would know where he is. Not to mention that, unless Zach’s scales are just as pale as his skin, and are therefore rendered invisible, I can’t believe him.
“No, no,” he says, and now he does sound like he thinks I’m being silly. “Past them. I’m from… over here.”
He spreads his hand out and waves it over a portion of the map beyond the inked borders, indicating the implied landmass east of the merfolk islands.
I struggle to keep my face neutral as I consider the implications of what he says. If I believe him… If he is telling the truth, then Zach’s presence in my Center is completely unprecedented. Humans haven’t managed to establish any permanent settlements outside of the central island. Every time we try to sail east or south, the merfolk take issue with it, and voyages to the north have infamously met with disaster. And, as far as we can tell, there isn’t anything to the west.
At least, that’s what the voyagers of the past have told us. But few of them ever actually made landfall on any of the identified landmasses, precluding genuine exploration…
Points of connection between the revelation standing in my back room, and my ongoing thesis paper, begin to unfold in my mind. This could change the direction of the paper entirely. If Zach’s tale can be verified by someone, somehow, it could be the clinching argument I need to convince the City. The entire thing would be elevated from some opinion piece by a girl to a forceful argument by an academic.
Holy shit.
#my excerpt#my writing#flashfridayfictionalofficial#character: ash#character: Zach#lore series#lore book 1
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Masters of the World, part 1
Hey there, Age of Mythology fans! You can head on over to https://www.patreon.com/posts/77895021 and download the first map in a campaign I been working on (nothing is for sale, I'm just hosting it there while I work on my big-girl website)
Heyyy everybody, here's one of my side projects! I'm making a custom campaign for the super great historical fantasy RTS game Age of Mythology: Extended Edition,which I'm pretty sure at least one other person on Earth still plays. You can get it here if you don't have it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/266840/Age_of_Mythology_Extended_Edition/ It's been a lifelong favorite since I was a kid and it's a great relic of the early 2000s RTS golden age; highly recommend. Once you've got the base game plus the Titans and Tales Of The Dragon xpacks, you can just drop this bad boy into the "scenarios" folder in your game files and you'll be good to go. More on the technical issues in a minute, but if you run into any problems try opening it in the editor and just selecting one of Player 1's units and that should fix it.
First, a word on the production. To put it bluntly the AoM scenario editor absolutely stinks. A lot of stuff just straight up doesn't work. For one thing, I've confirmed with other mapmakers that the campaign maker is irreparably broken and the only way to knit all the scenarios into a campaign is to manually write an XML document, which . . . I am not doing that. Also, a lot of the text-based storytelling elements from AoE2 were cut and replaced with visual ones, and listen Ensemble Studios I love you but I am not going to sit here for hours and make an entire claymation movie one if-then statement at a time.
All this is to say that this scenario is not done, but it is as done as it's ever going to get, so I'm just gonna send it.
Masters of the World part 1 is a single-player battle royale (well technically it's 1v1v1v1v1v3 but who's counting) build-and-destroy map with 7 AI players. Much like Swords of Outremer, I went a little wild with this one and as a consequence it's mad chunky. I recommend playing with your video settings turned alllll the way down. Also much like Swords of Outremer, I used an RMS for the skeleton; this one is Alfheim. I'm planning on telling this story in about 7 or 8 single-player maps, and you can expect Masters of the World part 2: The Fields of Pentecost sometime soonish.
***
Masters of the World is a high fantasy scenario where you play as Ajax Ironroot, king of the dwarves, who has come south out of his mountains to deal with an ancient threat: The Master of the World. The Masters, a band of mighty and nigh godlike wizards, lorded over by the mysterious figure known only as "the Wizard," have long scourged the land and laid it waste as they vie against each other for ultimate mastery. Ajax, afraid that this destruction may spread across his borders, will march forth to challenge the Masters on their own terms . . . But, to challenge them means becoming a Master of the World oneself.
Featuring a robust cast of characters, including the vain and proud Lady Pentecost, queen of the elves, and the mysterious vampire lord Gretta, Duchess of Shadows, as well as various and sundry other original the characters (do not steal). If you like protracted mountain sieges and massive endgame doomstack fights, like I do, this should serve; during playtesting I let the AI duke it out amongst themselves and they whupped on one another with no clear contender for like 6 or 7 hours until the game ran out of memory and crashed.
Have fun and let me know what you think! :)
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This Sunday on indie game night, the host brought an anthology of cozy rpgs by Ludipe
I have actually had this doc for a longass time, but never found a group. We played two of the games.
The first was Herlock Sholmes - tbh this didn't go by the rules because it's for 3 players and there were five of us. I'd love to try again with the correct cast. It's basically a great detective denouement scene, sorta like... semi-co-op, semi-pvp, where you try to trip up the detective with "new evidence" that you make up on the spot in 5 rounds of play.
The second I pushed for SO HARD. It's called "explorers of the known land" and it's a mapmaking game, where you all walk around a given area and create a map. The host had not considered it an option due to space limitations, but I insisted we all MAP THE GAME SHOP ✨
Everyone had a different take on it, and it was so fuckin good. I did a sort of realism take with a few supernatural elements (such as... the miasma...), most of the others gave cute names to the different areas of the store, and one person depicted it as an archipelago and went around to all the gamers and asked them to name their island (with mixed results). My fav bit is that me and another player independently drew the MTG player area exactly the same, like a swirling vortex.
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Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Box Set - 1993
Whilst I toil away at mapmaking, I did reward myself with a bit of treasure! In my deep plunges into the interwebs, I did in fact stumble across a wonderful artifact indeed. (But do forgive me for the photo quality, I was too excited for touch-ups!)
From thirty years ago, the “New Edition” of the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting! What a find! Though the box itself has a few dings and dents (a sign of much love, I’m sure), the treasures inside this chest were in far better condition.
Near mint, if I do say so myself! We see here our good friend Elminster here in some of my favorite art of him, but a Drizzt Do’Urden can also be spotted on the Grand Tour of the Realms, among other familiar faces.
I have not yet read through all of these, but soon I will be able to dispense what knowledge I find!
In addition to these fine books, the set came with a number of loose papers and maps, of which I had never seen before in digital or physical form.
Four in total! Two of eastern Faerun, and two of western. Once I am able to do so safely, I will be creating high resolution scans of these maps to share on this very blog, so do keep your eyes out!
But even more ingenious, included in the box was not one, but two of these! The transparent overlay seen here is made to show scale, and to be moved across the maps. As they all are drawn to the same scale, the overlays can be used between any of them, and having two copies of the overlay means more than one can be placed at a time, or, in case one is lost, there is a backup. These will provide themselves invaluable in reconstructing maps of the realms.
It also makes me wonder why we do not see these more often in more modern reproductions of these maps. I have not seen such overlays in any other piece of media for the Realms or any other setting, but they seem so useful, as well as inexpensive to produce! Perhaps this can be traced to the phasing out of overhead projectors and other such common technology of the 80s and 90s that saw the use of transparencies such as these. Wet erase markers faded out of use, and purchasing transparency films has become more difficult over time. Still, I hope that tools such as this can make a return. If nothing else, it sure beats getting out strings to try to measure the distances!
Following the maps, we find these sheets of symbols. My first thought was, are these sticker sheets? But thankfully, no! No aged glues or sticky pages greeted me (for surely stickers would not age well over three decades). These are actually cards, meant to be cut out and referenced. I am infinitely grateful that the previous owners of this box did not do so, since being in one piece has kept these from being lost or damaged, in the way small pieces often are.
The first three pages include runes and symbols. Some are for factions, such as the recognizable harp of the Harpers on the first page. Some are magical, namely the runes in green, and others are simply to convey a message.
The last two pages are the symbols of various gods and powers in the Realms, though some of the page is still dedicated to runes. Again, I will be creating scans, both front and back, to share.
And yes, the backs of all of them contain some information about the image on the front. I cannot wait to make copies so that I feel confident in cutting out and using the cards, while still keeping the originals in good condition.
The final portion of this treasure chest of information is a bestiary. The pages are unbound, but punched to fit into a ringed binder. I adore all the art. Like before, I will create scans, and perhaps write on more specific aspects of the creatures therein.
But before I go to work on my maps again, I grant you the most wonderful gift that this box has to offer:
Thank you all, and safe journeys, travelers~
#forgotten realms#faerun#forgotten realms campaign setting#dungeons and dragons#ad&d 2e#AD&D#forgotten realms atlas#treasure trove#tressym#books of the realms#dnd#d&d#product review#I think this counts as a review?#30 year old things can still be reviewed#even if they are a pain to buy#also I got this for $60!!!!#the find of a lifetime truly
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I don't watch beef (yet?)
Give me the propaganda.
Hiii welcome to the unskippable cutscene. Except it is skippable because sometimes I'm nice to the poor poor souls who follow me
This is VintageBeef (season 9 skin on the left, skin from all prior seasons on the right) and he is the most normal and okay completely sane guy on the whole planet.
This season he's dedicated literally hundreds of hours building map upon map to make Hermit TCG. But you know this part already, if you watch literally any hermit other than Hypno and Iskall (love you guys!)
Beef's claim to fame isn't mapmaking (usually) but is instead his storytelling. He's incredibly good at creating subplots and builds where the lore is implied rather than said, think the cloning machine from s7 that birthed Helsknight and Green Eyed/Skinless Beef.
Also think whatever his deal was in s8, because he played it completely straight the entire time and because of Moon's Big we will never get an explanation. This haunts me.
Look at him. Just look at him. Doesn't this intrigue you? It certainly intrigued this lovely author here. I'm never getting over this though. Especially because when he entered s9 it was just gone (with the exception of this little patch, which no one talks about, that I've only seen literally one artist draw, that VintageBeef has never addressed)
s8 he mastered conveying the uniquely helpless experience of even the character himself not knowing what was happening to him while the audience can maybe guess - leaving all parties involved unable to do anything to change the course of the story. Which I am normal about! And next topic!
Also for the sell of actually watching his videos? We all love a bloke who is just some guy. We all love a guy who is completely average at PvP, who isn't the inventor of all redstone (looking at you, Impulse, Etho and Tango!), who doesn't build photorealistic recreations of fantasy worlds as a hobby. We love a man of the people. A real 6/10.
His videos are all very relaxing - he is a very chill youtuber, who prefers to take his videos slow and steady (he built a cabin in the woods! it's the only "house" he's made since episode, like, twenty). Also, consider, kind man with deep voice. Thank you for coming to my TED talk I'll be here all night!
Moral of the story? Please watch VintageBeef he's great.
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