My map of Volsaxiland

[jeffjerwin]

I've got a detailed map of Volsaxiland I use for my campaign I thought I'd share... Locations are chiefly from the Dragon Pass gazetteer, the Guide and Atlas. It's a little messy since I work by hand. The base map is the old Holy Country map from the RQ Companion - it was just sparsely detailed enough to be able to fit all my scribbles.

Edited December 19, 2017 by jeffjerwin
note on source

[jeffjerwin]

I don't have the map that came with the Heortland issue of Tradetalk. I'm not sure how to source a copy but it would be treasured (and consulted) if it can be provided.

 

I have WIP historical maps of the EWF, Dawn, and c.1317-1470 period; I'll fix them up and post them soonish.

Edited December 19, 2017 by jeffjerwin
A few notes.

[kaydet]

That's pretty damn incredible.

[jeffjerwin]

A little backstory...

When I was a teenager my father ran RQ for my twin brother and my little sister. After he died a few years ago I inherited much of the collection. I've been running HeroQuest for my daughter and have been planning a campaign for my gaming friends as well, using some of the old characters as NPCs. In the original plot line after the Fall of Sartar the characters went to the Holy Country (we used "Carse" and what other fragments existed, and ended up forming a clan on the borderlands, full of refugees, misfits, ducks, and a few other random things. As canon marched on I discovered that some of the old stuff wasn't exactly "official" but I've adapted what I can.

The campaign (for both age groups) involves the Cave Inn outside Whitewall, a hive of rebel scum: an odd sunglass wearing troll or two, a Centaur initiate of Issaries, a bunch of intelligent alynxes (the Gavren stone is on the tula), some magic otters, some Lunar spies, and an old woman who lives in wagon that seems to know some uncanny magic.

Thus far, Kora, my daughter's character. has snuck out into the woods near Finovan's grove and encountered a strange dark girl who says she lives with her grandmother near Zatarn Lake and has a pet moth. They have decided to be friends. Kora is also helping with the Holy Time festival by representing Voria in the Goose Dance.

[Jeff]

Here's Greg's map of eastern Volsaxi land, aka Sen Senrenen.

[jeffjerwin]

Yeah, I used that map to develop the one I have. There are two difficulties - though those problems may be partly since it represents the boyhood of Hendrik... First, the rive from Dar's Rest to Zatarn appears in a slightly different place in Third Age canon maps. I presumed a "troll bridge" and dam that rerouted the river a bit to the west.

Second, on the left the Gavren looks like it heads into the Dreven where it hits the Backmarsh; newer and later-dated maps have it join the Marzeel. Also perhaps something that got changed in the meantime. I blame the Lead Hills and Belintar.

[jeffjerwin]

This is my political map of Volsaxiland (not canon, but based off canon, folks!)

The area marked (1) is the Whitewall environs, an area that belongs to whoever is High King.

The area marked (2) is a no-man's land between the Balmyr and the Kitori where a lot of bandits and outlaws hang out.

The area marked (3) was annexed by the Bacofi - they also claim (1) after the Fall of Whitewall.

 

PS. The Kulrain have two parts - like real tribes sometimes do - because the reference in the Guide to them living around Derensev, and their placement in the equally canon map of Sartari tribes.

Edited December 19, 2017 by jeffjerwin

[jeffjerwin]

This map, which is a bit messier, details the Resettlement period and a few other developments: c.1300-1470.

"Bull Hill" is from an old Wyrm's Footnotes, where it appears in the name "Sartar of Bullhill" - given that his tribe the Orshanti lives near the Print that seems a plausible enough name for a village or stead.

Note that the Balmyr forced aside the Kitori. Before they came (c.1320) Kitori lands extended from the Blackwell as far as the Sambari Gap - then the Torkani Gap, the Torkani having originated in a KItori client clan.

 

PS. The green marks marshland. The New Canal didn't drain the swamps around Blackwell until perhaps the middle of the 14th c.

Edited December 19, 2017 by jeffjerwin

[jeffjerwin]

Here's the Gavrening clan emblem, from my game:

 

The image combines Gavren the Red into a Movement Rune. The stripes on his back are lightning and Yinkin's fire. A Movement Rune is the pupil of his eye. His back arches into a Wind Rune, while his right paw makes the Yinkin Rune.

Edited December 19, 2017 by jeffjerwin

[Steve]

On 19/12/2017 at 3:07 AM, jeffjerwin said:

I don't have the map that came with the Heortland issue of Tradetalk. I'm not sure how to source a copy but it would be treasured (and consulted) if it can be provided.

You can buy a PDF of Tradetalk issue 12 (the Heortland special issue) from http://www.rpgnow.com/product/61196/Tradetalk--12--Heortland

 

[jeffjerwin]

2 hours ago, Steve said:

You can buy a PDF of Tradetalk issue 12 (the Heortland special issue) from http://www.rpgnow.com/product/61196/Tradetalk--12--Heortland

 

Does it include the map, which was later sold separately?

[jajagappa]

8 hours ago, jeffjerwin said:

Does it include the map, which was later sold separately?

No, I just looked through my copy, and the pdf does not appear to have the map.

[jeffjerwin]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

No, I just looked through my copy, and the pdf does not appear to have the map.

Well then. Who has the rights to it? Issaries and thus Chaosium? Wesley Quadros - or is it Simon Bray, the cartographer?

It looks like Tradetalk used to sell them direct from Germany.

Edited December 21, 2017 by jeffjerwin

[Steve]

Likely Tradetalk still has the rights to the map. I would email them at editor@tradetalk.de and ask.

 

[7Tigers]

On 19/12/2017 at 4:07 AM, jeffjerwin said:

I don't have the map that came with the Heortland issue of Tradetalk. I'm not sure how to source a copy but it would be treasured (and consulted) if it can be provided.

Hum, I was a TT subscriber at the time and never got / heard of that map...

[jeffjerwin]

2 hours ago, 7Tigers said:

Hum, I was a TT subscriber at the time and never got / heard of that map...

Which explains why I don't have one either, though my copy is from eBay. Further research suggests it was sold separately on the TT website or distributed at conventions as a companion to the issue. But I'm entirely sure.

[M Helsdon]

Unspoken Word generated a whole series of maps. These are now supplanted by the more accurate maps in the Guide and Atlas.

I picked up a set via Abe Books.

Heortland, covering the lands of the Esvulari and Volsaxiland (by Simon Bray)
Tarsh, from the back of Tarsh in Flames (by Wesley Quadros)
Imther, also with an inset map showing the location of the marls (clans) (by Wesley Quadros, after Harald Smith's originals)
Dagori Inkarth, an expanded version of the map on the back of Uz: The Trolls of Glorantha (by Darran Sims)
Pavis County, (by John Hughes)
Esrolia, (by Marian Gutowski)

Edited December 21, 2017 by M Helsdon

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, M Helsdon said:

Unspoken Word generated a whole series of maps.

And a Lunar Empire map.  Often forget I have that set lurking around in some map tube.

All superseded by the Guide of course.

Edited December 21, 2017 by jajagappa

[jeffjerwin]

The Guide, of course, is canon and these are not, but several are actually more detailed than the Guide/Argan Argar Atlas. The Heartland and Tarsh ones in particular... So they're a bit useful for someone doing a game in those areas who is either a completist or wants to avoid reinventing the wheel in terms of place names of towns, sites, and villages.

[metcalph]

On 22/12/2017 at 9:30 AM, M Helsdon said:

Unspoken Word generated a whole series of maps. These are now supplanted by the more accurate maps in the Guide and Atlas.

I picked up a set via Abe Books.

Heortland, covering the lands of the Esvulari and Volsaxiland (by Simon Bray)
Tarsh, from the back of Tarsh in Flames (by Wesley Quadros)
Imther, also with an inset map showing the location of the marls (clans) (by Wesley Quadros, after Harald Smith's originals)
Dagori Inkarth, an expanded version of the map on the back of Uz: The Trolls of Glorantha (by Darran Sims)
Pavis County, (by John Hughes)
Esrolia, (by Marian Gutowski)

The Tarsh Map is I think reprinted in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes.

A Volsaxi map would be in History of the Heortling Peoples (although the very big one is unfortunately faded out but I do have a more legible copy from the Guide backer level).

[jeffjerwin]

4 hours ago, metcalph said:

The Tarsh Map is I think reprinted in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes.

A Volsaxi map would be in History of the Heortling Peoples (although the very big one is unfortunately faded out but I do have a more legible copy from the Guide backer level).

 The Tarsh map in Sartar:KoH is clipped from the original by Wesley Quadros and thus is missing a fair bit. It's easy to find around the net however...

I have HotHP and thankfully I can read the map therein. Tracking down the Bray map of Heortland is a long term goal, but since the part where my campaign is set (the north) is on the Dragon Pass map and covered by multiple other sources as well, this isn't crucial.

[jeffjerwin]

I have found the central portion of the map via the internet archive, at any rate: https://web.archive.org/web/20031214194855/http://home.swipnet.se/bagog/rq/tidn/heort_b.jpg

 

This was apparently the excerpt published as a sample by the TT website when it was available for purchase there. In any rate, it contains a large amount of the information I'm looking for.

Edited December 23, 2017 by jeffjerwin

[Jeff]

10 hours ago, jeffjerwin said:

The Guide, of course, is canon and these are not, but several are actually more detailed than the Guide/Argan Argar Atlas. The Heartland and Tarsh ones in particular... So they're a bit useful for someone doing a game in those areas who is either a completist or wants to avoid reinventing the wheel in terms of place names of towns, sites, and villages.

The difference is that the maps in the Guide are canonical, while the maps in TT and UW are not. Especially when it comes to names.

[jeffjerwin]

9 hours ago, Jeff said:

The difference is that the maps in the Guide are canonical, while the maps in TT and UW are not. Especially when it comes to names.

Yep, already changed a few in my campaign.

[jeffjerwin]

I'm working on a scenario (someday, perhaps, for a Gloranthan Repository) called "The Woodwife's Lonely Cry" set in the Troll Woods. This is a regular photo because the paints still drying on my reference map - I added in some depth to the mountains with acrylics, as it was easier for a fogey like me than using GIMP or some-such. 

 

Edit: Maybe I'll paint the whole area at this scale for my game in mixed media. Give the ground some depth and contours; the woods some definition...

Edited January 6, 2018 by jeffjerwin