Mapping The Great Continent (North-East)

[Epyriel]

Hello, I am making a UMC campaign addon that I hope to make at least theoretically consistent with canon, so in that vein I would like to reopen discussion about expanding and mapping the Great Continent, with a particular focus on the north-east for my purpose.

Here is a sketch initially done by zookeeper and added to and expanded by several people in this 2017 thread:

Northern Great Continent

Yellow - Plains/Wastelands of any kind
Blue - Swamps
Black - Mountains
Grey - Hills
Green - Forests

And here is another later sketch done by ghype and added to by several people for the south of the continent in this 2020 thread:

Southern Great Continent

Yellow - Plains/Wastelands of any kind
Blue - Swamps
Black - Mountains
Grey - Hills
Green - Forests

ghype Great Continent Sketch.png (189.87 KiB) Viewed 6401 times

I wish to resolve three ideas: A) that the Lintanir Forest is merely the southernmost edge of the larger Great Northern Forest as stated in several areas, B) the canon Far North Map which severely limits the Great Northern Forest in the west (of which the entirety is referred to as the 'Lintanir Forest'), and C) the Wiki description of the Far North which states:

Cold, harsh, and inaccessible, the Far North is the ancestral home of the Orcish Clannate. It lies north of the Heart Mountains, which the Orcs call the Haggid-Dargor and claim (without merit) as their own. To the east lie the Unaligned Tribes of the Wild Steppe, who fell out of the control of the Clannate, instead roaming with wild human barbarians and clashing with the High Elves of the North Plains (known as North Elves in human lands). The High Elves themselves reside further east, where it is rumored they rule a vast kingdom.

Another point of interest is settling at least an approximate scale for the map. As per this thread, two distances are highlighted for reference:

1) HTTT S04 states from the Battle of the Bay of Pearls to Elensefar is 6 days by land. Assuming swift mounted riders going ~50km/day, this would mean a trace from the battle's site along the coast to Elensefar is ~300km.
2) Zookeeper suggests the distance from Elensefar to Weldyn is roughly the same as the distance from Paris to Berlin (presumably as the crow flies), giving a direct distance of ~878km.

Relative to each other, the ratio of these two distances is 4.5:9.5 on the official canon map of Wesnoth. If we then average these two scales, we can get a scale estimate for the Great Continent.

Thus including both the calculated scale, and attempting to resolve the three ideas above, here is my own proposed sketch for the north-east of The Great Continent:

North-East Great Continent

Yellow - Plains/Wastelands of any kind
Blue - Swamps
Black - Mountains
Grey - Hills
Green - Forests

Mystical_Warlord Great Continent Sketch.png (134.02 KiB) Viewed 6401 times

The plains north-east of The Great Northern Forest would be The Wild Steppe, and to their east would be the forest kingdom of the High Elves, both discussed in the Wiki.

Another helpful thing to consider would be to establish a planetary size for Iryda so lines of latitude can be discussed, since it is latitude that largely determines which geographic features are possible in which areas. For example sandy deserts only tend to appear between 15° and 30° in both hemispheres, and tundra only tends to appear between 60° and 75° in both hemispheres.

As a bonus, a final idea to consider would be discussing giving unique names to geographic features that in canon so far only have generic names (Great Ocean, Great Continent, Old Continent, Great Northern Woods, etc.) since this kind of naming is far more rare in real life.

Summary of Goals:

• Map north-east of Great Continent
• Establish map scale
• Establish Iryda planetary size and corresponding lines of latitude
• Discuss possibility of giving unique names to generically named geographic features
• Discuss possibility of canonization of above ideas

Thank you for your time, and please let me know if I missed any important clues or context for the above goals! I'm looking forward to everyone's thoughts

[gnombat]

As a bonus, a final idea to consider would be discussing giving unique names to geographic features that in canon so far only have generic names (Great Ocean, Great Continent, Old Continent, Great Northern Woods, etc.) since this kind of naming is far more rare in real life.

Rare?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Peninsula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande

[Epyriel]

As a bonus, a final idea to consider would be discussing giving unique names to geographic features that in canon so far only have generic names (Great Ocean, Great Continent, Old Continent, Great Northern Woods, etc.) since this kind of naming is far more rare in real life.

Rare?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Peninsula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande

I mean yeah, even among your 5 examples, 2 of them also have unique names (Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, and the Afro-Eurasian Continent) and the rest are only a very small part of the larger body of named geographical features. Whereas in Wesnoth, both continents, the only identified ocean, and the largest forest all have generic names.

[Gothyoba]

I personally think zookeeper’s estimate for the distances along the Great Continent are closest to canon, since I think zookeeper made the current maps for the great continent. As an idea, you might want to look into Carorath, the Freelands and the Wilderlands for your map. These are shown in a group of multiplayer maps which are apparently set somewhere in the east. In terms of names, maybe you could have different groups of people call places by different names. This already happens in Wesnoth, though not very often (Heart Mountains, Whitefang Mountains).

[Epyriel]

I personally think zookeeper’s estimate for the distances along the Great Continent are closest to canon, since I think zookeeper made the current maps for the great continent.

I rounded up (closer to zookeeper's estimate) for the 400 km scale shown, so I think this works well.

As an idea, you might want to look into Carorath, the Freelands and the Wilderlands for your map. These are shown in a group of multiplayer maps which are apparently set somewhere in the east.

I will check them out when I have the time, thanks for the suggestion!

In terms of names, maybe you could have different groups of people call places by different names. This already happens in Wesnoth, though not very often (Heart Mountains, Whitefang Mountains).

I guess this works in the meanwhile in absence of a consensus for proper names.

[Gothyoba]

I observed the two maps where the freelands, the wilderlands and Carorath are mentioned. They don’t seem to align with your ideas for the geography of the north-east, though maybe you could put some rumours of their existence. The maps where they are shown/mentioned are the Freelands and the Wildelands. Nothing is said of Caroath’s terrain though maybe their imperial nature may bring rumours of their might as far the Great Northern Forest.

[Gothyoba]

By the way, this might be relvant for your project:

viewtopic.php?p=670787#p670787

It is an idea for an RPG mini-campaign by Lord-Knightmare. I do not believe any work has been done on it since, but it seems to once have been seriously considered as something to add to the base game. I also do not know if it was supposed to be canon, but I hope it can give you some ideas of the far east. Keep in mind that this would require changes in your terrain in the far east to be able to properly incorporate it.

[Lord-Knightmare]

It is an idea for an RPG mini-campaign by Lord-Knightmare. I do not believe any work has been done on it since, but it seems to once have been seriously considered as something to add to the base game. I also do not know if it was supposed to be canon, but I hope it can give you some ideas of the far east. Keep in mind that this would require changes in your terrain in the far east to be able to properly incorporate it.

It was deemed not worth pursuing so I chopped it. The base campaign skeleton is somewhere though...

[ryeconclude]

By the way, this might be relvant for your project:

viewtopic.php?p=670787#p670787

It is an idea for an RPG mini-campaign by Lord-Knightmare. I do not believe any work has been done on it since, but it seems to once have been seriously considered as something to add to the base game. I also do not know if it was supposed to be canon, but I hope it can give you some ideas of the far east. Keep in mind that this would require changes in your terrain in the far east to be able to properly incorporate it.

I think that's an amazing project.