Map Thread/Discussion

[Diethe]

We'll probably be needing our own thread for the map soon anyway, for discussion, balance, routes, names etc so here it is. I'll update the first post regularly with progress on the map. Feedback, suggestions etc are most welcome.



Blank Map

[Schwerpunkt]

Having sea routes connect to each other, and from there to cities, rather than linking cities is a much better solution than what we had previously planned on doing.

I'd like to see Dorter, Caernag, and whatever's near the volcano under Corpse Brigade control. No idea what that shield would look like, though.

We need more minor locations in Ordallia, you think?

Romanda's capital should be a castle. Failing that, the southeastern city-thing.

Edit: After further thought, I'm kind of in favor of adding two small additional islands to Romanda (one southwest, one east). The general idea I had was that Romanda was a pretty big empire before the Cataclysm wrecked it.

[kablizzy]

Also, wasn't canonical Romanda pretty huge and badass and technologically advanced and all that? I guess before the Cataclysm also. I'd be in favor of a couple smaller islands to Romanda, though.

[Schwerpunkt]

Canonical Romanda is pretty much a blank slate. We know basically nothing about it. There's a gun named after them, but that's about it. But then, we call them Arabic Numerals when they're actually from India.

[Diethe]

Yes we do a bit Schwer we need a bit more places for Ordallia. Places like Steppe, Oasis, etc. Like you said, Ordallia is the biggest empire known to man and well, we all dont want it to just be an 'addon' pack that we just slapped on to add flavor to Ivalice, rather we should make them equal at least in power and places as much as possible.

And yeah, all capitals are already castles/cities anyway, but yeah, no mere castles in Romanda. Perhaps we can add some on the islands we talked about.

And yeah, the ocean wilderness areas will be connected to each other and to cities instead of mere city to city routes. Which will make for interesting new MH and random encounters on the sea. I know you don't like to tackle the sea much in terms of battles and conflicts but hey meeting a gang of pirates while travelling by sea is a very real danger, at the least.

Tho I do agree a bit on that Romanda Gun thing. At least some small faction or remnant of Romanda is technologically advanced, with such a gun being named coming from that place. I believe Grand Duke Berrington was called 'lord of the forge' for mass producing huge arsenals of weaponry for himself and even making his capital Romandan-styled. If ever, we can say Romanda is a bit of a militarized and somewhat better-advanced scandinavian people who 50% come out of berserking and raiding and organized their armies. Of course, a majority still cling to berserking and honorable fighting like the days of yore. Although yeah, it would be plausible to have the Romanda Gun merely a technological artifact recovered in Romanda from a Romanda of the past era where it was advanced.

Anyway, MAP UPDATED with preferrences so far. The islands were added east and north instead, as I wanted to keep up with that small point closest to Fovoham as it is the one similar to the FFT canon map.

[kablizzy]

Apr 22, 2013 2:34:24 GMT -6 Diethe said:

And yeah, the ocean wilderness areas will be connected to each other and to cities instead of mere city to city routes. Which will make for interesting new MH and random encounters on the sea. I know you don't like to tackle the sea much in terms of battles and conflicts but hey meeting a gang of pirates while travelling by sea is a very real danger, at the least.

Especially if we have a PIRATE CLASS! Y'ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Anyway, MAP UPDATED with preferrences so far. The islands were added east and north instead, as I wanted to keep up with that small point closest to Fovoham as it is the one similar to the FFT canon map.

Nicely done, sir. I love this map more and more as time goes on.

[Schwerpunkt]

I'll get to work on more Ordallia stuff at some point soon. I'll probably wind up adding a city near Jayyan and another near Qalat al-Gharb, plus probably something like 3-4 wilderness points.

As for Romanda, put a castle on that eastern island and, say, two points near it. I also want a comparably sized island west of Romanda for another city. If you could make the northern island a bit bigger (or add a few other smaller islands), I could sneak another few points of interest there, too.

And drop a castle in the inverted Y.

[Diethe]

Updated. Also, island formation included. It's the epicenter of the Cataclysm. We might be able to include one or two plots in there...or people could die trying to reach that place of extreme magickal disturbance. Or people could come out from different dimensions. Or it could just be a ring of islands. Heh. Also, locations wont be a problem. Remember we could always use sea wilderness tiles instead of land ones.

Trying to do a slight resemblance of FFTA2 Ordallia except of course, everything's sunk and broken. Only the island of Goug is recognizable tho. Loar's probably out of the question though.

[Schwerpunkt]

Turning out really good. For that broken island formation, I'd push the outer bits a bit further out (so it looks less like a semicircle), with the implication being that the Cataclysm screwed the land up so severely it physically moved.

Yardrow and Bun-whatever should be occupied by Romanda. Romanda, in turn, should probably have different colors; I'm not a fan of the teal. Maybe red and silver (or red and white).

I do, however, like the Corpse Brigade's emblem.

Rhein Planation and Sal Ghidos, at the time of v3's start, will be occupied by Ordallia. Zeltennia proper will be under siege.

Ordallia's also missing the brown dot in the mountains between Zabud and Viura (Dhalikar Garrison).

For sea dots, I'm kind of favoring 'Shipwreck Point' for that long, narrow peninsula east of Yardrow. Nelveska Bay somewhere near Nelveska will also work.

Can you sneak a small river in Zelamonia, roughly from Kaldemar to the sea? Most cities in the early modern era needed waterways of some sort to grow to any meaningful size. Even Nevada, which is mostly desert, has that weird southern point specifically for access to a river.

[Diethe]

Well oasis(es) works in Ordallia if you want an alternative for rivers. Also, should I go add Touten somewhere and any other faction?

[Schwerpunkt]

Strictly speaking, Zelamonia shouldn't have oases because it's not a desert. I imagined it as a coastal plain, more or less, so rivers make sense.

But yeah, we can add ~2 oases near the Sand Wastes. I'll have to figure out what to place up north, which is mostly steppe.

Touten are just the Crown's thugs, so whatever they control/garrison would just be owned by Lesalia anyway.

[Schwerpunkt]

Nogridrek Tundra - 'Tundra of Plentiful Dragons.' Lots of high-level MHs here, I imagine.

Kaldrjog Taiga - Was originally something else, but there's a typo in there somewhere (probably "jog," though I have no idea what I originally wanted it to be). But it's a cold place and it's a taiga, so we get the message across.

Bjornshus Retreat - This is a pun. Bjorn is both a name and a word meaning 'bear' -- berserker is probably derived from 'bearskin-wearer,' since wearing bear pelts was a partly religious thing (one of Odin's many quirks). So it's both 'Retreat at Bjorn's House' and 'Retreat at the Bear House,' with the implication of the latter being that it's where berserkers go when they're not busy getting hammered. I should add a berserker named Bjorn and make it a meta-pun.

Hvitnaflod City - 'City of the Whitening Tide,' that being an obvious allusion to icebergs (which would be a good reason not to sail north of the city). If we feel like getting fancy, we can make it like Magadan -- a port that freezes over for part of the year.

Fermdormr Point - Fermdomr is something like 'Court of Judgement.' It kind of needed an English noun for consistency.

Olker Crossing - 'The Ale-Cask Crossing,' because there needed to be a reference to booze somewhere in these names. They're Norsemen.

Svellvard Fortress - 'Vard' means all sorts of things. But I like the 'Snow Cairne Fortress' option. Better than 'Snow Watcher Fortress,' I suppose.

Andask Caves - 'Caves of the Dying.' Probably going to make this a place where Dark Knights earn their proverbial wings, which plenty of them die while trying to do.

Skadagr Island - 'Island of the Broken Day.' Pretentious allusion to the Cataclysm.

Frostward Inlet, Shipwreck Coast, and Reaver's Sea are pretty straight-forward.



Guess I'll tackle Zelamonian additions next. But Romanda should have plenty of stuff now. Two cities, three castles, and a capital to boot. I had only written four Jarls into Romandan lore, so I guess I have to add another (the Dark Knights don't qualify).

[Diethe]

Bjornshus or Bjornhus? And err...no name for that castle in the middle. I'm guessing its for the Dark Knights.

Additional thought for immersion. Dark Knights and Wizards probably get yellow eyes in time from casting black magicks.

Also, updated.

[Schwerpunkt]

Bjornshus.

Goddamn castle. Uh. Miklakast, the Big Castle. Because I reject the notion that all my names must be meaningful and stuff.

Now we should be done with Romandan place names.

[Schwerpunkt]

Lazward Oasis - Azure Oasis.

Qazz Highway - Silk Highway. An obvious allusion to the Silk Road, with Rozarria sitting on the other end.

Bay al-Tun - Tunafish Bay.

al-Anka Volcano - Volcano of the Phoenix.

Qalat al-Tarf - Fortress of the Lion's Gaze. Fitting, since it stares across the bay at Limberry.

Ashijar Oasis - Citrus Oasis. Mostly a reference to the fact that the orange tree was introduced to Europe by the Arabs.

Likan Port - 'Dock Port.' Mostly a trading settlement at the western terminus of Qazz Highway.

Sha'q Sea - Kraken Sea. Mostly to justify not sailing there.

Vaserian Basin - Pretty self-explanatory. The only rivers in the region flow to it, so it fits.

Ayah Farmlands - Omen Farmlands. More religious stuff because it's Ordallia and that's their thing.

Kharaj Plains - Kharaj is 'land tax,' so you could get creative and construe this as annexation of part of Zelamonia. Which is probably what it is.

Should have enough land stuff now. 9 new places of interest for Ordallia should fill the map out nicely.