[WIP] Pirate World

[verdilak]

This is the map that I am currently making for my wife's low-fantasy game where everyone is playing a pirate character. So far, she is good with the landmasses (going for most of the world sort of thing, while allowing the players to sail off the "edges" of the map, so to speak, and discover new lands), but has yet to tell me where cities are to go as well as names for anything. I think that will probably come about during the game.

pirateworld1.jpgpirateworld.jpg

[Aval Penworth]

Cool. I'm imagining Kiera Knightly, Katherine Zeta-Jones, Angelina and Meg Fox sitting around your map wearing bandanas vigorously shaking fists full of d20s.

[Diamond]

Nice lookin' map, verdilak.

Cool. I'm imagining Kiera Knightly, Katherine Zeta-Jones, Angelina and Meg Fox sitting around your map wearing bandanas vigorously shaking fists full of d20s.

I would pay good money to see that.

[verdilak]

LOL Thanks for that!

[Quabbe]

Nice.

Looks nearly finished to me. What else do you want to do, except adding cities?


Q

[verdilak]

Nice.

Looks nearly finished to me. What else do you want to do, except adding cities?


Q

Cities, continent/island/mountain/river names, roads, and ship lanes. Oh, and country borders and whatnot. Basically small things at this point.

[jtougas]

Cities, continent/island/mountain/river names, roads, and ship lanes. Oh, and country borders and whatnot. Basically small things at this point.

It's all the *small*...things that get ya.. Looks great makes me want to hear the stories...

[verdilak]

It's all the *small*...things that get ya.. Looks great makes me want to hear the stories...

Heh, the stories haven't started yet.. well, I did write up my character's backstory:


"My village, culture, people... however you want to call them, we've lived on these 5 islands for the past thousand years or so. The story goes, is that Mako, the shark-headed ocean god that my people worship, saved them from their ships and brought my people to these islands out of protection. Personally, the mainland would have been better in my opinion, but thats the story we get. The truth, however, is different. My people are a result of the survivors of two slaving ships that sank near these islands during a monster of a storm. How do I know the truth? Well, my family are slaves. Slaves to the Priests of Mako.

"It took around a hundred years for the Mako cult to spring up on these 5 islands. But when it did, boy was he worshiped. Everything was done in Mako's name... kinda like how it is done today. Anyways, when his first Priest demanded a certain fish with poisoned barbs for one of the rites of Mako, it was a true test of faith. One wrong move, one tiny prick of these spines, and you were dead. Not instantly, but hours later after pain unimaginable. It was my ancestor who was the only one with the right mix of capability and stupidity to catch the fish bare handed and yet not die. And ever since, my family has been the one to get the fish, which were called Angelfish by my people. That is all that we can do, at least the males of my family.

"The Angelfish's spines and poison are inserted under our skin to make these vivid tattoos like the ones I have. It is all part of the religious rites and rituals that the Priests have created over the years. But the people believe it. Would you believe that everyone is married off as children, in order to stave off the deformities that come from too much inbreeding? The Priests control that too.

"Anyways, it seems my family adapted to these islands and the ocean. The angelfish that we required stopped coming so close to the surface and required longer dives and the ability to hold our breath longer and longer to reach it. After a few hundred years, it became easier and easier for the men in my family to hold our breath. Then came the webbing between our fingers which was another aspect of our unique niche in island life. And then my great-grandfather realized that his strength was doubled, or even more, when he was underwater. My father was able to make the surface of the water swirl at his command. Not exactly impressive, but it caused the Priests to gain an even stronger hold over my family. And when twins were born...

"My twin and I were different from birth. Oh, we had the normal webbed fingers and toes, and the gills behind our ears. Except ours were not small and hardly noticeable, they were larger than any other in my family but the larger gills gave us considerable ability within the water. As we grew, we were closely watched by everyone to see what miracles Mako gave us. When we were toddlers, it was found that we could speak to different sea creatures. When we were 10, my brother learned that he could actually control the smaller fish and even command the angelfish to come to him while I was able to command the water like my father was able to.

"It was around then that we started to drift. See, my brother spoke to the smaller fish and as such, he was a small-minded person. He was ecstatic when the Priests told him that he was to be their singular most important person, marked by Mako or so they said. Me? I found out that they used the poison of the angelfish to make a drink that scrambled their brains so bad they could barely crawl. Apparently, it was also enjoyable. I was never able to speak to the small fish, for which I am thankful for. I could only speak to the larger creatures, like turtles, dolphins, and sharks. Turtles are lazy, dolphins are horny bastards (you would never want to be saved by one again if you heard what I can), and sharks... well, sharks are my type of people.

"Anyways, I decided to leave the islands, the first one to attempt it in over a hundred years and the only one of my family to even consider it. I mean, why would my family? We were treated like royalty by the people of Mako... but they couldn't see that we were just prisoners. In a pretty cage, sure, but prisoners nonetheless. I wanted freedom and so I took my leave. Of course, the Priests were not okay with this and I had to leave a few bodies in my wake... and then my brother showed up. He begged me to stay, then he tried to force me. He dared to bring the angelfish to the surface in an attempt to keep me on the island!

"So I did what I had to do. Oh, I tried, without luck, to call for something large enough to spook the fish from my brother's control. But when that didn't work, I crushed his windpipe with the butt of my spear. See, I knew that my brother needed to use his voice, even if it was softly, to make the magic of calling the fish to him work. And so I left. Now, I am not heartless enough to have watched, covertly, as the Priests inserted a reed into my brother's throat to allow him to continue breathing, but once I was sure that my brother would be fine, I never looked back.

"Luckily, i don't tire when I swim, or else I would have never had been able to make it to the shore of the Great Land. The clothes these people wore were strange to me, as were the things that walked upon four legs instead of two. And the smells...

"I was called a freak and a monster when someone saw my family's heritage on me, which was only after I was called a delinquent and pervert due to my walking around with only a cloth to cover my privates. I held my own quite easily, until others in shiny metal showed up on top of these creatures of theirs, then I was forced to flee. I stole some of the clothes these people wore and was able to blend in better. These people were wondrous, you know, once you got past their small and the cold of their air. And the things they could create... now, I thought I was the only one able to create different things, as I had back on Mako's islands, but here, it seemed every other person could make something new.

"I worked as an apprentice for a time with someone who make circular gears for tiny figurines and machinery, at least until I was found out and was forced to run once more. In a fit of despair, I meditated as I was taught to back home, and strangely enough, i felt something inside of me point south, towards the ocean. Unsure of what this meant, I followed my feeling and came to a new place, one that was swarming with people and had these great ships where the water met the land. I knew something of these from growing up, as my people used smaller versions to travel between the various islands, but these were monstrous compared to them. The feeling in me stopped as soon as I set my eyes upon them and I knew that I had found the sharks of these Great Lands."

[Slylok]

I like it. thar be plenty of places to hide me treasure says I. I look forward to seeing upcoming additions.

[Jaxilon]

That looks really nice. The only thing I wondered about and it's a small thing is if you might want to lighten the opacity on the Sea Monsters so the map stands out as the most prominent thing. They are really great creatures though so if she likes them full power I'd leave it.