Hi there,

I wanted to suggest a mapping contest...i don't know if it needs to be a real monthly challenge you guys do...but i wanted to challenge the forum-members as a whole to provide a map for this world i will post descriptions to (the original descriptions are by j. snead, a game-writer who offered these ideas up on rpg-net). I hope this can be done, with or without being chosen as a real monthly-challenge. This would rock and deliver an fantasy world to be played with the nWod.

Ok, so here goes the descriptions (first the pure geographical descriptions he provided, and then, for those interested, the fluff aka history to the world)

P.S.: I still added a Poll, just in case you really want to do that as a real monthly challenge.

Geography
The Summer Empire covers an area of 2.4 million square miles and contains a population of more than 80 million people. It is bordered by the harsh steppe and taiga of The Wilds to the West and North , and by the Eastersea to the East and Southeast. South are mountains and desert, and on the other side of these is the League of Gatha a large civilized nation ruled by spirit-ridden priest-kings and queens. There is regular trade between the League of Gatha and the Summer Empire, but diplomatic relations are somewhat strained and visitors from one land are typically viewed with suspicion in the other.

The Summer Empire's geography is more like China (mostly flat) than Europe and so this influences the politics. The large mountain ranges are mostly near the edges. I am definitely assuming that there are huge tracts of forests as well as mountainous regions inside the Summer Empire, and both can be home to werewolves and all manner of wilderness spirits. However, the rest of it has been settled and under cultivation for many centuries.

Previously cut off by hostile packs of Uratha, now that the Empire of Night has fallen, the lands to the west of The Wilds are now open to trade and exploration. These lands are separated from the Wilds by a high mountain range, where a few vampire-ruled valleys have defied the efforts of the Uratha to remove them. Little is known about the lands beyond these mountains, but many fanciful stories of ancient ruins, lost cities, hidden mountain kingdoms ruled by powerful and immortal thaumaturges, and similar tales come from travelers to these lands, as do an unusual selection of treasures.

Across the Eastersea and the other Lands Beyond
Fearful of threatening their hegemony or of giving rebels another location to retreat to, the undead rulers of the Empire of Night strongly discouraged exploration beyond the borders of the Summer Empire. The vampires' hostility to the Uratha effectively closed The Wilds to the residents of the Empire of Night and the vampires did their best to limit exploration by sea. Since the fall of the Empire of Night, the treaty with the Uratha has opened The Wilds to limited travel, relations with the League of Gatha have gone from hostile to careful neutrality, and improvements in gliders, balloons, and ships have opened the Eastersea and archipelego known as The Lands Beyond to increasing exploration. 1,400 miles beyond the coast of the Summer Empire lies a vast archipelago where the islands range from small coral atolls and many similarly tiny islands to half a dozen islands, which range in size from 20,000 to 80,000 square miles. The eastern-most portion of this archipelago contains two island continents, one is a lush tropical jungle with which has a land area of 310,000 square miles, while the other is a more temperate land has a land area of 400,000 square miles. Almost all of the larger islands are inhabited and the large tropical island continent has a moderately advanced civilization with metalwork that is ruled by a semi-hereditary caste of magicians.