Moonfall and the Seven Realms of Man

[Wired]

I've added a second version of the map. Enjoy.

[Schwarzkreuz]

Maybe its the font and border, but I start to wonder, if indians were left alone and northamerica would have evolved from that to modern times, would a indian Fantasy map look like this?

All the colors sream Karl May and coyboy/indian meets fantasy to mee. XD

[Wired]

Maybe its the font and border, but I start to wonder, if indians were left alone and northamerica would have evolved from that to modern times, would a indian Fantasy map look like this?

That's a pretty cool idea.

All the colors sream Karl May and coyboy/indian meets fantasy to mee. XD

Well, it is basically a 19th century techlevel setting (well, adjusted for steampunk tendencies and all the pre-Moonfall tech left lying around :p ), so there's that, revolvers and gentlemen and all.

[acrosome]

So, uh... it's Mars?

I mean, greatly modified and all but there's Hellas, and Argyre, and Marinineris, and Olympus and the other three great Tharsis volcanoes, and Elysium... It was Marinieris that gave it away- if you had made sea level just a tad lower I probably wouldn't have picked up on it, but Marineris is damned distinctive, even rotated to run north/south.

If the Spires of Heaven are supposed to be the remains of a space elevator or such, then it should probably be at Pavonis rather than Olympus, since Pavonis is/was on the equator. (Presuming that it was the Moonfall that knocked the planet sideways.) "Peacock Mountain" is more poetic, anyway, though Nix Olympica does sound neat.

Is the island in the middle of Hellas from the moon?

What is the Path of Bones? The remains of a monorail or somesuch?

Is this for a game? If so, what system, and how are you dealing with 0.38 gravity?

[Wired]

So, uh... it's Mars?

Yes, it is.

If the Spires of Heaven are supposed to be the remains of a space elevator or such, then it should probably be at Pavonis rather than Olympus, since Pavonis is on the equator. (Presuming that it was the Moonfall that knocked the planet sideways.) "Peacock Mountain" is more poetic, anyway, though Nix Olympica does sound neat.

They are atmospheric converters. As they were probably the most heavily defended and structurally solid constructions on the planet they survived the cataclysm largely intact. Converter 2 failed and partially exploded six hundred and seventy-four years after Moonfall due to a cascading failure in its autonomous maintenance systems. That - and the fact that Converters 1 and 3 basically run on auxiliary power - is responsible for the slowly deteriorating conditions on Moonfall.

Is the island in the middle of Hellas from the moon?

No, it's the result of volcanic activity. Though the Moonfall greatly accelerated its creation in its nowadays form.

What is the Path of Bones? The remains of a monorail or somesuch?

Your observation is half correct in so far as that the Path of Bones *used to be* a maglev rail line. Around 2,000 years ago, that is. Nowadays it's just a long row of strange, sun-bleached pillars leading into a seemingly never-ending red desert. Nobody knows what its original purpose was. The knowledge of the technology behind it simply has long since been lost.

[acrosome]

Neat. Nicely done.

I was going to try to make a post-apocalyptic Martian setting, too, but I would want to keep that tidbit a secret from the players for a while and decided that Mars was simply too distinctive and well known and they would spot it.

I guess that I just proved my point...

The low gravity is an annoyance, too.

Anyway, that's why I'm working on a post-apocalyptic terraformed Venus instead. Far, far fewer people would recognize it. I'm really just a dabbler science-weenie, though, and my maps will no doubt betray this. Yours OTOH is feking artwork.

Next question: Is the "Sweet Sea" fresh water, then?

[Wired]

Thanks.

Yeah, I realized early on that people with a modicum of interest in cartography and other planets would rather easily figure out that it's Mars after an axis shift. But I mainly do this to help me visualize the world building I'm doing, and if it helps me hone my skills in Photoshop: the more the better.

Gravity would actually be one of those things with a major impact on how the characters see their world. While the initial terraformers would have had the technology to remedy this with large artificial gravity fields that was lost after the collapse. As such the actual colonial humans by the time the setting depicts would simply be the mythical and - by then - vanished "small folk", with the characters in the setting looking a lot more alien in reality due to the exposure to low G environments...

[acrosome]

Yeah, I realized early on that people with a modicum of interest in cartography and other planets would rather easily figure out that it's Mars after an axis shift.

Well, I'm sort of a Mars fanboy, too. That's why it was so difficult for me to switch mindset to Venus.

Gravity would actually be one of those things with a major impact on how the characters see their world. While the initial terraformers would have had the technology to remedy this with large artificial gravity fields that was lost after the collapse. As such the actual colonial humans by the time the setting depicts would simply be the mythical and - by then - vanished "small folk", with the characters in the setting looking a lot more alien in reality due to the exposure to low G environments...

Ah, so they are tall, thin folk as were KSR's Martian natives...

[Wired]

Who's KSR?

[acrosome]

Who's KSR?

Kim Stanley Robinson. He wrote the Mars Trilogy. Great read.