The Burial Grounds

[jshoer]

I think I forgot to post this one when I finished it.... The interaction of gravitational fields in the Cathedral Galaxy collected a high density of ancient structures into the Burial Grounds. Unlike in the Sea of Relics, most of the planet-scale artifacts here are nonfunctional or broken.

CathedralGalaxy_BurialGrounds_220103.jpg

Many of the structures and devices built by the ancients are too large to support themselves against their own self-gravity, tidal forces from nearby celestial objects, or the relentless onslaught of radiation. So they incorporated technologies to strengthen and reinforce their constructs. As the technologies failed, the ruins began to collapse and collide, grinding each other into debris fields ripe for scavenging. Enterprising delvers set out from frontier bases in the Axiom Republic or Traders' Rim, hoping to strike riches.

I'm working through dedicated regional maps of each nation in the Cathedral Galaxy, filling out the larger universe as I go. I've been enlarging sections of the original galactic map, which I drew by hand, photographed, selectively inverted, and then colored and labeled in Photoshop. Each region gets annotated with the homeworlds of its people, some lore and flavor, and then its own unique focus for that particular region. On this one, we have some indication of the estimated value remaining in each major debris object.

[Greason Wolfe]

Have enjoyed watching you work through this project. It is especially nice to see these more detailed sections. By the time you get all of these wrapped up, you should have a pretty well defined setting for your stories(?) if I remember correctly. If it is for a game, though, your players should be happy and consider themselves lucky for all the detail.

[jshoer]

Thanks, GW! I only have a couple more to go. At this point there is a lot more detail in the setting than I started with, for sure.

I have some characters and stories already written for this setting -- and the Burial Grounds region features prominently! I also have a plot sketched out for something more novel-length that has been stewing in the back of my brain as I fill out the detailed maps. One of my New Year's....erm, notions...is to take a crack at actually writing it.

I'm actually aware of one group that has a game in an earlier version of this galaxy, and I'd be happy if others are having fun with these maps.