Seven Spires Maps

Odhanan · Jun 16, 2006

The map of the Seven Spires I have designed for our campaign. Notice it includes Ptolus, Laelith, Cauldron (Shackled City) and Serathis (AE's Ruins of Intrigue). Manifest (Ghostwalk) is there too, but not visible here. This all will change with the conclusion of our first campaign (if succesful for the PCs, that is).

The Political Map:

The Map of the Akhanian Vale:

Varianor Abroad · Jun 16, 2006

These are gorgeous! (Where's the jaw-dropping icon.)

Are there talking caats in Ulthaar?

Odhanan · Jun 16, 2006

Absolutely! Glad you recognized the reference, Bill!

This is actually one the main lands inhabited by the Hu-Charad, the Giants. In this setting, the coming of the Giants stopped the feud between the "free" people of the Spires and the Lost Kingdom (i.e. Dragons). The free people were exterminating each other before the massive conflict, particularly the blue-skinned Uladhrim of the Frozen Deep (who have a set of cultures losely inspired of the Aboriginal Nations here) and the Verrik of Al Jha'arna. When the Battle of Amaranth marked the end of the conflict between the Host and the Lost Kingdom, the Giants decided to keep guard around the city state of the Verrik. This remained this way during the next centuries, up to the time of the campaign.

Turjan · Aug 27, 2006

Very cool maps. How were those done?

Knightfall · Aug 27, 2006

Those maps are awesome!

Do you have any larger images?

Turjan · Aug 28, 2006

Knightfall1972 said:
Those maps are awesome!

Do you have any larger images?

There's a larger version of the first map in Odhanan's blog (first link) here

.

Odhanan · Sep 14, 2006

Turjan said:
Very cool maps. How were those done?

Glad you like them, Turjan and Knightfall!

I first drew the land masses, mountains and main rivers on blank paper and shaded them with pencils.

I then scanned the result.

I then used photoshop to modify the shading, give it color and texture. I then added the forests one tree at a time, the special sites and cities.

Then, I added the names of places and kingdoms, added the Seven Spires logo.

And this is the end result.

Kryndal Levik · Sep 17, 2006

Great maps! I love the hand-drawn style. A question about your use of Ptolus- given that you're putting it in your homebrew, are you using the Player's Guide (and other campaign information outside of the city)? Just curious as to how you were handling it, since I'll be tacking the same questions soon.

Odhanan · Sep 17, 2006

When I started the Seven Spires and included Ptolus in it, "Ptolus: City by the Spire", the big book, didn't exist and wouldn't, as far as I knew. Now, if I was to use the Seven Spires described here with the Big Book, I would use a blend of Ptolus and home-made handouts. I would discard mostly the information regarding the Empire of Tarsis and the history of Praemal while still giving the Player's Guide to the players, and replace the information with additional sheets of papers presenting the alternate timeline and regional information regarding the Seven Spires.

My use of the Seven Spires in my campaign ended last year with the PCs altering the very fabric of the multiverse. This resulted in them emerging into the Ptolus of Praemal instead of the Seven Spires described here where they lived. I can thus use Ptolus within Praemal for my campaign while explaining why, retroactively, it exist(ed) on the Seven Spires.

I have plans for the Seven Spires after the multiverse was altered by the Spellwardens (the PCs). Basically, I would replace all the mentions of IP of other publishers and authors (like Laelith, Ptolus, Manifest) by some of my own creations. This would then become a publishable setting (which wouldn't challenge these IPs, particularly).

Kryndal Levik · Sep 19, 2006

Thanks for the response! I'm planning on doing something similar, but am a bit torn as to what "canon" elements of Ptolus/Praemal to keep and drop in favor of my own homebrew information (much of which hadn't yet been uncovered by my players).

Sorry to sidetrack the thread- again, awesome map.