D&D General Piecing together the official maps of the Mortal World of Nerath

[Dungeonosophy]

Along this line of inquiry, what if the planes-map Mortal World actually is a hemisphere and is centered at the north pole. That means its outer rim is the equator. If so, the equator passes thru the central island in the sea.

Yes - looks to be a fruitful line of inquiry. Some years ago, I considered that the north half of the Known Regions (boardgame) map might be placed like that, but I didn't follow up with it then. Now that I see that something may be gleaned from the Feywild and Shadowfell continents, I'm stoked about seeing how that configuration works.

But all of this would mean the planet is extremely small!

The Mortal map is roughly 1300 miles north to south. If the equator runs thru the center, it is probably say 60° to -60°, or about 120 degrees. In other words, 10 degrees is about 11 miles, ... or about one sixth the size of earth.

We would clearly not be looking at a "normal" planet. It would be smaller than the reallife moon.

It doesn't matter -- planets in the D&D Multiverse don't have the same relationship to gravity or physics.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Gravity is probably a big deal if the planet is smaller than the moon.

In the D&D Multiverse, gravity doesn't matter.

At that size, it might be more plausible to think of planet Mortal as a demiplane in the material or ethereal, rather than an actual planet. Compare Sigil.

Nah, it's the Mortal World...a Prime Material planet.

Alternatively, I view gravitational force as being made out of the fifth element ether. Perhaps the interior of the planet has some kind of ethereal anomaly that intensifies the gravitational force.

It doesn't matter. It's fantasy physics. The World of Mystara (at least in later publications) is also very small.

 

[Yaarel]

In the D&D Multiverse, gravity doesn't matter.

Nah, it's the Mortal World...a Prime Material planet.

It doesn't matter. It's fantasy physics. The World of Mystara (at least in later publications) is also very small.

I actually dont mind a planetoid with weird ethereal gravity. But do it on purpose. "Hang a lantern on it" sotospeak and mention it is an anomaly.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Comparing to the large Mortal map: Nerath and Karkoth would be the northern hemisphere, and Iron Circle and Vailin the southern hemisphere. Moreover, Zannad Jungles, all of the central island, and Nera would actually be parts of the equatorial rainforest belt.

Right. Though there must be a 10 degree gap off both the top edge and bottom edge of the Known Regions map.
(BTW, the "Known Regions" is the official name for the Conquest of Nerath boardgame map -- the file is titled "the known regions of the World.")

If the equator runs thru the center of the map, the north hemisphere looks colder and the south one warmer, but maybe the north is winter, and the south is summer and later in the year the temperatures would reverse.

Ah, at this point, I'd just say that it's due to climatic patterns (due to different continental configurations) + fantasy meteorology (e.g. Desert of Desolation). Even in Earth, the southern hemisphere has a different overall climate than the northern hemisphere.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

I actually dont mind a planetoid with weird ethereal gravity. But do it on purpose. "Hang a lantern on it" sotospeak and mention it is an anomaly.

This project for me doesn't involve worldbuilding or lore-creation. I try to stick as close as feasible to the official sources. I'm just trying to get the map together.

Any aficionado of Nerath could come up with fantastic or scientific reasons for unexpected gravity levels if that's their interest.

 

[Yaarel]

Right. Though there must be a 10 degree gap off both the top edge and bottom edge of the Known Regions map.
(BTW, the "Known Regions" is the official name for the Conquest of Nerath boardgame map -- the file is titled "the known regions of the World.")

Ah, at this point, I'd just say that it's due to climatic patterns (due to different continental configurations) + fantasy meteorology (e.g. Desert of Desolation). Even in Earth, the southern hemisphere has a different overall climate than the northern hemisphere.

The thing is, if the (Conquest) Mortal map is south and north hemispheres, then there isnt much left of the planetary sphere to map.

By means of the degrees and its distances, one can calculate the precise distance of the circumference of the equator, and exactly how much of the planet is not on the map.

Even just eyeball it:

Place the Mortal map on the map of Earth, so that its north and south edges are at latitudes 60° and -60°. See how big and wide the Mortal map gets compared to Earth.

See how much of the rest of the Mortal globe remains unexplored.

The space limitation of what remains unmapped will help reduce the number of ways that the rubbersheeting method can wiggle since the fey and the shadow will likely need to share points in common with each other.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Here's the revised Shadowfell globe, taking Letherna into account. The Letherna-to-Gloomwrought axis in both globes was used to calibrate the rotation. So Shadowfell is rotated a bit more compared to my previous diagram.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Here's your 60N-60S proposal:

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Here's the 80N-80S proposal:

 

[Dungeonosophy]

If the Mortal globe image were accurate, we could tell how big the Known Regions map is, and how far the north edge is from the North Pole (assuming the Hestavar gate is the North Pole).

But the globe's cartoonish rendition leaves wiggle room for deciding exactly how to fit the Known Regions rectangle to it. But still, the Mortal globe does give an approximate scope for how big the Known Regions should be -- how big a slice of the pie it covers.

Even without a proper cartographic program, I will probably be able to overlay a "hemispheric" lat and long grid over the Mortal World illustration, and thus have an objective approximation for how big to scale the Known Regions map.