Hyperborea - Howard/Lovecraftian setting based on ancient map needs ideas!

[Turanil]

Cool to see interest in this. I will start a special dedicated thread tomorrow when I have time. Until then post your comments and ideas here.

 

[Tonguez]

First Post
Septentrionalium is a flat disc-shaped world surrounded by a circle of storm wracked ocean beyond which is only chaos and endless mists. Temperatures are warm ranging from temperate to tropical. At the hub sits the Polus Articus a towering rock spire made of some unknown material and said to be full of power. The Polus Articus sits in a huge lake from which flows four rivers that flow out to the four corners of the world...

1 In the beginning there was chaos.
2 Chaos that spread like a wild and endless sea, without form, without depth, without limit
3 and for an age unknown Chaos persisted
4 And Lo! From the centre of the Endless Sea their formed a cosmic egg, vast and beyond understanding
5 and the Cosmic egg cracked and the upper half was lifted up to become the vault of the heavens and the lower half become of the cup of the oceans
6 and there within at its heart was a heart of Stone a mighty Rock,
7 and the Heart of Stone was called the Polus Articus, which is the heart of the World
-

From the Words of Creation (discovered in recent archeological excavations near the City of Geb)​

 

[Arkhandus]

A few things that come to mind:
The quadrants of the broken continent may be such that the land of air is near asia, the land of earth is near greenland, the land of fire is near america, and the land of water is near europe/russia. The land of earth would probably be most fertile and mineral-rich, but kind of dry, while the land of water would be damp and marshy with both freshwater and saltwater areas, also abundant in plantlife but less so than the land of earth and with more fungus. "Greenland" would be fertile because of its proximity to the land of elemental earth, as america's northern stretches would be warm and dry from proximity to the land of fire, and europe would be cool and rainy from its closeness to the land of water, and northeastern asia would be stormy and windy from closeness to the land of air.

The land of air would likely be a windswept, dusty set of plains and deserts, divided in spots by deep, thin rifts and canyons that occasionally 'breathe' forth foul winds, from the slumbering Elder God of Frost trapped far below the center of the continent. The land of fire would be a volcanic place with numerous hot springs, sulfuric ponds, and rivers of lava, mostly barren of life except for strange, magical plants, often of a dangerous/carnivorous nature. Actual storms would be few over the land of fire, and would often bear sulfuric, ashen, cinder-laden rains, falling from clouds formed as much from smoke and volcanic dust as from moisture, but lightning would spark across the sky at times even on clear days.

 

[Arkhandus]

Also: I am very much against a long and difficult to pronounce name like the one Tonguez suggested. I don't think I'm alone on this. A short and tough to pronounce name may be agreeable, with the Lovecraftian background, maybe.

 

[Tonguez]

Also: I am very much against a long and difficult to pronounce name like the one Tonguez suggested. I don't think I'm alone on this. A short and tough to pronounce name may be agreeable, with the Lovecraftian background, maybe.

Septentrionalium is the name on the map - I too would be happier if it was something easier to say

 

[Arkhandus]

Well, I'm sure most of us don't speak Latin, and as such there's no real reason to use the various names on the map that we don't even know the meaning of. :\

Names and languages can change a lot in the span of thousands of years.

 

[Turanil]

Names on a map are easy to modify. I still intend to call the setting "Hyperboria".

Anyway, I have still loads of work today and tomorrow before being able to start the new cooperative-building thread.