Menfanvatn - The Frontier of Horrors

[Pictsy]

This is one of my favourite maps that I've done. I wanted some inland bodies of water to make it look like the land itself has a blight and was pleased with the effect.



Fluff:
The Dwarve Empire has sent many expeditions into the North-Eastern tunnels to the ancient cities of Nefgord and Illrberr. Although many have returned from Nefgord, a permanent settlement could not be maintained as the Dwarves describe a continued onslaught from what they refer to as foul creatures of the dark. Very few have ever returned from Illrberr and most of those that did were shook to the core. Comprehensible accounts of Illrberr are rare and speak of a city that has some resemblance to the oldest of the Dwarve cities but no trace of Dwarvishness about them. Many have dismissed these accounts as the crazed ramblings of those driven mad by the city. Nevertheless, there is truth in what they say that few know. These are the cities of an ancient Human Empire lost to time. In fact, many of the great Dwarve cities are such and the Dwarves merely colonised them in times gone by and eventually forgot it was not them that built them. This has led many Dwarves to have great reverence to their ancestors as the construction is beyond that of any known in the contemporary world.

These are only some of the secrets that the path to Illrberr can reveal. Unknown to the Dwarve Empire, many of their expeditions had managed to reach the city successfully. Those expeditions came across exits of the mountains into the lands of Menfanvatn and beyond. Some perished in those lands, others in the mires, swamps, dank and diseased lakes and foul marshes that spot the land like a pox. They could be considered the fortunate ones. The unlucky would discover a would of creatures of evil intent building a great force of destruction. Some are corrupted and become creatures that worship evil. Others merely die from the torture. Few are sent to the corrupted fortress city of Ofrikjavirk. If their minds are still with them they will see the same familiar architecture, design and technology displayed in Illrberr, Nefgord and what the Dwarves think of as their most ancient cities, only disfigured and corrupted. If they survive the torment or fail to be corrupted they will find themselves at the foot of the great mountain of Krelkvilasik. They will be forced to climb the mountain to discover at the peak that the mountain is a massive crater that surrounds a massive tear in reality. They will then be thrown into it’s maw to an ends we can only guess at. Truly, this is the Frontier of Horrors.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Nice aesthetic and cool story! I'm especially interested in those swamps that span the region. The braided/linked border decoration seems a bit oversized compared to the map features, but overall this looks cool!