Quote Originally Posted by jbgibson View Post
Well, you're describing a bunch of islands so 'looking like a clutter of islands' would be pretty normal :-). Maybe a way to shape the request with terminology is to ask if you want this to be one archipelago, or separate groupings of islands that are hard to reach from one another? What's the technical level / cultural range - low fantasy sailing, say pre-middle ages?

Are these the only landmasses on the planet? Do you want this to be a world map, or if not what size region? Things will turn out quite differently if these are spread across an earth-size globe, vs. collected in a Caribbean or Indonesian or Philippine equivalent region. "Humans are new to the region" suggests there's other landmasses elsewhere -- unless you mean we humans spawn spontaneously like maggots on meat? Do ALL these races originate elsewhere, only gathered in this island collection for purposes of storytelling and strife?

What's the style you're looking for? Is it a reference map from outside these races' viewpoint, or is it the work of a Xeph master cartographer? Or easier to afford and obtain - the work of a mediocre Xeph journeyman cartographer? :-) Me - I might could provide you a map drawn by a Xeph apprentice rope-spinner with delusions of cartographic adequacy, whose uncle used to tell tales of these far-flung peoples and their places.... would you prefer it drawn in wax crayon on slate, or in squid ink on the back of a piece of bad street-poetry? (three coppers the broadsheet, composed just this morning!)

Do you need walkabout detail on-board each island, or is this the equivalent of a schoolroom (boardroom? ambassador's office? captain's cabin?) reference map mostly concerned with the landmasses' relative distance and position from each other?

What's the map for?
Initial map is for reference, an accurate representation of space and size. Let's say it's the work of a dedicated Gnomish cartographer family (Gnomes live in airships powered by technology they no longer have the tools or knowledge to create) It's only a particular region of the world and aside from Humans and Gnomes, all the races developed in this area on their particular islands. I'm not opposed to fun maps I can show the players, but I really need an accurate map for my own sanity.

I'd say the total area coverage of the map is around the size of the Indian ocean, that is from the bottom tips of Africa and Australia up to Asia approximately. There are other landmasses, but this is probably the largest cluster with the most racial diversity, and it contains the single largest landmass. The technological level is just starting to approach the age of sail in some regards. Early Carracks are the newest ship on the block, although Humans, the crazy bastards, have been crossing huge seas on longships for generations.

That's a big part of the mythos of this world. Gnomes are an ancient race that fly all over above the dangers of the sea, but Humans are crazy and terrifying with their ability to cross vast distances of ocean, though the other races are learning how from them. The other races all have their reasons for not achieving what the Humans have, beyond the Human's incredible amount of endurance (ie +2 Con).

Elves have no broad interest in adventuring, except for the weird, crazy ones, instead preferring to live in peaceful long-time, and they have no real need since they have such slow population growth and plenty of land. Halflings wouldn't dream of braving the seas and leaving their homes, especially since they, too, have plenty of land since they farm for the Elves. The Drow actually did succeed in going elsewhere, but it nearly killed them all, and they're still recovering from the journey, plus they'd rather reclaim their home than move elsewhere.

Thri-Keen are plain not good sailors, though they're trying their best, and getting places faster than anyone except humans. Darfellan are an amphibious species, and so the idea of a boat is not something that would occur to them, and few would brave the oceans long enough to get anywhere. Oh, and the first place any of them did get to would be the Thri-Keen home. Hadozee are still primitive, especially socially, where they're barely even tribal.

The Xeph love to travel, but they always come home, and anyway, being small, for quite some time it was enough to simply travel to the different people of the Xeph. The Orcs don't really get out, being too deep into their "one-with-nature-ness," which is incidentally a factor in their dying out.

Meanwhile, Humans are crazy, oh and also fleeing the Dragons that tear up their nations every few hundred years. There are other people out there, the Gnomes, at least, know of them, but they don't matter, since they're not in this region.