J.B. Norman's Blog, page 355

Detail of a Second Map: Crescent Lake and Environs

The largest lake in southeastern Realmgard, Crescent Lake is famous for its abundant fish, as symbolised by the fish depicted on the map.

Although there are many stories of unusually large fish in the lake, it should go without saying that the fish depicted on the map is purely an artistic device. There are no records of fish so monstrously large that they take up half the lake.

The largest settlement on the lake is Blue Shore, located on the promontory jutting into the middle of the lack. The emblem of Blue Shore depicts a stylised image of the lake itself, along with images symbolising the two major sources of income for the people of the town, fishing and hunting.

Blue Shore is also involved in regional trade due to its strategic position on the lake. Trade follows the river to the northeast moving between the lake and the settlements in and around the forest to the northwest. Eventually, a canal was dug to the southwest to allow that trade to continue along on to the coast.

Detail of a Second Map: Roger Island

Long considered auspicious by Realmgard’s pirates due to its passing resemblance to the skull and crossbones traditionally used as the emblem of their profession, this pair of islands was given named for the term for piratical flags — from the term “Jolly Roger” came the name Roger Island.

Much like the nearby Southern Keys, Roger Island has been a long-time haven for pirates. So much so, that the island was the site of the original convocation of the Brotherhood of the Coasts and the codification of the earliest form of the Lex Antiqua Piratica, the code of conduct for the piratical trade.

The Brotherhood has been displaced from the island several times throughout history following sieges by the navies of the various political powers of Realmgard in an attempt to quash piracy along the coasts of Realmgard.

However, in recent generations, the Brotherhood has established treaties of cooperation and non-aggression with most of Realmgard’s major maritime powers. The Brotherhood’s territory to Roger Island has been affirmed by most of these powers and, in turn, the Brotherhood has largely desisted in open hostilities.

In fact, the Brotherhood now most often operates under the sanction of their former adversaries to defend shipping routes from those renegade pirates who operate outside the jurisdiction of the Brotherhood and continue to harass the shipping routes.

The central governance of the Brotherhood of the Coasts is still based on Roger Island, though the Brotherhood’s annual general meeting is held at a different coastal city every year.

Detail of a Second Map: Arrow Head and the Southern Keys

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Located on the primary maritime route connecting the south and west of Realmgard with the northeastern Free Cities such as Porthaven and Goldharbour, Arrow Head has become a rich and wealthy city.

The city itself is named for the promontory on which it lies, one of the most southerly points on mainland Realmgard. The name of the promontory is a pun — “head” (definition 16) as in “headland” as in “peninsula“, and referring to its general shape as resembling the tip of an arrow. The city’s emblem reflects this, depicting a literal arrowhead.

Just across the strait from the headland are the Southern Keys, a group of islands used primarily as stopover for ships in need of repairs or supplies. The Keys do not have any major population centres, but are the site of a number of small-scale fishing settlements, as well as the vacation homes of the mainland’s well-to-do inhabitants.

Despite the relatively small population, the inhabitants of the Keys have become rather wealthy due to their advantageous position on a major trade route and proximity to the major trade centre that is Arrow Head.

Historically, the Keys have also been a popular haven for pirates, which has also helped the settlements of the Keys thrive, albeit through not entirely savoury means.

The emblem of the Southern Keys is get another geographic pun, depicting a circle of literal keys. From the Spanish, “key” (definition 2) is also the word for low-lying island — as in the real-life Florida Keys.

RealmgART: Another Map

Unlike that last post, this is the map I posted as a work in progress that I promised would be done soon.

And, unlike that last one, I’m pretty sure I got the Latin (i.e. Elven) grammar right the first time around.

The one thing to note is that I originally described this as the southeast of Realmgard, sort of implying that this is the edge of the landmass of Realmgard.

I’ve walked that back a little and now it’s “the coastal area of eastern Realmgard” to give me a little more room to alter the geography as necessary. That’s sort of an ongoing problem. I don’t really have a concrete idea of what Realmgard actually looks like.

Maps are fun. And researching old maps for points of reference is also fun. There are some really weird old maps, and that’s even before you get into things like “Jerusalem in the middle, East on top.”

RealmgART: Old Map, New Grammar

This isn’t the map I posted yesterday that I promised would be done soon (good news: it is done). This is a new version of an old map I posted previously.

It was the header image of my website. And, I mean, technically it still is, it’s just got literally one different word.

Long story short, I realised I little while back my Latin was wrong and was getting increasingly bugged by that fact. Literally all that’s different is that the word that translates to “of Realmgard” is now more grammatically correct.

Part of my motivation was the fact that I might be getting a job teaching Latin in the near future and figured I should probably shape up and avoid such a rookie mistake.

Work in Progress: Map of Southeast Realmgard

I mentioned I’d been working on maps.

Here’s a look at one of them — mostly done, but not quite ready. This is the area immediately south of the last one, and actually overlaps part of that one — that’s Goldharbour in the top corner, which was at the bottom of the other map.

Now, I’m not an expert when it comes to cartography, or spatial planning and geometry, but I think the two maps could be directly lined up to make one contiguous, to-scale map. But just to be safe, don’t consider that a legally-binding promise from me.

I like doing maps.

Re-Commendation: Conan the Adventurer

Once again, I’ve got a previous recommendation to do better this time around.

Let me tell you of the days of High Adventure! 90s animated Fantasy show Conan the Adventurer.

Or better yet, let me let Conan the Adventurer tell you about Conan the Adventurer.

More information here, here, and here. Viewable online legally here.

He’s got a magic sword in the cartoon,
but he uses an axe a lot in the stories, I swear.
Photo by Andrei on Pexels.com

Robert E.Howard is one of my literary idols and his Conan stories are one of my absolute favourite Fantasy series — though even among Howard’s own characters, I prefer Solomon Kane.

Howard’s stories don’t usually pull any punches when it comes to content and subject matter, and the Conan stories have a propensity for being particularly lurid.

Which is precisely why I haven’t talked about him much on this blog.

Like I said in my last recommendation, I try to keep most of the stuff I talk about — be it books, or games, or animes — at a similar level of family-friendliness as Realmgard.

Which, Conan definitely, uh, isn’t.

That being said, given that Howard is an idol of mine second only to Tolkien, it’s inescapable that I’m going to bring him up at least in passing.

Similarly, the fact that the original stories are so lurid is precisely why Conan the Adventurer is so fascinating to me.

Even in a cartoon, they found a way to have him stand on top of a big ol’ pile of skulls. For reference, that way was “beating up a bunch of skeletons.”
Conan the Adventurer: Hasbro Studios.

It’s a 90s children’s cartoon show, based on one of the least kid-friendly Fantasy heroes there is.

It’s CanCon, despite there being no obvious Canadian connection to Conan.

It got 2 seasons and a total of 65 episodes. For compaison: beloved early 2000s cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender (which I’ve never actually watched, but that’s neither here nor there) got 61 and fellow 90s CanCon cartoon Reboot got 48.

And most bizarrely of all, it’s a shockingly faithful adaptation of the source material — probably more so than any other adaptation of Conan we’ve got.

That’s the weirdest part to me.

Kids really, really shouldn’t have enough familiarity with Conan to be able to recognise that; adults familiar with the Conan stories probably wouldn’t want to watch those stories adapted into a cheesy cartoon.

And yet, here we are.

Conan and his multi-ethnic group of companions.
Conan the Adventurer: Hasbro Studios. Image via tubi.tv.

Conan the Adventurer necessarily has to change a lot of things for the sake of its audience — the violence and the, uh, shall we say, “mature” subject matter are toned way down.

But the world — the cultures, the cities, the places, certain characters — was clearly being written by someone who did their homework.

Conan is still a Cimmerian who swears by Crom, he’s not Austrian, he’s still bewildered by the ways of civilised Men, he’s still not book-smart but immensely shrewd and clever, Set is still an evil snake god, wizards are still usually evil, the ghost of the sage Epemitreus still shows up to help Conan.

Some the episodes borrow their plotlines from the stories — though, again, delivered in such a way as to be appropriate for children and playing fast and loose with the specific details.

Even the fact that Conan isn’t actually killing any of the Serpent-Men bad guys, just using his magic sword to send them back to another dimension dimension (as explained in the theme song) isn’t entirely out of line with the original stories. Serpent-Men and evil (and occasionally good) things from other dimensions show up in a lot of Howard’s stories (not exclusively the Conan ones) and Conan has used a magic sword more than once.

Though, of course, it wouldn’t be a 90s cartoon if the hero didn’t have a goofy sidekick. In this case, a scatterbrained magic phoenix who lives in Conan’s shield. The bad guy has a goofy sidekick of his own, a bumbling snake-lizard-person … thing.

Now, there are snake-monsters sort of like him in the story,
but they’re not usually comic relief.
Conan the Adventurer: Hasbro Studios.

Yeah. That’s definitely a thing inescapable in the extent to which it happened…

Conan the Adventurer is ridiculous in every possible way.

But, also, it’s glorious.

It’s one of those things that I can’t quite tell if I enjoy sincerely or ironically.

And as CanCon myself, I can’t describe how much joy it brings me that this sublimely, indescribably ludicrous,  beautiful piece of work is also CanCon.

RealmgART: Matilda & Nolan Lyte

Continuing with my art of the members of the Lyte Brigade, here’s Nolan and Matilda, the Lyte Siblings — well, technically, two of the seven Lyte siblings, but the only two in the Lyte Brigade.

Here, we see Matilda engaging in her favourite pastime, target practice, and aiming at her favourite target, Nolan.

Also, upon closer inspection, I think Nolan may be holding his shield at the wrong angle. That was pretty much inevitable, that Fancy L is a real pain to draw. Also also, I think his head might be too small for the rest of him.

RealmgART: Falcata

As promised, here’s the first art of the rest of the Lyte Brigade (buy the book about them, please). Pela already got a picture, and now here’s Falcata the Amazon, looking pretty cool and armed to the teeth.

This is probably the closest I’ve ever come to drawing a good picture of one of my characters and I’m thrilled with how this turned out.

Also, that’s basically her name written on her shield, in the sense of ‘if lost, return to’ and reads, albeit heavily abbreviated (just like plenty of real Latin inscriptions), “Falcata of Theophano, daughter of Lysistrata.”

Coming Soon: Maps

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

Pretty much exactly what you’d expect from the title…

Planning to do a couple more maps of Realmgard, and hopefully at least one of all of Terrace. Made good progress on one already.

Should be ready soon, though not imminently.

Man. Lots of sentence fragments in that post.