World maps for Athas

I agree. Judging from The Athasian Cartographer’s Guild, as well as the other “Dead Lands of Athas” supplement by Gerald Lewis, I would estimate our area of interest is about half again larger in both directions than the Tyr Region Tablelands map from the original Dark Sun Boxed Set.

If we were to compare it to the map you just posted, I would very roughly estimate the width would equal to distance between the west edge of the Valley of Dust and Fire to the western edge of your map, and the height would be equal roughly to the distance between the Obsidian Fortress and the top of the Troll Grave Chasm. While there is a lot of black there, it does wind a bit across the map. Personally, I think the Cartographer’s Guild made this area a bit too big to be any fun for game purposes. Besides, it’s kind of a creative cop out to make this as big as the rest of the known world put together.

I’ve made a development folder, where I’ve taken the Cartographer’s Guild maps, and made a composite on their unrolled planetary map of all the known maps we have, so that gives us some idea of the layout. Have a look if you like.

Does that help? Drop me a message if you’re willing to discuss. I teach Photoshop and Illustrator, so I might be able to help make this a bit easier for you:

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I have worldographer, which can trace hexmaps out of blank maps. I’ve been experimenting with it over the last few months – I’d be interested to try to convert some of this material into large hexmaps if I can get decent blank versions to work from.

Update: I’m having difficulties with the psd. format – the online platforms won’t open files this big; is there anyway you can make all these files pngs? I see that some of them are.

To give you an example of what I’m thinking about, here’s a first run at converting the region around the tablelands from the world map: hexmap tablelands

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Okay. That’s an interesting idea. So you’re looking for a way to do a larger conversion based on the maps we have?

I still think it will need to be refined and drawn. But I’ll see if I can get you another conversion.

What format do you need? Can you send me a sample of what you need?

Yes – the issue with what I have is that most of them have labeling. The tracer in my program will try to recreate city markers and labeling with hexes. I need just the terrain. I sliced a very large image of the whole continent into a smaller image to make that one, but it was rather out of focus, so the results were kind of so-so if you drill down. However, it would be better if the image I was working with was more in focus/higher resolution. Even if someone could whip up a blank map of the areas we want to detail, I could work with that, I just need something without labeling.

This is what I was working with. The program had some difficulties in the sea of silt area, because it couldn’t really tell what the terrain was. I think the results weren’t terrible for what I was working with, but I could do a lot better with a higher res image.

As far as I know, only png and jpeg works for worldographer.

You can edit the images after you make them, so I could clean some stuff up after I got the basic map to work with. The goal would be to make maps for most of the world that were 1 mile per hex or less.

I can make images that are about 2,000 hexes on a side (what I posted was the 472 x 409 version), and have like 4 million or whatever hexes, but I have no idea where I can host them. If I put them on googledrive, you can download them, but it won’t generate an image preview b/c they’re too large.

Hey @neujack ,

Would be nice. The main problem is the time I have to spend on mapping. What part of the Dead Lands do you want me to draw?

Has anyone ever thought of recreating Athas in UniverseSandbox?

Thank you again Jhonny. This map is a great help!

I have an idea to grease the wheels on this, if you’re game to help:

I’ll take this map, add some roughed out sections from all the sources we have for our dead lands (starting from the Athasian Cartographer’s guild world map), and pass it back to you to make it pretty.

How does that sound?

I’ll add some .jpg files to my Pcloud link above which you can experiment with. Try those.

Is there a maximum image size you can use?

Universe Sandbox, eh? I’ve looked it up. Interesting.

How does that work? Feed it a map and it does the topography for you?

Sounds cool Jack!
To be honest I am pretty excited to do something different and add Dead Lands with landmarks. I’ll gonna play!

Waiting for your feddback!

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This should be interesting no matter how we do it. I should say this is going to be a risk, as there’s no telling how the community may respond to our efforts here.

But if we pull it off, it will be something genuinely new for the community!

I’ve considered using something like this to try to simulate Athas and it’s moons as well as create a whole solar system for it. I’ve done a bunch of research lately with Athas in mind. Considering names of planets and orbital periods etc. It would be interesting to see how the physics actually play out. Maybe I get the program and try it out. I’m not so sure you can keep the eclipses occurring every 11 years on the dot for 14500 years.

Hi, new here, I’m currently working on a fan Green Age map based on the Athasian Cartographer’s Guild stuff for a campaign, and been hunting for a quality map of the Sundra Peninsula: I’ve only been able to find two at extremely low resolution, one of them being the one above in this topic, posted back in 2016. If anyone still has the high-resolution image somehow, you’d be a sorcerer-kingsend.

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The cartographers’ guild stuff is the best of what we have on most of this. They were supposed to be the ones assembling the best of what everyone else has made. I think they still are doing that, but I don’t know how actively.

May I ask on which tile of the Athasian Cartographer’s guild’s big map would I find the Sundra Peninsula? I can see what I have on my resources.

Isn’t the Sundra Peninsula tiles G4/G5 on the Cartographer’s map? IIRC. :thinking:

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From what I’ve been able to dig up the Sundra Peninsula map and accompanying “Word Beyond Tyr” netbook over on twinmoonscircus were made by a Virgil Cole? As opposed to Brian Sanchez, who made most of the Cartographer’s Guild Maps. And yup, it looks like it would occupy G4 and possibly G5 on the grid.

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Sorry, looks like I’m totally lacking maps for that area myself.

Thank you for looking, nonetheless. :slight_smile:

Here is the one I had on my HD. I hope it’s better than the one you had.

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I have a PDF with some information about the Sundra Peninsula, but the site doesn’t allow me to post it. Here is a cut/paste:

A World Beyond Tyr (source unknown)

A whole continent separates the Sundra Region from the Tyr Region. There is no contact or knowledge in Sundra that the Tyr Region exists and vice versa. The Sundra Peninsula is a region much like the Tyr Region, desert, mountains, silt etc. However, there are differences in the civilizations. There are no true sorcerer-kings here as in the Tyr Region. Instead, there is an Avangion that rules not just a city- state, but several cities and indeed a nation. This nation is called the Republic of Suna, after the Avangion, its founder. The Avangion’s dedication to right the wrongs of the past have brought together people with similar a dedication. The re-growth of the desert has created prosperity that likes of that has not been seen on Athas for thousands of years. Forests grow where none grew before. Water flower where it has not flowed before. As that re-growth takes place, a nation as grown to dominate an entire region and all associated with this region have prospered as well.

Metal
Metal, so rare and precious that simply owning a metal coin was a symbol of wealth is far more common here. The Minthos Mountains, being great and tall, have not given up its metals to previous seekers. The Dragon’s Region to the south, with its rivers molten lava, rich with iron, ensure that on the edge of Athas, metal is as it is in normal D&D settings. There are no ceramic pieces, but rather copper pieces, silver pieces etc. Metal weapons replace bone and obsidian ones and metal armor does not cost a fortune as it would in the markets of Tyr.

Gladiator Games
Unlike the cities of the Tyr Region, which all held a gladiator’s arena, the prosperity of the people and the benevolence of the Avangion have ended all gladiator events. Only in the Dragon’s Region will there be a great number of gladiators. In the Republic, Olympic style games, plays and festivals replace the gladiator event.

The People and Races
The people here look like they do in the Tyr Region and there is no difference in character generation. However, here there are some differences. Halflings, thri- keen and muls are not found here. Those races are unique to the Tyr Region. The only way for any of those races to be in the Sundra Peninsula Region is if they

crossed thousands of miles of desert, silt and mountains. Half-giants are only found in the Dragon’s region.

Aarakocra
They are found flying on thermals over the many caravans on the Furnace Plains and perching in the mountains. The Avangion, being a flying creature, has the greatest respect from the Aarakocra. Some even worships it as a god. Most tribes will not seek tribute from Republic merchants and will help any in distress. However, merchants from other lands are fair game. There are a couple tribes that live in the Borderlands too. The mountains are too tall even for Aarakocra to fly over. Hence, Aarakocra are usually found on the western edge of the peninsula.

Dwarves
These dwarves are identical to the dwarves found in the Tyr Region. The greater elevation of the mountains has suited the dwarves’ small bodies well. They tend to live in mountains and herd animals. Walk any direction into the mountains and you will meet a tribe of dwarves.

Elves
Given Elves’ nomadic lifestyle, they have wandered into every region on Athas that one can wander to. Elves here are the same as in the Tyr Region. Elves dislike the rugged terrain and the thin air of the mountains so they mostly dwell south of the Republic. The Republic is very suspicious (and rightly so) of elves and will not allow them to enter unless they have some sort of business being there. There are a few tribes in the northern borderlands. Those elves in the borderlands have little contact with elves not from that region.

Half-Elves
If there are elves and humans then there will surely be half-elves. Half-elves are outsiders to human and elven society. The Republic classifies half-elves and demi- human and they are barred from most benefits of the Republic.

Half-Giants
Very rare in the Sundra Peninsula, most half-giants travel from the land of the Dragon to be here. Half-giant are viewed with suspicion for being from the Dragon’s Region, however, they are prized in physical labor and a spectacle in the games. Half-Giants usually compete against other half-giants or engage in feats of strength.

Humans
Humans are by far the most populous race in the region. The largest concentration of them can be found in the Republic. They look the same as they do in the Tyr Region.

Pterran
The Sundra Peninsula was once a mighty empire of pterrans during the Green Age. Most of the ruins in here are the remains of the pterrans once mighty cities. The

choking lands of the Dust Lands are where the last pterran city is. Pterrans, being reptilian, can are better suited for the high winds and frequent dust storms that blow across the very tip of the peninsula.

Classes
All the basic Dark Sun classes can be found here with a couple of exceptions. Gladiators, as stated above, are not allowed here and must be from the Dragon’s Region. Preservers are not shunned here either any may practice their magic openly. However, to use magic within the borders of the Republic, one must be licensed and prove that they are not a defiler. Defilers, has would be in the Tyr Region, and hunted down and kill and their scrolls are destroyed. Given the Republic’s status as a nation, there are some minor modifications to certain classes within it.

Templars: Templars that can cast spells are only found in the Republic. To be a Templar, one has to be put in a special Templar school when they are a small child and must be a male human and his parents were citizens. The must be of a good alignment and have Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity & Constitution 12 or above. They will gain extra skill points from the years of schooling. They also must be loyal to the Republic.

Warriors: They are the same as in the Tyr region, however, there is a special type of warrior that defends the Republic. They are called Guardians and they have similar requirements as the Templars of the Republic. They must have Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity & Constitution 12 or above and be of a good alignment and male. The Republic ensures that its government and its warriors are the best qualified.

Language
There is no common tongue per se, however, there is a common language that is spoken in the Republic and is used everywhere in the region. It is called Sunese. There is no agreed upon language of trade. If you wish to do business in the Dragon’s Region, you have to know the language there, Draconian. Sunese and Draconian are not similar to the common tongue of the Tyr Region and someone from the City of Try would not understand anything someone from the City of Suna said. Racial languages are the same. Apart from Elves & Aarakocra, each tribe of demi-human speaks their own language. Half-elves and half-giants do not speak their own language. Half-giants are more likely to know Draconian. Elven and Aarakocra of the Sundra Region cannot speak with an Elf or an Aarakocra from a different region. This peninsula may sound like a Tower of Babel, but that is what isolation does.

Reading and Writing
Writing is not forbidden here. In fact, the Republic teaches all its male citizens to read and write. Sunese is written in Alpha-Bet form while Draconian is hieroglyphic form. Books in the Republic of Suna are scrolls. The binder-book is not known.