Jacob’s Ostland, 8 miles per hex v2

By the end of Jacob’s Complete Domains of Ostland project in August 2002, he had created a full set of maps for the whole nation. Most of the maps added something, usually a village, occasionally a named bay, and sometimes another feature. But there was no combined map including all of the additions.

In fact, assembling such a map by combining all of the separate domain maps was no easy task. Each map focused on a single domain, without worrying about such things as fitting in the labels for neighbouring domains and settlements. There are also slight differences in scale, and even alignment with the hex grid.

I first set about combining all of Jacob’s maps back in October 2020, but soon discovered just how difficult a task it would be. It wasn’t until March 2025 that I came back to the abandoned attempt and brought it to completion.

In order to produce this map, I decided to redo all of the labels from scratch. Jacob had used Arial, so I went with Arial Narrow for most of the labels, to allow them to fit in better. I also added a slight halo to improve legibility. Finally, I doubled the resolution of the map, again to improve the appearance of the text.

For the map itself, I carefully aligned all of the domains to a clean new hex grid, fixing alignment issues and trying to keep the cleanest version of each area. Southern Noslo Island unfortunately did not have a clean version, and a few other parts of the map are a little blurred, too. This is the best that could be done with the available files.

I avoided making any other changes or additions to the map, so this can be considered to be a mere compilation of Jacob’s work from 2002.

Combining Fan-made Maps by Jacob Skytte (March 2025)

This is an original map created by one of Mystara’s excellent fan cartographers. For more information on the cartographer, including a gallery of all their maps, see also Appendix M: Mappers of Mystara.

The Atlas has been unable to contact the original cartographer. This map therefore appears here without explicit permission from its creator. Any information on how to get in touch with them would be most welcome.

Sources

• GAZ7 The Northern Reaches (1988) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
  • Northern Reaches, 8 miles per hex
  • Ostland, 8 miles per hex Overview

Fan Sources

• The Complete Domains of Ostland 1st Ed by Jacob Skytte (2000-2002)
  • Jacob’s Ostland, 8 miles per hex (2002)
• Component Maps:
  • Jacob’s Aland, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Fallersholm, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Gotland, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Haltimark, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Hammersholm, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Havardholm, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Hedmark, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Kalsloviki, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Kunslo, 8 miles per hex (2002)
  • Jacob’s Noslosford, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Oland, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Osterlo, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Ostmanland, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Ringmark, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Romaland, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Sognesholm, 8 miles per hex (2001)
  • Jacob’s Steingard, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Suddmore, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Sumarland, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Thorholm, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Varmgard, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Vestpont, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Vithesford, 8 miles per hex (2000)
  • Jacob’s Zeamark, 8 miles per hex (2001)

References

• All of Jacob’s maps at the Atlas of Mystara
• Jacob’s author page at the Vaults of Pandius

Chronological Analysis

This is a fan-made map. The component maps were likely published between February 2000 and August 2002; the combined map was completed in March 2025. The updated Atlas version of this map is Northern Reaches, 8 miles per hex. See also Appendix C for annual chronological snapshots of the area. For the full context of this map in Mystara’s publication history, see the upcoming Let’s Map Mystara 2000, 2001, and 2002.

The following lists are from the Let’s Map Mystara project. Additions are new features, introduced in this map. Revisions are changes to previously-introduced features. Hex Art & Fonts track design elements. Finally, Textual Additions are potential features found in the related text. In most cases, the Atlas adopts these textual additions into updated and chronological maps.

Additions

See the individual posts for each component map for Jacob’s additions.

Revisions

• Labels — I have redone all of the labels from scratch, in many cases using Arial Narrow to allow them to fit on a single combined map. The italics for sea labels are also my addition. Finally, I added a slight glow to the labels to make them more legible.

Hex Art & Fonts

• Hex Art — Highly saturated Campaign Cartographer 2 non-hex art style.
• Font — Arial and Arial Narrow.

Textual Additions (Complete Domains of Ostland, 2000-2002)

The following lists combine all of the Textual Additions for the component maps into a single place for ease of reference.

• Battles — The Battle of Trollebugt took place in 977 AC on the shores of the bay. It was fought between berserker warriors of Thor and the local hill trolls, resulting in the latter being forced out of the area.
• Bays — Jacob named quite a few of the bays in Ostland, as they are one of the most important geographic features.
  • Dybebugt is noted to mean “Deep Bay”.
  • Dødemandsdyb is noted to mean “Dead Man’s Deep”.
  • Hvidebugt is noted to mean “White Bay”.
  • Klippely is noted to mean “Rocky Shelter”.
  • Noerrebugt is noted to mean “Northern Bay”.
  • Storm Bay was a confusing label on GAZ7’s map, apparently applying to the bay but actually intended for the settlement (as confirmed by GAZ7’s text). As a result, TM2 erroneously added the name “Angstrom” for the village. Jacob reverts this, but then applies Storm Bay to both the bay and the settlement — likely the best solution.
  • Trollebugt is noted to mean “Troll Bay”. It is named for the battle that took place there in 977 AC. See also Battles above.
• Borders — Fallersholm’s access to Zea Bay is through “a small strip of land granted to Fallersholm by the domain of Zeamark”.
• Cliffs — In Oland, “The entire western coastline is rocky sea cliff, which makes landing a ship practically impossible.” In Kunslo, “The western highlands are rocky cliffs, making landing a ship very difficult.”
• Colony — Aland has a colony on the Isle of Dawn to the east. Jacob calls it the Colony of Aland, noting that it has “a few hundred” colonists. The colony has only just been founded and is in its infancy.
• Islands — The island of the Wailing Maiden is “a very small rocky island off the coast of Sumarland”. The Wailing Maiden is supposedly the spirit of an evil female elf.
• Lairs — The Sunken Man-o-War marked on the map is in fact the lair of a Huge Sea Dragon named Zikandra, known to the Ostlanders as the Storm Serpent.
• Lakes — Månespejl (“Moon Mirror”) is a “small, but deep” lake, located “in the forests southwest of Ankarson” in Haltimark.
• Mines — Noslosford is noted to have a mine, presumably iron as they produce weapons and armour. Stone quarries are mentioned in Thorholm.
• Mountains — Gråbjerge are noted to mean “Grey Mountains”.
• Races — In Haltimark, Månespejl is home to a community of 30 nixies. (See Lakes above.) In Gotland, the village of Bakkedyb is inhabited solely by a community of Adaptors. The population listed below (50) reflects the usual number present; at any one time, another 150 belonging to this community are usually “travelling elsewhere”.
• Rulers — All of the clan heads were listed in GAZ7 (Player’s Book page 13), in the table of Ostland Clans and Dominions. Jacob worked up full descriptions of them all, in many cases adding their families and important allies/enemies/retainers. For easy reference I am listing them all here, with notes against those of Jacob’s creation (the rest are from GAZ7).
  • Anlaf Geirmundson is the Jarl of Vespont, Head of Clan Vestpont.
  • Askold Ubbison is the Jarl of Varmgard, Head of Clan Varmgard.
  • Bodvar Dogleg is the Jarl of Havardholm, Head of Clan Havardholm.
  • Epstein the White is the High Priest of Frey at Sorteklippe Monastery. Epstein is a new character created by Jacob.
  • Geirstein Thorgelson is the Jarl of Noslosford, Head of Clan Noslosford.
  • Gest the Hook is the Jarl of Sumarland, Head of Clan Sumarland.
  • Gunnbjorn Askoldson rules Aland in the name of his father, Askold Ubbison, Jarl of Varmgard. Both belong to Clan Varmgard. When Gunnbjorn is away at the colony on the nearby Isle of Dawn, Gunnbjorn’s wife Erika the Crow is in charge. Gunnbjorn and Erika are new characters created by Jacob.
  • Gunnhild Svalasdottir is the Jarl of Suddmore, Head of Clan Suddmore.
  • Hakon Halfdenson is the Jarl of Kunslo, Head of Clan Kunslo. He is in fact possessed by magic-user Debara Serpent-Tongue, the victim of a magic jar spell. Debara is a new character created by Jacob.
  • Herjolk Eirikson is the Jarl of Ringmark, Head of Clan Ringmark.
  • Hord Dark-Eye is the King of Ostland, Head of Clan Zeamark.
  • Hygelac the Doubter is the Jarl of Romaland, Head of Clan Romaland.
  • Katla Thorunnsdottir, the last survivor of Clan Thorholm’s ruling family, rules Thorholm in the name of Ragnar Solmundson, Jarl of neighbouring Vithesford. Katla is a new character created by Jacob.
  • Karlsefni Garson is the Jarl of Fallersholm, Head of Clan Fallersholm.
  • Mord the Greedy is the Jarl of Gotland, Head of Clan Gotland. Although the name was listed in GAZ7 (Player’s Book page 13), Jacob worked up a full description.
  • Ofeig of Bakkedyb is the leader of that village.
  • Ottar the Swimmer is the Jarl of Oland, Head of Clan Oland.
  • Ragnar Solmundson is the Jarl of Vithesford, Head of Clan Vithesford.
  • Rognvald the Raven is the Jarl of Kalsloviki, Head of Clan Kalsloviki.
  • Rollo the Cruel is the Jarl of Sognesholm, a member of of Clan Ostmanland from the domain to the west, who married into Clan Sognesholm and took it over.
  • Sigrid Halldorson is the Jarl of Hammersholm, Head of Clan Hammersholm.
  • Sigtrydd Ormson, retainer of Rollo the Cruel, rules Sgnesholm in the absence of his clan head (i.e. most of the time). Sigtrydd has no formal title. Sigtrydd is a new character created by Jacob.
  • Sigvaldi Thorirson is the Jarl of Haltimark, Head of Clan Haltimark.
  • Skamkel Frost-Eyes rules here in the name of his father, Hygelac the Doubter, Jarl of Romaland. Both belong to Clan Romaland. Skamkel is a new character created by Jacob.
  • Starkad the Hunter is the Jarl of Osterlo, Head of Clan Osterlo.
  • Thorir the Wealthy is the Jarl of Ostmanland, Head of Clan Ostmanland.
  • Vagn Ozurson rules Hedmark in the name of King Hord Dark-Eye. Both belong to Clan Zeamark. Vagn is a new character created by Jacob.
• Settlements — Jacob added populations for all of the settlements he added to the map, as follows: Abisko (480), Ankarson (450), Bakkedyb (50), Bergfors (480), Fjallasen (400), Galten (470), Gudhjem (350), Havskum (360), Karlshavn (440), Kirkesdahl (470), Kroken (350), Leirbotn (480), Lenvik (300), Marmaty (400), Norstedt (420), Osknes (450), Skovstad (300), Sorteklippe Monastery (300), Steingard (350), Vinterdal (300). Bakkedyb means “Hillsdeep”. Gudhjem means “Godhome”. It is also noted that there are Modrigswerg dwarves living in the Gråbjerge in Vithesford, with their community stretching into neighbouring Thorholm. In the domain of Steingard, there is mention of “the timber camp”, suggesting that there is a single camp for logging in the forests of Steingard, as well as a cave nearby the camp. In Sognesholm, “Osknes is one of dozens of villages that lie all across the domain.” Jacob likely wrote this because the population of the domain is 8,000. In Kalsloviki, “Fishing villages dot the long coastline, while small farmsteads take up much of the interior.” Sorteklippe means “Black Rock”. According to Jacob, there are various other settlements in Oland: “A few large fishing villages lie at the northern bays, and several farming communities can be found in the clear land. In the hills are scattered communities, among them several monasteries dedicated to Frey and Freyja.” Of the population of 9,000 in Oland, 1,500 live in monasteries.
• Terrain — While many of Jacob’s write-ups mention farmland, Hedmark in particular seems to be dominated by farms.