12 May 2021

Aengmor, 8 miles per hex

This is a deep, dark, forested land… Although Aengmor is the name of the nation, the forest itself is called Canolbarth. Canolbarth’s trees were once impossibly tall, healthy, green-leafed oaks… Today, they still somewhat resemble oaks — but they are dark, gnarled, twisted, and unsettling-looking. Men of the surrounding nations call them “blight oaks.” Their leaves meet high in the sky in an impenetrable canopy, letting only the occasional steam of sunlight through. The darkness has choked the forest undergrowth to death, so all that remains below is rich humus and vast panoramas of fungi.

from Poor Wizard’s Almanac, by Aaron Allston

Map (December 2020)

*Updated map of the Shadow Elf Colony of Aengmor, 1010 AC, 8 miles per hex*

Sources

Atlas of Mystara (2005-2021)
- Alfheim, 8 miles per hex
GAZ5 The Elves of Alfheim (1988) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- Alfheim, 8 miles per hex
TM1 The Western Countries (1989)
- The Western Countries, 8 miles per hex
Wrath of the Immortals (1992) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- Known World 1010 AC, 24 miles per hex
Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure (1994) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- Known World, 24 miles per hex
- Karameikos, 8 miles per hex

Secondary Sources

Mystara’s Map Navigator (2000-2002)
The Demise of the Great Canolbarth Forest (1004-1250 AC) by Robin, current as of 9 January 2016 (Vaults of Pandius)

Comments

As with Ricardo Matheus’s Aengmor map (2000), and following the lead of maps in Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure (1994), the Atlas version of Aengmor is a straightforward adaptation of GAZ5’s Alfheim map. The towns are now ruins, great home trees are dead forest, and so on. The good magic points have been retired, but the bad magic points are left intact.

This map was first posted in 2005, together with the Alfheim map. It has undergone only minor revisions since then, culminating in the first version with neighbouring countries in late 2020.

Robin used the original version of this map as a base to develop her wonderful examination of the future of the Canolbarth after its corruption.

Notes

Rivers — Poor Wizard’s Almanac (page 6): “The trees are magically grown and maintained; even the regular rainfall which waters the nation is due to magic. Without the spells cast by the Shadow Elves (or their predecessors, the noble Elves of Alfheim), the whole nation would dry up to the point it could no longer sustain its forest growth, and would eventually be replaced by grasslands.” In light of this, the Shadow Elves have apparently continued the weather magic that the Alfheim Elves sustained for so many centuries. At least at this early stage in Aengmor’s history, the rivers and lakes of Alfheim are therefore still intact.