GAZ1 Karameikos, 8 miles per hex

1987’s GAZ1 heralded a new era for Mystaran cartography, bringing in the 8 mile Gazetteer series standard for hex maps, along with a new set of hex art, the distinctive castle border, and the change of font to Feinen Bold. Karameikos was redrawn to fit the new scale, likely based on the original X1 24 mile per hex map, with which it is quite a close fit. It also includes most locations from the Expert Set‘s 6 mile per hex map, although the fit is much more problematic; indeed, the shunting around of locations — most notably Threshold — resulted in misalignment with previous maps of the area, including B10’s larger scale maps.  Note that even though the forested hex symbol debuted in the legend, it was not actually used until later in the Gazetteer line, hence the lack of that terrain type in this map.

Replica Map (December 2020)

Sources

• GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
  • Poster map (Cartography by Dennis Kauth, David C. Sutherland III, Ron Kauth)

Chronological Analysis

This is Map 54. It was published in May 1987. The updated version of this map is available here. 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 1987.

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; and 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.

Under Construction! Please check back again soon for updates.

Additions

• Settlements —
• Terrain —

Revisions

• Rivers — Previously in Companion and B10 Karameikan rivers had mostly been listed with “River” preceding the river name (British style): River Highreach, River Windrush, River Shutturga, etc. This was contrary to most other Mystara rivers, which tended to append “River” after the name (American style). Further complicating the matter, there were already two names for the nation’s most major river, as Companion’s River Highreach became the Volaga River in B10. GAZ1 neatly explained this situation using the nation’s Thyatian/Traladaran cultural split. English-derived names were considered to be Thyatian, using American styling: Highreach River, Windrush River. Slavic-themed names became native Traladaran rivers, with British styling: River Volaga, River Shutturga, River Syereb. Some rivers also gained a new “Thyatian” or “Traladaran” equivalent name.
  • The previous River Highreach/Volaga River had its styling flipped, so that from GAZ1 it would be Highreach River/River Volaga.
  • River Windrush and River Foamfire were likewise flipped, becoming Windrush River and Foamfire River respectively.
  • Windrush River gained the Traladaran equivalent River Waterolde.
  • River Shutturga was changed to (or misspelled as?) River Shutturgal, gaining the Thyatian equivalent name Hillfollow River.
• Settlements —
• Terrain —

Hex Art & Fonts

• Symbols — Gazetteer series standard. Karameikos borders use an emphasising variant style only seen in this map and GAZ2’s Ylaruam map.
• Fonts — Feinen throughout.

Textual Additions (GAZ1 1987)

Past and Future Versions of this Map