M5 Isle of Dawn, 24 miles per hex
M5’s exploration of the Isle of Dawn in 1987 marked the first move east from the Known World in the setting’s publication. Previously, parts of the Isle of Dawn and Alphatia had appeared at the edges of Norwold maps, such as in M1 and M4, but that was the extent of their coverage. With M5, Jennell Jacquays kicked off the development of this important region.
It has become an iconic map for Mystara, but it’s not without its problems. Comparison with the next evolution of the Isle of Dawn in 1989’s Dawn of the Emperors immediately reveals a scale issue: even though both maps share roughly the same terrain, this map has far fewer hexes — but both are marked as 24 miles per hex. Comparisons with the continental maps and other adjacent area maps reveal that M5’s version was in fact under-scaled, with the actual scale lying closer to 33.7 miles per hex than the marked 24.
But this is an easy fix, and a quick adjustment to the scale doesn’t affect the value of this original map at all. Indeed, almost all of the Isle of Dawn’s major features, provinces and settlements originate in this map.
Replica Map (December 2020)
Replica Map (January 2021)
Sources
- M5 Talons of Night (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- “DM Map #1: Isle of the Dawn”, inside cover
- “Players’ Aid #1: Map of the Isle of the Dawn”, page 21
- Cartography by Dennis Kauth, Steve Sullivan
Chronological Analysis
This is Map 71. It was published in November 1987. The updated version of this map has not yet been released. 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 —
