Mark’s Ystern, 0.5 miles per hex
This very attractive map zooms in on a single 24 mile hex (the map border) from Mark’s Thonia map, with subdivisions showing 8 mile hexes. The scale of the smallest hexes is 1/2 mile per hex — the largest scale he has worked with to date.
Clearly Mark has a talent for this, because the detailing in this map is beautiful. There are no glaring hexagon shapes — a common pitfall of converting between scales in hex maps. The best hex mappers know to avoid this, treating hexes as just another tool rather than a constraint to be followed. The Mystara community has long experience with this, and I have often pointed out this skill here at the Atlas — Thibault Sarlat’s work being the earliest and most prolific example. Like Thibault, Mark has this down.
All that aside, this map clearly shows Mark’s intent to develop Thonia as a setting, with maps at various scales. As with his Imperial Realm of Glevum map, he posted further details of the area depicted in the map at his web site.
Fan-made Map by Mark Howard (February 2022)
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.
Sources
- Dawn of the Emperors (1989) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
Fan Sources
- Mark’s Empire of Thonia, 24 miles per hex (May 2021)
- Mark’s Glevum, 8 miles per hex (August 2021)
References
- All of Mark’s maps at the Atlas of Mystara
- Mark’s entry in Appendix M: Mappers of Mystara (upcoming)
- Mark’s author page at the Vaults of Pandius
Chronological Analysis
This is a fan-made map. It was published in February 2022. The updated Atlas version of this map is not yet available. 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 2022.
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.
Under Construction! Please check back again soon for updates.
