Wendar, 8 miles per hex
This is a heavily forested land in the cold northern reaches of the continent of Brun. It is an inland nation, heavy with evergreen forests, bounded by mountains south and east, desert and wasteland west, and the enemy nation of Denagoth north. Owing to the ruggedness of the terrain, which is rocky and rolling even where it is not particularly hilly, Wendar is very lightly settled. The population is about half elvish and human.
from Poor Wizard’s Almanac, by Aaron Allston
Map (December 2021)
Sources
- X11 Saga of the Shadow Lord (1986) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- TM1 The Western Countries (1989)
- Wrath of the Immortals (1992) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- Poor Wizard’s Almanac (1992)
- Realm of Wendar, 1 sq. equals 32 miles, p. 87
Fan Sources
- Thibault Sarlat’s Wendar (1999-2005)
- Ricardo Matheus’s Wendar (2000)
- Wendar discussion thread at MMB (Archived) (2005)
- JTR’s Wendar Gazetteer (2006)
- Ramelin Mystara Wendar (2015)
Comments
A mysterious northern land, bordering on the Known World, and yet apart from it; a land of which little is known, and even rumours are few; a wild land where adventure beckons the strong of heart. This is the Realm of Wendar.
Wendar’s Publication History
Wendar first appeared in 1986’s X11 Saga of the Shadow Lord. The map in X11 was exceedingly bare, showing only the City of Wendar, Bensarian’s Hermitage, and a single trail leading from Heldann through Wendar and up to Denagoth, in addition to the nation’s terrain and borders. X11’s text added a few more small details, but not enough to fill out the map even at 24 miles per hex.
It was barely mentioned again until 1992’s Wrath of the Immortals and subsequent Poor Wizard’s Almanac. Wrath’s text mentioned Wendar only as the destination of Alfheim refugees, but its map provided a few more details at last: the towns of Woodgate, Sylvair, and Oakwall, connected up by a set of trails that led to the nation’s capital, and also south, skirting the Adri Varma Plateau to connect with Ylourgnes in Glantri. It also redrew the borders rather drastically, ceding a large part of the Wendarian Range from Glantri to Wendar, and generally expanding Wendar’s borders by a hex in many directions.
The Almanac provided the country’s first ever proper write-up, with another map that reverted to X11’s borders — complete with the claim of a section of the Adri Varma Plateau — and placed the western trail to Glantri atop the plateau. The map didn’t provide any new details to speak of. Unfortunately neither did the text, which focused mostly on the nation’s history. The subsequent three Almanacs didn’t add to this, mostly reprising the same text.
Wendar in the Mystara Community
Bruce Heard mentioned in his Voyage of the Princess Ark columns that Wendar was near the top of the list of future products, along with Heldann and Sind. With the setting’s transition to AD&D in 1994, it quickly became clear that a Wendar Gazetteer would not now come to pass. Thus, the baton was passed to the Mystara community: if Wendar was ever to be developed, it would be by our own hands.
Thibault Sarlat was the first to create a map of the region, the first edition of which he completed in 1999. Meanwhile, Marco Dalmonte and Shawn Stanley collaborated on a history of Wendar, expanding the scant official information to present a more detailed background for the nation. Bruce Heard even posted some ideas to the Mystara Mailing List.
But then things slowed down a bit, and a full Gazetteer — even a fan-made one — did not materialise.
The next big development for the forest realm came in 2005, when I created my own map and then asked for contributions from the community to fill it out. The resulting development rush, while rather chaotic and somewhat hodgepodge, was enough to add a lot of details to the map, at the same time producing a mini-Gazetteer.
As my Wendar map project was ongoing, Geoff Gander, who had contributed a great deal to it, began a side project in which he detailed the Northern Wildlands area to the northwest — including a full map of the region.
The next year, JTR took the mini-Gazetteer and expanded it further, creating at last a full Gazetteer: Gaz F1 Realm of Wendar (May 2006). He used an earlier version of my map, which underwent numerous revisions during development, so unfortunately they no longer match up perfectly. This kind of problem is not uncommon when multiple fan productions are in development at the same time — and it’s strangely reminiscent of similar issues in official publications.
The next development came almost a decade later in 2015, with the Ramelin Mystara version of Wendar. Jose based his map on mine, but also added his own details, once again displaying his talent for expanding on existing works, enhancing them in a seamless way.
Atlas Wendar
And now things come back full circle. I have used all of these sources to further enhance my own map of Wendar, adding what I could and adapting whatever wouldn’t fit directly.
Notes
Under Construction! Please check back again soon for updates.
- Borders — the national border is adapted from X11’s 24 mile per hex border, with two main changes: the western border stops at the bottom of the Adri Varma Plateau, and the southeastern border stops at the edge of the mountains, dividing that 24 mile hex between Wendar and Heldann.
- Forests — Most of the forests were named in either the Mystaran Almanac AC 1015 (description by Marco Dalmonte) or in the Wendar thread at the old MMB. The details are below.
- Dark Woods of Baamor — Source:
- Enchanted Forest — Source:
- Forest of a Thousand Butterflies — Source: Marco Dalmonte, e-mail.
- Forest of Bounty — Source:
- Forest of Hope — Source:
- Forest of Shadows — Source: Marco Dalmonte, Wendar MMB thread.
- Kevareth Forest — Source: Marco Dalmonte and Thorfinn Tait, Wendar MMB thread.
- Korrigan Forest — Source:
- Laughing Woods — Source: Marco Dalmonte, Wendar MMB thread.
- Scarlet Groves — Source: Marco Dalmonte and Thorfinn Tait, Wendar MMB thread.
- Roads —
- Trails —
- Settlements — only a few of Wendar’s settlements originate in official maps. Most of the rest come from contributions to a thread on the old MMB. The list below provides details.
- Ammalanleth — Source: Geoff Gander, Wendar MMB thread.
- Bensarian’s Hermitage — Source: X11 map and text (page 39). The home of the Sage of Wendar was shown on X11’s map, and detailed as a cave in the text. X11’s map had Bengarian Hermitage, but this seems likely to have been an error.
- City of Wendar — Source: X11. The national capital was the only settlement shown on X11’s map.
- Dalvarhøfn — Source: Geoff Gander, Wendar MMB thread.
- Duncansby — Source: Jesper Andersen, Wendar MMB thread.
- Genalldhon — Source: Geoff Gander, Wendar MMB thread.
- Lerian’s Tower — Source: Geoff Gander, Wendar MMB thread.
- Nione’s Memorial — Source: Geoff Gander, Wendar MMB thread.
- Oakwall — Source: Wrath of the Immortals AC 1010 map.
- Surewatch Keep — Source: Geoff Gander’s Denagoth map.
- Sylvair — Source: Wrath of the Immortals AC 1010 map.
- Woodgate — Source: Wrath of the Immortals AC 1010 map.
- Yngvarsvall — Source: Geoff Gander, Wendar MMB thread.
References
- Wendar at the Vaults of Pandius
- Wendar discussion thread from the old MMB, archived here at the Atlas
Thanks to:
Geoff Gander, Bruce Heard, Jose Ignacio Ramos Lomelin, Ricardo Matheus, JTR, Thibault Sarlat
