BTS 2: Maps! (Patreon)

You all voted for it, so here it is! A rather crudely drawn map of the Forest of Black and White, plus a bonus 1st draft of the Bull Kingdom. I'm not that happy with the latter, but everything's roughly in the right place.

I'm also going to add some download links at the bottom just in case the images don't show up that well here.

1: The best place to start seemed like Leon and Artorias' fortified home, in the clearing of purple grass. Very far in the west of the Vale.

2: The Heartwood Glade.

3: Divine Scar. Something has hidden itself down at the bottom ever since the death of the Storm King. A Prince nearly died attempting to retrieve it. He left a few notes as to what exactly was down there, but they're currently locked up tight behind a certain door in Teira...

4: The Troll's Bridge. Built in an architectural style reminiscent of ruins found in the central regions of Aeterna.

5: The Mountain cluster that the Snow Lion Leon hunted lived in.

6: The Ritual Mountain where Leon awoke his bloodline. I originally named it the Storm Titan's Mountain, but I cut what was going to be done with it so don't read too much into it's grandiose name, it means pretty much nothing. Come to think of it, I really should go back and remove that name from the early chapters.

7: The Gorgon's Waterfall. That Gorgon is an 8th-tier being, Artorias was absolutely right to have them run from it.

8: Banshee Lake. It's not a particularly large lake, but found at the bottom are the corpses of several thousand children sacrificed thousands of years ago. No one lived in the Forest before the sacrifice due to #10 on this list, but afterward it was because several Ice Demons had been summoned, but not bound by a contract or any other magic. They slaughtered those that summoned them and allowed many weaker Ice Demons to enter the plane from the summon point at the center of the lake. These are the 'wraiths' that infest the forest. They use the corpses made on that day for their banshees, carving enchantments into their bones that are considered incredibly dark and profane by most orthodox schools of magic.

9: Black Bone Lake, unofficial name. It doesn't have an actual in-universe name because Leon and Artorias never went so far east in all their time living in the vale. It has the drowned corpse of a 9th-tier beast at the bottom, killed by the original Ice Demons as they investigated #10-12. Nothing remains of the corpse except it's skeleton, but those bones can still be used to make some damn fine gear if anyone is brave enough to try and retrieve them.

10: The World's Pillar. A thirty-foot tall obelisk covered in ancient runes. Everyone not of the Thunderbird's bloodline that enters the vale will feel stifled and weak, as if they haven't eaten for over a day. This sensation only grows stronger the further east they go, and the reason is because of this obelisk. It's a subtle defense system that makes people want to leave the vale without dangling a mystery in front of them like an impenetrable wall separating a large section of the vale. Speaking of which...

11: An impenetrable wall of mountains and ice that seals off a large section of the vale. A significantly less subtle defense system than the World's Pillar. It was originally meant to be like the inner wall of a castle that protected the keep, but almost all of the other defenses were either destroyed by the Ice Demons or were never built to last eighty-thousand years. In fact, the only reason it still stands is because the area it seals off might not be so deserted...

12: Beyond the ice/mountain wall is a large open field several miles long. Built into the side of the tallest mountain that surrounds this field is an immense statue of the Thunderbird with it's wings spread. It's eyes are made of pure gold encrusted with diamonds, and will blast anything that approaches its talons with copious amounts of lightning. Scattered around the field are several fried Ice Demons, killed when they ignored warnings and threats telling them to leave.

At the talons of the statue is a massive doorway built in a trapezoidal shape that Leon and Xaphan would find very familiar...

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And now on to the Bull Kingdom. As I said before, I'm not too happy with it, but that's to be expected given that it's only a first draft. I'll re-do it for it's own BTS post that will go into much greater depth, but for now it'll do fine as it has the proper general shape, and the most important features are where they should be.

1: The Capital City, built around a lake in the middle of the Naga River.

2: Teira.

3: Calabria. Just south of the city along the eastern-most branch of the Naga River, is the Duchy of Lentia, where Gaius' family rules.

4: Guarding the south-east pass is a massive fortress whose name I still haven't quite nailed down yet. It's ruled by the Bull King's brother who serves as the Consul of the East, one of the seven highest military officers in the entire kingdom. Three entire Legions, 60,000 soldiers guard this narrow pass, the only land route into the Kingdom.

5: The Serpentine Isles. Too far away from the Bull Kingdom for direct rule, but it pays tribute in the form of sturdy ship-building materials and conscripted sailors. It was once home to the Serpentine Kingdom, a nation ruled by a confederation of pirates and sea-borne raiders. Their frequent raids brought the wrath of the Bull Kingdom down upon them fifty years ago, which led to the war that almost completely destroyed the three southern-most islands and the near-extermination of the pirates that infested the islands. Since the Bull King fell into his coma, there hasn't been much oversight with the distant islands, and many of the old surviving pirates have begun falling back into their old habits. Leading them is the son of the previous Serpentine King, the Pirate Lord Jormun, a powerful water mage.

6: Hundreds of years ago, before the pirates of the Serpentine Islands were rooted out by the Bull Kingdom's navy, the Bull King made a deal with the Samar King across the Gulf to jointly pay a 9th-tier earth mage to make the western side of the Gulf of Discord narrower and easier to defend. On the Bull King's side of the strait is a massive fortress that watches all incoming ships and ensures their safety. In command is the Consul of Discord, the high admiral of all Bull King fleets in the Gulf.

7: An island in the demesne of the Bull King, it's the base of operations for the entire Kingdom's navy. In command is the Consul of the Endless Ocean, the high admiral of the fleets that watch over the western coast of the kingdom.

There's so much more I could say about the Kingdom, but I think I'll save it for when I've had more time to work on the map and really refine the details. I hope this has helped all of you to have firmer grasp of the geography in this story! If you have any questions, go ahead and ask away,I'll do my best to answer, assuming we aren't delving too deeply into spoilers. All of these locations will be visited sometime in the future, after all.

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