Monday, October 26, 2015

Detroit Smuggler's Routes: a map commission

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

This post is also Part 1 of a series about Claudia Oltean.



One day, I awoke to an email from Claudia Oltean and her husband. She'd discovered my world map portfolio on Twitter and decided I'd be the perfect person to create a map for her debut novel.

Claudia writes historical fiction about newspaper reporters in a time of mayhem, crime, and corruption. Her late grandfather, a Detroit journalist throughout the Prohibition era, inspired her tales with his daring adventures.


Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!


To help her readers understand the Detroit area, Claudia wanted a map to show the river and Canadian border.

When she saw my maps, she noticed that I lived in Michigan at the time, and the match felt ideal to her.

I was delighted by her interest, and I loved Claudia's passion to showcase her grandfather's exploits in a series of novels.

Moreover, I was thrilled for another real-world map, especially one so close to home.

I reviewed Claudia's list of map needs, sent her an enthused map estimate, and got to work on her first render as soon as she signed it.


Here's what she had to say about the finished map:


Detroit Smuggler's Routes, a map commission by D.N.Frost for Claudia Oltean www.DNFrost.com/portfolio Part 1 of a series.
I had the very good fortune to collaborate with D.N. Frost,

a multi-talented cartographer and author. She produced work that I am beyond pleased with.

Her excellent and artistic work has produced a map for the preface of my book that highlights locations in Michigan and Canada where key action takes place in my story.

D.N. Frost was a delight to work with, a consummate professional, responsive and insightful.

Her work is an important add to immediately introducing readers to important concepts and plot points that can only enhance their grasp and connection with my work.

I highly recommend her to anyone whose project calls for a map.

– Claudia Oltean, historical fiction author


That's it for this post! Up Next: Carving out the coasts... Soon.

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

Download Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost here, or start your adventure below.






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Thursday, October 15, 2015

The Desperate Sea: a map for Awakening

The Desperate Sea: forsaken waters off the coastal badlands www.DNFrost.com/maps #TotKW A map for Awakening by D.N.Frost @DNFrost13 Part 15 of a series.
This post is Part 15 of a series to augment the Atlas of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other TotKW maps are gathered in my Map Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!



The Desperate Sea
The Desperate Sea: forsaken waters off the coastal badlands www.DNFrost.com/maps #TotKW A map for Awakening by D.N.Frost @DNFrost13 Part 15 of a series.
Forsaken waters off the coastal badlands.


Geography and Climate


In Chapter 11 of Awakening, the Desperate Sea lies on the southern side of the badlands of Old Ryerin. Few ships traverse the cursed air spilling from the dead shoreline into its waters.

The Desperate Sea enjoys warm tropical weather for most of the year. But as the sticky, languid summer gives way to a winter wet season, these waters suffer the occasional hurricane churning up from the south.

This region also borders the Gulf of Lohki, Glades of Despair, and Great South Sea.


Flora and Fauna


Few birds roam the cursed skies over the Desperate Sea, so fish school in huge numbers quite near the surface. Large pods of whales, dolphins, and sea wyverns enjoy the plentiful bounty, as do a great number of sharks, barracuda, and other carnivorous marine life. Ancient coral reefs at the sea's west edge, cultivated by reclusive merfolk, are vivacious and florid, nestled safely beneath the waves and the cursed air above.


People and Dress


Though no landfolk traverse the Desperate Sea, the Kaedya Reefs are home to a thriving population of merfolk. A naked people, all mers share webbed fingers and arms, fish-like scales, and golden eyes. However, the Kaedye sport the fluked fins and triple ear-spines indigenous to the western tropics. Like most mers, their streamlined bodies are covered in diamond-shaped scales, and the dark stripe along their spines offshoots thin markings that curve around their ribs and fade at the underbelly. Allied with the neighboring Lohki Reefs to the east and Gusya Reefs to the west, Kaedyan mers rarely travel to other reefs and instead exchange magical communications.


Native Magic


Merfolk talents vary less by location and more by the color of a mer's scales. Blue mers display poor sensory magics, whereas their abilities with the prophetic Gift are unmatched throughout the Known World. While the female Gift manifests in visions of the future, the male Gift comes forth in verbal prophesies that can be recorded and shared. Most blue mers are decent elemental mages, demonstrating about equal skill with water and air magics. Green mers, conversely, manifest very poor special magics, but tend to be much better with sensory magic. Skilled light mages with strong latent sound abilities, green mers also are able to use water magic much better than their blue cousins.

Check out the Magic Codex of the Known World to learn more.


Cultural Values and Traditions


Mer culture prioritizes knowledge above all else. Their primary means of knowledge acquisition comes from their extensive libraries of documented prophesy. Much time and effort is expended to cross-reference and interpret these portents of the future. Because green mers lack the prophetic Gift, the color green is associated with blight and ignorance, whereas the color blue is royal and esteemed. Shortly after adolescence, blue men relocate to their local rajaweh, a monastic university where they contribute their prophesies and analytic services. Blue women remain in the civilian seyodi, where they legislate the day-to-day lives of their people. Green mers of both genders are relegated to the servant caste, whose homes are sequestered in townships along the fringes of the reef.

While the mers measure their age in years, the lifespans of mere mortals pale against the eons of history amassed in their rajaweh libraries. The ancient merfolk calendar is the foundation of almost every other calendar in the Known World, correlating the 13-year-and-1-day solar cycle with the 72-day lunar cycle to yield an exact celestial calendar of 936 years. Though blue mers do not celebrate coming-of-age, youths are expected to join the monastic rajaweh or the governing seyodi council upon reaching adulthood. The green mers of Kaedya host small family gatherings on the anniversary of a child's birth, until the youth reaches the working age of thirteen. Afterward, that youth may opt to continue the tradition, provided he or she can fund the celebration.


Warriors and Guardians


Across the Known World, the merfolk are a peaceful race who do not wage war against each other. They disdain the contentious landfolk, and instead they devote their time and wealth to the acquisition of knowledge. According to mer legend, the ancient utopia of Gaweh was destroyed by the first and only war amongst the merfolk. Afterward, the deity known as Mother placed sharks throughout the oceans to discourage future bloodshed. Mother also stripped the defeated aggressors of their prophetic powers and marked them green so their selfish betrayal would never be forgotten.


Languages


Known as Meri to the landfolk, the mer call their language Vyehedaryn, translating to "of the merfolk." Due to 10,000 years of rigorous documentation and cross-reference, the mer dialects have undergone very little evolution since ancient times. Modern mers disdain Allanic, the uniting tongue of the landfolk, which is derived from ancient Meri but heavily influenced by the ancestral languages of assorted surface-dwellers. Though unintelligible to landfolk, Meri sounds fluid and archaic to Allanic speakers, with a vocabulary similar to the ancient roots of Allanic words. Meri's use of two sonic clicks, /k/ and /s/, make it difficult to master as a second language. Landfolk tend to mimic these clicks using the ejective consonants [k'] and [t's], respectively. Gesticulations and hand signals are exceedingly sparse in Meri, likely due to the complications of underwater motion.

Check out the Language Codex of the Known World to learn more.


Characters from The Known World


Awakening is a potent tale of self-discovery. Experience this gripping fantasy adventure and discover yourself within. www.DNFrost.com/Awakening #TotKW
In the book Awakening, Kigal captains his ship into the Desperate Sea after taking on a charter from Kingard and his band of fugitives.

Seeking the mythic city A'lara within the Glades of Despair, they drift with the current through the cursed air surrounding the badlands.

At last, Kigal emerges into the refreshing breezes of the Desperate Sea's west shore, and the triumphant captain drops anchor off the coast of the glade.

Concealing his ship in the harbor ruins, Kigal joins their quest through the jungle to reach the magic city.

That's it for this post! Up Next: Shadowed realm of daemons and lost souls...

Download the Atlas of the Known World here, or start your adventure below.






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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Portent XV of Awakening: a riddle in rhyme

In the novel Awakening, there are 23 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

Start with Portent I here.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!



When restless tenant weary grew
Of fighting for his key
At his behest so did request
The west to set her free

From Hells' advancing glowers
He resumed the flow of time
With turning test the truth to wrest
Detested from the crime

So asked he long to no avail
Of comrade oversold
And harried guest at last confessed
They bested young and old.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.


I love that this prophesy comes to pass in Awakening. It opens a scene in Part II of the book, and it heralds events in Part IV. I love the complex rhymes and side-step meter. Can you identify the comrade oversold?



Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.



Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:
Iwahnno Ngyehsi Gusya XIX
1:3:4:2/5, III:IX
The portent attributed here has not yet been interpreted. It was said recently, and it will be repeated every twenty days until either it is correctly interpreted, or it comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: His brow is graced but soul defaced...

For the Prophesy Appendix, enter your email above.






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