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Borders, a fantastic view.
Dec. 22nd, 2018 02:34 pmI have two all-time favorite fantasy worlds when it comes to gaming. The World of Greyhawk and Hârn. The two are very different in style, the former being very magic-rich, the late low magic with a more realistic bent. But both share one thing in common: gorgeous regional maps.
I have loved maps since I was a little kid. I can spend hours pouring over a good map, exploring all the oddities and interesting features. This dovetails nicely with my love of history, as having a map can bring the account you're reading to life.
But going back to Greyhawk and Hârn, there is one important difference in how they portray their worlds. It concerns borders. In Greyhawk, ever state has clearly defined borders, where one kingdom ends and another begins. Hârn, on the other hand, simply labels the location of the kingdoms and leaves it at that. Where the Kingdom of Kaldor turns into Rethem isn't labeled, but it's only by checking who owns the various villages and towns that you find out where you really are.
It's the second method that is more true to classical or medieval life. Lacking more modern surveyor's tools, most maps were approximate at best and borders hazy. When there was a clear physical feature, live a river or mountain range, it was much easier to define the border, but for much of human history, the issue of where exactly the border lies has been a matter of dispute. The Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, written in 1258 BCE. is the oldest peace treaty known and includes a border settlement that places the border somewhere between two cities in what is now Syria. That's it. As there was no need for a more formal border, all anyone had to know is if you traveled south from the last Hittite city to the next town south, you were now in the Pharoah's lands.
This isn't to say that various civilizations didn't try to mark their borders. Obelisks, fences, signposts, and patrols all existed to let you know where you stood. The problem was, especially in Feudal Europe, that the ownership of parcels of land was constantly shifting through warfare or marriage. As my favorite line from the musical Chess goes: "right now we're Italian, we used to be German, the border keeps shifting around."
If you really want to see how travel in the Middle Ages worked, go to:
https://archive.org/details/s2bookofknowledg29markuoft
And read the Book of knowledge of all the kingdoms, lands, and lordships that are in the world, and the arms and devices of each land and lordship, or of the kings and lords who possess them as written by a Spanish friar in the 14th century. It's a revelation. The admittedly dense text goes into great detail of how to tell where you are by the rivers; cities; and most importantly. the banners of the various lords and free cities.
This is a boon to fantasy writers and gamers. Because with this resource, you have a better understanding of just how different things can be. We are used to well-marked highway signs and clear directions. In reality, unless the characters are sticking to a well-used road, stumbling into a settlement my call for knowledge checks to see if they can figure out where they are!
Speaking of roads, the Romans built an amazing network in their time, and all the roads were named. So if you took the Via Egnatia east, you knew that you would end up in Constantinople. After the empire fell, most of the roads fell into disrepair, but the beds were still there and were used for armies and trade. Roads came to be named for their ultimate destination. If you took the Paris road from Caen, that's where you'd end up, but the closer you got to Paris, the more people would call it the Caen road.
All of this is to make travel more exciting in fantasy environments. Forget wandering monsters, an encounter with a patrol that is convinced the party are spies or saboteurs. An important crossing of a river has been cut due to a border dispute, and the party has to find a way to cross a river raging the spring flood. One scenario I like to use is the party is hired to survey a disputed border by two nobles who agree to a neutral party doing it, but both are going to try to subvert the survey team. This one works best with a mostly good party with a trustworthy member like a paladin or cleric.
Borders and roads should be a living part of your fantasy world. Like everything else, make them part of the story!
I have loved maps since I was a little kid. I can spend hours pouring over a good map, exploring all the oddities and interesting features. This dovetails nicely with my love of history, as having a map can bring the account you're reading to life.
But going back to Greyhawk and Hârn, there is one important difference in how they portray their worlds. It concerns borders. In Greyhawk, ever state has clearly defined borders, where one kingdom ends and another begins. Hârn, on the other hand, simply labels the location of the kingdoms and leaves it at that. Where the Kingdom of Kaldor turns into Rethem isn't labeled, but it's only by checking who owns the various villages and towns that you find out where you really are.
It's the second method that is more true to classical or medieval life. Lacking more modern surveyor's tools, most maps were approximate at best and borders hazy. When there was a clear physical feature, live a river or mountain range, it was much easier to define the border, but for much of human history, the issue of where exactly the border lies has been a matter of dispute. The Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, written in 1258 BCE. is the oldest peace treaty known and includes a border settlement that places the border somewhere between two cities in what is now Syria. That's it. As there was no need for a more formal border, all anyone had to know is if you traveled south from the last Hittite city to the next town south, you were now in the Pharoah's lands.
This isn't to say that various civilizations didn't try to mark their borders. Obelisks, fences, signposts, and patrols all existed to let you know where you stood. The problem was, especially in Feudal Europe, that the ownership of parcels of land was constantly shifting through warfare or marriage. As my favorite line from the musical Chess goes: "right now we're Italian, we used to be German, the border keeps shifting around."
If you really want to see how travel in the Middle Ages worked, go to:
https://archive.org/details/s2bookofknowledg29markuoft
And read the Book of knowledge of all the kingdoms, lands, and lordships that are in the world, and the arms and devices of each land and lordship, or of the kings and lords who possess them as written by a Spanish friar in the 14th century. It's a revelation. The admittedly dense text goes into great detail of how to tell where you are by the rivers; cities; and most importantly. the banners of the various lords and free cities.
This is a boon to fantasy writers and gamers. Because with this resource, you have a better understanding of just how different things can be. We are used to well-marked highway signs and clear directions. In reality, unless the characters are sticking to a well-used road, stumbling into a settlement my call for knowledge checks to see if they can figure out where they are!
Speaking of roads, the Romans built an amazing network in their time, and all the roads were named. So if you took the Via Egnatia east, you knew that you would end up in Constantinople. After the empire fell, most of the roads fell into disrepair, but the beds were still there and were used for armies and trade. Roads came to be named for their ultimate destination. If you took the Paris road from Caen, that's where you'd end up, but the closer you got to Paris, the more people would call it the Caen road.
All of this is to make travel more exciting in fantasy environments. Forget wandering monsters, an encounter with a patrol that is convinced the party are spies or saboteurs. An important crossing of a river has been cut due to a border dispute, and the party has to find a way to cross a river raging the spring flood. One scenario I like to use is the party is hired to survey a disputed border by two nobles who agree to a neutral party doing it, but both are going to try to subvert the survey team. This one works best with a mostly good party with a trustworthy member like a paladin or cleric.
Borders and roads should be a living part of your fantasy world. Like everything else, make them part of the story!
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