The party decided to go to Erubescence – a rival city state of Hex and it’s occasional ally in local wars – to seek its help in dealing with the vengeful ghosts of the Penumbral Empire.
So, that means I had another map to make.
If you like what you see here, I’m actually publishing parts of this campaign world sequentially. The first two volumes – Genial Jack: Volume 1 and Genial Jack Volume 2– are available for purchase in Print + PDF at DriveThruRPG.
Its sinister towers rise high into the blackness above, rivalled only by the ancient menhirs of the ogres. Foremost amongst these spires are the castles of the nine Houses of the Blood, vampiric families sired by the Night Queen, as well as the foreboding silhouette of Castle Crepuscule, abode of the Night Queen herself, most ancient of vampires, said by some to be the first of her kind.The lively docks of Pulsetown bustle with activity. Garishly painted and brightly lit with coloured lamps, the district forms a stark contrast with the dark metropolis of stone which broods around it, a pocket of life and light amid the tenebrosity of Erubescence. The folk here are mostly living, this district being largely inhabited by “the Quick” – that is, the so-called Third Order, behind those fully undead, such as the vampiric nobility and clergy, and the half-undead or demi-living, such as dhampir, ghostbreed, revenants, and the possessed.Tottering buildings emerge from the murky water of the Drowned District, linked together with rickety wooden bridges and platforms, many ramshackle new structures, others partially-ruinous buildings whose top floors protrude from the Lagoon. Boats flit everywhere, with a regular ferry joining Charnel End and the Court of Cannibals.The Skin Markets reek of embalming fluid, ozone, and animals, the air filled with the guttural groans of the zombie thralls in the aptly-named Moanmart, the whimpers of living thralls in the Chainmart, and the animal grunts of livestock in the Squealmart. Merchants herd the various creatures, living and undead, through the streets on their way to the market wards, sometimes in cages in wagons.The slums of Fleaford in southeast Erubescence reek of wet dogs. The bridge leading over the canal can be raised like a drawbridge, cutting it off from the rest of the city. Rain drizzles down on the ramshackle wooden buildings, mottled with rot and graffiti, the clannish runes of werewolf packs. The folk here are mostly of the Quick, but the vast majority bear the obvious signs of lycanthropy, here undisguised: tawny eyes, profusions of hair, pointed canine ears, mouths crowded with wolfish teeth. The lupine underclass eye outsiders with suspicion. Some lope in wolf form, scratching themselves, barking at one another, scrapping in alleyways. During the Shadesblood War with Penumbra, the ghost-city from whose ancient empire the Night Queen herself is said to have once hailed, Erubescence was assaulted in the Ethereal Plane, as hundreds of ghosts flooded into the city. Though many were successfully exorcised, the once-resplendent district of Limboville remains haunted. Some of the spirits who linger here are Penumbral in origin, soldiers still clinging tenaciously to their posts; most, however, are ghosts that Erubescence itself created, the spirits of criminals executed and then intentionally reanimated to form the Wraithguard, an army of ghosts the Sanguine Lords and Ladies used to fight on Ethereal battlefields. The remains of their spectral barracks can be found in the midst of the dilapidated houses, but mostly the former homes of the wealthy have been converted into shared communes where ghostbreed citizens – half-ghosts, their phantasmal blood diluted with that of mortals – live and work. The upscale district of Bloodfen is the domain of the dhampir: the half-vampiric bourgeoisie of Erubescence. Lacking the privileges of their vampiric ancestors, they have compensated with wealth, but where the vampiric aristocracy revel in sumptuous excess, many dhampir are more understated, reflecting a decidedly middle-class work ethic. Elegant charcoal suits a few shades lighter than absolute black are favoured by dhampir of all genders, again in contrast to the lavish gowns and frock coats of the nobility. Dhampir sip cups of coffee laced with blood and read the latest broadsheets in coffee-shops on the corners.
Here are some close-ups to show how detailed this got. For the most part I’d say this one is even more detailed than the Hex map when it comes to individual structures.
The map is the same size as the Hex map. It looks great printed out, and a good spot for a cat to nap!
shame that neither this map or Hex for that matter are available in a proper full size image file or set of images(if it needs to be broken up), though at least you’ve been doing so with Gossamer so far, hope we do eventually get a way to see in full detail the maps of Erubescence and Hex though
Something about the way I built the Hex file made it incredibly ungainly in size (like, GBs of data), and at some point the same thing happened with Erubescence, where it ballooned expectedly from a few MBs to several GBs. Gossamer so far has remained small enough to upload, as did the Quill Coast map, despite being similar in terms of the number of pages uploaded. Frankly the “why” of this is a total mystery, but my process has become a bit more regular since I made the Hex map, so possibly the presence of trace amounts of colour or certain file types or the more splapdash way the first two city maps were constructed might be reponsible. At some point I would like to see if I can get the images compressed/finessed into a more viewable state, though.
yeah I remember you mentioning that on a previous post regarding the maps, have you thought about rescanning the printed out versions of the maps could result in something more wieldy, hopefully though you can sort out a solution someday, would suck if the solution ended up being having to remake the maps from scratch or something
That’s not a bad thought – I’d need an immense scanner but I know those are around. I do think that some detail would be lost if I went that route, so it probably isn’t my first plan, but it could end up being the best way if all else fails.
drrockso20
shame that neither this map or Hex for that matter are available in a proper full size image file or set of images(if it needs to be broken up), though at least you’ve been doing so with Gossamer so far, hope we do eventually get a way to see in full detail the maps of Erubescence and Hex though
Bearded-Devil
Something about the way I built the Hex file made it incredibly ungainly in size (like, GBs of data), and at some point the same thing happened with Erubescence, where it ballooned expectedly from a few MBs to several GBs. Gossamer so far has remained small enough to upload, as did the Quill Coast map, despite being similar in terms of the number of pages uploaded. Frankly the “why” of this is a total mystery, but my process has become a bit more regular since I made the Hex map, so possibly the presence of trace amounts of colour or certain file types or the more splapdash way the first two city maps were constructed might be reponsible. At some point I would like to see if I can get the images compressed/finessed into a more viewable state, though.
drrockso20
yeah I remember you mentioning that on a previous post regarding the maps, have you thought about rescanning the printed out versions of the maps could result in something more wieldy, hopefully though you can sort out a solution someday, would suck if the solution ended up being having to remake the maps from scratch or something
Bearded-Devil
That’s not a bad thought – I’d need an immense scanner but I know those are around. I do think that some detail would be lost if I went that route, so it probably isn’t my first plan, but it could end up being the best way if all else fails.
Nico
Dude this is utterly incredible. Thank you and also nice job.
Bearded-Devil
Thanks so much!