Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Map Prototype

Just a quick heads-up that there is a prototype version of the Zoomable Map of the Half-Continent up and functioning. My esteemed comrade G.R. Morton and I shall be working to make it a tad more Halfcontinenty over the next x period, but I figured folks had waited long enough, so sneak preview away!

(oh, and if it seems to stay blury, just give the map some time and maybe a click and it should focus)

Ok, back to writing, writing, writing...

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Cornish, I gave the map a quick try and I must say it's gorgeous. I feel the need to reread all the MBT books again and use the map to track everyone's travels over the Half-Continent. Kudos to you and Mr. Morton. I look forward to the final version! (I would also be curious as to know what everyone thinks of this map.)

smudgeon said...

Excellent work.

I've always struggled to read the copy in the back of Foundling as some of the writing is microscopically small (particularly the densely populated coast of the Lent & the Patricine), and my eyes are complete rubbish.

I, as with Carlita, await the finished product.

Unknown said...

Awesome, very google maps like, which is to say very good.

If only I'd known about this last night when I had dinner with the esteemed Mr Morton, I would've quizzed him on the details.

Excellent work you two.

Unknown said...

Btw it shouldn't take too much effort to get street view working... which I look forward to with great anticipation. :P

smudgeon said...

Thanks to the superior magnification, I have finally spotted the isle of "Tassweigia"...part of me really hopes this is subtly analogous to my home island. If not, then I'm at least pleased I can pick a place that I would happily emigrate to.

I'm sure that not much happens there, the currawongs & sheoaks are plenty, and the locals are fiercely defensive about their environment...

D.M. Cornish said...

Ah, well spotted me! (that feels rather odd to write...) you have indeed found a little detail for the enjoyment of those who know what I am talking about - you hope is well founded.

smudgeon said...

*tickled pink*

It's the little details like that which make it feel more...something. But yes. Carry on.

Anonymous said...

If this the protype, I can't wait for the finished design.

Will this map be in the forthcoming book?

Carry On..

Cheers

Jeffrey L Riffe said...

Your cartography is masterfully executed, Master Cornish. My hat is off to you, sir.

... and I really dig the rest of your artwork as well.... and I really, really dig your writing.

/Regards,
J.L.R.

Anonymous said...

At last I´ve found where Sinster is. On the map in the book the text is so small that I couldn´t see it.

Anonymous said...

it is beaoootiful. i could play on it all day :)

Femina said...

I must confess I've never been big on maps (I know - what kind of a fantasy reader am I??), being more interested in the personalities... but that map? And the zoomability? Beautiful. I could have played with it for a long time.

noelle said...

This might be random...but we are reading "Hamlet" in my English class, and at one point one of the characters refers to another character as "lazar-like." According to my footnotes, this means "leper-like."

I don't know how lazaars would be similar in any way to lepers, except maybe that people tend to avoid them, but does this have any significance at all? I realized a while back that "fulgar" is derived from the root "fulg" meaning shine or flash, so does "lazaar" have any clever roots or allusions, or was it just a cool word?

portals said...

Amazing.
I think you will need to write many more stories set in the hc so that all the places in the map can be visited.

Anonymous said...

noelle: i can't be totally sure [not having Hamlet in front of me just now] but i wonder if maybe lazar-like was more suggestive of a certain leprous Lazarus from the bible
[there may or may not have been a leper named Lazarus. i mix up names.]
or i could be totally wrong.
DM?

RottenPocket said...

Portals- All the places? Mr. Cornish, I believe you have your work cut out for you 0_o
Even my expectations aren't that high, or maybe I'm just easy to please... I still vote for an Ex Monsteria Volume, and Europe's journal. They are after all, already present in the story.

[Mmm, embossed hard-bound monster encyclopedia.... awesome]

Femina said...

Monday - there was Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, who died and was raised again by Jesus; and there was a Lazarus in a parable Jesus told - he was a beggar and covered in sores. But no leprosy.

Anonymous said...

k. like i said, i'm bad with names.
tho ocourse the word 'leprosy' in the bible did not always necessarily mean actual leprosy, and during shakespeare's age playing crazy games with words was the norm, there being no dictionaries
not to beat this to death or anything
:)

portals said...

Hello Mr. Cornish,
In Medieval Europe, 'witches' were burned frequently. Does anything like this happen in the h/c. are there any crazy people who believe in magic and witchcraft?
thanks,
E N Reinmuth-
Fine, all places must be mentioned then. I guess it would take too long to write stories about every place.

Unknown said...

It's a fine map, and enjoyable to browse. Seeing the vast extent of this mysterious world makes me wonder, when the story treats the Ichormeer as the mother of all threwdishness, is that really so, or that just the view of those playing their part in this particular chapter? In a world so wide and wonderful, mustn't there be be things even yet more lovely, and terrible - and threwdish - than the Ichormeer?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Cornish.
I like the map, though I must ask two things. 1. Are more of the important locales such as Clementine going to get colored pinheads like the Spindle has?
2. Where on the Sundagrid is Sinster?!

Portals.
I'm thinking outramourines might get the torch in some extreme cases, thouhg I doubt one would see that in cities.

John.
Isn't the Grassmere the main swamp on Half-continent?
-Ben.

Anonymous said...

I think I can answer q2. If you find where it says Burgundis, there is a river that divide in 2. there it is. zoom to the right of the center of the map.

D.M. Cornish said...

10/10 anna!

Ben, the absense of a whole lot of things is at this stage covered by it being a prototype - stay tuned, though don't hold your breath...

The Grassmeer is infact a huge plain of, as the name suggests, grass; very very threwdish in many places. As for the li'l old Ichormeer, john, well, it is indeed a very dangerous and threwdish place and the bane of those living near it - or more particularly tying to cicurate it - but you are spot on with the notion that there is far more to the H-c and the lands beyond than I cover in MBT... Too much, IMHO, to be done justice in any single book or even series.

As for lahzars - or lazhars, if you like, th H-c can be a little loose with spelling like Shakespear - are indeed simply me encountering the word lazar (with I hear in my head as "LA'zar" - after parabolic Lazarus of the Bible) long ago and thinking "great word", liking the idea that lahzars (which I hear in my head as "luh'ZAHR") are outcast but not really intending a direct link like fulgars.

I am afraid ally mitchell that the presence of this map in Book 1 (small as it is) will have to suffice for the MBT series. I have looked into getting a 1:1 poster made of it (1 metre x 700 milimetres) but have hit a snag. Will let you know if this can e resolved.

No witchcraft or magic in the H-c, I reckon we've got enough books out there doing that stuff.

portals said...

I didn't want you to put magic in; that would ruin the series, but i was just wondering if anyone thought it was real and tried to do it.

Anonymous said...

Aw wicked. A poster would be awesome.Sit in front of it for ages.

What kind of snag?

Cheers

Kathryn said...

a poster that size would be so good especially for when you are reading the books.
thanks anna i finally know where Sinster is i was looking for it for a while, you've been a great help!

D.M. Cornish said...

Ally, a who owns the right to produce the poster kind of snag.

Ahh, my apologies portals! I am still working that one through: what manner of mysticism is present in the H-c. I definitely think there are folks who would worship monsters and probably this will form the core of some of the more "crazy" behaviours amongst folks.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Cornish.
I've been wondering since I woke up several days back with blood-shot, sleep deprived eyes, what the Half-continent name for 'pink eye' is. Would one say of the afflicted that they were 'leery'? Do they even have that particular affliction?
As for the Grassmeer, I supposed 'meer' meant swamp or marsh. Forgive my ignorance.

On the matter of a map poster, I'd say I could do without, thouhg I did enjoy having the fold-out map with my copy of the Silmarilion. I don't really care one way or another. As I see it, an explicarium of epic proportions would spark more interest and more conversations. And I think we all like talking on here...
Anna.
Thanks. I must have spent an hour hunting it on the coasts, never imagining one could sail up river to a city. Call my slow and I wont correct you.
-Ben.

D.M. Cornish said...

It can mean "swamp" so no ignorance at all, it just comes from 'mare' (ocean) so I use it more in that sense. Ichormeer = "blood ocean", Grassmeer = "grass oean"...

The name Grassmeer actually comes from me miss-hearing a lyric in a Smiths song Panic.

Anonymous said...

I won´t call you slow. It took mw a while to find it but since Europe was describing that she sailed to Sinster I knew it had to be somewhere near water.