Update #3: Maps!

2/9/25

Hey y'all!

I'm going to discuss something a little different today. I wasn't sure what title to put this under, but it should be a good update of information.

Instead of giving an update on the books though, I want to provide some lore. I want to upload some maps to the website, but I'll post them here first while I try to find a good page for them. (Maybe on a concept art tab or a new maps page...)

I made these a few years ago with an online map making tool, I'm not entiely sure what it was called. I'm sure I could remember if I do some thinking, but that's not the point for this post right now. I want to post a few different maps with some explaination, so go ahead and read about each accompanied with is picture.

Rungaard Overview:

A Map of Rungaard

Okay, so clearly this is an important map. Everything (for the most part) is based off of this. Wether we're talking about past, present of future most major city names are here. There is one major exception though: Tyr!

See that little splotch of buildings just to the north of Lake Bosnia, that is Tyr. When I drafted this map I didn't know what that city was called, Origins was just a fanfiction at that point, if it even existed at all.

Additionally, you'll easily notice the outlines around specific regions of the map. Those are the countries as seen in modern day Ngash, around the timing of Foundations.

To understand the divide around the time of Origins, assume everything to the south was the First's domain, it didn't include anything in the white, but it did include all the Myrrwoods (or as named on this map "Myrr Jungle") and it stretched up to cover everything in yellow. The First had the most territory, but it seems the most empty right now, I don't actually have much idea what's down there, just some basic thoughts.

As for the Second's domain, it was everything in blue, stretching a little further west to include everything north of the Bjorn Peaks. (And everything above the Kare River). He also had ownership of those woods where you'll spot SouthEnd.

The Third had the smallest domain, but easily one of the richest. His boarders ran along the Bjorn Peaks, around the Kare River to include the Mann desert, and traced a line south from the Kare River's peak to the southern end of those woods. (I believe I gave them a name in Origins II, but you'll have to see, and I'll have to remember.) Finally, he also had control over the island with the city Frite, but that's another story.

Finally, for Alliance territory, it's everything in between. So the northern point was Tey along the Kare River and the southern point touched the First's domain along that "land bridge" looking area to the West. It was mostly farm land and plains, with some mountainous areas.

So what are the important cities in the time of Foundations, or better yet what are the important cities to know going forward. Of course, Rine is one of the most pivotal cities going forward, it'll play a larger role than Tyr in the future, but saying more will spoil things. Tyr is important, but it will fade into the background, especially in modern Ngash. I gave a name to the First's capital in Origins II, but I won't say anything more as for that yet, basically it would located toward the eastern side of the Gray Plains, but there's a loreful reason its not on this map.

The most important city of all though is one we've heard mention of in the books, but have yet to see in person: Ingaard. This is where the real story going forward will be focused. Think of World of Ngash as several separate series telling their own stories but leading towards one central plot. Every book helps to shape this world and deliver it's own piece to the story, but everything builds together in subtle, and sometimes, unexpected ways.

Next up, a basic overview map:

The Three Continents

These are the three key continent of Ngash: Dunwort, Rungaard, and Feintale. (From left to right.)

I believe I've change my mental cannon on these continents a bit, their biomes are a bit off and their scales are misleading. There's a mixture of original lore ideas, a bird's eye view during Origins time, and a misunderstanding of world scale. For example, Rungaard in the center is about the size of South America or Africa, I don't remember which... (See the focused map above for a better understanding of scale, but even that one might be a bit off...)

Ngash as a whole is the exact same size as Earth. Ruungaard is the size of South America, and Dunwort and Feintale are more like half-sized continents nearby more than anything. But this map gives a better picture of what these continents look like. (Feintale would be positioned more northern, off the side near Hilt, and Dunwart is more southern, off the bay area as seen off the west coast on Rungaard.)

Some key features to note, Dunwart is a volcanic continent with a lot of small islands towards the south. In modern Ngash that island chain is known as Islas Del Mar. (Stupid, basic Spanish, but it's all part of the lore.) The continent is far less lavish than the others, and frankily this map makes it seemed more balanced than it actually is. In modern Ngash, Dunwart is more wasteland than anything, only the southern islands have much going for them in way of plains and farmland. It's also the continental home of the Dwarves...

Feintale on the other hand is a diverse land mass, far more so than it should be for it's size. A large central forest covers the entire continent, but it's not seen here so you can still get a picture of the featured biomes. The continent may even be more diverse than what we see here, but I'm not too focused on those little details yet. I know it's a beautiful land mass with floating islands, kharsts, and magical forests. It's the homeland of the elves, if that says anything more!

Ignore that island in the north... (Wink, wink, cough, cough! That's all I'll say on it for now, but I'm well aware it's there, if everything goes to plan you won't know anything about it until years down the line.)

We've taken some distant looks at areas, I'd like to look a bit closer now:

Rine Overview

Take a look at one of my favorite maps, and perhaps one of the most important maps going forward.

This is a zoomed out glance at Rine. Better yet, it's also a good chunk of the Third Shal's domain. As I said above, it's a rich area. (Mostly that means I've spent the most time giving it lore.)

I won't explain every little detail and town but there are a few important areas to mark down and remember.

First there's Rine, located just off the Rinian Bay. The entire country is named after this city, and everything important happens right there.

Two cities to remember for the near future are Tin and Mann. They'll be important to the storyline in an upcoming series called Trails. (That's one of the chapter title names in Foundations and Origins!) It was my planned fourth release to round out my flagship series, but changes were made in my process just before I could release anything. I had nearly half of the first book written and ready to post online before I changed my release plan and focused on books. You'll see that series start soon after Demise. (Maybe 2026?)

There's going to be a lot of content focused on this area of the world going forward, so keep this map in mind! It'll be important for at least a good couple years out!

Lastly, an even closer look at another place:

Welcome to a VERY crude dipiction of Tyr. This is a district map where each colored outline dipicts a quarter of the city.

Before anything else I should tell you what each quarter is, so you know. (The map is confusing and has some different names than what's actually in Tyr.)

The Shanty: Red

Noble's Quarter: Green

Hightown: Blue

Midtown: Orange

East/West Docks: Purple

This entire map needs to be turned about 90 degrees. The water is Lake Bosnia to the south, so just turn your head to look at it. (North is to the right.)

You'll notice some addition city beyond the walls of Tyr. This is important in Origins II. There are four main quarters outside the walls of Rine, some of which you can see here. Each is linked to a sister quarter within the wall, and are typically run by the same people as their sister quarter inside the walls.

Newroad: The Shanty

Six Rocks: Hightown

North Meadow: Midtown

Cheese Barrow: The Docks

The only exterior district you can't see on the map is North Meadow. Basically every exterior district sits along one of the entrances to the city. So there's a whole additional gate to the north leading out of Midtown and through North Meadow.

Now let's address the unused district names as seen on this map. North District, Pig Tower, Lost Meadow, Small Docks, and South Docks are unimportant. For one, the Docks is already seperated into two, east and west, so those names are just replaced, but a similar atmosphere is to them, aka the east docks are much smaller and privately owned. Lost Meadow was reused in the name North Meadow, and Pig Tower is a bit odd. I didn't know how to use that name, maybe it'll appear in another city later on, or I'll have a nod to it in Tyr somewhere.

There is one name I didn't talk about though: Lord's Pole. This actually exists in Tyr. It's a whole quarter within the city that is there one way or another. But instead of being called Lord's Meadow, it's an extension of Hightown where the noble's typically reside or shop, excluding the ones required to live inside Noble's Quarter as we saw for Maya in Origins.

The lore for Lord's Meadow is planned, but may be discussed at a later time. It's a sad story what became of it, even though that part of the city still stands perfectly fine. (You'll understand better later.)

Lastly to address some notable features. The castle stands exactly where this picture says, on a hill overlooking all of the Shanty. So those two districts do touch, but a massive wall separates them, where the Shanty sits sunken below the Noble's Quarter. Then there's that river. It does indeed exist in Tyr, we just never had reason to see it in Origins. Origins II has some scenes with it, so remember it for that book.

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That should wrap things up nicely. Four maps with plenty of lore to digest. Obviously there's more to say about each, as plenty of thought, time, and attention was poured into most of these. At least from a lore perspective.

I have more maps with better looks at other areas in Ngash, but those will come at a future time. I believe this is plenty to share for today, feel free to look over the maps and try to form your own analysis on the names and locations on display. As far as I'm aware 99% of what you see if planned lore, even if you wont see anything to do with some of the named cities for some time, if ever at all.

All this spurred from some writing I was getting done today. I realized I was describing a lot of details for Tyr in Origins II, while I had a map of the city I could share. I don't want to use it as a cop out for details, as I'm not planning on putting that crude dipiction in the book itself. Who knows, maybe I'll get a concept artist to sketch something out for me in the future.

Hopefully these points of lore will go a long way. Clearly I have a lot of lore for this world already, and it makes me excited that others are getting to see stories from this world.

I'll end with one final fun fact. The continent of Rungaard had been revealed since the beginning of this journey. It's in my logo! You may not be able to unsee it now.

Have a great week ahead!