Anubia - 1450 AD - Fantasy map for Shadow Lords RPG

[Erebus]

This is one of two maps of Anubia, the main setting of the tabletop RPG "Shadow Lords" ( shadowlords.net )

This map is the normal political view of Anubia. The year is 1450 AD, the Roman Empire controls the world thanks to its Calephs, the magical Stones that control the Veil, created by the Profet Steno (some say he stole their secrets from the Temple of Jerusalem) and donated to Julius Caesar that then used them to found an Empire that would stand agains the Shadow of this world of darkness...

The map is supposed to be printed on A3 on the rulebook but it has a lot of details that would print better in A2 format. I prepared it for both purposes.

For more, see also the other map of Anubia

[Erebus]

This is the other map, the Anubian Shadow realm.



This one shows the spirit worlds known as "The Shadow". The patches of light are places where the Veil that protects the real world from the Shadow is strong, the rest is where the Shadow melds with the real world making it chaotic and more magical, but also the hunting ground of Demons, Tulpas and other creatures from the Shadow.

The mystic runes are doors from the "real" world to the Labyrinth, a metaphysical place created by Lucifer that connects the whole Shadow. The lines are the road that have been "secured" in the Labyrinth: stray away from them and you are at the mercy of the creatures and strange laws that have domain there.

[Erebus]

Of course any suggestion and idea is welcome.
I'm specially interested in what you think of the readability of the map. There are a lot of things but being medieval europe and mediterraneum basin there are a lot of places that I had to put down.

[hireshmontvellos]

Are you sure you want to use such modern city names, or should you use original Latin/Roman place names?

[Falconius]

That is a very good looking map I like it a lot, the icon stamps especially are very nice. The demonstorms are very engaging. Your second attachment link is broken or invalid unfortunately.

About the names they seem to me to fit the year 1450 just fine. What specifically bothered you hireshmontvellos?

[hireshmontvellos]

Well, if the Roman Empire still stands, shouldn't there be Latin names? So instead of London, Londinium. Instead of Paris, either Lutetia or Paresius. etc. It's not bad as is, just that I would have thought a surviving Roman Empire would preserve latinized names.

[Falconius]

Ah, good point.

[Erebus]

Are you sure you want to use such modern city names, or should you use original Latin/Roman place names?

Good point.
Keep in mind I'm italian so for me things from an english-speaker point of view are not always completely clear. I try to do my best since I want to make an english/international product and not a local one.
So I thought the modern names for MOST places would make sense because local people would make the names their own.
Romans by the way have generally respected local cultures, even if they introduced the "roman way of life" and generalized use of latin they never killed local customs and languages.

That said, maybe what you say makes sense and could be interesting at least in the inner parts of the Empire. I did research for a lot of the places I put down, but of course not for all, so any suggestion is welcome!

The icons are all hand made by me, though I created photoshop brushes for them to reproduce them more easily, except for some notable places that I painted on the map directly.

I will upload again the second attachment in a moment, thanks for telling me, I didn't noticed it was broken!

[Erebus]

The story of the demonstorms and the situation of the world in the game is that Atlantis was sunken by an asteroid of "dark matter" that was thrown down during the "War between Earth and Sky".
The Church of the Divine Order (the religion of the Empire) claims it has been Anubis fault (one of the "Old Gods").

Whatever the truth, the world had been ravaged by a deluge, civilization has been thrown back by centuries and the Veil that keeps the world of Shadows and reality apart has been shattered and thorn: where the Veil is broken, the world of Shadows (and its demons, nightmares and other unpleasant things) enter the real world and transform it.
The Veil is stronger when there is magic involved, the faith of a group of people that pray together to keep the Shadow away (thus it's stronger around cities and towns and is very difficult to survive outside them), or where the Calephs of the Empire throw their light.
That's why the Empire is so strong, because where the Empire goes the Shadows are dispelled and people can live a normal life and never fear of being kidnapped by a sadistic demon at night.

The Demonstorms are the exact opposite: where the Veil is so thorn as to being completely shattered, the reality completely melds with the Shadow and this becomes the territory of raging shadow energies, hordes of demons trying to further expand the tearing and some bigger demons or Demon Lord waiting for the hole to be big enough as to let him take material form and make its own kingdom on Earth (er... Anubia).

In this setting the Heroes (that's how a player character is called in Shadow Lords) fight for survival, glory and maybe to become epic Legends and ascend to the Pantheon of immortals.
Oh, you can also play Legends and immortals, with my system you can easily play Hercules alongside a Dragonborn and a human rogue fighting together against the Shadow Lords...

[Erebus]

Returning to the previous question/idea: what people think about the names? Latin names would sound good to an english-speaking player?
Would they give more character to the world?