The Cartomancer's Map

[rdanhenry]

You might also, though this is more of a problem for having inked "cartomancy", use a more accurate terminology. -mancy and -mancer are, properly, specific to divination, not to magic generally. C(h)artomagy, c(h)artomagic, c(h)artogoeteia, or c(h)artogoetics (I especially like the last for a more Renaissance-level, dawning-science magical environment) would all be more appropriate names for what is described.

I really like the idea, though. It's a stepped-up version of sympathetic magic like the familiar "voodoo doll", so it has traditional resonance, while opening up a lot of new narrative opportunities.

[Tiana]

It's magic, it's your world, you can name its form of magic whatever you want it to be. Yeah, I knew that cartomancy was divination with cards, but I won't stop you from using it in your world as something else. It's a cool idea and I like the complication of being locked in by the complexity of the map/accuracy of the map as to how far you can go.

[jshoer]

I appreciate the discussion regardless. I had no idea that the authors I've been reading were using "-mancy" wrong.

Here is a little study I've been doing on adding marble to the border. I think the column on the right looks pretty good - stippling isn't right for this. The other option I'm considering is diluting the ink to a gray. I would only want to use the gray in the border, because having to match color and shading to the original map would make the cartomancy even more difficult.

[KMAlexander]

I'm really liking both the map and details.

[KMAlexander]

I had no idea that the authors I've been reading were using "-mancy" wrong.

Interesting, right!? Personally, I find it fascinating. "Wrong" for me is a loose term in this regard. "-mancy" is now common parlance/slang/terminology for "magic"—so it's not "wrong." Classically perhaps, but in regular use... yeah, not so much. Language changes constantly and often. The English of today would be unrecognizable from the English of 200 or 300 years ago. It's the nature of language. (Connie Willis explores this in her excellent Dooms Day Book.) It's part of what makes language so fun, IMO.

[KaiAeon]

This is a beautiful map

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

[rdanhenry]

Does the border affect the magic any, or is it just pure decoration?

[jshoer]

Good question! I think the border only serves as a sort of initial invocation that this is a map for cartomancy on a given land, if anything, and there are probably lots of different cartomantic styles and disciplines that might use various borders and flourishes to start with. The real art of cartomancy comes with how the practitioner applies changes to the land, and how they use the symbols of cartography to invoke the magic.

Let me show any example of what I plan to do. The Baron of Hocaute will ask Austable to make various permanent alterations to improve his lands. One that I have in mind is that the Baron wishes that the harbor near Essore and Southbridge would be a more attractive port for shipping traffic. Therefore, his Master Cartomancer decides to add a peninsula to better shelter the harbor. His process would be to paste a bit of clean paper over a part of the map, draw in the peninsula, and then execute the change by surrounding the change with, say, windroses and rhumb lines. The result might look something like this:



(I also plan to add those explanatory notes, as the cartomaner's record.) I have in mind also using scale bars and graticules as some of the surrounding symbology. Hmm - I should really get specific -- especially to entertain this community! -- and come up with a list of different cartographic symbols and their exact significance to cartomancy.

Oh, one thing I definitely plan on doing - "screwing up" some cartomancy, and having an explanatory note where Austable complains about his apprentice's poor workmanship.

[jshoer]

This is a beautiful map

Thank you!

[ThomasR]

Superb classic feel, Joseph !