Kaffeen, the Energetic Isle (September 2021 Challenge entry)

[rdanhenry]

In September, Kellerica challenged us:

Esteemed cartographers, has this ever happened to you? You are walking along, with a delicious beverage in your hand, and then you stumble and drop your drink right on the floor. And as you stare at the spilled drink in deep despair, suddenly the mapper part of your brain takes another look at that puddle, and whispers: "That's a cool shape. I could map it."

(The above anecdote has, in no shape or form, been inspired by true events. Honest.)

So for this month's challenge, let yourselves be inspired by random shapes all around us. Stains, cracks, clouds, liquids – anything can become a map.

I wasn't finding a shape I wanted to use, so I went with this one provided by Kellerica for the challenge:



And, of course, I created some lore:

Kaffeen is fabled for its volcanoes, its delightful hot springs, and its magic. There are more wild magical creatures and phenomena per acre than any other area of comparable size, and over the centuries, all manner of magic-wielders have made their way here, making the City of a Thousand Spires wealthy, wondrous, and powerful out of proportion to reach of its rule, which has never extended beyond Kaffeen and its associated smaller isles. Its glories, however, are now threatened, as is all the world. A growing region of dark and chaotic magic known as "the Blight" has been spreading from the Burning Crater, where the city of Almaprest was obliterated by a great fireball from the heavens. Some claim that the Blight is the judgment of the gods, who have looked on the peoples of the world and found them wanting. Others say it was the unfortunate result of attempts by the magicians of Almaprest to pull down power from the heavens gone horribly wrong. Still others say it was the opening attack by some extraterrene race that intends to reshape the planet to its needs before invading to make their final claim. The vast majority of those who have done proper investigation of the phenomenon, however, believe that the Blight is a natural magical effect of the object that occupies the Burning Crater. It is on this basis that the efforts to slow, contain, contract, and ultimately, expel the Blight go forward. Progress of the Blight has been brought to a crawl near Kaffeen, though not before the fishing and trading town of Nevilt and the merfolk city of Blurbelmokd were devastated by it.