Map of Mekkan

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flibergdde
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Map of Mekkan

#1 Post by flibergdde »

I have seen quite a few maps of Mekkan, and there are differences between each. I am here to inquire what the most official one is, if you know, please post it.
Thank you

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The Rookie
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#2 Post by The Rookie »

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Last I checked, this was the latest map of the Twokinds world, and a larger 4000x4000 version can be found on the Twokinds DA account.

One other smaller thing, but I don't believe Tom has ever called the world Mekkan. If I recall correctly, it was the name given by fans that sort of stuck. :potatoes:
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#3 Post by MuonNeutrino »

The most recent 'official' map is this one on Tom's deviantart. It's six years old now, but as far as I know it hasn't been superseded. The most recent map of any sort that I'm aware of is this sketch from late last year. Sketches are non-canon unless stated otherwise, and if I recall correctly Tom said something along the lines of that we shouldn't trust the details to be fully accurate, but this still gives us the most recent window into his thinking on the topic. The most noteworthy tidbits from that sketch are a few extra types of keidran and other settlements that weren't explained on the fully detailed map, along with the insight that the keidran and humans originated on various islands.
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#4 Post by flibergdde »

Thank you kindly.

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Re: Map of Mekkan

#5 Post by ActiveRadarIsCasul »

The map makes it seem fairly small...? Is this just a single continent or is it the only landmass(es) on the planet?
I'd really appreciate it if all you dagger and short-sword users could just not turn the battlefield into a pokefest whenever someone shows up with an ultra-greatsword i.e. me

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Re: Map of Mekkan

#6 Post by Hulk10 »

The Tiger Territory seems unfairly small and I see a few places where more tribes could live.
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#7 Post by Technic[Bot] »

ActiveRadarIsCasul wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:54 am The map makes it seem fairly small...? Is this just a single continent or is it the only landmass(es) on the planet?
Yeah i do find the world to be oddly small. Hell my school campus looks bigger than that!
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#8 Post by ActiveRadarIsCasul »

Eric's clipper took, what, a month or so to cross the Grand Sea? Thats about the distance between North America and the Eastern British Seaboard judging by the construction style and overall design of the ship.
I'd really appreciate it if all you dagger and short-sword users could just not turn the battlefield into a pokefest whenever someone shows up with an ultra-greatsword i.e. me

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Re: Map of Mekkan

#9 Post by Schrodinger »

Technic[Bot] wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:53 am
ActiveRadarIsCasul wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:54 am The map makes it seem fairly small...? Is this just a single continent or is it the only landmass(es) on the planet?
Yeah i do find the world to be oddly small. Hell my school campus looks bigger than that!
Tom explained some more in the comments. This map is only a part of the Northern Hemisphere, anything beyond that is currently unknown and assumed to be open water.
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#10 Post by NuclearBird »

ActiveRadarIsCasul wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:12 am Eric's clipper took, what, a month or so to cross the Grand Sea? Thats about the distance between North America and the Eastern British Seaboard judging by the construction style and overall design of the ship.
That would mean human territories must be around the size of mainland Asia. That's a LOT of land. Ample space for a massive population.
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#11 Post by Lightice »

Like most maps made by fantasy writers, it really doesn't convey the real scope or needs of an actual world or society. All the greatest population centers should be on the coastlines, or at least by major rivers, a giant desert can't just sit next to a forested region or a tundra without intermediary climate regions in between, and so on and so forth. Plus that all the populations seem to have originated from small islands, which only makes sense if they're actually settlers from outer space who picked neatly controllable regions as their first ground bases.

But, as with most webcomics, it's best just to invoke the MST3K mantra: "It's just a show, you just need to relax". The map was made for the purpose of serving a story, not vice versa.

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Re: Map of Mekkan

#12 Post by Hulk10 »

True enough but its fun to speculate.
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#13 Post by Warrl »

Lightice wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:31 am Like most maps made by fantasy writers, it really doesn't convey the real scope or needs of an actual world or society. All the greatest population centers should be on the coastlines, or at least by major rivers
Big cities are where they are for big reasons. Which tend to come in recurring patterns.

Here's one pattern for a major city. A big river draining a large fertile (which requires a fair amount of water) area reaches the ocean. Near to the ocean but with shelter from ocean storms, very close to the river but enough above it that flooding is not an issue, on ground that is neither too rocky/hilly nor too wet for building, that's where you find... London. New York City. New Orleans. Beijing. Mumbai. Portland, Oregon gives it a minor twist: the "big river ... reaches the ocean" is the Columbia but the "draining a large fertile area" is the Willamette. (Upstream on the Columbia is maybe 50 miles of mountains followed by a few hundred miles of desert and then more mountains - not a large fertile area, before big dams and large-scale irrigation.) The Punic capitol of Carthage did a different twist, as the trade routes on its land side weren't rivers. And quite a lot of others also fit the pattern.

However, that isn't the only pattern for major cities. Paris, for example, doesn't fit it.

Chicago is where the huge navigable-waters network of the Mississippi basin (mostly extending west and south of the city) almost-meets the huge navigable-waters network of the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River (mostly extending north and east). Transferring goods from one network to the other is a big business, and needs a big city. That's an unusual case, but I bet it isn't unique.

Once a city reaches a certain size and prominence, it more or less becomes its own reason for its continued existence and even continued growth - as long as it retains that prominence and CAN exist. Losing its water supply tends to destroy a city no matter what. So does losing a war and being razed by the conquerors, as the Romans did to Carthage (but note that less than a hundred years later the Romans were back to build the Roman city of Carthage in the same place - because it was still the best location for a port city serving a good-sized chunk of fertile land, and the Romans needed it; today the city of Tunis includes the ancient city.)

Junctions of navigable rivers far from the ocean often produce smaller cities such as Missoula MT - but not particularly reliably, else Paradise MT would be quite a bit larger than it is (the only tavern burned down three years ago and they haven't opened a new one YET).

Small towns mostly happen three ways. One is, of course, close to a source of unusual resources, such as a mine, or unusual access to a more common resource, such as the best place in twenty miles of coastline to park fishing-boats. Another is locations that otherwise qualify for a city but for some reason a city doesn't happen - too close to an even-better location, or not enough good land for building on, or not enough fertile land nearby to feed a city. And the third... what speed are your major means of personal land transportation between cities? Drop towns about 4-5 hours apart by the slowest in common use, or 8-10 hours apart by common cargo transport if that's closer, on convenient routes between cities or between your cities and resource-based towns. And of course on ground suitable for building on. If two or more such routes intersect, you might find a larger town or smaller city there. If a route parallels a navigable river (they often do, for the same reason that the river takes that route), the towns are probably close to the river.

Exception: in a desert, if there's a good source of water then there's at least a small village. Or if not, then there was a few years ago and will be again in a few years (look up the origin of the Hebrew/Arabic "tel", which is found in the names of a lot of villages - it's a specific kind of hill).
a giant desert can't just sit next to a forested region or a tundra without intermediary climate regions in between
The intermediary areas can be very narrow, because mountains. Narrow enough to disappear on a continent-scale map. From the (irrigated) desert of central Washington, you cross the Columbia Gorge (maybe 2 miles wide) and go up a steep hill for 10 miles to the Kittitas plateau which is about 30 miles wide, desert on the east edge and forested by the time you reach the west edge and start up into the mountains proper. The continent is about 3,000 miles wide at that latitude.

However, it's certainly true that absent an ABRUPT change in altitude different sorts of climate won't be immediately adjacent without any transition zone at all.
Plus that all the populations seem to have originated from small islands, which only makes sense if they're actually settlers from outer space who picked neatly controllable regions as their first ground bases.
Actually, it makes sense in pretty much any context other than massive simultaneous arrival that the populations would originate in small areas.

It's canon that the sapients of Mekkan were created not long ago in evolutionary terms; we've been given no detail about how many of them were created or exactly where.

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Re: Map of Mekkan

#14 Post by Hulk10 »

I could see Snow Tiger Tribes in the mountains or the Frozen wastes. Can any one else see that?
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Re: Map of Mekkan

#15 Post by Lightice »

Warrl wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:02 pm However, that isn't the only pattern for major cities. Paris, for example, doesn't fit it.


Paris lies on the banks of Seine, a major trade route in the Medieval times and before. Every single major city of the ancient world exists as a hub of major trade routes, which save for the rare exceptions of oasis cities in extremely deserted regions, invariably means that they lie in the immediate vicinity of one or more waterways, since water is the more economic and safest means of transportation before motor vehicles were invented.
The intermediary areas can be very narrow, because mountains. Narrow enough to disappear on a continent-scale map. From the (irrigated) desert of central Washington, you cross the Columbia Gorge (maybe 2 miles wide) and go up a steep hill for 10 miles to the Kittitas plateau which is about 30 miles wide, desert on the east edge and forested by the time you reach the west edge and start up into the mountains proper. The continent is about 3,000 miles wide at that latitude.
The map of Mekkan does feature mountain ranges quite plainly, and none are seen in the transition of the desert in the middle into forests or tundra. Mountains in general don't just disappear on maps; they are just about the most prominent landmarks and natural obstacles in existence. If the map is indeed intended to be continent-sized, and it really comes off as a lot smaller, for a small village like Edinmire to be prominently displayed on it, then a giant desert in the middle should have huge climatological impact on every other region on it.
Actually, it makes sense in pretty much any context other than massive simultaneous arrival that the populations would originate in small areas.

It's canon that the sapients of Mekkan were created not long ago in evolutionary terms; we've been given no detail about how many of them were created or exactly where.
None of the major species in the setting are biologically specialised to be island dwellers. Humans and canines are plains dwellers, while great felines need large swathes of savannah or jungle to subsist. But the recent sketch map does indeed show that every population does indeed seem to emerge from a single island, each.

Like I said, trying to make real life sense out of the map of Mekkan is a waste of time. It's not a map trying to depict realistic population distribution or climate regions, and trying to impose such speculation on it only creates unnecessary plot holes.

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