Jalamere 2: Zones

Okay, so we handled Step One of Mr. Conley's 'How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox' Checklist in the Jalamere 1 post where we briefly introduced  the Worldrim and sketched-in something of the rough features that we had in mind for this Fantasy Sandbox. Now we're moving on to Step Two: Labeling Important Regions.


As you can see from the revised map above, we've color-coded the underlying terrain/pseudo-topography and broken it into Six Zones. The larger, 11x17/300dpi version of the Jalamere Zone Map is at our Free Stuff Folder at BOX, so if you want a copy, you can either click on it via the handy gadget in the right-hand side-bar, or click this link: http://www.box.net/shared/fdv1xfjrb9xzyraueesy .


The Six Zones range from Zone 1 which is the mostly vertical region of Great Cliffs that extend downwards from the very edge of the Worldrim; to Zone 6 which is a bleak, barren and very rugged environment dominated by shifting dust, grit and debris. There is one more zone, the Outer Zone where the atmosphere extends outwards from the Worldrim just enough to establish a semi-viable region dominated by flying beasts, harpies and worse, which would very likely be a Zone unto itself. But we're going to leave the Outer Zone alone for now and come back to it later.


Zone 1 is an extreme environment; Zone 2 is a windy rocky region where life is hanging on desperately and it may well be where the Player Characters are most likely to begin (though that could change...); Zone 3 is a transitional environment that shifts and combines aspects of Zones 2 and 4; Zone 4 is a little less windy, but a whole lot more rocky and goes from increasingly steep hills to mesa, buttes, and bad lands; Zone 5 is another transitional region that blends aspects of Zones 4 and 6 into one another; Zone 6 is the Deep Wastes, a cold, dusty, barren place where things tend to bleed through from other places.


Each Zone has a range of Terrain Types associated with it, and thus will have its own set of Weather, Effects, Events, Typical Encounters and Wandering Monster Tables. That will allow us to make each region more distinct and to build adventure seeds and plot-hooks that take advantage of the special conditions and opportunities to be found in each Zone.


Here are our preliminary notes for the Six Zones, so far. All of this is subject to change as we move ahead with this series, but this is a good beginning from which to start thinking about what sorts of creatures live here, and how people might adapt in order to survive in this place, etc.




Zone One Terrain Types

1. Rim Regions  -  Crumbling, eroded and unstable lands prone to collapse. Harpy Aeries and the Roosts of other kinds of Winged Folk are often encountered in these areas.
2. Edgelands  -  Rocky, lichen-dense regions where sparse grass and twisted trees try desperately to make things just a bit more stable. 
3. Waterfalls  -  Strange, slippery and extremely treacherous regions of mist, fog and mighty cataracts rushing off of the very edge of the Worldrim into whatever lies beyond. Ravenous great gray oozes are known to prowl these areas.
4. Cliffs  -  The craggy, heavily eroded and cracked vertical face of the Worldrim where gargoyles perch and more than just spiders hunt the unwary.
5. Abyssal Peaks  -  Massive half-gnawed remnants of ancient chunks of the Worldrim that have separated or fallen away from the current edge. Many are dotted with strange ruins and winged things will often flutter to and fro on strange errands.
6. Special  -  Chasms that run right to the edge like chutes, strange mounds or heaps of talus and debris raised right on the very edge of the world for unknown purposes, ruins clinging to the cliff-face, and other such places yet to be determined.

Zone Two Terrain Types

1. Rimward Steppes  -  Cold, constantly windy, hardscrabble region that is dominated by clusters of rocky formations that jut upwards into the clouds like the colossal fingers of dead gods.
2. Howling Hills  -  Bare and blasted regions of broken stone and huge boulders that whistle and moan with the passage of the winds and other things drawn to such utter desolation. Carnivorous lichens and outcast spirits congregate in the wind-lashed gaps and pockets formed by haphazard mounds of boulders scattered all over this area.
3. Grasslands  -  From coarse spiky grasses to elegant stands of bamboo, this region is dominated by rolling vistas of grasses, herds of grazing creatures, and the sporadic clumps of thorny brush or densely packed forests that stand out like leafy green islands surrounded by seas of grass waving and swaying in the capricious winds that come in off of the Howling Hills.
4. Woodlands  -  Vast, dark forests of gigantic trees that extend across the horizon like a living wall that obscures and hides what might lie beyond...or beneath their moss-draped and vine-heavy boughs.
5. Special  -  Gravel strewn gullies, brush-bordered gorges, chasms, pits, rock mounds, ruins, and such places.

Zone Three Terrain Types

1. Steep Hills  -  Extremely difficult, exceptionally steep vertical faces that may or may not be entirely overgrown with twisted trees, densely inter-connected brush and some weird form of quasi-terrene coral.
2. Canopy  -  Humid, foggy regions of intensely overgrown pseudo-rainforest and/or jungle.
3. Overgrown Canyons  -  Domed-over natural pockets formed by erosion and other factors that have become thriving and verdant ecologies almost entirely cut-off from the rest of the world.
4. Lesser Bad Lands  -  Harsh, dry, rocky landscapes in-between the smaller rivers and dense woodlands. The Bad Lands start and stop abruptly, with little warning and even less rhyme or reason. They may not be entirely natural.
5. Lost Valleys  -  Isolated, hidden places located along convoluted and treacherous arroyos, smaller rivers, or bad land regions that open up into fertile valleys, lush box canyons and other wide open spaces.
6. Broken Places  -  Weak-spots and vortexes that have a particularly sorcerous influence on the surrounding landscape.
7. Special  -  TBD

Zone Four Terrain Types

1. Bad Lands  -  Harsh, dry, rocky landscapes in-between the smaller rivers and dense woodlands. The Bad Lands start and stop abruptly, with little warning and even less rhyme or reason. They may not be entirely natural.
2. Overgrown Canyons  -  Domed-over natural pockets formed by erosion and other factors that have become thriving and verdant ecologies almost entirely cut-off from the rest of the world.
3. Woodlands  -  Vast, dark forests of gigantic trees that extend across the horizon like a living wall that obscures and hides what might lie beyond...or beneath their moss-draped and vine-heavy boughs.
4. Pit Jungles  -  Massive sink-holes where the vegetation runs rampant and geysers spew super-heated steam upwards into the sky at random intervals.
5. Alkali and Salt Pans  -  Dry, dreary, desolate regions where very little grows and less can survive.
6. Special  -  TBD.

Zone Five Terrain Types

1. Alkali and Salt Pans  -  Dry, dreary, desolate regions where very little grows and less can survive.
2. Rocky Wastes  -  Bare expanses of crumbling and pitted rock with little else to be seen.
3. Collapsed Area  -  The crust has subsided or given way in this area, leaving everything a topsy-turvy mess of jumbled rock and shifting soil that is extremely treacherous to navigate on foot.
4. Thorn Forest  -  Dark, sinister clumps of ancient thorn-bushes the size of ancient trees. Few, if any birds can be spotted here.
5. Fern Niches  -  Eroded-out sections of cliffs, hills or even ancient colossal rockfalls that provide enough of an overhang to create a pleasant environment for all manner of ferns.
6. Special  -  Flat sandy regions, places of congealing shadows, coterminous ruins that lead across a dozen or more regions of time and space, dreaming woods, and more.

Zone Six Terrain Types

1. Barrens  -  Unpleasant stretches of broken hills, blasted buttes and convoluted --even curdled-looking canyons and defiles that extend outwards and onwards into the shimmering haze that marks the distant beginnings of the Deep Wastes.
2. Rocky Wastes  -  Bare expanses of crumbling and pitted rock with little else to be seen.
3. Collapsed Area  -  The crust has subsided or given way in this area, leaving everything a topsy-turvy mess of jumbled rock and shifting soil that is extremely treacherous to navigate on foot.
4. Thorn Forest  -  Dark, sinister clumps of ancient thorn-bushes the size of ancient trees. Few, if any birds can be spotted here.
5. Dust  - Seemingly endless shifting dunes of ultra-fine dust.
6. Gritlands  - Slightly caustic fields of grit that grind away at everything that comes into contact with this region.
7. Deep Wastes  -  Dark, dismal, haunted and accursed regions that extend outwards into whatever lies beyond.
8. Special  -  Vortexes, Weak-spots, Nexii, and all manner of weird and Damned Things.