Some stunning views of Middle-earth

The fan community for Outerra - a graphics engine capable of rendering high-quality terrain images from relatively sparse data - has recreated Tolkien's Middle-earth using the software. This has resulted in some stunning and impressive views, especially considering this is only an alpha version.

You can see more pictures here and here, and a discussion on the Outerra forum here. The dedicated Middle-earth project website can be found here. Plus there's also a tech demo video:

This could be the next big thing for fantasy cartography. Westeros or Faerun next?

An excellent recreation of 17th Century London

A group of students from De Montfort University have created a highly-detailed 3D model of London (or at least a large area surrounding Pudding Lane) just prior to the 1666 Great Fire.

The model is just for fly-past purposes at the moment, but it could easily be repurposed to a game or some kind of interactive exploration experience. The model was built in CryEngine, the same engine used to create the Crysis series of video games and the forthcoming Star Citizen.

A glimpse of a FIRST LAW world map

The First Law comic adaptation has given us a glimpse of a world map for Joe Abercrombie's fantasy world. On his blog, Abercrombie has confirmed that the map is mostly accurate and canonical. On the following image the map is shown with the existing maps of the Old Empire to the left and Styria to the right, whilst at the bottom is an attempt to combine them into one image.

Obviously, the comic strip image is small, somewhat compressed and not entirely to scale with the published maps, though it is possible to get a good sense of what's going on and what is where. I will try to use this information to construct a clearer map at a later date.

The island in the middle is clearly Midderland, the island-continent on which the heart of the Union and Adua are situated, whilst to the north lie the Northlands, with Angland likely being the peninsular immediately to the north-west of Midderland. Kanta is one of the two landmasses to the south; likely the one to the south-west, with Dagoska located on the narrow peninsular reaching up towards Midderland (it's also possible that both landmasses to the south are Kanta, with the sea between them being a very large bay rather than a separating ocean).

Maps for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE

It's been confirmed that the map artist for The World of Ice and Fire is Michael Gellatly. Gellatly has set up a new website and posted some teaser images for his work on World, though only bits of maps or heavily obscured images for copyright reasons.

Copyright Michael Gellatly

We're still hearing that The World of Ice and Fire may be released in April or May of 2014 to tie in with the fourth season of Game of Thrones. However, until this is confirmed the official date remains November 2014.

Map of PROJECT ETERNITY

Project Eternity is the working title (though possibly the final one, given how popular it's turned out) of Obsidian's new, old-school RPG due out in mid-2014. Funded by fans on Kickstarter, it's planned to be a bit of a throwback to the days of the old Infinity Engine days (which powered the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series of RPGs, plus Planescape: Torment).

Obsidian have released a new map of the world where the game is set, which is promised to be a traditional fantasy world with a few twists (such as the dwarves being more inspired by Inuit culture than traditional Tolkien dwarves, and one of the planned NPCs is a female dwarven character). They've revealed that the city of Defiance Bay (which can be seen in the north-west) will be a major location in the game and much of the action will be set in the vast Dyrwood.

Source: Chris Avellone via Anonymous of Holland (check out the link for an interview with a more Eternity-focused interview with Chris Avellone as well).

Map of the HOMEWORLD galaxy

Deviant Art user Norsehound has created this excellent map of the Homeworld galaxy, from the games Homeworld, Homeworld: Cataclysm and Homeworld 2.

Check out the high resolution version of the map here.


Players of the game will know that the Homeworld series takes place in Messier 51, better-known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, located 23 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici. The game opens with the inhabitants of the desert world of Kharak discovering they are not native to their world and excavating the spacecraft which brought them there thousands of years earlier. The people of Kharak recover the spacecraft's hyperspace core and use it to power an expedition to discover their true homeworld. Unfortunately this act triggers an attack by alien forces which leaves Kharak burning and a few thousand survivors have to make their way across a hostile galaxy to safety.

Gearbox Software recently bought the rights to the Homeworld IP and have indicated that they are planning to bring the existing games to modern digital platforms as well as at least exploring the possibility of making a fourth game in the series.

GAME OF THRONES Season 3 Primer

As with last year, here's a brief catch-up guide to the state of play at the start of Season 3 of Game of Thrones. As usual, spoilers for those who haven't watched the first two seasons or read the first two books.

The State of Play
The War of the Five Kings grips the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros in full fury.

Robb Stark's armies have invaded the Westerlands, the home of House Lannister, and captured several Lannister castles. However, even Stark's armies are insufficient to threaten the formidable defences of Casterly Rock itself. Whilst Robb's invasion has caused dissent and anger amongst Tywin Lannister's bannermen, it has also freed Tywin's army from being directly threatened in the field. This has allowed Tywin to take his army to King's Landing.

Meanwhile, Stannis and Renly Baratheon have clashed for the Iron Throne. However, a major battle was averted when Renly was assassinated under murky circumstances. Stannis inherited his brother's army from the Stormlands, bust most of the Reach lords followed the lead of Ser Loras Tyrell and his sister Margaery in refusing to join Stannis's forces. Stannis attacked King's Landing, whilst Petyr 'Baelish' Littlefinger negotiated with the Tyrells and convinced them into an alliance with the Lannisters, with Margaery set to marry Prince Joffrey. The Tyrell army joined with Tywin's forces and then smashed Stannis's forces in the epic Battle of the Blackwater. Stannis and a remnant of his host escaped by sea. Acting Hand of the King Tyrion Lannister was severely wounded during the battle and his father Tywin took up the mantle of Hand soon afterwards.

These actions have left the Lannister-Tyrell alliance in command of the largest army in the Seven Kingdoms, exceeding 100,000 men in strength. The Starks and their allies, the Tullys, command less than half of that. With House Arryn remaining neutral, the situation does not look good for the Starks.

Even worse, House Greyjoy has joined the war. Though not formally allied with the Lannisters, they have attacked House Stark's homeland, the North. Ships under the command of Yara Greyjoy have seized the coastal castle Deepwood Motte and surrounding lands, whilst a raiding force commanded by Theon Greyjoy struck far inland and took the castle of Torrhen's Square. When Stark forces rode to its relief, Theon slipped behind their lines and seized Winterfell itself. After an occupation lasting months, the castle was besieged by a Stark relief force commanded by Ramsay Snow, the bastard son of Lord Roose Bolton. Theon's own men seized Theon and sold him to Ramsay Snow in return for their freedom. However, Winterfell was later set ablaze by persons and for purposes unknown. Contrary to popular belief, Bran and Rickon Stark escaped the castle with several loyal retainers.

Far to the east, Daenerys Targaryen found a safe haven in the city of Qarth, where she could rest and let her dragons grow. However, she fell prey to a conspiracy involving the merchant lord Xaro Xhoan Daxos and the Undying, the famed warlocks of Qarth. Daxos seized control of the city and the Undying captured Daenerys's dragons and slew several of her most loyal followers. Daenerys retook her dragons and slew the leader of the Undying. She also locked Daxos in a vault to starve to death. Stealing Daxos's valuables, she was able to secure a ship bound westwards. Whilst her 'army' remains extremely small, her dragons are growing and becoming more formidable.

In the furthest north, the Night's Watch has marched into the heart of wildling territory, securing a camp atop the Fist of the First Men. Whilst Jon Snow has been captured by the forces of the wildling King-beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, the Night's Watch force has come under attack by the supposedly mythical White Walkers.

Players in the Game

Houses Stark & Tully
Stronghold: Riverrun
Leader: Robb Stark, the King in the North

House Stark finds itself in a difficult position. Whilst Robb Stark has won every battle he's fought, the overall situation has deteriorated. Winterfell has been sacked and two of his bannermen's castles are under ironborn occupation. His invasion of the Westerlands has been a military success, but has failed to draw the Lannisters into a decisive engagement. Unwisely, Robb has also broken his treaty of alliance with House Frey by marrying another woman, Talisa Maegyr. Several of his bannermen, most notably Lord Rickard Karstark, are also angry over Robb's mother Catelyn releasing the Kingslayer, Ser Jaime Lannister, from custody. Now severely outnumbered, with his allies dwindling and bannermen no longer as happy as they were, Robb has a difficult course to follow if he wants to achieve victory.

House Greyjoy
Stronghold: Pyke
Leader: Balon Greyjoy, the King of the Isles

Balon Greyjoy has taken vengeance for his failed rebellion of a decade ago, seizing two castles in the North and making war on the Stark homelands. Though Theon's occupation of Winterfell has been defeated, it has humiliated Robb Stark and made his position in the Riverlands and Westerlands more difficult to sustain. However, given the Greyjoy's relatively limited manpower and inability to fight far from the sea (as Theon has shown), it is unclear what their long-term goal is, unless Balon can reach an accommodation with the Lannisters.

Houses Lannister, Tyrell & Baratheon (under Joffrey)
Strongholds: King's Landing (Joffrey), Storm's End (Joffrey), Casterly Rock (Lannister) and Highgarden (Tyrell)
Leader: Joffrey Baratheon, the King on the Iron Throne

Following Renly Baratheon's death, House Tyrell has secured an alliance with the Lannisters in support of Joffrey Baratheon's claim to the Iron Throne. Joffrey has set aside his engagement to Sansa Stark and will instead marry Margaery Tyrell. This gives Joffrey a vast army commanded by his grandfather, Tywin Lannister, one of the most formidable generals in Westeros, with which he can quickly and decisively end the war. With overwhelming superiority of numbers, Joffrey's victory appears imminent, but his own unpredictable behaviour remains the alliance's greatest weakness.

House Baratheon (under Stannis)
Stronghold: Dragonstone
Leader: Stannis Baratheon, the King in the Narrow Sea

Stannis Baratheon has failed to take King's Landing and only barely escaped the battle with his life. Most of his army surrendered and joined the Lannister-Tyrell alliance, whilst most of the rest (and almost all of his fleet) was obliterated by the wildfire explosion in Blackwater Bay. Only a few mercenaries, loyal retainers and the freesail fleet under Salladhor Saan remain under Stannis's command, far too few to challenge the might of the Lannister-Tyrell alliance. However, Stannis's greatest and most formidable weapon remains the red sorceress, Melisandre of Asshai, who may yet be able to turn the tide of the conflict.

House Arryn
Stronghold: The Eyrie
Leader: Robin Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie

House Arryn has so far refused to take part in the war, the Lady Regent Lysa Arryn fearing the risk of defeat. Unless either Robb Stark or the Lannisters can convince her to join them, Lysa and the formidable knights of the Vale will continue to sit out the war.

House Martell
Stronghold: Sunspear
Leader: Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne

Dorne has continued to pursue its path of isolation during the war. However, Tyrion Lannister, as Acting Hand of the King, has successfully negotiated a marriage pact between Princess Myrcella Baratheon, Joffrey's sister, and Prince Trystane Martell, the youngest son of Prince Doran Martell, the ruler of Dorne. Pending Myrcella's arrival and marriage, the Martells are therefore poised to join the Lannister-Tyrell alliance and strengthen it even further. Given the Martells' long-standing alliance with the Targaryens, the slaughter of members of their house by Lannister forces during Robert's Rebellion and their ancient enmity towards the Tyrells, this is a significant diplomatic coup.

House Targaryen
Stronghold: none
Leader: Daenerys Targaryen, the Queen Across the Water

Daenerys Targaryen has evaded a trap set for her in Qarth and now plans to take ship for the west. However, although her dragons are growing larger and more formidable, they are still not ready for war. Daenerys needs to find an army that will be loyal to her. The path westwards to the Free Cities leads through Slaver's Bay, where such armies may be found...for a price.

Season 3 of Game of Thrones starts airing this Sunday on HBO in the United States, and the following day on Sky Atlantic in the UK.

Updated MALAZAN reading order and map

Updated with info from Orb Sceptre Throne and Blood and Bone:

Following the publication of Blood and Bone, it's now possible to work out a new reading order for the books to best account for the information given by both authors. This list is not the chronological order of the novels, which would likely be very confusing, but a 'best' reading list accounting for publication and chronological orders:

1. Gardens of the Moon
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Memories of Ice
4. House of Chains
5. Midnight Tides
6. Night of Knives*
7. The Bonehunters
8. Return of the Crimson Guard**
9. Reaper's Gale
10. Toll the Hounds***
11. Stonewielder****
12. Orb Sceptre Throne*****
13. Dust of Dreams
14. The Crippled God
15. Blood and Bone*** ***
16. Assail (forthcoming)

The placement of Forge of Darkness remains difficult. It is so full of references to things already-established in the Malazan series that reading it first is hard to recommend, but it does clarify some elements of the world and terminologies that may be much more helpful to newcomers than jumping straight in with Gardens of the Moon.

The side-novellas form a totally separate side-story. Aside from recommending that they be read after Memories of Ice, they can be read whenever.

* Night of Knives introduces several characters who play a role in The Bonehunters.
** Return of the Crimson Guard picks up shortly after The Bonehunters, whilst Reaper's Gale tells us explicitly that a year has passed since the events of TBH.
*** According to dialogue, Toll the Hounds takes place six years after Memories of Ice. According to every other piece of information in the whole series, this is flat-out impossible, and needs to be ignored. Orb Sceptre Throne retcons it to about two years after MoI. The presence of a child born after MoI who is five years old in TTH also has to be ignored.
**** There is an argument for moving Stonewielder after Orb Sceptre Throne, as it shares a major scene with Blood and Bone viewed from an alternate perspective and thus happens simultaneously. This also puts Toll the Hounds right next to its direct sequel, Orb Sceptre Throne. However, there is a subplot in Stonewielder which takes place before Orb (thanks to the time-bending properties of the Warrens) and continues in it, requiring Stonewielder to be read first.
***** According to dialogue and various events, Orb Sceptre Throne takes place before the conclusion of the Dust of Dreams/Crippled God duology.
*** *** Blood and Bone takes place simultaneously with the events of The Crippled God and immediately thereafter.

The Lands of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin & Jonathan Roberts

Okay, this is going to be a bit of a non-review because you probably already know if you are going to be getting this or not. Basically, it's a collection of full-colour maps of Westeros and Essos, the two continents which form the setting for the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin. Either you're going to go, "Hey, awesome! I'm all in!" or be running away screaming for fear of being infected with Nerditis.

The map collection comes in a smart but somewhat non-durable folder. Don't put anything on top of it for long, as it really cannot support much in the way of weight. There's a single pull-out piece of paper with marketing speak on it (more or less the same as the blurb on the back ) and that's it for any kind of textual accompaniment. Those familiar with John Howe's excellent Tolkien maps, or the maps accompanying Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, will likely find this disappointing as those maps were accompanied by small booklets packed with geographical information (and in the Pratchett case, new canon material on geography). As it stands, we will have to wait another year for The World of Ice and Fire to clarify some of the new locations on these maps, and even then only some will be covered.

 
There are twelve maps drawn by Jonathan Roberts, each measuring 61cm x 92cm in size. There is a large map of the known world, which then has three larger, blown-up versions accompanying it, dubbed 'The West', 'Central Essos' and 'The East'. There are then larger-scaled-still maps of Westeros, Beyond the Wall, the Free Cities, Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki Sea. There are city maps of King's Landing and Braavos, and rounding off the set is a map called 'Journeys', which tracks the movements of the major POV characters across the five novels published to date.

In general terms, the art design for the world and continent maps is decent, falling between the aesthetically-pleasing and the informative. A selling-point of the set is the brand-new maps of central and eastern Essos, including the far east. This is the first time that Ibben, Qarth, Asshai, the Shadow Lands, Yi Ti, the Jade Sea, the Summer Islands and other oft-mentioned lands and cities have been depicted on a canon map: the map accompanying the HBO website for the TV series is canon only for the TV series and is based on early drafts that George R.R. Martin later substantially revised. There are also new lands and locations not previously mentioned in the novels, such as a newly-revealed fourth continent (named Ulthos) and a new, huge island just off Qarth named Great Moraq which seems to be a centre of trade. This stuff is interesting, but also highlights a problem with the map set: Martin seems so keen to provide new information about Essos that Westeros feels slightly neglected. But since Daenerys has apparently already reached the eastern-most part of her journey (in Qarth), showing these eastern lands is nice but ultimately irrelevant for the books themselves.

Westeros itself is mapped much as in the novels, with little or new information of note. Indeed, it's even less well-fleshed-out than the maps and info in the books: the castles and towns on the Iron Islands apart from Pyke are not mentioned, and whilst the Quiet Isle is shown, the Whispers (also from Brienne's storyline) are not. Long-standing fan questions, such as where Stone Hedge and Raventree Hall (the seats of Houses Bracken and Blackwood) are located, remain unanswered, whilst the huge tributary of the Mander (which is almost as big as the Mander itself) remains resolutely unnamed. The map is nice - although not quite as nice as the infamous map by forum-member 'Tear' on the Cartographer's Guild website - but not particularly useful compared to the maps in the books or available for free online. Also, given the fact that we have a fairly reliable scale bar with the Wall (which is almost exactly 300 miles long), the refusal to put a scale bar on the maps is strange.

Of the city maps, King's Landing is curiously lacklustre. The mapmaker was going for a sort-of 3D depiction but seems to have given up at some point, with lots of the buildings being rendered as 2D squares sitting alongside more pictoral 3D depictions, which doesn't really make sense. It's the weakest map in the collection, though fortunately also the least essential: Green Ronin's far superior colour map of the city (for the roleplaying game) is easily findable online, as is the handsome black-and-white map from the Meisha Merlin limited edition of A Clash of Kings. The city map of Braavos, on the other hand, is pretty good and definitely worth keeping a hold of during future reads of Arya and Sam's adventures in the city. However, the decision to map Braavos and not, say, the more vital locations of Winterfell, Harrenhal, Dragonstone, Castle Black or Meereen is curious.

The journeys map is a nice idea, but ultimately impractical with just one image. Maybe one map for each book would have worked, but showing the journeys of some twenty characters across five novels simultaneously on one chart results in an image that is overloaded. It particularly breaks down in the Riverlands, which ends up almost buried under multiple layers of arrows and lines. Still, a nice idea and it does clarify the immense distances that Daenerys has travelled compared to other characters.

The quality of the paper used to print the maps on has come under some fire, with good reason. Unfolding and refolding the maps results in noticeable wear on the creases, with white lines and cracking noticeable after just a few viewings. This encourages keeping the maps on permanent wall display (that is, if you have enough space). However, the pre-folded nature of the maps means that they show visible creases which makes that not an altogether satisfactory solution either. Some fans have reported success in getting rid of the creases, though the results are apparently variable.

Is The Lands of Ice and Fire worth getting? Despite the problems, it's still a fairly handsome collection of maps. If fantasy cartography is your thing and you're a fan of ASoIaF, then it's a reasonable purchase. However, if you're more interesting in hard information about the setting you're better off waiting a year or so for The World of Ice and Fire instead. As it stands it's more of a curiosity and a gift idea for people who are fans of the books than anything essential.

A size comparison of fantasy worlds

Something that may be of marginal interest. A size comparison of various fantasy worlds that I created:

At top-left is Westeros/Essos (the HBO version of the latter) from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Next to it on the top line is J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, with Ansalon from the Dragonlance world next to that. Below them is Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time map (which was tricky to get right, as the distances given in the books are sometimes contradictary). At bottom-right is Raymond E. Feist's Triagia (on the world of Midkemia), the setting for most of his Riftwar fiction. At bottom-left is Faerun, the principal continent of the Forgotten Realms world.

Something that is surprising here is how small Middle-earth is compared to these other, later-created fantasy worlds.

LANDS OF ICE AND FIRE now available

The Lands of Ice and Fire, a companion volume to A Song of Ice and Fire comprising a dozen large poster maps, is now available in the USA. Its official UK release date is 8 November, but don't be surprised to see some early copies slipping onto shelves before that date.

Qarth and the Jade Gates, featuring the hitherto-unmentioned island of Great Moraq. The forested region just to the east is the kingdom of Yi Ti.

The map collection features the first canon-for-the-books maps of eastern Essos, including the Jade Sea region. These maps introduce a whole host of new locations to the world of Westeros and Essos, some of which may be referenced in future books.

Our first glimpse of Asshai

The Lands of Ice and Fire - a collection of poster maps depicting the world of A Song of Ice and Fire - will be published next week. io9 have released some more sneak peeks of the collection, including our first-ever canon glimpse of Asshai and the Shadow Lands:

Readers of the books know that Asshai is a highly mysterious city located in the far south-eastern corner of the explored world, on the eastern shores of the Jade Sea, five thousand or more miles from Westeros. Beyond Asshai lies the even more enigmatic 'Shadow Lands', the home of mysterious people who always go masked in public (such as Daenerys's sometimes-ally Quaithe). Asshai was first mentioned in A Game of Thrones (published in 1996), but this is the first time it's been officially depicted visually in any form.