Vertical Map of the World

Last week, I was thinking about temperature and weather and how I want them to work in the Skies of Mor-ladron (SoM). Since pretty much everything happens in the sky, the traditional “north is cold and south is warm” environment didn't seem like a fun or logical way to do things. I could do something like that, but the less I have to deal with the world below, the better. I decided that the weather depends on altitude.

I threw together the map above to help me visualize the different regions where you’ll find the major cities in SoM. It's definitely a first draft, but one reason for this blog is to show my thought process and how I come up with things. Why not share this part of the process?

As much as I like grounding worldbuilding elements in reality, the environment will be magical. Given the breaking of the world and the weakening of the barriers between realms, things are just weird—like the weather! 

Let’s take a look at the different regions you’ll encounter in SoM, starting with the highest zone.

Zone 1

The top layer is only a mile or two thick. This zone is hot and sees little to no precipitation. If you go much higher, you’ll start to run out of air. Since it is difficult to breathe, not many people live here. 

Only the great city of Empyrean is known to be in this zone. (One of the definitions of the word Empyrean is “The highest reaches of heaven, believed by the ancients to be a realm of pure fire or light,” according to dictionary.com. The rulers of this city are full of themselves and like to look down on others...literally.) It's not a super convenient place to live, and they have to devise creative ways to get water, grow food, and deal with the heat. However, not having to worry about storms is a nice perk. If I wanted to have a desert wasteland for my players to explore, I would place it here or near the top of Zone 2.

Zone 2

Your temperate weather and rains occur here, in the most populous zone. Depending on your altitude, your average temperature might be warmer or colder. Hilean and the Green Isle rose to Zone 2 during the Catastrophe. Since the Green Isle is higher than Hilean, it would, on average, have slightly warmer weather. It's possible to experience some seasonality here, likely a wet and dry season sort of thing. I may change my mind and include something more like the four seasons in certain terrestrial regions. 

An interesting feature of living in Zone 2 is that storms and weather can happen all around you. A storm could pass overhead like we see in the real world, or it could occur all around. The experience would be almost like a fog storm, except with thunder and lightning right by your head. How would the danger of such storms affect housing and other forms of architecture? Something to think about! The storms could also pass right underneath you, as well. 

Zone 3

Zone 3 is colder all year around than Zone 2. Rain turns into snow, and the winds blow cold. Ice starts to form on the rigging and hulls of the great ships. The most remarkable landmark here is the top of Mount Ancora. People typically only travel in this zone if they are headed to Mount Ancora. Although there are a few towns in this zone, they’re mostly mining towns near massive ore deposits. If I want a cold environment to send the players, this is the zone I’d use. 

Zone 4

The Sinking Zone is only a mile thick, but all sailors know to avoid it. Once you enter this zone, your ship is pulled downward by the cold or a malevolent force from the world below—no one knows. If you enter this zone, you’d better act quickly and rise back out before the pull is too strong and the ship and crew are lost to the clouds in Zone 5.

Zone 5 

Zone 5 represents what remains of the world below, although little is known about its current state. Dark clouds and storms cover what remains of the planet’s surface. Those few who tried to pass through or were pulled into the darkness have never been heard from again.  

Where is everything in relation to everything else horizontally?

At this point, I don’t know! Blowing up the world and having everything set in the skies has made worldbuilding easier in some ways. I don't need to have thousands of years of history (at least not right away), and I don't need to come up with pantheons of deities. 

However, there is no easy way to make a map. Anything can go anywhere—there is no logic to it yet. Trying to figure out distances and angles between all the cities has been a thorn in my side. The big cities are a week or two of travel apart, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. I'll continue to noodle on it. If you have ideas on how things should fit together, let me know!