Thursday, January 24, 2013

Map: Tomb Temple of the Handfasted Wizards

Okay, so I've decided to do a rather more ambitious map than the one I did for Secret Santicore and an earlier small one.  I've done a larger map than before and experimented with some new techniques.  I drew the map on 0.25 inch blue-lined graph paper, scanned it in with the scanner's sepia tone setting, then added the spraypaint shading in Paint.  Simple techniques but a decent result.  The story I whipped up for it uses deities from the Forgotten Realms/Faerun campaign setting.

Tomb Temple of the Handfasted Mages

Long ago the wizard Geldross and the wizardess Emeniana fell deeply in love.  Their romance began when they were studying magic at the same school and remained strong right until the end.  Not being inclined towards most religions they joined their lives together in a traditional handfasting ceremony rather than a religious rite.  Later in life they settled down in the small town of Aplennburg high in the mountains.  By then they were powerful wizards and had several loyal followers who were themselves very accomplished.  The pair soon came to be the de facto rulers of Alpennburg and the surrounding valleys.  The people looked to them for protection and advice for both were adept in magic and studied many other sorts of lore and knowledge besides.  The lovers gradually took up the worship of Mystra, Azuth, and Savras, these being the deities most closely associated with lore and magic, and built a combined temple to all three deities in the town.  The temple had with it a school for local children and a small library to spread knowledge.

Eventually they grew old and used their magic to build themselves a tomb in secluded mountain dell.  The tomb was designed with a crypt for each of them and shrines to the three deities of knowledge and magic.  The location was revealed only to their closest followers.  At last the two died, the first of old age and the second soon after of grief and despair.  Their followers used magic items prepared ahead of time to secretly convey the bodies to the tomb, activate certain magics, and seal the entrance.  The followers then took over ruling the town and neighboring valleys, calling the small territory the Mountain Magehold.  Due to its secluded location the tomb remained undiscovered for many long years.

The Map





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