Saturday, July 23, 2016

Beyond the Days of Ice and Fire

The world atlas of David Gemmell's Drenai Saga
Map researched and developed by Dale Rippke


The Drenai world is based on what appears to be the Eurasian/African continents of our Earth approximately 10,000 years in the future. The world has suffered from the "Ice Fall" (a pole shift) and its geography has changed considerably.....

Below is the map that Del Ray created for use in David Gemmell's Drenai series. Del Ray paid me to allow them to publish the map even though I retained the rights for it. I also received permission to use a copy of the map they commissioned on my website. This is their version of my map.

Well, my map should no longer be considered conjectural; it was the source map that Del Rey Books based their official Drenai map upon, as well as the map the David Gemmell used in plotting WHITE WOLF.

1:Drenan 2:Dros Purdol 3:Dros Corteswain 4:Erekban 5:Lentrum 6:Sardia 7:Kasyra 8:Skarta 9:Dros Delnoch 10:Skeln Pass 11:Skoda Mountains 12:Skeln Mountains 13:Delnoch Mountains 14:Skultik Forest 15:Delving Forest 16:Graven Forest 17:Penrac Bay 18:Sentran Plain 19:Corialis 20:Vagrian Capital21:Mashrapur/Visha 22:Chupianin 23:Lentrian Capital 24:Raboas Peak 25:Mountains of the Moon 26:Valley of the Tomb 27:Oshikai's Shrine 28:Dros Segril 29:Kar-Barzac 30:Gulgothir 31:Siccus 32:Bodacus 33:Gassima 34:Larness 35:Namib 36:Talgithir 37:New Gulgothir 38:Bel-azar 39:Ulrickham 40:Hao-tzing41:Pechuin 42:Chien-Po 43:Jiang-shin (peak) 44:Ice Mountains 45:Ri-ashon 46:Mellicane 47:Tertullus 48:Virinis 49:Naashan (capital) 50:The Lakes 51:Perapolis (Pieropolis) 52:Opal Mountains 53:Mountains of the Moon 54:White Gold Bay 55:Isbas 56:Morec 57:Caphis 58:Capalis 59:Larian 60:Ectanis 61:Usa62:Lercis 63:Lem 64:Resha 65:Nusa 66:Pusha 67:Lania 68:Valia 69:Porchia 70:Gurunur 71:Varsipis 72:Saureb Mountains 73:Carpos Mountains 74:Blood Mountains 75:Ventrian Island Village 76:Thousand Islands 77:Sathuli 78:Sousa 79:Ulalia 80:Carlis 81:Kuan Hador 82:Masyn 83:Nicolan 84:Qumtar 85:Chasica Peak 86:Five Rise Mountain 87:Towers of the Damned 88:Stone Hawk Peak 89:Gateway 90:Druss's Home Village 91:Padia 92:Hargate 93:Rostrias (river) 94:Mendia (river) 95:Great River 96:Tigren (river) 97:Drinn (river) 98:Earis (river) 99:Great River 100:Blood River


The map above is based on David Gemmell's ten novels of  that comprise the official "Drenai Saga" and is certainly the most accurate map that has been produced up to this date. The only inaccuracy shown by my map is the region of Opal, which was seriously compressed to allow its inclusion on the map I had drawn. The Del Rey map reproduces this inaccuracy for the same reason; they were aware of the compression. Below is an accurate map of the Opal region.

Notes on the Map
As on any map that encompasses a time span of nearly two thousand years, there are bound to be errors due to the vast distances of time involved. This map was not intended to be a snapshot of any particular time during that 2,000 years, thus you get a map where cities like Kuan Hador and Ulrikham can exist together when in fact they were widely separated by time.
There are also several serious inconsistencies that needed to be addressed before attempting to draw this map. Fortunately, these were fairly few in number. These were remedied by noting a preponderance of supporting evidence and by recognizing a "greater weight" to the information in the more recent novels (LEGEND wasn't originally written as part of a series and so its information tends to be more inaccurate than the later novels like THE LEGEND OF DEATHWALKER and HERO IN THE SHADOWS that were written as integrated parts of the whole series).
Specific to the 2.0 version
All of the placements listed in the 1.0 notes below are no longer conjectural; all have been adopted into the Drenai saga when this map became the basis of the official Del Rey map. The most noticeable is that Mellicane is the actual capital of Tantria in WHITE WOLF. 
Naashan is the actual name of the capital of the eastern empire of Naashan. This fact isn't easily discernable from the source material, but has been confirmed through private correspondence with David Gemmell.
Specific to the 1.0 version
It should noted that a fair amount of inference went into the creation of this map. There are nations and cities that are mentioned in the books that I have placed on the map even though it isn't specified where they are located. I shall attempt to list them below:
Dospilis, Datia, Sherak, and Tantria are described as "Eastern nations", so I placed them in the area around Ventria.
Panthia, a nation whose inhabitants are black-skinned, was conquered by Ventria. I placed it near the jungles of Opal.
Skathia's location isn't mentioned at all. It was conquered by the Drenai, so I placed it fairly close to their nation, on the far side of Vagria.
Pellucid's location isn't mentioned either. Druss supposedly killed a were-wolf in its mountains prior to his battle at Skeln Pass. I placed it in an area that he could have reached in his wanderings (between Gothir and Ventria, but still close to Drenai).
Angostin's location isn't mentioned although it is apparently a nation of the northlands.
Symilia's location isn't given either. It is a northland nation whose king owns a mirror from Kuan Hador. I decided to make it the unnamed kingdom that lies beyond Kydor's eastern border.
Mellicane is a Ventrian city at the time of WINTER WARRIORS. I placed it in the nation of Tantria because of its described location and because by the time of WINTER WARRIORS Tantria was part of the Greater Ventrian Empire.
Tertullus is a Ventrian city that has a university and is the closest major city to the Nadir Steppes at the time of LEGEND. I placed it in Sherak, since it had become part of Gorben's Greater Ventrian Empire prior to the events of LEGEND.

The people and places in the Drenai Saga are copyrighted by David Gemmell
Page Copyright 2003-2016 Dale Rippke

All rights reserved 

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