Map of Ispar
Mapmaking, one of the oldest of the graphic arts, evolved from cave art illustrating hunting grounds and holy sites. This discipline flourished during the early days of the Roulean Empire. In those ancient times maps and charts provided a visual means of recording, understanding, and controlling that massive empire. As Rouleans spread across the Ironsea the scholars at the Library of Tirethas composed the first map of Ispar, using reports from merchants, explorers, and foreigners.Around 800 BRC, Christos Saxtus created a massive 21-sheet map of Roulea. This event marked the beginning of an era during which coastal pilot books and nautical charts of Ironsea shores, the Canfeld, and beyond, blossomed. As Tirethas' port grew in importance, its corps of cartographic technicians expanded. By 500 BRC the "Tirethas" School of Manuscript Chartmakers was the most famous center for the study of mapmaking.
It is well-known that the Rouleans blessed Ispar with both a common system for measurement of time and a language of trade. One of the lesser known accomplishments of the Rouleans was the creation of a common unit for distance measurement, known as a click, klick, klik, or mile (depending on to whom you speak). A mile/klik is the distance between cartographic coordinates. For example, the distance between 16.5N, 90.6E and 25.5N, 90.6E is 9 kliks. Coordinates are based on the measured distance from a center of a grid-like pattern. In Ispar the center is Tirethas, known as 0.0N, 0.0E. In Dereth the center is the Festival Stone of Midsong, as established by the explorer/scholar Alatar Locke.
The map below is the best that has survived the trip to Dereth. As the coordinates have not been mapped outside of the Ironsea region, and thus do not encompass the holdings of the Souia-Vey, Silverans, and the Sho, there is no scale. There is only rough placement of the various kingdoms in relationship of the Ironsea.
Any questions about this map should be directed to its keeper, Nayt al-Yad of Harvestgain, Isparian Historian.
