Map of Glacial Flanaess
Date: Tue, March 30, 2010
Topic: Cartography & Geography


Before the rise of the Flan, the Suel and the Baklunish, before the first writings of the Olve and Dwar, there was ice...

Glacial Flanaess


Before the rise of the Flan, the Suel and the Baklunish, before the first writings of the Olve and Dwar, there was ice...


I’ve always been intrigued with the idea that civilizations may rise and fall between the times that ice ages rule over a planet. Just as our Earth has passed through different glacial periods, I imagine that Oerth has gone through the same and during those warm times life has flourished. What I’ve focused on is what happens to cultures and civilizations as they survive (or perish) during these glacial times and how the new empires are forged from those that have survived the ice. For my latest campaign and map, this is the premise.


In the stories of days long past, Oerth underwent an earlier cataclysm of greater proportions. The city of the gods which resided in the shadow of the 3 mountains on the largest island north of modern day Blackmore was the epicenter of this cataclysm. The destruction of the city and the creation of the scar (-12,000 cy) happened during a short but terrible war of the the gods fighting with a great evil. After the battle the gods left what was to remain of Oerth behind and returned to their homes in the stars. The fallout from this battle caused a magically infused ice age to grow rapidly upon on the planet. During this time the dragons stepped forward to become great and terrible kings and the humanoids their slaves. 99 out of every 100 humanoids died due to the cold, famine or slavery. What history that survived was stamped out by the dragons and along with it the legacy of the previous ages.


After millennia, heros rise once again, and as the glaciers melt away so does the power of the dragons (-8,000 cy). Humanoids become more plentiful, resourceful and educated. Among them a few step forward to lead their races into history and to forge the World of Greyhawk.


For now there is alot of undefined white on this map which hopefully will be filled in later as the campaign progresses and the glaciers are the focus since the majority of the campaign will take place on near the black scar. The lands to the south I wanted to have a more primordial feel, so all the forests and marshes are larger. The lands of Zeif are a lake filled tundra and since the Invoked Devastation hasn't happened yet, I put some hills, a river and a forest where eventually the Suel will create their empire. Now I know this example isn't a true ice age, it’s one that is created from fallout magics of the gods and only lasts for a fraction of a real ice age. So I did alot of guessing with the landscape such as the tundra and the enlarged seas at the foot of the glaciers. I’m no geologist so where the glaciers ended up are due to my imitations of Earths last glacial period and not from any real knowledge of how a glacial period might actually look like on Oerth. I would on the other-hand be interested hearing from any geologist on the matter.


Special thanks to ‘A High History of the Oerth’ by the Man of the Cranes, (edited and published by Kyrian Darkstar, The One Sorcerer) and ‘The History of Oerth’ (OJ 1.1) by Len Lakofka and Steve Wilson. Both articles were the genesis of this project.


-Boslok the Elder

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