Maker of Fire

Thoughts on the geography of Impotu as it relates to the invasion by Foskos

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This is a brief digression that should help readers understand the geography of eastern Impotu. What’s on the attached map is only about a third of Impotu, but it’s where most of the people live. Impotu’s population is concentrated along the Stem River corridor and the Asharimga Mountains. The Ashanimga Mountains are an ancient (geologically) continental suture zone, similar to the Urals or the Appalchians. The region is not tectonically active, unlike the strike-slip fault/continental rift system (i.e., the Great Cracks) on the western border of Foskos.

On the east side of the Stem River are vast plains (not shown). This area is the first breadbasket region of Impotu, with excellent soil and weather to grow small grain crops (wheat/barley/oat/rye/flax/etc.). The small grain belt on the east side of the Stem extends north off the map into Jutu (not shown). This area is the best and most productive farmland for small grains on the western half of Erdos’ sole continent.

The areas between the northern Asharimga Mountains and the Blue Mountains, especially along the Naver River are also good for small grains but are less productive due to lower precipitation. The areas in the hills to the west of Salicet are good for the large grains, olives, nuts, and orchards. The river valleys in the Asharimga Mountains are good for small grains, orchards, hay and feed crops, and most varieties of livestock.

I haven’t named the paired river system yet between the Naver and Ahkeseld Rivers.

The main east-west road between Foskos and Impotu is the trade road along the Ahkeseld River. This route actually crosses the entire continent, from Tuleen in Inkalem to the east coast north of the Gungywamp peninsula.

The important places on the map for the upcoming installments are Suapsepso, where Imstay has a siege going, the area around the crater that was once the city of Salicet where Bobbo has built a garrison at the confluence of the Stem and Ahkeseld Rivers, and the large K in the Asharimga Mountains, which is the summer capital of Kipgapshegar. The mountains to the west of Kipgapshegar are considered impassible – much like the central Appalacians before the discovery of the Cumberland Gap.

Kipgapshegar is in the saddle between the Kip and the Zup River valleys, which run roughly north-south. Routes into Kipgapshegar are from the east, north and south, but not west.

As a bonus, I am including three photos of the “one true map” of Erdos, which is drawn on a playground ball – because I wanted to lay out the planet’s geography on a globe. It’s a work in progress in a way, mostly because it’s a reference for use by me and no one else. I know what the lines are – none of them are rivers but several of them are tectonic plate boundaries or latitude and longitude lines. Yeah, I will admit that the geoscience nerd had to do plate boundaries. That’s because tectonics drive surface features in a rational manner.

In the first photo, the M is for Mattamukmuk and the illegible T at the top of the big gulf is for Toyatastagka. The peninsula between the Gulf of Chipagawkpaw and the pirate Republic of Mattamukmuk is Gungywamp. Yes, if any of you are from Connecticut, I stole the name Gungywamp from the archeological site in Groton.

In the second photo, which is to the west of the first, the S is Sussbesschem. In the third photo, the F is Foskos, the T is the territory of the Tirmarran cannibals, and the black splotch was my attempt to draw a spider shape denoting Ud’s home in the Fenlands.

Yes, the fuzzy thing that the ball is resting on is my Maine Coon, snoozing in his usual spot.