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A Parochial New Yorker’s Map of the Current Middle Ages

This illustration is a play on SCA geography shown as a medieval T-and-O map crossed with the classic New Yorker cover.

Manhattan is in the center of the world (rightly so), with the West at the top, Long Island in the bottom left, and New England in bottom right.

(Hat tip to Þorfinn for the original idea, Angelica for the New Yorker tie-in, Brían for a great first round of Latin corrections, and Maral for a Canadian vocabulary suggestion.)

Also available in a provincial version that highlights all four modern cantons.

A guide to the labels and placenames, written in Vulgar Latin:

  • Nova Terra Vetus: The New Ancient World.
  • Occidens, Meridies, Oriens, Septentrio: Cardinal directions, with West at the top (medieval maps frequently had East at the top).
  • Mare Oceanum Procellarum: Ocean of Storms.
  • Atlantia: The Kingdom of Atlantia occupies the southeast of the US.
  • Caidis: The Kingdom of Caid lies in southern California
  • Nebulae: San Francisco and the Bay Area are the Principality of the Mists.
  • Scoutum Boreale: The Kingdom of Northshield covers central Canada and the upper Midwest.
  • Dracones mediorum: A dragon is the badge of The Middle Kingdom.
  • AEthelmearcus: The Kingdom of Æthelmearc is located due west of our kingdom.
  • Salamandrae: A salamander is the badge of the Barony of Bhakail, located around Philadelphia.
  • Incolae paludis: These “swamp dwellers” are inhabitants of the Barony of Settmour Swamp.
  • Concordia: The Barony of Concordia of the Snows is located in the Capitol Region of New York, around Albany.
  • Magnum Portum: New York’s “great harbor” connects the city to the ocean.
  • Hudsonicum: The Hudson river leads north from the city, and thanks to the Champlain canal, connects to the ocean via the St. Lawrence seaway.
  • Foramen: The Long Island Sound is the third “opening” connecting the city to the world’s oceans.
  • Insula Pomorum: The “island of apples” is Manhattan, the Big Apple.
  • Pontem fractum: The Canton of Brokenbridge is located in Brooklyn.
  • Leonis finem: The Canton of Lions End fills Nassau County.
  • Abyssi: The “people of the abyss” reside in the Barony An Dubhaigeainn, “of the dark ones” or perhaps “of the dark abyss,” a description of the waters of the Sound.
  • Aquilonis silvis: The “northern forests” of Østgarðr.
  • Draconavis: The Barony of Dragonship Haven lies across the Sound in southern Connecticut.
  • Carolingea: The Barony of Carolingia is located in and around Boston.
  • Tir Mara: The Crown Principality of Tir Mara is the Canadian portion of the East Kingdom, the “land of the sea.”

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