Ashtagon’s Patera, 24 miles per hex v2
Following her Kompor-Thap work in progress in February 2025, Emma shared the first version of her finished 24 mile per hex map of Patera a few months later, in June. At The Piazza she commented:
I finally pushed myself to name every last town and city. This map builds on the work of previous cartographers to provide the most detailed map of this moon to date. Now I just need to finish writing the gazetteer I am working on for Patera.
There are some issues with this map. Although presented as an equirectangular projection, it clearly isn’t, as that map projection should have a 2:1 aspect ratio. It also completely ignores the map distortion at high latitudes. These problems are inherent to making a map of a whole world on a flat surface, and are not easily solvable while retaining a hex grid.
In short, Emma based her map very closely on Michele Carpita’s 2015 Patera map, complete with all its problems. The chief of these, as she noted, was the aspect ratio, and its interaction with the hex grid. North-south measurements should be consistent throughout the map, but east-west looks compressed in comparison, meaning that the hex grid suggests conformity where there really isn’t any.
The June version of this map, which I’ve labelled version 1, is now lost to us; the map below is the second version, from September. At the time, Emma explained her changes as follows:
I’ve posted a revised version of the map. The main difference is that minor countries #5 and #6 have been renamed, as I have a definite idea on how to develop them now.
She would continue to refine the design of Patera over the next year or so — but not with a 24 mile per hex map. Instead, she elected to zoom in to an 8 mile per hex scale, while simultaneously working to solve the inherent troubles of this map.
Fan-made Map by Emma Rome (September 2025)
This is an original map created by one of Mystara’s excellent fan cartographers. For more information on the cartographer, including a gallery of all their maps, see also Appendix M: Mappers of Mystara.
Sources
- The Voyage of the Princess Ark Part 7: The Princess Ark aims for the stars, Dragon #160 (August 1990)
- Champions of Mystara (1993) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
Fan Sources
- LoZompatore’s Patera, 72 miles per hex (October 2015)
- [Mystaraspace] Patera: Kompor-Thap discussion thread at The Piazza (February 2025)
- Ashtagon’s Kompor-Thap, 24 miles per hex (February 2025)
- Patera: Mystara’s Invisible Moon discussion thread at The Piazza (June-September 2025)
References
- All of Emma’s maps at the Atlas of Mystara
- Emma’s entry in Appendix M: Mappers of Mystara (upcoming)
- Emma’s author page at the Vaults of Pandius
Chronological Analysis
This is a fan-made map. It was published in September 2025. The updated Atlas version of this map is not yet available. See also Appendix C for annual chronological snapshots of the area. For the full context of this map in Mystara’s publication history, see the upcoming Let’s Map Mystara 2025.
The following lists are from the Let’s Map Mystara project. Additions are new features, introduced in this map. Revisions are changes to previously-introduced features. Hex Art & Fonts track design elements. Finally, Textual Additions are potential features found in the related text. In most cases, the Atlas adopts these textual additions into updated and chronological maps.
Under Construction! Please check back again soon for updates.
