#location: quannah breach

[occidentalavian]

*UPDATED* Map of Eastern Exandria

Full size image [HERE]

Since my previous post, I’ve gone through and made several updates and changes to make this map as accurate as possible, fixing spelling errors, adding missing labels, and adding locations missed in my previous map! 

I have also decided to share the files for this map! If you have the map making program Wonderdraft, you will be able to download and edit this map for your own purposes! I’ve also included the custom Wonderdraft map theme used, as well as a high qualtiy .png of the map!

Wonderdraft File and .png [HERE]

Elven Tower Cartography assets (required to open map) [HERE]

Change Log below the cut.

Full Change Log

Additions

Added map title and year.

Added credits.

Added The Ghostlands.

Added The Emberhold.

Added Yug’Voril.

Added Ruhn-Shak.

Added Ruins of Vos’sykriss.

Added Rill’s Mouth Mine.

Speculative Additions

These locations are speculatory, and are subject to change. Should new information arise concerning these locations, they will be updated accordingly.

Added Blumenthal.

Added Port U’daa.

Added The Zemni Fields.

Added Crispvale.

Added Herethis Mine.

Added Giant Cities (Jovatthon, Vulkanon, Jotunborg, Skyanchor Citadel, Ruins of Tempestar).

Added ocean trade route labels.

Fixes

Enlarged mountain symbols on Tal���dorei.

Added Flotket Alps label.

Added Beynsfal Plateaus label.

Added Xhorhas label.

Added Gravelway Path label.

Fixed Savalirwood spelling.

Fixed Ivyheart Thicket spelling.

Fixed Quannah Breach spelling.

Fixed Labenda Swamp spelling.

Fixed Felderwin Tillage spelling.

Fixed Yrrosa spelling.

Fixed Lotusden Greenwood spelling.

Fixed Rifenmist Peninsula spelling.

Fixed Mooren Lake spelling.

Fixed Owlset Bay spelling.

Fixed Foramere Basin and Foramere Waterway spelling.

Fixed The Neverfields capitalization.

Fixed Temple of Uk’otoa capitalization.

[sunlightpike]

what do you think of the theory it was the Cerberus Assembly that has been kidnapping teenagers for their dunamancy experiment and not the Xhorhasian?

Well, I’m doubtful that it was the Kryn that were kidnapping children. But, there are three possible options as to who was doing it. The Kryn/Xhorhasians, the Assembly, or the Iron Shepherds. I’m not exactly sure which it is yet, but I’m definitely between the Assembly and the Shepherds-- the Kryn seemed focused in on their goal of getting the beacon back, so why would they care about children from the Empire? How would that help them reach their goals? 

Besides, let’s look real fast at what we know about the kidnappings and at the geography of the Dwendalian Empire.

The families and children are known to be missing from Nogvurot. We get this info from the town crier, who attributes it to the Kryn: 

"Families missing in Nogvurot! Crick kidnappers steal them away in the night! Lock and seal your windows and doors while you slumber!”

and from Darrow, who tells them his group was investigating the kidnappings in Nogvurot (more on this later).

So let’s look at the area around Nogvurot (circled in yellow-- note: this is the best quality picture of the map around. This video lets you see locations in better quality and is what I used to check illegible names). 

First let’s look at it in terms of the concept that the Xhorhasians are the ones coming across the border to kidnap the children. We don’t know exactly where the border falls but we can approximate based off the geography and what we know about the Empire. The Ashguard Garrison (blue arrow), which fell into Xhorhasian hands, and the Rockguard Garrison (pink arrow) seemed to mark the border, with the Brokenveil Bluffs between them and the Ashkeeper Peaks to the south. The border to the north of the Rockguard Garrison is also marked by mountains, and just past those mountains is a body of water, which means that Xhorhasian lands either end in the mountains or at the coast. 

With that in mind, I’ve marked an approximation of the border in yellow here:

Now, let’s look at the info we have on Xhorhasians crossing the border. The town crier from above mentioned that the Kryn were kidnapping people from Nogvurot. Another town crier warned “Conflict at the Xhorhasian border grows
violent! Watch your children at night!” Matt also says that children are being stolen from homesteads “close to the border”. (Keep in mind that all these sources are either directly from the Empire’s criers or info gathered from people who would only have heard from them.)

But the thing is, Nogvurot? Not close to the border. The dashed white line there shows how far it is from Nogvurot to just north of the Rockguard Garrison, which is really the only place someone would be able to cross over between Xhorhas and the Empire that far north. Even with the ability to tunnel, it’d be a long tunnel to reach all the way to Nogvurot. 

We know a Kryn soldier made it to Zadash before the attack on Felderwin, but that seemed more like a small mission sent in to get in and get out-- an operation like stealing children would require a way to transport them at the very least.

Also, looking at Felderwin, we know the attack there happened primarily to grab Yeza + hopefully the Beacon/his research on it. They had a reason to make that attack. And even if they were trying to steal children, Felderwin is right there, and lots of other towns are closer than Nogvurot. Why would they go almost triple the distance just to steal children in the middle of the night? Why, if they attacked Felderwin and were the people stealing from Nogvurot, would they not steal more than just Yeza from Felderwin? What use would they have for the people?With what we know about the Kryn, it doesn’t really make sense. It’s possible, yes, but... there’s the big question of why? that hasn’t been answered. And remember all the sources we have saying the Kryn did it are Empire-based, so could just be them blaming it on the Kryn to incite anger and make the war more justified.

Now moving away from the Kryn being the kidnappers, let’s look at the Assembly and the Shepherds. One thing I want to bring up before them is what Darrow told the party about the kidnappings: 

Darrow: Well, we’re stationed in Nogvurot, but 
we’re from a ways further than that.Jester: Did you notice any of the kids that were
 missing up there?Darrow: (sighs) That has been an occasional
 problem, yes. We had been sent to investigate two of those instances and in all of them it seemed to 
be that they were stolen– (stops himself) I’m sorry, I do not know how much I can discuss of these with you.

This was all we got, because Jester crit failed her charisma check, but we do learn two things here. One is that there was a commonality between the way they were stolen in all the cases. The other is that this commonality is not something that is being openly discussed, and is something that he is weary of sharing. I’d imagine if it was evidence damming the Kryn it’d be plastered everywhere, so I’d doubt that that would be the case.

One possibility regarding this is the Shepherds, of course. Shadycreek Run is right around Nogvurot-- while we don’t know the exact location, the Gentleman tells them that it’s past the Quannah Breach (underlined in orange), and in the Greying Wildlands (the forest where the yellow circle is located). Thus, it’s around where the yellow circle is on this map.

Nogvurot is directly south of this, and the Iron Shepherds are known to travel in this area-- note Hupperdook and the Crispvale Roadway (the Crispvale Thicket being where Nila’s clan is from) as well as Glory Run being labelled in this area. 

And, while the Iron Shepherds seem to attack mostly travelers they know they can overtake, we know they attacked Nila’s clan when they were all gathered for a celebration. We don’t know anything about them attacking towns, but it’s possible that they could be the source of the missing families. 

If this was the case, the commonality in all of the cases would be something along the lines of what we saw-- the silence spell, the fact that no one hears them scream, them probably disappearing without a single trace. It’d make sense, but there’s not really much of a motivation for them to enter Nogvurot unless they couldn’t find any travelers. 

Alright so the Shepherds are a possibility, but what about the theory you’re asking about here-- what about the Assembly?

Maybe you’ve noticed how close Rexxentrum is to Nogvurot. The Soltryce Academy is there, and it’s where a lot of the members of the Assembly are said to be based. Most notably to the Mighty Nein, of course, Ikithon’s there. But the only member of the Assembly that is confirmed to not be based there at least some of the time is Hass, who runs the Halls of Erudition in Zadash. 

So it’s distinctly possible that the Assembly is sending its people to Nogvurot to find promising young people (young people seem to be a trend here). 

If you look where the arrow’s pointing here:

You can see there’s kind of a passage through the trees, a path between Nogvurot and Rexxentrum. It’d make Nogvurot one of the closest towns to Rexxentrum, but most importantly it’d make Nogvurot the closest town to the east, in the direction of Xhorhas. They’d have an easier time blaming kidnappings from Nogvurot on the Kryn than kidnappings from, say, Odessloe or Rexxentrum itself. 

Hearing that the Kryn were kidnapping people from Rexxentrum would cause mass panic, because Rexxentrum is the capital. But Nogvurot? It would cause some levels of panic, especially if they were playing it up, but it wouldn’t be unbelievable. 

And if my meta post about the Assembly is right, it’s definitely possible they’d be kidnapping people to either get them on their side or experiment, like they did with Caleb, with boosting power. They might have been seeking out specific kinds of children-- ones with an affinity for Dunimancy. We know that people can have an affinity for it because of the notes in Yeza’s basement: “word has found me of Trent finding a few of his proteges have a knack for early dunimancy.” 

Of course, the Assembly seemed to be using their own students/people for their experiments before this. It’s distinctly possible that they’re kidnapping people because their experiments have progressed past the point of being performed on their own people. Or, because the assembly clearly has long-term plans based off of the notes-- “I hope to have this alchemist produce a number of batches over the next twelve to sixteen months”-- it’s possible they’re kidnapping children/younger people so that they can train them for a while before they institute their plan. 

Maybe they’ve discovered how to teach people dunimancy but it only works if they start learning at a certain age, so they’re kidnapping children to teach them dunimancy and use them in battle later, which is a terrifying idea. 

That’s all speculation at this point, but definitely some sign that the Assembly is connected to this would get Darrow nervous and make him not talk about it. Or even something that just doesn’t make sense-- maybe there seemed to be a specific trait they all shared (an affinity for magic, maybe?) or it seemed to happen from a certain location each time, or around the visits of a certain person (a member of the Assembly, perhaps?) 

Tbh I don’t trust the Assembly at all, so I’m probably a little biased in saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if they were connected to this. But at this point I think that until we learn more about Xhorhas and the Assembly and the Empire and the politics between them, we won’t be 100% sure of the source of the kidnappings.