The Madlands – Map’s Map (and Obtus’s toos’s)
December 2, 2008A couple of weeks ago… Mapmaker and Obtusitivity sent me maps that they had been working on. It was kinda strange looking at it cause there was a load of stuff on there that I wouldn’t have ever thought to include in a map. I guess we all see things in our own way. But I promised that I’d take a look and see if I could figure out what and where stuffs were. This was the best I could come up with.
A couple of caveats to go… This is no where near scale. I mean it’s a hell of long walk to get to the cemetery from the plaza and you can make it to the drummer from there in just a minute or two. The other strangeness is the road by the cemetery – it’s really long and sort of curves down around the city towards the water. There’s also a bunch of crap on there that I don’t recognize, so I made some reasonable guesses.
- Coffee Shop: there are or were a ton of coffee shops around. There’s one just up the street from the fountain and that’s where it was, but it was on the wrong corner so I fixed that.
- Hotel: like the coffee shop there were a few of these around especially down by the harbor. Most are dust now, though. Educated guess based on where it was on the other map.
- Bar: there are loads of bars around. Most aren’t worth anything and you’re likely to get killed if you go in one. I had a kind of crappy experience at one, so that’s the one I put it on. Thanks for the memories.
- Warehouses: There are streets and streets of these things. The docks are full of em.
Things I left off:
- Old House: That could be a million things. If you got more than that maybe I can help. I left it off just cause I don’t even know what to guess.
- Kevin’s Building: I ain’t got a clue who or what you’re talking about. Got any more for me to go on?
Things I added:
- Apt: There’s a cat that lived there back in the day. She’s still got a bit of an attachment to the place. Figured I’d throw it on.
- Library: While I was mapping out that street, I figured I’d put the most notable feature. Just in case anyone’s looking for it.
How’d I do? Think you can do better?
note: Obtusitivity…You get no love man. I left you off the title of the map. I suck like that. Don’t kill me. I’ll cry in my beer every night for a week or two days to make up for it. I also left off the boobs. It needs more research before I can know I got the right ones.
Now this one is where the money’s at. You are a king among dreamcats. I wish I could dream (ok, maybe not) because then I’d go in and be getting street names and zip codes and voting districts. Because I’m a mammoth dork.
Anyway, I don’t expect you to update anything ASAP now that you’ve done this. But I’ll list a few other places and if there’s anything that you can quick-like describe where it goes, awesome.
Kevin’s Place: He’s a dead one of us. Rope burns ’round his neck. Don’t worry ’bout his apartment. You ever seen him, though? BA has, I know that. My guess is that he was that artsy freak at the bar when you had your self-licking discovery. (BTW, the bar’s the right one.)
Coffee Shop: BA has a thing for coffee at this coffee shop. Or at least did back when she was doing her craigslists. Maybe she’s into Oolong now. Anyway, I’m guessing the one there is the right one.
Hotel: Is a spoooOOoooOOky place. Has got a pool and maybe a restaurant and is out by the woods. Some stupid cat ritual happened there once: “There’s a strange ritual going on in one of the ballrooms. A guy dressed up like a cat surrounded by men in gold robes. Again with the normalcy, I see.” No biggie here.
Old House: Gothic place with an iron fence & gate. She tried to get here once and ended up at the hotel. Probably not a great place to visit as there are lots of growls around and she gets chased away twice. It ain’t Providence doing that. Some sort of canine Security force.
Other crap:
Asylum & garage: Check out my link for my name or whatever. That’s a nice picture Mountain Cat made for us and signed as Dreamer Chick. That’s, uh, what we’re talking about for that stuff. I assume that what this picture shows as “asylum” is the hospital down by the waterfront.
Burnt-out building: There’s this building that BA likes to talk about. Dunno if it matters much. It’s just an apartment building that burned down as she walked by it. But apparently a bunch of squatters have moved it (or as least, did so as of last year).
Etc: There’s a whole mess of other shit BA talks about that I don’t expect you to have seen. Waaaay early on she talked about an airport, post office, citadel, church, and old factory. I dunno what the deal is with that stuff. Then when she was in her First Woodland Phase she found a meadow in the forest, this cave by the lake, and a waterfall. That’s about it from our end of What We Know. Oh, and the tracks. They’re near the Wall and head to the mountains and, what, the BFE?
And hell, if there’s anything else interesting you wanna mention, just let us know. People, places, things. Giant squid.
Uh. Here goes…
Kevin’s Place: Dunno if I’ve seen him. Dunno who he is. And rope burns? If that’s all he’s got on the other side, then he’s pretty damn lucky. Don’t know that dead people dream though. I mean. They’re dead. Sure, the place is hell and all but it’s not like Hell Hell. I don’t think.
Coffee Shop: We probably nailed this one. She spent a load of time down that way.
Hotel: I’m betting that’s the place. There’s not much to go on with that description cause I’ve never been inside and judging by the man dressed like a cat I’m thinking I’ll keep it that way cause that ain’t right. But the woods are right there and it seems like the kind of place that would have a ballroom. Big fancy drive up to it and all.
Old House: Gothic with beasts. It’s gotta be the place I’m thinking of but it’s a good way down the road from the hotel. An hour’s walk at least and probably more, so if she was trying to go to the house and wound up at that hotel, then she was being an idiot.
Asylum & Hospital: There’s nothing down there with Asylum over a door like that. Maybe it’s a bit of artistic license or something. Like drawing a huge ass octopus in the mountains. WTF. Dude’s twisted in the head. The mountains aren’t that close either. And there’s some tall buildings down that way but not that dense or that white. Seen a few fires down there though.
Burnt-out building: That’s gotta be the place I labeled Apt. I didn’t know about the fire, but it’s been taken over by squatters. She ever talk about visiting anyone there. They’re pretty tight. I think she’s from Aruba or Jamaica or somewhere. I never remember so I call her Kokomo and she laughs and I get the damn song in my head. Worth it for the laugh though and that’s saying something because that song sucks and now I’m gonna be singing it all night.
Etc: Yeah, the tracks go through BFE to the mountains. There’s an abandoned train station not that far out. I don’t know of any caves by the lake. Doesn’t seem like a place that would have them. It could be a different lake. I haven’t made it far into the woods. So I don’t know about a meadow. That’d be pretty cool. Might go looking for it when I get a chance. Any better idea of where it is?
Sploit, let me say again that you are the man for answering my questions. No offense to your beloved Dreamer Chick, but she was a little obtuse when she was writing her missives.
Anyways, few things. In case you’re wondering ’bout Kevin. I dunno what’s up with that, actually. She wrote about him in early August ‘07, so it’s been a while. It was in her first trip to the casino. Actually, she did a bit of wandering that day – first to a drug store, then getting a flier at the fountain, then to the university, radio tower, in and out of the casino, past the asylum and garage. (Then, uh, me?)
So blah, blah, right? But then she keeps on going down the shoreline toward the mountains. She’s not on a road but in some muddy area. She climbs the first hill and there’s where she sees Kevin. Bruises around his neck and everything. Then she runs down the hill towards the mountains and climbs up higher and higher to a cliff. She looks over and bam! “I step to the edge. With one look, I see nothing that I can describe. I feel nothing that I can explain. Horror. Fear. Terror. In their purist sense. In their darkest sense.” Happy fun times I guess.
2: The lady. Yeah, we know her sorta. She’s Caribbean to us. Most of the CLs directed at her are about that building. Did she lose a child? Looks that way from what BA’s saying.
3 (I guess I’m numbering now?): Just to clarify – do the tracks have one end in the city and the other out toward BFE/mountains? Or do they cut through the city, with the ends being out in the BFE and the mountains?
7: Yeah, dude’s twisted in the head.
√11: Meadow’s by a lake. Ain’t gonna say THE lake, because who knows how many lakes there are. It’s like “the hostile forest” as she puts it, then the meadow, then the lake. Some catnip out there, she says. Maybe you can put that to good use. She said “there is no hint of danger” out there, but this was back in April aught-seven. In August she says it’s “dying” – I dunno what that’s supposed to mean. For what it’s worth, the caves are around here, on the other side of the lake from the meadow, behind rocks. Rats in there, though, so heads up.
π: Questions for you that you can answer at your leisure. You just tell me to shut up when you’re tired of me asking questions, ‘cuz I can do this all day long. Is there anything familiar there in the Dreamscape? Storytime: When I was a toddler, I’d read road signs to my parents and grandparents almost obnoxiously. So for me I’d be reading signs up the wazoo. Is stuff there in English? Or are there pretty much no signs? Also, stuff like cars and McDonald’s. Anything like that? Any chain stores? Stuff that makes it look like just Any Ol’ American City? (It don’t have to be American, I realize that. I just haven’t heard anything to the contrary.)
∞: Any freeways? Tollways? Subways? Segways?
∞+1: I’ve been thinking a lot about the Dreamscape. A couple things I wanted to float by you. First off, have you seen the street magician around? He ripped the heads offa birds and got himself put in the insane asylum; seems like both in real life and in the Madlands.
I bring him up because he’s an awful lot like one of our former Sentries that is on the loose right now, wandering the country and sorta implicated in murders. My thinking’s this: so Dreamer Chick’s a person and all in the Dreamscape/Madlands. We don’t know why, but she is. Why not our Bryce?
And if he’s Dreaming and is a person, he’s gonna be just as unhinged in the Dreamscape as he is in the Reallifescape. So I guess if you see a guy with bird’s heads everywhere, stay away from him. Gee I’m helpful. Lemme know if you see him, too. Might give us a heads up as to what the hell he’s up to. Don’t go looking for him, obviously. I doubt your journeys to the Madlands need homework, too.
The other thing that I noticed is that the asylum is near the docks, where all the Nefarious Shit is happening. So maybe he just went a bit Joker-like? Whatever.
No offense to your beloved Dreamer Chick, but she was a little obtuse when she was writing her missives.
Shit. I know we’re all waiting for our jetpacks, but it’s misplaced energies man. If I was the man in charge, everyone would be working on getting us a nanochick implant that would turn their words into ones that actually make sense. Course, there’d be a nanodude version to but that’s not as tough to get out the door what with the working logic and all ;)
I’ll try to get to some of your questions later. Gotta run out for a bit then I want to add some stuff to the map of the woods I started. Did my time last night looking for that damn meadow and came up empty which sucked cause finding that nip would have rocked. Found other stuff though – like I think I found where the sainted one’s been camping out. Even caught a glimpse of her. She’s looking a bit rough which is kinda hot. It was good to see her and see that she’s ok. I know she could take me and anything else out there, but you still worry, y’know.
Great maps, sploit! You’ve made mapmaker really happy. These really bring the dreamscape to life with all the little pointy mountains and orange buildings and stuff. Just like I imagined it..
I kid, I kid. I actually imagined it as a muddled haze since that’s pretty much how the loverly B.A. St. Feline fed it to us. This is much better. There are districts — who knew?! I’m sure all the burning and chaos haven’t affected property values much..
Hey, you said something about Wednesdays being crazy, so take care tonight…
No rush sploit. One other thing ’bout the meadow – she (and someone else) start running from the Gothic House of Doom into the woods and end up there. Dunno if that helps any.