Map of the Known Territories

For a while now, I had had readers ask me about a map for The Bell Forging Cycle. Between The Stars Were Right and Old Broken Road, Wal covers a lot of ground. However, I didn’t want to do any old fantasy map. The Bell Forging Cycle is, well… it’s unique and it deserves a unique treatment. So, with the release date announcement for Red Litten World looming, I figured this was the perfect time to share the official map. [Spoilers Ahead: If you haven’t read Old Broken Road be warned, the following images contain spoilers.]

Picture yourself as a caravan master eager to lead your first company down the Big Ninety as soon as Lovat and Syring put away their differences and the Grovedare reopens. As a favor to you, Wal offers to tell you what he knows (for the cost of a meal, of course.) So you agree meet at a diner in the city. The place he picks is a hole in the wall named Cedric’s Eatery. It’s located in Denny Lake, a cramped warren in north-central Lovat. The diner itself is located below the street, in the entresol between Level Three and Four. You’d have never found it on your own.

Wal’s there, sitting at one of the high-backed booths as you enter. He smiles and waves you over. You both order some food from the limited menu and Wal dives into what he knows. He talks about schedules, dealing with the rowdy clients, popular waystations, and so on. So you can follow along, you’ve brought along a well-worn map you picked up from a roadside depot that covers the major trails between Lovat and Syringa. As he talks, Wal grabs a pen and begins to annotate his favor spots for food, known bandit camps, and even his recent experience on the Broken Road. The result is this:

Tada! An annotated Bell Forging Cycle map of the known Territories. It’s too big to really show properly in the narrow column of the blog. You’re not going to get much out of it unless you click on the image and view it larger.

What do you think? I had a lot of fun making this and I hope it helps you visualize the world a little bit more. It won’t be the last map we see, as the series progresses, I’m planning to reveal more of the world little by little. But for now, next time you’re on the trail, and if you have a hankering for the best bánh mì in the Territories you’ll know where to look.

---

I’ve gone ahead and made this map available as a downloadable background as well. You can click on any of the links below, or head over to the Free Stuff page and find it (and other goodies) there.

1280×800 • 1440×900 • 1680×1050
1920×1200 • 2560×1440

Since phone backgrounds are a bit narrower their images focus on two separate sections of the map: Lovat and Syringa. So, for your phone you can choose your loyalty with the following backgrounds: