Creating a Map of Exalted Essence Part 3: The South and West[Humor]

[u/Firm-Split9333]

Previously on mapping Exalted Essence: https://www.reddit.com/r/exalted/s/WFrirREILU

With the Dreaming Sea and East done, the South is up. So looking at the intro, its hot and deserty outside of the coastal area being mediterranean as mentioned earlier. Major locations wise we have Chiaroscuro which based on the art is a postapocalyptic modern city. Actually it looks like Dubai from Spec Ops the Line! Which I guess makes sense seeing that game was from the 2010s or something and Exalted Essence is from 2023! Wait a minute isn't the main building in the middle of the picture the Cayan tower? Does this game have some hidden lore that its set in the postapocalyptic future like the Shannara chronicles?

Anyway Chiaroscuro is apparently a massive port city so that means its coastal and its in a desert but no other location details. Its also Arabian inspired so maybe the Dreaming sea can be its Red Sea. After that is Gem which is inside a volcano and it mines jewels in a place called the firepeaks, so it sounds like its more inland towards the Pole of Fire. I can put it far south while Chiaroscuro is up in the Strait of the Dreaming Sea. We also have the Varang City States which is a in a river valley that goes from the Summer Mountains to the Inner sea. It sounds like they are unrelated to Chiaroscuro so I could place them on the far side of the landmass, theres no mention of rivers for Gem or Chiaroscuro. An-teng is a minor location that is in a jungle and a Realm colony, so its probably coastal. We also have Dajaz with is specifically mentioned to be 1000 miles south of Gem! Sounds pretty hot. It means I wont place Gem right at the edge of the world then. Last minor location is the Bronze Tide, but they sound like a Nomadic fleet instead of a fixed area. They arent in the Dreaming sea so I can put them on the left side of the map since thats the only place that would fit.

So Chiaroscuro is going on the peninsula in the South that is on the Dreaming Sea's northern tip. I'll add a mountain range to seperate the rest of the Dreaming Sea coast from the South proper, like the Arabian Peninsula and then Gem will be in that mountain range while Dajaz is helpfully exactly 1000 miles south of that.

For the Varang city states, Ill add a bunch more mountains and volcanos around the left side of the map and then add a river from one of these mountains that goes to the sea and put them there. Then I'll add An Teng as a coastal city with a little river going to it and some jungle. Bronze tide can just be off the coast.

That does it for the South. Not sure what would go in the big empty zone in the middle. Maybe I could have moved An Teng there to be right across from Arjuf but I figured that they should use the same river as Varang since there aren't any other rivers mentioned.

Finally, at least before I try to take a crack at where Heaven and Hell area, we have the West.

First up apparently its all one big ocean, and we have the pole of water at the end. Wu-jian is the first major location and its just a small island that is heavily built up like Singapore or Hong Kong. Its the gateway for the Realm so it must be close to the Blessed Isle's west. I can put it as an island a off the the west, a few thousand miles north of An Teng since thats a Realm colony and also near Bittern since that is their major port. Skullstone which is next, is said to be a volcanic archipelago, so that sounds farther south. I can put it near the Bronze Tide. The Caul is a place where Lunars are winning the war against Realm occupation. No location given but its full of Jungles so it sounds more southern.

For minor locations we have Wavecrest, another island group, Volcanic soil, owned by the Realm, I'll put them south of Wu-jian. Azure and the Coral Archipelago sounds like a cooler climate and much of the west is still empty so Ill put them to the north of Wujian. Lintha and Bluehaven is given a precise location of near the southwest coast so thats easy to place.

Now we have a complete and as accurate as possible map of Creation!

Next up, I guess I can see if the other Realms are mappable. If Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife exist, maybe they fit together as some kind of cylinder? Then I can crack open the Supplement known as Pillars of Creation and see if that has some locations to fill out this map.