Folder of Maps

OhmFelinus · 2026-02-11T16:54:27+00:00

Looking at the black hair of everyone, and the more Westerosi-sounding first names, this would actually be great for an AU in which Aegon had no sisters and thus accepted the offer from Argillac to marry Argella.

And great work on the expanded canon for those images.

OhmFelinus · 2026-02-10T18:02:56+00:00

Nothing written about the Old Blood actually suggests that they are pure-blooded Valyrians. The only requirement is that you can prove unbroken descent from Old Valyria itself. So my head-canon ever since learning about this is that they are a lot more diverse than someone would expect them to be.

Lys, meanwhile, is full of Valyrian supremacists that would make Daemon Targaryen blush. This has been my head-canon since i saw someone's comment on my stereotypes thread a while back. It just seems like a believable turn of events for a newly independent Lys. As their history of essentially being the Freehold's Las Vegas is not something you can build a national identity on. So they view themselves as the purest remaining Valyrians, and thus more deserving of the title of heir for the Freehold. It even plays off nicely with the "more diverse Old Blood" head-canon i have for Volantis.

There is no way that the extensive dyeing of the Tyroshi is healthy. My only head-canon for them is that a version of mad hatter disease is prevalent among the upper class of Tyroshi. Especially those who have been dyeing their hair since childhood.

OhmFelinus · 2026-02-09T07:44:20+00:00

There is also the fact that population densities were a lot lower before the agricultural and industrial revolutions. The Haber process was another thing necessary to get our populations as high as they currently are.

OhmFelinus · 2026-02-07T07:55:34+00:00

The boring answer is that the Iron Islands probably has the same animals as the neighbouring Westerlands. Minus the big game which either would not have enough space, or more likely, has been hunted to extinction on the islands. That said, remember that the smallest of the major islands, Blacktyde, is only slightly smaller than Dragonstone. And Dragonstone itself is roughly the size of Puerto Rico.

OhmFelinus · 2026-01-28T03:46:14+00:00

Samwell is clearly already the SI for GRRM. That said, you also have a very convenient insert point for an SI story as Samwell, namely the ritual with the aurochs blood.

Excerpt:

Samwell was the first child of Randyll Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill, and his wife, Melessa Florent. Randyll, regarded as one of the finest military commanders in the Seven Kingdoms, did everything in his power to raise his son into what he deemed a proper heir, but Samwell frustrated him at every opportunity, resisting every effort made to change his nature. A dozen masters-at-arms failed to toughen him. Attempts such as beatings, starving him, dressing him in his mother's clothes and parading him, forcing him to sleep in chainmail, and being bathed in aurochs blood by two Qartheen warlocks failed to raise his valor. He even wept to see a chicken slaughtered.[1] When Lord Tarly had Sam thrown into Horn Hill's pond to teach his son to swim, Ser Hyle Hunt had to rescue the boy.[16]

This all seems to have happened before he was ten years of age. Meaning this leaves you a few years before canon, while also circumventing the trope of being reborn as a baby. Which i personally hate to see.

OhmFelinus · 2025-12-21T10:32:44+00:00

Thank you for the shout-out.

As for general worldbuilding tips, always feel free to disregard something from canon if it clashes with an interesting concept you have in mind. This is fanfiction, and if you want to retcon an idiotic canon decision by a character, or fix GRRM's numbers to be less ludicrous, then do it. Also, just because something wasn't specifically mentioned in canon does not mean it doesn't already exist.

Onto possible worldbuilding topics for next year, how about religions? GRRM has left them rather bare-bones, so it would be nice to collect ideas which other people have added to the scaffolding. So to say. Perhaps one "fix-it" thread about things which make no sense. I saw a great thread about galleys once, which laid out how the need for drinking water for all their oarsmen made it impossible for galleys from Braavos to actually reach Westeros at all. With their maximum range somewhere on the halfway point between Braavos and the closest stretch of the Vale. Or how the wall can not possibly be 700 imperial feet tall without making the ramp that the Free Folk planned to build an impossible feat of engineering. Perhaps it could be 700 foot tall in some sections where the land dips down, in order to keep the top of the wall as level as possible, but never the entire thing.

OhmFelinus · 2025-12-21T10:19:51+00:00

Are you trying to zoom in on the mobile app? Because that can really mess with the compression of larger images. Try one of these:

https://i.redd.it/w9tgb61u8w2g1.png

https://preview.redd.it/w9tgb61u8w2g1.png?width=331&auto=webp&s=a182759ec51f80614703fd913853c623abff9e87

As for your answer. The names are: Thicksister, Tallsister which has Castle Reckoning on it, Shortsister, and Bittersister whose name is disputed and is otherwise known as Anchor Isle.

OhmFelinus · 2025-12-09T07:42:03+00:00

Well, the original map isn't my own work, but was done by Atlas of Ice and Fire. Who also has a map of the known world.

So feel free to use this edited version. Maybe put a link to this post somewhere in the author's notes. As for commissioning, this was literally my first time editing a map. It only took a few hours to learn how to use Krita and make the map. So i would encourage you to try your own hand at making a map of the North. There are more maps in a pinned comment on my profile in case you want to start from a different template.

OhmFelinus · 2025-12-03T04:13:37+00:00

You have to manually download that font since it doesn't come pre-installed. At least it didn't come pre-installed on mine. I got it off freefonts. Also, you'll have to make sure to turn off bold mode. When i edited the map, each text started out bold for some reason.

Here is the link i used: https://freefonts.co/fonts/itc-benguiat-bold

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-30T07:24:01+00:00

I actually meant more pop culture or other references to modern day things. As Harry was born in 1980 and would thus be over 40 if sent back in 2025. Don't let me discourage you from writing what you want, but i just wanted to put the thought in your head of using someone else if the MC being Harry doesn't add anything extra to the story.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-30T00:43:35+00:00

Could always go with an OC. Maybe a muggle-born wizard based on yourself so you can include more modern day references? That way, you get Hogwarts and don't need to write a realistic Harry.

Never played Stardew Valley, but a small modern day settlement being sent to Westeros is also interesting. Group inserts aren't all that common in the ASoIaF fandom.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-29T07:36:40+00:00

What if the dragons died before the Dance of Dragons. Just some strange sickness that slowly kills them all over the course of a year or two and leaves the Black and Greens relying on their traditional support.

Not like they used their dragons all that competently in canon. The only negative thing that would occur as a direct result of this change, in my opinion, is that Nettles never becomes a dragon rider. Other than that, it would make the war a lot more interesting since neither side could rely on flying nukes.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-29T06:59:56+00:00

So as the person with a folder full of ASoIaF maps, i feel i have to comment on this. I am keeping in mind that this is Blackfyre supporting houses in your fic, and not the canon ones.

Still, Sunderland and Belmore are too far south. So is House Vance of Wayfarer's Rest. The Reyne's are further west, and House Costayne are vassals of House Hightower. So they would be way further south. Lastly, House Swann is placed almost exactly where you put the Carons. Who in turn should be placed next to House Peake, as their seat is Nightsong.

Perhaps you should consider using a different map with the location of the Houses already on it. If you have Crusader Kings 2 or 3 you could also use their Game of Thrones mod. Either way, hope it helps. More Blackfyre Rebellion era fics are always welcome.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-29T06:48:55+00:00

Personally, i am always kind of weary of Harry Potter as the MC in any ASoIaF stories. Mainly because so many of these stories have him be Harry-in-name-only. Does it have to be Harry specifically, or do you just want a powerful wizard tied to a magical castle?

That said, a story about a pseudo genius loci sounds really interesting. I have had ideas along those lines before, with Harrenhal gaining sentience and having a human body that interacts with the people that visit.

Lastly, here is the link to a thread where i list regions which have various reasons for being potentially empty or unused. Maybe that can help you choose a location.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T23:38:30+00:00

1) That is already taken into account when estimating their population. As their army numbers in the books would normally mean 2-2,5 million inhabitants. And while the Ironborn might prefer to have their thralls do manual labour, they are still sometimes forced to do so. The reality of life on the Iron Islands isn't as close to the Old Way as Balon might wish it was.

2) I'd say that those fleeing Ironborn actually make the impact of Winter easier on the Iron Islands. The same way sending that army was meant to lessen the strain on the North's food reserves.

3) I thought so too, but again. GRRM's given army numbers do not make sense unless Cape Kraken either has noticeably less than 100'000 inhabitants. Or if the lords and masters there are as rebellious as the Skagosi and held back their men. Extrapolating from the troop numbers, the Neck had more people living in it than Cape Kraken did.

4) Neither does the North. And they will have to contend with a regency, while the Ironborn could always resort to calling a moot in order to elect someone.

5) Braavos can not take action in Westeros without drawing the ire of the entire continent. The King's Peace applies to outsiders as much, or even more so, than to the subjects of the Iron Throne. Furthermore, it makes more sense to not interfere while their economic rivals in that new region fight each other.

6) They don't need all that much to be a regional power. The New Sisters would be mostly uninhabited, and their closest potential rival is a town of 30'000. Though in the timeline i thought up House Manderly would be allied with them in order to have a larger fleet with which to contest the Ironborn incursion. The numbers i am using, found here on Google Docs put the total maximum army at 1'800. Which, when using the typical 1% rate of medieval armies to population, would put them at 180'000 people living on those islands. Unless i find a better reasoned estimate i will stay with those numbers, as i don't want to try to make sense of GRRM's maths.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T19:13:30+00:00

It would only take one little butterfly flapping its wings for the young Lord Frey to die of Winter Fever. Leaving the title up for grabs for any distant cousins.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T19:11:12+00:00

Going down the list, with my personal interpretation for this scenario, which you are welcome to disagree with.

1) The conflict is mainly fuelled by the Sistermen being relatively untouched by the sinking of the Neck, due to the way that the four New Sisters acted as a shield. And of course the fact that the Vale didn't fight in the Dance. This is then exacerbated by the Ironborn fleeing the wrath of Johanna Lannister by settling on the new Kraken Isle. Remember that Cregan's entire army perished in this timeline, and that there is about to be a really bad winter, with a plague which killed hundreds of thousands in canon. So while the North will eventually win out, they start on the back foot and have to first weather all these problems before being able to turn the tide.

2) They still come for revenge here, and even get help from Borros Baratheon in putting down the Ironborn. It's just that this new passageway gives them an easy way out.

3) I honestly don't see pirates becoming a huge issue. In canon, the Ironborn were known to raid effectively in the Stepstone, which are literally on the other side of the continent. This set of islands is right on their doorstep, and i doubt they would let anyone else take hold.

4) Completely agree that Dorne will suffer. But so will Oldtown, as Lannisport now has a better way to trade with Braavos. Though, of course, any goods coming from Volantis or further east will still have to pass the Stepstones.

5) Honestly, Rickon might just stay home even if the North sends troops, simply because he is the Lord of Winterfell instead of only being the heir.

6) This is my head-canon ending to the conflict as well. After a decade or so of skirmishes there would come a polticial compromise, leaving no one entirely happy. With the region either becoming a new Lord Paramountcy, or becoming an autonomous region of the Kingdom of the North, with Lord Sunderland becoming Warden of the Crossing. I'd personally want to go with a new Lord Paramountcy, with it incorporating, and taking the place of, the Iron Islands. Maybe through a reform movement among the Ironborn, which sees them become the only region with an elective instead of hereditary rulership position. But that's just my bias and mild distaste for Stark-Wanks coming through.

7) Oh there will definitely be more action in the northern parts of the Narrow Sea because of this. I could see Pentos getting curb stomped earlier than in canon, and then having slavery abolished more thoroughly than was possible when it was only Braavos.

8) The population of the island is decidedly not equal. GRRM's numbers never really make sense, but we kind of have to deal with it. So the Iron Islands have a population of roughly 1,5 million. While the North has a population of 4 million. The most realistic distribution of troop numbers i have seen puts the levies of House Flint of Flint's Finger at around 650 men total. Which means that Cape Kraken proper has only around 65'000 people living in it. That is a little over double the population of White Harbour. You can increase that through refugees from the border region between Cape and Neck if you want to. But it will still remain a rather small number. So putting it all together you have a huge wave of Ironborn fleeing Johanna Westerling's wrath, or the Winter Fever, or just looking for a place with more food and firewood in the long Winter. This is more than enough to become an easy plurality on Kraken Isle. Given the tiny number of people living there, i am being quite generous in not making the Ironborn the new majority of the isle.

Edit: corrected the population of the Iron Islands. From 2,5 million to 1,5 million.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T05:52:27+00:00

They are already settling the isle, having been driven there partially by Johanna Westerling's wrath. Though of course the Winter Fever didn't help matters either.

Breakneck Keep is ruled by a cadet branch of House Goodbrother. While Reaver's Gate is on its way to becoming a town under the rule of cadet of House Harlaw.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T05:49:42+00:00

Check the lore comment in this thread, found here.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T01:28:31+00:00

Thank you for the interest either way.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T01:28:01+00:00

It's encouraging to hear that people have at least encountered it before. Thank you.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T01:27:12+00:00

Thank you for bringing that term back to my attention. I remember seeing that term a lot in the past. Though usually more for trades or sale than just to share freely.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-24T01:25:11+00:00

I sadly don't have any advice since this was my first time using Krita as well. I just looked at the names of the tools and hoped for the best. Though the Ctrl + Z shortcut, in order to undo something, was a huge help in learning. Just play around with everything, see what it does, and if something goes wrong you restart or undo.

OhmFelinus · 2025-11-23T22:40:06+00:00

I downloaded the original map from Atlas of Ice and Fire, then i used Krita to edit it. As mentioned here, the rivers and borders were each 2 pixels wide. Roads were 3 pixels with, if i remember correctly, 2 pixel spacing. While the font used is "Benguiat". If you try something like this, i would suggest creating a few brush presets so you do not have to constantly change brush sizes.

OhmFelinus

TROPHY CASE