The geography of Ashkar the Magnificent

One of the mosy interesting aspects of Ashkar the Magnificent from a Fighting Fantasy fan's perspective is what it reveals about the geography of the lands of the Inland Sea. There's all sorts of interesting geographical information in the book, especially concerning the Empire of Lagash and the valley of the River Parine, which we can use to give us an idea of what this under-explored part of Titan might be like (bearing in mind that Ashkar is not actually set in Titan, even though it is set in the Lands of the Inland Sea).

Let's start with the map. The map in Ashkar is almost identical to the one in Seas of Blood. Fewer names are marked on the Ashkar map, and two islands are missing - the one in the bay of Kish, and the southern island of Nippur, which is further south than the extent of the Ashkar map. The Ashkar map also names the Kishian wall ('The Wall of Walls'), and calls the river flowing through Lagash the 'River Parine' rather than the 'Parine R.' of the Seas of Blood map.

Turning to the text of Ashkar, we find the following places and place-names:

• The Empire of Lagash is centred on the city of the same name, at the north-east corner of the Inland Sea, and it stretches to the upper reaches of the Parine River, southwards to the Rivers of the the Dead, and westwards to the city of Tak (p. 21).
• There is an unnamed village at the edge of the Lagashian Empire, home to Furdle. It is described as being on the upper reaches of the Parine River (p. 12), in lands bordering the "barbarian lands of Kirf" (p. 13). Beyond it lies wilderness (pp. 12, 15). This village is a long way from Lagash ("many weeks' travel", p. 16).
• The barbarian lands of Kirf are home to the Kirfmen. The name "South Jin" appears in connection with the Kirfmen sailors of a boat on the Parine River, and may perhaps be a village or tribe of the Kirfmen (p. 88).
• The next location mentioned downstream on the Parine from Furdle's village is the village of Kul (pp. 55 ff.). The 'Hetman' of Kul is called Baws Klustre (p. 57).
• The next location mentioned downstream from Kul is called Embre (p. 61).
• The next location mentioned downstream from Embre is called Uffle (p. 61). Ufflemen, "with their silk skins and loud voices", are described as "ubiquitous" in the lands of the Inland Sea (p. 47).
• The next location mentioned downstream from Uffle (by two days) is called Aut Haat (p. 62). It seems to be about four days upstream from Lagash (p. 88).
• The next location mentioned downstream from Aut Haat is called Mantou (p. 102), a day or two upstream from Lagash.
• The principle trading cities of the lands of the Inland Sea are Assur, Calah, Lagash, Kish, Marad and Shurrupak (p. 46-7).
• Two other towns/cities are named: Appalanx (pp. 40, 89) and Ixtalan (p. 89). They are said to lack fortifications. No indication is given as to where they might lie in the lands of the Inland Sea, though it seems likely that they are not in the Empire of Lagash, given that they are considered as possible locations (during a scrying) of the girl L'lan, and the style of the street in the vision is described as "definitely not Lagashian" (p. 88).
• The river flowing into the Inland Sea at the city of Assur is called the Uphom (p. 46). It isn't named in Seas of Blood.
• In the harbour of Assur, there are ships from all over the Inland Sea and "even regions as far flung as Jje" (p. 46). No indication is otherwise given as to where Jje might be.
• The orange-haired "Bizenites" (p. 47) might suggest that there is a place in the region called Bizen (cf. Calahites).
• There is mention of the "Merry harpooners of Nimrud" (p. 160). It is perhaps possible that Nimrud might be a place, but there is no further information.

The most detailed part of this is the geography of the Parine River valley. One problem we have reconciling all this with the geography of Khul as detailed in Steve Luxton's map in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World is that the Parine is not marked at all, and the big river flowing out of the north of the Inland Sea is the one that flows through Tak. If we're going to fit the geography of Ashkar into Khul, we're going to need to fiddle with things a bit. I suggest that rather than have that river enter the Inland Sea at Tak, we turn it into the Parine. Then it extends quite some way into the heart of Khul, providing us with ample room to accommodate the string of settlements (Mantou, Aut Haat, Uffle, Embre, Kul and Furdle's village) along its length. Furdle's village and Kul are at the upper reaches of the river, and beyond them is wilderness and the Barbarian Lands of Kirf. In the map below, I've done a quick Paintshop job on the Khul map to show what this might look like (with the locations from The Keeper of the Seven Keys added for good measure).

The Parine could maybe loop more to the south from the Aut Haat area before swinging back to Lagash, just to fill up more of that part of the map, but you get the idea, I'm sure. It's easy to imagine traders and slavers travelling up the Parine, and then either through the Barbarian Lands of Kirf to Arkand, Fernor and Sariandor (and then on to Corda and Arion), or skirting through the Wastes of Qor and the edge of the Wastes of Chaos before making for Ashkyos and Gundobad (cf. the buying and selling of slaves in Seas of Blood and the slavers of Clash of the Princes). I'd be interested to know what you think!

As for the locations of Jje, Appalanx, Ixtalan and maybe Bizen and Nimrud, I'd be interested in your thoughts too. Anyway, with the addition of these Lagashian towns to the map, the southwest of Khul is beginning to look like a rather interesting place, rather than the unknown area that it is in Titan. Of course, the map makes one other thing that is in need of attention stand out - Hachiman, which is rather poorly mapped I think, and could do with a proper update based on a close analysis of Sword of Samurai (and Ken Beuden's map of the area). I'll return to this in another post.

Ashkar the Magnificent

I've always been a big fan of Andrew Chapman's Seas of Blood. Great atmosphere, place-names, set pieces, creatures, and funky map. Not everyone likes it as it's very difficult to beat by the rules, but I've never been much of a one for playing the Fighting Fantasy books strictly by the book, so I've never let that spoil my enjoyment of it. The lands of the Inland Sea have always been one of my favourite areas in Titan, so imagine how pleased I was to discover that Andrew Chapman had written another book, a novel, set in the same place: Ashkar the Magnificent (published in 2000). In issue 7 of Fighting Fantazine, I discussed some aspects of Ashkar and its relationship with Seas of Blood in the Fact of Fiction article. In this post, I've extracted the bits about Ashkar as a preface to an analysis of the geography of the lands of the Inland Sea as described in that book, and added a few other comments on why us FF fans might be interested in Ashkar the Magnificent.

The Lands of the Inland Sea

The lands of the Inland Sea first appeared in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Seas of Blood, written by Andrew Chapman and published in 1985. Nothing in Seas of Blood indicated a connection between these lands and any other Fighting Fantasy setting, which is perhaps not surprising as the world of Titan was first referred to in Sword of the Samurai, published in April 1986, and was first revealed in detail in Titan – The Fighting Fantasy World, published in October 1986. In that book, the lands of the Inland Sea were placed in the continent of Khul in Titan, and Andrew Chapman was thanked for his contribution to the Fighting Fantasy world in the acknowledgements at the front of Titan. This placement of the lands of the Inland Sea in Khul was not unproblematic, however, since it was not Chapman's original intention that the lands of the Inland Sea should be included in the world of Titan. Chapman revealed on the Rebuilding Titan Yahoo! group that he “had created a more extensive geography and history for that world which I used later in two other books, and also in the unpublished FF Deathlord”. One of these other two books is Ashkar the Magnificent, which contains the same map as Seas of Blood. The other is the unpublished Darksoul (come on Andrew, let's see it published!).

What is Ashkar the Magificent?

Ashkar the Magnificent is a novel set in the lands of the Inland Sea which tells the story of the confrontation between the brothers Ashkar and Morkain, Autocrats of the Lagashian Empire, and the adventures of the mysterious girl L’lan, the sentient sword Prax, and Starg, the Captain of the pirate ship Banshee from the notorious city of Tak. The setting of Ashkar is at once familiar and strange to those who have played Seas of Blood. The places detailed on the map in Seas of Blood are all there, and elements such as the Kishain Winged Hussars and the pirate ship Banshee are common to both. Indeed, the captain of the Banshee himself takes centre stage in both books, but whether Chapman intended them to be the same individual is unknown.

But unlike Seas of Blood, with its Mesopotamian and Arabesque nomenclature and culture, the lands of the Inland Sea in Ashkar are full of peoples, places and things with exotic sounding names of an entirely different sort, more reminiscent of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth setting. It seems likely that Chapman, finding his lands of the Inland Sea co-opted into the Fighting Fantasy world, Titan, continued to use the setting for his own adventures whilst making an effort to distinguish them from the Fighting Fantasy version of the region. So the lands of the Inland Sea and its peoples exist in two places at once, in Khul and in another world (called ‘Earth’ by Chapman in Ashkar), two alternate versions of the same fantastical vision.

What can we learn about the lands of the Inland Sea from Ashkar?

There's all sorts of interesting stuff in Ashkar the Magnificent concerning the lands of the Inland Sea. The following is only a small sample of the kinds of interesting titbits that lie between its covers:

• Although the city of Kish itself does not feature in Ashkar the Magnificent, Kishian Archimandrites such as Mengg comb the Inland Sea in search of virgins for their 'Isostatic Rite'. 
• In Ashkar the Magnificent (p. 82), a group of fifty Kishian Winged Hussars is termed a flight, and it appears that they can be hired as mercenaries.
• The city of Tak, with its towering granite bay (just as in Seas of Blood) is, to all intents and purposes, ruled over by the pirate lord Lolfant the Interminable.
• The captain of the Banshee is also one of the central characters in Ashkar the Magnificent. Named Starg, he is an unwholesome character, dressed in a cape of human skin and ready to kill his crew for raping his female slaves, not because he cares about the poor girls themselves but because he recognises the value of virgins to the nefarious Kishian Archimandrites. Although he acknowledges Lolfant the Interminable, de facto ruler of Tak, as his superior, it is Starg who is instrumental in the gathering of forces to attack their common enemy – Morkain, Autocrat of Lagash.
• The great golden city of Lagash is the centre of the Lagashian Empire, ruled over by the autocrats Ashkar and his brother Morkain.
• Although Lagash plays a central role in Ashkar the Magnificent, no Wazi of Lagash, as found in Seas of Blood, is mentioned. However, the autocrat (leader) of Lagash, Morkain, is served by a Vizier called Shagtran (Ashkar, p. 112-3), and we can assume that this is the same office of state.
• Starg visits Assur to enlist the aid of the Kajn Lizard Men, and the river which flows inland from the city is named the Uphom.
• The Lizard Men are called the Kajn, are described as “blue-tongued reptiles, towering at seven or eight feet in height” (p. 47) with skin “composed of gorgeous blue scales” (p. 49), and are willing to act as mercenary forces in the assault on Lagash by the pirates of Tak.
• The nature of the beasts ridden by the Lizard Men in Seas of Blood is unknown. In Ashkar the Magnificent, the steeds of the Lizard Men are not mentioned, although the massive, lumbering Gunderwals, which act as beast of burden, might possibly be the same creatures (Ashkar, p. 51-2).
• The inhabitants of Calah, the Calahites, are described as having copper skin.
• The name Goth appears once in Ashkar the Magnificent (p. 91), where it is said of Ashkar, in reference to his mighty power, that “the power and strength of his nature swept from him like the fire of Goth”. Is this a reference to the volcanoes which flank the western shore of the Channel of Goth, or to some god of the Inland Sea who has given his name to this fiery region?
• One wonders whether the enormous, plesiosaur-like sea creature which looks and acts like an island in Seas of Blood (para. 120) might be one of the Coelacanths, summoned from the depths by Ashkar to swallow the pirate ships of Tak (Ashkar the Magnificent, p. 86).
• The River Parine is the central artery of the great Lagashian Empire, with settlements such as Mantou, Aut Haat, Uffle, Embre and Kul found along its length.

As you can see, there's loads in there of interest to the fan of Fighting Fantasy in Ashkar. I'm particularly interested in the geographical aspects of the book and what they can tell us about what 'Khul' might be like beyond what we know from other (FF) sources. I know Ashkar isn't set in Khul (kind of), but just as was the case with Dave Morris's outline of The Keeper of the Seven Keys, it's fun to imagine what Khul might be like if Ashkar was set there. I'll return to this in another post, exploring in particular the geography of the Lagashian Empire and the River Parine area.