Maps of Non-Existent Places

Maps of Non-Existent Places

For most people, maps are tools - to help them get from 'A' to 'B'. But to me, maps are much, much more.

Spread out the map of any city. Take a close look.

Pick out the old towns, where the first settlers arrived to make their homes, their hearts full of hope and promise. Pick out the twisted alleys of the slums, where lost dreams struggle with despair in broken tenements. Pick out the sleek financial districts, where suits are sharp and life is fast.

Words tell the stories of people. But maps tell the stories of places.

More than that, I love maps of fictitious places. Places that could not, should not, would not exist. Here are some of my favorites. I've gathered them from various sources: books, computer games, comics.

Take a look at them. Let them tell you their tales.

Please take note: Some of the maps are quite large, and might take some time to download.

see the map	Ah ... the haunt of Batman. The city of gothic architecture gone mad. I myself haven't read the comic in ages, and this particular map is supposed to be of "the post-earthquake city" ... whatever that means.
see the map	Rockvil, South Dakota, was the setting for the classic Infocom computer game A Mind Forever Voyaging. It was the first city-based game I ever played, and is probably still one of the best. No 3-D, no sound, no graphics whatsoever, just text. Yet this city was so alive, I kept returning to it to explore, long after I've finished the game.
see the map	The City of Lost Heaven is a bustling 1930's metropolis. As the setting for a computer game entitled Mafia, you can probably guess that there's plenty of car chases, bank robberies, tommygun battles and sleeping-with-fishes in this town.
see the map	From the latest Grand Theft Auto computer game ... which is excellent, by the way. Vice City is crime-infested burg filled with drug lords, gangsters, ruthless real-estate developers, and crushed velvet suits. Cause mayhem or obey traffic laws, the choice is yours.
see the map	Designed by Albert Speer, this would have been a city built upon hatred and genocide. Thank god it doesn't exist. Still, it's educational to see the lengths that some would go to turn an entire city into a self-aggrandizing monument. This particular sketch comes from Robert Harris' novel Fatherland.
see the map	Paradise, AZ, is the setting for the computer game Postal 2, which isn't a very good game ... In fact, it's quite awful. But still, for a town full of psycho nutcases, it has a pretty nice map.
see the map	In 1990, Chaosium Games released the first in a series of city-guides/adventure books for the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu. This series, called Lovecraft Country, opened with Arkham Unveiled, which was a fantastic depiction of the 1920's city of Arkham, Massachusetts. Although that edition is already out of print, you can still get the NEW version, called HP Lovecraft's Arkham.
see the map	Kingsport was another town in Lovecraft Country. Although this sleepy seaside town is not as engaging as Arkham, it has a dreamy, surreal quality to it, which seeing that it was an entrance to the Dreamlands, was probably the point. The book is now reprinted as HP Lovecraft's Kingsport.
see the map	One of the last books of the Lovecraft Country series was Escape from Innsmouth, which in my opinion, was the best of the lot. Not only did it have a great description of the corrupt town of Innsmouth, it included a great adventure that featured a jaw-dropping climax. You had to play it to believe it.