Explorers may find new locations but the ones who really bring it to the people are the cartographers. They create the maps that people see and learn from. Some maps are very accurate and technical, while others may be loose with the exact details but be themselves a piece of art.— Tidd Forrat, Letter to a Friend
Mapping the Skies
While cartographers make maps of everything from counties to nations, in this era the maps that most cartographers want to make are those of the skies.
Most people entering the profession now are those who were inspired by maps made by their predecessors during the
Time of Exploration which depict the locations discovered by famous
skysailors. Cartography is not the most popular profession, it doesn't bring the same level of prestige as being an
explorer or the respect of a
skysailor but those who pursue the profession are almost all truly passionate about it.
Tools of the Trade
There are lots of choices for how to create a map. There are many varieties of paper and colours of ink. Other maps may be engraved into stone or woven onto fabric. The tools will vary depending on the choice.
For maps that are intended to be mass-produced, paper and ink are the tools of choice but drawing every map by hand is too time-consuming to do. Instead, negatives of maps are carved into wood or engraved into metal and used as stamps to quickly create large numbers of maps to be distributed to government officials, military units, or the general populace.
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In-Progress Article
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"Every cartographer dreams of making a great map, the one they dream of, instead of the one they are paid to create."
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