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The Château de Chenonceau
🕑 Added 2021-07-14 06:28:31 +0000 UTCGod the French make some cool stuff. "Let's just build it over the river." Sure, why not, here's money, let's do it. Amazing.
While I was researching this place, I learned a bit about the castle's most famous resident, Catherine de Medici. She was the queen of France in the mid-1500s, who later ruled the country as Queen Regent after her husband died. She was also a woman who liked to party and, by all accounts, she threw a GREAT one. There's actually a wikipedia page specifically about her parties. Parties that happened 500 years ago. Let me go ahead and quote that for you:
Catherine arranged entertainments that lasted for several days, including fancy-dress jousting and chivalrous events in allegorical settings. On Mardi Gras, the day after the banquet in the meadow, knights dressed as Greeks and Trojans fought over scantily clad damsels trapped by a giant and a dwarf in a tower on an enchanted island. The fighting climaxed with the tower losing its magical properties and bursting into flames.
Sure, you know, typical Saturday for me too. She also put on the first fireworks display in France, as well as-- at least once-- a party where the food was served by topless women. Keep in mind that this was the 1500s. At a time when they would light you on fire if they thought you were a witch, this lady was running strip shows. Wild.
Anyway, I know a lot of people were looking forward to this map, so I hope it's everything you were hoping for! I'm planning to do some more historical maps before too long, but next I'm going to return to the Black Loch. I'll be drawing the myconid colony next, then I'll be drawing the next Cartographic Congress map: the underwater ruins of the Benthic Academy, an ancient college of magic. After that, I'll probably be getting back to the Black Loch again, since I want to make some more progress on that. In any case, I'll be drawing more of the loch over the next couple months.
Well, I'm gonna start drawing some mushrooms. Let me know what you think of the Chateau!
An annotated version of this map and DM notes are available to patrons.
Comments
Milby's Maps
Yeah, that kind of adventure usually involves sneaking away from the party to snoop around the other parts of the castle, which this place has a ton of ways to do with all the little balconies and ledges. A rogue could really go wild in there.
Tom Mechler
The new Ravenloft book has a domain called Dementlieu, which is a palace that hosts a grand masquerade. This would be an absolutely perfect setting for that.
Milby's Maps
Haha, yeah, France is a part of this setting I'm creating. There are gonna be some islands to the north and then there's a big peninsula to the east, where there used to be this really huge empire. It's going to be super cool, not sure what to call it, though.
Pope Dezzicus
I just Chat my pants! What a lovely chateau. This imaginary nation of France you've created truly has some wonderful architecture
