This is PRYDAIN, a Wales-sized (but it's not Wales) imaginary country, the setting for Lloyd Alexander's marvelous 1960s-era series of five young-teen medieval-hero novels.
THE BOOK OF THREE
THE BLACK CAULDRON
THE ISLE OF MONA
TARAN WANDERER
THE HIGH KING
The computer-labeled and -enhanced map below originated as a painting on a tabletop. I first reread the texts, logged all locations and descriptions, and made several sketches on tracing paper over the oval-shaped table surface. When I had the layout mostly making sense - no easy feat considering Alexander's quick little strokes, a few of which are contradictory! - I executed it in acrylic inks and pen dyes dripped into acrylic texture media to create spontaneous landforms, as they would look from an airplane. Region by region, with riverbeds carved in by Dremel. This is my "landscapes from space" technique, applied to bring to life to a fictional country 150 miles long.
© MAPA JEFF CARTOGRAPHY 2025
FOUR COMMOTS ARE KNOWN FROM THE BOOKS. THERE IS ROOM FOR DOZENS.
MORVA, BETWEEN THE GREAT OCEAN, THE GREAT FOREST, AND THE RIVER TEVVYN.
ONE REASON CAER DALLBEN WAS SO SAFE WAS THAT IT HAD 20 MILES BETWEEN IT AND ANYBODY MUCH IN PARTICULAR.
75-MILE-WIDE AREA BETWEEN IDRIS AND VALLEY CANTREVS.
THE REALMS OF FFLEWDDUR FFLAM STRETCH OFF 30-50 MILES FROM CAER DATHYL AND THE EAGLE MOUNTAIN RANGES.
