TeaFourTwo

My version of the Naruto map during the warring states era, broken into provinces each ruled by a daimyo. Some notes on the map:

- shinobi villages are approx. locations because they're typically hidden.

-The Naka river I think is the only river that's canon (the river Konohagakure is founded on).

-Owari river means 'the river of endings' lol. I'm sure it's no surprise that the valley of the end will eventually be on that river.

During this period the wiki states that the lands were all small and battling for dominance, and they hired shinobi clans to fight their battles...but personally I just don't think this makes sense with what we actually see in canon. What we see of the Senju and Uchiha for example: there are a LOT of them, and they seem to live bordering each other, which suggests they are not traveling clans but have roots in an area. Such a large clan would be difficult to maintain if they didn't have land/a village that was their own (like samurai).

So, if we have shinobi that own land like samurai, then that means they are beholden to the daimyo whose land they live on...which means that, although they could be hired by other daimyo's, they would obviously be chiefly loyal to the daimyo who rules the land they live on. So, instead of having the shinobi clans being entirely mercenary, I decided in my fic they would be more like samurai without a bushido code...which, let's be honest, that's kinda what the naruto ninja are. They rarely ever do actual ninja shit, most of the time they're battling each other on massive open fields, and the Kage is essentially just the Shogun by another name...I mean the Senju and the Uchiha making peace and building a village is enough to create an entire country, which seems to mirror what figures like Oda Nobunaga/Toyotomi Hideyoshi did in actual history (aka samurai lol) uniting the country.

My version of the Naruto world, circa Warring Clans Era. I based it off of an existing fan map I found here, but adjusted to suit my needs. I prefer the japanese names of the different countries, which can be confusing sometimes so here's the translations:

Country translations:

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire

Kaze no Kuni: Land of Wind

Kawa no Kuni: Land of Rivers

Kiri no Kuni: Land of Mist

Nami/Uzushio no Kuni: Land of Waves/Whirlpools

Tetsu no Kuni: Land of Iron

Tsuchi no Kuni: Land of Earth

Tanbo no Kuni: Land of Rice fields

Shimo no Kuni: Land of Frost

Kaminari no Kuni: Land of Lightning

I also removed a few of the smaller lands and consolidated them into one. Kawa no Kuni (Rivers) for example, includes Ame and Kusa (rain and grass), Tanbo no Kuni includes Yu no kuni (land of hot water), and Hi no kuni includes Cha and Udon (land of tea and noodles).

I did this mostly because I wanted the map to be different before three world wars (borders change with things like that), but also because I do think it's a little silly that these countries are so small (some with no military) and have somehow maintained their independence? I think even once the Warring Clans era is over that many of the 'lands' in the canon map would not be entirely independent. For example, the land of tea and the land of noodles would be technically part of Fire country and owe allegiance to them and their daimyo, but still maintain their culture and name.

One thing I really thought was strange in Veilguard was the complete absence of the 'elven rebellion' and Solas' agents that Trespasser's set up. In my rewrite of Veilguard (Castling series on AO3) I've decided to reintroduce Fen'harel's agents into the storyline, which then required someone to lead them that wasn't Solas. A replacement for Felassan, so to speak...but more willing to do the difficult morally grey things. I found this concept art for 'Reva' in the da veilguard concept art book, and decided to expand on the sketch and add color.

Original sketch from Veilguard book:

My Reva:

Just a little art I made for an oc in my Veilguard rewrite Castling. The first thing I did in my rewrite was ask myself, "how can I make all the factions have importance to the story?" One of the biggest issues I have with the Lord of Fortunes faction is that they are really half baked and don't add much to the story. So I changed it. Isabella gave the Veilguard crew a ship, but they didn't know how to actually sail it; so in comes her most trusted sailor, Captain Pike. Captain Pike is an old dwarf with a mysterious past who joined the Lords of Fortune a decade ago. He is blind, but that doesn't stop him from being the best damn sailor in the North of Thedas. If you ask him how he steers a ship while being blind, he'll simply say 'Stone Sense, and some mighty fine ears.'

My theory behind Stone Sense is that it's ability to help with direction underground is a product of magnetic fields from the earth's core, mixed with the remains of Titan magic within the dwarves. I thought maybe being above ground makes dwarves lose their stone sense because theres too many distractions from the stones' 'song'...so what if we removed that distraction? If a dwarf was blind then they'd have to rely entirely on their other senses, aka their stone sense.