Krynn, the world of Dragonlance, has several continents. Ansalon is one of them.
The Dragonlance world, Krynn, is an epic high fantasy world at its best. I have already given you an overview of the Dragonlance Campaign Setting for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 (link to the German language article) and also written my first English blog article, I will now start with a series of articles focusing on the continent of Ansalon.
When people talk about Dragonlance, they often mean the continent of Ansalon. No wonder, because the continent has been the setting of many Dragonlance novels, like the Dragonlance Chronicles. Tanis, Tasslehoff, Raistlin, Goldmoon and other experienced a lot of adventures there, but Krynn is big and Ansalon is just one continent among many others. But how many continents does Krynn have? That is a very good question, is not it?
Let us take a look at the Dragonlance Campaign Setting from 2003. Page 6 contains an interesting information: Krynn has five continents and a lot of island groups, but not all of them are named in the book. The Dragonlance Campaign Setting gives the reader only short descriptions of Taladas, Ansalon and a group of islands called the Dragon Isles. But what are the names of the last three continents? That is what I wanted to know and started looking for it.
Dragonlance – Looking for a map of Krynn
My curiousity was great because I wanted to know the names of the last three continents. I hoped to find a map of Krynn where all five continents were shown with their names, but my search was not so easy and very adventurous as well.
I am a fan of the Dragonlance Nexus and really like the website because it contains a lot of information and material for Dragonlance and I found many maps there, but not the map I was looking for. By the way, the Dragonlance Nexus celebrated its 19th anniversary. Congratulations my friends! I left the website again, changed my plan and used some search engines instead. And alas, I was a successful! On the blog „Atlas of Fire and Ice“ I found a map of Krynn with all the names.
Now that I know the names of all the continents, I naturally do not want to keep them from you:
The five continents of Krynn
- Adlatum – continent in the northwest
- Ansalon – continent in the south
- Gargath – continent in the southwest
- Taladas – continent in the northeast
- Ithin’Carthia – continent in the southeast
All the continents are of different size. Taladas is the largest continent, followed by Adlatum, then Ansalon, Ithin’Carthia and finally Gargath.
A view at Ansalon
Krynn has experienced many ages. Again and again the world has been affected by enormous changes. So Ansalon, the setting of many Dragonlance novels, has also changed a lot. The Ansalon depicted here is the one from the „Age of Mortals“.
Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Currently there is no official Dragonlance Campaign Setting for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons available. That is a pity, but no reason to panic! Everyone who wants to experience adventures on the continent of Ansalon may buy the Dragonlance Campaign Setting for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 as PDF* on the DMSGuild website.
Ansalon is located in the southern hemisphere of Krynn. The continent measures nearly 1,300 miles from west to east and less than 1,000 miles from the arctic tundra in the south to the equatorial climate in the north. Originally Ansalon was a large, unbroken landmass, but the first cataclysm had caused enormous changes on the continent. While land sank into the ocean and disappeared from the map forever, new lands formed elsewhere.
In the „Age of Might“ Ansalon was almost completely cartographed. During the first cataclysm all the work has been destroyed. People who pay attention to the old maps will probably find ancient ruins and other mysterious places. Some of them might have a harbor or something similar and were close to the ocean before the first cataclysm, and today these places are somewhere in the middle of the continent. Untamed wilderness extends across Ansalon and creatures like goblins or ogres have taken control of some regions, and dragons slumber in caves or watch over the land from the mountain peaks.
But there are more species living in Ansalon. I am going to write a separate article for them as soon as possible.
*) Affiliate-Links
PS: This is my second English article on my website and also my second article in English ever. Please let me know if you find mistakes in the text. I am not an English native speaker, but I’m trying to improve my English. If you have helpful tips, please leave a comment.
