Placing Mendelstadt on the map

Confessedly, I had no clear idea of the place I was coming to when I accepted the Landgraf's commission. Several tours in the company of Herr Vlashbacj, the archivist, have only served to confuse me further. However, happily, as I was exploring the wine cellars of Schloss Mordenleif, in search of medicinal compensation for a surfeit of brattwurst, I came across this pictoral illumination.



Now, I cannot vouchsafe its accuracy, but I can assert it nevertheless to be rather more accurate than any sketch I might myself make of my own understanding. For example, until this happy discovery, I firmly believed there were no lakes in central Europe of any significance. Yet now I find there are veritable seas to be explored, which certainly excites my aspirations. I understand better now why the Langraf saw my naval credentials as so pertinent to his needs.

You will see that only the broad brushstrokes of topography have been essayed by this anonymous cartographer. I will make it one of my (very many) undertakings to locate and name the various places of note within this noble state, and its more lowly neighbours, and, as I discover them, such other features of note that I feel may interest my dear reader.

It is immediately apparent, of course, that Mendelstadt is less well favoured than its larger and more rural southern neighbour. I note also the yellow lines demarking the supposed boundaries of those two lesser duchies, Harmatia and Levander. These, I suspect, may bear some scrutiny when, as I expect he eventually will, the Landgraf finally confides to me his strategic intent.