Strip Maps

Few people of Fletnern use maps.  For the everyday person, even those who might be traveling from one place to another, will not use a map.  If they do not know where they are going, they can ask for directions or rely on road signs.  Every town that wants to be visited (engage in trade) makes certain that there are sufficient signs directing people to their town.

The main users of maps are the navigators, most commonly those on ships.  They need to be able to spot and recognize land marks, even if they are simply a stretch of coast.  Surveyors and other governmental officials use maps but most often in the collecting of taxes and not in exploration.  These maps are incredibly expensive.  Not only are they expensive to craft, but they are incredibly expensive to make accurately.

When travelers are looking to use a map, they most commonly buy a strip map.  Not only are these maps vastly cheaper to craft and develop but they don’t waste space showing a traveler a piece of land they will never see, most typically anything away from the road.  All a strip map shows is what the traveler should expect to see while following the road, river, or whatever established path the map explains.  Nearly every purchaser of this type of map understands that the map maker was paid by certain people along the way to make certain that their businesses are included on the map.  For instance, if you buy a particular strip map, you will be shown where the inns are that helped the map maker, but probably not see the ones that didn’t give him a little extra.  One would hope that the cartographer was steering you towards the best inns, but that is not necessarily the case.