"It begins with a map. It almost always begins with a map... or an overheard secret whispered in the dark corners of an Inn, or the dying words of a fallen comrade. But this one begins with a map."

from
BLACKSENT: Traveller from an Antique land.

This was the beginning of the very first story I wote about Ncon over twenty years ago. But it is, also, where we started with our creation of the world of BLACKSENT. Some people start with a plot or characters, or even a message they want to put into their fiction. Michael Poe and I started with the map. (This version of the map was created by Jeffery Barker.)
We were, of course, more than a little inspired by a medieval role playing game popular back then. D&D was still in its early days. (Well, back when I was a dungeon master, our dice only had FOUR sides to them!) I sound soooooo old.
The map we came up with was a hodge-podge of different medieval cultures from around the globe and even various time periods. (8th century vikings -Zoe, next to 14th century Japan - Yula.)
At that time we had no serious intentions, other then writing background stories for our own version of D&D. And, for a few years, it was just an occational hobby. Then, somewhere around 1979, Mike Poe and I met Jeffery Barker. That's when our "little hobby" began to take on a life of its own.