Here Be Dragons...[]
...and aliens...and cowboys...and vampires...and dinosaurs...and superheroes....
Imagine a world where all myths are true--where all the iconic heroes, villains and monsters of history, mythology and fiction can cross paths. Where magic, miracles and mad science are all real. Where all the highlights of the Multiverse--past, present and future--co-exist. That's the fantasy kitchen sink world of Here Be Dragons--an effort to map The Known World, the sum of our collective dreams.
An Atlas of the Imagination[]
"There is a place where characters dwell and it's not in thinking. Scrooge and Hamlet are there along with certain toys we played with. Superman and Batman are there. Sherlock Holmes and King Friday and Lassie are there. Eleanor Rigby is there. And when we are all gone, perhaps we'll be there too, alive in the image world again & again." --Lynda Barry, Picture This
Here Be Dragons is an Atlas of the Imagination--an attempt to place in time and space the contents of our collective consciousness. Every famous name from history, folklore, literature and popular culture belongs here somewhere. These are the heroes and villains, the landscapes and histories that provide the common language of our fantasies.
Out of all the billions of people who ever existed, how many have names that still resonate down the centuries? Of the myriad characters invented by storytellers, how many have captured the imagination of the culture, and achieved a life outside the stories in which they were born?Both went the same way, through the kitchen
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
The ultimate goal for Here Be Dragons is to create a template for an open source virtual world--the outline of a shared simulation of reality and unreality, that includes everyone you'd expect to find. In the meantime, it can serve as a resource for roleplaying games, fan fiction and the like.
George Washington
We follow the principle, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Historical and scientific accuracy takes a backseat to popular imagination: In Here Be Dragons, George Washington really did chop down a cherry tree and throw a dollar across the Potomac; ostriches do hide their heads in the sand, and lemmings commit mass suicide. Here Be Dragons aims to be broad and selective at the same time: While providing an overview of as many worlds and settings as possible, the project depends upon readers recognizing at least most of the people and places sketched out. Too much unfamiliarity would turn the grand tour into a big bore.
- Explore the Known World geographically via Earth.
- Take a tour of History.
- Check out the varieties of Creatures.
- Find people sorted into Classes.
