Cartographers Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Edmund
Alister and C. Rodeney Howel were rival cartographers, both having made a
living as mapmakers of the mystic and the unknown – basically anything that
couldn’t truly be mapped or verified. They made artistic renditions, which they
called maps, of the lesser known corners of the universe and the unexplored
areas of the body and mind. They were mystics and sages and both claimed to be
a little bit psychic, which allowed them to envision some of the things they
mapped. Edmund created depictions of such sites as Atlantis, the canals of
Mars, the civilizations of Alpha Centauri and other such assorted culturally
mystic locations. C. Rodeney Howel was a pioneer of more metaphysical locations
like the human soul, inner Chakras, and spiritual energy pathways that
transverse the Earth. Howel had made quite a stir within certain map
communities when he fully mapped out earthquake distribution patterns around
the planet, completely unassociated to plate tectonics and fault lines. He had
determined there was an inner spiritual core to the Earth that had completely
been overlooked by other earthquake theorists. He never claimed to be able to
prove the veracity of this map, or that the map would actually help predict and
determine earthquakes in general, only that it was completely accurate in its
depiction of the planet’s spiritual chi. It was, for whatever its worth, a very
lovely and colorful map.
No
mainstream source took their maps too seriously. But they were a sight to see
and prints often sold quite well. They developed quite a following amongst
ancient astronaut theorists and those that followed such theoretical things.
The fact that many of the maps were supposedly psychically derived only added
to their glamor.
Both
gentlemen sold renditions and prints and copies of their maps, but neither
would allow their maps to be sold as art, nor would they admit their maps to be
anything other than entirely truthful and accurate. There had been the
occasional showing or scientific exhibit but those bore a striking similarity
to art shows.
When
they were younger men they had been rivals, often mapping the same things and
spending great amounts of time trying to discredit the other. There was a fair
share of deliberate “watermark” errors and cartographic “vandalism” in order to
help differentiate their maps from one another and to try and prove whose were
authentic and whose were the knockoff imitators.
They
both soon realized that there wasn’t much business to be had in their chosen
field so they brokered a deal and divided who would cover what, each man
getting to cover his favorite field. A friendship had formed soon thereafter,
although they used the pretense of being rivals to add interest and publicity
to their private and joint ventures. In one case they were both scheduled to
appear on the same panel at a science fiction convention, but Howel protested
until Alister dropped out. The next day they were seen together signing
autographs. Their friendship was a terribly kept secret, but they used this as
part of the charm and appeal of their joint appearances. There was a certain
Kaufman-Lawler level to their feud and their fans enjoyed the show.
In
their later years Edmund undertook mapping the insides of black holes and the
interconnectedness of string theory. Rodeney for his part became obsessed with death and the mapping of the afterlife.
After Rodeney passed away, Edmund took it upon himself to psychically connect
with Rodeney’s spirit and finish his final masterpieces. It really was simply
amazing just how many maps of the afterlife there were for Edmund to document,
and just how expensive the spirit of Rodeney thought they should be.
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