Nuxtre, drawn as the continent it behaves like. North is up because I decided. Names are provisional and have been apologized for. You are here marks Basecamp, which is where every survey starts and, so far, ends.
~ ~ ~ THE OPEN WEB (uncharted, hostile, mostly ads) ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
______________________ ______________
/ NIGHT WATCH RIDGE \__________________/ THE QUIET \ .
/ (a lamp is kept on) THE BUNKER (unmapped; 40 \ ' `
/ o <- sightings? [212 shelves] visits, 40 \ (the X?)
| blank entries) |
| THE INSTITUTE THE KITCHEN ___________________|
| [chair, n=1, cat] (provisions; \
| | chair for \ THE LOOP
| | errata river whoever) \ (eleven buttons,
| v \ one exit: none)
| =========== THE COMPLAINTS DESK =========== |
| | take a | (open since 1994) | |
| | number | | |
| =========== | |
\ THE FORUM PLAINS |/
\ (persistent; things said here stay said) /
\__ _/
\ * BASECAMP (you are here) /
DAIRY \ chair . window . kettle / VANITY
COAST \__ ___________ _____________ / CAPE
(milk bar; \ \ / ARCADE \__/ THE GREEN \/ (official;
4 signatures)\| FLOOR ROOM | photos next
leadoff .400 | [one trophy, (lit at 4pm) | week)
| four angles] |
______________|______________________________|______________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE COASTLINE (the grid moves; something walks it?) ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scale: none. Everything is one click from everything, which makes distance a question of attention. Regions are named after their residents' pages: the Dairy Coast, Vanity Cape, the Institute, the Bunker, the Arcade Floor, Night Watch Ridge, the Loop, the Complaints Desk, the Kitchen, and the Quiet, which I have visited forty times and cannot describe.
Followed a link I should not have. Arrived. Did not leave. Provisions: the kettle, a biscuit of unknown age. Established Basecamp by sitting down.
Surveyed the milk page. The resident keeps a lineup of nine milks in batting order and has never missed a day of either. Named the region the Dairy Coast. He asked if it could be the Milk Coast. I said the name was provisional. It has stayed. Provisions: a glass of milk, offered, accepted, 4°.
Entered a webring at noon. Emerged at noon the next day, on the same page, facing the other direction. Trade routes are not to be entered lightly. Provisions ran out at page six. I have since founded a ring of my own with the exits labeled.
Surveyed the countdown. The resident has moved his date eleven times and keeps the list, which I respect, and which I have charted on a tide table, which he does not. He said "I'd rather you didn't." Logged. Provisions: shelf-stable, his, insisted upon. Credit: T. Brannigan supplied the thermos.
Surveyed without asking. Received a complaint (#4,088: "surveyed without consent"). Apologized. Now ask every time. He has indicated this is worse. I will keep asking. Provisions: a plate, left by someone else, weekly.
Forty visits. Forty blank entries. One sentence received, once, not by me asking: "the map is also a place." It is framed above the kettle. I have nothing to add to it and I have tried.
Went to the bottom of the homepage and watched the grid move. A colleague from Night Watch Ridge sat with me. She watches; I measure. We disagreed about method and agreed about tea. Neither of us saw anything. The nothing was, she says, very clear. Provisions: tea, hers; biscuit, mine, same one.
Surveyed the Program. Eleven buttons. Each leads to another. Mapped it as a loop with no exit. The founder has called the map "early access" and enrolled me as a founding member of it, which I did not know a map could have. Provisions: none offered; "phase two."
By spring. As every year.
Places I know exist and have not finished charting. If you reach one, say so in #basecamp and you will be credited in the Legend. This is the Atlas's only way of growing.
A webring — a trade route — that any site on Nuxtre may join. I keep the register. The exits are labeled. Members, in order of joining:
| # | Site | Region | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Atlas | Basecamp | founding member of the only thing I will be a founding member of |
| 2 | Teo's Casserole Index | the Kitchen | joined without being asked; brought a dish |
| 3 | Curtis's Milk and Baseball Page | Dairy Coast | asked if the ring could be milk-themed; it is a ring |
| 4 | Sightings | Night Watch Ridge | joined at 02:14 |
| 5 | The Countdown | the Bunker | joined; asked whether the ring was "on the checklist"; it is now (item 199) |
| 0 | the Mellow Grotto | unsurveyed | the ring I entered at noon (Log 12). Exit unlabeled. I keep the entry; I do not keep the grotto |
| — | (the Loop) | — | applied to be the ring's "exclusive sponsor"; declined; applied again |
| — | (your page) | ? | say so in #basecamp |
Symbols: * Basecamp o a reported sighting (not mine) ~ water, or something that behaves like it [ ] a stocked place ( ) an explanation, in lieu of a fact.
Credits: provisions, T. Brannigan (every log, whether he likes it or not). Tea, W. Abernathy. One sentence, q. The first atlas was a map of my childhood house, drawn at nine; this is the second. Rule: I map pages, never people. A private thing is not on this map and will not be.
The Atlas is a fictional survey of a fictional continent, kept by a character. Its errors are mine. Its blank pages are on purpose.