Writing from the phone, which makes this *fun*, and part of my enthusiasm might come from how wonderfully this distracts me from my impending flu shot, but... Why didn't we ever do the AoI thing? At least talk it through a bit more?
Sounds pretty cool, and is a fresh take on a setting that otherwise honestly feels a little bit crowded, already. I mean, internal coherence would be an issue to wrestle with, for sure, but it would make for a scenario that could be interesting to explore.
The main problem I personally would see with that setting would be, again, that you can't make Blackmoor a place where there is consistent and potentially life-altering trouble - because otherwise, you have the old paradox that nobody sane would want to live on the border to Mordor.
But for a more social, game-of-thrones-y approach to roleplaying, this could be pretty sweet. Thinking "Blades in the Dark", and the like.
Here is a map that Havard did a few years ago:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8253What would look differently, there, as opposed to a 9th-century map of BM, I don't know, but I'd say, Starport and the Ten might not yet be there, and perhaps the halfling problem might, well, be more of a problem. Interestingly enough, this would also mean that there is a land connection to Bartertown. ...So, are the Skandaharians simply Thonians? :)
...I hate needles. I'm tattooed all over, at this point, but the needle never stops to frighten me.
/Rafe out