I'd like to see more Gazetteers (predictably). Earlier this week I was out sick from work and was thumbing through the published Gaz volumes--started about 10:00 in the morning and before I knew it four hours had passed. Yes, I'm that hungry for details to add to my ongoing campaigns.
I'd second the idea of different protagonists for the various Gazetteer volumes/domains, and I certainly can see all sorts of possibilities for the surveys. As has been stated, why would Azalin put all his hopes in S., rather than assigning multiple individuals to the task? Granted, S., had skills that lent themselves to her explorations (scientific and arcane talent, plus degrees from various Core universities and a certain... "moral flexibility"), but who's to say Azalin couldn't have found someone else with similar qualities?
The sea captain or other sailor for the seas, perhaps? All sorts of possibilities as the captain notes travel details in his log, speculates on how long the crew will put up with his seemingly aimless wandering about the seas and islands, the various peoples and creatures he encounters on Vechor, Todstein, Dominia, etc. Perhaps even a mutiny of sorts to end it all, a la the H.M.S. Bounty?
In fact, Azalin might have created the captain's log as a sort of cursed artifact, compelling the captain (and later whoever takes over after the mutiny) to continue exploring and charting the seas and Islands of Terror...
And, as far as the other Clusters and isolated domains (The Verdurous Lands, the Frozen Reaches, the Shadow Lands), why not a series of diaries, journals, or arcane recordings from inhabitants of these areas? Or more simple examples:
* A native of Sanguinia who lived the first twenty years of his life in the domain before escaping to the south (Vorostokov); living among the inhabitants for a few months (it's not such a huge land after all), he stumbles into the Mistway that leads to the Core. He would be in an excellent position to comment on both lands--especially the differences between the two.
*A fragment of an old journal kept by one of Elena Faith-Hold's soldiers, or a bit of "lost lore" from the Shadowborn family.
If the Gazetteers' revival is too daunting a task, though, what about a netbook of Dread Possibilities? Devoted to specific domains that may or may not have been covered in the Gazetteers?
“I let out a battle cry. Sure, a lot of people might have mistaken it for a sudden yelp of unmanly fear, but trust me. It was a battle cry.”
― Harry Dresden