Does Dark Avatar have a map editor

While there is no editor for Dark Avatar, the mapfiles themselves are plain XML. So theoretically you just have to open them in an XML editor of your choice (notepad++ springs to mind) and have at it.

It is tedious, however. I think there even is a guide for the required fields and syntax around somewhere.

Yes, although you'd have to perform keyboard gymnastics in great length just to have an xml edited in a notepad-kinda-way.
Tedious task, and yet possible. All you need is thorough knowledge about the file features and how lines are called up... and then, type whatever values you'd wish.
Sorry but that would be the 'only' way, as of now (without the new TotA map-editor, of course).
There's also a shareware in the library (...IDE.exe or somethin') which claims to do proper map editing but i haven't had any luck with it back in November since it seems to have had problems with regular DirectX WinXP defaults along with Net-Framework 2+ mismatching calls as a result.

I feel like i was simply repeating your drift, pndrev!
Coincidental postings are sooooo much fun, at times.

thankyou gents.

I've just completed a first cut at a web based map generator that might be helpful. It's not an "editor" that lets you fiddle with the details of individual planets, but it will let you specify start positions, how many star systems are where, and gives you some control over system size, planet quality, etc.

You can bash out a fairly customized map in about two minutes, so if you're going to edit by hand, it will at least get a lot of the tedious work out of the way for you.

http://theharms.org/cgi-bin/gc2/webmap.rb