Would someone like to map this city?

**HandsomeRob** · 03-06-2008, 09:31 AM

Hi all,
I recently posted a bit of information about the city of Ainsbridge on my website. I think it would be nice to accompany the article with a map, but I don't really feel inspired to make a city map at the moment. I thought I'd offer it up to someone here, if you want to, and I'll credit you on the website.

Here is the article:
The capital city of Aladaria is dominated by a great stone bridge over the Ainswater. The bridge, which is of ancient Alvarian alchemical construction, is approximately 3,000 feet long, over 200 feet high, and 70 feet wide. The city sits atop the bridge, and spills over onto the banks to the north and south. There is one support column in the center of the bridge span, which proceeds up though the bridge as a tower. The support column is also hollowed out and consists of several levels of rooms. There are gates on either end of the bridge as well.
The bridge is covered with buildings of all shapes and sizes, some hollowed out of the stone construction and others built of wood and thatch above the bridge deck and battlements. These houses and business line the sides of the bridge, while the center is kept clear for traffic. The traffic lane is typically 20 feet wide, but there are a number of plazas where the lane widens to 45-50 feet. In the center of these plazas are stone monuments, temples, and other public buildings.
The peninsula to the south of the bridge is also urbanized, and there are wharfs and quays along the banks here. The city wall of Ainsbridge cuts across this peninsula. Governmental palaces and noble households occupy the wooded neighborhoods in the southwest of the city, and industrial slums in the dockyard districts of the southeast. The neighborhoods north of the bridge are newer, and are not walled.

And here is the most detailed map of the city that I have at the moment (Ainsbridge is in the upper left): Map

Thanks!
-Rob

**delgondahntelius** · 03-07-2008, 04:02 AM

I've a question...with the bridge being 70' wide... and the thruway being roughly 20' wide... that doesn't leave much in the way for buildings on the outside... just a suggestion, but from your description, I picture something massive and old... and the 70' wide just didn't do it for me... I'm picturing something around double that... 120' - 150' in that general area... especially if the massive center column houses a tower, i'm guessing that it probably supports alot of the weight of the bridge, so the support strut itself would probably be fairly large... jutting out somewhat past the edges of the bridge that it supports... possibly adding to the area on which the city builds itself... not too massive, 30' on each edge.... (I picture something square, but this of course is all in the eye of the beholder...)

I made a very rough sketch on my handy dandy 6x4 scratch pad... mind you i'm no artist by any means... just to get an idea of what I'd be looking at.

BTW... very nice overland atlas map... I like that very much... perhaps one day when I can call myself a professional mapper will I be able to match that kind of work...

**HandsomeRob** · 03-07-2008, 09:22 AM

Hey, yeah, I'm not married to the idea of 70' wide. I'm perfectly fine if you want to go wider. I've been thinking about this a little bit and I've decided that the bridge is actually an extension of the bedrock that was hollowed out and shaped using alchemy and magic, so structurally it should be fine to make it much bigger.

-Rob

**RobA** · 03-07-2008, 12:30 PM

You might find some inspiration from this photo of Ponte Vecchio, which is the famous bridge across the Arno River in Florence. Just scale it up a bit

Would someone like to map this city?-italy2007-day3-07.jpg

(Image taken by Calum Tsang, a friend of mine. Here is the blog entry with that image from his trip to Italy)

-Rob A>

**delgondahntelius** · 03-07-2008, 11:20 PM

Here's another small sketch that I did at work today on my mini graph pad which is always with me incase I get the nerve to map something (small)...

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