Green-Haven Valley

[LonewandererD]

What started as an experiment turned into this, and I'mn quite pleased that it did turn into this .

The Green-Haven Valley is a small tranquil valley on the shores of Grand Lake deep in the Young Peak Mountains of the Dal Lands, where the valleylanders enjoy the peace of the mountains and the bounties of a rich, fertile land. The Vallery fell under the rule of Clan Jorachi during the Rising Banners War of 513 - 522 AF. While widely outmatched the valleylanders carved their spot in history as they made the invaders pay dearly for every foot of ground. Today, the tranquility has returned to the valley and although the Valleylanders live under the banner of Clan Jorachi they enjoy a period of peace and prosperity, their fields never failing and the hot springs around the Hot-Ridge giving rise to one fot he largest and wealthiest bath-houses in the Dal Lands.

As this was supposed to be just an experiment to begin with the map going to of a small area, only 63x63 miles. The map started in GeoControl 2, having been inspired by Pasis' Blackmount Empire map, where I made a heightmap for it that could be exported to Photoshop. Once there I tried to colour the map in the same style as my previous maps, setting the layers to multiply so the height map can show through, but because of irregularities caused by the hieghtmap I had to tinker with everything and almost completey redo the style. Still, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, and it was nice to use some fonts that weren't Papyrus for a change, I still used it but not as for everything.

Next i'm going to revisit this map and do some alterations to take it back to the spring of 519 AF, when the invasion of the valleylands first began, detailing the movements of the invading armies and defenders.

Thnx go out to Ascension, Bambua, Jykke, Pasis, Tilt and Yandor for their tuts and textures, the people over at DaFont for their fonts and everyone you provided feedback in the WIP.

-D-

[torstan]

This is great. I love the texture work - especially the farmlands. My one crit would be that the rivers are very straight? But that's pretty minor. I think the mountains look great and the forests are thick and detailed. Really nice work!

[LonewandererD]

You mean the ones near the mountains, yeah they are kinda straight. When I saw put in the erosion on the mountains I thought some of the groove that were cut into them would make for good streams, maybe should have roughed them up first. Still, thnx.

-D-

[torstan]

When something's flowing down a mountain it tends to go pretty straight (it follows the fastest route down) but when it hits the flat, the it meanders. It's the rivers in the forests taht are a bit straight for me. It looks pretty flat and yet the rivers are running pretty straight through the trees. It might be that the land there is actally a lot steeper but the forests are obscuring the elevation details.

[mearrin69]

Looks great. I also love the texturing, really brings it to life. Makes me want to know what a Wya'rai is, though. I'm scared of it already. Nice job!
M

[Katto]

Good work LWD! The symbols on the map remind me that Civ5 is on its way

[LonewandererD]

I said I would do a follow up on this map and sinse it's not really a new map I'll post it here, it's more a story map than a regional map or something like that. Here's the map of the Valley at the beginning of the 519 A.F. invasion, next i'm going to do a map of the aftermath of the invasion.

EDIT: Hopefully the text is a little more visible now.

-D-

[betomuraro]

Nice work with the trexture, I only would vary the alingment or expand the size of the sample you used because it is quite repetitive, I mean, if you pay attention you can se the same field four or five times in a straight line forming squares sometimes. And the rivers, maybe you should expand a little the inner shadow because on forests they look like a bevel effect.

[mearrin69]

Looks good. I know it sucks to cover up part of your beautiful map but the story portion is a bit difficult to read. I know it's the same font as used in the rest of the map but straining a bit to make out a name is not a problem...but it hurts the eyes (mine at least) to do it for a paragraph or two. Maybe redo just that bit on a scrap of parchment in the corner or something? Just a thought. Love the map!
M

[Ascension]

I can see what Mearrin is gettin at...maybe add some black or dark brown outer glow to help separate the text from the land more. On the plus side, I've always liked Papyrus used this way, paragraphs, as opposed to titles and labels.