WIP - Archipelago

[jeffsheets]

Two new things in this version: The marishrooms can be seen in clusters to the south, with caps as wide as 500 meters in some cases, the trunks of these gigantic fungi are about 100 meters across. (I am unsure if I am going to keep shrooms this big...) In addition, this version has my new technique of generating the shallows. I use the seatree, mangrove, shroom, and swamp layers' alpha channels to paint white on a blue layer, then gaussian blur that about 500 pixels or so. The resulting layer is set to be 50% opacity and Multiply effect, which, I think, gives the color of the deeper areas a nice subtle blue.

My next goal is to add at least five more floatstone island frames to that brush, and possibly redo some of the floatstone layer. I'll do the same to add at least five more sea-trees, perhaps to a separate brush so I can place them individually when art/nature demands it. I'll probably do the same for the shroom brush, and might redo that layer to make shrooms a bit smaller. I am still quite happy with the sizing of the mangrove clusters.

[tilt]

looking better and better, one just wishes one could zoom in further - so when you're finished, you have to make some regional maps
and nice explanation about the level cap - I understand your sentiments, and with feats still comming in, the characters still have "something to work for" other than gathering wealth and fame of course

[jeffsheets]

looking better and better, one just wishes one could zoom in further - so when you're finished, you have to make some regional maps
and nice explanation about the level cap - I understand your sentiments, and with feats still comming in, the characters still have "something to work for" other than gathering wealth and fame of course

Thanks! Yeah... I really do want the view to be closer, but at the scale this map is, a microscope would be needed. Don't worry, closer maps of important locations will be made.

I think a better sense of scale than the... scale... in the bottom left corner, would be to compare sizes. The big floatstone islands are 46.4 pixels across (thank GIMP for the measurement tool!). 40 pixels, as can be determined by the scale on the map, is equal to one kilometer. This means that the bigger floatstones are about 1.1 to 1.2 km wide. Floatstone islands are generally taller than they are wide, so that means any one of those floatstones is bigger, generally, than one of our real life skyscrapers, and the bigger floatstone islands are bigger even than the biggest planned skyscraper in any dimension. Long story short, the big floatstone islands can have the population of medieval cities if they are fully inhabited, and most of them will be in this region. Some of the smaller floatstones may serve as naval forts, or personal clan homes, or merchant hubs.

More scale: Each of the spiral sea-trees is about the size of extant US skyscrapers. Though filled with wildlife inside the spiral, they can easily support a population of 1,000 or more citizens. (This is reduced from my earlier "claim" of 5,000... I just can't see that many people living self-sufficiently inside even something that big. It would be CROWDED!)

Even more scale: In this latest version, the largest caps of the Marishrooms is about 375 meters. That's generally the size of an average American city block.

Even more more scale: The map, from edge of image to edge of image, is 90 km. The map depicts a region about the size of the Chicago metropolitan area.

So..... technically? This is by no means a world map. It already is a regional map. Rest assured that the rest of the world is similarly in a state of deluge with similarly exotic methods of living.

And here is the latest version, with individual seatree brush, reduced size marishrooms (which I'm now comfy with), and 5 more floatstone island brush frames to add to the variety.

[jeffsheets]

More work has been done. I'm starting to get comfortable in the style of the map, and finding less I need to learn/discover/teach myself. I think the new coral, mangrove, and sea-swamp are looking really good, enough so that I might go back and redo the starting area. I also like the method I have worked out to fade the ocean blue color out.

First I clear the ocean blue to the base ocean color. Then I set the selection to the sea tree layer's alpha. Grow by 10 pixels. Add the alpha layers of the mangrove, shroom, and swamp layers to this selection, then grow the selection by another 5 pixels. I then paint white on the ocean layer within the selection. After that, I clear the selection and do two 250 pixel gaussian blurs (with the alpha of the ocean coloration layer locked all this time to keep the blur and fill from growing into the scale or beyond the borders). This ocean tint layer is set to Multiply at 50%, just above the parchment layer.

Here is the next version, with the first two place names added:

[Ilvarin]

Dude (if I ma be so familiar) this is unbelievable (in the best possible sense). My yardstick for interest in any fantasy novel/game/setting is "Would I want to visit there?". With your stuff, the answer is a resounding YES! It is so original, from the map to the cultures and races, to the mechanical implementation of your ideas. Completely awesome. I hate you ;-) I can't wait to read more. I would love to have this as a single pdf some day (hint hint). One question: I would suppose that with all that open sea storms are ghastly. What are your weather patterns like? Weather in that setting could almost be like some chaotic villain that shows up and raises hell because he can. Definitely something to vie against. Anyway, please keep this fascinating world coming, and thanks for sharing.