It's kind of a convention to shade maps as if they are lit from the northwest or upper left corner. Don't know why, but the illusion seems to work better that way. Lit from the south, which makes sense in the northern hemisphere, high points tend to look like indentations. I don't know the psychology of that, but hey. That said, I really like this map. Could have been a good entry for Wild West Town. I'm guessing the 45 degree bias is from the original Village of Hommlet map.