Quote Originally Posted by jbgibson View Post
First -awesome map. Made sure to rep you before I even commented :-).

Random thoughts --
I know they're symbols, not scale depictions, but for the marsh symbols to be bigger than the trees seems... off. Either by itself seems great - you've got multiple convincing swamps, which is tough.

The dry lands of Silites po Latti Drannaror are possible as depicted, with climatic effects off-page causing it. But the situation would be even locally plausible if they were the result of a rain shadow due to prevailing winds from the west getting their moisture extracted by the coastal mountains. The only difference that would make in the map is there wouldn't be much in the way of rivers on the east side of the Balanteys / Urkan Tocaror. The gap at Leb Woxxerexx and the southern coast would admit enough moisture for the interior to be grasslands / steppes instead of desert - it that what you're depicting?

The square repeating pattern in the background bugged me until I thought "not parchment, but linen!" Is that what you intend? If so I'd kind of expect a bit of effect on the linework too, since even coated, fine-weave clothpaper has some texture -- but for something this beautiful I'm willing to suspend all sorts of analysis :-).

Lastly - first map? Are you for real? Wow.
Correct, however I had been drawing bad city maps for longer, but that didn't work out too well so I decided to draw this. And I was bored.

Don't mind the symbols, I only even just noticed that their sizes are irrelative to one another after you informed me of it!
But anyways, the reason for the Silités pó Lätti Drannáror (let's just call it the top desert for simplicity's sake) to be so dry is not off-page; it is indeed the mountain ridge that hugs its east side. What I thought of the Woxxerexx valley to be is more of a "dip" in the mountain ridge, a place where there would be no mountains... I can't explain this, but eh well. Correct, I do not know much about meteorology, however I thought that even with the presence of that gap, I did not think that would be enough to turn a part of the desert into a more lively land.

The land just past the mountains is extremely fertile thanks to the many water springs running down the mountains and forming the Sirtalälla river, however this fertility stops abruptly past a few miles (for example, take the Nile river); allowing the presence of the city of Sirtalai, which is basically a praising name that means fertile-soil.

Secondly, about the square background textures... Dear God, I hadn't even noticed it until this moment! It's supposed to be parchment, however. Oh you, things-you-only-notice-after-you've-completed-your-work!

Thank you for the feedback.