The Westerlands (Terra Solis)

[sreynders]

Hey all,

As I said in my previous (and first) topic I was planning a new project. This topic will be a exploration of my workprogress and decisions that i make. This topic will be about map making but also on story and lore. I hope you guys and gals will enjoy the road I'll travel!

This setting is based on the same concept of my previous map: Its a continent in a world that is made by a rp-group. This continent may be mine, but will be influenced by a bigger story, other factions, adventurers and so on. I am, however, its main architect.

The Westerlands
The history starts with the sundering of a huge continent, splitting it into five smaller continents. Most of the survivors rebuild their cultures on what's left.
The Westerlands will be heavily based on Europe during 1450-1500. There is a central church with lots of power over kings and nobles, an Inquisition that enforces a ban on magic (though some mages can work for the church under strict regulation). The church is pretty racist, banning most non-humans from their lands or just downright hunting them down and kill them, blaming them for most 'sins', plagues, etc.
Humans still have non-human relations though, and alot of non-human culture is inbedded in human society. Noble houses talk in elven (much like french in our world), dwarven cannons and warfare are popular among the human kingdoms,...
Human nations are mostly kingdoms or free-cities, with noble houses ruling over them. All these nations are located on the East of the continent. The lands in the West are mostly unexplored and inhabited by tribes of different races.

Thats the lore for now. Here are some "sketches" and wips.

This is the first Westerlands map I made. I was going for a graphical, clean style, (but changed my mind later on)... I totally changed my mind after I saw SchwarzKreuz' Arden and Ramah's maps though.




What the Westerlands needed was size and dept. I expanded the map by a great deal and started redesigning a lot of the continent, adding more lands to the West, ready to be explored by the players. The names on the sketch need to be changed though. Elven lands will have a French ring to it, Dwarven lands will be more German and human lands will sound Dutch or English. (ps, those are not rivers)




This is a big project and I'll be working on this for a long time. I think the next thing I'll post is a to do list. I'll keep you guys posted and i hope you'll enjoy my creative journey through my own, unexplored continent.

Comments and Critique is very welcome, as always!

Sander