Feb/March Lite Mapping Challenge - It's a River!

[Zarylin]

Well, I spent most of today working on things entirely unrelated to rivers, but that doesn't mean that I don't have something to show for it!

### LATEST WIP ###


Civilization! I've been building and fiddling with these town and city icons for the past few hours. They're inspired by Sapiento's lovely 'gaudy style' map (seen here), and built using the quick tutorial in the same thread. I'm really happy with them overall, though I may yet go back and make more, since I ended up using a few icons twice. I also struggled putting together a castle icon I was really happy with, eventually settling with just the two walled cities along the river. I think if I make the castle icon slightly bigger than the others, that should help give it the sense of importance and majesty that my attempts have been lacking so far. However, that will have to be a job for tomorrow.

[Zarylin]

So, today's update doesn't change a whole lot; I made more town/city icons, and used them quite a bit more liberally, really filling in the population. However, while there wasn't a lot of mapping progress being made, I do believe I had a bit of an intellectual breakthrough that is very much related to the challenge's theme of mapping a river. Specifically, the river is what makes this whole map possible/relevant/important. Historically, tribes and civilizations have sprung up and flourished around rivers. Rivers provide not only water to drink and bathe in, but also a means of travelling, which promotes trade and commerce. Rivers set boundaries, and help make areas more defensible. Simply put, a river is the heart of any civilization living around it. If the river were to wither and die, the peoples almost certainly would as well.

### LATEST WIP ###


So. Many small settlements have sprung up between the larger ones all along the lake and river, even crossing over into the 'territory' of that scary wizard up in his tower (don't miss the very important watch tower in that little town). Forts have been constructed to guard the mountain passes into the fertile lake region, including a massive castle spanning the widest of the passes. Towers now look out to sea to spot incoming ships, both to defend against potential raiders and to welcome possible trade partners. The river shapes and defines the purpose of the region.

I'm just about finished with the actual mapping itself, I think. I need to put in some roads, to aid in travel and trade, but I think that's about it. With that in mind, I've started turning my thoughts towards color. The large open spaces to the southeast were always intended to be open plains, far more barren than the more fertile areas up north. I hope to use color to further indicate the difference between the open plains and the waterways, which ultimately points back to the river itself.


Philosophical musings aside, I continue to appreciate your feedback!