Ah... ... ... it's been a while... and I've been pretty sick. I've been trying to make an appointment with my usual doc but she has been unavailable and my work schedule is not at all flexible.
ANYWAY, I proceeded on my own and gave myself a day of therapy by hiking on a local mountain trail. It certainly was refreshing so now I've picked back up my work.
I'm taking baby-steps at this point -- as I have been doing with the entire project from the start -- and after having padded out a general overview of the world, I am focusing most of my attention on style. I've got my list of resources back on the first page but I have also come across the most beautiful medieval map since starting this project: The Fra Mauro Map... It's certainly heavily detailed and its orientation is perfect for what I have envisioned of my own map. The patterns, drawings, and scrolls will help fill space without having to think "Derp derp, is there a town/city here? Why is it there?"
Harenova is not at the height of technology or knowledge and while the map-maker is a citizen of the most advanced nation, an entire picture of the world is not so solidified as maps in the real world. It's a matter of aesthetic, ambience, and emotion that I want to convey within the story that the particular world is at the cusp of a real world equivalent of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution (17th century... thereabouts) however most of the world is still stuck in the medieval-ish era (either due to war, natural disasters, lack of resources, etc...). It's... difficult to explain as I haven't really seen many stories that might be like it...
Tatooine from Star Wars has become a heavy influence after recently viewing the films but this world is not so advanced to have starships, droids, and light-sabers... more like... makeshift dune-buggies+land-surfer, wind-up toys/clocks, and maybe a flintlock pistol here and there... all very rare things for a peasant/commoner to see.
I'm just thinking aloud here now.
The nobles, aristocrats, and university students of the most advanced nation have access to some technology (basic engines, wind up machinery... all relatively low-tech stuff) and the proletariat are without such luxuries. Yadda, yadda.It's fantasy, but I hope that my reasoning for such things is... reasonable. And while Harenova is mildly real-world based many of my decisions of the world and the whole story have been made because "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if...".
WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS: I'm not making a real-world accurate depiction of the fantasy world with this map but one that is created in the perspective of a character who is biased toward his nation and most likely drawing things so they look "pretty" more than accurate (mostly because educated guesses are the most accurate anyone can get thus far).
After all that... I have no progress right now. I'm just doing lots of research before I start the real work.
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