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Thread: Map of the Twin Kingdoms of Aran and Ilan - Handdrawn

  1. #21
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Azelor View Post
    I would say that I prefer the old mountains because they look more ramdomly placed. There is something I don't like about them though. The size is maybe just a matter of style but I think they are too close to the water at some places. That dosen't look right.
    My first instinct was to go, "NUH UH!!!" because some mountains *are* right on the waterline... or rather, they fade into (grow from?) Cliffs that are on the waterline, but...

    When I looked at the map, it did look a little... off.

    I think it's cause these are full-out mountains... not mountain cliffs.. and I've never seen them than close to shore. (Unless someone from Virginia wants to contradict me? ) Most of the ones I've seen that aren't cliffs turn into hills, and valleys/plains/flat-land-type-areas, and THEN coastlines... so you'd need to fit a couple of things in between, yes?
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    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Caenwyr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jalyha View Post
    My first instinct was to go, "NUH UH!!!" because some mountains *are* right on the waterline... or rather, they fade into (grow from?) Cliffs that are on the waterline, but...

    When I looked at the map, it did look a little... off.

    I think it's cause these are full-out mountains... not mountain cliffs.. and I've never seen them than close to shore. (Unless someone from Virginia wants to contradict me? ) Most of the ones I've seen that aren't cliffs turn into hills, and valleys/plains/flat-land-type-areas, and THEN coastlines... so you'd need to fit a couple of things in between, yes?
    You're right, I've had the same thought. That's why in my "new and improved" mountains I tried to make sure all outline strokes started pretty horizontal, and then grew steeper towards the top. Mountains don't just spring up from the plains (even though they might seem to when you're driving by them in, say, Grand Teton NP).

    Since I'm redrawing them anyway, I might do the mountains more "first version"-like, but with bottom swashes that are more horizontal: both rugged AND kinda realistic.

    About the coastline remarks: this is a huge learning experience for me. Normally I'm a satellite view kinda guy - heck, I work with satellite images for a living! Trying to draw a map by hand (well, by drawing tablet) is a pretty huge leap of faith. And thanks to your comments, I'm learning a lot. Thanks for that. Now, the only two regions I changed are the northwestern coastline, and the island in the south. Let's do a quick and dirty test on a better configuration, shall we?

    Here goes:

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  3. #23
    Guild Artisan Pixie's Avatar
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    I'm all for revising mountains as to make them "tectonically" realistical, everytime. But that's me, my 2 cents say you are in the right track.

    But could I point a fact about realistical impenetrable ridges? They normally have some form of plateau on one of the sides. Himalayas are pretty much impenetrable, but there's the Tibetan plateau; Andes are the most straight up ridge from the ocean you can think of, and there's the andean plateau, from California inwards (say San Francisco-Reno) it's pretty much up, but then it's always in altitude to Utah, there's a ridge between Iran's mainland (which is a plateau) and the Persian Gulf...

    So, consider that... That big lake, for example, about half way up from the center, could be in altitude..

    Also, (and I know I may not be helping)... Older mountain ranges (no longer active) would already have had glacier erosion at some point. This creates easily crossable valleys.. see the Alps, or the Scandinavian ridge, for an example. Plateaus, on the other hand, don't really have glaciers, at most they'll end up with spread out lakes/depressions of various sizes.

    A desert/frozen plateau could be just as impenetrable for an army on the march as a couple of peaks lined up. You can still make it fit in your imagined setting.
    Last edited by Pixie; 02-01-2014 at 08:56 AM.

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    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Caenwyr's Avatar
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    Thanks Pixie, You're absolutely right! I do intend to add plateaus to the mix. As a matter of fact, most of the zone east of the central ridge will be some sort of plateau, especially to the north. The huge lake north of that ridge is indeed a rather high altitude lake (which in turn drains into the western ocean). Below you'll find a small update, with some better mountain ridge distribution and an updated coastline.

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  5. #25
    Guild Artisan Pixie's Avatar
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    Good improvements, imho.

    I'm wondering though, what sort of climate(s) do you have in mind. For some reason, the map resembles Alaska a bit, to me, so I am imagining something towards cold and forest covered. Still, this is a bias from the land shape and I have really no idea. What are your thoughts on it?

    The reason I am asking is that a high altitude lake doesn't need to drain unless the precipitation is significant, it could just be on the rain shadow of the ridge. Hell, if it is reasonably high and dry it will simply fill in spring with melt waters and have its level dropping until next spring because of evaporation. No draining would mean no nice valley for people to travel through...
    Still, it's your map, so I don't want to intrude with too many ideas.

    The revised coastline looks very nice.

  6. #26
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pixie View Post
    Good improvements, imho.

    I'm wondering though, what sort of climate(s) do you have in mind. For some reason, the map resembles Alaska a bit, to me, so I am imagining something towards cold and forest covered. Still, this is a bias from the land shape and I have really no idea. What are your thoughts on it?

    Lol... I keep seeing a warped north america... Texas is huge, california completely swallowed by the sea... but now I see alaska.


    Anyway... I thought all lakes drain... or, rather the water either drains away or is absorbed... just some more slowly than others... could it be it's an underground drainage area?
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  7. #27
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Caenwyr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pixie View Post
    Good improvements, imho.

    I'm wondering though, what sort of climate(s) do you have in mind. For some reason, the map resembles Alaska a bit, to me, so I am imagining something towards cold and forest covered. Still, this is a bias from the land shape and I have really no idea. What are your thoughts on it?

    The reason I am asking is that a high altitude lake doesn't need to drain unless the precipitation is significant, it could just be on the rain shadow of the ridge. Hell, if it is reasonably high and dry it will simply fill in spring with melt waters and have its level dropping until next spring because of evaporation. No draining would mean no nice valley for people to travel through...
    Still, it's your map, so I don't want to intrude with too many ideas.

    The revised coastline looks very nice.
    Well actually, I'm going to drain the lake through a graben between the central mountain ridge (the Cyradan) and the mountain ridge north of the island. While this might sound kinda interesting geologically, I'm mainly resorting to this solution because the draining river is an important transport route in my story. One of the few places where people from both sides can meet without actually crossing the mountains.

    Regarding the climate: the northernmost regions are really arctic, but below the east-west mountain ridges the climate evolves from taiga to an almost mediterranean feel. Still have to work out the details though.
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    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Caenwyr's Avatar
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    Okay, this is what I've got so far. One massive mountain range done, a bazillion more to go. What do you think of the style I used for the mountains?

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  9. #29

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    It gives me the feeling of the spine of a giant monster somehow. Not a bad thing (except if you didn't wanted)! It will be different with other mountain ranges, I suppose.

  10. #30
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Caenwyr's Avatar
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    Well it IS called the Spine of the World in some places, and even the Dragon's Backbone (which would be "Arcyslacir" in the local language). Not that I'm hinting at something or anything ;-)
    Last edited by Caenwyr; 02-06-2014 at 12:15 AM.
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