Atlas Elyden - the Republic of Almagest

[vorropohaiah]

Here's the fifth map in the Atlas Elyden project. Work slowed down due to illness, some commission work and writing. I was hoping for 2 maps a month, though I don't think I'll be able to regularly keep up that pace. This one covers a much larger expanse of land than the other maps I've worked on so far and took a while longer to finish, largely due to the topography, and it has quite a few labels, though even looking at it now I can see there's room for more

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(Note: the pale square in the top right corner will be where another inset map, this one depicting the capital city of Almagest in greater detail, once it's done (as it's taking a bit longer than I thought it would mostly because I'm designing it as a full-size map and will then be shrinking it to fit the space. The finished full-size map will be included in the Atlas as one of a handful of city maps describing important or strategic cities. I havent forgotten my promise!

The Republic of Almagest has a long history: as an independent land of astronomers and scholars based around the coast of what is now known as the Strait of Almagest; as a territory of the Korachani Empire (under the control of which it spent most of its history, prospering as an industrial centre); and as an independent region freed of its imperial shackles since 3014 RM, after a long period of civil strife with the Motherland. Almagest remains a powerhouse of industry, though waning lands have left its many large cities without food. The capital, Almagest, was once the largest urban area in Elyden, with no less than 6-million bodies calling it home. What remains of that is now a greatly diminished city where starvation and disease run rife. Press-gangers recruit desperate people with promises of glory in the army. The reality is quite different, and most who join up trade one form of hunger and uncertainty for another
Please let me know what you think in the comments, as I'm always open to input.

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