Atlas Elyden #9 - Hololach

[vorropohaiah]

I hate this map so much! The topography took so long (especially in the south). The labelling took ages (largely as this was a region that I had not explored much previously, and all I knew was the coastline and mountains in the east and south and that the south was meant to be 'fjordy and Scandinavianish, but with a Mediterranean climate').

But I finally finished it, and I have to say it's one of my favourite maps now. I can technically do a lot more labelling in the south (and the labels in Aquariia to the NW and Ataraxia in the NE are still missing, mainly as those are also two regions i know very little about so I'll add those once I do the individual maps), but I'm so sick of this map for now that I'm calling it finished



Hololach is very much a land out of time. It is dominated by two geographical features that separate it from the east – the Toliasor mountain chain that runs uninterrupted from north to south for 1,000-miles; and the Holiasor mountains, which dominate the southern coast for 520-miles and is very difficult to navigate due to the large number of lochs and undulating rises along its length (attributable to ancient glaciers, whose force can still be seen in the boulder-strewn plains of Saleb).

These features have left Hololach largely separated from the east of the Inner Sea and helped forge its relations with the west – Sagittaria, Gnoth, Aquariia, and, more recently, Parthis. Its separation from the west means that many features introduced through industrialisation are not at all common here. Nomads, descended from the first Volupis of Hololach remain common, travelling the lands of Hololach and beyond in a long circuit that can take as much as a decade to complete, in caravans of hundreds of individuals.


The land is still ruled by a Volupis – halfblooded descendant of the first ruler – who is recognised as a divine being and treated as such. Hololach is divided into eight prefectures, each of which is ruled by a docent: practitioners of the Volupis’ divine teachings and shapers of unparalleled success – a dubious honour for the art of shaping is forbidden outside the docent caste, who maintain a strict vigil over the demiurge’s old art due to the dangers of its use there. The region of Oghyathav, in the north of the nation is a twisted wasteland where the Atramenta manifests as tangible nightmares thought to be ancient remains of a demiurge’s presence there millennia past. The nightmares take the form of twisted blackened formations, vaguely reminiscent of humanoid shapes or evoking emotions. Atramentists and scholars have studied the region hoping to learn more on the art of Oneiromancy (divination through dreams) and the history and mythology of the area.




#hololach #atlaselyden #fantasycartography #elyden