Argontath - Work in Progress

[Steel General]

Maybe give the key a parchment-y/leather-y background instead of the gray.

[Valtharius]

The naming of major cities, towns, fortresses, ruins and places of interest has begun... I am about 50% of the way through the map and thought I'd dump this on you before the weekend.

Steel, I will screw around with the Map Key once I am done with all the naming. Thanks for the advice on the change to parchment.

~Val

*** Just realized I didn't turn down the opacity on the town names.... they look radioactive right now***

[Soixante]

Looks good to me. Good names overall. One note though, all the ruins seem to start with Tor-? Must be a very widespread language to have named ruins all over the world like that?

[Valtharius]

The naming conventions for the cities and towns used are religious in nature as the pantheon that 'governs' Argontath is very much involved in the everyday lives of the inhabitants. Think Greek mythology.

'Tor-' (dead) - Fallen cities and areas of great destruction have been chronicled throughout the ages by the Priesthood of the Final God (circumlocutions are used in order to never mention his name as it is commonly believed that his name (Akbal - the most powerful of the Lords of the Kirei (darkness)) will bring instant death to whomever speaks it (it does too lol). The names of the ruins are rune marked (at the actual site) and recorded within the Tome of Tor (Book of the Dead).

'Cor-' (blessed waters) - Port cities that have a dedicated temple to Manetoaka, Lord of the Waters (one of the four Lords of the Lethin (elements)) take the prefix 'Cor-' and waters about the port are unnaturally calm, even during times of great storms. Other port cities/towns simply have an altar for offering/sacrifice/tithe near the dock areas.

'Khol-' (Place of Battle) - Fortresses (great city-keeps... not minor castles) with a dedicated temple to Voltar, Lord of War (another Lord of the Kirei) have bestowed upon them a blessing that strengthens the very walls and fills the reservoirs of a warriors spirit to fight well beyond what most would call natural.

These are a few examples. Many of the city/town names take the last name of the ruling power (many have retained the name even though that line of 'royalty' has either died off or fallen out of favor) in the area.

Someone sent a private message in regards to the great expanse between populated areas and how hard it would be to travel between them... simple logic within the fantasy world... magical travel (or god-given travel). The cure-all solution. lol To the far west of the map is a small island upon which the Nexus Gate rests. This gate allows for magical travel to even be possible. Mind you, many of the areas of interest (blue dot) are for a DM's reference. Very few are known to the inhabitants as they exude a powerful aura that simply makes unwanted guests very uncomfortable within the region... you know, that kind of place that you know is 'sacred' or 'cursed' and people don't wish to go near because of an impending doom but yet they have no idea what is there.

Hope this helps explain some of the (ill)logic behind the madness.

~Val

[Valtharius]

Another update... I finished up the naming of cities (several hundred names) and such for the campaign area of the world... the two continents to the east are unknown to the player races and should be pretty easy to finish up this week. Sheesh... my brain is tired. Once all the names are created I will finish up with bodies of water and re-do the country names so they blend into the map.

Enjoy!

~Val

[Ascension]

Yep, the hardest part of any fantasy map is coming up with hundreds or thousands of names for things...truly the most tedious part. I enjoy just making the terrain.

[Valtharius]

*whew* Finally finished naming all the cities, towns, fortresses, special places of interest and the ruins of the world.... My fingers and brain are officially numb. Next step... oceans, seas, bays, lakes and other bodies of water. Oh joy... heheheheh - I increased the detail of the coastal shelves as well.

Now I am off to find a proper font, style and color for water...

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

~Val

[Valtharius]

Almost done! Placed in rhumb lines and icon'd the points. Dropped in country names and names of unexplored areas. Created oceans and seas. Re-did the map key.

All I need to do is place a few lake names and name some of the bay/gulfs... then put a border around the thing (still trying to figure that out).

I thought I would drop in a pic of the hand drawn map of Argontath I did over 20 years ago and the current map as it stands.

Thanks for all the input guys! Ascension, special thanks to you for that great tutorial!

~Val

Hand Drawn Map of Argontath - 1988



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Current Map of Argontath - 2010

[Steel General]

Coming along quite nicely

[Soixante]

If I could offer some advice, it would be to make the names of the polar regions smaller. They kind of dominate at the moment, at least when taking in the whole map at once.

Cool that you still have the original 1988 version as well. Though it seems the lay of the land has changed quite a bit over the years.