Plagued by the notion that the shadows on my frame were detracting from an otherwise attractive feature, I decided today to deal with it. Now the frame itself got merged at some point in the past with some lighting effects blended in, and that was the crux of the problem. I could not remove what was no longer a property of the layer but rather a part of it--or rather I could but not without more pain than it would take to recreate it, and then some.
So I decided to scrap it. My redesign did several things: first, it kept the same basic premise - dark frame with fancy patterns. Second, it used a different pattern that was more easily extensible so that I wouldn't be faced with the prospect of trying to stretch or contract a complex graphic as I did on the last one. Third, I loved the idea of runes around the frame from MSA's entry so much, I decided to have a go at an interpretation myself.
The runic border was created using a font called Ancient Geek which I got from dafont.com. The words are sayings. For example, "Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim" means: "Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you."
All of the words are ideas that express a philosophy, presumably of the individual to whom the cartographer is giving the map. This reinforced the notion that the creator is presenting his work to someone of royal or noble blood. It also re-emphasizes the martial nature of the land of Faldanore.
I have learned some things about creating a world without a particular purpose as I have this one. I do not intend to use it beyond the contest, yet I've invested many hours into it. In that time, it has grown with each decision that I had to make, one by one, until it has taken on a life of its own. It has been a pleasure seeing this thing happen independent of my will, and at the same time strange.
My work has benefited greatly from commentary from a number of you, and I appreciate that help. I welcome additional criticism as we go down the home stretch.
