Southern Beledira on parchment

[Notsonoble]

Okay, here's the boarders copied and scaled from the continental map (the xcf for it is on a different comp than the one for this map, and I kept forgetting to take a copy)

The line style is not final by any means... but where the lines are is pretty much set. So knowing that... would the western doraxia boarder (highlighted) be valid as a single river from the off map northern mountain range? Or am I gonna need some springs and such.

Note the forest is higher than the empty land but out of the mountains... The original world map I started with didn't generate much in the way of topology... so I have been trying to make a lot of decisions as I go... I haven't decided if it slopes... or if some where along the way it just drops off...

[Notsonoble]

Rivers, round two, fight!

[Steel General]

For the eastern-most river since there is adequate space between the tree symbols, I would have it wind its way through them rather than go over top of them.

[Notsonoble]

For the eastern-most river since there is adequate space between the tree symbols, I would have it wind its way through them rather than go over top of them.

Thanks for the catch... aside from that do they behave well?

[Steel General]

They look OK to me...

[Notsonoble]

Alrighty... time to go back and clean up the mountains and trees then... does anyone have a suggestion on how to show some lowering of ground level as you leave that northern forest? The actual mountain range stops a ways north... but I think I want the forest to mark the edge before a valley... here's a rough highlighter markover... obviously it gets all the way to sea level at the edges, and there's a lot of play in a "highlighter mark" that's 10 miles wide...

Suggestions (both about how to mark it on this style of map, and if they should be adjusted) welcome in fact, they're begged for!

[Juggernaut1981]

Just been looking more closely at the Cartouche. One of the things that does happen often is the "Map Title" is in a very elaborate style but the notes (of all sorts) tend to be plain, excluding the names of nobles (you need to stroke the ego of the people paying you). I'd be doing it something like below, the cyan parts would be ELABORATE fonts (to the point of only just being functionally readable) and the brown would be detailed but plain. It will almost look like older University Degrees (especially from the Traditional Insitutions: Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, USydney, etc).

Map of Southern Beledira
As commissioned by
[Lady] Janice Doraxis
on the third day of Jelenis in the 1550th year of Our Freedom

[Juggernaut1981]

Alrighty... time to go back and clean up the mountains and trees then... does anyone have a suggestion on how to show some lowering of ground level as you leave that northern forest? The actual mountain range stops a ways north... but I think I want the forest to mark the edge before a valley... here's a rough highlighter markover...

Okay, I don't think there is currently any good reason for the trees NOT to go into the valley. It's harder for trees to end up "uphill" than "downhill". Trees tend to have heavier seeds, so when they fall they aren't blown far and are usually transported by animals (or just roll down a slope). Consequently you will find bald hills, but rarely find trees "stopping" just cause they get to a valley.

If you are going to have them stop at the valley, then I'd recommend that you have a LOT of settlements through the valley. Villages should dot the place and there should be a couple of decent trade hubs, probably one fortified harbour city, 2 or 3 fortified trading towns, 6-8 small towns/large villages along major roads and at intersections.

A lot of settlements in the valley also means you will need a decent water supply, which probably means diverting one of your rivers. The "western river" would probably then need to run into the Forest Lake, out towards the east a bit, hit the "bottom of the valley" and then run along the bottom of the valley to the bay in the west. Doing this implies that there will basically by a small row of small hills in the east, probably just west of the large lake near the large Eastern bay. It can be used to justify the shape of that bay and the headland poking into the bay. Note: that lake should drain into the bay or just become part of the bay - no big issue one way or the other, but it will almost definately be brackish so fresh water for settlements will come from the river and not the lake.

If you wanted you could seriously deviate the river and make it run through the forest lake, down to the other forest and along near the mountains, gathering the mountains runoff and wandering across the potentially wide valley floor near the Western Bay.

Politically, someone will have conquered this area... the farmlands would be too valuable not to have an elaborate government, small standing army, a few knights errant (to protect highways, travel amongst remote villages, etc) and so on. Think to include highway taxes, trade tariffs and having some powerful trading, haulage and agricultural guilds.

[/end Thesis on Map Changes]

[Notsonoble]

Okay, I don't think there is currently any good reason for the trees NOT to go into the valley. It's harder for trees to end up "uphill" than "downhill". Trees tend to have heavier seeds, so when they fall they aren't blown far and are usually transported by animals (or just roll down a slope). Consequently you will find bald hills, but rarely find trees "stopping" just cause they get to a valley.

I can see this... and the zones of low vs high haven't had huge amounts of thought yet... so moving them isn't anything end of the world like (that lake really should be in the "low zone" anyway...

If you are going to have them stop at the valley, then I'd recommend that you have a LOT of settlements through the valley. Villages should dot the place and there should be a couple of decent trade hubs, probably one fortified harbour city, 2 or 3 fortified trading towns, 6-8 small towns/large villages along major roads and at intersections.

Doraxia has a pop a little over 11 million based on a fantasy demographics article, and 5 cities over 100K people... I've been trying to figure out where to put a lot of them... this helps.

A lot of settlements in the valley also means you will need a decent water supply, which probably means diverting one of your rivers. The "western river" would probably then need to run into the Forest Lake, out towards the east a bit, hit the "bottom of the valley" and then run along the bottom of the valley to the bay in the west. Doing this implies that there will basically by a small row of small hills in the east, probably just west of the large lake near the large Eastern bay. It can be used to justify the shape of that bay and the headland poking into the bay. Note: that lake should drain into the bay or just become part of the bay - no big issue one way or the other, but it will almost definitely be brackish so fresh water for settlements will come from the river and not the lake.

If you wanted you could seriously deviate the river and make it run through the forest lake, down to the other forest and along near the mountains, gathering the mountains runoff and wandering across the potentially wide valley floor near the Western Bay.

Is diverting the only option? I've always kinda felt that the few I have on there are not really enough, but I'm having a hard time finding sources for them...

Politically, someone will have conquered this area... the farmlands would be too valuable not to have an elaborate government, small standing army, a few knights errant (to protect highways, travel amongst remote villages, etc) and so on. Think to include highway taxes, trade tariffs and having some powerful trading, haulage and agricultural guilds.

[/end Thesis on Map Changes]

I almost got into a lot of detail here, lets just say that that's actually kinda similar to what happened.

[Notsonoble]

Just been looking more closely at the Cartouche. One of the things that does happen often is the "Map Title" is in a very elaborate style but the notes (of all sorts) tend to be plain, excluding the names of nobles (you need to stroke the ego of the people paying you). I'd be doing it something like below, the cyan parts would be ELABORATE fonts (to the point of only just being functionally readable) and the brown would be detailed but plain. It will almost look like older University Degrees (especially from the Traditional Insitutions: Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, USydney, etc).

Map of Southern Beledira
As commissioned by
[Lady] Janice Doraxis
on the third day of Jelenis in the 1550th year of Our Freedom

nvm I completely missread this...