Re'Skaal - WIP

[Steel General]

I found some heraldic brush packs a while back, not sure exactly where I got them though.

[Katto]

Thanks for the comment Ascension. I found the symbols easily and they are quite useful.
I'll take a short break now, there are so much other interesting things in real life.

[landorl]

I found the Nick Staroba site and got the shields. I have been browsing the web for some symbols and found a few. I need to fiddle with Illustrator more to figure out how to make others. Still, it's a start!

The only downside about this current map is that it is a little dark. It looks like you pulled it from an area to the north of your main map, and it looks a little dark there also. The colors on your regional map were light and easy to see everything. Of course this is just personal opinion.

[Katto]

I agree that the colors are too dark at the moment, this will be changed after the rivers are drawn.

[Katto]

Here is a little update, I've added the borders and names of the realms.

[Katto]

Happy new year cartographers!

During the holidays I took some time to work on my map. I have no ideas to improve it, what do you think?

Here is a rough course of the continent's history:

First Cycle: The first time is characterized by exploration and rise of the first realms. Magic develops and becomes useful for daily life. Defected wizards form the "Great Council" and claim superiority about the continent. Their effort to match the realms against each other only partly succeeds. The combining force of wizards from all known realms defeat the "Great Council" in the so called "Magician Wars". The appearance of the continent changes and the realm of the council becomes the "Shattered Isles", a highly contaminated land with wandering horrors and dangerous ruins, but also with powerful artifacts. The race of the Dwarves vanishes.

Second Cycle: The race of the Gnomes arises and with them the knowledge of mechanics. Magic is proscribed these days, but in the south a powerful wizard (the only known one and now undead) that escaped the "High Council", Xandrosil, starts to get control over the land. He combines magic with mechanics and creates "Automatons", fearless warriors, that conquer the realms. Only the lands of Eldoron and Sarintir defy. Again magic saved the continent, the now called "Ritual of Separation" is performed, which split Xandrosil's realm from the mainland.

Third Cycle: Loose alliances are formed between the countries and the people look forward to a peaceful future. A new force called the "Guild" appears and claims possession of the island between the mainland and Xandrosil's realm. No one knows what's going on on these islands...

For me these Cycles represent all what I want to have in gameplay: a classic fantasy setting(FC), the combination with technology(SC, has anyone played the CRPG Arcanum?)) and a bit of a wasteland scenario(TC).

regards
Torsten

P.S.: The font size of the capitals is a bit small, but the original map is twice the size.

[landorl]

I like the map! I was about to say that you had some "tiling" with the textures going on, but after looking a little closer, I realized that it was a grid.

The fonts on the city names are just a little on the small side, but if you look closely, you can still read them. Based on your last comment though, I am guessing that this is a slightly scaled down version of the map.

[Steel General]

I think it looks quite good - though the overall palette is a bit dark for my tastes.

[Katto]

Thanks, I forgot to remove the grid, it was just for orientation.
I look up my maps on my notebook and normal PC, both with "normal" settings: average brightness, contrast etc. When I take a look at the maps at the computer at work, they really seem very dark, although the settings there are nearly the same. I embedded the standard Adobe sRGB profile in the last map in the hope it will help, but it doesn't. I have no idea how to fix this. The colors are the same, but the brightness and contrast are very different The big mystery of color management I think.

[Ascension]

I get that a lot as well because I use a bright monitor...so others see my stuff as very dark but I see all of the subtle color gradations. You might have to darken up your monitor settings. That will force you to work with lighter colors but that isn't too bad to get used to.