The rule is there to stop people submitting a completed map with days and days worth of effort put into it thus giving an unfair advantage to people who otherwise have only 25 days to do it. I posted a map once which I had worked on but not completed and we have had others who got a small way in too. Its happened before and I think its no problem. Also people use premade bits of art like mountain tokens, or dungeon gear and other bits and pieces too which we normally try to declare where we got them. Its more about making an honest attempt at doing the map in about a month than being super strict about the exact second it started. If you had done two weeks already then it might feel bad to others but a few hours... I don't think anyone can claim that they are going to spend every minute of their month on a map so that one or two extra hours would have made all the difference. Your efforts were one of the strong reasons I asked to put this challenge forward to this month so that what people are naturally trying to achieve can be made into a challenge with possible gold compasses or prizes to gain from it.