This Side of the Mountains

[Arhan]

Hi! I'm working on this regional map.. basically just making the stage for stories that happen in the realm. The genre is Dark/Low Fantasy, its sun shines sickly yellow and in general not really a happy place to live in. : \
This is drawn using OpenCanvas and a tablet. I'll probably paint the map using real paints (acrylics?) later, but I'd like to have the map fixed first.

Basic idea is that the region is 'enclosed' by prohibitively high mountain range(s) to the point they have no idea what lies beyond. They could try, but beyond the mountains it's no longer human territory and being eaten is a very real risk (though, they wouldn't know, no one that tried returned).

This is the initial design, made the countries not equal in size and power, and a little 'gateway' to beyond the mountains on the top right.



I enlarged the file, traced the forms then fiddled with altitudes, but haven't put in the rivers yet. The initial design had very straight rivers and ... uh, I think looked wrong for the supposed-scale? But the basic large rivers are there~

The more I'm working on it, the more it looks like the base of a canyon. Or collapsed plate? This is what I'm currently sitting on, still scribbly, the edges need more jagged look.



.. Still have no idea of the scale of this. /cringe
It houses 8 kingdoms (and a little archipelago no one wants to be responsible of), so.. ? Please help. T_T