Actually as far as I recall China has a similar thing where the central plain basin leads into mountains nearer the coast and a bunch of rivers just carved underground paths to go through there. Or something like that. I think it had to do with rock that faulted easily or had huge flat faults or something... (the program was more about giant caves and tunnels than rivers)
Edit: Just looked it up and it has to do with something called Karst topography where the rock is actually soluble.
Last edited by Falconius; 09-20-2016 at 06:18 PM.
Looks like a very interesting world and amazing map! The background texture is amazing and the color of the ocean is very nice. The coastline is really awesome and I think the glow on it looks great!
I love the huge scope of this map and all the content in it.
The mountains are simple, but look great.
I can't wait to see this finished!
Update!
Didn't cover much ground in terms of actual map lately, but I've been trudging through the South labels! I also did a lil' trick with the forests now that I got a chance to rework the multi-layered monster document. I added a very slight tint to the areas around the denser forests (mainly the Western elves in the upper landmass).
I've resorted to the life-saving name generators I found off the internet, usually either writing them as they were generated (rarely) or taking inspiration from what came from there! It's useful -> http://fantasynamegenerators.com/
Apologies in advance if any of those pseudo-chinojapanese names I made up mean anything rude
This attachment also has a bunch of notes on where I'm going to take the map. If you've got ANY advice at all, especially regarding the empty spaces I've marked on there.
Last edited by Alturax; 09-22-2016 at 05:45 PM.
This is looking good, Alturax! By the way, if you're planning on drawing dashed lines, know that there are ways to automate that, both in GIMP and Photoshop (it's easier to tweak in the latter, naturally, but GIMP can do the trick as well. I'd be happy to explain how to do it in either if you're not sure!). I notice you already found how to do dotted lines, so no need to explain that ;-).
Regarding the place names, yeah, I've also resorted to using http://fantasynamegenerators.com/ in the past, but another trick, and a bit more fun to do maybe is take your inspiration from the radio/songs. I remember when I was labeling my Tesset Gallí map, I had the radio on for the incoming news reports on the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport (those were some horrid hours I can tell you!). And as a sort of tribute to the fallen (yes, I know how corny that sounds!) I started using random words I heard, deforming them and putting them in my map.
It also works with somewhat less horrid radio reports by the way... Or a podcast or whatever! Even if no one else actually gets it, many of your place names get this vague tongue-in-cheekiness that adds a flair of mystery to your map.
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Great map! Just wondering about the scale, what are the dimension in KM of this map, it seems like a pretty huge region!
Big update!
- Added RUINS, which are pretty much abandoned settlements, scattered throughout the map, with old roads to follow up with them!
- Refined Shading on the tree sections by adjusting layer opacities
- Started thinking about scales, etc.
The scale markers and a comparison to good ol' Portugal:
Any tips for scale are welcome, honestly, since it's usually something I struggle with!
It's looking really good I think. Nice job on all the labels, though I do wonder how to pronounce Ngasixhenxe (which is for me so far is something like Ne'gaa-six-henje
Also this region is absolutely enormous! Are the circular lines latitude lines?
Update!
- Redid the little tiny effect I add to text to make it stand out against the sea in a non-ugly fashion!
Here's a closeup:
Regarding latitude lines, etc. I'm gonna give you a brief explanation as to why the lines emanate from Andoria rather than an important geographical marker, like the poles.
In the lore of this world, we have a bit of a conqueror-type main human faction. They also have a church which makes them the Holy Empire, effectively giving them the belief that they are the center of the world. Because of this, the standard Imperial Map comes with a bunch of organized lines and sectors emanating from the great capital of Andoria!
Imagine a bunch of crazy religious fanatics who think they are better than all the others, deciding to explore the world. They make a map, but make their centerpoint the capital!
Then the lines are there for city planning, etc. As you can see, there are certain fortresses scattered along these lines, and some roads paralleling the lines. This comes from some sort of city-planning reform that organized everything along the lines of the maps. I guess if you see a curvy crooked road, you can think of it as an older one, while the more neat organized and arranged ones are new.
If that rambling makes any sense, then that should provide enough explanations. I'm not sure if latitude lines make sense, considering scale, etc, unless Andoria was in a pole! Which it isn't.. I guess the conclusion to this little section is that this map is an Andoria-centric Map
Big update, sorta.
- Added a bunch of terrain/province labels
Criticism Welcome, the map is nearing its end!
I think it's a pretty darn cool map. I thought the lines might be something like that but figured I'd check.
Down in the Old Kingdom of Thrane there are what I thought were brown texture lines passing over the rivers though which I find kind of odd. ...or now that I look around they might be old roads... Which I take to mean that the cities that are empty circles must be the ruins you mentioned.
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