February 2018 Challenge: The Green Castle

[nopkin]

Since my chalkboard is occupied with another map which is going to take a while to complete, I thought I would try my hand at a traditional map for this challenge.

Prophecy: “When song becomes silence and the Gate of Crystal is opened, the Green Castle shall be found.”

The idea is something like this:

In the land of Valdoria there is an ancient cathedral, and in its tower, a water-powered automaton connected to a series of wind pipes plays a beautiful song, that is heard day and night over all the surrounding plains. That is, as long as the waterwheel keeps turning, under the force of the flowing river. But when a great and terrible drought hit the land, the river dried up and, alas, the Singing Plains became the Silent Plains. However, something unexpected happened as a result of the drought. As the river dried, under the eastern bridge, a chest was found on the riverbed. Inside, carefully hidden in a watertight leather wrapper was a set of old manuscripts, one of them showing the key to unlocking the Gate of Crystal in the North. What was considered for generations The Great Unknown Beyond the Mountains - as nobody has managed to reach it - turned out to be a beautiful, lush land, full of wonderful trees and peculiar little animals; and in the middle, a most magnificent emerald castle. So this must be the Green Castle that the legends of old were talking about.

Here is a rough (and dirty) pencil sketch for now. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

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