Reply With QuoteLove ornaments and borders! Not a map but pieces of art.
The Eshan Gate
Hi Guild !
I realised a few times ago I missed to post the final version of this map drawn for the June 2021 challenge, and I can't imagine a better way to finish my year of map making with posting my favorite map of 2021.
The Eshan Gate is one of the magic wonders in my own fantasy world. I already mapped some parts of it here and there on the Guild, and of course, the amazing J.Edward mapped the whole continent for me here.
We're here in the realm of Ar'Thard, and most precisely in its capital, Danedir. Thard is the seat of a very specific magic based on the Darkness. Don't get me wrong : there's noting bleak, mean or dangerous here. Darkness often has a bad reputation for us, but it's not how it's considered in Thard. Darkness is only the lack of senses : without seeing, smelling, earing, in pure Darkness, you can sense the reality beyond the world, and touch the Gods' essense. Darkness is an old, old thardian philosophy, which became more over centuries, mostly thanks to a genius scholar named Eshkor. By learning things beyond the physical reality of the actual world, the Darkness priests, with Eshkor as a leader, discovered the geography is not exactly what you can think, and (among other things), they could use the Darkness rules to 'fold' the universe and connect two distant points. Don't push me to go in the details : Eshkor mathematics are a nightmare and I'm a map maker, not a mathematician. All what I know is if you pass through the Darkness veil of an Eshkor gate, you exit in a distant point. Enter in the ground floor, and exit in the highest room of the highest tower. Easy, and very useful ! Well... of course, there's painful rules : the biggest is the distance between the two gates, the taller the gates have to be. That's why you'll often find Eshkor gates within an unique building.
Thardians are well-known in Oneira for their architecture : the tallest, the most impressive, all done with their sacred black stone, the kahrok, which is the most solid and stable when it's about linking it to Magic or Darkness.
Now, to help you have the complete context, we'll have to talk about something which happened 9000 years ago, while the terrible War of the Keepers teared the world in two parts : the realm of Luvao, in North, and the realm of Thard, in South. Needing to federate his huge empire, Dar, King of Thard, who also was the disciple of Eshkor, proceeded to a magic miracle, catching the attention of everyone, instilling fear in his ennemies' heart. He basically... wrenched half of its capital to the ground, and made it fly in the sky, showing he was the most powerful king among all, etc. Yeah, yeah. Subtle.
Long story made short, Thard survived the war. We can't say it actually won it, but well, survived, with most of its lands, half of its people, and this damn flying city. Classy, but also... do you know what's annoying with a flying city ? Go to the market in the low city if your in the flying one. Or visit your old mother in the flying one when you're on the ground. Do you have your personal dragon ? I don't.
So. The new king asked the dear old Eshkor to solve this problem, and Eshkor created... this monster : the Eshan Gate (Isekën Eshan in old Thardian). The biggest, tallest Darkness gate ever. Remember ? The further is the destination, the taller is the Gate. It needed 8 years for the masonry, and 383 priests to create the Darkness veil, but the Eshan Gate now safely carries thardians from the low Danedir to the high Thardälm every day since the end of the War of the Keepers, and probably will continue until the end of times.
Usual things-to-know :
- 22x48 centimeters / 300dpi,
- Hand made in Photoshop 21 using a Wacom Cintiq Pro 16,
- WIP thread here.
Map of the Eshan Gate - 2021 - all rights reserved.
Prints available on InPRNT and RedBubble
Hope you'll love it, and once again : Merry Christmas !
Love ornaments and borders! Not a map but pieces of art.
You are too quick I can't rep you fast enough !
Another awesome piece! And IU agree with Narwen this is an art piece!
Woah! Nice ! I always love your personal maps as you can get really creative with borders, illustrations, shading and texture.
Gorgeous as your work always is!
Amazing work as usual! I really like the textures you add to bring an old feeling to the paper.
Thanks Narwen !Originally Posted by Narwen
Hehe, I see it as a map with a ridiculously huge ornamental frame :p
Hehe, it's rare enough when I find the time and courage to post, so I needed to strike while the iron was hot ^^You are too quick I can't rep you fast enough !
Another awesome piece! And IU agree with Narwen this is an art piece
It's incredible how freeer and more creative you feel when you draw for yourself. There's a lesson here I need to learn
Thanks so much, Kell ^^
I'm very glad you love them ! This was an interesting exploration, and will definitely push that further in the future
A masterpiece ( it's getting redundant really, can you do anything that is NOT a masterpiece ?) though I must admit I find this one particularly grim.
I definitely wouldn't want to get near this ominous gate.
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