Artistic Althanas Map

[The International]

I just got this computer a buddy of mine gave me. He owns a computer shop and owed me a big favor. Anyways I'm sitting here taking a look at some programs he left behind that he thought I might like, and he left me GIMP. It's very much like Photoshop, which I dabbled in a lot back in the day, so I was thinking I could make an Artistic Map of Althanas. I just have a few questions.

a) Is that map in the Handbook accurate?

b) Where is Dheathain?

[Hysteria]

That is.... FANTASTIC! Not having maps of some of the continents is annoying. About Dheathain... I have no idea, I've never heard of it.

I've heard of GIMP, but I just downloaded Illustrator.

[Ryari Ksartharjaa]

Acording to what I've heard, the map in the Almanac is very old, and may or may not be accurate.
Dheathain, I think, is located on the large unnamed island that is on the far right side of the map.

But this is just a newb talking...

[The International]

I'll get started as soon as I'm given an okay by one of the officials. I can't put my time into an outdated map.

[Rayse Valentino]

Don't try to make the whole world, just make the 'known world'. Like one of those old timey maps of Europe. Wistful clouds around the borders to indicate the unknown. Put Salvar above Alerar, Raiaera to the right of Alerar, connect them all with Kachuck in the corner, and that's most of it. Give Corone its big island (I say it's as big as Australia) off the coast of Kachuck somewhere, probably closer to Salvar. Then there's the lesser regions, like maybe Scara Brae is like a bit south of Corone and closer to Raiaera.

[The International]

I wasn't going to make a globe or anything. Sticking with the region was the idea. I have two questions about what you just said though. Which side of the Landmass would Kachuck be on? I know it's mostly between Salvar and Alerar so I'm guessing the west side. It's also a part of the same mountain range that eventually turns into the mountains of dawn/twilight to the east, right?

[Rayse Valentino]

http://i.imgur.com/0EsFG.png

I'm obviously not drawing on a consensus here, but Sighter tells me this is how he had it. The green area is Kachuck. Also, Corone is not that close to the coast, but I put in there for reference. I like to keep things simple and then expand on them, that way people understand what's going on every step of the way, so that explains my over-simplification here.

[Lord Anglekos]

That is.... FANTASTIC! Not having maps of some of the continents is annoying. About Dheathain... I have no idea, I've never heard of it.

I've heard of GIMP, but I just downloaded Illustrator.
Dheathain is the land that Witchblade created. It's the land of the Draconians and the Fae. You should look it up; I've roleplayed there once or twice.

[Hysteria]

Kinda like this Rayse? Where the centre island is Salavar, Alerar, Kachuck and Raiaera, the small Scara Brae and the bigger Corone?

[Duffy]

I remember the Elven nations being up to the left more, and Scara Brae was on the right side of the Corone slightly lower to the right.

Dheathain and the unexplored realms were then up to the far right of Corone/Brae.

[The International]

I could have sword Berevar (sp) was connected to Salvar, thus making Raiaera Alerar and Salvar a part of the "Mainland".

[Rayse Valentino]

The world isn't static. We can shape it to our liking, it doesn't have to follow the standards set in 2002 by one person. I would shape the world in such a way that makes it more interesting, and to that effect think of Europe and how that was set up and how interesting things happened there based on region. You had the Iberians, with a brief line of water between them and North Africa, and a mountain range between them and Spain. You had the Baltic States, who had a similar setup with Slavs through the mountains to the right and a small amount of water between them and mainland Europe. You had the Balkans, which were similar in their watery divide was with Turkey and they had a fishing culture due to how many islands there were. All of the big medieval empires were ones with a big coastal presence.

What's the connection here? Cultures very often had a regional divide. Mountains, bodies of water, etc. But Hysteria sort of took that to the extreme to imply that these places are ONLY disconnected by natural causes. In fact, when I look at his map, I think that the borders are completely arbitrary. Too MANY mountains and bodies of water that divide people and cultures. I don't have any suggestions really, just that there should be more of a continental mainland and not all countries should be forcibly divided by natural barriers.

[Hysteria]

I was going off the old map and your drawing, but I get what you mean now. The old map here (http://althanas.com/world/faq.php?faq=althanasalmanac#faq_almalerar) (scroll up, it might move you down the page), like Rayse said isnt great. The way it is there wouldn't really be the flow of people to Scara Brae when it sticks out from the rest of the continents.

I think the most important thing is to maintain a landscape that allows people a wide berth of possible stories. Having a large sea allows people to have sea adventures, dotting islands would allow for a pirate haven and so on.

The other thing I think we should remember is the history information, here (http://althanas.com/wiki/index.php?title=History) requires some geological formations, namely, mountains between Alerar and Raiaera, Berevar to be above Salvar, Corone should be fairly close to Alerar, but with a decent enough distance that it took a while to find, Fallien is in the natural exploratory path of Alerar (so south east, but not as far as in the current map). It would make sense of Fallien was near the equator as well given it was once a lush jungle before it became a desert. Scara Brae isn't mentioned, but for it to be a melting pot of people, I'd put it near Alerar, close enough to Corone and Fallien to be reached by whomever and used as a trading centre.

Of course these are just my ideas :p

[Yari Rafanas]

The world isn't static. We can shape it to our liking, it doesn't have to follow the standards set in 2002 by one person.

Interesting you should say this. I've on multiple occasions actually written this as a brief line is some of my threads, where Yari has just accepted that the world around him is in a constantly changing state. His own forest home of Concordia is strangely evolving with every year. Is Jadet east or west of this river? Who knows... it's just over that way. It's not hard to believe that a magical world like Althanas has that mystical, mysterious layout that nobody can quite agree on.

[The International]

This is an extremely rough version of an old style map. As you can see I haven't added boarders or anything, but surprisingly that's not the hard part. Obviously the large island is Corone, one of the tiny ones can be Scara Brae, another can be Fallien, the main landmass will have Alerar, Raiaera, Salvar, and Berevar(sp) on it. With the main pieces together I can create several themes out of this. Right now it's as if the map was drawn on an old fashioned canvas, but I can make cartoon like maps, graphs etc.

2444

EDIT: I also have much LARGER resolutions. I don't know how I managed to submit such a small version lol

[The International]

Double posting and super tired. Either the sun snuck up on me or I let time get away. I'm posting this as my new outline for the map. Both Corone and Scara Brae are bigger. I figured out how to manipulate Gimp to show bodies of water (in white), so I was able to make that large river in the middle of Fallien, which is now in the corner, and the frozen lake that separates Salvar and Berevar(sp...again) And with this I'm going to bed, dammit!

2445

[Hysteria]

I like that make up of the landmass a lot.

The landmass that juts out from Corone at the bottom south-east may be suitable for Akashima?

[Breaker]

I really wish I had more to offer on this topic, but all I can think to say is that we should try to get some input from someone like Sighter, Elrundir, Thoracis, or anyone else who was a regional mod back in the day. They're the ones who crafted these regions, and I won't personally support a map for canonisation that doesn't have some approval from the former staff.

That said, I'm really glad there's so much interest, because I've wanted a proper reference map of Althanas for a long time, and the current one doesn't satisfy me at all.

[Otter Guy]

You should also consult Dirks about the position of Lornius, which is a smaller island off the coast of Corone somewhere, probably to the north or south(?)

[Duffy]

I am severely opposed to making Akashima separate, it has always been a part of Corone.

[The International]

I think you may have misunderstood Hysteria, Duffy. He was talking about that peninsula like structure that is a part of the Corone island.
Anyways I'll need to adjust the area north of Salvar. Those lakes are way too big and according to the latest FQ info there's less water and more mountains.

[Rayse Valentino]

Considering both Corone and Salvar are populated mostly by humans, I think it would make more sense to make them closer together geologically. If Corone is in the top-right of that continent, then they have easy sea access to Salvar and Raiaera, and would either have to go through those countries or Kachuck to get to Alerar unless they want to go all the way around the coast. The way it is now, Salvar and Corone should have no business with each other since they're so far away. I'm probably biased, but having a bunch of elves between humans seems very strange to me. Plus, it implies Corone is in a hotter climate than Alerar, which is silly. Also, in Sighter's old map Salvar had the Ahyark mountain range cut through the middle-ish right of it, with Knife's Edge at the southern edge with 3 lakes around it. Makes sense that a city would evolve there.

[The International]

2449

Not necessarily so. There are many many things that contribute to climate and species migration. I could look at both the geography and history of every region of Althanas and explain my way around anything here. In terms of basic landmass and water this is as far as I'm going unless Sighter, Thoracis, or Elrundir dispute it. And yes, ladies and gentlemen I used the ANCIENT name for Althanas, which is Al'Thayne. I'm takin' it back, bitches! Like I said before my work isn't done yet. Now come the actual boarders and geography etc.

EDIT: If anyone knows exactly how to make an image larger without compromising too much quality, PLEASE let me know!

[Rayse Valentino]

Well, I guess that makes the fact that The Company can get goods quickly between Salvar and Corone that much more powerful. Although I don't know how to use that power to my advantage.

Also why don't you just use imgur or something to upload it off-site? Adhering to Althanas attachment limit is gonna get you nowhere.

[Yari Rafanas]

Also why don't you just use imgur or something to upload it off-site? Adhering to Althanas attachment limit is gonna get you nowhere.

Was about to suggest this myself.

[Hysteria]

@Duffy: Yeah, like International said, the peninsula thing coming out of Corone. That landmass could have mountains, or a swamp, or something that would limit mass movement of people to greater Corone. That would help keep the cultural distinction and the need for a semi-independent governing body. You match that with a people who have live the same for many generations and the belief that their way is the right way and it would work.

@International: Is that the size of the image you made in GIMP? If so, would it work to zoom in, press Print Screen, then paste it into a new GIMP file?

Otherwise, I've got nothing.

[The International]

Good idea, Rayse.
...BAM! Old Fashioned map or Al'Thayne

http://i.imgur.com/shmisl.gif

Just so you know the above still isn't the full resolution, which is almost wallpaper size. The idea is to make it look like its been put on old aged canvas.

[Duffy]

Totz official this and let's be done, I love it :).

Apologies for the misunderstanding Hysteria, I'm with you now.

[The International]

Correction: It IS my wallpaper. HAHAHA!
Boarders and geography are on their way.

[Elrundir]

I like it so far. I'll probably have more input when you get around to adding the borders and geographical features, but for now, this is more or less what I've always pictured Althanas looking like. I have no particular knowledge of Scara Brae or its location on the map, aside from what previous maps have said, so not much to say on that front, but the rest looks good.

As for the trade between Corone and Salvar, there is land to the north of Raiaera that could very well be part of Salvar. I'm almost positive Salvar is supposed to have some degree of sea contact to the east, with a literally impassable mountain range cutting east-west and separating it from Raiaera below that. That could go right below that little peninsula that juts out to the northeast. Anyway, just some food for thought; either way I don't see trade between the two being particularly difficult for those that need it done.

[Rayse Valentino]

You need to upload the full resolution version, you jerk.

Also if you ever make a version with geographical features, I'd like you to take this advice into account: Most human civilization has lived near a sea or river. Water is life. Don't have a bunch of cities in the middle of nowhere, they should be around lakes, rivers, coasts, and whatnot, with a few exceptions.

edit: As someone smart once said, "this is the map of people with airplanes." It's great for us with our modern luxuries, but remember how medieval people lived and traveled.

[Christoph]

I'm glad to see this thread. I was involved with a previous attempt to make a good map for Althanas, but other things cropped up and forced it to the back burner. Rayse is definitely correct. Study some maps of ancient and medieval civilizations -- they're a great resource.

Also, I always thought that the positions of Corone/SB and Fallien were reversed.

[Silence Sei]

Hey Rayse?

Arizona and Nevada say 'Hi'.

[Amen]

I'm in agreement with Rayse, with the possible exception of the elf countries due to technology and magic, respectively.

Having been through Arizona and Nevada (and Wyoming and Nebraska and Utah) over the last week, I can attest that cities without a ready source of water are few and far between even today (and I mean, Vegas was built far from water for a very political reason, which I doubt would exist in a medieval world). I don't know how serious you want to get, but elevation might be a thing to consider too...there's a mountain range between the two elf countries, if I remember right, so you probably won't see cities on either side of those unless there are rivers too.

[Rayse Valentino]

Hey Rayse?

Arizona and Nevada say 'Hi'.

Tell them to call me back when they get human civilization.

[The International]

Guys I can't just go by geography and anthropology. Althanas already has a history and I already have three exceptions to your rules that I can't avoid. Ettermire, Eluriand (aint there anymore though) and Kachuck. My research so far places these three locations nowhere near a serious water source. I can take some creative license but then there has to be some type of consensus over it.

[Amen]

It's possible there are wells. Or some magical equivalent.

That sounds like a fun thing to imagine. Some sort of weird magical THING that floats around collecting water from the air or something. Magic fountain. Something.

I don't recall anybody ever addressing where it is dwarves get their water from. Well, no, I guess Gollum lived on an underground lake.

Anyway! I think mostly what I'm getting at is that there should be more rivers in Corone and Salvar.

[Duffy]

We can't readily compare human history to an elven civilisation, so I think it'd be best to apply the water/elevation theory to Corone and similar primarily human areas. Elves have magic and the know how more so than humans (mostly) to source water from other locations, so I'd wager Alerar and the High Elves arn't bound by necessity so much.

[Rayse Valentino]

I'm not saying they have to be next to the ocean, but a mere well does not adequately supply water to a city. Mountains/rivers/lakes and such, plus our good old aqueducts. Were these locations you mentioned really that devoid of any water sources? A river could be nearby, or a lake could be running through a mountain, or whatnot. There's nothing wrong with having Ettermire/Kachuck/Eluriand be inland, I just think that these regions, as originally envisioned, had WAY too few rivers. And big rivers separate into deltas, into smaller streams, and whatnot.

[The International]

Ladies and Gentlemen... Corone


http://i.imgur.com/vtOJr.jpg


A full atlas style map of all of Althanas is on it's way.

[Elrundir]

Hot.

[Lillith]

Well that's completely invalidated Lillith, and everything I've ever written about Akashima...

[Elrundir]

How so, if I might ask?

[Yari Rafanas]

Staff is working hard to get this right while pulling from MANY different sources, Duff. What are we missing?

[SandStorm]

Originally Posted by Silence Sei
Hey Rayse?

Arizona and Nevada say 'Hi'.
Tell them to call me back when they get human civilization.

Fyi I'm from Arizona and we have two of the largest cities in the U.S., so check yourself next time.

"Phoenix is the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with more than 4.1 million people."
"Phoenix is the largest capital city in the United States and the only state capital with over 1,000,000 people."
"In 2009, Tucson ranked as the 32nd largest city and 52nd largest metropolitan area in the United States."

Okay, we're uncivilized.. Yeahhhhhh, alright

[Lillith]

Akashima is meant to be divided from Corone by a mountain range, it's location is right, but as it stands, why hasn't it been invaded twenty times already?

It's always been depicted as a more rural and forested region interred in that range, and certainly, it is partially on the slopes of a mountainous region.

EDIT: Scrap that, I'll just consider anything written thus far to be located in the North on the slopes, misread information and nobody pointed out otherwise. Lol.

[Elrundir]

Akashima is meant to be divided from Corone by a mountain range, it's location is right, but as it stands, why hasn't it been invaded twenty times already?

It's always been depicted as a more rural and forested region interred in that range, and certainly, it is partially on the slopes of a mountainous region.
It may not be evident on the map, but right along the northern border of Concordia are the Comb Mountains, just southeast of which is where Akashima is located (particularly Ninyama, the only part of the country that's actually on the slopes of the mountain range anyway), according to the Hitchhiker's Guide. As far as I can tell from reading that thread, the nation isn't surrounded by mountains; the post makes clear reference to Concordia being just beyond Akashima's fields to the west, with no mention of mountains there, which is what the map depicts.

[Yari Rafanas]

Yeah, the Comb Mountains are stretching all the way across the region, and end right up in that Akashima stuff. :)

[Lillith]

Amended post as I realised my error.

Could it not be made more secluded, out of interest? Partially to serve my own interest, and partially for logical reasons?

[The International]

Well that does confirm something for me. Concordia is so thick that it's hiding the comb mountains, which contribute to the isolation of Akashima. The conflict we had here was that it was stated in one source that Akashima starts on the southern slopes of Comb, while another source says that Comb is more so a set of large hills, so we decided to veer the range off to the north to combine it with the Jagged Mountains. I'll shave a bit off of Concordia to reveal that geography some more.

[Rayse Valentino]

Okay, we're uncivilized.. Yeahhhhhh, alright

You realize I was talking about medieval societies, right? You think that many people would live there if there was no running water or electricity? I mean, really.

As for Corone, that looks good for a barebones map. I think the rivers should be in blue, since I only realized they were rivers after reading that half-blanked out font. That's another thing: I understand what you're going for with this font, but having it be nearly unreadable doesn't really add much for me, especially when you mix in the bold regular font for the city names. Also I might be mistaken, but shouldn't rivers become deltas at the coast, not at the source (the mountains)? They should also branch a lot more in general, but there are plenty of non-branching rivers in the world I suppose.

Aside from all that, looks fine to me. I'm sure anyone can add any lakes/minor rivers for their own canon without upsetting the map. That's the thing about maps for fantasy: You don't need to follow them to the letter, but they help as a general guideline so when you get into something with someone else, you're on the same page.

[The International]

Points taken... I'm going to get rid of the terrain labels just because I haven't found a good way to label them without making the whole thing too busy. I'll be working on that part.

http://i.imgur.com/TIgeY.jpg

[Duffy]

Win, can base past threads in North Akashima and the whole map is much clearer, nice work :).

[Jack Frost]

Hold the phone...

What the hell is that ridge between Radasanth and Underwood. Is that a mountain range I see, when was that put there?
Also, for the sake of sheer awesomeness could someone write up maps for each town, and then code the map to where you click on the towns and it pulls up their map with an awesome zooming motion, preferably with a sound effect?

[Elrundir]

That ridge is the low-lying Comb Mountain range, and it's been there since long before there was a map depicting it. Basically everything in International's map is based on the Hitchhiker's Guide that Letho wrote a couple of years back.

[Jack Frost]

Ah okay. I was not aware of that, is there a link posted earlier on in the thread?

[The International]

Jack, as tempting as making, or just writing city maps would be, it's something that I fear would hinder creativity. Maybe some land marks and an overall architecture at most for a visual thing, and most of the effort would probably go into demographics and culture on the staff's part. Reason being - As a player if I write something about the city that the map doesn't say is there, a particularly strict judge can kill my continuity score AND my setting score. If we just so happen not to mention something like a red light district or an arena, then it's fair game for the player. If we don't show it on the map... then they're restricted.

If the format of the site more aggressively pressed information onto the players it would be a different story, but that's the beauty of Althanas. The info is there but it doesn't insist upon itself.

[Elrundir]

Yeah, I think just the important landmarks of major cities and their general layout are all you need, and I think threads like the Hitchhiker's Guide tend to give those pretty well. Anything more specific just restricts creativity to a degree that isn't really necessary to maintain continuity.

[Rayse Valentino]

It's almost perfect. I just don't like that top-left corner. It sort of hurts the eyes and doesn't really add anything to the map, and the font is sort of obnoxious.

Aside from that, it's a really nice map. It gives you the info you need without spamming you with misc information and stays consistent.

[The International]

My new cure for writers block. Listening to my old Yale lectures while doing this.

http://i.imgur.com/Cysj9.jpg

... very meditative.

Notes - I haven't put in forests, rivers, boarders, and a whole bunch of other stuff yet. Couple of interesting facts. This is a 2000 x 2000 pixel image in its original format. It we were to consider every pixel a mile this would cover 4 million miles. I used the histogram and found out that the land surface covers about 1,835,268 miles. We can give the pixels any value we want to. I just thought that was interesting.

[Yari Rafanas]

This is really cool.

[orphans]

Can't wait to see it updated more. Kinda wish I knew how to use photoshop myself...

Question though, do you use a tablet to draw? If so... I'm jealous, even though I have no need for a tablet (since I can't draw :D... )

[The International]

No drawing or tablet required. There's a way to make both photoshop and gimp generate the shapes of a landmass that, to me, seem much more realistic than anything I can draw. Something along the lines of rendering clouds and then polarizing them to make only black and white. What I did here was I used that method in about six different files until I found the shapes I liked, then I cut and pasted them onto the same file. Every landmass and body of water (which was in white) had its own layer, which allowed me to move things until I liked where they were. Then I flattened the image and used that as a layer mask to add the features.

http://i.imgur.com/Cysj9.jpg (http://imgur.com/Cysj9)

Here's a linked image so you can Zoom in and see it in its full resolution. I for one don't like the water or the hills (which look like fucking forests). I found a really really... really sexy stylized way to make an ocean, so I'm going to take a shot at it. I'd also like to point out that the methods I used to create this map and the Corone one are different. I'm leaning towards this one.

[Hysteria]

I think I just jizzed in my pants.

[The International]

Cleaned up the oceans, got rid of most of the hills, colored the northern mountain ranges with ice, snowcaped the Kachuck range, added national boarders and decided to play with the rivers. I know the rivers are not exactly accurate for Raiaera, Alerar, or Salvar. I just wanted to throw them down for the sake of practice. Concerning the boarders, I did everything I could to abide by everyone's suggestions at the beginning of this thread. Salvar runs across the north of both Raiaera and Alerar, and even though it has the most land, most of it is not habitable. Every nation also has at least some access to the eastern side of the main continent. That way we can add ports on that side and give them access to Corone.

http://i.imgur.com/hd5oa.jpg (http://imgur.com/hd5oa)

[Amen]

First: I've been drooling over this like nonstop, and it always serves to motivate me to write.

Second: Somebody point me at info about the Tular Plains. I've seen then mentioned in various posts, but I know next to nothing about them, and obviously they're not yet a major canonized region.

[Rayse Valentino]

Honestly, I think Kachuck should be its own region. I would put them at the point where Raiaera, Salvar, and Alerar meet. Just say they declared their independence when Alerar invaded Raiaera, citing not wanting to be part of this tyrannical regime anymore. They've been preparing their mountain fortresses, impenetrable by conventional armies, for years, and finally found the right opportunity to break free. They could be like Switzerland, a truly neutral region famous for trade. I don't know why dwarves have been getting the long end of the stick in Althanas lore, because they're not cute and pretty? Bullshit. Give them a nation.

Also, Salvar is missing the Ahyark mountain range that cuts through vertically in the middle. It stops about 3/4 of the way down so there's some space between it and the mountain range that divides Alerar and Salvar, and that's where Knife's Edge is. You could look at the 'latest' Salvar map and go 'huh? I thought Ahyark WAS that range' but that's the re-hash. I want to go back to Sighter's old map, or at least something like it, because it had a much better landscape. I can't find it at the moment, though, but Knife's Edge was surrounded (not directly, a little ways away) by three big lakes as well, and all of Northern Salvar is pretty much snowy forested mountains.

[The International]

Second: Somebody point me at info about the Tular Plains. I've seen then mentioned in various posts, but I know next to nothing about them, and obviously they're not yet a major canonized region.

None. It's in the old map, and my investigation has only turned up a few tiny details. It resembles the African bush, and the Haidian Demons attempted (but failed after being wiped out by Salvar) to settle there after a mod decided to over run their underground territory with Dwarves.


Honestly, I think Kachuck should be its own region. I would put them at the point where Raiaera, Salvar, and Alerar meet. Just say they declared their independence when Alerar invaded Raiaera, citing not wanting to be part of this tyrannical regime anymore. They've been preparing their mountain fortresses, impenetrable by conventional armies, for years, and finally found the right opportunity to break free. They could be like Switzerland, a truly neutral region famous for trade. I don't know why dwarves have been getting the long end of the stick in Althanas lore, because they're not cute and pretty? Bullshit. Give them a nation.

No.


Also, Salvar is missing the Ahyark mountain range that cuts through vertically in the middle. It stops about 3/4 of the way down so there's some space between it and the mountain range that divides Alerar and Salvar, and that's where Knife's Edge is. You could look at the 'latest' Salvar map and go 'huh? I thought Ahyark WAS that range' but that's the re-hash. I want to go back to Sighter's old map, or at least something like it, because it had a much better landscape. I can't find it at the moment, though, but Knife's Edge was surrounded (not directly, a little ways away) by three big lakes as well, and all of Northern Salvar is pretty much snowy forested mountains.

That'll all depend on who's Salvar the staff wants to use if we're going to make this an official map. Adding a mountain range will take no time, but adding a third lake (especially when I was told to take one out) requires me to start all the way over.

[Duffy]

Scara Brae moving still feels...weird.

But this is a steller effort!

And, where the fluck is Dheathain?!

[The International]

Scara Brae moving still feels...weird.

But this is a steller effort!

And, where the fluck is Dheathain?!
Letho's description actually says something about an epic bridge on the southwest side of Corone that connects the two islands. It might just be in the best spot.

As for Dheathain, it's too far east to include in the map.

[Rayse Valentino]

The dwarven revolution is upon us. You can't stop the tides of change!

[Yari Rafanas]

If we make the bridge canon, I'm going to burn that mother down. Boats and airships, please.

[Elrundir]

The dwarven revolution is upon us. You can't stop the tides of change!
I smell an event...

[The International]

If we make the bridge canon, I'm going to burn that mother down. Boats and airships, please.
I wasn't saying we should have the bridge. I was just using that fact to prove that Letho, an official at the time, considered Scara Brae to be southeast of Corone.


I smell an event...
An event that results in the redrawing of boarders is fine by me as long as it's actually earned. For now, as far as I'm concerned Kachuck is to Alerar as Akashima is to Corone. However, I don't see a conflict to be had. Both the Dark Elves and the Dwarves are economically bound to one another, they weren't forced to attack Raiaera with the Dark Elves, their history shows more cooperation than conflict... I can go on all day with this, but the subject is meant for another thread.

What I'd like to keep in focus is how to make that map as accurate as I can get it according to the information provided over the years. With that said are the boarders acceptable? The Artist Formerly known as Anebrilith would be in the northeast of Raiaera, but I was thinking Etheria Port (Alerar's port) could be placed on that little portion of their east coast. That way all watery roads lead to Radasanth. Well almost. As far as I've read Salvar's port is on its west coast, but I think that would speak to Corone's maritime and trade prowess anyways.

[Elrundir]

I've really got to stop trying to be facetious on this site. I'm 0 for 2 now. :(

[The International]

Redid the rivers to make them more realistic. I also added the Red Forest and other features in Raiaera according to what Flames described in the FQ.

Are there any other natural features I'm missing?

http://i.imgur.com/GeJ4R.gif

If that's all I'll get to the hard part. Drawing boarders, placing cities, labeling everything and then the dreaded cartouche.

[Rayse Valentino]

Well, if you go by Sighter's version then Salvar still has that Ahyark mountain range that cuts from the north most of the way to the Kachuckian mountains. Northern Salvar is looking a little too green too. All this is just going off of legacy works, which you followed for Letho's Corone, but whatevs.

[The International]

No biggy. I can add the mountain range and freeze Northern Salvar a bit. I feel like a god lol

[SirArtemis]

Sorry that I'm getting in on this so late. Salvar is my "region of choice" when it comes to writing. There's a pretty good map of its existence that I can try to link when I edit this post. However, on that most recent map where you are showing a temperature shift as you go from north to south, I would recommend making Salvar a tad bit chillier. I'd always envisioned it as an almost always cold area. Not like the north pole with glaciers and such, but definitely tundra-like with less "greenery" so to speak. More of a generally brown/gray.

But maybe I'm just talking out of my ass.

EDIT: Just read the post above. Epic fail on redundancy.

EDIT AGAIN: Seems the image of Salvar no longer exists. However, I could do a rough sketch of what I remember via paint or something if need be. I just recall that Knife's Edge was closer to the southwest portion of the map with a river running from the city out west into the ocean. Knife's Edge was depicted in my threads as being not more than a week or so's walk from the mountain range to the south, where the western side of that range was where people were entering. It reminds me of the Forgotten Realms map (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/wd_maps/FRposterLarge_72.jpg) regarding Icewind Dale almost. There is a small path just west of the mountain range that is where travelers enter the region of Salvar, funneled through, and a week's journey northeast from that pathway is the city of Knife's Edge.

[The International]

I've added the mountain range to Salvar, cleaned up and redirected the rivers a bit, and sharpened up a few coast lines. I'm going to leave Salvar the color it is for now since I'm having a hard time redoing the land color without screwing up all the custom work I did with the Red Forest. I'll keep at it when I can, but I need to get to the Antique version, which will distinguish boarders and city locations much better than this Atlas version.

http://i.imgur.com/8rDui.jpg (http://imgur.com/8rDui)

I am also pleased to announce that this will be used as the official map in the Althanas Compendium

[SirArtemis]

Looking good, TI. Keep it up man! ^^

[Silence Sei]

Question because I haven't read anything other than that beautifully made Althanas map but....

Are there going to be labels? And maybe closer up versions of the maps for each continenet, aside from Dhetalin, or however the hell it is spelt?

[SirArtemis]

http://i.imgur.com/hd5oa.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TIgeY.jpg

[The International]

Well what I'm doing right now is creating a hand drawn version of the map, where labels and such will fit better. The one you see here is the more geographical version. I like to imagine that's what N'jal sees when she looks down from the moon lol The colors and features are too colorful to try and fit words on that, but I'm going to try.

http://i.imgur.com/8rDui.jpg (http://imgur.com/8rDui)

[Silence Sei]

Next note; I love the way the red forest looks.

[The International]

Thanks. The next map is going to be vastly different from this one. Not in shape, but in style. It's going to seem much more simplistic, but surprisingly takes much more effort. At least in my opinion.

[Visla Eraclaire]

Query, has anyone ever designated what that island off the coast of Corone is?

[The International]

It's just there. I thought of removing it but then felt like it gave the Island some character. It could be Terrinore or Lornius. Not that I know much about those cities.

[Silence Sei]

Terrinore and Lornius are located to the southwest of the map, so its not those.

Edit: How silly of me, I was typing that while looking at a map of Corone. Yes, that small island is indeed Terrinore (the smaller one) and Lornius (the bigger one).

Double Edit: Or do you mean that island off the coast to the north, Visla?

[Visla Eraclaire]

Alright, well I've decided what I'm considering it to be. I was referring to the southern one, but if the northern one is undefined, I'll take that one. I've had 90% of my quests take place on an undefined island off the coast of Corone. The scale on the maps has never been very helpful but the northern one is probably large enough.

[The International]

*panting*
Oh God, this was a bitch and a half to make. Boarders are rough, rivers could use some cleaning up, but this antique style is what I'll be refining and using to designate locations of towns and such.

http://i.imgur.com/gatB8.jpg (http://imgur.com/gatB8)

[Silence Sei]

Interesting...

[Rayse Valentino]

So when is Tular Plains getting its own forum? Since it's apparently as big as all the other regions.

edit: The 'Where is the ecuador?' stuff kinda bugs me since Tular/Fallien are desert but Corone/Scara Brae are not even though they're along the same line, and that would mean there's another half of the world under them, but it's fantasy so it doesn't matter.

[orphans]

looking good!

[SirArtemis]

So when is Tular Plains getting its own forum? Since it's apparently as big as all the other regions.

edit: The 'Where is the ecuador?' stuff kinda bugs me since Tular/Fallien are desert but Corone/Scara Brae are not even though they're along the same line, and that would mean there's another half of the world under them, but it's fantasy so it doesn't matter.

Unless this map isn't EXACTLY north to south and slightly tilted...

[The International]

We can attribute the climate of every region on this map to wind currents, terrain features that interfere with weather patterns, a worldwide thermohaline oceanic vent, or the Tap. And Tular is not getting its own region any time soon since you managed not to notice how big it was on the first map, on which Fallien isn't much further south than Corone either. By the way Tular isn't a desert. It's a savanna. Given the map making tools I have and appropriate resolutions used for the map I can either make Corone and Scara Brae deserts, or get rid of Fallien.

[Ruby]

Don't make me come and find you with a machete dear...

[Jasmine]

I do wonder where the equator is for my own purposes. Jasmine's home island (Moriah) is a tropical location, but I'm not really sure where it would fit in right now.

Also as to the matter of it supposedly not making sense for Fallien to be desert but Corone and Scara Brae not: there's quite a bit more to a region being a desert than location. The amount of water available to the region and whole bunch of other science stuff I just learned (and do actually remember) play a bigger role than lat and long. Otherwise, more of the US would be desert, or the desert wouldn't exist.

[The International]

I always imagined the equator to be a bit south of the entire map.

I forgot one little tidbit of info about Fallien that can explain this whole thing. If we read the history of the island, weather didn't make it that way. Their goddess did.

[Ruby]

Beat me to it International.

Fallien is scoured, it's geographical features don't picture into any real world comparison.

Women are angry and then there's sand, nuff' said.

[Atzar]

I wish I'd found this thread before you'd gotten this much done. I could have helped with matching climates to the geographic features that cause them.

Still, this is a fantasy world. It's not like you don't have built-in excuses for why things are the way they are. Besides, even if you got it right, 99% of the population wouldn't even notice.