Immolate

I love maps. No... I'm serious. I really, really love maps. They are beauty and order; adventure and mystery; art and information. They appeal to every aspect of my personality. I think that, for me at least, they are the one perfect medium, the perfect thing.

Now you all may not be as freaky about maps as I am, though I'm sure some of you make me look hesitant by comparison, but I do know this: you all love maps. If you didn't, you wouldn't be reading this, and you probably wouldn't spend much if any time at the Cartographer's Guild.

I've been here for a year now. This has been my favorite haunt since the day I found it. I have a frantically busy life so I don't post as much as some, but I think it's also an innate aversion to chit-chat. I can do it, but it takes effort so I don't do it much--and when I do I kind of suck at it.

Blogs are different though. In a blog you're on the soap box, talking to the world. I don't know why, but it feels different. I'm definitely an I (INTP to be exact), so doing the "look at me" thing is cringe-inducing, but this doesn't feel like that. It's out of the way, so only people who are drawn to it will read it, and only those who enjoy it will read it often.

So I like talking about maps. I have some maps of my own that I think are pretty good, though not too many. There are some here, however, that I find so breathtakingly beautiful that I find myself staring at them, sometimes for fifteen or twenty minutes, just drinking in their magnificense.

I know a lot of folks read the blog, though few of you comment... and that's okay. But I think I can do a better job drawing you out and getting you to share your opinions and insights. I'm going to make a concerted effort to do so. Writing is fun for me, but interaction and feedback are nourishment.

So with this blog, I introduce my first Immo Awards. The Immo Awards are not annual, and are not constrained to a certain subject matter or category of subjects. I will put out a new one whenever I'm inspired to, more to soak up your perspectives than to inflict you with mine, but that too.

For this blog, the Award is for Amateur Cartography, and the eligibility requirements are: Your three favorites maps from this site. Here are mine:

Vaniya by Ramah

This map was my first love at the site and will always remain one of my greatest inspiration. Sublime. Not only is Ramah a genius of balance and subtlety, he's also a very humble and kind person.

Jasmine Coast by Ascension

Ascension has always been my hero because of his slavish devotion to creating tutorials and his daring to try new things. Jasmine Coast is a gorgeous, jaw dropping map. I will always owe a debt of gratitude to Ascension for all that he has taught me.

Ceres Map by töff

I cannot imagine a map more deliciously delicious than this one. It oozes bad-ass the way BP oozes oil. I could never have conceived this map in my head, but töff did, and then flawlessly transferred his vision to a picture.

Now I took some easy ones. They were right in the featured maps forum. Most of you are probably quite familiar with them. However, as easy as they were, they are my very favorites of all the maps I've seen here. I hope some of you have superb maps to share with us, and though I won't be surprised if many of you find one of my picks to be one of yours as well, I'm hoping that a lot of other really super stuff comes out of your psyche as well.

Remember... it has to be on Cartographer's Guild to be eligible.