The Kingdoms and Tribal Lands of Elimarea

[jrforesm]

Elimarea is developing slowly as the setting for the fantasy story I've been trying to shape for years. I've been studying early English history and want to use a few key time periods as a base for my story, particularly the fall of the Roman Empire. So far, the Openst, Ghalentirk, Norndey, and Surnday have unified under their respective kings. Overlek, Endfall, Trems, Runsar, Vilguard, and Leatominok's borders are constantly in flux as they vie for land and resources. The Pershlands, Undarvi, and the Brenlaw Frontier are areas that have yet to be tamed by the peoples of Elimarea. Some years ago, all of Elimarea was united under one empire. But at some point, the empire fell, and its armies and infrastructure ceased to function. The Elimarean Council, the Nobility, and army slowly disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The lower class and landless population remained, and eventually unified into scattered tribes. Some of these tribes unified into larger kingdoms and began rebuilding where the Elimarian Empire left off. Their attempts at going anywhere beyond the central rivers have proven unsuccessful, as most of the exploration teams and army regiments sent north do not return. Those that do are incoherent, near death, and ranting about a strange group of natives in the deep forests o the Brenlaw Frontier.

...or something like that. Give me a break, I'm really just obsessed with the mapmaking aspect of this whole thing. I haven't even really written an official outline of the story yet.

I'm a huge PC gamer. Strategy games and city builders are some of my favorites, not to mention fantasy RPG's. Cartography gives me an opportunity to make my own world and my own rules.

This is my first post on cartographersguild.com. I've done three other versions of this particular landmass, rearranging the geography and studying different ways of representing land forms. I've enjoyed every passing hour of it, and plan on making maps for each kingdom/tribal area. I did the first few drafts in Adobe Photoshop, but then I remembered I have Artrage, which is a natural painting program. I highly recommend it. Its very affordable, it utilizes layers and other photoshop-ish things, and its a blast to work with!

I would love to hear comments, criticisms, what-have-yous. I love the stuff on cartographers guild...some of it was inspiration for this particular map.

[ChickPea]

Welcome to the Guild, jrforesm!

The first that catches my eye with your map are the very straight borders between regions. Whilst these do occur, seeing so many in such close proximity doesn't feel quite natural to me. Could you add some variation in those, just to mix it up a little? There are a couple of river issues too. The one at the top border of the Norndey region catches my eye particularly. It shouldn't split off from your main river like that. Take a look at this thread for some advice. It's best to start your rivers in mountainous or hilly regions, then have them wind towards the coasts, joining up as they go, but never splitting. How about, instead of your rivers starting in Endfall and flowing up past your mountains, start a couple at the bottom of your mountain range instead and have them flow down through Endfall, then out to the coasts? Of course, having read your intro text, you may have a particular world-building reason for the way the rivers are just now, which is absolutely fine, but it's something to consider if you want to make your geography realistic.

I think you're off to a really nice start, and your story sounds awesome! I've never tried artrage but I've seem some fantastic results from it. Looking forward to seeing you develop your world.

[jrforesm]

Thanks so much for the critique! I really appreciate it and I will take a look at the thread. It all helps a lot!