[Desert Continent] Anub'Volthrak

[LordNightwinter]

Paper Map (Final, Adjusted Mileage).jpg

So here is my semi-finished but still WIP map of Anub'Volthrak, a continent made up mostly of desert, salt-flats, and other arid terrain. This map (hopefully) will be used for my upcoming (again, hopefully) novel that is currently in the hands of an editor. I used Ascension's Antique Style Maps tutorial for this beauty.

Ascension commented on the odd color scheme and to clarify this planet was devastated by magic and ended up shattering into pieces. Most of the gods sacrificed themselves to save the people of their world. The result is that the continents drift through the Astral Fade (my equivalent of the Astral Plane). At the fringes the Astral Fade can be seen as the world's oceans seemingly pour out into the void.

Now before anyone cries WORLD OF WARCRAFT! I have a copyright that says I finished this world and concept in 1998 lol. So anyway I can't give much more away without spoiling things further. I plan on trying several more color schemes before I'm through. Tell me what you think guys.

[LordNightwinter]

So I've been playing with the various filters and the noise layer because the speckled colors irk me. So under Filter > Brush Strokes > there's an option called 'Sumi-e' that adds a bit of blur in a sort of random spatter. The result is above and I must say I like it.

Another update, I messed up the mileage and the location of THE major city in the book. Go me! lol

Saving for more info.

[LordNightwinter]

step13.jpg

Attached is an atlas style map of Anub'Volthrak that is in progress. The continent consists of deserts, scrub planes, salt flats, and other arid environs. The mountains are composed of several types of stone and the darker and black parts are composed of a rare (hard to mine and refine) stone called Voidstone, that's why it's all dark and swirly looking. And again the ocean slowly discipates in to the Astral Fade as you get closer to the edge of the continent. This landmass is where the devistation started and hit the hardest so it's the most unfriendly.

[LordNightwinter]

Final-Atlas.jpg

So here is the semi-final atlas of the desert continent of Anub'Volthrak. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Ascension]

Pretty cool color scheme. I might take out the continental shelf as I think this could stand on its own without it.

[Alex]

Awesome work, LordNightwinter! I really love the colors, and I'm a BIG fan of deserts, so I love it even more for that reason!

+rep!

[LordNightwinter]

Awesome work, LordNightwinter! I really love the colors, and I'm a BIG fan of deserts, so I love it even more for that reason!

+rep!

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm going to convert this to the Hand Drawn style posted by Gidde next. lol

[bartmoss]

I really like the map - good job on it. My main criticism would be that "Anub'something" immediately reminds me of World of Warcraft: http://www.wowpedia.org/Nerubian#Notable - You might want to rename it. Even if you came up with the naming scheme before they did.

[LordNightwinter]

I'd have to edit a 22 chapter 155k word fantasy novel that is currently being edited. They'll live. lol Honestly there's a reason behind it anyway. The main race of the world (now mostly dead) worshipped an alternate version of Anubis.

Ascension: As for the shelf are you talking just in the astral sea part or the whole deal? I'd thought about it myself, even experimented with taking the shelf off of the Astral Sea areas but I added it back in because the continents aren't flat underneath, they're actually large chunks of natural terrain. Rock, Lava, Glaciers, etc. lol

[Ascension]

If it were me I'd take the whole thing off and increase the size of the stroke around the continents to give that part more emphasis since the shelf is gone. Oh, and you have a river violation east of Veritas...the river splits and goes to the ocean in two places (only happens in a delta) so if it is a delta then move it closer to the coast, if not a delta then erase the one river.