the Continent of Ictaria - political map

[Caenwyr]

Hi all! I'm sure you guys must be sick and tired of my constant reboots of the same map – I know I am from time to time! – but I just can't seem to stop myself.

This time the reboot was inspired by my decision to drop the story I've been working on for the past 20 years and just start all over again. My problem was that over the years it had grown so complex and all-encompassing, with a multitude of "main characters" allowing the reader to explore the same building conflict from tons of different perspectives, that it had become basically unreadable. So yeah, instead of reworking the existing story, I decided to just drop it and start a different story 200 years in the future, but keep the world I had built for it intact. Well, mostly.

Because over the years I had slowly grown tired of the lack of realism in my largest map. I liked the coastline, but the mountain ranges were just too fantasy-esque. I know I was the one who drew them, I had just... evolved, I guess? So. I decided to throw out the topography and do a completely new one. And this time, I'd use it as a B&W backdrop to a large political map inspired by Hendrik Wuckelt's wonderful historical maps.

I'm still far from finished, but I wanted to share what I had already.

So I started by creating the first true world map I ever made for this story. Up til now I had only ever needed part of the continent, but I decided to do it good for once:
5.jpg

Then I started up G.Projector (a free lightweight tool by NASA) to take the part of the world I was interested in and display it in Lambert's projection:
LamConCon 20e45n 60-30-70 (2).png

Which I used as a basis for my terrain + political map. I won't bore you any further with intermediate steps, I'll just show you the most recent iteration:
0. political map (8 - 200%).jpg

I still need to finish the terrain (especially on the southern continent of Sakhuria but large bits of eastern Ictaria need some additional layers too), and I need to add a ton more labels, but it's starting to look quite okay to me. What do you guys think?

[Caenwyr]

Okay, a rather incremental update for you guys. I added a ton more placenames in the south and east. Still got a few countries left to do, but I'm getting there.

0. political map (9 - 200%).jpg

Once the labelling's done, I'll move back to the terrain. I know I know, that's not the way I should have done it *changes voice to petty 6-year old* but this is MY map, I make the rules!!

Also, I quickly wanted to test the waters with a handful countries in areas where the terrain was already complete (see central part of the map) and I got carried away

[Adfor]

Incremental or not, the progress is promising. I use the prefix "Caer" for my cities a decent amount, funny enough, "Caer Ulstaad" is a major city I've been thinking of drawing up recently.

The elevations don't seem to bother with the stark colors you used, and the labels look nice and clean for being created by a petty 6-year old.

IR

[Caenwyr]

I use the prefix "Caer" for my cities a decent amount, funny enough, "Caer Ulstaad" is a major city I've been thinking of drawing up recently.

Oh yes, in my invented language (one of two actually) "Caer" means fortress. In placenames it is equivalent to the Germanic "-burg" suffix, as in Hamburg, Leopoldsburg, Carlsbourg, Edinburgh, St-Petersburg etc. Cool to learn that you are using the exact same prefix! Does it have the same meaning too?

[QED42]

Oh yes, in my invented language (one of two actually) "Caer" means fortress. In placenames it is equivalent to the Germanic "-burg" suffix, as in Hamburg, Leopoldsburg, Carlsbourg, Edinburgh, St-Petersburg etc. Cool to learn that you are using the exact same prefix! Does it have the same meaning too?

Caer has the same meaning in Welsh, which I use for elvish in my homebrew world.

[QED42]

Looking really great, lots of detail in there!

[Sidmandoo]

Looks amazing. I am very interested in how you rendered the mountains. I like the abstract nature of them but they are distinct too and really work well with the overall style.

[Robulous]

Lovely map, my only crit would be the grey of the sea is a bit too similar to the grey tones of the northern/southern regions. Though tbh the coastal shading is effective so it doesn't really confuse the eye.

[Vigilus]

I think the composition of this map is awesome! I'm a fan, especially of how the political spaces make sense considering the terrain

[Caenwyr]

Okay, so this took a while! Since this is a personal map, I gave it a bit of a rest while I worked on two commissions (one for an actual paying client and one for my brother, who I assume is going to pay me with his undying brotherly love! ). But since the former is basically finished and awaiting input from the client, and the latter is... well, not finished by any stretch of the imagination but it has reached a point where brother dear has to provide me with tons of additional information (which he is still developing for his homebrew D&D campaign), I finally had a spot of time again to work on this map again!

First, let's reply to your kind remarks!

Caer has the same meaning in Welsh, which I use for elvish in my homebrew world.

Caer is Welsh huh? I should have known that. I've never learned or even studied the language for a bit, but I did read most of Katherine Kerr's Deverry novels (they are awesome!) where a form of evolved Welsh is used for the human language! With tons of toponyms etc. So I might have subconsciously stolen it from there. I dearly hope she (and you!) will forgive me for this blatant theft, for I'm probably not going to fix it. It just sounds too nice!

Looks amazing. I am very interested in how you rendered the mountains. I like the abstract nature of them but they are distinct too and really work well with the overall style.

Tons and tons of separate layers of black, each with a 10% opacity. I basically start from a white sheet of paper and then start drawing the contours of one elevation level (which I then fill with black), followed by the next, then the next, then the next again. For some mountain ranges, I've already done them all the way to the tippety tops of the highest peaks; for others I stopped halfway through because I was too giddy to start on the political bit. The southernmost mountains aren't done properly at all: I just threw in a few quick slashes of black with a fuzzy round brush. I know, laziness is the devils ear pillow or whatever, but the terrainwork was driving me crazy. Obviously I'll have to fix these last two categories before I can ever call this map finished. However! Once I'm done with the terrain, I should be able to turn it into a DEM and use it to shade this beast!

Lovely map, my only crit would be the grey of the sea is a bit too similar to the grey tones of the northern/southern regions. Though tbh the coastal shading is effective so it doesn't really confuse the eye.

Hey Robulous! Not sure what you mean with the northern/southern regions. Are you referring to the unfinished terrain bits? If so, see my remark just above this one and know that I will eventually make sure these mountain ranges will look the same as the ones in the center of the map. Someday. Maybe. If this map doesn't get sidetracked again by a ton of other commissions.



Phew. This update was a toughie! To you guys it might look like barely anything changed compared to the previous version, but since the PSB file behind this image is 6.6 GB (taking up almost 10 GB once opened in Photoshop), even the smallest addition took excruciatingly long. So I spent the better part of two hours on just a handful of additional labels in the far east, and the degree markings all around. Phew indeed. Luckily I don't need to work on this entire file if (when?) I decide to continue the terrain: that one is in a separate, much smaller file. But for now, here's the current version!

0. political map (10 - 200%).jpg

Any remarks or suggestions?