Solum, continental fantasy map
Greetings! My name is Juho Hirvonen and I'm seeking someone to do commission work for a continent on a fantasy world I'm building to run Dungeons and Dragons for my friends in. I have some ideas, including key locations, the general layout and terrains that I want to put on the map, but a proper finished map will help me get a more concrete grasp on the world and help me fill it out with things I haven't set in stone yet.
Subject
The map will be of a small continent roughly the size of Western Europe. The continent is called Solum and consists of five main regions, four of which form the mainland and one which is a reasonably large island on the western side. I don't really have a good idea of what scale would work best. As long as it doesn't utterly fall apart when zoomed in and is readable. I'll defer to you. Here's a very rough layout of the regions and descriptions of what they have within.
rough layout.png
1. Solan Heartlands
The largest and most populated region. Grasslands, forests, rivers and lakes. Elevation is rare, though not nonexistent. This region had parts of its landmass removed/separated by an ancient calamity. The northwestern part has more rocky and elevated terrain and is home to orcs and goblins. Some form of natural border to separate them would be welcome. The main city of the Heartlands, Concordia is basically the Rome of this setting. It sits on a central, easily reachable location with river access. Besides Concordia, there are many small-to-medium sized settlements in the area. This region is also where nomadic wood elves make their home, so plentiful forests are a given. On the northern border, a mountain pass is the primary passageway.
2. Isle of Nimbus
The Isle of Nimbus is separated from mainland by the ocean. Think the English Channel, but not as narrow at the narrowest point. The southern part is lower in elevation, still with its fair share of hills and mountains, but more plains and woodlands. The parts up further north are the highlands, where goliaths have their dwelling,are much harder to access with the terrain getting increasingly mountainous and elevated. The northernmost part is around the same latitude as Boreas’ southern parts. The main city is the only one in the world that could be considered to have industry, and should be placed in a location with easy access to natural resources and the ocean (for trade purposes).
3. Boreas
A mountainous, cold region with good access to the sea with fjords littering the coast. The region has a few lakes, though they are frozen for much of the year. There are two major cities here, though calling both citadels would be more accurate. There is a dwarven city built into a mountain, and the major human settlement is basically a huge citadel built onto the side of a mountain (think Minas Tirith). The two settlements do trade, but aren’t necessarily close to each other.
4. Élan Greatwood
This region is covered in thick forest, with a few lakes in the landscape. And not just any forest. The further east you go, the more obvious this region’s intimate connection with the Feywild becomes. It should be visually distinct from other forests on the map due to the magical nature. On the eastern end of the region is the Eladrin city of Cendriane, which is also the same location where elves first arrived to this world. The region has more elevation towards the coastline, though the forest itself is on relatively flat terrain.
5. Eberian Peninsula
A region that could be described as dead. As a result of a magical disaster, very little grows here, with the exception of magical crystal formations all over the landscape. The terrain is rocky and varied in altitude, and the region has two important landmarks. The first is the arcanist city of Eberia. As a result of having made extensive use of mentioned magical crystals, the city would not have any in the immediate vicinity, though they certainly wouldn’t be far away from those resources. The second is a place called the Scar of the World, a place where the previously mentioned magical disaster took place, leaving behind a gargantuan, unnatural canyon leading deep underground. The Scar doubles as an entrance to the setting’s Underdark. The border between the Eberian Peninsula and the Solan Heartlands is distinct, almost as if life itself ran into a wall and decided not to go deeper into the peninsula.
Style
I'm looking for something coloured. Simple but stylized rather than highly detailed. Here are some examples of styles I like. I'm not overly attached to any particular style, but they should give a good idea of what I'm looking for. I want the main regions and cities detailed above to be labeled (missing names are WIP), but want to be able to do the rest of the labeling myself. So a labeling style that's easy to reproduce would be ideal, and even just empty town markers where you think they make sense and such are helpful for my process.
https://www.maxsmaps.com/fantasy-maps-color
https://www.cartographersguild.com/a...3&d=1505960127
http://fantasy-maps.com/wp-content/g...s_06_small.jpg
Quality & Size
Semi-professional
For web use (Roll20/Discord)
For dimensions I'll defer to you, I'm no good at judging it
Raster
Time Constraints
Almost none. I want to set a deadline once you have an estimate of how long it will take, but this map won't see use for a long while and so I don't mind a lengthy schedule.
Copyright
I want to be able to use and reproduce the work for non-commercial purposes (playing D&D). The artist retains copyright of the map.
Budget
200-250 €, one half to be paid in advance and the other upon delivery of the finished product.
Contact Details
Email me directly or leave a post here with your contact information and I will get back to you. I'd be happy to clarify any ambiguities or answer questions you may have.
juho.hirvonen93--at--gmail.com
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