Atlas Elyden

[vorropohaiah]

EDIT: the modern iteration of the atlas maps start on page 6, with post #110. All other maps before that were still 'prototypes' as I was searching for a style.

* * *

Hi all! One of the reasons I haven't been so active on the forum is my worldbuilding, part of which is the so-called 'Encyclopedia Elyden' which I tend to bring up in all of my threads! It exists in 2 worlds -

1) the real version that exists in my computer started out as nothing more than notes to help me in my own writing and world building, to help me locate places, items and other things I'd otherwise forget, though as my worldbuilding increased in scope it grew steadily larger, changing from simple bullet points to a target and something to aim for in its own right. Almost 10-years down the line I have over 600,000 words of text in the thing (over half of which are in the itemised encyclopedia entries - think an early edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica)

2) it exists as an in-world book that summarises the worldly knowledge of a particular nation and one thing I'm aiming for in my version is to one day create a hand-made version of this book for myself, though I don't see that happening until many many years down the line, if at all, as I'm constantly adding to it.

The in-world book is divided into 3 volumes: the encyclopedia, the world histories and mytholgies and religions, and the atlas.

We're mostly concerned with the third volume here. After much fretting about I've finally started work on this. After my uncompleted political map of Korachan I've settled on a style I'm happy with and will now set about mapping every known nation, realm and major land formation in the world. A monumental task, that, if completed, will leave me with a many-hundred-page-long document.

Each page is A3 in size and will incorporate a map on one side and various geographical, political, religious, etc information pertaining to the region on the reverse. The images are, so far, being created as individual pieces, though can easily be bound together if the thing ever gets done.

This is my work so far - mostly foundations for more detailed stuff to come later on. I've largely busied myself making a template I can quickly adapt for new maps, though sadly the creation of the neatlines and graticules are beyond my ability to automate and really take a lot of time to get done, even after running my equirectangluar world map through G. Projector. Hopefully this is the start of something far larger that won't peter out after a few months

Also, anyone familiar with my Holy Empire of Korachan map might be able to place these maps within that one. Keep in mind that these were made with far more precision than the older map and take precedence in the event of any changes

C&C welcome!

note: some of the titlebars and cartouches are still temporary, leftovers from the base template and some text does not yet make sense. also, the grid along the neatline on the Shibboleth map should be changed - from 2 to 5. per graticule grid

* more maps on post #14, #24, #29, #61, #67 and #70
Cuth.jpg Tzallrach (Char Mathi).jpg Jurras.jpg shibboleth.jpg

[- Max -]

Looks nice The rivers on Shibboleth map looks a bit off though (pixelated).

[vorropohaiah]

oh they're fine at normal resolution - it's just because we're so zoomed in that they appear that way ( i hope!)

[- Max -]

Yep that makes sense, should be ok at print size, as far as I've seen!

[gilgamec]

I like the look of these maps! The line and style is really cool, especially the water fill (which is too much zoomed in, but probably looks much better at 300dpi). A couple of things:
- Is there a reason for the strange projections? Are they supposed to match up with a smaller-scale map which has Shibboleth and Jurras on the west side and Tzallrach and Cuth to the east? Otherwise, it might be a better idea to choose a different projection so north/south is up/down.
- Again, if these are supposed to be excerpts it might be understandable, but on a standalone map, even one with a tilted graticule, I think the labels would look much better horizontally aligned instead of aligned parallel to the parallels.
- Is it supposed to be "Latitude East of ..."? Because normally latitude doesn't work that way.

[Korba]

Love the look of the coast, parchment, lines and text boxes (in particular)

Once comment from me (also on the Shibboleth map) is that in the far south you have a river system that looks like it forms a ring, might be a canal etc. but thought I would mention.

Korba

[Eilathen]

Very cool, Vorro. Glad to see you are still around and working on this I hope we will see this finished some day! I know i'd like to read it.

[vorropohaiah]

I like the look of these maps! The line and style is really cool, especially the water fill (which is too much zoomed in, but probably looks much better at 300dpi). A couple of things:
- Is there a reason for the strange projections? Are they supposed to match up with a smaller-scale map which has Shibboleth and Jurras on the west side and Tzallrach and Cuth to the east? Otherwise, it might be a better idea to choose a different projection so north/south is up/down.
- Again, if these are supposed to be excerpts it might be understandable, but on a standalone map, even one with a tilted graticule, I think the labels would look much better horizontally aligned instead of aligned parallel to the parallels.
- Is it supposed to be "Latitude East of ..."? Because normally latitude doesn't work that way.

not quite sure I get what you mean. Like most real-world cartographers I try to make the best use of space possible so some maps - like Cuth, which is more W - E oriented than N - S, makes more sense in landscape than portrait.

The 'latitude west/east of' is intended to give an idea of orientation - since I'm using an equidistant conic projection its impossible to apply a compass rose. Hopefully the form of the graticules should indicate where N is, though I might be making a mistaken assumption. also, for the sake of clarity Deochan (which appears in the 'latitude east of Deachan' is my world's equivalent of Greenwich

[gilgamec]

not quite sure I get what you mean. Like most real-world cartographers I try to make the best use of space possible so some maps - like Cuth, which is more W - E oriented than N - S, makes more sense in landscape than portrait.

I'm referring to the fact that none of your graticules are aligned with the page, either vertically or horizontally; maps I've seen generally have the projection centered inside the area being mapped, which causes the lines of longitude to be close to vertical. This means that your maps, where all of the lines of longitude (well, the vertical lines at least) are leaning the same way, look like they're all taken from one side or another of a larger map.

For example, a common projection used to map the USA is a conic:
usa.png
It's centered on 100 degrees, so the longitude lines west of this tilt right, and the lines east of it tilt left. Your maps look like if I'd used this projection to do a map of New England:
nw_usa.png
i.e. all of the lines tilt left. But if I were actually doing a map of New England, I'd use a projection centered on New England, like this one, centered at 70 degrees:
nw_straight.png
I hope this explains my comment.

The 'latitude west/east of' is intended to give an idea of orientation - since I'm using an equidistant conic projection its impossible to apply a compass rose. Hopefully the form of the graticules should indicate where N is, though I might be making a mistaken assumption. also, for the sake of clarity Deochan (which appears in the 'latitude east of Deachan' is my world's equivalent of Greenwich

On Earth, at least, lines of latitude run east-west, while lines of longitude run north-south, so you see "90 degrees longitude east of Greenwich" and the like.

[Jalyha]

I think the projection is fine. Not all maps are centered north-south, and every map doesn't have to conform to the "norm".

Also, this is not earth.

Pretty sure the longitude/latitude thing is right, though..