The Dominion of the Elders of Sorres

[LonewandererD]

Long title I know.

Here is the beginning of my new map, the Dominion (Dal equivelant of a Duchy or State) of the Elders of Sorres, this is the second of three projects I have planned. My last map, White Rock City, was the capital of the region so i thought the safest attempt for my next map would be to do the region itself. First some background, the region is the smallest of the dominions of the Dal, being only 7500 square miles which is a little more than 5% of the total Dal land. The region is bordered to the west by the Young Peaks, to the north by Jeharitu's Ridge and to the south by the northern coastal marshes of the Dominion of the Ten-Kerai clan. The land used to be apart of the Dominion of the clan of Sorres but the clan was wiped out after their lands were invaded by the Ten-Kerai and the Bae-Sunn clans. The Sava'N Elders of White City, who were known for the peace-loving ideals and great inventions, sent a message to the Jha'N, the leader of the Dal, pleading to have their people spared. The Jha'N proved to be mercifull on that occassion, and even though the Sorres were annihilated, the Elders were spared and some of the land were gifted back to them and the Elders were instated as the leaders of their own new dominion. Although most of the land captured by the invading clans remained in their possession a large tract of flood-plain, now called The Gift, perfect for the farming of rice was gven back to the Elders. The dominion is also protected from attack by other clans by a Royal Treaty, but only on the condition that the Elders do not take hostile military actions against anyone else except at the command of the Jha'N. This dominion is also the first case in the history of the Dal where members of the Sava'N caste have attained this much administrative power and, although they have no real military power or a noble bloodline, have a member sitting on the Jha'N's council.

Anyway, enough talk. I have already done the base work for the map including the water, landmass and colour and rough bases for areas of elevation. This map will not be as big or as indepth as my other map, I don't think I would be able to handle a task like that again anytime in the near future. More work to come soon.

-D-

[Yandor]

haha looks good so far, and right when I clicked on the picture, my first words were "Good hell hes crazy" haha but I only skimmed the post, went back and read it =D haha can't wait to see how it turns out, cause I can see this being just as intense as the first one without you even realizing your putting in that much effort!

[LonewandererD]

An update

Blended in some of the elevation levels to make some areas look more like hills than like terraces. Put in some of the rivers, the main ones at least, and put in the mountains.

I'm having some troubles with getting the forests, I'm trying to get a good solid covering of forest with the elevations still shwoing through. More to come soon.

-D-

[tilt]

looking good - try putting your forests in a multiply layer that should help preserve the levels

[LonewandererD]

False alarm, i solved the problem almost immediatley after posting this

I've put in some of the forest, still needs a lot more work and cleaning before I can move on.

-D-

[tilt]

you probably will remember but just in case- mask the forest where the river runs

[LonewandererD]

Can't talk for long because I really need to be asleep right now, a combination of exam nerves, a cold and work make for a tired D.

Nonetheless, here's an update. Added in more forests and rivers and put down the base for the marshes and floodplains, will be experimenting on them all alot as they really don't look like marshes or floodplains right now, anyone have any thoughts?

-D-

[LonewandererD]

I thought it was going be simply but again i was wrong.

After putting down my towns, main roads and defences I noted that my map still looked kinda empty. So in an act of insanity I decided to put in villages and dirt raods linking them all together, that filled up some space. Here's the map as it stands now, the purple dots show where the villages will go, one set every three miles or close enough to three miles.

-D-

[tilt]

very nice - and also very populated, one would think that perhaps there would be some less populated territories, something like a lot of villages close to the cities, and less as you move away. Villages on a string between cities - at least fitting with travel times. For instance D&D suggests that a person on foot or a cart can travle 25 miles per day (a fast horse double that), so that would with time create a village every stop. Likewise can a boat travel about 20-30 miles per day (sailing ship 80) which again would create towns and hamlets. I would also think that there would be a lot fewer towns in the forest, they would probably build at the outskirts instead.

[LonewandererD]

I had thought of that but the kingdom generator had estimated that I would need 890 villages to support an area this big and this is only 453, I lost space to the ocean. I am looking into removing viallges from the mountain and higher areas, i won't be removing them from the flood plains, that area is prime farming ground and the Dal would want to use it to it's full advantage.

-D-