City of Norrilund

[HandsomeRob]

Norrilund is the capital of Barlovia, one of the world's most powerful colonial empires. The heartland of Barlovia consists of a large island in the far south and several small island chains surrounding it, but the Barlovian Empire extends worldwide, including Saldonia and several colonies in Tashakda and the Veldt.

Government: Barlovia is a constitutional monarchy. The beloved head of state is Queen Helen, but the monarchy holds little power in modern politics. The main legislative body is the Senate, which consists of 375 representatives elected by the nobility and 101 representatives elected by the common men. The Senate is chaired by the Prime Minister, Samuel Dalrymple. A small but vocal minority of Barlovians are attempting to abolish the Senate and return power to the monarchy.

Technology: Due to large investments in education, including numerous government-funded universities and scientific societies, Barlovia is one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. A network of railroads connects most of Barlovia's cities, and the naval fleet includes 85 iron-hulled steamships and 12 submersibles. Barlovia is yet to launch any airships, but the navy has commissioned numerous explorers to discover new sources of lift gasses so that an airship fleet can be constructed. Computational Engines are common, as are steam-powered gurneys and pneumatic postal tubes.

Norrilund: Norrilund is the capital and largest city of Barlovia, and one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of over 3.3 million. Norrilund was originally built at the most seaward crossing on the Saron River, approximately ten miles from its mouth. Since, the city has since grown to encompass an area of almost 90 square miles, incorporating many of the former towns and villages surrounding it. The city's 29 districts run the gamut from the mostly rural Browlesdon to the slums of the Chuff, the noble estates of Ammaston, the university city of Ivins, and the industrial Ainsword.

The map took me about a year to complete, working in periods of about an hour at a time for 10 to 12 days a month. I'd like to share it with you. I've got notes about pretty much every place labeled on the map, and there are a lot of them, so if you'd like to know more about a particular place just let me know.

Thanks!
-Rob

[LowerSpatialDimension]

That level of detail is absolutely stunning. For some reason I find it much more interesting to pore over fictional maps than ones of real-world locations (unless I'm studying them for reference). Anyway, this map just took a good quarter-hour of my night. Great work!

[vman3force]

Amazing. The level of detail is stunning. I'd love to hear more about the story of the city.

[jbgibson]

OK, I'll take the bait.

Does the Withey Arch commemorate something? Does the Scherfling clockworks put out timepieces or automatons? Am I seeing one Railway company, or multiples, and is any of that trackage electrified, or is it all steam-powered locomotion? Do the folks in Sangwick know that marsh is a health hazard? Or are the mosquitos how it got its name (sang-wick roughly could equal blood-sucker)?


Niiiiice work, sir - if I ration it out, there's a year's worth of perusal here - thanks for a very entertaining map! Wish I could dole out more than a smidgen of rep at a time.

[HandsomeRob]

Does the Withey Arch commemorate something? Does the Scherfling clockworks put out timepieces or automatons? Am I seeing one Railway company, or multiples, and is any of that trackage electrified, or is it all steam-powered locomotion? Do the folks in Sangwick know that marsh is a health hazard? Or are the mosquitos how it got its name (sang-wick roughly could equal blood-sucker)?

Withey Arch:
Withey Arch is a massive hunk of stone at the north end of Deer Park, spanning Leswick Road. Originally constructed to be the main entrance to Artsfield Palace, it proved to be too small and was relocated to its present position.

Scherfling Clockworks:
Scherfling's is best known for its pocket-watches, which are only made by special order, and for its cuckoo clocks, which completely cover the walls of the shop. In addition to timepieces, Scherfling's also manufactures clockwork arms and miniature automata. For larger robotics, Blackpool Automata is your supplier.

Railways:
The metropolitan railways are all run by Norrilund Metropolitan Railways. They are electrified, using power generated at Texley Generating Station and Ainsword Power Station. The four rail lines leaving the city owned by different carriers, and are steam trains.

Sangwick:
Soundingsfield Marsh is indeed infested with mosquitos of all shapes and sizes, and the source of much of the malaria that often plagues Norrilund in the summer. It acts as a hard boundary between the urban development and the rural fields. Plans to drain the marsh, as was done successfully earlier at Abbeytown Marsh, are being drawn up.

Thanks!

[Lukc]

This is ... immense. And nice. A serious map indeed! To my eye it resembles Victorian London quite a bit, right down to the constitutional monarchy, the beloved queen Vic ... Helen, the prime ministerial, etc.

This map should be uploaded in a format resembling googlemaps, where I could zoom and scan around it slowly ... my adobe reader keeps pausing to redraw! What program did you use to draw this? Did you draw it all in one go? And if you did ... oh your poor processors!

[HandsomeRob]

What program did you use to draw this? Did you draw it all in one go? And if you did ... oh your poor processors!

All in one file, a 9 MB Adobe Illustrator file. My ancient computer handles it just fine, as there are no linked images or transparency effects to bog it down. My continental maps, which are much smaller in area and level of detail, are nonetheless total processor hogs due to the linked images.

-Rob

[Lukc]

All in one file, a 9 MB Adobe Illustrator file. My ancient computer handles it just fine, as there are no linked images or transparency effects to bog it down. My continental maps, which are much smaller in area and level of detail, are nonetheless total processor hogs due to the linked images.

-Rob

Impressive, very impressive then! Kudos.

[Schwarzkreuz]

Also Repped and rated. This is realy amazing. And a dream of a fictional City-Mapping come true. Are there tuts how to do such a map?

[EricPoehlsen]

This is a nice city map. I personally find the wide spaced letters of the streetnames a little bit irritating. If you zoom in far enough to actually read them you have to scroll...