November 2012 Entry: The Qalis Confederacy

[Diamond]

This entry represents a section of the known world that, up until a couple of centuries ago, was the seat of a mighty empire. Like all empires, it disintegrated. Civil war, natural disasters, goblin invasions, and sorcerous conflict tore the land apart. Hundreds of thousands died, cities fell, and much knowledge was lost. The former Zakurite Empire became a war-torn land carved up by dozens of competing noble houses, mercenary companies, trade guilds, and assassin brotherhoods. The eastern reaches, beyond the Ivory Sea, gradually became empty, haunted forests, while the west eventually stabilized (sort of) into a loose confederacy, established mainly to check the growing power of the Vendhyan Empire to the south.

Now that trade has resumed and the borders of the new Qalis Confederacy have opened, merchants and outlanders of all stripes have begun to trickle in. But outland memories of what lies in the interior do not exactly match current conditions...

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Here's the GM's map, nearing completion. Just need to finish up labeling everything. The Players' map is going to be more of an old-school icon map, not necessarily crude in style, but simpler, with inaccurate representations of distance and location.

### Latest WIP ###

[Lukc]

Wow! I love the texture and style on that I'm not the biggest fan of the "rocky text" for Qalis Confederacy, but ... wow now I *am* tempted to do something as well!

[amberroberts09]

ya me too I love the texture it look great. looking great...

[Diamond]

Thanks, guys!

I didn't care for the rocky text either, on second look. Changed it to just a glossy embossed black for future versions.

[Sapiento]

That looks very good!

[arsheesh]

A very nice entry Diamond!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Schwarzkreuz]

Ah, here they come
Its a great map and a ncie backstory. On my own entry I am also about the rediscovery of once lost colonies, with players having a much simpler map for their orientation.
This is a nice way, to make handouts.

[Diamond]

Yep, I'm liking the way yours is looking, Schwarzie. Oh, and thanks so much for posting that compass line thingie; you can see I made use of it here.

[Diamond]

The GM's map is pretty much done. Started a first pass on the Players map, which I'm not happy with yet, mainly because I want to rework that coastline woodcut quite a bit.

### Latest WIP ###

[jbgibson]

Niiiiice, Diamond. With that kind of backstory you don't have to restrict yourself to one inaccurate view -- shady scribes could market all manner of "Best View of the Coast! Accurate distances! Step right over here and we can fix you up with the latest on Qualis maps!" ... Get the players comparing versions and trying to figure out which is more accurate - or if ANY are accurate!