Syr reborn

[Kellerica]

Long time no map, my friends...

This is a second try at mapping the Lands of Syr - some of you may remember the two previous maps I have posted (that I am way too lazy to link here). This is a setting of mine, inspired by Finnish folklore and such, that I have been working on a couple of years now. While I was quite happy with the previous maps at first, I soon started feeling that they didn't quite fit the lore behind them. So I decided to try and re-desing the map one more time, and this is the result. Right now I've been working on it for days, and am way too tired to really tell if I'm happy with it or not. It's done for now, and that's enough right now. Hopefully after a good nights sleep I won't be as sick of it as I am right now

... sorry, I honestly am getting too sleepy to say anything even remotely smart... Here's the map anyhow, let me know what you think. Now it's bed-time for me.

Uusi Syr CG.jpg

[HadrianVI]

Now, this looks beautiful. It might be a bit dark, but otherwise it looks really amazing.

[Mouse]

Almost perfect

And the reason I only say 'almost' is to give myself room to say that it is perfect, when you've done something with that strange little arc that appears to be floating above the ground between and slightly below Terilo and the legend. The rest is so clear and in harmony that whatever that arc is just doesn't seem to fit to me.

Good enough to rep despite that

[Diamond]

I love your maps, Kelleri, and this one is no exception. The only thing I wondered is... where are the rivers?

[SteffenBrand]

Sad that you don't post that much, I like the one here very much =)
Also, I know very little about Finnish folklore - is there an overarching tendency towards which themes they tend?

[- JO -]

A most wanted map!
And as usual, it is excellent! It's impressive to see how you can change your style and every time master it! All this, keeping your line, your signature ... I think it shows a great talent!
The whole map is very successful: mountains, coats of arms, forests but I must emphasize that the rendering of the texture of the paper is exceptional!

[Voolf]

Great composition, nicely fit fainted colours. I would like to see a little more shadow on the mountains, but other than that, very beautiful map Kelleri.

[Ilanthar]

Really cool map, with your fantastic and particular style! The composition is great and I also like the shields.
Though, now that Diamond noted it, I'm also wondering where the rivers are .

[Kellerica]

A most wanted map!
And as usual, it is excellent! It's impressive to see how you can change your style and every time master it! All this, keeping your line, your signature ... I think it shows a great talent!
The whole map is very successful: mountains, coats of arms, forests but I must emphasize that the rendering of the texture of the paper is exceptional!

Thank you so much, JO! Such nice things to say, you really made my day

Great composition, nicely fit fainted colours. I would like to see a little more shadow on the mountains, but other than that, very beautiful map Kelleri.

Thanks! I hear ya, you're not wrong about the mountains... I made the mistake of merging all the individual shadow and lineart layers at some point, and I just couldn't be bothered to do them again, even though the texture ate up almost all the shading...

I love your maps, Kelleri, and this one is no exception. The only thing I wondered is... where are the rivers?

Really cool map, with your fantastic and particular style! The composition is great and I also like the shields.
Though, now that Diamond noted it, I'm also wondering where the rivers are .

Thanks, guys! The only reason I decided to not add the rivers was the fact that the map ended up looking a little too busy for my taste as it was. In retrospect, I probably should've made the whole thing a bit larger - I had the constant feeling of running out of room to put things (not helped by the fact that those damn forests are everywhere). If the past is any indication, I'll probably end up making several versions of this anyway - the next one will have the rivers, I promise!

[Kellerica]

Now, this looks beautiful. It might be a bit dark, but otherwise it looks really amazing.

Thanks! Heh... You know me, I like 'em dark

Almost perfect

And the reason I only say 'almost' is to give myself room to say that it is perfect, when you've done something with that strange little arc that appears to be floating above the ground between and slightly below Terilo and the legend. The rest is so clear and in harmony that whatever that arc is just doesn't seem to fit to me.

Good enough to rep despite that

Oh, that darn thing! That, as far as I can tell, is a hair It's actually on one of the textures I used - I've been meaning to fix it for ages, but always keep forgetting... Thank you for pointing it out, I really need to do something about it. And thanks for the nice words as well!

Sad that you don't post that much, I like the one here very much =)
Also, I know very little about Finnish folklore - is there an overarching tendency towards which themes they tend?

Thank you! What can I say, life’s busy…
As for the folklore… Some of the most important aspects would be polytheism, the veneration of the dead and a certain kind of shamanism.

While the religion of ancient Finns featured characters that classified as divinities, their role in everyday life and worship seems to have been surprisingly minor. The most revered things were the “haltija” (the only translation I could think of would be a keeper, or occupant maybe?) creatures that could inhabit almost anything from a forest or a lake, to an individual tree or rock. Families, homesteads and even saunas had their own. It was vital to keep a haltija happy, and so they were offered gifts and treated with the utmost respect (for instance, when a sauna was warmed, the family would wait before going in, in order to let the haltija bathe first).

The dead were also worshipped in a somewhat similar manner, and believed to take actively part in everyday life even after their death. They would often bring offerings to the graves, and every now and then there would be special holidays when the dead relatives were “invited” to a feast (again, the family would wait before getting to the table in order to let the dead eat and drink first).

The real heart and soul of Finnish folklore is the form of poems usually referred to as Kalevala poetry (so called for our national epic of the same name), and for that term for the life of me I can’t find an English term. While they often were used to tell stories and epic tales, they were also the form in which most spells and rituals were performed. A “tietäjä” (lit. “someone who knows”, a seer / shaman) would sing the poems while doing their healing rituals and such, but the common people would often use these in many everyday incantations (spells to keep the bear away from the cattle, etc.)

I’m sorry, I don’t know if I gave you anything that even remotely answers your question… It’s such a wide and at times a messy subject (and I’m hardly an expert and really suck at explaining anything like this in English), since there’s so much of oral tradition lost, due to the lack of written sources – sadly, the ancient Finns were not that big on writing things down.