Zaelia - A Personal Project

[Hustle]

Hello all! I've bounced around here a few times with several different styles as I try to find what works for me. In between my long absences, I've run a couple of campaigns in the world I've been struggling to map, and out of pure necessity, I (mostly) finished a piece or two so the players would have reference material.

I still consider some of these works in progress simply because I'd like to return to them and do more, but I figured since I actually finished something, I should display it and hopefully get some much-valued feedback for later projects! I've gleaned so much from you all from viewing your work, so hopefully this will be "something pretty to look at" in return.

Cheers!

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First up is a region of my world called the "Middle Ocean" (yes, very descriptive) and its surrounding lands. This one is sparsely labeled on purpose, so the players knew a bit about the ruling powers and where to find port cities, but not much else.

It also features my first ever try at implementing rhumb lines... I'm guessing that will be apparent. Please let me know what you think!

Baron's Chains Nautical Map.png

EDIT: I guess it would help to see what the work in progress "world" looks like at this point. Here is Zaelia as of now. The regional map above is a portion of the large ocean just right of center.

New Zaelia.png

[Hustle]

I got bored with the plain look on the original, so I added very simple mountains. Nothing fancy.

Baron's Chains Nautical Map.png

Also made a lighter version with the parchment at 50% because I realized it was a bit overpowering depending on the monitor.

Baron's Chains Nautical Map (light).png

[Gidde]

The mountain style fits very nicely with the rest of the map.

[Hustle]

I appreciate that, Gidde. With a map that predominantly features water instead of land, I'm thinking I should do something to focus on that, but I'm not as familiar with subsurface features. Any tips or ideas on how to flesh out the empty void of open ocean would be welcomed!

[Gidde]

How about shipping routes? Places where no ship has ever entered and come back again? Are there whirlpools lurking anywhere?

A waterworld is going to be heavily nautical if there is any sort of society.

Another way to go would be to put some boats on there, representative of the kinds people use for different purposes. Are there passenger ships? Fishing scows? Navies? How do these people make war?

Are there dangerous shoals mariners need to avoid? You could represent those.

Take a look at some satellite maps of earth's oceans ... google "blue marble" for some great visuals. It's kind of amazing how visible things like reefs and shoals are. Specifically check out the Great Barrier Reef area and the Bahamas area.

I hope that helps with some ideas

[Tenia]

In addition to Gidde's good advices, you can move your compass roses to the right, where they will interfere less with the coasts and occupy the area more. Good work so far, keep going on!

[Kellerica]

I like the mountains, and the muted colors of the lighter version work very well!

There is something about the overall layout of the map that bothers me a bit - I perhaps would have shown a bit more of the larger continents at the South-east part of the map. I get that the ocean is supposed to be the main feature, but from purely a visual layout perspective, it does look like a chunk of the piece has been cut off. I keep unconsciously trying to scroll down and left in order to see the rest of it. I don't know if this is something you can even do anything about by this point, but just something to consider for the future.

I like the rhumb lines, by the way, even if I can's speak for their functionality. But they sure look nice!