Brysis

[Molch]

Hello everyone,
this is the WIP thread for my first map.

The small village of Brysis is situated next to the (as of now unnamed) marshlands eight hours of travel north of the proud city of Greyfalls.
Life for the people that made their home here has never been easy for there are no trade routes or even anything resembling traffic through Brysis. On the upside this misfortune made the people of Brysis much more self-reliant. A few fields north of town are enough to get them through the winter which finds them in poorly built wooden homes barely warmed by burning peat found in the nearby marshes. Every surplus in production is immediately taken by the lord of the surrounding lands living in his nearby estate not caring about the welfare of the people living under his rule (in fact he uses the village only as a supply for servants and supplies).
When recent news reached the village that their lord sold his lands to move into the city the citizens of Brysis reacted with mixed feelings. While few could imagine their lord's successor to be worse their fear is persistent.

The village is well protected by the border fortresses that surround the region as a whole and bandits are rarely bold or desperate enough to attack this close to the city. So the people watch the lonely watchtower standing south of the village and its wooden defenses slowly rot away in the damp air.

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Obviously this is a very early WIP (hinted at by the total lack of buildings and roads), but I like the terrain so far. Right now I am trying to figure out how to depict the swamp at the south side. As soon as I am happy with that I will start out with roads and buildings.

To Do:
- Compile a To Do list

Comments and critique are of course more than welcome. Make me better please

[Thought]

A very nice starting map; I also really like the terrain. Presumably the water at the bottom of the map is the marsh?

Have you considered the affect of bog iron on the town? It sounds like they are too poor to import needed metals, so bog iron might be an important resource for them. Its a rare source, so metal would still be scarce, but it could be a sign of "prosperity" among the villagers.

[Molch]

A very nice starting map;

Thank you!

I also really like the terrain. Presumably the water at the bottom of the map is the marsh?

Correct. I'm working on it right now and it's looking good so far.

Have you considered the affect of bog iron on the town? It sounds like they are too poor to import needed metals, so bog iron might be an important resource for them. Its a rare source, so metal would still be scarce, but it could be a sign of "prosperity" among the villagers.

Actually I have. Most tools will be made from bog iron making the search for it important enough to brave the danger posed by frequent peat fires silently smoldering under the surface. Soldiers are directly under the lord's command and get their weapons through different channels.
One of the more important buildings will be the blacksmith and his bloomery.
Also the town will sport an inn of sorts where the servants of the lord's visitors will usually live.
The lord's estate itself will not be on the map but will probably be featured on its own map.

[Ascension]

This looks great. As a fan of dark maps I really like when the "feel" of an area can be represented...in this case a dark and spooky swamp. I need to know what sort of general scale yer lookin at here before I can help ya with yer list. If those are intended to be mountains instead of rocky outcrops, then I'd say scale is quite large so I'd say the fleshing out would consist of roads and cities with some sort of texture on the water maybe. If they are just sort of rock totems piled up by the people then you could go full on with houses, carts, canoes, etc. and some junk in the swamp like deadfalls, snags, moss, etc. and a few gators.

[Molch]

Quick update just so people get an idea what I'm working towards.
Actually it isn't intended to be that dark. Someone else also told me that it is pretty dark. Maybe my display is too bright...

ToDo:
- Trees!
- the watchtower
- more houses
- farms
- special houses (Inn, stables, blacksmith, etc.)
- more work on the swamp
- more work on the houses (more colors, prettier roofs, etc.)

Again, comments and critique are more than welcome!

[Ascension]

I have a bright monitor setup a well...it came that way right out of the box. You have at least one fan, though (me) cuz I can see it all just fine. I think the roofs could use a bit of grunge but I'm sure you'll get to that and the river blue should probably match the other blue.

[Molch]

I think the roofs could use a bit of grunge

Err... I'm sorry but what do you mean by 'grunge'? English is not my native language and the meaning of that word seems to escape me right now.

the river blue should probably match the other blue.

Originally I wanted the river and the swamp to be different shades of blue but it does look weird, doesn't it? I'm going to introduce another color to the swamp so I can make it and the river have the same base color.

[Ascension]

Grunge....um...dirt, rust, holes, burned...wear and tear. Currently all of the roofs have the same color so break that up somehow.

[Molch]

Ah, I see. Will do.

[Molch]

Grunge is done. I used chimneys to break the monotony and varied roof color a little bit.