The island continent of Ered

[Anaximander]

The island continent of Ered was a childhood invention some 25 years ago, consisting originally of 44 discrete squares. While it didn't develop much from this outset on paper, my imagination was surely full of ideas of the landscapes that filled this continent. Also, the continent contained a diverse population speaking constructed languages belonging to five language families.

This last fruit of fantasy is actually the one which has prompted me to review the continent of Ered. The project in spe is to simulate the spread and development of all these constructed languages from the prehistorical beginnings to the classical world of Ered. But this requires a better mapped world.

I started out in Bryce, laying out 44 squares of land and adding mountains and erosion to fit my ideas of the continent. It is limited, however, how much you can add and erode before it starts to look odd. So I exported the last version to Landserf:

Ered3.jpg

Here, I expanded it to a 3200x2400 raster, added some fractal noise and more or less deliberate manipulations of local areas, getting eventually a version that looked less squary:

Ered4.jpg

I am not sure whether this will be the final reduction in squariness. For now, the next step will be to examine the small-scale suitability of the elevation. It may be that the fractal noise has made the landscape too hilly.

The total area of Ered is somewhere between 1 and 2 million sq km. White areas on the maps are above 4500 m, pink above 2000 m.

[jtougas]

Very cool. I am always fascinated to hear the history behind people's creations. Have some rep for a great first post.

[Anaximander]

Thanks, jtougas. You will find more about the history here:

conlangblog

[Redrobes]

Do you have an image of your islands as a greyscale height map instead of the false color ?

[Anaximander]

You mean like this:

Ered4grey.gif