Maps of the North American Jianghu - WIP and First Time Mapper

[Southern Crane]

Welcome. This is the starting WIP for some maps for an upcoming project I will be starting. I was originally just going to do a basic political faction map of the amalgamated tribes of the North American Jiang Hu but from fiddling around the past week I decided to make a more complex map. I was encouraged to post this WIP even though there are several aspects I am not happy with.

The end goal of this completed map in a month or two will be a mix of Asian and Native American styles. This map is not yet in that state but I wish to achieve an effect that blends NA tribal styles with Asian wuxia aesthetics. That's the vibe of the stories.

Not happy with:
1) Originally this was going to be a basic politically faction map but I grew to not like these colors with all the other detail. I think I will split off a separate political map of the tribes with the colored shading.

2) I am not sure how to resolve all the style differences yet. I am using a mix of free PS brushes, photos that I turned into black and white icons and several fantasy map style tutorials. It doesn't achieve my desired effect but I working on it.

Things to do:
1) Trade routes. I have a basic idea for this but have to implement it.

2) Bordering. Some of the contest maps here have amazing bordering. I intend to work on that.

3) More insets. I absolutely love GamerPrinter's Ukiyo style icons. For this setting I feel like I will be using them forever.

4) Splitting this clustered map into several different map pages. I don't like this look atm. I want to try to do a simply political map, a shaded landscape map with monuments and some infographics and inserts to provide information spread throughout.

Any tips and advice and criticism is greatly appreciated.

JianghuTribeMap2.jpg