Kingdom of Braegor

[landorl]

This is my completed map of Braegor, the Kingdom of the Sea. Braegor is a wealthy and powerful land, but also a land constantly in danger. To the north lies the lands that once made up the ancient and powerful kingdom of Lantari, of which Braegor was a part of before it broke up. To the south lies the lands of the ancient Manothian Empire, a land that has been keen to destroy all that remains of Lantari, and further to the west lies the new empire of Kesh, a land that is just now starting to flex its muscles on the sea.

Braegor has always had a great tradition for the seas. Many of the greatest shipwrights in the east are from Braegor, as well as many of the greatest sailors. Braegor boasts the finest, if not the largest war fleet in the Miriathian Sea. The land is a strong sea power because of this fleet, but it is also a powerful merchant land because of its central location on the Miriathian Sea. Ships from all over the east pass through the ports of Braegor, and in fact, many were built there.

For now, Braegor is a beacon of hope for the free kingdoms to the north, and a powerful advesary to those who would see them fall, but the balance of power on the Miriathian is shifting, and as the old empire of Manoth recovers its ancient strength, and the new empire of Kesh grows in power, the future for Braegor could be bleak.

[Sukerkin]

That looks very nice, Landorl :tup:. The thumbnail history sketch is a great idea too as it helps place the land in a context.

[TheRedEpic]

Nice map, what program did you finish it in?

[The Cartographist]

Really like the map. The symbols are effective; the names are better than I've seen in a lot of home-brew worlds; and the history provides some helpful context.

Couple of thoughts:
1. Have you considered taking the same map and making other versions with other important information such as political boundaries, major sea lanes or predominant racial make-up, etc.? Since you've obviously thought about those types of things, I think that they can be very easily and helpfully added to the map.
2. My own personal bias: I think deeper, darker colors looks better on fantasy maps than the lighter tones. But yours is still very effective.

[landorl]

The map is hand drawn with pencil and paper, then scanned as b/w and colored in Photoshop.

This is the first of a series of maps covering the NE section of a continent in my world. (the fantasy one, not the one I live on).

I am working on the next map, the country of Gibeon which is immediately NW of Braegor, and a strong ally.

As for racial makeup, on Braegor, there is little other than humans, and the island is one complete kingdom.

[Fister]

This is the type of map I would spend considerable time pouring over as a PC, learning each name, studying terrain features, analyzing trade routes, and imagining how the geography would effect the life of the inhabitants. I hope your PCs are as duly impressed as I am.

[Slade]

I too am using a hand drawn map, and just coloring it with photoshop. What process did you use? Myself, I just turned it into an outline, then did a little cheap outlining and filling. Giving me a mediocre product.

But what you have, is really great. I look forward to seeing more maps!

[Airith]

Could I ask how you did your trees/forests? If it's your secret some hints? Your map is my ideal map really (style), I've looked at yours a lot whenever I view another map.

[landorl]

I used a lot of layers. Each different color is on its own layer, and stacked on top of each other. I did this to make it somewhat easier to edit.

My basic process was to draw the map and then scan it. I only drew the coastline, hills, mountains and ridges. The woodlands and rivers were added in photoshop. I scanned it and then converted it to a b/w drawing.(I guess you could scan as b/w also)

After I scanned it, I used the magic eraser tool to remove all of the "white" area leaving only the drawings. I then duplicated the layer 2x. One I named "coastline" and the other I called "mountains outlines". On the Coastline layer I deleted all of the mountains, and on the "Mountains Outline" layer I deleted the coastline. I also added a color overlay to each layer to change the color to what I wanted them to be.

I then started adding all of my background colors and shading. My trees are a brush shape that I use, and I rather like the output.

I am zipping the template and brushes and attaching here. I have all of my layers set with the effects that I use for each one. The font that I used was Sherwood which comes with either Windows or Word (Can't remember which)

[pyrandon]

Wow--very generous response, landorl! Repped.