The Martyr Amobilant

[pyrandon]

Hello, friends.

Here's my latest: a medieval map of a fictional land focusing upon the life of a fictional saint, the Martyr Amobilant. The illuminations around the edges tell major portions of his story (starting upper left, then going around the map clockwise) and the map portion is rather vague because I imagined this being a piece of cartography created by monks for display and veneration rather than for travel. I had just as much fun creating the story in my head of St. Amobilant's life, preaching, martyrdom at the hands of elves and unbelievers, and postmortem miracle as I did creating the map itself--although both were very enjoyable.

The original line drawings were created as separate frames on paper with ink, then scanned into Photoshop, assembled, colored, & tweaked. The entire thing took about 8 hours I'd say. Oh, and what you have here is about half the original size (it's a 250meg PS file!)

I hope you enjoy it. C&C always welcome. Take care!

[Naryt]

If I didn't know better, I would say it was the real thing. Nice work!

[su_liam]

Interesting. I agree with Naryt that it almost looks authentic. You almost make me want to do something like this for the Zensunni Wanderings or the Travels of Saint Regina(for the Traveller fans out there.)

Can you post the story? I never can read those kind of things.

[NeonKnight]

Very Nice indeed.

[Sirith]

Wow, I love the whole golden look of it and the small illustrations. The deep blue is of the ocean is a beautiful colour as well. Great stuff

[pyrandon]

The 2 cent rundown of Saint Amobilant is this, following the pics:

1. from his conversion the Saint preached to the overwhelmingly polytheistic populace of Jirlia, mainly of God's "fortolden" city to come

2. He was imprisoned, his crosses blasphemed & shattered, and he was immured for three decades. Upon his release, the now old man was given orders never to preach again "upon pain of death"

3. But he did preach, reading from the holy Scriptures (of this fantasy world---not the same as our world's Bible) that "of the unjust neither man nor elfenkind shall inherit the kingdom"

4. The magistrates of Jirlia--elves, primarily, but also pagan priests--told King Jhrl of the Saint's defiance

5. and Amobilant was hanged, then burned in a great fire: "neck broke, body eaten by flame, lifespark flown."; then his remains were scattered irreverently in the desert Wastelands.

6. Miraculaously, three days after the event, a shining, mystical barge appeared at the shores of Keelnorthimbria, bearing no crew, but containing a golden chest within which are the Martyr's remains, perfectly preserved, intact. These are holy relics now, capable of great power, and a firm testament to the Scripture: "naught shall fall--the very leastling shall sail home again."

That's the basics of the story. As I drew/colored the pics I thought of more significances and details, but no matter.

I hope that increases your enjoyment of the map! Take care!

[Gamerprinter]

Wow, Pyrandon - I really love this map!

Only thing that sort of throws me is that circle around the center town of Jirlia. Now I realize it is the center of the cities theologically as well as geologically. The castle at the center is much larger this already emphasizes its importance. Perhaps a "halo" of color denoting greater importance, but I think the circle is too much.

Otherwise great stuff. The people at the bottom have that authentic Anglo-Saxon and Norman influence, a circa 1000 AD feel.

[ravells]

I'm absolutely lost for words. That is utterly stunning!

[pyrandon]

Thank you for your comments, everyone! This map was great fun to create, and it makes me happy to know you enjoy it.

Thanks also for the comment, GP, regarding the circle. On that advice I went back and removed the color, then both the color and the halo, and in both versions I think the center of the resulting map is too empty--the eye is not anchored to anything. I did, however, reduce the opacity of the color & that was an improvement, so thank you for the suggestion; I appreciate it.

Take care!

[elemental_elf]

This is a beautiful map.