welstar2.jpg

This is a map of Welstar, one of the 6 worlds of RetroMUD, a Fantasy MUD I play on as "Tarnal Mithdae", who is currently leader of the Bard guild.

I started with screenshots of the in game, multi level ANSI map and traced it out in Inkscape, then tried to produce a more decorative map that conveyed the same information in a way consistent with the European Medieval Fantasy flavour of the world.

The heraldic symbols are mostly made up, although where there are in game descriptions, I've tried to follow them. I used elliptical cartouches for religious locations and roundels for the decidedly non-military medical guilds and the Elven city of Anathera.

I chose to use a simple hachuring for topology rather than the iconic representations I usually use so I could better represent the levels of the original map. I'm still not entirely happy with it but I can't think of a better option, and it does look good for the hills and lesser mountains.

All the effects and textures are done in Inkscape using SVG Filter Effects and Inkscape's Path Effects and I built most of the filter effects from scratch. The restacking script for the forests, and the generator for the farmland pattern were both written in Ruby.

The WIP thread is here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...?12257-Welstar
I've also posted it to DeviantArt here: http://hai-etlik.deviantart.com/art/Welstar-183365251