April 2014 Entry: A villain's journey through the Dark Lands {Envordel}

[blackflamingo777]

Oh trackpad, how I hate thee.

In all seriousness, you have no idea how frustrating it is to try and free hand with a trackpad (and a general lack of artistic talent). Oh well, all or nothing, right?

This month's challenge leapt off the computer screen for me, because my band of heroes are going to take a walk through hell to thwart the plans of the God of Darkness. So, I decided to create a little map of their progress. It took somewhere around five or six hours.

I started it with the intention of it being heavily decorated, before realizing there was no way I was going to be able to pull any of that off with a trackpad. It didn't fit with the content itself either, so I think this worked out far better in the end.

"The Dark Lands" are Envordel's version of hell. It's a cold and barren wasteland consumed in darkness, where everyone who has committed crimes against Envordel are banished into exile. Since it exists outside the mortal plane, mortals aren't exiled there until they die and leave the mortal plane. Immortals, spirits, and God(desse)s are exiled during their "lifetime". The Dark Lands were created specifically for the exile of Xanyhu, the God of Darkness, who now rules the land.

Yaosing, the Goddess of War, is the only one allowed to travel through The Dark Lands as she pleases. As payment for serving her faithfully to the last breath, she guides fallen soldiers into The Dark Lands by the light of her lantern. Those guided by her are "better off" although by how much remains to be seen.

In this story, our heroes all willing die on the battlefield and convince Yaosing to guide them to Xanyhu's castle where they must defeat him. Unfortunately for you, if you want to know what happens after that you'll have to buy the book.

### LATEST WIP ###
Dark Lands-2-1.png

This is my first shot at mapping with Photoshop (and only my third or fourth thing with Photoshop at all), my first mapping challenge, and my first work done entirely with a trackpad. Yes, I am that crazy. The version above is half of the working size, the one attached is the full size.

The font used is ErinsFont from Fontspace
Xanyhu's Castle was heavily based off this stock photo by mjranum-stock on deviantArt
Death's Gate (the large one) was heavily based off this stock photo by faestock on deviantArt
Yaosing's Lantern was heavily based off this stock photo by Babybird-Stock on deviantArt

The mountains and little gate are all my own, although I claim no expertise or originality with them. I can't draw to save my life.

Now that I've written a wall of text I'll leave you alone. Critiques are appreciated!

[Meshon]

See, at first I read that quickly and thought you were using a graphics tablet... but no! That IS pretty bonkers. Something about it though, I like this map.

cheers,
Meshon