The Great Caldera (World of Calidar)

[Thorf]

This is the main regional map for Bruce Heard's new World of Calidar setting. It appeared as a 28" x 22" poster map, as well as a two page spread in the book itself.

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The full map at low resolution. The original file is 28" x 22" at 300 DPI, or 8,475 x 6,675.

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Detail of the bottom area of the map, showing the Kingdom of Meryath (which is the subject of the other poster map) and the arid Emirates of Narwan.

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Detail of the Republic of Osriel. This is the best image I can share at the moment. Osriel will likely be the subject of the next Calidar book, so I will soon be starting on more detailed maps for it.

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The map legend.

I have already given an overview of the project in the Meryath hex map thread, as well as a larger scale map of this style in the Royal Domain thread. I won't bore you by repeating that stuff here.

Suffice it to say that this map was a huge undertaking, and pretty much a labour of love for me. It's a very important map for the setting, since it's likely that everything Bruce Heard comes up with for years to come will be based in and around these areas. With that in mind, I developed a height model for the area at very high resolution — 40,000 pixels square — and shrank it down.

I started by creating the height map in Photoshop, as detailed in this blog article. Next, I cut it up into smaller sections, then added a few extra details to each section before eroding it in Wilbur. This process took months —*probably in the region of five or six months —*with a lot of trial and error. It didn't take all that long to hit on a "recipe" to give the results I wanted, but getting each section through the process without errors (such as those caused by the fill basins command creating large flat areas) took some doing. The worst area had to be redone multiple times before I ended up with a satisfactory river system.

Finally, once the height map was complete, I coloured and textured it in Photoshop, combining a number of gradient maps (one for each terrain type) with a forest layer, lighting layers (shaded reliefs generated from the height map in Blender), a parchment layer, and so on.

Last but definitely not least, Bruce provided over 500 text labels to complete the map.

This is my first professional map, and I have researched and learned a great deal in its making — much of it from my fellow cartographers here, for which I am very grateful. Special thanks are very much in order to all of you for the many tutorials and other threads I have pored over during the past year. So, a heart felt thank you!

I still have an awful lot to learn, and even more that I want to do over the next few years. Hopefully I will be lurking around these boards for many more years to come.

[Bogie]

Wow! Amazing Maps, love the design!!

[Eilathen]

I really dig the style of these maps.
The Republic of Osriel looks great...although the names are all over the place...from fake french to fake german up to fake slavic...it's all there, and it kind of bothers me.
As far as the actual map work goes though, kudos, this is an awesome collection.

[Thorf]

Thanks, Bogie and Eilathen!

Regarding the place names: a lot of thought was put into each area, to give it its own distinct flavour. The hodgepodge of European names in Osriel is actually following a theme of "stranded travellers" that is central to the setting. Basically, Osriel is a nation settled by people stranded on Calidar, and I think the different regions of the republic will be culturally flavoured accordingly. The specifics of this are not yet known, but since Osriel is scheduled to be the subject of the next book, I guess we'll find out then.

The jump for me was the mix of black and white labels — black for settlements and political labels, white for geographical labels. I like the division now that I'm used to it, but it was a bit surprising at first.

[Veldehar]

Nice maps, love the style.

[Ilanthar]

Really nice and pleasant work Thorf! The land shape makes me think of Warhammer's Ulthuan Archipelago.

[Thorf]

Really nice and pleasant work Thorf! The land shape makes me think of Warhammer's Ulthuan Archipelago.

Thanks!

This comparison is one that occasionally comes up. I have a high elf army from my wargaming days in the 90s, and I always loved Ulthuan, so for me it's a very honourable comparison. But in fact Bruce Heard drew the continental outlines. I'm not sure if Bruce is familiar with the Warhammer world.

Thankfully there is no Naggaroth and dark elves in Calidar! Although the Dread Lands can be just as dangerous.

[Ambreville]

I really dig the style of these maps.
The Republic of Osriel looks great...although the names are all over the place...from fake french to fake german up to fake slavic...it's all there, and it kind of bothers me.
As far as the actual map work goes though, kudos, this is an awesome collection.

Are you familiar with GAZ3 Principalities of Glantri (TSR 1980s)? If not, then you won't understand what the European names allude to. There's a specific reason for them to be there, independently from GAZ3, but you'd need to have the Calidar book to understand it. In any case: "fake French, fake German?" What's "fake" about them?

[Ilanthar]

By Thorf
But in fact Bruce Heard drew the continental outlines. I'm not sure if Bruce is familiar with the Warhammer world.

I was just writing what came to my mind. And, in fact, the general map is really looking like a flooded caldera from some giant volcano. So... not necessary to know Warhammer, the explanation of the land shapes is in your title (I'm a fast reader.... ). Now, I'm wondering if Ulthuan is a giant caldera in the mind of its creators !

[AlabasterKnight]

This is a great map. Well done! It gives a whole new meaning to 'super volcano'.