Beyän, the Vertical City

[Robulous]

This is the city of Beyän, (pronounced bay-AAAHN) a vertical city of caves and tunnels built in the cone of a long-extinct volcano. It's a slightly steampunk city, powered by steam from the magma rocks below, as well as natural gas and its peak which bristles with windmills and steaming chimneys.

It's ruled by an aristocracy of merchant princes called the Heinars, who elect a single leader, the Lord Hedrist, who rules from a tower on the very top of the mountain.

I was inspired by local tourist maps you find in small towns, covered in odd adverts for local businesses; and Victorian newspaper advertising.

Rendered in Photoshop from a hand drawn original, I've been working on this a looong time. Hope you enjoy, comments welcome!

beyann-d1.png

[DondarfSnowbonk]

This is a really cool concept! And I love all of the ads — there's some really great, subtle worldbuilding there.

[Robulous]

This is a really cool concept! And I love all of the ads — there's some really great, subtle worldbuilding there.

Thanks! Yes I can do subtle... :p

Here's draft 2. Some minor tinkering and I warmed up the paper colour a little.

beyann-d3.png

[AaronSchmidt]

Love this map! It is nice to see some innovative elements from classic reference.

[Robulous]

Love this map! It is nice to see some innovative elements from classic reference.

Thanks so much!

Just FYI this map is now complete, the finished map thread is here.

[The Lazy One]

I truly love the concept and the drawing!
I'm not entirely sold on the lettering: it feels a bit too sharp and too modern.

Here's an article (in italian) with several pages of 1900s advertising images i did scan a while ago for some friends.
In these days, they did mix different fonts, generally with very little spacing between the letters.
https://wearelocalnomads.com/firenze...na-volta-1898/

I hope that'll show what i mean.

EDIT: i am posting it here, but i've seen the final version too, and there still is that feeling, i guess.