Thank you, Adfor.
I borrowed the idea of the elevated palaces, from the reference images of the Himeji Castle. It seem most of the Japanese castles were on tall brick foundations.
Like this one:
8c61d0c95a111faff854caf2841b47c2.jpg

As for coloring, I probably should. I fear it because my color pencil skills are lacking, and it takes me too long when using GIMP.
It seems, leastwise to me, that the most attractive and engaging maps are normally colored. So that should be my next goal... wish my luck!

Tiana,
Originally, I was going to merge the flag and the title-box. But the flag would have to be huge to fit the text in, plus it would obscure the design of the flag. So I separated them.

Sincerely,
Josiah