Arda Quain restarted

[Veldrin]

Hi folks!

It makes a while that I didn't post anything on the forum, and the last "Arda Quain" thread is way too old. I restarted from scratch anyway.

The overall project is to map an entire continent of a fictional medieval fantastic world. I already wrote many things about kingdoms (or whatever kind of powership), magic, technology, extra-plans, etc... but everything is not delineated yet.
For instance, I'm currently thinking about implementing magic-induced vapor-based technology to explain flying ships (and maybe a sort of train? or some other technologies that I didn't think about yet?). Something like empowering a special kind of stone(s) with a powerful magic than can heat very strongly some water, and another similar stone loaded with a sort of water creation... I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, I need to design a map to think about stories, special places, characters, every stuff actually. I think it helps a lot when guessing to create a univers from nothing; and no matter what, you'll need it afterall if you want to describe things to other people.
After spending hours staring maaaany maps in a broad range of different styles, I felt that a physical atlas style map would be the best to do what I wanted. The goal is to create something as accurate as possible (especially when placing the stuff on the map) and a view from above is perfect for that. I also think the level lines critically improve the overall clarity of reliefs while giving precise information about heights, and may allow to give an idea of the type of terrain.
I got particularly inspired by a serie of russian physical maps (that I can provide if someone is interested), probably sorted from the Red Atlas (if you don't know it, the story is worth it and the maps are unbelievable).

I started by the extreme east of the continent, with two realms : Aldoria and Hespherie. Aldoria is born from the migration of human people during the "Sardonic War" something like 200 years ago. It is now a prosperous kingdom, divided in 4 territories whith a a flourishing trade and a strong army. It contains some dissident territories and cities, but the overall situation is peaceful. On the other hand, Hespheria is a rich but little kingdom, a bit weak compared with its neighbors (Aldoria, and the mysterious elven realm of Nandartaure). The real menace comes from the north where there's no claimed territory and where the nature reigns (the monstrous nature I mean :p). Hespherie lives from a profitable business with Aldoria on the ground and has a strong navy force securing commercial ships which trade overseas. The two realms are allied, Aldoria for business and Hespherie for military assistance needs. It's just a very short summary but unfortunately I wrote everything in french and it would be pretty long to translate everything (and for a really bad translation in addition ^^')...

Thus here I am :

190930_AQ_A4_piece.png

The scale is 1500 km / 1050 km.
The work is not over (obviously, for instance the left top part, the oceans, some roads, some rivers...) but since it is really long to do, I'd enjoy your helpful comments at this stage. Some of you did already greatly improve my skills by giving advices over my thread (especially with rivers), and I'd like to do the best I can do for this project now that I thnik I found the right style to do it.

This map (A4 format) is part of the continent I want to map entirely, which is 16 times bigger.

190930_AQ_A4_entire.png

I think my computer won't be strong enough to let me draw it on one single document; it actually lacks some memory sometimes at this stage and force me to reboot. I think I will have to draw 16 maps (maybe a bit less because of empty ocean areas) in A4 format

[Ilanthar]

Looks like an interesting project. I like a lot what you have so far.

[DrWho42]

this looks very intricate! given how geographic the map looks, i wonder what resources lurk in between

[Veldrin]

Looks like an interesting project. I like a lot what you have so far.

Thank you very much. I'm currently trying to figure out some kind of administrative territories inside the realms to increase the information carried by the map, and to give more realism to the story it tells.

this looks very intricate! given how geographic the map looks, i wonder what resources lurk in between

Yes this part contains a lot of reliefs. It won't be the same everywhere on the rest.
I didn't describe yet the mineral ressources in there (thank for this good point ^^), but I already know that there will stand gold mines for sure in some mountains. Still, it needs other stuff, basic stuff like iron mines as well as more specific stuff like magic stones or whatever. I want Aldoria (the bigger one) to be a powerful and rich realm, so I have to consider your question and dig more into this

[Veldrin]

As I feared, I had to cut the overall map in 4 different files to work conveniently.

After the first right top part, which is not finished yet, I decided to work on the left bottom corner. This is the only part of the map I'm not sur about. Actually, it's a new big island that didn't exist in the previous versions, and I need to think about climate, geopolitics, nature and so on.
Nevertheless, I already decided that the south will be dedicated to a wide territory called the 'Great Khelimat', a powerfull despite poor empire. On the other hand, on the north will stand at least 3 nations : one rich and two poors (and maybe one more in between).

191027_NEW.jpg

The cities already in place are part (or all, i don't know yet) of the rich northern nation. I think about something like the old persian empire in terms of culture and architecture, but I still have to dig in.

[arsheesh]

This is looking really nice Veldrin. Great looking land shapes. This will be a fun project to follow.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Veldrin]

Much thanks, Arsheesh I'm not convinced by the reliefs in the southern part, and I'm thinking about reworking it somehow. The shores may move a bit so...
I will probably add some more large islands around anyway, so the land is definitely not shaped yet ^^ and the addition of an island nation is not sold neither.

Here's an update btw. The hearth of the north part is empty of civilization (except for a few autochthon peoples), because a dense and lush tropical forest is standing there. I didn't represent it, but I'm not sure I should... It's already heavily labeled.
191027_NEW.jpg

[Harrg]

WOW. How I miss this topic? I very love your bathymetry and coast line. You work in vector?

[Veldrin]

Thanks yes I work with illustrator and a basic graphic tablet.

Here's an updated version.
191027_NEW.jpg

It is still in progress, some things already in place may move a bit again.