Aronbor

[Ramah]

Aronbor.

This map shows the kingdom of Aronbor, an important location in the story I am currently writing/procrastinating over. It is located in the west of southern Vaniya, the world I have been creating/mulling over for many years.
Here is a little backstory...

The kingdom of Aronbor is in decline. The king, Beltime, is plagued with ill health. With the ending of his rule, court politics and machinations are rife.
The Arons are at the forefront of the Vaniyan war against the Mandrai, a race of feline-like humanoids who inhabit the land to the north of Aronbor, beyond the Colden Wall. The Mandrai are not native to the continent of Vaniya, having arrived at the time of The Sundering, when The Heart of the World was split into seven pieces. At first an uneasy peace was held between the humans and this alien race from across the seas but eventually relations collapsed and war ensued - though the initial reason is not now remembered. The Mandrai are a feared and aggressive race. The Mandrai females are the Warriors, lithe and agile, they have incredible speed and use their claws as a deadly weapon. The Mandrai males are known as Dreamers, with an ability to enter a trance-like state that can alter the reality of their surroundings. The females have the ability to Dream but it is against their religion to do so, punishable by exile or even death. The Dreamers, although naturally larger and more muscular than their female counterparts, would be equally deadly fighters if their class system allowed them to engage in such abhored practices.
Guarding Aronbor, and thus the rest of southern Vaniya from the Mandrai threat are The Grey Guard - the arse-end of the Aronbor military sent to patrol the Colden Wall from the ever-present threat of invasion. Made up mostly of convicted criminals and drafted peasants and run by spoiled-brat officers whose fathers paid for their commissions, they are ill-equipped to deal with the situation. Helped by a group of commissioned Arcanists from Maloglash, they have a series of warning signals that can supply a force of soldiers to any point on the wall within minutes of the alarm being raised.
Mandrai are getting through the wall however(sometimes literally) and many sightings have been made throughout Aronbor of individual or groups of Mandrai. It isn't known what their plan is, where they are headed or what they intend to do when they get there. But most of Vaniya remains ignorant, or even apathetic of the situation.
And the Blight rages on.


The map was created entirely in Photoshop CS.

The fonts used were:

JaneAusten - For the marginalia text.
Handserif - For all the towns, forests, rivers etc.
FFF Tusj - For the country and the sea labels.
Dali - For the red X's scattered around the map.
Ancestory SF - For the text on the cartouche.

All the fonts were downloaded from Dafont.com except the Ancestory one which I got from fonts101.com

Thanks to all those who offered C&C in the WIP thread which can be found here
Aronbor_Final.jpg

I know crap-all about copyrights so I'll just say this is under the Creative Commons thingymajig. If anyone can use it for personal reasons, that's fine. Making money from it, however, is a no-no.

[Gandwarf]

Well, have some rep
I know this was a pretty huge undertaking.

So, the red crosses are Mandrai camps or something? What are Mandrai?

[Djekspek]

Pure art man! color, details, labelling, ... all awesome!

[Immolate]

Ramah - after six months and ten complete maps submitted on this forum, you remain in my opinion the finest mapmaker on the board. Your attention to detail and absolute mastery of color and texture make your maps a simple pleasure to look at. With Aronbor, you continue to refine your style, adding new and subtle features that, through finesse or fortune, work beautifully with the overall theme of the map.

My hope is that someday you will create a tutorial to help the rest of us do something that captures the essential effect, if not the mastery of your work.

I would love to put your maps on my wall in a fine frame.

[Ascension]

I just might have to agree with Imm there although there have been so many great mappers coming into the guild over the past few months that it's hard for me to rate 'em. Well done man and good luck with the writing.

[Scott Livingston]

I love the beaten-up look. The "grunge" is almost as impressive as the map itself! Kudos!

[Steel General]

It's a spectacular piece of map/art-work... one to be proud of!

*BONK*

[Ramah]

Thanks a lot guys. Those remarks, coming from people whose work constantly amazes me, means a lot.
And Immolate... heh, stop making me blush with such praise. :S

I do feel kind of torn about this map. I do feel that in the end the extra details justified the work but for the longest time I felt that all I was doing was rehashing a map that had already been received better than I could have hoped. It's essentially the same style (although refined somewhat) so I still feel I have something to prove and that I need to do a map or two in another style before I can stand properly amongst you guys.

Btw... I've edited the first post to include a little backstory with the map. Mostly about the war with the Mandrai.

[Redrobes]

Repped from me too. You got a great map with Vanya and featured but I think this one is even better. Do you have a world atlas that these two fit into ? Are you planning more like these ?

[Gandwarf]

Cool backstory...
The part about the wall does remind me of the wall in George R. R. Martin's books. It that coincidence? Just wondering... sometimes I get great ideas, but then I Google them and realise it has all been done before