the Continent of Ictaria - political map

[QED42]

Caer is Welsh huh? I should have known that. I've never learned or even studied the language for a bit, but I did read most of Katherine Kerr's Deverry novels (they are awesome!) where a form of evolved Welsh is used for the human language! With tons of toponyms etc. So I might have subconsciously stolen it from there. I dearly hope she (and you!) will forgive me for this blatant theft, for I'm probably not going to fix it. It just sounds too nice!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caer

Yup, you can still see it in some place names today like Caernarfon

The map is looking really good!

[Ilanthar]

Looking very good! And I'm always glad to see there are other crazy guys who do different thematic maps of the same world or region .

[Neyasha]

The map is looking really good! I love the shape of the continents and this style of mountains - it fits this type of map very well.

And wow, that's a big decision to drop your story and starting a different one. I've also been working on a story for many years and it became completely overwhelming. Perhaps I should be as courageous as you and stop reworking the story again and again.

[wminish]

This is looking really good, I really like the shapes of the landmasses and just the level of detail.

[Caenwyr]

Hi people, I'm back with another update! And this one is actually substantial for a change. I'll let you guys guess what I added...

0. political map (12d - 200%) BUMP.jpg

It's the terrain!

Sorry for spilling the beans, I just couldn't contain my enthusiasm. There's a few dozen hours in this update so I'm glad it worked out. I still need to do the terrain for the southern continent (Sakhuria) though, so stay tuned for that!

[Diamond]

That's really looking fantastic, Caenwyr. I love that terrain look; you can see it, but it doesn't distract from the main goal of the map, the states and boundaries.

[Caenwyr]

Thanks Diamond! That's exactly the effect I was after. I want the terrain to be "slightly visible but not distracting" when zoomed out, but "very present and a positive addition to the map-viewing experience" when looking from close by. I hope this ticks both of those boxes!

And here's the terrainwork for the southern continent! I spent over 12 hours on painstakingly drawing all of the isohypses, and then like 5 minutes pulling them through Wilbur.

0. political map (13c - 200%) BUMP.jpg

I'm gonna spend a bit more time poring over it to find any remaining errors, and then this one's off to the Finished section!

Also, now that I have this, I can use it as a basis for maps of the same area but in a different year so I'll eventually have a complete historic overview of the region... or thematic maps like language/religion/culture/population density etc. Currently I'm itching to do a language map, but we'll see if I ever do any of them at all. I have several commissions lined up so those go first.

[QED42]

Really awesome map, has turned out great and I love all the detail in it.

[ThomasR]

This is brutally good Pieter ! Atlas reliefs, fantasy coastlines and politic information representation worthy of a history book, you're outdoing yourself and that's no small feat !

[Magelord]

Hi Caenwyr,

I love that most of the borders make sense, because they follow the topography of your continent like rivers or ridges. That makes it much more believable.