Syr (yes, again)

[ThomasR]

Parts of your map made me think about that. You shaded your hills and mountains so nicely, it almost seems like the linework is burned into leather.

[J.Edward]

I actually really love Syr reborn, so it's tough to beat.
You hit a great balance of mood and appearance with that.
That said, I'm always a fan of new styles and trying out variations.
For my own story worlds [most of which haven't seen daylight here on the guild or anywhere],
I have redone them many times, changing as my skill changes and styles change.

One major difference in these two maps for me is the feeling of scale.
The new map feels like it is showing a larger area. And more detail/info.
The earlier map also felt more primitive [in appearance, not skill ]
which I did really like. The new one is more evolved and looks more recent, less aged and primitive.
I agree with others here, I love seeing the progression of a world/map.
This new one does not disappoint.

To me, these almost feel like an evolution of the known world over time, which is awesome.
I hope 2018 brings us more Kelleri maps.

[Bogie]

Well done Kelleri, very nice update.

[Kellerica]

I actually really love Syr reborn, so it's tough to beat.
You hit a great balance of mood and appearance with that.
That said, I'm always a fan of new styles and trying out variations.
For my own story worlds [most of which haven't seen daylight here on the guild or anywhere],
I have redone them many times, changing as my skill changes and styles change.

One major difference in these two maps for me is the feeling of scale.
The new map feels like it is showing a larger area. And more detail/info.
The earlier map also felt more primitive [in appearance, not skill ]
which I did really like. The new one is more evolved and looks more recent, less aged and primitive.
I agree with others here, I love seeing the progression of a world/map.
This new one does not disappoint.

To me, these almost feel like an evolution of the known world over time, which is awesome.
I hope 2018 brings us more Kelleri maps.

Thanks for the nice words, J. Always encouraging to read comments from you! Yeah, the less primitive and larger scale look was pretty much exactly what I was going for. The first one was pretty much the draft version, and my main goal was to create a feel of the landmass. In this one I aimed to start exploring where the settlements and natural landmarks actually are, and how one gets from point A to B. It's supposed to be as much as an art piece as it is a reference for my personal use.

I'll try to step up my map-making pace this year, I promise


And thank you as well, Bogie!

[Caenwyr]

this is one lovely map Kelleri! shading, colouring... it's all just wonderfully perfect! Man this is a great style!

[Eilathen]

As it seems to have "drowned" in all the (rightful) praise for it , i'll reask : Care to tell us a bit about this world? I am always curious what kind of worlds "hide" behind all those CG maps.

And i know i already said that as well but...i'd love to see a more pronounced forest.
But to add something to the thread (so far I've only repeated myself, sorry ) : any reason why you chose to use such a "breath" of forest (aka very soft/transparent) instead of something a bit more "real"/colorful? Just curious (and of course one can not argue taste, so the only reason might be "because i like it better like that" ^^ ).

[tainotim]

I haven't seen the other version, but to me, this is actually one of the best maps I have seen here at the forum in a long while. I absolutely love everything about this map. It's simplistic in style and yet appears technically advanced, and both fonts and shields work very well together with both the map and frame. For me this shows how great maps often aren't those that seem advanced and really complex, but rather those that artistically communicate what they are made to show.

Regards,
Karl

[Kellerica]

As it seems to have "drowned" in all the (rightful) praise for it , i'll reask : Care to tell us a bit about this world? I am always curious what kind of worlds "hide" behind all those CG maps.

And i know i already said that as well but...i'd love to see a more pronounced forest.
But to add something to the thread (so far I've only repeated myself, sorry ) : any reason why you chose to use such a "breath" of forest (aka very soft/transparent) instead of something a bit more "real"/colorful? Just curious (and of course one can not argue taste, so the only reason might be "because i like it better like that" ^^ ).

Hmm... I wonder what kind of things you'd find interesting! You'll have to excuse me for the terms I'm using, as I'm just translating from Finnish as I go along and some them seem really cheesy in English...

Syr is a simple, rural world in the embrace of a northern climate. Think deep, thick pine forests that cover almost every inch of the ground, low soft-edged mountain ranges and large lakes. Northern lights (or "foxfires" as we Finns call them) dancing across the winter skies. An old earth, its roots reaching deep into the waters of the Current, the life force that binds everything together and that all living creatures carry in their veins.

The humanity (no elves, dwarves or other fantasy races in this world) is slowly recovering from an event known as the Fracture, a shift in the balance of the Current that weakened and re-arranged the border between the seen reality and the Other side hidden in it's shadows. New magics - both dark and light - have been pouring into the world and at places brought havoc and destruction with them. But the humans have survived, and now it seems, even adapted the new forces now shaking their world: the Witchblood, only remembered in the ancient tales, has returned. All over Syr, folk are awaking to the new power in their veins. Some take to it more than others. Most of the time the Witchblood is not that powerful; most people can use it to light a little fire and that's pretty much the end of it. Minor healing skills, maybe being able to find lost objects, that sort of thing. Anything more powerful than that is rare, and it comes with a price.

The humans are roughly divided into three major groups: you have the Syr folk, that make up most of the population. Farmers, mostly; they are all about the earth, dirt and roots of the land. Like to sing a lot. Then the Islanders of the archipelago (originally immigrants, but have arrived such a long time ago that their blood and culture has had a great deal of time to mix with the Syr people's), that embrace the Sea a fair bit more. Mainly live on these massive crabs that are special to their seas. And finally you have the Irians, or commonly known as the Winter folk up north in Korakal. They are immigrants - or more accurately exiles - from farther up north. Their people seem to have a very high tendency for the Witchblood, and they seem to understand it better than the rest of Syr.

As I said, it's a fairly simple world. In terms of advancement, late Iron Age-ish. A small corner of a world, and even at that still largely uncharted. Mixed with magic, mysticism and that sweet Northern flavor. Deliberately romantic. I'm not much of grimdark girl. This is my light-hearted little escapism corner, and I like it that way.

Sorry for the wall of text, hope I didn't bore ya! But hey, you asked...


Oh, and the forest thing: it does mostly just boil down to me liking it better that way, I'm afraid In a setting like this, where, as stated, forests are pretty much everywhere, there's very little point in mapping them out in a "point out their location" sort of way. They are just there to fill in the blanker areas, and I don't know, they just looked better to me the less pronounced they were. Different strokes, I guess.

I haven't seen the other version, but to me, this is actually one of the best maps I have seen here at the forum in a long while. I absolutely love everything about this map. It's simplistic in style and yet appears technically advanced, and both fonts and shields work very well together with both the map and frame. For me this shows how great maps often aren't those that seem advanced and really complex, but rather those that artistically communicate what they are made to show.

Regards,
Karl

Thank you so much! That is high praise, and it's much appreciated. Glad you liked it!

[Eilathen]

Cool stuff, Kelleri! And i find such things highly interesting...so no boredom at all. And yes, i DID ask
Sounds like an interesting time in the setting for a bit of pen&paper roleplaying (yep, i am a big rpg-geek ^^ ).

About the forest - fair enough. I thought it might be "matter of taste" but i was curious. Thank you for answering

[Josiah VE]

There's something about this map that really impresses me. So professional and polished. It's so pleasant to look at; the soft mountains and shading, muted orangish parchment. Really wonderful.
The border is really neat as well, and the way you've done the compass rose is epic!
I really want to do a map like this now.