City State of Aslem for A.R. Frost

[Steel General]

I was approached by A.R. Frost to do a map of his City State of Aslem. I finally had some time to sit down and get some work done on it - though I think this is gonna be a long one.

This is the very early stages, primarily just to get the land shapes and a general idea of where things will go.

The white lines are the rough boundaries of city, the inhabitants have cut canals through the city to make travel and commerce a bit easier. The puffy white thing across the river is just a placeholder for the water fall.

Feel free to leave any C&C

[Ascension]

You make nice cities, bro, so this should turn out quite nice.

[arsheesh]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing more (A.R. you lucky Dawg!).

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[tilt]

looking good general ... love the little cove - I'm guessing canals would be pretty straight since the are man-made, although natural difficulties like a huge rock might make the canal turn. The chanals in Venice has many twist and turns just like normal streets. I hope you'll add more canals and look forward to following your progress

[A R Frost]

Looking good Steel. I really like the start of it, even though I can only upload the top half of the map but not really an issue since it's just the starting point.
I agree with you Ascension, that's why I asked Steel to do it for me. I know my map skills are a long way from being able to do my City State of Aslem true justice. I sent him several pictures and a few ideas I have about the city, and told Steel to create it how ever he felt it should be created. I'm sure it will rock when it's done.
And with my PC's currently working their way west to the Isle Kingdom of Jaxilon to have a set of weapons made, they won't reach Aslem for at least 3-4 months real time. What a shock they will have seeing Steel's version compared to my original version.
Damn, I feel like a kid at Chrismas, the huge present is under the tree but can't open it until Chrismas day... lol

Here is my original city map. It's gonna be like going from a horse drawn cart to a Lamborghini. Woot!!! So glad he agreed to do this for me.

[Steel General]

Finally had a chance to do a little more today. I'm finding if I work on it more than a couple hours at a time I lose focus.

List of changes/updates;

• Added a bit of a beach to the upper river land areas - it needed something and the beveled edge on the land in the original was to just much
• Added the large forested area to the "western" edge and some of the islands
• Redid the main city wall and added some of the towers
• Darkened the water in the 'gorge' below the falls
• Deepened the gorge a bit - I know this results in a bit of "perspective clash" but I like it so far
• Redid the falls itself - still not 100% sure I'm happy with it, but it is definitely better than the first go.

@A.R. Frost - Does Aslem have a specific architectural look, i.e. European, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern etc? I don't recall anything in the notes you provided.

As always C&C is encouraged...

[tilt]

A single thing struck me as I looked at the map - I believe that the canal that goes out into the lower lake shouldn't have a "waterfall" but rather have a lock if the canals are going to be any use for traders

[Steel General]

That is a good point Tilt, but I'll probably just put up some kind of gate or something so folks don't go shooting off into the gorge.

The gorge is fairly deep so a lock would be difficult at best to build.

[A R Frost]

Steel,
It looks great. And you can do what you want with the types of buildings. The orginal founder of the city, King Calayus Alerie Asil was holy knight and he built the main castle as his home. the city just started to form around Aslem as it became the halfway point for trade to get from the dwarfven kingdoms to the east to the human nations to the west. The lands to the south are pretty wild and uncontrolled once you get about 75 miles south of Aslem.

And sorry about the late post, I'm in the process of moving halfway across the country so no internet and using a droid phone on this site is pretty hard.

Allan

[tilt]

That is a good point Tilt, but I'll probably just put up some kind of gate or something so folks don't go shooting off into the gorge.

The gorge is fairly deep so a lock would be difficult at best to build.

Okay, the deep gorge will make it difficult, of course if it was an important seeway a series of locks could do it. But an easier and cheaper solution would of course be to have a high and low harbour and ships just sailing their separate routes