Jan/Feb 2015 Lite Challenge: Whitefall Island

[Wingshaw]

Howdy, all.

I mentioned that I would try and enter this lite challenge, and so here is my entry: Whitefall Island.

I have set myself the personal challenge of completing this map in the shortest possible time. I started the drawing on Monday, and finished it just now (which is either Friday or Saturday, depending on how you look at it). Still need to:
--colour,
--texture,
--label,
--decide what the scale is,
--add some clues to the whereabouts of the pirate Dustkey's treasure.

Suggestions, comments and critiques are welcome, as always.

Quick acknowledgement: this map was partially inspired by my favourite book, Gullstruck Island, by Frances Hardinge.

THW

### Latest WIP ###

[Chick]

Pretty amazing thing to draw by hand!

[Chashio]

Great start! I love the layout.

[Wingshaw]

Thanks Chick and Chashio!

Really racing ahead with this one. Here's another update, showing the map fully coloured.

Tomorrow, places of interest and labels, and experiments with texture.

Although I currently have some ideas about the story/clues, I have no idea how I am going to include them on the map. Suggestions would be very welcome.
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The story so far...
"Celeste,

Please forgive me not writing sooner. I have been battling the bureaucracy of Hastmann and Pince Shipping since I arrived.

I arrived in Darrasport two weeks ago, and have finally been permitted to see father’s effects. The clerks say I am seeing all that was found in the wreckage, but I am sure that some items have been removed. His journal, at least, is present and reasonably intact. It is painful to read, but I am certain the truth about his death will be found in these pages.

Coming to Darrasport has not eased my misgivings but increased them. I am more convinced than ever that father’s ship did not sink by accident. He writes of his suspicions of a man named Mr James Copprell, who joined the Soldier's Bounty as a passenger in Whitefall Island, only days after the notorious pirate Dustkey was sighted nearby. It is clear that father suspected Mr Copprell of being more than he seemed.

While reading his journal, I found this map concealed within the cover, accompanied by cryptic passages which hint at some obscure meaning. I have made a copy of these things that I enclose in this envelope for safekeeping.

I will finish my research here, and then go to Whitefall Island. I will be glad to be away from this town. I have seen the same two men wandering the street outside my inn repeatedly over the past four days, and I get an eerie and sinister sense from them. More than that, the head clerk at the shipping offices told me that another gentleman had been given the chance to look through father’s possessions a few days before my arrival. Perhaps it is just my melancholy spirits, but I cannot help thinking that others may be looking for this map, also.

I will write again when I have an opportunity, but until then, I remain

Your devoted brother,
William Tielden"
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THW

### Latest WIP ###

[Bogie]

Looks Great THW! Lake in one volcano, lava in the other, NICE!

[Wingshaw]

Thanks Bogie.

THW

[Chashio]

The color looks good, and that's an intriguing story beginning. I probably don't have any good ideas for how to put clues on the map though... I got stuck on the same issue. Maybe, based on stuff from the letter ??? a couple of short handwritten notes, without explanation, jotted in the margins at different times by the main character as he finds interesting things in the journal and perhaps meets one of his father's acquaintances during his travels.

[Wingshaw]

Thanks Chashio. Those are good suggestion, and I'll try putting them into effect. Unfortunately there's a pretty good chance I'll have to withdraw from this challenge, as I doubt I'll have much time to work on it, and I've been neglecting other projects (including commissions). If I do withdraw, Whitefall Iskand will definitely join the (long) list of projects I want to complete.

THW

[Chashio]

Bummer, but I do know what that's like. My "want to complete" list just keeps getting longer.

[Bogie]

Don't withdraw, throw on a label and a dotted line with an X at the end and call it a pirate map.