October Entry: The Oasis of Al-Qahirid

[Korrigan]

"Located in the Desert of Aegys, the Oasis of Al-Qahirid is the siege of the old Mahmud ibn-Yussuf, warden of the Great Olive Tree which gives the oasis its legendary fertility.

Always hospitable to strangers, the old Mahmud is also the first great priest of Chakravarti, spirit of the Cycles. His house under the Tree is now the center of a village, which is also the last resting place for caravans between the city of Aegys and the Green Mountains..." (in Atlas of Lorac)

So, my first entry....

It's made with photoshop, using different textures. I made the sand myself, but I used the palm trees made by RobA and the trees made by Dridon. The wooden texture on the roofs is from cgtextures.com.

I think there's nothing more to say... back to work, then !

[Darken]

I'm confused... I think the scale of your map is really off, cause either those inhabitants are itty bitty are those trees are ginormous!

but I love the look

[xv43]

Yeah, the trees are probably a little too big, but I really, really like the buildings.

[Korrigan]

The tree on the right is intended to be that big (it's kind of a tree of life after all...) But maybe I'll reduce the size of the others... Thanks for your advice...

[RobA]

I'm confused... I think the scale of your map is really off, cause either those inhabitants are itty bitty are those trees are ginormous!

but I love the look

I don't think the challenge specified a scale... did it?

For this map I assumed these were buildings (house sized)

-Rob A>

[Jkaen]

They still work out to be very big trees, but not stupidly so (I am assuming a person is 1/16th the size of the smallest building mid top)

[Korrigan]

OK... I needed some time to put my ideas back together but here is my second WIP. I added some encampements, some crops, a fence to put the sheeps in (sheeps coming...), a small market,...

I finally decided to keep the trees the size they were because of the magical properties of the place (as I said, this map will join the Lorac-project, so it has some bg).

I'm still wondering what I'll set in the two blank areas in the north, if you have some ideas for me...

[Korrigan]

I forgot to precise that almost all the new elements were from the Dundjinni forums (what a cartographer's gold mine out there !).

[mmmmmpig]

I would suggest really "lushing up" the water area with more foliage and stuff. Also Oases tend to have some green areas emanating from the open water areas. Just a thought to add some more texture... I like where this one is going though.

[Korrigan]

Thank you ! I'll try this... I thought of adding a bit of grass too, maybe that would work...