Map 30 - Kettelea

[RedKettle]

Not much to show yet, still figuring out what will need to be shown, but I wanted to get the thread started so I could get my flag planted!

I have Map 30, which has a working title of Kettelea.

kettelon-scale.jpg

Here I am figuring out how the weather works a bit, I am guessing there were be lots of winds coming from the southeast, and that most of the moisture will be stopped by the mountain ranges along the east coast, leaving the interior and northern coasts pretty dry. There were no rivers when I started so I took a best guess at where some could be. There will be one big one bisecting the interior.

kettle-1-1-geo.png

Based on that (and Warlin's Sliss'Ash'Schtû) I took a quick stab at how political power is distributed. The oldest inhabitants are the tribe-based Highlanders, who actually don't like living in the high lands. Unfortunately the Ashteen dinosaurs invaded in a search for new hunting grounds and took over the northern half of Kettelea, leaving the high lands the only safe place for the aboriginals. Some of the northern tribes of Highlanders allied with other foreigners to acquire technology and weapons for an alliance against the invading Ashteens. Those (the Blue group) were able to retake half the northern coast before the Ashteen stopped hunting them for sport.

If I scaled everything correctly the little gray circles should have a diameter of 28miles, so walking from the center of the circle to the edge should take about half a day. This helps me figure out settlement density. I will probably not show them all in the final version.

kettle-1-2-pol.png

That is about it for today, more tomorrow.

[Tonnichiwa]

Very nice start, and well thought out. I like how you are showing it all as if it is hand drawn, yet still computer generated. That's very nice

[Warlin]

Hi neighbor! My saurians are happy to consider the island of the Hunt as an extension of their territory and would see with a good eye as a tribe they are regularly assigned on it. Why not a few of your best warriors to maintain the form by a bit of sport...

[Meshon]

I'm pretty sure that the current Emperor of Aperia is really interested in the Island of the Hunt. Like, he probably thinks he should own it. Also likely has yet to figure out why none of his expeditions are coming back from there…

[RedKettle]

Apologies for not keeping my thread updated! Its been a busy few weeks, but I think I saw somewhere that the deadline for this is the 20th, so I have to really focus!

I started out trying to have fun with a bit of borders and stuff, but I was not super excited with how things were looking:
kettle-2-4-layout.png

Then I had a few stressful weeks, so I ended up drawing a bunch of contour lines to de-stress:
### LATEST WIP ###
kettle-2-5-topo.png

Before adding the contours I was thinking I would do black and white, but maybe this time I will try my hand at some colors. Not sure that is the look I wanted, but I guess it is worth exploring a more moderny style, and I will see what I come up with. Next I will be fixing the rivers (they were off when I was drawing the contours, but most needed to be redrawn anyway), turning my notes into actual annotations, and then redrawing the border elements in a more modern style. If I had time I will try sketching a profile of a city on a rock outcropping in the lower corner.

[Diamond]

This is looking pretty good! I like the 'feel' of a ring of coastal cities around a desert interior.

And that rock/island/city will be awesome.

[Meshon]

Nice! Lots of nice things for the Returned Heroic Emperor of Aperia to covet! I love that you're drawing contour lines as meditation. The style is coming together. I definitely find my own maps change from what I intend to do, to what appears on the map. You're right though, trying new things is never bad, these challenges make us expand our horizons, both literally and figuratively. Artistically. Whatever. Something deep.

Great map!

Cheers,
Meshon

[jbgibson]

You draw contours to de-stress. That is worth rep right there (well, and the already becoming awesome map!)

April 20th is a soft deadline - it'll be nice to have something reasonably presentable to be stitched together *on* the anniversary, but lots and lots of us are going to have to continue past the 20th to get a finished map. Too, we have in mind further fleshing out Guildworld with oodles of worldbuilding, which could go on until a fortieth anniversary :-).

I really like what you have already - I trust it will wind up fully awesome. Nice work!

[RedKettle]

I started adding labels and am starting to experiment with how I want to show the political boundaries, but nothing is set in stone yet. The city density is low enough (and I plan on getting rid of at least some of the cities) that I could probably make their labels a bit bigger, but for some reason I like them small for now. This is the font I liked best tonight, but I will look at more tomorrow.

### Latest WIP ###
kettle-3-1.png

You draw contours to de-stress. That is worth rep right there (well, and the already becoming awesome map!)

Thanks for the rep! I guess its just one of those things that can be done mindlessly, so it helps get me to the 'zone'.

April 20th is a soft deadline...

Well that is good news for me I guess. I will take my foot off the gas and judiciously mop my brow as I catch up on some of the phenomenal maps in development! You guys have been busy!

...The style is coming together. I definitely find my own maps change from what I intend to do, to what appears on the map. You're right though, trying new things is never bad, these challenges make us expand our horizons, both literally and figuratively. Artistically. Whatever. Something deep.

Thanks, this is definitely turning into an atlas?-style map, which means I need to dig out my atlases from whatever coffee table they are hiding in and get inspired!

I'm pretty sure that the current Emperor of Aperia is really interested in the Island of the Hunt. Like, he probably thinks he should own it. Also likely has yet to figure out why none of his expeditions are coming back from there…

The group of Islands in the NW will probably be the "Emperor's Isles", since a former Aperian Emperor controlled most of the isles at one point (and even had private hunting resorts on a few of them (those were some huuuuge resorts!)). Unfortunately the Saurians invaded and took control of the islands (partially due to those fancy shmancy hunting lodges/resorts), so your current Emperor actually has a strong claim on the islands.

Also, the highlanders have officially forbidden the sale of coconuts to mainlanders (and the island Saurians have no interest in the coconuts, they are much too easy prey), but there are a few thriving black markets (coco-marts? mark-ocos? for short) if you know where to look.

This is looking pretty good! I like the 'feel' of a ring of coastal cities around a desert interior.

And that rock/island/city will be awesome.

Thanks, I will eventually break up the 'ring' a little bit, but I feel like I need a little bit more data on the map first. Maybe adding some political info will help...

Hi neighbor! My saurians are happy to consider the island of the Hunt as an extension of their territory and would see with a good eye as a tribe they are regularly assigned on it. Why not a few of your best warriors to maintain the form by a bit of sport...

The Highlanders actually are willing to tolerate the Saurians, since they do not mind resisting the inevitable expansion of the Aperians! The enemy of my enemy is also an enemy but not quite as enemy-ish under the right circumstances...or something.

[Ilanthar]

Nice, I like where you're going with this .