Atlas Elyden - the Republic of Almagest

[vorropohaiah]

Here's the fifth map in the Atlas Elyden project. Work slowed down due to illness, some commission work and writing. I was hoping for 2 maps a month, though I don't think I'll be able to regularly keep up that pace. This one covers a much larger expanse of land than the other maps I've worked on so far and took a while longer to finish, largely due to the topography, and it has quite a few labels, though even looking at it now I can see there's room for more

Almagest - small.jpg)

(Note: the pale square in the top right corner will be where another inset map, this one depicting the capital city of Almagest in greater detail, once it's done (as it's taking a bit longer than I thought it would mostly because I'm designing it as a full-size map and will then be shrinking it to fit the space. The finished full-size map will be included in the Atlas as one of a handful of city maps describing important or strategic cities. I havent forgotten my promise!

The Republic of Almagest has a long history: as an independent land of astronomers and scholars based around the coast of what is now known as the Strait of Almagest; as a territory of the Korachani Empire (under the control of which it spent most of its history, prospering as an industrial centre); and as an independent region freed of its imperial shackles since 3014 RM, after a long period of civil strife with the Motherland. Almagest remains a powerhouse of industry, though waning lands have left its many large cities without food. The capital, Almagest, was once the largest urban area in Elyden, with no less than 6-million bodies calling it home. What remains of that is now a greatly diminished city where starvation and disease run rife. Press-gangers recruit desperate people with promises of glory in the army. The reality is quite different, and most who join up trade one form of hunger and uncertainty for another
Please let me know what you think in the comments, as I'm always open to input.

Remember you can follow me on my blog at www.vorropohaiah.blogspot.com and become a patron at www.patreon.com/elyden for high res files, as well as textless versions, .psd's, stories, and more.

[J.Edward]

Great work as usual Nate.

[Tom]

This is really cool and very professional!
If I can give my opinion you should put a small legenda somewhere, at least for the icons!

[vorropohaiah]

This is really cool and very professional!
If I can give my opinion you should put a small legenda somewhere, at least for the icons!

since the intention is for these to be part of an Atlas, I didnt bother with a legend in each map. There's going to be a large one in the introduction. I'm still working on it and the one i posted below is a wip and not necessarily what the final thing will look like, though it's close (there's a few things I;ve included in the maps, like the umbra piplines, for instance, which arent even included in the key yet. so there's certainly room for a lot more stuff, especially the industry & resource icons.

cartouche key.jpg

Actually, this is a good time for people to give their feedback on the industry & resource icons. some are more intuitive than others and if anyone can suggest alternatives for some of the more iffy ones (crime springs to mind!), please let me know. Also, i've since fixed the misalignd key/text in the 3rd and 4th columns of the industry & resource icons.

[arsheesh]

Lovely work vorropohaiah!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[J.Edward]

Hey Nate - a few people on the Guild FB page were wondering what program you are using - care to comment? Here or on the FB page.
I assumed PS and maybe Illustrator for text, which is what I told them.

[vorropohaiah]

Hey Nate - a few people on the Guild FB page were wondering what program you are using - care to comment? Here or on the FB page.
I assumed PS and maybe Illustrator for text, which is what I told them.

Your guess makes more sense than the truth, which is just PS. Ive been meaning to switch to illustrator or something similar but never got round to it. Yet :p

[J.Edward]

Your guess makes more sense than the truth, which is just PS. Ive been meaning to switch to illustrator or something similar but never got round to it. Yet :p

Yeah, my story is the same. So many things would theoretically be easier/better to do in Illustrator...
but then I'd have to learn all of its ins-and-outs, and it's almost always faster to just use PS.
Thanks for the answer - they will be surprised, I think.

[Ilanthar]

Another excellent one Vorro!

[ChickPea]

Awe-inspiring stuff! Your attention to detail is astonishing. I'm so impressed with what you're doing.