The Realm of Fellwall - My second map

[necrominog]

My second map posting. After creating a map for a friend of mine I felt the urge to redraw an older map of mine that I constantly found myself going back to. The name has changed numerous times: Iron Crag, Iron Realms, Gothique and now Fellwall. This map was always a map project rather than a campaign setting project. But now that it is done I think I would like to populate it. I'm currently in the process of turning it into a Wiki.

I created this map using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop exclusively, my two all-time favorite tools. I begin by drawing all the map elements as outlines in Illustrator then import the rough draft into Photoshop to add the finishing touches. These art elements are all drawn on separate layers, that is the key. It makes it really easy to adjust or edit individual details.

If you view the thumbnail of the map it would appear to be a bit crowded. But when you view it at actual size (it is meant to be printed at 18"x24") I think it looks OK. However, I'll leave that up to the Cartographer's Guild community to decide.

I eagerly look forward to any feedback/comments/suggestions.

'nog

[s0meguy]

Nice map. But the Everflow river looks very weird to me. I don't think it is physically possible for a river to flow like that. It exits at 3 different sides of your island.

It does look crowded to me. You could make the transparent text smaller, that would help making it seem less crowded I think.

[Klaus van der Kroft]

That's a very appealing map. Nice colours, distribution, and overall shape of the territory.

As far as rivers goes, I'll have to echo S0meguy: The way the Everflow, Rhone, Clearwash and Blightwash rivers interact would be impossible unless there is some kind of supernatural force at work (or the whole territory is extremely flat and gets tidal floods creating canals!). Always remember water seeks the route of less resistance on its way to the lowest point, so unless some very specific circumstances take place, they don't split up (and when they do, it is usually for short distances or creating small islands).

But you have a very good thing going on there.

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

Gorgeous map! You know how to work those programs pretty well!

And yes, there are some river violations. Clearwash is the worst because it just goes from one coast to another. Rivers flow downhill from mountains. Blightwash I don't see as a problem, because that area looks clearly "Marshy" to me, and rivers can turn into deltas at salt marshes near the ocean. They branch off there and can do lots of things rivers don't normally do.

Rhone in a real world setting probably wouldn't exist, unless as someone mentioned, there are massive amounts of tidal water pushing their way up to the Everflow.

But that whole "Fertile Stretch" area is a mess.


I think that supernatural explanations for why rivers don't flow naturally rarely hold water. (Pun intended) Because as long as a world has gravity and rain falls, rivers are going to do what rivers do. So if a river doesn't do what it's supposed to do, there should be a good reason for it. This can be that people diverted the flow somewhere else, but this would likely be called a "canal" or a "Channel" or something like that, rather than a river.

[Bogie]

Nice map necrominog.

[necrominog]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! The concept for this map has been around for about 15 years and real world physics never crossed my mind when I first drafted it.

I've toned down the country names so there is less contrast but they still show through. And now I'm off to Google river and water flow tutorials…

Will post an updated map when the edits have been made.

Thanks again!

'nog

[s0meguy]

On rivers, there is good info here http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...he-right-place

Read the first few posts and you'll have a decent understanding of rivers. It's also worth reading other parts of the thread.

[arsheesh]

Rivers aside, I like the style of your map. It sort of reminds me of some of the maps of Golarian I've seen.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[necrominog]

Updated map is attached. Not sure of the etiquette for uploading images (ie, replace the old one or leave it).

Anyway, I've toned down the country names so they are not as contrasty and distracting (it's a suttle change but it's there). As for the rivers, I cleaned up the Fertile Stretch but I left the Rhone River because, if I read and understood the river posts right, even though it is not probable it is still naturally possible. It's a fantasy map after all . If I have misinterpreted the posts please let me know.

Looking forward to feedback.

'nog

[Lyandra]

Great map! I think that it is a custom to leave the old image be while uploading a new one, that is what I observed at least.^^

As to the rivers. They still look impossible to me, but I will leave it for the River Police to decide. On the other hand, in fantasy world everything is possible, so you can get away with nearly everything. Just a good magical explanation is required.^^