[WIP] First Project: The Continent of Natis

[SuperGalaxy]

Hi everyone!
I've been following this site for a while but I've never posted. Now, I'd like to show you a project that I started today and worked on for a bunch of hours. It is a map of the continent of Natis and its sorroundings. Probably not surprisingly it's part of a fantasy world that I'm building right now to find place for some of my novella and novel ideas. I have some experience with worldbuilding and mapping, but I've never done anything more complex.
What do you think?
(I'm using StarRaven's brushes for city/town icons, forests and mountains.)

[Eilathen]

Hi and welcome to the guild.
I like your landshapes and the overall feel of the map. I do think that the black "wave-lines" are way too strong and distracting like they are now. And your rivers could use some work...at the moment they are not very convincing to my eyes.

Care to tell us a bit about this world you are building here?

[SuperGalaxy]

Thank you for the feedback i'm going to upload the updated version soon. I'd already noticed the problem with the wave-things when I read your comment and I fixed it. I agree that the rivers do seem a bit strange, I might remake them later.
Also, I'm glad that you asked about the world I've been working on its base concepts for almost a year now, so I have many ideas but they're not quite organised yet.
However...
The planet's main attribute is that an entity similar to a permanent Aurora Borealis is present far in the north. It's called the Crown. Its origin and its purpose is quite mysterious, but for the people of the West it is holy. An other interesting feature is that there is a star constellation on the sky which looks like a man's face. Many religions of the world believe that that is a face of a god or a spirit. The most organised of these religions is the Faith of the Face which is the main religion in the West. Its centre is in the fortress of Northenilion. They believe that the Earth is the body of the God, while the Face is the head of his, and the Crown is his soul which he gave to the Earth to create life.
Most of the stories will take part here, in the West. It is dominated by one great empire called the Magarate. It is led by the Magar. They conquered all lands west to the White Mountains under the leadership of a wizard aristocracy and the Magars themselves who were mages too. They got they power from a strange artefact called the Firecore. It was said that it had been brought from the northest point of the world, and it gave magic powers to anyone who owned a piece of it. The rule of the mage-magars lasted for millennia, but then a revolt resulted in the War of Fire. The ruling dinasty was dethroned and most of the mages were executed. However, the Firecore itself was lost: the greatest of all mages hid it during the last bloody battle of the civil war.
After this, a non-magic new dinasty took the throne. By the time when the story starts they'd been ruling for four hundred years.
In the south there are the Monastic Kingdoms. There used to be a great empire there, ruled by a theocratic emperor, but it had fallen apart into dozens of little states centered around monasteries.
In the farthest east there are three great kingdoms constantly fighting for leadership. To the north there is the northern continent, covered by taiga. In these dark woods dwell the nymphs, strange semi-humanoid creatures living in harmony with the nature. It is said that they used to dominate the entire world before humans emerged.
In the middle of Natis there are great steppes. The Great Road runs trough this area. Apart from the nomadic hordes the only peoples who can be found here live in great cities built around gigantic towers of stone. Nobody knows who had built those. Rich traders control these cities.
To the south there are the continents of Ikya and Fortos. Little is known about them and they are unmapped except for their coasts. Wild peoples populate them who live in the vast jungles.
That's it for now, I'm going to upload the map soon.

[SuperGalaxy]

So, here is what I have now. Next I'm going to work on the rivers.

[SteffenBrand]

I'd use another texture for land masses and the sea. Or use the same, just flip it. The problem at the moment is: The texture continues over the coast and diminishes it a bit. I btw like the colors right now, but you could really use more greenish tones where the land should be green. Also I'd try a 5-10% opacity, 2 or 3px outline of the coasts in a lighter color. Keep up the good work! =)

[SuperGalaxy]

No update in a while, but now here it is: my map is approaching completion.
new_natis2_01.jpg
More on the world here if someone's interested: http://conworld.wikia.com/wiki/Natis
What do you think?

[Chip]

Nice map so far! What font are you using for the oceans?

[SuperGalaxy]

Thank you! I'm using Colonna MT for the labels on this map.

[SuperGalaxy]

Here's the current version:
NATIS_1.jpg