Khalkaeareon - a first attempt at CC3(+)
Hi all,
Well, I'm not sure whether to thank the designers for making such an excellent product, or curse them for losing me my weekend! Seriously, I downloaded CC3+ (having never done ANY CAD of any sort before let alone fantasy map making!) at the end of last week with the intention of "dabbling" to see if I could visualise a map from scratch for my forthcoming RPG campaign... and now here I sit, two full days of obsessive twiddling later, having just had a huge amount of fun making my first ever map... and also utterly exhausted
Before I go to bed, I thought after playing around with it so much I'd throw myself to the cartographical wolves and put my first efforts up for comment. A little bit of context might help: the land is called "Khalkaereon" and is dominated by 3 presences and split down the middle by an ancient chasm known only as "The Rift". To the west of the Rift is a mediaeval-European style kingdom called "Jansswerd", and to the east of the Rift an oriental Shogunate known as "Fentaria". These nations are constantly at odds, but do not dare enter into war with each other as the greatest threat to both comes from the "Source Wastes" to the north, a land teeming with evil magicks and demons, the "source" of all magic (hence the name) being a vile volcano spewing forth evil sorcery in the form of a wicked, corrosive green toxin.
Jansswerd itself has a typical middle-european climate, slightly colder to the northwest, and is itself split in to - the southern plains being almost completely civilised (except the enchanted, impassable forest to the far south west), and the northern plateau more wild and uninhabited (certainly since the last Source incursion destroyed Jansswerd's northeastern towns and defences) apart from the ancient stronghold of Drakenhold. The northern and southern reaches are separated by the Great Cliffs, and passage north-south is only possible across the Western Bridge or, most commonly, by passing through Jansswerd's greatest city, its capital Verdithian, and its intricate and wondrous "water stair".
To the east, the land of Fentaria is warmer and wetter due to the prevailing southwest-northeast winds across the continent driving the warm air rising from the depths of the Rift across its lands and numerous mountain ranges, resulting in unique climatic conditions whereby Fentaria gets warmer the further NE you travel, while travelling NW in Jansswerd leads you to more Scandinavian conditions (and, eventually, through a pass to the Norse-like land of Asgramor). Although its civilised lands are smaller than Jansswerd's, Fentaria has experienced fewer Source incursions due to much better natural defences (it is separated from the Source Wastes by a combination of high mountain ranges, scorching desert and dense jungles).
Trade between Jansswerd and Fentaria is only possible by sea (each having its own bustling port city), or across the Rift in the two places where engineering feats have spanned its treacherous depths. To the north, a vast bridge stretches across the deadly Rift, with watchful townships and garrisoned towers on either side. By far the greatest proportion of trade, however, takes place in the miraculous city of Riftspan. Independent of both Jansswerd and Fentaria, Riftspan is a hub of trade, science and technology, having been built across the deadly cavern itself.
There... I hope that helps to explain my thoughts behind the map design. I am aware that I've probably made some schoolboy errors (it was my first attempt after all!), but I always welcome constructive criticism of every kind so please don't spare my feelings when offering any comments or critiques.
Thanks in advance - both for thoughts on my design and for creating the source (no pun intended) of my brand new hobby
Well, I'm not sure whether to thank the designers for making such an excellent product, or curse them for losing me my weekend! Seriously, I downloaded CC3+ (having never done ANY CAD of any sort before let alone fantasy map making!) at the end of last week with the intention of "dabbling" to see if I could visualise a map from scratch for my forthcoming RPG campaign... and now here I sit, two full days of obsessive twiddling later, having just had a huge amount of fun making my first ever map... and also utterly exhausted
Before I go to bed, I thought after playing around with it so much I'd throw myself to the cartographical wolves and put my first efforts up for comment. A little bit of context might help: the land is called "Khalkaereon" and is dominated by 3 presences and split down the middle by an ancient chasm known only as "The Rift". To the west of the Rift is a mediaeval-European style kingdom called "Jansswerd", and to the east of the Rift an oriental Shogunate known as "Fentaria". These nations are constantly at odds, but do not dare enter into war with each other as the greatest threat to both comes from the "Source Wastes" to the north, a land teeming with evil magicks and demons, the "source" of all magic (hence the name) being a vile volcano spewing forth evil sorcery in the form of a wicked, corrosive green toxin.
Jansswerd itself has a typical middle-european climate, slightly colder to the northwest, and is itself split in to - the southern plains being almost completely civilised (except the enchanted, impassable forest to the far south west), and the northern plateau more wild and uninhabited (certainly since the last Source incursion destroyed Jansswerd's northeastern towns and defences) apart from the ancient stronghold of Drakenhold. The northern and southern reaches are separated by the Great Cliffs, and passage north-south is only possible across the Western Bridge or, most commonly, by passing through Jansswerd's greatest city, its capital Verdithian, and its intricate and wondrous "water stair".
To the east, the land of Fentaria is warmer and wetter due to the prevailing southwest-northeast winds across the continent driving the warm air rising from the depths of the Rift across its lands and numerous mountain ranges, resulting in unique climatic conditions whereby Fentaria gets warmer the further NE you travel, while travelling NW in Jansswerd leads you to more Scandinavian conditions (and, eventually, through a pass to the Norse-like land of Asgramor). Although its civilised lands are smaller than Jansswerd's, Fentaria has experienced fewer Source incursions due to much better natural defences (it is separated from the Source Wastes by a combination of high mountain ranges, scorching desert and dense jungles).
Trade between Jansswerd and Fentaria is only possible by sea (each having its own bustling port city), or across the Rift in the two places where engineering feats have spanned its treacherous depths. To the north, a vast bridge stretches across the deadly Rift, with watchful townships and garrisoned towers on either side. By far the greatest proportion of trade, however, takes place in the miraculous city of Riftspan. Independent of both Jansswerd and Fentaria, Riftspan is a hub of trade, science and technology, having been built across the deadly cavern itself.
There... I hope that helps to explain my thoughts behind the map design. I am aware that I've probably made some schoolboy errors (it was my first attempt after all!), but I always welcome constructive criticism of every kind so please don't spare my feelings when offering any comments or critiques.
Thanks in advance - both for thoughts on my design and for creating the source (no pun intended) of my brand new hobby
Comments
I've hosted it on photobucket as otherwise the PNG would have been too big for board guidelines to post.
Ah, and nice map, too!
My suggestions:
Add an Edge Fade, Inner to the WORKED LANF sheet (8, 100, 0. high quality map units)
Consider changing the dark blue and dark red colours of the text, and adding a white glow - which acts to "blot out" features below a little.
Reposition point labels (eg citiies) according to the following rule:
In decreasing order of preference, add point labels to the NE, SE, NW, SW E then W, taking account that you don't want to overwrite other features.
The full-sized original of the PNG file (it's big, be warned!) can be accessed from my One Drive by clicking on the image.
As before, I'd love to get whatever feedback people are kind enough to give - good or bad, I don't mind, as long as it's constructive.
Thanks again for the advice and support guys n gals
I also really like some of the world concepts in it - particularly the city spanning the rift.
auryx