WIP - Maelgoth
Hi, everyone.
Okay, I have several maps and a symbol collection in the works, so naturally I have decided this is a perfect moment to start a 12000 x 12000 Ferraris Style Map. I'll be posting my updates here, in which I anticipate will be a very long process.
First, some background: Maelgoth is a major city in the Dragonlance D&D setting, the capital of the Solamnic province of Hinterlund. It features prominently in a classic Dragonlance module from 1999, "Chaos Spawn" by writer Douglas Niles, where a nice little map of it by cartographer Todd Gamble depicts the reliefs, main districts and buildings. Because the city itself is heavily bombarded by a foul thing from above during the adventure, and because the adventure is so fun to play, I have always wanted to make a nice updated map of the city after the bombardment. The city itself is a heavily walled site that stands by a fork in a major river, in the middle of a temperate grassland. There is little relief beyond the river, though the original map suggest a difference in altitude between the riverbanks, and the other major feature is a star shaped fort north of the city.
Following the annual tutorial, I'm starting the sketch phase right now (btw, the warning note at the end of the Hedgerows section is totally warranted, since I actually started studying the original Ferraris map a few weeks ago). I hope to have an initial draft later today. I'd deeply appreciate any insight you may have along the whole process. Thanks!.
Comments
Well, this is the initial working sketch, based on the map that appeared on the original adventure before it takes place. Not much relief, just a slow decline from the southern to the northern bank, and the rest is a mix of grassy biomes (grassland, pastures, etc...). Pretty much a conversion of the original map.
Now, I'm going to start modifying it according to the things that happen during and after the adventure, which affect the city, the fortresses and the southern bank a lot.
So, three main events take place in the modules and the setting since the beginning of the adventure, at the eve of the Second Cataclysm that shook the Dragonlance universe and remodeled parts of Ansalon, and the moment when my new adventure takes place, roughly half a century later:
1.- A foul fiend from the Abyss bombards the city from right above with chaos magic, the west fort (it was supposed to be the two of them, but I need the other for narrative purposes), three quarters of the old wall and most of the waterfront on the north riverbank. This creates a lake of sorts northwest to the city and flattens the riverbanks close to the city, expanding the marshes created by the river.
2.- In the aftermath of the battle, a change of power in the divine pantheons causes the province of Nightlund, south of the river, to become engulfed by shadows in a perennial twilight and be overwhelmed by the undead, so an influx of refugees from the south and the loss of the walls allow for a rapid growth of the city. At the same time, the weather south of the river becomes colder and drier. The fertile meadows become arid heathlands along the decades.
3.- The military occupiers of the city, the Dark Knights of Neraka, improve the fortifications of the remaining fort and build new, smaller walls to enclose the northeastern section of the city against what is left of the old wall.
The result of all these changes would be something like this:
Next, rivers, lake and relief.
Update: I've added the crater lake, the rivers and the relief. I'm so used to work with subtle Edge Fade effects that I'm struggling not to change the sheet effects, but I know it will pay off at the end. The only thing I did in that aspect was create two new sheets, WATER LAKE and RELIEF 1.5, both of them for the lake. That way I could soften the lake's outer glow and add a blue inner one for the water, so the whole structure looks more like a water-filled crater.
Next, dykes, ramparts and walls.
Looks like its coming along just fine :)
Don't worry about adjusting sheet effects if you prefer things to look a bit different to the way the style is designed. It was designed to be a close replica to the original Ferraris map. That doesn't mean you have to stick to the design if you don't want to.
Thanks, Sue. I'm going to follow your design until the very end, and then decide if I tinker a little, as this map is quite different to what I usually try and I'd rather wait for the whole picture to take shape before I start making those choices.
In the meantime, I finished my fortress but for the roads and bridges coming and going. I'll get those once I've finished the city walls and have a better idea where to put the connections.
Okay, many mistakes in the way, particularly with the weird effect it appears when you don't use the ROAD BASE as intended. Things looked like lunar craters until I figure out how to use bases to compensate for the Blend Mode (Thanks for Greythorne, Sue, or I'd still be fighting with that issue). Some minor modifications to the fortress to better insert it in the map.
You're doing really well :)
Okay, latest update: I've added a few gates, towers and the city walls, both the old surviving walls to the east and the new ones without ramparts to the west. A palisade to the north houses a growing comunity of refugees from the undead-infested lands to the northeast. I'm going to tinker with the reliefs a little bit and then the roads.