Historically, homo sapiens are the only primates who are any good at spelling. Have you ever seen an ape win a spelling bee? 😉

I've been working on a 1000 x 1000 mile part of western Doriant that I adopted. (This is separate from the elvish town in Verinress Arl, Artemisia, that I adopted for the 1000th map contest.) I know that new maps for the Atlas aren't being accepted until October, but that's perfect because it will give me a chance to do more detailed maps of specific settlements and points of interest at the same time.

I previously posted about this map in a previous thread, but I've decided to rename it, so I'm starting a new thread.

If it's okay, I would like to rename this the "Gold Coast," a regional term for an area so named because of the sandy beaches and tawny dried coastal grasses in the summer. It's an area that encompasses a region that includes a predominantly human kingdom of Vacuria, the inland human kingdom of Travi, a small elven kingdom to the north called Enía (a constitutional monarchy with a hereditary monarch and an elected Assembly), and a small dwarven kingdom in the southern mountains called the Kingdom of Gongodûr.

I still want to create a Borders drawing tool to draw the borders of each kingdom, but for now, this is what I have:

I have discovered that naming things is one of my bigger challenges. For several years, I've been maintaining a list on my phone of fantasy RPG character names, some of which could just as easily be used as place names. I also tried an old trick I used for naming gods in different pantheons in my campaign world: pick a language available on Google Translate and then look up words to find something tweakable for the god. (For a Thor-like god, for example, I might look up words for thunder, lightning, storms, etc. to find a word that could be modified a little to be a name.) And I also found a Wikipedia list of small towns in England and tweaked them (like changing the suffix from -ford to -port). And there are also a whole lot of patterns: a river that flows from a mountain may take its name from the mountain, and the village beside the river might as well.

Questions:

1. What did I miss that should be named?
2. Do you have any changes to recommend for fonts, font colors, or sheet effects on text labels?
3. Any other thoughts?

Here are some zoomed-in views to make it easier to see. In the future, would be better to post the larger map in my galleries so that folks can zoom in?

This was super educational. Thank you! I definitely plan on rewatching. Lots of new commands and techniques to study.

Here are some thoughts I jotted down on potential topics for future Live tutorials. Apologies if some of these exist already (and if they do, could someone point me in the right direction?). If you'd prefer a new thread for these suggestions, please let me know and I can move these suggestions to that thread.

• Build a castle, inside and out (like CA149 Beaumaris Castle) – might require multiple tutorials like the Big City series did.
• Vertical Dungeons / Side Views
• Advanced Drawing Tool Techniques (drawing commands like control-for-smooth with mirrored polygon tools, parabolic polygon, Bezier, cubic poly, chained arc, multipoly tool) – many are mentioned here and there in other tutorials but could be helpful to have a whole video about these techniques to have one video to rewatch.
• Elven Village with connected tree houses (SS5 Elven assets, maybe with a custom-made Rivendell-inspired palace)
• One Day World Builder tutorial video
• CA92 Real World Vector Data (how to import, examples for using like maybe a historical map or a post-apocalyptic map)

I had other ideas, but I think they’re more for future annuals or monthly symbols instead of Live tutorials. I’ll throw them here anyway.

Potential Future Annuals

• Exotic Fantasy Ships (swan boats, gnome dirigibles, eagle-shaped airships, shark-shaped submarines) – feathered/scaly fills, painted wood fills, transparent glass domes (or semi-transparent fills for panes of glass)

Potential Monthly Symbols (possibly an Annual)

• Castle Fixtures, External – Gargoyles & grotesques, flags & flagpoles, spires, bells, drawbridges, machicolations (murder holes), corbels, any other castle ornamentation that could be seen from above
• Heraldry symbols expansion – solid varicolor silhouettes of animals, mythological creatures, zodiac symbols, other common heraldry symbols not currently available in CA15 (great for using as brass inlays or stitched on fabric per this thread)
• Greco-Roman (dungeons & city symbols and fills). Dungeon Symbols: more column options, litters on poles, lounging couches, more statues. City Symbols: various temple types, amphitheaters, aqueducts, Forum…

Hi @Quayuazue! I think you’re describing a different place than mine, but just in case, I wanted to show you the place I’ve already adopted. It’s the village in the red box here:

I’m looking forward to seeing your approach to these villages!

This is so beautiful. You make. World I want to live in.

Sea Elf Outpost

FCW:

Toggle: "Cover - Island Top" layer to show/hide the top of the island covering the top of the underwater/underground outpost.

CC3+ Style: primarily Marine Dungeons

Map Notes

The Sea Elves are extremely reclusive: although they are able to breathe air and walk on land, they prefer to live beneath the waves and associate with other intelligent marine creatures instead of their land-dwelling creatures. When they must travel on the surface land, they often disguise themselves as high elves or wood elves, so that few humans even know that the elves have aquatic cousins.

This Sea Elf Outpost is one of numerous hideaways located near to human coastal towns where they can spy on the human navies and merchant ships. The outpost also serves as a stop on sea elf rangers tours of duty, a waystation for sea elf travelers, and a meeting spot for other intelligent aquatic allies.

Sea Elves have darkvision, allowing them to see in the dark caverns beneath the outpost's island. Even so, the outpost is generally well lit with luminescent crystals. Most shed light ranging from the equivalent of candlelight to the equivalent of a good lantern, but a few emit actual daylight, nourishing the underwater plantlife in the caverns. A few small hydrothermal vents warm the sea water and provide nourishment for tiny organisms that sea anemones and urchins feed upon.

1. MAIN ENTRANCE: The main entrance is camouflaged with seaweed and sea grasses.

2. GUARD STATION: When the outpost is properly staffed, a few sea elves are posted at the guard station at all times to waylay intruders and sound the alarm to the rest of the outpost.

3. WELCOMING CHAMBER: A reception room where visitors are met by the elves they are visiting.

4. UNDERWATER GARDEN: Here, the elves grow seaweeds and aquatic mushrooms to supplement the seafood they hunt. A solar luminescent crystal provides sunlight for the plantlife, and a small hydrothermal vent warms the water and allows miniscule organisms to thrive.

5. GREAT HALL: One of the largest underwater rooms, and the principal gathering spot for the outpost's residents and guests. A mosaic of an octopus is on the otherwise sandy floor. Chairs are not provided; who needs chairs when you're floating beneath the waves?

6. STORAGE/SUPPLIES: This room is primarily used to stow the weapons of visitors until the outpost's commander trusts them enough to bear arms.

7. ARMORY: Used for the outpost's garrison to equip themselves with weapons suitable for aquatic combat: spears, tridents, nets, scimitars, and daggers.

8. TREASURY: Here the sea elves store the plunder rescued from capsized ships, which they use to bribe human port officials for news about human affairs.

9. VIP BEDROOMS (WET): Three single-occupancy bedrooms. Each is equipped with several chests and a hammock, which the resident ties themselves into at night so they don't float away in their sleep.

10. MARINE GARRISON: The sleeping quarters for the outpost's garrison. It has eight hammocks and chests for stowing personal items.

11. STORAGE: Includes several chests and cabinets for storing items that won't be ruined by water.

12. TRANSITION ROOM: This room is nicknamed the "Transition Room," as one of the main connections between the areas below water to the areas above it. It is one of three marine rooms in the outpost where the water doesn't reach the ceiling.

13. CHANGING/DRYING ROOM: Most of the sea elves wear lightweight linen clothing that dries quickly. For others, dry clothing is available in this room for visitors to change out of their soggy clothing.

14. LESSER HALL/MAP ROOM: The Lesser Hall is nicknamed the "map room" because it is here that the outpost's commanders and leaders study maps and written documents that would be destroyed beneath the water in the Great Hall.

15. ARMORY/STORAGE: A small storage room often used to stash weapons more suitable for combat on land.

16. CHAPEL: The second of three marine rooms where the water doesn't reach the ceiling. Elves on land often use a henge of seven stones as places to worship the seven gods of their pantheon. Here, the sea elves use pillars as a substitute for the henge stones. The eastern side of the room has a tiled platform above the water.

17. DINING HALL: Here, the outpost's residents and guests can gather to eat communally. Cabinets here store dishes and dining utensils.

18. KITCHEN: Here, the sea elves cook without using fire, for the smoke would quickly overwhelm the residents. Instead, stoves that would normally be wood-burning are heated with a type of luminescent crystal that generates heat. Individually, each crystal's heat is modest, but 35 of them in a metal pan can heat the stove well enough to cook a meal.

19. PANTRY: Food storage for the outpost's residents and guests.

20. COMMANDER'S QUARTERS: Though the outpost's commander sometimes sleeps in one of the VIP marine bedrooms, they are also granted a dry bedroom, necessary for private documents that would be destroyed underwater.

21. VIP BEDROOMS (DRY): Two double-occupancy bedrooms with proper beds.

22. GROUP BEDROOM (DRY): Seven proper beds for the garrison when they would prefer a dry night's sleep, or for the rare group of land-lubber guests.

23. RECREATION ROOM: Here, the garrison can gather to socialize playing games and making music.

24. DOLPHIN CHAMBER ENTRANCE: A second underwater entrance to the outpost is similarly concealed by seaweed and a kelp forest.

25. DOLPHIN CHAMBER: The third of three marine rooms where the ceiling is higher than the sea. It has become a meeting spot for the sea elves' allies: merfolk, intelligent dolphins, and an intelligent octopus.

26. LOCKUP: Seven cells can hold unwary adventurers who have stumbled across the sea elves and have been taken prisoner.

27. THE GREAT STAIRCASE: Here, a staircase spirals up to the top of the hill overlooking the beach where the sea elves can hide among the trees and spy on human ships.

28. TELEPORTION PORTAL: A teleportation portal in a heavily locked room allows for powerful sea elf mages to pop in...or make an expeditious retreat.

29. ARMORY/SUPPLIES: Here, the elves stash land weapons like bows and arrows, along with other equipment needed to spy on the humans.

30. LOOKOUT EXIT: At the top of the Great Staircase, a spiral stair leads to the mouth of a cave where the elves can access the top of the hill.

31. ALLIGATOR COVE: A popular breeding ground for alligators in the area. They manage to deter casual visitors to the island. More determined visitors are usually scared off by the sea elves' attempts to convince them that the island is haunted.

PDF and TXT Map Notes

Ever since the Parchment Cities annual came out in February, I've been wanting to create a map of old San Francisco, California -- the city where I live and was born, and where generations of my ancestors were from.

I wanted to find a reference map for 1895, because by that point, six of my eight grandparents were living here by then. (Two moved here no later than the late 1860s, one moved here in 1884, two others moved from different parts of France in the early 1890s, meeting and marrying in San Francisco.) Unfortunately, the images I found were poor-quality JPGs that would have been a challenge to draw the coastline correctly. (The coastline changed significantly after the famous earthquake in 1906 that burned a huge swath of the City. In rebuilding the City, a lot of the rubble was tossed into the bay, changing the coastline and becoming landfill that newer buildings were built on top of.

Once I made peace with not finding a good 19th century source map, it become much easier to hunt down good quality SVG images on Wikimedia Commons that I could convert into a DXF file with CloudConvert. That made doing the coastline much easier.

I will still have to do the streets and blocks using JPG reference images, as my source map included elevation changes rather than streets. To make it a little easier, I decided to focus on the northeast corner of the city, the downtown Financial District. I thought about doing my own neighborhood but it's in the middle of the City, three miles to the east of the ocean, and three miles southwest from the bay, so I wouldn't have gotten any of the lovely coastline.

Anyway, here's what I have so far. The streets will take a lot more time.

Here's a close-up of the fields. The two empty ones were furrowed brown fields. Not sure why those fills disappeared. (I just checked, and they now have a fill style of Hollow. Hmmm.)

This is what happens when you miss something that's not a building and then convert everything left to be a building:

In this case, it was a line used to show where the city walls should go. I drew the walls but forgot to delete that part of the line. When it converted the line to a building, it connected the two ends of the line to make a polygon. I used the "Change like draw tool" to change it to a dirt road, which resulted in this:

And then I deleted it, since it was putting in a road where no road ought to be. The same thing happened with part of the north part of the wall.

On today's Live demo, which was about Sinister Sewers, I asked for recommendations for what to use as a fill style for pure water uncontaminated with sewage (such as water runoff from storm drains). I had been using Effluent 05, but on another Water sheet with a transparency effect. Sue recommended trying one of the Bitmap Solid fill styles.

Here's a practice attempt, with the five effluent fills above and then five on the solid bitmaps below (from Solid 10 Bitmap through Solid 50). The five below are on a Water 2 sheet in case anyone recommends effects different than the regular Water sheet. Right now, I put the same effects on Water 2.

I am leaning towards Solid 40 Bitmap for storm drain runoff (since that water will have dirt and other impurities), and maybe something like Solid 20 Bitmap for pure water (for example, if dwarves are using this technology for a subterranean aqueduct).

Thoughts? (If this is too difficult to see here, I can post it in my Gallery if that has a better resolution.)