Lands of Qaliste [stage1]

[J.Edward]

I've been working on this one over the holiday. It started life a long time ago as a sketch and sat there for a number of years.
I fiddled with it a bit over some years but didn't really do much. Then the other week I bought some new fonts and wanted to play with them.
So I made some quick thing with that old map and put some sample text over it.
The thing was, my sample text was saying something about making your map something special... and well, the map I was using wasn't really.
So I set out to make it special. Then it got out of hand and this is what it turned into.

I want to take this further and try to make a campaign out of it and do some map sets to go with it.
Time will tell how that plays out. In an ironic twist, I'm going to start a wip thread after posting this.
It would mainly be to show some other directions I went and some things I might do further to this - hence the Stage 1 title.
I want to try something more interesting for a border but had to move on atm.

Cheers, J.

edit - now there's a post-wip thread and an antique Qaliste version.

[Abu Lafia]

Wow, i have to say, i love it when your "things go out of your hand" This is looking superbe! I'm speechless how every map of yours shows some new things you're working on. The top-down mountains are the most beautiful i've seen so far from you (if not from anyone...), just amazing! Would love to see it if you're going to expand this world (or better, dive deeper into it with some map-sets, etc.). Also a "post-wip" - thread would be awesome. Thanks you so much for sharing your wonderful work with us John!

[Wired]

*whistles* Wow!

[Diamond]

Welp, I guess I can stop making maps now. I've never seen anything that awesome and doubt I will again.

*bows down*

[arsheesh]

Wow. That is just incredible work man! The mountains and hills look so authentic, the colors are beautiful, the labels are perfect, everything about it is amazing. You are an inspiration to the Guild sir.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[AzurePlanet]

He he , It's really fun you call [stage1] what I would pretty call a perfect masterpiece!
Looking forward to seeing the final result!

[Chick]

I notice that in some places your labels say "The Lands of" something, some say "Lands of", and some neither. Is there a reason for that distinction?

[J.Edward]

Thanks all. The wip thread will probably be up after new years when I have some more time.

I notice that in some places your labels say "The Lands of" something, some say "Lands of", and some neither. Is there a reason for that distinction?

It's just something I like to do. When I'm laying out larger 'region' maps I think about what is a 'kingdom' or political area and what is a more general area, or a land of...
So these 'lands of...' would be viewed as such no matter who was in control politically. They usually have a strong historical significance which gives them more prominence.
I know it's linguistically incongruous and shouldn't be there but I like it so... what can ya do.

[Eilathen]

Wow! That looks truly awesome! I really like the mountain-ranges. I think it could use some more terrain differentiation (for example - forests) but all in all, this is an awesome piece of map-art. If i can, i'll rep. you.
And yes, please do the campaign work you mentioned in the OP. Also a big YES PLEASE for the WIP thread to see different directions. Very cool project.
Btw, if i am stating wishes already...any chance for a higher resolution of the map? I want to zoom in a lot more than i am able to atm ^^

Last but not least, a question: do you have some fluff/background for the world shown? If so, care to share?

[Ilanthar]

Hey, I missed this! Beautiful map J.! Colors, style, composition, elements... it's flawless and inspiring.