Map 05 - Lands of Nahadua [J.Ed land]

[Josiah VE]

That looks awesome so far!! Love your names!

So I've come up with a bit of culture for mine now. I'm afraid most of my border with you is warring tribes.. but there is some border with the more civilized empire. I'm still deciding whether the secret monks dudes hate cheese and are secretly trying to eradicate it from the land or if the empire outlawed cheese and the monks guys are trying to reintroduce it... probably the first one.

[J.Edward]

Nice. I like the place names. I have always had a hard time with more realistic place names. So I can come up with things like " The burning mountains" or " The Seraphim Sea"

But I have a hard time with things like what you've done here. I love it, great job! And thanks for updating that. It's nice to see how my neighbors are getting along.

I can really get into naming things. My biggest problem is sticking with a name or names.
The power of words is huge - the sound and feel of a word conveys so many preconceived notions for people.
I used to read through foreign language dictionaries [nerd!] and come up with fake languages and alphabets.
It's one of the things I always loved about Tolkien - his attention to language. Of course he mainly used or manipulated old existing languages but still very thorough.
I'm a big history lover too so trying to think about how names came to be what they are is important, and trying to think about the changes and perversions of those place names too.

That first word - Nahadua - will likely color the whole culture of the region.
My first thought was something somewhat african... then some indian influence came in. I think there may even be some ancient middle eastern influence with names like Nekral, maybe Gemel and Beuzud.
I will say a word and play with the sound before deciding on a name. Then try to sound out similar words as I go along.
I'll have to post the quick phonetics I did before doing the actual type.

That looks awesome so far!! Love your names!

So I've come up with a bit of culture for mine now. I'm afraid most of my border with you is warring tribes.. but there is some border with the more civilized empire. I'm still deciding whether the secret monks dudes hate cheese and are secretly trying to eradicate it from the land or if the empire outlawed cheese and the monks guys are trying to reintroduce it... probably the first one.

That's okay. As you can see, along that border it's a little less populated. Up on the plateau in Gokal and then the mountains running down into Nehimre.
It will add some interesting elements over there.

I'm thinking, due to the latitude of that area, that we may have some nice jungles and strange grass lands around there, which is perfect for some eerie tribal warfare and bizarre beasts and creatures of the wilderlands. I still need to work out the vegetation [forest/grasslands/jungles/etc.] for most of this country.
The dispersion of cities was based on waterways and possible mining areas, then began to include cross roads towns.
I know I have 2-3 or more variances in culture, and had thought about having some foreign peoples still extent in the region - like peoples from an earlier time.
I think my main peoples came here from the sea... maybe from ancient times coming from Max's lands or up from Abu's lands fleeing the god-empress.

Edit - here's the early phonetics for those names.

[Tonnichiwa]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing that.

[J.Edward]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing that.

No problem sir

Had some time today to get some more done on this land of Nahadua...
Even as I put in more time and effort toward this map, I'm still not sure if I'll do a completely different version after this.
We shall see.
### LATEST WIP ###

[Tonnichiwa]

I feel the exact same way. While I love what I'm doing I am not sure it fits with this project. I may have to go top down view.

[Josiah VE]

Trumpets blast and drums roll. The deafening sound of thousands of marching feet shook the ground. The gates of a city finally came into view. Trumpets blared once more. "Company, halt!" a powerful voice screamed and was echoed by the other commanders of different battalions. With the sound of clanging armor every one of them came to a dead halt. The silence was now ear splitting.
"Greetings to the people of the Lands of Nahadua, from your neighbors to the south, the Territories of Ami-Kotrai.." a powerful voice hollered between the distance from the army and the city. "We, the imperial legions of the Empire of Haschmal, come in peace, seeking a treaty to ensure that we shall remain allies with each other for the years to come. There is however one complication: A people have risen up against us and denied our authority over the land, and though they will not submit we would still like to make a treaty with you. The Peace of Cheese..." The captain came forward and presented a brick of cheese, inscribed on it the terms of the treaty.
Yet at this time screaming was heard from inside the city. There was an orange blaze as flames shot into the sky, and the fragrant smell of burning cheese.
The captain looked on in horror. They were here...
People came fleeing out of the city, looks of terror on their faces. "The cheese..." they mourned.
Now chanting came from inside the city. "Long live the Uidrens, victory to the Hidden Cities! Death to the unholy cheese!"

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The Uidren are the cheese hating monk people by the way..

Your map is looking awesome. Did you redo the mountains or just add more lines? By the way I will keep the name Ami-Kotrai.

[Ilanthar]

Wow, you're going fast on this... Great map already. And such a cheesy logo!

[J.Edward]

I feel the exact same way. While I love what I'm doing I am not sure it fits with this project. I may have to go top down view.

I may have just committed to this view. I started doing some shading so that might clinch it.

Trumpets blast.....
Now chanting came from inside the city. "Long live the Uidrens, victory to the Hidden Cities! Death to the unholy cheese!"

-----

The Uidren are the cheese hating monk people by the way..

Your map is looking awesome. Did you redo the mountains or just add more lines? By the way I will keep the name Ami-Kotrai.

"Oh my, this complicates matters greatly" said Balvedu Hamavada, regional Lavan of the Nehimre territory, as he reached corpulent fingers to probe over a small table tray, lazily hanging over several selections of a new spicy cheese blend recently delivered from the far regions of Shaga. "I'm just not sure what should be done about this sort of savagery, this, this utterly depraved wanton destruction of a veritable golden mine... and of course there's the matter of the city, yes, that's a terrible loss as well. Many homes and shops will require repairs. Oh yes."
Shifting his considerable weight over to the divan's edge, he slowly, and with much effort, rose and stood before the messenger who'd run out to his country estate to inform him of the turmoil in the border city of Nitupre. The messenger, a young woman from the north, possibly a daughter of Gemel, had to stifle a look of disgust and impatience as she awaited a response from this repugnant monster of a man... if indeed he was a man at all, she thought. Just at that moment, Balvedu turned and cast a disapproving glance at the young messenger.
"Oh what a bother, these neighbors and all the problems they bring to me. Perhaps we should build a wall to keep them out. Hah. That would show them, ey. A great wall. Maybe running all the way to the tip of Behuguz! Then see if they'd find a worthy cheese to pair with their pitiful crackers and sad watery wine."
Staring languidly out the doors to the warm terrace beyond, Balvedu turned away from the messenger and said "Send them this message - we will accept your 'generous' alliance, but if another such 'disturbance' should arise within our lands from these outland savages, welll, then we may have to saddle up some ruffians from Gokal and send them on into these, what did you say these lands were?... oh, into these Ami-Kotrain territories. Yes." With that he stepped out into the warm sunny terrace, leaving the messenger standing alone in the great room.

Things are beginning to look a little shaky for the alliance of fromage... what does the future hold for the Lands of Nahadua?

Wow, you're going fast on this... Great map already. And such a cheesy logo!

Yes, very cheesy Glad you're started. So much to do. Everyone is so busy with such splendid creations.

[Tonnichiwa]

Haha!...great story. Well, if you are keeping the current map then it'll be great to see how it works out.

[Josiah VE]

That was hilarious. You're a great writer.

Maybe I'll need help from the 16 Duchies before things get out of hand, I may have an alliance forming there.

P.S. I don't know why they'd bring a whole army just to sign a peace treaty...