Eyria Map (n00b requesting tips)
[Original Message from 23-Mar-2018]
Hello,
I have recently got into map making (as you will be able to tell in a couple of lines), and wanted to ask some generic feedback.
During a slepless night, I installed GIMP 2.0 and gave it a go at designing Eyria's map.
After a couple of hours, this was what I got.
Haven't changed it since, besides adding some town and region names
2 days ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Inkarnate beta, so i decided to fiddle with it.
This is version 1.2, just adding some minor details, after maybe 5 to 10min.
My request for feedback is more related to the world itself then the skills.
Skills I will need to get by practicing, but what is your overall take on the map?
Does it strike as something original? Realistic? Convoluted?
Does it have too much? Too little? What would you add?
Any feedback is helpful!
Thank you,
Filipe
www.talesofeyria.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/TalesOfEyria/
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[Update from 27-Marc-2018]
I cannot thank you enough for all the feedback given so far, it has been truly amazing. just wanted to share some more thoughts to help steer the conversation and thread.
- below is a map with the biomes' updates I did, to have a better idea of what things ought to look like from a climate perspective.
- the map below shows some plate tectonic information. This will mainly be relevant for Volcanic activities.
I want this map to be realistic, but not SUPER realistic (both in style and scientific accuracy). I want to avoid as much as possible geography 101 mistakes, and if with your help, I can even go the extra mile to have a more scientifically sound map, thumbs up. However, if in order for the map to get hyper realistic, it gets in the way of the story, I would settle for a less realistic map. That's my line in the sand. I was speaking to a friend yesterday and I realized it's been more than 15 years since I started working on Eyria. Most of that time has been scrapping ideas for that base story, and now I think I have something worth writing about because I think it is interesting enough for someone to give me their time and read it.
The base story is complete, not written, but layed out. That means the next step is the map making, as that will influence the culture, the people, the food, the fauna and flora, the distance it takes the heroes to walk, seasons.... The map will be of huge importance to define where the heroes are and what they will encounter from a climate perspective. Thing of it as a map for RPG D&D for that matter. As so, I am flexible with it, and don't have any qualm in the sketches I did not being the final product. Some ideas I have been advised and would agree with for "twisting" the map are:
- Elongating the map to make it more vertical, so it doesn't feel cramped, and the temperature and biome variation can flow more naturally. Please check MistyBeee's sketch for assistance (kuddos to Misty for it):
A means arctic, B means Taiga/Boreal, C means Cold-temperate (conifers + marshy steppes) forest.
D1 means more humid and warm Deciduous forest types, D2 means more dry and warm Mediterranean biome.
E means Warm temperature (jungle + desert).
Thinking of proportions, elongating would fix the cramped feel, would help the biomes transition, would also reduce the % of desert in the image, and have more "middle ground" land, which is more naturally occurring.
- The map is not complete and does NOT intend to be realistic depiction of the whole planet where we can find Eyria. Think of it as a Middle Earth, there is more to it than what we see on that map. The gaps and some limitations are purposefully there, because they represent the ignorance, as well as the willingness to stay ignorant, of Eyrian people. People have seen more things upper the North after traversing the mountains, but those are obviously lunatics or liars. There are more islands to the West, that's where the slave traders poach the Razlan (hybrid feline/human folk) and Vallon (hybrid bull/something else/human folk) for the gladiatorial arenas, yet because they are slave traders and pirates, and gladiatorial logistics is a tad unethical and a drag, people dont really ask or care. The Valara "Island" is probably a huge continent, maybe as big as any other we see in Eyria, but it wasn't explored, and people fear the Morgrance that live there and avoid those cursed waters. The south desert has end, because people buy in Peba (Dunakor's capital, South continent) alien-made artifacts that look good but cant make them work (most of them are broken anyway) because they were sold in the fabled bazaar city of Menzomenzaran. People in Eyria just choose to see Eyria as the only thing in the world. It is due to lower literacy, lower travelling abroad (no Ryanair), too much going on trying to make ends means to ponder about it, prejudice coming from very twisted word-of-mouth tales that generally are not even about the original topic after having been relayed 5 times... This obvious makes designing a map a bit easier, because we can have more liberties, but it is also a key story development tool, as our characters will unveil more of Eyria than anyone knew. As the mentor says to the lead "Your eyes are yet to open to what surrounds you. How could you possibly fathom to comprehend the entirety of the Verses?"
- As said, some things are very non-negotiable for me. Skadi, the steppes-marshy land we have been discussing is one of them. I need that to be a region to be not inviting at all to those but the natives. The native Vorfon used to rule half of the narkarn (north) and tremanath (south), and now they are constantly under either tremanath rule, or narkarian attack when they are free. They borders also fluctuate immensely, depending on the season, which makes their power and how long they remain independent, vary a lot. This map needs to have this too-muddy-for men to walk comfortably, but not getting in the way of the steeds of the natives (because their power comes from using the steeds, as nomads and archers).
- another non negotiable is having two deserts, one sand and one rock. Sand will be more predominant. Each desert represent a God for the Maedwen, the original natives of Dunakor, who were pushed into the desert by the Kaichin (tremanathi word)/Dokukrian (Usurpers in Maedwen tongue)/now self-called Dunakorians. The Sandy desert goddess is the most powerful being in the Maedwen pantheon (hence why father rocky desert has a smaller known turf). Women are generally more revered then men in Maedwen society.
- an alteration i would like to have, and that's why I invested a bit of time in tectonics, is the inner sea between Hrulgatharn (West) and Slygon (Centre). this is in its majority a more wild sea, harder to navigate through, lots of small islands and hidden shallows from the divergent fracture that sailing complicated. This has kept Hrulgatharn quite free of foreign intervention for a long while, has made them only really do coastal sailing for fishing and regional trade, and be overall less technologically developed. Also, this has an impact on the bay of Fjord, as the more turbulent nature of the sea made the people living there more believers of their patron Sea God Yaroslav Yorek. Nyl Wo area is a niche per say, as they have also loads of redhead people.
- Indyvar, the South jungle wetlands region of tremanath, is also a non negotiable. This region needs to be quite damp, humid, wet, filled with rivers, marshes, bogs, swamps, ponds, some stagnant water. Main reason is the religion that flourished there: they are more geared towards charity and less towards inner meditation (like most of tremanath are). This makes them some times prone to rebellion because its hard to get food, and since there is some prejudice towards them, they get the shortest end of the stick. It is also a key story development. Imagine you, as mighty well fed hero, has to go kill a bunch of starving (I am taking proper dying from hunger) rebels... how much of a psychological impact would that have.
Other details: you can't see the equator on this map, it is further South. I would say this area of the map is the equivalent of the stretch from the Sahara to Finland/Russia (if not in Km/mi, in style and geo-climatic dispersion), so between the Arctic circle and the Tropic of Cancer (or a bit closer to the Equator). The North pole is further north as well. Compared to Earth, the Equator in Eyria's world is considerably hotter and the North pole is considerably colder.
So my renewed request here is: tear this map apart. Say what you dont like, what doesnt make sense, what you find funny or not believable. Let's discuss that so we can come up with solutions to make it work. While this is a fantasy map and I will give the story prime importance, if the map is as realistic as it can get, it won't hurt at all.
Cheers,
Filipe
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