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Thread: Creating new biomes, drawing and describing them

  1. #11
    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
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    I'm working on a candy biome for the challenge.
    I'm pretty much done with this planet.
    The results would have been better if things were larger but I don't want things to get too big.
    So the map remains at a reasonable size.

    I also gathering ideas for an horror inspired biome.
    A stark contrast with the one below.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    For the mushroom biome, you could look into Morrowind (the elder scroll), and the province of Vvardenfell, There is a lot of shrooms there.
    The Skyrim expansion : Dragonborn in Solstheim also have some giant mushrooms.

    You might be interested in the "mushroom" challenge of last september : https://www.cartographersguild.com/c...llenge-Results

    Also, someone (Waldronate, I think) posted this link for inspiration : https://www.boredpanda.com/mushroom-photography/
    Last edited by Azélor; 09-15-2017 at 01:23 PM.

  2. #12
    Guild Adept Elterio Delgard's Avatar
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    I will check on those links you posted Azelor. Hrmm... A candy biome? Horror biome? Mmmmmmm...

    Horror depends on how you define a horrific biome.
    I checked the definition on the Cambridge dictionnary just to make sure of the basic elements. : ''an extremely strong feeling of fear and shock, or the frightening and shocking character of something''.

    That in mind, Azelor, I don't mind taking the subject further for either the candy one or the horror one, but the first will be hard on me.

    let me break my reply in two then...

    ***Candy biome***
    I do not know about the flora, or the ecosystem but I do have several ideas. From the top of mountains could flow a certain water with some floating frosting. One could then gather some frosting for their cookies and cinammon roles.
    erm... How about swamps being replaced with thick syrop and having some kind of celerie plant which absorbs the sugar and therefor acts as a giant sugarcan?

    Milk would be important as a raw ressources, maybe some milk catcus could be an option in a desert full of dark chocolate, really dark?

    ***Horror biome***
    Fear, shock. How to represent both. It can be something bloody and full of bones but that is so cliche. Maybe something deeper than just first degree fear. I would love to see some concepts in such a biome....
    1-Lack of fertility and a heavy curse which would also make women barren, unable to have children. Society in ancient middle east often linked fertility of the soil with fertility of the human race. So being unable to have crops and some child would be really ominous. But how to represent that? A flourishing tree at first glance, but filled with scorched flowers. A cracked and parched earth with every now and then some organic soil, but barely.

    2-Deception, disillusion. Having a landscape playing with the hope of people and then crushing it. A beautiful landscape at first glance, but cruel in its struggle. Maybe switch it around and have a desert with some kind of plant or mushroom from which a toxic emanates and causes despair, so as when people see a mirage of a lake they don't go knowing its false, but refusing also to go when a real one is near refusing to believe it could be true. A mix of wealth, but in same time people refuse to take the opportunities because they have been deceived. A combo of desert and lush forests.

    3-Imposing and dangerous. A valley with a beautiful forest with supper tall trees, but here and there some holes leading to the abyss lay hidden beneath the branches.
    We all wish to create, but do we really create?
    What we draw and what we write is part of us.
    No we do not create, we simply discover who we are.
    **My maps have copyrights**

  3. #13
    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
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    The candy biome is definitely not suitable for most worlds. It's a very specific theme. In my map, it's an artificial manmade environment.

    The idea is to have a gothic/horror themed planet. Think Dracula, Frankenstein and Jack the ripper as the most iconic pieces of the genre.
    My inspiration is more toward Lovecraft.

  4. #14
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    Oooh, so Ravenloft as a biome then?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenloft

    I imagine Ravenloft DMs would love some extra maps with some gothic horror elements to them

  5. #15
    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
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    I type Ravenloft horror map and this is what I've fond : http://forum.nogoblinsallowed.com/vi...hp?f=21&t=6375
    It's pretty cool but these are all interior map, and they are more funny than scary.

    I can't find any convincingly horrific Ravenloft world/regional maps.
    Maybe I can find something by searching for other horror game/movie.

  6. #16
    Guild Adept Elterio Delgard's Avatar
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    Ah I see... Gothique style. I will do some tiny research and readings before posting ideas but hey, we have our biome number 2! Thanks Azelor for your participation and Bioluminescence also for your interest in this second chapter of the thread!

    If I can just sparkle some interest unto silent readers, how about joining us in imaginating a gothic horror biome in a variety of landscape? Like, how would it look like in a swamp, or in a ravine... Or maybe something entirely different! Lets see some horror gothic ideas... Actually, I might even try to draw a tiny island map for the sake of taking part myself and of learning something I never tried.

    Remember, the idea is to follow what was said about gothic horror.
    We all wish to create, but do we really create?
    What we draw and what we write is part of us.
    No we do not create, we simply discover who we are.
    **My maps have copyrights**

  7. #17
    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
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    What about a bioluminescent map? I just had the idea, no idea where it came from.

    I tried that already during the challenge mentionned earlier. Glowing mushrooms.

    Basically, it's a map shown during nightime and we just need to find a way to make elements visible even if it is a bit far fetched like an unrealistic light reflection or overly bright nightsky.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elterio Delgard View Post
    Mmmm. Thanks Creativetides for your comment.

    Right now I am busy packing stuff because I am moving in 5 days to another city for studies so I will post sporadicaly.

    I agree with you that moisture is important. But what makes mushroom grow is a good question. In order to give some value to this thread, I will try to do some reading and some small research in order to open as many doors as possible to explore
    the idea of a mushroom biome.

    Generally speaking mushrooms are not big. at least not to the point of being a bush size or small tree. But what would they require to grow bigger? What ecosystem would be helping them? I know that in fall, we often have some mushrooms in our yards where leaves tend to fall. Now, we can't have a biome that appear in one season and dies afterwards, wouldn't make sense. I know that we often grow edible mushrooms with horse manure, but unless we plan to have some Godzillas around, there is no way any normal animal would be sufficient enough. Then again, thats FARMING, not natural growth. So certainly some reading on how mushrooms naturally grow will be quite a bonus here. Will do some research on it later.
    Actually, the largets living organism on this planet is the Honey Fungus:
    http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141...m-in-the-world
    "The parasitic and apparently tasty honey fungus not only divides opinions; it is also widely seen as the largest living organism on Earth.

    More precisely, a specific honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles (3.8 km) across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth."

    So, I'm thinking a fungus biome is totally plausible.

  9. #19
    Guild Expert rdanhenry's Avatar
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    Biomes are defined by their plant life for a reason. Plants produce food from sunlight, everything else in the food web builds on that. Remove the plants and everything else dies. To have a true fungal biome, you need to be able to have the fungus feed itself, rather than devour dead/decaying/fecal matter from plants and animals (that in turn get their energy from plants). Fortunately for fantasy world builders, as every pixie taller than a mouse knows, fungi are the most efficient form of life when it comes to absorbing magical energies, even more so than the faerie races themselves.

    As for a candy biome, that would be possible with sufficiently high tech, synthesizing sugar and other ingredients from non-living sources using (probably) solar power.

    So, magic or magic-like technology can give you new environments.

    "Horror" seems like just a modifier for some other environment. You can have a "horror swamp", "horror forest", "horror desert", etc. If you had an entirely undead ecosystem, feeding off magical energies (again), you might have something unique enough to call an "undead biome".

  10. #20
    Guild Expert rdanhenry's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Azelor View Post
    I'm working on a candy biome for the challenge.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Let's all party on the party planet!

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