The Last Sea of Ausur

[Naima]

Less is more. I also couldn´t figure out how you would show beasts in any other way. They are needed on the map somewhere I think. With Star Wars, I meant how they name things "Womp Rat" and "Jawa" without explaining what it is, and even if its just a name, it add something to the whole story. You do that as well with some of the words chosen, The Drying Age, etc. Good work.

Yes I strangely had a lot of ideas channeled into this map that was just made for a contest ... perhaps when you have less expectations and constrains you get more imagination allowed to run free.
Perhaps if I started to put more into this I feel I would deprive the viewer of his own fantasies and ideas ? But other ideas I had in mind for example:
What is a Skreeter? I have no idea I thought the name evoked some kind of bipedal runner ratlike big creature that roamed salt plains on this world ... I dunno even if its a word in english or what evokes to an english audience but to me that is what evoked and so I added that picture... or the Vorax ... a bipedal all mouth spikey creature ... or muncosaur ... which is a creature name I carry over since I was a child ..a creature shaped like a hand with middle finger and long neck with head with a small proboscis "munching" grass... dunno if munching means sonething lol but its the sound I imagibed for the act of eating ground grass... that is how I let imagination totally free to run ... I would have added more portraits for the tribes and other creatures or figures ... have more cities and villages but most of all I would have liked to describe the technology and magic I had in mind for this world where small and large boats can fly in the sky as long as use ascensional currents of the canyon .. using kites , balloons ropes gears and wings of wood ropes and silk... while outside in the desert merchant caravans are the only able to cross the deserts using huge "Howdah" creatures (using howdah on their top carapax) slow but resistant to thirst and big enough to survive aggressive creatures.

[HINDSIGHT]

Yes! Great post. I remember something similar, carrying a name ir creature all the way from childhood imagination. If you haven't already looked into it, searching etymology and the origin of words can give a lot of background. I used that once, when I tried making a society that had no latin origin words, became very challanging particularly for words related to armour. Also a good point that restraints forces us to not overwork an idea. Some of the best songs were written in 30min. About your map, you could also think about societies/cities that did not adapt to the enviromen changing, or tribes that now thrive because of more sand. I would maybe remove the snow parts, or change it to a wintery desert, to really focus on just 2 ecosystems(?) I dont know what happens geologically to a planet/place that dries up like yours.

[Naima]

Yes! Great post. I remember something similar, carrying a name ir creature all the way from childhood imagination. If you haven't already looked into it, searching etymology and the origin of words can give a lot of background. I used that once, when I tried making a society that had no latin origin words, became very challanging particularly for words related to armour. Also a good point that restraints forces us to not overwork an idea. Some of the best songs were written in 30min. About your map, you could also think about societies/cities that did not adapt to the enviromen changing, or tribes that now thrive because of more sand. I would maybe remove the snow parts, or change it to a wintery desert, to really focus on just 2 ecosystems(?) I dont know what happens geologically to a planet/place that dries up like yours.

I wnted the ice caps as was thinking of mars that shoudl have also but its a cold desert so a Desert can be as hot as cold, just matter of no precipitation mostly , the precipitation instead happens in the Canyons where melted ice contributes to preserving the last sea.
I also wanted a peculiar variety of cities so some are kind of Venice like hindu aztec hybrids , another a tree city another a cave city another a city built on cliffs and so on.