# Completed Map of Illia'thar



## Miskatonic (Oct 24, 2015)

Well my commissioned map is all completed so I thought I'd share it with everyone. I'm very pleased at how it turned out. 






Enjoy


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## Gospodin (Oct 24, 2015)

You should be please. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






 I am envious.


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## Gryphos (Oct 24, 2015)

Are those islands on the left supposed to look like the British Isles? Because they do.

Sick map though.


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## skip.knox (Oct 24, 2015)

Commissioned ... from whom?

(I'm shopping maps and map-makers myself)


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## MineOwnKing (Oct 24, 2015)

That looks perfect.

If it takes up two pages, would you need to make it a fold out so that the spine doesn't hide parts of the map or would you just split the whole map in half and print separately?


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## Miskatonic (Oct 24, 2015)

Gryphos said:


> Are those islands on the left supposed to look like the British Isles? Because they do.
> 
> Sick map though.



Basically I took Europe from the British Isles all the way east to the Ural Mountains and then messed with the land masses until I had something I liked. There's another continent to the south that is an alternate take on Africa (not shown on the map). Then you have another even bigger continent where all the supernatural/fantasy beings exist on, which is to the east of the one above.

I don't have plans to have those two made, at least not at the moment. They will get done eventually.


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## Miskatonic (Oct 24, 2015)

Though there were changes made as the artist and I went back and fourth with ideas, this is basically a general idea of how the map evolved. The first being the official map design resting on top of the original design I sent.

Here are the first three.


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## Miskatonic (Oct 24, 2015)

And here are the the rest.


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## Miskatonic (Oct 25, 2015)

MineOwnKing said:


> That looks perfect.
> 
> If it takes up two pages, would you need to make it a fold out so that the spine doesn't hide parts of the map or would you just split the whole map in half and print separately?



I need to get the story written before I worry about that sort of stuff. 

But to answer the question if the first story focused on areas on that map exclusively I'd probably like a two page spread with the paperback and then a gated fold out type picture for the hardcover. 

The first thing I'm doing however is getting a poster made so I can hang it on my wall.


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## Miskatonic (Oct 25, 2015)

Gospodin said:


> You should be please.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks!


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## thedarknessrising (Oct 26, 2015)

I like that a lot! Fantastic job!


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## Miskatonic (Oct 26, 2015)

skip.knox said:


> Commissioned ... from whom?
> 
> (I'm shopping maps and map-makers myself)



Your inbox is full.


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## Russ (Oct 26, 2015)

I will be shopping for a map maker soon myself if you want to try my inbox which is not full


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## Miskatonic (Oct 27, 2015)

If anyone has questions about the map itself or the map making process, feel free to ask.


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## Incanus (Oct 27, 2015)

Really excellent, Miskatonic.

I'm going to have to get my map in order one of these days.  My working version is covered with emendations, corrections, things crossed out, and extra hills and forests penned in on top of the original.  I think I've got somewhere between 80 and 100 names on it.  All on an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper.  It's an eyesore to say the least.


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## FifthView (Oct 27, 2015)

A very useful map, Miskatonic.

I spent a few full weekends drawing my continent map using mostly Gimp and various brushes to get the mountains and forests and seas looking great.  Whole thing looks a lot like a charcoal drawing.  I see you included roads, which was something I haven't included on mine.  I also don't have national borders–but that's because there aren't any on mine.  (There are regional borders, since the empire is subdivided into administrative districts, but I haven't drawn those demarcations either.)

I drew a separate map for one particular small island which will figure heavily into the story.

I'm very, very happy with my maps but I have a serious problem.  I need to do detailed maps of at least the capital city, since a lot takes place there, and perhaps maps of some large towns on that island.  My geographical continental map is pretty good, I think, but drawing down into the cities/towns seems a lot more complicated to me.  Part of my problem is simply that I haven't given enough thought to the many details of the capital city or even the towns on the island.  I don't _need_ a map of those, but for whatever reason I'm a little irritated not having them.  (And I'm already planning to use this world for multiple stories, so...)


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## Miskatonic (Nov 1, 2015)

Sneak preview of the next map. Osyrica the first empire. Based on the African continent.


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## Miskatonic (Nov 8, 2015)

FifthView said:


> A very useful map, Miskatonic.
> 
> I spent a few full weekends drawing my continent map using mostly Gimp and various brushes to get the mountains and forests and seas looking great.  Whole thing looks a lot like a charcoal drawing.  I see you included roads, which was something I haven't included on mine.  I also don't have national borders–but that's because there aren't any on mine.  (There are regional borders, since the empire is subdivided into administrative districts, but I haven't drawn those demarcations either.)
> 
> ...



I haven't even begun to think about city maps yet. I'd love to have one of Veldencrest and Nalencia since those are two cities that are focused on the most when it comes to every day life. I still have a lot more research to do to get an idea of the type of layout I want that corresponds with what medieval cities would look like. 

I needed political boundaries since the continent is divided up among individual kingdoms with their own principalities controlled by feudal lords. Roads were helpful because I can get some rough calculations on travel times between villages and what not. I wasn't familiar at all with how bodies of water and mountain ranges actually look when done realistically; so I had to adjust initial ideas to fit around how those were laid out.


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## indonesiancat (Nov 18, 2015)

Miskatonic said:


> If anyone has questions about the map itself or the map making process, feel free to ask.



Voldenskagg and Nytt Voldenskagg I would assume is Scandinavian influenced. I reckon you're planning to put fantasy vikings there?


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## Miskatonic (Nov 18, 2015)

indonesiancat said:


> Voldenskagg and Nytt Voldenskagg I would assume is Scandinavian influenced. I reckon you're planning to put fantasy vikings there?



I'll mix things up a bit but it will certainly have a viking/Norse influence. 

The names of the different kingdoms all try and have a similar ring to them. Zostrova obviously having more of an eastern European sound for its cities. Sanguinestos's cities are either Romanian or Hungarian words.

I want to use medieval European cultures as the base and then change various things so they have their own unique features.

The first half of the story is far more focused on realism. 

I'm trying to narrow down a time frame to use as a reference for how every day life is, what architecture is like, etc. Hovering around rougly the mid 13th to mid 14th century.


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## indonesiancat (Nov 18, 2015)

Miskatonic said:


> I'll mix things up a bit but it will certainly have a viking/Norse influence.



Awesome, I'm writing my own mythos that is centralized on norse inspired settings. I would assume however, when you named it ''Nytt Voldenskagg'' that you were aiming for a translation for ''New Voldenskagg''. In swedish, when we speak about geographical locations, we use the word ''Nya''. So for instance ''New Zealand'' becomes ''Nya Zeeland'', or in this case ''Nya Voldenskagg''. 



Miskatonic said:


> The names of the different kingdoms all try and have a similar ring to them. Zostrova obviously having more of an eastern European sound for its cities. Sanguinestos's cities are either Romanian or Hungarian words.




I would assume then that south Zostrova is basically like the Balkans and South Slavic nations?



Miskatonic said:


> I want to use medieval European cultures as the base and then change various things so they have their own unique features.
> 
> The first half of the story is far more focused on realism.
> 
> I'm trying to narrow down a time frame to use as a reference for how every day life is, what architecture is like, etc. Hovering around rougly the mid 13th to mid 14th century.



I think you've got a pretty damn solid foundation. Are you planning on keeping out monsters and crazy wildlife as well for the first half?


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## Miskatonic (Nov 19, 2015)

Yeah I used words that sounded similar enough to the real world language equivalent to drop a hint as to what the culture is like, as you pointed out. And yes the name is supposed to be New Voldenskagg. It's named as such as it was once a land invaded by the warriors of Voldenskagg who defeated the Zostrovian army and claimed it as their own territory. I'm pretty sure I just made up the word for new. Iron shield and Iron sword were named because that southern border of New Voldenskagg held up against all attacks and sent the Zostrovian soldiers back to their capital with far fewer soldiers. 

Southern Zostrova is sort of new because it's the lands held by the exiled heir to the Zostrovian throne. His brother tried to have him killed and he fled to the south with those soldiers loyal to him and established his fortress at Stiavna. 

I basically wanted Zostrova, as far as the topography, to be similar to the area from the western border of Russia to the western side of the Ural mountains. Not all of it fits this description but the flatter areas that make up a lot of the kingdom were based on that topography. 

I'm keeping a very minor amount of humanoid beings in the first half of the story, like stunted cave dwelling creatures that live in mines and become a nuisance to the miners and sometimes have to be dealt with and sent fleeing down into the further depths of the earth. Wizard familiars are also in the story, basically creatures created by magic with minor shapeshifting properties. One for example that's the familiar of the eldest wizard on the "good guys" side is like a pixie/fairy that prefers to spend most of her time in the form of a house cat.


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## Brithel (Nov 19, 2015)

Love the map.
Do the runes along the edge of the map mean anything? And how did much did this cost?


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## Miskatonic (Nov 19, 2015)

Brithel said:


> Love the map.
> Do the runes along the edge of the map mean anything? And how did much did this cost?



I think they were part of the basic template that the map's artist used. So basically generic. 

Let's just say a map like this can run anywhere from $250-$300 depending on the level of detail.


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## xerolee (May 20, 2016)

I really like the map, But I think it should be edited so it doesn't look like you have used Britain or Europe. Because at the moment its very obvious. But the design of the map is really good.


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## Miskatonic (May 20, 2016)

xerolee said:


> I really like the map, But I think it should be edited so it doesn't look like you have used Britain or Europe. Because at the moment its very obvious. But the design of the map is really good.



It's supposed to be based on those locations.


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## Nomadica (May 26, 2016)

What skill stet do you look for in a map maker? One of the things I'm trying to learn for my own map is how geography effects the security and economy of cities. Like which cities would naturally become trade hubs.


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## Reilith (May 26, 2016)

This looks wonderful. I wish my level of map-making was half of this.  Also, if you need any help with the Slavic history, I might be able to give you some insight as I am from a Slavic country.


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## Miskatonic (May 26, 2016)

Reilith said:


> This looks wonderful. I wish my level of map-making was half of this.  Also, if you need any help with the Slavic history, I might be able to give you some insight as I am from a Slavic country.



I'll know where to go if I need some answers.  

It would probably be more cultural stuff than actual history, since I'm not drawing on specific events all that much. Though I guess that might be a catch-22 because history is what spawned the culture to begin with.


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## Miskatonic (May 26, 2016)

Nomadica said:


> What skill stet do you look for in a map maker? One of the things I'm trying to learn for my own map is how geography effects the security and economy of cities. Like which cities would naturally become trade hubs.



I think natural resources nearby, such as timber, fresh water, fertile soil for crops, etc., would be one thing to consider. Or perhaps the ability to mine natural resources. Entire towns have been created around a particular type of industry just as logging and mining, as well as fishing. Weather patterns and climate are also something to take into account when it comes to agriculture. Rice paddies are a great example of how seasonal weather patterns allow for particular types of crops. Or cranberry bogs.

As far as security I would think that if the location was difficult to march an army into, whether because of landscape, weather or what not, it would make a place a bit safer. Then again if it's difficult to reach in general then trade would be affected by that as well.

There's usually a trade-off, especially when warfare is more primitive. You might have a nation with seemingly endless fields that grow abundant crops every year but in turn it's pretty easy to march an army across lands like that.


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## Miskatonic (May 27, 2016)

Here's a preview of the next continent I'm working on. It's located south of Rydios. It's called Osyrica.


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## Jamesthesecond (May 27, 2016)

Those look incredible!! Who did you get to draw them for you?


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## Miskatonic (May 27, 2016)

I commissioned one of the members at the Cartographer's guild to make them for me.


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## Darkfantasy (Jun 3, 2016)

Very cool. Nice names for place I wouldn't even know how to pronounce half of them though lol


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## Miskatonic (Jun 3, 2016)

Darkfantasy said:


> Very cool. Nice names for place I wouldn't even know how to pronounce half of them though lol



Yeah the names for the places on Sanguinestos are ones I'm not completely sure how to pronounce either. Some are Romanian and the others Hungarian.


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## Devor (Jul 21, 2016)

How much does a map like that run?

I think it looks great, except for the placement of the country names.  I think they're obscuring some of the detail and make it look crowded.


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## Miskatonic (Jul 21, 2016)

devor said:


> how much does a map like that run?
> 
> I think it looks great, except for the placement of the country names.  I think they're obscuring some of the detail and make it look crowded.



$300.00 usd.


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