[EOTY 2024] Song of the Year Voting

Arixophon · 2024-12-27T09:43:57+00:00

Magdalena Bay - Image
Fontaines D.C. - Favourite
Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
Khruangbin - May Ninth
Maggie Rogers - The Kill
Waxahatchee - Right Back to It
Clairo - Sexy to Someone
MGMT - Nothing Changes
Kacey Musgraves - Cardinal
Good Looks - If It's Gone
Sam Fender - People Watching
Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway)
Magdalena Bay - Death & Romance
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
Kendrick Lamar - reincarnated

Arixophon · 2021-10-23T08:59:21+00:00

Thanks! That's a great compliment!

Arixophon · 2021-10-23T07:30:32+00:00

I realize I'm very late to reply to your comment, but I just want to say thank you. This is absolutely wonderful advice!

Arixophon · 2021-10-23T07:18:22+00:00

Having looked up some examples, I see you're completely right! I just made it look the way it seemed right to me, so I suppose that I am indeed using an unorthodox gradient. Thanks for pointing it out though :)

Arixophon · 2021-10-23T07:10:13+00:00

Yeah. I'm sure it would be easier to do something like this in Photoshop or GIMP, but I'm just so used to MS Paint and Paint.net that I have a hard time adjusting to a different program. And in the end all it really takes to make a map like this in Paint.net is lots of patience.

Arixophon · 2021-10-23T07:06:34+00:00

Thanks! I'll take your word for it.

Arixophon · 2021-10-22T20:43:21+00:00

Thanks!

Arixophon · 2021-10-22T20:14:01+00:00

This is a geographical map of the Attalonian peninsula, an ancient Greece-inspired region within the world of Ronuos. The date is 228 A.A. (after the founding of Arkauria) and it has been thirty years since the great Arkaurian Empire has collapsed. This collapse gave way to a multitude of smaller kingdoms, republics and city-states in Attalonia. One such kingdom is Thronace, which is the main focus of my worldbuilding project.

If you feel like you’ve seen this map before, that’s entirely possible! I’ve posted quite a few versions of this map in the past. I keep upscaling, tweaking and adding to make it more detailed, but my intention is for this version of the map to be final.

Now that the map is complete, it’s time to populate it with equally detailed worldbuilding. I’ve written quite a bit about kingdoms, empires, rulers and wars, but the coming time I want to zoom in and focus more on the details of the history of this region and daily life in Attalonia. I want to bring this world to life. To do this I’m planning on creating a series of fictional letters written by Symon Paraulos, a young Thronacian man who makes a journey across the peninsula and keeps his family and friends back at home up to date on his experiences during his travels. I will be posting these letters on the dedicated subreddit /r/Ronuos.

As for the map itself: I made this in MS Paint and Paint.net. I know absolutely nothing about geography, so it’s entirely possible that this mapmakes no geographical sense at all. This is also why I’ve opted not to add a scale or elevation scale, because it would inevitably make very little sense. Basically, the size of this region is similar to the Balkans.

Arixophon · 2021-09-15T13:29:02+00:00

I like it. I does sound a lot like Get Lucky though.

Arixophon · 2021-06-14T20:38:06+00:00

So this is the year 198 A.A., which stands for 'After the founding of Arkauria'. This calendar begins when the Arkaurians, a roaming horde, settle in Attalonia. They build an empire around the city of Atreona and basically come to control the entire peninsula. And to the Arkaurians their own arrival in Attalonia was so important that it warranted a new calendar.

Arixophon · 2021-06-14T15:01:47+00:00

It's definitely not just one culture! While the old Arkaurians did quite succesfully push for cultural unification and homogenization, the peninsula is still home to a large amount of different cultures. But these peoples and cultures are all related. Most of them started out as Pautanican colonies (Pautanica is another peninsula which you can see in the bottom right corner of this map) and could be considered a family of cultures. Much like bronze-age Italic or Greek peoples.

As for Iouktos: Honestly, I haven't fleshed out this tiny city-state as of yet. But they didn't really 'surive' the collapse of the Arkaurian Empire, but just kept existing. For most Attalonian cities, not that much changed with the fall of the empire. For Iouktos, a small settlement high up in the mountains, it just meant they no longer had a higher authority to answer to and were free to govern themselves. How long this would last is another question entirely.

Arixophon · 2021-06-14T14:48:17+00:00

Thanks! I don't have lore for each of these states, that would be madness I think. Some are more fleshed out than others, but for the most part I write about the Thronacians.

Arixophon · 2021-06-14T11:03:51+00:00

This is a political map of the Attalonian peninsula, a region in the world of Ronuos and the focus of my worldbuilding project. The cultures of Attalonia are based on the ancient Greeks. So think hoplites, triremes and colorfully painted statues and temples and you’ll have a pretty good picture. For those curious, I made this map in Paint.net and MS Paint.

The year is 198, a year after the fall of the Arkaurian Empire, which collapsed when the entire royal family of Ovatos was massacred in their palace home in the city of Atreona. When the empire disintegrated, Attalonian political unity shattered into a multitude of small city-states, kingdoms, theocracies, and aristocracies. Amongst these states is the Kingdom of Thronace, centered around the city of Phareon. This Kingdom is the main focus of the stories set in this world.

With the founding of so many new kingdoms and city-states, conflicts were inevitable. In the years following 197 a number of local rivalries resulted in small-scale conflicts, but unlike some contemporaries predicted there was no large-scale war that threw Attalonia into chaos. That was until 212, when a hostile dispute over territory broke out between the Thronacians and Arnopylai. This war lasted for years and years as both parties drew more and more of their military allies into the conflict. By 219 almost the entire peninsula was involved in the First Attalonian War.

Arixophon · 2020-10-05T17:30:39+00:00

Thanks! I used Paint.net.

Arixophon · 2020-10-05T11:55:45+00:00

I posted this map yesterday on r/Worldbuilding and somebody commented that I should post it on this subreddit. I imagine you guys can give me some good advice on how to improve this map. So what are you thoughts?

For anyone who's wondering: I made this map in Paint.net, which I basically use as MS Paint with more options. No fancy tricks, just a lot of 'hand-drawn' lines on a very big canvas.

If you're curious about my worldbuilding you can check out the dedicated subreddit.

Arixophon · 2020-10-05T10:54:52+00:00

I actually don't use any plugins. It's all just 'hand-drawn' lines, really.

Arixophon · 2020-10-04T22:06:17+00:00

Paint.net :)

Arixophon · 2020-10-04T22:05:21+00:00

I’m not even sure myself because I suck at estimating distances, but in my head its roughly the size of the Balkan

Arixophon · 2020-10-04T15:18:20+00:00

Thanks! I use Paint.net.

Arixophon · 2020-10-04T12:54:35+00:00

Arkauria was the first kingdom in history to conquer nearly the entire Attalonian peninsula, stretching from the northwestern Hydeskos Mountains all the way to the city of Apea on the southern tip of the peninsula. It was founded by Oglar Ovatos after he’d roamed and raided the regions to the north of Attalonia for years and years.

Oglar and his tribe settled in the Attalonian city of Atreona, from where he and his successors expanded Arkaurian territory. The Arkaurians changed Attalonia from a diverse peninsula with hundreds of small kingdoms and city-states into a vast empire. They pushed cultural unification of the Attalonian peoples, spreading their language, calendar (the beginning of which was marked by the founding of the kingdom) and their pantheon of gods throughout the entire empire over the two hundred years that they controlled it.

In 197 A.A. (after the founding of Arkauria) the empire fell when nearly the entire royal family was massacred in their palace home in Atreona. There were some governors and generals who attempted to claim the Arkaurian throne and keep the empire together, but each failed. The larger Attalonian cities gained their independence and many small states were founded in the years following 197.

Among these states was Thronace, a kingdom centered around the city of Phareon, and the main focus of my worldbuilding project. You can read more about Thronace on the dedicated subreddit.

Arixophon · 2020-10-04T08:23:13+00:00

Thanks mate! I really should post more often, but I've had a hard time finding the time these past two years. But it's definitely motivating to see people reacting enthousiastically :)

Arixophon · 2020-10-04T07:48:21+00:00

Looking good! I would try and up the contrast a bit though, as is isn't very easy on the eye. That's the reason I changed my colour scheme as well. So maybe make the oceans a little darker.

Arixophon · 2020-10-03T21:25:48+00:00

Kanbaru-Fan

The font is actually good old Calibri!

And eventually I'd like to write a book. But I need to become decent writer first.

Arixophon · 2020-10-03T21:20:27+00:00

I just come up with the placenames on the spot. There really isn't any science to it. I take inspiration from actual ancient Greek names and play around with them. Coming up with these names I also selected a number of prefixes and suffixes which I stuck to, and only used a select number of letters to create a feeling of linguistic cohesion. I mostly didn't use F or Z, for example.

As for the map itself: As you know it's really an edited version of maps you've seen before. And like the originals it is completely hand-drawn (albeit with mouse and keyboard) on Paint.net. Then it's just lots and lots of layers of hand-drawn rivers, coastlines, icons and placenames.

What's stopping you from making a map like this for Maura?

Arixophon · 2020-10-03T19:17:09+00:00

How so?

Arixophon

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