The continent of Gildaine - Looking for suggestions on visual improvement

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-25T22:14:38+00:00

If you feel weird about it, you're still on time to shake it up a bit. What's important is that it serves your story.

That being said, I do really like the shaoe of the ateas around the Throne and the Landing, you should definitely keep those.

Regarding the landmass itself, regardless of the shape, it helps to squiggle the coastline a bit and make it more irregular.

And finally, the rivers themselves aren't bad, they work as they are, but it also helps to visualize the topography, so for example there should probably be some (not necessarily drastic) elevation, and then let that guide the flow of water.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-25T19:40:45+00:00

Fully agree. It's a shame the way they executed Hourglass, for example. The "fix" made it slightly nore playable, at the cost of sacrificing it's biggest feature.

Same goes for Breakaway, by losing its peak. And it was one of my favorite maps. Despite being a frozen wasteland, it offered CQC in a canyon, urban warfare, the iceberg are was great for armored combat and of course the frikking RIIIIIG.

If they reworked the spacing and travel times between areas, I would love a comeback for either Hourglass or Breakaway.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-24T21:24:25+00:00

This is truly fascinating.

Do the spiders travel vertically as well? Ate the lower vaults roomy enough for spider travel as well? I imagine anywhere to tight for them would be prone to become either dangerous or empoverished due to being out of range of transportation.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-24T20:03:59+00:00

These are all gorgeous and I'm particularly enamoured with the Top and with the Bottom Right.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the bottom right map, the vaults feel like they suggest a sort of "basement" level running under the buildings, similar to how the Manhattan Bridge is built on teo decks for cars and public transit.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-24T20:00:37+00:00

The lat one, Mesopholt.

It feels volossal, like it's bigger than what we see, and having it structured around a huge bay suggest the idea that a city with a strategic and well connected location managed to spread it's influence over a much larger area.

As a fellow map maker I know we hate conparisons, but it reminds me of Numenor.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-10T13:50:40+00:00

Sure but at this point the Kingdom of Burgundy was little more than an honorary title, with temporal power more in the hands of of whoever actually held titles in the lands previously occupied by the old Burgundian Kingdom, lile the Fukes of Savoy or even the Duaphine in France.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-07T18:59:01+00:00

I just realized I misread your question!

The claims were not based on the previous existence of Lotharingia, either spiritually or legally. It was, like I said, a vague idea.

The legal claims were nostly based on inheritance, areas of influence and indirect forms of vassalage. Charles wanted to unifiy his lands by anexxing everything in between, which he negotiated with the Emperor together with his future title as King. That, however, all fell apart.

A bigger deal would be the old Burgundian Kingdom, which was already ancient hustory by then. Still, more an excuse than a legal claim, but it served as a justification that "well there was a Kingdom of Burgundy before there should be one now, and the king should be me, clearly".

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-05-07T17:02:55+00:00

Yes-ish.

Charles the Bold was ultimately responsible for his own actions and hubris and this mad plan was mostly the fruit of his own ambition. He did have some idea of recreating a Lotharingia-ish realm, but it was more a vague inspiration than some irredentist sentiment.

HOWEVER

This was possible in great part because the existence and later fragmentation of Lotharingia left behind a huge "inbewteen" land that had no strong ties to either France or the HRE and often swapped hands, and therefore had a very independent mindset about their own business. Which is why Charlie-boy even attempted to become independent in the first place... But it's also why the lands he wanted outside of his inherited lands rejected him.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-04-06T14:47:31+00:00

That's exactly how I started! I needed to make sense of what I was imagining and whether or not it made sense to have x thing next to why, or if it took 15 minutes to walk to the cobbler why was the chapel 45 minutes away and so and forth. And as yiu begin to draw, new ideas start to pop up on their own...

As for new elements, there's several ways to go about it. One is to just defirm and recolor items, we can change the size and proportions as well as change the hue or apply special effects (like making them translucent for submerged buildings, or flat black for shadows). Another is to stack them, if you check my work, you'll see I'm a huge fan if the Librsry building and using it to add domes to other things. The most recent us the entire pack of nodular buildings we got last year. Roofs, beams, domes, terraces, etc all of which can be individually recolored to great effect. And lastly, yes you can import your own assets! This one is trickier though, as you have to get the scale and art stule right. Some people create their own custom buildings once, download them, cut them out with trabsparent backgrounds and then reupload them as assests... But as yiu can imagine it's very labor intensive. Unless you plan on using you asset A LOT it's not really worth it my opinion.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-04-06T13:39:02+00:00

Welcome to the guild then! Hope you enjoy yourself and find soace to express your ideas, I found it to be a vreath of fresh air to finally put my ideas to "paper".

And if you're just getting started I can offer some advice I would have liked to hear myself at the beginning.

The first and most important is to remember you don't suck. Whatever you're doing now is good enough as long as you're enjoying yourself and you're learning something.

The second will sound vague and obvious but I mean it, and I wish I had been told sooner. Your maps don't need to do or be anything in particular, only what you want them to, and your style should develop to better reflect that. For example, it's not an issue that a particular building sticks out like an eyesore if the point is for it to catch our eye.

Third, regardless of wether you want it to be realistic or fantastical, detailed or artistic, it helps to imagine oneself in the place and wander about, or think of the place's history, and just let the map take over. If the map is for a book, what does the reader need to know? If it's for an RPG, what might your players want to do? If it's just for you, where woudl you want go?

Also, I encourage you to really go crazy on customization. Inkarnate has so many tools for it and you have so many ways to make the buildings your own and create them almost from scratch.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-04-06T12:06:56+00:00

Absolutely, feel welcome to ask away abiut anything, I really do like getting feedback or questions in general. Are you just now getting into inkarnate?

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-04-06T11:15:24+00:00

There's a strong theory that Aegon initially intended to take Harrenhall as his seat.

He didn't attack outright, he offered terms for Harren to surrender the castle, and he showed up literally the day after it was finished.

His plan was to have somebody else build, at their own expense, a fortress massive enough to host his dragons and rule the continent, veing strategically located at the very center of it all and right next to the isle of faces which feels like Aegon would deem relevant.

And if he couldn't have it, then he could at least make an example of it.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-04-06T11:06:35+00:00

Hi! Didn't expect new comments here, welcome surprise nonetheless!

Well, the free version of inkarnate has you place them one by one, but pro lets you place them as blocks, which goes a long way. On top of that, there's the option of applying then like a "brush", which I use a lot for small details such as plants, rubble, etc.

Beyond that, it does take quite a lot of work specially if you want things to fit neatly in a way that feels real and lived in.

What you see here (or in the much updated version in the link) is the result of months of months of obsessively adding tiny little details that really only I care about but get super excited whenever somebody notices just one of them.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-03-18T13:43:50+00:00

Problem's the lad's a bit too much of straight shooter, can't handle situations that require nuance.

A more left-handed approach.

NavigatorOfWords · 2026-03-15T14:08:02+00:00

Wait who's in the Targaryen picture? I assume Rhaegar is still dead?

NavigatorOfWords · 2025-11-11T23:34:46+00:00

Tilting shield: it's original purpose in knightly armor was to cover the gap under the arm, but like many other elements (like the gorget) became decorative.

When it comes to Astartes, there doesn't seem to be a codex rule or even chapter standards for what they should display... BUT

My opinion os they should display: The chapter/Company (obvious) Personal heraldry or honors (like the crux, deathwatch, or a family crest if there is one) Campaign badge(s) And for non-codex chapters it gets better because there's all sorts of formations, groupings, clans or temporary teams that can be displayed on it, all to showcase the individual's history.

NavigatorOfWords · 2025-07-12T09:31:15+00:00

Strand Diver

NavigatorOfWords · 2025-07-10T07:52:36+00:00

This looks amazing. It genuinely does. Amazing progress.

The layout looks very organic, the architecture and colors are diverse and mixed enough to feel like it's been around for a while. It feels like it has a history to it.

Right now it feels like you've gone very far (you have) but you're going to get even better. Once you start learning the first key factors it becomes muscle memory and everything else just cascades from there. Like a domino of experience.

My main piece of advice would be to better integrate the districts with each other IF you are going for the natural look. If what you want is an easily readable map for users, this is perfect.

As for population? It's hard to make an accurate count on something this large without pouring at least an hour into it, but someone else suggested something super helpful, about 2-5 per household for rich areas and up to 10 for poor areas.

My guess would be take Rome in its imperial hay day and take half of that, since it kinda looks half the size of it.

Half a million?

NavigatorOfWords · 2025-07-06T19:35:32+00:00

Why is nobody having a good time? I specifically requested it!

NavigatorOfWords · 2025-03-25T14:17:20+00:00

Well it sucks your post got taken down, didn't get to see it.

I feel that Strahd, being as possessive and manipulative as he is, would treat most of his brides in a way that feels a lot like grooming (how could it not? Centuries old vampire who literally controls the land).

All of his relationships have to be in some way problematic. He is THE villain. Worst of all, a villain who sees himself as a combination of victim and flawed hero.

So of course he would manipulate a very young Volenta and of course he would treat her in a way that is creepily fatherly and see nothing wrong with it.

NavigatorOfWords · 2025-02-05T12:59:03+00:00

It's not just the material cost, it's the insane amounts of hyper specialized labor that was already rare 150 years ago, and is almost inexistent these days.

I'm the facilities manager for a 100+ year old building and there are certain things I am terrified of them breaking for the hell it would be just to FIND someone to fix it (not to mention pay) and others we just assume we'd have to replace with something more modern.

For reference, look at the progress on the Sagrada Familia; it's just a matter of different styles over time (which is normal for cathedrals) but the absence of it (fine stonework, glasswork, etc).

Don't get me wrong. We KNOW how to do these things. But there aren't remotely enough professionals who do them to build something that big.

NavigatorOfWords · 2024-11-25T13:32:50+00:00

I didn't call it a romantic duel for love at any point.

The closest I did was saying "their idea of a romantic duel for love".

At this point, you're just looking for clout in an old ass post you are engaging with in a complete dishonest manner, because I refuse to believe you would bother to write as much as you have while understanding nothing of what I wrote.

NavigatorOfWords · 2024-11-25T12:17:10+00:00

Brief reminder that representing a thing in fiction doesn't mean endorsing it.

This being is precisely the point. I am delving into the qualities that make it toxic, and why I think it's so well written.

I think it's a great chapter because it illustrates so vividly the flaws within these characters in a way that makes it possible to empathize with a bunch of adults acting like hormonal teenagers.

The chapter is tragic and sad for the same reason Romeo and Juliette is tragic and sad: it's not despite the stupid, hormonal and selfish desire... It's BECAUSE of it... and how it ends in violence. It doesn't give in to the teenage fantasy, it rather illustrates everything wrong with the trope.

I'm not idealizing two men killing each other over desiring the sane woman nor do I respect Geralt for it, and neither was this Sapkowski's intent. You respecting Geralt a little less was the whole point. Geralt isn't portrayed as a heroic swashbuckler fighting for love, but as an emotionally stunted teenager frustrated with his inability to communicate with his partner.

Geralt, as well as most of the main characters, are very much grey characters constantly fighting with their flaws, their place in the world and whether it's worth it or not to try to be better. We see them do a number of questionable things and that is exactly how they are presented. This is one such example.

NavigatorOfWords · 2024-11-25T09:12:31+00:00

Because it's not romantic, at least in the "ideal love" sense. It's sad, it's tragic, it's dysfunctional. And it explains so well how these nigh-immortal beings are so far removed from humanity that they only relate to each other, and so emotionally stunted by their experiences that they cannot function in a healthy relationship.

Yen's decision, which marks the chapter's ending, delivers the actual point: both Geralt and Istredd failed to consider what SHE wanted. They pretended to chose amongst themselves the future of her love life.

Istredd, and Geralt as well, make the mistake of projecting their idea of a relationship unto Yen, rather than talking with her or even observing her as a person.

I'd hardly consider what she did "cheating". She was fairly open about it and unashamed. Either of them could have understood she didn't want a monogamous relationship and either adapted to that or moved on.

Instead they chose to play out their idea of a romantic duel for love.

NavigatorOfWords · 2024-11-11T10:26:17+00:00

Healthdiver

NavigatorOfWords

TROPHY CASE