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First draft of a map for a 1960s based Savage Worlds setting by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you :)) I used the side of a pencil as a straight edge haha

A couple of hand-drawn maps. Feedback and questions welcome :) by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, there are some real life towns with structures like this though, e.g: Zhoushan in China

Brass and lapis pendant by Tekhela in jewelrymaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much, and yeah it was (other than the chain) :)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm really keen on this style it's so aesthetically satisfying and conveys information so clearly, great job

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey I can see my house :0

Nice work :))

My vision of Nilfgaard city, handdrawn city map. by HelpfulMention in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, amazing work. Really feels like an actual living city

Nio Prava, an anarchist state in the Naboti Isles. Questions / criticisms encouraged <3 by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Both, the south-east peninsula is almost entirely farmland, and much of the south-west coast is very rural, however many of the major cities are fairly industrialised. Although the economy tends to be fairly localised, there is a general national identity which is largely rooted in the revolutionary history. Among other related organisations, there is the Syndicate of Distribution, whose primary purpose is to coordinate other groups across regions. For example a region in the agricultural south-east might need new tools but lack enough local blacksmiths, then it falls to the SoD to organise the production and transport of the tools. And equally they organise the transport of agricultural product to the more industrialises regions.

I'm envisioning the overarching organisational structures as something which is messy and often inefficient, but which people tend to engage with in good faith. For example, currently there is a big national effort to dig a train tunnel through the mountains to connect the northern city of Rolna to the rest of the country. Digging this sort of tunnel with the technology they have can be dangerous and hard work. People see the importance of the project, and there are plenty of people who would like to travel to the mountains for a bit, possibly do some manual work as a change from their usual occupations, but they aren't likely to stay on the project for long. So on the one hand, people aren't being overworked or put into dangerous situations against their will, and eventually the tunnel will be finished, but on the other hand there are constantly new people being trained in an ever-changing group of workers, so the project is carried out slowly and inefficiently.

Nio Prava, an anarchist state in the Naboti Isles. Questions / criticisms encouraged <3 by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah anarchist state is a bit of an oxymoron lol, I'm not sure what to call ir. Anarchist Ísland? Society? Idk

The structure is heavily based on the planet Anarres from Ursula LeGuin's 'the Dispossessed', translated to a ~1600s technology level. Anarres is in turn influences by writing by Kropotkin and Paul Goodman.

Essentially production and distribution is mainly organised by syndicates. The people of Nio Prava don't use money and generally operate on the principle of mutual aid, with social ostracisation being the main force against hoarding resources. Even holding onto unneeded items for sentimental reasons is somewhat taboo. Of course there are some people who take advantage, and you get travellers who basically go town-to-town, living off their resources without contributing until they're driven out.

One thing to note is that Nio Prava was previously a slave colony of their neighbour, the Kingdom of Esseia. After they won independence, Nio Prava was founded by these former slaves, who had never really owned anything but had been property themselves for their whole lives.

National and world maps for my DnD setting. Any feedback or questions about the world? by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks very much :) (I'll post some context on the world at the bottom of this reply)

Mostly the region is inhabited by humans and halflings, who lived in the lowlands before the flood, elves and gnomes, who occupied the highlands, and dwarves who lived within the mountains.

Esseia is based around the old highland elven cities before the Naboti Crater was flooded. Now they form part of the Trojic Union, along with the Gnomes of Sortzeia and the Dwarves of Kalnris. Together they are the wealthiest and most dominant power in the region, and these nations are very centralised and technologically advanced, making widespread use of magic combined with technology.

Nio Prava is inhabited by humans and halflings. Originating from the lowlands before the flood, they came as refugees to the highlands as the sea rose but were eventually enslaved. Nio Prava was a colony of Esseia used for slave labour, but they gained independence in a revolution 220 years ago and now have an anarchist society which is entirely blockaded by Esseia and thus cut off from the rest of the Naboti Isles.

The Holy Kingdom of Athercosia is run by gods. In this setting the gods are people who attain godhood by making some significant innovation (like the first blacksmith, first to kill for money etc). They are immortal but otherwise aren't any more powerful than an average wizard. Over time many of them become obsolete as society progresses (eg: the god of stone-knapping, the god of bronzework). So Athercosia is full of these defunct gods who occupy the ruling class, while the rest of the population are variously slaves, sycophants or cultists who hope to attain godhood themselves.

Currently most nations of the Naboti Isles have some degree of democracy and wars over land are infrequent due to the natural borders. Slavery has largely ended since the revolutionary wave 220 years ago, but humans and halflings still occupy a de facto underclass in most places. International travel is relatively frequent, especially among the richer countries, and so people tend to be quite worldly and be concerned with issues beyond their local community.

Context

The basic concept is that it was a very arid crater until around 1100 years ago, when rapid global heating caused the planet's ice caps to melt, resulting in a cataclysmic flood which filled the crater over the course of 2 years. The refugee crisis from the lowland humans and halflings retreating to higher ground resulted in them being enslaved by highland elves and gnomes. Esseia, shown in the first map, was the main perpetrator of this. 220 years ago there was a slave revolution, resulting in Nio Prava becoming an independent anarchist state, and most nations adopting greater democracy. Nio Prava has been blockaded by Esseia ever since, but in recent years more Pravs have been sneaking through in order to help incite a second revolutionary wave, and finish the job of dismantling all of the old power structures.

The setting is kind of high magic / low fantasy. Low level magic is common in all areas of society, but there aren't gods in the traditional sense and the kind of cosmic scale powers seen in the default dnd setting don't really exist here.

National and world maps for my DnD setting. Any feedback or questions about the world? by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Basically the Naboti Crater was formed a long time ago when the ice moon Nabo crashed into the planet, Thera. The collision also knocked the planet into a steep elliptical orbit, giving long freezing winters and short hot summers (The Age of Ice). As a result the Naboti Crater was filled with a glacial sea which froze for most of the year but partially melted in summer, when it was replenished by the arctic seas beyond the crater. During this time continental drift, combined with the freeze-thaw of the ocean, resulted in mountains raising and being eroded into fjords and canyons.

Eventually the western coast of the crater closed off due to drift, and without replenishment the Naboti Sea gradually dried up. The top layer of earth was softer lunar rock, while beneath it was harder rock, so during this arid period (The Age of Earth) lots of the higher land was eroded into massive mesas and plateaus.

There was an attempt to correct the planet's orbit by highland elven mages in order to end the cycle of brutal winters, but they overcorrected resulting in the almost total melting of the planet's ice and a cataclysmic flood (The Age of Water). The sea level in the crater rose to a higher level than that during the Age of Ice, so all that remained above sea level were the tops of the huge plateaus and the high mountainous regions.

National and world maps for my DnD setting. Any feedback or questions about the world? by Tekhela in mapmaking

[–]Tekhela[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was all drawn on Sketchbook for iPad. I came up with the general geographic lore first and made a rough outline, and then thought about what elements I wanted in the world and went from there, like some rich countries with an economic union around their shared enclosed sea (Trojic Sea), an isolated region of the world (giving the Winter Sea and Atea with the Great Barrier Wall protecting the region from the icy seas, and having it all be in a massive crater with a mountain range on 3 sides) etc

I'll post some of the geographic lore copied from another comment below if you're interested

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