Atlas Elyden #29 - the Independancy of Khamid

As always, if you're interested in the world and my worldbuilding, you can get me a virtual coffee here, or support me on Patreon or my FB page. Even $1 a month makes a huge difference!
A key/legend to the map can be found here.

So here's the latest map in the Atlas Elyden series. Khamid is one of the first regions I came up with, before I actually started working on the world of Elyden - it's a remnant of an old D&D campaign system I had come up with for 3rd edition (or possibly 3.5) that I imported into Elyden since I hate wasting a good region! I redid the map and recycled the place names and the Cataclysm (more on this below TL,DR: a HUGE magical disaster destroyed half the nation a long time ago) from the original setting.

Back in it's first incarnation it was a very blatant ancient Egypt analogy (read 'rip-off') and positioned on the southern coast of an inner sea. I re-did the map and came up with more original history, whilst keeping some of the Egyptian influences.

A key/legend to the map can be found here

Atlas Elyden #29 - the Independancy of Khamid

Khamid is a land viewed with empathy and awe by those in the west, and its mention would likely conjure images of monolithic destruction, mystic shapers, granite pyramids, and gigantic pylon-shaped mausolea. This was once true, though it is only one facet of a long and troubled past.
    Its defining trait - the Great Cataclysm of 101 RM - is a shackle that Khamid has been unable to shake, tethering it to the past in many ways. To understand this impact this great calamity had on the Khamidians, one must understand Khamid’s past, a tale that walks side-by-side with the early spread of shaping amongst the mortal races.
    The Art of Firmamentism was pioneered Ages past by the Demiurge Duruthilhotep, who handed down its secrets to his mortal children, the ifirmians, just as the Demiurge Rachanael first taught the secrets of the Atramenta to his children, the plagi.
    For a time the secrets of the dichotomous matter of creation were just that: secrets held by the Demiurges and their chosen ones, but contact between the Two-and-Twenty tribes slowly increased, propagating a slow spread of the Art of shaping. It was a Scion of Duruthilhotep, Khamar, who travelled west with a handful of ifirmian acolytes and brought knowledge of Firmamentism with him to a land of farmers who revered their dead and gazed upon the stars with wonder.
    He saw in them much potential and, together with his ifirmian aides, taught them the sciences of astronomy, architecture, medicine, and embalming. Under his aegis they prospered and spread, taking the Scion’s name as the name of their homeland. Proud of what they accomplished, he moved on to new lands, and allowed them to govern themselves.
    They escaped the darkness that ended the Fourth Age of Mortal life relatively unscathed and went on to become one of the more powerful empires in the region, ruled by the Pharoants - a caste that legend claims to be descended from the Scion Khamar (and, by extension, Duruthilhotep himself!).
    These rulers were priests and shapers of the highest magnitude and were considered gods amongst men. As other cultures struggled with rebuilding following the devastation that ended Fourth Age, the Pharoants and their people were dominating trade across the Dark sea west into the Inner Sea and south across the Iapetan sea, taking advantage of the needs of nascent peoples that surrounded them. By c. -250 RM they were trading with the Nathi Kingdom, sharing secrets of alchemy with the city-state of Midal. By the time the Nathi Kingdom fragmented in c -150 RM Khamar had grown into a decadent place, its Pharoants using their Firmamental abilities to prolong their lives, growing more and more debauched off of the spoils of trade. Their people were hardly ill-treated, but the chasm between ruler and ruled continued to grow even as a third class made up of powerful merchant-lords grew in influence.
    The secrets of shaping grew stagnant under these apathetic dynasties, and many processes and techniques were lost, preserved only in ancient treatises that were forgotten. What was not lost was their expertise in prolonging life and stalling the effects of decay on their bodies following their eventual death.
    By the first decades of the Korachani calendar, Khamar had become Khamid following the evolution of its language after prolonged contact with Hara and Venath. It was in this time that the so-called Cataclysm of Khamid took place, in 101 RM.
    Some say it was a Firmamental ritual gone calamitously awry. Others that is was Khamar, returned to appraise his people, punishing them for the sins of their indifferent rulers. Some say it was a natural disaster, unfortunate yet inevitable.  Though speculation is rife, the truth is we do not know - almost all records of the day were obliterated, alongside most of the nation’s populace.
    At the time of the Cataclysm, most of Khamid was concentrated in territories south of the Snjemet Mountains, sue to the mineral richness the regions. Most of its major cities and trading centres were destroyed, alongside its jewel, the capital of Kharr (the present-day Kharr, built in memory of the fallen capital, is roughly 40-miles south-east of the sunken ruins of the old capital). What remained, north of the Snjemet Mountains, were mostly rural communities that worked hard to maintain the affluence the South Kingdom had grown used to.
    The Khamidians grew fascinated with death following the Cataclysm, continuing a tradition started by the Pharoants of building gigantic pylon mausolea, hollow, with inner loggias that housed thousands of embalmed bodies. During this time the Khamidian people turned on their Firmamental heritage (leading some scholars to believe that misuse of the Firmament was responsible for the Cataclysm), leading to a purge of many Firmamental records - a great blow to those studying the history of shaping in the region.
    Khamid was devastated. Its leadership, its trade, its military were destroyed in one blighted day, remembered bitterly to this day by its descendants. Other regions were quick to fill in the cultural vacuum - Venath to the south, Hara and Goetia to the North-West, pirates and corsairs, and Char Mâthi to the east (though the latter was also affected by the destruction), and for many centuries the land of Khamid became a hunting ground for more powerful political players, it’s people prey to their slavers and armies.
    By c. 800 RM a descendant of the Pharoants, known as Sapet Besayt, emerged in the region of Nehrenhat, bringing the people together around the town of Iahnef. Over the next decades he was able to ally himself with the people of Haré Shka to the north. With their help he was able to train Khamid to defend herself against attack. So good was he that by 992 RM, when Haré Shka was threatened by Melayan barbarians it was Khamid who went to its aid. This cemented a close coalition that lasted for many years, leading to the establishment of a port and embassy in the settlement of Lamea in Caria in 1012 RM, which became a centre of trade between the two nations.
    Sapet became the first in a new dynasty of Khamidian rulers that led Khamid into a golden age of sorts. Honourable values were instilled into the Khamidian people under this new dynastic rule, with reliance on esoteric arcana ignored and discouraged. Ancient idols, temples and colossi were allowed to fall into ruin as the Khamidians looked to the future instead - technarcana instead of shaping, trade with the outside world, industry, and diplomacy all became traits of Khamid, who, though its silver-tongued ambassadors, was able to maintain good relations with most outside nations.    
    The Sapeti dynasties, as they became known, lasted until 2384 RM, when Shedkharkhem IV, the last in their line, was assassinated, replaced by a powerful demagogue Natit Henshef who used fear and tyranny to bring back a belief in the old gods, elevating him to the statue of emissary. He took on the mantle of Pharoant, a practice his descendants would continue for centuries.
    Desperate to gain some new territories and resources following its losses in Almagest in 3014 RM, Korachan turned to the East and found Khamid; greatly diminished under the stewardship of the new Pharoants, who busied themselves erecting gigantic pylon mausolea in their honour, allowing the good done by the Sapeti Dynasties to falter. Following a blockade between 3019 and 3021 RM the Pharoants agreed to surrender on condition they be granted citizenship of Korachan, with lands and titles in the heartland. By 3023 RM the Pharoants had married into imperial Archpatrician families and had become little more than instruments of the empire.
    The name Pharoant slowly fell into disuse and these imperial puppets eventually became indistinguishable from western Archpatricians (though they maintained a flair for the dramatic - with garb inspired by their ancient namesakes), and ruled the region, handing over a portion of state-owned resources to the Korachani empire until the Dissolution of the Empire in 3705 RM, after which it was placed under control of the Domnitors who abandoned it fully in 3781 RM, leaving Khamid independant after seven centuries of subjugation. The descendants of the new Pharoants left Khamid when the Domnitors were installed, fulfilling a destiny promised by Korachan in 3021 RM and claiming the lands they were promised so long ago. Many of these Khamidian-descended patrician houses are still around today, proud of their eastern heritage.
    Korachani rule saw Firmamental practices, already greatly reduced since the days of the Cataclysm, all but forbidden, replaced instead by technarcana - which the people of Khamid saw as a defining symbol of their oppressors, causing them to dismissive of it.
    Most Khamidians remain distrustful of the technarcane arts as well as shaping in general to this day, which is somewhat of a burden in today’s post-industrial landscape, though there is a small but growing interest in the region’s ancient history and links with the dawn of Firmamentism in the west, with some individuals travelling to Meniscea to learn the truth behind the Art. this may lead to Khamid becoming a centre of firmamentism in the west.

Atlas Elyden #28 - N'rach, J'thana and Siriphagos

As always, if you're interested in the world and my worldbuilding, you can get me a virtual coffee here, or support me on Patreon or my FB page. Even $1 a month makes a huge difference!
A key/legend to the map can be found here.

Probably the strangest region detailed so far, this one has been a long time coming. Were it not for the magical corruption that pervades the world, most regions would be pretty realistic, comparable to alt-earth post-industrial societies. This is one of the more fantastical regions - it's home to spider-men who construct buildings from a resinous silk that they secrete (how original!).

A key/legend to the map can be found here

Atlas Elyden #28 - N'rach, J'thana and Siriphagos

Home to arcahniform monsters, N’rach is a blight within a blighted continent. Using human slaves, its architects build great silken fortresses to protect its overgrown lands. Very little is known of N’rach. Its denizens, the abhorrent arachniform aantha, are insular and aggressive to contact with outsiders, a stance possibly developed to cope with the xenophobic actions of other mortal races towards them in the past. Their culture is as alien to humans as it is to other mortal races, and attempts made by Korachani explorers to learn their ways have invariably failed. Their home is arid, covered in harsh shrubs, hardy evergreens and forests of sentry plants that lend it an alien appearance, befitting of its occupants.
      The aanth are a relic of ancient times, their true heritage unknown. There are no ruins from previous ages that are attributed to them, so it is unlikely that they are an old race, and if so they were never a united or strong people. Thymi records mention a war with misshapen silk-weaving beings over adamantine deposits in what is now northern N’rach. The aanth of this age were not a unified people, and consisted of many individual tribes that had little relations with each other. It was in around -1200 RM, when the Thymi empire was breathing its last, when attacks against border settlements increased, as did the number of people taken as slaves.
      The collapse of the Thymi empire early in the Fifth Age saw the aanth spread across their abandoned lands, populating their ruins and taking what people remained as slaves. The young races that inherited the Fifth Age were superstitious and cautious, and shunned such lands populated by these misshapen warmongers, allowing them to spread further.

      By c 500 RM the aanth had consolidated around the K’sena caracrats of the river Shibboleth, controlling lands as far east as the Amraot Massif in Ehbot and as far north as Eiclon in extant Lidea. The aanth had reached Ehbot but continued expanding their territories, with various nests and gossamer forts appearing around lake C’data. By c. 875 RM the aanth were pushed back across the Araaht, with the humans, their lands to the E of the Araaht by then known as Arkos, advancing against them. A great war followed in c 1100 - 1150 RM after human explorers uncovered caves north of lake C’data that led to the birthing pits of the goddess Maalkat - this was the first recorded contact of outsiders with the aanth goddess. It was revealed that the aanth territories encompassed as much of the subterranean world as they did the surface and that they died selflessly in defence of their goddess.

By the end of the war the aanth had pushed the Arkosians back to their citadel mounts, where they remained, allowing the aanth to reclaim the lands around lake C’data, fortifying them with their grotesque silken fortresses. By 1550 RM the region south of the Sterhbel mountains had become a place of pilgrimage to the growing aanth culture, which had become known as N’rach by then.
Slaving raids into neighbouring lands continued during this time, and it’s thought that much of the workforce in N’rach is composed of foreign slaves and their descendants. What contact N’rach maintains with foreign lands is done through human diplomats and merchants born and raised in Ekallu, Maalkat and M’hotok, which are its three largest known cities. These ambassadors are deeply indoctrinated into the ways of aanth culture and are as alien to foreigners as the aanth themselves. What we know of the nation is through contact with such ambassadors and the descendants of slaves who settled Barathea and J’thana. Dissent amongst the slaves in the metropolis of N’satta led to a rebellion that culminated in 2193 RM with the overthrowing of the city and the slaves - numbering hundreds of thousands - fleeing south-east. They clashed with the armies of N’rach outside the small city of N’habba. Many died, but they defeated the armies, taking the city and fortifying it. This led to sundering of the region of J’thana from N’rach within a few years. The J’thani expanded south east, mingling with outcasts from Siriphagos and Arkos.       In 2814 RM J’thana became a vassal of Siriphagos through the politicking of its Aliheioan rulers, though as Siriphagos waned in power the region managed to break away, alongside a large part of western Siriphagos, in 3306 RM.

      The lands to the east of lake C’data had remained uninhabited since the N’rachi victory against the Arkosian people, and it was settled by another group of freed slaves, becoming known as Barathea in 2200 RM as it expanded into regions of Ba’ath abandoned by Korachan to the Atramenta, resettling some of its ruins.

      N’rach maintains loose connections with Barathea and J’thana, with the latter two acting mostly as mediaries between it and human realms.
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Much like their homeland, little is known of aanth culture. The average aanth stands around 5-ft. tall and is of hunched form, with a large chest and spindly limbs, and thick grey skin that varies between rough and chitinous. Aantha have a pair of large black featureless eyes, that do not see colour and distance very well. It is not uncommon for individuals to have more than a single pair of eyes, sometimes arranged haphazardly on their faces. Similarly, aantha are known for their errant limbs, usually vestigial and unsightly, and rarely fully functioning. 
       Aanth bodies are naturally resistant to the effects of the Atramenta despite their apparent physical corruption. This suggests that their physical aberrations are not rooted in the Atramenta, but some other phenomenon. Such specimens - with their multiple eyes and limbs - are seen as blessed by their goddess, Maalkat, and are often chosen to be atterkhats - community leaders and shamen.

Aantha live in small semi-nomadic family groups known as sodalities, generally consisting of a single dominant female, a handful of k’hat champions, many young and a great number of human slaves who have been tortured into obedience. These sodalities travel around N’rach, stopping for months at a time in the major aanth settlements that are centred around the city of Ekallu (exotically known as the Silken City to outsiders). The aanth are expert engineers and mathematicians (using a base-8 number system), construct their cities from a unique pumice-like stone that is common to the region and the natural resinous silk that they secrete. The two combined make for a light and incredibly strong material that is used in fortifications and homing alike. Despite their skill, they have an affinity for subterranean dwelling, and most of their cities exist on two levels - above-ground and below.
      Their society revolves around worship of their deity, the goddess Maalkat, who is said to dwell in a labyrinthine pit beneath the mountains of Strehbel. The devotion they show Maalkat is utterly alien to humans, who have difficulty understanding this and other aspects of aanth culture.

Atlase Elyden # 27 - Narthel

As always, if you're interested in the world and my worldbuilding, you can get me a virtual coffee here, or support me on Patreon or my FB page. Even $1 a month makes a huge difference!
A key/legend to the map can be found here.

The latest map in the Atlas Elyden is Nárthel. I added a little inset map detailing a very large cave-system that dominates the south-west of the state, though I'm still not 100% sold on the style - it seems a bit jarring next to the rest of the map. I'm open to any suggestions as to how this can be improved!
A key/legend to the map can be found here

Atlas Elyden #27 - Narthel

Much like Vârr, Nárthel is a land reduced to a wasteland by the industry of the Korachani empire. Across more than 3,000 years it has given up its forests, mineral wealth, and the bounty of its seas to the hunger of the waning empire. Today it remains only because of its vast poppy fields and the wealth its opium industry brings to an ailing Korachan.
      Conquered in 84 RM following years of blockades and sieges, Nárthel became the 6th nation taken by the Archpotentate Malichar in the name of Korachan. Its major cities were soon flooded by patricians who would eventually gain control of its major institutions and industries, bringing with them wealth and trade. A new capital would follow this new wealth, becoming known as Mulciber.
Korachan lost Nárthel to the Venathi empire in 132 RM, but the conquering empire was weak, surviving through propaganda and the false opulence of its diplomats. Its forces were stretched thin and its hold over Nárthel was tenuous at best. The death of Emperor Labaisingh in 151 RM left Venath in chaos, allowing Korachan to reclaim its lost lands, moving as far east as Halolan, fortifying it against an expected retaliation which never came. Venath crumbled, with the enigmatic sphinx Hetepheres taking control under the mantle of Queen – the region would become known as Venthir.
      Next-door, Nárthel prospered under Korachani rule – its resources were exploited and foreign threats - such as the chorsairs of Scythea – were defeated, strengthening its borders. But by around 1000 RM the central plains of Nárthel had become overworked, any nutrients in their soil long-since taken, and the region had become known as the Lybic Sands.
      Over the years other regions were also pillaged of their natural resources in the east the forest of Illia had been reduced to scattered stunted woodlands between the mountains of Uefir and Quttakal. The mines of Luqarah were likewise abandoned, leaving the surface to the north west of the Uefir Highlands covered in the scars of abandoned open-cast mines.
      In 2950 RM the land was left to the caretaking stewards known as the Domnitors, who maintained the land on behalf of the empire. All lands but the lucrative poppy fields in the north-west were allowed to wither, and there was a massed exodus from the east and south to the cities of Nekir, Nekor and Dacia. Many people fled into Venthir during this time.
      In 3061 the entire east of Nárthel, including the waning capital of Mulciber, were gifted to Queen Hetepheres as part of a political alliance (in truth it was to appease her growing ego). The capital was moved to Dacia as the hinterlands of Nárthel were left to the Interregnum to govern and patrol.
The land, for what it was worth, stabilised after this time, though there remained a minority who were vocal in their opposition of the way Malichar and Hetepheres had treated their land. Amid growing dissent a large part of the populace was exiled between 3452 and 3463 RM, eventually settling the island of Lathlos Cha, off the coast of northern Venthir.
      Dacia, alongside much of the north of Nárthel, were taken by Lyridia in the chaos that followed in the wake of the Sundering of Korachan in 3705 RM. In the south Sarastro seized the moment and pushed north against the Nártheli border. The dust settled by 3862 RM, with the southern border little different and Dacia splintered from its Lyridian conquerors and reborn as an independent nation, as Nárthel consolidated its position from the new capital in Nekir.
       Nárthel survives now as a faded nation, cared for by the Interregnum and Domnitors only due to its highly profitable poppy and opiate industries. The farther south and east one goes the more wasted the land becomes, with few villages and towns dotting the countryside and most people living in the remnants of hollow cities destroyed by war and negligence.

Atlas Elyden #26 - Andiluth & Trakia

As always, if you're interested in the world and my worldbuilding, you can get me a virtual coffee here, or support me on Patreon or my FB page. Even $1 a month makes a huge difference!
A key/legend to the map can be found here

Thanks to Theo Jansen for the inspiration on this map

A key/legend to the map can be found here

Atlas Elyden #26 - Andiluth & Trakia

ANDILUTH
Not so much a nation, but a loose collection of people between other nations, Andiluth is a relatively recent land, having been submerged beneath the Sea of Byssos until around 1,000 years ago and exposed only through the waning of Elyden’s waters.
      The region is dominated by the once-coastal shelf of the Sea of Byssos and the marine fossils and calcified coral forests that pepper the otherwise featureless flat expanse.
      The people of Andiluth are descended from the coastal nomads that once roamed the foothills of the Cammorean mountains. As the diminishing sea exposed more of the Andiluthan shelf, they slowly moved north and eventually came to settle natural harbours that dominated the exposed coastline, becoming fishermen. Over the decades this way of life was destroyed by increasingly unpredictable weather that brought terrible winter storms miles inland, across the flat Andiluthan shelf. All but the most cosseted settlements were devastated by these storms. Even those cities that were well-protected would become uninhabitable in the storm season, forcing the people south for half the year. This lead to the appearance of the city of Cardamathia - the only major settlement in the entirety of Andiluth. It swells in winter as people travel there for shelter, bringing cured fish and other food with them.
      Elsewhere many Andiluthans cling to the nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors, constructing light shorewalkers - wind-powered machines that travel west and east along the shore - through which they can comb the coastline for debris washed ashore. This life is difficult and these itinerants need to contend with the giant crabs that haunt the region as well as each other.
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TRAKIA
Small nation in northern Sammaea south of the Tarahid Annexes. It is largely empty, dominated by badlands and scattered atramental wastes. Its people are remnants of a divided race that has, over time, died out or become absorbed by the Parthisan empire to the north (the people of the Tarahid Annexes to the north are their closest relatives).
      They are a hardy people, used to harsh weather and little help from the outside world. They work diligently against Atramental corruption, especially cyclocephaly, which is an unfortunately common ailment in the region, afflicting humans as well as the scattered oghur population alike. This atramental disorder afflicts life in the womb, causing newborns to have one eye and distended heads. Manby are newborn, and most of the rest remain weak and debilitated throughout their short lives. Interestingly those born with cyclocephaly are more likely to have an affinity for the Atramenta. Those who are capable are taken (usually more than willingly) from their struggling parents and sent to the university in Deacania, where they study the way of the Atramenta to strengthen them and fight against its spread.
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KHALHATOne of few non-human nations in Elyden, Khalhat is a lhaus enclave, a remnant of a far larger nation dating back to the Fourth Age that dwindled as the great empires of that age crumbled. They are largely insular, knowing how dangerous and unpredictable humans can be, and are relatively content with their small scrap of land in Sammaea.
      The Khalhati lhaus are experts in the field of cloning and, like their demiurge father, are obsessed with eternal life. Due to this they have perfected a method of cloning known as clada, where the soul of a dead lhaus is transferred to an artificially-crafted body, allowing continued life. This can be done indefinitely, though each such transference strips away part of the soul’s individuality, eventually leaving it as an automaton.
      Only the richest and most powerful lhaus can afford this treatment, though they can live for thousands of years as a result, leaving the rest of the populace to dream or work for their betters in the flesh-crafting ateliers.
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MOAH
Moah is a small independant nation centred around the powerful city-state of Roa, locataed in northern Sammaea. It is ruled by a council of five Numenin – otherworldly beings that have shaped the course of the city’s fate since its founding in 1624 RM, following its emergence from Khalhat to the north years earlier. The city has its own governing body, which only seeks the counsel of the numenin in times of uncertainty, though their wisdom is often conflicting.

Edit: for anyone asking about it:

FATUGHMA WEGH: a gigantic glassy-blue monolith in the plains of Laular in Trakia, N Sammaea. The tower is around 1100-ft. high and stands on an elevation of 130-ft. and can be seen as far away as 53-miles. Within this radius travellers are known to spontaneously develop headaches, nosebleeds and other phenomena that worsen the closer one gets to the monolith. This supranatural phenomenon has prevented exploration of the immediate area around the edifice, preventing more examination of its properties.
      Little is known about its origins, though it is believed to date back at least the Second Age, though there are little indications as to its origins, though many scholars have put forth an unknown Demiurge as the architect.

Atlas Elyden #23 - Mharokk

As always, if you're interested in the world and my worldbuilding, you can get me a virtual coffee here, or support me on Patreon or my FB page. Even $1 a month makes a huge difference!
A key/legend to the map can be found here 

I was able to get another map done (3 in a month - certainly a record!). Again, most of this map was already finished thanks to me having already worked on surrounding regions earlier on in the year, so I just had to update the parts I haven't touched on before.

A key to the map and others in the series can be found here

Atlas Elyden #23 - Mharokk

Like its neighbour Vaalk, Mharokk is descended from an ancient Fourth Age nation known as Sallon. Late in the Fourth Age the region was beset by a barbaric people known as the aati, who terrorised Sallon’s southern territories. Sallon, already beleaguered by a waning government and a corrupt decadent people, could not weather the attacks and fragmented. Its major cities were looted and the remained splintered into scion-nations, one of which would later become Mharokk.

    Mharokk is a waning nation. Abused of its resources by the Korachani empire, its is now a waning state, its borders slowly shrunk even as its parent state - the Low-empire of Sarastro - did little to aid it. Its people, much like its lands, have been exploited over their millennia of vassalage to both Korachan and later Sarastro, though have managed to maintain their culture through all this.

Mharokk is land known for its great oral traditions and its mythographers, whose memories are considered to be amongst the most prodigious across the Inner Sea. Its cities are characterised by sandstone walls and large vaulted semi-subterranean markets, which are designed to keep them cool. Its people have, since before the coming of the Korachani empire, been breeders of animals and are known for their ‘tame’ hippopotmoi and their soldier-caste who ride them and Mharokk is probably most known to outsiders for its mercenaries, the famed Simhaluans, despite their culture having died out centuries ago.

    The sundering of Korachan in 3705 RM left Mharokk an independent place, unwanted by Sarastro, but the emergence of the nation of Harappa in 3754 RM from its north-eastern-most territories, caused Sarastro to take control of its territories to safeguard what resources remained there. The capital of Nuthachan was lost to Harappa, causing the city of Takuh to become capital instead.

Shar Suryah, a saurholm (lizardfolk) became kratocrat of the city of Hitta 3893 RM, becoming a popular leader there. He openly defied the Sarastroan administration in Takuh in 3901 RM, winning many settlements over to his cause. His forces were attacked outside Hitta in 3913 RM, losing the battle, with the city retaken by Sarastro. The remaining forces disappeared alongside Shar, though they later reappeared from the south in 3919 RM, where he crushed many cities in the south of Mharokk, becoming autocrat of Takuh in 3920 RM, expelling the remnants of the Sarastoran administration within 2 decades. Hitta remains a Sarastroan territory to this day.

Atlas elyden #22 - Lidea

Atlas Elyden#22 - Lidea

Atlas Elyden #22 - Lidea

Lidea is a relic nation, bearing fragments of earlier nations, such as the Naahi empire and the City state of Conth, both of which were descended from the older and far greater Thym, which dominated northern Sammaea in the Fourth Age. Ruins and abandoned monuments of the Thymi empire can still be seen in the Jaellan plains and Atugur, though they are half-buried and eroded, their names unknown to most. More recent in the collective memories of Lideans are the ruins of the Korachani empire, which, following its sundering in 3705 RM abandoned the region to the reformed empire based in Sarastro, in the east. Most structures were converted by the Sarastroan government, though elsewhere they were left to rot or were torn down.

The region had been under Korachani control since 911 RM, after which lacer territories in the east (then controlling a 200-mile wide corridor between Ba’ath and Lidea) were destroyed. The people of Lidea acheived independence in 1280 RM, following the slaying of the Shaper Sæchin in Artalscelli, though Korachan later regained control in 1421 RM.

The river Shibboleth, one of the longest and most storied rivers in all of Elyden was dammed in Æthios in 2943 RM with the creation of the Alaundel dam, negatively impacting life downstream, including Lidea. Over subsequent years many settlements located along its course died after its flood cycles stopped. This was true of various nations along the course of the Shibboleth and forced the Korachani empire to send troops into Æthios in 3002 RM, finally destroying the dam in 3017 RM. Though by then most of its manufactories had fallen silent, the landscape changed by the appearance of the dam, the patrician and magnate houses that operated them, moving elsewhere.

Atlas Elyden #20 - the Old Forest and Rhamia

Atlas Elyden #20 - the Old Forest and Rhamia

Known as Tar yo- Dhai in the Korachani empire and as Vanefar by its natives, most names for this region, regardless of language, can be roughly translated as: Old Forest. Not without reason is that name used, for this area is amongst one of the few virgin woodlands remaining in the continent of Llachatul.

Ancient accounts tell us that the forest once stretched across all of central Llachatul, from the eastern shores of the gulf of Skaros in the west, to the Argent mountains in the east, and from the northern shores of the Inner Sea to the polar circle in the north, covering most of central Llachatul - an area no smaller than * square-miles. So vast was it that it became a haven to disparate people fleeing ancient wars and genocides. Its dense cover and size meant that anyone with the ability to survive in the wild could enter its periphery and disappear, forgotten by the outside world for millennia.

The descendants of those early immigrants went on to populate the Old Forest, and from these small pockets emerged various groups of people - the attori, ramon’athi, valkai nomads, sidhe, and vanefari, amongst others - each with a history going back to the Fourth Age. These people populate different regions of the Old Forest and though propaganda and bigotry informs outsiders that they are a united people, they are in truth divided, linked only by the ancient traditions and religions they adhere to, and their hatred of outsiders.

There is a great deal of superstition surrounding the Old Forest and its people. What was once history became corrupted by distance into legends which have become ingrained in the cultures of lands surrounding the Old Forest. Tales of blood-moon worshipping druids, ley lines of ancient power, horrific fey creatures that defend their lands savagely from intruders, unicorns whose blood is said to be magical, ancient dragons, and bestial tree-kin are all common within lands such as Almagest and the empire. Modern scholars have tried to trace the origins of these myths to their mundane roots, though common sentiment is difficult to change. Besides, the greatest evidence of the evil nature of the Old Forest can be found in the tombs of the beings that rest there - no less than four Demiurges are believed to be buried within its reach, tainting its lands, adding to the sense of unease that overcomes outsiders entering that primal realm.

Testament to the depth of such superstitions has been the Korachani empire’s reluctance to explore the region, which is found so close to the capital’s doorstep, even though its explorers have charted all of the world’s seas and marched thousands of miles south into far more inimical lands.

Despite this almost preternatural distrust of the region, the scattered progress of technarcane arts and the coming of industrialisation between 1400 and 1800 RM saw nations as disparate as Korachan, Laaskha, Azazem, Almagest, Pelasgos, Ahrishen, Saua and Vârr growing hungry for natural resources. As old sources became depleted, they looked elsewhere to sate their hunger. Beneath the forest hid a great wealth of resources - coal, umbra, gems and ores in abundance, and the forest itself was a thoughtless source of fuel. Strip mines, quarries, refineries and lumber-yards all appeared, rapidly consuming huge swathes of the forest’s edge. Every passing year moved its borders dozens of miles from the coast until all that remained were scattered pockets.

By 2200 RM the forest was no longer a singular expanse. It had been reduced to various smaller forests, the largest of which were the Old Forest in the west, the Malani forest in the east, and Kolchis (?*) in the north. The industries that had replaced the forests had mostly fallen dormant by 2800 RM, leaving abandoned pits, polluted lakes and thousands of square-miles of tree stumps. Fertile land changed to dust which blew over the forest into the lands that would later become known as the Desolation of Astudan.

That millennium of expansion and exploitation became known as the Forest Wars, not after its battles, but its wanton destruction of the region. What little trust could exist between the civilised world and the Old Forest was shattered by that period, which decimated hundreds of locations sacred to the religions and cultures of the forest, leaving them xenophobic and highly protective of what remained of their world. They clung even harder to their barbaric beliefs, butchering any and all missionaries and crusades into their lands, feeding the very myths that caused outsiders to distrust the forest-dwellers, which are now labelled as witches and druids.

In many ways it is thought that they value the Firmament and Atramenta and the natural world in ways forgotten by those outside their lands. The truth is far more complex and we are unlikely to know for certain the truth behind these people’s way of life. We know little of their cities or their culture, beyond what twisted lies Church bigotry and imperial propaganda have fed us for centuries, and it is unlikely that we will anytime soon.

#Vorropohaiah #Elyden #FantasyCartography #FantasyMap #Worldbuilding #AtlasElyden

catching up...

I've been a bad blogger!

I've been neglecting the place where it all started - this page - in favour of other platforms, like
Deviantart, Twitter and my Patreon, so I thought I'd post something to get me up to speed.

I've finished a couple of Atlas Elyden maps, which brings be a lot closer to finally completing the Inner Sea region, which has been my goal all along. Now I see an end in sight, I'm concentrating on finishing off that blasted 2nd Draft of Twilight of the Gods so that I can finally get it to print.

I've also been creating more of those Heraldry things, which are fun and relatively quick to do and help flesh out the world a bit more.


the Faded States of Daarken
Perhaps exemplifying the entropy of Elyden more than anywhere else in the Inner Sea, the history of the regions of Arkos, Ba’ath, Suma’ya and Zion (collectively known as the Faded States) are, as befits their geography and cultural similarities, intertwined. They are regions whose past was shaped by Korachani expansionism and whose futures are bleak. Invaded relatively early in the Korachani empire’s history they became at first colonies and then part of the empire itself, with immigrants and caretaker patricians lording it over the natives, who in many cases became second-class citizens, and the lands themselves were valued only for the resources that could be exploited.

In particular, the regions of Ba’ath and Zion became prized for their reserves of raw umbra, which was essential to the rise of Technarcana in the region and instrumental in the growing power of the Korachani empire. As is so often the case, when those resources waned to the point that large scale extraction was no-longer profitable, Korachan abandoned the region to the Domnitors (regional care-takers) in 2732, handing it over to Sathep the Risen of Sarastro in 3103 RM, alongside Zion. This became known as the Sarastroan Sanction.

Starting in 3097 RM the political situation in Ba’ath had grown out of control, with anyone seen to be a threat to the administration exiled to the south of Ba’ath, which by that had become an Atramentally-tainted wasteland with little resources. This continued well into the start of Sarastroan rule, and over the next centuries the area became a war-torn region of opposing warlords and tyrants. By 3311 the city of Suma’ya had risen above the others, with other cities subjugated beneath its banner. Sarastro had no need of its lands and allowed the fledgling state to fester. Raiding neighbouring territories for slaves and resources it is little more than a localised threat and of little importance to the world without.

Arkos, despite being a relatively small land, had a rich history following failed Korachani attempts at conquest. It was originally conquered by prototype of what would later become the feared Steel Legionnaires - elite vat-born clones that formed the vanguard of Korachani armies - one regiment of which was left behind to maintain the region during the Korachani withdrawal. The descendants of these caretakers would eventually become a ruling caste, known as the Arkos, their imposing statures and military prowess making them natural leaders to a region that was forever fending off barbarian attacks from the south. Though predation from Sarastro would ultimately lead to the region’s downfall. After periods of Sarastroan subjugation, the last of the descendants of the Arkos killed himself in shame 3822 RM, leaving the ruin of its once-great capital Arkashan ( corruption of the original Arkosachan, meaning city of Arkos in Korachani) empty, guarded by a crumbling colossus that echoed a golden age that had passed into memory centuries past.

the Faded States of Daarken

Karakhas and Khuraur
A nation in N Sammaea that is built on the ruin of many previous people. It loosely emerged from the ruin of the Fourth Age civilisation of Ellora, which dominated what is now southern Jurras and northern Khuraur and Karakhas. To the west of the Kathan mountains are the crumbled remnants of the Karthan empire. To the south-east are remnants of the last keratin nation of Fanes. To its south is the tainted region of the Umbra Solare, preventing spread south.
It was discovered by Korachani explorers in c. 30 RM, when the region was dominated by dozens of blood-cults that shared a common heritage though saw each other as rivals. Cultural and political unease was rife in the region at the time. This lack of cohesion is what allowed Korachan to so easily penetrate the region. Imperial immigrants had integrated themselves with the natives by 70 RM, with Korachan becoming its true ruler in 121 RM,after a 4-year war. Water was used as a means of control in these years, forcing the subjugated people to co-operate.

Due to its distance from the central empire and the great many resources needed to control its populace, heathen practices remained common there, as did the rural and some might say barbaric lifestyles of the natives, whose worship of the god Khar’illæ remains widespread to this day (where it survives in a corrupted form as an imperial saint) with their Vaticinator leaders still common. Blood crusades, originally a religious hunt for sacrifices, became an excuse to capture Pariayan slaves under Korachani leadership.

Under imperial rule, Karakhas served as a stepping-stone of sorts. It was the closest Korachani nation to the deserts of Kharkharadontis, and as such, many Atr. and technaracane organisations maintained chapters and sects there from which they could more closely examine the effects of the Atramenta on Elyden (for instance, the exploration of the Umbra Solare and the subjugation of the natives of the Algol Haren region). Karakhas also became a link between Korachan and its later colony of Noavatur in the far S Sammaean continent, with a long dangerous route established that winded its way over 2,750-miles across the Umbra Solare, linking the two together. It was through this route that much of the Umbra Solare was explored, at a great cost.

Despite this link that Karakhas served, it was always plagued by inner-turmoil. Its people were passionate by nature and their acceptance of the Korachani rule was never placid. Unrest was common and the first millennia of imperial rule there was characterised by brief, if intense, bouts of conflict, often erupting into full-fledged civil strife. This culminated in 1248 RM with a large uprising centred around the region of Lateritia, which left the entire area devastated hounded by marauders that emerged from the wars. Over the centuries these marauders coalesced as three distinct barbarian groups that continue to roam between settled areas in Karakhas; in the basin of Lateritia, the volcanic plains of Sargoth and the plains of Eriteia. Known respectively as the Lateritians, and Sargothi and the Eritei, these marauders, while far from numerous, continued to worship Kharl’illæ as a deity and opposed the imperial rule of their nation, disrupting trade and causing chaos. Were it not for the vast mineral wealth of the region it is likely that Korachan would have abandoned the region in this time. Their lack of centralized leadership and their guerrilla-like tactics made them difficult for imperial forces to oppose and they remained a thorn in its side until its demise following the Sundering of the Shadow.

Unrest returned to Karakahas during the War of the Artifexes, which saw the nation of Almagest splinter from the Korachani empire and become a Republic, where the marauder tribes and their fundamentalist supports once-again caused havoc in the region, destabilizing the Korachani leadership there. The motherland was too busy with the was in the north to be able to spare resources in Karakhas and a fundamentalist group took control in 3012 RM, remaining in power until 3043 RM when the Korachani government was reinstated in the form of the Domnitors, which oversaw what remained of the region’s diamond mines.

Despite this new leadership the region remained broken, starting with the defection of a regiment of Steel Legionnaires in 3103 RM, and culminating in the nation’s fracture in 3478 RM with the signing of the Covenant of Khuraur, which saw the western portion of the nation break away in a militarised state.

The Sundering of Korachan in 3705 RM saw Karakhas become an independent nation for two years before it was absorbed by Sarastroan occupiers, under whose control it remains to this day.

Karakhas and Khuraur

Heraldries

Navah Berden

St. Flokan

St. Bael

House Porphyron

#Elyden, #Writing, #Worldbuilding, #Fantasycartography, #Cartography, #Fantasymap, #Heraldry, #Vorropohaiah

Here's the next map in the Atlas Elyden series. Slowly but surely I'm filling out the lands around the Inner Sea 😀

This map details 3 regions with a close history - Ahrishen, Virahan and Baatan (from right to left, respectively). The seas of Elyden are slowly retreating, and this is one of the areas hit hard by the advancing coastline - so the map includes an inset map showing what the coastline looked like 1,000 years ago.

Ahrishen as we know it has existed for less than 250-years, though the region has a long history going back millennia, to the dawn of the Fifth Age. Until a thousand years ago the region bordered the Sea of Pyrea, an extension of the Sea of Propontis that allowed merchant and fishing fleets to ply their trade of the eastern Inner Sea, but the slow retreat of the Inner Sea saw the Sea of Pyrea dwindle, leaving behind a flat expanse of wetlands and saltpans in its wake. This destroyed the economy and way of life that had sustained the region for centuries. The region crumbled into disparate townships and no-less than a dozen separate states that struggled to survive in their changed world. Piracy and slave-raids from Korachan did not help the situation much, either.

This state lasted until the arrival of the so-called Child-Prince, an unageing infant of prodigious supranatural ability, who managed to unify the region in 3763 RM, supplanting an ancient sky-based religion with worship of its own unchanging form. Though its fleets were no-more, the region came to be dominated instead by the river Aresh, which flows for over 2,500 miles west, feeding already rich soils with nutrients due to its yearly flooding. This has led to the region’s adoption of farming of a pastoral and arable nature. Rich cities thrive along the floodplains of this river, each surrounded by dykes and canals that defend against flooding. Between cities live gigantic herds of wildlife, relatively untouched by mortal interference.

The Ahrisheni people have a reputation for hard-work and the land is known far-and-wide for its beauty, which is even recognised by the Korachani empire. Living on the doorstep of Korachan has seen Ahrishen fend off many crusades and incursions into its land, though it’s wet coastline makes invasion from the sea difficult.

#elyden, #fantasycartography, #atlaselyden, #vorropohaiah, #ahrishen, #virahan, #baatan

Remember you can get exclusives (like PSDs, texless, and high-res versions of the map on my Patreon.

Atlas Elyden #16 - Parthis

Yes, I've been away for a while - Christmas and new year is always difficult to keep the creative juices flowing, with family obligations, though this is the first new post of what will hopefully be a return to form over the coming year. This will hopefully see the Inner Sea region fully-mapped, paving the way for the two Inner Sea poster maps I've mentioned previously.

This is a map of Parthis and surrounding areas, and, much like the map of Almagest, took a long time to get done as it covers a very large area - much larger than the average map. The topography in the bottom left took a while to get right, also, though I'm pleased with it.

Having said that I am already working on updating some parts of the topography to make it appear less uniform.

Parthis is many things to many different people. It has been a rival to the Korachani empire for millennia, managing to oust it as major superpower in the Inner Sea over the past few centuries. To those jaded and discontented by warring religions and cults it is a secular haven, one of only few of such size and power. It is a centre of flesh-weaving, and is to that art what Korachan is to technarcana. To its rivals, it is a godless land whose profane chirurgeons mess with natural laws. To its supporters, it is an answer to a corrupt ancient order that has reached its death-pangs

Parthis as a secular republic appeared almost 1,500-years ago from the ruins of civil war where 2 kings opposed each other. Before this the region was known as Parthia, before this it was part of the Seven States of Azora. Before that it was known as The Parria. Before that it was Sama Paria. Before even that one of the greatest city states of the mythic world, and ancestral home of humans - Azer - was located there. The people of Parthis draw their roots back to this mythical time and are proud of such a long and ardent lineage.

The people of Parthis are amongst the most educated around the Inner Sea, with highly-literate merchants, and diplomats who have studied in some of the most regarded colleges in the known world. Slavery was abolished there in 3794 RM, making it the only major nation around the Inner Sea to do so. Its capital, Tethra, is a marvel of design and architecture and is dominated by an awe-inspiring administrative structure that can be seen from without its walls and acts as a beacon to outsiders and citizens alike.

Sneak Peak - Parthis

Here's a sneak peak of the next map in the Atlas Elyden series - the Secular Republic of Parthis, one of the major powers in the Inner Sea. It's the largest individual area I've worked on so far, larger even than my map of the Republic of Almagest and is taking a while to get finished.




This region depicts a fold mountain range inspired by the mountains of Pakistan and would realistically be the result of two plates colliding with each other, giving an indication to the region' history. Hopefully I'll manage to get the map done by the end of the month (LOTS of labels and rivers to do on this one as it's so big)

#Parthis, #Elyden, #Atlaselyden

Here's the latest map in the Atlas Elyden, a land-locked region in the continent of Sammaea. this is the smaller version available to everyone. Patrons giving at least $5 a month also gain access to a larger version, a textless version and .PSDs of the maps, thanks!

I'm also doing an AMA (ask me anything) on reddit about my world. If anyone is interested in asking anything, please head on over there and go ahead and ask me anything :)

Atlas Elyden #15 - Paraiya

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Paraiya is a land that has evolved under two shadows - that of Korachani colonists who settled the region between 1200 - 1400 RM, abandoning it to the Domnitors between 2700 - 2800 RM; and the Atramentally-active region that dominates lands to the south of the nation, known as the Umbra Solare.

   Situated North of the Tropic of Rah, the climate is semi-arid to arid-temperate, and were it not for the many rivers that flow through its lands the region would be largely uninhabited (indeed the name Paraiya roughly translates to ‘Many Rivers’). The ancient people of Paraiya adapted to the harsh climate by constructing bulbous wattle towers that collect condensation in large quantities and surrounded their cities like silent sentinels. Though not as common as they once were they can still be seen in smaller settlements that are cut off from the more urbane population centres. This is just one of many examples of the ingenuity of the Paraiyan people.

   Extant Paraiyan history begins in 73 RM when an exiled prince, Abir Paria settled the region now known for the ruin of the Ebon Palace. His birthplace remains unknown, though his familial name would later become the name of the confederacy of cities that he founded. The region Abir settled was centred on a ruin of black stone that to this day was shunned by the nomads that roam Paraiya, becoming the capital of a confederacy of city-states that emerged by 300 RM.

   By 1150 RM, increased Koachani influence across the Paraiyan borders caused tension within the city-states, leading to a period of hostility and warfare between the city-states, whittling down the once prosperous people of Paria, leaving whole regions and cities in ruins. As the open caste mines of the Korachani city of Beluan grew, so did it become more influential. In 2132 RM the Ebon Palace was sacked by descendants of the Pariayan nomadic caste, the Dynasty of Paria left without heir, the conflict at an end.

   Their resources spent, their homes destroyed, the remaining people left the area, either populating the lands to the north west, around the river Nothiya, or returning to the semi-nomadic lifestyle they had enjoyed before the rise of Paria, giving rise by c. 2300 RM to the three tribes of the Paraiya – the Arena, Belln and Kharan – which remain largely unchanged to this day.

   Korachani colonists abandoned the region between 2700 - 2800 RM, leaving Beluan and other cities in the hands of the Domnitors who would rule as caretakers in their absence. The Domnitors were forgotten by Korachan and over generations they mingled with the upper-classes of Beluan, forming a ruling caste that over the next 1000 years would come to dominate the lands of old Paria, Paraiya as we know it was born. The city of Sopora was resettled in 2750 RM by this ruling caste as a capital. This new ruling caste clashed with the then capital of Bakkou which was the centre of a traditionalist nation that abhorred the memory of the imperial occupation tried to stifle aspects of its culture that had remained (including religion, which has ousted traditional gods in many regions, especially in Sopora). This clash of cultures was most blatant by viewing the lower classes in each city. In Bakkou those of korachani descent were treated as lower class citizens, where in Sopora it was those descended from the nomads who were seen as unclean.

   Frictions escalated into civil war in 3792 RM, which dragged on for 2 decades until 3813 RM, with Bakkou losing and the city being sacked. A ruling Sultanate emerged in 3821 in Sopora, which struggles to this day to unify the region.

   Travel within Paraiyan territories is hostile and most merchant caravans are armoured and guarded against nomadic attacks. Most people do not see the outside of their cities or their immediate environs. The nomads who proliferate the north west are allies of Karakhas, and the subjects of the Sultanate trade north with Mharokk and Lidea, which are loose allies. The nomads are themselves only loosely connected and still exist in three separate tribes, with members meeting on the winter solstice to revere ancient traditions.

#paraiya, #atlaselyden, #elyden, #fantasycartography

Bassorah & Ipanah, Madour, and Thamal

While working on the Inner Sea map I took a little time to work on a new map in the Atlas Elyden series. This is the first map I’ve made in the series that doesn’t occupy the entirety of an A3 page. The map itself is 3 distinct unrelated regions, one occupying an A4 face of the sheet, and the other two occupying a space of A5, respectively. You can see the line denoting the page spine once the thing is assembled into a book and/or pdf.

I haven’t yet included the grid (the letters and numbers corresponding to the index that will feature in the back of the atlas, once it’s done) and will add it in later. I also changed the style of the cartouche, going for something more modern. Some people had commented that once the maps are arranged together in an atlas, the cartouche style (particularly the wording) I was using wouldn’t really make sense. So going forward, all new maps will include this new cartouche style, including a rational scale as well as the old scale bar, as well as a short note describing the projection (as it’s a fantasy world some projections - notably those named after someone, like Mercator or Wagner etc. will be renamed to fit into world, though other types of scale, such a the one used in this map - equidistant conic - will retain the same name as there’s no point confusing people just for the sake of doing so :p). I’ll be updating the older maps as I go along as I tend to have to update certain things on them anyway, particularly when working on neighbouring regions that appear on earlier maps that weren’t fully fleshed out.

Most of these maps already appear in other maps, at least partially, and serves as a bit of a spotlight on smaller regions that might otherwise be missed out, like Achera. Bassorah is mostly depicted in the map of Skaros and most of Ipanah appears in the maps of Azazem and Skaros, and Madour is already all visible in the map of Vârr though I wanted to zoom in a bit (I might add some more detail to it in the form of new labels that couldn’t fit into the map of Vârr.

* * *

BassorahA recent addition to the nations of Llachatul, Bassorah emerged from the newly independent Ipanah in the years following the Dissolution of the Korachani Empire in 3705 RM. Like Bassorah, it is a land founded by immigrants and refugees and they have made a name for themselves as traders and merchants, growing rich as intermediaries between Almagest, the people of the Old Forest (Tar Yo-dhai), and the Korachani empire.

The stereotype of the typical Bassoran amongst the people of Korachan is, at best, a moustache-twirling merchant or, at worst, a skulking thief. The truth is far more complex. Bassorah is at a crossroads of cultures, where religions and different beliefs mingle amongst the many merchants, leaving its people somewhat jaded and more world-weary than your typical work Slave in the empire.


IpanahA small, relatively recent nation to appear in Llachatul, Ipanah was settled in c. 3020 RM by refugees fleeing from both Almagest and Korachan in the years following the War of the Artifexes./ Much of the nation is built over the ruins of the older extinct nation of Asibaia, around an ancient cenotaph dedicated to a now-forgotten scion.

Its people were often attacked by slavers, with uncounted thousands of individuals carried into the empire in its ceaseless hunger for fresh bodies. In 3534 RM the nation was invaded by Korachan, and its people taken wholesale as slaves, leaving it largely deserted by the turn of the century. Following the Dissolution of the Empire in 3705 RM, its lands were later repopulated by dverg from Chthyrid between c. 3730 – 3750 RM as well as human immigrants, many of which would go on to expand north into what would by 3800 RM become Bassorah.


AcheraAlso known as ‘the Rusting Citadel’ Achera is in truth a monolithic fortification, comprising redoubt, concentric star forts and miles upon miles of trenches and walls in Llachatul, between Laaskha, Ipanah and Azazem. Originally erected in the early days of Korachani dominance in Laaskha in response to dissident attacks, the network grew into a militaristic conurbation with a population of over 100,000 at its peak. The citadel’s purpose changed over the years, leading up to c. 2910 RM, at which point it had diminished, becoming an independent caravanserai controlling 800-square-miles of land between E Lhaaskha and W Skaros, governed by an order of knights bound to both neutrality and the people it protected (pop. c. 3,000).

In the centuries since then the region has become an autonomous state, still bound to its self-declared laws of neutrality. It is the smallest autonomous regions recognised as a state by most other powers around the Inner Sea and its people, though few, are very proud.


MadourAn ancient city dating back to the early days of the Korachani empire, Madour was once a part of an independent pre-imperial Vârr, then became part of Rhamia before falling to Korachan in 792 RM. When Korachan was driven from the region in 1019 RM Madour became its own entity once again, turning to piracy in the Sea of Propontis, though traffic across the sea diminished over the next centuries. The city then became insular, its merchants and privateers, once a common sight, dwindling until all contact was lost with the outside world. Rumours grew across Vârr that a quarry within the city struck a deep hollow that led to the underworld of Carceri.

By 2200 RM those passing close to its borders would see a towering wall of iron and limestone surrounding the city, with no doors leading out. The Korachani empire reappropriated Rhamia late in the 4th Millennium RM its diplomats and explorers braved the city it in 3989 RM. The old city was found abandoned, a particularly deep mine collapsed, leading into Carceri - proving the rumours. The mines were sealed with reinforced concrete, the high walls levelled and the city - the strategic importance of its location clear to the pragmatic imperial colonists - rebuilt. Now landlocked following the retreat of the Sea of Propontis, a harbour links the city to the sea where slaves from the north east arrive.


Thumal
A small nation in southern Llachatul, south of the Mull City-States. Thumal is composed largely of islands, which together form the southern-most point of the Toliasor Mountains. Parts of the region once formed part of the Korachani colony of Amondor though broke away in 3820 RM. It is people are the descendants of Korachani colonists and people native to the region, whose blood was mixed millennia past with that of mulls. The capital of Elbia is known for its beautiful and expansive natural harbours.

#Bassorah, #Madour, #Ipanah, #Thumal, #Innersea, #Atlaselyden,

I haven’t posted a WIP on here for some time. I don’t tend to show most of my commissions here, and my personal maps haven’t had much that I can share before they’re done (at the moment it’s just getting the topography done and then adding the markers/text. Not much more other than that). This is something much more ambitious than any previous map I;ve created before, though.

Some of you might be familiar with my Inner Sea map. That map’s over 4 years old now and personally I think it’s really showing it’s age. I was only then starting to learn how to use Photoshop and was still experimenting with style (and horrible fonts). I’ve since moved on to a more modern style (both in terms of worldbuilding as well as the maps themselves), as can be seen from my Atlas Elyden maps. I’m enjoying the work that goes into those maps, though the topography and stitching that needs to be done to incorporate the maps into a larger whole is quite time-consuming. Just see the screenshot below for the size of the map...

yep, that's how big the uncompressed PSB is...

My efforts so far have seen me map various parts of the Inner Sea region I had explored in that original map 4 years ago. So I’m going to take what I’ve done on these maps (the first was created in January 2016) and apply that to a new map of the Inner Sea, depicting a slightly smaller area than that first version (I’ll be omitting the area of the Dark Sea in the bottom right to really concentrate on the Inner Sea itself).

I’m currently working on the topography, which is the most time-consuming part of the project. I’m probably half done by now, and am busy working on a region of dense mountains in the north west which is taking a long time to get done. Other than that I still need to tinker with the ‘finished’ areas to get them looking a bit more natural. Once that’s done I’ll be able to concentrate on rivers before getting things like borders and labels done.

I’ll be working at A1 size at 400 dpi on this one, with an eye to getting it printed as a poster for myself and patrons who are interested in it (at a cost that’s yet to be decided, to cover printing and postage). I’ll later resize it to A3 and adjust it as needed for the smaller size (removing less important labels as necessary, for instance) for my Atlas Elyden project.

I intend on keeping the same colours as the atlas maps, though I might weather the map a bit, to make it look used and add some texture to the otherwise flat atlas style.

This is what I have ready so far, in terms of Topography. Many regions are still rough (particularly the south and south western areas of the map), with just the first layer of topography finished (like in the south east):

Inner Sea map - WIP

To anyone wondering, the topography is done 100% by hand and none of it is generated. Each level of topography is a separate layer in Photoshop, filled with the respective colour and given a hide all mask that’s painted white and given a 1px dark brown stroke.

More details on how the map is generated can be found on a tutorial I posted, here.

#Innersea, #Elyden, #Poster, #Atlaselyden,