Kiridin Map Project (100% Complete)

[Hotrod]

EDIT: The map is complete! Click here to see the finished product. Please let me know what you think.

Friends,
zyanitevp has asked me to take on the mapping of Kiridin, the barbarian land of the Northern Hinterlands. This is a map for a gaming group, not Palladium Books, but my intent is to make it as precise and awesome-looking as possible.

My tools: I use GIMP, Inkspace, and a little Photoshop Elements. I have some scanned maps from Northern Hinterlands and High Seas for reference. I'm doing this on a laptop with an 11-inch screen.

References:

+Maps in Northern Hinterlands, page 21.
+Land of the Damned, page 123 has a good map of the Barrier mountains. The northern third will come into the western edge of the map.
+High Seas, page 90. Byzantium's southern half comes into the map as well.

+And of course, all the text that goes along with the books.

If you see me missing some key detail in this process, or if you know of resources or canon information I'm neglecting, please let me know. I've never read a Rifter (for shame), so I may not be playing with a full deck here.

I'll post my progress (with pictures) as I go, as long as zyanitevp is cool with it.

[Hotrod]

So I have scans of all the maps I mentioned above now, and I layered them into a series of semi-transparent layers in GIMP. Time to line them up.

It's a bit messy. Most of these maps don't quite line up with each other, so I have to do a little stretching here and there to make them fit as best I can. This is particularly tricky when working from one book to another. That said, Coffin's maps fit together better than I thought they would.

Where discrepancies are concerned, I'm taking the perspective that the highest zoom wins. Smaller-scale regional maps are more accurate than the world map. (Byzantium's shape and number of islands is changed from the overview map to High Seas, for instance). If one map conflicts with another, the map that focuses more on the area of disagreement wins.

I have my reference maps in place and lined up now. Next step will be drawing a best-fit coastline.

The work in progress: six maps from three books superimposed atop each other!

[Hotrod]

Panomas,

I finished that cover-to-cover edit, so now I'm in the "take a breather" phase that'll let me look at it with fresh eyes the next time I churn through it. In the meantime, I've been working on my cartography. Thanks for the feedback on the maps!

I have a rough hack at the coast now. I need to do some detail work on it, and then I'll start on topography.

[Hotrod]

I'm touching up the coast now. One interesting note. There's a shadow colony that isn't on the map. Inner Caldath. It's a "tiny island" depicted only by its capitol city icon on the map. The description includes a west bay, an east bay, and a north point, so I have a little idea about shaping it.

It's not part of Kiridin, but it's on the map (with the rest of the shadow colonies), so I figure I should try to make it as accurate as possible.

[Hotrod]

The coastline is as complete and accurate as I can make it, and I've started working on elevation and terrain. I've pieced out and placed a bunch of pieces that will be the northern half of the Great Barrier mountains, and I've used some random noise filters and differencing to create some lower-ground elevation.

This is where the real painstaking work is. I have to blend the mountains that I've placed with the surrounding ground, and make it all look both smooth and natural.

I also have to figure out how the watersheds are going to work. There are no canon maps that depict rivers in this region, though some of the borders squiggle in a way that suggests a river. I need to figure out which borders are defined by rivers, and re-work the lower-ground contouring to match their course.

How hilly are the hinterlands? Ophid's Grasslands are obviously flat, but what about the Shadow Colonies and Kiridin? I'm shooting in the dark here, but I'll probably try to depict the Shadow Colonies as being more hilly, especially the ones next to the Great Barrier Mountains.

[Hotrod]

I'm following a technique developed by arsheesh, the guy at the Cartographers Guild who did the revised Palladium map for zyanitevp. In fact, these pictures I'm linking are hosted by the Cartographers Guild website.

I've had to make some variations, since his approach is more of a random world generator, whereas I have to try to conform to several established precedents, but it's a solid, if very time-consuming, approach.

[Hotrod]

Here's one I started with. It's a good place to begin, though it's a process for developing maps based on random terrain shapes. It's a bit trickier to make a specific, deliberate map, but the tools this guy uses are handy for lots of purposes.

[Hotrod]

About six hours of terrain-sculpting later, I have an elevation template.

I figured that the barbarians would have natural borders for their lands, so I drew in two large rivers for the north and south borders of Kiridin, and a winding ridge for its western border. I accentuated the hills of Kiridin itself, figuring that these barbarian lands are pretty rugged, and they have a lot of iron deposits.

The Shadow Colonies I made flatter, except in the areas sloping up to the Great Barrier Mountains. Ophid's Grasslands have a smudged look, since they're described as being a flat prairie.

The rivers are extra-accentuated valleys. I'm trying out a separate program that auto-draws rivers, and I want to shoe-horn those rivers to specific paths.

[zyanitevp]

I'm following a technique developed by arsheesh, the guy at the Cartographers Guild who did the revised Palladium map for zyanitevp. In fact, these pictures I'm linking are hosted by the Cartographers Guild website.

I've had to make some variations, since his approach is more of a random world generator, whereas I have to try to conform to several established precedents, but it's a solid, if very time-consuming, approach.

Looking good! Cannot wait! Even if the players will probably not be there for another year or so....
For those that have not seen it, here is the link to the Palladium map that Hotrod is referring to.
Palladium Map for A God...Rebuilt

[Hotrod]

Thanks, zyanitevp. It's funny; this process is meant for randomly-generated terrain; I have to muscle it to conform to established maps as I go, but still give it enough wiggle room to look natural and unforced.

That phase of muscling it is over, though! Here's the pre-color map!

Up next: Color!

[zyanitevp]

Thanks, zyanitevp. It's funny; this process is meant for randomly-generated terrain; I have to muscle it to conform to established maps as I go, but still give it enough wiggle room to look natural and unforced.

That phase of muscling it is over, though! Here's the pre-color map!

Up next: Color!

Wow, that is smexy!

[Hotrod]

Thanks!

Color is getting a bit complicated. The tutorial I'm following is for a general world map with color gradients for temperate, arctic, and desert climates only.I have a preliminary color map done, but the color scheme just isn't right. The green is too saturated, Ophid's Grasslands are too brown (I tried blending in the desert colors, with disappointing results; they should look more golden, like a prairie), and none of the included gradients offered much in the way of reds, yellows, and oranges of fall colors, which I need for the Kadriel region of Kiridin (the land of eternal autumn).

I'm working on a few custom gradients for an Alaska-in-summer tundra-like gradient, a prairie gradient (for Ophid's Grasslands), and a Fall/Harvest season Gradient (For Kadriel). I'm learning this as I go, so it's a bit of a trial-and-error phase.

I'm also planning how I'll mark the map's borders and region labels, but I've got to get these color gradients right first.

[Hotrod]

I took a bottom-up re-do of the color gradients and came up with this. I may do some more tweaking of the colors, but basically, the physical terrain is done.

Now it's time to start marking the map. Borders, labels, icons, scale, compass rose, all that stuff.

First, though, I need to find a fantasy barbarian-appropriate font.

[Hotrod]

The map is finished. Click here to see it.

Known issues:
-The rivers don't match the ones shown in the Wolfen Empire Sourcebook. Yep, I goofed on this. I was working off the maps from Hinterlands, LoD1, and High Seas; I didn't think to check Wolfen Empire until I had already finished it. I may re-work this, but it'd be six hours of re-doing all the low-land topography.

Inconsistencies/Omissions I can explain:
-Byzantium's shape doesn't match most maps: I used the close-up of Byzantium from High Seas for the shape.
-Some tiny islands are missing, or are present, and don't match several maps: Not all canon maps are consistent with small islands; I made these decisions one at a time.
-The Western Empire's border isn't shown: It just barely comes into the field of view, and I didn't have enough space to properly label and mark it.
-Byzantium's two colonies on Dragon Claw aren't shown or marked (from the Wolfen Empire maps): I don't have enough information on these; they're only depicted on a map in the Wolfen Empire sourcebook. No names are given, and their territory isn't well-defined due to the huge scale of that map. I may include these in a later version if I can get more information on them. One of them is possibly "Me'zfii", from the Wolfen Empire sourcebook, page 104. Unfortunately, I have no idea which one it is, or if Me'zfii is in fact one of the colonies shown on the Wolfen Empire map.
-Those anchors aren't all next to the sea: they're meant to mark Shadow Colony provincial capitol towns, not actual ports (not in every case, anyway). Since Byzantium is a seafaring nation, that icon seemed appropriate (stars and dots are just so over-done, you know?). I placed them as shown in Hinterlands (or as close as I could; I had to move Seabright's just a bit south to make room for its name.


I welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions, and critiques.

[zyanitevp]

The map is finished. Click here to see it.

Known issues:
-The rivers don't match the ones shown in the Wolfen Empire Sourcebook. Yep, I goofed on this. I was working off the maps from Hinterlands, LoD1, and High Seas; I didn't think to check Wolfen Empire until I had already finished it. I may re-work this, but it'd be six hours of re-doing all the low-land topography.

Inconsistencies/Omissions I can explain:
-Byzantium's shape doesn't match most maps: I used the close-up of Byzantium from High Seas for the shape.
-Some tiny islands are missing, or are present, and don't match several maps: Not all canon maps are consistent with small islands; I made these decisions one at a time.
-The Western Empire's border isn't shown: It just barely comes into the field of view, and I didn't have enough space to properly label and mark it.
-Byzantium's two colonies on Dragon Claw aren't shown or marked (from the Wolfen Empire maps): I don't have enough information on these; they're only depicted on a map in the Wolfen Empire sourcebook. No names are given, and their territory isn't well-defined due to the huge scale of that map. I may include these in a later version if I can get more information on them. One of them is possibly "Me'zfii", from the Wolfen Empire sourcebook, page 104. Unfortunately, I have no idea which one it is, or if Me'zfii is in fact one of the colonies shown on the Wolfen Empire map.
-Those anchors aren't all next to the sea: they're meant to mark Shadow Colony provincial capitol towns, not actual ports (not in every case, anyway). Since Byzantium is a seafaring nation, that icon seemed appropriate (stars and dots are just so over-done, you know?). I placed them as shown in Hinterlands (or as close as I could; I had to move Seabright's just a bit south to make room for its name.


I welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions, and critiques.

I am very happy with it! Now if I can just get the PC's up there.... it will have to be after the Lopanic Games.

[URLeader Hobbes]

That map looks absolutely fantastic!!!!

I wish I had a copy of that back when I was running my games!!

Well done!

[Carl Gleba]

Outstanding job Hotrod! I had one of those "Holy $%^& this is awesome moments".

Thanks

[Juce734]

That map is pretty fantastic!

[Hotrod]

Thanks! It's funny; I started drawing maps to enhance and go with my writing, but cartography is turning into a full-blown hobby in its own right.

[pblackcrow]

Oh crud...You didn't include where you thought that the Western Empire colonies would be...But then again those don't have to be done in everyone's game. Although, I will be needing a map of them done of the colonies themself if you think you can, specifically for my game, so I may construct the two small towns with Hirst Arts. Because I am going to start playing the viceroy, who was officially sanctioned to take over the 2 colonies. Actually, the emperor wants to me to "Go ahead and have a look at the one that was rumored to be full of cannibalistic demonist or at least lead by them and if it is...Well, see about distorting them, um ASAP." But that's also the town that is the smaller of the two, due to the previous winter.

Anyway, yeah, fun.

I am going to set up one more big teleportation circle in the OGL colony which is going be linked with the one that I am going to be putting in the GNW Colony. hopefully as soon as I arrive via ship and have my tower constructed. But first thing is and will be first, which will basically be to pass out supplies and prepare for winter. Dispatch what ever I get from the summon angel circle (after I summon some butterflies...I doubt that there would be any left there in late September which will be when we arrive) to investigate the other town and report back. I think a timber spider will be MUCH easier to locate! And 8 - 38 butterflies in the fall will make some kids smile. And yes, he has a limited amount of time to get his tower up. So he is taking earth warlocks and I THINK 4 stonemaster. I've pretty well lost count of what all I am taking with me on my ships. By the way, the ships are mine...Bought, crewed, and improved in previous games when it came to investing my money, this character always chose to invest in merchant ships and inventions that make the ships and merchant companies awesome. I helped 1 pair of alchemists get started to get sails that will never burn or cut, is water resistant and is almost weightless. I didn't get 100% uncutable, but the have a high AR.

But anyway, yeah, I got off subject...But I am totally excited that I can bring everything from contacts I have made, to investments, etc together in this one game scenario. And it is going to be awesome.

I am going to have so much fun.

[Hotrod]

Sounds awesome! Sorry this map doesn't quite fit your needs. The original commission was for the Kiridin lands, and the Western Empire colonies were a bit too far south to put them on this map.

I have been contemplating doing a proper Western Empire map sometime, which would include the colonies. Lots of heraldry, regional and national boundaries, strong themes... it would be an interesting challenge.

[pblackcrow]

Too far south, true. But nevertheless a small part of the that terrain. Do you think that you could do an add-on to this one? It's really awesome! Also do you think you could do up the 2 small towns as well?

By the way, I found them on the map on page 19 of the Wolfen Empire today. Or at least a rough idea of where they are at. I would have put them elsewhere, but that's me.

[Hotrod]

For the technique I use, doing a map extension is much the same as making an entirely new map from scratch. I might take a commission for such a project, but I'd be more interested in doing the whole empire.

This was my first map that used this technique. While I still like its look, it has some flaws that irk me. In particular, the rivers are not as canon-accurate as they should be. In my defense, there's a lot of inconsistency in canon maps, and I looked in a lot of places, but the one map that shows rivers well in this region, the one you mention on page 19 of Wolfen Empire, is one that I wish I'd had on hand when I made this one.

Of course, even canon maps don't keep the canon cartography straight. According to the p19, Wolfen Empire map, the Western Empire colonies should not be on this map, whereas according to Northern Hinterlands p21 and Western Empire, their northern borders probably should. Overlaying and fitting different canon maps together involves a series of judgment calls. Unless they're different overlays of the same map, they almost never line up right.

Of course, to really do it properly, they'd have to make them line up on a spherical body, like this.

[pblackcrow]

I feel you did an excellent job with it, Mate. Palladium is not exactly known for their..."Attention to details", shall we say? In a point of fact, they are rather lacking in that area when it comes to their water ways. It's actually bloody annoying from both a players and GM's perspective.