The City-States of Coryll (Maps and Setting Notes)

Join Peter Bradley and other artists in discussions on art and presentation.
Post Reply
Malakor
Mist Elf
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:00 am

The City-States of Coryll (Maps and Setting Notes)

Post by Malakor »

to the Moderators: if this isn't the appropriate forum for this post, I apologize in advance.

I'm working on preparing my campaign and have jotted down a few notes regarding the background of the starting area, and I did up a couple of maps this past week while I was on vacation (Lots of free time when you are sitting around an Army hospital waiting for your daughter to give birth to a young'un).

First, the background notes. . . these are not overly coherent or organized at the moment, primarily a set of notes to kick start my thinking.
The City States of Coryll
A brief history

For centuries, the peninsula of Coryll was home to the Empire of Coryll, with her shining cities and advancements in magic, arts and education.

About 600 years ago, the forces of the demon-lord Anabraxus attacked the Empire from all sides, and a mysterious mist arose from the depths of the Vast Deeping, just east of Itari.

Ships that sailed into or near the mist were attacked and destroyed by huge monsters of the deep, preventing the Empire from seeking aid from the continent to the east.

Although Anabraxus was ultimately defeated, and his forces scattered, the Empire was broken beyond repair. Cities had been reduced to smoking piles of rubble, the demonoic powers of Anabraxus and his allies had apparently disrupted the sources of magical power and the survivors of the Empire had retreated into a handful of strongholds or gathered together to travel in nomadic fashion simply to survive.

As the survivors began to rebuild and attempt to restore their lives, civilization once again began to return to the lands of Coryll. Nine City-States have evolved from the ruins of the Empire, each controlling and protecting an increasing amount of territory in its areas.

Magic has returned, albeit without the force and grandeur that was evident during the days of the Empire. Many scholars believe this to be simply a loss of knowledge, not a loss of actual magical power in the world and many search the ruins of the Empire for lost knowledge and records of magical techniques.

The areas outside the reach of each City-State is typically wild and dangerous, doted with the ruins of the Empire and overrun by bandits, barbaric tribes and by monstrosities that were created or awakened during the conflict with the forces of the Demon-Lord.

===============================
A few current events

The forces of 'The Necromancer' threaten the City-States of Clest and Dragonspire.

The Chelar nomads of the isthmus and traders from Baalbekis report increasingly aggressive activity from the Beastmen along the edge of the desert and the mountains that separate them from the lands of Coryll.

================================
The Explorers Society

Founded by a group of retired 'adventurers' over 20 years ago, the Society maintains a chapter house in each of the City States of the region, and have a few, isolated strongholds throughout the land as well.

Dues for the Society are 100 Gold Imperials per year, per individual.

The benefits of membership include reduced rates on rooms at the chapter houses, discounted training, supplies and identification of magical items. The Society also offers banking services and letters of Credit for those who deposit their valuables with them.

==========================

The Maps.

I did a color and a black and white version that has a wilderlands style hex overlay (about 50 miles per hex is the scale). A 3' wide version of the color one is mounted on my wall above my monitor to aid in inspiration and planning.

_________________
A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

User avatar
gideon_thorne
Maukling
Posts: 6176
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:00 am
Contact:

Re: The City-States of Coryll (Maps and Setting Notes)

Post by gideon_thorne »

Those are some really nice maps.
_________________
"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley
"The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, 'Save us!' And I'll look down, and whisper 'No.' " ~Rorschach

User avatar
Coleston the Cavalier
Unkbartig
Posts: 880
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Herrin, IL
Contact:

Post by Coleston the Cavalier »

Very nice maps, indeed!
_________________


John Adams

User avatar
Omote
Battle Stag
Posts: 11560
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 7:00 am
Location: The fairest view in the park, Ohio.
Contact:

Post by Omote »

Indeed, nice maps. May I ask what program u used to create them?

-O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society
@-Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society-@
VAE VICTUS!
>> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <<

User avatar
concobar
Ulthal
Posts: 774
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 7:00 am

Post by concobar »

Is that Campaign cartographer?
_________________

User avatar
ATOM
Hlobane Orc
Posts: 158
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:00 am

Post by ATOM »

They look hand rendered. Either that or Malakor has some cutting edge programme! Very well done.
_________________
ATOM's WEB Site
Three Headed Troll Art Wurks
ATOM's CLASSIC D&D Art.
ATOM's WEB Site

Image

3-headed Blog

Malakor
Mist Elf
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:00 am

Post by Malakor »

Thanks,

I have been looking for a hand-drawn look for quite some time (especially for my mountains), and have tried a number of different techniques, such as creating brushes and fills in Photoshop, and the like, and then it occurred to me. . . Hand Draw, Scan and Import them
The maps were done in Photoshop CS3, and I use a mouse, not a pad.

The mountains, I took and sketched into the shapes I needed then scanned and placed them in PS and tweaked them around to where they looked the way I wanted them to.

The forest areas were done with a variable brush technique and forcing the layer to outline as it drew. The nice thing for me was that this is how most of my forests look when I hand draw my maps as well, so it came out the way I wanted.

From a personal standpoint, I was quite pleased with the way this one came out.

I'll be taking the large grayscale one and making myself a notebook with closeups of sections of the map, and then go in and detail individual hexes as needed for adventuring.
_________________
A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

User avatar
concobar
Ulthal
Posts: 774
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 7:00 am

Post by concobar »

Very well done sir.
_________________

User avatar
Omote
Battle Stag
Posts: 11560
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 7:00 am
Location: The fairest view in the park, Ohio.
Contact:

Post by Omote »

Wow, that probably took a very long time. Much dedication. Well, I think the effort paid off. Quite nice.

-O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society
@-Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society-@
VAE VICTUS!
>> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <<

User avatar
gideon_thorne
Maukling
Posts: 6176
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:00 am
Contact:

Post by gideon_thorne »

Omote wrote:
Wow, that probably took a very long time.

-O

Not really. That's more or less the way I do it. The maps looked too cool to be entirely computer generated.
_________________
"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley
"The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, 'Save us!' And I'll look down, and whisper 'No.' " ~Rorschach

Malakor
Mist Elf
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:00 am

Post by Malakor »

Omote wrote:
Wow, that probably took a very long time. Much dedication. Well, I think the effort paid off. Quite nice.

-O

Thanks,

I have maybe 5 hours total in both of those.
_________________
A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

User avatar
Omote
Battle Stag
Posts: 11560
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 7:00 am
Location: The fairest view in the park, Ohio.
Contact:

Post by Omote »

gideon_thorne wrote:
Not really. That's more or less the way I do it. The maps looked too cool to be entirely computer generated.

Really? Didn't take long huh? Well then my good man, it's off to the map-making mill for you. It's time to produce some fancy Pete Bradley maps for our favorite game.

-O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society
@-Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society-@
VAE VICTUS!
>> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <<

Treebore
Mogrl
Posts: 20660
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Arizona and St Louis

Post by Treebore »

Omote wrote:
Really? Didn't take long huh? Well then my good man, it's off to the map-making mill for you. It's time to produce some fancy Pete Bradley maps for our favorite game.

-O

Yes!!
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Post Reply