Regional Map: Strausved Empire

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
Inspired by medieval Russia, the Strausved Empire lies to the east of the Kingdom of Castitia, and is the fourth regional map based on on Castitia by Chashio. Done for a recurring client.

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WIP: Current Lite Mapping Challenge Nov 19-Jan 20, Cartographers Guild

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
As a blast from the past I've decided to enter this contest with a remake and reimagination of one of my earliest works (which nowadays looks cringeworthy to me): The Hive.

“Thief! Thief!”
Andra didn’t even flinch when the wave of anger and sheer indignation carried by the mer-chant’s voice rolled over the passers-by behind her. It was accompanied by the commotion the large man’s efforts caused as he tried to force a path through the meandering streams of customers, merchants and travelers filling the streets of the Dunesailors' precinct.

Lithe, quick, and streetwise beyond her age, her face hid behind a shawl, Andra moved between the crowd like a dancer in a ballroom. Here, a shrivelled Shiver hissed at her, it's black claws and teeth filed down, the sunlight playing with its ochre, pale green and steel grey scales and lizard eyes as it lumbered past, it's back laden with crates and wicker baskets. There, she darted below the towering bulk of a red horker, the great animal and its handler not even noticing her as its great head with dark tusks and long trunk swayed back and forth, its long ears flapping to push the swams or flies away that had started following it the moment it and its caravan had entered the great city. The young woman darted into backstreets, scaled a wall only to smoothly slide down its other side, where she found herself on the main thoroughfare of Newtown, the outer city.

Confident that she had shaken off her pursuer, she pocketed her loot and put the knife she had used to cut it loose back with the others. It'd been a good day so far, and it was time to give The Peddler his share. Everyone did. Not doing so was... unwise. You didn't ply the trade in the Hive without it being sanctioned by him. Those who did always vanished from the city. One way or the other.

Swimming with the masses, the current of people, animals and carts pulled her across the boulevard towards the entrance to the inner city. A giant gate house flanked by towers built from the hardest mountain rock rose above her, yet compared to the walls rising behind it the structure looked tiny. The Hive's broken shell rose many a hundred meters into the clear blue desert sky. Entering the twilight of the gates she felt the cool draw of the shade even with all the bustle around her. Tall gates stood open, old wood a foot thick banded in iron, ten meters high, and wide enough to let fifty men walk through them abreast. Still, if the stories Andra had heard were true, they were toys compared to the gates the ancients had built when they first raised the city.

On the other side she went with the flow for a few streets, soaking in the impressions around her. Tall towers of glass and a smooth rock that almost looked like grey marble rose between scores of flat-topped houses and mansions that merged one with the other, lavishly decorated with alabaster pillars and ornaments, the green of plants from overflowing gardens wafting in the breeze. In the midday sun the broken carapace threw jagged shadows across the meandering streets below. Hundreds of meters above, houses and gangways clung to the inside of the shell like honeycombs, giving the city its name. Reaching them often took the better part of a day, even with the stairwells and elevators people had erected over the centuries, and was an adventure of its own…


Original back in 2014:
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Current WIP:
attachment.php
 

The Original Sixth

Well-known member
Founder
As a blast from the past I've decided to enter this contest with a remake and reimagination of one of my earliest works (which nowadays looks cringeworthy to me): The Hive.

“Thief! Thief!”
Andra didn’t even flinch when the wave of anger and sheer indignation carried by the mer-chant’s voice rolled over the passers-by behind her. It was accompanied by the commotion the large man’s efforts caused as he tried to force a path through the meandering streams of customers, merchants and travelers filling the streets of the Dunesailors' precinct.

Lithe, quick, and streetwise beyond her age, her face hid behind a shawl, Andra moved between the crowd like a dancer in a ballroom. Here, a shrivelled Shiver hissed at her, it's black claws and teeth filed down, the sunlight playing with its ochre, pale green and steel grey scales and lizard eyes as it lumbered past, it's back laden with crates and wicker baskets. There, she darted below the towering bulk of a red horker, the great animal and its handler not even noticing her as its great head with dark tusks and long trunk swayed back and forth, its long ears flapping to push the swams or flies away that had started following it the moment it and its caravan had entered the great city. The young woman darted into backstreets, scaled a wall only to smoothly slide down its other side, where she found herself on the main thoroughfare of Newtown, the outer city.

Confident that she had shaken off her pursuer, she pocketed her loot and put the knife she had used to cut it loose back with the others. It'd been a good day so far, and it was time to give The Peddler his share. Everyone did. Not doing so was... unwise. You didn't ply the trade in the Hive without it being sanctioned by him. Those who did always vanished from the city. One way or the other.

Swimming with the masses, the current of people, animals and carts pulled her across the boulevard towards the entrance to the inner city. A giant gate house flanked by towers built from the hardest mountain rock rose above her, yet compared to the walls rising behind it the structure looked tiny. The Hive's broken shell rose many a hundred meters into the clear blue desert sky. Entering the twilight of the gates she felt the cool draw of the shade even with all the bustle around her. Tall gates stood open, old wood a foot thick banded in iron, ten meters high, and wide enough to let fifty men walk through them abreast. Still, if the stories Andra had heard were true, they were toys compared to the gates the ancients had built when they first raised the city.

On the other side she went with the flow for a few streets, soaking in the impressions around her. Tall towers of glass and a smooth rock that almost looked like grey marble rose between scores of flat-topped houses and mansions that merged one with the other, lavishly decorated with alabaster pillars and ornaments, the green of plants from overflowing gardens wafting in the breeze. In the midday sun the broken carapace threw jagged shadows across the meandering streets below. Hundreds of meters above, houses and gangways clung to the inside of the shell like honeycombs, giving the city its name. Reaching them often took the better part of a day, even with the stairwells and elevators people had erected over the centuries, and was an adventure of its own…


Original back in 2014:
attachment.php


Current WIP:
attachment.php

This is really good work. I especially love the triangular tower bits you added around it. Were you by chance inspired impart by the Big O?
 

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
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A handdrawn map done for a challenge on Instagram. You had to drop items randomly on a piece of paper, then use their outline for your territory and continue from that point onwards. I used pins and nails (the joys of being in the middle of a renovation). Labels were cleaned up and added again digitally.
 

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
For anybody thinking of commissioning @Culsu let me just say it has been a total treat to work with him on this. The final product is incredible and the communication to get there was first-rate. Highly recommended!

Thank you so much again!
 
Battletech - Sekhmet heavy tank

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
Sekhmet Mk. I, a fusion-powered 65 tons heavy tank, drawn for @LordSunhawk 's #Battletech quest. I hope to write an omake about this entering a contest for heavy tanks once that stage in development has been reached. Until then it's pure fan art. It's been the first time that I've drawn a (ground) vehicle, and surprisingly it turned out way better than I imagined!

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Commission - The Solitary Isles

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
Man, this brings back memories. One of the first people ever to ask me for a map now more than half a decade ago contacted me again and asked for a more detailed illustration of his world. Going back to revisiting some of the old styles I used and mixing them with newer icons and techniques was great fun. Without further ado: The Solitary Isles!

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Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
The world is pretty weird in that it doesn't have naturally occuring wind or sea currents, at least not on the surface, so that black-ish hurricane with a the vortex in the middle is the sole source of storms and wind. Since it's got all sorts of magical properties the island it's hovering over - La Ival - is an orange-colored, magical-hurricane-blasted desert.
What's the story behind that island in the north east? Ea Ival, I believe it is called?
 

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