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We sat in a Porto Turqessan cafe, the three of us, trying to decide who was going to be the first. My new friends decided it was going to be me.

"You go!" said Nebele. "Look at you, handsome man!" he said as he gave a strong squeeze of my are. "So strong! She will love you, just show her your face!"

"I..I can't," I said, tensing up my arm where Nebelle was squeezing it. "I don't speak Cordere"

"Dosen't matter, man!" said Grepka as he put on a pair of oversized, mirror glasses. His watch flashed in the Medterranian afternoon sun. "English or Italian or French is all OK here. You know it!"

I did not know it. It's a direct translation from something in Cordere, but I never got around to learning what it was. Because she got up walked towards us. Her dress fluttered in the breeze like a puff of cream clouds.

"Oh shit! Shit man! Shit! She's coming over!" said Nebelle

"Right this way! Get ready! Get ready, man! Ecta drazziea!" said Grepka as he slipped back into Cordere. "*Ell non te paquichinta. Ecta seuna drazziea, bro*!"

She stopped at our table, standing with her hands planted like amber flags on wide winged hips, and her lips full and pouting.

"Excuse me," she said in a voice that could melt cotton, "but what is all lost?"

She spoke English! Most people could on Corde, but I was struck dumb regardless. We stared with open mouths, each one of us looking like we had been hit by lightning.

"Acquellecias, cherita," said Nebelle. "Monte amisco novelle, che--"

"Please. No Cordere when we have guests," she cast me a look that I could not read, but sent my heart beating wildly. "And that dosen't answer my question. What's all lost?"

My two local friends looked at each other. And then at me. They stumbled for an explanation, switching between Cordere and English before she put up her hand.

We were silenced.

"Now," she said as she glared at my new friends, "You weren't planning to get your friend to ask for my number on a dare, now would you?"

Grepka and Nebelle looked at each other with sheepish smiles.

"Uhh...yes...that's what...that's we do."

The goddess looked at them. Then back to me. For a moment it was as if time stood still, until offered a single well polished finger, pulling me towards her.

"Your phone," she said.

Fumbling, I pulled my phone out of my pockets and nearly dropped it. Nebelle snickered, but Grepka kicked his shins under our table.

It was unlocked. I was cursing not unlocking my phone when she tapped a few numbers, and handed it back to me.

"Look for me if you ever come to Astapolis," she said with a wan smile. She put a peculiar twist on the 's' that made me want to explode. As she handed back her phone, a single finger dragged against my wrist, and I nearly did explode.

She walked away with a wave of her fingers. Nebelle and Grepka were beside themselves, high fiving and shouting, "Bontessa! Bontessa!" as I looked at my phone and saw a little note, the perfume from her wrist wafted from my phone as I read:

Felcite
+716 082-189
Welcome to Corde <3

EDIT: Bontessamilia*! Thank you to whoever gilded me! Shameless plug--I just published a small volume of short stories. If you like science fiction with a horror twist, then I hope you'll enjoy these stories too. Thanks very much again for the gold!!

You should put the GIMP freeware program on your computer as well; a bitmap editor will compliment your vector graphics editor.

The easiest way to start would be to download a blank map of North America. if you're new to graphics, I'd recommend starting with the GIMP for this project, rather than Inkscape.

Vector graphics are good for drawing metro maps, but I think it's going to take some time to learn how to use the program.

There's a pretty good fantasy map-making program called Campaign Cartographer 3. It's great for making the types of maps you might find in fantasy novels, and can help you produce maps in a variety of styles. I'm not sure if that would be the right type of style for you, but some people get pretty good at using this program, as you can see here. The company also puts out a program called City Designer.

I love what you have done so far so I hope you don't mine some thoughts.

You need to look at basic Geology to get an idea of how landscapes are formed. When you think about land you need to think about the history of it and that means thinking about climate changes and catastrophic events all which leave marks on the world. You might find this an interesting place to start.

But you probably won't get a real appreciation of the bones of your earth until you understand a little about tectonics and volcanism. If in your head you can understand how land masses can drift together as well as pull apart you can make all sorts interesting features. Like a huge caldera that collapses and makes a huge internal lake. These need not be connected to rivers or the sea but they can be so vast they can have their own weather. This might help to understand the basics.

When you start talking about inland seas then you start talking about forming new types of rocks and substrates, which in turn make the ground that grows on it after millions of years different. So chalk soils are very different from clay soils and near volcanoes you have igneous rocks which are different again.

It is a pity there are not good websites for this stuff really.

Anyway.. keep it in mind if you ever decide to do another map.

Thanks for sharing :)

Which is just strange.

1. There were big problems in relationship between Poles and Ukrainians. Poles were dominating Galician parliament, but in the last years Ukrainians got only stronger with much more nationalistic motive (but still quite loyal to Habsburgs, because under them they had cultural freedoms, unlike in Russia) . At first they were Russophile, but in the end on 19-th century nationalist became dominant. Ukrainians tried to separate Galicia into two entities in Austria-Hungary to free themselves from Polish control. Poles saw whole Galicia as polish national land and Ukrainians as a sub-division of Poles, "brainwashed" by Austrians and Russians to keep them separated from Poles and thus weakening Poland.
   
   
2. Galicia was a giant source of oil at that time - one of the biggest producers in the world. After WW1 it was the major point of polish-ukrainian war, because Poles convinced French that they will be a better ones to control these oil resources which resulted in a massive military and diplomatic help. It was resource of oil specifically for Germans during WW1, so it is quite strange, that Germany wouldn't control it in one way or another.
   
   
   I can understand if it was another puppet state, specifically kept not to make neither Poland nor Ukraine to powerful to resist German influence, but it wasn't stated.
   
   
   
   Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia
   
   The Idea of Galicia

I like the Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations, very good reference for maps. Jean Manco's Ancestral Journeys and Blood of the Celts both have maps that look particularly good as well, in a purely aesthetic sense.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DRAWING-PIGMENT-LINER-BLACK-0-05mm/dp/B0165MXLDY/ref=mp_s_a_1_10_sspa?keywords=uniball+pens+0.05&qid=1561986122&s=gateway&sr=8-10-spons&psc=1&smid=A3QAGNMJBO5UG3

Best price I've found on amazon, gets you a nice range. I suggest experimenting to find your favorites, and then buy multipacks of those.

If they like fantasy maps this is a nice book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Draw-Fantasy-Art-Maps/dp/1440340242

You can probably find it cheaper somewhere else. If they like different styles of maps then there will probably be books for that as well.


You could also get old atlases quite cheap which show different ways of making maps and how territory has changed over time.

If you're from the UK you can buy old OS maps of certain areas, there may be similar maps for different countries.

If you like the idea of living on an island I strongly recommend An Island to Onself by Tom Neale. It’s definitely a good read. Unfortunately while looking for the link to an Amazon site that sells it I found that they’re now selling it at a ridiculous price. Sorry about that.

Good news -- not only is he alive, he's got a book out! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393081923/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Very cool. That said, you all might find this interesting.

look to American Nations for further reference on the original settlements --> colonies, etc, and how that culture has continued. i like your modern touches out west along the pacific.

Reminds me of Grimtooth's Traps :)

https://www.amazon.com/Grimtooths-Traps-Game-Masters-Role-Playing-Systems/dp/0940244756

If you're not already familiar with it, you might be interested in Colin Woodard's American Nations.

Here's his version of the map.

Copic Marker 12-Piece Sketch Basic Set

Brush tip/chisel nib. Alcohol based though, not water based.

I got these for my wife a while back, the coveted limited edition fine point/brush.

Copic Marker 36-Piece Sketch Markers Set, 25th Anniversary Limited Edition

If your interested in actual water based. My wife just got these water color sheets.