Crossposting from MotF thread:
It didn't exactly turn out to be how I wanted it, but considering this is my first MotF entry, I thought it'd be better to post it than to scrap it.
MotF #202:
Make a map showing the world in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event.
There are no restrictions on when the PoD of your map should be. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed.
So here it is! A small deviation from my usual The Lilith Parallax(Rise of the Night) stuff, a bit of trying out new things, and also a way to finding back into pixel art on at least a basic level.
Style and map are based on a dutch 1618 map.
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De Erda dausnd Jaar efter dit Olkrik: Dit is en Kard fan dit Seksche Rayk welcht de Erda an de funding tak fan de newe wessiche Marklrayk zaykt. De Kard auk zaykt de Nigra-Zee die bis hoyt manma de trawel twischn de Marklrayk & Reyn ant de Angloten Insln blokt. Sway weytre Monumente fon de alde Zed sent auk up de Kard zsehn: De Piramidn fon Sus ant de grose Hellensark fon Shanabil, desn Fluhk die Minschhayt bis hoyt an de Estsiedln hindet. Sene Todiskraft ubbertrumpt dene fon die alden Ruinen um en sternfakket.
"
The Earth a thousand years after the black poison war: This is a map of the Saxon Realm which shows the Earth at the founding date of the new western Empire (Marklrayk). It also displays the Nigra-Sea (Black Sea) which to this day sometimes blocks/hinders travel between the Empire and the English islands. Two more monuments are shown on this map: the Pyramids of Sus/ and the great hellgate ("world's sarcophagus") of Shanabil, whose curse neverendingly hinders/stops human settling towards the east. Its killing aura surpasses the one of the old [civilization's] ruins by a starfold (manifold)."
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The original map is probably quite old. It shows the world with its three known continents at the founding date of the first ever
Marklrayk, Empire, since the Great Civilizational Collapse following a devastating war called the Black Poison War. Allegedly, it was a war on resources, specifically a black kind of resource that had made the old world addicted to it, so when it ran out and no one found any more, the world and its leaders became greedy, for the last remaining barrels, urns and jugs of the addictive poison that spent warmth and promised to solve all problems and inconveniences. According to the rumors found on the Anglont Islands, the honey-like black fluids covering the Black Sea, giving it its name and hindering trade routes crossing open sea, are the same black poison that once brought the world its doom. Why the map is old, you ask? Since the proclamation of
Markl, Emperor, Manel I of Franklant by the ever expanding kingdom of Franklant, the Western Empire has expanded into the northwestern parts of the Alman Steppe, has defeated the Kafat of Tunes, and new countries have spawned amongst the wide stream of Neper (The one in the east with the big lake), the southern parts of the Vene-Sea and Griknlant regions, and on the Skandern island. Despite this, the map is surprisingly accurate for its time, in which civilization had only recently re-established regular trading and bilateral institutions, thus it often has been reproduced and reused over the last few decades.
A few interesting features are unique to this map (and age): The map first uses small illustrations of trees, steppes, grasslands as well as illustrations of cursed ruins and two old world's monuments, as well as a ship attempting to cross the blackwater of the Black Sea. Especially the illustration of the world's sarcophagus was a novelty since the appearance of it was only known to those who visited it, knowing that their life would end soon due to its lingering curse. It's likely the cartographer asked one or some of these people to describe the monument or a local painter who possibly studied the building from afar.
Another interesting feature is the inclusion of the Nujak island, a mythical place that is said to have stood in close relation to the known world before the Black Poison War. Interest around the island which is said to be reachable from the western ends of the Anglont islands re-emerged when a shipwrecked returned with a claim to have met a ship from Nujak, only for it to be destroyed during a storm that also hit his ship.
On the other hand, the usage of the word "a thousand years"
Currently, efforts to revive a world league for international cooperation is being set up in order to ensure events resembling anything that could repeat the Great Civilizational Collapse will never happen again, and in order to make trade, reconstruction & settlement and the construction of ironways [railways] between countries easier and better to operate.
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Can also be found on my deviantART page:
http://fav.me/ddetdvw
