[OOC] The New Empires

[Dinh AaronMk]

By the way, my app posted.

I still think there's too much stuff in it that will probably never come up, or will come up anyways in the first posts. I'm betting dubs that they're not going to be strictly adhered to in the long-run.

EDIT - Oh look at that. I got dubs.

[ASTA]

Monkeypants said
Ok, So, AB is going for an bronze age group, I'll likely do a late iron age.. asta, what race are you going to make or are you going for a full nation this time.. Sigma, what you making?And I'll be using elves as part of my nation.. not in the way one might think though! and they aren't Tolkien elves either. tired of the super model race.

A species of big cat that possesses sapience.

[Bresn]

What exactly classifies as "Culture"?

[Feigling]

@Dinh AaronMK

Your nation currently resides in water.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Bresn said
What exactly classifies as "Culture"?

Yeast.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Feigling said
@Dinh AaronMKYour nation currently resides in water.

This is why you shouldn't have gone with that map. It's not clear to begin with!

[Dinh AaronMk]

And I believe AlienBastard made a comment anyways that he thought the whole thing looked like a mess of inland seas, which I rolled with since it wasn't addressed.

[Monkeypants]

@Asta, how would they react to someone trying to tame them for war?

[Monkeypants]

**

[Bresn]

Dinh AaronMk said
Yeast.

Wheat. ( q.q )

[Feigling]

Bresn said
What exactly classifies as "Culture"?

Culture is one of those things that's hard to explain, but relatively easy to do.
Write what your people are like. What makes them recognisable? What is so distinct about them that says 'I come from such and such'? And why do they do that?
Like I said, I'm not very good at explaining it. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

[Dinh AaronMk]

In any case, I corrected the map and then edited the geography in my app to fit with the new placement.

[Feigling]

Dinh AaronMk said
This is why you shouldn't have gone with that map. It's not clear to begin with!

I thought it was pretty simple. Light parts were land, dark parts were water. But then again, that's just me.

Would you like me to choose a different map? I have a couple in reserve.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Feigling said
Culture is one of those things that's hard to explain, but relatively easy to do.Write what your people are like. What makes them recognisable? What is so distinct about them that says 'I come from such and such'? And why do they do that?Like I said, I'm not very good at explaining it. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

Let me help you there: on a serious note culture in an anthropological perspective is the values and traditions of a population, and the identity there of as defined by language, history, and commonly-held societal and legal practices.

The French Culture and the German Culture are different due in part to not only the linguistic differences but historical differences (even if there was shared history in the pre-Christendom era and immediately post-Rome). As well as social and legal values, as more defined by 19th century Romanticism and the effects of a Post-Napoleon Europe and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, which had long defined German territory and politics since Charlemagne.

[ASTA]

Monkeypants said
@Asta, how would they react to someone trying to tame them for war?

Being sapient, they possess elevated cognitive functionality and therefore have the capacity to make rational decisions and concoct complex military strategies despite lending themselves strongly to their base instincts and impulses. Personal mental exercises that reinforce self-control can see these urges suppressed; these usually come in the form of meditative practices employed by the cats as they come of age.

If you're talking about enslavement, that raises a number of additional issues, such as you being in possession of a violent and exceptionally ill-tempered apex predator that's larger than a war horse and that is just as smart as you are. Rebellions will be incredibly deadly to say the least. And the political backlash is probably going to result in a lot of members of both species suffering sever casualties. If you want mercenaries, just ask them. They're individualistic but social creatures that understand material value.

They aren't well-suited for open field combat however. They're effective at night.

[GreivousKhan]

Monkeypants said
Ok, So, AB is going for an bronze age group, I'll likely do a late iron age.. asta, what race are you going to make or are you going for a full nation this time.. Sigma, what you making?And I'll be using elves as part of my nation.. not in the way one might think though! and they aren't Tolkien elves either. tired of the super model race.

I'm pretty damn fed up with fair skinned long haired master races myself.

[Monkeypants]

@Asta. that settles that then. thanks.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Feigling said
I thought it was pretty simple. Light parts were land, dark parts were water. But then again, that's just me.Would you like me to choose a different map? I have a couple in reserve.

Lights-on-darks and darks-on-lights will not fix anything if there's otherwise illustrative differences between landmass and water. The drawing of mountains for instance, or actual coloration of something against the base color of the map or blue.



As an example: land and sea is differentiated not only but color but dictation of the geography. Not to mention the drawing of ships where the sea is.

The same rule is apparent here:


Likewise:


You can just tell what's what. Shading doesn't often really mean anything without something else dictating. In a broader sense illustration helps expand on things by showing the terrain. Is it hilly or is it mountainous? Where are the rivers? Lakes?

These are maps I've done for other role-plays before.

Homebrewed Cartography

Layer modes aside on the last, I at least try to make an effort to depict geography, which is the least one can do to encourage consistency in something all throughout. Otherwise geography ends up being as random and unnatural as Minecraft world generation.

Layermodes, which went into the last one, help to dictate a better detail of the region without having to go into regional descriptions, which I've done for the middle one.

[Feigling]

Well, I changed the map. Better??

[ASTA]

This isn't a complaint or a spot of criticism, but that map seems to be the usual go-to map when it comes to fantasy RPs.