Tuesday 10 July 2012

Physicalities


Kitas has three main landmasses: Sawa in the north, continent of fire; in the south Lozir, the lands of air and earth; and Gdera in the west, the lands of life. The myriad of islands in the sea of the Singing Ryaq are considered the continent of water. 

"Don't think that only landmarks need to be charted. Speakers put places of power in their atlases, voices know the genius loci, shankeh every road and route."
— Zahkhi, shopkeeper


Four main oceans divide the lands: the dark Great Ulah around the north pole; the Green Ryaq between the continents; the deep Blue Trimal in the south, and the vast Singing Ryaq. Furthermore, the Pillar Street between Sawa and Lozir is famous for its many rock spires.



Artist's notes
The physical shape of Kitas has come a long way. I drew the very first map a few weeks after I invented the setting; it was then a tiny world with practically no water, and I had spent no thoughts on actual geography. The next maps showed the single continents, and I have refined those maps a great deal since then, I'm still adding tiny landmarks. There is also a map creation tutorial in my art blog.
The joy of having an entire world at my disposal is that, whatever landscape I come up with, there is room for it somewhere. I could draw Kitas landscapes for the rest of my life and not be done. Many fantasy worlds, especially in games, are to small for my taste (I don't want to run through the world forever without reaching any place, of course. But just a wee bit bigger).









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