I spent Sunday afternoon putting the finishing touches on a new map for the Iomandra campaign, specifically the capital city of the Dragovar empire. I had a clear vision of Io'calioth at the very start of the campaign — a city built on the ridges of a sunken volcanic caldera — and held true to that vision, thanks to the magic of Photoshop. Ah, Photoshop . . . is there anything you can't do?
My Monday group arrived in Io'calioth somewhat unexpectedly, courtesy of a 1,000-foot-high water cyclone—check out the campaign episode wiki for details, if you're curious. My challenge to myself was to create a city that surpassed my previous city-building effort (the cave city of Io'galaroth) and had its own unique character. I also needed Io'calioth to incorporate everything I'd written about the Dragovar empire to date, including sections of the city devoted to each of the six castes (arcane caste, divine caste, martial caste, commoner caste, expert caste, and noble caste).
Unlike Io'galaroth, which I hand-drew and then scanned and colored, Io'calioth was built entirely on screen, using the mouse as my "pen." The reason was scale — I didn't have a piece of paper large enough to draw the city in its entirety. I cheated whenever I could; for example, to get the circular shape of the city just right, I started by creating a large gray circle, traced around it with the pen tool, and then deleted the circle.
Anyway, you're probably bored, so I'll stop typing now. Enjoy the map! You'll find it in the Iomandra group's public gallery.
