Region Brainstorming Thread

Any province related discussion not fitting into other categories
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roerich
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Region Brainstorming Thread

Post by roerich »

A place to discuss potential regions.
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Fürst Thal
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Post by Fürst Thal »

So this is a first incomplete try at starting a discussion on Elsweyrs Regions. I have added a zip file that has some very early thoughts for the basic design of atleast three regions and some generall thoughts. I want to let some other people have a say too though so I am posting this now so that people can give there input. Please note that these are just ideas and nothing more.
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Fürst Thal
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Post by Fürst Thal »

Added some more stuff.
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Mark
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Post by Mark »

Here's some region ideas I have. It's incomplete but will be updated with more references in time.

Image

The northern borders of the Riverlands are lush as they are in Cyrodiil, the eastern borders of Elsweyr Nibenese-like in landscape and culture, and the western borders thick-forested like Valenwood. But the interior of Elsweyr, untouched by the borders of other provinces, is a harsh area of badlands and dry plains. The pink-tinted sands of the Ne Quin-al desert and its sparing pink plantlife are the only semblances of vivacity in these harsh lands. Khajiit tribes roam the rocky crags, canyons, and shifting sands of Anequina, settling in the remains of ancient kingdoms that have been swallowed by the desert. South of Anequina, however, the soil turns fertile, with jungles and rainforests hosting colorful flora, especially near the sugarcane groves which cluster near the Tenmar Forest. The Khajiit who live in Pelletine are agrarian, the rich nobles of Elsweyr. Ruins of ancient civilization dot the entirety of the province, where forgotten treasures are just waiting to be found.

Region Descriptions:

Anequina Regions:
Spoiler
Riverlands

The Rim

Samisil Steppes

Ne Quin-Al Desert
The Ne Quin-Al is the harsh, dry desert of Anequina. Its sands are a faint salmon-pink, a hint of the pink, alien South in these northern lands. But don’t let that fool you, as the desert is treacherous. Not only do dangers roam the wild, but in ruins of forgotten Anequinan kingdoms, buried beneath the sands, ancient enemies lurk. Vegetation is sparse, but where it exists it stands out. Green cacti with pink flowers and the similarly pink-green succulents dot the landscape, as well as other sparse pink-green flora.
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Canyons

Scrublands

Molaquin Ren (Cyrodiil)

Dragon’s Teeth (Valenwood)

Arenth-Aria (Valenwood)
Pelletine Regions:
Spoiler
Corinthian Mountains
Image (transition to Pelletine)
Image (transition to Pelletine)

Tenmar Basin
The Tenmar Basin is the main region of the Tenmar Forest, a thick green, blue and pink jungle that is filled with sugarcane groves, where moon sugar comes from. Crystallized moonlight comes from the Topal Sea to the Tenmar Basin, and everything here is touched by it, from the sparkling of the water to the strangely colored flora. Predators stalk the jungle, which is home to the khajiit of Pelletine.
Image (this is a good reference but would be a bit less blue and more green.)
Image (same comment as above)
Image (perhaps the sugarcane can be redder or pinker?

Torval Basin

Great Divide
Image

Quin’Rawl

Lynpar Floodlands (Valenwood)

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Infragris
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Post by Infragris »

Some feedback on the region map above. This is my personal opinion based on my experiences wrangling the Cyrodiil map. Take it or leave it.
  • The current regions all seem a little bit too big when compared to vanilla or the other provinces. The Ne Quin-Al especially is very big, possibly one of the largest regions across all provinces (that don't have large water areas or are very mountainous). I understand the logic of making a desert big, but in this case I don't think the visual impression will suffer if the region is shrunk slightly, perhaps by adding some kind of savanna transitional area along the southern borders.
  • It might make sense to count out the total cell size and compare that to the cell size of vanilla regions to get a feel of what their actual scale is. Based on that, you could "shove" some regions aside and add smaller transitional regions between them - ridges, hills, valleys, that kind of thing.
  • This would also help make regions a bit more distinct in terms of surface - many of the regions, barring the desert, appear to be similarly sized and shaped, at least when compared to the much more idiosyncratic vanilla regions.
  • I would suggest stretching the Corinthian Mountains into an actual mountain chain as opposed to the current blob. I understand that the "Canyons" region serves as a connector between the mountains in Elsweyr and in Valenwood, but it would be better to stretch the Corinthians across the map to connect to Valenwood directly, cradling the Canyons region on the east and creating a more believable geographic fiction (keeping min mind erosion etc).
  • I would strongly suggest scrapping the Molaquin Ren on the Elsweyr side and replacing it with something else. The Ren is intended to be transitional to the Elsweyr sphere, but it doesn't work well as an actual cross-border region and it was never really designed as such. The essence of that region is in A) being one bank of the Niben river, and B) occupied by the Imperials. Elsweyr-side Ren is neither. This is one case where the political border of the province can and should coincide with the region division. The way it's stretched out from its original plan is unsightly.
  • The "Riverlands" (no longer called that in the current proposal - it's a dusty range of hills now, which should actually transition really well into the desert) is a border region proper, but it's a little too wide in this plan. The issue with border regions is that we tend to assume they should be the size of a single normal region, when in fact they should be much smaller, maybe even half of a usual region - otherwise the combination of both sides leads to a massive super-region. I would shave at least two cells' width from its southern border, and truncate the eastern part or turn it into another region.
  • Related to the point above, I would suggest adding a new, smallish region on the point where the Rim, Riverlands, Steppes and Desert join in the northeast. Maybe a Pass or a Valley of some sort. Having four region come together on the same point is asking for trouble.

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Post by Undertaker »

Infragris wrote: Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:07 pmperhaps by adding some kind of savanna transitional area along the southern borders
What makes Ne-Quin Al a desert? Mountains in the south? Wouldn't it make a sense to have "savanna region" north of the desert then?

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