the ATLAS Elyden
The Atlas Elyden started out as a single map made in 2016 to experiment with a style apart from traditional fantasy maps, which I felt did not suit the character of Elyden, which was increasingly turning into a post-industrial world that quaint tolkienesque fantasy maps just did not suit any more.
I enjoyed the style so much that I stuck with it and now the atlas stands at around 70-maps and counting, which I publish around once every 4-weeks. I've changed and (hopefully) refined the maps over the years and have added new features and details which have dated the older maps, which will be updated in due course.
The maps are made in Photoshop, and projection work is either done though in PS itself, using a plug-in, or G. Projector. Many have commented that Illustrator or a similar vector-based software would be more adequate to the work. and they would be right, but given that these are intended to be produced in-world (ie. by cartographers in Elyden itself) I feel the rougher appearance of using raster graphics looks more 'authentic'.
The maps are all based on a large black and white world map made in equirectangular projection. I create the projection I need and resize and rotate it and then trace over it with the topography making that any neighbouring regions that have already been mapped line up with the new work so that the topography is consistent.
This is where all maps from the Atlas Elyden go to live once they're completed. I've included the entire back-catalogue of Atlas images on this page, in the order of original publication, and will keep it updated with new low-res entries, after exclusive high-res and textless options are made available to my patrons.
A Key to all below maps can be found here.
For a full map of the Inner Sea, check out this page
 This is the heart of the empire, and as such its main cities are huge, sprawling, polluted, but decadent. The nation serves as the administrative centre of the high-empire, and is home to a large number of politicians, patricians, diplomats, clerks, administrators and bureaucratic staff that keep the day-to-day running of the empire in order. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 One of the oldest of Korachani territories, Pelasgos was wracked by a lengthy civil conflict that left it sundered in two - the Free-isles in the south and the loyal Korachani land in the north. The nation was once home to great manufactories and it was the heart of industry in the empire, and though man have since fallen silent, it remains a viable part of the imperial military industrial complex. |  Once called the garden of the empire, Azazem is now a major manufacturer of dross - the slurry-like food that feeds the largest conurbations and cities of the empire. Fields and grasslands have now been replaced with moss farms and processing plants were offal, dead paupers, vegetable matter, artificial nutrients and other ingredients are combined to make the food of millions. |  An independent region to the east of the Korachani empire that is embracing the industrialization that is now commonplace around the Inner Sea. It is composed of 8 kingdoms that together rule the entire region. The capital is Caria, in which rules High-king Caeron. |  A major power in the Inner Sea Region, Almagest found independence in 3014 RM following the short-but-bloody War of the Artifexes. Today it is a major industrial centre and its eponymous capital city remains one of the largest known cities in the civilized word. |  Skaros is a land between two rival powers - Almagest in the north and Korachan in the south. It is a religious land, and has many landmarks that form part of the great Shadow March pilgrimage, and much of its economy revolves around catering to pilgrims and others who travel with them on the Marches. |  Part of the Korachani empire since 15 RM, Laaskha is seen as a martial land. Its ancestors were warriors, and it continues to be a major recruiting ground for the imperial armies to this day, with most of its generals originating from patrician houses based there. It is also a major link between southern Llachatul and the north of Sammaea, and the harbours of Baayn are busy with ships leaving for the south. |  Once a major industrial centre, Vârr was widely known both for its sprawling open-cast mines, which left its forests all but destroyed, as well as its eerie mountain marking its northern border. The mountain, named Varrachon after the Demiurge Vorropohaiah, is said to contain the waste-material from the creation of a small part of the Prison Carceri, which sprawls beneath the surface of half the world. |  Ruled by the halfblood Volupis, this land is known for its idyllic southern coastline, and the north, which is dominated by Atramental wastelands in which dreams and nightmares commonly manifest. It is a popular place for oneiromancers from across Elyden, who use this trait to help them study their field. |  A staunchly-loyal people to the Archpotentate Malichar, Vaalk remained part of the High-empire after the sundering of Korachan in 3705 RM, even as the rest of its southern territories became part of the Reformed Empire. However, pressure from Sarastro and increased religious strife saw Vaalk become a vassal to Sarastro in 3736 RM, Though Malichar remains a respected figure there to this day and is revered as a living saint of the Reformed Church, muct to the annoyance of Sarastro. |  Ruled by the enigmatic Augur and her Nine Seers, Lyridia is a land of great wealth and dichotomous ways that clings on to an ancient way of life. Those who cling to the old ways are known as troglodytes and live in cave-settlements, revering the Augur and her seers as living deities. |  Becoming a vassal to Parthis in 3696 RM, Jurras is a land rich in soulstones, which are highly in demand by technarcanists, philosophers and occultists in equal measure. It is a land of ancient ruins - a remnant of the Samarian kingdom that struggled beyond the Fourth Age, ending by the 3rd millennium of the Fifth Age. |  A northern endorheic desert, Astudan is largely uninhabited,save for the Free-city of Gatha, which acts as its de facto capital. Gatha is well known as a place where all are accepted and it is renowned for its large population of non-humans, including a myriad of other mortal races, halfbloods, scionborn and otherworlders. |  This nation is so-named for its position between three major territories. It is at a crossroads of cultures, where religions and different beliefs mingle amongst its many merchants, leaving its people somewhat jaded and more world-weary than your typical work Slave in the empire. Bassorah emerged a newly independent nation from the ruins of Ipanah in the years following the Dissolution of the Korachani empire. |  An outcast amongst nations, Paraiya is a land that clings to its tribal beliefs with an unflinching grasp. It lies just north of the Atramental-expanse known as the Umbra Solare, and its people are xenophobic an self-reliant to a fault. |  One of the four major powers in the Inner Sea, Parthis controls many lands surrounding lands south of the sea. It is noted for its agnostic beliefs and for its the expertise of its geneticists who alter the bodies of its wealthy with ease, even as they manufacture tailor-made organisms for purposes that range from the frivolous, such as pets; to those of great import, such as their beasts of burden and warbeasts. |  A green land on the doorstep of the empire. It is known to outsiders as a water-logged region with hundreds of fresh-water lakes and myriad waterways connecting them together. Its indigenous people are regarded as fen-living, stilt-walking agriculturalists, though that stereotype has become less prevalent as the region became fully industrialised decades ago. |  So-called due to their state of abandonment by the Sarastroan empire. The lands surrounding the Sea of Daarken are diminishing, their resources spent, their golden ages in the distant past. Those that have not already been abandoned by Sarastro are kept only because they yet have some industrial use remaining. |  Of all the nations surrounding the Inner Sea, Karakhas and Khuraur are perhaps those with the closest links to a Demiurge other than Rachanael. Worship of Kharani and his scion Khar'illae are deep-rooted here and efforts from both the High-empire and, later, the Reformed Empire at supplanting their ancestral religions with worship of their respective religions ended in bloodshed. The people of these twin nations are unruly do not take kindly to outside rule. |  The forests of Llachatul were once far larger than they are today, dominating most of the continent up to an arctic latitude. The forest has dwindled greatly, through over-exploitation and changing climate, though it remains populated. The people of the empire are superstitious of those who dwell in the forest, and though they are considered to be little more than savages, the truth is quite different. |  Both Tahall and Ezasuh are descended from ancient Korachani migrants exiled for their religious beliefs by a newly appointed Archpotentate Malichar. Today both have powerful navies and are ill at ease with the power that Korachan has maintained for 4-millennia. |  |  |  |  Andiluth is a land that is assaulted by savage storms that bring great waves dozens of miles inland. It is populated by nomads who comb the shores for trophies on wind-powered crawling ambulants. Trakian are adept at fighting the Atramenta, which affects its people in the form of cyclocephaly. Those who are born with cyclocephaly are more likely to have an affinity for the Atramenta and are sent to study in Deacania, where they become shapers who fight against the spread of the Atramenta. |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  Two lands locked in the middle of a power struggle between the High-empire to the east and the Secular Republic of Parthis in the south-west. Ahka is a contested land, its entire south-eastern territories now lost to war and its population is dispersed across Ataraxia, which its larger northern neighbour, which has fared better at fending off Korachani attacks. The waters off Ahka’s south-eastern coast are replete with umbra, which are a valuable assed to whoever can control them. |  |  |  Twin nations south of the great desert of Anubia known for their extremist religions, in which scarification and self-mutilation are the norm. |  Not truly a nation, but a series of expansive deserts, the largest of which is the Molachari Desert (named after the Imperial Archpotentate), in the north-east of Sammaea. Most of its people share a cultural heritage that dates back to ancient ages, though which today are largely forgotten beneath the marching sands. The place is dangerous, not only for its environmental perils, but also for the strange beings, known as mkisihs, that roam the wastelands – failed genetic experiments of the kingdom of Venthir, they now wander the deserts and are worshipped as living idols by some of Anubia’s nomads. |  the various colonies of the Korachani empire, across Elyden |  A distant land, far from the politicking of the Inner Sea and even the influence of the Korachani empire. This is an idyllic land, by the standards of the ancient post-industrial states of the Inner Sea, and its people are expert mariners, using catamarans to skillfully navigate their shallow waters. |  A polar kingdom that is known across Elyden for its cloning techniques and meteore mines. |  The Atramental wasteland of the Umbra Sokhar is but a teaser of the grotesque an inimical wastes that lies south of the Moloth Khammothul Mountains |  Comprised of dozens of warring tribes, the Growing Mountains of Rhinocoloura are a hotbed of conflict and borders that are in flux. |  The Sultanate of Rhinocoloura controls a large length of the great river Shibboleeth |  The damming of the river Shibboleth in 2943 RM brought electricity and political power to Aethios, but it was short-lived, and the Korachani empire declared war, ultimately destroying the dam flooding the Shibboleth for hundreds of miles downstream, ruining Aethios. |  These distant nations are known to the people of the Inner Sea for their worship of the Sun-deity Nergaal and the mysterious cult that surrounds its worship |  The maddening realm of Carceri pervades the flesh of Elyden like a vile parasite. Created by the demented Demiurge Vorropohaiah to imprison ancient beings, it is now home to the ropohaii - mishappen mortal children who shun the light and populate the nightmares of children across the Korachani empire |  A map showing the watershed and drainage basin of the great river Shibboleth |  Once a Korachani colony, this region is now independent, controlling most trade in the treacherous Lethean Sea |  Three closely-linked nations in this tropical east of the continent of Llachatuk |  A technocracy ruled my a millennia-old god-scion, Porphyr is known as for its ark-worshipping populace |  Federation of many city-states |