Got Civ 4 and Campaign Cartographer loaded last night, and started work. Discovered that the map maker component of Civ 4 is internal to the game unlike previous version, but managed to generate the world and take screen shots. Unfortunately it wouldn't fit into one screen so I ended up with 4 pictures.
So will be creating the full world map in Campaign Cartographer once I get the hang of the application.
will go through the video tutorials tonight and try to get somewhat more familar with the interface:
http://www.profantasy.com/community/cc3_tutorials.aspOnce done I'll be looking to add key land features which should be fun :)
Being thinking about the concepts of the world, and these are my ideas:
There have been several ages where a particular race has dominated (based perhaps on who best is able to adapt to the environment and situation?) the world, on which the next has built their civilisation, meaning that there is many ruins sometimes many layers of ruins.
These ages have been:
Non-corporeal age - This age was during the forming of the world and was ruled by non-corporeal beings that are representational of many primal forces. This moved into the next age when these forces calmed and their work complete these beings entered into a slumber.
Dragon age - in the hot and humid climate following the formation of the world and its atmosphere still in a stage of development, insects and reptiles thrived, one of the larger examples of these reptiles gained sentience and quickly dominated the world. They started a grand if somewhat brutal civilisation and when it become considered unethical to hold reptilian slaves (of smaller and less intelligent reptillian species, although such things as gladitorial sport including them was still considered a grand time) they started looking for a suitable alternative, and when finding no natural occurence that was suitable went into research mixing magic and genetics. the experiments were many and varied and many "monsters" were created until they finally hit a suitable candiate with a small species of primate gorilla, after alteration they were semi-intelligent, and strong, and the benefit of opposable thumbs made them quite usual as slaves.
with their popularity, they were continuously breed and soon out numbered the actual number of dragons. However it soon became evident that there were some tasks that they couldn't perform, and they started experiementing with the breeding, creating more intelligent races, such as the dwarves, elves, Humans, and halflings, fearing the strength of the giants combined with intelligence could be dangerous they made sure that they were much smaller. however their was some interbreeding between the races (despite their attempts to control and prevent it) and the mixture of genes was also increasing the intelligence of the giants, but by this time they had other things to worry about, the world was cooling and their numbers where dwindling, without as much heat, they had to sleep more and more often, able to keep less of an eye on their slaves and what they were planning.
Giant Age - The world cooled and entered into an ice age, the slaves rebelled and freed themselves while dragons remaining went into hibernation underground where there was still warmth. many remained confidence that they could easily regain control once it was warmed. Despite the allegiance against the dragons, the giants soon gained brute domainance over the other races, and not wishing to become slaves to a different master, they scattered and sought shelter where they could, the dwarves underground where their stature , the elves in the forests, the humans became nomadic and soon started domesticating animals such as dogs and horses to their advantage in avoiding the giants, while the Halflings also become nomadic using what rivers they could to their advantage. The age of the giants entered into recession as the snow and ice started to melt and the other races were able to take advantage of greater mobility and organisation and offset their physical disadvantage.
Elven and dwarven age - with a more temporate climate, and with a stable settlement, the elves and dwarves came to dominate the world. Dwarves mainly below land, where they utilise a growing knowledge of technology, stone and metal, And Elves below land where their connection with nature gave them a growing knowledge of magic and agriculture. Humans became increasingly dependent on both cultures and started to become shrewd traders, although at times raiders, which didn't help thier reputation as barbarians to the more settled cultures of the elves and dwarves. However the nomadic lifestyle had taught them how to adapt and change with circumstances and with trade they managed to get to secrets of both dwarves and elves and was then able to combine magical and technological skills with the adaptablity and resourcefulness they had learnt. Soon human settlements rivaled the other races and started to encroach on the domains of the dwarves and the elves, and territorial disputes became more and more frequent, breaking out into wars, usering the War age
War age - Military power became the primary basis for most industry and humans excelled, the dwarves had retreated deeper into the earth, closing of their doors, and the elves likewise become more closed and deeper into the forests (and perhaps other dimensions?). Running out of opponents to fight the humans soon started fighting amongst themselves. This continued until the majority of the wealth laid in the hands of only a few people, and an uneasy balance of power was reached, none of them willing to move against another for fear
"Golden" age - with a balance of power, overt warfare was undesirable, and covert operations and esponaige became the new warfare, while maintaining the illusion of peace. along with this a single religion becomes dominant, and only increases the duality between public and secret. This build until the stage where it couldn't be contained any longer and broke out into an anarchic war, and combined with several severe natural disasters (seen as God's judgement and resignation) has torn down all forms of power and government.
Chaos Age - The fighting has
mainly stopped but all the previous structures are gone, and much is in ruin, the wilderness is wild once more, cities are full of refugees, with rural life dangerous. this is the period we come in, a world trying to rebuild.
