# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Sci-fi/Modern Mapping >  The Cathedral Galaxy

## jshoer

For my next major personal project, I'm going to revisit an old setting of mine, called the Cathedral Galaxy! The original idea is that this galaxy contains a number of large-scale cultures at Kardashev Levels 0-1, but unbeknownst to them, they are actually the second set of sentient life to evolve in a much older Level 3 civilization's galaxy. The ancient, galaxy-spanning civilization left a network of wormholes and hulking artifacts all throughout the Cathedral Galaxy.

Here's my original map of this galaxy:


I have a fair amount of old lore and stories built up for this setting, including a few complete short stories. If anyone is interested:
Between Wrecks, meant to be an introduction to the setting's concepts, about a salvage operator who runs into troubleIn the Arena, a scene about an interplanetary gladiatorConference, my favorite of the bunch, about a researcher who is starting to piece together some of the Galaxy's mysteries

Let's see if I can do some font coloring correctly as a spoiler obfuscation. Select text to see: ||| There's a network of wormholes connecting the galaxy, but that network is really the "circulatory system" of the old civilization, which "uploaded" itself into a galaxy-spanning consciousness centered in the galaxy's highly irradiated and otherwise uninhabitable core. Through the series of stories, I was going to have the current civilizations discover this fact, and that the ancient civilization did this as a defense against some external threat - which is starting to crop up again, causing the galactic "organism" to become active again. ||| Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever get to writing more stories carrying through with that plot, but at least by sharing it here, I can put out some of the lore!

I've had a bit of a mental hurdle in doing sci-fi maps, in that I vastly prefer drawing by hand but sci-fi seems to call for digital tools. However, after seeing Francesca, Ilanthar, and others do amazing traditional pen drawing techniques for sci-fi settings, I've decided to just go ahead on a new version fo the Cathedral Galaxy. But I want to try some layering experiments: I want to draw the map in pen (black) on white paper and invert the image for the base map, then put some selected features back on top in non-inverted colors to make them look more like detail objects. I'm going to have to play with where the text layers will go, and how I indicate the wormhole network, but I think the result will be cool. I'll do a test run first and post it here for feedback!

If that doesn't pan out, I'll just do it all in black pen on white paper, and then figure out other ways to color it.

Here's my start in pencil...if you spot a few holes in the middle, I ran a needle and thread through the paper to make myself ellipses as a drawing guide.  :Very Happy:

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## jshoer

...Here's a quick test. I started with this sketch of some of the elements I plan to do by hand:


Here's a quick attempt at my ideas:

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## ChickPea

This is a cool idea, and a nice start on the map.

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## jshoer

I placed all the landmarks (some astronomical objects, some ancient artifacts) and just finished inking in the wormhole network. Here's how things are coming.

For territorial borders, I thought I had a French curve around here...but I might have to freehand it. I'm debating whether there should be a single line dividing regions, or a double line like in my original 3D map. I do plan to add color tints for each region.

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## jshoer

To put a visual on my question: which do you think would look better, the top or bottom option here?

I'll do the color digitally, and I do plan to invert the pen first. But I need to know where to put my lines, which means planning for color now!

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## Ilanthar

Nice & interesting. I'm stuck on my galaxy map, so I'll watch carefully.
And btw, you gave me the itch to work on my resurgence setting again  :Wink: .

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## jshoer

Awesome! Glad you like it, and I'm happy I gave you a little inspiration. Your settings are so immersive, and the Resurgence maps look like real planetary surfaces with lush terrain, so I'll enjoy your work as well.  :Smile: 

For the Cathedral Galaxy's regions and territories, I think the way to do it is with the slight separation at the borders. I added some border lines to my test sketch and colored it in Gimp, and then to see what it looks like without the border lines but with a little blank separation between regions, I pasted the same regional coloration onto the old test image. What do you think?





I kind of like doing it without the lines for the border, and just having the subtle coloration. I'll add labels to the regions afterward.

How awesome to have the Guild to keep me off social media and away from the news while everything is insane right now...

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## jshoer

Here's an update after a few evenings of stippling! I finished the skeleton for one spiral arm, and I'm making sure to give it a ragged edge as it fades toward the outer limits of the galaxy so that there's both a more interesting appearance and a more evocative terrain to the map.



This spiral arm consists largely of the Sea of Relics and Far Reaches regions, relatively unpopulated parts of the galaxy that are rich in the ancient civilization's ruined megastructures. Over the millennia, gravitational tides and radiation degradation have slowly ripped many of the ancient planetary-scale structures into drifting pieces. Research institutions throughout the galaxy investigate the relics to determine their original purposes and recover ancient knowledge. Entrepreneurial-minded scavengers also comb the fields of derelicts for valuable technology and raw materials to sell.



Ruined megastructures are not the only landmarks in the galaxy. Stellar objects and astrophysical phenomena dominate the starscape in places. Here is line art for The Menagerie, a star-forming nebula in the Erhn territory of the Imperium of the Triumvirate:



I'm planning to do a pass over the other spiral arm next, and then move through the galaxy expanding the stippled shape (especially in the central region). For now, my goal is to establish the overall form.

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## MistyBeee

I'm loving this one a lot. Cool concept, perfectly executed. Can't wait to see it finished !

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## Ilanthar

Looking great & full of promises!

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## Josiah VE

This is really awesome. Curious how it would have looked on black paper with a white pen. 
Keep it up! That's a lot of dots.

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## jshoer

> I'm loving this one a lot. Cool concept, perfectly executed. Can't wait to see it finished !


Wow, such high praise from such an amazing artist!  :Surprised:  Thank you so much!




> Looking great & full of promises!


I hope to deliver!  :Smile: 




> This is really awesome. Curious how it would have looked on black paper with a white pen. 
> Keep it up! That's a lot of dots.


Glad you like it!  :Very Happy:  Yeah, I thought about getting some other papers/pens a little, but ultimately I decided that some features (like the giant stars) look better as black-on-white, so I'm going to do some digital compositing. I'm also working my my tools at hand!

Speaking of lots of dots, here's an overall progress image. I've completed my first pass of stippling on both spirals, and I just finished my 2nd pass on the "lower" arm. The "upper" arm I've completed a second pass from the center out to about the "east" compass point. High resolution photo, though I wasn't careful with lighting or focus conditions:


And here's a quick invert, to give a sense of how the stippled stars will look!


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At the intersection of the Sector Republic, the Imperium of the Triumvirate, and Amseile, lies Harrow's Core. One distinguishing feature of Harrow's Core is the large number of star clusters within the galactic spiral -- like many such features in this galaxy, it remains unknown whether this is a natural formation or a lasting product of gravitic engineering by the ancient precursor civilization.

Only two species are native to Harrow's Core, Harrow's Seeds and Harrow's Sculptors. Other few habitable stars in the region are populated by species that have moved in from outside and made Harrow's Core their adopted home. The politics and culture of the region are dominated by the native peoples of Harrow's Core. Their practices and beliefs are strange enough to outsiders that, despite the relative abundance of arterial warp-channel Anchors in the region, Harrow's Core remains isolationist and enigmatic. Travelers are not harassed or unwelcome; they simply do not often connect with the people they encounter and pass through to other business. That Harrow's Core has remained distinct from both the Imperium and Amseile suggests to some scholars that they have mastered a powerful precursor artifact for defensive purposes. This theory has never been confirmed, no polity has attacked the Core in millennia to provide evidence for such a defense.

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## jshoer

Oh, I almost forgot to ask: how do you think I'm doing on fading out the outer spiral arm, especially where it goes out to form feathery fingers? Does that transition look reasonable?

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## Greason Wolfe

I think you must be a glutton for self-punishment with all of that stippling.  :Very Happy:   Seriously though, I think this is coming along splendidly so far. The inverted version (white on black) looks great. Maybe keep it that way for the whole galaxy version and use the black on white for zoomed views of particular features? Suppose that really depends on how much color you are ultimately going to add.

Have to keep an eye on this one. Got my own itty bitty part of a galaxy map I've been plugging at (indecisively I might add) for a while now. Maybe I'll have something worth posting soon.

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## jshoer

> The inverted version (white on black) looks great. Maybe keep it that way for the whole galaxy version and use the black on white for zoomed views of particular features?


Yup, that's exactly my plan! My early sketch test has now gone to the previous page: https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...d.php?p=425653

I'll look forward to seeing your galaxy, too.

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## jshoer

I had some sketch lines for a cathedral-like border, but now that I rough it in, I'm starting to think it's too heavy. What do you all think?



Although I call this setting The Cathedral Galaxy, that's because the innermost region is called The Cathedral and I think that sounds poetic. But it's not really what the peoples here would call it.

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## jshoer

I decided to try a few more designs for embellishments. I'm done with the artwork - I think! - and I want to do the pen for any cartouches or whatnot before I take a final photo and start to work on color digitally.

You've seen this style already - I call it "Cathedral," but here are two variants with a title:


Riffing on the theme of giant space artifacts scattered throughout the galaxy, here are two more ideas. I call this one "Tech:"


...and this one "Derelict:"


Finally, just to give a hint of what it might look like without any additional artwork to go with the titles, here's floating:


I'm having some trouble deciding exactly which path to take as a starting point. What do you think? I want it to fit in with the rest of the map, but not be overpowering - since my galaxy should really take center stage. Speaking of the galaxy, here's where we're at after loads more stippling and adding some bright stars with diffraction spikes. It definitely got busier along the upper arm, which probably affects which embellishments will do best:

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## jshoer

All right, folks, I got a little feedback from Twitter (and from my wife...  :Smile: ) and I decided to channel my best Chris Foss and Ralph McQuarrie to put some space hulks in various states of repair around the map. At this point, I'm done with the pen work, I took a solid photograph, and I completed the first pass of digital manipulation to invert the starfield and leave the map features as black-on-white. Here's the photo of my pen-and-paper line work:



And here's the starting point for my coloring and effects work!



I'm really happy with where this is going.

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## jshoer

That starting point did not last long. At this stage, it's really starting to take shape. I have a long way to go, but the feel of it is definitely there now!



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For all the stars, worlds, and wonders of the Galaxy - there are less than a hundred sentient species. It is through starflight and the network of wormholes that they have formed close relationships and intricate political and cultural ties - yet still, the Galaxy remains vast, with great stretches to explore.

No species is a better example than the Waygehn. The Waygehn are one of two species who evolved sentience and starflight near the end of their star’s main sequence. After their home system was demolished, the Waygehn spread throughout the Sector Republic, Traders’ Rim, Imperium of the Triumvirate, and Amseile to form their own political super-entity. Many Waygehn located functional-but-inert relicts and mounted their own systems to the ancient hardware to form great arkships and wandering space stations. Mistrust of the Waygehn is one reason why the Imperium realms dislike the Traders’ Rim.

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## jshoer

Oh, I forgot, I have a question for everyone: do you think I should put light and shadow on the landmark objects as if the light is coming from a consistent direction for all of them, or as if the light is coming from local sources?

(Everything in doing at this point forward is in Photoshop, so I can always go back and change stuff.)

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## rdanhenry

I kind of think local sources would be more appropriate for this map, since so much of what's mapped IS local light sources.

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## Greason Wolfe

That is a tough one to call. A single "universal" source of light would be the simplest approach and even if the contrast between light and shadow is high, wouldn't confuse the eyes very much. Using the strongest most local source for each structure/artifact might give each a little more individual character, but to much contrast between light and shadow might start confusing the eyes, kind of like having two different sources of light for a terrain map casting shadows in different directions. Like I said, tough one to call. Maybe best to try a test in both approaches and see which looks better.

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## jshoer

Thanks - here is today's go at it, using local light sources. I would do the border hulks as if lit by the galaxy itself.



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In the Erhn region of the Imperium, an ancient structure partially surrounds an otherwise nondescript white dwarf, like a partial Dyson sphere. The construct remains intact and electrostatically charged, but its original function is unknown. To the Imperium, it is known as the Coliseum.



Imperium praxists engineer creatures, including sentients, into biomechanical spacefaring exhibition warriors. Within the confines of the sphere, an orbit lasts a few days; gladiatorial matches often take weeks or months, as spectators come and go. Part of the combatants' biomechanical augmentation often involves altering their perception of time so that, to them, each fight is a fierce struggle for life or death. There is no better symbol of the Imperium: technologically advanced, aggressive, and without restraint.

I wrote about one such gladiatorial match here, about a battle between fighters known as The Kite and The Worm.

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## jshoer

So far, I've been working at the composition, the background galaxy image, and the landmarks scattered across the map. But I'm sure you've all been wondering what all these places are...obviously I've been dribbling out that lore, and if you look back at my first sketch, you'll see names penciled in. I've been playing with some layers in the Photoshop file that I've kept hidden...until now. Now, this is a _map_!



I'm still thinking about how to do this well. I have a couple other ideas about how to do the political boundaries, and I'm not totally settled on the fonts. I also know I have work to do to make some of the labels more legible. I also have to make a few region-spanning labels for the Sector Republic (red), the Imperium of the Triumvirate (purple), and Amsiele (green). Any suggestions? Do the political color-shaded boundaries take away from the underlying art? What the heck do I do to make "The Traders' Rim" label (the one in blue to the upper left) legible?

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Usually, only a few generations after they discover the principles of faster-than-light spatial trajection, the species of the galaxy stumbled upon one of the great Anchors left by the archaics. Trajection is a key technology for a galactic civilization, but is not without its vagaries. Using a trajector, a ship vanishes from normal space and reappears in a new location - but only after an elapsed interval of seventeen days, three hours, and fifty-one minutes; the same length of time for any distance trajection, and always imperceptible to the ship's passengers. Unlike spatial trajection - which has a range of tens to hundreds of lightyears, depending on the trajector's capability - the Anchors provide access to instantaneous transit across a great network of wormholes spanning the entire galaxy. The network goes by many names - Channels, Vessels, Passages - and it defines the politics of the galaxy. Only arterial wormhole channels are shown on this map; they are not always in a star system and their names, therefore, refer not only to nearby worlds but also to ancient relics or galactic landmarks. Each arterial Anchor has some number of capillary channels feeding into it, but the network is by no means dense. It may take years of trajecting for a ship to cross unconnected space. The Far Reaches are so named because of the limited access to that region, and the strange kingdom of Babylon cuts off almost all typical commerce with the Free Worlds. (The Dead Ones are so named because they live in a nearly unconnected region...as well as certain unsavory legends.) The empty spans between spiral arms remain persistently long distances to cross, and sustained wars between galactic nations remain infeasible (though this has not prevented the Imperium from fighting consistent skirmishes, and the all-out war between Amsiele and Shobah decimated the region now known as the Well of Ghosts).

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## jshoer

Many more little things over the past couple days, but they add up to a lot!

I've jiggled around the labels, tweaked the coloring to make that illegible Traders' Rim tag visible, and added color variation on the artifacts' metal plating. Probably most prominently, I did a first cut at coloring and shading the ancient hulk on the lower left. It's lit as if from the galaxy itself. How do you think it works?



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Xenophobic and militant, the Free Worlds are a confederation of isolated systems that fiercely resist any outside influence. Residents of the inner galaxy caricature them as nations of pirates and bandits, but the truth is that the confederation has a rigid code of laws that the Free Worlds scrupulously obey – as, under their governing treaties, any member world has the right to enforce that code. When threatened by Babylon or the Dead Ones, the Free Worlds immediately contribute individual militias. However, internally, the individual worlds are almost as isolated from each other as from the other galactic polities.

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## jshoer

Today's update - I'm trying a few things:



Three questions...

1. What do you think of my font choices? There are two, one for landmarks and gates, and the other for regions and titles. I like the landmark/gate font, but I worry about how distinct some of the letters are. The region/title font also seems to work here, but might be a tad heavy. Any thoughts?

2. I made an attempt above to label the nations with multiple regions. (Red - the Republic, purple - the Imperium, and green - Amseile.) Does it work well enough? I also added a key off at the bottom right, both because it adds to the worldbuilding and because that gives another way to identify those polities. Is the key out of place? Would it be better to leave the national labels off the main map?

3. I'm playing with styles for the foreground structures. Here's the pyramidal construct with line art, without line art, and with some fuzzing effects to try and imitate artwork like John Harris'. What do you think?



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The Mariner Worlds are a loose affiliation of wanderers, not all native to this sparse region of the galaxy. They have periodically launched expeditions outside the Cathedral Galaxy towards the smaller orbiting clusters in its local group - purely for the sake of the journey. Prominent landmarks in the Mariner Worlds include Harbor, a partial Dyson ring that should be gravitationally unstable yet has maintained itself for eons, and the Lighthouse, an array of quiescent Archaean transmitters and instruments facing outward from the galactic spiral arm.

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## rdanhenry

I prefer the "with lineart" option, though the lack of crispness without might be better if you want to suggest that the object is worn down with age. The fuzzy version looks like it's slipping out of phase with the universe.

I think that the fonts are okay, but there are probably better ones out there... somewhere... possibly for a price. It is probably worth a bit of experimentation with alternatives, but not too much. What you have is good enough that sinking a lot of time into maybe finding a marginally better pair of fonts doesn't seem worth it.

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## jshoer

Thanks! I'm playing with the opacity on the line art layer a bit to try and get a happy medium. I'll see how it looks when I have some more coloring done.

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## jshoer

I think I'm getting close to the end. It's a funny feeling with this particular map - I don't want this particular bout of creativity to stop!



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Shobah is a nation of rigid structures and protocols. It is home to a sect of Librarians who believe that the Ancients discovered all knowledge it is possible to find, and therefore focus all research on the great ruins scattered throughout the galaxy. In the past, Shobah and Amseile have been locked in destructive conflicts; the devastated Well of Ghosts is a monument to these interstellar wars.

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## jshoer

I feel like I keep posting updates faster than anyone can see and respond, but I just can't resist! Added some more energy fields to the foreground constructs, and glows around a selection of stars.



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Though once a vast space empire, by 26k800 the Seat of the Imperium had become a bombastic though ineffectual office. True power within the empire passed to the Triumvirate of governing bodies of Aoreu, Golaj, and Erhn. The Imperium is still, officially, a unified polity, though the Triumvirate governments sometimes have trouble preventing local skirmishes among the three member regions (or neighboring nations). Those of Aoreu and Golaj despise the Mariner Worlds and Traders’ Rim, regarding them as nationless vagabonds.

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## Ilanthar

You're doing a wonderful job on this one!
And I know the feeling, when I'm in a rush on a map or illustration  :Wink: , you just don't want to let the inspiration & motivation go away  :Very Happy: .

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## smiler127

I love the little touches as I zoom in. Stellar objects, nebula and even space stations. I love the mini horsehead nebula you have in there too! Everywhere you look there is an opportunity to imagine different stories and adventures unfolding!

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## jshoer

> You're doing a wonderful job on this one!
> And I know the feeling, when I'm in a rush on a map or illustration , you just don't want to let the inspiration & motivation go away .


Thanks very much! At this point I am getting down to little tweaks, so I must be closing in.




> I love the little touches as I zoom in. Stellar objects, nebula and even space stations. I love the mini horsehead nebula you have in there too! Everywhere you look there is an opportunity to imagine different stories and adventures unfolding!


That's the idea! I'm glad you like the little pillars-of-creation-style nebula. I worked on that one for a while. I like the Menagerie nebula a lot, myself.

This latest has some tweaks to the shadows on the foreground sphere, some jiggled labels, and a little electrical discharge around of the wrecks in the Burial Grounds.



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The Elders built not just the wormhole passages, but many other structures. Dyson spheres, world arks, rings...all are too large to support themselves against gravity, and so, as their systems fail, they collapse and degrade. Over eons, the gravitational layout of the Cathedral Galaxy brought many of the ancient artifacts scattered throughout its structure into the Burial Grounds. Wreck-runners based in the Halls of Taron, the Crown Jewels, and Shobah often delve into the Burial Grounds in search of valuable salvage and rare resources. One such scavenger is in the short story "Between Wrecks."

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## Greason Wolfe

Think this has come along swimmingly well. If I were to nitpick about anything it might be to suggest that the background coloring for the spiral arms and bulge be a little more subdued. Feel like the strength of that coloring is a wee bit distracting and/or makes the text a little tougher to read. Again, though, just a nitpick, and may have a source in my tired old eyes more than anything else.

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## jshoer

I will play with some options! I appreciate the constructive criticism; I really want to polish this before calling it done.

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## jshoer

All right, here's a little more shadow tweaking, and I'll put it side by side with a version that has the galactic emissions background and core opacity reduced by 20%. What do you think?

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## Greason Wolfe

Both versions look fine to me. I do find the reduced opacity version a bit easier to read, but ultimately which ever version you end up finalizing with will be fine. My eyes aren't what they used to be, so higher contrast is easier for me to see these days, particularly when dealing with a variety of colors. On the whole, I've enjoyed watching this develop, and, to be honest, everything you've been working on these last few updates is like a little extra icing on the cake, or, in my case, an extra tasty chew toy.  :Very Happy:

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## Simkin

Wow, I like very much you map and the story behind.

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## jshoer

Thank you both!

Personally, I like having the central core of the galaxy at higher opacity - and that also goes with the story content a little better.

I noticed that my alphabetizing in the key was out of order, so I fixed that (except for the Underworlds), and I'm trying out some more pronounced light beams coming from the top two foreground structures. But other than that, I think I might be...done?

What do you think, are these beams from the sphere and the rings cool or are they just too much?



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The Axiom Republic is the largest galactic polity on the Galactic Standard Map, though most of the Cathedral is highly irradiated and uninhabitable. It is a baroque state of learning and cultural achievement where even the soldiers are poets and statespeople. The Republic is a sedate nation, though its relations are strained with the Imperium. The short story "Conference" takes place here, at some of the worlds now named on this map.

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## rdanhenry

I vote for cool.

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## jshoer

I'm calling it done! Here's the Finished Map post: https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=48450

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## jshoer

It turns out I can't just let this setting go...here is test at a regional map of one of the nations on the larger galactic map, the Mariner Worlds. The crop shows the region in question, plus the first warp anchor in any connected regions. I enlarged the image, but replaced the landmark drawings with their original size drawings (filling in the opened space with clone-stamp stars). Then I erased the color shading and borders for the Mariner Worlds, and simultaneously increased the opacity of the other regions' color shading while also graying them out. I've added tributary warp passages to the anchor network, showing only those lesser channels in the Mariner Worlds. I added names for some landmarks - drawings will come later - and callouts indicating the home worlds of native peoples from this region.



Obviously, there's some work to do on the text positioning and content. If I do all the nations the way I want, there will be 10 regional maps to go with the larger galactic map. Maybe I will put some additional lore on each, since their shapes are so non-rectangular I'll be left with some space to play with.

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## jshoer

Here's some more work on the Mariner Worlds as a regional map. I've added additional lore and points of interest. Since the Mariners are wanderers by nature, I've outlined some of their favorite routes with way stations.

I will have to draw and scan the Pinnace Clouds and Buoys before I color them in, and I think I might do that for all the regional maps at once - so I will probably leave this here and try another region next. Of course, I'm happy to take constructive criticisms! How does this look?

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## jshoer

I'm now taking a stab at a more complicated regional map - the Imperium of the Triumvirate!

This one is a shape that leaves lots of empty space in a rectangular image, so it's getting a little more lore and historical details. This is also a nation with sub-regions, and I'm still thinking about how to do those in a style that stays closer to the Mariner Worlds regional map than to the overall galactic map.

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## jshoer

I figured out a good brush to make dust lanes!



I'm looking for feedback on a couple things (or in general).
1. What do you think of the Imperium's interior borders (purple)?
2. What do you think of the call-out labels? Should they highlight stars any differently, like with little circles around them?

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## jshoer

Hey all, a little while ago I decided to test a different appearance for the interior province borders -- something a little more in keeping with other parts of the map. How do you like it?

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## Ajax Lygan

Just wanted to comment and say I love how this has developed. It's very beautiful and I understand not allowing something to stay finished. Great work!

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## jshoer

Thanks!

I was thinking about what other kind of information one might need on a map of the Imperium...and, clearly, that would be the locations of legion garrisons. I made the labels small and didn't worry too much about setting them off from the background stars because they are secondary to the rest of the map, but they help add a sense of there being more "stuff" in the map.

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## jshoer

Here's another region: The Traders' Rim. Here, highlighting resources and trade seems like the obvious thing to do.



On the side, I've been working on line art for the various space stations and astrophysical landmarks, which I'll scan in and use to replace the sketches you see now.

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## TimetoDraw

It is quite daunting to try and replicate a galaxy and I am really enjoying what you've done here.

Went to give you rep and realised I can't, already did so for the last competition.

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## ThomasR

Hadn't said anything yet but it is a marvelous project you have here and the execution is spotless. Congrats on a great map Joseph !

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## -K2-

As impressive as the finished all-inclusive map is, the regional maps above with all their notes and graphic representations really grab my eye. Great work on all of it!

K2

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## jshoer

> It is quite daunting to try and replicate a galaxy and I am really enjoying what you've done here.
> 
> Went to give you rep and realised I can't, already did so for the last competition.


Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it.



> Hadn't said anything yet but it is a marvelous project you have here and the execution is spotless. Congrats on a great map Joseph !


Spotless, well, I don't know about that! It's certainly a fun project and I'm thrilled that you like it.



> As impressive as the finished all-inclusive map is, the regional maps above with all their notes and graphic representations really grab my eye. Great work on all of it!


Thanks! The regional maps are really adding a lot to my worldbuilding.

Funnily enough, I had the sense that there wasn't enough information on these maps! So I tried a little experiment, and I'm wondering what people on the Guild think. Here is the latest on the Traders' Rim (including new line art for the wormhole-in-a-cage):



I decided to try adding in highlights for inhabited worlds and common (non-wormhole) travel routes between them, to give a sense of habitation density. Does this add to the map, or is it too much?

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## -K2-

Inhabited Worlds: This is just my uneducated opinion, but I'd think it might depend upon what form of media these maps might be used with (if you said earlier, I missed it). If print, so smaller in size, though it _might_ be recognizable I'd be concerned that it blends in too much. In that case, perhaps blurring/dimming un-associated stars might help them stand out (naturally, that means one map for the works, another for inhabited worlds). In a digital format the chartreuse rings stand out, but the connecting lines / direct paths are rather light (even zoomed in). That said, the rings alone somewhat obscure or more distract from the galaxy as a whole. So, it makes me wonder what a similar suggestion to the printed maps might look like.

IOW, Here is the all inclusive system map..."Bob, bring up the inhabited worlds," and then there is the IW map with the noted worlds in the foreground and clear, with the balance there but not as obvious (blurred/dimmed).

In the end, I don't know the project so such an addition might be not worth the effort, too much/many maps, or whatever. Inhabited worlds, however, do have value whichever way you choose to present it.

Just my 2 cents worth, nice addition!

K2

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## jshoer

Ha! You're cutting right to the heart of things by asking what it's for, aren't you?  :Wink: 

The Cathedral Galaxy is a personal project of mine. I have written a few short stories that take place here, and I do have an overarching plot in mind. I don't have a particular purpose in mind for this map series other than to build out details of the setting, practice my Photoshop technique, draw cool space megastructures, and give the setting a unique series of illustrations/maps. There's not a specific gameplay environment in mind, though I am aware of one RPG group that's been using it for their adventures. (Man, would I love to play a Skyrim-type PC RPG in this galaxy! But that's a pipe dream.)

For the two options above, I was really just thinking about aesthetics and "terrain" variation within a map. My raw material mostly shows stars as dots, and I was looking for a way to add interest (and indicate that there are more settled worlds than just the homeworlds, besides). But there's not really a specific purpose in mind here -- part of why I'm on the fence about adding so much stuff to the map. Also, yes, while each regional map had a unique highlight feature (like the trade resources in the Traders' Rim) I was thinking of adding inhabited worlds to all the regional maps.

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## -K2-

Thanks for the response. Well, if it's not something to be published or used by others, as long as it suits you, then it works. Personally, I think the addition of denoted inhabited planetary systems has value, however you choose to go about it. My only thought related to your question of "too much." The connecting lines I also liked, though they could be JUST a tad more obvious. But that's just my opinion.

Have you tried this addition without the encompassing chartreuse rings and just the connecting lines?

In any case, known inhabited areas have value IMO.

K2

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## jshoer

I think maybe I will leave off further detail in the maps for now -- it's not like I don't have plenty!

I decided to go spend some time on the my newly inserted landmark and illustration drawings. Here's the Imperium of the Triumvirate (secretly my favorite region map so far) with the sketches turned into space stations! The Presidio, Seat, Magesterium, Naeus, and Ocula are also new drawings.



I think this one is rapidly approaching completion.

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## Simkin

Well, how to say that? Oh yes... I think your work is amazing. I like the design, the names, the timeline of each empire, the illustrations, all. Congrats and keep posting your work.

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## jshoer

Thanks!  :Smile: 

I think the three maps I've been showing above are complete now...I will put them up in the Finished section in a few days, I think. Then there are a couple more regional maps I'm working on (The Sea of Relics and The Exiles) before I'll head off to totally new territories.

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## jshoer

Here's a look at my current progress on the Burial Grounds. This is a region where lots of ruined stations and derelicts tend to concentrate, and as a result archaeologists and scrappers venture in to salvage materials and artifacts of the ancient civilization. So, for the thing I wanted to highlight in this map, I thought the common salvage routes and locations made a lot of sense. What do you think of the layout, route indicators, and so on?

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## jshoer

Hey, all! I took a little break from the Cathedral Galaxy, but now I've decided that it's finally time to visit the Axiom Republic in the center:

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## jshoer

Here are a few frontier regions -- now with drifting artifacts and space hulks!

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## jshoer

I am trying to decide whether these are done now, or whether I should add some more distinctiveness to each map. What do you think?

The impetuous Pact of Amseile:


The empty Far Reaches:


The stodgy Community of Shobah:


And, finally, the bureaucratic Axiom Republic:


Until I finalize them, just about anything is up for potential changes, unless it's already appeared on another of the maps in this series. I'd welcome any suggestions!

Crazy to think that this project might be almost done...

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## Kaiju

these look great! keep up the good work, im looking forward to seeing more updates on this Galaxy!

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