Tempest Isles

One of the things I always try to convey with my terrain maps is an implicit understanding of climate and prevailing weather patterns. In this case, I hope it's clear that these islands have formed along a fault line AND in the path of a fairly strong regular wind (the name is also a big giveaway). Support MicroDwarf on Patreon to see an example of what use natives might get out of these winds!

I like to think of these towns and cities as a loose merchant/pirate confederation, or at least having a strong presence thereof in many of the towns. Vorto, in particular, is at least in my mind a Venice-like city: a hub of trade, shipping, and commerce, largely due to its central position and control over the most navigable channel from north to south.

We're trying new things YET AGAIN with town markers, this time keeping everything fairly similar except for walled cities or castles, which get a different shape. That said, these fortifications also get very telling names, so it remains to be seen how well this method works. Still, it's simple, and it leaves things up to personal interpretation.

This map also showcases a new method of wave-ing the coasts, which I'm actually rather fond of. It seems to have some hiccups in the particularly busy areas with lots of little islands, but careful use of line thicknesses helps limit confusion.