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Thread: My First Map - Guneslidunyasi (The Sunkissed World)

  1. #1

    Map My First Map - Guneslidunyasi (The Sunkissed World)

    Hi everyone,

    I originally posted this map in the Finished Maps section (http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...nkissed-World)), however, I was hoping for more feedback and more critiques. I think people may have been somewhat discouraged from suggesting changes to the map because of the forum I put it in, so I'm reposting it here in the hopes of getting more feedback. I'd like to print this out sometime and hang it on my wall, but given the cost of printing something this size, I'd like to make sure that everything is perfect before I go and spend a bunch of money on it. So all feedback and input is both welcome and encouraged.

    My friend and I created this setting essentially as a way to combine all sorts of anachronisms. The world is on the inside of a hollow sphere with earth radiating outwards from the sphere in every direction (the earth is interspersed with water and magma, and the occasional cavern. This is in part why there are so many inland seas and lakes on the map - the connect down to deep reservoirs of water "outside" of the world, so to speak. In the center of the sphere is another sphere, which we may call the moon, which is solid. It radiates a gravity-like force outwards, thereby keeping people / animals / etc. anchored to the interior of the large sphere. Around the moon orbits a sunlet. It always stays in the same plane relative to the moon. This relates to the map as follows: moon is directly over Yeni Demirshehir, and the plane that the sun orbits on is perpendicular to it (this is no accident - the city was founded here for religious reasons). The entire sphere is thus bisected by the solar plane, creating a natural division of hemispheres for the otherworldly cartographer. Additionally, each of these two hemispheres have natural poles - the points directly under the moon and perpendicular to the solar plane. The directions on the compass rose are arbitrary; they point to four locations equally spaced around the globe which were decided by League geographers (the League of Guilds being the "Viewpoint Civilization" of the map) as navigational references. Though there is no magnetism to draw compasses towards them, they can be triangulated by explorers who know the position of the sun and their own position, or who can find familiar landmarks on land curved "up" from them. I could have named the directions anything; I stuck with North, East, South, and West so as to try and avoid overwhelming my players with too much new terminology and thus increase their immersion. (Attached to this post is a quick graphic I made in MS Paint to try and help illustrate what I said above)

    The languages used on the map are intended to reflect something of the culture for the area they represent, and within the history I have constructed for the setting, I have tried to place them as realistically as possible. The two main languages and their heartlands are Turkish in the Shadowed Empire (SW of the map, outlined in red) and German in the central chain of mountains that runs through the central continent. A long time before the map was made, the Shadowed Empire governed most of the area mapped, and as such there are still a lot of place names in the League of Guilds and surrounding areas that are Turkish in origin. However, eventually the Empire entered a period of decay, and was forced to withdraw from the mainland; into this vacuum came the Germanic tribes, who in some cases used the old names, and in other cases gave ares new names. Many of these heavily Germanic names survive in more isolated regions such as the area between the Kus Dagalari and the Ekmek Dagalari. However, around the coast frequent interactions with other cultures led to linguistic drift, giving rise to League Common (ie: English). I realize this doesn't make an enormous amount of sense, since League Common should logically be a mix of Turkish and German, while English is (generally speaking) from French, Norse, and Anglo-Saxon, but the League is intended to be the starting point for my players, and as such I wanted them to feel "at home" there, so to speak. Regarding other languages on the map: in the NW is the Babbage Technocracy, who speak Dutch. They were a tributary state to the Shadowed Empire at its height, and as such have no Turkish place-names. In the West, North East, East, and South East are found French, Nahtul, Malay, and Welsh, respectively. These areas have less of a direct impact on the League, and are primarily far off trading partners. A final note about the languages: I speak English, French, and a little Turkish. For the rest of the languages, I used online translators, so problems may abound.

    And... I think that's pretty much it. I've posted a highly compressed version of the map below; the post in the Finished Maps forum has the map in full resolution in fourths (Although these are a little out of date). Please tell if you have questions / comments / suggestions / etc.

    -Seleucus
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by Seleucus I; 08-06-2012 at 02:45 AM. Reason: Updating Map

  2. #2

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    I had to laugh really hard at the dutch names on the map. Some of them really don't make any sense

    Especially Stadje is something you can't use in the name of a city

    Some examples:
    Kleinestadje = Little Little City
    Noordwestenlandstreek = Noordwesterstreek or Noordwesterland Landstreek is a bit double
    Further no use of - and Westelijk Zee = Westerzee Groot Meer = Grootmeer.


    If you would like some better city names I can help you out.

    Helderhaven is a nice name.

    Try not to use nord/west/east and south with city names so often.

    Very nice map further, very detailed!

  3. #3

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    Hi Moskva, thanks for your post, and I'm glad you like the map.
    Like I said, I used online translators for a lot of the names, so there's bound to be some wierdness. I would welcome help in changing them to better names. That said, there are some peculiarities in universe about the Babbage Technocracy. The Technocracy is intended to be a very centralized, authoritarian state, where the purpose of the state is largely to serve the capitol, Babbagestad. The central government has a very mechanical and logical way of viewing the world, and to that end, most of the important cities and towns in the Technocracy have been renamed to be more descriptive of their location or relative importance. They have extended this same rigid view to the naming of their geographical features and oceans (hence all the noord / zuid / west / etc. names), while the smaller and less important towns got by without a name change. However, having said that, I see a number of towns around Helder Plas that use such a naming scheme despite not being in the Technocracy - I expect by that point, I was running out of names!
    So yeah, if you would like to help me come up with better names and suggestions, I would welcome the help!
    Responses to the specific examples:
    Kleinestadje - I think the meaning I wanted was along of the lines of "Little Village." Suggestions?
    Nordwestenlandstreek - I will change this to Noordwesterstreek, and likewise will change Westenlandstreek to Westerlandstreek
    Westelijk Zee and Groot Meer - I will change these to Westerzee and Grootmeer, as suggested.
    Thanks,

    -Seleucus

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Seleucus I View Post
    Hi Moskva, thanks for your post, and I'm glad you like the map.
    Like I said, I used online translators for a lot of the names, so there's bound to be some wierdness. I would welcome help in changing them to better names. That said, there are some peculiarities in universe about the Babbage Technocracy. The Technocracy is intended to be a very centralized, authoritarian state, where the purpose of the state is largely to serve the capitol, Babbagestad. The central government has a very mechanical and logical way of viewing the world, and to that end, most of the important cities and towns in the Technocracy have been renamed to be more descriptive of their location or relative importance. They have extended this same rigid view to the naming of their geographical features and oceans (hence all the noord / zuid / west / etc. names), while the smaller and less important towns got by without a name change. However, having said that, I see a number of towns around Helder Plas that use such a naming scheme despite not being in the Technocracy - I expect by that point, I was running out of names!
    So yeah, if you would like to help me come up with better names and suggestions, I would welcome the help!
    Responses to the specific examples:
    Kleinestadje - I think the meaning I wanted was along of the lines of "Little Village." Suggestions?
    Nordwestenlandstreek - I will change this to Noordwesterstreek, and likewise will change Westenlandstreek to Westerlandstreek
    Westelijk Zee and Groot Meer - I will change these to Westerzee and Grootmeer, as suggested.
    Thanks,

    -Seleucus
    Ok here's a name change list. Note its massive but a lot of small changes some grammatical changes , some advices :

    Stadje = dorp or if its really small > gehucht.

    Haagstad > Haag (stad is not common in a city name)
    Gulf of Peace > Vredesgolf (if you would like it in Dutch ahah)
    The Nothern Wall > De Noordelijke Muur / Noordermuur
    Diederik Kaap > Diederikskaap
    Heraut Baai > Herautenbaai
    Oostelijkstad > Oosterstad , Oosterkolonie (Kolonie because its somewhat seperated from the rest)
    Oosten Hooglanden > Oostelijke Hooglanden (eastern highlands)
    Noord-Berg > Noorderberg, Noordberg, Noordpiek (Piek = peak or Heuvel = hill) so Noorderheuvel/ Noorderpiek, noorderheuvel or without er
    Eerste Eiland > Het Eerste Eiland or
    Eilandstadje > Eilanddorp
    Kleinestadje > Het gehucht
    Havenstadje > Havendorp
    Noordelijkstad > Noorderstad
    Noordwestenlandstreek > Noordwesterland
    Westenlandstreek > westerland
    Noordwester-kanaal > Noordwesterzeeëngte (kanaal = dug out )
    Blauwe Eiland > het blauwe eiland / blauweiland
    Zuidwester Zee > de zuidwester / zuidwesterzee
    zuiderlijkstadje > zuiderpunt
    westelijkstad > westerstad
    roodbaarsstadje > roodbaarsdorp
    zeekreeftstadje > Kreeftendorp (zee = sea the town in not on the sea)
    eerste eiland > oudeiland (old island)
    eerste stadje > oudestad
    resemboolstadje > merendorp (between lakes)
    babbagestad > centraalstad, overheidsstad (centralcity, the governement, governmentcity)

    Rivierburcht > rivierburg
    rodeplaats > rode
    helder plas > heldermeer (its not a plas)
    plasstadje > plas = taking a leak too so i advice > De Oever/Oever (lakeside)
    zuidestad > its north of the lake so > noordhelder ?
    Havenplaats > Waterburg


    Some generic easy names you can use for smaller places would be Beek, Broek, Velden, Donk, Dijk, Dam (small rivier, fields)

  5. #5

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    That map is unreal with it's coloring and decor. Amazing!

  6. #6

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    @moskva - many thanks; I will update all of those for the next version (which ought to be sometime this weekend) with the exception of Babbagestad, because Babbage is a proper noun in this case, so its intended meaning is something along the lines of "The City of Babbage" or "Babbage's City." Everything else I will definitely change, though.
    @woomia - I'm glad you like it! It's been about a year in the making, so it ought to look pretty good!

  7. #7

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    Uploaded an updated map with most of the dutch names changes, as per moskva's suggestions. I kept the Northern Wall in English instead of Dutch because that is the League name for that mountain range. Also, many of the fixes moskva suggested for bodies of water were only one line; however, I needed them to be two lines to make the map work visually, and as such had no choice but to break them up at appropriate-sounding places. This may require another fix in the near future.

  8. #8

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    Still awesome. It's one of those maps that makes me want to write something set in it.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Seleucus I View Post
    Uploaded an updated map with most of the dutch names changes, as per moskva's suggestions. I kept the Northern Wall in English instead of Dutch because that is the League name for that mountain range. Also, many of the fixes moskva suggested for bodies of water were only one line; however, I needed them to be two lines to make the map work visually, and as such had no choice but to break them up at appropriate-sounding places. This may require another fix in the near future.
    Thats a bit of a problem with the language. Its just like German we don't really break up words.

  10. #10
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    Love it in a strangely bizarre over the top kind of way - well done you !

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