Northeastern Hestia [WIP Fantasy Map]

[ExMachina]

Map Name: Hestia (specifically the northeastern portion)

This will be my third post so might as well jump into all the fun at this point. After a few trial and error maps using a variety of tutorials on this site, I've gotten a map that's well on its way to being a final product. The initial purpose was just to put some names and geography to a fantasy novel I'm cooking up in my head, however at this point it has become a work of art in itself. Nothing I'm showing right now is set in stone, hence why feedback will be so valuable from the many cartography masters that litter this hidden gem of a website.

Description:
This northeastern portion of Hestia has pronounced Greco-Roman overtones with the focus being on the large central nation of Araratia, which culturally and politically will be akin to the Roman Empire (not without creative license however ). The bordering nations of Assuria and Sarmacia will not follow this model and will serve to bring in cultural diversity to this portion of the continent and act as a buffer for the nations that lie beyond them. Illion and Eretia will be loosely rooted in ancient Greek tradition.

The style of the map is antique and hand-drawn and has been produced exclusively in Photoshop. I'm pretty sure the one river flows properly (I hope so!) and I've stuck to a maximum of three fonts. As of now only major features and cities have been labeled but the ultimate goal is to have a very richly labeled map. One of the problems I'm trying to overcome is creating political boundaries, if anyone has suggestions please offer them.

Please comment on anything and everything. Don't be afraid to bring the hammer down just because I'm new here.

Hestia as of 9/22/09,

[Coyotemax]

The only real concern I can see is the river leaving the lake. Someone from the river police can correct me, but that seems geologically unlikely as it is. From what I recall, lakes tend to have one outflow, but can have multiple inflows.

The split at the end of the river looks like it's making a delta, which looks fine to me (hides from the river police just in case)

Other than that, it all looks fine to me. Things are very clearly labelled or represented, it's not cluttered or overdone, and the style is very nice! *rep*

[Ascension]

Yeah, that river has a problem, nothing major. The delta part looks fine but further up the river there is a split...that's a no-no. It splits and goes to two separate places. So what I would do is to chop the northern part off from the main river and instead have it sort of curl up to the north into Araratia. The double outflow from the lake is a technical violation but I'm not real picky about that...just put a swamp there Someone else might know more about that than I do, though. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

[Coyotemax]

Woah, I didn't even see the major split! and that's why i'm not one of the river police

[craggles]

Technically, it may have a problem with the rivers as noted above - I have absolutely no idea on what is geographically feasible and what's not.

I do, however, know the style looks great! I would very much like to see more of your work!

[Steel General]

I like the map so far.

The river violations have already been covered so no need to say more than, 'keep up the good work'.

[Ghostman]

It looks weird how the grid only shows up over the sea. Big parts of the map appear empty now, but perhaps that'll improve once you add more labels.

The symbols for the Forlorn Steppe seem out of place; they give the impression of big rocky hills. Real steppes are mostly flat or gently sloping grasslands. Better symbols to represent this type of terrain would be bushes, patches of grass, very low & smooth hills, and galloping horses.

[ExMachina]

I suppose then I do not fully understand how rivers function.

The way I envisioned it, the river flows out of Lake Orpheus (perhaps from a glacier), flowing from a higher point (up in the Ironside Hills) to the lower points of the coastal plains. Other then that I thought major rivers split all the time? I suppose I just don't understand the exact geographical reason, though my model here was the Rhone.

Thank you for all your comments, I'm still plugging away.

And thank you to Ghostman for pointing out my ghastly inaccurate steppe symbols.

[Steel General]

I found the easiest way to think of it is as a tree. The smaller, higher 'branches' starting in the mountains/hills/etc. then merging into larger 'branches' and eventually into the 'trunk' before reaching the sea/ocean.

Rivers rarely split, if they do it's only for a short time or in deltas (Ex: Nile or Mississippi) - there maybe some other wyas for it to happen but I'm not a geologist

[ExMachina]

I found the easiest way to think of it is as a tree. The smaller, higher 'branches' starting in the mountains/hills/etc. then merging into larger 'branches' and eventually into the 'trunk' before reaching the sea/ocean.

Rivers rarely split, if they do it's only for a short time or in deltas (Ex: Nile or Mississippi) - there maybe some other wyas for it to happen but I'm not a geologist

I see, that makes sense...so the flow isn't the problem but the large split is? Suppose there were a mountain range or some other imposing geological feature where the river splits, would that be substantial reason to cause a divergence in two different directions?

I want to maintain realism, however I very much like the shape the rivers give to Sarmacia.