Yantas - A Pretty Amateur WIP

[Falconius]

I disagree that is very impressive actually. i never have the patience for it and just go in backwards.

I was looking at the Earths plates recently for my own map and noticed that most continents have very large sea shelfs on one side of the land (from which the are moving away, usually as much land as there is there will be at least that again underwater as part of the same shelf) and only the forward edge of the plate is actually close to land for the most part. I'd also suggest you give yourself more leeway on land forms starting with a fair amount of freedom whilst keeping the plates in mind, and then see what you have, and then transform that on tectonic principles, and then add pieces based on tectonic movement (like islands etc.). I'm sure you won't forget, but also remember volcanic formation of land which is always really cool.

PS what does the prefix "con-" mean in this context? Constructed?

[sangi39]

I disagree that is very impressive actually. i never have the patience for it and just go in backwards.

Thanks very much for that

I was looking at the Earths plates recently for my own map and noticed that most continents have very large sea shelfs on one side of the land (from which the are moving away, usually as much land as there is there will be at least that again underwater as part of the same shelf) and only the forward edge of the plate is actually close to land for the most part.

I've recently started noticing that myself. Looking at this map:



... the Earth has basically two large, purely oceanic plates, the Pacific Plate and the Nazca Plate. The rest of the oceans are the result of a spreading sea floor associated with a large land-mass at the head-end of the plates movement, most noticeable with the two American plates and then Eurasia and Africa.

I'd also suggest you give yourself more leeway on land forms starting with a fair amount of freedom whilst keeping the plates in mind, and then see what you have, and then transform that on tectonic principles, and then add pieces based on tectonic movement (like islands etc.). I'm sure you won't forget, but also remember volcanic formation of land which is always really cool.

Looking at the map above, that doesn't seem like a bad idea. I could merge some of the oceanic plates with the continental ones, especially the ones I had originally conceived as just being something oceans happened to be on top of, such as the plate between western Arenda and eastern Hungas.

I could also change the direction of the Velkasta plate and merge it with the plate that covers what I'm currently calling the Southern Ocean (formerly the southern portion of the Eastern Ocean) and get basically the same results.

This could get interesting

PS what does the prefix "con-" mean in this context? Constructed?

Yep You've got things like conlangs (constructed languages, as opposed to natlangs, i.e. natural languages), conworlds (constructed worlds, as opposed to real-world planets), concultures (constructed cultures), conscripts (constructed scripts ), etc.

There terms used quite frequently on conlanging forums like the ZBB (Zompist Bulletin Board) and the CBB (Conlang Bulletin Board).

[sangi39]

Well, I've taken some of Falconius' advice and, starting with the land masses that I derived from the initial tectonic plates, redrawn new tectonic plates based upon those land masses. Circular, I know, but it seems to have gone fairly well. Here's the current result:



I still have to work out things like island and mountain formation as the result of tectonic movement, as well as the relative motion of plates at boundaries, but I'm a bit happier with this layout than the older one and it gives me more leeway with my major land masses within plate boundaries, whereas before they were just wasn't enough room.

For example, with the Hungas and eastern Arenda plates now pulling away from each other, rather than bordering a purely oceanic plate, I now have room to work on adding larger islands and I can now work on more interesting, and more importantly inland mountain ranges in areas like Mistaya.

Anyway, a lot happier with this, but time to work out relative plate movements

[sangi39]

So, the possibly confusing map below shows all of the following:

Absolute Plate Movement with red arrows
Convergent Plate Boundaries in red
Transform Boundaries in yellow
Divergent Boundaries in green
Mountain Ranges in brown
Island Chains in grey



It's a bit of a mess to be fair, but I'm only using this map very briefly to show how the position of mountain ranges and island chains was decided on to create a sense of realism about Yantas. After that it's all about adding greater and greater detail to the various regions of the planet.

But for now, enjoy your seizures

[sangi39]

So, here's the most up-to-date version of Yantas, including island chains, mountain ranges and the initial indications of altitude:



Thankfully, it's a lot less of a mess than the previous post, but from now on we can pretty much ignore that map for anything other than justifications regarding new features which might occur at, say, plate boundaries. I am planning on adding things like plateaus and mountain ranges resulting from previous geological activity, and eventually adding greater detail in regards to altitude (I mean 0 - 1500m covers almost the altitude range of Britain ) but this where I am at the moment.

I also have this larger map, but it's just a blown up map so things some of the mountain ranges and island chains are a bit clearer.

Oh, and I've decided to divide Arenda into two continents, with Arenda now referring the large mountain range running north to south and the area to the west of that while Konyur refers to the east-to-west orientated area to the east of this range, including the far-eastern mountain range and the area to the south of that.

[sangi39]

Ok, so, as per advice of a user on the ZBB (and the CBB), under the username Salmoneus, I've tried to come up with a map of ocean currents on Yantas, before moving on to a climate map. I think this is more or less right, but there's an area east of Sirden that I have no frelling idea what to do with. Anyway, here it be:



What do people think? Is there something that could be improved or is the whole thing just plain wrong?

EDIT: I have just notices that one arrow, 30 degrees north of the equator and above 80-90 degrees east is facing the wrong way []