Arakish, you make me want to use blue for borders just because you say not to so strongly. Personally, I think I could do it. You swung with a bit of overkill me thinks.

However, I also did indeed think those were rivers when I first saw it. And honestly, you might want to experiment with a few other colors just to keep folks from thinking they are rivers. Take a look around at how some maps around here or elsewhere to get some ideas of how you can indicate borders in a way that doesn't confuse the viewer and I think you will be happy you did.

It is pretty square as mentioned but it also looks pretty good. I think if your borders were not also so square the effect of the landmass wouldn't stand out so much. Any reason why the text font is different for Darnell? It does stand out.