Atlas/Globe of my (unnamed) fantasy world.

[Hai-Etlik]

The wall of mountains effect results where continents collide. The Himalayas and related ranges are an example with Eurasia on one side, and India on the other.

With such mountains, you should have something that would look right as an independent continent on either side.

Some technical nits of my own:

The overall layout has a "contrived to fit the map" look. You have two very large continents that are almost exactly the same size, and centred directly opposite each other. Then you have two small continents directly opposed to each other and centred at the poles, and again the same size as each other.

Also, the small polar continents should be visible at the top and bottom of each of the equatorial maps. Assuming a Stereographic projection with equal scales, you can fake this by cutting them in half and putting a scaled up (Stereographic keeps things roughly the same shape, but makes things bigger as they diverge from the centre) half at the top or bottom of the corresponding hemisphere map.

Here's an example of faked poles in stereographic projection.



If you look carefully you can see bits that have been cut off, but as long as you stick close to the poles, it works fairly well. You can also do it backwards by scaling down the tops and bottoms of your equatorial aspect maps and pasting them over the polar maps. Instead of cutting bits off, this will leave gaps that you need to fill in.

The smaller the area covered by the polar insets, the better the illusion works. My example is fairly large with the insets covering out to 45° so as to show the errors better.

[Tyo Solo]

Top tips Hai-Etlik. I will have to do a little bit of modifying methinks in order to make the poles physically fit. I had considered this previously, but couldn't get my head around it. Your illustration has proved very helpful.

With regard to making the land fit the map, admittedly, the aim was to make it Earth-esque but easily definable into regions for my various races, hence the mountains placed as they are, Natural borders are easier to visualise than political borders.

I think the mountains argument is a bit of a misnomer though. As a couple of you have said, there are "walls of mountains" where "landmass" continents colide, but equally, The Andes and Sierra Nevada are basically walls of mountians where tectonic plates collide and the landmass crumples (or has crumpled in previous millenia), but this just happens to be along a coast. Case in point, look at the north of Canada, there is currently no reason for the large mountain range that is there to exist, however, these plates have been moving for millions of years, and have had many different formations, allowing mountain ranges and fells to be formed in the strangest places (Lake District, UK, for example).

Additionally, Mars has no plate tectonics, yet it has mountains due to huge volcanic activity in the past, creating individual mountains of up to 310 miles across. (Olympus Mons). Venus again has no plate tectonics, yet look at this huge list of mountains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_montes_on_Venus.

I do agree though that for a more natural look, I should "shape" the continents slightly if only for aesthetics, but this is a fantasy story, and although I do want the continents to look and feel natural, one of my plot items is for an island to be created from the sea by a "goddess" in a later stage of the story, so there is an element of "mysticism" about it too.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm taking everything onboard from everyone who has offered their help, you guys are a lot better than me at this and I hope to learn plenty from you.

Cheers

Tyo

[EDIT]: There is a theory that Venus did have tectonic movement at some point in the past, but the crust is now so dense it isn't possible to prove this.

[Hai-Etlik]

I think the mountains argument is a bit of a misnomer though. As a couple of you have said, there are "walls of mountains" where "landmaIss" continents colide, but equally, The Andes and Sierra Nevada are basically walls of mountians where tectonic plates collide and the landmass crumples (or has crumpled in previous millenia), but this just happens to be along a coast. Case in point, look at the north of Canada, there is currently no reason for the large mountain range that is there to exist, however, these plates have been moving for millions of years, and have had many different formations, allowing mountain ranges and fells to be formed in the strangest places (Lake District, UK, for example).

Additionally, Mars has no plate tectonics, yet it has mountains due to huge volcanic activity in the past, creating individual mountains of up to 310 miles across. (Olympus Mons). Venus again has no plate tectonics, yet look at this huge list of mountains: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_montes_on_Venus"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_montes_on_Venus

Sorry, I was responding to Ascension's comment that a wall of mountains between landmasses seemed wrong. I was explaining that specific case. I wasn't suggesting that convergent continents were the only form of mountain building. I live in the Cascadia Subduction Zone myself and I can see the mountains it's produced all around me so I'm well aware of coastal mountain building. My point was that IF you have a dense wall with significant flat land on either side, it's probably due to a convergent continental boundary.

I should have quoted his post to make it clear.

Volcanoes aren't really relevant as they don't form walls like folded/accreted mountains. They certainly form chains, but they are much sparser.

[Tyo Solo]

Sorry, I was responding to Ascension's comment that a wall of mountains between landmasses seemed wrong.

Sorry, the latter part of my post wasn't aimed at you, it was a general response to the previous mountain comments.

[Aenigma]

I like the way you draw mountains. Nice style.

[Tyo Solo]

Thank you... I wasn't sure at first because it was mainly squiggles and lines, but the more I drew, the more I liked them.

[Tyo Solo]

I think I may have taken a step too far trying to create a stereographic map for my first attempt. The problem is that the continents were designed to for an rectangular atlas, and I got carried away when I saw a SP map. I understood nothing about stereo-projection. Do you think I should abandon the SP? Thoughts anyone?

Tyo

[Tyo Solo]

Here's my latest update following previous comments by the way.



Tyo

[Ascension]

Since it's not our earth you don't have to worry too much about 100% accuracy since no one here can refute it. It's a fantasy world just to give you some idea of how far apart things are. If you want to be technical then follow the latitude and longitude lines and make sure that things warp consistently to allow for proper travel times. But if it's just for your general knowledge then do it however you want I say.