Hi, Rob!
I see the bevel may be a bit too strong... I'll deal with this sooner or later.
The sea was made using a Solid Cloud effect paired with a Gradient fill from dark blue to light blue and, after that, applying a watercolor effect.
The coastline was eroded using Wilbur. It's the Precipitation filter if I'm not mistaken.
The map was not uploaded to my homepage. O.o If you can't view it, here's another place to see it: http://fermmoylle.deviantart.com/art...-WIP-264303405
About the scale: the star-shaped islands span for about 170km from north to south. I don't know if I can tell the whole map is at a "continental" scale or not considering this.
That channel is not a river, I know. ;-) But I insist the natives on the map call it a river anyway.
Now that you mention all those geographical features with the same size I see. I didn't notice those before... And as some of them were randomly generated by Wilbur, I'd say it's only a coincidence... Or magic, since this is the map of a fantasy world. ;-)
I don't think you are overly sensitive--I'm the one to blame if there are lots of things contrary to nature...