Critique and advice please!

[Osprey]

I think it's very well-crafted, and I personally like all the detail and the natural-looking proportions. The close-up regional maps sort of remind me of the Middle east as it transitions into the Mediterranean.

If you want to be picky about geology, I'm wondering about the formation of the dense, fjord-shaped inlets in the north-central "latitudes" [for lack of a better word] on the eastern and western coasts of your continent. You have 2 others which look more or less similar, too, and they are located on the north side of your southernmost landmass. I would say the latter example (the sawtooth fjord-like coasts on the southern landmass) look more natural, just because they're closer together, which suggests similar geological processes (glaciation maybe?). And the offending river system looks a lot better now that you cropped off some edges. As for desertification and greenery, I'd keep in mind that rivers tend to "green up" adjacent land due to erosion and groundwater absorption, especially mature rivers which have formed their own valleys. I understand it doesn't always happen that way, though. I really like the northwestern archipelago, too Hopefully this all makes sense, I can't post images yet!

Oh, yeah- and I agree about the riverside villages. A single, medium-sized river is usually good enough to sustain a small town; that is, if there aren't too many issues with drought. And if you want, you could always put an aquifer in a particularly dry region; like the Ogallala in the Great Plains.

Great work, overall

[Timo]

thanks for getting into it, the main reason i posted it was to get a feeling for whether people would accept the set up - i have questioned certain things about it a lot myself, but that's a common thing and why second opinions are so important!

the fjord-like areas were originally supposed to show where rising sea levels had the least impact or drowned out river valleys, i was toying with the idea of these areas having land bridges subject to tides but pretty soon felt that going into that might be more complicated than just simply stating it - and given the analytical power of some people out there (those who attempted to work out how westeros' seasons were related to how it orbited its sun for example) i thought some would be able to figure out how tides would be different at different times and different locations and pretty much pull it apart and debunk it! at the moment they are simply "shallower areas" that "may be" subject to tides!

i'm still kind of in practice mode with this map, it is the first attempt to visualise a land that has only ever existed in written form until now and may change quite a bit if i start over!

i have an aquifer in the middle of the southern-middle landmass, it's supposed to be a kind of garden expanse sandwiched between dry, grassy land north of it and encroaching desert south!