Waldrongate, I agree that many current state boundaries DO make sense, and I have seen "How the states got their shapes". For example, I think South Carolina makes sense: the large Savannah River as one divide, the start of the Appalachians as another, and an arbitrary line through relatively rural areas that centers the state nicely around Columbia and captures a relatively homogeneous cultural/language region. Other states make NO sense at all - like California, as you mentioned: I created "Southern California" with the natural divide that has the Great Basin and the Colorado River watershed on one side, and the rivers flowing into the Pacific on the other. This "neatly" captures the heavily Urban coastal LA/San Diego corridor which have a more maritime climate, and separates it from the rural, hot, desert climate in Mojave. I see your point that Las Vegas would make a more appropriate capital for Mojave, so I changed it. Thank you for the comments!