Dai-Teikokushin

[Lawine]

That's really beautiful work, and very impressive cultural 'feel'. The only nitpick I have is that in a couple of places your rivers are doing impossible things, like flowing from ocean to ocean or splitting apart instead of joining.

I don't think they actually flow from ocean to ocean anywhere; there's one which splits into a north and south heading river, but as far as I can tell none of them do impossible things. Could you explain what the issue is with rivers splitting apart? Plenty of real world rivers do this so I'm a bit lost as to exactly what you mean. Perhaps an explanation by way of example? If it's not too much trouble.

The other nitpicks I have are that some of your political borders are very straight-edged, which is normal in a modern setting, but less likely in a feudal Japanese one.

This is actually intentional; the borders are not fluid because they are decided upon by the imperial court and then given over to individual clans as opposed to being the result of conquest or what not. Each province is supposed to be roughly equal in population and wealth (except for the central urban provinces).

Also, some of your cultural depictions, while not necessarily implausible, might raise eyebrows. For example, the enclave of Makanatari on the island of Zaisuke seems odd, unless you have an in-world explanation. There are a few other minor nitpicks I could mention, but I won't right now.

I tend to like such oddities in politics and culture and what not; to me they feel more plausible than having uniform and fully logical borders. Cultural and political enclaves are not uncommon in real history, and inserting little oddities like that in the map give a good excuse for building interesting setting fluff. I should also mention that these cultures are not necessarily as distinct as people may be assuming; rather than being the difference between say German and French culture, it's more the difference between say the culture of Paris and the culture of Marseille.

[EDIT: sorry, I had to nitpick. Couldn't help myself. First, it is unfortunate the way some of your rivers look when they reach a sea or lake (the river above Chotei shows it most prominently);

I know, that's laziness at work; I haven't seen fit to fix that yet.

second, in the cultural map, the lake on Chuukonoke looks like some of the mountains are on it; third (and this is a really minor nitpick, but you wanted feedback, right?) the cultural map also shows some minor yellow bits on Chuukonoke, which I assume aren't deliberate. Those issues are really minor, and you can probably ignore them if you want, and the map will still look fine.]

Yeah, those are bugs. I kind of rushed the cultural map with the geographical features, thanks for pointing them out.

[Diamond]

This area especially - you've got a lake in the center of that island, and there's either two rivers flowing into it, two flowing out, or one flowing in/one out. If it's option one, where's the egress? If it's option two, that doesn't normally happen as water will seek the easiest egress point and over time all outflow will naturally go that way. If it's option three, then you've got on branch flowing uphill from the ocean.

In addition, the branches to the south of the lake split. Normally, rivers join together as they flow towards the sea, like a tree with the main river being the trunk and the tributary rivers as branches that join the trunk. Just as when water flows out of a lake, rivers flowing downhill always seek the 'easiest' route; if something makes the river split, eventually one branch will dry up as the water seeks the easier route. There are exceptions, of course - a manmade canal or re-routing, or islands/rocks in a wide river. Deltas, where water/rivers split apart over a relatively wide area, are common when it is extremely flat, undifferentiated ground.

[Lawine]

This area especially - you've got a lake in the center of that island, and there's either two rivers flowing into it, two flowing out, or one flowing in/one out. If it's option one, where's the egress? If it's option two, that doesn't normally happen as water will seek the easiest egress point and over time all outflow will naturally go that way. If it's option three, then you've got on branch flowing uphill from the ocean.

In addition, the branches to the south of the lake split. Normally, rivers join together as they flow towards the sea, like a tree with the main river being the trunk and the tributary rivers as branches that join the trunk. Just as when water flows out of a lake, rivers flowing downhill always seek the 'easiest' route; if something makes the river split, eventually one branch will dry up as the water seeks the easier route. There are exceptions, of course - a manmade canal or re-routing, or islands/rocks in a wide river. Deltas, where water/rivers split apart over a relatively wide area, are common when it is extremely flat, undifferentiated ground.

The river there flows down from the mountain splitting in two; one heads down the plain to the north, one heads down the plain into the lake; and then continues south. None of them are flowing uphill. I can see how it might be confusing though; I'll change it in a future pass. The southern area is indeed a delta; being from Europe's delta-area means I might have an unnatural tendency to turn every river into a delta.

[Raptori]

The river there flows down from the mountain splitting in two; one heads down the plain to the north, one heads down the plain into the lake; and then continues south. None of them are flowing uphill. I can see how it might be confusing though; I'll change it in a future pass. The southern area is indeed a delta; being from Europe's delta-area means I might have an unnatural tendency to turn every river into a delta.

Rivers don't split in the long term (deltas and river islands aside); over a short time period they may split for some reason, but one of the two routes will always either be lower than the other or silt up after enough time has passed. I can't remember the mechanics behind it though, and I'm sure there are some better informed people here who could explain it properly!

[Lawine]

Alright, I think I fixed the rivers; though an expert might correct me of course. I also made some (very) subtle adjustments around the forests with some extra layering, and fixed a few annoying bits and pieces. Also changed the landmass outline, and it looks a lot better now IMO.

[Raptori]

Alright, I think I fixed the rivers; though an expert might correct me of course. I also made some (very) subtle adjustments around the forests with some extra layering, and fixed a few annoying bits and pieces. Also changed the landmass outline, and it looks a lot better now IMO.

They look good to me now. I love that river system in the bottom left with the two lakes.

Really like all of the map actually, looks great

[Lawine]

I think I'm just about done; see the results below. Unless anyone has some additional insight into what else could be improved, that is. If not, I'll throw up some fluff tomorrow, and call it complete. What's the protocol in regards to shifting things over to the completed projects? Just start a new post there?

Edit: I keep getting a remote file too large error; will try again tomorrow, alas.

[Lawine]

Managed to make them work after all; though at greatly reduced resolution. Could throw a link to the full-res versions if anyone wants them.

[Falconius]

To me it only seems like the third map is necessary, but they are all very nicely thought out.

[Ilanthar]

Very nice job, I like the flags! I am with Falconius on this, the third one made it more clear.