WIP- unnamed fantasy world

[ascanius]

Thank you everone.

Here is the latest update.



I need your opinion on a few things.

First are the rivers. R1 or R2

lakes, L1 or L2, right now I like L1 the most.

and lastly the coasts, which are a reall pain to do. I have to zoom %2000 to tweak the coasts. but anyway. C1 has a lighter blue on the layer beneath, C2 is a mid way between C1 and C4, C3 is with no modification, and C4 is with the light blue layer beneath and the most extensive rework involving %2k zoom. I think C4 looks the best but this is getting rediculous, and is what I am leaning towards.

On to the next thing, I tried to start with labling and adding settlments and giving it a sense of being inhabited and things didn't work out well. I don't know what it says about me but simply adding towns and cities left me so overwhelmed that I only added one. I was having a problem of trying to figure out the hisorical context of a single settlment and the people who lived there by starting with a prehistory population map, the idea didn't work. I need to come at this from a different angle. Hopefully I'll figure it out.

[ascanius]

Wow, I really had to increase the compression and cut down on quality to get this to upload ( increasing the upload limit would be nice). I didn't realize that the file size is at 398MB, hope the quality didn't suffer too much.

Ok I've been working a lot on the peoples who inhabit this continent, I'm going for a roman republic feel. The colors and corresponding numbers are to identify nations/tribes/empires/kingdoms etc. I used numbers as place holders until I figure out the names.

The green lines are the trade routes, as far as I understand them to work based solely off the sea currents. That brings up a question. due to the shifting in prevailing winds between the season I noticed that in some areas the winds blow counter the current. So my question is it possible to have a trade route available going east throughout the year based off currents and have another route using the prevailing winds during the winter or summer. Basically are/can trade routes be dependent on the prevailing winds based off the season. I don't remember where I read this but I believe something similar happens with the Mediterranean sea.

Nation: # 1
My idea with this is an expanding nations/empire, who have a strong military and naval force. Currently based off the currents I question their ability to expand westward, the region under number 20, the land bridge, seems very dubious. However I can also see the region as being extremely important for trade and a likely target.

Nation # 16
this is an alliance between a bunch of small nations and city states, they used to hold the entire peninsula but have lost land to nation # 1

Nation # 14
This is a second growing empire trying to push westward to control the major river.

Nations # 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,
These I would think are very important nations due to their control of the river and ability to produce food.

Nation # 11
This nation I would think is very secure due to the mountains that surround it, with the abundance of the lake to provide resources. I'm thinking that it would end up a lot like Switzerland in terms of wealth and relative isolation yet still able to trade with the rest of the western regions of the continent. Yet I would have difficulty exporting goods by sea due to the trade routes.

Nation # 29 and 30
These two nations are extremely isolated yet produce exotic goods is my idea. For these two I wanted a very remote hard to get to nation that is known to the greater world and has products of value but the journey is dangerous... However it can be very lucrative. Also both of them are on the edges of hot steppe, so I'm hoping that life is sustainable.

The areas without color are mostly inhabited by barbarian tribes, nomads, etc.

Also I placed the capital cities, cities towns, etc.

Any thoughts. I tried to set up the nations logically going from a lot of eastward expansion from the central area with all the numbers 21,22,23,24,25 as the origins of civilization. I figured expansion would be eastward due to the sea, currents and resources. Right now nothing is set in stone so suggestions are helpful.

[Vidgange]

With regards to your Origins of Civilization I think there should be some more developed kingdoms and empires to the west as well; with the spread of agriculture and trade people tend to organize, and sooner after that it's just a matter of time before kingdoms appear. I'm also wondering how nation 2 and 15 are able to withstand the onslaught by the 1 Empire? are they tributary states? Vassals? Or supported by the 14 Empire?

[Azélor]

398MB is the size of our JPEG?

It's possible to have currents and winds in different direction but it's generally limited to small area since the surface currents are wind driven. If it's the case, I'm not a sailor but I think the winds would be more important than the currents.

About your previous message, sorry I haven't seen it until today. I hope I'm not too late. I would say

R1 definitely
L1, unless you make a more gradual transition for L2.
C4 but at that size it just look like you applied a blur effect.

[groovey]

Hi!

First of all, I still can't get over how beautiful your physical map is.

Second, I missed the July post too. I think I saw it but wanted to wait for someone knowledgeable to post something useful to you before posting my less useful comment.

Well, it's exciting to see your work on the political map. I love that part of world-building.

Mm, you raise a very good point on currents/winds. I definitely need to keep that in mind. Not a sailor either, but I'm inclined to agree with Azelor, since when I hear or read about navigation, I hear about winds way more than currents.

How come some colors spread beyond the discontinued line borders? Do colors represent cultures and not political borders?

What is the scale of your planet again? I think all of our WIP are based off Earth parameters?

If it's supposed to be roughly the size of Earth, then, when I import your map into mine to fit the dimensions, the areas where you have designated political powers (with colors), from left to right, is about the same width as mine big eastern continent, or roughly 16 cm = 10.672 km (that is if I didn't mess up when setting my scale, which of course is only accurate on the Equator line, where a lot of your stuff is anyway, but I use it for reference in general, so don't trust that 100%).

I just mention this because I myself I'm training myself (thanks to Durakken) to keep distances in mind before planning politics and setting up unrealistic contacts between powers, so it's just a friendly reminder I guess.

Empire nº1 has land that spreads out about 7.000 km from left to right. How do they manage to control so much and so spread land? How old is the Empire? Since when does it control the land it has now? Is it a recent expansion?

Seems a bit hard to sustain control over all of it after its original conquest, unless it depends a lot on local recruits (troops) to keep order in each area, since the original nucleus keeps getting further away to send troops fast, but then... how do you assure their loyalty? Or is it because the conquered lands were not very populated and thus easier to control the locals? Where the locals in the first stages of political organization and thus much weaker? Even though, the bits further east, considering their distance to the metropolis, most likely will have strong independency tendencies.

Why did the Empire leave the peninsula to his south alone and only take an unconnected bit at the tip?

Is the Empire's domain outside its original nucleus more like colonialism, to exploit their resources unfavorably, or do they run them like an integrated political extension of the metropolis?

I guess I'm having a bit of difficulty understanding what the criteria of expansion of the Empire is, since we the readers don't have much info on it.

Nations 3-9. Wouldn't Empire nº1 have prioritized taking those to be their granary? Like North Africa was Rome's granary? Why are they still independent? Are they strong in military terms? So much to stop an Empire which control lands across 7.000 km?

Nation 11 also reminds me of Sparta on his mountainous isolation, but with a twist, a big lake to offer more resources, so even better. Sparta did trade some, but was mostly auto sufficient even without a lake like that, so your people there would have it even better. Does its wealth come from their control on the resources of the area and it's self-contained, or it depends heavily on trade with the other nations?

So nations 29 and 30 border steppe and are sedentary... I'd say beware of the Mongols?


Sounds very interesting so far. I hope you don't mind my comments. I'm no expert, but the map does make me ask said questions.

[Pixie]

Hi Ascanius.

Like the others, apologies for not replying to your question, it's a shame to note that you stopped the progression for lack of replies. My choices, concerning your options:
C3, L1, R1

As for the second map, the one with states, here's some notes:

- Organized states would also spread around the coast of the western lake (north of region 20), I think, and it's closer to the origins of civilization. It's an area where climate is not so harsh because of the huge inner sea and where mineral resources must be abundant because of the mountains around them and the amount of rivers flowing (I'm thinking alluvial gold mainly).

- The roundish west coast south of those inner seas is hot and rainy throughout the year - more than the difficulty to get there (coastal navigation is always possible for roman times vessels), the nature of the land is uninteresting for expansion/colonization: dense rainforest, populated with semi-barbaric cultures, which might have land contact with civilized states (and, hence, not so backward military tactics and weapons).

- I second groovey on his comments about the Empire (nation #1) - maybe too large and too disperse. I am very curious about the placement of their capital and how it went from local power to huge global player.

Like I said before, this planet of yours and this area in particular is a great area to develop an "alternative history". The conditions alone spark my imagination and your excellent art just makes it that much more irresistible!

[Vidgange]

I dont really think The Empire nr1 is too big or disperse; look at how the Roman Empire grew. Rome had a lot of over sea provinces that werent connected by land. The only troublesome part to govern in the first Empire is the Western most parts I'd think.

[ascanius]

Thanks for all the replies, even for the older post. I'm traveling right now so I don't have a computer but wanted to say you all have given me a lot to think about. Hopefully I'll have updates if I can find a power adapter. Thanks again.