Breathing Life in an Olde World.

[Scrit]

SVDraft 24, version 3: A result of a previous project that spiraled out of control in a brilliant, fiery mass of heat death, thanks in part to OCD, lack of understanding (Geology, mostly), catastrophic hard drive failure, and renewed passion for (and getting lost in) any book on history I could get my hands on, which has distracted me until recently. One of many Fractal Terrain renders, hand edited in places, that may form the base for a the world I attempted to build, several years ago. The placement of mountains is of little concern to me, at this point. I will, in all honesty, paint over them in the near future. My main concerns at this point, is whether the basic outline of the land makes sense, from a geologic point of view. If the islands themselves make sense, or at worst, could plausibly be explained as the result of multiple volcanic hotspots, or some other naturally occurring geologic wonder.

Secondly, I am debating on whether to leave the overall base map as it is, or to expand on it. If I decide to expand on it, I will likely build on the northern landmasses, and form new continents from them.

Link To Map

At this point, I would like to ask for constructive criticism as I go along. The map linked above is only a first step to establish a base to work from. As of right now, the above image would take up a 16.5" x 16.5" page. I am unsure of the placement of the smaller islands, which were added in by hand, and specifically in relationship to the larger islands.

Resources I'll be making use of:

 

The Magical Society series: Ecology & Culture; Silk Road; Medieval Magical Society.
Mark Rosenfelder: Planet Construction Kit; Language Construction Kit; Advanced Language Construction Kit.
Grain Into Gold - A Fantasy World Economy
Medieval Demographics Made Easy.
Lisa J. Steele: Fief: A Look at Medieval Society From it's Lower Rungs.
William Manchester: A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance.
Joseph Gies &Frances Gies: Life in a Medieval City; Life in a Medieval Village
Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
James Hannam: God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science.
Andrew Wheatcroft: Infidels: A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam.
Mitch Horowitz: Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation.
Adrian Tinniswood: Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the Seventeenth Century Mediterranean.
Jack Weatherford: The Secret History of the Mongol Queens.
Michael Krondl: The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice.
Mark Pendergrast: Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World.
Ian Morris: Why the West Rules -- For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future.
Judith Herrin: Women in Purple: Rulers of the Medieval Byzantium.

Some of these relate to the world building process directly, the majority however, only do so indirectly, as catalysts for jump-starting the creative process. Some will make perfect sense, from the perspective of forming and shaping new cultures as they expand through my world, while some, seem entirely out of place. Uncommon Grounds, for example, would look out of place up until one considers that, coffee was once used religiously, by orders of certain monks. I list these, simply for anyone who may be interested, and because they can give a glimpse into the kind of world I am creating.

EDIT: Clarification: Edits on the map done by hand, were done via the built in tools in Fractal Terrains. Raising, lowering and subsequently shaping them the best I could with the tools I was provided with.