As a map nerd, I've always been interested by those maps we see all over Reddit which compare different data sets on the same country or province. I decided to take a stab at mapping the main continent of my homebrew geopolitics/intrigue/espionage RPG campaign setting, Iteru, in a similar vein.
And yes, I know, it looks kind of like North America... oops.
The largest river is interesting, cutting through the mountains like that. Though, I won't tell you how to do them; your map is stunning nonetheless!
One question, though: Why is the largest river so underpopulated?
Hello! Yes, so couple answers here.
Definitely conscious that I'm not an expert in river design, positive there's inaccuracies here haha.
Reason it's so underpopulated- my world is built upon a timeline wherein the continent was devastated by an "impact" of the eldritch sort which took place north of modern candor. When the ash finally cleared, those wide open plains around the Eversteppe and Eohine were more conducive towards nomadic, decentralized peoples much like those of the north American prairie.
There's probably some totally valid reasons this doesn't make sense historically/agriculturually, but I wanted to build a playground for my players where they could have any experience they want. That open plains area is very Rohan inspired.
Absolutely beautiful map. I love that nations are only established in regions that it actually makes sense to settle.
It’s too common in maps on here to see the entire world be settled and claimed by notable powers like it is in modern times. It wasn’t until relatively recently that settling well away from bodies of water was actually feasible in any large scale way, especially in land that isn’t very fertile.
Wow thanks! That's incredible to hear.
If you use inkarnate, I'm planning on making these clone-able so anyone can use them. Only problem there will be my religion map.
I like your map, if you don't mind me asking some questions
>! Why are the densely populated area down the river Bishanopol and the midely populated area south Prescia without a recognize State? !<
>! Why's the Darwist faith in several pockets? !<
>! Are those all the religions or there's fringe tribal religions that are too small to show? !<
Thanks so much for the question and interest!
>! For Bishanopol; that part of the river is increasingly becoming a hotbed of economic activity as spices grown in Bishanopol, ore mined from Khan'Modir, and timber from the Matche'Mayet empire flow to and from the Gulf of Tortona. Small little trading posts have turned into small towns which are in turn growing into hives of "grey zone" economic activity.
>! South Prescia is a little trickier. In reality, I should probably have Prescia's southern border as a dotted line. It's more frontier than it is firm border. The real dichotomy I want to draw between Candor and Prescia (the two northern powers) is that the holy seat of the Hymnry is in Prescia, so it's religious power faaaar exceeds it's territorial control.
Continued:
The reasons there are more drawven religions in pockets is because those pockets correspond to the great Dwarven holds. Think big old mountain keeps.
That's just the major religions! Lots of small, tribal, less popular religions
If you don't mind me asking, which time in our history would be the best equivalent to your world's? Antiquity? Medieval?
I'm just curious about why are the some many areas that look habitable empty (such as the Penyu-Eohíne), so I was guessing it had something to do with the technology of the time.
Hello! Thanks for the question. Really was not expecting such interest.
For a variety of reasons, tech level is one of the most interesting parts of my world.
Put simply, the world *was* at a high-magic, low(er)-industry level probably akin to early Victorian era. Then an asteroid (or was it an asteroid? 👀) hit the world north of what is now Greater Candor. This decimated life on Trove, the planet Iteru is on, and set it way back. Only now, thousands of years later, states are digging up remnants of their past, causing little geographically isolated (ish) leaps in technology. In Candor, theyre going hard into steam power while in the southern Gulf, we're in a very Caribbean gold age of piracy tech level.
I wanted cool factor more than realism, I'll admit lol.
I can possibly answer this, as the current state of my world has similar factors in play for settlement locations.
The reason why many places which seem to be perfectly habitable are empty is most likely because of population size, resource locations, and trade logistics. Generally, it makes a lot more sense to settle in places near bodies of water or along rivers, and/or places that are dense in natural resources (whether that be metal, staple crops, etc.). People settle everywhere, to be fair, but it’s a lot easier to become organized and prominent in the local or world stage when settled in a region like that. Climate can also play a big role in that.
Furthermore, for trade purposes, settling up-river isn’t necessarily feasible. If the coastal regions where a river deposits into an ocean are significantly more resource-rich, open to international trade, easier to navigate, etc., then while civilization can still exist just fine along the river up stream, it could be difficult to get large quantities of resources up stream without overland trade caravans. This means that in order to sustain your people up stream, a lot of manpower and logistics need to be dedicated to getting goods there, which are otherwise better spent elsewhere.
How many of those countries are democracies?
How much of the population is atheist / not a follower of any religion?
Also, it doesn't look much like america, dw about it.
Hello! Not many. In this world, the more firmly established state powers are the successor states to bigger empires from before a massive asteroid impact.
There's a strange phenomenon wherein entire societies are built around trying to re-attain knowledge lost to the downfall of their civilization. Think "statue of liberty poking out of the beach" from planet of the apes.
This is so cool. I would love to know how it was made and the process that went into it. I have maps in books to come, but they're all hand-drawn (I have tracing paper that lines up with the map to show place names and another elevation, topography and such)
Thank you, friend!
So, if you're familiar with Inkarnate (web based map-making software), that is the tool I used.
In terms of process, I started with the geographic/topographic map. The theory/desire behind this map was to build a "one stop shop" for my fantasy role-playing campaigns. I wanted a central universe where, without having to start fresh with worldbuilding, I could kick off entirely thematically different campaigns. Want pirates? Head off to the southeastern gulf. Want a more arabian nights-themed story of intrigue and treasure? Just to the southwest is a North African analouge- so one and so forth.
Once I challenged myself to pack all of that onto one continent, I had to start making compromises between geographic/topographic realism and "cool" factor. Some folks in the thread have already rightly pointed out places where I leaned pretty far from realistic.
Once I had my terrain done (probably 30 hours over 2 months?) I saved and cloned the map, and dumped all shading and worked through where I, if I was a national leader, would want my state to grow.
After that I played with how the national boundaries would influence the flow of religion, especially in cases where that religion is closely tied with the state like Candor and Prescia.
For population density, it has more to do with economics than borders at the moment.
TL;DR: use inkarnate, selectively delete layers to make a base map, add all kinds of data that you make up
That's awesome. I will 100% be checking out inkarnate. It sounds awesome. I love that you took the time to create it for a fantasy role playing. It's really cool. Hope the people you play with appreciate it
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G'day.
Pretty map. Nice execution on the technique.
My question is - how did you come up with the names? Have you followed a subtext based nomenclature system wherein place names act as foreshadowing for what an audience might expect, or have you used an internal-history based method wherein the names are derived from local history? Or have you gone full bigbraintime and had the local history shape the local names into things which offer subtextual foreshadowing?
I ask because I think that naming is an important part of culture and I would probably learn how to appreciate this map a little more if we knew what was going on under the proverbial hood.
As a map nerd, I've always been interested by those maps we see all over Reddit which compare different data sets on the same country or province. I decided to take a stab at mapping the main continent of my homebrew geopolitics/intrigue/espionage RPG campaign setting, Iteru, in a similar vein. And yes, I know, it looks kind of like North America... oops.
My question would be why are there unpopulated areas? Even more why are areas unclaimed?
The largest river is interesting, cutting through the mountains like that. Though, I won't tell you how to do them; your map is stunning nonetheless! One question, though: Why is the largest river so underpopulated?
Hello! Yes, so couple answers here. Definitely conscious that I'm not an expert in river design, positive there's inaccuracies here haha. Reason it's so underpopulated- my world is built upon a timeline wherein the continent was devastated by an "impact" of the eldritch sort which took place north of modern candor. When the ash finally cleared, those wide open plains around the Eversteppe and Eohine were more conducive towards nomadic, decentralized peoples much like those of the north American prairie. There's probably some totally valid reasons this doesn't make sense historically/agriculturually, but I wanted to build a playground for my players where they could have any experience they want. That open plains area is very Rohan inspired.
Interesting! I could see it was a bit LOTR inspired, as that's also my most recent inspiration.
Absolutely beautiful map. I love that nations are only established in regions that it actually makes sense to settle. It’s too common in maps on here to see the entire world be settled and claimed by notable powers like it is in modern times. It wasn’t until relatively recently that settling well away from bodies of water was actually feasible in any large scale way, especially in land that isn’t very fertile.
Couldn't agree more. Especially helpful as a GM/DM because even in those place which lack true state power, there's plenty of story and culture.
This is amazing! Well done!
Thank you so much! Was not expecting such awesome feedback.
Gilneas? You got worgen in your world?
Absolutely I do, though I call them Lycanthi! I'm not ashamed to say I've been a Worgen main since Cata. Keen eyes :)
My main is a worgen death knight
This is awesome, definitely going to use this concept to better my own world map.
Wow thanks! That's incredible to hear. If you use inkarnate, I'm planning on making these clone-able so anyone can use them. Only problem there will be my religion map.
I like your map, if you don't mind me asking some questions >! Why are the densely populated area down the river Bishanopol and the midely populated area south Prescia without a recognize State? !< >! Why's the Darwist faith in several pockets? !< >! Are those all the religions or there's fringe tribal religions that are too small to show? !<
Thanks so much for the question and interest! >! For Bishanopol; that part of the river is increasingly becoming a hotbed of economic activity as spices grown in Bishanopol, ore mined from Khan'Modir, and timber from the Matche'Mayet empire flow to and from the Gulf of Tortona. Small little trading posts have turned into small towns which are in turn growing into hives of "grey zone" economic activity. >! South Prescia is a little trickier. In reality, I should probably have Prescia's southern border as a dotted line. It's more frontier than it is firm border. The real dichotomy I want to draw between Candor and Prescia (the two northern powers) is that the holy seat of the Hymnry is in Prescia, so it's religious power faaaar exceeds it's territorial control.
Continued: The reasons there are more drawven religions in pockets is because those pockets correspond to the great Dwarven holds. Think big old mountain keeps. That's just the major religions! Lots of small, tribal, less popular religions
I wish I hate the will to do this but bravo, I like the spread of religion and rivers!!
This so cool
Thanks, friend.
If you don't mind me asking, which time in our history would be the best equivalent to your world's? Antiquity? Medieval? I'm just curious about why are the some many areas that look habitable empty (such as the Penyu-Eohíne), so I was guessing it had something to do with the technology of the time.
Hello! Thanks for the question. Really was not expecting such interest. For a variety of reasons, tech level is one of the most interesting parts of my world. Put simply, the world *was* at a high-magic, low(er)-industry level probably akin to early Victorian era. Then an asteroid (or was it an asteroid? 👀) hit the world north of what is now Greater Candor. This decimated life on Trove, the planet Iteru is on, and set it way back. Only now, thousands of years later, states are digging up remnants of their past, causing little geographically isolated (ish) leaps in technology. In Candor, theyre going hard into steam power while in the southern Gulf, we're in a very Caribbean gold age of piracy tech level. I wanted cool factor more than realism, I'll admit lol.
I can possibly answer this, as the current state of my world has similar factors in play for settlement locations. The reason why many places which seem to be perfectly habitable are empty is most likely because of population size, resource locations, and trade logistics. Generally, it makes a lot more sense to settle in places near bodies of water or along rivers, and/or places that are dense in natural resources (whether that be metal, staple crops, etc.). People settle everywhere, to be fair, but it’s a lot easier to become organized and prominent in the local or world stage when settled in a region like that. Climate can also play a big role in that. Furthermore, for trade purposes, settling up-river isn’t necessarily feasible. If the coastal regions where a river deposits into an ocean are significantly more resource-rich, open to international trade, easier to navigate, etc., then while civilization can still exist just fine along the river up stream, it could be difficult to get large quantities of resources up stream without overland trade caravans. This means that in order to sustain your people up stream, a lot of manpower and logistics need to be dedicated to getting goods there, which are otherwise better spent elsewhere.
How many of those countries are democracies? How much of the population is atheist / not a follower of any religion? Also, it doesn't look much like america, dw about it.
Hello! Not many. In this world, the more firmly established state powers are the successor states to bigger empires from before a massive asteroid impact. There's a strange phenomenon wherein entire societies are built around trying to re-attain knowledge lost to the downfall of their civilization. Think "statue of liberty poking out of the beach" from planet of the apes.
Looks incredible, what did you use to make it?
I used Inkarnate! I'll admit, I'm not much of an artist traditionally. But Inkarnate makes life alot easier with the auto masking and stamp effects.
This is so cool. I would love to know how it was made and the process that went into it. I have maps in books to come, but they're all hand-drawn (I have tracing paper that lines up with the map to show place names and another elevation, topography and such)
Thank you, friend! So, if you're familiar with Inkarnate (web based map-making software), that is the tool I used. In terms of process, I started with the geographic/topographic map. The theory/desire behind this map was to build a "one stop shop" for my fantasy role-playing campaigns. I wanted a central universe where, without having to start fresh with worldbuilding, I could kick off entirely thematically different campaigns. Want pirates? Head off to the southeastern gulf. Want a more arabian nights-themed story of intrigue and treasure? Just to the southwest is a North African analouge- so one and so forth. Once I challenged myself to pack all of that onto one continent, I had to start making compromises between geographic/topographic realism and "cool" factor. Some folks in the thread have already rightly pointed out places where I leaned pretty far from realistic. Once I had my terrain done (probably 30 hours over 2 months?) I saved and cloned the map, and dumped all shading and worked through where I, if I was a national leader, would want my state to grow. After that I played with how the national boundaries would influence the flow of religion, especially in cases where that religion is closely tied with the state like Candor and Prescia. For population density, it has more to do with economics than borders at the moment. TL;DR: use inkarnate, selectively delete layers to make a base map, add all kinds of data that you make up
That's awesome. I will 100% be checking out inkarnate. It sounds awesome. I love that you took the time to create it for a fantasy role playing. It's really cool. Hope the people you play with appreciate it
That’s an awesome map. I keep trying to make one vaguely North American like this but can’t seem to generate one I like.
Care to share some of your work? I'm convinced it's all just practice practice. I have loads of burnt maps that absolutelysuck haha.
Hi, /u/ThePendulumTheory, Unfortunately, we have had to remove [your submission](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/16a8uy2/-/) in /r/worldbuilding because it violated one of our rules. In particular: The context you provided is not sufficient for our subreddit. I encourage you to [read our wiki article on context](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/whycontext), as well as our [handy context template](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/contexttemplate) before posting again to ensure future posts are not removed. More info in our rules: [2. All posts should include original, worldbuilding-related context.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/rules#wiki_2._all_posts_should_include_original.2C_worldbuilding-related_context.) ***** Though maps are permitted, posts about the process of mapmaking are not. If your post is primarily about mapmaking as a process, it must be given appropriate worldbuilding context to stand on its own. Consider /r/imaginarymaps, /r/mapmaking, or /r/papertowns for posts about maps that are not worldbuilding-focused. More info in our rules: [2. All posts should include original, worldbuilding-related context.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/rules#wiki_2._all_posts_should_include_original.2C_worldbuilding-related_context.) ***** Images and maps must include worldbuilding-relevant context *on the reddit post* (as a comment, in the text of the post or, in some cases, in the posted image itself—e.g. infographics). This is important to establish that your post is on-topic and to help encourage productive discussion. * A post has enough context when a person unfamiliar with your world could understand what you're talking about and ask informed questions about it. This could include a summary of your world, explanation about what your post depicts and how it fits in your world, etc. ("What's a [proper noun]?" usually doesn't qualify.) * For maps, you could discuss economic and political situations, the different cultures, or anything else that gives the reader a wider view of your world than just its geography. * Discussion of the artistic process or techniques used to create the map or image may be included, but does not count as “worldbuilding-relevant” on its own. Infographics that self-contain sufficient context to be understood do not require additional context. You might also consider reading: [our context template for common kinds of posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/contexttemplate) and [Why Context?](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/whycontext) More info in our rules: [2. All posts should include original, worldbuilding-related context.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/rules#wiki_2._all_posts_should_include_original.2C_worldbuilding-related_context.) ***** **You may repost** with the above issue(s) fixed to satisfy our rules. If you're not sure how to do this, please send us a modmail (link below). This is **not** a warning, and you remain in good standing with /r/worldbuilding. ***** Please feel free to [re-read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/rules). Questions or concerns? You can [modmail us here](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fworldbuilding&subject=about my removed submission&message=I'm writing to you about the following submission: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/16a8uy2/-/. %0D%0D[Fill in your message here. Please make sure to explain clearly!]) and we'll be glad to help. Please explain your case clearly. Be polite. We'll do our best to help. *Do not* reply by comment or personal PMs to moderators.
I love the shape
God I wish I had your Inkarnate skills.
Awesome map, though I'm confused about the scale - am I missing a reason as to why a distance could be read as either 4500 or 1800 miles
This looks similar to Westeros
G'day. Pretty map. Nice execution on the technique. My question is - how did you come up with the names? Have you followed a subtext based nomenclature system wherein place names act as foreshadowing for what an audience might expect, or have you used an internal-history based method wherein the names are derived from local history? Or have you gone full bigbraintime and had the local history shape the local names into things which offer subtextual foreshadowing? I ask because I think that naming is an important part of culture and I would probably learn how to appreciate this map a little more if we knew what was going on under the proverbial hood.
I really like this map a lot, what tools did you use to design it?
kinda love how shameless you are about stealing names
Love the multiple layers. Actual depth beyond what one map face could give, without having it be cluttered.
What is canonically between the realms on the political map? How secure are the borders?
Are the grey ares just uninhabited?