Commission: Lleimilla

[jfrazierjr]

Blocked in mountains in the Stormlands...need some shading next, but I will be doing more mountain outlines before that gets done.

[Magrathean]

That actually looks good (I mean, the mountain locations and boundaries). Makes sense that the cold air and the rain are kept from the more temperate regions by an enormous mountain range. Perhaps we could leave the tip of one or two of the peninsulae mountain-free so it'll look a bit more natural, and perhaps the peninsula which you left flat and one or two of the larger islands could have a mountain or three as well. What do you say? Would it look natural and not too cluttered?

[jfrazierjr]

That actually looks good (I mean, the mountain locations and boundaries). Makes sense that the cold air and the rain are kept from the more temperate regions by an enormous mountain range. Perhaps we could leave the tip of one or two of the peninsulae mountain-free so it'll look a bit more natural, and perhaps the peninsula which you left flat and one or two of the larger islands could have a mountain or three as well. What do you say? Would it look natural and not too cluttered?

Let me play around with it to see if I can figure out something that might look fairly natural. It's rather hard with peninsulas, though, so will take a bit more thought. This is because mountains are typically formed due to continental shelfs colliding and one side buckling upwards. Another option for the "fingers" might be "very" large fjords. of course a magical solution might also fit the bill too... Don't get me wrong, I am not a geologist, just thinking out loud.

Also, was thinking about the desert. My thinking here is that if this was originally all arable land(as I assume the label "The heartlands" implies) then the desertification would more likely form something more along the lines of the american southwest as opposed to the typical "sandy" desert associated with the Sahara(BTW, most of the "hot" deserts have very little of the windblown sand dunes in terms of total covered area). I wonder if I can come up with some type of "cracked earth pattern" that might look good....

[Magrathean]

Sonora/Arizona-style desert totally makes sense. You're right about that. And yes, the Heartlands used to be just about the most fertile terrain on Lleimilla (well, as fertile as the rest of the inhabitable places). Magic did that.

As for the peninsulae, they're natural in the storyline of my campaign. I hadn't thought about them being cluttered with mountains, but it actually looks good and makes the weather make sense, as I said on my previous post. That said, I think we can rethink them without too much trouble: the region is indeed at the boundary between tectonic plates and formed by plate collision, but, since it's a coastal region with a lot of water and a relatively deep seafloor, the mountain range resulting from the collision is mostly underwater, with the islands and some of the peninsulae being those mountain peaks that are actually tall enough to protrude above the ocean surface (like all the islands Micronesia and Polynesia in the southern Pacific). Some of the peninsulae, like the one farthest south (the one you left without mountains), could have already existed and therefore only new mountains formed on already existing land. I think that fits with the current mountain pattern as well as with the story.

Fjords actually makes sense as well, but then we'd have to reduce the amount of mountains. I recently fell madly and hopelessly in love with Norway, and my favourite character from that campaign actually comes from that region, so if you can turn it into a fjord you'll be my hero. Otherwise, we can stick with the tectonic-collision idea.

Thanks again for all the hard work.

[jfrazierjr]

Sonora/Arizona-style desert totally makes sense. You're right about that. And yes, the Heartlands used to be just about the most fertile terrain on Lleimilla (well, as fertile as the rest of the inhabitable places). Magic did that.

As for the peninsulae, they're natural in the storyline of my campaign. I hadn't thought about them being cluttered with mountains, but it actually looks good and makes the weather make sense, as I said on my previous post. That said, I think we can rethink them without too much trouble: the region is indeed at the boundary between tectonic plates and formed by plate collision, but, since it's a coastal region with a lot of water and a relatively deep seafloor, the mountain range resulting from the collision is mostly underwater, with the islands and some of the peninsulae being those mountain peaks that are actually tall enough to protrude above the ocean surface (like all the islands Micronesia and Polynesia in the southern Pacific). Some of the peninsulae, like the one farthest south (the one you left without mountains), could have already existed and therefore only new mountains formed on already existing land. I think that fits with the current mountain pattern as well as with the story.

Fjords actually makes sense as well, but then we'd have to reduce the amount of mountains. I recently fell madly and hopelessly in love with Norway, and my favourite character from that campaign actually comes from that region, so if you can turn it into a fjord you'll be my hero. Otherwise, we can stick with the tectonic-collision idea.

Thanks again for all the hard work.

Lol... sorry.. the fjords was more of a joke than anything....I mean really... just how often does one get to say such an awesome word such as fjord in everyday conversation? So I take very little chance I can to say it....fjord, fjord, fjord!!!! Anyway, without some crazy explanation, fjords would not really work here at the scale the map is in terms of the width between the peninsulas. I can thin down the mountains toward the ends of each "finger" and make some small hills as well as throw some mountains on several of the islands.

Do you want the southern most peninsula also mountainous (or hilly?) If you want mountains, I would suggest running a line of mountains along the coast of the desert to join them up. Just let me know...


Side note: MUST RESIST URGE to make the heartlands "desert" have mesa's.... lol... sorry... but my warped mind wants to put in some mesa's and/or canyons in there.... but since you have noted that they were mainly arable land used for farming/range animals, that would not make much sense geologically. Anyway... move along.. nothing to see here....ignore this last paragraph....

[Magrathean]

I know the "fingers" are too wide to be fjords like the norwegian ones, but I thought you were talking about really wide "fjords" (as in cliff-coasts and the sort of vegetation and climate one would find in fjords). Sorry I didn't catch on it being a joke.

And yes, I agree that it's an awesome word. =D

For the southernmost peninsula I had thought about a mountain or three (considerably fewer than on the other peninsulae). I like your idea about the desert-coastline mountains.

Ignoring last paragraph... =D