[WIP] World of Flammarion: The Known World

[Lalaithion]

First: what I am about to say is a generalization and there are exceptions. but generally...

Generally, mountains affect climate. Clouds and rain are carried by winds that tend to blow in the same patterns. When clouds hit mountains, they dump their rain, causing lush forests. But on the other half of the ridge, there is no rain and a desert is created. a wonderful example of this is Northern California vs Nevada. As you go over those mountains you go from forests, strawberry farms, and wineries to slat flats and cacti.

Certain general worldwide patters (caused by the earths rotation) are shown on this map:
Attachment 42596
Exceptions are common, for example this is how winds generally are:
Attachment 42597

Now, because your world is flat, your winds can follow any pattern you want, or they can just blow randomly, but if they blow randomly, then the entire planet should have more or less the same rainfall. My suggestion would be to make a wind direction chart and mountain ranges that fit with the climates you already have.

These rainfall areas will affect multitudes of other things as well. Winds coming off deserts will be warm; one of the reasons for the warmth of europe is the wind from the sahara.

Here, for reference, is a map of Europe's Topography:
EuropeTopography.gif
And here, a map of the Rainfall, with a strong correlation between changes in altitude and a massive dumping of rain.
europe-annual-rainfall.gif

Once again, there are exceptions, but just think about this before placing major mountain ranges.

[silverhead]

The reason the climates run from left to right rather than up and down is because the world is flat and the sun is a burning disk being hauled by flaming titans. It used to traverse the sky across the diametre of the world, but after an ancient civilization attempted to catch it and accidentally dropped one of the titans onto the ground, the sun changed its course and now runs sort of tangentially across the right side of the map. Hope it ended up reasonably adapted!

Whoa. A flat world ... a burning disk ... flaming titans ... That's a quirky setting you're working at :-)

First of all: I'm not a climate expert, just had to deal with the same issues than everyone when making maps. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. You've been warned :-)

I'd start placing mountains before climate. Whatever the wind patterns, mountains are very important in defining the climate of a region, and you should start there. Of course, maybe you already have a few ideas of what climates you want; and if so, you should just put the mountains in the places that would favor those climates.

A tricky thing will be winds. Winds on earth are caused by difference of pressure and the coriolis effect, which has no meaning in your world because it doesn't rotate. Random winds are not, in my humble opinion, very cool. So I'd just go for some pattern, any pattern, using whatever motive fits into your world.

Having winds and mountains, climate will follow.

[Klaus van der Kroft]

Thanks a lot for the excellent input, guys. Much appreciated!

Regarding mountains and climates: Aye, I'm trying to aim toward something along those lines, where mountains act like humidity walls creating strikingly different weathers on both sides. After all, I come from a country which is nothing but 5.000 kilometres of mountain, and we have a very marked effect on those lines (ie, southern Chile is a cold, lush, rainy region of green forests, while the exact same latitude on the Argentinian side is an endless field of dry steppes).

The winds, however, now that is something I need to work in further detail. Without boring you with the details, various things in Flammarion have to work through artificial means upkept by the Mundificial Church ever since God apparently abandoned the world, including the winds themselves, which are drawn through a majestic structure called the Gates of Zephyr and made to blow all across the world. These gates are located near the coast of the Ocean of Katergat (lower-left corner of the map), atop the mountains, and were built some centuries ago when the natural winds began to falter and caused widespread famine and distress due to the sudden climate change that followed.

So I was thinking that the winds would, thus, blow across the oceans and from there into the continental landmasses, carrying lots of water from their trip across the seas and concentrating humid zones across the coastal regions. Those areas where mountains rise beyond the coast are greener and enjoy increased rain activity, while the further inland you go the less humid it gets, with "returning winds" devoid of moisture turning vast tracks of land into deserts and steppes. As the winds circle back into the Gates of Zephyr, those currents that pass over the warm waters of the inner seas, they pick up moisture again and pour it as heavy rain in the inner lands of the Empire region before climing up the mountains again into the structure to be blow back into the oceans beyond (hence the humid zones in the lower-left area of the map).

Would that make any sense -considering the already impossible proportions of the world, of course- as a consistent climatic pattern?

[mythus]

Had to up your rep after reading this post.

I am a huge fan of creating histories and mythologies when world creating, using them as a guide to create your world. You seemingly have done a good job with that! Very cleaver, very interesting, making me want to know more! It will likely serve as a great source of campaign material, so good job!

[Lyandra]

This looks really good. I like your coastlines especially. I hope you will come back to mapping it real soon.

[Klaus van der Kroft]

Well, well, well! Seems I can't catch a break this year; work's getting pretty time consuming (no complaints, though. We're making real progress and it's getting real fun. I work in at olive-oil producer/exporter company I created with my dad). However, I'm finally with some extra time to dedicate to drawing. While I couldn't go strides ahead, I did manage to get some mountains going on, as well as adding some basic portolan lines. Here's what I got so far (I cropped the rest of the map, since I've only drawn mountains on this part). You can click on it for a bigger version:

Flammarion - Montañas.jpg

Since this is the first map I ever draw using a tablet, I'm kind of improvising most of the stuff as I go along, such as the way I drew the mountains. While I usually draw cleaner ones, this particular way has grown on me lately. It's like drawing hundreds of tiny moustaches! What do you guys think? Since I've never been really much of an artist, I tend to have difficulties in keeping my style consistent, so I'd rather ask your opinion.

Had to up your rep after reading this post.

I am a huge fan of creating histories and mythologies when world creating, using them as a guide to create your world. You seemingly have done a good job with that! Very cleaver, very interesting, making me want to know more! It will likely serve as a great source of campaign material, so good job!

Much appreciated! Flammarion is a setting I've always wanted to work with. The ideas have been tumbling around in my head for years, but time and again I kept shelving them, because they were mostly a disparrage bunch of concepts without a connecting line. So this particular campaign, and the cartographic drive caused by this forum, have made me to finally start turning it into something more solid. No idea if it is really original or even worthwhile to read, but I've really had a fun time working on it.

This looks really good. I like your coastlines especially. I hope you will come back to mapping it real soon.

Why thank you very much!

[jbgibson]

The mountains are delightful, and the coastlines do have a nice shape. There's a little disconnect between the two though, just in the look of the line. The mountains are so sharply lined that they make the thicker coast look a bit blurry.

Do please persevere, even if life puts gaps in your available time - what you have going is a good look, and yay! for putting thought into causes for climate effects.

[vorropohaiah]

Love the landmass and the overall shape of the continent you made, as well as the colours. the mountains are nice though make me feel a bit dizzy, like theyre somewhat blurred... not sure if thats because the image has been resized?

great work

[Klaus van der Kroft]

Thank you both very much.

I do agree: The coastline clashes with the mountains, and these in turn do look a bit blurry for some reason.

I'll try to fix those issues when I get home. I'm thinking less blurr on the coastline and perhaps a stroke on the mountain layer to make it clearer. I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for the sharp eye!

[Klaus van der Kroft]

Alright, took your guys much-valued comments into consideration and I could no longer shake off the indeed-out-of-focus feel of many of the lines!

So I tried remaking the coastlines by using thiner strokes and threw in some Sharpen on the mountain layer, tryng to better match the focus on both.

What do you guys think? I want to find a proper level before moving onto the rest of the mountaineering.

Flammarion - Montañas v2.jpg