WIP - Continent of Vyros

[AlexSchacher]

This is the continent of Vyros, the largest continent in its world. So far I have only finished the mountains and rivers, and wanted opinions on their placement before moving onto adding forests and settlements to the map.

[- Max -]

Looks good so far and placements seems ok. There's s just 2 rivers that seems to take a long way to reach the sea (the two ones on the east)

[Viking]

I like the look of it so far and think the compass is pretty neat. It may be intentional but maybe not so I'll say you have two dead sea situations where large bodies of water are not draining into the ocean.

[Diamond]

Viking took the words right out of my mouth; I noticed those two 'no outlet' seas also. I think the layout and color scheme on this look great.

[AlexSchacher]

Mapv2.png

Alright, so I made the 2 seas have outlets. Although I fear Ive traded one mistake for another, as I'm sure many of you will notice the large branching river towards the mid-south. Is this even possible, for a marshland type situation? I know there are river deltas but this is much larger scale than that. I assume its not realistic and will probably end up changing it, unless it does make any sense. I also added some lakes, would like some feedback on those aswell.

[Renacido]

I'm really digging the color scheme and look for this map, I can't wait to see it as you progress. I suppose with the river branching south it depends on the elevation of the areas in question. I'm not a whole lot of help in that regard.

[Viking]

Alex, that would be a pretty huge delta. I'm not sure the scale of your landmass there but it feels big and huge deltas like that don't have a lot of real world precedents. That said, check out the size of the Ganges river delta which is absolutely massive so yea I guess it's surprisingly plausible. lol It likely wouldn't happen if it were not a wide, llow lying and jungly or marshy area as you said. The new lakes are cool and you could add some outlets to them too :p (We are outlet obsessed here, or at least I am) The two lakes on that western peninsula drainage basin are very similar in size and shape. I'd try to make one differently shaped, sized and possibly placed so it feels less symmetrical. Maybe even give one a second river inlet.

[AlexSchacher]

Thanks for pointing out the 2 similarly sized lakes, I will change that. With lakes, I made a few with no river inlets or outlets, I thought that was acceptable? I mean if theres no inlet nor outlet, just a stagnant water lake, or maybe I am wrong about that? And yeah, I think the delta is going to have to go. I want to make that entire area a swamp, though, I will probably just change it to one simple river leading from the sea to the ocean.

The continent size is (I think) Africa sized. About 14,000 km from western tip to eastern tip. I plan on having approximately 40 major cities on this continent, and probably around 80 smaller locations such as villages and forts. I am not sure how realistic that ratio is, however.

[Viking]

It is totally possible yes. Check out Endoheic Basins Usually a lake fills up till it eventually finds a way to the ocean. If the rate of evaporation matches its ability to fill up and it can't seep to the ocean underground the only way out will be evaporation. Because all water tends to carry traces of minerals of whatever it contacts (water is a natural solvent) these tend to build up which often results in saline water. It could also just be that the rivers that drain out are so small they are too insignificant to record on your map.
Like I said, while unlikely, a giant delta is plausible. Your map does then manage to convey the landmasses bigness if it is in fact intended to be that large

[Caenwyr]

Rivers are apparently one of the most difficult things to draw on a map. There's tons of things you can do wrong. A good overview of how rivers should behave (and how they absolutely shouldn't) can be found here. Most of your rivers seem to behave pretty good by the way! The only (small) remark I can give is that they might be a bit too "regular" for my taste. Real world rivers can be pretty jagged: straight in flat areas, snaky in others, with sharp corners where a normal person would draw gentle curves. But overall I really like your rivers.

One exception: the river you drew to drain the inner sea. The delta you've drawn is absolutely massive, way too big to be physically possible. It's true, the Ganges delta is massive as well, but it feels as though this one's many times bigger yet, and with far less plausible surroundings. the Ganges delta is surrounded by humongous mountain ranges that all dump their waters (and sediment!!) into one tight spot - no wonder there's a delta. Yours seems to be on pretty flat terrain. It seems very implausible one inner sea can drain with such ferocity to create such a huge delta.

The correct type of river mouth depends on several parameters. Basically there's two types of river mouths: deltas, and estuaries. Deltas are formed by rivers with lots of sediment, which is deposited in a relatively calm sea. Estuaries form in strong tidal seas, where the riverbed is eroded not only by the river itself, but also by the sea. The wider and more funnel-shaped an estuary becomes, the stronger the tidal erosion.
I guess what I'm saying is: there might be a delta at the mouth of your river, but it should be far, far smaller than this one.

That is, if you choose to draw a river at all. Contrary to all I and the guys before me said, your inner sea doesn't necessarily have to have an outlet. Take the Caspian Sea for example: a huge body of water, by no means connected to the ocean. There's a lengthy but very interesting article on the origin of the landlocked sea and the reason for its relatively low salinity - be sure to take a look! Maybe you can use that as an explanatory basis?

In short: whether or not you link the inner sea to the ocean depends on the geological history of the sea. Since you're the one making this map, it's all up to you to decide. If you choose to keep the river, however, make sure to strongly reduce the delta, or eliminate it altogether.



One last remark: I really like your landmasses and the placement of your mountains. You chose a very nice colour palette, though you might consider lightening it up a bit. At the moment it's a bit hard to distinguish the details, but maybe that's just me. All in all, my compliments, and keep up the good work!!