WIP - HELP? Pretty please?

[Jalyha]

Okay, based on some very good advice I'm trying to get the technical aspects of my map down before I get into really .... drawing it...


(And I'm trying to start on a somewhat smaller scale... a continent instead of a planet, lol)

So... I turned off my shoved all my artistic instincts into a dark box, locked it in a safe, threw it down a well, sealed the well, and sat on it.

So this isn't pretty.

But... I will make it pretty. First, though, I need to know if it makes *sense* to have things in the (general) areas in this ... whatever this is.

I would REALLY appreciate some help. And I have no feelings, (no, really, I don't) so don't worry about hurting them. I'd just like, if you don't mind, any harsh criticism, careful critiques, gut-feelings... whatever you've got, if you would, so I can fix what's wrong, before prettifying it.

Thanks so much!!


Oh, yeah, here's the map-to-be-in-training-thingummy-what:

whats wrong.png

[arishok]

You have the rivers and deltas mapped out, which is rad!

Are you going to add in any lakes?

And is the white space just undecided, or is it a desert or something else?

[Jalyha]

I'll add in lakes once I know the rivers are right.

The white space is... flat land, lol... I put in the "high ground" to make the rivers run... downward-ish.

Anyway, the patches to the west, and southwest might contain deserts, the rest will be plains or some such for settlements. This particular continent is supposed to be very lush and green.

(I'm mean to the people on my other continents, lol)

Mostly, right now, I just want to make sure it makes sense to have the mountains, hills, plateaus, and dense forests where they are, and that the river placement makes sense given those high places.

[arishok]

I would assume that the river placements are fine--runoff from glaciers and the like is pretty common.

Though, depending on the elevation of land, aquifers could be used as well.

[Jalyha]

Thanks so much.

I asked if the placement seems natural/logical, because it's for a low-tech (no-tech) society. And there isn't glacial runoff on this continent.

I've read all the "how rivers should run" type posts, and I don't want those people nipping at my heels when (if?) I post the finished map, so I thought I would ask if everything is in a logical place *before* I get that far.

The mountains/cliffs/stuff *seem* logical to me, but I'm not the expert in tectonic plates that some members here seem to be, nor do I know if my rivers fit if the height is correct.

Any suggestions/comments are still appreciated.

Thanks all~

[arsheesh]

Looks pretty good to me, nothing to criticize here.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Veldehar]

A lot of whether something makes sense will come with more details than are presented here. The rivers don't seem to have any major issues, but they still could in a different manner than just the basic rules. Except one basic rule... rivers rarely if ever hit at 90 degree angles, in nature, but this being a rough, I will just mention that in passing. How big is this continent? At what latitude and longitude is it sitting?

Even sitting north or south of the equator may alter its reality by where cold and warm currents sit...

Tectonics, no I'm not an expert, but, tectonically speaking, I see some possible issues with what forces would cause the pattern of mountains here. Basic mountain structure puts one side steep, the other into rolling hills. So, you've got issues here.

What is with the cliffs and plateau regions? Not typically what I would call major land formations on a continental scale.

[Jalyha]

I dunno latitude/longitude type stuff I keep trying to learn but I never get it.

It's... a fairly small continent, I suppose. I figure, about the size (tall) of the USA (Not all of north america, just the US). About half as wide? I fixed the angles on the rivers

Ummm... I probably won't draw in the cliffs/plateaus (although parts of the land are supposed to be VERY rocky. I just wanted to show where I picture them, for a height indication for judging river flow

I didn't know that about the mountain structure! I'll adjust for that. I thought tectonics made mountains go near the edges of the land? Are mine too far inland, or too many of them, or both?

(Makova's village is on a cliff somewhere in the west, so I need *some* cliffs... though I can't imagine drawing them in...)

But this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for... I'll make some adjustments now and post an update!

[Hai-Etlik]

One oddity of the rivers is you have the headwaters concentrated in a few small arcs, and then everywhere else is evidently bone dry.

Also, the biome and the geomorphology are two different things (They interact with one another of course). Forests can grow on hills or in plains. Generally what determines whether there's forest is a combination of rainfall and temperature. Where there's enough water and it's not too cold, you get forests, otherwise you get grassland, scrubland, or desert, unless humans interfere and cut down the forests. Keep in mind that most of Europe and eastern North America were covered by forest. It's a good idea to place your pre-agriculture forests, then remove them based on where there are people, and if you are after the temperate climate of typical psuedo medieval fantasy, then you should have a lot of forest, at least to start.

[Veldehar]

Disclaimer, I am not an expert, I just read too damned much once and I have forgotten a whole lot of it, LOL.

A couple things to consider:

Mountains indeed tend to occur at the edges of continents, but that is because these are near the edges of tectonic plates that are driving into each other. So it is not so much that continents have mountains on edges, as it is tectonic plates have mountains on their edges. If two equal sized land plates strike and form mountains, theoretically, you would have mountains in the middle of a land mass that people would call a continent. For instance, India is considered part of Asia, but is part of the Indo-Australian plate, which drives it into the Eurasian plate creating the Himalayas

Western coasts are cool water (relatively anyhow) while east coasts are warm water. If you think western Europe, consider the Gulf Stream's effects for warming that climate. Warm water and warm air bring more moisture than cold, which is important.

Wind direction and mountains are very important to precipitation. When air rises to travel over the mountain, it dumps water on that side, leaving what is called a rain shadow on the lee side of the mountain, and often dry warm winds. A quick quote:

On the lee side of the mountains, sometimes as little as 15 miles (25 km) away from high precipitation zones, annual precipitation can be as low as 8 inches.

So, no matter which way your winds are blowing, you have a river running between two ranges, so it is in a rain shadow from either direction. Possible? yes, but it needs explanation.

Forests: in a fantasy world in particular, it should also be noted that deforestation could easily be handled by extremely large herbivores running in herds, elephants, bison, buffalo and such can have serious deforestation effects, so, even larger critters could be real nasty on trees. I use this in one area of the Sister Continents. Fire can also be a major player in regions that are borderline forest worthy in precipitation or that experience regular droughts, such as the Great Plains in the US.