Fictional Mediterranean Region (Pre Global Flood) WIP!!

[Veluux]

Okay I had this going in another thread, but since I decided to go with some HUGE revisions, I'm basically starting from scratch. I decided to zoom back out so I would have the whole region around the Mediterranean again, but I'm still going to use the Great Hungarian Plain as the basin for my fictional "Soaring Sea". I defined some lakes in the low points of the Mediterranean's topography, as well as extended rivers down into the now-Mediterranean Valley. What you're looking at so far is the basic planning outlines for the coastline, major bodies of water, and the river network.

CotFS Surface Map v1-02.jpg

And here is a blank version with some topography overlayed in red so you can see my line of thinking as for lakes and rivers. My mountain terrain (when I get to that point) will very closely follow present day topography, other than more containment around the Hungarian Plain - so the 'Soaring Sea' can exist as the highest altitude body of water.

CotFS Surface Map v1-01.jpg

I also decided on a MUCH larger image size (24"x36") - as well as printable resolution of 300dpi. So these images of the full map are at a GREATLY reduced resolution, for obvious reasons (the original image is well over 200mb).

This new rendition is an adaptation based on lots of great feedback I got from my other thread - which was extremely helpful in making this much more realistic and believable! So keep up the comments and criticism (so long as it's constructive!)

Thanks everyone!

EDIT: Also wanted to make a note - that tiny triangular lake where a lot of river's drain into in the middle of the Valley - a LOT of water drains through a sinkhole in the bottom of the lake. The sinkhole feeds a giant network of underground caves and caverns (called the Shadowlands). So if you're wondering where all that water goes that's feeding into that lake - that's where.

[Llannagh]

I don't know if this is relevant, but the british isles once were connected to the main landmass and the north sea was fertile land. Just sayin.

I like your map so far. What style are you aiming for? Seems you're going for realistic/informative rather than stylized/artsy.

[Veluux]

I'm not sure. I'm torn between a couple styles. I'm thou roughly in love with Max's Oraven map styles, and I also love the way Viking did his most recent map of Skenth. I figure a pure overhead map would be the most informative and realistic - but it is the fictional world of a trilogy of novels. So I'll probably go a bit more artistic. Know of any cartographers that have artistic overheads I could check out for inspiration?

Oh and thanks for the info about Britain. I considered attaching it - but my time period for the flood is only about 4500-6500BC (haven't chosen an exact date). I want to use it as the mystic isle of Avalon. Thanks though!

[Veluux]

So I haven't had much time to make changes and progress in the last month (busy with family and moving into a new place). But I'm finally getting a few things done now, so here's an update:

Keep in mind this is ALL planning layers. There isn't a single finished layer on the file. The rivers are planning, the terrain is a planning key, and even the regional text overlay is just to help me define some fine terrain details. So the text overlay, font, rivers, water texture, and terrain will all look totally different on the final piece.

I just wanted to make sure I was completely happy with the rivers, water, and land geography before I started putting in the hours brushing in the details I like. Since it's a semi-historical fiction world - I wanted the map to resemble what the Mediterranean world could have looked like if it was dry before a global flood.

CotFS Surface Map v3-07.jpg

I'm going to give a week or two for some feedback before I start drawing in the real rivers and terrain, but after a few months of adjustments and alterations, I'm pretty certain this is the way I want everything to sit. I may tweak a few rivers here and there. I'll also be raising the elevation on the northern border of the Soaring Sea just a little bit, so it forms a ring of mountains around the present day Hungarian Plain.

[EruSilme]

I start making you my compliments for your work; I would like to try to make a small contribution to it, but I do not know how much you want to remain faithful to the actual structure of European territories, and how much you want to reshape it for your convenience.

Living in Italy, namely in Liguria (the region that in your map is the arc of mountains directly under the northern valley), I have a first hand knowledge of its topography.
In this sense, I would only allow me to point out that the chain of mountains (is the last part of the Alps) is impassable by a river flowing from the Po valley (your norhern valley): I see one river that passes "through" the Turchino pass, just behind Genoa, and it is actually very low compared to the rest of the mountains, but it is always at 600 meters over the sea

Again, I'll point out just in case you wanted to strictly follow the "real" structure of the territory.
If you simply want to create something new.. well, it's a nice looking map!!

[Falconius]

On much the same topic I notice you have the Jordan River flowing through the area of the Dead Sea into the Gulf of Aqaba. This seems highly unlikely given that the Dead Sea is the lowest point of land on Earth, nor does it have any outflow. I would expect to see the effects of it's topography magnified given the suppositions of your world, not lessened.

I love the idea behind the map, so whatever your decisions keep it up.

Edit: I guess since this is a map of time before the Flood you might be taking into account divine intervention, in which case the Dead Sea might be remarkably different in any number of aspects. The first I would suppose would be that it would not be dead but quite the opposite since two major cities managed to flourish there Biblically (and Jericho too which is at the north end of the sea and probably was on its coast long ago given how much the waters has receded). So likely a fresh water lake was there. The argument about its depth however would be harder to change, there is no demonstration of extreme topographic upheaval in the Bible regarding that area or regarding that story. Just fire, brimstone, and salt.

[HBrown]

Since I'm not sure where you're going with your story/fictional world, this may or may not be relevant:

The Straits of Gibraltar (Gates of Hercules) have opened and closed at various times in the Earth's recent history. When closed, the Mediterranean become a pond and shrinks. This is one reason it's saltier than the Atlantic. Or so it's said. Personally, I have never tasted either.

At times when the Mediterranean is cut off from the Atlantic, water levels go down and vast beds of salt are left behind. There may be salt beds at the bottom of the Mediterranean from the last time it shrank, that have not dissolved again.

Depending on the aims and purposes of your world, you might want to think about how salty the soil of the Mediterranean Valley might be.

--Hugh

[Veluux]

Thanks everyone for the input thus far. I'll definitely take those geographical facts into account before I start the final rendition. I did most of my major rivers based on very distant-range topo maps - so catching all the smaller details is pretty tough. So I appreciate all the extra eyes and first-hand knowledge shared.

Due to writing/storyboarding necessities I had to take a break from working on the surface map and define some of the underworld locations and regions. So I basically just took the surface map and overlayed some geo-technical maps that show where all the real-world Karst regions are for the Mediterranean. (Karst is a term for land that is underlain by limestone and has lots of sinkholes, fissures, and underground waterworks. That would also make it the most probably type of land for natural cave formation.)

So here is a quick glimpse at a VERY early (and I emphasize the VERY) definition for the regions of the underworld - most of the larger regions will be interconnected, both naturally and by supernatural craftsmanship as many of the fallen angels have established the underworld (or as it's more specifically known as: The Shadowlands) as their own earthly kingdom.

CotFS Underworld Map v1.jpg

Again - it's very preliminary, and the faded underlay of the surface world map is purely for reference. More than likely I will only be doing smaller regional maps of the Shadowlands - rather than one big massive world map like I am for the Brightlands (the world above). Most of the caves and caverns will be naturally formed from underground rivers that follow (generally, but not exactly) the rivers and water networks above them.

[RoadScholar]

Thanks for sharing these amazing maps. I've been messing around with a similar concept for a while and to be able to see the information at this level of detail is very handy. I'm looking forward to watching your progress on this.