What is the best way to display a polar region on a world map?

[Koleeflour]

Hi there, sorry i haven't posted in a couple of years. I've still been keeping up with map making and worldbuilding, but normally whenever i have a query i found that somebody has already asked the same thing on this site and been given an answer that helps me out. I'm a bit stuck here though.

Iv'e been designing this world for some time now. Iv'e been paying close attention to plate tectonics when making this map, as i wanted it to have a sense of realism. I came up with this.
QilarFinal.jpg

Note: The northern region of the map looks very large and distorted. This is due to the map projection. The northern region actually looks like this.
Qilar North Pole.jpg

The northern region is incredibly important both politically and culturally. There is a city on the north pole which the people of this world value as a centre of religion and philosophy (similar to Earth's Vatican city). With it being such an important area, it didn't feel right going with an equirectangular map, relegating the north pole to a small boxed out section in the corner. Even if that were the case, the northern region just looks ugly and too distorted plotted in any cylindrical projection. Not to mention the people of this world are not human. Cylindrical projections may not necessarily be the norm for them. It is probably important to note also, that this world is quite a lot hotter than Earth, and that there are no polar ice caps.

What I'm looking for here is any advise or suggestions in regards to this problem. Any help would be most appreciated.

[waldronate]

No one projection is going to be able to cover your whole world without significant distortion. If the planet is mostly spherical, spins on an axis, your people have explored the world enough to know where things are, and they have much in the way of mathematics and astronomy, then they will most likely develop many different projections, each suited to its own purpose. For religious purposes, I recommend the stereographic projection ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereographic_projection ) because it's relatively easy to calculate with simple mathematics and maps circles to circles. Unfortunately, it's also infinite in extent, meaning that there's some serious distortion in those far southern reaches for a map centered at the north pole. Fortunately, though, it's easy to recenter that projection for any point on the surface without much complexity.

Making a stereographic projection map with a center of projection at about -30 longitude at the equator will hit most of your land masses and probably be a good starting point. It also leads naturally to some hidden islands of heretics due to cropping.

Untitled-1.gif

Also note that cylindrical projections don't need to be centered on the equator, but that the mathematics becomes more complex for oblique projections.

[Koleeflour]

The projection you provided is absolutely perfect man! Thanks!

Iv'e seen old maps of Pangaea like that, but the thought never occurred to me!

[Koleeflour]

Thankyou! I ended up using the procided projection in my completed map! I went with mollweide for the main projection. Youve been greatly helpful, heres the map now

Oldqilar.jpg