Migration Patterns / Country-Culture placement

[torstan]

Coming along very nicely. I love the colour scheme.

[guyanonymous]

I appreciate the feedback I've gotten from everyone - Thank you!

Here are the next few steps...

I've added a coordinate system, "fine grid", and am playing with a compass. Feedback on any and all would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

David

p.s., the grid system is all based on "base 12" system rather than decimal so the characters go from 0 - 11 (10,11 are the weird symbols).

[guyanonymous]

I've gone through tweaking most of the map using advice here and in other threads and am maintaining the look I want. I also realized that I'd put one of my coordinate scales upside down (0 at the top rather than the origin) and fixed that. You might notice the patterns of 12 that appear in the compass and coordinate system...

These are a few 100% crops of details that show how it's looking close up.

Now I have to figure out how to label things most usefully. I'm thinking of an index using the coordinate system and "City of Country" text format...any thoughts?

This would appear at the bottom of the map in an expanded white space...

[Mulliman]

There is a higher concentration of small smaller countries/kingdoms/domains closer to where civilization started. Farther away, the size of countries/kingdoms/domains tends to increase.

Very great looking map, but could you explain your logic behind this reasoning?

[guyanonymous]

Very great looking map, but could you explain your logic behind this reasoning?

Quick response:

Well, I have my world population starting out, originally in a somewhat shielded area (within a ring of mountains and huge deserts). I envision a few things happening - one, there is a cataclysm that kills most of the population that has spread out, but this one core area is somewhat shielded.

The survivors are able to rebuild and develop their territories/kingdoms/protectorates in that area, and there are quite a few that become dominant over the ages. There is a point in history, on this planet, where a great belief in the nature of life/diversity/etc develops and many are forced to flee this core area and move out away, through the un-passable mountains and never-ending desert (I know...they are passable and it does end). As the spread, they develop areas of control based on land/rivers/etc and these tend to have a greater diversity and range in size depending on how controlled their borders are etc.

Basically, I see that over ~4000 years, the surviving population spreads out across the globe establishing their individual countries (for lack of a better word). This will bring them up to our equivalent of tech from our own 0 AD-1000 AD time range.

Please, feel free to suggest/correct ideas I've put above. I'm just reading Guns, Germs and Steel (I think that's the title), so I'm sure some of my ideas will change.

Here's what I'm settling on as the final look for my map - with a bit more dimensional feeling for the mountains etc. This is the "core" area from which it all starts. I'll be changing the ocean-side entrance to a more desert-based climate.