WIP: unnamed Earh-like planet

[Akubra]

I could never have dreamt to have a tectonic plate named after me (or rather, my nick), but it did happen! Thanks a lot, groovey! I am honoured. I'll make sure to return the favour, probably not a tectonic plate but something else, not less important. And it might not be named "groovey" either, but an adapted form. I am not really working on a conlang yet, but I do have a few ideas. I'd like the "feel" of the language to be a mix of Polynesian, Australian Aboriginal, and probably some other elements. We'll see what I can come up with.

You guys have really been working hard on your projects. Congratulations! I haven't been able to do anything these last few days. Sometimes other things take precedence over building a conworld. I really hope to be able to continue working on my project the coming weekend. When I see all your results it's really starting to itch.

Cheers - Akubra

[groovey]

I'm really overjoyed to hear you fellas liked what I did with your usernames.

@Pixie, you are very free to do as you please with that word. I'll be more than glad to be helpful to you with History, but of course keep in mind each Historian has its own field of expertise, but anyway, if I know enough of the matter/s you are interested in I'll be more than glad to share my knowledge about it.

Tomorrow if I can I'll try out your suggestions for the extra islands problem.

Believe me, at one point I was confident enough to try to do currents and winds and all that, but seeing how limited I was with tectonics, which is a topic of more personal interest to me than the others, I don't think I would get too far with the currents or winds. I'd probably take like 3 horrible, tears filled years to get them right, if I got them right at all. And so I'm afraid I'll have to place those islands where I find they fit best according to your suggestions and pretend the winds and the currents will be on my favour.

@ascanius, I'm glad you liked it and don't worry, I'm not as judgemental about the people of plate 2 like the people on nº1 are, they are a bit pompous about themselves, so the name of that part of the continent/plate doesn't carry a negative tone to me.

@ Akubra I've felt tempted a couple of times to post in your thread to ask how was everything going or something, I was a bit worried you weren't working on the project anymore after such a great start, but then I remembered you did warn us that you'd be busier eventually.

Scratch that itch, because you'll have more scientific info about your world than I ever will, winds and all. That all is like Chinese to me, awesome but inaccessible/too much to me.

And don't worry about returning the favour, making "groovey" a decent place name doesn't seem very easy to do, so don't sweat it.

Nice to hear you are thinking about venturing in the very complex task of con-language. Beware though; it's not for the weak to get a decent one. Your choice of inspiration for the con-language is very interesting, but I guess you know that the more familiar you are with the real language/s you are trying to "emulate", the best you'll be able to translate that inspiration to a new con-language that is original and has internal coherence and follows basic linguistic rules. So I'm curious, are you familiar with that type of language?

@Cuin, awesome! A Geologist. I love you guys, in all of your specialities, a lot, you help humanity to understand our planet better and how it works, and it blows my mind.
I see what you mean about that regional world of yours. When trying to answer the question on my own I realized that said regional map was the one that made the ring bell for me as having some tectonic thought behind it, but I didn't know exactly why of course because I didn't have the info you've shared now.


Thinking about it all, maps, con-languages... I really, really don't understand at all why I get myself into these things that are too big of me, really, why must I have so much interest in this things I'm not good at? It's a bit frustrating. In my case I think it's because I love and need equally a strong sense of realism in fiction, so for me it was painful to do more writing in world-building my world without having a map of it, and of course then I'd need mountains and rivers, but of course rivers depend on mountains mostly, and mountains in tectonics, so of course I need to know the tectonics or I'd go mad... arrg.

Ah, anyway. To end this very long post I'll just say I've started to work on the outline of where mountain ranges not explained by current tectonics will be and such, a very rough visual guide it is, and I guess I'll post it soon and then... the horror again, with terrain, for which I'm stubborn about applying Tear's Sederan tutorial.

I'm a big fan of that style and plus the tutorial is manageable for me to do, but of course, it feels like the tutorial is originally though for regional/continental maps, but then, I see Saderan is a world map and Tear applied that style to a map of Earth and it looks absolutely wonderful. So I guess it can be argued that IT IS fit for world maps.

[groovey]

I've been experimenting toying with Pixie's two suggestions for placing some islands to make plate 1 closer to the island chain on the south. I couldn't come up with anything too convincing, at least visually. This is the best I could come up with, would this or something similar work? The distance to nº1 would still be quite big though, so I'm not sure I'm going to be able to solve this issue at all.

02. Tectonics (07-07-14)PIXIE.jpg

I still need to come up with names for the rest of the plates and do the continental shelves to call the tectonic map complete.

[Pixie]

Those islands are fine for island hopping navigation. You can take example from the Pacific. Islands from New Zealand to Hawaii were known and populated from the stone age. They could be known by sailors for ages, hence no effort to "discover", but unpopulated, hence, still a ground for colonization racing.

I've got to ask, though. That large sea between Swefendlea and Ascanta - wouldn't it be where largest trading coastal cities would develop? You have lots of distant territories connected by sea-way, I imagine large ports and carthage-genoa-venice-like states developing in there.

[groovey]

Ok, I arranged the little hotspot islands (updated the image on my previous post so I don't waste server space uploading it again with such small change) so they looked better and deleted the non volcanic island near the southern tip of nº1 and added an island shape inspired by my beautiful Mallorca a little bit nearer (about halfway) to 1/6 boundary. So that will work, won't it?

And yes, you are right, the sea btw 1 and 2 I picture like the Mediterranean sea I so much love and I was born in (not literally, I was born in a hospital, like most). So it's a big key trade area, withing the Empire and with nº2, but I figure, there might be some resources they can't get there, and thus the interest in the southern islands, for which Arlia also competes because it has a great navy for for war and for trade. Also, in the story, Arlia giving up claim in some of those southern volcanic islands is one of the conditions the Empire imposes after its civil war is over in order to "let go" of the fact that Arlia kind of "kidnapped" the Princess and then Empress of the Empire during a series of shady events, so those islands are also useful for minor plot conveniences.

[Akubra]

Hi groovey, sorry for taking a long time to respond... again. I haven't been able to do much over the weekend - only today I continued my tectonics map - hope to post it tomorrow.

Anyway, let's get to your question about languages. I wasn't too precise about what I mean by "the feel of the language". I didn't mean anything grammatical or such, all I meant was the general look/sound of it. Suppose you don't know a certain language and you see it written or spoken for the first time. Sometimes it makes you think of a language you are more familiar with, doesn't it? That's what I mean. I like the idea if it could have some aspects that make me think of Polynesian with lots of i's, o's and a's (such as the names for some plates I'm using: Otaia, Kiomawi), and also some aspects of Aboriginal languages (think words like Burrunguy, Nanguluwur, etc). I'm not sure if that is possible, because they are more or less each other's opposite: lots of vowels vs. lots of consonants. Anyway, for the moment I have only been thinking about it superficially.

I don't speak any of those languages, although I have lived in New Zealand for a couple of years (where one of the official languages is Maori). I have also travelled extensively in outback Australia, so Aboriginal names are not extremely "alien" to me. But that's where my "knowledge" (but I cannot really call it that) ends.

Yes, I do realize that it's a huge task. But a very interesting one. I think you can draw parrallels with creating a conworld. If you want to make your world realistic, you have to take into account tectonics, climate and what not, like we do. We're learning a lot during this process. That aspect of creating a conlang is similar. If ever I start one, I want to be serious about it and I'm certain I will learn a lot about many new linguistic topics I don't yet know about. And I think that's very, very interesting.

Cheers - Akubra

[ascanius]

Ok, I arranged the little hotspot islands (updated the image on my previous post so I don't waste server space uploading it again with such small change) so they looked better and deleted the non volcanic island near the southern tip of nº1 and added an island shape inspired by my beautiful Mallorca a little bit nearer (about halfway) to 1/6 boundary. So that will work, won't it?

And yes, you are right, the sea btw 1 and 2 I picture like the Mediterranean sea I so much love and I was born in (not literally, I was born in a hospital, like most). So it's a big key trade area, withing the Empire and with nº2, but I figure, there might be some resources they can't get there, and thus the interest in the southern islands, for which Arlia also competes because it has a great navy for for war and for trade. Also, in the story, Arlia giving up claim in some of those southern volcanic islands is one of the conditions the Empire imposes after its civil war is over in order to "let go" of the fact that Arlia kind of "kidnapped" the Princess and then Empress of the Empire during a series of shady events, so those islands are also useful for minor plot conveniences.

Nice update and I think the islands work well for what you have intended. Are you going to continue with the map adding currents, climate, mountains etc?

Hi groovey, sorry for taking a long time to respond... again. I haven't been able to do much over the weekend - only today I continued my tectonics map - hope to post it tomorrow.

Anyway, let's get to your question about languages. I wasn't too precise about what I mean by "the feel of the language". I didn't mean anything grammatical or such, all I meant was the general look/sound of it. Suppose you don't know a certain language and you see it written or spoken for the first time. Sometimes it makes you think of a language you are more familiar with, doesn't it? That's what I mean. I like the idea if it could have some aspects that make me think of Polynesian with lots of i's, o's and a's (such as the names for some plates I'm using: Otaia, Kiomawi), and also some aspects of Aboriginal languages (think words like Burrunguy, Nanguluwur, etc). I'm not sure if that is possible, because they are more or less each other's opposite: lots of vowels vs. lots of consonants. Anyway, for the moment I have only been thinking about it superficially.

I don't speak any of those languages, although I have lived in New Zealand for a couple of years (where one of the official languages is Maori). I have also travelled extensively in outback Australia, so Aboriginal names are not extremely "alien" to me. But that's where my "knowledge" (but I cannot really call it that) ends.

Yes, I do realize that it's a huge task. But a very interesting one. I think you can draw parrallels with creating a conworld. If you want to make your world realistic, you have to take into account tectonics, climate and what not, like we do. We're learning a lot during this process. That aspect of creating a conlang is similar. If ever I start one, I want to be serious about it and I'm certain I will learn a lot about many new linguistic topics I don't yet know about. And I think that's very, very interesting.

Cheers - Akubra

Sorry to hijack this thread a little but I don't see why you couldn't mix the two natlangs to create a conlang like you mentioned Akubra. Gonna take some time though. Mostly you need to get the Phonemes you like and add rules to start with. Like Groovey I also did a conlang and will be using it for the map, if I ever finish that is. Sometimes I wonder if something is wrong with me? I mean to put all the time in research, designing, drafting, creating lexicons, rules, and everything else for making a map and conlang. O well I would rather be crazy than be like everyone else in my book.

[Akubra]

Groovey, your latest map is really looking great! I think it has a lot of possibilities for geography, climate, history, etc. I'm following your progress with a lot of interest. What are you planning to do next? I suppose you will need some form of terrain and climate. I'm currently working on a height map as a preparation for my climate map. It scared me a little, but with a good tectonics map, a rough height map isn't too big a hurdle to take (well, I'm taking a big risk saying that, as mine isn't finished yet...). Anyway, looking forward to discover you next steps.

@ ascanius: Thanks for allaying my fear about mixing languages. After all, natlangs can also influence each other a lot (just take English, originally a Germanic language, but it has been influenced a lot by Latin languages). So yes, why not mix Polynesian and Aboriginal languages. And since you and groovey have worked on conlangs before, I know where to ask for advice . But that is something for the future.

Cheers - Akubra

[groovey]

Thanks guys. I've been a bit distracted with other stuff and quite frankly, right now I'm not sure how to proceed, having called the tectonics finished, finally, thanks to Pixie. Need to come up with names for the rest of the plates but that's not important really, I can move on to other stuff and when I come up with another plate name, add it quickly, but the names have to be consistent with world-building, in other words, I need to know what the makers of the map, the Empire on Swëfendlëa, would call those places, or the land in the plates, or the seas and oceans of the plates, and since I don't know yet...

I also did the continental shelves the other day, but since I have no idea if there are specific rules to do them, I just had in mind visuals and tectonics, and I guess I'm a bit hesitant to post the results here in case they are all wrong and get stuck on the shelves as a did with tectonics, *shudders*. I got very traumatized about that.

I also got an ugly visual guide of where to place old, non tectonic mountain/elevation areas, but I'm not sure it would work, don't know if they are too many, too few, too big, too anything. So since I'm unsure I don't find the motivation to do anything with it.

My idea was to move on with terrain already, I mean honestly guys, after my inability with tectonics has been more than proved in many a few pages, do you really have me capable of managing currents, winds and climate? In this century? I wish I could understand how to do it like you guys do,

So in short, the plan is to move to terrain now applying Tear's Sederan tutorial. First mountains, since I know where the tectonic mountain ranges are, and I got an visual outline for old non tectonic mountains/elevation, that I'm not sure of, but well. Then is to do rivers and lakes (I know if not large enough they wouldn't be visible in a world map, but I'd do them for reference), and then add grass/snow/desert coloring having as a basic guide the tropics.

But yeah, I'm feeling 100% unmotivated at the moment, since I suck at doing terrain too.

Nice to see some interest for con-languages around, lovely. Though Akubra, I'd be the last person to ask advice about it. The linguistic lingo, as hard-core tectonics, make my head hurt, so I get confused a lot by the terms and such, and I need actual examples to understand what the heck they are talking about, and that's how I try to understand what my con-language needs, so I proceed to create the rule and such, but not really understanding the deep mechanics of it, which I don't think is good. This summer I'm going to get my self some kind of English grammar for dummies to try to get more deep into it and understand how the language works.

EDIT: I also planned to do a height-map in the beginning, but the 6 Gods know I'd take a year to do it and still I would get it wrong, lol, so since I'm not able to do climate either, why bother with height-map? Oh my, I'm speeding up right into the lazy/whatever highway. Sorry guys, I just can't get over the fact that I suck so much at this mapping thing, haha, so my issues with procrastination are kicking in hard.

[Akubra]

Hey groovey, don't be so hard on yourself. There's really no need to do that - you succeeded in producing a tectonics map, didn't you? And a good one to boot. Nobody said the next step needs to be finished tomorrow, did they? So take your time and try to enjoy the ride. And if you don't enjoy a particular aspect, move it aside for a while and continue with something else. I found out that the clue is to take a little step at a time instead of tackling the whole mountain at once.

You know who learns the most? The one who falls and gets up the most. Heh, I just thought of how I placed the little triangles on my convergent boundaries. Almost all on the wrong side. How stupid could I be? Well, stupid or not, I got it right the next time. And from now on I will always know how it works. And guess who told me how to do it right? You! So don't tell me you don't understand much.

So what if your next map is all wrong? We're here to help each other, not laugh at one another for the mistakes we make or some perceived lack of understanding. One thing that is immediately visible and so exceptional in this forum is its constructive criticism. In so many other forums you have people tearing each other's ideas down, often with insults and completely unnecessary curse words. Not here. Not at all. That just proves that thinking and acting positively is working very well and so much more enjoyable.

You need help? No big deal. We're here. Pixie has helped you a lot. If I can help you in any way (with my limited knowledge and abilities), I'll do it gladly. All you have to do is ask. In fact, I'm going to turn it around and ask you a favour. I think I read somewhere that you're a historian, is that correct? (or does my memory utterly deserts me on that one?) I have some questions on how to consolidate some aspects of the future setup/history/consistency of my own planet. Would it be ok for you to help me a bit with that? (Oh, and it's absolutely ok for me if that's not ok for you.) I'll try to formulate them as well as I can (because my head is full of ideas, but it's a bit of a mess...). If you agree, could you just let me know if I could do that in this thread (which seems a bit awkward, I don't want to hijack it) or in a separate message to you.

Cheers - Akubra