WIP: unnamed Earh-like planet

[Azélor]

Yes I saw the message but I just need some time to think about it.

Don't your continent have names ?

I am not actually sure if the part we are talking about should be drier. The dominant winds are moving toward the east after all and the mountains are in the north. What I could do : lower the precipitation categories by 1 or 2 and see what happens.

here without the new elevationAttachment 67356:

[groovey]

Indeed the continents have names already, here's the base version of the map with the labels. The area I'm talking about for the novel is Arec Swifendlia.

01. Outline (15-07-14) with Labels.jpg

Interesting, with this new climate map now said area's climate is generally similar to that of central Europe according to this map, isn't it?:

Europe_Koppen_Map.png
Source.

In case the winds should make that area drier like you mention, which I'd like to avoid, what could I do to avoid it? Where should I place the mountain range/s in that area? The central mountain range has to stay because of world-building purposes and tectonics, but the rest of the range I could place wherever needed to get an overall central Europe climate like the new climate map has. I'm sorry to insist so much on this, but if I end up with a dry north of Swifendlia I'd have to re-think the origins of the humongous Empire that controls the continent, since they'd have a different start than if the originated in a humid, fertile land, and I really would prefer the later.

[Azélor]

When I said drier I meant steppes not deserts. You can find several states that prospered in the semi-arid climate. In fact most of the antic states started in semi-arid climates.

Fertile Crescent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Loess Plateau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indus River - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Persia was a powerful antic state.
Spain is also considered a steppe, but I'm not sure it is. It is really close to the Mediterranean climate, especially on the coast. Valencia is too humid to be a steppe but maybe inland.
The kingdom of Castille was quite powerful if I recall correctly, it was the great power of the time and prior to that state, Cordoba was also very influential.

and what about Mongolia, they conquered almost all of Asia !

[groovey]

I guess you are right. I've been thinking about it and I guess It'll do, so I'll have to re-think the whole thing (it's for the best I guess, the model of origin and development of the Empire needed fixes and updates anyway). In fact the Persian Empire is one of my main inspirations, along with the Roman, when it comes to the organization of the Empire, so I guess it'll work.

Castille was powerful because of the american colonies, but by itself it wouldn't have done much if it had have to fight European countries in the old continent. All the riches it got from the colonies, without them Castille would have been an anecdote in the 15-16th century History (I guess it could have still been significant in the fight against the Ottoman Empire, but without the resources form the colonies I'm not sure Spain could have gotten too involved in that either).

I didn't know about the Loess Plateau case so thanks for introducing me to it.

[Azélor]

You probably know Spain history better than I do. I remember that after the reconquista the kingdom had some economic problems and some parts of it where scarcely populated. Portugal was in a similar state. I recall reading that it was pretty poor before establishing the colonies. They got rich but eventually lost their colonies and felt into oblivions again.

But yet, they where powerful at that time. And don't forget that they inherited the crown of Aragon and the Habsurgs. They controlled Spain, Austria, the south of Italy, the Netherlands and some other minor territories. France even fought alongside the protestants to counter Spain hegemony in the region.

[groovey]

You are right, but as you said, Spain became an empire through the colonies (which were usually conquered without much pain) and inheritance, and I don't want such a sissy empire in my world to be my focus. I want an Empire by conquest, not by breeding (though some regions will be annexed this way).

What I mean to say is that the European states (the term state means that we are talking about the 15th century and beyond) were no Rome, they fought a lot, but neither had the capacity of permanently conquer the other and keep the territory. Their strength and power in the world, in the case of the three more powerful European states of the time: Spain, England and France, came mostly from their colonies, that's what made them Empires and the main protagonists of European History pre-19th in the case of Spain and France, since England actually kicked off for good in the latter centuries. That's why I personally can't really buy that those colonial Empires were as great as Rome or other great ancient Empires.

So yes, they were powerful Empires, but because of their colonies, and that's kind of disappointing to me. I don't want a colonialist Empire, I want a conqueror Empire that annexes territory and integrates the conquered population as a real part of the Empire, with their rights and obligations.

I understand that I'm being a bit harsh with the colonialist European empires (not as a human, because their model of colonialism is repugnant to me) and that I'm totally biased towards the Ancient empires (some of which notoriously had colonies), so please don't take my comments at heart, it was mostly the fanboy in me speaking, not the Historian.

[Azélor]

I'm not sure how different Rome was, it had slaves and most of it's riches where stolen from the conquered.

Anyway, back to climates: do you have a deadline for this?

[groovey]

You're right about Rome, as I said, I'm just very biased. If I had written my previous post as an Historian, it would have been completely different since then I would have been forced to remain neutral and give due pros and cons to each Empire. The general concept I was trying to express is than Rome had to fight very tough adversaries in its beginnings and later on Carthago, a formidable enemy. So Rome was mostly a militarist empire at its core, meanwhile the later European colonial Empires were mostly economical at their core, and what I want for my Empire it's to be a warrior empire during its expansion (once done, the reduced need for troops once expansion and pacification is over would create a very interesting crisis of that model of Empire which would force a transformation form a hard core militarist empire to a more balanced one to avoid one of the reason Rome failed on the long term).

Back to climates, I don't have a deadline since the novel is all for my own enjoyment. It's just one of my dear hobbies, so no hurries. What happens is that I can't get my self to actually start writing it (I work on the outline instead) without knowing certain information from the world map (where mountains, rivers and lakes are, so then I can do a more natural division of the territory for administration purposes and to better place settlements, to know where to place the capital of the Empire, what climate each setting of the novel has, etc). Starting to write not knowing all those things bugs me, so I want to be done with the maps and rest my mind before focusing on writing, since I also have other things going on and I can't focus on all of them at once. But again, I'm in no real hurry, but if only to motivate me to do something about it, I gave myself the rest of the year to be done with the maps and then focus on the novel.

[groovey]

I must admit I like the climate map the old height-map results in, but the old height-map itself looks very silly to me now, so I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with it on the long run.

[ascanius]

Hey groovey. Its nice to see you still working on your map! Great job and keep up the good work, your further along than I am. I've been busy lately and going to be even busier for the remainder of the year it looks like. I'll try to drop in to see how you coming along.