WIP World Map

[Falconius]

I've no idea, this is just how I conceive of it to make it work for maps. It doesn't' have to be realistic (which TBH is hard to achieve without a complete understanding of the current science, science which doesn't have a complete understanding either), it just has to look good. Indeed I'm a bigger fan of drawing something that looks good, then doing my fake tectonics then editing the map to conform better to those tectonics, then back and forth until it feels right. So... very little science involved when I personally go about this method

[Kalium]

That's totally valid, I actually did the same with my main world. And you're right, I missed where the subduction zones were marked as island arc areas. My fault.

[Arimel]

So thank you for all the tips. I have edited my plates slightly and refined where the island arcs are going to fall. This will probably be the last tectonic map (I say again ) since it incorporates enough realism while still keeping the elements that I think will map the map fun to create later. As said before, next is the elevation map.

Eckert world types of plates.png

[Arimel]

This thread has been inactive for a while so I thought I would make a quick post to temporarily liven it up.

Here is my plan of the North-east continent (Continent C) that is very volcanic. It is formed of mountains along the north (collision plate caused) and the east-south (subduction plate caused as well as hotspots). The continent also has a large chasm going through the center that was created a long time ago by the eruption of the nearby super-volcano (tall mountain to the south of the continent). The chasm has been kept open since because most lava flows are directed away from it onto the nearby plains. (Just how realistic is this? I dont know of a real-world example for this)
I have semi-modeled this area off of the Cascade Mountain Range but due to the world-map scale I am working on everything is EXTREMELY vague, just enough (at least I hope it is enough) for me to move on the creating wind, weather, etc. maps later.


Closeup Elevation NW Continent.png

As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.

[Arimel]

OK.

It has been a while but I have finally finished the world elevation map. It has general elevation levels of the different areas of the globe. I do not know exactly how realistic it is, especially for the scale that the map is in, but it should be good enough to move on to wind & ocean patterns. As always comments & advice is welcome.

Here is the elevation map.
Eckert IV Elevation Map.png
And here is the plate boundary map for comparison.
eckert- World types of plates with hotspots.png

[Arimel]

So as the autumn rapidly approaches my thoughts turn once more to this world. It has been a long time since my last post but I think I have taken the appropriate next steps for the map. I have created diagrams showing the ocean currents, pressure systems (for both the January-July spectrum), and wind current maps (for the January-July spectrum again). These dont need to mimic reality precisely but should anything be glaringly misplaced or inaccurate please let me know!

Ocean Currents (red=warm, blue=cold, green=middle)
Ocean currents.jpg

Pressure Systems (red=high pressure, blue=low pressure)
Pressure Sytems N. Cold.jpg
Pressure systems N.hot.jpg

Wind Patterns (I forgot to trace my pencil lines in pen for the N. hemisphere hot season map. It is still legible but much harder to read than I would wish)
Wind patterns N. cold.jpg
Wind Patterns N. hot season.jpg

[Arimel]

Moving on. I have now finished my temperature maps for the world, including the modifications for altitude. Hopefully precipitation maps will be coming shortly!

Here are my zones of temperature (Dark Yellow = continental plus, yellow = continental, red = warm current, blue = cold current, green = mild current):
January
January Zones of Temperatures.jpg
July
July Zones of Temperatures.jpg


Finished Temperature Maps:
January
January Temperature Zones (including elevation effects) Map.jpg
July
July Temperature Zones Map (Includes elevation effects).jpg


And finally, my base elevation map:
Equi-World Elevation Map grayscale.png

[Arimel]

Oookkkk.... Here comes shortly...

I did finish the precipitation maps shortly (2-3 weeks) after my last post, but I never got around to posting them. I based the colors off of Azelors guide for making the precipitation maps (link below). Here they are:

January Precipitation
January precipitation map.jpg

July Precipitation
July precipitation map.jpg


Then, I went forward in placing in all of the climates. I used two other forums here to guide me, the first being Pixies 'Applying Geoff's Cookbook at detail' and the second being Azelors 'The Köppen–Geiger climate classification made simpler'. Specifically, I used the temperatures displayed in the PDF/image on Azelor's first page and Pixies definitions for the precipitation amounts.

This allowed me to slowly place in each of the climates. I have no doubts that there are inaccuracies in my 'finished' map. However, I dont think that there are any terribly inaccurate areas and I think this will provide a cool ground work for finishing and actually drawing the map (although not nearly on the scale initially depicted... no idea what I was thinking when I started this thread!) Without further ado, here is the climate map:

Climate map!.jpg

Like Pixie, I have used this wikipedia map as the basis of my color choices.

[Arimel]

Ooookkkkkk. So moving forward a bit more, I am now beginning the actual world building and drawing of the world. I am starting with two different maps, one of the world as a whole, and another of a much smaller region on the bottom right on in all of my previous images (I will try to include better image to describe this below). My WIP is on the smaller region, as I am still working out how I want to do the larger one.

Image of a climate map centered on the continent with an arrow pointing to the approximate region in question:
arrow.jpg


Image of actual region sketch:
Darnal Valley sketch 1.jpg
(Top of the map = East)

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This is the Darnal Valley Region. It is a relatively small valley were two branches of the larger mountain range reach out towards the west. It was carved out by glaciers many years ago, several of which can still be seen to the east. The valley is in a humid continental climate, getting lots of rain in the summer and some rain during the winter. The forests here are largely deciduous but get more coniferous as it reaches up towards the higher altitudes.

The Darnal valley does not have a central government at this point in its history, being a buffer zone between the expanding Amiro Empire to the west and the dwarven kingdom of Durgord to the Southeast. The placement between these empires could very easily make it an important trade route to follow or a war zone to avoid. However, its fate is yet to be written in stone...

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I am having a slight problem trying to put the elevation into the map. The mountain symbols along the edges are merely supposed to show how the elevation rises there, not individual 4km wide mountains. Any suggestions here would be great!

[Arimel]

Another update on the Darnal Valley. Slowly the stain of ink is spreading up the rivers. I hope to have the mountains and the forest in the northern sections done soon but we shall see.

Darnal valley WIP.jpg