The continent of Ordona (Mbandena)

[Stephen Koch]

Here is a continental map that I have been working on the past week or so. Its for a game world that my friend has thought up.

Ordona.PNG

There are eight nations, which are not yet distinguished. this is definitely a WIP.

The name Mbandena is from proto-Gorofanchi language for the continents name. Gorofanchi is the western most nation occupying the large flat plains and the north-south oriented mountain range. Since this is for a game that is also very much a WIP, most of these names are still subject to changing. My friend is a linguist grad student, and I have done my own small forays into that subject, so every name has a base in some language that exists in reality. To illustrate, I'll show you the thought process behind Ordona and how it evolved from Mbandena.

So you start with Mbandena which evolves into Bandena.

bandena
bandona (vowel swap e > o)
bardorna (rhotic involvement)
ardorna (dropping initial bilabials)
ordorno (vowel swap a > 0)
ordono (dropping rhotic near nasals)
ordona (genderization)

Anyhow, we would love to see what critiques any of you have, what you like, dislike, etc. I have used what knowledge I have of mapping and geography to help shape the continental features. (the continent itself was a tobasco stain.)

I will be creating regional maps for each of the nations, and I will post them to this thread, and they will most likely be WIPs.

[Greg]

Looking really nice Stephen!

I've only just started map-making myself, but I'm generally really liking the shape, though maybe the coastline middle, top left looks a little unnatural. It's strangely reminding me of someone's toes! The mountains look good from what I can see and the forests are nicely spaced. I also like the diversity of regions within it!

It's always nice to see pencil work too!

[Applejack]

Hey, nice map.
Always nice when there's more countries (imo)
Do you happen to be Zeldafan? Because Ordona lol.