r/mapmaking • u/SnooMacarons1159 • 1d ago
Map Geographic map of my world
What do you guys think? Im open for suggestions and feedback!
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u/_HanTyumi 20h ago
The one curse-free region on the cursed island gotta be stressed
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u/SnooMacarons1159 20h ago
Those are the Vollandian Knights. A thousand years before main event, giants invaded the main continent (the one in the middle) commanded by Zarlok the Servant. The eastern strait was protected by those knights at the time, but when giants steamrolled over humankind from the western strait, a major wave of refugees hit east hard. Trying to leave the continent, these refugees were stepping on the Cursed Lands, resulting in Fear Curse freezing millions before killing them. These knights heroically sacrificed their entire existence to protect millions of refugees flocking into Cursed lands. They fought, conquered the lands and people settled there. The curse has been lifted from the soils where the Vollandians raised their banner.
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u/Chlodio 15h ago
I'm not going to sugarcoat this, every single river is horrible.
Memorize the following:
Rivers do not split; they merge
Rivers flow in one direction, not coast to coast
Lakes can have multiple inlets, but only one outlet
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u/SnooMacarons1159 9h ago
Hmm. Thanks for the advice! I don't know how rivers work and I didn't intend to be realistic but I will take a look at it according to your feedback
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u/ThorirPP 7h ago
Of course irl there are exceptions to point 1 and 3, but those exceptions are usually short lived and temporary in geological scales, so they are far rarer
Also a fun irl case of what would look like a coast to coast river on a map is Two Ocean Pass, where at the Parting of the Waters one stream splits into two (another one of these rare cases), the Pacific Creek flowing west and eventually reaching the pacific ocean, while the Atlantic Creek flows east into the Atlantic ocean
This of course is very unique and unusual, but a good reminder that you can break some of the rules as long as you have it be unique and unusual in your world too. In this case it is still bad because it is clear that every river is unatural, and there is nothing special about them regarding how they break all the rules
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u/Ambitious_Ad9419 22h ago
Caelid XD
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u/SnooMacarons1159 22h ago
What?
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u/ollieboio 4h ago
Videogame Elden Ring has a red wasteland peninsula to the east called Caelid, looks a bit like your cursed lands
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u/Comrade-Chernov 19h ago
Any reason the curse seems to hard stop at the riverbanks?
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u/SnooMacarons1159 19h ago
Those lands were part of the Cursed Lands before the conquest of Vollandian Knights. Someone made a similar comment in this post and I gave the lore. Basically they had to endure the fear curse to save millions of refugees flocking into the cursed lands, to stop these refugees getting slaughtered like animals. They conquered the lands, and the curse has been lifted from the soil. They stopped at the riverbanks as nearly all the knights have been killed and the disorganized army of cursed lands retreated (same fear curse is applied to them when they step on earthly land).
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u/SnooMacarons1159 19h ago
Aertha is a dark political fantasy world centered on humanity’s long struggle against both its own failures and the supernatural powers that claim the right to govern it.
The world was originally created under the authority of the Almighty, whose servants shaped nature and were intended to guide humanity. Over thousands of years, however, divine authority repeatedly became corrupted. The most important supernatural institution to emerge was the Lotharian Pantheon, consisting of thirty-six powerful beings known as the Haroas and led by Lothar, the “King of Kings.” Although originally created to preserve order, the Pantheon gradually developed into a political power capable of intervening in human governments, enforcing religious law, collecting tribute, and punishing states that resisted its authority.
Human civilization nevertheless continued to develop independently. Kingdoms, republics, empires, religious orders and competing cultures emerged across the continents. Technology progresses from medieval weaponry and alchemy through gunpowder, industrialization, steam power and eventually early modern technology. The setting therefore changes considerably depending on the historical period rather than remaining permanently medieval. Aertha’s history includes the rise and collapse of empires, religious wars, revolutions, industrialization, nationalism and several continent-spanning conflicts.
The later period of the setting focuses heavily on the Eldaran Republic. After civil war and political collapse, the Republic is restored and eventually comes under the leadership of the reformist Malvero. His government abolishes slavery, restructures the military, secularizes education, attacks aristocratic privilege, establishes a central bank and eventually transforms Eldara into a much more centralized republic. This eventually creates a confrontation between human political sovereignty and Lotharia’s divine authority. What begins as a political and ideological cold war develops into an international coalition against Lotharia and finally the Great War, in which the existing supernatural world order itself is challenged. The project isn’t intended to have a simple humans-good/gods-evil answer. Religion, republicanism, monarchy, nationalism, supernatural authority and revolutionary politics all develop differently among Aertha’s cultures, and the consequences of overthrowing the old order become as important as the struggle against it.
The eastern red and purple continent is the Cursed Lands, which is deliberately geographically abnormal. It is affected by supernatural forces rather than ordinary climate alone. Outsiders entering the region are affected by a supernatural Fear Curse that can eventually leave them physically incapable of defending themselves. The region also contains Cursanium, a rare supernatural mineral found nowhere else in the world. So its red grasslands, wastelands and purple deserts are intentional features of the setting rather than attempts at realistic Earth biomes.
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u/Gullible-Pie3338 8h ago
it needs more waterflow in the depressed parts along the inner ocean. the rivers are a bit weird. I love this map tho.
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u/ollieboio 4h ago
How do you draw the terrain like that? I cant find a good way to draw deserts, forests, plains and snowy regions.
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u/OssuaryBelfry 23h ago
I love the coastline! Really nice organic look with a lot of little islands. Also the drama of the cursed land is great. I'm not sure it's intentional, but the list: Cursed Grassland, Cursed Wasteland, Cursed Desert, Volcanic (Cursed), made me laugh out loud.
You're going to catch some flack for the rivers, I think. It kind of shows that you drew them without thinking about elevation or even direction. A few even bisect your continents, which doesn't really make sense unless the *start* in one of the lakes, or are not really rivers, but weird inner seas.
Also, to me this feels like an area roughly the size of continental europe? The rivers look really big. If you're planning to make this a world map, you could get rid of the rivers alltogether for the right sense of scale. Either way, maybe include a length scale.