WIP - The Melinka Prefecture - Road and transport map (and an introduction)

[Skalimoi]

I apologise beforehand if my English isn't very good, as I'm not a native speaker.

Hey there! I've been a member of this forum for quite some time but I haven't really participated or posted any work of mine... Until now, I have only asked questions and browsed maps for inspiration. I apologise for that. I have a problem with not finishing projects, and I have tons of half-made maps sitting there, but I think that this last project of mine is doing well enough for me to post the process here. I tried looking for critique on Reddit, but I think it's better to post here. I hope this post serves as a good impression.

I mostly make what I call modern-style maps, instead of the classic Tolkien-esque maps I usually see here. Don't get me wrong, I love those map styles too, but I don't think they would go well with my world: it's some kind of fantasy inspired by the Belle Époque, WW1, the Bosnian War and the 80s. It's a strange mix indeed, and I don't know how to explain it better than that. I hope my style isn't disappointing. My goal is to make realistic, in-universe maps that could actually be useful by the people using them. I have one world and I set all my maps in it, hoping to one day make a comprehensive atlas of it to the best of my ability.

But hey, enough chitchat! This is the beginning of a series of road maps covering the Kingdom of Hellion, a small country near the South Pole with a long history of civil conflicts and the main setting of my story. Each map will cover one of the eight prefectures the country is divided in, this first one being Melinka. This map isn't finished yet, of course: it lacks some labels, revisions, and the outer layout which will contain all the data. However, I thought it would be great to know your thoughts on it before I start working on the outer layout. Any comment will be greatly appreciated, and I'll gladly answer any question you ask me.

(I would really like to show you my relief maps, but as I said, they're nowhere near finished - will be sure to post them in the future if you're interested, though)

Nice to meet you all! Now, the map:

version-1.jpg

[morne]

Really clean, I think it's looking really good! Do you have a conlang/conscript?

[Skalimoi]

Really clean, I think it's looking really good! Do you have a conlang/conscript?

Thank you so much! And yes, I do have a conlang (the Hellenian language), and I made the script too. I'm not too well-versed in conlanging, so my progress there is very slow, but at the moment is well-developed enough to write names and short sentences. The script is inspired loosely by Japanese and heavily by Polynesian languages such as Sundanese (actually, if you look at the script you will see the similitude!), but the language per se is a strange mix of Greek, Japanese, and Afrikaans.

[Michi il Disperso]

Wow! Neat! It’s a beautiful map! If i was one of your player i’m sure i would be proud! Only thing i could say maybe some road seems a bit too straight, but it’s really a minor thing

[Skalimoi]

Wow! Neat! It’s a beautiful map! If i was one of your player i’m sure i would be proud! Only thing i could say maybe some road seems a bit too straight, but it’s really a minor thing

Thank you!! And yes, I understand your criticism: some railroads are straight because they don't have many obstacles in their path, but I think I'll revise some of them now that you said it.

[Michi il Disperso]

Yep, i don't know the scale (and the kind of terrain, actually), but if it's a "exact" road map and not an indicative one i expext a little bit more tortuosity in roads and railroad. But i'm really pedantic in this

[Skalimoi]

Yep, i don't know the scale (and the kind of terrain, actually), but if it's a "exact" road map and not an indicative one i expext a little bit more tortuosity in roads and railroad. But i'm really pedantic in this

Haha, don't worry about that. The map is supposed to be something like ~60km from left to right (I can't look up the calculations right now so this is from memory) so I think you're right, maybe a little more curves won't hurt. That way it'll look more realistic, and you don't notice these errors after working hours and hours on a map. Thank you!