World Map - Akossi (working title)

[Clemence]

Hello, Cartographers' Guild! I have barely posted on here at all but I decided to upload some of the progress I've made in creating a global map for a long-term worldbuilding project I'm working on, which as of now is called Akossi. The name’s temporary because I haven’t worked out nearly enough of the various languages I plan to make. The world will be home to three intelligent species, and its flora and fauna will resemble that of Earth’s, but with several different yet realistic features. The world will also possess magic, and I’m working to create a unique magic system. I'll attach some maps that show where I am now (creating a rough elevation map). Please critique and ask questions if you have the time! I'd like for my conworld to be fairly realistic, so don't hesitate to point out things that don't really look right. Right now I'm primarily concerned with the polar caps; if anyone has any info on how they form or how they should look, please let me know or direct me to a thread about it. The next updates (when I have time) will probably be fine-tuning the elevation map, figuring out wind and ocean currents, and eventually creating a climate map. Thanks, and enjoy!

Just elevation:
cg ask-post.jpg

Without Southern Polar Sheet elevation:
cg ask-post img 2.jpg

[Clemence]

Update: mostly just making the map look slightly more presentable (although it is meant to be more functional than beautiful at this stage), adding some ocean color and changing some of the continental shelves. Feel free to ask questions or critique. More work will be done as my schedule permits, enjoy!

cg wip 2.jpg

[Gidde]

Looking good so far, I like your continent shapes and island chains. Very natural

[Clemence]

Looking good so far, I like your continent shapes and island chains. Very natural

Thanks Gidde for the feedback! I’m also pretty happy with the continent shapes; I didn’t want them to be super ragged-looking, or too solid-looking. I basically came up with a balance where coastlines next to plate boundaries generally were smoother than those not at plate boundaries. As for the islands, it was difficult finding a pleasing shape and way to place the islands, but I’m pretty happy with it now. Eventually the color scheme and general craftsmanship of the map will look better when I have time.

[Tiluchi]

Looks like a great start! I also like the general continent and island shapes, they're very satisfying to look at

Just a couple of technical comments on the elevation things I see so far:

• Is there a reason that there are a number of areas where the highest elevation ends abruptly at the coast? Looking in particular at the northwestern coasts of the two eastern landmasses. I would expect at least a little bit of elevation dropoff there, unless they're meant to end in massive cliffs for whatever reason.

• Those... lakes? that seem to run along the ridges of high elevation seem to have a rather odd placement, as I'd expect lakes to be in lower land and surrounded by higher territory. Unless they're meant to be in rift valleys and the "valley" part isn't showing in the elevation.

Otherwise it looks great. I think the polar ice caps look fine as they are, unless they play a major part of the story and you're worried about getting them 100% right. I confess I'm not sure what would be happening at the north pole considering that there's no landmass there- I'm assuming there would be a smaller extent of ice there, though I'm not sure how much since of course we don't have any equivalent on Earth to compare it with.

[Clemence]

First of all, thanks Tiluchi for the feedback! Now for addressing the issues:

• Is there a reason that there are a number of areas where the highest elevation ends abruptly at the coast? Looking in particular at the northwestern coasts of the two eastern landmasses. I would expect at least a little bit of elevation dropoff there, unless they're meant to end in massive cliffs for whatever reason.

You're right; I had been looking at global elevation maps of earth to see what the Andes were like, but as I look closer now I see what you mean. It also just makes more sense (I'm not planning on having huge cliffs there anyways).

• Those... lakes? that seem to run along the ridges of high elevation seem to have a rather odd placement, as I'd expect lakes to be in lower land and surrounded by higher territory. Unless they're meant to be in rift valleys and the "valley" part isn't showing in the elevation.

Haha , yes those are lakes. I guess it's a little unclear, whoops. Most of them (like the long chains of them) are meant to be in rift valleys. I didn't think the valley part would show based on elevation maps of Africa and its rift valley, but I can try to indicate it. For the other little lakes, putting them at lower elevations makes sense. I guess I was also thinking that since the measurements weren't very detailed (as this is a global map), they could still be surrounded by higher territory; it just wouldn't show up on the map.

I think the polar ice caps look fine as they are, unless they play a major part of the story and you're worried about getting them 100% right. I confess I'm not sure what would be happening at the north pole considering that there's no landmass there- I'm assuming there would be a smaller extent of ice there, though I'm not sure how much since of course we don't have any equivalent on Earth to compare it with.

It's not imperative that they're super accurate; I mostly just wanted to see if a northern ice cap would exist in that polar ocean even with no landmasses.

I'll probably implement most of your suggestions Tiluchi, thanks again! I'll upload a recolored and revised map soon, probably with some ocean currents and accompanying questions.

Thanks!

[Clemence]

Update on the mapping process: I recolored it to make it look more natural, made some of the changes Tiluchi suggested and tried to figure out rough ocean currents. I'm having trouble getting them accurate; I'm not sure if they make sense. For reference (since it's not in the picture) the winds blow on Akossi as on Earth: trade winds in the Hadley cells, westerlies in the Ferrel cells, and polar easterlies in the polar cells. If anyone could offer help or suggestions, I would appreciate it! Here's the map:

cg update.jpg

[Jean-Abdel]

I think the elevation map is better that way, but there's a small problem with oceanic currents, they won't be stopped by the small islands on the right, so you won't have that gyre between the archipelago and the continent. Also, I think the eastward currents in the northern hemispher should flow a bit more to the north, like 60°N, and currents don't follow the coastlines as well as yours. You should really have a look at precise IRL oceanic currents maps.

[Clemence]

Thanks, Jean-Abdel for the feedback. I was feeling iffy on the gyres near the western archipelago; the only reason I made gyres there was that I wasn't sure if the continental shelf around the islands would divert the surface currents, since as far as I understand they seem to loosely follow the continental shelf. Thanks for your advice and recommendations; I'll be sure to look at some real oceanic current maps. Hopefully the next iteration makes more sense!

[Clemence]

So I adjusted the currents based on Jean-Abdel's suggestions, and I compared them to ocean currents on Earth. I think they look fine, but there still may be some iffy parts. As always, comments and critique are welcome!

cg currrents ask.jpg