I must say that I haven't really designed a very large area, simply because I haven't needed to for the narrative as it is so far. The most recent map is 21.1 cm by 14.3 cm. According the scale that I set for it, which was 1 cm to 20 km, that's only 422 km by 286 km. In terms of area, thats only 120,692 square km. For the sake of comparison, the Earth has a surface area of 510,100,000 square km. In other words, if the planet that my story is set on is comparable in size to the Earth, I've used 0.0237% of the surface available to me. Coincidentally, looking through Wikipedia's list of countries by land area, the country closest in size is North Korea, at 120,538 square km. If you're so inclined, check out google maps at this link to get a better idea of the magnitude of the area involved : http://goo.gl/maps/DkEbr
But I should begin with how the geography of Eldawn asserted itself. To be honest, it began very simplistically. I didn't even look at any references of real world geography, I must say the first few maps look positively juvenile to me now. I'll upload the scanned softcopies and give a few remarks on their development.
Map Version 1 - I was simply putting in locations that I had already determined for my narrative flow at the time. Elenis and Alanis are two great cities of the Shining Wings, one of the two main societies that formed after the Rebellion. The northern forest was also something I had established early on. The name 'Viridien' however, has since been jettisoned after my cousin remarked that a forest in Pokémon was dubbed with the adjective 'Viridian' already. The map was attempted with a slight isometric tilt which is why it looks really, really odd. No attempt at a scale either. Selvaren and Vatonen were the names of two Shining Wings settlements, while Calnarest was the temporary name for the forest city of the Filial, the other main human society.
Map Version 3 - Still not much of a sense of accuracy with the scale of geographical objects in this iteration. Decided that Coralsea should be encircled by a peninsula and an island of sorts. Cardolen is established as the Shining Wings settlement that was responsible for the maintenance of the southern dam on the waters of Mirrorsea. Genexis, the research outpost of the Filial is also indicated for the first time. The sketch of the globe with wind currents represents my thinking about climate and the biomes that would be appropriate to the region. I had decided that Mirrorspring would be located exactly on the equator, so the Viridian could not possibly be temperate as it was in Version 1 of the map, with the hastily sketched conifers. Also, Calnarest has been renamed Yevanis, in step with Alanis and Elenis.
Map Version 4 - The notion that Coralsea would be embraced by a pair of peninsulas and an archipelago was established by this version. Also, the names were given in the script I have devised for Eldawn, I'll probably have to think of a few more, but I'll save languages for another post. Enjoy the preview of the script here anyway. I attempted to get a better sense of scale with the mountains, but after I sat back to reexamine the map, the whole thing just looked odd. Less of an isometric approach though, that was a good decision. The coastlines are also a little less smooth, although still highly unrealistic.
Map Version 5 - Alright, this is the final attempt at a map and the most refined at the moment. This was done from an entirely top-down view, which is why Mirrorsea is circular, instead of elliptical as it appears previously. The cities of Elenis and Alanis are linked by the Grand Canal, and the Shining Wings settlements of Selvaris, Bonaris and Calvaris are noted. I drew this map after helping my dad navigate on vacation. Sweeping around over google earth caused me to realise that none of my maps previously had the convincingly fractal like quality of actual geography. I hope this map reflects that a little more. Coming up with names that have a history behind them will be a little difficult I do confess, but if I want to construct a map, I want to do so properly.
The mountains are now to scale, since I was able to pin down a proper 1 cm : 20 km ratio. Although they aren't exactly Everest, I still calculated that they could have a believeable height of approximately 2.89 km on average, which is monumental enough for the purposes of my story. Climactically, the forests are now tropical, and the coral growing in Coralsea is consistent with an equatorial latitude. The mountains however, still remain cold because they are part of the elevated highlands, outlined in grey. Seas and water bodies are outlined in blue for the most part, and vegetated areas in green. The colouring is somewhat incomplete though.
I'll probably continue editing and detailing this final version of the map digitally, get it in full colour and so on when I feel the need to. Right now I'm directing my attention more towards the characters and history of Eldawn. In the meantime, I'll post the location descriptions for the places indicated on the map so that they have a little more substance behind them. This experience of landscape design has been yet another insightful journey to understanding the thought that infuses a credible fantasy. I do hope these maps give the world of Eldawn a little more substance for you, apart from existing as a pool of theological and philosophical ideas.
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