# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > General and Miscellaneous Mapping >  -»Rhothar«-   .:The World:.

## Rhotherian

(Two things: A) Please twll me "WIP" stands for "World in Planning". B) This thread was origionally posted and coppied from a thread I made on a completely unrelated forum, so there may be some BBCode errors. I'll fix those later.)


*-»Rhothar«-* 

Well, this is a kinda "creating thread" for my Earth-like fantasy world "Rhothar" (which means "The World", for those who are wondering). I'll add a nice intro later. Too lazy now. -_-



-»Rhothar World Map


Key:
Lighter Grey Areas = Land
Darker Grey Areas = Water
Red Lines = Continental Boundaries
Blue Lines = Ocean Boundaries



-»Physical Map


Key:
White = 18'000ft / 6'000m and higher
Purple-ish = 12'000 - 18'000ft / 4'000 - 6'000m above sea level
Brown = 6'000 - 12'000ft / 2'000 - 4'000m above sea level
Green = 0 - 6'000ft / 0 - 2'000m above sea level
Blue-Green = Land below sea level
Light Blue = 0 - 6'000ft / 0 - 2'000m below sea level
Pure Blue = 6'000 - 12'000ft / 2'000 - 4'000m below sea level
Dark Blue = 12'000 - 18'000ft / 4'000 - 6'000m and lower



-»Continents & Islands


*Continents:*

Lithotar (Storm Land)
A large, Africa-like landmass in the south, Lithotar is a hot continent covered in desert, savanna and jungle. Though it's the hottest of the continents, it's also the most stormy, gaining it's name.

Hutar (Central Land)
Hutar is like the Middle-East of Rhothar. It is largely desert with slight tropics in the south. It's name comes from the simple fact that it's central to nearly all the other continents.

Enaetar (Clouded Land) 
By far the largest of the continents, Enaetar is like Eurasia on Earth, with climates ranging from tropics to tundra. In most parts of Enaetar, it is lush and clouded. The near constant sight of clouds earned it it's name.

Vanatar (North Land)
Being the furthest north, Vanatar is also the coldest. Being a sort of northern Antarctica, the continents is largely lifeless. Being very cold and very windy, the only reason peoples have settled here is because of it's vast resaurses of metals and gems.

Duratar (Dry Land)
Duratar is the dryest of the continents and has a landscape much like North-America, save for the lack of much lush grasslands. There's a large area of grassland, mainly savanna, to the south, jungle to the north, but a vast desert in the centre.

Suratar (Wet Land)
Covered in jungle with a near continuous outpore of rain on its surface, Suratar has a just name. Its climate and biosphere is much like that of Indonesia or South America. Like Lithotar, Suratar experiences heavy storms year round. Unlike Lithotar, Suratar experiences mostly rainstorms, whereas Lithotar's storms are more like thunderstorms on a masive scale.


*Islands:* (Only the most natable)

Outremar (Home Isle)
The origin of man into Rhothar. The ancient volcano has since been abandoned, save for a few small tribes. The eastern coast is mostly a jungle of, not only trees, but all forms of fungi. The west is a vast savanna-esque grassland. The beaches are grey as the result of volcanic ash.

Siromar (Isle of Ghosts)
The origional name of this cursed rock as been long forgotten. This was once a great colony of men, but years later, for no apparent reason, all have dissapeared. The once tropical paradise has been redused to a ghostly underworld whose very air carries the poison of death. None who have venturued here has ever returned.

Thangmar (Isle of Ice)
An icy wilderness of snow-covered mountains and vast plains of ice, Thangmar is home to the icerealm of the Thangan people. The only trees are on it's southern shores. To the far north lie the frozen needles, a vast plain of gigantic icycle spears, while the centre of the island is a flat plain of snow.

Jaymar (Island Spire)
The origins of this incredible and illogical structure is unknown. It could not have been created natuarally, you see, as it shrusts up, near vertically, from the deepest deapths of the ocean floor high into the clouds. A thin staircase has been cut into the grey rock cliffs, spiralling upwards from the vertical shores up to its very top. No one has ever survived the climb.

Belmarin (?)
[What could be so special about these..? Need help here.] 

Vanmarin (Northern Isles)
These mountainous islands are covered in jaged cliffs and ice-covered peaks. The only flat land on the largest of these islands are the north shores. Even there, a trip to the sea means a deadly fall onto the jaged rocks below. The flat land creates a path between the islands, completed by gigantic wood and cable bridhes built into the cliffs between the islands. These bridges link to the nearby continents, aswell as the islands, creating a gigantic bridge between Vanatar and Enaetar.

Denaymarin (Bridging Isles - Not labelled on the map)
The island chain spanning from the Cape of Vanatar southwest to the Horn of Elnar, the Denaymarin act as a bridge between Vanatar and Duratar. They are largely alpine in climate with scattered swamps on some of the islands. The natives live in simple straw homes and have build barges to ferry travelers between the islands and the mainland.

Lithomarin (Storm Isles)
These bare stone islands in the middle of Lithogar are the called Lithomarin because of the stormy sea they rest in. Some may be completely submerged by waves at times and their are always clouds and heavy winds over these islands. They are a dangerous rest stop between the East and West of Rhothar when traveling by ship.

Unmar (?)
[What could be so special about this one..? Need help with this too, please.]



-»Oceans, Bays, Lakes and Atols


*Oceans:*

Shingar (Churning Waters)

Chogar (Warm Waters)

Elegar (Calm Waters)

Lithogar (Storm Sea)

Thangar (Ice Sea)


*Bays and Atols:* (Only the most natable)

Hunar (Central Atol - Not labelled on map)

Telnar (Enclosed Bay)

Thionar (Rocky Bay)

Bornar (Hidden Atol - Not labelled on map)

Ongnar (Narowing Bay)

Ginar (Blizzard Bay)

Cornar (Bay of Magic/Scorcery)

Sulnar (Paradise Bay)

Suranar (Wet Bay)

Fornar (Bay of Fog)

Duranar (Dry Bay)


*Lakes:* (Only the most natable)



*Continue in next post*

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## Rhotherian

-»Geological/Climatic Areas 



1) *Outremar* (Our Home Island - Technically "Home (_out_) of us (_re_) island (_mar_)" as would be spoken in basic Rhotharen (the common language of Rhothar) )
*No pics of this yet*

2) *Vana Suratar* (North Wet Land (North Suratar))
 (Basically Atlantean)

3) *Siromar* (Isle of Ghosts)
 (This, just abit more evil/underworld looking)

4) *Suravan* (The West Chain)


5) *Hitarin* (The Golden Fields)


6) *Duratarin* (The Dry Plains)


7) *Vanazeal Duratar* (Northeast Dry Land (Duratar))


8.) *Gorelarin* (The Torn Mountains)
 (Basically a fusion between the Grand Canyon and the Himalayas)

9) *Vanatarin* (The Northern Plain)


10) *Thangtarin* (The Ice/Frozen Lands)
 (Imagine this with a blizzard)


*Continue in next post*

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## Rhotherian

11) *Nerzuvan* (The Black Chain)
 (This, only stormier and more cliffy)

12) *Cortarin* (The Lands of Scorcery/Magic)


13) *Sultarin* (The Paradise Plains)


14) *Oltarin* (The Land of Trees)


15) *Hileolarin* (The Piercing Mountains)


16) *Garobarin* (The Green Hills)


17) *Denaysar* (The Crossing Valley)


18.) *Solunetarin* (The Flowering Fields)
 (Note: _These_ flowers are about the size of people)

19) *Thiotarin* (The Shear Lands)
 (Note: This is meant to be a viking-ish environment)



*Continue in next post*

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## Rhotherian

20) *Chotarin* (The Warm Lands)


21) *Hutarin* (The Central Lands)


22) *Vana Lithotar* (Northern Stormland (Lithotar))


23) *Solagarin* (The Sand Sea)


24) *Mana Solatarin* (The Southern Sand Fields)


25) *Lithomarin* (The Storm Isles)




-»Tectonic Map


Key:
Red Lines = Fault Lines (The less straight the lines, the more frequent and large the earthquakes in that area)
Red Dots = Volcanoes
Large Red Dots = Super Volcanoes
Black Arrows = Plate Movement



-»Ocean Currents


Key:
Red Arrows = Warm Currents
Blue Arrows = Cold Currents



-»Outremar


In the distant past, the microcontinent of Outremar was a gigantic shield volcano that gently sloped downward into the Chogar, Shingar and Elegar Oceans. The volcano had been dormant long before men found their way to Outremar as it‘s magma filled interior drained and hollowed out. In more recent antiquity however, a terrible earthquake shook the great volcano to it’s core. The earthquake caused much of the inland region of the Outremar volcano to collapse and fall into the deep hollow center, forming a huge caldera. The earthquake tore chasms and valleys through the continent all the way to the oceans, allowing a great flood of seawater to pour into the caldera, creating the atoll of Hunar as we know it today, this is why the shoreline of the sea in the middle of the atoll, the Basthis Sea, is made up of jagged, sheer cliff faces while the outer shore is gentle and mostly consists of sandy beaches. 

Outremar’s climate is quite warm. Moist ocean winds blow from the east, drenching the eastern slopes of Outremar in drain and coating it with jungle, and in the case of the great eastern cape and the cape islands, a forest of giant, bioluminescent mushrooms and other fungi. On the northern and southern slopes of the great atoll of Outremar, the rainforest makes way for verdant grassland, nicked with ravines and chasms and studded with small stands of palm trees and other jungle-esque growth. To the west, the grasslands become dry savannah grasslands, as the moist winds from the west are depleted of water. On the far western slopes, the deserts and dune ergs can be found, where the coastal sand mixes with black sand from volcanic rock to form a distinct grayish sand. 



-»Language

Place Names:
_'ar_ = Place - The starting letter indicates what the place is (lake/river/mountain/island/etc.)
_Thar_ = World (Eg. "Rho*thar*" = "The World")
_Tar_ = Continent (Eg. "Enae*tar*" = "Clouded Land (continent)")
_Tarin_ = Area of land - field/plain/platuae (Eg. "Hi*tarin*" = "Golden Fields")
_Mar_ = Island / Isolated group of islands (not a chain) (Eg. "Thang*mar*" = "Ice/Frozen Island")
_Marin_ = Islands (spread group or chain) (Eg. "Litho*marin*" = "Stom(y) Isles")
_Gar_ = Ocean (Eg. "Ele*gar*" = "Calm Waters (ocean)")
_Garin_ = Sea (Eg. "Nerzu*garin*" = "Black Sea")
_Nar_ = Bay/Atol (Eg. "Cho*nar*" = "Warm Bay")

Directions:
_Vana_ = North
_Zeal_ = East
_Mana_ = South
_Ore_ = West
_Haveh_ = Up
_Zen_ = Down
_Nal_ = Left
_Ban_ = Right

Colours:
_Blure_ = Red
_Jayta_ = Maroon
_Vandor_ = Purple
_Croma_ = Indigo
_Zam_ = Blue
_Zamgaro_ = Sea Green
_Garo_ = Green
_Keel_ = Chartreuse
_Yan_ = Yellow
_Bara_ = Blaze Yellow
_Ion_ = Orange
_Liso_ = Magenta
_Jayra_ = Brown
_Hita_ = Gold
_Suhnbrar_ = Silver (metalic gray)
_Suhn_ = Prefix for "metalic"
_Nerzu_ = Black / Prefix for "dark"
_Brar_ = Gray / Prefix for "dull"
_Seo_ = White / Prefix for "light"





NOW! What I need/would like help with:

-I need help with maps (detailed versions of each continent and a possible better world map)
-I need help with the descriptions of some of the places on Rhothar, including oceans
-I'd like to know how to make a 3D planet representation of the map with Google Earth (I've seen people do it, I just can't figure out how to do it myslef... =/)
-I need to think up a story line for the world
-I need you to have fun with this!! ^^

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## Rhotherian

Woops. Sorry for extra post. I may make use of this later.

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## zhar2

Looking nice (besides avatar pics)

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## Rhotherian

What exactly do you meen by "besides avatar pics"?

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## zhar2

Some look similar to avatar enviroments, like 13 and 14.

and the pictures seem to lack continuity, but over all its a good start.

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## Ascension

I don't really care where the pics come from I just like the idea of showing what the terrain looks like by using those pics.  Helps give a real feel for the land.  Lots of info to digest and I didn't read it all but the maps looks good so far.

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## jwbjerk

Cool, I like to see a world built from the ground up.

"WIP" stands for "Work in Progress"

Your concept of "cold" and "warm" currents is a little off though.  It's a relative concept.  A "cold" current at the equator is much warmer than a "cold" current closer to the poles.

As the currents move around they adjust toward the ambient temperature.  There may be some exceptions, but here's how it works in a nutshell:
 if a current moves a significant distance _toward the equator_, it's going to be a cold current, since any other source of water is going to be colder.
Similarly, if a current moves a significant distance _away from the equator_, it will be a warm current.

Especially around Duratar, the currents don't follow this patterns.


Also, using the most common method of wrapping a sphere with a map, your North pole gets pretty distorted.


Hopefully you are aware of these kind of issues, and have some sort of projection in mind that avoids this problem.  I'm not very experience in other projections, and am not sure that any projection can avoid this problem, but i thought you would want to know, if you didn't have something in mind here.


EDIT: i've wanted an easy explanation of how to check for polar distortion before, so i through together a quick tutorial of my method, here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...p-in-the-Round

Please forgive the promotion of my own tutorial, but i haven't found another explanation of how to do this.

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## Redrobes

I think this is a great start on a world and theres obviously been a lot of thought gone into it. Thinking about all of these things up front helps to build up the data you have on a place which I believe makes it easier to map later on and improves consistency. I liked the picture/photos and they bring a sense of reality to the place. I dont have much to add. A world is a most complex beast so there is innumerable ways to improve it. You have to pick your fight tho cos any one of them can get you into an extended period of work.

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## Rhotherian

> Cool, I like to see a world built from the ground up.
> 
> "WIP" stands for "Work in Progress"
> 
> Your concept of "cold" and "warm" currents is a little off though.  It's a relative concept.  A "cold" current at the equator is much warmer than a "cold" current closer to the poles.
> 
> As the currents move around they adjust toward the ambient temperature.  There may be some exceptions, but here's how it works in a nutshell:
>  if a current moves a significant distance _toward the equator_, it's going to be a cold current, since any other source of water is going to be colder.
> Similarly, if a current moves a significant distance _away from the equator_, it will be a warm current.
> ...


 Thanks alot! ^^

Great tutorial. I'll only be able to make use of it next month, though, as I'm too scared to download those just yet as my internet cap of 2 megabites may run dry. I'd love to see Rhothar in a 3D, so mind taking a screen shot of each continent and the poles (the pic you've allready taken + the south pole) for me? Oh, and I preplanned for the pole-distortion. The islands are just alot thinner than I expected... -_- I'll fix that later.

Finally, about the sea currents, mind fixing them for me? You don't have to make them from scratch, I'd just like you to change the arrows to the colours they would most likely be (blue = cold current / red = warm current).




@zhar2: Oh, I see. Well, Sultarin and Oltarin's pics are actually concept art for Avatar. Hutarin's pic is from concept art for Star Wars' "Felucia".  :Wink: 



Thanks alot for your responces, guys! ^^

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## jwbjerk

> I'd love to see Rhothar in a 3D, so mind taking a screen shot of each continent and the poles (the pic you've allready taken + the south pole) for me? Oh, and I preplanned for the pole-distortion. The islands are just a lot thinner than I expected... -_- I'll fix that later.


The other related issue is that your base map doesn't have a width to hight ratio of 2 to 1.   2 to 1 is standard for a normal wrapping, and since yours is closer to 3 to 2, it implies your map is supposed to have a different projection,  or that you goofed.  If i took pictures of the continents they would all be distorted, (compressed toward the equator i think) though less obviously than the picture i showed of your north pole.  There's no painless way to fix that-- that i know of.  You'll need to make some judgment calls about things.




> Finally, about the sea currents, mind fixing them for me? You don't have to make them from scratch, I'd just like you to change the arrows to the colours they would most likely be (blue = cold current / red = warm current).


 But what would you learn from that?  :Wink:

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## Rhotherian

@About the projection: The areas near the equator would be stretched, actually. I did some calculation and found that the 2:1 ratio is the equator (if you will) of the orb against the diameter. Thus the longer the length of your map, the more compressed it will be. Thus, if your length is shorter that the 2:1 scale requires, the areas near the equator will be stretched.

Doesn't really matter, though. I simply want to see each continent and pole seperately so that I know what to edit at each to stop it looking funky.  :Wink: 


@As for the currents: I'll figure that out after I see how it differs from my version. So, please?

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## jwbjerk

--------------

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## Rhotherian

Thanks alot!! ^^


Now all that's left is the ocean-current map. If you don't want to recolour the arrows, mind giving me a more detailed explaination of how ocean currents work and where I went wrong? =]



Edit: I edited the map abit. I added a ridge in the Elegar sea that I forgot to add orinionally and edited the poles abit - especially the north pole. I smoothed out the details. Mind orbing it like you did the origional?

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## hohum

Very cool, it reminds me of this site http://www.khoras.net/

I was curious as to what programs and methodology you were using to produce your maps? I particularly like your tectonic plate/ volcano maps. My solution for avoiding polar distortion was to massage my continents out of the extreme latitudes. However if you want more realism that may be unacceptable.

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## Rhotherian

Thanks! ^^


I think you'll be very surprised to learn that I used nothing more than MS Paint to do the tectonic map!! Want a tutorial? =]

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## hohum

> Want a tutorial? =]



 Of course I do! I am a hoarder of tutorials. Someday I may actually even finish a map.

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## Rhotherian

Well, creating a nice (I think) tectonic map is really simple.

Unlike dhalsimrocks' tut, which is tectonic map --> world map, this is world map --> tectonic map.

For this tutorial to make sence, it's best to not have finished your maps yet. The mountain ranges must be in chains and, well, the map should simply follow the laws of geology.


(Note: If you allready know where you want your fault lines / plate boundaries to go, skip to step 5)


1) First study the way plate tectonics work. There are three basic types of fault lines: *Transform Faults*, where tectonic plates slide past one another (eg. the San Andreas Faultline and the Middle-Eastern part of the Great Rift Valley); *Divergent Faults*, where pates spread (eg. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Africa's part of the Great Rift Valley); and *Convergent Faults*, where tectonic plates crash into each other. There are three basic types of Convergent Faults: *Mid-Ocean Subduction Faults*, where oceanic crust (thin crust) colides and the one plate slides underneath the other - this plate can then melt under the other plate. The material can then rise as volcanoes, forming volcanic islands next to the fault on the "top plate" (eg. The Indonesian Islands and much of the rest of the Pacific islands); *Coastal Subduction Faults*, where oceanic crust colides with continental (thick) crust. The oceanic crust slides under the continetal crust. The same volcano-forming prossess can now take place, only instead of forming an island chain in the ocean, it'll form a volcanic mountain range allong the coast of the continent (eg. The Andes Mountains in South America and the Rocky Mountains in North America); then there are *Continental Colision Faults*, where continental crusts colide. It's now alot harder for one plate to slide below the other, so both plates take the obvious route: up. This forms huge non-volcanic mountain ranges (eg. The Ural or Himalayan Mountains).

Now that that's sorted, find simmilar features on your map. Look for mountain ranges, island chains, ridges and vallies.


2) Found them? At this point, I usually coppy my map (with the needed features) down on paper. I then look for the most likely fault zones (based off the above information) and draw lines where they would be (note: Never draw your fault lines over mountain ranges unless it's a continental colision fault. Same goes for island ranges. The only point at which faults can go through mountains or islands is when it's a transform fault. For vallies or ridges, draw the fault line directly down the middle).


3) Now, to complete your plates, it's a simple prossess of connecting the lines. See what I did on _my_ map. There are some points where faultlines follow no apparent landmarks. These will usually be transform faults. Note that some faults you drew earlier may be seperated form everything else. On Earth, this _does_ happend. Many faultlines do not count as plate boundaries. Examples of these are the Baffin Rift Zone, the Great Glen Fault and the Ural Collision Fault. It's ok to have these on your map. Even I've got quite a few of those on my map.


4) Now, you may want to add features allong your faults that weren't there origionally, simply to make the tectonic map seem more believable. These features would be things like volcanoes, ridges or anything like that. Use my map as an example if you wish.


5) Now it's time to put this on your computer (unless you want to keep it a drawing, that is. If so, you're done! ^^). If your origional map was on the computer, you may want to keep your tectonic drawing nearby for this step.

First, right click your map (if it's allready computerised. Otherwise you'll need to skan in your drawing) and select "edit". You should find yourself looking at your map in MS Paint in a few seconds.

Now, select the colour you want to draw the faults in with. I used red (I darkened it abit by going to the top menu bar (--> colours --> edit colours) after selecting red). Now, use the "line" tool. Select your line width and start drawing in your fault lines *where they are meant to be straight*. (Note: If you added features to your drawing, you may want to add these to your computerised map before starting with the fault lines).

Where the faultlines bend, it's allitle more tricky. Select the "curve" tool (make sure the line width is the same as your other lines). Now, the curve tool can make lines with at most two curves ("S" shapes), so make sure you use it as such. Click where the curve/double curve in the fault system stars and drag the curser to where it spans its maximum of two curves. Now, you can only edit in the curves twice (that's why it can only make two curves), but MS Paint counts using the curve tool, like any other tool, as one move, so pressing ctrl-Z to undo a curve you didn't really want will mean you'd have to redo the curve.

Now, when you've drawn the line, click somewhere allong the line (NOT the middle!) and drag it in the direction of your first curve. It doesn't really matter where the line ends up yet. Making the second curve does. Now, click on the oposite side of the line and drag it in the direction of your second curve. Concentrate here. Drag it untill the line followes the curves in the fault line. If it doesn't yet, try again.

Now repeat the prossess untill your whole fault system is complete.



Hope that helps. If you have any problems with this technique, I'll be happy to help.  :Wink:

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## hohum

I will post back next week with my results, I'm going on vacation and hope to be computer free for a few days.

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## Rhotherian

Enjoy it!  :Wink:

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Rotherian, I just discovered this thread and repped you. I also like the idea of having sample images of terrain to really give folks an idea of the vibe of each 'zone.'

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## Rhotherian

Thanks! ^^

I've been hoping to create some expanded maps of each continent, but I haven't found the time yet. -_- I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me.  :Wink:

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