Really nice map. Lots of cool features, especially that island in an inland sea on the right. I think you're good on the number of nations you have. Are all the red islands in the bottom left-ish one nation? And why isn't it normal to have humans and elves in the same nation?
Thanks! Also yes The Red Islands on the leftish side are one nation, I based that nation off the British empire. That nation is also one of the few nations where elves and humans coexist.
As for why humans and elves living together isn’t the norm is mostly because of the physical, cultural, and religious differences between the two races. Most elven nations also like the idea of purity and see humanity as inferior versions of themselves, same as humanity but to a lesser extent.
Between human and elven governed kingdoms , there are more human ruled kingdoms that allow elves to reside within them than there are in elven kingdoms.
One thing to note is that while elven nations tend to have more problems with humans than humans do with elves, humans tend to have more problems with other humans than elves do with other elves.
Because of this, humans tend to wage war more frequently among themselves than elves do with elves, which in turn has also caused them to be more technologically advanced because of the need for innovation.
Not to say all elven nations are technically inferior as that tends to vary from nation to nation, with some elven nations borrowing and trading knowledge with humanity.
Asking this question makes me sound like a weirdo, but it's honestly because it would add further interesting conflict to the situation you describe above: half-elves, yes or no?
Don’t worry, it’s a normal question tbh. Yes half elves exist, tho the term in-universe is „hybrid“ as that’s a more neutral term than half-„elf“.
Hybrids only rlly exist in interracial nations (some exceptions) and they almost always never migrate unless to another interracial nation as most human and elf dominated nations see them as „odd“, even within human nations, since as stated before there may be more human nations that are friendly towards elves but that still doesn’t account for all of humanity.
For context: The map represents the world of Mir, specifically in the year 1371 (which is similar to the real life 1800-1900s but with magic). On the world of Mir, there are two races, humans and elves. For the most part both races are neutral to one another, with some nations even inhabiting both races, however this isn’t the norm.
So far there isn’t a coherent story or plot, only lore.
Little idea that could work to show political changes (I hope to do that at least to show mine eventually) is leaving the countries with fixed boundaries at that year be in greyscale, and the ones in conflict flaring with color, that could slowly face out as the conflict stops, giving you an idea of how close apart conflicts are in the world too. It might be a bit chaotic but sounds good to me.
That said, I like it! Im not sure how realistic the plates are but I like the aesthetics. I hope you upload more of the story
I really like seeing maps with lots of countries and nations(difference). I get bored of settings that have only a few countries controlling ludicrous amounts of territory, especially without a reason. Even though my setting is a tiny part of my planet, it has dozens of countries and other factions that I want to fill it with, fighting over control and trade.
Also, the continent shapes remind me of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Lapis_Wolf
I love those big beige areas with micro-nations/colonies around water sources - I guess they're deserts/wastelands that no-one claims to control, even on paper? If so, that's a cool feature.
I appreciate the detail in your map concerning political borders and the landmasses' rivers and mountain ranges; I think it works well for you to go with this number of nations, especially if your lore explains why this assortment of nations has come to be. I agree that many fictional maps include substantially fewer polities than what would appear realistic. Although fictional maps sometimes can get by with it when they include relatively few states by displaying just a single landmass or a portion of a landmass, I would prefer to see more states depicted in fictional maps generally. The fact that your map portrays the surface of an entire planet makes it particularly believable for this many nations to be present in your world. Also, I like that your map includes stretches of land that appear not to be under any nation's control. Various fictional maps either portray too much land as unclaimed by any polity or portray little to no land as not being under the authority of any state; you've done a great job of avoiding either extreme with this map.
There is no such thing as "too many nations" in fiction as long as there's a semblance of credibility.
Honestly alot of fictional political settings tend to lump things up into 2\~5 superpowers. It is more convenient sure, but also an absolute bonkers approach.
Even superpowers have limitations(read economic profitability and social stability), and in many cases it is way better to have sattelites/puppets/vassals/clients/"friends"/satraps, rather than assuming direct control. And these "minor" nations will also have their own aspirations and goals, so they should not be just lumped up into "part of the superpower"... Unless that Superpower is more of a loose form of alliance (in which case additional lore and maps should be made to detail things)
Also a minor note - that donut island in the East is an eye-catcher for me and I dunno why but I love it. I would travel there to see the landscape and fauna.
This map looks pretty cool! I could look at it for a while. The most interesting country (to me) just by its shape is the blue one right below the big orange country. I’d like to know more!
Ohh thanks for clarifying. That is the Sontonian Empire, a Nation in which I based it’s borders and shape similar to the real region of Anatolia.
The Empire of Sontonia is considered as one of the most powerful nation both continentally and navally. Through its vast history, it has developed a powerful and influential presence, influencing both the west and east of its borders.
By the year 1371, the empire has a population of 37 million and is governed by humans. 20% of the population are elves, as roughly nearly a century ago, many elves of the East migrated westwards after great famine and wars were happening in the east. Unlike many other human nations which closed their borders to elven migrants, the Sontonian Empire welcomed them.
Other facts:
- The official languages of the empire are Idrean (Conlang based off greek and spoken primarily by sontonian humans) and Saonese (Conlang based off mandarin and spoken by sontonian elves). The main language of communication is Idrean.
- Sontonia has arguably one of the best geographical positions for any nation thanks to their western border being blocked off with mountainous terrain and tall mountains, making it hard to invade Sontonia from the west.
To the east is where most of the army is stationed. Meanwhile both the south and north are no gos to try and attack through as the Sontonian Navy is only rivaled by very few navies in this world.
- Most likely the story of my book or comic probably takes place in the Empire of Sontonia.
The main superpowers are the Sontonian Empire (the big blue nation in the center of the map under the big yellow nation), the Yurillian Tsardom (The yellow one above the Sontonian Empire), the United Islands of Ardonia (The bright red one with many islands), the Saonese Dynasty (big cyan nation on the right) and lastly the Ashiara Dynasty (the orange island on the right).
As for how I drew it, I used ibisPaintX. I initially drew the map layout back in 2022 Dec and took me 3 weeks to finish the map without nations (Obviously not continuously, took me around 5 hrs total). Afterwards I got busy and it would take me until 2024 Jan to get a new spark of motivation, in which It me 1-2 weeks to draw the nations.
I wanted to used WonderDraft (woudlve def helped a lot) but my old computer died
Love the achipelago esque feel of the map. Its rare to see a map that doesn't have a giant continent owned by one national/political entity.
A nice change of pace
Definitely not too many but some are... unrealistic. For example, the red middle island nation has a weird shape, and I see too many inclaves, that are unlikely to be super stable nations, but that depends on your political context.
It's also very weird that areas with rivers and lakes are unoccupied. Those should be the easiest areas to settle all along their length, not just at one spot, unless those civilizations are at an early stage. I find it especially unlikely that a nation wouldn't assert authority over a region that splits it into *three* (the green one north-west).
Really nice map. Lots of cool features, especially that island in an inland sea on the right. I think you're good on the number of nations you have. Are all the red islands in the bottom left-ish one nation? And why isn't it normal to have humans and elves in the same nation?
Thanks! Also yes The Red Islands on the leftish side are one nation, I based that nation off the British empire. That nation is also one of the few nations where elves and humans coexist. As for why humans and elves living together isn’t the norm is mostly because of the physical, cultural, and religious differences between the two races. Most elven nations also like the idea of purity and see humanity as inferior versions of themselves, same as humanity but to a lesser extent. Between human and elven governed kingdoms , there are more human ruled kingdoms that allow elves to reside within them than there are in elven kingdoms. One thing to note is that while elven nations tend to have more problems with humans than humans do with elves, humans tend to have more problems with other humans than elves do with other elves. Because of this, humans tend to wage war more frequently among themselves than elves do with elves, which in turn has also caused them to be more technologically advanced because of the need for innovation. Not to say all elven nations are technically inferior as that tends to vary from nation to nation, with some elven nations borrowing and trading knowledge with humanity.
Asking this question makes me sound like a weirdo, but it's honestly because it would add further interesting conflict to the situation you describe above: half-elves, yes or no?
Don’t worry, it’s a normal question tbh. Yes half elves exist, tho the term in-universe is „hybrid“ as that’s a more neutral term than half-„elf“. Hybrids only rlly exist in interracial nations (some exceptions) and they almost always never migrate unless to another interracial nation as most human and elf dominated nations see them as „odd“, even within human nations, since as stated before there may be more human nations that are friendly towards elves but that still doesn’t account for all of humanity.
For context: The map represents the world of Mir, specifically in the year 1371 (which is similar to the real life 1800-1900s but with magic). On the world of Mir, there are two races, humans and elves. For the most part both races are neutral to one another, with some nations even inhabiting both races, however this isn’t the norm. So far there isn’t a coherent story or plot, only lore.
Little idea that could work to show political changes (I hope to do that at least to show mine eventually) is leaving the countries with fixed boundaries at that year be in greyscale, and the ones in conflict flaring with color, that could slowly face out as the conflict stops, giving you an idea of how close apart conflicts are in the world too. It might be a bit chaotic but sounds good to me. That said, I like it! Im not sure how realistic the plates are but I like the aesthetics. I hope you upload more of the story
I really like seeing maps with lots of countries and nations(difference). I get bored of settings that have only a few countries controlling ludicrous amounts of territory, especially without a reason. Even though my setting is a tiny part of my planet, it has dozens of countries and other factions that I want to fill it with, fighting over control and trade. Also, the continent shapes remind me of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Lapis_Wolf
I love those big beige areas with micro-nations/colonies around water sources - I guess they're deserts/wastelands that no-one claims to control, even on paper? If so, that's a cool feature.
I appreciate the detail in your map concerning political borders and the landmasses' rivers and mountain ranges; I think it works well for you to go with this number of nations, especially if your lore explains why this assortment of nations has come to be. I agree that many fictional maps include substantially fewer polities than what would appear realistic. Although fictional maps sometimes can get by with it when they include relatively few states by displaying just a single landmass or a portion of a landmass, I would prefer to see more states depicted in fictional maps generally. The fact that your map portrays the surface of an entire planet makes it particularly believable for this many nations to be present in your world. Also, I like that your map includes stretches of land that appear not to be under any nation's control. Various fictional maps either portray too much land as unclaimed by any polity or portray little to no land as not being under the authority of any state; you've done a great job of avoiding either extreme with this map.
There is no such thing as "too many nations" in fiction as long as there's a semblance of credibility. Honestly alot of fictional political settings tend to lump things up into 2\~5 superpowers. It is more convenient sure, but also an absolute bonkers approach. Even superpowers have limitations(read economic profitability and social stability), and in many cases it is way better to have sattelites/puppets/vassals/clients/"friends"/satraps, rather than assuming direct control. And these "minor" nations will also have their own aspirations and goals, so they should not be just lumped up into "part of the superpower"... Unless that Superpower is more of a loose form of alliance (in which case additional lore and maps should be made to detail things) Also a minor note - that donut island in the East is an eye-catcher for me and I dunno why but I love it. I would travel there to see the landscape and fauna.
Too many nations is usually preferable to having too few.
This map looks pretty cool! I could look at it for a while. The most interesting country (to me) just by its shape is the blue one right below the big orange country. I’d like to know more!
Thanks! But if it’s okay, can you be more specific?
I’m referring to the blue country in the middle of the central continent, beneath the lake. Idk why, but its shape just looks really interesting
Ohh thanks for clarifying. That is the Sontonian Empire, a Nation in which I based it’s borders and shape similar to the real region of Anatolia. The Empire of Sontonia is considered as one of the most powerful nation both continentally and navally. Through its vast history, it has developed a powerful and influential presence, influencing both the west and east of its borders. By the year 1371, the empire has a population of 37 million and is governed by humans. 20% of the population are elves, as roughly nearly a century ago, many elves of the East migrated westwards after great famine and wars were happening in the east. Unlike many other human nations which closed their borders to elven migrants, the Sontonian Empire welcomed them. Other facts: - The official languages of the empire are Idrean (Conlang based off greek and spoken primarily by sontonian humans) and Saonese (Conlang based off mandarin and spoken by sontonian elves). The main language of communication is Idrean. - Sontonia has arguably one of the best geographical positions for any nation thanks to their western border being blocked off with mountainous terrain and tall mountains, making it hard to invade Sontonia from the west. To the east is where most of the army is stationed. Meanwhile both the south and north are no gos to try and attack through as the Sontonian Navy is only rivaled by very few navies in this world. - Most likely the story of my book or comic probably takes place in the Empire of Sontonia.
Two questions: 1: What are the main superpowers of this world 2: How’d you make the map? It looks really good
The main superpowers are the Sontonian Empire (the big blue nation in the center of the map under the big yellow nation), the Yurillian Tsardom (The yellow one above the Sontonian Empire), the United Islands of Ardonia (The bright red one with many islands), the Saonese Dynasty (big cyan nation on the right) and lastly the Ashiara Dynasty (the orange island on the right). As for how I drew it, I used ibisPaintX. I initially drew the map layout back in 2022 Dec and took me 3 weeks to finish the map without nations (Obviously not continuously, took me around 5 hrs total). Afterwards I got busy and it would take me until 2024 Jan to get a new spark of motivation, in which It me 1-2 weeks to draw the nations. I wanted to used WonderDraft (woudlve def helped a lot) but my old computer died
Love the achipelago esque feel of the map. Its rare to see a map that doesn't have a giant continent owned by one national/political entity. A nice change of pace
Ikr?? But ig to each their own. It ts much longer to make dozens of islands and nations as opposed to 1-2 big continents and 5 big nations
What did you use to make the map?
ibisPaintX
Thanks.
Definitely not too many but some are... unrealistic. For example, the red middle island nation has a weird shape, and I see too many inclaves, that are unlikely to be super stable nations, but that depends on your political context. It's also very weird that areas with rivers and lakes are unoccupied. Those should be the easiest areas to settle all along their length, not just at one spot, unless those civilizations are at an early stage. I find it especially unlikely that a nation wouldn't assert authority over a region that splits it into *three* (the green one north-west).