Here's something that I thought I would put up here and talk about for a bit. One of the maps I drew, which I'm so happy with.
I got really into Cartography for a hot minute and ended up creating tons of these maps, most I would get the basic outline done and just give up on it. But, with this one it was different. I got the outline of the continent done and then I started to fill in details. Once I got some of the details drawn, it made the map really come to life and gave me the inspiration to move forward with it.
The title of this world I decided on was, Aimland. Maybe not the most creative name in the world for a fictional land. But, I decided to name it for my significant other. Hence the name.
I had no plan in mind for this place as I was drawing it, but, I did come up with some interesting histories along the way while creating it.
Like this region for example. Lake-loss Castle, built in the middle of a dried-up lake bed. With huge high naturally formed walls surrounding it. It thrived and became one of the richest cities in the region which went on to become one of the strongest factions in the whole land. But, the lake losing its water was no accident.
As we can see from Lough Dam, which is a huge dam erected to stop the water from flowing to the lake. Which caused the banks to flood in on itself forming the Marshlands.
Which are destroyed now, thanks to this act. Before this, The Marshlands were prosperous rolling meadows with a young kingdom rising. After the flood though that kingdom became a swamp and the people had to learn to live in the shadow of a new kingdom.
I thought it was cool because a story could potentially be told here from the perspective of someone who has grown up in The Marshlands. Who wants revenge on the kingdom that took their place and expanded around them.
I think it's important while making in world factions to have backstories like this and reasons for the factions to dislike, trust, hate, or like each other.
This region I thought was interesting. The largest island to the north would be about the size of the UK and Ireland combined, for some comparison of the size of this continent.
The people who would live here I thought would be Viking kind of people who begin to raid the main continent near the start of the book. (If one was being written.) Using all of the rivers throughout the land and potentially connecting parts of the world together through trade or alliances.
Other than that, the mountain regions on the main content would be home to nomadic people. Mountain clans, as well as small settlements not written on any map.
My idea of these people is they are kind of Gaul, back in the Roman days. Mostly unknown, but still powerful.
The forest being deforested is an important feature as cutting back the forest is what reveals to the Lake-loss faction, these people living up beyond the mountains.
This region I don't have any names for, but, I thought it would be interesting to have some kind of superpower. Like an entire Roman-style empire beyond the rivers that are so close to the other faction that upon discovering one another there would almost certainly have to be war between the two.
I thought leaving them there as the kind of big bad from beyond, who once discovered brings the Lake-loss faction to the brink of collapse.
Then there is this faction. I thought the continent needed a desert region. So created this one. They are blocked from the rest of the world by a mountain range, but, are home to powerful nomadic warriors who are just sitting dormant.
The End
So, that is some of the history I wrote for this fake map I drew, which could potentially be a story for a book I haven't even started to write yet.
I'm too busy with my Sci-fi project to even think of starting something like this just yet. But, I think with the stuff I've world built, the story can almost write itself.
The reason I started learning about cartography and world design was for the Sci-fi book, so I could actually draw maps for the different planets just so I could have an idea of where everything is. This though is one of the best I ever drew and wasn't even a part of the Sci-fi story. But, sometimes being creative you don't get to choose what you're going to make.
