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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Annals of World-Building I

As I mentioned in its standard writeup, I've been doing some extensive world-building in the world of Macbay Transportation Services. I figure I could use as much feedback on that as on any other part of the story, so why not do a little sharing?

The map of the mainland is one of the first world-building exercises I did. Apologies for my handwriting, and for the image size (I tried the "X-Large" setting here, but the words weren't legible).
Map of Mainland Cynilann

I did some slight naming changes after scanning it onto the computer (Lavil to Havil and Helmland to Helmalann), but otherwise the original ideas haven't changed much. Lines represent major roads (usually alongside railways), though they're not all in great condition, as Macbay can attest. Rivers and lakes should be obvious; major bridges are double lines over expanses of water. The triple points are mountainous/very hilly areas, the sets of three lines are swampy areas, and the clustered circles are forest. Cities with blank circles are less populous. Mayport is the capital.

Macbay is from Avalanche City on Donnelon Island, Loretta May is from Jamber way up north on Rinheart, and Max is Mayport-born-and-bred. None of the mains represent Milsin Island, but it's not that important and is colloquially referred to as "Vet Island" since a whopping amount of war veterans settle down there.

There aren't many natural landmarks, but Wickport has a rather famous and ornate lighthouse open to tourism. Setchport has a clocktower, and Mayport has "Statue Park," a large field monument with various statues of leaders and warriors in a chronologically-ordered winding line of bronze statues.

Havil is the coal center of the mainland (though the "Coal Islands" or Lesser Colonies are that for the whole Empire). Central City is the tech city of the place, while most immigrants stay near Wickport. Fog (named that for a reason) has the nation's best university, although Mayport has its own uni and a good law school (which Max attended). Kinnick is a big producer of fish, though it's not that heavily populated.

Rinheart Island may have a lot more farmland, but Donnelon is the one associated with the country bumpkins. Near Central City and Mayport, those from Rinheart are generally considered snobs, while there's not a solid impression of those farther north or south. "Easterners" and "Westerners" are from the respective sides of Donnelon, while "Northerners" and "Southerners" are from Rinheart.

I don't have a good handle on distances, so I haven't provided a scale. As of now, the place is a bit larger than Japan, though that could change as the plot needs it (don't want Macbay to get to his destinations too awfully quick).

So that's the basic writeup for our mainland. Just wait until I post their world map...

2 comments:

  1. I love seeing things like this. I've always really enjoyed making maps for fictional places, whether they be buildings, cities or worlds. (Or arenas!) What a lot of work you've put into this - I love how intricate it is! I find it always helps to plot out what the setting looks like before I write a story.

    Statue Park sounds really nice. I'd love to see something like that.

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    1. Thanks! In its first stages of plotting, it really looks like Macbay's not going to end up at much of any of these places, but I'm considering abandoning the program I've been using for this and just writing it as it goes.

      Maybe he'll have to make a side trip to Mayport, then. ;)

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