The Annals of World-Building II

In the first edition of this series, I went through some of the characteristics of The Empire's homeland. Now it's time to time a wider look at the world. 

I apologise for my handwriting and the quality of the picture.

It's difficult to see, but shaded areas are those under the control of or otherwise claimed by The Empire. This includes the following:
Alt!Eurasia: Cynilann (The Mainland), Helmalann, Crudeland, Mulsha, Silkland, Saricum
Alt!Africa: Brickland, Rubberland, Southern Holdings
Alt!Australia: New South Donnelon
Alt!South America: Errin, Trinon, Minctor
Alt!North America: Springland
Alt!Antarctica: Australia
Islands (left to right): Prover Islands, Saina, Mictan, Sealand, High Island, Limacle, New Rinheart, Lesser Colonies, Red Islands, Flail Islands, Stark Islands, Bay Islands, Fire Islands, Asman

Helmalann was where civilisation originated, and they originally colonised Cynilann; however, society and technology grew so much faster in Cynilann that in a matter of time they came back and conquered Helmalann.

Cynilann has had especially good trade relations with Silkland and has rather recently declared dominion over them, as well as Crudeland. (Most nations here ending in -land were dubbed as such by Cynilann because they couldn't pronounce the native names. Crudeland stays somewhat true to the real name, which is something like Khudan, but Cynilann doesn't have as much respect for peoples not so closely related to them and just names them what seems appropriate.)

At the same time, Cynilann rather respects Saricum, since the latter has pretty much always been the cradle of knowledge on the other side of the river. (Their Hetalian personifications are totally crushing on each other, just saying.)

Cynilann's claim over Brickland, Rubberland, and the Southern Holdings is almost entirely economical, though they keep enough of a government there to ensure they will continue to milk the area dry (and that nobody else is going to step in and try to share). This hasn't been entirely successful, and there have been some extremely threatening border disputes with Scewoa (belonging to Faxir), but it would have to be more of a problem before they would go to war over it. These three colonies are some of the most recently established of The Empire.

New South Donnelon, obviously named after the southernmost island of Cynilann, is a more appreciated colony. The majority of the native population (which wasn't large) was killed in a tsunami and subsequent (unrelated) plague a few decades before the Cynilan people landed there, and the few who remained were quickly assimilated when the Cynilan people colonised. The Cynilan population there now surpasses that of mainland Cynilann, though they're not quite as urbanised.

Errin was gained via a Cynilan citizen's marriage to the local royal family and Cynilann's subsequent passing of bills to secure it nationally. Once Cynilann had a military presence there, it quickly took over Trinon and Minctor by force. Cynilann claims that Stalmid, right in the midst of their territories there, is too worthless a piece of land to be worth the trouble of conquering it. Then again, they do lay claim to Australia, which is worthless for anything but scientific research. Perhaps the Stalmidians are just rather troublesome...

Cynilann had established trade connections with Springland, notably the part of the continent as far as possible from Grema. From there, they peacefully took over. Springland is a very popular tourist spot on top of having great tropical farmland.

Most of The Empire's islands were taken militarily, with the exception of Sealand. It was uninhabited previously due to surrounding currents being extremely difficult to get through. It's still rarely visited (quite a few of the islands are really just claimed without being taken particular advantage of). The Lesser Colonies, or "Coal Islands," however, got their popular nickname for a reason. One of the most strictly-guarded colonies of the Empire (in fact, it was there that Macbay did his military service), it has oodles of coal, mined both by Cynilan people and the effectively enslaved natives. The Bay Islands are a good source of sugar and molasses. The Flail Islands have massive guano deposits.

During the actual story, war has broken out. A minor conflict over Opalia (fought between Balaccia and Ganoria, the Iberian peninsula-ish country and the Britain-ish country to the south) escalated, got some colonies involved, and then allies. Cynilann was dragged in via Saricum and is now on the side of Ganoria and Lichper (and their colonies). Balaccia is allied with Vitrina and, more importantly, Cerdisa. Cerdisa and Cynilann have had bad relations and a lot of cat fights over colony ownership, so it wasn't hard for Cynilann to really get into things once Cerdisa stepped in.

On the other hand, Grema (which has considerable influence over the other nations on its continent) was once Cerdisa's colony and still has a good relationship with them. Together, they're nicknamed the "Twin Beasts of the North," and it should suffice to say Cynilann really hopes Grema stays neutral over there. Certainly Cynilann is still sure they'd win, but it's enough to concern them.

This is only a rough map of the world, and several of the smaller nations and islands were cut out, but they don't play big roles in the time of the story. This is enough for now. The world isn't *entirely* fleshed out, but considering the actual story is limited to one island of The Mainland, I probably shouldn't be too worried.

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).

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...