Writing Me

World building: Day 5 (take 2)

Day five of the world building exercise involves drawing a map. As my map is drawn in my notebook, I'll describe some of the relevant features here.

The map is of the Western segment of a continent, at around the 35 degrees of latitude mark. There are other continents in this world, but my map shows only part of the one.

To the western portion of my map is the ocean. No major islands are visible off the coastline, let alone any continental mass.

The western portion of land contains podocarp forest, reminiscent of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, only more densely populated. And, obviously, on a continent rather than an island. It has a high annual rainfall, and fertile soils and temperate rainforest.

Approximately 200 kilometres to the east of the coastline lies an alpine range. This is reminiscent of the Southern Alps in New Zealand, and of the Andes. There are several passes, with hazards including snow, ice, and avalanches. Avalanches are more common in spring as the ice begins to thaw. There are a few plateau regions which are lightly populated with small alpine villages.

To the east of the alpine region is a semi-arid region. This region contains a significant portion of clay soil, perfect for pottery. As a result, there are a number of settlements based around the pottery trade, as well as other settlements.

To the southern aspect of my map is a large river, leading from the alpine region to a near-peninsula on the western coastline. A large city lies to the immediate north of the river mouth.

The northern aspect of my map shows a glimpse of a harbour. Unfortunately my page was too small to draw this in, the drawback of using A5 instead of A3. There is a city bordering on the western side of this harbour, between the harbour and the sea.

There is a large lake approximately 100 kilometres north of the southern city, and approximately 75 kilometres south of the northern city.