Map assistance please

[Leif Notae]

Good morning everyone, thanks for reading.

So I whipped up this map a while ago. It's a small chain of islands, though I'm not sure what to do with it or even if it makes sense. I was thinking northern pirates and whatnot since the location on my "big map" is above the temperate zone.

Is this a little too forest-y? A little too many small islands? What's your opinion on it (other than the streams need to be better, I haven't got the pen tool down yet. I feel like an old man using it at times)? Do I play god and shift these islands to a more tropical setting?

I'd be happy to hear what you have to say.

 

[Saigonnus]

I believe that forested islands are about as common in the real world as "tropical" ones; think about the islands of Japan or the aleutians for example. How large are those small islands? Large enough for a community? A couple ideas come to mind if they are.

1. A psuedo-native american type culture (like what was found on the island of manhattan) that subsists on seafood, seaweed and a bit of agriculture; maybe the agriculture aspect centers around that large island and they have to go get food from time to time. Instead of canoes, they could use more of an outrigger style with pontoons and a single sail for traveling between the islands with ease. There could be different tribes on the different little islands for a more elaborate culture; since they'd fight each other from time to time and each has a distinct sub-culture. Maybe one tribe wears scary wooden masks when going into battle, while another uses pieces of rock or colored beads to decorate their clothing. You could even have some with basic metal-working skills, giving them an advantage over those without it.

2. A religious based culture that was cast out from the mainland in times gone by and forgotten. Perhaps at one time they performed human sacrifice or the sacrifice of animals (or some other controversial rite), the reason for their exile. They flourished on the islands and life is centered around the massive cathedral on the main island, which takes up much of the butte in the center. The cathedral can be the town center, military headquarters for the order of templars or paladins that keep the peace and the gathering place for the population for their religious ceremonies.

3. To run with your pirate idea, I think it would interesting to have a culture that is centered around piracy. You could have a single pirate "community" on the main island, and the smaller ones acts as fortresses (with their respective villages) to keep their ill-gotten gains. They maintain a powerful naval force and may even act as a legitimate country for the sake of appearances. Perhaps they grow illegal herbs or plants on the island that they sell in every port they visit and maybe even dabble with poisons and other harmful substances that are illegal elsewhere. They would probably keep an extensive network of spies, beggars, fences and "merchants" in any place they visit for the ease of passing off their illegal products.

Just a few ideas... have fun with your islands.

 

[Jes]

I personally don't think there's too much forest there, no. It doesn't have to be a tropical island to be covered in trees, after all! As it is now, it even looks a little dry, which can add to the fact that it's not tropical at all. I'm a fan of small island chains, too. Most people tend to forget that islands - especially many of them in a chain - are actually quite natural. Many panhandles and landmasses that jut out out a larger continent have some manner of island connected to it. Just take a look at Florida, Alaska, South America, Japan, Indonesia, and all around Europe. Islands are everywhere!

Good job, by the way. It looks great.

 

[ThinkerX]

I've no idea how big the large island is supposed to be, but that is a minor issue.

I believe that forested islands are about as common in the real world as "tropical" ones; think about the islands of Japan or the aleutians for example.

Err...minor correction here. The aluetian islands are devoid of forests - or even trees, for that matter. The islands of Southeastern Alaska and coastal British Columbia...those got *lots* of trees - essentially temperate rain forests.

As to the size of a wooded island...many years ago, I spent a few chaotic weeks with the Exxon Valdez clean up operation in Prince William sound. One of the places my team was stuck on was a pretty much literal dot on the map called 'New Years Day Island' which was maybe...three or four acres in size tops - and yet so densely forested you could almost get lost in its 'interior'. I saw other, smaller islands - a few of them not much larger than a good sized house - which also sported patches of trees up top. Granted, these were coastal islands...but much of the mainland in that area is covered with giant glaciers left over from the last ice age - the last remnants of the old continental ice sheets, in fact.

Your streams probably work as is, especially if rain is an intermintent occurence on these islands. Eco wise...weird things can happen on isolated islands. I've read accounts of islands utterly overun by rats and/or feral cats, along with unusual vegetation and critters found nowhere else.

 

[topazfire]

It may also be useful to look at how islands are formed. Are they volcanic like Hawaii (apparently not by the look of your picture - or maybe it is dormant) or were they pushed up above the waterline by the coming together of two continental plates (like the top of large underwater mountains. As ThinkerX, mentioned as well, your streams look alright, leading from the highest point to the ocean.

Brandon Saunderson has a great series of lectures on YouTube and one of them focuses specifically on map making (aka: physical geography 101) and after I watched it I looked at my map and had to erase half of my rivers and most of my mountains! Ah well...

Here is a link just in case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_cQfhgA89I

I did find it very enlightening even though I had to change a few things - apparently I didn't pay attention too much in Grade 9 geography

 

[Gurkhal]

I think it looks fairly ok and it shouldn't be a trouble that there is forest on islands in a more northern climate.

And I pretty much agree with Saigonnus in that an island could have a population that extended beyond what the island itself could support, and thus they could turn to piracy in order to gain hold of resources needed to feed themselves and their society. This would of course make them more like pseudo-vikings rather than pirates, as in seaborn bandits, but you probably get my drift.

If your going with this route then I would imagine the society would be fairly martial and have a culture in which violence was more accepted than in dominantly farming socities, and very likely they would look down on those parties that they did raid and steal from.

 

[Mindfire]

Good morning everyone, thanks for reading.

So I whipped up this map a while ago. It's a small chain of islands, though I'm not sure what to do with it or even if it makes sense. I was thinking northern pirates and whatnot since the location on my "big map" is above the temperate zone.

Is this a little too forest-y? A little too many small islands? What's your opinion on it (other than the streams need to be better, I haven't got the pen tool down yet. I feel like an old man using it at times)? Do I play god and shift these islands to a more tropical setting?

I'd be happy to hear what you have to say.

How did you make that? HOW? HOW?!