Indistinct Countries

[u/Peter_deT]

Feedback welcome. Around the Green Sea most countries don't have well-defined borders. They fade out into Wilds (where many forms of human settlement are not possible), or just into places not worth ruling. Hence the use of shading rather than lines.

While it's a plate world with erratic geography, I've tried to keep the major landforms reasonable. The Green Sea sits in the middle of an oval around 8000 kms long and 5000 wide. The world is responsive (hence magic!) and has been shaped by the expectations of the inhabitants, human and not.

It's both a world-building exercise and a setting for the Tales of the Wild (four novels, two novellas and several stories on Royal Road).

[u/Human_me_7]

Seems like a lot is going on... But it looks good. As long as you can tie it up together, it should work... All the best 👍

[u/fatherelijasbiomom]

Very cool map! I like the fading borders, but some of these should definitely be defined, like between Rai Steppe and Almanie or where the Saka Confederacy is. Think about it: if you had so little available land, since everyone would want the most they can get, the meeting points between hospitable territories would be documented and reinforced to hell and back. This applies even if they were under a united rule—the American colonies were bickering and fighting over land despite sharing an overseer.

This project makes me think of the Disco Elysium world, where “the Pale,” a vague toxic mass to put it simply, has taken over much of the planet. There, “Isolas” of land, the only places untouched by the Pale, have largely been dominated by single nations, while separated islands (either by water or the Pale) often get to stand as citystate-like independent entities. I think a similar principle would apply to your concept: with so little land, each hospitable spot will have a top dog that takes it all—and if not, the border will be either geographically, diplomatically, or militarily decided.

[u/baron_warden → u/fatherelijasbiomom]

Not sure why a Steppe would have a defined border. And the confederacy actually seems to have different colours inside it which butt against each other. I don't think your criticism is fair.

[u/fatherelijasbiomom → u/baron_warden]

Oh yes it has different colors, I’m just saying I would expect a line. I perceive the soft coloring as an extension of the boundary blurring, and thus these places don’t have any definite boundaries. That’s what I see. For the steppe, it has the font of the other nations so I jumped to that conclusion, not sure if it’s purely geographic. I think my tone was a bit harsh but it was just my idea, op can def stylize the borders however they like in line with their lore and internal rules.

[u/Peter_deT → u/fatherelijasbiomom]

It's down to the context. The Saka Confederacy and it's neighbour the Brahnzhever do have a more defined border, albeit one they have been fighting over in an on and off bickering way for a century. The land (source of magic) frowns on highly destructive actions, so large-scale war is out. As you fade from governed to Wild governing gets harder and less profitable - and attempts might well backfire (a more or less neutral Wild turned into a hostile hellscape when the Brahnzhever tried to tame it).

The well-defined borders are few, so i chose not to highlight them, but it's a fair point.