Hi guys,

proud of having Blöndel as the featured map in the wiki, I have gained new motivation to continue mapping as well as writing about it. I know that some see the wiki as a problematic rival for mapping itself, but for me, writing the wiki supports the mapping in many ways. I think map features become more alive and have more depth when they are explained.

This new article may seem like overwikification: Why write details about mythology? But consider the following:

• It explains the existence of several museums, like Gamaliel Bortotan Museum of Art and Mythological Museum of Blöndel.
• It explains the significance of the capital Blöndel, its river and the surrounding hills to the people of Bloregia
• It explains several names, like street names in the area of Shefull
• It casts light upon details like This stone of the Building of the Marqurd Guild (can you find it in the map?)
• Most importantly, it gives is a frame of reference for the mapping that I want to share in case anyone is interested. If not, it is still important for me as a mapper.

The Bloregian legends have developed during many years. One of them I have written into a mini-novel in Finnish. As the legends reflect many timeless questions of mankind, feel free to take influences into your stories.

Yet, focus on mapping, where all this comes to life!

I’m in the process of reading China Miéville’s fascinating novel “The City & The City”, which is also adapted to a TV series. The plot takes place in a fictional twin city somewhere in South-Eastern Europe. The two cities Besźel and Ul Qoma have grown into each other in a weird and complex way, but they never really merge, and the residents have learned to see only their own city and instinctively ignore e.g. bypassers who are officially in the other one.

I can’t help thinking that an OGF version of the idea would be exiting. Obviously, the original idea as such is both unmappable (how to map a tree which is partly in one city and partly in another?) and too sci-fi from versimilitude point of view. But some kind of complex mixture of two cities – perhaps with two overlapping but unconnected road networks – could perhaps be cool to create as a community project. After all, there are weird things in the real world, too – it would be more or less a combination of Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog and Cold War Berlin.

This is just a wild idea I wanted to share in case anyone takes interest!

(Side note: It is interesting that the name of one of the two cities “Ul Qoma” seems to mirror the Finnish word “ulkomaa” = “the abroad”, but I can’t find any verification that it is intentional. I thought at first that the word was an invention of the Finnish translator, and I was astonished to see that the same name is used in the original English version of the book.)

Finnish and related languages seem to be well represented in OGF, but not yet very organized. I made a draft in the wiki to get an overview of the situation, to help develop a common history for Ugric / Yurelic languages and to help harmonize some content. Please let me know if I missed or misunderstood something. Thanks! Happy mapping to all! - LemonKing

http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/Ugric_Languages

Developping Vinnic Economic Community (VEC) and North-West Ulethan Union (NWUU) seem not to have proceeded as planned. I would very much like to see some progress, therefore I made some suggestions in the wiki. I understand that many territories in Western Uletha are unclaimed and that limits developping the area, but a lot of groundwork could be done as we wait for new members. Please comment:

http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/Talk:Vinnic_Economic_Community

I think country lists in the wiki need systematic editing. Some countries, even ones with large articles, are missing from some lists. Some existing flags do not have templates, or the templates are not linked correctly.

I suspect some users don’t find or don’t understand this instruction (it also seems to be located in a strange place, although linked form the help page): http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/Talk:Portal:Lists

It would be awesome if some experienced users who are familiar with the wiki content could occationally browse through pages like “List of countries”, “Uletha”, “Archanta” etc, to keep them up-to-date. I made a few updates myself, but there seems to be a lot to do, and I’m not sure I have found all the lists yet.

After a period of semi-intensive mapping, Blöndel begins to look like a city. It is nowhere near finished, but at this point it would be cool to know what you guys think.

Blöndel is a nordic type of city with relatively parse infrastructure and areas of wilderness near by. The map link zooms to Ritoll, a 1970’s suburb with built-in basic services: primary school, church, shopping center, medical center and library. The adjacent area of detached houses is a non-typical element that gives the area a unique character. This area sets the level of detail toward which I’m working in the city area as a whole.

http://opengeofiction.net/#map=15/64.0155/53.0034

The different seas and bays seem to have no name tags on the OGF map. Searching the wiki reveals that some of the major seas do have agreed-on names like Vinn Sea, Belphenian Sea etc. Is there a reason these names don’t appear on the map? I think having name-tags for international waters would be helpful, especially for new users who are trying to get an overview of OGF. It would also be a significant symbolic sign that users communicate and collaborate successfully. Is this an admin issue?

Hi guys, I’m a new user, I have been working on my country Bloregia, especially the capital Blöndel, for a few weeks now.

I kind of have a positive problem. I already have a fictional country on paper that I have been developping since childhood: maps, flag, language, history, train schedules, art, literature etc. This country It is “too ready”, it would be uninteresting to map it into OGF as such. It is also too much based on real geography.

So I decided to create a somewhat different country. I use some features from my old work, like the language and history and some selected map structures, combined with new ideas. I also intend to save a previous owner’s work in SW-Bloregia relatively unchanged.

I have the advantage of already having made some of the usual mistakes of new users in my offline work, so hopefully I can learn from them. I now try to work from small to big, in stead of starting with a network of highways.

Here’s some Bloregian history: http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/Bloregia

Bloregia is open for all kinds of international relations: diplomatic, economical etc. I welcome embassies, company headquarters etc. in suitable areas of Blöndel, please let me know if you are interested.

Comments appreciated!

Regards, LemonKing