So it’s been approximately 1 year since I joined the adventure, and I can say I reached an impressive amount of work. So how did I make it ? Was I in a cave, mapping my mountains all this time ? Let’s find out.

I’ve done worldbuilding for quite some time in my life, building worlds out of my dreams or my imagination, for RPGs maybe, or city building games, or just because they self-generated in my head, occupying a large space and I needed them to come out, as would a musician with his music or a painter with his paintings. I was an OSM contributor too at that time. When I discovered Opengeofiction I thought this was the place to put all the things online - I just had to adapt it to the few etiquette rules and the modern world verisimilitude constraint there - so within the piece of land I was granted I began to create a country that fits both OGF environment and the places I had in mind.

So how did I manage to do this so quickly ? The answer is only one letter: “F”. Yes, “F” is the key to quick mapping achievement. In JOSM it does miracles.

Älvedic Union is inspired by Switzerland (it was Älvedic Confederacy at first), but also Austria, Hungary, Western Ukraine and let’s say Eastern Siberia, the political and linguistic situation is very complex and unstable, and the country is rather poor and underdeveloped, but improving since fret traffic between the south and Neberly crosses Älved. For more info about the country, like what is the inspiration, where do the names come from etc., check Älved on the wiki.

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Now let’s talk about the platform. It’s only after a few months of mapping that I discovered the very potential of OGF compared to anything similar. This place is huge (biggest fictional world ever?), very unique, and has this social or collaborative aspect that makes it feel really alive. This worldbuilding thing was a hobby I was always ashamed of (because “meh autistic nerds do this, get a life brah”, said Mrs Social Pressure), and I wasn’t expecting to see such a thriving community project. It might be a paradox but I actually want to stop it and do something else in my life, but first, I need to put all my creations out of my head and “forget” them, and one way of achieving this is to draw them and share them (if you are an artist or a musician you will understand well what I’m saying).

And OGF is a true gem, in this sense, because of its collaborative aspect. So yes apparently we are a great number of imaginary cartographs and worldbuilders. A long time ago, I was mapping parts of something that I hadn’t named Älved yet, I was doing it to let it out of my brain (like a musician does with the music that accumulates in his mind as I said before), and I was thinking that one day, I’ll stop it and get a life ! And since there’s no one to share this imaginary world, it will disappear, and these years of worldbuilding will be lost. OGF has been the answer for this, the platform allowed me to post my creations (as long as I adapt them to the OGF context), and after 1 year during which it happened that I had lots of free time, I think I achieved my work. I know details can be added forever, but the outline of it is done, even a bit more. X-)

And there’s something I understood in the process: drawing this fictional map is a bit like Hindus drawing a mandala. It has no utility in life, but you get a reward on the way of creating it, like being more relaxed, or escaping the status of being in a hurry all the time. You know, there is something so violent about our real world conditions that this imaginary worldbuilding is like an escape to an other level of consciousness, temporarily. Just to disconnect from the insane world you live in, for a few hours here and there. Whether you draw the map or look at it. The collaborative aspect improves this immersion into imaginary landscapes. These hours of mapping that seem “lost” actually are “rest” hours that allow me to be more in shape when playing the real average human being out there in the real world.

All of this is very philosophical et caetera, and I lack the proper words to explain exactly the phenomena, but this is what I wanted to tell about my feeling towards all this geofiction and imaginary world building thing. Some out there might tell us that “we live in tough times, we should stand in the real world and fight, and not stay like nerds in imaginary stuff etc.”, and I answer that this hobby is - or has been - the thing that helped me empty my mind, clean up all real world sh*t and preserve my energy from being drained. During mapping time I could make up my mind about future projects in real life. Also the real world is sometimes so depressing that an infinite amount of imaginary landscapes form up in our minds and we just need to get it out to let space in our brains for real world matters. I.e. giving life to imaginary projects helps me giving life to real world projects, because it empties blocked stuff in my mind. OGF allows this, and the fact that we can see the geographical mandalas of all other members is even more rewarding, I feel less alone in my delirium. :-P

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Anyway, even though most of the work on Älved is done I will stay connected. Future OGF projects? maybe improving my cities, rebuilding the center of capital city Adventikum. Also, if the mapper of Darcodia is still around, linking our road and railroad systems through Crinzia/Arthland and solving the problem of Luiana exclave, I don’t know how to do the mapping in this area.

I’d also improve some blue territory, making some resort towns for Älvedic residents to go, and I was thinking about adding some haciendas and playas in Northeast Midistland. So if you want me to help and clean up this area while doing it, please let me know.

SC.