So, I’ve been mapping for about a month, now, initially in central Munz, Commonia, and now in Suya Ahn. I am very, very slowly learning everything I need to work in iD. I have JSOM downloaded, but so far I just haven’t had the time to connect everything and make it all work well. I rather like iD, anyway, so perhaps I’ll stick with that. So far nothing terrible has happened.

Except for that one time I flooded the continent. That sucked.

As I map the story of this country is beginning to unfold, from empire to revolution, civil war, and now shaky confederation. The last is best exemplified by the new capital, Dura Ahn, a planned city nearer the center of the country than Ynn, the old imperial capital: it’s poorly planned, hard to get around, and sterile. Nobody lives there if they can help it. The center is struggling to hold.

Suya Ahn is a poor country, mountainous and cold, where the main source of wealth is the deep, widespread forests. Suya Ahn is also a country of villages, especially in the frigid south. Large cities like the ones of the Shyz Ayu valley are rare elsewhere. Airplanes are the only way to get around in the south.

I have a glossary of place-names and other words that can be used for place and street names in Mer Khara, the language of the dominant, wealthier peoples who live primarily in the three northernmost states. The other languages, one per state, are a mystery as of yet. When I get to those regions, those languages will blossom. I want each language to be recognizable and distinct.

I may throw some of this up on a wiki page at some point. I don’t have a good sense of the population totals, especially broken down by ethnic group, as of yet. I’m also happy to keep a lot of it in my head for the time being. I doubt many of you care about how the Kan Ro tram system was developed anyway!

This has been good for me. As a science fiction/fantasy author, I do worldbuilding quite a lot. Worldbuilding using nothing but a map has been a very good challenge. Geography can tell quite a few stories. And yes, I know, no wizards. Or spaceships.

Alas.