Hello! This is my first post and I don't know if this is a valid one, but I'll try. Me and my friend have been working on this fantasy world/map for a short amount of time and we'd like some opinions on both the names we've chosen for locations and the map itself. Niether of us are experienced in world building or writing, but it's alot of fun. We'd like to know what your opinion on the names are, like if they're interesting or boring for example. As for the map itself, we would like to have opinions on it too but we don't really know if that's of any interest to you. So, here's a list of the names we have so far: Aris - A large continent (Purple on the map) consisting mostly out of tundra and a small amount of pine forest. Helmingur - The west side of Aris belonging to the remaining giants. Auster - The east side of Aris that originally belonged to the giants but was overtaken by the humans. The homeless highlands - A large mountain range stretching through Aris. Yrst - The last large city belonging to the giants. Blackpowder Isle - A large Island and nation that produces alot of gunpowder. North anchor - A very large and heavily populated city, most inhabitants make a living from working at the docks or fishing. There's a large difference in class and there is alot of unemployment. Oceansongs landing - A huge harbor that is a part of the city North anchor. The dying bowels - A gigantic swampland filled with necrophages, other monsters and a whole lot of other unpleasantries. It's extreamly hard to get through and people are desperatly trying to make a safe supply line through it. And here's the map!
Looks pretty good to me. I liked all of the names except "The Dying Bowels . . ." it's evocative, but sort of made my inner 8-year-old giggle. Maybe the Dying something else. The Dying Lands. The Dying Lowlands. I don't know. I presume that you don't want anyone giggling at the name.
Personally I'd spread the landmasses out a bit. I mean, you don't have to, but it does make it look less like a world map and more like an archipelago.
I like the names individually, but not together. I prefer names that are consistent. Either they're all made-up names or they're all named after their environment. You have both. For example, Homeless Highlands (a high land that, I'm assuming, has no homes), Blackpowder Isle (named because they make so much gun powder), North Anchor (a port city which of course includes anchors), Oceansong Landing (a harbor, I'm assuming, on the ocean), and the Dying Bowels (an unpleasant place). But then you have Aris, Yrst, Helmingur, and Auster. If those places aren't named after someone specific (the founder, the king, etc.), they just don't mesh well for me. But that's just one person's opinion.
I can maybe see why you would giggle, but I really like the name myself and I'll probably be keeping it I actually tried doing that when making the map, but I didn't like it. I see what you mean though. I understand, but I didn't really explain the history of this whole relationship between the giants and humans. Everything in Aris was originally named by the giants, and they have their own language that is inspired by Icelandic. Places in this world will have names that would fit into the culture of it's inhabitants
Sounds great then! Go for it! Must say, though, do kind of agree about the Dying Bowels... Bowels conjures up obvious references that may be hard for a reader to disconnect from.
The map looks good, and most of the names seem fine. The only ones I have a problem with are The Homeless Highlands and The Dying Bowels, which seem more like dramatic nicknames than actual names, but that might be explained away by your story.
They all sounded great, but I have to agree with @furzepig the others all felt musical and distant from our language, but for some reason that one made me stop. Maybe use something like 'Moribund Something'
Ooh I do love a good map! Looking great, although some sort of scale should probably be worked out before you go much further. For example, you call Aris a "large continent", and as a result "Black Powder Isle" looks about the size of the Indian subcontinent in comparison, which I would not call an "Isle", the 4 islands to the south of Black Powder look more like Isles to me. BUT! Then you talk about North Anchor and Oceansongs Landing, and suddenly the scale seems to switch back. If Aris is a large continent, then you Harbour is infact a Bay - no, a Gulf! A good way to get a sense of scale is to ghost on a real map. Use a full world map, or just a map of Europe (depending of the size of your own world). Do you use google earth? you can import image files on the earth's surface and I have done this with my fantasy maps. You can then use the ruler tool to work out distances so you know how far people have to travel in your story and how long this might take them.
I see what you mean, I'm working on it Kind of I guess, but what everyone has been saying about The dying bowels made me think and it'll probably be renamed. 'Moribund Bog' perhaps? I'll get to work on that, I guess I've had a basic thought of how large it is compared to Earth but I'll work on more exact scale
Moribund Bog sounds good. Nicely mystical, but it's your map, stick with the names you feel comfortable with and that sit best with you!
Just thought I should add this updated version of the map! ('The dying bowels' is still undecided) Here's all the new names listed: The frozen waters Ryre The voiceless throne room/ Hellinum af undrum Ackerland fort Ardleby Stronghold The narrow Deep Haarton Haarton palace
There are a couple of problems. You're making this on a square space, and it looks like it was made on a square space. Not that the continents on the left and right have a coast line that is nearly vertical, in stark opposition to both reality and any other line on the map. When we move your map onto a globe then we can see the problems right away. All the other continents look fine, there's just a seem right across the east and west-most continents. I apologize for the crudity of the video, I was trying to get it out quick. That video by the way is set to private, and can be removed immediately at your request. I couldn't send you a .mb to illustrate, so I figured you'd understand with a render.
I see what you mean but I don't understand what the purpose of the video is... I can't view it since it's private, is that intended?
Ah, I was worried about that. The map is your intellectual property, so I wasn't going to make it public without your permission. All I did is get in to maya, make a sphere, and wrap your map around it. It's a little crude, but the video is just your map spinning on the world, so you can see where the edges get weird.
Use the word chasm or core to replace "bowels." Other ideas... Death's Chasm? Core's Chasm? Chasm Core? Chasm's Rift? Core Hollows? Death's Drop? Chaos Canyon? Dying Earth? Deathly Dens? Funeral Falls? Hollow Plains? Hollow Peaks? Hollow Hills? Earth's Hollows? Nature's Death? Pit of the Fallen? Dying Traps? The Void of Life (pun for devoid)? Deadlands for the Destitute? Deadlands? The Caughtless Caverns? (people fall, never to be raised; thus, they're not caught.) All my ideas are just that. Take, use, patent. Or let them be a springboard to better ideas, those I cannot attain Thanks for sharing your ideas. They inspire me.
Going to be honest with you, they sound like your basic boring fantasy names. Stuff like characters named Morgul or places being named according to conventions.
Props on respecting continental shift, though. I can definitely see each continent being pieced together to form your world's equivalent of Pangea.
Call me crazy, but I do quite like the name "The Dying Bowels". At the very least, I appreciate it's attempt at something new. Generally speaking, however, I'd stay away from names that try too hard to sound ominous. Consider, perhaps, a neutral, or even somewhat bland title, and a bad reputation tends to flip it on its head. Creepypastas do this quite often. Take, for example, (Creepypasta) creatures such as: "The Rake", and "The Tall Man", and "The Smiling Man". Standing alone, the names presented aren't all that scary. Simple, even. But given the history and nature of these creatures, the names, in turn, become scary. Following this, you should consider a different approach. Think of names such as: "The Quiet Land", or "The Children's Plain", the like. As you can see, the seemingly pleasant names are at odds with the very violent nature of the area, and the names take on new meaning as a result.
Thanks for your suggestion and explanation and examples. I've never heard this before, but it makes perfect sense! (This is not sarcasm.) Off topic: what about a mix? Dying Rakes? Toothy Trenches? Grinning Abyss?
Space out your land masses a bit, and also potentially redraw some of them, obviously they are all shaped differently, yet they also seem quite similar in inspiration, as if you were using one object for a model and drew different variations on it. As far as "The Dying Bowels" name goes, a compromise might be that there is some other official name, but over the ages people had come to call it that due to it consisting of smelly swamps
