Virtual Pet Project II: world map

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Nogitsune
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Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Nogitsune »

I tried my hand at world building with the intent that - should we ever decided to try and start our own pet site they'd have someplace to live. The map is not entirely original, it's based on what Earth's supposed to look like 250 million years into the future. Still I did my best. In order to avoid the chaos of images too large for the site I'm directly linking to the pics rather than putting them here. The numbers on the maps represent where I saw various lands occurring, though these can be changed. I gave the lands names and themes, but these also can be changed. Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I figure the map can be free-rotated in any direction. I don't have upside down versions of the globe but it wouldn't be hard to make them if someone were interested in seeing it. I also invented a zodiac and a calendar system for the world if anyone would be interested in those.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ ... rder1j.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ ... rder2j.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ ... rder3j.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ ... rder4j.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ ... rder5j.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/ ... rder6j.jpg

Because I wanted to be somewhat authentic i actually looked up real words from real languages for many of the lands. As a result some look rather strange. Words in brackets [] are the literal translation of the name - or what the name's supposed to really mean. Themes with semicolons ; indicate that more than one theme or idea could be used (pending what people think). I also tried to use every letter of the English alphabet to start a name with. You will NOT find numbers 27 or 28 on the map. This is because number 27 is supposed to be a moving island (like Lutari Island, only open to the public and it actually would move on the map) and number 28 is the interior of the planet itself.

Key:

1 Official Name: Chaseton
Common Name: Chaseton
Theme: late 20th – early 21st century

2 Official Name: Sciopolis [Knowledge City]
Common Name: Sciopolis
Theme: Greco-Roman

3 Official Name: Everfun
Common Name: Everfun
Theme: Summer; beach party

4 Official Name: Fleuvebeau [Beautiful River]
Common Name: Flowerbend
Theme: Renaissance [French]; Musketeers

5 Official Name: Castlewood
Common Name: Castlewood
Theme: Middle Ages [Germanic/English]

6 Official Name: Autumn Woods
Common Name: Autumn Woods
Theme: Fall; Halloween

7 Official Name: Björnkloholm [Bearclaw’s Home]
Common Name: Bearclaw Hold
Theme: Viking; Scottish Highland

8 Official Name: Zamyari-La
Common Name: Zamyari-La
Theme: Himalayan

9 Official Name: Ozerova [Lake]
Common Name: Ozerova
Theme: Tsarist Russia

10 Official Name: Toh-yil-kal Grande [Great River]
Common Name: Tohyilkal
Theme: Navajo; Western American

11 Official Name: Vernal Woods
Common Name: Vernal Woods
Theme: Spring; Easter

12 Official Name: Noh-kah [Great Village]
Common Name: Nohkah
Theme: Mayan-Incan

13 Official Name: Hulum Jamila [Beautiful Dream]
Common Name: Hulum
Theme: Ancient Persian; Arabian (1001 Arabian Nights)

14 Official Name: Qanikcaq [Snow on ground]
Common Name: Qani
Theme: South Pole; Inuit

15 Official Name: Yarron
Common Name: Yarrow Moon
Theme: Space [middle moon]

16 Official Name: Wiston
Common Name: Wisteria Moon
Theme: Space [largest moon]

17 Official Name: Joulupukki [Yule Goat: Santa Claus]
Common Name: Joulu
Theme: Winter; Christmas

18 Official Name: Kenos Station
Common Name: Kenos Station
Theme: Space Station

19 Official Name: Roson
Common Name: Rose Moon
Theme: Space [smallest moon]

20 Official Name: Laymaris
Common Name: Laymaris
Theme: Atlantis; undersea kingdom

21 Official Name: Dreymoor
Common Name: Dreymoor
Theme: 1930’s adventure era (King Kong); Cthulhu

22 Official Name: Pwani Mji [Coast City]
Common Name: Pwani
Theme: Sub Sahara [East] African

23 Official Name: Unabara Shippou [Sea Treasure]
Common Name: Unabara
Theme: Oriental [Chinese-Japanese]

24 Official Name: Mokupōʻai [Island Circle]
Common Name: Moku Islands
Theme: Hawaii; Polynesian

25 Official Name: Garrayura Buruwang [Sky Island]
Common Name: Garrayura Island
Theme: Flying Island; Australian; Aboriginal

26 Official Name: Ilupata
Common Name: Ilupata
Theme: Lost World; King Kong

27 Official Name: Xonthe Island
Common Name: Xonthe Island
Theme: Moving Island; Pirate; Port Royal

28 Official Name: Zothal
Common Name: Zothal
Theme: Underground; Journey to the Center of the Earth

Thoughts? Likes? Dislikes? Random haiku?
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Huggles
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Re: Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Huggles »

Oooh. I like the idea of it looking like Earth in the future. That leaves open tons of possibilities for mysterious origin myths. Did the humans that crashed onto the planet, somehow travel in time? Are they really the ancient beings that created all the artifacts and totem creatures? Is it Earth in some parallel dimension? Or was this planet created first by the Primeval beings, and they proceeded to create and model Earth after it? Maybe Earth and this planet are just one of many manufactured worlds. Hee. Nothing would be set in stone, of course, but it's a fun idea. It's interesting how the planet is almost divided in half with mostly water on one side and mostly land on another.
Nogitsune
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Re: Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Nogitsune »

Huggles wrote:Oooh. I like the idea of it looking like Earth in the future. That leaves open tons of possibilities for mysterious origin myths. Did the humans that crashed onto the planet, somehow travel in time? Are they really the ancient beings that created all the artifacts and totem creatures? Is it Earth in some parallel dimension? Or was this planet created first by the Primeval beings, and they proceeded to create and model Earth after it? Maybe Earth and this planet are just one of many manufactured worlds. Hee. Nothing would be set in stone, of course, but it's a fun idea. It's interesting how the planet is almost divided in half with mostly water on one side and mostly land on another.
Thanks. :) Yes, it'd be fun to speculate about the origins of things in the world, whether human or alien. The various totem creatures could really be alien creatures or they could be hybrids of Earth creatures aliens developed, then gave sentience. Things could come out a little at a time, perhaps in the various plots? Heck if we wanted we could go all 'Hitchhikers Guide' and say that this was the Earth II they were designing and have things related to the number 42 pop up everywhere. I took some liberties with the image scientists have predicted, if you want to see 'Pangea Ultima' you can look here: http://www.scotese.com/future2.htm to see it and compare.
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Elfwoman99
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Re: Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Elfwoman99 »

Looks nice. I love the Sky Island idea. I would like to have an ancient Egyptian themed place, and maybe a Southeast Asian or Philippine themed place. Also I don't know how I feel about mixing Earth cultures together, such as Chinese+Japanese, or Maya+Inca. Part of me says "OK!" and part of me shakes her head.
Also, the list of world ideas seems almost completely dominated by different time periods in European history. I'd prefer it to be less Eurocentric.
The Auraks, Botanicals, and Humans each need a world. Are they in there?


Also, I think there should be room for some bizarre, or even mind-breaking fantastical places that don't resemble the real world. A floating island is a good start, but there should be more. For example:
*A deep void in which there is nothing to walk on except an endless, interconnected network of huge treetrunks/branches which branch, divide, and reconnect each other all over the place, in every direction. They are rooted in the walls instead of the floor, because the floor of this pit is filled with... something. Whatever is at the bottom, it is unapproachable or unexplored. These trunks do have some twigs and leaves, but not so many that you can't see properly. Also, gravity is always towards the center of the branch/trunk you are walking on. Once you enter the void full of tree-things that is this world, up and down lose absolute meaning.


Lastly, there should be some kind of rationale for why this fantasy world, to which humans are supposedly aliens, has places themed on human cultures. The out-of-character reason is that it's cool and is easier than inventing 17 totally new and unique cultures, but there should be an in-world explanation as well. Unlike Neopets, which seems to have no such explanation.



PS: I would like to post on the main Virtual Pet Project thread, but the last post was a year ago. It looks pinned, but I don't want to be yelled at for breaking the rules against reviving old threads.
EDIT: AARGH, what the? EVERY thread in this whole section is over a year old?? What is going on? Moderators, please do not yell at me or kick me off for posting on an old thread.
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Huggles
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Re: Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Huggles »

You're fine. Not much goes on here, and I think the tumbleweeds would enjoy the company.
Marah
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Re: Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Marah »

Also, the list of world ideas seems almost completely dominated by different time periods in European history
? I count +/- 16 that aren't european centered. I actually thought it was a fairly balanced list. Of course if you look closer to any continent you could get completely different inspirations looking at different timeframes. But most of the "cultures" people would expect and want to play with are respresented and then some.

I like the treetop/branch/trunks idea, of course the idea of forest reminds me of faeries, but maybe gnomes or sprites would suit it better. Everybody already has faeries! ;)
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Re: Virtual Pet Project II: world map

Post by Foghawk »

I must say, I don't really care for the 'real-world cultures' worlds, at least not to this extent. Aside from the fact that there isn't really much reason for them being that way, there are a couple of points that make me rather wary of things like this.
Firstly, they tend to set a sort of template - when you have ten different worlds all mimicking real cultures, worlds that are completely made up or based on ideas other than cultures (for example, your 'spring woods' idea or the existing botanicals' world) seem out of place, which makes the worlds feel sort of locked in.
Secondly, culture-based worlds aren't really as fun to explore as those that are weird combinations of features of different cultures, or real-life things with a made-up slant, or completely new worlds altogether. If I were to go and explore some brand-new world with new inhabitants and settings (or even existing ones imagined in new ways) I'd enjoy looking around and seeing how it all works, but if it's a clear expy of a real culture, I'll just go, "Oh, that's the Japanese world. Okay, I know how that works then" and leave it more or less at that. New worlds can have anything we care to put in them as long as it makes some sense; culture expys either have everything one would expect from that culture (predictable) or introduce a few obviously incongruous elements (tends to feel artificial).

Short version: Reading through juicy descriptions of weird worlds is fun, but when all you have to say is "Mayan/Inca", well, that's all you have to read.



On the other hand, I like some of the worlds you've suggested. Some seem rather redundant, and a few others to be there only to represent their culture, without much that they would actually contain - though this might be the result of the short descriptions - but a few are rather engaging. (Also, the 'earth in the future' idea is kinda cool, though aesthetically part of me wants to split up the continents a bit more. Wild mass guessing!)
Chaseton seems rather nice for a sort of neutral or starting world (not too specialized while still with its own flavor), but on the other hand, I really liked the 'big city on crack' that Cranberry came up with in the other thread. Perhaps the two could coexist - an uptown/downtown sort of thing, or perhaps a day/night switch?
Bearclaw Hold could be quite neat; Viking and Scottish Highland isn't a combination I would have thought of. I'd like to see more about this. :o
Your seasonal woods ideas are interesting, but I think it'd make more sense to have one set of woods that changes with the seasons. Also, this one might go well with the 'evil carnival' Huggles suggested: in the day, the wood is pristine and beautiful; at night, the buds hardly seem to have grown in spring, the shadows are too deep and shouldn't move like that in summer, the forest seems to be filled with malevolent spirits and wolf moons in autumn, surely the trees weren't so gnarled and angry-looking in winter - and the carnival's in town year-round.
Multiple moons are for the win (as are weird constellations and zodiacs, by the way) but I'm not sure that all of them would be inhabited. It seems a bit redundant. Perhaps just one? (And perhaps with different names.)
The undersea kingdom is of course a given, though we'll need to put our own litle spin on it. I was entertaining the amusingly contradictory notion of an undersea industrial powerhouse (and/or mercantile empire) - y'know, manufacturing things that would be easier to build in buoyancy, producing vast amounts of food and chemicals from the carefully managed bounty of the sea, all chargin' tariffs from under the best trade routes. They might overlap a bit with the Auraks or space station (if we do have a space station), but I think it could be sorted out all right if people like that. (Again, though, not sure about the name.)
Dreymoor sounds pretty epic, if a bit sparse. Might I suggest the addition of a city on its edge - with elements of Prohibition and/or Irish unrest? Love the feel.
Moving islands are fun but could use details.
A Pellucidar world would be brilliant, though I'm not sure if the name 'Zothal' fits. I demand that it contain much lava and references to every Victorian adventure story ever. :D :D :D

I have some ideas for a sort of Southwest-slanted folklore world, but I'll leave that for later.

Ooooone last nitpick (god this was long): While a map that could be scrolled in every direction would be shiny, I have to point out the from the technical side it'd probably be more trouble than it's worth. Slow internet connections get dicey, and there's no need to get so fancy when a simple image would do. However, you're right to avoid the 'everything on one hemisphere' silliness. I suggest a map map - possibly after the style of the renaissance cartographers. Because those are pretty.
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