Work on the Jemesar fantasy map continues as either inspiration strikes me or I force myself to stare at the map and let the blank space taunt me. The largest change to the map is that I redid several national borders, expanding the Charminglands significantly. The reason for this is that Marion’s homeland is meant to be fairly powerful, and its original smaller size did not feel like a good reflection of that. I also adjusted several other borders to follow natural boundaries like rivers or mountain ranges. This dropped the number of countries a little, which means I have fewer nations to figure out. I did leave a few smaller countries here and there and tried to make sure that there was diversity in their geographies.
Next, I’ve made a point of naming each country. This helps solidify them as a real place where the characters might go. Not all of the countries have capitols yet, but I’ve started adding them in and focusing on adding interesting landmarks to the map. There are still many more cities to add to flesh out the map, and my goal is to have at least one major landmark per country that I can use as a story location or have as part of determining what makes the country distinct.
So far, I remain happy with my progress, even if there is still a lot of work to do before this becomes a fully functional continent map that I can use as a resource for both myself and readers.