But what do you call it when you develop the mythology, language and culture of a land by creating a map?
I'm updating the first map of Arbea Major which is in 'Black Star' (see initial sketches of the continent). However, as the story of Emersus Project grows so does the world in which Gemmy lives. But, to really give the world a coherent depth I've had to expand it in ways that might seem superfluous but actually have a deeper impact on the world I've created on the whole.
For example, the language of the people in the North is Germanic, where as the further south you go they become more Latin based. And as the story and world expands out to the western isles of Rheza, they have a language all their own. Oh, and and if we cross the ocean to Arbea Minor languages there have a Nordic quality. So, how does that influence naming conventions of towns and places of importance? How do culturally important sites come into play?
It's all very exciting and fun and the favourite part for me was asking friends to help me 'name that place'. I got so many great suggestions that I couldn't decide which ones to use so I've just chosen to use all of them. But this presented a challenge of how each suggested name fits in with the phonemes of the cultural linguistic landscape. So, throw in some creative spelling and invented mythology and all the places make sense.
Even more fun is through this exercise I've created stories and histories about each of the places on this map. They'll also come with the history that my friends have imbued them with for whatever inspired them to come up with the names.
My favourite invented sites are the 'faels' which are historic sites much like Stonehenge, one of many prehistoric standing circles found all throughout Britain. I had an idea for these sites but not a name for them. These are marked on the map with squares. The names were inspired when a mate suggested the name 'Gabbro' which is a type of volcanic rock.
And fear not, friends, there is more mapping to come! I still have yet to draw out in detail the island of Rheza and its landmarks and cities. So if you don't see your name suggestion here it will be included some where in the story. My biggest challenge was the suggestion of 'Fearweebo' but I nailed it!
Enjoy!
‽
Buy 'Black Star' on Amazon in the UK and US
Check out Themo on Twitter and Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment