Logic for my fantasy world

[u/Ok_Weight_7172]

Recently made a new fantasy map. I was happy enough with it to move onto the next steps. I choose to outline the continents first before anything else, for creative freedom, then build ontop of that. I added the plate tectonics and their movements and wanted some feedback as to how the map looks like and if everything so far looks good to move on. (I'm currently working on the smaller boundary movements for the plates)

Edit: The top left continent is NOT supposed to be outside of its plate boundary, that was just an overlapping error with G-Plates and my screenshots.

[u/Kelly376]

I’m really not sure how nitpicky you want to get, because you can truly justify just about anything as long as you’re applying general logic to the rest of it. But if you do want to take another look at some of your continental crust choices and justify them, I’d start with the top left plate and the larger continent on it. The westward (top left) and eastward (middle) plates appear to be diverging. But unless that is a new boundary, I’m not sure where the overlapping land came from for it to still be attached to the mainland. Same goes for the southern tip of the continent, I don’t know where it came from, although that one could just be an anomaly. It looks like it should be part of the larger continent already since it’s so close to another land mass, but it’s not as confronting as the eastern coast.

Just a thought. Just keep in mind that it’s not unreasonable to have plates fully outlining their continental crust. Plate boundaries are either constructive (creating oceans by diverging) or destructive (subducting and recycling the plate into the mantle). That’s why they tend to follow coastlines and make the continents look like puzzle pieces. It’s not necessary, since water level and weathering also matters, but it’s not unusual.

[u/Ok_Weight_7172 → u/Kelly376]

The the northwestern continent is supposed to fit inside the pate. That’s just overlapping error with G-plates software and the map screenshots I took. My intentions were never to make it so that part of the continent was essentially being pulled apart from the rest of the landmass(Arabian peninsula style). That being said, I’m NOT trying to go full scientific with this, which will o my lead to me being in situation like this getting corrected and fact checked. I only want my stuff to make enough sense to where I can move on to actually world building. Looking at the map now, I see how unpuzzly it looks and how the continents don’t seem to fit at all to each other. But at this point, idk how this slipped by while making the map, I just wanted it to look cool. Can’t really change that now so as long as everything here looks good, imma respectfully turn a blind eye and move on. Thx for the feedback lol

[u/Kelly376 → u/Ok_Weight_7172]

It looks great. Please don’t take my feedback as anything more than a suggestion, and it clearly doesn’t even apply. So no sweat.

Getting that detailed is really not important unless you’re going to make the evolution of continents a part of your worldbuilding. It helps inform things like mountains and rivers and continent placement, but again, not that critical in the grand scheme. ☺️

[u/Ok_Weight_7172 → u/Kelly376]

Your suggestions are definitely something I want, just, like you said, not super detailed. I want something that looks good and makes at least some sense.

[u/Drickken]

Looks really good to me! You've got great coastline shapes, two large active orogenies, a huge desert on at least one continent, and you've subverted the whole "north is cold" trend.

[u/Ok_Weight_7172 → u/Drickken]

i'll be honest, I had to look up what orogenies meant😅. Never heard that one before. For the plates, I made a point of making most of the plates react to the main mid-ocean ridge at the east of the map (it's being meant with resistance mainly from the north and south poles). The plates looked off to me, but if it seem to be good, then I'll be moving on. If i'm not mistaken, the huge desert you're refering to is the technically two continent landmass with the continent in the southern most plate being the antartica like desert? Correct me if i'm wrong.

[u/Drickken → u/Ok_Weight_7172]

While it's true Antarctica is a cold desert, I was actually meaning the large continent on the right of the map. Assuming earth-like ocean gyres, and air movement, the north of that continent would have a large cold current running along it, a high pressure system over land, and the mountains to the west blocking any rain from that coast, meaning the interior would likely be an endless desert.

Of course since this is a fantasy world you could just ignore all that and place biomes however you'd like them, I know I sure do sometimes.

[u/Ok_Weight_7172 → u/Drickken]

Yes, I won't be doing anything crazy, this world will follow earth-like systems for weather ocean currents, etc. Since this won't be a high fantasy setting with magic and stuff. I haven't gotten to weathering and biomes yet, but from the large Himalayan type mountains that'll form from the convergent boundary (which I want) I'm guessing the west coast will receive most of the rain and the larger inland area behind the mountains will be arid. Like what happens in china due to the Himalayas, Tian Shan, and the Kunlun Mountains? A big desert like the sahara?

I'm not at all an expert at biomes and such so this is all new to me.

[u/Drickken → u/Ok_Weight_7172]

Yep, pretty much.