Mapping the Eferian Continent: Concerns and Limitations to a Continued Creation

[this post is spoiler-free from storyline. But talks about locations featured in The Eferian Dawn volume one.]

One of the most requested artworks within Fantasy worlds is a drawn map of the world the story takes place in.

This is of course understandable since it allows the reader to better visualise the locations they are reading about in an easier fashion. And having a map of the Fantasy world brings a greater sense of knowledge as to where each place is located comparable to each other as well. So, by having a physical representation of the world the person reads about, said person can get a better sense of direction and overall scale of the Fantasy world by viewing the locations the text talks about on a drawn map. Throughout the development of the Sagen world, however, a concern which keeps coming up continuously surrounds the Eferian continent’s expansion.

This concern is the cartography of the world itself. And it too ties into the overarching problem of mapping the locations being written about.

Over the course of The Eferian Day’s creation, numerous examples of microplanning have lent themselves to have shown imminent constrains towards the creative making of the Sagen world. These concerns in question have to do with how the Sagen world is formed and how the lands the story takes place in comes to be. But moreover: this concern also displays how I as the creator work with the expansions of The Eferian Day’s world in its entirety. To showcase this, a great example is Th’ead which is featured in chapter two of The Eferian Dawn volume one. Th’ead is a half-island within the southern ends of ROUE crossing into the northern points of Tailen.

This location did not exist until I wrote the chapter the location is featured in. Th’ead itself became a centrepiece within the showcasing of bordering lands between two forces who are at odds with each other. And thus became a nice feature for the Sagen world to give more flesh to the situation between ROUE and Tailen.

This did, however, display that no place nor part of the Sagen world is fully known before it is shown within text which is planned to be published to the public. The discovery of Th’ead brought with it the thought that microplanning does not always give the full picture. Had the borders between ROUE and Tailen been a flat line with little to nothing separating the forces, the storytelling aspects would in turn been greatly affected by the lack of difficulty. But since the forces are now not only separated with sea. But also, a landmass which border both claimed forces. The story told within Th’ead can be given major weight to its importance.

So, this then brings it back to the mapping of the Eferian continent. In the way The Eferian Day is written, the Sagen world is closer to a fog then a concrete map. And by attempting to draw a concrete map for the continent before the land have been featured within published text will then make it turn into a blockage of creative abilities towards how the continent is structured preventing new ideas from entering the picture.

Major locations and borders exist in fixed place. Such as the locations for the Eferian empires. Yet these are just rough estimations since it only tells of the empires themselves and not the kingdoms and borders within them. I have always kept the locations within the Sagen world at a rough point to prevent logic errors and other problems from occurring. The roughness of the mapping’s edges will then gradually become refined and given detailing once the time comes for each location to be spoken of.

And one of the ‘’spoken of’’ moments are within published text which is meant to give the Sagen world sharper and more defined edges. It is within published text were the cartography of the Sagen world will be set for public viewing in a whole. Eferian is a very large continent and will require years of constant development to give it its full face.

The limitations and problems then come once one tries microplanning and become fixated for Sagen to look in a very specific way. Essentially turning in love with the idea and appearance of what one wants it to be rather than what the world will become naturally from its development.

How the Eferian Cartography is Planned to be Done

Though it would be limiting to the creative abilities towards the making of the Sagen world by mapping the lands to their fullest, that does not mean it would not be possible to draw the maps piece by piece. Going with old-fashioned mapmaking throughout human history, many maps did not see their completeness by how the lands were portrayed. A great deal of older maps did not have accurate scaling or precise measurements and only showed the most important parts the mapmaker sought out to detail. Since every map is made for different purposes, not every map needed to show the lands they were portraying to the same precise degree we are used to within modern time.

This could be a good start to gain publishable maps for the Sagen world. And too by only focusing on locations who have already been featured in published text. The issue does come with the concern that the maps of the locations featured in published texts would need to be drawn after the fact once the text is already written to the point where there is no more information about the location/s to be spoken of. Or at least to the degree where the land itself do not change from more events or places which are then added on in the future.

Doing the mapping of the continent this way can be an alternative. Though it is not likely that The Eferian Dawn volume one will have any maps featured due to the funding needed. But will be added once the books have been out and the series have been established. Additional cartography can too be added on the website or other places without having to be within the books of the main series.

Because of the never-ending expansion of the Eferian continent, the need to continuously update already published text will be in the forefront to keep the mapping of the Sagen world to date. But — just like the rest of my work — the need for change is always a good thing. For change shows progression and betterment to the Sagen world itself.

And with the progression of the story will too the world itself defog and lent itself to turn into a concrete map one is capable of reading.