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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 6993386" data-attributes="member: 6801845">I can't help much with the anatomy, but for map drawing something that always bugs me is the attitude a lot of fantasy cartographers that "I'll put a desert here because I want a desert" with no consideration of why there would be deserts.The best way to understand what climatic zones exist and why we can take a look at what happens on earth.  Obviously the earth is warmer around the equator and between 30 degrees north and south of the equator is considered the Tropical zone, the next 30 degrees are the temperate zone (which encompasses most of the US and Europe) and then finally the polar zone.  Newer climate models break that down even more - but you can check out wikipedia for that.The big question of course, is what causes climate zones?  The short answer is distance from the equator, oceanic currents, and mountains (or lack therein).  Distance from the equator: there is a lot of moisture at the equator, but there's a band of general dryness on either side which in part explains the Saharan desert and why Australia is so dry.  Go far enough away from the equator and moisture picks up again because of the way high pressure zones tend to form.  You may want to google Prevailing Winds to get some ideas on how this works.Oceanic Currents: did you know that palm trees occasionally grow in Ireland?  It's because there's something called the North Atlantic Current which pulls cold water down from the poles where it forms a current deep in the ocean that gets pulled toward the equator.  The cold water eventually warms up when it hits the equator, rises to the surface and goes back north bringing warm water with it.  By doing this oceans convey warmth from the tropics to temperate zones, and in general large bodies of water have a moderating effect on climate.Mountains: when warm, moist ocean air hits mountains it rises and gets cooler.  As it cools it can hold less moisture and it rains.  It's why there are rain forests in Washington state along the coast.  After dumping much of it's moisture on the ocean side of the mountains, there isn't a lot left which is why many deserts are in the rain shadow of mountains.  But the opposite can also be true.  Part of the reason the interior of Australia is so dry is because there are no mountains so the moist air just bypasses much of the continent.There are of course, also microclimates.  Read up on the climate of the Hawaiian islands for examples of that, but it's mostly caused by the islands being so mountainous.  One side of the island is wet, the other is practically desert because of the volcanoes.So when I designed my world, I took all of that into consideration.  Add in a little bit of thought of how rivers flow (and figuring out where the logical places for divides) and my maps are logical and consistent.Hope that helps!</blockquote>

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