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<blockquote data-quote="PapersAndPaychecks" data-source="post: 2359367" data-attributes="member: 28854">Drawing the map isn't complicated.Picking names is a matter of selecting a theme.&nbsp; For example, personally, I decided that the North Polar regions were inhabited by the Jotuns, a civilised race of ice giants (many of whom have powers as an illusionist or cleric) who herd mammoths on the tundra.&nbsp;Now, these critters had a pretty obvious derivation from Norse myth, so naming them was trivial.&nbsp; The realm became Jotunsheim, the main city Jotunsgard, then the regions nearby took names derived from the same myth cycle or from the Norse sagas: Aesirholm, Vannbjorg, the Fimbul Peaks (highest mountains of my campaign world), Njalgard, Vendelfjord, etc.&nbsp;Then I moved south, and picked bits from different mythology to suit the area I had described.&nbsp; So the area just south of the Arctic Circle was occupied by the twin realms of Kalevala and Pohjola from Finnish myth, then south of that a huge Pictish forest (the names of the tribes and peoples there were inspired by Robert E. Howard and mostly sound as if they came from Asterix the Gaul), then south of that the land of Prydein (lifted from the Mabinogion myth cycle) and so on until you reach the desert lands only a short distance north of the equator.If you don't lift your peoples and cultures from Earthly references, then the task becomes much harder.&nbsp; You need to decide what the language for each culture &quot;sounds like&quot; - which doesn't mean you need to become JRR Tolkein, just make the names sound distinctive.&nbsp; David Eddings did this by giving city names a prefix by nation, hence Vo Wacune, Vo Mimbre etc. in Arendia and Tol Borune, Tol this, Tol that and Tol the other in Tolnedra.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="PapersAndPaychecks, post: 2359367, member: 28854"] Drawing the map isn't complicated. Picking names is a matter of selecting a theme. For example, personally, I decided that the North Polar regions were inhabited by the Jotuns, a civilised race of ice giants (many of whom have powers as an illusionist or cleric) who herd mammoths on the tundra. Now, these critters had a pretty obvious derivation from Norse myth, so naming them was trivial. The realm became Jotunsheim, the main city Jotunsgard, then the regions nearby took names derived from the same myth cycle or from the Norse sagas: Aesirholm, Vannbjorg, the Fimbul Peaks (highest mountains of my campaign world), Njalgard, Vendelfjord, etc. Then I moved south, and picked bits from different mythology to suit the area I had described. So the area just south of the Arctic Circle was occupied by the twin realms of Kalevala and Pohjola from Finnish myth, then south of that a huge Pictish forest (the names of the tribes and peoples there were inspired by Robert E. Howard and mostly sound as if they came from Asterix the Gaul), then south of that the land of Prydein (lifted from the Mabinogion myth cycle) and so on until you reach the desert lands only a short distance north of the equator. If you don't lift your peoples and cultures from Earthly references, then the task becomes much harder. You need to decide what the language for each culture "sounds like" - which doesn't mean you need to become JRR Tolkein, just make the names sound distinctive. David Eddings did this by giving city names a prefix by nation, hence Vo Wacune, Vo Mimbre etc. in Arendia and Tol Borune, Tol this, Tol that and Tol the other in Tolnedra. [/QUOTE]

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